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With knowledge that James wasn't quite cut out for combat in his current form, he was brought to an indoor facility while a mixture was prepared for him, consisting of DNA from a Dracosith and an Awek. He was brought to a pod and told that it was a simulation of a starfighter intended to see who can pilot one well. "So, how does zhis work?"

"You'll sit inside and control the pod, simple as that."

Emily, James' daughter, sat on the side. She had already begun schooling and had learned some basic words. As she watched, another young yinglet was brought over by a soldier. "Private Scale," called the soldier, "we have an extra male."

"You can put him next to zhe girl."

The soldier set down the new yingling next to her as James climbed inside the pod. She screamed and hissed at it, and it started to wail like an infant. The soldier picked Emily up by the hair and barked, "Now, see what you did?"

In response, she growled and bit him, to which the soldier left a slap on her cheek. On the way out, she nipped at his hand. He saw the hole in his hand and slapped her again, harder this time. After that, she developed a stare. The soldier put her down and marched away holding his hand.

Meanwhile, James shut his eyes for a second as the screen on the pod lit up to a facade of space. He first took the wheel and turned it. He felt stupid for a moment thinking that turning the wheel would do something else. After turning, he pressed the buttons on the ends of the wheel closest to his thumbs.

He saw lights flash across the screen and put a hand to his stomach. It's been a while since he's eaten. He took a look at the rest of the dashboard to see if there were any other noteworthy buttons. Then, before he could do anything else, the screen went all black, and the door opened. "Lunch break," said the drill sergeant.

When James left the pod, he saw that Emily had some blood on her fur. He ran to her and felt her cheek. He looked at the drill sergeant and asked, "What happened here?"

"Go ask Reiyan."

Then, as James picked up both yinglings, someone opened the door and called, "Scale, your mixture's ready."

"Perfect!"

He caught up with them and followed them to the fort's clinic. He set both yinglings down, grabbed the edge of a gurney and tried to pull himself up. As usual, his arms were not strong enough, so one of the doctors had to physically bring him up on the gurney. Then, the doctor took a syringe and stuck it in the base of his arm. He looked up at the doctor and asked, "What's zhe minimum age required to undergo zhis?"

"All dependent on initial species. Why?"

He looked at the two yinglings. "Them? Two years."

"Zhen, we still have a while."

He raised his arm and watched as it grew from a black twig to a thin meaty limb covered in dark gray fur. "By zhe way, do you zhink you could take a look at zhe girl?"

"Yes, yes!"

"She doesn't seem to be acting normal for a younglet."

"Why do you say that?"

"She seems calmer, and distant. Zhere's also a welt on her cheek."

"Oh! Let me check!"

While the doctor checked, James' chest expanded, and his nose grew longer. His shelltooth fell out, and his ears grew in. "You sure she doesn't have brain damage," asked the doctor.

"I'm hoping she doesn't."

"Same here. She's so young."

"Hell, I was struck hard as an infant, and I think it had a role in my uh, instability levels."

When Emily tilted to the side, James stated, "That does not look good," while shaking his head.

"Agreed, she's not even sitting now. I would kill who did this."

James' concern grew into anger, then rage. As he became more like an Awek, he stood up and shoved the gurney aside. His wings knocked over some medications as he beat them up and down. He threw the door open and marched across the field towards the mess hall.

He opened the door and searched the crowd for the Dracosith he remembered as being Reiyan, one of the other privates. Once he found the guy, he took him by the horns and wrenched him off the bench. He took his tail and yanked him towards the door. "This is for what you did to my kid!"

"Your kid shouldn't be an asshole!"

"You didn't need to strike!" James roared before shoving him into the wall. "Now, she's got brain damage!"

He aimed a punch at the guy's eye, then kicked him in the stomach and let go. Then, he elbowed him in the neck sending him to the floor. When the guy tried crawling away, he kicked him down. He sent another kick between the guy's legs and froze when he saw Emily standing there staring.

He went and picked her up before approaching one of the tables. She only stared at the guy as he was thrown out. James sat down and put her on the table. Her eyes seemed to be glazed over with white, yet he refused to look at them.

Then, he saw Reiyan spontaneously combust. "What the..."

He kept staring at the burning Dracosith, even when someone put a tray in front of him. He kept watching yet as some of them came back inside. Then, another Dracosith threw the door open and raised something above his head. It was a severed head, that of a human.

He covered Emily's eyes as he came to recognize the head of the man who nearly killed him and his family. He saw that the Dracosith owner of the trophy head was scarred quite a bit. He had a black eye, and the tentacles on his chin were shredded. Despite that, the Dracosith proudly showed off the head as he marched towards the table. "Behold, the head of the scourge of Terra Nova!"

After that, another Dracosith entered carrying a straight sword, one that looked like a katana. James turned to the one with the sword and said to Emily, "I'll be right back."

He stood up, approached them and asked, "where did you get that?"

"I found it on earth. Why?"

"Figured as much. How much for it?"

"What do you wanna give me?"

James felt himself up and down and dug through his pockets. He produced a handful of shells and looked at the peddler. He shrugged and said, "Eh fine. I can sell the shells."

As they traded clams for a blade, one of the shells opened to reveal a white ball. "Wow, I had no idea some of them had pearls," James commented.

"Well they do. Either way, keep that katana, I'm getting these bad boys graded!"

As the peddler bolted, James sat back down and set the sword on the table. He started to eat what was in front of him taking some mush in a spoon and offering it to her. As she took the spoon, James saw the blade glowing. "That's weird..."

After they were both done, James picked up Emily and headed toward the door. Along the way, a Dracosith came up to him and handed him the other yingling, along with a box. When Emily hissed, he sighed, "Don't start that again, Emily. I'm really not in the mood."

Somehow, she weaseled out of his grip and ran ahead. He went after her and, upon reaching the base, opened the door. "Slow down, next time if you don't mind."

"No, I want go and lay down!" she squealed before waddling into the room. That was when James saw someone in his bed. He went over and shoved them with his hand. "Find your own bed!"

They woke up, and without warning, grabbed James by the throat and started cursing in another language while brandishing a dagger. His fur fluffed, and he instinctively threw the box at him. On impact, the figure, a samurai in full armor, gave chase to James. The question raising in both their minds was what, who, and why he was there.

James ran around the room while repeating the word nope at the top of his lungs. The samurai kept following him while screaming. He threw the box again and slid under one of the cots. The man deflected it, grabbed James and yanked him out. When he saw the katana, he snatched and said something in what sounded like Japanese. James shook his head having no idea what he said.

The man screamed and punched him in the gut. He tore the box open and tossed the debris at him. In response, he growled and punched James in the snout. Emily, somehow, began speaking to the man in his native language when he let go of James. As he fell over, an amulet fell out of the box.

The man looked at the amulet and grabbed it. He turned away from James and muttered, "Tsuki."

The man barked something in Japanese, and Emily translated, "Where did you find her?"

"I-I found it in an a-abandoned w-warehouse! Emily, how'd you learn Japanese?"

Emily shrugged and said, "I dunno."

"And, where'd you learn to talk in general?"

"I, I don't know, I just started."

"Either way, please translate what I just said to him; That I found that in an abandoned warehouse!"

She did just that, and the man looked at him and stormed closer. James raised his hands, shook his head and said, "I'm no threat."

Emily translated, and the man spoke to her. "Well his name is Takeo of the Okuda clan. And he is from Kyoto and wondering how he can get home to his wife and son."

"Well, judging by the way he's dressed, I doubt he'll be able to. We could go back to earth, but we might need a time machine to go to a point he'd recognize, and I'm sure a time machine would cost my entire male system and a heart."

Takeo spoke again, and she translated, "He committed something called seppuku and thinks it failed, and he never got to meet his infant."

"Oh my god!" James gasped and took a step back.

"What is it?"

"Well, when a samurai felt he was dishonored, he could uh, cut himself open," croaked James.

"Ewwww! Why aren't his guts all over than?"

"I don't know."

He looked at Takeo as he shouted something in Japanese and raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, I forgot the sushi spoiled yesterday. Well, we should probably teach him English."

"How do we do that?"

"Classes, like yours."

"Oh! But his language isn't to bad. Also no one translates it here. I can teach him!"

She looked at Takeo and said, "Is that right?"

"Knock yourself out. Er, not literally!"

"Why would I?"

James changed the subject with, "So, can you ask him how he possessed his sword for me?"

Several words went between them. Finally, she said, "Uh, he doesn't even know, he had to protect who he calls Tsuki, which is that amulet of yours."

"Why Tsuki?"

"He says she was his best friend and owed his life to her."

"You mean there's something possessing it?"

"Yes, I am sure of it."

"That explains that one transformation years ago."

"Transformation?"

As they spoke, Takeo woke up and took James' pillow to the bathroom. "Yeah, back when I first moved ou-Hey!" he barked while marching to the bathroom. He saw what Takeo was doing to the pillow, and the Japanese manstarted screaming in Japanese and slammed the door in James's face. He turned the knob, bashed the door with his shoulder and barked, "That's mine!"

In response, Takeo pulled his katana and pointed it at James. He stepped back and threw his arms up. "Why my pillow? Why my bed?"

"Father," said Emily, "I think he was tired. Also what' that small pole?"

Instead of answering, James spun around and slammed the door shut. "You'll find out when you're older!"

"How and why? Also father don't you have another pillow? Takeo needs something to rest his head on. He seemed stressed."

"You know what," James took a deep breath and said, "I can use one of the other pillows. And uh, you'll know when you're ready to learn about that."

"Oh, okay. And what if I don't wanna?"

"You'll learn sooner or later."

Then, the door opened to reveal Takeo with the pillow covering his groin. He looked at Emily, and some words went between them. Then, she looked at James and said, "He wants a baby."

"Wait, what?"

"He says he wants a baby. I didn't think men want those."

As they spoke, Takeo tossed the soiled pillow and went off to his corner. "I doubt he's ready to handle one yet."

"Why do you say that? He did say he was ready and about be a father."

"How about financially?"

"Oh, I thought we could feed them. He can't even function at our technological capacity. He might never in his whole life."

"Alright, we could do that."

"Yeeeee!" Emily jumped about two feet in the air. "But who's going to be the-"

Before she could finish, Takeo noticed someone passing by outside and headed for the door. Before he left, James approached Takeo and reached for the amulet. Takeo spun his head around and snatched the amulet from him. James raised his arms and stepped back to watch as he chanted something in Japanese. Suddenly, the samurai produced a flask of alcohol from his armor and soaked the amulet with it. Then, he used some flint with a knife to set it on fire. "What the hell," gasped James.

Ignoring him, Takeo stared at the fire while quietly repeating the name Tsukiko six times. Then, before both their eyes, the pearl in the amulet began to glow. Then, it began to slowly grow in Takeo's arms. The man whispered something else in Japanese. James blinked, and within Takeo's arms appeared a white fox with a black mane and red streaks over their eyes. They opened their eyes and said, "Takeo-so?"

"Hai!" gasped Takeo. She looked at James and asked, in what sounded like a broken British accent, "Where are we, and what is the year?"

"Uh, Dracosith, and the earth year is twenty-fifty four."

"Earth? Dracosith? Twenty-fifty four?"

"You are on an alien planet in the distant future."

Tsuki gulped, looked at Takeo and repeated in Japanese, "Watashitachi wa sh?rai, gairai no wakusei ni iru."

In response, Takeo's eyes widened, and he looked away. "Haruka," he croaked. "Anata wa mada furui tomodachi ga iru," said Tsuki to reassure him that everything would be alright.

" ?e, kesshite nai!" cried Takeo. "Watashi wa hitoridesu! Watashi o aisuru yuiitsu no josei wa shinde imasu, watashi no musuko wa shinde imasu!"

Tsuki weaseled out of his arms and sat on the bed next to the one Takeo was on. "Anata wa itsu demo watashi ni nigeru koto ga dekimasu."

As they continued to speak in Japanese, James stood up and said, "Well, I do believe I should go finish starfighter training."

Takeo asked what James said, and Tsuki translated as James marched outside.