Life changed little in the next few weeks, and Nick began to fit in with the groove of things, and even started to loosen up. With the money from Kojack, they could afford to be little lax trying to find work. Gene had started teaching Nick hand to hand combat skills. Suzuka began to teach him sword skills. Aisha became his personal trainer for weight lifting. Jim sat with him for hours teaching him to pilot various ships on simulators. And Melfina taught him to cook, which didn't always go over well.

One morning he tried to make breakfast for all of them. As they all started eating, it seemed that all was going well until Aisha noticed she was the only one still at the table. The five other chairs in mid fall as there was a mad dash to the nearest bathroom.

"What? Can't handle good food? You humans are pathetic!"

Everyone returned feeling little better

"What are you tryin to do, poison us?" Gene scolded

"It looked pretty good, besides, I'd like to see how you'd do cooking-wise. If YOU did it, we probably would have just up and died", Nick shot back jokingly. By now he and Gene had become pretty good friends and were often either horsing around or at the bar... or usually a combination of the two.

"Well Aisha seems to like it" Gene said hoisting a thumb in her direction. She didn't even regard them and just continued to eat.

Nick cleaned up and got ready for today's lessons. He and Gene went down into town to the small rundown gym at the edge of town wearing boxing shorts. Gene's training pretty much consisted of a routine on the punching bag and occasionally sparring. Today he planned on doing more of the sparring.

They arrived at the small converted warehouse and checked in with the owner. Inside, the main workout room was deserted.

"All the better for us", Gene said

They went over to the only boxing ring in the place, put on the gloves, and hopped in.

"I gotta warn you, I been doing this kinda stuff since I was a kid, and I ain't goin easy on ya, OK?" Gene said

"Sounds fair, but just in case you get too incoherent, I'll let you know when I've won", Nick laughed and with that they squared off. They did the usual circling and small jabs then moved in for heavier hits. Nick let loose and punched Gene in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. Gene repaid the favor by quickly giving a quick jab to his face, catching him right on the nose.

Nick fell back for a second, his anger suddenly flared. Nick's mind raced, "No it shouldn't happen this easily!"

Gene couldn't tell if he was sure but he thought he saw something in Nick change, he noticed what appeared to be fur starting to jut out of his shoulder and his eyes turned a malevolent rust-orange, but it quickly receded as Nick got control over himself.

"What the Hell was that?" Gene asked slightly on edge, wondering if he'd really seen what just occurred.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, don't act like you don't know, fess up!"

Nick looked doubtful, wondering if he should really let him know. He finally gave in and told Gene, "I have a condition. It can be looked upon as a curse or a very powerful tool if used correctly."

He and Gene got out of the ring and sat on one of the benches near the wall

"Ok, I want all of it", Gene demanded

"Ok... You remember I said I had no family right?"

"Yeah"

"Well... when I was found, it was on a barren planet on the outer rim. There was an archaeological team that had been doing some research on some ancient ruins there. They had recently gained access to a massive temple created by a vanished race. Inside they came to a huge vault. All about it were glyphs, pictures, and murals depicting some sort of guardian. They must of figured it was a joke and went to go farther. But, it was no joke. They opened the vault to find a stasis pod and a passage. As the vault opened, there were a series of noises, ancient machines and gears awakening. They all came around the stasis pod to examine the contents. What they saw, they couldn't believe."

"So where do you come in?", Gene interrupted

"I'm gettin there. So anyways, what they saw look very human, but the pod was unlike anything they had ever seen, its technology seemed far superior to what the stone temple consisted of. Along the top panel it said that this was, in fact, the guardian, though it didn't look very imposing. They began to notice tubes running into the neck and chest of the guardian. The tubes suddenly jumped and came to life, and a constant flow of black liquid was injected into the creature. The scientists were starting to back away when they noticed that the vault door had silently closed behind them. All they could do was watch as the creature roused. Its eyes opened and considered the team of scientists with little care, but then a new liquid began being injected into its veins. A radiant red sap coursed through the tubes. The sap started taking effect and threw the creature into an unparalleled rage. Its body contorted and fought against the restraints within the pod. With increasing intensity it struggled until its body changed. Its muscles grew and it got larger than the pod could contain until it burst open. There was nothing human about the beast that towered above them, it now had a snout lined with massive teeth and a light covering of dark metallic colored hair in spots, its eyes glazed over with a crimson red hatred. The scientists never had a chance..."

"So how do you now all this?"

"I am the Guardian..." He calmly replied

Gene scoffed, "Yeah right, nice story"

"Hey! It's true! You just saw what happened!", he retorted, holding Gene's nervous gaze, "Now I've been learning to control it, but sometimes I can't help it."

Gene really didn't know what to say other than, "How'd you get here?"

"While in the "hatred" form I easily broke the vault open and got out. I then wandered until I found the scientists ship, but by then the sap had run its course and I had reverted to my normal self. I somehow activated the computer and had it take me back to civilization. I arrived in this city, ignorant of any of your culture, even your language was unknown to me. Fortunately fate led me to Kojack, who was as you can imagine, intrigued by my attire, which by the way is symbiotic with me so it can shed off during the transformation and find me when I return to normal. He then developed a "hobby" of trying to figure me out I guess. He then named me Nick after his son that had passed away, and it just stuck."

"Too weird", was all Gene managed to say

"Yeah it must be. The only thing is that I can't remember what happened before I entered the stasis pod"

"Well, buddy, I think we should head back and tell the others"

"Alright, do you think they will... still want me around?"

"Hey", Gene laughed, "If they can handle me, they won't even be phased by you"

After Nick's confession they headed back to the shop. The walk home was quiet. Nick was still nervous about the others' reaction regardless of what Gene said. They walked in the door and Gene told Melfina to get the crew for a talk.

They showed up one by one, and when all were gathered, Nick retold the story he told Gene. At his confession of being the Guardian, the others seemed slightly unbelieving. Then Gene told of the slight transformation in the ring. They still didn't really understand what was going on.

"Look" Nick said focusing on his hand. He swung it downwards just as his fingers changed. Each grew to about a foot and sprouted sickle like claws from the tips. His arm twitched and it reverted back in the blink of an eye.

"WOW!" Jim bellowed

Suzuka walked closer to Nick and examined him," I have heard old legends of such a race, one that could prove for more than a match for even the strongest Ctarl veteran when transformed, but they were thought to be only a child's tale. Most interesting."

Aisha strode up to Nick and poked him with her finger with a teasing smile, "So you think you could handle me?"

He didn't know what she meant by that but only said, "I... I... uhhh"

"Aisha lay off", Gene said rolling his eyes, "and for everyone else, this changes nothing. As long as you don't get him P.O.ed nuthin will happen, right Nick?

"Right"

The next morning Jim had come into the kitchen with good news.

"We got a job!"

"Finally! I started to think the world was dead." Gene said

"It also seems that it's fairly local, so I think Nick can go along, otherwise I don't think we would have had room in the ship" Jim said with a hopeful tone

"Whadaya think Nick? You up to it?" Gene rebounded

"Sure, so what's the job?"

Jim looked over the sheet he'd just printed, "Well it's from the local authorities. They want us to take up a bounty with some chump who's been selling illegal goods. And it seems like they want us to do it because they don't want to bring em in and let them have a chance in court."

"What's the pay?" Gene was eager to ask

"It says they don't want to complicate things by paying us, since this is obviously under the table, but they say we can keep what we find in the hideout, which is suspected to be worth a lot."

"Hmm, well it don't sound too hard, and we might get a good haul, let's do it!"