Cracking the Precursor Stone

Chapter 8

A/N: I do not own Jak and Daxter or any of their incarnations but will forever be grateful for their existence!

It took less than an hour, but when they arrived, the sun had set and even from far above, they could spot shining yellow gems in the darkness. Able to see just as well in the dark as in daylight, Jak narrowed his eyes. "Looks like the majority of it is below ground."

"So, we kick Metalhead butt out here and then work our way inside." Daxter texted Torn a quick update and then pocketed the device.

Jak landed just in time for another growth spurt to kick in. The Metalheads that had rushed forward to meet the intruder paused as they saw their enemy grow before their eyes. Daxter snickered from his secure perch, "I think you are making them nervous, Jak."

Jak didn't answer. His stomach was growling, and his mouth was watering. He had been aware of the hunger pains progressively getting worse but now that he was surrounded by beasts full of dark eco, an evil grin slid onto his face.

This night he would feast.

Sparks of dark eco ricocheted off his body instantly frying a dozen Metalheads. Tail swept through dozens like they were toys and hands lashed out to slice and dice any that dared to get too close. Then a Mantis leapt into the air, sailing towards his face, perhaps hoping to blind Jak by landing its claws into his eye, but a slight adjustment was all it took for Jak to ensure the Mantis landed on his tongue instead. Quickly rolling its body onto his teeth, Jak bit down and ground up the creature with his molars. Delicious dark eco dripped down his throat and Jak couldn't help but moan in delight.

Slightly horrified by seeing his best friend, who was supposed to be in his right mind right now, consume a Metalhead with such vigor made Daxter's guts twist anxiously. His voice wavered as he asked, "Uh… Ya doing ok, Jak?"

"Never better." Was all his monstrous friend had time to grunt, before he began shoveling both live and dead Metalheads into his maw. He would eat until he was bloated in satisfaction. Then, using their own dark eco against them, Jak would hunt down the Metalhead Leader and consume him too. Then, only after he ensured all Metalheads in the nest were in his belly would he return to Haven to clear out the remaining creatures.

He would ensure he consumed every single one.

After only about five minutes since landing, Jak began to glow again. This time the light didn't fade at all. Instead, as Jak kept eating and eating, he grew bigger and bigger. Daxter was at a loss of what to do. On the one hand, they were here to kill Metalheads and Jak was undoubtedly doing that. No one could question he was doing a very, very, very good job of it too. However, the fact was that as the minutes ticked on, Jak kept slowly growing, which was more than a little disconcerting. At this rate, Jak would pass the 200-foot mark before daybreak.

After about twenty minutes of Jak just gorging himself, Daxter finally found his nerve and swallowed thickly, "Hey uh, Jak?"

Between gory mouthfuls an enormous ear cocked in Daxter's direction, "Yeah?"

"It might be worth holding off on the Metalhead buffet, dontcha think? We haven't even gotten to the underground portion of the nest yet and we've been here almost half an hour."

Jak growled, "How do you think I'm going to get enough power to beat the Metalhead Leader, Dax? This way might take a little longer, but when I'm done, I'll be stronger than ever."

Daxter tried not to squeak in response to his best friend's terrifying growl, "But I thought the Precursor Stone alone would give you more than enough juice?"

"We only have one shot a this, Dax." The smaller of the pair was immensely relieved to hear his friend speak in a less scary tone, "We fail, and Haven is doomed. I'm not taking any chances."

However, any reassurance Jak's kinder tone may have garnered in Daxter immediately evaporated when his friend snatched up his next kill. Jak, now getting close to 120 feet in height, was able to single-handedly scoop up a Grunt Elephant. Despite the Metalhead's efforts to break free, its attacks were futile. Jak's skin just appeared to absorb the thing's electricity, and he was far too large for the Grunt Elephant to have a hope of wiggling free. Daxter felt the bile rise in his throat when Jak used his free hand to grab the Elephant's head. Then with a tremendous crack, he snapped the thing in two before throwing one half of the corpse in his mouth at a time.

After such a display, more than a few Metalheads were backing away from the monster that shamelessly fed on them. Daxter never thought he would feel sorry for the things, but he was now. A wordless signal seemed to flow through the remaining Metalheads before they turned tail and ran deep into the caverns below.

Daxter suppressed a shiver as Jak laughed cruelly, "Looks like you get your wish, Dax. The cowards are fleeing to their momma."

"I mean…" Freckled ears twitched nervously as the redhead rubbed his arm, "I can't say I blame them. You are kind of decimating them, Jak."

Jak paused mid step and hissed, "Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?"

"I'm not!" Daxter instantly tried to appease his now very big and very scary friend, "I'm just saying if I was in their shoes, I'd be freaking the hell out too!" Hoping, if he turned to humor maybe that would fully pull him out of whatever scare fest he had entered he tried joking, "But I suppose, the Demolition Duo is known for striking fear into the hearts of our enemies. I'm sure you'd panic if ya had to go against yours truly."

A deep chuckle vibrated underneath where the tiny elf sat. Daxter silently breathed a sigh of relief, if Jak was laughing it meant it had worked. "Whatever you say, Dax. So, Mr. Hero where to next?"

And he was joking back! Maybe his best friend hadn't turned into a complete killing, Metalhead eating psychopath. "Onward, Sidekick Jak! We have a Metalhead Leader to vanquish!"

No longer glowing, Jak lowered himself onto all fours and firmly folded his wings onto his back before heading down into the tunnel. The underground passages were still remarkably tall, but not enough for the giant to stand on two feet. Jak didn't mind. His stomach was relatively full, and he had his best friend in the world with him making jokes from between his horns. All in all, Jak was quite pleased with how this night was going.

As they travelled deeper, Jak was still able to catch, kill, and eat the occasional Metalhead, but either they had all gone to the heart of the nest or their numbers were actually dwindling. Coming to a fork, Jak pondered which way to go, "What do you think, Dax?"

"Not sure, pal." Daxter tapped the surface of Jak's horn thoughtfully. Jak enjoyed the feeling, "I always was partial to left myself."

Taking a moment to calm his thoughts in hopes of a solution presenting itself, Jak exhaled through his mouth before inhaling through his nose.

Wait a second.

He knew that smell!

The Kid! And… Kor?

While he inhaled a few more draughts of air, Daxter curiously asked, "Uh… What are you doing down there?"

Jak's ears swivelled instinctively attempting to pair the scents he was detecting with an audible counterpart, "I smell something weird. I'm picking up scents of the Kid and Kor."

"That is odd…" Daxter frowned thoughtfully, "Come to think of it though, I haven't seen either of those two since this morning, when we were at the entrance to Mar's Tomb.

"I'm going to follow it. It's the best lead we have. Besides, something doesn't add up about all of this."

Jak kept his face closer to the ground as he followed down the right tunnel. Sure enough, both scents became gradually stronger the deeper they went. They didn't know how long they were following that tunnel, but Jak glowed and grew twice more in that time. The tips of his horns, and his wings kept brushing on the ceiling if he stood up too straight – even on all fours. Finally, they glimpsed a bright light at the end of the passage and sensing they were very close to their goal, Jak crept as quietly as possible to the door.

It was a tight squeeze, but Jak made it through and found themselves in a massive chamber – one more than large enough for Jak to stand on two feet if he wanted. The walls were coated in Metalhead eggs, and the ceiling had a strange metallic surface. Jak vaguely wondered if it opened somehow. It certainly looked like it did. When he saw the massive creature nesting in the center, Jak was almost certain it had to in order for what was undoubtedly the largest Metalhead he had ever seen to have the freedom to leave its nest. The small swarm of the Metalheads that had fled him earlier were cowering in alcoves surrounding the chamber but what drew Jak's attention was the translucent purple orb that held the Kid – Mar's heir.

"Ah, finally, you've decided to join us…" The Metalhead frowned, "My children fled from you in unnatural terror. I had assumed they were exaggerating, but they were not. Wait… What have you done with it? Where is the Precursor Stone? It is time for the boy to play his final part!"

"Not this time!" Jak growled.

"Oh, but this child is such a part of this. Such a part of you. Don't you recognize him? The boy is you, Jak! And this place… This is where you began, in the future!"

Black eyes blinked at the small child contained within the forcefield. Inhaling, Jak could smell the child's scent and deep within that scent was something very familiar. Vague memories of sand and heat taunted him before whispering away back into the forgotten to be replaced with Kor's scent. It was then that Jak realized the massive Metalhead before him was Kor. His thoughts whirled in confusion, "But how?"

Kor leered at him, "You were hidden in the past in hopes that you would gain the skills in order to face me today. But Onin was wrong. Now that you've been altered with dark eco, the stone will never open for you. Your younger self, however, still has the pure gift. He alone can awaken the Stone and the Precursor entity which sleeps inside."

A new dark and twisting feeling blossomed in Jak's guts. It couldn't be true. The Stone could not have contained such an entity. He had to ask, "The Stone is a Precursor?"

"The last Precursor egg. Mar was clever, he covered his tracks well throughout time. Hiding his last egg from me and building his shield and city to defend it. It has been a long siege but today I will finally feed on the last Precursor life force!"

He heard Daxter's breath catch and knew his friend was thinking the same thing. Jak felt sick. He had royally screwed up this time. He had done what a monster like Kor had been plotting for nearly a millennium to do.

Jak had eaten a Precursor.

Almost as though to emphasize the point, Jak's body chose that precise moment to begin glowing and display his gravest of sins to Kor.

After the glow faded, with Jak another three feet or so taller. A growl came from the Metalhead Leader, "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!?" His voice was shaking in anger, "You… How can you contain the lifeforce within you?! You cannot open the Stone!"

"That's because I didn't." Jak felt his own anger growing. A mixture of both rage at all the suffering Kor's manipulations had brought on his life but also the shame at knowing in Jak's desperate moment of stupidity he had eaten the last Precursor. He bit out, "I beat you to it, Kor. I ate the Precursor Stone."

"WHAT!?" Kor rose to his feet and roared, "Then I shall feast your flesh and consume the power of the Precursors with it!"

Jak leapt out of the way as Kor shot a beam of concentrated dark eco at him. His own anger was roiling in his chest and igniting his veins and with its fire, his body began to glow, and he began to grow. Yet, for the first time since this all started, Jak didn't want it to stop. He wanted to grow and grow until Kor was but a fly in his hand. Kor would never get the chance to taste his flesh, but Jak would give him the mercy of experiencing the power of a Precursor by using that same power to kill and then consume him.

Yet, as he continued to grow, Jak spotted his younger self. He couldn't let anything happen to him. Blocking another beam of Kor's with one of the crystalline protrusions on his forearm, Jak was able to buy himself the time to wrap his tail around the orb. He then swiftly brought it to his hand where he then cracked it open before carefully lifting the unconscious child to where Daxter sat on his head, "Keep an eye on him, Dax."

"Aye, aye captain." Daxter did not hesitate to gently take the child from his friend's grasp. Based on the slight tugging on his hair, Jak gathered that Daxter was likely using his white mane to secure the boy in the same fashion he had done for himself earlier. That was good because Jak was about to get a lot taller.

Grasping onto the strange feeling that came every time he glowed, Jak drew from that source of energy. His body grew bright enough that Kor had to cover his eyes and with an almighty crash, Jak shoved the ceiling plate off of the chamber as he rapidly surpassed a size where he could comfortably remain within.

Finally, as the glow faded from his body, it became all too clear that Vin had been wrong. Jak had not surpassed 200 feet. Instead, he was more than double that at nearly 400 feet.

The power he felt was incredible. He could feel it pulsing in his veins in a way it had not even come close to before. Crouching down, he reached inside of the nest and grabbed a hold of an absolutely enraged Kor by the tail, "How dare you! Let go of me at once! I am the Metalhead Leader, I demand respect!"

Dangling, the relatively tiny but still impressively large Metalhead in front of his face, Jak felt like he had the day he had caught the artist's muse on Misty Island. Comparatively, Kor was basically the same size the muse had once been to a younger Jak, just a hell of a lot uglier. Jak smirked at his prey, "Yeah, I don't think so."

"You little brat!" Kor snarled, "I will make you wish you were never born!"

Jak outright laughed, "Big words for such a little Metalhead!" His demeanor then instantly shifted to one that thirsted for vengeance, "You're the one who is at my mercy, Kor." Lowering his prize by his side, he called up to his passengers, "Hey, Dax?"

"Yeah, pal?" The redhead instantly answered.

"If the kid is awake don't let him see this. I'm screwed up enough already. I don't need to make it worse."

"Um…" Daxter sounded worried but understood all too well what was about to happen. Jak's younger self was currently unconscious, but if he did happen to wake up before his older time twin finished, the redhead would ensure he would see nothing of it. He quickly shoved some of Jak's hair around to make a barrier around them before calling down, "Good to go up here."

"Thanks, Dax." Jak meant it. He would be lost without his best friend. Returning his attention to Kor, he raised the Metalhead back up, "Now let's see what can make a Metalhead scream the loudest."

One by one, Jak first broke off Kor's wings and then his legs. Each appendage that he ripped off he tossed into his mouth and made sure Kor could see it. Seeing the look of pain mixed with shock and revulsion on the Metalhead's face just made Jak enjoy it all the more. Finally, he broke off the tail and took immense pleasure in the crunch of the metallic plates between his teeth. Weak and slowly bleeding out, Kor gasped, "How… How can a being that was once so pure become so corrupt?"

"Maybe it has something to do with having a babysitter like you." Jak hissed at the creature that he honestly couldn't remember ever watching over him. "Guess we'll never know, or at least you won't."

He then used his teeth to separate Kor's body from his head. Chewing the Metalhead's body while the light faded from his skull head gem felt oddly satisfying. Admiring the head of what was once the most fearsome Metalhead, Jak debated if he actually wanted to eat it or not. He had to admit, getting to see this asshole's face mounted on a wall on a regular basis would feel pretty damn satisfying. "Hey, Dax?"

Tentatively, most likely more than a little concerned about the gore his best friend might expose him to if he looked too far beyond the forest of white hair, Daxter called back, "Yeah?"

"You want to keep Kor's head as a trophy?"

Really not wanting to know the details of how Kor met his end, Daxter once more latched onto humour in hopes that it would mean getting Jak out of this creepy place sooner and hopefully further from his new homicidal tendencies, "Hell yeah, I do!" He ensured his voice was full of bravado, "We got to make sure everyone knows what happens when you mess with the Demolition Duo!"

"Alright." Jak laughed as he opened his enormous wings, "Let's take this bad boy home. I'm sure Sig will hook us up with his guy when we get to the city."

"He better!" Daxter rubbed the towering horn beside him – he was pretty sure he was close to ant size relative to Jak at this point – "Hell if anything, the taxidermists should be begging us for the chance to stuff the Metalhead Leader! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

Launching himself into the air, Jak couldn't help but grin at the now rising sun in the horizon. Praxis was dead. Kor was dead. For the first time since coming to the future, Jak relished the anticipation of a brand-new day.

A/N Yep… So that happened. Jak had to shove his feelings aside to deal with Kor but don't worry the existential crisis of realizing he ate a Precursor is going to give Jak more than a little angst later on.