Waves to you all, suffering from third degree burns. "Hey everyone. These are from my friend, who gave me the harshest e-mail ever. It was a flame of immense proportions. Anyway, hopefully, not all of you are happy with my condition, and to those who are… well I hope this chapter makes up for the horrendous one that I made before."
Red Mage 04- I think I give myself some credit, but I know that there are a lot of people out there better then me. Cough you cough. I'm glad you did see through my attempt to show that Jak is still mortal, meaning he can get hurt. A lot. Hopefully the third party idea will go down well with the other guys who read this, which I know isn't a lot to begin. Like you read, their mostly in it for themselves or the world, depends on the point of view. I guess they are well compensated in the end. I made Gol the stereotypical villain, meaning that although he is powerful, he loses that because he is proud, arrogant, stupid, selfish, unrealistic, etc. You are right, you should never promise someone something that one day they realize they will never get (particularly as you said, a girl) but also drive them to royally kick your ass once their brain has processed the fact that you did and continued to lie to you for an extended amount of time. And sadly, Gol is making that very mistake. Well, here is what you were looking forward to, though sometimes I still wonder why. By antics I assume you mean Daxter, and I think he will have a lot to say now. He's been quiet lately and that's not like him at all. Trials? Oh, I think I can manage… (sits down and grins manically while rubbing hands together, smiling evilly, and pushing the "make life harder for Jak and Daxter and everyone else that they know" button).
Animedragongirl- Thanks for the heads up on the War of the Ancients. I wasn't gonna check until the 14th, so thanks again. Sorry again for Chapter Eighteen sucking so badly; hopefully this one will make it to you. (crosses fingers). It's like I said before, I couldn't think of many trials for the Green Eco Temple. I promise, the Red Eco Temple will be much better, as will everything else. I hope. In reality, you were my saving grace; I didn't think of making the Temple like a greenhouse.
Lauren- I'll make sure that Jak narrowly avoids death next time. Actually, I got the idea from Legend of Zelda, and the Wall Master. The "stupid creatures" oozed every kind of Eco. But only Yellow for the first ones. Yes, the bird had a mask and it was rich with Eco, which Jak began Channeling as soon as he touched it. Blue Eco is the energy of motion, meaning it can speed things up, slow things down, or make inanimate objects move, and Jak will learn a couple of new tricks before this fanfic is done. Uh, Wednesday is something, but I don't see why you liked this one so much.
Disclaimer: I am pretty sure that you all know this by now, but for those lawyers with nothing better to do than to scan through fan fiction and calling attention to the companies that someone did not put a disclaimer in it and costing said author everything he owns: I don't own this. On a different, and yet more random, note, THREE DAYS 'TILL JAK X: COMBAT RACING!
A Grievous (or is it Generous) Proposal
"You pervert!" the girl shrieked as she threw Daxter out of the female dressing room. Jak, Keira, and Benedict rolled their eyes as Daxter went flying into a coat rack. Jak went over and pulled Daxter off the hangers, wondering if Daxter's skull was un-crushable; he had hit the metal quite hard. After waking up at noon, Keira Daxter and him had eaten and decided to explore the town before they ventured into the Spider Caves, something Jak wished he could agree. While Keira had been trying on a new pair of shorts that changed colors in the sun (Jak was sure to keep an eye on Daxter during this point) they had met up with Benedict, who had told Jak that he was sorry for the way he had behaved the other day. Jak shrugged it off and
"Sheesh, what's her problem?" Daxter moaned as he came to and rubbed his forehead. Jak and Benedict looked at each other with raised eyebrows and understood by the other's gaze that the would allow Keira to answer that question.
"Well Daxter, girls usually don't take too kindly to a guy sneaking into a room where they're getting changed and then having that guy point out how nice they look. And they especially don't like it when, as they yell at the guy for spying on them, the guy stares at their chest." Keira said conversationally as she paid for her new shorts. The cashier just gave them all a look saying that he was wondering why they were talking to a rat, and more importantly, why the rat was talking back to them. As they walked outside, the cashier shook his head and simply muttered to himself to get more sleep.
"Is that all I did?" Daxter asked. Once again, Jak and Benedict exchanged incredulous looks. "I don't get it, I have no problem with women looking at me while I undress. That's an invitation baby." He added with a wink. Keira didn't bother responding beyond rolling her eyes, but Benedict glared at Daxter, his glower unnoticed by any.
Jak looked over at Benedict who smiled at him. Jak knew that smile all too well: not only did Benedict do something he didn't want him to see or he was about to ask a favor. In this case, he was right in both aspects.
"Say Jak, I was wondering something. Keira said that you might be willing to teach me a thing or two about Channeling. I mean, if you had some trouble on your quest, and since it's only supposed to get harder from here on, I won't last very long. I know you got some real good tricks up your sleeve, like that blade you make out of Yellow Eco. You think that offer to train me is still open?" Benedict asked, crossing his fingers as he finished. Jak grinned and nodded before holding up one finger. Taking that to mean wait a minute, Benedict leaned up against a building while Jak went back to Santar's hut. A few seconds later, Jak came back, holding a long thin object.
Jak walked up Benedict and put his arm around his shoulder. He handed Benedict the wooden bat that he had been carrying and pointed to the arena where they had sparred two days ago. Benedict followed Jak, slinging the baseball bat over his shoulder. When they arrived at the arena, Jak summoned a blade of Yellow Eco. Benedict eyed it, both apprehensively and covetously: he had seen Jak do tremendous amounts of damage with that and he wanted that power. Jak sat down and took out a piece of paper and a pencil. He wrote some directions down and handed the paper to Benedict.
"I learned this by watching another person do this, but there were unusual conditions around us, so that may have had something to do with it. Summon a ball of Yellow Eco and try to flatten it out into a length about the size of the bat." Benedict read these directions quickly and summoned the Yellow Eco with no problem, but he could not concentrate hard enough to make it take the form of a sword. Jak watched the small sphere closely, but it did not waver at all. Jak tapped Benedict on the shoulder (he had closed his eyes to try to clear his mind) and pointed the next set of directions.
"If you can't form the Eco Blade this way, we'll practice another way. Try to spread the Yellow Eco around the bat, and we'll use that instead." Benedict set the bat down on the floor and cracked his knuckles. He made his hands glow yellow and he spread the Eco over the bat.
Which promptly burst into flames. Jak and Benedict both hurried away from the small inferno that had a second ago been a wooden bat. Benedict looked over at Jak, who looked surprised. He flew back to the house and came back with another bat. He handed a second piece of paper to Benedict.
"Use the bat for now and we'll work on forming on the sword later. Until you can, me and Keira will let you use an Eco Saber. Those are probably more useful, 'cause the last time I fought with an Eco Blade, the enemy sucked up the energy. While you use the bat, I'll use my sword, but I'll use only enough power to, if I hit you, make it leave a red mark."
"All right. Just don't turn me into an elfin shish kabob." Benedict joked good-naturedly. Jak mockingly pretended to think it over, stroking the nonexistent hairs on his chin, but smiled and shrugged. He formed an Eco Blade and began to teach Benedict stances, parries, attacks and blocks. After three hours, they decided to take a break. Jak flew up to the Sage's hut, and Benedict stared at him. For all the help Jak had given him on sword fighting, he still hadn't taught him how to fly. He begrudgingly walked back to the hut to find it empty. Jak flew in through the window, two sandwiches and a bottle of soda clutched in his hands. He looked mildly surprised to find Benedict in the house. The two of them sat down at the table and bean discussing (Jak writing his responses) the Spider Caves. Benedict had never been inside, so he didn't know anything about it, and Jak's Uncle's map, while useful, did not trace any path through the Spider Caves. Jak found this fact particularly irksome, as his uncle had traced detailed avenues of almost every other place.
After eating, the two of them went back to the Arena and engaged in a real "sword" fight. Jak disarmed Benedict a few times, but on the whole, he had to admit his fellow Channeler was fast becoming a good swordsman. They parted ways when the sky began to darken.
"Same place tomorrow?" Benedict called as Jak called. Jak nodded and held up ten fingers. "At ten?" Jak nodded. Benedict gave Jak a thumbs up and went home. After putting away a dozen Yakow ribs, he went in to see his parents, who he had not told that he would be leaving soon.
"Um guys." he asked hesitantly. The two of them looked up for their books.
"Yes dear?" his mom asked.
"You know those guys that arrived the other day?"
"You mean the kid, the rat, the Green Sage and that cute girl you've been eyeing?" his dad asked as he smiled. Benedict turned slightly pink, but otherwise gave no indication he had heard his father's last three words.
"Yea. They're going to see the Dark Eco Sage to turn the rat back into a normal elf," he said, deciding that the truth would probably forbid his parents from letting him go. "And I was wondering whether or not I could go with them. I mean, I've been done with school for two years, and I just quit my old job as a quarryman. I have nothing else to do, so I thought it might be a good idea."
"This is your decision son, not ours." his dad said, standing up. A man standing tall at six and half feet, and nearly two and a half feet across the chest, one would be surprised at how gentle he could be. He laid his hand softly against his son's shoulder and looked into his offspring's eyes. "I can't make this choice for you, but your mother and I could tell you what would happen."
"What would happen if what."
"If you decided to go with them. You would be in terrible danger from the Lurkers, not to mention the natural elements of the desert." his mother said.
"On the other hand, you would see and learn things that you could never experience if you stay here." his dad added.
"Well, to be honest, I had already said I was gonna go, but I figured I should ask you."
"Why do you want to leave this place," his mom asked.
"Its not so much that I want to leave here, but I want to go elsewhere. I want to meet new people, see new places, maybe earn a name for myself." Benedict said.
"Well alright then. Like your father said, its not our decision to make, but if you want to go so badly, I want you to go then. Maybe you could visit Uncle Plagius on Pampas Islet. We haven't talked to him in ages."
"Okay. Thanks you guys," Benedict said as he left. He went to bed that night feeling much happier than he had in a long time.
"Jak?" Keira asked as she combed her hair. He looked up from the map he had been studying, trying to gauge how long it would take to traverse the Spider Caves. "What do you think of Benedict?" He thought a second before shrugging. Keira rolled her eyes at him. "I'm serious Jak. Don't you get an odd feeling when your around him, like taking him with us isn't such a good idea?" Jak nodded slowly; he had gotten that very same feeling.
"Oh so what. So he gives me the heebie-geebies too. You don't see me whining about it." Daxter said.
"What about you Jak? Do you think he should come along with us?" Keira asked.
Jak thought about the pros and cons of leaving him. To be honest, he didn't like the way Benedict stared at Keira when he thought no one was looking. And he did have some anger problems. But on the other hand, if they didn't let him come, then Gol might recruit him for his side. And they had already said they could come, and if they turned him down now, then he might resent them for it.
Jak nodded to Keira, saying that he thought Benedict should accompany them. "Okay. In that case, I think you guys should take these with you when you go." She held out two Eco Sabers. Jak looked questioningly at them. "Remember how you said that bird absorbed you Eco Blade. I think you should take these along just in case you run into the same problem." Jak smiled and took them from her, storing them in his backpack which was already filled with three days worth of food. He turned around and watched Keira in the mirror. She spotted him staring at her and turned pink. She turned around to say goodnight only to find him right in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Jak looked at her, his eyes burning into her emerald eyes. She stared back into his cerulean ones, neither of them talking. Jak bent down, his mouth closing in on hers. Keira stood on her tip-toes, eager to meet his lips with her own. They got closer, and both of them closed in on each other...
"Hey you guys! Get a room!" Daxter called as he walked in, a bowl of popcorn almost as big as him in his arms. The two of them broke apart, blushing furiously. Keira glared at the Ottsel as he sat down on the sofa and walked over to the television. Jak glared at his best friend as well for his impeccable timing. His anger was siphoned off as he watched his diminutive friend attempt to turn on the television, jumping into the air. Jak kneeled down and turned the TV on for his friend and sat down next to the orange rodent. Keira sat down next to Jak and attempted to snuggle up next to him. It was made slightly difficult due to the fact that Daxter had chosen to sit between them. She glared at him once again before leaning her head against Jak's shoulder. He hesitantly put his arm around her shoulders and relaxed when she responded positively.
After a horror movie, the two of them went to bed. Jak woke up early the next day and went over Benedict's house. After he shook the sand out of his eyes, Benedict accompanied Jak to the Arena once more. By one 'o clock, Jak had finally taught Benedict how to move things with Blue Eco, but he was still having difficulty moving himself. They stopped by Benedict's house for lunch this time before setting back to work. When Benedict left at five, Jak stayed behind. After he got over the satisfaction of teaching Benedict how to use telekinetic powers and how to slightly control the direction of his Yellow Eco beams, he summoned an Eco Blade. There was something he had wanted to try ever since he had gotten back from the Green Eco Temple. He Channeled extra Yellow Eco around the sword and swung. The extra Eco left a slash shaped beam that sheared the top of a stalagmite off. He slammed his blade down on the ground and four thin beams traveled along the ground. Jak smiled satisfactorily as he recalled his blade.
Daxter let out a low whistle. "Nice new trick Jak. Now those Lurkers will think twice before attacking you, eh buddy?" Jak grinned and nodded.
As Jak walked back into the house he removed the carpet in the living room. He went into the hidden room underneath where Wartstal lived. "Hello Jak," Wartstal said as Jak entered. "How goes the training?" Jak shrugged, but as usual, Daxter spoke up.
"It was great. Jak has been teaching Benedict everything he knows, and I've been teaching Jak everything I know. Just before I taught him how to send a slash of Yellow Eco from his Eco Blade." Wartstal nodded before turning to Jak.
"So Jak, when did you think of that." Jak shrugged. "Well good luck in the Spider Caves tomorrow." Jak nodded and began to climb the ladder. "Oh Jak, Samos said that he thinks the head of a Precursor Robot is buried in the Caves, so there is bound to be a large Lurker presence there." Jak nodded once more to show that he had heard. He went upstairs and proceeded to devour three Yakow sandwiches, aided and abetted by Daxter. After dinner, he went to find Samos, who was deep in meditation. He turned to leave.
"Jak." Samos called as Jak went through the door. Jak turned around in time to see Samos touch down to the floor. "Here," Samos said as he walked up to Jak, two black cloaks in his arms. Jak took them with some confusion. "Your light skin will stick out like a sore thumb in the darkness of Spider Caves. These cloaks will make it easier to move around." Jak nodded and put them around his shoulder. He went to Keira's room and gave her a hug good-bye. After completing what he considered the most important thing of the day, Jak went to sleep.
Once again, Jak woke up early, about thirty minutes after the sun came up. He made sure his backpack was packed before he left his room. Before he left the house, Jak stopped in Keira's bedroom. She was on her stomach, the blanket disheveled and the hair mussed up. Jak turned her around on her back and watched her breath for a few seconds. He brought the blanket up from her stomach up to her neck before giving her a swift kiss on the forehead. He grabbed the two cloaks and went over Benedict's again. After waking him up, Jak handed the teenage Channeler a cloak and an Eco Saber. The two of them arrived at the entrance to the Spider Caves and went into the darkness.
The cave quickly dropped in temperature, and the two Channelers noticed how their cloaks kept them warm. They jumped down two ledges and saw stone columns rising up out of what appeared to be a bottomless pit. They looked at each other. Jak motioned to Benedict that he should go first and Benedict nodded.
"Ladies first," Daxter commented as Benedict hopped from one column to the next. Jak flicked his friend and followed Benedict even further into Weyard's underground. After landing on the fifth and final column, Jak jumped once more and wound up back on solid ground. Benedict smirked at Daxter.
"Ladies first and eunuchs second," he muttered. Daxter opened his mouth, at an apparent loss for words (an all-time first), while Jak appeared merely puzzled. Benedict opened his mouth to explain what a eunuch was but Daxter stopped him.
"Don't tell him. Its something a guy needs to find out himself." Benedict shrugged but kept silent. The three of them began to hike even further underground. After about ten minutes of switch-backs, the Jak and Benedict were tired already. They stopped to take a five minute break and admired the scenery. Wild mushrooms grew everywhere, their caps light green around the edges and getting darker near the interior. Moonstone colored crystals were sticking out of the ground walls and ceiling. The effect of them was to have the entire cavern lit up. Benedict sheared one as they continued into the caves.
"Souvenir," he said in response to Jak's puzzled look. "That I intend to give to Keira," he muttered when Jak was out of earshot. He put it in his pocket and ran to catch up with Jak. As they got closer to what looked like a large cavern, they noticed that it appeared to get damper and damper. Drops of water dripped down from the ceiling. Jak personally was happy about this; the noise would give the two of them some audio cover.
As they arrived in a chamber, they saw that it was not held up naturally. Humongous pillars of wood littered the place, keeping it from caving in. Jak and Benedict watched the crystals glow around the cavern, taking away their cover. A moving shadow in the corner caught Jak's eye and he shot a small ball of Yellow Eco at it. A small screech followed, proceeded by a spider falling. The two of them were suddenly aware of scuttling sounds that were echoing. Jak summoned an Eco Blade and Benedict activated his Eco Saber. A score of spiders dropped from the ceiling. The three that landed too close to the duo were instantly sliced up. Jak pointed to himself then left, and then to Benedict and then right. Benedict nodded and the two of them went in separate directions. Benedict carved a path of destruction through the Spiders that he encountered, while, Jak used a combination of his Blade and regular punches and kicks to take out his half. When they were done, Jak turned around and waved to Benedict. Out of the corner of his eye, Jak saw a Spider in the distance lower itself on a web. It spat a glob of Dark Eco at Benedict. Jak ran at Benedict and tackled him.
"Hey! What was that for?" Benedict asked from the ground.
"Hey, lighten up." Daxter said. "It isn't everyday that you narrowly avoid getting made into Dark Eco Stew." Benedict looked incredulously at the Ottsel and then saw a hole where he had been standing seconds ago, the edges tainted with Dark Eco and he understood.
"Thanks man." He muttered as he stood up. The two of them saw another Dark Eco glob and dodged it. Benedict shot a small sphere of Yellow Eco through it's head and that was the end of that conflict. The two of them continued to the other side of chamber. To their surprise, there was only one exit. Jak in particular thought that there in such a large chamber, there would be multiple exits. The solitary exit was a long corridor. A Precursor floating platform was hovering in front of a dark abyss. The two of them hopped on it and it carried them to a wooden platform. Four Precursor platforms were moving in complicated patterns, and Jak decided to go first. He jumped to the first, then the second. He took a stepping leap to the next one, overshooting a bit so he would land perfectly. He leaped straight up to catch the third one. He planned the forth jump in his mind, but it didn't go as planned. He slipped and would have fallen if he had not gripped the platform with his hand. He pulled himself up and then leaped to solid ground. Benedict followed Jak's path, but fell short when to came to getting to the ground. Jak levitated him up to avoid losing his friend, for which Benedict muttered an embarrassed thanks.
"Hey, take a look at this," Daxter called near another gap. Jak and Benedict went over to check out whatever Daxter had seen and found the rodent to be observing a spider web. Before Benedict could make a comment about wasting time, Daxter jumped onto the thin web. To their surprise, he simply bounced up and down on it. "Check it out, I'm in the circus," he said as he did various acrobatic tricks in the air. Benedict and Jak chuckled as he landed on the web on his face. Jak caught him as he went into the air again and leapt onto the web. To his relief, it supported him as well and sent him flying into the air. He landed and stood up just as Benedict landed behind him. They stood up and went down a corridor. This one ended in another chamber, this one brightly lit. A lone figure in a black cloak was standing in the twenty foot big room. He looked up as they entered. His eyes were bright yellow, with black slits in the center.
"Welcome. I've been waiting for you," the figure said. Jak guessed it was a male from the deepness of the voice. It didn't appear hostile, but whatever it was gave Jak an uneasy feeling all the same.
"Who are you?" Benedict asked, unnecessarily aggressively in Jak's opinion.
"I am Gravis, and I am here to challenge you both to a fight." it said as it ignited a dark purple Eco Saber.
"Why do you wanna fight us?" Benedict asked as he and Jak fired up their own Eco Sabers; Benedict's was green and Jak's was red.
"Because it is Master Gol's will." Gravis replied.
"You're with Gol?" Benedict asked. Gravis nodded and Benedict charged it. Jak tried to stop him but couldn't. When he was about five feet away, Gravis stuck his right hand out and Dark Lightning streamed from his fingertips. Benedict yelled in pain as it caught him. Gravis used the electricity to slam Benedict into a wall. He collapsed there and Gravis then turned to Jak.
"As you see, my Channeling abilities are far beyond yours. Back down." Jak shook his head and Gravis sighed before launching another stream of Dark Lightning. Jak raised his Saber and the Dark Lightning was absorbed into it instead of rebounding. Gravis put one arm behind his back, a deliberate taunting move. Jak glared and ran forward. Gravis sent more Dark Lightning but Jak absorbed it as he approached. Not until he was within a foot of Gravis and starting his swing did his opponent move.
Jak swung for Gravis' head but his attack was blocked. With lightning speed he reversed his blade and came in to the left at Gravis' midriff, but again was blocked. He back off an inch and stabbed, but once again his attack was parried away from his adversary. He spun around and aimed his Saber right at Gravis' head. To his annoyance, he was blocked again. He came in up and to the right, yet Gravis proved to fast for him. He swiftly parried once more before coming twice: low and in opposite directions. Jak was barely able to block Gravis, and he was pushed to his knees as Gravis used brute force to try to unbalance him. He pushed down harder on Jak, trying to either drive the Channeler to his knees or slice his head in half, he didn't really care which. Jak shoved Gravis back and sliced at his waist again. Gravis did a whole back-flip over Jak's head and landed opposite him. Jak swung around to prevent his hair from being parted with his scalp.
The two of them leapt back and tried to get a bearing of where to attack next. Or at least Jak did, whilst Gravis merely picked at his teeth with his free hand. Jak saw this and immediately became angry, seeing that his opponent was dishonoring him by toying with him. He took a deep breath, knowing that to let his anger rule the fight was to lose. In the alcove where Benedict had been tossed, he tried to move, but his muscles were still shocked from the high-voltage damage they had just sustained and would not hold him up.
"Channeler Jak, you disappoint me; Gol sees you as a worthy opponent and here I am in danger of falling asleep. Surely you can do better," he taunted as he twirled his blade and came in for Jak's shoulder and then his arm. Both attacks were blocked, and the two of them locked blades as they circled each other. Jak broke free and spun around. Gravis blocked Jak's next three attempts on his life and the lock ed blades once more. Jak charged up a ball of Yellow Eco and Gravis waggled his finger, a motion that nearly made Jak lose control on his emotions.
"Now, now Jak. If you are going to use your Channeling abilities, then rest assured," he said as his eyes narrowed, "that I will use mine." He ended this pronouncement with a blast of Dark Lightning. If Jak could make any verbal response, he would have screamed till his throat dried up. As it was he could only thrash around in mid-air until Gravis stopped his attack. He collapsed on the floor, his body still not past the unbelievable quantities of pain it had just been put through. He released his grip on the Eco Saber and it shut off, a fail safe. Gravis looked down at Jak before finally holding his blade in both hands; up until this point he had been using one while keeping the other behind his back.
"Now, it is finished," he hissed as his blade came down. Benedict watched as the Eco Saber got closer and closer to his friend and teacher. He let out an indistinguishable roar and leapt from his spot, turning his Eco Saber on. He stopped Gravis from shearing Jak in half about a second before it happened. Gravis looked up at Benedict with mild surprise.
"Brave of you, but I would have thought you had learned your lesson and not played with the big boys." Gravis taunted.
Benedict responded with a sarcastic comment of his own. "I do take a long time to teach," he said as he glared at the Lurker. They broke away and Benedict charged in, dodging the Dark Lightning Gravis sent his way. "But then again, pain teaches me faster."
"Then perhaps you will allow me to further your education." Gravis snarled. He spun his blade in his hand above his head a few times before swinging it at Benedict. The Channeler spun his Saber to block it and spun his body around the Lurker. Gravis spun with Benedict, never taking his eyes off his opponent. He blocked a blow that would have severed his head from its shoulders had it connected and they locked blades again. He sighed as Benedict attempted to out-muscle him.
"I guess I shouldn't have expected a challenge. After all, why should I expect anything better from the runt of the litter." Benedict's eyes widened at this statement. He hated being called short, as he was two years older than Jak and still only about Jak's height. He spun away and began a furious series of attacks. Gravis yawned as he almost lazily blocked every single of Benedict's assaults, only further enraging the Channeler.
Unfortunately, Benedict's anger would prove to be his downfall. He let out a roar as he once again sliced wildly at Gravis. Gravis blocked his attack and appeared to work very hard to stop Benedict's next onslaught. Gravis finally caught a break and sent Benedict flying into the cave wall hard enough to leave a silhouette of his body behind with a single kick.
Jak jumped in, attempting to catch Gravis off guard. He failed and began another duel with the Lurker.
"Jak!" Benedict shouted. Jak looked over to his friend. "Catch!" Benedict called as he tossed Jak his Eco Saber. Jak caught the Saber and ignited it. As he turned it on he spun around and struck Gravis with the red one, then with green one. Gravis parried and riposted both attacks. Benedict watched Jak fight and although he was doing much better than before it was still no contest as to who had the superior swordsmanship. After all, Gravis was blocking two blades with one, and was once again using only one hand.
Jak swung for Gravis' head with his blade, then tried to cut Gravis at the knees with Benedicts. Both of them were blocked with unworldly speed. Jak spun around, continuously swinging his twin Eco Sabers at various targets an attempt to bring Gravis down. It was in vain. Every thrust, every chop, every swing Jak made was either blocked or parried.
Suddenly, Gravis went on the offensive and finally began using both his hands. Even with two Eco Sabers, Jak was hard put to block Gravis' rapid assaults. But Gravis finally broke through and kneed Jak in the stomach. As Jak kneeled, he continued trying to defend himself. Benedict watched through the haze covering his eyes from the pain and became suspicious and doubtful that Jak had taught him everything he knew. Gravis delivered to Jak's chest a spinning back kick and Jak was hurled into the wall next to Benedict. Gravis smirked at the two of them before shocking them all with Dark Lightning for five seconds. He finished torturing his victims and simply made a potion with his hand that looked like he was tipping a hat. He laughed as he dissipated into the shadows.
Groaning, the twin Channelers stood up shakily, leaning on each other, not caring about their pride. Jak was baffled at how good of a swordsman Gravis was. With one hand, he had defended himself, only using two at the end to completely blow him away.
Benedict, meanwhile, was wondering about the rather unorthodox technique Jak had used, with all the spinning and twirling. He didn't say anything, but decided to keep a closer eye on jak, and see what else his friend was hiding from him.
"Well, now that we've all gotten a nice ass -kicking, whaddya say we get out of here before that guy comes back, eh?" Daxter said from Jak's shoulder. For the first time, bith elves simply nodded, not wanting to make any noise. They leaned on each other as they walked down a corridor. Jak saw an odd light coming from one direction and stopped. Benedict continued moving and slipped down a tunnel lined with slippery rock. Jak saw his companion fall and he dived down after him. The slide ended over a bottomless pit. Jak fumbled around for his Hookshot before remembering that he had given it to Keira so she could use it for whatever she wanted.
Since he had no other choice, Jak summoned an Eco Blade and dug it into the wall. He slid down and grabbed Benedict's hand. Their speed slowly decreased as they got closer to the bottom. Jak looked down after they had come to a complete stop and praised the Precursors that he had thought to stop them. Less than an inch beneath Benedict was a Dark Eco pool, one of three that littered the room they had landed in.
"Uh, Jak. You have any ideas that will get us outta here while keeping us alive?" Benedict asked. Jak nodded and pulled Benedict up. His sword slide down and Jak instantly flipped his Blue Eco Bon on, levitating the two of them over the Dark Eco pool. He flew them down to the floor and they collapsed, utterly exhausted.
"What do you say we close off the pools and then get some sleep Jak?" Benedict asked, almost groaning as he talked. Jak nodded wearily and got to his feet. Benedict tossed his Eco Saber to Jak, who took off while activating them. Jak flew along the ceiling, hacking off stalactites and causing them to fall onto the floor. Benedict levitated them into the pools, sealing them off and ensuring that the Dark Eco would not harm anything. As Jak landed, he tossed Benedict his Saber back. They saw a nice little alcove and snuck into it. Jak fell asleep with his cloak covering Daxter, since the last thing they needed right now was to fight an army because the Lurkers had seen the bright color. Benedict leaned up against the wall as well, his entire body within the confines of this black cloak, camouflaging him with the darkness and hiding their presence.
Benedict woke suddenly. He didn't know what had caused it, only that there was someone here who shouldn't be. He looked around and saw a hooded figure prowling around. He quietly got up and made his way over to it.
"Finally, I was beginning to think you would never show up." Benedict instantly drew his Eco Saber, he recognized that voice.
"Come for a rematch Gravis? I'm gonna give you the biggest ass-kicking in the history of Weyard." he snarled.
"Come, come. Don't bluff, I beat you before quite literally with one hand behind my back. I have not come to engage you this time, only to talk."
"I've got nothing to say to you." Benedict spat.
"I see. Well then, perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps you don't have what I thought you did."
Almost against his will, Benedict became intrigued by those words. "And just what is it that you think I have?"
"Potential. I see that you have more power than Jak. You saw how easily I vanquished him did you not? I see you becoming so powerful that I would have to try to beat you."
"Thank you for the flattery, but don't try to trick me. Jak is a stronger Channeler than I am." Benedict growled, even though saying it was a real blow to his ego.
"That's not true. You have done things he hasn't." Gravis countered.
"Name one."
"Escuro. Jak has fought her four times, and never did he damage her. You on the other hand, killed her neatly. Do you know why?"
Benedict thought back to that day, when he saw the demon run at Keira. "Because I let my anger run away with me."
"Exactly! And that is what differs you and Jak. He keeps such a tight reign on his emotions. It was easy to defeat him, even when he used two blades, simply because he was so predictable. But you, when I taunted you, it became difficult. I was nearly hit a few times when you were ruled by your passions. Think! By allowing your rage to consume you, you became a more powerful Channeler than Jak."
Benedict played the fight over in his mind. He saw Gravis struggling as he attacked blindly out of anger. "But that isn't how I'm supposed to act. Santar once told me that letting your passions rule is a path to a road of destruction and despair."
"He lied. Santar knows that anger, fear, hatred: they all lend the body extra power. He simply didn't want you to experience that power out of jealousy. He is a Sage, and is not allowed to be ruled by his emotions. He saw that if you gave into them, you would become too powerful to control."
Benedict shook his head clear of the fog that had been clouding his mind. "Enough! I won't allow you to seduce me into becoming Gol's slave."
"As you wish. But know this; Gol is ruled by emotions, and he has been taught by one of the most powerful Sages of all time. He was taught by Decido. If you would become his student, you would gain the power to stop Keira from dying."
"What… what did you say?"
"You heard. Focus on the future and you will see your beloved dead, because you did not allow yourself to become more powerful."
"How dare you say that," Benedict said as he rushed in, swinging his Saber. Gravis simply laughed and dissolved into the shadows, leaving his last words to haunt Benedict.
"Benedict, if one is to understand the great mystery of the balance of Eco, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Sages. That is all Gol is trying to do: study all aspects of Eco. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view. Be careful of the Sages, and of Jak, Benedict." He paused. " They fear you. In time they will destroy you. Let Gol train you and you will achieve a power greater than that of any Channeler."
Benedict snorted at Gravis' words and went back to where Jak was lying down. As he laid down, he suddenly felt a brief headache, but it passed quickly. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Jak ran to Keira and inspected her body. She was severely burned everywhere and her
clothes were in shreds. Jak blushed slightly as he saw part of her chest but quickly went to work, healing all of her injuries. He gazed anxiously into her eyes and she wept as she fought for consciousness. She lost the internal battle, and her breathing slowed. As Jak wept, she closed her eyes. Jak bowed his head and picked her body up. He carried her small limp frame to a table, where he gently forced Green Eco into her in a vain effort to revive her. She did not respond and Jak's eyes lost the sorrow they held in exchange for anger. As he spun around, his entire body blazed with raw power. He took off down a corridor and summoned two Eco Blades as he rushed to face his adversary…
Benedict woke up in a cold sweat. "Gravis was right," he thought. "I may have just seen the future. But where was I? Did I die because I'm not strong enough? No, its probably just my mind projecting my worst fear as a dream." Benedict reached this conclusion as he stretched. Jak was already awake, eating a roasted Yakow sandwich with lettuce. He tossed one to Benedict, who quickly demolished the delectable dish. The two of them finished eating and decided to go down a random path, hoping that it would lead them out of this place.
As Jak strode ahead of Benedict, he didn't notice that he stepped on a rock that seemed to sink into the earth. Nor did he realize until it was too late that the ground beneath him was opening and he was falling down a tunnel. As Jak landed with a muffled thump, he realized something soft and furry had broken the fall of his head. Said soft and furry object was now on the ground, his rolling around in circles quite independently of each other. Jak looked up and saw the hole he had just fallen through close up. His communicator went off almost a second after that.
"Jak! Jak? Are you there." Jak rolled his eyes at this; how was he supposed to tell Benedict if he was there if he was a mute? He shook Daxter, who was muttering something about a pretty bird named Rodney. Jak rolled his eyes and injected some Green Eco in Daxter's body. As Daxter came around, Jak pointed to his communicator and Daxter grabbed it.
"What do you want?" Jak glared at him; there was no reason to be rude.
"Where are you guys?" Benedict's voice came out raspy and distant.
"Legatee if I know. We're in a big dark room, so what do we do now?"
"Dunno. Should we just keep going and try to find each other of we make it out?" Daxter looked over at Jak, who nodded.
"Yea, we'll do that." Daxter shut the communicator off and set it to Panic mode, so that if Benedict got in real trouble, they would be able to find him. Jak summoned a small ball of Yellow Eco to light the way and he looked around, not daring to move.
This was the reason they were called the Spider Caves. Spiders -big ones- covered everything: the walls, the ceiling. Some were lowering themselves down, but all of them had their eyes on Jak, who for once was at a lose as to what to do. Fortunately, Daxter gave him a good word of advice.
"RUN!" Daxter screeched. Quite possibly, the spiders assumed that because of the volume of Daxter's voice he was something much larger, because they all backed away for a second. That one instant was what Jak needed. He turned his Eco Saber on and began slicing through everything that dared to get near him. He cleared a few feet before firing a beam into the ball of Yellow Eco and then entire thing exploded, or rather, expanded until it was about twenty feet in diameter. Everything it touched was simply melted away, including a section of the wall. Jak ran towards it, cutting through legions of two foot long spiders, their red beady eyes focused on him but finally learning to keep away from this opponent.
Jak dived through a small hole in the wall and sheared part of the wall off. He quickly levitated it into the hole, but not before about of score of spiders spitting Dark Eco emerged. Against these spiders, close range would be no good, and he was now out of Yellow Eco. Jak did the only thing any sane person would have done, save screaming. He ran like a bat outta Legatee.
As Jak ran, the spiders followed him, spitting Dark Eco at him. He dodged some a few times, but eventually one hit him in the leg. As he fell, his leg began to burn. He quickly flew up and healed himself, although the healing properties of Green Eco were slow to affect Dark Eco inflicted wounds. He saw some stalactites hanging from the ceiling and flew at them, Channeling Red Eco as he did so. He slammed into the ceiling, and killed the remaining spiders with an avalanche. He flew back to the ground and sat down, utterly exhausted. After catching his breath, he continued on his way. Eventually, he came to a dead end. Upon further inspection, he realized there was in fact a boulder blocking the path. There was one tiny spoke holding the boulder up. Daxter quickly climbed down from Jak's shoulder and struggled with it. As it popped loose, Daxter went flying down an adjacent tunnel.
Jak noticed the boulder starting to roll away, inconveniently in the direction of his friend. He tried to stop it, but it proved too much for even his Eco powers to halt. As it rolled away, Jak saw Daxter running as fast as he could and quickly levitated his friend.
As Daxter ran, he looked back and saw the boulder getting closer. He suddenly flew up to the ceiling, screaming the entire time. As the boulder rolled safely underneath him, he relaxed, but immediately started screaming when he started rushing backwards. He landed in jak's hand, who was mildly amused by friend's antics now that he was out of any true danger. Daxter opened his mouth, but simply fainted. Jak looked at his friend, concerned, but in the end stored him safely and carefully in his backpack before continuing on his way to find a way to link back up with Benedict.
The elf that was on Jak's mind at that moment was in fact trekking his way up a rock face. "How can there be a small mountain when we're underground?" Benedict grumbled under his breath. At the top was another bottomless pit. He spied three spider's webs, all conveniently within jumping distance of each other. He leapt from one to the next. As he landed he heard commotion coming from around a corner. At least, he thought it was from around the corner; the echoes in this place made it impossible to determine where anything was by sound alone. He slowly crept up to said corner and snuck a peek.
Across the cavern (the second biggest one so far) was the remains of a full Precursor Robot. As he pulled on the goggles Keira had so graciously given him, he saw that it was almost complete, except for the entire left arm, and the upper right of the head. The bottom of it was still buried; it appeared that the Lurkers were trying to dig it out with automated drilling machines. He saw small towers from the base of the drills and guessed that he would have to climb the towers in order to shut down the drills and stop the Lurkers from stealing the majority of a Precursor Robot.
Benedict started across a wooden bridge. He was careful; after hearing about the dirigible, he would not put it past the Lurkers to booby-trap even a bridge. He was right to be suspicious; after only five steps a trapdoor unhinged and he plummeted down. Luckily, he grabbed the wood and dug his fingers in. He heaved himself up with a small amount of difficulty and continued. As he closed in on the robot, he saw a twenty foot gap. He sped up and leaped over the ravine below, landing with a grace that Jak would have been proud of.
He saw that the Lurkers had set a Lurker Driller to guard the tower. They weren't very big, nor were they strong, but they were dangerous in the fact that they could rotate their wrists around, and those wrists had sharp and deadly claws, so if they touched you, you generally had the flesh ripped off before you could get them off of you. He stepped into plain view and the Driller ran at him. He simply stabbed it through the head with his Eco Saber by turning it on as it closed in on him. As it fell to the floor, he picked it up and dragged the pale-grayed creature to the gorge and simply threw it over. He entered the tower, and saw an elevator at the other end of a long hallway. As he looked around, he saw there was nothing inconspicuous about the room, but he highly doubted it was as empty as it appeared to be.
As he took a step, the entire outlook of the hallway changed. Some of the floor was taken away, revealing either nothing beneath or what appeared to be meat grinders. Benedict approached two such meat grinders and punched the wall so a chunk fell in. It was ground down to sawdust in an instant.
"Yea, lets not touch that," Benedict muttered to himself as he prepared to jump over it. He backed up and leapt, getting all ten feet the meat grinders took up. As he landed a Drill appeared from a hidden compartment in the wall. Benedict simply ducked as it charged and tossed it into the meat grinder, letting it do the work for him. As he continued, the floor gave way and he once again fell into a trapdoor. He leapt off the piece of floor he was standing on with all his strength. Admittedly, it did not help him very much, but he got the two or so inches he needed to get to the other side. As he heaved himself up again, he was mauled by another Driller. He wrenched his attackers claws out of his chest and quite literally blew it s brains out with a Yellow Eco beam. He collapsed and turned his Green Eco Box, watching in amazement at how it knitted his skin back together.
Up ahead were four meat grinders. Benedict backed up to the edge of the trapdoor and turned his Blue Eco Box on. He barely made it to the other end, landing much less graciously than he did when he crossed the bridge before. As he continued on his way down the hallway, he stained his ears for anything that sounded out of the ordinary. As he passed a tiled section, flames suddenly shot out from the walls. He dived forward and looked back. The flames had melted the tiles right off the floor and all that was left was a big hole where the wood had been under the tile.
Looking back on the moment later, Benedict was glad he had looked back. Silently, the wood started to crumble away. He took off for the elevator and jumped over a ten foot gap. As he rolled into a landing, he looked back and saw the floor still falling. A grinding sound made him turn around again and this time he saw what was causing the wood to crumble away. Mobile buzz saws had surfaced and were eating the floor away. He looked ahead and saw the ceiling closing down on the floor, which would effectively trap him. He arrived right before they slammed shut and began Channeling Red Eco. He jammed his hands between the wood and began pulling up. As he strained, the trap began to rise. He slipped through and let go. As he landed in the elevator, the ceiling slammed down on the floor with a deafening slam.
He sat down as the elevator rose. When it opened again, he was overlooking the drill itself. A quick look around the room allowed him to spot the Power Cell that was fueling the drill. As he removed it, the entire drill immediately shut down. He smiled grimly as he thought how the Lurkers would react when they realized what had happened. Instead of heading back through the Legatee downstairs, Benedict opted to instead simply jump out the window and jam his Eco Saber into the wall to slow his fall.
Meanwhile, Jak had fallen down another hole. Luckily, there weren't any spiders in this one, but there also was no light save for a fire that was ten feet in front of him. Jak slowly crept towards it, but there was really no need, he was invisible to the naked eye. As he approached the fire, he recognized it as a Yellow Eco Vent. Jak leapt for it and was surprised to reach it and yet have to cling onto the base for his life. As he pulled himself up, he felt something grab at his leg and he panicked. He gathered no small amount of Yellow Eco and unleashed a massive blast of energy straight down, so much that he was lifted up completely and he landed on his own two feet directly into the Vent. He charged up to full power and summoned two Blades. As he swung them around, he was disappointed to see that they did not light his way at all. He felt around for a path and found one. As he walked slowly, a soft sound to his left made him throw his blade in a panic. Just as he started cursing himself out to no end for doing such a stupid move, light flooded the cavern.
Jak looked over to where his Blade had been launched and he saw an emerald glowing with Yellow Eco from within. As the light started to fade, he saw that there were other such crystals, but he was unable to pinpoint their exact locations. He saw one and jumped over a gap and stabbed it.
Jak waited until half of his Blade had been absorbed and then he removed it. He saw a path deliberately laden with booby-traps ("What a surprise," he thought) leading to the next one. As he made his way to the next one, he jumped over a gap, but was suddenly yanked back. He looked back and saw his foot covered in webbing. The spider that had webbed him was now trying to sever the web and try to make him fall to his death. Jak shot the web himself and blasted the spider with another small ball. He turned around and extended his Eco Blade to full length as he turned his Blue Eco Box on. He crossed a wooden bridge that was the first to not be weighed down with traps to the third crystal.
Instead of putting a lot of Eco in, Jak only put a tiny amount. To his delight, the crystal lit up as brightly as if he had fired a whole blast of it in. As it illuminated the way ahead of him, a falling sound made him spin around. A spider was on the ground, its legs curled up. Jak nudged it with his foot, but it appeared to be truly dead. Jak wondered what could have killed the spider off so suddenly and shrugged, but kept his guard up.
Jak turned around and started across a bridge. He fell through a trapdoor after three or so steps and leapt up. As he landed, the floor gave out again and he gripped the edge of the bridge. He pulled himself up and saw another crystal right in front of him. Jak was slightly surprised that two were so close together, but he really wasn't complaining.
Benedict landed and quickly darted to the safety of the shadows. As he entered, the cloak he had made him appear to simply dissolve into the shady mists. He rematerialized at the entrance to the other tower and entered after slicing off the head of the Driller that was guarding the entrance. As he entered the tower, he saw with disgust that it was the exact same layout. He snorted; couldn't the Lurkers become a little more original?
As he jumped across a gap, the floor he landed on gave out. He immediately vaulted back and landed behind the trapdoor and in front of the gap in the floor. As he leapt over the gap left by the trapdoor, a Lurker Driller leaped up to meet him in the air. Benedict kicked it right in the face, but not before it had managed to tear a chunk out of his leg. He quickly landed, his right shin giving out from underneath him and began to heal himself. He looked at the Eco readout like Keira had told him to do every so often to make sure he wouldn't run out at an inopportune time. He cursed as he saw he was now out of energy.
The floor suddenly gave out and he started to fall into the abyss. As he tried to scramble back up, he remembered Jak could fly, but he had yet to do it. He turned his Blue Eco Box anyway, hoping something would happen. As his fear and terror reached their peaks, he suddenly halted in the air. He looked around and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. It hurt.
Benedict let out a whoop of glee as he shot back up through the hole. He decided to just fly through the booby traps and as he looked down, he was damned glad he did. Two double meat grinders, and a double trapdoor were followed by a furnace. He winced as his imagination showed him what would happen to him if he got caught in the flames. He landed in the elevator and rode it up, confident that he could meet any challenge. As he removed the Power Cell from the drill, a female figure caught his attention. He gazed out the window at the top of the Precursor Robot. He had shut the drills off none too soon; the entire thing was almost completely exposed. He saw that it was missing, in addition to what he had noticed before, the lower right leg. He squinted up at the top and saw a grey female elf dressed scantily in Precursor armor and leather.
Benedict growled, instantly recognizing the elf by the descriptions of Jak and Keira. Maia Akaron, the younger sister of Gol and the twin Dark Eco Sage. He turned on his Eco Saber and sliced through the window. He would have jumped, but he wanted to sneak up on her and see what he could find out. He landed on the ground and began to climb the Robot, his eyes burning at his target with hatred.
Jak took a long draft from the spring and felt the cool liquid fill his stomach in way remarkably similar to food. He grabbed a bottle out of his backpack and put some of the liquid in for later and Benedict. He went up a flight of stairs and stopped when he saw an odd spinning device. It was a long wooden pole with a platform. The entire thing rotated. Jak leapt onto the platform just as the light from behind him died out. He saw a shimmer in the darkness and fired a beam of Yellow Eco at it. It hit another stone and revealed a narrow bridge. Jak walked down it slowly, putting one foot directly in front of the other so as not to lose his balance. At the end was an elevator. Jak rode it and he saw another crystal right in front of him.
Hoping that he was getting near to the end of this accursed gauntlet. After he hit the sixth crystal, Jak jumped over two trapdoors and landed on some wood. To his surprise, it was rotating. How he could have landed on a moving platform in the first place was baffling, not to mention the fact that he hadn't noticed that it was moving in the first place. An elevator on the other side collapsed as Jak stepped on it. He soared straight up with the help of Blue Eco and began descending. He finally felt his feet hit the ground after about a minute of free falling. The seventh out of the Precursors knew how many was right in front of him, so he shot the last but of Yellow Eco he had into it.
"I want no excuses. You should have had this thing dug out three days ago, before the Channelers entered this place." Maia hissed as she blew a Lurker to bits. Another one raised its head and promptly had it blown off. "Anyone else want to disrespect me?" She asked, gathering a small ball of Dark Eco in her hand. The remaining Lurkers remained perfectly still. "Good," she whispered. "Now, I want those Channelers found before-" Benedict decided this was a perfect time to intervene; he had long since reached the top and had listened to her rant and rave about him and Jak.
"One of us arrives and kicks your ass?" Maia turned around with a snarl. She grabbed an Eco Saber from her belt and turned it on, revealing the dark purple blade. Benedict did the same. The Lurkers with any sense got off the platform while the two Channelers sized each other up.
They both acted simultaneously, running one way and firing Yellow Eco Blasts at the same time. Or rather, Benedict used Yellow Eco while Maia used Dark Eco. The blasts hit each other and cancelled out. Benedict ran at Maia, who leapt into the air. Benedict looked up in time to see Maia throw a disk of energy. Benedict dodged it and Maia landed and began a melee with Benedict, enhancing her power with Dark Eco. Benedict Channeled Red Eco and the two seemed to cancel each other out.
As Benedict fought, he noticed how Maia wasn't even trying, almost as if it was a game to her. He growled at her and paid for his distraction by receiving a swift kick in the ribs. The two of them reactivated their Sabers and ran at each other, screaming the whole time. After exchanging blows, they locked swords and began trying to outmuscle each other, each trying to throw the other off balance. Benedict pushed his blade up, leaving Maia temporarily defenseless, and then threw a kick at her. Maia dodged the attack and blasted him with Dark Lightning.
Benedict screamed as he was thrown off the Robot. Maia screeched in triumph as she watched him fall. Benedict hit the ground and watched the Robot disappear with the necromancer in a puff of purple smoke.
"She- she was TOYING with me!" Benedict roared. As Lurkers swarmed him, he unleashed his fury and slaughtered each and every one, even slicing up one that he had stabbed and had left standing up. Not until he had killed everything did he relent and allow his body to recover from the intense rush it had just been through. He sighed and stood up. As he left, he turned around and callously surveyed the carnage he had just created.
Jak arrived at a Launch-Pad and looked back to the thirty foot tall spider that was chasing him. Daxter was yelling at him for waking the thing up. How was he supposed to have known that turning the last crystal would haven woken that spawn up? He was propelled through the air and saw the spider following. He was relieved when it was stopped by two gates underneath him slamming shut. He was launched up a long tunnel and landed next to a figure. He turned on his red Eco Saber and was surprised when his opponent simultaneously turned on a green one. Jak lowered his hood and saw his opponent do the same. Jak ran at Benedict and the two of the pounded fists, happy to see each other again. Now that they were reunited, nothing would be able to stand between them.
Benedict told Jak and Daxter what had happened. He gave Jak the two Power Cells and looked so disappointed that even Daxter couldn't bring himself to berate the elf for his blunder. For once he tried to make Benedict feel better. Unfortunately, his attempts failed. They continued on the path and saw lights up ahead. They nodded to each other and pulled their hoods up. As they got closer to the source of light, they saw that it was actually a Lurker camp. They jumped down and raided it. While Jak regenerated his Yellow Eco Box, Benedict raided the tents and found two items; a bag with five hundred Precursor Orbs, and a detailed map of the Spider Caves. Jak and Benedict studied it and saw that five Dark Eco Crystals were circled in red ink. They studied the path layout and decided to take care of it in the morning. Benedict found another alcove and they went to sleep.
"You see how his power increased when he let his rage consume him?" Gol breathed as he watched on the crystal ball.
"Yes brother, but he is a Channeler. Do you really think he can be persuaded?"
"Yes. Every time he taps into his hidden power he hungers for more. I can use that lust for power against him and turn him to our side. Proceed with step two of our plan."
Jak and Benedict arrived at the three-way fork in the path that they saw on the map. They took the map out again and saw that if they each took a side path, they could get rid of four crystals. They could then regroup and take out the last crystal before getting out of this place.
Jak took the left and finds a large cavern complete with platforms and trampolines. He looked around and smirked. He simply flew to the top and shot a massive beam of Yellow Eco, draining forty percent of his entire stock. As the crystal evaporated into sub-atomic particles, he took his section of the map and saw the cave he was supposed to go into at the bottom. Jak flew down and into the next room. He looked around and saw a shimmer from a small section of the wall covered in moss. Jak looked at the plant life, hoping that this was sign he was nearing the exit. He disintegrated the second crystal and saw a hidden path behind it. He debated going down it, the adventuring part of him aching to, but he reminded himself that he needed to get out of the underground tunnel.
Benedict arrived in a huge crystal mine. Even though he knew he was on a mission, he couldn't help but appreciate the beauty. Rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires were all in this trove. His eyes narrowed as in a disgusting perverse statement, the Dark Eco was in the middle, as if the other four colors were worshiping it. He shot a beam at it and watched it melt with satisfaction. He then arrived at a pool of water. He took a deep breath and dived down, pulling his goggles back on. He spotted the foul gemstone in no time, and wasted no time in detonating it. He swam back up and headed back to the original path, only to find Jak already there with a "what took you?" look on his face. The meant to be stern expression was somewhat ruined due to the fact that Jak was grinning like crazy.
After walking up a steep hallway for thirty minutes, the two of them finally entered another chamber. The Dark Eco decorated the ceiling. Jak and Benedict looked at each other and nodded. Jak threw out his left hand, Benedict his right, and they fired the last of their Yellow Eco at the crystal. As it exploded, they saw a light at the top of the cave. Jak flew up to make sure it was the exit and turned around. He almost fell of the cliff when he saw Benedict right by him.
"Yea, I can fly now." Benedict said as he grinned broadly. The two Channelers exited the Spider Caves and stepped in the Desert Colossus. They were dwarfed by the sheer size of it. They stared in every direction, but it was endless. Jak wondered how long it would take; now that it was getting to be late fall, they would need to cross before the nights became deadly.
"Wow. Look at that." Benedict exclaimed. Jak and Daxter looked to where Benedict was pointing at and their jaws dropped as they saw…
… And Cut! Ok, I know I am receiving many a death threat, but I really don't care. I feel like giving a cliffy. Other than the cliffhanger, I hope I've redeemed myself slightly for the horrible last chapter. If you guys have any ideas about Eco powers or Lurkers I'll accept them with opened arms. If you guys got any questions regarding the new guy or predictions about the future, please ask, you guys know I will be happy to settle any inquiries you might have. Well, I leave for now, but I will hopefully have Chapter Twenty: Benedict's Decision, soon.