A Terrible Mistake
Goldensunsheba
Chapter 3:
The warmth of the sun shining in through the entrance of the cave stirred the red Ottsel who was curled up next to a now burnt out fire. When she sat up she realized she was alone, she shook her head trying to grasp what had happened the night before. Had that been a weird dream…had she snuggled up to Daxter last night?
"Hey you're awake," her brother's voice came and she turned her head and saw him standing near the entrance of the cave, "Snow has stopped and we've got clear skies."
Sheaira nodded and stood up heading over to her brother. She looked up at the clear sky and then down to the snow which towered over her.
"Where are Jak and Daxter?" Sheaira asked and quickly climbed up to her brother's shoulder that didn't have time to protest. He pointed over to a valley that was covered with snow and Precursor orbs, she squinted but she could see the blond hair boy picking up several Precursor orbs.
"There was an avalanche last night and all of the orbs came down from the cliff side, they decided to gather them before we head further up," John explained.
"How long have you been awake…?" Sheaira asked her brother.
"Since Jak and Daxter left the cave, why?" John asked looking at his sister curiously Sheaira shook her head. She sighed in relief and rubbed her arms, "Let's go help them out; you got an empty back pack now."
John shrugged and nodded heading down toward the two boys.
Jak was digging out Precursor orbs from the snow; he noticed that Daxter seemed distracted watching both John and Sheaira. He shrugged his shoulder to get his friends attention, Daxter looked down at him.
"Oh it looks like Sheaira is awake," Daxter said, Jak gave him and grin and raised an eye brow; "No…She's not even my type…too fuzzy."
Jak chuckled as Daxter shrugged sheepishly. John finally caught up to them struggling through the snow and Sheaira look just glad that she didn't have to walk in it. She looked up at Jak and Daxter.
"Looks like you guys already got all the Precursor orbs," she stated look around at the deep snow that had fallen off the cliff earlier.
"Yep, around 40 of them fell off last night," Daxter pointed up at the cliff side. Jak lifted up a broken box and 3 more Precursor orbs fell out and Daxter grinned, "43!"
"Great now let's hurry up and get to the Power cells before I freeze to death," Sheaira said rolling her eyes and the boys and pointing up the mountain. She rubbed her shoulder with her hands as a shiver came upon her again, even if the sun was out Snowy Mountain wasn't a place she wanted to spend her time on. Jak held up one foot and nodded in agreement with Sheaira.
"Yeah, let's get up there and out of here fast," Daxter grinned at Jak, "Don't want this big guy to freeze either."
John led the way to a safe route along the mountain side. To their surprise they didn't have much trouble getting up the mountain side. There were a few Lurkers spread out but Jak easily took care of them, John had made an attempt to fight off some of the Lurkers as well but he seemed to just be a distraction. Sheaira was annoyed with his attempts as she didn't care too much about getting swung around on John's shoulder.
When they finally made it to the top there was a large Precursor door that stretched out between the cliff sides blocking their progress. John stepped on the switch and waved his hand at the door expecting it to open.
"Why is it sealed?" John grumbled examining the Red Eco switch, "It's been tampered with…"
"Jak, you think you can use the Red Eco vent to open the door for us?" Sheaira turned to Jak and Daxter who were collecting a few more Precursor orbs, "Who keeps dropping these everywhere?"
"Alright, we'll go up and find a Red Eco vent, you two say put," Daxter grinned placing another Precursor Orb into Jak's bag as they headed off quickly into a cavern nearby.
"Aw…come on," Sheaira sighed watching them disappear she looked back at John who was now kneeling down; he brushed off snow from the switch.
"This is…Dark Eco marks," John frowned.
"You don't think that woman who attacked us earlier did this?" Sheaira asked John. Her ears lowered nervously look up at the door, she clutched on tightly to her brother's green scarf around his neck. She didn't want to let on that she was scared of her but the truth was she should be dead from falling into the Dark Eco. At least that's what she thought.
"No idea, but I think those Lurkers are linked to this…"John said touching the marks on the switch curiously. Before he had time to react the switch began to light up red, his eyes lit up with surprise and the door began to slide apart. Sheaira's green eyes gazed at the red light surrounding them switch.
"John… stop!" Sheaira tried to pull his hand away but it was too late the door was wide opened now. A large shadow soon covered the two of them and Sheaira looked up to see a large armored Lurker, he was red and seemed to tower over the two of them, it's beady yellow eyes gazed down at the two of them. John had no time to react when he was knocked to the side against the cliff side knocking him out in one shot. Sheaira however had managed to jump off his shoulder but she was quiet fast enough to get away from the large Lurker who grabbed her with its free hand.
"Let go of me," she gasped being crushed under the powerful Lurker who brought her up to its face. It's breathe was terrible and she gagged trying to squirm her way out of his grasp.
"Looks like I found Jak and Daxter," its voice came horsed and it laughed at her. Sheaira raised an eyebrow, was this thing really thinking she was Daxter. The lurker moved over to John and put its weapon down slinging John over its shoulder.
"My boss will be pleased," it grinned and took them deeper into the Lurker base, Sheaira's eyes widened realizing this was what Samos met earlier when he spotted the Lurkers near the top. They've made a full base up here.
"Let go of me you oversized furry lizard!" the red Ottsel shouted trying to wake her brother but he was out cold and didn't hear her pleas. Her ears fell as she realized there was no escaping this, he was heading deeper into the fortress the other lurkers staring watching the bigger one.
"What are you going to do with us?" Sheaira demanded, the Lurker didn't answer in just continued until it got to a make shift jail. There was already someone there gazing up as the Lurker tossed Sheaira and then John into the wooden jail cell. Sheaira tried to make a dash for it but it closed too quickly, she grabbed the bars of the door, "Wait! Come on!" Sheaira tugged harshly but it didn't move.
"You're not going to get out that way," a familiar voice came from behind her. She turned to face the short dirty blue haired blue green moustache. She raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Gordy is that you?" Sheaira asked walking over the short man, he was still just as dirty as he usually was but seeing him up at Snowy Mountain was rare.
"Uh do I know you?" Gordy hesitated tilting his head at the Ottsel. It just hit the girl and her ears perked up; he wouldn't recognize her in this form.
"It's me Sheaira Wildfire, the Red Sage's daughter," she explained.
"Oh, of course, have you done something to your hair?" he seemed confused as he raised an eyebrow at her.
"I've transformed into and Ottsel, it's a long story," she moved over to her brother checking him over. He was still alive but he was out like a light. She nudged him with her foot but there was still no response she rolled her eyes, "What are you even doing up here?"
"Well, ah…you see…I came up here for the Power Cells, I wanted to borrow them for a drill we've wanted to use," He paused briefly.
"For the Diamonds in the mine," Sheaira stated tapping her foot in annoyance, "You were going to steal the Power Cells from Dad weren't you?"
"No, not steal, borrow…." Gordy looked over to John and then back at Sheaira, "It's not like I was able to get there anyway with this Lurker Fortress. I think they've been trying to break into the unit." The red Ottsel sighed running her fingers through her long pink hair. She was wondering why they wanted to gather all these Precursor orb and Power Cells, what were those dumb furry looking lizards really up to.
"Ngh…" moaned John as he steadied himself up on one elbow look over at Gordy and Sheaira.
"John your awake," Sheaira ran over to her brother and examined the sides of his head carefully.
"Yeah…What happened?"
"You were abducted," Gordy interjected as he walked over to the boy.
"They think we're Jak and Daxter," Sheaira said still rubbing her brother's hair with her furry palms. He pushed her away sitting up fully.
"The Lurkers?" he raised an eyebrow in confusion and Sheaira crossed her arms looking rather annoyed with him for pushing her aside.
"Sounds like it, but who are Jak and Daxter?" Gordy asked.
"We were traveling up here with them," John started.
"Your sister explained that you were getting the Power Cells," Gordy motioned to the red Ottsel. John nodded rubbing his head. He gazed out of the bars; no one was guarding the prison they were being held in.
"We need to get out of here fast and find Jak and Daxter," John stood up and walked over to the bars and examined them, "Sheaira I think you might be able to fit through the bars."
"What? I'm not that small," Sheaira followed over to him examining the bars that kept them encaged. Gordy frowned and trailed behind, "Doubtful, there was too close together."
"I can pull them apart enough for you to fit through," John placed his hand firmly onto two of the bars ready to bend them apart.
"How… you don't actually think you can harness the Red Eco again, you're going to get us in more trouble!" Sheaira scolded as John's hands began to glow red, "It's just to get my sister out of here."
"Fine," Sheaira sighed in defeat as John managed to pull apart the bar briefly letting the small 2 foot 4 inch Ottsel through. Her hips got stuck only a moment and they she slithered her way out looking around down the halls, no lurkers seemed to be in sight.
"Remember this is a stealth mission," John let go of the bar as the bent back into position.
"Don't worry I'll come back for you both," Sheaira reassured.
She made her way down the hall and gazed around the fortress, it was rather empty with a few lurkers who seemed to be heading up to the upper floors. Sheaira sighed trying to map out the place; she would need to focus on getting out and finding Jak and Daxter. She dashed and climbed up wooden polls making sure to dodge any gaze of the few Lurkers around. It wasn't too difficult since they seemed to be preoccupied with something else.
"What are they doing?" she asked herself quietly and decided to follow them to see if she could find a way out to find Jak and Daxter. She made sure to be careful of not making any noise if they found or spotted her she could be in big trouble. Something orange caught her eyes and she stopped noticing the boys hiding behind some boxes already inside the fortress, Daxter was crotched on Jak's shoulder as they watched an unsuspecting Lurker pass by heading into a door down the hall. Once the door was fully closed Sheaira made a noise to try and get the boys attention. Jak looked up first and seemed shocked to see her up there. Daxter then looked up and saw her as well he looked confused. Sheaira slid down the support beam to the ground and rushed over to Jak and Daxter.
"Thank goodness I found you," she said in a hushed voice looking up at Jak. Her ears lowered as Jak gave her a concerned look.
"More like we found you, how'd you manage to open the Precursor door without Red Eco?" Daxter asked looking around for John.
"It's a long story, we'll catch up once we rescue him, they locked up my brother down in the basement of this fortress," Sheaira explained and then fell silent realizing there is more Lurkers coming down the hallway. Jak scooped her up in his arms pulling her behind some crates they ducked down and listened as these Lurkers spoke.
"You think Maia and Gol will be pleased? We captured Jak and Daxter," one said in an excited tone. Daxter raised his eyebrow peeking over the crates curiously Jak pulled him back down and covered his mouth putting a finger to his lips to try and keep him quiet.
"Of course, and the Dark one she'll be interested in silencing them, once we get the power cells we'll be rewarded graciously," the other seemed to grin and bounce with excitement. The doors opened at the Lurkers headed outside without even noticing the trio. Sheaira breathed deeply and sighed.
"Who's that Dark one they're talking about?" Daxter asked curiously, Jak shrugged and looked at Sheaira who was also just as confused.
"I don't think I want to find out. Let's go get John and Gordy and get those Power cells," She said and Jak and Daxter looked and nodded to each other.
Sheaira jumped down and motioned the boys to follow her carefully as she hurried her way back down through the fort to get to the jail that held her brother and Gordy. They made sure to dodge the Lurkers who where monitoring the halls, luckily they were few and far between since they seemed to be meeting this so called "Dark One". As soon as they returned to the jail John moved close to the door and peaked down the hall pleased to see the trio.
"Sheaira, thank goodness you're alright," John said excited to see that his little sister was able to find Jak and Daxter already.
"Yeah, we need to get out of here fast," Sheaira looked over at Jak who approached the door and looked at it carefully.
"Go on Jak, show it what your made of," Daxter cheered on his shoulder. Jak tugged at the door trying to open it but it did not budge from the locked state. Gordy came up from behind John and examined the door and then looked down at the red ottsel watching Jak with a hopeful look.
"Did you not get the keys?" he asked. Sheaira looked up at him and the face palmed, they should have tried to locate the Lurker that locked them in the jail in the first place.
"You're right…there's no way to get them out without the keys…" she groaned looking at Jak still trying to bust down the door with his own strength.
"Wait, I got an idea!" John said rubbing his goatee.
"That's a first," Sheaira raises an eyebrow at her brother grinning. John rolled his eyes at his sister and then put his hands through the bar and placing them on Jak wrists. He closed his eyes as if he were focusing on something. Daxter raised an eyebrow curiously considering it seemed like nothing was happening. After a few seconds a surge of Red Eco hit Jak and John released him as he quickly pulled off the door to the cell off, this nearly caused Daxter to fall off his shoulder in surprise.
"Whoa Big Red, I didn't know you could do that!?" Daxter said impressed as Jak put the door down on the floor and smiled at John and Gordy as they walked out.
"Helps to be the Red Sage's son," he grins running his hand through his hair confidently. Sheaira rolled her eyes.
"Come on let's get out of here before those Lurkers come back," Gordy whispered looking around suspiciously.
Daxter opened his mouth a moment and turned to Sheaira, after all she was the Red Sage's daughter right why didn't she say that her and her brother could use Red Eco so easily. Sheaira shot him a glare and he closed his mouth.
"Let's get to the storage unit first, then we get out of here, we need those Power cells," She crossed her arms looking at her brother who nodded towards Jak.
"Let's let Jak take up the front, he's our heavy hitter," John suggested and Daxter crossed his arms looking back at John. Sheaira climbed up onto her brother's shoulder quickly.
"I suppose you two will be our back up," he grinned at the two of them.
"Are you kidding, John doesn't have full control over his Red Eco abilities, we'd be the worst back up," Sheaira shrugged sheepishly and John sighed.
"Let just get those Power cells," John sighed in annoyance.
"I'm ready to leave," Gordy agreed.
"Alright Jak, lead the way," Daxter pointed back down the hall as they headed out quietly and carefully out of the fortress. Luckily the fortress wasn't well guarded and Jak was able to take out the few Lurkers around. They exited the fortress and looked around, the cold hit them as a bitter cold wind blew through the mountain. Sheaira shivered and looked around, "It should be over there!" she pointed up the hill to a small looking building.
"That isn't very big," Daxter said looking down at Jak who shrugged.
"It's only got like 50 Power cells in there," John shrugged.
"There's like maybe 25 at most, anyways we have to hurry and get there before the-" Sheaira was cut off by loud cheering in a nearby crevasse. Jak put his fingers to his lips to hush Sheaira as the five of them quickly hid behind some rocks peaking into the crease. Looking down into the crevasse they saw a group of many Lurkers cheering before a bunch of Precursor artifacts and orbs. In a smoke of Dark Eco two figures emerge that Jak and Daxter recognized from Misty Island.
"That's the woman who attacked us in Spider Cave!" Sheaira stated but she was silences quickly as John covered her mouth. The last thing they needed was to be captured again.
"Very good I see you have collected the Precursor artifacts from the mountain," the woman spoke so slyly that it annoyed Sheaira as she glared down at her.
"Now that you have captured Jak and Daxter no one will get in our way," hissed the older man who was floating slightly off the ground. Another cheer erupted from the crowd of lurkers.
"Have we broken into the Red Sage's storage unit yet?" the woman asked one of the nearest Lurkers. It shook its head.
"We have plenty of time now, let's go look after our guest shall we sister," the older man grinned evilly. The woman nodded smirking as they followed the Lurkers towards the fortress.
"We don't have much time before they find out we escaped," Daxter said looking over to Jak who nodded in agreement, John let Sheaira go.
"Let's get going quickly and then get out of here," she pointed up towards a building on top of a small hill, "We are running out of time."
Authors note: Another long chapter, I want to make sure to develop my OC's, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Please review.