Chapter 15- Colorful Racing
Daxter had been complaining for the past few days about the fact that they hadn't had any good food for a long time. Tess was to busy with the Naught Ottsel to cook for them so most of the time the only ones that ate were the kids. The only problem was is that the only place to get any decent food was at the bloody hook. Jak and Daxter were in the middle of arguing about weather or not they should go when Keira walking in with a small Pink colored Monkaw on her shoulder.
"This is Pat, I'm watching her for Pecker for a few hours while he dose something." she said to every one in the room. Daxter could only roll his eyes and watch as she placed her with the rest of the kids. Then the argument continued about going to the bloody hook to eat.
("who are you?") asked Jaklin.
("what are you?") asked Dez laughing.
("my name is pat and I am a Monkaw like my dad.") she said proudly with her feathered chest puffed up. Dez could not help but laugh, she remembered seeing that bird thing that her daddy had fought with. Jaklin knew that Dez was going to start saying things that she shouldn't so she gave her a warning glance.
("fine fine I wont say anything") Dez said to Jaklin knowing the look she was giving her but Jaklin knew better. She would just have to sit back and watch her. Jaklin then realized something and smiled evilly as Kendra came over to gloat. Once Kendra got to were Jaklin and Dez where Jaklin gave her and evil smile.
("so are you ready to get your ass kicked?") she asked with a smug smile on her face.
("you for get that my daddy is Jak, the best damn driver in the whole world!") Jaklin said with pride. This made Kendra sneer at her and looked at Pat. She didn't say anything knowing that the little Monkaw could be of some use to her in the future it would be best not to get on her bad side or make a bad impression.
("though I do have an idea, since Pat here is a neutral person we could have her be the judge of the race.") Jaklin said not wanting Kendra to cheat some how. Kendra thought about it for a while.
("that would be a good idea so I know that you wont cheat, and when I win Dez will have no choice but to hang out with me for three weeks.") Kendra said as she walked away from the three. The thing was Jaklin "kind of" forgot to tell Dez about what was betted on in the race.
("YOU BET ON ME?") Dez screamed making Jaklin flinch. Daxter and Jak's attention was brought to the girls. It was the first time that they had actually yelled at each other.
("what was I supposed to do? I don't have anything worth betting on for her.") Jaklin said as she tried to explain to Dez what had happened.
("you still bet on me! How do we know that Pat doesn't already work for Kendra and for that matter how do we know if she hasn't sabotaged the zoomer you'll be riding?") Dez yelled at her. Dez knew that racing was in her blood. He dad and Jak had won first in every race so far, but she knew that Kendra had the ability to get to those mini zoomer before Jaklin even had a chance to look at them.
Jak and Daxter looked at each other in worry, maybe it was time for them to separate the two girls for a time to see if they couldn't cool down. Jak walked over and suddenly picked up Jaklin, Jak knew that Daxter wouldn't take Pat so he took he as well. Daxter picked up Dez who had started to cry. She just blew the last time that she may see Jaklin in three weeks.
("what was with that furry one?") asked Pat.
("your dad and hers fight all the time and your new and Kendra and I kind of forced you into this and not to mention you came in with Kendra's mother Keira.") Jaklin explained to her. Pat nodded her head with the new information.
("I don't see why I haven't done anything to her.") pat said sadly.
("don't worry about it, she'll come around to you just be nice to her and shell warm up to you, though I should quit talking to you now so that Kendra doesn't think that I am trying to sway you to my side of the race.") Jaklin said sourly.
("you could try but like you said I am neutral and I think that lady, Keira you said, is here to get me so ill more then likely spend the rest of the time with that Kendra girl.") pat said not sure if she was going to like what was going on or not. Jaklin just shrugged and started looking at her dad.
Keira took pat to play with the twin and Jak turned to look at Jaklin. He noticed that she was really upset about something and he needed to know what it was. He couldn't lose a race, peoples lives were on the line. He knelt down in front of the bed and looked Jaklin in the eyes.
"what's going on?" he asked her as he pulled off her pj's. Jaklin just sighed and looked away from him. He knew right away that she wasn't going to tell him anything, Jak frowned he would get it out of her if he had to resort to some drastic measures. Jak changed her diaper and put some blue jeans and a purple shirt on her. The whole time Jaklin didn't look at him, what ever was going on was big in a baby sort of way.
"Jaklin Mara, you WILL tell me what is going on I know for a fact that you and Dez do not fight, and if you were to fight it would be over something big now spit it out." Jak demanded her. Jaklin looked at him for a moment as if her were thinking about something or some way to tell him. Sighing she looked at the dry erase board.
'its nothing' she wrote on the board.
"bullshit its nothing, now talk or your going to stay in this room all day." Jak threatened her. The marker she was using jerked as if what he had said pissed her off.
'why so you can try and stop me? I'll tell you part of it but I'm not going to tell you the whole thing.' Jaklin snapped at him. Jak scrunched up his nose at that, he would get the whole story one way or another.
"start talking," Jak said.
'Kendra forced me into a bet.' Jaklin wrote and that was all she wrote. Jak sighed, how much more like him could she be? What was this be about and … wait she was fighting with Dez which means that she had to bet her friendship with Dez or something like that.
"you bet something with Dez, right?" Jak asked, the jerk of the marker told him that he was right. He sighed he had done the same thing with Daxter when he bet him against Kleiver. Jak bit his lip he needed to know what he bet was about.
"what's the bet?" Jak asked Jaklin but the only answer that he got was the marker cap clicking back onto the marker. He took that as a I'm not telling you any more than what I told you. Jak gave a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers threw his hair. Great not only dose he need to worry about racing but he needs to worry about what Jaklin is getting herself into.
Jak picked Jaklin up and walked back out to the living area. It had been decided that he and Daxter would take the girls to the Bloody Hook and have lunch, then come back and get to racing. Daxter looked at Jak wanting to know what it was that he found out but all he did was shake his head. Dez looked really sad and Jaklin wouldn't look at her. Jak and Daxter left with the girls and managed to get a good table and some food when the Blitz Pre race show came on.
"Welcome back to the G.T. Blitz show. Sadly, the network has decided in their infinitesimally small wisdom to add a co-host to my show. Humph... I can't imagine anyone outshining yours truly, but alas, please give a lukewarm welcome to my new "color" commentator as it were... Mr... eh... Pecker?" he said snidely. The red feather Monkaw popped onto the TV suddenly making Daxter growl.
"Thank you G.T. and hello to all you peoples out there watching. I'd like to thank the network for choosing me to save this anemic little show." Pecker said poking fun at Blitz.
"HA! Ha... ha... Yes, well, welcome aboard... Pecker." Blitz said as he thought about how unlucky he was at this moment. Daxter was so pissed off that he threw his cup onto the ground.
"That's it! Who's his agent? Pecker always gets the sweet gigs in these adventures." Daxter yelled at the TV. All Jak could do was put his hand over his face and slam his hand on Daxter's tail making him remember that Dez was with him and was watching him. Lest he forget what happened the night Dez said ass to her mother. They quietly went back to watching the TV.
"My first network assignment has been to investigate the rumored "super bet" on this year's big championship race. Sources say a high level underworld crime connection is involved. But sadly my sources won't return calls, and are now missing and are probably dead! But Pecker is not so easily swayed. I will uncover the truth and report my findings right here on the our show, G.T.." Pecker said with an odd smile on his face making Blitz shudder inwards.
"Of course you will. And let me just say it's gonna be SO great working with you." Blitz said with false enthusiasm.
"You to Blitz-man." Pecker said to him happily.
" Why you little bird shi…" Blitz said as he reached out and grabbed Pecker by the neck with his hands to choke the bird. Pecker cried out and the screen changed to the colored strips of the channel going threw technical difficulties. All Jak could do was shake his head, he knew that Pecker was a good source for information.
As soon as Daxter had finished his food Jak paid and they left back to the garage that they were staying in. Jak put Jaklin on the floor away from most every one so that he could say something privet to her before he left. Jak knew that Jaklin wasn't going to tell him what it was that she had to do with the bet, and he couldn't stop her.
"Jaklin I know that I cant stop you in what ever it is that you are doing, but please be careful, some things that happen to you affect me too and daddy needs to win those races." Jak said to her she looked at him.
"I pr…..m….s" she said and Jak knew what she was saying. She was promising him that she would at least try to be careful in what ever it was that she was doing. Jak bit his lip he had wanted to wait to give it to her but now may be a good time to give it to her. He reached under his shirt and pulled out the Seal of Mar and put it around her neck surprising her.
"Just remember that you are the first daughter of the House of Mar," Jak said to her he picked her up and hugged her and kissed her. He didn't know why but it felt like he was never going to see her again after this day. He shook his head and to get rid of that thought. Jak put Jaklin down and walked out of the room only pausing momentarily to look back and Jaklin who was watching him go. She smiled at him and waved knowing that he would be back in a few short hours.
Once all of the adults were away Kendra walked over to Jaklin. She had a smug grin on her face. Jaklin set herself to serious mode and stood up strait. In the last few weeks Jaklin had grown a lot, she was almost one and already a little taller then Kendra who had just turned two not long ago.
Jaklin fallowed Kendra to the area that they were going to use as a race track. There was the starting line with the two zoomers. Kendra got on to hers and Jaklin got on to the other zoomer just as Jak got back into his car at the starting line. Jaklin now wished that she had her dads goggles. It would be nice to keep the wind out of her eyes so that she could see better.
The light was red and the racers exchanged threats to each other. Jak and Jaklin were the only two that didn't say anything. Jaklin's heart started to race and the beep sound told her that the light was about ready to change colors. The light turned yellow and Jaklin and Jak got ready. The link to Jaklin may have been slightly damaged but she could still use it, Jak in a very smart move put all of his racing experience up front in his mind, he didn't know that Jaklin was using them.
Green light, both cars and zoomers took off from the starting line. Jaklin could already tell that this zoomer wasn't as taken care of and maintained as the one Kendra was on. Dez watched from the sided to afraid to hop onto Jaklin's shoulder. She felt bad about it now she could have helped Jaklin in some way.
Jak got slightly confused when things about zoomers started coming up more. He started to think that something was wrong with his head. Jaklin struggled with the first three laps of the track. The zoomer she had was hard to manipulate to do what she wanted it to do.
On the first lap she almost crashed into the wall, and Jak almost drove off of a cliff. Both had been scared soon Jak needed to force the zoomer racing out of his mind all together but it seemed that it wouldn't go away and it was making it hard for him to drive the car. Daxter was half tempted to ask him what was wrong he had an idea that it had something to do with Jaklin.
On the second lap Kendra threw out a surprise. She left a small cluster of dark eco out on the track for Jaklin to pick up. Jaklin had never absorbed straight eco on her own she had always either made it herself in her body or siphoned if off of Jak. The moment it hit her system she started having problems seeing what it was that she was doing. Jak knew that something was wrong with Jaklin as he was also having problems seeing. Jak then began to understand why now his dark side was acting up, then he knew Jaklin had absorbed some dark eco. What the hell was she doing?
On the third lap, Jaklin's zoomer was starting to lose power, and she didn't know what to do her dad never had a memory like that and she couldn't access most of the ones about zoomers because he had suppressed most of them from her. Jak was trying hard to suppress the zoomer racing memories. He didn't know why they were coming up… unless but that would be stupid of him to think because Jaklin was to small to be on a zoomer.
Jaklin had entered the last lap as Jak finished his race, the mini zoomers only went so fast. Jaklin knew she was going to lose, and she could only hear Dez saying I told you so or worse yet, she would be friends with Kendra and she would be one step closer to her ultimate goal of getting rid of her for good. Just then Jaklin's zoomer started to putter out of fuel.
("I AM Jaklin MARA FROM THE HOUSE OF Mar I WILL NOT LOSE THIS RACE!") Jaklin screamed out loud and powered the zoomer right past Kendra and to the finish line using the eco that was in her body. Some how when she yelled that Jak hear every word of it. He wasn't mad at all for some reason he was proud to hear that. He only prayed that she would win her first race.
Jaklin was so startled by the sudden power that she had that she drove the zoomer right into the side of the garage Kendra had fallen off of the other one and skinned her knee pretty bad. Jaklin slid off of the zoomer and stumbled back into the garage and back into the living area before Keira even had the chance to go look for the girls.
As Jaklin left the are she didn't know that there were two people watching her. One was a man with no hair and the other was a ghost. The ghost of Mar the first smile happily at his granddaughter, the time was going to come to where she would need to be taught how to use the white eco and he knew that it would be either up to his grandson Jak to do it or himself. He noticed the bald man in the distance and frowned, he would have to stick around a little longer to find out what was going on.
Keira only saw Jaklin sitting in the same spot that Jak had left her in. then she left to find out were all of the other kids had gone. Pat and Dez walked back into the room and walked over to Jaklin. Dez couldn't say anything but Keira came back with a crying Kendra and bandaged her knee.
("you cheated,") she said with a smug grin.
("no you cheated,") said pat making Kendra look at her.
(you made sure that there wasn't enough fuel for her to finish and rigged it so that it would be slower than yours, what you fail to remember is that Jaklin can manipulate eco so she didn't cheat.") Pat said matter of fact. Kendra got so mad she stomped off and hit her skinned knee on a sharp corner and started to cry again. Keira came and carried her off some where to coddle her.
Dez really couldn't say anything to Jaklin at the moment. She kept looking down at the ground hoping that Jaklin would ignore her. Dez had been wrong and she knew it, she should have trusted Jaklin. She was so much like her father she would never leaver a friend hanging like that and she knew this for a fact now that she has experienced it.
("don't worry about it Dez, you had every right and its more my fault because I didn't tell you about it") Jaklin said to Dez. All Dez could do was cry, pat had to roll her eyes at this.
("you don't act like a one year old Dez you act like a whiny rat.") Pat said to her.
("listen pink feather ball can it or ill show you what it means to molt") the only thing Pat could do was walk away this was on battle that she would lose right now. She would wait for another time to verbally battle it out with the little orange rat.
Jak came in quickly as Keira carried Pat out of the room so that she could be taken home by her father. Jak leaned down and picked up Jaklin. She was pale as a ghost, he could feel that Jaklin had absorbed at least three times the amount that her body was able to handle he siphoned off as much as he could from her and then healed her again. Jak then took her to their room and sat her on the bed to see just how much he had healed and what still needed to be healed.
"did you win?" Jak asked. Jaklin tipped her head wandering how he knew that she was racing.
"I heard you yelling who you were and where you were from" Jak said again and Jaklin looked down then looked up and nodded her head. Jak smiled happily at her and winked. Jak got up to leave and Jaklin tried to go with him but he put her back on the bed and held up a finger. Jak walked into the kitchen and grabbed a few bottles of soda and then snuck the last of the cheesecake. Jak brought the pilfered food and drink back in to the room.
"we need to celebrate this then don't we?" Jak asked catching Jaklin by surprise. She giggled and started writing all the details on the board for Jak to know about. Jak smiled as he read what happened. Jaklin had drank three sippy cups of soda and about ten minutes into their little party Daxter and Dez came in and celebrated with them Jaklin taught Dez how to write on the board and the four of them talked into the wee hours of the morning where both of the girls passed out with big smiles on their faces. Both girls had made up during the little party and were friends again, thought they would have still been friends even if Jaklin had lost the race.