Chapter 5: The Meeting

Samous sat floating in the air, talking to the plants in Haven Forrest. The sun was rising and the metal heads were going to be waking up any time soon. Various plants were glowing around him. His ear twitched as Keira came up behind him on her jetboard.

"Hey, Daddy. HQ called, Torn is calling a meeting for the whole team." Samous' ear twitched again as he opened his eyes and landed on the ground.

"Do you feel it, Keira? There's a high amount of energy coming from the city." Keira looked toward the city palace.

"Do you think the cities under attack? Maybe that's why Torn's called a meeting."

"No, it's been in the city for a quite some time, but this time it's closer now." Samous looked in the same direction as his daughter. "Something corrupted. Some sort of colored eco." Keira gave Samous a weird look. "As if...there's another eco sage."

Jak and Daxter walked out of the Naughty Ottsel. Torn's eyes automatically went to Daxter. He had heard from Sig that Daxter had gained some powers but he didn't believe it. Torn remembered Jak telling him something about Daxter not always being an ottsel but he was to busy to bother with the information. He saw Mary stiffen when Jak came out in with his hood on.

"What's wrong with you?"

"He's the figure." Torn looked back at Jak.

"Oh, trust me. He's harmless now." Jak and Daxter walked up to the Hellcat.

"How about I drive?" Jak asked as he walked up to to Torn. Torn rolled his eyes.

"Sure. Whatever gets us there faster."

"Uh, Torn-" Daxter started.

"Come on, Dax. Torn will need someone to hang onto." Jak said as he climbed into the driver's seat and put his scarf over his face. Daxter climbed up on the back with Torn gripping the Helllcat as if they were going to die.

"What's wrong with you?" Mary asked turning her head.

"Jak's not that good of a driver." Daxter replied nervously. Torn gave Daxter a confused look.

"What do you mean Jak's not that good of a driver? I've seen him drive before, he's fine."

"No. You've seen him drive in Kras city and handle the gun on a zoomer and Hellcat. You have not seen him drive a zoomer or Hellcat." Daxter looked forward again tightening his grip. "I suggest you hold on tight." Jak scoffed.

"Depends on what you consider a good driver, now doesn't it?" Jak looked around to see a lot of people in his way. No problem for him though. "Move it! Freedom Elites coming through!" He yelled as he floored the Hellcat.

"Woah!" Torn yelled as he was thrown backwards. He would've fallen off if it wasn't for Daxter who grabbed him by his forearm.

"Told you to hang on." Daxter said smirking. Torn only grumbled as he held onto the Hellcat for dear life. Torn looked down to see Mary smiling.

"And I thought I was the only one who drove like this!" she yelled over the roar of the engine.

"Oh, so you're the one who's been crashing all the Hellcats this past month." Torn replied.

"Hey, I only crashed it that one time. The rest were those softies that call themselves men." Torn rolled his eyes. Yep, she was definitely related to Mar. The guy had a reputation for being rash and sarcastic, but tough. Torn was snapped out of his thoughts when Mary and Daxter started yelling. "Watch out!" Torn turned his attention back the road to see them going straight for a building. "Jump!" Jak and Mary yelled in unison.

Everybody jumped out of the Hellcat just in time before the Hellcat was blown to pieces. Jak got up and looked at the others. Mary used Torn's shoulder as a support to help herself up, pushing Torn back down in the process. "Woah! Let's do that again!" she yelled pumping her fist up in the air.

"Finally, someone sees it my way." Jak said raising his arms dramatically.

"I liked it better when we where in the desert. You weren't aloud to reck 'em." Daxter said as he tried to tame his frizzed hair. Torn recovered from being pushed back down and gave Mary a snarl. Mary backed up and ran into Daxter.

"Don't worry." he said leaning up against Torn like a pole, "Tattooed Wonder 's always been like this." Mary laughed as Torn shrugged Daxter off his shoulder. Daxter looked over to see Jak about to enter HQ. "Hey, you!" Daxter yelled as he tackled Jak to the ground. Jak grunted as he hit the ground.

"Can I help you? I'm trying to keep my identity covered up here."

"You always enter first. It's my turn."

"Oh ya?"

"Ya." Jak rolled Daxter over so there positions where switched so Daxter was being straddled and his arms were being held down by his wrists. Once they both realized there position they both blushed.

"Uh..." Jak was for once speechless. This was Daxter's chance. Jak let out a yelp as Daxter used his legs to buck him off.

"I win!" Daxter declared.

"Stop you asses! People are staring and you know as well as I do that all three of us have a reputation to keep!" Torn snapped at the two.

"Just wondering ,but-" Mary spoke up, "are you two dating?" Torn and Daxter burst out laughing. On the other hand Jak got up with guilt and nervousness across his blushing face.

'Did they find out?' he asked himself, 'Okay, Jak keep cool. She was just probably joking.' Jak looked over to Mary to have a questioning look on her face.

"Me, date him?" Daxter laughed pointing to Jak. "Please, what a crazy idea. The guys my best friend!" Daxter kept laughing and then noticed the still serious questioning look on Mary's face. "Oh, you were serious?" Daxter asked and then looked away. "In that case, no. We're not."

"Joking or not that was funny." Torn said. Jak glared at Torn. Torn hushed up almost immedietlly. 'Oh, I see.' Torn thought. Jak saw that he got the message so he looked away. "Well, let's go inside. The team's expecting us."

In the main room stood Ashelin, Keira, Tess, Onin, Samous and Pecker.

"So why did you call us here? Is there something wrong?" Samous asked Ashelin.

"Torn called a meeting. He said we were going on some wild goose chase going after this thing that's been terrorizing cities, said he was escorting it here." Ashelin's attention turned to the elevator door as it opened. Torn walked in, but that was no surprise. She looked to Daxter wondering who he was.

"Did'ya miss me?" Daxter spoke up.

"Daxter, your back to normal!" Keira said as she ran up to him and hugged him.

"Hey, hey, hey. No touching the merchandise." he said as she unwrapped herself from him. Daxter noticed Ashelin looking over to Jak now. He sighed. "Take it off." he commanded. Jak felt all the eyes in the room go on him as he took his hood off. The room was silent until Ashelin walked up to Jak and examined him.

"What happened to you?" she asked softly. He looked away from her gaze.

"It's been a long ride." was all he said. Jak turned to Samous. "Have they been to see you yet?" Samous gave Jak a confused look.

"Who?" he asked. Jak smirked, shaking his head.

"Nevermind. You'll find out."

"Sheesh. You and rat boy look worse than when we first met you!" Pecker said as he flew over to Daxter. "You looked better as a rat!"

"Hey!" Daxter snapped.

"It's okay though. We could always use some live bait at the arena in Spargus." Daxter only growled at Pecker as he flew over to Mary next. "And who might you be skin and armor?" Mary straightened up with a scowl on her face.

"Torn calls me Mary." she said in a stern voice while nodding her head over to Torn.

"Ah, so you brought her along. I was starting to wonder who she is." Ashelin said, "But why a trainee?"

"I have my reasons." he said looking over to Jak. Pecker looked over to Onin to see her waving her hands dramatically.

"Onin says, that you must leave the city at once and head to the desert. And to take Samous and the girl with you."

"Why?" Jak asked. Just then the ground started shaking. Jak felt a sharp pain in his chest from the eco crystals and grabbed onto Daxter for support.

"Jak! Jak, buddy! You okay?" Daxter asked frantically. Jak looked back up to Daxter with hazed filled eyes.

"Dax-" Jak whispered, then collapsed to the floor breathing hard.

"Daddy!" Kiera shrieked as she ran over to Samous who was unconcious on the floor. Daxter looked over to see Torn and Ashelin bending over Mary who was also unconsious.

"Daxter." Jak strained to say. Daxter bent over to check Jak's pulse. It was very low.

"What is it?"

"I need to find them. So we can go to the desert. They had a vision about this."

"Who?"

"The apprentice. We have to find them and get out of here. Now."

too be continued...