Chapter 6: The Oracle of the Slums

Author's note: And we're back.

I got into a bit of creative slump with this story. I have an overall plan, but the chapter-by-chapter plan came to an end last chapter. So, I was left wondering where to go next.
Thankfully, I managed to hit a bit of inspiration and have written out general chapter-by-chapter plans for the next 8 or so chapters, as well as found a direction to go in for now. Though, this doesn't mean that the chapters will be coming out quickly, having a plan doesn't mean I'll know how to start a chapter or have the motivation to write.

Jak ignored Mar tugging persistently at his hand as he stared at the med-packs offered by the stall. With his medical training lacking, Jak relied on the packs with Green Eco in them, but those cost more. And while they could afford to buy a few, it would set back their savings.
And with Haven moving into the colder months, the boys would need to buy more clothes for warmth and find other ways to stay warm. There were no firepits to keep a home warm in Haven, at least not in the Slums anyway, and definitely not in their hovel.

On Jak's shoulder, Daxter haggled with the stall-keep, trying to get some sort of offer.

Mar tugged again and Jak still didn't let go. The young boy was obviously bored and hated not having his freedom, but Jak knew from experience that Mar would wander off and find some sort of trouble if he didn't keep a hold of him.

As he looked at the med-packs, Jak wondered if he should even be getting them, the warning of his last client ringing through his mind. That Channelers were not safe in Haven. And if Jak was caught using channelling to heal his patients, he could end up being taken, leaving Daxter and Mar alone, or taken alongside him.

"Deal."

The word snapped Jak out of his thoughts. The bargaining had apparently come to an end.

After Jak had packed up his purchases, he let Mar run free but kept a close eye on him. Mar giggled silently as he ran around with his croca-dog, which the boys had decided to name Chomp.
With a whistle, Chomp would return to Jak, which in turn prompted Mar to follow his pet back to Jak as well. And effective way to keep Mar close.

As the boys walked, Daxter tried and failed to talk about things, his words eventually petering off each time. His friend had been that way since they had been told about what happened to Channelers in Haven.

"Ah!" Daxter eventually broke, scratching at his head so madly that it dislodged his miniature goggles and Jak had to catch them. "I can't take this anymore. We can't just keep avoiding it!"

Thankfully, the boys were in a more deserted part of the city, so the ottsel's outburst didn't draw much attention.

"Should I stop?" Jak signed. "Eco is risk. Can't heal without Eco."

Daxter clicked his tongue in annoyance. He had quickly gotten used to reading Jak's signing backwards from his position on Jak's shoulder.

"It's not like we can." Daxter pointed out, lowering his voice so that their conversation wouldn't draw the wrong sort of attention. "We're barely finding any jobs as it is, and we are not going back to begging. Healing is the only thing that brings in enough lari."

Jak nodded in agreement.

He and the others had been struggling to even get enough food to survive on before people started to come to him for a different sort of help than what he was used to giving. Jobs too few and far between, and begging producing barely anything by the end.
But once Jak had started healing those who care to his door, food had ceased to be an issue. They weren't exactly living well, the hovel was still a hovel and there were many things they still couldn't buy, but they were at least better than before.
Giving it up would mean going back to being on the brink of starvation.

"It's not fair." Daxter complained. "We're in a lose-lose situation here. Stupid Baron! This wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for him."

Jak noticed a person passing by suddenly give them a wide berth when Daxter insulted the Baron, as if they had suddenly contracted a highly contagious disease.

"Maybe we could just be extra careful from now on." Daxter suggested desperately. "You make sure to hide what you're doin', and I can use my limitless charm to keep their attention away from you."

Jak shrugged the shoulder that Daxter wasn't standing on.

"We can work it out later." He signed.

Out in the open wasn't exactly the best place to be discussing such things after all.

The Water Slums were off in a corner in Haven. The only thing past them was a steel door to something called a pumping station, which Jak and Daxter had never heard of before but could guess the purpose of, but the area was outside of the walls, meaning Metal Heads were free to roam.
Jak had been out there once. He dealt with the Lurkers who attacked him under the orders of Maia and Gol easily enough, so he'd assumed that the Metal Heads would be much the same. Unfortunately, Jak had forgotten to take into account two major factors, that there wasn't any Eco floating around to help him deal with enemies like back home, and that creatures that had driven elven kind into a walled city would be harder to deal with than Lurkers. Needless to say, Jak hadn't been back there since.

After that, Jak and Daxter had written off the Water Slums, never going back that way again despite literally living on the boarder. The boardwalks did not look safe to run on, the water was definitely not safe to play in, and it looked as though the only things there were rickety huts that people lived in despite how dangerous they looked. No reason to go there.
But, this had apparently led to the boys missing the hut containing a Precursor Oracle inside of it.

"Has this really been here this entire time?" Daxter questioned as they entered into the hut.

On seeing it, Jak instinctively pressed his fingers to his lips and then touched his forehead before indicating out towards the Oracle in a gesture of reverence. It wasn't something he usually did outside of specific days dedicated to the Precursors, but the sight of something so familiar, after so long spent in this alien city, filled him with such comfort that he felt the need to give praise.

Unlike the Oracles back home, which were sat in the side of cliffs and covered in moss and other vegetation, this Oracle sat at the back of the hut and was completely clean, surrounded by many candles.
Jak shivered at the disrespect shown to the Oracle by it being here, clearly moved from its original resting place and cleared of the nature that grew on it. Everyone knew that to move an Oracle from where it was placed by the Precursors was not something that should ever be done. Who knew what curses the ones who had done this had brought down on Haven and themselves by bringing it here?
But looking at the candles placed around it, it was clear that the Oracle was being treated with reverence. And the old explorer had told Jak many times that different cultures had different views and different traditions. So, perhaps this was just the way the Oracles were respected in Haven, as distasteful as it seemed to Jak.

"A great warrior approaches." The Oracle spoke as Jak stood in front of it. "One not seen for a long time, yet before he was expected and unchanged."

Mar hid behind Jak's legs at the sudden voice but peaked out curiously. The boy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as the Oracle spoke, too young to understand it.

The language that the Oracles spoke was an old tongue, said to be the language of the Precursors themselves. Everyone knew the basics of the Precursor language, you couldn't grow up around an Oracle without picking up some of what the statues spoke, though far fewer were fully fluent. With a Sage for a teacher and an Explorer for an uncle, Jak and Daxter were among those few.

"What in the halls of the Makuta does that mean?" Daxter questioned. "Ugh, these things. Do you know how we can get back home?"

"And find Keira and Samos?" Jak signed.

"Young warriors, you have been set on an unforeseen path with an unclear future." The Oracle said instead of answering, much to the teens' consternation.

Oracles always told people what they needed to hear when approached, but it was a fifty-fifty spilt on whether it was what they wanted to know in that moment. On top of that, the Oracles weren't always clear with what exactly they meant, leaving their words up to interpretation. Daxter swore that they did it on purpose because it was the only entertainment they got, being stuck to the sides of cliffs for their entire existence.

"Your future is full of dangers, from my enemies, the ones you call the Metal Heads, and from your own. You must be prepared to face them." The Oracle warned. "For this, you must grow stronger. To become more than what you are."

"How?" Jak signed.

He didn't like the Oracle's words. Fighting against the Metal Heads was to be expected, but his own enemies? Jak didn't have any enemies, Gol and Maia were sealed in that Dark Eco silo, and the Lurkers had ceased being a threat once their bosses were out of the picture. Did it mean the Baron?

"Great Warrior, I can prepare you for the trials ahead. But first you must prove yourself to me." The Oracle ordered. "Bring to me fifty Metal Head Skull Gems to show that you are ready and willing to receive my teachings."

"What, no Precursor Orbs?" Daxter snarked.

Though, considering how rare Precursor Orbs were in Haven, perhaps Skull Gems would actually be easier to get a hold of. Exchanging the usual hundred-and-twenty for a Power Cell like back home would be next to impossible in Haven.

The Oracle didn't respond to Daxter's snark, going dormant. The boys knew that it wouldn't speak to them again until they brought the Skull Gems.

Mar tugged on Jak's trousers to get his attention.

"What...I do not…" The boy signed, then frowned and pointed to the Oracle in frustration. He didn't know enough sign to properly convey what he wanted to ask.

"You don't understand the Oracle." Daxter quickly worked out. "That's okay kid, they never say anything much useful anyway. Just, bring me thing an' I give you thing." He gave a poor imitation of the Oracle's voice, which made Mar giggle silently.

It occurred to Jak that he'd be the one responsible for teaching Mar the Precurian language, just like Samos and his uncle had done for him. But that was easier said than done. He was already struggling to teach Mar the common language as it was, trying to teach Mar two languages at once while both of them were mute seemed impossible.
Plus, the Oracle was the first evidence of Precursors that Jak had seen since arriving in Haven, meanwhile Jak and Daxter had grown up with the Sentinels on the beach, the temple in the Forbidden Jungle, the buried robots on Geyser Rock, and all the artifacts that his uncle would bring home or which would wash up on the beach. Part of learning the Precursor language came from being able to read and feel those original sources.

Shaking his head, Jak turned his mind to what the Oracle had asked him to do as he made his way out of the hut and started walking.

Bring it Metal Head Skull Gems.

Jak's mind flashed back to his disastrous journey out to the Pumping Station. At first, the Metal Heads hadn't been all that dangerous, small things that were easily kicked away. But then bigger ones had shown up, and they were harder to take down than the average Lurker.
On top of that, Jak had felt the Dark Eco inside of them. He had instinctively known that every sting and every bite would bring the risk of poison, meaning that he couldn't risk getting hurt.
In the end, the only way out had been to run.

But Jak would need to face the Metal Heads again and kill them if he wanted to bring the Oracle the Skull Gems it wanted. And it wasn't like the idea was completely hopeless. The major reason that Jak had had to run was because he'd made the stupid decision to bring Mar along with him, not wanting to leave Mar alone with only Daxter to watch him and confident in his fighting abilities to protect all of them.
But if Jak left Mar at the hovel with Daxter, things could go a lot better. He could be sneakier and pick off the Metal Heads one at a time, rather than drawing a bunch of attention to himself, with only himself to worry about. And he did have his knife, which he had forgotten to use the last time, too used to just using his fists and Eco.
But Daxter really didn't like it when he was left to watch over Mar when Jak was on jobs he couldn't bring the younger boy on. And Daxter could never do much to stop Mar when he decided to cause trouble.

"Hey, Jak." Daxter pulled on Jak's ear to get his attention. "The health hazard we call a home is back that a-way."

Jak looked up in surprise and realised that he'd walked past their hovel while lost in thought, making it all the way through the Water Slums and into the regular Slums.

Just as Jak was about to turn around to head back, he noticed a flash of familiar red. Krimzon Guard.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing in there." An old woman said as she coward away from the Guard looming over her.

"Keep your mouth shut, or I'll arrest you for defying a guard's orders." The guard harassing her ordered.

In his hand he was holding a wheeled shopping bag that clearly belonged to the old lady, pulling out items and carelessly tossing them to the ground. Some of the items, which contained packaged food, were torn open and inspected before being thrown to the ground, dirtying the food beyond consumption.
The old woman's face crumpled and she began to cry at the growing mess on the ground.

Jak felt his nails dig into his palms as he clenched his fists in anger. Anger at the disrespect being shown to an elder, anger at how the guard was clearly just doing this to throw his weight around, and anger at how no one was doing anything to stop it, too afraid to mess with the Guard and actively avoiding the scene.

"Woah! Hold on there, buddy!" Daxter yanked on Jak's hair hard, trying to stop him from jumping in to help. "We are not picking a fight with the Krimzon Guard. Remember that we've got junior to care for."

At the mention of Mar, Jak's temper cooled. He looked down at the young boy and found that Mar was glaring at the Krimzon Guard just as he had been.

Mar looked up at Jak pleadingly.

"Help." He signed, pointing at the scene.

Jak frowned at watched as the Guard continued to harass the old lady.
Daxter was right that he couldn't go picking fights with the local authority, especially with Mar to care for. But he couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

"Stay here." Jak signed, picking Daxter off his shoulder and setting him down next to Mar.

"Stay here? Jak, what are you planning?" Daxter asked, panic growing on his face.

"Don't worry." Jak assured, taking Mar's hand and placing it on Chomp's back. "Stay with Chomp. Okay." He instructed the young boy.

Mar gave a thumbs up to show that he understood.

"You telling me not to worry only makes me worry more." Daxter complained.

Jak smiled at him before running off.

He skirted around the confrontation and then grabbed onto the ledge of a building. Cliff-climbing was one of the popular pastimes back in Sandover and it came in handy here, allowing Jak to scale up the buildings with little effort.
Once up high, Jak grabbed at a cracked shingle on the roof and pulled it loose. With how easily it came away, it was likely to fall to the ground the next time it stormed anyway. Improvised weapon in hand, Jak peered over the ledge and took aim at the Krimzon Guard who was still harassing the old lady even after emptying her bag, holding her purse and emptying the lari inside onto his hand. The anger at seeing the guard daring to steal the woman's money on top of emptying her food on the ground fuelled Jak's throw. The shingle hit the guard directly on the helmet and shattered on impact, throwing the guard off balance and causing him to drop the lari to the ground.

"Agh! Who dares attack a guard?" The guard righted his helmet and quickly held up his gun, scanning around for the source of the attack.

In response, Jak threw down another shingle.

"Ah!"

Jak drew back in time to avoid a shot aimed up at him.
He quickly scrambled away and jumped to another roof, doing his best to stay out of sight and out of range. Down below, the guard gave chase, intermitted shooting up at Jak's general location.

…

Jak sighed and placed a hand over his rapidly beating heart in a bid to calm his nerves.
It had taken far longer than he had expected to lose that Krimzon Guard, and he had almost gotten shot numerous times. Once again, he cursed the lack of Blue Eco in Haven, which would have made scaling across the roofs and out running the guard much easier. But still, he had eventually managed to circle around and leave the Krimzon Guard to chase a shadow. And hopefully the guard hadn't gotten a good look at him.

"Jak! Yah idiotic son of a yakow!" Daxter pounced on Jak as soon as he made it back to where he'd left the others. "Yah almost got shot!"

"I'm fine." Jak signed placatingly.

"That's not the point." Daxter grabbed the front of Jak's tunic and shook him as hard as he could.

Mar quickly ran over and glomped onto Jak's leg to show his own concern. Jak patted the boy's head to assure him, then patted Chomp's head when the croca-dog placed his paws on Jak's other leg.

"Thank you, young man, for what you did."

Jak looked over to see the old lady who the guard had been harassing approaching.

Jak signed that it was alright.

"It's fine. Though, if you feel like giving some compensation-ow!" Daxter received a pinch on the ear from Jak.

"It's so nice to see people willing to help." The old lady said. "If you accompany me home, I can give you something for your troubles."

Jak tried to wave the lady off, he didn't need any compensation for helping her, but the old lady proved to be more stubborn than he expected. She marched over to Jak as quickly as her cane would allow her and laced her free arm around his, pulling him along. And by the Precursors was the lady stronger than she looked, dragging Jak along with the others trailing behind them.

"Say, granny, why was that guard harassing yah anyway?" Daxter asked, climbing onto his usual spot on Jak's shoulder.

"Oh, they never need a reason." The old lady sighed heavily. "I just so happened to be in that…brutish and uncouth gentleman's way. They know that no one is going to stop them. At least, not usually." She gave Jak a smirk.

Jak smiled back unsurely. He was still trying to subtly pull his arm from the old lady's grip and failing spectacularly.

Thankfully for Jak's personal space, it didn't take long for the group to reach the old lady's home, where she ushered them inside.

"I'm home, dear!" She called out. "And I've brought guests."

"Guests?" Came a gruff reply.

An old man with salt and pepper hair appeared out of a doorway, scrutinising Jak and the others.

"Why are they here?" He asked.

"Be nice." The old lady told the man. "I got into a spot of trouble with the Krimzon Guard, and this kind young gentleman helped me out."

"Krimzon Guard!" The man's face went white and he quickly began checking the woman over. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine." The woman waved him off. "But I'm afraid that I lost my shopping. So, we'll be on an even tighter budget this week."

The man sighed and punched his palm.

"Those dirty, rotten guard. If I ever got my hands on one of them." He snarled. "This would never would have happened under-"

"Teddy!" The old lady cut him off sharply. "Not in front of guests."

The old man took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, calming himself. He then turned to Jak.

"Thank you, for helping my wife." He said, holding his hand out to Jak. "I'm Theodor. And this is my lovely wife, Beatrix."

"But everyone calls me Bea." The old lady smiled at the boys as she began to dig through a basket near the door.

Before Jak could shake the man's hand, Daxter jumped down his arm and shook Theodor's hand for him.

"You're welcome." He said grandly. "I'm Daxter, this is Jak, and down there you will see Mar and Chomp."

Theodor took a step back in shock at Daxter speaking.

"It speaks." He remarked.

Daxter's eye twitched.

"Yes, he speaks." He emphasised that he was not an 'it'. "The only one of our group who does, actually."

"Don't mind Teddy." Beatrix approached with something in her hands. "But, Mar? Is that really what your parents named the lad?"

"Uh, no." Daxter said like Beatrix had said something dumb. "We found him wandering the streets and couldn't work out his name. So, Mar it is."

"Oh, you follow that old tradition." Beatrix said in surprise.

Jak frowned in confusion. Old tradition? Yeah, unnamed children being called Mar was a very old tradition, but Beatrix sounded like she meant old as in not in use anymore. Did this part of the world not use the name Mar for the unnamed anymore?

"Well, anyway, here." Beatrix presented what she had been holding to Jak. "For helping me."

She handed a soft red scarf to Jak. It felt practically new, unworn, unlike like the rest of Jak's clothes.

"It's getting cold out there and you need something to help keep you warm." Beatrix smiled.

Jak smiled back and held the scarf to his chest.
It reminded him of the scarfs that Ms Perch would knit for the village, giving him a warm feeling in his chest.

"Oh, and here, for the little one." Beatrix added, handing over something else.

It was a small book about learning words.

"It's left over from my old teaching days. I've always been meaning to find a child to give it to, but never got around to it until now." The old lady explained.

"Thank you." Jak signed.

"Yeah, thanks." Daxter repeated. "But do yah got anythin' for me?"

Jak rolled his eyes and threw the scarf over Daxter's head, temporarily blinding him.

With another signed thank you, Jak left with the others, Daxter still struggling to get the scarf off of his head, the old couple waving him goodbye.

…

Later, back at the hovel, the boys settled in for the night.
There hadn't been any clients, and hopefully it would stay that way for the rest of the night. Though, those seeking medical attention weren't always considerate at what time they were injured, a couple in the past banging on the door at a time where all normal people were asleep, including the boys.

Mar was sat happily reading his new book, though more just looking at the pretty pictures since he was too young to learn to read yet.

To pass the time himself, Jak took out his knife and grabbed a bit of wood rescued from a junk pile, beginning to carve away at it carefully. Mickey, the village sculptor, had taught Jak a bit about sculpting. It never really caught on with him, requiring too much standing in one place and thinking hard about things like proportions and mass, but he knew enough of the basics to make something.

Daxter was talking about something or other but Jak was only half listening, too occupied with his own thoughts as he carved.
Thoughts about how to get the Metal Head Skull Gems, what the Oracle could teach him, what he'd do with Mar while he was out hunting, about Sig's warning that still loomed over him. And, finally, about the Oracle's own warning, the dangerous future that he needed to be prepared for.

Author's note: Please comment

I'm still trying to work out what the technological differences between Haven and Sandover's time would be. Eco really messes with things.
Because in Precursor Legacy, they have things like cameras, communicators, flying machines, levitation machines, propeller-powered boats, a fountain, etc. Yet they use regular fires for cooking food, Sandover is very rural, a lot of machinery is very basic, etc.
It doesn't help that the characters show zero culture-shock.

I'm also making up a pre-Haven culture as I go along, since it's not just technology that would change in the centuries. Since the Oracles in PL are presented with less apparent reverence than in Jak 2, I decided to do something with that, creating a differing view of what the correct way to do certain things are.
In the first game, Oracles are seemingly common and easily accessible. But with the Metal Head invasion and everyone walling themselves up in cities, those Oracles would no longer be easily accessible, so it's make sense to move them into the city, even if moving them would originally be seen as a disrespectful act.
Also, giving the characters a religion with their own gods and mythological places to reference.