It took a total of 3 years before the cogs began to turn for game number 3 and in that time, a couple of things happened that were different than the original game.
Firstly, with me being able to use Light Eco when I had sex with Taryn, Tess, and Daxter, I was stunned that I'd managed to get Taryn and Tess pregnant with my kids and that Daxter had managed to get me pregnant! And that was within only a month after the war had ended! We had our kids 9 months later, give or take a few weeks, and our kids were each a mixture of light and dark eco as well as being different completely in appearance.
Tess's kid looked like a mini version of her, especially once her hair grew out at age 2, with her being super cute and bubbly, but also having difficulty with learning, as she was, get this, just like Jak and blessed by the Precursors, thus she was mute! Her name was Glee, named as such because she was almost always smiling and giggling.
Then there was Taryn's boy, him having dark purple hair when he turned 2 and him being quite nice, but also being secretly mean when he wanted to be. And he really, REALLY hated Veger when he saw him, even to the point of saying his first bad word. And when I asked him why he said that and why he didn't like Veger? He said he could smell that he was evil. So that was interesting. His name was Bruce.
Finally, my kid that I had with Daxter didn't look human whatsoever and was actually born at the same size as a human baby and actually being able to speak the moment she was born! She was full on Ottsel upon birth, complete with fur that was light grey with a tiny bit of orange patches, her hair being just as brown as mine, and her actually maturing to the size of young teenager in only 2 years, her explaining that she also could hear the Precursors speak to her. And as she was part human and part Ottsel, she'd mature very early and stay in her youthful form for roughly 100 years before starting to age into her elderly years! I named her Starlight, as she had a unique ability in that she could glow in the dark if she wanted to.
But even then, the cogs did eventually begin to turn for game three. Sig had left us to go back to the Wasteland, saying he had to go hone his skills, now that Krew was gone. The Metal Head troops that used to belong to Kor started to attack us again as well as the mysterious floating KG factory to rise into the sky and pump out tons of dangerous machines that started to attack us.
And then, the kicker. I begged the Precursors to give me foresight as to when the Palace would be attacked, so I could save as many as I could. They agreed, but said I'd have 30 minutes to work with to convince them to leave. I then did just that, warning them 30 minutes in advance from the Precursors telling me the exact time. And I managed to save almost all of them, keyword ALMOST. Some were too stubborn to leave their homes, there being at least 30 in the Bazaar section that didn't want to leave. I hated having to leave them be, but I had to focus on the majority. I winced when the palace fell after I saved the rest of the lot.
And then, Veger cast the vote for the entire city, to see if I would be sent to the wasteland along with Jak and Errol, as we were seen as the biggest threats to the city. But get this. Veger also included Jilly, Diego, and all three of my kids to be banished just as well! And according to what the votes said, as announced by Veger... 90 percent to 10 percent.
I knew it was bogus, and so did most of the citizenry. Veger loaded us onto an Air train, placing cuffs on all of us and me frowning at how the cuffs used for my babies were basically mini versions for when Baron planned to arrest children in the past. And my kids and siblings were very scared.
"Momma? Where are we going?" asked Starlight, me sighing as I wished I could hug her, but my current cuffs were too tough, even for me to break out of.
"We're going to a uh... a tropical resort. Sand and surf everywhere," I smiled.
"You're being banished to the wasteland, you twit," Veger said, which made Jilly start to cry, me growling at Veger.
"Remind me that when you take off my cuffs, I need to punch you right in the throat for making little Jilly cry," I growled at him.
"No, you won't. Lest you want me to end your abominations of children," he said, me then growling as I managed to summon my strength and snap apart the cuffs with a combination of red and dark eco, me then tackling Veger to the ground, me choking him as long as I could before the Freedom Fighters zapped me with a shock stick, which made me collapse on the ground after.
"If you ever... ever... EVER! Threaten to kill literal infants ever again, choking will be the least of your concerns!" Jak growled at him angrily. "And if not by Dory's hand, then I'll do the deed," Jak frowned.
"Bite your tongue," Veger growled.
"VEGER!" Ashelin shouted, which made the count cower after. "Consider it triple for me. Do not kill children, that is basic decency! They may have Dark Eco in them, yes, but they are becoming even more intelligent than any infants we'd ever seen. If I've heard that you've either done violence to or threatened violence to any child, you will be sentenced to death," Ashelin said to him strictly.
"Y-Yes, your highness," he said with concern. And he was right to be concerned. Ever since the palace had collapsed, Ashelin had to move what we could salvage and save from her room into the Freedom Fighter HQ in New Haven, built overtop the Water Slums after a year's worth of me getting the Dark Eco poison out of that trashy water. And among the list of items, one of the things we couldn't salvage was a picture of her with her mother. But we did salvage the games, which I saw was basically like the Classic SNES, but it would allow you to actually be in the video game world via making your mind see the game world and interact with it without even moving your body.
Anyways, ramble over, we spent nearly 45 minutes of flight before we finally reached our destination, us disembarking after, with me holding my siblings and kids close to me as we were sent out of the ship, as I had managed to bust out of the cuffs to choke Veger. Because nobody threatens a momma bear's cubs.
"For acts of violence, betrayal, and heinous crimes against the city, you are hereby banished to the Wasteland for LIFE," Veger said, me frowning at that.
"Crimes? Violence? betrayal? How can literal toddlers be the cause of ANYTHING that has happened recently?! Or is this the same spiel you give to anyone you send out here, you sick monkey?" I growled, him frowning at me.
"You have to admit, she has a point," Daxter said with a frown, him and Pecker joining us along the way to help us out. As for Pecker?
"Hey! I take offence to that! My mother was a very nice monkey," he said, me then looking at him in confusion.
"I thought the chicken came before the egg," I frowned as Ashelin then handed me a beacon.
"Have Diego help you. Someone will find you, I promise," she said, me frowning at her.
"We all know the votes are bogus, we just need evidence. Find it, no matter what it takes," I said to Ashelin, but with my breath barely a whisper, since Count Vagina was right next to us. I used some Yellow eco from all the sand around us to heighten her hearing so she'd hear me. And she nodded at my words.
"I will," she said, the same as me, only a whisper of a breath. She then went back to the air train as Dax and Pecker joined up with our group, me frowning at Veger's words.
"May the Precursors have mercy on you," he said. But before the air train could leave? I decided to use a small bit of Light Eco to let him see one thing. I didn't show him the truth about what the Precursors looked like, but I did show him that I'd been spoken to and was being helped by the Precursors for the whole time. And after that? He looked at me in shock as the air train left in the distance. And thus, he realized that his statement had no weight behind it.
"Well, now we're here. And it's already starting to get hot," said Bruce, me smiling at his brainy head. Despite him being 2 years old, same with my other kids, all of them were able to have the intelligence of 10-year-olds for some bizarre reason. Made it super easy to potty train them and have them eat more foods quicker, but they were also ready to learn about anything. And there were some things that they shouldn't learn until they were older.
"Diego, you're going to be our trusted guide. Can you lead us to this Spargus place?" Jak asked my little brother, Diego nodding at him.
"I can, Uncle Jak," he said. And Diego did in fact call Jak his uncle, mainly because he was very nice to the hero of the game and the hero just as nice back. "We need to go north. The most north we can. That's where Spargus will be. We should look for smoke formed from a beacon. We need to get going fast, before the sun gets any higher... and heaven forbid we get in a storm," he said, us nodding as we then proceeded to walk forward through the scorching sands... I had to end up using some Green Eco in the air to cool us off from the humidity, but I had to use it sparingly, lest I get high as a kite again. I ended up petering out on the amount of time I could use it by the time we got to the river on the eastern side of the desert. The one that was by a waterfall and the closest one to Spargus.
"Yes! Water! Let's fill up and keep going! We're almost there!" Daxter smirked as he pointed ahead of us and we all saw it. The beacon. We might make it there without even fainting!
"If only it was red eco, that's my preferred drink... but beggars can't be choosers," Starlight said with a smile, me smirking at that. She may have been fully grown for Ottsel years by this point, but she actually showed her true colors a little more than Daxter did, since she was born a Precursor, after all. Thus, she loved to drink Eco in its liquid form, all but dark, as she knew better than to touch it, given that the only one of us who could drink Dark Eco was Diego, and only because he was part Metal Head.
After we filled up our reserves and quenched our thirst from the water, we then moved out again, us going for about 10 more minutes of walking, me needing to get what little blue eco I could from the air to cool our skin from the boiling hot sun as we moved through the hot sands... and we finally started to peter out when we saw that the sands were starting to churn... and we reached the giant gate.
"Finally... and a storm's starting... we need to get in there," Diego said.
"What kind of storm are we talking about?" Errol asked.
"Judging by the fact we're in a desert surrounded by ocean, I'd say it's a sandstorm mixed with saltwater. Deadly combination that can tear the flesh from our bodies if we get caught in it... come on, open up!" Jilly complained, her already having reached her teen years and becoming quite the impatient fireball in the downtime, as she found out she could use fire powers with Red Eco. In fact, she'd managed to master using Red Eco to the point she always kept a lighter on hand to act as her power source. We then started to bang on the walls of the place, hoping someone would hear us.
We spent almost a minute doing this as the storms looked like they were going to come at any moment... and only then did the gates open, where we saw that Damas was there alongside Kliever and three other Wastelanders... one looked to have bright pink hair on her head, another was coated in armor aside from his very small, bald head, and the final? It was someone I'd been wanting to see for ages.
"I-It can't be..." she said, me sighing as I looked at her with a smile.
"Hi, mom... we're back," I said.
"Where'd you get that beacon from?" Damas asked.
"A friend, someone you met in the past, most likely when she was just as small as these two," I smiled as I pointed to my kids.
"O-Oh my... a-am I a grandmomma?" Lola asked, me nodding.
"Please, let us in... I think the sand's getting a little nippy," Errol frowned, me starting to feel it. The sand was starting to feel painful.
"Let them in, quickly," the pink-haired Wastelander said, us then finally going inside, but I did feel a bit of a stinging sensation on my ankles, where I saw that my skin got a couple small boils on it, same with Errol getting at least two on his left arm.
"Dang, that sand hurts..." Errol growled.
"What the? You didn't mention HE was with you!" the pink-haired Wastelander growled, which made Errol frown at her.
"Nice to see you as well, Yona," Errol said, me then doing a double-take after.
"Wait wait! Yona? As in, Ashelin's mom?" I gawked, which she looked at me in surprise.
"You know Ashelin?"
"Know her? She's one of my besties! We've bonded over gaming and in combat against the Metal Heads that were under Kor's command. That is, before I killed him," I smiled.
"I see... I'm so relieved she's alive... let's get going to the palace," Yona smirked, me and my allies being led by Damas and the other Wastelanders through the streets. And I could tell that a good few of Wastelanders were surprised by our large group, and that one of us was Commander Errol. And said commander looked to be concerned by all the daggered eyes being pointed at him as we then got to the elevator and went up it into the palace filled with water.
"Introductions are in order, especially for a group as large as yours, including two toddlers and a child, a teenager, and two... er... three animals," Damas frowned as he pointed out the oddballs of the bunch.
"Okay, here's the names," I said as I then pointed to each one. "Jak, super-powered hero. Errol, no introduction needed. Daxter, former Elvine turned Ottsel from Dark Eco. Dory, me, and killer of Korraquon, Metal Head Leader. Diego, no introduction, hopefully."
"Indeed... though I didn't know that he was uh... half Metal Head," Damas frowned.
"Ah... why was he even in Haven in the first place? I thought he was abducted by the KG?" Lola asked with concern as she picked Diego up and gave him a hug, him giving it back with both hands and tentacle legs.
"Said KG tanker was commandeered by Kor's Metal Heads on a mission to attack the city from a sneak attack. But they didn't know how to drive, so I teamed up with Ashelin to destroy the Metal Heads and we found Diego in the tanker... by the way, mom? Next time you have a kid, make sure that dad's still alive before doing so," I said, her gasping at that.
"H-He's here too?" she asked.
"Yes, but now for the final introductions. Pecker, monkaw with a penchant for interpretation. Jilly, my little sister and budding Red Eco Sage in training. Starlight, offspring of myself and Daxter." Damas and Yona were about to talk before I spoke up. "Don't ask." They then hushed up after. "Bruce, offspring of me and Taryn, able to sense emotions and good versus evil. And last but not least, Gllee, daughter of myself and Tess, blessed by the Precursors and able to talk with her mind," I smiled.
"Really? How does that work?" Damas asked.
"It works just as well as hot dogs with mac n' cheese. Very well," Glee spoke to all of us in our minds, which made the Wastelanders surprised before looking at the 2-year-old girl.
"Ah... that was weird. Like an echo ringing in my ears... but you say Tess is still alive, yes?" asked the bald and armored wastelander, me nodding at him. "I'm relieved... hopefully I can see her again one day," he said, me guessing who he was pretty quick.
"So you're her dad, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am... I must say, I didn't expect her to have children with another woman, let alone one strong enough to take down Kor... is that truth?"
"I have a photo on my machine here that shows the trophy in our bar. Here, I'll show ya," I smirked as I then showed them the photo via my phone, which Keira upgraded to show via hologram form with color. And they gawked at how the photo was of me next to the gigantic head and comparing it to Daxter's height.
"Oh my word... I would ask for you to be labeled as a Wastelander automatically just for that, but unfortunately, there are rules to follow for all new arrivals to Spargus," Damas said. "You'll need to go to the battle arena in order to fight for your right to earn citizenship to Spargus. If you succeed in your first fight, you may stay and continue to get past all three fight rounds. But if you fail, it will be as if we never found you," Damas frowned.
"Um... are we going to need to fight, too? Because we don't know how to fight very well..." Bruce asked with his innocent mind.
"No, there are rules for those younger than 18. So long as your parents or guardians can make it past the first round, you'll gain automatic citizenship until you reach the age required to take the test yourself. Trust me, I should know," Lola said with a smile, me smirking at her. "Can I ask to spend some time with Diego, you, and Jilly when you win, Dora? I... I missed you all a lot," Lola smiled with eyes of concern.
"Yes. But when we do so, you'll need to explain to me why I should trust you again after you tried to plunk your tax evasion onto me and Jilly before we were sent here," I frowned, mom then frowning.
"Fine. I had a feeling you wouldn't let it go," mom frowned after. We then proceeded to go to the arena, where we saw that us adults would be going to our fights in alphabetical order with me first, then Errol, and finally Jak. As for Daxter and Pecker, they would be considered as 'pets' if we would win, which definitely ticked them off.
"Pets?! We don't count as pets! Do we?" Daxter asked angrily, me smiling as I gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"No, you don't, but just play along. Better that you don't have to get involved in the fighting, considering your size compared to the average person," I said.
"I hope you win, momma. I want to have some red eco after, and I can sense a ton of lava in there," Starlight asked, me smirking at her.
"Indeed, you'll get some red juice when I win... I just hope I'm not forced to kill anyone. I don't want to do that," I sighed.
"Peh, yer yellow then, is that wot yer sayin'?" Kliever asked me from the wings, me frowning at him.
"No, I'm peach skinned. And I'd rather not kill people who are able to think and speak normally like you and me," I frowned.
"Good news fer ya, then. You'll be up against marauders. A buncha meatheads that only like killin' an' nothin' else. All caught from wreckage when they attack our city wiv their cars. All they speak in is grunts an' all they wanna do is kill anyone that isn't a marauder. A buncha inbreds, the lot of 'em," he said, me smacking my face at that as Bruce and Glee then looked at me in concern.
"Mommy? What's inbred?" they asked.
"Thanks for nothing, big guy," I groaned. "Inbred is a very bad thing where family members make kids with their siblings or parents. It leads to tons of health issues for the kids as well as everyone else thinking of you as creepy and gross."
"You mean like what Starlight said was how we were born?" Bruce asked, me smacking my face and groaning audibly.
"Sorry, momma... I didn't know that they shouldn't be told about that stuff... remember, I'm fully grown, but they aren't," Starlight sighed.
"You're going to get blue eco for your next five meals before I get you any red eco, got it? That's your punishment," I said, Starlight sighing in defeat. Mainly because whenever I gave a threat, I always delivered on it. Much different than most other parents who gave empty ones.
"Dangit... I hate blue eco..." she complained.
"Hehe, a little rodent eating eco? I'd love to see that," Kliever chortled as I was then told by Yona that the arena was ready for me to fight.
"Okay, I'm coming," I smiled as I then proceeded into the arena... I had to hope that we all did good, because we didn't want to be sent out into the desert again.
