A/N: Stupid NC! Old people are boring! I just spent my whole weekend eating cheese and cake and gettinged by the thousands of old people taking pictures and getting scared from coo-coo clocks! All we had at this party for my grandma and grandpa was cake! And when we were taking pictures so many people had to take some of us. Then this little old lady comes in with this HUGE old camera and the flash pretty much kills the people around her. The place we stayed at had this scary coo-coo clock that scared the living crap out of me whenever it went off. I'm so happy to be home!
Sorry for the long authors note. I just had to get that all out. But this chapter will be long. I'm putting in a new character that will be a main character in my sequel. Yes. I'm making a sequel. Please RR. Thanks!
Daxter: "And she does not own anything from Jak2. You forgot that, you know?"
Me: "Yeah. I have STML and ADD. And some times I forget to finish…" Long pause.
Daxter: "Yeah. I kind of noticed that."
Me: "What? Were you talking to me?"
Daxter: "Forget it. You're pathetic. Readers! Just read!"
Me: "And don't forget to review!"
Chapter 25
Morph came at the two like a dog when his loving master comes home. He came flying into their faces with a boatload of morph spit and a big tongue. Roxie started to giggle as Daxter tried to get all the spit off his face.
After a long sigh Daxter asked his friend, "How 'bout some light?"
"At your service," Roxie said with a wide smile. The tent was pitch black, but when Roxie held up her hand it suddenly exploded with a green glow. Roxie held a ball of green eco in her hand, and the bright light from it was an amazing sight to see.
"Ooo!" was the only thing Morph could say as he stared up at her hand with wide eyes. Daxter gave Roxie a wide smile and put his hands on his hips while looking around the green tent. Roxie giggled at Morph's response. It was as if the little blob was mesmerized by its light.
"Let's get started," Daxter said in a whisper. "Let's try the glass cabinet first. I'm sure old Moddy has a map of the palace in there."
"Moddy!" Morph sung out then kept repeating it till the nickname was dead.
"How do we get the thing open?" Roxie asked Daxter as the orange fuzz ball hopped off her shoulder. "We don't have the key."
"I don't know," Daxter said with a shrug. "You're the smart one of the group."
"Ch!" Roxie said while rolling her eyes. "Yeah right. I'm not that smart." They both looked at each other through the glowing green light and cracked up. "I guess this whole team is not that smart," Roxie said between laughs.
"Shh! Stop laughing. Someone could hear us," Daxter said in the middle of laughing. "We have to get the glass case open."
Roxie took a deep breath and let it out slowly to stop laughing to finally get serious. "I say we blow it up with one of my dice! It should be sweet!" Roxie said while fumbling with her dice in her belt pocket. A wicked smile was on her face, and her eyes glowed with delight of blowing something up.
"That is a great idea," Daxter cooed with a smile. He then frowned and yelled, "If you want to wake the whole freaking city! Plus, we would set our map on fire. Have any other ideas?"
Roxie's lower lip quivered as if she was going to cry out of disappointment. She just plopped down on the floor in despair and muttered, "I have nothing else." She really wanted to blow it up.
Daxter smacked his forehead in frustration then folded his arms in front of him while shaking his head at Roxie. She just kept pouting. Daxter finally gave a sigh of defeat then said, "Okay. You can blow it up."
"Wicked SWEET!" Roxie rejoiced while taking out her dice once again. She put in her fingerless gloved hand and was about to throw it hard at the glass case. Daxter closed his eyes and plugged his ears with his fingers to prepare for the explosion.
"Hold it right there, Miss Roxie!" Mod yelled from the door. Daxter opened one eye and gave him an innocent smile. Roxie turned around with the dice still in her hand. A tiny boom came from inside her fist and spoke lingered up from it. She then hid her hand behind her back and played Mod a smile.
"Put the dice down," Mod demanded from the door of the tent. "Now!" Roxie dropped the remaining pieces of her dice and looked to the floor as if she was a bad puppy getting scolded.
"Now tell me what you two think you're doing," Mod said with a frown planted on his face.
Merlander flew his fingers through his spiky, blond hair as he walked down the steps to the Underground hideout. He could not fall asleep in Roxie's house while he needed work done. He had things to do. Like Daxter had said, he never slept.
Merlander walked past the bunk beds and noticed a Human was sitting on one. She had a blue blanket wrapped around her body. She looked to be around 15 in her years. She had jet-black hair that came down to her chin. Her deep brown eyes looked up at him with question in them. She had a pad in her lap and a pencil in her hand. With one look at Merlander she already had an idea on what to draw and started at it without looking up again.
"Where did she come from?" Merlander asked Torn while giving the girl a forced smile.
Torn looked over to the Human, and Merlander knew he was questioning himself to tell Merlander who she was. His stern eyes then focused on the teen Elf in front of him, and he said, "Her name is Amber. Ashlen and I found her at Dead Town just yesterday. She does not speak our language, so I took her to Pecker for him to translate. She said she was from Earth or something and came here by a portal through something called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge." (A/N: Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Shorten that. MAR. See it now?)
"Do you believe her?" Merlander asked while folding his arms in front of him and raising an eyebrow.
Torn gave a sigh then finally said, "It is just crazy enough to be real. The Oracle said that there was a portal on Earth, and a legend said that one would come from the past and help, so maybe she is someone important. Plus, I know her father. He came here a few times, but I never knew he had come from Earth."
Merlander gave Torn a wide smile as if to say Torn was insane. Torn narrowed his eyes at the teen to give him a hint to be quiet. "Just give me my mission," Merlander finally said while glancing at the mysterious girl.
"Okay," Torn said while folding his hands in front of his chest. "Your mission is to take Amber to your mom's store and get her some real clothes."
Merlander's eyes went wide, and he whirled back to Torn. "Are you insane! I'm not going back to my mom's store. I'm wanted remember? Or did you not gain that information yet?"
"Yeah, I know that," Torn said while giving Merlander a mean smile. "But I think you still have the guts to do it. You've done more dangerous things for me in the past. This one won't be so tough. Plus, you could get lucky. She could be closed for the night by now."
Merlander opened his mouth to say some other protest, but he could think of nothing. "You owe me one," Merlander finally said while narrowing his eyes at the leader. "How do I get her to come with me when she does not speak Elfish?"
Torn shrugged his shoulders and said, "Use your imagination."
"Okay, okay!" Daxter whispered to his friend from where he sat on her shoulder. "The code is…I can't make it out."
"How do I put that into numbers?" Roxie asked.
"No. I can't read Moddy's handwriting," Daxter said while giving the piece of paper to Roxie with a sigh. "I still can't believe he is letting us sneak into the palace to steal some money for Black Water and your mom."
"But he thinks we are mapping out the treasure room," Roxie said while looking at Mod's chicken scratch. "It will not kill him if we just 'barrow' some treasure for my mom and Black Water."
"We are going to map it out, right?" Daxter asked.
"Yeah," Roxie answered while typing in a few keys on a little keyboard. A door opened to a tiny elevator, and the two went in. "I wonder how he got that code." The floor then started to fly upwards, and it pushed her to the floor. Daxter laughed at her balance as he fell off her shoulder and hit the ground too. "Shut up," Roxie snapped at him as she stood up again and brushed herself off.
Daxter climbed up to her shoulder again with a chuckle. He started to dust himself off. The elevator jerked to a stop, and Daxter flew upwards with a yell of surprise. He came back down to her shoulder in a ball of nerves and his eyes wide with horror.
Roxie laughed loudly as the fuzz ball clung onto her shoulder. "Let's go," she said with a giggle. Daxter cleared his throat and smoothed down the hair that was sticking up. He frowned at Roxie to make her shut up.
Roxie walked out to the long ledge that lead all the way to the top of the palace. It was a bit slippery because it had just rained. With grim faces the two looked over the edge. A long, long, long ways down was the city. It made the two feel sick.
"I vote we go back," Daxter said while tightening his grip on Roxie's shoulder. "If we fall we will go splat. I don't want to go splat!"
"It is no big deal," Roxie said with her voice cracking off at the end. "If we just keep walking straight we should get there soon. I'm just glad no one put security stuff up here yet."
"Mod said this was the perfect time to sneak in because they are doing that next week," Daxter said with weary in his voice. "But we don't have to do it."
"Stop worrying, Dax," Roxie said. "Just don't look down."
Merlander's head racked for the little Human language he did learn from Bo. He only knew simple words from the old language. He walked up to Amber, and her eyes slowly rose from her pad to look at him. She gave him a quizzical look then looked back down to her pad to finish her drawing.
She tore off her new picture and held it up for Merlander to see. "For you," she said in her language, and the two Elves did not understand. Merlander took the picture into his hands and studied it closely.
It was of him. Everything was in such detail it just blowed him away. It was a drawing of him standing up straight with one hand a fist at his side and the other hand holding a pistol. But what was really detailed was his face. It showed his whole personality. His eyes were focused on something ahead, and a sly smile played at his lips. It showed his serious side, yet the smile still showed that he could be funny. His eyes showed deep determination in them. Everything in the picture was still mysterious to top it all off.
Merlander looked at Amber with a bit of shock in his eyes. She gave him a sweet smile. For less than a second Merlander saw her eyes change from the deep brown to a fire burning red. But they quickly turned back.
Torn looked up and came over to Merlander. "I see she made you your picture," he said while taking the drawing out of Merlander's hands. "She did a great job on this one too," Torn said with a chuckle. "She has a gift."
Merlander just nodded to Torn then set his attention back to the girl. "Follow me," he said in Human. Amber looked at Merlander with a strange look then gave a nod like she understood.
She started to say something in Human then gave a sigh when she saw the confused look on Merlander's face. She guessed that he knew only a little bit of Human. So she threw her pad and pencil into her leather backpack by her side and stood up. She was wearing an outfit that Tess let her barrow.
"We're leaving now," Merlander called out to Torn. Torn just gave them a two finger salute without even looking up to say goodbye. Merlander gave a sigh of frustration then lead Amber out of the Underground.
"Don't look down," Daxter repeated over and over again. He clung onto Roxie's shoulder like his life depended on it. Once and a while he gave a groan of nervousness. Roxie just kept walking along the wide path that lead to the top of the high palace with a smile on her face.
"Stop smiling," Daxter finally demanded while glancing at her. "It is creepy!"
"First, you don't like dust," Roxie said. "Then now heights. Is there anything that you do like?"
"I like chocolate," Daxter said randomly, and as he said it his little ears perked up. This made Roxie giggle, and he gave her a strange look. "You scare me sometimes," he said to her while shifting his weight on her shoulder.
A funny idea entered Roxie's head, and she smiled up to Daxter. He was not looking at her. His eyes were focused ahead to past the time. Roxie did a fake trip on the wet surface of the metal and slipped to one side of the bridge. She let out a false scream as if she was going to fall over the edge.
Daxter freaked out as she tipped one way. "Roxie! We're going to die!" he screamed while crawling to her head in fright. Roxie fell to her butt in a laughing fit. It took a few seconds for Daxter to realize that it was all just a trick, and he was not going to die.
He frowned at her and said, "You're pathetic! Despicable! That was so mean! Don't ever do that again! ARGE!" He threw his hands in the air and started to walk the way they came from.
Roxie exploded into another fit of laughter. She then saw that Daxter was heading back. She stopped and asked, "Where are you going? The palace is that way." She pointed behind her.
"Yeah," Daxter said angrily as he whirled around to face her. "I'm going to let the insane dice princess go that way. At least I know this way is safe."
"Stop being such a baby," Roxie muttered while getting up. "Get over here, fuzzy!" He did not obey her this time. She then used her Mind Speaking, and his thoughts came to her. She smiled when she heard him give a chuckle in her head.
You can stop now, came his thought into her head. I know when you are listening to me.
"So what?" Roxie yelled back at him. A smile spread across Daxter's face, but she could not see it because his back was to her. "Fine! I'll just get you myself." She then quickly came at him.
"Hey! Don't touch me!" Daxter yelled while running away. She lunged for him, and he jumped up and landed on her head. He then started to run towards the palace while laughing behind his shoulder. Roxie landed on the hard metal with her face first. She looked up to see Daxter already at palace and smiled.
Merlander waited outside the changing room. Torn was right. His mom was already gone for the night. He had the place to himself. He had a bored look on his face as he leaned against a clothes rack. Girls always took a long time to change. He never understood that. Some things will always remain a mystery to guys.
Finally Amber came out with her new outfit on. She had on a tight short sleeve shirt that was a deep red color. She had jet-black baggy pants that had a few rips on the knees. Her shoes were white sneakers with red dragonheads printed on the sides, but no one could see them because of the pants. Her belt was red with a few metal studs in it. She also had on a pure silver little necklace with a small dragonhead charm on it. It was already hers.
She was extremely beautiful for one her age. She gave Merlander another one of her small smiles, and Merlander finally saw the few cute freckles on her checks. She was cute and beautiful. He returned the smile and saw that her eyes were set on a rack of gloves behind him.
Merlander took her to them, and she picked out ones she liked. They were leather black fingerless gloves that gave her a slight punk look. She liked them a lot and showed it by saying thanks in her language. Merlander did not know what it meant at first, so she just hugged him to show it.
Merlander let out a small yell of pain because his side still hurt. Amber let go right away and blushed from embarrassment. He lifted up his shirt to show her the bandage to show that it was because he yelled. She pushed her hair behind her ear and gave him another smile. The same strange thing happened with her eyes again, and Merlander made note of it. Something was strange with this girl.
The two moved to a mirror. Amber looked at herself and gave a nod while saying something in her language that Merlander realized meant "sweet". Bo used it often. He repeated it to show that he understood, and she gave him a laugh.
Amber was nice. She was pretty and smart. So far she knew simple words of the Elf language without anybody else telling her them. She was quiet and just liked to sit back and watch. She wanted to blend into the Elf culture. She wanted to fit in so soon.
"We need to get you a new name because Amber is so different," Merlander said in his language. She looked up at him when he said her name, and she gave him a nod. Merlander knew the word for 'name' in Human, but he did not know 'new'.
"Amber," the girl said while pointing to herself. He nodded and tried to get her to understand he wanted to give her a new name that was not so strange to their tongue. After a few seconds of acting out a few things, she got it and smiled.
"Someone really has to teach you Elfish," Merlander said with a sigh. "Tess and I should make Torn teach you. That would crack anyone up."
"Name?" she asked while pointing to him. Just in those few seconds she caught onto what the word for 'name' was in Elfish. She was a fast learner.
"Merlander," he said while pointing to himself. He then pointed to her and said, "Tuya."
She liked it. Merlander just liked the name because it was the name of a flower that grew in Haven Forest. It had just popped into his head. It was a bright, red flower that reminded Merlander of Amber's red outfit and her strange eyes that kept changing that color.
"Sweet," she said in Human. "Me like," she then said in Elfish. She seemed to have two sides to her. She was such a mystery to him. One part of him really liked her, but she was just not his type. Plus, she was Human. She was too young for him to like her. Another part of him knew there was something she just wasn't showing. But he did not feel like it was a bad thing. Maybe it was just a thing of her past she was hiding.
"That was too easy," Roxie whispered while opening up the large window above the throne room in the palace. She took out the green eco crystal from her pocket and smiled at Daxter. "Let's jump," she said to Daxter with an evil smile then slipped the crystal back into the pocket.
"Don't tell me you don't have any ropes," Daxter said with his smile dropping.
"Just don't scream like a girl, kay?" she said while grabbing him. She then threw herself into the room. Daxter took in a big gasp of surprise, but kept himself from screaming. The room had tall ceilings, so it took around five seconds or so to hit the ground.
Roxie glowed green right before hitting the red carpet floor. She landed lightly on the ground with a giant smile on her face. She had felt nothing when she landed. She looked up to Daxter, and he smiled back. He was fine also.
"What way to the treasure room?" Roxie asked Daxter in a soft whisper. "You can be the navigator. Here is the map." She shoved the holographic map into her friend's hands. He pressed a button on it, and the holographic screen popped up.
He studied it for a little while then said, "This way. We are really close to it. This should be a piece of cake."
Roxie gave him a nod then ran across the room to the big double doors to a hallway. She opened them as quietly as she could and slipped into the hallway. They kept low to the ground and hurried down the hall. They turned a corner and quickly went back and hid behind the wall.
"That's the room," Daxter said to Roxie as quietly as he could.
"Two guards and a big vault," Roxie muttered for only Daxter and herself to hear. Sometimes saying what your thinking helps. "I don't crack vaults, Dax. How come that stupid Moddy never told me about this?"
"He did," Daxter answered dryly. "But you were in your own world at the time. He said it needed one of the guard's security passes to get in. We need to take them down to ever get in. But quietly! We don't want to wake up the whole palace. No blowing up things."
"Fine!" Roxie snapped back at him. "I'll do this the old fashioned way. Hang on."
She then jumped out from behind the corner into the open for the two guards to see. She ran up to them and gave a hard punch to the first guard. After throwing the punch she leaned forward and pushed off the ground with her hands to kick the other guard in the stomach.
Roxie landed on her feet and turned around to face the first guard. He grabbed her wrist in a hard grip. She gritted her teeth together and slammed her knee into his groin area. A sly smile came to her face as the guy fell to his knees in big pain. She then took his gun and knocked him out with one big whack to his head.
"Behind you!" Daxter whispered. Roxie swiftly turned around and ducked as the second guard tried to punch her. She whipped her leg under his feet, and he took to the ground. His gun flew out of his hands, and she grabbed it before it hit the ground. She then slammed it down on his forehead, and he was out in seconds.
"I love my job," Roxie whispered to herself while looking at her work before her. Two Krimson Guards were knocked out in front of her. She held two guns, and she placed them next to each guard. "Have a good sleep, boys," she said to the guards. "And never underestimate a woman!"
A/N: Sorry that I could not return reviews. I've just been so busy with school and stuff. I've had no time to work on this fan fiction for two weeks. I'm just glad I had time to day or you would not see this chapter till next week. How do you like Amber/Tuya so far? She will be a main character in my sequel. I took a long time thinking her out, so I hope my readers like her. I love her outfit, though! It is sweet! As you can see that is my favorite word. SWEET! Please give a review! Thanks!