Jak nodded at Sig's suggestion. Regrouping was the best idea.
"I guess knowing she is alive is a little helpful." Jak said.
"Yeah, just think of that. Now, how about we get out of here?" Daxter suggested with a slight smile. Jak smiled back and made their way quickly back to the Gila Stomper. Gearing up, they turned around and started to leave the cave.
Again, with Sig driving and Daxter shooting off rounds with the Peacemaker, Jak's mind was elsewhere. Caden's accusations drilled into his mind. He knew he had pushed Caden away. He didn't mean to, but neither of them had been in a good state of mind. Jak and Daxter had just explained that her brother, Kix, was dead. Caden had crossed the line, telling Jak off. Nothing seemed to be getting better from there.
As they neared the opening of the cave, Jak's communicator went off. It was Damas explaining that Metal Head Beasts were seen around the gate of Spargus and near the cave where they were. Sig immediately stopped the Gila Stomper. Looking towards the entrance, he could hear and feel the Beasts lurking around.
"So what do we do?" Sig asked, "It might be Caden. Keeping us away…"
"I really hope not." Daxter whined, "I don't think anyone could."
Jak just shook his head, hoping as well that it might not be true, "Let's just floor it hen they are far enough apart."
Sig liked that idea and when the moment around, he gunned the Gila Stomper to full throttle and flew from the cave.
"Hey, stop and look at that!" Daxter yelled above the motor, pointing behind them. Sig skidded to a halt and they all turned back to the cave. It was as Daxter said; the Beasts weren't even paying attention to any of them. They were stalking the entrance.
"What are they doing?" Sig asked, "No one is in there."
Daxter and Jak shrugged and watched as the Beasts still stalked the cave for a few more moments before they stamped towards them and Spargus before running around the range and away from Spargus.
"Okay, that was weird." Daxter said.
"Let's get back. Maybe Damas can enlighten us on this." Jak said defeated.
Sig nodded and drove the Gila Stomper back to Spargus. To their expectations, the beats were gone. After parking the vehicle, they silently entered the city. Kleiver met them and explained about the beast mysteriously left.
Jak nodded, and with Daxter on his shoulder, walked away. Leaving Sig and Kleiver at the garage door. Jak wasn't in any mood and Daxter could tell.
"What is it, buddy? You are colder than Haven City."
"Nothing, Dax."
"Can't hide it from me. You are worried about the girl."
"Aren't you?" Jak question.
"Of course not. Jak, listen to me." Daxter said, jumping down in from of his friend, "Caden left alright. Yes, she looks horrible. But you gotta understand something.
"She left us, to worry about her and everything. And yes, I am pissed about it. But we have to let her come back to us." Daxter explained with the most vivid faces.
"Dater?" Jak asked, surprised by his friend's reaction, "So, we need to wait and see if she'll…"
"Come back to us, yes. Going after her will only make matters worse." Sig interrupted, "Over heard ya."
"No problem. What I don't like are the Metal Head Beasts. They completely ignored us then ran off, still acting if we weren't there."
"And you think Caden was involved?" Sig asked.
"At first, yeah. Until I realized where they were." Jak explained, "I put it together. Caden wants nothing to really do with us. So why would she have the Beasts guarding the cave entrance and Spargus?"
"She wouldn't!" Daxter answered.
"Exactly, which lead me to believe that maybe she can't control most of the Metal Heads, at least not the larger ones."
"Interesting analysis, Jak." Sig said, "So what should we do?"
"I know we should leave Caden alone, Dax. I say we go and find out what's going on in the Wasteland, see if Caden is really okay on her own." Jak answered.
Elsewhere, Caden slipped through another opening in her little escape tunnel. Few Metal Head scorpions were following her as she made her way outside near the small oasis. From her spot of the side of the cliff, she could tell she was near Spargus' great door and saw Metal Head Beasts. Caden could make out their outline.
They were stalking the door and Caden knew what they wanted. Errol had been trying to get her to join him, which she refused. Errol had then bribed the huge animals to help him get rid of her. She wanted to go back to her safe house, but the sun was making her eyesight nearly impossible.
She could hardly see as it was. With the jewelry, she a minor inferred sight and the only way she could tell the difference between living objects were the minor heat changes on their bodies. From her spot, she could partially make out the Beats around the cave entrance and vehicle some meters away.
'Good.' Caden thought, 'That means Jak and the others got away.'
With that thought, she made her move, throwing rocks to get their attention and could feel them coming after her. It was hard not to. She carefully slid back into one of her tunnels to confuse the Beasts.
The rumbling of the mountains bombarded her ears as the Beats stormed their way around the bend. They were trying to trap her for she knew there had to be about five of them. She smiled to herself within her tunnel. Caden had worked on them soon after she left so she would be able to run and hide. Caden watched as they ran by without notice. Laughing, Caden slid down her tunnels to her hideout back in the cave. She would go to her safe house later and settled into a light sleep.
Jak, Daxter and Sig were about to leave when Jak's communicator went off. It was Seem requesting Jak's help at the Temple. Jak knew he had to go there first before starting a wild hunt for the young girl. If Seem requested his help then she must be urgent to her.
"Go on, Jak. I'll stay here in case Damas should need me." Sig said, turning around and heading back into Spargus.
As the door shut behind Sig, he sighed. Finally able to show his weariness, but Damas was there to greet the big man with a tired smile of his own.
"So what was in the cave this time?" Damas asked, "More centipedes or what?"
"Caden." Sig slowly answered, "She has been there."
"You saw her?" Damas asked, surprised.
'What's left of her. She looks horrible, but seems to be able to control some of the smaller Metal Heads. Jak wants to find her and bring her back, but Seem just called for him."
"What about the Beasts that-"
"Not Caden's doing. Like Jak said, if she wanted to hide from us, why have them around here?" Sig interrupted.
"She has been gone for weeks. Who knows what has gone on? So, Caden is extremely frail?"
"Yeah and the lack of people has made her revert to her old ways, quiet and afraid." Sig answered, his shoulders slumping.
Damas just nodded and decided to charge the subject, "Well, come along. I need your help with a different matter.
As Sig went back into the city, Jak and Daxter took the Dune Hopper to the Temple. Steering around the attacking marauders, jumping the islands, and ending up, again, at the pillars. Hopping out of the vehicle, the duo made their way into the Temple lobby.
"Dark Maker!" Daxter yelled. Jak saw and, after attacking a few of them, made his way to the door. Slipping through the opening and down the stairs, Jak kept running into Dark Makers.
"They have overrun the place!" Jak said, entering another room. Jak shivered as he remembered that this was where Caden found the box. He also noted that both doors were now collapsed but only one had light seeping through the cracks. As he walked up to the more promising door, he remembered that Dark Eco had been flowing from hallways previous and he had powered up.
"How are we supposed to get through that, while more Dark Makers are about to kill us?" Daxter asked.
"Like this!" Jak shouted turning into Dark Jak. Daxter smiled as Jak turned purple and dark bombed the door. The rocks crumpled and flew from the door as Jak ran past.
Going down the stairs, he crushed what few Dark Makers were in his path, Looking around, he saw another covered tunnel like before and moving as fast as he could, Jak dark bombed the tunnel. Going through the destroyed room, he maneuvered around the cracks as he made his way.
A grunt could be heard as Jak reverted back to normal before walking up to another Precursor statue.
"One again, your heroism will be rewarded. Enabling you to get to new heights that were only possible in your dreams." It had told Jak before engulfing him in a white light. When the light disappeared, Daxter spoke up.
"You got wings, buddy." He said, looking at Jak's vine-like appendages.
Jak smiled at his optimistic friend as he followed the directions to an upper level. The duo were meters above the floor where they had just fought their way around. Jak jumped and flew from pillar to pillar as Seem slowly became larger as they drew near. She was staring up at the night sky as he reached her on the landing. The wings and aura disappeared in a cluster of stars of their own as he walked towards her, before disappearing.
Seem stared at the Dark Maker ship. Talking in riddles and philosophy before kissing Daxter and thanking him for showing her the ancestors. At this, Daxter was a little confused, but past it off. Jak just shrugged as Seem went back to her observations. Leaving through a warp, they ended up back in the Temple lobby as Damas called, needing Jak to hurry back.
Nodding to Daxter, Jak made his way out of the Temple and to the Dune Hopper. He raced it back down the slopes and jumping across the islands before landing on the mainland.
As he rode around the abandon city, the familiar rumbling was shaking the ground again. When he drove around the bend that lead to the open range to Spargus, the rumbling grew worse.
"The Metal Head Beasts are back!" Daxter shouted, pointing to three giants that were heading their way. Jak tried to steer the Dune Hopper around them, but it turned side-ways and the last thing Jak could remember was being airborne and a loud roar before the darkness overtook him.