Chapter XXVII: Daxter's Bad Day
LES: Don't worry. Daxter will be happier by the end. Warning: Inanimate Object Death.
Jak walked back into the Naughty Ottsel bar and Torn met him. "Good job. If things go as planned, we'll be staying within the walls of HQ soon."
"That's a good thing." Jak said.
"I've got another job for you." Torn said. "You got time for a hijack?"
"Sure, why not?" Jak shrugged.
"We've received intelligence that an Eco shipment is being delivered to a Bot-controlled Eco processing plant. This Eco will be a great asset to our cause. We need you to hijack the vehicle and drive it here to the Naughty Ottsel. And, most importantly, don't lose that shipment."
"Hey, Jak." Daxter said. "Did you ever realize that the word 'hijack' sounds like someone's saying 'Hi, Jak'?"
Jak shook his head. "You are such an idiot."
'Wow…' Light said. 'I never realized that before…'
"If there are any merciful Gods out there, just kill me now!" Jak cried.
"Don't tempt fate." Torn said.
"Don't worry yourself." Jak said. With that, Daxter jumped on his shoulder and he walked out, stole a nearby zoomer and took off towards the Slums entrance.
Once there, they were within sight of the last force field, which stood just before the Slum's entrance, Jak spotted the vehicle that carried several barrels of Eco in the back. That had to be the Eco vehicle that Jak had to steal.
After giving a quick glance around for potential dangers and finding none, Jak jumped off his own zoomer and jumped into the driver's seat of the new zoomer. With the push of a button, the engine started.
However, Jak didn't realize that the vehicle had hidden defenses. There was a buzzing noise and Jak looked around. A large panel had popped out of the wall some fifty feet away, a missile launcher. Half a seconds later, half a dozen missiles were launched Jak's way.
"Shit!" Jak swore, opening the acceleration all the way and jumping from a dead stop to a little over ninety miles an hour within a few seconds. However, the missiles swiftly changed direction and followed the vehicle. "Shit!" Jak repeated, looking over his shoulder for a split second. "They're locked on to me! Dax! Watch the Eco, make sure it doesn't fall out!"
Daxter looked back, but all he could see was the missiles, slowly but surely catching up to them. "They're getting closer!" Daxter screamed.
Jak grit his teeth and concentrated on the road ahead. Suddenly, the radio cackled and, over the general chaos of things, Jak heard Torn's voice over the speakers. They obviously managed to hijack the vehicle's radio frequency.
"Jak? What's going on?" Torn asked.
"Well…" Jak yelled angrily. "I've got missiles on my ass and I can't lose them!"
"Damn! They're probably Eco-Seeking. Prefect for keeping a bead on you and that vehicle." Torn said. "We've been working on such a tracking system…"
"Torn! What I want to know right now is how I get rid of them!" Jak roared, turning into the Port.
"You'll have to find something that gives off more Eco power then you do." Torn said.
"And what would that be?" Jak demanded. "I happen to have a helluva lot of Eco in me!"
There was a pause, during which Daxter screamed that the missiles were catching up. "The bar sign." Torn said finally. "Head towards the Naughty Ottsel, we'll use the bar sign as a decoy."
"What?" Daxter demanded.
"You can make it." Torn said. "Crank that sign up to full brightness!" He ordered to someone in the background. The huge Ottsel mannequin suddenly lit up until it shone across the whole Port. Hopefully, it now gave off more Eco then Jak. If not… then he was toast. The elf began to head towards the bar.
"Hang on, Dax! This is gonna be close!" Jak yelled.
"Jak!" Daxter screamed.
Jak drove up to the bar sign and slammed on the brakes and switched hover zones instantly. However, instead of following Jak, the missiles flew straight into the Ottsel mannequin.
Several explosions later and the smoke cleared to reveal the damage. The entire top half of the mannequin was simply gone.
"AUGH!" Daxter screamed, pointing at the destroyed bar sign in horror. "My beautiful mug! It's destroyed!"
Then, in a twist of fate, the mannequin's head fell out of the sky and impaled itself on the mannequin's pitchfork.
Melodramatic tears welled up in Daxter's eyes. "Today… my life ends. Today we die."
Jak rolled his eyes. "Would you rather we ended up like that?" He asked, pointing at the destroyed mannequin.
"Leave me alone." Daxter said sorrowfully.
Jak landed the zoomer and turned off the engine. Torn ran out of the bar and stopped when he saw Jak. "It worked?"
"Yeah."
"And the Eco?"
Jak looked in the cargo hold. All the Eco barrels were there. "Yeah."
"That's good. The mission was a perfect success." Torn said.
"Perfect success?" Daxter demanded. "My mannequin was destroyed! Do you have any idea how much it cost me?"
"Dax! Our lives are worth more than any mannequin. Besides…" Jak grinned. "Having a ten-foot tall mannequin of yourself does make you seem like you're full of yourself."
Daxter whimpered. "I need to see my Tessie-Poo. Please take me to the Gun Course."
Jak didn't answer for several seconds, weighing his options. If he didn't take Daxter, he'd complain until he did take him. However, if he took him, he might end up in another embarrassing situation like last time. Jak sighed. "Fine. Come on." Jak said, praying to the Precursors that he didn't get caught in an embarrassing situation between Daxter and Tess.
Several minutes later, Jak walked into the Gun Coarse. Tess was there, but her back was turned to them. Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and tackled Tess from behind.
Tess gasped, turning around. "Daxter! My little hero!" She pressed the small Ottsel against her cleavage, but Daxter wasn't one to complain, at least not in this situation. "What's happening?"
"Oh, you know… risking my life to perform heroic deeds for all elf-kind." Daxter said casually.
"Oh my!" Tess gasped. "You know, I think this City's too dangerous. We need our own place in the country. A little… pink house…" Both Jak and Daxter blinked in horror. A pink house? "With a white picket fence… and a fireplace! And a big four-poster bed for me and… and a little Ottsel run on the side of the house for you!" Tess finished with a sigh.
"Aww! Are you worried about me, my little Tessie-Poo?" Daxter asked.
"Of course, my itty-bitty whisker-puss!" Tess said, scratching Daxter under his chin. Daxter's eyes rolled up in pleasure.
Jak rolled his eyes in disgust. "Oh pull-ease! Will you two take it outside?" He gestured towards the door.
"After all the lovey-dovey-ness you get with Keira? No way!" Daxter said.
"At least I don't call her 'Keira-Poo'." Jak retorted.
"You need a hug, Jak?" Daxter asked. "Cause you know Tess and I have plenty to go around."
Jak glared at him.
"I'll take that as a 'no'." Daxter said. "Or maybe even a 'hell no'."
Tess suddenly spoke up. "I heard that people think you two are the best shot we've got to get into the Catacombs. I know you'll do just fine, Daxter, and I'm sure your sidekick will do just fine too."
Jak stared at her. Just how blind did she have to be? "Now, wait just a…"
But Tess cut him off. "Go give 'em hell, boys! Then come back… and I'll scratch you behind your… ears." She said to Daxter seductively.
Jak shook his head in exasperation. Daxter was the only person who would get excited about getting scratched behind the ears. He was almost more Ottsel then elf. The only things that really remained of Daxter's humanity was his ability to speak, his personality, and his insatiable appetite for women.
It made Jak wonder… if he ever found a way for Daxter to become a normal elf again, would he really want that? Would he want to be an elf again?
Suddenly, a hologram of Torn appeared out of nowhere. "Jak! We need you to come to the Naughty Ottsel right away!" With that short message, Torn was gone.
"Come on, Dax, we need to go." Jak said. Daxter reluctantly detached himself from Tess and followed Jak out the door.
Jak ran back into the Naughty Ottsel. "What is it?" He asked as he walked over to Torn.
"We have received word of a new large-scale assault on the Port." Torn said. "They're trying to take us out once and for all. The weird thing is we're seeing movement from both the Metal-Head and KG fronts. It's like they're working together. Something about this doesn't seem right." Torn shook his head. "I hate to do this to you, running on over twenty-four hours of non-stop action, but I'm putting you on the front line. You're my go-to guy. We've got to repel this assault or we're through. If they break through our defenses, we're history.
"Those Metal-Heads and Bots will never make it to this bar." Jak said, and then he sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe I'm going to risk my life for a bar!"
"It's not just any bar!" Daxter said. "It's my bar!"
"Right, whatever." Jak rolled his eyes. He began to walk to the door when he noticed that Daxter wasn't following him. "Dax? You coming?"
"No thanks, big guy." Daxter said, waving his paws in the air. "This sounds like one of those missions that will end with people running and screaming in terror. Missions like this is nothing more than… glorified suicide!"
"It's not glorified suicide!" Jak said. Torn let out a low growl that told the elf that he was wasting time. Without another word, Jak turned and left, leaving Daxter in the relative safety of the bar.
The front line was near the entrance of the bar. Jak quickly jogged there and growled at the sight that met him. There were no enemies yet, but there was a large group of Freedom League Guards, obviously ordered there to stop the two army's advancement. If there was one thing that Jak hated, it was babysitting less able fighters. And, due to his own enhanced abilities, that meant he was slightly intolerant of just about everyone.
Jak knew that most of the Freedom League Guards were either ex-Krimzon Guards or rookies with little battle experience. The ex-Krimzon Guards were poor fighters and couldn't shot fish in a barrel. But the rookies were worse. At least the ex-Krimzon Guards had experience in fights and battles.
The Channeler walked over to the group and reactions to his presence was immediate. The elves gasped in fear and parted, making a path for Jak to move through to the front. The former Krimzon Guards had told the rookies stories about the elf's legendary power and exploits. Stories travel fast when they concern the man with the highest murder count of a single elf in all of Haven's history.
This only made the men feel a mixture of awe and fear of the powerful elf.
Good. Jak thought, glaring at one of the Guards for good measure. The poor Guard looked on the verge of pissing himself. At least now they'll stay out of my way.
Suddenly, the Dark Elf heard something and he stiffened. The Guards stiffened also when they saw Jak's tension. Torn had told them that if Jak heard something, there was probably something there.
Jak strained his hearing to their limits to see just what was coming. There was obviously a large group moving through the street ahead, an army, still too far away for the Guards to hear. With a single thought, a huge Dark Eco katana materialized in Jak's grip.
The soldiers became even more high-strung. There was no doubt now, something was coming. Slowly but surely, the rest of the Guards began to hear what Jak had heard, the clanking of metal and the shuffle of clawed feet. Then the army appeared.
It was huge, made up of hundreds of Metal-Heads and hundreds of KG Death Bots. They were lead by a lanky, shield and sword wielding Metal-Head Commander. It grinned as it saw the group that resisted it. Half the elves were scared out of their wits, and soldiers who were afraid quickly became dead.
Then it saw the single elf that stood at the front line, and knew instantly who it was. It was the abomination, the beast that destroyed their Leader. Not only did the large Dark Eco katana give that away, but also the look of utter confidence and fearlessness that was steady on his cursed face, a face that almost seemed familiar to the Commander. But the Metal-Head dismissed those feelings.
The Commander, who was one of the few Metal-Heads who spoke the Elvin language, could not help but taunt his foe. "The tales of your greatness travels fast, Dark One, even among the Metal-Heads." The Commander roared at Jak. "However, you must realize that you are hopelessly outnumbered and overpowered. I have an army behind me that feels no fear or pain. Your army reeks of fear, surely you can smell it too?" Jak's eyes narrowed. The Metal-Head spoke the truth. The smell of fear overpowered his senses. Metal-Heads do not understand fear, even at the end. The KG bots were incapable of any emotion, and especially not fear. "You understand the power of fear as much as I do, Dark One. Fear freezes the senses. It disables rational thought and your ability to carry out actions and react to situations. Your men will freeze, and they will die."
"Good." Jak said. The Metal-Head Commander blinked, as did the Guards. "It was never my style to baby-sit. I work better alone. And if these elves are too stupid to leave now, then their deaths are their own fault, not mine."
"Very poor leadership skills." The Commander laughed. "How could you expect to lead when you give your men so little hope of their survival."
"Even if I did want some sort of authority, I would never lead a group of idiots like this that will probably be the death of me." Jak said with a small smile.
The Metal-Head Commander laughed, for he did not realize what Jak was doing. Jak knew the power of fear, more then the Metal-Head did. It is fear that makes a cornered animal lash out against its captor. Fear only freezes you up if you give into that fear and let it control you. A fear of death would make people fight against the unknown. The fear of death, a feat he hoped the Freedom League Guards possessed. As much as he hated to admit it, he would not be able to win this fight by himself without resorting to desperate measures.
"Enough talk." The Metal-Head Commander growled, bringing up a sword that was almost identical to the one Jak held. A shield made of Dark Eco quickly followed. "Look well, Freedom Guards of Haven, upon Death!" With that, the Metal-Head leapt forward and charged the Elvin army.
Thus began the fight.
Jak crouched and leapt forward at the first several enemies and swung the katana in a wide arc, bisecting the first three Metal-Heads and two Bots he came to.
Before the bodies had even hit the ground, Jak had to dodge a hefty blow that was sent his way by a Death Bot, he swung the large blade again that took out several more enemies. But more Metal-heads and Bots crawled over their companion's bodies as they attempted to swarm over their prey with overwhelming numbers.
It appeared that Jak's strategy of scaring the Guards into fighting was working well, but even at the top of their game they were mediocre fighters, and the bulk of this fight would fall squarely on Jak's shoulders.
With the large katana, Jak was able to cut down several of his enemies with a single swing, but for every five Jak took out, twenty more replaced them. It was time for a new strategy.
With surprising agility, Jak leapt out of the center of the fray and quickly scaled a nearby building. The only thing he needed was TIME.
Once he was in relative safety, Jak let the Dark Eco in his bloodstream take over.
With a loud roar, Jak began his Dark transformation and, within seconds, a pale haired, pale skinned, clawed and fanged, horned, black-eyed demon stood in Jak's place.
The Dark Monster reached into his pocket. Dark storm clouds began to form overhead as it prepared to unleash the Demon's most powerful attack. Dark Jak remembered that he could only hold it a few seconds, and that was all. Any longer, and he would risk destroying himself and his enemies at the same time.
As soon as he touched one of the Dark Crystals in his pocket, he felt the overwhelming power of pure Dark Eco consume him.
With a loud roar of agony, Dark Jak sent a lightning-like beam of Dark Eco straight into the heart of the battlefield. It struck a Metal-Head and the monster exploded, and killed its fellows in the immediate area. More lightning fell from the sky and, using his limited control that he had over the destructive lightning, Dark Jak managed to not hit a single Freedom League Guard. But the Dark Lightning tore though the Metal-Heads and Krimzon Guard Bots like wet tissue paper.
The entire assault lasted only ten seconds, but the result was devastating to the enemy army. Only a few dozen of them were left after the Dark Lightning subsided.
And since Jak didn't torture himself by sustaining the Dark attack longer than necessary, he was ready to get right back into the heat of battle. With a soft growl, Dark faded away, leaving his normal form in its place. Jak jumped back down into the street and conjured the Dark katana, and cut a Bot down the center. Swinging the sword in wide, perfectly controlled arcs, Jak took out his fair share of the remaining Metal-Heads and Bots.
And then, Jak ran into a familiar face. The Metal-Head Commander that he had conversed with before the battle. The surviving Freedom League Guards took a step back, aware of the danger the Metal-Head Commander posed.
"That was quite an assault, Dark One." The Commander said. "Even I was worried for my safety."
"Pity. I thought you had died for sure." Jak said casually.
"I almost did." The Commander said. "Luckily, I was able to take cover under my shield, which absorbed the Dark Eco sent my way."
"Clever."
"I'll bet you won't be able to perform that move again in a hurry." The Commander said.
"Let's just fight." Jak said, holding the katana in a readier position.
The Commander laughed, baring his long fangs. "Let's."
With that, the two combatants leapt at each other and slashed their weapons that the other's vulnerable areas. The two Dark weapons met with a clash and a flash of Dark light.
The two weapons disengaged and they both attacked from a different angle. Once again, however, the two weapons clashed.
Jak had the natural agility and strength of five elves, while the Metal-Head had the natural strength and agility of a Metal-Head, which was several times that of a normal elf, so they were pretty evenly matched.
The Metal-Head slashed again at Jak, and he was forced to use the bracers on his arm to block the attack. But the strike was very strong. Even with the Precursor-made armor on, Jak was sure that he'd at least get a bruise before it was able to heal.
But the elf quickly made up for it. The Metal-Head's sword had gotten temporarily stuck in the joints of Jak's armor and, while he was busy with that, the Dark Elf slashed at his opponent's exposed and unarmored stomach. The Metal-Head managed to leap back to avoid the blunt of the attack, but Jak managed to cut the Metal-Head's stomach.
A wire-thin scratch, bleeding a green ooze, appeared on the monster's stomach. It pulled its sword free and leapt back further. It lowered a clawed finger to the small wound and examined the blood on the tip of its claw. It growled angrily and glared in Jak's direction.
The Dark Elf grinned, twirling the Dark katana. "First blood goes to me."
The Metal-Head let out a loud roar of anger and leapt at his opponent, hoping to catch him off guard. But Jak could have seen the attack coming from a mile away. He quickly raised his weapon to block the incoming attack. The two Dark Weapons clashed and disengaged, only to meet again at a different angle in hopes of finding a way through the other's guard.
Finally, after several seconds of back-and-forth fighting, their weapons merely a blur to the people watching, the combatants disengaged and the Metal-Head Commander leapt backwards.
Jak wasted no time in pressing his own attack. He rushed the Metal-Head, and leapt into the air, sword held high with the thought of cleaving the Commander down the middle.
The Metal-Head saw the attack coming and it took a step back to avoid the blow. Jak, however, was undaunted. He landed on the ground in the 'down-on-one-knee' position. The Metal-Head was going to get a big surprise, and it definitely wasn't going to be a proposal.
Instead of getting back up and continuing the fight, Jak stayed down low and, in one fluid movement, Jak pushed the Dark Blade upwards into the Metal-Head, catching it just below the rib cage. The sword traveled upwards, piercing the Metal-Head's diaphragm and heart. The Metal-Head stared at Jak mutely for several seconds, before it wordlessly fell to the ground and died.
Jak stood rooted to the spot for several seconds, looking down at the body of his fallen enemy before he realized that there were eyes on him. He looked around and found that the surviving Freedom League Guards were staring at him as though he were a ghost.
The two sides stared at each other for a second before Jak growled. "What are you staring at?" Without giving any of the men time to answer, the Dark Elf began to move, pushing several of the Guards out of his way as he went. Finally, he was gone.
One guard leaned towards another. "Did you see that attack?"
"The one with the lightning?"
"Yeah."
"Of course I did! It's kinda hard to miss Dark Eco lightning coming down from the sky!"
"That attack could have easily killed us all!"
"He coulda killed us all… so why didn't he? He's famous for being merciless."
"Maybe they're wrong. Maybe he's not as bad as the stories make him out to be."
"Hard to tell. I'll reserve judgment for now."
LES: Well, I've finally managed to update this one. I hope this chapter makes the wait worth it. And, if it didn't, there will be more chapters coming up soon… as soon as I finish typing it.
