Miss. Ecofreak: I'm back! Did anybody miss me?
Zakura: you udated this story like two days ago. or less.
Miss. Ecofreak: you never know, someone might have missed me anyway. Ah, I see I got a review
Zakura: not even bothering to ask me then?
Miss. Ecofreak: (ignores rabbit) Since there's only one since the last time I checked I can easily answer all the reviews I've gotten since... Chapter 10 (What is labeled nr 10 on the meny)
Answer to Dark-Mar: Daxter did know Kate and COrnelius in this version, but he doesn't know Kate is his best friend's sister (he doesn't even know Kate's real name) As for your suggestion: maybe. Althouhg Light Within and Growing up in Haven city contains the samecharacters, (only Jak and Daxter appears more in the sequel (espesially Jak)) Cornelius actually appear in all the fics I've got on this page, I really like COrnelius.
Zakura: quite ironic since you first planned to kill him in "The dinner Party"
Miss. Ecofreak: yeah, But I remembered a friend of mine who hated it whenever I killed a good character in a story and Cornelius was for the moment only a kid, and as he grow older he became more and more important to the story
Zakura: But on to this chapter. anything we need to know before we start reading.
Miss. Ecofreak: I doubpt, (and if there is something I forgot to explain just tell me). Just remember Daxter does not come with Kate and Cornelius inside the school (he never felt like going on something dangerous without Jak), He's waiting for them outside.
Zakura: (reads through chapter) that might be smart of you to do that, seeing who they encounter in this chapter
Miss. Ecofreak: shh! Don't spoil!
CHAPTER 22
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Cornelius
The school yard was empty; I guess all the students were inside doing homework.
"Is this a school? It's nothing here!" Kate said, "What are people supposed to do during breaks?"
"Most of them are doing homework" I said, "That's the only thing they can do. Fiction books, toys and games are against the rules. That's how life goes at the crimson school"
The school yard was nothing but a large empty space. The hut we came out of was one of many small cabins near the wall.
Next to the huts was a large red building with tons of identical windows on the sides, the intern, where I had spent many boring days with nothing else to do than homework and even more homework.
Right in front of us was the school building, a large crimson red building with the words "Crimson School" written with large black letter which covered most of the front wall.
All houses on the place showed signs of damage from bullets.
The lowest parts of the wall had most of the painting fallen of.
Most affected by this were the small huts, like the one we just came out of.
Some students trying to help their comrades had shoot at the doors to break them.
Unfortunately all the doors (and walls) were bullet-proof.
"No what?" Tanya asked nervous from her spot on my goggles.
"We should find a place to place this" I said and pulled out a small bomb I had "borrowed" from the head quarter, "Too bad we can't get into the building. It's placed in the middle and there it would cause most damage"
"There's no one inside the school building is there?" Kate asked, "If we blow up the school will those in the intern get hurt?"
"When this goes of it will destroy the intern as well" I said, "It's the most powerful bomb I found and we'll need it. If the intern stays they might use it as classrooms till the school is rebuilt. And then we're back where we started"
"You can't do that! Many of these students are innocent children!" Kate complained, "You can't just kill them!"
"Better than becoming the baron's personal life guard. That's a life which usually won't last long anyway" I said,"We have to do this Shara, not only for those who attend to this school, but for the entire city!"
"You sound just like your brother" Kate said low.
"Listen Kate" I said, almost whispering.
Kate looked up at me with a surprised look; I hadn't used her real name for quite some time now.
"If we do this it might prevent more young to fall into Ugly's hands. I don't want them to end up like… him".
"Like Erol?" Kate asked.
"Exactly" I answered, "Let's just find somewhere to put this"
"No wait!" Tanya said.
"What now?" I asked. I was getting sick of all the distractions.
"There's someone in that hut" Tanya said.
Sure enough, as soon as we stopped talking I heard knocking from one of the huts.
"Get me out of here! This is damn unfair and you know it!" a girl's voice said.
Kate walked up to the door and tried to open it.
"It's no use, only the guards have the key" I told her.
"Let me take care of that problem" Tanya said. She took of and flew towards an open window in the school building.
Minutes later she came back with the key in her beak and dropped it into Kate's hands.
"You're not going to open are you?" I asked.
As an answer, Kate put the key in the door and opened it.
Just as I suspected, inside was a girl with blonde hair who seemed to be at the same age as Kate and I.
"Who are you?" she asked, "I've never seen you here before"
"That's right. You haven't" I said and turned to Kate again, "Fine, we've let the girl out of the hut. Can we go now?"
But Kate just ignored me, again!
"What were you doing in there?" she asked.
"I was practising my ballet skills" the girl said sarcastic, "Those stupid morons locked me up for talking bad about the baron! But there's no way I'm going to live life by his rules!"
"Cornelius, we just found your long lost twin sister!" Tanya said and giggled.
Kate looked at me with a smile, "Don't even think about it" I whispered.
"You know what? I agree. And I'm sure Cornelius here does too. Actually I know he does" Kate told the girl, "My name is Shara, and this little bird is Tanya. We're from the underground"
The girl's face lit up, "Really? Are you here to blow this place up once and for all?" she asked.
What could I say? From just one piece of information she had figured out exactly what we planned to do.
"That's right" I said, "So if you don't want to get seriously burned you better get out of here as fast as you can"
"No way! I can't leave now! I want to help!" the girl said exited, "I know exactly where that bomb can cause the most damage and have the access pass to get there!"
"And why should we trust you?" I asked suspiciously.
"Please, I really want to join the undergroung" the girl begged, "My name is Tess, and I promise I'll help you"
"Come on Cornelius, give her a chance" Kate said.
"Shara, you think Phoenix would make a good practise bird for children" I said, "You think the kid can grow and defeat the metal head leader! You even thought once that showing your baby rabbit to a stray dog would be a good idea ("I was four!" Kate interrupted) anyway. I don't mean to offend you or anything, but this is not a good idea!"
"Do you got a better plan perhaps?" Kate asked.
I hate it when she's right in things like this. I took the bomb out and gave it to Tess.
"You better be right" I said, "It wasn't easy sneaking this one out from under the boss' nose and I'd hate to do it again".
"You can trust me. Just make sure to get out of the school area within fifteen minutes" Tess said and ran towards the school building.
I had no other choice than to trust the girl so we ran towards the hut we got in through.
As we came out Daxter the ottsel were still sulking outside the wall.
Kate grabbed him before he got time to say a word and we all hid behind a nearby building where we sat and waited.
It didn't take long before the gate into the school opened and a bunch of students came running out of them.
Tess must have warned her friends before activating the bomb (who in turn must have told their friends as well); at least this way Kate got her wish come true. Innocents would not get hurt, at least not too many of them.
Tess came last; she was helping some of the youngest students (who seemed to be around five, two years younger than I was when I attended this school)
About three minutes after Tess and the kids were out of sight the entire school area exploded in a large blast of flames.
"Take that baron Praxis!" I said triumphant.
"I really hope they all managed to get out" Kate said.
"I don't! The less crimson guards the better!" Daxter said.
I was actually starting to like the little guy.
Miss. Ecofreak: see now why I didn't let Daxter come into the school? He's not supposed to meet Tess before Jak2
Zakura: aren't we near the start of that game yet?
Miss. Ecofreak: sure, but the story is far from over. And some of you might notice that Cornelius' remark on what Kate thinks is a good idea is a bit ironic.
Zakura: which part?
Miss. Ecofreak:Everyone who has played Jak2 to the finish knows what I'm talking about.
Zakura: did she really show her rabbit to a stray dog?
Miss. Ecofreak: that explains why she doesn't have a rabbit. And someone who has an eye out for details, in a later chapter Kate claims she didn't meed Cornelius untill she was five, so the story about the rabbit must be something Cornelius has heard from her mother
Zakura: or her father
Miss. Ecofreak: He's not talking to her father, you should know that. But enough talking, review and remember to log on next time for the next chapter of: Growing Up In Haven City
Zakura: that's a lot of large letters in that title.