Author's Note: This chapter has taken so many twists and turns in terms of development I don't know where to begin. Originally, it was going to be longer with more Hunter angst and brooding, until I realized that really wasn't much for Hunter to brood over anymore! So, I had to switch tracks, which brought me to the current plot point that I'm at now. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Tall, Blonde, and Broody
by Froggie Lover

Chapter Six: "The Proposition"

Blurry shapes filled Hunter's vision as he slowly opened his eyes. His head was a mess, and it was made worse by the fact that he had no idea where he was or how he got there.

"Dude, I think he's coming to," a voice that sounded an awful lot like Shane's said.

"What was your first indication, Sherlock?" another voice shot back, this one seeming to be Cam's, if only by the snappy comment.

…The hell, he thought. The blurry shapes sharpened a little, turning into five heads, but there still were no faces. Even if they were people he knew, that didn't explain where he was. The colors surrounding the heads weren't the dark tones of Ninja Ops, but bright, cold, unfriendly whites. Hunter groaned slightly. If he was where he thought he was, he was going to get a huge lecture from his brother.

"Yep, he's awake!"

The blond could only identify that voice as Dustin's. He wanted to shake his head, but it felt too heavy to move. Great, so everyone was here to revel in his embarrassment.

"Should we poke him?" Hunter wanted to glare at the owner of the voice, who had to be Tori due to the feminine quality of her voice.

"I think he's trying to play dead."

"Yeah, well, it's not working 'cause his heart monitor is still working."

"I definitely think we should poke him."

"Poking him won't do anything."

"We should probably leave him alone, so he can get more sleep."

Hunter was grateful for this last suggestion, which he knew came from Blake. The rest of the team, however, didn't seem to agree.

"I think he got enough sleep while he was unconscious."

"Come on! Let me poke him! Just once."

The figures looming above him were made clear to the point where he could tell who each one was. Cam and Shane were on the left side of his bed, Blake and Tori on his right, and Dustin was at the end of the bed. He still didn't feel he could speak, no matter how much he wanted to so he could tell Tori off and send sharp insults to everyone but Blake.

"Nobody's poking anybody," Cam said, trying to play the peacekeeper.

Of course, everyone then proceeded to poke each other. Tori started it first, then Dustin, and then Shane. The only ones who didn't participate were Cam and Blake, who were both shaking their heads.

"Guys," Hunter managed to croak. "Shut up."

Everyone turned their attention to the "ailing" Crimson Thunder Ranger. "Great choice of first words after recovering from a state of unconsciousness," Cam said.

All Hunter could do was send him a glare. He didn't have enough energy for much else. He was starting to wonder if he should've listened to Blake. Then again, he was known for his stubborn streaks.

It wasn't long before a nurse came in and shooed the crowd away. The only one who was left was Blake. He helped Hunter sit up and grabbed the pitcher of water on a table across the room. "Here, drink this bro."

The older brother took the beverage gladly. The cool liquid healed his sore throat a little. "Sorry." He still could only manage one to two word phrases, but it was enough for now.

Blake waved the apology away. "Don't worry about it. The only thing that's important is that you're okay. The doctor said you could go home tomorrow."

After drinking more of the water, Hunter felt a little more able to speak. "Tomorrow? I feel like I couldn't move for the next two weeks, even if someone paid me."

"What if the currency was Alexandra's safety?" Blake asked, knowing exactly the response it would rouse from his brother, even if he was half-dead.

Hunter felt a surge of energy, but his body didn't follow through. Just the mention of her name got him riled up, but in a good way. It made him want to get up, even though he probably didn't have the strength to move an inch. "Any news?"

"You've only been out for a day, dude," his brother replied. "No, nothing new has happened. As far as we know, Lothor's still short of a plan."

"I highly doubt that."

Alexandra woke up slowly. Nikko wasn't there, a fact that had her thanking whatever gods would take enough pity on her to listen. She carefully sat up, her entire body screaming in pain. The fact that she hadn't really moved in the past week or so, combined with Nikko's treatment of her, made every tiny shift almost unbearable. She didn't even attempt to stand.

She cast a sweeping glance around the room, and noticed something strange. Realizing that ever since she came to Blue Bay Harbor looking for Hunter, things in her life had always been strange, she made no big deal of it. Then, of course, her mortal curiosity got the better, and she investigated it.

"It" was an ornate box sitting on her desk. She didn't dare open it, so instead she gazed in fascination at the carvings on the outside. Many of characters were Japanese, characters she would know in her sleep.

The six symbols etched on the object were the same that were on her necklace…the ones that represented the blessings her ancestors had been given centuries ago. Why in the hell would Lothor have a box with her family's blessings on it? That didn't make any sense.

"The man is out of his evil space ninja mind," Alexandra said to herself. Something about that box, though, intrigued her. While every drop of common sense and experience from watching science fiction and horror movies were telling her not to touch the stupid box, she did the opposite. She laid one careful hand on it, intending to open it. She never got the chance.

Kutar made sure everything was in order as he prepared to leave. He had left a set of instructions for Zurgane to follow to complete the project. For quite a few days he had attempted to fight the voice in his head, to no avail. So, he was stepping away from his project. He wasn't giving in; he just couldn't fight it anymore. His work would be done even if he weren't there to oversee it. That much he was sure of.

Lothor is as much a failure as every other evil to hit Earth with a monster, the voice told him. Your plan will fail.

"Shut up, you old fool," he muttered.

Who are you calling old, anyak-edimerts?

The Chronitian insult went right over his head. He didn't even listen, really. Though, it was hard to ignore a voice inside your mind. "I have to get out of here," he said to himself.

It won't help you.

"Shut up!" he yelled, trying with all his might to expel the presence from his consciousness. "I will do this, you will have nothing to say about it!"

This was exactly why he was vacating the premises. He couldn't even get his bags packed without having an argument with his "other self," as he'd come to call it. Fighting for every step, he made his way over to the control panel on the other side of his room. He pressed the sequence of buttons necessary for teleportation, and felt relief as the white beam of light took him out of Lothor's ship.

When he landed, he was on the familiar ground of Chronite. Things were as they always were: quiet. He was just inside the palace, and the spirit inside him seemed almost placated by the fact that he had returned here. So, with an ease he hadn't felt in a good while, he walked to his throne room, nodding to guards he knew and scowling at ones who were just idly standing by not doing their jobs.

When he reached the throne room, he found a nice surprise. His daughter Kintara was already there, seemingly waiting for him.

"Where've you been, retap?" she asked. She looked a great deal like her father, with the same blonde hair and the same blue eyes, though hers were considerably less cold. "You didn't even leave a note. I even went so far as to visit my friends on Pheados to scan for you, but they picked up nothing."

This daughterly concern roused Kutar's other self's attention. The warring for control began again, but Kutar managed to say, "My previous wheareabouts are none of your concern."

Kintara watched her father carefully. Being Chronitian and a natural telepath, she had keen powers of observation. She could tell something was not right with her parent. "If you were off to see a woman, I don't care. Just as long as you tell me where you were, retap."

The war reached a new height. As much as Kutar may have fought, his other self eventually won out. "I was on Earth," was all he could say before Kutar reclaimed control.

The Chronitian princess looked confused. "What could you have been doing on Earth? Was it some kind of mission-?"

"All you wanted to know is where I was. The rest is for me to know and you to never find out," Kutar interrupted. "Are we clear?"

She winced. She had heard that her father had malicious tendencies, but he never acted that way towards her. Slowly she nodded, and then turned and left the room, holding back her emotions as best as possible.

Inside the throne room, Kutar put his head in his hands, fighting the tears that his other self longed to shed. "You won't win," he said quietly.

The voice in his mind didn't respond.

Lothor stormed out about the bridge of his ship. "Where in Attum's name is Kutar?"

Nikko watched the scene, an eyebrow raised. "Attum?"

"Quiet!" Lothor yelled. "Will somebody tell me where that idiot king is?"

"He left, sir," Zurgane said, his voice shaking. "He wrote this note, but didn't say where he was going."

The evil space ninja snatched the piece of paper out of his general's hand. He read it feverishly, his eyes zipping back and forth across the paper. "That moron!" he exclaimed. "He left the making of the powers in your care!" He shook his head, and turned his attention back to the real matter at hand. "Where could he have gone?"

"Back to his home planet, I imagine," Nikko answered calmly. "Maybe he realized that things aren't going to go his way, so he went back home. Sounds like something a coward like him would do."

His statement definitely did not please Lothor. "Insolence! We had an agreement! He was to finish the powers, and then he was free to go. I'm working on a schedule here!" He slammed his fist into one of the columns. "Zurgane! Teleport Kutar here now! I will not be treated and ignored like an underling!"

Zurgane nodded. "Yes, sir." He turned around and headed for the communications quarters, the easiest place to find someone.

Meanwhile, Nikko watched Lothor seeth with a smug grin. He actually was enjoying watching the man lose his mind over such a simple thing as an ally's disappearance. Even when he was sent a glare from said evil ninja, he was nonplussed. Very few things scared him now.

It wasn't long before Zurgane returned, triumphant of course. "Kutar has been returned to the ship, sir, and a forcefield was placed around his room. He can only move about the ship when you allow it."

Lothor nodded in approval. "Excellent. Now, get him down to the work bay and give me a progress report. We'll be needing those powers soon."

"Yes, sir."

Back on Earth, night had fallen over Blue Bay Harbor. The hospital was silent, and Hunter's room was nearly deserted save for him and Blake. His younger brother was sleeping awkwardly in a chair. Hunter had tried to get him to go home and sleep in a proper bed, but Blake wasn't hearing a word of it. So, he had sighed, laid back in his bed (which was neither proper, nor inviting in terms of sleep), and stared up the ceiling resignedly.

It had to have been around midnight when Blake stirred from his slumber. "Bro, you still awake?" he asked the darkness.

Hunter inclined his head toward his brother. "Yeah, dude, I'm up. What's going on?"

"I was having this freaky dream," Blake answered. He rubbed his face with his hand and shifted in his chair. He was now wondering if he should've taken Hunter up on his suggestion earlier. "I don't know if it was real or not, but it was freaky as all get out."

The blond wasn't surprised. After all the strange visions he'd ended up having in the past few weeks, anyone else having them wasn't all that shocking. "I must've given off some kind of vibe while I was unconscious," he laughed. "What was it about?"

There were a few long moments before Blake spoke. "I think it was that Kutar guy. It looked like he was, I don't know, crying."

Despite the fact that he didn't have a whole lot of energy, and his body was still stiff from sleeping for a day straight, Hunter shot up in bed. "What? You had a dream with Kutar?" His mind reeled. What in the name of all that is ninja was going on here?

"Yeah, but I can't explain it." Blake sighed heavily. "The guy was actually crying. I think he was on Lothor's ship, 'cause the walls looked familiar."

"Are you sure it was Kutar?"

Blake was silent again, pondering his dream rather than immediately answering his brother. "It was definitely him. I saw his eyes. It was just like that day at the track. Except, there was something different this time. I couldn't tell you what, though."

A light chuckle sounded from Hunter's lips. "You think it was 'cause he was crying?" He slowly lay back down, wincing a bit as he did so. "What would make an evil king hell bent on destroying the entire Good Universe as we know it cry? Unless of course the guy has unresolved issues or something."

"Dude, what person in the struggle of good and evil doesn't have issues?" Blake wondered. "Just look at Lothor. According to Cam's story, he always had to play second fiddle to his brother, and he got tired of it, so he turned evil to gain attention. This Kutar guy has to have some kind of deal. We all do."

Hunter took in a deep breath, considering his brother's words. As he thought more about said evil king, and what his issues might be, he was drawn back to that day at the motocross track. Kutar's eyes had been so cold that they actually burned into him. Yet, now that he thought about it, there was something behind them, something he hadn't noticed then. There was almost a pleading look behind the ice, like a cry for help. It was possible, though, that he was just imagining these things now, to take his mind off of other matters.

"I wonder if his issues involve his wife," Blake said suddenly. "You know, the story Sensei told us when we first saw him. He killed his wife, remember?"

Yes, Hunter did remember. The story had stuck with him for some reason, though it had certainly been on the back burner of his thought process since all the events with Alexandra. "It probably has everything to do with her. I mean, from what Sensei told us, it sounded like everything started at that whole thing."

The Navy Thunder Ranger shifted around to stare up at the ceiling. "I wouldn't doubt it for a second, dude. My question is, though, why the hell did I have the dream? I'm not exactly the first one in the group to have visions involving what our evil counterparts are up to." He gave a meaningful glance to his older sibling.

The blond felt the stare, and he shook his head. "Hell if I know, dude. Like I said, I probably gave you some weird vibes when I was unconscious. Just go with it."

Blake couldn't help a laugh. "All right, all right, I get it." He continued looking at his brother, but there was something else in his mind this time. "Speaking of visions, have you had any of Alex lately?"

"One," Hunter replied quietly. He closed his eyes and summoned the image that had driven him right into his hospital bed. He clenched his fists, but tried to keep his emotions from raging out of control again. "I found out what was going on with her on Lothor's ship." He breathed heavily in and out; mostly it was an attempt to calm his anger at the next word he was about to utter. "Nikko."

That was all he needed to say. Blake got the idea instantly. Just at the statement, he wanted to throw their former classmate against a wall and use him as a punching bag. He could only wonder what was going through Hunter's mind.

Hunter was thinking of an entirely different scenario. Rather than a punching bag, Nikko was one big dartboard, the middle of his eyes being, of course, the bull's eye. And with a big supply of darts that looked remarkably like miniature versions of his Thunder Staff, the target wasn't that hard to hit.

"I swear, when we get down to that battle with Nikko, I am not leaving until Nikko is bleeding to death, mortally wounded, and drawing his last breath," Hunter said suddenly, not realizing he was vocalizing his thought. "But only if I'm the one that gets to deal the last blow."

In the darkness, and in the safety of that darkness, Blake winced. He recalled memories of Hunter under the alien mind warp, realizing his determination to kill was the same now as it was then, only now it was voluntary. At least this time it was aimed at the right person.

Kutar's inner fight had raging again once he had been rather unceremoniously teleported back to Lothor's ship. The man on the outside was happy to be back, to see his plan put in motion on a more personal level. The voice inside his head, however, was furious. He fought tooth and nail, but the one in control didn't give in, not this time.

You have no power over me, his other self claimed with a determination that would discourage many a man. Kutar, however, was not counted amongst that number.

He actually laughed at the voice's statement. "Please. If I have no power over you, then why are you still stuck inside while I'm out here, in complete control?"

The voice growled. You found me at a time when I was weak from betrayal. I was foolish enough to trust you, to not erect proper defenses against your poisoning. But, I have won control before, and I will do it again. Just give me a reason.

"You won for a moment," he laughed. "But trust me, you will not do it again. I have ways of locking you out forever, fool. You just give me a reason."

His other self didn't seem to take this threat seriously, mostly because he knew it wasn't true. Things are never that simple. Your head has been in the clouds for far too long if you think they are. It won't be long now before I gain control again…for good, this time.

"He will be dead before then," Kutar retorted. Just the mere threat of his other self having command of the body made him angry. It wasn't something he was going to allow.

A pain ripped through his already tired body. He groaned and fell to his knees, clutching himself in an attempt to stop the pain. All right…so maybe his other self had more power than he gave him credit for, but that wasn't the point.

In this weakened state, his other self had just enough of an advantage to officially take over. For a long time he didn't move. He was too busy readjusting to being in control. Then, he started by experimentally flexing his fingers. It felt good to be able to actually feel his limbs move at his command.

Slowly he stood up, surveying the room. His eyes had changed from their normal ice blue to a softer, less threatening shade. To finally be able to actually see, with his own eyes, the sights around him was a feeling he wouldn't take for granted anymore.

After many more long moments of enjoying the new power he held over his body, Kutar started sorting through the clutter of papers on his desk. At the same time he was marveling at how scatterbrained his darker half was; he found (with some difficulty) the documents he was looking for.

The sketches gave a graphical display of the morphers that "he" was making for Lothor. The powers for those morphers were, as yet, incomplete, but it wouldn't be long before they were finished. There was nothing he could do to stop that process now. However, he wouldn't let the new users of those powers harm anyone else. There was a way he could help with that.

He set the schematics down and drew another paper from the pile. This was a list of specifications, a gold mine to anyone sitting behind a power management console and was also up against anyone holding the powers that Lothor was about to unleash. He lay back in his bed, reading the list as thoroughly as possible. He couldn't believe how much his more sinister side had managed to hide from him, even though they shared the same mind. He should've known all this already! He sighed and continued reading through the list.

"No use living in the past," he muttered. He grinned at the sound of his voice. Yes, it did feel good to be strong enough to speak to the outside world again.

It wasn't long before he was tired and his eyes actually hurt from reading through the endless list. He set it down and got more comfortable in his bed. He knew the peace in his head wouldn't last long. He needed to get some real sleep if he was going to keep up the fight. Before drifting off, he set up some proper (though hardly enough to last for long) mental defenses to keep the uglier side of himself at bay.

As sleep was kind enough to bless his mind, he managed out one thought. This thought was something that would keep him strong, that would keep him from falling under the sway of ill influences again. King Kutar of Chronite was back, and there was nothing the side of evil could do about it.

Hunter had just gotten back from the hospital, and right now he was lying in his bed, staring idly up at the ceiling. Blake wouldn't let him sleep on the futon like he wanted to, but it didn't take him much arguing to realize that his brother wasn't going to give in on the issue. He had resignedly stayed silent while the Navy Thunder Ranger had shut his bedroom door and gone back out into the world, probably down to Ninja Ops where the others were.

Probably due to his extended rest in the hospital, Hunter was in no mood to sleep, even though that's exactly what Blake had told him to do. The comforting fact was that Blake hadn't forced any more sleeping pills or anything on him. He was on that strange, sick, twisted, and rather uncomfortable verge between waking and rest; he was dead tired but he couldn't slip into the unconscious world of dreams and the occasional hellish nightmare. Of course, for him lately "occasional" was typically more often than not.

He let his thoughts drift away from him, thinking of nothing else besides a blank night sky. It was a meditation technique Sensei Omino had taught him when he was just barely old enough to grasp the concept of becoming a ninja. It hadn't failed him yet.

As his mind slowly became a black blanket of nothingness, he started to feel drowsy, and he had trouble focusing on the image. Finally, he might have a shot of getting some sleep.

Somewhere in the distance between the real world and his subconscious, he heard his morpher beep. With a groan he opened his eyes, his body feeling oddly sluggish. "What god decided not to like me today?" he muttered before picking up his morpher. "Yeah?"

Not surprisingly, it was Cam. "I know that Blake has given you a mandate of being confined to your bed, but you have to get down to Ninja Ops."

"Does Blake know you're asking me this?" Hunter wondered. He shook his head. "Why do you want me to be there? Dude, I don't even know if I have the energy to teleport."

Cam sighed. "Just get down here. And if you don't have the energy, I'll 'port you in from the supercomputer. Happy?"

"Fine, I'll be there," Hunter said. He cut off the connection and took in a deep breath. He was almost hoping that he wouldn't have the strength to get to Ninja Ops, so he could possibly go back to sleep. Alas, the world was not that kind. He teleported out of the room in a flash of crimson light.

The air in Ninja Ops was still, and there was complete silence, when Hunter landed inside. He looked around and saw that Cam was the only one there. "What's going on?"

Cam waved him over to the computer. He brought up a screen that showed the area just outside the secret entrance. "We have a visitor," was all he said.

Hunter looked at him suspiciously. "Will you stop being a damned enigma? What the hell…?" He took notice of the image onscreen. Standing just inside the shadows of the tree line was a man, who looked oddly familiar. "Is that…Kutar?"

"Yeah," Cam replied. "Here's the weird part."

"You mean it gets weirder than the fact that an evil king is standing calmly at our doorstep?" Hunter half-asked, half-scoffed.

The Green Ranger nodded. "Apparently. I ran a scan, and the reading was different than last time. This time, the signature wasn't evil. That's why the alarms didn't go off."

"Are you telling me that the guy right now is technically good?" Hunter furrowed his eyebrows and resisted the urge to start pacing. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Since when has anything ever made sense?" Cam asked.

"Well, never," the Thunder ninja admitted. He sighed and sat down at the table, rubbing his temples to try to clear his mind. "So, what do we do?"

"First, you must consult your sensei," Sensei said from out of nowhere. His cart rolled into the main room. "And you must also gather everyone else here."

Cam shrugged. "It's a start." He started typing in the teleportation commands.

Hunter sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Blake's gonna flip."

"Relax Hunter," Sensei reassured. "It is likely that the seriousness of the situation will outweigh your discretion."

The Crimson Thunder Ranger looked surprised. Did Sensei just tell him that he was going to weasel his way out of trouble here? While musing this thought, four people teleported into Ninja Ops.

"Some warning before you do that would still be nice, dude," Shane said. "We could've been in the middle of the mall or something."

"I checked your locations before teleporting you," Cam explained, smirking. "Besides, none of you had any real chance of being discovered."

Dustin shrugged. "Well, at least we landed okay this time. Last time was brutal."

Blake raised an eyebrow as he noticed Hunter. Rather than start yelling at him, which was what he wanted to do, he turned his attention to Cam. It's possible the trouble they were about to face was worse than Hunter ignoring his orders. "What's going on? You almost never teleport us randomly, so something huge has to be up."

"Kutar's hanging out not too far from the secret entrance," Cam said. "And-"

"What?" Tori exclaimed. "Why didn't you call us sooner? He could be thinking up some kind of scheme to kill us, and we're just sitting here?"

"You didn't let me finish." The samurai sighed. "Yes, Kutar is standing outside, but I don't think it's what it seems. I ran a scan, and evidently the guy isn't evil. Not right now at any rate. The energy reading I picked up earlier didn't match the one from the day at the track. Something's different about the guy."

Shane grinned. "You just can't figure out what?"

Cam turned in his chair and glared at the Red Wind Ranger.

"I think we should go out there," Hunter said suddenly, quietly.

Everyone in the room turned to him, quite surprised.

"What? Are you crazy?" Blake asked. "We don't know what he's planning! He could very well want us to go out there, unmorphed and unprepared, so he could kill us and get it over with! That way, he can conquer the world in a matter of days!"

Hunter didn't argue, but he didn't seem to be agreeing either.

"You know," Shane began hesitantly. "Hunter may have a point. I don't think this guy's out there to kill us. His energy reading would be evil if he was, right?"

Dustin looked thoughtful. "Yeah, but, what if it's something he can switch off and on? Or, what if he has a way to manipulate scanners or something?"

"If someone was manipulating the scanners, I'd know about it," Cam pointed out.

"I do not think Kutar is entirely dangerous right now," Sensei said. "It might be a good idea to go out and meet him. There is the possibility that he has left Lothor's service."

"Oh yeah, just like Choobo," Blake muttered.

"And Marah," Dustin concurred.

"When those two played the deception card, they were against two of us at the most. Kutar would be up against all of us; there's no way he could trick all of us at once," Hunter interjected. "Plus, something tells me he wouldn't be dumb enough to try it. Whatever has him out there, I doubt it has anything to do with fooling us into trusting him."

Tori raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure about this?"

The blond ninja shrugged. "It's just a feeling, an instinct."

"Oh, yeah, that's reliable," the Yellow Wind Ranger said, rolling his eyes. "Again, I bring up the situation with Marah. I had an instinct that she was good remember? And then not long after she tried to kill me."

Cam rubbed his chin, considering both sides of the argument. "Actually Dustin, to be exact, you had an instinct that Marah had some good inside her, not that she was good entirely. And I think you might've been right, because I did see her hesitate."

"She still tried to kill me, or at least got Beevil to do it," Dustin muttered.

"So I guess that means a ninja's instinct really is their most valuable weapon," Shane commented. "Which means that I think we should go with Hunter on this one."

"And, what if he tries to kill us?" Blake wondered.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "You're not going to drop the killing thing are you? We'll worry about it if and when he does it. Otherwise, leave it alone."

The Navy Thunder Ranger mumbled something incoherent, then said, "Fine. Let's go." He started up the Ninja Ops stairs, Hunter, Shane, and Cam soon following him.

Dustin and Tori exchanged a glance, shrugged, and left as well.

Sensei watched them leave. When Tori's steps could no longer be heard, he turned around and hopped around on the supercomputer's keyboard, bringing up an image of the area outside Ninja Ops. He wanted to see what would happen.

Kutar stayed in the shadows of the trees as he heard footsteps on the water. He knew who it was. Of course, he didn't know if they came armed or not, so he played it safe. Once he found out whether they would be allies or continue to be enemies, he would make a move.

"We know you're here Kutar."

The Chronitian king tried to see as best he could around the tree, and saw all six of them, unmorphed. They were standing at the edge of the lake, all skeptical. However, they didn't appear to be on the attack. So, trusting his instincts, he slowly came out from behind the tree to face them.

"I see your mentor has informed you well in the politics of other planets," he replied.

"No, just you," a dark-haired, Asian man said.

"That much of a threat am I?" Kutar laughed a little. "Well, I've come here to make a proposition. Right now, we both have the same enemy, and…" He looked right at the one he knew to be Hunter. "I have access to something you want."

End Note: Don't kill me for the cliffhanger!

Chronitian translations:
anyak-edimerts - jackass
retap - father (for those of you who took Latin, you'll recognize that this one spelled backwards is "pater," or Latin and/or Greek for "father")