Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3: Reading Minds and Hands

"...and this is where the sage's daughter, Keira lives, although she's not here right now. She's been travelling all over, hunting for parts for her projects. She's been gone for, oh, three or four years, now," Daxter told Thalia and Koris, wrapping up his tour of the village. "And above her, Greens Almighty himself!"

"Wait, you're taking us to the sage?" Koris interrupted. "What if we... disturb his meditations, or whatever?"

"Psch, naw," Daxter dismissed. "The Green Man lets me and Jak come and go as we please."

As if to prove his point, Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and walked into the Green Sage's hut. As soon as he gently placed his foot down on the floor of the hut, a grouchy voice cried loudly, "What in green tarnation do you two want?"

A very old man floated down from the ceiling, wooden staff and log shoes clanking loudly on the floor as he roughly landed. He had long white hair and a massive white beard. Entangled in his hair was a large wooden log, and perched on it was a yellow bird. In his hand he carried a wooden staff. His eyes trained themselves on Daxter through his spectacles.

"I.. I was... we... we were..." Daxter struggled to come up with an excuse, suddenly realising that he and Jak were forbidden from going to Misty Island.

"Don't tell me!" the old man, who was presumably the sage, shouted in his incredibly loud voice. "Instead of heeding my wisdom, you two went off to muck about on Misty Island, the only place I told you not to go!"

"Hey, listen –" Daxter began, but he was immediately cut off by the Sage.

"And, Daxter, you finally took a much needed bath!" Daxter ground his teeth together at this remark as the Sage continued. "But in a bathtub filled... with Dark Eco!"

"Look old man, are you just gonna keep yappin', or are you gonna help me out of this mess?" Daxter demanded.

"I'm gonna keep yappin'!" the Sage shouted as Daxter rolled his eyes. "Because in my professional opinion, the change is an improvement. And besides... I couldn't help you if I wanted to."

At this, Jak put his hands over his ears, knowing his friend was about to scream. Thalia and Koris followed suit.

Not one to disappoint, Daxter screamed, "WHAAAAAAAAAT?"

"There's only one person who knows enough about Dark Eco to have even the slightest chance at changing you back." The Sage was unfazed by Daxter's fit. He was probably used to them by now. "Gol Acheron, the sage." Thalia shuddered at this name, which went unnoticed to everyone except Koris. The Sage went on. "But he lives far to the north, far, far to the north. I would teleport you there, but I can't do that either. None of the three sages who maintain the other teleporter gates have seen fit to turn their ends on for quite a while."

Daxter curled up on the ground and started wailing. "No, no, no, no... I'm gonna be a fuzzy orange rodent forever!"

"I'm surprised he knows the word rodent," Koris whispered in Thalia's ear, who snickered.

"Quiet, Daxter, there is another way." The Green Sage rolled his eyes at Daxter's melodrama.

Daxter stopped and sat up instantly. "Really?"

"The only other way is by foot through the Fire Canyon." Samos grinned at Daxter. "But the volcanic soil is hot enough to melt Precursor metal. You can't just walk through it."

"But you could fly over it!" a female voice cried from outside. "'Scuse me," she mumbled, pushing past Thalia and stepping into the hut. Then she smiled and continued. "If you had a zoomer equipped with a heat shield to withstand such temperatures. I just happen to be working on such a thing at this very moment! All I need is twenty power cells to power the heat shield! Isn't that right, Daddy?"