Jak and Crash
ACT 2: The Journey
Chapter 14: The Shock...or Say it ain't so, Chiso!
Spargus, Kleiver's Garage
Month 2: Feburia, Day 10
Year: 2 AOTN (Age of the Nations)
Time: Morning
The sandstorm took some two days to clear up. Jak remained in Kleiver's garage as his temporary home between the start and end of the shifting winds, contacting Damas to let him know he was doing alright, although communication for the most part grew shaky due to the storm, so they kept their conversation short and to the point.
However, living with Kleiver became the equivalent to rolling in garbage as the large man suffered from poor hygiene. He didn't care when and how he took his baths (which were already few and far between), he spit occasionally and not necessary caring where he aimed, sloppily ate his food and wiped any crumbs and grease from his beard with the back of his arms (most of his diet composing of meat, causing Jak to nearly starve for the two days sans the food he kept in his backpack), and generally wore the same clothes day after day. In most cases, Jak and his animal crews couldn't put up with his vogue mannerisms half the time, mostly the former who, having just spent a full year in royalty admit to have kept himself as clean as possible when outside the palace walls. Just because he played the role of Jak as well as Christof didn't mean he'd live like a slob.
Daxter suffered the most, probably because half the time Kleiver often pictured him as food, so the little ottsel often had to stay behind the comforts of his best friends. Naturally to say, it felt like a camping trip gone wrong. Once Kleiver stated he could finally see the sun, the crew bolted without a second thought, although Jak had the courtesy to shout out a small, "Thank you for your hospitality", even if it was a boldface lie.
Immediately upon leaving the garage hold, Jak and his crew spotted a crowd of Wastelanders heading over to the stadium. Ahh, time for another bloody battle, is it?
"I suppose Uncle Damas would have to be in there." Jak uttered, "Come on, let's go." So they followed suit, gaining access through the royal homing beacon he still possessed in order to have an audience with the King. Upon meeting, Damas immediately put on a grin and gestured Jak to stand next to him. However Jak's attention shifted not to the king, but to the colorful individual sitting on his shoulder.
"PECKER!"
"Ahh, Jak, we meet! What odd coincidences…I see the talking rat is still with you (Daxter gave a death glare) and…oh, my." Pecker immediately floated down towards Ani and took one of her front paws, "How rude of me to ignore you, my dear Ani, for such beauty cannot be hard to spot, even in the depths of the desert. You truly are a diamond in the rough." Ani let out a small giggle of sorts, flattered, if not to annoy Daxter who mainly stepped in at this point to one-up Pecker on whatever.
"Hey, back off, featherbrain!" Daxter pushed the bird aside.
"Pecker…" Damas placed his hands on his waist.
"Oh, right." He flew back towards Damas' shoulders.
"Pecker, what on Haven are you doing here?" Jak asked.
"I came here with Kiera and Chiso." Pecker started, "In the hopes of finding you.. Oh, yes and Damas says, I am to be his new counselor. He says my wisdom will serve him well. Oh, yeah, and Damas also says that ahh…those two are likely to die in the arena today."
"WHAT?" Jak gasped, pushing Damas aside to see the stadium below.
The rusty, blood covered platform over the same boiling lava stationed Kiera and a shaky Chiso. Immediately, the two turned into dozens when they were cornered by Marauders.
"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!" Pecker rang. Immediately a battle began as the Marauders ganged and started to charge towards the two. At the same time, Chiso screamed in pure comical fashion, flaring his umbrella, running away in full speed, unknowingly knocking down several Marauders his way. Kiera, eyeing Chiso in embarrassment started to dodge the oncoming gang of Marauders. Her lack of combat ability hindered her, so she had to make do with the relatively few moves Jak taught her, general kicks and punches, however little it helped due to their large, protective armors.
"Uncle Damas, please, you have to stop this." Jak urged, "Kiera and Chiso are not the best physical fighters. They'll be killed!"
"That's the point of the arena, my boy. Kill or be killed." Damas coldly replied.
"They're my friends!"
"SEAT DOWN!"
"I HAVE TO HELP THEM!"
"You will NOT interrupt a battle!" Damas grabbed Jak's arm.
The fight didn't seem to entertain the vast crowd as prominent amounts of "boos" could be heard, largely due to Chiso running away, swinging that umbrella blindly and Kiera merely dodging and blocking. They couldn't keep this up. They either had to die or the Marauders and unfortunately, the odds were in favor ten to one. Damn Pecker, he didn't even attempt to fight back for their cause back when they were discovered by the King during the sandstorm. Immediately they were given care inside the palace, but they suffered a catch in that they immediately had to fight the minute the storm let loose. How can they even set one foot in Spargus without shedding blood?
"We can't keep this up--AHH!" Chiso screamed.
"Just hold on, something will come up!" Kiera dodged, shouting back. Her only weapons she possessed were her mechanic tools, so she took out the longest weapon she had, a tall, giant wrench that seem to have come from nowhere and tried in vain to smack some of the Marauders away, if not to buy some time.
"USE MAGIC!"
"Use what? Who said that?" Kiera observed around.
"USE MAGIC!"
"That sounded like--THE PRINCE!" Chiso pointed to the upper throne where Jak stood, shouting towards them while Damas tried in vain to hold him back, obviously not at all pleased he is shouting hints and tips towards them, "He's…he's saying I need to use magic…well, that doesn't make a lick of a bloody sense, I mean--Oh."
"DO SOMETHING!" Kiera screamed.
"But I'm not any good."
"DO. SOMETHING!"
"ALRIGHT!" Chiso screeched, half frustrated, half afraid. While running off, he pondered until he thought of a desperate spell. Quickly he ran towards Kiera and pulled her into the middle of the arena.
"Fend of the enemies, I need all the concentrations I can get." Chiso stated in a surprisingly tone of confidence. Taking out a red leather bound book similar looking to the one his Uncle Veger possessed, he opened it's pages and searched. The book, unlike Veger's did not fill to the brim with rules and laws, but rather spells and incantations. A spell book. Chiso mustered around, the longer the search, the more desperate and shaking he became. He finally found what he had been searching for and quickly closed his eyes, chanting with languages Kiera nor the Marauders could understand.
Whatever Chiso had intended to, Kiera, Jak, Damas, hell, no one knew. They all just witnessed a small, fifteen year old boy in an expensive blue overcoat and fancy shoes chanting on his knees. Before long however, he started to glow a faint light blue. Coming directly from him, he created a shield that protected both him and Kiera from the Marauders.
"…Chiso…" Kiera spoke breathlessly.
"He really is getting better." Jak nodded towards Damas and his friends.
"Much better." Pecker followed.
Chiso continued chanting however, far from done. The shield around them started to expand, literally pushing the Marauders who came in contact towards the end of the platform where they fell to their doom. It got to a point where the shield had completely covered the entire arena with only Kiera and Chiso left standing. Naturally, even the Wastelanders who all were more used to bloody hacks and slashes watched in awe at this powerful magic spell that this small teenager managed to conjure.
Immediately after the last Marauder fell, Chiso's shield dissipated, causing Chiso to quickly open his eyes and catch his breath. The entire audience creepily held their breaths, dead in silence. Kiera and Jak had the most worried look, fearing for both her and Chiso's fate. However the Wastelanders all gave out the familiar sounds of cheering, even more so then they usual did. Of course, such a spell, let alone any spells in the Spargus stadium was a rare, uncommon event, and the folks were given a real treat.
…………………
Kiera's team and Jak's team reunited at Spargus palace. Immediately upon eyeing each other, Jak and Kiera both gave each other tearful hugs, refusing to let go off one another, both shouting at the top of their lungs on how much they missed each other dearly. Afterwards, they finally unknotted themselves and spoke of their current predicament and how they got to where they are. Damas and the animals watching from afar, the former with his arms crossed, face stern and impatient, as well as thoroughly irritated Jak broke a rule on normal Spargus battlefield laws.
"You went into all that danger to look for me?" Jak asked. Kiera merely nodded and replied with a casually, but sincere, "Yeah".
"Kiera…you're a great friend." Jak smiled, "Risky, what you did. You almost got killed today."
"Hey, us crash landing in Spargus was complete coincidence." Kiera said in her usual, spunky attitude.
"Perhaps the Precursors did this…perhaps this was fate, us reuniting." Jak stated.
"I didn't even knew this place existed…let along ANYTHING in the Wasteland deserts."
"It's a secret only to Haven royals and those who work closely to us." Jak answered, "But enough about that, why did you come after me? Did you really miss me that much?"
"Well, I--"
"ENOUGH CHIT CHAT!" Pecker flew in between Jak and Kiera, "Yeesh! If you two were any closer, you'd be eating each other's faces off!"
"The same rule applies when you is with Ani though." A cheeky Brutter butted in.
"Stay out of this, furball!" Pecker pointed, "Listen, we came to find you for grave importance from Onin about the Dark Makers."
"What is it?" Jak asked, concerned.
"The Dark Makers…they are not creatures from another world, they are, in fact…Precursors themselves."
"…That doesn't make any sense! They don't even look like Precursors!" Daxter argued.
"They are Precursors who's minds have be consumed by the Dark Eco many, many years ago, back when this planet was still new." Pecker answered, "I do not know the full detail, but apparently the Precursors and the Dark Makers got into a huge battle many years back, with the Dark Makers banished or some such. They vowed revenge."
"Let me guess, they're getting revenge now?" Daxter asked.
"You guessed right…for once." Pecker mumbled, "They have come back to claim this planet and refit it to their own."
"But why now?" Jak asked, "Why not some other time?"
"Onin suspects they were banished far away and it took many years to return, specifically this year." Pecker said, "The Precursors foresaw this event and probably made prophecies dealing with it."
"So…the Dark Makers were once Precursors." Jak pondered, "We're dealing with powerful deities alongside their lackeys I assume they created?" Pecker nodded.
"We are talking about deities who can bring about the end of this world." The monkaw added.
"The Day of Tears." Jak repeated Seem's words, mostly to himself.
"My monks have told me the coming of the end of the world." Damas stepped in.
"What do we do, Jak?" Kiera asked.
"You mean you guys haven't thought of a plan either?" Jak asked.
"This is the first time we heard about this, Pecker refuses to say anything on the subject matter." Kiera glared daggers at the monkaw.
"Hey, the news was for Jak and Jak only, so I delivered it!" Pecker defended, "Oh, yeah, and I forgot to tell you, Onin from her visions have reasons to believe Veger is working for a mysterious group that works for the Dark Maker, hoping to drop the defenses of all the major nations of Precursia for easy conquer from the Dark Makers."
"WHAT?" Everyone's reaction shouldn't have been all that shocked, Veger being known as a ruthless backstabbing bastard in their eyes, yet they were shocked he worked for this so-called mysterious group who worked alongside the Dark Makers, the darkness, something Veger disgusted over, preferring to fill the world with light. Nobody gained shock as much as Chiso for obvious reasons as he cries out in a resounding, "NO!"
"Chiso…" Jak started.
"NO! HOW COULD HE DO THIS?" Chiso dropped his spell book and his umbrella, "I know Uncle Veger has done so many cruel things…I knew he'd try and overtake Haven Kingdom, but teaming up with the Dark Makers because he's so desperate to bring the light?"
"Yeah, that's the biggest oxymoron if I ever seen one before in my life." Daxter chimed in.
"That or Veger doesn't know the group he's working for works for the Dark Maker." Jak said, "As far as he knows, it could be a group helping him take over the world and fill it with light."
"HOW COULD HE DO SUCH A THING?" Chiso now had tears flowing down his eyes, "I know he was such a cruel, cruel man. He didn't treat me well, but he taught me all he knew about magic…and…and politics. He was really the only major parental figure I had…why did he have to be part of a group possibly responsible for the potential end of the world? WHY?"
"Chiso, relax." Jak stepped in, placing each hand on his tiny shoulders, "We'll stop this. We'll figure it out, so take a deep breath already!"
"Oh, your highness…I apologize…a thousand times for being related to the man who would do such a cruel methods. He's goal may mean well, but I'm so…s-s-sorry."
"It's alright…we're going to fix this." Jak reassured him, "Uncle Damas, is the boat here yet? We need to go back to Haven City as soon as possible."
"I got word a couple of hours ago, they should be here by late evening today."
"Late evening…fine, we leave first thing tomorrow. No more waiting around, we have to stop Veger and get as much information out of him on this mysterious group he's working for as well as the Dark Makers."
…………………
Spargus Harbor
Month 2: Feburia, Day 11
Year: 2 AOTN (Age of the Nations)
Time: Morning
No questions asked. They slept for the night and by morning, made their way to the shore where a large, raggedy, yet sturdy boat awaited them. Immediately the heroes got on board while Damas chatted with the captain of the boat.
"Take them straight to Haven City, then come back here immediately." He ordered. Afterwards, he climbed aboard to announce his farewells, eyeing Jak with a proud, yet familiar grinning face.
"Little word of advice: When fighting, always use your head. The muscles come afterwards. You'll live longer."
"Thank you, Uncle Damas for all your help during this time in Spargus." Jak nodded, "I'll come back, I promise you."
"I'm going to hold you to that. Those Dark Makers aren't going to make a monkaw out of me!"
"HEY!" Pecker cried from afar, "I resent that!"
"Tell me immediately once you get word on anything related to this matter."
"I will." Jak nodded. Damas put on a more rare smile this time, refusing to lose contact with Jak's face.
"…Take it to heart…I mustn't lose you…like I lost my son." And with that, Damas left the boat before Jak could make a responses. Instead he eyed his "uncle" as the boat slowly started to leave shore, Wastelanders experts of the sea driving towards their destination. The journey would take a couple of days at the most.
…………………
Their only real challenges lied in a dramatic storm in day one; not as big as a hurricane, but enough to rock the watery waves violently, causing much panic for the crews and people aboard. Jak, Kiera, and Brutter, the main three of the group of small stringed heroes knew much about watery vehicles as the sailor Wastelanders, having once lived in a small village adorn near the beach, overlooking the ocean (Brutter having experience in the lava boats of his hometown which served the general same function). Daxter however spent much of his time battling seasickness, something he never truly conquered throughout his years, Ani doing her part from keeping him from vomiting half the time, Pecker jealously watching. Chiso just succumb to his room in fear, clutching his pillow and book as safe keeping, his umbrella open and adorned like a shield as if any hint of wetness might leak through his bedroom door in front of him.
The second day, the sun shined and the sky spread blue with cotton candy shaped clouds. A beautiful day and just perfect for sailing…with the exception of the giant Kraken that invaded the watery shores between the Spargus Wasteland and Haven oceans. Not one to disturb sailors and preferring to stay away from the surface, the creature was provoked when the ship's anchor lowered itself down by a rookie sailor to stop and fish for the day, hitting the creature by pure coincidence. Naturally, it took a formidable amount of battling to send the creature back into the deep depths of the ocean. Jak's friend even took time to notice and compliment afterwards on his improved sword skills, courtesy of advanced practice from Shuin beforehand.
By the third day, around noon, Jak saw the all too familiar site of Haven Palace.
"Hey, there it is! We're home!" Jak shouted.
"Whoo-HOO! Naughty Ottsel, wine, Tess, here I come!" Daxter leaped up from the edge of the ship, nearly falling over into the ocean if not for Ani who caught him in time, grabbing his tail with her teeth.
"I'd had hope you'd be less reckless next time we meet, but I suppose I'm asking for too much." Pecker grumbled.
"Expecting a miracle." Ani played along.
"HEY!"
Jak quickly watched at Daxter's usual arguments with Pecker, glad for once he wasn't barfing overseas. He eyed Kiera and Chiso coming his way, the latter looking even more worried and worse for wear, not having any sleep in a while.
"I can't wait to go back to my garage…dad's gonna be pretty pissed at me." Kiera shuddered.
"Uncle Veger…he's gonna be pissed at ME!" Chiso screamed, "All your dad does is yell and lecture at you, my uncle whips me!"
"Grandmother isn't going to be happy when I tell her I left on my own accord then apparently kidnapped either." Jak made his two cents known, "It looks like we all have family we have to go back and face…but don't worry, we can make it. I mean, we've survived Metal Head attacks, constant battles, Maia and Gol--"
"Who?" Chiso scratched his head.
"--Right then…the main thing is, we have to warn my grandmother, talk some sense into her…anything. This isn't just a battle for Haven City anymore, this time, it's for the entire damn bloody world."
"Hey, do you think we'll meet the others in Haven?" Daxter asked while he held Pecker back from pummeling him, "I mean, I know they're in Filia and all, but still…"
"I…I don't know…I kinda hope so…I want to meet Coco again." Jak couldn't help but smile at the mere mention of her name. He almost looked childish and giddy, a face Kiera wished was directed to her.
The Sky
Month 2: Feburia, Day 14
Year: 2 AOTN (Age of the Nations)
Time: Afternoon
"I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill him, I'M GONNA KILL HIM!"
"Calm down, Coco, you'll pop a vein." Cortex gestured from nearby Gin and Brio, both piloting the newly fixed Nicodemus II, "Frankly, I don't think we should be surprised he did such a thing as run away. Now Shuin, are you certain he'd return to Haven?"
"Well, where else would he go? To stop the main source, you need to go to the main source." Shuin slickly pointed out, his back leaning against a wall.
"…Are you hiding something?" Coco eyed him.
"Am I?"
"…I don't know, but I'm starting to not trust you. You've been acting all…sly and stuff for some time now."
"Coco, that's how he's always been acting." Gin rolled his eyes.
"Shut up and pilot, midget!" Tawna whacked him on the back of his head, "Man, I'm so damn pissed I ain't never got in on the action! Cortex, next time Coco babysits tweedledum and tweedlesarcastic!"
The last couple of days indeed made a lasting, yet frustrated impact on Cortex's team. Weary from the battle and struggle in the now ruined, heavily guarded by Krimzon Guard Filia Nation, now under the name of Queen Alexandros, the heroes of the eastern side of Precursia made the long struggle back towards Lucius Empire where Gin and Brio finished putting the last touches to the once damaged airship. Currently piloting towards Haven City, theorizing and hoping Jak and his team of animals made it there as well, they patiently (or impatiently in Coco's case) waited until their destined arrival.
"I'm gonna kill him! What a moron, just leaving where he could be targeted by that Venus guy…or…or Dark Makers!" Coco groaned, "It's enough to make one's blood boil…then slap him upside the head with a laptop!"
"It's Veger." Cortex quietly corrected.
"Ahh, the aggressive tones of romance, haven't had that feeling in years." Shuin sighed sarcastically.
"BLOW IT OUT YOUR EARS!" Coco screeched, "I DON'T LOVE HIM!"
"She's right, you know…love in most cases take time to build up. She's currently in her denial stage; plain obvious she likes Jak, but doesn't want to admit or believe it." Cortex chuckled.
"THAT'S A SUREFIRE LIE, OLD TIMER!" Coco screamed, Cortex however merely chuckled away, Shuin even joining in, which inside, Cortex felt rather gleeful about it, feeling for once, the two were on the same page together. Fortunately for Shuin, Cortex's reaction to the missing Jak didn't exaggerate as much as Coco's. He gave off a very worried look and expressed mannerisms not that far from a concerned father, but he spent most of his energy calming Coco down.
"This is your captain speaking--" Gin started.
"And co-captain--" Brio added.
"We're about to enter Haven lands as we can see the palace from afar." Gin pointed.
"Marvelous." Cortex smiled, "Land inside Haven Forest, we cannot catch Haven citizens' attention, especially the royals. Remember, we're fugitives."
The airship took a sharp turn and headed for forest, landing nearby Haven's entrance, but not by much.
"Let's hope nobody bird watched us." Shuin said.
"Alright everybody, wear something that generally covers your faces: hats, sunglasses, whatever." Cortex stated, "We need to go in disguises until we get inside." Taking heart to his words, Cortex, Coco, and Shuin donned proper headwear and eye gears while the rest got stuck babysitting Nicodemus II, serving as back-up, Tawna again complaining, "I told you I ain't babysittin' them again!" until Cortex remained her she happen to be the only one who could keep Gin and Brio in line from doing anything too drastic to screw up whatever they are doing or in.
It served as a nervous walk from Haven Forest to the entrance of the palace. How to get in proved to be another difficult matter. The gates barred shut, Krimzon Guards patrolling over every square inch of the high tower, and the fact that it was broad daylight eased little to the crew. Hiding in a lone alley near the palace, they pondered their next course of action.
"Doesn't this palace have like some sort of secret entrance?" Coco asked.
"Only to the royals." Shuin added, "And unfortunately, Jak's not with us at the moment."
"Well, until now."
Cortex, Shuin, and Coco all turned their heads in unison to spot of all people, Jak and his motley crews.
"JAK!" Cortex gasped, "Oh, thank Amaterasu!"
"We had hoped you guys would come here." Jak immediately went up and hugged Coco, riling up both her and Kiera. Coco immediately pushed him back and slapped him, "You were suppose to be in LUCIUS PALACE waiting for us!"
"I don't like staying in one place for so long, I get rather bored." Jak crossed his arms, "Besides, you should really blame Shuin, he…more or less provoked me." Coco and Cortex's eyes upon hearing that immediately turned their attention to Shuin who made a cheeky grin.
"Hey, who am I to refuse a royal?" He merely gave off.
"I am gonna choke the living daylights out of you!" Coco screeched.
"Aww, Coco, I'm so glad you were worried about me." Jak snickered to which Coco let off a triumphant roar until Cortex shushed her down to draw less attention.
"We need to find a way inside the palace without drawing attention." Jak said afterwards, "Come on, we'll take the nearest secret passageway."
"Nearest? There's more then one?" Coco asked.
"Of course, there are passageways to the palace all over Haven City, it's just kept in secret for obvious reasons." Jak said, "With only the royal family knowing. Now come on."
What an oddly group of heroes they were, a bunch of animals, three Precursians, a couple of Anthros, and one human. They followed the blonde haired young adult until he entered a lone empty building. Inside, he pressed his hand against a blank white wall, turning it over and revealing a long secret dungeon-like entrance with stairs leading down to the long basement of the palace.
"Come on." Jak gestured, "It'll be dark, I hope you have lights a plenty."
"We can remedy that." Cortex nodded, taking out a flashlight, Kiera and Shuin doing the same as well.
"Great…creepy dungeons." Chiso murmured, "Why can't secret passages for once be filled with something much more nicer…like fancy drape curtains or matching furniture?"
The passageway served to house many broken rails and ancient vehicles destroyed and demented, never being used.
"What th--rails? What kind of dungeons are we in?" Cortex asked.
"The Sub-Rails." Jak answered.
"So…ummm…who are you again?" Kiera pointed to Cortex, "…Cortex, was it?"
"I suppose we should properly introduce each other." Jak quickly stated, "Coco, Cortex, Shuin, this is Kiera, Pecker, and Chiso."
"…Chiso?" Shuin murmured to himself.
"Chiso, Kiera, Pecker, this is Coco, Cortex, and Shuin." Jak gestured back, "I'm sure you know all the rest."
"Oh, for Pete's sake, can we get a move on?" Coco groaned.
Being near Haven Palace, it didn't take long for the heroes to make their way to the main basement area of the palace. The large area had dungeon walls and giant mechanical cogs surrounding in all corners as well, covered in rust and cobwebs, as well as statues of Jak's ancestors and brave warriors of Haven's past. There were a set of stairways right in front of them that would lead them upstairs to the main Haven Palace surface room; the middle of the double stairways holding a giant statue of an ancient Precursor robot.
"Looks like it's smoooooooooth sailing for us from here!" Daxter grinned.
"I don't think you, you mangly rat!"
The heroes once again turned in unison to see Veger shouting from the walls. Using his magic, he slowly hovered his way down to between the stairs, just in front of the giant Precursor robot statue.
"It's Count Vulgar!" Daxter screamed.
"IT'S VEGER!" He snapped, "Ahem…that said, welcome to the Precursors sub-rails. Interesting, aren't they? The Precursors used them to build the world countless eons ago. The rail system leads deep into the planet where it's said ancient ones wait to bestow powers upon the worthy. I will save the world with that powers, just as Mar did."
"Veger, you sick, twisted demented, soulless ape of a man!" Jak growled, "We're onto your plans! Teaming up with a group who works for the Dark Makers! I don't understand, if you're with the side of light, how can you work for the dark? The ones who wish to destroy our beloved planet?"
"I don't have any clue what you're talking about, what I want is the power of light to combat the darkness…namely yours, your highness!"
"What? How do you know I'm filled with light eco? Wait, how did you even know we would come here?" Jak gasped.
"Well, when one has a little stooge working on your side, you can get in a number of things…isn't that right, little nephew?"
All eyes gazed towards the worried and now very fearful Chiso.
"…Chiso?" Kiera gasped.
"Ahh, yes, our timid little friend, couldn't hurt a fly without running off like a crocadog with it's tail between it's leg (Ani growled), but as a spy, he does a remarkable job." Veger grinned, "Getting him to follow Kiera in hopes he'd run into Jak, finding out all the secrets the prince held and what he would do and where he would go, quite perfectly executed, isn't it?"
"Chiso…you spied us the whole time?" Jak gasped. Chiso tried in vain to say a word, but Shuin at this point violently grabbed the boy by his collar and shook him.
"You little bastard! I knew I smelled something wrong the moment I found out you were the nephew to old needle nose over there! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?"
"…I…I'm sorry." Chiso whimpered, his eyes filling with tears, "I just…did what I was told to do."
"…You are full of surprises, aren't you?" Jak cried back to Veger.
"And you're full of dark eco!" Veger spat, "You are an abomination! You do not have the honor of carrying the burden of light and once I strip that away from you, pure light will rule the universe, and I will be the bright light that shines to every corner of the world and destroys all shadows!"
"You know, I've said you were nuts many times over the years, Cortex, but I take it back now that I've seen Mr. Freakishly-Tall-and-Butt-Ugly." Coco gasped.
"You won't get away with this!" Jak shouted.
"Oh, the ever so cliché "won't get away with this" speech. Cute." Veger snickered, "But correction, it will be YOU who will not get away…they 're here!" After he spoke, the heroes heard numerous footsteps as Krimzon Guards came from out of nowhere, guns loaded and aimed directly at Jak and his crew. Torn came last.
"Ahh, General Torn, I have captured the kidnappers of the Prince of Haven." Veger said, "They will be executed tomorrow for their sins."
"OH, you've got to be KIDDING me!" Coco screamed.
"This time, the Precursors will not have mercy on you…"
To Be Continued…
………………
Author's Note: Wanna know how much I'm getting the plot moving? At one point, there was gonna be a full chapter of Jak and his crew's adventure in the ship, namely them facing both a horrible storm and the giant Kraken like I briefly mentioned in this chapter. You know how in Jak 3 if you venture out into water too far, a giant tentacle thing pulls you under? I wanted to emphasize that with the Kraken creature, but never can now. I have to get the story going. They were also gonna meet pirates, too, but not anymore, which is a shame since one of the characters I had planned who had a sort of important role to the overall story came from the pirates, but I had to do some story changing around. More on that in the future.
As for the full extent of Veger's plans, I plan to reveal the whole thing basically by next chapter, so be patient. The story is finally getting somewhere.
