Two Sides to Everything

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Jak's world.

Sushi: There's not much to say here so I'll let you get on with the story.

Chapter 16: The Precursor Crystal

They had finally reached an understanding. The two of them walked side by side to the palace. Colle couldn't wait to see her brother. With that Colle grabbed Jak's hand and ran. This took the elf completely by surprise to where he almost fell.

Colle ran through the streets pulling Jak behind her. She was completely and utterly happy. Things were back to normal. Or as normal as they could get in this place.

Jak could do nothing but smile as the young girl brought him through the streets of Spargus. Aside from the growing threat of an approaching war or his powers growing out of control again, there wasn't anything that could go wrong. Of course that wasn't necessarily true. Things could always go wrong. just like they could always get worse. Fortunately, Jak didn't see things like that at the moment. He tightened his grip on Colle's hand. She looked back smiling at him.

The palace was majestic. Looking as if it grew from the rock itself, the building rose to an awing height towards the clouds above. The spires formed shadows along the ground covering almost every inch of the ground. The flags rippled in the winds. A sign of a future storm.

Jak and Colle entered the palace. With no one there to greet them they went in search of Sig or Zack.

"Well, isn't that a cute picture?" Sig laughed when Colle and Jak let go of each other's hand blushing. He quickly became serious. "Jak, Colle, we have a problem." He led them into the conference room where there were maps of Haven, Spargus, and the surrounding areas. "The remaining metal heads have formed into groups. They're moving in to close off all of our support. I know you two have fought them and so have I. I heard from Ashelin of a new force making their stand. They've been taking your soldiers. If we get into a war now, we won't come out alive. Thing's are gonna get heavy."

Days later, after returning to Haven, Jak and Colle went to see Vin under orders of Torn.

"Vin, we need you to scan anything-anything at all out of the ordinary." Colle walked up to the floating head. He was holographic.

"I'll see what I can do." He disappeared from one spot and reappeared in another. "sheesh. You guys sure do ask for a lot. And not one bit of gratitude. I tell ya, you'd be lost if I hadn't been a genus."

"Sorry about this, Vin. But unless you want to be involved in another war, we need your help." Jak added his part.

"Another war? I guess when you put it like that..." Vin continued to pop up all over the place. "Done."

"That was fast." Colle was impressed.

"It was simple really, all that was needed was-"

"Vin, later. What did you find?"

"Oh, right...Okay, there is something. It's more like a pulse of energy. It's coming not far from the monk temple. I'm surprised they haven't noticed it yet. It's deep within the old hidden chambers. I'm not sure what to make of it. It seems to be giving off eco signals. But it's concentrated like it's some object. The only way something like that could be contained in such a small object is if it were crystallized. That's all I can tell you for now."

Jak and Colle were walking to HQ to report back to Torn. "So...do you think what Vin found could be the Precursor Crystal?" Colle walked backwards with her hands behind her. She looked at Jak.

"It's a possibility. The only way to know for sure would be to look ourselves." He was lost in thought. What would happen when they found this 'crystal?'

"I guess we can check it out tomorrow. I don't see any point in waiting any longer, do you?" She stopped walking. Jak was awfully quiet.

"What do you mean 'we?' You're not going." Jak stopped too before he ran into the girl. "It'll be too dangerous."

"I'm a Freedom League soldier you know." She said pretending to be angry. "You've trained me yourself." She stood with her hands on her hips.

At that moment, Jak knew how much she had changed. She had once been the frightened teenager new to this world only trying to save her brother. Now she was brave and enjoying herself. He knew how strong she had become.

"All right. But you can't do anything reckless."

"That's your style isn't?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm the one that trained you, remember?" Jak continued walking with Colle by his side. They came to a stop again at the HQ doors. Once they opened the two went inside.

Jak told everything that Vin had relayed to them. Torn agreed with Colle that they should go out tomorrow to check things out. They discussed tactics. Like what to do if things went out of control. Into the late afternoon the three went over how Jak and Colle would get into the base of the rosrucerps. It was under the monk temple. Vin said there were old corridors that had gone unused for many years. Much like the Precursor Catacombs.

The fighters went to the Naughty Ottsel for dinner. Zack had been there waiting for them to return. He had been so excited that they had gotten together again. Daxter hadn't let the topic rest with Jak unless Colle was gone. He told him how right he had been and how blind Jak was for not noticing it before.

When darkness fell, Colle and Zack returned to Spargus. Morning was still hours away. They would need their energy for the tasks ahead.

(Much later the next day)

The way through the old passages had been blocked and hard to maneuver through. It took hours to break through. After more searching they found the Precursor Crystal. It had been mysteriously unguarded. They wanted to lure something or someone to find it. It was just as they had thought. It was the same stone that had caused Colle's powers to be revealed. Now they ran for their lives.

Jak held onto the crystal with one hand and pulled Colle behind him with the other as they ran. The crystal was finally their but for how long depended on the enemy pursuing them. The rosrucerps had transformed. They were gaining on them too.

"Jak! We're running out of places to run!" Colle screamed as the wind picked up. It was true. More of the scaly monstrous ottsels were running across the sand from all directions. The only way left was to climb. The cliffs were steep but had many foot holds.

"Then we'll just have to climb!" Another sand storm was gathering. If something didn't happen then they would be ripped apart. Either by the raging winds or the beasts behind them. Jak started climbing the rocky edges of the cliffs pulling Colle behind him. He had to let go to grab a better hold on the rocks.

"Jak! Colle!" Torn's voice was barely understandable as the wind and growls mixed together. "Jak!"

"This better be good Torn! We don't have time for this!"

"Sig informed me of the situation. I'm on my way. I should be there in the next minute! You two just stay alive until then!" The comm. unit cut off.

"Jak!" Colle had been right behind him. The rosrucerps weren't only good at fighting but they were apparently good at climbing too. One of them had grabbed Colle's foot and was pulling her down.

Jak quickly pulled out his morph gun and opened fire. The rosrucerp let go more out of surprise than anything. The bullets weren't strong enough to do any real harm. Jak grabbed hold of Colle's arm as she began to fall losing her grip.

"Just a little farther!" Torn would be there any moment. The two continued to climb hoping to reach the top and leave this place behind.

All too soon though, the transformed rosrucerps grabbed for the girl ahead of them again. They knew she was important. Their leader wanted her alive. Taking a firm hold of the girl's legs they yanked her back so that she fell onto many of them. She called out for the warrior once more. He tried getting to her but the rosrucerps kept him at bay. They were cautious however. They knew what the two of them were capable of.

Colle panicked. And just as her last encounter had shown, her powers were very sensitive to fear. Waves of energy flowed through her body and into the enemy surrounding her. Although there was much of the same effect as last time, there were more than a hand full to deal with. The near by creatures exploded from the inside out while others only seemed to melt away. One of the unaffected rosrcus got close enough to knock her out with his big clawed fist. Her powers stopped instantly.

Jak could do nothing but watch as the girl he loved was carried away from him. He felt anger well up inside him as well as fear of what might happen to her. His warring powers came to the surface fighting to take control. Finally the anger won out and Jak was surrounded in darkness. Horns grew from his forehead as his skin and hair paled to almost shear white. He released his stored energy wanting to watch the scaled ottsels writhe in pain. Just as Colle had discovered, the number of enemies was overwhelming. Jak didn't have enough strength to destroy so many.

From up above, shots were fired from a Freedom League cruiser. Torn had just arrived. "Jak! Over here!" Torn looked around when he didn't see Colle. "Where's the girl?"

Jak had taken his eyes off of Colle for only a second, when he looked back to see that she was gone. She had disappeared below the sea of rosrucerps. He had lost her again.

"Jak! If you don't get up here we're dead!" Torn was having difficulty handling the cruiser. The high winds and enemy fire made it increasingly difficult to stay in one spot.

Jak just held onto the rocks as he watched the beasts flea from the desert storm. A few remained to retrieve the crystal. Jak still held it in his hand.

Jak hadn't regained much of his energy. There wasn't enough to transform into Dark Jak. With anger still inside him be continued climbing toward the top of the rocky cliffs. One of the rosrucerps caught up to him. The creature had him long enough to grab hold of the crystal. Torn was able to give the warrior help, however. He shot the rosruc but was unable to keep it from taking the crystal. Jak hadn't the strength of taking on a transformed scaly ottsel.

Once the crystal was in hand, they other rosrucs ran off to join the others.

Jak got into the Freedom League cruiser reluctantly. Still unwilling to leave without Colle. "Let's go!" Without a second thought, Torn pulled out of the winds and headed for Haven City.

(With Colle)

Shockwaves pashed through the ground. The rosrucerps were harnessing the power within the Precursor Crystal. This caused the girl they had captured to stir in her sleep. She opened her eyes.

"Finally, you're away." A mumbled voice brought Colle fully awake. He mind had been numb. Not really understanding what was going on or where she was. "Too bad. You would have been better to remain comatose."

Colle blearily looked around. She couldn't move. Her arms and legs were clasped onto a circular metal frame. Beside her was the Precursor Crystal. It was pulsating. Energy was pouring from it.

She was in an old building by the looks of it. Cobwebs hung from the ceilings like tapestries. Old iron bars were strewn across the floor. The windows were broken and dirt had replaced them as if the building had fallen below ground. The air was filled with dust and the smell of mold.

The rosrucerp was standing next to some sort of computer. He pulled a lever causing Colle to yelp. he walked over to her.

"You are Colle. You're the one we've been searching for. I am Gurotik, the Rosrucerp leader." He smirked seeing her trying not to scream out. "You are our key to the destruction of this dead rock of a planet."

'What's going on? What's he doing to me?' The shockwave going through her body made it impossible to speak without screaming. 'Why does he want to destroy this planet?'

"All great questions." His smirk widened when he saw her surprise.

'He can read minds?'

"Yes. And you won't live for too much longer so why hold back?" The rosruc was enjoying this. "Below the surface of this planet are vast stores of every eco imaginable. The silos."

Colle knew about them. Or at least the dark eco. Having played the first Jak game, it was like history was repeating itself. 'Then why do you need the crystal? Why do you need me?'

"You are the key. With your powers, I can open those doors releasing millions of gallons of eco." He remained silent taking in the fact that he would soon hold all the power on this dirt ball of a planet. "The power flowing through you will open the last lock. Ironically enough the locks are powered by eco. The crystal will enhance your powers opening the silos."

"I'd...rather-die!..." She was able to speak with little success resisting to scream. 'I won't help you destroy this world! It's my home!'

"That must mean a lot to you, not having much of a home in your own world." He spoke sarcastically. "Funny thing is...once the eco is released, your world will cease to exist along with this one." Gurotik left the struggling girl. At the computer he raised the force of the shockwaves passing through the crystal and into her.

"It should only be a few hours now." He headed for the old doorway. "Enjoy your last few moments among the living." He was gone as Colle could no longer hold back her pain.

Screams echoed through the large chamber from which she was kept. Hardly even a minute later Colle had passed out with the energy still going into her.

Sushi: Sorry for the delay. I was too buisy yesterday to work on my story; I hope you haven't gotten angry...

Jak: I don't think one day will make them mad.

Sushi: I know, but I feel I should appologize anyway. Here's the summary for the next chapter:

Chapter 17: Jak saves Colle from the Rosrucerps. Back at HQ, Torn and Mora have deviseda plan to find out what exactly is going on. Jak and Colle lead an assult on the base of the rosrucs. This is the final chapter for Two Sides to Everything! (but don't for get the epilogue.)

Jak: Don't for get to review.