A/N: Thanks for the reviews from the few reviewers who are in fact... reviewing. Ya'll got no idea how much I love them all! I shall toss out cookies and candy to all of you! As for this chapter, I hope it doesn't reek as much as the last two did. I most certainly hope it doesn't all go downhill from here, either. I'm quite fond of this story myself, and enjoy writing it. I hope you are enjoying reading it!

Disclaimer: I don't think I need one of these babies for every chapter, but just in case... Jak and Daxter ....yadda yadda...all related themes, characters... yadda yadda.... rightful owners... Naughty Dog... yadda yadda.....not mine. You know the drill.

Thanks to the following reviewers for reviewing the last chapter:

Karr: Relieved you feel that way! I try so hard to stay away from OOC- ness, but sometimes it can be hard. Thanks =3

Demyrie: As always, thanks bunches! For not liking the last chapter very much myself, everyone else seemed to really enjoy it. Huh! Glad you enjoyed Dax's reactions as much as I did writing them!

Eva Kasumi: Grammar is a meanie, ain't it? Even when I read it over twice, and do spell check, I always seem to miss SOMETHING, lol. I'll try better this time, and thanks for the goodyness in your review!

And now onto the story!

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It felt almost as if the air around me was growing thin at a fast pace. Jak and the shadowed figure faced each other for what seemed like an eternity, while I was sitting on his shoulder, frozen in curiosity and discomfort, not being able to do anything but join them. I figured as soon as Jak was seated our new 'boss' would get right down to business and give us details on our new job. Or at least introduce herself.

..Or... Ya know, something...

But all she did was let the silence eat us alive, and let the suspense build before she finally started drumming her freakishly long fingernails on the desktop, leaning forward enough to make her chair creak from beneath her, as well as let a little light reveal her features.

She looked innocent enough on a first glance. She had raven black hair tied in a high ponytail, yet it still trailed down to her lower back. Her eyes were narrow and her lips were thick. Like every other stinkin' women I've seen in Haven City, she bore a lot of skin, and what she didn't show was wrapping beneath skin tight clothing. Her arms, though skinny, held muscle, and her thick legs were snug inside shiny leather black boots.

Another rose with thorns.

I've learned a thing or two about women over the last couple of years. First is that no matter what they look like, they can kick your ass in a heartbeat. Second, not everyone is what they first seem.

Looking into her narrowed, maroon eyes, I could see the glint of a warrior. She had a military sense about her, but I had a feeling she wasn't about to ask us to do something for the justice of the city... That stuff just doesn't happen. Nah, it was gonna be another dirty deed. There was no other kind of favor in this place.

"It's about time you two got here. You must be Jak." She grinned slyly, holding out a feminine yet strong hand to shake Jak's uncertain one. He bit his lower lip in thought before shaking her hand.

"And this must be... Daxter," Her gaze swept to me. Usually, with a beautiful looking woman I would give her the old-Daxter-charm and maybe even dish out a bunch of pick-up lines, but this chick scared the shit outta me! She seemed uninterested, if not disgusted at my presence.

Yet I held out my paw to her hand. Reluctantly she took it and gave it a weak shake.

"I had to see it to believe it. What are you, some kind of rat?" She questioned.

Ah, and so I discovered that she was some sort of smart ass! Still shaking her hand, I closed my eyes in slight irritation, lowering my head and gritting my teeth. Something told me not to get on this girlies bad side.

"Ottsel," I muttered under my breath, but it was enough for her to hear and hopefully correct for future references. When she totally ignored me and returned her attention to Jak, I almost spat.

But she obviously has heard of us... From where, I have no idea.

"Before we get started, do you have any questions?" She leaned back a little, relaxing. A few shadows were cast upon her young face. "I'm sure you must have something you wish to know."

She and I both waited for an answer from Jak. I knew some of his questions. I knew I had a few of my own. Who did this girl think she was? Why does she want us to do her work for her? What was our job? What was her motive? What was in it for us? There were so many questions racing through my mind, I didn't know where to start.

Then Jak opened his mouth and asked her in a calm and almost monotone voice.

"Just who are you?"

"I am known as the Underground Snake. Known to be mysterious, beautiful, and clever. I'm-"

"Can we get a name, Miss Conceded?" I drawled, crossing my arms and jumping onto the desk. She glared at me, and despite my fear and growing hatred for the woman, I glared back, gritting my teeth and purposely bearing my pearly-white canines.

"You may call me Novanya."

"Novanya, huh?" I repeated, testing the new name to my lips. Hopefully it wasn't one I was going to have to get used to. Alright, so that was one question down, and Jak had to have had more. I know he did. But he didn't seem interesting in knowing anything else at the moment as he just sat in silence, waiting.

"Very brusque, I see," She observed, stroking her smooth chin. "I like that. Here's what I need for you to do."

"Hey, wait, I have a question!" I raised my paw in mock sincerity. "What's with all the stairs?"

"I like my privacy."

Privacy? She didn't need stairs for that! She had me wanting to turn back as soon as Jak told me we had to swim underwater. Feh...

"I have another question," I said right before she started speaking again. "All those doors..."

Her face twisted into what looked like anger and defensiveness. She leaned closer to me and made intense eye contact.

"Don't you worry about those doors, alright? They are none of your concern."

"Heh, of course," I nodded nervously, saluting her and scrambled back onto Jak's shoulder.

"I need you to go to the Bazaar." She pulled out an old looking map from seemingly nowhere and rolled it onto the desk, pointing with her slender finger. "See this stand here? It sells pineapples and pears and nothing else. The guy that works there is under my command. Go to him, and give him this package."

Bending over behind the desk she pulled out a small square package, wrapped in brown paper, and tied with string. From how she was handling it, it was easy to tell she cared for whatever it was that was inside.

"He'll give you another package in exchange for this one. Don't bang it up, either. Bring it straight back here, and don't let any of those Krimson Guards catch you hauling that thing around. They'll get suspicious of the slightest thing."

Jak took the small box from her hands and tucked it under his arm. As he stood up, so did Novanya, shifting her eyes a bit.

"Ask him for a pineapple. It's the password."

Heh... How lame.

"How do you know no one else will ask him for one?" Jak questioned.

"Trust me," She smirked, placing a hand firmly on her well shaped hip. "No one in their right mind would buy anything from his stand."

She approached a far corner of the room, tapping it with her clenched fist, showing yet another hidden door. The wall lifted and revealed, wouldn't ya know it, more stairs.

I'm beginning to hate stairs. I'm beginning to hate them with a passion.

"Take this. Make sure no one sees you when you reach the end."

I shuddered. It wasn't a caution, it was a threat. Jak nodded his head in understanding and marched into the dark tunnel, the passage door plummeting down and tightly sealing itself shut once we were in. And then Jak began to lazily climb the winding stairs. He climbed and climbed...

Then for a change of pace, he climbed just a little bit more. Of course it was only when we reached the last step did I remember the stupid jet board. I almost lost it right there. I never even brought up this lovely little fact to Jak just for the sake of it being that annoying.

Anyway, at the top of the staircase was, hold yer breath... another door. Pushing it open led us into a dark and creepy looking alleyway, stuffed somewhere deep within the city, where not even the stray animals hung around. The door behind us creaked shut, its appearance being nothing more but a spray painted mural on the wall. Or at least it was a mural until it fell victim to vandalism. But from the looks of it, that was a long time ago. The place was littered with I don't even wanna know what, and there was barley any room for Jak to step over all of the junk! The alleyway was long and when we reached the end, we figured out why it was so deserted...

The place leads to a friggen graveyard!

...Which is weird because I don't ever remember seeing one of these things in Haven City before. It was creepy. And as Jak seemingly tip toed through the soil, almost as if not to wake the dead, I couldn't help but notice none of the headstones had any flowers, pictures...ANYTHING placed next to them. Apparently, no one ever visited. Apparently...no one cared to leave any kind of remembrance.

Apparently, no one cared if you were gone.

It was like, when you passed on, it was no big deal. It's just a part of life here in good old Haven city. Once you were gone, no one would give a second thought. They would be thankful it wasn't them, and carry on with their miserable little lives. No body would even attempt to remember you.

That particular thought made my stomach twist into an uncomfortable little knot as I took note of some of the headstones held no name or dates. They were just there to represent another lost soul taking up dirt.

Would Jak and me be forgotten, too? Would we ever even get back home? I mean, the one where everything is normal...the way it's supposed to be? What if we never did and we were doomed to live out this pointless existence in Haven, only to be erased from everyone and everything when we were gone?

As if...we were never even there in the first place.

All these thoughts kept rummaging through my brain, and I almost missed the fact that we were already out of the graveyard. Jak's pace seemed quicker, his eyes lowered, and his shoulders tenser. I spared a glance behind us to watch the bobbing picture shrink into the foggy distance. When I checked to see where we were, I found us going through a very narrow space between two buildings. No wonder no one ever came to that place.

It was practically hidden behind all the buildings, the only entrances being between a few selected buildings, if you could squeeze in there.

Already entering the bazaar, Jak immediately began turning corners, searching for the man selling pineapples and pears.

I can't believe the password was to ask for a pineapple. How embarrassing...

Stand after stand was filled with things such as apples, water, oranges, and fish. Trust me, with the water like it is, fish should be your last option.

"These are disgusting," I heard a voice say; a familiar muffled voice. Turning my head, I spied a Krimson Guard, observing something in his hand, shaking his head, and placing it back in the basket in front of him. He walked away, muttering something about rotten food.

On a closer inspection, I could see the baskets at the stand filled to the brim with pineapples and pears. The man who was tending it was an older elf, bearing more facial hair than should be legal, and smelling to high Heavens.

His pineapples and pears weren't doing any better than himself.

Jak approached the stand, face scrunched at the sight, and his hand tending to the package under his arm.

"Excuse me," Jak said. The food in the baskets was rotting, spoiled, OLD! They were pruned and bruised, and I think I even saw some mold on some of them. Oh, and there were also a few bugs here and there crawling on them, making a home for themselves.

"I'd like..." Jak eyed the rotting fruit, wondering if she should go through with it. He rolled his eyes. "...a pineapple, please."

WHAT A STUPID PASSWORD! I could rip out all my fur one by one at the idiocy of it!

The hygienically-challenged man grinned wildly, bearing his crooked and brown teeth, hissing out a horrible stench, and chuckled like a maniac. With his greasy hand he plucked a random pineapple from his basket, causing bugs to scatter temporarily. He handed it to Jak, ripping the package from his grip and disappeared behind his wooden stand, only to pop back up with another package, larger and more rectangular than the one exchanged. He looked bother ways before tossing it in Jak's direction.

Jak flipped the pineapple into the air, leaving it for me to catch, as he grabbed the package out of the air and stuffed it into his backpack.

"Good day to you, sirs," The creep said almost cautiously, and proceeded to ignore our presence.

Jak shook his head and started walking back to the docks. As soon as we were out of hearing range, I spoke my mind.

"Whoa, what a nutcase!" I breathed, crossing my eyes and twirling my finger at my head. Noticing I was still holding the rotting piece of food, I tossed it aside, not bothering to turn my head when I heard it splatter on the ground behind us. "Let's get back to the snake lady."

Nodding, he headed in that direction. I have to be thankful for one thing, at least. Jak and I didn't have to relive the water, the sewers, the countless stairways and doors anymore. He squeezed through the thin space between two buildings and into the unknown graveyard.

Stuffed behind buildings and away from all the hubbub of the city and it's people, the graveyard was... eerily silent. Silence can be unbearably uncomfortable. To me, at least. Being best friends with a mute for such a long time back then, I had gotten used to the sound of my own voice. Now that Jak can speak for himself more, I found that talking has become a bad habit of mine.

It doesn't help that it's darker back here, unless that's just my mind playing tricks on me.

The painted wall was now in front of us, and Jak began to finger it, searching for the trigger to open it. It only took a few seconds for him to find it; it being a brick that he could push inwards, and the wall lifted. We disappeared inside, going down the spiraling staircase, and into the room where we had met Novanya.

She was waiting for us there, her hands on her hips, a smile on her face, and a glint in her eyes.

"Well done. Give me the package, and we can start testing your skills."

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A/N: Yay! Another chapter down! The ending is kind of dull, and it's not much of a cliffhanger, but hopefully enough to keep you interested... This chapter obviously was not filled with too much action, but ya gotta wait for it.

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