The final battle will take place in this chapter, and also all the characters from different worlds will have finally met one another! I know, took long enough right? LOL. Jokes aside, prepare yourself for this story's one last stand.


Ch43: The Final Brawl

Upon final approach to the wasteland, the Haven City Freedom League transport had just witnessed what had occurred only moments ago. A large dark purple behemoth had fallen out of the sky and harshly landed in the wasteland isle's northern sector. Their resident wastelander on board knew it was near Spargus, and Sig was more adamant then the others to ensure the city was safe upon landing.

"I hope we're not too late," said Samos.

"Me too daddy," said Keira.

"Any idea what that was that fell out of the sky?" Ashelin asked.

"No idea. It was larger than the biggest metalhead I've ever seen that's for sure. Probably something to do with that Dark Ship," Sig answered as he and Ashelin stood by the cockpit window looking at the wasteland ahead.

"Onin says, it was Sig, it was," Packer translated for Onin who sat by Samos and his daughter in the back, "In retaliation for their ship's destruction, one last measure was taken to ensure we would lose. Naturally, Jak and others handled it as they always do."

"The ship is gone?!" Ashelin exclaimed.

"Sure is sweetheart! I can confirm!" said Torn from the transport's passenger seat next to their FL pilot, "there's no more star, the planet's defense system did its job."

"So it's over?" Keira asked hopefully.

"Not yet, but Onin says this victory may just be the start of something bigger than we ever imagined," Packer translated cryptically, leaving the others, even Samos, to wonder what she meant.


Separate groups were coming from multiple directions all towards the same crash site of the downed Dark Maker terraformer. Along with his passengers, Jak drove the Sand Shark back through the northeast gap toward Spargus. Above him, Spyro, Cynder and Eagle flew past him, gaining more distance from the air. At the Spargus gate near the crash site, Terrador and the acolytes had already set themselves down on the sand dune. They looked up at the body from the side opposite the cockpit. Even without its legs, the massive size of the body still made the crippled machine unsettling. The sound of an engine caught their attention to their left. They were relieved to see Jak arrive and even more to see the young dragons and their new aerial ally with them, all unharmed.

Jak pulled the Sand Shark to a stop right by them before jumping out, "is everyone alright?"

"Yes, fortunately it's aim was off," Chloro replied as the dragons and Calidan landed.

"I would say congratulations to all of you for your victory, but that would be premature right now," Terrador said looking back to the machine. Chloro was concerned hearing his mentor speak in a dismal state, but unconsciously decided it was due to the evil massive ship still near them. The sound of another engine from the air caught their attention, and they turned around to the source approaching from the sea. The Haven City FL transport was about to land.

Saphira asked first, "who is that?"

"Our allies from Haven City are here!" Cynder exclaimed, but then turned curious, "but why?"

"Probably were drawn to the impact like everyone else," Jak theorized before he addressed them, "you guys go meet up and get them up to speed."

"Us? What are you gonna do?" Spyro asked.

"Destroy what's left," Jak answered sternly while looking at the body.

"You're going by yourself?!" exclaimed Cynder.

"No he's not, I'm going with him," Calidan replied.

"Cal you don't…"

"Save it Jak! This is my planet too, and I have as much a right to fight for it as you do!" Calidan argued back. Jak thought about retaliating, but relented knowing he was right. The dragons felt the same, knowing that it was only appropriate for Elorin to be saved by its own champions, like they had once saved their own.

Leaving the two humans behind, Spyro and Cynder led their fellow kin to where the Haven City transport was landing. They had just arrived on scene with the young dragons at the head as the ramp slowly descended onto the sand. Out of it in line was Sig, Ashelin, Torn, Keira, Samos, and at last Onin and Packer, the old soothsayer being levitated by Samos's powers.

"Spyro! Cynder!" Keira exclaimed while waving upon seeing them.

"Hey Keira!" Cynder called back as her and Spyro jogged over to them to stop in front of them. The rest of the Elorin group save for Sig were stunned however upon the sight of the three large dragons approaching from behind them. Sig walked up to Terrador and voiced his concerns.

"How's Spargus?" Sig asked him.

"Unharmed, as are the citizens," Terrador answered, his deep authoritative voice surprising the Elorin group. Seeing their expressions, Cynder walked up to Keira and Samos to ask them regarding what they had requested before.

"Well come on, you said you wanted to meet them, right?"

The mechanic and her father nodded while holding their enthusiasm. They followed Cynder at her own pace as she walked back toward Spyro who stood by the 3 grown dragons.

As soon as she was next to Spyro, she began introductions, "Everyone, these are our friends from back home, on the left is my best friend Saphira and Ice acolyte, and on the right is Chloro, Earth acolyte, and this is Terrador, Earth dragon guardian and leader of the guardian council."

Spyro addressed his kin, "Guys, these are our allies from Haven City."

"It's an honor to finally meet all of you," Terrador addressed them all, causing all of them to relax and warmly grin.

"After what Spyro and his friends have illustrated, we could say the same thing," Torn replied.

"I only wish we could have met under better circumstances," Ashelin added. Terrador slightly raised an eye, the voice of the red haired woman sounded familiar. Before he could contemplate, Samos stepped up.

"Guardian Terrador, Samos the sage at your service," he said while giving a bow, "I've heard you're a kindred spirit of nature."

"Hehe, I concur Master Samos, from what our young dragons have also told us about you. We'll have to swap notes later on," Terrador replied.

"Deal, and you can just call me Samos," Samos corrected.

"Terrador," the guardian responded in kind, he then turned his attention toward Keira, "and this must be your daughter Keira, Cynder has told me you have quite the keen mind."

Keira blushed from the compliment, especially coming from a dragon equivalent of her father. She answered, "Thank you, I try my best."

"Considering Cynder has also said your Jak's better half, I say you succeed girl!" Saphira complimented. Keira felt flushed from the additional compliment, with her father smiling at her with pride. Spyro and Cynder were grinning as well.

Terrador continued as he finished observing the rest of the group, "from all the other descriptions they have given, you must be Onin the soothsayer, Torn the military commander, and...Ashelin right?"

Onin and Torn both nodded at the mention of their name, and Ashelin answered vocally, "Governor Ashelin sir, yes."

"I thought I recognized your voice, you spoke with Damas earlier," Terrador said. Unbeknownst to the others, the mentioning of the fallen king's name made Spyro and Cynder cringe.

"Yes I did, I was most surprised he even reached out at all," Ashelin said, before raising an eye, "you wouldn't have had anything to do with that would you?"

"Hehe, astute," Terrador chuckled, "I merely gave some advice from my own experience. Though I'm curious why he did not arrive back with you young ones?"

He finished his question directed at Spyro and Cynder, with the others following the gaze. However, seeing their despairing expressions made their own fall. Fearing the worst, Sig stepped up to them and after what seemed like a long moment of silence, asked directly, "Spyro, Cynder, where is our king?"

"I'm sorry Sig," he barely breathed out, he shook his head as he finished, "he didn't make it."

Time had momentarily stopped upon hearing the tragic news. Sig, Ashelin, and Terrador, wore the looks of greatest shock. The others dropped their heads in sadness. Hoping to dispel some of the saddened atmosphere, Cynder added, "for what it's worth, he fought honorably to the very end. He was a true leader."

The whole group of them felt the full load of the king's passing hit them. Some were keeping the eyes closed and heads down, and others were silently weeping. Sig was in shock as well as remorse, he had failed to find his son for him prior to the collapse of the palace, now any chance of reuniting them were gone with his death. Ashelin couldn't help but feel guilty, after all it was her own family that drove Damas from his throne in the first place, and the aid she had just previously provided had brought him back to Haven to die. Terrador shared in the guilt, having been the one to persuade Damas to go from the beginning. Despite knowing him for only a few weeks, he had acknowledged the king as a fellow leader of the same values, as well as a newfound friend. It was like dealing with Ignitus's 'death' all over again, and he doubted there would be a surprise return this time.

Breaking through the melancholy, Keira had to ask, "...and Jak? Is he?..."

"Alive, him and Cal both, and they're finishing this right now," Spyro replied in confirmation, turning back to the terraformer. The others lifted their heads up temporarily from their mourning to see for themselves. Atop the terraformer platform they could witness some aspects of the last battle taking place. Right now, it looked anything but good.


After watching Spyro and Cynder lead the other dragons to the Haven transport, Jak spoke up, "Time to end this for good."

"Meet you up there then," Calidan replied, activating his wings. He hovered up into the air heading for the top platform. Jak in turn activated his Light Flight with Daxter on his shoulder. He followed the mechanical aerialist in tow. Both reached the top platform at the same time, deactivating both of their flight functions to land their feet on the solid floor. Upon landing, they saw the cockpit rise from over the opposite side, making the two humans and ottsel glare at the trapped planet traitor.

"Time to die!" Errol yelled beginning his final stand, activating all the remaining terraformer defenses. Three large tentacles sprouted out from the base platform they were on, and Dark Splitters emerged from compartments over the side in a ball form before uncurling to attack.

"Shoot to kill!" Jak shouted while equipping his blaster and Cal brought up and aimed his wrist blaster. They fired first at the Dark Splitters engaging them, watching as they broke apart upon impact. They slowly advanced as they continued firing at them, and even though they were breaking them into smaller pieces, they eventually made them drop dead. Unfortunately for Calidan, he stepped too close to a tentacle making it squirm. It caught his attention and he just barely dived out of the way before it hit him.

"Stay away as far as you can from the tentacles!" Calidan yelled to Jak. The original Elorin hero looked up at all three of them and came up with an idea.

"Into the air then! I'll take them all out at once!" He shouted back.

Calidan obliged by activating his Eagle pack and lifted himself off the platform. At the same time, Jak unleashed his Dark Jak mode, forcing Daxter to hide behind his shoulder and hold tight. Dark Jak brought up his fist and charged it, and just before the Dark Splitters reached him, he jumped up and let loose a Dark Bomb.

BOOOMMM!

It blew the tentacles away, as well as all opposition currently on the platform. As he returned to normal, Jak glared at his archenemy who did nothing but yell back, "Die freak!"

Errol fired the blue beam from the cockpit's mouth again, this time at Jak, who dodged it to the side and ran across the platform as the beam continued to chase him. More Dark Splitters were also emerging from over the platform sides forcing him to pull out his gun again.

Eagle took a lap around the cockpit head, and saw what might be the only weak spot. Two Dark Eco generators were attached to the back of the head which would hopefully destroy the rest of the terraformer if detonated, their only defense were the visible shields covering them. He then opened a comm to Jak.

"Jak, I'm seeing two critical power units on the back of the head, we blow them up, the rest of this thing should go with it. Problem is it's shielded."

"Can you do something with your bombs?"

"Not sure without knowing the durability of those shields, but it may be our only option. Keep him occupied and I'll try to break them."

"Done"

With a new objective in mind, Eagle made an approach toward the cockpit head and Errol. Jak kept blowing away the Dark Splitters with his Scatter-gun, while Errol kept chasing him with his energy beam. He blew away another Splitter over the side before dodging the approaching beam. Errol was so focused on destroying his arch enemy he was tunnel visioned to the aerialist flying behind him.

Eagle approached and landed on the back of the head, keeping a tight grip as the cockpit swayed back and forth. Out of his side bag, he pulled out his last four bombs, hoping this would work as he knew this would be their only shot to break them. He stuck all four bombs to the back of the head, arming them. Suddenly the cockpit swayed up, coercing Eagle to release his hold and fly away and back around to hover above the main platform.

Errol had just narrowly hit Jak with his energy beam before bragging, "Now you see why I never lose!"

"Who do you think you're fooling?!" Eagle shouted, getting everyone's attention as he flew around to face Errol directly, "You're the one whose lost your body, your army, your ship, not to mention your own humanity, and you're the one saying you never lose? Get real!"

Calidan's retort made Errol see red, hearing the truth behind his words. Enraged, he yelled back at the pretender trying to be a hero, "It's time I clipped your wings!"

Errol repositioned his head and fired the energy beam, forcing Eagle to swerve to the right. The villain didn't relent, and kept his beam following the aerialist through the air while Jak and Daxter apprehensively watched from below. The beam kept following him like a hunter's sight at a duck, then as Eagle made one more maneuver over the body's side near Spargus, Errol aimed his beam at the right wing, hitting it near center, blowing it in half.

"AGH!" Eagle cried as he felt himself lose control. Jak and Daxter watched in horror, and from a distance, Cynder yelled out his name as she and the rest of their allies by the transport watched him in shock as he took the hit from a distance. Acknowledging the inevitable, Calidan positioned himself to fall toward the platform. He curled into a rolling ball as tight as he could upon impact. The hit caused the other wing to break off completely, and he rolled and slid over to the platform's other side, falling over. He managed to just barely grab one of the platform tentacles with both hands, holding on with what strength he had left, adrenaline masking the pain. Jak immediately rushed over to reach down and lent Calidan a hand and pulled him up. A loud beeping was heard, and they looked in horror as the compromised power cell battery on the Eagle harness prepared to explode. Working quickly, Calidan detached the suit's harness from his body, allowing it to fall onto the dune below with only half a wing left attached to it. Upon impact, it detonated with a BANG!

Jak pulled Calidan back fully onto the platform to catch their breath, yet now permanently grounded. Seeing this, Errol couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahahahahaha! Bye Bye birdy!"

From a distance, their allies heard Errol and everyone shot unforeseen glares in his direction. At the same time, Jak, Daxter and Calidan all shot hateful glares toward him, before the former Eagle shouted back, "Do you know how much time and effort I spent building that thing?!"

"Too bad! I'm superior now! Now that you're both in my sight, let's make this interesting," Errol replied before deploying all his defensive measures again, which included not only more Dark Splitters, but 3 new tentacles sprouting from their original bases, as well as a Dark Spinner.

"Oh no, here we go again!" yelled Daxter seeing all the familiar opposition. The trio were trapped in the center of the three tentacles with Dark Splitters advancing on them. Seeing the tentacles twitch however, forced Jak and Cal to retreat back to the rear end of the platform. Jak then requipped his blaster and Calidan brought up his own wrist blaster which still functioned without the pack. They fired at the Splitters making them break apart into their smaller versions. Seeing how ineffective two blasters were against them, Jak opted for the wide range shot and switched to his Scatter gun to blow them all away.

"I'd keep using that one on them!" Calidan suggested, before they saw the Dark Spinner maneuver itself around the Splitters to attack the heroes.

"Shoot it!" Jak yelled. Calidan didn't question the order and took aim at the approaching Spinner and fired. To his shock, one shot did it in, breaking it apart. Apparently it wasn't as tough as it looked. That still left the Dark Splitters, and the tentacles that were still twitching in place, trying to sense their location out. Knowing the tentacles would keep them from their main objective of Errol, and since his Dark Jak mode was temporarily drained, Jak came up with a risky but probable plan.

"I'll take those tentacles out, hold off those monsters as long as you can, I'll be back as quick as possible!" Jak ordered.

Calidan was slightly nervous, knowing how his blaster was not as effective on the Splitters as the Scatter gun. But Jak's leadership had gotten them this far, so he decided to go with it. He didn't survive 12 years in the wasteland for nothing after all! As Jak ran off to the left tentacle requipping another gun mod, Calidan fired at all the Splitters still left. He picked off the little ones first that fell dead with one shot before moving onto the big ones.

Jak ran up to the tentacle that was positioning itself to attack him, until he let loose his Arc Wielder aimed at its base. The tentacle shook wildly as the electricity surged through its body, until it blew up, the pieces incinerating from the blast. Destroying the first tentacle was most satisfying to Jak and most infuriating for Errol. As the eco-human moved up to the front to fire at the second tentacle, the robotic psychopath prepared to fire another beam. Jak unleashed an electrical torrent at the second tentacle, shaking and exploding like the last. However, upon its detonation, Errol fired another blue beam, forcing Jak to dodge to the left, barely. The beam followed him regardless, putting Jak on the defensive.

Calidan had pulled together a combination of gun and melee attacks to fend off the 3 remaining Dark Splitters. He kicked the 2 large ones away which also caused them to split off into smaller portions. The one small one he handled with one shot, forcing him to now handle the four mid-sized ones. He kept his fire at them, knocking them back and breaking them into their smaller forms.

Jak on the other hand was getting tired of running from Errol's beam, and instead braced himself as the beam approached him again. Errol sneered as he saw the beam hit Jak dead on, with a bright flash of light. The flash even stalled Calidan and the Splitters, and turned their heads in amazement at what they saw. Errol cancelled his beam to see the aftermath, only to be surprised himself. Standing in a glowing blue orb was Light Jak, still holding his gun with his right hand and the left one sticking out ahead of him, having pulled up his Light Shield to protect him completely from the attack. He let the shield down, and Light Jak directed his glowing gaze up to the cockpit facing Cyber Errol for the first time.

Despite having seen these new powers through prior surveillance, Errol was still shocked from the display, before falling into yet another seething rage at the aspect of Light Eco cancelling out Dark Eco. Light Jak merely stood still before pulling up his Arc Wielder and aiming it at the last tentacle, firing another electrical current which turned it into cinders, no pun intended. As the tentacle was destroyed, Calidan regathered the Splitters' attention by firing at the rest of them, and kicking away one over the edge before moving to finish off the rest.

Jak returned to normal with a stone gaze at the cockpit head, where Errol yelled aloud, "I swear you can't beat me!" The head raised its long neck higher into the air, before dropping down fast shocking Jak and Daxter, who dived out of the way just in time as the head hit the platform where they once stood with a SLAM!

The shock from the hit was felt by everyone around, including Spyro and the others who went wide-eyed from a distance. Calidan saw Jak and Daxter had dodged the attempt to flatten them as the head lifted itself into the air again. He saw his chance, and after kicking away the last Splitter over the side, ran up to the front of the platform to face the head again.

"Alright Errol, since you destroyed something of mine, I'll destroy something of yours," Calidan angrily said, bringing his trigger up once again. Errol saw the familiar gadget, and panicked wondering how he could have been so blind. As the robotic villain stewed in fear, Calidan said one last time while pressing the button simultaneously, "boom."

KABLAAMM!

"AAGH!" Errol cried out as the bombs blew on the back of the head, covering it in a fiery red smoke cloud mixed with purple. Jak and Calidan regrouped as they watched the head stagger in an attempt to right itself. It still wasn't clear yet if the bombs did their job.

Errol was able to regain enough control for one last attack, he was not about to be done in by these peons after coming so close! He lifted the head up in the air once more, before bringing it crashing down on their position. The heroes had both just jumped back to avoid the second SLAM while landing on their stomachs. Both of them turned around to see Errol glaring at them derangily as he prepared to lift the head again.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Errol yelled as the head raised itself into the air slowly and erratically from the damage. During the lift, the head made a spin to the left, allowing the two humans to see that the shields had been broken off, exposing the generators.

"So have we," Jak said while arming his peacemaker, "Dax, get with Cal and be ready to duck."

Daxter immediately jumped off his shoulder and ran to jump on Calidan's. Jak then took aim at the dark eco canisters on Errol's heavily damaged cockpit. The cockpit was still swinging around as its pilot did everything he could to stabilize it. It was to no avail as Jak fully charged his shot, and the head made one final turn. Upon seeing the generators he fired, forcing Cal and Dax to drop down, and Errol went wide-eyed in horror, completely helpless.


KAAABBBOOOMMMMM!

The terraformer body exploded before their eyes, forcing the Haven group and the dragons to shield their eyes with hands or wings from the kicked up sand. At the front, Spyro and Cynder moved their wings first in order to see through the smoke cloud. Behind them, Samos and Keira were the first humans to lower their hands to do the same, the mechanic now worried the most for Jak. Ashelin, Sig and Torn soon did the same, as did Terrador and the acolytes, and all attempted to see through the dust blanket. All were worried if the Elorin heroes had gone with the explosion.

They soon got their answer, for out of the fading smoke, strolled three figures heading their way, debris from the destroyed machine all falling behind them. On the right was a male brown-haired figure with his goggles and grey bandanna covering his face, before he dropped both down revealing his grinning face. In the middle was an orange ottsel who was smirking somewhat arrogantly, but in victory nonetheless. On the left the other male figure with blond-green hair lowered his goggles and red bandanna as he smiled at his friends.

Spyro, Cynder, and Keira all walked up to them as they approached, with the others following right behind them. Keira stepped forward to put her arms around Jak's neck as the two shared a loving gaze. The two of them pressed their lips together as Cynder snuggled her head into Spyro's shoulder while they both smiled warmly at the young Elorin couple. Daxter gave Calidan a thumbs up while perched on his shoulder, who nodded back in response. Samos watched in loving pride as his daughter embraced the man she loved. Ashelin watched from behind with a smile, before seeing Torn off to her right, and took his hand startling him. Although seeing his sweetheart's loving grin set aside the surprise as he responded with one of his own. Terrador, Sig, and all the others watched with approving nods or grins. At last, victory was theirs.


One last fight, one last explosion, and finished with a dramatic victory walk, and imagining it with the same music from the original game makes it even better. Although the war is over, the story isn't finished yet.