Jakial felt like he had had a really bad dream. The floor had suddenly exploded and he had hit his head really hard against the wall. He managed to open his eyes and could see that he was trapped in a cage within a small room lit only by a dim red light. Looks like that wasn't a dream after all, he thought to himself. He heard some muffled voices coming from behind him but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Jak scanned his surroundings until he came across another cage. This one was slightly bigger and the back wall was solid. Strapped onto the back wall by his hands and feet was a still unconscious Bert. Jak crawled as close as he could to Bert.

"Hey!" he whispered, "Hey kid!"

Bert began to stir and Jakial breathed a sigh of relief. Bert's eyes slowly fluttered open. "J-Jak?" he said woozily, "What happened?"

"I wish I knew kid," he replied, "But don't worry, I'm sure there's a way out of here"

Jak tried to squeeze through the bars of his cage but his head was too big.

"Urgh!" he grunted in frustration, "I guess it was foolish of me to think they would be dumb enough to stick me in a cage that I could get out of"

He turned his attention back to Bert, whose head had slumped back down.

"H-hey!" Jak said in a panicked whisper, "C'mon kid, wake up! How can you sleep at a time like this!?"

That's when Bert heard it.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh...haaaa...

The door to his right had finally opened and two brutish rouges stepped inside, grabbed the cages and pushed them outside.Immediately, Jak's nose was assaulted by the smell of salty water, and his ears were alerted to the sound of crashing waves. They were now in a sea cave. The sun was going down, but there was still enough light to be able to see things better. The cages stuttered to a stop in front of a hunched over old man. The man was short, and wore a white lab coat and black pants. His shoes were made of leather and he wore rimless glasses on his bulbous nose. Finally, he was bald, with greying hair going around the sides of his head The man shuffled over to Bert's cage and peered inside.

"You simpletons!" he sneered, "You damaged my specimen!"

Jak looked at Bert and could see what the old man was talking about. Bert's clothes had been shredded by shrapnel and his right arm, both legs, and head were all bleeding. The blood was dripping from his head slowly, like a raindrop to the tip of a leaf before falling to the ground with a splat. Every 'drip' that echoed inside the cave, and to Jak, was louder than the ocean's waves crashing on the rocks.

"Is he still worth anything?" a woman's voice resounded. Jak quickly glanced in her direction and saw a tall and curvaceous woman with a short black hair, a royal purple top, black pants, and shiny black boots. Her face had the beauty and grace of a delicate flower, and yet she wore a very stern look. Her piercing grey eyes looked like they could see right through anything and she had an intense aura about her. As she stepped further into the cave, Jak noticed that around her right eye, was a deep red mark, and that she was being followed by a small squadron of golden metallic looking people. As the metalloids fanned out and surrounded Jak and the group of rogues, the woman looked into Bert's cage and then back to the old man.

"Professor," she said sternly, "Is he still viable?"

"He's not dead yet, so therefore he is okay!" the old man said with a creepy smile before turning to Jak. "Oooo...and what have we here?" he shuffled quickly over to Jak's cage and put his face against the bars.

The woman raised her eyebrow at one of the rogues and he slightly retreated a few steps.

"W-well you see ma'am" he stuttered, "This kid is the famous Gobbowl player, Jakial, y'know, the Jack-of-all-trades? He has the potential to crush his older brother's record and be the youngest gobbowl player to be considered to enter the Hall of-ACK!"

"Careful now," the woman said as she picked the poor rogue up by the throat, "Choose your next words very wisely as you tell me exactly why you thought it was a good idea to bring a 'Gobbowl player' to our highly classified arrangement."

"I-ack...thought, you could use him as...leverage...just in case...?" he struggled.

While the lady was interrogating the rogue, Jak quickly rose to his feet and lunged at the old man. In one swift and fluid motion, Jak pulled the professor into the bars, locked his arms around his neck and legs around his waist. The metallic men pointed their arms out and the arms pried apart to reveal small cannons with purple energy flowing to them. Those cannons were locked onto the cage that Jak held the professor hostage in, but he didn't care.

"Alright!" he yelled, "If you don't want me to snap this old man like a stick, you'll let me and the kid go"

"Oh come now child," the professor said calmly, "Must we resort to something as barbaric as violence to get what we want?"

Jak put more pressure on the man's throat. "Don't try me!"

Jakial and the woman locked eyes. Her gaze was enough to send shivers into his entire being. Jak began to sweat and he felt himself get a lot tenser.

"Yes, the General is quite scary isn't she?" the professor asked in a shrill voice, "tell me child, how old are you exactly?"

"I'm 11 years old, old man" Jak replied threateningly before wondering why he even answered that question.

"Ah so young" he said nostalgically, "...and so very foolish"

Jak tightened his grip once again but the professor continued,

"I am 120 years old young one. And I have seen many things die throughout my years, but that general has killed specimens and those that stood in her way more times in these short years than I have seen in most of my lifetime. Men...women...even children"

Jak became a little more hesitant as his eyes remained locked with the General's.

"I have lived a full life, and they have all of my research" he said coldly, "If you think the reason my creations don't open fire is because you have me hostage, then you have a lot to learn!" He began to laugh.

"What are you talking about!?" Jak demanded

"Well honestly, we would both be dead if I did not have the situation under control," the professor replied. "You see, child, if you really want to take someone hostage, you need to be able to make sure that you immobilize them so that they cannot use their arms..."

Before Jak had realized what he meant, the professor bent his arm back and was tased right between his eyes.

Jak fell back, howling in pain before the professor turned his taser on the metal cage. Jak once again screamed out in agony before passing out.

The professor fixed his lab coat and took a few paces away from the cage.

"He shows a lot of promising vigor General" he said, "I say we pay the nice men and be on our way"

"I'm pretty sure you just killed the boy Joho" she said flatly

"Nonsense," Joho replied, "He's a young sacrier after all. And even if he dies, I can still dissect him and use his body for our 'other' project.

The professor snickered to himself and even drooled a bit before wiping his chin with his sleeve.

"Very well..." The General said with obvious disgust, "We'll take the boy off your hands as well" she said to the rogue she was holding.

When she didn't receive a response from him she looked and saw that what she was holding was a corpse that was foaming at the mouth.

"Huh...I suppose in all the excitement, I forgot to loosen my grip. Professor, you'll need to review the cybernetics in my new arm so that this does not happen again" She tossed the now dead rogue back towards his crew and turned to walk away.

"W-wait a minute!" one of the rogues protested, "You killed the boss!" 

"And you haven't paid us yet!" said another.

"Ah...it would seem I haven't." The General said as she nodded for the metallic people to move the cages towards the entrance of the cave. She turned to the rogues and placed her hands behind her back and raised her chin. "How would you like to join my army? 

Behind her, as if on queue, an enormous golden submarine emerged from beneath the waves.

I could use some people for retrieval missions such as this until the professor develops my Stealth-class Foggernaughts." she said, unbothered. 

The rogues all looked at each other and frowned before drawing their weapons.

"No!" one of them said, "What we'd like for you to do is honor our agreement and pay us the kamas you owe us!"

The General chuckled and turned again, "Very well," she said as she rolled up her right sleeve and walked towards her ship. "Fire S.S.P V " she spoke into her crimson metallic arm that was coursed with purple energy as if it were her veins.

The rogues took off after her but stopped in their tracks when a large tower came out of the top of the submarine. They watched in awe as a purple pulse was fired and illuminated the cave with a menacing purple and crimson glow. Before anyone could say anything, crimson clouds appeared within the cave and bright purple rain began to fall around the rogues. With the General, Professor, Jak, and Bert on the submarine, the tower went back inside the ship and they sank below the waves before they could hear the agonizing screams of the dying rogues.