Sushi-chan1363- Daxter's danicing in this chapter is for you, because you are my oldest fan. (Bows to your greatness and grins). I think I got the paragraph problem solved, but if you nitice anything I screwed up. Please give me ideas if you have any; I gladly welcome those.
Red Mage 04- Thank you for your compliments and please update your story soon, as I am eagerly awaiting your updates. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, you steal nothing, I do nothing.
A Walk in the Park
"It is finished... our ancient enemy is no more. Take hope brave one. The terrible darkness inside you is now balanced by a glorious light," a voice said. The voice was deep, a little harsh, but very soothing.
"Take care kid." This voice came from a very tall man with long yellow hair and blue eyes. He also had a green goatee. He was very strong, and for some reason felt familiar in some way. Then, the man slowly became older. His hair got even longer and turned white. His skin turned gray and his teeth became fangs. Jak retched back in horror, his hero had become the man he had seen on Misty Island.
The man let out a burst of insane laughter. "You think you have the power to defeat me? Fool." The man stretched his hand out and pointed behind Jak. Jak turned around and saw Keira, Samos and Daxter all chained to a wall. "Now witness the glorious beauty of darkness." The old man screamed as a stream of what appeared to be Dark Eco flowed from his hands and coursed through them all. Jak watched in horror as his friends slowly transformed into pale face demons with fangs, claws and horns. Jak ran over to Daxter, who threw him into a wall and then went to bow down to the man. Jak went to Samos, who was also bowing down. Turning around, Jak saw Keira in her demon form, staring at him. Jak grabbed Keira and shook her shoulders as he stared deep into her black eyes, desperately looking for a trace of the girl he liked. The demon smiled at him, and Jak sighed in relief. His sigh quickly turned into a gasp as pain erupted in his chest. As he looked down, he saw the arm of what had been Keira sticking through his chest. Jak fell to the ground, hugging his body as he stared up at his friend. Keira looked down on him, pure pleasure from his pain written all over her face. She licked her claws from his blood and then strolled over to the monster that had mutated her. She caressed his chest and then shared a long passionate kiss with him.
The old man laugh psychotically. "This is your future. This is what your destiny is, what your friends are doomed to become." Jak struggled to get up, but the blood loss made him close his eyes. His last thought before he dies was one of regret; he had failed to protect Keira.
Jak woke up, covered in sweat. He quickly scanned his room for anything out of the ordinary. Jak lay back down and stared at the ceiling, trying to drive his nightmares out of his mind. Lately, his dreams had been of that sort, dark and scary. Jak looked outside and saw it was about seven on the morning, judging by the sun's position. Jak decided to get underway; he didn't want to have to hike strenuously in the forest with the sun's full power beating down on him. Jak got out of bed and stretched, then he went over to the closet to get dressed. Jak pulled out his favorite sleeveless blue tunic and put it on. After finding a pair of red underwear, Jak pulled on a pair of white pants and fitted his shoulder and forearm armor into his left arm and positioned his goggles above his eyes. After that, he picked up his leather backpack with its sling and wrapped it through his chest ring. Jak made sure his hair was the way he liked it and then deemed his outfit complete. Jak walked over to Daxter's new bed to wake him up, only to find that Daxter wasn't there. Jak looked around his room to see if Daxter was planning a prank of some kind, but nothing seemed out of place.
Jak went to his uncle's room and left a note informing his uncle where he was going so he didn't worry. He then wandered into the kitchen with the intent of having a bowl of cereal. An unexpected sight met his eyes; well done Yakow patties, fried Flut-Flut eggs and fruit juice. Jak found a note next to his meal. "Jak, I figured you would be hungry, so I got up early and prepared some food for you. You would not believe how hard it is to cook when the pan's handle is almost as big as your arm. Anyway, enjoy the meal and wake me up when you're done. And by the way, you're welcome- Daxter." Jak read the note and then smiled at his friend. He was surprised by Daxter's thoughtfulness. After eating, Jak decided to simply put Daxter in his backpack and let him continue sleeping.
Before he left the village, Jak decided to visit Keira's house and apologize to her for the other day. Expecting to have to leave her a note to find when she woke up, Jak strolled into the kitchen. Jak looked inside and was surprised to see Keira wide-awake and eating some toast. "Morning Jak. Are you hungry?" Jak shook his and patted his stomach, clearly saying he had eaten already. Keira nodded, but noticed that Jak didn't look at her like he used to; in fact, he wasn't looking at her at all. "Oh, by the way, I've got a surprise for you Jak," she said as she left the room. Jak looked up and watched her as she walked away, only to look past her when she returned with a leather belt and with what appeared to be a yellow box, a green box, a blue box, and a red box attached to it. "These are Eco Containers! They'll store Eco inside until you want to Channel it. Their color-coded, so you won't get confused during a fight by wondering which Box holds which power. You press this button to let it absorb Eco, and then you flip this switch to release it," Keira explained her eyes bright and excited.
Jak smiled, but still didn't look at her. Keira decided that Jak might be a little freaked out about what had almost happened the other day. "Listen Jak. About yesterday, I'm sorry about that." Jak finally looked at her and smiled, but it was a very feeble one. "I don't know what came over me. Can we just forget it and be friends? It wasn't your fault." Jak gave her a real smile and walked slowly toward her. He stopped a foot away and looked down on her. Keira looked up at him, noticing how tall he was. Jak closed the gap between them and pulled Keira into a tight embrace. He buried his face in her hair and let out a sigh of content as he took in her scent; wild berries and flowers. Keira pushed her body into his, reveling in the feel of his larger, more muscular body. After a minute or so, Jak reluctantly let her go and stared deep into the emerald pools of her eyes. Keira once again felt gravity's effect leave her under his warm gaze. Jak turned around and started walking out the door. "Wait Jak!" Jak turned around and saw Keira with the belt and a backpack. "You forgot the belt. And I also packed you some food for your journey." Jak took the said items from her and nodded his thanks.
As Jak walked through the village, he thought of all the responsibilities he had been burdened with. In addition to finding a way to revert Daxter back to his original appearance, he also had to find the Precursor Blue Eco Temple, activate the Blue Eco Switch, collect three more Power Cells, find the Sculptor's Muse, give the Mayor one hundred Precursor Orbs, and figure out a way to turn on the village's power. As Jak came to the forest entrance, he noticed the gate that guarded the forest had been ripped to shreds and burned. Jak put his goggles on to see if he could find anything that would give and explanation for this. The goggles detected minute traces of Dark Eco on the door, and Jak realized with a jolt of horror that the two people from Misty Island must have forced their way inside and were now inside the jungle.
Jak entered the forest and heard a girl scream in the distance. This scream finally woke Daxter up, who immediately leapt into Jak's hair, screaming something about women and Ottsels first.
"Damn Jak, don't get so jumpy. It's gonna be a walk in the park."
Jak ignored him and continued walking for hours until he reached a valley. Pulling out a map that his uncle had given him, Jak saw that there should have been a bridge, but there wasn't one to be found. Jak continued walking along the edge of the chasm until he came to burned rope and wood. Jak guessed that this was where the bridge used to be. He also surmised that the same people that had burned and shattered the entrance gate had done this as well. Jak put his goggles on again and activated the zoom function. He peered down into the gorge and saw the now mangled bridge lying at the bottom of the basin. There also appeared to be a young girl on it, and Jak realized that she must have been the one who he had heard scream earlier.
Jak measured the distance between the ledges and guessed he would have to jump about fifty feet to get to the other side. Jak then continued looking down into the hole and saw what appeared to be a piece of a Precursor Bridge. Jak grinned, now if he could just find some Blue Eco, he could move the pieces together and cross that way. Jak then started branching out his mind, trying to sense any Eco nearby. He had realized during his fight with the Lurkers on Misty Island that he could detect Eco a little, but the less concentrated it was, the closer it had to be. Jak didn't sense any nearby that he could Channel. He then switched his goggles to Eco Detector mode, but still didn't find any Eco, except for a Blue Eco Vent on the other side of the valley. Jak swore mentally, now he would have to go back to the village and store some Eco, and then come back the next day. Grumbling in his mind, Jak turned around and headed back to the village.
"Hey buddy, I thought we were gonna go to the temple."
Jak picked up a stick and wrote in the ground "No Eco."
"What about that box of Blue Eco Keira gave you?" Jak shook his head, if there had been even the smallest trace of Eco in that box, he would have been able to sense it. Just to make Daxter happy, Jak checked the Eco reading. His eyes widened when he saw it was full. Jak stared for a second in disbelief; somehow this box shielded the Eco within from detection. Jak smiled and headed back to the chasm. He flipped the switch and felt the familiar power of Blue Eco wash over with him. Jak used his hands to direct the pieces of Precursor metal into place until the bride was completed. Jak flipped the switch again to halt the flow of Eco and recharged his box at the other side of the bridge. Jak then stepped into the Vent himself, he figured he might as well take advantage of it and started running through the forest. After fifteen minutes, the Eco wore off and Jak slowed down. He looked up at the sky and guess it to be about one o'clock. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he had been moving all day without food for six hours. Jak decided to take a break and ate some of the food Keira had given him. "Hey, what about me Jak, I've been working hard too, ya know."
Jak threw him a look clearly saying, "I've been doing all the work."
"Oh yea? Do you know how hard it is to keep balance on your shoulder?" Jak smiled and tossed Daxter half a Yakow and cheese sandwich, which Daxter accepted gratefully.
Meanwhile, back in the village, Keira was leaning on the same windowsill she had been leaning on ever since Jak had left the village. She sighed and decided to visit Kristen and Lauren. They would no doubt want to know if Jak had kissed her yesterday. As she went into their room, she saw the two of them looking depressed. "Hey guys what's up? Aren't you going to pelt me with questions about yesterday?"
"No. I was watching from my bathroom and I saw Daxter interrupt the two of you. That really sucks," Kristen said as she looked at Keira sadly.
"I know. And the worst part of it is, this morning, Jak looked upset about it, almost like he thought he had done something wrong."
"Aww, that is so cute. He is so innocent and shy," Lauren said.
"Yea. At least we're ok again. When I asked him this morning if we could be friends, he nodded and gave me a hug again." Keira sighed, remembering how good it felt to be held by him.
"So, where's lover-boy now?" Lauren inquired.
"Oh, he went into the Forbidden Jungle to find the Precursor Blue Eco Temple."
"Are you gonna try to kiss him again?" Kristen asked.
"Maybe. But not for a while, I think he's a little freaked out as it is. Anyway, enough about me. What about your boyfriends?"
"Brian and me have stayed the same. Nothing changed," Lauren said as she sighed.
"Mike kissed me yesterday," Kristina squealed. Keira and Lauren looked at her.
"That's nothing new," Lauren commented.
"No, I mean he French-kissed me."
"Oh my Precursor! How was it?" Keira asked, her eyes excited.
"It felt weird, but very good." The girls continued like that all day, and then went shopping for new outfits.
At ten o'clock, Jak's uncle woke up and started to leave. "I really should say goodbye to my nephew," he thought. "Jak! Jak? Where are you, my dear boy?" He called, as he wandered through the house. Just as he was about to give up, he spotted Jak's note.
"Dear Uncle, Daxter and I have gone into the Forbidden Jungle to go to the Precursor Blue Eco Temple. We are going to try to activate the switch inside, and release more Eco into the world. I don't know when we will return, so please don't worry, and don't wait up for us. Good luck with your trip- Jak."
"Oh dear, I'd better tell Samos about this. That is a bit odd. He said Jak would one day go to that Temple, and now he has. Ah well that Sage probably knows more about Jak then anyone." As he made his way to the sage's hut, he noticed a sigh on the door.
"Do Nit Disturb. I am meditating."
"Old boy! Open this door immediately I say. Jak has gone to the Temple." The door immediately flew open.
"Dave! How are you?" The sage inquired.
"Jolly good. Now, you told me to inform you if Jak went to the Precursor Temple."
"That's correct. Has he?"
"Yes. From the looks of this note he left me, he left this morning."
"Thank you for telling me Dave. I wish you the best of fortune on your expedition. If you don't mind, I must meditate upon this new information."
"Right-o. I'll leave you to it, then."
Samos sighed. "Jak, do not allow yourself to fall to darkness. Hopefully, you will not let the Dark Eco Silos be opened. If they are, all will be destroyed, and the Dark Times will return. Good luck Jak."
Jak continued walking through the forest after lunch, still keeping his guard up. Suddenly, he heard something moving his way. And by the way the trees in the distance were moving, it was headed his way fast. Jak was prepared for a fast opponent, so he was quite surprised when trees were uprooted as a Lurker Ram crashed through the clearing. Jak adopted a fighting stance and decided between fighting this thing or trying to lose it. As the Lurker attack would happen any day now, and he needed to restore the village's power, Jak decided to try to outrun the Ram. Jak waited for the Ram to charge, when it did, he quickly jumped onto its back and vaulted into the trees. Jak jumped from branch to branch with unnatural grace, swinging across larger gaps on vines.
As they landed in a bit of a clearing, Daxter started doing The Robot for a good five minutes while Jak pulled out the map and tried to discern where they were. He looked up when Daxter beat his chest like an ape and shouted "All hail Daxter, King of the Jungle! Oh yea, oh yea. Hey Jak, you might wanna..." Jak turned to look at him; it wasn't like Daxter not to finish his sentences. Daxter was white, even with his fur, and was pointing at a spot somewhere beyond Jak. "J- J- J- Jak! Run!" Daxter screeched as he took off. Jak scratched his head in confusion. He turned around and saw the object of Daxter's terror. Another Lurker Bull, this one with a Dark Eco Box strapped to it, was heading straight for him, obviously on a suicide attack. Jak started running as fast as he could, picking Daxter up as he passed him. As he ran, Jak put his goggles on to find an Eco vent; he had to destroy that Ram before it killed him. To his despair, the nearest one was over half a mile away. Jak slowed down slightly so he would be able to get there and looked back. His goggles noticed a Blue Eco aura around the Ram. Jak mentally swore, the Ram had somehow been infused with Blue Eco. Suddenly, Jak felt his elbow bump into something and felt Blue Eco seep into his body. Looking down, he saw that his elbow had flipped the switch on his Blue Eco Box and turned it on. Jak called himself every synonym of idiot he could think of; he had completely forgotten about the Boxes Keira had given him. Jak jumped up onto a branch and used Blue Eco to propel himself one hundred feet forward. As he landed, he turned off his Blue Eco Box and activated his Yellow Eco one. As he waited for the Ram to get into firing range, Jak collected all his power between his hands. He crouched down, and prepared to fire as soon as he saw the Ram.
The Ram burst through the nearby trees about fifteen seconds later, clearly thinking it had won, and it would take down the elf that was coming to be known as "The Lurker Bane." Jak threw his hands forward, and a beam of Yellow Eco at least four feet in diameter was launched at the Ram. The Ram, who was not expecting such an assault and who didn't know just what a huge blast of Yellow Eco could do to it, stupidly continued running. It then felt its skin being burned and ripped off. Jak continued pouring all his energy into this one assault until he was thrown off his feet as a shockwave rocked the ground. When the dust cleared, Jak looked and saw a trench three feet deep leading away from him. Twenty feet away, where he assumed he had hit the Ram, was a ten-foot deep crater. Jak made sure that nothing else was coming his way before he traveled to the Vent to recharge his box. Once he was finished, he continued on his way to the temple doors.
After about a half-hour of walking, Jak heard a commotion coming from a clearing to his left. As he cautiously made his way there, he picked up the scent of Lurkers. Jak dropped to his stomach and crawled forward. He saw a row of Lurker Ogres guarding the clearing. Jak noticed the distance between them and realized if he attacked one, he would alert the others. Jak tried to think of a way to sneak in, but could not find any fallacies in the defense. No normal elf would be able to get in, let alone the one that was becoming quite well known in the Lurker tribe. Jak looked up and noticed the Eco Beam that supplied the village with power was aimed into the clearing, but wasn't heading out. That sealed it in Jak's mind; he simply had to find a way into that clearing. Suddenly, he looked at Daxter, an insane idea forming in his mind.
"What?" Daxter asked, not liking the look in Jak's eyes. Jak motioned to the clearing with his hand. "Oh no. There is no way in Legatee I am going in there."
Jak glared at him and picked him up. He made a motion with his arm that said quite plainly, "If you don't go in there, I'll throw you in."
"Oh all right," Daxter sighed. "What do you want me to do?" Jak pointed at the Eco Beam. "Ok, I'll find out about the Beam and then that's it, I'm coming back." Jak nodded and shook Daxter's paw.
Daxter crawled out of the bushes and strolled casually between the Ogres. To both his and Jak's relief, they didn't even glance at him. Jak waited for Daxter to return with baited breath. After about ten minutes, he saw Daxter running as fast as he could out of the clearing with a bag over his shoulder. He saw a Scout running after Daxter, but as the Scout passed the Ogres, they grabbed him and escorted him back inside to his job. Jak crawled over to where Daxter had run into the bushes and found him eating a piece of fruit. Jak looked inside the bag and found about ten bags of nuts and fruit. Jak guessed that Daxter had raided the kitchen, and the Scout that had been chasing him was the cook. Jak playfully smacked Daxter on his head, who grinned back at him. As Jak loaded up his now full backpack, he pointed to the Beam.
"Oh yea, the Beam. The Lurkers have built some kind of machine that's diverting the Beam. They're moving a lot of Dark Eco into containers. I think they're going to try to blow the Precursor Temple doors open. If you want to destroy them, I saw a boulder at the top of that hill over there." Daxter pointed to a rocky hill in the distance. Jak nodded and headed towards the hill. About halfway up, he spotted a Lurker watchtower. He crouched down, and tried to sneak past. Unfortunately, it spotted him and sounded an alarm. Jak launched a sweeping Yellow Eco Blast the sliced all the support beams and sent the tower toppling. Beyond the rubble, Jak spotted the aforementioned boulder. As he reached it, he used the power of Red Eco to lift it up over his head and threw it towards the clearing. To his delight, it rolled and left a hole in the ground where the machine had been.
Jak hiked down the mountain and headed to the clearing to see if he could salvage anything from the wreckage. To his delight, he found another Power Cell. Including the others, he was up to eighteen. He showed it to Daxter, who proceeded to break dance. Jak smiled at him and followed to Beam of Eco with his eyes. He saw it lead to a mirror that should reflect the beam back towards the village. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Lurkers had rotated the mirror so that the beam no longer gave the village power. Jak charged up on Red Eco and dug his fingers into the solid wood. He walked around the mirror, rotating it until it locked into place. Jak watched happily as it continued ricocheting towards the village. Jak sat down and ate from the supplies that Daxter had refreshed earlier. After three minutes, his communicator started beeping. He turned it on and heard Keira's voice.
"Jak thanks for restoring power to the village. You didn't do it too soon either; Lurkers have been massing at Sentinel Beach. Even with the power, if we're going to survive this, we're going to need you too." Jak frowned; her voiced was laced with worry. He picked up a stick and wrote a question in the dirt. He looked at Daxter, asking him to ask Keira for him.
"So baby, when are we gonna go on that date?" At this, he earned another light backhand from Jak. "Ouch! Oh, and, uh, when do you think the Lurkers will attack?"
"Probably within one or two days. Jak, I know what you're doing is serious, and do be careful, but I need you here before Thursday, ok?" He nodded.
"Jak says, don't worry, he'll be there." Daxter said before he flipped the communicator off. Jak looked around and noticed a cart. Jak jumped on and began pumping the handle to move the cart. Jak pumped faster happily think how much faster he would get to the temple. And the faster he got to the temple, the faster he could get back to Keira. He was suddenly hurled forward and snapped out of the peaceful fantasy of him carrying Keira in his arms after stopping the Lurker attack that he had conjured up. He landed in what wasn't exactly water, but it wasn't exactly earth either. He tried to swim, but started to sink. He realized that he had been launched into a lake of quicksand, and if he didn't do something quickly, he would sink down and drown. He saw Daxter on the side of the pool and breathed a sigh of relief. His small frame had actually saved him, making him be catapulted farther then Jak had been when the cart had suddenly stopped. Jak held his breath, relaxed, and slowly felt himself rise to the surface. He lightly swam to shore, where Daxter pulled him out.
"Jeez Jak, I'm always saving you," he said with a smirk on his face. Jak stood up shakily and noticed the Temple right in front of him. As it was nightfall, he walked up the steps and collapsed in front of the door, not wanting to go inside until tomorrow.
In the morning, Jak woke up, ate a quick breakfast, and read the inscription on the door.
"Complete the proper ritual, brave warrior, and the doors will open for ye."
"Oh, Jak, I know this allow me." Daxter walked up to the door and took a deep breath. He then did a very low bow to the door as a sign of respect. Then, with a wild yell, he did a headstand and began spinning around. As he landed, he stood on one leg and began to play the air guitar. He hopped around on one leg and then slid across the ground. After he slowed down, he did a backflip and started break dancing. At the end of his final spin, he sprang up and began the Robot, finishing his "ritual" with a suggestive hip thrust. Jak rolled his eyes and sent a stream of Blue Eco from his body using his Box into the symbol at the center of the door.
"Enter," a voice said. Jak shivered, it was the same voice that the being of light from his dream spoke in. He squared his shoulders and with his Eco box on his waist and his best friend on his shoulder, bravely walked through the temple doors, which promptly slammed shut after he entered.
Please review. I will begin leaving previews for the next chapter if three people tell me I should. I won't be updating very frequently until June 21st, because of end-of-the-year exams. Keep up the good work yourselves and feel free to give me criticism, ideas, or flames.