Chapter 5: "War Makes Strange…"
The modified Gila Stomper skidded to a halt in the sands South of the cliffs, just over the main dunes before the vague pit where Seem had been accosted by the marauders and felt the old darkness. Seem leaned forward, pointing ahead. "Just there, your majesty. Beneath that dip in the sands, far beneath."
Sig nodded slowly. "Roger that. I'll pull in closer then." He more slowly drove the vehicle ahead as she sat back.
Daxter looked around, tapping at this teeth with his fingertips as he nervously glanced at the cliffs and sands. "Suddenly this place is creeping me out, Jak…" he drew out in a forced sing-song manner.
"Just relax, Dax. We'll figure out what we can, and deal with it like we did all the others," Jak replied smoothly, holding his gun as Sig pulled to a halt again, just turning a bit to the left as the nose of the vehicle reached the edge of the depression in the sand.
Jak hopped out, Daxter zipping onto his shoulder, and Seem was about to jump down herself behind him before he offered his hands. She took them, and more lightly dropped to the sand as the hero quickly yanked his weapon up to the ready. Seem led him to the center as Sig pulled his Peacemaker into his arms, and climbed down in front of the Gila Stomper, Tess keeping the Vulcan-cannon on the back ready.
Already, Seem was troubled. She knelt down in the sand, pressing her hand to the already burning particles under the intense sun of the day.
"Talk to me, Seem," Jak muttered gravely.
She slowly shook her head. "…I fear that we may be too late, though I can't understand how this has happened."
Sig looked down at her with a bit of frustration. "What do you mean, Seem?"
The young monk looked up at her king with sincere fear in her eyes, her ears drooping ever-so faintly with dread. "It is gone, majesty. The darkness that brought me to my knees before is not here. The location is still there, I can feel the Dark Eco now that it is alone, but what was here is now gone."
Jak only looked at her in grave concern, but Sig let his Peacemaker down. "Gone as in taken already, or…"
"No longer contained here," Seem offered in a low, softening voice, bowing her head back to the sand. "The darkness from the stars has not come yet, it can't possibly have, but this… the one drawing it…"
Sig jammed the butt of his weapon into the sand. "Well isn't that just hunky-dory? No idea where it went?"
Seem finally stood, pressing one hand to her knee, letting the other hang toward the sands. "Not as yet, my king. Please forgive my failure… I did all I knew I could."
Jak put a hand on her shoulder, which surprised the monk enough to look at him. He offered a calm smile. "We see that. Anyway, is there anything you might sense that could help us prepare?" he asked as he let his hand down.
Daxter rolled his eyes. "Fat load of good she's done so far!"
Seem looked down guiltily, but Jak just grabbed his friend by the mouth with a firm glare sidelong. "Not now, Dax." He looked to Seem, letting his hand down from Daxter's face, "Sorry, Seem, just ignore him. Is there anything?"
She shook her head, looking up at him sorrowfully. "No… Only vague premonitions, the awareness of the sheer gravity of the threat, but no details. Nothing of immediate, tangible value." Despite Jak's kindness, she could not help feeling his furry companion was correct. What good had she really done?
Sig was about to speak to them both, his grizzled face warm in its dry way, but then both he and Jak snapped their weapons up to the cliffs behind Seem, the monk rapidly twisting around as she realized they were reacting to something. Her eyes flared anew, Sig, Jak, and Daxter no less astonished themselves. Tess just twisted the gun up, and blinked, wincing a bit at the sight.
A Prowler was hunched over the rocks just a few meters above their heads on the wall not so far away itself. The shadowy, dark beast lurched into the air, opening its armored maw, and unleashing a horrible, hissing roar as bladed tentacles coiled and shivered from inside. Immediately, two more of the creatures dropped from higher rocks, landing with disturbing ease, and clinging to the rocks without the slightest skid or failure of grip. From their whip-like tails to their large claws, the creatures very much seemed like something out of a nightmare or horror-movie. The first's glistening red eyes sharpened down at Jak, who was aiming with his Blaster, and then all three pounced.
"Seem, get down!" Jak snapped, firing and tracking the leader as it arced through the air.
Seem ducked, almost curling into a ball on the sand, as Sig snapped off two weak Peacemaker shots, clipping each of the other Prowlers. The beasts twirled off, slamming into the cliff on the right, and the sands on the far left.
Jak spun around as he almost aimed vertically, and followed the leader as it landed behind him, already hit by two or three shots. It took another shot straight to the face, and flipped over itself, slamming into the sand heavily.
Daxter suddenly shouted, and continued with, "What the hell is THAT?"
Jak was just staring at the thing with a slackened jaw, shaking his head, so Sig quickly retorted, "No idea, fur-ball, now let's get out of here. We aren't equipped for any more of those things."
Seem quickly rose up. "I have never felt such darkness from a creature… not even from you, hero," she gravely pointed out, meeting Jak's concerned gaze.
"Guys!" Tess shouted, "Watch out!"
Sig and Jak looked to either side as they crouched, Jak shoving down on Seem's shoulders with his free arm. Tess opened fire with the Vulcan-cannon, spraying across their heads, as the three Prowlers rose up, apparently uninjured in the slightest. Worse, the leader, the closest to the Gila Stomper, took a well-aimed volley to his shoulder and back from Tess, only to turn and growl at her, mildly annoyed.
"Sig!" Jak shouted.
"With ya!"
They each fired at the two Prowlers to either side, and snapped around as they rose, firing in unison, and blasting the leader in the chest, knocking it on its back.
"Let's go, chili-peppers. No point fighting like this!" Sig ran toward the Gila Stomper, Jak tugging Seem a bit to let her know they were running. The monk sprinted after him, Daxter bobbing on his shoulder.
The sound of more Prowlers hissing and leaping down the cliffs behind them sent a shiver crystallizing up Seem's spine, and she risked a glance toward the rocks. There were easily ten of them where there had only been three. And then she saw the original leader rocket into the air after them. Seem snapped her eyes forward. "Jak!"
He looked back, and saw the creature flying through the air. His gun was up, but his face fell, and he suddenly looked ahead himself. "Tess! Look out!"
The Prowler slammed down onto the roof of the Gila Stomper, and roared straight at the young Ottsel woman, the black tentacles shivering at her through the air from its armored jaw.
"Tess!" Daxter yelled in dismay.
Firming her expression, the ottsel woman jerked the cannon higher with a sharp shove of her arms, and opened fire. The Prowler jerked back under the onslaught, its body shivering from the impacts, but refused to let go of the vehicle with its feet. In fact, it was already starting to reach down through the hail of fire for her.
A distorted roar sounded, and Tess yelped as Dark Jak bashed into the monster from the side. She barely remembered to stop firing as he came in front of her, throwing the other beast off the vehicle. Arcs of dark energy forked between his claws and the creature, Jak rapidly reverting to his usual self before it hurt Tess as well. He looked down at her with a faint smile, Daxter leaping from his shoulder and grabbing the woman in a hug.
Sig yanked Seem up with him, and revved the engine while he charged a shot with his gun in his other hand, resting it on the front of the cock-pit. Jak turned, and started to unload his Vulcan Fury cannon on the Prowlers rushing them, buying Sig the few seconds he needed. As the armored Wastelander let rip with the peacemaker, Jak ran back, and jumped down into his chair, Daxter following after Tess returned his grateful hug.
As Tess re-aimed with the Gila Stomper's gun, the peacemaker shot slammed into the first Prowler. Arcs of power ripped out as it flew back, catching the entire group of them in a net of destructive energy. The Gila Stomper revved backward, twisting in the sand, and sped away.
"Oh no… Guys!" Tess yelled as she aimed back to cover their escape.
Jak stood with a firm grip on part of the roll-cage, looking back as his hair and scarf lashed in the wind. His brow creased in alarm as he saw what Tess was warning them about. Every single dark beast was still after them, and were leaping across the sands with incredible speed, closing the gap and threatening to overtake them already. "Sig, we're not gonna outrun them!" He was already yanking his blaster up, and firing precise shots to keep the creatures knocked back. Tess was doing a good job of spraying bullets behind them in a suppressing pattern, but the creatures just kept coming.
As Sig simply accelerated, handling the vehicle as well as anyone could, Seem looked down into nothing anxiously. Their world's darkness had come to life to answer the approaching Darken… But right then, they needed help. She looked up at Jak, who was focused completely on his task of covering their vehicle with his fire, and then pressed her hand to the device Frost had given her, where it was nestled under her armored robe.
Sig growled as he had to swerve right, Jak aiming to the left of the vehicle along with Tess and opening fire more rapidly. The Prowlers were forcing them away from Spargus.
"I'll head South! Through the tunnel!" Sig shouted his notice, and accelerated Southward again, curving away from the dark monsters.
"Don't be alarmed!" was all Seem shouted before she yanked the small device out, raised it in her hands, and squeezed it. Several parts of its design compressed under her grip, and the glowing point burst into the air with a sharp chime, leaving a trail of distorted air and dark energy.
Jak jerked his head down, pausing in his fire. "What was that?"
"A call for help!" Seem called back over the roar of gun-fire and revving motor.
"To who?" Sig yelled back to her as he held a particularly dangerous skid through one dune.
"A friend."
Even Seem jerked a bit when the shock-wave explosion erupted in the air behind them, and she looked back to see a blazing purple cloud of distorted energy, the wave of the explosion just flowing back in on itself and blinking out of existence.
Across the sands, the river, past the tunnel Sig was driving for, down the deep, dark cave, spiraling into the planet… Frost's red eyes snapped open with a flash of power. Seem… He looked to his left. "Go. Now." And a deep, rumbling thunder started to surge up through the cave.
Back with the Gila Stomper, Tess and Jak were doing their best to keep the Prowlers off their backs, and Sig's driving was as good as could be asked for, but Seem and Daxter shared a rare moment of camaraderie as they waited, unable to help. Looking ahead, Seem could see the river. It was not very far away. The tunnel was just past the river, leading straight through the mountains in the heart of the desert, and back around toward Spargus. Jak actually switched to his grenade launcher for a few rounds, forcing a few of the leaping shadows to fly back and tumble into the sands, but they were catching up just as fast.
Getting frustrated, Jak finally saw one of them starting to roar at him as it leapt, and he snapped his gun into its blaster format. The creature was just leaping free of a stone pillar in the sands, and he fired. The shot went straight through the monster's tentacles, and down its gullet. The beast snapped into a reverse somersault, plowing into the sand, and he watched it writhe onto its back just before bursting into thick, oily substance, which flew into particles and nothing before it could even hit the ground. "Shoot 'em in the mouth!" he shouted to Tess in case she didn't know what he'd done.
"Got it!" the little ottsel woman shouted back firmly, her entire body rattling with the power of the cannon with which she was spraying bullets into the Prowlers.
"Hold on back there!" Sig shouted. "I've gotta jump the river!"
Jak bit off a curse, ramming himself down into his seat, looking at the river right there. "Sig?" he actually yelped on instinct.
The Gila Stomper's rear exploded with two flaming jets, and the hydraulics pulsed down. The vehicle leapt off the sands, flying across the first arm of the river, and slammed into the sandy bank in the middle of the small bulge in the river Sig happened to try to jump across. He never stopped, and was letting the thruster-boost recharge for another leap free of the water, but it was enough.
The Prowlers came rushing up, and shot across the river like shadows. Tess sprayed behind them with the cannon, forcing the beast's to avoid the vehicle itself, but they still hit the far bank. Jak started firing forward as Sig revved back up onto the sands, but in an instant, he had to swerve too hard to the right as a Prowler clamped onto the left side of the cock-pit.
The Gila Stomper skidded to a complete stop in the sands, Sig ducking down, and Jak ramming the barrel of his blaster into the Prowler's open mouth, the tentacles coiling around the stalk of his gun. "Enjoy." Crack.
The creature snap-flipped off, blasting into black fluid and dust in a spiraling mess before it all vanished through the air. Jak rose up on his feet in the chair, panning his gun around, Tess doing so for the rear.
They were surrounded by the remaining Prowlers, their tails and tentacles whipping and lashing in frenzied irritation, along with their horrible roars. Sig had the Gila Stomper running, but they had no viable path to accelerate toward. "…Just great."
Another roar sounded, but this one was different. It was thunderous, and the sands shook with mighty steps that went right along with it. Jak aimed his blaster, but couldn't help tightening his eyes in confusion… as a Wasteland Metal-Head came crashing over the closest dune-line.
The green and tan lizard-like beast was as massive as a dinosaur, with the tremendous legs and tiny arms of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but with a massive cannon articulated on its back, and the glowing skull-gem glistening brilliantly in the desert sun. The beast opened its monstrous jaws just as the closest Prowler twisted around, and simply bit the beast off the sands, sending it flying with a flick of its head, plowing clear through the next two.
Two more Metal-Head cannon chargers burst over the sandy waves, one dipping its head down and simply ramming one of the Prowlers off into the river. Daxter watched in growing awe, and then wailed, "Jaaaak! They're getting closer to us now!"
Jak started to aim with Tess, but Seem shot up. "No, please wait!" she urged, her hands grabbing onto Jak's blaster.
Stunned, he stared down into her pleading expression in growing confusion. "Seem… they're Metal-Heads…" he reminded her quietly, even Sig staring at the monk like Daxter usually did.
"Are you insane, Seem?" the Spargus King finally demanded.
She looked to him with the same urgent pleading. "I beg of you… trust me. Please do not attack these Metal-Heads."
Jak slowly lowered his gun from aiming at the closest one himself. Tess was watching them in confusion, but focused her aiming back on the Prowlers.
A Metalpede burst out of the sands beneath another Prowler, the massive silver-armored, blue-skinned bug simply took the black creature in its three-part mandibles, and sent it flying off into the far cliffs, a horrifying demonstration of raw power.
A scream made Jak twist his blaster toward the back of the Gila Stomper, Daxter, Seem, and even Sig looking there in alarm as well. Tess was twisting the cannon around, but a Prowler was right on top of her on the side of the vehicle, its jaw just opening. Jak almost fired… before a silver and blue mass slammed the Prowler off the Gila Stomper, and back into the bank of the river. Jak blinked, and saw an ape-type Metal-Head wrestling with the dark beast, soon joined by a group of his fellows, pounding on the black creature mercilessly… and completely ignoring the Gila Stomper.
Tess finally looked over to Seem. "Are they on our side?"
Seem nodded. "Yes. Please believe me. These Metal-Heads will not harm us."
Jak was staring at her. "How…?"
"…I can't explain, please just use it?" Seem managed with a wince of hesitation.
His brow creased, but he nodded, and starting snapping off shots to support the growing swarm of scorpion and ape-like Metal-Heads, along with a few, four-legged blaster ones, like those that had ambushed the hive assault from the walls.
Sig finally rose up from his seat with his peacemaker in hand. "Let's put it to 'em!"
With Metal-Heads of every kind swarming around in support, Tess, Jak, and Sig started blasting away. The Prowlers were being pummeled into the sands, slowly bursting into nothing as their tough hides were either finally over-come with raw power from so many attacks, or shots through their vulnerable mouths finished them off.
Seem abruptly clutched a hand to her chest, and looked past Jak, back across the river. Her heart almost fell through her stomach. "…Look. To the North!"
Jak, Sig, and Daxter twisted… and saw a small swarm of Prowlers shooting across the sands toward them. Easily twenty strong in number, they looked even more aggressive than the first group, seemingly angered by the loss of some of their fellows.
And just as suddenly, the smoldering, dark-eco-powered blasts from the Metal-Head cannon beasts were arcing over their heads, and exploding around the charging Prowlers, the three beasts lining up just behind the Gila Stomper. Unfortunately, the Prowlers were scattering and regrouping so skillfully that the onslaught was doing little good.
Sig jerked back with his peacemaker as a Prowler surged up over the nose of the Gila Stomper. Jak twisted around, but the beast grabbed his gun and Sig's neck with its huge claws, and yanked Sig clear out of the vehicle, snapping its tail into Jak to slam the hero down into the seat, and then pounced back onto Sig, who gave it a good whack across the face with his fist. He shook his fist in pain as the beast opened its mouth, the tentacles starting to swarm out.
"Not a chance!" Jak's distorted voice roared, and Sig heard the sand thump on his left just before the Prowler flew off him, a glowing, pale, black-taloned fist hovering in its wake.
Sig quickly scrambled upright, twisting his gun around to aim outward, as Dark Jak heavily breathed, turning around, looking for a fight with his glistening black eyes. The same Prowler started to rise off the sand, batting several Metal-Heads away with powerful blows.
Dark Jak's senses were stretching through time, however, his claws closed near his front as dark power built between them, his eyes focused on the Prowler with malefic pleasure. "Get up from THIS!" He twisted around, and let the dark blast snap off his right claw, the bolo-shot tethered with raw energy blasting across the sands and slamming into the beast like a comet. The sand was crackling and shining into glass from the trail of dark energies forking and arcing across it on the path, but Jak grinned with sharpened teeth as he saw the Prowler burst into nothing amidst the explosion. "Oh yeah… real tough."
But then he grunted, flung back into the beginnings of the river with an explosion of water and energy alike by a dark fist of black sinew. Crimson eyes narrowed, the Prowler stomped forward upright as it lowered its fist, its multi-jointed legs pulling it smoothly with high speed.
Dark Jak roared with fury, his voice distorted with power as it crackled off his extended arms and taut body, the water rippling away from him. The two leapt, time stretching as they shifted for the impact, each aiming to claw the other with as many limbs as possible, and rushed into the collision. A shock-wave blasted into the sand from the blow, and they were flung from each other. The beast, however, was just rising upright when a dark fist rammed into its jaw. Even more energy exploded from the impact, and the creature flew off at the end of a trail of crackling energy, finally bursting into nothing before it could really hit the sand again.
Jak reverted painfully, and breathed down past his shivering hands. Sig backed up to him, aiming across the river. "Doing alright, kid?"
"Yeah… I guess… They're tough, but not invincible," he managed, turning around. He glanced at the Gila Stomper, and saw Seem watching him with calm concern. He pulled his blaster out, standing by with Sig… and the surrounding swarm of Metal-Heads that was watching the charging Prowlers as well.
"Oh, come on. You didn't think a bunch of the darkest, baddest monsters in the universe were gonna get us down did you?" Sig replied in his usual humor, chuckling as the peacemaker charged.
Jak shifted to the Needle-Laser with a smirk. "Of course, what was I thinking?"
The cannon Metal-Heads started to fire again, but as Jak, Sig, and the others watched, the Prowlers scattered perfectly around their shots… only to get pinned flawlessly by strange, powerful blasts of dark energy that lanced through the air from further behind even the Metal-Heads. Jak's brow creased as three Prowlers burst into nothing from the shots, several sent tumbling back into the sands… but the bulk were charging right on through. The Metal-Heads and darkly-powered sniper continued to fire, picking off a few more, but soon, another wave was leaping across the river, into a storm of peacemaker and tracking laser-needles, with Tess spraying the bank with the Gila Stomper's cannon.
Jak noticed that the sniper stopped firing once the Prowlers reached the river, but he didn't let it slow him down in filling the air with death for the dark beasts. That he was getting support from a small army of Metal-Heads was just something he'd be confused about when he wasn't imminently worried about dying.
Seem slowly stood up in her seat beside Daxter, watching the battle raging around her. Yet her eyes fell down to their own side of the river, around Sig and Jak, her friends, to the Metal-Heads supporting them. Scorpion-types even swarmed the Prowlers that tried to leap at them, and the ape-types and leapers were meeting them on the far bank or where they landed. Something, despite the dire situation, seemed so wonderful about the alliance, however temporary, between them. It was a though even the dark eco was part of the beauty of the world for a moment. Part of the balance instead of the threat to it. Do you see this, Frost? What you do…?
Her mind instantly snapped back to reality when a Prowled slammed straight down into the side of the Gila-Stomper in front of her. Daxter squealed, and dove back toward Tess over his seat, but Seem fell back against the roll-cage bar, her eyes flaring as her mouth fell slack. She couldn't think of what to do, and the beast was rushing down upon her with its jaw opening…
A rush of wind and a violently rippling cloth blasted over her head, and the Prowler flew off with it. Seem quickly uprighted, and hopped to the far side, looking down on the hooded, cloaked figure with a long, warped rifle in one claw, and the other back-handing the Prowler with such raw force that it flew to the far side the river amid a narrow arc of crackling, purple lightning.
Pausing, Frost looked up at her, gripping his altered rifle in both claws, and just gave a faint nod. Seem smiled gently, and tipped her head with a prayerful gesture of gratitude. In a rush, he shot to his right, toward Jak and Sig. Seem turned, watching intently.
The two warriors were fending off several Prowlers, but three landed around them anyway. Jak twisted, firing into the one further behind to his left, while Sig blew away the opposite one on their back side with his peacemaker. They turned just enough to see the cloaked figure slam into the third Prowler, take it to the sand, and ram the butt of its strange weapon into the beast's face.
Frost, his face well-obscured by the hood, simply rose up, and fired straight down into the creature's face with his rifle. The bolt of dark power unleashed a small explosion of energy, distorting out in a sphere-wave, before he whipped around, seeming to aim straight at Jak. Sig and Jak were aiming at him the next heart-beat, but Frost just said, "Down."
Jak and Sig flattened, and the dark-bolt ripped across them, obliterating another Prowler through the mouth.
Flowing around in another turn, Frost's left claw came from his gun, and he snapped his body around violently, his arm jerking down as he finished. A dark-bolt shot off past the Gila Stomper, twirling like Jak's through the air, only oriented vertically, and caught two Prowlers leaping across the river, blowing up brilliantly and taking both with it. His right arm was perfectly aimed to fire into another Prowler, but the shot exploded against its chest, only knocking the creature back into the bank.
Jak and Sig finally rose up from the sand, only to see the cloaked figure get tackled into the sand by three separate Prowlers from almost vertically in the air. The darkly warped rifle hit the sand on its own, and the cluster battle rolled back further toward the Metal-Heads. Seem's eyes widened with fear for the young man she knew to be inside the battle, but she quickly ducked when two Prowlers went flying and the third skidded back through the sand amid a crackling sphere of power all around the cloaked, warped man. As the three Prowlers recovered and charged, Frost snapped his arms down to either side and roared with unnatural power. Dark lightning forked off his lower arms and claws.
The first Prowler leapt in at his front, and took a blow to the face so violent and powerful that it spun like a pin-wheel in mid-air before slamming into the sand with a blared screech of pain. Spinning through the punch, Frost met the second Prowler behind himself with an uppercut. Dark power exploded from the blow, and the Prowler flew apart as it rocketed into the air, slamming into the cliffs with its last remains. A final flow of his turn brought Frost back around for the last Prowler, which took a full-powered fist to its chest. The creature flew off, folded around the point of impact on its body, on the end of a roaring trail of dark purple-red lightning, before dispersing against a rocky outcropping dozens of meters away.
As the cloaked figure turned toward the river again, Sig and Jak watching him with mutual shock, they turned their own weapons up to meet the last rush of Prowlers. Jak saw the fire from Sig, the Metal-Heads, and the dark figure already building for another attack, and realized what he had to do.
Putting his gun away with a rush, Jak went to one knee, leaned back as he called power up with his form, and slammed his hands together over himself. The light power erupted over his form, and reality all but slowed to a halt. Light Jak rose to his feet smoothly, disciplined and peaceful. Wings forged of tendrils of light sprouted beautifully from his back, and he focused skyward with eyes glowing from purity.
Light Jak took flight, zooming higher into the air, and slammed his fist into the closest Prowler. The creature burst into nothing in a wave of blinding light down its form. With a blast of his wings, Jak swept into the next, and the next, and the next. Sensing his altered perception of time was fading, Jak swept down, and crouched in front of Sig. Time rushed back to normal, but Sig blinked down at the glowing effigy before him, and the nearly halved number of Prowlers remaining.
"They can not withstand the light," Jak's luminous voice flowed out with purpose and control. A shield of blue light burst to life around him, and the two Prowlers that tried to attack him burst into nothing against it.
More landed, but before anyone could do anything, Light Jak rushed into them with smooth, adroit technique, his lightest touch dismissing them. At last, he swirled smoothly to a halt in front of the cloaked figure, facing him. No more Prowlers remained.
Sig and the others watched, Seem leaning forward intently, as Light Jak faced the dark figure that had come to their aid. Seem's expression fell with empathy, her hand actually coming out even at so great a distance, as she saw Frost hiding his face from Jak, and easing back, actually in pain merely from the light power's presence.
Jak's eyes tightened, and he suddenly reverted, the light bursting off his form with a distortion and rainbows filtering through the air. He blinked, coming back to his normal perceptions, and watched the darkly clad creature ease faintly.
"…Thank you…" Frost rasped, hoping his voice wasn't recognizable.
Jak was quiet a moment longer, stuck for words with the appearance of the creature in front of him. He could see faint traces of smoke curling off its body… as if the light had burnt it. "…You control the Metal-Heads?"
"I am their leader now, yes."
"…Thank you for your help. I'm pretty sure you saved our lives today. I didn't mean to harm you," Jak finished sincerely, gesturing at his arm, which was still smoking a bit.
Frost simply tipped his head faintly. Jak could only make out the glowing eyes and skull-gem, but felt the voice was hauntingly familiar. The cloaked one said, "I knew you didn't. I see that your light powers are the best weapon against those monsters… Well… monsters in general," a touch of sad humor entered his voice as subtle signs of sharp teeth were exposed by a dry smile.
Jak managed a bit of a laugh, but felt more pity than humor. "You don't seem to be a monster… What's your name?"
"…Please forgive me if I don't share that just yet, hero… I need to return with the Metal-Heads to our nest, but I would appreciate a word with the young monk."
Sig stepped forward. "Hold on a second. Where is this nest?"
Frost turned, his glowing eyes tightening. "We will not expand, and I am policing your desert for marauders. I would appreciate some leniency on taking part of a no-man's land for my home, your majesty."
Though the tone was a bit sharp for his liking, Sig didn't want to give the man who'd just saved their lives, at least until Jak realized how useful his light powers were, too hard a time. "Fair enough."
Frost cleared his throat. "My apologies for my tone. I… am short-tempered these days…" He gestured to the Gila Stomper, the Metal-Heads already starting to melt away into the sands. "May I please have a word with the monk… privately?"
Sig and Jak shared a glance. "If she wants to," Jak said with a nod, and they headed back to the vehicle themselves.
While Frost waited patiently, Jak looked up to Seem at the Stomper. "He wants to talk to you alone. That a problem?"
Seem hopped down in front of him. "No, thank you. I will be back shortly." She bowed and gestured to them, then hurried over to the cloaked figure.
Sig eased closer to Jak, Daxter and Tess hopping down to be near them as well. "How did Seem become friends with the leader of the Metal-Heads?" the king muttered, obviously being half-rhetorical.
Jak remained troubled. "There's something about him…"
"I don't really care! Did you see him paste those nasties?" Daxter wailed and grinned.
Jak and Sig laughed a bit while Tess hugged him. Sig nudged the woman's shoulder next.
"Great shooting, too, Tess."
"Heh, thank you, Sig. I was just doing my best."
"We all were."
Out from the Stomper, Frost bowed gently to Seem, who reciprocated in her spiritual manner. "Sorry I was late," he started first.
Seem shook her head, almost surprised. "Not at all. You arrived just in time. Thank you for the signal. I apologize for using it so soon…"
He raised a hand to hold her words, and then held a fresh beacon-device out to her with his other. "I simply wished to replace it for you. I think these creatures have something to do with the darkness you mentioned?"
She accepted it with a smile, but turned grave again as he finished. "I believe you are correct… the darkness beneath the sands has… moved, and it is starting to act through these creatures." Bowing deeply, she slipped the device under her armor. "I am most grateful for your trust and aid, Mr. Frost. I did not reveal your name or specific role in my rescue, but… they may suspect something."
"I can ask no more of you, Ms. Monk," he replied with his gentle humor. "I hope we get to meet again under less dangerous circumstances, but until the next time… Be well."
She returned his bow yet again, and then stood quietly for a time as he turned, drifting away into the sands, a building wind kicking at his cloak. Seem closed her eyes, praying for him, and then quickly returned to the Gila Stomper. The others were pleasant, but quiet as she sat back in her seat, but Jak glanced over at her finally, while Sig started driving through the river, heading back to Spargus.
"Would he be the one who helped you?"
Seem's expression tightened, but she gave a soft nod.
Daxter nudged her elbow, and she looked down at him with a calm blink. "Hey, don't be so down, sister. Being friendly with the leader of the Metal-Heads has already paid off big-time. You've got a major advantage going for yourself, you know what I'm saying?" he couldn't resist a building tone that insinuated quite a bit.
A curious mixture of embarrassment and frustration flared in her chest, and Seem's expression firmed before she looked off sharply. Daxter, even, was surprised, and Jak glanced back to see it with his own written on his face. Jak offered a faint smile, and said, "Don't mind Dax, Seem. He gets carried away."
She looked over, but then down with closed eyes, shaking her head faintly. "It doesn't matter. I need to meditate on what happened today. Perhaps more will become clear…" she trailed off, looking out.
Jak eased into his seat. "And hopefully we'll be able to look into contacting the Precursors soon, while you're doing that."
"Think they'll come even if we do?" Daxter asked with candid, dry humor.
Jak chuckled a bit. "Let's hope so."
(Elsewhere…)
High up, on top of the cliffs looking down over the desert, Maia floated just over one promontory, energy crackling beneath her loose feet, the dark stone glistening in her chest. Jalnoth was crouched down behind her, following the trail of the retreating the Gila Stomper with his own, sharp eyes.
"The little hero's all grown up," Maia muttered to herself, her hands on her hips. "Why didn't you tell me about those powers of his? He couldn't do that before."
Jalnoth was unfazed, simply answering, "We were not aware either, specifically."
She exhaled in irritation. "He'll be more difficult than I'd suspected. The Prowlers were easily overcome once he used that… alternate form… I'll have to make sure he can't get a chance for that when I face him. Simple enough."
Then Maia focused off to the right, where Frost and his Metal-Heads had vanished. "That other one, though… The dark eco has made him extremely powerful. I think I'll look into recruiting him, yes…"
Jalnoth said, "You must have sensed the conflict within him. His power and his mind come from different places. He is not like us."
Maia's smile slowly grew. "Doesn't mean he can't be… convinced. Anyway… you want me to kill the boy hero, and I think that one will help."
The gem-marked leader of the Prowlers shifted faintly, his tail coiling off to his left. "…What do you wish me to do?"
"You will keep an eye to Jak for the time being. I think I'll look into getting our new player's interest piqued in joining us."
"How?"
Maia nodded after the Gila Stomper just before it was gone from view. "You saw him with that little, pale creature. I believe you saw her use the dark eco signal that called him here, also. I'm simply going to test her resolve…"
"Very well. I have shown you how to summon Prowlers, shall I go to my task?"
Maia was already growing pleased with her own ideas. She distantly gestured for him to leave. "Yes, yes, you do that… I'll be fine."
As Jalnoth crawled smoothly out of view, she looked up with her warped eyes, and started to smile with clear, dark pleasure. "I do so enjoy a good game of…" her left hand rose up, crackling with power as her talons lengthened, "cat and mouse…"
(Author's Note…)
My apologies for the delay before a shorter chapter, but my rate has slowed a little. Don't worry, the chances of this story being abandoned are as low as possible before it's actually finished. Following, I'm very glad so many are finding this story enjoyable, and I really appreciate the positive reviews. You're helping keeping me focused on getting this story completed in a quick manner (not rushed).
I proof the chapters again before posting them, so I apologize for any typos that remain. I hope you're enjoying the story still. And don't worry, critiques are just as welcome, just making sure those who say so know I appreciate the positive reviews. They really do help keep me focused.
Edit: Fixed an error in the battle with Seem watching Jak on the beach, but standing beside him in the Gila Stomper (typo, I meant Daxter).
