To those that were kind enough to review:

animedragongirl- Yup, soon everyone will be here. Yeah, they're pretty pissed about my grade. I didn't fail (otherwise I'd be typing this through my mind in a coma). Question: have you given up on The Jak and Daxter Prank Wars? I always liked that story the best.

Red Mage 04- Don't worry, soon you will be insane just like the rest of us. As for you being honored, I don't know why. True, I inserted you, but its not like it was into an epic novel that is being awarded or anything. And you have helped me in a multitude of ways since I saw your stories, so it is I who should be thanking you. As for forgetting, its okay. You're only human, and humans err. Though I have no idea what that word means. I guess it means to screw up. Anyway, the reason you acted all normal (shudders) is because you were the new guy and the voice of reason. Hope to see you update soon, though my parents will make it difficult for that to happen. Oh if you study your character's style of attack, you might recognize it froom something we talked about recently.

Silver-WindScar- Yes, Spanish. I hope I get that eighty as well. By different, do you mean good or bad, because if I'm doing something different all of a sudden, I want to stop it before it becomes a habit if its bad. Special guest? Now I can't wait for you to update. Do it now!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but I take small comfort in the fact I can play the games whenever I please.
A New Army

"It was Benedict," Maia gasped as she sat down. Gol looked at his sister with a great deal of concern clearly written on his face, but there was also a hint of rage.

"By the Precursors, if he wasn't already dead, I'd kill that worthless Adaptor myself," Gol raged to himself. With a great deal of effort, Gol pulled himself back to reality when he heard Maia talk again.

"Somehow, he found a way to teleport himself here. I don't know how: I had never been able to teach him successfully."

"Not just himself, but that worthless half-breed Hatu as well," Gol added grimly. Maia looked shocked.

"Hatu? So, the whelp found a way to teleport others as well as himself? it's a shame that he was not ambitious enough. He could have been a powerful Sage, maybe stronger than us had his transformation been complete."

"It was, I saw to it myself," Gol said indignantly.

"No brother, I am afraid not. When he arrived here, he was using the color Ecos. He put up a terrific fight, but since he had lost a great deal of power healing himself, he was not too difficult to put down. There was one thing that I had not foreseen, however. He was not trying to kill me and get away: he was using a kamikaze style. I did not see until he wrapped his arms and legs around me and detonated himself, clearly hoping to kill me along with himself." Though Gol was nearly beside himself at the assassination attempt on his sister, he begrudgingly accepted the fact that Benedict was noble, being willing to die for his goal. If only he had decided to sacrifice himself for my nobler cause, Gol thought. "I don't know how I survived. By all accounts I should be dead," Maia said, staring at her body in a mirror, her many cuts and bruises healed.

"Perhaps it is because it was a Dark Eco based attack," Gol said to himself.

"Even taking into account my immunity to Dark Eco, I should be dead from the explosion. You saw what it did to the Citadel," Maia countered, and Gol nodded, not having taken that into consideration.

"Perhaps your body took the extra Eco in and projected it out subconsciously as a shield," Gol suggested.

"That makes sense. After all, our powers are closely linked to our emotions. When I panicked, thinking I was going to die, maybe the extra power I had projected itself as a shield and protected me from the death I should have experienced."

"Speaking of death, how is our ;little project coming along?" Gol asked, a dark twinkle playing in his eyes.

"Very well. I intend to open the portal any day now," Maia said with an evil smile.

"Are you sure you know the way through these caves?" Bryan asked uncertainly as Andrew and Tiffany led them through yet another tunnel emerging in a cavern identical to the past seven they had gone through.

"Positive," the two Channelers answered in stereo.

"How?" Lauren asked sulkily: she had been trying to see something different every time, but had failed. "It all looks the same to me."

"Me too," said Cara. Liz said nothing, but privately agreed. The stuffiness of the caves was making her irritable, and she did not want to talk to anyone.

"Simple," Tiffany said.

"I haven't been smelling you guys, so we're not going in circles," Andrew said with a smile. "Or maybe we are, and we'll never find our way out of here," he said with a frown, fear creeping into his voice. Everyone looked at each other uncertainly until Tiffany smacked Andrew lightly on the back of the head. "Fine then, you tell them the secret," Andrew said, sulking because he couldn't play with them a bit more.

"Don't mind him, he's a real joker," Tiffany said, while Andrew humph-ed and simply walked a bit faster, his arms crossed across his chest. "If you look closely, each door we enter has a pattern of scratches above it. They weren't made by us, so we think that these caves were used as a smuggling route once, and the scratches were a way for the smugglers to know where they were going." As they entered another chamber, Bryan and Lauren looked behind them to see three vertical scratches under a horizontal scratch. Liz and Cara looked ahead under the door they were entering to see a pattern the other way: three sideways scratches to the left of a scratch going up and down. As they entered the chamber, an evil laugh came blasting out from another tunnel. Everyone looked at each other before nodding and setting down the tunnel, their hands on either their Eco Belts or handheld weapons…

"All right Jak, you win!" Veston shouted to Jak, who was driving backwards. Jak grinned at his friend, who suddenly went pale. "Jak! Behind you!" Jak turned to looked over his shoulder and saw that he was heading for a thick wall of ice. He leaned forward and the Zoomer pulled back so that he began driving up the ice. As the Zoomer made its way up the wall of frozen water, a portion of it cracked and began to lean forward. Jak revved the engine as he began to drive on the shattered ice, away from the floor at which h was aiming.

As Jak reached the end of the portion of ice falling in the ocean, he activated his Blue Eco Box to change the Zoomer's position and aimed it towards the glacier. All of a sudden, monsters began to appear out of a dark green mist that erupted from nowhere. Jak was taken back at the sight of these creatures. They were thin, all skin and bones- literally. Jak could see that they had nothing but a sickly green skin stretched over a skeleton. Their eyes, bright yellow and devoid of any whites or black, seemed to focus on Jak as they hissed through rotten, decaying teeth that were set in jaws that were stretched thin over an elfish-looking skull. Two long, pointy ears that looked as though they were just skin poked through a straw hat covering the heads of the zombies. Three of them leapt into the air, covering about twenty feet, and Jak realized that they were much stronger than they appeared. Jak dodged them in the air and heard them hit the water. As he hit the land, Keira hopped off the Zoomer and took out her bow and arrow, loading up ammunition into it. Jak seized the Zoomer, as he had no time to turn on his belt to a more offensive Eco. Using the Blue Eco to help lift the Zoomer, Jak picked up the flying Lachine and swung it, crushing the six monsters that were heading for him. As they died, their skin crumbled away until they were just dust, which was blown away by wind. Jak looked incredulously as this phenomenon for a second before an explosion caught his attention. Keira had shot an incoming monster while he was distracted. Jak gave her a thumbs up before he turned on his Red Eco Box and charged the creatures, using his speed to dodge their amateur strikes and countering before they could recover and throw a second.

While Jak was having his fun, Veston simply concentrated harder and the sheet of metal that he was standing on stopped moving forward and rose into the air. As they did, strange creatures attacked, the likes of which Veston had never seen before in his life. They were a sickly green, and looked as though they were Lurkers and elves that had died, rotted, and then been resurrected. Jak had already taken out a bunch, if the corpses littering the area were any indication. One of them hissed as it ran up to Veston, who decapitated it with an Eco Blade easily. As it fell to the ground, the creature's body began to dissolve into dust and float away, and its metal blade melted away as though it had never been there. Veston did a double take. Metal! Ordinary metal was so hard to come by that Veston doubted even a millionaire could afford a full suit of armor. Yet here were these creatures, a dozen of them, were wielding blades the same as his and Cara's, with their shoulders covered in metal plates colored a sickly green, as were their hips and chests. As the creatures circled Veston, he drew his blade and ignited it with swirling Red and Yellow Ecos. As the creatures ran in on him all at once, Veston jumped in the air, spinning his blade and letting trails of Eco come off the end, destroying the monsters.

As one monster silently leapt through the air and slashed down, an arrow stuck to its chest armor. The zombie looked down to see that the tip was a bright yellow before said arrow exploded, sending its carcass scattering over the ice. Keira took aim for another monster and fired, using a Blue Eco infused arrow this time. The arrow went right through the shoulder armor, through the inside of the creature, and out its other shoulder before plowing through seven more, finally coming to a rest when it flew off the glacier and hit the water. There it floated, its job done.

Keira loaded another three arrows into her bow, all of them infused with Red Eco. As they hit their targets, the armor, then their flesh, melted away. Keira heard a footstep behind her and spun around, loading an arrow into her bow as she did so. Jak's shocked face made her lower her weapon before raising it again and shooting a creature that had been sneaking up on her left.

Through all this, Margaret had kept herself busy. As a score of the monsters approached her, she charged up with Blue Eco. She had noticed that though they were armed, the creatures were very weak. As she ran at them and punched one in the face, she felt her hand go through the entire skull. She continued running, shaking her hand to wipe off the blood, and then noticed something odd.

There was no blood.

"So", Margaret thought as she jumped into the air and landed on another creature, crushing it into the ground as she decked two others in the chests, caving in their torsos, "these things are not truly alive. But then what are they?" she asked herself as another three approached her. One slashed down, another to the left and the third to the right. Margaret ducked, letting the weapons impact against each other before sticking out a leg and spinning around rapidly, snapping the limbs off. Margaret breathed as she rose and saw the creatures were all gone.

Only to scream in shock as a dark green mist erupted in front of her and another samurai-like monster leapt out at her. She jumped back and then charged forward as more appeared as though from another dimension. As the nearest one raised its sword, Margaret slammed her palms into its chest armor, shattering its ribs and blasting it off its feet. As another swung at her, she caught the hand that was holding the blade with her left hand and punched it three times: once in the right left shoulder, once in the left half of the chest, and once in the right side of its chest. Three massive imprints were left by her blows, and the thing dropped to the ground, roaring in a soft raspy voice before its body crumbled away.

Margaret looked to her left and fired a blast of Yellow Eco at a trio of the creatures that were advancing towards Veston before spinning around to her right and catching another zombie's arm. She swung the monster around and began hammering its ribs with blows until it simply caved in half. She parried another swipe at her head, noticing that they all had tried the same technique, and punched a hole through its stomach before turning to another one, noticed that they were getting closer and closer to her. One approached her from the right, only to receive an elbow in its face as another one behind her had its head cut off by her open palm. Margaret threw a side kick and shattered the knee cap of yet another monster as she blasted another score of them back into oblivion.

Margaret sighed and thought that finally the monsters had left her alone. She went to go see Jak, who was looking at the Zoomer. Though he had done his best to guard it, it still had some scratches on it, though Keira insisted that none of them were serious. Jak and Keira got on the Zoomer and Margaret and Veston got on the metal disk before they took off for Flurry Conurbation, anxious of what these new creatures could mean for the war.

"Now remember, stay quiet!" Liz whispered as the group of six made their way over to a large gathering of Lurkers.

"We know, we know," Lauren muttered, tired of him treating her like a little kid.

"Can't we just fight them?" Bryan asked, keen to spill more Lurker blood.

"No, we gotta know what they're up to," Tiffany said as they got closer. As they got closer, Andrew looked around and noticed that the rocks on the ceiling were looking much weaker than normal, something that he could perhaps turn to his advantage.

A loud whip crack split the air as Maia Akaron appeared out of nowhere.

"Lurkers! For a long time you have failed us at the hands of the Channelers. But now, there is hope for our victory. We have selected you for your bravery, loyalty, and perseverance for this one final task. You will see you are standing on a circle. It is an ancient symbol that has sealed behinds it a mighty army. With your sacrifice, the army will be at our disposal, and you will be free!" Maia shouted. Chill filled the elves as they heard the speech. It appeared as though the Dark Sages had discovered another army in another place and needed the blood of the Lurkers to unlock it. They held a quiet conference and agreed to reveal themselves. Risky it might be, but the odds of letting Maia accomplish something this important were worth the risk.

"Let me handle this," Andrew said as he stood. Bryan and Liz protested, but Tiffany silenced them.

"He knows what he's doing," she said with a small smirk.

Andrew hopped over the rock they were hiding behind and leapt right into the center of the circle. "Hey, what's up crabby?" Maia was so shocked that she could not even be angry with him. "So, what's the deal with the circle? Training for a museum? Let me tell you, you need a lot more practice," Andrew remarked as he looked at the ornately drawn circle. Maia apparently found her tongue and screamed for his death. As the Lurkers surrounded him, Andrew merely cracked his neck and a blast of Yellow Eco expanded from his body, destroying any living thing unfortunate to be within twenty feet from him. "C'mon baby. You can do better then that!" he taunted as he leapt into the air and spread his arms and legs apart, making himself look like a target. Maia shot a beam of Dark Eco at him, but Andrew seemed to move forward as he pushed off of air. "Missed," he said lightly as the beam hit the wall with a rumble. Maia screamed at the Lurkers to leave him to her. Andrew back flipped away from a stream of Dark Eco Maia sent at him and began to run on the walls.

Maia sent blast after blast at Andrew, but all of them hit the wall. Andrew jumped and continued moving on the ceiling, jumping off the stalagmites as she threw blasts at him. Eventually she paused to collect herself, but by that time, she had crushed the hundred Lurkers she had brought with her. Andrew landed, a grim smile on his face as he whistled for the others to come out.

"To bad. Now you have no more army," Tiffany said as everyone drew their weapons. To their surprise, Maia began to laugh.

"Fool. I said the blood of the Lurkers needed to be slipped. I never said they had to commit suicide!" she laughed as the circle began to glow as the blood filled the grooves. Lauren was horrified by the Sage's callousness.

"They have served you and this is how you repay them?"

"They have failed me. And why should I care about them- when I now have a new army!" Maia screamed as a great green fog erupted from the circle. Out of it poured dozens of creatures, each looking as though they had risen form the dead. Everyone began battling viciously against this new foe as Maia screamed "Destroy them!" before vanishing into thin air…

"Its co-co-cold," Margaret shivered as they continued their journey.

"I know," Veston said a bit shortly. Concerned though he was for Margaret, he had his own problems. Jak appeared not to have heard, as he didn't react. Margaret shivered again and pressed herself closer to Veston, trying to snatch and share and vestiges of body heat either of them had left. As her eyes closed and her mind threatened to go to sleep, Margaret remembered her Red Eco Box. She turned it on and sighed along with Veston as the kinetic energy went through her body and heated the air around them.

"Hey Jak, what's wrong?" Keira asked as she tightened her grip on Jak, feeling the warmth from his body seep into hers. Jak sighed and wondered how Keira could not have noticed the disappearance of Hatu, who had been missing ever since they had left to find Cara and Veston two weeks ago. Keira seemed to guess as his train of thought and pulled a piece of paper out of her pants pocket. She handed it to him and grabbed the handlebars so he would not have to worry about steering as he read the note she had found that day while he was looking in Forbidden Jungle for special clay.

Keira,

I have gone with Benedict to Gol's Citadel. Don't expect me tome back, but I will not tell Gol of any plans that you may have made. If anything, I will tell him that you are doing worse than you are. Don't show this to Jak- I don't want to give him a reason to lose his cool and get angry. I thank you all for the kindness that you have given me, and I look forward to meeting you in a few decades in Foretaste.

Hatu.

Jak closed his eyes and wondered why his friend had so foolishly decided to follow Benedict and leave them. Jak hoped that if he had died, than at least he had died swiftly and a warrior's death. Jak quickly threw aside this comfort. If he had died by Gol or Maia's hands, then he would have had a slow, painful, and dishonorable death. Jak took the handlebars back and focused on driving, focusing his mind on something important on hand so that he would be able to grieve later.

The trip was proving to be a long and hard one. Winds picked up as they made their way to the city, and the resulting blizzard made it very difficult for Jak and Veston to see where they were going. Twice Jak had nearly crashed: even with the heat goggles Keira had given him, he still couldn't differentiate one thing from the next. Only he, Daxter, Keira, Veston and Margaret stood out on the thermal reading. Veston had hit the ground four times, having not seen the protrusions coming out of the ice. The more Jak thought about his surroundings, the more convinced he became that something was seriously wrong with the island. He might have been able to faster on the Zoomer this time around thanks to the additional Power Cells, but he should not have been able to reach the island this quickly, which could only mean one thing- the island had grown. And the only logical way it could have grown in Jak's eyes was if the water surrounding the island had been frozen, adding to the bulk of the island. But what could have caused such a drastic climate change? As if answering his own question, Jak glanced at the black sun, which shone in the sky, mocking him.

"Jak! There it is!" Keira's voice snapped Jak out of his reverie and he looked up from the dials and readings on the Zoomer to the town ahead. Flurry Conurbation, set at the bottom of Snowy Mountain. Jak remembered the last time he was here and sighed. No doubt, everything would have changed. There would be no happiness, no happy adventure, only danger. Jak parked the Zoomer behind a snowdrift and motioned for Veston and Margaret to stop as well. Waiting until the got inside the village was obviously out of the question, as Alecis would see them and alert Gol to their presence. The plan was to sneak in, find Alecis, and disable her mind-control device before she had a chance to fight back. Of course, Jak supposed, it won't really be a fight. She isn't a Channeler.

"So, there you are!" A harsh voice said. The group jumped and looked up. Alecis was standing on the top of the boulder they were hiding behind, her chocolate brown eyes narrowed in hatred. She grabbed the twin Eco Sabers on her belt and activated them before jumping down, slashing at the group. Everyone backed off and Jak summoned an Eco Blade, watching his opponent as her yellow hair blew in the wind. Jak shivered and hoped that the battle wouldn't take long- it would be ironic if he defeated her and then died of hypothermia. Veston drew his saber and Margaret activated her Red Eco Box. Jak turned on his Blue Eco Box and subtly moved his hand, causing the snow around Keira to cover her from Alecis' view. He dashed forward at the same time as Veston, both of them striking out with their weapons.

Alecis calmly blocked the strikes, her Eco Sabers blocking Jak's attack while cutting through Veston's blade, causing the sharp edge to hit the snow. Margaret ran in and tried to ram the Sage, but Alecis jumped over her and landed on her shoulders. Margaret looked up at Alecis, to stunned to do anything before the Sage acted. Alecis grabbed Margaret's head with her feet and back-flipped, sending Margaret flying into a snow ditch. Jak leapt forward, but was blasted backwards by a blast of air. Jak looked up and cleared the snow out of his eyes. He was that Alecis had a piece of technology in the center of her palm. Said piece of Precursor metal was flat and thin, coating her palm like a second skin. She extended her hand again and Jak dodged to the right, feeling a blast like that of Blue Eco go rushing by him.

Veston took advantage of Alecis' distraction and ran in. She waited for him to get close and back kicked him when he got close enough. Veston's eyes widened as the air rushed out of his body, his arms spreading, making the Eco Blade he had fashioned from Red Eco move to the side. As he staggered backwards, Alecis continued spinning and brought her back leg up and around, hitting him in the stomach with a fierce roundhouse kick. As Veston grabbed his stomach, Alecis dodged to the right and allowed a blast from Margaret to go streaking by her and hit Veston in the chest. The Blade Channeler went flying back, and Alecis turned around to see Margaret rushing in, her body almost a blur as the Amplifier used Blue Eco t increase her speed. Alecis brought a hand to the strap on her chest and took a small Precursor artifact out of a small pouch, but before shoe could use it, Margaret had reached her.

Alecis grunted as Margaret charged into her. Both went down, and Margaret landed on top. She straddled Alecis' chest and began throwing blows down at the Sage. Alecis recovered both wind and wits after a few seconds and extended her right hand, sending a pulse of energy out of it. Margaret went flying off, and Alecis stood up, er right eye black, and bruises showing on her temples and cheeks. Jak came in again, having recovered from her last attack and Alecis spun, hooking her leg behind his neck as he ran. Alecis spun with him, sending his face into the snow. As she drew her Eco Saber, she reveled in the fact that she would get to be the one that killed Jak, the constant thorn in her master's side. As the Eco Saber went down, hissing as it cut through the air, a Yellow Eco blast sent it flying out of her hand. Veston scrambled up out of the snow and together with Margaret attacked the Sage, he using an Eco Blade, and Margaret using her fists and Red Eco.

Alecis attached the artifact to her left palm and thrust it forward, catching the tip of Veston's Eco Blade. The artifact went to work dispersing the Eco-based attack and scattering the energies to the wind. Margaret brought her fist back and punched the Sage right in the kidney. Alecis gasped in pain and grabbed her side. Margaret brought her foot and brought the heel crashing down as Alecis went down, planning to crush the Sage's face and skull.

Only to have it caught by Jak, who twisted it and caused Margaret to fall to the ground…

"Damn them!" Liz exclaimed as she extended her hands and shot forth a web of Yellow Lightning. The Eco went forth and peeled the skin off of their attackers, causing them to crumble away to dust. As one snuck up and grabbed her from behind, Liz leaned back before throwing all her weight forward and rolling the creature off her back into another one that was rushing at her with its sword pointing straight. They tumbled over each other and rolled for three feet before they were obliterated by a Yellow Eco grenade.

Andrew bobbed and weave through the attacks, avoiding them and kicking his enemies as he spun through the air. He leapt up and began running on the wall, sending small pellets of energy through the air. It took about four pellets to kill a creature, so Andrew demolished about a score behind him. He landed on the floor and grabbed a piece of rock that was shaped like a club. He threw it forward and impaled a creature on the chest. He ran up to it while firing Yellow Eco pellets out of both his hands. The pellets tore through skin and bone, annihilating the odd creatures that were streaming from the tear in dimension. He reached the screaming creature and wrenched the rock out of its chest. He leapt into the air and the creatures stupidly jumped and followed him. Andrew swung the piece of rock like a sword and crushed the opposing monsters.

Bryan drew his katana and formed a Blue Eco Blade as the monsters approached him. He leapt into the fray, using his real sword to parry his opponents' and then using the Eco weapon to cut through their bodies. Unfortunately, every time he killed one, another came to take its place. Eventually, he was surrounded and backed into a corner. Bryan growled: if these mindless drones thought that he would be so easy to defeat, then they had another thing coming. He swung his Eco Blade and streaks of Eco came out, tearing through the cavern and destroying rocks and zombies alike. As the dust cleared, Bryan heard air being sliced through and parried a steel sword that had been coming down at his skull. He ducked underneath and cut his opponent in half before darting to another one, using Blue Eco to enhance his speed as he cut through the fiends.

Cara spotted the streaks of Blue Eco going by and held out her hand as she struggled to keep three swords blocked at the same time. The Eco reached her and she coated her sword with it, as she had done to it in the Mountain Pass with Yellow Eco. Her blade became infused with the energy and cut through the weapons. Cara dropped down to the ground and cut her foes at the knees, then again across the chests as they began to fall. She spun around a third time to make sure nothing was sneaking up on her, kicking up so much force that a wind erupted around her and the dust (which was all that remained from her enemies) swirled around her. She threw her blade, turning it into a deadly disk as she directed it around the cavern, manipulating it with the Blue Eco. She caught it and leapt over an attack, kicking the head of her attacker clear off its shoulders. She landed and cut through another three as she defended herself from the endless onslaught of zombies.

Lauren, though she did not possess the Eco powers of her companions, was holding out fairly well against her opponents. Her arrows, tipped with either Red, Yellow, or Blue Eco, were making short work of the monsters that were deciding which elf to attack, or were getting too close to her for comfort. One snuck up on her from behind and slashed downward. Fortunately, Lauren sensed trouble and had spun around. She saw the sword going up for another strike and realized that she would not have time to load an arrow. Instead, she punched forward, adrenaline giving her the strength to knock her enemy's head off, literally.

Tiffany shot a beam of Red Eco at seven monsters, killing them all. She then worked her hands in complicated motions. The beam stopped until it became an orb. She clapped her hands and hundreds of thin beams came shooting out of the orb. This devastating attack took out the creatures by the dozens, but it seemed that for everyone the group killed, two more came to take the fallen one's place. Tiffany directed the beams around, filling the cavern with light and providing an exit route. She made sure her horses were alright, but her pets seemed rather reluctant to leave and stop killing the monsters.

"Let's get out of here!" she screamed as she ran through the entrance. The others were quick to follow: they were quickly tiring, and more of the creatures continued to pour out of the portal that Andrew had accidentally opened. As she left the grotto, Tiffany criss-crossed the beams of Eco, working them to form a cage. The group took off down a tunnel, following Andrew and Tiffany- and eager to put as much distance between themselves and the creatures as possible…

"Why'd you stop me Jak?" Margaret yelled. Jak looked unperturbed as he helped her back up. He pointed at Alecis and shook his head.

"Jak's right," Veston said as he joined them, having first checked to see if Alecis was unconscious. "We need her alive."

"That's a relief," Alecis said as she opened her eyes. Everyone looked down at her and Jak summoned a Yellow Eco Blade. He quickly slashed the device on her right hand and smashed the one in her left before she could react. He then lifted her up by the left hand and threw her seven feet away, relying only on his strength. Alecis landed roughly and rolled until she could stand up. Jak went running at her with his Blade. Veston summoned two Eco Blades and ran at the Sage as well. Margaret turned on her Red Eco Box and ran after Alecis along with the others.

Alecis held her left hand out and the Eco Blades dispersed into thin air before shooting at Alecis, who gathered the Red and Yellow Ecos in a different hand. She continued the draw strength from Margaret until the Amplifier realized what was happening and turned off her Red Eco Box.

Alecis laughed cruelly as she threw the Yellow Eco into the air as a large, twenty foot wide disk. It hovered above the trio before bolts of Yellow Eco shot out. Jak jumped back and collided with Margaret, who tripped over Veston, who had fallen over when he had bumped into Jak. All three Channelers tripped over each other and fell, where a giant bolt leapt from the disk hovering above them. Jak braced himself for the pain, as did the others, but the pain never came. Jak opened his eyes…

And saw that he was covered by Yellow Eco. Alecis had coated his skin with it, so that if he moved to activate his Eco Belt, he would be hurt. He could only assume that the same fate had befallen the others. Alecis extended her right hand and fire streamed out, covering the group in a large, but shrinking semi-circle.

"This is where it ends for you Jak. I don't know how you snuck by Zeorro and Santar, but now you die," Alecis hissed as the circle got so close Jak could feel the heat. He was trapped, he knew it. If he tried to get his Green Eco Box as a shield, he would be cut to bits by the Yellow Eco. But if he remained where he was, the fire would burn him to death. Suddenly, when the flames were less than a foot away, they died out. A scream split the air and Jak looked over at Alecis to see her clawing at her back, an arrow sticking out of it.

"Keira!" Jak thought. "By the Precursors, she saved us all!" He was right. Keira looked at Alecis with anger, but tried to keep in mind the fact that she was only a mindless slave of Gol's. Or at least, she was, Keira thought with grim satisfaction.

"Thanks be to the Precursors!" Alecis said with her musical voice. "I'm free at last!"

"Alecis," Keira said, not sure how to ask this without sounding offensive.

"Yes?" Alecis said as she sat down after serving everyone a cup of tea. Keira had declined, requesting hot chocolate instead.

"Why are there so many Channelers all of a sudden. It seems as though many are finding their powers only since the black sun arrived. Does that mean that when it vanishes, their powers will as well?" Alecis sighed, a long and weary sight that had the weight of the world behind it.

"I will tell you the full legend behind the Dark Eco Silos," she said.

"Here we are," Andrew said as the group emerged from the Spider Caves. Everyone stared at the Desert Collossus, not believing that they really had to cross it. "There's the house," he said to Bryan and Lauren, pointing to the house Jak, Keira, Benedict and Samos had stayed four months ago. "Normally, Gordy would charge you a fortune to stay here, but there's a password. Just go up to him and say 'pardon me miss, could I have this dance?' When he acts confused, grab him by the shoulders and spin him around before leaning him back. While Bryan does that, Lauren, you have to give Willard, the one with a bird cage on his head, a piggy back ride."

Bryan and Lauren looked stunned at this pronouncement. "And that's what we have to do? You're positive?"

"Absolutely," Andrew said sincerely. Bryan and Lauren sighed as they went up to knock as Andrew got a Chaser for Cara, who had never ridden a horse before.

"The Silos are supposed to bring a utopia for Channelers," Alecis said. "That is why so many are discovering their powers: their bodies are trying to adapt to this new world before they are wiped out with the non-Channelers. There is a certain genome that allows an individual to Channel Eco. Usually, it does not show itself right away except for powerful Channelers. Those who have the gift usually find out about it during a period of heightened emotional stress. With the Silos open and death and destruction everywhere, its no wonder that people are discovering their powers. So although the black sun is an overall curse, it is not without its benefits."

"Well, that's one mystery solved," Keira said as she sat back, her mind still trying to process all that she had learned, not only about the Silos, but about the new weapon the Lurkers were building in the fort on Snowy Mountain. It had already been agreed that Veston and Margaret would go up there when the group split up the next day. Although Daxter had claimed that they were going simply so they could test out new ways to keep warm, eliciting blushes from the two.

"What do you mean, 'one mystery.'" Alecis asked sharply. Keira told the Sage about the strange monsters that had attacked the group.

"We need to know where they came from," Keira finished. She looked over at the Sage and was shocked to see that Alecis' face was sheet white, and she looked on the verge of fainting. Jak leapt up and got the Sage a cool drink of water while Keira ran to the Sage to try to calm her down. After Alecis had gotten the water down and calmed herself, she opened her mouth, which was dry despite the water she had just drunk.

"There is more I need to tell you. I know the terrible secret behind those creatures…"

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

Hey, sorry about the lateness, my parents are really making it tough for me. Anyway, I'll try to get another chapter up on Sunday. Key word being try. Oh, and some of you (particularly CrazyOttsel) noticed that Chapter 35 seemed a little off. I found out why. I left a major piece of it out. Don't ask me how when it was on a computer. ANyway, I uploaded it with this chapter so you might want to go check that out.
Quote of the week- Me

Me: Rule #13 of Life: Those with potential for great good possess also within them the potential for great evil.