Chapter 20: Happy Reunions…
Music: Forgotten Faces by Avenged Sevenfold
'Forgotten faces.
Lost in yesterdays realm.
Drained with confusion.
Where did it all go?
Look into the past, look into their faces.
Never, the thought of being time fucked.'
Mood: Hardcore!
Disclaimer: Parents lie, just like your writers.
The Combat Metal Heads were in the same place that the Dragon Metal Heads had been, so we headed down the Haven Gardens and through the door to the Mountain Temple Warp Ring. The platform was waiting for us, just like last time, so we stepped on it. It was still a little smooshed for two people, though.
It took us down through the mountain and stopped in the Haven Forest. I couldn't see anything amiss in the forest itself, but I guess that was the Metal Heads' 'special camouflage'. Great, they could turn invisible; just what we needed.
I got on my JET board and rode down the side of the mountain, scanning the forest from left to right. I went to the East side of the forest, and I could just tell that Jak went to the West, along the river through the tunnel to the open meadow and lake.
As I was monitoring Jak with my mind, I didn't noticed the Metal Head sneaking up on me until there was shots raining over my head.
I quickly turned around and shot an arrow at the thing, the Scatter Arrow blasting it backwards. I shot it again and it disintegrated. I checked the counter on my watch, and it said that there was 28 left. Jak must have got one too.
Just then, another Metal Head shot at me from behind, and I turned around to face it, but I didn't see anything. Another one shot at me from my right at the same time one shot at me from behind me and a little to the left. I was distracted, and the original one snuck up on my and smacked me with its spiked claws.
"Motherfucker," I exclaimed, kicking then shooting the Metal Head until it disintegrated, just like the other one. I rubbed the spot on my head, but thankfully I wasn't bleeding. A health pack should do the trick.
The Metal Heads were still shooting at me while in disguise, and I had to wait until the Dark Eco shots flew by me before I could even begin to judge where they were at.
I turned to the one that was shooting at me from almost directly in front of me, just across the river. I noticed that if I focused on it, I could see the shimmer in the air where it was, and a faint glow from its yellow skull.
I shot twice, easily taking it down, looking for more shimmers. There was one sneaking off to my right, and I could see it out of my peripheral vision, and one ahead of me, walking up a hill.
I got the one on my right that thought I didn't see it, and got another one that thought it would be just brilliant to walk across the river before crossing said river and getting another one that was lurking in front of the cliff. I checked the watch; 16 left. I checked the mini map; there were five left in my area and 11 in the bigger area that Jak was in.
I easily found and shot two more that were sneaking around up a hill, and two more up another hill. I JET boarded down the side of the cliff, looking for the last one in my area.
I found it over by where I had started, shooting at me when it thought I wasn't looking. I swiftly loaded my bow and got the Metal Head in one shot, watching it disintegrate in a poof of Dark Eco.
I got on my hover board and rode down the river and through the tunnel, down a meadow where I got one metal head, grinded across some fallen trees and reached the other side of the river. Jak was there shooting a Metal Head. There was one sneaking off to his left, closest to me, so I shot it used the Blaster arrows.
The watch said that there was only three left, all tucked away into one corner that I assumed Jak hadn't got to yet.
We both went over there, and I could see the air shimmering in three separate places, all relatively close to one another. I went for the one on the left, and Jak went for the one in the middle. He took his out first and shot at the other one that was making its way towards us, albeit slowly. He shot at it once, and I shot at it once my Metal Head fell, and we both got the thing down as the counter flipped to zero.
Jak and I high fived before JET boarding to the entrance again and hopping on the tiny platform that would take us back to the Temple, which had the Warp Gate that would take us back to the City.
Going back to Haven after a mission like this was always disappointing. I hated that we got the chance to experience all the fresh mountain air and trees and small creatures, and then have to go back to Haven City, full of pollution and people.
xMx
We wandered around, because apparently we had to be proactive, looking for missions when no one had any at the moment. We stopped by the Hideout and by the Saloon and the Power Station, but no one had anything for us to do, all were too busy scheming or planning or hiding to do much in the actual fight for the city, not just the ones in the plans.
As a last resort, we stopped by the stadium with wrench symbol and the teal M I had put in last time we were there, standing for the Mechanic, because she apparently didn't trust us enough to show us her face or tell us her name. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar in the back of my mind, but I always brushed it off to paranoia.
"We destroyed Krew's cargo…" Jak informed her as we walked in.
"Great. I'll send you a medal." She responded sarcastically. I didn't like her. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm on a deadline, so scr-"
"Chill the fuck out." I said heatedly, interrupting the ending of her sentence. "Are you always this difficult?" Jak knotted out hands together, standing behind me, resting his chin on my head to stop me from moving forward ripping the curtain open.
"Let me handle this," Daxter pushed his way past me and Jak, walking smoothly to the curtain. "Listen lady, we beat your stupid course, and we can outrace anybody in this city." He pointed to where the mechanic was, his voice rising.
"Wait! That voice..." She said, and I could see her figure rising behind the drape. Oh no, another one of the people Daxter met on his two year trek to find us…
"And there's just two things you need to know." Daxter continued, obviously not hearing the comment. "One, we don't want to join your stinking race team, and two... you just lost a date with Orange Lightning. Let's go guys." He said, turning and walking towards us in a huff.
"Daxter, it is you!" The mechanic exclaimed ripping the curtain open, staring at the otzel. My brain wouldn't register or accept the fact that the person who was standing in front of me was…
"Keira?" Daxter half asked, half yelled.
"Oh I never thought I'd be so glad to see your furry mug!" Not having seen us yet. I clutched Jak's hand tighter, I was already emitting small blue sparks, just from thinking of what she used to say and all the memories I had of her. Jak stroked the back of my hand with his thumb and I calmed down a little bit. "And Jak! You look... different. Maddy… Wow…" She trailed off, her hands clutching to her mouth.
I flicked my eyes to the floor. I hated when people mentioned that. "It's been a tough ride." Jak said poignantly. I felt his arms tighten around me.
"The Baron pumped our resident love birds here full of Dark Eco, and it did something to him. Now they've both got super moves or something, and a few anger issues as well!" Daxter explained, completely oblivious as always.
"I've been looking for you guys forever!" Kiera exclaimed.
"Can't have been that hard." I snarled, pulling away from Jak but keeping our fingers interlocked, leaning forward menacingly. "Looked in the Haven News lately? Or around the city? Or listened to any of the warnings? We're all over the place!" I felt my hair begin the rise in anger. I knew I was being irrational, but I had a short temper, and seeing Kiera all oblivious and ignoring me was pissing me off.
"Well I have been planning a way to get us back home, so I've been kind of busy." You could have cut the tension between the two of us with a dagger. She continued on, looking away. "Somehow that rift took us far into the future. I've calculated the time displacement..."
"We found your father... well, sort of." Jak interrupted, and Kiera turned to look at us all in shock.
"Working with the Underground fighting the Baron. But he's ahh..." He paused, thinking of how to put it.
"What!" She asked confusedly.
"You need to go see him." I spared Jak the explanation. "And we need to get to the Baron."
"You could try to win the Class One Racing Championship." She said directly to Jak. "The winner of that big race always gets to meet the Baron in the Palace." Rad. "But you have to qualify by winning the lower class races. There's a Class Three race starting soon. You can drive for my team. But we should think about getting out of here. I don't like this place. And some of the people are creepy."
Just as she said that, Krew flew into the building. I chuckled darkly at the irony.
"Jak, Maddy. I need that Ruby Key you found, 'ey. A 'special client' has requested it." I couldn't help but wonder who that was…
"Sorry about that, Krew." Jak said, not sounding very sorry at all, rubbing the back of his neck. I rolled my eyes at him, reaching into my pack and handing the key to Jak who handed it to Krew. Jak laughed in a disguised kind of menacing way. "Must've forgotten."
"Right!" Krew said, grabbing the key greedily. "Don't let it happen again… you know my terms of return…" He trailed off dragging his eyes up and down my body. I sneered, rolling my eyes again.
Krew flew away, leaving us in the awkwardly silent room again. We stood there for a few second, and I let my mind wonder. How did Krew fit through that door? Was his fat like dough? Like moldable to the shape he wanted?
My weird thought process was cut off by Ashelin coming into the room. "I thought I'd find you in here." She said, walking towards me and Jak, ignoring Kiera. I kind of let out a half smile. "Maddy, I have a seat for you if you're not going out there with Jak." She offered.
I looked at Jak, who shook his head minutely, grabbing my hand. "Uhh thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to go out there with Jak. I'm his good luck charm." I kissed his cheek obnoxiously. I watched out of the corner of my eyes with a small satisfied smirk (A/N try saying that five times fast!) as Kiera huffed and walked back to her corner, ripping the curtain to block off the view.
"Alright, but if you need it, it's first row, fourth seat in on the Right Wing. Just look for Katie and Torn, they'll both be there." Ashelin said. "And, by the way, good luck. Watch out for Gen. He's a violent racer and has no qualms about knocking you off the course. Other than that you should be good."
"Noted." Jak said. "Thanks."
"We better get going, the race starts soon." She said, turning and walking out. Jak and I followed after her, getting ready for the race.
xMx
The race was a really simple track, and we had done hard just running from KGs. I was situated on the Racer Zoomer behind Jak my arms wrapped around his waist, surveying the map of the track on the hologram in front of us.
I memorized it, even though I didn't need to, just in case. The map flashed before disappearing, and a small light fixture flew down in front of all the racers, flashing three red lights before a green that signaled go.
Jak waited a second longer than the rest of the racers, letting them mob forward first, then taking off around them. He easily made it to third place that way, and then second by passing another racer. There was about eight racers in total, but I assumed that at least three of them had already fallen off the cliff that was over the jump near the end of the first track, leaving us in second place out of five racers.
The driver ahead of us was no mediocre driver like the rest of them, and he actually knew what he was doing, I was assuming he was Gen.
Jak overtook him on the third lap by boosting over the gap, a risky move, but one that got him in first. The rest of the race was easy, and we passed over the finish line on the fifth line to a stunned silence, but then cheering. I guess no one expected anyone to win.
I smirked, ignoring the crowd and following Jak to where he was grabbing the trophy. We headed back to the garage to find Kiera and Ashelin already there, glaring at each other.
Oh this was going to be fun...
A/N: I really hate races…
I was gunna add the next scene in, but I just can't figure out how I want to write it. I know that Kiera's mad crushing on Jak, but I kind of don't want Ashelin to. Ithink I'm going to make her be nice (to Maddy and Jak) and she and Maddy are going to be bad ass friends. I think I'm just going to have her not like Kiera. Should I resolve the Kiera-Maddy issue, or should I drag it out a bit longer? I'm leaning towards dragging out a little bit more cuz I don't like Kiera lol. Thoughts?
xMonster