(Phases into existence)
Hello again, everyone, so good to see you today. And it's Saturday again (pauses and looks at watch)...well...technically its Saturday.
At any rate, trying to get everything together down here, as there is a possibility that yet another hurricane is about to smack the Florida panhandle...you know, you'd think the whole, four major hurricanes in six weeks deal last year would get us a bit of a reprieve this time, but nope, can't have that, can we?
But enough about my problems.
For those of you who reviewed:
PhiloWorm- Yep, it worked that time, thanks a heap, it'll be very useful. Thanks for your vote as well. As far as school is concerned, I started this week as well, so I know how you feel. I'm also grateful that you place such confidence in my works, event though there are several things that could be improved about them. And as this story winds to a close, I only pray that the sequel lives up to the expectations of people like you. (bows)
Light-Eco-Sage- Yeah, the story's coming to an end, but I intend to make the ending a little different from the game, (as in a little more favorably for a certain pairing you seem to adore (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), while giving a little more background on Tarath, who will probably be a major character in the sequel. I hope that your internet gets up and running soon, and please let me know when it is, as I have several things I need to send you. I also hope that you have been working on your own stories as well, as I really enjoy reading them. Along those lines, when you finally do get back up and running, check out the story that Farr2rich has going, its really good, but the poor guy doesn't get a whole lot of congratulations for his work.
MariaShadow- Glad that you liked the changes that I made to the vulcan, and thank you for the weapon idea as well. I don't think I'll be giving it to the Light Eco user, but since looking at some photos of it, it really looks like something that Brutter would haul around with him. (outta curiosity, what in the world happens to him? We never saw him in Jak 3) Also glad that you liked the 'look.' Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much, and that I haven't messed anything up.
animedragongirl- Thanks for helping me out again, and I'm glad that little e-mail problem seems to be a thing of the past (sends the 'or else' glare at hotmail). Also, thank you for your input on the 'chant'. There were a few things I had some questions about though, in the corrected version, you had me get rid of a few commas that I wasn't sure about. When you are a directly addressing someone, are you supposed to set the name off by a pair of commas? Or was there something about the sentence structure that made it unnecessary? I was also confused a little bit by the 'hisself'/'himself' replacements, could you please explain? Thank you. (bows)
StaarlaFoxfire- I will agree with you that there are several stories out here that leave quite a bit to be desired. HOWEVER, what that simply means is that there is room for the author to improve. When you see flaws in a person's story, tell them what is wrong, but also tell them how they can correct it, and therefore improve. Also, give them ideas. Though I can think of several stories that could better occupy the number four slot on your best area, I assure you that Risen Demon wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is were it not for the ideas given to me by my reviewers. For example, Errol's arm blaster was an idea I got from Farr2rich, as well as ideas for Precursean battle powers that will be unleashed in the sequel, quite a few of Jak and Kage's powers came from PhiloWorm, and I can't forget animedragongirl, who so graciously proofreads these suckers and catches the massive numbers of grammatical errors that my obsolete PC misses. And let me tell you, I have my two earliest works stored on my hard drive, and they would most definitely make numeral uno on your 'Bad' list. Basically, when you see an author doing poorly, tell them how they can improve, as constructive criticism goes a long way in helping people out.
Lunatic Pandora1- Actually, if you read up on what a vulcan is, you will find that it is actually a minigun (the most (in)famous one being the multi barreled one stuck on the front of the A-10 Warthog). As far as DMC is concerned...I have some very bad memories of my first encounters with the Hell Vanguards, and if these Death Scythes were anything like them, I will not relish the thought of fighting them should I ever get my hands upon a copy of the original. Thanks for the info, though, and I hope that you enjoy the Chapter.
Evilmanic- Thanks for the whip ideas, will probably turn into a Wastelander weapon though, simply because the Light Eco user will be able to make use of her wings as Tyrael does, from whom the original wing design comes from. (basically, she's going to have her default weapon, whatever it is decided to be, and eight wings that double as whips, which if one thinks about it, could result in some rather gruesome attacks). Thanks again, and I hope that you like the chapter.
SRHumphrey727- Glad that you liked the chapter, and thank you so much for sending me that guy's resume, it was a hoot and it really made my day. And with a little bit of luck, I can fill in a few more plot holes as well, as those things really get on my nerves, (which was one reason I never liked the third game as much as the second). That said, I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and please tell me what you think of it. (bows).
Farr2rich- Thanks for the website, it worked this time around. As far as weaponry is concerned, the Kerrog already as a longsword type weapon, the vote was for the other Light Channeler, as Jak can only use Dark Eco in this version, so he doesn't really have a light side. Still, he will be able to do a few new things once he gets my version of Mar's armor, as it will do a whole lot more than just protect. Thanks again, and I hope to see you update your own story soon.
Exardas- Glad to hear from you again, and I hope the camping thing was enjoyable. As to your request, yes, Praxis will buy the big one, but he shall indeed do so in a noble manner. Heck, I might be able to make someone cry if I do it well enough...nah...that would take a miracle. And I hope to make the battle between Jak and Kor considerably more explosive than it was in the game, as you were right about Kor being a pushover. Thanks again for your input, and I hope to see more of your own story in the future.
Xeno-Freak- A Light Eco using Errol...I don't think anyone would see that coming. As far as them obeying him...well. the Dark Makers strike me as guys/gals who live by the 'Might Makes Right' type of thinking, so perhaps you could use that to explain. Speaking of which, did you get that e-mail that I sent you with the military forces? And Praxis will do quite well against the Metal Heads before his inevitable demise, and he and Jak actually meet up in this chapter. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for the input. (bows)
To everyone that read but did not review, I hope that you have found the story thus far to be worthy of your time and attention.
Lawyers: ya know the darn drill, I no own, so lay of my case and go file a lawsuit with the fast-food corporations.
That said, sit back, and please enjoy my amateur attempts at writing a story.
&
City under Siege, Part I
Frantically, the tech head's hands flew over the controls at his station as he tried desperately to get the situation under control.
Metal Heads were everywhere, destroying everything, and Vin was doing his best to try and get the Eco Grid to respond to the city's current needs, most namely among those were getting the defensive auto-turrets up and running. Unfortunately, whoever was directing this attack had been a very good strategist, as on their way up from below, the monstrous invaders had destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable every single power circuit that could be used to get them into the action.
That left him with one final option: he had to try and gain access to the older power grids. Alas for him, that meant attempting to redirect the power for the entire metropolis onto an area that hadn't been used in decades.
Not to mention the fact that several of the access control functions were password sealed. Passwords that he of course, did not know.
Addition to his anxiety and woe was the fact that the Metal Heads were apparently heading this way. And the engineer was smart enough to know why that was: if this power plant went down, then all of Haven City went down with it.
The Hora-quan, oh dear gods how he feared them. Unconsciously, he felt that old panic begin to rise within him, the urge to run, to flee somewhere, anywhere to get away from them. A sickening mental image filled his mind's eye, of his eyes, glassy and unfocused, staring into space while the creatures tore at the remnants of his body.
With a snarl of self-loathing, he shook the image away. How could he even dare to think of running, when so much was riding upon his shoulders? Refocusing his attention, he went back to trying to get the automatic defenses online and operational.
For several more minutes, his hands blurred over their various keyboards, but still his progress was woefully slow.
Abruptly, his concentration was shattered by the sound of trampling as his fellows stampeded out. One stopped just long enough to shout a warning to him.
"Come on, Vin, the Metal Heads are coming this way, we've been ordered out!" he said, his voice unsteady.
"Then go!" the ageing engineer snarled over his shoulder, before resuming his work. "I've got a job to do!"
Then other worker looked pleadingly at him for a moment or two, before he rejoined the throng of people attempting to make it to the evacuation transports.
However, even as Vin turned back to his primary viewing screen, another problem cropped up. A warning siren blared, and a flashing red area of the Eco Grid layout suddenly caught his attention. His mouth dropped open in disbelief at what he saw.
One of the power generators for the Shield Wall had just been taken out.
Horror grasped him 'round the heart as he realized what the Hora-quan were doing. Right now, the enemy only had a single entrance way for their assault, but if the wall fell they would be open to attack from the enemy aerial units as well.
He held back a sob of frustration. He knew what he had to do, but he just couldn't move fast enough to do it, he could not will this body of his to be able to keep up with the destruction.
It was then, in a moment of crystal clear realization that Vin knew what he had to do.
The doors of the elevator hissed open, and the group of five stepped out, their weapons held at ready.
For the most part, though, the Harbor area was deserted, with most of the Metal Heads having moved on to different sectors from this location. However, there was the occasional Grunt or Drone that had gotten separated from the rest of its group still popping up.
At one point, in fact, a group of five such creatures had hopped out from a manhole cover right in front of them. They'd gotten one good look at the group, before a well-placed dark bomb had snuffed out their lives, their death wails being quite satisfying to the Ascended Channeler responsible for their demise.
However, Jak was no fool, and realized that for every one of these things that they managed to kill, there were literally millions more just waiting to take its place. Nonetheless, there was not a single person in the group who planned on giving up and dying. They also realized that they stood a much better chance if they managed to link up with at least some of the Underground. And so, with that in mind, Keira, still scanning around for any potential threats, got out her comm., and dialed up Torn.
The device beeped a few times, and then the Revenant picked up.
"What?" he snarled, and all present heard the sound of gunfire and swearing coming from his end of the line.
"Keira here, what's the situation where you are?" she asked.
"What the hell do you think it is?" The Underground commander shouted back at her, before he became distracted by something else. "Suppressive fire, suppressive fire, cover that side street!" there was a veritable roar of gunfire as the resistance soldiers did as they were instructed.
"Where are you?" the aqua haired elf asked as she raced along with rest of the group.
"We're pinned down near the Alpha Sector of the slums." Torn replied, and a plasmite grenade went off behind him, lighting him up in an eerie way.
"Give us ten minutes and we'll meet you there." Jak growled from off to the side, where he had spotted a downed K.G. speeder bike and a three-person zoomer that still looked operational.
"If there are any of us left by then, so get your ass in gear, blondie!" came Jynx's voice as he opened up with by his DC-17 and his morph gun upon some of his enemies.
"Will do." Keira replied, hopping into a side seat of the three-seater.
Tess clambered into the central driver seat, and Sig squeezed into the left side as best he could with the vulcan on, while Jak got up on the bike. As for Daxter, the multiple near death experiences he had had with Jak while the dark elf had been behind the handlebars of a speeder bike caused him to opt to take his chances with the others. It was just as well as far as Jak was concerned, as not having the furry rodent perched upon his shoulder would enable him to maneuver the bike better, particularly if he were to go in for an attack run.
And if one were to look at him, at how he held Kitetsu in one hand as the zoomers rose into the air, it would not take a rocket scientist to figure out that he probably planned on doing such an assault a few times on their way to the slums.
Torn flipped off his comm. device, and then hastily put it away, before taking a good look around and ripping out his assault rifle clip. He thumbed a switch on the morph gun, and it hummed for a moment, before the circuitry of the weapon rearranged itself and it transformed into the ugly, but very effective, shredder. He slapped the box shaped clip home a moment later and leveled the gun at an advancing group of Grunts.
He squeezed the trigger, and the familiar red beam of energy shot at the enemy group. It hit the center Grunt dead on, before breaking apart and lashing out at those standing near it.
Three fell, while several more charged on, now sporting some rather nasty looking wounds. The Revenant fired again, and this time five went down. Fire from his comrades joined him as he tried to hold them at bay, and yet they still came, hurling themselves at their elven foes if for no other reason than to deplete their ammunition supplies.
Torn fired again and again, every last one of his shots bringing at least a single enemy down, and, finally, the effort of both him and the troops under his command paid off, and the last Grunt fell. However, it collapsed in its death throes not ten feet from where they were. The message that sent was ominous.
One good charge, one powerful drive at them, and they were history.
His growl distorted by the external speakers of his armor suit, Torn reloaded his shredder, vowing that he would not die like this, would not allow those under his command and responsibility die like this. He primed his morph gun, and brought it up, staring around with his the night vision of his helmet, looking for an enemy that he knew was all around them, but remained just out of sight.
However, Murphy's Law struck the very next instant.
Torn felt it more than he heard it, that sinking feeling in his gut kicking in as something very bad happened. Instinctively he looked up, and saw, to his horror, the shimmering protection of the Shield Wall disappearing as the power generators supplying it were destroyed. It was then that Torn decided to exercise his knowledge of the various different curses and expletives in the elven language.
"You know," Jynx groaned, looking up at the sky, where his night vision could already see flyer units swarming down, "with all that's gone wrong today, I could have sworn that we deserved a bit of break. But nooooooooo, we can't have that, can we?"
Torn remained silent after his initial outburst, switching his morph gun back to its assault rifle mode, and sighting up the closest Wasp that he could see. The Revenant squeezed the trigger, and a quad burst of Yellow Eco bolts went up towards the flying Metal Head. However, Wasps were known for their aerial agility, and it dodged the bolts with ease. Torn, noting the direction that it had headed off in, fired again, and then a third time.
His aerial opponent, trying to bring its own, shorter ranged weapon to bear, evaded the second burst of gunfire, however, it had not expected the gray armored soldier to have such a cunning mind, and when it jerked over to the left in an attempt to keep Torn relatively in the center of its vision, it leaped right into the third burst. It had time to screech in surprise, before the Eco bolts hit home, shattering through its carapace and killing it almost instantly.
Not even bothering to watch the oversized bug fall to the ground, Torn was already getting another one in his crosshairs. This one also managed to evade the first few rounds of anti air fire that came against it, but it made the mistake of not dodging all the way to the right to avoid one burst, and the Revenant wound up clipping its wings in a very literally sense of the phrase.
And, as the Wasps drew closer, more and more weapons became trained upon them, as shorter ranged submachine guns were brought to bear. As it had been all those years before in their assault upon the Metal Head Nest, The elves found that when one was dealing with an agile, but rather fragile, airborne adversary, it was perhaps best just to fill the air with Eco and remove their ability to dodge.
Still, swatting Wasps out of the sky was one thing, but the Ancients preserve them if any Guardians decided to drop by for a visit, as the streets were far to narrow for them to dodge out of the way effectively.
The next attack, thankfully, did not have any of those overgrown beetles. However, what it did possess was a combination of fire raking in from above, while a formation of Grunts, Drones, and a few Centurions moved in from their six o'clock. Adding to the problem was a couple of Crab Heads that were expertly directing their lesser brethren.
"Watch your sixes!" He heard Jynx shout, as his brother in arms trained his two submachine guns upon the encroaching tide of darkness.
As best as they could, the fifty odd Underground soldiers divided their fire between the airborne Wasps, and their ground-pounding comrades. Eco bolts of all colors and descriptions lit of the surrounding area like some morbid fireworks finale, with a few plasmite grenades being adding to the mix. They detonated a few seconds later, and bestial wails testified to Metal Head casualties.
However, the elves suffered losses as well. Here a resistance soldier dropped as a Wasp blasted him through his heart. There, a man went down, screaming as the Grunt on top of him put its fangs to work.
A Drone leapt at Torn, thinking to bear him to the ground as well. However, what happened instead caused its primitive brain to wonder how in the world the gray armored elf suddenly managed to sprout a glowing green claw. It had about half a second to ponder this turn of events, before the Revenant lunged forward and caught the quadrupedal Metal Head in mid-leap, driving his gauntlet mounted vibro blade into its throat before twisting violently to the right and ripping the sound blade across. This resulted in a rather messy decapitation that sent black blood spurting everywhere.
Not pausing an instant, Torn leveled his gun, and opened fire on the rest of the ground based enemies. Jynx, meanwhile, turned his twin submachine guns upon the Wasps, while mentally wishing that there was a crop duster and a healthy amount of pesticide available to make use of.
They were getting close now, and here the devastation was even more obvious, and that was saying something. All throughout the city, the group had seen the havoc that had been wreaked by the Metal Heads. Their numbers were enormous, and they'd swept over barricades, command posts, and generally slaughtered a good number of those that had opted to fight instead of flee. Even Daxter, usually the joking and sarcastic member of the group, felt his ears droop as he had stared around from the relative safety of the zoomer.
Nothing was safe, and no one immune to the danger, as the smoldering remains of M808 assault tanks and even a few Hellcat gunships attested to.
Furthermore, the Shield Wall had gone down about five minutes ago, which now left them vulnerable to aerial assault. It was an advantage that the Hora-quan were being quick to capitalize upon, with Wasps buzzing about and a few Guardians landing amongst the various districts of the elven city, where they quickly destroyed defensive emplacements with their devastating breath weapons.
Still, Jak, Keira, and the others had bigger things to worry about at the moment, and much as it pained them, they had to worry about bailing out Torn and the others before they could turn their attention to a full-scale counter assault.
Finally, rounding a corner at top speed, the dark elf spotted their comrades, under siege from yet another furious Hora-quan assault. Most obvious were the two Crab Heads at the rear, standing up to full height and laying down fire from their twin blasters. Remembering the old adage of 'cut off the head and the body shall die,' Jak dove towards the ground, and pulled Kitetsu back, its blade already stained dark from several kills he'd made along the way when the opportunity had presented itself.
The screaming noise of the speeder bike alerted the ten-foot tall monstrosities to the elf's blitzkrieg type attack, and both of them turned at the same time to see Jak bearing down on them at triple digit speeds. The first one hastily raised its blasters and hastily opened fire. However, Jak was too close, moving too fast, for it to even hope that it had a chance to bring him down. It snarled in denial an instant before the dark katana connected with its throat, slicing through it and cutting the thing's head off. Its blasters fired a few times as its corpse twitched, but the Ascended Channeler was already streaking towards its comrade.
This one kept its cool a little bit better than its friend had, and its fire was considerably more accurate as a result. However, what it hadn't counted on was Jak suddenly leaping out of the seat of the bike and leaving it to zoom straight at the Metal Head commander like an oversized bullet. The creature's eyes widened in surprise for the split second that it had to realize what was about to happen, before the speeder slammed into its chest armor, crushing it and propelling it onto its back, where its skidding would result in several of its underlings 'wiping out' as well.
Then, as if he hadn't grabbed their attention well enough, Jak sent out a burst of Dark Eco lighting just as soon as his feet touched the ground, willing the Channeled attack to head after the airborne Metal Heads. Shortly thereafter, the Wasps started dropping like flies, pun definitely intended.
The remaining Grunts, Drones and Centurions promptly turned around, and instantly realized the nature of this new foe. The shield carriers hissed in their native tongue as they attempted to take control of the situation, and they directed the lesser Hora-quan to attack the dark elf.
"You want a piece of me?" Jak cried, summoning a shadow blade from Kitetsu, before whipping them both around. "Then come and get me!"
The Metal Heads, born and bred for battle, were all to willing too comply. However, they did not realize that this was no ordinary Channeler that they were dealing with, that Jak was something much more dangerous than they had ever thought they would encounter.
The first one reached him, a Grunt, and as it leapt, Kitetsu split its head in half. As it hit the ground, a Drone attempted a similar maneuver, and Jak leaned backwards, the twin swords in his hands converging to cleave it in two at its midsection. He pressed off of the ground, putting himself into a back flip, coming down and preparing himself as the next ones came.
The Centurions, meanwhile, had kept up the assault upon the elven resistance, as they were smart enough to realize that someone had to keep those blasters busy. However, there was something they had not anticipated, and that was a zoomer filled with three very pissed off elves who just happened to be armed to the teeth with weaponry to come zipping around a corner a few seconds into Jak's conflict with the other Hora-quan.
As the dark elf sliced and diced below them, Keira leaned out from her side of the hovercraft, her morph gun set to its RPG mode. Two well-placed rocket propelled plasmite grenades were all it took to eliminate any sense of coordination among the attackers. As bits and pieces of the Metal Heads rained down, Torn and his fellows renewed their own assault, opening fire upon the surviving monsters from behind while the elven meat grinder on the other end cut down any who got too close.
After they were finished, Tess put the zoomer down in the middle of the street, while Jak walked up, still clutching his bloodied blades. Torn, reloading once again, nodding in their direction, his face unreadable behind his helmet.
"About time you guys got your sorry butts up here!" He growled, looking around at the devastation that had been wreaked.
"Got here as fast as we could." Keira said with a shrug of her shoulders, before seeing that someone was not present among the elves here. "Where's Ashelin?"
"She took a couple of squads and headed north, trying to get the Residential Sectors secure enough for civilian evac." the grizzled commander replied, nodding his head in the direction of said area.
However, before anything else could be said, or they could decide to go give their comrade some backup, Jynx abruptly stiffened, and shook his head as if in disbelief.
"What is it, Jynx?" Tess inquired, noticing the sudden change in the gray armored warrior.
"My suit's radio transponder is picking up a K.G. priority one distress single from around here." the pyromaniac responded, looking over to them before patching the message through the external speakers of his Katarn battle armor.
"Repeat!" came a voice that was distorted by static. "This is Corporal Benton Davis, serial number 10375, we are pinned down and under heavy Metal Head assault at the Epsilon Sector of the slums!" static suddenly interrupted the transmission again, before the K.G. was heard again. "Mother of the Ancients, Keith watch your seven o'clock!"
More swears were heard over the comm. line, before the corporal could again be heard.
"Damn it, is anyone on this freq?" he exclaimed, irritation, anger, and fear all present in his voice. "For the Precursor's sake, there's only four of us, and we have civilians over here!"
Jynx cut the feed after that, looking around at the others, and more specifically, looking to his brother in arms for what to do next.
"Epsilon Sector," the Revenant mused, scratching the chin part of his helmet with his left hand, "that's only about a half of a mile from here, right?"
"More or less." Tess confirmed, still on the lookout for enemies.
"Then let's get moving." Torn said.
"Wait a minute." A random Underground member stated all of a sudden. "We're actually going to help the Krimzon Guard?"
"I don't know if you've taken a look around lately," Daxter said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes as he entered the conversation, "but Metal Heads really don't care if you're wearing a fancy red uniform or not, they just want you dead."
'I believe the phrase is, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend?'' Kage rumbled, though none but Jak could hear him.
"The rat's right." Torn said, and several people did a double take at the fact that he was agreeing with the rodent. "Besides," he continued, looking over at the resistance soldier, "you heard the message, do you want to leave those civilians to their fate just because it's K.G. that are protecting them?"
The Underground member remained silent, and Torn mutter a quiet 'thought so' before to told everyone to get up and get moving.
They had been on the move for about ten minutes, and things had taken a little longer than they had anticipated, as they had run-ins with several small bands of opposition. However, between Jak's powers, Sig's vulcan (of which Jynx was now green with envy over) and Keira's grenadier and sniping skills, they dealt with their problems swiftly enough. And now, they were finally drawing close.
"One thing I don't understand is this," Keira said as she reloaded in mid run, "how in the name of Mar could four Krimzon Guards hold off so many Metal Heads for so long?"
"Gimme a sec and I'll try to find out." Jynx replied as he stared down in the direction of the S.O.S. call, activating his helmet's built in macro-binoculars "Son of a croca dog." He muttered after a couple of seconds, not pausing in his stride. "Those clever bastards."
"What is it?" Sig inquired, keeping up rather well despite the massive gun he was carrying.
"I'd forgotten that this area had been selected for demolition and renovation," Jynx replied, "they've commandeered a quartet of construct Ex-Os."
As they drew closer, the others could see that that was indeed the case. Construction Exo-Skeletons, designed to assist in dangerous projects of both building and demolition, were a fairly common thing to see around such places. It also was a rather brilliant move on the part of these defenders. The suits came in several varieties, two of which were present here. One model, codenamed 'titan', had a trio of offset, hydraulically powered 'fingers' on each hand, two on the top and one on the bottom. It was designed to assist in the removal of debris after a building had been demolished and in transporting heavy materials around a construction site. They were also apparently rather adept at crushing any Metal Heads unfortunate enough to find themselves in their titanium grip.
The other model was often jokingly referred to as a 'termite.' One might be confused at first, as it bore little resemblance to the blind wood eating insects, until one realized that it was their job to assist in bringing down the house, so to speak. With its left 'hand' being a high powered turbo saw, and its right plasma torch that was capable of hitting ten thousand degrees in about two seconds, one could easily see that it was very well equipped to do its job.
Both models also sported three-inch thick armor platting to protect the pilot inside, with the only really weak point being a small windshield to allow for the person inside to see. However, even this was heavily reinforced in the event of an accident. They also had jet boosters that would allow for them to 'jump' or to quickly move about in order to escape a potential catastrophe.
And so, equipped as such, these four Krimzon Guards were making a final, desperate stand, and several dozen bodies indicated they were doing their job quite well.
They were far from invincible, however, as one of the titan Ex-Os was swarmed by about ten Grunts, who used their combined strength to bear it to the ground, where they began to scratch and tear at it with animalistic fury. Realizing the danger that the pilot was in, and knowing how great a help those Exo-Skeletons would be in their attempts to save the city, Jak decided to intervene, and show these freaks the greatest power he had at his disposal.
There was a crack, and he once again teleported, appearing right at the edge of the fray.
For a moment, time seemed to stop, and both Guards and Hora-quan stared at him, before a Crab Head promptly sicced its underlings upon him. Jak merely smirked, and dispelled his shadow blade, sheathing Kitetsu at the same time. He then brought both of his hands together, and concentrated as hard as he could. He felt the power well up from within his soul, and it gathered within his palms. The Metal Heads paused for one second, unsure of what to make of this phenomenon. That hesitation would prove to be a fatal error on their part.
Jak opened his eyes, which now glowed a shocking purple, and unleashed the pent up Dark Eco with a battle cry. However, what came from his hands was not dark lighting or the energy orbs that so often comprised these attacks. It was instead, something that was very fine and mist-like, not something would normally associated with the dark element. However, its benign appearance was indeed deceiving, as the cloud expanded outwards, breaking off into tendril like projections and swarming towards its targets as the Ascended Channeler commanded. The mist surged around, weaving about the Exo-Skeletons, enveloping the fiendish invaders…and Death himself would have been chilled to the core by the screams that emanated from within that dark haze.
A few seconds later, the shadows departed and faded into nothingness, with nary a trace of those who were caught in it to be found. There was only one exception. A Grunt growled in agony and tried pitifully to crawl away, its rear legs and tail eaten away by the attack. Panting from the exertion, Jak walked over, heedless of the stares that the K.G. were giving to him, drew Kitetsu, and stabbed it into the beast. The crystal in the hilt flashed a moment later and the blade began to feed upon the Dark Eco that was within the creature.
"Wow," Daxter remarked from his perch upon Tess's shoulder as she and the others drew closer, "didn't know it came in aerosol form."
As for Corporal Benton and his fellows, they had a conversation of a similar nature using the comm. lines that the Ex-Os had within them.
"See?" the K.G. regular said to the remains of his squad. "Now are you glad I didn't let you run off and try to capture him?"
There was a chorus of affirmatives as the dark elf leaned back against one of the slum buildings. It was clear that Jak needed a bit of a breather, as the attack had taken a lot out of him.
"Who's the ranking person here?" Torn growled as he walked into the square.
"That would be me…Sir." Benton replied saluting with his termite's plasma torch. "I guess you guys must have picked up my distress signal."
"We did." The Revenant confirmed, before staring around at the ruined buildings. "Where are the civilians?"
"Hiding out in that structure over there." The Guard member answered, pointing to an old projects building. "They're keeping their heads down until air support arrives to get them out of here…though we're not sure how long it'll be 'fore that happens." He finished, his voice scarcely above a murmur.
Torn was pondering what to do, what courses of action might be taken, when a comm. unit went off. Several people stared around, looking at their own devices in an attempt to figure out whose it was. A couple of seconds later, Keira realized that it was hers, and she switched it on.
"Keira!" came Samos' gruff voice from the other end.
"Daddy?" the aqua haired elf responded, somewhat startled. "What are you doing out here?"
"My younger self and I are trying to defend the Rift Rider in the Stadium area, along with a few other soldiers." He said, before she heard what sounded like an explosion in the background, and Shadow's defiant screaming.
"Hang on!" She told her old man, her eyes roaming about until they fell on Jak, who was still attempting to recuperate. "We're on our way!"
"No!" the old Sage countered immediately, causing Keira to give her comm. unit a strange look. "You know that new construction area that's being set up on the south western zone of the city?" He asked, continuing when she'd said yes. "Well, you, Jak, and Daxter need to get there now."
"But…" she began, clearly reluctant to run off and do something else when it sounded like her adoptive father could have used some help.
"Keira, trust me on this one, please." Samos said in a strangely desperate tone. "I can't explain, but you need to get there soon. And tell Torn and Jynx that they need to head towards the residential section and back Ashelin up, she and her troops are getting bogged down."
"Will do." The mechanic responded, realizing that any further arguing between her and her old man would simply be a waste of time.
Torn, who had overheard everything, was grateful that his helmet concealed the suddenly look of panic that had come over his face at the thought of something happening to Ashelin. Still, this wasn't the first time he'd been in a situation like this, and he managed to keep a level head while Keira rounded up Sig, Jak and Tess, and figured out what to do with his remaining forces as well as the four K.G. that were here.
"Cody!" he called out after about thirty seconds worth of mulling things over in his head.
The called for Underground member emerged, revealing himself to be an elf with a strange bluish red hue to his hair.
"Yes, Sir?" the resistance soldier inquired with his unusual accent.
"Take half the group, and two of those Ex-Os, and stand guard here until a drop ship or something comes along and gets them out." the elite warrior ordered, getting an affirmative head nod from the Underground member. He then turned and addressed Benton. "Grab one of your squad mates and come with the rest of us, we're going to go try and help secure the Residential Sector."
The corporal saluted as best he could, and ordered one of his friends to form up with him. They then headed north, moving as fast as they could to assist their comrades.
'Hang on, Ash,' Torn silently prayed, 'the cavalry's coming.'
As luck would have it, Cody and the others would not have to wait very long to be relieved of their high stakes babysitting job. However, that did not mean that they had an easy time, as another group of Metal Heads had rushed them. Fortunately, the Underground officer's quick thinking kept everyone alive, though there were a few combat wounds that were sustained during the fighting.
Not long after the assault was repelled, a couple of transport ships came along. One of the K.G. in the construction Exo-Skeletons was quick to wave them down, and the two of them stopped in the square, unloading their troops.
However, nobody was really prepared for who jumped out of the first ship.
The moonlight was absorbed by the obsidian armor, and the facial scars were the unmistakable markings of none other than Praxis.
Instinctively, the two Krimzon Guard members saluted, while the Underground, peeking up from their various positions, exchanged uncertain looks with each other. At last, Cody got up, and walked up to the scarred elf, noting the lack of his titanium head plate.
"What's going on here?" Praxis inquired of the man, who just a few hours ago had been among his enemies.
"Civilians hunkered down in the building." Cody replied, gesturing over to the structure with his hand.
"Get them out and loaded up." General Praxis said, and his men made haste to comply with the order. He then took the time to look around. "You've been busy." He muttered, his eye taking in the carnage that was present.
"You should have seen it before Jak came through." Cody remarked, shaking his head as he remembered the power that the dark elf had unleashed upon the first assaulting group.
"Jak was here?" Praxis exclaimed, scarcely daring to believe his luck.
"Yeah," the Underground member remarked, "and he thrashed about forty Metal Heads before he and a few others headed off towards the new construction zone."
Needless to say, the General was quick to order Toshiro and the rest of his bodyguard into formation, and they promptly set off in that direction, leaving the rest of the K.G. with orders to assist the Underground in any way they possibly could.
Tailing Jak and company was rather like following a trail of breadcrumbs; one simply had to follow the enormous number of Metal Head corpses that littered the street. This also meant that they could travel very swiftly, as most of the opposition was already taken care of.
So it was after about twenty minutes of running through the city that they were able to catch up to the renegade and his compadres, the sounds of combat telling them that they were close. Praxis felt his blood begin to burn, and he double-checked his rifle, making sure that it was ready to unleash his vengeance upon these monsters that dared to strike his home.
It was then that something strange happened: he forgot all the troubles of his soul, all the burden that he had felt upon his shoulders. Gone was all the economics and politics of his self-appointed ruler ship, there was only this burning desire to defend Haven City. He was once again a soldier, and everything seemed to fall into place.
As they rounded a corner, the battle came into view. Jak was leading from the front, Kitetsu and a strange phantom blade tearing through the bestial Hora-quan and effortlessly deflecting Eco bolts back at the higher ranking ones. By his side was Keira, her morph gun blazing as she dropped a Centurion, blasting it through the small gap on the side of its energy shield.
There were two other elves, one carrying a submachine gun while the other one was hauling around a multi-barreled blaster so large it would have looked more at home on a Hellcat than anything else…and he suddenly realized what had been responsible for those piles of meaty giblets they'd kept running into on their little trip. And of course, rounding out the group was that loud mouthed rodent that was apparently the very reason that Jak was still alive, something Praxis was quite grateful for.
But he put such thoughts aside for now, there was an enemy that needed to be neutralized.
Toshiro, ever the marksman, spotted them first. Several Wasps had taken up positions on the rooftops, and now were training their wrist mounted blasters upon the group.
"Hostiles, on the roofs!" he shouted, sighting the first one up and putting an Eco bolt right through its head.
Praxis brought his own weapon up, and though his BR-55 may have lacked the optics that his second in command's sniper rifle had, he was still able to see enough of his target to score a trio of shots upon his chosen foe.
Jak, in the process of decapitating a Drone, looked back over his shoulder for a split second as he heard the fire, and couldn't stop himself from pausing momentarily and letting a slightly baffled look come over his face as the person that had turned him into what he was came charging in with his bodyguards, their weapons filling the night air with bolts of superheated Eco.
'Undeniable proof that the gods love irony.' His inner demon muttered with a shake of his head.
A snarl from in front, followed by his cheek virtually being removed, and Kage cursing himself for being so careless, brought him back to the situation at hand. He instinctively brought both of his blades up, and the twin katanas split the offending Metal Head in half.
With the additional firepower of Praxis and his men entering the equation, the attackers were swiftly dealt with, a final four second burst from the vulcan that Sig had strapped on ripping the last one apart, signaling the end of the firefight.
The din faded away into an eerie and rather awkward silence, as two old enemies stared at each other. Finally, after eternity and a day went by, Jak broke the silence.
"What are you doing here?" he growled.
"Trying to help you out and make certain you don't get yourself killed." Praxis returned grimly, reloading his assault rifle as he matched Jak's eye. Gods, the General thought to himself, how the Ascended Channeler reminded him of Damas.
"When did you suddenly begin to care about his health?" Keira snapped at him, her eyes burning as she recalled what she had seen in Mar's Tomb, the two years of hell that this man had put her beloved through.
"I've been doing some thinking…" Praxis said, his voice quiet. "And I've come to realize that what I've done…" he suddenly shook his head.
"Looking for forgiveness?" Jak asked incredulously.
"I'm not really sure." The scarred elf responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "All I want to do now is save this city."
Jak stared long and hard into Praxis' single eye, his own alien ones piercing the other elf's soul. After a brief time, he nodded, realizing that something had changed within Haven's ruler.
"Your comrade back in the slums said that you were headed for the construction zone?" the General asked, realizing that they needed to get a move on.
"And what if we were?" Sig growled, a detectible amount of animosity towards the black armored warrior.
"Then it's a very good thing, because we have the same destination." Praxis said. "There is something there that we need to retrieve…something that these freaks want so badly that they're willing to storm the city to get it."
"And just what would that be?" Keira asked, staring at him strangely.
"The Precursor Stone."
They were off in a flash.
A half hour of frantic fighting, and several close calls later, they reached their destination. What they found there was surprising to say the least.
Kor, aging, elderly, and tae-kawn-do prone Kor stood there, muttering quietly to himself about something.
Abruptly, his ears twitching, the old elf turned around to face them as they spread out.
"Ahh, I was wondering when you all would show up." He replied, and something about his tone of voice instantly began setting off warning bells.
"What are you doing here, Kor," Jak inquired, staring at the elf suspiciously, "and where's Alex?"
"Alex, oh rest assured, Dark One, that the boy is just fine...you would know if something had happened to him, trust me." the old man responded with a crooked grin upon his ancient visage.
The use of that particular title to address Jak only put everyone a little bit more on edge.
"And Praxis, how nice of you to join us." He continued, before the General interrupted him.
"And just who the hell are you?" the scarred elf inquired, remembering the impossible feats that the old man had performed.
"Why not ask them?" Kor said, gesturing to Jak, Keira, and Daxter with his right hand. "Jak and I in particular have a rather interesting history with one another." He continued, staring at the dark elf, who appeared somewhat confused by what he was rambling on about. "We've met before, remember? Deep down in your darkest nightmares!"
As he finished, the old elf's pupils suddenly dilated alarmingly, until they filled up his eyes, and the strange tone that entered his voice…
Jak suddenly dropped Kitetsu, and fell to his knees, both of his hands clutching his skull as he cried out in agony. Keira and Daxter were at his side in an instant, trying frantically to figure out what had happened to him.
"What did you do to him?" Keira snarled, her eyes looking ready to snap Kor's neck in half.
"Oh, it's nothing permanent." Kor replied dismissively. "He's just taking a rather nasty trip down memory lane. Personally, were I either of you two freaks, I'd be a tad bit more worried about myself." He told them with a sneering chuckle, and promptly cast aside his walking stave. "After all, without this hell accursed Shield Wall disrupting my powers, I can finally get rid of this frail disguise."
As he finished, a tearing sound rent the air, and a quartet of massive insectiod wings, like the kind one would associate with an overgrown dragon-fly, burst from his back. They all watched, in disbelief, as his features continued to become distorted. Finally, an agonizing cry came forth from the 'elf' and darkness enveloped them all.
What the next saw, was a sight that each and everyone present would be carrying to their graves.
Kor and the Metal Head Leader were the same being, and Keira felt her mouth drop open as she stared at him.
He stood before them in all of his awful glory, his eight arachnid legs allowing him to rear up to his true height, which was something in the neighborhood of twenty five feet. The lower half of his body was twice that length and reminded her very much of a scorpion, and it was complete with a very nasty looking tail of similar origins. Kor's torso and arms, however, where disturbingly humanoid in their appearance, though they were covered by some sort of armored carapace as opposed to skin, and his hands ended in talons that would have sent Freddy Krueger into a jealous rage.
His head, however, was clearly alien. Four glowing gold eyes stared down upon them, while eight strange protrusions ringed his skull, like some sort of bizarre head piece. Fangs that were easily a foot in length filled his cavernous mouth, and a glowing green skull gem shimmered from the center of his forehead.
What was also curious, was a strange set of scars upon his left upper chest. The first was a straight line that ran downwards from right to left, while the second one ran the opposite way, and was shaped like a crescent moon. Suddenly, the aqua haired elf remembered back to Mar's Tomb, where he'd clutched his chest in pain, and realized that these must have been behind the discomfort.
"Holy…" Sig muttered quietly, "he's bigger than I'd thought he'd be."
"Now then," the Hora-quan Overmind rumbled in a voice that would have made stout men quiver in fear, "I believe you have something in your possession that I need, Praxis, and I grow weary of asking nicely. So, for the last time, where is the Precursor Stone!"
"In a place you would never think to look!" Praxis retorted as he succeeded in fighting down the fear in his gut.
"Tell me where it is, elf, and I might just find it within myself to spare your pathetic and insignificant life." Kor growled, his four eyes narrowing and irritation present in his voice.
"At least I'll die a soldier, then!" Praxis screamed, before cocking his M-404 and firing.
His aim was true, and Kor, too startled by such an aggressive move against him to take any form of defensive action, took the grenade round right in the face.
Unfortunately, the plasmite explosive did little more than make the Metal Head Leader that much angrier.
"So be it, then!" he roared, leaping forward to attack with nightmarish speed.
Yellow Eco suddenly crackled in his left hand, and he fired it at the group of elves before him. Most, Praxis included, managed to get out of the way, but two, Toshiro among them, did not, and were caught in the shockwave of the blast. Another elite found himself impaled upon the giant creature's talons, where he twitched out his life in agony.
Less than a second later, Kor leapt forward again, this time catching Praxis, who was still in mid dive, with a glancing blow from one of his many legs. The General went sailing into some scaffolding, which promptly collapsed upon him.
All the while, Sig hosed Kor down with fire from the vulcan, and Tess did the same with her own weapon, though no damage could be seen upon the monster, and he was apparently content to ignore them. Seeing how little progress they was making, both stopped firing, deciding it might be best if they didn't draw attention to themselves after watching the Metal Head Leader in action.
"Argh!" said monstrosity screamed in frustration. "I have no time for this!" he turned to face Jak, Keira and Daxter, the foremost of whom was finally done having part of his mind unlocked. "I'll deal with you three freaks later, but right now, I'm going to find that damn Stone if I have to rip this whole city apart one dura-crete block at a time!"
With that, Kor spread his wings and took to the sky, the buzzing sound that he made when flying quickly fading in the distance.
Off to one side, the smashed wood and dura-steel that made up the collapsed scaffolding was tossed aside as Praxis forced his way out, his powered armor lending him the strength that he needed to do so. Getting to his feet, the elven General stared around, assessing who was still alive. Instantly, he spotted his second in command, and rushed over to him.
Toshiro was in a bad way, a bit of rebar having impaled him through the upper portion of his right shoulder. With a swear, Praxis knelt down next to him, carefully examining the wound. He shouted over his shoulder for one of his other surviving bodyguards to bring him a medkit. He then drew his blade, and hacked off the part of the metal that connected it to the rest of the debris.
"On three, I'm going to pull this out. Understand?" he asked the commander, who nodded faintly, his teeth gritted in pain. "One…" Praxis said, before suddenly yanking the rebar out.
Toshiro choked back a scream of agony as the other guard arrived with a medkit that he'd gotten from some construction equipment.
"What happened to two?" the officer faintly asked, as the Green Eco was applied to his wound.
The substance did its work quickly, and Toshiro would be fit to fight, though he would always have a rather nasty looking scar where he'd been stabbed.
Meanwhile, Keira and Daxter were being assured by Jak that he was still alright himself, though the dark elf was having a hard time putting two and two together, now that he realized the complete truth of things.
"I remember." He suddenly said quietly, causing Keira to stare at him.
"Remember what?" the aqua haired elf asked.
"Who I am, what I was." Was the enigmatic answer she got, before Jak, a strange new light in his eyes, bent down, and retrieved the Blade of Mar.
It was a weapon, which he now realized he had a better claim to than anyone else on the planet, and he laughed inwardly at the delicious irony of Onin's private joke.
'By my honor…' was all Kage could say as he skimmed through these new images. 'I had no idea…'
'That makes two of us.' Jak told his guardian devil, as he looked around what parts of Haven he could see with an entirely new perspective.
What Jak hadn't been aware of was the fact that both Sig and Praxis were listening in on his conversation. Sig appeared somewhat confused, as did Praxis, but his was only for a moment. For once that moment passed, everything fell into place. Why Jak seemed to remind him so much of Damas, why the boy was such a skilled warrior, everything just made sense now. He then did the funniest thing: he started to laugh.
"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed after a second or two.
"Reality," Jak said with an icy tone to his voice as he glared over at the General, "doesn't care what you believe."
"Something he would have said as well." The general remarked, before adding one after statement. "Nice to see that at least one of my predictions came true."
He then looked off in the direction that Kor had flown, before shaking his head.
"And you're impatience will be the end of you yet." The armored elf growled, before pulling a remote from his utility belt.
He pressed a random button on it, and part of the ground suddenly split open, and a pedestal came up, revealing the Precursor Stone, glistening softly in the night light. He then turned to Jak, and motioned for him to take the fist sized gem.
"You've got more right to it than anyone else." was all the general had to say about that.
Jak did as he was instructed, and then looked over to Daxter and then to Keira, a thousand words and feelings flashing between the two elves as his eyes locked with hers.
"Let's get moving." He said, placing the Precursor Stone within the mechanic's backpack and creating a phantom blade from Kitetsu. "We've got a city to save."
&
Okay, I sincerely hope this chapter lived up to all of you expectations. If for any reason it has not, please let me know how I might improve so that it does.
And, the scars on Kor's chest will be explained, and I ask that you forgive me if I just insulted your intelligence by you already having figured out who or what gave those little souvenirs to him.
And to clarify something, Cody's accent sounds rather like the Mandalorians from Star Wars (sorta how the clone troopers sound) I regret not being able to give a better discription, but I honestly don't know what kind of accent that is, so feel free to slap me for it. I say that because he will make another apperance in the sequel. (if you happen to know the name of that particular accent, please tell me, thank you.)
Also, get ready to see more of 'Vin' in the next chapters, as he will play a considerably more major role in the defense of Haven City.
That said, I ask that you please let me know what you thought of this chapter, be it in the form of a constructive criticism, a flame, and once again I shall worship those who give me ideas.
Along those lines, I still don't have enough votes to decide whether or not the Light Eco Channeler in the sequel will receive a naginata or a longsword for a weapon, as it currently stands at one vote each. Now, while I'm pretty certain everyone knows what a longsword looks like, if you need a picture of the naginata, head to www. dragonscavern. Com /shop /files /spears /d82. jpg and you will get a very good idea of what one looks like.
That said, I hope you all have a great day, and that I do not somehow get crushed, impaled, or otherwise injured if Hurricane Katrina should decide to drop by and say 'hi' to my neck of the woods.