Behold: Hunter, the sequel to Hybrid!

I had to do quite a bit of research on their location for you people. O_o Seriously. But here we are!

The first chapter is kind of a set up as to why they are where they are, really. And how much Chase loves it.

That, and who wouldn't like to hear a bit about Donnie and Dougie as kids?

They're just so flippin' cute in my head!

Attempted pronunciation guide: "Røros."

Rare-rus ("rus" rhymes with "Noose, Moose," so on)

If you're new here, then let me warn you up front: This story is very AU and very OOC. If you haven't read "Hybrid," you'll be so lost that a search party armed with bloodhounds won't be able to find you.

It's full of cussing and demons, too.

You were warned. I don't want to hear any whining.

Now, who's got the first one?

"Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."

Go, Chase!

"The world is full of magic things patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."

W.B. Yeats

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: His eyes are closed."

Albert Einstein

Ra'Zara the First proudly presents "Hunter."

Chapter One - The Dancing Lights

Douglas (Ten Years of Age)

It seemed like they had been walking forever.

According to their dad, they were almost there. "It's only a mile's walk away," he had said.

And while it had only been about five minutes - and while walking a mile - even uphill - wasn't hard for him or his older brother, Donnie; both had been in martial arts classes for about a year - the isolated wilderness they were trekking through coupled with the darkness of the night made everything seem more...well, more distant.

And the forest of trees that obscured anything farther than ten feet away weren't helping at all. In fact, the only thing that kept Douglas from getting lost were the two flashlight beams that pierced the shadows, held in the steady hands of his mom and dad. Donnie was clinging to their mother's free hand, occasionally jumping at snapping branches or rustling leaves.

Douglas rolled his eyes. Donnie was older; he shouldn't be scared. Douglas wasn't.

Or so he kept telling himself when, in reality, he was almost glued to his dad's side the entire time.

Why couldn't we come out here during the day? Douglas thought as he watched a shadow that seemed to move.

But, apparently, whatever his parents wanted to show them could only happen at night. He didn't understand why they had to walk to get there - how special could something in the middle of nowhere be, after all - but their dad had insisted.

"I want to show you something."

So they had followed.

His dad stopped abruptly at the top of the hill. "Here we are," he said, gesturing out at the dipping land in front of them. "Hessdelan Valley."

"It's just a valley," Donnie commented from the other side of their mother.

Douglas nodded his agreement. Though the view was fairly lovely - he could see the trees in the valley below waving a bit in the night breeze, which was the only sound out there, other than various insects - he didn't really think it warranted a night hike when they could have easily come during the day.

But the flashlights were turned off - Douglas grabbed on to his dad's shirt, afraid that he'd get lost without even moving a step as darkness engulfed them - and their mother just said, "Watch the sky."

Frowning, Douglas looked up. He couldn't see two feet in front of him, anyways, so he might as well be watching the millions of stars that painted the night when a monster ate them; even if his dad had assured that the invisible Ajiiyahn - neither he nor Donnie had ever seen the imp - wouldn't let a monster get close.

A minute passed. Then two. He began to fidget. Stars were cool and all, but couldn't they star gaze back at the hotel room in Røros? This vacation shouldn't have had them wandering around Norway's various woods at night.

A few more minutes passed. Douglas was beginning to get bored. Donnie actually let out a loud yawn. "Where is this 'awesome' thing?"

A sudden blue flash lit up the sky for a split second before blinking out. Douglas' eyes widened as a second light - this one white in the shape of an upside - down Christmas tree - flashed into existence. It floated upwards for a few seconds before vanishing as fast as it had appeared.

It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"What was that?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"No one knows," came the answer from his mother. "Maybe it's aliens."

Donnie gasped as three lights appeared now - two white ones lead by a red one - and seemed to fly in a circle around a distant hill. He had been on an alien kick lately.

Douglas, however, had a different idea. He didn't see aliens. To him, the little lights seemed to be dancing across the sky, like the valley itself was putting on a show just for him. Maybe nature was trying to prove that it, too, still held unknown beauty. That, although mankind thought they ruled the world, they didn't.

Because, honestly, Douglas had never felt so small, so humbled by anything before.

And even though his inner scientist was begging for an explanation, he found that, this time, he didn't really want one.

It would ruin the magic. Science had a habit of doing that.

He gasped excitedly as a blue circle zipped across the sky before vanishing again. He didn't notice his parents sharing a smile at their sons' innocent wonder.

Or the small gecko that was now perched on his shoe, smiling as much as it could.

"Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere. And sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself."

Unknown

"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next."

Gilda Radner

Chase

Røros, Norway.

We could have gone anywhere, and Douglas chose a little mining town in Norway.

It was old, too; seriously, the place had wooden, medieval-type buildings everywhere. It was like going back in time. And, compared to Mission Creek, it was deserted. Røros literally had a bit over three-thousand citizens.

Is that small or what?

All of that I could have gotten over if it weren't just so god damned cold all the time!

Seriously! Fifty-ish degrees was the high nearly everyday.

In fucking July.

Needless to say, this demon was freezing his tail off.

Yes, you heard right: Demon. I was only half-demon due to an accident about three-and-a-half months back involving a portal to the demon world - I call it the Otherworld because I'd love to see you stop me from calling it that - but still. Half-breed demonic thingy, at your service!

But not really. I was at Douglas' service at the moment, even though he had allowed me to maintain my free will.

Not that I was actually doing anything.

In fact, I was laying on the couch, my ears perked at the ceiling of Douglas' hotel room while my tail draped over the arm to lazily twitch in midair on the other side. I had my dark wings spread out wide for comfort - because laying on my back with wings tended to suck otherwise - as I busied myself finding patterns in the ceiling's texture.

I had successfully spelled several less-than-appropriate words and located a few numbers when a gray, gargoyle-like imp suddenly jumped onto my stomach, causing me to curl up violently in surprised pain. She jumped onto the floor, the rhinestones dotting her wings glimmering a bit. "I'm bored," she huffed.

How dare she attack you!

Leave it to Olyanaeci - Oly, for short - to bother me when she was bored. "What the hell do you expect me to do about it?" Douglas - wanting to keep us secret, since he had really only paid for a room for himself - had told us to lay low in the hotel while he went out for supplies. You know: Food, toothbrushes, all that good stuff. I honestly had no idea when he'd be back, but it really wasn't that big of a deal, either.

He was a big kid; he could take care of himself.

"I expect you to do something fun," she snorted. "What else?"

I was all for doing something fun, but there really wasn't anything around. However, I rolled to my side anyways. "I could always light you on fire again."

Oly glared. "I'll decorate your other ear the same way," she threatened, pointing at the missing tip of my right ear. She had bitten it off the last time we got in a fight.

I sat up with a yawn. "I'm not a fun person," I grumbled, honestly just wanting her to stop annoying me. Couldn't she just entertain herself for a while?

You could just eat her, my inner demonic voice pointed out. Then, she would be gone.

And Douglas would kick my ass, I responded.

Oly jumped onto my lap and poked my chest. "Get off your ass; there has to be something to do around here!"

I pinned my ears. "Get out of my face," I growled, baring my four sharp canine teeth.

She stuck her beak right up against my nose. "Or what, Half-Breed?"

Are you going to take that?!

I really had only meant to shove her off my lap, to be honest. But what happened next was astounding even to me. I guess that she had aggravated me to the point where I wasn't fully aware of my actions, because - without me having the faintest idea how - a very bright flash of white shot from my hands, and Oly went flying back into the wall with a stunned yelp.

I shot to my feet, suddenly alarmed. However, Oly - though tendrils of smoke rose from her in places - just stood up and shook her head, obviously dazed.

First thought that crossed my mind: Did I do just do that?

The second thought, however, was the more important of the two to me.

Douglas was going to be pissed when he saw the indent Oly had left when she went barreling into the wall.

So how did I fix it before he -

The door opened suddenly, revealing Douglas - holding a few grocery bags - and sending me into a bit of a panicked state. "Hey, guys."

Too late.

He set them down on the counter - the small kitchen was by the door - before he finally gave me his full attention. It took him all of a second for his eyes to go from my panicked stance to the new hole in the wall that Oly was stumbling around in front of. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "God damn it, I was only gone for an hour!"

A second of silence passed before Oly - having finally regained composure - and I suddenly pointed at each other, simultaneously speaking.

"She did it!"

"He did it!"

And Douglas just looked down and rubbed his eyes. "And you're both cleaning it up."

Great: Discover a new power and get chores for it. What fun.

I think I liked finding various cuss words on the ceiling better.

Well, that ending was suckish, but whatever. I promise, this story is going places.

Feel free to review. Or don't. Doesn't matter. :3

And, as always, enjoy.

*Bows and exits*