Chapter XXIIX: The Blind Leadth

LES: Okey-Dokey. Skipping the 'Blow up the Eco Wells' and the 'Destroy Ship at Drill Platform' missions. There's nothing really of overwhelming importance except the Kor thing. But I can live without that, cause I hate the destroy the Ship mission. (I'm currently stuck on it in Hero mode. I wish invincibility worked in the gun turrets.)

The ride to their next destination was filled with awkward silence. (And in Jak's case, an angry silence.) Daxter had gone and ruined his reunion! Sure, he didn't pretend that it had gone completely peachy, but some things that Keira said gave him hope that she was willing for forgive and forget and let things go back to the way they were before this whole mess. 'A VERY GOOD friend', Keira had used those exact words to describe her relationship with Jak. And now Daxter seen to it that Keira thought that Jak and Ashelin were a couple. Even IF Jak somehow managed to find time for a girlfriend, how could Keira think that he would forget about her? She was one of his best friends, more of a sister, and he would never let any other woman come between him and Keira.

No matter. Jak's destination was the Hip Hog. If he was lucky, he might have time for a drink or something before Krew sent him into the Sewers or someplace. Now, Jak had never drank a drop of alcohol in his life… but he suddenly felt like he needed to get that oblivious feeling that Daxter said you got when you got really drunk.

It was still too early for the bar to be full. When Jak walked in, followed by Daxter who hadn't gathered the courage to jump onto his usual place on Jak's shoulder, he saw only Tess, Sig, and one or two regulars.

Jak walked over to the bar and, ever cautious about his 'mirror' issues, Jak seated himself at the very edge of the bar, just beyond where the mirror ended. Maybe the two drunk elves could see his reflection if they cared to look. But no one was going to believe that two drunk men saw a demon in a bar. Most would just assume they were not seeing straight.

"Tess?" Jak caught the female bartender's attention.

"Oh, hey, Jak. Hi, Daxter." She said as the orange rat climbed up onto the counter. "How are things?"

Jak ignored her question. "What do you got that's good?" Jak asked.

It was then that Tess noticed the angry/slightly upset look on Jak's face. "Oh, I think I know just the thing." Tess walked away rather hurriedly.

"Hey, cherries!" Sig called over. "Bad day?" He asked, walking over to join the dark elf at the bar.

Jak growled angrily in the Ottsel's direction. "You could say that."

Sig didn't know what had happened to make the elf mad at his friend, and he had a feeling that he didn't need to know. Tess brought Jak a drink that was about the same color as mud. Jak grabbed the mug and drained about half the substance before stopping for a coughing fit. Sig laughed. "First time drinker, huh?"

While Jak was coughing, Daxter stood up on the bar, being very careful to keep his distance from Jak. "Let me tell you guys about my latest encounter with some Metal-Heads!" Jak stopped coughing and rolled his eyes. Here comes Daxter's Tall Tale of the Day. "So there I was! Toe-to-tow with five of the nastiest Metal-Heads you've ever seen!" Tess covered her mouth like she was horrified. If there was one thing that Jak didn't believe more than Daxter's tall tales, it was that Tess believed them. "Slime oozing from monstrous jaws! Teeth sharper than daggers! Slowly, all ten of them surround me!" Sig and Jak looked at each other in an exasperated sort of way. Ten seconds ago, there had only been five Metal-Heads. "But do I surrender? No! I summon my highly trained killer instincts, and I pounced!" Daxter pulled off a series of martial arts poses while making the martial arts battle sounds. "And when the dust cleared there were twenty less Metal-Heads in the world!"

Even the new post-slammer Jak would at least crack a smile and laugh at Daxter's tall tale. But the current Jak was just too angry with the little fur-ball to find anything he said even remotely funny. The only thing he did was take another drink and scowl.

"Oh, Daxter, you're amazing." Tess sighed with pure admiration.

"Yeah, I know." Daxter said. "Scratch me there." Daxter pointed at his back. Tess giggled and began to scratch him.

"Quite a story you've got there, golden boy." Sig said. "I guess you're just the animal I need for another dangerous gig." Daxter visibly stiffened. Jak knew instantly that Daxter never expected to get a dangerous mission. It didn't matter, however, Jak knew, whatever it was, the he'd be the one who ended up doing the dirty work. "Combat Metal-Heads have now been spotted right here in Haven Forest. These new bad boys use special cloaking devices which make them damn-near impossible to spot and track. But I'm sure with your 'killer instincts' you'll manage. Go out to the forest and take 'em all out!"

It seemed for a second that Daxter was petrified with fear. Finally, he came too. "Haven Forest? Invisible Metal-Heads?" Daxter squeaked, like a mouse that had been trodden on. "Uh… no problem… piece of cake, really! I'm… just going to take Jak along… as back-up, of coarse."

Tess seemed to be the only person in the room that believed that Jak was only going as back up. Everyone else, especially Jak, knew that he was going to do all the dangerous stuff.

"Good man." Sig said as Jak polished off the dark drown drink and got up to head to Haven Forest. A real let-down… Jak wasn't even properly drunk yet, not even impaired. Daxter got up to follow him.

By the time the duo reached the forest, Daxter had worked up enough courage to sit on Jak's shoulder again and Jak had cooled off enough to let him. To be honest, Jak didn't even know why he was so freaking mad. He usually at least had a reason for his anger, but this time, he couldn't explain it. And even the new Jak couldn't stay mad at people from no reason. He knew that he was upset about what happened to Keira, but friendships could be patched up quite easily. Jak knew that Keira couldn't just forget what they shared as children growing up. They were much more than friends! Surely, she couldn't forget that.

However, Jak pushed Keira out of his head. He could ponder her later. "Invisible Metal-Heads…" Jak said to himself. "How does one hunt invisible quarry?"

"You're asking me?" Daxter demanded. "You're the great sharpshooter and hero!"

"I was a hero a long time ago, Daxter." Jak said. "And besides, need I remind you that this is YOUR mission, Mr. 'Killer Instincts'."

"Don't mention that." Daxter said.

Jak pulled out the blaster and walked down to the lower level of the forest, eyes forever searching for the enemy. Except this time, the enemy was invisible.

Suddenly, and with absolutely no warning at all, a horrible pain blossomed in Jak's stomach. Jak, through the pain, realized that someone, or something, had just kicked him in the stomach… but there was nothing there! During this time, Jak had doubled up from the blow.

Almost immediately, some force smashed into his face, nearly breaking his nose. He then felt something grab the front of his shirt and throw him twenty through the air and into a tree. He hit the ground hard, pain rushing in waves from his general bodily area. Possible internal damage. Dark Eco rushed to fix the injuries, but Jak couldn't help a cry that escaped his lips as the Dark Eco painfully healed his injures.

"What's going on?" Jak looked up and he realized that Daxter had been thrown in the attack. But Jak didn't have any time to worry about Daxter. He knew what was happening. He was being attacked by the invisible Metal-Heads. It was amazing! The creature had snuck up on him, completely silent!

Jak looked up in hopes of seeing some sign of the Metal-Head, but he was sorely disappointed. He might as well had been trying to see the air. Suddenly, to his right, a twig snapped, seemingly on its own. That was all that Jak needed.

In an instant, Jak swept his foot across the ground, knocking the invisible force off its feet. Jak saw where the Metal-Head landed because the grass flattened under its weight. Jak was up in an instant and he kicked the monstrosity where its face should've been. He felt his foot connect with something and the Metal-Head gave a roar of pain.

"Jak!" Jak looked around in time to see Daxter heave a weapon at him, in Scatter Gun mode. Jak deftly caught the weapon and pointed the gun down at the Metal-Head's invisible mug.

"Eat this." Jak hissed cruelly before pulling the trigger. Suddenly, the creature's head effectively exploded as the bullets tore through its head, spraying Jak with green Metal-Head blood and slightly purplish brain-fluid. The rest of the body appeared. It seemed their consciousness controlled the cloaking device. So without a head, the cloaking device couldn't function.

The Cloaker was dead, but Jak heard another twig snap nearby, and it wasn't Daxter. Jak ran over and grabbed the Ottsel and, holding onto Daxter with one arm, he launched himself into the nearest tree, swinging up into the branches like an over-sized chiprel. (Chipmunk + Squirrel) Once he was on the highest branch that would still support his weight, Jak stopped and set Daxter down on the branch next to him.

"Whoa…" Daxter said, staring down at the ground… far below. "Why are we up a tree?"

"I need to think." Jak said simply.

"Are you stumped by these invisible enemies?" Daxter asked mockingly. In truth, though, he was stumped too.

"I can't believe it." Jak said to himself. "Completely invisible, damn-near impossible to hear… even with my enhanced senses. I can't even notice their approach until they do something stupid like step on a twig or something…"

"It is a pickle." Daxter said. "But maybe you shouldn't go with a 'If-I-can't-see-it-or-hear-it-than-it-isn't-so' attitude."

Jak blinked, then perked. "Of coarse! That's it! I'm depending far too much on my eyesight, which is useless to me on this mission. If you lose one sense, the other four are enhanced to make up for the loss!"

"Wait… are you going to blind yourself?" Daxter demanded. "Are you crazy? First you're a mute… What have you got against senses?"

"Nothing!" Jak said. "And, no, I won't blind myself. I happen to like my eyesight. I will simply close my eyes and hurt by my other senses alone."

"Now I know you're crazy." Daxter said. "I'm staying up here, you go play blind Hide-And-Seek with the invisible Metal-Heads below!"

"Fine. I'll come back and get you when I'm done." Jak said, dropping down from the tree.

"Yeah, you do that." Daxter said, settling into the branch in a semi-comfortable position. Thankfully for him, his strange DNA made him comfortable in the trees. Now, if only the otter part of his DNA made him more comfortable in the water rather than give him an insatiable appetite for fish. "Man, I'd really like some fish right now." Daxter moaned to himself.

Jak fell down thirty feet from the tree to the ground below and landed easily. He pulled out the blaster and turned off the laser-sight with a flick of a switch… he wouldn't need it.

He closed his eyes and, for several seconds, he was lost in darkness. Then, suddenly, the world came alive. The world was still dark, but he could sense things that he never could before. The birds grew louder in volume, he could hear the buzz of the insects, and he could even hear the wind blowing through the tree tops and estimate it's direction, and that was sound alone!

Jak could now sort of see what Onin meant when she said that she could see more than you ever could with eyes. There was much that the eyes couldn't see.

Jak stood still as a statue, he didn't even breathe until his lungs were screaming for air in fear that the sound of his own breathing would mask the telltale signs the Metal-Heads would make.

Suddenly, a sound! It wasn't much of a sound and Jak almost missed it. It was the sound of grass being flattened under a foot. That was the only sign he needed. Eyes still closed tight, He lifted the blaster and shot in the direction of the noise, hoping this plan would work.

The answer came in the form of a pain-filled roar that heralded that he had indeed hit a Metal-Head. Jak fired three more shots at the monster until it's roars died down. The whole thing took about five seconds and Jak never once opened his eyes.

"Go, Jakkie, go!" Daxter cheered from up in the tree. Suddenly, the bark right next to his head exploded, scaring the poor Ottsel out of his wits.

Jak lowered the smoking blaster, which he had just fired as close to Daxter as he dared. "Shut up… I can't hear." The dark elf hissed.

"Sorry." Daxter whispered as Jak resumed his blind hunt.

In Haven Palace, another man was on the hunt. Erol had found himself thinking back on the first round of the Class Three races. Something was bugging him about the new racer, that Seth. Something seemed familiar about him, but Erol couldn't place him for his life. But no matter how many times he told himself that this 'Seth' was a regular racer, he felt that he was lying to himself. Maybe it was because the racer had never removed his helmet. It was hard to breathe with a full-head helmet on the most racers that used one tended to remove it as soon as the race was over to avoid passing out. But this man put himself through obvious discomfort just to keep it on.

All and all, something didn't seem right. He didn't even FEEL right, like there was this darkness that infected the air around him.

Erol paused. Darkness? Could it be? There was only one way to make sure…

Erol ran to the record room. Which he barely set foot in, and began to tear through the newest racing records. Then he found it, a contract, signed by…

"The idiot!" Erol hissed, staring at the name. "I didn't expect him to be that stupid!" Erol stuffed the contract into his pocket. (An illegal action, by the way. But since when has Erol cared about what is legal and what's not?) "Well, at least I know what is really up with this 'Seth'. Keira must know… it seems I have to step up my plans. Maybe I'll even be able to take out that fool the same way I took care of Tigran." Erol laughed to himself. "Poor Keira, two boyfriends lost to the sport in the same exact manner…"

It had been a half an hour since Jak started his blind hurt, during which, he had been attacked almost constantly. Now that the coast was clear, Jak stood underneath the tree where Daxter hid and was trying to coax his friend out of the tree, but to no avail.

"Come on, Dax, the coast is clear. I promise." Jak yelled up into the tree.

"How do you know?" Daxter called back down. "How can you tell when you can't even see the enemy?"

"There's no living thing in this forest that's going to hurt you, Dax!" Jak yelled. "Come on, Dax, this isn't funny anymore!"

"No way! I'm gonna get mauled!"

Jak sighed, and then walked over to a near-by stream. With a quick grabbing motion, Jak snatched a fish right out of the water. He walked back over to the tree, holding up the slimy fish. "Come down, Dax, I've got some nice sushi for you!"

"What type of idiot do you take me for, Jak?" Daxter demanded. "Deep-fry that fish, and maybe I'll come down."

Jak growled and dropped the gasping fish, not really caring that it was dying from lack of oxygen. "Dax, don't make me come up there, or else there'll be hell to pay!"

Daxter went silent for a second, as if trying to decide whether Jak would hurt him or not. "You're lying. You couldn't hurt me… your best buddy…"

"Okay, let's pretend for a second, that I, for some reason, can't hurt you." Jak said. "But Dark would be more than happy to do it for me."

"D—Dark?" Daxter's voice trembled.

"Yeah, you really annoy him. He's been waiting to get you for some time. I'm about ready to let him have his way with you."

"Well, you tell Dark that I don't swing that way!" Daxter giggled.

Both Jak, and Dark deep within Jak's mind, blinked in surprise and horror. Dark used Jak's surprise to force is mind to the forefront. He didn't transform, but Dark was now controlling Jak's actions.

"I'm going to kill you!" Dark roared out of Jak's mouth.

"Jak? Jak?" Daxter called down.

Suddenly, he saw Jak scaling the tree with unnatural speed and agility… even for Jak. Suddenly, Jak was on the branch with Daxter and the demon-controlled Jak glared at Daxter, Dark Eco sparking from his eyes. "You little rat!" Dark hissed. "If I could transform fully, I'd joyfully rip your guts out! Don't you ever make some smart comment about me again, or I will kill you!"

"Jak?" Daxter asked nervously, for he didn't understand what was going on. He thought that it was all Jak who was threatening to transform and kill him.

Then the dark light in Jak's eyes died as Jak's mind retained control of his body. "Whoa!" Jak cried out when he found himself in a tree. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Daxter repeated angrily. "You tell me what happened! You threatened to kill me, you bastard! Now you're acting like nothing's happened?"

"What? I didn't threaten…"

"Don't play 'dumb blonde' with me!" Daxter yelled. "It was you!"

Jak's eyes widened in realization. "Oh…"

"What?" Daxter demanded angrily.

"Dark must've taken control of my body. I wondered what that little black-out was…" Jak said. "You did sort of offend him with your comment."

"So, now you're defending that monster?" Daxter demanded.

"Well, duh, we share bodies. That 'monster' is almost me. It is my Dark Side. It's a part of me. I'm rather upset myself!"

"Why? I was talking to Dark…"

"We are two sides of a personality, my alter-ego. If you accuse Dark of being gay, you're accusing me of being gay, and I'm not gay!" Jak said.

"So… wait… you two have the same sexual preferences?"

"Yeah."

"So… what are you?" Daxter asked.

Jak rolled his eyes. "Dax, what did I just tell you?"

"You're not gay?"

"Right, which means I'm…" Jak paused to give Daxter the chance to answer.

A long pause. "Bisexual?"

"Dax, you idiot!" Jak hissed. "Do I look even slightly gay to you?"

"Well… that goatee thing is sort of gay. And so is that long hair you've got…" Daxter said.

"Precursors! I can't even BELIEVE that I'm discussing my sexual preferences with you! Let's just get out of here."

Jak forfeited trying to coax Daxter out of the tree and went straight for the more direct route of grabbing Daxter and dropping out of the tree. "So, you're not going to kill me?" Daxter asked when they were on the ground again.

"No, I'm not." Jak said. "I've killed my friends before, and I find it slightly harder to do than just killing people I don't know. There are only three things in this world I want to kill: The Baron, Erol, and damn Metal-Heads."

"Metal-Heads? When did Metal-Heads get added to the list?"

"Since this mission. Those damn monsters annoy me to no ends. Besides, they are the ones that destroyed Sandover, remember?" Jak asked. "I can never forgive them for that…"

"You're right." Daxter said. "Hey, Jak, do you thing my parents survived the Metal-Head attack?"

Jak didn't answer for several minutes as he walked back out of the Forest. "I honestly don't know, Dax."

"Well, Dad wouldn't have gone down without a fight." Daxter said proudly. Jak remembered Daxter's father well. Daxter's father was one of the other few Channelers in the world besides himself. He wasn't as proficient of course, but he was talented with the combat-type Ecos. Daxter's father would've been the few that fought back. Jak often wondered why Daxter was a coward when his father had been such a warrior. It was probably his mother, a non-Channeler, she was a small woman who wasn't the bravest person in the world.

"I'm sure your father fought those monsters." Jak said. But if he survived… we'll never know.

"Well, best not worry about that, ya know." Daxter said. "Don't worry, be happy."

"You know what? I envy you, Dax." Jak said suddenly.

Daxter blinked in surprise. "What? Are you serious?"

"Completely. You've managed to keep your happy-go-lucky attitude even in this Hell-hole." Jak said. "I used to be like that… but I just can't see the silver lining any more, all I see is darkness." Jak paused. "I envy you for that."

Daxter elbowed Jak's head lightly. "Ah, stop it, you're embarrassing me, ya big lug!"

LES: Aww! A cutesy moment! And I hope I don't have to repeat that this is not a Yaoi fic, but a straight fic. Why? Because JxK 4ever!11!111!