Chapter 10: Final Preparations and Lava Tube

Once the group returned to the Volcanic Crater, the communicator appeared before them and Keira's voice came from it.

Keira: "Great! You guys have enough power cells to power up the heat shield against the lava. Also, it seems like there's still a power cell in Mountain Pass. You can get to it by using yellow eco from a vent while on the zoomer, and firing at a weak part of the rock formation. Anyway, meet me at the Lava Tube when you guys are ready."

The communicator went away and Raffina spoke.

Raffina: "Well, me and Jak are the only ones that can ride the zoomer, and since I can't channel yellow eco… Jak, you'll have to be the one to go to the Mountain Pass and get it."

Jak nodded and Daxter noticed another one of those weird face statues.

Daxter: "Hey Jak, there's another one of those statues! Let's go up to it and exchange some orbs for the power cells it has before we go back to the Mountain Pass."

Jak went up to the statue and the others watched from a distance. The statue began to speak and said...

Oracle: "Seek the pure light, for within its flame, the answers reside. You can gain my power cells by bringing one hundred and twenty Precursor orbs for each."

Jak then gave the statue a set of one hundred and twenty orbs…

Oracle: "For your effort, a power cell is the reward."

The first power cell from the statue was spat out and Jak grabbed it, which he then pocketed. *power cell no. 109* After that, he gave the statue another set of one hundred and twenty orbs.

Oracle: "You have obtained another power cell…"

The second power cell was spat out and Jak pocketed it. *power cell no. 110* And then, Jak and Daxter went into the Mountain Pass to get that one power cell. They got on the zoomer, and on the outside portion of the pass… they encountered a yellow eco vent. They passed through it and saw a strange-looking rock formation.

Daxter: "Jak, that must be it; shoot it down!"

Jak fired a few shots and the rock formation collapsed, revealing a power cell. Jak drove up to it, grabbed it, then pocketed it. *power cell no. 111*

Daxter: "Alright, let's get back to the others and go over to the Lava Tube, Jak."

Jak then made it back to the others and Raffina said something.

Raffina: "Did you guys get the power cell?"

Daxter: "Yep."

Lidelle: "That's good…"

Amitie: "Then let's get going; we have to stop Gol and Maia!"

The whole group nodded and they made their way to the Lava Tube to meet up with Keira. And then…

Keira: "Ah, there you are! Guys, with these additional power cells: I should be able to supply the heat shield with enough power to stand up to this lava! But the shield still has a limit... It will now withstand temperatures up to eight hundred degrees, but no more; so keep an eye on your gauge. I don't want to think about what those temperatures would do to the zoomer if the shield gives out."

Daxter: "Yeah, the heat... What?! The zoomer?! Hey! What about us?! Don't you think we could look for a safer route to Gol's citadel?"

Keira: "Look, I've released more cooling balloons into the tube. So you can use them to keep the temperature down. Anyway... Jak, you're going to have to be the one to go through the Lava Tube."

Daxter: "Uh, mind telling us WHY?"

Keira: "Because, Jak is the only one here that can ride the zoomer AND channel yellow eco at the same time. Yellow eco is needed to open the way to the yellow sage's lab from the Lava Tube, and there are plenty of yellow eco vents to go through to do that."

Raffina: Hmm… That's a shame… I personally wanted to go through the Lava Tube. But after hearing that bit, I realize that it would be pointless for me to go."

Daxter: "Ugh… Fine! Jak, let's go."

Keira: "Oh-! Wait, you two. I need to say one more thing before you go. Don't forget to activate the warp gate in the yellow sage's lab."

Daxter: "Got it. Now, let's go, Jak!"

Raffina: "And now we've been put to the sidelines again…"

Keira: "Oh don't worry, Raffina… We'll go to where Jak is as soon as he activates that warp gate. For now, let's go back to the red sage's lab."

Amitie: "Okay!"

The girls left and Jak started driving through the Lava Tube. Jak went forward, popped a balloon, and snaked his way around a thin path. As he did this, he got a few Precursor orbs. Then, he went through three more balloons, he grabbed some more orbs… and freed the first scout fly. From there, Jak passed through another path and smashed through three Precursor orbs crates. After that, he flew from a ramp and collected some loose orbs in the process. He then landed and followed a short trail of orbs and popped another balloon.

And then, he freed the second scout fly and popped a couple more balloons before collecting some more orbs. This caused a power cell to appear in Jak's free hand. He pocketed it, then went through a yellow eco vent. *power cell no. 112* From there, Jak fell to a wide area of the Lava Tube and orange spheres were spinning around a pool of lava.

Daxter: "I think we need to shoot those spheres to open the door, Jak; fire away!"

Jak stopped and fired at the spheres and they each went down in one hit. Then, Jak went over to his left where the door opened. After going through the doorway, he continued to pop incoming balloons. As he did, he freed the rest of the scout flies and got a power cell from the seventh one before immediately pocketing it. *power cell no. 113* And then, Jak zipped over to the incoming pad where another power cell was at. He grabbed it and Daxter did a dance before the former pocketed the power cell. *power cell no. 114* Immediately after that, Jak parked the zoomer in the pad and got off.

Daxter: Woo-hoo! We made it through the Lava Tube! Jak, I see the warp gate over there! Let's go over to it and press the button!"

Jak did as Daxter said and the others (including Klug) came through seconds later… except for someone in particular. Daxter noticed this and…

Daxter: "Hey! Where's old short, green, and wrinkly at? He's usually the first to come out of these things."

Keira: "Daxter, Father is missing! When we went back to the red sage's hut, he was nowhere to be seen!"

Klug: "Y-yes, and we think Gol and Maia might have kidnapped him as well…"

Amitie and Lidelle: "And it's terrible!"

Daxter: "Relax, everyone. I got everything under control…"

Keira: "Under control?! Lurker armies continue to grow across the land, the sages have been kidnapped, Gol and Maia have gathered enough eco to complete their terrible plan, and to stop them: You're going to have to fight your way through their citadel!"

Raffina: "And I'm pretty sure that it's going to be a huge pain for us to get through."

Daxter: "Uh... yeah. That about uh, sums it up."

Keira: "You have to rescue my father before it's too late! And Jak? Be careful."

Daxter: "Yeah, WE...! ...will be!"

As Daxter said that with frustration, everyone else briefly gave him a look of annoyance. And then…

Raffina: "Alright… What are we going to do? We need a gameplan before we enter that citadel, guys."

Klug: "Well, if the sages are all trapped in there... then we would naturally have to come up with a way to rescue them. I may not be able to help the rest of you… but I can at least act as the brains behind whatever plan we decide to go with."

Daxter: "Whaaat? Shouldn't we just go in there and try to save them as fast as possible? It's not like we have much time left, you know!"

Lidelle: "Th-that's a good point…"

Amitie: "Well… I just wanna stop Gol and Maia and keep everyone safe!"

Raffina: "*sigh* I don't think we're going to get anywhere with this… So, let's do a vote, shall we? All those who want us to go in there after coming up with a plan: Raise your hand."

After Raffina said that, she and Klug raised their hands up; the others abstained.

Klug: "Okay… all those in favor of going in there without a plan in mind: Raise your hand."

After Klug said that, Amitie and Daxter raised theirs. Jak and Lidelle chose to abstain from voting, like before.

Raffina: "Oh great… we're completely split down the middle here. Come on, guys! We have to collectively choose what we're going to do! It could mean the difference between life and death, and honestly… I don't want us to die here."

As Raffina said that last bit, she frowned. Not made from purely anger or frustration… but rather, the frown was made mostly from her concern for the others' safety. This was the first time that Amitie ever saw Raffina like that, and it made her frown too.

Amitie: "Raffina…"

Raffina: "Please, we need to think about this carefully before we go in there. Who knows what will happen… It might be the point of no return for all we know."

Raffina was on the brink of tearing up, and at this point… even Daxter felt bad for not considering what could happen to everyone after they go and enter Gol and Maia's citadel. Because of this, he decided to say something.

Daxter: "You know what? I think we should come up with some sort of plan. I mean, it doesn't have to be complex or anything, but… I realize that we gotta have something to guide us through this rescue mission."

Lidelle: "Th-then, what do we come up with as our plan? We don't know how the citadel looks on the inside…"

Everyone looked at each other and thought to themselves for a bit… At first nothing came up, but then...

Klug: "... I got it! If me and Keira can watch you guys with the communicator as you go in there, we might be able to come up with something based on the citadel's layout."

Raffina: "Hey, that seems like a good enough plan to me! It's not perfect, but it'll most certainly do! Thank you, Klug..."

Raffina hugged Klug as she finished saying that, and the latter blushed.

Klug: "N-no problem, Raffina."

Amitie: "Wow, I didn't think that Raffina would ever hug Klug like that!"

Lidelle: "I-I guess it just goes to show how much we've all become friends in such a short amount of time… Personally, I'm happy about it."

Amitie: "Me too, Lidelle!"

As Amitie said that, Raffina blushed and slowly let Klug go. And then...

Raffina: "...! A-anyway… let's get in there and save those sages, guys."

Amitie, Lidelle, Klug, and Daxter: "Yeah!"

Jak nodded as well, and the group left Keira and Klug to go inside the citadel. And when they entered, they were in for quite a surprise…


Author's Notes: Yeah, I know that this chapter is pretty short… but what else could I do? The previous chapter was extra long… And besides, this chapter was mostly made to prepare you guys for what's to come in Gol and Maia's citadel. This place is going to be massive… like, a third bigger than it was in the actual game. YEAH. And you just know that I'll have a LOT of power cells for the characters to get in there. Just to give you guys an idea of how big the changes to the layout of the citadel are going to be: There will be separate paths that each lead to one of the sages. Oh yes, you read that correctly; your eyes are not deceiving you here. This place's layout will be almost COMPLETELY different. This is so that I can give the special abilities of Amitie, Raffina, and Lidelle one final hurrah before our heroes go and stop Gol and Maia.

This sounds very ambitious of me, but I promise I'll deliver the fun that comes from adding in a whole bunch of new power cells. Other than that though, get hyped! The end to this crossover story is coming and I can't WAIT for you all to see how it turns out. Anyway… Our heroes have so far collected a total of 114 power cells, 105 scout flies, and 2250 Precursor orbs. With that in mind… I must ask quite a few questions here: How will our heroes rescue the sages? What will happen when they confront Gol and Maia? How will the group stop them from flooding the world with dark eco? And, will Amitie and her friends be able to return to Primp Town?! Well, only time can tell; midnight is fast approaching in Jak's world. Next time on Puyo Puyo and the Precursor Legacy... Chapter 11: Gol and Maia's Citadel.