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Chapter 1

Misty Island

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Two boys stood in a small boat cutting its way through the choppy, grey water. The first, a youth with green-rooted blond hair, wore a blue tunic and white pants. A large metal ring in the middle of his chest, strapped to a bag on his back, and the plates on his left shoulder and elbows marked him as a warrior in training. He wood at the back of the boat, one hand on the rudder, as he watched the sun rising over the water, illuminating the dark shadow that was their destination.

The second boy, a little over a year younger than the first, leaned against the boat's side. He sighed in apprehension and kept a careful eye out for Lurker sharks. His red, orange-rooted, gravity defying hair – the other boy's hair defied gravity as well, by standing straight up – wavered slightly, but remained upright. He was dressed similarly to his friend, in a red tunic over a long sleeved white shirt, with white pants. Both wore the traditional ankle and wrist bindings of Sandover village, but instead of wearing the markings of a warrior, the younger boy wore fingerless gloves as proof of his status as an artist. In training, but he often left that part out.

As the boat entered a fine mist surrounding their destination, the younger boy turned his head so two sets of blue eyes watched the approaching island. One with an eager shine, and the other filling with nothing short of fear.

"Hey, uh, Jak?" The younger boy asked. "Old Greenstuff told us not to come here."

Jak pulled the boat up to the island, bumping lightly against the old dock, and rolled his eyes at his friend, as if to say, "Daxter, when have we ever listened to Samos?"

Of course, Jak said nothing. If he could then he would, but he couldn't, so he didn't. But, if he could speak, that is surely what he would have said. Instead, he conveyed this sentence with a glance and a raised eyebrow before hopping out of the boat.

Daxter, having flawlessly translated the expression after years of practice, sighed again, but wore a grin that mirrored Jak's own as he set foot on Misty Island. An island the boys were expressly forbidden from entering. But, as Jak had 'said', the boys never did listen to the old sage. The only regret Jak had about their adventure thus far – though it wouldn't be his last – was that Keira Hagai, Samos' daughter and the completing member of the trio, was not there with them.

Jak tried to invite her, but Keira had snapped at him for interrupting her before the sun was fully risen when she had a full day of Zoomer repairs ahead of her. He had shuffled guiltily out of her garage at the mention of the Zoomer. Keira had wanted to test the durability of her invention and Jak, eager to help since it was technically his Zoomer too, volunteered to hit it with yellow Eco. Getting to show off was just a bit of a bonus.

It wasn't the force of the blasts that nearly decimated the Zoomer, but the intense heat overloaded the Zoomer's very limited defensive features. Suffice to say, while Keira expected some damage to come to the Zoomer, her expectations were not to that degree. With her pride damaged, what little ego she had deflated, and the Zoomer in pieces, she banned Jak from her garage and prohibited any contact with the vehicle until further notice.

Daxter, meanwhile, remained oblivious to his best friend's train of thought and was instead focused on their surroundings. The island's name was accurate, if a bit boring, seeing as a fine layer of mist shrouded whatever lay about a dozen feet from them, this would also hide the boys from anything else that may try to watch them from that distance. Although any discretion the duo earned with the mist and Daxter's unusually careful movements was cancelled out by his nervous ramblings.

"How many Lurkers do you think are here? Haven't seen any yet, but I bet there are tons. But don't worry, buddy. I'll protect you. Sure, you're the warrior, but we both know that last test was rigged. I should be wearing the same threads as you, instead of these," Daxter snapped the gloves on his hands, and glanced around again in search of Lurkers. "I guess I was just too good to be a warrior, ya know? And, besides, everyone's suppos'd ta have only one apprentice, and since you got the gig before me I guess I couldn't get it too. And Samos just didn't wanna hurt your feeling, so he let you stay."

Jak chuckled silently to himself while Daxter continued to validate his artist status. The test had, in fact, been a disaster due to Daxter's clumsy nature. The one apprentice at a time thing was a lie Jak came up with so Daxter wouldn't be as upset. It worked.

"Hey! You're thinking about it, aren't you?" Daxter glared at Jak, catching the shake of his shoulders as he laughed silently.

Jak gave the slightest shake of his head, motioned to the boat, than mimed stumbling.

"You know it takes me a while to adjust to boats! And you didn't have to laugh when I fell in, or drive so fast," Daxter cried, throwing up his hands. He slumped down on a nearby rocks, cheeks still puffed with baby fat resting in his palms.

Jak pressed a finger to his lips, silencing Daxter.

"What? Are there Lurkers close by?" Daxter whispered loudly.

Jak nodded, a serious expression on his face. In reality he was just lying to keep Daxter silent. And Jak hoped it would remain a lie. It wouldn't of course, but at the warning Daxter fell silent. He now walked closely behind a confident Jak, shoulders hunched, gaze wary, and hands folded over his mouth.

Suddenly Jak stopped, feeling Daxter bump into him, and veered off his original path. He ducked behind a rock slightly taller than himself and looked over it. Daxter, being shorter, had to jump up to see and thumped against the rock, his fingers digging into a crack to keep himself up.

Jak turned and silently shushed Daxter again, bringing his attention to the clearing in front of them. It was filled with Lurkers. They were like a cross between an ape and a frog, their bodies covered in dark purple fur with large hands and feet. Their faces were smooth, but still the same colour as their fur, and they hard large mouths and wide eyes similar to the amphibian.

Before the Lurkers was a set of stairs. In front of a round door set at the top were two small puffs of dark Eco that suddenly sparked, and two people took their place. They floated above the staircase, their feet high above the ground.

It was a man and a woman, who looked similar to each other. Jak assumed that they had some kind of blood relation. Both were tall, with blonde hair so light it was almost white. Their skin was a dark blackish blue and, despite how they seemed lively, Jak couldn't help but feel they were sick deep inside, even if they looked healthy he would have thought it.

Jak frowned. Only sages had outrageous skin colours, the same colour as their Eco. Even more disturbing, they had emerged from a haze of dark Eco. While he may have the rare ability to successfully channel the other four Ecos, dark Eco was deadly. It was one of the few things Jak listened to the sage about. He glanced at Daxter, seeing if his friend was making the same assumptions as him. It was obvious that Daxter hadn't. He was watching the Lurkers with open fear and probably hadn't even seen the seen sages yet.

At some point the man had started talking, and Jak turned his attention to his words instead of appearance. The man gasped for breath at the end of each sentence. His voice had a strange quality to it that Jak could only describe as layered, as if several people were talking at the same time, and it was heavily distorted.

"…possess Precursor items, you know what to do," the man gasped. He took a deep, rattling breath while the woman took over.

"Deal harshly with anyone who strays from the village," the woman said. Her voice, as far as Jak knew, was normal. It at least lacked any of the strange qualities found in the man's.

Jak nudged Daxter and gave the woman a pointed look.

"We will attack it in due time," the woman raised a clenched fist as a slow, vicious smile spread across her face.

The boys turned and faced each other, wide-eyed. Jak slid down the rock and Daxter followed, knocking away several small rocks while doing so. He cringed while Jak shot him a look. Daxter nodded and once again raised his hands to his mouth.

The boys didn't leave the island right away, though. Jak wanted to find proof, or lack thereof, of his theory. This brought them to a large platform that appeared to be cut from the trunk of an ancient tree. In the centre was a large pit that Jak saw was filled with dark Eco.

He had no doubts know. He was right.

"What are we doing here anyway, Jak? This place gives me the creeps," Daxter complained. He looked at their surroundings, but failed to notice that which was immediately in front of him.

Jak spun about at a loud thump, slightly crouched and prepared to fight the source of the noise. When he saw Daxter face first on the ground instead of an attacking Lurker, Jak shook his head and gave another silent laugh. Leave it to Daxter to trip on the one thing within ten feet that he could possibly trip on.

Daxter lifted his head and groaned as he looked at the object of his afflictions.

"Stupid Precursor junk," Daxter grumbled, crawling around and picking up the artifact before rising to his feet. He joined Jak by the side of the pit.

"Ech… What is that dark ooze? It sure don't look friendly."

Dark Eco, Jak wanted to say. But that, oddly enough, wasn't as easy to communicate silently as his personal thoughts. So instead, Jak folded his arms and watched Daxter taking a deep breath with a raised eyebrow. Daxter blew the loose dirt off of the artifact and rubbed away the rest.

"The sage yaps on about the Precursors that built this place all the time."

Jak shifted his stance, moving one hand down to his waist. And now you're going on about them.

"'Where did they go? Why did they build this crap?'" Jak grinned at Daxter's imitation of the sage, then scrambled to catch the artifact as Daxter carelessly tossed it away.

"I like Precursor orbs and Power Cells as much as the next guy. But if you ask me, they must have been real losers… Wow! How did you do that?" Daxter exclaimed. He had turned around and noticed the artifact Jak held was glowing. The symbols along the sides were releasing a soft red light.

For a moment, Jak wished he could have shouted in excitement like Daxter, but the thoughts were dashed away by a thump much louder than Daxter tripping. Jak turned and backed away from the large, bone covered Lurker.

"Jak? I think we're in trouble!" Daxter shouted, hiding behind Jak and pointing to the Lurker.

Jak glanced at the artifact in hand, scowled, and charged. Without thinking twice, he tossed the artifact at the Lurker, effectively knocking it out. This became Jak's second, and much larger regret during their adventure. Not thinking twice meant Jak didn't consider the artifact exploding and blowing him back. That really wasn't a problem, and neither was the shard of the Lurker's bone armour that embedded itself in Jak's upper arm. The real problem was that Jak was thrown back into Daxter, knocking back his friend into a large and lethal vat of dark Eco.

Jak leaned over the edge of the pit, a silent cry on his lips. He stared frantically at the surface of the Eco, looking for any signs of life and paying no attention to the blood on his arm. The surface started to bubble and Jak scrambled back as something came flying out of the pit.

Jak grinned. It had to be Daxter, he was okay. Jak turned around and faltered. Instead of his friend, he saw a small animal with orange and yellow fur. Jak crawled closer. The animal – which he now recognized as an ottsel – wore Daxter's goggles and gloves. Granted, they were much smaller, but they were undoubtedly Daxter's.

"Man, that stung!" The ottsel said in a familiar voice. He sat up and rounded on Jak.

"I told you we shouldn't have come here, and if you listened… What? Whaat?" Daxter asked. Jak shook his head, unable to convey this to his friend.

Finally, Daxter noticed that something was off. Sure, Jak was about a whole head taller than him, but he was crouching on his hands and knees and Daxter was standing. Despite this they were basically eye level. He also felt… naked, but covered at the same time. He looked down at his hand, paused, and screamed.

"Okay, okay, I'm fine." Daxter took a deep breath after several moments, then looked down at his feet. No, paws, and his tail.

Daxter leapt forwards and held himself up by clinging to Jak's tunic and standing on his chest before screaming again, this time much louder. Jak grabbed Daxter around his middle, cutting off his yell by forcing the air from his lungs.

"Okay. Now, I'm good. We're good. Just take me to old Greenstuff," Daxter wheezed. "Yes, I'll be quiet. No, no more screaming. And you better not tell anyone about that, wouldn't want to ruin my manly image."

Jak nodded, stifling a smile, and set Daxter down before looking at his arm. The wound looked deep and throbbed painfully. He wanted so badly to pull out the shard of bone, but knew that it was the only thing keeping the majority of his blood inside him. Instead, he wrapped one of his wrist bindings around his arm above the wound instead, with a little help from Daxter, to staunch the flow of blood.

Satisfied, the boys headed out, but they had barely distanced themselves from the vat when another Lurker launched itself at the duo. Jak immediately sprang into action, giving the Lurker a quick roundhouse kick followed by several punches stronger than one might expect from the sixteen-year-old youth. With one final spinning kick, the animal was thrown from the ledge and disappeared into the poisonous mist below with a strangled cry.

Daxter, meanwhile, found himself scampering around underfoot in an attempt to avoid being stepped on. A sore tail proved his efforts to be unsuccessful until he found himself clambering up Jak's back to rest on his shoulder guard as the Lurker fell.

"Ooh, I like it up here." Daxter grinned, leaning against Jak's head as they watched the falling Lurker. "Shoulder good. Shoulder safe."

Jak chuckled silently and the boys made a mad dash for the boat. He wasted no time attacking any approaching Lurkers and instead remained on the defensive until he dove into the boat and started the fan, lunging for the rudder control as a Lurker lunged for him. Luckily, Jak managed to steer the boat away before any more unwelcome bodies joined them. Unluckily, the Lurker that had lunged for Jak not only caught itself on the boat, but caught the young warrior's injured arm as well. As Jak fought the Lurker off, the bone shard became snagged on something and was ripped free of his flesh, making the wound larger and severely increasing blood loss despite the tourniquet.

Jak gasped, or at least made the muted equivalent of a gasp, and finally knocked the Lurker into the Lurker shark infested waters. With the attacker gone, Jak slumped on the side of the boat, gritting his teeth and clutching his arm. He looked at the wound, blinking away his blurry vision. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like there were dark flecks swirling in his blood.

"Hey, Jak, buddy, you okay?" Daxter asked. He stood on his friend's chest once again, front paws supporting Jak's paling face.

"Jak, you don't look too hot."

Jak rolled his head and reached for the rudder.

"No way bud, you sit, I'll steer." Daxter hopped onto the edge of the boat and turned them towards Sandover village, occasionally casting Jak a worried look and keeping up a continuous spiel of nonsense to fill the silence. Twice on the way back Jak leaned over the side and spilled the contents of his stomach into the ocean.

Once docked by Sandover, Jak struggled to pull himself out of the boat. He managed to stagger along the dock and, with some assistance from Daxter that was arguably more hindrance than help, was able to stumble his way across the first bridge to Samos' hut before collapsing.

Daxter yelled in surprise as he tumbled from his shaky perch, nearly thrown off the small islet between the two bridges.

"Come on, Jak, wake up! We are almost there," Daxter said, shaking Jak as best as he could. Jak's arm was coated in blood now, and more still seeped onto the grass. Daxter hadn't known the wound was so bad. It shouldn't have been, considering its location.

"Hold on, buddy, I'll be right back." Daxter sprinted down the bridge as best as he could in a body not entirely designed for upright movement. When Daxter realized this, he didn't hesitate to finish the short run to Samos' hut on all fours, which was much faster.

"Hey, Loghead, Jak's in trouble!" Daxter shouted as he burst into the hut. He sighed in relief at the sight of the Samos meditating before him. He had been worried the old sage would still be asleep at this early hour.

Samos didn't even turn before he spoke. "What in green tarnation do you two want?"

"No, Jak's not… we-we was…! There was…! I-I was… and Jak is!" Daxter scampered up to Samos, stumbling over his words in his haste.

"Don't tell me! Instead of heeding my wisdom, the two of you went mucking around in the only place I told you not to go: Misty Island!" Samos didn't sound surprised, but Daxter, at this very moment, didn't care why.

"That's right! And then Jak-"

"And, Daxter," the green Eco sage cut Daxter off, finally turning to face what he assumed would be a blond boy and an ottsel. "You finally took a much needed… where's Jak?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell ya! Jak's hurt! Now, are you gonna keep yappin', or are you gonna help him?" Daxter scurried out of the hut without looking back. He heard Samos' sandals pounding against the wood of the bridge, calling for Keira as he followed.

Daxter stood helplessly beside Jak as Samos and his daughter approached. He watched, feeling useless, as they carried him inside.

"Jak," Daxter hoarsely whispered. "Don't die."

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A/N

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