"You're naive, Shade. You don't know…"
"I thought I knew you, Kix." Torn jumped in, "What happened? Get caught while running away?"
"'Least I'm not a traitor!" Kix yelled.
"I bet you, like Errol, helped torture those people. Is this your way of some sick repayment?" Torn asked. Shade's expression, though still wearing her goggles, changed dramatically.
"Don't listen to him! He's lying!" Kix screamed.
"Whoa! You okay there, kid?" Daxter asked. Shade just turned to him and nodded. Kix and Torn were still fighting when the rest of the tribe slowly made their way to the arches. They had exchanged glances and turned back to the encampment. Shade watched them as Daxter shifted uneasy on her shoulders.
"What are they doing?" Daxter quietly asked Shade. The girl shrugged and turned back to the fight between the ex-KG warriors. Torn seemed to be winning.
"Get over it, Kix. You could be killing them by hiding them here!" Jak added, "Maybe they need medical help."
"No one would want them around. They're freaks!" Kix yelled at the warriors. Daxter felt Shade tense up under him.
"Relax kid. The other will handle this." Daxter said, patting her shoulder. Shade had just stormed off, walking under the arches to where the others were.
Jak watched Shade walk off and wanted to go after her, but Sig's hand stopped him.
"How can you say that? That just proves you're using them…" Torn said, about to slug Kix.
As Shade and Daxter neared the campsite, Daxter was able to count about six other people there. Most looked older than Shade, but with the masks on, Daxter really couldn't tell.
"Heard!" Shade yelled, her voice cracking. The others nodded and looked among one another.
"What should we do, Shade? We don't have anywhere to go…" One of the elder men asked. Shade didn't know and shook her head.
"Why don't you all come to Spargus? Damas will have ya. After you fight…crap…" Daxter started then slumped over, "Can't be there if you can't fight."
We can. We might be hindered, but we have survived this long." Another elder, a woman, said. Daxter nodded and smiled at Shade. Shade nodded back and looked around.
"Gather and leave…" She said, her voice lightly cracking.
"Well how ya, ya know, gonna get to Spargus?" Daxter asked, moving his hand around, trying to show emphasis.
"The bikes. They are zoomers and the marauder's cars salvaged together." The elder man explained.
"Wait, if you show these to Damas, then maybe you won't have to fight." Daxter exclaimed. Shade laughed and walked back to where the warriors were. Her facial expression changed to anger as she went under the arches.
"Just relax, kid. Stay near your bike and I'll go tell the others what's going on." Daxter said, leaving Shade and running to Jak. Jak noticed Daxter and crouched down so that the ottsel could run up to his shoulder.
"Jak, listen." Daxter whispered, "The tribe wants to go to Spargus. They are really good mechanics. Then Damas won't have them fight."
"Maybe." Jak whispered back, watching Torn and Kix and taking a quick glance towards Sig. Sig had gone back to the Dune Hopper with the rescued men and sent them back to Spargus without them.
"How many are there?" Jak asked, looking back to the fight, hearing Torn yell about Haven City.
"Seven, including Shade." Daxter answered, "And they are pissed at Kix." The ottsel answered, also turning towards the fighting ex-Guards.
"The Baron is gone, he lost!" Torn yelled.
"But the KG are still fighting…" Kix said back.
"Yeah, a losing battle."
"Not for long…" Kix glared at Torn, making him wonder what he was going to do, "Come on, Shade…" Kix said, turning towards the girl. Shade neither moved nor looked at him.
"Don't believe them, Shade. Everyone of them were banned for a reason." Kix pleaded, getting close to her.
"Leave her alone!" Torn yelled, but Shade had turned to face Kix with her goggles and mask off.
"True!" She asked, "Casted out…for fighting…back!" Shade's voice was growing weaker with every shrieked word.
Kix was faced with Shade's wounds. A scar ran from her forehead, to the bridge of her nose. That split across both eyes and down the girl's cheeks.
"I'm sorry…" Was the only thing he could say.
"Not good enough." Shade's voice was now barely audible. Daxter was pissed and ran from Jak to Shade's side.
"Listen you. You're not so tough. Just some has-been Guard and a sore loser!" Daxter yelled up at the man.
"Why you…" Kix went after Daxter, but meet the heel of Shade's boot. She had swung her right leg up, hitting Kix and sending him a few feet away. Daxter had ducked both attacks and looked up in time to see Shade landing.
Jak, Torn, and Sig watched the girl. Her scars now visible to them, hit Jak hard in the gut and made the hero feel sick to his stomach.
"Whatever isn't hindered, is damaged…" Sig repeated what they were told earlier, "Obvious, most damage was done to her face."
"What about her mind…?" Torn wondered, "What if it's a good thing, like Jak." Torn added, thinking about Jak and his powers.
"I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but I know what you're thinking… But her eyes." Jak added, seeing something wrong. Daxter looked at Jak and saw his sicken expression and looked up at Shade, his expression had turned into shock.
"Whoa!" Daxter jumped up onto Shade's shoulder, where he inspected her scar and her eyes, "Neat-o eyes…" He said, trying to keep Shade calm. He was able to tell she was getting upset, "So what's on your eyes? Slime, webbing, eco… What? You're not helping…" Daxter said, moving the girl's head in all sorts of positions and directions. To his relief, she was enjoying herself.
Kix was starting to regain his composer, the ex-KG warrior was furious.
"You little, you'll pay for that!" He yelled, running towards Shade. Shade drew out her short sword and swung it towards Kix has he charged.
Kix pulled out his own sword and it clanged hard against Shade's. Kix broke off his attack and swung his sword at Shade's left side, but Shade was able to block it. This kept going on for a few moments until Shade was able to kick Kix away from her.
Jak took this time to get out his blaster and quickly raced up to the fight and shot off a round before either one could attack again. Torn had run up behind Jak and as Kix landed, Torn jumped at Kix. Kix had landed a few blows, but Torn kicked him in the gut and knocked him in the head at Kix doubled over. Kix was now out cold.
"What's with the noble act, Torn?" Jak asked, "Didn't know you were the type."
"Maybe you could be rubbing off on me, Jak." Torn laughed, "I really wanted a reason to knock him out. Not that I really wanted the kid to get hurt…"
Jak just rolled his eyes and shook his head, 'That's Torn…' he thought to himself. Jak started making his way to Shade, which she was sitting on the ground with Daxter near-by, ranting at the unconscious Kix. Jak knelt down to face Shade and he felt bad for all of the tribe.
Shade looked up at Jak to see the pity in his eyes and quickly grew angry, "DON'T!" She yelled, pushing Jak away and knocking him down. Jak was stunned, as were Torn and Sig.
"What?" Jak asked, "What's wrong?" He got up and walked back to the young girl, "You don't like that look, huh?"
Shade shook her head, "Why?" She asked, her whispery voice cracking. Daxter had made his way back to Jak shoulder and looked at Jak.
"I feel bad, almost responsible." Jak stated.
"Jak was also involved in the eco crap. He seems intact, but he's lost." Daxter chimed in, making light of everything, "Yeah, without me, Jak would be still in trouble. I have saved him so many…"
"Daxter…" Jak nearly whined, but Daxter nodded Jak to look towards Shade. Jak complied and slowly faced the girl again. To his surprise, she was smiling and almost laughing. Shade looked up at them and just shook her head.
"Let's go, Shade." A voice said from the arches.
Jak and the others looked towards the arches to see the entire tribe standing there, each next to a bike. There was a bundle tied on to the rear of each bike. Shade went to the elderly man's side and was given her bundle of stuff. Shade nodded thanks and went to tie her stuff to her bike. As she did so, Daxter leapt off Jak's shoulder and walked to Shade as Jak, Torn, and Sig came up with a plan.
"What do we do now?" Torn asked, leaning up against the cavern wall.
"Daxter said that they made those bikes and want to go back to Spargus." Jak said. Sig and Torn's eyes grew wide.
"They made those bikes?" Sig asked.
Jak nodded, "Yeah, from zoomers and marauder parts."
"Maybe we can have them help us in the war?" Torn asked himself. Jak and Sig could only shrug.
"What about Kix? He's sure to come after them again, given any chance." Jak said. Torn smiled and pushed himself away from the wall. Without a word, he walked to Shade and whispered into her ear. Shade looked at Torn and laughed. She pointed to the elder and finished tying her bundle with Daxter looking questioning at her.
Torn walked to the elder and asked him something. The elder nodded and handed Torn a long piece of rope. Torn proceeded towards Kix's unconscious body. Sig and Jak just started laughing.
Shade signaled she was ready and called the warriors over to her bike, which also brought over the elder. The elder looked over each of them for a moment.
"You," he said, pointing to Jak, "Can ride with Shade. The big guy can ride with me. You can ride here, with her." He added, telling Torn to ride with one of the women. The warriors nodded and each got onto the assigned bikes. Daxter sat in front of Shade, near the handlebars, which Jak sat behind her.
The bikes raced off, jumping across the gaps to the mainland. As they raced past the abandoned village, marauders raced up around the train of bikes. Sig, Torn, and Jak were able to cover everyone and keep the marauders at bay. It took them awhile to get to Spargus, but as they entered the fortified doors, Damas was waiting for them. He was standing near the entrance door with Pecker and looked relieved to see the bikes.
"Damas was getting worried that we would have to send people out for your hides." Pecker squawked. Damas nodded and looked at the outsiders.
"Who are thy? Why are they covered so much?" Damas asked. Sig and Torn walked near Damas as the tribe dismounted. Jak and Shade just sat sidesaddle on her bike.
"They were the ones that rescued your men and the artifacts out there." Sig said, "They've been living out in the desert for a few weeks now."
Damas nodded to the tribe, "Thank you, for rescuing everything. What should we do with them?"
"Law of the land…" Pecker said. Daxter just gave him a glare from the bike he sat on.
"By our ways of the lands here, you must fight in the arena to prove yourself here." Damas announced.
"Some us would like to go back to Haven City." One of the men said.
"Why do you still hide under all that?" Pecker asked, flying over and landing next to Daxter, "Did you get caught in a major storm?"
"Shut it, bird beak." Daxter warned.
"It's quite alright." The elder said, "We were ones that the Baron experimented on before Jak. Once the Baron had acquired Jak, he threw us out into the streets to die. The dark eco did not 'bond' well with us, so it ended up disfiguring our bodies. Mostly our arms or legs."
Damas' eyes grew, "And yet you survived and even built these." Damas gestured to the bikes.
"Because of the dark eco deforming our bodies, it was slowly killing us. We ended up having amputating our limbs and created new ones." A woman added.
"With marauder parts!" Daxter asked, shocked. Jak couldn't believe his ears. How could Daxter actually think that? But then again…
"No, no…" The man laughed, "We created robotic limbs."
"How bad could you actually look?" Pecker asked before Daxter socked him in the back of the head.
Without a word, the tribe disrobed. Still in there tattered, Haven City tunics. There were four males and two females amongst them. The women seemed to have less metal on them. One's arm was turned from her elbow down to her hand to a metal appendage. The other's leg was completely metal from her hip to a makeshift shoe.
The elderly man's leg had a round, metal band around his knee with five support bars that went into another kind of makeshift shoe. One of the older of the males had both of his legs turned into metal limbs. Another man had parts of his hand and leg missing. His hand had three fingers with half of that part of the hand missing and metal supports to a cylinder support around his wrist, while his leg at the shin down, was nothing, but metal. The last man had a complete metal arm from the shoulder. Damas looked over each person, as did the rest of the warriors. He nodded as he thought of what to do next.
"It's now up to you where you want to live. Here or in Haven City. Here, you must prove your citizenship in the arena three times." Pecker stated, sitting on Damas' shoulder, "You must also survive the storms and the constant marauder attacks. There are also Metal Head tribes that ravage this land."
"Haven City is a war zone. The Metal Heads and KG bots are trying to take over. We're not really sure, but we are fighting back and winning. Slowly taking out their strong holds." Torn said.
The tribe looked to one another and considered their options. Torn walked a few feet away from everyone, "If you want to go back to Haven City, stand over here and we will leave soon." Torn added.
Everyone, but the two oldest, the elderly male and a female, left to go back to their home in Haven City. Torn nodded a good-bye and the four bikes sped off. Leaving Shade left to show her scars to the desert leader.
"So, you two will stay here?" Damas asked, forgetting.
"Three, us three…" The woman said, pointing behind Damas to Shade. Damas turned to the girl and nodded.
"You will stay…and fight?" Damas asked.
Shade nodded, "I will…" her whispery-voice answered. Pecker and Damas both jumped in shock. Damas couldn't help himself and carefully pulled the cloak away, then her mask and goggles.
"Cool eyes, huh?" Daxter asked, standing on Shade's shoulder.
"Let us begin the battles. Then will you explain…?" Damas asked Shade. Shade nodded and walked next to Jak.
"Ready." She said, smiling. Damas nodded and led the way to the arena.
As they entered, the crowd boomed with excitement as the elderly male, now named Raghnall, started fighting. The female was now named Vaja, who watched him intently.