LightEcoDragonRider: Do we really need to go through this again? I don't own the Jak and Dax universe. I'm just borrowing it.
This chapter is pretty jam-packed. We get an OC (Pyrah) Jak takes down one of several Metal Head nests, and gets TWO weapons, only one of them is a gun. Confused? Well read on!
Chapter III: Pyrah
Haven City Naughty Ottsel
Jak woke the next morning heavily slumped on the of the Naughty Ottsel. Tess was standing over him, shaking her head disaprovingly. He thought she was extrodinary. She went through the change from human to ottsel a lot smoother than Daxter had done.
"Are you okay Jak? We saw you here early in the morning with a bottle of Desert Whiskey, so naturally we were worried." Tess's voice had a maternal air to it that would have been funny if Jak hadn't been so incredibly wasted. He sighed, shaking the groginess from his head.
Tess shuffled behind the counter before pulling out a bottle filled with bright red liquid. Jak squinted. "What the hell is that?"
Tess extended the bottle with a paw. "Just drink it down." she said. "You'll feel a lot better."
Jak shrugged and chugged the entire bottle without a second0- thought. A moment later, his taste buds exploded. He gasped at the smirking Tess.
"Shit Tess! What the hell is this!"
The ottsel smiled, a grin that looked suspiciously like Daxter's. "Ottsel Sauce. Do you like it? Daxter and I are thinking of expanding this place into a bar and grill." Jak swalloed hard and rasped, "Maybe you need to dilute it."
For the second time in two days, Torn stormed into the Naughty Ottsel, eyes blaring. "Well blonde, while you were snoring your ass off, me and my KG's fought off an attack of Metal Heads. None of them were clones," he added. "We hit one of them with a tracking device and let him go, hoping he'd lead us to a Metal Head nest."
"And?" All of Jak's former groginess disappeared. Torn, for the first time in days, didn't seem downright pissed.
"We saw millions of Metal Heads on the holo-map, assembled un an unspecified location in the desert. We got a nest. And Jak, might want to do some training."
Haven City Gun Course
The rest of the morning and afternoon were spent in intense training. Jak practiced with all of his guns, mostly the Plasmite RPG and all three of the Peace Maker mods. When he wasn't practicing, Daxter (yes Daxter) was using the Morph Gun, as he would be riding shotgun. While one had the Morph Gun, the other would do push-ups and sit-ups. By the time they finished, Daxter's orange fur was damp, and sweaty.
As they turned off the lights and got ready to leave, Kiera entered the building. Her green eyes were pointed downward, and she fumbled with a piece of metal in her hands. Looking at the floor, she said, "Tess and I were working on this mod a while before you defeated Errol. It's called the Dragon's Breath. It's still a prototype though, so don't lose it." She handed it to Jak, carefully avoiding his eyes.
Daxter whooped as Jak connected it to the Morph Gun. "Turn the lights back on and let's try this baby out!"
"No!" For the first time, Kiera looked up and was caught into Jak's hypnotic, crystal blue gaze. She shook herself slightly. "It expells a highly poisonous gas, which will be useful for taking out the Metal Head hordes you'll meet at the nest. It's a one-shot kind of gun, so use it carefully."
Jak nodded, and Daxter said, "Well buddy, it's crunch time."
"Hey Dax, could you wait for me back at the Naught Ottsel?" Daxter hopped off his shoulder without a second thought.
As the orange ottsel scampered onto the street in the direction of his bar, Jak looked at Kiera. He opened his mouth, but she caught him off.
"Look Jak, there's nothing to say. Yesterday was, well it's like this gun, a one time kind of thing. I think we shouldn't bring it up again." Kiera looked at Jak. He looked at her, hurt showing in his eyes, but not on his face. Silently, he mover passed her slender frame and outside.
Mentally, Kiera reprimanded herself. She seemed to lose herself around Jak, especially these days. The days when he had first emerged from the Baron's palace, she hadn't felt this way. She had pitied him. He'd been a mess. His hair was long and unkempt, and his anger had been uncontrollable. Now Jak was different. He'd proven himself to be a powerful fighter, and a great hero.
She sighed as she swung a leg around her zoomer. She had to admit, she had always been smitten with him, even in their days in Sandover when he'd been a mute. She didn't know if what she was feeling now was puppy love or something deeper.
Jak stalked angrily to the Naughty Ottsel. He pounded his fist in frustration. Sure he had saved the planet on more than one occasion, faced Lurkers, Metal Heads, Dark Eco Sages, Dark Makers, and even a bloodthirsty cyborg without fear, but now more than ever, he wished Damas were here. A father-son talk was exactly what he needed right now. He knew he'd had these feelings for Kiera since the Sandover days, but, then again, so had Daxter, and every boy for miles and miles. Jak, not being able to talk, hadn't really felt he had a chance. Now, things could be diferent, but he needed to know that Kiera felt the same way. He was tempted to go to Torn, as the Krimzon Gaurd leader had a different girl at his place almost every night, but if Jak him about his problem, Torn would never let him live it down, and it would eventually get back to Kiera.
He arrived at the Naughty Ottsel. Torn and Daxter were the only ones there, besides the usual pool playing, alchohol-consuming crowd. Torn had a holo-map on. In the west, past Spargus, was a cluster of grey dots, too many to count. Torn pointed.
"We're almost positive this is a nest. You two need to be careful, one sound could wake the whole nest, and then, you guys are screwed. The Shadow says there is a main connector between the actual nest, and the parts that go into the ground. I saw a picture of it, it's filled with Dark Eco, which they feed on. Instead of that inconspicuous bull shit, you shoot the hell out of that thing and it explodes, killing almost all the Metal Heads. Make sure you take out ALL of them, and Samos says you should start collecting skull gems again. There's an Oracle at the foot of the mountains in the Wasteland, and it could help boost your...um, your abilities."
Jak sighed, knowing he was referring to his dark eco powers. He looked at Torn, who had called one of the men at a nearby pool table over.
"Jak, this is Pyrah. He's an elite Krimzon Guard, and I'm sending him with you as backup, got it?"
Daxter leapt up at this, and stared Pyrah straight in the eye. He looked well enough, with light brown eyes, tanned skin, and neatly cut dark hair. He was lean and muscled, and was strapped with considerable weaponry.
"Hey there pretty boy, we don't take kindly to strangers, so just sit tight, keep quiet, and let us do the shooting, got it?" Jak smacked Daxter in the back of the head and grinned apolagetically at Pyrah.
"Hi, I'm Jak, and you've met Daxter." He held out a hand to Pyrah who shook it vigorously. "Pleased to meet you, and let me say it's an honor."
Daxter rose, recovered from Jak's slap. "Listen Torn, this pansy better not get in our way."
Fifteen minutes later, Jak, Daxter, and Pyrah were strapped in a light, two-seated zoomer. Jak drove speedily past the walls that seperated Haven City from the desert. He drove following Pyrah's instructions. The Krimzon Guard's eyes were focused on the holo-map, giving directions. Occasionaly, Daxter would take out a stray Metal Head with the Morph Gun.
It became apparent when they were nearing the nest. Metal Heads were a lot more common, and Daxter had decided to conserve ammno.
Jak stopped suddenly. "We're here."
Before them was what could only be described as a giant tree. It had a greyish trunk, with a thick, disc-shaped platform at the top. It had a curcumference of about two miles, and it in the dark, it was impossible to see it's entire breadth. Clearly visible, at the center of the trunk was a giant, sphere. Inside, it could be seen that it was filled with Dark Eco. More Dark Eco than Jak had ever seen. From there, Jak inched closer, so as to not arouse supicion. When the finally arrived near the base of the trunk, Jak looked up and said, "So what's the plan?"
Pyrah began to pace around the tree. Finally, he looked up and said, "I think it's possible to rotate that Dark Eco... ball. From how I see it, if we can get the Eco to explode near the side that has more Metal Heads, in this case, the left side, it'll take down more than half of the Metal Heads. The other portion should be taken out by the blast, and then you'll be able to go around collecting the shiny stuff before we head out. What do you think?"
Jak nodded. "Good a plan as any. But how do we get that thing to move?" He looked at Pyrah, who quickly got the gyst.
"You and I are two small." They both looked at Daxter. His eyes widened as he realized what he was being asked to do. He raised one of three fingers on the orange paw. "Oh n-" Jak swooped down and clasped a hand over the ottsel's mouth.
"Don't you see Dax, only you can fit on that hanging vine. You get up there, push that thing CAREFULLY and climb back down. Simple."
Daxter glared at Jak. "I'm gonna regret this later." With a martyristic sigh, he hopped onto a long, grey vine, and climbed. He was more than halfway up, when a stray Metal Head leapt sudddenly at him.
The scream had barely erupted from Daxter's throat when Pyrah took out a flat looking rifle and sliced the Metal Head in two with disc shaped bullet. "Go!" he whipered urgently, and Daxter, moving quicker now, reached the huge, eco filled sphere. With all the strength in his tiny ottsel body, he pushed the eco container out of it's groove, so that it didn't fit as comfortably, and was slightly hanging off of the edge.
"Excellent!" Pyrah said, as Daxter jumped down and landed on all fours. He brushed off his beloved pants, did a moonwalk, and high-fived both Jak and Pyrah beofre jumping back on Jak's shoulder. Jak, wasting no time, switched the setting on his Morph Gun to the Plasmite RPG, and took aim very carefully. After selecting the best angle, he fired.
The following explosion was spectacular. A good three-fourths of the nest broke off; Metal Heads were utterly consumed by the Dark Eco on which they fed. Unfortunatley, the last part of the nest was carried by a sudden strong updraft, and landed roughly on the ground.
"RUN!" Jak yelled. Daxter leapt off Jak, and Pyrah jumed into the zoomer to get it ready for a quick escape. Jak switched the mods on his Morph Gun until he found the Dragon's Breath the Kiera had given him. Hastily, he pulled the trigger, and a small, black and green caplsule exploded from the barrel. Jak was confused. 'What the hell?' Suddenly, the capsule exploded, expelling a green colored gas. The effect was instantaneous. As Jak dove into the zoomer, the remaining Metal Heads were struck down, killed simultaneously, and the gass dissapeared.
"Whoo!" Daxter racously cried, plunging his fist into the air. Jak was now scouring the area for any egg sacks. Daxter took out three with the Vulcan Fury. He was suprisingly accurate with the Morph Gun.
After they finished this, Jak hopped out to collect the Skull Gems. There were thousands. He picked up as many as he could carry, and sped the zoomer in the direction of the foot of the mountains.
"Sorry guys, I need to stop here for a bit. I'll be back soon," Jak said as he got out of the zoomer and walked toward the giant oracle.
Jak had always felt dimly connected to the oracle's. They had helped him control his dark powers, something he would be eternally grateful for.
The oracle spoke in it's deep, masterful voice.
"Greetings great warrior. Challenges you are to face, perhaps greater than any of your previous adventures. For the task ahead, I grant you an ancient tool, which goes hand in hand with your darkness."
Jak felt himself suddenly lifting off the ground. As the oracle changed him into Dark Jak, he felt a portion of Dark Eco leave him. The eco was reconstructing itself in midair, into the shape of a sword. As Jak, feeling drained, landed on the floor, the eco sword clanged to the ground, hidden behind a scabbard. He picked it up, and unsheathed it. The blade was long, the steel the black-greyish color of Dark Jak's horns. The hilt was pale white, with a dark, violet gem in the center, the color of Dark Eco.
"I don't understand," he said, more to himself than the oracle. The ancient Precursor-built structure looked at him with a blaring blue gaze.
"Deep beneath these mountains, near the core of this planet, eco ore is found. That ore, infused with the amount of Dark Eco in your body gave birth to this. Be wary when you wield it, and make sure it is always filled with Dark Eco." With that, the oracle seemed to shut down, the bright light dimming until it was darkness. Suddenly exhausted, Jak slipped the covered sword onto his belt, stumbled back to the zoomer. Pyrah took one look at him and said, "I'd better drive."
LightEcoDragonRider: I know the whole Eco Sword was pretty corny, but what can I say, I like swords! I wanted to give Jak a new Dark power, but couldn't think of anything. BTW, do you guys know if I'm supposed to capitalize the word eco? I was thinking only if there was a word in front of it (ie. Dark Eco, Green Eco) but I wasn't sure.
Also, if you plan on reviewing (PLEASE!) let me know what you think of my OC, Pyrah. I mean I dedicated an entire chapter to him, so you know he'll be important sometime through.
