I is terribly sorry to have you waiting so long. Bad Necralis, Bad! (slaps self in the head) Ouch! We bought Futurama season two and watched it and it completely melted my brain through being so good. Of course without even the rudimentary mush that I call my mind, I was unable to write the fic, but with much Coke, many lollies and an unhealthy amount of sugar, I recovered. Let me bring you up to speed. Kyren is in there, (points to a warehouse) the door is locked, she's got some new project that she won't tell me about AND SHE TOOK THE PS2 IN THERE WITH HER!! (kicks the warehouse door and turns into Dark Necralis out of sheer frustration)

Vader: Where the buggery did you find that ability?

Dark Necralis: Oh, you know..(inspects claws) just.. pulled a few strings.

(in the background, the Baron Praxis can be seen nursing several broken fingers and toes)

(Dark Necralis attacks the door, gouging deep gashes in the metal, but it still won't open.)

Vader: Aaah, just forget it and give the readers a chapter.

Dark Necralis: (turning back into normal Necralis and staggering) oooh.. I can see why Jak wants revenge against the Baron. That form gives you a major brainfreeze.

Vader: and speaking of brainfreezes..

Necralis: um.. these terms are turning my brain upside down, so could ya please clarify them for me? Call me a stupid noob if you like, but I would like to know.. I also don't watch much anime, sorry. I've had a sheltered life.

OOC: I know what an OC is, but what is an OOC? A typo? I'm confused..

Mary Sue's: Angelus-Zion said she hated these..

Hope ya can tell me.

**DISCLAIMER** Ahem.. What do you call a boat full of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? (Waits for a second) A good start! (Dead silence. Necralis sighs) Well, I thought it was funny. Jak and Daxter - Naughty God's - I mean - Dog's. Necris and Versca - mine. Lady Ubegi belongs to Lady Tsuru and Sierra belongs to Kiz (congrats!). Everyone else - Kyren's. Also, voo. Thank you to our regular readers and all others who click that button! And.. [I] a test [I/] Now, onwards! Onwards with teh show!

- ~ -

Chapter 7: Shoot First

"Are you sure it's not poisonous?" said Jak, inspecting the green-skinned fruit in his hand.

"Yes, I'm sure. Ptek ate one yesterday, and he hasn't dropped dead yet," sighed Mir.

"But it might be slow-acting poison."

"Oh, don't be so bloody paranoid," said Versca, though the words were hard to decipher because her mouth was crammed full of something blue.

Jak continued to eye the fruit suspiciously and Mir sighed again. "Well, if you're not gonna eat it, give it here. I need target practice."

Jak handed the fruit over, eager to see more bow expertise. Mir took the fruit, eyes falling for a moment on the spectacular bruise over his left eye and cheekbone. It was starting to heal (thanks to Lethra and her weird smelling lotion) but it would still be quite a while before the poor guy would look normal. Ptek was supposed to be working on fixing his goggles, but the guy had been locked in his workshop for the past few days, ignoring knocks on the door and throwing spanners at any one who dared enter.

As she walked over to a far spot on the grass, Versca swallowed her mouthful and said, "Isn't it lucky we found this place?"

"Huh?" Jak was too busy watching Mir judging angles to construct a coherent reply.

Versca waved her hand at the conservatorium, a large, glass-walled room with Eco-pipes supplying Green Eco to sustain the plants. "I mean, the passage. It had every thing we needed, weapons, food, a place to hide.."

"Your point being..?"

"It's almost made for us. Like the Precursors knew we were going to come here and find it. You don't find that strange?"

Jak smirked. "Now who's being paranoid?" he said, then shrugged, looking around at the peaceful, plant-filled chamber. "After I saw my best friend clamber out of a pool of Dark Eco covered in orange fuzz, my definition of strange was kind of.. changed. A lot. I don't really worry that much about good luck, because it can be taken away from you the moment you stop to think about it."

This time, Versca smirked. "Ooh, so wise and all. Must be a side effect of being a prophecy fulfiller." She stretched and yawned, lying back on the soft grass. "I guess you're right."

Mir walked back to them, having placed the unwanted fruit on a patch of grass around fifty feet away. She picked up her bow from the ground, then bent it with practiced ease and strung it with a bowstring she had pulled out of her pouch. She plucked the string to test that was tight enough - it made a musical 'twang'.

Carefully, she nocked an arrow, pulled it up, aimed and -

Jerked and shot it into the roof as someone let out a loud, strangled yelp.

Versca sat bolt upright and stared at the doorway of the chamber - Ptek was running through the door, wild-eyed and clutching a long, metallic device in his hands.

He raced towards them, babbling incoherently. Mir put down her bow and grinned at the frenzied mechanic as he waved his arms in the air as though he was drowning. Jak stared at him quizzically - the guy was way too excited about a thing that looked like part of a fishing rod.

"Hey, Ptek-man." said Versca.

Ptek seemed to take this as a demand for explanation - he dropped his arms to his sides and started babbling again, only this time it was a little more understandable.

"This is a yellow Eco launcher - there were a couple of blue-prints in the workshop, so I put this together."

"A - a yellow eco launcher? You mean a gu-gun?" Jak was staring at the Eco Launcher with a look of confused recognition.

Ptek rounded on him, looking amazed. "You - you've seen one of these before?"

Jak started muttering specifications under his breath - it was as though he'd memorized them sometime before. "YEP Blaster. Hard to get. They're a little out dated now.."

Ptek looked really confused now. "How.. how the hell?"

Versca raised an eyebrow. "A good question. Hey, Jak, where've you seen one of these things before?"

"I haven't. I've never seen one of these before in my life.."

"Then how the HELL do you know what it is?" Ptek exploded.

"I - I don't know." Jak's face was wearing a puzzled frown, as once again the feeling of wrongness permeated him. He shouldn't be here.. he should be hurtling through a glittering tunnel of blue light, the wind whipping his hair back..

What?

"I think maybe Samos showed me a picture of something like this.." A total lie, but necessary to stop them staring at him.

Mir, unconvinced, continued to look at him as though he was a very hard sum.. she couldn't figure him out, but if she did, it would explain a lot. Ptek, though, grunted and turned away, suddenly wild with excitement once more.

"Look at what this thing does. You just hold it like this, see-" he placed one hand on the barrel and the other on the trigger. "-and you pull this bit here and.."

Ptek didn't have to explain it any further, as with a metallic WHOOSH a huge ball of Yellow Eco shot out the end and splashed against the roof. Versca's eyes grew extremely wide, and with a maniacal grin she extended a hand and said, "I have GOT to try this thing."

Ptek reluctantly handed it over. Versca squinted foolishly down the barrel, her finger way too close to the trigger. Just then Trax raced through the door yipping loudly and causing Versca to jerk and accidentally pull the trigger. Fortunately Jak reacted fast enough to slap it away from her face, the Eco flashing past, singeing a few silver-red hairs but nothing worse.

Versca stood in a shocked stupor, her green eyes large as saucers and her mouth hanging open. Ptek gently pulled the Eco Blaster from her slackened grip, which woke her up enough to say, "I think I'll stick to knives," before sinking slowly onto the grass.

Mir beamed. "Great job, Ptek. This'll be really useful."

Ptek reddened slightly. He opened his mouth to say something modest, but what came out was "Meeeeeh." Clearly he wasn't used to compliments.

Sniggering slightly at Ptek's reaction, Mir patted Versca gently on the head and said, "It's all right, Vercky, the nasty Eco didn't hurt you," before having to run for her life through the door of the chamber as Versca gave chase.

*

Sierra, a pretty young girl with hair of purple streaked orange, flicked the tiny screen on her wristcom upwards, before tapping a small blue button. The com crackled to life as she spoke into it: "Shadow reporting."

A woman's voice came crackling over the com, slightly distorted but still recognizable as Maia. "Ah, Sierra. Nice to hear from you. Have we found our little friends yet?"

"No, Mistress. We searched the Temple and the City, as well as Rock Village. They weren't anywhere there."

Maia's tone was pleasant, but suddenly it took on an icy edge. "Are you sure you were looking hard enough?"

Sierra shivered, although it wasn't cold. "We searched all the rooms, the area around your Citadel. Nothing."

"Did you take the Trackers?"

"Well, no. With all due respect, Mistress, the Trackers are hard to.. control."

"I have dealt with that problem."

"But, Mistress-"

"Are you questioning my orders?"

Sierra took a deep breath. "No, Mistress. Never."

"Okami is en route to your position as we speak. He is young, but he has.. talent. Be sure that he is well protected."

"I will guard him with my life if necessary, Mistress."

"Double-check all the areas you have searched. I want that pair found."

"As you wish, Mistress. I will tell Kyra to up her patrols. The boy will be in our hands by tomorrow."

"See that he is, Sierra. Or I will be forced rethink your leadership of the Shadows."

Sierra nodded, although she knew Maia would not be able to see her. "As you wish, Mistress."

A loud click from the com announced the end of the conversation.

*

"Got any threes?" said Jak.

Daxter stared at the cards in his hand for a long moment.

"Go fish," he said finally. "Got any nines?"

Jak pulled a card out of his own hand with an exaggerated sigh and handed it to the weasel, who punched the air and screeched with triumph.

Mir slapped him round the head. "Keep it quiet! There are decent people trying to sleep around here!" She waved a hand at Karok, who was tossing and muttering to himself in his sleep. Most of it was gibberish, but there one or two understandable phrases.

"The - second.. Shiner.. should the First fail.. there will always be another.."

A loud 'clang' interrupted Karok's sleep talking as Ptek threw a spanner at the panel he was immersed in.

"What's the problem, Mechana-man?" said Daxter.

"Who the hell built this thing?" Ptek yelled, picking up the spanner and whacking it against the wires.

Mir raised an eyebrow. "Um.. probably the Precursors, Ptek."

"Well, it's no wonder they no longer exist!" aid Ptek furiously. "Their electronics are bloody impossible!"

At that moment, Versca wandered in, looking tired. "Watcha doing, playing the drums? How's a girl supposed to think with all this racket going on?"

Ptek yanked a yellow wire out of its housing and waved it about. "I'm TRYING to figure out how to turn the bloody lights off so we can get some bloody decent sleep! But there's so many bloody wires I don't know which one to-"

As Ptek was talking, the lights flickered slightly. Then, without warning, they all cut off with a crackling 'ping!'

The room was plunged into darkness, the only light a faint greenish luminescence coming from outside the room.

"Wonderful," said Versca's voice acidly. "This is just how we wanted to end up."

Ptek felt his way to the panel, his fingers tracing the shapes of the edge, a button, some wires..

"I think I got it! Just gotta connect these two and - YEOOWW!"

The was a loud 'BZZZZT' and the room was briefly lit up by blue light as a bolt of Blue Eco snapped out and knocked Ptek backwards. Versca raced over and knelt next to him, just as the rest of the lights in the city flickered and went out.

"Are you alright? That was some zap."

Ptek shook his head to make the buzzing go away. It didn't work. "I think so, I-"

Versca got up abruptly and walked away, saying over her shoulder, "Good, 'cause I don't have time to baby-sit."

Ptek leapt to his feet. "Now wait just one second-"

Versca probably smirked, but it was hard to tell in the gloom. "Made ya look."

At this point, Lethra stumbled in and Karok jerked awake. "Ooookay, who turned out the lights?"

"It was Ptek." Mir pointed to where she thought the mechanic was standing.

"I'm over here, actually."

"Who said that?"

"I DID!"

"Who's me?"

"You are!"

"What?"

"Can I go home?"

"Okay, okay, the first thing we need to do is SHUT UP!" Mir's voice, typically taking charge.

"Its.. dark. I don't like the dark.." Daxter, his grating high-pitched voice shaking slightly.

"Don't worry, weasel-boy, the monsters won't get you." Versca, mockingly sympathetic, then ruining it with, "But I will!"

Ptek fumbled his way back to what he thought was the panel, which was lit with occasional sparks of Eco.

"Oy, Lethra, give me that Yellow Eco vial."

Lethra fumbled in her pouch and produced a crystal vial similar to the one she had used to heal Jak, only this one glowed bright yellow in the darkness.

"Now all you gotta do is get over here without - oof!"

"What'd you trip on?"

"Trax, I think.. get down, girl. Yeah, it's definitely Trax. Trax, go over there. Now, Stay. Stay, girl."

Getting bored, Lethra tossed the Eco vial carelessly towards Ptek, who caught it just on the tips of his fingers. He edged back to the panel and held the Eco Vial close to the wiring, inspecting the damage.

"Crap, this is gonna take half the day to fix. The outer circuit is fried, and the inner circuit's gonna need a lot of work."

"But can you fix it?" Mir sounded edgy.

"Of course I can! After all I am a genius," Ptek replied, sounding a bit too sure of himself. "But it might take a while. Oh well, at least we can sleep now."

"We'll all just close our eyes and go to sleep. And in no time at all, it will be tomorrow, and we'll all have been ripped apart by Diya because no one was on watch."

Jak squinted in the direction of the speaker's voice, and by the faint reflection of light on metal, he figured it might be Versca.

Ptek held up his hands and accidentally whacked Mir in the nose. "OK, I am not hearing a lot of support for the sleep thing, so how about we just sit around and stare at the wall?"

"I have an idea." Jak said softly.

"Ooh, Jak has an idea. Quiet, everyone, prophecy boy wants to say something."

Jak wanted to slap Versca but he couldn't get close enough without looking obvious. "I want to know.. how you people ended up down here. How you managed to escape the Eco. And it's pretty plain that Versca wasn't always around you guys.. how'd you meet up with her?"

Mir muttered, "It's a long story."

Jak smiled broadly and sat down. "Good." he said simply.

Mir looked at Karok and Lethra, pleading for help, but they just backed away. Daxter was grinning - he liked stories and he also liked watching people getting humiliated when he wasn't. With a very resigned sigh, Mir sat down and motioned for the others to do the same.

"It started off as the most normal day you could imagine," she began. "Ptek had only broken three spanners and Lethra only had to heal two people who'd been attacked by the Whiskrats. It started getting wierd when Karok wanted to leave the village.."

- ~ -

**ADVERTISMENT**

A rousing tale of adventure, drama and insanity starring Jak, Daxter, Keira and.. MANGO FETT! It's all you've ever wanted IN SPACE!!!!

Jak and Daxter IN SPACE!!! (Part II coming soon!)

(end of ad)

Kyren: So yeah, read that. Well hasn't this been fun? It's taken almost a month to write this. But fortunately Necralis got her inspiration back. This is a transition chapter and it WILL get better.

Shalashaska: Hey ah, where'd you get that thingy? (points at thingy)

Kyren: I thought I said I swapped my teleportation power for it. It's a JET- board! I got a warehouse with ramps and stuff to do tricks on!

Shalashaska: Oh.. good. Well, both Kyren and Necralis finished Jak II, no help, no cheats, NOTHING!! I did too.

Kyren: Well I don't think Necralis will mind if I tell you the next chapter will be called 'Ask questions later' so ah, Shoot first, ask questions later. Get it? I hope so.