A Terrible Mistake

Chapter Eight:

Daxter groaned as he felt small warm drops of water dripping onto his face, he opened his eyes to feel the warm water beneath him. He was laying in about an inch of warm water. He looked at the pipe that had spat him out into this room. He sat up and looked around and the red room with lava flowing from the walls on the other side of the room. He looked to the right and saw a bunch of platforms over a large lake of lava. He gulped nervously as he assumed that it was the trail to get the yellow medallion. He noticed there were some vents with red eco coming out of it there also appeared to be some large obstacles that blocked the way to the yellow medallion.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a sweet voice asked, it startle Daxter as her turned towards the voice seeing a large chest kneeling over him, he grinned and looked up and the young woman who had her red hair flowing down past her shoulders. Her maroon eyes sparkled as she looked at the ottsel through her thick yellow rimmed glasses, "You are adorable."

"Hey Baby, you're not so bad yourself," Daxter flirted as he stood up attempting to take a pose. But he was still an ottsel and the young woman raised an eyebrow, "The names Daxter."

"My name is Jenna, I'm a researcher for the Light Eco Sage," she explained standing back up and looking towards the obstacle course and then back at the ottsel, "How did you get this far? This place is full of traps."

"I traveled with my friends… I guess I got lucky and got washed out by one of those pipes up there," Daxter pointed up towards the one pipe.

"You're pretty lucky, I was looking for a special device to research but with these puzzles and obstacles I cannot get passed these trails to unlock it by myself," she sighs in disappointment, "You…don't suppose you could help me." She smiles sweetly at the ottsel and he grinned.

"Of course, baby, your hero has arrived," he said confidently posing and flexing. She giggled at him in amusement.

"Awesome, you just will have to cross that obstacle course," She pointed back towards the lava and moving platforms and large boulders blocking some areas but it did look like Daxter may be able to squeeze past them. He gulped nervously though as he looked down at the burning hot lava, normally Jak was the one jumping over these obstacles and he was on his shoulder.

"S-Sure no biggy," he squeaked out looking a little more nervous as he stepped over to the ledge and beginning of the course. Jenna looked pretty excited and pulled out a book that she started to write in.

"Show us what you got," she cheered and Daxter nodded looking back at her. He gave her a grin and gulped leaping out to grab the first platform. He nearly fell as he hurried to climb onto of it and turned to her giving a thumbs up.

"Good work Daxter, she me what you got," she said smiling brightly as she was excited to see if he could make it.

"Stupid…stupid Daxter…" he turned away from her muttering this feeling like a fool for a pretty girl. Well now he was into it as he looked forward to the moving platforms. He gulped and continued jumping across. He got about half way before coming across a huge boulder that looked like in need to be pushed over.

"There's no way I can even move this thing," he sighed and looked back as Jenna waved at him. He looked back at the boulder, he knew that if Jak had been here he could use the red Eco from the vents and push it easily. He sighed and then noticed there was a small little crack near the rock wall and boulder, he kneels down and saw that the hole led to the other side. He smiled realizing his small size can help.

"Like I said…I'm good in tight spots," he grinned at his own joke. He dove into and squeezed his way through the tight crack until he made it to the other side. He gasped as he pulled his way through and panted. He was very proud of his success and did a little victory dance and then when her turned to see how much further he had to go he lowered his ear. There was a lot more moving platforms and fire blowing up from the lava between them.

"Yep…it's worse…" he sighed and got down on all fours, he made it this far he had to keep going. After all, Jak and Sheaira were probably doing their best as well to try and get to him. He carefully timed his jumps and leapt from platform to platform and almost missed a jump near then end. He scrambled up the last moving platform, one more jump and he was there.

However, the ground started to rumble causing him to stumble and he clung to the platform out of fear, he turned back and noticed rucks started to come down from the ceiling. He no longer saw Jenna on the other side she must have run to take cover. Daxter gulped and just went for it knowing he might get crushed by rocks if he didn't take action. He grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up quickly running to were the yellow medallion sat. He quickly pulled it out and shut his eyes as he heard the crumbling rocks fall closer.

Silence fell, there was a clicking sound and when Daxter opened his eyes in confusion the moving platforms formed a secure bridge across to let him come back. He grinned and looked at the medallion, "See babe, what did I tell ya," he called.

As Daxter ran across the bridge back to solid ground the main door the room slid open revealing Jak and Sheaira, who were both soaked. Sheaira was slightly dryer but she was still shivering and realized this room was much warmer. It took her a moment to she Daxter and him holding the yellow medallion. Both Jak and her were shocked and smiled widely.

"Daxter?!" Sheaira jumped off Jak's shoulder and embraced him tightly catching the orange ottsel off guard. She nuzzled her face into his fur, "I thought…We thought you had died!"

"I told you, if there's a tight spot I can squeeze through," Daxter patted her head feeling her orange and blue bandana was still moist. He pointed toward the small pipes near the top of the ceiling over a pool of steaming warm water. Jak walked over and examined the pipes and turned to him smiling.

"How did you get the yellow medallion?" Sheaira pushed herself off of him and looked into his hand.

"Well Jenna help me out, but I did all the heavy lifting, right babe," Daxter looked to the left and then to the right noticing that the woman had disappeared completely. He looked rather confused as Sheaira followed his gaze both her and Jak raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh well I guess she went on ahead, she wanted to do research, she said she was working with the Light Eco Sage," Daxter rubbed the back of his head pointing over to some holes in the opposite wall from wear the warm pools of water were.

"Well, we nearly died 2 times in the last room, so I'm relieved you got it, I'm sure Jak is too," Sheaira motioned to Jak who came over and patted Daxter's head. He climbed back up on Jak's shoulder and handed him the yellow medallion.

"Who's your hero?" Daxter grinned taking a heroic pose and both Sheaira and Jak rolled their eyes. Sheaira climbed back onto Jak's shoulder as her headed out of the room to the final yellow medallion room.

"Don't let it get to your head," she stuck out her tongue at him. Daxter smirked and then looked down to see Jak put the medallion into the slot and the door slid open. He looked into the room and his ears fell as his confidence left him.

The room was filled with fire and obstacles wind blowing which caused the fire to move erratically. The three of the sighed and looked to the left and right seeing a vent covered by a metal mechanism. Sheaira hopped off to examine it closer and Daxter looked defeated.

"There's no way to get across without being burnt to a crisp," Daxter looked up at the ceiling to see spikes coming from the ceiling, "Look Jak, there's even traps to try and kill us if we try taking another route!"

"There may be another way," Sheaira perked up and Jak turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She looked at the two of them and pointed at the vent that was covered, "I bet this has some yellow eco we could use to knock down those spiked to destroy the devices that are blowing wind and fire."

"Great, but how do we open it," Daxter asked as Jak kneeled down and tried to pull up the metal plate onto but it did not budge. Jak looked the see a metal like that led up to a ledge on the left side of the wall. Examining it slightly closer he saw that there was a valve that could be turned, Jak pointed up to in as Sheaira looked up at him.

"What is it Jak?" Sheaira asked noticing him pointing up to the ledge. Daxter eyes widened and he nodded.

"That's it, that valve should release the lock, a lil help Jak?" Daxter prepared himself as Jak offered his palm, he walked onto his hand and with one thrust Daxter leapt into the air and grabbed the ledge climbing up.

"Wow, look at you two," she looked up in awe as Daxter climbed up and started to try and turn the valve. It didn't budge no matter how hard Daxter pulled Sheaira frowned and then quickly climbed up Jak's shoulder, "Let me help."

Jak nodded and lifted his arm becoming a spring to help her up, she was a lot mor graceful and grabbed the ledge climbing up. Daxter paused and looked over at her with an awe expression on his face.

"What? I have to do this in style," she smirked and then came over to help Daxter turned the valve. The Two ottsels huffed and managed to turn the valve with a click and swooshing sound as the metal plate flung open and Yellow Eco flowed through and up into the air.

Without a second though Jak ran into the Yellow Eco and he pulled down his goggles firing fireballs at the spikes disabling all of the traps and blocking out the fire. The bridge was now clear of any obstacles. Sheaira's green eyes sparkled with excitement as she watched Jak. This was what she longed for all her life and for a moment she forgot about all her worries and got excited for what they were going to find.

As Daxter walked up behind Sheaira he watched Jak run across the bridge to an orange podium. Jak lifted his goggles up and looked closer noticing a bright white medallion sitting on top of the podium, it was engraved with Precursor writing. His eyes narrowed in confusion, considering this looked just like the same key they used to open the other doors with, he was expecting something else. He picked it up and as he did the entire temple began to shake, looking up he noticed that the ceiling was beginning to collapse in on itself. He had little time to hesitate he ran back across the bridge as large pieces of the ceiling collapsed tearing the bridge apart from him, he leapt into a roll and just made it across before another piece of the ceiling smashed in to the bridge. He made it to the other side and before Sheaira could even react Daxter grabbed her arm and leapt down grabbing onto Jak's shoulder guard as they barely made it through the door before debris blocked the room sealing in off entirely. The three sat on the ground in shock, Jak lifted up the white medallion looking at it more closely as both ottsels climbed up on either of his shoulder to look to see what he got.

"All that for another medallion?" Sheaira groaned.

"That's just great what are we suppose to do with that," Daxter huffed and collapsed onto Jak's shoulder. He looked towards the entrance of the temple and then towards the other side of the hallways to realize that the dead end had now a large door, "Uh, I don't think that was there before."

Jak and Sheaira looked up to see what Daxter was referring and saw the large door with the same inscription on it. "'Connected as one with all four Eco's is the light'" Sheaira quoted reading the inscription on the door, "What is with the Precursors and their weird texts?" she crossed her arms then looked down at the white medallion that was in Jak's hand. Her eyes widened.

"That's our key, we've united the Eco now we can open the final door Jak!" Daxter said excitedly bouncing. Jak nodded and stood up heading forward and looking at the door carefully, he noticed the slot for the medallion and inserted it into the door. The door rumbled lightly dirt and dust falling off it as in slid open revealing a room with light coming from a hole in the ceiling sparkling onto a podium with an orange device. Jak stepped forward and examined it with the two ottsels on his shoulders, Sheaira's eyes lite up this is what she was waiting for. The device appeared almost like a beetle with four legs and in the middle a white bright crystal swirling with light inside.

"Is that a light eco crystal?" Sheaira asked in awe.

"Looks like this baby is what we've been after," Daxter grinned as Jak scooped up the device holding it over his head, it was about the size of his head but rather light in size.

"Let's get it back to the Light Eco Sage," Daxter nodded at Jak grinning widely. Jak turned and began heading to the entrance, things were working out great for the trio, before he left though he scooped up the parts from Keira's drome and gave them to Daxter who put them into his backpack.

Jak walked out of the temple noticing the sun was just about to set, the sun blinded them for a moment but as their vision cleared, they realized they had been surrounded by large Lurkers holding up spears to them. They were very bulky and had tribal markings on there skin, there eyes were black and abnormal compared to the other lurkers they had come across.

"Wow I'm actually surprised to survived," a sickly-sweet voice came. A woman emerged between the Lurkers who allowing her to pass. Daxter gasped recognizing her.

"Jenna?"

"That's right, me and my friends have been trying to get our hands on that device, and since you were so sweet to get it for me, I'll let your friends live," she said walking closer to them, Jak backed up glaring at her he held the device tightly.

"Who do you think you are threatening us!?" Sheaira shouted, she was ready for a fight, they didn't just go through all of that to lose their device.

"My name is Jenniesa, I'm the Light Eco Sage's assistant." She smirked as realization hits the red ottsel, "The Dark Eco sages introduced me to the amazing powers of Dark Eco," she spoke slowly as purple spark began surrounding her. Jak back up noticing that her body and form was changing as Dark Eco became charged around them. Her maroon eyes changed pitch black, her skin silky white and horns appear on her head, she held up her hand which was now claw like. Her appearance scared something in Jak and he dropped the device to the ground his heart racing. Daxter jumped off grabbing the device and rolling away from Jak and Sheaira when a bolt of purple lightening almost hit him.

Jak back up into the ruins as his eyes were still on Jenniesa, Sheaira quiver but looked over at Daxter. The Lurkers soon surrounded Jak and Sheaira, "Hey back off we know how to fight!" Sheaira growled defensively, "Right Jak? Jak?" she looked over at him but he was frozen in fear which was odd for him.

"Now Daxter why don't you hand over the device and I will let your friends live," Jenniesa hissed as she approached Daxter cornering him as he wasn't willing to leave his friends entirely.

"Daxter don't," Sheaira called, she wasn't willing to just hand it over but fighting their way out of this almost seemed impossible.

Daxter's ears fell as he looked at Jak and Sheaira and held up the device to give to Jenniesa. She smirked and took it from the orange ottsel who immediately backed away from her, "My hero," she said with bitterness in her voice, "We got what we came for, let's go."

The Lurkers gather to Jenniesa and the vanished in a poof of Dark Eco. Daxter ran back to Jak and Sheaira looking up worried about Jak, "Jak, Jak, come on buddy snap out of it…"

"Why did you do that!?" Sheaira yelled at him and Jak blinked looking at Daxter.

"I did it to save you," Daxter said glaring up at Sheaira and then looking up at Jak, "He was in no condition to fight her, or those Lurkers."

Jak wanted to say something but fell silent and looked down, he wasn't sure what caused him to hesitate like that. The form that she took reminded him of something in his past but he couldn't quiet remember it. He stood up and walked to the boat, he knew they had to come up with something else now to try and stop the Dark Sages.

"I did it to help you, you believe me right Jak?" Daxter pleaded but Jak didn't look back at him he was lost in thought. Sheaira shook her head.

"Let's just go back."

The three of the rode the boat back in silence, Jak was lost in thought as he looked down at his own hand. Sheaira simply gazed out at the lake as the sun began to set, she was standing in the front with her arms crossed, she was highly disappointed and angry at Daxter for simply handing over the device they could have used to save the world. Now that bad guys had their main weapon.

Daxter said nothing until the landed back to the docks, "We can still hunt her down…" Daxter finally spoke. Jak didn't turn to Daxter he still seemed distracted.

"You gave away our weapon, you're the one who cause this problem!" Sheaira growled in anger, "Now others have to fix it!"

Daxter watched Jak and Sheaira walk back into the Light Eco Sage's house. He clenched his fist and looked towards the woods, he knew that this was his fault, he was going to see if her could find any clues to where she had gone at least before nightfall. He walked closer to the forest not intending to go to far but before he could even enter, he tripped on something a cage fell on top of him. He let out a yelp and tried to push the cage off of him struggling. A Lurker came out and laughed lightly.

"Well, I didn't expect that to work, but I'll take one of you," he lifted up the cage that closed on the bottom locking Daxter in.

"Listen Buddy you are messing with the wrong animal, there's no way I'm becoming lurker food!" Daxter looked ready to attack and the Lurker chuckled more.

"Oh, you ain't food, you're going to be part of an experiment for my master," he said taking Daxter deeper into the forest. Daxter looked back hopelessly at the Light Eco Sages house.

"Jaaaaak," he whined before the two disappeared into the thick woods.

Author's Note: I appreciate all the support for this fanfiction. Any more reviews or criticism is much appreciated.