(readers enter a large arena. There are several smoking craters in the
walls, floor and ceiling. Stepping cautiously around what looks like the
wreckage of a very large cannon, they creep into the arena, although
they're not sure what they're afraid of. Suddenly, Necralis leaps out from
behind a pillar and begins loosing blasts from her dual handguns. The
readers run for cover, until she realizes who she is shooting at and lowers
her weapons.)
Necralis: Ooops. (smiles sheepishly) sorry about that. Eh heh heh heh, sometime during this long running battle I managed to write Chapter 5. Enjoy! Hey, have you peeps seen Kyren? She's trying to kill me. (in response to the readers questioning looks, she pulls a brightly coloured PS2 game case out of her Harry Potter backpack. It is labeled 'Jak II'.) I managed to get a hold of it, but I need to get to the PS2. She's hiding somewhere up high, trying to snipe me whenever I get too close to it.
(as if to punctuate this statement, a laser sight flickers across her face. In a panic she ducks, conjures a Red Eco shield, then hollers "VADER!" as several bullet holes appear in the wall above her.)
Vader: (stepping from nowhere) Yars?
Necralis: Did you find him?
Vader: (grinning smugly) Uh huh. (he snaps his fingers and the Baron Praxis appears from nowhere, wrapped in chains.)
Necralis: (straightening up and giggling evilly) Goody. All right then, my dear Praxis. I have a proposition for you. (aims one of her handguns right between his eyes. He begins to sweat and the screen goes black.)
**DISCLAIMER** Versca - mine. Jak and Daxter - Naughty Dog's. Everyone else - Kyren's. Jak II: Renegade - mine. MINE ALONE!!! YOU HEAR ME, KYREN?!? AH HAH HAH HAH.. (hack, choke, cough..) Thanks muchly to Lady Tsuru, Shark and Amandaxter. Voo more, plz? Oh, and uh.. there will probably be Jak II references scattered through out this fic due to its sheer and utter coolness. Okay, cherries. Let the fic continue!
Jak II: The Darkened Path. (man, I've just noticed what a lame title that is. Cameo to the one who thinks up a better one..)
Chapter 5: Familiar Faces
"Stop doing that, Daxter."
Corridor and more corridor. That was all they had encountered so far. Jak wouldn't have believed a secret passage could be so very dull, but the complete lack of anything even remotely exciting was making him want to alternately swear and kick things. Daxter's constant attempts to relieve his own boredom by leaping off Jak's shoulder plate and swinging on his hair weren't helping things.
Finally, after a particularly ambitious swing led to some of his hair being pulled out by the roots, Jak grabbed the ottsel by the tail and held him out over Trax's nose. "Here you go, girl. A brand new chew-toy."
Daxter wailed, Trax leapt and Jak, smirking, deposited the weasel back on his shoulder. Daxter glared at him. "That was downright evil, Jak."
Jak rubbed his head, wincing. "No more than ripping half my scalp off. I think I'm going to have bald patches for the rest of my life."
"Whiner."
"Egotist."
"Oh, gods, would you pair just shut up. Have you ever just sat down and listened to yourselves?" Mir was walking behind them, and every time they had one of their arguments, she'd make sudden movements towards the nearest wall.
Daxter looked at her oddly. "Uh.. no, actually. The whole breathing thing gets to me after a while. In, out, in, out. You gotta have more in life, ya know?"
"Daxter."*
"Like left and right. Or up. Now there's a man's direction. Down's for sissies. Forward and back are okay if you like that sort of thing, but up. Give me that any day."
"Daxter."
"Women like a guy who goes for up. March of progress and all that - ark!"
Daxter toppled face first onto the ground and his goggles fell off, while Jak tried to look innocent and failed miserably.
"When you lot are done bickering.." Vester began.
Mir muttered "Like that's ever going to happen."
"You'll notice this godforsaken corridor has come to a halt."
He was right. The long, loooong, boring corridor had come to an abrupt end. Did we mention it was long? In front of them was a wall, carved deeply with pictures and Precursor Script. The pictures were disturbing - there were carvings of cities like the one they were in now, teeming with life instead of silent and deserted. There was one of a pair of creatures - one tall and humanoid, one hunkered down and animal-like. They looked like they were fighting. The one next to it had the animal-like creatures destroying the cities and killing the taller creatures. Lower down, there was what looked like a lone humanoid placing a glittering object into a wall. The last was merely letters, which presumably told the story of what happened in more detail.
Vester walked forward and traced the letters with the tip of his finger, mouthing the words as they came to him. Eventually he stood back, a puzzled frown on his face.
"I don't get it."
"Gee, thanks for enlightening us, we would never have figured it out without your help," said Ptek in a testy voice.
"It says - it says - something that sounds like a prophecy.."
"Foretelling what?" Versca said curiously.
" 'In ancient, dreamless, uninvaded - sleep? I think its sleep..the silent giants wait to be awakened.. something, something.world has no memory of their..beginnings..then a whole block of something that is definitely not Precursor Script..I can't read it. Um.. the one who carries the..light? Laughter? No..it's light. That's right. Will awaken the voices..uh..with him.. one whose fate was..twisted..by..by darkness long ago..in the..time before time.. and then something else about light and answers..." He shrugged helplessly. "that's all I can make out. What do you guys reckon?"
"I reckon it's a load of gibberish," said Ptek helpfully.
"I wouldn't have expected anything more from you, I meant Jak here. Since he's supposed to be all special," Vester added with a leer. "Know anything about this?"
"Er.. I think Samos told me something about this once.. he's read some of the writings of the Precursors.. but they were never complete, and he was always trying to get us to look for more. Not that we ever listened to him."
"Sounds a bit like you, I reckon."
Jak turned to Versca, his mouth hanging open. "What?!"
"I had a chat with one of those Oracle things once. Didn't really tell me much.. just stuff about how I didn't have the light within.. yadda yadda yadda. But it always referred to Eco as 'The Light'. So, for someone to have 'the light within' I think they'd have to be good with eco. And the twisted by darkness part.. didn't you say you knocked weasel-boy into some Dark Eco?"
Jak bristled. "It was an accident!"
"Whoa, whoa, I believe you, don't get your ears in a knot, but Dark Eco could be called Darkness, couldn't it?"
Daxter thought about it. "I 'spose.."
"So, Jak carries the light within and Weasel-boy was twisted by darkness. But then it's all going on about awakening giants and all that crap. Never awakened a giant, have you, blondey?"
"There Iwas/I the Precursor Robot, wasn't there?" Daxter said brightly.
"Shut up." Jak said quietly.
"Well there was!" Daxter whined, sure that, for once in his life, he wasn't saying anything wrong.
"Just don't say.."
"Don't say what?"
Mir had joined their argument, staring curiously from one to the other. "Is it somehow your fault we have to hide in here?"
"It's.." Jak couldn't tell her. He couldn't. But she was staring at him with those big blue eyes. She had saved his life twice now. She deserved the truth. Hating both himself for failing and Mir for being so goddamn perceptive, he gritted his teeth and forced the words out from between them. "It is my fault. Sort of. I.. was the first to find out what Gol and Maia were doing.. hell, they came right up and announced it to us. Me and Daxter.. and Samos and Keira.. we were trying to find a way to cure Daxter. Samos told us to go and talk to Gol, he's the sage of Dark Eco.
"But.. he was insane. The Eco drove him over the edge, I think.. but anyway, he and his sister Maia were going to open the Precursor silos and use it to reshape the world. They rebuilt a Precursor robot to do it with.. but just before they launched it, me and Daxter forced our way into their citadel. We fought it.. I had to use Yellow Eco to hit it.. and I think I would have managed it too, but.." he now looked thoroughly miserable, and would have given anything he owned to stop them all from staring at him.. " I fell. From the top of the silo. I was.. saved, by some freaky girl popping from nowhere.. and then I met Mir. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here. Some prophecy I turned out to be," he added with a rather pathetic attempt at a smile. "I would give anything to go back..to put it right.. but.. I know I can't. I would say sorry.. but I don't think it'll help much."
He turned away, mainly to avoid their stares, but then Mir did something he would never have expected. She hugged him.
"It's not your fault. You tried. I don't think any of us would have the courage to even face up to something like that, let alone admit that they failed."
The others didn't seem to be taking that rather more cheerful viewpoint. Ptek was now looking at him as though he had changed into a giant spider, Versca was wearing a very silly expression of disbelief, and the others had similarly 'cheerful' outlooks.
"How come I don't get a hug?" Daxter demanded. Then he grinned. "Or a kiss. I'm not choosey." He puckered up.
"I think I'd rather kiss a Lurker snake." Mir said brightly.
Lethra, contrary to all the others, had ignored the entire conversation and was poking nervously at the wall. While Ptek and Versca started arguing about which one would get to shoot Daxter (with loud and vicious protests from the Ottsel in question), she made a soft call that everyone but Karok ignored. He followed her pointing finger - she was indicating a tiny hole in one of the carvings. Karok poked at it. Instantly the carvings cracked, split, then moved a part, leaving a wide space that led into - you guessed it - more corridor. But this was different. There were doors leading off it, doors labeled in Precursor Script, a strange, hooked style, with sweeping letters. There was a 'Workshop', a 'conservatory', and an 'armory'.
Incredibly, Vester, Ptek, Versca, Jak, Daxter and Mir were still arguing, egged on by loud yaps from Trax, who appeared to be rooting for Ptek. It took a couple of taps on the shoulder from Lethra, a bellow or two from Karok and a screech contributed by Daxter (after Karok stood on his foot) to get their attention, and when they did, they weren't exactly happy.
"You better have a very good reason for-" Mir began. Then she stopped and stared in utter amazement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Karok said happily. "I may have just solved all our problems."
*
The new corridor hadn't exactly solved all their problems, such as the fact that the world was covered in Dark Eco, and that Daxter was still a weasel, and Jak was still riddled with guilt at having failed, (not to mention he still hadn't found Keira) but it did solve the immediate, nagging problems. For example, the conservatory was full of plants. Plants with fruit on them. Mir's not-terribly-enthusiastic warnings about poison were drowned out by Ptek's bellow of "FOOD!!" as he raced across the grass and started inhaling anything that looked even remotely edible.
The Armory was full of weapons. Lots and lots of weapons, from bows and arrows, to swords, to daggers (Versca started drooling and still hadn't stopped playing with a hooked knife made of Precursor Metal) and very strange looking devices that Jak figured out were Red Eco Shields after decoding the writing on them and banging one against a wall. Vester pounced on a ridiculously long sword with a curved handle and started twirling it round and round (he had already nearly decapitated Mir twice) and Karok favored a Morningstar*, which he kept taking out, weighing in his hand and putting back on his belt. It was only after Versca had threatened to make him eat it that he put it away for good. Lethra chose some thin silver knives and tested them on some of Trax's fur, earning many loud and furious insults from Ptek after she shaved a few hairs from the mutt's tail. Jak showed Mir some arrows with heads made of Precursor Metal, but after examining one from end to end she pronounced them "too light," and placed them back on the shelf.
The Workshop, as well as being insanely cluttered, reminded Jak painfully of Keira, because it was full of all the sorts of things she had loved to mess with. There was everything from screwdrivers to welders, even a tiny furnace in one corner. Amazingly, plans covered almost every available space, slightly yellowed from age but completely intact. Ptek had knocked Lethra over in his haste to get in there. Mir informed Jak that he was a mechanic; he loved almost anything made of metal. He had even built a vehicle once - he had called it a 'Swifter', but it had been powered by Blue Eco and the second it was started up, it had shot forward, crashed into a wall and blown up. After that he had focused mainly on smaller things, like watches and communicators. "If you say the word 'swift' in his hearing," Mir told Jak, "He gets tears in his eyes and locks himself in his workshop for hours."
By the time they had inspected every corner of every room, they chose one of the largest and set up some beds. Vester lent Jak a couple of blankets and gave one to Daxter, which Jak folded up and put next to his head. "He's afraid of the dark," Jak informed Versca when she enquired.
"Well guess what," Ptek said gloomily. "No lamps, so we can't blow them out. No lights, so we can't switch them off. Not even shutters, for god's sake. So, boys and girls, we are sleeping in full daylight until I can figure out how to turn these damn things off." A chorus of moans and swearwords greeted this statement.
Jak shrugged and yawned. "I don't care if we have to sleep on Sentinel Beach on a stormy night, I'm so ver-very-" he had to stifle another huge yawn, "tired. I'm stuffed. I want to sleep. Now."
And with that he flopped onto his bed. Within a minute he was breathing deeply.
*
Jak didn't know what time of day it was. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was with Keira, and she was safe. And happy. She was watching a bird drop out of sight behind the cliff.
"Keira - I.."
She turned to him and smiled. "Yes Jak?"
Those words had always stuck in his throat. Yet somehow, now, he could say them.
"I love you."
"That's nice."
That reply didn't fit. He'd thought she'd say "I love you too." But it was still kind of a confirmation, so he was happy enough. He hugged her, holding her close as if to protect her from harm. He whispered very close in her ear, "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
She smiled again, only this time it was incredibly sad, like the eyes of the White Girl who had rescued him from falling. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Jak." Then she simply evaporated into swirling red mist.
Jak's eyes widened as the mist surged forward and wrapped around his arms, his legs.. desperately he struggled, but it only wrapped tighter, crushing the air from his lungs. He opened his mouth to scream, and it coiled into his mouth, burning, sucking away oxygen -
"Jak! IJak/I! Wake up!"
(N&V: is that..? it is! FLUFF! Cool!)
"Snor-Wha..?!?" Jak opened his eyes blearily, then immediately closed them again because the light was making them hurt.
"Don't you go back to sleep, you blob, you gotta get up NOW!" Mir's voice yelled in his ear.
Jak forced his eyes open again and mumbled something that even he didn't understand. Karok was staring at him.
"Who's Keira?" he asked curiously.
"She's - she's - what? How did you-?"
"No time for that, god, guys, get yourselves together!"
"What's the big hurry?" Ptek moaned. His bandanna had slipped over his eyes and he was trying to recall the correct movements to pull it up again.
"I heard - while I was on watch - damn, we've gotta hide! Damn you, Vester, get UP! Get you sword.. " and with that she raced out of the room, tripping on blankets and half dragging Jak with her.
As he managed to wake up properly he said "Mir - What-?" She was taking him towards the Blue Eco door.
"Just.. be quiet, stay here, you listen, I'll get the others.. no, stay here." Just as quickly as she'd arrived, she left, leaving Jak to stare after her, mystified. As he looked back towards the door, he heard deep echoing footsteps, then a sharp voice rapping out orders.
"Kyra, Necris, you go down that passage, Ylaster, put that thing DOWN. Keira, you check down this way and don't try to fight them on your own if you find them, call for the others. Ylaster, I'm not going to warn you again.."
Had that voice said-?
It had. Keira. Keira was in the city.
(kyren is, it turns out, high up in a tower in the centre of the arena. She is kneeling down, squinting through the high-powered zoom scope of her rifle. Shalashaska is bouncing around, offering 'encouragment'.)
Shalashaska: shoot her shoot her shoot her..
Kyren: Shala..
Shalashaska: shoot her shoot her shoot her..
Kyren: (in a warning tone) Shala..
Shalashaska: shoot her shoot her shoot her..
(kyren jumps up and hits him over the head, knocking him out.)
Kyren: (kneeling down again and muttering) now I've lost her.. ah ha! There she is! Now.. Necralis.. gun.. Jak II. Hey, What the-?
(Necralis simply vanishes, taking the Baron with her.)
Kyren: (leaping up and throwing down her rifle) God damn it! Now I have to go and find her.. (looks at camera) okay, okay, fine maybe I'll let her win just this once..
(a large bucket of slime appears over her head and pours itself everywhere, drenching Kyren. Kyren shrieks and races out the door, looking murderous. Shalashaska wakes up, then follows her, throwing the words, "VOOOOOOOOO!!!! PLEASE!" back at the camera)
*I kinda stole that from Aaron Allston's X-wing novels. Only he says, "Wes,"
*A morningstar is a kinda elongated mace: it looks a bit like a round hairbrush. (thanks to my brother for informing me of this)
Necralis: Ooops. (smiles sheepishly) sorry about that. Eh heh heh heh, sometime during this long running battle I managed to write Chapter 5. Enjoy! Hey, have you peeps seen Kyren? She's trying to kill me. (in response to the readers questioning looks, she pulls a brightly coloured PS2 game case out of her Harry Potter backpack. It is labeled 'Jak II'.) I managed to get a hold of it, but I need to get to the PS2. She's hiding somewhere up high, trying to snipe me whenever I get too close to it.
(as if to punctuate this statement, a laser sight flickers across her face. In a panic she ducks, conjures a Red Eco shield, then hollers "VADER!" as several bullet holes appear in the wall above her.)
Vader: (stepping from nowhere) Yars?
Necralis: Did you find him?
Vader: (grinning smugly) Uh huh. (he snaps his fingers and the Baron Praxis appears from nowhere, wrapped in chains.)
Necralis: (straightening up and giggling evilly) Goody. All right then, my dear Praxis. I have a proposition for you. (aims one of her handguns right between his eyes. He begins to sweat and the screen goes black.)
**DISCLAIMER** Versca - mine. Jak and Daxter - Naughty Dog's. Everyone else - Kyren's. Jak II: Renegade - mine. MINE ALONE!!! YOU HEAR ME, KYREN?!? AH HAH HAH HAH.. (hack, choke, cough..) Thanks muchly to Lady Tsuru, Shark and Amandaxter. Voo more, plz? Oh, and uh.. there will probably be Jak II references scattered through out this fic due to its sheer and utter coolness. Okay, cherries. Let the fic continue!
Jak II: The Darkened Path. (man, I've just noticed what a lame title that is. Cameo to the one who thinks up a better one..)
Chapter 5: Familiar Faces
"Stop doing that, Daxter."
Corridor and more corridor. That was all they had encountered so far. Jak wouldn't have believed a secret passage could be so very dull, but the complete lack of anything even remotely exciting was making him want to alternately swear and kick things. Daxter's constant attempts to relieve his own boredom by leaping off Jak's shoulder plate and swinging on his hair weren't helping things.
Finally, after a particularly ambitious swing led to some of his hair being pulled out by the roots, Jak grabbed the ottsel by the tail and held him out over Trax's nose. "Here you go, girl. A brand new chew-toy."
Daxter wailed, Trax leapt and Jak, smirking, deposited the weasel back on his shoulder. Daxter glared at him. "That was downright evil, Jak."
Jak rubbed his head, wincing. "No more than ripping half my scalp off. I think I'm going to have bald patches for the rest of my life."
"Whiner."
"Egotist."
"Oh, gods, would you pair just shut up. Have you ever just sat down and listened to yourselves?" Mir was walking behind them, and every time they had one of their arguments, she'd make sudden movements towards the nearest wall.
Daxter looked at her oddly. "Uh.. no, actually. The whole breathing thing gets to me after a while. In, out, in, out. You gotta have more in life, ya know?"
"Daxter."*
"Like left and right. Or up. Now there's a man's direction. Down's for sissies. Forward and back are okay if you like that sort of thing, but up. Give me that any day."
"Daxter."
"Women like a guy who goes for up. March of progress and all that - ark!"
Daxter toppled face first onto the ground and his goggles fell off, while Jak tried to look innocent and failed miserably.
"When you lot are done bickering.." Vester began.
Mir muttered "Like that's ever going to happen."
"You'll notice this godforsaken corridor has come to a halt."
He was right. The long, loooong, boring corridor had come to an abrupt end. Did we mention it was long? In front of them was a wall, carved deeply with pictures and Precursor Script. The pictures were disturbing - there were carvings of cities like the one they were in now, teeming with life instead of silent and deserted. There was one of a pair of creatures - one tall and humanoid, one hunkered down and animal-like. They looked like they were fighting. The one next to it had the animal-like creatures destroying the cities and killing the taller creatures. Lower down, there was what looked like a lone humanoid placing a glittering object into a wall. The last was merely letters, which presumably told the story of what happened in more detail.
Vester walked forward and traced the letters with the tip of his finger, mouthing the words as they came to him. Eventually he stood back, a puzzled frown on his face.
"I don't get it."
"Gee, thanks for enlightening us, we would never have figured it out without your help," said Ptek in a testy voice.
"It says - it says - something that sounds like a prophecy.."
"Foretelling what?" Versca said curiously.
" 'In ancient, dreamless, uninvaded - sleep? I think its sleep..the silent giants wait to be awakened.. something, something.world has no memory of their..beginnings..then a whole block of something that is definitely not Precursor Script..I can't read it. Um.. the one who carries the..light? Laughter? No..it's light. That's right. Will awaken the voices..uh..with him.. one whose fate was..twisted..by..by darkness long ago..in the..time before time.. and then something else about light and answers..." He shrugged helplessly. "that's all I can make out. What do you guys reckon?"
"I reckon it's a load of gibberish," said Ptek helpfully.
"I wouldn't have expected anything more from you, I meant Jak here. Since he's supposed to be all special," Vester added with a leer. "Know anything about this?"
"Er.. I think Samos told me something about this once.. he's read some of the writings of the Precursors.. but they were never complete, and he was always trying to get us to look for more. Not that we ever listened to him."
"Sounds a bit like you, I reckon."
Jak turned to Versca, his mouth hanging open. "What?!"
"I had a chat with one of those Oracle things once. Didn't really tell me much.. just stuff about how I didn't have the light within.. yadda yadda yadda. But it always referred to Eco as 'The Light'. So, for someone to have 'the light within' I think they'd have to be good with eco. And the twisted by darkness part.. didn't you say you knocked weasel-boy into some Dark Eco?"
Jak bristled. "It was an accident!"
"Whoa, whoa, I believe you, don't get your ears in a knot, but Dark Eco could be called Darkness, couldn't it?"
Daxter thought about it. "I 'spose.."
"So, Jak carries the light within and Weasel-boy was twisted by darkness. But then it's all going on about awakening giants and all that crap. Never awakened a giant, have you, blondey?"
"There Iwas/I the Precursor Robot, wasn't there?" Daxter said brightly.
"Shut up." Jak said quietly.
"Well there was!" Daxter whined, sure that, for once in his life, he wasn't saying anything wrong.
"Just don't say.."
"Don't say what?"
Mir had joined their argument, staring curiously from one to the other. "Is it somehow your fault we have to hide in here?"
"It's.." Jak couldn't tell her. He couldn't. But she was staring at him with those big blue eyes. She had saved his life twice now. She deserved the truth. Hating both himself for failing and Mir for being so goddamn perceptive, he gritted his teeth and forced the words out from between them. "It is my fault. Sort of. I.. was the first to find out what Gol and Maia were doing.. hell, they came right up and announced it to us. Me and Daxter.. and Samos and Keira.. we were trying to find a way to cure Daxter. Samos told us to go and talk to Gol, he's the sage of Dark Eco.
"But.. he was insane. The Eco drove him over the edge, I think.. but anyway, he and his sister Maia were going to open the Precursor silos and use it to reshape the world. They rebuilt a Precursor robot to do it with.. but just before they launched it, me and Daxter forced our way into their citadel. We fought it.. I had to use Yellow Eco to hit it.. and I think I would have managed it too, but.." he now looked thoroughly miserable, and would have given anything he owned to stop them all from staring at him.. " I fell. From the top of the silo. I was.. saved, by some freaky girl popping from nowhere.. and then I met Mir. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here. Some prophecy I turned out to be," he added with a rather pathetic attempt at a smile. "I would give anything to go back..to put it right.. but.. I know I can't. I would say sorry.. but I don't think it'll help much."
He turned away, mainly to avoid their stares, but then Mir did something he would never have expected. She hugged him.
"It's not your fault. You tried. I don't think any of us would have the courage to even face up to something like that, let alone admit that they failed."
The others didn't seem to be taking that rather more cheerful viewpoint. Ptek was now looking at him as though he had changed into a giant spider, Versca was wearing a very silly expression of disbelief, and the others had similarly 'cheerful' outlooks.
"How come I don't get a hug?" Daxter demanded. Then he grinned. "Or a kiss. I'm not choosey." He puckered up.
"I think I'd rather kiss a Lurker snake." Mir said brightly.
Lethra, contrary to all the others, had ignored the entire conversation and was poking nervously at the wall. While Ptek and Versca started arguing about which one would get to shoot Daxter (with loud and vicious protests from the Ottsel in question), she made a soft call that everyone but Karok ignored. He followed her pointing finger - she was indicating a tiny hole in one of the carvings. Karok poked at it. Instantly the carvings cracked, split, then moved a part, leaving a wide space that led into - you guessed it - more corridor. But this was different. There were doors leading off it, doors labeled in Precursor Script, a strange, hooked style, with sweeping letters. There was a 'Workshop', a 'conservatory', and an 'armory'.
Incredibly, Vester, Ptek, Versca, Jak, Daxter and Mir were still arguing, egged on by loud yaps from Trax, who appeared to be rooting for Ptek. It took a couple of taps on the shoulder from Lethra, a bellow or two from Karok and a screech contributed by Daxter (after Karok stood on his foot) to get their attention, and when they did, they weren't exactly happy.
"You better have a very good reason for-" Mir began. Then she stopped and stared in utter amazement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Karok said happily. "I may have just solved all our problems."
*
The new corridor hadn't exactly solved all their problems, such as the fact that the world was covered in Dark Eco, and that Daxter was still a weasel, and Jak was still riddled with guilt at having failed, (not to mention he still hadn't found Keira) but it did solve the immediate, nagging problems. For example, the conservatory was full of plants. Plants with fruit on them. Mir's not-terribly-enthusiastic warnings about poison were drowned out by Ptek's bellow of "FOOD!!" as he raced across the grass and started inhaling anything that looked even remotely edible.
The Armory was full of weapons. Lots and lots of weapons, from bows and arrows, to swords, to daggers (Versca started drooling and still hadn't stopped playing with a hooked knife made of Precursor Metal) and very strange looking devices that Jak figured out were Red Eco Shields after decoding the writing on them and banging one against a wall. Vester pounced on a ridiculously long sword with a curved handle and started twirling it round and round (he had already nearly decapitated Mir twice) and Karok favored a Morningstar*, which he kept taking out, weighing in his hand and putting back on his belt. It was only after Versca had threatened to make him eat it that he put it away for good. Lethra chose some thin silver knives and tested them on some of Trax's fur, earning many loud and furious insults from Ptek after she shaved a few hairs from the mutt's tail. Jak showed Mir some arrows with heads made of Precursor Metal, but after examining one from end to end she pronounced them "too light," and placed them back on the shelf.
The Workshop, as well as being insanely cluttered, reminded Jak painfully of Keira, because it was full of all the sorts of things she had loved to mess with. There was everything from screwdrivers to welders, even a tiny furnace in one corner. Amazingly, plans covered almost every available space, slightly yellowed from age but completely intact. Ptek had knocked Lethra over in his haste to get in there. Mir informed Jak that he was a mechanic; he loved almost anything made of metal. He had even built a vehicle once - he had called it a 'Swifter', but it had been powered by Blue Eco and the second it was started up, it had shot forward, crashed into a wall and blown up. After that he had focused mainly on smaller things, like watches and communicators. "If you say the word 'swift' in his hearing," Mir told Jak, "He gets tears in his eyes and locks himself in his workshop for hours."
By the time they had inspected every corner of every room, they chose one of the largest and set up some beds. Vester lent Jak a couple of blankets and gave one to Daxter, which Jak folded up and put next to his head. "He's afraid of the dark," Jak informed Versca when she enquired.
"Well guess what," Ptek said gloomily. "No lamps, so we can't blow them out. No lights, so we can't switch them off. Not even shutters, for god's sake. So, boys and girls, we are sleeping in full daylight until I can figure out how to turn these damn things off." A chorus of moans and swearwords greeted this statement.
Jak shrugged and yawned. "I don't care if we have to sleep on Sentinel Beach on a stormy night, I'm so ver-very-" he had to stifle another huge yawn, "tired. I'm stuffed. I want to sleep. Now."
And with that he flopped onto his bed. Within a minute he was breathing deeply.
*
Jak didn't know what time of day it was. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was with Keira, and she was safe. And happy. She was watching a bird drop out of sight behind the cliff.
"Keira - I.."
She turned to him and smiled. "Yes Jak?"
Those words had always stuck in his throat. Yet somehow, now, he could say them.
"I love you."
"That's nice."
That reply didn't fit. He'd thought she'd say "I love you too." But it was still kind of a confirmation, so he was happy enough. He hugged her, holding her close as if to protect her from harm. He whispered very close in her ear, "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."
She smiled again, only this time it was incredibly sad, like the eyes of the White Girl who had rescued him from falling. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Jak." Then she simply evaporated into swirling red mist.
Jak's eyes widened as the mist surged forward and wrapped around his arms, his legs.. desperately he struggled, but it only wrapped tighter, crushing the air from his lungs. He opened his mouth to scream, and it coiled into his mouth, burning, sucking away oxygen -
"Jak! IJak/I! Wake up!"
(N&V: is that..? it is! FLUFF! Cool!)
"Snor-Wha..?!?" Jak opened his eyes blearily, then immediately closed them again because the light was making them hurt.
"Don't you go back to sleep, you blob, you gotta get up NOW!" Mir's voice yelled in his ear.
Jak forced his eyes open again and mumbled something that even he didn't understand. Karok was staring at him.
"Who's Keira?" he asked curiously.
"She's - she's - what? How did you-?"
"No time for that, god, guys, get yourselves together!"
"What's the big hurry?" Ptek moaned. His bandanna had slipped over his eyes and he was trying to recall the correct movements to pull it up again.
"I heard - while I was on watch - damn, we've gotta hide! Damn you, Vester, get UP! Get you sword.. " and with that she raced out of the room, tripping on blankets and half dragging Jak with her.
As he managed to wake up properly he said "Mir - What-?" She was taking him towards the Blue Eco door.
"Just.. be quiet, stay here, you listen, I'll get the others.. no, stay here." Just as quickly as she'd arrived, she left, leaving Jak to stare after her, mystified. As he looked back towards the door, he heard deep echoing footsteps, then a sharp voice rapping out orders.
"Kyra, Necris, you go down that passage, Ylaster, put that thing DOWN. Keira, you check down this way and don't try to fight them on your own if you find them, call for the others. Ylaster, I'm not going to warn you again.."
Had that voice said-?
It had. Keira. Keira was in the city.
(kyren is, it turns out, high up in a tower in the centre of the arena. She is kneeling down, squinting through the high-powered zoom scope of her rifle. Shalashaska is bouncing around, offering 'encouragment'.)
Shalashaska: shoot her shoot her shoot her..
Kyren: Shala..
Shalashaska: shoot her shoot her shoot her..
Kyren: (in a warning tone) Shala..
Shalashaska: shoot her shoot her shoot her..
(kyren jumps up and hits him over the head, knocking him out.)
Kyren: (kneeling down again and muttering) now I've lost her.. ah ha! There she is! Now.. Necralis.. gun.. Jak II. Hey, What the-?
(Necralis simply vanishes, taking the Baron with her.)
Kyren: (leaping up and throwing down her rifle) God damn it! Now I have to go and find her.. (looks at camera) okay, okay, fine maybe I'll let her win just this once..
(a large bucket of slime appears over her head and pours itself everywhere, drenching Kyren. Kyren shrieks and races out the door, looking murderous. Shalashaska wakes up, then follows her, throwing the words, "VOOOOOOOOO!!!! PLEASE!" back at the camera)
*I kinda stole that from Aaron Allston's X-wing novels. Only he says, "Wes,"
*A morningstar is a kinda elongated mace: it looks a bit like a round hairbrush. (thanks to my brother for informing me of this)
