That fight had taken a lot out of me. I don't really know why, though. Maybe that weird thing with my sword had something to do with it. I'm not really sure. I sat perfectly still as Uncle Torn dabbed an alcohol swab on my cheek where Dark Jak had cut me open. I winced slightly but help at still as I could.
"I must admit, Jakie, you handled him pretty well back there," dad complimented. I smiled slightly.
"I've done it before. It's not really anything to be extremely proud of," I answered.
"What still bothers me is what happened at the tale end of that fight," Dawn broke in, jumping up from the ground to the table.
"I don't really know," I replied, "but from what I can tell, it looked like my sword was being powered by eco." Uncle Torn sat up for a moment.
"But how is that possible? You have the same dark eco as me. Why would it have a different effect on you?" dad questioned. I shrugged before Uncle Torn tended to my cuts again.
"It looks like you've somehow found a way to transfer your eco from your body into an object," he said.
"That's pretty weird," I commented. "I would've expected my dark eco to affect me the same way it affects dad. He has a darker side, so I should as well… nothing is making any sense here."
"Wait a second, Jakie," Dawn interrupted, "you did have a dark side. Remember the Town Square massacre?"
"How could I forget? It's what I'm known for," I replied, eyeing her curiously.
"I was there, too, and I saw you transform. So you have a dark side."
"But why isn't it the same now than before?" I inquired. Both dad and Dawn just shrugged at the question.
"Well, since it's that way now, you'll just have to master it the way it is," Uncle Torn spoke up.
"I guess you're right… All I have to do is figure out how to use it…" I agreed.
"And here's your chance to do it. Lately we've been having trouble with our communication links. We sent a few scouts to see what the problem was, and it turns out The Baron put up a few security lines and they're interfering with our signals. I want you two to go to the strip mine and take out every one you can find," Uncle Torn explained. I nodded.
"No problem," I replied, "Right, pop?" he also nodded.
"Good. Rest up and get out there," Uncle Torn finished. Well, here we go again with another one of Uncle Torn's suicide missions…
After dad and I had gotten our strength back, we hijacked another zoomer and took off for the strip mine. Dawn and Daxter were with us, too. We were still a bit tired from that battle earlier, but we were confident we could pull the job off. I just couldn't stop thinking about the fight. Dad was stronger in this time that in my time. Probably because he was younger now. And in case you haven't guess, yes, I used to take on dad's dark form when I was 10. I know, a good way to get killed, but when there was no one else around, what else could I do? I guess that's why I'm so skilled now, because I started at an early age. But aside from all that, we finally arrived at the strip mine.
I took out my Peacemaker, as did dad. Dawn hopped onto my shoulder, and Daxter onto dads.
"Why does tattoo boy ALWAYS give us the crappy missions?" Daxter complained. I rolled my eyes.
"Just shut up and enjoy it while you can," I answered, "for all we know, this could be our last mission together." Dad nodded.
"She's got a point," he agreed. Daxter and dawn complained a little more, while dad and I shot down the metal heads in our way. A little ways after the conveyor belt thingy that's in the middle of the road for no apparent reason, we spotted the first Security thingy that Uncle Torn told us to destroy.
"So… how exactly do we take this thing down?" I asked. Dad shrugged. I stepped back and examined the thing on top of the tower for a moment, searching for a weakness of some kind.
"Hey Jakie," dad interrupted, "try climbing up to the top and using your sword." I cocked an eyebrow, but then shrugged. Eh, it was worth a shot. I put my Peacemaker away and started climbing the tower. Once at the top, I drew my sword. Ok, so how do I make this thing work?
"Dad!" I called.
"What?"
"How do you summon your dark powers?" There was a moment of silence,
"I'm not really sure! But it's usually when I'm angry!" Angry, huh? Well… let's see, what gets me angry…? Praxis… I started thinking about those two months in prison when Praxis was pumping me full of dark eco. Yep, that did the trick. I clutched my sword tightly, and it took on the same form as before. Except it was… bigger? Yeah. MUCH bigger. That's never happened before… but oh well. I swung it at the KG thingy as hard as I could, and it was sliced in half, then the bottom half blew up. I grinned with satisfaction, and my sword changed back to normal. I jumped back down and rejoined my father.
"I think I know how to work it now," I reported. Dad half smiled, slung his gun over his shoulder, motioned for me to follow along and started walking towards the next security thingy.
It was the same thing the whole way. Through all six of the thingies. We'd shoot a bunch of metal heads, I'd climb the tower while dad covered my butt, I'd summon my dark sword powers, smash the thingy and jump back down. Pretty boring. But at least I'd figured out how to use my dark sword power. Pretty awesome. And in case you didn't guess, yeah, that was the last mission I went on. When we were leaving the strip mine, Vin called me on my communicator and told me that the warp gate was ready for me to use it to get back home. To tell you the truth, I was more upset than happy. I guess it was because I'd had so much fun here in haven that I didn't really want to go home. But I had to. It was where I belonged. And just thinking about that, I almost cried.
When we got back to the hideout, and gave the news to everyone else, things were pretty quiet the rest of the night. I guess it was because everyone else had warmed up to me and wasn't ready to just let me leave so suddenly. Especially Uncle Torn and dad. And Daxter, I guess. They were the ones that I'd grown on the most. The four of us stayed up late into the night, talking, laughing and joking about anything that came into the conversation. It was pretty fun, and almost made me forget about tomorrow… the day I was planning to leave…