Yay for another update! 33 ALSO I SPELL CHECKED IT OMG xD Jkjk, Anyways, emjoy yhis long awaited update. C'MON PEOPLE COMMENT THIS TIME ;-; I got almost NO reponse from the last chapter, and I'd hate to think all of my readers up and left on me! 3 Much love, -KGBP.
Haven City forest now lay in the aftermath of the brutal siege between man and machine. Despite the eerie appearance, the wind was gentle and fresh to the lungs. The rivers, though partially blackened from the spoils of war, flowed with a certain elegance past tall rock edifices. Silent sunset faded to a daunting evening, the moon full and bright in the sky. The two cousin stars gleamed ominously overhead, one of green and the other of purple.
Sake watched the stars from atop the large cylindrical pillar, crystalline blue eyes blinking ever so few times. She clutched onto the still body of her beloved, one arm around his chest with the other wrapped around his neck with her hand on his cheek. Though he lay still, it was obvious that his mind was running at a thousand miles an hour. The furry friend of the heroes was curled up in Jak's lap, ever so worried about him.
"Do you think he's winning?" Sake asked, gently stroking Jak's cheek with her thumb while her other hand curled lightly around a piece of his armor.
"Psh, do I think he's winning? C'mon babe, this is Jak. I KNOW he's winning. But it still doesn't make me feel better. He's always getting into trouble." Daxter sat up and pawed up his friend's chest, then sat on Sake's right shoulder.
"True, but I wouldn't change that about him. I fell in love with this Jak; I don't want to be with any other person. Besides, why would you want to change your best friend?"
"Its not that I wanna change him, it's just that I get tired of saving his butt." Daxter cocked a confident smirk Sake's way, and then lowered his ears with a nervous laugh. "Sake, I never got to say a chance to say this…" He paused for several seconds, leaving Sake to simply wander along the path he left.
"Say what?" She asked casually.
"To say that I was sorry—for saying all of those mean things. I didn't know about any of it… Jak had to tell me before I understood anything." He squeaked momentarily when Sake reached up to scratch him behind the ears.
"No, its okay, Daxter. I'm kind of glad he told you though. I freaked at first when I found out that he did." She petting continued, her gentle fingers rubbing the sweet spot between his shoulder blades.
"Ya sure? Because, I don't want to end up as your worst enemy. Nor do I want you to hate me. It would make things hard on all of us. Even Jakky-Boy here." Sake gave a gentle nod to the ottsel.
"Psh, there's only one person I hate. Errol." Her smile and laughter faded to a stern look, as if she was deep in thought. Daxter also fell silent, his soft purring stopping. "He's the only person who's ever done anything horrific enough to me for me to ever hate him. To me, Hate is a strong emotion, one which should never be felt towards any one person, yet I cannot reduce the feeling of loathing I have towards that man." She felt Daxter rub the top of his head along her hand and she managed a soft smile.
"Try not to think about it." He said before sitting up. His eyes soon focused on the unconscious hero. His chest rose and fell with each gentle breath, almost like he was sleeping. His facial expression looked as if he was in an incredible battle, which proved that he wasn't sleeping at all. Daxter watch closely as his face twisted ever few seconds as if to whimper in pain. Sake gently took his hand in her own, holding it tightly. His expression softened to a more confident look.
"Wonder where his mind is." She asked softly. It was the only thing said for the next several minutes before Daxter opened his mouth to reply.
"Probably thinking about coming back to us, his best pals." The ottsel struck yet another confident pose and Sake nodded. He sat back down in Jak's lap, and then curled up.
Some time passed in more bouts of silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but it was silence none the less. Daxter had fallen asleep to the sounds of the rushing waterfalls, but Sake stood watch while holding her lover's body close to make sure nothing dared attack. Her experiences as a Wastelander in training (or so she considered herself) proved this to her time and time again. She couldn't risk letting her guard down.
Bored, she began to sing a gentle hymn to herself, one she had learned many years before from her mother as a little girl. It always calmed her down and made her think about happier times. She didn't realize that Jak was beginning to wake. He shifted slightly, hearing the singing.
"Sake?" She immediately stopped and blushed. She was never confident about singing in front of other people, so this shocked her. "Was that you singing?"
She gave him a soft nod. "Oh, Yeah." Her eyes watched his hand as it poked Daxter, who slowly rose from his sleep.
"It was very nice." He replied then lifted Daxter up. "Hey buddy, fell asleep I see." Daxter groaned, half asleep and half annoyed.
"Why is it you always wake me up during the sexy dreams?" He pried his little furry body loose from his friends grip and leapt onto his shoulder. Sake stood and helped the blonde to his feet.
"Dunno, but how long was I out?" Jak examined the rising sun just past the rocks on the horizon.
"I'd say about 6 hours, maybe. It was pretty late when you passed out. What happened though? You looked like you were fighting a war." The female's voice shook ever so slightly as to reflect her concern.
"I wasn't really unconscious, but I was somewhere else. I was on the Dark Maker ship, controlling one of their mechs." He clenched his fists a few times to get feeling back in his hands; they had gone numb on him. Daxter and Sake both watched the Dark Light in the sky for a few seconds. It looked dimmer.
"I take it you blew something up." Daxter did a little dance to himself, rather loving big explosions.
"Yeah, I did, and the Dark Makers are pissed about it." Jak tightened the straps on his bracers slightly, then the ones around his ankles.
The three exchanged an assortment of glances between each other, Sake carrying the one of excitement. "The last one down gets to do Torn's next killer mission!" Immediately, she took a step back and leapt from the middle pillar. She folded up, hitting the water and creating a huge splash from the cannon ball. Jak followed suit with much protest from Daxter. He chased Sake down and dunked her before climbing onto shore, only to be pulled back in by her. She climbed up and began to ring her hair out.
"Hahaha, Sucker!" She quipped tauntingly. Jak grunted and shook his head wildly, splattering Sake with water, who cried out playfully.
"Hmm, wonder why my commu-" 'Open mouth, Insert foot.' Jak thought. His communicator began buzzing loudly. With a mocking expression, he acted like Torn. "'Jak come tie my shoes.'" Sake and Daxter fell over laughing at the thought as Jak continued. "'Jak, help me, I can't open my bottle of whiskey!' 'Jak, Help, Ashlein won't stop trying to whore me!'" By now the other two were crying from laughter while watching the blond dance around like a complete idiot. Finally he stopped and reached for the communicator. He managed to calm the other two down before answering.
"Jak," Torn began, the other two laughed. "Come back to the main base, I have another mission for you." Jak moved his mouth in a mocking manner. Sake and Daxter resisted another bout of laughter. "Yeah, Yeah, We're coming." He hung up then placed the communicator in his pocket. "C'mon, God Almighty himself wants us, again."
The trio cleared themselves of giggles the entire time as they approached the exit of the forest. The rest of the time was spent on concentrating as the deadly trip was made back to the base through Metal Head and KG Death Bot territory. Many times they came face to face with danger bur narrowly avoided it. No time was wasted getting onto the elevator at the tower in New Haven.
"Honey, I'm home!" Jak called as the doors opened at the top floor.
"Cut the crap Jak, we don't have time for games. Now get over here." Jak groaned angrily at Torn then approached the hologram projector.
"Jak, There's another important mission we need completed." Ashlein, who had been assessing a map, began the run down but Daxter cut her off.
"Let me guess, we're on the short list to head up the mission, right?" He growled at her but she shook her head.
"No, we're giving this to someone else this time." Daxter looked shocked to death.
"WHAT! I suppose you think we're not good enough! I bet you think we can't handle it! I've got a contract!" The ottsel rambled on and on, spazzing about whatever random thing that came to mind before Torn and Ashlein slammed their fists down.
"You're ON the mission!" She snapped loudly in his face. "Your mission is to protect Torn as he pilots a craft carrying explosions which will blow open the Metal Head Nest. Jak, you'll be piloting the turret on the Hellcat, and Sake, you'll be in the vehicle with Torn, taking care of anything that tries to attack him from the front." The two nodded in reply as Torn headed for the elevator, and then followed him into the hanger where the roomers were parked. Sake hopped in back with Torn while Jak took his place at the turret.
Not even a moment later, once they were out of the hanger bay, they were assaulted with anything imaginable. Beasts came from the right, and robots from the left, both hell-bent on stopping the shipment of Eco. It was like Errol knew what their plans were and was commanding them to attack. Regardless, Jak and Sake both did their jobs, firing their guns when necessary to reserve ammo for what was obviously waiting for them at the nest.
The New Haven section was luckily simple to get through, because the enemies stood out against the pale walls. Not to mention, their metal shined brightly in the sun that beamed down. Sake kept a sharp eye on the roofs of the buildings in Old Haven and sniped anything that dared attack from above. In just her short time using a gun, she had become a sharp shooter. She only wished she had her duel Pistols, but Torn misplaced those. Jak from behind was having a bit of a fight though. It seemed they had a later Bombot on their tails, and it was gaining fast. He could tell it had its lasers locked on to his forehead, but it was out of range. So, he began to fire at the central core, a few well placed bullets bringing it down in a split second. With that taken care of, he was able to dispose of the beasties attempting to sneak up from the sides.
They soon entered the Industrial zone where a new onslaught of Metal and Meat awaited their arrival. Sake took out the small fry while Jak aimed for the conveniently placed barrels of explosives. One bullet sent the entire stash into the fiery hells, taking anything remotely close with it. This was a saving grace, as it eliminated over eighty percent of the forces in the opening of the Industrial zone. They managed to survive with relatively no damage and continued on.
The port was next and their destination was visible across the water, just past a large wall of Straffers who had their Dark Eco turrets at the ready. Jak stood from his post, going dark before jumping onto Torn's vehicle. He had a quick and easy way to take care of the creatures.
In his hands he clutched a ball of pure Dark Eco which moved and swirled about in a rather entrancing fashion. It began to spark with bolts of purple before it was thrown into the center of the wall. In a bright flash of blacks, indigos, pinks, and purples, the wall was instantly disintegrated. Jak changed back and took his station on the Hellcat once again at the turret. Sake gawked, amazed at the skills he had picked up without her knowing. It did explain why he did go missing some nights...
She didn't have time to gawk however, because a fleet of Bombots were waiting at the entrance to the Metal head Nest. They happened to be standing in front of some nicely placed barrels of explosives, so Sake and Jak both aimed for them, one bullet on each side, to take out the entire force in one fell swoop.
They had cleared nearly all of the hurdles, but one extremely one still lingered: They had to fly through the Metal Head infested nest, and they had already sustained damage, enough to be a problem. Sig was now helping with the fighting, using his PeaceMaker to knock some of the larger beasts back into their own radioactive muck. Sake took care of anything that flew, and Jak handled anything which leapt at them from the sides and behind. Their attacks were deadly to the Metal heads, eliminating them with little to no effort.
The final destination was in sight, so Torn stepped up the speed on his vehicle. Sake braced herself and prepared to jump to either side. Torn was the first to leap, Sake going the opposite direction. The vehicle loaded with bombs collided with the flesh-ridden door, blowing it to Kingdom-come. Jak whispered a celebrative yes to himself before powering the turrets down and climbing into the back seat of the vehicle. Daxter had been silent on his shoulder the entire time, and was now dreading going into the nest. He just knew that's why they blew the door open. Sake was already heading for the entrance, gun reloaded and ready to kill. However, she didn't see Metal heads inside, instead she was the ever 'popular' Dark maker's, their own weapons at the ready.
Jak jumped from the Hellcat as it approached land and Torn climbed in. Ashlein piloted it away to safety as the two lovers stood still at the entrance, half of the bodies hidden in the yellow mist that spilled from the entrance. The two shared a confident nod before proceeding into the hell.