Chapter 5: Strange Enemies

When everyone was in place, Jak put himself at the forefront of his men. He closed his eyes for a moment, quietly gathering what little dark eco he had in his reserves. The metal-head army rounded the bend and stopped within 30 feet of Jak. There was something dangerously strange about this group. They were in perfectly lined up formation, not the scattered and disorganized attack of a usual mob of metal-heads that Jak knew well.

As if they had sensed Jak's suspicions, the army of 'metal-heads' made a surprising transformation. Jak blinked, not believing his eyes as he stared in amazement at what looked like a mirror army to the one that stood behind him, only with greater numbers. Jak's men looked around, bewildered with this enemy that seemed to be their own kind. Some lowered their weapons, unsure what to do.

Shaking the confusion, Jak let his dark transformation take over as Daxter yelled a signal to fire. The two armies clashed and Jak's men began to cut down the opposing front line, or at least that's what he thought.

The once renegade's deepening rage and growing confidence pushed him into the heat of the battle. All of the sudden, he caught a moment and looked around himself. Everyone looked exactly the same! He could no longer tell who was on who's side! He saw the same realization travel as others looked around, trying to tell comrade from enemy.

Abruptly, to his left, Jak heard blood-curdling screams. He slashed at what he thought was an enemy with his black claws, and turned to see men being mowed down by what looked like blasts of Dark Eco. The weapons emitting the blasts were bulky and long; the strange weapons.

Daxter ducked as one such blast came his way, barely missing a direct hit to his furry face.

"Jak!" Daxter yelled over the noise, grabbing onto his shoulder plate, "Dark Eco may not hurt you that much, but it's cutting down everyone else!"

Continuing to kill as many as he could with his draining power, Jak shouted retreat to the men he thought were on his side. His color began to turn to normal as his Dark side wore off, and began to back off, when a fallen Freedom League Guard called out to him. He bent down to grab him, but the world went dark as he was hit by something with incredible force.

Hours later and miles away, Keira awoke with a start. She was in a cold sweat and a little dizzy. She couldn't help but feel that Jak was in peril. And she had no idea how right she was. Her stomach felt uneasy, so she sat in bed looking at the spot next to her, wishing that her beloved would magically appear.

Outside her door, she heard a loud commotion. She got up and opened her door and heard Daxter's voice coming from the main room. Excited that Jak and Daxter were back, she sped to the source of the noise. When she got there she was saddened to see Jak not there, but Daxter standing and speaking rapidly to her father. The ottsel's arms flailed about as he told the story of the battle that he had just witnessed and barely escaped.

"...So Jak goes to the help this one guy, and he must have been the other side faking it, because he took a hold of Jak and flung me off as another one came up and whacked Jak on the head with its fist... I've never seen Jak go down like he did…Those freaky things must be freakin' strong…"

Keira didn't hear the rest. Her knees felt weak and she grabbed a nearby chair to steady herself.

"Where is he?" she asked, almost inaudible.

Amazingly, Daxter stopped his chattering and turned to face her. Anguish plagued his expression as he spoke, "They took him. They stopped the attack after they had him and ran off." He looked down, ashamed that he had abandoned his friend.

Keira began to sob uncontrollably. She went to Jak's room and flung her body on the still-rumpled sheets. Face down, she took a ragged deep breath. She could still smell him. 'How could he just be gone? He has come through so much and was actually on the verge of a new life...and then this happened.' Everything had gone wrong.

In the other room, Samos was calling Torn and Ashelin at the palace. They had already been informed though, by a few escaped FLG's. Samos warned them to be sure they were the real things, after hearing about the mysterious transfigurations that had taken place.

Ashelin arranged to have Samos, Keira, Daxter and Tess all to be brought the palace for safekeeping, and so that if any more news came, they would be all together to decide what do to. Although, the move was not agreed on Keira's end. They practically had to drag her out. She was reluctant to leave Jak's bed and his other belongings behind, but she went nevertheless.

Hours later, a concussed Jak awoke with a tremendous headache; due to the concussion he had received. He squinted through his swollen eyes and took in his dim surroundings. He was in a sort of cage of blue eco intertwined with yellow eco. Through the nets of eco, he could see shadowy figures walking around and talking to each other faintly in what sounded like the ancient Precursorian language Samos had lectured him about as a boy.

Two, noticing that their detainee had woken up, came towards his enclosure. They resembled the 'bonehead' lurker monsters that he had fought back at Misty Island, but didn't act like them. All of the happenings of the battle suddenly flooded Jak's mind; the transforming enemies and their dark weapons were now fresh in his head.

Jak assumed that they were in another of their alterations, not believing that lurkers could have possibly have captured him, besides the fact that he knew he was close friends with a Lurker he had saved in the last month, Brutter.

"What are you? And where am I?" Jak demanded, giving himself a more painful headache.

They stared at him a moment, then they both changed again, one into Torn, and the other into Ashelin. The one who had taken Torn's appearance spoke in a menacing voice, "Neither answer is of your concern."

"But why me?" Jak's voice changed as he tried to sound more authoritative, "What do you need with me?"

"You are a being of dark eco, like us," said the Ashelin impersonator. With that, they turned around and left Jak to his torturous thoughts about what might happen to him.

Jak stared into the darkness after them. I'm sorry Keira…