Disclaimer: Jak and Daxter belong to Naughty Dog...how many times do I have to tell you people?
Sushi: This chapter is dedicated to Darkshipposhadowfox, becausewithout their creative gun mods, wewould only be able to read half of the chapter...it's wonderful isn't it? Everyone say thanks to him and maybe he'll let us use his others... Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 5: There's Still Hope
"Zack!" Tome ran after him. There had been another attack on the city. This time it was close to the palace. The city wasn't going to hold out much longer. The Freedom League souldiers were dwendeling. The citizens were too afraid to volunteer anymore. They had seen what those creatures did to both the living and the dead. They would rather die slowly like cowards than to fight and die honorably. This angered Zack.
"What?" Zack was on a short fuse lately. The citizens had gone into hiding, taking refuge in the few building left standing. The Dusk-ravs had been unable to destroy certain buildings like the palace. The palace still stood in all of its glory just as the day it was built.
"Slow down!" She finally caught up when he stopped. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Zack knew it really was nothing. There were just some days when he didn't feel like being bothered. Today was one of those days.
"Are you sure?" Tome had been worried about him. He just left the Naughty Ottsel without saying anything to anyone. She knew he had his days, but was never really sure when they would pop up.
"I'm sure." Zack smiled. He remembered how she was when he was like this. Tome would always try to come up with a way to make him smile. It's one of the reasons he loved her so much. She was always there.
"Okay, if you're sure." The two of them walked back toward the palace. The sun had long agorisen leaving the ruined city to bask inthe sunlight.Everything was peaceful.The daylight hourswere the only time the city appeared this way. All those months ago when the Dusk-ravs had started attacking, Torn had noticed an odd occurance. The beasts only seemed to attack in the darkness of night. This gave the city its only period of solitude in the light.
"How long do you think it'll take?"
"What do you mean?" Tome hadn't been expecting him to speak.
"How long will it take this city to fall?" For the first time, Zack allowed his feelings to waver. The desperation of his troops slowly leaking into him. "Haven won't last too much longer."
"What? I'm sorry, did you just say that we're going to lose?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Zack had always been the one to give what little hope there was to his comrades. Now he was speaking as if there wasn't any hope left.
"I don't see how there's anyway around it. Our numders drop by half almost everyday." His head hung low as he admitted his doubts.
"I admit that this looks like a hopeless situation, but you can't give up hope. What if the soldiers see you, the one who gave them their own flicker of hope, thinking it's all over?" The hazel eyed girl stopped in front of Zack. "They wouldn't have the spirit to keep fighting. We would have lost this right at the start if it hadn't been for you and your family."
"I know but-"
"No. There are no buts. What do you think's going to happen to all of us if we just gave up right now? There would be no future, for anyone." She grew quiet when she said the last words.
Zack could see that she looked as if she were about to cry. What was she thinking about? Her parents? Sarie? Or something else?
Zack let his own thoughts wander over her words. Images of what could happen flashed through his mind. Not a sinlge building was left standing. Bodies upon bodies lay everywhere. Most unidentifiable. He didn't like what he saw. He like what came next even less. Tome and his family lay in their own blood. It looked as if they had fought as hard as they could, but even that wasn't enough.
Tome stood watching as Zack returned to reality. She knew she had to tell him, but now wasn't the best time. He would find out sooner or later she was sure of that, but she didn't want it to be now. He was too full of sorrow to take it well.
Zack didn't want his home to end the way he envisioned it. He didn't want anyone else to die the way he had seen others die. There had to be a way to end it. There had to be.
"Tome?"
"Yeah? What is it?" The two had resumed their treck. Themorning was late and the evening's battle would soon begin. They needed to get what rest they could in the short time they had.
"We will win." Zack took the girl's hand. "We'll make sure this city see's another generation. One without bloodshed and terror."
"How many casualties?" Colle had insisted that the palace be used to house the injured and sick. It seemed to become even more crowed by day. The queen walked among the many cots that lay through out the palace corridors. Each time she would look at the inhabitants, her face would become more sorrowful.
"I've counted 57, but there are still more out there. I guess it's better to have a city full of injured than dead." Jak had just returned from the night's fighting himself. He had stayed after it ended helping to make plans for the following hours. Plans that were bound to fail just as all the others.
"Have you seen Zack? Or Tome?" Colle had been with Torn and Mora when the Dusk-ravs had attacked that evening. She was getting worried about her younger brother and his girlfriend. She hadn't heard from either of them since yesterday. Anything could happen.
"I haven't." Jak saw the lookof worry pass through her eyes as they walked to their bedroom. "Don't worry," he whispered, "they'll be okay. You'll see."
The king looked at his queen fondly as she smiled softly. Over the past ten years, she had become a great leader for Haven. To him, she was perfect in every way, even if she had her faults. Heck, so did he, but she was still willing to put up with him. He loved her so much. Even their children were more wonderful than he could have ever hoped for.
"Daddy!" A little girl with pig tails ran and grabbed her father around his knees. Behind the girl, a yound boy was close behind.
"Mamma told us you were coming! She said we could play a game." Kell looked up at his parents expectantly.
"Yeah! I wanna play too!" Tala tried to climb up Jak's pant leg.
Jak glanced at Colle as if to say, "You promised them that? We're both exhausted. We need our rest." Colle simply smiled and shrugged.
"Okay, what game do you want to play?" Jak gave in to the two children looking up at him with the ever irresistable puppy eyes. Zack had tought them that little trick before they were even out of diapers. Jak would have to remember to thank him later...
"Yay!" Both yelled together. They pulled their parents toward their bedroom and away from their own quiet sanctuary.
Laughter could be heard through out the passage ways of the palace. The sounds of hapiness gently lifted the veil of hopelessness from the temporary inhabitants.
"Momma! Go faster, we're losing!" Kell yelled excitedly from his mother's back. The royal family had finally decided to play a game of Leapers and Jak and Tala were curaintly in the lead.
"Yeah! We won!" Tala jumped from her daddy's back after they crossed the finish line made from bed sheets. "Look out!"
Kell had launched himself from Colle's back and onto Jak. They fell to the floor in a heap of laughter. Jak started to get up but froze when a slightly peircing pain passed through his side. He had hit the corner of Tala's bed before landing on the stone floor.
"Kell! You broke daddy!" Tala and her mother ran to see if they were alright.
Jak only continued to laugh as he helped Kell to his feet. Soon the room was filled with laughter from them all.
Both Jak and Colle thought the same thing as they watched their children. Moments like these were precious in times of war. Neither of them would let the fighting end if it meant losing all of this.
Tome and Zack had reatched the palace minutes before noon. Instead of going off to bed like Jak and Colle had done and hour ago, they met up with Vin in the conferance room. The cybornetic genious had told Keira how to set up a main frame system to where they could communicate safely with him. The two soldiers had come seeking his help.
"Well, their biological make up is similar to our old rosruc enemy...but only in one way." Vin's head head disapeared only to be replaced with a scaning of both past and present enimies. "They're both made of eco. However, the Rosrecerps were Precursors before they became experiments, if I'm not mistaken.
"The Dark-ravs are completely made of the stuff. They're creations of eco." The digital information vanished replaced by Vin's head once again. He than began admerably, "Whoever was able to bring these creatures to life..."
"Wait. You said they were created soely from eco?" Tome interupted.
"Yes."
"Then why hasn't my sister been able to kill any? Surely her abilities are still able to destroy eco?" Zach took over.
"Maybe...maybe she hadn't been destroying the eco at all." tome took the words right out of Vin's mouth before he could even open it.
"That's correct. Eco is never destroyed. It's like matter. It can't be." Vin seemed to consider something as the pixels making up his head wavered a moment. "From what I've heard, your sister is able to control eco. The remains of one of her fights looked as if the poor beasts had been blow up from the inside out, correct?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything? That was over ten years ago. The Dusk-ravs are pure eco. Eco can't be destroyed. So, you're telling us we can't win against these things." Zack was losing hope again.
"No." Tome had reatched a conclusion of her own. "That's not what he means at all."
Zack looked confusedly at the girl standing next to him. What was she talking about? He saw the look on Tome's face and knew she was forming a plan.
"Remember a few days ago when Jak attacked a Dusk-rav with his dark powers?" Zack nodded his head."His dark powers contain eco. The attack had no effect. Then he tryed it again, but on a different looking one. He injured it!"
"So?" Zack still didn't know what was going on. He looked to Vin to see if he understood any of this. the cybonetic elf was giving Tome his undivided attention. He knew what she was talking about?
"So...that's our solution. The Dark-ravs were created from eco, but not all of them are the same type. Jak had obviously attacked one that had a resistance to his dark eco the first time. The second time, his opponent was weak against it."
Everything fell into place in Zack's mind. He didn't know how Tome had thought of this, but once she explained it, it made sense. At least to him it did. They had found the answer they needed. Now they needed a way to use it.
There were only four hours left until all soldiers were to report back to Torn and Ashelin, who had become scond in command after giving the throne to Jak and Colle. Zack and Tome figured they would share their new discovery after they claimed the rest they so desperately needed.
"Are you sure you've worked everything out?" Zack asked suspisously after being handed one of the new modules for the morph gun. The P.S., or the Plasmatic Shredder, was near the top in a long line of weapons upgrades the Freedom League had been working on since the war with the Rosrucerps. Unfortuneatly, the reason they weren't being used until now was because there were...quiet a few difficulties that have yet to be fixed.
"For the most part. Why?" Tess had handed one of the new gun mods to each member in Zack's party.
"Because, I don't want to come back with my arms blown off!" Zack placed his new gun on his back. He grabbed two small hand guns just incase they were needed. He hoped they wouldn't be. Of course, if he arms were blown off, they wouldn't be of any use to him.
"You said you needed guns with eco power, right?" Tess didn't listen to him make his excuses. "Well, then shut it, or I'm taking my babies back!"
"Fine..." Zack knew better than to get between Tess and her guns. It could get rather...unhealthy.
"Alright, enough chit chat." Torn took control at once. "You mission is to find the enimies weakness. If they're made of pure eco like I've been told, then find out which can destroy them. We've lost too much to let them take anything else. Now move out!"
"Zack?" Both him and Tome stayed back when they heard the worry in Colle's voice.
"What's wrong, sis?"
"I want you two to be careful. This won't be like the other times you'vegone out. There won't be as many people around to help you." Colle hugged each in turn and watched them leave and hour before the sun would set. An hour before the Dusk-ravs would swoop down and deliver another faitle blow to the city and it's dwendeling forces.
"Everyone, now is our chance to get ready. We will do everything in our power to stop those things from advancing any farther. We all know where they're heading. And if they reach the palace, it's all over. Over a third of the city is currently resides there. The other two thirds are scattered through out the city..." Ashelin gave out orders for a small group to search for survivors and the rest to push back the enemy as close to the port as possible. There was to be a lot of bloodshed this night, but it wasn't going to be theirs.
Zack's squad of soldiers had found a relativly advatagous spot from where they would be able to see an attack coming in any direction. Unfortunatly, they weren't expecting one from above. The Dusk-ravs had quiet literally swoopd down and surprised two younger Freedom League soldiers. This new verson of the ravs flew to an astounding estemated two hundred feet and dropped the soldiers to their cruel fate.
Now there were a some odd of twenty Dusk-ravs to a mesilly nine soilders. Mar only hoped, Tess knew what she was doing when she created the new gun mods. They were going to need them.
One of the soldiers, who was almost crushed by the claw of a flying Dusk-rav, reported a srtange glow coming from the beast's chest. It was red. Tome noticed the glow was around the same area as the other Dusk-rav variations. That must be it! She thought to herself. That's how you can tell what eco they are! I have to let Zack know. She looked around to find him shotting at one of the horned creatures with his pistols. Why wasn't he using the P.S.?
"Zack!" As soon as she called his name, the soldier in question ran sraight for her. She had to run too, in order not to be eaten alive by the things chasing them down.
"What is it?" He yelled hiding behind a large slab of rock that had fallen from a nearby building.
"These are red eco!" She had to continue running while Zack to advanage of not being noticed. He shot the Dusk-ravs square in the eye.
"How do you know?" Now it was after him.
"Its chest! Look at its chest!"
Zack took a quick glance back and noticed the faint glow of red eco.
"Now what do we do?" Tome was with Zack again. They had ran into a pile of rocks where the creature couldn't reach them at the moment. Not without using its full strength. The Dusk-rav seemed interested in other things to waist its time on two weaklings.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Tome eyed him surprisedly. "Don't we see if these things have any effect?" She help up her own Plasmatic Sredder.
"Torn didn't tell us how to fire them. I've tried, I can't figure out how to work this thing! Since when are guns complicated anyway? You'd get killed before you ever pulled the trigger."
"Hush, Zach. I think I've figured it out." Tome pulled back a small lever and pressed two buttons. Zack waited for some sort of explosion, but it never came. "The safety was on, that's all."
Zack looked at his girlfriend dumbfounded. "I guess that's why you're the brains, huh?"
"Let's go, before someone else dies. We've been lucky so far." Tome took the safety off Zack's gun and then the two headed out to fight once more.
Before they were two feet away from the rubble, a Dusk-rav pounded down in front of them. Pools of pure darkness rediated with hunger as it looked upon its prey. Bear-like claws eatched at the ground antiously waiting for theprey to flee so it could give chase.Spines shooting from the beast's head added to the effect that the arial creature was unworldly. The stars glittered as they shown through the Dusk-rav's almost transparent wings. The red glow was not only eminating from its chest, but from all around it. Even over the thick black covering the creature called a hide, the light was barely radiating. This was indeed a Dusk-rav of red eco.
Zack stood in front of Tome wanting to sheild her from any danger that was sure to come. Though with the enemy nearly doubleing his size, it was nearly impossible. Both readied their gun waiting for the rav to move an inch closer. To feel that it had the upper hand.
Becoming impaceint, the Dusk-rav took a step farther seeing if it could scare it's food into running. However, that was it's first and last mistake. Zack and Tome opened fire with their P.S. Dark blue bullets poured from the guns' mouths and flew straight into the Dusk-ravs body. In style the gun mod was similar to the Vulcan Fury, but in strength and speedthe P.S.was by far the superior.
If this doesn't work, then I'll haunt Torn and Tess until they go insain and then I'll haunt them even more! Zack waited for the creature to swipe away their guns, but it never did. He then became aware of the fact that it was no longer moving. Both him and Tome ceiced fire. The Dusk-rav that had been unable to move through out their assualt, fell to the ground dead.
"Zack..."
"I know, but we don't have time to sit around, we've still got a long way to go." The two of them ran over to help their commrades.
After three hours, almost all of the flying Dusk-ravs had been slaughtered. Those that hadn't been killed took to the skies and flew. This was a terrible loss to them. They had never lost a battle with the elves, yet here they were running like cowards leaving their injured to die at their hands.
The sun would be rising soon. The victorious Freedom League soldiers no longer had to fear an attack until the following night. But by that time, they would be ready. The city would soon be theirs once again.
"Zack, we did it!" Tome hung aroung Zack's neck as they cheered with their troops.
"The funny thing is, we owe it to you." He smiled sheepishly at her.
"Oh? and why is that funny?" She jabbed him with her elbow.
"Because if I recall, you're the same girl who would die if she couldn't touch a certain fuzzy rat every thirty seconds." Zack wrapped his arm around Tome's waist as he led everyone back to the Naughty Ottsel. Strangely enough, it was one of the buildings that had survived so far without taking much damage.
"That was ages ago! When are you ever going to let it drop?" She wrapped her arm around him too.
"Never, and if memory serves right...you still have a thing for cute, small, and fuzzy. Don't you?" He teased looking down at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She looked away from him.
"The kits? You mean you've forgotten about them? That's very hurtful...I wouldn't tell Daxter that."
"Alright, fine! You got me, okay?" She smiled a little smile at him and asked, "Just don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay...well except Jak and Colle might want to know...they were thinking about getting a crocodog for Tala and Kell..."
"Shut it, Zack!" She elbowed him again. The rest of the way to the Naughty Ottsel was filled with carefree laughter for the first time in months.
This time we were able to have the right eco with us, but what if we're not so lucky next time? Zack watched Tome as she retold their battle time and time again. She looked as if she enjoyed it with each retelling. I'll prtect her though, and our future...
Sushi: Wow...that took a long time. I wanted this to be out Monday, which was yesterday to a lot of people, but is still today for some...I've gone through this once, I don't think my head could handle it again...It's like a time paradox when you have to expalin it...
Cho: ...mew...
Sushi: Oh yeah, and once agian my thanks goes out to Darkshipposhadowfox for the use of the gun mods...don't worry folks, we have yet to see the end of them!...Okay, to those who don't review...why?...please do...It would really make me happy if you did. I know there are a lot of you out there that don't review...thanks to the new hit counter. Please review. It would make me really happy...please? Thanks for listening!
Cho: ...mew...