NOTE! I added more to this chapter, read it again and be amazed. 3
Guess who's still alive? I have NOT given up on this thing. It's just that this isn't my only writing project by far. The others will most likely never be posted here as I can't take full credit, but they are just as important.
Please enjoy.
I do not own the game Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy or anything related to it. Naughty Dog Inc. does.
--
He was running out of time and he knew it.
Daxter had been in the Blue sage's lab for over an hour, franticly searching for something that would help him defeat that giant lurker. So far, the only thing he had found that looked remotely helpful was blueprints and some notes.
The Blue sage had apparently been building some sort of machine before he disappeared that would shoot the monster with a large amount of blue eco, effectively electrocuting it. Unfortunately, it was never finished…and Daxter had no mechanical skills what so ever.
Keira on the other hand, could probably take one look at the thing and it would start working. Problem being, Daxter refused to call her for help. Looking at the blueprints for what had to be the billionth time, he contemplated his options.
There had to be a way out of this…
"Hey Kid!"
Daxter spun around with a yelp to see the Warrior standing at in the doorway.
"I'm done fixing the walkway, you ready to go kick some monster butt?"
Daxter clutched the blueprints to his chest, and stared at the man.
" Well, er, that is you see….I hate to admit it, but that monster is just to big for one guy to take alone. That sage of yours was working on this doohickey before he up and went, to weaken it yanno. Problem is, it's just not finished yet!"
The warrior narrowed his eyes at him.
" You said you could take him!"
"Buddy, he's standing in freaking LAVA like it was a bubble bath! What am I gonna do, throw rocks at him? Wait…throw rocks at….Hey I've got an idea big guy."
The Warrior gave him a look of disbelief, but said nothing. Daxter walked over to the window and pointed to the Lurker that was terrorizing the small village.
"You see that there thingie on its arm? That's what it's using to make them boulders right? Well, if we can jam it, he might blow up! Or something…"
" And how are you going to do that, you can't just climb up on it."
"Well uh…uh…"
Daxter had to think fast, that hunk of rusted metal might be a wuss, but he could probably kick his skinny ass into next month. Looking out the window again, he noticed an odd blob in the stormy area off to the right of the giant lurker.
" Hold that thought"
Grabbing the telescope, Daxter swung it around to look in that general direction. In the middle of the storm was what looked to be a lurker balloon, a big one too.
"There! We'll just commander that there balloon and fly over to 'im! Critter's got horrible aim, so we'd be safe enough."
The warrior glared at him again.
" Well, YOU have fun trekking through the swamps to do that."
" Eheh heh heh…."
--
" Man, this place stinks!"
Daxter had been in the swamps for roughly an hour, and not once had he ceased to complain about the smell. Or the fact that he seemed to be going in circles.
" I mean, seriously! I've seen that same rock five times already! FIVE I TELL YOU!" He shouted to the sky. One may wonder why he was making so much noise in an obviously lurker infested area. The simple reason being that he was quite nervous, all alone in dangerous, unfamiliar (and smelly) territory. Pulling himself up onto a nearby rock, Daxter irritably shook the muck from his feet.
"What was I thinking? Stealing a Lurker balloon just to smash it into another Lurker? That's just stupid, it'd never work! I don't even know how to work the thing, and I doubt I can just waltz in and say somethin' like ' Yeah, this is yer captain speaking. Change course will ya?'." Daxter sighed and gazed into the dark sky solemnly.
" What would you do, Jak? Probably just go kick it's ass straight up, using some sort of nifty eco powers or somethin'" Sighing again, Daxter was about to jump down from the rock and continue trekking through the swamp when something caught his eye. The swamp was surrounded on all sides by high cliffs, and at the top of on of them something glittered in a ray of sun that had managed to peek through the clouds.
Squinting curiously, Daxter tried to make out the source of the glint. After a few minutes, he reached into his pack for a small telescope he, ahem, "borrowed" from the Blue sage's lab. Putting the device to his eye, he aimed it at the cliff face. Jolting slightly as he recognized it as the Cannon from the schematics in the Blues sage's lab, Daxter wondered what it was doing THERE of all places, instead of somewhere more easily accessed.
Moving the telescope slowly, Daxter studied the cliff below the cannon. There were no steps or a ladder of any kind, ('why would there be? Sages could fly.' Daxter thought dully. ) Though there looked to be some kind of pulley system attached to the cliff face, most likely for getting the parts up there. Although if it could support the weight of machinery then maybe….
Nodding with determination, Daxter snapped the scope closed and put it away, jumping to his feet in the process. He might not be able to make the cannon work, but it was better then his previous idea.
The only resistance he met on the way there were thorns and random pools of deep water. Though once there, he had to duck quickly behind a large tangle of thorns as he spotted dark purple fur and heard the guttural language of the lurkers. Peering cautiously from his hiding place, Daxter counted four lurkers puzzling over the pulley system. From the way they were scratching their heads and poking it with their clubs, these couldn't be more then the lowest of the grunts, nothing but brute strength…strength that Daxter didn't have.
He easily out run them if it came to it, but only one strike from their clubs would bring him down. Besides, running wasn't an option now; he had to get up that cliff face. What he needed to do was outsmart them somehow. Which couldn't be to hard, if his earlier observations were correct.
How was the only question, he could throw a rock, except that the area was completely enclosed and small to boot. They would reach him before he could get far up the cliff, no matter how fast he went. Studying the lurkers again, an idea formed in Daxter's head. Shuffling deeper into the thorns to conceal himself as he checked the path to see if his idea would work. Cracking a shadow of a grin, he peered at the lurkers again, who were still studying the lift.
"Hey Iuglies/I!" He shouted jumping out from behind the thorns into their line of sight. " Come and get some!"
It took a moment for the Lurkers to register what was going on, but once they did they roared and charged him. Streaking from his place near the thorns, Daxter scrambled up onto a high rock, waiting a moment to make sure he was being followed, before jumping to the next. The lurkers didn't even try to climb up after him, just kept yelling and crashing after him through the swamp.
They didn't go far before Daxter heard the yells behind him become frantic ones. Stopping, he turned and looked back into the swamp not far bellow. Sure enough, the four brutes were flailing and splashing in the deep water, trying vainly to stay a float. Now all he had to worry about was one of them being smart enough to let go of their heavy clubs.
--
To Daxter's immense dismay the pulley's lift was damaged beyond repair, beaten to pieces by what could only have been the Lurkers. Meaning that he had to climb the rock face himself. On the bright side the rope seemed to be securely held to the top, making the accent a bit easier.
After finally hauling himself over the top of the cliff, Daxter took a few moments to catch his breath.
" Stupid pant freaking pant LURKERS!"
Dragging himself over to the cannon, Daxter used it to pull himself to his feet. Glancing ahead of him he could see the giant Lurker, Klaww, still creating and throwing flaming boulders onto the village bellow. After watching the great beast do this a few times, something occurred to Daxter. The lurker was in fact standing in lava yes, but it never moved from that particular spot.
Climbing the cannon swiftly with his tiredness suddenly forgotten, Daxter sat cross-legged on the barrel and pulled out the mini telescope again. Anyone could see that Klaww was wearing some kind of thick chest plate, one that could be assumed to power the device it used to create boulders on it's arm, but something was nagging the back of Daxter's mind about it.
There was no possible way any living thing could stand in lava without melting, and Daxter was right. If you looked close enough, you could see that the chest plate was not over the Lurker's fur, but Iunder/I it. Moving the telescope to view the rest of the beast, Daxter could see bits of metal shining on its arms, presumably where bits of molten lava had splashed. The kicker was the beasts face. One could plainly see the hinges on the jaw, and its eyes nothing more then what looked like painted glass.
The creature was a machine!
Keira had made something similar once, a toy Crocadog that dig flips. Of course, after a few flips the toy stopped working and had to be recharged with eco. If what he had heard from the villagers was true, Klaww had been assaulting them for Iweeks/I. Which brought another question to Daxter's mind along side the one of how it stayed powered.
Swinging the scope in a wide arc, Daxter watched as Klaww through boulder after flaming boulder into the water bellow, I into the exact same spot/I. If Klaww had been doing this for weeks, there should be a huge pile of the things, but each one sank into the I shallow/I water, and disappeared.
" What the hell?" Daxter exclaimed. " How's it doing THAT?"
Sitting back, Daxter thought it over. He knew for a fact that the water wasn't deep enough to hold untold amounts of giant flaming boulders, hell, he could see the bottom from here! Yet despite that fact, no boulders sat on the ocean floor, even with Klaww repeatedly throwing boulders there.
Repeatedly…Because it was a machine.
Daxter could feel his pupils dilate as his blood went cold. This had been happening for weeks, and yet no one noticed what he did? Weeks, and no one sent for help of any kind? Weeks, and no one had thought to leave?
Daxter's breath hitched as he scanned the village again. Despite the fact that there were few people there, there should have been houses or tents somewhere, there should be a farm of some kind and livestock. There should be signs that I people lived there/I.
Fumbling with the pouch on his side, Daxter just managed to drop the scope in there instead of into the pit bellow, and pull of the communicator Keira had given him. Turning it on with shaking fingers, Daxter pressed the "Talk" button.
" Keira? Keira, you there babe?"
He let a few moments passed before trying again, this time sounding more frantic then he would have liked.
" Keira?!"
" I'm here, I'm here geeze. Daxter? You'd better be in mortal peril right now, or daddy's going to be mad you're still alive. Why haven't you turned on the Telleporter yet, it's been hours! …You I are/I ok, right Daxter?"
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine sweet stuff, thanks for caring, I would have turned it on sooner, but there's this huge party going on down in the village! Couldn't help my self yanno…"
"….Daxter?"
"mmm?"
" There's no village near the Blue Sage's lab"