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The Hellcat IV,[1] most commonly known as simply the Hellcat, is a plane in The Lost Frontier. It was used by Jak, Daxter, and Keira to travel from Haven City to the Brink (and beyond), and as such is available from the beginning of the game.

A fixed-wing jet aircraft, its primary purpose is personal travel over long distances at high altitude. However, it is also equipped with a non-playable tailgun, slots for plane weapons and mods (albeit very few in comparison to other planes), and offers nimble maneuverability despite its large size (with the best turn rate out of all other planes), making it a decently reliable combat plane as well.

Its breadth of features notwithstanding, the Hellcat is eventually outclassed by more specialized planes acquired later on, and is literally replaced by the Jaguar during Hero Mode.

History[]

Arrival to the Brink[]

Hellcat customization menu

The Hellcat's customization menu.

The Hellcat originally belonged to Baron Praxis, before it was stolen by Jak and Daxter, and subsequently modified by Keira.[2] It is named similarly to the cruiser-turned-fighter HellCat cruiser, and possesses the color scheme of the Freedom League, blue with yellow trim (although it does not bear the League's insignia).

The craft made its debut in the opening sequence of The Lost Frontier, just after escaping a close encounter. Co-pilots Jak and Keira, with Daxter seated behind them, try to find an area to land as the eco storms get worse. Soon, three Sky Pirate raiders trail the Hellcat before Daxter gets on the tailgun and disposes of two of them. The last one showers the Hellcat before they approach the Phantom Blade, the Sky Pirates' flagship. Jak takes evasive action with the rather nimble Hellcat, but the pirates grapple their plane, and on lands Captain Phoenix and First Mate Klout.

A brief physical confrontation leads to Jak attempting to transform into Dark Jak, though he fails. Phoenix thus believes Jak to be an Aeropan, and just before the pirate shoots Jak with his pistol, Daxter uses the tailgun to fire at Phoenix. The pirate dodges out of the way, and the bullets hit the plane, blowing out the power cells and causing the plane's left wing to leak green eco fuel. Phoenix returns to his galleon, and the Hellcat is forced to land on a small plateau on Brink Island.

Okay, the crystal is hooked into the fuel relays. I've added a power condenser to focus the output and a couple of loop circuits to stabilize the eco flow. Hey if this works, we should be able to run on this baby for a long time.

The only way Keira could repair the Hellcat is if they could find more green eco fuel, and if she could repair the power cells. The duo accomplish the former, finding a mysterious green eco prism, which converts dark eco to green. The crystal is more than enough for the Hellcat, and the trio race off to defend the stranded ACS Behemoth under attack by pirate raiders. They do so successfully, which earns them a visit to Aeropa courtesy of the Behemoth's captain, Duke Skyheed, who noticed the Hellcat was quite damaged.

Second crash land[]

Jak once again had to use the Hellcat after Phoenix made off with Keira and the trio's latest acquisition, the eco seeker. A chase ensued, during which Jak pursued Phoenix in and out of a volcano using the Hellcat. Toward the end of the race, with Phoenix within the Hellcat's scope, Jak is bombarded by pirate raiders, who shoot down his engines and cause him to once again crash land on Brink Island.

Jak is forced to explore the island in search of help. He eventually finds a strange castaway, who, while Jak was exploring about, surveyed Jak's crashed ship, determining that the fusion rods are damaged and that without the velonium power pod, the ship would be inoperable. Jak and Daxter thus set out to retrieve the pod, which required that they fight the Uber-Bot 888. Jak was nonetheless successful, and was able to fly away.

Acquisition by the Sky Pirates[]

While earlier chasing Phoenix, Daxter jacked a lock-on missile from Phoenix's plane and installed it on the Hellcat, which assisted Jak in attacking the Phantom Blade to find Keira and confront the pirate leader. Jak was successful and was finally able to board the galleon.

After this, Jak was able to access different planes from the galleon's hangar (having changed alliances with the Sky Pirates). While he could continue using the Hellcat, it was not until much later on that he embarked on a Hellcat-specific mission.

At the end of the game, Keira modified the Hellcat with a powerful eco laser, lacking either an ammo cap or a recharge time, in order to assist Jak in taking down the Behemoth. It took her a while to build the weapon into the plane, thus Jak was unable to use the Hellcat from the last time he visited the Phantom Blade's hangar (as it was absent).

Appearance[]

The Hellcat has a unique profile, with a short and narrow fuselage, ending in a rudder–elevator tail mechanism capable of refashioning to house the plane's tailgun. On either side are L-shaped wings, starting with a short delta-shaped flooring that ends in long and narrow wing-like mechanisms that run parallel to the fuselage, giving the Hellcat an overall Ψ-shaped profile.

The Hellcat bears a primarily blue color scheme, with yellow and metallic-silver accents and trim. Unlike all of the other planes Jak uses, its weapon bays and barrels are not visible on the plane.

Citations[]

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