Ugh, I must write fighting scenes again. Here I go.

Chapter 20: Some Minor Theft

The robot hovered there longer, as people screamed and bolted about like frightened animals. Then, without warning, it raised an arm and out shot a blinding beam of purple and black, right into the southern section of the city's western wall. It held the beam for several moments before it was lost in a cloud of debris and smoke.

"The shield wall is down. All citizens, take cover in your homes. I repeat, the shield wall is down," a strangely unemotional, pre-recorded female voice rang out over the area. All this seemed to succeed in doing was causing the people to cry out more.

It's the beginning…

"Shut up." He had to do something. There wasn't a great deal he could do about the robot right now, but whatever was banging on the wall had stopped. And that couldn't be good. Jak pushed his way in the opposite direction of the shrieking masses of people, in the same direction as the soldiers, towards the damaged section of the wall.

There was a deafening blast, like from the beam the robot had directed at the wall, but closer. It struck a building nearby with such force, it knocked Jak off his feet. He landed face-down on the cracked asphalt and looked behind him, rolling to the side just before a hunk of concrete landed where he had been lying. He sprung to his feet and began sprinting, the streets becoming empty except for the soldiers. More blasts could be heard, as the robot fired upon one building after another. He had to stop that thing before it leveled the entire city. He had brought down two robots before. But, neither were that heavily armored or had such firepower.

A new sound could be heard up ahead, this time coming from the Freedom League guards, ordering their fellow soldiers to fire at what lay ahead, their shouts only to be cut short by screams.

Without missing a beat, Jak pulled out his Morph-Gun, set on the Blaster, and pushed his way beyond the perimeter of soldiers. But, what met Jak's eyes were not Metal Heads, but something even worse. He had seen such things before, but never this vicious. Twisted creatures of a deep black and about the height of a large man (a very large man), but with a much greater build. Their mouths were a mess of long, sharp teeth sticking out in all directions, set beneath beady, yet strangely intelligent, eyes. It was with these eyes that one, after mauling a soldier, biting right through his armor and then dropping the man when he no longer struggled so much, stopped and considered him. Jak had a feeling it wasn't just interested in his appearance, which differed a great deal from the blue-armored men. As the fighting continued around them, he stared back into its black eyes. It was like it knew him. Or at least felt the presence of something within him that made them similar.

Jak narrowed his eyes. "I'm nothing like you!" he said under his breath. And then he began firing at its head, and it shrieked and hissed, coming at him with a speed unexpected for its bulk. He stepped back, still firing, but it kept coming at him, growing more enraged by the second. His back hit a wall, and it was upon him with teeth and curved claws. He switched to the Wave Concussor, sticking the gun in the creature's mouth and firing, sending it reeling back, most of its teeth blown out. It staggered a bit, dark blood of nearly pure Dark Eco running down its chin, before falling. It twitched, before going still.

Jak wiped blood from the gash on his cheek. Soldiers were all around him, but they were outnumbered. The creatures kept coming down the streets, no matter how many were killed. Not that a very large number had been taken down yet. More bodies of soldiers littered the streets than those of monsters.

This couldn't be happening again. Hadn't Haven City suffered enough? Dark Eco had to hurt everything. It thrived on pain. But, he was not like those creatures, even if the same substance resided within them. He had his humanity. They did not.

Jak continued fighting off the creatures as best he could, saving the limited shots of his Peace Maker for the most urgent situations. But, neither the efforts of the soldiers nor himself cold make a dent. The numbers of the creatures only continued to increase, and he had to fall back along with the soldiers when the streets became too full of monsters. And the robot continued its assault on the city, appearing to have an unnecessarily varied arsenal that would be described as remorseless at best, while picking off the attacking Hellcat cruisers with ease, not even bothering with the automated turrets firing at it from atop the wall, which seemed to have no effect on it. Worst of all was that black beam. He had never seen anything like it.

Another blast hit nearby, and Jak knocked a soldier out of the way of the flying chunks of concrete and glass, then, proceeded to fire at the monster the man had just been aiming at. Already weakened, it went down without much trouble.

"So you make a habit of knocking people over in the battlefield?" The soldier's voice was muffled by the helmet he wore, but he sounded familiar. The man took off his helmet to reveal red hair and a certain tattoo.

"Torn."

"Didn't recognize me without my armor on, I see. I don't normally wear any, but with the current situation, a guy would have to be crazy to go out without any protection." He eyed Jak's stained and bloodied clothing (most of it was not his blood, fortunately, but the blood of those monsters), complete with a few tears.

Jak shrugged. "I guess I just have more confidence in my skill."

"And your so-called 'confidence' has gotten you a few cuts on your face. Guess you're finally trying to ditch the pretty boy look?" Torn fired a few well-aimed shots from his pistol into an oncoming monster's eyes, effectively incapacitating it.

"Torn, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be helping Ashelin?" The man was the Governess' advisor, after all, and right now, he wasn't doing much advising.

"And miss out on the action? And besides, I am helping Ashelin. By defending the city. It looks…"

They both turned their attention on another creature, the combined firepower bringing it down quicker than if they were alone.

"As I was saying, it looks pretty bleak, even by Haven City standards. You gonna do something about that robot?" Torn pointed at the machine in question with a thumb. "I hear you've dealt with stuff like that before."

"I can't get anywhere near it…. Hey, have you seen Dax? Do you know if—"

"No, I haven't."

"Can you—"

"Jak, this really isn't the time to talk. If I see the fleabag, I'll make sure he's safe. That's what you're trying to say, right?"

"Yeah…" One of Daxter's favorite hangout spots was the Naughty Ottsel. As long as the monsters hadn't reached the port yet, he should be safe. For now.

Torn nodded, then, went off in another direction, throwing his helmet back on just before taking out another creature that charged at him.

Jak continued his own fight against the assaulting monsters, but the longer the night wore on, the harder a time he had. Minor cuts and blows started to add up, and his body ached all over. He found an inconspicuous corner to catch his breath and wipe sweat and blood from his face. He nearly leapt out of that corner when something landed on his head, clutching at his hair and ears. Jak struggled to get it off, but it held on tight.

"This is bad, Jak! Real bad!"

His grip on the object loosened. "Dax, is that you?"

"Of course, it's me. Who else can fit on your head? Not the other fatties you know, that's for sure." Daxter released his hold on Jak and dropped onto the man's shoulder. "What's goin' on, Jak? That must be the same thing that blew open the silo! It's gonna blow up the whole city if no one stops it!"

Indeed, crumbling buildings could be seen all around them, as smoke from dozens of fires congregated above, trying to blot out the sky. He needed to stop that robot. But, how, when he couldn't even get over to it?

"Dax, how'd you get here?"

"Whaddya mean? I walked. How'd you get here?"

"No. You didn't take the streets, did you?"

"No, are you crazy?" Daxter pointed up. "I took the rooftops. There's none of those weird monsters up there. Impressed, aren't ya?"

"I am, actually. And you've given me a great idea." Looking around, Jak spotted an overturned trash bin nearby. Setting it top down, he climbed up, and with a jump, he grabbed the railing of a low balcony nearby and pulled himself up. The huddled family inside watched them through a glass, sliding door, looking positively dumbfounded. Jak gave a feeble wave and a sheepish grin, while Daxter was more focused on the street below them.

"Careful, Jak! In a city under attack by monsters and a giant robot, you wanna die by falling?"

With the people inside's panic beginning to turn into annoyance, Jak turned and started to run up the fire escape until he reached the roof several stories up. He looked out over the innumerable rooftops that stretched before him. From up here, he could see more than ever the state of the city. Smoking craters could be seen where buildings once stood, while other structures burned with no one able to put them out because they were too busy fighting the monsters that filled every street he could see. And the robot. There it was, straight ahead.

"Hang on, Dax." Jak started to run across the rooftops, wishing the Dark Eco inside him wasn't currently preventing his transformation into Light Jak. Wings would be pretty convenient right about now. Once, he even dared to cross a power line on his JET-Board, causing screams from Daxter, who proceeded to nearly rip out the man's hair that was then firmly held in the ottsel's fists. Finally, he was close.

Hellcat cruisers circled the robot, firing upon it, while turrets mounted on the city walls, what was left of it, did their best to assist in doing some kind of damage against the machine so much more powerful than they. But, their efforts appeared to have no effect whatsoever, causing nary a scratch or a burn on the robot's surface. The robot took out several of them, and then, when only a couple remained and Jak wondered if they would all soon be wiped out, the Hellcats' firepower and that of the turrets seemed to finally make an impact. The robot made as if to fire back at them again, but nothing happened. After a short while longer of this charade, smoke started to rise from several spots in the robot's frame.

"What's goin' on?" Daxter said.

They watched as the robot turned around and sped away into the darkness.

"After it, Jak! We can't let it just get away like that! Giddy up, Jak! Giddy up!"

Jak cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the nearest cruiser. "Hey! Get over here!" No, what was he thinking? That wouldn't work. He raised his Vulcan Fury and fired a single shot at it. The cruiser could take it. The bullet hit the cruiser with a clank, and the vehicle banked towards them. Jak waved his arms, as did Daxter.

The Hellcat came up close, stopping to hover nearby, a very angry looking woman staring at them. She took off her goggles. "Are you crazy? You—"

"I need to borrow that."

"What kind of idiot—"

"There's no time to talk! I have to follow that robot!"

The woman blinked at him. "Listen, bozo—"

Jak stepped towards the edge of the building and leaned in closer to her. "Listen, lady, I need the cruiser so I can find where that robot went so I can make sure it doesn't come back and finish us off. Unless you want to go after it."

Sure, it was a pretty unreasonable demand, but now wasn't the time to be reasonable.

She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together. "Fine, but—"

"Thanks." Jak jumped in before she barely had any time to get out. It wasn't until after he sped off did she realize she had just stepped out onto a rooftop and began to scream after them.

As they headed off in the direction the robot had gone, Jak smiled, his old cockiness back. "Time to find ourselves a robot."

"Y'know, I think we might really be crazy."

"Yeah, but I'm good with it."

It's not easy writing platforming into a story. I know Jak has inhuman jumping abilities, but saying he double jumped and all that nonsense sounds silly in written form. Much of this stuff I wrote is impossible. Just utterly impossible.

Also, I am beginning to get very confused by the geography of this game. As far as I can tell, the forest is to the northwest, with the desert to the southwest. And then I have the misfortune of finding that the Wasteland is, in fact, an island. But, you know what, I don't care. I just don't care. Let's say the sand blew enough that it bridged the gap between the Wasteland and the bit of land Haven's on. Yes. There we go. (And there's no way that map in "Jak X" is accurate.) Please review.