|One Week Later, Spargus|

Valentine watched as Macie was cooking up what looked to be lizard legs in some sort of batter. Behind the elderly woman Meta waited on her haunches until the woman would toss back some scraps. As Valentine had been healing, her body had become increasingly demanding of food. Apart from that, the pain of Eco that she was unable to relieve had made her black out three times up 'till now.

That would be a problem. Damos had complimented her on the way she had handled things in Haven, before ordering her back to bed. That night had been the first time she had actually blacked out from the pain. The last time had been two days before now. She could hardly hear 'It' whisper in her head anymore thanks to the roar of Dark Eco.

'You look positively pale, dearie.' Macie told her, giving her a carrot to nibble on. Being in recovery meant she had to stay in the underground cellars, where it was cool so patients wouldn't have to deal with the desert heat. Preferring Macie's company to lonely confinement in her bed, Valentine now spent most of her time in the kitchen.

'I'll be fine.' Valentine mumbled, sticking the carrot in her mouth. An increased appetite was a side-effect from the Eco, but it had never been as bad as now. Sometimes Valentine thought she ate more than Meta, which was a disquieting thought on its own.

'I just need to take this over to the boys in the guard house.' Macie said, wrapping some foodstuffs in what looked like an old-fashioned pick nick basket. 'Could you keep an eye on the stove for a second while I'm out? As soon as it starts to smell burnt, it's a sign you should have turned down the fire five minutes earlier.'

'Yes Macie.' Valentine replied obediently. Macie wouldn't be gone for long. In about an hour the monks would stop by again for her physical check-up, and Macie insisted on being there to keep an eye on the proceedings. Something had given the woman the impression that Valentine needed protecting. As if Meta wasn't enough to scare the living daylights out of the unhappy monks.

She watched the stove, the only piece of equipment in this room that made use of Dark Eco. She could feel the energy, pulsing as it moved through the earth and wall. She could sense it in her room as well, though she couldn't estimate how far away from her it was due to the thick stone walls.
She stared at the little flames, squinting her eyes a little bit. She thought about what she had done to the guards who had tried to use a stun gun on her. Somehow she had directed the Eco in the guns in such a way to afflict the holder instead of her. She wondered…

Flex.

Something in her mind popped. There was no other word for the peculiar sensation. At once the fire shot up, engulfing the food in flames. Valentine got up as fast as she could, throwing a damp rag over the meal. If she didn't turn down the fire, Macie would probably tan her alive. She stared at the fire, trying to find back the feeling that had made her …

Flex…

At once the fire went out completely. Coughing she kept patting the damp rag on the – as she assumed – burnt meat. Now there was an interesting reaction to something that had been bothering her. On top of that, she felt less like her head was being split in two.

However interesting this was… she had to clean up before Macie found out she had just spoilt lunch.

|Three Weeks Later, Valentine's Home, Haven|

Today was the day they would be uncovering Mar's tomb, and hopefully find a way to deal with Praxis once and for all. Jak wasn't completely clear on what the Stone was they were looking for, but he knew Praxis wanted it, and that was enough reason to plan on taking it.

He cast a glance to the pictures spread around the house. Several times he had been tempted to take them down, but one look on a picture that had Valentine in it was enough to postpone his judgment. Every single time he had thought 'just a little bit longer', and left them spread around the house, just so he could torture himself a little bit more.
He didn't know if the Eco made his feelings worse. Valentine would probably have been able to tell him, over dinner as they discussed whatever they had on their minds. With a snarl he laced up his shoes, turning around to look for his gun.

'JAK!' Daxter yelled, waddling into the room as fast as he could. The Ottsel was carrying a communicator in his hands, the one Valentine had used mostly to communicate with her uncle. 'YA GOTTA HEAR THIS!' Daxter continued, aiming the communicator at Jak.

'… will know after the trial. … Won't be… to make it back but… love… Kid. Goodbye uncle.'

Jak felt the floor drop from beneath his feet at the sound of that particular voice. He dropped to his knees, tracing a finger over the small machine in Daxter's hands.
'Is that?' he started, but he couldn't continue.

'That's my niece alright!' Vin's voice suddenly sounded from the speakers, stronger than Valentine's voice had been. 'Leave it to that kid to find a way to get a transmitter running capable of reaching all the way over here.' The way Vin was gushing, people would have thought Valentine had invented hot water.

'Vin, was that Valentine? She's alive?' Jak asked, taking the communicator from Daxter's hands.

'Alive and kicking!' Vin whooped, forgetting all about how coldly he had treated Jak the past few days. 'I'll play the message again for you, the Shadow had me play it on a loop all night.'

Jak wet his lips as he stared at the little machine. There was no screen where he could see her face, and the sound was abominable but… she was alive!

'Uncle Vin? Precursors be damne… hear this. I made it out alive… be sure to say… to Ashelin. Guess where I am no…. if Meta hadn't pulled me out I'd be….' Her voice kept fading in and out, making most of the message impossible to understand, but that was okay. Today pretty much anything could happen and Jak wouldn't give a damn. Erol could waltz in wearing nothing but suspenders, dancing with a yakow and Jak doubted he would have noticed.

'Everything's okay though. Still need to… Baron did a number on me. Will take a while before I'm healed up but… the Arena. No need to worry, I'll just… will know after the trial. … Won't be… to make it back but… love… Kid. Goodbye uncle.

Jak pressed a kiss on the communicator, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest. He had thought he had damned her forever, doomed to a death as 'subject Alpha', and here she was, alive and safe!

'Vin, this is the best news anyone could have given me!' he said to the machine.

'No need to thank me, it's my little niece who should be getting all of the credit. I can't guess how she built a transmitter that was able to reach us though.'

'Does this mean we will be able to get her back?' Jak asked hopefully.

'Negative, sadly enough.' The sound of buttons being pushed produced a buzzing sound on the other side of the line. 'Even if we were able to steal one of the special transits, there's too much airspace between here and where the signal came from. For now she's stuck in the Wasteland, at least until we manage to get the Baron out of here.' Jak could almost hear the man shrug, before turning back to his buttons. 'Once we get rid of the Baron, getting over there should be a breeze. Kind of. It's a big Wasteland after all.'

Jak pumped his fist in the air, pleased with whatever good news he could get. 'Doesn't matter. We get rid of Praxis, and then we get Valentine back here.

|That Same Day|

'I think I'm gonna puke.' Valentine announced as she was waiting to be admitted in the Arena. She was on the ground level, accompanied by Kleiver. The big man looked at her, raising his eyebrow at her.

'Better in here than out there, birdie.' He told her, before turning his gaze back to the Arena.

Someone else was undergoing their third trial before her, and the sounds of dying men were faintly audible even in here. On top of that, the heat levels were even more intolerable thanks to the fact the Arena seemed to be placed inside a crater filled with magma.

Her first trial, as Kleiver had so kindly told her, was unarmed combat. Unarmed for her at least, apparently her opponents would be well-armed to take her on. She was free to steal their weapons, whether they were still alive or dead by the time she decided to take them.
That wasn't the thing that was making her feel queasy. She could feel how the Eco around the entire Arena was gathered, she could sense every stone and how it was influenced by it. The victor was applauded, and she could feel how the stone that would let him rise to King Damos' level was pushed up by Eco.

'Kleiver… this Arena. It's operated by Dark Eco, isn't it?' she asked, trying to keep the strain out of her voice. The proximity of all this energy made her entire body go crazy. If she started to crackle from her fingertips or her hair it wouldn't have surprised her one bit.

'This old place? Yeah, it's one of the first things Damos had installed. Took a couple of real brainiacs to get it all set up. Why?' Kleiver asked her, not understanding why she should ask such a question.

Valentine shook her head. No need to tell him if she would be unable to do what she was planning on doing. She had been experimenting with her new power ever since she had found out about it. It would seem there was no better place to test it out than here.

'Remember, you can't bring no knives or guns in there with ya. Everything you use, you gotta find there. We clear?' Kleiver asked her.

Valentine nodded, grateful that Meta hadn't been brought into this. Damos had ruled that animals, no matter how sentient, were considered to be just animals and were not viable for citizenship. With Meta out of the way, she could prove her own worth to her Lord. Even so, her King had consented that if she passed and became a full member of Spargus, Meta would be appointed as her partner.

'I understand. I won't use anything I can't find in there.' Valentine promised, flexing her fingers in sudden excitement. This was the moment she could prove she too was a warrior. If she succeeded here, she would prove she was capable of fending for herself.

Her hands quickly searched over her body, checking if everything was in place. The leather armor had been provided by Macie's son, who happened to be in charge of the armory in town. Macie had been the one to put up her hair in a braid, all the while giving her advice on how to deal with things.

As the gate grated open to allow her entrance in the Arena, Valentine took a deep breath. She felt nervous, more nervous than she had ever felt about performing in front of a bunch of people back in Haven. Back then, she had done so as DE-girl… but here… here she would just be Valentine. No mask to hide behind, nothing to hide who she was.

She stepped inside, mindful not to accidently blunder into the soaring, molten stone at both sides of her. Still, she couldn't help but gape at the towering room. Far above her people were shouting and cheering, stalactites drooping down from the middle of the ceiling towards the center of the room. And straight across from where Damos was sitting the rock was cut away, showing the blue sky and allowing the sound of crashing wave to faintly enter the room.

She walked towards the middle of the room, as she had been instructed. She felt oddly plain in her battle garments, which were nothing like the garish costume she was wont to wear when performing. Turning around, she felt dizzy as she looked up at the high ceiling. Sweat started to bead on her brow in the sweltering heat as she lifted her hand in a greeting to her King.

She saw Damos give a sign, a mere flick of his hand. She could feel the flex in her heart, the tightening in her chest as Eco was activated. From four corners of the Arena, men of all stature and mood were unleashed in the Arena. She didn't know much about them, except that the one who managed to kill a contestant was promised free leave out of Spargus.

She counted eight of them. Frustrated she sucked in her cheeks, trying to decide what to do. Go for a full Eco attack straight away or-
Surprised she barely managed a ragged long blade aimed at her jugular. In the same movement she turned to the guy who was most right of her, a tall, lanky specimen who clearly had ignored his toothbrush too often. His reflexes might have been good, but he was nothing against somebody who had been infected with Eco.

Before he hit the ground she had claimed to long fighting stick he had been carrying. Two men with hatchets came at her from both sides. She feigned a charge at one of them, before planting the stick against the ground, lifting herself from the ground.
She could hear the crowd cheer as she landed on the other side of the guy, taking advantage of the men running into each other. When a bear of a man attacked her with a lance, she hurried to the left, allowing him to pierce the two men with hatchets.

Three down, five more to go.

The man who had made the mistake of burying his lance in his comrades soon followed them to the ground. The remaining four were more on their guard, not wishing to attack her as quickly at the others had. A young woman would have made easy prey in their eyes, but that was not the case this time.

'What the matter guys? Scared of a little girl?' she taunted.

One of the men attempted to catch her in a gladiator's net. As in a reflex, she could feel her mind reacting. A pillar of stone flashed up in front of her, bring a spout of molten rock along with it. Judging from the sounds on the other side, some of the men had been burned pretty badly. Before she could lower the stone in front of her, it started to sink in the ground again.

Looking towards where King Damos was sitting, she could see him angrily pointing at some men, who were busy with levers. The moment of distraction earned her a cut across her right side from the man with the jagged sword. Hissing she stumbled backwards, holding her side. Warm blood seeped between her fingers.

'And I just got healed up too…' she thought to herself. She dodged two more swings from the man as she tried to keep check of where the guy with the net was.

An alarm started to sound, and at once the guy who had been attacking her bounded off, leaving her standing in confusement. What the hell was happening this time?
Then she remembered what Macie had told her; how the Arena could be lowered in the molten rock below it, save some safe areas, to speed up a battle. She grit her teeth, and concentrated on the rock below her feet.

The white hot liquid that had formed beneath her feet started to retreat as she forced the spot beneath her to raise itself up instead of sink down. Shouts coming from the King's balcony indicated that they didn't know what was happening, and were trying to stop her from doing it.

Valentine could feel it. She could feel how the Eco ran through tubes, great and small spaces to do the bidding of the people who operated the buttons. She could feel her heartbeat aligning with the steady beat inside the liquid energy. This time her fingertips did crackle with energy as she brought the fighting stick in front of her face.

The four remaining men were standing on the same platform, a few meters away from her. They watched her, clearly ill at ease. Each breath brought the promise of blood spouting in the air, and she could taste the scent of burnt meat from the corpses had had already been lowered in the liquid stone.

She turned her attention to the ground beneath the feet of the men now. Keeping her own standing spot secure, she focused on the Eco beneath the men, coaxing it away with her mind. Sweat ran down her temples in droplets with exertion, but she couldn't let up now.

Slowly the stone started to sink towards the ground. The men on it started to scream that it wasn't fair, a fight wasn't supposed to go like this. Valentine found she didn't care. They were in the way of her victory.

Once they had been lowered in the molten stone, the Arena was returned to its former state. Her name was announced as the winner, and the crowd started to cheer her name, hesitantly at first. Until they realized they now had a warrior among their midst who could control the Arena without any help from machinations.

Power was always rewarded in Spargus.