Chapter 5
Taking Sides

KG Corporal Alexander Karsath – 7M 26D 11h 50m

The Fortress prisoners were once again led into the cafeteria for their weekly luncheon. One of the guards leading them in turned toward them and said, "Alright, any newbies?"

He scanned the group, but not a single soul stepped forward. Strangely enough, it seemed that the Baron hadn't decided to permanently incarcerate someone this week. The Krimzon Guard shrugged and said, "Okay, so you all know the drill, then. Line up."

The prisoners all went along the line to get their food, most of them acting automatically as usual. Everyone then took their seats, including Jinx and Azelas at the corner table by themselves. Jinx glanced over to Azelas and said, "You think he's comin' this week?"

Azelas took a bite of his steak. After chewing it for a few moments, he swallowed and said, "He might. Chances are the Baron's worked him hard the last two weeks. It's not like he's going to find someone else like me in the city."

"True that," Jinx admitted. He started to go for his food, but something seemed to bother him. Finally, he looked back up at Azelas and asked, "Why are ya helpin' that kid anyway? Not like it's gotten ya any closer to gettin' outta here by teachin' him to fight. And he seems to be able to hold his own anyway with his magic stuff."

Azelas gestured at Jinx with his fork. "That's just it. Without the magic and abilities, he's got nothing. I really do think he'll need that kind of experience to help him out with whatever he's going up against in the future. Having unarmed techniques helps out with any kind of fighting, even with weapons."

Jinx held up his hands defensively. "Whatever. I'll take your word for it. Not like I know anything about melee. I'm just the baggage boy." He paused for a moment. "But still, trainin' a kid every week?"

"Look, Jinx," Azelas said, holding up his right arm. The Shock-cuff was still there. "You know as well as I do that I'm not getting out of here. The Baron has it in for our people; I've watched plenty of comrades go onto the chair. Training Alexander gives me something to do... and something to give to the outside world."

Jinx shrugged again. "Yeah, well, I'm not on a leash. I'm looking to get outta here." But then he looked past Azelas's shoulder. "I'll be damned. He's actually here."

Azelas looked back to see the young man rush into the cafeteria. He looked a fair bit healthier than the boy that had left this prison four and a half months ago. Alexander was in his standard outfit, which was a black leather jacket with a dark green undershirt beneath it. He wore red shoulder plates with the KG logo on them, and he was wearing blue jeans and black sneakers. His hair was still cut short, and his build had become slightly more muscular with all of the exercise and training he'd been doing.

And he was slightly out of breath. "Sorry I've been gone, guys," he managed to say, walking over to his friends. "The Baron had me hunt Metal Heads a lot the last two weeks, and I had to remind him that these sessions were part of my conditions."

Jinx grinned. "So the Baron's a bastard. What else is new?"

Alex grinned a little, and took a seat next to Azelas. He looked around at the rest of the table, and asked, "Um... where are Seth and Balke?"

Alexander watched the mood at the table quickly go sour. Azelas pointed toward a table on the other side of the room, and Alex looked. "Balke is over there," Azelas said. Alexander had to do some searching, but he finally found a familiar face on the far side of the room. Balke's face was... neutral, and he was simply staring at his plate as he ate.

"Think his mind's been slowly slippin' for the past month," Jinx said with a grimace. "The solitary confinement was startin' to get to him. Couple of weeks ago he just stopped talking to everybody."

Alex stared at his old friend, horrified at what had happened. He'd seen Balke three weeks ago, and he'd been fine. What had happened?

Psychology's never an easy subject, Joumae pointed out. It might be something that's been building up for a while, and only recently had it started gnawing at him. At this point, we'll never know.

The young man blinked, and then whipped back around toward Azelas. "And Seth?" he asked.

Azelas averted his eyes. "The Baron just pulled him out of his cell one night, and... put him onto the chair."

Alexander swallowed a lump that threatened to rise in his throat. Seth had been given a Dark Eco treatment?! If the results of any other subject besides Jak were any indication, there was no way Seth would've survived that. "How long ago was this!?" he demanded.

Jinx counted on his fingers for about a second. "Eight days ago."

"Crap," Alex muttered. "Makes sense then. ...About a week ago I heard about an Underground attack on the Fortress. From what I was told, they got pretty close to the high security cell block before they were finally apprehended..."

Azelas scowled. "And so the Baron found an old Underground member to make an example of to them. Damn him!"

"Shame," Jinx mumbled. "Seth wasn't such a bad guy."

Alexander's scowl was nearly chiseled into his face. Two of his best friends gone in three weeks. He'd enjoyed his freedom so far, but he was angry that he still couldn't help his friends out.

Azelas sighed and took a drink from his cup. "...Still want to have a go at it?"

Alexander thought about it for a moment. "I... don't know. After learning that two of my friends are gone?"

"It might help ya deal with the loss," Jinx suggested. "Y'know, show that you're able to fight even with stuff on your mind."

"No, no..." Alexander muttered, standing up from the table. "I did a lot of fighting in order to avoid dealing with loss. That's not the right thing to do. ...Lemme work it out this week, and I'll come back next week and get right to work."

His friends nodded, and Alex started to walk out of the cafeteria. He then stopped as Azelas shouted, "Wait a minute!"

Alex turned to see Azelas quickly walk over to him. "Can I just give you a piece of advice real quick? I've been thinking about it for a couple of weeks; it's something I've noticed about you." The boy shrugged, and Azelas went on. "You've certainly improved over these last few sessions. But your defense is still full of holes. When I come at you, you know that I don't fall into a pattern. So I think you've come to expect change-ups in my attacks and counters. But you still fall for them."

Alexander frowned, and recalled the last session. He couldn't come up with any example to argue against Azelas with.

"So here's what I think," Azelas suggested. "You've got remarkable mental focus, especially in your attacks. But if anything comes at you from outside that focus, it's harder for you to recognize. I think you're seeing the fight with your mind, rather than looking at it. So here's my advice to you:" He paused a moment so that the statement would sink in. "See with your eyes, not your mind."

Alexander considered it. He'd had no reason to argue with Azelas's logic before, and this advice seemed rather sound. He nodded, and said, "Alright, I'll see if that works." He then walked out of the room.

The Fortress door opened up once again, allowing Alexander access into the southern part of the Slums. He walked down the ramp from the door and entered the streets, where the Zoomers moved sluggishly along over his head. The other civilians walking in the street gave him a wide berth, since the Krimzon Guard emblem was prominent on his shoulders. By now, most people knew about this young, powerful officer of the KG.

Over the last few months, Alex had gotten to know the city rather well. And he had a violet-colored security pass, which was the second-lowest level security pass. This meant that he was free to roam anywhere in the city, including the Palace.

Haven City itself was actually more or less a perfect square, with the wall making the border on four sides. The northeastern section of the city was called the Slums, and for good reason. The very western edge of that section was called the Water Slums, and it consisted of shoddy buildings built up on wooden platforms not-too-solidly suspended above the water.

If you went south from there, you'd find the Industrial Sector, which was the home of nearly all of Haven City's power plants and factories. That sector stretched along the eastern side of the city.

The entire southern third of the city was South Town, or simply the Port. That was where most of the import and export business happened in Haven City, but it was also reputable for being a prime spot for finding shady dealings and shadier characters.

The central and western parts of the city belonged to the Bazaar district, along with the Palace square in the dead center. On the west and east sides of the Palace square were Bazaar blocks, where most of the civilians did their business with each other. On the north and south sides of the western Bazaar block were agricultural blocks, where food and livestock were grown by automated systems.

Then the north and northwestern sections of the city was North Town. North Town was the main high-end residential district, where the slightly richer civilians spent most of their time. Alexander himself had a nice-looking apartment where he had lived for the last few months. There were other fine establishments in North Town, like a few restaurants and pricey stores, but the main attraction in that sector was the Stadium.

The Stadium was the center of entertainment for just about everyone who could afford it. Special Zoomer races were held there year-round, and a semi-annual championship got the entire city riled up. Judging from the posters Alexander had seen on his visits there, Erol always was the winning favorite. And Erol did not seem to disappoint.

That might explain why he's a Commander, Joumae had once commented. He's a hotshot and a suck-up.

Suddenly, a ringing sound came from his pocket. Alexander raised an eyebrow at it, but fished into his pocket and pulled out a small, black, rectangular box-like device. He then flipped the top of it off, making it look rather like a cell phone. On the top was a screen with a portrait of himself on it, and on the bottom was the KG logo and a small speaker.

Fortunately, the KG security tags also seemed to double as communicators.

"Yeah?" Alex asked, looking down at the device in his hand.

"Alexander?" a scratchy male voice asked. "This is Erol."

A groan threatened to rise out of Alex's windpipe. Unfortunately, the KG security tags also seemed to double as communicators.

"I need you to meet me over at the Race Garage," Erol continued, his voice sounding uncharacteristically urgent. "Immediately, corporal! Erol out."

"But why...?" Alex began to ask, but the static sound coming from his communicator cut off, meaning that there would be no more conversation. Not that Alexander had any chance to argue against a Commander because of his rank, but some more information would've been nice.

Alex sighed and looked around. Finally, he spotted an empty light-double Zoomer hovering a foot off the ground a short distance away. Alexander sprinted onto it, settled into the seat, and took the driving controls. He lifted a short lever near the steering wheel, and the Zoomer sharply rose into the high hover zone. He then pressed his foot down on the accelerator and started to weave his way through traffic.

After some time, Alex finally arrived at the Stadium. His Zoomer hovered above a massively long and wide staircase leading into the basin in which the Stadium was situated. He then descended into the lower hover zone and disembarked.

There weren't too many people around at the time, so it wasn't hard for Alex to move toward the steps leading up to the Stadium itself. There were four parallel staircases, with a pair of fountains in the center. Finally, as Alex reached the top step, he looked to the left and saw a small corridor along the inside of the Stadium wall. There were a couple of small pillars with flashing lights on them to indicate that this was a no-hover zone, and Alex simply walked by them.

He walked along a corridor, and came to a large pair of steel garage doors on the left. As he approached, both doors split along a rising diagonal and quickly opened up, allowing him access.

Alex had never actually been in the Race Garage before, but he recognized it from the game. There were plenty of Zoomer parts and mechanical tools lying around on the floor in the cramped garage. On a large work table nearby was the remains of a beaten up heavy-double Zoomer. On the far side of the room, in the corner nearest to the door, was a tall shelf with several trophies on the top rows. To the left of the shelf was a large, dark green curtain.

The boy looked from side to side, and then said, "Uh... Erol? You here?"

"Huh?" a female voice came from behind the curtain. Alex heard the sounds of some hasty scrambling movements, and then the curtain opened up ever so slightly. A green-haired young woman appeared through the curtain and hastily closed it behind herself. She wore a pair of goggles around her neck, a white tank top, and blue denim pants. She also had a clear plastic visor over her face, which she lifted up as she regarded Alexander. "Who are you?"

Alex was almost shocked. This was Keira! This was the actual Keira, who had come through the Rift Gate with Jak and the others. Of course, this was where she was supposed to be in the game's events, but Alex really hadn't expected to meet one of the protagonists so soon. Finally, though, he caught himself and said, "Uh... I'm Corporal Alexander of the Krimzon Guard."

Keira narrowed her eyes. "Oh... Yeah, I've heard of you," she replied in a short tone. She sighed and lifted her visor off her head, and tossed it over to the table with the beaten-down Zoomer. "What do you want?"

It didn't take much for Alex to sense the negative vibes coming from the woman. Apparently, she had a deep dislike of the KG. "Ah, well..." he mumbled, "Erol had me come here to meet with him for some important thing, but I guess he hasn't shown up yet."

This caught Keira's attention. "Oh, you're friends with Erol?" she asked.

Alex was a little off guard at this point. "Er..."

"Then it's alright," Keira quickly said, a small smile coming to her face. "Sorry for being like that earlier, it's just... y'know."

Alexander did know, but he was immensely confused. He was now on better terms with Keira because he was affiliated with Erol!? Did Keira have any idea what he was like? But Alex tried to rein these thoughts in as he said, "Um... Don't worry about it. I don't exactly share sentiments with the Baron, but... y'know."

"Yeah," Keira said understandingly. It was hard to do anything in Haven City that opposed Baron Praxis. "But at least there's some good people in the Krimzon Guard."

Now Alex's mind was being bent every which way. "Surely you don't mean Erol...?!"

"Hey!" a shout came from outside the garage. Alexander and Keira both looked toward the entrance to see Erol running toward them. He stopped just as he entered the garage, and stared at the scene for a few seconds. Erol then looked at Alexander with a searching look, then at Keira...

And then smiled. He walked over to Alexander and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ah, Keira! I see you've met a good friend of mine. This is Alexander."

Oho! Joumae exclaimed, understanding the tactic Erol was employing. Alexander was simply at a loss for words.

Keira gave Erol a warm smile. "Hey, Erol. You doing alright?"

Erol put on a face of mock fatigue. "Oh, I suppose. The Baron works me pretty hard as usual. Not easy, protecting all of these people and setting aside time for you as well." He walked toward Keira, put an arm around her waist, and looked back at Alexander as he stood beside her. "Alex, this is Keira, the best mechanic in Haven City."

Joumae laughed out loud as Alex watched Keira visibly blush ever so slightly. "...Not really. I just... try my best."

"Nonsense!" Erol stated in a tone of shock. "I can say with complete confidence that it was your engineering that won me the championship last month. That Zoomer was a beauty!"

"Maybe..." Keira argued, "but you're the best racer out there anyway. I could only do so much..."

"It's appreciated, dear," Erol said simply. He looked up to the top of the shelf and added, "How do you like the trophies?"

"They're great!" Keira replied enthusiastically, looking up there as well. "Thanks for letting me display them there, even though it wasn't my team that won."

Erol grinned. "Not a problem." He looked back down, and finally looked back at Alexander. "Ah, right! Alex, there's a favor I need to ask of you. Keira, would you wait here while I fill Alex in on the details outside?"

"Sure thing," Keira said. "I'll get a little more work done, then." She then disappeared back behind the curtain.

Alexander followed Erol back out to the front of the Stadium silently, sorting out his confusion. But once they were outside of the two flashing pillars, his confusion had finally been converted into equal parts annoyance and anger. "You con," he muttered.

"Now, now, Alexander," Erol chided him playfully. "We're friends, remember?" He let out a sinister chuckle, and then stopped to turn to Alex. "I need you to run an errand for me. I plan on spending most of the afternoon with Keira, but there's an assignment that needs to be carried out."

"Great," Alex growled, the big picture finally coming together for him. "I run your errand while you spend the day flirting. Why don't I like this?"

"Because you're a lower-ranking officer," Erol answered calmly. "Anyway, I'm supposed to command an investigation at the Port. There's a large shipment of general foodstuffs and supplies coming in, ordered by Krew, the owner of the Hip Hog Heaven saloon in South Town."

Alexander nodded. He didn't like the job, but he understood it. "Ah... So the Baron decided to randomly check his stuff, huh?" Though he hadn't met the guy, he knew that Krew was obscenely rich, but certainly not through the shoddy, run-down tavern that he managed.

Being a lower rank meant that more of the guards were comfortable in talking about things around him than around the Commanders. Bribes from Krew were sometimes such a topic under hushed tones.

"Exactly," Erol replied. "Go check the shipments. If there's anything that looks like black market material on that ship, confiscate everything on the boat. That'll send a message." He then turned toward the Race Garage. "I've already told my men to meet you at the south side of the Praxis statue. They'll know where to go from there."

Erol walked away, leaving Alex with a mission to carry out. He scowled at the thought of Keira and Erol flirting some more, and decided to just go ahead with the mission. As he looked for an unclaimed Zoomer, Joumae said, Good thing you decided to skip lunch today, huh? That stuff has a way of turning a stomach.

"Especially with that character," Alex agreed.

There was a gigantic stone statue of Baron Praxis in the square just south of the Palace. You could see it from the entrance. A series of fountains were at each corner of the gigantic metal pedestal it was on. Alex looked up at it from the seat of his single-light Zoomer and sighed. He then gripped the handlebars again and flew around the right side of the structure's base.

As promised, there was a group of about six Krimzon Guards milling around at the south side of the statue's base. Alex dropped to the lower hover zone and jumped off his Zoomer. As he approached the soldiers, they saluted him. After all, he was a corporal while they were simply all at the rank of private.

But one thing about the group confused Alexander. There were a number of vehicles there as well, including five KG single-seat Zoomers and a prisoner carrier. And inside the prisoner transport was someone he recognized rather well.

Alex dropped his saluting hand and stared at the man in the transport. "Jinx!?"

Jinx looked up and grinned at Alex. "Well, hey there! Fancy seeing you here at a time like this!"

One of the guards realized that he was confused, and he explained, "We're not sure why he's here for this inspection, sir. An order from the Commanders, I think. He's a criminal, so maybe he'll know what to look for."

Jinx chuckled and leaned back in the transport. Alexander raised an eyebrow, but then looked to the guards. "Well, I'm ready whenever you guys are. Lead the way."

One of the guards got into the carrier, and everyone else got onto their own individual Zoomers. As a group, they all flew out toward the Port. After a long distance, the concrete path reached the water's edge and split into opposite directions, but the group kept flying forward across the water. The guards led Alexander to the farthest edge of the Port.

The Port had simply one long, curved path along the water's edge with three exits. The middle path led to the Palace, the west path led to the southern agricultural block, and the east path led to the Industrial Sector. But in the middle of the large expanse of water was also a series of bridges and platforms that crossed from one side of the Port to another. And around all that was a huge amount of water populated by many small ships.

But in the very rear of the Port, Alex found his group landing on the deck of a very large ship in the water. It looked like a short submarine. The group of Zoomers dropped down to hover on the wide deck of the ship. It was a flat, nearly rectangular surface with railings along each edge. There was a large container in the back of the ship, obviously where the engine was. But there was a large square hatch that opened up to reveal a staircase leading down into the hull of the ship, which extended a few yards into the water.

Alexander went down into the hatch first, and the rest of the group followed. They came into a large storage area, filled completely with metal boxes of various sizes. It was a maze of boxes.

He was rather dumbfounded. "Alright... so what do we do? Do we just go through each box and make sure everything inside each one is legit?"

"Nothin' doin'," Jinx interrupted. He walked over to a box and tapped the top of it. "Sealed shut. You ain't lookin' inside this thing for anything."

Alex raised an eyebrow, and walked over to the box. He placed his hands on the top of the box, and lifted. Nothing gave. "Guess not, then. So what do we look for?"

"We look," Jinx said with the air of an expert, "for any suspicious movements. If someone's gonna smuggle this thing out, they're going to do it while we're not looking."

Alexander glanced at Jinx with an incredulous look. It sounded kinda far-fetched to him. But he saw Jinx motion ever so slightly with his head toward the guards. And then things started to make sense. "Okay..." He looked up at the guards. "Go back up to the deck of the ship and look out toward the water. Make sure nothing's trying to sneak out while we're not looking."

"Roger," came the unanimous reply, and all of the guards raced up the stairs to check for any suspiciousness.

Jinx grinned and patted Alex on the back. "Nice job. Now... can you see the real story here?"

"The real story?" Alex echoed. He knew that Jinx had been bluffing in order to get the guards out of earshot, but he really didn't understand what was going on here.

He looked again at the box he had tried to open. It was a standard box made out of metal. On each edge there was extra metal to hold the sheets of the box together. But there wasn't a lid. So how was one supposed to unload this thing?

Try what Azelas told you, Joumae said suddenly. See with your eyes rather than your mind.

Alex frowned. How was he supposed to that? But as he started to think about what he was really seeing, his vision changed ever so slightly. He found himself looking at what he was seeing with a general view, rather than a focused look. There was actually a lesson in psychology to it, he discovered. He had been thinking about what he was seeing, instead of actually looking at it.

And as he looked at the box with his general view, he noticed something peculiar. Right above the strip of metal on the underside of the box was a small black line. He knelt down to inspect it, and his eyes widened in surprise. "No way..."

"Heh heh heh..." Jinx chuckled. "See the lid?"

Alex's jaw dropped. The boxes were upside-down! But the boxes' designs were so symmetrical that you could hardly notice. And the seam of the lid was almost hidden by the extra layer of metal!

He rose back up to his full height and looked over at Jinx. "Just what the heck are you planning?"

Jinx's grin became slightly broader. "My escape." He knelt down and reached up into the leg of his trousers from the cuffs, and pulled out a thin, long metal cylinder. "In the business, they have a name for people like me. Baggage boys. We specialize in blowin' crap up."

He tossed the cylinder into the air a couple of times. "Me and my boys were especially renowned in the biz, 'cause we were the best. And we were the best 'cause we knew our chemistry. Most demo guys just buy their stuff from suppliers and go to town, but we knew how to make our stuff for cheap with just the raw materials."

Jinx held out the cylinder to Alex. "This is full of black powder. Primitive stuff – not as strong as a KG cannon – but it's an explosive. The Baron sent me here, knowin' I'd know how to use this stuff right to send this rig to the bottom."

"What!?" Alex exclaimed.

"That's right," Jinx said with a grin. "The Baron wants this whole ship at the bottom of the port, and all of the black market goods with it."

Alex did a take. "And this is going to make your escape... how?"

Jinx settled for a smirk. "At first I was going to take it down and try to make my getaway, but now that you're here I'm sure we can work out an even better plan. That is, if you're with me."

"Get back here!"

The guards did a take as Jinx came running back up the stairs, with Alexander quick on his tail. Alex grabbed his foot, tripping Jinx as he came to the top steps. But Jinx got out of Alex's grip and dashed for the Zoomers. But there were two guards there already, and Jinx came to a halt as they aimed their guns at him. "What the hell's going on!?" one of the guards demanded.

"Don't shoot!" Alex shouted as he dashed up to the deck. "He's got a bomb on him! A foul shot could send us and the ship down to the bottom!"

All of the guards became wary immediately. There was no way they would be able to swim with all of that heavy armor on. Jinx grinned and said, "That's right, boys, so why don't you just move aside and let me outta here?"

But Jinx soon found the extended blade of the Crimson Catalyst Lockshield at his neck. "But I can still cut you up," Alex reminded him.

Jinx scowled and slammed his fist into Alex's gut. But Alex was used to taking hits by now, so he recovered rather quickly and threw a punch at Jinx in return. Jinx was forced to back up toward the edge, and Alex followed up by kicking Jinx in the chest.

Jinx toppled over the edge and splashed into the water. Alex and the guards raced to the edge and looked down, but they saw nothing but ripples. Then, after a few seconds, there was a muffled boom followed by a lot of water exploding upward.

Alexander sighed. "Well, that's that."

The guards looked at Alex strangely. "What the hell was that?"

"Looks like someone forgot to tell us that Jinx was on orders to blow up this ship," Alexander growled. "He'd been given a gunpowder bomb to breach the hull with. It would've taken all of us out along with him. But now it seems it blew up when he went down, so he's dead now."

"That was close..." one of the guards remarked.

"I'll say," Alex agreed. He then looked at all of the Krimzon Guards present. "For the record, everything in this boat was legit. Is that clear?"

There was a positive consensus. The sooner they all put this behind them, the better. Everyone got into their vehicles and started flying back to the Fortress. The boat would bring itself to the dock on its own anyway.

Meanwhile, down in the cargo hold of the ship...

Jinx looked up from the boxes he was hiding behind, and looked through the hatch to see the Zoomers leaving the deck. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. That had been a slick operation, but it had felt weird.

But Jinx finally grinned. He was free. "That time-stop stuff comes in pretty handy," he muttered to himself. "I'll have to keep that in mind if I see the kid again."

"...because somebody was too busy flirting with his mechanic friend to let me or any of the accompanying guards know about the bomb!"

In the briefing room, all of the Commanders' eyes turned to Erol. Alex was giving his report, and it was suffice to say that nobody was happy with Erol's actions. Torn's glare was especially intense. "Alexander," he said, without looking elsewhere, "you're dismissed. We'll discuss this amongst ourselves."

Alex smirked and left the room quickly. Even as he moved down the hall, he was able to hear a fair amount of shouting from behind him. Happy with this turn of events, Alex decided to make one last stop before going home.

He came to the high-security cell block, and moved toward one of the cells. "Hey... Azelas? You in there?"

There was a bit of a groan as Azelas moved up from his cot and to the small barred window. "Alex? What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd let you know..." Alex replied, "Jinx is free. Managed to make it look like he died."

Azelas nodded grimly. "Krew will take him in with open arms, with his reputation. My guess is he'll be fine. Especially if he's going to be part of the games at some point."

"Yeah..." Alexander agreed. He trailed off, but then said, "Y'know, I could appeal for your release, and with all the work you've done..."

Azelas shook his head, and Alex stopped speaking. "Not going to happen," he replied. "The Baron doesn't want my kind free. You're a child, so he thinks you're easy to control, but he's not so naïve about my kind."

Alex put on a confused expression. "Your kind? What exactly is your kind?"

"Not something I think about very often," Azelas said. He sighed, and then added, "Kid, I've been in here for years. I'm comfortable with the fact that I'm not getting out, and I think it's better that way. And training you has been great for me." He paused. "You'll show up next week, and you'll be ready."

It wasn't a question. Alexander nodded and said, "That's right."

Disclaimer: Alexander, Joumae, the Lockshield, the overall concept of The Interference, and related concepts and characters are the intellectual property of Newbie-Spud. Kingdom Hearts, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Chrono Trigger and their characters and concepts belong to Square-Enix and its business partners. Jak and Daxter and related concepts and characters are the property of Naughty Dog, Inc.