Capture the Flag

Hello people, feels good to finally be able to relax and post something.

Light Eco Sage- I know how you feel, I've got a teacher that I swear is a sadist, as he seems to take joy in his ability to flunk half of his class with each test he hands out.

dude- thanks, I'm glad that you like the story.

gohan11- I am happy that you liked what I wrote, but could you please not tar and feather me unless I deserve it, my skin has a severe allergic reaction to pain.

yoyo- Thanks for the vote of confidence, and to let you know, I hope to put a few more twists in this story, starting with this chapter.

Shashi- I'll try to keep my updates to more or less a week or so, and I hope I continue to please. (bows)

To all others who have read this, I hope that you have enjoyed it, and that you enjoy chapter two as well.

To any lawyers who have nothing better to do than to look around for frivolous lawsuits to win, I don't own any characters here, so don't bother.

Now, chapter two.

They walked the slum back alleys together, reminiscing about old times, and planning for the future ones.

"Well, we shouldn't have to worry about you going back to the big house anytime soon, old buddy. All we gotta do is find you some Eco, and the first set of guards stupid enough to try and come after you won't even know what hit em." Daxter said, rubbing his hands together and grinning evilly.

"Ummm." Jak began uneasily.

"What do you mean by "umm"? I don't like the sound of that." Daxter inquired in genuine confusion.

"I can't Channel anymore." was Jak's simple reply. "It's got something to do with those Dark Eco injections that they gave me."

"So what does that leave us with?" the Ottsel exclaimed.

"My hands, my feet, and my brain." Jak responded with a grim smile, earning him a gulp from his diminutive companion.

Jak and Daxter had not gone very far when something caught his eye. There on the side of the street was an elderly man and a young boy, looking like he was no older than seven. Thinking that perhaps he could get some information out of the elderly one, Jak strode over to him. As he approached, the old timer looked up and saw them. A glance at Jak caused the man to back up a step, and he pulled the child behind him protectively.

"May I help you?" he asked, a slight quaver in his voice.

"You look like a reasonably intelligent old man, so tell me, where the hell am I?" Jak growled.

"You'll have to excuse him," Daxter said as he leapt down, "he's new to the whole conversation thing."

"Well, my angry young friend, you are a "guest" in "glorious" Haven City, under the rule of his "Majesty", Baron Praxis." The old one replied, brushing off his robes and adjusting his grip on the staff he was carrying.

"I was just a "guest" in the Baron's prison." Jak growled, thinking of the years of experiments he'd been forced to endure at the tyrant's hands.

"Whether in a cell or in the city, we are no different. We are trapped; all are the prisoners of Praxis. That is why I must look after this boy." The man said with a gesture. "His survival is vital to the life of this city."

"This kid?" Daxter exclaimed, pointing at the child for emphasis. "He looks kind of scruffy."

The child said nothing, but suddenly turned a fear filled gaze down to the end of the street. The elderly man followed the gaze, and paled visibly as the child dashed behind his legs.

"Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time." He said, and Jak noticed a trio of Krimzon Guards marching down the street, with several more behind them. They had their eco rifles drawn, and Jak knew in an instant what they were looking for: him.

"By order of his eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis, this whole sector is under arrest for the suspected harboring of underground fugitives. Now, surrender and die!" the lead guard spoke.

"Doesn't he mean, "Surrender or die?"" Jak whispered to the old man.

"Not in this city." was the elderly one's reply.

"Okay, no problamo," Daxter said nervously, before turning to his larger compatriot. "Jak, this is where you come in!"

As the trio approached the elves and rodent, Jak stepped in front of the old man and the boy, sticking his arm out as a gesture of protection. The guards paused for a moment, not knowing what to make of the audacity of this townie. Then the leader did a double take, staring hard at the teenage elf. Blond hair, glowing, blue eyes, medium height and build, blue tunic, it matched the description of a prisoner that had just…

Any further thoughts were cut off as Jak's arm blurred forward and his fingers knifed into the guard's exposed throat, crushing his windpipe. The other two guards tried to bring their weapons to bear on the young man, but one found Jak's foot on a collision course with his face. There was a crack, and the Krimzon Guard fell back, his faceplate crushed in. The final member of the trio desperately attempted to get a bead on Jak, only to suddenly find the elf's other foot coming in towards his abdomen. He fell to the ground with an unearthly clang, and he suddenly felt a vice like grip around his helmet. His horrified expression would be forever etched into his face as Jak twisted, snapping his neck with a sickening grace.

The other two or so dozen guards had heard the scuffle, though, and were now charging straight for the former Channeler. Then, Jak felt the strange presence within him rise, triggered by his anger. Once more, his vision went crimson, and the animal within took control.

Daxter and the other two watched with a mixture of horror and awe as the demon manifested itself. The Krimzon Guard halted in their tracks, unsure of how to proceed. The monster took that opportunity to throw itself towards them, its claw like fingernails gleaming in the pale moonlight. The first man went down, screaming as "Jak's" talons shredded his titanium-A battle-plate armor like it was made of wet cardboard. The next one to die fired twice, but the shots were wild, and missed completely. He fell to the ground, gurgling as he tried desperately to hold his innards in. The three right behind him fared no better, as slaps from the beast removed faces and limbs. Another attempted to use his rifle as a club, but the creature ducked, and retaliated with a roundhouse kick that sent the K.G. flying a good twenty feet, with his flight being stopped only by the dura-crete wall that he slammed into. Then, the creature leapt up onto the side of one of the slum buildings, using its massive talons to secure itself. There, gazing downward upon the now terrified patrol, it began moving along the wall like a spider, its primitive mindset trying to instinctively calculate the greatest threat.

One guard used this apparent lull to sight the creature up in his rifle's crosshairs. It would prove to be his last mistake. With speed that seemed impossible from its large build, the demon launched itself from where it had been. Its weight and momentum slammed into its target, bearing the elf to the ground. He uttered one horrifying scream, before the monster's teeth cut him off.

Then, the demon roared, and purplish electricity, which Daxter recognized as Channeled Dark Eco, flew from its claws. Six more met death by this means, as the power tore through them, ending their lives before they even had a chance to fathom what had just happened. One of the two remaining Krimzon Guards attempted to flee, but was killed before he had even pivoted around to run. As the monster rushed towards its last target, the elf attempted to bring his rifle up to ward the blow he knew was coming. The creature, however, simply thrust its hand forward, piercing the chestplate of his crimson armor with such force that its hand erupted from the poor elf's back.

It was over. In less than a minute, the patrol had gone from more than two dozen strong to nothing but bloody corpses that littered the ground. Suddenly, Jak's skin returned to its normal color, the talons and horns receded, and his eyes regained their azure hue, complete with the now eerie glow that they possessed

"What…happened?" he asked of his Ottsel friend, as he staggered about, while staring at his blood covered arm in horror.

"Something very, very freaky…let's just leave it at that, okay?" Daxter said, his eyes about as wide as his head.

"Very impressive."

Jak turned to face the old man and the boy, who had finally summoned up the courage to stick his head out from behind the old man, though his face was filled with terror, whether because of the thoughts of capture, or because of what Jak had become, the Eco infused elf knew not. However, now that Jak got a good look at the kid, he felt a strange stirring within his mind, a feeling of nostalgia. He frowned as he stared at the child for a period of time. Somehow, deep within the depths of his mind, he knew he had seen this boy before.

"The Underground could use such fighters as yourself."

Jak snapped out of his musings and stared at the old man with a look of confusion on his face.

"The Underground?"

"They are a resistance group that is waging a guerilla war against that vicious tyrant and his armies. They are lead by an enigmatic figure known as The Shadow. I believe that you might be able to find what it is you seek if you join with them."

"Where can I find this "Shadow"?" Jak inquired.

"You will have to prove your loyalty to them in order to see him. However, I know where you can find one of their bases. Look for a dead-end alley in the northeastern part of the slums. You'll know you have the right one if you spot a large skull and hammer painted on the side of the city wall. Once there, ask for Torn, and tell him that Kor sent you. That should be enough to let you into the group. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get this boy to safety before any reinforcements come. You had best make yourself scarce if you wish to continue to be free, young man."

And with that, Kor turned around, and ushered the child to follow him. Daxter climbed back up on Jak's shoulder, and then the two of them left the sector, with only mangled bodies to testify that they were ever there to begin with.

As the sun's rays began to filter through the smog choked alleys and give light to those not blessed with Eco enhanced vision, Jak finally arrived at what he thought was the right place. He trudged around for a few minutes, looking to see if there was some way to enter into the hidden base that Kor had told him about. He was so absorbed in his search, that he didn't realize that he wasn't alone until he felt Daxter be plucked off his shoulder and a curving dagger slide under his throat.

"I get nervous when new people start snooping around where they shouldn't be." a gravelly voice hissed in his ear.

"I'm looking for someone named Torn." Jak said calmly, he'd been through too much over the past couple of years to let the thought of death phase him in the slightest.

"And I should believe you because?" the man behind him prompted, pressing the knife a little harder.

"Kor sent us! Honest!" Daxter suddenly blurted out.

"Well, that makes things a little interesting." the man said, releasing Jak from his grip.

The young man turned around to see another elf, a little taller and a few years older than himself. His face was tattooed with various geometrical patterns, which Jak noted were similar, but not entirely identical to the kind worn by the K.G., and his brown hair was swept back in dreadlocks. The former Channeler and the Underground fighter stared at each other for a few seconds, measuring each other up. Finally, the elder of the two sheathed his dagger, and chuckled a bit.

"So, you two wanna join the fight for the city, do you? Don't make me laugh. Why don't you and your pet," he snickered over at Daxter, currently held by a young woman, "go join the circus or something? You guys wouldn't last five minutes against the Baron's forces." he sneered.

As he turned to walk off, however, he suddenly reached down for something on his waist. Fumbling for an instant, he pulled out a comm. unit.

"Torn here. Kor and the kid are safe? Good." he paused for a moment, and Jak's sensitive hearing picked up the sound of a conversation on the receiver end of the comm. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I am right now." Torn responded, craning his head over his shoulder to look at Jak. Another pause followed, and Jak saw the elf's eyes widen slightly. "How many guards? With his hands? Okay…." A few more commands crackled over, and after a few moments, Torn killed the signal and turned to face him.

"Alright, Kor's vouching for you. However, I want proof. Head out to the ruined tower in Dead Town, take the Baron's old flag, and bring it back. Pull that off, and you're in." Torn said as he crossed his arms.

The female next to him dropped Daxter, who immediately scurried back up onto his perch on Jak's shoulder. The two looked at each other. Finally Daxter sighed, and promised to show Jak the way out of the city.

He stared around, taking in his first good look at Dead Town. He grimaced; the place had earned its name well. Crumbling and decayed buildings ran almost as far as his eyes could see, and a disgusting, semi-toxic sludge covered most of the ground, with only a few raised portions not being sodden by the stuff, whatever it was.

The young elf started out, heading towards the large, half destroyed tower that he could see even from here. However, he had taken only a few steps when he felt something. It was like nothing he could really describe, or anything he had felt before. It started out almost as an itching sensation in the back of his mind, a subtle beckoning to his soul. Almost against his will, he took two steps in the direction of the source of the call, before shaking his head violently. He had a job to do, and it didn't include following up strange feelings inside of his head.

Continuing through the shattered landscape, he soon came across the local residents. Daxter had had a run-in with these particular mutant animals before, and took care to warn him that they were extremely hostile. Nevertheless, however hostile they may have been, they relied on instincts, and thus were no match for Jak, with his intuitive brain, and Eco enhanced reflexes. What truly worried him was the condition of the area that he was in. Several times as he drew close to his destination he had felt the stone and rebar shift underneath his weight, and he knew one wrong move would send him plummeting into the ooze below.

Near the base of the tower, was where disaster first struck. He and Daxter were walking across a bridge that connected the shell of one building to the tower. At about the halfway point, Jak heard a crack, and felt the stone begin to move. Amidst Daxter's terrified screams, Jak kept a level enough head to leap towards the crumbling edge.

The jump should have been impossible, as it was more than twenty feet. Once again, Jak had been saved by what had been done to him. And as he leaned back against leaned back against the dura-crete of the tower, he was forced to fight down a flood of revulsion that filled him. First in his enhanced speed and strength that had enabled him to kill the first three guards with his bare hands, then that…thing, taking over to slaughter the rest of them, and now this. His dependence upon these new abilities was sickening to him, and his memories reminded him of what the price of the power had been. He had lost…no…been robbed of his humanity. The looks of horror etched into the mutilated corpses of the Krimzon Guards, the terrified expression on that child's face as Jak had approached afterwards, and the fact that that monster had nearly made a fur coat out of Daxter when his friend had been trying to free him. All of these recent memories served as a reminder of what had been taken from him.

His anger rose, and for a moment, he felt that animalistic presence rise with it, before he forcefully, perhaps excessively so, shoved back into whatever dark corner of his mind had spawned it.

"Hey, Jak, you okay?" Daxter asked, concern evident in the former elf's voice.

"Yeah, Dax, I'm fine."

"Well then, let's get moving shall we? I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a little tired, not to mention I could really use a decent meal about now."

"What are you complaining about? I'm the one that's doing all the work." Jak shot back in a good natured way, the first joke he had cracked with his friend since his chaotic arrival to this place.

The duo then began to look about, searching for some way to get up to the tower. The entrance in front of them had caved in, and there were no other obvious ways in. Abruptly, Jak focused on a row of protruding support stones. Seeing no other way, he began leaping from one to the other, the gears in his mind struggling to figure out why they seemed to conveniently spiral upward in a most un-orthodox fashion.

After several minutes and a few more close calls, as the support structures had long ago ceased doing their jobs, Jak and Daxter managed to reach the top. Once inside, it was a fairly simple matter to walk up the stairs that led to where the banner was. Pulling the tattered red flag from its holding place, Jak triumphantly leaned against it.

It was a mistake.

The ledge they were standing on suddenly crumbled, sending both of them plummeting towards the ground. However, an out of the way awning stopped the fall about halfway down, and catapulted the duo up to the lone remaining support cable that connected the tower to another one of the ruined structures. Using the flagpole as a means of balance, Jak slid down the wire. At the last possible moment, he jumped, and landed on a stable piece of land.

Torn was standing there as well, having apparently followed them. And as Daxter came in for a far less graceful landing, the hardened commander was forced to admit, this guy was good. A loud rumbling reached the ears of all three, and they turned as one to see the tower crumbling into a heap of stone and mortar behind them.

"Yeah…I guess you guys are in." Torn said, his voice possessing a rare note of awe.

"It was nothing." Daxter replied cockily, apparently having forgotten he had been screaming like a harpy the whole time they had been falling.

"I'm heading back to the hideout, you guys head to the gate that you came out of, and go back that way." the hardened soldier told them, and then he turned around, and began to climb the ruined wall behind him.

As their new commander disappeared back into Haven, the two began to wander about, taking things a bit slowly, lest there be a repeat of what had just happened.

However, as Jak neared the city, he once again felt a subtle pulsing within his blood. He tried to shut it out, as he had before, but found that he could not, as it was more forceful, more demanding this time. Something was definitely calling to him, and now he could no more resist it than the ancient sailors could resist the call of a siren. Almost in a trance, he walked and carefully avoided the toxic water of the destroyed town, ignoring Daxter's protests throughout the whole time.

The former Channeler's journey took him to the edge of a pile of rubble. The call was louder here, nearly deafening. Something was underneath all that debris, and it wanted to be freed. Mystified, and more than a little frightened about his lack of control of the situation, Jak proceeded to remove block by block, the rubble that he stood on. Vaguely, he thought he could hear his mutated friend calling out to him, but cast such thoughts aside. There was only this call, filling his mind now, demanding that he answer it. Helpless to resist, Jak continued in his task.

Finally, after what seemed to be the better part of an hour, he cast aside one last block. Suddenly, the strange calling left his mind, and he beheld the object of his search. It was still trapped within some of the debris, but it was unmistakably the grip and hilt of a sword. Hesitantly, he reached down to grab it, but before he could, something amazing happened. Dark bolts of lighting, very much akin to what his devilish alter-ego had unleashed, leapt from the blade, surging into him. The feeling of it was strange, it did not hurt, nor was it entirely unpleasant. In all actuality, it was soothing in a way, and even the animal inside of him, whose instincts had been screaming to get away from this thing, was suddenly put at ease.

The sword rattled, and suddenly leapt, scabbard and all, into his hand. The former Channeler then recognized the blade as a katana, and was once more startled, this time by how at home and natural this thing felt in his hands. For a while, he simply stared at the weapon, and felt its strange power surge through him.

Eventually, Jak pulled the weapon free from its scabbard, and felt his breath leave his lungs. The sword was magnificent. The blade glowed orange in the morning light, and he could see part of his awestruck face staring back at him. The blade, hilt, and scabbard were plain, with one very notable exception. Along the blade's length, inscribed in black, was an ancient runic script. The elf recognized it as Precursor writing, and though a tad rusty, as he hadn't had much of a chance to review what Samos had taught him while in prison, he was still able to translate the message.

Ye who would wield me, know that I am Kitetsu, Blade of Darkness. And those not endowed and attuned to the Shadows, can never hope to use me to my true potential.

Jak blinked, and read the script again, and then once more. He couldn't rule out the possibility of a mistranslation, but still… He also realized that though he had never before beheld a weapon that was as masterfully crafted as this one, he knew on some unconscious level that he had seen it before.

Something else, like a memory, flashed through his mind, and he looked closely at the scabbard. He slid the sword back into its covering, and his large ears picked up the sound of a small click. Jak then, for reasons unknown, flipped it upside down. The sword did not fall free as he had expected it to, and he understood that the katana had some sort of locking mechanism in the scabbard. Strange, but now that he thought about it, it would enable the weapon to be concealed more easily. Reaching a decision, he strapped the weapon to his back, with the grip facing towards the ground.

Then, the young elf drew the blade again, continuing to marvel at how it seemed so innate to him. He swung it once, bringing it up from below in a stroke that would have split an unsuspecting opponent in half. From there, he reversed it, bringing the katana down and at an angle that would have taken out someone beside him. He fell into a strange pattern, going through combat techniques, attack combos, and defensive maneuvers that he had never even seen before, yet somehow knew how to perform nigh flawlessly.

After a time, he stopped. Try as Jak might, there was still something about this weapon that unnerved him, and he continued to gaze upon the blade, as though by peering into his own reflection long enough he might somehow force it to surrender its secrets unto him.

It was then that Daxter, who through some act of God had managed to keep his mouth shut for more than twenty minutes, found his voice again. Not surprisingly, his first words were a half-arsed attempt at a wisecrack.

"Hail, King Arthur!"

Jak snapped back to reality, staring down at his furry companion. He raised an eyebrow at Daxter.

"What?" the Ottsel asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

Jak simply sighed, and re-sheathed the sword, before motioning for Daxter to clamber back up. As the sun began to rise higher into the sky, the two began to make their way back towards their new home.

Praxis felt the paper crinkle in his hand. It was a report about the raid on the slum sector. For the most part, it had been a disaster, with a full fifty percent of his men dead. Normally, the Baron would have attributed it to an Underground ambush. However, the group that had found the patrol had described them as basically looking as if they had been put through a meat grinder, which, thanks to some security camera footage of a certain experiment making his escape, significantly narrowed the list. He looked down at Errol, who paced back and forth at the foot of the throne.

"Well, it appears as though our project wasn't as great of a failure as we thought it was." the Commander muttered.

"I want him found, Commander. If he could do this with that much Dark Eco in him, think of the possibilities. We could turn the tables on those Metal Heads once and for all." Praxis said with a sinister chuckle.

Sooooo, how did you people like it? And before anyone says it, yes, I realize that giving Jak a sword is somewhat cliche. However, all the weapons I've ever read about him receiving before where always some sort of holy artifact, I've never actually seen him using a weapon that actually drew on the darkness within our favorite Channeler.

And let me assure you, Kitetsu is not a weapon of the light. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is the blade wielded by Doku, a demonic samurai from Ninja Gaiden, and the fiend has used the cursed blade to cut through entire legions of his opponents. To those of you have played that game, and have actually used Kitesue, Jak will eventually be able to do everything that Doku and Ryu did with the blade, but not right away, quite obviously.

Also, feel free to leave any form of comment, from constructive criticism to flame, just let me know how you liked it, or send me an idea if you have one.

Thanks, and have a great day.