Aliens/Predator 1. Birth

**The Birth**

The ceiling was a dusty grey colour, and the walls a pale beige. Doctorial equipment was scattered all around the room. A sink and a preparation area in the far right corner of the room, with 3 apron pegs on the wall, of which only one had an apron on it, as the other two where being used. At the side of the bed was an aluminium wheeled table, with an assortment of doctorial equipment on it. To the right side of the bed was a drip, and just behind the bed was an oxygen canister, encase a patient couldn't breathe, for any reason during an appointment.

"Ok, you can push now Ms Rico" the nurse said eagerly.

As Kiera Rico pushed, she let out a controlled moan of discomfort. The nurse was at the side of the bed to aid Kiera through the birth of her baby.

"I can see a head, your doing very well Ms Rico. Just a few more pushes and it will all be over with" the midwife exclaimed.

After a few pushes, the midwife pulled the rest of the baby out from Kiera's womb, and cut the umbilical cord. The baby didn't cry or scream. The midwife doing her job slapped the baby on the bottom, to make sure that it was breathing correctly, but he didn't cry or scream. He seemed to make a clicking sound at the midwife. Visibly seeing that he was breathing, the midwife continued to clean the baby boy. She handed him to Kiera.

"It's a boy Ms Rico. The only concern I have is that he didn't cry, yet he did make a funny clicking noise. There should be nothing to worry about as he is breathing and moving normally"

Looking into his pale green/blue eyes, Kiera could visibly see the hunter side of him. Even at such a young age, he seemed to have a muscular build, which came from his father, unknown to the rest of the population on Dakota Alpha 231. The midwife walked over to the far right side of the room where to sink was. She stripped the gloves from her hands and then removed the apron and tossed it into the bin at the side of the sink. She then proceeded to wash her hands in the sterile sink. When she had finished she pulled a few paper towels from a dispenser on the wall, and dried her hands off. She then proceeded to open the door to a closet in the room, which housed a container that resembled a cradle. Inside this container there was a soft white pillow and a blue blanket. The midwife came over to the side of the bed with the cradle like container. "Ms Rico can I take your child please, I need to put him with the others. Don't worry he has his name on the end of his cradle so u can Identify him when you want to hold him or see him in the baby room"

"Yes, of course. When can I see him next" Kiera asked.

"You can see him when ever you feel Ms Rico. All you have to do is ask" the midwife said answering her question.

Kiera nodded, and watched as the midwife picked the baby up fro her arms and put him into the cradle like container covering him up to his belly with the blue blankets, after which the midwife left the room to take little Jay Rico to the baby room to sleep. The nurse was now standing in the far left of the room by an aluminium table containing a few items of stationary and bits of paper. She reached down and opened the 2nd draw down on the desk and picked up a birth certificate from a plastic paper wallet, writing down the necessaries. Born; 14/01/2032 at 0012 hours. Location of birth; Dakota village hospital, Dakota Alpha 231. Name.

"What is his name going to be Ms Rico?" the nurse asked.

"His name" she paused for thought for a moment. She wanted do discus his name with Dachande but he was not here to decide with her. "Jay, his name is Jay" she acknowledged.

Knowing that Dachande would want a Yautja name for him, she decided to give him a human name and discus a Yautja name for him later on. That way he would fit in with the local community and not have anyone query his name.

As she lay on the bed with jay in her arms, she thought of what qualities he had from Dachande besides his muscular appearance and his multi coloured eyes. Maybe he had his strength and agility or he might grow to be seven or eight feet tall. The one thing that was running through her mind was why he didn't have any of his fathers Yautja appearance. He didn't have the skin tones or patterns; he didn't have the large dome head shape or the four mandibles by his mouth. He looked like a normal human baby, but slightly muscular and with green/blue eyes. Other than that he was normal.

"Who is the father Ms Rico?" asked the nurse from across the room.

"His father" she said hesitantly.

"Yes the father of the baby you have in your arms, what is his name?" the nurse asked.

"Oh yes. Well his father disappeared in the night, about a week ago. He said he was going to go for a quick drive, and he hasn't come back. So as far as I am concerned he has no father, if that's how he wants to react about it" Kiera replied.

When the nurse came back over to the side of the bed, she looked slightly worried that Kiera Rico had to look after this baby by herself. "Here is the birth certificate for little Jay Rico. I have also listed a few child support groups for you too, in case he becomes a bit of a handful for you and you need a little bit of help. Is that ok?"

Still looking at her little boy, she said "Yes, thank you for your help and care. We should be fine, but thank you anyway"

Diverting her attention from little Jay, she turned to the nurse "So what is on the menu for dinner tonight, all of this has made me hungry?"

"I am not entirely sure what is on the menu tonight, but you will have a menu in your room when you get back. We don't normally served food so late, but if you call for me I am sure I can make an exception for you" the nurse said as she walked over to the door.

The nurse opened the large double doors and put door stops under the doors to keep them open. She then walked back into the heart of the room, and walked behind the bed. With a clicking noise, the brake released for the bed and it started to slowly move towards the open doors.

As Kiera was being wheeled towards her room, she noticed a man in the waiting room, holding his head from an injury he acquired earlier that day. The blood was still seeping through his fingers slowly as he was trying to contain it. She noticed that by his feet there was a small pool of crimson blood where he had been there for so long. Behind him Kiera caught a quick glimpse of a glimmering figure on the outside of the window. Although it was like staring through a glass of clear liquid she recognised the figures shape, it was Dachande, her Yautja mate. As she closed her eyes for a quick second the figure had disappeared and she had turned down another corridor. On the left side of this corridor were patients waiting to be seen by there doctors for their injuries or illnesses. To the right side of the corridor, where to doctors offices ready for their patients. At the end of the corridor they came to a lift, big enough to have 2 hospital beds in it. The nurse pressed the button to call the lift. When the lift arrived, the nurse wheeled the bed into the lift and pressed the button for floor number three. When the lift stopped we exited the left and went left just on the corner of the T-junction of corridors by the lift, we stopped and the nurse opened a door and wheeled me in. "This is you room Ms Rico, hope you like it. If there is anything I can get you just press the green button on the hand set and I will come to you. If you need a member of staff in the case of an emergency, press the red button and we will come as quickly as possible to you. Is that ok?" the nurse insisted.

Kiera nodded, "Yes that's fine thank you".

The room was easily big enough for one person to live in. the walls were the same pale beige as the walls in the operating room and the ceiling was a very light grey, with a ceiling fan and light on it. Over to the left of the bed was a window overlooking the village and the vast emptiness of Dakota Alpha 231's desert like terrain. On the right side of the bed was a small cabinet, to keep patients personal belongings in whilst they stay in the room. To the left of the bed was a leather chair for visitors to sit on when they come to visit a patient. To the front of the bed on the left was a door that leads to the toilet and washing facility for the room.

As the nurse left the room, she turned the lights off and closed the door behind her. Kiera turned around from lying on her back, so now she was lying on her side facing the window. As she stared out the window, she jumped when the glimmered figure of Dachande appeared at the window. Dachande pushed the semi-open window slightly and it opened enough for him to slip through, Dachande climbed through the window and came into the room. As he uncloaked himself, there were flicks of blue electric like light and then he appeared visible for Kiera to see him.

Dachande had all the common signs of being a Yautja. He had the large domed head, the long cascading dreadlocks that surrounded the back and sides of his head, the four finger-like mandibles by his mouth concealing his inner mouth, the large muscular body with his unique patterns and skin tones, and his arsenal of high-tech weaponry. Dachande was bigger than most other hunters of his race, that's probably why he hardly had any confrontation to take his position as leader whilst he was on his home planet, a little while back.

After Dachande uncloaked himself, he walked to the side of the bed where Kiera lie and knelt down besides the bed, and opened his wide spanning arms. Kiera sat up and shuffled into his open arms. She wrapped her arms around his large torso, and put her cheek onto his warm chest. He closed his arms and put his chin gently onto the top of her head.

"We had a boy. I have given him a human name so that there would be no confrontation in his name, but I Know that you wanted to give him a Yautja name. His name is Jay. Around out dwelling, we shall call him what you wish, but around the village we shall call him Jay. So what did you want to call him?" Kiera enquired from the grasp of Dachande.

"Although I have not seen him, I can tell he will do great things, and will be a good one for hiding from his prey and stalking them out . His hunter name shall be Sha,dar,rio" Dachande said proudly.

"Shadow…Sounds mysterious. The only thing that I find strange is, that he is not like a Yautja he is all human. He has no physical Yautja qualities, like the mandibles or the skin tones and colours. He does have the multi coloured eyes, they are green and blue and he has a slightly muscular physique too, similar to yours" Kiera said as she rubbed Dachande's stomach.

"Well my mate you needn't worry, he is still our pup and he shall be taught in both Yautja and ooman ways. As soon as I fix my communications beacon and Sha,dar,rio is old enough, we shall go back to the home world and live our lives happy and with the clan" as Dachande said that Kiera look up at him.

"I have never been to your home world, how would they treat me. From what you have told me they would hate to have me there, either that or they would kill me. It would be hard for me to fit in"

"When I first laid eyes on you, you killed that giant beast with only a small knife, which is what attracted me to you. In my eyes you are a warrior, and you are my mate. It will be hard at first but it will all turn out for the best" Dachande insisted.

"Ok as you wish my love. I am pretty tired, I think I am going to go to sleep" Kiera put a hand on each side of Dachande's face and brought it down to her face level. She kissed him on his mask. With that, he slowly lifted her from where she lay and into his arms, and gently hugged her. Softly he put her onto the bed, and pulled the covers over her. He pulled the leather seat closer to the bed, and sat by her side and softly stroking her head until she fell asleep. Whilst Kiera was asleep Dachande turned on his cloaking device, and climbed out of the window and pulled the window closed. And ran into the desert and back to his and Kiera's dwelling.


	2. 14 Years Later

**14 years later…**

Unlike most children, Shadow matured extraordinarily fast. His physical maturity was that of a 16 year old, yet his mental maturity was that of an 18 year old. Even at such an age, Shadow was able to speak and understand the English language and the Yautja language, thanks to both his parents, Kiera and Dachande.

Dachande was very insistent that Shadow should learn the ways of the hunter, but kept him to the basics. Shadow far exceeded his father's expectations in all areas of his hunter background. He was very strong, fast, agile, and smart. By this time Shadow had started showing signs that he was going to have his own hunting style. He was extremely light on his feet, and it seemed as though he didn't touch the floor when he ran. His fighting was super fast and precise; he was able to battle around a target, coming within millimetres of contact between his targets.

Kiera ran outside into the backyard in a panic, her eyes wide and darting around the scenery. "Shadow, Shadow where are you".

Noticing the glimmer of Dachande sat on a chair in the corner of the patio. She ran up to him in a panic. "Where is Shadow? He hasn't been here all day; one of those mammolith things might have got him".

Still concentrating on something in the distance, Dachande said "Don't worry he is fine. He is meditating".

"What do you mean he is meditating, he has never meditated before. Where is he?" Kiera said flustered.

Pointing into the distance, Dachande said "I have got my eyes on him, not that he needs it. He is a very skilled and talented hunter. He is capable of looking after himself".

"If anything happens to him Dachande I'm holding you responsible, is that clear" Kiera said with a now angered face.

"Do not fear my mate, nothing shall happen to him" he said reassuring her.

Shadow was five feet nine inches tall, medium built in body mass. He had a very soft looking face, rounded chin, and his bluey and green eyes expressed his soft facial expressions. Following his Yautja traditions, he had grown his hair and Dachande had plated it into dreadlocks for him. Some of his locks of hair had some of Dachande's gold hair rings on them, to give him that sense of tradition.

As Kiera walked into the house, Dachande diverted his attention back to Shadow. As he did this he noticed a mammolith was stalking up to Shadow.

The mammolith is a wolf life creature that is as big as a bear. Its fur is long and matted and dusty red in colour. The mammolith's short fuse makes it a highly dangerous predator, easily able to kill a fully grown Yautja. Unless you have a powerful enough weapon you will die when confronted by one of these beasts.

Dachande let out a loud shriek to alert Shadow, but he was too far away to hear his father's cry. Dachande jumped from where he sat, grabbed his spear and ran in the direction of his pup. He was about 800 yards from his pup and the mammolith, when it went in for the attack. Completely aware of the situation, Shadow dove forward from his knelled position and rolled into a crouched fighting stance, and pulling his hunting knife from his knife sheath on his back. As the beast leaped towards Shadow, he dropped to one knee and rolled right; as he came up he stuck the knife into the side of the mammoliths head. The mammolith screamed in pain. When we withdrew his blade, he got up onto his feet and ran three paces forward and turned to face his enemy. He crouched again, awaiting the mammoliths next attack. The mammolith charged forwards as if to run his opponent into the ground. When it was about 3 feet away, Shadow dove forwards and to his left slightly. Just out of the way of the charging monstrosity. As he landed, he held the blade along his forearm, and penetrated the large beast's side, and let its momentum split it wide open. Blood sprayed everywhere from the large gash down the side of the mammolith, Shadow was covered in the mammoliths warm, bright blue blood. Turning around ready for the mammoliths next move he saw the beast fall to the floor dead. When he stood up he saw Dachande standing only a few meters from the carcase of the mammolith.

Amazed at what he had just seen, Dachande walked up to Shadow. He wiped the blood from Shadows face, to see that he was calm, not bothered at what had just happened. He just looked up at Dachande and smiled "Hi father. Are you here to help me take this home?"

"I saw the mammolith stalking up to you, and thought that it was going to kill you. I promised your mother that nothing would happen to you. So I came as quick as I could to help, but I notice you did not need it" Dachande said looking very confused.

Looking at the carcase of the beast Dachande said to Shadow "This is the biggest thing I have seen you kill. We shall take it home, cut the head off and clean it up. This shall be you first official solo kill of honour."

When they got back to the dwelling, Shadow ran to the door and called to his mother "Mom come and take a look at what I just killed".

"Did you kill another wild rabbit Shadow" she said laughing as she walked through the house.

"Think something a little bigger" he said looking at his kill.

Still laughing to herself she said "Ok. You killed a neighbour's dog or a wild pig".

She stopped at the back door and looked in amazement when she saw the mammolith lying in a heap outside the backdoor.

"wh…who killed this. You?" she turned to Dachande

Dachande just pointed to Shadow. "I was meditating and I heard a noise behind me to my right. So I jumped forwards and drew my knife. When I saw it was a mammolith I…I…I don't know, it was like my brain shut down and my body took control. When I realized what I had done father was standing there, praising me for my kill".

"Dachande what did I tell you? I said; if anything happens to him…"

Dachande interrupted her "He was amazing to watch. He measured every step, timed every strike. There was no point in the whole incident, which he was not in complete control. When I saw the beast stalking up to him, I ran there as fast as I could. When I got there he attacked the mammolith and was victorious"

Frustrated yet relieved Kiera walked over to the seat in the corner of the patio and sat down. Turning to Shadow she said "I am not happy with this Shadow, you know that. But you came out of it uninjured. And if this is true that you handled yourself with such skill, I cannot complain. But please try and be careful because you might not be so lucky next time ok".

"Ok mother. Sorry." Shadow Said as he lower his eyes.

Dachande clicked and agreed. Shadow turned and looked at his kill, then looked up to see his father holding a knife. "It is time that you learnt how to skin and preserve your trophies"

Shadow nodded looking back down at his prized mammolith. Dachande forced the beast onto its back, and spread its front and rear legs to expose its underside. Whilst cutting the mammolith down its middle, Dachande explained how to skin it correctly. "Cut from just under the neck, down the middle and to the tail. From where you rejected your blade, insert it back into the prey but this time using the side of the blade to part the skin from the flesh as so"

Watching with interest, Shadow nodded. Blue blood was seeping from the belly of the mammolith, and over Dachande's hands as he was cutting into the beast's body. "Once you have done this to both sides of the skin on the underbelly, you force it outwards and off of the carcase and cutting down the arms and legs of your prey. Once you have done this you want to take the head as a trophy, to show people your capabilities. Sometimes you take the spinal column too, depending on the prey. Some soft meat you take both head and spinal column, you will know if you should when you battle it" Dachande was saying whilst ripping the skin from the mammolith.

Dachande showed Shadow how to preserve the trophies he received from the kills that he made from his prey. After preserving the skull of the mammolith, shadow put the skull on his bedroom wall, and Kiera put the meat from the mammolith into the basement cooler ready for a meal that they as a family would have at a later date.

Later that day Dachande and Shadow where in the backyard. Shadow was knelt on the floor with his hands on his knees, listening to the teaching of his father Dachande. "When you face an opponent in a serious battle, you must learn that your opponent will say or do anything to make you angry. You must learn not to listen to the insults, as this will make you fight carelessly. And you will lose"

Shadow nodded taking in all his father was saying. "So my enemy will try to distract me whilst I fight them. So should I do the same to them?"

"Yes but use your insults strategically. If you dodge an attack your opponent uses or your opponent uses a poor technique then you insult them" Dachande said insistently.

Shadow nodded his head. "Go grab your staff. I am going to demonstrate what I mean"

Shadow jumped to his feet and ran inside the house, when he came running from the house; he had his wooden training staff ready to spa with his father. "Let's commence the training" Dachande said.

With no warning, Dachande used his training staff and swung at Shadows legs and sent him flying to the floor "You're not very good at this are you Shadow".

Shadow stood up, still looking calm he went in for the attack, only to have his legs swept from under him again "Surely you can do better than this Shadow, I thought you were a good fighter".

Shadow stood up again, this time he was mad. Swinging his wooden staff around, and going in for every attack possible. Once again Dachande took his legs out from underneath him "This is pathetic. I saw you kill a mammolith with easy this morning and you can't even touch me. You are no warrior".

As Shadow stood up again, Dachande noticed that Shadows eye colour had changed, from his greeny blue eyes to these now dark orangey red eyes. As Shadow went if for an attack, he stopped dead still and dropped his staff. He then fell to the floor and clenched at his chest, and started to scream in pain. Noticing that Shadow was not playing, he picked him up and ran to the dwelling. When he got inside he called for Kiera. When she got to them, Shadow stopped screaming and his body went limp. Thinking something was seriously wrong with him, Kiera checked his pulse. It was moderately fast but it was there and he was breathing. Dachande walked to Shadows room and put him onto his bed. "What happened?" Kiera asked worried.

"We were sparing, and his tripped him a few times. Demonstrating what taunting worked. After my forth time of tripping him, he got back up. But this time his eyes changed" Dachande replied.

"What do you mean his eyes changed?"

"They changed from green to red. He was enraged because I tripped him so many times. Then he stopped and fell to the floor screaming"

Kiera and Dachande stopped what they were saying when they heard a loud bang from Shadows room. When they opened the door. They found Shadow on the floor, clutching at his face. As he stood up, Kiera noticed that there was bright green blood seeping through Shadows fingers. When he removed his hands, she could see that the blood was coming from his nose. He had fallen off of the bed and hit his face on the floor. "How do you feel honey?" Kiera asked concerned.

"I feel confused. One minute I was outside being taught about taunting. Next thing I remember I fall off of my bed" Shadow said with a puzzled look on his face.

"You must have blacked out for a moment. Get some sleep; you have a surprise in the morning. You will need the energy. Go on get cleaned up and go to bed baby" Kiera said softly.

After Shadow went to bed, Dachande walked downstairs and into the basement of the house. He walked over to his little work station in the corner, and sat down on the stall by the desk. From the first draw on the left of the desk, Dachande pulled out a little tool kit. The tool kit consisted of a few screw drivers, a knife, a few racket parts and a hammer. Dachande unclipped his left wrist gauntlet and took it off, and placed it to his right on the desk. From the big draw at the bottom on the right, he pulled out a mini power supply and a circuit board. The circuit board had wires connecting different parts of the board to other parts, with dials and knobs all over it. Dachande connected the circuit board to the power supply, and pressed the switch to turn it on. There was a relatively loud whirl and the power pack hummed to life. Using a screw driver, Dachande opened his wrist gauntlet and connected a wire from the circuit board to a terminal inside his gauntlet. Pressing a series of touch pads in his gauntlet, he set up the distress signal. Twiddling some of the dials on the circuit board, he increased the signal output and input. He jumped off the stool when he felt someone grab his sides. When he turned around, he noticed that it was Kiera "You know that I don't like people creeping up on me, why did you do it" he said huskily.

"I did it to scare you my love. Are you still playing with that distress signal? You should just leave it on, when the power supply dies, we shall get a new one" Kiera said as she rubbed Dachande's sides

Dachande purred with enjoyment as Kiera was rubbing his body "Honey we have to speak about Shadow. Did you notice that he was bleeding green blood when he was in his room? Whenever I have seen him bleed, it has been red" Kiera said still playing with Dachande's body.

"Remember my mate, I have not known of any Human/Yautja hybrids, so I could be because of his teen years. His blood could be changing because of his age" Dachande said in reassurance.

"Perhaps you are right. But what about tomorrow, it shall be his first day in school. He has not really been in contact with any boys or girls his age before" Kiera said as she slowed her rubbing movement down.

"He will be fine. If anything bad were to happen he would come and tell us. Do you want to go to bed now my mate, you are looking very tired" Dachande asked as he turned to Kiera.

Kiera nodded. As she removed her hands from his sides, he swept her off of her feet and into his arms. Dachande walked up the stairs with Kiera in his arms. He walked into their room, mate in arms, he walked over to the side of the bed, and gently placed her down. Kiera took off her shirt and her shorts and walked into the bathroom. Whilst she was having a quick wash, Dachande took off his armour and weapons and placed them in the wardrobe. Now down to just his loin cloth, he lay on the bed waiting for Kiera to come out of the bathroom. When Kiera strolled out of the bathroom in just her bathrobe, Dachande let out a sexual growl. She sat on the edge of the bed and took the bathrobe off and slung it into the corner of the room. As he lay back onto the bed, Kiera shuffled over to him and put her arms around his large torso, and he wrapped his arm closet to her around her.


	3. A Sign of Things to Come

**A sign of things to come…**

"Shadow honey. Wake up, you're going to school" Kiera said rapping on Shadow's bedroom door.

Excitedly jumping out of bed, Shadow picked up his holster for his hunting knife, and put the straps over his shoulders and fastened the belt around his waist. Grabbing his knife, he slid it into the sheath and fastened the knife to the holster. He then put on his desert camo pants, with his black O'Neil T-shirt. Rummaging through a pile of comic books and clothes, he came across his Magnum patrol boots. Quickly putting them on, he ran out of his room and into the kitchen. Whilst raiding the ice box, he came across some of the mammolith that he had slain the day before. So he went to the bread bin, and took out 2 pieces of bread from the bag. He then cut off some of the meat, and placed it onto a piece of the bread, covering it with the other piece that he had taken from the bread bag. Putting his sandwich into his lunch box, he went to the cupboard and took a chocolate candy bar and a packet of ready salted potato chips, and went to the ice box again and took a bottle of root beer, and put those into his lunch box too.

By the time he had finished in the kitchen, Kiera was in the living room waiting to take him to his class. By the time Kiera and Shadow left their dwelling, the sun was coming up and they could feel the heat of the sun, even this early in the morning. As they walked across the desert like scenery Kiera was explaining to Shadow about things he could say and do, and things that he shouldn't say and do. "Ok Shadow, you have to remember that you are going to be with normal children now, so you have to use you first name. Do you still remember it?"

"It's Jay right. Yes I'm sure I can remember that." He said as he looked at her.

"If they ask about your father, just say that you have never met him. Remember he is not of the same species as us, well people on this planet. Oh yes and do try and get along with the kids in your classes ok. And remember to do as your teachers ask of you" Kiera said as they walked into Dakota village.

When Kiera and Shadow arrived at the school, there was a male teacher directing children to different areas in the building, probably to their classes. The teacher was tall, about 6 feet, with a medium build. He had brown hair in a military fashioned short back and sides, blue eyes and a squared chin. He wore a pair of black pants with perfect creases down both legs of his pants, a white shirt neatly pressed and his 'I Love Teaching' tie perfect length, to his belly button. In his arms he had his red clip board and pen, and around his neck his whistle to get the students attention.

As Kiera and Shadow approached the man, they could see that he had a name badge on the left side of his shirt; his name was 'Mr B Calhoun'. "What is your name son?" Mr Calhoun said as he peered over his clip board.

"Jay Shadow Rico sir" he said with confidence.

"Rico…Rico. Ah yes, room 38b. Your teacher is Mr G Freeman." Mr Calhoun said as he directed the pair into the school entrance and down the left corridor.

"Thank you" Kiera said as she walked past him.

"Ok remember Shadow. Speak English here"

"I know, I know" he said nodding his head sarcastically.

As they approached the room, Kiera gave Shadow a kiss on the forehead, and pointed to the door. "Go on then knock on the door. Have a nice day honey. Come straight back home when you finish ok"

He just nodded and turned to face the door. Just as he knocked on the door, it swung open making Shadow jump back a pace or two. "Come on in. I am Mr Freeman, and you are?" Mr Freeman said in an excited tone.

"I…I'm Jay sir. Jay Shadow Rico" he said slightly nervous.

"Go and take a seat at the back there Jay" Pointing over to the far right corner.

As he walked to the back of the classroom, he noticed that the other people in the room were looking at him as he past them. When he sat at his desk, he put his lunch box on the floor at the side of his desk. As he did that the teach Mr Freeman spoke up from the front of the class "Ok welcome to Dakota middle school. I am Mr Gordon Freeman. Let's start by getting to know each other shall we. You in the brown shirt to my left. What's your name, and what are your hobbies or interests?"

"Err my name is Glenn Regency, and my interests are comic books, football, and riding bikes" Glenn said in a calm yet uncaring way.

Glenn was a reasonably tall kid, quite sporty and dressed as though he didn't really care for what he looked like.

"Ok little miss in the pink top. Name, hobbies and interests" Mr Freeman asked insistently.

"My name is Sam Newton. My hobbies and interests are reading, gymnastics, and swimming. I also like to play with my friends" she said in a cute quiet voice.

Sam was the class cutie. She loved to keep fit and active, but she had the smartness about her, not just physically but mentally too, reading books that not many people in her grade could.

"Young sir in the shirt and tie" Mr Freeman said in a posh way.

"Hello class. My name is Geoffrey Carter. My hobbies and interests are electronics, chemistry and physics" he said in a very upper class tone.

Geoffrey was a child that would go on and become the manager of a very powerful company. He was dressed very smartly with his pressed pants and shirt and his tie. This kid was defiantly the brains of the class.

"The fellow behind Geoffrey" pointing behind Geoffrey.

"Hey I'm Jack Cobham. I like a lot of things, anything sweet is my preference, reading comics, and playing games on my computer" he said holding a candy bar.

Jack was a short, plump kid. He loved his food, and sitting on his but doing absolutely nothing. His clothes reflected this too, the tomato ketchup stains on the side of his pants and the cookies crumbs by his feet.

"The soldier at the back" saluting at Shadow.

"My name is Jay Shadow Rico, but people call me Shadow because of my ability to blend in with my surroundings. My hobbies and interests are Comics, all forms of fitness, Hunting and unarmed combat" he said in a powerful tone.

Shadow was slightly bigger than everyone in the class, with a far greater fitness level.

"Hunting? Where and what do you hunt, and with who? If I may ask" Mr Freeman asked.

"I hunt near the valleys, and by the canyons and caves. I hunt anything that I see, and I do it by myself sir" he said with confidence.

"What? You do it by yourself. Do you not go with your father? What's the biggest animal you have killed so far and what guns do you use?" he asked insistently.

"I…I don't know my father, I have never met him. My biggest kill so far was a mammolith that I killed yesterday. As for guns, I have never used one, I use a knife" as he finished his sentence, he reached under his shirt and unclipped his hunting knife from its holster. Spinning the knife around in his hand he held it in the air, showing the class what he uses to hunt with.

"Mr Rico, I am afraid that you are not aloud to have knives in the school, give it to me and your parents or guardians can collect it from me later" he said in a raised tone, walking towards Shadow.

"No sir. I can't give you my knife, for reasons I am not willing to share" he replied.

Mr Freeman walked up to him with his hand out and an angered expression on his face. His ginger hair further enhancing his facial expressions. "GIVE ME THE KNIFE NOW!" he said raising his voice further.

"I can't do that sir" he said raising his own voice to put his point across.

"Get out of my class. Go get out, ill come and see you in a minute" He said pointing to the door.

Calmly Shadow rose from his seat. As he started for the door, the two boys that were sitting next to him started laughing at him. Fancily spinning his knife in his hand, he lifted his shirt and placed it back into its holster. As he stepped out into the corridor, he walked over to the other side of the corridor and sat on one of the chairs.

About 20 minutes past, and Mr Freeman stepped into the corridor. Walking up to Shadow Mr Freeman said "Are you going to give me the knife? If so you can come back into the class"

Shadow Raised his head "As I said before, I can't do that"

"And why can't you give me the knife?"

"It's sacramental"

"In what way?"

"It is the only thing I have, that my father had. And it is my way of protecting myself from animals on my way to and from this village"

"How about you give me the knife, and I will give it back to you at the end of the day before you go home"

"How about I promise not to pull it out in class again. I don't plan on using it on anyone. There is not a single person in this school, that I can call a threat"

"I can't do that Jay. If another teacher was to see you with it, they would kick you out of the school, and I would get fired. You're lucky that I haven't called your parents to come and get you."

"And for that I am grateful, but I can't give you my knife. The furthest it has been from my hand since I was 3 was 2 meters, and that was when I dropped it in a training battle situation"

"Ok. If you promise not to ever get it out in class, and if I ever see you threaten anybody with it, I will take the appropriate actions to have you arrested. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir. I promise not to take it from the holster again"

With the situation solved, Mr Freeman and Shadow stepped back into the classroom. Mr Freeman walked back to his seat at the front of the class, and Shadow walked back to his seat at the back of the class. As he was about to sit down, the boy next to him kicked his seat out from under him, and Shadow fell to the floor. As he hit the floor, he grabbed a leg of his attacker's chair, and threw his chair out from under the boy. He too fell to the floor. "Sir he kicked my seat out from under me" Max said in an upset voice.

"Don't lie Max I saw you kick Jay's seat out from under him first. You got what you deserved" Josh said from the centre right of the room.

Shadow got his chair from against the wall and sat at his desk. Max picked himself up and threw a tantrum because he didn't get his own way, grabbing his chair he sat back at his desk plotting ways to get Shadow back.

At the end of the day, the bell went, alerting the students and teachers, that is was time for them to go home. Shadow picked up his paper and his pens and put them in his desk, then grabbed his lunch box and left the class. He was about halfway down the corridor when Josh ran up to him and introduced himself "Hey I'm Josh, I didn't really get a chance to talk to you in class. If you want you can come back to mine and play some video games and hang out. You know if you want that is"

"Sounds awesome, but I got some things to sort out at home tonight. Thanks for the offer though, maybe tomorrow" he said slightly excited about gaining his first friend.

"Yea sure. Hey which way you going?" Josh asked

"You see the house that's over by the mountain. Well that's where I live" Shadow said pointing in the direction of his home.

As Josh and Shadow were in the main hallway near the entrance, max ran up behind them and pushed Shadow to the side and ran out of the door. Josh went to run after him and ask him what his problem was, but Shadow grabbed his arm "Don't worry about it. He will aggravate me to the point one day, and ill just throw him out of the window"

Both of the boys laughed as they left the building. Josh saw his mom in a black 4x4 truck and ran over and jumped into the back of it. Waving at Shadow, Shadow just waved back and started to jog towards his house. As he got to the outskirts of the village, he saw max run into his house. Not really paying attention, he sped up his jog to a fast run. When he arrived at his house, he was greeted by Kiera "We have some good news Shadow. The clan is coming to get us. They will be here in about a week or so"

"That's awesome news. So are we all going are just father?" he asked

"All of us. It will be a bit different for me and you but we can adapt. We basically live in the Yautja society, your father makes sure of it" She laughed.

"So what am I going to do about school? Just quite or shall I carry on and finish when we leave" he asked

"Oh I totally forgot that you went to school today, how was it" she asked all excited.

"It wasn't too bad, I made a friend. I also made an enemy, max his name is. If he annoys me anymore I am going to throw him out of the window" he said with a smile on his face.

"Just ignore him, and he might start on someone else. And yes just carry on with school until we leave, there is no harm in continuing. Your father is in the kitchen preparing dinner, you have to do some 'Special' training tonight too, but I am not sure what he has got in mind, you will have to ask him" She informed.

As Shadow walked past the basement door on his way to the kitchen, he heard so Yautja speech coming from the basement. Paying no attention to it, he continued on his path to the kitchen. As he approached the kitchen, he heard a bone crunching blow from the meat cleaver his father was wielding. As he lifted the cleaver to make another blow, Shadow saw the visible blue blood being flung from the blade. As the blade hit the raw meat, the sound this time was more hollowed than bone crunching. He saw that Dachande was putting at the meat, and moving a medium sized chunk, to a pile on his right. He then threw the cleaver into the sink, and began to rap up the mutilated meaty carcase. Dachande put the remains of the meat into the ice box. Turning around he saw Shadow leaning against the door frame of the kitchen "Shadow have you heard the news. We shall be going back to home world"

"Sounds good father, but do you think I have got what it takes to become a hunter on home world" he asked.

"All you have to do is believe in yourself and use your training, and you will make it my pup" Dachande said as he ruffled Shadow's hair.

"So what training do I have tonight father. Mom was saying you have some special training planned for me" he asked as he ruffled his hair back to how he had it before.

"You will have to wait and see. I also have something for you, but you have to wait until later to have it" he said in a kind of taunting way.

"Ok father" as he said that, he lower his head, turned around and left the kitchen.

Shadow went to his room, and put his lunch box onto his desk. As he left his room, he closed the door and walked to the front door. When he got there he was confronted by his mom "Don't go to far this time if you are going for a run ok"

"Ok mom I won't" he replied.

He exited the house and quickly stretched his legs, then started to jog towards the canyons. His jog soon turned into a fast run, then to a sprint. This time something felt different. His body seemed to tingle a bit, as though he could go faster. When he put his mind to work to make his legs go faster, he was surprised when he did in fact double his original speed. In this ultimate sprint he found that he was more relaxed, more comfortable, and far more focused than normal. He felt the need to test this new speed on an incline. He looked around, the only form of real incline as the mountain to his left. He slightly changed his direction so he was running towards the mountain. As he hit the base of the mountain, he could feel the incline changing slightly, but only slowed a little. Still running he hit the bigger incline, this reduced his speed significantly, slowing him down to a fast jog, but he didn't really feel that he was loosing energy, so he persisted to run up the mountain. As he reached the top, he had to climb to get to the highest point. As he stared at the village from suck a great height, he noticed that the village was in fact quite big, he also noticed his house and how insignificant his house was compared to the village. As he was admiring the village, something in the back of his mind told him to turn around and see what lie behind the mountain. As he turned around he saw what appeared to be a large training area, fenced off by large metal panels and walls. Enclosed in these walls he could see people running around, training on multiple types of obstacles. Over to the right side of this training area, he could see 3 groups of about 12 people in a squared formation moving in unison. From what he has seen on TV, these people we like soldiers or a sort of activity group of some kind. Thinking nothing of it, he decided to climb back down and run back home for training. As he was about half way down the mountain side, he noticed an easier way down, but it meant a leap onto an opposing path. Thinking about his speed and his normal jump height and distance, he decided to take the risk of falling about 12 feet to ledge that would lead to a lower area of the path he was already on. Thinking that he would need a bit more speed, he sped up slightly and then ran to the edge and jumped. To his surprise he jumped higher and further than normal, so he hit the side of the mountain about 10 feet above the path he wanted to land on. As he slid to the path and continued to run down the mountain, he started thinking of how he could use his new abilities in his training against his father. At the bottom he decided to really try and sprit his fastest. He got home in just over 15 minutes, normally it takes 35-40 minutes to get to the canyons, from which he was only about a minute run from where he was at the bottom of the mountain. As he approached the doorway to enter his home, a wooden staff came flying through the opening, without thought he grabbed the staff and spun it around him a few times and then stopped with the staff in his right hand and behind his back over his shoulder. As he peered into the house, he saw his father holding a box and a few other bits and pieces. "Come on Shadow. We have got some training to do, near the canyons. Here take these and start running. First one to the canyons wins" Dachande handed over a bag and a box. As Shadow was handed the box he stared to jog towards the canyons. As Shadow thought that he had out raced his father, Dachande ran past him at lightning speed. Not accepting that his father was going to beat him once again, he put his new speed to the test and shot past Dachande. The moment Shadow past him, Dachande stepped up his game and sprinted as fast as he could go, but was unable to keep up with Shadow. After about 15 minutes of running, both father and son stop by the edge of the canyon. Dachande put down a bag and two boxes, and Shadow put down a bag and a box. "Since when were you able to run that fast my young pup" Dachande asked as Shadow Shook his body off.

"I don't really know father. I went out for my run this afternoon, and whilst I was running I felt as though I could go fast, so I put my mind to it and increased my speed. I can also jump higher and further than I used to" Shadow said as he knelt to the floor.

Dachande took the two boxes he was carrying, and put them beside him. He knelt down, and looked at Shadow. Shadow lowered his eyes in respect to his father. "As you know Shadow, we have had some great news about the clan coming to get us. But this is not the only reason today is so great. This morning whilst you were out, I finished making your weapons, and I am going to test you on how well you can wield them"

Slightly raising his gaze "You have made me weapons father"

Dachande opened the boxes and rose from where he knelt, holding two swords in his arms "From the moment I first saw you in our dwelling, I knew that you would be a great warrior, able to accomplish many things. So I set out a task to design and make you the ultimate weapon. These swords convert into a deadly staff, much like the ones on home world. But these are very different, 5 times sharper, and easily able to cut through the Yautja's weaponry materials. They are evenly balanced, giving the wielder a perfect balance point to strike his deadly blow. 10 times stronger than the Yautja material. It has taken me 8 years to make these swords, the metals where extremely hard to melt and mould. And I am giving them to you, use them in future hunts and kill many enemies with them"

Dachande's weaponry speech moved Shadow. He now had a greater respect for him, knowing that he had spent so long designing and making him weapons for his future life. Shadow stood up, his gaze still lowered in a respectful manor. He took a step closer to Dachande. "Collect you weapons, and use them well Shadow" Dachande said as he extended his reach.

Shadow extended his arms out and took the swords from Dachande's arms. "Thank you father"

As he took the swords from Dachande, he noticed that they were unlike any of the swords he had ever wielded before. These were much lighter, swifter to cut through the air. Just atop the grips on both swords, was a sort of twist switch. As Shadow twisted one of the switches, the grip extended by another grip and a half's length. He tried the other switch and it to done the same. Noticing on the ends of both the swords, there was a male and a female plug system. As he clicked the swords together, they combined to form a staff weapon.

Dachande noticed that by the way Shadow was wielding the staff that he didn't need the training that he was going to give him, but he thought that he might teach him how to perfect his strikes with it. From the third box Dachande pulled out a holographic simulator. He pressed a button on the bottom of the device to turn it on, as he did this the little device buzzed to life, and three beams of light appeared on the middle of it, red, blue and green. The three lights seemed to spread and mix into each other and form a holographic scene of a jungle. "This is a jungle scene, as you strike you enemy they will be inflicted with the damage that you put upon them. As you notice you can't see me, but I can see you and the surroundings you are in, so I can overview your choice of attack and they way you execute it. You cannot be harmed in this training program, but your enemies can. The program shall start soon so be vigilant" Dachande said as he pressed the button for the program to start.

Shadow held his staff in his right hand by his side. From behind one of the holographic trees a lion pounced towards him. Taking evasive manoeuvres Shadow dove forwards and landed in a roll facing towards his enemy. As the lion pounced at him again he darted forwards and to his right, spinning 360 he sliced the lion in two with the blade on his staff. As the lions corpse fell to the floor two more lions appeared, bigger than the one he had just slain. He ran towards them spinning his staff around him with no effort, he then jumped into the air and cut one of the lion's heads off, as he landed the drove the staff through the back of the other lion. Hearing the scream of the lions death come from the build in speaker on the holographic device, Shadow spun around scanning the terrain for any more prey to kill.

As he finished looking around the artificial terrain, it changed from a jungle to a room of some sort. The room looked to be a gymnasium hall. There were ropes in the middle and a climbing wall over to the far right. As he was admiring the room, a door opened on the far side and five people armed with baseball bats and knives ran into the room. He just waited for them to get to him before he attacked. All five of them got Shadow in an all round attack formation. As they went to strike, he struck first. Dropping to a very low crouch and spinning his staff 360 above his head and turning his body slightly to throw more power into the strike. The bodies of the five men fell to the ground with gut wrenching gashes to there torsos. As he stood up he noticed that there were now an extra ten people in the room, this time with baseball bats, chains, knives and swords. As they attacked Shadow began to attack more aggressively, and put more power into his strikes. Thrusting his staff's blade through the chest of one of the men holding a chain, he then removed it from him and struck a man behind him without even looking at his target. Spinning his staff around his body he ran up to his next opponent, swinging the staff at his head. As he sheared the head off of his holographic enemy, he then turned and spotted his next two targets. Stabbing his blade through one of their faces he jump kicked the other in the head. Before the target could hit the floor Shadow's blade had connected with the side of the holographic mans head. Spotting his last five targets he lunged towards them. Lowering his blade to their legs, he sliced their legs off and drove the blade into his enemy's chests. As he finished the holographic scenery disappeared back into the small device on the floor. Turning to his father he looked a little confused "Why did you stop it, I was enjoying myself"

"Your techniques are astounding. None of the enemies you faced managed to get a hit on you. But remember in real life it is very different. Now lets see how you do against the kainde amedha, they are much faster than the other targets you have encountered" Dachande said as he pressed the button again.

Dachande seemed to disappear as the next holographic scene emerged. This time it was dark, but light enough to see some of the detail on the walls. There seemed to be a natural resin on the walls, the moisture and visible steam made the walls seem almost…alive. As he was looking at his surroundings, there were hisses and screeches coming towards him from the distance. As he looked into the darkness, he notices something move about five meters to his left. He spun around to spot his target.

The creature he had to face was about 9 feet tall, with an elongated, curved head, with no eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. In the mouth of the beast he noticed an inner jaw, which also possessed these razor shape teeth. The body of the creature looked almost like it had a set of body armour on, it looked thick and whiling to take a load of damage before it got pierced. It had a set of claws, sharp enough to cut through fortified steel, and a tail of solid muscle to match. The creature was all black giving it the perfect camouflage for its surroundings.

As Shadow struck the beast, he tore straight through its upper torso. The black beat of the darkness fell to the floor. As it did there was a trail of smoke in the air. As Shadow looked down he noticed that the creature seemed to be burning the floor. Before he could wonder what was happening to the corpse of the black creature, a swarm of them came from random holes and crevasses in the walls. Without thinking he started to thrust his staff blade through them and swinging his pear around to defend them off. The more he was killing the more they would appear.

He began to attack with more aggression and more speed, but they just kept coming. Working his body harder than it had ever worked before, started to attack with so much aggression that his eyes changed colour again, he made another strike and then stopped. He dropped his staff and clenched at his chest. He fell to his knees, and began to moan in pain, this time staying conscious.

Stopping the simulation, Dachande ran over to where Shadow lay on the floor. As he got to him Shadow was lying on his back with his arms by his sides, and his hands clenched in fists. Shadow let out a scream of pain, and seemed to organically morph. His body became more muscular, his arms and legs stretched and became bigger, and his facial structure changed. Shadows body contracted and he curled into a ball on the floor, jerking from side to side, his body became bigger, and his skin tones changed. After five minutes Shadow stopped jerking around and moving, so Dachande rolled him out flat on his back. He immediately noticed the difference in Shadows appearance. He was now…Yautja. Never before had he seem such a transformation in a hybrid before. He was perfect in both species, human and Yautja. Still studying Shadow's complex, Dachande wondered how he had changed.

Shadow began to move and sat up where he had fallen. Looking around he noticed that his vision had changed; it was now a series of different colours, some sort of heat vision. Looking at Dachande he saw that he consisted of mainly dark oranges, reds and white. Most of his surroundings where now a very light coloured blue, and a mixture of greens and yellows. "Wow, where did all the colours come from. Wha…what happened. All I remember is the training program, then a pain in my chest" He said as he started looking at his body.

Noticing the change in his own physical appearance, he jumped to his feet. As he looked at Dachande he saw that he was just a little bit shorter than he was. "I…I…I'm like you. I'm taller and…bigger than normal, how did…" his speech trailed off, and he began to remember the first time he felt the pain in his chest. "The pain in my chest. I got angry and frustrated the first time I felt it. This time I was angry but I tried to channel it and use it as power in my strikes" he trailed off again "Cool. At least I will fit in when we go to home world" his mandibles and facial expression kind of resembling a smile as he looked at Dachande.

Still confused Dachande looked at Shadow. "We should stop the training short for today Shadow; I think your mother might want to see you"

He nodded, turning around to collect the holographic projection device from the floor. As Shadow picked up his staff, Dachande noticed a flash from his right side seemingly coming from the mountain. Noticing that Shadow had just picked up his staff, he presumed that it was just a glare from the blade of the staff. Dachande picked up the three empty boxes, walked over to the canyon edge and threw them into the canyon. As he walked back, he picked up the two small bags. As the he threw the bags over his large shoulder, Dachande started to run towards their dwelling. As he was running he initiated his cloaking device, and started to sprint. Shadow saw this and started after him. Whilst he was running, he felt sturdier on his feet, more agile. As he caught up with his father, he slowed down to his speed and clicked with laughter at him. Reaching deep into his spirit, Dachande ran slightly faster, barely able to stick to his new lease of speed. Shadow thought he might stay a few paces behind him until they were only about 500 meters from the dwelling. They were within the last 500 meters, when Shadow let rip his full speed. Flying past Dachande, he seemed as though he wasn't touching the floor. When shadow had arrived at the backdoor of the dwelling, he turned around behind him to see where Dachande was, he noticed that he was at least 200 meters away. So he took a seat on the stools by the backdoor. When Dachande arrived, Shadow clicked a small laugh "Took your time didn't you father"

"You are very fast and agile young pup. You will be a truly excellent warrior" Dachande replied.

As they both walked through the door, Kiera was sat on the sofa in the living room. She turned around to see two Yautja's standing in the doorway "Who's this Dachande?" Kiera asked.

"Hi mom. It's me Shadow" Shadow said as he waved to her.

"Shadow is that you. What happened, how…when…you're a Yautja" she said with an extremely confused face.

"I don't know. We were training and I worked myself to hard and when I came to, I was like this. Pretty cool huh?" He said in reply.

Later that night, the family of three were sat at the dinner table eating there mammolith fillets which Dachande cut up for them earlier. Kiera looked at Shadow a laughed to herself. "What are you laughing at mom?" Shadow said as he clocked onto her laughing at him.

"Nothing, nothing at all. _Laughing._ Your shirt is so tight on your body I don't think you're going to be able to get it off"

Shadow tensed his upper body and the shirt burst at the seams. As the shirt fell to the floor, Kiera stopped laughing. Although he was short than Dachande, his physical size was greater.

After their meal Shadow ran into the bathroom and had a shower. As he was standing under the shower, he thought of how he used to be, and about school. Not really concentrating on anything but his thoughts. As shadow reached for a cloth to wipe his body down he noticed that his vision was becoming normal again. As he looked at him self, he saw that his body was morphing back to his human form. This time he didn't have the pains in his chest, he felt relaxed. Quickly finishing his shower, Shadow got changed and ran into the living room where Dachande and Kiera were talking about going back to home world. "Hey I'm back to normal. I was thinking of being human and of school and that and I changed back" Shadow exclaimed.

"This is all extremely weird, ok well maybe it was a phase. When you get extremely angry you change. Ok well go to bed then Shadow, you have school to go to in the morning" Kiera said now so confused, she forgot what she was saying.

Shadow said goodnight to his parents and walked off to his room to sleep.


	4. A Death in the Family

**A Death in the Family**

As Shadow ran down the street that led to the large open area before his dwelling, he saw that Max was staring at him through his bedroom window. Caring very little about Max's silly games, he continued his run towards his home. Looking around him to be sure no one was watching, he sped up testing his speed against his now normal time limit, desperately trying to beat his own personal best from the day before. As he arrived at his garage, he put his hand on the shabby exterior and looked at the watch on his wrist "2 minutes 38 seconds, beat my time by 6 seconds" he said as he walked through the front door of his home.

When he walked into the living room he was confronted by his parents "The clan will be here in two days. You should get your things prepped and ready to go. Only the things that are completely necessary to take with you ok" Kiera said in a light caring tone.

"Ok mom, so I can't tell anybody where I am going and I can only take a few things with me. Well I guess life is completely different where we are going right" as Shadow finished his sentence, he spotted Dachande looking at him with a kind of smile on his face. His mandibles slightly spread outwards and upwards at the same time.

Thinking that something was wrong with him, Shadow just started to walk towards his room, when Dachande pounced at him. Shadow stumbled a little from the weight of his father now attached to his back. Unsure whether to take it seriously or not, Shadow just tried to continue walking to his room. Dachande tried to force him to the floor by bobbing his weight up and down, but with no use. So he decided to try and take his legs out, but Shadow was one step ahead of him and fell backwards landing on Dachande in a heap on the floor outside of his room.

Shadow stood up, turned around and looked at Dachande on the floor. He still had the little smile on his face "What are you doing?" Shadow asked.

"I am trying to make you angry again, so you turn back to how you where the other day" Dachande replied as he picked himself up.

"I can change when I want to. Whilst I was out yesterday, I thought about everything that I hated, and I changed. When I thought about the things I liked and some of the things I can do as a human, I changed back. So when time comes for me to change I can do it" he said as he opened his bedroom door.

With a now surprised look on his face Dachande turned around and walked towards the living room and back to his chair.

Later that night…

"Sir, there is no sign of the aliens. They must be hiding somewhere in the village" the trooper said as he stood to attention to his commanding officer.

"What their no where. How do you loose two aliens in a village that's full of humans. Get back out there and check again" the Officer shouted, as he waved his troopers back into the openness.

As the officer was about to leave his quarters, the phone rung. "_Sir, I think you had better take a look at this. We have detected an alien space craft, about 100,000 miles from the planet sir"_ the scientist said on the other end of the phone.

"I will be right down. Thank you" the officer said as he slammed the phone down and ran out of the room.

General Davis was a fairly large man, always smartly dressed ready to command his troops. He had only a little bit of hair on the sides and back of his head, on top he was bald. He had a squared chin cleanly shaven and a moustache under his broad nose. His brown eyes where darkened slightly by his uni-browed eye brow.

As he ran down the endless maze of corridors, General Davis ran past his rather jumpy troops. As he approached the science wing of his military base, the doors hissed open to reveal four armed troopers and six scientists. Scattered all around the room where random samples of alien equipment in beakers and glass cabinets, and about a dozen computers. All the scientist where at computers, analysing charts and diagrams, and doing scientific calculations to do with their alien artefacts. One on the scientists ran over to General Davis, waving papers in the air. "Sir, take a look at these images. They show the alien space craft passing Drakos starling" the intrigued scientist said as he ran back over to his computer in the corner of the room.

"I have run the calculations through the computer several times, and they come up with slightly different distances and times. But going by the mean average, the craft will either pass by or land here by about 1700 hours tomorrow" the scientist said as he punched a few keys on his computers keyboard.

"So do we have visual on this craft, if so I want to see pictures" the General demanded.

"Yes sir" the scientist mustered.

Showing the General a few deep space pictured of the craft, General Davis began to shake with excitement and fear. Not knowing what he would be up against if anything at all, he decided to ready battle plans in his head.

As Shadow walked onto the lawn of the school, Max ran passed and pushed him out of the way. He knew from that moment that the day would only get worse.

In class Shadow just sat in his seat staring out of the window, concentrating on nothing but the sky, and the brownish coloured sky. Felling something hit him in the side of the head, he looked down to see a scrunched up ball of paper. Knowing that it had come from Max, he decided to just ignore it and keep looking out of the window.

"Jay, what is the answer?" Mr Freeman asked.

Still staring out of the window, Shadow felt an eraser hit him in the head. He was about to turn around and throw his text book at max when Mr Freeman asked him again.

"Jay Shadow Rico. What is the answer?" Mr Freeman asked raising his voice

"The answer to what sir?" Shadow replied.

"The answer to the question on the board. What is 12 multiplied by 12?" Mr Freeman asked insistently.

"Oh right. The answer is 144 sir" he replied.

"That is correct. What is wrong with you Jay? The past few days you have done nothing but look out of that window" Mr Freeman asked.

"Err just wondering what it is like on other planets" he replied as he looked back to the window.

"Oh ok, well if you can pay more attention to what I am teaching you, then you might be able to become an astronaut when your older" Mr Freeman said in an almost joking manner.

Max and Joe started to laugh at him. Shadow turned and pointed to them, then pointed to his back. Knowing what he meant, the boys shut up and turned back to face the front. A few moments later Max put his hand up and waited for Mr Freeman to acknowledge him. "Yes Joe what is it?"

"Jay just threatened me and Max" Joe said in a fearful way.

"And how did he threaten you Joe?" Mr Freeman asked.

"He said that he was going to cut us up with his knife sir" Max interrupted.

"Is this true Jay?" he asked as he turned to look at Jay.

"Err kind of sir. All I did was point at them then pointed behind me. My plan worked though, because I wanted them to stop laughing and it worked, I wasn't threatening to cut anyone with any knife at all. If you want to be precise I actually pointed to the floor behind me" Jay said as he mimicked his own movements to the boys.

"Well err don't do it again ok" Mr Freeman said as he waved his finger in the air.

Just as Mr Freeman finished his sentence, the lunch bell rung. Everyone lifted there desk trays up and threw in their work and stationary, then darted out of the class in a flash.

During the lunch break Shadow walked over to the far corner of the playing field. Once in the corner, he knelt down with his hands on his knees and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he jumped to his feet and began to perform martial arts moves at random. Kicking above his head height, throwing punches lightning fast, back flipping, and jumping extraordinarily high and multi kicking invisible targets all around him. After a few moments of this he calmed down and knelt back down on the floor. When he opened his eyes he was confronted by Josh, Samantha, and a few others from the school. Shadow jumped to his feet from his knelt position on the floor. "Wow Shadow, never knew that you were that good. Where did you learn that?" Josh said as he walked up to him.

"I was born with the natural ability to be fast, agile and flexible. Whilst I was at home, I used to get bored pretty quickly, so I decided to teach myself fighting techniques, and increase my strength" Shadow said in reply.

Until the end of the lunch break, the group just sat on the field and spoke about general things, school, favourite things, where they live etc. As the bell rung again the group stood up and began to walk to the door to re-enter the school, when Max and a group of five of the biggest kids in the school walked to the group. "Oi Jay, you think you're pretty slick threatening me with a knife in class don't you. Well me and the boys are going to beat your ass right now. Try pulling out your knife we're going to beat you down either way" Max said in front of the little gang.

"Max, my knife only spills the blood of honourable prey. You're not even worth breaking a sweat over" Shadow said defensively.

"Max just go away, we don't want any trouble" Samantha said as she pushed her way to the front of the group.

"He started the trouble by threatening me in class" Max said aggressively.

Completely unaware another member of Max's gang, walked up behind them and grabbed Samantha, She screamed and Shadow turned around to assess the situation, and seeing that he had her in a head lock. "Let go of her now!" Shadow insisted.

"Or what?" the meaty thug replied.

Without warning Shadow leaped towards the chunky kid, and restrained him in a reverse head lock. "Or I break your neck fat boy"

The kid let go of Samantha, she kicked him in the shin then turned around and walked back to the group. When Shadow let the chunky boy go, he fell onto his back on the floor. As he turned around Max threw a basketball into Shadow's face. Crimson coloured blood ran down his lip from his nose, as it rolled over his lip, he could taste it. After tasting his own blood, it turned from crimson to neon green. Turning to his little group of he said "I am sorry you guy had to see this, josh ill talk to you later if you want to know things".

Turning back to the little attack group, Shadow looked into the eyes of his attackers. Thinking of everything he hated about max and his little group.

"You're sorry for what Shadow?" Josh said looking at him strangely.

As Josh finished what he was saying, he saw an event that he had only ever seen in movies on TV. Shadow began to morph, his eyes now dark orange, his body mass grew, skin colour and texture changed. He was now in the body form of his Yautja side. Towering over his attackers, the gang just stood there in shock. Some of them peed their pants, some of them began to cry, but Max began to tremble with fear. Picking up Max in one of his large hands, Shadow lifted him up to his eye level with no effort at all. In a croaky human tone Shadow said to Max and his gang "Do not anger me or my friends again. Or I use your skull as a necklace ornament. Do you understand?"

Max nodded, and his friends nodded quickly and scampered back into the building. Shadow threw Max in the direction of the entrance back into the school. As he did this Shadow turned around and began to walk towards the wired fence of the school grounds, when he felt someone touch his leg, with a soft hand. He turned around to see that it was Samantha. Looking behind her he could see that the rest of the group were frozen in fear and amazement. "Thanks for rescuing me Shadow" Samantha said in a scared tone.

Shadow knelt down beside her, and gave her a quick hug. As soft as he tried to hug her, she moaned slightly in discomfort. Staggering forwards from the little group, Josh said "Hey Shadow, ill come with you now. I want to know how…what…you are and that"

"Me too, ill come with you" Samantha mustered.

Shadow nodded and walked towards the school grounds wire fence, with Josh and Sam. Lifting them one at a time, he placed them on the other side of the fence.

As the group of three began to run Shadow began to calm down and think of happy thoughts, as he did this he changed back. Running down the street, the group ran down an ally way and across a car park lot, towards Josh's house. When they arrived they ran up to his room. Josh sat on his bed, Shadow sat on a chair in the corner of the room and Samantha sat on the floor next to Shadow. Seeing that Sam had sat on the floor, Shadow got up and offered the seat to her "Ill sit on the chair with you Shadow" she said as she lowered her head looking at her feet.

Agreeing to this, Samantha sat on the seat as well as Shadow. "So Shadow, what are you?" Josh asked in an intrigued way.

"Promise me you two that this goes to the grave with you" both Josh and Sam nodded.

"I am human, with a few slight differences. My eyes are two-tone with blue and green rings, the dreadlocks as I have heard people hear call them are racial, my father's species have dreadlocks as a spiritual guidance of some sort I really don't know why. As you can see I am taller than everyone else, only by a small margin, and I am far stronger and faster than everyone on this planet" Shadow explained.

Josh was sitting on his bed concentrating on what he was saying, and Sam was sitting admiring Shadow, taking in only little bits of what he was saying.

Shadow continued "When I get angry, feel extreme pain, I change into my Yautja side as you saw. The only Yautja I have ever seen is my father and I. going by what I have heard, were a re a race of hunters, that hunt only the strongest prey. There is too much to explain, but that is the basis of it all"

"So you are what exactly. A human and Yautja mix?" Josh asked.

"Yes. My mom is human and my dad is Yautja" He replied.

"Cool. Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Josh said in a cool tone.

"Because if this gets out, my family and I could be in trouble. I'm leaving here soon anyway, but I don't want them looking for us" he continued in a slightly worried tone.

"You're leaving already, but I have only just got to know you. Where you going anyway?" he asked.

"Sorry I'm leaving but it was my father's decision. I don't really know, its called home world. I don't know where it is" he said slightly lost.

"So will you be coming back?" Josh asked.

"I honestly don't know. Hopefully I will be, but I don't know" he replied.

Shadow turned around to look at Samantha. She was still sitting there staring at him. He snapped his fingers and whistled at her, and she shook her head coming out of a day dream. "What are you doing? You haven't said a word since we left the school" Shadow asked staring at her puzzled.

"I was thinking about…err…what we would be doing if we were in school at the moment" she replied.

"No you weren't. What were you really thinking about?" Shadow asked.

"I…I…I was thinking about you" she said as she blushed, her cheeks turning slightly pink.

"You were thinking about me. What were you thinking about me exactly?" Shadow asked again.

"About how cute you are. Since I first saw you walk through the classroom door I liked you" she said as she turned her gaze to the wall beside her.

"So basically you love me don't you? That's fine by me, but I'm not going to be here for much longer. I tell you what, as long as I am here. We can hang about together, how does that sound?" Shadow said with a warm gaze at Samantha.

"Sounds awesome" she replied turning back to him and giving him a hug.

At 3:15 Shadow decided that he had better run home and prepare for his evenings training. Giving Samantha a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and shaking Josh's hand, he jumped out of the window and sprinted as fast as he could home.

As he arrived, he saw a few bags full of items from his dwelling. Going inside he saw Kiera and Dachande collecting the essentials from the home and putting them into bags. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"The clan are coming tonight to get us, get your stuff ready Shadow" Kiera said in an excited tone.

Running to his room his packed his bare essentials, his weapons, some of his clothes, a few of his comic books and his MP3 player. By this time Dachande had come into his room and said that he should be prepared to move to the canyons "Can I go and say goodbye to someone if I am quick father" Shadow asked.

"If you are extremely quick" He replied.

With that, Shadow ran out of the house and sprinted as fast as his body could take him, to Josh's house. He rapped on the door, and Josh opened it. "Hey bro what's happening?"

"Hey Josh. Where does Sam live?" Shadow asked.

"She lives next door, why's that?" Josh asked back.

"I'm leaving tonight, my father just told me. The clan is coming to get us tonight" he replied.

"Seriously? Ok cool, ill come with you to Sam's house, one sec whilst I grab my shoes" Josh said as he ran into the house.

Both the boys ran over to Sam's house, Shadow rapped on the door, and her mom answered it "Hey boys" Mrs Newton said.

"Is Samantha home?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, she is up stairs, I'll just get her for you" she replied.

As Mrs Newton walked into the house the boys could hear her call Sam from up stairs. Running down the stairs and opening the door, Sam wondered what they wanted at this time in the day. "Hey guy's. What's up?" Samantha asked.

"I'm leaving tonight. I have to be quick because we are going now" Shadow replied.

"Ok. Hope you have a great time where you are going, please try and visit if you can I want to see you again" she replied as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"I'll be back one day for sure" Shadow took off his shirt and unclipped his hunting knife and holster. "Take this, as a remembrance of me. It has a tracker in the handle so I don't lose it. Ill keep hold of the locator. Keep that knife safe and always have it. I might come to find you one day" he went on to explain.

"Well good luck you guy's, enjoy the rest of your lives"

"I will dude. Good luck to you too" Josh said shaking Shadows hand.

At this point Samantha was in tears. Shadow gave her a firm reassuring hug and an affectionate kiss on the cheek. Wiping the tears from her cheeks "I love you Sam. I will be back…for you" he said.

"I love you too Shadow" Sam said as she strapped the knife to her waist.

As he released Sam from his grasp, he turned around and started to sprint back to his dwelling, looking over his shoulder every now and again seeing Sam and Josh disappear into the distance.

At the military base…

General Davis was studying the latest graphs and schematics of the incoming alien craft, when his office phone rung "Sir its professor Jones, the alien craft is about to enter out atmosphere. It seems to be head towards the canyons and the village area sir" Professor Jones said in a hazy muffled tone.

"Thank you Professor" as General Davis put the phone down, he pressed black button on his desk. Immediately after pressing the button, a siren blared out for the whole military base to hear. The General stood up from his seat, grabbed his dark sand coloured beret, and walked to his office window. When he opened the window he could see all his troops in a black formation, standing to attention ready for orders. Using the microphone from his office he shouted to the troopers.

"Men. Today is the day we have been training for. A large alien craft is approaching the planet. I want you to equip yourselves with you rifles, side arms and plenty of ammunition. They might land on the other side of the planet, but to be sure they are not interrupting out community, I want you prepared for the worst. If we do battle. Some of you will die, but you die for your home planet. I shall be fighting along side you. Let's make the people on Dakota Alpha 231 proud of their troops"

The troopers let out three cheers and ran to their quarters to kit up. Once the troops were kitted, the General deployed his men around the village and around the surrounding areas.

General Davis picked up his phone and dialled the number for his elite assassin group. "Desert Hawks Alpha, Bravo and Charlie. I want Alpha to attack the alien house. Bravo I want you to occupy the top of the mountain. Charlie I want you to occupy the base of the mountain. This alien craft is probably here to collect its missing subjects. Even if they are not, then we have an excuse to populate the village with troops, we say were have reason to believe we have alien hostiles amongst us. Am I Clear?"

"Crystal clear General Sir" the commanding Desert Hawk troop said in reply.

Back at Shadow's home…

The family were walking towards the canyons; all of them had about three bags each. As they looked into the distance, they could just about make out the distortion of the cloaked Yautja ship. Seeing the craft they knew that it was only going to land for few moments, and then it would speed off back to home world. As they began to run towards the cloaked craft, there was a crashing noise coming from their home. Slowing their pace slightly and turning their gaze towards the house to see what it was, they saw a group of soldiers running into the house. Knowing that the soldiers where after them they sped up.

The ship lowered a platform for the group of three to board. The noise of the platform lowering, alerted the soldiers from the mountain. The soldiers in the house stormed out, and began to run after Shadow and his family. About 600 yards from the ships lowered platform, a soldier in the front of his group decided to fire his rifle, and attempt to take out one of the fugitives. Upon doing this, he hit the ship several times and it began to materialize in a series of blue lightning like electrical flashes.

With the Yautja ship now fully visible, the soldiers took positions ready to fire at the family and any hostiles that may appear from the alien craft. One of the soldiers fired his rifle, hitting Kiera in the back of her leg. She screamed in pain and fell to the floor. As Kiera landed on the floor, Dachande and Shadow had arrived at the ship. Shadow turned around to see where his mother was, noticing that she was on the floor about 200 yards back, he dropped the bags and grabbed his sword, that he was given the day before. Sprinting towards his mother, all the soldiers open fired upon Shadow. Ducking and diving, Shadow was evading the bullets, and amazingly he was deflecting quite a few with his sword. As he reached Kiera, he picked her up in his arms, as he did this she took a deep gasp of air. Shadow ran as fast as he could, darting left to right to avoid the incoming fire from the soldiers attacking him.

Dachande pressed a button on the wall just inside of the area by the platform. Seeing it raising, Shadow ran faster and jumped onto the raising platform. The moment the platform had closed. Dachande used the communicator next to the platform open and close switch, to call through the control room of the ship "The hatch is sealed. Go"

The ship levitated off of the ground and then activated its cloaking mechanism. As it cloaked is began its journey back to home world.

Shadow put Kiera onto the metallic floor of the cargo bay. Dachande noticed that she had been shot in the chest. Shadow put his hand over the entry and exit wounds, to stop the blood from flowing out so much, but it was of no use "Shh…Shh. Shhhadow p…p…plllease do your bess…best. Mmm…mmm…mmake me aaand your father prr…prr…prroud, do…do that fffor meee" Kiera pleaded.

As Kiera finished her sentence, she laid back and closed her eyes. Still holding her Shadow felt her body go limp and lifeless. He gently put her upper body to the metallic floor, his body shaking in rage and sorrow. So many things ran through his head, the soldiers, his mother's death, her plea for him to do his best. His rage over powered him, and he began to morph once again, but this time he had the burning desire to kill.


	5. The Trip Home

**The Trip Home…**

Shadow walked through the ships cargo bay with Kiera in his arms, closely followed by Dachande. Dachande pressed a button on a panel on the wall by the door, and with a hiss the door slid open to reveal a large hallway. Dachande walked ahead of Shadow, leading him towards the leader's quarters. The pair turned a corner and was confronted by a group of young blooded warriors. As they walked past the young bloods, Shadow heard them talking about him and the body of his mother in his arms "Ill be back for you, shit head. Just watch how you tread around me" Shadow hissed.

The young bloods continued there rambling. As they got to the end of the corridor, Dachande saw the current leader of the clan walk out of his quarters.

The leaders name was Cle'rik. He was tall and extremely well built. His body was coated with ceremonial armour, and a black and red cape was draped over his shoulders. Of what was visible of his body, he had spots and stripes dotted all over him. His facial features where too very different from most Yautja, his mandibles had tusks on the bottom of them too, although they were much smaller they were still very visible. On his forehead he had a symbol that seemed to be burnt into his flesh, much like the one that Dachande had on his forehead, but this one was a double lightning bolt instead of a single.

"Ah Dachande, I was just coming to the cargo bay to see you. Where is your little Ooman child and female you were saying we have to look after and why is that unblooded carrying an Ooman female?" Cle'rik said hastily.

"My little Ooman child is the unblooded Yautja you see before you. As for the Ooman female that I loved, that is her in his arms, the Oomans on the planet surface shot her as we ran to the ship. My pups name is Shadow, and I wish for him to start training as soon as we land on home world" Dachande insisted.

Dachande bowed his head in respect to the leader, and waited for orders from Cle'rik. "As you were a former leader of the Yautja clan, you may have the quarters next to mine that was lined up for a second in command. As for Shadow, he shall have to sleep with the other young bloods and unblooded hunters" Cle'rik clicked.

Dachande and Shadow both lowered their eyes in respect to Cle'rik. As the three moved to the quarters next to Cle'rik's. Cle'rik pressed a few buttons on the control pad at the side of the door. As he did this the door hissed and slid open, to reveal a spacey room with a bed, an armour rack and weapons stand, a table and 2 chairs and an on suite wash room.

Shadow turned to Dachande and handed over the body of his dead mother Kiera. As Dachande took her body Shadow stroked his mandibles on her forehead, to simulate a kiss goodbye. He lifted his head and turned to face Cle'rik, then lowered his gaze to the floor "Cle'rik may I have a wander around the ship and get to know my surroundings?" Shadow asked.

As he finished his sentence Cle'rik raised his hand to hit Shadow across the face. As he swung Shadow caught his hand about an inch from his face. "You address me as leader; pups of such rank may not address me by my name" Cle'rik said as he swung at Shadow again only to have his hand caught again.

"As you wish leader, but don't hit me for reasons I know nothing about" He replied.

Giving Shadow a slight push backwards, Cle'rik hissed his commands "You shall allow me to hit you when I please. If you step out of line you are expected to receive punishment. You may look about my ship, but be aware that if you disrespect any of the other hunters on this ship, they will not hesitate to battle you. So you understand?"

Nodding his head still with his gaze to the floor, he turned and walked out of the room. Shadow walked around the ship for about an hour, getting to know where everything is, things like the control room, the armoury, the kitchen, and the rest rooms and showers. As he walked into the battle arena, he saw two Yautja's sparring. As he progressed into the room, he was confronted by four young bloods, of which one he recognized as the hunter that started to talk about him, Dray'koe was his name. This Yautja was about a foot bigger than Shadow and about the same build. He had his dreadlocks tied together behind him, and his right shoulder and down his right arm was badly scared. His body pattern was very similar to that or Cle'rik, but he had more spots and fewer stripes on his torso.

The group of four walked up to Shadow with Dray'koe leading the pack. "What was that you were saying earlier **UNBLOOD**. 'Ill be back for you, watch how you walk around me'. What is an unblooded young one going to do to a pack of blooded warriors?"

Shadow stepped back a few paces and slightly crouched down "So are you just going to stand there or do you want to find out"

As the four went to attack Shadow, Dray'koe put his arm out to signal to his friends not to attack. As he did this he lunged towards Shadow with lightning speed. Although he was faster than some of his prey back on Dakota Alpha 231, Shadow was still able to calculate his movements. Dropping onto his back, Shadow raised his foot slightly. Dray'koe was now just above where Shadow lay, he then connected his foot to Dray'koe's abdomen and push kicked him to the other side of the room, with his back hitting the wall and his head hitting the floor as he landed, completely knocking the hunter out.

As Shadow jumped up the other three hunters decided to attack Shadow. By this time there was a little crown forming to watch the gruesome fight between the hunters and Shadow. With tremendous speed Shadow was hitting one hunter then turning and hitting another. None of the other hunters could believe his speed. Shadow turned 180 degrees and crouching and then connected his fist to one of the hunters stomachs, sending him flying through the open doorways and tumbling down the corridor. Seeing this, the other hunters picked themselves up and left the room, leaving Shadow and his onlookers in the sparring room. Shadow stood up from where he was crouched, and looked at some of the warriors in the room that were gawking at his show of skill and power. He turned to see if the hunter that he had kicked into the wall at first was alright, only to hit in the face with a training staff. As Shadow stepped back, Dray'koe hit him across the face again. As he swung the staff for a third time, Shadow ducked out of its collision path, and connected his knee to the sternum of his attacker. Thinking that was going to be it, he turned around to walk over to a chair to sit down, but was hit in the back of the head by the training staff once again, this time softer than before but still painful. He turned to face Dray'koe, and he swung again. Blocking the staff with his forearm, Shadow raced around and grabbed Dray'koe's arm, and using his strength, snapped his arm from the elbow inwards. Green blood splattered to the floor of the sparring room, and Dray'koe following the blood fell to the floor in pain clenching at his arm.

The other hunters in the room diverted their gaze from Shadow as not to annoy him. Crouching besides his fallen enemy Shadow asked "Do you want me to take you to the medical facility near the kitchen; get you arm looked at and fixed up"

Dray'koe looked at Shadow with a now angered but accepting gaze. "I told you to watch how you tread around me" Shadow said as he picked Dray'koe up.

Walking towards the medical facility on the huge craft "Why are you helping me, is this like a game to you. You want me to be humiliated in front of my fellow warriors" Dray'koe asked.

"No not at all. You and I are the same, I don't mean to hurt you, you brought it upon yourself. I just hope this makes you realise that, it doesn't matter about size and rank you can be taken down by someone less experienced" Shadow replied.

Dray'koe turned back to face the way he was walking and continued his journey to the medical area.

Later that night Shadow chose a spot down the 'bedding area' of the unblooded and young bloods corridor to sleep in. He had a mat and a pillow to sleep with, along with his weapons that Dachande had given him and his few items that belonged to him.

Putting his head up against the wall, Shadow reached into his Satchel and pulled out the locator for his hunting knife. Turning it on it beeped softly, and the liquid crystal display showed and arrow of the direction in which to travel to locate the knife. The soft beeping of the locator sent Shadow to sleep. His dreams were that of Dakota Alpha 231 and his newly acquired friends, how he had to leave them so early in their friendship, and his first love Samantha. He dreamt about what might have happened if he had stayed on the planet with her, but dreamt of the future and if he would ever see her again.

When Shadow awoke, he found himself surrounded by a group of Yautja staring at him. Wondering what they were staring at, he looked down to see that he had changed back to human during the night. His thoughts about his friends and everything he loved had changed him back.

He stood up and ran down the corridor, closely followed by the group of Yautja that were chanting 'Kill the Ooman stowaway'. As Shadow ran around the corner, he thought of everything he hated, and morphed back to his Yautja appearance. Immediately he stopped and turned to walk the other way. As he reached the corner the mob came hurdling around the corner. "Have you seen an Ooman run down this corridor" one of the smaller hunters barked.

Turning his head around to face behind him, he looked down the corridor. He then turned back and shook his head, and continued back to his bedding area.

As he reached his sleeping area, a siren sounded. Shadow began to get worried, as he though that it was due to the hunters finding a human on the ship. He quickly gathered what he had with him and walked towards his father's quarters. As he arrived he saw hunters running around in what seemed to Shadow a panic. He knocked on Dachande's door, as he finished the second knock the door skid open to reveal Dachande dressed to impress in all his ceremonial armour and all his weapons. "What is happening father? Are they all after me, some of the hunters have seen me as a human. I must have changed during the night" Shadow asked.

"No my pup, we shall be landing on home world soon. So everyone has to get there equipment prepared and ready to go back to their lives on home world. They have to look their best for the elders that shall greet us upon out arrival. You should do the same, get your weapons cleaned and prepared. Adopt them proudly; here is a sling for your staff. Put it on then put the staff over your shoulder and onto your back. Go my young pup, before your betters wish to laugh at you" Dachande replied.

About an hour later, ninety percent of the ships crew members where in the cargo bay in formation awaiting the welcome home crowd, and to get back to normal life. Shadow and Dachande were at the back of the pack awaiting excitedly, waiting for the reactions of the Yautja crowd.


End file.
