As usual, this is in case you did not recieve my reply to the reviews that I sent everyone.

Amathist Fwirrel- Yup, Benedict Riddle, the two worst guys ever. Benedict Arnold and Tom Riddle. swats away gun and gives you a chain machine gun, rocket launcher, and three armor piercing shells along with three high explosive shells. Thanks for the comment on the Eco-Absorbing Chamber, since I was a bit anxious over how that one would turn out.

Red Mage 04- Yup, Gol is nefarious indeed. As to your hopes, you will have to wait. Quite a while. Hehehehehehehe. I think I give myself the proper amount of credit, since my writing is mediocre at best. Your story would be a masterpiece even if no one gave you any ideas, because you, unlike me, are a wonderful writer. Yes! Daxter annoyed her. I love Daxter, he's so… irritating. But in a good way.

Keeroshu- Two reviews. Thank you very much (grins). I have been busy, writing four chapters. Struggles for the Future and Chapter 30 are almost done, and I finished Gol's Final Trap before Gol's Citadel and A Few Familiar Places. I couldn't figure out how to rescue the Sages, and then it came to me. Imprison them at the Temples. And that place where Alecis was rescued will come up again, don't worry. Yup, the big finale is split up, and hopefully the final chapter will make everyone happy. Aw, I was hoping you would update There Was Light and Darkness. Ah well, I cant have everything in life. Well, when you do get around to it I'm sure it'll be fantastic. Well, here's one of the two, hope you like the twist I put in.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, save the extra characters that I came up with. And anything else my sick demented mind has cooked up that was not good enough for Naughty Dog.

Struggles for the Future

Keira gazed out over the soon-to-be battlefield and thought about the journey here. It had started four and a half months ago. Keira smiled to herself; she remembered the last time she had seen Daxter in an elfin form…

Keira walked out of the house, having finally finished the blueprints for the heat Shield to install on the A-Grav Zoomer. With luck, it would be up in a couple of days and then she Jak and Daxter could travel abroad like they had planned. She stopped by Jak's but the two of them weren't there. As she passed Tweetledov's house, she looked in and could see they weren't there either. That left only one other place: Sentinel Beach. As she walked there, Keira put her hands behind her head and stretched, reveling in the fact that school was almost over. One more year and she would be able to get a full time job as a mechanic instead of just tinkering around. Jak had already agreed to help her out. Keira grinned as she remembered the eager look he had when she had asked him to be the demonstrator. Jak was always there for her when she needed him. Keira shook her head back to the present as she heard scuffling noises coming from ahead. Sure enough, by the time she arrived Jak had gotten Daxter into a headlock. The two of them wrestled, or rather, Daxter tried in vain to escape. Neither of them noticed Keira until she called out at them.

"Knock it off, you two." Jak let Daxter go and turned around to face her. Keira smiled at him and looked at him. Jak had a funny dazed look about him: he was staring straight at her but it seemed he didn't see her. She stood on her tiptoes but Jak didn't respond.

"Jak? Are you ok?" she asked after about thirty seconds. By this time, Daxter had stopped wobbling around and decided to enter the conversation (as always).

"He's hopeless Keira, he's been staring off into space all day." Jak shook his head and the three of them had gone off to mooch off her father for a bite to eat…

Keira pulled herself out of happy memories as she saw the Lurker army get ready. "Ready bowmen?" She called.

"Ready!" a chorus of voices answered. The bowmen pulled back on their bows as Keira made a motion to prepare to open fire for the rest of the villagers. She knelt down, readied her bow, and fitted an arrow into it, waiting for the Lurkers to get close enough to let the bowmen launch their weapons.

"FIRE!" Keira shouted. The bowmen released the wires they were holding and arrows that were literally the size of trees were launched at the Lurkers. As they landed, the trees rolled around, basically mowing down the Lurker army. Still, they marched on. Not deterred in the slightest, Keira made the fire motion to her group, which proceeded to send a rainstorm of arrows down into the army. Death rained from the skies as the arrows dug into the skin, killing everything they came in contact with.

As the Lurkers continued, Keira looked though her goggles and saw that there were a majority of runts. Scouts, Generals, Warriors, Fliers and Wasps made up the army, but the larger and smarter species were gone. Keira fired her Eco Saber, which traveled in a boomerang fashion. As she caught it, Keira started slicing everything nearby. Hatu had trained her partially in using a sword, so she wasn't a complete novice.

As the battle wore on, it soon became apparent that Keira's team was going to be beaten by sheer numbers. For every villager that fell, about fifty Lurkers fell, but they still kept coming. Keira ducked a swipe made by a Warrior and impaled it on her sword.

"Help!" A man's voice called. Keira looked over to the source of the voice and saw a large beefy man being overrun by Lurkers- his axe beginning to become obsolete. Keira loaded her Eco Saber into her glove and launched it, taking care that it wouldn't harm the elf. As she ran toward him, she retrieved her Saber and cut down the three Lurkers that remained.

"Oh thank you so much! Hey, wait. I recognize you. Your that girl that boy that came in likes."

"What?" Keira asked, not having a clue as to what the man was talking about. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on where exactly she had met him.

"Don't cha remember? You and that two colored hair kid came by to see the teleportation device we have in our city." Keira's eyes widened as she remembered the man, Tank, if she wasn't mistaken.

"Yea. I remember. Tank right?"

"That's me."

"I remember that tour so well. It was a great opportunity to be able to see the… the…" Keira's voice trailed off as she ran a hand through her hair. An idea had just occurred to her. An insane idea, but an idea nonetheless.

"You okay there?" Tank asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Yea, yea. Hey, that teleportation device you guys have, how far does the range extend."

"You mean how far can you go?"

"No, I mean how many can you teleport at once?"

"Oh, however many can fit in three hundred square feet."

"And you can change where they teleport to?"

"You can indeed."

"Okay. This is my idea," Keira said as she whispered a plan in to his ear. His eyes widened and he looked down at her with newfound respect.

"That just might work." He said. "I and my brother Dozer will have to work pretty darn fast to get it done, but we can do it."

"All right then. We have to get everyone back to The City of the Sky." Keira shouted as she began rallying people to go back to the city. At inquiries to if they were surrendering Keira simply said no and that she had a plan. The entire village retreated back to the city, with the Lurker Army tailing them, believing the advantage to be theirs.

"Come on guys," Keira shouted as they ran for The City of The Sky. The Lurkers gave chase and didn't allow the villagers to slow down even a tiny bit. Keira stopped and fired her Eco Saber, decapitating the line in the front before she caught up with everyone else. She pulled out a communicator as she ran along.

"Dozer, this is Keira. Do you read me?" There was static for a few seconds before the person on the other side responded.

"Read you loud and clear Keira. What do you need?"

"We're making our way back. Ready the teleportation device."

"Did the Lurkers prove too hard to defeat? Because we have extra supplies here if you need-"

"No, we need to come back. Tank and I have a plan"

"Well all right, if my bro trusts you then I do too. Just let me know when you need me to throw the switch."

"Kay." Keira said before shutting her communicator off. The City of The Sky was drawing nearer: soon the plan she had thought up would be able to be carried out.

After ten more minutes of sprinting, the group was in range. "Now Dozer!" Keira shouted into her communicator. Immediately, the circles on the bottom portion of the city glowed yellow and beamed them all up. After she recovered from the intense cold, Keira stood up and started fiddling with the controls.

"Hey, what are you doin'?" Dozer asked as he made a move as though to grab her shoulder. A large beefy hand caught his. Dozer looked up to see his brother Tank.

"Relax man, she knows what she's doing."

"Got it!" Keira cried triumphantly. "Okay, I need you guys to stand by that lever," Keira said as she pointed to a spot near a glass window.

"But that's the-" Dozer started to say before Keira cut him off.

"Just do it!" she snapped. Dozer gulped at the gaze she gave him and hurried to join his brother. Keira aimed the teleportation device at the approaching Lurker army and teleported them all up to the city. As they materialized inside the glass room, Keira shouted for Dozer and Tank to pull the lever. As the lever moved, a hatch covering the floor was removed and the Lurkers fell to the ground. Most died a rather unpleasant death, while others were simply paralyzed due to the severing of their spine.

Still more Lurkers appeared, and as the army was moved from the ground to the city and then back to the ground, the villagers cheered. Finally, they were all gone. Keira sat back with a sigh of relief.

"Where's the city's supply of Green Eco?" she rasped out.

"I'll get out some," Tank said.

"No. Get enough for everyone. We have to go back down there." At this statement the entire town let out a shout protest.

"What? Why?" Dozer asked. Keira threw a glare at the villagers, who immediately silenced as they saw her eyes narrow.

"Look, I've been fighting Lurkers almost half my life. I'm not stupid, and you shouldn't let this small victory cloud your judgment. There were only weak Lurkers there: the mass of the army is still out there, waiting to take us by surprise. My guess is they started getting ready when they saw us 'retreat.' If we strike now and take them by surprise, before they can rally their troops, we might win the war." Silence followed this pronouncement- no one had thought of the current situation like that.

"We can heal and get some new equipment, but then we go back, all right?" Keira said. A few people grumbled, but the majority of the town cheered; to be rid of the Lurkers permanently would be a dream come true to them.

As Keira materialized in front of Gol's Citadel she wondered how Jak was doing. She knew she shouldn't worry, but at the same time she couldn't help it. She shook herself mentally: she was being stupid; she had watched him take down forty odd Lurkers on Misty Island that time he had gone back…

She watched as Jak climbed the wall and wondered why he had looked down. She followed where he was pointing to Daxter and saw Lurkers swarming the side of the canyon. As he climbed over a wall she ran back to her house and climbed her father's observation tower. She could see clearly as three Scouts attacked at once from different directions. Jak leapt into the air, spinning and kicking at the same time. All three fell to the ground, hugging what Keira would assume were broken ribs. As he landed, Jak rolled into a somersault and launched himself at a Lurker Worm. His shoulder slammed into its chest, and he heard it gasp for breath. Jak grabbed the tail and swung it around, sending the two Scouts and a General that had been foolish enough to charge him flying over the coliseum wall.

Jak slammed the Worm into the ground, severing its spine. As the Lurkers surrounded Jak, Keira wished that she had gone with him to help. As it was, all she could do was watch helplessly as he fought valiantly for his life. She narrowed her eyes as she saw Daxter quietly steal away from Jak. When and if he ever got back, Keira decided she was going to give that rat a thrashing he would never forget. Jak was now ignoring the Lurkers and looking around, no doubt scanning the area for his friend. The Lurkers noticed his distraction, and decided to strike. Jak quickly did a back flip, causing two Worms to become entangled. As he landed, Jak kicked out his legs, taking out two more Scouts. As his feet touched the ground, he dropped down and tripped a General. As it started to fall, Jak rose up and delivered a sidekick right to its ribs, causing the rib cage to shatter. Jak grabbed the Red Eco that had flowed out of the broken armor, and smiled.

Jak ran right at a trio of Worms, who were unprepared for what they considered to be a suicidal attack. As they charged, they found out what a bowling pin felt like after getting run over by a steamroller. As they fell, Jak rammed his shoulder into a Scout who knocked out two more as it went flying backwards. Keira cheered as Jak continued to mow down Scouts; seven more had fallen before she saw the reddish glow he had around his body fade. Three Worms, who had been waiting for the opportunity, slithered out of the shadows and wrapped their bodies around Jak. Keira felt as though she were in a horror film: watching her friend die and being unable to do anything about it. She saw a Red Eco Orb move toward him and had to do a double take. Eco Orbs did not usually move on their own. She made out an orange thing moving it and immediately took back every bad thing she had ever said about Daxter. She thought about giving him a hug, but then imagined what that shameless pervert would get out of it and immediately settled for being nice to him and asking her father to lighten up…

As the other villagers appeared, Keira readied her crossbow and saw everyone else do the same. The doors of the Citadel opened and now the tougher species came streaming out: the Berserkers (thankfully without the Power Cells in their chest), Trolls and Centipedes. The arrows rained down like death, and a large amount of the army fell before they got within a hundred feet. When they got within that range, the bowmen reloaded their tree trunks and just obliterated them by the dozens. The villagers cheered as the army slowed down, a sign that it was damaged. They were all so focused on the Lurkers that they did not even sense that there were other life forms just below the battle…

"They are losing," one of the creatures murmured.

"Yes," another sighed. "I was hoping that we would not have to get involved, but it is unavoidable now."

"We will need your help Escuro," the one in front said.

"I cannot help you," the demon replied.

"What?" the leader hissed. "We rescued you and you pledged your allegiance to us, and now you would revoke you duty, our duty?"

"I wish to do my duty Master."

"Then why will you not help us?"

"Because if we win the battle we will lose the war. If Gol is not killed, it is true that Dark Eco will be without a master, without one to set a boundary on it. And it is true that it will rage out of control and do whatever it wants, destroy. But that might not happen for five hundred years. If Gol wins, however, the balance will be more thrown out of proportion than ever and this planet will not last a year."

"I do not agree. We will stop them from killing the Dark One, and then stop the Dark One from opening the Silos." Escuro opened her mouth as if to argue, but couldn't do it.

"They'll know I'm right in the end," she thought bitterly to herself. But even knowing that the planet was on the line couldn't bring her to try to defy these people that had taken her in.

"Lets go!" Hatu and Wartstal shouted. Once the villagers had found out that those two Lurkers were on their side, they had dressed them in elfin clothing. It was as much a sign of acceptance as it was a way for the two Lurkers to distinguish themselves. Thanks to the clothes, the two Lurkers had been able to direct attacks and be in the thick of things without fear of being cut down. Of course, there was always one idiot, and that was to be one villager who had protested the two Lurkers serving with them despite the fact that they had been in the town for five days and not caused any trouble.

That man was still cowering in a corner after Keira had yelled at him, muttering incomprehensibly to himself.

Hatu and Wartstal were torn about the battle. Although they wanted to stop Gol, they wished that they did not have to kill so many of their brethren. This didn't stop them from using their Eco Sabers to cut through countless Lurkers.

"Hatu look out," Wartstal shouted as a Troll tried to sneak up on his brother. Hatu apparently didn't hear him, so Wartstal did the only thing he could think of: he threw his Eco Saber. It spun around and cut the Troll's head clean off. Unfortunately, that left Wartstal without a weapon. He quickly began using the martial arts style that he had learned by watching Jak, one that adopted swiftness and flexibility over outright strength, though the last quality certainly didn't hurt.

Wartstal kicked a Scout in the chest before grabbing another one with his foot. After crushing its skull, Wartstal slammed it face first into the ground. Another one came at him and he bent forward, wrapping his leg back around his body so that it came up from behind and grabbed the second Scout. He brought his foot back and released the second Scout so that it went flying back. As he landed on that foot he continued spinning and threw the first one he had grabbed so that it joined its dead companion. A Warrior bashed its way up to him and Wartstal received a blow to the body that simply popped a piece of flesh out of his back. As his skin healed and his internal organs grew back, Wartstal rolled to the side to avoid being skewered. He grabbed the sword the Warrior had imbedded in the ground and swung it around. As the Warrior fell to the ground in pieces, Wartstal threw the sword in the direction of the Citadel, where it hopefully killed a few more Lurkers. Suddenly he received a crushing blow to the back of his head. He fell to the ground and turned around just in time to see a sword rushing in.

Hatu spun around when he heard a hissing sound and saw a Troll keel over, an Eco Saber imbedded in its gut. He grabbed it out and looked around. He saw his brother get surrounded and he began spinning and twirling his Sabers around, becoming a literal tornado of death. Limbs were cut off and guts were spilled everywhere as his twin Sabers danced around, carving through armor and flesh as if it were wet toilet paper. He got to his brother just as he received a blow to the head by a Troll and crumple to the floor. Hatu lunged forward and made two lightning quick blows; one cutting off the Troll's arm and the other his head.

"Brother. Are you all right?" Hatu asked as he helped his kin to his feet.

"I think so," Wartstal replied as he took his Eco Saber out of Hatu's extended hand. The two of them got to their feet and resumed their battle, this time staying closer to each other so they wouldn't be separated again.

"Keep goin' guys!" Keira shouted as they drove the Lurker army back bit by bit. Suddenly the ground began to shake.

"What's goin' on?" Tank asked as a crack began to appear. No one bothered to answer as the crack extended into a circle. Suddenly the ground exploded, leaving a thirty-foot crater. Well, more of a giant hole, since a crater implied that the ground was simply indented. Suddenly, creatures began emerging from the darkness. Creatures were the only word Keira could use to describe them, for they weren't fully elfin, and yet they weren't Lurkers.

One of them was a pale blue. Fairy like wings sprouted from her back, giving her appearance of a type of fairy. Her arms were long and slender, and her fingers seemed to be made up of little rings rather than actual flesh. She was cloaked in tight fitting dark blue clothes. Connected to each arm was a long curved scythe that went up to the shoulder. They flipped out so that they were forward: in perfect position to carve through anything the host desired. Her blonde hair flowed down her shoulders to her lower back, where it was curled around her waist and utilized as a belt.

Another creature crawled out, this one obviously a male. He heaved himself out bit by bit with his hands. As he emerged fully from the darkness, Keira let out an audible gasp. His yellow skin looked as though it were made out of armor. While she could see that it actually was skin with the zoom function on her goggles, it certainly didn't look it from a glance. His two legs were able to bend in every direction and had suction cup like feet, since they stuck to the rock and came off with a slight pop that could be heard in the total silence. Attached to his waist was a belt with a small hilt on it not unlike the ones for Eco Sabers. As he slipped, both of his feet attached themselves to the wall and he flipped himself back up. As he hauled himself back up, his bulky arms that ended in three curved claws that met in the middle aided him immensely. The shoulders had five long spikes sticking out of it that were placed in an X fashion which only added to his bizarre and frightening appearance. His face was bulky, as though it were made out of bits of rock. Burning red eyes, with cat-like slits for pupils, were set far apart. The pupils expanded slightly in the light and the creature looked down as another one of its kin emerged.

Said mutant came into view fairly quickly. This one's body was covered in clothes, making its gender impossible to determine, but Keira thought that by the way it moved it was probably male. Its hands ended in claws that were half an inch long that dug into the stone quite easily with a slight hissing sound. He had a sword attached to his hip, and as he crawled up, the air around him shimmered and became distorted, as though he was so hot he was affecting the atmosphere directly around him. As he reached the ground, the mutant took off his cloak s everyone could see his fiery red skin. Two spikes that curved up were set above his yellow, pupil less eyes. As Keira zoomed in on him, she saw that his skin was set in a serpent like pattern, with the skin really being small scales set in an intricate pattern.

The bottom of the hole grew brighter as another figure emerged. Again, Keira was able to ascertain that it was a female by the way its hips moved when it climbed. Unlike the other one, who was built solidly, this one was clearly not a fighter, or if she was, she probably didn't try to use her muscles. Keira could tell that she had more muscle than this flimsy creature, but she was quick to remind herself that that probably meant that it had some kind of powerful ability that would catch the opponent off guard. Dark grey covered her chest like a swimsuit, with the stomach revealed. The pants reached down about halfway between her knee and her ankle, leaving a little of her leg to be seen by the public. Keira wondered why the female adorned herself in dark grey, since it was a color that contrasted greatly with her skin. Her arms shone golden, like the lights used to light up the tree at Christmas and had armor similar to Jak's, only made out of Precursor armor. What could be seen of her chest was an intense red. Her legs were the soft, sedated blue of the ocean by Sandover right after a storm and were dressed like her arms. Her face was the passionate green of the Forbidden Jungle. Even with the unusual and differing skin color, she might have been accepted as what was popularly considered as normal, except for the eyes. They were pure white, with only a small dot, and they moved independently of each other, giving her a wide field of vision.

The heads of the four mutants looked down and Keira followed their gaze. What appeared to be a blue puddle was rising up out of the ground. As it grew and began to rise up, Keira realized it was merely another mutant making its appearance. The Eco swelled and became solid, revealing the blue plushy looking flesh of the fifth distorted creature. Keira watched it walked over t the others and saw that its frame was not solid. As its feet impacted the ground, one parts of its arm would bulge out while another piece would cave in. It was not an enormous change, but it was sufficient enough that Keira noticed it.

Another creature flew out of the hole. It landed on the ground and folded its enormous wings that were reminiscent of an eagle's, albeit green, and connected to her arms behind her back. Long red hair flew wildly behind this mutant, giving her a bizarre appearance. Adding to the odd look was her hands. They were pale yellow, with three very long fingers that ended in curved, vicious looking claws, which was an accurate description of her feet as well. What set this mutant apart from the others was the fact that she had no clothes on. Her bottom half was covered in long purple feathers, while her torso was similarly covered, except the color was a poisonous looking blue.

Yet another person emerged from the bottom of the pit, this one being the most normal looking so far. In fact, if it weren't for his extreme resemblance to an ape, he could have passed for an elf. He was wearing white pants that were the exact same as Jak's. Brown fur covered his upper body, except for the chest itself. A dark red, like blood, tail that looked like a monkey's poked through a hole in the back of his pants and was snaked around his waist like a belt. It clashed with the blue sash that he had tied around his pants like a strap. His arms were covered in a lighter red than his tail, this color looking calmer. Yellow eyebrows were positioned above kind looking blue eyes. His hair was even wilder than Jak's: with seven or eight main spikes sticking up about eight inches or so, the falling down over his forehead an inch or so and two long dreadlocks that were draped from his shoulders down to about halfway down his chest. He carried himself with a very distinguishable air: it said; "mess with me and you won't live to see tomorrow." Despite this, Keira could not see this person as being outwardly aggressive, a hypothesis that was confirmed when his face lit up with a smile as he landed next to his comrades.

Another creature appeared, making Keira wonder just how many of them there actually were. This one was easily the most fantastic looking, as it didn't resemble anything even remotely elfin. Two massive wings, easily ten feet each, pumped almost lazily as it flew out of the hole in Weyard's skin. These weren't the pretty looking wings of the one that had come out two times ago: they resembled a bat's. Its head was flat and animal-like, with horns sticking out of the forehead. These horns curved up behind the head and encircled the ears, giving it a ram-like appearance in that aspect. Its hair was a dark red, much like the fur of the tail on the man that had just come out, and was braided down to its waist. Three eyes were set in its head, two dark purple and the one above them yellow. Its skin resembled that of a skinned Yakow: dark brown and leathery looking. What were also unmistakable were its wings, three taloned fingers stuck out of the two joints that were between its shoulders and the wings. As it landed, these two hands interlocked and so prevented the wings from snagging on anything. One of his arms was actually made up of large black spheres about the size of Keira's head. These were solid obsidian in color and on the end was a nasty looking stinger, the kind one would see on a scorpion's tail. The other hand looked normal, at least for this creature. Its biceps bulged and the hands ended in claws that were bright blue and an inch long. Its legs were triple-jointed, with the first part about two feet long before it angled back up into itself about a third of the way and then angled back down again for two more feet. The feet were similar to the one that resembled a bird, only it had four toes instead of three and the claws were the only part that touched the ground, the rest of the foot being angled up off the ground.

Another creature materialized from the shadows, this one looking barbaric and feral. It had some resemblance to humanity, with only two arms and two legs. Most unusually, it had two thumbs on each hand, one on either side. Its face was covered by a mask of Precursor armor, and it looked as though its entire body was covered in leather straps. It carried a metal double-sided, double-bladed axe that was set against him back. Apart from the scarred and scabby hands and feet, which Keira assumed would be the same over all his skin, this one looked quite normal.

Yet another creature emerged, this one being the tenth. Its body was amphibious looking, since it was breathing quite normally and yet had gills on either side of its neck. It wore a pair of brown shots that came up to the knee and that was it. Its skin was scaly and green, which greatly enhanced it semblance to a fish or similar creature. Two large black unblinking eyes were set in its head below a mass of tentacles for hair. Although they looked stationary, Keira could see the ends of them twitching, as though they were trying to pick up something from the air.

The eleventh creature made its appearance, and once again struck home the fact that this group was not ones average group of misfits. It was swabbed in red and blue clothes that completely obscured the legs as it climbed up, digging its green staff with a purple jewel on the top into the stone to pull itself up. Its body was tan, like an elf's, but it could hardly be considered normal. The face looked miserable, as though this creature longed for death. Its lips were nonexistent, revealing a set of yellow, uneven teeth. Sharp fingernails were positioned at the end of foot long fingers, each one with six joints, giving it immense flexibility. As it pulled itself up, Keira saw that it walked like a hunchback, with the head set in the chest. To protect it from aerial attacks, the creature wore a metal carapace that covered the "shoulders" and back. Said armor had a purple half-sphere in the center, which was probably important to it in some way.

All eleven now turned around and sank to their knees and bent their heads as the twelfth creature emerged, making Keira think that this one would be the ringleader. Much of its body remained unseen as it levitated its body out of the hole. This was due to it being dressed in purple and gold. It wore armor shaped like a V at the shoulders and wore a helmet made out Precursor metal. Its skin was a sickly purple, and it had very long fingers. Black eyes were in the face of this newest mutant.

As the others rose, Keira guessed that the leader had been the last to emerge. All of them now looked in the hole as if they were waiting, but nothing emerged. After about a minute or so, it appeared that whatever they were waiting for was obviously not coming.

"So, which side are we on?" the one that had been the first to emerge asked. She had a light, feathery voice that sounded like wind itself.

"The hairy ones. The elves are attempting to upset the delicate balance," the leader proclaimed.

That was all Keira needed to hear before she fired an arrow right at the leader. It turned its head around and blinked. Instantly the arrow burst into flames, so that by the time it got to the leader it was little more than ash. The villagers froze, not knowing what to make of this power.

"Attack!" Keira and the leader screamed as one. Eleven of the creatures darted forward, while the frail multicolored one stayed behind, kneeling down as if in prayer.

After about thirty minutes of fighting, it was clear that however determined the elves were, these new mutants that had emerged were effectively turning the tables. Again and again, Keira and her group charged, only to ultimately lose ground. What was puzzling Keira was how the mutants seemed perfectly content to let the elves go, but attacked viciously if they tried to gain ground. This caused Keira to wonder whether or not if these creatures were evil or confused. As they launched a tree at the one that resembled a demon more than anything, it tried to stop it. Fortunately, it was unsuccessful and was plowed into the ground. Keira and the other cheered, thankful they had finally taken one of their enemies down. They stopped and everyone's jaw dropped when they saw what was happening. The demon had lifted the entire tree over its head before throwing it back at the elves. Needless to say, the elves retreated before said trunk impacted.

The one that had the air around it shimmer approached Keira as she fought off a trio of Lurker Trolls. She spun around and swung her blade, but a quick draw of the creature's falchion stopped her.

"Why? Why are you attacking us? We have done nothing to you, nothing to warrant this aggression." Keira said, her eyes wide and pleading. He looked down at her, regret etched in every line on his face.

"I am sorry, but this is the only way."

"What are you talking about?"

"If you win, this world will be destroyed."

"What?"

"It is true the Dark One is attempting to destroy the world. After you leave, we will deal with him. The Silos must remain closed, or the entire balance of Weyard will be thrown out of whack. Nevertheless, we cannot allow you to kill him. If Dark Eco is without a Sage, then it will be completely free to destroy the planet." Keira's brain struggled to comprehend what he was saying as he raised his sword.

"I'm sorry," he said as he lowered his sword.

"No…" Keira whispered as the sword drew closer.

"Brother…" Hatu whispered as he held his brother's hand.

"Sorry bro. Looks like I won't be around to see you guys win," Wartstal said with a flicker of a smile.

"I'll get them for this," Hatu growled as he looked at the mangled and twisted form of what three minutes ago had been his brother. His eyes narrowed as he remembered the bastard that had done this to his own brother…

"Look out!" Wartstal shouted as he tackled Hatu. A stream of Yellow Lightning went whizzing by a second after they hit the floor. Hatu got up as he and Wartstal activated their Eco Sabers before rushing the creature with leather straps as clothing. They were finding it very hard t hit him however: his body could bend in ways that it shouldn't be able to. As they got closer to him, his hands began to glow green. He blocked their Eco Sabers with the power of Green Eco while inflicting scratches with one of his feet. What was really maddening about this was he was managing to block, parry and attack with three limbs while balancing on only one.

Hatu leapt into the air and brought his Saber crashing down. The creature dodged and Hatu was left open for a second. Razor sharp claws tore into his flesh from every angle, making it impossible for Hatu to escape disorientation.

"Leave him alone!" Wartstal roared as he shoved himself into the body of the creature. As it staggered, Wartstal brought his blade up and Hatu mentally cheered from the ground as he watched his half-brother deliver what was thought to be the finishing blow.

Alas, victory was not to be assured that day.

The creature brought one of its feet up and Blue Lightning shot out of the limb. Wartstal froze as he brought his blade crashing down. The beast righted itself and shot a blast to keep Hatu from moving. It then shot a proverbial storm of both Red and Yellow Lightning at Wartstal, who screamed as his skin began to burn before peeling away. As he thrashed around on the floor in mindless agony, Hatu heard the whispered apology of the beast as it charged up a blast of Dark Lightning. Fury erupted in Hatu as he watched and heard his brother die a slow, painful death. So focused was the creature on killing off the Lurker Regenerator that he did not notice the yellow lightning spark around the one he had paralyzed.

"ENOUGH!" Hatu screamed as a blast erupted from his outstretched hands. At first, one would think it was a beam, but upon closer examination, it could be seen that the beam was actually a blast of Yellow Lightning that was super-concentrated. Such was the power of the attack that the creature was blown three hundred feet away.

Hatu got up ran at his brother, not caring how he had somehow managed to Channel Yellow Eco…

"Don't worry. You can heal yourself," Hatu said reassuringly, but even as he spoke these words, he knew something was wrong: if Wartstal was going to heal himself, it would have happened already.

"No. That last blast somehow damaged my ability to heal myself," Wartstal gasped out. Apparently, the blast had also damaged his lungs, since it was getting harder for him to breathe.

"I won't lose you they way I lost our parent!" Hatu said determinedly.

"You don't have to. I learned the power of Synthesis," Wartstal said weakly. Hatu reeled back: Synthesis was an ancient technique used by their ancestors to fuse two Lurkers together. One would gain the powers of both, and it was through this skill that the more advanced and powerful Lurkers had come about.

"Put…your hand…on my chest, " Wartstal said faintly. Hatu did as his kin requested. Suddenly, Wartstal began screaming. Not in pain, but in concentration. A sudden blue fire engulfed his body and the heat was transferred to Hatu. Amazingly, it didn't hurt, but felt… comforting. A flash of white light erupted from Wartstal's body and Hatu shut his eyes. After the light died down and he opened them back up, Hatu saw that all physical traces of his brother's body were gone.

"I'm alone now," he thought as he stood up, preparing himself for the battle against the Lurkers that were swarming toward him. However, even as he said it, another voice in his mind said that he was never alone. But it wasn't his voice. It was the voice of his brother.

Keira felt an explosion of heat wash over her body as someone picked her up. She opened her eyes and saw that the creature that had been about to kill her stagger back, liquid Red Eco covering his body. She looked up to see Tank.

"Thought you could use some help," he said shortly. Keira began to thank him when a wave of heat swept over the two of them. The creature was standing tall, and, if his increased aura was any indication, even stronger than before the explosion.

"Tank?" Keira whispered as the creature began to walk toward them.

"Yea?"

"What was that that you threw at him?"

"An Eco Shell. Why?"

"I don't think it worked," Keira said as the creature swung its sword and hit the ground with it. Streaks of fire came roaring off of the blade and Tank dodged desperately to avoid getting singed. The creature raised its hands again and this time Keira, sure death was coming to claim her this time, kept her eyes open, determined to die fighting. The creature was attacked by an odd creature, and for a second Keira feared another mutant had emerged. But as the samurai imitator was thrown away and the creature turned around, she let out a gasp.

It was Hatu, and yet he did not look himself. For starters, his body had changed. His feet now ended in claws, which meant he had gained another weapon. The legs were now covered in reddish-purple hair, but had not changed shape: they were still the thin versions. He had gotten taller, now being a full six feet tall. His hair was unchanged, as were the ears on the top of his ears. His chest was now completely covered in hair, but it lessened once it got to the neck. The arms were unchanged, but those were the only things that hadn't changed. When he opened his mouth, Keira saw that two of his canines had been elongated. And his eyes were different as well. The part that had been yellow was now red, and the brown parts were yellow. The pupils were still cat-like, but were now deep blue rather than black.

"Hey Keira," he said as he bent down and helped her up.

"Hey, what happened to you?"

"It's a long story. I'll explain later." He said shortly as the three of them linked up with another group.

"So… any idea as to how to keep these guys?" Keira asked as they sent boulders via catapult at the advancing army.

"Nope, as a matter of fact I was counting on you to help us out." Hatu responded as he slaughtered some nearby with his claws, which had extended to be somewhere about two inches. A thundering was heard as one of the most powerful Lurkers approached: a Behemoth. Hatu drew his two Eco Sabers and engaged it without so much as a second thought. The skin of the Behemoth was amazingly resilient, and the Eco Sabers barely nicked the skin, let alone cut through it. Still, Hatu danced around it, making pinpricks here and there, knowing that if he scored enough, they would become lethal. Keira stopped to watch the Lurker in his battle. There was a terrifying way that he danced around, his fluidity and grace far beyond that of many living things. As he danced around the Behemoth, Keira could only describe him as a whirlwind of disaster, the two Eco Sabers blocking and attacking repeatedly.

The Behemoth finally roared and went down, its twenty-foot frame shaking the earth as it caused small cracks in the ground.

Although this was a minor victory, on the whole things were going right down the toilet. Although the creatures only killed when absolutely necessary, the Lurkers were not as accommodating, and already three fourths of the army had been killed. Keira knew what they had to do, although it sent a knife through her heart to give the order.

"Everyone fall back," she shouted as she launched an Eco Saber at a trio of incoming Trolls. "I repeat, fall back. Retreat to The City of The Sky," she shouted as she began running back, fear giving her the proper motivation to outrun the Lurkers.

The Lurkers began following the elves but a massive wall of fire stopped them in their tracks. The red warrior with the sword had created the wall to protect the elves. The creatures banded together and stood between the Lurkers and their prey.

"We rusb ke kxo Citadel. Gol aj nuakadw. Kho ke fujj udt toukx nacc ro idmohsavicco jcen." (Go back to the Citadel. Gol is waiting. Try to pass and death will be unmercifully slow.) The leader growled. The Lurker army turned, as one, and went back to the Citadel.

"Who were those guys?" Keira thought as she was transported back to The City of The Sky. "And what did that one guy mean when he said that if we kill Gol, Dark Eco will kill everything?"

All in all, the atmosphere was depressed as everyone sat down. Keira couldn't stand the tension and went outside. Although she couldn't see it, she knew Jak was fighting for the planet off on the Dark Eco Silo.

She was suddenly seizing afraid she would never see him again. She shook her head, knowing Jak had gotten himself out of a load of scraps before.

"Come home Jak…" Keira whispered to the wind as, miles away, Jak fought with every ounce of determination he possessed.

Keira would wait for him to return. And then they would go home, all the way back to Sandover. Back to where they had begun, before the war, before the knowledge of the burden that was theirs to carry. "No," Keira corrected herself, "the burden is Jak's I can't that away from him. All I can do is helping him to shoulder the enormity of his duty."

"After all, I love him," she thought as she gazed over the beautiful planet she had been blessed to live on.

"And that's what people do when they're in love."

Well, here it is. Sorry for updating so late, my dog thought it would be fun to use my mouse as a toy. Needless to say, I had to go buy a new one. I do hope I made this realistic enough, and now the third party is finally revealed. Don't worry, its not the last you'll see of them. Please let me know if the descriptions were good, and if anyone has a comment, idea (please!), flame, etc, don't hesitate.AndI an sorryfor the extreme mushiness of Keira, and I sincerely hope I did not cause anyone to vomit.That being said, you can look forward to seeing Jak take on Gol and Maia in the final chapter tomorrow or Tuesday.

My Top Five Favorite Fanfictions. (They are listed alphabetically, not by preference.)

1. Surge by Amathist Fwirrel

2. The Jak and Daxter Prank War by animedragongirl

3. The Sage's Legacy by Light-Eco-Sage

4. There was Light and Darkness by Keeroshu

5. War of the Ancients by Red Mage 04

Quote of the week- Donkey (Shrek)

Shrek: You can't tell me you're afraid of heights.

Donkey: No, I'm just uncomfortable about being on a rickety bridge, over a boiling lake of lava!