I don't own anything except Raye so don't sue.

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Chapter 30 The Death of Sig

After more annoyingly stupid puzzles, and being chased again, the three were almost out. "Let's go!" Jak called to Sig. "We're almost to the elevator!"

Sig came running through the doorway. "Looks like we finally lost 'em, chili peppers. Piece of cake, huh?"

Raye laughed. "Yeah, cake with very sharp pincers and bad breath."

Sig laughed too. "Now you two are real Wastelanders! I say it's time to take this fight to the Metal Head Leader himself. What a trophy he'll make. We find a way to juice up Mar's ol' gun, and then boom baby! We storm the Nest, gun's blazing!" Jak and Raye grinned. Raye's grin, however, faded as she remembered what happened next.

"Oh no." She whispered. She tried to call out a warning, but her throat closed up. 'Raye, no.' Ambika ordered, using the dark eco flowing in her blood to paralyze her.

"Hell, we'll take 'em all on together! You two and me, side by side! Nothing'll stop us cause we're-"

The ceiling collapsed above Sig, revealing the gigantic Metal Head, falling down toward him, mouth wide open. It fell straight down on Sig and the bridge, the path collapsing beneath both, sending them into the abyss of black below them.

"SIG!" All three yelled. Jak looked down into the pit frantically. Nothing.

Jak rested his head in his hands. He needed a minute. Unfortunately, that minute was more than fate thought he deserved. "So, ahh, what's Plan B?" Daxter asked, nervously.

Jak looked up at him. "The same as Plan A, minus Sig." He stood and walked toward the exit. "Come on Raye."

She followed him silently, having a mental argument with herself. 'I could've saved him! Why'd you stop me!'

Ambika growled. 'You're the one always preaching about how we "can't interfere!" What do you think saving Sig would do, other than placing yourself in danger? He may end up actually dying while he helped you and Jak fight Kor!'

'I know you're right, but…'

'Look, both of us know he'll be fine.' I think, Ambika added to herself. Raye fought back tears as the elevator rose. Life sucked, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it. 'Worthless' didn't even describe how she felt.

As they stepped through the doors to another scene of growing carnage, Jak's talkbox flew up. "Jak, I need you and Raye to get down to the Stadium pronto." Keira said before turning her end off.

"Wait… did she just say both of us?" Raye asked, wiping a few tears that had managed to sneak out away.

Jak smiled, but it was forced. "Yeah. Let's go."

xXx

Jak and Raye found Keira easily in the Stadium area; it hadn't been overrun yet, and the Rift Rider stuck out like a Flut-Flut in a group of Lurkers. Or vice versa. But the point of this is not to compare giant, ride-able birds and furry, overgrown, underdeveloped apes, but to have Jak and Raye walk over to Keira.

"The Rift Rider's finished!" Keira exclaimed as the two elves walked over. "But if my father's right, and the Ring is somewhere in the Metal Head Nest, how are we going to get the Rift Rider there to use it?"

Brutter popped up between Jak and Keira and pointed up. "Look! Brutter just knew friends would need lift if Metal Headers attack." They all say the giant, floating balloon.

"Brutter, you da man!" Daxter yelled, jumping up on Jak's shoulder.

"Lurker balloons are the finest lifters in world, but they is easy target." Brutter told them, looking at Jak and Raye.

Jak nodded. "Right. You guys get the Rift Rider to the Nest. We'll stay here to defend your takeoff and getaway."

Daxter glared at Jak. "Once again, being your friend SUCKS! I wanna go on the balloon."

"You keep Stadium safe while we prep balloon for lift away." Brutter looked behind them. "Oh no, here they come! Metal Headers!"

"Move it!" Raye yelled to Brutter and Keira. They both nodded and ran for the balloon as Samos, the sage and Shadow, lifted the Rift Rider with their eco powers. Raye pulled out her Vulcan. "Anger management?"

Jak nodded. "Anger management." He let loose a flurry of bullets into a grunt that was coming down the steps toward them.

Both ran out of bullets sooner than they'd have liked and switched guns. Yellow streaks embedded themselves in the skulls of the Stingers and Grunts that were swarming around them.

Finally, the Rider was on the balloon, and it took off. Jak finished off the last of the Metal Heads as it floated up. "Up, up, and away!" Brutter cried as it rose higher and higher.

Daxter scoffed. "Must be nice, floating away while we DIE down here!"

Keira leaned over the edge a little, holding one of the ropes to keep from falling. "We'll meet near the Nest! See you both soon! Be careful Jak!"

Dax hit the side of Jak's head. "Yeah, Jak, be careful."

Jak rolled his eyes and looked around for Raye. She was kneeling down, holding her talkbox in her hands. "Raye? What's wrong?"

She handed him the machine. "Listen."

Jak hit the 'accept' button, and a message started playing. "Jak? Raye? C'mon, one of you pick up! Listen, I think I know who's behind all this! It's K- oh no. No, get away from me! AARRRGGGHH!" There was a roar in the background and the sound of tearing.

Jak and Dax both looked sick. Jak moved his finger to the stop button, but Raye shook her head. "There's more."

Jak faintly heard gasping in the background. He had to play it back three times before he could decipher: "Praxis… Stone… Construction Site… hurry…K-Kor…"

Dax looked from one elf to the other. "You don't think that he's… you know."

"He's dead." Raye muttered. "The Metal Heads aren't anyone mercy."

Jak growled. "Where's the Site?"

Raye stood up and climbed on an abandoned Zoomer. "I know." For once, Jak didn't question Raye's unexplained knowledge. First Sig, now Vin, not to mention countless civilian casualties. The Metal Head Leader would pay for this.

XXX

I watched both my friends nervously as the Zoomer sped through the carnage in the Industrial Section. Both their expressions were detached and bitter. As we passed the Power Station, Raye stopped. The door was blocked with rubble, and the windows were covered in what looked like blood. Jak put a hand on her shoulder and she slammed the accelerator again.

We stopped near a half-hidden door under one of the walkways. No one even noticed as Jak and Raye shoved the boulder of metal out of the way and walked through. It led to a room filled with machinery and another door at the end. They ran up to it and shoved it open.

Praxis and half a dozen of his goons were standing at the bottom of the site, and I nearly fell off Jak's shoulder as he and Raye completely ignored the ramps and jumped down. They were right next to the end of the ramp when Kor, yeah, the old dude with the walking stick, dropped down in front of them from nowhere.

Both stopped. "Kor?" Jak questioned. "What's going on?"

"YOU!" Raye hissed, Ambika coming through.

Kor smirked at Jak and I, completely ignoring Raye. "I'm sure you know, deep down in your darkest nightmares." His face contorted into something ugly(er) that had fangs and very yellow eyes. "We've met before, remember?" He turned back to Praxis. "Everything's going exactly as planned." He walked away from us and threw away his walking stick. Dragonfly like wings sprouted from his back, and his body bulged nastily. Then, here's the really gross part, it shredded into pieces to reveal the Metal Head Leader hovering in the air.

"Jak! It's the Metal Head Leader!" I cried. For once, I heard no 'Captain Obvious' joke.

Metal Kor laughed. "Now you see! Without the shield wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I am now my full potential! So for the last time, give me the Precursor Stone!" He ordered.

Praxis pulled out a weird glowy-green sword. "If the city must die, the we all die!" He charged at Kor, his guards behind him. The gem on Kor's forehead glowed, then shot out a beam of dark eco, blasting Praxis and the goon squad into a support beam, which immediately collapsed on them.

"I will find that stone if I must crush this city one brick at a time!" He started to fly off, but a black-and-white blur shot past Jak and I with a bloodcurdling roar and embedded itself in Kor's side. It took me a second to realize it was a half-transformed Raye.

Kor used his tail to fling her off like she was nothing, laughing madly. "Poor, stupid Raye. You had all that time to finish me and you pick now, when I am at my full power? Foolish girl!"

Raye stood up and leaped at him again. "DIE YOU BASTARD!" He caught her in mid-leap and slammed her to the ground.

"Raye, what's he talking about?" Jak asked.

Kor laughed. "Don't you get it? Your precious friend Raye has been lying to you about everything. She's known who I was this whole time. She knew how every moment of your pathetic battle would turn out. And when she tried to change it, she failed."

Jak's eyes, and mine, widened. "Raye… that's not true is it?"

She couldn't look at him. "I-I'm sorry, Jak."

Kor cackled and flew off before Raye had a chance to orient herself. I could sense the anger radiating off of Jak (though some of it may have been mine) as Raye sat up, wincing. He swiftly stomped over, grabbing Raye by the front of her shirt and pulling her up. "You knew!"

"Jak, listen to me, I can explain-"

He shoved her away from him. "I don't want to hear it, Raye! You knew what was going to happen and you didn't stop it!"

"I couldn't you moron!" She yelled. "I couldn't alter what was going to happen, otherwise I could've destroyed the entire damn universe! Do you know how fucking hard it was for me to force myself to sit back and watch as this place went to hell! How hard it was to not kill Kor, or Errol, or Praxis and just end it right then! No, you don't!"

Both of them glared at each other for a minute or two before Jak let out an aggravated sigh. "Fine. Start talking." (a/n: yes, I know I'm ignoring Praxis. Let's all pretend he's unconscious.)

Raye took a deep breath. "To start off, I'm not even from this dimension. I'm from a place called Earth, and back home, this, all of it, is a game. You two, Torn, Samos, Keira, Ashelin- everyone- is a fictional character in a video game."

I was trying very, VERY hard not to laugh. "Daxter, if you even think of calling me crazy, I'll let Ambika eat you." My hand fell back to my side.

And so Raye explained. She explained everything, from the vision Onin showed her, to losing the Kid, who was actually Jak (!), and confronting Kor. "So I don't even exist in your world?" Jak asked, trying to confirm this fact.

"Not really, no." Raye said.

I groaned. "Those poor women! They've been missing out on this their whole lives!"

Raye chuckled. "Lucky them."

"HEY!"

Jak put a hand on her shoulder. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I told you, I didn't know if I would tear the very fabric of reality itself."

"Raye, you were sucked into a television."

"Good point." She muttered. "But now… now I'm starting to think that it wouldn't have mattered if I did. This isn't a game anymore." All three of us looked over at the pile of rubble where Praxis was buried. It was moving. "It's the Baron." Raye muttered. Neither of us questioned her as Jak walked over and pulled the rubble away to reveal a badly injured and dying Praxis.

"You two… are the supreme weapons. And I… made you. Still… any leader worth his salt has his backup plan…" He pulled a remote out of his pocket and hit the button on it. You know, one of those big, red buttons that you just have to push. We turned around as a bomb rose out of the ground behind us. It was really freaking huge. "Remember, the first rule in making a bomb… is to always make two." He took a shuddering breath and his eye rolled back into his head.

Raye didn't even look at him. "He's dead."

Jak snarled. "We aren't getting to kill anyone we want."

"There's still Kor." She reminded him.

"Yeah." They both walked over to the bomb and looked up at it, then at me.

"No way. I've done some stupid things, but there is no way I'm climbing into a bomb." Raye grabbed my tail and pulled. "Yaaoowww! Okay, I'm going in." I leaped off of Jak's head and scrambled on top of the bomb, then jumped in the hole on top. I was immediately caught up in a mess of wires. "Man, what a mess of junk in here! All jumbled coils and wires and switches." I groaned. "Should I unhook the blue wire?" I grinned, a joke coming to mind. "Wait a minute. Are Ottsels colorblind!" I could almost Jak and Raye's scared faces. "Let me just break a few more things and see if anything pops loose…" I pulled out a few random wires and coils before spotting the 'release' button near one of the clamps holding the Stone and hitting it. It popped loose and I yelled, "BOOM!" as loud as I could. Jak and Raye did not find this funny. "Haha, gotcha." I climbed down with the Stone and handed it to Jak. "Like candy from a baby."

Jak looked down at the Precursor Stone that was glowing softly in his hands. "Let's go."

XXX

As Raye and I flew back through the city toward the Port, I asked her more questions. Can you blame me? I just found out that there was another reality where I was a video game character. "So it's a popular game?"

"Very." She told me, dodging a stray bullet. "It has a fan club at my school."

Dax pouted. "But all of them star JAK. What about me?"

"There are only two games, Daxter. (a/n: This is before Jak 3, remember?)" Raye told him. "I think it's supposed to be a trilogy, but I haven't heard anything about the third game. Jessie might have. Heck, she might even HAVE the game. I've been gone for almost three years now."

"Do you miss them?" Dax asked.

"Yeah. I try not to dwell on it. Though I'm kinda PO'd at my folks for not telling me I was adopted." Raye paused. "What was it like to channel Light Eco?"

I stayed silent for a minute. "I hardly remember. It was awesome, though. Like nothing could hurt me…"

"Kind of like Ambika and Lykaios." Raye muttered.

"Not really. It didn't hurt, it felt… good." I stopped as the Port came into view. I gagged at the smell of blood and eco. Honestly, I couldn't tell who was winning. Raye and I both turned our Zoomers toward the transport, which was thankfully there.

"Tyro, please tell me it's you in there." Raye said, climbing in back.

"It is. Ashelin just radioed me." He turned around to look at us as the ramp rose behind me. "You two sure you want to go to the Metal Head Nest of all places?"

"We're sure." We both answered.

Daxter shuddered. "Stop doing that. It's creepy." The transport shuddered as it took off and flew over the city walls.

"Praxis is sure doing a great job of defending the city now." Tyro scoffed.

"He's dead." Raye told him.

He looked back, somewhere between alarmed and happy. "You two?"

"No." I growled angrily. "The Metal Head Leader. Kor."

"Kor? The old guy with the walking stick?"

Daxter nodded. "We were just as surprised as you." He glanced over at Raye, whose look was icy.

'Most of us were, anyway.' Lykaios muttered in my head.

'Shut up.'

XXX

"You guys really sure about this?" Tyro asked us before we walked out of the transport.

I could feel the energy from the Precursor Stone through my shirt; it was strapped beneath my JET Board. "No, but we never usually are." Raye said. "Don't worry, we'll be back. You've still got a story to tell me!" She called, jumping out.

"I wouldn't wait up." I told him. "Head back to Haven."

He nodded. "Good luck." I jumped out and the door closed behind me. A hot gust of air hit me as it took off and flew back out to the city. I turned to Raye. "Where to now?"

Raye bit her lip. "I'm not really sure… this was when Jessie took over so I could go eat dinner. But there's only one way to go, so we'll just have to try that way."

The path was surprisingly empty. "I don't get it." Raye muttered. "When Jess played, this place was crawling with Mantis."

My grip on my Blaster tightened. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Suddenly, a scratching noise reached my ears. "It's an ambush!" I shot the Mantis that had leapt at me.

It only took a minute to dispatch the Metal Heads. "I think that's the last of them." I muttered. "You okay?"

Raye looked down at her side where a Mantis had gotten in a swipe. "Yeah. It's shallow."

"Good. Let's go."

Jak had Daxter call Ashelin when we had Mar's gun in our sights. "Ashelin, it's Jak. We found the gun." He stepped onto the lift with me.

"How are things going back there?" I asked.

"There isn't much hope now. With the Shield Wall destroyed, it's just a matter of time before the Metal Heads overwhelm us. You should just go back through the rift back to your own time, Jak, and get away from this horrible place."

Dax, who still had Jak's communicator, nodded. "I see your point. Come on Jak."

Jak lifted the Precursor Stone off of his back. "This place is worth fighting for." He told them both, shoving the Stone into place. I smiled at him. This was home, for both of us.

"We'll hold out as long as we can. Fare well." She clicked off. Daxter closed the communicator.

Jak looked at the machine. "Precursor Stone," He tapped the gun with his first two knuckles, "Gun," He pointed at the blocked entrance in front of us with the same two fingers. "Nest."

Dax jumped back on Jak's shoulder. "Light 'er up, padre!"

Jak pulled on the lever and the gun rose. He laughed viciously. "Eat this!" The beam blasted through the entrance, leaving us with a clear, if somewhat smoky, path to Metal Kor.

"That oughta wake 'em up!" I laughed.

"Let's go take care of business." Jak said, the same malicious grin on his face.

Daxter gulped. "What, you mean go in there? Ahh, I'm right behind you." He slunk down on Jak's shoulder as we walked in. First though, I grabbed the Stone out of the Gun.

"Trust me, we'll need this." I told the boys as I caught up. I slid it under my JET Board as Jak had, pulling my gun out.

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SC: Cliffhanger, haha. Thirty chapters and counting. Yay me! Review people!

Ja ne

SC