Chapter 6:
Malefor's Return
Jak was falling, and had been falling, for what felt like hours. Erol's cheap shot with the Plasmite grenade had taken him completely by surprise and he was still dazed by the suddenness of it. He shook himself and concentrated upon becoming Light Jak so he could fly out of there but as the ray of bright light engulfed him, streams of purple electricity from the sides of the volcano stopped him in the middle of transformation. The ghostly entity was replaced a demonic pale blue one but something was wrong. The half formed angelic wings were being replaced by two painful, scalloped wings. Instinctively, he spread the new appendages and his descent slowed to a crawling pace. Jak looked down and saw that at the bottom of the crater, a second passageway broke off. From that second passageway, a strong wave of Dark Power was flowing. It was overly obvious that Malefor was in that direction and that his release was well underway. Jak growled, folded his wings back, and dove into that passageway.
Even in his bestial state, Jak's human (or elf?) emotions still functioned as he felt disgust at the sheer amount of shuddering, pill-shaped Metalhead eggs that covered the walls of this tunnel. Jak pulled out his Eco Staff which was now laced with Dark Eco energy and began firing Dark bolts at the eggs. They exploded with sickening "squish" noises as they exploded into little rubbery pieces. He charged a Peacemaker-like ball of Dark Energy and fired it at the largest clutch of eggs, his bestial self enjoying the gory explosion which followed. Soon enough, the eggs which would have soon enough become a new wave of Metalhead minions were destroyed and the passageway forward was opened. It was obvious that the Dark Eco concentration was becoming too much even for the Metalheads that thrived on the stuff. However, it did nothing to stop Jak, who had endured much more Dark Eco exposure than this during his time as Baron Praxis' "guest".
The end of the passageway opened up into a large chamber where two Dark Eco lasers were drilling away at a large Light Crystal. Jak landed on the Light Crystal and immediately turned into his normal self. On the surface of the crystal was a large blade of Precursor Metal with a large circular hole in the bottom. Jak looked from the large head of the Eco Staff to the hole in the blade, put two and two together, and placed the two weapons together. Immediately, the two weapons were engulfed in light and after a blinding transformation, were replaced with a large sword of Precursor Metal with a familiar symbol, that of the House of Mar, in the pommel. It then hit Jak; Mar had always been depicted carrying a sword just like this. He looked around the crystal and saw something, a slot where it was obvious that the sword went.
"Yes!" he cried triumphantly as he ran forward and prepared to drive the sword into the crystal. However, before he could, a blast of green energy struck him in the chest and forced him back. A large burn was in his tunic from where the blast had contacted. He looked upward to see Cortex on his Rocket Board protecting the slot.
"Don't you dare put that sword in the slot!" Cortex ordered. He pushed a button on his wrist and a green forcefield protected him and the slot from Jak. "Now Jak, heir to Mar's throne, behold to witness1 the powerhouse that is Malefor the Dark Master!"
The crystal under Jak's feet lost its violet glow and became dark grey and opaque just like all the other rock in the cavern. As the rock began cracking, Jak ran and leapt onto an adjacent stone platform. Dark energy began crackling forth from the cracks in the stone as a huge explosion in the stone preceded a gigantic claw forcing its way out.
"I have returned!" the Dark Master crowed as first his large back, then his powerful shoulders and gigantic wings, finally followed by his three-horned head broke through the stone and filled the entire cavern. His reddish eyes alighted upon Jak with his Eco Sword firmly grasped in his hand standing on the long platform remaining in the cavern. "So, this is the mighty Mar, the great warrior who is remembered and revered throughout time." He chuckled then fixed his gaze back upon Jak. Jak dodged a spurt of Dark Fire from Malefor's maw with a quick roll to the side. He breathed deeply and calmed his mind, allowing whatever Light Eco he still possessed to take over and turn him into Light Jak. Malefor flinched as the light from Jak's ghostly form burned his eyes. "You dare bring light into my lair? You must die!2" Jak fired two Light blasts at Malefor's face but was disheartened when they had no effect. A Dark blast struck Jak in the chest, sending him straight off his platform and into the side of the cavern. Malefor's bellow and the crashing blows his tail was delivering to the sides of the cavern made several rocks fall out of the ceiling and also opened up an exit for Jak. Recognizing his defeat, Jak opened up his wings and flew through the opening.
Crash, Spyro, Coco, Crunch, Daxter, Cynder, and Keira all looked around as a great bellow issued forth from the volcano and it collapsed in a flash of dark light. Keira screamed as she pointed at the recognizable shape of Light Jak fleeing the destruction and the giant form of Malefor.
"Woo, no one can defeat our boy Jak!" Daxter whooped, leaping up and down on an irritable Crash's head. Jak landed on the rock, turned back into himself and looked around at the others. "Whoa Jak, where'd you get the cool s…"
"No time Dax!" he yelled, cutting off Daxter's remark at his new weapon. "Everyone into the Hellcats!" No one argued with their unofficial leader, quickly clambering into the two fighters and taking off quickly. It was lucky they did as a giant Dark Fireball came down upon the place and completely obliterated it. Malefor's huge silhouette threw back its head in laughter and spoke directly to them all.
"You Heroes shall never defeat us! We shall either dominate each planet or destroy them, starting with the bandicoot's beloved Earth!" Malefor subsided into demonic laughter as he, along with the visible form of Cortex in a vehicle flew through a portal and disappeared from sight.
"We have to stop him!" Crash insisted through the comms.
"Then let's go, seems they left the door open for us." Without argument, the two ships flew through the portal which undoubtedly lead to the Wumpa Islands, ready for what would undoubtedly be their final confrontation with the Villains.
I believe the line: "behold to witness my power" comes from Star Fox Adventures or something like that. The way it botches the English language is just too funny not to observe.
The line: "You dare bring light into my lair? You must die!" is a heavily overused line from Legend of Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. It is said when Zelda enters Ganondorf's lair with this magical lamp and he doesn't like light so he freaks out.
Author's Note: You know what to do, send me inspiring reviews and I will be quicker to post the subsequent chapters of Act III: Crash's World.