Chapter 7
Let's Play

The Heartless apprentice was losing his patience.

Baron Praxis's Dark Warrior Program had reached a significant milestone. The next day would be Jak's second year of being pumped with Dark Eco. For the Interference, it would be one year, but it was still an entire year of Dark Eco Treatments every day. And yet, despite all that time, very little had actually happened!

There had been a gradual change in Alexander. Over the course of the year, Alexander's ears had gradually changed to match the shape of the residents; they were long and pointed at the end. The apprentice Even surmised that the Dark Eco was changing his genetic structure significantly.

But other than that aesthetic change, there was absolutely nothing else. Not once had Even seen Alexander's Anti Form, which was what he would've expected by now. The other prisoner, Jak, had seen absolutely no change at all. The Dark Warrior Program was turning into a failure.

But Even found himself reluctant to cut his losses. As he walked into the private office that the Baron had so graciously given him, he toyed with the idea of just killing Alexander and getting it over with. It didn't seem like the best option. For one, if the Interference was killed, then the world he was currently in would cease to exist. The Heartless apprentices didn't maintain the Interference phenomenon, though heroes from other games did.

Most importantly, however, Alexander represented unimaginable potential for power. The fact that he was able to live through so many Dark Eco Treatments was proof of that. And the best part was that he was currently in an automatic state, not thinking for himself.

Though when Even considered that aspect of Alexander's condition, a bit of doubt crept into his mind. He wasn't automatic all of the time. Whenever Dark Eco was being pumped into the boy, it seemed like he was somewhat conscious. That's why Even had come up with the idea of ripping out Alexander's heart and moving on. His power would be much more useful as a Heartless by this point.

A dark aura started to collect on the other side of the room, and Even turned to face it. The darkness gathered and spread until it covered that edge of the floor, and then moved up the wall until it was about as tall as Even. When it reached its full area, Even was able to see two figures wearing black clothing and dark hoods on the other side of the dark portal.

"Braig, Ienzo," Even stated, looking at his two remaining comrades through the portal. "I assume that this world is now connected to the others now, since you're able to communicate."

One of the two nodded. Even nodded back and continued, "I've been in this world for a little less than a year now, but it seems that Alexander had already spent more time than that before I had arrived. I suppose I was lucky to have arrived before this moment at all."

The second apprentice standing in the darkness said, "So, dude, what's the deal with Alex in this world?"

Even smirked. "He's a captive of the current despot... as well as his own mind, and he's had Dark Eco pumped into him every day for about a year now." He slowly lost his smirk. "With very few results."

The first apprentice, Ienzo, tilted his head to the side slightly. "...Dark Eco?" he said in a soft, calm voice.

Even reached toward his desk and picked up a small vial filled with a violet, glowing plasma. "Dark life force, it seems. It is quite peculiar, even with all of the tests I've done with it. Normally it kills or severely damages whatever it touches, but Alexander and another prisoner have been almost unaffected by it." He tossed the vial through the portal, and Ienzo caught it.

Ienzo studied the vial for a moment, but then looked back up at Even. "You say he's been injected with this darkness manifest for nearly a year now?"

Even scowled. "If the records are correct, it'll be exactly a year as of tomorrow. It'll be the second year for the other prisoner."

Ienzo nodded. He was silent for a moment after that, but he finally said, "You need to dispose of him."

"What?" Even responded, slightly taken aback.

"If the last two encounters have been any indication," Ienzo replied calmly, "then we can see that Alexander has an annoying habit of making a strong comeback from whatever almost defeats him. For Dilan, it was the darkness that nearly took control of him. In Elaeus's scenario, Alexander was literally killed but brought back to life through a time paradox. If that remains the trend..."

Even scowled. "...But his potential..."

"Then rip out his heart and be done with it, dude," Braig said with a shrug. "But hey, it's your show. We ain't gonna come in there and take over. We gotta worry about what we're gonna do when our turn comes."

"Your turn isn't going to come," Even snapped. "I'm going to master Alexander's power and then destroy him once he's reached the end of his usefulness. I'm not going to wait until the final clash like those other fools."

There was silence from the other two apprentices for a couple of moments, but Ienzo slowly replied, "Those other fools were our fellow students at one point." He held up the sample of Dark Eco. "We'll research this a bit more with our resources. Best of luck to you, Even."

The portal's darkness broke apart into many wispy tendrils and dissipated into the air.

Even watched as Alexander walked out of his cell automatically and place himself on the torture chair. As amusing as this had been when it had all started, it was really frustrating on the other hand. While the Krimzon Guards accompanying him closed the security locks on the chair, Even seemed content to stare at Alexander for a few moments.

Most of the guards that had known Alexander in the first year were dead or deserted by one cause or another, so all of the guards assumed that this was simply another resident of this world. It was amazing how that had turned out. Through this, Alexander had gone from being the outcast to being one of them. The ears were just as long and pointed as any average citizen, so it was easy for him to blend in if he were to rejoin this world's society.

"Double the time," Even muttered as one of the Krimzon Guards moved toward the controls of the torture chair. Alexander laid himself down on the chair of his own volition once again, and another guard closed the chair's cuffs around his ankles and arms.

The KG at the controls nodded and pressed a few buttons. The automated voice above stated, "Commencing Dark Eco injection cycle."

Dark Eco shot down from the machine and into Alexander's chest once again, spreading out all over his body as he started to writhe and scream. His voice was a little bit deeper than it had been when this had started. All of his flailing around did him little good, as usual. By around the end of the third minute of the injection, Alexander's screaming and flailing took on a new intensity, like he sensed that the injection time had been lengthened.

Even studied Alex, watching his eyes especially. Near the end of the injection, they were very wide and filled with the same hate he had seen right before they had broken his mind. There wasn't an emptiness in there when they ran these injections on him.

But it came to an end. Alex's body went limp as the Dark Eco flow ceased, and the automated female voice reported, "Bio readings nominal and unchanged."

That was it, then. Nothing. The Dark Eco – a substance reputed to alter and destroy everything it touched – was having absolutely no effect on the Interference's Anti Form. And it certainly wasn't bringing him back from this automatic state. Alexander Karsath was now completely useless.

The Heartless apprentice dismissed the Krimzon Guards, and waited until they were out of the prison area. Then Even held up his hand, which became engulfed in an inky black smoke. When the smoke dissipated, in his hands was a small shield with a dark golden design, a silver Mickey symbol in the middle, and a keyhole in the very center. Even raised up the Kingdom Copy Lockshield and advanced on Alexander.

"Are you sure you want to do that? This world will disappear, you know."

Even stopped and sighed at the voice behind him. "There's nothing else to be done. The time I'm spending here is doing no good. It would be better to quit while I'm ahead."

"Fair enough... But you don't need to do it. Leave him, and let the Baron kill him when he sees that nothing has happened. That will give you a little time to get ready."

Even turned around to find the source of the voice, but there was no one else around. The Heartless apprentice looked back at Alexander and dismissed the Lockshield. His eyes were still wide in shock, but there was no other sign of cognition. "Hmph. Fine." He turned to leave, but then returned one more time and smirked. "Oh, I almost forgot. Happy birthday, Alexander Karsath."

Feeling a bit better now, Even walked across the narrow bridge and walked out of the prison complex, leaving Alexander to die.

"Happy birthday, Alexander Karsath."

Little did Even know that the extended length of the Dark Eco Treatment had kept Alexander's mind barely functioning for a little while longer. In his retreating consciousness, Alex had managed to be just enough aware of how much he hated Even, and how much pain he had just gone through.

Every time the Dark Eco flowed through him, it brought him back to consciousness, and his mind shut right back down when the flow ended. So Alex had been conscious for only all of the Treatments this year, which meant that his life had become one long, uninterrupted session of pain. Those two minutes every day – and the four minutes this particular day – had been experienced in one long session of back-to-back torture.

But when Even told him to celebrate his birthday, Alexander's mind started to kick itself into a higher gear. Even had reminded him that another year had passed, making Alexander seventeen years old. Two years had gone by in this horrible, horrible place, where he had suffered so much and so long and in so many ways. Every memory he'd had in the fourteen months before the Treatments began was coming back clearly. Including, of course, when he had started this adventure, with his fifteenth birthday being officially celebrated.

It angered him. Slowly, Alex's conscious mind regained control of his mechanical functions. He flexed his hands and tried to move his limbs, only to realize that he was Shock-cuffed and bound to the torture chair. His strength returned a little more, and he struggled against the binds. He wanted to get out of here! Even was probably somewhere nearby, so he needed to get out of here! He needed to get Even back for what he'd done!

As more and more angry thoughts brought him back, Alexander felt himself coming back to full strength and more. He fought against the chair's locks angrily, trying to tear his hands out of them to little avail. But as he tried with the rage supporting him, Alexander felt something literally spark within him. Violet energy started to course across his body, and Alex felt something painfully change within him.

A bright blue flash occurred in the room, blinding Alexander and making him even angrier. Suddenly, he felt the resistance on his limbs give way, and he leaned forward and fell off the chair onto all fours. The violet energy moving across his body intensified, and he screamed as darkness spread from his heart and quickly covered his body. The darkness was all over him in what seemed to be an instant, and Dark Eco constantly sparked as Alexander began to resemble a Heartless.

The changed Anti Alexander shielded his eyes from the bright blue light that had appeared. His vision was blurry and light-sensitive, making this presence extremely infuriating. With an angry cry, Anti Alex got up and leaped across the chasm to attack the light presence that was on the other side, swinging one sparking claw at the light when he got close.

But he suddenly felt something stop him in midair, and he was suddenly thrown to the side. The surprise of the situation made him forget his rage for the moment, and the pain of falling to the ground reminded his body that he needed to conserve energy. So as he came to a stop, the darkness slowly left his body, and the violet sparking ceased.

Alexander groaned, feeling all manner of pain at his new situation. He slowly started to get up, placing his hands on the floor to push himself up. But in doing this, he noticed that there was less weight on his hands than he was expecting. He looked down as his vision began to clear, and saw fresh scars around his wrist. More important, he saw his wrist, meaning that the Shock-cuffs had been removed somehow.

"Feeling better, Karsath?" a voice asked him from beside him. Alexander looked to the side and blinked a bit, struggling to get back to his feet. He looked up, and saw a man in blue robes and a tall, pointed blue cap, being very tall and having a long, gray beard. It was a face he had seen before, but where...?

All of a sudden, he remembered. "Yen Sid!" Alexander snapped angrily, using his voice for the first time in a long while. He advanced on the tall Disney wizard and shouted, "What the hell are you doing here!?"

Yen Sid seemed mildly surprised by Alexander's demeanor. "I'm trying to help you escape this place," he said, gesturing toward the torture chair. It was his magic that had released the chair's security lock and removed the Shock-cuffs.

But Alex didn't care. "Now!?" he screamed. "I've been in here for two years. Helping me escape sooner might have been helpful!!"

Yen Sid remained silent for a moment, staring at Alexander as he ranted at him. Then, he finally said, "It appears it hasn't been two years for us, Alexander."

As this dawned on Alex, it only made him even more angry. "Figures!" he shouted, turning away from the wizard. It only made sense that all of the other worlds would stand still while the two years passed before the actual gameplay. It was infuriating, but it made sense. No one would've been able to come and help because this world hadn't even existed. That meant the Kingdom Hearts, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Chrono Trigger people were right where he'd left them two years ago.

Yen Sid let out a small sigh. "I suppose I should apologize, but you must understand that..."

"Yeah, I know," Alex snapped, cutting Yen Sid off. "I get it. I was on my own. Apparently I did just fine, didn't I?" he added sarcastically.

The wizard shook his head slowly. "It matters little now. Time is of the essence. It won't be long before someone comes to this place, and you must escape." He held out his hand, and a blue orb appeared floating above his palm. "I came here because I sensed that your special garments had been lost. I asked the three good fairies to design you new ones to help you."

This caught Alexander's attention. He'd been in prisoner's clothes for a very long time now, and he hadn't been able to enjoy the benefits of magicked clothes for even longer. He turned back to Yen Sid and stared at the orb for a second. He then reached out and took it. Alex looked up at Yen Sid for a second, and then crushed the orb under his hand.

Blue light enveloped Alexander for a moment, forcing the young man to shield his eyes. When the light faded, Alex felt that he was now in different clothes, just as he had expected. He glanced over himself quickly.

He was wearing a dark blue long-sleeved turtleneck, and a black short-sleeved jacket. The jacket had a white Kingdom Hearts crown symbol in front of his left shoulder and a white Kingdom Hearts heart symbol behind that shoulder. Around his waist was a violet-colored sash with two parts connected by a watch in the front and to his left. The watch had the symbol from Chrono Trigger embossed in it. He was wearing black pants and black steel-toed boots. On his right hand was a black glove with the thumb, index, and middle fingers cut off, and on his left hand was a glove that resembled the one Roy Mustang of the FMA universe had given him, save for the pinky and ring fingers being cut off.

"Not bad," Alex said, looking back up. But Yen Sid had disappeared. Alexander groaned at this, but then remembered that he needed to get out of here. He felt full of renewed strength and power, and felt better than he'd ever had before. He looked up to some of the rows of cells above the ground floor, and noticed a small ledge in front of those rows. This gave Alex an idea.

Alex ran toward the wall, bent his knees to get down low, and then jumped. He flipped backwards and rose to an incredible height, and then caught onto a high ledge. He climbed onto the ledge and laid down on his stomach, grinning. It was good to have his High Jump again. Quick Run and Aerial Dodge were nice things to have, too.

It seemed he had done this not too soon, because the large door on the right side of the room slowly began to open up. Through it, Alex watched Baron Praxis and Erol walk into the room.

The Baron looked at the torture chair and grunted. "Looks like Even's pet's been put away. Let's get the other one."

Erol nodded and motioned with his hand. Two Krimzon Guards entered the room, and opened up a cell on the ground floor. Fortunately, the ledge Alex was on was wide enough that he could remain hidden as long as he was low enough. It was in this hiding, however, that he noticed his lengthened ears. This immensely surprised him. He now had ears just like the residents! This meant he could fit in here, but it also meant this would be strange just about anywhere else...

On top of that, his hair was now spiky again.

Alex got off that train of thought and watched as Jak's limp body was dragged to the chair and strapped in. Jak had physically changed as well, but only slightly. That is, he'd grown a goatee and put on a bit more muscle. He didn't look like a kid anymore. Alex chuckled at this thought, wondering if he still looked like a kid now. The Dark Eco had made his base strength greater, at any rate.

When they were ready, the Baron suddenly called out, "Double the time." Erol nodded and walked down to the controls while the Krimzon Guards left. Erol pressed a few buttons, and then walked back up to the main platform.

"Commencing Dark Eco injection cycle."

Alexander grimaced and looked away as the machine pumped Dark Eco into Jak's body. The pain he had suffered was still fresh in his mind, and he hated to think about it. It had been a traumatizing experience, and it was a wonder that he could've played the game all that time and not have understood that.

The injection wore on, and Alex started to think about the game, Jak II. His memories were rather fresh since his reawakening, but it couldn't possibly be perfect at this moment. There was little doubt that living it out would jog his memory, though. It had been two years, but now he was back to doing what he did best: Being the Interference.

At long last, the automated voice said, "Dark Eco injection cycle complete. Bio readings nominal and unchanged." Alex turned his head back to watch the proceedings.

Baron Praxis, who'd been pacing back and forth impatiently, muttered, "Feh. Nothing. I was informed that this one might be different!!"

To Alex's mild surprise, Erol wasn't smirking as usual. "They are both surprisingly resistant to your 'experiments,' Baron Praxis. I fear the Dark Warrior Program has failed."

Baron looked down into the abyss below contemplatively, but then turned toward Jak and grabbed his hair. "Aaaarrgh! You should at least be dead with all the Dark Eco I've pumped into you!" Jak didn't react to this much, being disoriented and on the verge of unconsciousness.

As the Baron let go and moved to the edge again, Erol quickly demanded, "What now? Metal Head armies are pressing their attacks. Without a new weapon, my men cannot hold them off forever!"

The Baron slowly turned around, angry as hell. "...I will not be remembered as the man who lost this city to those vile creatures!!" Advancing on Erol, he shouted, "Move forward with the final plan! And finish off this... thing tonight!"

As the Baron walked away, Erol stepped aside and said, "As you wish." Grinning and leaning in toward Jak, he quietly said, "I'll be back later."

The Baron and Erol slowly walked out of the room. A few moments went by in silence once they were gone, and Alex was about to come out of his hiding place when a voice made him freeze.

"Ding-ding! Third floor. Body chains, roach food, torture devices!" a miniature floating platform rose up from the abyss below, carrying a two foot tall, orange-furred animal. The creature threw a small package onto the platform and jumped onto Jak's body.

"Hey, buddy..." the animal said somewhat jokingly, "you seen any heroes around here?" He then got a good look at the person he was standing on, and shouted, "Woah! What'd they do to you!?"

But he got no reply for his antics. Jak was out of it. The Ottsel stood on Jak's chest and looked down at his friend worriedly. "Jak... it's me! Daxter!" Jak seemed to open his eyes slightly and look at him, but he then closed them again.

Daxter scowled. "That's a fine hello! I've been crawling around in this place, risking my tail," he said, stepping on Jak's stomach rather painfully by accident, "literally, to save you! I've been looking for you for two years!! Say something! Just this once!!"

All of a sudden, Jak opened his eyes wide and shouted, "I'm gonna kill Praxis!"

Daxter placed a hand on Jak's mouth, shushing him. "Right now we gotta get you outta here," he said quietly. He jumped over to one of the cuffs keeping Jak down, and muttered, "Just let me figure out how to open the security locks for your chair, so I..."

Jak groaned, and then grunted loudly as his skin turned purple, his eyes went to a complete black, his hair went white, and his nails lengthened to sharp claws. Daxter quickly jumped off as Jak broke off the locks with the sheer strength of his Dark form. Daxter grimaced as one of the broken locks rolled by him. "Or, uh... you could do it."

Dark Jak stumbled onto his feet and looked over at Daxter menacingly, his body sparking with Dark Eco. Daxter panicked as Dark Jak approached and said, "Jak? Easy now... Easy, buddy. It's... It's your old pal Daxter, remember!?"

Daxter cowered as Dark Jak started to swing a claw at him, but he then stopped in mid swing and lost his rage. "...Daxter?" Jak groaned as his body reverted to normal. He stumbled as he regained his normal form.

"What the heck was that!?" Daxter demanded angrily. "Sheesh! Remind me not to piss you off!" He walked around Jak and gestured toward the bridge leading out. "Come on, 'tall, dark, and gruesome.' We're outta here." Daxter jumped onto Jak's left shoulder and pointed down at the package he'd dropped onto the platform. "I, uh, brought you some new threads. Put 'em on."

Alexander looked away as Jak stopped to change his outfit. He already knew what it looked like anyway. A blue tunic, a red scarf, blue flared fingerless gloves, and brown boots. Then there were goggles on his forehead, and then a leather pouch on his back connected to three straps wrapping around to a metal ring on his chest. There was also a leather belt around his waist with a small pocket on his left, and a metal shoulder pad on his left shoulder where Daxter stood.

When Alexander heard walking again, he looked down to see Jak walking off the torture platform, looking around. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, he jumped down from the ledge he was on, landing right in front of the ground floor cells.

Naturally, this surprised Jak and Daxter. Jak jumped back a bit and took a defensive stance, and Daxter said, "Woah! Who the heck are you?"

Alex quickly raised his hands to indicate that he wasn't going to attack them. "Calm down. I'm a prisoner here. I'm getting out of here too."

Jak nodded and dropped his stance a little. Daxter said, "Looks like we're in the same boat, then. Got any ideas?"

Alex had more than just ideas. He looked toward the left side of the prison area. There was a space where there was no cells, and there were a bunch of large crates stacked together right below a very large ventilation duct. He stepped toward it and pointed. "That's probably our best bet right there." He looked toward the protagonists and said, "I'm Alexander."

Daxter nodded and smirked. "Alright, Alex. I'm Daxter, and this is my sidekick Jak." Jak glared up at Daxter for this, but he quickly rolled his eyes and dropped the glare.

Jak started walking toward the crates, and Alexander hesitantly followed. It was a short walk, but Alex used the short time to put a little bit of thought toward how he was going to handle being around protagonists again. After all, it had been more than one conscious year since he'd...

Oh, wait. He'd been technically hanging out with Torn, Praxis, Ashelin, and all of those people for that year. He didn't need to get very nervous about being with two more of the game's characters, did he?

Jak reached the crates and stared up at them for a moment, as if in contemplation. Daxter looked at him, rolled his eyes a bit, and asked, "Do you remember how to jump?"

The protagonist grinned and leaped up toward the crate, and then somehow did another jump in midair to clear it entirely. As he landed with both feet on the crate, Alex found himself incredibly surprised. He himself was guilty of using the double jump with his High Jump and Aerial Dodge abilities combined, but the real thing was just weird-looking in reality! No one else did that!

By this point, Jak and Daxter had reached the vent itself, and they were looking down at him. "Are you comin'?" Daxter asked.

Alex scowled at him, but then smirked a bit. He bent his knees a bit, and then used a High Jump to clear the crates and land on the top, right in front of the vent. He recovered from the landing and grinned at them, but they were already walking through the large vent.

"So you can jump high," Daxter responded, sensing Alex's lack of attention. "Big deal! Been there, done that, buddy." He then looked toward Jak and muttered, "Please tell me you remember how to roll."

The vent took a right turn rather quickly, and there was an exit of the vent that was above the floor of a hallway. Jak jumped through the vent entrance and landed on the floor beneath it, but then an automatic voice declared, "Alert. Prisoner escape in progress."

An alarm began to sound off repeatedly. "Here we go again..." Alex muttered as he peeked out from the vent's entrance. He saw Jak looking at the doors on both ends of the hallway, seeing that they were sealed shut already. Alex looked up and to the left, noticing another vent on top of a wide ledge. "Up here!" he said, jumping across from the vent to the ledge.

Jak noticed his movements and found another stack of crates to get up to the ledge Alex was on. There was then a higher ledge that Jak used a double jump to grab and climb. Alex simply used a High Jump, though he nearly crashed into the ceiling with it. It was a rather sobering moment for him.

Jak and Alexander climbed through the vent to the left, which brought them into what appeared to be a maintenance passage. Granted, it was a very large room with moving platforms, a seemingly bottomless pit, and very high ledges.

"Hey, look!" Daxter said, pointing toward one of the pillars embedded in the right wall. There were a couple of red crates near it. "There are lots of Krimzon Guard crates lying around for the taking. Break that crate!"

The taller of the two smirked and stepped toward the crates, and then used a spinning kick to break both crates in one shot. A black and green box popped out of one crate's remains, but a few violet-colored amorphous floating blobs appeared in out of the second one. The violet energy immediately floated toward Jak, merged with his body with violet sparks, and disappeared.

Alex and Jak were startled by the behavior of the Dark Eco, but Daxter was more concerned about the green box. "Good job! That crate had a Health Pack inside! Pick it up! You'll wanna keep healthy, Jak, or, uh... who'll do the fighting?"

"And there will be plenty of fighting," Alex muttered as Jak touched the Health Pack. It dissipated and Green Eco floated through the air to merge with his body. Granted, Alex felt that they probably both needed it, since they were both fresh off the injection chair.

To the left, there were some moving platforms being swung back and forth, one gradually higher than the other. Jak led the way in jumping from platform to platform, and Alex followed reluctantly. He actually hadn't done much platforming before; this was his first experience in it. But he did have to thank the Kingdom Hearts universe for helping him to deal with his acrophobia, or else the bottomless pit below would've terrified him.

"You are in a restricted sector. This sector is on high alert," the automated female voice reminded them calmly.

After jumping to a much higher platform and then jumping across to stable ground, they found themselves below a very high ledge. Jak crouched a bit and then leaped up to grab the ledge, while Alexander used a High Jump to reach the ledge and pull himself up as well.

They were then at a narrower path that made an immediate right turn, passing some control panels that were flashing many-colored lights. As soon as they turned, though, they noticed a red figure right before the next ledge.

Daxter pointed. "Guards, Jak! Do your, uh, stuff."

Unfortunately, Daxter's first exclamation caught the guard's attention, and they immediately lost the element of surprise as the guard started rushing toward them. Jak immediately dashed forward before Alex could do anything, and he swung at the guard with a right hook. The guard went flying back a bit only to collapse against the ledge behind him, and Jak got him again with another punch. The guard then evaporated into purple energy.

This shocked Alex immensely. That kind of strength was incredible! Two punches were enough to take out a stock Krimzon Guard! Not even the Metal Heads were so efficient! This was absolutely astounding!

It almost made Alex forget his own fighting abilities, but he quickly became determined not to go unnoticed by these guys. Especially if he was going to remain close to them throughout the coming adventure.

They climbed up the short ledge ahead of them, and another platform moving horizontally back and forth spanned the distance to the next path. At the edge of the next section of stable ground, there was a guard waiting for them. Alex dashed forward a bit with a Quick Run to get past Jak, and he then leaped toward the guard. He held out his hand, which became covered in black smoke. When the smoke cleared, there was a sharp-edged shield in his hand.

Alex came down on the guard with a slash across the chest, and followed up with a backhanded slash as he landed. To finish the guard off, he spun around and whacked the guard aside with the shield's face. The guard collapsed and dissipated.

It was then that Alexander noticed that his shield was not in a form he was expecting. It was completely made of an orange metal, with a design that looked something like a yin-yang symbol, except that the points on either end of the shield extended beyond the radius of the shield to form a tooth-like edge on both sides.

As Alex looked at this new Lockshield with a confused expression, Jak and Daxter jumped over to him and stared at him with surprise. "Woah!" Daxter said, expressing enough surprise for his partner as well. "How'd you get that?"

Alex wasn't sure how to explain the Lockshield right off the bat, so he just said, "Well, I've... been able to do this for quite a while. It's kind of my thing."

Daxter nodded, and he and Jak started to move on. Alex stared down at his new Lockshield some more before finally following. Where had this design come from? Was it from the fact that he'd been experimented on with Dark Eco? That seemed likely. No doubt that it would've affected his heart greatly.

"The Seal of Mar..." he muttered, stating the first name that came to mind as usual. He nodded to himself, and then dismissed the Lockshield.

The path took another right along the wall and came to a dead end. There was a gap and then a much higher ledge. There was a metal pole sticking out of the wall between the two ledges, though. Jak leaped forward and grabbed the pole, and then started swinging back and forth before he got enough momentum to launch himself up to the next ledge.

Alex made a mental estimate of the distance, and then used a High Jump and then an Aerial Dodge to clear the distance. The duo in front of him gave him a glare (perhaps for how cheap he was being) but then started leading the way again.

The path made yet another right turn and came to what appeared to be a dead end, with a platform moving forward and backward just beyond the ledge. As Jak jumped onto the moving platform, the automatic voice stated, "Surrender yourself. You are under arrest."

Jak looked to the left, and gestured to Alexander. Just around the corner of the wall was another path. Alex jumped onto the moving platform, and Jak jumped onto the new path. This path was walled on all sides, taking it out of the bottomless pit territory. There was a pit lining the left side of the floor for a distance along the path, and there were a couple of Krimzon Guards.

Jak quickly slammed a boot into the side of one KG before he could respond, and then knocked him down into the pit below. The other guard rushed toward him, but Alex had gotten within sight of them at that point. Alex internally switched his Lockshield's design, felt the magic power flow into him again, and called out, "Thundaga!"

A large bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and zapped the Krimzon Guard just as he was about to attack Jak. Astonished, Jak and Daxter looked back at Alex, who was just beginning to catch up.

"Huh... Wha...?" Daxter mumbled incredulously. "Did you do that!?"

Alex smirked. "I have a few tricks up my sleeves. It's somewhat complicated, but all you really need to know is that I have a few magic spells."

Daxter didn't look convinced. "Magic," he echoed dully. "Whatever... Let's just keep going."

Further down along the path, there was a large gap spanning the path. Jak backed up a little bit, got a running start, rolled forward, and then leaped forward in a spin to clear the entire gap in one bound. Alex wasn't so comfortable with rolling, so he went with the standard leap of faith, running quickly and jumping across. His landing wasn't so smooth.

The hallway turned to the left, where there was another long gap to clear, and it turned left again after that. Up ahead there was a hallway lit red, with grating as the floor through which you could see the floor below. There were Krimzon Guards down there, chatting.

"Wait a minute," Alex heard one guard say as they walked along toward the grating. "I think..."

"Crap," Alex muttered, remembering what happened at this point in the proceedings. "Run!" He started to run across the grating, and Jak followed.

"There they are!" one guard cried out. Immediately, all of the many guards below started firing shots through the grating, trying to hit them as they ran across. This only made the running heroes panic more, and Daxter cried out a little bit as some of the shots came too close.

But many of the shots impacted the grating and didn't get through, and those that did get through were rather wildly shot. It was entirely possible that they couldn't see them clearly through the grating. One way or another, Alex, Jak, and Daxter managed to cross the winding hallway without injury. Once they had cleared the grating, they were faced with a dead end with a flimsy metal hatch in the center.

Daxter pointed at the hatch. "If you jump and dive, you'll crash down to the ground hard enough to break lots of things! Breaking stuff's fun, right?"

Jak rolled his eyes, but used a jump to get above the hatch, spun forward, and crashed through the hatch with his palms first, breaking through the hatch like it was nothing at all. Alex hopped down to the floor below and saw that Jak was already moving on ahead. They crossed a narrow bridge with machines working on both sides of them, and the path took a left from there.

There was a small gap between their current ground and the next path, which was a dead-end hallway. The hallway curved to the left, and they saw a couple of guards standing guard over another hatch.

"You goin' to the city races this time?" one of the guards asked the other.

The other guard nodded. "I'll be there!"

The first guard groaned a bit. "Ugh... I've been on duty for two days straight..." he muttered.

"Don't complain," the second guard argued. "I've got sewer patrol next week."

"Ah, you poor bastard," the first guard replied, shaking his head. "Which Commander did you piss off?" There was a bit of a pause as the first guard seemed to pay attention to something else, and he then said, "I just got a radio alert. Stay frosty!"

"Slash!"

A white blade of energy arced toward the two guards and sliced through them, making them disappear into violet energy simultaneously. Alexander stood a few yards away with the Time Fracture Lockshield in hand, with Jak and Daxter looking from just around the corner.

"You're just full o' surprises, ain't ya?" Daxter muttered, visibly unimpressed.

Alex looked back at them with a bit of confusion. "Is that a problem?" he couldn't help but ask.

But he was met with glares from both Jak and Daxter. "Sorta," Daxter responded. "Appreciate ya helping us out, but... y'know, it's a bit uncomfortable not knowin' much about who you're workin' with."

Alexander thought about that a moment, but then found another cop-out. He shrugged and said, "Well, you gotta get used to that around here. I won't be the first one you'll have to deal with, I bet."

Jak's glare only became more intense, but Alex decided to ignore it as he walked toward the hatch. He paused as he actually came to it, not quite familiar with the concept of diving into something. He tapped it a bit with his foot, and found it to be pretty flimsy. He didn't want to try using alchemy just yet, so Alex simply jumped up and stomped down on it.

He hadn't been expecting it to be as flimsy as it turned out to be. The hatch cracked and gave way instantly under the pressure, and Alex felt himself tumbling down to the shaft below, which was a smoothed downward ramp leading into a damp storage room of some sort. Alex came tumbling out of the shaft and landed into the deep water below. It came up to nearly his chin as the toe of his boot found the floor.

Jak soon came through the shaft as well, but he used a double jump as he came out of the shaft to land on the metal platform just ahead of Alexander. Alex swam over to them and joined them, with his garments started to dry off quickly by themselves.

"There is no escape," the automatic voice reminded them.

This did nothing to Alexander's psyche. He remembered quite clearly that they were very, very close to their escape now. Alex looked up to the right as he dried off and said, "Over here." He started climbing up the crates, and Jak and Daxter followed suit.

They reached a ledge overlooking the room, and then used a crate to get up to another smaller ledge above them. The small ledge was right in front of one of the Fortress's security doors, which automatically began to open as they approached. Just beyond the door was a long drop into the Slums below, and out into the fresh night air.

Jak pushed past Alexander roughly and jumped out first, and Alex wasn't slow to recover and jump out as well. They landed on the rough gravel right next to the Fortress's wall, and the sounds of alarm ceased.

"Yeeaaah!" Daxter cried out triumphantly. "We're free, Jak, thanks to me!" He smiled down at Jak and said, "Nice to breath some fresh air, huh? We'll get that Baron Praxis guy, alright!"

Alexander took a deep breath. It was Slums air, but at least it wasn't Fortress air. And the night brought on a refreshing coolness to it that relieved Alexander to no end. He was now free. He was no longer on the Baron's leash, for the first time since he'd arrived in this world.

Now it was time to pay him, Even, and Erol back for everything they'd done to him.

In the middle of his reverie, Alex hadn't noticed that Jak had already gone walking ahead, looking around at the buildings. Alex vaguely remembered that this was the first time Jak had even seen the city, and realized that this was another big moment in the game.

It was strange, having to get used to the whole Interference thing all over again.

As Jak and Daxter walked on while Alex slowly caught up, they came across an old man and a young kid in the street. The old man was wearing a blue robe and walked with the aid of a staff, and he had long white hair growing mostly along the sides of his face. The young kid next to him was a green-haired child wearing a blue tunic.

The old man stepped into Jak's path and quickly said, "Hello, strangers." Jak tried to walk by him, but the old man pulled on his arm to stop him. As he got to Jak's front, he said, "My name is Kor. May I help...?"

Jak chose that moment to begin speaking again. "You look like a reasonably smart man," he remarked coldly, advancing on him. Roughly placing a hand on Kor's shoulder, he growled, "I want information. Where the hell am I?"

Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder with an awkward look and glanced at the kid. "Uh, sorry... He's kinda new to the whole 'conversation' thing."

Kor recovered his composure and brushed off his shoulder. "Well, my angry young friend, you are a guest of His Majesty Baron Praxis, the ruler of glorious Haven City." There was no end to the sarcasm dripping off his words.

"I was just a guest in the good Baron's prison," Jak replied, matching sarcasm with sarcasm.

Alex noticed this conversation and chose that moment to step in. "Both of us. Hell, we had the same special treatment." This earned a meaningful look from Jak, which was what he was aiming for.

"Inside a cell or inside the city," Kor responded angrily, "walls surround us both. We are all his prisoners."

At that moment, some figures began to approach them from behind Kor, who noticed this and turned around to look. A deep worry overtook his entire composure. "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time..." he muttered as a group of Krimzon Guards walked toward them. "I-I'd move on if I were you." He and the kid proceeded to get behind Jak and Alexander.

"By order of his eminence," the leading KG declared, "the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis, everyone in this section is hereby under arrest for suspicion of harboring Underground fugitives. Surrender and die!"

Alex raised an eyebrow at this. He never remembered having to say all of that crap a year ago. The "Surrender and die" part seemed like an error to him as well.

Daxter also caught onto this. He meekly walked to the guard and said, "Aaah, excuse me, sir... Don't you mean 'surrender... or die'!?"

"Not in this city!" Kor hastily responded, spreading out his arms to shield the child behind him. "Protect us from these guards, and I'll introduce you to someone who can help you!"

Alexander smirked. That sounded like a mission objective to him. He stared at the guards, who were beginning to realize that this wasn't going to be an easy walk-over job. After a moment, he decided to withhold the Lockshield for the moment and brush up on his hand-to-hand skills. After all, these were just stock Krimzon Guards.

Jak rushed forward and slammed a kick into one of the Krimzon Guards, and then punched a second one. Alexander came in as well, kicking one of the guards as he closed in and following up with a punch across the face and another in the gut. There was the armor to worry about, but Alexander's strength was not that of the kid he'd once been. The guard felt it, and Alex was able to take out the guard with another punch.

Jak made short work of one of the guards, taking him out of the picture, but the one remaining guard pointed his rifle at Alexander and pulled the trigger. A short burst of electrical energy shot out of the rifle and struck Alex, shocking him for about a second. Jak saw this, and quickly came in to punch the last bit of life out of the attacking Krimzon Guard.

But with that one shock, every similar experience Alexander had gone through involving electrical torture was brought sharply back to the forefront of his mind, enraging him. It reminded him of how much the KG and Even had to answer for, and the all-consuming rage returned.

Alexander felt the darkness overpower him, but it was much quicker this time. Because of his magicked garments, the Anti Form was able to spread much quicker and more completely, turning him into the Dark Eco-powered, pitch-black, yellow-eyed monster in very little time at all.

Similarly, the fighting had gotten Jak worked up as well, who also had a full charge of Dark Eco within him. Jak turned into his Dark form as a Krimzon Guard carrier floated down into the alley to drop more troops. Many, many troops started to pour out of the carrier, each aiming their rifles at the potential enemies.

They were in for a shock. Both Anti Alexander and Dark Jak dashed forward and sliced through a couple of the guards with their claws, and spared no time in getting to the next target from there.

One of the guards, terrified, shouted, "Shoot those things! Shoot! Shoot!!" Dark Jak heard this order and quickly dashed over to the guard in question, silencing him quickly.

For both dark creatures, the Dark Eco charging their bodies reached out to whatever tried to touch them, and the Krimzon Guards were too slow to learn that melee attacks on the two would only end up giving them a shock of Dark Eco.

Anti Alexander was sure that something had hit him during the fight, like a rifle shot, but the darkness was acting as a defensive boost as well. That was strange, since Anti Form was supposed to be more about attack and speed in exchange... But there was only one rational part of Alex's mind that was considering that detail at that moment.

Soon, all of the guards had dissipated into Eco, leaving the alleyway clear. All of the civilians had run away screaming, and the carrier quickly flew away in retreat.

Alex, sensing that the enemies were gone, quickly tried to regain control. His sight was extremely blurry, and his other senses were dulled as well. The only thing guiding him was a certain animal instinct, into which his rational mind couldn't penetrate unless he wasn't really moving. Alex shuddered and brought his claws up to his face as he struggled to fight back the urges, and slowly the darkness faded away from his body.

Jak underwent a similar reversion to his old form. Daxter, slack-jawed at the awesome display of power, walked over to Jak and said, "That was cool! Do it again!"

The protagonist, still twitching a bit from the recent ordeal, groaned, "Something's... happening to me... Something he did... I... can't... control it."

On the other side of the street, Alexander had fallen to his knees, facing a rather strange calm. Once again, he felt emotionally spent and empty. All he said was, "So it had worked..."

Kor regarded the two of them for a moment, and then stroked his chin. "Very impressive..."

Jak slowly regained his composure, and Daxter looked worriedly up at his friend. "Uh... you okay, Jak?"

As Alexander rejoined Jak and Daxter, Kor said, "What you just did was very brave. This child," he added, gesturing toward the kid, "is important."

Daxter walked over to the kid, who cowered a bit as he got close. "This kid?!" the Ottsel asked. "He looks kinda scruffy."

After a moment, a Hellcat cruiser flew into the air above them and tilted to the side so that the KG driver could look at them. "You are in a restricted zone," the driver said using a loudspeaker. "Move along!" The cruiser then flew away.

Kor watched the Hellcat for a moment, and then looked back at the protagonists. "Thank you for your help, but I must get this child to safety."

Daxter quickly objected. "Hey!" he shouted. "What about us!?"

"There's an Underground group," Kor explained, "waging war against Baron Praxis. Its leader, the Shadow, could use fighters like you. Go to the Slums. Find a dead-end alley near the city wall. Ask for Torn." He started to walk away. "He can help you."

Kor and the kid began to move away. But just before they turned away for good, Alex could've sworn that the kid had looked at him directly and waved at him. But maybe he'd just been waving to all of them... All the same, Alex knew the significance of the kid, but chose not to dwell on it.

"The Shadow," Jak repeated. "Underground..." He looked toward Alexander and said, "Sounds like that's our first place to start."

Daxter looked up at Jak. "Wait, this guy's comin' with us?"

Alexander looked a little surprised as well, but decided not to turn away the opportunity. "We do have a common motivation against the Baron. And the fact is that we'd make a pretty good team. You're a lot stronger than I am, but I've got a few more tricks at my disposal."

The Ottsel thought about it for a moment, but then said, "Oh, alright. But let's lay down a few ground rules!" He jumped up to Jak's shoulder and said, "The order of priority shall henceforth go like this: Me, me, Jak, and you! We're the heroes here, and you're the sidekick!"

Alexander was ready to take offense to that. He'd been through many adventures, and was worth being labeled as a hero. "Are you serious?" he asked.

Daxter shrugged and settled down on Jak's shoulder. "Nah. C'mon, let's get moving. I don't wanna sit around here all night speakin' for everybody." After a moment, he said, "I was just givin' ya a hard time."

Jak chuckled. "There's a surprise."

Alexander sighed, and joined Jak and Daxter as they set off into the streets of Haven City. After two long years, the adventure was finally getting underway.

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.