Chapter 11
Cheating the System
As they boarded the rickety wooden bridges spanning the Water Slums, Jak grunted and doubled over. Purple energy sparked across his body.
"Crap," Alex muttered. "You took most of the Dark Eco on that one, didn't you?"
"Not enough," Jak replied, wincing. "But... a lot."
Alexander frowned as he waited for Jak to recover. Sig hadn't noticed all of the Dark Eco that the enemies were dropping. Sig hadn't noticed when the little blobs flew into either Alex or Jak.
He wondered if all Eco was like that – you can only see what you can pick up, unless it's liable to kill you.
Come to think of it, he never saw the Red Eco ammo that Jak picked up. Maybe there really was an element of convenience to all this. Not that it would be at all surprising...
And then Jak picked himself up. Daxter looked at him worriedly for a moment, but then the expression disappeared. Jak was good to go.
"Y'know..." Alex muttered, now that he was thinking about Dark Eco and the game. "There might be..." He trailed off, not sure how to describe it.
The comment was too disjointed for Jak or Daxter to notice, so they walked onto the rotting (but stable) bridge and started looking for a Zoomer. Jak pulled out his communicator and accessed the minimap screen while Alex followed. And then Jak stopped.
There were two symbols at the edge of the map. One was a champagne glass representing Krew's shady saloon. And then there was one that looked like a golden skull on a wide pedestal.
Jak zoomed the map out. "It's close by."
An uneasy look crossed Daxter's expression. "Is that... what I think it is?"
Alexander looked across the Water Slums. He already knew what it was, and it was probably the best thing that could happen to them at this very moment. "Let's go find out."
The building was one of many that were suspended over the water of the Water Slums, but it would probably win the award for the most solid design in the district. Whereas most of the buildings were tiny piles of wood and scrap metal glued together into shapes worthy of Yen Sid's tower, this was was large, square, and made out of solid stone. If they had to enter any building in this area, this was one of the best.
Jak slowly pushed the door open, with Alexander close behind. There was a single spacious room, and what was inside made Daxter groan immediately. "That... that... that's just great," he muttered. "There was one left."
The room was lit mainly by about a hundred small candles. The candles lined the walls along the floor and along a little ledge above, and there were many more gathered at the other end of the room. The majority of the candles surrounded a giant golden statue. Jutting out from a rounded, squarish base was a big round skull with large eye and nose sockets, with a funnel-like mouth coming down to the floor. A bright blue glow filled every opening with light.
Alex knew this object well, but he was once again surprised by the reality of it. The game, with its far-out third-person perspective, gave a poor impression of scale as the statue towered over them. He also hadn't noticed how only the candles and the altar's light filled the space.
Inspired by the spirituality of the place, Alexander slowly closed the door behind him. Immediately, all the background noise from the city fell silent.
"Greetings, great warriors," a deep, raspy voice reverberated towards them. Alexander was caught off guard, but Jak and Daxter hardly looked even interested.
"Nice to see you too, glowstick," Daxter sighed.
"I sense there is a dark rage burning within you," the voice went on, apparently coming from the statue, "and in time, it will destroy you with its madness. Only the last power of the Precursors can save you."
Alex swallowed a lump in his throat. The voice had an incredible bass, shaking him to the core with each syllable. Daxter noticed this and said, "Alex, meet the high-and-mighty Precursor Oracle. Oracle, meet Alex."
"Uh-huh," Alex mumbled. Though he hid it, the Interference was worried. The Precursors had been set up to be ancient deities. The Precursors had probably been made aware of the Interference and their existence as game characters. And if they were speaking here, there was a chance they might blow his cover.
The Oracle went on: "Destroy my enemies, those creatures you call the Metal Heads. Bring me twenty-five of their skull gems, and I will teach you how to control these powers."
Suddenly, all the worry Alexander felt was gone. "What." But Jak shrugged and started walking out.
Alex panicked. "Wait, wait, y-you're not serious, are you? You're actually gonna get-"
"Hey, it could be a heck of a lot worse!" Daxter pointed out. "In the last adventure, we had to get two-hundred Precursor orbs just to get a single Power Cell! Who knows if there are that many in the whole city now?"
"Oh no-no-no," Alex muttered, turning to face the statue again. "Are you serious? That's an actual thing? We have to collect twenty-five skull gems?"
The Oracle was silent for a moment. "...Each."
"WHAT?" Alexander exclaimed. "You're kidding... That's... There's no way we're going to do that!"
Jak stopped at the door. The room fell silent as Alexander waited for a reaction from the golden statue. For a while, there was no response. Daxter, sensing the awkward silence, became uneasy and said, "Uh, Alex... I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but these guys..."
"He's right." Jak walked back to stand by Alexander's side, dragging Daxter along with him. He gave Alex a meaningful look and glared up at the statue again. "We shouldn't have to play fetch when we can get the lesson right now."
The lights within the statue briefly intensified. "You must prove yourselves worthy of the-"
"Worthy?" Alex echoed, interrupting the mystical Oracle. "With an arbitrary number of Metal Head skull gems? Sorry, but this isn't a sidequest for us! It's very important!"
The statue wasn't convinced, and its tone became angry. "This power is a privilege. Demanding it will NOT suffice."
Alex faltered momentarily. He'd known how risky raising an objection would be, but he had assumed that the statue would quickly see reason.
Fortunately, Daxter decided to join in at that moment. "Jak's ready to pop!" the Ottsel pointed out, stomping his foot on Jak's shoulder plate as emphasis. "Have you seen these guys when they go to town? It's not pretty for anybody!"
"We can't control ourselves," Jak added. Alexander nodded in agreement.
Without warning, the statue's eyes flared brighter.
"DO NOT INSULT ME," the Oracle bellowed, overpowering all of them.
All of the candles flickered for a moment.
"We have already foreseen the part you play in the coming drama. These tests were designed with your other trials in mind. This is how it must be."
The party fell silent for a moment. Daxter shook his head, muttering, "Did... ANYONE understand that?"
"Each time you bring me a bounty, I will grant you a dark power," the Oracle explained. "That power will be sufficient to carry you through the challenges in your future. When your difficulties exceed your capabilities, it will be time to acquire the next dark power."
"One bit of power at a time?" Jak inquired.
The Oracle's lights flared again. "These 'lessons' are far too dangerous to teach at once. Your bodies must have time to adapt. The time it takes to acquire skull gems provides that necessary delay."
Slowly, Alex formulated a renewed argument. "Alright, so we need pacing. But how about we forgo the fetch quest and just... wait? Can't you signal us through Jak's minimap or something when the time's right for the next power?"
The statue was quiet for a while. Alex took that as a good sign, so he kept speaking. "Besides, Even and the Heartless are here, screwing things up. They're going to do everything they can to throw a wrench in your precious 'pacing.' So we need to cheat a bit."
With his argument delivered, the Interference waited for a response. For a while, the statue didn't say anything. In fact, the room was quiet for a rather long time.
Then, out of nowhere, a bolt of violet electricity shot out of the statue's mouth and stabbed into Alexander's heart, lifting him up into the air.
"Alex!" Jak exclaimed in surprise, just before another bolt stabbed into him and lifted him up beside Alexander. Daxter fell off Jak's shoulder in the process.
As the Oracle injected Dark Eco into both of the struggling heroes, slowly bringing about their transformations, it spoke. "You are bold to defy the great Precursors. Go, and use this dark power to end the world's scourges of metal and darkness."
To Alex, the process was both similar and different to Baron Praxis's treatments. The Dark Eco entered his body forcefully and painfully, but it immediately started making specific modifications instead of uselessly festering inside him. He could feel the Dark Eco flow through him, carrying the darkness of his heart with it, and he could sense the biological pathways the Eco had established within him.
The Dark Eco also flowed into his mind, briefly making alterations. Some of the cloudy rage was taken away, and some information was put in its place. Information that suddenly became instinct, all of it about his new form and its functions.
The injection ceased, and Anti Alexander dropped to the ground on all fours. Dark Jak landed beside him, hunched over and growling.
The two demons looked at each other, remaining stationary as Dark Eco sparked from their bodies. As Alex looked at Dark Jak's twisted face, he noticed that his vision was still blurry, particularly in the peripheral areas. But a greater instinctive sense made up for it, fueled by the darkness and rage within him. He could hear, smell, and feel things in ways he couldn't before, and this made up for his somewhat diminished sight.
He was still incredibly hateful. He still wanted to tear apart everything that so much as looked at him. But he could keep it in check now. And if they came across any Krimzon Guards or Heartless, he could let loose and tear into them.
But there was one more thing. The power they had both been granted.
Dark Jak jumped into the air and slammed his fist into the floor as he came down. A massive shockwave of Dark Eco blasted outward in a circle, making the building shake momentarily. Fortunately, the bizarre logic of friendly fire in the game universes meant that Alexander and Daxter were unharmed. Slowly, Jak rose up and reverted to his normal form, drained of all his Dark Eco.
That was the Dark Bomb.
It was Anti Alexander's turn. He hunched down and drew his arms close, charging up energy at the center of his form. Then, all at once, he spread his body out and let the energy explode, sending a sphere of Dark Eco energy in all directions. Alex nearly lost his balance as the Anti Form dissipated, leaving him feeling slightly weakened. But while the rage had dissipated, he wasn't feeling the same emptiness he'd felt previously. He wasn't sure what to think of that.
In any case, the information in his head told him that the move was called "Dark Pulse." He thought it strange that his powers weren't more identical to Dark Jak's, but his roots in the Kingdom Hearts Anti Form probably had something to do with that.
Daxter jumped onto Jak's shoulder. "Feelin' better, buddy?"
Jak didn't answer immediately, but nodded his head. "...Kinda. A little bit."
"I will call you when it is time for the next power," the Oracle told them. "Now go. You've wasted enough precious time."
Jak snatched a light-double Zoomer from a random pedestrian, which the group rode back to Krew's saloon. "Nice!" Daxter exclaimed as they started flying, looking over to Alexander. "Didn't think you could get anything out of those self-loving statues, much less change their minds."
Alexander smirked. "I try."
Jak gave the Interference a critical look. "Did you try with Praxis? Y'know, while you were still in the Guard?"
"This again?" Alex muttered, his eyes narrowing. His past in this world was causing him more trouble than he would've liked. Yes, he was opening himself up for questioning by tagging along with the protagonists, but still...
"Look..." the Interference began to say in his defense. "For me, the Krimzon Guard was a way out of prison. It was either help the Baron protect the city for a while or listen to them fry you every night."
Daxter looked skeptical. "You didn't try to-"
"Of course I tried to escape prison," Alexander interjected. "That's what landed me in the high-security block in the first place. And earned me the Shock-cuffs to keep me in line. I was on a leash. A figurative leash seemed like a better option."
"Was it?" Jak asked.
Alex only thought about it for a second. "Absolutely. We're talking about relativity here. And heck, back then the Krimzon Guard wasn't nearly as bad as it is now. All this 'surrender and die' crap? Didn't exist when me and Torn were in the service." He thought back to that fateful day in Old Sandover, when Torn officially resigned. "Which was a year ago."
Jak gave him a look. He steered their Zoomer was reaching the southern port, heading toward the Hip Hog Heaven. "What happened then?"
"Dead Town happened," Alex replied. "Praxis decided to let a whole section of the city die off so that he wouldn't risk the shield. Torn didn't like that. I didn't like that either, but I had other reasons to be there. So he left, and I stuck around a little longer." Alexander thought back to Azelas' death, the Anti Form transformation, and his eventual recapture. "But what I did there told Erol that I was perfect for the Dark Warrior program."
As they closed in on the Hip Hog Heaven, Alexander shot Jak a look. "And now you know my history here. Happy?"
In response, Jak sharply dropped the Zoomer into the lower hover zone, shaking the passengers a bit. "Not yet," the protagonist replied. "You still haven't told us where you got your powers."
Parked in front of the saloon, the heroes disembarked from the aircraft and walked toward the entrance. Jak smirked at Alex. "But I have a feeling you'll tell me when the time is right."
That almost made Alex stop. Was Jak actually teasing information out of him? That was... very different. Every time he'd needed to explain himself, it had come as an information dump all at once. What was going differently now? Was it really Jak? Could Jak could be patient and clever enough to get little bits at a time...?
Or maybe it was just himself, Alex thought. Maybe his reactions had changed.
With Jak confident, Daxter boisterous, and Alexander pensive, the heroes strolled into the seedy bar. The fat crime lord Krew immediately floated their way and revolved around the group.
"You boys are turning out to be quite useful, eh," the horribly ugly man mused. "...Mmm, I have another task for you." Licking his fingers, he said, "The sewers used to be a fabulous smuggling route for me... before the Baron installed security devices."
"And before those late-night snack runs kept you from fittin' out the front door," Daxter remarked caustically.
Jak was also unwilling to just get down to business. Speaking sarcastically, he said, "I bet you've hatched another brilliant plan in that hungry little brain of yours. So, who or what do we need to shake down, knock out, or blow up?"
But Krew wasn't fazed by the ridicule. "Well..." he said in a playful manner, "I need someone to go down and shoot every sentry gun in the sewers. And I'll give you a sweet weapon upgrade if you succeed."
"Let me guess…" Daxter said with a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Dank, murky water?"
Krew nodded.
"Reeks worse than your breath at an oyster fest?" the Ottsel continued.
The crime lord visibly caught onto where Daxter was going with this.
"Fuller o' Metal Heads than your plate at a one-pass buffet?" Daxter ranted, his tone growing more and more irate. "And of course, weapons more lethal than your ever-so-tighty-whiteys on a hot summer day?"
Alexander had to snicker. Krew was glaring at Daxter with unmitigated fury by this point.
"Look, donut hole," Daxter said, "why don't we float around here looking hot and heavy, and you go roto-root the pipes!"
Jak took the opportunity to make a demand. The one they'd originally sought Krew for. "We're not doing anything until you tell us why Metal Heads are trading with the Baron's forces!"
And then Krew was in Jak's face. "I should've had you all knee-capped, eh!" he shouted at them, making Jak flinch a little. "All I know is that the Baron cut a desperate deal with the Metal Head leader."
Still furious, Krew backed up and muttered, "Metal Heads need Eco, so the Baron supplies them with regular shipments. In return, the Metal Heads agreed to attack the city just enough to satisfy the Baron's continued rule."
Now there was a plan doomed to fail. With a laugh, Jak asked, "Yeah, but how long can that deal last?"
Krew thought about it for a moment. "Well, the Baron is running short on Eco, eh. And the Metal Heads are short on patience! Baron Praxis needs this war to keep in power. Otherwise, the city would put the true ruler on the throne… wherever that little brat is."
"What about Even?" Alexander cut in. "What part does he play in this deal?"
"The Dark Warrior leader?" Krew muttered. "His pets play mediator. But other than that… no part at all. The man never leaves his laboratory, as far as I've heard."
This answer surprised the Interference. "Really? But he's one of the Baron's right-hand men."
"All he did was turn that failing program into a partial success," the fat crime lord growled.
Alex fell silent. It was clear he wasn't going to get anything more.
Sensing that their conversation was over, Jak said, "We'll clear your sewers. And we haven't forgotten about that weapons upgrade you promised in return."
Krew let all his hatred show. "Bloodsuckers."
"Whew!" Daxter exclaimed as the trio strolled out of Krew's seedy bar. "That's two for two! Now all we need to do is make Torn introduce us to the Shadow, and we'll officially be on a roll!"
Alexander was surprised by the Ottsel's thought process, since the interrogation they'd just performed was scripted into the game. But the furry orange sidekick had a point: they'd made two successful demands in a row. First the Oracle, now Krew...
While he scanned the airspace for a suitable Zoomer, Jak said, "Maybe Alex can put in a good word for us. Torn seems to trust him."
Put off by Jak's third-person reference of him, Alexander appeared doubtful. "I don't know... Torn's not an easy guy to persuade. Remember, I worked with him in the Guard."
As Jak found a light-double Zoomer and set off to steal it, Alex entertained the idea. Torn had asked him to find ways to speed up the chain of events, and introducing the Shadow early certainly qualified. There weren't any ill consequences he could foresee, and it would help them all become a more cohesive group.
Before he knew it, Jak and Daxter had flown up to him in their freshly liberated Zoomer, offering the empty seat to him. Alex settled into place, and the group took off. "You know what?" he said as they drove. "I think you'll get your hat trick, Dax. I'll head back to the Hideout after this mission and talk to Torn about a meeting."
Jak grinned. "You think it'll work?"
"The seed's been planted," Alexander replied vaguely. "But I'm fairly confident I can warm him up to the idea."
"Great!" Daxter said excitedly. "You're turning out to be alright, new guy. With my brains, Jak's brawn, and your connections, we can take on anything in this cruddy town!" He pointed forward in a commanding gesture. "Bring it on, I say! Bring it on!"
Jak and Alexander laughed as they navigated their way into the Industrial Sector. Following the mini-map on Jak's communicator, the trio found that the Sewers' entrance wasn't too far away from the east Port. It was in a relatively large open block of the sector, the entrance itself dug in a story below ground level with a downward ramp leading to the security door.
The group disembarked and approached the door, and they could already start to smell the Sewer air. "Ugh," Daxter groaned. "That's just great. It's smells like something Krew bathes in. If he bathes." Jak seemed disturbed as well, trying not to make a face.
Alexander was just as nauseous, which surprised him. He thought he would have become used to sewers in general – after all, he'd been in several. There was the sewer under East City in Amestris, the sewer path in Guardia's future, then this sewer in Haven City... Had he ever been to a sewer in the Kingdom Hearts universe? Underground passages, sure, but he didn't recall traipsing through sewage tunnels with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
But trying to remember his first adventure made him miss his old friends a little bit. He hadn't seen a familiar face in two years. Except for Yen Sid, whom he didn't recall fondly for some reason. Probably because it had taken two freaking years for the old man to render any assistance...
The security door opened up, and Alexander automatically followed Jak and Daxter onto the elevator just beyond the gateway. The elevator platform bounced a little as the two young men put their weight on it, and the elevator started its descent with a loud click and a mechanical whirring sound.
Nostalgia hit Alex like an ocean wave. Letting out a sigh, he couldn't help but mutter, "Great... Back here again."
Jak shot him an incredulous look. "Is there anywhere you haven't been?"
"It gets even better," Alexander deadpanned. "These guns we're about to destroy? I was with the team who... who..."
The Interference trailed off. "Who what?" Daxter asked, but Alexander shushed him.
Alex was feeling tense all of a sudden. There had to be Heartless nearby – wielding the Lockshield all this time had given him a sixth sense about that sort of thing. But he was feeling really tense, more so than his battle instinct normally did.
Then Jak and Daxter became alert. "I hear something!" Jak said out of nowhere, pulling the Morph Gun from the pouch on his back.
The elevator came to a stop, right in front of the security entrance to the Sewers. Alexander sensed there was something big behind the door. He knew this because he could hear loud sounds: lots of muffled scratching and shuffling from behind the security door.
"What the heck?" Alexander said quietly, summoning his Lockshield. He did so not a moment too soon, because by that point the security door was finished unlocking. It opened swiftly.
The hallway was utterly filled with a thick horde of Metal Heads and Heartless. Silver steel and black darkness intermingled in one deadly throng that stretched from wall to wall, numbering at least a hundred individual enemies.
"Holy...!" Jak gasped.
"Freakin'...!" Daxter stuttered.
"Crap!" Alex exclaimed.
The nearest group of monsters started climbing onto the elevator. Jak fired a wide blast with his Scatter Gun, knocking some of the enemies back into the throng. Daxter panicked, screaming, "UP! UP! WHERE'S THE FREAKING UP BUTTON?"
Jak reloaded and fired again, then glared at Alexander. "C'mon, do something!"
For a precious few seconds, Alex was frozen solid. He hadn't seen this kind of monster density since the attack on Old Sandover – and there hadn't even been any Heartless there. This was more like the 1000 Heartless battle at Radiant Garden, but there was no guarantee of his Reaction instincts being able to carry him through this, and there wasn't nearly enough room to run around in. He had no standard procedure for this...
The monsters were rushing faster, and Jak was taking too much time to reload between blasts. As the trio backed up against the wall behind them, the monsters started to close the distance.
It was at that moment that Alexander regained his senses. He clapped his hands together and placed them on the wall, creating green sparks that traveled across the surface and down the hall in front of them while Jak kept shooting.
When the glow had reached a significant distance, Alex triggered his intended reaction: rows of Steelspikes shot out from the wall and stabbed the monsters closest to them. The Metal Heads down the hall groaned as their skull gems popped out, while the Heartless in that area suffered severe damage.
With the hallway significantly less occupied, Alexander found the scope of the battle much easier to comprehend. It was still on the huge side, but he'd seen slightly worse mobs in Siam-Sid of Amestris. He switched to the Time Fracture Lockshield design and started swinging at the mob in front of him. Within seconds, he got a flow going of slashing away enemies quickly while knocking back any others that might try to jump him from afar. Jak helped from a distance by continuing to shoot enemies with his Scatter Gun and knock them back.
"Cyclone!"
And a great spinning attack from Alexander tore the group apart. The Heartless all but disappeared, while the remaining Metal Heads immediately retreated back and rounded the corner ahead.
Jak finished up the Heartless with his Scatter Gun. He checked all around to make sure there weren't any more enemies waiting in the wings, and then let out a deep breath.
"That was a little overkill," Daxter remarked sarcastically.
"Just a tad," Alexander agreed, matching Daxter's sarcasm.
Jak put the Morph Gun back in his holster on his back, then approached Alexander. The Interference was still looking ahead at the junction where the Metal Heads had retreated. "Hey..."
"Hush," was Alex's immediate reply. They waited in silence for a few seconds. "I'm not hearing anything."
"So?" Jak asked.
Alexander visibly drooped a little. "There's supposed to be a gun turret around that corner, in the next hallway."
Jak just placed a hand over his eyes. Daxter jumped down from Jak's shoulder and said, "That explains the angry welcoming committee. Hey, maybe the Metal Heads did this job for us!"
"Don't count on it," a raggedy voice cut in. Jak's communicator floated up and turned to face them with its camera lens. Krew was keeping tabs on them, it seemed. "If the guns had been, ah, destroyed... I would have heard about it, eh?"
Alex frowned at that. At no point was he looking forward to getting shot by a mounted gun, but their absence somehow worried him a lot more. Still staring forwardly, he said, "We're twenty feet away from finding out once and for all."
With that said, Alexander walked forward and flattened himself against the inside wall. Slowly, he made his way over to the corner and positioned himself to peek around it. He stuck his head out a little bit...
And nearly got shot by a bolt of energy for his effort. Alexander ducked back just in time to watch the shot whiz by, a violet-colored blast of Eco that impacted the wall behind them. But as startled as he was, he knew that the turret had a reload time that needed to be exploited in order to destroy it. So when he heard the mechanical whirring of the turret reloading, he dashed out into the hall and started running.
The turret was exactly where he expected it to be, both from the game and in his previous experience down in these Sewers. But there was one important difference: There was a robotic spider perched on top of the turret, its six metal legs wrapped around the main body of the machine. The creature was a red and silver color, and there was a Heartless insignia upon its back.
Alexander had no time to process any more than that. He jumped into the air just as the turret fired again, the purple shot just barely missing him.
He closed the distance as quickly as he could, but he also noticed a few Metal Heads further down the hall. The same types that he and Jak scared off moments before, in fact. The turret had ignored them.
The turret fired once more, but Alexander jumped to the side. Full of adrenaline, he leaped toward the machine and gave it a good whack to the side with the face of the Lockshield. The turret lurched, but didn't break. It turned to face Alex, but he blocked the barrel of the gun with his weapon to keep it from turning all the way.
The robotic spider let out a high-pitched... tittering sound, and lifted one of its legs. Alex's guard was left open for the strange Heartless to push him back, allowing the turret to complete its rotation towards the Interference.
Just before the turret fired, Jak came up from the side and fired his Scatter Gun. The turret snapped off its perch and exploded, sending the Heartless spider-robot flying off. Before Alexander could react, it scurried down the hall after the other Metal Heads. When it reached the end, it jumped up to one of the overhanging pipes and climbed out of sight.
Alexander dismissed his Lockshield and rubbed his chest where the spider thing had kicked him. "Damn it all..."
Jak looked down to the remains of the smashed turret, then back at Alexander. "Metal Heads, KG turrets, and Heartless. It's sure shaping up to be one hell of a job."
"Like all of our problems rolled up into one," Daxter quipped.
"Yeah, well," Alexander groaned, "I've never seen that Heartless before. It's an entirely new type. And that tells me Even's getting busy in whatever lab he's got."
Jak nodded. "I'm guessing the Baron ordered it custom-made."
Alexander wasn't happy about that thought. If the Baron was getting involved with Even's Heartless research… even worse, if Erol was getting involved…
Still, that turret had been a lot stronger than it was in the game. Was this a Heartless specifically designed to interact with and upgrade KG weaponry? Or could it upgrade just any machine whatsoever? What other Heartless had Even created in the eleven months he'd been here? And where was he getting them from?
One thing was for sure: If Even was making Heartless that could upgrade other enemy forces, these new types were about to become a priority.
"Nothin' to do but hunt 'em down," Daxter said matter-of-factly.
"My thoughts exactly," Jak replied, keeping his gun pointed forward as he moved further into the sewer. Alexander let out a small sigh and followed suit. This job was getting less and less fun...
"So anyway, as I was saying..."
Alexander was interrupted by a Metal Head Grunt bashing its head against the grating next to Jak. The protagonist fired a Scatter Gun blast into the creature, popping the gem out of its skull. Several globs of Dark Eco were released, which Jak absorbed.
Alex cleared his throat and chuckled. "Anyway, y'know how I was talking about nostalgia earlier?"
Jak hopped across a couple of pipes to get across to the next platform, and Alexander followed suit. The hero shrugged when he got there. "Something like that." It seemed he wasn't really interested at the moment, but he was humoring Alex anyway.
The Interference took Jak's indifference in stride. "Funny story: I was with the team that originally installed these turrets we're destroying."
That caught Jak's attention. "Really?"
"Woah, look out!" Daxter shouted, pointing toward a large group of small green frog-like monsters headed their way. "Glubs headed our way!"
Jak rushed forward, taking a couple out with a spinning kick and removing the rest with a Scatter Gun shot. Alexander, meanwhile, just stood there with a confused look on his face. "Glubs?" he asked. "Don't you mean Puffers?"
Daxter quirked an eyebrow back at the traveler. "No, Glubs. That's what their called."
Alexander still wasn't getting it. "What about Snaggle Teeth?"
"You mean Snorkle Teeth?" Daxter corrected him.
Finally, Alex just placed his palm over his face. "Goddammit," he muttered. "They changed the names again!" Curse this world for not having a proper bestiary like Chrono Trigger or Kingdom Hearts!
Jak was surprised they were even having this conversation. "Uh... huh. So, Alex, you know where these turrets are?"
Glad for a change of subject, Alex replied, "Kind of. It's been about a year and a half, but I'll recognize the area when we come to it, certainly." It was how he was getting by so far, after all, but he didn't want to mention that. "Anyway, let's keep going."
The group kept going, passing over the remains of the creatures they'd just destroyed. The globs of Dark Eco flew into Jak and Alexander as they passed by. It was a feeling Alex was still just getting used to, especially since he could control his transformation now. Each piece created a sort of buzzing feeling, like electricity spreading through his body. And as much as he loved to use his Lightning magics, feeling electricity on the inside was still very, very uncomfortable for him.
Alex decided to ask for advice. "Hey, Jak. How are you holding up on... y'know, the Dark Eco front?"
Jak rounded the corner of the hallway, still keeping his gun forward. "Better, after that shot from the Oracle. Not quite full yet."
That hadn't quite been what he wanted to know, so Alex decided to rephrase. "I mean, how are you handling the... feeling? It's borderline nauseating for me..."
The hero came to a stop. The hallway ahead was completely dark, save for several telltale glowing gems. Jak frowned and looked back at Alexander. "You've never channeled Eco before, have you?"
This confused Alex a little. "And you have?" But then he remembered the first Jak and Daxter game, where Jak had wielded all manner of Eco in different forms. Had channeling Eco directly felt like what Dark Eco did now?
Jak nodded. "Dark Eco's pretty different, but... it's a skill. You get used to it." He gestured toward the darkness. "You wanna take those guys out?"
Alex smirked and summoned his Lockshield. "Sure, why not?" He walked forward and stepped on a glowing switch in the middle of the hallway. Immediately, the hallway ahead was illuminated with fluorescent light, revealing the three Metal Heads that had been waiting in the shadows.
The Interference incapacitated of the Metal Heads out with a Blizzaga before they could move, then rushed in toward the other two with a flurry of shield swipes. Jak finished off the frozen Metal Head with his weapon, shattering it to pieces, while Alex sliced up the last two monsters.
With the enemies gone, Alex straightened up and looked down the hallway. "We're almost to the next one," he said. "Down the hall and to the left, I think."
Daxter peered down the path. "Left is the only way we can go," he noted. The hallway just turned left at one point, with no other available paths."
Alex started walking. "Yeah, that's the nice thing about this route. You can reach all the turrets by following this linear loop, and it all leads back to the entrance. I think there are more maintenance paths in the Sewers, but they're all underwater right now."
"I see," Jak responded, not really caring.
At the turn of the hallway, there were two Snaggle Teeth/Snorkle Teeth/orange lizard things with long sharp tongues. Hardly wanting to get into close range with those things, Alexander switched to the Crimson Catalyst and took them out remotely by transmuting some Steelspikes.
By now, they could hear the firing of the turret. When they rounded the corner, they could see the shots. The turret was right where Alex expected it to be: At the end of a peninsula extending off the platform and over the water, connected only by a narrow-ish walkway with no rails. Approaching that turret would be a shooting gallery in the making.
And was that...? Yep, that robot spider Heartless was on top of the turret! The shots were made of a dark purple energy instead of the normal red, so Alex could only assume that the Heartless was upgrading the turret's capabilities.
Fortunately, for the moment, they were obscured from view by several thick vertical pipes. But they couldn't enter a line of sight with the turret without getting shot. How would they deal with this one?
"You wanna try zapping this one again?" Daxter offered, referring to Alex's various magic abilities.
Alex reflexively checked his pockets. Not a single Potion or Ether since he'd escaped from the Baron's Fortress. "Limited supply, Dax," the Interference muttered. "I'm not out, but... I want to conserve if possible."
Jak groaned. "Well, if you're not going to..." He trailed off and rushed out into the open, much to Daxter's distress.
For a moment, Alex was worried. Thanks to the Heartless, the turrets were faster and more powerful than they were in the original game! Jak's abilities from before wouldn't work now!
Or so he thought. As it turned out, Jak was tenacious and adaptable. He ducked, weaved, and jumped over each shot, navigating the narrow walkway leading up to the turret. Once he got within range, he blasted it with his Morph Gun, blowing up the turret and sending the robot spider Heartless flying.
The Heartless bounced off the edge of the platform and fell into the water. There were a few sparks as the Heartless began to short-circuit, but the monster quickly jumped back out of the water and retreated into the next hallway.
Alex let out a sigh of relief and started clapping. "Nicely done."
Daxter, however, smacked his friend across the top of the head. "WARN ME next time!"
Jak's communicator floated up into view, with Krew's voice coming from the speakers. "Two turrets down. Good work so far!"
The hero himself just put the Morph Gun back in its holster and looked back at Alex. "Two more to go. Let's keep moving."
"Uh-oh." Alex stopped when he saw the state of the next hallway. It was another dark room, but there was also one rickety metal bridge rounding the corner. He knew there was going to be a special gameplay event here, one that would impede their progress.
Jak, unfortunately, missed Alex's hesitation and stepped onto the bridge anyway.
Alex cringed as the entire bridge failed catastrophically, sending Jak plummeting... about twenty feet. Not that much of a drop by the standards of Kingdom Hearts physics (or Jak and Daxter platforming, for that matter), but it was still a jarring and unexpected fall.
"You alright?" Alex shouted down into the dimly lit space below.
Jak waved back up, grinning. "I'm fine! Looks like we can still keep going down here, so come on down!"
The Interference nodded and hopped down to Jak's level. There were a few Krimzon Guard crates near where the bridge had collapsed, so Alex broke them with his shield. Lo and behold, there were lots and lots of Dark Eco clusters within the crates, which were immediately absorbed by Alexander.
"Woah!" Alex shouted as he found himself at full capacity in a matter of seconds. He felt the transformation wanting to push itself out onto his body, but he managed to stay under control. He remembered the pathways in his body from when the Oracle had injected him. He forced the Dark Eco to follow those paths and maintain a constant circuit in his body. That way, he could keep the Eco inside him without actually letting it show.
Which was difficult, because he could still feel the rage and power in his heart and mind. It was all too tempting to just let loose and destroy something for the fun of it.
Jak and Daxter were starting to stare, though, so Alex quickly got over himself. "Uh, a-anyway." And that seemed to be the end of that.
The ground floor rounded a corner and opened up to a wider space. But they were confronted by a familiar conundrum. Total darkness ahead, lit only by glowing Metal Head skull gems. But instead of just three, the number was closer to ten. The gleaming light and its reflection of the various metal surfaces in the darkness made it seem like even more.
There was a light switch on the floor in front of them. But as soon as they triggered that switch, the Metal Heads would ambush them.
Jak and Alexander got the same idea. Without even sharing a word, Jak stepped on the switch.
The lights came on, revealing exactly eight Metal Head Grunts. A whole mob of medium-level enemies like this would be challenging on its own... but now that they had dark powers, that was a different story.
Alex hesitated for a moment, though. For all the effort to hold back the Dark Eco in his body, actually calling it out again felt like a risky move. He actually had to force himself a little, mostly by remembering hateful memories like Dead Town...
With a guttural cry, darkness enveloped Alexander as he entered his Anti Form. Seeing the Metal Heads through Heartless eyes and feeling the power sparking off his body, Alex felt some evil glee as he realized what destructive abilities he now possessed.
Anti Alexander summoned all the darkness and Eco within himself, hunched over into a small form, then let it explode outward as a Dark Pulse. The spherical wave of darkness washed over the Metal Heads, electrocuting them while delivering an explosive force.
In a few seconds, all eight Metal Heads were gone. There was nothing left but their skull gems littering the metal floor.
Alex hardly noticed that the darkness had left his body. That feeling of darkness and rage still lingered inside him. In the past, such explosive attacks had left him emotionally and physically drained. With this improved Anti Form, he was able to deliver a devastating attack and keep going.
And he had to admit one small thing to himself: He liked it.
The group managed to climb out of the hole they'd landed in and get back on track. They were now approaching the third turret. However, there were a few problems this time.
This turret overlooked a section of the waterways, and they were on the other side of it. The only way across was by jumping over drainage pipes – which doubled as platforms for their purposes. Unfortunately, the robot spider Heartless had apparently called in reinforcements. The platforms were occupied by one Soldier Heartless each, and several Air Pirates were flying over the whole area.
Jak scowled. "I can get to the turret, but those flying ones are gonna make things difficult."
Alexander nodded. This was where it started to get serious. "I can distract the Air Pirates if you can blast away the Soldiers."
"Works for me," Jak muttered. "Okay. Three... two... one."
Jak and Alexander rushed out from the corner. Jak shot the first Soldier with his Scatter Gun – knocking it off the platform – while Alexander used a High Jump to reach the Air Pirates. Once he was near enough, he used the Heartless Seal to start an aerial combination attack.
The turret had to choose one target to focus on, so it focused on Jak, who was now at the third platform. The fourth Soldier took the initiative and leaped toward Jak with claws ready, but Jak simply knocked it aside with the butt of his gun. From there, he jumped onto the platform where the turret resided.
The unknown Heartless was helpless. The turret didn't quite have a full range of motion, so it couldn't rotate far enough to reach Jak. It tried to escape prematurely before Jak blasted it, but it still got caught in the turret explosion.
The Heartless was really on the edge now. Electrical sparks shot this way and that off its robot body, and it constantly stumbled as it climbed up the platforms and out of sight.
"Three turrets gone," Krew announced from Jak's communicator. "Nice. Keep it up."
Alexander finished off the Air Pirates, releasing two pink hearts. However, the air combo had left him hovering over the water, so his landing ended up being unceremonious at best. Landing in the water didn't make a huge splash, but it was somewhat ungraceful.
And now he was dripping wet. Great. He climbed out of the water and shook himself a little. "Well, that didn't work out perfectly."
Daxter grimaced. "Ick. Sewer water."
"I'm trying not to think about that," Alexander muttered under his breath.
The next hallway was one Alex knew a little too well – it started in pitch blackness with three Metal Heads inside. There was a light switch, which triggered the ambush. But halfway inside, as they fought the Metal Heads, the lights suddenly went dark again.
Alex had expected it, but he wasn't expecting how disorienting it would be. All of a sudden his footing and bearings were uncertain, with only the light of his enemies as a guide. Before he knew it, there was a pair of metal claws raking against his chest. He smacked away the Metal Head, but found another one swiping at his back.
Jak, on the other hand, was still capable of fighting. All he had to do was point and shoot, regardless of the light. He came to Alex's rescue and blasted the Metal Heads away, finishing them off by himself.
"Thanks," Alex mumbled, breathing a little raggedly. Those surprise attacks had taken off a fair chunk of his health. "Need any healing?"
Jak shook his head, even though Alex couldn't see it in the pitch blackness. But the silence was answer enough. "Eh, I'm gonna do it anyway," Alex grumbled. "Curaga."
Green light illuminated the hallway for a moment, restoring the party to full health.
Jak made sure to put a hand on the wall before the light went away. Making his way forward, he said, "That's a very handy ability to have. If you're as experienced as you say you are, I guess I wouldn't be surprised."
This was a key moment, Alex realized. If Jak was getting comfortable with Alex's abilities, that meant there was a foundation for telling Jak about the video game. His whole argument hinged on the fact that his abilities and foreknowledge were otherwise unexplainable.
Now it was a matter of when and how he would break the news.
Pushing those plans out of his mind for now, Alex said, "It's not all that great. It completely drains a set of my magic powers, which means I have to wait for the whole thing to recharge. I can't use any other magic from that set for a while."
They were approaching the end of the tunnel. There was a bit of light showing the outline of the hallway now.
Daxter gave Alex a curious look. "Sets of magics? Are your powers really so organized?"
"I've got a lot of them," Alex pointed out. "Have to keep track of them somehow."
"It's hard to imagine a magical warrior living by a spreadsheet," Daxter quipped.
Alex had to laugh. "Yeah... I guess I was a bookworm in another life." That was one way of putting it.
The conversation ended with a turret blast. Purple cannon blasts bounced off the wall in front of them, where they reentered the light and rounded a left-hand corner. At the end of three disconnected platforms was the last turret. The badly damaged Heartless was resting on top of it, shaking the machinery as it desperately held on.
Alex peeked out only a moment to take in the sight – nearly getting shot in the process. At this point, he was annoyed to say the least. "I got this," he announced. He stepped into sight, neatly dodged a turret shot, and shouted, "Lightning!"
A bolt of electricity crashed onto the robot spider, zapping both it and the turret beneath it. Both of the enemy constructs exploded in one blast, leaving nothing behind but metal shrapnel and fading darkness.
"About time," Alex muttered.
Jak's communicator sprang to life once more. "Nice work, boys! You destroyed all the turrets, eh? Now, come back to the Hip Hog."
"Talk about your dirty work!" Daxter commented. This earned him glares from Jak and Alexander. "C'mon, I've been saving that up all day!"
Alexander, Jak, and Daxter followed the remaining hallways all the way to the end, which led them to a balcony overlooking the first intersection. "See, what'd I tell ya?" Alex said with a grin. "It all loops back around- Woah!"
He was cut off by two Metal Heads dropping down from the ceiling and onto the balcony. In a flash, Jak equipped his Morph Gun and fired a Scatter Gun blast, shoving both Metal Heads off and into the water below. Since they couldn't swim, it wasn't long before they heard the telltale sound of two Metal Head skull gems popping out.
Alex fought to regain his composure. "A-Anyway..."
From there, it was a quick walk back to the elevator and back into Haven City. Alex, for his part, had never felt so grateful for fresh air in his life. He'd been in a few sewers, but Haven City's had to be at the top of his list when it came to awfulness.
Everything about this city stank to high heaven. Speaking of which...
Jak absconded with a double-seated Zoomer, and it wasn't long before they were back in front of the Hip Hog Heaven saloon. When the entered, Krew was already inside waiting for them.
The absurdly fat crime lord floated near the bar, fanning himself. When the crew approached, he took a sniff and said, "What is that horrible smell?"
"Ohhhh GREAT!" Daxter shouted. "We do your 'dirty work' in the Sewers and come back smelling worse than a wet Hip Hog in a warm barn!"
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, though, he took a sniff of himself and grimaced. Leaning in towards Jak, he muttered, "This could have a serious impact on the lady factor."
Jak just rolled his eyes.
"Nooo..." Krew murmured. He let out a disgusting little belch at this. "I think it was my lunch, actually."
"Eww," was all Alex could say. Quietly.
Krew finally turned around to face the people he'd hired. "Nice work in the Sewers, eh. I guess you're looking for that weapon upgrade, hmmm."
He began to float away. "Well, there's a Blaster mod stashed in some crates at the Port. Find it, and its yours... Hmmhmmhahahaa." And with that parting shot, he was gone, floating into some unknown compartment above the saloon.
Daxter couldn't believe it. "Really?" he asked incredulously. "We have to search up and down the Port for our weapon mod?"
"Not quite," Alexander interrupted. He knew it was at the Gun Course.
…But Jak and Daxter didn't know that he knew that, so he needed to come up with a cover story. "I've... investigated a few of Krew illegal shipments before," he half-lied. Man, he was getting really good at this half-lying thing... "I think I know where Krew's stash is going to be."
Jak looked suspicious for a moment, but apparently let it drop. "Alright. Lead the way."
When Alex entered the Gun Course first, the conspicuous KG crate was right where it should be – in the smack-dab middle of the room – but there was also an unexpected element.
There was another crate, a bigger steel one, sitting near the wall on the left.
"Um, what?" Alex whispered under his breath. That wasn't supposed to be there...
"Is that where the mod is?" Daxter asked, heading for the steel crate.
Alexander couldn't respond. That crate wasn't supposed to be there! Why in the world was something like that in the Gun Course when the crate with the Blaster mod was clearly in its proper place?
The answer to his question came in the form of a ringing tone emanating from his pocket. He fished out his old Krimzon Guard communicator with some surprise. It still worked as a security pass, but who in the world had his number after so much time?
He flipped the communicator open and pressed a button to let the call through. "Hello?"
"Is that you, cherry?"
"Sig?" Alex asked.
"Heard you were heading toward the Gun Course, so I left you a present. Sorry, Jak, but your mod is in the smaller crate on the other side of the room."
"Aw, man!" Daxter whined.
"The hell are you doing, Sig?" Alexander demanded.
But the call dropped, and his communicator went silent. About a second later, though, Jak's communicator popped up and started floating around them. "Alex, Azelas was a good friend of mine. He was a good Wastelander. He had no family back home, so you're practically the closest thing he has to a son."
Almost immediately, tears started welling up in Alex's eyes. He lowered his head immediately. He didn't need this, not all this emotion, not now... That damn idiot!
"Inside the crate is Azelas' old gun, with all the bells and whistles," Sig explained. "I think he'd want you to have it and put it to good use."
"Okay, okay!" Alex protested, his heart in his throat. "I get it."
"Take good care of it. And, uh, don't tell Krew I gave it to you." With those parting words, Jak's communicator went silent and hitched itself back onto Jak's belt.
Alex fought down the wellspring of emotions rising up. The last thing he needed was a reminder of everything he'd been through. He just needed to... put it aside... and go with the flow. He needed to be the Interference right now, not...
"Who was Azelas? A friend?" Jak asked him.
The young man swallowed and fought to keep any tears from showing. "A... A mentor. He kept me going in spite of... everything... in the first year I was here. He taught me a lot, and... he died right in front of me."
Jak nodded understandingly. Daxter, desperately wanting to change the subject, said, "We'd better find out what he left ya, then."
Alex nodded and walked over to the crate. By now, the swell of emotions had passed, leaving him at an equilibrium. He kept himself focused on the task at hand to keep the thoughts out of his mind.
While Alex inspected the crate, Jak and Daxter went over to the KG crate on the other side of the room and smashed it open. Inside was what appeared to be the end of a gun, with one large barrel and a laser sight beneath it.
Jak attached the barrel to the end of his Morph Gun. Immediately, the weapon subtly compacted and changed shape around it. The red disc-like ammo cartridge became a yellow cylindrical container, the base of the gun extended outward, and the laser sight powered on. In a moment, the Morph Gun had changed from a shotgun to a rifle.
Smirking, Jak picked up the Blaster and stared down the sight toward Alexander, the gun locking and loading into place with a satisfying click. Noticing the laser sight aimed at him, Alexander shot the protagonist a dirty look.
Jak and Daxter just grinned evilly at each other, the latter rubbing his hands together with glee.
Alex rolled his eyes and went back to trying to open the crate. He was having some trouble, to be sure. He tried opening the top from every angle, but it just wouldn't come off no matter what he did!
And then he smacked his forehead. "Of course. Hey, Jak, could you help me with this thing?"
Alex instructed Jak to hold onto the top of the crate while Alex lifted from the bottom. Together, they tipped the crate over. As Alex expected, the crate's bottom fell open as soon as the crate tipped over, letting its contents spill out onto the Gun Course floor.
"Upside-down?" Jak asked.
"But made to look right-side-up," Alex added.
He looked down on the floor. Most of the crate was filled with packing material – soft foam inserts stacked on top of each other. But the ones that had fallen out told an interesting story.
Daxter gasped. "Those look like...!"
There was a spinning minigun wheel, a generator with a Metal Head skull wrapped around it, and a gun barrel almost identical to the Blaster mod Jak had just equipped.
Alex instantly recognized the mods. "The Vulcan Fury... The Peace Maker..." These were all...!
The Interference dug deeper into the crate and pulled out the rest of its contents. There was one more inset with what looked to be a bunch of secondary mods. There was also a long leather belt with a pouch attached to it. But the most important piece was at the very end.
Alexander pulled out a heavy piece of metal exactly identical to Jak's weaponry. He was left awestruck by it. "Another..."
"Another Morph Gun?" Daxter exclaimed. "And a billion upgrades!"
"Talk about inheritance," Jak remarked, leaning down and inspecting the equipment. "So Azelas also used a Morph Gun, huh?"
"I guess so," Alex replied, not sure what to think. "And it's... mine now?"
Jak gave Alex a long look. "You ever used a gun before?"
Alexander put the Morph Gun on the ground and thought. "Not... really. I mean, I was given a standard-issue pistol. I hardly ever used it. And what was I going to do, start carrying around that cheap crap the KG uses for weaponry?" He shot Jak an accusatory look. "Did you, before getting your gun?"
Jak just smirked. "You'd be surprised."
It took a while, but Alex realized what the protagonist meant. Jak had used gun-like implements many of times in his previous adventure. He shot Yellow Eco at range plenty of times, and he was no stranger to stationary turrets. So yes, Jak had more gun training from the get-go than Alexander did. Wonderful.
Daxter wasn't too pleased, however. "Fantastic. You get all the cool toys while we're stuck with only two mods!"
That was a good point... Alex didn't want to leave them behind in power, especially with the Heartless backing up both the Krimzon Guard and the Metal Heads. They needed to tip the scales back in their favor.
He glanced down at the mods, then over at the ammo crates in the corner. "I bet..." He switched to the Crimson Catalyst Lockshield and inspected the mods one by one, trying to determine their components and specifications. "Jak, could you break those crates and bring the debris over here?"
It was an unusual request. "What?"
"Just do it. Test out your gun!"
Jak obliged and fired yellow blasts at the KG crates from across the room, destroying them one or two at a time. Once all of them were destroyed, he and Daxter swept up the pieces as best he could and pushed them over to Alexander.
"Should've brought a broom and dustpan," Daxter grumbled.
"Thanks," Alex replied mindlessly, too engrossed in his work all of a sudden. If he could pull this off right...
He clapped his hands and placed them on the metal debris. A flash of green light enveloped the metal for a little while, then spread across to the floor around it. The transmutation took a little time, but the end results were more than worth it.
"Woah..." was Jak's response. Where there had been scrap metal before, there were now replicas of the Morph Gun mods Jak was missing. The Vulcan Fury, Peace Maker, and all three secondary mods were there, right alongside their originals.
"Holy crap, are those for real?" Daxter demanded. When Alex nodded, the Ottsel cheered and screamed, "WOOHOO! Christmas comes early, baby!"
Jak thanked Alexander and equipped the mods one at a time, starting with the secondary mods. One of them increased the rate of fire of the Scatter Gun. The second one increased the ammo capacity of all the mods by about 50%. And the third one appeared to be a damage-increasing mod.
Then he went for the two major weapon mods. He picked up the minigun barrel and attached it to the end of the Scatter Gun. Once again, the Morph Gun changed forms. The ammo cartridge became a curved, L-shaped blue attachment. The original shotgun's trigger disappeared, and a new, larger trigger appeared on the underside of the gun. Jak found himself flipping the entire gun over so he could hold it upside-down in both hands, by both the trigger and a handle on the back. With the Vulcan Fury, he was now a miniature Heavy Weapons Guy.
Jak aimed at the opposite wall and pulled the trigger. The gun took a moment to spin up, but it began to fire high-velocity rounds at the wall, leaving behind Blue Eco trails. At its top speed, Alex guessed it had to be firing over 10 rounds a second.
"Very nice," Daxter remarked. "But let's get to the big one!"
An evil grin appeared on Jak's face. He picked up the Metal Head-skulled weapon and attached it to the end of the Blaster. The ammo pack transformed into a spherical purple container, but other than that it was pretty similar to the Blaster. The laser sight remained, but now the barrel of the gun was replaced by the menacing generator at the end.
"Fire one, fire one!" Daxter demanded with demonic delight.
Jak held down the trigger. As they expected, a blue orb of electricity gathered within the Metal Head skull, causing the gun to shake and rattle. It took only a second to charge up, and Jak let it go as soon as it was ready. Jak was nearly thrown back by the recoil as the powerful shot blasted off like a cannonball, impacting the wall on the other side and creating a temporary lightning singularity.
The Ottsel on Jak's shoulder couldn't have been more ecstatic. "Sweet! Our very own Peace Maker! Now we're rockin'!"
So awestruck by the display, Alexander hadn't even gotten around to assembling his own Morph Gun. But once Jak was finished, the Interference got to it immediately. Forget what he'd said earlier about having enough power on his own – this kind of weapon would be absolutely invaluable!
He wrapped the leather belt around his body, from his right shoulder to under his left arm, aligning the pouch with the center of his back. Then he got around to the Morph Gun itself – an exciting task, because to this point he'd never gotten a good look at Jak's gun.
The first thing he noticed was the ammo display along the top of the weapon. Since the default mod was the Scatter Gun, the tiny screen told him that he had 50 Red Eco ammo out of 50. After inserting the ammo expansion mod, both of those numbers jumped to 75. It must've made the gun more efficient or something...
He inserted the other two secondary mods for good measure, then got around to adding the major mods. Deciding to go about it properly, he started with the Blaster. Once he attached the barrel to the gun, the entire gun shifted similar to how it had for Jak. The shift in weight and balance was surprising, and difficult to get used to. But now the ammo counter said he had 150 Yellow Eco shots available. Not too shabby.
He also noticed something else. On the very back of the gun was, of all things, a directional pad. The top button had a red light, and the bottom button had a yellow light. The switching controls were identical to the PS2 controller!
With that knowledge in mind, Alex took little time in attaching the last two weapon mods. The Vulcan Fury, just as before, took up the left side of the d-pad (with 200 ammo), and the Peace Maker took up the slot on the right side (with only 10 shots).
Now he had a complete Morph Gun, an all-in-one solution to all of his ranged combat needs. He switched to the Blaster mod and aimed it around the room. Inside, he felt a surge of glee and pride well up within him. The gun's weight, the tactile sensation of wielding it, everything about it just flowed into Alexander. Almost instantly, he felt a bond with this gun. This was his gun now.
Apparently, without even knowing it, Alex had been a gun enthusiast all along. He'd just never had the opportunity to try it out for himself.
"Are you done now?" Daxter deadpanned.
Alex grinned like a madman. "No," he said, knowing full well that what he was about to say was incredibly corny...
"I'm just getting started."