Author's note: I'm sorry for not posting sooner. Had a little dry period, not writer's block, just a period where I didn't feel like writing. Oh and for your 'don't-need-to-know' information I got my HSC (major) results back! Yay! Well I got them... its a matter of reading them...
So no more off periods... for now. Thanks for your reviews! Feedback is gooooooood!
Enjoy!
Jak could sense Rygar's holographic head in front of him as he delivered a pre-recorded speech. The hologram cackled in laugher.
"The city is at my mercy and there is nothing you can do to save it... or is there?"
Jak frowned as he gritted his teeth, "What the hell are you up to?"
"Err Jak... he can't hear you, its a recording" Daxter reminded him
"I have one mission for you Jak. It's simple enough for you. All you have to do is retrieve this object"
Jak felt another hologram appear in front of him on the same frequency but different signature as Rygar's recording was. He could physically see it so he didn't know what it was.
"What is it?" Jak asked Daxter
"It's a rare and ancient artefact known as The Sphere" Rygar's recording answered the question
"Oh... how original" Daxter commented plainly
"It's was said that it contains great and pure power of the Precursors. The Sphere is a perfect circle, a technological as well as a historical marvel. A prize among thieves and a worthy addition to any collection"
"I wonder why he wants such an artefact" Jak pondered
"It's part of his evil scheme to take over the world" Daxter said plainly, "All the 'I-want-to-take-over-the-world' maniacs always have a piece of something missing that is the final thing to help them take over the world"
"Go to the Precursor Mountain temple" Rygar ordered, "Once you retrieve the object we can talk business. You have until midnight to do this task or risk losing your precious friend. Remember I'm always watching you Jak, always watching..."
The hologram signature disappeared as Jak heard a distinct sound that signalled the end of transmission.
"Ewww creeeeeepy!" Daxter commented, "I wonder if he can see you when you go to the loo and stuff"
Jak didn't reply. He was already thinking about the conversation and his set mission.
"Is it just me or Rygar didn't give me any riddles?" Jak asked
"I hate riddles" Daxter muttered distastefully, "And I know a riddle when I hear one and he didn't say any"
"But why?" Jak asked, "I dunno Dax but this sounds too easy. It's smells fishy to me"
"Fishy? Oh I thought it was this yucky Metal Head goo that is stuck to my fur that smelled fishy" Daxter sniffed his fur at various locations
"He's up to something" Jak folded his arms
"Oooh I know! He's going to use 'The Sphere' to slowly turn all out minds into mush and control the entire planet! He'll be come the ruler and we all be his slaves meeting his every whim!" Daxter suggested, "Or he may have a robot army, or he's really an alien from outer space, ooh, or he is really an evil ruler that is re-incarnated from a different realm and came here to conquer the world!"
"You watch way too much TV" Jak shook his head before moving off towards the exit.
"Who says I was talking about TV?"
"What ever he's planning we still got to do it..." Jak said quietly, "for Keira"
Jak and Keira's argument seemed so long ago. It was over a stupid thing that seemed to matter at the time, now it seems so insignificant. He let his anger and bitterness drive a wedge between them and he knew he had hurt her really bad. Jak was going to prove to her that he still cared, that he was different now and he'd changed.
They entered the outside and Jak could instantly smell burning of petrol as he could sense an intense heat source nearby below the platform. He could hear voices of panic and anger in utter chaos as he could feel numerous of life forces running around in anger and fear.
Jak took out his jet board but he couldn't feel any power signature from it. He frowned at it and shook it trying to get it to pop open.
"Well there goes our ride..." Daxter muttered
"At least we know the transmission about knocking out Eco is right. I guess we'll have to walk then" Jak shrugged before putting the board away.
He turned ran down the ramp to ground level.
"Whoa, the old scar face wasn't kidding when he said he put the city in chaos" Daxter commented
Jak could see the physical side of things but he could definitely see all the natural side of things. The atmosphere was in terror and panic as he could feel life forces fight each other in anger or even confusion. Even the HQ soldiers were in on it, probably trying to control an uncontrollable situation.
"It's like the Arena back in Spargus... just no lava and no guns" Daxter cringed
Jak moved across the sector passing plenty of life forces that were in riot. Jak couldn't feel the Eco energies that usually radiated within the city, it almost felt dead without them.
"Where are we going?" Daxter asked
"To the HQ"
"But its a long walk form here!" Daxter whinged, "Stupid old man! Why did he have to make nothing work!"
"I don't know how we going to get the Precursor Mountain Temple. That sector is still blocked off and we can't get there through the Warp Gate since the whole system is down"
"Oh man! Not even the comms don't work!" Daxter whined, "Does everything in this city run on Eco?"
After a ten minute run Jak finally made it to HQ building finding a group of life forces gathered in at the front of it. Jak approached the group hoping there was someone he knew from the sea of souls.
"Jak!"
Bingo!
"What the hell happened?" Torn's voice snapped, "I asked the door to be opened and I get the complete opposite! The systems are down, everything else is down and the city is in a total mess! What on earth happened at the Power Station?"
"Rygar booby trapped the HQ computers" Jak said plainly, "Now whole city is infected by a virus. On top of the HQ building he has a satellite that knocks out all the Eco in the city"
"Damn" Torn swore, "I knew this wouldn't be clean and simple! This is worse then I thought. The whole city is in chaos, all our communications as well as defence systems are down. If the Metal Heads ever attack, and I can assure you they will, we'll be defenceless against them"
"I have to get to the Precursor Mountain Temple" Jak told him, "And get an artefact before midnight tonight"
"Well if you haven't noticed we don't have the HQ cruiser, Rygar must have stolen that. All Eco based technology is useless and everything in this city runs on Eco"
"Why don't we just take out the satellite on the roof?" Daxter asked
"Great idea genus!" Torn smirked, "And you look like a willing candidate to go up there and disable it"
"What! Oh no! No way! I'm not going up there!" Daxter shook his head stubbornly, "I can tolerate climbing statues, climbing pipes and even flying but I'm not climbing the building! What if I fall off? What if I die?"
"We'll have a shoe box funeral in your honour" Torn smirked
Daxter growled, "I know where I like to stick the shoe box..."
"I'll climb up there" Jak stepped in before the two guys start squabbling, "I'll never get to the mountain temple if I don't"
Jak felt Daxter jump off his shoulder, "Well have a nice time up there then"
"There's an emergency exit shaft on the side that leads to the roof" Torn informed physically pointing to a space at the side of the building
"Where?" Jak asked his blind eyes blinked uselessly
"I thought you can see" Torn said suspiciously remembering his own rescue and the amount he was told at Spargus
"Its a kind of seeing..." Jak trailed off not wanting to go through and explaining
"'A kind of seeing'?" Torn repeated sceptically
"It's uh... oh never mind, I'll find it myself" Jak walked off
Jak felt a hand on his shoulder that stopped him. Jak stopped and turned to Torn's life force ready for a challenge of some kind. Instead Jak could feel Torn approach beside him before guiding him forward until they stopped. Jak sensed they stopped in the middle of the path way, in front of water, at the side of the building.
Jak was in surprise as Torn released him and stepping back.
"There are many things I'll never understand and this is one of them. I'm just glad your back with us"
Jak nodded knowing the depth behind the shallow words. He knew Torn was trusting him again and also that in a few words, he was glad that Jak wasn't the guy after the accident. The bitter and resentful ass that shut everyone out.
"Across the water there is a ladder" Torn instructed, "It should lead you to the roof. Sooner you take out the dish the sooner we can have the city back online"
"Thanks"
With that Jak turned and dived into the cold water. Jak surfaced before paddling towards the side of the building, feeling the natural iron and other heavy metals. Jak reached out with his hand and felt for the ladder. His hand grasped a horizontal metal bar and then his other hand. He dragged his body out of the water as he climbed the second bar, water and gravity working against him. Jak climbed higher to find his boots on the ladder. Jak started his long climb up, his Light Eco Powers sensing the ever present heavy metal elements within the building and surrounding structures. The atmosphere was intense with panic and fear of the unknown.
Jak finally reached the top. He could sense a metal contraption a few meters away, active with Eco. Jak slowly approached it pulling out his gun. Jak switched his morph gun to Plasmite RPG mode before aiming. Out of habit he raised it up and close to his blind eyes but in his secondary vision he could easily pin point the satellite due to its major Eco energy output.
"Haven't you learn anything?" a voice snapped
Jak was caught off guard in surprise and pointed his weapon to a second energy source, a life force.
"Point that thing somewhere else!" the familiar voice snapped irritably
"Solrin?" Jak asked shaking his head in complete surprise
"You still continue trying to forget what has been told you as if the faults don't exist!" Solrin snapped
Jak lowered his weapon, "What are you doing here?"
"I speak words and you do not listen!" Solrin snapped, "How can you ever hope to face the trials ahead if you refuse to face yourself and understand what is inside of you?"
"You shouldn't be up here its dangerous" Jak said, "How did you get up here anyway?"
"Perhaps you do not care for your life, is that why you are reckless?"
"Look I don't have time for this" Jak snapped raising his weapon to the satellite dish, "I don't know how you got up here but I got a job to do"
"If you destroy that you will destroy the very thing that will balance this world"
Jak frowned and faced Solrin, "What?"
"Like you the world must be balanced as the constant fight between good and evil tip the scales to their favour"
"But... its a satellite dish..." Jak emphasised
"It is not the dish but what is in the dish" Solrin replied, "No satellite can absorb Eco by itself"
Jak turned back to the powerful energies of the satellite dish. Jak approached it feeling its intense Eco energies that it had gathered.
"If you continue to deny this way, you will not survive the trial ahead and this world will face the darkest age yet"
Jak's sensors were flooded with the intense Eco energies that were trapped in the satellite dish that he could no longer detect anything else around him, not even Solrin's life force. Despite this Jak turned to Solrin's general voice direction.
"What are you trying to say?"
"What I have been trying to tell you all along!" Solrin snapped, "What everyone is trying to tell you but you will not listen. You are afraid, afraid to face yourself fearing that it is a battle you cannot win. Light will always brighten a dark room. You cannot ignore it or run away any longer. Change of the heart is different than change of the mind"
Jak went quiet knowing what Solrin had meant. Again the old man had pinpointed things that would never reach his lips. He knew he was running away from all his faults and problems, focusing on Rygar's little game. Everything that people told him went in one ear and out the other because he didn't want to deal with anything. He didn't want to face himself because he knew he would be facing his powers, his soul... his deepest and darkest fears. Everything he had buried would be surfaced and he didn't want to go through the suffering and pain of it.
Why does it matter so much? Why is Sorlin pushing it? Was it so important that Solrin is here on the roof with me?
Jak stood up and moved away from the contraption. With his sensors clear he tried to detect Solrin.
"Solrin? Solrin?" Jak called
Jak probed the area but came up with nothing. Again the weird man had pulled another disappearing act. Strange.
Jak shook his head and decided to get on with the mission at hand. He turned towards the satellite feeling his sensors were becoming overwhelmed again with the immense Eco energies. If I can't destroy it how can I turn it off if I can't see? I wish Daxter was here...
Jak realized that he was once again blind. His secondary vision was flooded with the immense Eco energies that he couldn't pick out anything else from the mass of power. Jak knelt by it, his ears heard the whirring of energy and he could feel the power it produced.
"All the city's Eco must be here..." Jak surmised, "But how?"
Jak reached out to feel around, hoping a touch wouldn't burn or zap him. Warm metal hit his finger tips, he made his way down and it grew warmer as he went. He knew he was getting close to the power source. After his inspection, he realized that the satellite had no control panel of any kind so he couldn't turn it off. Jak went for a small compartment that was the warmest part of the contraption. Jak opened it and instantly felt the immense Eco that was stored inside, he knew this was the power source.
Jak knew the only way to turn it off was to take the power source out but it also held vast amounts of Eco. He didn't know what would happen if he touched it. He knew he was very resilient with Eco but everyone had their limits. He just didn't know his limits.
Jak held his breath as he reached out to grasp it. It felt warmer and warmer as he came closer and closer. Then he suddenly touched it and felt immense power rush up his arm like liquid fire. Jak yelped and pulled his arm back feeling strangely energized. Jak frowned in determination before reaching out again. He touched it, ignoring the pain coursing through his arm and grasped it. As soon as his palm touched the smooth surface the pain running up his arm grew worse.
Jak gritted his teeth as he gripped the object and pulled. The liquid hot pain passed through his arm and across his chest. Jak growled in pain as he pulled with all his might but it was stuck in its place. Jak smacked his other hand on the object and instantly power and pain shot up his arm. Jak ignored it by screwing his eyes shut, baring his teeth and concentrating on pulling the orb out.
Jak used all his strength and might. It seemed like forever with the pain spreading down through his torso and up through his neck. He could feel the great Eco power and he could feel it was energy he could never hold. Finally the object gave way and popped out of its place. Jak fell backwards with the circular object in his hands as the whirring died down and the pain sensations stopped.
Jak sat there for a little bit puffing, glad the pain and the satellite had stopped. Jak felt the object, it was smooth and round like a ball. He knew it was made from Precursor Metal from the texture. Then the thought occurred to Jak, What if this was The Sphere?
Jak frowned as he felt the intense Eco energies, now contained and compressed in a small Precursor artefact. Jak got up inspecting it more curiously wondering if this was the artefact and if it was why did Rygar led him to believe that the artefact resided in the Precursor Mountain Temple?
Jak slipped the orb in his backpack before finding the ladder and making his way down. Once back on solid ground he was met by Torn and Daxter.
"What took you so long?" Daxter complained, "I think the Yakows are already home!"
"Did you disable it?" Torn was always right down to business
"Yeah" Jak replied
Jak heard some shuffling before what sounded like an empty gun click. Then a few more clicks.
"My gun doesn't work" Torn informed, "That means Eco hasn't been restored"
"I took the power source out so the satellite doesn't work" Jak defended his position
"Something isn't right. Show me the power source"
Jak reached behind him and pulled out the circular orb.
"Ooooh that's a big shiner" Daxter commented, "If it wasn't Precursor junk"
"Its Precursor. Its probably absorbed all the city's Eco. Can you open it?"
"No"
"This is worse than I thought. The longer the city is without Eco the more danger we're in"
"Dax" Jak called, "Does this look like the hologram of The Sphere that Rygar showed us?"
"Hmmm it has a few tiny dents in it..." Daxter trailed
"Daxter..."
"Yeah, now you mention it, it does!"
"No matter how much I don't like the idea but I think the only person who can open The Sphere is Rygar"
"If you have forgotten all transport is disabled, since all run on Eco" Torn pointed out
"Hmmm... Eco maybe but do you have anything running on electricity or at least petrol?" Jak asked
"Those were rendered obsolete years ago. There are none surviving in the city today" Torn replied
"Can't we bring any from Spargus?" Jak asked
"Any transport that comes within a ten mile radius of the city is knocked out of the sky"
"But the satellite doesn't work anymore" Daxter pointed out
"If that happened an hour ago then Spargus would have the only transport connecting Haven City to the desert available" Torn said sarcastically, "Its been already affected by the satellite and its wreckage is somewhere on the outskirts of the city"
"What time is it?" Jak asked
"Two o'clock" Daxter replied
"Ten hours to find a way to the Precursor Mountain Temple"
Jak heard footsteps approach them. He pinpointed their lifeforce to a powerful and ancient one.
"What's going on here?" Samos' voice asked
"Keep up with the times shrivelled stick" Daxter quipped
"The city's lost its Eco supply and I need a non-Eco transport to get me to the Precursor Mountain Temple" Jak filled in
"Non-Eco" Samos echoed
"I have to get back" Torn excused himself, "Looks like the city is about to go on a riot"
Jak heard his footsteps leave them as his life force disappeared out of range.
"I remember Keira was working on a new vehicle project that used something about sub-atomic particles rather than Eco" Samos replied, "Since the accident she hasn't built anything that relies on Eco"
Jak felt a little guilty when Samos had said that, knowing her ambition to use the best Eco fuels was left in ruins, she was suddenly afraid to repeat the same mistake.
"Does she have a working prototype?" Jak asked
"Well yes but-"
"Great we'll take it!" Daxter interrupted
"Do be careful, it may not perform at its peak" Samos warned
"We got nothing else" Jak argued, "And I'm not wasting a second longer with Rygar having Keira and the city like this"
"The vehicle is located in her auto parts shop in the new section. Be careful Jak. I have an uneasy feeling about all of this"
"So do I" Jak replied, "So do I"
To Be Continued...
It looks clear and cut to go and save Keira but it seems a little too easy. I mean Rygar told Jak where the satellite was and Jak ended up obtaining The Sphere... There has to be more reason why Rygar knocked out all the Eco in the city and why he wants to meet Jak at the old Precursor Mountain Temple. I mean Rygar could have easily met Jak at a down town cafe, couldn't he?
Think about it. Until then stay tuned for the next chapter. Don't click that cursor!
Review? A pretty review for the pretty author? Send in your questions, comments, flames, queries, criticisms, threats and encouragement now and receive your very own Metal Head. That's right! They devour and destroy everything! A necessity to any household! (All Metal Heads that are given do not exist and we are not liable for any complaints made in giving out the creatures)