Chapter 49
After the next couple of events were completed by the others and after learning that the asshole duo of Kliever and Vegar were competing for Team Mizo, I was getting a small bit of refreshment at a restaurant with some root beer alongside Maria, Keira, and Tess when the duo of vulgarity appeared before us.
"You blokes wanna do a little run through the bush? Over the city an' through the woods, so to say?" Kliever asked, me frowning at the duo angrily.
"You know, I was having a nice time in these events until you two showed up. And Vegar?" I said, getting the evil rat's attention. "If you say anything about my Maria being a dark eco freak? Then you will be Kiki's next meal, no buts about it. Understood, you little weasel?" I growled at him angrily, Vegar frowning at that, as per what I expected.
"I know enough not to say that directly to you of all people. And besides, I don't hate children. I just hate anything having to do with Dark Eco, and that includes you, Jak, and your two Dark Eco-filled children," Vegar growled, me debating whether or not to spit directly onto his face or not.
"We just wanted to let ya in on some of the action in the race comin' up at the City Outskirts of Haven. Makes ya go through the Forbidden Jungle, then through that New Stadium sector, directly through the volcano, an' then through the jungle again. You're free to come with if ya want," Kliever smirked at me with his breath smelling worse than ever, me actually gagging at it.
"Cripes, man! Do you even know the meaning of the word toothpaste?! Your breath smells like you ate a piece of Leaper Lizard that got sprayed on by a bunch of Skunkoons," I gagged angrily.
"Peh, yellow an' always will be! C'mon, runt, let's get to that race," Kliever said to Vegar as I then said one thing to get him to stop in place.
"Why are you so interested in joining a bunch of criminals to try and kill us anyways, Kliever? I don't remember getting on your bad side at all," I frowned at him, Kliever then turning around at me angrily with a grimace of anger on his face.
"Since I don't wanna swear in front o' the tyke, I'll keep it brief and censored for ya, Nelly. When you were married to Praxis, you sent me to the Wastelands shortly after your guards killed me wife with that horrible program that turned you an' that Jak feller into dangerous beasts. So ask me again what you did to get. On. Me bad side!" Kliever growled, me only then realizing that much... and he was right. But also wrong at the same time. And not only that, but he said that Praxis and I both did it? That was one thing that I hated above anything else. When others said I was just as horrid as Baron Praxis.
"You're right, Kliever. We did send you to the Wastelands all those years ago... however, the part about your wife being tortured and killed with that Dark Eco experimentation? I had no knowledge of it until a year after you were banished, which is when I was then put up for testing. And I did it willingly as well as step down as Baroness. So here's what I'll say to you, Kliever. Don't lump me in with that horrible Baron ever again. Because, keep in mind, while you're big and burly, I've got claws, Dark Eco powers, and I can use Light Eco as well. So either we reach a mutual agreement that we're just rivals and forget the past, or we can go a round right here and right now," I said with a growl as I then held my hand and forced it to grow the giant claws on it as I then dipped them into my root beer, causing it to become pure Dark Eco shortly after, which I then handed to Maria for her to drink, since that was what she required for food. Why did she eat Dark Eco instead of regular food? Because she was the daughter of two Dark Eco mutants and also because she hadn't been weened from it yet... and besides, if she didn't have a glass of it every month or so, she'd become incredibly ill.
"Peh, fine. Rivals only. But I ain't forgivin' anythin' from ya for what yer husband did to me wife. If ya really wanted to, ya could've stopped his horrible deeds before all those deaths. Or at the very least, make sure that some of them prisoners didn't die instead of stay cooped in jail for a year straight while hundreds were killed," Kliever growled, me actually not having a comeback for that. Because he did have a good point about that. I learned how to control my Dark powers much faster than Jak did, within only a month of imprisonment, but I didn't dare break us out beforehand, even though I very easily could. Kliever then left and I looked at my daughter and she sighed.
"Do I have to cover my ears again, mommy?" she asked, me nodding at that. She then covered them and I proceeded to shout at the top of my lungs just out of rage. But at myself for a change, me curling my fists in and out as I then got a call from Rayne on the communicator.
"Sasha, there's a few more events around now. One's a Circuit Race in the City Outskirts of Haven City, then there's a Death Race in Kras City, and then a Circuit race in the Badland Sanctuary, which is in the wasteland and Precursor temple of Spargus," Rayne said, me sighing afterwards.
"I'll sit this one out for now... I'll opt for the next GP qualifier when we get a couple more gold medals. I need to calm down for right now," I growled angrily, picking up Maria and having us leave the restaurant after leaving at least ten Power Cells behind as a tip and payment, which was worth roughly a thousand Precursor Orbs for each one. I just wanted to show my gratitude for them not kicking me out after getting into that verbal exchange with Kliever and Vegar.
"Why does Vegar hate Dark Eco, mommy?" Maria asked out of curiosity.
"Because it's got a bad reputation, Maria... it is a very dangerous substance if used by the improper people. Once you were born, you were filled with Dark Eco... so daddy and I had to inject you with a good dosage of Light Eco to prevent you from being killed from all that toxic stuff inside of you," I said, Maria then holding her arms around my neck for a hug, me smiling at her little arms consoling me.
"It's okay, mommy... I know you didn't mean to hurt anyone when you were the Baroness... I may not have been around, but I know you didn't want them to die... you just didn't have a good moment to escape until daddy broke from his chains, right?" Maria asked, me sighing at that.
"But I could have escaped at any point in time... but I didn't want to do so until an opportune moment played forth... mine and Jak's cell was always watched over by Errol when he was bad, so when he and Baron stepped out of the room together, it just so happened to be at the same time that they neglected to get someone to watch our cell... and when Daxter saved all of us," I said, Maria smiling at me.
"I really hope I can be as cool as Daxter one day. He's smaller than me, but he's tougher for sure," Maria said, me smirking at how she said that.
"Okay, I think I'll tell that to right to him, then. He'd be super happy to learn that he has someone who thinks he's cool," I smiled as Tess hopped on my shoulder with worry.
"You okay yet, Sasha?" she asked, me nodding at that.
"Yeah, I'm fine now... Maria has a way of making me calmed down when Light Eco can't do the trick. You're just so cute and precious, darling," I smiled at her as I then nuzzled my nose to hers and she giggled. And when we got back to the hotel, we then saw that we'd gotten all three of the gold medals, meaning that we were primed for a Grand Prix qualifier at the Glacier Alley. I handed Maria to Jak and smiled at him. "Tell Daxter that Maria thinks he's cool and wants to be as cool as him one day. Her words, not mine," I smirked, Jak smiling at that and nodding as I then went to the garages and hopped into my vehicle for the Green Eco cup, that being the Street Grinder. It was a very cool car that was super fast while also being quite the tank! I went off to the races and saw that my opponents were Kliever, a guy I'd learned was named Shiv, Vegar, Fridgion, and Taryn while my allies were composed of Errol and Marigold, who was currently in her Muse form. The lights then flashed on and off before then signaling for us to jet off the starting line, me rushing through the first part of the race with force, seeing that I was in a very unique part of the Icelands we hadn't seen as of yet.
Then, color me surprised when, near a third of the way through the race, I ended up in a portion of the Timberline Track, only I was going backwards on it! And all the while, Mizo's goons were trying to connect numerous missiles at me, which I had to use Red Eco wisely to get rid of them until I then let loose a fire slick right when we got to the narrow jump over the Mountaintop Highway. And after I laid it down, I heard multiple explosions happen shortly after! And when I crossed the finish line, I saw that the only one to survive the trap was Taryn, who survived due to having a Eco Construct acting as a barrier!
"You've got some real talent, miss Sasha. I expect nothing less from the heroine of the world," Taryn smiled at me.
"Well, I'd like to take all the credit, but I can't. If it weren't for Daxter, Jak, and Errol, I'd never have had the strength to even reach that Maia chick in space," I admitted.
"Humble, eh? That's a good trait to have. If you ever want a side job, Osmo's got a new business in the ways of pizza delivery," Taryn said, me sticking my tongue out at her for that.
"Apologies, but I don't want to look like a dork by delivering pizzas when I'm strong enough to break open a steel door with just my claws," I said to her with a playful pout.
"I understand. By the way, I was joking. Osmo's really hiring people to help with relocating Lurkers to safe havens outside of the reach of civilization. Mostly because they deserve their own life away from slavery," Taryn smiled.
"Now that's a job I could get behind, but only after this tournament is over. I hope you understand," I smiled at her.
"But of course," she smirked as I then went back to the garages via the teleporters and saw that Daxter was putting some finishing touches onto the armor plating of his Daxtermobile with Jak and Keira watching him.
"Now that I've finished adjusting my Daxtermobile, it'll be the fastest and toughest car in the entire competition!" Daxter smiled as Jak simply looked annoyed.
"Right, did you put on two coats of wax or just one?" Jak asked.
"One... but that'll make it go much faster!" Daxter said, me smiling at him.
"Well, it's always best to lather twice... unlike these two who are coming in to wreck my mood into a brick wall again," I growled when I saw Kliever and Vegar come through the door from their side of the garage.
"'Allo, boggers. I wanted to let ya know there's an event goin' on at the Kras Coliseum. Artifact Racin' is becomin' a world-wide sport after them rats came outta hidin' and my score beat all the competition," Kliever smiled.
"Bravo for you. Slow, sarcastic clapping initiated," I said like a robot as I then clapped my hands slowly, loudly, and with much sass.
"I just wanted to let ya in on the action. Go ahead and give it a burl! We'll be the ones laffin' from the stands!" Kliever smiled as he then turned around and smirked at me before then giving me the cutthroat gesture, me snarling at him as I then grabbed a wrench and looked at him with a cocky smirk.
"Taking aim... arming missiles... targets sighted. Permission to fire, Daxter?" I asked, him smirking at that and saying it for me... but just a bit too late, as the door then closed as the two went through it without another word.
"FIRE!" he exclaimed, me then throwing the wrench just for the fun of it, me smirking afterwards.
"Targets out of sight... powering dooooowwwnnn..." I said as I then faked that part and Jak finally started to chuckle at my stupid jokes. "I've been practicing with Maria as my audience and she loves my work," I smiled.
"I know, I've had to hear it when I was trying to take a nap on a couple occasions," Jak smiled at me.
"Okay, so now we have at least 42 medals, so we only need 3 more events to win before the Grand Prix," I said with a smile.
"I think you should go prove to those assholes that you can get more artifacts than they can in the Kras Coliseum. In the meantime, I'll go participate in the Circuit Race in Haven City with Torn and Ashelin," Jak said with a cocky grin as he then got into the car and proceeded to the teleporter ahead of me. "And as for me, I heard there's a Freeze Rally at the Canyon Run, so I'm going to roast it with my Daxtermobile... after I put on another coat of wax," Daxter smiled, me shaking my head at that.
"You do know that Jak was kidding, right?" I smirked, Daxter smirking at that. "You go break that record and get us a gold and we'll be all golden for the final round of the Green Eco Cup, Dax," I smiled at him as I then got in my car after it finished getting repaired and proceeded to the arena to show those Wastelander assholes how a Dark Eco Freak could be faster and deadlier than anyone else.