Chapter 5: New Year, New Problems
Torn, Ashelin, Jak and Keira waved King Damas and his wife off as a sky car took them back to Spargus City. Since it was New Year's Eve, they all planned to go down to the Naughty Ottsel and join Daxter and Tess for a little celebration.
It was nearing 11 o'clock at night and the group of friends were the bar's only occupants, except for a few bodyguards that stood outside because of Jak. He was thankful though, that he was able to 'act his age' a bit and put aside hid duties as a King for a night.
Inside the Naughty Ottsel, Torn and Jak gravitated towards the bar where Daxter lay, guzzling beer like it was the elixir of life. Meanwhile, the ladies stayed towards the middle of the room, enjoying their own cocktails and chatting about the coming wedding, or to be more exact, who the maid of honor would be.
Jak nudge Torn's arm with his elbow, motioning with his head towards the girls, "She's been looking at you all night...Just go over there and patch things up."
Torn just looked away, taking another shot.
Jak shrugged and went towards Keira, grabbing her waist from behind and pulling her away from everyone else. Tess and Ashelin continued to 'calmly' discuss who should be maid of honor until the sound of broken glass and the cry of an ottsel resounded throughout the room.
"Oh, my poor Daxter!" Tess shouted as she ran behind the bar to retrieve the fallen rodent.
Ashelin took a chance and sat on a bar stool next to where Torn was leaning.
"Hey," she said in a calm, but flirty tone.
"Hey," Torn replied with a slight grin after he downed another shot.
"It's almost time guys!" Jak shouted suddenly, "Grab your glasses, and Torn, bring that champagne, we're going outside!"
Torn and Ashelin exchanged a quick glance. Feeling more confident, probably due to the four round of drinks he had had, the KG General slipped his arm casually around Ashelin's waist as they all walked outside.
Many of Haven's citizens were outside around the port already; they all wanted to see the firework show that their new King had arranged for them. The group of friends found an empty section of the street with an open view of the whole port. They sat on the edge so their feet dangled over the water, each sitting next to their match, or in Daxter's case, Tess cradling his drunken self in her arms.
All watched as a large number 10 exploded brightly in the sky, signaling the countdown for the New Year. Subsequently, a nine followed, then an eight, and so on. The group poured champagne in their glasses and quietly breathed the numbers in unison with the fireworks. At one, rockets filled the sky, exploding in colors of green, blue, red and many more. They brought their glasses together in cheers and drank to the year of 4725. Keira and Jak gave each other a fervent New Year's kiss, while Torn and Ashelin looked into each other's eyes, both waiting for the other to make a move. Torn stared as the lights from the fireworks reflected off of Ashelin's light green eyes, and moved his face in closer to hers. She met him halfway as the tattooed pair shared a short, but loving kiss.
"I'm sorry," Torn whispered when they broke apart.
Ashelin shook her head, "You have nothing to be sorry about," and she leaned in to kiss him once more.
"Get a...hic...room, Jak!" Daxter slurred, pointing to the couple that continued to make-out in front of everyone.
The fireworks and cheers soon faded and the crowd began to disperse and Torn called in for a carrier to take them all back to the Palace.
When they arrived back at home, the young King Jak and his soon-to-be Queen returned to the room to continue their 'festivity' as seeing as Samos was babysitting Trajan. Tess and the now passed-out Daxter made for their room, too.
A certain KG General did not return to his quarters, although. Instead, he opted to be led to Ashelin's room.
Unlike the still-teenagers Jak and Keira, the older couple chose not to take the next step, and to just fall asleep in the comfort of each other's embrace.
Early the next morning, Jak and Keira were rudely awakened by a guard at their door. Jak hurriedly answered the door grumpily.
"Your Highness," the young elf bowed hastily and continued, "An urgent call from King Damas. He says he needs to speak with you right now."
"Get Torn and tell him to meet me in the Communications Room," Jak said, heading for said room, guessing on what the call was about.
When Jak arrived at the Comm. Room he was 'greeted' by the grave face of Damas.
"Jak," the holographic face said with some relief, "We have just suffered a terrible raid by the Marauders. They did great damage to the entrance to Spargus. My Wastelanders are too few...We need Haven," the Desert King spoke slowly as if killing his pride.
"We'll be there as soon as we can, Damas," Jak assured and the call ended abruptly in static. "Where the hell is Torn?" Jak shouted, looking around the room.
"General Torn wasn't in his room..." A jittery KG answered.
"Check Ashelin's room then!" he shouted again, growing angry and frustrated wit the loss of time.
Jak jogged down the halls as he headed back towards his room.
He explained to Keira that he was going to send Torn ahead with the main army in the KG carriers and follow after them.
"I'm coming with you, then," she said receiving quiet a look from Jak.
"You are not! It's too dangerous...Maybe when we have it under control..." he said as she put on his jacket from Christmas.
"I am going with you. I'm not letting you leave like this again without me," she stated stubbornly, grabbing her boots.
Jak was about to give a counter-argument, but a shirtless Torn rushed in their room.
"Torn, what the-? I hope you had a good night last night, because you need to get that army moving now!" Jak commanded loudly, almost in a yell and Torn rushed back out, not having said a word, just nodding in comprehension.
Jak grabbed his mod-gun out from underneath the bed and with Keira, headed for the Throne Room.
In the Throne Room, the couple met up with Ashelin and Daxter who was sporting his new ottsel armor.
"What's the plan, Jak?" Ashelin asked, a radio at hand ready to tell Torn his orders.
"Fight off what's left of the enemy forces at Spargus and prevent any from getting into the city. Damas said their gate was damaged to we need to buy them some time to fix it." Jak ordered as Ashelin repeated the message into the radio. "And we're going to need some engineers to help repair that gate, probably," Jak thought aloud.
Keira cleared her throat loudly as a ploy to get Jak's attention.
"What?" he asked.
"I think that's where I come in! ...Just let me get me tool box!" she hurried off back to their room.
Jak sighed in defeat. There was no winning an argument with a woman.
To Jak's dismay, they arrived at Spargus after Torn and his troops had already run of the remnants of the Marauders' attack.
As they landed by the battered gate, Jak turned his gun's safety on with a sigh. Once on the ground, Keira, Jak, Daxter, and Ashelin met up with a dusty Torn and a bloodied Damas.
"Thank you, Jak," Damas breathed heavily as they walked into the city, avoiding the sparks emitting from the first gate.
Keira released her grip of Jak's hand and with her tool box, headed for a group of engineers that had arrived before her.
Damas continued to lead torn, Ashelin and Jak with Daxter on through a second gate, where they were presented with four strange creatures with saddles attached to their backs.
The Wasteland King mounted his and turned to see the hesitation on the others' faces.
Damas let out a weak laugh, "They're called Leaper Lizards, our main source of transportation inside the City."
Torn took a step towards the red lizard in front of him and cautiously grabbed the reigns and mounted it, followed by Ashelin doing the same.
Jak still looked at his warily, "Is it anything like riding a Flut-Flut?" he asked, reminiscing on his bad past experience of being thrown into the tar at Boggy Swamp by the baby Flut-Flut almost four years ago.
"A Flut-Flut? Those have been extinct for -" Torn said confused.
"Never mind," Jak said, realizing the pointlessness of the question and hopping on his large green lizard, Daxter on his shoulder.
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