Corad: I am so ashamed. I've kept all my wonderful readers waiting...I'M SORRY! If you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, I'll be really thankful...if not, I hope this chapter will be ok for you. Thankyou to the nice ppl who reviewed last chapter! Thankyou! Please try and enjoy this next chappie.

Don't own Jak and Daxter, but I think I own the plot...hopefully I do anyway...


Chapter 34 – Another Murder Scene

The elf opened his eyes, and glanced up at the bright sky, burning fiercely into him. His eyes began to water, and he blinked intensely, feeling tears roll down his cheeks. He wiped them away with a gloveless hand, and sat up, head spinning. "Urgh, Dax?" he asked, his upper body swaying. "Daxter?" He got no reply, and rubbed at his eyes to force them to stop watering.

"Jak, is that you?" Jak glanced around the canal area, and saw his orange friend curled up in a heap a few meters away. "Daxter!" he shouted, leaping up quickly and running over to him. Daxter smiled and gave Jak thumbs up whilst lying on the ground. "Thank god you're ok," Jak murmured, kneeling down beside his friend.

"Jak, maybe next time, don't think about Torn while driving. It only results in that," Daxter said, pointing to the charcoaled zoomer next to the wall. Jak shook his head and smiled lightly. "You've got it buddy. Come on," he stated, picking up his friend and placing him on his shoulder again. "I'm sorry about that Dax…my mind…it just trailed off. Looks like we'll be walking the rest of the way…it isn't far though, which is good. Now…where's my other glove?" Jak asked thoughtfully, gazing around at the ground to find his missing glove. He spotted it next to the zoomer, and picked it up. "Maybe it's time for some new gloves…" Jak said disappointingly, realizing the glove now contained a big hole on the palm. Daxter began laughing as Jak slid the glove across his hand anyway.

Jak set off at a quick walk, avoiding eye contact of those elves staring at him. He wasn't in the mood to deal with any citizens at the moment, and instead blocked off his ears to the furious yells he was receiving from behind. "Jak, they appear to be angry at ya," Daxter murmured, turning around to see some male citizen shaking his fist at their back. Jak snorted in laughter, but didn't say a word. Yes, they were angry with him, but he was angry at the whole city.

The stadium area still seemed too quiet when the two reached the stairs, and the elf figured that people were still too scared to venture out after yesterday's events. "You'd think there'd be more people out than this," the Ottsel said, also realizing how few citizens there were. Jak rolled his eyes at his friend, and made his way in leaping strides to where the murdered body had laid the day before.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Jak whispered, gazing down at the dry blood staining the pavement. Daxter shivered beside his head, most likely in fear. "Why Ashelin sent me out to do this…should have sent one of her guards," Jak hissed, kneeling down on the pavement and looking at the blood stain closely. All that he found were a few grey hairs lying on the stain and around. Thinking he could take it back for evidence, Jak scooped up some of the hair and opened up his waist bag. He tipped the contents in his hand into the bag, before closing it up again.

"Now that that's done, time for the Yakow paddock," Jak said unenthusiastically, wiping his hands on his shorts to get any excess hair off them. Before he left the area however, he glanced up at the Mechanic Garage, in the hopes of seeing Keira around. He growled in defeat after seeing no sign of her, and turned around. The two ran up the stairs once again, and Jak pulled out his hover board. He wasn't in the mood to walk past the still angry citizens, and instead flicked the hover board on and tossed it to the ground.

The hover board sat still as Jak placed his foot on it, and he kicked off the ground, putting pressure on the small accelerator at his heel. He flew swiftly along the canal region, the wind flying gently through his hair. Daxter was enjoying himself travelling at the fast speed, and was heard yelling and cheering loudly. Jak joined in laughing as he began to do a few tricks to ease his mind. The board flew high in the air and spun around, before turning over. Jak was aware a few people were looking at him, but he ignored their angered and stunned faces.

"So Jak, what are we looking for again?" Daxter asked, gazing around the canal area as they neared the green paddocks ahead. "We're investigating a disappearance last night somewhere in this area. If you see anything, tell me Dax," Jak replied, jumping over the railing on a canal, and landed on the water, sending a splash of water everywhere. He laughed loudly as he heard a few citizens complain about the water drenching them. A ramp met them shortly afterwards, and Jak steered the hover up them, doing a long jump at the top of the Ramp and flying a few meters through the air before landing again. The pavement disappeared, and instead was met by a dirt path, signifying their entrance on the Yakow paddocks.

The area here also seemed less populated than normal, but nothing compared to how deserted the Stadium had been. Citizens were still walking around as normal here, but had nervous expressions on their faces. "Ok, keep a look out. Ash didn't say where the disappearance happened, so if you see anything Dax. Anything, just yell," the elf stated, lessening the pressure on the hover board's accelerator pad. The hover slowed down, giving the two a chance to study each area as they passed by.

Fifteen minutes had passed before Jak was about to give. He had spent too long out here, and he noticed the storm clouds getting closer and closer. Daxter shouted out to him however, and pointed to some trees not too far away. Jak jumped off the hover board, and replaced it on his back, locking it in place. He ran quickly over to the trees to where his friend had instructed, and saw big gashes in the tree trunks. He noticed too that the earth had been torn up and the grass lay freely scattered on the ground. Jak squinted his eyes and began to inspect the area, realizing there had been some form of struggle.

"Jak, what's that?" the Ottsel asked suddenly, and Jak looked to the ground at his friend. Daxter pointed to a small puddle of blood at the foot of a tree, and he gazed up the tree to see blood splattered finely through the leaves and branches. Jak shuddered after seeing huge claw marks scarring the tree trunk where the blood stained it. He lowered his head, and closed his eyes. "Why is this happening? Why?….. WHY!" he shouted in fury, his eyes flashing black. Daxter scurried over to him, and began to calm him down. He knew where this was going, but managed to suppress his friend's rage to keep him under control.

"Jak, maybe we should just tell Ashelin that we found the spot of murder, so we can leave," Daxter suggested, but Jak was preoccupied. Something small and round met his eye hanging loosely on a branch of the tree. He wandered over to it, and reached his hand out unconsciously towards the small object. His fingers wrapped tightly around the cold metal, and he tugged it from the branch, sending a few blood stained leaves falling peacefully to the ground. He opened his palm and looked at the object he held.

"What have ya found Jak?" Daxter asked intriguingly, climbing up Jak's waist to sit back on his shoulder. Both Jak and Daxter looked at the black and white pendant on the golden chain, before Jak glanced to his friend. "Dax, this is evidence. But…what's with these symbols? See," Jak said, showing Daxter the Yin and Yang symbol engraved on the front of the pendant. On the Yin side was a small black paw mark and on the Yang side was a small white human hand mark. Jak raised an eyebrow, and began to study the strange language written around the outside perimeter of the pendant. He couldn't understand it, but noticed a small segment of Precursor writing around the outside of the white half (Yin).

"This is strange Daxter…it's like…I want to keep this and study if further. Let's tell Ashelin what we found here and give her the grey hair, but I must keep this longer ok," Jak whispered, pocking the pendant in his waist bag along with the hair. He took one last glance at the unpleasant area, before unlocking the hover from his back and jumping on it.


Corad: I hope that was alright...again sorry for updating late. My school life at the present time is stressful, and I have too many assignments, study and exams to do...so finding time to write and update has been kinda hard...yeah...next update will be sooner ok. Won't have to wait another...THREE WEEKS! WHAT! That's made my guilt level rise to 110 percent now...sorry guys! I'm so sorry!