If it weren't for that blonde lunkhead, I wouldn't be in the state I am now. Two feet tall. Covered in orange fur. Considered an overly large rat by most, a cute little pet by others. A pet! Jak's so far from perfect, it ain't even funny. He couldn't even save me, the pathetic tag-along. The annoying one. The loud-mouthed liability.
It's not fair, I tell you! All I wanted to do was keep him friggin' happy. I'd follow Jak anywhere - even that Lurker-infested hellhole known as Misty Island. That familiar, scheming smile played across his features as he glanced over the water towards it, knowing Samos would be thoroughly enraged were we to travel to the one place he'd forbidden us to go...
Of course, looking back on it now, ol' green-gramps probably forbade it specifically so that we WOULD go. In later days I met the Shadow as an Ottsel, after all. Hah! I bet ol' log-noggin got the shock of his life when he arrived in Sandover with the kid to find kid-me completely unfurry!
...Anyway. We went to Misty Island, because Jak wanted to. Was I supposed to let him go by himself to a place like that? Huh?
And look where it got me! He pushed me into Gol and Maia's vat of Dark Eco- I know he didn't mean to, I know, but he still did- and I was turned into this. Higher on the food chain than baby chicks and slugs, at least. I guess. Jak ruined any chance I might have had- I mean...
All I wanted was for him to be happy.
"Fine. As long as you're still willing to hurt the Baron, I'm your man." Jak shot a cynical grin across the table to Torn, the light of the lamp casting deep shadows on his face. Jak's smile these days sends a shiver down my spine - and no, I'm not talking about good vibes, here! I'm talking about the creepy, wanting-to-run-away-to-my-happy-place kind. The stuff nightmares are made out of, on the deepest nights when you're all alone in an unfamiliar place, where everything you knew has been lost to the darkness that surrounds you.
Frig! I should be a poet!
Torn said something-or-other in reply while I hopped back onto my friend's shoulder guard. Something dripping with sarcasm, I'll bet. That guy is in serious need of an attitude adjustment.
"So. Where are we being ordered off to now?" I leapt into Jak's hair, leaning out and over his forehead. "No, no, let me guess! We get to go to... THE SEWERS! I'm sure there's some filth-encrusted goodie hidden in its deepest," I wiggled my fingers for effect, "darkest, dankest, most dangerous -"
Jak interrupted me mid-sentence. He frowned as the door to Torn's hideout slid open, but my vantage point turned that frown upside-down. HAH! I have to save that one for later! "You mean you didn't hear a word Torn said?"
"Uhh..." I skulked back to my usual perch to avoid forceful contact with the door frame as we stepped outside. "No."
"And you didn't insult him once?" It was more of a statement than a question, really.
"... I guess not. So?"
"Either you're learning when to shut your mouth, which I seriously doubt -" he had to raise his voice over my howl of protest - "or you've got something on your mind. C'mon, Dax. Spill." Jak looked genuinely concerned, which for some reason set me off.
"Something on my mind? SOMETHING ON MY MIND? Oh, let's see! We've been tossed into a future so dark and dreary even YOU'VE been turned into an angsty, bloodthirsty MONSTER, and YOU'RE ASKING ME WHAT'S WRONG?!"
The concern melted to hurt and the hurt was quickly masked by anger, that anger that was always lurking just behind his eyes when he was acting carefree or happy or otherwise NORMAL.
Jak is not normal.
Not anymore.
"Whatever," he growled, jumping onto a zoomer as an excuse to break eye contact and cease conversation. He paid no heed to its terrified occupant, shoving her roughly out of the driver's seat and onto the ground some twelve feet below.
That's what I'm talking about. What happened to MY Jak?
But, somehow, deep down... Even though I know it's wrong, that I was wrong... I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied and almost happy with the way Jak is now.
He turned me into this.
In return, I helped him turn into... that.