Around four years old Mom began drilling me in traditional Yatja martial arts. This part of Mom's teaching was absolutely grouling, as it required me to be physically ready, and focused every moment we did it. I should say it wasn't to bad at first, and it really wasn't. She'd walked me through the steps on how to preform the moves and motions necessary to execute them successfully, before moving on to the physical demonstrations, which were OMFG painful. She tried her best not to make it to painful, but I could also tell she was trying not to hold to far back, because I I was going to survive I'd have to know what to expect. Especially if I fought the Shadows.

I did get good at it, and mom would always congratulate me on preforming a successful take down on her, which at time she did just because there was nothing else I could use as a training dummy, so she just used herself. I'd say she was better than a dummy because she could actually fight back.

A few months after I began learning martial arts, the marines had a new training area installed for the grunts, which just so happened to be right outside our enclosure, that I could clearly observe from the large overhead window. Marine application and employment was pretty high, with the lose of several thousand marines during the six year long war with the xenos, and Weyland's need for a higher corporate security force for his precious pet monsters that kept breaking containment. The training area was an open sandy field with workout equipment everywhere a jogging circle in the middle, and several shaded areas where they'd practice their martial arts underneaththe structures. I'd always enjoy watching them from my little perch on top one of the high hanging branches on one of the trees.

It was immusing in a motivational sense. These guy's looked like the ultimate bad#sses, and having been trained under Major Hadrick Schaefer's direction, they practically were. I'd watch them do basic hand-to-hand, and knife training, every single day I could. As I watched them I'd memorize their movements and try to preform them like they did. During knife training I'd use a stick as a knife and slash away as I memorized the marines movements. I even used some of those moves on mom during spear, and glave training, in which we to used a long stick as a spear or a knife. Mom didn't approve of it at first, but after noticing the training camp outside, she had began having other, more positive opinions on the exercises. She was pretty proud of me. But not nearly as surprised as Major Hadrick Shaefer was when he first saw me. Hadrick had often commed in and out of our containment area, mostly just to check on the guards who were still his at the time, or to get to the mess hall as our containment area was pretty close to the barracks itself.

Occasionally he would glance at us, and me and mom would always stare back when he did. There was this look on his face, it was a hard look, then again that's just how he looked all the time, but this was different its like he recognized us. Even though I knew he never met me or mom, at least from what I knew, at the time.

It was so strange when he did that, because I never knew why he did it.

Judging by the dirty looks Mom always gave him it seemed like she knew him quite well. I didn't know why she had so much contempt for him at the time, until he saw me preform one of the marines training moves on Mom.

That look of passive recognition turned into an eyebrow raised look of surprise. Looking at him you'd think he was p#ssed off at somebody, but he showed genuine surprise. Mom just kept giving him that look that said "When I get the chance I am going to kill you." Later on when he came back that same day I found out why that was.

It was late in the evening, and we were enjoying our evening rations, given to us by the scientists, who'd been studying us for the past five years. We were by the glass barrier that separated the containment cell from the hall ways in front of it. Hadrick had materialized behind Mom who kept he back to the glass door. He gave us a light tap on the glass door, which startled me and Mom badly. Once mom saw who it was she grabbed me protectively and backed away growling as she did.

Scheafer was in casual wear with a red t-shirt and light brown jeans, with a pistol holster around his waist with the pistol on his right side. He wasn't exactly old but looking at his dark grey hair, scarred face with three parallel lines running down the side of his head down to his square lower jaw, and slightly wrinkled face you'd think he was. He was pretty big for a Ooman to, I could see he loved his PT regimens.

"All I want to do is talk." Hadrick told her. He spoke into a speaker system that had been integrated into the glass wall.

Mom in clicked and hissed in our language "F off."

Hadrick wasn't offended. Surprisingly he began speaking in our language, "Look all I want to say is that I was surprised by your son using my form of combat training."

Mom was a little surprised but not but not enough to give him any credit for learning how to speak our language or ask how the h#ll he knew it. "Go away!"

"Listen I know your p#ssed off at me and I've come to appologize."

That is what surprised Mom. "Why?" she spoke in a hissy dialect like that of a snake.

Then he displayed something that made sense to everything he was doing. It was a smart disc that he pulled from the back of his holster to the left.

"Where did you get that?" Mom's English was smooth. She looked at the circular weapon in recognition, like she'd seen this particular weapon before.

"Friend of yours gave it to me." The disc bore a significant mark on it that I recognized as well. It was the symbol of my clan etched into the circular bladed weapon.

Mom fingered the glass next to it like it was the most sacred and prescious thing she'd ever seen.

Hadrick looked very at a camera on the walls and quickly moved over to the compartment where the scientists gave us our food. There, he slipped the disc through with little difficulty.

Mom grasped and held it gently in her hands. She clicked her mandibles as she fingers the marking in recognition.

"Remeber it?" He asked.

Mom gave a firm nod and asked where he'd gotten it from again. Hadrick couldn't have just gotten this from any other Predator, this was from our clan, and judging from Mom's reaction to it, someone she knew.

Hadrick proceeded to explain his experience with the Yatja that had given it to him. Way back when he was a Corporal, Haerick Schaefer was on a rescue mission to get some survivors from this one colony that had been underside by a hive of xenomorphs. He succeeded but ended up getting left behind in the process. He fought back against swarms and swarms of Shadows, hitting anything that crawled around on all fours. Eventually he was caught and pinned down by several of the bastards. He was about to turn his pistol on himself, but at the last moment my apparent uncle, A'rgr-lo had arrived and saved him. After saving him, uncle was about to kill him to, but a xeno ambushed him, and Schaefer ended up returning the favor and saving A'rgr-lo. The two became good alies, and both fought through swarms of xenomorphs together. At the end of it though ,Uncle A'rgr-lo ended up mortally wounded after fighting a Predalien. After helping kill the Abomination, and making it to a dropship A'rgr-lo gave Schaefer his final respects by marking him on his arm, and gifting him with the smart disc. Our clan picked his body up shortly thereafter.

Apparently, Mom had given Uncle A'rgr-lo this smart disc, which she'd tailor made for him. Mom closed her eyes and silently wept over the bladed weapon. She apologized and nodded her head at Schaefer. He wasn't as bad as she'd made him out to be after all. She returned the smart disc to him and the two had a short conversation. It was mostly about me having learned how to master combat. Apparently I was a "prodigy" as he called me.

After that visit he did appear a couple other times, mostly at night when nobody was around to see. I don't remember alot of the conversations they'd had, but one time I do remember Mom calling Schaefer her "Hunter Brother". It's a term we use in regard to persons we respect, and love highly enough to call our brother, especially when it comes to what they're good at. To us it's mostly just hunting. But still Mom had regarded this Ooman as her own brother, such behavior was unheard of in our culture. While it's true we do allow humans to enter our clans, we do not hold them with the same regard as we do other Yatja. Or at least my species doesn't. But then again. This was no ordinary human. We'd discovered that his ancestry was full of warriors who'd battled, and fought with our species, starting with his ancestor Dutch. This Ooman was an honorable and gifted individual who'd fought with family against the Shadows. Therefore he deserved the honor.

Personally, at the time, I never really cared for him. But that all changed when Mom died.