Chapter 2: The Change

Jak didn't know what he was expecting to happen when he kept Lil Jak or LJ; as he and Daxter had started calling him, from going through the Rift Gate, but whatever would happen, he wasn't sure if it'd be good or bad. Once they'd gotten back to Haven City, which was still on fire from the attack; though most of the weaker metal heads seemed to be dead or dying because of their leader's death, the stronger ones however seemed to be smart enough to want to live another day and simply left the burning city. The underground HQ was destroyed and with it their home. Ashelin offered the palace for Jak and company to stay, but he had a feeling that it was mostly to keep the heir; LJ, nearby.

That was the first night that Jak actually slept right through one night and most of the next day. That was until he felt something poking his nose and then gently pulling his abnormally long hair. Feeling Dark in him groan and curse whoever was trying to wake them up and promised an immediate death towards them, Jak slowly opened one blue eye and spotted the green hair and bright blue eyes of LJ staring right back at him.

Groaning Jak suddenly regretted in keeping the kid near his room. Not wanting to be judged by going soft by Torn and the others he had put the kid in the room across from his, only for Daxter to take the bed and he crashed on the extremely soft couch. He could hear the ottsel's snore from where he was. "Wanna wake uncle Daxter?" he whispered towards LJ, who's eyes suddenly lit up with a mischievous glare and nod at this idea. Placing his index over his lips Jak quietly pushed the covers from his body, totally forgetting about being shirtless; even though it didn't feel like he was because of the bandages he was wearing covered most of his torso and arms.

Wincing as he stood, he picked LJ up and threw both their bodies on the bed. This resulted in Daxter suddenly being airborne and with the laws of physics, what goes up must come down; Daxter fell right on the bed not too far from where he'd bed sleeping peacefully and innocently." JAAAAK!" came the resulting screams as the ottsel landed on his back eyes wide, heart pounding mercilessly against his chest. "Arrgh!" he groaned as he suddenly had two small hands patting him, causing him to look at the innocent look that LJ was giving him. "Nu-uh, I don't believe it! You are so not innocent in this little man!" he yelled causing LJ's ear to lower a bit, almost touching his shoulders.

Looking at the ottsel LJ lifted his head up, keeping his ears down, and giving him his best I'm-sorry look that asked for forgiveness.

Groaning Daxter looked over at Jak and pointed at LJ. "That's just not fair." He complained. "You double attacked me!" Standing up in bed Daxter waddled over to Jak and began looking at his bandages. "At least your wounds seem to better." He said, seeming to happy with whatever he was looking for as he turned away from his best friend's chest. "Okay, what time is it?" as he asked this his stomach decided to answer for him.

Laughing Jak slowly stood up. "Hungry much Daxter?" he asked as he headed out of the room and into what he had thought was a bathroom, but turned out to be a walk-in closet. He grabbed a pair of tan jeans and a blue tunic before going to the door on the other side of the room and opening it to a very large bathroom. "Bath?" he asked.

Daxter sighed as he jumped off of the bed and took off after Jak. "I'm claiming the sink, ya even put those stinky socks in it and I'm a gonna be piss at ya."

LJ suddenly made a noise as he stumbled off of the bed to follow them. Turning his head back to the child Jak walked back over to him and placed him on the couch. "Stay." He said and walked back towards the bathroom, hearing Daxter practically singing praises at the warm water in the sink basin.

"Ya do know he ain't no croca dog, right?" Daxter asked as Jak suddenly began disrobing after he had started the bathtub water.

"I know." he stated as he got into the water after he'd taken off his bandages and bloody clothes. Leaning back against the tub Jak sighed and was just staring to relax when he heard a noise. Both he and Daxter turned towards the noise and saw peeking his head around the door was LJ. Groaning Jak sank deeper into the water. "LJ, please go sit on the couch." He asked gently but with enough force behind the words for the child to understand that he really meant what he said.

Upon hearing snickering from the sink basin Jak sat back up and retch down on the floor and flung one of his socks at Daxter, only for the snickering to turn into a full fled scream as the sock had not just landed in the water, but had also landed on Daxter's face, which resulted in part of it falling into the former elf's mouth. "JAAAK!" he screamed for the second time that day, this time it was Jak's turn to laugh.

Turning his head back towards the doorway he was surprised to find it empty. He listened. he thought, actually being surprised that LJ had done so. Jak then turned back to finish his bath quickly before the kid decided that it was too boring to wait around for them.

Once done with their baths, the two teens walked out only to find LJ on the floor in front of the couch waiting patiently. "Okay, so what did you want?" Jak asked LJ as he bent down to the kid's height. Standing up LJ lifted his arm, sniffed it and made a face. Jak's cheeks turned pink slightly at the embarrassment. Of course he'd smell too. he thought. The kid probably smelt worse than he and Daxter had, having been staying in Kor's nest for Precursor's know how long. Sighing, he went back over to the closet and looked for some child sized clothes, but came out with only a medium shirt. "We'll have to reuse those pants, but at least you'll be able to use a clean shirt." Looking over at Daxter who was looking out of the windows that went from ceiling to floor and looking out at the ruined city he spoke. "Think we'll be able to find something for his at a shop Dax?"

"Uh…err…" Daxter turned back towards Jak. "Maybe." He watched his best friend take his younger self by the hand and lead him into the bathroom. It wasn't long before the two of them came out. Jak looking a little wet, but LJ looking quite happy. He chuckled, "Who's hungry?" he asked as Jak smirked at Daxter and the three boys left the room to begin their day.

Sometime later they were outside on the streets heading towards the Hip Hog. "Ya know," Daxter began as he itched the back of his ear with his foot, all the while doing a balancing act on Jak's shoulder. "I'm thinking of askin' Ashelin if I could have ol' tub of lard's bar." Jak looked at his friend and smirked. "What?" he asked indignantly. "I've done my share to help this damn city, it's about time it paid me for my services." He looked at LJ who was holding Jak's hand while they were walking down the street. "Kid friendly during the day and drunks at night." He snickered at Jak's look of surprise at his friend's words. "What, I can be nice."

"Yeah, but kid friendly means hiding the booze every single day Dax." He picked LJ up and held him on his hip. "Beside's what other kids would go to this place?"

Looking at LJ who made a silly face at Daxter, Dax chuckled. "Cute ones?" he asked sincerely as they entered the bar. Both stopped in their tracks at the scene before them. Torn and Jinx were back to back snoring against each other. Tess was curled up in a booth with Keria propped up against a wall, a pistol in her lap. Daxter was about to make a snarky remark when the swing doors that led to the back opened and revealed Ashelin walking into the room looking at some papers.

Upon looking up Ashelin smiled. "Jak." She said softly, probably hoping to allow everybody to rest a little while longer.

"Why is everybody here sleeping?" he asked as he approached her up by the bar.

She snorted. "Torn refused to go to the Palace and sleep, so he and Jinx decided to run some things by me." She paused. "Keira showed up with Tess and the two began talking about weapon systems and reinforcing personal shields and how to improve the shield wall and etc." she looked at him holding LJ. "You going to take him everywhere you go? You know there's a thing called Daycare." She smirked, only for it to vanish by the death glare that earned her. "Or you can carry him everywhere you go." She added

"Good idea." Daxter said. "By the way toots, I was hoping ya could talk to me about this here establishment."

"What about it?" she asked oblivious of the look of wanting that Daxter was giving her. "I'm thinking of demolishing it and turning it into something useful."

"Nooo!" Daxter yelled, causing Torn's snoring to stutter for a moment only to return to its normal sound. Ashelin glared at him causing his ears to fall back against his head.

"Daxter and I want this place." Jak interjected into the conversation as he sat LJ on the bar table.

"Oh, is that all?" she asked as she looked at them speculative. She then looked back down at the papers she was holding. "These are the deeds to this place and several other places Krew owned. One of which is a big apartment complex on the good side of town." She could see that neither of the boys was budging on this subject. "Look, the truth is you're both too late on this subject. Tess asked last night and Torn's got permission from her to turn the center ring into a southern HQ communication device." She crossed her arms over her chest. "And until the heir," she looked over at LJ who was drinking some water out of a water bottle that he'd been carrying all day. "is old enough, I've been elected by the underground; both Samos' and Onin included, to be a governor of sorts. I can't go back on my word; because then I'd be no better than my father."

Jak's ears fell a bit as he nodded. "Yeah, that's true." He looked over at Daxter who was pilfering through the liquor. "Dax?"

Daxter paused with what he was doing and sighed. "Well, we could always ask Tessie Poo if she'd hire a hero and a sidekick." He joked as he smiled at his best friend.

As it turned out Tess loved the idea of her Daxie snookums and his sidekick coming to work for her, but by working for her neither boy knew what that was about to entitle. So by the end of the week Jak and Daxter had helped Tess remodel the entire bar. Thankfully they were able to talk her out of putting any pink in the bar because that would not be appealing to any drunkard. The day before the big grand opening Torn called both boys to the Palace.

"Ah, what does Tattoo Wonder want from us?" Daxter groaned as they entered the throne room.

"I don't know." Jak replied as he turned to look over at LJ who was, as always, following them closely behind. Over the last week the little boy had started wandering around wherever Jak and Daxter were. He was usually a step or behind them or in front of them. Today was a few steps behind them kind of day.

"Jak." Torn greeted as he looked up from a map that was set up on a table in front of him. "There's been rumors of metal heads in Haven Forest again." He paused as Daxter jumped from Jak's shoulder pad and onto the table. Daxter looked down at the map where Torn was pointing. "There are some old ruins in this sector of the forest and a large underwater Precursor ruin nearby as well." Jak nodded as he leaned over and looked at the map. "I want you to take the furball and check this area out. Clear any metal heads out of the area. We don't need those bastards to come in for another sneak attack while we still have our pants down."

"Gotcha." Jak nodded as he turned to leave, Daxter following closely behind. LJ running after him.

"That means leaving the kid behind." Torn growled out at seeing the child run off towards the renegade.

Looking down at LJ, Jak smiled. "I know." He stated as he left the room with LJ running behind him.

As it turned out Tess was good with children and had jumped at the chance to take care of her cutie LJ. The little boy on the other hand seemed stunned that Jak was leaving him behind. Jak had to bend down to LJ's level and assure him that he'd be coming back for him. He really didn't want the kid to get any abandonment issues.

Once in Haven Forest he rode on his hoverboard throughout the journey to the ruins. Not a single metal head had been sighted by him or Daxter. "Ack, I think Tattoo Wonder's intel was wrong this time around. There's nothing here!" he complained and for once he was actually happy that the intel was wrong.

"I don't know Dax, Dark is a bit itchy." Jak stated. The moment he brought up his other self's name he felt the creature stir inside of him. It felt as if the beast wasn't sure of something, but what Jak couldn't say.

As the duo continued their way through the forest and went deeper than they'd ever been, the more Dark began to stir. It got to a point where the creature was practically yelling for Jak to turn back; that there was something not entirely right in this area. Jak came to a conclusion that his dark persona was scared of something and for that to occur it had to be bad. So he continued his way until they came up to an old hut that made both boys gasp. Getting off of the board and putting it away they approached the old hut and walked into it. Inside they saw the all too familiar warp gate and the device on the floor that would turn it on. To their left was a telescope and to their right were old mechanical things. "It's the blue sage's lab." Jak said quietly, almost too afraid that if he spoke too loudly this hut and everything inside would vanish. This was just another piece of evidence that said that they were indeed near Sandover, but very far in the future.

Jumping off of Jak's shoulder Daxter walked over to the old warp gate and jumped onto the button. There was a whirling sound as the mechanical things on the wall suddenly began to activate and then a whirling pool of blue appeared in front of him as the warp gate suddenly activated. Looking up at Jak who was looking at the gate with curiosity and intrigue he said. "Well, since there's no metal heads here, let's go see where this will take us."

Jak smiled down at Daxter and grabbed his friend by his tail before jumping through the portal. When they came through to the other side they found themselves in a metal cavern made out of the Precursorean metal. As they traveled through the place they came across metal head bodies, all of which were dead. Pulling out his gun Jak switched it over to blaster mod and stayed alert. Dark was once again pleading for them to turn back and forget about this place. Jak was even more curious as to what could cause the beast to be so frightened when they came across a pool of light eco.

"Holy-" Daxter began

"-Eco" Jak finished.

The two best friends smiled as they looked at the beautiful glistening white eco. Pulling his pack off his back Jak opened it and looked inside for something and gasped as he found what he was looking for and pulled out a jar. Dipping the jar into the eco he filled the entire thing up and sat it on the ground, he then put the cap back on the top. However when he went to pick the jar that was now full of light eco, he hissed in pain and quickly pulled his hand back. Looking down he saw that his hand was now burnt. It was then that heard a splash and looked up at Daxter only to find his best friend was missing. "Dax!" he yelled out in horror as he realized what had happened. Daxter had jumped into the pool of eco thinking it might turn him back into the young man he once was. Peering over the pool Jak looking into the milky substance for any sign that his best friend was alive, but the liquid was still. That was until bubbles began appearing and something shot out of the liquid right at him.

Jak suddenly found himself on his back and his arms suddenly filled with something cold, shivering and heavy. Lifting his head off of the ground and looking at what was in his arms he found a shiver red and orange hair young man in his arms. The young man groaned as he slowly sat up in Jak's arms. His red and orange hair covered his face. In fact his hair went down to his shoulders on the sides and mid back in the back. Lifting a hand to his face the young man pushed it out of his eyes, revealing bright blue eyes that were wide as saucers as he looked at himself.

"Jak!" he yelled revealing that this was indeed his best friend Daxter that was sprawled across his body and very naked. Suddenly that last part made the green blonde haired man flush with embarrassment. 'Dude, I'm back! It worked!" He grabbed Jak and hugged him, totally ignoring the blonde's flush.

"Dax?" Jak finally spoke his friend's name. "You're naked."

As if that hadn't even registered before Daxter looked down at his body. "Huh, guess I am." He said as a flush crossed his face as well. "Err….ya don't happen to have packed another set clothes did ya buddy?" as he asked this Jak began to get the red head off of him and looked in the pack, only to find another one of his shirts, this one was a black tank with red around the holes where the arms when through. He handed it to Daxter, who put it on and was shocked to find that the already large shirt basically covered him from top to just mid thigh. "Well at least it covers the junk." He stated as he tried and failed to stand right. "Hey what happened to yer hand Jak?" the red head looked at Jak as he wrapped a bandage around it.

"The light eco burned me." He said as he pointed at the eco in the jar.

Finally gaining his balance Daxter walked over to the jar and picked it up. "This burnt you?" he asked as he looked at Jak, who nodded. "Huh, wonder why."

Jak opened his pack for Daxter to put it in it. The red head did so and the demolition duo left the creepy ruins the way they had come. Neither young man realizing that things would begin changing rapidly for both of them.

M-Angel: Well that went well. Hehehe...party and a discovery is up next.