Finally Meeting Friends

[Ari]

Cat paused outside of the gates of the Endless Dunes. What waited on the other side of the gate? Was it dangerous? W-would she even find her way to the town Jak was sending her to? Cat's head spun with unknown questions. The small girl raised her arm behind her to hold Granite's hand while she stepped through. Apparently last time she had visited a 'verse' she had died.. hopefully this would be different.

Within the verse Cat cowered at the glaring light of the sun, both from the sky and reflected off the few grasses. She quickly slid around behind her grand protector to hide in his shadow. It was much too bright after the dim surgical white atmosphere of the Nexus. Maybe she should have prepared first, but hopefully the town wasn't too far away... Cat was rather hopeless with directions. A quick search on the dataverse revealed the heading they would need, and Cat set up a compass function using the light on her pen. North was yellow, south blue, east was green and so on. She hoped it worked properly.

The town was supposed to be only a few hours walk away... but if the boys let Cat lead the entire way it would take twice or thrice the amount it should have taken due to both her slow speed and helplessness with directions. Regardless of who led, the group would likely be parched by the time they got there anyways. Good thing the destination was a bar then. At least, Jak said he was probably still gonna be there.

"You two can do whatever you like now... I-I'm gonna go see if I can find Daxter. H-he's suppposed to look like a weasel I think."

[JasonRen]

Jason stepped through the gateway, just behind his new adventuring friends. Once through, the Zepharian raisef his gaze to the distant landscape, trying to size up the within eye range land. He watched in slight amusement as the teenage humanoid moved behind the large stone creature, as if he were some sort of shield. It was almost cute.

" You two can do whatever you like now... I-I'm gonna go see if I can find Daxter. H-he's suppposed to look like a weasel I think. " The young Guardian arched a brow at her statement. The word ' bar ' stood out to him, seeing as Zepharians were very fond of drinking till they passed out. The dark skinned man would casually fold his arms across his chest, his gaze fixing on the girl. " Where ever voluminous stone man goes, that's where I'm goin'. " He replied to Cat, gesturing to Granite.

[Jak Mar]

The days almost seemed as sandy as the nights around the Town with No name. The ottsel quickly found this out as he wished he had asked Jak to summon an hankerchief for him so he could cover his mouth.

Wait.. Jak..?!

He hadn't seen his buddy in

Days...

no...

weeks..

..

Months actually.

The quick ottsel felt like he did again quickly when Jak needed rescuing from the prison, he sighed softly as he directed himself through the crowds of the Town of no name quickly trying to find some sort of job. But who would accept a ottsel of all things especially when word got out he attacked Nippur and now Nippur was gone thanks to another unknown force.

He remembered applying to a bartending job inside a old western saloon as he hopped on the bar area.

"Hey, pal... would you care to offer a ottsel a job in your bar? I have the skills nee-

Whoa... there rat, you wouldn't happen to be the ottsel that attacked New Babylon right?

Daxter gulped "Why would I do that?"

The Bartender stared at him 'Get out of here, ya rat..."

Daxter was quickly chased out of the bar as he ranted and raved as he felt the heat again.

The poor Ottsel was left standing there as earlier he at least pocketed a few om from some unlucky folk and tried to get a doctor to look at his injuries.

The ottsel sulked..

Great..

[Granite]

Granite had taken a good portion of the group's long walk reading the book Cat had given him, only to have his attention torn away from the tome by the grand archway. He took a moment to gaze upon the worn stone arch, and wondered what it must of looked like in it's freshly molded glory. Though, his thoughts were broken as Cat reached behind her to grasp his hand. Granite held her hand as softly as he could manage and obediently followed her lead through the portal.

The sun was bright, and it felt far hotter than anything he had felt before. Granite opened his mouth to ask how his comrades were going to handle the heat, but was interjected by Cat skirting into his shadow. She took out two devices he had never even seen before. And he wondered at the pen as it painted the ground with temporary color. The sight of it seemed to gnaw at his memory a bit. An image of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, Saint Basil's Cathedral he believes they called it in Lehman's terms. But the circumstances of that event were still hazy. Once again his thoughts were halted by Cat.

" You two can do whatever you like now... I-I'm gonna go see if I can find Daxter. H-he's suppposed to look like a weasel I think. " She asked, but it was very clear that she needed, and desperately wanted, his help. "Someone like you shouldn't go into a place like this alone. I'll stay with you so you won't die."

[Ari]

Cat looked up at her stone companion, smiling cheerfully when she had thoroughly processed the offer. It was true, she would probably die on her own agian. It would be better to stay with Granite and Jason. The girl offered the pen to Jason, showing him the rablet so he could see the colours that corresponded with the directions.

"I-I'm really bad with directions. I-I think it would be best if you lead the way. I-Is that okay with you?"

Cat directed her last question to Granite, in case he would prefer to lead.

[JasonRen]

Jason quickly shook his head, being one to follow orders unless he was commanding a unit back in Zatannia. The young Guardian didn't know this world as it was, so it only nade sense to him that he followed the path of his fellow companions. His brawn was all he had to odder at this point.

[Granite]

Granite looked closely at the thing in Cat's hands, whatever it was, it was showing a map. And that he can understand. "If you would rather me do so." Granite said in response to her plea. He then motioned to have Cat hand over the device. He marveled at the machine as the map moved exactly like he wanted it. And he completed a mental path to The Town with No Name. "Where on earth did you find such a thing?" He asked finally, astonished at everything it could do.

[Ari]

Cat walked close to Granite's side, trying to stay in his shadow.

"I created it. We have this... Stuff, called omnilium. It kinda looks like bubbles but it's thicker and doesn't pop. You use it to make stuff like weapons... And other things to help you survive. I'm not sure how we get it or where it comes from, but it forms into anything you want. "

[Granite]

Granite took a second to think before responding. "So that's one of its uses? Om- the Smiling One, talked about it." He gruffed.

A good amount of time had passed, and as the trio went further into the verse, the hotter it got. Soon, not even the shade made by Granite's wings was much cooler. "Miss Cat, were pretty close to The Town With No Name." He stopped to see if his two companions were okay.

[Ari]

Cat looked up at Granite, suddenly scared of the town ahead. Was Daxter even still there? Would he object to her joining him? Her voice was tinged with worry as she spoke, but she tried hard to hide it.

"Th-Thank you Granite. I.. Think the bar is on the mainstreet, and Daxter is supposed to be there. It shouldn't take too much longer right? "

[Granite]

Granite nodded at Cat's hopeful question, then turned to the empty wasteland of sand in front of the pair, giving little thought on Jason's absence. Upon the horizon, through the haze of the heat, appeared a small cluster of buildings. "Miss Cat, the Town with No Name is within sight." Granite stated, after taking a quick look at the map.

Soon, the sand gave way to a foot beaten path. It was a about an hour or two before the pair reached the town's limits. Main street, with it's well stamped path and it's flanking, iconic buildings.

[Ari]

Cat felt like she would collapse then and there, the moment sand changed to something concrete beneath her. Even still, she forced herself to keep going. Daxter was more important. She had to find him first. Cat timidly approached anyone who didn't look threatening if they had seen the otsel but most had never heard of him. Others pointed her towards one of the local bars.

"G-granite they say he'll be in one of the bars. I don't know which one though... "

[Jak Mar]

Daxter frowned as he wiped some of the heat- stricken tears off his face as he felt alone for the first time in the Omniverse.

Daxter eyed the crowds and frowned "CAT?!" Where are you?!"

Daxter covered his face with a handkerchief and his goggles were on as he had visible injuries from Nippur.

He stopped when he heard a voice call out to him

"Cat?!"

"Are you Daxter? "

"Yes.. I am..."

Cat eyed Daxter's injures and jumped to snuggle him.

"HEY HEY, watch the tail..."

Cat sweatdropped "Sorry Daxter... Are you ok?"

Daxter frowned "My repetition proceeds me."

[Granite]

Granite lumbered up from behind Cat, casting a shadow upon the two. He leaned in, and with his gruff voice, "Miss Cat, is everything al-... Is this the Daxter you were speaking of?"

"Y-yeah. Uh, Daxter, this is Granite... He helped me get here, through the desert."

[Jak Mar]

Daxter looked up at the rock man "Granite?..Well... welcome.. "

He turned his head when a tv started advertising the local DA on the news

"In local news, Ron Burgendy from the Omniverse News Network is here interviewing potential competitors and helpers to our next DA!! A cheesy commercial advertising DA came on and Daxter pointed to it. "Hey... Granite... Cat... You see that? This is DA, the same thing Jak went through last year. Wonder who got sucked in to that this time?

[Ari]

Cat glanced at the tv and immediately felt like hiding in a hole. NOTHING described by that person on the tv sounded like fun. It sounded like a horrible horrible mess that anyone was lucky to survive.

"I want notjing to do with that. J-jak can go if he wants, but I won't watch. And you won't be going either Daxter, you're injured. I-I can't stop Granite if he wants to go though. H-he's done enough to keep me safe."

[Jak Mar]

Daxter groaned and looked at the screen, clearly not so dissapointed "Yuck, i saw DA on tv and i about barfed... The competition was stiff this year."

Daxter looked up at the rock person "Granite, your job is done. You may leave for DA now. Me.. and cat will ... find our own path here in the desert...

[Granite]

Granite looked down, weighing his options. The people in the magic picture box... TV? Had said to go join now.... But Daxter was still injured... But, they did not ask for him to stay either. "Thank you for letting me escourt you here miss Cat, but I suppose it is my time to get going." Granite stated in his gruff voice, knowing exactly what to do. The people in the tv had asked of him to participate in Dante's Abyss, and that's exactly what he was going to do. After a few paces, he was stopped by two muffled and weak goodbyes. He simply nodded and continued on to search for the sign up booth.