next chapter...still really nothing to say.
Disclaimer: The Dates on the tombstone are from the Shattered Legacy time line.The Disaster is an idea from the mind of Nashidesi, used with permission. The video game Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and anything associated with it belongs to Naughty Dog INC.
--------------------------------------
A week had gone by since…then. Marcus, the Fisherman that is, had brought Daxter back to his little hole in the ground and then gone to talk to the worried villagers that had seen them. Daxter's parents had died when he was really young. Not long before Jak and Samos arrived come to think of it. Heather, known as the crazy bird lady behind her back had taken him in for a while after that, but when he got older he moved back into his own place if ONLY to get away from all the birds.
So there was no one to bother him when the shock finally lifted and reality came crashing down on him. Until Samos wandered in around noon, but by then Daxter had cried himself to sleep. After confirming with a sweep of green eco that the boy was physically unharmed, Samos tossed a blanket over him and left.
The next day Samos led an expedition to Misty Island consisting of himself, Marcus, and Jak's uncle John. They were going to confirm Jak's death, and possibly bring back a body. No body was found, but they did find the lurkers trying to open the Dark eco silo. The three did their best to scare off the lurkers, but were driven back by the lurker's sheer numbers. Returning to Sandover empty handed and with bad news, preparations for Jak's funeral were made.
Two days after that the entire village gathered on the cliff face near Farmer luey's place. The sculptor had offered to make the tombstone, but Samos and John dictated what went on it. Samos had refused to shed light on the words he had put on the stone, and no one pushed him very hard. Daxter read the carved letters for what seemed like the thousandth time. The inscription was puzzling, and the strange symbol at the top even more so. It was inscribed:
Jak Mar.
Hero and savior to Haven city.
Born year 1,119 After Mar Died year 25 Pre-Mar
Who was Mar? And the dates certainly didn't match up either. Who had his best friend really been? Daxter was startled out of his musings by a hand on his shoulder. Keira sat down next to him and gazed at Jak's tombstone.
"Do…do you want to talk about it?" she tried hesitantly. Her voice was a bit horse from all the crying she had done the past few days.
"What's there to say? My best friend is dead, and it's all my fault." He whispered, his own voice much the same from lack of use. Keira's eyes widened.
"You can't mean that!" she exclaimed.
" Of course I do! Jak died because he was protecting me! If I hadn't of been such a, such a coward the he might still be here…" Daxter took a shaky breath to steady himself, and was surprised when Keira drew him into a light hug.
"Don't say that Daxter. Jak would never regret having saved a friend, even…even at the cost of his own life. That's just the selfless kind of person he is. Was…" Keira sniffled a little before continuing "He's probably looking down at us right now and shaking his head at how silly we're being, moping like this." Daxter tried to smile, but just got a twitch of his lips for the trouble. Sighing he settled for returning the hug.
"It's late…I'll…I'll walk you back to your house." Daxter offered pulling away. He didn't think she actually needed him to, but he didn't want to be alone right now. Apparently Keira knew how he felt or just shared his sentiments because she agreed as she got to her feet.
They walked silently past the dark houses of the village, but paused at hearing voices from the mayor's house.
" Absolute lunacy! How can you suggest such a thing Samos? Just after losing young Jak you suggest sending more to their death on that cursed island!" Curious as to what was going on the two snuck up to a window and listened in.
" I suggest no such thing! But if we do not do something about the lurkers we could have another Disaster on our hands!" The room fell silent no one wanted that. The Disaster had only ended a few scant years ago and wash fresh in their minds. A great earthquake had broken open various dark eco silos and vents causing the world to flood with said eco. Many, many people had died before the nightmare had ended.
"But what can we do? None of use are fighters, and those lurkers have some sort of cannon. Not to mention their sheer number!" Jak's uncle John spoke up tapping his walking stick on the ground.
"What about the other Sages? Surely they would lend us a hand?" the others voiced their agreement to Heather's question.
" I tried to contact the other sages as soon as we got back from Misty Island. But none of them have seen fit to turn on their ends of the Teleporter ring in quite sometime. More angry shouts flowed from the house as Daxter and Keira snuck away.
" This is terrible!" Keira exclaimed when they had reached her garage. She had lost her parents in the Disaster, and even though she had been very young she still missed them. For another one to happen again so soon… there was no way the world could cope.
"I know, but what could we do? It's not like we can just walk through Fire canyon to talk to the sages in person…" Daxter had also lost his parents in the disaster, but unlike Keira no one had found it in their heart to adopt him, he understood her distress. Keira hesitated a moment before laying a hand on the Zoomer she had built.
" We couldn't walk through it, but we could fly though it." Daxter gave her a questioning look. "I've been working on a heat shield for the Zoomer. It's almost finished too; all I need is two more Power cells and it's good to go."
" I forbid anything of the sort!" Samos floated above them angrily. " Jak was the only one skilled enough to perform such a feat, and I will not have either of you risking your lives over silly notions!" The two young teens shrank back from his fury. Satisfied that he would be obeyed Samos turned to leave.
"You're wrong." Samos whipped around to stare at Daxter. Daxter had his fists clenched at his side and was staring at the floor.
"What did you say young man?" Samos demanded. Daxter looked up at him with a fire in his eyes.
"I, I said that you're wrong green stuff! I can pilot that thing just as well as Jak could, and it would be silly if Keira didn't know how to fly her own machine!" Samos couldn't believe what he was hearing. Daxter, the village coward, was standing up to him.
"Well then, if you think that you are such hot stuff why don't you go clean out my green eco collectors on Sentinel beach!" Daxter scowled at him and shouted back.
"I will! I'll show you, and everyone else that I'm not a coward any more!" Seething, Daxter ran out of the garage. He could be just as brave as Jak, just as strong. Hadn't Daxter been the one to follow Jak everywhere on all his adventures? Their adventures? Hadn't he trained along side Jak when he was learning to fight; hadn't he climbed and jumped all over the forbidden forest right at his side all this time?
Daxter lost his footing on the uneven sand of Sentinel beach and fell. Clenching sand in his fist he took a shaky breath. Who was he kidding? He wasn't brave at all; if it hadn't been for Jak he would have never done any of those things. Jak…if he was here right now he would be laughing at Daxter for being so clumsy.
'Come on Dax' he would "say", 'stop lying down on the job! Samos will make us scrub his entire walkway again if we don't get done soon.' Then his friend would take hold out a hand to help him up, laughing his familiar silent laugh. 'Besides, the lurker snakes will get you if you lay there to long!' Lurker snakes?
Daxter rolled to his feet as the sand erupted skywards beside him. A lurker snake reared and hissed at him. He yelped and was about to turn tail and run when Samos' taunting voice rang through in his head. 'I knew you couldn't do it, you're to afraid.' Daxter curled his hand into a tight fist, he was not afraid!
The punch landed squarely on the lurker snake's head, causing it to explode into four tiny blobs of green eco. The blobs quivered for a moment before rushing into his body. Daxter blinked in confusion and patted himself with his hands. That had never happened to him before. Everything that Jak killed seemed to explode into the type of eco that he needed at the moment, but anything Daxter had managed to take down just laid there and rot like a good corpse.
Shaking his head Daxter continued along the beach at a slower pace then before. He encountered a similar anomaly when he took down a couple of Croca-dogs that had charged him. Not long after that he arrived at the green eco collectors. Small boulders covered the vents on the ground. Daxter reared his foot back and kicked one as hard as he could, sending it rolling a few feet. The pain in his foot was quickly soothed as the green eco vent burst to life again, bathing his out stretched foot in its healing energy.
He took care of the other vents in the same fashion, though hesitated when he came to the last one. The boulder here was bigger then the others. Making his decision, Daxter slammed his foot into the large rock. A stream of curses poured from his mouth as he hopped around holding his foot, the rock had not moved. After getting some green eco from one of the other vents to put on his foot, Daxter tried to shove the rock off. It rocked backwards a little, but not enough for Daxter to push it off.
Several minutes and failed attempts later Daxter was beginning to lose hope again when he remembered a time They had found a metal box in the Forbidden jungle. Jak had done that double jump thing of his, and twisted to crash down on the box with his hands. The box had broken apart easily, spilling precursor orbs everywhere. New hope filling his eyes Daxter jumped into the air and aimed his fist downward, only to fall on his face.
Getting back to his feet with a scowl Daxter tried to remember exactly how Jak had done that. Memories of Jak performing the move paraded past his eyes in great detail. After a few moments Daxter tried again, managing to do Jak's double jump to his brief delight, but still landed on his face.
'Its all about gravity' Daxter "heard" in his mind. 'Once you twist yourself around in the air, just let your self fall. Don't force it.' Daxter looked around warily. Upon seeing no one he decided he was just hearing things…though a little advice never hurt. He took a deep breath and preformed the jump again. This time though, he just let himself fall instead of trying to put any force into it.
The rock exploded into dust and small chunks upon contact, a power cell bouncing off to the side. Green eco washed over him in waves as he landed on his hands right on top of the vent. Daxter vaulted off his hands and onto his feet, shaking the cold feeling of the green eco off. The power cell glowed brightly in the darkness a little ways off.
With one exited leap Daxter had the power cell in his hands. He did it, and the precursors had rewarded him with a power cell for his efforts. Stuffing the glowing artifact into his pocket, Daxter began making his way back to Samos' hut. Old grandpa-green-log-on-the-head was bound to be shocked when Daxter shoved his success under his beard. He would give the power cell to Keira first though.
The stars twinkled brightly as the precursors looked down on their children; perhaps not all was lost just yet.