Here is the second part to the gathering, hope your all prepared, and please enjoy!


Ch21 Gathering the Artifacts Part 2

Upon entering the door, the trio found themselves trekking down a hall, where another illuminated exit was their only source of light. Terrador wasn't sure what to expect from this venture, he had been tested numerous times in the past upon his ascension to guardianship, but never by an extraterrestrial species. Jak on the other hand felt adamant, yet a little irritated. He knew precursors were known for laying out testing grounds in order for one to prove their worth, unfortunately most of the time he had to deal with them was when time was against him. On the other hand, he had faced precursor tests in the past and conquered them, and was determined to do it again. Age and experience were mix and matched, Terrador the elder guardian was about to take a test completely foreign to him unlike the young man Jak who had faced trials like this numerous times. However, like the precursor said, this was a way to ensure that the two planets had any hope of working together again.

"Anything you can share about what to expect Jak?" Terrador asked.

"Just expect the unexpected, and don't be surprised if you are faced with something like a pit of dark eco, lightning machines, or a bottomless chasm," Jak answered.

"You forgot mindless weapon toting robots! Trust me, those are no good," Daxter added in. Terrador only raised an eyebrow, clearly getting used to each world's anecdotes would take some time. They continued walking until they reached the end of the tunnel. They gazed at another open cavern, where their walkway was surrounded by deep chasms on both sides, and the walkway appeared to stretch out all the way to the other side where there was another tunnel.

"Well, for a so called test of unity, there's a whole lot of nothing here!" retorted Daxter. Of course, he was proven wrong once again when they heard...

The first task shall now begin, to start you must prove your wit and skill in capture. Do not rely on weapons beyond your natural abilities. Chase down your opponents until you find three unlike the rest. Catch the right ones and you will be rewarded, catch the wrong ones and you will be drained.

There was a low rumble above them, and the outlanders and guardian looked above to see a small hole open on the ceiling. Out of it came something neither of them expected, an shining orange giant wasp-like creature with wings. It freed itself from the hole and started buzzing its wings before taking flight. Behind it came many others, emerging one at a time, piling in one after another, and began filling up the whole cavern until a swarm of 30 buzzed around their heads. Each one of them was nearly the size of a dragon.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate bugs?" grumbled Daxter.

"Are you kidding?" Terrador asked joyfully, "this will be fun! I haven't chased insects since my days as a hatchling."

"You chased bugs?" Jak asked grinning, he chuckled hearing that from a wise old guardian. "Even though we've just met, that hardly sounds like you, does Sparx know about that?"

"We are all young once in our lives, and they were unintelligent bugs I assure you," he explained.

"Eh...Sparx, unintelligent, what's the difference?" jabbed Daxter. Both of them lightly shook their heads at his jab and turned back to the orange swarm. As they continued to buzz around, they tried observing one at a time, seeing if they could identify something that set the others apart like the precursor said. Terrador then noticed something, most of them had glowing blue eyes, except he knew that he identified at least one having green turned to Jak.

"I believe it's their eyes that sets them apart," he said, "we find the ones that are green, we've got them."

"That settles that, now onto how to catch them, I could blow them all out of the sky with my gun, but that's been banned, and even if I could, I'm sure it would just hurt us more, so what now?" Jak asked the guardian. He would like to have activated his newfound Light Flight powers, but he wasn't so sure about revealing that to the dragons just yet since they didn't know about the dark powers. Plus even if he did, he knew he wouldn't be fast enough to catch these flying precursor wasps.

"Just hop aboard, and leave the flying to me," Terrador answered, lowering his wing down to him. Jak grinned and nodded, "Let's do it." He climbed up the wing and onto the dragons back, while Daxter latched himself onto his friends shoulder guard, again. Terrador extended his wings and propelled himself from the ground to engage the swarm. He started flying around their perimeter, keeping his eyes out for the ones with the green eyes. Jak did the same riding on his back. They had circled the swarm 3 times in the cavern until Jak cried out.

"There! I see one ahead!"

"Hang on!" stated Terrador. He performed an aerial maneuver following Jak's direction toward the inner radius of the swarm. Their target was right in front of them, and the dragon flew even faster to get neck and neck with it. Jak turned over and verified its green eyes, and after counting to three, jumped off Terrador's back and onto the back of the wasp. He scrambled up to its head and grabbed its antennae, causing it to screech. As it did, it disappeared into orange shining dust, causing Jak and Daxter to fall, fortunately Terrador flew right underneath them to catch them.

"Good catch, now two more are left," said Jak.

"I'll get the next one," said Terrador, causing Jak to raise an eyebrow at him. The dragon noticed and explained, "you shouldn't have all the fun right?"

The human smirked and nodded, and started scouting the rest of the swarm for the remaining two. They continued to circle the swarm as before with both of them searching for either one of the remaining two. One got dangerously close to knocking Jak off Terrador's back, but thankfully didn't, as hoped to not find out how it would feel if they caught or hit the wrong ones like they were warned. Soon, Terrador saw another green-eyed one, a few feet below him near the bottom of the swarm.

"I've got it," he said aloud, and took a dive down as Jak and Daxter hung on for the ride. He was able to maneuver around a few other wasps before he was neck and neck with their 2nd target. The wasp actually turned its head to look at the dragon that had caught up to him.

"Hello," he opened his mouth and bit down on the wasps neck, causing it to screech. He pulled it and himself out of the swarm and into the open while both Jak and Daxter watched as Terrador kept the wasp secure in his jaws. Then with a shake of his head, he threw the wasp down to the ground with a thud, which then disappeared into an orange mist like before.

"Hehe, just like old times, though the flies were definitely much smaller," commented Terrador.

"I'll say this much," Daxter whispered to Jak, "he's definitely more spirited than old greenie."

Suddenly, a piercing combination of screeches echoed throughout the chamber, causing all of them to cringe, especially Terrador since he couldn't cover his ears. The remaining wasps broke out of their circular swarming formation and started flying all over the chamber chaotically. They watched as they flew everywhere around them, until one of them appeared to heading straight toward them!

"Woah!" cried Jak as Terrador dived down to dodge, doing everything he can to avoid the crazy wasps while Jak and Daxter clung on for dear life to his back. Terrador decided to take drastic measures, and upon seeing two more heading right toward them, he let loose an earth blast, knocking them back toward the wall and causing them to vanish. However, his actions had their consequences as he felt his body suddenly growing weaker, for having attacked the wrong ones, they drained his body of elemental energy. Jak noticed as well when the dragon started slowly losing altitude.

"Are you okay?!" he yelled over the noise of the swarm.

"Fine," Terrador groaned lifting his head up, "though it's best to not do that again."

"Agreed!" yelled Daxter. They turned back toward the remaining wasps, though it was harder to discern the last target among their chaotic patterns now. Terrador focused mainly on avoiding them in flight while Jak scouted the rest of them himself hoping to catch a glimpse of green. After nearly 5 minutes, his eyes lit up seeing one flying overhead with green eyes.

"I see it! Turn about!" shouted Jak to Terrador. The dragon complied and performed a 180, and headed back in the opposite direction eventually caught up to the one Jak had spotted. The dragon attempted to pounce, until two stray wasps from above forced him to duck again, missing his chance. Realizing the dragon was a larger and more prone target, Jak came up with an idea.

"Get above him! I'll catch him from above," he said. His idea caused both the guardian and his sidekick to give him skeptical looks.

"Trust me! I'll catch him!" Without further delay, the dragon flew to higher altitude and above their target. Once they were directly above it, Jak perched ready to jump. Daxter on the other hand, was less than enthusiastic.

"You realize if we miss we plummet into a pit right?" he asked. Jak just ignored him and focused on his target, and with a daring leap jumped off the dragon's back toward the wasp's head. In a split moment, he hit his mark, causing it to screech and plummet down toward the clung on for dear life to Jak's shoulder while Jak did the same for the wasp. Upon reaching the walkway between the two chasms, Jak jumped and rolled away from the wasp as it hit the walkway with a THUD. It rolled passed Jak just barely missing him as he came to a stop close to the edge, and the wasp came to settle near the entrance where they came. It vanished as soon as it halted, marking the end of the test. Seeing the bug vanish from sight, Jak turned up and saw the rest of the bugs halt in the air, and vanishing in a shining orange illuminance which Terrador watched with fascination. Jak let out a breath he was holding in since the jump before standing up and turning toward Daxter.

"We did it Dax, you can pull your head up now." The ottsel pulled his head out from his curled up position before unraveling himself and fuming toward his best friend. "You never cease to freak me out with your death defying stunts, you know that right?"

"Hey it's gotten the job done so far right?" Jak replied.

"Ooohhh, one of these days," Daxter growled, pointing with emphasis. Terrador came in near them and landed right in front of them on the walkway.

"Quite a daring move there young one, and might I say reckless as well," he declared sternly, "had your aim been off even the slightest, you would have been lost in the pit right next to us."

Jak just raised an eyebrow at his remark, while Daxter thought to himself, 'finally, a dragon that actually shows some common sense to danger, and if he's like old Samos, he comes the chewing out part.'

The ottsel waited in silent glee to hear the dragon dish out some stern discipline toward Jak as the old green sage always used to. However, instead the green dragon merely grinned in saying, "none the less, you did real well Jak, it's no wonder now why Spyro and his friends regard you as a daring hero."

Jak smiled and nodded back to the guardian for his compliment, while Daxter slumped in shaking his head, 'so much for that.'

The first task is complete, you have proven your capability in trusting and building off each other in accomplishing a difficult task, enter the next door for the final challenge, and we will secure the future for us all.

As the precursor finished speaking, a low rumble was heard from behind Terrador, and they turned to see another door open at the other end of the chamber. Once it fully opened, Terrador spoke again, "one test left, and this challenge will be completed."

"Yeah, then it's back to the real battle," finished Jak as he walked toward the door, with Terrador following him. They came off the walkway and entered the open door, which closed right behind them. Little did they know, the whole test was currently being observed.


The trio of Cyril, Jace, and Pulster outside observed the whole test, none of them were sure what to expect from these tests made by aliens, though they actually seemed quite familiar. Chasing and capturing targets was something most dragons were familiar with, for in youth it was like a game just as it was to Terrador, and in adulthood it was acclimated and matured to help prove ones worth on the path to guardianship. Cyril recognized this as he was remembering his own test years ago. They had to admit one different aspect, the large wasp-like insects were peculiar even to them that was sure. It was also a relief to see that Jak's last move worked in completing the challenge, and the first to comment was Jace, "Quite a risky move he made there, nice to see it paid off though."

"Able to pinpoint the relative position of the bug and compensate for its speed in the air upon releasing himself in its path by freefall is impressive, yet daring," added Pulster. "These humans are certainly crafty."

His explanation baffled Jace, "Is that just your way of saying he got lucky?"

"Jace," Cyril got his attention, "You should know that within the guardians there is no such thing as luck, but there are forces in existence we have yet to comprehend much less discover. Though Pulster's explanation lies within ancient discoveries proven ages ago, I would think you should know as well with all the studying you've said you have done."

"Uhh, well my studies are mainly in history master," he explained with a gulp and stutter, "these 'natural forces' studies aren't my cup of tea, besides you've said yourself the greatest teacher is the past."

"True, but one should not slack in one area merely because it's not his specialty," said Cyril, "A true guardian gathers knowledge from all aspects of learning, which also goes in line with what I've told you before. But we will discuss your study habits later, now let's be silent and watch, they should begin the next challenge soon."

Upon giving something for his acolyte to digest, Jace took in his mentors words, before turning his attention to the window again as they saw the unlikely trio make their way toward their next task. All of them were wondering that after a game of capture the bugs, what could be awaiting them in this next task?


The human and dragon duo plus one made their way down another dimly lit tunnel, one that seemed to circle around toward the left. Upon exiting, they found themselves in another chamber, somewhat similar to the last one, for there was another exit at the other end, but in the middle is what appeared to be a large square arena monolith connected to both sides only by a narrow path. Jak was reminded of the Spargus arena back home while Terrador saw this as a larger example of the training dojo he once taught Spyro in. They took in their surroundings as the precursor spoke again.

The final task will be one of combined tactics and prowess, for as formidable as one may be on their own, a combined effort can accomplish greater feats. Face down your foe as a team, find its weakness and best it until submission. Succeed and the rewards will be yours, fail and you will be devoured.

"Gulp…devoured?" Daxter asked concerningly. The precursor's words also made Jak and Terrador feel uneasy, for this warning sounded more perilous than the last. Suddenly, before they could ponder any further, a small quake shook the chamber, catching their attention. Followed by an eerie hissing coming from the pit surrounding the monolith below. They all turned down toward the arena where it came from. The hissing grew louder and louder, sending chills down their spines.

'What is that?' both Jak and Terrador thought to themselves. They received their horrifying answer, as two long hairy legs arose from the pit behind the monolith, and planted themselves atop it. All three of them went wide eyed as the massive behemoth arose from the dark shock gave way to terror as the full form of the creature was unveiled. A massive albino spider half the size of a freighter planted itself across the monolith, its eight legs spread across the perimeter as it eyed its opponents with four hungry red eyes and hissed at its potential meal. It then let out an unsettling and horrifying ROAR, shaking the whole chamber. Jak and Terrador could only gape at this monster with silent terror, although Daxter had something to say remembering his traumatic moment in Mar's tomb.

"Of course, as if dealing with this ONCE...WASN'T BAD ENOUGH!"


The trio outside looking into the viewing window were speechless at what they saw. They knew giant insects and even arachnids existed even on their planet, but never once had any of them ever seen or imagined a monster of this size.

"Creeping crawlies," gasped Jace, Pulster on the other hand was as silent as he was shocked.

Cyril could only say one thing, "Ancestors help them now, they need it now more than ever."


The giant spider hissed toward its prey as it slowly crawled over toward the group. Terrador got over his shock and began to growl and glare at the creature. Jak on the other hand, was still quite shook up.

"Okay, not even I was prepared for something like this," said Jak. Meanwhile, his sidekick slowly drew his head over to him, coming up with an insane idea.

"I think now would be a good time to go all dark, mean and nasty wouldn't you?," Daxter whispered into his ear noticing that the spider was inching ever closer. His request caused Jak to turn toward the ottsel with a glare.

"Are you insane?" he angrily asked, trying to keep quiet in front of Terrador "You're asking for that right now? I can't do that in front of him, plus you're as scared of that thing as I am."

"Do you not see what we are dealing with here?!" Daxter gestured to the spider, which was hissing at the sight of the furry ottsel. His outburst had also caught Terrador's attention.

"I presume you two are discussing some plan of attack, care to share?" he asked. Jak turned from the dragon toward the spider and its hungry gaze. His own gaze went steel towards it before answering him.

"Giant spider or not," he said unholstering his gun, "it's still a bug, so squash it." He activated the Arc Wielder and took aim, "Better yet, shock it!" A burst of blue electrical discharge erupted from the gun, engulfing the spider causing it to screech in pain.

Terrador was taken aback by the power of Jak's weapon. 'Electricity generated by unnatural forces through a machine? Incredible, yet deadly.'

Jak ended the attack to conserve ammo, and glared at the monster to see its reaction. To say it was mad was an understatement, for it now glared at the human and roared again. The trio cringed for a moment before noticing that it was crawling once again across the walkway toward them, though a little faster.

"I fear you have only angered it, come on," Terrador said Jak extending his wing again, "we must try something new."

Jak nodded and jumped onto him again with a frightened Daxter. The guardian prepared to take flight before the massive crawler hissed again, and crouched to lunge with great force despite its size. Terrador went wide eyed before jumping to the side just in dragon was airborne now while the spider crashed into the ground he just arachnid picked itself up and turned toward them again.

"Let's try the squashing approach this time," said Terrador as he reached his head up opening his mouth. A green appendage of energy erupted from his mouth and formed 15 feet above his head into a massive sphere called the Earth Flail. The outlanders went wide eyed as Terrador released his attack by whipping his head and the flail down on top of the spider.

SMASH

A thick cloud of dust kicked up from the impact, engulfing the monster in it. The dragon and his passengers glared at the cloud looking for any movement. After a minute none came, so Terrador lowered himself onto the square monolith and Jak and Daxter jumped down. Daxter looked most pleased yet bewildered.

"Well, never seen a bug squashed quite like that, but I guess giant ones call for giant…AAHH!"

Thwip!

Daxter ceased talking upon interruption, as something fast and gooey struck Terrador hard, sending him back striking the opposing wall with a splat.

"Terrador!" cried Jak. He saw how the guardian's body minus his head and tail was now covered with what appeared to be gooey webbing. He was trapped like the flies he supposedly chased in his youth. A low hissing caused the human and the ottsel to turn around in horror. The spiders two front legs followed by his head emerged from the cloud which was now fading away. It appeared that Terrador's attack had been just as ineffective as Jak's.

"Just to recap," Daxter stuttered, gesturing to Jak and Terrador "your gun doesn't work, his magic doesn't work, which means both of your usual approaches don't work. Now can we try something a little more...dire?"

Jak just shook his head, "I'm not going there Dax so don't ask again! Plus I've only tried one gun, and I've got four more."

He took out his Morph gun again and equipped it to Vulcan Fury, took aim at the approaching monster and pressed to hold the trigger. The spider cried out in pain as it was pelted by the machine gun. Jak slowly approached it, keeping up the attack for another few minutes, hoping that he would egg the spider over the side to be lost in the pit, unfortunately…

Vrrrnnn...Vrrrnnn

"I used to count the number of times you ran that thing out," said Daxter, "but I lost interest after 10." The spider hissed at the duo in fury, its agitation was apparent, forcing Jak to step back again while equipping his original scatter gun.

"So it can handle a shower of bullets, lets see how it likes a shockwave," said Jak. He fired causing the spider to actually retreat slightly, the blow of the scatter blast actually forced it back. Noticing this, he approached it again with repeated action while Terrador struggled to free himself using his teeth and tail.

The spider was slowly egged back toward the edge of the monolith, and when its legs reached the edge, Jak equipped his blaster and fired relentlessly. With a couple dozen shots, the spider fell over the side and into the pit with a screech. Jak and Daxter moved over to the side to see if it was truly gone.

"Oh yeah! That's right! Someone call an exterminator? Daxter and his main man Jak are in the house!" cheered the ottsel while slapping Jak in the back.

Another rumble silenced him, and immediately dropped the smirk off his face. They both looked at each other before looking down again, fearing the worst. Unbeknownst to them, the spider had crawled up the opposite side of the monolith and was emerging behind them. Jak and Daxter were unaware, but Terrador who was using his spike barbed tail to cut through the webbing saw the monster reemerge before them.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Jak turned about and went wide eyed as the spider set itself on the platform again. He went to aim his gun again, but the spider shot more webbing from its mouth with more agility, knocking him back across the walkway, sticking him to the far wall close to the chamber entrance. Daxter had been knocked off his friend's shoulder, next to the fallen gun, and near the edge of the monolith. He picked himself up to see Jak stuck to the far end of the chamber in webbing, and in the other direction the giant white spider hissing at him hungrily.

"I really hate deja vu," he said to himself in terror. The spider crawled toward him, mouth open ready to feed. The ottsel shrunk back in terror waiting for the end.

"NO!" cried Jak in absolute terror and anger. He tensed up against the webbing as his skin hue turned purple, his muscles strained, and eyes turned black with a death gaze. Sharp claws tore through the webbing as the warrior freed himself. His cry caught the spiders attention, as it turned up to see the monster that once was Jak. Daxter peeked up to look as well, and didn't know whether to be more terrified or somewhat relieved. Dark Jak had come to the rescue, or had he?

"ROOAARRR!"

If Terrador was terrified before by the spider, he was even more so than from what he had seen Jak just turn into, just like Spyro and Cynder before, "by the ancestors, what is he?"


The trio outside witnessed Jak's transformation as well, and were sharing in the shock. Pulster asked, "What in the world just happened to him?"

Cyril was at a loss, until he remembered something Spyro had said earlier..."what if something else were to happen? Albeit upset?"...The ice guardian's gaze went stoic, realizing that the purple dragon was keeping yet another secret, something he would have to sternly talk to him about later.


Dark Jak growled at the spider, while it hissed back at him. Daxter found himself stuck between two monsters, though he knew which one he would choose between the latter. As the ottsel backed up toward his friend, Dark Jak unsheathed his claws and ran down toward the walkway growling at the arachnid. The spider attempted to shoot again, until Dark Jak threw his arm out unleashing a surge of dark eco energy called the Dark Strike. The strike hit home, causing the spider to topple back upside down. Dark Jak jumped up high and with a super charged punch, unleashed a Dark Bomb fist on top of the monster. The explosion erupted within the chamber, causing Daxter to take cover and Terrador's webbed prison to weaken further. The spider screeched horribly in pain from the attack as purple dark eco electrical discharge danced around the volume of the chamber. Before it faded, Dark Jak lifted his fist up and an oozing hole was now visible in the giant arachnid. It seemed now the monster's weakness was clear, its underbelly. The spider was now groaning in pain, as Dark Jak jumped down to the ground away from it, and then crouched down with his hand on his knee. The expulsion of energy from the Dark Bomb attack drained him, causing him to turn back to normal.

"Gasp...gasp...gasp," Daxter jumped back onto his shoulder as he tried to catch his breath. They didn't relax for long though, because the spider was hissing again, wiggling its legs trying to right itself. Needless to say, its movement was freaking them out.

Whoooosssshh...SMASH!

Suddenly, an instant force came from above and crushed the spider, causing the duo to shield themselves. The dust that kicked up was covered in a green glow. Out of it came Terrador, who had just freed himself and crushed the giant arachnid to its death with an Earth boulder smash attack.

"Wow! Nice follow up your earthiness, you do these exterminators proud!" Daxter commented with a grin.

Terrador wore an unimpressed look glaring at the ottsel. Daxter instantly shut himself up, knowing the dragon wasn't up for small talk after seeing Dark Jak. Jak glared at his friend slightly too, before turning toward the dragon feeling guilty.

"I know, I know, you have questions," he said.

"Many," Terrador sternly said, "were you my student, you would be harshly punished for keeping such a secret from me and my colleagues. But you are not, so I will save that for Spyro and Cynder."

Jak and the ottsel gave each other a worried glance, feeling sorry for their young dragon friends. Before anything else could be said between them, the precursor spoke again...

You have completed the tasks of unity in an act of collaboration. As such, the treasures are yours, continue ahead to claim them, activate the true potential of the gateway, and unite our worlds once more.

A familiar rumble caught their attention as the opposing door opened for them, allowing them all to exit. Jak broke the tension in the air and said, "Well we did it, let's get em."

"Indeed, but remember Jak, this discussion is not done," stated Terrador before walking toward the exit. Jak then turned to glare at Daxter again, "are you happy now?"

"Well, at least we ain't spider chow right?" replied Daxter with arms raised.

Jak just angrily shook his head, gathered his fallen gun, and followed the guardian slowly. The hall they entered was short, and at the end was another small chamber, which housed two pedestals. On top of the left one was a triangular shaped piece with a diamond like core, the Omniprism, and on the right was an egg shape piece with 4 nodes sticking out of it, the Beta-sphere. Jak went over to the one with the Omniprism and Terrador walked over toward the one with the Beta-sphere. Jak picked up the Omniprism in his hands, and then turned over toward Terrador. He seemed hesitant on picking it up, Jak knew all too well he was probably reconsidering this whole alliance thing after the secret he had just found out about. The dragon looked back over to him with a blank expression, Jak could do nothing but give an honest face, holding the Omniprism up. Terrador let out a breath, and turned over to grab the Beta-sphere and hold it in its paw. Upon it leaving the pedestal, both of them were suddenly engulfed in an orange glow, stunning them. They didn't have time to say anything because it had fully engulfed them, causing them to vanish from the room, teleporting them back outside. The artifacts had all been gathered, next stop Elorin.


You knew I was going to have to put Dark Jak in sometime right? I figured the best way would be a battle of monsters, and the guardians had to find out one way or another. Stay tuned for the aftermath, will they all travel back to Jak's planet, or will the revelation of Jak's secret end this alliance before it begins?