To the Power Station and Dark Eco
They squeezed into the largest cruiser available. Kor looked at Jak. "Thank you. Samos just knows that if I keep Kaj as my son then he will be subjected to his presence more often." He consoled the child while Daxter sat with the crocadog.
Daxter laughed. "Yeah, Old Grandpa Green doesn't like us either. He was always making me do his busy work and never even said thank you."
Jak glared. "He doesn't even remember us, Daxter. That was my teacher, Kor. But there's something different, wrong about him."
Kor thought about it. "Tell me, what is different about him? Whoa! Hold on, boy, we have trouble." Running at them as they were taking off was one of the red armored stormtroopers of the city, the Krimzon Guard.
"Red alert! I spotted the Kid!" The guard shouted into his communicator.
Jak growled. "Yeah, you're gonna have to get through me." He put the pedal to the medal and rammed through the guard, not caring about what happened to him. Anyone who would harass a kid didn't deserve sympathy. "Daxter, you handle the gun."
The ottsell hoisted the blaster rifle on his shoulder and fired at the red and white zoomer in their path. Kaj held tightly to his new father while Jak floored it. The crocadog barked at the vehicles. Through the city streets, Jak switched from the hover zone back to the street with every few feet, trying to keep the guards off their backs. Daxter shot every guard that got too close.
"I can't take you directly to Vin with them on our butts. We need to lose 'em." He piloted the zoomer around, swerving as fast as he dared with the child.
Finally he managed to dash behind a pillar, unseen, as the police cruisers and bikes sped past. Jak sighed with relief. "Okay, let's get you guys to the power station."
Daxter whistled. "Boy, why are those Krimzon Guards after this kid? Just because they think he's the heir?"
Kor nodded. "He is the heir. I know he is. I was there when he was born. I had disguised myself long ago. The human form allows me to conserve my power and go and come as I like." He rubbed the boy's head, soothing his fears. "I tried to be as close to the royal family as possible."
Jak looked over. "Why? Biding your time? I wouldn't blame you. It's a good strategy."
Kor sighed. "I suppose I might as well tell you. I'm looking for something. Something very important. Mar hid it in his tomb and I must find it." He clenched his fists. "And only the heir can access the tomb."
Jak nodded. "What are you looking for? Can I help?" He asked.
The old man shook his head. "That I cannot say at this time. All you need to know is Mar stole it from me and hid it in his tomb. 100 years ago. And I want it back."
"Must be pretty important to hunt for it for 100 years," Jak surmised. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find it. But you knew Kaj as a baby?"
Kor nodded. "Yes. I was the king's advisor for a short time. I left as I was worried about forming bonds with those I might have to… When the Baron attacked the palace, I tried to get back in time, I still needed them. But the child was gone and so were the king and queen. I can only assume Baron Praxis… but Kaj escaped somehow."
Jak nodded. "Poor kid. Don't worry. He has us now. A father and a big brother."
Daxter shook his head. "Make that two big brothers." He said firmly.
Kor chuckled. "Well, if you want to get technical, he currently has several hundred brothers. I've had over 50,000 sons in my time."
Jak whistled, impressed. "No daughters?" He asked curiously.
Kor shook his head. "Oh no. We don't share the same sexual dimorphism that humans do. I won't get into the details. You'd find them incredibly dull. Let me sum it up. I lay all of the eggs. Approximately two hundred at a time, though not all survive. Our eggs are extraordinarily fragile. Sometimes more or less. I am currently the only one in our tribe who can, that is why I'm the king of the nest. Kind of like ants or bees but much bigger." He laughed.
Daxter shook his head. "Wow, so there are no hot, young, voluptuous metal head chicks, huh?" He sighed forlornly, earning him a light-hearted smack from his friend as he pulled over.
Jak took his gun from Daxter as they got out of the car and started heading up the walkway towards the power station. "Kor, do you know how to use a gun?" He asked.
Kor nodded. "I don't. But don't worry, I can keep us safe." His staff glowed. "Hurry Kaj." He urged the boy. "Chompers!" He shouted as the dog ran on ahead. "Heel!" They ran up the walkway while Jak and Daxter guarded their flank.
Thankfully the remaining trek was short and they reached the power station without further incident.
"Hey Vin, we brought you some house guests!" Daxter shouted.
With his white hair, the technician appeared to be at least as old as Kor but he moved around the station with the ease of someone Jak's age. "Jak! Great! You're here! I'm picking up reports from the Strip Mine. A cache of metal head eggs has been discovered." Vin didn't even turn around as his eyes were fixated on his computer.
Jak turned his head to Kor who shook his own head. They weren't his. "Oh so, you want me to deal with them?" He asked.
"Would you? There are dozens of them!" Vin asked, turning around. "Oh, hey Kor. And how's my little assistant today?" He knelt down to Kaj's level. "Thanks both of you for bringing him. I love this little guy. I got you a present since you'll be staying with me a while." He offered the child a wrapped box.
Kor chuckled. "We both will be. I'm adopting him. Giving him a permanent caregiver, some stability." He explained, bracing for another round of arguments.
Vin smiled. "I was hoping I'd hear that eventually. I would have offered but he doesn't have the same bond with me that he does with you." He laughed. "Well, congratulations kiddo."
Kaj smiled as he hugged Kor's leg. Kor took a deep breath. "Good, I just had to put the Shadow in his place. He tried to talk me out of it."
"Yeah, he doesn't have kids yet. He doesn't understand what it's like," Vin said with a chuckle. All eyes fixed on him. "You didn't know I'm a dad? Tess is my daughter. She probably didn't tell you because she's embarrassed by me."
Daxter waved his hand. "I'm sure that's not it. Maybe she was just trying to keep it secret from
Praxis. Because she's with the Underground."
Jak frowned. "Wait, Samos should understand then. He has a daughter who is my age!" He shouted. "We were dating! Damn, he didn't even seem to think about her!"
Vin laughed. "Samos? A daughter? That's a good one." He looked down at Kaj. "Ahh, you got it open. That's a Little Tyke's 58 piece chemistry set. I thought we could do the experiments together. You can help us too, Kor. If you want to."
Kor nodded. "I think I will first accompany Jak to these eggs. I'm an expert on metal heads and the presence of eggs means there's a king nearby. Perhaps I can give Jak the tools to find him." He explained, seeing the pain on the young man's expression. "Daxter, you should stay here with him and Vin."
Daxter frowned. "Awww! But I'm Jak's sidekick. He wouldn't last a second without me." He argued.
Jak leaned over and whispered. "Do you want to risk more metal head babies imprinting on you?"
Daxter shook his head. "No way! Fine! I'll stay here and play with Kaj."
Vin looked up from setting up the kit. "Kaj? Is that his name now? That makes life easier. Kid isn't a name."
Kor patted Kaj on the head. "I won't be gone long. Behave for Vin and Daxter." The boy's eyes shone with tears. "I promise, I'll be back shortly." Up until now, he hadn't realized how much the boy had come to need and trust him. If he'd gone with his original plan, could he have even gone through with it? "I promise." He and Jak went to the portal. He looked back at his new son once more before they went through.
Vin smiled at the kid. "Hey, while they're gone, I'll teach you both a few science tricks you can show off."
--
Dark Eco
They jumped out of the other end, next to a pool of dark eco. Kor looked at the pool of eco. "Ahhh, dark eco. Isn't it lovely?" He knelt down and gathered a handful of it. It formed a perfect ball in his gnarled hand. "See how it molds itself to whatever shape and it doesn't drip out of one's hand."
Jak drew near and groaned as his whole eye turned black and his skin turned deathly white, claws growing from his fingertips. He grunted and fought with the dark figure morphing from him.
Kor discarded the dark eco and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Hold still, don't fight, just focus on my voice." He looked into the black eyes. "Listen to my voice. Follow my voice Jak."
The young man took a deep breath and fell on his rump as the darkness faded. He took several deep breaths and looked up at Kor. "I hate this place. You shouldn't be around me, no one should. I'm going to end up hurting you. I'm going to end up hurting everyone I care about."
The old man rolled his eyes. "You couldn't hurt me if you wanted to. Trust me, I can take care of myself. I'm going to help you learn to master your dark self. Then you won't need to fear." He promised. "Come, let's find the nest. Another king could complicate matters."
Jak nodded. "Or we could have another ally. Against Praxis, with so much working against us, quantity will be important."
Kor nodded and led the way until a metal head grunt spotted them and began to charge. His eyes and hat glowed and they stopped. A scorpion popped out of the ground and ran over. "I am Kor, King of my tribe. This young man is Jak and he is a friend." He lowered his hand and let the scorpion sniff him. It crawled up his arm, making pitiful cry as one of the grunts came up to him. "Where is your king? We heard about some eggs here."
The grunt groaned sadly. "Our king… was caught by the big machines. We are without a king, bereft of a father." He admitted. "We're trying to guard the eggs but without a king…"
Kor nodded. "You are not without a king any longer. You will join my tribe and I will care for the eggs. Take me to them." He looked to Jak. "That's why Vin detected them. They were crying out for help. Without a king present, the eggs will not hatch and they will die. By the time you got to the eggs on the drill platform, they were beyond hope."
Jak bit his lip. "That's awful. What happened to their king?" He asked. "You called him Kaeden."
Kor shook his head. "He was a rival. He wanted my turf and pretended to align with me. He pretended to be a friend. Daxter took him down when his lust for power overcame his good sense." He sighed. "I won't deny that our species is imperfect. Among us there is both good and evil. Same as humans. Kaeden was evil. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm good. One might say I was neutral."
Jak shrugged. "That's better in many ways. You're not easily influenced by pleas for sympathy. You're more willing to do what must be done."
They followed the metal heads to the cache of eggs laid precariously under a metal crate hanging by a crane. "Wow, that doesn't look safe. That crate could just drop at any second." Jak stated.
Kor nodded. "Yes, but it's too late to move them. It's possible but very dangerous. We have to try and move the metal crate." His staff glowed as he focused on the crane in the distance. It groaned as it tried to start but it only sputtered.
Jak looked around the mine until he saw the path. "I'll be right back." He jumped the small stream of dark eco and ran up the path. He ran to the machine and looked inside. He stood on the precipice. "It's out of gas!"
Kor sighed. "I will have to help them hatch here. My fear is that it's too early." He cupped his mouth and shouted back. "I'm going to try and help them hatch here!"
Jak nodded. "Wait! Don't! I'll see if I can't find some fuel!" He knew moving the crate was still best if it could be done. The question was did he have time? He took off running. "If I were fuel for a crane, where would I be?"
He ran to a shed bursting with supplies. He looked high and low but there was nothing that looked like fuel. He came to the control room where they'd first met Vin. He went in and grabbed the radio. "Vin! Are you there?"
The computer screen on the wall cracked and Vin's face appeared. "Jak, yeah, what's up?" He asked, his goggles were covered in slime.
"Vin, where would I find gas for the crane? I need to move it to get to the eggs." He lied.
Vin shrugged. "It runs on dark eco. There should be eco pools all over. Just put some of that in the fuel tank." He explained.
Jak groaned but nodded. "Dark eco, got it." He ran out of the control room and back to the crane. As promised, there was a large dark eco pool.
He shot up as a voice echoed in his head. "Boy, how is the search going?"
Jak finally realized it was Kor. He must have telepathic abilities among others. "I need to fill it with dark eco!"
"Wait there, I'll come handle it." Kor ordered him but Jak refused.
"No, this needs done now. We don't know how long that rope will hold. I can carry the eco with my hands." He stepped over to the eco pool, ignoring the old man's protests, and knelt to take a handful. He groaned. "Stay back. This isn't for you." He struggled against the darkness that wanted to come out. He carried the goop to the crane and started filling it. With every handful, he had to struggle harder as the dark monster inside grew stronger.
"Jak, stop this. You're going to hurt yourself." Kor urged him but he didn't listen. "Stupid boy! What is it about humans and heroics?" He asked the grunts. They could only shrug. They had no idea.
A few minutes later, Jak's exhausted voice called to him. "Try and… move it now… and get out…. Aghhh!"
Kor again focused on the crane, his cane glowed and the crane glowed with it until it sputtered to life. Carefully he used his magic to guide the crane and moved its cargo to a safer place, away from the eggs. Quickly, he placed his hands on the eggs and the signals they were emanating went quiet. He took a handful of the dark eco and coated the eggs with it to form a warm, protective casing. "Jak, it's fine. Get down here and let's go home."
There was no response. The old man gingerly made his way up the path to the crane until he saw the boy. He had transformed again and appeared to be fighting with himself. "Stupid boy! I knew you couldn't handle this." He snapped his fingers and black eyes looked into his. "Jak! You can do this! You can take control! Listen to my voice, follow my voice! Picture my voice as a light, follow the light to me." Dark Jak growled and launched himself at the old man. His staff flashed and forced the boy back. "You need to learn your place! Get back to where you once belonged! Go! Jak! Hear me, take control! This beast is you, he's part of you! He was always there. Take control!"
The black eyes met his again. Blue eyes became gold. "Come to my voice, Jak. It's time to wake up now."
Jak gave a sudden, sharp, deep breath as the black eyes faded back to blue irises and white sclera. He fought for breath. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to save the eggs."
Kor nodded. "And you did. Vin won't be able to detect them again. They know they have a king again to help them hatch when it's time. And I've cloaked their energy signature." He reassured Jak before smacking him upside the head. "Next time, listen to me! I knew you weren't ready for this. Stupid, foolhardy boy!" He didn't know why it bothered him so but he felt like his heart was pounding loud enough for Jak to hear. "What would I have told Daxter if I hadn't been able to save you? You cannot put me in a position where I have to tell your friends that you are dead! I won't allow it! Am
I clear?"
Jak nodded. "Yes sir. I'm sorry I made you worry," He apologized and looked down. "We should get back. The eggs are safe. How long until they hatch?"
Kor sighed. "I estimate a couple of weeks at least. I'll need to sneak back here and check up on them, frequently."
"You know… Vin might make a good ally. He understands wanting to protect one's kids." Jak explained. "I'm not saying you should tell him right away, it's up to you. But I think, despite his phobia, he'd be a good friend to have on our side. He cares about Kaj and he looks to you as an equal."
Kor nodded. "Perhaps. Let's not worry about that now. You go ahead back while I make contact with Samos. Assure Kaj that I'm on my way. I'm just studying the remains of the nest because we couldn't find the king."
Jak nodded and went to the rift ring. It felt like he was ten again, being yelled at by his uncle for going into the Forbidden Jungle all alone. Samos had often scolded him but only really cared about the inconvenience that Jak was to him. Like when Daxter fell in the Dark Eco and Samos was forced to accompany Jak and Daxter on their quest to change the ottsell back. Daxter was the only one who saw Jak as a real friend.
