How many weeks had he been here now? Had it become months? He'd honestly tried to count, but the days would blur into a haze of pain. Every fiber of his being hurt and it had nothing to do with his 'training'. It wasn't a paralyzing force yet, but Xander thought it might be soon. He even spoke of the pain to Medusa, the female who had helped heal him, but he wasn't sure if it was simply what was supposed to be happening to him or if his stilted grasp of their language kept him from conveying it properly.

As the time went by, Xander settled fully into the routine Shooey had established of him. In the morning the manual labor, afternoons were spent sparring and then the rest of the day spent stroking the odd glowing plants.

Not only was his grasp of their language improving, his sparring matches had gotten better. He still lost repeatedly and violently, but he managed to do it with less injury. The matches lasted longer and were more intense. He'd begun to anticipate the attacks and block them accordingly, several matches ending not because of his lack of skill but because of his exhaustion. Even with this improvement, during this time he still had not managed to connect a single strike against Shooey. He would acquire new scars but Shooey was always intact.

In one moment, one significant moment that like so many of the most important moments of his life came unheralded, everything changed. Later Xander would come to think that Shooey had planned it all out, but at the time he merely thought the creature had grown frustrated with him. That Shooey did it as a punishment. Only later did he begin to believe it was meant to push him to fulfill his potential.

The sparring match began as usual. Xander had the ever-present snakes slide off his arms, removed his glowing gem necklace and shrugged off the living robe he'd been wearing over his loin-cloth, his real clothes having finally died weeks before. He moved into his regular position as Shooey tossed him a training stick. As he stood there, Shooey walked over to where he had laid his robe and reached into the pocket and pulled out Xander's most prized possession.

Since he'd come through the portal to this world Xander had lost everything he came with except that one item. His lifeline and his tormenter. The wallet had been saved and protected since he'd arrived and while it contained some bittersweet memories in its pictures it also held a personal treasure. When Sunnydale has been destroyed they hadn't had time to prepare to leave, they hadn't packed up bags or anything. They escaped with the clothes on their backs, the possessions in their pockets. In Xander's pocket had been his wallet and pictures of the people he cared about. Now, with Sunnydale gone, it held one of the only remaining pictures of Anya.

Shooey threw Xander's wallet into the fire at the center of camp then placed himself between it and Xander, his intentions clear. It was a moment that caused a fundamental shift in who Xander was and would be. In the weeks prior he was just doing what he needed to do to survive. Once he realized that, despite the harsh treatment, Shooey didn't actually want him dead he had settled in. He did try his best, he learned but it was just to get by. He hadn't fully committed himself in any of the fights since at the beginning. He, in a form, had grown complacent.

All complacency was gone for this battle. Xander knew there would be no use trying to talk to Shooey now, he was a creature of action. The only thing left that Xander cared for was in the fire. As Xander felt the fear and anger rise in him, as he charged Shooey head-on like he hadn't done since the early training sessions, He wondered how long a photo would last in the fire? It was the last thought Xander had before he attacked.

Shooey waited on Xander to move closer, his momentum building as he saw Xander telegraphing his attack to come from the right, a slash to his midsection. Shooey balanced his weight and brought his training stick to block in time. That was the intention. Instead of the slash he was telegraphing, Xander kept his momentum and slammed into Shooey with his left shoulder. The hit was enough to make Shooey stumble backwards, but even as the seasoned warrior stumbled he fought. His training stick slashed back, opening a gash on Xander's forehead and releasing a gush of blood over Xander's sealed left eye.

Even as his face was dealt a slash, Xander completed the slash to Shooey's midsection that he had telegraphed, scoring a long deep gash along Shooey's stomach that released dark ichor. Following the momentum of his upper-body for the slash, Xander tried to kick Shooey's knee, but only managed to slam his shin into the joint. The leg straightened, further unbalancing Shooey. Xander, having hit the knee at the wrong angle, ended up falling on the ground while Shooey was regaining his balance. Moving quickly on the ground, Xander tuned his body and slammed his training stick into the back of the knee he'd hit, and once the stick connected he moved it in a sawing motion that produced more blood from Shooey and forced the knee to collapse.

As Shooey fell to the ground Xander's foot flew at his face, connecting hard and racking his head back. Xander had never fought this way. He knew he should capitalize on having stunned Shooey, but this fight was for a reason, so he crawled to the fire as fast as he could, ramming his hands into the flames. He didn't even notice the heat as he grasped his wallet. He began to pull his body away from the fire, seeing that his wallet hadn't started to darken yet, when a foot landed between his shoulder blades.

Xander struggled, trying to rock his body side-to-side to remove the weight, but it held fast keeping him pinned to the ground. Shooey reached down and yanked the wallet out of Xander's hands and dropped it back into the fire. Shooey leaned down and growled into Xander's ear. From what Xander had learned of the language, Shooey had said "Fight as taught, earn your," something Xander didn't recognize, "and keep." Xander continued his struggles to dislodge the weight on his back from the larger Shooey, his rocking failing in throwing Shooey but succeeding in getting his elbows under him. Leveraging up enough on his elbows, Xander grabbed the foot Shooey had on the ground and yanked it to him.

The move caught Shooey off guard and the weight on Xander diminished enough for Xander to crawl forward. Again he grabbed his wallet heedless of the flames. The wallet in his hand Xander rolled on to his back and threw it back toward his robe just before Shooey's foot caught his wrist eliciting a solid crack and depriving Xander of any feeling in it.

A kick from Shooey's bad leg was nearly enough to make his head spin around. Xander rolled the best he could, but the kick still caused a spray of blood to fly from his mouth.. As he took a breath and rolled from the presumed follow up, he got a surprise as Shooey didn't immediately capitalize on Xander's pain. Instead Xander saw him going over to the robe where the wallet had been thrown. Getting to his feet Xander made another charge at Shooey. As he built up a small bit of momentum he saw Shooey stop before he got to the robe and Xander saw why. The snakes had curled around his wallet and were baring their fangs. One made an attempt to bite Shooey the same moment that Xander drove his shoulder into Shooey's knee.

The hit moved Shooey out of the path of the snakes' fangs and moved Xander right into it. The snake clamped hard on his shoulder as Xander was tangled with Shooey's. Xander got to his feet first and aimed a kick at Shooey's head which missed by inches as Shooey rolled away from it and the snakes. Shooey came up to his feet looking surprised at Xander, he quickly balanced his weight off his hurt knee and held his training stick at the ready. Somewhere along the way Xander had lost his training stick but he hardly thought it mattered now He ran at Shooey, trying to spike him like he was sliding into second base.

Shooey saw the move coming and shifted his leg out of the way and slashed at Xander's neck, only to have the blow land hard on Xander's forearm. Moving his arm, Xander locked the stick against himself and gripped it with his right hand, trying to pull it from Shooey even as it sliced into his hand. Shooey slammed down on top of him, his fist connecting solidly with Xander's jaw. Xander had been hit in the face before though by beings stronger and faster than this demon. He rolled with the hit and scampered away from Shooey. He got up quickly and managed to connect a solid kick to Shooey's neck that surprised the creature.

Trying to keep Shooey down, Xander rained punches on him, barely noticing as his knuckles were opened and his blood mingled with Shooey's. The punches kept falling until Shooey grabbed his fist and pulled Xander down, rolling him onto his back and pinning him down with his training stick across Xander's throat. Shooey's horrific face twisted into what Xander had associated with a smile as Shooey growled out "Good. Stay here."

From previous sparring matches, Xander knew this one was over even if it wasn't like any before. He'd managed to hurt Shooey, he'd almost won in fact. He'd fought hard for something he cared for, something beyond his life and he'd survived and nearly won. And now Shooey would expect every match to go like this, Xander wouldn't be allowed to hold back again. Something in Xander liked that, liked that he wouldn't be able to just get by as he had been. He lay there on the ground as his breath returned to normal, his eye watching the clouds while keeping his snakes, guarding his wallet, in his peripheral vision. He could tell he was in store for more fights like this.

Shooey returned holding something folded, a small gelatinous ball and one of the bone knives that he'd seen around the camp. When he got next to Xander he grabbed Xander's hair and pulled him up until Xander was kneeling. Shooey's words, despite Xander's growing grasp of the language, were mostly lost on him. He managed to make out "did well" and "reward" but without the other words he had no context. Then he felt the knife cut through his hair and saw it fall to the ground in front of him. This continued until Shooey was running the bone knife against Xander's scalp and Xander's head no longer held any hair.

Shooey stood Xander up. Xander wasn't sure what was happening before pain, different than the constant pain he'd had, began at his feet and flowing up. It felt like every pore was being stabbed at once. He felt and saw something sliding over his face and skin as the pain flowed up. He managed not to fall to the ground or scream, but nearly lost his balance again. He was still trying to regain his breath when Shooey forced him back to his knees and pulled a long, reed-like object from the fire. Xander hadn't noticed it there as he'd fought for his wallet. "Still," Shooey said as he brought the hot reed to Xander's head. The heat didn't burn Xander as much as he expected, but he had to fight to keep from screaming as Shooey marked a swirling pattern into his scalp.

It wasn't easy but Xander managed to get through the ordeal. He saw Shooey reach into the gelatinous ball and pull out a small grub-like thing. Shooey moved the grub to Xander's ear. He felt it as it wiggled through his ear and into his head, causing no small amount of pain before it settled down.

"You may go to the shaper now," Shooey said to Xander. Xander's head whipped around at Shooey.

"What? You can speak English? Why are you just -" Xander started to question Shooey. A shove from Shooey stopped him.

"You must go now," Shooey said, "you are allowed your infidel possession. You have proved some worth today, and you may keep it if you continue to fight as you have today." Shooey walked away from Xander to speak with another creature. Xander had seen the creature there before the match, but hadn't really taken notice. It had often watched them, and always seemed displeased to see Xander doing anything. Xander went to pick up his things when he heard Shooey and the other creature yelling. The fight stopped before it could really start when the other creature walked away.

Xander collected his things and went to see Medusa who he assumed was the shaper. He entered the cave and presented his left wrist, while, as usual, his other hand acquired and applied some goo from one of the creatures to seal his wounds. Medusa pulled Xander's wrist straight and looked at it, causing Xander to grimace and say, "I really need a better HMO."

"You always speak and say so little. You should be with the priest caste. They were just as worthless. Why Shoon-mi has chosen to train you as a warrior is not known to me in terms other than foolishness." Medusa broke the skin at Xander's wrist and put a bug under it. It was the first time Xander understood what she said

Xander looked at the bug wriggling under his skin. It wasn't so long ago that something like that would have sent him running in fear. Now he accepted it as part of his daily life. Feeling the thing moving around his wrist he spoke to Medusa. "I can understand you, how can I understand you when I haven't been able to since I got here?"

"It took us some time to grow new tizowyrms so we could understand each other. We've been able to understand you for weeks now. Shoon-mi hadn't thought you'd earned the tizowyrm yet, apparently you've impressed him," she said as she pulled the bug out from his skin again. "Only fractured, it's fine. Weak humans." She turned her back to him, speaking over her shoulder. "Back to your tasks now, it will heal."

"Wait, if we can speak you can tell me where I am. Who are you? What's going on?" Xander asked.

"You are Shoon-mi's pupil, that is all. Now go tend to your work, human."

Xander tried again to speak to her but she didn't reply. After a minute he left the cave-like building and headed back into the fields. The tizowyrm, Xander decided, was a good thing, since he could understand the other creatures now. Unfortunately, by being able to understand them, he found out from their conversations that by and large they all hated him. From what he'd heard, only Shoon-mi's protection had kept Xander from being killed. Xander stroked the plant distractedly as all the new information filtered through his mind.

When the duties were through, Xander walked to the small stream, one of his few liberties. Hunched over the stream he drank some of the cool fresh water. Then he saw his reflection. He no longer looked like himself. His face now had bony protrusions and his skin's color had faded to a grey-white. Around his eyes the skin had darkened and looked sunken in. He now looked like the creatures. A maddened chuckle bubbled forth from Xander as he saw himself and despaired over this new look and wondered if this was how he would look from now on.

Inspecting his reflection the nagging familiarity of the look of himself, of the creatures, returned with frightening strength. Finally a memory surfaced and Xander's chuckling stopped cold and his eye widened. "It couldn't be… I mean, it just couldn't…" Slowly Xander raised his right hand and ran a finger over the side of his nose.

The reaction was immediate. Xander's new face, new skin, began to peel off exposing his true face and head, still bruised and freshly scarred and marked. "No…" Xander wrapped his arms around himself as the skin peeled off and he began to cry. "It can't be… it can't be an ooglith masquer… they're… Oh fuck! I'm living with the Yuuzhan Vong!"