Disclaimer- Hey guess what all you people. I own Stargate Atlantis and there's nothing you can do about it…………uh oh. AHHHH!

I know the last chapter was very boring, and I apologize for that, but this chapter much more exciting. Thank you for reviewing Wella, it's very encouraging, and there is a very good reason why Teyla didn't come. You see.

A/N- Okay, there is a lot of talking in this chapter (and a lot of action too) but it is extremely important that you read it because it really what starts a big part of the plot.

A/N- This is thinking.

The Shadow's Game

All three of them stared in horror as the red dot moved along the screen. Mckay and Sheppard were speechless while Ronon gritted his teeth.

"We got to get down there." Ronon growled snapping Mckay and Sheppard out of their trances.

"Hang on!" Sheppard took the controls and flew as fast as he could to the surface. Ronon was hanging on to whatever he could and Mckay was bouncing off of everything, but then somehow ended up flat on the floor when Sheppard stopped the Jumper.

"Mckay, stop fooling around!" Sheppard said as he and Ronon rushed past him and out of the Jumper.

"I am not fooling around!" But Sheppard and Ronon were out of sight. Mckay wearily got up and ran after them.

It didn't take that long to get to the village since Sheppard parked the Jumper a lot closer. Ronon and Sheppard burst into the village with their guns ready with Mckay lingering behind them. People screamed and ran as Sheppard and Ronon rummaged the area. Mckay walked around trying to tell people it was okay, but it wasn't working.

Finally after a few minutes of complete panic, Kijik came out from a building with his hands up. "What are you doing?" he said terrified.

Sheppard and Ronon finally realized that they were scaring everyone and lowered their weapons. "Sorry."

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Uh, Kijik, I could explain." Sheppard said apologetically as people stared coming out from their hiding places.

"Yes you should explain why you're terrifying everyone."

"There's a wraith in the city." Ronon said simply.

All the villagers who heard that went dead silent, including Kijik. "There's a wraith in my village?"

"Yes, we saw it on our scanners and it looks like it's hunting." Sheppard said panting. "We need to find it. We didn't mean to frighten anyone, but if it isn't found soon, someone's gonna end up dead."

Kijik nodded frightened. "Yes, you may search the city."

"Good, make sure everyone is out of their homes and out where other people can see them, and tell everyone what's going on."

Kijik nodded again.

Sheppard nodded back and ordered Ronon to start searching and Mckay to stay behind and help explain what was happening.

Sheppard and Ronon both searched different parts of the city until dusk. They searched in every building and every hiding place a wraith could hide in. Sheppard even used the life signs detector. But they found nothing. In fact, there wasn't even a trace that a wraith had ever set foot on this planet for five hundred years. When they came back Mckay was already done explaining what was going on and all the people were evacuated.

"Hey what's up, so did you find the wraith?" Mckay asked looking like he was gonna kill someone if he stayed there any longer.

"Not even a trace." Ronon said disappointed.

"Well didn't you use the life signs thing?"

"It didn't even detect a mouse." Sheppard responded. "It's like the wraith just disappeared."

"Well maybe it went back to the forest."

"Maybe, but I doubt it." Ronon said after gulping down a mouthful of water. "The wraith won't abandon an opportunity like this. Even if it knew we were coming, it still would have tried to feed on at least one person."

"So no one was taken." Kijik said hopefully.

"No, not that we can tell."

Kijik let out a sigh of relief. But Sheppard and Ronon were still nervous. The wraith was still out there, and it knew they were there as well. Now it knows what to expect, and could attack them when they least expect it.

"So what do we do?" Mckay was getting extremely impatient.

Sheppard looked at Mckay then at the people huddled together. They were still scared and looked hopeless. Sheppard felt pity for them, and then became very serious. "We have to stay here. We make sure that those ruins, or this planet and its people for that matter, don't fall into the hands of the wraith." Sheppard said with a grand note of valor. "We can not let the wraith reach Earth. We will not let them win!"

Everyone who heard him speak looked at him in wonder. But Mckay just shook his head chuckling. "You just wanted to have your moment didn't you?"

Sheppard's expression changed until he almost looked embarrassed. "Well, uh, no Mckay. I meant what I said." Sheppard said in an obvious attempt to hide his embarrassment.

"Uh huh. Anyway back to my original question, what do we do?"

"What I said before, we stay here for the night in case the wraith comes back."

"Right…so you and Ronon can stay here and I can go?"

"No Rodney, we're all staying here."

"Why do I have to stay?"

"Well, if the Jumper breaks down or if something else happens that would involve the help of a brilliant yet ignorant scientist, who do you think that'd be?"

"…me?"

"Precisely."

"Why me?"

"While you two are deciding who's doing what, I'll be busy tracking the wraith." Ronon said behind them.

"What?" Sheppard said turning around.

Ronon sighed. "I'm gonna go track the wraith."

"Wait a minute, I thought we were all sticking together."

"I think it's better if I go alone. I'll be fine."

"But we already searched the city."

"Yea, but I'm starting to believe it did go back to the forest after all. And if I go alone, I can concentrate better."

"What you can't concentrate while we're around?" Mckay asked sarcastically.

"Yes." Ronon answered.

"…Oh."

Sheppard sighed. "Okay, Ronon, you can go alone, but, if there is any kind of trouble, you radio Mckay immediately. Understand?"

"Understood." Ronon ran off into the forest.

"Wait, why would he be radioing me?"

"Because I'm going to check in with Dr. Weir and tell her we'll be staying overnight."

"What! You can't leave me here all alone!"

"Rodney, I'll only be gone an hour at most, and Ronon is going to be near the village. You'll be fine."

"No I won't! I'll be left here to have my life force sucked out by a wraith! Why can't I go with you!"

"Because someone has to stay here in the village, and if it's not Ronon, it's gonna be you."

"But…"

"Rodney, you're staying here and that's final!"

"Fine!" Mckay shouted putting on his best pout face. "But it's your fault if I get the life sucked out of me!"

"That a boy Mckay." Sheppard left for the Jumper and Mckay was all alone. Well almost alone. The people of the village where still there and were in desperate need of protection. Not that Mckay could do any good. Mckay stood there out in the cold looking annoyed. What was he to do? Well standing outside in the dark wasn't going to do anything, so he decided to go inside one of the shops.

The shop he went into was a restaurant although it looked more like a bar. People were laughing and drinking and having a very good time, probably because they were drunk.

Having nothing else to do, Mckay sat down at the counter. "Um, excuse me, I'd like some water please."

The bartender merely grunted and got to work.

"Aren't you going to have something to eat?"

Mckay nearly jumped out of his seat. He snapped his head around and saw a teenaged boy smiling at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare ya. You just looked hungry."

"That's okay. I'm not hungry." Mckay said getting his bearings. He looked at the boy again and realized that he looked almost identical to Sheppard. The only differences were that he was younger, his hair was a shade lighter and a little longer, and he had soft blue eyes.

"What?" the boy asked wondering why Mckay was staring at him.

Mckay also realized that he was staring at him. "Oh, uh, nothing, you just look like a friend of mine. What's your name anyway?"

"Samuel Nataro. Everyone calls me Sam. You?"

"Dr. Rodney Mckay." He answered just as his water arrived. 'Lousy service.'

"Doctor? Then you must be one of the people who came here scaring everyone."

Mckay rolled his eyes but then looked at him quizzically. "How did you know?"

"No one has the title Doctor around here. And plus your not dressed like everyone else."

Mckay assumed that was a good thing. He then noticed that Sam was also not dressed like everyone else either. "Do you live here?"

Sam looked up at Mckay. "No, I'm a traveler. I came here about a week ago."

"A week ago? That's when the ship crashed."

"Yea, I saw that. I just hope that wraith didn't survive."

Mckay paused. "Okay how did you know it was a wraith ship?"

Sam paused and stared at the wall. "I am a traveler Dr. Mckay. I know and recognize a lot more than other people."

"Then why didn't you tell the villagers?"

"I didn't want to scare them."

"…Right, of course, makes sense."

"Why are you here?"

Mckay was surprised by Sam's question. "I am here to investigate some ruins."

"Ruins? Of what?"

"Well, I suppose it's a map to an Ancient power source."

Sam became very pensive. "What do you mean suppose?"

"Well my friends and I were going to investigate the ruins when we heard about the wraith and some strange creature, and now we have to capture the wraith alive or our boss will have our heads."

"Why would you want a wraith alive?"

"Our doctor, Beckett, is creating a retrovirus that essentially turns the wraith into humans. He wants to use it for experimentation."

'Oh boy, that won't end well.' "Are you sure that's going to work?"

"No. Personally, I think it's a bad idea."

'No kidding.' "So if you actually capture the wraith, where are you going to take him?"

"Well, assuming it's a him, we'll take him back to our base."

"Is it safe?" Sam asked as he took a bit out of a piece of bread.

"Well if you mean a place where everything can go wrong at any given moment, then yes, it's safe. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason, just curious. Well, I gotta go. Oh yea, here's some money for the water. See ya around." Before Mckay could response, or do anything for that matter, Sam threw him the money and rushed out the door with the same happy grin on his face since they began their conversation. A few seconds later, Ronon and Sheppard entered the bar, and saw Mckay staring at the door.

"Hello, is anybody home?" Sheppard asked waving his hand in front of Mckay.

Mckay snapped out of it and unfortunately returned to his old self. "Stop waving your hands in front of me! It's annoying."

"Sorry Mckay you were just staring at nothing." Sheppard was a little angry at Mckay.

"Hey did you see a kid running out of here?" Mckay asked confused again.

"A kid?"

"Yea, a teenage boy, he looked almost exactly like you."

Sheppard and Ronon exchanged glances. "No, there was nobody out there when we came in."

Mckay became even more confused.

"Mckay, are you okay?" Sheppard asked a little concerned that he wasn't being his normal annoying self.

"Huh…yea I'm fine, I just had an interesting conversation with a kid. So what's happening?"

"Well I contacted Dr. Weir and told her we'll be staying over night."

"And there was no recent sign of the wraith." Ronon continued.

"Which means…" Mckay asked gesturing with his hands.

"It might still be in the city."

"Oh well that's great. I'm gonna get the life sucked out of me after all."

"Mckay he said 'might'. That means it's highly unlikely."

"Oh thank you, that makes me feel so much better."

"You're welcome."

Ronon just shook his head.

"Well guess what Mckay. I got us a place to stay for the night."

"Oh that's perfect. I can spend a night worrying my self to sleep in a 1600s hotel that just happens to be on another planet."

"We're sleeping at Kijik's place." Ronon added.

"Well what difference does that make?"

"Rodney, lets just go. You can complain all you want in the morning." Sheppard said turning around and leaving. Ronon smirked and followed Sheppard. Mckay finally followed muttering to himself.

When the reached Kijik's house Kijik welcomed them with open arms. He had prepared a feast for them in return for staying to protect his people. All three of them where awed when they entered the dinning room. The room was only about as big as Mckay's bedroom, but the entire room was solid gold, and the chandeliers were sparkling silver. The room was decorated in paintings and sculptures and the floor looked like it was made of marble. In the center was a table big enough to fit eight people, and it was all filled with the most exotic food.

"Please sit down." Kijik gestured.

Sheppard, Ronon, and Mckay all sat down but were still a little dazed by the room.

"Uh…I like what you've done with the place." Sheppard finally said.

"Thank you, these are all gifts from other people."

"Man, you must be a popular guy."

Kijik chuckled. "Well, I am a very stylish man."

For some reason Sheppard just couldn't believe that.

"Please, eat." Kijik offered.

Sheppard saw that Ronon had already started by stuffing his face with food, and Mckay was gnawing on a piece of bread. Sheppard then realized that he hadn't eaten anything in nine hours, and the food looked delicious. He couldn't help himself as he dived in to a pile of food. And the food was delicious. All four of them ate for a while in silence.

Mckay finished eating first and unwillingly watched as Sheppard and Ronon inhaled their food and almost part of the table.

"Kijik, that was a delicious meal you made." Mckay complimented no longer able to watch Ronon and Sheppard indulge themselves in food.

"Thank you…"

"Dr. Mckay."

"Yes, Dr. Mckay."

"I'm being a little more polite than normal, but I do apologize for when we, sort of, scared you."

"It is alright. You meant it for the best."

"Yes, well…actually, I want to ask you something."

"Yes, go on."

"Umm, do you anyone named Samuel Nataro?"

"Rodney, what is your obsession with this kid?" Sheppard interrupted obliviously done with his food.

"Well I'm sorry but the kid looks exactly like you!"

"Rodney, it's just a coincidence."

"No it's not, did it ever occur to you that you might have a relative in the Pegasus galaxy?"

Ronon looked up intrigued.

"You know that's impossible Rodney. All my family came from Earth."

"But what if he's right." Ronon said.

"How can he be right!"

"Maybe part of your family got transferred to the Pegasus galaxy I don't know. But what I do know, is that that kid looks to much like you to be a coincidence."

Sheppard sighed. "Rodney..."

"Excuse me, but may I continue?"

Mckay forgot about Kijik. "Yes, I'm sorry, continue."

"Well, Sam came here around the time the ship crashed. He was traveling with a young girl, though I don't know her name. He really just went around asking questions, about a map."

"A map?" Sheppard asked.

"Yes. But that's all I know."

"Do you know where we could find the girl?" Mckay asked.

"No. She leaves the village every so often, and so does Sam. No one knows where they're staying."

All three of them were very confused. Especially Sheppard since Mckay suggested that this kid could be related to him.

After some time Kijik finally broke the silence. "It is getting late, why don't I show you to your rooms. You need rest."

The three of them looked up in relief. It had also been awhile since they had any sleep. Kijik guided them to their separate rooms. In moments, they were all asleep.

In the morning they got up and had breakfast that Kijik's chefs made for them. In return they said that they would stay on the planet until the wraith was caught.

And so began the great but tedious search for the wraith. It had been hours of wandering in the middle of nowhere. Ronon said he was close but Sheppard and Mckay suspected he had no idea where he was going.

"This is a big fat waste of my time." Mckay complained to Sheppard.

"Rodney, as hard as this may sound to you, just be patient."

"Be patient! It didn't take this long to find Ellia, so why should this wraith be any different?"

"Because this wraith can disappear…into thin air."

"Well right now I wish Teyla had come after all."

"Yea I'd have to agree with you there Mckay. It would make this job go a lot faster."

"I found him!" Ronon shouted up ahead.

Sheppard and Mckay ran up to him. "What is it?"

"Tracks. And they're very fresh."

"Perfect. Keep tracking him, we'll catch up."

"Gotcha." Ronon said running off.

"And if you find the wraith, don't kill it!" Sheppard shouted hoping Ronon still heard him.

Ronon kept running in the same direction for quite some time until he suddenly stopped. There was a rustle in the trees. He grasped his gun. It was watching him, studying his every move. There! In front of him the wraith took off. He ran after it, and was losing it. He shot a few stun blasts in front of him, and miraculously, one of them reached their target. The wraith fell in front of Ronon but surprisingly, sprang right back up, facing him. Ronon stared at the wraith and noted that there was something odd about him. He was wearing human cloths! And he was very young, more like a teenager.

Ronon shot again but the wraith dodged it, using a move that looked strangely like ninjutsu. After a few futile shots Ronon decided that hand to hand combat was the only way to go. He dropped his weapon and lunged for the wraith. The wraith quickly got out of the way but was soon bombarded with punches. He got out and landed a few mean punches of his own. Ronon was amazed by his fighting style. Most wraith would just try to shoot at him, but this one fought almost completely like a human. Then he suddenly and somehow found himself in a headlock. Ronon certainly did not see this coming, nor could he get out of it either. This wraith was good.

Then the most promising thing happened. The wraith let go. Ronon turned around and was surprised to see Sheppard holding his gun. "Thought you might need some help."

Ronon looked embarrassed. "I…I had him."

"Uh huh, sure ya did."

At that point Mckay came running out from the trees. "Hey what'd I miss?"

"We caught the wraith Rodney."

"You did? Good. Now we can stop this stupid wild goose chase."

"Yea, but this one put up a heck of a good fight. He had Ronon in a headlock."

"You're kidding."

Ronon give Mckay a 'if you say anything about this I will have your head in a jar' look. Mckay shuddered.

"Well, we better get him back to Atlantis." Sheppard said not realizing what was going on. "Dr. Beckett will have a field day."

Ronon nodded and carried the wraith back to the Jumper, all the while trying to comprehend what just happened. Mckay was still trying to figure out if Sam was in fact related to Sheppard. Sheppard was just thinking about having some coffee.

They were all relieved when they saw the Jumper. Sheppard started it up and Mckay strapped himself in. Ronon sat in the back compartment with his gun pointed to the unconscious wraith on the floor. Pretty soon they were heading back toward the Stargate.

Yet in an unknown compartment in the floor, emerald eyes watched them intensely. They glowed with spite.

BBR

I FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER! This took me so long. You all probably thought I was dead.

Thank you for reading this chapter. If you didn't, you probably wouldn't get the rest of the story. Please review! It would really be appreciated. Working on next.