Hello everyone, managed to have a burst of creativity on this one that helped me get it gone in a fairly rapid manner. Hopefully, I was able to achieve a decent speed without sacrificing too much on the quality level.

To those of you who have been kind enough to review.

Shakai- I think you give me far more credit than I deserve, there are many authors on this site far better than I can ever hope to be. Nonetheless, I am glad you've liked what my demented and insane mind has managed to conjure up so far, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well.

Light-Eco-Sage- Hehe, you can rest assured that Keira will be getting quite an eyeful of D.J. both now, and later. As far as their reactions to each other, well, I'm just praying that I haven't totally botched this scene. (crosses fingers and prays fervently).

Lunatic Pandora1- Yeah, Vergil is one of those unchallenged masters, and he also has that little ninja move of his where he times the sheathing of Yamato to his enemies falling apart down to an art form. Also, as far as Jak being bad, if you mean bad as in his butt kicking capabilities, then yes he will be like Vergil, but if you meant bad as in evil, no, he won't slip quite that far down the path.

SevethSpanishAngel12- Yeah, sorry about the cliffhanger, but I thought it might be a good place to leave off, same with this segment. Hope you like it, and thanks for the vote of confidence.

Paska- I was a little worried about how people would react to that myself. Keira's slight personality tweak and her combat skills are probably the second biggest experimental thing that I'll be doing in this story, second only to something that has yet to happen. Hopefully, I'll be able to pull this off. Also, I agree with you about pop music (shudders).

Evil Manic- Thanks for the ideas, not sure about how I could get a bow into here, but the flash bangs and smoke grenades will be making appearances in the coming chapters. As for Kitetsu, it'll be getting its own upgrade in a about four of five chapters, and the vibro blade has made an appearance in this story, it just hasn't been used it yet. (praises whatever Muse inspired Star Wars universe)

Farr2rich- Hehe, if you think Jak and Kitetsu make a lethal combination right now, just wait until a little bit later. Thanks for the morph gun ideas, I'll try to figure out how to use them in the story. Thanks for you encouragement on the last chapter, I have a lot of trouble feeling confident about what it is that I submit to this site. Hopefully, this chapter will be as good as the last ones.

dude- Thanks for that idea, it's pretty much what I decided to go with, it'll make things a little bit smoother. Can you let me know what you think of this chapter if it's not too much trouble?

Exardas- I'm glad that you like my writing style, and I hope to be able to continue to please. As far as the Jak series is concerned you really should play number two through to the end, it probably has the best plot of the trilogy, though it can be hard as hell in some areas.

GoodMorningBeautiful2005- As you wish, here is the next update, may it hopefully be up to your standards. (bows politely).

daxter the otsel- Thanks for the advice, it was a really big help on this chapter, and on the next one. As far as modesty is concerned, self confidence is a major problem that I have. Still, I'm glad that you think I'm talented. Thanks.

DarkStarPhoenix- Ouch, exams, you have my sincerest sympathies, my friend, those are not pleasant. I'll give you the part about the improved game play, and the fact that due to being able to control how long I remained in Dark Mode, I was able to take advantage of D.J. far mroe than I was in the second. As far as his evolution is concerned, and Jak's realization about what is happening to Kitetsu, those will be almost immediately after the Mar's Tomb trial, which will also likely be veeeerrrrrrryyyy different than what happened in the game. (I must admit though, I would have thought that the old guy would have made his final resting place a little more user friendly considering only his descendants could get into it.) As for Light Jak, well, I was never really as "fond" of him as I was of D.J., as he struck me as looking like some freakish cross between Raziel from Soul Reaver, and the arch-angel Tyrael from Diablo II (and with his wings being like Tyrael's I was at least hoping he could use them as a weapon like said arch-angel does.), so I really don't know how I'm going to do him, though I have a highly controversial and very much AU idea in mind. Also, if you want, I could e-mail you a rough picture of what D.J. will look like after his little jump up the evolutionary ladder is completed.

ChibiSess- Thanks for your vote of confidence, and I'm glad that you liked it. As for D.J., well, his appearances and pivotal roll in the plot of the story are going to become more and more frequent and important. As far as Torn is concerned, it bugged me they never really went into his past, that was a golden opportunity that they squandered. And I have to agree, not to sound prejudiced or anything, but there aren't really a whole lot of male authors around in this area, not sure why though. At any rate, I try to keep my updates to about a week or so, two weeks at the very most, school permitting. And as far as the Krimzon Guard are concerned, they aren't the only guards to be totally oblivious to everything around them, take the Genome soldiers in Metal Gear Solid, or for that matter, that special group renowned for their white armor, sinister looking facemasks, and being the butt of every bad soldier joke in the galaxy...the Storm Troopers! (seriously, how the heck does Vader manage to put up with those incompetent fools, not only are they totally oblivious, but they can't hit a man sized target at ten meters that's standing out in the open! Jeez, I swear Jango Fett must be rolling over in his grave at how far they've degenerated from the bad arse warriors that he spawned.) Sorry, I'm raving again, I'll let you get back to what you came here for. (laughs sheepishly).

To any and all lawyers, I hereby swear upon my immortal soul that the only thing I claim lordship over in this story is the one minor and as of yet unnamed character that I have created, all others belong to Naughty Dog, Team Ninja, Bungee, etc. etc., so on and so forth.

That done, here is the next chapter, may it hopefully please you.

&

The Beast Without

For the first time in what seemed like years, Jak's mind simply refused to process as it was supposed to. He remained stock still, frozen in time, as he stared at the person he cared about more than anything in the world. The impossible was happening right in front of him, and he didn't know what to do. It was a moment that he had both longed for, and dreaded with all of his being. For it seemed, that he was about to make a decision that would affect the rest of his life, which by the way he was figuring things, wasn't all that long.

Keira however, had no such thoughts, and simple rushed forward and embraced him, causing him to drop his gun, though he retained his grip upon Kitetsu. The dark elf remained unmoving, though, contemplating his next action carefully. Abruptly, however, the decision was taken away from him, much to his relief. The female elf in his arms suddenly opened her eyes, and she stiffened instantly.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, loud enough for her and Daxter to hear.

"We're not alone," she told him, hissing out the side of her mouth, "there's a Cloaker watching us. Don't move, don't let it know that I've seen it."

The Eco infused warrior assessed the situation, looking around him. He had dropped his magnum, and had pretty much made Keira relinquish her own gun when he had told her to come out. This very much limited what he was able to do. Thankfully, there was salvation in the form of the elf in his arms.

"I've got a pistol in my side holster, use that on it." she hissed, moving as little of her mouth as was possible.

"Where is it?" he responded, his voice hushed.

"In one of the trees, a pine that's dead from lightning damage." the mechanic said.

"Elevation, degree?" he inquired.

"Twenty degrees to my right, forty feet off the ground, middle of a large branch." she told him.

Jak nodded, and then moved into action. The Cloaker had been watching the two elves, its curiosity getting the better of it. It would prove to be a fatal mistake. By the time it noticed the elf moving, it was already dead. The former Channeler ripped Keira's pistol from its holder, and knocked her to the ground, so she wouldn't have to worry as much about being shot. In the same movement, he completed a spin, and looked to the tree that the aqua haired elf had indicated. Sure enough, about forty feet off the ground, was a strange blur. Knowing this to be the enemy, Jak took aim, and squeezed off four shots in rapid succession.

Though he hadn't had much to aim at, the dark elf managed to be surprisingly accurate, with three of his shots connecting. Two hit it in the face, about where its mouth was, and the last one went right through its neck. There was a strange gasping sound from the Metal Head, and it keeled over backwards, where, much to Keira's relief, it landed in a deep snow bank.

Jak turned back around to help the mechanic up, only to find her already running for her gear. She dove as she reached it, and with a surprising amount of gymnastics, rolled about, grabbing her visor and her gun. She then frantically scanned the area, making certain that none of its comrades were around to start trying to use them for target practice.

After several hectic moments, she allowed herself to calm down, and collected her helmet, before walking towards the trench coat clad elf. He had moved as well, having sheathed his blade and picked up his pistol before walking over to the body of the Cloaker. Next to him was Daxter, who looked about ready to soil himself in fright.

Jak was curious about this new kind of Metal Head, now that its strange camouflage or whatever had worn off. It didn't in any way resemble its brethren, being humanoid in its build, except for the fact that it was larger than most elves by a good foot, and had muscles that would make many a male jealous, that and he assumed its face was different, as it was hard to tell with the strange mask it had on. Reaching down, he picked it up out of the impression that it had made, and placed it down again next to Keira.

"Never seen this type before." he remarked, prodding its carcass with his toe.

"Well," Keira said, looking him in the eye, "normally, you don't exactly "see" them."

"How was it doing that?" Daxter asked, looking at the Metal Head as if it might somehow reanimate itself at any moment and begin to attack them.

"They're called Cloakers for a reason." the mechanic responded, rolling the carcass over with a grunt, and then allowing a wide smile to come over her face. "This pack, here," she gestured to an oblong protrusion along the rear of the thing's chestplate, "is somehow used to generate an energy field for some kind of active camo."

"Active camo?" the two males asked simultaneously, immediately causing the tech head kneeling next to them to go into a mode of thinking/speaking that they were quite familiar with.

"It bends light around the Cloaker, rendering it virtually invisible to the untrained eye." she answered, her voice radiating excitement in a way that was tearing the elf standing above her apart from the inside. "About the only time you can see them is when they're moving, and even then it can be tricky."

"You seemed to spot it well enough." Jak said, struggling to keep his voice neutral, as he handed her pistol to her and reloaded his magnum.

"I've learned to know what to look for." she responded, before lowering her voice ominously. "We got lucky, damn lucky."

"How so?" Jak inquired, somewhat surprised by her use of profanity.

"Cause this freak was a newbie, probably his first mission." Keira said before elaborating. "Cloakers aren't stupid, I'd personally bet they're even smarter than Crab Heads, a more experience one would have shot us instead of waiting around to see what we were doing." she remarked, gesturing to a gun mounted on its shoulder, before looking up into the dark elf's eyes. "I think maybe we'd better save the joyous celebration for after we get done here, these guys always work in groups of three, and once his buddies don't hear from him for a while…"

Jak was quick to pick up on the cue, and redrew his blade in an instant, his eyes scanning the tree branches for any sign of movement. Deep down, he was relieved to have a little more time to think about the situation with Keira. He just didn't know what to do.

Abruptly, though, his train of thought was derailed as the aqua haired female handed him a set of goggles similar to the ones she had on. He stared at them, and then back at her, his eyebrows cocked slightly.

"These pick up infrared, heat." she explained. "Those generators they carry with them create of a lot of it, so these make em stand out like sore thumbs."

"How ironic." he muttered, before holstering his pistol and putting them on.

From there, it was simple matter to activate them. He realized that they were quite similar to the ones that he had used when he had been hunting Metal Heads with Sig, though these were clearly a more advanced model. That was something he did not find surprising considering who they had come from. Thinking of their maker once again threw him into a spiral of confusion and despair, as he debated to himself what he should do regarding this matter of the heart.

Despite what Keira had said they should do, he couldn't keep his mind from wandering to her. Being suddenly reunited with one who had meant so much to him and still did, he was forced to confront the dilemma of whether or not he could afford to love her.

It was about five or six minutes later when both elves suddenly tensed, that combative sixth sense surfacing again. Keira quickly, but still quietly, made her way through the snow covered bushes of the forest over to the west, where the flat area they were on suddenly opened up into a small valley. Thought still hanging back in the tree-line, Jak recognized this place, as one of the Precursor ruins that he and Daxter visited was visible on a small hill not to far from where they now stood.

However, he knew that the tech head on his right was staring at the two Metal Heads that were in the distant sky, but rapidly making their way towards their position. Keira however, merely smiled in a wicked manner, something that seemed very out of place on her delicate features. She removed the clip from her morph-gun and thumbed a switch that near the rear of it, and with a slight whirring noise, the gun transformed into a long barreled rifle with a massive scope on the top. The aqua haired elf quickly loaded the weapon, and moved her goggles up off of her eyes, before bringing the morph-gun up to her shoulder, and stared through the sights, constantly moving the gun back and forth between the two incoming Scouts.

Finally, once she was certain that she could frag them both before either had a chance to react, she put her finger to the trigger, and squeezed. Daxter yelped and Jak winced as the rifle fired with a bang loud enough to compete with a tank cannon. Almost instantly, the first of the two Scouts plummeted from the air as a bolt of Yellow Eco tore through it, and just as quickly, the mechanic switched to the other target, which had just begun to turn its head towards its ill fated comrade, before that particular region of its body exploded.

"Yes!" Keira hissed quietly.

"Man, Keira, you are packing some serious heat!" Daxter exclaimed, stunned at the power behind this weapon.

"Thanks, Dax, it's the newest mod that I've come up with." the aqua haired elf replied, her voice brimming with pride.

"Wait a minute, you're the person designing the morph-guns?" Jak said, his face a humorous mask of bafflement.

"Yep, and you are the guy that Krew tried to stick on my racing team." she retorted matter of factly, before gesturing back to her weapon. "This puppy was a tricky one to get down, and there are still a few bugs that have to be worked out. As you could see, it's a sniper rifle…"

"Wait, hold on a second," the dark elf interrupted, looking at her, "aren't sniper rifles traditionally supposed to be quiet weapons?"

"They keep overloading the suppressors I've been trying to design for them." she responded with a growl. "When I finally manage to get that all ironed out, trust me, you'll be first in line to receive one."

And with that, she pulled out a small container, opened it, and tossed a chip in his direction, which he easily caught and slide into his own morph gun, quickly changing it into a mirrored version of hers.

"For that matter," she said, her tone laced with confusion, "why in the Precursors' name are you even using a gun, Jak? Your Channeling powers should make these morph-guns look like a kid's plaything!"

"I lost my gift." he said, and Keira quickly realized that she had just crossed a line into some very personal territory, so she quickly changed the subject, namely to the weapon that the dark elf was holding.

"This mod fires a special kind of ammunition," the tech-head began, taking the clip out of her own gun, and pulling out an a strange looking object, "I've managed to take some scraps of old durra-steel and compress them into a slug, then I magnetized them and got them to create field that actually wraps Eco around them." she then gestured to the almost obscenely long barrel of the gun. "Some specialized circuits in the barrel also create magnetic fields, but these ones alternate in their polarity."

"So you use magnets to throw the round out at hypersonic velocity?" Jak said, getting him an affirmative nod from the mechanic. "What's the slug's speed?"

"I'm not exactly sure," she said, shaking her head, "but I'd guess that the muzzle velocity is somewhere in the area of eighteen thousand F.P.S."

Jak's eye bulged outwards, and Daxter just scratched his head.

"Sweetie," he said, getting him a glare from the female elf, "I have no idea what you just said, but I'm going to guess that's fast."

"That's almost mach twenty, Dax." Jak said, staring at the weapon in his hands, and causing the former elf to have a reaction similar to his earlier one. "Keir, this isn't a sniper rifle, this is a freaking rail gun!"

"Call it what you want to," she said, shrugging, "just be sure to hold it tightly when you go to fire, cause as you can imagine, it's got one heck of a recoil." she then gestured to the scope on the top of the gun. "This is an optic enhancing sight, it's got two zoom modes which you can switch between by pressing this red button here." she then pushed the button and Jak found himself staring at a large black dot, which he promptly realized was Daxter's pupil.

"Watch where you're pointing that thing!" the Ottsel exclaimed, leaping away.

"Up close and personal, and hello, you're dead." Keira finished with a fiendish grin upon her face.

She then handed him a pair of clips for the gun, which the dark elf realized held six rounds, and they were soon once again on their merry little way.

About another hour had gone by, and they had had no other encounters with their foes, which was making the two elves nervous, and Daxter grateful. However, had the Ottsel known the theory that both of his larger compatriots had reasoned was behind the lack of encounters, he would have probably begged for them to bug out before they got killed.

Sure enough, Jak and Keira had their suspicions confirmed not to long thereafter, as their thermal goggles picked up a huge reading. They stopped abruptly, and Daxter, oblivious as usual, plowed into Jak's leg. The Ottsel went to ask what the big deal was, but a gesture from both elves caused him to wisely keep his trap shut, especially once he crawled up and got a good look at what they had spotted.

It was another clearing, and this one was jam-full of Metal Heads, far more than the scouting reports had indicated. Staring around, mentally calculating the odds, Jak noticed two more heat signatures, brighter than the rest, in trees on opposite side of the clearing, the remaining two Cloakers. Slowly, not wishing to draw the attention of the beasts, they withdrew, Daxter muttering a silent prayer of thanks that they remained undetected.

"So, what's the plan?" the former Channeler inquired once they were safely away from the vicinity. "I'm guessing we're in over our heads here."

"Well, normally, I'd say yes, but if we do everything right, we might just be able to pull this one off." she muttered, rubbing her chin.

"What about the gold guy?" Daxter piped up, upon receiving some confused looks, he decided to elaborate. "One of the big Crab Head's had on some fancy looking gold armor."

This resulted in a quiet curse coming from the aqua haired elf.

"What does that mean?" Jak asked, staring at her.

"That's a leader type," Keira said, "veeeerrrrryyy high ranking, it means that there's something big going on out here. I suppose that's also why they're all bunched up now, once one of their groups and their Scouts didn't report in, that guy must have called them all back."

"Well, we still have the element of surprise." Jak mused.

"Yeah, and we'll be using that, trust me." Keira said, and he could tell that she was winking, even behind her visor.

"I'll assume that means you have some sort of plan that involves us keeping the same amount of blood in our bodies that we have right now?" Daxter said, his skin pale underneath his fur.

"Yep," the mechanic replied, getting that grin once more, "Jak I want you to sneak around to the other side of the clearing. Once you're in position, snipe those two Cloakers, and used what's left of your ammo to take care of the Crab Heads. That'll cause a panic among the lesser ones, and we'll be able to wipe most of them out before they can reorganize themselves."

"What about you?" he asked, and though he tried to keep his voice emotionless, he couldn't stop a measure of concern from making its way into it.

The aqua haired elf's response was to remove the clip from her sub-machinegun, and press another button on her weapon. The usual whirring sound kicked in, and this time, the gun transformed itself into a wide barreled weapon with a rotating portion containing six separate chambers, each about two inches in diameter. She then started pulling out the strange charge-like devices she had in her bandolier, loading them into the gun one at a time.

"Oh, I'll manage." she said offhandedly.

"What?" Daxter whispered, not daring to raise his voice higher as he looked at her new weapon with eyes the size of a dinner plate. "How come you get all the cool weapons!"

"Ummm, because I make them?" Keira shot back, smirking down at the Ottsel.

"Let's get this party started." Jak muttered darkly, drawing everyone's attention back to the situation at hand.

In a flash, the former Channeler was off, trekking around the glade, keeping his eyes posted upon the two heat signatures of the Cloakers, as he had no desire to lose track of them.

Keira once more dropped to her stomach, and began to belly crawl towards the enemy position, her own gaze scanning the area. She knew that they were outnumbered, badly. Any run of the mill K.G. could hold his own against three Grunts or Drones, and could usually handle Centurions as well. However, Cloakers, while normally used for stealth missions and assassinations, were more than capable of holding their own in combat, and she'd heard tales of Crab Head's laying waste to entire squadrons of elves single handedly. Their first screw up, their first mistake, and they were worm food.

No pressure, right?

Jak meanwhile, was eager to get started. He had managed to control it since Keira had shown up, but that rage was still simmering just below the surface, looking, no, begging, for an outlet. And here was one. He waited for several minutes, moving his crosshairs of his rifle back and forth between the blurs that were Cloakers with their stealth generators active. He'd been forced to remove his thermal visor for the moment, as the scope distorted his heat readings, making it even harder to see the Metal Head than he would with his own eyes.

Finally, once he was certain that Keira was ready, he made sure that everything was lined up correctly, and squeezed the trigger, being sure to hold the gun tightly as the tech-head had instructed him. It kicked, and the loud booming echoed through the glad. The hapless Cloaker literally never knew what had hit it, as the force of the shot propelled it off of the limb it had been on, its camouflage fading as its armor and equipment were ripped apart. However, by the time he had aimed over where the second one had been, it was gone.

Cursing, he went to snap his goggles back down to locate it. Unfortunately, golden boy chose that moment to lay down some suppressive fire, and began to expertly bark out orders to its inferiors and subordinates. Realizing the threat that that one posed instantly, Jak got up on one knee, deciding to let his healing factor take care of any shots that he might have to deal with, took aim, and let fly again. The Eco wrapped slug was on target, and the unlucky commander got a first hand introduction to what an overripe melon felt like when given a good smack from a sledgehammer.

His comrades had just enough time to gape at the suddenly headless body before they suffered a very similar fate.

The dark elf ejected the spent clip, and loaded the other one, this time planning to take down the other kind that looked capable of leading these guys, the ones with the fancy energy shields. However, as he went to do so, he received a fierce kick to his side that sent him sailing through the air, his flight being stopped by a tree. He looked up to observe the other Cloaker standing next to where he had been. Instinctively, he rolled to one side, and the portion of the tree trunk behind where he head had been seemed to explode as a large energy bolt connected with it.

He ejected the clip from the rifle, and switched it back to its magnum mode, slamming the large pistol down over a power pack and drawing Kitetsu in the same motion. Both weapons ready to go, he took aim at the Metal Head, and opened fire. It was more than happy to return the favor, the large cannon on its shoulder spitting bolts of super-heated Eco at him, several of them coming dangerously close despite his incredible reflexes. He responded by sending a trio of bursts in its direction. It dodged two, but the third hit it on what appeared to be its left arm. It snarled in pain and fired again, before charging at the dark elf.

He vaulted over the rampaging Metal Head, and attempted to repeat the maneuver he had used to decapitate the Crab Head earlier. However, this Cloaker was not stupid, and it ducked into a roll. Jak saw this, and attempted to compensate. He succeeded to a slight degree, as he sliced into the monster's power generator. There was the crackling of electricity, and the Cloaker's active camouflage field dissipated. However, its canon apparently still worked, as it roared in anger, and turned around to shoot at him some more.

After that barrage had passed, it also did something that the former Channeler was not expecting. It reached behind it, and drew a melee weapon. The sword was approximately four feet long, with three of those belonging to a gleaming blade that was straight except for the end, which was slightly curved. Gripping it in two hands, the creature charged once again, its shoulder canon firing at the dark elf until it closed the distance between them.

Jak was quick to discover that its muscular build was not just for show, as it struck with a strength that almost reminded him of Praxis' power armor. Unfortunately for him, this creature's might was completely natural. It was also skilled, matching him stroke for stroke, parrying every swipe, deflecting every thrust. To his credit, Jak was able to do the same, and the Cloaker was soon growling in frustration and confusion.

It was puzzled. Never in its years of fighting had any pointy ear been able to match it in a contest of strength, to say nothing of the fact that this elf was not exactly bulging with muscles. How then, was it able to repel its attack?

Had it not been distracted by such thoughts, it might have noticed the vibration and noise that Jak's pistol was beginning to make. However, it did not, and was thus very much surprised when the overcharge shot nailed it in the chest at point blank range. It staggered backwards, barely managing to block a blow that would have made it gutless. However, much to Jak's disappointment, this Cloaker was no stranger to pain, and it was going to take more than melting its armor to its chest to bring it down.

The next few moments were spent at a distance, with Jak launching another overcharge blast at the veteran Metal Head, and much to his surprise, he got out of the way by performing a spring to its left, flipping upside down, whereupon it used one of its hands to push off of the ground again, its shoulder canon firing throughout the maneuver.

Jak dodged, and ejected his now spent pack, slamming a fresh one home and opening up with more burst fire. Several shots from the things shoulder canon were sent his way, which he used Kitetsu to deflect. It seemed almost as if they were at an impasse, with neither of these warriors able to overcome the other. How Jak wished he still had his ability to Channel, then it would have been so simple to hurl an energy ball at this thing and that would have been that. He also hoped that Keira was faring better than he was at the current moment.

As for how Keira was doing, well, it was better than he was. No sooner had the first sniper shots boomed through the clearing than she had leaned out from around the tree that she had been hiding behind, sighted up the largest clusters of Metal Heads that she could see, and sent an RPG screaming into their midst. This pattern was repeated five more times, until Metal Heads, or more appropriately, pieces of them, were falling from the sky like some sort morbid hail storm.

With the Crab Head's officially being fertilizer courtesy of Jak's sniping skills, the Centurions quickly attempted to assume command of the situation. However, while their energy shields might have given them ample protection against most standard issue weapons, they did possess a weakness. On either side of the circular protective mechanism were two semi-circular areas that were left open, intended to be slots for the creatures to fire their blaster pistols from which crouching down behind them. Keira had battled these particular types before, and had learned that those openings worked both ways. Several of them went to fire at her, only to screech in pain as their weapon hands would be torn away from their bodies by a well placed burst from her battle rifle mod.

Abruptly, two sounds reached her ears. The first was a warning from Daxter, and the second was the growling of a Grunt as it hurled itself at her. She pivoted around, facing the thing, and leaning back, balled up her left fist. There was a strange hissing sound, and the length of green crystal shot out from the gauntlet. Daxter was baffled as he saw the air seemingly begin to waver and distort around the strange glowing rock, and something deep within his mind seemed to think that Keira had used her genius to craft yet another deadly little toy.

That most certainly appeared to be the case, as she drove her fist forward, and skewered the Grunt straight through its heart. It paused, somewhat confused at the crystalline weapon that was protruding from its chest. As blood frothed upon its lips, its malevolent eyes closed, and then she threw it to the ground. Daxter was again confused as he watched the Metal Head's dark blood drip off the weapon and down unto the snow, none of it touching the crystal. The tech-head unclenched her fist, and the blade retracted, leaving the rest of the Metal Head's life-fluid to hit the ground.

However, when Keira turned back around, she was forced to suppress a small growl. The remaining Centurions had arranged themselves into a five man 'V' shaped formation, and had interlocked their shields. That was going to make it extremely difficult, for her to get a clean shot in. Still she had to try. She leaned out, peered through the battle rifle's scope, and fired off a few bursts at the central one. The lead Centurion was smart however, and knew to keep its weapon hand tucked safely behind the protection of its energy shield, while its padres were more than content to throw energy at the aqua haired female.

She leaned back around the tree just as the shots either connected with the trunk or whizzed by her. Snarling in rage, she leaned back out to try again, only to receive a couple of bolts to the chest. Fortunately, her armor held, and she was fine, despite the fact that her ears were ringing from Daxter's scream.

She looked down to the Ottsel, to try and assure him that she was perfectly fine, but a sudden cry that could have only been a cheer of elation came from the area where the Centurions were.

Risking a glance, she peeked back around to see what all the commotion was about, and was forced to bite back a small amount of fear. She could see them skittering through the trees, another squadron of the monsters, complete with a Crab Head leading the formation up. Great, just great, a patrol that had been late getting in. Realizing where they were heading, she quickly looked around the clearing, knowing that the area she was in was about to get very hot, very fast.

Daxter had seen them too, if the fact that his knees were knocking together was any sort of indication. Keira quickly scooped him up and put him on her shoulder, instructing him to hold on tightly. She then flipped her battle rifle over to her left hand, and pointed her right gauntlet towards one of the many trees. She flexed her wrist in a certain manner, and with a bang, a thin coil of wire shot out of the opening, with a spear tip like point on the end. Almost effortlessly, it bit into the bark of the tree, and with a backwards yank from the elf's arm, began to real itself in, taking her and her small friend along for the ride.

The Centurions were baffled, so much so, in fact, that they actually dropped their shields down for a moment, an advantage that Keira used to send a few of them on a one way trip to the afterlife. As she landed and yanked the grappling hook free, she turned about to move again, aware of just how exposed she was up here.

But then a roar shook the area, one that Keira was fairly certain hadn't come from a Metal Head. The reasoning behind her logic for that conclusion was simple enough: it sounded like something bigger.

Her thoughts were confirmed a moment later when the broken body of the third Cloaker went sailing into the clearing from the forest beyond.

&

And there it is, yet another evil cliffhanger from this amateur. Still, I suppose if I did this well enough, then we can all look forward to the end of the battle in the beginning of the next chapter, and of course, the little "spat" between Jak and Keira.

Hopefully, I didn't bore anyone to death with the details of how the sniper rifle/rail gun functions. If I did, feel free to hurl rotten produce, stones, or any other heavy/smelly objects in my direction, I assure you, I am used to it, thanks to my younger sibling.

Also, please feel free to let me know what you thought about this chapter in the form of a comment criticism, flame, or anything else of that nature.

Thanks, and have a great day.