Two Sides to Everything

Disclamer: I don't own anything from the Jak trilogy of games, they belong to Naughty Dog. The only things I own are my original characters like Colle and Zack.

Sushi: Thank you Mystery for reviewing. I haven't really been into writing too much but I think I'm back. I'll go ahead and update now because I'm going to prom tomorrow night. I can't wait for it! Anyway here we go!

Chapter 9: Strange Happenings

The smells of the candels mixed with the rain fresh air. The sun was finally shining to dry up the water and mud on the streets. Sunlight filtered through the cracks of Onin's hut to gently awaken its inhabitants.

Jak had woken hours before to find himself completely relaxed. The strange events of the previous night erased temperarely from his mind.

Colle was coming into consciousness to see Jak walking out into the early morning air. She followed. "Hey." The late summer air was warm and pleasant.

"How did you know? About last night?" Jak streached his arms and legs.

"I'm not really sure. One minute I'm sleeping and the next I have the worst feeling of something wrong. I was worried about...you" She realized she had said more than she had meant to. Her face started to grow warm. Hopefully he hadn't caught that last part.

"It's strange, I don't know what it is, but something's happening inside me. It feels like both my light and dark sides are fighting for control. I don't know what's causing it." There was a short silence.

"When I was still in Sandover Village, I had all of the greatest adventures with Daxter. We would go every where and do anything. There wasn't anything better. Even when Gol and Maya turned up and Dax was an ottsel, you couldn't keep us from enjoying ourselves. Living here is different. Although there's been two wars in the last few years that I've been here, this place has become my home. It's exciting here, though I have to admit it does get tiring after a while. I'm always out saving someone or looking for something. I hardly have any time to relax anymore. I mean what good is having a time of peace if you can't even enjoy it?"

"Because you're allowing others to live. Also, even during times of peace you still get to do what you want. You haven't had to do that much since I've been here."

"That's because, Torn thinks I'm being distracted. He's the one who took over training Mora. She's a new recruite for the Freedom Leage." Jak thought of how much he hadn't had to do. Colle was right. he didn't have much to do. The more he ran this through his head, the more Jak liked the idea. Torn had become too dependant on him. That was going to stop. If something needed to be done, he would do it because it called for it or he wanted to do it.

"Torn only wants things to get done. He knows you're the best one to see things through. I think you would do something to help someone even if you didn't want to."

Jak waited a few minutes before he went back inside. He stopped shortly before entering the hut. 'What did she say? How could she have known what I was thinking? I didn't say anything about it.' Ignoring the fact that Colle had just said something very unusual with the fact that he hadn't said anything, Jak went to tell Pecker that he would return when Onin was awake.

The two returned to the Naughty Ottsel and then left for Spargus. Since Onin was indisposed at the moment, the next best thing would be the Precursors themselves. They gave him his powers in the first place, it would only be right that they would know what was going on with them now.

(Back with Zack and Ewitz...)

The next day nothing had changed. Ewitz would bring his food and the two would exchange a few words, but other than that, nothing.

Late one night the scalely ottsel woke Zack up. "I can get you out of here."

"What? How?" He asked sleepily.

"You just have to do what I tell you. But if you mess this up, I won't be able to help you." He was very serious.

"What do I have to do?"

Plans of escape were discussed through out the rest of the night untill Zack could no longer keep his eyes open. He still had one question left to ask his new friend.

"What will happen to you? Won't you get in trouble?"

"Yes, but it will keep you out of harm and another war will be postponed." He knew what would happen to him when everyone found out he had let the prisoner escape. More than likely he would be killed. No one would care. It would just be one less thing to worry about.

"Then you should come with me." Zack was awake now. He wasn't going to let his friend get hurt because of him. "If you don't come with me, then I won't leave."

"Alright. I'll come." Ewitz lied to the boy. Even if he could go with Zack he would be hunted down. He would be putting the boy in even more danger.He smiled as much as he could down at the boy sitting at his furry feet.

"Good." Zack became drowsy again but this time he feel asleep.

"I'll miss you, kid."

The monk temple was farther than Jak had remembered. The dune hopper creaked as it jumped from landing to landing. Colle had been quiet the whole way there. Daxter sat in her lap watching the sand and water go by.

Seem was wating for them when the small group arrived. "Welcome. The Precursors have been ecpecting you. We must hurry,he cannot stay long."

"How did they even know we were gonna be here. I didn't know until mister grumpy dragged me out of bed." Daxter wasn't happy with Jak at the moment.

"They have their ways, orange one." Seem led the three of them down inside the temple into the chamber where the Oracle rested. "I sense something troubles you, hero." She said as they walked.

"Something does, I just wish I knew what."

"There are two sides to everything, even people. You have only lost the balance between them." Seem could feel the clashing powers within him.

"I know that much."

"Relax, the Leader will be able to explain any questions you have come across."

"You have finally arrived, brave ones. It is good to see agian." The Ottsel Leader spoke up. "It seems that you are having a bit of trouble these days."

"Yes but how did you know?" Jak didn't like it when people knew things before he ever told them. He remembered earlier with Colle.

"It wasn't very hard, believe me. In fact I had a little help from your friend here." The Leader waved his staff toward Colle. "She has great potental, you know."

Colle looked at the round puff ball like he had lost his marbles.

"How could she help you, she's never seen you guys before now."

"You sure are asking a lot of questions, Jak. Let me asure you things are perfectly okay. This young woman has no knowledge of what lies within her." The Leader looked at Colle expectantly.

"What are you talking about?" Colle hated it when others talked about her right in front of her like she wasn't there. "And where is Zack? Why did you take him?"

"It was not the Precursors who took your younger brother, but the Rosrucerps." He answered then thought of another way to answer her question. No doubt it would bring more. "The Rosrucerps were experements created by us, the Precursors. They were banished thousands of years ago from this world after a terrible war. They have returned to form this world in their own image."

"Why did they take Zack?"

"They wanted you, my dear, not him."

"What for? I haven't done anything to them." Colle knew he would eventually get to the point, but he was getting to it awfully slowly.

"It's not what you have done to them, but what you can do for them."

When Colle was about to speak again, the ossel leader interjected. " When you touched that Precursor artifact in your world, it allowed you to come here but it also unlocked your powers."

All of which the ottsel had been saying hit Colle like a load of bricks. He knew she was from another world! What did he mean when he talked about powers. Humans didn't have powers, well except psychics, but even they were fake.

"I don't have powers and how could you know anything that goes on in my world. You aren't real your're only-"

"Game characters. Yes, I know." He shook his head and continued on."Our worlds are connected. Everything that you saw when you played that game it happened in the past."

"How did the people in her world find out about it then?" This world was full of mystories. By the time Jak was an old man he wouldn't even know half of then.

"I'm getting to that. Yes, well many years ago, one of our less reliable bretheran decided to leave. He brought with him the history of your world, Jak. Of course it had yet to happen in your time, but he soon found his way into Colle's world." He turned to face Colle. "He was also responsible for a very important artifact. You happened to be the one to find it. You were destended to find it. I just can believe it was in a dumpster of all places. That Precursor created a company known as Naughty Dog. He created those games you know from the Jak trilogy."

"You're telling me, that a two foot tall fuzzball, runs one of the best gaming industries in my world?"

"Yes."

"Well okay then, just go ahead and tell me anything else to let me know I'm losing my mind."

"I assure you, it's all perfectly real."

"Now that I know how I got here, what about these powers you were talking about?" It seemed so unreal. She had finaly accepted that Jak's world was real but now this ottsel shows up saying it had always been real and that she, Colle, had powers. The Jak games in her world were only events that had happened in the past. They were real. And Naughty Dog was run by an orange rat. That makes sense, doesn't it?

"In you world, there are very few who are able to come here. You are the first, in fact, no one has ever found out that this place is real. I also believe that no one ever will. Your powers are special. They allow you to understand people's feelings and thoughts. But they also have a more dangerous side to them. When your powers fully awaken, youwill be able tocontrol eco. Not just light or dark, but all types."

She could read people's thoughts. Jak remembered earlier that day. Colle must have done that without realising it. She could also know people's feelings. That must have been how she had found him. She could feel him when he was in pain.

"I'm afraid that is all I am able to tell you. The rest you must find out for yourself. My time here is short and I have the feeling that there are other questions to be answered." The Leader looked to Jak.

Jak knew what he wanted to asked the elder ottsel. What was happening inside him. Why his powers were fighting against eachother. And what the Precursor cyrstal was. He had looked through the historical archives at HQ,but had run across nothing that sounded any older thanfour hundred years.

"What's happening to me? Why do I feel like I'm in pain?"

"You have already noticed that your powers have grown one sided, I see. I won't go into the things that you already know so I'll just get to the bottom. Your dark powers were given to you first, they have had more time to grow stronger and they are trying to push out your lighter side. If this happens then you will become dark as well. The eco that runs through your body could kill you, but that is were Colle comes in. With her powers she will be able to balance the eco inside you. For now though, I can only give you ease of pain and give your light side more streangth to fight off the darkness. It should be enough until Colle has full control over her powers." The Leader waved his staff in front of Jak as the orb on top began to glow blue. The light surrounded Jak. "That should be enough."

"Thank you, I feel better. There is one more thing I want to ask you before you leave." Jak looked down at his hands as the blue light faded.

"There never is an end to these question, is there? Alright, get on with it." He was becoming impatient.

"What is the Precursor Crystal?"

"Oh dear. I'm afraid there is only a small bit of information I can give you. Knowledge of the Cyrstal has all but been erased fron our own history."

"You mean that the great, 'we know everything' Precursors are at a loss?" Daxter had his words.

"You want to keep those pants?" The round ottsel looked at Daxter angryly. Daxter stepped back behind Jak. "I thought so. The Crystal is the crystallized form of all eco fused together. It had been used to protect this planet many thousands of years ago, but has since gone missing. Nothing else is known."

Colle and Jak returned to Spargus after the Precursor Leader had left. Jak thought about what he had learnd and how it would help him out later on. He was brought from his thoughts by Colle.

"Doesn't your head hurt?" Jak was being way too serious. Colle was going to put a stop to it. The more she thought about that more she realised this world had changed her. Normaly she would have just left people to themselves. She liked the change.

"No. Why?"

"You've been thinking for over an hour. You aren't normally this quiet. It's kind of disturbing." Colle smiled when she stopped infront of him.

"My head would hurt, if it was yours." Jak smiled sheepishly at the girl infront of him.

"Ha, ha, ha. You know you'd make a better comidian than a fighter." She said sarcasticly.

"You started it. I just happened to be the one to finish it."

Arriving at the Palace, they were greeted by Sig. He was waiting for them with some news for Colle. Appearently the monks had taken up the liberty of settleing a few arangments for her. Like a place to stay. Colle now had an appartment in Spargus. It was the next step to making this place her home.

Sushi: It's the end of chapter 9!

Jak: What's so great about that?

Sushi: You'll have to want until the next chapter to find that out. Which, by the way is still incomplete. I hope to finish it soon. There is one good thing to not getting any reviews right away, though.

Jak: What's that?

Sushi: More time to finish more chapters! Please review!

Jak: I thought you just told them not to.

Sushi: That's not what I meant and you know it!