[Co-Author: @butterfly123199, who wrote mostly for El's interactions in this one!]

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"...Jak!"

"Find yourself Jak!"

He woke up with a jolt. A now old memory giving him a ghastly reminder of needing to meet The Shadow, it made him homesick of Sandover every time. The room was quiet and was still as the dust sitting in the corner. It was chilly. But the hideout always gave a sense of comfort, as he had gotten used to it.

Jak got up quietly and peered over the top bunk, seeing his orange friend still sound asleep. He checked on Elise himself, the night he recalled made him slightly guilty. They had always clashed at each other, bickering over things that weren't as important as the entirety of The Underground was facing.

His breathing came to a slow. The dream had always made him uneasy, then his ears picked up snatches of a conversation in the main room.

"Krew can't be the one."

He leaned nearer.

The rough voice of Torn muttered, "What about that? You said it was from Elise?"

"Yes." The calm deep tone that belonged to Trin replied. "Seems to take in Dark Eco. Relieves the pain in my arm, why?"

"I could've sworn I've seen blueprints of it long time ago."

Jak heard a metallic *clink* on the hard table. "Seems like it. Quality is very refined, seems the man Okasan knew what he was doing."

"What could that mean?"

"...Perhaps the Dark Eco research was originally from him."

There was a laugh of disbelief, "I'm no expert on that. Maybe you're jumping to conclusions too quickly, for once."

"Maybe."

"But this thing could only take so much, there has to be a breaking point."

"I don't intend to push it."

With that, Jak went back to his quarters to get himself ready, the newfound information fluttering in his mind. A while had passed since that conversation, by the time he was ready, Elise had woken up. Trinity was still loitering around the main room with Torn on usually heavy matters.

Elise groaned softly, stretching her arms, flinching when she felt her bruised shoulder crack. Jak stared at her for a moment his eyebrows furrowed as if he were thinking, which he definitely was.

She slowly stood up, walking into the bathroom they all seemed to share. He slowly stood up and leaned against the door frame.

"Good morning," he said, earning a sideways glance from Elise. She huffed tiredly, "Morning..."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Mmh?" She was brushing her teeth, her eyes closed as she looked over the sink.

He chuckled at the sight of her and began hesitant to speak. "What was your father's name again?"

She tensed. She looked at him and spit out the paste in her mouth. "Like... biological or adopted? Because I only know one of those answers."

"Adopted."

"Oh," She downed some mouthwash and swirled it around in her mouth before spitting it. "Okasan." She gripped onto a hand towel and dried her face after she splashed water on it in hopes of waking herself up. "Why ask?"

Jak felt a lump rise in his throat. 'How does Trinity know Elise's father?' He thought. He cleared his throat, "Just asking, is all."

"Turn around."

"What?"

"I gotta pee! Turn around you idiot!"

Jak let out a hearty laugh, turning his back to the girl. "Have you told Trinity how... you know..."

"Do you have to talk to me while I pee?"

"Yes, I do." he grinned to himself when he heard her groan in annoyance.

"Clarify that, Jak."

"About How he died, Elise."

She went silent. He heard her sigh. "No."

"Does Torn know?"

"No."

"So you only told me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because," He heard the toilet flush followed by the sink running again. After a few moments he heard it turn off and she was suddenly beside him.

"Us eco freaks gotta stick together, don't you think?"

A smile uncontrollably pursed his lips as he listened to her. "Heh... we sure do."

"Jak?" Trinity called him as he entered the room, "We got ourselves a mission. Want to tag along El?"

She moved her jet-black hair out of her face, still dreary from waking up. "Hn? Oh, no. I need to go do something myself, I think I've had enough fun blowing up crap at the moment."

Trinity laughed, "Alright. Come with me, Torn and I will let you in on this next task, Jak."

Jak nodded, stirring his partner awake, who erupted a loud yawn. Suddenly he kicked the air! "Hiya! Take that Gols!! I got cool glasses and long...black robes?" Daxter saw his friend grinning with an eyebrow raised. "What? I can do that to YA if you're not careful enough!"

"Go wash your mouth." They all chuckled.

"El, if you need us, we're going to help someone at the Pumping Station. You?"

Elise smiled tiredly, "I've got something I need to take care of, and speaking of which," her gaze turned sharp as she glared at the three boys. "Be careful, that's a warning for you two," she pointed at Jak and Daxter. "And an order for you, Trinny." She grinned.

Jak snickered slightly, "Trinny?"

Trinity rolled his eyes on that.

"If you need me, ask Torn. I'm gonna give him my location, but I shouldn't be too long." She dug through her shared dresser with Torn.

"Now get out."

"What? Why?" Daxter asked.

"Precursors, you and Jak are just alike! Unless you wanna see me naked, I suggest you leave!"

Daxter grinned, "I might What to see thaaaaAAHHHHHH!"

Elise had picked up the ottsel and flung him out of the room! Jak watched, flinching when he heard a loud crash.

*BAM!*

"Ugh..."

"Now you two leave." She grumbled. "And I'm serious, be careful, both of you." She pointed her finger in a scolding way. "If you need anything. And I mean anything. Call me through my communicator."

Torn looked up from the table to see Dax on the floor. "That rat of yours had it coming." He smirked. "One of my old guard comrades was sent to the pumping station. There's been no word from the patrol, and after what you guys ran into out there, I'm afraid she may need some help."

Dax peeled his face off the concrete, wiped it clean, and hopped on the table. "Did you just say 'she'?" Jak replied.

"Don't even think about it."

As Elise was heading out, she noticed Dax making ridiculous faces. Every time the ceiling light swings to give the ottsel the spotlight, he'd explode into an expression.

Torn violently grabbed the light, "Stop that, this is serious, you moron!!"

Trin shook his head.

Elise rolled her eyes as she strapped her holster to her belt and secured her weapons. "I'll be back sometime tonight." She said, giving Torn a stern gaze. "You know where I'll be. I'm gonna try and contact Elie for help, but other than that I'm going solo."

With that, she walked out of the base. Daxter glanced at Torn, "Any reason for the secrecy between you two, tattoo face?"

"More than enough to get you killed, rat." With that, Daxter held his hands up and back away - laughing unsettlingly.

Jak was about to whack Dax, but then he made a kung fu pose."Hwah! That's right! Don't mess with suga- "

*WHACK!*

" -OAW!"

Trinity had done the job for them and snickered, Dax sticking a tongue out.

"This friend of mine has helped the Underground many times before. Go back to the pumping station and take a look around. Render assistance if needed." Torn then sneered, "Now get your squirrelly ass out of here."

Daxter made a raspberry before he was yanked out of the room by his friend.

Mounting on one of the vehicles parked out back, Trinity hopped on the driver's seat this time. Jak took the passenger's with a raised brow, "You've still got injuries, Trin."

He waved it dismissively, taking off. "It'll be faster with me behind the wheel, Jak. Word just got in from Tess that Krew wasn't behind on those ambushes."

"He wasn't?"

"Nope. Even those shipments, that was Praxis' personal orders. But the ambush was someone else, we don't know who. But they were after El and Jinx."

Trinity used his Communicator to display the map, it could detect KG units and cruisers judging by the red dots scrambling around.

Jak was busily staring at the skies. The heavily black clouds and haze was nothing like the clear azure skies back at home. His home.

Daxter stretched, bouncing on the seat. "You think this Krimzon Guard lady looks more manlier than most men 'round here?" He energetically leaned in, whispering. "I bet I wouldn't be able to tell if they were a manly woman or a girly man, eh?"

Trinity almost wanted to explode into a bout of laughter. 'Just wait 'til you see her.'

They quickly hurried to the upper parts of the city, the Water Slums. Passing through the sturdy airlocked gates, Jak couldn't help but like the area sometimes. There were actual green trees and tan sand, unlike the city.

"Alright, let's go!" Without a split moment to waste, Trin had gotten out his trusty Stradivarius. "Follow me, the signal's at the back of the station!"

They blasted right through the Metalheads armed with rods and heavy units, but then they were quickly surrounded. "Jak!"

He turned to Trin, who took out the Dark Eco dagger.

"Do it."

With a nod, he unleashed his dark counterpart!

The Metalhead Grunts snarled in their own language, fearful of both the Dark Warrior and the Dark Dagger. While Dark Jak let loose a flurry of slashes, the dagger itself seemed to glow hungrily.

Trinity could feel the purple eco in his veins being soaked by the weapon itself. 'You thirst for their blood... I see.'

He reverse gripped it and began cutting their leather-like, navy colored hide open!

The blood encased the blade, to which it happily drank it like a leech. The sparks of electricity from the destructive substance made it sing with a sinister gleam. They fell faster and harder than a boulder, while Dark Jak gave a menacing laugh behind.

As he had plunged the sharp claws into the skull of the last remaining one, it dropped to the floor, disintegrated, and the skull gem popped out with a hollow sound.

But Dark Jak wasn't done.

Trinity knew the feeling, because the dark eco was absorbed into him. Daxter had already climbed onto his shoulder armor, "E- Ey, watch it before you get deep sixed by tall, dark, and gruesome!" He panicked.

Thanks to the recovery, Trin had just enough reflexes to duck under Dark Jak and evade his sweeping strike! "Easy there." Trin calmly soothed.

"RAGH!"

With a predictable lunge, Trinity dodged it and grabbed hold of his friend's arm, the electricity sending the masked man painful shocks. But he willed through the pain, forcing Dark Jak's hand to touch the blade!

Dax had jumped off in absolute fright! But in awe, it was the first time he had seen Dark Jak struggle to overpower him. He had fallen to his knee as his colors were forced to fade back to normal.

"Urg! Damn, you're strong ain't you?" He had removed the dagger, the purple shine becoming so deep that it was almost midnight black.

"That weapon's something else..." He panted for a bit, but soon straightened himself up and reloaded his Blaster Gun.

"Yeah, can't disagree with you."

"Well, since that's over with, let's hurry up Funshine and Sunshine! It was kinda cool!" The ottsel leaned closer and hopped on Trin, "Mind if I- "

*slap!*

" -Nope."

"Killjoy."

As they went onwards, they watched the skies become golden and orange. "Almost at the signal." Trinity replied as they made their way into the higher ledges of the rocky walls. The cleaner air and adventure-like feel of exploring gave Jak some nostalgia.

The impatient 'Orange Lightning' jumped onto the sandy ground. "Eh, what the heck are we doing risking our lives to rescue some old Krimzon Guard hag anyway? She's probably got more facial hair than me!"

Trinity was at the back carefully watching their six as Jak scanned his surroundings to find an odd, ancient emblem and an abandoned Hellcat Cruiser.

*Thwip!*

"Who the hell are you two?" A new person had appeared and caught Jak off guard!

"Mmm, I do love a woman in uniform!"

When Trin had rejoined to see what the commotion was all about, he found a woman taking Jak as hostage and aimed a pistol at Dax!

"Well, first time in a long while and you're already going to blow our newest recruits' heads off."

"Wanna bark some orders at me? Woof woof! I'm your soldier on the front lines of love. Waiter, foxhole for two!" Dax flirted.

Trinity rolled his eyes.

Seeing that they were no longer a threat, she shoved Jak free and trained the barrel onto the ottsel, "Keep talking and I'll raise your voice a couple of octaves." The woman smiled threateningly, her voice smooth and deceivingly sweet.

"Easy. Torn asked us to help you."

"Didn't think Torn was worried that he eveb had to send Trinity alone, because I don't need help."

The masked man pulled out his Stradivarius, "You will. We've got company."

Soon enough, through the violent quivering of the leaves, Metalheads emerged out from the trees! The Grunts and Goons screeched fiercely into the air!

"Here they come." They all armed their guns.

Charging, they fought against the enemies, eco bullets raining and burning through the air. "On your left!" The KG yelled.

"Bullseye!"

Trinity had shot the Grunt right in its face, it collapsed into the sand.

"Watch out for that Spyder Gunner!"

Jak had a lone sweat forming on his head, 'Sig took care of those with his Peacemaker.' Point was, that the Gunners had heavy armor adorning their huge body. It was as massive as the four-legged Grunts.

*click!* 'Where the fun if this Stradivar isn't set on auto?' Trin smiled at the thought and with a single trigger pull, he bellowed! "Duck Jak!"

"Duck? What du- AHHH!" Daxter comedically dove into the dirt as Trinity let loose with the Blue Eco bullets!

"KREE!"

The Metalheads went.

Once it was over, Trinity had ran the magazine dry. "Catch."

Taking some ammo the woman had found from the KG crates, he replaced it with a fresh mag. "Thanks."

Adrenaline wore off, Dax took a breather. "Watching me take care of those metal heads was uh, pretty exciting, wasn't it sugar?" Trinity, meanwhile, was busy picking up the skull gems. She had awakened the engine of the KG Zoomer to life, blowing Daxter away (who she ignored). "Hey! Sweet stripes! Gimme them digits so I can look you up sometime! We'll party hard, big city style!" The poor creature tried shouting over the Zoomer, which looked humongous for his size.

"Tell Torn Baron Praxis is planning something big. I think it has to do with that symbol."

Both Jak and Trin came over to see the strange stony tablet bearing an odd inscription of an infinity sign in a way. Trinity had silently grasped it in his gloved hands, staring at it.

"What is it?" Jak asked.

"It's the seal of the House of Mar, the founder of Haven City. We're being sent out on suicide missions to locate artifacts from the time of his rule."

"Is that why Elie's been busy?" Trin had spoken up this time.

"Yeah. If curiosity's worth dying for, you can ask the blind old soothsayer in the Bazaar named Onin. She might know something about all this. Here's my Bazaar access security pass." The tattooed woman had tossed a flip up pass.

"Your name's Ashelin, huh?"

"We're even now."

As they see the red vehicle zoom off into the distance, Dax piqued. "Wow! What a woman! Arrrgh~." He rolled his R's like a growl.

The item reminded Jak, "How come you've never given me the passes for the other places, Trin?"

"You never asked." He chuckled.

"Seriously."

With a hearty bout of laughter, they navigated through the station once again, the debris from Sig's exploits had never really vanished. When they exited and returned to the armpit of the 'glorious' city, Jak's Communicator came to life.

Vin (Communicator) : [H-Hey, uh Jak?...(static)... Work you da...ed thing! Ah, it's working! Ignore that! I need your help, the Shield Walls won't stay up much longer from the weakening power grid. So, uh, hurry!]

"Trin?"

"Yeah, I know where to go."

"And let's hope that frantic four-eyes doesn't go guns blazing at us again! I'll give him a piece of me if he does!"

It was a long drive from the Water Slums to the Industrial Zones, all of them were getting quite bored. Despite this, Trinity remained on guard. He was forced to drive carefully and avoided the patrols looming in every corner, as the businesses and guards were where it was heavily populated the most.

It was so agonizingly uneventful that Trinity's own device flew to life and it had startled the two recruits. Chuckling as he struggled to keep the Zoomer straight, Jak shook his head and crossed his arms. Daxter was sticking his tongue out behind Trin's head.

"Yeah?" He answered.

??? (Communicator) : [Trin? It's El.]

Elise's voice rang through the communicator.

Elise (Communicator) : [You guys okay? It's been a couple hours...]

She spoke hesitantly and her tone was hardly a whisper, but still understandable.

"We're fine, we're just about to head over to Vin's place at the Industrial Zone. Something came up and apparently something's gone wrong with the eco grid and the shield that protects the city."

Elise (Communicator) : [That sounds dangerous, but I'm sure it's nothing you boys can't handle.]

She said. You could almost picture her smile.

Elise (Communicator) : [Check in with me when you're done. I'm almost finished up where I am.]

"Gotcha." With that out of the way, the line ended.

Scanning their surroundings, they entered the facility. The interior hasn't changed, it was still illuminated by various blues from countless computer screens. One lone, black figure (who was still typing away) stood Vin.

"Hey I want to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the strip mine."

*click, clack, click* Went the keys belonging to the monitors the UG Informant was messing with.

Daxter lept to the floor, starting with a friendly tone until the end of his sentence. "And we'd like to thank you...for being such a bad shot!"

He turned to speak to Dax but amazingly kept typing away with one hand and gestured with the other, "Ah yeah, sorry about that guys. Hah, I'm a bit jumpy these days."

"We haven't noticed." Trin spoke blankly from behind, spooking Vin.

"AAHH! A Metalhead behind you!!"

"AHHH! What the! Who the! What? Wha!" He gripped on the edges of the machines for life! "Whooo.. Wha.. Oof." He fell on his bottom.

'He looks like he's about to have a heart attack.' Trin thought.

Daxter walked off, "Just kidding. Nice reaction time though."

"Not funny!"

He looked to the side noticing Jak's smirk, but Dax's partner shifted his head to the side and began whistling. Even Trinity did the same, suddenly finding the display of the Eco Grid very, very, important.

Vin quickly returned to view the readings. "Those metal heads have been attacking our mining operations and we're running out of eco! Eco power keeps the city Shield Walls up, and if the shield drops... Well, we can all kiss our butts goodbye!"

Jak gazed at the Warp Gate of the Precursor ring in the end of the spacious room, "I've got a few surprises for those metal heads."

"WE'VE got a few surprises you mean." Trinity nudged his shoulder and he knew that the man in the mask had a devilish grin.

"You've got to keep the Shield Walls up until the Shadow figures out what to do. My readings show a drop in eco flow at the drill platform. Probably some metal head eggs sucking away power. So, use the warp gate to go to the platform and destroy every metal head egg you can find."

As they nodded and agreed, Daxter was busy staring into the flashes of white lines upon the blazing light blue background of the screen. Ultimately becoming woozy, he plopped onto the floor. The creature had trouble putting his leather headgear back on and standing on his own two paws, Jak picked him up, and Trinity slapped his headgear back on. He had an amused smile, practically seeing stars circling around Dax's head.

"Do you always have to make a record-breaking split whenever you jump through the portal?"

"Ooomph!"

"What? It's fun."

"You're still crushing my back. Jak, get your ass off."

"And...You BOTH are crushing me into a pancake!..."

Dusting themselves off, Trinity saw the green glowing eggs that resembled the skull gems of those evil beasts. "Damn." He cursed, "Seems they found their way in." Jak saw the eggs pulsating as if they were drinking the energy of the place.

The desolate facility seemed to be as colorless and lifeless as Haven City itself. A thick, dark haze crept around the entire place, making it seem like the area was an island. 'Even Misty Island looked happier and cleaner than this.'

They had no time to wander around however, because the sounds of millions of buzzing came stronger and stronger. "GINSUS!" Trin immediately equipped his rifle, Jak pulled out his Morph Gun! "Scatter Gun, now!" He yelled!

*BANG!*

He shot his shotgun, sending forth a powerful red wave to the approaching swarm! "Ahh! What ARE THOSE THINGS?!"

"They're like mosquitos, but imagine those!" Trinity bellowed once again, only because the screeching and scrapping of metal against metal was loud to the ears. When Jak pointed his shotgun to the cloud, he saw that the supposed 'Ginsus' were rotating blades like cleaving propellers but vertical.

They quickly moved down a platform, Dax turning his head to see what the moving sound was - only to find the eggs thriving in the corner, "Yeaegh!" He jumped off, disgusted.

Before Jak turned to shoot it, Trin moved the Scatter Gun down. "That won't scratch it, we need something bigger." He pointed to the large mounted turrets located at the upper floor. "Elevator's right over there, c'mon. Okay, man the turret, I'll borrow your Blaster."

Screeching and buzzing sounds erupted, as if the entire factory suddenly became alive!

"Well, I'll be damned, Wasps and Strafers..." He sounded caught up and disappointedly sighed, "The only time I leave without my sniper."

The small Metalheads equipped with twin thrusters and barrels like a stinger soon banked into the skies!

"I'll cover you the best I can, now fire away Jak!"

"What do those nasty buggers do?!" Dax was behind the turret, ducking and covering his ears.

"They charge and shoot tracking Dark Eco, so whatever you do - DON'T let them charge! And what are you doing? Here, take the Blaster!"

"Ack! I can't shoot big guns!"

While Jak was busily rotating the gun pod and making hellfire to the eggs, Trinity laughed. "Sure ya do, aim and fire! We need to keep him covered, or are you not the 'Orange Lightning' you said to be?"

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

"No lady will fall for you for that attitude!"

The ottsel out of nowhere jumped on his feet at that retort, "Whaddya say?! No, you're right! I'm the greatest little package of fun and gun, I'll show YA!!"

The ottsel was burning through the Yellow Eco with Jak's rifle, screaming insults and aggravating the Wasps. 'That'll work.' Trinity could feel the heat from the gun pod, "Jak, don't let that overheat." He warned.

As the trio made fireworks of colorful tracers piercing the dark, misty skies like neon lances, the eggs were all demolished.

"HAHA! Take that, you revolting, flying sack of Yakow droppings!"

When Dax pulled the trigger, nothing came of the gun.

"Uh-oh."

"KREEE!!"

*BANG!*

"Lesson learned, keep count of your ammo, Mr. Tons-of-Fun."

Before Daxter could even retaliate with a funny line, the Communicator zipped out of Jak's pocket again.

Vin (Communicator) : [Good news, the power percentage has just gone up! Bad news, uh, there's still more eggs.]

They looked at each other. "Seems like we gotta go in deeper."

When they proceeded, they found yet another new variant of their enemy. Jak glanced at him, noticing the energy shield its got on its left arm. "Centurions. Get your Scatter Gun ready, mine isn't so good against them... I'll get its attention."

"Got it."

As Trin was shooting the Centurion, it was forced to hunker down, shielding itself from the blasts. Jak however came rushing up as fast as he could and aimed his gun! The Centurion quickly shifted, trying to bash him with it. But it was much too slow.

*BANG!*

Resuming their way down the facility (and disposing of Ginsus along the way), Daxter eyed the piles of barrels bearing the Baron sigil. "That doesn't look very friendly, eh? Don't go burning your fancy cape now, Trinny." Daxter wiggled his eyebrows.

Trinity was unfazed by the nickname and Dax's demeanor. In fact, he didn't find it very offensive or anything. "Hilarious. Wait 'til I get a roasted shish kebab of a roasted ottsel on a stick - Elise would be delighted." He snickered at Dax's paled face.

Their spirits didn't change when they had to cross a very thin path that bridges the two platforms and it was crumbling due to the Wasp breaking it with its twin blasters! They picked up the pace, not wishing to fall to their doom and into the fiery furnaces of Hell.

"Looks like there's about 40 eggs left."

"Trin, I think it's your turn to take this turret."

"Why?"

"Why what? You telling me it's not fun to blast them to smithereens?"

"Eh, good enough."

It was the same formula, except the coverage was sloppier since it showed that Trinity firing at the Strafers made it look easy. To Jak, it was as difficult as hitting a fly.

"Not so easy now is it?" Dax chimed.

When they had cleared the second section, Vin came in once again.

Vin (Communicator) : [Almost done guys! The efficiency is almost 100%...or if it was if the Eco Grid wasn't so outdated, the machinery and computers had improved harmonization so that the power input and output remains - nevermind that! It's almost normal!]

They saw more platforms leading into the next part, Jak smirking and loving the little moments of playfully swinging across bars (despite the danger of dying and falling). He did a somersault, landing into the other end when hopping and catching the steel rods jutting out from the rusted walls.

Trinity shook his head and slung the rifle to his back. With a running start, he had no hesitation, clinging onto one! He made his body swing into a perfect 360 and launched himself thanks to momentum. In the end, he landed on his two feet. His spiked boots made a *clink* on the metal grates, then bowed as if he was a magician finishing his act.

"Show off."

"Says you."

They both laughed and Dax sighed.

They did the same and cleared the final part, "That's the last of them."

Vin (Communicator) : [You destroyed the last of the metal head eggs! That should give us a little more eco for the city. Good work!]

"These infestations are getting out of hand, if this continues, The Baron won't have a city to rule."

"As much as I hate to agree to it, I sure hope it doesn't come to that point."

One could only hope...

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JV007 A/N: Phew, two missions in one! We're really getting this rolling, after that hiatus for those years, I feel like I should really make it up! And not only that, it's sad to see cool twists and works go to waste! My, no, OUR dream is go well past into Jak The Lost Frontier, I don't know about you but...That's not a Jak and Dax game.

Butterfly A/N: The Lost Frontier SUCKED. Keira had a lazy eye the whole time >:( TRASH. IT WAS NOTHING BUT TRASH D:<

Also here's a funny meme-like thing, taking screenshots when theyre about to blink is hilarious!

Note that the scene does NOT go like that HAHA!

Also here's Trinity's reference sheet in the works! I'll have and ask my partner if she wants hers to be posted at the end of one of the A/Ns when she's done (or if she wants it posted as a WIP anyway) she's a really great drawer!