Caleb put down his phone with a sad look on his face. He had known Drake would face a lot of trouble when he decided to go into the wilderness, but he didn't expect it would be so much and so earlier. There wasn't a moment he didn't worry about his only grandchild, and everything he told him was even more reason to worry, although he was glad he was being honest.

On one hand, he was devastated Drake had been forced to kill people. He knew that must affect a person immensely. On the other, he fell nothing but hatred for those who he killed. They had tried to murder him, so they deserved to burn in the deepest corners of hell. He would never be scared of Drake for killing them, which was the main worry his grandson had when he called him. They had it coming.

He decided that tomorrow he would share some of the news with Celia and his colleagues. Only the good stuff, however. The rest was between the two of them, and there was no need to spread it.

"Stay safe, Drake... I can't lose you too."

--------------------------------

The next morning, Drake, Anna, and Tom left Park, going to Scarred Jack's hideout. Since Kniivar still needed medical care, Drake had left her with the doctor, or, more specifically, with Arton. He had also asked Alex - who was now in a stable condition - to keep an eye on her for him. Considering the agent couldn't even move properly, the task was more to keep his mind occupied than anything.

The group travelled quietly. Although they had a good plan, they were few, and would have to hold enemies five times their numbers for at least twenty-four hours, maybe more. There was also the first problem, which was taking out the sentinels that were sure to guard the entrance to the canyon. Luckily, Frainer was there.

According to the fatty that they interrogated, there would be two sentries, one on each side of the canyon, and at the top. The walls were tall and almost impossible to climb. However, for two flying Iferes - Frainer and Anna's Zaplin - that wasn't much of a problem.

"There it is."

Slowly, the canyon showed itself to them. Scarred Jack had chosen his hideout well. The entrance was half-hidden behind the vegetation, looking like just a crack in the wall. If they hadn't had the information, they would never find it.

Dismounting, they left their Yscalents behind, and advanced towards the canyon quietly. There was a curve right after they entered the narrow crack, and, according to the fatty, the sentinels were just after that corner.

Using the Spirit Contracts to transmit their intentions, Anna and Drake told their companions to fly up. Their objective was to use Dreamscape and Lightning Rod to immobilize the sentries for long enough for them to get to their positions.

What they didn't expect was that the Iferes interpreted their orders differently. Not two minutes after they had disappeared behind the curve, there was a loud noise, followed by two screams and then silence.

Worried for the safety of the Iferes, Anna and Drake threw caution to the wind, and bolted through the canyon, only to stop, surprised by what they saw.

A man and a woman, probably the sentries, were laying dead on the ground. It wasn't a pretty sight. Their limbs were bent in unnatural directions, and the man's head had been smashed by the impact, blood splattering everywhere.

Drake had to take a moment to take in everything. It was a little too much. The loud noise was certainly Lightning Rod, while the screams were the sentries falling to their deaths. One must have been affected by Dreamscape, and stumbled over the edge of his observation point, while the other must have been thrown by the force of Zaplin's skill.

Looking up, he saw the two Iferes standing proudly on top of the canyon, one on each side. Drake didn't know what to say. He didn't want the sentries to have such a brutal death, but he also knew that Frainer had done it with the best of interests. With his interests in mind, actually.

In the end, he decided to ignore it. Passing as far from the corpses as he could, he found the path to the sentry post, and climbed it. From there, he could see the interior of the canyon.

It opened up in some sort of bowl-shaped valley, with two or three mud houses in the middle. Twelve or so Yscalents were in a corral near the houses. There were also a few people in front of it, looking at him, and yelling. Immediately, he took off his rifle and aimed at them.

The bandits had heard the screams of the sentries, and the loud noise provoked by Lightning Rod. One of them, especially, had his entire face deformed. Scarred Jack.

"Tom, move faster!"

"What do you think I am doing?!"

While the old cop put their plan in motion, Drake glanced at Anna, who was on the other side of the canyon. She nodded, and, lifting her rifle, fired a warning shot. The bullet made a hole in the ground right in front of Scarred Jack, and sent all the outlaws scrambling to find cover.

"Who the f*ck are you?!"

Scarred Jack, contrarily to his gang members, stood out in the open. His horrible face was even more distorted. His anger was palpable.

"Scarred Jack, you are under arrest on the accounts of murder, extortion, aggravated assault, and a sh*tton of other crimes!"

"And you came to put me behind bars? You can try, a*sholes!"

Just like Drake couldn't shoot an unaware criminal in the back, he couldn't kill Scarred Jack, who wasn't doing anything to protect himself. For a moment, he cursed his grandfather and Higler, who instilled this f*cked up sense of justice in him. Still, he let Anna and the outlaw yell at each other. What they needed the most now was time, so the longer the Null kept him occupied, the better. Unfortunately, Scarred Jack knew that too.

Calmly walking to a piece of cover, he ordered his men to attack, while he stayed behind. The gang could perfectly see that they were only two, so they didn't even bother to hide, instead charging forward while squeezing their triggers repeatedly. That was how they committed most of their crimes.

This time, however, they kicked a steel plate. Not only did Drake and Anna have the high ground, they also had rocks as cover, while the running criminals had nothing. In a few seconds, Drake had already killed one of them, and put two others out of combat. Meanwhile, Anna was also doing her part, and a person fell with a hole in her chest.

"Everything ready, Drake!"

"Hit it! F*cking hit it!"

He had barely finished talking when Tom pressed the trigger that activated the explosive charges they brought. The cop had found them in the basement of the police station, and thought it would be useful. He was right.

After what seemed like half of the canyon had collapsed, and the dust cloud settled down, Scarred Jack and his companions found out that the entrance of the canyon was now blocked by tons upon tons of boulders. It was still possible to climb it, or squeeze through, but they would be easy targets to Drake and Anna, who had already proven to be great shots.

When he saw that their plan had worked, Drake cheered inwardly. Now, he was sure they could keep them occupied until the army arrived. The only problem would be during the night, but they would deal with it when it arrived.

"Tom, go back to Park and wait for the battalion that Major Mancus sent. When they arrive, guide them here."

"Roger that, ma'am. Be careful, you two. Scarred Jack will be even more venomous now that he is trapped."

Drake nodded, still keeping his eyes on the gang. After the explosion, they seemed to be too shocked to do anything, and had hidden behind the fences or inside the houses. There were three bodies on the dirt, showing the price they would have to pay for a frontal attack.

-----------------------

Scarred Jack looked at the mountain of rocks and frowned. He wasn't stupid, and knew that the only reason the mysterious attackers would set this kind of ambush was to stall for time. They were waiting for reinforcements.

"What do we do, boss? The moment we show our heads, they will kill us."

"Uhmmm... We wait for the night to sneak up on them. It's the only way."

The gang members nodded, and turned their attention to the outside. None of them noticed Scarred Jack slowly backing up towards the other end of the canyon.

-----------------------------

The next hours passed by quietly. Here and there Drake would fire a few shots, to remind the criminals he was still keeping watch.

While waiting, he thought to himself that he had to become a ranger as soon as he could. He firmly believed he had found his calling in the week or so traveling with Higler. However, without the ranger by his side, he couldn't just go about, shooting every criminal he saw.

He wondered what he should do next. His objective was to get to Sapphire City, that's for sure. But there were two ways he could do so. The first, and fastest, would be by going back to Blue Coral City, and taking a plane from there. Although planes could be somewhat dangerous, it wasn't nearly as much as the wilderness.

His second option would be to continue by foot - or Yscalent. It would take at least two months, and that is if he didn't stop for anything other than eating or sleeping. It sounded bad, but Higler had said that unless he accumulated more experience, he wouldn't be able to become a ranger.

In the end, there wasn't much of a choice to make. Besides, he liked being able to change his mind along the way, or deciding to take a different path. Not to talk about two months, even if it took half a year, he wouldn't mind.

As night fell, his mind was full of thoughts. However, he pushed them away and focused on Scarred Jack's gang, who were already starting to position themselves. He looked at Anna, who nodded. Whether they could hold their ground or not would decide if they lived or died.