Aja was relieved. The girl just liked her brother. That was completely adorable.

But also a little suspicious.

Her intense gaze had portrayed vigorous study, as if her brother was a foreign creature to be observed. And while she'd been talking to her--had her teeth been...sharp? She could have sworn that girl had fangs. That wasn't normal, right? Or maybe it was just a genetic defect, or even more likely, her imagination.

She should stop worrying. The girl had confessed to liking Krel. She was just a little odd, that was all. Besides, there were more exciting matters to think about, specifically the enormous wolf she was going to hunt. Yes, the likelihood of such a creature actually being there was slim, but it was an excuse to get out of the Mothership and spend time with Jim.

And Toby and Claire and Douxie and Archie, of course. Not that Jim was her main reason...

Stars had just begun to speckle the night sky when Jim pulled up on his Vespa, Toby and Claire following on their bikes. Aja had turned off her transduction hours ago, eagerly awaiting their arrival. She grabbed her hoverboard and ran for the door.

"Multiple life-forms approaching. Permission to vaporize?" Mother recited her usual announcement. Aja paused with her hand inches from the doorknob and frantically waved the other three.

"Nope! No, no, no! No vaporizing! They're Friends!" She shouted.

"Affirmative." Mother responded.

"Where are you going?" Krel asked from his place on the couch, a holoscreen in his lap. He, too, had turned off his transduction.

"Jim invited me to help investigate a rumor about a really big wolf in the woods." She answered, anxious to get out the door. Her hand now gripped the doorknob, hinting that she wasn't in the mood for a long conversation.

"I'm coming, too." Krel stated, jumping up off the couch and lightly dropping his holoscreen on the table. Aja forced herself not to groan.

"Come on, Krel, I'll be with Jim and the others! It's no big deal!" She said.

"That's not why I'm coming, Aja. Stop assuming I just want to protect you. If anything, you do a better job of protecting me." Her brother said stiffly. "What if I just want in on the fun for once?"

"But you hate the woods! Why do you want to come?" Aja pointed out. She wasn't sure why, but she'd been looking forward to spending time with the gang without her brother. Maybe it was his overly expressed caution, or inability to keep up when the path required agility.

"I promise I won't complain." Krel assured her, putting on a more please let me come with you tone than his previous I'm coming and you can't talk me out of it tone.

"Fine, fine." Aja reluctantly agreed, taking her chance to duck out the door.

"If you don't come back by midnight, Varvatos will surely show you--" Varvatos started, but the twins cut him off.

"A Glorious Death."

Once outside, Aja activated her hoverboard and hopped on. Krel jumped on behind her, waving lightly at Jim and his friends.

"Ready?" Jim asked.

"Definitely." Aja answered. "Oh, and Krel wants to come, too."

"Awesome sauce." Toby said, doing a thing apparently known as finger guns at the young prince.

"Douxie is meeting us there. We shouldn't keep him waiting." Said Claire. She was looking all around, most likely keeping watch for anyone who might see the twins in their glowing, nonhuman glory.

"Right. Let's go. Y'know, before someone sees you two." Jim agreed. The five of them made their way out towards the woods, staying out of sight. The night was warm and pleasant, and the moon was full, offering plenty of light. It was a rather ideal night for investigating something in the forest.

Once in the midst of the trees, they started off on foot. Toby and Claire parked their bikes by Jim's vespa, and Aja deactivated her hoverboard and stuck it in her pocket. A few fireflies danced lazily among the treebranches, and the light skittering of small creatures and the soft sound of crickets filled the air. Aja had only ever been in the woods on dark nights, mostly fighting bounty hunters. Seeing the forest this calm, and bathed in soft, pale light, she felt a much appreciated sense of safety and peace. Why couldn't Akiridion-5 have such peaceful, quiet forests?

Douxie appeared, leaning on a tree in a casual manner, Archie, his familiar, sitting calmly at his feet. He greeted the group with a wave.

"Hello, there. Fancy meeting you here." He joked. Aja liked his accent. It sounded so proper, but he had a way of making it mischievous also.

"Hi there, Douxie." Claire said brightly, giving him an amused smile. Toby was too busy collecting some strange, round, bumpy rock to make a comment.

"So, where's the wolf?" Archie asked, standing up on his back legs and crossing his front ones like arms. That would forever look rather odd to the princess.

"I'll show you. Toby, stop gathering rocks." Said Jim.

"These are geodes, man!" Toby defended, stuffing the last few rocks into his backpack. "I've never seen so many in one place! I have to take this opportunity!"

"What's a geode?" Krel asked.

"Well," Toby started in his here's some cool information voice, "A geode is something that happens when the right conditions occur to form crystals. They look like normal rocks on the outside, but on the inside, they look really awesome, so I am taking these home to break them open."

"The really valuable ones are rare. The only thing you'll find here are small, mostly white ones." Archie pointed out.

"Don't care." Toby stated as he stood.

Jim led them to the place of the alleged wolf sighting. It didn't look like much; just a small clearing next to a stream. All was quiet. Krel looked a bit bored, but as he'd promised, he didn't complain. Aja scanned her surroundings thoroughly as she explored the clearing, not entirely sure what kind of evidence they were looking for.

"Gork said he saw the wolf just kind of walking through. Blinky isn't sure it's really a threat, but if it's not a normal wolf, it could be in danger if it's not careful and gets spotted by some teenager." Jim was explaining. As the Trollhunter, it was his duty to protect all supernatural beings, and apparently oversized wolves were no exception.

"Paw print!" Toby called suddenly. Everyone was leaning over where he was crouched in an instant, examining the truly enormous imprint of an animal's foot. By the looks on their faces, Aja guessed it was far from a normal-sized track.

"There's a few different creatures this could be." Douxie said thoughtfully. "A hellhound doesn't usually get this big, but the occasional abnormally large individual can occur. I might say werewolf, but those don't live in Arcadia..."

"I don't like the sound of either of those." Said Claire.

"I could see it being a manticore, but this print looks more canine..." Douxie continued.

"Don't forget to consider a griffin. Those are everywhere these days." Archie said matter-of-factly.

"But there would be talon prints around here, too." Douxie pointed out.

"Unless it was a bounty hunter." Krel suggested. "Some extraterrestrial races have very canine-like attributes."

As they continued to discuss this, Aja noticed another print, just a little ways away. It was farther from the bank of the stream than the one everyone was looking at. She approached it, tracing the distance between it and the first one with her eyes. The creature was walking this way, but the other tracks probably got washed away by the stream. Either that, or the creature walked through it.

Then she saw it: a trail of paw prints, leading away on the other side of the stream.

"Hey, guys! I found something!" She said, but the others were too busy debating. She raised her voice. "Guys!"

Seeing that getting their attention was hopeless, she rolled her eyes and decided to investigate the tracks herself. She kind of wished Jim would come with her, but he was busy with the one paw print Toby had found. She stepped through the shallow stream, the chilly water infiltrating her shoes and stinging her feet. She followed the tracks slowly, so that if the others noticed her leaving, they could catch up. However, she soon found herself deep into the woods, alone.

She wasn't afraid. She could handle herself. Besides, she could easily retrace her steps to get back, or more accurately, retrace the wolf steps she was following. The full moon glowed brightly in the sky, giving the world pale whitish hue. The tracks stood out starkly, deep and fresh. The wolf must have passed through recently. She supposed the troll had seen it only a day or so ago.

From what she'd learned about wolves, they typically hunted in packs. So if this was a wolf, why would it be alone? Maybe it was something else. What had Douxie said about a hellhound?

On second thought, maybe she shouldn't be following these tracks by herself...

"Grrrr..."

She swung around, but she couldn't see anything. What had just made that growling sound? She stiffened, ready to grab her serrator at any moment.

"Grrrrrrrrr..."

She spun around again, but still didn't see anything amidst the trees.

"GRRRRRRRRR!!"

She drew her serrator and flung the blade around to aim at the sound. At first, she didn't see anything yet again, but when she looked down...

"Yap! Yap!" Went the little white dog. She was no bigger than a rabbit, with most of her fur cut short except on her lower legs, head, and tail, which were very fluffy. She was wearing a little blue collar, and the ends of her floppy little ears were black. She stared at Aja with wide, dark eyes. "Yap! Ruff rrrrrrrff!"

Aja put her serrator away and laughed at herself. I'm such a soolian! Scared of a little puppy like this!

"Hey there! You really scared me, you little gloober!" She said as she crouched down. The dog cautiously approached her, her tiny black nose sniff-sniffing at her hand. Tentatively, her tail began to wag.

"You're so cute! Are you lost?" Aja asked her, gently stroking her silky soft fur. What a cute dog! I wonder who she belongs to. They're probably worried about her.

The dog suddenly flinched. Tail between her legs, she began to back away. She whimpered.

"What's wrong? I won't hurt you." Aja said softly, but the dog continued to back away. A hot breath of air brushed her back. She slowly turned to look behind her, the dog whimpering all the more.

"GRRRRRRR..."

Ember-red eyes stared down at her, glowing like there was fire behind them. She jumped back, awkwardly scrambling to her feet. That didn't do much; the humongous creature was still at least two feet taller than her, even on all-fours as it was. It's lips were peeled back in a vicious snarl, showing terrifyingly sharp, dirty teeth. It's forehead was wrinkled, it's brow furrowed in a horrifyingly intelligent expression of rage. Aja was frozen. This was it. This was the wolf.

Silvery-gray fur, extremely thin, ribs showing, eyes red and angry. This creature emanated the dark energy of a killer. Drool dripped from it's snout, and the low growl rumbling in it's throat sounded strangely insulting, as if it was telling the princess how it was going to kill her.

All at once, time unfroze. The little dog yelped, her hand reached for her serrator, and the wolf flicked it's head in an attempt to snap at her neck. Aja flung her blade towards the beast, fear pulsing through her limbs and pounding in her head. The wolf shrieked, and she turned and bolted through the trees while it was distracted. The little white dog was bouncing along beside her, tail between her legs.

Running blindly, she didn't see the steep slope she was heading for. She cried out as she tripped and tumbled violently down the hill and into another part of the stream she'd been at with the others earlier. The water was cold, and shocked her back into reality after the rough fall. It was pure luck that she hadn't been cut by her serrator, which was laying on the bank.

"Kleb..." She groaned, staggering to her feet. Everything hurt, she was soaked, and the others were a ways away. At least I can follow the stream back.

"Ruff, ruff! Grrf!" The little dog was still with her, standing on the bank and thankfully unscathed. Chilled by the cold water, she began to shiver.

"At least your okay." She told the dog simply. The dog wagged her tail and barked, running through the stream and towards something on the other side. Upon turning around, Aja saw yet another wolf, just as big as the first. This one, however, the dog was greeting excitedly.

"Grrf gruff gwarf!" The dog barked at the wolf.

"Grrrrr? Rrrrff ruff rrrf?" The wolf replied.

The dog jumped over to Aja, wagging her tail vigorously. The wolf looked at the Akiridion with an almost human expression of bewilderment and curiosity. This one was brown, with one eye that glowed green and the other pale blue. It approached her, sniffing.

"Stay back!" She yelped, snatching up her serrator and aiming at the wolf, who flinched back. It cocked it's head, looking, remarkably, confused.

"Grrf ruff rrrf?"

"I will hurt you. Stay back."

An awkward silence followed. This wolf didn't seem hostile, like the other one. It looked curious, fascinated. It's eyes didn't burn with murderous fury, either. In fact, Aja was almost sure it was a girl, while the other wolf had seemed more like a pure animal with no feminine or masculine hints.

The wolf looked up, and suddenly tensed. A ferocious growl split the air somewhere behind the princess, and she turned to see the first wolf at the top of the slope. It was staring down with those red eyes, it's focus fixed on the Akiridion. Oh no. Not this again. The wolf lunged, clearing the slope in one leap. It landed in the stream with a splash, taking no pause as it swiped one giant paw at Aja's torsoe.

"GRRRAAAWWRRRRR!!" The brown wolf snarled, leaping upon the red-eyed wolf as the princess was slammed into the cold stream once again. The little white dog was yapping bloody murder, and the two huge wolves were really hashing it out now, the brown wolf driving the red-eyed wolf back. They were snapping at each other's necks, but not successfully landing any bites. Aja readied her blade and willed herself not to shake. Of all the places for their ship to crash! Trolls, wizards, and now monster wolves! What was it with this town?!

The red-eyed wolf suddenly pushed the brown wolf aside and leapt for her. She noticed it had a fresh slash over one of it's eyes, and with a chill realized that she had given that to it. This wolf was after revenge, even for such a minor wound. Well, you attacked first! She wanted to yell, but she could only swing her blade and hope she didn't miss.

She missed.

She screamed as the wolf snapped it's large jaws shut just inches from her face. She swung again, just as the brown wolf jumped to push the red-eyed wolf down, teeth bared. Her serrator missed again, but while her arms were still outstretched, the red-eyed wolf dodged away, the brown wolf was still barreling forward, and--

SNAP!

The brown wolf's jaws clamped down on her left forearm, sharp teeth digging hard into her skin. The wolf's eyes met her's and went very, very wide. The red-eyed wolf seemed frozen, almost startled or shocked.

"Grarf!" The brown wolf barked, abruptly releasing Aja's arm and rearing back. The part of her sleeve where the bite was had been torn away, revealing the deep teeth marks. It didn't bleed, however; the punctures began to glow white, and an intense, sharp pain erupted from the wound. She clutched her forearm and gazed at the wolf, wide-eyed. Even the little white dog was silent.

The world began to spin. Her vision blurred slightly. The wolves were growling at each other... Or were they growling at her? She dropped to her knees, panting.

"I'm so sorry!"

Who said that?!

"You fool!"

Another unfamiliar voice. They sounded like they were in her head...but they weren't at the same time. The pain was terrible. Worse than an animal's bite should be. What's happening to me?! The little dog was up on her lap now, yipping her concern. The red-eyed wolf snarled and ran off. The brown wolf looked horrified, but after a moment, she bounded off in another direction, the little white dog following behind her.

Aja heard her brother calling her name. She could barely make out the rest of the group coming towards her through her fuzzy vision. The pain was creeping up her arm and getting worse by the minute. The white glow was slowly fading, and some blood finally dared to ooze out.

Jim got her first, just before she passed out.