Corad: Um...sorry for the lateness...to find time to write is like trying to find a needle in a haystack...very difficult. But, seeing I was on a roll when I wrote this chapter, I've also written the next chapter too, which is good, coz it will be updated more quickly...so, maybe if I keep rolling, I can keep updating quickly...depends how fast I can roll...but yeah...thanks for all the reviews too! You guys make me smile when I write, coz I know ppl like this enough to review! Thanks! Well, here's da next chapter, so I hope you enjoy. It's not what you call interesting, but the next chappies a bit better...

Don't own Jak and Daxter, but I own this plot...and I think that's it...thank god...


Chapter 24 – Back at the Undergroud

"Ok, spit it out Fur ball. What the hell was that!" Jinx snapped, turning to Daxter who was at the controls of the zoomer. Daxter didn't reply, but ignored him instead. He didn't feel it were his place to say anything on the matter, but knowing Jinx; he'd force it out of him anyway. "Well?" Jinx repeated, removing his bandanna from around his neck and dabbing some of the blood off his slit forehead.

"I dunno if it's my place to say anything tough stuff," Daxter replied, turning the headlights up on full beam. "Jak might kill me if I say anything to ya," he continued, unaware of the hand reaching out to strangle him.

"I will kill you if you don't tell me what hell that was! Unless you're stupid and didn't realize, he almost took my life! I deserve to know!" Jinx shouted, whacking Daxter over the head. Daxter growled in pain, but kept his furry mouth shut. If anyone were to tell Jinx what happened, it would have to be Jak himself…or Torn….

"Fine. You're not going to answer me anytime soon. I'll just force it outta someone else who knew about this!" he spat, wrapping the bandana around his forehead and tying it into a knot. "Maybe if someone had told me this was to happen."

"Um, I believe Jak made it quite clear that he needed out that place by dark. You were too stubborn to listen to him," Daxter muttered, swerving the zoomer sharply to avoid a flying bat. "See, Jak the man always knows what's right…well, apart from that time he pushed me into that pool of dark eco, and I came out looking like this…" Daxter said, trailing off as he remembered that day. Jinx raised an eyebrow at the ottsel, not sure what he was on about.

"Well, enough of ya life stories. Get us back to the city, fast. No way I'm coming back here any time soon," Jinx said, relaxing slightly into the zoomer seat. His arm was pounding with pain, along with his back and head. He knew it was his fault that he was injured by wolfish Jak, but he couldn't come to terms with what had just happened. One minute the boy was fine, next, he had sprouted wings, horns and fur…it was beyond him what had happened, and he intended to find out.

"Well, where do ya want me to drop you off?" Daxter said after a while, when they saw the city walls being illuminated by the small security lights up ahead. Jinx turned to the ottsel, and sighed heavily. He wasn't sure to be honest. Maybe if he told Torn what had happened?

"Take me to Torn. He needs to know," Jinx replied after a moment's thinking. Daxter grunted in return, and flew high over the walls, and into the city. The streets below were too quiet for likings, and Daxter figured it was because of the attack the night before. Knowing the people around here, they were too scared to venture out after dark.

"I hate to interrupt your little plans Jinx, but Torn already knows. He's been helping Jak for the past couple of nights, so why tell him something he already has knowledge on?" the ottsel asked, trying to get Jinx to reconsider telling Torn anything. He knew Torn wouldn't kick Jak out of the city or anything, but Torn was known to do some pretty drastic things when he got mad.

"Look, he may already know about that hideous wolf thing, but unless he has a hidden camera attached to my back, he doesn't know about this!" Jinx snapped, pointing to his roughly bandaged forehead. Daxter recoiled after noticing some of the blood seeping through the red material, and returned his gaze to the road. He could see the slums ahead of them, and floored the zoomer to get there faster. Another minute in this car with Jinx would send him mad.

"Well, I don't care what you tell Torn. I just don't want my buddy to be kicked out of the city," the ottsel murmured, more to himself than to Jinx, but Jinx heard anyway. He turned his still white face to Daxter, and grinned. Daxter cared so much for his friend that he'd do anything to keep him within the walls.

"We'll just have to see what Torn says then. Maybe if he had come too, instead of investigating that attack last night," Jinx said thoughtfully, as Daxter neared the underground hideout and dropped height gradually, until they were inches from the ground. Switching off the engine, he leapt out, and scurried quickly over to the hidden entrance door, and waited for it to slide along the hinges.

Once the door was open, both Daxter and Jinx wandered slowly down the steps and into the dimly lit room. Torn was nowhere in sight, so the two sat at the back desk for his return. Time passed quickly as they waited for the leader to return. They focused their minds on the past incident and what may happen to their best fighter.

"I still don't know why you have to tell him," the ottsel said suddenly, his head resting heavily in one palm. Jinx sniggered at the statement, and pulled out his lighter and pack of cigarettes.

"I'm telling him, coz if it happens again, he'll be killed. The city won't stand for that, and even if Ashelin disagrees with them, she'll be over ruled by the counsel. We tell Torn now, and maybe we can do something to stop this happening again," Jinx muttered, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"But Jak didn't mean to do that! He wanted to get away from the darkness! But you had to be stubborn and deprive him of getting back here!" Daxter shouted, pointing accusingly at Jinx. Neither of them noticed the door of the underground open however, and a tired and impatient Torn wander down to them.

"What's all this?" Torn growled, approaching the table and pulling out a free chair. He sat down heavily, and rested his arm on the surface of the desk. Both Jinx and Daxter looked solemnly at him, and he knew by their faces that something had happened, and because Jak wasn't with them, knew it was about Jak.

"Where is he?" Torn asked quietly, his eyes looking between the two. Jinx was the first to speak however.

"He…morphed into a wolf. The ottsel said you knew about it," Jinx spat, leaning forward in his chair. Torn nodded in agreement, and waited for Jinx to continue. "Well, after morphing, he narrowly missed killing me. I was saved by another one of his kind…but it was brown. It just came out of nowhere. Our car had been wrecked, so we've spent the majority f the afternoon trying to get help. How Daxter fixed it is beyond me though," Jinx said, turning to the ottsel.

"Where is Jak now?" Torn asked seriously, rising from the desk and pacing back and forth in thought. Daxter leapt up onto the table, and replied before Jinx had the chance to. "He was attacked by a brown wolf, which fought with him till he collapsed. We had to leave him behind. He's back in the wasteland," the ottsel said miserable.

"Great! This is bad….we need to find him before anything else does. Jinx, where were you guys?" Torn asked, gazing coldly at his comrade. Jinx glared straight back, holding the same face expression.

"We had killed that Metal head nest you wanted us too, and then when we returned to the car, to find something had sabotaged it…so, he's in the area where you'd circled on the map. Where about exactly, I don't know," Jinx muttered, taking in some of his cigarette and crossing his leg over his other knee.

"Well, why not!" Torn shouted, smashing his fist on the desk in front of Jinx. His eyes were full of fury, particularly to himself than anyone else within the room. He knew it was his fault. He had planned to go with them, but something came up which had forced him to drop it, and he had also proposed to him to go with Jinx in the first place.

"Calm down man! We'll find him! Jak can defend himself!" the ottsel cried loudly, watching as Torn turned his back on them in anger. "That's not the point Daxter. We've worked so hard to keep him outta trouble. I need to find him. I can't let anyone else find him," he muttered quietly, turning to face the other two again.

"You can't find him in this condition. Wait till morning at least. When dawn arrives, you can search the plains easily. It's too hard to see a thing out there," Jinx said, looking up at Torn's face.

"You're right. Jinx, I suggest you and Daxter both stay here till morning. Get some rest, and in the morning we will search for him together. Deal?" Torn asked convincingly. "Whatever," they both replied, before Torn went to the back bunk beds and got them some sheets from beneath them. He placed the two sets on top, and told them to make the beds themselves.

"One last thing. Jinx, don't tell a single soul about this. No one you hear? We have to keep Jak quiet. He's caused enough trouble in his life for something like this to let him down now. Promise me," Torn murmured quietly to Jinx, while Daxter was busy making his bed for the night. Jinx sighed, before nodding his head in agreement.

"Good. Now, I suggest you get that back of yours sorted out, or ya going to wake up in the morning and feel like crap," Torn said, looking at Jinx's shredded singlet and the dry blood that had formed around his cuts. Jinx turned to him and grinned. "I can always rely on you for help, can't I?" he sneered, before leaving the room and heading upstairs to the shower.


Corad: So...was that boring or what! But yeah...it has to be done, coz the thing won't make sense...coz yeah...anyhow, if you have the time to review, then that's great! If you don't have the time to review, then I guess that's ok too! But thanks for reading this guys! See ya in the next update, which will be up more sooner seeing it's already written! Toodles!