I kept the Ottsel form Daxter perched on my lap as we zoomed along on the pontoon back to Sandover Village. I figured it was the least I could do after how traumatic the transformation must have been for him. He seemed to enjoy the ride, anyway. That is, until we made our way back to Samos' hut.
Daxter glanced nervously back and forth between Jak and I as we padded into the room. We didn't get far before the creaky floorboards alerted the meditating sage to our presence. He rounded on us with an irate expression, spotting me first!
"Keira! Where in the name of the precursors have you been?!" he hollered.
I held up my hands defensively with a sheepish expression as he ranted.
"You know better than to go sneaking off without telling me, and with the very miscreants I told you to stay away from!" He leveled a withering glare in Jak's direction, who tried his best to look innocent, whistling at the ceiling. "What happened to talking this morning?" he demanded.
"You weren't going to talk. You were just gonna double down on your order that I'm not allowed to see my best friends anymore," I argued smartly.
What he didn't realize was that I could see right through him. This might be a different planet, a different dimension, or a whole other universe – but a parent is still gonna parent!
"Oh I see, and instead of heeding my wisdom, you decided to stand your ground by, mucking around in the only place that I told you all not to go! Misty Island!" he snapped.
I cocked my head in confusion at him for a moment, until I noticed movement near my feet. I glanced down to see Daxter failing to sneak around behind us. When he noticed that I'd spotted him, he flinched and awkwardly smiled and waved up at me. I rolled my eyes. So much for me trying to talk to Samos first.
"Well, no point in denying it now," I muttered.
"That's right! We was – I was – I mean –" the orange, Ottsel boy began rambling, but Samos simply spoke over him, deflating him a bit.
"And Daxter – you finally took a much needed bath, but in a bathtub filled – with dark eco!" he deduced spookily.
"Okay, yes, we disobeyed, and I'm sorry. But it's my fault we went to the island in the first place, so please don't take it out on poor Daxter," I admitted, leaning down to scoop him up and hold him out in front of me.
"So, will you change him back? Please, daddy?" I implored in a pouty tone, keeping my end of the bargain despite already knowing the answer.
"Yeah, please?" Daxter begged, clasping his hands together while I kept him gripped in mine.
"Well, in my professional opinion, the change is an improvement," Samos decided, and I felt Daxter go limp in my grip as he glared daggers at the old man. "And besides, I couldn't help you if I wanted to," he confessed.
"Whaaaaat?!" Daxter cried in dismay, wrestling out of my grip and dropping to the floor.
"There's only one person who has studied dark eco long enough to have a chance at returning you to your previous form. Gol Acheron, the sage. But he lives far to the north. Far, far to the north," he emphasized unnecessarily. "Nobody has spoken to him in ages. I would teleport you there, but I can't do that either. None of the three sages that maintain the other teleporter gates, have seen fit to turn their ends on for quite awhile," he explained, not sounding real sympathetic about the situation.
"The only other way north is by foot through the Fire Canyon. But it's volcanic soil is hot enough to melt precursor metal. You can't just walk through it," Samos reasoned, thinking that at this point he had the boys stymied.
Daxter drooped, looking utterly defeated. Jak flashed him a sympathetic expression before giving him a reassuring pat on the head. He then turned to look at me expectantly, cocking his head in silent question. I was confused for a moment.
What? What did he. . .? That's when it hit me. Oh right! That's my cue!
"Okay, but, what if we could fly over it?" I offered, praying that the old Keira had prepared for this like she had in the game!
"What? You just expect us to suddenly sprout wings?" Daxter scoffed.
I lobbed a weary glare in his direction.
"No. I meant on a zoomer, that is, if you had one equipped with a heat shield," I offered, albeit a bit hesitantly.
Game Keira had claimed to be working on one during this scene. I just had to hope that the same currently held true.
"And let me guess, my resourceful, adventurous daughter has already made plans to construct such a thing," Samos mock praised.
Guess he wasn't thrilled with the fact that his daughter was resourceful and adventurous. Well, too bad for him, because I was about to double her up on both. At least, as much as I was able.
"Well, I just thought it might be nice to expand our horizons a little," I found myself reasoning.
After all, the game never actually gave a reason why Keira was working on a heat shield, just that she was.
"I just need a way to power it. I think if I had about twenty power cells, that would give it enough energy to not melt from the canyon's heat," I explained, as best as I could remember.
"I suppose, Keira, that might work. But where are a boy, and a half," Samos paused briefly to smack Daxter over the head with his cane for emphasis. The Ottsel boy rubbed at his head and glared up at the old man. "going to get twenty power cells?" he asked dubiously.
"We have a couple, don't we?" I offered without really thinking.
Samos narrowed his eyes at me. Guess that was privy information.
"I'm not going to just be giving my power cells to these yahoos!" he snapped, causing me to flinch.
"Hey! Watch the name calling!" Daxter protested.
Jak was glaring at him now too.
"I never said for you to just give them away," I argued with an eye roll. "I'm sure there's something they could do to earn them from you, right?" I reasoned.
Samos rubbed at his chin as he pondered the idea.
"I was going to suggest the same with the villagers. Most of them probably have a power cell or two that they might be willing to part with, perhaps in return for help with a job?" I hinted, knowing for a fact that each one of them had a reason to ask for help.
"Wait, job? As in, work?" Daxter questioned haltingly. "I don't know about this. . ." he trailed.
"Would you rather stay stuck in rodent form forever?" I pressed.
His ears dropped and he stared up at me with pitiful eyes.
"Also, what are you worried about, anyway? Jak and I are going to be doing most of the work, after all." I inclined my head towards him, indicating his stature.
"Wait, you're gonna help get the power cells too?" he wondered.
"Of course, I am! You're the one who blamed me for all this in the first place, remember? It's the least I can do," I told him.
My eyes flashed up at Jak when I noticed him looking in my direction. He gave a wide, appreciative smile and I felt my heart skip. Something about seeing him in person, the fact that he was looking directly at me, and not just second hand through a screen, it was a whole new experience. Not to mention the fact that now whenever I looked at him, I was always staring at that adorably, handsome face, instead of the back of his head, which was the view throughout most of the game.
There was a noticeable pause in the conversation, when I realized everyone was staring at me – staring at Jak! I cleared my throat and quickly looked away, feeling embarrassed at how long that had gone on for.
"A-anyway, we should also check out the old precursor ruins in the area. If we can find a way inside, I'll bet we'll be able to find even more that the precursors have stashed away," I added, trying to divert the conversation.
"Keira!" Getting a little more accustomed to the title, I turned to face the sage, expecting another lecture. "Now, I know there shouldn't be anything left out in those ruins, but if you do manage to get them open, please be careful," he requested.
"Don't worry, I will. But I think there might be more to them than meets the eye. Just think of all the treasure they could contain, just waiting for some brave adventurer to find," I teased, and gave Jak a sly grin, remembering that the 'brave adventurer' line seemed to be a trigger to continue the story.
"Well, we've got the brave adventurer, at least," Daxter said as if on cue, gesturing at himself.
"Brave adventurer? Ha! I can't tell you how many times I've poked around those ruins. I'm telling you; they've been picked clean!" Samos insisted.
I was about to comment when, I suddenly froze in confusion. Wait a minute, that wasn't supposed to be how the lines went. What about Geyser Rock?
"Uh, we won't find anymore of that dark, gooey Eco stuff, will we? Cause I'd hate to fall in again and turn into you!" Daxter spouted out his jab, not acting the least bit like anything was amiss.
The sage ground his teeth in rage.
"That's it! Get out before I turn you all into ferns!" Samos hollered, before the boys quickly skedaddled out of the hut.
Meanwhile, I turned back to the sage with confusion.
"Wait, that's it? Don't we need like, training or something?" I wondered.
"Training?" he scoffed. "Training for what? Doing odd jobs? Hiking out to the precursor ruins? You three have been climbing all over those rocks and trees for, apparently even longer than you can remember. I just wanted to make sure you'd be extra cautious around the ruins, that's all," he explained.
Oh, of course! That whole sequence on Geyser Rock was just a tutorial level. Training for the player, not for Jak. It's not like he needed lessons on how to control himself! So then, what did that mean? Where were we supposed to start? I turned to follow the guys outside, but Samos stopped me before I made it.
"Speaking of earning power cells from me," I jumped at the words and flipped around to face him. "The darn eco collectors have clogged up again. I was going to mention it earlier today, but well, you see how well that turned out," he subtly lectured.
I grimaced and shuffled sheepishly at the words.
"I'm sorry we didn't listen and went out to the island," I apologized in a subdued tone, more humoring than anything if I was being fair.
"There is so much dark eco constantly pooling over there. I just didn't want anyone getting hurt," he explained, giving me a knowing look.
I nodded that I understood.
"Well, nothing we can do about it now. Why don't you take the boys over and clear out the harvesters? I'll let you have a cell as a reward," he offered, as if I needed the incentive. That was one of the easiest missions!
"Yeah, we can do that for you," I assured him, but then hesitated. "Actually, about Misty Island," I paused.
"What about Misty Island?" he pressed.
"There were – " How was I even supposed to describe this? It's not like they'd made a point of bringing it up before. "Some strange people out there, and they were addressing a big group of lurkers," I explained.
"Lurkers! There are lurkers on Misty Island!?" Samos exclaimed, suddenly getting very worked up.
I began to feel a bit of panic rising in my chest. Uh oh, maybe there was a reason the boys never brought it up, but – didn't he find out about it eventually anyway? Weren't there lurkers, like, everywhere?
"Yes. . ." I trailed hesitantly.
"How many? You said there were some strange people addressing them? What were they saying?" Samos began demanding.
"I – uh. . ." Now I was feeling hesitant on exactly how much I should reveal. Was he not supposed to know this yet? "Something about wanting them to collect precursor stuff and possibly attacking the village?" I reluctantly revealed.
"Attack the village!" he hollered.
The sage then began muttering and pacing around his hut, mentioning things like it being surprising someone could control the lurkers, and wondering at what they could be plotting. Until he paused and noticed that I was still standing there.
"Ah, yes. You may go now, Keira. Thank you for telling me. I'll be sure to keep an eye on the island. We'll warn the villagers if there's any danger. For now, you just focus on helping the boys," he told me, waving me off.
I wasn't going to argue and took the opportunity to get out of there before I said anything more that could affect the events of the story!
Once outside, I immediately spotted the guys merrily waving me over. I ran up to them to see what they needed.
"What took you so long?" Daxter complained.
I was about to answer, but he cut me off and continued before I could.
"Good news is, we got ourselves a job. After being rude by insulting my stunning good looks," Daxter paused to run a paw over his ears and strike a pose.
Jak just shook his head.
"That crazy bird lady mentioned something about lurkers capturing a mother bird and an abandoned egg. I don't know what she's talking about. It's not like we ever see lurkers hanging around here," he mentioned, waving off the notion.
I glanced up at Jak to get his take on it. He just shrugged at me with a puzzled expression.
"She has a name, you know, and didn't we just see a bunch of lurkers over on Misty Island?" I reminded him.
He scoffed back at me.
"Yeah, I guess, but you know as well as I do that Jak'll scare 'em off if they ever try to get too close to the village, right?" Jak lifted his head at a proud angle as Daxter stared up at me expectantly.
"I do?" I questioned without really thinking.
Daxter cocked his head in confusion.
"I – I mean, of course I do!" I quickly corrected. "Those silly lurkers wouldn't dare set foot in the village with Jak around," I added for extra emphasis, which seemed to adequately satisfy them.
It occurred to me in that moment, that maybe it wasn't normal for lurkers to be 'lurking' around in this area. That perhaps it was Gol and Maia's involvement with them that suddenly caused them to be more active. That would certainly explain why Samos was so upset at the news that there were lurkers so close by.
Maybe they didn't normally come this close to the village or gather in large groups like we'd seen before. But if that was the case, it made me question why the guys had such laid-back attitudes towards the whole situation. Probably because they didn't quite grasp the magnitude of it yet.
"Anyway, bird lady wants us to help her get the egg, so it doesn't die. Problem is, it's a flut flut egg, so it's massive. It's gonna take some doing to get it off that cliff and into the village," he explained.
"You guys know where it's at?" I asked.
Jak nodded enthusiastically.
"And she said she'd give us a power cell if we helped her with this?" I clarified, knowing that was the case, but it just felt awkward to not make conversation.
"That's right, babe. We've got the negotiation skills," Daxter boasted, causing me to giggle.
"Good to know. Whelp, no time like the present," I decided, tagging along behind as I followed the boys out to where the egg was.
"Oh, by the way," I added, getting their attention. "My dad–" still weird, but at least I didn't stumble this time. "told me that his eco harvesters have gotten clogged again. He said he'd give us a power cell if we unclogged them for him," I told them.
Jak smiled at me and nodded in acknowledgment. Glad to know he was on board.
"Yeah! We can do that," Daxter agreed. "We can head over there after we deal with bird lady." Implying the crazy by circling a finger around his temple.
I felt my eyes roll.
"Oh, thank you so much for helping me with this, dears," Tweetledov cooed to us as we approached her. "I've set up this bed of hay to cradle the egg if you're able to push it this way," she explained, gesturing towards the hay piled at the base of the cliff before motioning above our heads. "It should be sitting right up there," she added.
"No problem. We'll have that egg down for you in just a minute," I assured her.
She gave me a grateful smile and watched us as we made our way around to get to the top of the cliff. Once there, it was then just a matter of moving the egg toward the edge. For a moment, I was expecting Jak to start kicking at it, like you did in the game. However, the more logical side of my brain decided to take precedence when he wandered over and gently placed his hands on it instead. He looked back at me expectantly.
Oh, of course! It would make much more sense to just roll it! It was an egg, after all. There just hadn't been any kind of push/pull mechanic in the game.
I stepped up next to him, and together, we guided the egg to the cliff edge before letting it topple off and onto the hay pile. It caught a rock or two on the way down, but then landed softly on the cushion. I leaned over to make sure it made it in one piece, and Tweetledov signaled to us that it was good. I grinned, thinking about how this reminded me of the egg drop tests we did in elementary school. We hurried down the backside of the cliff to collect our reward.
"Oh dear. I hope the poor thing is alright," she was saying as we stepped up to her.
It looked as though she was about to comment further, when the egg seemed to start cracking open of its own accord.
"Oh!" she exclaimed again in surprise.
Knowing what was about to happen, I stepped up to it to get a better look, also purposefully blocking Daxter from view. I had a theory I wanted to test. A moment later, and the adorable baby bird popped out of the egg. It spied me first, like I was hoping it would.
"Mama!" It seemed to coo, hopping over and rubbing its face against me. I grinned and stroked its head, which was almost as high as mine! This was certainly a big baby!
"Aw! Isn't that precious. She thinks you're her mother," Tweetledov clucked.
Except instead of complaining about it like Daxter had, I was thrilled. This was exactly what I'd been hoping would happen! It seemed even in this world, birds still imprinted on the first thing they saw as their mother.
"I don't mind," I told her happily.
"I'll go ahead and take her back to the village where your father and I will be able to take care of her. Thank you kids ever so much, and – here's that power cell I promised for your help," she held out the cell, and I took it from her, eyeing the strange, glowing sphere.
It was warm to the touch and lighter than it looked. As I handed it over to Jak, I couldn't help but wonder, where exactly do the power cells get their power? Maybe they were filled with eco or something along those lines? Either way, Jak placed the orb in the bag on his back and we watched Tweetledov waddle off with the flut flut chick.
"Whoo! One down, nineteen to go," Daxter declared, exaggeratedly wiping a paw across his forehead. "So, what's next on the agenda?" he asked, directing the question at me.
"Unclogging my dad's eco collectors," I reminded him.
"Oh yeah," he moaned out with obvious disdain. "Guess we better head over there then."
As we moseyed all the way down to the far side of the beach, I kept getting a rather awkward vibe from the silence. Like I should be trying to make conversation, or something. Problem was, Jak didn't talk. At least, not yet. And as much as I liked the idea of getting to know him on a more personal level, being Keira meant that technically, it was stuff I should already know.
Growing up a gamer nerd certainly wasn't helping my situation any. I'd never exactly been a social butterfly. I sighed and shook my head. Why did this all have to be so complicated?
"Hey, don't tell me you're wanting to quit on us already?" Daxter suddenly questioned, misinterpreting my sigh.
"Wha –? N-no! No way! I'm good to go," I assured him.
"Good, cuz it's gonna take forever as it is to clean out all those vents," he whined.
I felt myself frown in confusion at the comment. What did he mean? Weren't there just some big rocks covering them that Jak had to smash, and then we'd be good to go?
However, upon actually reaching where the eco collectors were situated, it was quickly made clear what he meant. They weren't just covered with rocks. This time when Samos said clogged, he meant like – bathroom drain clogged!
Each vent had a layer of what appeared to be mud, leaves, and who knows what else, caked on and sealing off the holes. I realized then that it wasn't just a matter of moving a few large rocks, we were going to have to dig all that crud out of each vent – by hand, it would seem. Since it wasn't like we had any kind of tools to use.
"Ugh!" I groaned out before I could stop myself.
"No kidding. I don't think I've ever seen 'em this bad!" Daxter lamented from his perch on Jak's shoulder.
I turned to them, and Jak simply gave me a casual shrug before kneeling down by the closest vent. He began scooping out handfuls of muck and setting it aside for Daxter to carry off and away from the area. Probably a good idea so that it wouldn't all just end up back in the vents.
I knelt next to an adjacent vent and had to take a deep breath and steel my nerves before sticking my hand in the gunk. I shivered at the unpleasantly, gooey sensation as I pulled out a handful of, I didn't even want to know! I made a gagging motion as I plopped the slimeball next to me.
"That old man had better give us two power cells for doing this!" I lamented with a grimace, going back in for another fistful.
I noticed Jak grin and side-eye in my direction. Well, glad someone was enjoying this!
After several long, excruciating minutes, I finally managed to get one of the vents completely cleared of debris. Green eco was now flowing freely from the vent and up into the collector above me. The feeling of it passing over my hands as I worked was an, odd sensation. It tingled, like when your foot falls asleep, but without the complete numbness or sharp prickly pain. It definitely wasn't something I ever remembered experiencing before.
I glanced up once I'd finished, only to find that Jak had managed to clean out several vents in the time it'd taken me to do just one! I groaned at the realization, because I hadn't meant to make him do most of the work!
It looked like he was basically finished with the second to last one, so I rushed up to head over to the final vent. I felt like I needed to at least do one more to try and balance the work load a little!
After plopping down next to it, I began digging out gunk with renewed vigor, trying to get it done as quickly as possible. However, after a few minutes, movement next to me caught my eye, and I flinched to find that Jak had suddenly knelt down beside me! He just started scooping muck without waiting for any acknowledgment.
"Oh, you don't have to do this one. I got it. Why don't you take a break?" I attempted to assure him, but he just flashed me a skeptical half-smile and shook his head.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I wondered aloud.
"You're slow!" Daxter announced, not attempting to hide the contempt in his tone.
I reached out a hand and proceeded to smack him one!
"Hey! Watch it! Your hands are all gross!" he complained.
I glanced down to study them.
He was right. Both Jak and my hands and arms were completely caked with muddy muck. Even so, Daxter wasn't in much better shape. In fact, I'd say his was worse, since he had gunk all over his paws and torso from packing it around.
"Oh, and you're a model of cleanliness?" I asked dubiously.
Daxter peered down at himself.
"Okay, so we're all gonna need a bath after this," he consented.
Jak just smiled at our antics.
With the task now complete, the first thing I did was head to the water's edge to wash off. I squatted down over it and immediately flinched when I saw my reflection. I guess I still wasn't used to looking in a mirror and seeing someone else's face. I didn't stare for long, before dunking my arms in, scrubbing vigorously until they were red. I just really wanted to make sure I got all that crud off me.
The sound of a loud sploosh near where I was washing, alerted me to the fact that the boys had dived into the water. I turned to see them splashing and rolling around, as boys tend to do. Since I was basically clean now, I rose to make my way back to shore to wait for them to finish, but Daxter stopped me before I could.
"Hey, Keira! Where ya going? Swim with us!" he called to me.
I turned to face them and shook my head.
"No, thank you. I don't wanna get my clothes all wet," I informed him.
"So, take 'em off," he suggested casually.
I, however, recoiled and felt my face flush at the suggestion!
"What?! No! I'm not going to do that!" I complained, crossing my arms over my chest protectively.
He just scoffed, and both boys climbed out of the water to meander towards me.
"Since when did you get so shy?" he taunted.
Jak cocked his head and eyed me, as if adding emphasis to the question. My mind raced for a legitimate response.
"We aren't little kids anymore, ya know? We have to start being more appropriate in our behavior," I found myself lecturing, but I was still feeling pretty nervous all the same. I was speaking based on a lot of assumptions here.
Jak and Daxter both eyed each other mischievously before turning back to grin at me. I suddenly had the sinking sensation that I wasn't going to like where this was going.
I was proven correct moments later, when Jak proceeded to grab a hold of me and effortlessly chuck me into the deeper pool. I let out a shocked yelp right before I hit the water. It rushed up over my face, and since I hadn't been prepared for this, I ended up inhaling a lungful!
A bit of panic set in as I clawed my way to the surface, coughing and spluttering once I managed to get my head back above the water. Luckily, it wasn't super deep where I was at, so it only took a moment to find my footing. I stood far enough out of the pool that I was able to lean over and continue hacking. I noticed Jak splash over to me a second later, and I turned to lob a glare at him. He was looking a bit sheepish and embarrassed. Daxter, not so much.
"What? Did you forget how to swim too?" he joked.
"Maybe *cough* my dad was *cough* right, and you two are trying to *cough* kill me!" I managed to get out, but it sounded more pathetic than angry.
Jak's expression shifted to a look of distress, and he began frantically waving his hands and shaking his head.
"Hey! No way! We can't afford to lose you! You're the only other person around here who's any fun," Daxter defended for the both of them.
Jak nodded that he agreed.
"Then of course you realize, this means war!" I declared, before shoving water up towards them as quickly and in as large of volume as I could muster.
They both put their hands up to try and protect their faces as Jak began backing away.
"Alright! Alright! Stop!" Daxter started to beg almost immediately.
I halted the barrage to see Jak grinning and swiping at his face. Daxter, on the other hand, looked like a drowned rat! I couldn't help but bark out a laugh at his soaking, sulking face. Jak laughed too when he saw the expression he was making.
"Ha ha! You both think it's so funny, but you have no idea what it's like to be covered in fur! Believe me, it ain't no picnic!" he snapped, shaking himself off on Jak, who cringed away from the pelting water droplets.
"Let's go get you dried off then, little guy," I teased, rubbing a hand over his head as I passed them. "I still need to take a real bath," I added as I waded to the shore.
"Oh? Need some company?" I heard Daxter ask slyly from behind me.
"No thanks. Pretty sure I can handle this much on my own," I assured him.
. . .
Later that evening, after I'd washed myself with actual soap, I took the opportunity to visit Keira's workshop. Or, I suppose, I should consider it my workshop now. Either way, if I was going to have any chance at actually building a heat shield for a zoomer, I'd have to familiarize myself on how it works.
I really hoped that Keira had taken the time to write notes on all this stuff, as was always implied. Otherwise, I was probably going to be pretty lost. I personally, didn't know the first thing about engineering, after all!
Arriving in the shop, I set the three power cells aside that we'd managed to collect so far, and that Jak had given me for safe keeping. After I'd convinced Samos that he should really give us two after all that, Jak had passed them all onto me. This had confused me at first, which I would hope that anyone who'd played the games before would understand.
However, I ended up having another face-palm moment when I realized, again, that this wasn't just a game anymore. There was no magical, Mary Poppins back pocket!
Taking a closer look at the zoomer, I had to admit that it was pretty reminiscent of a motorcycle. Only, this one didn't need wheels, because it could float! Poking around in the desk, I managed to locate a stack of papers that seemed to be exactly what I was hoping would be here. On the sheets were detailed schematics about the zoomer itself, as well as her plans for adding the necessary heat shield.
I had to do a quick double take after I began reading, once I realized that the characters laid out before me was not the English alphabet, not even close! These symbols were not like anything I ever remembered seeing before, almost like an alien language, and yet, my brain seemed to be magically able to interpret them into coherent words.
How was that possible? Perhaps because while my consciousness might be controlling this body, this was still technically Keira's brain? Maybe it would be better if I didn't question it too much.
Except, it was the same with the actual information on the notes themselves. Everything I was reading seemed rather complicated. Normally someone like me, who'd never even held a wrench in their entire lives, would not be able to make heads or tails of what was going on here. And yet, it all made complete sense with surprising clarity. I decided I had to give Keira this one, she certainly was a smart cookie.
Unfortunately, there were quite a lot of notes though. So, I didn't get the chance to actually try and do anything with the zoomer before I felt myself start to nod off. It had been a long and really eventful day, so I shouldn't be surprised that I was tired. Maybe game Jak could continue working and playing all throughout the night and day, but in this version of the world, the people here needed sleep!
So, I decided to call it a night and drag my weary body into bed. I could always tackle the zoomer upgrade another day.
I don't know about you, but I think I'd have kind of a hard time getting all that 'gamer logic' out of my head. Realistically though, it wouldn't make sense for a lot of the game mechanics to - simply exist for no reason. This is something I'm trying to keep in mind for my version of the story. :P