A/N: I'm so happy! -Is happy- Thanks so much for positive reviews! Enjoy the next chappie. There's a battle in this chapter, so there is a bunch of violence from here on out. Just warning ya.

Disclaimer: -Singing- Uh huh, oh yeah! I own, FOUR characters! Oh yeah, who's good? -Speaking- Ker (Pronounced 'Care'), Cil (Pronounced 'Sill'), Arrah and Keli (Pronounced 'Kel-eye') are MINE! But Jak & co. is not mine. -Cries-
-Blah Stuff-

Thoughts
'Dark Jak Telepathic Dialogue'
"Dialogue"

The Rejected
Chapter 5

Sig pounded the table as his communicator failed to reach Torn yet again.

"Why is it doing that?" questioned Keira. Standing by her were Light and Dark.

"Radio interference. Something- or someone- is blocking all our external communications. I can only contact someone within the city; that's it!" he explained. Keira frowned.

"Are you sure? Maybe it's broken? I can try to fix it…"

"It can't be fixed, Keira! I have a feeling someone did this to us on purpose…"

'I can go back to Haven to tell Torn more about the situation.'

"Yeah, let me guess, you're going to stop by Jak's place on the way there, cherry? The last thing we need right now is more people to become hostages."

"Whatever happens, Jak is going to look in Haven first for you two. You have to stay here. Sig, isn't there a place where they can stay out of public for a while?"

"Yeah, I'm sure the chili peppers can hide here, Keira."

'I don't need to hide. If anything, Jak should fear me, not vise versa.'

"Cut it, cherry! It's already been established that you hate Jak's guts!" bellowed Sig. Dark glowered at Sig, but didn't respond.

'I'll use force if I must, but I'm going back to Haven. You cannot stop me. I don't belong here.'

Sig massaged his temple and groaned in thought. "Alright, go ahead, no one's stopping you. Just take the Hover Bus outside the city and don't stop at the ship."

Dark cackled evilly. He put a hand on Sig's cheek. 'You won't regret it, King of Spargus.'

With that, Dark whipped around and walked out of the Wasteland Palace. Sig rubbed his face and noticed blood was dripping from where Dark's claws had penetrated his skin. Damned demon!

Dark hopped out of the Hover Bus and took the elevator up to the main floor of New Haven HQ. Torn was fiddling with several buttons on the Holographic Radio Transmission Machine.

"Sig?" he called out. He tinkered with the machine yet again, and called out to Sig. There wasn't any response. Torn growled in frustration.

'The transmissions aren't working, are they?'

Torn grunted. "I take the mission was a failure," he stated. Dark grunted.

'Jak took the Wastelander hostage.'

"I thought so."

'What can we do about it? Can we save her?'

"You mean, murder Jak and rescue Arrah as an added bonus?"

'Yeah, something like that.'

Torn laughed. "Sure, I can pull some troops together to go with you." With that, Torn turned over to the machine and radioed a Freedom League Captain. "Cil, get some troops ready. We're going on a Wasteland rumble."

Soldier after soldier jumped out of the Hover Bus. Cil, the captain Torn had contacted, was directing soldiers behind boulders and sand dunes in case of a sudden attack from the looming Precursor ship. Dark nodded an approval of the troops around him, and, after all the soldiers exited the Hover Bus, led the way to the ship with Cil.

When they were within two hundred feet of the ship, a Freedom League soldier cried out. He clutched his chest; crimson blood flowed over his armor. Cil took one look at the soldier and knew the element of surprise was gone. "FIRE!"

Within a second, hundreds of gunshots fired towards the ship. A great battle cry went up, and a stampede of creatures came rampaging from Jak's ship. A few creatures were brought down with bullets, but many broke the ranks of the Freedom League soldiers and extinguished the soldiers' lives.

Dark howled, losing his conscience. This was his home field. He knew what to do.

Without a second thought, the crazed Dark Warrior jumped at the neck of one of the greater beasts, straddling the brute in his fangs. Dark stabbed all ten of his claws into the creature's head. The claws penetrated the fur, skin, and even the skull. Dark channeled Dark Eco in his claws and into the animal's brain. The brute toppled over, killed from the inside out.

Bullets ricocheted across the desert battlefield; cries of the wounded and dying rang through the skies. Crimson blood and bits of Dark Eco stained the tan sand for the surrounding area; corpses of a few brutes and soldiers alike lay scattered carelessly across the ground.

One group of Freedom League soldiers fired continuously at a particularly large brute, but was brought down by the beast's sheer strength. It stormed around and broke ranks of yet another group of Freedom League fighters. There were perhaps only fifteen of the League left standing, and they'd almost run out of ammo.

Cil ordered yet another round of fire from the few soldiers he had left. There hadn't been more than twenty-five brutes; and yet the animals had slaughtered over one hundred of his best men. Only ten beasts lay slain in the sand; Cil feared the end, knew it was coming much too soon.

He gasped as the last of his troops ran out of ammo. Their guns whined with effort, and the soldiers perspired with exhaustion. Cil held up his gun like a club, and, in a last effort to vanquish his foes, charged forward.

Dark slashed at the beast in front of him. He and the creature danced in battle, injuring the other as much as possible. With a strained effort, Dark struck the beast in the heart. The creature roared and pinned Dark on the ground, crushing his ribs. Dark hissed in pain, and bit the creature's foot. It howled in response. Not wasting a moment, he took the opportunity and fired a charged Dark Strike at the brute. It emitted a high-frequency shriek and crashed on the sand, sending up a billowing cloud of dust.

Dark coughed and strained with effort to stand. He placed his hands on his injured chest, channeling Dark Eco, and allowed the natural healing to occur. Though it didn't heal him all the way, the pain subsided.

His eyes narrowed as he saw Cil beating down a brute with his club. All of the troops lay dying or dead on the ground. Cil would surely die soon, for five of the brutes surrounded him, preparing for their last kill.

Dark looked away and spotted the Dune Hopper sitting a hundred yards away. Sprinting as fast as he could, Dark hopped in and revved the engine. He slammed on the gas pedal and sped towards Cil.

Cil slammed another creature over the head with his gun. He panted with effort, knocking away swipes from claws. One of the creatures roared and rushed off to the side, and the others followed it.

Dark skidded to a stop and pulled Cil in, not wasting a second. He slammed on the gas pedal and sped off towards Spargus and away from the creatures.

Cil regained his breath as he sat in the Dune buggy. He bowed his head in prayer and thanked the Precursors for sparing his life. He turned to the creature next to him.

"Thank you."

Dark had saved his life.

A/N: HUZZAH! Did I do the battle okay? I don't think I did such a good job, but, ugh.. Please review!