Chapter XIII: Back To The Arena

LES: Well, I've finally gotten Jak to act this chapter for me. You see, I had a bit of trouble getting him to perform once I told him the plot of this chapter. But, I got him in the end like I always do. But, let me tell you, he is REALLY pissed at me right now.

Jak: I hate you.

LES: (eats a marshmallow) Mmm, this is good. (Offers one to Jak) Want one?

Jak: (Glares) You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

LES: Uh… yeah. Might go good with Wumpbee honey.

Jak: LES!

LES: (innocently) What?


Jak pulled back into the Garage and parked the Sand Shark in its spot right next to the Tough Puppy.

Kleiver walked up to the duo. "You blokes back?"

"Yeah. And what do you know? Wasteland Metal-Heads are just as easy to take down as Haven's Metal-Heads." Jak said.

"Oh, by the way." Kleiver said. "Damas wants to see you in the Spargain Palace Throne Room."

"The Throne Room?" Jak asked. Only a select group of warriors ever went in there.

"Yeah, but don't get a swelled head." Kleiver said. "He just wants you to go to the arena again."

"Then why don't I go there?" Jak asked. "It's closer."

"You won't want to do that." Kleiver said. "It's unknown for a rookie to get a personally invitation to the Throne Room."

"Well, when you put it that way." Jak said. He turned and walked back to Spargus.

The door to the Palace was about halfway between the two main sections of Spargus, and the door was always guarded by at least two guards. Damas must've told them that Jak was to be let in because they made no move to stop him.

He stepped on to the elevator and it moved up. Jak was well aware that this was unusual. Damas was a King, and he was not even a real citizen yet. He was more of a person who was living off his charity.

The elevator stopped in the throne room… the strangest one that he had ever seen. He had been in Haven's throne room on numerous occasions. The focus of the décor for the Haven throne room was more modern, metal and Eco lights. The Spargus throne room was just the opposite, sandstone and water, the whole place was lit by torches that were placed strategically around the room. Damas sat on the throne at the head of the room. He stood up. "Jak, it is time for you to once again test your abilities in our arena. Face down your fears, defeat those who oppose you, only then will you be a true warrior."

"Jak? Afraid?" Daxter laughed. "Jak's not afraid of nothing!"

Jak looked away innocently. "Everyone has some fear." Damas said, looking at Jak. "Even if they don't admit it." All of Jak's body language said that he wanted to disappear into thin air. "So… what is it the infamous Jak fears most?"

Daxter stared at the young elf. Jak wished with all his heart that he could evaporate, but it wasn't going to happen. Jak whispered an inaudible word.

"What was that?" Daxter asked.

Jak looked highly uncomfortable. There was only one thing in the world that he feared above all else. "It's embarrassing." He said finally.

"People will fear what they fear." Damas said. "Even warriors can feel fear, but he can't let that fear stop him from acting. True bravery is not being fearless, but admitting your fears and facing them."

Jak put his head in his hands. "It's stupid. I know I shouldn't be afraid, but I am."

"So, what is it?" Daxter asked.

Jak sighed, then he looked down at his feet. "Wumpbees."

"Wumpbees?" Daxter demanded. "Is that because of that ninth birthday thing?"

"I guess." Jak said, his mind traveling back twelve years ago on his birthday…


(Fashback)

"Hey Jakkie, happy birthday!" Daxter exclaimed.

Jak, still a mute boy, merely smiled his appreciation.

Suddenly, a young girl that could only be an eight-year old Keira ran into the room. She ran over to Jak and sat next to him, putting her arm around him playfully. "Hey, big brother, happy birthday!"

Perhaps some explanation is needed. Jak and Keira were not related by blood or even family ties, but they had known each other for as long as the other could remember. They were more siblings than friends. And Jak, being the older one by almost a year, was the 'big brother.'

Jak embraced her in a brotherly way, his way of saying 'Hey, little sister' without any words.

"Nine years old! Hey! No fair! Just because you were born before me doesn't mean you should be older!" Daxter whined. (Daxter was several months younger than Jak.) Jak blinked to show his confusion.

"Uh… I think that does make him older than you." Keira said. "And it is fair."

"No, it's not." Daxter grumbled, crossing his arms over his small chest and pouting.

Suddenly, Jak got an idea, a mischievous idea, so unlike him. Usually it was Daxter who came up with all the hare-brained ideas that usually ended up with them in trouble. He tugged on Daxter's shirt to get his attention. Then he pointed off in the distance, towards the Forbidden Jungle. See, it had suddenly hit Jak that he was nine years old and he wasn't a kid anymore. So shouldn't he be allowed to go wherever he wanted? And he wanted to go into the Forbidden Jungle. The dense forest had been hovering on the edge of Jak's mind for weeks, though he was unable to say why. He just felt this overwhelming need to go and explore the jungle.

"What is it?" Daxter asked. Jak rolled his eyes. There were times that he wished desperately that he wasn't a mute and he could just tell Daxter he wanted to explore the jungle. This was one of those times.

He pointed more insistently. Keira figured it out first. "The jungle?" She asked. Jak nodded to show her she was on the right track.

Daxter figured out the next half. "You want to go to the jungle?"

Jak nodded triumphantly. "The Jungle?" Keira asked, looking slightly nervous. "I don't know… Daddy told me never to go into the Jungle. There's piranha, snakes, and… and Lurkers in there."

"Oh, come on, Keir!" Daxter said. "That's the most brilliant thing that Jak's ever come up with! Explore the Jungle… why didn't I think of that?" Everyone will think we're heroes!"

"But… the Lurkers?" Keira asked.

"Listen, girlie, I've lived here since before you two showed up three years ago and I have never once even seen a Lurker! I don't think they exist. Lurkers around the village are just tales that parents tell us gullible children to stop us from misbehaving… like Santa Clause." Daxter gave a meaningful glance at Jak.

Jak looked away, embarrassed. He never knew about Santa Clause, or Christmas before he turned up in Sandover village, and Keira and Samos were equally ignorant of the holiday. (Daxter often wondered where Jak and the others came from as to have absolutely no idea what Christmas was.) Anyway, Jak was overjoyed at the concept, but two years ago when he was seven he found out, as all children eventually do, that Santa Clause wasn't real. He had sulked for days and Daxter, the self-proclaimed 'realist' had made fun of him ever since.

"Enough of that!" Keira said, glaring at Daxter. "You must've believed in him as some point of your life!"

"Yeah, I did." Daxter said. "That was until I found my dad in a Santa suit putting presents under the tree."

Jak waved his hands for attention, and then pointed to the jungle again.

"All righty, hold your yakows!" Daxter said. "Off we go!" They began to head towards the jungle. Then he looked back at Keira. "Yo, you comin'?"

Keira hesitated, for she had always been the good girl of the group, and always rather reluctant to disobey her father. Then she sighed. "Okay, I'll go."


"So began the expedition. After tramping around a hot, steamy tropical jungle for days, and getting attacked by dozens of terrifying predators, the group is lost with no food and no water. How much longer until they start to turn on each other?"

"Daxter, shut-up!" Keira hissed angrily. "We've only been in here for five minutes and we've yet to be attacked by anything."

Daxter looked around at the surrounding jungle, you could still see Sandover in the distance. "Oh… I knew that."

Jak wasn't listening, he was looking up in a tree, an amazed expression on his face.

"Hey, Jak, what is it?" Daxter asked, and then he looked up and gasped. There was a huge… thing hanging off one of the sturdier branches of the tree.

"Wumpbee nest." Keira said, looking at it.

Wumpbees were a common type of insect in the jungle. Very much like the honeybees, Wumpbees made honey. The only difference was size. Wumpbees are huge. Some could get up to five inches in length, and their barbed stingers were about an inch long. Quite a painful experience to get stung by one. That is why only professionals dared to venture near the nests. However, the three children down below were young, naïve, and had never encountered or been stung by a Wumpbee before, so they didn't have the sense to run away.

In short, they were being stupid little kids.

Jak, in one of his rare fits of stupidity, began to scale the tree. "Jak?" Daxter called up after him. "What are you doing?" Daxter yelled as the elf climbed the tree expertly.

Jak paused, looked down at Daxter, and then pointed up at the nest. Then he continued to climb.

"What's he doing?" Keira asked.

"I think he wants to get a closer look." Daxter said.

"No, Jak, the Wumpbees might get mad if you get near their nest. I've heard about a guy who got stung…" Keira began worriedly.

"Come on, Keir, you sound like old Log-Nog." Daxter said. "Let Jak have his fun."

Keira watched worriedly as Jak reached the nest.

Jak was amazed at just how big the nest was. It looked even bigger up close. It had to be at least ten feet long. Jak reached out curiously and performed the dumbest thing he had ever done in his young life… he tapped on the outer covering of the nest.

Then came the monstrous buzzing. Then, over the buzzing, a voice echoed in Jak's head, a voice he was sure he heard before, but could quite place. 'Oh, and trust me on this… stay away from any Wumpbee nests on your ninth birthday, okay?'

What? Where did that come from? Jak wondered to himself. The buzzing seemed laugh at him. Too late now, dummy.

Suddenly, the monstrous Wumpbees began to fly out of the nest. There were screams down below and Jak began to hurry down the tree as fast as humanly possible. However, the Wumpbees were much faster. They swarmed the unlucky intruder. Jak was forced to drop the last ten feet out of the tree. However, he must've landed wrong, because he felt a sharp pain from his ankle and let out a cry. Sprained.

Daxter and Keira rushed forward and grabbed the poor boy, physically dragging him along while the Wumpbees continued their merciless attack.


Samos was sitting in his study, trying to cure a fern that had abnormally twisted stems. (Samos somehow suspected that Daxter was involved.) Then the sounds of footsteps greeted him.

"You kids back?" Samos turned around and gasped. Three perverbal pincushions stood in the doorway. The two on the outside were recognizable, as they were only partially covered in Wumpbee stings. One was Keira and the other was Daxter. They supported a third party that was so covered in stings that he couldn't tell who it was. "What happened here? Who's that?" He asked, looking at the middle pincushion.

"Jak." Daxter said tearfully and winched with every movement.

"Oh my Precursors!" Samos gasped, taking the boy out of Keira and Daxter's grip, who both cried out with the sudden movement. "You three! Get in here now!"


(Back in the Present)

"You get stung over a thousand times and you'd come to fear them too." Jak defended himself.

"Wumpbees, huh?" Damas asked. "Nasty little bugs. I wouldn't want to gut stung over a thousand times. But, for now, it is time for you to enter the arena…"

"Wait a second, Mr. Sand King." Daxter spoke up. "I'd like to place a complaint. We've been training hard, my feet are killing me, and I think I'm getting a hangnail! So maybe I'll just sit this one out…"

"Enough talk." Damas said. "The arena awaits."


A short while later and Jak walked into the arena. This time, the set up was extremely different from the first time. This time, the platform the battle was to take place on was huge, nearly spanning the entire ground level. There was a large cage at one end of the platform, and Jak could bet that the cage didn't have a cute little crocadog in it. The whatever-it-was suddenly let loose a long, hissing shriek.

Several people, including Jak, covered their ears against the sound. The shriek continued for ten seconds before it finally died down.

"Holy Yakkow! What was that?" Daxter demanded.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure that it's going to try and kill us." Jak said.

"Great." Daxter said sarcastically. "I hate these 'kill' type trials."

"They are the only kind I ever get." Jak said, stepping onto the elevator. The elevator moved down towards the arena. Once it stopped, Jak jumped onto the metal platform. The elevator retreated.

Daxter grew nervous. "There's no way to get out of here if something goes wrong." He whispered.

"If something goes wrong, then I don't expect them to save us." Jak said. "They want us to win or die trying."

"Great." Daxter repeated. "I'll bet these people are betting on us dying."

"I don't think so." Jak said, looking up at the stands. Several people were leaning forward in their seats, eager for the upcoming battle. Several people were cheering. "I think they want another show."

"Well, knock yourself out… or rather, don't." Daxter said.

Suddenly, the cage began to open and a large monster stepped out from the darkness. It stood about twenty feet tall and it was covered in Elvin-made armor, signaling that the whatever-it-is was not a Metal-Head.

It was covered in poisonous green leather skin and stood on its back two legs. A tail that was as long as its body swept stiffly behind it. It had long, strong arms that ended in four steel-tipped claws. It could have been a Metal-Head Beast if it weren't for its size and the obvious fact that it wasn't a Metal-Head. Its glaring red eyes found Jak and it roared out a challenge.

Jak concentrated hard, harder than necessary for a single weapon. Then two long swords appeared, one in each hand. Duel-wielding was a trick that Jak had practiced during the months of lethargy. It took an enormous amount of concentration. It was like serious multi-tasking: concentrating on two weapons and a battle at the same time, something that was very difficult.

Jak watched the monster. He was electrified, he was on tether hooks. He was ready to react at a moment's notice. The monster roared again and charged.

It raised its claws and brought them down on Jak, who was forced to leap out of the way. The steel-tipped claws hit the steel ground with the force of a few tons. There was a shrieking sound s the claws tore through the platform. Lava bubbled onto the platform, forcing Jak back even more to avoid being burned to death.

The monster disengaged its claws and came after Jak again. Jak was forced back even further by the fury of the monster's attacks. The back of his foot felt the ground disappear. He had reached the end of the platform and he could run away no longer.

With no where else to go, Jak leapt forward, rolled under the creature's guard, and stabbed it right in the back right foot, jamming the sword all the way through and pinning it to the ground.

The monster roared in anger and ripped its foot away; tearing it's clawed foot in half. The monster roared again and fell over.

Jak moved forward to finish it off when the creature suddenly stood back up, supporting itself on its remaining three limbs, the back-right foot hanging uselessly under it.

"Shit!" Jak hissed.

The monster leapt forward, this time, trying to bite Jak's head off. Jak dodged this first attack, and the monster attacked again. This time, Jak disappeared inside its over-sized mouth.

Everyone gasped, even Damas leaned forward on his throne.

The monster chewed, as if trying to chew through really tough meat. Then, quite suddenly, it let out a roar of pain. Something was forcing its way painfully out of the top of its head, piercing the brain. Then the tip of a unique weapon, a weapon made entirely out of Dark Eco, appeared to sprout from the top of the monster's head. The creature let out a low death-moan and then fell to the ground, lifeless.

Several seconds passed, it seemed that everyone in the stadium was holding their breath. Then the mouth of the monster began to open and, finally, Jak emerged, slime-covered, but perfectly fine.

The entire arena roared with applause. It would have taken quick thinking to think of sticking a blade through the roof of the lizard's mouth. But Jak was too disgusted at the moment to notice the people's elation. He wiped some slime off his face. "Ugh! That is not what I call fun!"

"I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" Daxter emerged from the mouth of the dead beast, he too was covered in slime. "JAK!" He yelled. "Next time you decided to get eaten, leave me behind!"

"Sorry about that." Jak said. "I'll be sure to tell you next time." He walked over to the beast and kicked it for good measure. Then he walked over to the elevator, which had reappeared, and the elevator took him to the platform under Damas' throne.

Pecker's mouth was hanging open. "I can't believe you two are still alive!"

Jak wiped some more slime out of his hair. "Yeah, what a surprise." He hissed.

"Damas and I are very impressed." Pecker said.

"Hey, feather-butt! Who appointed you King?" Daxter demanded.

"He did!" Pecker said instantly, pointing at Damas. Damas gave the moncaw a glare. "I mean… sort of. Kind of a 'semi-King', you know." Pecker corrected. "You should see our sleeping quarters and his harem of love birds!" Pecker sighed. "I never get any sleep these days." He laughed. "It's good to be the King, no?" He asked Damas, who smiled.

"I don't see no crown on that fat feather head!" Daxter pointed out loudly.

Pecker growled angrily. "You want a crown? I'll crown you! Don't make me come down there from this perch!" He pointed at the arm of Damas' throne where he sat.

"I gotta perch for ya right here, birdie!" Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder. "Twirl on it!" Daxter brandished a single finger in Pecker's direction.

It seemed that this gesture was simply the straw that broke the Yakow's back. "That's it! It's go time!" Pecker flew down at Daxter in a flurry of fur and feathers.

"Bring it on, bird-brain!" Daxter yelled.

Suddenly, Damas stood up from his throne. "Enough!" He ordered. Daxter and Pecker stopped instantly. Pecker was attempting to strangle Daxter while the Ottsel had one fist cocked back ready to punch Pecker in the face. "If I wanted you to fight, I would have commanded it!"

"You're the King!" Daxter said, letting go of Pecker.

"Yes, sire." Pecker said, letting go of Daxter.

Damas turned and looked down at Jak. "You did very well, Jak. You make me proud…" Damas paused, looking slightly embarrassed. "That our training program is so good." He finished awkwardly, as if he wasn't used to giving people compliments. Jak was also confused by the situation. When was the last time someone said he had made them proud? It had to have been years.

Jak felt his throat close up with an unknown emotion. Oh God, no! Don't do it! Don't get all emotional! Jak thought desperately. He cleared his throat discreetly to clear up the pent-up emotions.

Damas continued. "For your bravery and resourcefulness that you demonstrated today on the battle field, you have earned your second war amulet." He tossed Jak a new piece of the amulet that would fit smoothly one the outside of the round piece he already had. "Just one more arena win, and you'll be a true Wastelander."

Jak nodded.


LES: Whee! (is spinning around in circles)

Muse: … You're an idiot.

LES: But an idiot with fans! Nothing lifts my spirits more than getting reviews that say I'm someone's favorite author.

Muse: Those people must be new and have not read other people's work.

LES: You're such an A-hole.