Ondun walked out of Dr. Wusiji's lab, his Aquepup trotting along happily at his side, or at least seemingly so; the small monster was giving him some nervous glances. So it was, Ondun knelt and motioned for the canine monster to come close, and Ondun picked him up.

  "I should probably give you a name. Where I'm from, named monsters are always a little bit stronger; they always have a couple of extra tricks up their sleeves. What do you think?"

  "Aque!" it growled.

  This got Ondun thinking. "Oh, that's right. I forgot to ask. Are you a boy or a girl?" The dog gave a strong bark of "Aquepup!" puffing out its chest and wagging its tail as ferociously as it could. Ondun's gift got a strong sense of "boy" from this, so he nodded.

  "Then, I'll have to think of a handsome name for my new brother-in-arms. Or perhaps paws?"

  Ondun got a lick, so he stood up and kept walking. He'd looked at the map enough he had a general idea of where he was going at this point. The adventurer prided himself on not getting lost, almost as if he had a tiny map in his head he could look at at any time, once he'd internalized his whereabouts.

  It was at that moment that there was a distant scream. It seemed reasonably far away, but it was nonetheless filled with terror. Ondun and his Aquepup locked eyes and nodded as one. All thoughts of Mrs. Li driven from his head, he dashed through a town gate that was guarded by two Rangers who were talking on some kind of communication device, not unlike the Voca Earrings most adventurers wore, only in an ugly black box.

  "Sir, you should stay in; let the Ra—"

  "Wait a minute, I know of him! He's the one that Guardian Alice told us about."

  "Even so, he needs—"

  Ondun ignored this little exchange and simply kept running. There was a sign with odd writing on it that wasn't like anything he'd ever seen, and his Wayfarer's Brand simply failed to translate it for him. There were two directions he could go, left or right. The voice cried out again, louder, from the left, so he ran that way.

  "Listen, friend. We're going to have to work together. I need you to distract whatever's troubling the boy. With my combat skills and the Shinobi arts, I can handle the brunt of the fighting. The main point is for us to take any heat off the child. No heroics. If you get hurt, I can heal you, but only to a certain point."

  "Aquepup!" The young monster understood.

  "I'll trust your judgment to use any moves you see fit, but if things look bad, run. You're a companion of mine; I cherish your life the way I would that of any of my more civil friends. Understood?"

  The dog nodded, then leapt out of Ondun's arms and started running beside him. Somehow, the canine monster looked like it had gotten a tiny bit faster somehow, but it was hard to be sure.

  The cry got more panicked. Ondun immediately began forming the hand seals for the Earth jutsu that would create a zone of heaviness as he rounded a corner and almost immediately caught sight of the monster and the human child he was menacing. The monster looked like the small dog-like monsters he'd encountered in the Yuanto Forest, the ones having a territorial dispute, only it was much, much larger, with dark grey gravelly fur, eyes that burned red, and an odd energy radiating off its body. To Ondun, this felt like the power he felt from demons, the otherworldly denizens of another realm that invaded his homeland to harvest the anima of living beings...but it wasn't quite the same.

  His cub had been preparing an attack too. The Aquecub took a deep breath, then shot a thin stream of water straight at the menacing monster and proceeded to hit it in a very specific part of its backside. With a loud yelp of "GLOOMWOLF!" it snarled, then turned to face Aquecub, who immediately ducked behind a tree, before barking, "Aquepup! Aqueaqueaque!"

  Ondun's gift interpreted this as some sort of taunt, but it didn't land. The monster had fixed eyes on him. The Shinobi launched his jutsu, immediately slamming the mon to the packed earth of the trail. Seeing his chance, the child bolted, but not towards Ondun and the city gates, but further into the verdant forests.

  "Aquepup, go cover the kid; make sure nothing else comes after him!"

  "Aque!" The small monster darted off, leaving Ondun and the odd Gloomwolf facing each other. Ondun drew his shouken. "By the way, monster...this is an illusion."

  Then Ondun's image disappeared with a loud poof, leaving behind part of a fallen branch. The corrupted Gloomwolf blinked at this a few times, then sniffed the air and snarled and darted after the child it hunted, as well as the two new scents that were now accompanying it. Angry at this trickery, the mighty monster breathed in even as it ran and unleashed a mighty howl.

  Moments later, numerous, higher-pitched howls sounded, acknowledging the presence of a pack leader and accepting his authority on the hunt. These smaller figures began running out of the woodwork—of the ones the Gloomwolf could see, there were perhaps twenty of the young Gloomcubs and five Gloomhounds. With a ferocious snarl, it began barking orders loudly, giving specific instructions to his new, terrified charges. With eyes sparkling in anticipation of a masterfully sprung ambush, Gloomwolf slowed its speed, conserving its might to deliver the killing blow to the human, the odd-looking human, and the baby mon that had squirted him in a place no one should ever get squirted.

  Mike was running for his very life. His mother and father had always warned him against leaving town until he was old enough to get a partner of his own. "It is too dangerous!" they said. Mike believed them now. The monster had methodically cornered him.

  In school, the local monsters were required coverage for the youngest people in a given town or city, so Mike knew this was very bad, to be cornered by the final form of the Gloomcub line, Gloomwolf, of the affinities Dark and Ground. It was said that they would hunt their prey over the course of a year, and once they had marked someone as prey, they would never stop hunting them.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Then the odd man who was seemingly dancing through the path beside him and shouting at him and the small man came. Mike was more of a Flamarmot man, personally, but the Aquepup had masterfully distracted the Gloomcub. Then the man...who was maybe also a mon...had used some weird Earth ability that slammed it into the ground. If one monster was too much for Mike, three was out of the question, so now he ran to the place he'd seen in his dreams: Lake Yongqi, known to the locals instead as Lake Qing-gan-hu. In all the old tales, the heroes ran to the lake when they couldn't find a path forward, and in Mike's dreams, he'd been leading someone there. It felt important, somehow.

  "Kid! Stop! We're about to run into a lake!"

  Mike came to his senses, seeing he had built up too much momentum and was about to speed himself right off an outcropping of rock. The odd dragon-like man made hand seals, then appeared in front of him, absorbing most of his momentum, before picking him up about the waist and swinging him around behind him. In the same fluid motion, two long knives that were perfectly straight were unsheathed, and the man assumed a fighting stance in front of him.

  "Young one...when I tell you to run, follow my monster ally and go back to town. I will hold our pursuers here."

  Mike smirked. He'd seen this thing in those Yamato cartoons. "Mister, let me guess, you're some sort of super-warrior who has power from some goddess who brought you to this world, and you're going to save me and become known in this world as a great hero?"

  The man looked over his shoulder. "How did you know all that?"

  Mike smirked. "Lucky guess. Anyways...Mom's going to absolutely kill me."

  He turned his head back. "I'll put in a good word for you, if that helps." The Aquepup barked in agreement.

  "Anyways..." he shifted one knife into a reverse grip and started making mudra with one hand. "The battle's about to start. Aquepup, when I give the signal, lead our small friend here to safety."

  Out of the forest poured a number of monsters. Just as they did, Ondun activated his seals. "Fuu-jutsu: Fuu-ma Shuriken!"

  A spectral, green, four-pointed blade lanced from the final hand sign and cut a bloody swath through the incoming monsters. Mike's eyes went wide, but the man shouted, "Now's your chance! RUN!"

  Mike didn't need telling twice. Even as a few Gloomcub and Gloomhounds dove at the man, he disappeared behind one of the Gloomhounds and made an expert slice across its neck. Even as it bled out, he did a somersault, kicking a Gloomcub to the ground about the lake, before swinging his blades in a circle about him, claiming the lives of four more Gloomcubs, and severely wounding another Gloomhound.

  Most of the Gloomcubs were yelping in fear, but a snarl from the forest silenced them. The smaller monsters retreated, and Ondun was face-to-face with the odd Gloomwolf, snarling, eyes filled with hate and hunger. "Gloomwolf!"

  Ondun assumed a more upright stance. "I see. I'm now your prey. You should've come for me first, and not a child, fool of a monster."

  The wolf monster let out a series of loud barks, almost like laughter. Then the Gloomwolf and Ondun began to circle each other. There were a few feints, but neither man nor woman fell for them; they were both simply too experienced for that. Even as the wolf stopped, with a sly look on its face, Ondun leapt, dodging the massive pillar of stone that erupted at an angle in front of him with an elegant backflip. A phantom blade made of pure anima was flung at the wolf monster, who simply sidestepped it, as if it had seen that coming from a great distance, as it gathered itself for a proper charge.

  Then, for Ondun, time stopped. Well, it might not have been a complete stop; it was more as if time was only moving about one one-hundredth as fast as it should've been. Even as the monster was gathering dark anima, Ondun could see it clearly at this speed and knew precisely where to dodge thanks to this information and his Wayfarer's Brand—a small figure popped into existence in front of him.

  Hmmm. Warrior from another world. He who is hurt is hurting others. Nothing ever seems to change, does it?

  Ondun couldn't move, let alone speak.

  Yeah, I'm not interested in your sob story like Alice or that Li guy. I know you're a stone-cold killer. I know you've got principles, too; I feel them, but I also feel that bloodlust. Damn, you could give Hellzeph a run for his money, you know. I think you have only a little more chill than he does.

  Ondun wanted to deny it but could do so neither physically nor spiritually.

  Right, and you can't answer because we don't have all day. Normally I'd be happy to take a few centuries to tell you everything you need to know, but we're on a schedule here. Here's the situation: You know how you're on a different world? Well, some jerks from your world are using this world as something of an experiment. They want to do something here; they did it somewhere else. You know those...ah, yes, those demons?

  Ondun did not like where this conversation was going.

  Yeah, so they're here trying to tip Monastria towards the element of Dark. To that end, they're up to something generally sinister. I can see from your emotions you've been dealing with all that, and I pity you because these guys are good at being bad. They've smoothed things over so that no matter what happens, they win somehow. Normally I'd say our world is pegged like those boards that absolutely sane human doctor in the nearby town makes, but then you showed up. You're not bound by fate as everyone else here is. You're not bound to Olympus as we, his children, are.

  The Draconian adventurer was listening intently.

  Good, you're paying attention. Here's the deal. Some humans are about to kick that puppy's butt. You'll find something around here in the forest that will help you. However, when things get bad—and according to my big sister, they will—you are going to have to come back here. You'll have to save me. That's very important. Do NOT forget, or both worlds will suffer a slight case of TOTAL ANNIHILATION. Seriously, do not mess this up.

  Ondun wanted to nod.

  Okay, I've done my bit. I'd love to offer you emotional support, but the humans have invented therapists for that. You should see one. BYE~~~

  Then with a pop, the creature disappeared, and Ondun launched into his dodge, the Gloomwolf sailing by, but raising a pillar on which to pivot and line up another charge.

  Then, with some soft hisses, there was the sound of darts, all of which plunged into the Gloomwolf. Ondun did a reverse backflip while making the signs for the Wind Wall jutsu, just in case someone tried to tranq him a second time in the same day, but all that happened was the wounded Gloomwolf fell to the ground with a soft thud, as a mix of blue and green-uniformed humans swarmed the scene, capturing the bleeding-out Gloomcubs and cataloging the monsters that Ondun had slain in defense of the human child.

  One uniformed man walked forward. "Excuse me, sir. You'll need to come back to town with me, Guardian's orders. We'll need to debrief you on what happened here. Also, going forward, don't kill mons. We know you're...not from around here, but it is against the law. The Guardian warned us this might happen, and due to the circumstances, we're choosing to with you. We need to know everything you know about that corrupted monster, and the Guardian herself is willing to let ONE incident slide. There will be no others, or I will personally throw you in prison. Understood?"

  Ondun nodded. "Of course, I only came to render assistance. I apologize for my offense. I'll be happy to cooperate."

  The man sighed and visibly released some tension. "Also, Dr. Wusiji will be there. He wants to run some tests." Ondun's partially scaled face slammed straight into one gauntleted hand. The ranger simply nodded. "Yes. That is the correct answer."

  When Ondun raised his head from his hand, though, Aquepup leapt straight onto his chestplate and began licking him, barking happily, telling his human ally that he'd accomplished his mission. Ondun could only smile, but then he looked back to the lake.

  Those who hurt, hurting others, Ondun thought. Maybe that odd monster was right. The question is...what do I do about it?