So our heroes return to Haven City, read on and see how they will progress! The next coming chapters won't be as long as previous ones, but I'm still doing everything I can to fill it with the best quality. None the less, I know we all care more about the story moving forward, so that's what I'm going to do.


Ch26: Return to Haven

The hero party consisting of Jak, Spyro, Cynder, Calidan, Sparx, Daxter, and now Robin exited the Spargus city lock after receiving Torn's last transmission. Arriving in the vehicle pen, Calidan stopped by his Dune Striker to swap a few things. He had holstered on his back both his Omega Fire and his Blaster Rifle in an X-manner. His sidebag was emptied of gadgets, save for a single makeshift smoke bomb, but was full of provisions for both Robin and himself. Once he finished his trades, they all exited the city lock and made their way toward the west end of the gate where the transport had dropped them before. After a silent 10 minute wait, the transport came into view from across the sea. It set down in front of them opening its backdoor for them. Everyone climbed aboard and took a seat, and Calidan kept a hold of Robin tight on his body leash as they both sat down opposite of the others. The backdoor closed, and the transport took off back to Haven City.

The original 30 minute flight came to an end as the transport flew over the city wall and lowered itself down to the east side port pillar. The backdoor opened again, and everyone exited out to set foot onto the port walkway once again. As soon as the transport landed, Robin seemed restless from being in a new surrounding that was alien to him, the concrete and metal construction was in direct contrast to the rock and sand of the wasteland. Calidan kept a firm hold of the wildcat's body harness, knowing it would take more time for his buddy to become acclimated to Haven than him. There was a triage of Haven zoomers parked by the port pillar, including a W-wing flyer. Jak, Daxter, Calidan and Robin all climbed aboard and Jak started the engines. The zoomer took flight and headed for the Naughty Ottsel, with the dragons and Sparx following behind.

During the flight, they noticed Freedom patrols were all over the place. On the bright side, it looked as though no further attacks had occurred after a day of being away. Jak set the zoomer down in front of the Naughty Ottsel, with the dragons landing right behind after him as he shut off the engines. Everyone approached the door to enter the bar, with Calidan and Robin picking up the rear. However, Calidan halted them feeling hesitant.

"Wait guys, maybe Robin and I should stay out here, keep watch and all," Calidan requested.

"Really? You don't think people are going to be suspicious about seeing you out here by yourself? Given your wildcat buddy beside you?" Jak asked back, while gesturing to Robin.

"Besides, we already agreed everyone in the group should be present for discussions didn't we?" Cynder mentioned.

"Yes I haven't forgotten that, but need I remind you the last time I saw your Haven commander, we didn't part ways on the best of terms," Calidan reminded them.

"We remember," said Spyro, "but we also remember how you and Jak were in a similar situation earlier and you resolved it. So if you can do it once, you can do it again."

Calidan was hesitant to agree with him, but put his discomfort aside, "Fine, but I don't think I'm gonna like it."

"Because you hate conflict, but conflict is inevitable anywhere, so stop whining and man up, let's go," demanded Jak before moving toward the door again which opened upon his approach.

Calidan just scowled at Jak's commentary, and followed the rest of the party in, the same scowl not leaving his face. Inside was the same way they had left the bar, guns and maps all over the floor and walls, with the holographic generator in the middle. Back by the bar, they noticed Torn with his back turned and looking at a map laying flat on the bar table. He then turned around upon hearing them approach.

"Way to stay on schedule, welcome back guys," said Torn.

"We go where we are needed," said Spyro, "nonetheless its good to see you Torn, and also to see that the port hasn't been overrun."

"Yeah, well it hasn't been easy I assure you, we've been doing everything we can to hold off the KG until we could knock down the last barrier, and now we may have a way to reach Freedom HQ," informed Torn.

"What do you have in mind?" asked Jak.

"Well, our demo man came through in the clutch," Torn answered. His answer although drew apprehensive looks on the dragons.

"Demo man?" groaned Cynder, "you don't mean…"

"HEEYY! Look whose here!" came a loud somewhat obnoxious voice from behind startling all of them. They all turned around to see Jinx, the FL demolitions expert walk up to them after entering the bar. Jak and Daxter were neutral upon seeing him, and Calidan was confused on who he was having never met him before. The dragons and Sparx, on the other hand, didn't share in Jinx's enthusiasm from the reunion. Despite Jak and Torn clearing his name earlier, the outlanders still couldn't shake the discomfort they remembered from being around the former mercenary.

"Jakey boy and his dragon posse! I thought I recognized you coming in, been a long time!" Jinx said while holding a smoking cigar in his hand. He walked up to face the group in front while Torn remained at the bar. Jinx continued speaking, "nice to see the desert didn't chew you up Jakey, and you lizzies wow! You got a lot bigger since I saw you last, it has been a while."

"Yes we know," Spyro said in neutral sense, "it's nice to see you too Jinx."

'Speak for yourself Spyro,' Cynder thought to herself, feeling a little more irritated from Jinx's 'lizzie' comment. Though it wasn't as bad as being called 'pets', the guy's mouth clearly hadn't been cleaned up since their last encounter. Sparx could only raise an eyebrow at the demo man, he only remembered the guy because of how his obnoxious attitude was almost as bad as Daxter.

"We hear you've joined the Freedom League," Spyro continued, "nice to see your putting your skills to good use."

"Always did purple liz!" commented Jinx, "just not always to the best people, you know how it is." While he was talking, he inconsequently waved his cigar in front of Robin's face.

"Mrrrooowr!" Suddenly, the wildcat shook his head from smelling the smoke and tried lunging at him, but Calidan held him back, while still causing Jinx to step back and startling the rest of them.

"ROBIN! Easy! Calm down!" he kept a tight hold of Robin's leash while trying to ease him. He put his hand on his head and rubbed, and the wildcat's attitude was subdued to a minor hiss. That still didn't wipe the startled looks from everyone else's faces.

"What in the world is that animal doing in here?!" yelled Torn.

"This animal happens to be my friend," declared Calidan sternly looking Torn in the eye.

"Your wildcat buddy?" questioned Torn, "I didn't authorize bringing any wild animals into Haven, especially from the wasteland! I gave you a free pass in allowing you to keep one of our weapons boy, and now you bring in this? This is crossing the line!"

"Well I sure wasn't going to leave him back home!" yelled Calidan, "Last time I was gone for a whole day and when I came back he had no food or water! I have no idea how long it's going to take to be finished here, so he's staying with me to be safe, and so I can keep an eye on him."

"Mrowr" Robin seemed to reply in his direction.

"Yeah we're talking about you," said Calidan. Seeing him talk to the cat stupefied them all.

"Did you really just talk to your pussycat?" asked a bewildered Jinx.

"You got a problem with that smokey?" asked Calidan sternly.

"No, though it's weird as hell, but I do have a problem with that beast trying to take a bite out of me," Jinx replied.

"Well it won't happen again as long as you don't provoke him, like you did with your smoking stick there," explained Calidan, "just keep it away from him, and me for that matter."

"How about you keep it away from all of us," Torn stated, pointing toward the opposite of the bar, "like over there."

"Whatever you say, commander," Calidan answered with sarcasm. He took Robin over to a far bench where he could tie him down. While he was doing that, the conversation continued between Jak and Torn.

"Did you really need to bring him back?" asked Torn.

"As I said before," Jak answered immediately, "he's already proven himself a valuable ally, and he's one of our group now, so yes we did."

"Believe me Torn I'm not too happy about it myself," added Daxter, "but hey neither were you when Jak and I first approached to join up with you right? Now look where we are!"

'Yeah I know, this is just what I needed, a complete case of deja vu' Torn thought as he now counted the similarities between Jak and Cal, from being equally skilled with weapons, the same tough guy attitude, and now their similar trait of keeping animal companions. The difference in that regard was that one of them talked and the other didn't, and now he couldn't decide which was more annoying.

"Moving along," Cynder cut in, gaining their attention, "didn't you say Jinx had a plan to get to your headquarters?"

"It's why we're here aren't we?" asked Jak before turning to Jinx, "so what have you got?"

"Oh it's a boomer of a plan, believe me," said Jinx, "you all know those nasty blastbots you've been seeing around? Well I captured one."

"Captured one?" Spyro asked feeling shocked. In their experience the blastbots were nothing to take lightly, and never thought one could be captured without exploding. He finished his question as Calidan walked back up to join the group, "how did you do that?"

"Don't ask, I'll show you the scars later," commented Jinx, causing all of them to bear cringed expressions.

"Important thing is it belongs to us now, and I've made some improvements," Jinx continued as he smoked, "including a remote control allowing for full operation within half the city length, and even more explosives than the KG standard package. Enough to blow any barrier built in this city sky high."

"In other words," Jak commented, "a mobile transport bomb with its own built in defense system. To protect its explosive load against any opposition upon approach to its target."

"You got it," Jinx answered with a smirk, "your idea I heard."

"Jak, you're our best shot, we need you to link into the remote and direct that blastbot into the KG area," said Torn, pulling out the remote from behind the bar. "If you can get it close enough to the Freedom League border and blow it up, it will cripple their defensive lines there and allow us to hook up with our comrades."

Jak took the remote from Torn's hand. It was quite large, but still small enough to be handheld. It had a small 7 inch screen latched onto it in the center, with a toggle stick on the left side, and four buttons arranged into a diamond on the right side. The last notable feature was the small red button mounted on its top face.

"The stick controls the movement," explained Jinx, "the left and right diamond buttons control the aim of the laser head, the top button is to shoot, and the bottom starts the whole thing up."

Sparx buzzed around to look at the remote in Jak's hands directly, noticing the red button and reaching a finger to it, "What does this little button do?"

Jinx immediately grabbed him by his torso before he touched it and said right to his face, "It blows the bot up, and in the right location, the barrier with it, which means...YOU...DON'T...TOUCH."

Sparx gulped and nodded, before Jinx released him to fly back to Spyro and Cynder who could only shake their heads at the dragonfly's ridiculousness. Jak nodded to Jinx as he completed the explanation, and hit the bottom button, while everyone gathered around so they could see. The screen lit up for a moment, before a loading bar appeared. Once it was full, the picture cleared up, and they noticed the blastbot was just outside the area where they had blown the first barrier.

Jak started moving the blastbot, and Daxter noticing how familiar this looked, couldn't help saying, "shall we play a game?"


The FL blastbot started its advance into the KG city section. Around it, FL patrols kept a perimeter as it moved in, determined to make sure the plan went off without the blastbot being destroyed before reaching the barrier. The FL blastbot approached the narrow entrance to the KG city section where the first brigade of KG deathbots emerged. The FL blastbot's laser directed toward the nearest one and fired. The first spydroid met its end, and that was only the first of many to come. The deathbots made their way around the FL blastbot to confront the FL.

"TAKE EM ALL OUT!" yelled a guard.

Guns were blazing and deathbots were receiving the full brunt of the assault as the FL blastbot entered the KG city section and confronted another blastbot. The KG blastbot locked on in an attempt to fire, but the FL blastbot was controlled by a man, not a machine, and smoothly evaded the enemy fire to return fire. After several shots, the enemy blastbot exploded, allowing the FL blastbot to advance further down the alley toward the north exit. During the walk down the alley, numerous opposition was met by deathbots, sentries, and spydroids, most of which were destroyed by the FL blastbot while the FL patrols took down the rest as best they could.

"Keep those guns blazing!" was heard from the patrol.

The FL blastbot approached the next corner near the center of KG city, where another KG blastbot was emerging, and attempted to lock on as well. However, the same strategy appeared to work again, from quick evasion to retaliation. The FL blastbot destroyed another of its former kin, and advanced around the corner. More deathbots approached from the surrounding area, only to meet laser fire from the FL, patrols and blastbot. However, more were coming down from the upper walkways, but the mission remained top priority, as the blastbot turned to walk down the next alley on the right which led to the North KG city exit. The remaining FL patrols split up, one part to watch their backs, and the other to continue the advance.

"Shoot em all now, sort em out later!" was heard to encourage them to keep going.

The FL blastbot finished its walk down the alley with 5 patrol guards, as another KG blastbot appeared from around the next corner. The lock on from the enemy once again proved unsuccessful, and with a little cover fire from the FL patrols, their blastbot returned relentless fire, blowing the KG blastbot to its predestined bits. As they turned around the next corner, they realized they had arrived at the site where one of the support towers had crashed down, crippling the walkway above. But it was also significant because this marked where the KG city exit was, and where their target, the final KG barrier was located. As the FL blastbot walked underneath the fallen tower to the final corner, they were approached by the remaining KG guard stationed there, which included a hoard of 30 deathbots, and one more blastbot whom were all blocking their way. The FL blastbot didn't relent, this time firing at the enemy blastbot before any lock-on could begin. The KG blastbot somewhat returned fire, before succumbing to the FL blastbot's controlled fire, and exploded, taking 10 of the adjacent deathbots with them.

"Nice shot! Finish them off!" cheered a FL guard.

Between the combined efforts of the FL patrols and blastbot, they took on the remaining KG forces around the corner. Between firing at the robots and taking cover behind their own when needed to, the patrols were succeeding in dwindling them down. However, one deathbot managed to get one shot at one patrol, taking him down.

"AGGHH!"..."NO! Cover me!"

One patrolman broke from them to aid his fallen soldier, while the rest of them finished off the KG patrols. The FL blastbot had taken heavy damage from the journey and was smoking, however it didn't matter. The barrier was now within its sights, as the patrols noticed it themselves. The FL blastbot made its final walk towards it while the patrols retreated to safety.

"Here we go, take cover!"

The patrols evacuated to the safety of the corner wall, along with the one who aided the injured one. They watched as the FL blastbot approached the barrier, and planted itself right in between the two right pillars. A single beep was heard before the barrier was no more.

KAAAAABBBBBOOOOOMMMMM!


Jak watched the screen go blank after pressing the button atop the remote. One final popup showed the text *DETONATION SUCCESSFUL* and they all knew the mission was accomplished. Jak stood up with a smile on his face that matched all the others surrounding him.

"Great job!" Torn said taking the remote and tossing it on the counter, "we can link up with the northern front now! I'll get on the horn to HQ and give them the good news." He jumped over the counter to crouch down and retrieve something to give to Jak.

"You the man Jak! You are the man," Torn congratulated handing him a familiar gun mod. Jak grinned upon recognizing it, taking the Peacemaker mod and unholstered his gun before he equipped it to it, bringing his number of gun mods from six to seven. His ottsel friend shared his joy from recognizing it too.

"Sweet! The Peacemaker is back in our arsenal!" cheered Daxter.

"What's a Peacemaker?" asked Calidan intrigued by the mod.

Ignoring him, Cynder commented Jak on the successful operation, "Is there anything you don't know how to drive blue boy?"

"Don't know, haven't met anything I haven't been able to yet, though I'll let you know," Jak answered with a jab.

"We'll keep that in mind," Spyro wisecracked. Everyone chuckled, including Jinx.

"Alright, Freedom HQ is open everyone, let's go reconnect," said Jak.

"It's your city, lead the way fearless," remarked Calidan gesturing to the door, and drawing a shaking head from Jak. Their battle of using the names 'rogue' and 'fearless' continued on for their mutual satisfaction and annoyance, and everyone's else's apparent irritation. None the less, they all turned to leave Torn and Jinx and fly toward Freedom HQ, however…

"Ahem!" Torn halted them, before addressing Calidan harshly, "aren't you forgetting something wastelander?" He pointed to the far corner, where Robin was still tied down.

"Mrowr"

"Did you really think I was going to leave him here?" Calidan asked raising an eyebrow. He saw both their scowls for a brief second before replying, "on second thought, don't answer that."

He made his way over to untie Robin, while Jak and the hero party could only sigh. Clearly the animosity between Torn and Calidan was still there, and bringing Robin to Haven City didn't help at all if not make it worse. Jak, Spyro, Cynder, and the sidekicks could only wonder if Calidan and Robin would last long in Haven should Torn set the Freedom League against him, which they hoped he never did.


I hoped you liked the movie reference I threw in, I just thought the humor was fitting, seeing how these are all characters from their own games. Jinx has returned, and though he is not one of the dragons favorites, he is not one of the worst either (hopefully). Torn and Cal are still at odds, but they'll get over it sooner or later, after all a war can't be won if soldiers don't see eye to eye, but that's still to come, and much more!