Author's note: Hi everybody! I'm back with yet another chapter for anyone who happens to read this story! This is a 3-days-late birthday present to anyone who happens to share their birthdate with me! That's right, October 16th is my B-day! Sorry from switching from a happy note to a sad one, but this is not the suggestive chapter, but it should, should, be coming soon! In this little chappie, Jak is going to be awestruck and scared s#*!-less by who he's going to meet (insert evil laughter here). By the way, THIS CHAPTER IS JAK P.O.V ONLY! Stuff I own: Plot & OCs; Stuff I DON'T own: Any characters that aren't OCs & the places these characters live in.
Jak's POV
As we continue further down the path, I continue to wonder about what Meldalvyna's parents are going to be like. "Wait, Sparx said step father. What happened to her biological father?" I question myself while blindly following the yellow, glowing insect in front of me. "Maybe he's dead. Hey, I'm not being cruel, I'm saying this sincerely" Dark finishes with an annoyed tone, me having mentally growled at him for the comment. "Dark, there is no need for that suggestion, though it is quite possible" Light scorns his Dark Eco twin in the back of my mind. Meldalvyna suddenly speed-walks past me up to her double-step uncle almost scaring me out of my telepathic conversation with my alter-egos. I quicken my pace a little bit to try to listen in on their conversation, trying my best to ignore the markings on Meldalvyna's tail along the way.
Before I could hear anything, Meldalvyna notices me getting closer and whips her head towards me with a curious look on her face. "What's up?" she asks, now both Sparx and she staring at me. "Oh, nothing, I thought I was getting left behind," I say with a light chuckle, the statement only being half true. Meldalvyna just raises her eyebrow increduously at me, probably knowing I was lieing. After a few seconds of her staring at me, her expression suddenly changes to one like she just remembered something. She suddenly snaps her attention back to Sparx.
"Sparx, it'll take to long to walk to the house, & I'm pretty sure Jak nor Daxter want to risk climbing up the steep cliff just to make it there faster. How will they get to the house?" Meldalvyna blabbs out really fast, not a single breath taken within the entire thing. "Huh, I didn't think about that," Sparx says, I could practically see the wheels turning in his tiny mind. "Guys, it's alright, I've got this thing I could use to speed it up," I say while taking my jet-board out of its pack on my back. Meldalvyna walks up to me, curiosity gleaming in her emerald eyes as she looks at the device. "How do you use it?" she says, her expression leaking into her voice. "Yeah, but you two might want to start flying, this thing goes pretty fast," I say while turning it on & dropping it to the ground where it floats.
"Whoa," Sparx & Meldalvyna say simultaneously once it reaches its maximum anti-gravity range, floating a good five or six inches above the ground. The grass underneath the jet-board now teal in the Blue Eco light glowing from the bottom of the contraption. With a devilish grin towards Meldalvyna & her double-step-uncle from both Daxter & me, I jump on my jet-board & whiz down the path before they could react. "Hey, wait up!" Meldalvyna laughs a short distance behind me, "You don't even know where you're going!" Realizing this, I slow down a little only to have Meldalvyna flash over my head, closely followed by a slightly slower Sparx. Overcoming my surprise as to just how close she flew to my head, I speed up my pace, catching up with Meldalvyna, passing Sparx in the process.
"Something tells me that this is going slow to Meldalvyna" Light says in an thoughtful tone. "No kidding," Dark actually agrees, the same tone to his voice as his Light Eco brother. "Uh-huh," I mentally reply to the two, silently agreeing with them. "Turn coming up, has a tree fallen over the path, about two feet thick, clear of branches on top," Meldalvyna calls back to me. "Thanks," I call back while getting ready for the turn. Sure enough, a hard turn to the left going uphill comes into my field of view with a fallen tree lying across it just as Meldalvyna does a barrel roll in the air to make the turn, tucking her wings in close to her body then spreading them out wide again to level herself out.
Twenty-five minutes later, we reach the top of the high cliff we were next to just a while ago. Turning to the right, Meldalvyna, Sparx, Daxter, & I start to head up a gently sloping hill. Not but a half-hour later, Meldalvyna slows down to a landing just before what I believe is a small clearing. Following suit, Daxter jumps onto my shoulder as I myself jump off my jet-board & jog up next to Meldalvyna, Sparx finally catching up with us. "Why are you so cruel to your old double-step-uncle?" Sparx complains, grabbing his back. Meldalvyna just rolls her eyes as Daxter gives the insect a curious look.
"Just how old are you?" Daxter asks sarcastically. "Well, I hatched at the same time Spyro did, making me abut forty-two," Sparx says dramatically, a sly grin plastered on his face while grabbing his chin. Daxter's jaw drops, looking as if he dislocated it, me just raising my eyebrows in surprise. Noticing Meldalvyna looking impatient, I walk towards the opening of the path, leaving the two to their conversation. She smiles at me as I stand next to her & look out into the clearing. In the clearing is an old run down house, looking as if it was in the process of being repaired, an obviously used chopping block, as well as a huge hammock big enough to hold a ramskull metalhead high up in the trees.
"Well, this is it. Home, sweet-ish, home," Meldalvyna says with a self-conscious smile while gesturing out towards the old building. Just then, Sparx whizzes between us, heading straight for the, now that I notice, gargantuan front door. "Sparx!" Meldalvyna shouts, trying to grab him out of the air as he goes past. "Chick, I doubt he can open that door, it's huge, he's tiny," Daxter says while jumping onto Meldalvyna's shoulder. "You'd be surprised, that door isn't as thick or as heavy as it looks," she replies, walking towards the house. I quickly trot up next to her as I witness, sure enough, Sparx easily opens the door & flies inside, closing the door behind him.
"Spyro, Meldalvyna wants you to meet some people!" I hear Sparx yell from inside the house. "Okay, where is she?" a deep, yet gentle masculine voice calls back. The voice reminded of Sigs, but gentler & less battle-hardened. "Thanks," the voice rings out again, this time a little closer to the door. As we near the house, Daxter jumps back to my shoulder as Meldalvyna comes to a stop a good thirty or so feet away from the door & positions herself slightly in front of me. A few seconds later, the door begins to open.
Into the sunlight steps a huge medium-orchid purple dragon with thick horns that curved back & away from the front of the head, much like Dark's horns, but yellowish-orange. On his chin is a horn of a similar color, functioning not unlike my own goatee, & on his large, square head between his horns is an almost webbed ridge of a similar color on the spine, but a transparent, almost tan, yellow webbing going down the creature's spine to its tail like the teeth of a saw. Its wing's spine is the same orange as its horns, while the membrane is the same tanish-yellow as the membrane between the ridges, that same tanish-yellow the color of its plated underbelly & spiked shoulder guards. On the end of his tail was a large shell-shaped club the same color as the horns, but a bit more of a yellowish tinge to it. The final thing I could notice was his lavender eyes sparkling with a surprised, yet gentle & knowing expression in the cold, late afternoon sunlight. Above all that, the dragon was at least fifteen feet tall, & about the same distance in length from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail.
"Meldalvyna, are these the people you wanted me to meet?" Spyro says with a gentle smile & an even gentler tone, gesturing towards me with his snout while closing the huge door with his tail. "Yes. This is Jak, & this is Daxter," Meldalvyna responds shyly, gesturing to Daxter & I while she said our names. "Oh, so you must be Jak. Nice to meet you two," Spyro says while sticking out his huge paw for us to shake. "Nice to meet you too,"I reply while I take the large purple with yellow-padded paw & firmly squeeze it as I finish the greeting, shaking it up & down only once. I have to hold back a chuckle as Daxter grabs Spyro's huge paw, his own orange one fully encased in the large purple one almost up to his elbow. Giving his paw two good shakes, Daxter pulls his own hand out of Spyro's grasp, rubbing his arm where the dragon's grasp had ended with his other paw lightly, as to not be disrespectful.
"We could continue this conversation inside if you like, it is quite cold out here," Spyro offers, gesturing towards the house with his opposite paw. "Sure, if that's alright with you & Meldalvyna," I reply, rubbing the back of my neck nervously while looking towards the female dragon in question. "I don't mind," she says nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. While nodding at Spyro, Meldalvyna walks in front of me, past her step-father, & opens the door, holding it open. I follow Spyro & Meldalvyna through the door into the surprisingly warm & bright living room, having to go down a few stairs to get to the actual ground floor. Once off the stairs, I notice an old, obviously well-used couch, two large piles of equally large pillows, a tiny little cushioned bench, two hallways, a set of stairs, & a huge fire in the middle of the room.
"You can sit down if you like," Spyro says while walking over to one of the piles of pillows & sitting down. Walking down to the already seated Meldalvyna, I sit down next to her on the old couch, the soft, warn cusions surprisingly comfortable. Suddenly, a curious expression dawns Meldalvyna's face as I lean back into the couch while Daxter takes a seat on the arm of the old loveseat. "Jak, I just noticed something. Daxter called me a dragon, how did he know that was what I was, well, half of what I am anyway?" she asks me, full attention on my & Daxter's faces, Spyro now looking at me as well. "Uh, well, a few years ago, this area as well as the forest were infested with metalheads, & there were this one type of metalhead that Daxter & I called metaldragons, but everyone else calls them scout metalheads. I guess Daxter called you guys dragons, because you reminded him of those metalheads," I supply, taken off guard by the sudden question. "Oh, that makes sense, I've seen those. I remember the first time I saw one of those, I thought it was a dragon too," Meldalvyna says, grinning softly at her small anecdote.
"May I ask you a question, Meldalvyna?" Daxter asks, a curious tone to his voice. "Sure," she simply replies with a smile. "Sweet. You said that a dragon was half of what you are, why is that?" he replies, his furry head cocked to the side like a crocadog. "Oh, uh, I'll tell you guys some other time," she says sadly, looking as if she was betrayed. "Okay, sorry for asking. That must be a sensitive subject," Daxter apologizes guiltily, the first sad expression I've seen on his face in a long time. "It's okay, I'm just not ready to tell anyone that yet. Believe me, alot of people have asked me that, but everyone I've told so far look down on me for it," she says, her voice filled with regret.
"It's okay, don't get down on yourself. Daxter & I have secrets that have gotten us bad raps as well. So, whatever yours is, we'll accept you all the same," I interject, telling the truth, trying to cheer her up. She looks from me to Daxter, her eyes filled with relief & curiousity, probably as to what our secrets are. "Really?" she asks, her voice just above a whisper, Spyro having the same expression & something else mixed together on his reptillian face. "Really," I reply, my voice gentle. Meldalvyna opens her mouth to say something, but before she can say anything, Spyro's snout snapps into the air sniffing, drawing all three of our attentions to him. "Your mother is coming, Mel. I'm going outside to greet her," he says without even looking at Meldalvyna while standing up & heading for the door.
"Oh okay, we'll be in here," she replies, also standing. "Oh crap. Here comes the parent that Sparx warned us about," Dark says in the back of my mind, his deep version of my voice echoeing in my head. "Woah, I've never heard you nervous before," I say telepathically to him, surprised. "He's not the only one nervous, all four of us are," Light adds, also nervous. "Four?" I ask him curiously. "Four with Daxter included," Light supplies, answering my question.
"Why should Daxter be scared? He's not the one who has a thing for her daughter," Dark asks Light incredulously. "Wait, I never said I had a thing for Meldalvyna!" I exclaim mentally. " Jak, we share the same mind, we know what you think," Dark points out, leaving me with no way to counter him. "As I was going to say, Dark, Daxter is small, making him possible prey to these large creatures," Light says before I could come up with anything to say back to his Dark Eco twin. Before Dark could say anything back to Light, Spyro walks back into the room with a metalhead grunt, the neck in his mouth. Behind him follows a few seconds later the biggest dragon I have yet to see.
She had the same jet-black skin & blood red underbelly as Meldalvyna, the same arrowhead shaped skull only a little narrower, the same Green Eco-emerald green eyes, the same grayish-blue spots underneath the eyes, & even the same navy-blue-almost-black markings on her forehead. Besides these, Meldalvyna & her mother shared really no other similarities that I have noticed so far. I noticed the new-comer had four long white horns, with two smaller white horns jutting from her jaw like some sort of crown, & three equally long white spikes on the back of her neck. On her elbows & ankles are wickedly curved white spikes, & a bigger version of Meldalvyna's white obviously sharp hooked tailblade. The most striking difference between the mother & her daughter was, besides height, was the fact that Meldalvyna's mother didn't look humanoid like her daughter did, though I could tell Meldalvyna wasn't human. They look so much alike, yet so different, Meldalvyna a smaller version of her mother, yet not at all.
Suddenly, after sniffing the air, Meldalvyna's mother whipped her head toward Daxter & me, her eyes cold & her scaled face angry & foreboding, a shiver ripping down my spine at the glare. "Jak, I'm getting a bad feeling about this one. She's freaking me out, & I'm fearless, that's saying something. I feel like she's done something worse than I could ever do in her past," Dark says, his usually cocky voice wavering with fear. "Dark, I have to agree with you... for once," Light agrees, his tone of voice mimicking Dark's. "You must be this Jak that my daughter has been talking about lately," Meldalvyna's mother says, her voice laced with the expression found on her face & in her eyes, scaring me out of my mental conversation with my alter-egos. "Yes, ma'am, & this is my childhood friend Daxter. You are?" I ask politely, trying my best to not give Meldalvyna's mother a reason to dislike me while also trying to hide my sudden immense fear of her. "I'm Cynder, but you can call me Mrs. Jonathan-Elindrea," she replies, her voice still cold as the expression on her face.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Jonathan-Elindrea" I reply respectfully, holding my hand out for her to hopefully shake, Daxter following suit. Thankfully, she takes it, & gives it a single hard shake, & does the same to Daxter. Cynder then goes over to the pile of pillows opposite of the one Spyro was last in & sits down, watching me as if I would do something wrong at any moment. "So, Meldalvyna, what caused you to bring Jak here?" she asks, her attention finally off of me. "Well, I happened to see him while I was out, & we stopped to walk & talk. Then a little bit later, I caught double-step uncle Sparx spying on us, & he suggested we come here, mother," Meldalvyna replies, the same amount of respect towards her mother that I had held. As soon as these words escaped her mouth, Spyro walks in & sits down on the remaining pile of pillows with a smile, that is until he sees the tense expressions on Cynder's & Meldalvyna's faces, to which it falls to a worried expression.
"Well, Mrs. Jonathan-Elindrea, I can most definately see the resemblance you share with your daughter. You two I bet are always catching stray looks from guys when you walk down the street," Daxter says carefully, trying to ease the smothering tension of the room. "Yes, quite, & thank you, Daxter, for the complement on our behalf, though flattery is unnecessary," Cynder says, a stone cold, dead glare seeming to stare into Daxter's soul. "Oh, okay, just trying to create a conversation," Daxter says guiltitly, his voice just above a whisper. The room then stays silent for what seems like forever, glances being passed between the other inhabitants of the room. "Spyro, I am going to go rest for a little while," Cynder says suddenly while standing up, looking at Spyro, her eyes now much softer than they were before. "Oh, alright. Dinner will be ready in an hour, so don't drift too far into sleep, love," Spyro says with an almost upset tone to his voice as Cynder leaves after giving him a simple nodd before she disappears into the only other hall in the room.
"Sorry about that, Cynder can be a bit grouchy after a late afternoon metalhead run, she's not usually like that," Spyro says as soon as a door is heard closing somewhere down the hall, an apologetic smile spread sadly across his plum-colored face. "That & she's over-protective of me," Meldalvyna adds, an angry expression greatly resembling that of her mother's. "Meldalvyna, don't speak about your mother like that," Spyro scorns, quietly whispering. "Well, it's true, you know it is," she retorts, her arms crossed while looking down & away. Spyro simply huffs in defeat, making Meldalvyna's statement true. "And Daxter, thank you for that kind complement. Trust me when I say that my mom liked the complement, it's just she doesn't really trust the Freedom League, since a lot of the recruits in it also served the Krimson Guard," Meldalvyna says, a sad smile crossing her face.
"It's alright, the five star general of the Freedom League is the same way, you know, I bet they'd get along pretty nicely, either that or butt heads due to their similarities," I say with a gentle smile, trying to rid the room of the slowly fading tension. "Yes, Meldalvyna, Sparx, & I have repeatedly tried to convince her against her mistrust towards the Freedom League, but every time we tried, she'd still refuse to believe us," Spyro says with a look I couldn't recognize splashed on his face. "It's alright, I'm used to people doing that to me, maybe not to that degree that Mrs. Jonathan-Elindrea used, but still, I'm used to it," I say, trying to convince them I was alright with the way Cynder had treated me. "Hm, alright then, if it doesn't bug you, then I guess I won't pry on it more. Oh, will you two be staying for dinner?" Spyro asks with a gentle smile. "No thank you, Daxter & I ate before we came here. Besides, I should probably get going, Torn's going to have my head if I don't come back soon," I reply, noticing it was dark outside, though that didn't matter, I can see perfectly in the dark thanks to the 'enhancements' Dark made to my senses of vision, smell, & hearing. "Spyro, do you mind if I walk with Jak to the lock?" Meldalvyna asks when I'm about to step on the first stair leading up to the front door, stopping me mid-step with her question.
"Yes, as long as Jak & Daxter don't mind," her step-father replies, looking up at me. I look between Daxter, Meldalvyna, & Spyro, trying to come up with a decision. Daxter simply shrugs with a smile, Meldalvyna looks at me hopefully, & Spyro looks at me with a gentle smile, which I think the smile was supposed to be encouraging. "Jak, just say yes," Dark sighs annoyed at my timidness. "Yeah, the company would be nice," I say with a smile at Meldalvyna, who returns my smile with an excited one. "Alright, but bring a torch, I know you can see in the dark, but Jak might not be able to, & be back before dinner," Spyro says while handing an already brightly burning torch to Meldalvyna.
"Okay, I will," Meldalvyna says while walking up to my side, hooking her own arm around my arm whose hand was currently in my pants' pocket. "She-she's wrapped her arm around mine," I think to myself, blocking both Light & Dark off from this thought, saving it for myself, surprised by her sudden move. Walking out into the cold Halloween night, a shiver somewhere between chilled from the cold & nervous from having Meldalvyna so close. "Wow, would you look at that," Daxter says from my shoulder, looking up at the beautifully starred sky. "It's beautiful, for a Haven City night sky, anyway," Meldalvyna says with a devilish grin spread across her smooth obsidian skin. "Well, then, just how bea-uutiful is the night sky where you're from?" Daxter asks sarcastically, while I just raise an eyebrow at her.
"Well, where I'm from, you can see the stars with no smog, &, if it's the right time of year, two or three giant planets so close that they look as if they're about to crash into the planet," she brags, her arm untangled from mine to cross over her chest in triumph. "No kidding?" Daxter says, a critical smile spread on his fur-covered face. "No kidding," Meldalvyna repeats, her cocky smile still on her thin lips. "Whoa," Daxter says, falling uncharacteristically quiet for the third time today. After a few minutes of walking in silence, I come up with an idea to learn more about the female next to me that has most definately had all of my thoughts as of late. "Hey Meldalvyna, you want to play a 'get-to-know-you' game?" I ask her while looking straight into her bright green eyes.
Author's note: PLEASE READ THIS: Well, this chapter was huge & took me a couple days to write... "_". Also, I didn't type at all on my b-day, just played Jak 2, Alice Madness Returns (which I got for my b-day), & lazed around. I had originally ment to have this chapter posted on my actual birthday, which was Thursday, but oh well, what'cha gunna do, right? At least this is my largest chapter so far, so super YAY! Can anyone guess the antagonist is of this story? I won't tell if you're right, I'll just say like "One person who has reviewed has gotten it right so far." But I will say this, in chapters 13, 14, & 15 (this one), huge hints have been given to as what the antagonist is. I'll leave you guys to figure it out, Tigre OUT!
Publisher: -_-