Alaina

Alaina is a passionate and exuberant girl. She fell in love with mechanics when she was little and has grown to be the best, and only, mechanic in all of Haven City. She always strives to upgrade the items she works on, like her jetboard Zephyr which she is constantly enhancing. She is optimistic, encouraging, and upbeat although she keeps her personal life to herself and only truly opens up to extremely close friends. She helps Jak on his journey by upgrading his jetboard, guns, and armor, and later fighting in the war to ultimately destroy the metal head nest and restore Haven City to peace.

Early Life
Alaina had always had an interest in fixing things. She thought it was amazing how you could take something broken and make it almost completely new again. Many of her childhood years were spent purposely breaking her toys just so she could mend them. She would rip her blanket and sew it back up. She would dismantle her toy car’s wheels and screw them back on. She would disconnect the wires of her robot dog and insert them back in their proper place. And although she was young, she had a bright mind and always knew what she was doing.

She had few friends because she didn't connect well with others. Except for Tess who was fascinated by guns, many thought her mechanic obsession was weird. But she didn't care, and at the age of 13, Alaina started volunteering and later working at Theodore’s Garage, Haven City’s most popular mechanics shop. It was owned by Haven City’s best mechanic, Theodore, who became Alaina’s closest friend. He encouraged her love for the work, gave her advice, and most importantly, gave her broken things to fix. Over the next two years Alaina’s mechanic skills improved vastly to where she could almost handle the most difficult tasks all by herself. Theodore’s clients adored her just as much as Theo himself, and with two great mechanics instead of just one, Theodore’s Garage became even more popular. Eventually all the other mechanics in Haven City lost business and quit the practice. Alaina was sad to have caused this, but she was simply doing what she loved.

At the end of those two years, a terrible accident occurred. Without explanation, a clan of metal heads entered and attacked the city. Most stuck in a section (later identified as "Dead Town") along the edge of the city and Baron Praxis ultimately abandoned it, leaving it for ruin. However, a few metal heads entered other sections, and one came to the garage. Theodore fought it, trying to keep Alaina save. He was able to lure it out of the garage and onto the streets and seemed to be succeeding in driving it away, when another metal head came from the side faster than lightning and drove it’s sharp tail into Theo’s side. Alaina shot from her hiding spot, grabbed the nearest tool she could find which happened to be a pry bar, and raced toward the metal head. She didn’t even know how to fight, but her instincts kicked it and she managed a fair battle. That was until things went wrong. The metal head saw an opening and its tail aimed right for her heart. Alaina maneuvered to try and escape, but she moved too slowly. Although the metal head missed its mark, the tail still nicked her left shoulder. She dropped her pry bar weapon and reached for her shoulder as she fell to her knees, immense pain shooting through her arm. Assuming she would die, the metal head walked off, probably in search of other victims. Alaina looked at her shoulder and a dark deep purple cut was present. The metal head had injected dark eco from its poisonous tail. Hearing her name, she looked over to where Theo lay. She stumbled over to him. His cut was also dark and purple. Theo instructed her to find the Shadow right away as he would have the power to heal her shoulder, but that she needed to get there before the dark eco spread. Alaina told him to go with her, saying the Shadow could heal him too. Shaking his head, Theo told her the metal head had pierced his organs and he would be gone shortly, but that she needed to live because she had so much ahead of her and she was sure to do great things. She was hesitate, as Theo meant so much to her, but she didn't want him to have died in vain. So after thanking him for all he had done for her and exchanging their last good-byes, she raced off towards the Shadow. The dark eco was already spreading, and it was spreading fast.

The Shadow, who was studying to be a sage, was able to counter the dark eco with the help of green eco. However, he was only able to remove the dark eco and stop it from spreading any further. The damage that it had already caused could not be undone. As a result, Alaina was left with purple vein-like streaks encasing her left shoulder and running up the left side of her face. They stopped at her eye which the dark eco had caused to go blind. The dark eco had also eaten away at her muscles around the spot of injection, so her shoulder would remain weak for the rest of her life.

Before Jak II
For a year after the event, Alaina struggled with her friend’s loss and her new impairment. But determined to fulfill Theo’s vision of her accomplishing great things, she immersed herself in mechanics even more. The garage was now officially hers and she dropped out of high school to run it full time. She kept the name Theodore's Garage in honor of her friend. She did however shorten Theodore to Theo as that’s what she had always called him.

During this year, Alaina experimented a lot with enhancements. She could always fix things to new, but she wanted to start fixing things to be better. And this became her new addiction. Strengthening the Zoomer's armor, increasing the rate of fire speed on guns, improving the boost on the HellCat cruisers…

This is the year Baron Praxis also cracked down his rule and the Underground formed. Eventually the Underground sought out Alaina, asking her to help them build their envisioned titan suits. She was hesitate, although she hated Baron she didn’t want to get caught and on his bad side either. But her friend Tess, who worked for the Underground, persuaded her and she eventually agreed, creating the suits and officially joining the Underground faction. She continued to work behind the scenes of the war by repairing and upgrading their equipment. After joining the Underground, Alaina continued to see Baron as a client, who often asked her to repair his propaganda stations, barrier walls, and Krimzon Guard equipment, but would purposely take longer to finish her work or even make it so the items would break down again after little use. She hoped this would periodically give the Underground an upper hand.

At the end of this year, she finally came to peace with all that had happened and was pretty much back to her normal upbeat self. However, she was always more reserved than she was before. Shortly after, Jak and his friends traveled in time to Haven City. Jak is arrested and is experimented on as part of the Dark Warrior Program. And Keira starts working for Alaina, taking over her job for Krew as a race mechanic. She and Alaina quickly became good friends and saw each other as equals even though Alaina was a better mechanic and Keira was a better inventor. They started to work together as an amazing duo: Keira inventing items and Alaina enhancing them. The most notable being the jetboard, which Alaina immediately became obsessed with upgrading and riding. On the side, Keira worked to recreate the Rift Rider so she could find her friends and return home in the past.

Jak II
Two years later Jak is freed and starts racing for them. Keira tells Jak to test the prototype jetboard. When he goes to do so, he meets Alaina at the stunt course tinkering on her own jetboard. Jak tells her that her employee (unaware that it was Keira) asked him to test the prototype. Alaina happily complies and lends him the jetboard. Alaina mentions that even though it was just the prototype, it should work great because she (Keira) invented it and she was amazing at that. Alaina continues to state how all she could do was fix stuff.

Alaina goes on to become an important asset to Jak during his journey by fixing and improving his jetboard, guns, and armor. She becomes close friends with both Jak and Daxter. During one meeting, they have a deep conversation where Alaina reveals her insecurities about her abilities and purpose in life. She reveals that she sometimes still struggles with Theo's death. She had always drowned herself in her mechanic work, striving to achieve Theo's words of accomplishing great things. Yet with little results, she wondered if she really was meant for anything more. She states how she wants to make a difference in the war but is worried she is not capable enough. So she always just worked on the sidelines and avoided her full potential. Jak reassures her that she has amazing talent and has been more helpful than she realizes, stating that she would have already made Theo proud. But if she really felt that way then she would only be free if she acted on her words. He ends up convincing her to join him in the action. So she steps out of her comfort zone and fights alongside Jak and her other friends. She does not assume a leadership role, but turns out to be very strong, her confidence in her combat abilities increasing as the battle rages on, and is a great help to the group. Throughout the fight, she remains full of spirit, optimistic, and encouraging. Together they destroy Baron Praxis and the metal head nest, along with its leader Kor.

With peace and order in the city finally obtained, Alaina goes back to her true calling working in the garage, but living a much more balanced lifestyle than before. She allows mechanics to be a part of her life rather than her life itself and takes time to enjoy other things like hanging out with her new friends or jetboard racing.

After Jak II
Makes appearances in Jak III and Jak X: Combat Racing.

Story hopefully to come soon!

Appearance
Alaina has tanned smooth skin, except for her hands which are rough from all the constant work she does. She usually smells of metal because of her work, but has a natural scent of cherries. She has big teal eyes and burgundy hair. Her hair is thick, soft, and medium length, kept in two braids that stops above her chest. She also has bangs and shorter layers of hair in the back which are free from the braids. She is slender, measuring 5 feet 7½ inches tall and weighing 128 lbs, but she is strong and able to defend herself if needed. She wears clothes that she dubs as "comfy, cute, and workable." She is usually seen wearing white cloth wrapped around her upper torso, left shoulder, and both of her wrists (right wrist comes up higher than left wrist); fingerless gloves wrapped around her wrists; a crop-top, sleeveless hooded jacket; skinny jeans; a buttoned belt with pockets; a knife holder with knife around her right thigh; and simple boots wrapped around the ankles.

She has light purple, vein-like scars on her left side extending from the bottom of her eye, down her neck, and across her shoulder and chest. They are internal scars that show underneath her skin and were created by injection poisoning of dark eco (see history). She is blind in her left eye and weak in her left shoulder due to the poisoning.

She is often seen carrying around her jetboard.

Personality
INTJ

Alaina is a reactive character, able to change her actions to fit the need of the person or situation. She is industrious, reliable, cheerful, optimistic, encouraging, and modest. Yet she is also impatient, resentful, outspoken, short-tempered, and somewhat prideful. She doesn't like to bother people with her personal life, so she often comes off as shy or secretive. But she is nice, intriguing, and loyal to the friends she makes.

She is usually very serious, but is also light-hearted and generally a happy person. She gets waves of sadness once in a while thinking of Theo but tries to hide this from others. She always tries to be helpful and nice, but if confronted or rude to, she can get pretty defensive.

She draws her motivation from Theodore and her love for mechanics. She works hard at everything she does. Her main goal is to improve technology for the world. When Theo died he told her she was bound to do great things and so she is constantly working, trying to achieve that vision and make Theo proud. She also wishes to help overthrow Baron Praxis and destroy the metal heads.

She has a habit of leaning on things and is secretly a thrill-seeker for speed. She always executes things with a purpose. She is very disorderly and messy, but she knows where everything is.

Abilities
Alaina is not book smart, but is very sharp. Most of her knowledge comes from common sense, street smarts, observation, and practice. She is an excellent mechanic and racer. She has fair combat skills, but is rarely confident enough to use them well.

JET-Board
Alaina's most prized possession is her jetboard named Zephyr. It was originally invented and created by Keira Hagai along with her basic prototype. Alaina constantly tinkers with it, adding upgrades and making it her own.

The board can expand and retract, able to be rode either way. It is able to fly one story high along anywhere there is surface (i.e. the ground, sides of buildings, ceilings). Magnets encased in the board and the bottom of Alaina's boots allow her to be kept on the board. Although it is possible for her to be knocked off. It is equipped with machine guns, lock-on missiles, and blue eco boost.

If Alaina is knocked off the board, the board will slow down and lower, however there is no calling system that allows the board to come back to Alaina. This is a feature she is working on, but can never seem to quite get.

The board has a limited supply of boost.

Screwdriver
Alaina's favorite mechanic tool is her screwdriver named Theo, named after her friend. It was previously owned by Theodore and was passed down to Alaina after his death. She keeps it with her at all times, tucked away in her left belt pocket. It is shorter than most normal screwdrivers and has a red handle. The tip is able to come off and be flipped, changing the type of head.

Knife
Alaina keeps a knife attached to her leg at all times for emergency purposes. Its handle is tightly wrapped with black leather and the blade is rather short, but she keeps it very sharp.

Communicator
Alaina's communicator is a smaller and improved version of Keira's device. It is circular and rather flat in shape. The edges can swivel around to expand into a larger circle and expose the screen. She keeps it in her front right pocket of her belt, and when receiving a call, the communicator can automatically float up for Alaina to answer. However, she must pull it out if she wishes to make a call.

The service range is only as wide as Haven City.

Trivia

 * Items she usually fixes/works on: titan suits, buggies, race cars, zoomers, scooters, jetboards, guns, communication tools, robots, children’s toys, mechanical/automatic doors, barrier walls, propaganda stations, etc.
 * Starts working with the Underground (when they come to her for help on their titan suits)
 * Had Keira make her jetboard at the same time as the prototype. Works on it constantly to improve it.
 * She is 1 year older than Jak and 2 years older than Keira

Copyright
Jak and Daxter © Sony Computer Entertainment & Naughty Dog