A Terrible Mistake

Goldensunsheba

Chapter 2:

"The small transport warps are useful for transporting heavy cargo," John explained as he approached the door. "Willard and Gordy use it all the time." The door slid open with a push of the button. The heat was intense since there was a lava river nearby, Jak gazed over and then nodded to John.

"So how does it work?" Daxter asked look over the odd contraption, there was a pad in the middle of the room connected to a bunch of pipes oozing what looked like Red Eco…or lava Daxter wasn't quite sure.

"Dad says it has something to do with the Red Eco and lava, I'd suggest holding onto something," Sheaira said kneeling on John's shoulder. The machine roared to life as Jak stepped into the pad with John. Daxter also kneeled down on Jak's shoulder pad and held on.

"Why…?" his eyes narrowed and a bright flash of light engulfed the four of them and within seconds the hot hair became cool wind. This knocked Jak back slightly and fell backwards into the snow. Daxter rolled off of him and gasped.

"Hey you two okay?" John grinned offering Jak and hand up. Jak took his hand and got pulled up as John looked back at Daxter who got up shaking off clumps of snow sticking to his fur. Sheaira laughed a bit covering her mouth.

"This make shift teleporter is worse than the warp gates!" Daxter shouted in annoyance.

"We warned you," laughed Sheaira. Without much warning a snowball hit her square in the face and she fell off John onto the snowy landscape. She coughed and shook her body while getting up and smirking over at Daxter who was grinning back at her.

"Oh it's on now!" She scooped up some snow and chucked a ball back. However; Daxter was quick enough to duck behind Jak's legs and her snow ball hit Jak to much of Sheaira's regret as she looked up at Jak holding a large ball of snow. Daxter stuck out his tongue as Jak chucked the ball hitting her directly.

"John, defend your little sister," she sputtered whipping the snow off her face that was already sticking to her fur.

"What? Why? You brought it upon yourself!" John babbled backing away as Jak grinned widely chucking some snow at him. "I'm unarmed, no!" John yelped as the snow smacked him in the face. He shook it off and started rolling a larger snow ball. Sheaira watched as John took the large ball of snow and tossed it right at Jak.

Sheaira laughed as Jak was now covered in snow his blond-green hair soaked in the white snow quickly turning into the water. Daxter was also caught in the blast of the snow ball John chucked and shook his head tossing white balls of snow. He raised his hands, "WE SURRENDER!?"

"If you four are done fooling around I have news for you," a voice came from above the four. John paused and looked up at a drone.

"How long have you been following us Samos?" John asked shaking the snow off his shirt.

"I haven't been following you John, we've been following Jak and Daxter," Samos' voice came through the drone hovering closer to John then looking over at Jak and Daxter. Daxter made his way back onto Jak shoulder examining the drone closely.

"So what's the stitch old man," Daxter said mockingly. John raised an eyebrow and then looked over at his sister. The red Ottsel was now sitting on his shoulder and trying to wring out the water in her long pink hair. Doing so started creating ringlets and she used her hands to try and straighten her hair back out.

"Lurkers have been spotted near the peak," Samos began.

"That's were dad's storage shed is, but why are they there," Sheaira started and the drone turned back to John and Sheaira.

"They are likely after your father's collection," Samos responded. John rubbed his goatee in contemplation on whether they should head up there. But Sheaira already made up her mind.

"We'll go there right now and kick their butts for even trying to get in there!" Sheaira growled leaning forward as if ready to pounce of John's shoulder. John's blue eyes darted and glared at his sister.

"Whoa babe, chill, we'll get there," Daxter said in a smooth tone and Sheaira shot him an annoyed look. She knew he couldn't possibly understand the importance of protecting her father's collection. He was the Red Sage after all.

"We'll keep an eye on them and update you if anything changes," Samos said the drone turned back to Jak, "Make sure to keep them safe, the Red Sage would want that."

Jak nodded in agreement, he looked over at John and Sheaira.

"Let's get a move on, we have a climb ahead of us," John declared and pointed up the mountain. Sheaira nodded and shivered, she realized now how wet she really got from the snowball fight, she began to rub her fur to try and dry herself off a bit as John led the way up the mountain.

'This sucks… I'm soaked,' she thought to herself and looked over and noticed Daxter was doing something similar trying to dry himself off. Jak didn't seem too bothered by the cold at all and he wasn't even wearing boots like John was.

"Aren't you cold Jak?" Sheaira asked him. Jak looked down at his feet and seemed to just realize what Sheaira meant, he could feel his feet. He kneeled down and started rubbing his right foot to hopefully get the feeling back.

"Right you aren't wearing boots," John stated turned back to face Jak, "It's probably be a good idea to try and find the Red Eco vents around her."

"The Red Eco will warm us up," Sheaira agreed.

"Yeah and plus Jak can power up with the Red Eco," Daxter said still rubbing his tail try to warm himself up.

"Jak can use Red Eco? Like harnessing it?" John raised an eyebrow curiously.

"It doesn't matter let's just get to the Eco vents now so we don't freeze to death," Sheaira growled at her brother pointing up at one of the ledges on the mountain.

"Right, follow me," John hurried up towards the ledge; he nearly slipped a couple of times before ducking near a rock and holding up his arm to stop Jak and Daxter.

"What?" Daxter asked.

"Lurkers," Sheaira growled and the four of them peaked around the rock seeing 4 lurks huddled around the warm Red Eco vent. They seemed unaware and had a batch of Precursor orbs next to them.

"Now what…" John grumbled.

"Don't worry we'll take care of this," Daxter grinned at Sheaira and John; Jak gave a thumbs up and before either of them protested Jak dashed at the Lurkers with Daxter clinging onto his shoulder. The Lurkers barely had time to react when Jak spin kicked knocking two of them away from the Red Eco vent. When he stepped onto the vent the Eco reacted and began to glow around him, the third Lurker charged at him and Jak punched it square in the jaw causing it to stumble back into the other one who was following the first. Both rolled down and off the cliff side. The other two stunned Lurkers watched and made a mad dash away from Jak as he stepped off the vent. Daxter steadied himself back onto Jak's shoulder watching the Lurkers run away.

"Whoa…" Sheaira gapped, "That was awesome!" she cheered.

"How did you do that," John approached them carefully as Jak turned to face him, he seemed ready to say something but Daxter cut him off.

"Jak's always been adept in fighting, but they obviously ran because they were scared of me," Daxter explained as he took a pose to look like he was ready to kick Lurker butt. Sheaira rolled her eyes at the orange Ottsel.

"Sure it was all you," she said sarcastically.

"Well it was seriously awesome," John grinned as he stepped onto the Red Eco vent Sheaira could feel the heat from it. She closed her eyes and sat down on her brother's shoulder comfortably.

The Red Eco around Jak dispersed and Daxter shiver, "Hey, move over I'm not dry yet," he hopped over onto the vent as John took one step back.

"Here," John grabbed Sheaira off his shoulder gently and placed her down on the vent, he then stepped off and let Jak go back on, "I'm fine, you might want to warm up more."

Jak nodded stepping back onto the vent and sitting down next to Daxter and Sheaira, "Hey maybe you can teach John some of those moves." Sheaira said walking closer to Jak and leaning on his leg. Jak looked at the red Ottsel and raised an eyebrow at her. Daxter leaned on Jak's other side.

"You think big red is teachable?" he grinned at Sheaira.

"Point taken," She let out a small laughed laugh.

"Hey I can fight, I'll just give them a little old one and two," John growled throwing his fists one by one awkwardly into the air.

"Your posture is terrible John," his sister said looking up at him. Jak looked over at John nodded in agree trying to give a polite smile. John sighed in defeat and went over to the bag of Precursor Orbs and picked it up.

"Hey those bad boys are ours, we did the work," Daxter growled glaring at John.

"You can have them," John passed the bag to Jak, "Why do you need Precursor orbs anyways?"

"The people in Sandover village are crazy for 'em, they'll pay Power Cells for them," Daxter explain as he peaked into the bag.

"There's a good chunk here, but if you're after more there's still a bunch spread out all over this mountain," Sheaira looked at her wrist and sighed, "If I still had my scanner I could pick them up…"

"We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled," John said crossing his arms. He turned to a snowy pathway and noticed that it was beginning to snow again on the mountain, "We should probably try and keep a move on."

Sheaira sighed as Jak stood up with Daxter climbing back onto his shoulder. John was already starting to head up the pathway. Sheaira didn't really want to leave the warmth of the Red Eco but she didn't want to be left behind, "Hey what about me!" she called after her brother. Jak looked back at her and offered his hand. Sheaira smiled sheepishly and climbed up Jak's arm to his unarmored shoulder.

"Why did you have a Precursor scanner?" Daxter asked her peaking over Jak's hair at her.

"Oh, it was designed by my mother and father around 7 years ago," she said her ears lowered as Jak followed John up the hill, "My mother was more obsessed with collecting the Precursor artifacts, that when she disappeared…I guess I always thought I'd find her with it…"

Daxter seemed to be speechless with this comment. His ears fell and looked up the hill at John. The silence was a bit much for Sheaira and she looked over at Daxter, "Anyways let's just keep our eyes open for them so we can get more Power Cells."

"Hey guys, over here," John called.

"You, you were just going to leave me!" Sheaira shouted at her brother Jak flinched slightly and sighed. John paused a moment and gave a rather embarrassed grin.

"I-I…" John started and rubbed the back of his hear.

"Alright what did you find big red?" Daxter asked John his ears perked back up looking up noticing that there seemed to be a bunch of Precursor orbs on a thin ledge about 15 feet up. Sheaira gazed up as well, "How are we suppose to get those?"

"Never underestimate Jak," Daxter winked at her grinning, Sheaira gasped feeling Jak kneel down, was he really going to try and jump it. She clung on tightly to his shirt as he jumped making it about 10 feet up, he tried to grab onto the icy cliff side but it was far too steep and he slid back down. The light snow wasn't help and he knew he wasn't going to be able to get a grasp on the rocks.

"It's not going to work, here throw me," Sheaira said to Jak.

"What!?" John growled leaning down and help Jak back to his feet, "He's not going to throw you."

"Why not, I can get up there," Sheaira groaned crossings her arms and Daxter looked the cliff side up and down and gulped. Jak shook his head, he wasn't going to try and throw Sheaira up there.

The snow began to get heavier around them, the flake were huge and sticking to John and Jak's hair. "Besides, there's going to be too much snow to even get a good grip on the cliff side."

"We're going to be stuck up here if we don't find some shelter soon," Sheaira said trying to wipe the large snowflakes off her fur. Daxter was doing the same, "Let get going then."

"Follow me, I think I saw a cavern over here," John shouted and waved his hand beckoning the three of them over. Jak shivered and wiped his nose from the cold water from the snow melting on them. It was pure white and very difficult to see at this point, Jak lowered his goggles over his eyes, it helped a bit as he looked over to ensure that both Ottsels were still on his shoulders. Sheaira had curled up shrinking herself against the cold and pushing her body closer to Jak's neck. The storm was picking up and Daxter had his goggles on as well and was curled up close to Jak's neck as well. He shrugged and pushed forward almost losing track of John until he was pulled into the side of the cliff. The snow finally stopped covering the three of them.

"Here," John explained. Jak smiled and looked back out of the cave it was now a complete white out. Daxter was making spitting sounds as he pushed his goggles back up onto his head, "Where'd all this white stuff come from?"

"Uh….I don't know, the sky," Sheaira said sarcastically. Daxter was about to say something when John cut him off.

"We need to start a fire right away or we'll end up freezing through the night," John explained pulling out some journals from his back pack.

"Why, let's just go back…." Sheaira begged but she knew that wasn't going to be an option in this blizzard. She hopped off Jak's shoulder when he kneeled down to look into his back pack. Daxter hopped off as well and peaked inside Jak's bag.

"We can't and you know that," John was pulling apart his journals and put them into a pile.

"John those are your journals…." Sheaira picked up pieces of the torn up journals. She gazed at the Precursor writing he had been writing in the book.

"It's just words, they can be replaced, our lives are more important," he said throwing his empty bag to the side. Sheaira was surprised, this was the first time she really felt admired by her brother. He was actually being smart about this.

"How do you expect to light a fire?" Daxter asked rubbing his arms trying to warm himself up.

"Red Eco?" John suggested holding up his hand but there was no results. The red head frowned in disappointment.

The cave felt very cold now and Sheaira was shivering looking around for something that could light up the kindling for a fire. Jak pulled out some matches from his bag grinning.

"Oh that might work," Daxter said grinning.

"Look at that, Jak being our savior once again," Sheaira smiled and her eyes darted over to her brother who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah I get it, someone is more prepared for adventuring than I am," John crossed his arms as Jak lit the fire. It took the kindling and the cave brightened up it felt so much warmer now, the four of them put their hands close to the fire.

"Ah that's the stuff," Daxter said pleasantly rubbing his hands.

"Well since we're going to be here all night let's eat something," Sheaira looked at John expectantly. John frowned.

"I thought you packed the food," John whispered looking at his sister nervously.

"Yeah I did…when I was human!" Sheaira shouted approaching John's bag and searching it, "Why didn't you pack some food…" she groaned crawling into the bag half way.

"I didn't think about it…" John let out a groan. He watched Jak pull out some fruit from his bag, he only had to pieced but he offered one to John, "Thanks," he smiled and gobbled the fruit down without a second thought. Sheaira had just tossed John's bag aside and glared at him as John's eyes widened realizing what he had just done.

"Whatever, I'm not hungry…" She snapped turning away from him and sitting next to the fire. Jak had already broken a his piece in half and gave on to Daxter, he took a seat and frowned, before Jak tried to break off a piece for her Daxter held up his hand and walked over to Sheaira.

"Here," Daxter offered her a piece of the fruit.

"What's this…do I owe you a kiss or something," she teased and noticed that he was taken aback. She smiled at him sheepishly and held out her hand. He gave her the piece and turned away without a word back to Jak.

'Did I really bug him…that flirtatious boy was stopped dead by me?' she thought to herself grinning as she watched him sit next to Jak. Jak was grinning down at him.

"Whaaaaat?" he growled and his voice echoed in the cave. Sheaira giggled softly and looked over at her brother who smiled nervously getting comfortable against the rocks near the fire. Her smile faded.

"I'm still mad at you," she growled and munched on the piece of fruit.

"Sorry…" John mumbled.

Hours seemed to have passed and Sheaira was desperately trying to curl up and get warm, even though the fire was still blazing on she still felt an unbearable cold running through her. She had almost wished she'd stayed out there in the Red Eco vent… She used her breath to try and warm up her hands and then sat up. She gazed over at Jak and John who were already asleep near the fire.

"At least they can sleep in this cold…" she sighed in annoyance, she turned to the entrance of the cave and got up and walked over to gaze at the snow. She felt so drained and exhausted, she just wanted to sleep but the cold was bothering her so much she just wanted to shout at the snow to stop and the volcano to explode just so she wouldn't be cold anymore.

"Hey Sweetheart, trouble sleeping?" a familiar voice came from her side that nearly startled her, her green eyes darted to the orange Ottsel who was casually leaning against the rock wall.

"What do you want Daxter?" her voice came out harsher than she expected, but she wasn't really interested into talking.

"Just thought you might like some company," he grinned at her.

"You thought wrong," Sheaira growled back turning away from him staring hard at the tick snow falling from the sky, "Just leave me alone."

"Aw, come on, I'd feel terrible leaving you here out in the cold," he reached out to her but before he could touch her she shot a glare at him. He quickly pulled away and his ears lowered, "Sorry…"

"No…" Sheaira eyes lowered to the ground as she moved closer to him, "I-I'm sorry, I'm angry at what's happened to me and it not even your fault…" She looked over at the fire and walked back to it with Daxter following her close behind.

"Hey it's…"

"No it's not okay," Sheaira said she raised her hand to her head grabbed tightly at her hair, "I was human just yesterday and now… How do get use to it…" her shoulder fell and she sat down next to the fire shutting her eyes. She let go of her hair and leaned into something that was warm…and furry.

"You don't…"

"I'm just so tired…" she mumbled nuzzling her cheek into the warmth. Daxter was a bit surprised looking down at her realizing that she was nuzzling against him.

'Is she falling for me…?' he thought grinning when she suddenly pulled away and her eyes snapped open and glared at him.

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea…y-you're…just so…" her head ended up falling onto his chest again, "Warm…"

"Don't worry, I'll keep you warm sweetheart," Daxter reassured her and wrapped his arms around her.

Authors note: Well this ended up longer than I expected, I want to try and build up the relationship between these characters. Let me know how it's going, I look forward on hearing from you guys and tanks for reading.