Jak ran outside. It was lashing down with rain and a storm was brewing up. Daxter followed outside.
"Uh Jak? You better take a look at this!" Daxter screamed. Jak looked up to see two dark figures heading towards him. It was Gol and Maia! The two of them settled on the ground in front of the boy and the ottsel.
"Well hello, Jak!" Gol cackled.
"So good to see you again! We have just managed to escape from a little situation, let's say" Maia teased, "I'm sure you remember the day you trapped us in the Silos!"
Jak scowled at them.
"Ah yes! The Silos!" Gol laughed. "I'll bet you had thought you had got rid of us forever, by trapping us in there. FOOLS! Ever since the lid of the Silos was closed, we have been growing stronger and stronger! Ha ha ha aha ha!"
"Oh! We forgot to mention Samos and your dear Keira. Don't worry about your friends, they are perfectly safe!" Maia taunted. "Oh! And as a thank you, we have left you a little surprise!"
"Will we like it?" Daxter said sarcastically.
"Let's just say" Gol joked, "IT'S TO DIE FOR!"
"Uh... Jak?" Daxter said looking behind him, "you're not going to like this!"
"Have fun!" Gol and Maia laughed.
Jak turned around and gasped in horror as he saw a giant wave of Dark Eco heading straight for him and the village!
A: N Hi everyone! Sorry about the wait but I've got several other fics on the go! Don't worry, 'coz here is the next chappie!
By the way, if you are unsure with some of the different types of Eco, it is because I invented them.
Thanks go to shaunamitchell, J (that's my brother), Glorfindel Silverleaf, Total-Jewel and Flaming red dragon for reviewing!
All reviews will be appreciated and smiled at!
Read away people!
Chapter 11: Imprisoned
He could see it on the horizon, a huge mass of lethal Dark Eco heading straight for Sandover. Jak knew that everyone would be either killed or left in a terrible state like Daxter who had fallen in a vat of Dark Eco not so long ago and transformed into a half otter, half weasel, therefore known as an ottsel. Of course, it was Jak's fault but Daxter didn't seem to mind apart from the fact that Keira does not date animals!
Jak recovered from his state of shock and bolted back to Samos' hut. He knew that Samos kept all kinds Eco in a cupboard, to the back of the hut. He had told Jak and Daxter particularly, not to go in. This, however, was an emergency so he figured that he would be allowed to go in.
Jak already had a basic understanding of combining Eco. Sadly what he would need to do was rather advanced. It was that or a tragedy.
Outside Daxter was still staring at the wave of Dark Eco.
"Jak! It's coming faster! Get a move on!" Daxter yelled as he felt the first slight of vibration underneath his furry feet.
Jak was now in the cupboard looking at all the jars of Eco. He remembered his first fight against Gol and Maia and had learnt that White Eco was slightly stronger than its dark counterpart.
He rummaged through the cupboard even further and did find a large jar of White Eco. It was surely enough to protect Daxter and himself, even possibly, Keira and Samos as well. It wouldn't be able to protect a whole village from destruction or even death.
Jak would need a lot more White Eco if he were to be able to save the other villagers.
And then it struck him. He would have to mix different Eco together to make the correct type. To be exact, mixing Red, Yellow, Green and Blue Eco would give him White Eco.
As a result, Jak crawled deeper into the cupboard to search for the four different colours.
It had been a total of five minutes before Jak emerged from the cupboard, holding two large jars. One with a blue glow and the other with a yellow glow.
Daxter came running in.
"Jak! I'd say it's only a couple of miles away. What's the freakin' hold up? The villagers are really panicking and that sculptor dude is driving me insane, running round the place with his arms in the air and screaming like a woman! Even I'm not that bad. Sheesh!"
Jak shushed the ottsel and put his hands to the floor, listening. He could hear a tiny rumble and the ground was disturbed.
Daxter turned to look out of the window. Jak dived back in to the cupboard to look for the two remaining Ecos.
"Uh oh! I think it shifted into overdrive!" the ottsel screamed. It was true. The Eco wave had begun to speed up. Jak moved out of the cupboard, banging his head in the process. He stood up and ran towards the window, rubbing his head. It was just as he had feared. He now had less time to figure out the Eco problems he had.
Jak literally threw himself back in to the cupboard. He resumed searching for any signs of a read or green glow.
"Yes!" he shouted victoriously, banging his head on the roof of the cupboard yet again. It was one of those rare moments when Jak said anything, making Daxter jump.
"By the looks of it, judging by the speed, I'd you've got about ten minutes!" Daxter said, still glancing out of the window. Jak could hear that he was concerned by the tone of his voice and by the way his ears had dropped down the side of his head. The ottsel bowed his head and sat down in the corner, his arms around his legs.
"Face it" he sighed "we're gonna die" he said, pessimistically, looking at Jak who was still hopelessly ferreting around for Green Eco.
After another minute, Jak emerged from the cupboard, driven to complete exasperation.
How could the Green Sage not have Green Eco?
Jak stood up and pushed the three jars towards Daxter. The boy immediately stood up and ran down the ramp to Keira's level of the hut. Daxter heard the A-GraV Zoomer start up. He stood up and ran to the door.
"Whoa! Wait a minute, Jak! Where are you going? Now is not the time for a joyride, you moron!"
Jak shook his head and drove the Zoomer over the edge and over the sea, which had now got several dark purple streaks seeping through it's silvery blue shimmer. The Dark Eco would be coming sooner than later.
"Jak! Come back!" Daxter shouted at him but it was obvious that Jak couldn't hear him. "Oh well! He's right. You better make them most of life as you've only got eight more minutes to live. The ottsel ran back inside to claw Samos' favourite chair.
Meanwhile, Jak was heading to Sentinel Beach. He knew that there were Green Eco vents on the far side of it. He glided swiftly across its soft sands until he skidded to a halt by an Eco vent. The Eco was flowing brightly as normal. Jak picked up a jar and placed his hand over the vent. He watched as one of his cuts on his fingers, healed up in seconds. He smiled and placed the jar over the vent, standing in it at the same time.
Jak then became aware of the time and mounted the Zoomer. He twisted the accelerator and sped off once more.
Daxter was still clawing Samos's chair, which was now in a right tattered state. He was purring gently as if all his troubles were gone. But deep down inside he was worried sick about what a second helping of Dark Eco would do to him. He had already had a nasty accident and knew what it felt like to be covered in its liquid form.
It felt like his skin was being torn from his body and his insides were melting. It burned against his face. He truly, at that stage, wanted to die. The pain was THAT BAD!
Daxter shuddered and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
He sat in the corner, hunched up, for the awaited return of his best friend. Five minutes and counting. He waited and waited for the substance to arrive and destroy him completely.
Jak drove fiercely over the sea, which was getting rougher, until he arrived at Samos's hut and, hastily, parked the Zoomer outside. He knew that it couldn't possibly withstand the danger that was approaching.
He ran upstairs and sighed at the mess Daxter had made of Samos's favourite chair. He was obviously in much distress. Jak shook his head and ran to the cupboard. He pulled out a jar of Orange Eco, Silver Eco and Gold Eco. He had been told, briefly, about their powers:
Orange Eco was to melt objects with your bare hands.
Silver Eco was to form a bubble around you or something else but would require another type of Eco to determine what the bubble is made of.
Gold Eco was to paralyse someone or something temporarily.
For this particular danger, he needed a bubble of White Eco, which is resistant to Dark Eco. This meant he had to mix Red, Yellow, Green and Blue Eco for the White and then combine it with Silver Eco.
Jak got to work right away. He started mixing for the White substance.
Daxter stood up and walked over to Jak who looked determined to beat the wave. Daxter noticed this and felt a tiny splash of confidence inside him. He smiled and handed Jak the Silver Eco jar. Jak combined the two to make a silver crystal, small enough to fit in the hand. He put the leftover Eco jars inside his bag on his back.
Jak looked questionably at Daxter who walked over to the window once more.
"One minute" he said jumping on Jak's shoulder. He took a deep breath and walked, briskly, outside. This was it.
Jak had been taught that it wasn't necessarily the amount of Eco that mattered. It was also the strength and the energy of the "channeller". A channeller is a gifted person able to let Eco flow through their body. Jak was one of these rare people.
He stared up at the wave, which looked considerably bigger than it did earlier. He could feel the trembling weight on his shoulder and could hear the villagers panicking.
Jak ran to the centre of the village and studied the wave. It would take everything he'd got to even stand a chance against it but it was that or nothing.
He took one last deep breath and held one arm above his head. He clenched the Silver Eco crystal and felt it melt in his hand. He felt a weird sensation throughout his body, which meant the Eco had taken effect.
He opened his hand out so that he could let out a long beam of silvery light over the treetops. The beam spread out to form a bubble over the village. Its sides fell like a blanket. The villagers all went silent.
Daxter looked down at his friend who seemed to be getting tired from using this much. Daxter knew that just using Blue Eco was tiring on it's own, but five different types of Eco at the same time must be exhausting.
"Three...two...one" Daxter whispered, covering his mouth with his hands as he heard the Dark Eco wave crash down on top of the silver Eco shield.
Jak let out a weak groan as he struggled to keep the shield wall up. He felt himself fall to his knees but retained concentration.
He staggered to his feet and began to run to the other side of the village to keep that side covered as the wave had passed overhead and one side of the village was safe.
Jak's run slowed down as he struggled to maintain his endurance. He had made it to the other side of the village but still had to divert the wave well past it, out in the waters. He held the shield above the village for a little longer, before making a smaller one for himself and Daxter, to protect them while they were out swimming Eco infested sea.
Daxter kept glancing at Jak who looked absolutely overworked by the amounts of Eco he was using. His eyes were half closed and they weren't focusing properly. There was nothing the ottsel could do. Jak was going to faint at some point and all he could do was watch. He leant over and tapped Jak on the top of his head. Jak turned his head to look at his best friend and smiled drowsily before his head lolled to one side and he fell forward.
Daxter began to panic. He shook Jak's shoulders to try and wake him up but it was no use. Jak had fallen unconscious. Daxter stared over his shoulder only to catch a glimpse of the wave about to hit the two of them. He hunched his shoulders and shut his eyes, knowing that it would be over very soon.
He felt the wave crash down on top of him, pulling him under the water. He remained in the same position for a moment until he realised that he was still alive and well. He looked above his head and saw the protective shield still around him and Jak...
Jak...
Was he ok?
He turned towards his friend and found himself completely relieved by the expression on Jak's face.
He had a very weak, but confident smile. Somehow he had managed to keep the shield up, even when unconscious. Or had he been unconscious in the first place?
"You all right, Dax?" he murmured, softly. His skin was paler than usual and his voice sounded unstable. He smiled once more before collapsing again.
At least they were on a bit of land. It was a small island about ten feet long. It had small patches of sand and a little tuft of grass although most of it was rock. Daxter moved Jak onto the grass. The boy had a couple of scars on his face and a bruise on his arm but other than that, he looked relatively fine. The colour in his cheeks was returning as well.
Daxter lowered himself onto the sand and sighed, deeply. All he could see was water, water and more water. He had also noticed that it was becoming increasingly cold all of a sudden and he could see his breath in front of his hands. A thick fog was emerging.
"Jak? Jak! JAK!" He heard his friend stir slightly. Daxter ran over to him. "Jak, the tide is coming in. There will be nothing left of this "island" soon. We have to get a move on."
Jak opened his eyes and sat up. He yawned and looked around.
Where in the world were they supposed to go?
There was nothing but sea for miles.
Jak's vision recovered and he could see properly again. He continued to look around in all directions.
Finally, something caught his eye. He could make out a slight silhouette in the distance. He grabbed Daxter by his waist and threw him onto his armour shoulder plate.
"Hey! Careful with the goods, buddy!" Daxter shouted.
Jak jumped into the water and began to swim to the dim outline. The water was utterly icy. In a hot summer, this freaked both of them out.
Jak approached the object. Much to his surprise, it was a rope ladder. He tilted his head in thought and then motivated himself to start climbing.
The rungs seemed to go on forever. Jak was tired and to make matters worse, he had a thick layer of snow and ice forming on his bare arms and shoulders. The ottsel next to him was freezing and had ice in his fur. He was all huddled up and was shivering. Jak picked the ottsel up and held him against his chest. He proceeded to climb.
It must have been about thirty minutes before they reached the top. Jak was frozen and was all hunched up, still clasping Daxter. The boy knelt down in the snow. He tried to make out where exactly he was. All he could see, through the blizzard around them, was a giant castle-like fortress. Its walls were jet black and it had only a few stained glass windows. It seemed hardly welcoming.
Jak's ears picked up a slight rustling in the snow. It sounded almost like footsteps. Jak wrapped his arms around him as he felt another icy blast of wind whip his sides.
The thing he had heard was now standing in front of him. It looked like a man. He was heavily dressed (which was sensible, considering the weather) and his skin was almost a dark purple.
The man seized Jak by the collar and held him off the ground. Jak struggled but found himself staring into the eyes of this stranger. He felt almost sympathetic as he saw that this man's expression seemed totally emotionless. His eyes were black, with no shine or reflection at all. It was almost as if he were in a trance.
All of a sudden, the man clasped his bony grey hands around Jak's neck. He applied pressure so Jak couldn't breathe. Jak slammed his own hands against the man's to try and remove them but found his hands numb from the bitter cold. The man held Jak up by his neck and Jak went limp. Daxter crawled up the man's arm and bit his hand. The man dropped Jak, who had passed out from lack of oxygen. He recovered a can and sprayed whatever was inside of it, in Daxter face. The ottsel choked, before joining his best friend...
...out cold.
A: N there we go, all finished! Please review! I love to hear from you! At the moment I am feeling very lonely. Puppy eyes
Minasan, ja ne!