A/N: Glad you liked last chapter. New characters are in this one and I hope it turns out well. In the game Daxter knew outside the city walls were Metal Heads, so I have it in this fic that this is the reason why he knew. He figures it out the hard way with Roxie. Please give a review!

WRTD: My braces feel almost normal now! And the Underworld movie I thought was a bit strange with the vampires and stuff, but I kind of liked it even though it had tons of gore and no comic relief. It is only rated R because of action and gore. Thanks for the review though.

Chapter 6

"Please don't tell me this is run by Lurkers too," Daxter muttered flatly to Roxie. "I still think those guys are freaky. Brutter might have been nice," he then narrowed his eyes and said in a deep low voice, "You never know."

Roxie laughed at his actions and tried one more time to get him off her shoulder. "You're funny," she said, "But I hate having you ride my shoulder. Let's set some rules."

"This does not sound good," Daxter murmured.

"When we walk long ways you can ride all you want," Roxie started, "But when I stop and stuff can you just walk?"

"Sounds easy enough," Daxter said, "But if I die of too much walking I will blame you."

"You can't blame anyone if you're dead," Roxie said.

"I knew that," Daxter said and she just rolled her eyes for a response. She came up to a little purple tent that had beads as the door. Daxter jumped off her shoulder and they both slowly pushed the beads away and stepped in.

The place looked smaller inside than from the outside. A big soft rug of many different shades of purple was on the floor. A tiny wooden desk was in the far right corner of the tent with a small chair behind it. Little baskets hung all around the dark room with some colorful elf fruit.

A few other nice rugs hung to the left side of the room. Small lantern type things hung around and gave the small place a soothing feeling. Roxie noticed a few other things hung up that gave off some strong sweet smells around the room. In a glass stand that was leaning against the right wall next to the desk had some old parchment maps in it. It also held some new holographic maps that most everyone in the city used.

"Nice place," Daxter said softly while looking around and sniffing the sweet smells. Roxie just nodded and glanced around. No living creature was there but for the few colorful birds in tiny wooden cadges.

"Nice place!" someone echoed Daxter in a high squeaky voice from behind the desk. "Nice place. Nice place..." the thing kept repeating the words and a tiny pink blob flew up from behind the desk with big cute eyes. (It is like morph from that Disney movie, Treasure Planet.)

"Awww!" Roxie said sweetly while watching the pink blob float around her. "It is so cute!"

Daxter frowned because this was wasting their time and half of because he was a little jealous of all the attention Roxie was giving it and not him. Daxter liked attention and he needed it. This pink blob was not helping.

"It is a morph," someone said from behind them and they both spun around to see who it was.

The guy had short brown hair and pale skin. His gray eyes were under his tiny glasses that were placed at the tip of his nose. He wore a silk white shirt under a purple vest and his pants were black. He looked a bit thin, but not wimpy. He spoke with an English accent and he held some parchment papers under his right arm. He looked to be in his thirties and very healthy.

"I rescued the little shape shifter from the Baron a few years ago," the guy said while adjusting his glasses with his left hand. "One of the very few species left on this planet. Very rare right now."

"Sorry about just walking in, sir," Roxie begun while scratching the back of her neck nervously. "Do you remember me?"

"I don't forget anything, miss Roxie," the guy said and it sounded like he was offended by what she had just said. "And I'm not giving you any job right now. I already told you that I'm busy at the moment and it is too dangerous to sneak into the palace."

"I'm not here for a job, sir," she said and tried to keep the annoyed tone out of her voice. "And how did you recognize me?"

"Who could forget those eyes of yours?" the guy said while walking past her and carefully putting his papers on his desk neatly. The little morph zipped around Daxter and he was starting to get dizzy with it going so fast.

"Cut it out," he hissed to it and tried to bat it away. It just repeated what he said and kept going. Daxter rolled his eyes and tried to focus on what Roxie and the guy was saying.

"I'm here for a map, sir," Roxie said while shoving a hand into her pack that was hooked onto her belt. She pulled out a wad of money and held it up to the guy.

He eyed the money over his glasses and shrugged. Roxie looked down to Daxter and they both gave sighs of frustration. "I got money for one, sir," Roxie said while holding the money out more. The reason why she kept calling "sir" was because the first time she met him in the streets he kept correcting her to say "sir" every time she spoke to him. To win points she was doing what he said.

The guy just said nothing and kept looking closely at his papers. Daxter had had enough of him and said loudly, "Look, moody map dude! We want a map for the palace, now give one to us!"

The guy looked sternly over his glasses down at Daxter and asked, "What street did you pick him up, Roxie? He could be infested with bugs." He wrinkled his nose at the thought.

"Enough about him," Roxie said with a bit of anger flashing into her eyes. Daxter looked like he was going to explode. "Just give us the right map and we can leave you in peace."

"How many precursors do you have?" the guy asked rudely.

"One," Roxie replied. "Why?"

"Give me nine more and I'll give a pretty good map of the palace," the guy said. Roxie's jaw dropped to the floor while Daxter just smiled. In his mind this was too easy.

"Why can't I just give you money?" Roxie asked.

"I like precursors and that is it," the guy answered. "The pumping station is loaded with precursors. Go there and get me some if you have no brains, or just forget it and leave me alone. I don't want you to be running around in the palace and getting yourself killed."

"Fine!" Roxie snapped back with anger. "But I'll be back with your stupid precursors! I swear I will!"

"Don't swear, miss Roxie," the guy said sternly. "And always remember to say 'sir' or 'ma'am' when you address your elders. Good day to you and your talking pet." He gave them a nod and went back to his work.

Roxie stood there for a few seconds with anger flowing through her. She was measuring on killing him now or just getting his precursors then killing him. She then stamped out of his tent in a ball of fire and said nothing. Daxter glanced behind them to the tent then ran to catch up with her.

"Ten precursors are simple," Daxter said while quickly jumping up to the seat next to Roxie's in a zoomer that was just left there. Roxie turned the keys sharply and it made a jingle sound then the engine roared into life. She went up to be with the rest of the zoomers and headed straight for the pumping station.

"You are more crazy than I am," Roxie said. "You don't know anything about Metal Heads, you think Lurkers are evil, and you think getting ten precursors are easy."

"So here precursors are hard to come by?" Daxter asked.

"Yeah," Roxie said. "Country people have it all good."

"So where do we begin looking?" Daxter asked as he walked on top of the soft sand in front of the pumping station. "It is not like they are hidden."

"Sometimes it really seems like it," Roxie said slowly while looking around carefully. She scanned the place for any Metal Heads and found none. So far it was going good. "Keep a sharp eye out for any Metal Heads and really search for a precursor."

Daxter shrugged and sniffed the air. It hung with a musty smell that was not too pleasant for the two. They slowly walked to the pumps that lifted to a higher platform and the sand crunched under their feet. The place was dead quiet that it made a shiver go down Roxie's shoulders.

"Let's go up," Roxie said while jumping swiftly onto a pump that was beginning to rise. Daxter jumped up and Roxie grabbed his paw to pull him up all the way. She jumped onto the next platform and yelled in surprise of the two bug-eyed green creatures waiting for her.

She attacked with a strong punch to the one and jumped out of the way of the other one. She swung her leg around and kicked it before it could come at her again. She took out her dice with her fingerless gloved hand and threw two on her dice at both of them. They exploded in a tiny ball of fire and their guts flew into the air and splattered all over the platform floor.

"Having fun?" Daxter asked while coming from behind a giant tank. He held up a precursor proudly to the girl and she took it from him with a smile.

"Two down and eight more to go," Roxie stated with a heavy sigh. She took out a long black cloth and made loops big enough for precursors to fit in. She then wrapped the thing around her shoulder and slipped the precursor in one of the loops.

"Smart," Daxter said and looked around to where to go next. "Where to?"

"This way," Roxie said while pointing to a ledge not too far away. She stuck out her gloved palm to her two blown up dice and they quickly rebuilt themselves and zipped to her hand in perfect condition. "Get on my shoulder as I jump," she ordered to Daxter and he did not ask questions.

"Hang on," she said while backing up. She was not a good jumper and had to push off harder than most people to get to far ledges. She ran as fast as she could and at the very edge of the platform rolled and pushed off with her feet on the side of the platform. She made it to the next ledge perfectly and got up with a smile.

"Where did you learn to do all this stuff?" Daxter asked while jumping off her shoulder and dusting himself off.

"My great-great-grandma taught me a few things by sending a few visions through my head," Roxie said. "She is really old and can only talk through this one annoying monkey dude. I've not seen her in such a long time. But I learned a few other things from taking a few lessons of karate in the past few months."

Daxter nodded and they walked on in search of precursors. They came up to another platform a few feet away from the cliff they were on. It had just rained so the thing was all slippery. Landing was important here.

"I guess you better hang on again," Roxie muttered while still staring at the metal platform. He climbed back onto her shoulder and hung on tight. He had learned from the zoomer chase with Erol that hanging on tight was a good thing.

Roxie closed her eyes and cleared her head. She was not that good with this action thing. Being chased by Erol on a zoomer was on her turf and she knew what to do. She was mostly fighting for her life. This was just something she had to do for some precursor crap. She knew she had to get used to it.

She ran and jumped into the air with great speed. She did a flip in the air and landed on her feet on the metal platform. She slid a few times and finally regained her balance. She gave a smile of triumph and did a little bow as if she had just preformed for a crowd.

"I give you a ten for that one," Daxter said and they both high-fived each other. "There is another precursor!" he said while pointing to a green bush to the side of the cliff they were on.

"Sharp eyes," Roxie said while walking up to the edge and leaning down to get the rock egg with different symbols on it. Before her hand touched the smooth surface of the precursor a claw shot out and scrapped across her arm.

With a yell of surprise and pain Roxie retracted her hand and watched as her hot blood dripped down her arm. She looked up and came face to face with a Metal Head. She could smell his breath beading down on her. She was frozen with fear.

"I'm guessing that would be a Metal Head," Daxter said from her side as he stared up at the monster before them. Roxie just nodded and backed up a little with frightful steps and the ground crunched under her boots.

The Metal Head growled at her and its lips curled up into an evil snarl. Roxie gulped and made no move. If it knew she was a threat it would attack her quickly and she could say bye-bye to her world. Someone had to distract the thing. Good thing Daxter already had the same idea.

"Why do I always have to be the distraction?" Daxter muttered under his breath and snuck off. He picked up a large rock and lifted it above his head. "Yo!" he yelled and the Metal Head snapped its head over to see him. "Get a life!" he said and chucked the rock at the Metal Head. It did not go too far and ended up landing right next to the monster and spraying sand into its face.

That was when Roxie struck. She took out three of her dice and threw them one by one at the creature. They blew up all around the Metal Head and blood flew into the air and Daxter got covered by it. The Metal Head slumped over dead in the sand and fresh blood pored out of its wounds. It was sickening sight to see.

"You okay?" Daxter asked while trying to get the gross blood off him with a disgusted look planted on his face.

Roxie glowed green and her scratch slowly vanished on her arm. "Just a little freaked, but fine," she answered while picking up the precursor. "Thanks for being the distraction, Dax."

"Next time you be it," Daxter said while catching a rag that Roxie threw down to him. "I can't believe I got to do all this just for some stupid map! I'm going to kill that guy when we get back. What is his name again?"

"Mod," Roxie said dryly. "And I hate the guy too. I asked for a job from him and all he did was tell me to address my elders properly. A lot of good it did me." She slipped the precursor into another loop next to her other one and smiled. "Let's go before more Metal Heads come." She collected her dice and put them back in her pack.

Daxter kept cleaning the blood off his fur with the rag. He walked next to his friend and they saw that they had to go onto another platform. But this time it rotated every few seconds. If they were not careful they could fall down when it turned. Daxter already knew to get on her shoulder.

Roxie said nothing and jumped onto the platform right after it turned. "Watch out!" Daxter yelled while pointing ahead. Roxie looked up and saw a Metal Head jump at her from the other side. She screamed and ducked to get out of the way. The Metal Head went over her and slammed into Daxter on her shoulder.

"Daxter!" she yelled and turned around on the platform. The thing under their feet twisted and Roxie, the Metal Head, and Daxter fell to the ground below. Roxie landed on her side in the wet sand and winced in the pain. Daxter fell on his back with the Metal Head on top of him. Spit dripped from its fangs and landed on Daxter's face. He did not care at the moment about the gross saliva on his face. He cared more about getting the monster off him.

"A little bit of help here!" Daxter yelled as he stared into the evil eyes of the Metal Head on top of him. It pulled back its claw and was ready for the kill. Dinner was coming early today!

A/N: Love cliffhangers! I'm sure the landscape of the pumping station was good. I had to go through the place to remember everything again. I have a really bad memory sometimes. More to come! Please give a review!