Chapter 5: Destiny Unraveled
Jak got to the Naughty Ottsel before anybody and was already upstairs by the time Daxter, Keira, Tess and Sig had arrived. Daxter knowing his friend better than anybody rushed upstairs with Keira and found Jak already throwing things onto his bed, little Mar sitting on the couch watching everything that was going on. Keira, rather than Daxter, approached Jak and touched his shoulder as he continued to gather his things together. "Where will you go?" she asked worry spreading throughout her being like a disease.
Not daring to look into her eyes he continued to look down at the bed; which was no covered in gun mods, weapon parts and clothing. "I don't know." He stated a matter of factly. "But I know one thing; I can't stay here."
"Ya know, I was watchin' tv a few nights ago an' saw a commercial for Krass City Racing." The two turned towards Daxter. "It's not like Haven racin' at all. You get ta shoot the peeps on the track and win lots of creds, if you survive the race an' all."
"Sounds dangerous." Keira said slightly as she sat down on the couch next to Mar.
"When hasn't our lives been dangerous?" Jak asked causing Keira to look up at Jak and see the twinkle of mischief in his eyes.
She giggled. "True." Standing back up she walked towards the door. "Plus, you already will have a mechanic." she said with a wink.
"Wait!" Daxter called out as she turned to leave. "Yer coming?" his eyes wide with shock. "Wadda 'bout yer garage here?"
"I've been meaning to move it for some time now." she shrugged as she turned to leave again.
Daxter turned back towards Jak. "We doin' this?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yep." Jak said as he finished putting his things into a duffle bag. Going back to the closet he spotted another duff bag and looked at Mar. "Get your things, we're leaving for some place better." Mar smiled and nodded and Jak watched as the little boy began running around gathering his stuff and placing it on the bed for Jak to fold and put into the duffle bag.
Daxter sighed. "Okay, well I ain't leavin' you hanin' buddy." with that said Daxter took off before Jak could call off to him.
Tess watched as Keira came running down the steps. "What's goin' on?" she asked, causing the aqua haired girl to smile.
"We're leavin'." was all she could say as she ran past Sig and out the door.
Moments after Keira came running past the duo Daxter came running after her. "Tess baby, pack yer things; we are blowin' this berg!" he said with a grin. It was then he spotted his things in Sig's hands. "Sig, my man! Ya brought my stuff. Good 'cause I really ain't in the mood ta see those two again." as if the fates hated Daxter to the point of torture suddenly the two in question came into the establishment. "Nu-uh!" Daxter yelled as he spotted them coming through the door. "Yer not welcome here!"
Ignoring Daxter's comment Torn approached him. "Listen here rat…" he began but never finished because of a certain blonde woman.
"His name is Daxter, and you need to respect him better Torn." Tess growled her eyes narrowed at the tattooed man. "Daxter is right, you are not welcome here at this moment." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"This has to stop." Ashelin stated. "We need Jak…"
"Nu-uh babe, not this time!" Daxter yelled. "Yer not callin' the shots no more. Jak is done and dumped y'all. So git!" he pointed towards the door.
Ashelin's eyes widened as those words sunk in. "Jak is never done with his job." Torn said. "He thrives on fighting. It's what makes him the best fighter we have."
"Not anymore." Sig said as he pulled his staff weapon up and got into the two Haven leaders faces. "You've done and said something to the Cherry and though I don't know what it was; it was enough to have him quit you and this city. Now leave before this gets real ugly…wastelander style." at that threat the two retreated figuring they'd come back when everybody had time to clear their heads.
"Now where are you going to go Chilipepper?" Sig asked Daxter, who gave a wide smile at the wastelander.
"Ever heard of Kras City?"
Keira parked her zoomer at the stadium and ran up to her apartment above her work shop. She was both excited and scared. Excited because she had heard of Kras City Racing; it was the toughest racing circuit and paid a hundred times better. She was scared because for the first time in her life she was doing something without her father's knowledge and she loved it!
She grabbed most all of her things from the apartment and threw the linens and clothes in bags and threw them down into her workshop. She then grabbed anything else that was important to her and placed them in her backpack and then ran downstairs. Once in the workshop she packed all of her tools she was definitely going to need and placed them in tool boxes. She then placed all of her things into the back of her two seater zoomer and was about to leave when she spotted her father coming towards the stadium with Pecker. Crap! she thought. She'd forgotten about Onin and her familiar. She was going to have to go right by them. Unless I go the back way! She looked out the second garage door on the other end of her workshop, the one that lead to a back alley which lead to the farming district. It meant going the long way; but… I don't have a choice. she thought as she turned the zoomer on, activated the second garage door and put the pedal to the metal.
She felt bad about leaving her father behind without telling him where she was going, but he'd never let her go to Kras City without him. Once past the alley, she out near the mall district and had to go through it to get to the farming district.
Once through there she came to the port and as she rounded the corner to go to the bar she heard her comm. go off. Looking down she saw that it was Tess. "Yes." she answered.
"Meet us by the transport at the port, oh and Sig and I are coming." She said with a giggle.
Keira shook her head at what the blonde girl had stated. She knew that the only reason Tess was coming was because of Daxter. but why is Sig coming? she silently wondered.
6 months later
Location: Spargus City
Deep in the wasteland past the mountains, the small oasis, and even farther than the Marauder fortress; near the ocean and built into the nearby mountain stood a city of sand. This city was tougher than most due to its nature. Wastelander's had called this home since before the time of Mar the Powerful; as he was called by the sand nomads. Spargus City was a city of warriors whose only thing they even cared about from another person was how strong they were. If their strength was tested in the arena and they failed that person was thrown out of the city and it would be like they never existed. It was with that rule that they tested every warrior. They would be tested in three rounds in the arena and by the final, if they lasted that long; they'd be considered part of Spargus and become part of the clan.
Even kings were tested, however their last and third test was different from others. They'd have to defeat the best warriors in the Spargian clan and if the warriors who had been defeated been good enough in their fighting the king would either make them their second or order them to be thrown out of the city.
It was during one of these tests that an old king named Variant had come to the end of his lifetime. His only heir had died a decade before and it would be time for him to soon name his heir. Kleiver the battlemaster and the one in charge of who did what when they first came to the city was the running man for this job; but Variant had known that the man had the temper of a metal-pede and was quick with the sword or gun.
So when he'd heard about the overthrow of the great King Damas of Haven City he'd sent his best man into the desert to find him. He knew Haven would never kill her king; but would rather just throw him into the wastes and hope it killed him. Or that was his theory.
When Sig returned with a half dead Damas Mar; he'd almost lost hope. The man would live through his many physical wounds, it would be the metal and emotional that would test the man.
Once Damas awoke from the herbal induced sleep that the monks had put him into, Variant had thrown the man into the first of the arena fights. Defying the king and only fighting with his hands everyone, Variant included was impressed when the man not only survived the four rounds; but killed each opponent quite violently.
The third test had been hard. He'd thrown Sig, Kleiver, and Zareth his second in charge, into the arena. Damas had defeated the best warriors that Spargus had to offer, though he was sure there were many others; it was these three that were the best of the best and they all had been defeated by Damas Mar, the former king of Haven City.
It was when Variant had told Damas that this test was to test him to see if he was worthy to lead the Spargian people that Damas had gotten mad. The man had gotten even madder; if possible, when he'd been told that he now controlled the lives of these three men. When Damas granted all of them the honor of staying Spargus, it was Zareth that screamed in anger. He shouted that he would never bow to a man who lost his own throne to a traitor. It had been Kleiver who'd grabbed the man and was going to throw him into the fiery pit; but Damas had stopped him; saying if he wanted to take his chances with the wastes he was welcome to leave. Zareth hadn't been the only who had left that day.
On the day Variant took his last breath Damas became the true ruler of Spargus. It hadn't even been a day since he'd taken the throne when he'd called Sig to the throne room. It was there that Sig found the newly crowned King looking out the mass of windows towards the east where Haven was. It was here that Sig found out that the King believed that, even after a year all alone in Haven; that his son, his only child; was still alive and asked Sig to find him.
Now, two years and ten months later Damas was sitting once again on his throne, like he had for years and was overlooking the falling sun on the desert. The colors changing the farther the sun set. Even though it looked as if he was watching this marvel of nature, he wasn't. His mind was elsewhere. Back to the conversation he and Sig had, had several months ago.
Sleep eluded Damas, as it always did at night time, with the nightmares of his wife being gunned down in front of him and then his son being taken after he'd been knocked out. He was sitting in bed and contemplating whether he would try once more to sleep, even though he could see their green sun coming up in the distance from his bedroom window. It was then that his comm. unit sudden came alive. He looked at the name and sighed. "Report." came his gruff voice.
"You're up awful early." came Sig's cheery voice over the units speakers.' Nobody should be that happy in the morning'. he thought as he sighed. "You haven't slept, have you?"
"Nightmares keep one awake, especially when the nightmare is real." He replied sadly as he leaned his back against the headboard of his bed.
"Well, I've got good news, for a change." Sig stated, unsure of how to explain this one to his friend.
At first Damas was happy, but then he remembered that Haven had been attacked in recent days. So the news couldn't be that happy."You found his body?" he said followed by a sob. Even with his son dead, at least he could find closure.
"No."
"Then what!?" he demanded anger seeping in the voice.
He heard a chuckled. "I found him, but-"
"But what?" Damas couldn't afford to get too happy, though now he felt his heart now beating rapidly. His son was alive! His mind was screaming for an explanation on how that was possible.
"Well, this is going to sound crazy." Sig began. "You know that kid Jak that I've been telling you about for the last six months?"
A chuckle made its way out of his throat. He remembered Sig complaining a lot about the boy's pet named Daxter always yapping and never shutting the hell up. "Yes."
"It turns out that he's Mar." Even as Sig said this Damas couldn't believe it. The one man he trusted and he came back with this…nonsense.
He sighed as his chest deflated and his hope finally died. "Is this a joke?"anger was in his voice along with the sound of betrayal.
"Now listen." and with that began to spin a tale that was so farfetched that it couldn't be true. Finally at the end of the tale he told him how Jak refused to send his younger self through a Precursorean ring back to the past in Sandover Village; that the young Mar was now the personal ward of older Jak and that the kid was extremely protective of the child, to the point that he hardly ever let him out of his sight.
After a moment of silence Damas began to think about all of those stories he remembered as a child of a hero named Jak who had killed the evil Dark Sages Gol and Maia; saved his village of Sandover from an invasion of Lurkers from the Misty Islands and had vanished when he and the sage; along with the Sage's daughter had activated a Precursorean device they had found and brought to Sandover. 'It can't be.' he thought, but knew that nobody studies those old folklore stories anymore because they just were too impossible. 'But what if…" his mind teased.
"Sig, I've got a new mission for you." He began and knew in his heart this was the right thing to do. "Stay with this Jak and ensure that Mar is takin' care of and if you see a moment, bring Mar home."
There was a grunt and followed by, "As you wish."
That was six months ago. Sig had gone off the radar. From what he was told; so had that Jak character. It made one wonder what had happened. Had Sig seen a moment to nab Mar from Jak, but Jak had bested him? No. he thought, Sig was a good fighter and wouldn't be taken down, not even by this Jak fellow.
Damas heard the elevator rising up and looked over to see Kleiver heading over towards him. "Lordship." He greeted, a stink suddenly filled the room, though Damas had long found that if you kept your own hand in front of your nose Kleiver's scent could be ignored. "I was wonderin' if yous have had thee time to think about my idea of bringing thee racing circuit through Spargus. It'd bring us lots of commerce."
Damas looked at the brute of a man with a glare. "It would also bring Kras City's crime our way." He countered.
"I've'a got an' idea on how we can get rid of thee riff raff if they'd be too bad." He said rubbing his grimy hands together and a grin appeared on his face.
Damas knew that look; it promised pain to anyone who'd go against the battlemaster. Sighing he gave a single nod. "On the condition that they abide by our rules and the first to go against them and harm any Spargain will pay with their lives." He growled.
The battlemaster grinned. "Aye my Lordship." He then turned and left, the elevator giving a screech as he got on it. "Need to oil that." Damas heard him mumble as he vanished downward into the pit that would lead to the main streets of Spargus.
Location: Kras City racing apartments
"G.T. Blitz here with another exciting day of races…." Jak droned out the Kras City broadcaster continued to drone on and on about how the race standing were when he heard his name being mentioned he looked up. "As for Team Jak, the up and coming racers; including Sig, Tess and the diminutive; but quick Daxter are in the front winning this week for top dogs against what has been dubbed Team Mizo; but as with every shining star, every star falls. Back to you in the pits."
"What a creep!" Tess yelled causing everybody to give a nod. Mar grabbed Tess' shirt and held his arms up to be picked up. "Aw, you wanna be held?" the little boy gave a nod. "What have I said about using words…" she giggled as he rolled his eyes at her. Jak looked over at Mar and smiled. Tess and Keira had helped a bunch in getting Mar to break out of his shell. He loved being held by one of the two girls. It was strange, but out of everybody Sig was the only one that Mar stayed away from. The wastelander no longer wore his armor, except for the top pads. He did however still wear outfit that looked handmade.
"Hey guys!" Keira yelled as she ran into their shared apartment loft, in her hands were the next week racing schedules. "Better pack, we're heading into the wastes this week. Brand spankin' new race tracks have been built within the last two weeks out there and in some city called Spargus City too!" as she said the last part Sig suddenly began coughing.
"What!?" he asked as soon as he stopped coughing on his drink. She handed him the schedules, which allowed him to confirm that yes she was right. Kleiver. he thought this had the battlemaster's stink all over it. "Well I'll be…"
"Oh boy, I better pack my weapons." Daxter said out loud as he sat down a car part in front of Keira who suddenly gasped.
"Daxter!" she cried out. "What happened to your duel fuel connectors?"
"Eh, I think Shiv's rockets got me once too many times." He grunted as he sat down next to Tess who had Mar in her lap and sound cards in her hands.
"Oh Daxie, did my wiskerpuss get his baby blown up?" she cooed at him until she saw his grease stained hands. "Oh baby; I think you forgot to clean your hands again." She pointed out, causing Mar to laugh loudly.
Daxter looked over at Jak who smiled. The boy was learning that he didn't need to be silent anymore, that it was safe to laugh, play and get cuddled on by girls. "Eh, not a big problem." He shrugged as he stood back up.
"When are the first races this week, Sig?" Jak asked as he walked over to his friend who was still looking over the schedule.
"Tomorrow afternoon." Sig said glumly.
"Will the Javalin X be ready by then?" he asked looking at Keira as she walked over to him.
"Yep, so will the Havoc V12; which," as she looked at Sig, "will no longer skid around any dirt arena track." The big man smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Tess your Anvil RTX is finished too. I saw Daxter working on his Street Grinder today before he brought that in from that monster Hammer Head of his." She shook her head.
"Now Cherries," Sig began as Daxter walked back in and showed his now clean hands to Tess. "There's something you guys need to know." Everybody suddenly gave Sig their undivided attention. "There's some rules to Spargus City that you guys must follow, otherwise you'll be thrown out." Everybody nodded. "Now, one of them in no killing any of its residents."
"That shouldn't be too hard." Jak smiled at the big guy.
"For you, it may." Sig gave Jak a friendly glare.
"That was one time, and Dax stopped me from going Dark." He shrugged wanting to suddenly stop this conversation.
"You put Razer in the medical ward." Sig said "Now Mizo's team wants our asses."
"One slip up in three months." Jak defended himself. "Besides, he was trying to kill my best friend!"
"It doesn't matter." Sig said softly, "Now, promise me Cherry…"
"Alright!" Jak raised his hands up in a defensive manner.
"Good." He looked at the rest of the group. "Now onto the second part, this one is bit harder. The King is, kind of a friend; but I haven't reported in to him in over half a year. He may show up and when he does you," he pointed at Jak, "keep yourself and lil' Mar out of his site until I've had my chance to explain things to him. Got it?" Jak nodded, though not understanding that rule. "Good. Oh and watch out for a big guy named Kleiver, you may not know who he is; but you'll smell him a mile away."
"Got it." Jak nodded, as did everybody else as they each went their separate ways to pack for the trip.
Location: Spargus City
Damas looked over the tracks that were set up around the outer perimeter of Spargus and the one that went right through the city, thankfully it was in a section of the city that not many people lived. It was here that a few building were being rented out for the two weeks that the races were in the city. As it turned out, he wasn't too upset at Kleiver for the sheer sizes of each race track. What did worry him was the track that went too close to the volcano and through it. He wasn't sure if that one was even safe. It was on his tour through the track going through the city that he heard a familiar voice. "Cherry get yer ass movin'." Turning he saw Sig yelling at a yellow and red haired man, who seemed to have a bucked tooth problem.
"I'm a movin' Sig!" the youth yelled back at the big man who shook his head and mumbled something unintelligent and walked away from him towards one of the homes that were being rented out to the racers.
"Eh, what's his problem anys ways, it's not like anybody is up at the Precursor forsaken hour?" the youth asked somebody who was still in the transporter that they were unloading.
"I don't know Dax," came the reply as the unknown suddenly jumped out of the vehicle and walked out from behind his friend. Damas' eyes widened as he saw the second young man. He bore a striking resemblance to his late wife.
"Jak!" came a feminine voice from across the track from the house Sig had vanished into.
The youth that Damas had been looking at, the one that looked like his beloved wife turned his face towards the woman whose voice had caught his attention. "Just a second Tess!" he yelled back.
"Should I be worried that my girl is calling your name?" the red head asked as they approached the house.
All Damas heard was a laugh before the reply came the door shut behind them. It can't be. he thought, but the more he tried to deny it, the more he couldn't remove the sinking feeling that he had finally been wrong on something. Just…maybe. was his last thought before he banished it. One thing was for certain. Before the races were over in Spargus, he was going to have his answer; whether that answer was the one he wanted to hear or not, was up to him.
M-Angel: Yay, I think I'm fixing what I've done to our poor hero, hopefully. I know I kinda left Damas wondering what the heck is going on and all, but things will get better; before they get worse. hehehe... Jak does have a destiny, but that destiny is going to be turned upside down, shaken up and then what's left standing will get sortted out later. LoL. I think I've been a bit hard on Ashelin and Torn. I may help them out and then again I may just have them and the rest of Haven get burnt to the ground.