Categories > Games > Jak and Daxter > Jak 3: The Future Awaits
Chapter 2: Skye
Jak pulled onto the bayside road, heading to the Naughty Ottesl.
"Will you hurry up?" Daxter whined from his shoulder. "I wanna see Tess!"
Jak sighed. Daxter always wanted to see Tess, his blond-haired girlfriend. Suddenly an image of Keira formed and Jak grinned in spite of himself. He didn't know what he had for Keira, maybe a crush, maybe more. But he probably wouldn't find out soon. Daxter always got in the way.
Jak pulled up to the front of the bar, and Daxter quickly leap from his shoulder and ran inside. Jak turned off the engine of the one-person zoomer with a sigh, and then slid off in a fluid motion. As he turned, something in the nearby water caught his eye. He turned his head sharply and looked into the dark murky water. No movement what so ever.
"Must be nothing," he murmured, when suddenly a memory came back to him. The night after he had defeated the Metal Head leader, he had caught a glimpse of something move under the bridge. He couldn't quite get his eyes adjusted, and the object seemed to be two large horns. He told himself it was probably just a piece of metal or that his eyes were playing tricks on him, for as he blinked the object disappeared. He had really thought nothing of it.
"C'mon Jak! Stop daydreaming out there!" Daxter's voice broke him out of staring at the bay. Jak shrugged his shoulders and walked into the bar, completely forgetting about his previous thoughts.
As Jak strode into the bar, he quickly admired the large head of the former Metal Head leader that hung above the counter. Daxter, the moment they had returned from defeating the leader, had began to boast about HE had killed it. Jak had just laughed. Jak looked below the trophy where Daxter was laying and the counter, talking to Tess.
"Sit down Jak, and have a drink." Sig greeted from a corner booth. His peacemaker was at his side.
"Hey Sig," Jak replied as he walked over and sat across the table from Sig. Sig was much larger then him, and it wasn't fat. Pure muscle and bone.
Sig sipped at his ale. "Kill any Metal Heads today?" he asked. Jak shook his head.
"Nope, couldn't find any strays in the city, and haven't been outside today." It had been about three weeks since the Metal Heads entered the city, and they were slowly being weeded out, as they were disorganized without a leader.
"Too bad, it's always nice to get some hunting done."
Soon Jak was brought a drink, and he and Sig talked in the booth as they sipped their ale. A few hours had gone by, and patrons and come and left. The Naughty Ottsel was a very profitable place, even though people asked about the odd 'mascot' on the roof. The bar had just cleared out of several men when a woman walked into the bar. Sig looked up from his mug and a small grin spread across his face. Jak could almost see a twinkle in his good eye.
Suddenly Sig placed his mug on the table and stood up, walking towards the woman. Jak looked over to see what was so interesting. The woman, about his height, wore grey armour from her shoulders to her elbows and had black fingerless gloves. She wore a grey breastplate, armour down her legs and black leather battle boots. She wore a sort of cut robe, much like Sig's, and her skin was tanned from long days in the sun. Jak noticed the strap that ran along from her right shoulder to her left hip, which held a gun hostler, and a belt which held a dagger sheath.
"Knew I'd find you here, Sig," The woman said in a friendly voice as Sig walked up to her.
"Back from the Wasteland, heh Skye?" Sig said in a tone Jak had never heard him use before.
"Yeah," Skye replied. "What happened to good ol' floating lard? I came here and saw a giant orange Ottsel on the roof and thought Krew had gone insane."
"He's dead," Sig said with a voice of no remorse. "And the bar's got a new owner."
Skye looked at him blankly for a second. "Dead? Crap, I didn't get to kill him...So, who did him in?" Sig gestured to Jak.
"Hey Jak, come over here for a sec." Jak, who had been listening to the conversation, stood up and walked over to them. "Skye, this is Jak, this is the guy who finally put Krew out." Jak looked at the woman. She looked like a warrior, and had a small scar above her right eye.
She eyed him for a second then extended her hand. "Nice to meet ya Jak," Jak, who normally didn't take a person's hand, did so and shook it.
"Hey," Jak replied. A sudden emotion arose in him. He felt like he had seen this person before. Skye looked at him as she dropped her hand.
"Wait a sec, you're Jak. I mean, the guy who saved Haven and killed the Metal Head leader, aren't you?" Jak slowly nodded his head. "What was the blasted thing like?" Jak nodded to the trophy over the bar counter. Skye looked up and her mouth dropped open. "Nice," she grumbled.
Jak gave a questioning look at Sig. "Oh, Skye was an old partner of mine. We used to get sent out on missions for Krew. Killing Metal Heads, blowing stuff up."
"I liked the 'blowing stuff up' part specially after I got my peacemaker." Skye replied with a mischievous grin.
"I could tell," muttered Sig.
"So you guys used to work together?" Jak finally said.
"Yep," Sig replied. "Good times."
"Oh, yes Sig," Skye retorted with a roll of her eyes. "Great times."
They all soon sat down at a booth and started talking. Tess came over to take their new orders and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
"Skye? Is that you?" she asked. Skye opened her mouth to speak when suddenly Daxter cut in.
"Who's sky babe?" he asked jumping on the table.
Skye looked stunned. "Whoa, a talking Ottsel," she mumbled, staring at Daxter.
"Yeah, I'm the... wait; did you just call me an Ottsel?" Daxter looked at her.
"Ah, yeah? Something wrong with that?" everyone stared at Daxter. Jak put his hand to his eyes, knowing what was coming.
"You are the first one NOT to call me a rat!" Daxter began hysterically. "Holy shit, Jak, you see that? I am NOT a rat!" Daxter leap from the table and ran for the counter. "This calls for a celebration!" Tess let out a giggle as Daxter disappeared behind the counter. Skye gave Sig and Jak a questioning look.
"Who was that, and what the hell was that about?"
"That was Daxter," Jak told her with a wave of his hand. "As you can tell, everybody calls him a rat. He's the owner of the bar. And don't ask how he turned into an Ottsel."
Skye nodded. "I won't, but about the ownership, I could guess that. The statue in the front and the pictures of him everywhere sort of gives it away." Skye turned to Tess. "What are you doing here anyhow, Tess?"
Tess grinned. "Stuff. I work here and Daxter's my boyfriend." She paused for a moment, and then spoke. "Torn's going to wanna know you're back."
Jak and Sig both raised an eyebrow. Jak wondered if Skye was an old girlfriend of Torn, and if she knew about Ashlin. Torn and Ashlin weren't exactly dating, but they definitely had something going on between them.
"I didn't know she knew Torn..." Jak heard Sig mutter under his breath. He sounded almost... hurt.
"How is Big Brother anyway?" Skye asked with humor in her voice. Tess let out a giggle. Suddenly Sig let out a quite sigh that Jak could only hear.
"Hold up a sec," Sig began with a laugh. "Torn is 'Big Brother'?"
Giving a look at Sig, Skye replied, "Yeah, you know him?"
"Sorta..." Sig mumbled.
"He's going to kill you if he hears about you using that name in public!" Tess told her. Skye gave a shrug.
"How do you know Torn?" Jak asked.
Skye looked at Sig, sending a silent message. Sig nodded his head. "Prison," Skye answered, rubbing the back of her neck. "He got me out, glad of it too. They were doing some nasty experiments on the prisoner in the cell next to mine. Not pleasant." She closed her eyes from the bad memories.
Jak suddenly felt an invisible shot go through him "What kind of experiments?" he asked breathlessly in a harsh tone. Everyone looked at him, and Daxter, who was now standing on the table, couldn't help but stare.
"I don't know," Skye said, breaking the uneasy silence. "But I heard their cries. I'm glad Torn got me out before they tried anything on me." She paused, and then continued sadly. "You were in prison, weren't you Jak?" Jak looked at her. "I can see it; you know exactly what it feels like to be condemned for nothing."
"Well, then it's a good thing Torn's in charge of the KG now, huh?" Tess said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah I heard about that." Skye replied, with a very sudden mood change. "Guess he deserves it." They all nodded in agreement, and conversations continued long into the night.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I stayed just under the bridge that I had over three weeks ago. The water was still as disgusting as it had been before, even with the better leaders the city now had. I swished my tail in annoyance. I had to do this every night. Jump into the bay as quickly as possible and hide until after sunrise. My own powers where becoming uncontrollable. All that time spent in solitude, in training, was for nothing! But a voice in my head told me to keep going. Call it hope. Call it utter stupidity. I don't care, but I'll make it through this. I just pray to Mar that I can control myself long enough to get Dark under control before it's too late.
'It's already too late.' My Dark half tells me. 'Just except it. My own power is pushing me. I am an animal. A dark-eco dragon. And you can't do anything about it.'
'Shut up.' I silently yell. 'I thought I finally had you under control, and now you think you can take my body full-stride!' I hear her laugh inside my head.
'Control ME! I can't even control myself. You're just lucky that your own feelings affect me and that I would never harm those close to us!'
"I'm really lucky," I murmur, my lips unmoving. The water bubbles as I breath out. "Really lucky. I'm a large black, scaly monster that has an alter ego and a dead love-life to boot." I wonder if dark elf Jak ever has this problem.
Jak pulled onto the bayside road, heading to the Naughty Ottesl.
"Will you hurry up?" Daxter whined from his shoulder. "I wanna see Tess!"
Jak sighed. Daxter always wanted to see Tess, his blond-haired girlfriend. Suddenly an image of Keira formed and Jak grinned in spite of himself. He didn't know what he had for Keira, maybe a crush, maybe more. But he probably wouldn't find out soon. Daxter always got in the way.
Jak pulled up to the front of the bar, and Daxter quickly leap from his shoulder and ran inside. Jak turned off the engine of the one-person zoomer with a sigh, and then slid off in a fluid motion. As he turned, something in the nearby water caught his eye. He turned his head sharply and looked into the dark murky water. No movement what so ever.
"Must be nothing," he murmured, when suddenly a memory came back to him. The night after he had defeated the Metal Head leader, he had caught a glimpse of something move under the bridge. He couldn't quite get his eyes adjusted, and the object seemed to be two large horns. He told himself it was probably just a piece of metal or that his eyes were playing tricks on him, for as he blinked the object disappeared. He had really thought nothing of it.
"C'mon Jak! Stop daydreaming out there!" Daxter's voice broke him out of staring at the bay. Jak shrugged his shoulders and walked into the bar, completely forgetting about his previous thoughts.
As Jak strode into the bar, he quickly admired the large head of the former Metal Head leader that hung above the counter. Daxter, the moment they had returned from defeating the leader, had began to boast about HE had killed it. Jak had just laughed. Jak looked below the trophy where Daxter was laying and the counter, talking to Tess.
"Sit down Jak, and have a drink." Sig greeted from a corner booth. His peacemaker was at his side.
"Hey Sig," Jak replied as he walked over and sat across the table from Sig. Sig was much larger then him, and it wasn't fat. Pure muscle and bone.
Sig sipped at his ale. "Kill any Metal Heads today?" he asked. Jak shook his head.
"Nope, couldn't find any strays in the city, and haven't been outside today." It had been about three weeks since the Metal Heads entered the city, and they were slowly being weeded out, as they were disorganized without a leader.
"Too bad, it's always nice to get some hunting done."
Soon Jak was brought a drink, and he and Sig talked in the booth as they sipped their ale. A few hours had gone by, and patrons and come and left. The Naughty Ottsel was a very profitable place, even though people asked about the odd 'mascot' on the roof. The bar had just cleared out of several men when a woman walked into the bar. Sig looked up from his mug and a small grin spread across his face. Jak could almost see a twinkle in his good eye.
Suddenly Sig placed his mug on the table and stood up, walking towards the woman. Jak looked over to see what was so interesting. The woman, about his height, wore grey armour from her shoulders to her elbows and had black fingerless gloves. She wore a grey breastplate, armour down her legs and black leather battle boots. She wore a sort of cut robe, much like Sig's, and her skin was tanned from long days in the sun. Jak noticed the strap that ran along from her right shoulder to her left hip, which held a gun hostler, and a belt which held a dagger sheath.
"Knew I'd find you here, Sig," The woman said in a friendly voice as Sig walked up to her.
"Back from the Wasteland, heh Skye?" Sig said in a tone Jak had never heard him use before.
"Yeah," Skye replied. "What happened to good ol' floating lard? I came here and saw a giant orange Ottsel on the roof and thought Krew had gone insane."
"He's dead," Sig said with a voice of no remorse. "And the bar's got a new owner."
Skye looked at him blankly for a second. "Dead? Crap, I didn't get to kill him...So, who did him in?" Sig gestured to Jak.
"Hey Jak, come over here for a sec." Jak, who had been listening to the conversation, stood up and walked over to them. "Skye, this is Jak, this is the guy who finally put Krew out." Jak looked at the woman. She looked like a warrior, and had a small scar above her right eye.
She eyed him for a second then extended her hand. "Nice to meet ya Jak," Jak, who normally didn't take a person's hand, did so and shook it.
"Hey," Jak replied. A sudden emotion arose in him. He felt like he had seen this person before. Skye looked at him as she dropped her hand.
"Wait a sec, you're Jak. I mean, the guy who saved Haven and killed the Metal Head leader, aren't you?" Jak slowly nodded his head. "What was the blasted thing like?" Jak nodded to the trophy over the bar counter. Skye looked up and her mouth dropped open. "Nice," she grumbled.
Jak gave a questioning look at Sig. "Oh, Skye was an old partner of mine. We used to get sent out on missions for Krew. Killing Metal Heads, blowing stuff up."
"I liked the 'blowing stuff up' part specially after I got my peacemaker." Skye replied with a mischievous grin.
"I could tell," muttered Sig.
"So you guys used to work together?" Jak finally said.
"Yep," Sig replied. "Good times."
"Oh, yes Sig," Skye retorted with a roll of her eyes. "Great times."
They all soon sat down at a booth and started talking. Tess came over to take their new orders and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
"Skye? Is that you?" she asked. Skye opened her mouth to speak when suddenly Daxter cut in.
"Who's sky babe?" he asked jumping on the table.
Skye looked stunned. "Whoa, a talking Ottsel," she mumbled, staring at Daxter.
"Yeah, I'm the... wait; did you just call me an Ottsel?" Daxter looked at her.
"Ah, yeah? Something wrong with that?" everyone stared at Daxter. Jak put his hand to his eyes, knowing what was coming.
"You are the first one NOT to call me a rat!" Daxter began hysterically. "Holy shit, Jak, you see that? I am NOT a rat!" Daxter leap from the table and ran for the counter. "This calls for a celebration!" Tess let out a giggle as Daxter disappeared behind the counter. Skye gave Sig and Jak a questioning look.
"Who was that, and what the hell was that about?"
"That was Daxter," Jak told her with a wave of his hand. "As you can tell, everybody calls him a rat. He's the owner of the bar. And don't ask how he turned into an Ottsel."
Skye nodded. "I won't, but about the ownership, I could guess that. The statue in the front and the pictures of him everywhere sort of gives it away." Skye turned to Tess. "What are you doing here anyhow, Tess?"
Tess grinned. "Stuff. I work here and Daxter's my boyfriend." She paused for a moment, and then spoke. "Torn's going to wanna know you're back."
Jak and Sig both raised an eyebrow. Jak wondered if Skye was an old girlfriend of Torn, and if she knew about Ashlin. Torn and Ashlin weren't exactly dating, but they definitely had something going on between them.
"I didn't know she knew Torn..." Jak heard Sig mutter under his breath. He sounded almost... hurt.
"How is Big Brother anyway?" Skye asked with humor in her voice. Tess let out a giggle. Suddenly Sig let out a quite sigh that Jak could only hear.
"Hold up a sec," Sig began with a laugh. "Torn is 'Big Brother'?"
Giving a look at Sig, Skye replied, "Yeah, you know him?"
"Sorta..." Sig mumbled.
"He's going to kill you if he hears about you using that name in public!" Tess told her. Skye gave a shrug.
"How do you know Torn?" Jak asked.
Skye looked at Sig, sending a silent message. Sig nodded his head. "Prison," Skye answered, rubbing the back of her neck. "He got me out, glad of it too. They were doing some nasty experiments on the prisoner in the cell next to mine. Not pleasant." She closed her eyes from the bad memories.
Jak suddenly felt an invisible shot go through him "What kind of experiments?" he asked breathlessly in a harsh tone. Everyone looked at him, and Daxter, who was now standing on the table, couldn't help but stare.
"I don't know," Skye said, breaking the uneasy silence. "But I heard their cries. I'm glad Torn got me out before they tried anything on me." She paused, and then continued sadly. "You were in prison, weren't you Jak?" Jak looked at her. "I can see it; you know exactly what it feels like to be condemned for nothing."
"Well, then it's a good thing Torn's in charge of the KG now, huh?" Tess said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah I heard about that." Skye replied, with a very sudden mood change. "Guess he deserves it." They all nodded in agreement, and conversations continued long into the night.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I stayed just under the bridge that I had over three weeks ago. The water was still as disgusting as it had been before, even with the better leaders the city now had. I swished my tail in annoyance. I had to do this every night. Jump into the bay as quickly as possible and hide until after sunrise. My own powers where becoming uncontrollable. All that time spent in solitude, in training, was for nothing! But a voice in my head told me to keep going. Call it hope. Call it utter stupidity. I don't care, but I'll make it through this. I just pray to Mar that I can control myself long enough to get Dark under control before it's too late.
'It's already too late.' My Dark half tells me. 'Just except it. My own power is pushing me. I am an animal. A dark-eco dragon. And you can't do anything about it.'
'Shut up.' I silently yell. 'I thought I finally had you under control, and now you think you can take my body full-stride!' I hear her laugh inside my head.
'Control ME! I can't even control myself. You're just lucky that your own feelings affect me and that I would never harm those close to us!'
"I'm really lucky," I murmur, my lips unmoving. The water bubbles as I breath out. "Really lucky. I'm a large black, scaly monster that has an alter ego and a dead love-life to boot." I wonder if dark elf Jak ever has this problem.
Sign up to rate and review this story