Jak and his Ottsel buddy, Daxter, walked into the Naught Ottsel that Torn had been hiding in. They had just finished another mission for the ex-KG warrior. Having evaded missiles and having one hitting the main sign of the Naughty Ottsel, upsetting the owner,
"You're going to pay for that!" Daxter screamed, jumping off Jak's shoulder and pointing his finger towards Torn. Torn just laughed at Daxter.
"If you ask me, it looks better that way." He told Daxter, trying to push the little rodent's buttons. Daxter just glared at the man and went back to his perch on his friend's shoulder. Torn had started his, 'good work' speech towards the duo for their work when one of Jak's comm units went off. Jak was quick to answer, which Torn waited.
"Go ahead." Jak said into the unit, not sure which associate contacted him.
"Jak, it's Damas. We need extra help back in the Wastelands." The comm unit buzzed with obvious noise and chaos in the background.
"What's wrong?" Jak could help, but ask. Daxter had contented himself on listening as well, as he and Jak exchanged glances.
"We had a scavenger team go out and get the newly surfaced artifacts. Another storm was on the way when we last had contacted them. They informed us, saying to have ten artifacts and were heading back at that time and never showed." Sig's voice responded.
"We need as much help as we can get to search the surrounding areas of where they were last known." Damas added.
"Be there soon." Jak said and ended the transmission. He then looked towards Torn, "Up for a visit to the Wasteland?"
Torn laughed, "Why not? Let me check up with Ashelin first." Torn responded and called Ashelin, who was at the HQ, in the heart of Haven City. He quickly explained the situation and waited for a reply.
Ashelin responded within a few moments, "Go ahead, Torn. We will go if we can get away here. The two forces seemed to be weakening a little." She told the three in the bar.
"Alright, but make sure to call if you have any problems." Torn said and ended the transmission. Jak nodded and with Daxter still on his shoulder, they left the Naughty Ottsel and fighting their way to a transport and towards the ship to take them to the Wastelands.
The short ride was kept in silence. Jak thought this would just be like before. Obvious Daxter did as well, for the non-look of worry on his face. Jak couldn't help, but smile. Just a simple rescue mission from the marauders and getting back. The warriors were jarred from their thoughts as the ship stopped in mid-air.
Sig was waiting for them in a Gila Stomper and was surprised to see Torn, and nodded a hello. Torn nodded back towards his old friend and smiled. Jak, not wanting to interrupt, but had to cut in,
"So what exactly went on?" Jak asked, jumping off the ship.
"More marauders?" Daxter quickly added.
"Actually, we think the team got caught in the storm and might be buried somewhere. The marauders could be lurking around coz of the artifacts."
"So you basically need man power to unbury and carry cargo?" Torn asked, with a smug look. Sig just nodded.
"Come on, I'll take ya to the last known location and we can look around. Jak, take the gun and cover us."
The warriors all nodded and covered their eyes and mouths up. Preparing for the harsh desert and a long search. Sig had started the vehicle and drove towards the abandoned village, but took a sharp left around the village as Jak shot and destroyed the incoming marauders.
They had stopped just short of the islands that lead to the Temple. What few marauders were around, had all fled away from the Gila Stomper. Everyone had made their way off or out of the vehicle and were looking around.
"So, did they end up at the Temple or…?" Daxter asked, standing on Jak's shoulder.
Sig shrugged, "Not sure. Either up around the Temple or buried around here."
"What about that village?" Torn asked, nodding towards the deserted place.
"That is the exact reason we needed more help. There is just too much ground to cover." Sig stated, "Our job right now is to see exactly where they could be. Once we can figure that out, then we can get more out here."
As the three men talked, Daxter and crawled his way off of Jak's shoulder and was walking around, "Well, I don't know how we expect to fine anything in so much…AH!" Daxter face planted right into the desert. Trying to keep what little compose he had, he faced the other and looked at the ground to see what tripped him. Jak was on his way to help Daxter out when the ottsel seemed to have found something and started digging.
"Daxter? What is it?" Jak asked, kneeling next to his friend who was deep in his project.
"Look, Precursor junk." Daxter said, picking up a small artifact. Jak carefully took it from his ottsel friend.
"Well, at least we know they were here." Sig said, walking up next to the duo.
"Look! Another one!" Daxter said, pointing near the edge of the beach, "Guess they headed towards the Temple?"
"Seems like it." Torn said, walking over to the artifact and took it out of the sand. As he was inspecting the Precursor artifact, movement caught his eye on a nearby island, "Hey!"
Torn had not only gotten his comrades attention, but he got the figure's. Jak raced to Torn's side to see the figure stuffing Precursor artifacts in a bag and racing towards the Temple. At first, the warriors watched how the figure would toss the bag and run and jump to the next island.
"Come on!" Daxter yelled, already racing towards the Gila Stomper. Following close behind were Sig and Torn, but Jak still watched the figure and how they missed the next landing. The person had hit hard into the side of the cliff of the island, but were still holding on and pulling themselves up.
"Come on, Jak!" Sig yelled, driving near Jak.
"This can't make the jumps." Jak said, looking at them. Sig exchanged a glance with Torn.
"You can jump pretty well, with that jet board of yours?" Sig asked, handing Daxter to Jak, "Go ahead. We'll get the Dune Hopper and join ya soon." Sig finished, starting to head back to Spargus."
Jak quickly pulled out his jet board and jumped across a few islands to see their fugitive pulling themselves up and running, with the bag, to the next jump.
"Get 'em, Jak!" Daxter yelled, pointing towards the figure. They cleared the next jump and gained ground on the runaway. Jak now had time to see that the runner was exceptionally small. At this point, the figure had stopped and was nearly run over by Jak. Luckily Jak turned at the last moment and veered around them.
"Wait, we ain't gonna hurt ya!" Daxter yelled as the Jak put away the board.
"Yeah, we need some info." Jak added, slowly walking towards the small figure. There, Jak was able to see that they had followed a small girl. She was wearing a mask to cover her mouth and nose and dark goggles over her eyes. She produced a small sword and held it towards Jak's chest. Jak jumped back, holding up his hands in defense.
"Hey, we mean no harm. We are just looking for survivors. They got caught in the latest storm." Daxter quickly said. At this, the girl lowered her sword and appeared to be thinking about what Daxter said.
"Yeah, there are about four men. They were collecting those artifacts you have there." Jak said, pointing to the bag that she had slung over her shoulder. The Dune Hopper could be heard bounding towards them. The child looked to the noise and back at the heroic duo.
"They're with us. They will help…whoa, HEY!" Daxter started to say before the cloaked child had ran off. At Daxter's yelled, she had stopped and turned around.
"Just tell us if you have seen them around." Jak said, as the Dune Hopper had landed near the edge of the last island. Sig and Torn jumped out of the vehicle and looked at the girl.
Torn started to laugh, "What do we have here? A wanna be Wasterlander… What do you think you are doing out here?"
"Stop it, Torn. She might know where the missing men are." Jak said. Turning their attention back to the girl at hand, Sig slowly walked towards the girl. He easily towered over the young child and obviously scaring her. Sig lowed himself to one knee so he was near eye to eye with her.
"Can I have those artifacts or do you need them?" Sig asked. The girl shook her head and ran off towards the Temple.
"Wait!" Sig yelled and almost followed her. Torn had grabbed his shoulder and both raced back to the Dune Hopper. Jak and Daxter had already beaten them to the vehicle and were waiting.
"Come on, we can see where the kid is headed!" Daxter shouted as Sig and Torn got in and raced up the rest of the way. As the Dune Hopper closed in on the arches of the Temple, they could see an encampment with a few tents set up. The warriors all got out of the Hopper and walked near the entrance.
"Okay, she's not alone." Jak said, stating the obvious as he looked around.
"Be on your guard. We don't know how many there are." Torn added, leading the way towards the campsite.
"Not so fast, Ace." Another cloaked figured said, walking towards Torn, "What business do you have here?"
Torn was about to lose it. He didn't care for that type of attitude from anyone, but kept himself in check, "There were men lost in the latest storm. Seen 'em?"
The cloaked figure nodded, "Yeah, found 'em nearly dead. They're in the biggest tent over there. Get 'em and leave." He said, pointing to where their fugitive girl was entering. Jak nodded and walked past the cloaked man. Daxter shivered a bit after they left the area.
"Man, that guy is really hostile. Wonder if the others will be as well." Daxter whispered into Jak's ear.
"Have you ever seen these people around before?" Sig asked, "And what's with all the masks?" He added, looking at the people, all were covered.
"Maybe something happened during the main assault?" Torn answered with his own question. Jak really hoped not. Nothing would make him feel worse than knowing nearly ten people were seriously hurt by the war. It was bad enough to know that the citizens of Haven City held him responsible for the war anyways.
"Guess we could ask one of them, once they calm down." Daxter suggested, bringing Jak out of his thoughts.
As they entered the huge tent, they were rewarded with seeing all four missing men in good tact. The girl they chased from earlier was helping one of the men sit up and drink some water.
"Sir!" one of the men closer to Sig yelled, "You found us and you're still in one peace…" He added, looking at all of them.
"Yeah, nice welcoming committee." Sig answered, partially laughing. He looked around and saw the bag full of artifacts, "Who gets these?"
The girl slowly looked up to Sig and back down to the man that was leaning against her. The man nodded and let the child get up and walk to Sig and the others. Grabbing the bag as she neared the men, she held it out for Sig to take.
"Yours…" The girl said in a high, whispery voice, "Don't need."
"Whoa! You okay there little one?" Daxter asked. She had just nodded. Sig slung the bag over his shoulder and went over to one of the lying men. He helped the man up and kept his arm slung around the man's waist. Torn and Jak did the same as the girl helped the man she had been around earlier.
They left the tent with the entire tribe watching them leave. Daxter looked around, but didn't see any anger or anything bad towards the warriors. Sig lead the way to their waiting transport.
"So, uh, how can we transport all four back?" Jak asked. Torn was thinking as Sig pt one of the men in the Dune Hopper.
"We can take two in the Hopper, Jak can take one on his board, but that leaves just one left." Sig answered. The young girl listened to the guys talk and walked off only to reappear with a bike. Daxter watched her bring it towards them and raced off Jak's shoulder to go see it.
"Whoa! This baby is cool. Looks like one of the zoomers back in Haven City." Daxter said he raced around the bike.
"So, what's this for?" Jak asked, walking towards the bike.
"She can take me on back to town on it. It's how they got us here in the first place." The Wastelander said, "I'm not as hurt as they are."
"So what happened with you guys?" Sig asked.
"Got caught in the storm. I was near a cave, but the others were about two meters away. They weren't seriously hurt, but they did get hit. Then, five bikes came out of the storm and covered us in blankets, put us on the bikes and we have recovered here since. The people aren't bad at all, 'cept one."
"Salvaged." The girl said, pointing to the bike.
"Don't talk Shade, ya don't want Kix's lecture again." The man said.
"What happened here, with them?" Torn asked, not being able to wait. The girl looked to Torn and back to the Wastelander. She nodded and busied herself on the bike, which Daxter now sat on and watched.
"She goes by Shade. As for what's wrong, they were all prisoners in Baron Praxis' palace. Used for experiments with eco, but after a few tests of nothing, they were left on the streets to die. When the KG and Metalheads attacked, they were caught in some blast and thrown away from the city. The cloaks and masks hide what was damaged or lost."
"What does that mean and who told you all of this?" Jak asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Knowing he wasn't the only one that was forced with the dark eco experiments, he felt anger well up inside.
"Shade told me and it means that if a body part, say an arm, wasn't disfigured… they don't have one. Shade and Kix seem to be the ones with everything attached. It's others things affected. Kix is the one that greeted you so nicely… and here he comes." The rescued Wastelander hushed everyone.
"What are you still doing here?" Kix asked.
"Hey! Anyone can come to this Temple, so buzz off!" Daxter said, jumping on Shade's shoulder.
"Back off, rodent, you…" Kix started before the girl, Shade, pushed him.
"No!" Shade's voice cracked, "Not leader!"