DR: Okay, Puck rules. Together, we have come up with the biggest plot twist ever!
Puck: I'm not sure a plot twist is the right word ... I was thinking surprise ending.
DR: Okay, I guess that works too. But anyways, I thought of this while I was reading over this story, and realized that somebody, well, ok, two somebodies, said some things that were really ironic. It was way to good to pass up! Everyone will probably kill me for it, but I don't care!
Puck: What she means to say is that we were reading over the story, and we got an idea of how to make a couple things people said true. /Sighs/ I'm confusing myself. Anyways, if you think you have an idea of what it is, e-mail A Dragon's Rose, because if you put it in a review, she'll kill you for trying to give it away. If you get it right, she'll congratulate you.
DR: Exactly. Please continue with the hints.
Puck: Anyways, the hints are in the chapters. A couple times in chapters 3, 4, and 5, and then yet again in 11. Go back and read them a few times, something oughta click, I promise. Oh, and A Dragon's Rose doesn't own anything in this story but Raye.
Chap. 12
The Dark Side
As we watched Jak on screen, I felt an oncoming wave of fatigue. I pushed myself away from the screen with an effort and walked towards the door. "Tell Jak I went back to the hideout." I called over my shoulder before the doors opened. Vin gave me a thumbs-up before rushing over to another screen and typing in something. I sighed and walked out the door, shaking my head. Somehow, I doubted he would remember.
I decided not to walk to the hideout. I didn't think falling asleep in the middle of Haven was very safe. Besides, there was a parked zoomer right in front of me. Tired as I was getting, it wasn't to far away and it was faster than walking. 'Maybe running over a KG will wake me up.' I thought, laughing. I decided against it, though. Having the city on high alert probably wasn't a good idea. I started up the zoomer and took off towards the Slums.
When I walked through the hideout doors, Torn barely glanced up. "Where's Jak?"
"On a mission for Vin. He sent me back here to take a nap." I told him cooly, sitting down on a bunk.
He shrugged, "Fine by me." I rolled my eyes, a pointless task since he wasn't looking at me, and laid down. I'm pretty sure I was asleep before I even hit the pillow.
When I woke up, Torn was sitting in a chair across the room, smirking at me. "Have a nice dream?"
"What?" I asked, stretching.
His smirk just got wider, "You were smiling and muttering the name 'Jess' over and over."
I paused, "Oh, I must've been talking about Jessi. She was my best friend, until I ended up here." I gestured to the hideout.
"She's against the Underground?" He crossed his arms.
"Well, no. I mean, sort of. It's really confusing. She kinda thinks the Underground is pointless and joining it would be dangerous."
"Any particular reason why?"
"Not that I can think of. Except her humongous crush on Errol." I shrugged. "Yeah, I think that might actually be it. Mar knows why she would like that ass. Bad taste, I suppose."Torn chuckled. 'Points for me.' I thought, grinning. "That was actually what most of our arguments were about. The Underground, and Errol. Oh, and her joining the Krimzon Guard. She was always joking about joining the KG. I tell her that if she does, she has to get those lovely face tats and that would probably hurt like hell."
"Well, what an entertaining life you two must've led."
"Argumentative or crazy is more like it." I looked around the room, "Did they come back while I was asleep?" Torn shook his head, "Geez, their taking their sweet time with this, aren't they?" At that moment, the hideout door opened. "Ah, speak of the blonde devil."
Jak gave a dry laugh, "Funny, I thought the devil lived in a castle and a large supply of dark eco."
I smiled wryly, "Hello to you too, Jak. And you're probably right."
He turned to Torn, "Any missions?"
"Yes, actually." Torn motioned Jak and I over to the table. Daxter jumped up on to the table and started making faces as soon as Torn started talking, "One of my old Guard comrades was sent to the Pumping Station. There's been no word from the patrol, and after what you three ran into out there, I'm afraid she may need some help."
At the word "she" Jak got this weird look in his eyes, "Did you say 'she?'"
"Don't even think about it!" Torn growled. Then he finally noticed Daxter making his stupid faces, "STOP THAT! THIS IS SERIOUS, YOU MORON!" He yelled, shining the light on the rodent. Jak made a move to slap Daxter, but Dax went into a karate pose.
"WHAA! That's right! Don't mess with the sugar!" He yelled. Jak sighed and shook his head. Daxter grinned evilly and stuck his tongue out at Jak. Then I slapped him, making him fall face forward off the table. He climbed back on, grumbling about evil girls under his breath.
"Please continue Torn." I said, smirking at Dax.
Torn sighed and continued, "This 'friend' of mine has helped the Underground many times before. Go back to the Pumping Station and take a look around. Render assistance if needed." Daxter was now saluting Torn with a stupid grin on his face. "Now get your squirrelly ass out of here!" He growled, shoving Daxter, once again, off the table.
"Maybe you should just stay down there." I mused as he climbed back onto Jak's shoulder. He glared at me and went to a sullen pout. That is, until we got outside and he caught sight of a couple of girls, then he started staring and doing all of his normal Daxter-ish things.
Jak nudged me as we walked out of the Underground, and Torn's earshot, "Do we have enough to make a stop at the Oracle?"
I counted mentally for a moment. Jak and I had destroyed at least twenty-five Metal Heads. I had the skull gems we had collected pack that I had around my waist. I opened her pack and counted them quickly. Over fifty, two times more than they needed.
"Yeah." I nodded. Jak climbed into the two-seater sitting outside and started it up, taking off as I jumped in.
"To the Oracle!" Daxter yelled, causing Jak and I to start laughing like crazy people. Which didn't help Jak with his driving. At all.
"Jak, I think you're supposed to land on the pathways." I laughed as he climbed out of the water.
"Shaddup." He muttered, wringing out his tunic. He had jumped out of the zoomer to late as he turned it off, so instead of landing on the dock like me and Daxter, who was now on my shoulder for safety reasons, he landed in the water and got soaked. Still laughing, Daxter leaned on my head to steady himself.
"You should've seen your face when you missed the dock! It was hilarious!" Daxter laughed, doing his best imitation of Jak's face as he realized his jump was a couple inches to short. I burst out laughing as I saw Dax's imitation of Jak, who was now glaring at his orange friend. After a few minutes, I stopped laughing and helped Jak dry off a little before we went into the hut.
Inside, Dax jumped to the ground, "This place is creeeepy." Both of us shushed him as the Oracle lit up.
"Do you have the gems?" It boomed, shaking the hut. I nodded and place the twenty-five gems on the floor in front of the Oracle, which lit back up again. (a/n: Yes, they still only need twenty-five. If I made it so they both had to collect their own it would take to long, and I'm being lazy.)
"Can we puh-lease get this over with?" Daxter whined. Jak "accidentally" kicked him into the wall. He slid down with comical slowness, making me giggle quietly.
"You do well to rid the world of this metal scourge." The Oracle boomed, shooting not one, but two beams of dark eco from its mouth. I, of course, didn't realize this until one of the beams hit me square in the chest. I doubled over in pain, clutching my stomach as my feet were lifted off the ground, letting out a low moan. I was able to open my eyes enough to see my skin paling and my nails turning into elongated black claws that looked more like talons before my vision blurred from the tears filling my eyes. The Oracle continued, "As a reward, I grant you both a dark power." There were two "thunks" as Jak and I fell out of the air and looked at each other in shock. Well, at least, Jak looked at me in shock. I, on the other hand, was busy looking down at my new body and claws. Then, almost instantly, someone else took over. My head lifted and I grinned evilly at the other figure in the room, whom I could feel giving off massive amounts of dark eco. Another fanged grin was the reply. Our attention was pulled from each other by, take a guess, Daxter.
"Uh... guys? You two okay?" My dark-self narrowed her, our eyes and wondered if she could kill this annoying, orange creature. 'No. He's a friend. An annoying one, but a friend.' I told my darker half. As I fought to regain control, I heard a mental growl of protest and suddenly my feet weren't touching the ground. I, we, had jumped, and were performing a dark bomb. My fist hit the ground and I felt the dark eco drain out of me, and I reverted to normal. I felt my skin tingle as Jak's eco powered shock wave hit me, letting me re-absorb some of the energy. I watched Jak revert to his not-near-as-scary self, then stagger back a few steps from the change. It was about that time that I noticed that my knees were shaking as well. I leaned against the wall and put a hand to my forehead. 'What did I just do?'
'We just learned a new killing technique.' The voice, which I guessed was my dark self, said.
'We?'
There was what sounded like a sigh, 'Yes, we. How many times must I explain that you and I are the same being?' As I looked up, Jak motioned for her to follow him out. I did so, still shaking. There was a voice in my head. It was evil. It was me. Oh yeah, my life officially sucks.
During the drive to the Pumping Station, we were all silent. Even Daxter was being quiet! Normally I would've said something, just to break the silence, but I couldn't muster up the will to do so. Jak kept glancing back at me, and opening his mouth like he was going to say something, but he never did. He would just turn back around and keep driving. I shivered slightly. As much as I hated to admit it, the surge of power that rushed through me when I went dark was... incredible. There was no other word for it. I got that "I'm invincible!" feeling. You know that rush that makes you want to jump of the roof, or something higher? Yeah, that one. 'See? I am not completely evil.' Dark said, breaking into my thoughts.
'Shut up.'
'Aw, come on. You can't say you didn't enjoy letting me take over for those few minutes.'
'Yes I can.' I argued, 'And I will never let you out ever again!'
'What about around Errol?' She asked teasingly. I didn't reply and just sort of ignored her until she gave up on bugging me. I did, however, smirk when I pictured my other self cornering Errol, making him scream like a little girl and curled up a feeble position, still screaming bloody murder. Okay, I went a bit overboard, but can you really blame me? I started laughing as I progressed to more embarrassing scenes, which made Jak turn around.
"What's so funny?"
I blinked, "Oh, nothing. I'm just picturing how Errol would look, screaming bloody murder like a little girl, pissing all over himself, and hanging upside down over a pit of dark eco with a very thin rope around his ankles."
"And I suppose your holding the rope?" He asked, amusement in his voice.
"Of course." I laughed. I peeked around Jak's torso to see where we were and gasped, "Jak, watch out!"
"Alright, I officially hate walking." Jak cursed, walking through the door that led to the Pumping Station. Jak had crashed his zoomer into a KG Hellcat, which sent the city on high alert. We had jumped into the water and hid under the docks, narrowly avoiding being caught, shot, or killed by those red-suited morons several times.
"Hey, you're the one who crashed the zoomer!" I told him, rubbing the scar on my leg from when the ammo dump blew up. I looked down at my hand to see that my fingers were stained red. Looking down at my leg confirmed that the wound had reopened. "Great, now I'm bleeding. Can this day get any worse?"
"Ummm... yes." Daxter said, pointing at the Crabs that were advancing on us.
"It was a rhetorical question." I snapped, shooting at the Metal Heads before their bullet-things hit us. Jak and I both continued as usual, shooting anything that moved towards us, and not really talking to much. When we reached a dead end, Jak said several curse words.
"Well, that was a waste." He muttered turning around.
"Don't be so hasty." I put my hand on his shoulder and pointed at a partially hidden Hellcat. If I wasn't mistaken, Jak turned a light pink and made an 'ah' noise before walking forward to examine it.
Daxter finally snapped, "GAAAH! What are we doing out here, saving some old Krimzon Guard hag!" He jumped off Jak's shoulder and started scratching his ear like a dog would do. "She's probably got more facial hair than me!" He grumbled. I ignored him and walked closer to the cruiser, examining it.
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it." I muttered, looking at the vehicle. Suddenly, the bushes next to us rustled and a familiar face jumped out and stuck Jak in a headlock, pointing her gun at me. Both of us put our hands in the air.
"Who the hell are you two?" Ashelin snapped in her usual tone. She didn't seem to see Daxter. Until he opened his big yap again.
"Then again, I do love a woman in uniform!" He said, eyeing Ashelin, who was looking at him like you would a, well, talking orange rat, "Wanna bark some orders at me? Woof, woof!" He jumped up onto the arm that she had around Jak's neck, "I'm your soldier on the front lines of looooove." He jumped back to where he had been, "Waiter... foxhole for two!" I rolled my eyes. Where did he get these lines!
Ashelin took her gun off of me and redirected it at Daxter, "Keep talking and I'll raise your voice a couple of octaves." She told him. Daxter gulped.
"Or... not. Hehe." He laughed nervously and backed away a few feet.
"Now, how about one of you answer my question?" She said, pointing her gun back at me.
"We're from the Underground. Torn sent us to help you." I told her. She released Jak and looked off in the other direction.
"I don't need any help. But you might. We've got company." She pointed at the approaching Metal Heads that were leaping off the cliff behind us. "Do you two have any weapons?" We nodded, "Good. Start shooting." She ordered, running to "greet" the creatures. I laughed and pulled out my gun, following her. I shot wildly until I ran out of Blaster bullets, then switched to Scatter Gun.
"Uh-oh." I whispered. I was pulling the trigger, but all I heard was a "click, click" noise. And I was surrounded by Metal Heads. Great.
'Let me out!' Dark pleaded, 'It's the only way we're gonna survive this!'
'Never! I told you I would never let you out again!' Another Crab jumped off the cliff and came towards me. I glanced around to see that Jak and Ashelin were both busy with their own problems and groaned. 'Alright, but only for a second, got it?'
'Yeah, I got it.' Was the response. I felt the dark eco stored inside my body burst free in one huge shockwave that knocked the Metal Heads away. Then, I went after them.
DR: Hah! Cliffy! I am evil! Muahahahaha!
Everyone: (Sweatdrop)
Jak: Um, why is she laughing like that?
Puck: She's had sugar.
Jak: So?
Puck: Lots of it. And I mean lots. If she had eaten three or four bowl fulls of pure sugar, she would be about this hyper. Maybe a little less. (Everyone watches as I literally bounce off the walls and into all my reviewers.) That looked like it hurt.
Jak: I think she just broke her reviewers.
DR: Owie.
Jak: And maybe a few bones.
Puck: She'll be fine. I think.
Torn: "You think?" That's helpful.