All right! I know this is insanely fast, but I wanted to get the first chapter up since I had a lot of ideas for it that will lead into the next chapter. But anyway, welcome to "Jak and Daxter: Fight the Power", the sequel to "Jak and Daxter: Living in Sin"! For the most part, almost all the characters from the first book will be back, and some new characters will be introduced as well (both OC and canon). If you haven't already, I suggest you go back and read "Living in Sin" before reading this one. With that in mind, I hope you enjoy this one as well! :)

DISCLAIMER: Only my OCs are mine. Everything else belongs to Naughty Dog.

WARNING: There will be Jak 3 and some Jak II spoilers throughout this story.

Real world: One year later…

Wow, were the bleachers crowded or what?

I could feel the afternoon sun beating down on my back as I readjusted my white tank top and checked my running shoes. Yep. Everything was good to go!

"You can do it, Paige!" I heard my sisters, Tracy and Alana, cheer from where they were sitting with my parents. Mom and Dad both waved at me and gave me the thumbs up. I gave them one in response.

"Ready for this?" my best friend, Anna, asked from next to me as four other racers from other high schools took their places next to us.

"You bet," I answered. For the last year, I had been feeling more competitive, but in a healthy way. Unfortunately, I had seen what getting too competitive could do to a man. That was another story for another time, though. Right now, I had to focus.

Last year, I had decided to join the track team to try and become a little more athletic. It was not easy at first, but I've been working on it.

"Racers!" my coach, Coach Taylor, announced, "On your mark! Get set! Go!"

And with the blow of her whistle, we were already running down the track.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I ran around the large circle, taking deep breaths if I felt like I was starting to feel a little tired. Anna ran a little bit ahead of me, and the two of us were taking the lead in the race. As I continued to sprint for the next few laps, I thought about my life ever since the craziest adventure I had ever taken part in ended.

Suddenly, one of the opposing racers caught up with me, and as I continued to think about that adventure that changed everything, I ran even faster. What would Jak and Daxter think of the new me? They had been the ones who helped me change.

To be honest, it had been hard getting readjusted to my own world. I had grown comfortable throwing out terms such as "Precursors" and "Eco", but I couldn't do that here. Oh, well. I briefly wondered if I would ever go back. I knew there were more games in the series, but maybe not.

"Paige!" Alana cried from the bleachers, and I looked up and waved at her briefly before I kept running. There was only one more lap to go!

However, as I ran around the curve, I suddenly heard a voice shout, "Out of my way!" Someone bumped into me, causing me to lose my footing and fall to the ground, therefore making me scrape my knee and wrist.

"Ouch!" I hissed, and when I looked up, one of the girls from one of the other teams was smirking as she continued to run.

From the sidelines, Coach Taylor blew her whistle. "Disqualification!" she shouted, pointing to the girl who had knocked me down in order to get past me.

"Are you all right, Paige?" Anna asked from next to me as she helped me up, but my gaze was fixed on the bitch who had done this.

"What the hell was that for?" I shouted. I hated when people just had to prove they were the best. I wouldn't even go into detail about where that had started.

"Your school's won too many times," the girl replied breezily, and it was disturbing how much she reminded me of…of him. Although I was pissed beyond words, one thing cheered me up: at least she would be punished.

"So?" I fired back, "Try harder, then!"

"All right, ladies, that's enough!" Coach Taylor chided, holding her hands out to separate us just in case we tried to fight each other. Not that this girl was worth fighting, anyway. If Jak, Ashelin, or even Keira were here…this girl wouldn't last a minute. Damn.

"Come on, Paige," Coach Taylor said to me, "Let's get you to the nurse." And with that, she led me off the field as Anna followed close by. What an end to a race!

"You okay, Paige?" Tracy asked once we were in the car later.

"I'm fine," I assured them, "I'm lucky I didn't break any bones. It's just a couple of scrapes. Nothing that can't heal."

"That's the spirit," Dad cheered from the driver's seat, "And don't feel bad. That other girl was disqualified and everyone will get another chance to race."

"I hope so," I replied, "I want to try again."

"Are you still sleeping over at Anna's tonight?" Mom asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed, facing my sisters, "Which reminds me: can I borrow Jak 3? I told Anna a little bit about the Jak and Daxter series and she wants to see one of the games."

I watched as my sisters considered it for a minute. They were surprised I was now showing interest in the Jak and Daxter games. In fact, I seemed to be more into the series than they were, which shocked me, too.

"We guess you can," Alana decided, "We're going to play through Jak X, anyway."

"Great!" I cried, "This is going to be great!" A year ago, I would have never really wanted to go to sleepovers, but again, Jak II had changed that.

Later on that day…

"You made it!" Anna cried as she hugged me and guided me into her house, "How are you feeling?"

I stared down at my bandages and sighed. "Better," I told her, "They still sting, though."

"Good thing the bitch was disqualified, huh?"

"Yeah," I agreed, "I can't believe she pushed me like that! That sounds like something Erol would do." Crap! That was the first time I had spoken his name out loud in a while.

"Who's Erol?" Anna asked with a confused look on her face.

"He's a character from Jak II," I explained, "He's got a similar personality to that girl from today, only much worse."

Anna chuckled. "You sound like you know him personally," she teased, which made me blush. I realized how strange I sounded. Yes, I had known him personally, but she didn't need to know that. Nobody did.

"I figured him out from the game," I said quickly, "Though speaking of games…" I trailed off and reached for Jak 3.

"I brought this over," I added, "I haven't played it yet, but we could do it here."

"Nice!" Anna shouted, "I'm not one to play videogames, but I'm really excited about this one!"

"Me too! I'm going to set it up!"

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be right back!" And with that, she was out of the room.

While she was gone, I decided to start setting up her Playstation 2, inserting my memory card and controller into their respective slots and popping the game into the console. After we played through a little bit of the game, we were going to meet up with some of our other friends. That was bound to be exciting.

Just as I was waiting for the first signs of the game to begin, however, I began to feel strange. Wait a minute, I thought, Am I being pulled back into the game? This strange sensation feels familiar.

And with that, I felt everything fade to black around me before I could think of anything else.

Just like the last time, when I had gotten pulled into Jak II, I felt myself wake up after a while, but this time, I wasn't in Haven Forest. Instead, I was in the middle of a dark alley. Where am I? I thought as I stood up and looked around.

In front of me, I could see sunlight, so I decided to use that as a guide. Once I was out of my waking spot, I finally stepped out in the light…and received the biggest shock of my life.

Holy crap! I thought, Is this Haven City?

Tall, futuristic-looking buildings surrounded me on all sides, and planted trees and paved sidewalks were everywhere as well. This definitely wasn't the Haven City I remembered. They must have done some serious rebuilding after the war. Speaking of the war, how much time had passed since then? At least, that would leave them enough time to do all this?

After deciding to explore, I began to step out into the newly paved streets, marveling at how the city appeared to be much cleaner than it had been when Baron Praxis was ruling. That's right! I reminded myself, Ashelin took over! I wonder where she is now. Where are all of them?

Just like the first time I had arrived here, I got a few stares for my short ears, but this time, I wasn't bothered. I had grown comfortable with them here despite the fact that nobody else had short ears. On the flip side, they made me easy to point out in large crowds. I sighed. It was a win-lose situation here.

Another thing I noticed that was different right away was the police force. This was no longer the Krimzon Guard; these officers were dressed in blue and yellow uniforms, and carried Vulcan Furies and other types of Eco Pistols with them. Some of them stopped to stare at my ears, while others nodded at me. Were some of these guards from the old KG?

"Paige?" a voice cried out of nowhere. Wow, I thought, Somebody spotted me already?

"Paige Smith, is that you?"

Bracing myself, I turned around to face none other than…

"Torn!" I gasped as the former-Underground's second-in-command shook my hand.

"I didn't know you were back in Haven!" he cried, smiling a little bit. One plus about Jak 3 already: Torn was much friendlier than in the previous game.

"I just got back now," I told him, "How have you been? How's Ashelin? How's everybody else?"

"We've been busy rebuilding the city," Torn explained, and I felt a little guilty for not being able to stay and help.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be around to help," I apologized.

"Yeah, where'd you run off to after the party?" the auburn-haired man asked in response, "It was like you just disappeared."

I sighed. "I went to Haven Forest for a little bit," I said, "And then…I must have just left the city for a while. I should have stayed to help rebuild." I then thought of another question.

"Torn?" I began, "How much time has passed since then?"

"Eight months," Torn answered, and I clapped my hand to my forehead.

"Damn," I cursed, "I've been gone for eight months? Sheesh, I feel like an idiot now."

At my words, Torn smirked. "Don't worry," he assured me, "I've got something for you to do to make it up." Typical Torn. Always finding ways for us to make up for something we've done, even if it was all in good fun.

"Should I run for Mountain Temple?" I joked.

"Nah. Just follow me to the Freedom HQ. The rest of us are there right now. From there, we'll give you something to do to help with rebuilding Haven."

"Sounds like it'll be a blast," I replied, then adding a few seconds later, "Freedom HQ?"

"Oh yeah," Torn remembered, "I forgot you've been gone. You won't even recognize Haven City after we're through explaining everything."

"I already don't recognize it," I told him, "Was this where the Slums used to be?"

"That's right. You catch on fast. Let's go." And with that, I followed Torn down the streets, making a few different twists and turns until we finally arrived at a tall building in the middle of it all.

"Is that the Freedom HQ?" I asked.

Torn nodded. "Just follow me."

We rode the elevator up to the main floor in silence, and in front of us, the door opened to reveal Ashelin, Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Samos all huddled around a table in the middle of the room. It was so weird, but so good to see all of them again.

Before I could say anything, Torn cleared his throat and began, "Hey, guys. Look who I found while I was patrolling the streets." He moved aside to reveal me, and as soon as the others recognized me, they stopped in their tracks.

"Hey, guys," I echoed, waving, "Long time no see."