Chapter 4: Fire Canyon and Rock Village
The group eventually made it to the Fire Canyon, and boy was it hot... Lidelle started to sweat from the heat before anyone else, since she was wearing that sweater of hers.
Lidelle: "Ooooh, it's so hot…"
Daxter: "Then why don't you just take off that sweater of yours, Lidelle?"
Lidelle: "N-no…! I'm not doing that!"
Daxter: "Uh… Then why aren't you gonna do that?"
Lidelle: "I-I don't feel comfortable enough to tell you why, Daxter…"
The group then saw Keira, then the latter looked at them and waved with a smile.
Keira: "Hey, over here! You guys have the twenty power cells needed to power my heat shield, right?"
Daxter: "We do… thanks to yours tru-"
Raffina: "Here are the twenty power cells, Keira."
Raffina interrupted Daxter's smooth-talking and the latter was annoyed.
Keira: "Great! Anyway, one of you is going to have to drive the zoomer through the Fire Canyon and safely reach the other side. Now be careful: The heat shield will only protect the zoomer until it reaches five hundred degrees, so try to keep it cool. Flying over open lava will definitely heat you up fast. Hit five hundred degrees, and BOOM; it's over."
Daxter: "Over?! Like exploding into a burning pile of metal over?!"
Keira: "The Fire Canyon gets pretty hot, so keep a look out for jumps to keep you off the hot ground. I've also released several blue cooling balloons you can use to drop the shield's temperature quickly. Oh! And when you get across, don't forget to activate the warp gate in the blue sage's lab. The rest of us will be able to teleport over and meet up with you after you do that! So good luck!"
Amitie: "So, um… Who's gonna drive the zoomer?"
Raffina: "Well, obviously not you, Amitie. You're definitely not careful enough to drive it, let alone do so in a place like this."
Lidelle: "I-I don't think I'm well-suited to driving it, either…"
Raffina: "And I'm not doing it, because I want to have my break. So Jak, that means you're driving the zoomer to the other side. And Daxter, you're going with him."
Daxter: "Ugh… Fine! Come on, Jak; let's get on that zoomer."
Jak nodded and the two got on the zoomer. From there, Jak began driving through the Fire Canyon. Immediately, he destroyed a crate that had Precursor orbs inside and popped a balloon. A little past that, was a lurker and a scout fly. Jak rammed into the lurker and freed the first scout fly of the area.
Daxter: "There are scout flies out here, too! Oh-! See if we can catch air on those lurkers!"
Jak ran over a second lurker and got some air in, which allowed the heat shield to cool down a bit. The zoomer smashed another crate filled with orbs, Jak freed the second scout fly. Up ahead, were a couple of balloons and Jak popped them as he progressed. From there, he had to dodge large pits and steer away from open lava as he popped another balloon, and freed the third scout fly. There was a blue eco vent close to where that scout fly was at, and Jak drove through it. This caused the zoomer to go faster as Jak dodged jagged rocks. Then, he popped yet another balloon and freed the fourth and fifth scout flies. He also smashed a third crate of Precursor orbs. At this point, the heat shield was almost up to its limit and Jak needed to hurry up. He steered quickly and carefully around to get to a nearby balloon. He got to the next balloon after that things were looking bleak for the duo.
Daxter: "Jak, we really need a cooling balloon right about now!"
Jak: "...! Hrgh-!"
Jak then maneuvered in such a way that was reckless, but it got the job done. He was able to reach another cooling balloon, free the sixth scout fly, and go through a blue eco vent. Directly after that, came a ramp and the zoomer flew into the air. Jak popped another balloon while the zoomer was airborne, and then everything was good again.
Daxter: "Geez! That was WAY too close for comfort... Be more careful next time, Jak!"
Daxter said this as Jak was finishing things up. Jak popped a balloon, and freed the seventh scout fly. A power cell landed right in Jak's free hand and he quickly pocketed it. *power cell no. 39* From there, he got to the other side of the Fire Canyon and smashed the last crate of Precursor orbs. This caused a second power cell for the area to land right into Jak's free hand, which he then pocketed. *power cell no. 40* Jak then saw a third power cell that was in the zoomer pad in front of him. He drove up to it and picked it up. Daxter danced around a little bit and made a pose before Jak pocketed the power cell. *power cell no. 41* After that, the duo got out of the zoomer and Daxter was happy.
Daxter: "Wahoo! We made it!"
The two quickly went through this new path they were presented with… and arrived at Rock Village. From the look of the sky, it was no longer dusky. The sky had turned dark and it seemed like a storm was coming. So as Jak and Daxter entered the village, they went into what looked like the blue sage's lab and pressed a button. After doing so, everyone else came through the warp gate, starting with Samos.
Samos: "Woah! Oof-!"
The others started to come through the warp gate after Samos fell to the floor, and…
Amitie, Raffina, Lidelle, and Keira: "Woah! Ow!"
Amitie: "That trip was so not wicked…"
Raffina: "Geez, my butt hurts…"
Lidelle: "I-I think I have a bruise…"
Samos: "Ugh... I don't think I'll ever get used to that warp gate tingling sensation. Hey! It looks like the blue sage threw a party!"
Lidelle: "O-oh my… this place is not in the best condition."
Raffina: "You can say that again, Lidelle… Just look at the stuff in here; it's broken.
Keira: "... Oh my goodness! Rock Village is on fire!"
Samos: "One HECK of a party!"
As Samos said that, he almost hit Jak with his walking stick.
Keira: No, no! I mean Rock Village is being bombarded with flaming boulders! Oh! And it looks like the blue sage was working on a levitation machine to move them! Assuming it's operational, we're going to need power cells to fuel it! I guess you guys are going to have to find some more."
Raffina: "Really? Ugh…"
Samos: "Hmm... I'd better take a look at his notes. Kids, go check on the villagers, then come back and give us an update. And take the furball with you!"
The kids were about to leave the lab… but then Jak decided to go up to Samos, and the latter began to speak.
Samos: "Well, the situation here stinks worse than a lurker's armpit! Before the blue sage disappeared, he journaled significant trouble in all of the surrounding areas. Of particular interest to me is the dark eco infection of some innocent plants in the Precursor Basin. Keira will teleport the zoomer to the nearest trans-pad. So Jak... ride it to a green eco vent, then carry the green eco to the corrupted plants. That should heal them. Don't miss a single plant, or the infected ones will slowly re-infect the healthy ones. And Daxter... start cleaning up in here! And don't forget the corners!"
Daxter growled in frustration as the kids left the lab. They all started collecting Precursor orbs, and freeing scout flies as well. At that point, they freed two scout flies. One was next to the blue sage's lab… and another was behind a rock formation and near a flaming boulder. Soon after freeing the second scout fly, the communicator appeared in front of the group and Keira's voice came from it.
Keira: "Until we find out why the blue sage disappeared, you guys need to collect a total of fifty-five power cells to fuel his machine. Go get 'em."
The communicator went away and the group was in shock.
Raffina: "F-fifty-five?! That's outrageous!"
Daxter: "I agree! Nothing like that should ever need fifty-five power cells to work!"
Raffina: "... Hey, you know what? That's probably the first thing that we ever agreed on, Daxter. And honestly, I'm glad that we did."
Daxter: "You… really mean that, Raffina?"
Raffina: "Yeah…"
Amitie: "R-Raffina really agreed with you, Daxter?"
Daxter: "I-I think so... … Yahoo! Alright! Look, Jak, I got along with Raffina for once!"
Jak: "Uh…"
Lidelle: "... Hm? Hey, what's going on over there?"
Lidelle grabbed everyone else's attention and had them look at an area of the village that had four torches lit up. Some people were gathered there, and among them was someone that looked familiar to the girls.
Raffina: "Wait, is that…?"
Amitie: "... *gasp* It is! Klug's here, and he's okay!"
Daxter: "Klug? Is he one of your friends, girls?"
Raffina: "He's definitely not my friend."
Lidelle: "H-he's usually a little, uh... arrogant, but I still think he means well enough."
Amitie: "Poor Klug… He must've had to learn stuff about this world on his own."
Amitie frowned as she said that, and then Raffina took charge.
Raffina: "*sigh* Let's go talk to him. Even if I don't like Klug, he still deserves to know that we're okay. Besides, we need to exchange information about what we know and vice versa."
And so, the group went over to the middle of the village, where four touches remain lit. As they approached, Klug noticed them and he was glad to see Amitie and Lidelle.
Klug: "...! A-Amitie? Lidelle?! Oh, I'm glad you two are okay. I was worried that since I was separated from you guys, you might have been alone, too. Thankfully, it seems as though we all came to the same strange world; we just ended up in different locations."
The group walked over to Klug, and Raffina had a face of annoyance as they approached him.
Raffina: "What about me, Klug? Don't you care for me in the slightest? I'm caring for you a bit right now, considering that we all ended up in this world. If you say anything that isn't: "Oh, I'm so happy that you're okay, Raffina!", then you'll regret it."
Klug: "U-um, about that… I was just getting to it. No joke. I'll be as honest with this as I can, Raffina: I am indeed happy that you're okay. Why do I feel this way, you may ask? Well… *sigh* Being in this world for only a single day has kind of changed who I am inside. I no longer take everything for granted. I'm no longer selfish… I'm still not exactly a nice person, like Amitie is… but now I regret doing a lot of things that I have done in the past."
When Klug said all of that, Raffina was taken aback.
Raffina: "Wh-what? ... Really? Um… Well, okay... but why?"
Klug: "I'll put this into the simplest of answers, Raffina: This world is dangerous, and I found out that we don't have the power of Puyos here to help us fight back against things called lurkers. And because we can't use the power of Puyos, not only can we no longer return to Primp Town… but we can't use our magic."
Amitie and Lidelle: "What?! We can't use our magic?!"
Amitie: "I-I… I didn't even think about trying to use magic up until now…"
Lidelle: "Me neither…"
Raffina: "H-hey, hey… Everything is going to be fine, guys. Amitie, Lidelle… remember what Samos told us when we were in Sandover Village? He said that a guy named Gol Acheron lives somewhere far to the north. He also said that this guy could be our way of being able to return to Primp Town."
Amitie: "O-oh yeah, I do remember him saying that…"
Klug: "Wait, what?! There's someone that can send us back to Primp Town?! What in the heck were you three doing before arriving here? I need details!"
Raffina: "... Well, I'm the one in this group who apparently has the most experience with this world, aside from Jak and Daxter here… I might as well explain what happened to us, Klug."
Raffina then told Klug what happened to her, Amitie, and Lidelle up until this point, and introduced Jak and Daxter to him. By the time that it was all done, Klug was… fascinated, to say the least. He took off his glasses for a bit, polished them, then put them back on.
Klug: "Huh... So let me get all of this straight: You guys came here after hearing about this Gol individual from a sage called Samos... and rounded up things called Precursor orbs, scout flies, and power cells just to get past a place known as the Fire Canyon and arrive here? And now you need fifty-five power cells to power up some machine to lift a flaming boulder into the air…? Hmm… Am I also correct to assume that Jak and Daxter have helped you three so far in this endeavor?"
Raffina: "Actually, they have a different goal from us… but ultimately, we're all trying to get to the same person: This Gol Acheron guy."
Klug: "Oh, really? Then, why do you two want to meet Gol?"
Klug turned to the duo, and Daxter began to speak.
Daxter: "It's so that I can turn back into an actual person. I became all small and fuzzy from falling into a bunch of dark eco!"
Klug: "Um, excuse me…? What's dark eco?"
Raffina: "...! Crap, I forgot to tell you about that, Klug…"
Raffina proceeded to tell Klug what dark eco was, as well as the four other types of eco… and then she told him that she and the others were able to channel different types of it through their bodies. After that explanation was taken care of, Klug was even more intrigued.
Klug: "Eco… So that's the energy that makes this world go round? People channel specific types of it through their bodies to perform certain feats? Fascinating… I'll need to look into eco as a whole while we're here. In any case, I think it's important for you to collect more power cells. I WOULD help you guys, too… but I'm kind of useless without having access to magic. And I don't know if I can channel eco through my body, like you all seem to be able to. So, I'll stay here for the time being."
Lidelle: "A-actually, we can take you to Samos if you like… He's here in this village with us, and I think he can tell you more about eco."
Klug: "R-really?! Thanks, Lidelle! I'll take that offer of yours, so show me the way!"
Lidelle: "*giggle* Okay."
The whole group went back to the blue sage's lab and they introduced Klug to Samos and Keira.
Raffina: "Samos, Keira. We found our missing friend here; his name is Klug."
Keira: "Nice to meet you, Klug! I'm Keira, and that's my father."
Klug: "Ah, so you're Samos! Raffina told me about you, and Lidelle thinks that you can tell me more about eco. I'm interested to learn about it as a whole."
Samos: "Is that so? Well, aren't you curious... Very well, I'll tell you after your friends leave to find more power cells."
Keira: "Oh, and that reminds me! So apparently, the Precursor structure just off the coast leads to an underwater lost city! The blue sage was trying to figure out how he could bring one of its chambers to the surface, but he was never successful. You guys should check it out!
Daxter: "Uh, aren't there a lot of um, lurker sharks in that water?"
Keira: "Why? Are you scaaared?"
Daxter: "M-Me? Of course not! I'm, uh… just lookin' out for Jak here. You uh, know what a chicken he can be."
After Daxter finished saying that, Jak had a look of annoyance as he stared at him for a bit.
Keira: "Well, if you swim out over the coral reef I doubt the lurker sharks will bother you. They don't like shallow water."
Raffina: "I'm not going to see a side distraction that doesn't have power cells to collect. Besides, I still need to take a break. Count me out."
Amitie: "I, um… I wanna stay in the village for the time being. I don't like the sound of going to a city that's underwater."
Daxter: "And as for Jak and I, we uh... have some business to take care of in the Precursor Basin."
Lidelle: "... Then should I go? I've become quite curious about that place…"
Raffina: "If you insist on going there yourself, then go. Just remember that we won't follow you, Lidelle."
Lidelle: "I-I know."
And so, Lidelle made her way over to the Precursor structure that was just off the coast of Rock Village. Meanwhile… Jak and Daxter were about to go outside, but then they were stopped by Keira.
Keira: "Hey, before you two go, I know where you can find another power cell! According to the blue sage's notes: A couple of days ago, flying lurkers stole one from the blue sage and flew off into the Precursor Basin! I'll bet you could run those lurkers down with the zoomer until you find the one with the power cell! You'll find the zoomer on the trans-pad near the entrance to the Precursor Basin."
After hearing that from Keira, Jak went outside and talked to some of the people in Rock Village. He first walked back to where the group found Klug, and noticed a couple of guys that seemed to be down in the dumps. The first guy was literally wearing a barrel, and the other had muscles and… he was crying? Jak walked over to the barrel guy to see what was wrong.
Gambler: "Oh no, not another hero! I lost my shorts on this so-called hero's big fight against the monster up there! Trust me, the smart money's on the monster. That wager pretty much tapped me out! So's, I got a proposal. If you bring me ninety orbs to get me back on my feet and out of this barrel, I'll give you a power cell in return! And if you're game, I do have one more bet online. My big comeback! Beat the record time racing Dead Man's Gorge in the Precursor Basin, and I'll get a pretty payoff! For doing that, I'll give you another power cell!
And after that guy said all of that, Jak went over to the big lug.
Warrior: "Oh, my aching head."
Daxter: "I doubt that's one of your vital organs! Walk it off, tough guy!"
Warrior: "Oh sure, I was tough once. Maybe even the toughest of them all! I single-handedly defended this village from those horrid creatures for almost a year! Then that horrible monster arrived and commenced the boulder bombardment. So, full of valor, armor shining in the sun, I climbed the hill to take him on…! But he pounded me like one tenderizes a yakow steak."
Daxter: "Have you tried attacking him with your melodrama? 'Cause it's killing me!"
Warrior: "After my last stunning failure, he sealed the passageway to his roost with a thirty-ton boulder, leaving no way for anyone to challenge him again. So, our sage, a master of blue eco, and a mechanical genius, devised a machine capable of lifting the boulder out of the way...! But alas, he disappeared before we had a chance to turn it on. And he took all of his power cells with him. At least I was able to pull enough pontoons out of our bridge to prevent that monster from coming down here to do me harm."
Daxter: "Yeah uh, good, good job tough guy. But uh, we're gonna need you to uh... put 'em back and stuff."
Warrior: "Oh sure, and seal my doom?! *sigh* All right, fine. Bring me ninety Precursor orbs and I'll let the pontoons loose. But I'm not going to fight that monster again!"
And with that, Jak decided to give the big lug ninety orbs.
Warrior: "Oh, wonderful. You brought me the Precursor orbs. All right. I'll fix the bridge. But don't ask me to get involved with that creature again!"
The bridge was fixed and Jak was able to access the last few Precursor orbs, as well as the last scout fly of Rock Village. He also got a power cell from the warrior after that was done. *power cell no. 42* Jak then went over to grab those last few orbs. A power cell soon appeared in his hands and he pocketed it. *power cell no. 43* Then, he freed the last few scout flies in the village, and another power cell ended up in his hands. He quickly pocketed it and went back to the middle of the village. *power cell no. 44* From there, he went past it and approached this lady that was wearing a hat with a lamp on it.
Geologist: "Hmm? Ah, you two look like a couple of capable fellows. I've got a research project going, and maybe you could help me out."
Daxter: "Hey, we're the ones on a big quest here! We ask you for help!"
Geologist: "Well perhaps we can help each other. I've been studying the burrowing habits of lightning moles in the Precursor Basin next to our village for years. But now those awful lurkers have scared the moles to the surface! And since they're blind as bats, they can't find their way back underground! If you could herd them back into their burrowing tunnels, we might just save their lives. I've got a power cell that says you can do it."
Daxter: "Yeah, lightning moles... We care. Maybe for two power cells!"
Geologist: "Nice try, but I would be willing to part with another power cell if you two find me ninety Precursor orbs for my research equipment. Fair enough?"
And so, with a few objectives waiting to be completed. Jak started to make his way over to the Precursor Basin to get them done. Meanwhile… Lidelle got to the Precursor structure by jumping on a trail of wooden platforms that were floating along the water. From there, she got into the structure and noticed the button on the floor. She pressed it and the platform below her feet began to go down like an elevator. Before she knew it, she was in the underwater city…
Author's Notes: So uh… yeah. You guys didn't expect Amitie, Raffina, and Lidelle to find Klug already, did you? And I'm sure you guys didn't expect him to act very differently to how he was at the very beginning of this story… Well, I figured that this would have been a great opportunity to give Klug some character development. Usually, he's a jerk of sorts in the Puyo Puyo games and often has problems with Raffina… but with this story, I decided to make it so that Klug learns to not take everything for granted after spending a whole day in Jak's world. I did this because I love it when characters learn to move away from the people that they once were and change for the better. I mean, isn't that the point of giving a character some development? To make them more relatable? In any case, Klug is no longer a jerk here and that's what's important.
As for this chapter as a whole… aside from the beginning portion: Most of it was made of small character moments, the establishing future objectives, and reintroducing the main reason why Amitie, Raffina, and Lidelle are collecting stuff with Jak and Daxter in the first place. I thought that it would've been nice to go over those things when we're a little over a third done with the story. If things stay on track here, then it all might end at the twelve or thirteen chapter mark… not including the prologue. And if that ends up being the case, this story will be so far my shortest one, in terms of the number of chapters. Regardless, I'm liking how this crossover story of mine is going so far. And I can't wait to get into the last few stages from the actual game, because that's when things REALLY start to pick up.
And speaking of things that I can't wait to get into… Lidelle is going into the Lost Precursor City. OMG, I can't tell you guys how long I've been waiting for this. The Lost Precursor City is my favorite stage from the actual game... when it comes to visuals. The whole place just looks amazing, and it's unique compared to pretty much every other location in the game. I think that's what a lot of other people say about the Lost Precursor City, too. I don't like how the stage is played, though. It's lengthy, and the checkpoints are a little unforgiving if you're like me and die to the same things over and over again. Also, the stage itself is linear, but also not.
Let me explain: Like, if you don't care about getting one hundred percent… then the separate rooms in the Lost Precursor City are quick and painless for the most part. But come on, it's a COLLECT-A-THON; of course you're going to collect as many things as possible. The collectables make you go down to the annoying parts of those rooms to fight lurkers, and activate buttons. As far as the game itself is concerned, so far it has done a pretty good job of making the player want to collect stuff. The controls are really responsive, and the mechanics lead themselves into the overall gameplay well, too.
Not everything is a home run for me, but that's just because I'm not someone who really likes playing collect-a-thons. I don't hate the genre, it's just that it's repetitive in a way that I don't enjoy for the most part. I'm more of an RPG guy… and I also play the Puyo Puyo games to death. Aside from that, though… I recognize that Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a well-designed 3D-platformer collect-a-thon game, and it doesn't suffer from any glaring issues in particular. I do have my problems with it, but those are more like personal nitpicks of mine. Anyway, since this Author's Notes section is already getting kind of long as is, I'll move on to the summary for this chapter.
The group arrived at Rock Village after Jak and Daxter successfully made it through the Fire Canyon. Jak and Daxter also swept the Fire Canyon of its Precursor orbs, scout flies, and power cells. The duo activated the warp gate in the blue sage's lab, and the others came out of it. Upon warping to Rock Village, everyone saw the state that the lab was in. Keira then noticed that the village itself was being bombarded with flaming boulders. Samos said that he should read the blue sage's notes, and he told the kids to check on the villagers. Jak then came up to Samos and the latter gave a job to him. This job involved going to the Precursor Basin and curing infected plants with green eco. After Jak went back outside with the others, everyone received a message from Keira on the communicator. She told them that until they all find out why the blue sage disappeared, they need to collect a total of fifty-five power cells.
After giving them that message, the communicator went away. Lidelle saw that there was something going on in the middle of the village, and then Raffina and Amitie looked. From there, they saw a familiar face: Klug! The group walked to the middle of the village, and he noticed them. He was happy to see them, and shockingly admitted that he's changed a lot as a person. Raffina in particular is surprised by this change of Klug's. And after that, came the exchanging of information… and now Klug knows what girls went through. He also found out that there's someone that might be able to take him and the girls back to Primp Town: Gol Acheron. Raffina then told Klug what eco is as well, and he became fascinated by all the different types.
Either way, with the group being back together again… they went back to the blue sage's lab and Keira told them about a Precursor structure that apparently leads to an underwater city. She also mentioned that the blue sage was trying to raise up one of its chambers to the surface, and suggested that the group should go check it out. Amitie and Raffina opted not to go for their own reasons, and Daxter said that he and Jak had business to take care of in the Precursor Basin. So with that established, Lidelle decided that she wanted to go to the Precursor structure and see what it has to offer. So, she left for the structure… but not before collecting the remaining Precursor orbs in Rock Village (which topped out at 50), as well as freeing the rest of the seven scout flies there.
Meanwhile, Jak was given more things to do in the Precursor Basin, thanks to a couple of the villagers. Back over to Lidelle's side of things, finished collecting and freeing stuff in Rock Village and made her way to that Precursor structure. Once she got there, she pressed on a button and started to go down… to the Lost Precursor City. Our heroes have so far collected a total of 44 power cells, 49 scout flies, and 850 Precursor orbs. With that in mind... Lidelle is about to experience the mystifying wonder of the Lost Precursor City. What will she find down there? Next chapter, Chapter 5: The Lost Precursor City.
