Please note this chapter was written in October.)
Ekobean Author's Note: So yeah, the girls finally got me to do the author note (under pain of prodding and Eko-bashing). So here it is. This chapter took us a while to think of, but I think we're doing well seeing as how Naughty Dog delayed the release date until NOVEMBER! Anyway please enjoy this new chapter and enjoy my never-ending suffering at the hands of a red hawk and a sister who's made of shadows, you sick, twisted bastards.
Disclaimer crap: We don't own squat. Bring in the dancing monkeys! -Dancing monkeys come in and dance-
Eko's POV
The sun was high above our heads by the time we had figured out how to work the dune buggies. I was sitting in the back seat rubbing the ugly purple lump that was forming where K'sani had bashed me with that friggin' water basin.
Stupid K'sani.
I was gazing absent-mindedly back at the gathering of ramshackle huts and buildings that was Spargus City. As the city disappeared into the dust kicked up by our extraordinarily loud vehicle, I couldn't help but feel a sense of fear grow in my stomach. Here we were in the middle of nowhere driving God-knows-where without knowing if we had even brought the proper amount of preserves. Sure, we brought a couple of bottles of water and some cooked lizard, but that was it.
Shadowsister was driving at the moment, doing her fair share of wheelies and doughnuts. K'sani was sitting in the passenger seat bombarding Shady with insults and the occasional "You can't drive worth shit!" comment. Why couldn't Shady just accept K'sani's theory that we were in the video game? I mean come on; Damus was there for Christ's sake! As far as I knew there weren't any pointy-eared tribes living in a desert on Earth.
The hot sand that filled air was blowing into my face. I shut my eyes tight and ducked behind the seat, coughing any excess sand that had found its way into my throat.
"You sound like you need a cough drop, Eko," K'sani yelled back to me.
"Didn't I tell you not to talk to me?" I screamed back at her. K'sani shrugged and turned around.
"Holy shit! Look out!" Before I could even ask what was wrong, we were airborne. I could already tell what had happened. Shady, seeing a thrill had driven us off a dune. A particularly high dune, apparently.
We hit the ground with unbelievable force. I bounced out of my seat and hit my head on the metal bar above me. I fell sideways in my seat clutching my skull, teeth gritted.
"Sorry, Eko," Shady said sweetly. I just groaned.
Time passed. After what seemed like an eternity, we began to hear the distant sounds of engines.
"Oh no, it's Damus! He's following us!" K'sani yelled.
"I told you stealing this thing was a bad idea!" I yelled at Shady.
"We commandeered it!"
The engines were growing closer and closer. It was unbelievable how quickly the residents of Spargus were catching up to us.
"Keep going!" All of a sudden, several dune buggies pulled in front of us out of nowhere. However, they weren't like the one I was in. They were low to the ground and covered with some kind of tarp. The wheels were spiked and had an overall wicked appearance.
Shady brought us to a screaming stop.
The doors of the dune buggies opened up, and we all gasped in shock. We knew what they were. Marauders.
There were four of them per vehicle. Each one was of pale complexion, and about seven feet tall. They wore primitively carved masks, and bore double-sided halberds. Slowly they began to encircle us on foot, their wicked blades held tightly in their sweaty hands.
"Uh...Eko? You think you could hold them back?"
"What?" I stuttered. "How?"
"Oh God," muttered Shady, "Mounted machine gun, idiot. Look above you."
I obeyed. I had no idea how I missed it. Sitting right on the bar where I had hit my head was a long, rusted machine gun, amazingly similar to a Vulcan.
"Whoa..." slowly I raised myself up and clutched the firing mechanism. The Marauders stopped abruptly, staring at us. "Yeah!" I yelled, spinning the machine gun around. "Yah, who wants some?"
The Marauders looked at each other and then abruptly charged. Everything happened in a single blur. I was spinning around, gunning down Marauders left and right. Most of them were too fast even for the gun. They dodged left and right, swinging their halberds with savage cries.
Shady slammed on the gas without warning. Of course, I was thrown out of the buggy. I landed with a loud thump and rolled several feet. Why me? Why was it always me? I shook my head and rose to my feet, only to find myself standing face-to-chest with a Marauder. The enormous elf looked down at me through his mask and laughed. He began to raise his halberd. I ducked and covered my head, waiting for the fatal blow to come, but it never did.
I cautiously looked up to see that none other than Damus had stopped the Marauder in mid-swing. Damus was staring face to face with the Marauder. He smiled savagely and landed a punch right into the Marauder's face, shattering his mask. He then looked down at me and scowled. "Don't you move."
The battle was over rather quickly. Damus and many other Spargus city citizens leapt down upon the Marauders like lions on antelope.
The ride back to Spargus was long and silent. Damus' face was stony and unreadable. "We have a few questions for you three," he said, and then maintained his silence.
We were forced out of the buggy and pushed into a nearby hut. Damus closed the drape behind us and then lead us into the depths of the hut.
"Are these three friends of yours?" he growled, and gestured to the three crumpled forms lying on a bed in the middle of the room. We all gasped in unison.
"No way..." muttered Shady.
There, lying unconscious in the bed were Jak, Daxter, and Pecker.
"I TOLD YOU!" K'sani roared.
K'sani's POV
We locate the Medical Building and fix up Eko, who seems to have gained consciousness a bit more now. We find changes of clothes for all of us; I in dark canvas shorts, a sleeveless, light indigo tunic, and a pair of leather sandals. Of course, I save my green sweatshirt. Hey, it gets cold on the desert at night!
After sneaking a few supplies and a first aid kit for Eko, Shady and Eko and I head out to the area with the dune buggies. It's nearly high noon and we haven't made any movement out of Spargus yet. God, where's a map when you need one? Or a compass, for that matter?
Shady and I argue over who gets to drive. Eko groans and puts his hands on his head as we bicker back and forth. The sun beats down on our necks and I long for sunscreen. I really don't want skin cancer! But maybe the sun will not harm me, for I'm in a fictional universe at the moment.
"Come ON, I want to drive! I've never driven anything in my life, not even a lawn mower or a go-cart or anything! Only a bike!" I complain. Shady looks at me rather nastily and shakes her head.
"You'll KILL us, for Christ's sake! Where as I am older, more powerful, and more respected than you. Need I remind you that you are the youngest of us three?" she yells. God, I can hear you, stupid woman!
"But I beat Jak II THREE TIMES! AND I almost got Hero mode, too! I totally rocked the NYFE races!" I toss back.
"Ah, but I beat it FOUR TIMES, AND I got Hero mode, so THERE!" Shady screeches. Ow. That hurt. Sniff.
"BUT-" I begin to scream back, but Eko cuts me off.
"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he shouts. His voice echoes all through the desert, and there is complete silence between Shady and I.
"Okay, K'sani, Shady's right, you're too young to drive. You get the passenger seat and I'll sit in the back," he mutters darkly, rubbing a dark purple bruise on his head. I shift nervously, feeling rather guilty and pitying Eko for being abused by such cruel human beings as Shady and I.
I simply nod in Eko's direction and Shady hops into the driver's seat on the dune buggy. I hop in on the right of Shady and Eko hoists himself into the back. I offer my hand to help him, but he just swats it away. He must really not like me, then. Perhaps sometimes I am much too vicious. Perhaps sometimes I should just let things be.
Shady floors it and we go flying, sending dirt up in the air behind us and around us. I hang on for dear life as Shady whoops with glee and does some wheelies and a donut to the left. I clutch my stomach, beginning to feel sick.
"Slow.. Down..," I state, but Shady seems not to hear me. I speak louder, but she just does another wheelie and whoops even louder. My head swims and my ears buzz; words that I do not intend to say find their way out of my mouth.
"You can't drive worth shit!"
Stupid uber-critical little voice. Shady is going to hate me forever now. Now, normally I don't swear, but they sometimes seem to find their way out of my mouth and into the atmosphere, dissolving into the air and injecting themselves into peoples' brains. I wish sometimes my uber-critical little voice could at least have a civil tongue.
But either Shady didn't hear or she doesn't care, because she continues driving. Eko coughs hoarsely and I recommend a cough drop. He yells at me not to speak to him. I shrug it off, but on the inside I am a tiny bit hurt that a person so close to me in a non-visual relationship doesn't enjoy my presence in a visual relationship.
"Holy shit, look out!"
Shady seems to have spotted a thrill. The dune buggy goes flying off a large dune rather like a cliff and we are suspended in the air for a few seconds, watching time speed by us. And then the impact on the sand is so great that it causes me to go about a decimeter off the seat. Poor Eko bangs his head on a bar above him. Shady apologizes in a falsely sweet tone, and Eko rubs his head again, in incredible agony, as I can only presume.
A while later, distant roars of engines echo throughout the afternoon. I know who they are.
"Oh no, it's Damus! He's following us!" I shout.
"I told you stealing this thing was wrong!" yells Eko.
"We commandeered it!" shouts Shady. And so begins our wild chase in the desert. Or rather, Damus's hunt for three pesky humans.
"Keep going!"
The gang of Spargus citizens gets closer and closer, to a point of where I can actually see them very closely. I hear engines coming from the front, and my head whips around.
But in front of us are foreign dune buggies, low and spiked. In them are hideous, large things carrying gruesome weapons. Spikes cover all over their tan armor. Masks cover their faces. They jump out of their dune buggies and slowly approach towards us. Most of them are at least seven feet tall. I can see the long, pointy ears characteristic of an elf sticking out behind their masks. So they are at least the same species as Damus. But apparently they don't like us, for they have unsheathed their large, double-edged swords.
I have no idea of what the elves are, but Eko mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like "Marauders." Whatever that means. I cower and a groan of utmost terror escapes my lips.
Shady seems calm in the situation, however. "Uh... Eko? Think you can hold them back?" she asks.
"But...how?" questions Eko.
"Oh, God," Shady mutters. "Mounted machine gun, idiot. Look above you."
I glance towards Eko and notice him looking in awe at a rusted machine gun that looks very much like a Vulcan Fury. He looks confused and scared at first, then a horrible, confident grin comes on his face. He snickers, gunning down Marauders left and right, killing them off without any second thoughts. I clench my eyes shut, tears staining my face, unable to take the madness, the warfare. Make it stop!
Shady abruptly slams down on the gas pedal, and Eko falls out of the dune buggy. I turn around quickly; worry overcoming my mind, my hand reaching out uselessly to my friend. And then one of the Marauders steps up to Eko.
It laughs evilly, and it brings its sword up for the fatal blow to Eko's head. At the last moment, none other than King Damus himself slits the Marauder in the chest and punches the Marauder's face. The skirmish quickly ends, and Spargus citizens let out a terrible, shrieking cry of victory over the field of dead. And there is something else there, hovering in the air, a milky purple substance. Dark eco.
The eco entrances me, calls me to it. I resist; it pulls harder. I get out of the dune buggy, oblivious to Shady's warning cries. I reach down to touch it.
I slowly bring both of my palms around the substance and lift it up into the air. It hovers over my fingers, sending little zaps of electricity into my skin. Any common elf should have died by now, making contact with Dark eco. But I am no elf. I am completely human. Perhaps it will take longer for me to die, then.
If I am dying, I do not show it, nor do I feel it. I wait calmly, but don't feel anything. I hear footsteps behind me.
Shady touches my shoulder and begins to speak when she looks at my hands. She does a double take, her mouth gaping. Shady points to my head and then to my hands several times. At one point her finger gets too close to the Dark eco, and it burns her hand.
She gasps in pain, stifling a scream, then blows on her finger.
"Put it down. Now," she commands. I move a bit and hear something clunk in my pocket. In my pocket is an empty lip-gloss container that I'd forgotten about. I pull it out of my sweatshirt pocket, shaking. It's too small.
I notice the eco in my hand contracts to a smaller size. Without thinking, I place it in the lip-gloss container and clamp the clear lid shut. Now the container looks like a little purple cube made of glass.
Staring at in wonder, it sits in my palm. Quickly my thinking comes back and I hastily stuff it in my sweatshirt pocket as Damus and Eko approach us.
"Don't tell anyone," I whisper out of the corner of my mouth to Shady, and she nods in response.
Well, at least Beans is okay! Shady runs over and gives him a hug. She must've not seen Damus kill the Marauder. I'd give Eko a hug too, but I don't think he'd like it very much after my actions from this morning. I have no idea how close Shady and he are; all I know is that I'm a bit closer to Shadowsister because I've known her longer. Maybe this adventure will bring us all closer together. That is, if we aren't killed in the process.
The ride to Spargus is silent, but I hardly notice Eko or Shady or Damus, just thinking to myself. I can control Dark eco.
When we get back to Spargus, Damus leads us into a stray hut. The med hut, actually. There, on the cots, is proof of my theory. Jak, Daxter, and Pecker.
Anger and frustration boils up inside me. My face reddens, and I clench my hands, my knuckles going white.
"I TOLD YOU!"
Shady's POV
Stealing the Dune Buggy was one of the not so smart things I could have ever done. Actually, no it wasn't. It's so much fun once you figure out how to work the thing. Thank you dad for getting the Quad-Bike thing and letting me drive the Suzuki.
So there we were, driving through the countryside, I in the driver's seat, having the time of my life, nibbling on some road-kill (jerky), not really paying attention to the other two. I don't think they liked my driving, though.
Oh look! Big dune! Big dune!
Ouches, maybe not the best idea. And what was that sound? It sounded like a human skull hitting metal. I look back and see Eko on his side, not looking too happy. Oops!
"Sorry, Eko."
As I was driving I was thinking about why we stole this thing. The other two were probably thinking I wanted to prove K'sani wrong. Now, I watch a lot CSI and I don't ignore the evidence. The evidence said we were indeed in the game, I accepted that a while ago. I was making my way to Haven City. I'll bet nobody saw that coming. Damn it, somebody turn his or her engine off! It's annoying!
Engine? What the hell?
"Oh no, it's Damus! He's following us!" K'sani yelled.
"I told you stealing this thing was a bad idea!" Eko yelled at me.
"We commandeered it!" Get it right!
They told me to keep going, but I don't think it made a difference. Who got this dysfunctional Dune Buggy anyways? Hey, is that a gun? I look up and see these other Buggies driving towards us. They were different to the other ones. They were scary-looking.
I stop the Buggy. What are we going to do? What's going on? What was I supposed to be having for dinner? God, I'm tired! I wanna go to bed!
These dudes get out of the scary-looking Dune Buggies. They reminded me of Survivor. I think it was the scary mask things they were wearing. And they were scummy, I could smell them from here, and I think they were downwind.
"Uh. Eko? You think you could hold them back?" I ask.
"What? How?" HA! He's scared shitless. Wait, so am I!
"Oh God, mounted machine gun, idiot. Look above you."
Yes, that's right. There is a machine gun thing on the roof. I hear yelling from the roof.
"Well, he seems to be enjoying himself," I say to myself. Guys. You'd think there'd be a bit of variety, wouldn't you?
The Survivor outcasts were charging towards us. As the get closer, they start to look like Orcs and then like the Teletubbies for God knows what reason. Must've been the road-kill. God, I hate that Tinky Winky!
I get one of my ideas. I full on slam on the go button. In no time we are speeding off, heading straight for the Survivor/Orc things. I was planning to ram the ones on foot. The Asparaguses were bringing down scores of them; I just wanted to do my bit for the community. This was just another round of them Dodge 'em car things. Can I get a whoop, whoop!
I drive around for a few seconds, bumping along due to the Murderers. Hey, where the hell is Ekobean? Crap! Shit! Fuck! Good one, Shades. You prolly ran over the poor bastard. What am I gonna do now? I'm gonna be pursued by CSI for the murder of Eko, and then they won't be able to tie it to me so he'll become a missing person, gone without a trace, but they won't find him, ever, so he'll become a box on a shelf, a cold case, for all eternity. I have GOT to stop watching those crime shows.
Wha? Hey wait!
"Don't you dare jump out of this buggy!" I yell to K'sani. She looks as if she's about to jump out. "I already got a Cold Case friend on my back and don't need another!"
And the girl jumps out. Teenagers. Always doing the opposite of what you tell them to do. My goodness!
I stop the buggy. K'sani seems possessed by something or other. What really gets me worried is the fact that there are still a few Murderers lurking around. What if they shoot her and she explodes into a thousand tiny bits and those bit fly into my eye and blind me? STOP THINKING AND DO SOMETHING, SHADY! Hey, there's a gun.
Using the strategically placed firearm, I begin to shoot down some of the remaining Murderers. I fire two shots per person. Not bad, even if I do say so myself.
As the last of the enemy falls, I get out and run to K'sani. She's looking at something in her hands. I touch her on the shoulder.
"Damn you and your teenaged way!" I yell. "I could have run you over, girl! What the hell is that?"
It's some type of purple/black goo. I like purple; I wanted to paint my room purple at one stage. This goo in K'sani's hand kinda reminds me of...
"That. That's. It's. That. You." I point to her then to the goo then to her that the goo and so on. "That's. Creepy shit. Evil. And OW!"
The goo, which is actually Dark Eco, burns my finger.
"Put it down. Now."
I watch as she reaches into her pocket, pulls out a lip-gloss container and drops the goo into the container. I tell her to drop it and she keeps it.
Stupid teenagers.
"Don't tell anyone," she hisses. All I can do is nod my head.
Damus is walking up to us. Oo I'm in for it now. And with him is...
"Eko!" I run up and hug him. "So you're not a cold case after all," I say in relief.
"No. Apparently not," he says all confused like.
On the ride back to the city I keep to myself, to process all that happened. I steal a buggy, nearly kill a friend and shot some people in the heat of some random battle I'm not even supposed to be a part of. Not to mention K'sani has a tub of Dark Egoo in her pocket. (Snort) Egoo. I am so good at this.
As I get out of the buggy I get a dizzy spell. It was weird. I don't usually get any at all. I must be sleepy. Some random shoves me and I kick him in the shins. He glares at me and I glare back. He recoils. He must be scared, HA!
In the hut that we are led into are three blobs. A parrot/monkey thing, a weasel, and a blonde blob.
"I TOLD YOU!" K'sani yells.
Everything becomes fuzzy and I struggle to keep my eyes open.
"I don't feel so well," I state.
I feel their eyes on me.
"Shady?"
"Sleepy time." And I think this was the first time I have ever fallen asleep while standing up.