"Nothing like some target practice to keep your mind off work huh Jak?" Nik grinned like a madwoman, they had been making a competition out of the gun course and since Nik was a more careful shot, Jak had lost twelve points off of his impressive score for hitting civilians and Nik won the bet.

"Complain about the technicality all you want Jak, just because you can shoot anything that moves doesn't make you a good shot, what makes you a good shot is when you can differentiate a civilian with a metal head. Geez, you would've made a horrible krimzon guard." Jak growled softly, Dax looked over Nik's shoulder at him worriedly.

"Like I would want to be a guard..." Nik seemed to take his sour mood in stride. She suddenly stopped however and Jak nearly walked into her. The wastelander who had been with Vin was standing there staring menacingly down at the two. He was partially in uniform of a guard, wearing most of the armor without the helmet or leg-pieces. His hair was cut short though not shaved and it was a very light blond, framing a narrow and pale face littered with chestnut freckles. His light blue eyes were hardened and Nik seemed mesmerized with them for a moment before Jak pushed her aside, eager to regain his honor by telling off the imposing boy for fighting with him earlier.

"Listen kid, just because you were able to throw me…" He was suddenly cut off as Nik pushed him aside to look up at the boy closer.

"Your name… What is it?" The guy seemed to return her look, and the both of them seemed to recognize each other. Jak was at a loss and seemed pissed that he wasn't in on it. Dax had jumped onto his shoulder in the meantime and was done with the mystifying-reunion shit.

"What the hell is going on! Nik, do you know this guy or not?" Before she could answer the guy swept her aside with a smirk and said nothing. Moving into the training area and closing the door behind him. It took Nik a moment to realize that he had just dissed her.

"That cocky bastard!" Both Jak and Nik yelled in unison and Dax started laughing his ass off as they turned in a huff to leave.

: Separation Line:

"Any problems on your patrol Pat?" Vin was whooshing around his lab like usual and seemed pretty happy for once so Pat assumed nothing bad had happened… Yet. He piled up his armor near the entrance and ran a hand through his curly hair.

"There are a couple of new P.A.Ls (This may have meant sommat when I wrote it originally.. but for now it just means Public Associated Lunatics XD). Its pretty low-key at the moment and the guard is told to just keep an eye out for anything strange. I get the feeling these guys are going to be huge once they get a positive ID on them. Supposedly they appeared out of nowhere. Some guards transferred from the prison facility have been spreading rumors they were in some problem like 'black fighter' or something…" Vin flitted around his screens like an exited bee in a field of ripe flowers.

"It's probably some story, I would know if they were doing some kind of study or experiment. I am the foreman of the Baron's scientific studies after all." Pat stood in the center of the circular platform smiling up at pat as he whirred around.

"You're in a pretty good mood Vin, you found another glitch to fix?" He chuckled softly. When Vin got inspiration, he could be in a good mood for weeks, and that's certainly better for him that the stress that seems to tear him apart when he got scared.

"Better! After w got caught in there, I got the idea that if I build another warp gate, than I can input coordinates to get other gates functional to other parts of the mine! Maybe even some older warp gates within the palace and such the baron kept from me!" Vin jumped down from his chair and worked feverously at the panels. Pat smiled and changed the subject.

"About those three, did you notice anything odd about them? Especially about the girl… I felt like I knew them somehow…" Vin seemed only half interested in what Pat was saying, though he still listened.

"You mean like you knew who I was a year ago?" Pat sat down as Vin scrambled around him with a hand on his chin.. "She's about a year older than me (despite how much bigger I am than her…) I think but I feel like I know her. Where could I have met her?" Vin disappeared underneath the platform to check the connections.

"Who knows? I've only known you for a little while, you just showed up a little less than a year ago didn't you? After you finished your training you told me you had been ordered as my body guard." Vin's voice was somewhat jittery because of how exited he was in his work. "Of course I later found out that it was a lie but I'm not about to complain about having someone to protect me when I'm out there! And the fact you know something about electronics too is just a bonus!" Pat grunted in response, taken in by his own thoughts as he tried to match her face in his memories…

: Separation Line:

"OOH! Who does he think he is!" Nik threw a slab of wood like a spear so it stuck into the headboard of one of the beds and severely freaked out Jak, Torn and Dax, although in the presence of each other, Torn and Jak tried to hide it.

"I'll hit that kid so hard he'll see Mar if he tries that damn macho thing on me again!" Despite how pissed she was, Jak couldn't help but chuckle since she recognized how annoying it was to be lorded over by a condescending prat like the boy.

"Quit you're ranting Nik and get over here, I've got a new assignment for you."

Nik: DON'T KILL ME! hides I've gone through hell in a handbasket lately so don't blame me.. I slept on my neck funny on saturday and I've been dealing with a massive neckache since then.. god I wish I knew somone who knew theraputic massage.. since then I've been a pretty bad mood. Not to mention I've been sidetracked by Batman Beyond episodes, the whole series of FAKE mangas I baught, a new game I borrowed which I cant save on since I don't have a playstation 1 save disc... So I've just been going through all this shit, but hey, heres your new chappi and I hope all this pain hasn't bothered my work.. shit now I think I have a shoulder ache too from tilting my head.. I think I'll crawl in a nice dank corner and die now shoots self.