1SC: HA! Two updates, and both on my birthday! Go me! Yeah, anyways... I have to apologize for something I wrote last chapter. And no, it isn't that little note at the end of the chapter. At the start, I said that no one had guessed Ashelin. I looked over my reviews and saw that one, just one, person had guessed that it was Ashelin. Kiriona, I'm sorry. You get lots of cookies because I was being an idiot. Anyways, on with the new chapter!

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Chapter 21

Don't call me babe

Daxter leaned up against the wall outside the door, trying to look cool. It wasn't working. Well, not to me, anyway. "Hey there, sweethearts! The Metal Head masher has saved the day! Oh, and I let Jak come to." He pointed over his shoulder at a sullen looking Jak.

Tess bent down and scooped him up. "Oh, my little hero!" I scooted past them before it got above the level I wanted to see. Which it was progressing to pretty damn fast. I walked over to Jak.

"I hate to say it, but I have never been so happy to see that little furball!" I laughed.

Jak grinned for a moment as well, but his grin turned to a frown. He looked me up and down for a moment, then turned to see the Shadow waving at him. He walked over. "Samos, are you alright?"

The Shadow was about to reply when Samos, the Green Eco Sage, popped out from behind the door. "What took you so long! I added six rings to my trunk waiting for you two to rescue me!" Jak looked from Samos to the Shadow and back again, his mouth open. Samos turned around quickly. "Great yakow horns! What happened to you Jak!"

Jak never did get to answer that question, because Daxter stopped cuddling with Tess and looked over at us. "Wait a minute!" He squirmed out of Tess' grip. "You're you! I mean, the other you! I mean... you know what I mean."

The Shadow walked over to us now. "Yes, it appears I have an older time twin. Great grass grubs, I can't believe what a cranky old log I've become!"

Dax looked ready to faint. "Two Samos the Sages?" He ran behind Jak's leg. "Aaack! Jak, they're multiplying!" I chuckled quietly.

Neither of the Samos' seemed to hear Daxter, they were to busy arguing with each other. "We need to find the Kid, pronto!" Samos yelled.

The Shadow glared at him. "What are you talking about, you old growth? The Kid already opened the Tomb! Our top priority should be to disrupt the Baron's forces!"

"Oh, look who thinks they've sprouted. If you were half as wise as I am, you'd know that the proper course of action is to find the Kid!"

"Listen you old, dried up leaf, I run this operation, and I say we go after the Baron's forces!"

Daxter finally crawled out from behind Jak's leg and jumped between the two Samos'. "Do we have to separate you two?"

Jak and I turned around to see the Warp Gate behind us shimmering. Jak pointed at it. "Vin's activated the Warp Gate. We need to get out of here now." He ordered. Nobody argued and we went through the gate.

- -

As soon as we went through, Samos and the Shadow went back to the Underground hideout, arguing the whole way, and Tess had to get back to the Hip Hog. After thanking Vin, Jak and I left, Daxter had gone with Tess. As soon as the doors shut, Jak turned to me. "Raye, what happened?"

I blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"While you were in the prison. You smell like blood and eco."

As creeped out as I was by the fact that he could smell that, I was more ashamed for some reason. I looked away. "Praxis and Errol strapped me onto the dark eco ray." I whispered.

I looked at Jak to see his eyes turn black for a moment. "They are going to die more slowly and painfully than I first imagined." As much as I wanted to hug Jak right then, I didn't. Two reasons: 1) I'm me, and I don't hug people a lot and 2) At that moment, it felt like Jak was blaming me for getting caught.

"We should probably get Daxter." I said, changing the subject quickly and walking towards the Hip Hog. I heard Jak run up behind me.

"Yeah. We don't need him getting drunk. Again."

- -

When we walked into the Hip Hog, Krew was up near the ceiling sleeping. Dax jumped up on Jak's shoulder. "At least he doesn't snore." He muttered. I chuckled quietly. I wasn't sure if Daxter was being serious or sarcastic. Knowing Daxter, though, it could've been both.

Sig motioned us over to the booth he was sitting in. We slid in as he took a long swig out of his cup. "You three are alright, and since the boss is out of it right now, I'm gonna give it to you straight. I've been Krew's heavy for years, and I've done some things I'm not to proud of, but this time I think Krew's gotten himself, and us, into something really nasty. I'm thinking of getting out." He looked away as he said that last part, like he was ashamed to admit it.

Dax jumped off of Jak's shoulder. "Ohh... Sig's beginning to like us, guys! C'mere ya' big lug! Hugs for everyone!" He yelled loudly.

Sig bent over the table. "Knock it off! I think Krew's trying to..." He looked up at Krew, who was beginning to stir. "Shh... he's waking up."

"Nice one loudmouth!" I hissed in Daxter's ear.

He waved me off. "Relaaax... watch me butter up bun boy." He jumped down from the table and looked up at Krew. "Hey there, stuffed crust! How's it feel to be floating at the top of the food chain?" All three of us shook our heads. There was no way to stop him now. "Whoooo... Krew-meister... have you been exercising? You're looking good! You are definantly... living large." I rested my head on my arms, laughing silently. Jak was shaking his head still, but had a small grin on his face. "And... those legs... they're so... ah... chiseled."

Krew finally cut Daxter off when he looked at us. "I need you two, and the talking rodent, to escort three of my boys down into the Sewers and visit that statue again. I've heard that Mar's cheeky face may hold another secret, and I want you to see if the rumors are true, eh?" Jak slid out of the booth as Krew finished talking. "Make sure all three of my boys get to the statue and they'll do the rest, hmmmmn?" Both of us nodded slightly and left, but not before I took another look over my shoulder at Sig, who was now deep in thought.

- -

Jak and I reached the Sewer entrance on foot, we weren't so tired as to not be able to walk, and I pulled out my Blaster. Jak raised an eyebrow. "These guys work for Krew. I trust them about as far as I can throw a Metal Head." He nodded and pulled out his own gun as the door slid open.

As we stepped off the lift, I saw the one person I didn't want to see. Jinx. Don't get me wrong, I have a fetish for explosives, but Jinx took it a bit to far. "Listen up blondie. Krew said you'd get us all the way to the statue. I've got fifty kilos of explosives strapped to me, and I don't think any of us want it blowing up before we get to where it needs to be." Jak glared at him and nodded, walking off with Mog and the other guy(I don't remember his name) behind him. I took up the rear, right behind Jinx. He looked over his shoulder at me. "Don't be shy if you get scared, babe."

I glared at him. "Don't call me babe." I tightened my grip on the Blaster trigger. He chuckled and walked off, and I just glared at the back of his head.

As we stepped into the next room after the lift, I enjoyed Jinx's scream of terror. "Aaah! Metal Heads! Shoot 'em, shoot 'em!"

We got through the rest of the Sewer's easily, except for the one time where Dax got his tail singed by the "beams of death," and finally reached the last door. Jinx pulled more bombs off of his back and placed them by the blocked up door. "Stand back, I'm gonna detonate this one remotely." Jak and I ducked down near the wall. Someone, I won't say any names, almost got his idiot blonde-green haired head blown off last time Jinx planted the charges to blow up rubble. After the dust settled, a scratching noise reached everyone's ears. "You hear that?"

"Sounds like I've got gas..." Mog said absentmindedly.

We all looked up to the ceiling. "AGH! The ceiling's crawling!"

"Hate to break it to you, but that ain't the ceiling!" I yelled, taking aim and shooting one of the spider-things off the ceiling. It fell to the floor, its neck breaking in the process.

"GAAH! Metal Heads everywhere!" Jinx yelled, backing up into the wall.

"It's a trap!" Mog yelled, just as scared.

Jak and I backed into each other, bullets flying from our Blasters and into the Metal Heads. "I'm almost out of ammo!"

"I know, so am I!" Jak yelled. A second later, both guns were empty and the sound of clicking triggers is what we were greeted with.

I switched over to my Vulcan Fury mod, then checked my bullets. Yep, still full. I lifted it up as high as I could, which wasn't very, and fired. "Eat eco, you metal plated freaks of nature!" I laughed, holding down the trigger and turning the barrel in both directions. Jak had his hands full keeping the few that had dropped behind us off of Jinx and crew.

The siren-like noise of the Vulcans ended as the last of the Metal Heads disappeared in a flash of eco sparks. Dax and I went around picking up Skull Gems, with me getting a bit more than him, my bag was bigger than his arms, then we ran after Jak.

We ran in just as Jinx was walking towards the statue. "Ooh, pretty statue." Mog muttered.

Dax started to walk forward to get a better look at the statue, but Jak stopped him. "Stand back. We're professionals." Jinx told him. He and his lackeys took the explosives off their back and planted them at the statue's feet. "Alright boys, let's blow this sucker sky high."

Jak looked confused. "Wait! Who told you to...? NO!"

"Jak, get down!" I yelled, cutting him off and ducking myself. Lot of good it did me, I still smacked into the wall, bruising my shoulder at the least. Jak got the worst of it, slamming full force into the wall on his back. Daxter was small enough to avoid the shockwave by pressing himself against the floor.

As I helped Jak up, Mar's head landed at our feet. Jak glared at Jinx as he climbed through the rubble. "Hee hee hee. Ah, there's what we're looking for, the Heart of Mar Gem." He scooped it up. "Thanks for the escort buddy. We'll take this back to Krew!" He stopped at the top of the stairs. "See ya' later... sweet cheeks." He chuckled and walked off.

"Can I kill him?"

SC: And that, my faithful readers, is Chapter 20. And yes, I say faithful because if you're still reading this, you're very loyal.

Puck: I'll say.

SC: Hey, you're my muse. They don't like it, it's your fault. Anyways, read and review people! Flame if you must, but I'll probably ignore it. (Walks away humming happy birthday loudly.)