Nintendia Galaxy
The Ace Hunter was a huge, black spaceship, its bottom hull shaped like a pirate ship with a dome over its "deck." It had a knife and fork crossed over under the keel and Augustus's skull over it. The same design was seen on the flag atop the ship. Soon after leaving GKND, Augustus seemed to have already decided their route. Under his instruction, Haylee steered the ship to the next galaxy, their course set for a certain planet.
"The Precursor Pair?" Yuzu asked.
"Legend says it's an amazing soup the ancient spirits of Mira once ate." August replied. "Seems like it'd be cool for the menu."
"Captain, you sound like you were already planning to hunt for it." Haylee inferred. "Why else are we heading to Mira so quickly?"
"Well, I was. I was gonna hunt for the festival, too. It's part of the reason I went to New Galaxia. 'Course, now I got swept up in an important mission with you brats."
"So, does this mean all those other hunters are gonna hunt for Full Courses, too?"
"Not exactly, but some of them do. That's why they have seven days to hunt. But that's hardly enough time to get a Full Course, depending on what foods they hunt for."
"But even if we collect these eight ingredients, we couldn't really attend the festival, could we?" Yuzu asked regrettably. "If the prophecy really is talking about Gourmerry, and she'll threaten to eat everything… we couldn't really chance it by taking her."
"But O-Tama wisheth to attend festive feast!" Tama shouted. "August'n, thou hast promised! O-Tama shalt keep Gourmerry behaven!"
"I know you will, Tama, but Yuzu brings up a good point. And it would be pretty lame if we had to wait four whole years for another festival. In that case, we need to find these ingredients in six days!"
"There's no way we can manage that." Yuzu wept. "I'll get so sleepy…"
"Ahem." coughed Stewie Griffin, the infant scientist of the Marzipan Crew. "Not that anyone has forgotten, but I do have a time machine."
"Time machine?"
"It can't go forward past the 'present' time, but it should come in handy in the event we need an extra day or two."
"Riiiiight." Haylee drawled in remembrance. "'Cause you used that to get the Cursed Caramels." She remembered that embarrassing incident fondly.
"Yes, when you're an age-frozen infant, manipulation of time becomes second nature."
"Well, no offense, but it's really worrisome to know that an evil baby just has something like that."
"Well, Haylee, say I decided to go back in time and kill you, you would still exist in this time. But I, however, would end up in an alternate universe where you don't exist."
"Oh…so, that's how other universes are made?"
"Well, those types of universes are doomed to be lost and destroyed. Ergo, I would be the one getting punished, not you."
"Ah…well, that's good… I guess." Haylee still didn't quite understand time travel… and she was thankful she scrapped her own time machine after Sunni and Darcy's little "incident."
"So, Augustus," Yuzu began, "I noticed there were four items on your list. Are we going to get those, too?"
"Well, this is Gourmerry's Full Course we're trying to make here. Granted, Gourmet Hunters are allowed to share the same items between menus, but for the most part, they have to be original. Different combos of food lead to different results. So, when we find her items, I might not add them to my course or vice-versa."
"That makes sense. In that case, maybe I should try to make my own full course, too. I've already got some ideas; and it's not like a Full Course has to be these crazy rare ingredients, right?"
"That's right! But for Gourmerry's sake, a little adventure will do her some good."
"Okay, we're almost there." Haylee announced. "Where do we land, Captain?"
"Take us near that island." Augustus pointed on the digital map.
"Ah, I see it now. Brace yourselves, we're entering the atmosphere!"
The upper hemisphere of Planet Mira was covered in a sea of clouds, on which country-sized Titans swam and where people made home. On the sea in the lower hemisphere were the two largest Titans, Bionis and Mechonis. However, the hunters steered their ship toward one of the ordinary islands of the planet. The Ace Hunter landed in the ocean, and a hatch opened for the Ace Sailor to depart.
Haylee brought up a map of Mira on GKND's Guide to the Galaxy on the computer. She clicked the island they were near. "This is Precursor Island, home to an indigenous tribe of long-earred humans and other creatures. They possess unique technology and learn to bond with nature and harness nature's chi."
"Isn't that basically element bending?" Yuzu asked.
"Yeah, but these guys are more spiritual, I hear." Augustus clarified. He spoke this next part with a cool, mystical tone: "If they don't know something, they ask the trees. If the trees don't know, the trees ask the rocks. But sometimes, even the rocks may not know…"
"And… that's a big deal?" the chef asked confusedly.
"Maybe. The spirits who founded this island are known as Precursors, like the soup we're looking for. The legends say the Precursor Pair is the culmination of this island's chis."
"That sounds like it would taste pretty intense. Where do we find it?"
"Heck if I know~" August shrugged casually. "Let's find a port and ask the locals! The rest of you stay and guard the ship, we'll call if we need you."
"Aye-aye, Cap'n." Rallo saluted.
Augustus, Yuzu, Tama, and Gourmerry rode the smaller ship toward the island. They saw a port near a cliffside, where it seemed huts were built within promontories, situated at high altitudes and overlooking the sea. The sky was gloomy and cloudy as it threatened to rain any moment. They docked near a pier and stepped off. "Gourmerry…" The Firstborn gazed up at the village curiously, dripping drool.
"Doth thou hunger, O-Merry?" Tama popped a dango from her cheek and fed her. Gourmerry beamed in joy!
"We gotta keep Tama fed, too, at this rate." Augustus noted. "She grows hungrier the more she produces dangos. Speaking of which, can you fight, Yuzu?"
"I have this!" Yuzu revealed a wristband on her arm, pressed a button, and projected an energy arrow. "Ururu made this for me to defend myself. Oh, and you see this dial?" The underside of the wristband had a dial. "If I twist it, it'll send a jolt through my body and turn me into Yuzunite."
"What the heck is that?"
"She's my split personality. She's tougher than I am, so she'll be handy in a tight spot."
"Interesting! But for the most part, you can leave the heavy hitting to me. Let's find whoever's in charge of this place." (Play "Rock Village" from Jak and Daxter.)
Menu 1: Precursor Pair
Recipe: Find information about the ingredient.
Act 1: Rockover Village
There were parts of the pier that were broken, so the group jumped the wooden pegs left standing from the surface. They followed the boardwalks toward a cave in the left cliff. As the cave curved rightward, they were attacked by Lurker Crabs, which lurked in large hermit shells. "Eeek!" Tama panicked and whacked the crabs away with her bamboo staff. Augustus slashed the ones that tried to drop from the ceiling.
"August-san, knock that one out, don't kill it!" Yuzu said, pointing at a ceiling crab. Augustus chucked his Gobstopper at the creature and KO'ed it. Yuzu tied the crab up and stored it in her Infi-Cube. "I can sense more freshness from it. It'll make a good meal later." As they proceeded through the cave, August used a Haki punch to take down a wall of crates, some spilling apples that Yuzu chose to collect. The cave exited back to the sea, where they could jump floating crates to reach a spiral path going up around one of the island pillars. (Swimming in the sea itself was not advised due to the sharks swimming around.)
The stone path led onto a wooden one as it brought the crew up into a fishing hut. There appeared to be an armored, muscular Long-Ear sleeping on a chair. "Snoooore…oo, w-what?" He was startled awake by the sound of creaking floorboards. "Oh…hi, travelers… where you kids from…?"
"Uh, hey." Augustus greeted simply. "Would you know anything about the Precursor Pair?"
"Yawn, I dunno… I'm just a retired Village Warrior-turned-Village Fisherman. If you want Precursor stuff, go check out that big temple place up there." He pointed to a path up between the cliffs. "Saw some guys goin' that way earlier… one of them's a short-earred kid about your age." He looked to Augustus.
"Other guys, huh?" August asked, getting a new lollipop. "Something I was actually worried about is if other hunters were after the same things we were after. If that's the case, we may end up fighting them for it."
"Well, my team specializes in rivalry." Yuzu smiled. "So, I'm prepared for that. Let's keep going!"
"Thanketh thee, Fisher Warrior!" Tama bowed.
There was a crane holding a rowboat and a lever attached to it. The group got in the boat as August tossed his Gobstopper at a lever, making the crane turn and hang the boat near a plank. They leapt onto the plank and to a boarded stairway leading up another pillar. There were hooks hanging from a rope connected to the cliff. The girls held Augustus as he swung the hooks using his Licorope. They landed on a path that sloped up the cliff, finding a dead end and five mechanical pads of a light-brownish color. There was a pressure pad that would make the pads rise up via geysers of electrical chi, elevated like stairs. Tama made a Shadow Clone to hold the switch down, allowing the group to jump their way up the platforms.
A light rain began to pour over the region. The group reached a dead end with a rope hanging overhead, leading to a pillar of huts. Tama made another Shadow Clone to be lifted onto the rope and carefully balance across. Shy Guys tried to cartwheel over the rope, but she batted them off. On the other side, Tama could drop into a hanging basket platform and have it carry her back to her team. August, Yuzu, and the real Tama climbed in to ride it to the huts. "Shy Guys?" Augustus questioned. "They ain't native to this planet…" He felt all the more suspicious that they weren't the only hunters here.
The group followed some stairs down and around the pillar, reaching a thin bridge leading to the route within the cliff. The bridge appeared rickety with worn rope. "Let's go one at a time." Yuzu suggested. The chef crossed first, stepping gently and taking note of the unstable boards. Tama crossed next, easy with her lightweight frame. Unfortunately, when Augustus began to cross, the bridge gave way and snapped on his end! "August'n!" Tama cried. However, the captain held onto the bridge and managed to climb up to safety.
"Nothing to worry about!" August assured spiritedly. "This place sure has poor management, seriously."
The group followed a rather narrow, rugged path within a trench. Just as they turned a corner, a black-armored robot slashed claws at them. They dodged back, and Augustus drew his Lemon Cutlass to clash with the mech. It had a Shy Guy's face painted on it. "What are you guys doing here?!" August demanded as he dented the armor with Haki fists. Yuzu got behind the robot to shoot it with Soul Arrows, dealing enough damage to destroy the mech as the Shy Guy pilot fell out. Augustus KO'ed the masked creature, but as the path grew wider, three more Face Guys ambushed them.
…
A blonde-haired boy with clear blue eyes and a red jacket slashed down more of these robots with a mechanical sword generating an energy blade. As their pilots fled from them, several heaps of scrap lay ruined around the field of Precursor ruins, a large temple built into the cliffs. "These have to be all the stolen Mechon parts we've heard about." Shulk said.
"Hey, Shulk!" An orange and yellow rodent with a big mouth skittered up. It resembled a hybrid of an otter and weasel. "Jak lost track of the boss. He didn't come around this way, did he?"
"No, Daxter. It's just been these smaller ones. But I…" Shulk's eyes glowed blue. "What?! It's him again?!"
"Him who?" Daxter asked.
"Daxter, listen to me…"
After fighting their way past the robots, the Marzipans arrived at the ruins, gazing up at the large temple as the rain began to pick up. "Maybe the soup is in there?" Yuzu wondered.
"It's a place to start." August replied. "But there's probably a ton of ruins like this on the island. But look at all these robots…" He took note of the ruined Mechon laying about. "Hm?"
Among those Mechon was something highly odd: an orange weasel-otter doing a silly dance in which he shook his hindquarters. "What's that little thing?" Yuzu asked.
"No way! Is that an Ottsel?" Augustus gaped.
"Ottsel?"
"I saw them in a book. They're like a really rare species on this planet. Hah, and one's just showing up… I gotta know how it tastes!"
"A rare creature?" Yuzu questioned. "I…I don't know about that…"
"Come on, I don't think they're endangered or anything. Let's just catch this one," Augustus casually approached the Ottsel, "see how it-" and it suddenly scampered over and up the hunter's pants. "AAAH! OUCH, OUCH, GET THE *** OFF ME!"
"O-Tama shalt saveth thee!" Tama ran up and started bashing Augustus with her staff, missing the Ottsel at every chance.
The Ottsel escaped just as Shulk rushed out, his sword extended as he SLASHED the captain, who barely defended in time with Haki on his chest. "It's you again!" Shulk shouted. "You're the one who attacked Riki!"
"You're that kid from Bionis!" August recognized. "The hell are you doing here?!"
"You know this guy, Captain?" Yuzu asked.
"Kind of. I kinda tried to take his friend's drool one time."
"Why?! Do you have some kind of kink or something?!"
"I won't let you pirates take anything else from us!" Shulk vowed. (Play "You Will Know Our Names" from Xenoblade!)
Sub-boss: Shulk
Augustus raised his Lemon Cutlass to intercept Shulk's Monado—the candy sword was melted instantly. "Yep, candy swords officially suck." The captain ran from Shulk's onslaught, going to hide behind a circular ruin. Shulk ran around the other way, but Augustus twirled his Gobstopper in his hand and threw it, keeping the rotation as it drilled against Shulk's waist. The Gobstopper returned to August as he continued to evade the boy. "Speed!" Shulk surged with blue chi and zoomed after him. August stopped and threw a punch, but Shulk dodged and cut his hip. He jumped back when August tried to grab him, but the captain lashed his Licorope to wrap Shulk's leg and trip him.
Augustus jumped on Shulk's chest and kicked his jaw, but jumped off before he could slash the Monado. Shulk's speed wore off, so August threw his Gob-Spinner again. "Shield!" Shulk conjured an orange barrier around himself, but the Spinner was able to drill against it enough to break it, allowing August to run up and punch Shulk in the face. He jumped back when Shulk slashed and threw the Spin again. "Jump!" Shulk began leaping about like a grasshopper, trying to land on August with jump strikes. I think those powers have a timer. I'll just wait until then. Augustus kept dodging until the green aura around Shulk died off, quickly seizing the chance to hit his stomach with the Gob-Spin.
Tama was slamming her staff on the ground, trying to hit Daxter, but the Ottsel was a swift evader. "GYAH!" The rodent was grabbed from behind by a clone of Tama.
"The hunter doth capture thee!"
"Get off me, sweet cheek! I ain't no one's dinner!"
"THOU CANST TALK?!" Both Tamas screamed. ("Gourmerry?")
A flurry of bullets shot along the ground, the Tamas jumping apart from their range. "Hey, kid! Get your hands off Daxter!" They looked atop the hill, seeing a Long-Ear with long, spiky blonde hair, a blue jacket, and combat pants and boots. He got out of his hovercar with a gun in hand.
"Jak!" Shulk called. "These pirates attacked us before!"
"We just wanted saliva!" Augustus argued.
"Let's see if he likes this!" Jak charged up to the pirate gun blazing, forcing Augustus to retreat behind a large, fallen statue head.
"Yeah, kick his nuts, Jak!" Daxter squirmed in Tama's grasp. "I'll deal with this one!" He forcefully bit the clone's arm as it poofed into smoke. Afterwards, Daxter scampered up the real Tama, the ninja crying in fear as the rodent bit into her cheek. Tama shook her head frantically and swung Daxter off, but a piece of her cheek was kept in his mouth. Daxter instinctively swallowed the piece. "How do ya like me now, sweet… CHEEKS!" Hearts popped into Daxter's eyes. "Holy moly, that tasted amazing!" He approached Tama with swooned eyes, speaking in a smooth tone. "Too bad my girlfriend don't got cheeks like yours. Fancy telling me the secret?"
"Mayhaps if thou aid Captain August'n." Tama pointed.
"Y-You want me to stop Jak and Shulk? But Jak is my buddy. And I don't really care for that guy at all."
"I shalt reward thee with more feed!"
"Well, when ya put it that way…"
Augustus threw the Gob-Spin at Jak, who performed his own whirling kick attack to counter it and endure. "Thanks, Shulk!" he said to his comrade, who had warned him of the attack beforehand.
"That's some pretty good Haki you have there." Augustus said to Shulk.
"I don't use Haki. The Monado gives me Future Sight." Shulk explained. "No matter what attack you throw, I will know it!"
"If that were true, you wouldn't have taken any damage! I bet your foresight needs to recharge, too." Augustus charged at Shulk, but Jak ran to intercept, ready to engage in fisticuffs. "It's time to start fighting like a hunter!" Hardening his left hand, he shaped his fingers like a fork. "FORK!" The aura of his Haki shaped like a large fork, thrusting into Jak and pushing him back. Shulk caught him, then raised his Monado to slash Augustus, who jumped back. Jak drew a red shotgun and blasted the captain, who hardened himself in defense.
"Jak, wait!" Daxter ran in his way. "This might be a misunderstanding. Do we even know why these guys are attacking?"
"What makes you say that?"
"I'm just saying, a kid with cheeks that tasty can't be all bad, right?"
"What the hell are you even talking about?"
"He's right, this needs to stop now!" Yuzu stood behind Daxter and faced Augustus, arms spread. "We need to make them see we don't mean any harm!"
Daxter looked up—he flushed and looked down after seeing up Yuzu's skirt. "Whoops, bad spot."
"Alright then." Jak put his weapon away. "What are you guys doing here? Why were you attacking Shulk?"
"He took Riki's saliva!" Shulk stated.
"What the hell?"
"Fine, I'm sorry!" August gave in. "I didn't mean any harm, I'm just an innocent Gourmet Hunter. I only came here 'cause I'm looking for the Precursor Pair."
"So, you're not responsible for these Mechon then?" Shulk asked.
"Heck no!"
"Dagnabbit! You stupid bots couldn't even beat that brat?"
The group faced up at the cliff, seeing a large bulky robot with a long chin. "IT'S HIM!" Shulk yelled. "The Mechon!"
"Who's controlling it, anyway?" Jak asked. "The Mechon are supposed to be good now, aren't they?"
Augustus gasped: there was a logo on the robot's armor, resembling a beast's skull with tusks, a curved knife and curved pitchfork to its sides. "That symbol! It's Gourmet Corp.!"
"Gourmet What?"
"They're an underworld organization that steals and poaches rare ingredients. I hear they're responsible for a lot of species going extinct."
"Are they Gourmet Hunters?" Yuzu asked.
"Yes, but they're the lowest you can get. They have no respect for what they hunt and only care about feeding their selves."
"And I'm getting pretty dang hungry! I saw some yummy-looking Yakow in that village over there. Think I'm going to fill my belly up a smidge, ehk kek kek!" The Mechon lifted up and flew beyond the cliffs. (End song.)
"Damn him! Come back here!" Shulk raced after him.
"He's heading for Sandover Village!" Jak exclaimed. "Let's go, Daxter!"
"Wait!" August shouted. "Do you know where the Precursor Pair is?"
"Augustus, now's not the time for that!" Yuzu shouted.
"Don't worry!" Augustus grabbed his communicator and said, "Haylee, you and the kids look for Sandover Village! It's about to be attacked by a robot!"
"I see it on the map! I'll get there ASAP, Captain!"
"What do you even want?!" Jak asked.
"If Gourmet Corp. is here, they must be looking for the Precursor Pair. I need to know where it is. If we take it, we can lure them away from the island."
"And what do YOU even want with that?"
"So, you know where it is?" August smirked.
"Hmph. I've never seen it myself, but it's supposed to be inside this big temple right here. Now if you excuse me, I have a Mechon to stop."
"There might be more of them."
"What do you mean?"
"Some of them could already be inside the temple. And if not that, they could be lured over here when we start to go in. If a ton of them show up, we could use some extra help taking them down."
"And why should we care about YOU guys?!" Daxter asked.
"Wouldst thou please, Otter-san?" Tama pled cutely.
"I'll do anything for you, Sweet Cheeks!" Daxter grinned.
"Sigh…I guess I should keep an eye on you guys, anyway." Jak said. "But if anyone in Sandover gets hurt, it's on you guys."
"You can count on our friends to help!" Yuzu cheered.
"Right." Jak scoffed, Daxter climbing onto his shoulders. "Let's get this over with. First we need to figure out how to get in."
Hidden behind a ruin, Victoria watched the travelers in secret. "That fool Eustace couldn't even draw them all away." The queen-clothed woman spoke with a British accent. "This is going to get complicated…" (Play "Forbidden Jungle Temple" from Jak and Daxter!)
Act 2: Precursor Ruins
The entrance to the temple resembled a lobby with a rotatable door. The door matched the architecture of the building and required both Augustus and Jak's strength to push it, the group confining their selves together to stay with the door. Once inside, they had to maneuver their way through other, auto-rotating doors with spikes, carefully staying between them until they were fully past. Entering a corridor, they were attacked by small robots with Precursor heads, their mouths glowing as they spat blue lasers at the intruders. Jak used the Scatter Gun to blow the Guardians on their backs, exposing their weak bottoms as Augustus threw the Gobstopper against them.
They reached a floorless part of the hall with thin ledges leading along the wall, lasers skimming up and down, and a switch on the other side. "Tama, you and the weasel can cross that." August said.
"The name is Daxter, smarty!"
"Oh, and I'm Jak. In case you get that wrong, too."
Tama made a clone, barefoot as it carefully sidled the ledge, followed by Daxter. Evading the lasers, they reached the end of the ledge, and Daxter used Tama's hands as a catapult to fling to an opposite ledge. He kept sidling, but reached a dead end. Tama made another clone as the previous clone flung her over to that same ledge. It sidled over to Daxter and helped him up to a higher ledge. From there, he could reach the end and drop down to press the switch, making a floor cover the chasm. The group crossed into a round room with a Precursor statue that had an open stomach, and several bowls of soup on a table.
"I haven't eaten a good, hot soup in centuries. Feed me, mortals!" the statue ordered in an ominous, echoing voice.
"So, we gotta feed him one of these soups?" Daxter asked, climbing onto the table. "Alright, pop one in, Jak."
"It can't be that easy." Jak said, looking over the different bowls of still, stale-looking soup. "Uck! Just looking at them, I don't bet any of them are good."
"Wait, this one actually feels fresh." Yuzu said, looking over a dark-green soup.
"That disgusting thing?!" Daxter shouted. "Ya might as well be drinkin' from a swamp!"
"This soup is made with ingredients that actually help it become tastier with age. We just need to heat it up to really bring out its flavor." Yuzu noticed the temperature dial connected to the statue. She took the soup and placed it in the statue's stomach. "Jak, shoot your red gun at that to raise it to 300 degrees."
Jak shot the Scatter Gun at the dial, causing the statue's interior to heat up like an oven. The soup emitted a green gas that flowed out the nose. "Ahhh…waiting for someone to solve this puzzle has been worth it. You may proceed, mortals." A door opened to the next chamber.
"Wasn't expecting something like that." Jak said. "Who even are you guys?"
"Do you know about the Gourmet Hunt going on?" August asked. "We're sort of participating in it."
"So what, we're helping you with some competition?"
"Not a competition per se, but…"
"There's more to it than that!" Yuzu said. "You see that thing on Tama's back?"
"That thing?" Daxter looked down at Gourmerry. "'Thought that was some monster baby doll."
"Gourmerry?" said the Firstborn.
"Well, she's a spirit who might destroy the universe if we don't feed her."
"WHAT?!"
"Th-That's why we really need to get what's in here!" Yuzu reasoned hastily. "It's a lot to explain, but… we're really sorry for troubling you."
"Shulk was right to have a bad feeling about you." Jak glared at Augustus. "Fine, we'll help out for now. But you better not screw us over, or we'll kill you." He raised his gun at the captain threateningly.
"You have my word as a hunter!"
"I feel like we should've talked about this before coming in…" Yuzu said.
The next room consisted of a wide chasm. Pairs of small helicopters rose up, carrying bars. August volunteered to swing the bars; each one he grabbed made a new one rise up, their heights varying as he had to swing with good precision and momentum, and quickly before his current bar fell. Meanwhile, Fly Guys lowered down, trying to shoot him with small rockets, but Jak shot the Shy Guys down with his Yellow Blaster. He managed to defend August enough for him to reach the other side, press a switch, and make platforms for the others to cross.
They entered a wide passage where a group of large, spider-like Face Guys attacked them. "So, they really did make it in here." Augustus said, tossing his Gob-Spinner at a Mechon. Jak switched to his Vulcan Barrel, firing an array of blue bullets to break the robots' legs. Augustus pounded them enough to breach their armor with Haki and yank the Shy Guys out. A Mechon charged at Jak directly, but the Long-Ear knocked it down with great strength, beating the robot until it was broken. "Say, Jak, those guns are from Schnee Dust, aren't they? Those are Nature Crystal lights."
"Yeah, me and Schnee Dust aren't really on good terms."
"Jak used to be a mute before they messed him up." Daxter said. "Now he swears up a storm!"
They came to a chasm with a red target hovering over it. Jak shot it with the Scatter Gun as it tilted to become a platform. When Jak jumped on it, a blue target came up, so he switched to the Vulcan to shoot it. The group carefully jumped the platforms as Jak swapped his ammo as necessary; any wrong shot would cause all the platforms to fall, and the same if they took too long. Past this puzzle, the group stepped down a flight of stairs, but some stair segments thrusted up to try and push them into the spiked ceiling. Large Tile Worms were under these segments, and the group could determine their positions by the moving segments.
The door at the base of the stairs was sealed, but there was a design of a wavy line with an arrow pointing downward. They deduced there was a switch under one of the worms. "Hey, I can feel a healthier diet from this worm." Yuzu pointed at one. "Maybe the switch is under it."
"Tama, feed it a dango." August requested. Tama nodded and fed the worm, and once it seemed to fall in love with her, Tama asked it to burrow underneath and flip the switch. In a second, the door opened. They entered a large chasm room with a single wide platform designed to move along a track like a coaster. August asked Tama to get on his back and Yuzu onto Jak's. Once they stepped on the platform, it began to move across the track at a quick pace. Flamethrowers spewed from random parts, prompting them to jump with good timing. The platform was about to go under some spikes, but the group could jump the heads of Fly Guys to get over the spikes, keeping up with the platform's momentum to land back on it.
The platform traveled on a snaky track, in which they had to jump a fire trap over one curve, falling downward afterward, but the platform caught them in time as it traveled down a sloped track. However, at the base of the slope, the platform hit a spring and shot up, the men having to leap right at the top as the momentum flung them to a distant door. Despite the weight of the girls on their backs, the group made it. They could enter the next chamber… but Daxter noticed a hidden ladder on the right. Curious, the group climbed the ladder down, letting them off on a foothold with another passage. A faint blue light shone from the room beyond the passage. (Play "Fluff Festival" from Mario Sunshine.)
There were several large Precursor statues in this room… along with giant dandelions, some growing from the statues' eyes. They were all so fluffy-looking. A jovial, wooden guitar tune was playing. They searched this room, wondering what could be hidden within. It was then they noticed a statue in the corner had a black-and-white fluffball in its eye. It was certainly different in texture from the other dandelions. Daxter climbed up the statue and pulled the fluff out.
It was a monochrome cat. She was perfectly rounded and ovular. Her eyes were yellow and purple, mismatched. She had a yellow- and purple-feathered pin on her left, black ear. A bow of similar colors was on her tail. She had no legs, but little paws. The cat strolled up to Daxter, turned, and gently whacked him with her tail. She stepped into a soft blue ray of light. Gazing up, the kitten began to ascend into the light. They could only watch, transfixed as the kitten drew further and further into the light. She had gone… but her presence here left a little bundle of floof in their hearts. (End song.)
You found a Kittentia! There's one in each level! Be sure to find them all!
They climbed back up the ladder and entered a large chamber with a Precursor statue, two tubes going from its head to the ceiling, and several Pyro Guys (Shy Guys made of fire) running around it.
"I'm sure the Precursor Pair is around here somewhere." One of them said. "Maybe it's in this thing. How do we open it?"
"Leave that to us, buddy!" Augustus remarked, slamming the fiery creatures with Haki fists. The Pyros all ganged up on the captain, but his quick fists and kicks kept them away, though he suffered some burns to the head as some managed to graze him. Once the Shy Guys were KO'ed, their fires died as he shoved them over to a corner. "Okay, let's figure this statue out. What are those tubes in its head?"
"Hey, there's some nob thingies over on this wall." Daxter called from the right wall, Tama going to observe with him.
"Some on this wall, too." Jak said beside the left wall.
Yuzu went to observe these nobs as well. "What's that writing say above them?"
"This one says 'Sun Tomato,' this one is 'Fire Nebula,' this is 'Lunar Wisp'…" Jak translated.
"This says 'Brog Intestine,'" Daxter read his end, "this says 'Toxicap,' this one's 'Igna Brain'… yuck!"
"I think I get it…" Yuzu said, looking up at the ceiling tubes. "If we turn the dials, a certain amount of these ingredients will flow into the statue. We just need to figure out the right…" Yuzu began to turn the nobs on Jak's side, setting them at different positions. She listened for the substances flowing into the statue. Afterwards, she hurried to Daxter's side and turned the nobs as necessary.
"You on to something, Yuzu?" Augustus asked. "How do you know what to set them to?"
"It must be my Observation Haki." Yuzu replied. "I trained myself to know what ingredients are inside recipes just from a look, and it's helped me make better recipes in turn. …Look!"
There were two windows on the statue's chest as one chamber filled with a bright, white liquid and another with a dark-purple liquid. "A culinary Observation Haki…" Augustus smiled, pulling the lolli stick out. "There are other chefs who have that ability. They call it Food Luck."
"Food Luck?"
"A good chef listens to the 'voice' of their ingredients. They know what the ingredients want and how to be prepared. It's the sure sign of a true chef."
"Yeah yeah," Jak said impatiently, "so can we just get the Precursor Pair and go? You said this would lure the robots away from the island."
"Fine. Now we just need to get it out of here somehow."
"Hah hah hah hah!" the ominous voice laughed. The crew gasped, facing the statue. "Many thanks for pumping me with fresh Light and Dark Chi! Oh, I haven't had a good Precursor Pair in AGES!" Both chis seemed to flush from the windows. Two orbs pumped out from the bottom of the statue, one made of white light and one dark.
"W-Wait, WHAT?!" Daxter gawked.
"Th-The Precursor Pair is…?!" Jak gasped.
"Uck!" Augustus cringed. "I didn't think we'd be in the gross part of the profession so soon!"
"You thieving mortals dare to take my Pair?" The statue's two connected pillars rose up as legs. "You'd have to be truly nuts to do so. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be kicking you out now!" (Play "Being Chased" from Conker's Bad Fur Day!)
Boss fight: The Big Precursor
The statue stomped its legs and charged at Jak, the Long-Ear ready to shoot the weak spot with his Scatter Gun. "No, don't do that!" Yuzu yelled, jumping to weigh Jak's gun down. "AAAH!" They were kicked away by the Precursor's leg. The statue twisted and readied to charge them again, but Augustus caught its left knee in his Licorope, struggling to restrain the statue. The statue shook its leg and flung Augustus away, freeing itself as the statue about-faced and charged at him next. Augustus flipped back up and dodged its kick just in time. "Guys, try to knock it down, like with those smaller statues!" Yuzu requested.
"I hope you're on to something!" Jak said, shooting his Yellow Blaster at the left leg. The statue turned and charged, but Augustus caught the right leg in his Licorope and restrained the statue again. Jak kept shooting the left leg, causing the Precursor to fall on its back.
"I shouldn't need to call Yuzunite for this." Yuzu said as she drew two pans from her Infi-Cube. "But here goes!" She ran up with both pans spread out. Once at the Precursor Pair, she SLAMMED both pans against the orbs as if trying to mash them together. "OOOOOOG!" The Precursor sprung back up on its feet, rampantly stomping around the room to shake off the pain. As it rammed around the walls, smaller Precursor Guardians fell from the ceiling. The boys had to knock the robots on their backs and strike their weak undersides, all while dodging the angry Big Precursor.
Once its Guardians were defeated, the Precursor retracted its orbs back into its body. It resumed trying to kick the intruders, the group scattering about to confuse it. August was able to get behind and rope the statue's knee, but it performed a spin and swung him off. Augustus viewed up at the upper wall and noticed the bars jutting out. "Jak, lure it over!" August used the Licorope to swing up to those bars. Jak shot the statue to anger it, the Precursor stomping over for a kick. Jak dodged and ran underneath, going under Augustus as the Precursor turned and chased. Augustus dropped and hardened his hand as his Haki's aura shaped like a mallet. "MALLET!" He bashed the head with sheer, blunt force, causing the Pair to poke back out the bottom. The statue was still dizzy, so Yuzu ran up with the pans ready. She slammed the pans over the Pair.
"OOOOOOG!" The statue frantically ran away again, ramming the wall as more Guardians fell. The boys destroyed the Guardians again, but now the statue was trying to evade them entirely, shooting laser bullets from its eyes. Jak and Augustus maintained their position, distracting the statue as O-Tama sidled the wall and snuck behind it. She made a stack of Shadow Clones as the highest clone could leap onto the Precursor's knee, and from there jump to the head. "Grah?! Where did you come from?!" The statue spun its head in attempt to shake Tama off. When it failed to do so, it charged and rammed Tama into the wall. The clone poofed away, but Augustus had roped up to the bars in order to smash down on the head with another Mallet.
The statue became dizzy again as Yuzu ran up from behind. "This should do it!" She smashed the orbs into the pans once more. This time, the orbs fully compressed into the two pans, and Yuzu retreated as she kept them closed. "AAAAAaaaahhh…" It felt as if a cloud of stress and tension left the Precursor's body, feeling lightheaded and relieved. "It's always an odd feeling when the ball drops… but it's gotta happen eventually. Many thanks… mortals…" The Precursor fell on its back in defeat. (End song.)
Yuzu quickly turned the pans in an upright position, so both were filled with the light and dark soup. She grabbed a ladle and began to stir one of the pans. "This soup is a balance of Light and Darkness." Yuzu said. "We just need to give it a little Yin-Yang… and now it's nice and balanced." She dipped a drop of the dark side into the light side and vice-versa. The surface of the soup now resembled a Yin-Yang symbol.
"Wow…" was all Jak could say. True, a soup made of 'Light' and 'Darkness' was mystical, and the symbol was a neat aesthetic… but the process of getting this soup was just too weird for the result to make sense.
Tama unstrapped Gourmerry from her back and held her in both hands. "Here, Gourmerry." Yuzu smiled, filling a spoon with the soup. The spoon seemed to automatically swirl into a smaller Yin-Yang. "Try a sip."
The Firstborn slurped the Pair. As she usually does, she had swallowed it quickly… and yet, there was a lingering taste in her mouth. "Mmmmm…" She closed her eyes, and in her dark vision, a ball of light began to swirl and dance around. The light was swimming in the dark like a liquid, as if Gourmerry's fears and worries were being shuffled about by hope and joy. It was the first time she had processed a taste in such a manner, savored the way of it dancing in her mouth. "Gourmeeeeerryyyyy!"
"She's never made that expression before." Yuzu said. "Usually, she'd just suck it all down… I think it's actually working!"
"What's working?" Jak asked.
"The reward of a long journey." August smiled. "Gourmerry's always just sat in a room and waited for her food to come. She's never come out this far to search for a good meal."
Jak took a sip of the soup himself. "Mmmm…damn, that's good. That's REALLY good!" He took another sip. "Daxter, you gotta try this!"
There was a moment of silence with everyone expecting Daxter's response. "…Daxter?"
"Oh?" Tama looked around. "Where hast Otter-san gone?"
"Seems like quite the delicious stew you've brewed." A British voice spoke. The group turned toward the entrance: Victoria stepped out of the shadows, holding Daxter by the neck in one hand and a butcher's knife in the other hand. "But which sounds more appetizing? The 'Pair' of an ancient spirit, or a rare Ottsel in the prime of its youth? Decide quickly, because I'm getting very hungry!"