Hello Yes! Fan art! www.nephilim13. Below the big Brandon Lee drawing, should be a Browse Gallery link. Then, click on I'm All Jak's…

Sixth grader? O.o Hey, I threw a slushy at one of those at the cinema! But then he found me in the 8th grade assembly the next day at school. You threw a slushy at me! D: Poor kid…I feel bad now.

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GT Blitz was a loud man. I was glad he wasn't mean, but he was sure annoying. He followed us all the way into the main building, trying to school us on all the racing action. No one liked him. Torn especially, who was glaring daggers in his direction. I watched him, trying to figure out if that was a hairpiece or not. I was pretty sure it was, for it occasionally slid a fraction, and his hand would fly up to keep it in place.

I sighed and sat down. But I shot a look at Jak when he refused to sit with me.

"I gotta go work on the car for the first race."

My brow furrowed. "When is it?"

"Within the hour."

I pursed my lips but nodded slowly. Better to leave him be and get that poison out of his system. Hairman walked out, so he could show himself on TV in the next few minutes. Ashelin also left to work on her own vehicle and all that as left was Torn, Keira and I. Keira was in the corner of the room, at the counter, trying to fix a mechanism of some kind. I crossed my legs and looked up at the TV. Advertisements flashed across it, just like they might back home.

I pulled my gaze away when I felt a weight on the sofa next to me. Torn sighed tiredly and put his arms on the back of the couch.

"Tired?" I asked sympathetically.

"Nah."

I ignored him. "Is it from the poison, you think?"

He shook his head. "I'm just getting to be an old bastard, sweetheart."

I raised an eyebrow. "And how old are you?"

"Twenty eight."

I crossed my arms. "No you're not."

"You're right." He said and glanced at me. "I lied."

"And…?"

"Twenty eight and a half."

I had imagined him being a lot older. Maybe stress had gotten to him. Then, I turned my head to face him curiously. "So how old is Jak?"

"Twenty four."

I raised my eyebrows. Not bad, not bad. Nine years isn't too far. I settled down next to my friend, whom I assumed had fallen asleep.

Okay, so; I had just gotten here in the middle of the combat racing. Jak, Torn, Daxter, Keira, and Ashelin were poisoned. I'd offered to help and god knows what might happen to me. This mess was…quite a mess. Hopefully things would not go as bad as two years ago.

I loved Jak 3 so much, I played it nearly every day even after beating it a few times. Then, I had made that wish and wound up by my hero's side, even having a romance on the side. I had went through so much here and then suddenly it was jerked away from me. I was depressed and my mind clawed at the TV, hoping a hole would open to jump into. When that never happened, I vowed never to become that involved with a video ever again.

When Jak X came out, I stared at the TV screen in shock and disbelief.

You get the picture

I was amazed. It may have been a simple video-game commercial to many, but I knew at that moment that Jak was okay. He was racing on the TV and well. Sure, that probably wasn't actually himself on the screen, but the fact that the game was out, was sheer proof he was still there, in another city, on another planet, in another galaxy. Such a long distance seemed so close I could almost count on seeing him from my holler home easily. But the fact that he couldn't see me, was what tore me apart. I knew where he was, but he didn't have a toddler's clue as to where I was. Like a one-way mailbox, only he could get to me if he only knew my address. But he didn't so we could never ever keep in touch.

Something touched my shoulder and I could hear a distant voice calling my name. My head spun and I opened my eyes quickly. I had dozed off. It was Torn.

"Kirsten. We need to get down to Spargus."

"What? Why?"

He gently pulled me up by my arm. "That's where the first race is."

My heart sank. "You're not going to make me race are you?"

He shook his head. "Next time you will."

I sighed in relief and followed Torn outside. "Okay. Rayn." I heard him say in a slightly dark shade. "Can you get Kirsten here to the wasteland in one piece?"

I turned around and faced a woman with hair a shade darker than Keira's. She was fairly tall and well kept. I assumed, from what Daxter told me, that this was Krew's daughter, Rayn. I smiled and she smiled back cheerily. "You must be Jak's girl."

"One hundred percent."

Torn had left without saying good bye and Rayn and I proceeded to one of the garages. But on our way, we passed Keira and I stopped. "Um, Keira?"

She turned. "Yeah?"

"Can I-?" I trailed off and gestured at my shirt.

"Oh! Yeah, sure! Come with me."

I nodded to Rayn and she agreed to wait. I thanked her and caught up to Keira.

Once again, I was back in the main building, which was empty. But instead of turning in the hall to the gathering room, we stayed straight and went up a short flight of steps. We made a right and entered a small blue bedroom with a full bed and matching curtains. A suitcase lay on the ground, which she laid on the bed and popped open.

"I don't really know why I brought all these. We'll only be here a few days."

I raised my eyebrows. Clothes among clothes spilled out. I was used to her simple white t-shirt and pink suspender pants. Hm. Oh well, at least I have a good variety to choose from.

It wound up being hard to choose without being too revealing, but all women here were that way. I wound up with an orange v-neck belly shirt, layered over a red tank top. My shorts were a matching orange and I had knee-high black boots with straps covering the front. A bit different, but more comfortable for the races.

I thanked Keira, who helped me pick. Then, I ran outside and met up with Rayn. She took me to a large black zoomer. Must be a VIP thing or something.

After we had boarded, flew and reached Spargus in about 10 minutes (due to the drivers hasty flying) we nearly beat the racers once they had made it. Rayn and I stepped off and were guided to a ledge where we had the perfect view of the bayside. This must have been northern Spargus, for I had only visited the south and some east. In front of us was a screen where we could watch the race from many angles or any racer's point of view. I reached forward and punched the different numbers. The screen flipped from camera to camera. I couldn't really tell which was which.

"Four."

I jumped. And then I blushed. "Oh."

I counted the forth button over, due to the confusing numbers and hit it. The camera switched and I waited. The racers weren't even in their cars but they had placed them there to be prepared. Weird. We had a perfect view of the starting line from where we were.

I looked at Rayn and she looked at me, making me turn my head, pretending I had been looking at something else. She knew, though. So I turned back to her and nodded. She smiled back sweetly. This was a little awkward. I was such a dork.

I turned at a sound, and the racers were making there way out, followed by a floating camera. It was most likely for the news. One by one. Torn, some guy, Ashelin, some other guys, and then Jak. I smiled and leaned over the railing. "Good luck!".

They all turned at the sound of me. Torn and Ashelin waved and Jak smiled. Daxter popped out from behind him. "Oh you know it!"

And then the big scary-looking guy with the mask looked at me. "Thanks sweetheart."

I frowned. Torn seemed to be the only one who heard and shot him a cold-hard-Krimzon guard glare. And he deserved it. Only Torn called me that.

Anyway, they got in their vehicles and were required to wear seatbelts. Jak and the serial killer-looking guy didn't, but I didn't say anything. Over the intercom I heard Hairman tell them to get ready. I clutched the banister and tried to think positive. No crashes, no careening off cliffs, no skull smashing. Okay…

And then, on the screen the words 'Track Ready. Countdown Commencing' appeared.

"Nervous?" Rayn asked me.

I nodded without looking at her. "Very. You?"

"Oh yes. I value my life."

My forehead creased in thought. Then, I turned to face her. "You're poisoned?"

She nodded. "I thought you were, too?"

I shook my head and sighed. "I'm-" I stopped when '3' appeared on the screen.

2

I flipped around to face the starting line. Tension built back inside me.

1

"Go!" Bellowed the intercom above us.

And then they were off. Ashelin managed a barely-legal head start with a deafening scream of the engine. I shouted and jumped up and down like an excited NASCAR fan. They shot by us with quicker speed then I thought was possible. Rayn joined me and we both leaned over to watch them. They skidded around the corner and were out of sight. Rayn reached forward and tapped a button, giving us an overhead view of what was going on. I screamed into screen. "GO ASHELIN!" For she was in the front. And by the time they had reached the half-way marker, Jak bumped into Shiv's car, which crashed into a stone wall. Bits and pieces were scattered all over the place and Shiv was thrown out. My eyes widened. I want Jak to wear his seatbelt now. I calmed down and watched the racers more carefully, now fully aware of how important this combat racing really was.