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Yautja speech- Italics

Yautja Ooman Speech- Bold

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It amazed Kayla that this guy hardly slowed down or show signs of struggling as he jogged through the woods with the dead body of the younger hunter still draped over his shoulder on one side.

Normally, he could move much faster than this, even with the weight of the body on his shoulder. But he kept a pretty slow pace because he didn't want to leave the ooman female behind.

Originally, he thought to just go back to the camp and release her. Then be on his way. But knowing what large dangerous animals inhabit this world, he knew she wouldn't stand a chance. Especially, without a weapon.

So, for now until he can find a way off this rock, he may as well keep her with him.

He's aware by doing so, that she could still be risking her life. But he had to weight the odds. Either let her get picked off by a animal and dying horribly that way, or if she's lucky enough to avoid them she still ran the risk of starving to death, and then there was him.

Unfortunately, she had better odds of survival with him.

The Blooded warrior also knew she would have questions. And he's not sure he was looking forward to answering any right now. He had his own issues to deal with.

Not only did he have to find a way off this rock. But while he was here, he may as well dispose of the other bad bloods. It would also be beneficial to do so, because then he can commandeer their ship.

It actually may be his only option at this point.

He's unsure what he will do with the female once he obtains the ship. Hopefully, he will have more of an idea once he kills the rest of the Ic'jits and find where they stashed the ship.

Once he did, he was going to resume his search for the bad blood that framed him. And make him pay for what he did. He would also make sure to gain the evidence from the bad blood that will clear him.

It was most unfortunate that he didn't have his mask on at the time or had his wrist gauntlet on recording during the time of the crime. If he had those, he would've had the evidence then and there to the bad blood's crime.

For Kayla, it felt like they were jogging forever, before they finally came to a stop.

When they did, she hunched over with her hands on her knees huffing and puffing. Something the new hunter found rather amusing. He turned around to face her.

"Why are you out of breath? When I was the one carrying all this dead weight." He joked.

Kayla looked up and glared at him.

"Because I'm not so used to running long distances like that. Especially, when there was no clear path and I'd either have to jump or dodge large rocks and logs." She explained between pants.

"Wasn't that far. Maybe about a good four miles. Just wanted to put as much distance between us and the bad blood's camp as possible. Even now, I still don't think we are far enough." He stated.

Her eyes widened.

'Four fucking miles!? And he claims that isn't far as far as traveling on foot goes? Is this guy fucking for real!?' She thought.

He took a couple steps closer to her.

"We can walk for now. But I still prefer we keep going. A hunter can cover a lot of ground around and away from his camp. They could still be out this way. Assuming they haven't returned to camp yet." He added.

Kayla eyed him, "You're really going to great lengths here. We didn't make it far from their camp at first before you had us stop. Then you dropped the body down and said you needed to re-rig the snare trap I set."

He tilted his head, "A good hunter must know how to cover his tracks. Especially, if he is alone and there are multiple bad bloods about."

She furrowed her brows, "There's that word again. Just what exactly is a bad blood."

The hunter motioned for her to walk, and she came in step beside him. But making sure there were at least a good three to five feet between them because she still didn't fully trust him.

How can she? When the only thing she saw from his kind so far was cruelty and violence.

"A bad blood is a criminal. One who has broken our code and laws, then ran so not to face the consequences for their actions. The ones that were holding you captive were bad bloods.

I saw two of them in the woods about a couple miles north of their camp. I saw they had killed a pregnant animal and then overheard their conversation.

It's actually how I learned of you. The one I have here that I have just killed, was apparently the youngest and least experienced of the group.

Young males like this have a hard time keeping their hormones in check. So, when they mentioned the possibility of him going back to camp to harm you, I took off for their camp." He explained.

Not that she wasn't grateful for his intervention. But why would he bother?

"Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you were there to stop him. But...why did you care if he did hurt me? They made it seem apparent that them and the rest of their kind don't give a shit about humans." She said.

"This may be true to an extent. But most of my kind still has a code to follow. And it is against our code to harm or kill unarmed females, females with young, or pregnant females. And obviously, rape is definitely against or laws as well.

On my honor, I couldn't sit back and just let it happen. It would've been wrong to do so. No one deserves that or to die horribly that way." He said.

A part of him was wondering why he was even telling her any of this. Perhaps, it was a way to shed light that despite the position this bad blood had put him in, he was still an honorable blooded warrior.

"The way you put it. They definitely don't sound any different than human murderers and rapists." She stated.

"That's because it's true. They are no different. They're just as vile and bad." He ended with a growl.

Kayla tilted her head, "Sounds like you have something personal against them."

The hunter's gaze shifted to his right to look at her.

"All honorable warriors and hunters that follow our code and laws do. They have proven themselves scum, who don't know the meaning of honor. The only thing they care about is themselves and their own personal gains.

I'm sure it's no different than good humans hating bad ones that harm them and break their laws." He told her.

He did have a point there. Most people didn't care much for those who broke the law. Some may even hold animosity towards ones that may have harmed them or a loved one.

So many thoughts going through her mind right now, and she didn't think to ask for his name.

"What's your name?" She asks.

He was silent for a moment, before speaking.

"Than-guan. And you?" He inquired.

"Kayla. Does your name mean something in your language?" She asked, in curiosity.

His upper right mandible twitched upwards behind his mask in a small lopsided smirk.

"Midnight." He replied.

A small flash of amusement entered her eyes.

"Does it have to do with your dark navy complexion?" She asks.

Than-guan couldn't help but let out a small soft trill at her inquisitiveness.

"More or less. That and the fact I was born around that time back home." He answered.

"Is it...ok that I call you Midnight?" Kayla asked.

He supposed it was fine. Seeing as that is what his name meant in his language.

"Yes, it is fine." The large male said.

"I'm sorry that it seems like I've been asking a lot of questions. I guess it's because I'm still having a very difficult time processing all of this. But how do you know English so well? I mean those assholes spoke it to me a couple times. But it was very rough, broken, and accented. Whereas you speak it quite fluently, almost like you're a native to my world." She stated.

Than-guan was a little hesitant to answer that question. The reason why he knows it well was because Earth was one of the hunting grounds he visited quite frequently during his life.

What can he say? Oomans were very fascinating and at times challenging prey to him. Some of the most interesting species he has ever encountered. And the hunter knew she may inquire why he has visited her world the several times he did.

And something told him she would not be happy if he told her the actual reason why he did go there. Which was to hunt her kind for sport and gain trophies.

'I suppose, a little white lie wouldn't hurt in this case. Can't have her freaking out and running off if I told her I hunted oomans.' He thought.

"Tutors taught me. Sometimes they will teach us foreign languages that are spoken by other highly intelligent species from other worlds." He told her.

She tilted her head slightly, "Really? That's pretty neat. Kind of sounds similar to schools on Earth. My school taught Spanish, French, Italian, and even Latin."

Than-guan smirked, "Veramente? Interessante."

Kayla just looked at him wide eyed.

"The hell? You speak Italian too?" She blurted out.

He chuckled at her reaction.

"Not as fluently as English. But I do know some Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Japanese. And if that weren't enough, I can read and write in English too." The hunter said.

"Seriously? Damn, you must really like learning languages." Kayla said, clearly intrigued.

"It's just something to do in my spare time. When I'm not hunting or training." Than-guan said.

Though the learning to read it or write it wasn't necessary. But still, it has its perks. Especially, when he doesn't have his mask on, and he needs to read something while on Earth.

It once saved his life because he was once engaged in a fight with a couple challenging ooman males several decades earlier when he was still a young blood. It was during this time one of them knocked his mask loose and off. And one of them shot at him and missed. They ended up hitting what he didn't know at the time was a tank of gas.

He heard the hissing sound coming from the gas being forced out through the hole made by the bullet. He turned and saw it. He recalls the metallic drum saying in big bold letters, 'DANGER, HIGHLY FLAMMIBLE'.

When he read that, he ran out of there just in time before the warehouse exploded.

It was also before they put the features in the mask that converted words in letters in another language to their own. So, learning to read her language did come in handy. And learning to write it was just for fun.

English all around isn't that difficult to learn. It's a rather simple language.

She nodded at his response. Kayla did make note that her captors did sport human skulls. But she just figured it was because they were criminals. The young woman didn't realize how wrong she was though.

And it was only a matter of time before she learned the truth. That his kind in general hunted humans.

"So, how much longer do we need to walk?" She asks.

Than-guan smirks, "Why? You still tired?"

'What a smart ass.' She thought.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I am. It's been a day and night from hell. And now that most of the adrenaline has worn off from being attacked earlier, I feel like I'm going to crash soon." Kayla replied.

"We have another half hour. And that's if we walk. If we ran or jogged again, it may take half the time." Than-guan stated.

Kayla let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"Despite being in relatively good shape, I don't know if I can run or jog anymore at this point." She admitted.

"Then we'll have to stick to walking for the next half hour." He said.

Honestly, if his arms weren't full right now, he would've just picked up the small ooman female and ran the rest of the way. But he had the young bad blood's body on his shoulder and in his other hand, he carried the head.

The blooded warrior figures when they get to a safe enough distance, he may string up the body and skin it. Or simply leave it as food for the other predatory animals on this world.

The young bad blood's head wasn't worth keeping. Even if Than-guan hadn't ambushed him, he doubts this young male would've put up much of a challenge.

The other two in his group may provide more of a challenge. They were clearly a little older and held some more experience. And they also mentioned a leader. Usually, leaders were the strongest, and showed it by asserting dominance over the others within his group.

Than-guan certainly wouldn't mind keeping the leader's head as a trophy.

Back at the camp...

Lar'nix'va was not happy. First, he couldn't find a worthy challenge during his short hunt. Then he meets up with Mar'cte and Ka'Torag and they rendezvous back to the camp.

And Chulonte hasn't responded back when they tried contacting him.

Now, the female he brought with them is missing, her cage empty. The door to it was still open. And he and his crew were the only one who had access to the cage.

"I'd say that Chulonte got careless by leaving the door open and she escaped. But it doesn't explain why he's not answering." Mar'cte said.

Ka'Torag noticed something laying on the ground in the cage. He went in to retrieve it and brought it back out. It was the young hunter's mask.

"I know he's pretty stupid. But still, I doubt he'd be stupid enough to go out there without his mask." Ka'Torag said as he held out the mask before the other two.

Lar'nix'va started to look around the camp.

He got around to the opposite side and noted the snare was still there and hasn't been activated. But he did notice there was some blood on the ground about two feet in front of the snare.

The red yautja narrowed his eyes. Something seemed a bit fishy here. Had the ooman managed to injure the young hunter during her escape? Or did something else occur?

Chulonte was young. Only having his Kainde Amedha Chiva not a couple months prior. One he failed and showed some cowardice that nearly got his fellow hunters killed.

So, it wouldn't be too surprising if he had met his end to a large carnivorous animal on this world, like a rjet or kuty'y'ae. Both these species have proven to be a bit challenging to some of the Blooded warriors.

He studied the ground where the blood was found and where the snare was. But the thick, lush grass didn't leave much for footprints. There was somewhat of a large indentation in the grass. It was big enough to deduce that a body may have dropped here.

Lar'nix'va stood up from his crouching position and slowly looked around.

If there was in fact another hunter or hunters around, they were not young novices. But probably seasoned very skilled hunters. Most likely Blooded or possibly Elite.

The large red yautja himself was considered a seasoned blooded warrior. He was the oldest and strongest one in his group. It's why he was leader to begin with.

But if there were a group of Elites here, it could cause him problems. One Elite, he may be able to hold his own against. But a few, could be suicide.

He sharply turned around and headed back to the other two hunters.

'There was some blood over by the hidden snare trap I set. It wasn't activated. But something seems off. There are currently three possibilities involved. Either the ooman female somehow managed to injure him while escaping, and he still out there looking for her. Or a large rjet or kuty'y'ae gotten him and dragged him off. Or...there is another seasoned hunter here that is aware of our presence and killed him and took off with the body.

I don't think it's the first theory though. Because if he were out there looking for her, he still would've responded to us calling him on the wrist comp, and he didn't. So, the other two theories seem more relevant." Lar'nix'va surmised.

"So, do we go out and try to find him? Or just continue our hunt?" Mar'cte asks.

Lar'nix'va didn't want to waste time and energy looking for Chulonte. But if there are other hunters here, he may want to try and track them down. Before they try to pick them off either together or one by one.

"We will resume our hunt. But I want everyone to be on the lookout for other hunters that could be here. I may want to try and track them while we hunt. As far as Chulonte goes, he was stupid and reckless. So, if he did manage to get himself killed, that's his own fault and not our problem." The large red yautja said.

"And the ooman female?" Ka'Torag inquired.

Mar'cte snorted, "What about her? Even if Chulonte didn't get to her, one of the animals here will. She's as good as dead at this point."

Lar'nix'va couldn't help but agree on that. And he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Because while he was out there hunting, the more he thought about it, he would've rather kept her as a pet rather than use her as bait.

Her tight little body was just too tempting to pass up and it would've been a shame to waste it by using her as a lure.

"Let's just resume the hunt for now. We will all meet up back here in a few hours. Keep your communicators running at all times. Don not shut them off. If you two decide to stay paired up or rather split up and go off on your own is fine. But keep the communicators on. Understood?" Their leader demanded.

Both younger hunters gave him a nod. And the three of them activated their cloaks and took off into the woods again.

Italian Translations:

Veramente? Interessante.- Really? That's interesting.

Until Next Time ;)