Chapter 1: Arriving to the Hunting Grounds
Just Outside the Solar System
A large space vessel was traveling at a steady pace into a new solar system where they hoped to find a new planet with worthy prey.
Or rather, their very first prey. The occupants of this ship were young Unblooded Yautja. As a rite of passage, they must go to a different planet and hunt the most dangerous creatures on that chosen planet and bring back trophies of their kills. This way, they will be accepted into their clans and even earn breeding rights. There were two Unblooded Yautja onboard this ship. One male and one female.
The male was nicknamed Fang. He was almost as tall as a full-grown male Yautja. He was a mottled yellow in coloration, and built of solid muscle with very little fat. He was proud of the length of his dreadlocks, since he was sure that he would surely attract several females with their length. He had gathered his chosen collection of weapons. Fang had the standard combistick that all Yautja have, the wrist-blade gauntlets, the mask with heat-sensing tech, and medical supplies in case one of them gets hurt.
The female was nicknamed Hyena, due to her tendency to cackle randomly like those hyena creatures from Vaxxus-7. She was quite attractive as a female Yautja, with pronounced breasts and smoothly shaped hips. Her skin was a dark green in coloration with a few black spots. Unlike the serious nature that most of their species had, she had a rather uncharacteristic sense of optimism. Her dreadlocks were tied into two backward-facing twintails. Her weapons included a long hunting bow, some throwing knives, and a combistick. She had carefully picked up her mask and began to clean it.
Hyena being there was a rare, but not unwelcome occurrence. Usually, female Yautja remained on Yautja Prime and took care of the young. There were some clans that gladly welcomed female hunters, and there were others that didn't. Fang himself appreciated her enthusiasm at being able to prove herself as a hunter and enjoyed her company immensely.
The only other Yautja on the ship was an older male was nicknamed Talon. He had a bright green coloration with notable quills along his eyebrow ridges. He was standing at the helm of the ship with a dark red cape and a necklace made of the teeth of the various prey he has killed over the centuries. He stood before the two Unblooded with the stance of a leader.
"Now, listen carefully you two" he ordered with that seemed to vibrate their stomachs. "We are almost upon your designated hunting grounds. I expect you two to bring back plenty of trophies of the prey you will find on this planet. This planet has only a few worthy prey, so the trophies you find on this planet will be even more impressive".
Hyena's mandibles clicked in excitement. "I hope this planet has worthy prey! If I prove myself as a hunter, I'll be able to make my clan proud!"
Fang punched a fist into his chest. "I just want to hunt prey worthy of me!"
Hyena suppressed a chuckle at Fang's statement. He was well-trained and had the pride of his clan instilled in him and was quite a warrior and tracker in terms of the Hunt. It would make sense for him to have a bit of an ego.
Talon chuckled at the excitement of the two young Yautja before regaining his serious face. "The prey you might find on this planet will seem weak, which they are physically, but their cunning and resilience makes them quite the worthy adversaries"
Fang and Hyena looked at each other with excitement in their eyes. They couldn't wait to get started on their Hunt. They would be Blooded for sure and bring honor to their clans.
"So what is this planet called?" Fang asked.
Talon pointed at a green and blue planet that had appeared while they were talking.
"This planet right here. It's called 'Earth'".
Two Hours Later
Fang and Hyena were now arriving on the surface of their new hunting grounds in a smaller ship than the ship they were initially in.
Talon said that he would give them one planetary rotation around this planet's sun to gather up worthy trophies and footage of their prowess as hunters. Both the young Yautja were more than happy to board the smaller ship to touch down on Earth.
Fang looked at his companion with excitement in his eyes. "What kind of prey are you hoping to hunt, Hyena?"
"I would like to hunt something that is good at stealth and has considerable speed", Hyena replied with a few clicks of eagerness.
"I myself would want to hunt something that could hold its own in a fight against me. Something of strong body and spirit is the kind of prey that really gets my heart pumping!"
After looking for a good place to land their craft, they settled on a decent sized clearing in a mountain forest far away from any alien settlements. Both the armed and ready Yautja walked outside their ship and looked around their hunting grounds. The planet's sun was long gone from the horizon, bathing the landscape in a starlit sky. The planet's moon was perfectly round and shone bright blue in the sky. Even through their masks, they could see that the night sky and the landscape of this world was quite beautiful. But they didn't come here to admire this planet. They came here to hunt.
"Let us wait until the sun rises. Hunting worthy prey takes full strength" Fang said.
"Yeah, let's get some sleep in the meantime" Hyena replied.
The pair returned inside their ship to rest until dawn.
Day 1 of the Hunt
Fang was sleeping quite soundly in his bunk. His blanket was made of the skin of a Snow Hopper, a large and fast tundra predator from Cryocia. The fur was quite soft and functioned perfectly to keep him warm during the night. Sadly, his slumber was rudely interrupted by what felt like something equal parts soft and heavy landing on his chest. His eyes popped open with a pained grunt and saw that Hyena had jumped onto his chest and straddled him.
Hyena didn't have her usual armor on. Instead, she only had her fishnets, her bra, and her panties. Her attire left nothing to Fang's imagination, which was already firing off various fantasies and was instinctively saving this image and experience to his memory. His body was beginning to react in the only way it could for a young male. Hyena started to cackle at him and the stunned look on Fang's face.
"You should see the look on your face, Fang! It's so hilarious!" Hyena cackled.
"Hyena, will. You. Get. Off. Of. Me?!" Fang shouted at his companion, flaring his mandibles.
The female Yautja got off of Fang's chest with a smug look on her face. Fang couldn't help but get the feeling that Hyena loved getting a reaction out of him. It's been that way since they were children. She loved teasing him in different ways to see how he would react. But lately, she had begun to tease him in a way that seemed to be... flirtatious.
"If I present her with worthy prey, maybe she'll agree to be my mate. She's certainly attractive and fun to be around" Fang thought. She was healthy enough to produce healthy offspring from what he could tell.
The two got dressed in their hunting attire, gathered their weapons and equipment, and left to hunt for their breakfast before hunting for trophies. They put on their masks and cloaked themselves before heading off into the daylit forest.
Finally! The pair's first experience feeling the thrill of the Hunt. They were calmly stalking through the forest with unparalleled stealth and precision. Fang looked and, through the lenses of his mask, could see that Hyena had a steady hand on her bow. He himself had a firm grip on his combistick.
Suddenly, the two hunters sensed movement in the bushes ahead. Fang and Hyena readied themselves to kill their breakfast. They made out the shape of a four-legged animal emerging from the row of trees ahead of them. It was large, had a grayish coat of fur, large black eyes, and hooved feet. From the way it was feeding on the tender grasses, Fang and Hyena determined this creature to be an herbivore.
Fang looked at Hyena and nodded for her to kill this animal. It was quite plump and looked like it would make a decent meal for the two of them.
Hyena fluidly reached behind her and pulled an arrow from her quiver. With the same fluid motion, she put the arrow to the string and pulled the string back without making a sound.
The female Yautja's muscles shivered with excitement. Fang could picture her mind being flooded with thoughts of getting her first kill, even if it was for food and not honor.
After a few moments of concentration honed from years of training, Hyena let the arrow fly. The arrow flew through the air without a sound and buried itself deep in the animal's side. The animal was killed instantly. A perfect shot.
Fang and Hyena went forward and temporarily deactivated their cloaking to conserve the power supply of the equipment. Hyena looked at Fang with wide happy eyes. Once again, she began to cackle.
"Did you see that?! Did you see how I made that shot?! I'm the best shot this side of the Milky Way Galaxy!" she shouted in elation.
Fang couldn't help but feel Hyena's excitement rub off on him. He was indeed happy she made her first kill so excellently. He could see their clan being proud of her for being such an excellent archer.
Before he could congratulate her, however, he could sense the presence of other lifeforms nearby. He looked at Hyena who bore the same look of seriousness he had. They readied their weapons for what they hoped would be worthwhile prey.
Two figures emerged from the underbrush, wearing clothes the two Yautja didn't recognize. The figures looked at the two hunters with wide eyes. They weren't that far away from each other either, being only thirty feet apart. The two figures appeared to be male, with one having dark skin and silver hair and the other having pale skin and dark hair looking at Fang and Hyena with wide and fearful eyes. They had what appeared to be projectile weapons in their hands.
These two could see them due to Fang and Hyena forgetting to turn on their cloaks. Fang and Hyena mentally punched themselves for forgetting something so simple.
Fang supposed these two were these so-called "humans" Talon had informed them about. Talon told them that while humans were the dominant species on this planet, they were not only technologically and physically inferior to themselves, but they also had only a few worthy individuals among them. Perhaps these two were the worthy prey Talon had told them about.
Suddenly, the two humans had begun screaming. They had screamed various words in their language. Had these two never seen other sentient lifeforms before? They should've known that they wouldn't be able to understand their language. If they were acting this scared, they must not be these "worthy prey" Talon had promised.
Fang raised his left hand and fired a net at the two humans. The two humans tumbled to the ground and began squirming to get out of the net.
"Why did you net them? These two aren't worthy prey in the slightest" Hyena asked with her hands on her hips.
"Because even if these two aren't worthy prey, they could still prove useful. Think about it, humans are social animals with strong social ties. If these two were to go missing... " Fang said wanting Hyena to guess what he was getting at.
Hyena's eyes lit up. "The other humans would come looking for them. These two will serve as bait!"
"Exacty! The more humans they lead out here, the greater our chances of finding worthy prey"
This was certainly going to be an interesting Hunt.
