Wakfu Next: The Eye of the Storm

Chapter 10: The Enemy Below

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!"