It never made sense to me in the game why a metalhead nest was filled with nothing but Dark Makers, but given the story, since Errol introduced them they became the main enemies to deal with and were thus allowed to swarm areas accompanied by his lesser minions. It took a while to write the battle scenes for this chapter, but I liked the range of techniques and tactics I threw in, and I hope you do too!
Ch37: Tower of Darkness
After the three Freedom League members consisting of Torn, Jinx and Sig made their leave in the H-cat, the hero party proceeded to enter the nest. Jak had already fitted the Supernova into his morph gun, this final addition giving him 8 total gun mods to work with. Considering they were entering another metalhead nest, he had incentive to use every one of them like in the last one. Before they proceeded, Cynder took out the mystic gem again so she and Spyro could recharge their energy. Once the familiar yet spectacular show ended and they were back at full power, she repocketed the gem and they moved ahead.
As they entered through the open gate, they noticed how the black and purple seemed to fade away, revealing the true nature of the nest. Despite a few similarities, it's interior was vastly different from the last one all of them, save for Calidan, remembered. The pathway led to a first chamber as they noticed all the columns and walls weren't made of regular construction material, but rather some organic substance that seemed alive. Jak kept his peacemaker gun at the ready, while Calidan did the same with his blaster gauntlet while scoping out the area. Spyro and Cynder treaded carefully in front of them keeping full awareness of their surroundings while Sparx and Daxter sweated bullets. There was a large open pit in the center of the first chamber, and from this pit arose the first wave of opposition. Dark Maker Hornets flew out of the pit, along with creatures called Dark Splitters from three wall pods present in the chamber!
"Are they coming out of the wall? Gross!" Sparx said feeling repulsed from the sight.
"Yes disgusting, but let's not forget they are here to kill us?! So just shoot them!" Daxter shouted. Jak quickly obliged by holding the trigger down to charge the peacemaker gun and taking aim at the hornets. Calidan took incentive while Jak charged his attack and fired his wrist blaster at the 3 hornets making them scatter. Spyro and Cynder engaged the small ugly Dark Splitters on the ground in melee attacks. Even though they were recharged, they preferred not wasting their elements on little fish right now. Their melee paw and tail swipes did the tiny creatures in, although more kept emerging out of the wall to take their place.
Jak finally fired the peacemaker shot at the Dark Hornets before they could fire themselves. The blue energy orb hit the first one and arced to the other two, shattering them to pieces. Calidan joined the dragons in dealing with the Dark Splitters on the ground, each one dropping dead with one shot from his wrist blaster. However, for every one they killed, another was spawned from the wall pods, they needed to end it by sealing off those pods.
"My bombs should seal off those pods!" Calidan shared his plan out loud.
"Do it!" Jak replied.
Calidan pulled out three more Omega bombs from his bag, and ran toward the first one while the dragons dealt with the other splitters on the other side. Hearing what Calidan was doing, Spyro decided to lend a hand, or rather paw, and after eliminating the next splitter that came out of the pod closest to him, stood next to it while preparing his own attack. Cynder was dealing with two more splitters that had spawned in front of her on the other side of the chamber. But before she could pounce, they were shot dead from behind by Calidan, who had approached after setting his first bomb and was ready with the second.
"Thanks," she said.
"Anytime," he replied before setting his second bomb on the next pod and arming it.
"Whenever you're ready Cal! I've got this one!" Spyro cried out waiting by the pod closest to Jak. Seeing that the purple dragon saved him a bomb, he pocketed the last one and turned back to Cynder.
"Get clear, this is gonna get messy," Calidan told her. As he finished, the pod appeared to be twitching, ready to spawn another splitter. Cynder took her cue and retreated away while Calidan stepped back in the other direction. Seeing the signals come through on his wrist-com, he turned to Spyro and gave a nod. The purple dragon nodded back and unleashed his most potent fire breath at his twitching pod, with Calidan pressing his trigger button at the same time.
KABLAAMMM!
They shielded their faces as the explosions settled down. Once they pulled themselves up they witnessed the aftermath. This included Spyro who saw that his pod was now charred black and dead. The other two were messy piles of ooze, having been blown open by the bombs. Having destroyed the first line of defense, an elevated platform appeared from below in the adjacent chasm which led deeper into the nest.
Calidan beckoned them over, and the rest of them obliged, though Daxter voiced his displeasure while moving past the oozing pods, "just when I thought our jobs couldn't get any nastier...bleah!"
Pushing his friends' comment aside, Jak proceeded to step onto the platform with the others joining him. The platform then moved them to the opposite side of the chasm, where they were met with more opposition. Dark Maker troopers were awaiting on an elevated ramp a few feet above the level they were currently at, along with more Dark Hornets.
"Here we go again," said Spyro.
"Yup, though this time, follow my lead," Cynder replied before taking off to attack.
Spyro let out a breath before following suit, forcing the two humans to follow on foot, at least for now. Cynder made her way to the ramp and positioned herself at the line of Dark Makers making their descent toward her. Seizing the chance, she attacked with a poison wheel, hitting all three troopers in a line and eliminating them. Spyro flew up to attack the pair of hornets that were about to retaliate against Cynder, and just as they were firing, Spyro attacked with an electric stream, frying both of them.
Jak, Daxter and Calidan made their way up the ramp to join the dragons while Sparx flew alongside them. As they met up, the dragons flew further ahead to scout while the humans continued trekking with their weapons at the ready. They made their way up a series of ledges which ended at a hall on another level. The hall housed a very disturbing image, with two large slimy tentacles sweeping the floor back and forth at the front and rear of the hall.
"What the heck are those things?" asked Sparx.
"No idea," replied Jak, "though given this place seems to be made from organic tissue, it's no doubt their another extension of it."
"Should we fly over them?" asked Spyro.
"Doesn't look like they would attack either way, but it couldn't hurt," Jak replied. He re-holstered his gun before closing his eyes and concentrating again. He let his light powers take hold, and with a flash his Light Flight was activated once again. Despite having seen it before, the rest of the hero party were still in awe of it. They brushed it aside when Light Jak began flapping his wings to take flight over the tentacles. The dragons and dragonfly joined him as Calidan activated his Eagle pack and flew up to follow as well.
As they flew through the hall over the tentacles, the airborne heroes were engaged by airborne hostiles. Four more Dark Hornets emerged from two pits surrounding a walkway at the end of the hall. The inevitable flyer fight commenced.
As Light Jak engaged his hornet, it opened fire on him. However he threw up his Light Shield which absorbed all the shots. As it halted to recharge, Light Jak reached back and pulled out his gun and equipped it to blaster almost instantly. He fired twice, once knocking it back and then busting it to bits, all the while he remained flying in midair.
Spyro fired an Earth Shot at his opponent, knocking it back, but still alive. As the Hornet tried to readjust itself, Spyro grabbed it in the air. With a spinning cutter move he finished it off, throwing it to the ground dead.
Cynder dodged all three shots another hornet fired at her. She pulled off a graceful aerial move which put her right under it for a tailswipe. She whipped her tailblade across its body, knocking it away with an ugly scar. Turning her head back around, one full power Fear Screech was enough to shatter it.
Eagle engaged the final hornet in a minor dogfight. Each were firing at the other, all three shots missing. He then decided to go for the direct approach, and propelled himself at full speed at the hornets position, making it stall in place and letting him dive kick it into the wall. The hornet was shaken up, but still alive…KABLAM!
Or was, as one final blaster shot from Eagle's wrist finished it off. The hornet group was dealt with, and Sparx re-emerged from behind a nearby pillar and followed the hero party deeper into the nest. They continued flying until they reached another chasm. They saw below the end of the adjacent platform another level that was cut off from the rest which led deeper into the tower, and it was unfortunately swarming with small Dark Splitters! Their flight made the level easily reachable, as Light Jak reached it first while still holding his morph gun now turned to Scatter gun.
"Stand back guys! I'm gonna try something!" Jak said while making touchdown and deactivating his Light Mode before the Dark Splitter swarm that was approaching him. The others above him were confused, but they obliged him as they hovered.
Jak equipped a gun mod he had yet to use since Spyro first arrived at the temple, the Wave Concussor. He pointed it down at the ground holding the trigger to build the red colored charge as the Splitters drew closer. Then once they were a foot away, he unleashed it…
WOOOSSSH
The Dark Splitters were blown away by a wave of red energy, clearing the platform allowing the others to land without harm.
"Where did you get that one?" Calidan asked.
"I've had it since before Spyro and Cynder showed up again, just never had the chance to use it until now," answered Jak.
"Good thing he didn't, otherwise you would have been blown away prior to completing those wings dirt boy," Cynder said, making everyone laugh lightly except for a scowling Calidan.
They then proceeded ahead, where they noticed the interior of the chamber grow larger as they approached the center of the tower. There was one walkway that led up along the wall that logically would lead them to their objective, the top of the tower. As the hero party began their ascent, they were halted by the sudden appearance of more Dark Maker troopers in front of them.
"Here we go again," Jak growled as he pulled out his blaster to fire. The troopers pulled up their shields blocking his shots. However, the dragons used their temporary defense to their advantage and flew up and over behind the troopers and attacked them from behind. Once they were subdued, Jak and Cal's combined fire finished them, allowing them to advance. Further up the ramp they were walking on was another flat platform, where an even larger battalion awaited them. An army total of nine Troopers, Hornets and Splitters awaited them. Only the Splitters were as large as them now!
"Woah! What have they been eating?!" A stunned Sparx blurted out.
"Those look like the creatures from the entrance, only four times as large now! But how?" questioned Spyro. The only response was a shot from a hornet that just missed.
"How about less talking, more fighting?!" answered Calidan who aimed and fired his wrist blaster at one hornet. The fight was on as the dragons flew up to engage the hornets and the humans engaged the Dark Makers on the ground.
The troopers proceeded to fire their bombs at Jak, who just managed to roll out of the way. Deciding on a new tactic, he decided to match their dark energy with light. As they lankily approached to attack again, he concentrated and activated his Light mode, stunning them temporarily. As he merely stood before them, the troopers then lunged their claws only to be recoiled by Light Jak's shield, which they continued to claw at.
Light Jak's Shield glow caught the others attention for a moment as well before they continued attacking the other Dark Makers. Calidan opened fire at the Dark Splitters, which to his shock, made them split apart! His blasts broke them apart into smaller versions, only there were two in place of one!
"What the?!" he gasped. The Splitters continued to advance toward him, until they were engulfed in flames from above. Calidan turned up to see Spyro land right in front of him.
"I'll deal with them, help Cynder in the air," Spyro said, stunning Calidan with the sudden change in plans. Seeing him still frozen in place, he continued, "Clearly shooting these things is a bad idea, but fire worked before, so let me handle them!"
Calidan finally nodded before pressing his power button and activating his Eagle wings. He took to the skies as Spyro turned back around to the Dark Splitters that were still screeching in pain from the dissipating fire. One saw the purple dragon out of the corner of its eye, before Spyro let loose another inferno of flame.
Cynder flew around gracefully dodging the blasts from the three Dark Hornets. She attempted to engage in a full line attack, but they split up again making her only catch one, which she grappled with and finished off with a spinning cutter. The remaining two attempted to attack as she finished hers, only to be knocked away by a blaster shot each from Eagle who flew up from behind them. Hearing the shots, Cynder turned around and joined him in engaging one Hornet each. Eagle dodged another shot from his opponent, then finished it off with another blaster shot. Cynder stunned hers first with a Sonic screech, then eliminated it with a poison bomb.
Light Jak continued holding off the three troopers with his shield, they had resorted from clawing it to throwing bombs at it. Unbeknownst to them, the shield was absorbing all the energy from their attacks, and after the last bombs made impact, the shield started glowing even brighter, making the troopers stop on instinct. Light Jak smirked as it was too little too late for them, and unleashed the energy he had accumulated back at them.
SHHOOOMMM!
The troopers were blown away in a flash of light, and all the other heroes turned to see their eco-charged friend complete his attack. Jak turned back to normal as the energy dissipated, and Spyro approached him after he had noticed his fire breath had finished torching the remains of the Dark Splitters.
"Huh, almost forgot about that little trick," the dragon said.
"So did I, good thing it came at the last minute," Jak replied.
Calidan had landed and deactivated his wings again, with Cynder following his lead before he spoke, "well boys, and girls," everyone chuckled while Cynder just rolled her eyes, "looks we still have one more level to go."
He looked up and behind him with everyone else following his lead. The platform they were on was connected to another large ramp that led to a series which moved further up in a fire escape like manner, where at the top was another large supposedly flat platform, about 50 feet above them. Nothing more was said and they started their advance further up the ramp on foot to avoid any more aerial opposition.
After a good five minutes, they reached the top of the series, where it was confirmed the platform was flat. Jak followed by Calidan, Spyro, Cynder and Sparx made their first steps onto it. Almost immediately, another Dark Maker hoard appeared out of nowhere in a series of dark flashes. Nine troopers growled at them while standing on the platform as six hornets appeared from over the sides completing their opposition.
"Fifteen against four?" Jak questioned, before smirking, "hardly seems like a fair fight."
The rest of the hero party minus Daxter and Sparx smirked as well. The showdown was a silent standstill, for a moment. Calidan then fired at a trooper with one shot and the brawl began.
Calidan had taken to the skies as Eagle along with Cynder. Spyro stayed on the ground with Jak to engage the ground troopers. Sparx flew off to the side to avoid enemy and friendly fire. Eagle and Cynder circled the hornets while avoiding their fire before retaliating with their own, Cynder's poison bombs and Eagle's blaster shots proved as effective as ever as they continued to dodge.
Spyro engulfed three troopers in front of them with flames subduing them and allowing him to engage them with melee attacks one by one. Jak fired his Arc Wielder at the trio of troopers in front of him, sweeping them with a full shock. He then switched over to his Scatter gun and fired its wide range blast, driving them further back.
The remaining three attempted to advance on the purple dragon and eco-human, but a pull of wind halted them. They were stunned and then scared as they were lifted into the air by a funnel of wind courtesy of Cynder. Seeing her ground allies under attack made her want to get creative in a way that blew the hornets away from her too.
As the three troopers were blown over the edge, Eagle had his hands full dealing with the remaining three hornets. Still being a novice at flying, three against one were odds he could do little against except dodge as best he can. He turned back to his dragoness friend to call out, "could use some help here Cynder!"
Cynder quelled her tornado before looking at the approaching hoard, and gave a mild sigh, "now he asks for help."
She flew towards him and was soon flying right at him and his pursuers in a straight line, "break right!" she yelled.
Calidan obliged with a barrel roll to the right, allowing Cynder full scope of the hornets which she engulfed with a sonic scream stunning all of them. Another wind twister and all the hornets were blown away into the far wall, and one pair into each other.
Unfortunately, even though the hornets were dealt with, more troopers ended up materializing around Jak and Spyro. The new arrivals forced them to continue their attacks without a halt. However, one remaining trooper from the first wave had recovered from Jak's earlier blast and tried to sneak up behind him.
SLAM!
Jak and Daxter quickly turned around to the sudden noise. To their surprise the trooper that would have gotten them was crushed himself, by Eagle's divebomb. Calidan remained with his legs bent from the attack for a moment before standing up and retracting his wings.
"Consider us even," he said regarding how Jak defended him in the War Factory. Jak gave a smirking nod and Daxter scoffed, before their attention was diverted again.
Dark troopers continued to crowd around Jak and Calidan, and one trooper Jak had missed with his Scatter-gun snuck up and hit him with a claw strike sending him and Daxter to the ground. Seeing his friend take the hit, Calidan fired at the trooper responsible, getting its attention before it threw up its shield again. More troopers were gaining ground on him, forcing Calidan up against the wall. On the ground, Jak began to stir, but he was feeling heavy pain and rage for the hit, so much, it triggered the other side as his black eyes sprung open, forcing Daxter to retreat.
"GRRAARR!"
Everyone friend and foe on the platform were frozen in place as they looked in the direction of the roar. On his feet again, with his nailclaws elongated, and dark purple lightning sparking off his body, Dark Jak was growling at the Dark Makers ready to tear them apart. Calidan was wide-eyed at seeing the dark eco creature for the first time. Since joining the group, he had heard references off and on of Jak's other powers, remembering that Spyro would inform him another time. Well, Jak beat him to it, and the dragons themselves looked concerned at their human friend now transformed into the dark creature they remembered seeing once, but could never forget.
The Dark Makers matched Dark Jak's growl with their hisses, and one trooper pointed at the creature while giving an order in their unknown language. It was clearly an attack order, as the troopers aimed and let loose bombs from their arms. Dark Jak instinctively retaliated and fired a Dark Strike at the bombs, the wide range of the attack made it connect with all of them, and the two dark-eco attacks cancelled each other out in a small explosion of purple aura.
Dark Jak then lunged at them, claws at the ready, making swift deadly strikes that left damaging slices on the troopers. Despite sharing the nature of Dark eco, Dark Jak clearly had the troopers outmatched in rage and fury. The others realized that watching the brawl in awe, before the eco creature decided to end this with its finishing move, pulling up his fist generating a dark aura.
"CAL! In the air now!" Spyro yelled knowing instantly what the attack was having seen it before. This time Calidan didn't hesitate and re-engaged his wings. He was airborne a good 20 feet as Dark Jak made his jump and let loose his most powerful attack, the Dark Bomb.
BOOOMMM!
The heroes in the air saw the aftermath of the Dark Bomb as dark purple lightning engulfed the platform following the shockwave that eliminated the troopers. The effects soon faded away, as did the hue from Jak turning back to normal as the release had drained his powers. He took a breath along with Daxter who managed to find his way back to Jak's shoulder, as his friends made touchdown beside him.
"You okay?" asked Spyro.
"Whew...never better," Jak replied, before turning over to Calidan who was raising an eyebrow, making him feel slightly apprehensive.
"So I guess that's what they meant when they called you the Dark One?" Calidan asked, remembering what Seem had said before.
"Yup, that was it," replied Jak, "I'm surprised you're not scared stiff right now."
"Of that?" Calidan questioned, "Hmph! Maybe before I joined up with you I would be. Look don't get me wrong, I am freaked out, but since joining you guys I've realized freaky experiences are everywhere. I'm just glad this one was directed at them and not me."
The hero party took a sigh of relief that the dark eco creature didn't scare off their new recruit and friend. Daxter still had to say, "Yeah, just don't tick him off and you'll be clear."
"Like he's never done that before," Cynder snidely remarked, drawing laughter which Calidan scoffed at. Their laughs ceased when they noticed over the far edge of the platform a large circular elevator made of the same material as the rest of the nest suddenly appeared from below. Raising a curious eye, Jak walked over to it, with everyone else following him. Without further hesitation he jumped onto it and the rest of the hero party after him. The elevator jolted before ascending, making them freeze in place as they headed for the top, and whatever awaited them.
The hero party rode the elevator all the way to its top. Once it halted they realized they had reached the top of the Metalhead Tower, and they weren't alone! All their faces turned to spiteful glares at who was present in the tower with them. Cyber Errol had his back to them as he stared at one of the chamber walls that were outlined with some strange language.
"Ah, my little friends have come to see me off," Errol casually said in his robotic voice while turning towards and then walking up to them, "I'd love to stay and chat…"
Jak shoved away his enlarged robot hand as Errol concluded, "...but my new partner and I have an appointment with the most powerful beings in the universe!"
"Some partner!" yelled Cynder, "if he cared at all he would be here showing his ugly face rather than hiding in the ship like a coward!"
"Name calling Cynder?" An eerie new voice sounded behind them, causing the heroes to freeze and turn around. They were all horrified to see Malefor was in the room, in the flesh! He towered over all of them as he was the largest figure in the room. "Surely I taught you better than that."
Now seeing the Dark Master in the flesh for the first time, Sparx was reminded of the last time he met a full grown dark dragon before stammering, "Sooo...big."
"Sooo...ugly," Daxter whispered under his breath feeling just as terrified.
Seeing the heroes speechless, Errol casually introduced, "Spyro, Cynder, you remember Malefor. And to those unfamiliar, Jak and company, may I present the Dark Master of the Dragon Realms."
All of them were still wide eyed and scared stiff at the massive dark dragon. Jak thought Malefor may be slightly larger than Terrador and the other guardians, but couldn't shake off the foreboding aura the dark dragon was emitting. Whereas his own dark powers were now balanced, there was no peace or tranquility clearly present in Malefor, for unlike Spyro, this purple dragon was evil incarnate. Calidan knew from Cynder's story how horrible the dragon traitor's reputation was, but seeing this monster in the flesh made him realize even though he had met and survived against the worst the wasteland had to offer, he hadn't seen anything yet! Clearly there were more horrifying creatures alive then the ones he had grown up against, one such was now standing right in front of him. Spyro and Cynder were terrified to the core, even more so than when they had seen him before over a year ago. They knew from experience if anything fueled Malefor's desire for power more than anything, it was revenge, and this time he had added incentive. Malefor's yellow eyes suddenly glowed, and the entire hero party were encompassed in a purple glowing dome, trapping them!
"What the?!" said Jak.
"NO! Let us out of here!" Spyro cried out pounding on the shield with his paw.
"Like you're in a position to demand anything young dragon," Malefor sneered. Spyro snarled at him, being called that by him of all dragons made him feel filthy. Malefor wasn't done though, inching his head down so he was looking at the whole group in the dome at their level.
"So tempting to eliminate all of you right now, helpless in a cage," Malefor said, making them cringe, and the sidekicks hide themselves behind their native friends' heads. But instead Malefor stood back up again and said, "but that would be too easy, suffering is better served when it's prolonged."
"If Errol really has told you all about me, then you should know, suffering has only made me stronger!" Jak yelled at the dragon traitor.
Both Malefor and Errol chuckled at the same time, before the dragon traitor answered him, "that may be, human, but I assure you, the torture you've undergone is nothing compared to what I can do. After all, Cynder is the perfect example of only part of it."
Cynder seethed at him, as Malefor then proceeded to walk around the dome to rejoin Errol before they walked back toward the wall the robotic villain was originally at. While the heroes were seething at their situation, Sparx was having a moment of revelation. Having now met his planet's greatest threat, one that had clearly ruined Cynder's life and nearly killed his brother, Sparx had realized that ever since they had met, he had done nothing but berate Cynder for what she had done in her past. There may have been that one moment before they left for the Belt of Fire, but he never really gave her any more grace after that, and now having met the monster who originally turned Cynder into the beast he had always remembered every time he looked at her, he embraced an epiphany. Sparx finally gathered his nerves and spoke up, "you think you're the only one who's ever thrown us in a cage?! We've busted out of every one before and we'll do it again!"
While as stunned as all the others at Sparx's initial bravado, Daxter followed up, "Yeah! And when we do we'll come over and...sick Jak and Spyro on both of you!"
"You're too late!" Errol yelled back at them, turning to the glyph wall that he was now translating, "The Dark Maker ship has already been awakened! Then once we return again, Malefor will have what I've promised him, an army greater than anything he's ever commanded before! And I will be wielding the very power of the Precursors! We'll see all of you soon."
"Perhaps, hahahahahaha," Malefor laughed as the two planet traitors faded away in one of his smoke clouds. Surprisingly, the dome faded after them, freeing them.
"That's it? We couldn't have just scared them off!" stated Calidan.
"We didn't, this was all just to lure us here," said Jak.
Spyro followed saying, "Which means one of two things, either they just wanted to intimidate us, or…"
RUMBLEEE
"Or it's a trap! THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW!" shouted Daxter. The tower continued to shake violently as he finished his shout. Just then, the sound of the H-cat appeared behind them, and out of the towers only exit they saw Sig in the pilot seat.
"Let's get out of here!" he beckoned. The hero party immediately headed his call and ran for the H-cat. They all jumped aboard as the Tower's hum reached his peak. Just as they took off, the tower exploded, closing off the nest underneath.
KABLAAAMMM!
Guns and wings combined with Jak's Dark and Light Eco abilities, all leading up to a confrontation with both of their shared enemies. It can't be argued this chapter pretty much had the majority of story elements I wanted to bring in. Up next, at long last, the catacombs!
P.S. I never seem to stop ending chapters with an explosion can't I? Guess that's why some people call me C-4.
