Chapter 2: The Forbidden Jungle
Before Jak and Daxter made their way to the jungle, they encountered a farmer sitting outside. Jak decided to go up to him out of curiosity. The farmer in question was muttering to himself as this happened.
Farmer: "Gotta milk those yakows, gotta milk those yakows-... Oh! It's you! Just restin' my tired bones. I've been tryin' to get those ornery yakows back into the pen all day! Some strange creatures tried to steal 'em earlier. You think you can help an old man try to get 'em back into the corral? I'll give you a power cell if you help me."
Daxter: "Yakows? Jak, this is going to be tedious. You know that, right?"
Jak simply ignored what Daxter said and immediately began forcing the yakows back into their pen, one at a time. Once all of them were in, Daxter chimed for a bit.
Daxter: "That lazy farmer owes us a power cell; let's go talk to him."
With that said, Jak walked back to where the farmer was.
Farmer: "Ah, well done my boy! You actually got those flea-bags back into the pen! Now I can sleep in peace. Take this power cell for your trouble."
And so... Jak grabbed the power cell, did a pose, then he pocketed it. *power cell no. 11* After that, Jak headed for the Forbidden Jungle. Along the way, he and Daxter saw this weird statue with a face. When they got close to the statue, a voice started speaking through it.
Oracle: "Who awakens the Oracle? Wait, one of you has the light within. From before time, I have watched and waited for the true hero to return. Present to me one hundred and twenty Precursor orbs for each power cell I contain."
Daxter: "Jak, that must be a Precursor Oracle, Samos always goes on about them. I hope they weren't as ugly in person as this face sculpture is. Anyway, we don't seem to have enough Precursor orbs for even one of those power cells. We'll have to come back here some time later.
Thus, Jak made his way into the Forbidden Jungle… where the adventure really began for him. From the start, several Precursor orbs made up a straight path and Jak followed them. From there, the area widened up and lurkers were roaming about. Jak knocked some of them down and collected orbs along the area, including ones that were in the water. Traps were also around and one of them smacked into Jak.
Jak: "Ow-!"
Thankfully, he had enough green eco on him at the time to heal himself. And then, he took out a couple of lurkers that were nearby. From there, Jak and Daxter collected the first scout fly of the Forbidden Jungle and made their way to where the first bit of the eco beam was blocked. Before getting up to it though, Jak got the second scout fly from somewhere nearby. Then, he approached this... machine.
Daxter: "Let's get up on that machine and break the mirror diverting that eco beam."
And so, Jak broke a mirror that blocked the eco beam and the eco beam tower going to it became accessible.
Daxter: "Those tower doohickies scattered all over the jungle must redirect the eco beam. Let's go fiddle with 'em."
Jak walked over to it and started to aim the beam.
Daxter: "Jak, try and line up the beam by pointing it at the next tower."
Aiming the beam to the next tower allowed Jak and Daxter to access the next tower.
Daxter: "Hey! We can fire the beam to find the next tower!"
And they wasted no time in getting over there. Jak did the same thing for this tower and the beam moved to the next one.
Daxter: "Let's go to the next tower and reconnect the beam there."
And they did just that; Jak fired the eco beam to the fourth tower. After that, he went to the fifth tower. Along the way, he got more Precursor orbs and the third scout fly. Once he got to the fifth tower, he aimed the beam at the sixth. From there, he made his way all the way over there and aimed the beam at the windmill part of the mayor's hut.
Daxter: "At some point, we should go tell that windbag of a mayor that he owes us BIG time for connecting the village energy beam!"
And with that, Jak decided to go back into the heart of the Forbidden Jungle and make his way over to the fisherman.
Daxter: "What do you have in the basket?"
Fisherman: "Nothin' to talk about. Them monsters patrolin' the ocean took a bite out of me fishin' rig! And now they're goblin' up me catch! No matter what I try, I can't seem to catch a single fish in this river."
Daxter: "Whoo! Maybe... it's your breath!"
Fisherman: "You think you can do better?! Try scoopin' up river fish with a tiny net! I'll give you a power cell if you can catch two hundred pounds of them critters. And I'll let you and shrimp here use my speedboat to get to Misty Island. You's want to try the challenge?"
Daxter: "Yeah, we'll try it! Jak here has the fishin' skills of a master."
Fisherman: "Good. Now, there are two types of good fish to catch: One-pound fishies, and five-pound fishies. Heh. If you miss twenty pounds of good fish, then I'm going to take me net back from you! There are poisonous eels in this river. Catch even one of them buggers, and you'll poison the whole darn catch! Still think you can do it?"
Jak took the net and began the process of scooping up fish. At first, it was slow… but then, the fish started to really come in. Then poisonous eels started appearing and Jak had to move the net away from where the eels were going without missing too many fish. The whole thing was kind of hectic, but Jak was able to get the hang of it and successfully catch two hundred pounds of fish. When the fisherman saw this, he was ecstatic.
Fisherman: "You did it! You caught two hundred pounds of fish! Not bad for a couple of landlubbers! Here's the power cell I promised, and you can use my boat at the village dock whenever you like! Oh, and if you like: You can take on my four hundred pound fish catching challenge. If you manage to beat that challenge, I'll give you another power cell."
Jak took the power cell and he and Daxter did a dance together. Then, Jak pocketed the power cell for safekeeping. *power cell no. 12* After that, Jak silently insisted that he would take on the four hundred pound fish catching challenge. This challenge was even harder for Jak to get the hang of than the catching two hundred pounds of fish, because the fish and eels came in even faster. Despite this though, he managed to beat the challenge on his first try.
Fisherman: "Amazin' fishin' there! Here's the other power cell, landlubbers."
Daxter took the power cell, and slammed it into Jak's personage. *power cell no. 13* WIth that, Jak explored the area around the fisherman. As he did, he rescued the fourth and fifth scout flies. And also, he saw a power cell off by the deeper end of the ocean. He went into the water and got some Precursor orbs out of it. And then, he got the power cell and pocketed it. *power cell no. 14* With that, Jak moved along to where the Precursor temple was. As he was getting there, he touched some clusters of blue eco and channeled the energy through his body to activate a small Precursor mechanism from the ground. It raised itself into the air and some orbs were visible. So, Jak collected them and moved onward.
He eventually reached a blue eco vent and he was given a full charge of blue eco. And next to the vent… was what looked to be the remains of a bridge. Upon walking to the edge of the side that he was on, Jak attracted pieces of bridge that were below him. With this, a semi-bridge was formed and Jak was able to hop across it to reach the other side. And now, he was at the Precursor temple. Before his charge of blue eco ran out, Jak went left to a small Precursor door… and it opened. Inside was another power cell, and our duo took it. *power cell no. 15* After doing that, Jak made his way back to the bridge that had the blue eco vent and returned to the tower entrance of the Precursor temple. The door to it automatically opened and Jak entered.
Daxter: "We need to get to the top of that tower!"
From there, a trampoline was set and he bounced on it to reach a higher area. And then, Jak followed the path of Precursor orbs to where the sixth scout fly was. Then, Jak went back down and got a cluster blue eco. He activated a blue eco platform and quickly jumped on it to have it bring him to a higher part of the temple. He did this again with a second blue eco platform and reached an even higher part. This section had the seventh and last scout fly of Forbidden Jungle, and Jak rescued it. And with that, yet another power cell appeared. *power cell no. 16* Past that, Jak scaled the rest of the temple to reach the top and a power cell rested on the summit. He grabbed it, and Daxter did a solo dance. *power cell no. 17* However, that wasn't the only thing on that top point of the temple. Jak decided to press a button that was on it, and he and Daxter started going down this sort of elevator shaft.
Down at the bottom, was a pathway for the duo to take. Jak had to jump on a few floating platforms and make his way around. Along with doing that, he collected several Precursor orbs. Then, Jak encountered a room that held a power cell. He went up a ramp to get to it, and grabbed it. *power cell no. 18* In doing so, a switch was pressed. This activated a blue eco vent nearby, and Keira got on the communicator for a bit.
Keira: "Wow! Did you see that? Blue eco vents have been activated all over the world! I knew there was a way to turn them on! There must be places to turn on the other eco vents as well."
The communicator went away and Jak moved to the nearby blue eco vent. Then, he paced to the Precursor door that was in the room and activated it. Jak went through it, collected a few orbs, and took a turn to his right. There was a blue eco launcher and Jak flew upwards, collecting more orbs in the process. And then, he continued where he was going before and got another full charge of blue eco. Immediately, he saw another blue eco launcher and it sent him flying into another group of Precursor orbs. Jak landed back on the launcher and went past it.
He collected a few more orbs, and encountered a giant plant with a face. This plant looked like it wanted to hurt Jak as it lunged at the boy. All the while, unusual lurkers followed him wherever he went. Jak waited for an opportunity to hit the plant… and smacked its head. He repeated this two times, and the plant went down. As it did, it dropped a power cell, and Jak grabbed it. *power cell no. 19* As he did so, he and Daxter did a victory dance together. With that done: Jak walked over the blue eco vent that was next to the plant, and took in a full charge of blue eco. And thanks to that, he was able to fly off from a blue eco launcher and collect the last of the Precursor orbs in the Forbidden Jungle. Upon Jak landing outside, the last power cell of the whole area appeared next to him.
Daxter: "Look at that, Jak! It seems like we really DO get an additional power cell if we go out of our way to collect every single Precursor orb in an area!"
He grabbed it, and the duo jumped in the air for a bit before coming back down. *power cell no. 20* And so, Jak left the Forbidden Jungle and returned to Sandover Village. Then, Keira's voice came up on the communicator.
Keira: "Good! You and the others have collected enough power cells to fuel my heat shield. Meet me by the entrance to the Fire Canyon, by climbing the cliff behind the farmer's house. Bring the power cells, and hurry if you can! My father says he's seen more lurkers around!"
Keira's voice faded and the communicator went away. Then, Jak and Daxter went back to the mayor's hut and talked to the man of the hour.
Mayor: *chuckle* What a wonderful sight! I thank you! And the entire village will thank me—Uh, boys, you have restored power to the village and guaranteed my re-election! And for that, you've earned a power cell."
Jak took the power cell from the mayor and pocketed it. *power cell no. 21* And then, Jak offered to give the mayor ninety Precursor orbs.
Mayor: "So eh, you uh, want to make a contribution? Good... A-a sizable one, I hope. *exclaims, stutters* This is a sizable contribution! *stutters* Why, I just hope this power cell adequately represents my gratitude."
Jak exchanged the orbs for the power cell, which he then pocketed. *power cell no. 22* With that, Jak left the mayor's hut and walked over to where the speedboat was. There, he went over to the dock to take the speedboat. And when he got to the dock: Amitie, Raffina, and Lidelle were waiting for him.
Raffina: "Took you two long enough; we were waiting for you."
Daxter: "What the heck are you three doing here? Why were you all waiting for us?"
Amitie: "Because, Samos told us to. He says that we can stop the lurkers more easily if we all go to Misty Island together."
Daxter: "Look, I'd hate to burst your bubble… but Jak and I can't afford to babysit you girls."
Raffina: "Excuse me? I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Hmph!"
Daxter: "No, not you! I meant those two!"
Amitie: "I-I can take care of myself! I've been on enough adventures to know that!"
Lidelle: "A-and I won't run away from something… if it means I can help my friends."
Daxter: "*growls* Oh, alright! But don't come cryin' to me when you wanna get off that island! You got that?"
Amitie and Lidelle: "G-got it!"
Daxter: "Good."
Raffina: "Urgh… Let's get going already!"
And so, the group hopped on the speedboat and sat down. Then, Jak started driving the boat to Misty Island. As the group got closer and closer to it… they began to shudder.
Raffina: "Oough… You know, from a distance: Misty Island didn't look so foreboding... But, now that we're approaching its shores…"
Amitie: "Th-this island looks so creepy… and it's wicked in NOT a good way!"
Lidelle: "G-goodness gracious…"
Daxter: "Ugh… And even as Jak and I return to Misty Island now, I hate how things look here."
Raffina: "In any case, we have to push onward and stop the lurkers from taking out that silo. If we don't, then we'll all turn into something that we don't want to be. And frankly, I don't want to become whatever you are right now, Daxter."
Daxter: "Hey! It's not like I wanted to be all furry, either!"
Raffina: "Whatever…"
The group continued to approach Misty Island's shores. Once they got to the dock there, they stopped and exited the speedboat.
Author's Notes: Not a terribly long chapter, but I figured that Misty Island would take a while to cover. After all, it's not exactly a small area… With that said: I wanted to point out the big new addition to Forbidden Jungle's set of power cells here. See, in the actual game… you were able to play the finishing minigame again, but there was no point to it. So, I decided to make it so that the fisherman had a special challenge for Jak to complete after finishing the two hundred pound fish task. After doing the challenge, he would get another power cell.
And in case you guys were wondering: Yes, there WILL be more challenges here that weren't in the game. However, they won't come into play until our heroes get to Rock Village. Aside from that, this chapter was pretty vanilla, and the content here wasn't that different from the game. The next chapter should be more interesting, though. Misty Island's progress will be split between the whole group, and you'll get to see how each character deals with certain obstacles and enemies. And, oh boy! You'll also get to see another new big addition here that wasn't in the game, and I think you guys will like it. Anyway, I should get to the summary for this chapter.
Jak and Daxter have explored the Forbidden Jungle. They did a couple of important things, and cleaned the entire area out of all its Precursor orbs (200 of them), scout flies (7 of them), and power cells (10 of them). Most notably, they were able to get the fisherman to let them use his speedboat. And once the duo came to the boat… they met up with the girls, who were waiting for them. With a sense of urgency, the group left for Misty Island and became unsettled by the atmosphere of it.
And so… What will happen to the group as they're landing on the island? How will they go about completing their main objective there? Our heroes have so far collected a total of 22 power cells, 28 scout flies, and 550 Precursor orbs. With that in mind, there will be even more things to collect as the group lands on the island... and they must explore it in order to complete their main objective. Next chapter, Chapter 3: Misty Island.
