(In some obscure location, well-hidden from prowling snipers..)

(skipping around the room) I am a genius, I am a genius..

Vader: Is there any point in asking-?

Necralis: I got a High Distinction in the NSW English Compo! Hear that, Angelus? You were flaming a PRIZEWINNER! (pokes tongue out at the winged menace) YAHAA! (does a happy dance) I am smart, I'm a superbrain, I wonder if I'm smarter than Dib? (walks off thinking and bangs into wall) WHEE! CHAP 6!! I kinda think this ones purdy dull, cause of da lack o action - its just got lotsa sneakin' about. And.. some.. other stuff. Oh, and please do not kill me over what I did with Keira. She will be fine. I PROMISE. (Puts on a distinctly furtive expression.)

Vader: (Grinning) but you can't make the same promise about -

Necralis: (Pulls out dual handguns and points them at the muse's nose.) Care to finish that sentence?

Vader: (going cross-eyed as he stares down the twin barrels - his grin goes slightly watery) You know, I think I just lost my enthusiasm.

Necralis: (Puts away handguns) Wise choice. (Nod) Now. Read. And voo. It'll only take a few minutes of your time to press that happy little button and enter some probably sugar-crazed babbling. But it makes me HAPPY!! With capital letters! MANY capital letters! PANCAKES! YAHAA! SQUEE! (One of Kai's pink and evil things appears from nowhere and lodges itself in her head - Necralis falls over, a slightly deranged grin still on her face.)

**DISCLAIMER** We don't own stuff. Ya know, Jak, Daxter and them. I own Versca and Necris. Kyren owns other people. Thanky so much for the voos we have received so far - to a grand total of 23! Nobinoir, Amandaxter, Shark, Becca, Kiz, and Lady Tsuru, we couldn't have done it without you. (Sniff).(If I missed anyone, I'm sorry, I suffer from Cerebral Porosity Syndrome). (Nod) Angelus-Zion, keep vooing. Point out my mistakes so that I can sob, then try and fix 'em. Come ooooon, I dare ya! Angelus is a chicken, Angelus is a chicken.. buk buk bukuk! Oh yeah.. any thing in 'these' marks is thoughts. "These" marks are speech - I still haven't worked out how to get the damn ff.net website to register Italics. This - * - means a gap in time or the start of a dream, whilst this - ~ - means the start and finish of the chapter.
- ~ -

Chapter 6: Shadows

Feeling as though he was in a dream, Jak reached out his hand to press the button that opened the door from this side. Just as the tips of his fingers brushed it, he almost choked as someone grabbed a hold of his collar, jerking him backwards.

"What do you think you were doing?!" Vester said furiously, "Do you want us to get found?"

Jak struggled against the taller man's grip, trying to yell to Keira, tell her he was here..

Vester clapped his hand over Jak's mouth, ignoring the noises of protest Jak was making. "You just keep your mouth shut, blondey, you're supposed to be listening in! Whatever you heard, whatever you may hear, stay put!"

Another voice spoke from the other side of the door, this one female, high- pitched.

Keira's voice.

"He's got blonde hair and blue eyes, also a blue tunic. Whatever you do, don't let him get too close, that spin-kick of his packs a nasty punch. Ylaster, don't stop to give him one of your speeches, you'll just get a face-full of knuckle."

"Ylaster the Mighty takes no orders from a blue-haired upstart! All shall perish! Ylaster the Mighty is the master of Dark Eco, slayer of thousands, taker of cities! All shall perish!"

Silence followed this fairly ridiculous speech, on both sides of the door. In that time, Versca, Karok, Lethra, Daxter and Mir turned up, each carrying their respective weapons for some inexplicable reason. Jak couldn't understand why they all looked so tense, Keira was on the their side, she wouldn't hurt them..

"Necris." The sharp voice was speaking again. "Stop swapping weapons like that, it's distracting for the other Shadows."

A faint, disturbing giggle was heard. Versca's mouth fell open. "Switchy switchy, back and forth, up and down and inside out." This voice was also female, sounding slightly insane. Then suddenly, it changed, becoming calm and almost maddeningly reasonable. "If you want me to stop, you'll have to bisect me, and I don't think you plan to do that anytime soon."

Versca nudged Mir and hissed something in her ear. Mir's eye's widened. "You're sure?" Versca nodded.

"Go, everyone. We need to get to a position where we can see these people. Hurry! And for god's sake, Jak, Versca, be quiet! No matter who you think is out there, no matter what happens, don't show yourself!"

Vester put his hand up and whispered, "There's a little manhole, in the ceiling of the other corridor. I checked it out, and there's a little slit that lets you see into the central part of the city."

Daxter looked suspicious. "How do you know about that?"

Vester rolled his eyes. "I explored, weasel-boy. While you and blondey were snoring your gobs off. You sort of run around and look at things?"

"I think the only thing you'd ever explore would be your-"

Fortunately, Daxter was cut off as Jak put his hand over his mouth and raced to beat Versca to the hole. Jak, being shorter, was a little faster, but Versca's life had revolved around being agile and fit. She reached the hole first, wrenched the cover off, vaulted into the hole beyond and started crawling rapidly along the tunnel.

It took her about five seconds to realize she didn't need to crawl. The tunnel was dark, true, and musty, but it was large enough to stand in. Jak had not taken defeat - he had also clambered up through the hole, leaving Daxter to complain loudly about being left behind.

She glared at him for second, then slumped. "Come on, let's go see what we can see, eh?"

Jak nodded. "Sounds good."

They raced together along the tunnel, having to duck occasionally to avoid protruding Eco pipes. They ran lightly to prevent the Precursor Metal from making its usual echoing 'Bong!' as their feet came down. This time, Jak reached the destination first; a slit in the wall that looked out over the second large chamber in the city. The one that had, until recently, contained a pair of Scout Flies imprisoned in tubes.

"Shove over, I wanna see,"

"There's no one there-"

"There will be, move it-"

"Keep your hands to yourself-"

The distinctive sound of footsteps on Precursor Metal cut short their argument, and they both jammed their eyes up to the slit, cursing occasionally as elbows dug into stomachs.

Someone wearing a black bandana and carrying a very large stick stepped into the chamber, scanning for any sign of movement. They were followed by a second person - someone with strange-looking hair, black and long on one side and short blonde streaked with violet on the other.

Versca gasped and her left hand flew to her mouth, while her right fumbled for support against the wall behind her. "Necris- oh god, Necris-"

"See anything?" one of the people in the chamber (bandanna person) was speaking to the other, her voice drifting up to their peephole.

"The air and the water and all the sweet little fishy-wishies-" it was the insane-sounding girl they'd heard next to the door.

The bandanna'd girl (clearly a girl) whacked Half'n'half across the head.

"I said, do you SEE anything?"

Half-hair sheathed the dagger she had been holding and drew a long sword out of the holster on her back. She inspected it calmly, and when she answered, it was the calm, reasonable voice she had answered the leader with. "Nothing you can't see, such as hidden passages and fugitives. Whose this kid we're supposed to be looking for again?"

"Jerk or Jek, something like that. The mistress and master want him- can't think why, when they've got us."

"Did it occur to you that it might be for something other than enhancement?"

"What do you.. Oh. Now I get it."

"Yeah they might want him for - tea parties, with Mr snake and Mrs Elephant- " Half-hair had put away her sword and pulled out the dagger again.

"Could never make up her mind." Versca whispered softly. "Always switching back and forth.."

Jak shot her a puzzled look and noticed that there was a glitter in her eyes, reflecting the light from the slit in the wall. He reached out to her in concern, not sure what, if anything, he could say to comfort her - and then wheeled around and jammed his eye back to the slit, because someone else had just entered the chamber. Two people, in fact. One was a short man wearing a stupid hat - it looked like he had a blob alien nesting on his head. The other had dark blue and green hair. She wore a tattered, skimpy white shirt and longish, purple pants - but the sliver of skin that he could see wasn't the usual colour. It was a sickly grey-blue, rather like the shade of Gol and Maia's skin.

He let his eyes rove between the four people in the chamber, and realized that they were all like that - all had strangely coloured skin and purple streaks in their hair. Three of them were also dressed in purple and black clothing, like a kind of uniform. But the forth - the girl with green-blue hair - she was very familiar..

Keira?

But Keira was his friend - more than his friend - she wouldn't be taking orders from such obviously evil people.

Would she?

The short man in the ridiculous hat turned and stared at the chamber. He was wearing a black hip-cloak that he was holding across his shoulders, like a shawl. On someone - anyone - else, it might have looked impressive, but with this guy, it just made him look stupid.

"Ylaster believes that there is no one here. Ylaster thinks they departed before the might and horror of his most terrifying self! For Ylaster is the evilest, most terrible, most nasty being in the history of the world!" Then, as an afterthought, he added, "All shall perish!"

Half-n-half changed weapons yet again. Behind Jak, Versca hiccupped. "If Ylaster does not desist in giving speeches about his most mightiest self, then Necris will be forced to remove his most mightiest head."

The girl who-could-be-Keira shook her head. "I'm sure he's here. He has to be here! Where else would he be? That rodent who hangs around with him-"

"-Is not our concern. We have to find the boy. I'm sure - positive - that he would try to go against the Master and Mistress. He's supposed to be a hero. He would try to even the score."

"You didn't know him, you stick-wielding bandanna freak! Anyway, only fools are positive."

"You sure about that?"

"I'm po- shut up! I know he's here!"

The girl that-could-be-Keira cast her gaze around the chamber one last time, and for a single, brief, heart-stopping instant, her eyes rested directly on Jak's. Green. They were still green, those eyes, but they burnt with the strange cold fire he had seen in the eyes of Gol and Maia.

But it was Keira. There could be no doubt. She had the same hairstyle, the same clothes, the same hands and eyes and nose. Even the same goggles. But she was not Keira. She had become an agent of Gol and Maia.

A Shadow of the Eco that covered his world.

All the horror, all the sorrow, all the grief and fury and guilt he felt from the instant he looked into those familiar eyes, it all converged into one huge dark wave that swept him away into a corner of his mind. He stood up, staggered, lost his balance and crashed to the floor, banging his head on one of the protruding Eco pipes.

He heard Versca give one startled gasp, then everything went black.

*

..since I made you, I can destroy you..

..such a part of this..

..eventually kill you..

'What is going on?'

Jak thought he opened his eyes; at least, that's what it felt like. His first impression was one of dull colour, and when his vision cleared, he could see flickering swatches of colour that danced and swirled like butterflies. He stretched out his hand to touch one, to see what it felt like, but it darted out of his reach. He could hear faint echoes of speech, fading in and out like a badly tuned radio, but they were fuzzy and indistinct.

He couldn't remember hearing any of this in his lifetime.. but it still seemed vaguely familiar, like memories from a childhood he had long forgotten..

..crying out for protection..

..the stone - in my hands..

And then something cold and wet splashed across his face.

Sputtering, he opened his eyes - it had been a dream, after all - and stared into Mir's concerned face.

"I think that did it," she said to a resigned-looking Ptek.

"Hey, I never said I cared what happened to him. Did I say I cared about what happened to him?" he directed this question towards Versca, who didn't answer. He looked wildly around for someone else to complain to and found no one - Vester, Lethra, Karok, Trax and Daxter were asleep.

"You don't care what happens to him, so you stayed awake just to see whether or not he had brain damage and tried your best to follow my instructions to wake him up. Then you asked whether it was even a good idea to wake him up, as the shock he'd just experienced might be dulled if he stayed asleep for while."

"Yeah, well.. we, uh.. wouldn't be able to get into this part of the city if he died.."

Mir didn't even grace this with a response, instead turning back to Jak, who tried to get up and promptly fell over again because of a gargantuan headache.

"Don't try to get up for a little while, you've managed to get yourself quite a lump, and you sure as heck don't want another one. I decided to wake you up when this lot-" she indicated the sleepers with a wave of her hand "-couldn't pester you with questions."

Jak slowly sat up again and felt his head - there was indeed a large lump and the lens of his goggles had been shattered.

"Where are-"

"They're gone. The blue-haired one and the bandanna girl argued for a while, but I think they've decided to report to their bosses and see what happens. Hey - I wanted to ask you - whose Keira?"

"How do you know about-"

"Karok told me. He can - uh - never mind. She sounds like she was important to you."

"She - is. Was. I don't know. She's my friend."

"Your friend, eh?"

He glared at her. "Don't make fun of it. She's the blue-haired girl you were talking about."

"So why was she taking orders from-"

"I don't know. The same reason Versca's a muttering wreck, I think."

Mir glanced over at Versca, who was sitting with her hands around her knees and rocking back and forth, mumbling very fast under her breath.

"Necris - the switching girl, the one who kept saying weird things - Versca knew her. She was a circus performer too; she was an acrobat. You're not the only one confused about your friends. Although," said Mir in a concerned voice, "She seems taken it much harder than you did."

"I'm - used to - failure."

Mir looked back at him and noticed the expression of utter misery on his face. Her voice became soft and comforting. "The odds were stacked ridiculously high - I mean, one kid against a giant robot? - Just another question, er.. no offence, but why did you even try?"

"Samos."

"What?"

"Samos. The Green Sage. Keira's his daughter. He - he asked me and Daxter to go and destroy the robot. He said we were real heroes - so, we had to try at least." Jak paused. "I really felt like we could do it for a little while. It felt - I dunno - right. Now, everything feels wrong. Like - something's missing, been left undone."

"Yeah," said Mir, and for a moment, she looked as though she knew something. "This whole thing's felt wrong from the start."

- ~ -

Kyren: Dammit, Necralis, where are you?!

Shalashaska: She seems to be able to teleport.

Kyren: She's always been able to do that.

Shalashaska: Oh, and where's your power of teleportation then?

Kyren: I swapped it for..something.

Shalashaska: Really? I don't supposed you'd tell-

Kyren: Nope. Anyway, please voo! I've lost Necralis! But I think she teleported thataway (motions to somewhere off in the distance) .

Shalashaska: How do you know?

Kyren: Special powers! Now, let's get down to business..

Shalashaska: I'm right behind ya, Kyren!

*Kiz, Lady Tsuru, if you want to claim these cameos, you'll have to email a description to my address at pyrotekchic@yahoo.com.au . You are to be members of the shadows, so be evil! (Nod) so, it's long, ain't it? But could you voo, please?

Oh.. yeah.. mistake number 1: a morning-star is just a normal mace, not an elongated one. (blushes) my brother read this and started berating me for making him look stupid. I'm sorry, I'm such a fantasy buff, I have trouble telling the difference between truth and reality. (yes, it's meant to say that.)