To those that were kind enough to review:
animedragongirl- Yup, I thought you might like being his daughter. I understood what he was going to do, but I had no idea what the word actuate meant when I played the game. I had to go and look it up.
GoodMorningBeautiful2005- Yup, Liz is a powerful fighter indeed. Everyone will be, and that's gonna be when everything topples down around Gol. Oh, do me a favor: you said you wanted to be a Channeler, so when you get a chance, could you send me your profile? Too bad you can't update: I'm looking forward to the next one. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again ;).
SilverFlameoftheWindScar- Thanks very much for the compliments. Too bad that you might not be able to be on for too much longer, but I will try to finish this before such a horrible event occurs (how will I read your story if your not online)? I don't know what suspense there is, but I'll try to clear it all up.
CrazyOttsel- Yup, Daxter got his moment in. I really do downplay him too much, except when he killed that snake on the dirigible. Hmm, Daxter with weapon... (pictures Daxter with a cocked PeaceMaker and shudders for the Metal Heads). To answer those three questions: one, he's the comic relief; two, he's got razor sharp claws and fangs; and three, he's annoying when he wants to be.
Red Mage 04- Yup, only five left before they all revolt. And yes, Gol will experience a little shock before the bitter end. Remarkably similar to the way a certain Sith Lord does in a certain Sci-Fi epic, as a matter of fact. Checked out those websites, and you were right about them. Though I didn't get a chance lately to look at the second one: things up here have been hell. I know you weren't referring to Risen Demon, but I thought that by mentioning that masterpiece, it might help boost your confidence.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I take small comfort in the fact I can play the games whenever I please.
Old Enemies Return and New Allies Emerge
Jak, Margaret and Cara looked at the Mountain Pass, wondering how to get through it without being seen. Undoubtedly, the Lurker presence would have skyrocketed since the arrival of the black sun. The group needed to get through undetected if they were to arrive in Volcanic Crater undetected and surprise Santar. Though he knew that with Cara and Margaret helping him he would have a better chance, Jak would have preferred not to have to battle the Red Eco Sage at all given the choice.
A sudden roar made the three Channelers whip around. Jak stepped back as he looked at the furry face of Klaww, the gigantic Lurker he had beaten long ago. The giant Lurker raised its arm and Jak saw that the Precursor prosthetic Gol had removed was back. His keen gaze also didn't miss the fact that the giant chunk of flesh where the heart had been (which Jak had blown out of the body) was fully healed, even if it did glow a bit darker.
"What in the name of the Precursors is that?" Cara asked as the monster roared, causing a small avalanche in the distance and picked up a flaming boulder. The three Channelers dived out of the way, but Jak still felt the heat from the boulder as it slammed into the ground. Jak summoned a Yellow Eco Grenade and threw it with unnerving aim into Klaww's right eye. The beast roared and clutched at the small organ and Jak grabbed the two girls as he flew into the air. He settled down near a cave and the three of them ran in just as Klaww began looking for them.
"I can't believe, urf-" Daxter said as Jak hastily covered his friend's mouth. He put his finger to his lips as Klaww bent down and looked at the entrance of the cave. Everyone held their breath and pressed their bodies against the cave wall as the gigantic red eye looked around for its prey. Klaww roared in frustration: his master had instructed him to kill anything that moved in the Mountain Pass, and anything approaching it. He would have loved to be able to chuck boulders at Rock Village, but Gol had also told him that the town was now their ally and should not be attacked under any circumstance. A very brilliant idea occurred to him. His quarry was definitely hiding in one of the caves: their scent was everywhere. The best thing to do would be to simply smash all of them so that they were either crushed or would be trapped. If they were trapped they would try to free themselves and then he would kill them.
"What is that?" Cara whispered to Jak.
"Klaww. I kicked his ass a few months ago. Now he's back for round two," Daxter said as he puffed out his chest and dropped to the ground. Cara and Margaret rolled their eyes as they looked at Jak, who sighed and nodded. He peered out the cave and prepared to dart out and take Klaww by surprise.
"Jak, let me take this thing on," Margaret said as Jak prepared to leave. He began to shake his head, but Margaret talked before he could leave. "You're too important Jak! We need you to stay alive to face Gol. I have a lot of Eco and I can take him down no problem." Jak reluctantly nodded: Margaret was an Amplifier after all, so she would be able to deal devastating attacks on Klaww and whittle away at his health and endurance.
"Great, now let's get goin'" Cara said as she prepared to leave the cave entrance. Jak and her out as fast as they could, Jak helping Cara along, as the girl was unable to Channel Eco. Klaww spotted them and a grin lit his face as he reached for them. A massive blast caught him in the face and Klaww looked to his left to see Margaret with her hand raised, another Yellow Eco Ball in her hand.
"C'mon ugly," Margaret taunted as she let loose another blast. Klaww roared and smashed his arms down where she was, and would have hit her had the Amplifier Channeler not darted away using superelfin speed with help from her Blue Eco Box.
Liz and Veston landed silently in the eerie red light of the Lurker laboratory. "Remember, we're only here to take the heat shield and Power Cell Energy Grid," Veston whispered in a perfect Rock Village accent. Liz looked at him, raising her eyebrows to show her surprise that he had imitated their way of speaking so fast. "Call it a talent," he said as he shrugged.
"I know," Liz said, annoyed that Veston did not seem totally open to trusting her. Though, she was quick to remind herself, if she had been through the betrayal the group had experienced so far, she would be hesitant to trust almost total strangers as well.
"So, any idea what direction to go in?" Veston asked.
"How should I know?" Liz asked sharply, like she would know which direction the Lurkers had taken the blasted pieces of machinery.
"Because you knew where this place was, so I thought you might have gone inside it," Veston retorted. Liz rolled her eyes but the logic was good, she admitted to herself.
"Well, you can read Lurker, what's that sign say?"
"Let's see. Tuesday only, you can buy a Yakow steak and get a free Croca-Dog brain?" Veston said before grimacing. Liz clutched her mouth and retched.
"Not the lunch menu, you idiot! The big glowing sign!"
"Oh," Veston said before chuckling to himself. Liz ground her teeth: his attitude was getting on her nerves. "'Secret project: Female companion of Bane of the Lurker's flying machinery is in Rm. 7 on Level 2.' Now where is level 2?" Veston muttered to himself.
"Dunno. Any ideas?" Liz asked before shrinking back and hiding in the shadows as a trio of Lurker Scouts came into the room. Veston smirked as he whispered a single word that made the new teammate seriously question his sanity.
Veston crept up to the trio and grabbed the one closest to the shadows before snapping its neck soundlessly. He then changed his voice and growled out some words that Liz recognized as those belonging to the Lurker language.
"Nxoho aj kxo ocolukeh? Jkuoadw idtohwheidt je cedw aj tholadw mo shuqo!" (Where is the elevator? Staying underground so long is driving me crazy!) Liz waited with bated breath as the Lurkers responded before Veston said a quick word and decapitated all of them before he burned their bodies to dust with a Red Eco Sword.
"It's down the hall and to the right," he said as he came back. Liz's eyebrow twitched as Veston acted as though he had casual conversations with Lurkers daily.
"You speak their language?"
"Yup," Veston responded smugly.
"How?"
"Well, I mostly learned three words when a Lurker learned our language, but from there I figured out how to decipher the language."
"And that is?"
"We don't have enough time right now. Some other time I'll tell you about it." Veston whispered as they boarded the elevator and began wheeling it to level two.
Jak and Cara continued walking through the Mountain Pass, the heat of the sun pounding on their backs. "Damn it's hot," Cara sighed as they finally reached some shade. Jak nodded: though he had only been in her region for three days, he had noticed that there was more moisture in the air up here, and especially in the Mountain Pass. The result was for all the moisture that was normally sweated out through the skin was trapped inside the body, causing the internal temperature to rise. Jak sighed as he put his back against the cool rock wall and as a breeze blew a cross his face. He knew that time was running out: if they didn't get out of this place, then they would surely get sick. Jak knew that no matter how hot it felt, it was really only about fifty degrees.
Jak sniffed the air as a strong, animal smell came about his nostrils. He wrinkled his nose in distaste: the smell wasn't very bad, but it was very overbearing. He looked over at Cara, who was beginning to cough from the smell. Jak cautiously looked around the corner and gasped. A girl was approaching them, holding a ball of Yellow Eco in her hand. But that wasn't what had shocked Jak. She was riding a most peculiar creature. It had four legs, each about three and a half feet in length. It had yellowish-blonde, sleek looking hair going down the legs, the body that had absolutely no fat on it, and all the way up a foot long neck. The face was angled downwards, and two large nostrils were set about a mouth big enough to take Jak's whole hand. Two ears swiveled around, trying to pick up nearby sounds, and light brown eyes glittered in the shade. A tail of what looked like regular yellow hair went for about two feet off the end of its body.
Jak looked at the horse in admiration and wonderment. Never before had he seen such a strange creature, but at the same time he could appreciate it for its muscles and the grace it possessed as its feet, which looked like giant fingernails, though there was only one on the end of each foot, walked smoothly, never stumbling over the rocky terrain. Jak stepped out of the shadows and the girl saw Jak. She aimed a ball of Eco at him and fired a beam right at him…
Margaret groaned as she lifted a boulder off of her body. She had dodged the one Klaww had thrown at her only to be struck by an avalanche. Fortunately, she had reached her Green Eco Box before she was crushed and managed to stay alive, although with a lot of pain. She lifted the rock and chucked it Klaww, who had leaned his face in to see if she were truly dead or not. He received a stone in the face followed by a giant blast of Yellow Eco as a signal to not repeat that particular action.
Margaret leapt over a hand as Klaww slapped down on the ground. As she landed, Margaret turned on her Red Eco Box and slammed her foot down on the tip of Klaww's finger as he moved it away. The result was somewhat comical. Though it was like an ant attacking an elf, Klaww roared in pain and shook his finger in the air to try to lessen the stinging. Margaret knew that she would never be able to really damage the beast with physical attacks: the only reason that attack had actually hurt was because the fingertip was one of the most sensitive parts of the body, be that body Lurker or elfin.
Margaret wished she could fly like Jak as she ran along the ground using Blue Eco, dodged small beams of Yellow Eco and rocks. Though she could use more powerful attacks for longer periods of time, she was restricted to using the Ecos to only their basic uses. Klaww roared and Margaret saw that her repeated attacks were actually singing off his hair. A sudden mental image of him bald popped into her head and she smiled as she leapt fifty feet into the air. The Red Eco she was using to enhance her strength also allowed her to leap almost and obscene amount of distance in a single bound. As Klaww grabbed at her, Margaret leaned to the left and barely avoided getting crushed in his massive fist. She landed on his chest and began climbing up, her fingers gripping the rough metal. He swiveled around to see where she had gone and Margaret hissed as her hand slipped and the skin was rubbed raw. She continued climbing, finding it harder due to the blood seeping out of her palm and reducing the friction between her hand and the metal.
Margaret finally got to the top of the chest and gathered a small amount of Yellow Eco from her Yellow Eco Box. She concentrated on it and increased the amount in her hand until she could no longer contain it. She put her palms in front of her face and allowed the energy to flow from her body to her surroundings in a beam of light. Said energy traveled for about ten feet up Klaww's neck before hitting him the face. Margaret continued to pour her power into her attack, not ceasing even when the force became too much on her body and she was pushed off Klaww's neck. She hit the wall and continued to send her power out. As she ran out of power, Margaret slid down the mountain, gritting her teeth as small stones ripped her shirt and her skin.
"Damn. This was my favorite shirt," Margaret said as she tried to see her back. She felt around and winced as open wounds were touched. She activated her Green Eco Box and sighed as the skin knit itself back together, but unfortunately, there was no returning her shirt to the way it had been.
A roar made her look up and Margaret's blood froze. There, with his face bloodied and partially blown off, was Klaww. And he looked none too pleased to see her. Margaret dodged to the right as a massive beam of Yellow Eco came her way.
Veston and Liz snuck down the dark hallway, taking care never to expose themselves for more than a few dangerous seconds. "Room 7," Veston muttered as they reached their destination. He put his hand on the knob and turned it so slowly that Liz thought that it might take half an hour just to open it. "Let me go and get the pieces," Veston muttered. Liz nodded, but made it clear through hand movements that she would be accompanying him.
As Veston crawled into the room, a sudden headache overcame him. He saw a vision of Margaret fighting a gigantic Lurker with a Precursor Robot arm and begin buried under an avalanche. As the vision cleared, he clearly heard her pain filled voice shout for him. "Veston, help me!" He shook his head and looked at Liz.
"We have to go. Now!" He added fiercely as Liz came up next to him.
"What? Why?"
"I just have a feeling that I'm needed elsewhere. Screw the espionage, we need to get out of here," Veston replied as he shot a blast of Yellow Eco. The Lurkers that were caught in the beam were blown off their feet and thrown aside. Veston ran up and took the artifacts.
"Let's go," he said shortly.
"Not just yet," Liz said as she drew half a dozen knives from a pocket. She concentrated on them before they began to glow yellow. Veston realized that she had transferred the Yellow Eco in her body into the knives. Liz threw them a number of bottles of liquid Eco and began to run. Veston stared at her in astonishment before he too began to run as though the hounds of Legatee were after him. He remembered only too well what would happen if different liquid Ecos were to com into contact with each other, as his experience back on Brigands Bastion reminded him.
Cara flung her hand out and the beam collected into a ball. She then prepared to fire it back at the mysterious girl, but Jak held up his hand. He walked slowly towards the girl and her strange animal. The girl tensed up, ready for a fight, and Jak saw that she looked as though she had had a rough couple of months. She was the oldest woman Jak had seen yet on his quest, judging her to be somewhere in her mid-twenties. She had curly dark blond hair that was nearly to waist. Jak could tell tat had it not been so matted and snarled, it would have been beautiful. Her eyes were the same shade of blue that Jak's were, though hers were presently narrowed with dislike and suspicion. She was an inch or two taller than Jak, just under six feet. One of her hands had a multicolored band in it, which Jak was curious about. The girl looked up at the strange animal, as if asking it a question with her mind. As her neck moved, Jak saw the tip of what appeared to be a tattoo of red and yellow flames coming of the top of her left breast. He wondered what it meant and shifted his view to the animal, which was approaching him. Jak stayed perfectly still and controlled his breathing, careful to not let any of his apprehension show. This was a key to making friends with animals. If they sensed fear or hesitation, they instantly distrusted you. The animal sniffed Jak, who looked it straight in the eyes without blinking.
"Good, you know how to act around animals," the girl said in a slightly raspy voice. Jak looked at her to see that her hand was now outstretched. "Tiffany," the girl said, almost shyly now that she was not fighting.
"I'm Cara, and he's Jak. He can't talk," Cara added in response to Tiffany opening her mouth, which Cara was sure would be a question as to why she was answering for Jak.
"And I'm Daxter," the small animal on Jak's shoulder said, louder than any of the other elves. The animal snorted and snatched Daxter off Jak's shoulder and stuffed him in its mouth. Jak reacted instantly, grabbed the animal's neck and tightening his grip until the animal spat his friend out.
"Gentle," the girl said sharply, rubbing her pet's throat gently. Jak glared at her: her pet had eaten his friend. "All you had to do was say 'drop it.'" Jak glared at her still until the girl rolled her eyes. "So, what are you doing on my turf?"
"Your turf?" Cara asked aggressively.
"Yes. My turf. So where are you going?"
"We're going to Volcanic Crater to free Santar and then eventually to Gol's Citadel to reverse the black sun," Cara said shortly.
"Then maybe I can help you," Tiffany said. "These are called horses, and I have two more. They're unbelievably fast: I guarantee they'll get you to Volcanic Crater by sundown." Jak's eyes bugged out: that was fast. "There's only one condition."
"We'll return them," Cara assured her.
"You better, but I want you to take me with you. I'm a Channeler too, and I'll be an asset." Jak turned this over in his mind. No doubt another Channeler would be immensely helpful, and he thought the girl to be a good person, if a little rash. He nodded and shook her hand. "Let's go," Tiffany said as she mounted her horse and began to lead Jak and Cara to the others she kept.
Margaret leapt into the air again, chiding herself for so foolishly dumping all of her Yellow Eco into one attack. Granted, it had done an enormous amount of damage, but now she was out of Yellow Eco, which was her only way to attack. No matter how strong she was, Margaret knew she would never to more than mildly annoy the giant monstrosity. She darted about on the ground, using Blue Eco to travel so fast that even a creature as big as Klaww had trouble keeping with her. She leapt over a fist headed er way and ran up the metallic arm. She began Channeling Red Eco and sped up, using her leg muscles to propel herself forward.
As Klaww saw the small elf run up his arm, he chuckled internally. What could such a pathetic, inferior being such as this hope to accomplish against his awesome strength. He found out a second later, as Margaret leapt into the air and delivered a jumping spinning back kick to his right eye. Klaww roared in pain as his already injured eye suffered another powerful blow. He closed his eyes and grabbed his eye, hopping up and down to try to distract himself from the terrible pain. Out of the corner of his tear-filled eye, Klaww saw the elf that had caused him so much pain leap off of him and land on the ground. He roared and slapped at her, but missed. Margaret landed on the ground and lifted a gigantic boulder over her head, concentrating hard to avoid dropping it.
"Hey ugly!" She called to Klaww. The beast opened its eye just in time to see a rock about the size of its hand coming at him. Margaret's eyes widened when he caught it and set it on fire before chucking it back at her. She darted away as fast as she could, but was not prepared for the aftershock and nearly fell to the ground. At the last possible moment, Margaret leapt into the air, only to be slapped by Klaww.
Margaret was dazed as she went hurtling through the air, her body limper than a wet noodle. The blow had rattled her entire spine and left her discombobulated. As she slammed into a rock wall, she noticed dimly that she was bleeding profusely from cuts all over her body. She fell to the ground and saw the sky. She had just enough time to wonder why it was blue before a pile of rocks fell on her and everything went dark…
Margaret woke up with a jolt and cried out as a sharp jab of pain went through her entire body. The slap by Klaww had shattered her right side, and slamming into the wall had cracked her sternum. Finally, hitting the ground and cracked a couple of vertebrae, preventing her from using her left side. It also didn't help her situation that rocks had landed on her legs, nor was the fact that she was bleeding heavily from an artery in her arm helping matters. She tried to move, but it was a struggle to keep breathing.
"I… should've let Jak take him…" Margaret muttered as she struggled to stay awake. But try she might, her eyes became heavier and heavier, until she could not help but close them. A wonderful light began to grow in her eyes, getting brighter and brighter as she got closer to it. As she walked towards the light, Margaret noticed how it seemed to get warmer and warmer as she moved away from her body. She also noticed that the pain in her body had faded: it was just a dull ache now. As she got closer to the wonderful light, she heard a voice calling her. She tried to place the voice, it was so familiar, but she was finding it hard to remember anything about her past life.
"Margaret wake up! It's me, Veston!" That name rang a bell in her memory. Margaret turned back to the darkness and with a sigh, began the way back. Funny how it was harder to go back than to go forward.
Margaret cried out as Veston gently cradled her mutilated and battered body. "It's okay," he said softly to her as he pumped her body full of Green Eco. As her vision clear, Margaret noticed that the enormous pain she still felt was fading away slightly, and that she was regaining the use of some of her muscles. Veston anxiously looked at her eyes, worried at first when the pupils did not contract. Margaret blinked and then winced: the sunlight, dimmer though it was, still hurt her eyes. Veston made a shushing sound as he laid her head back and turned around to face Klaww.
"You'll pay for that," he growled as he leapt into the air. Klaww swiped at him, but Veston activated his Blue Eco Box and jumped in the air again to change his momentum. He summoned a Blue Eco Blade and slammed it into Klaww's flesh. The monster roared as Veston ran up his arm and around his shoulder, literally carving symbols and markings into the beast. Veston leapt up, his eyes full of fiery rage. Klaww stepped back, trying to keep out of range, but Veston had been experimenting with Blue Eco and had managed to find a way to dash in midair. Not exactly flying, but he could at least change direction midair of he needed. And now he wanted to.
Klaww roared as Veston summoned another Blue Eco Blade and hurled them at his eyes. They slammed through the retina and Klaww roared in pain as his right eye was once again struck. Veston began charging a blast of Yellow Eco and let it loose as Klaww lowered his hand. The energy beam broke through the skin and tunneled its way directly into the repulsive beast's brain.
Veston landed on the ground smoothly as Klaww fell, dead, into the lava pit. He turned around and without any pity watched the monstrosity sink into the molten rock. He then turned to the injured female and picked her up gently. As she carried her bridal style back to the village, he once again began pumping her full of Green Eco. As he hurried, he noticed that Margaret's breathing was to slow.
"Margaret, you can't die on me," Veston pleaded. "I love you too damn much."
Liz and Lauren were mulling around inside the house while Zeorro went to "inspect" the explosion of the Lurker laboratory in the Precursor Basin.
"Hey Liz?" Lauren asked hesitantly, not sure how she should approach this subject. It wasn't that she was afraid of Liz; it was more that she didn't know how touchy this subject might be and didn't want to upset a potential friend.
"Hm?" Liz asked as she turned around, her cat-like pupils narrowing almost imperceptibly as she turned away from the light she was using to make sure that she had bandaged the wound tinged with Dark Eco correctly. The small amount of purple liquid stained the Band-Aid slightly and Lauren frowned.
"Why don't you just use Green Eco to heal that?"
"It would be a waste. Thanks to my dad, he taught me how to use Blue Eco to accelerate my healing. This'll be gone by the end of the day. But somehow I don' think that that's what you wanted to know."
"You're right. This might sound weird or rude, but-"
"What happened to my eyes?" Lauren opened her mouth, a little surprised that Liz was able to put it so bluntly, but then nodded. "Well, about ten years ago my mother was trying to make a perpetual light based on Yellow and Blue Eco. The experiment let out such a huge blast of light that my body changed my pupils to keep me from going blind." Lauren wondered how that was possible, but before she could open her mouth to ask, the door was kicked down.
"Somebody help me!" Veston shouted as he staggered in, having run down the mountain behind Rock Village and through the village itself.
"Veston! What in the name of the Precursors happened to her?" Liz asked, astonished that Margaret could take such a beating and still be alive. Some wounds were now scars, but Veston had not had a lot of Green Eco, and many wounds were still oozing blood, or in the case of the artery on her arm, still pumping a little blood out every second.
"Klaww, now help me save her!" Veston said as he deposited the body gently on a bed, not giving a damn that the blood was staining everything, nor the fact that he was covered in blood as well. Liz ran to get a bottle of Green Eco, hoping that they would be able to heal the Amplifier in time. Green Eco could heal any wound, no matter how large, but it could not re-grow bone, which meant that the chunk of flesh that had been ripped out would be sore for weeks to come. It could also not restore blood, which meant that if the wound in Margaret's arm wasn't closed soon, then they might wind up healing her only to lose the girl to blood loss.
Jak scowled at Cara, who was still giggling at him. Sure, he had fallen off his horse a few times, but so had she. Just because she had mastered it a bit sooner than him was no reason to laugh at him. He whipped the reins, as Tiffany had taught him to do, and tightened his grip with his legs slightly. As though he had spoken the command out loud, his horse broke into a gallop. Jak broke out into a huge grin as his horse (Maestro Tiffany had called it) leapt over a rock and continued. Cara caught up to him, riding on Harry and then came Tiffany, riding on Charlie. Together, the three Channelers made their way to Volcanic Crater, where Santar, possessed by insane Gol, waited unawares.
Or at least, so the Channelers thought…
Sorry for the immense delay, but it's been real hectic up here with the tournament this weekend. I also apologize for the shortness, but this chapter gave me a lot of trouble. Wish me luck, before Sunday though, otherwise it wont do me any good. I'm happy to say that this chapter was done, and half of the next one, so I plan to update on the sixteenth with two chapters. If anyone has a review, question, idea, flame, etc., don't expect an answer until Sunday night at the extreme earliest. Bye, and I hope everyone has a good weekend.
My Favorite Authors (They are listed alphabetically, not by preference.)
1. Amathist Fwirrel
2. animedragongirl
3. Keeroshu
4. Light-Eco-Sage
5. Red Mage 04
6. Silver-WindScar
Quote of the week- Me
Me: Rule #11 of Life (inspired by my mother during childhood): Assuming makes an ass out of you and me.