(Materlizes, a smile visible beneath his cowl)
Hello everyone, good to see you all and I'm glad to not have been blasted off the map by Wilma. Aside from that, I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of Advent Children, and I must say that is one of the most awesome video game movie flicks of all time.
Also, I have finally seen scenes from the end of Jak-X, which has made me very happy, though I won't give anything away.
Now then, to those of you kind enough to review:
Saiorse- I'll keep your motivation in mind, and I hope that you find this chapter to be worth your while. Hope you enjoy it
Philoworm- I'd loan you Kage, but he's currently assisting EyesLikeSilk in her crusade to destroy all things Mary-Sue, and making quite a bloodbath of it, if the screams and security camera footage is any indication…Don't worry about Jak's darker powers, he'll unleash them very, very soon. Not to mention that he'll be picking up the modified Mar's Armor in chapter six, which will definitely make him more dangerous than ever…
GoodMourningBeautiful2005- Here's the next update, hope you like it, and I hope that you found my advice somewhat helpful.
Meowen- Glad you liked it, but I have to stress that Valthos isn't an OC, its just Damas in disguise, as with Jak remembering his past, things would get awkward fast. Hope you like the chapter.
Xeno-Freak- Good to hear from you again, and I am glad that I have been able to please. I hope you like this chapter, and please update your own story soon, it is also proving to be a rather entertaining tale, and I can't wait to see your version of Errol unleashed.
MariaShadow- Glad you liked the fight scene, there about the only thing that I can do worth a flip. As for Damas revealing himself to Jak, it won't be for a while, Sig has to give him the 411 first, and then he has to work up the nerve, if you catch my drift.
Farr2rich- Glad that you liked the chapter, and I apologize for the sappiness of the romance, probably due to the lack thereof in my own life…at any rate, I hope that you find this chapter enjoyable, and that I was able to be helpful in my review of your own story. Best of luck to you in that venture, and update soon.
YamiTenshi14- A scythe? Thank you! I have an as of yet unrevealed villain who was in need of a weapon, and I think that a Scythe, or a modification of one, would serve nicely. (bows in humility). That said, I hope you like this chapter, and that it was worth the wait.
Air of Mystery- So you're not the only one to think that was a bit strange, good. I've made some change ups, so don't worry. As for the projectiles, those were supposed to be phosphorus, tracer rounds, but I'm not sure if I did it right. Along a similar line, the gunblade is a weapon from Final Fantasy 8, and Damas' version is essentially just a rifle barrel planted into a broadsword blade, with a rather unusual hilt. It's a surprisingly lightweight weapon and can even be sued effectively with one hand. (if you'd like, I could e-mail you a round picture of what it looked like)
Light-Eco-Sage- Thanks for the vote of confidence, and if you ever have any advice to give me, please share. You seem to have a good grasp of the whole romance deal, which is beyond my comprehension for the most part. That said, update your own stories soon, please. (Have you managed to beat Jak-X yet? If so, please tell me what happens. (crosses fingers))
SilverEyes18- Glad you liked the chapter, and worry not, for Veger will indeed be thrashed many times in the future (the next one will probably revolve around Jak scarring the crap outta him after he meets with Seem). Don't know about killing him, but I think he might get 'drafted' towards the end, if you know what I mean.
CISELKANEO2- Thank you very much for the base building gear and the assests, they will likely prove useful in my bid for world domination…or at least putting my younger brother in his place. Don't worry, Jak and Keira will get back together, and Veger will get his comeuppance. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
animedragongirl- Thanks for the help with the ending, and I'm happy you got a laugh out of Big Box Mart (it is amusing in a sad but true sort of way) Good luck with Jak X, and I once might be able to get the next chapter to you by Saturday. Heavens, how I wish my teachers would lay off for a bit…
DarkStarPhoenix- Sorry if Damas forking over Kitetsu was OOC, hopefully I'll be able to explain that in a few chapters. As for your question on the Eco types, I think Light or Green would heal, Red or Blue would do nil, and Dark or Yellow (if Channeled) would result in severe pain/death. Thanks for the Veger Torture idea, I think I know just how to implement that. (bows)
Jakxkeira4ever- Glad that you liked the story and the romance. Hope you also enjoyed reading Cyrex's work, as the guy really didn't get much recognition for how good he was. To that end, I hope you like this chapter, and please let me know what you think.
Exardas- Thanks for the vote of confidence and I am glad that you liked the blood bath. I also hope that you find this chapter to your liking and that you update Assassin's Secret soon. (I can't wait for the new version of DMC 3 to come out, the images of being able to play as Vergil will not leave my mind!)
Evil Manic- Thank you once again for the weapon ideas, but could you go into a little more detail, I've never had the chance to play those games, though there will be some weapons from M.G.S. making an appearance, as this chapter will reveal. Thanks in advance.
Hybrid- Glad that you liked it, action at least. I apologize at the romance, its never been something that I've been very good at, would you have any advice for someone who desperately needs to improve in that area?
Crazed Demon- Thanks for the vote of confidence, and I hope that this chapter is worth the week long wait.
Yuuzora- If you think Jak's fight's are complicated now, wait till he starts using Juyo again. (plus Tarath will teach him a hand to hand combat trick or two when he finally re-enters the picture, not to mention the 'changes' I've made to Mar's Armor will hopefully spice things up a bit.) Hope your grand parents are alright, as I think that Katrina showed us all that you don't have to be in the immediate path to be in danger.
ShadowGhostInc.- I'm glad that you liked Kage, as it always did bug me that everyone seems to think that just because he looks menacing, that he's this blood lust driven killing machine. (if they would bother to take a look, a lot of guys in comic books and the like look rather menacing, but are decent people, take Night Crawler for example). That said, I hope you like this chapter, and I'm not sure about kicking the butt of J.P., as waltzing up and attempting to plant my foot into the rear of a raptor doesn't sound like a healthy choice of action…
SRHumphrey727- Glad that you liked the work thus far, and if you have any advice, don't hesitate to share it. Plus, in a manner of speaking I think I manage to work the whole Sig relative deal into the story, though the person in question will likely be more of a little sister than a daughter…
Lunatic Pandora1- Sorry about updating behind your back, and I hope that you aren't sore about it. (chuckles nervously while scratching head) I also wanted to take a more 'primitive' approach with the way the arena was constructed, if you catch my drift, as that's what Spargus appeared to be in relations to Haven. Hope you don't mind, and may this chapter be worth the wait.
jaklover123- Glad you liked the story, and to answer your questions: 1. It's a really big hood (think like the Jedi/Sith hoods from Star Wars) 2. Jak's hair is still long, and will remain that way, though it will change in its style with the next chapter. 3. Purple means he's about to unleash some serious Dark Eco Channeling (like his Dark Mist for example) and Red means that Kage is pissed and about to make an appearance. 4. I was going for a bit of realism, no offense to Dax, but the way that Jak leaps, spins, and flips in his manner of fighting would make it impossible for Dax to hold on, even if he did manage to avoid getting sliced up with the way Jak's blades are flying around. Don't worry though, Daxter will play an important role in the final battle (one of the Fallen Precursor commanders will die by his hand is about all I can tell you)
Beloved Rose- (places rose in a vase) Thank you for your support, I've always had problems being confident in my work. I'm also glad that you liked reading about Keira and Jak's relationship, and the butt whooping that she unleashed upon Veger, and rest assured it will not be the last time that she hurts him. Also, I was wondering if you had any advice on making Tarath appear more 'human' if you will, as he will have a very large role to play in things. (several chapters will be him having flashbacks, to try to flesh him and the other major Precursors out, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to make him 'liked' by the readers if you know what I mean.)
Wizard Surreal- I'm going to try and get Keira and Jak back together before he gets back to Haven, probably after his little confrontation in the arena with Sig. As for the rating going up, don't think so, I can't write those sort of scenes, but if you know anyone who would like to try, they're welcome to. Any romance advice? And I hope you like the latest installment.
gamehead64- (Looking up at the sky) So that's what that was…was afraid the sun had gone supernova for a moment. Not really going to be a 'light' personality in this story, though Kage will have several conversations with Keira while she's in her own Ascended Form, so don't worry about that. Hope you like this chapter, as our favorite demon makes his new debut in a smashing way.
To those who read but did not review, I hope that you have found this tale to be worth your while thus far, and that it may one day inspire you to write your own stories, if only to show me how its done.
Lawyers: after thirty nine chapters in two stories, I think we have established the fact that I do no own this series or anything in it, so leave me alone.
Special thanks to animedragongirl for once again beta reading this story and removing all the glaring errors from it.
Warning: disturbingly high amount of influence from the Mad Max movies in this chapter, just to warn you.
&
Round em up
A loud banging shook Daxter out a pleasant dream. It was one that he'd been having a lot lately, and he grumbled as the fantasy dissolved around him. It was always the same, involving him, miraculously restored to his elven form, Tess, some candles, and a nice secluded location.
He sighed as he saw Jak, who was apparently already awake despite the fact that the sun had yet to crest the horizon.
The ottsel let his mind go back to his dreams. Tess, the blond elf occupied his thoughts a good deal of the time lately. They were very open in their relationship with one another, and she really didn't seem to care that he was a foot and a half tall furry rodent with a fairly high pitched voice who had this annoying tendency to cower when danger drew nigh, she saw through all of that, saw him for what he really was: an honest and true friend.
But that didn't help him feel any better in the long run. He still felt…inadequate at times, like he wasn't everything that he could have been, everything that he should have been. Ever since he'd fallen into that pit of Dark Eco, which was, what, nearly four years ago? Gods, how the time flew. Ever since then, he'd been mocked and ridiculed by others. Granted, Jak, Keira, and the girl he loved, barring their first encounter with one another, had never poked fun at him. However, there were a great deal more that did so, Samos, Torn, Jinx, and Ashelin. Now he did realize that they probably didn't understand that they were inflicting some pain upon him, well, Samos did, but then he never really seemed to have liked him in the first place.
After all, when they made some verbal jab or remark about him, what did he do? He merely laughed it off and refused to let it show, hiding the agony behind another lame joke or charlatan boast.
Heh, everyone thought him so happy and carefree, but what would they think if they saw past that, beyond the mask that he always put up and the disguises he hid behind? What would they think if they saw him in his true light?
"Come on, Dax." Jak said abruptly, yanking the ottsel out of his angst filled thoughts.
He groaned and stretched while his elven comrade equipped his blade and slipped his armored coat on. Once the furry rodent was certain that he'd gotten all the kinks out of his system, he hopped down, and began following after his friend. Once he reached the doorway outside, he finally saw who had come knocking at this ungodly hour.
It was Kleiver and Seth, the two of them both carrying weapons and toting some makeshift armor. The larger of the two Wastelanders tossed Jak hunk of what was apparently dried meat of some kind, and he caught it with ease, before tearing off a rather nice sized piece and passing it back to Daxter, who promptly fell upon it like a rabid animal.
"So what exactly is it that we are doing?" the dark elf asked, pulling his hood up and hiding his face in the shadows of the cowl.
"You're heading out with Valthos and a few more of us into the Wasteland." Kleiver replied in his accented voice, adjusting his grip on his rifle, which Jak only now noticed had a blade of some kind on the bottom side of the stock.
"What for?" Daxter inquired, his voice muffled slightly by the food in it. "We just got yanked out of that place, so pardon me if I'm a little hesitant to go back in."
"We need to grab some more leaper lizards from the desert, give our breeding stock a little more variety, alright, fur ball?" Kleiver said.
The two of them remained silent after that, as they remembered the strange reptiles that they had seen around the city of Spargus, acting like a combination of transportation, beast of burden and as a predator to keep the local kangarat population in check and out of Kleiver's stocks. In a way, they almost reminded the duo of the flut-flut birds that they had ridden at Sandover.
Jak's face grew dark as he remembered the place where he had spent most of his life. Sandover had been a peaceful, costal fishing village, where not much ever happened aside from the ever occasional Lurker raid. Even with those attacks, compared to the places he'd been since, it would almost seem a paradise on earth, and Jak had always considered it his home, though he had been starting to develop something of an attachment to Haven before this fiasco had happened.
Unfortunately, he had been the driving force behind its destruction as well, when he, Keira, Samos, and Daxter had activated a Precursor Rift Gate that they had reconstructed, and unleashed Kor and company upon the hapless village. They'd also hurled themselves into the future, or perhaps it was still the past in his case, as his younger self had still been under the care of the Underground resistance movement in Haven.
He'd later found out what had happened to the place from Keira and her adoptive father, as they'd gone to a shrine set up in the Dead Town area. It was a memorial to the massacre that had occurred there, mourning those who had been mercilessly slaughtered by the Hora-quan.
With a sigh, he shook the thoughts from his head; there was little he could do about that now, anyway.
Instead he kept his eyes peeled, taking in as much of the city as he could while they walked back to the entrance, next to which were the garages and the strange land bound vehicles that the Wastelanders relied upon. However, one thought abruptly struck him.
"Why I am heading out with your boss so soon? I wouldn't think I would merit such an 'honor.'" He asked.
"Your performance in the battle arena the other day." Kleiver said, before shaking his head. "I'll admit, those were some pretty sweet moves you pulled, I haven't seen fighting like that in a long time."
'He hasn't seen anything yet.' Kage growled with a hint of pride towards both himself and his host, which resulted in Jak giving an inward smirk.
"Even Valthos was impressed, mate," the quartermaster continued, oblivious to the conversation taking place in the dark elf's mind, "and believe you me, that's something that doesn't happen very often, and its probably why you're coming with us, cause we might need your 'talents.'"
"You expecting trouble then?" Jak inquired as he finished off his meal.
"Out in the Wasteland, you always need to expect trouble." Seth remarked, not bothering to look back over his shoulder. "It's teeming with Marauders, Metal Heads, and those sandstorms we have aren't anything to sneeze at either."
"You have Metal Heads out here?" Daxter said with a gulp.
"The bigger ones like the Torresques, Guardians, and Metapedes." Kleiver replied. "They can put up with the heat and the dehydration longer than the other species, and they give us trouble from time to time."
"Eeep." the smallest member of the group said.
Jak couldn't exactly blame his diminutive partner for being so worried, as the three aforementioned subspecies were about as dangerous as living beings got on this world. They had only encountered Metapedes once before, and even then it had been just one, though the chase that followed had been hair raising enough that neither had a desire for a repeat of it.
Torresques were the largest 'normal' species of the Hora-quan. The dinosaur styled Metal Heads being on height with a six story building even when one did not count the massive howitzer strapped to their backs, and while Jak had never had to tango with one of them, they'd had a field day trying to keep the Shield Wall up with dozens of them bombarding the crap out of it. Not to mention the stories that Torn and Jinx had told them of the slaying entire platoons of elven troops with single well placed shots.
Guardians were much the same, though they resembled giant scarab beetles and could fly, and used a Dark Eco 'breath weapon' to wreak havoc from above. Fortunately, while heavily armored, they couldn't maneuver very quickly, and a concentrated assault from a group of Hellcat cruisers would send one to Death's domain rather swiftly. Unfortunately, no such gunships were available out here.
Jak merely prayed they didn't run into any of them, as while he was certain that he and Kage could take a few, he wasn't certain how many it would take before he and his guardian devil were overpowered, and if there was one thing he'd learned about the Metal Heads, it was that they loved to travel in packs.
The dark elf shook his head abruptly, clearing his mind as they made their way towards the Spargus City gates, and the garages located there
"So, tell me," Jak began, looking over the rather large collection of vehicles they had going here, "what exactly powers these things and why do you keep em on the ground?"
"Ever see what a heap of sand does to a repulsor lift?" was the reply he got from Seth as the scout readied his bike.
"No," the dark elf said with a shake of his head.
"Well, let's just say that it ain't pretty." Kleiver said from somewhere in the back, throwing his two credits in. "These dune buggies might not be as fast or as flashy as those zoomers you blokes have over in Haven, but they're better suited for desert environments."
"And what about your juice?" Daxter enquired, raising and eyebrow. "Cause these motors don't look like any Eco processors that I've ever seen."
"That would be because they don't run off Eco, it's too hard to get out here." the larger Wastelander replied.
"Then what gets em moving?" the ottsel persisted, crossing his arms over his chest.
In response, Seth walked over towards one of the garage walls and pulled something down that almost looked like a periscope. The desert dwelling elf then motioned for Jak and his compadre to come over and look through it. Uncertain of exactly what he would find the Ascended Channeler peeked through, and what he saw surprised him.
It was some sort of underground…animal farm, or something of the like. Somehow, these Wastelanders had managed to get their hands of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Hip-Hogs, and they were being attended to by people he assumed were captured Marauders, if the catwalks filled with heavily armed guards were to be any indication of their former allegiance.
"You guys got a ranching operation going on here or something?" the dark elf asked in a confused tone as Daxter hopped up on his shoulder to get a look of his own, his face forming into a mask of disgust a moment later.
"We don't eat them." Kleiver said with a chuckle that made him look even more hideous than normal.
"Then what do you use them for?" Daxter asked, his face scrunched up as though he could smell the animals all the way up in the garage.
"Hip-hog waste gives off a high energy, explosive gas called methane," he explained with a grin, "and we've learned how to refine it and combine it with some other chemicals to make it into a more stable, liquid fuel." He said, before gesturing around. "Everything you see here, the lights, the vehicles, everything, is powered by it."
"And here I was hoping that the only smell I was going to have to put up with was 'new car fragrance number twelve.'" Daxter muttered with a shake of his head.
"And your weapons?" Jak inquired as he ignored his friend's antics, still somewhat curious about the strange guns that they carried, and had mounted on their vehicles.
In answer to his question, Seth unslung his rifle from his back, and removing the clip that held the strange ammunition, before fishing out one of the projectiles that it fired. He then tossed it to the dark elf, who snatched it out of the air with practiced ease.
"It's called a bullet." the lanky Wastelander told him. "It consists of a fine, highly refined explosive powder within the casing and the round which is made of lead." he then brought his hands up. "When you pull the trigger, the round in the firing chamber is struck from behind by a pin." He then demonstrated with his hands, smacking one into the other. "This ignites the powder which shoots the round out of the casing, and sends it right into the poor sucker you got lined up in your crosshairs."
"Interesting." Jak muttered, before throwing the round back to Seth, who quickly reloaded it.
'They've had to have been here a long time to have such an advanced operation going on.' Kage mused abruptly, breaking the silence that he had been in for so long. 'I wonder then why we were not aware of them before now.'
'Well, if Valthos' story about who and what they are is true, Haven's probably tried to wash their hands of these people.' Jak told his guardian devil.
'I see.' the oni responded, resting his chin upon his hand as he slipped back into his thoughts and faded from view in the dark elf's mind.
Thinking about Haven City, and the people in it, drew the Ascended Channeler's sight back down to the ring that he had on his finger, and he was glad that his hood hid his face from the two Wastelanders as he ran his finger across the Precursor runes inlaid in the band, suddenly wishing that Keira was here by his side, wishing that he could stare into her emerald eyes and run his hands through her aqua colored hair, wanting nothing more than to simply hold her in his arms.
"Nice ring you got there, mate," Kleiver observed, bringing him out of his musings, "that a family heirloom or something?"
"You know, Kleiver," came a new voice, and everyone turned to see Valthos come walking in through the garage door, "somehow, the fact that you don't recognize a wedding band when you see one doesn't surprise me."
"Hey!" the large Wastelander replied, his tone one of indignity. "I could get any girl I wanted, thank you very much. They're practically fighting each other to get at me."
"In your dreams and in their nightmares, lardo." Daxter remarked cheekily.
"Watch it, you little rodent," Kleiver growled back, baring his teeth, "or you'll find yourself as the main course of me next meal!"
"You wouldn't want him." Seth said as he checked a few things over on his bike. "He's just skin and bones, Kleiv, not even worth the effort."
"I'm certain he'd be edible when buttered and filleted just right." the Aussie elf countered, eyeing the ottsel with a look that reminded him all too well of Krew.
Valthos merely shook his head and rolled his eyes, before refocusing his attention upon Jak.
"One thing does puzzle me, exile." he stated matter of factly. "Aren't you a little young to be getting hooked up with someone. I mean you're what, eighteen?"
"Almost twenty." Jak countered, glaring from underneath his hood. "And if you'd been through as much as I had in the past four years, you wouldn't be surprised about my actions."
"What do you mean?" the Sand King inquired.
"I've stared Death in the face and walked away more times than any one person has a right to." the dark elf stated, letting his alien eyes bore into the soul of the Wastelander ruler. "When you're walking the line between living and dying, you learn after a while to treasure what you have today, 'cause you know there might not be a tomorrow."
"You do have the eyes of someone who has stared the Grim Reaper in the face and walked away." Valthos concurred, matching his stare. "And I wonder what a young townie such as yourself could have been through to do that."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." the Ascended Channeler replied, turning around and walking towards the rear of the garage, where Kleiver was readying a second bike that he assumed was for him. "But let's just say it's more than you've ever had to deal with."
"You assume much, exile." Valthos said to himself, his voice laced with pain and sorrow.
The Sand King closed his eyes for a brief moment, before heading over to the Slam Dozer, mounting up and getting the massive vehicle ready while a few more Wastelanders came in and readied a containment transport for the leaper lizards.
They arrived at their destination about an hour later, which the dark elf was surprised to see was apparently the ruins of some sort of town. Instantly, Jak realized why the creatures would congregate here, as the thick stone walls of the old structures would provide ideal protection against the razor winds of the desert, and they would also provide food, as smaller animals would doubtless reside here for the same reasons.
"What is this place?" asked Seth, looking over to the lanky Wastelander.
"It used to be our home before the Marauders showed up and started causing trouble." he replied somberly. "After that, we had to find a more defensible location to reside in, because as you can see, this place doesn't even have a wall to keep the Metal Heads out."
"Who exactly are the Marauders?" the dark elf inquired as he stared out over the ruins.
"They were once part of us," Seth responded bitterly, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "But about fifty years ago, they split off from us, and they've been giving us grief ever since."
"I noticed you'd made slaves out of a few of them." Jak said abruptly, a very noticeable amount of distaste in his voice.
"You wouldn't think like that if you'd seen what they'd done to the Wastelanders that they captured." Seth shot back, anger in his tone. "The Marauders' are scum, they're little more than beasts, and their leader's even worse."
"And you haven't tried to wipe them out yet because…" Daxter asked, motioning for the Wastelander to continue.
"Because they outnumber us nearly four to one." he growled. "And for his barbaric ways, Scourge is still cunning. Their stronghold is built out on an island in the middle of an oasis about twenty miles from here, and we don't have a means to get past the drawbridges they've got."
"So you basically just sit here and let them attack you whenever they want?" Jak replied incredulously, arching an unseen eyebrow.
"They've attacked us more times than I'd care to recall." Seth answered with a nod. "But we've managed to turn em back every time." He then pulled out his gun, which Jak had learned was a semi automatic sniper rifle, a 'PSG-1' as it had been termed. "I've personally managed to send about eight of the bastards straight to hell." He replied with a smile, before bringing the rifle up and looking down the scope.
Behind them, the Slam Dozer and the transport vehicle were just starting to pull up, having finally caught up with the two scouting bikes, which Jak had learned were officially named 'Sidewinders,' after a type of desert viper that could move rapidly over the dunes. As soon as the command vehicle came to a stop, Valthos hopped off while Kleiver remained behind in the swiveling gun turret, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of trouble, Marauder or otherwise.
"What do you see, Seth?" the Wastelander ruler inquired.
"The usual, chief," he replied, not looking away from his scope, "there're tracks down there, by the looks of it, we could have as many as twenty leaper lizards running around the ruins."
"Excellent." Valthos remarked, an unseen grin gracing his face as he pulled out a comm. unit. "Everyone get into positions."
A few more light vehicles raced out of the back of the massive transport vehicle, heading out and circling around the ruined town until they were covering every likely exit. The plan was simple; Jak and Seth would head down into the place as their bikes were more maneuverable. The noise would spook the leapers out of hiding and get them on the run. From there, they would herd them towards the outer regions of the ruins, where the other Wastelanders would nail them with tranquilizer darts, which were filled with a paralyzing agent that had been made from the juice of one of the kinds of cactuses found out in the desert.
"You ready for this?" Seth inquired, looking to both Jak and Daxter.
In response, both of them simply grinned. An instant later, they revved up their Sidewinders, and shot down towards the ruins, their engines screaming and echoing off the buildings, sending the leapers out into the streets with frightened shrieks.
The operation was executed smoothly, and capturing the leapers, about eighteen in all, had taken no more than half an hour. During that time period, Jak had been amazed by the things he had seen some of the Wastelander dune buggies do when one of them managed to get past the ring of sentries. From the nitro jet boosters to one strange green one that had the ability to leap a good thirty feet into the air, they were unbelievable. Keira would have had the time of her life taking these vehicles apart and tinkering with them.
The thought of his soul mate brought another wave of pain to his heart, and he visibly flinched. He sighed wearily, and Daxter, carefully resting upon the armor pauldron of his right shoulder, knew instantly what was on his friend's mind.
"Don't worry, old buddy," he said, giving the Ascended Channeler a comforting pat, "she'll be just fine, you wait and see. After all, don't forget what she did to those Metal Heads in Haven Forrest."
"How could I forget that?" the dark elf responded with a bittersweet smile.
Through thick and thin, she'd been there for him, had never given up on him, even when he had given up on himself. In the end, that had proven to be his salvation, when she had defended him in the Tomb of Mar, fighting off a literal manifestation of his hatred, and with Daxter's aid, helped him to find his balance.
"You did good today, exile."
Shaken out of his thoughts and reminiscing, Jak turned to see Valthos staring at him, a look of respect in his eyes.
"You can drive one of those exceptionally well." he remarked.
"I was a part time racer back in Haven." the dark elf responded. "Being pumped full of Dark Eco did give me a few advantages, and enhanced reflexes was one of them."
"Tell me more about these…injections." Valthos asked, his tone filled with curiosity.
He looked up at Daxter, who simply shrugged, and Jak thought it over for a moment or two, before deciding that it was perhaps best to tell his story to the Sand King.
"I'd just come back to Haven City after…a long time." He began, the memories of everything flashing through his mind. "Praxis had been tipped off by someone about what I was, and he had his men pick me up." He then looked the cloaked elf in the eyes once more. "He pumped me and about a hundred and eighty other test subjects full of the stuff, trying to turn us into bio weapons that he could use to turn the tide in the war with the Metal Heads. I was the only one to survive, thanks to my…heritage, if you know what I mean."
"And I thought that murder was the worst of his crimes." Valthos growled. "The world is better off now that he's in hell!"
"Do you even have any idea how he died?" the dark elf replied incredulously, though he was somewhat curious as to how news of the event might have reached the Wastelander's ears.
"No, and I don't particularly care!" Was the snarled reply.
"He took a Cloaker blade meant for his daughter." Jak finished.
"So, it seems as though there was a small shred of nobility left in him." The Sand King remarked with a sarcastic clapping of his hands.
"There was more than a shred." the Ascended Channeler responded. "He died trying to save people's lives, which was what he'd been trying to do from the beginning."
"Are you defending his actions?" Valthos inquired, his tone icy and venomous.
"Don't start that stuff with me, Valthos." Jak responded with a completely humorless grin. "I suffered a lot at Praxis' hands. I lost my family, my home, and my humanity. But the whole time that he was doing those things, he thought that he was doing it for the greater good." Jak paused, remembering his mother's smiling face briefly. "In the end, he realized his error, and he died trying to make up for it."
"Do you really think redemption for such atrocities is possible?" the cloaked elf replied with disbelief.
"I'd like to think so." Jak said with a nod. "I won't go into all the details, but I had a little spiritual trial a few months back, and I saw within myself the possibility to become worse than Praxis ever was, and I know how easy it is to start down that path. I also know it's not the easiest thing in the world to pull yourself out of, so I commend him for that."
Valthos remained silent, his eyes boring into the dark elf, before muttering something unintelligible under his breath and trudging away.
Or rather, he started to when gunfire suddenly split the air, coming from the other side of a large sand dune.
In an instant, both elves were dashing up the dune, trying to see what was going on. They crested the dune a few seconds later, and let out gasps as a roar split the air.
Seth had headed out a few minutes earlier to check something out, and it seems as if he'd found what he'd been looking for. Unfortunately, what he'd found had turned out to be a trio of Torresque Metal Heads, all of which were currently chasing after him, their huge legs and wide feet helping them to keep up with the Wastelander's scouting bike.
One of them lunged downward, its massive jaws agape in an attempt to finish Seth off. However, the Wastelander saw the shadow that came over him, and swerved off to one side, narrowly avoiding the attack as the beast's maw clamped shut. Another one then did something that seemed impossible given its size: it leaped in front of his new path, coming down hard with an earth shaking thud. It tried to swipe him with its tail, only to find that he was once again able to evade.
Skillful though he was, both elves were quick to realize that Seth was in deep trouble, as the Sidewinder was only equipped with a pair of forward facing machine guns, which lacked the armor penetrating capacity necessary to tear through the thick plate-like hides that these beasts had. Thus, Valthos was swift to order the other Wastelanders into attack positions, all the while scrambling back towards his own vehicle, knowing that the Slam Dozer's heavy weapons would be able to bring the behemoths down. However, as Jak saw them mobilizing, he shook his head.
'They won't reach him in time.' Kage observed, a snarl upon his demonic visage.
'Looks like I'm going to have to turn you loose a little sooner than I thought.' Jak concurred as his eyes flashed red and Dark Eco lightning coursed over his body.
Daxter, knowing what that meant, leapt off his friend's arm and scrambled backwards, knowing that the Angel of Death was coming.
Jak screamed in agony as a sphere of absolute darkness enveloped him. As the cry reached the ears of the Wastelanders, they turned and stared, their eyes wide with a rarity among them: fear. The cries became roars, and an instant later, the sphere vanished, revealing Kage, in all his ferocity.
The oni reared up to his full height, and let out a feral battle scream a moment later. It echoed through the dunes, so loud and powerful that even the Metal Heads heard it, and stopped their pursuit of Seth to look up and see what made the racket.
What they saw was a very irate Dark Eco demon taking to the air and drawing a transformed Kitetsu from the scabbard on its back, its blade dark as night and the runes glowing vibrantly. For the moment, they forgot about the Wastelander, as they recognize the being that had destroyed their leader, and with their own battle cries, rushed at the oni, launching a few howitzer shots for good measure.
Kage blasted forward as well, the strange, continuous after-image following him as it always did. His wings pumping, the Dark Eco demon easily evaded the blasts of Dark Eco, not that they would have really harmed him in the first place, and reached his adversaries in a matter of seconds. He then dove underneath the claws of the first Torresque, summoning a shadow blade and swinging both it and Kitetsu back around as he passed. The Precursor forged blade and its compatriot proved to be more than a match for the armored hide of the monstrous Hora-quan, and it screamed in agony as two of its fingers became separated form the rest of its hand.
Now very much infuriated, and rightfully so, the Metal Head whipped around at a speed that was startling considering its bulk, lashing out with a closed up fist. Kage merely folded up his wings, and let gravity take its course, dropping him safely beneath the range of the attack. The oni then shot forward, balling himself up as he reached the behemoth's chest and flipping forward, bringing both weapons down at forty five degree angles at his foe. Again, they pierced the creature's armor and bit deep into its flesh, going so far as to damage its ribcage to a slight degree.
From there, it was relatively simply to take advantage of the creature's rage and fly down to its stomach region, where the weapons tore into its guts as the Dark Eco demon shot across its underbelly at fantastic speed. This resulted in a disembowelment of a truly grand scale, and watching from their position, the Wastelanders knew that the buzzards would be eating well today.
As the first of the monsters fell to the ground, sending sand and dust flying into the air as it did so, Seth finally made it back to the rest of his comrades, and spun his bike around, panting heavily and looking back as Kage flew up and away from the remaining two Torresques.
"Do you think we should help him?" he inquired, looking over to Valthos, whose eyes suddenly widened.
The lanky Wastelander glanced back towards the conflict to see what it was that was grabbing the attention of his leader, and his own eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
Kage hovered in the air, Kitetsu floating at his side. Gripped in both of his hands and in the finger like extensions on the top of his wings, were spheres of Channeled Dark Eco. With a battle cry, the oni sent all four of them streaking in at one of the enormous Metal Heads. They connected a second later, two on the chest, and two more plowing right into its head. The massive Torresque screamed in agony, reeling backwards and bringing its hands up to its ruined and now blinded face. As it did so, the oni landed, and sheathed Kitetsu, before letting dark energy crackle and pulse over his hands.
He brought his hands together, one on top of the other, his palms thrust outward, before unleashing the pent up shadow flare, as they had decided to call it. The attack, a beam shaped blast of Channeled Dark Eco, smashed into the chest of the Metal Head, nearly ripping it apart, so great was the subsequent explosion.
"He seems to have everything under control." Valthos remarked, shaking his head slightly.
The attack left a sole remaining Hora-quan to be dealt with. Despite their massive size, the Torresques were not the mindless Grunts and Drones that made up the cannon fodder of the Metal Head army, and this one was smart enough to realize that charging in blindly, trying to swat this thing as if it were some sort of large fly, would be a fast track to getting itself killed.
And so it remained where it was, its large eyes staring at its considerably smaller adversary, as it tried to think of some way to bring Kage down. Thus far, the Dark Eco demon had proven itself to be more than capable of dodging anything that might be thrown at it and it honestly couldn't think of anything that it could use to try and tip the odds in its favor. Thus, it decided that a strategic withdrawal from the immediate area would probably be in its best interest.
Unfortunately, the massive Metal Head made its first and last mistake then: it turned tail to run, presenting Kage with a juicy target that would not be capable of firing back. Not helping it was the fact that the honor bound devil had never forgotten what had happened to Sandover, the innocents that had been slaughtered by the Torresque's fellows. Thus, the oni was not about to let even one of these things flee from it.
He shot forward, his wings pumping rapidly, and landed upon the massive howitzer built into the Hora-quan's back, letting his clawed and very much prehensile feet latch onto the metal of the gun. Then, with rather astounding speed, Kage proceeded to dash up the length of the cannon, running all the way to the end and leaping off of the barrel, coming down upon the back of the Torresque's head, and letting his feet latch onto it as well. The creature, sensing its doom, roared once again, and made a futile attempt to shake the oni loose from his perch. However, though he was bucked about to a rather harsh degree, Kage stood firm, and with a growl of his own, thrust both katanas down sideways up to their hilts, the edges of the blades facing inward to where they were positioned rather like a pair of overgrown scissors.
"Death comes for you!" He snarled in his distorted voice, before yanking on both of the handles, causing the four and a half foot long weapons to tear into the beast's spine, and sever the brain stem from the rest of the body.
The Torresque's head shot up suddenly, and it opened its mouth to scream, but could find no air, and its world went dark as the ground rushed up to greet it.
The Dark Eco demon detached himself and took to the air just before the behemoth hit the desert sands, creating a small storm of whirling particles and dust. Kage looked out over his handwork, before letting out a small snort of contempt.
'Nice job.' Jak remarked, staring at the corpses as best he could and admiring the work his alter ego had done in a few short minutes.
'They were hardly a challenge.' Kage remarked mentally, dispelling the shadow blade in his left hand and stabbing the physical twin into the corpse, letting it drain the Dark Eco from within before he sheathed it.
'After Kor, I'm not really sure what we could consider a challenge.' the dark elf shot back with a chuckle.
'True enough, my friend,' Kage responded with a small hint of a smile, 'I only fear what the Wastelanders will think now that you have revealed me.'
'Knowing how Valthos values strength above all else, he'll probably consider this a plus.' Jak replied in a comforting tone of voice.
With that, the both of them fell silent, and the oni jetted over to where the Wastelanders and Daxter stood, awe written upon the faces of the former, a knowing smirk upon the latter.
The Dark Eco demon landed gracefully upon the sand, his hellfire eyes looking down upon the desert dwelling elves as he folded his wings around himself like a cloak. Several of them, Kleiver and Seth included, exchanged uneasy glances amongst themselves, and a few even went so far as to take an involuntary step away from the oni. However, Valthos stood his ground, and matched the creature stare for stare.
"You continue to amaze us, exile." He remarked, crossing his arms and looking the demon over.
"And now you know why getting on my host's bad side is such an unwise idea." Kage said, his distorted voice echoing amongst them, getting him a bemused look from the Sand King. "Let those corpses be a warning to you, a foreshadowing of what your fate will be should you attempt to betray him…"
"Your host?" Valthos inquired, his tone full of confusion.
"I am not quite the same being as Jak." the oni explained, cocking his head slightly to one side. "Merely a separate consciousness spawned from him, the details surrounding which I shall not go into."
"Awfully eloquent for something that just turned a trio of Torresques into mince meat." Kleiver observed from up in the gun turret of the Slam Dozer, which earned him a glance from the creature.
"Make no mistake," Kage replied, a fanged smile playing upon the edges of his muzzle, "I am a creature breed for combat and made for war, but I am not some mindless killing machine. Nor are either of us tools to be cast aside once you no longer have a use for us."
"You don't have to worry about that…" Valthos replied, before trailing off.
"Kage." the creature responded, correctly guessing that what the Wastelander ruler had been looking for was a name.
"Kage," he continued, "loyalty to ones comrades is something we also value highly out here, and betrayal is a crime that the perpetrator pays dearly for, I can assure you."
The Dark Eco demon's remained silent for a few moments, opting to lean down into the Sand King's face, letting the cloaked elf watch his own covered visage be reflected back at him from the oni's slitted, crimson eyes.
"We shall see." Kage growled.
He stepped back, body shrinking back into his host's, pulling the hood over his face as he did. He turned and walked toward where the vehicle he had driven over in had been hastily parked
"If that's all?" Jak called from there without turning to face the group.
"I told you not to piss him off," Daxter commented to Valthos as he hopped off the rock he'd been using as a perch of sorts and made his way after his friend.
&
Okay, Kage was unleashed, Metal Heads were destroyed, and another chapter was finished (prays the chapter didn't stink as badly as he thought). I hope you liked this one, and please let me know of any ideas you may have. Constructive criticisms, comments, flames, and any other form of input is welcome and very much appreciated.
So have a great week, and I'll see you for the next chapter, where Seem will be properly introduced, and Tarath will also re-enter the picture.