Lilith smirked as she stepped over in front of Slobber and blew in the Yaut Hound's face. She knew that Slobber wasn't exactly happy with that move, and the big beast snapped at her in irritation. She didn't let that bother her though, and she never hesitated as she dropped down and crawled between the Yaut Hound's front legs. Once she was under Slobber's belly, she turned around and saw that Slobber had craned her head down to watch her. Lilith poked the Yaut Hound lightly on the nose before scratching beneath the jaw with her left hand, while her right was scratching the beast's belly.
When Slobber let out a sound that told Lilith her scratching felt good, she stopped and scrambled back between the Yaut Hounds front legs to stand next to the beast's head. Slobber got her own little payback though, because that long wet tongue slid straight up the right side of Lilith's face, as the Yaut Hound snorted at the same time.
'Oh shit! That's gross!' Lilith thought angrily as she started wiping the drool and nasal fluids off her face and wiping them on Slobber's neck. It took her a couple of minutes to get all of it off, and in the end, she still had to use the end of her shirt to wipe the rest off her face. She made a mental note to never blow in Slobber's face again, because the payback from that was not a pleasant thing at all! She finished wiping her face and glanced up at Scar before looking over at the shopkeeper.
Lilith couldn't help but laugh when she saw the Predator's mandibles drooping and his jaw hanging open in surprise. Now she knew what they looked like when they were really surprised.
Thwei-de-thei-de gaped at the ooman before looking over at the warrior she was with. His eyes narrowed when he realized that Setg'in wasn't at all surprised by the ooman's actions. "I see what you mean about it not being wise to underestimate the ooman. For that Yaut Hound to allow such a thing makes it clear thatsomething has occurred between them. You say that this ooman actually has honor, and I must agree with you. If she did not, then there's no way she could have gained that much trust and friendship from a Yaut Hound…"
"Certainly not in less than three days." Setg'in interrupted.
"Three days? That ooman gained that kind of trust from a Yaut Hound in less than three days?" Thwei-de exclaimed before going silent and staring at the ooman in a fresh appraisal.
Thwei-de wasn't stupid. He knew that Yaut Hounds were notorious about being fiercely loyal to a single owner, and that even other family members would often have trouble controlling them. For this ooman to have earned such trust from the Yaut Hound in so short a time said many things about the little ooman. The most serious being the warning he'd been given earlier. He could see that Setg'in was right; Bakuub would readily kill to defend anything that was trusted to such a degree. It was not a comforting thought, because he knew that oomans had vastly different views and values than the Yautja, so who could tell what the ooman might consider a threat? Unless he was willing to find out the hard way, there was no way of knowing the answer to that.
"That she's somehow earned the trust of the Yaut Hound is clear, but my question is… do you trust her as well?" Thwei-de asked as he watched Setg'in closely to see what his reaction would be.
Lilith was watching Scar when the shopkeeper asked that question, and instead of answering, Scar took the plasma cannon off of his shoulder armor and handed it to her. Then he pointed out a small lever to her.
"That will fire it. If you want to use it, make sure it's pointing away from you." Setg'in said simply as he stepped forward in front of Lilith so that she was now looking at his back.
"Lilith, do remember how we met in the Temple of Passage? Think about how angry you got when I spanked you. Think about how I teased you about failing to escape me in the vents of our ship. Then there was the way I took your evening meal away from you because I thought you were eating too fast. I've just given you a fully charged plasma caster, and I've even shown you how to fire it. I want you to hold on to it for a while. Do not let anyone else have it!"
Lilith saw the way the shopkeeper was looking back and forth between her and Scar. The Predator even stepped away from Scar to make sure he wouldn't get hit if she decided to shoot him with the weird space gun. The thing was heavy, and she couldn't help but wonder why Scar was bringing all that stuff up. She knew that Scar had been scolded by Gwen for taking her plate away from her, so she didn't understand why he'd brought that up. Then, there was the way he'd teased her after she was forced out of the vents on the ship, she almost snickered vindictively as she remembered the tormented groan Scar had let out after getting racked a good one. The spanking though was different. Being honest with herself, she knew that she'd earned that spanking by flipping Scar off when he hadn't actually done anything to her. Anyway she looked at the things Scar had brought up, none of it really made any sense, because all of it had been settled one way or another. She looked down at the heavy space gun before setting it on the floor. Suddenly, she was picking it back up while wondering if Scar didn't want her to trust the strange shopkeeper, and he'd given her this space gun to make sure nothing happened to him.
Lilith eyed the shopkeeper warily, and saw that he was watching her very intently. 'Why the hell would Scar give me his gun, when I know he can use it better than I can? If they start fighting, I'd probably end up hitting him instead of this other Predator.' She thought angrily.
Suddenly, everything came together in her mind, and she realized that Scar wasn't about to fight this other Predator. 'That's why he gave me his gun, showed me how to use it, and brought all that crap up! He's proving how much he trusts me… but… how can he trust me like that? He doesn't even know me, and the first time I saw him I was flipping him off. He spanked me for that, even though he was there to kill everyone, he spanked me for flipping him off. I still need to get him back for that.'
Although Lilith wasn't sure exactly how she was going to get back at Scar for busting her butt like that, she wasn't about to kill him for it. She stepped up next to him and elbowed his leg lightly. When he turned and bent down to retrieve his weapon, Lilith stuck her tongue out at him and gave him a raspberry to show him what she thought of his little demonstration. That was when she understood that this had all happened because the shopkeeper didn't trust her, and didn't really want her here.
Setg'in took his plasma caster and mounted it back on his shoulder where it belonged. Then he saw that Lilith had her arm cocked and was ready to throw her stuffed me'llit at Thwei-de.
"Lilith, don't! Do not throw that at him, and I mean it!" Setg'in warned sternly.
"Ha! As if a mere toy could was capable of causing any harm." Thwei-de scoffed.
"The toy by itself… no. The toy is harmless, but Bakuub isn't. Bakuub will lunge after it if she throws it. And if Lilith throws it at you, Bakuub will run you over to get to it! I learned that yesterday, after getting run over twice by my own Yaut Hound. It happened so fast, I had to ask what had hit me, because I didn't have time to see what it was." Setg'in said as he moved in front of the shopkeeper.
"I don't think she's very happy with having her honor questioned." Setg'in added.
Thwei-de looked over at the young hunter, and realized that he'd made a very good point. Questioning someone's honor could easily result in a fight to the death, so it wasn't any wonder that the ooman wasn't pleased. Thinking about that made him realize that the ooman wasn't as unarmed as she appeared. Even though she only had a pup's toy, that toy was a trigger for a potentially deadly attack by the large Yaut Hound. That was when Thwei-de understood exactly why oomans had always been favored prey. If a mere pup of an ooman could be that cunning and intelligent, how dangerous could an adult ooman be?
Lilith stepped slightly to her left and watched the strange Predator as he stared at her in silence. She still had her right arm cocked to throw the stuffed thing-a-doodle at the Predator, but she could see that Scar would get in the way if she did throw it. She saw Slobber out of the corner of her eye, and knew that the great big beast was just waiting for her to throw the stuffed critter so she could chase it down. She was seriously considering throwing the thing at the Predator anyway, when something darted from behind her.
Lilith didn't take the time to see what it was, because whatever it was, it was ugly! She let out a startled shriek of surprise and instinctively used the only thing she had as a weapon; the stuffed critter. She swung the stuffed thing as hard and fast as she could, but knew that she'd miss hitting it even before she did. Even before her wild swing missed the strange ugly thing, Lilith was kicking at it. The toe of her right boot connected solidly even as the toy missed. She hadn't been able to put a lot of power behind her kick, but it was enough to knock that thing away from her.
It had also been enough to cause the over sized boot to shift on her foot, jamming several of her toes, and that hurt like hell. Even as she almost cried out from the sudden and unexpected pain in her right foot and began to fall to her knees, she saw Slobber dart after the thing with a growl that was louder than a hot rod engine. She caught herself with her hands and looked over to see that Slobber had killed what ever that ugly bugger had been.
Lilith gasped for a second before she was pulling her boot off to see how bad she was hurt. As soon as she had taken the boot off, Slobber was pushing against her shoulder with her nose and making that deep sounding purr. Lilith looked over her left shoulder at the big beast, and was instantly licked across the side of her face. She wiped her face on her shoulder, and tried to rub the ache out of her toes.
Setg'in watched Lilith in concern. He had told his mother that he would return the pup safe and sound when the hunt was over. He hadn't even gotten started, and the ooman pup was already in pain. He shook his head to let the shopkeeper know to stay out of the situation. With Bakuub hovering over Lilith so protectively, there was a chance that the Yaut Hound just might attack either of them to defend the ooman pup. When Lilith pulled her boot back on and climbed to her feet with an angry huff and an expression that did not bode well, Setg'in took a step back.
Lilith pointed at the spear strapped to Scar's leg and gave a 'come here' motion with her fingers. Although she had no clue what that damned thing had been, she wasn't about to let any more get near her without having something to fight back with.
Setg'in knew immediately what the pup wanted from him, and there was no way that he was going to hand her his spear. "No Lilith. I'm the one who's supposed to kill the tunnel runners; not you!"
Lilith shook her head and angrily pointed her right thumb at her chest while glaring at Scar. If that was a tunnel runner, then she was going to make sure that she had some way to kill them. Everything she'd been through, all the hell that she'd lived and suffered through for the past four years came broiling to the surface, and it was time for some major payback!
"It seems that she doesn't like the tunnel runners any more than I do. I don't care which of you kills them, or how it's done, as long as their population gets under control so I can keep them that way! The fact that these tunnel runners are numerous enough to run right past the ooman should be proof enough that they are beyond the control of any individual." Thwei-de said disgustedly.
Lilith pointed to the shopkeeper with her left hand, glaring at Scar with a determined look on her face, while beckoning for him to hand her the spear with her right hand.
"Just because he doesn't care if you hunt the tunnel runners or not means nothing. You don't have a weapon to kill them with, and I'm not going to let you use one of mine."
"Hurgh!" Lilith growled angrily and turned her head to look anywhere except at Scar. As her angry gaze slid around the store, she found her eyes moving back to one particular shelf. Her entire focus narrowed in on one specific box that turned out to have writing she could read. A malicious grin crept across her face as she realized what she could do with the contents. She turned to the shopkeeper and motioned for him to follow her as she stepped over to the shelf. Looking up at the Predator questioningly, she pointed to herself, then to the box on the shelf, before pointing over at the dead and mangled tunnel runner.
Thwei-de looked at the ooman for a moment as he thought about what he'd been told about her. He was fairly sure that the ooman was asking if she could use something in his shop against the tunnel runners. He knew that he didn't have any weapons in his shop, at least he was fairly certain of that, because any type of weapon was always considered an excellent trophy, and therefore was never sold. The thing was, he had often heard how cunning, and devious oomans could be, and he had to admit that he'd seen an excellent example of that cunning. That was when it struck him. 'If this ooman can improvise well enough to use a stuffed toy as a deadly weapon, what could she do with some of the things in here that she might be familiar with?' Thwei-de nearly grinned as he thought about the nearly blatant challenge the ooman had issued to the warrior she was with, and the thought of these two competing to kill the tunnel runners was very appealing to him.
"Are you asking if you may use that against the tunnel runners?" Thwei-de asked the ooman to make sure he understood her motions.
Lilith nodded her head and grinned even wider as she shot the shopkeeper a thumbs-up with her right hand.
Thwei-de reached out and took the indicated object off the shelf. The weight was miniscule, and it was a rectangular object not quite as long as his arm. He had no idea how the ooman could use it against the tunnel runners, but if she could use a toy as a weapon, then perhaps she could use this as well.
"Listen to me well, Little Ooman. If there is something in my shop that you can use against the tunnel runners, then you may use it… provided that you show mehow to use it in the same way. Is that agreed?" Thwei-de demanded sternly as he handed the strange looking object over.
Lilith smiled brightly and nodded her head. Then she took the box and promptly opened one end of it. The first thing she pulled out of the box was a stand that was made to fall over with the slightest impact, but was built very sturdy. The second thing she pulled out was a large leather glove with webbed straps of leather between the thumb and index finger. She laid the glove aside and pulled out the ball that came with the set. Then her entire face lit up as she finally pulled out the object she sought. Made of thirty two inches of solid ash, the Louisville Slugger was exactly what she wanted. Okay, so she wasn't really into base ball, and wasn't much good at it either, so the T-Ball set wouldn't do her any good on that score, but for smacking those tunnel runners… yeah, a baseball bat was exactly what the coach had ordered!
"Show me how those are supposed to be used first!" Thwei-de demanded.
Lilith shrugged and set up the stand so that it would hold the ball at waist height on her. Then she put the ball on the stand and grabbed the bat. A few slow motion practice swings were made to show what was supposed to be done. Then she put the glove on and tossed the ball in the air before catching the ball in the glove. She handed the glove to Thwei-de and pointed at a spot across the store, before grabbing the bat and getting ready to hit the ball.
Lilith started to hit the ball pretty hard when she noticed Slobber watching her. That was when she realized that if she did hit the ball anywhere Slobber would catch it and drool all over it. That would probably piss the shopkeeper off, and then she'd be in trouble. She sighed in disgust before pointing at Slobber and then the ball.
"I believe you were going to hit that sphere, weren't you?" Thwei-de asked curiously.
Lilith nodded and pointed at Slobber before shaking her head.
"I take it this isn't something done inside, or with a Yaut Hound present, is it?" Thwei-de asked with a laugh.
Lilith actually burst out laughing at that. 'Yeah, not unless you want a ton of broken windows and everything else!' She thought with a shake of her head.
"Given the size and shape of that, it's obvious how you intend to use it. The question is, are you any good with it?" Thwei-de asked with a smirk.
Lilith shrugged her shoulders, cocked the bat, and started walking as silently as she could around the weird little shop as she looked for more of the ugly looking things. She saw Slobber walking beside her, and realized that she'd only have to hold the things up long enough for those huge teeth to have a chance to bite down on them.
Setg'in wasn't at all pleased with this turn of events. He'd been instructed to keep Lilith from harm, but there was very little he could do if she was actively hunting. It was fortunate that Bakuub was trailing after the little pup, because he knew that she would be right there to assist the ooman if she ran into something she couldn't handle alone. This was turning out to be Lilith's first hunt since her arrival, and possibly even the first of her life. What worried him was that this pup was still half starved, very malnourished, and underweight. Then there were the facts that she had no muscular development, no endurance, and she hadn't had the proper time to acclimate to the lower oxygen content of this planet's atmosphere. In short, even against the nearly harmless vermin she was now after, Lilith was putting her life at risk. It was something he couldn't allow, but at the same time, he was also powerless to stop it.
Setg'in knew that a pup's first hunt was supposed to be supervised by the pup's mother, and that was only to take place after at least some type of training. The problem was that Lilith was ooman, and not only was her mother not present, but he had no idea if Lilith had ever had any training with a weapon or not. Any which way he looked at this particular situation, it wasn't good at all. If he tried to stop Lilith from going after the tunnel runners, then the shopkeeper might well raise an issue. Then there was the very likely possibility that Lilith would ignore him and continue her spur of the moment hunt anyway. He was certain that his mother was going to be very angry about this, and that would happen even if Lilith emerged completely victorious and unharmed.
Setg'in decided to do the only thing he could at this point, and that was to follow Lilith, and make certain that she didn't end up attempting a task she couldn't survive to complete. Although he was no Elder, or even an Honored Warrior to guide Lilith on her first hunt, Setg'in fully intended to do the best he could to study Lilith's methods and techniques so that he could illustrate any mistakes to her later.
Lilith wasn't at all happy with the thing that ran past her feet. It had scared the crap out of her, and now she really wanted to get them back for doing that to her. She didn't get a chance to get a decent look at the one that had scared her, because Slobber had literally shredded the thing. What she did know about the tunnel runners is that the one she'd seen was about the size of a blue heeler dog in the body with a tail about twice that long. She had the impression that it had been covered in scales like a snake, but otherwise looked like a giant rat. She hadn't even had to put up with those in the basement, and there was no way she was going to put up with them now.
A blur of motion ahead caught Lilith's attention, and she just knew that it was another of those things. She was about to go charging after it, when Slobber darted ahead of her. The big beast was just biting down on the critter, when a second one tried to run just in front of her. Lilith didn't hesitate as she brought the bat down with every ounce of strength she had. She was aiming for the creature's head, but hit it right in front of the shoulders instead. There was a loud wet crunch of snapping bones, and a squeal of agony as the creature collapsed.
Suddenly, Lilith was remembering her parents. How they had treated her, how they had hurt her, and how they had never stopped terrifying her, and she was slamming the baseball bat down on the creature again, and again. Each impact was accompanied by a wet crunch, and after the first half dozen swings, by the splattering gore of the creature's blood and intestines. When she finally stopped hitting the tunnel runner, the only recognizable part of it was the head which she had missed. Lilith didn't even give the carcass a second look as she stepped over the bloody mess to find more of them.
Lilith was breathing heavily as she moved past the thing she'd just killed. Even though that creature hadn't been either one of her parents, it had still felt sodamned good to finally vent her pent up emotions on something. She didn't care that her parents weren't here or that there was no way for them to hurt her anymore. What she did care about right then was that she was no longer chained naked to a wall in the basement, and no longer subject to the terrifying whims of parents who hated her. She was doing something that she wanted to do; something that she had chosen to do. That was why a strange sort of half smile crossed her face as she began searching for more of those weird looking giant rats called tunnel runners.
Setg'in stopped and looked down at the mangled and pulverized carcass of the tunnel runner in front of him. He knew that something was wrong with Lilith, because of the scent she was giving off. Anger, stress, fear, desperation, and even some level of despair were all mixed up in Lilith's scent along with a few other things that he couldn't determine. The dead tunnel runner in front of him was the first confirmed kill that Lilith had made. His mandibles flexed in a smile as he thought about what his oldest brother had done with his first kill. He glanced up at the departing ooman pup who was moving almost as silently as she had when she'd saved Al-Nihkou'te's life. He would have thought it strange that Lilith had simply ignored the chance to take a trophy from her first kill, but then he realized that she had no game bag to put it in. Setg'in let out a soft chuckle at an idea before he bent down to retrieve the head of the dead tunnel runner.
Lilith knew that one of those things was under the rack in front of her, and she knew that it couldn't get away either. With her on one side, and Slobber on the other, there was no where for the thing to run. Then, Lilith got a rather strange urge, and she decided to give it a shot. She started whistling like she was trying to call a dog.
Lilith wasn't sure who was more surprised, her, or the tunnel runner. When the creature responded to the sound and popped it's head out from under the rack, she brought the bat down hard even as her eyes were going wider in surprise. There was a satisfying crunch as the bat crushed the skull of the creature. Lilith used the end of the bat to nudge the thing out from under the rack. It was a leaky bloody mess, and she didn't want to get that crud on her.
Now, Lilith was able to get a good look at the thing, and it did look like an over grown rat that was covered in thick scales instead of fur. As bad as a rat looked, this thing was a hundred times uglier, and it somehow looked slimy too, but there was no way that she was going to touch it to find out. She used the bat to push it out of the way, and started to look for more of the things. She made the quick two tone whistle that she'd learned would get Slobber's attention, and started going through the rest of the alien store.
Thwei-de watched the ooman dispatch two of the tunnel runners with a very high degree of ferocity. There were several emotions that he could smell from the strange little female, and anger was one of the strongest. He was certainly no Youngblood Warrior who had little by way of combat experience, but he couldn't understand why the ooman was so angry while killing mere vermin. He knew almost nothing about the ooman except that she was a female pup who had been claimed by one who had at one point intended to become an Arbitrator. The last bit that he knew about the ooman was that she was intelligent, and very well regarded by the large Yaut Hound.
"Why do I detect so much anger in her scent right now?" Thwei-de asked casually.
"That is a question my entire family would like answered, Elder. We would all like to know why she becomes angry or saddened because of something we don't know about." Setg'in answered.
"Then tell me what you know about her."
"I know that she's been starved to the point that she devours her food even faster than a hungry Yaut Hound. She has been in the hands of ooman Bad Bloods who tortured her. Several of her ribs have been broken by a fist that was much larger than hers if one takes the resulting bruises into account. What exactly she's endured will not be known until she decides to speak. So far, she has only done so under severe stress. I will say that whatever she went through has caused her to wake up screaming in fear." Setg'in said bitterly.
"I thought you said she's faced Hard Meat without fear?" Thwei-de interrupted suspiciously.
"She has. I watched helplessly as my oldest brother was about to be killed during our Chiva, but she used the weight of her body as a weapon to spoil the Hard Meat's strike that would have ended my brother's life. As if that were not enough, she stalked up to it and stabbed the beast with a blade the length of my smallest finger. That was when the Hard Meat turned on her. It would have killed her had my second oldest brother not fired his plasma caster at the beast and drove it away. Lilith regained her feet, and apparently decided to leave. Al-Nihkou'te, and Hulij-bpe thwei, my brothers, were approaching her from one end of a chamber, and I was at the other end while cloaked. She didn't know I was there and ran right into me." Setg'in recalled with a chuckle.
"I think that surprised her more than anything, but it didn't stop her from trying to escape. She ducked between my legs and tried to run. I grabbed her covering and lifted her up to face me." Setg'in said before he started laughing.
Setg'in turned and placed a firm hand on the Elder shopkeeper's shoulder. "Trust me; you do not want to see what she's like when she's mad at you."
"What do you mean?" Thwei-de asked curiously. "She's already been mad at me. That was why she was going to throw her toy at me remember?"
"That wasn't mad. That was mild annoyance. When she's angry… well… these tunnel runners are a small example of how she is. The strange part is, I don't think she's angry yet, and not at them. She's just using them as a means to vent her anger from something else."
"Wait! You said you passed your Chiva three days ago… you also said that was when you first saw her. That means, she hasn't been on our world for very long. When has she been given any training, and when was her first guided hunt?" Thwei-de demanded.
"She's had no training at all! As for her first hunt?" Setg'in gestured to the subject of their discussion.
"Pauk!" Thwei-de exclaimed angrily. "Why haven't you stopped her then?"
"And get mauled or killed by Bakuub? I may be small, but Cetanu made up for my size with extra intelligence. I'm not stupid enough to start a fight against the kind of training mother put into Bakuub! All I can do is hope that between Bakuub and I, that we can keep her safe… as my mother demanded." Setg'in answered in exasperation.
"No. If this is the pup's first hunt, then it will be done properly. However, since she is ooman, we can allow for some differences. The difference will be that instead of a single Elder, she will also be watched by a Yaut Hound, and a Young Blood assisting the supervising Elder." Thwei-de said determinedly. "The first thing will be to instruct her in some self control."
Lilith smirked in a near snarl as she brought her bat down on the face of the tunnel runner that Slobber had chased straight at her. The green and grey ooze that spewed from the things head wasn't the color she was used to seeing. It was red. She wanted to see red blood, guts, and brains being splattered all over the floor. The glowing neon green color was only serving to make her angrier, because she couldn't properly imagine her father or mother getting beaten in such a way, when the corpse spewed a bunch of green stuff everywhere. With an angry huff of rage, she swung the bat again, and again. She drew back to put even more power into her next swing when something stopped the bat from moving. Lilith looked up to see the shopkeeper holding it.
"That is not the proper way to do this. If you are angry, that's fine. But, you must control your rage, harness it, use it, allow it to give strength to your body, but do not waste that energy on hitting something that's already dead. Conserve your strength for the next opponent, you might find yourself in need of it. Being able to hunt is a way to master oneself, and one's environment. To do so requires discipline, self discipline. That is what you need to work on right now. Methods, and techniques can be learned later, but learning self control is the hardest thing any hunter will ever do. That is what you must now learn. You may start by dispatching the rest with a single strike, rather than decimating the bodies." Thwei-de instructed the ooman who was now glaring at him.
Lilith heard the lecture from the shopkeeper and wasn't happy about it. She pointed in the directions of the tunnel runners she'd killed, before pointing at herself and the bat.
Thwei-de-thei-de chuckled at the scent of fresh anger from the ooman. Setg'in was right about one thing, she was smart, but she was also angry, and that anger was what she needed to control. He thought for a moment about how to instruct this ooman in the proper way of the hunt without being insulting or demeaning about it. Then, he knelt down to be on the female's level before he spoke.
"Listen to me, Dah-Kv'var-de, (Little Hunter) I know that you've killed several of the tunnel runners, but there are many more still here, and you will need all of your strength if you are to deal with them effectively." Thwei-de said as he pulled something from the back of his belt to show the ooman.
"I don't know how you oomans do things on your world, but you are living among Yautja now, so you must learn the way of the hunt. The Warrior's path is not an easy one to follow, and not all Yautja have the strength or intelligence to do so. You are much smaller, and physically weaker than a Yautja, so you must learn to use your intelligence to compensate for your lack of strength. A perfect example is the way you've killed the tunnel runners. You must use only one strike against them. Kill them quickly, but do not waste any extra effort on them. This is just part of the Hunter's way. Do you see this?" He said as he held out a hand held version of a plasma caster.
"With this weapon, I could easily kill all of the tunnel runners in this shop. But that is not the way of a true Hunter. A true Hunter uses a minimal amount of force to kill their prey." He told her before he took aim near one of the tunnel runners and fired.
The creature squealed loudly in fright and quickly disappeared into one of the vents. Lilith frowned in annoyance when she saw it escape, and she immediately gestured towards the direction it had gone in.
"Yes… I missed. I did so deliberately. With this weapon, I could shoot off one limb at a time, but that does nothing to prove skill or prowess. They do not have the ability to fight back at long range, nor do they attack in any great numbers to overwhelm me. Using such a weapon in this case is dishonorable, and cowardly. To become a Hunter, you must always use the least amount of force needed to secure your victory. To use more than absolutely necessary, demeans your skill and prowess. It shows a lack of self control. It proclaims to all who see your actions that you were not trained properly, and it reflects not just on you, but also on those you live with, and those who have taught you. You've seen how these tunnel runners are, so you know that you can kill them, and how to do it. They must be killed by blade, by strength, by cunning, and by skill. You have the cunning, and you have a weapon. I can teach you some of the skill, but you must find the strength. You can not do that if you are wasting that strength. One strike, one kill, because your next foe might require more than you have. It is the way of the hunter that we live by. We give our prey the chance to defeat us and be victorious, or to escape us and live. Only by hunting our prey on equal terms can we truly consider ourselves to be Hunters." Thwei-de instructed calmly but firmly.
Lilith stared at the Predator in surprise. 'He's really going to teach me how to kill these things, isn't he? Why? Why would he do that?' She didn't know the answer to that question, but she listened intently anyway. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but whatever it was, it would give her the chance to do something worthwhile, and then… maybe… just maybe it would help.
"Do not misunderstand me. Living with us, and learning our ways will not be easy, but there have been other oomans to do so. They learned to adjust to our ways, and they led honorable lives while among us. I'm beginning believe that you can do the same." Thwei-de told her.
"You should listen to him Lilith. I'm not allowed to teach you the way of the Hunt yet, because I'm not old enough, or skilled enough, but he is. He can teach you just as I was taught, as my brothers were taught, as my parents were taught, and as he was taught. The way of a Hunter is one of the first steps in learning the path of honor. Those who show that they have honor are respected because of it, and those who show that they have no honor are killed as Bad Bloods. Honor is following the true path of a hunter, and obeying the commands of the Elders. I don't mean that you should obey everyone who is older than you are, because that would mean you'd be listening to most of the Yautja alive. The ones you really need to listen to are the Elders of our Clan. All Blooded Warriors of the Burning Mountain Clan have the same symbol on their foreheads. Each Clan has their own symbol. Even though you have faced the Hard Meat, and even managed to wound one of them, you still haven't killed one in honorable combat, so you can not mark your head with our symbol. That's the reason you have to wear the disk, because it will show others which Clan you belong to." Setg'in said as he tried to explain things to Lilith.
"Tell me something Dah-Kv'var-de, (Little Hunter) have you ever hunted before now?" Thwei-de asked seriously.
When the ooman pup shook her head, Thwei-de knew that he had to ask another question. "Have you ever been given any training in using a weapon?"
Lilith shook her head again while wondering irritably why he was asking her these things.
Thwei-de sighed in exasperation as he studied the ooman pup. 'She has no training and no experience, and yet she's as determined as an Unblooded Warrior about to face their Chiva. It's obvious that she's going to be kept here, and not as a pet, so she'll need to learn the proper way to hunt, and the path of honor. This hunt must be the start of that path.'
"I know from what you showed me, that what you're using isn't meant to be used as a weapon, but since you are using it as one; you must first find the proper balance for it. Allow the weight and balance of your weapon to do the work. Understand?" Thwei-de instructed calmly.
'Just who the hell does he think he is… my father? What the hell gives him the right to tell me what to do, and how to do it? I'll kill those ugly things anyway I want!' Lilith thought as anger welled in her mind. 'Fine! He wants me to kill 'em with one swing… I will!'
Thwei-de watched in silence as the ooman gave a slight huff before stalking off to resume her hunt. The scent that he caught from the ooman was now one of nothing but rage, and he was surprised at how intense the smell was. It wasn't long before the ooman was chasing another tunnel runner down, and she managed to chase this one into a corner where it was trapped. Thwei-de watched closely to see if the ooman had listened to his instructions.
Lilith held the bat above her right shoulder as she stared down at the thing in front of her. Then, she brought the bat down and across in a snarling grunt of effort as she put everything she had in to the swing. She intended to hit the creature in the shoulders and chest, but caught the thing in the head when it moved. The head exploded in a gory shower of neon green blood, grey brain matter, and white bone that splattered all over her and the corner the creature was in. Knowing it was dead; she didn't spare it a single glance as she wiped the spatter of blood off her face with the sleeve of her shirt and turned to find another of the creatures.
Thwei-de stared in slack jawed disbelief as the ooman pup began to do as he instructed by killing the tunnel runners with a single strike, but he wasn't the least bit prepared for the intensity of rage that the ooman was unleashing. One after another, no less than six of the tunnel runners had gotten their heads crushed into a splattered mess that made it clear there wasn't even a tenth of the skull left intact. The ooman's presence was heralded by the soft squishy splat of gore covered bone fragments falling on the floor from the end of her improvised club as she stalked through his shop.
"Now you see what she's like when she's angry." Setg'in said with a slight chuckle of amusement, to hide the fact that he was very glad he wasn't the target of such anger this time.
"I take it that you've seen her like this before then?" Thwei-de asked in surprise.
"Unfortunately, yes. The last time I saw her like this, was when I took her plate to try to get her to slow down the speed at which she eats. I swear she can eat faster than Bakuub. That was when she took my brother's knife and tried to stab me with it. I think that if she hadn't been so concerned about her food, that she would have continued the attack." Setg'in explained.
"Are there any other times that you've seen her like this?"
"Twice. The first time was in the Temple of Passage, and I decided to carry her over my shoulder in order to get her out of the Temple. I'll have more scars fromher than I will from the Hard Meat!" He said ruefully. "The second time was aboard the ship. She needed the waste closet, I told her where it was, and that she couldn't escape like she had in the Temple. She proved me wrong by going through the vents."
Thwei-de let out a snort of laughter at that.
"Yes, and when my father used a system to force her out of the vents, I teased her about it. I was fully armed and in full armor, what could I possibly have to fear from a female ooman pup who wasn't even armed?" Setg'in demanded rhetorically.
"That was when I learned the hard way that she is not one to be lightly angered! She put me on the floor with a single well placed strike to my genitals. I'll tell you that I've been more seriously wounded on several occasions, but I can't name one that was even half as painful!" Setg'in said with a rueful grimace. "That was a painful lesson, and I'll never tease her again when she's already angry."
"I see what you mean." Thwei-de said as he studied the ooman.
As he watched the ooman female, Thwei-de became convinced that there were a lot of things going on in the pup's mind. He had no idea what those things might be, but he knew that they couldn't be anything pleasant. Something had to be done; otherwise this hunt would not turn out as it was supposed to. He went over and stood facing the ooman pup.
"Listen to me for a moment, L'ulij-bpe-Dah-Sain'ja. (Angry Little Warrior) You are doing well in this hunt, but you are allowing your anger to overwhelm you. That is never a wise thing to do. That much anger will cause you to make mistakes. It will cloud your judgment and impede your thinking. You must hunt without being so angry. Calm down, take your time, and allow yourself to enjoy the hunt. You must become one with the cycle of all life in the universe, where you must kill or be killed. This hunt is for you to learn the methods that will serve you well in future hunts, where you become an unstoppable force of nature. I am told that you have already seen those we call Hard Meat, they are powerful, deadly and incredibly smart… but they do not use their intelligence to their fullest potential because they are far too angry. If they would put aside their rage, they could be so much more than what they are. They do not. Instead they rage against everything, and that is their folly. It makes them no smarter than a vicious beast. Without that rage of theirs, they would be capable of traveling the stars as we do… but their anger all but destroys their ability to think, so they stay almost mindless. That is how you are now. You must change that. Let your anger be the great storm that destroys all around you, while your mind is the calm center that contains a true stillness. This is your first hunt; your first step on the path to becoming a Hunter. This is where you learn that death is a part of life, and that a mistake on your part can lead to your death as easily as the mistakes of your prey leads to theirs. Think about it… what mistakes are being made by your prey? What mistakes are the tunnel runners making that gives you the advantage? This is what you must keep in mind while hunting. Cast aside all of your problems, and all of your worries, so that you may focus on this hunt, and your prey. Look at Bakuub… the Yaut Hound follows her instincts for hunting, but she is also watching the tunnel runners to see how she can best kill them. That is what you must do. Use this time to sharpen your mind; hone your instincts, and become the center of the storm while destroying that which is foolish enough to stand against you. Forget everything except this hunt… and that includes whatever has made you so angry. Focus on the prey, and on your surroundings, and you will begin to understand things a little differently." Thwei-de told her after kneeling down to face her.
Lilith's glare of pure death slowly began to fade into one of confusion as she listened to the Predator. Even though she didn't really care about what he was telling her, the words he said seemed to make some sort of sense. She looked around the shop without thinking about anything for a moment as she tried to understand exactly what it was he wanted from her. Suddenly, she began to see a pattern to the movements of the various tunnel runners, and she realized that while she was calm, she had a much better chance of catching more of them.
Thwei-de watched the ooman's face closely. He saw her look around his shop and saw something blossom into understanding in her face. "That's it! See your prey, understand your prey, and let them teach you how to hunt them. Keep your anger, but do not let it control you as you have been." He added with a smile.
When the Predator stepped out of her way, Lilith started moving through the shop again. This time was different though; this time, she wasn't intending to splatter their heads all over everything. Instead, she was going to kill them the same way she'd seen Scar kill that black thing in the pyramid.
Lilith didn't know it, but she had an advantage that neither the Yaut Hound or the Yautja possessed. She was much smaller and less intimidating than they were, and she had a drastically different scent. Because she didn't smell anything like a predator that they would instinctively avoid, Lilith was able to walk right up to them as long as she wasn't holding her bat up in a way that was threatening. That realization went a long way towards helping her calm down, but what really turned the tables on things was when she saw one standing nearby watching Slobber closely.
The ugly thing was completely ignoring her as it focused its attention on Slobber who was stalking another of the creatures. Lilith's face twisted into a mischievous smirk as she got a twisted idea. 'Since that thing is so scared of Slobber, let's give it a personal introduction!' Lilith thought as she burst into a run straight at the thing.
Lilith dropped into a slide like a base ball player going for home. Her feet crashed into the thing, and she let out a loud shrill whistle to get Slobber's attention. Lilith got to her feet laughing when the big beast turned and saw the tunnel runner hurtling towards her and ended the creature with one snap of those powerful jaws. That was when Lilith realized that she didn't have just the bat as a way to kill the tunnel runners, but in fact had at least two weapons in her arsenal. It was a realization that kicked her mind into gear, and she started looking around the shop taking note of the things that she saw on the shelves and racks. Most of the stuff was things that she didn't recognize and had no idea what to do with or what they were supposed to be for.
Lilith was looking at a large plastic jar full of hard rubber jet balls when a tunnel runner darted out from under the shelf she was standing next to, and into an open vent. It had startled her when that happened, and it had happened so fast that Slobber didn't have a chance to catch it. Lilith leaned the handle of the bat against her leg and bent down to pick up the case of things she had knocked over when the tunnel runner had surprised her. She froze when she saw what the case contained. She turned to her left and looked hard at the vent for a moment, then she looked back at the case in her hand, before glaring at the vent again.
Lilith nodded her head and narrowed her eyes in silent thought as she stared at the vent that the creature had escaped into. She knew that she wouldn't have the room to swing a bat inside the vent, that wasn't even counting the darkness of the shaft. She needed something that she could use in tight quarters if she was going to start chasing these ugly things through the vents. She set the case down on the floor at the end of the aisle and started walking at a fast pace as she went through the shop looking for something she could use.
Lilith's bat was almost forgotten in her hand as she stared at the box that held what was known as a 'Wrist Rocket'. The Crossman 30.30 sling shot could easily be used in the vent as long as she had something she could use as ammunition. She thought about the jet balls, and immediately discarded that idea. They'd bounce off the things and come straight back at her, and if she missed… well… she knew the vent would have a turn in it somewhere and the ball would still come back at her, so those were no good. She grabbed the box with the sling shot inside, and started looking on other shelves.
Many long minutes into her search, she spotted several bags of marbles. They would be nice and hard; they wouldn't bounce back at her, and they'd be the right size for the sling shot. Lilith picked up two bags of marbles when she realized that if she missed, the marble would break or shatter, and then she'd be trying to crawl through broken glass. That idea didn't appeal to her in the least, so she put the marbles back and kept looking.
Lilith was about to give up the idea of finding anything she could use as ammunition for the sling shot when her eye fell on the contents of a large open card board box. 'Okay, so they won't hurt the tunnel runners, but I'll bet these will scare the living shit out of them and make 'em leave the vents. Once they're out, Slobber will kill them!' She thought with a wide grin.
As she headed back towards the opening of the vents, Lilith observed her surroundings with a more watchful eye. She was irritated to see that there were three openings on the floor, and one that was up much higher on the wall near the ceiling.
'Well, if they come out of that one, they'll get hurt, and Slobber can catch them… or I can too. But if I go in one, and get Slobber to watch another one… how am I going to stop them from coming out of that one?' Lilith wondered as she stared at the third vent, while walking back towards the one she planned to enter.
Suddenly, Lilith froze and stared in open mouthed shock at an unopened case of fifty large rat traps.
'Holy shit! If I put every one of them in front of that third vent, there's no way one of those ugly suckers can get past all of those. That's perfect!' Lilith thought with a huge grin.