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Hello, guys. I'm back with another chapter. I hope you enjoy.

A few months have passed by; it is now September. Grandpa said I am done with my basic and survival training, which means I can finally go out and look for the grandchildren of the the original ninja wolf team. He said if I can't find them, I can choose other anthros instead.

Once I was done with that first spar with Ian, grandpa let me choose my other weapons. He said every ninja has to be prepared for any situation. I now have shurikens (or throwing stars). When I thought that's all I was going to get, grandpa handed me his most prized weapon: the claws.

The claws are custom-made by one of grandpa's close friends during the war. They are gloves with titanium claws that can cut through a lot of things. They are also padded all over so you can grab blades with them. I think those could come in use.

During those few months, I worked on improving the skills he already taught me. There was a lot of spars. I have a nasty cut on my left arm, but it is mostly recovered; it doesn't hurt much anymore. Grandpa told me that we will learn a few more thing before I go, but they are some of the easy stuff I kind of seen first hand before. He said I would see those today. I now understand what he means: today is our annual family camping trip. We go out in the woods, hike for ten miles, camp for the night, and take a different ten mile route back home. Grandpa said the day after that, I would leave.

"Are they almost ready?" dad asked, tapping his foot on the back porch wood, "Those two take forever every year. We could be fives miles in already." We were waiting for mom and Sarah.

"Patience Samuel," grandpa stated calmly, putting a hand on dad's shoulder, "they will be here soon."

"I think five miles is a bit of an exaggeration, dad," Adam pointed out, grumpily. He's not happy right now. Ian told me that dad talked to him to not to try to ruin the experience for me like last year. Last year, he hid my food from me. I had to starve for the last ten miles; it was not pleasant for all of us. Mom's probably talking to Sarah right now. She and Adam always work together against me, and they are at their worst on any special occasion.

"Girls," Ian muttered, "they always take way too long to get ready." He looked at me and smirked. I chuckled a little; he was right, they do take forever. It took a while, but they finally came outside with their backpacks on. "What took you so long?" Ian asked, his smirk turning into a smile.

"We had to get ready," Sarah defended.

"So did we, it doesn't take a year to pack a backpack and leave," Adam whined. I just laughed; just like grandpa said: you need patience.

"Okay, enough fussing," grandpa ordered, "time to get a move on. Where are we going Luke?" What?

"Why are you asking me," I asked.

"You're leading this time," dad told me. My ears flattened and I looked at grandpa.

"You need to work on your leading skills. If you're going to be the team leader, I need to see how you lead and give you some tips."

"I don't know much about hiking; every year I just follow you guys."

"Quit being a baby," Adam scoffed, "it's not that hard to walk on a trail," he turned to grandpa, "haven't you trained him how to do anything?"

I could feel a growl rising in my throat for two reasons: one, he insulted me; and two, he questioned grandpa's teachings. My tail was flickering slightly as I said, "Okay, we head north." I started leading us deeper into the woods.

It was silent besides everybody footsteps and the occasional bird, the sun was about halfway to its highest point. I felt like they all were waiting for me to order them to do something. What does dad normally say when we go on one of these? I wish I paid attention all of those camping trips.

Okay, let's think logically with this: we should be checking the scents for humans and other large predator. Yeah, that's a good idea. "Ian," he looked at me, "can you check for scents?"

"Sure thing," he replied. I saw him raising his head and started sniffing. Once he was done, he said, "Nothing besides a stray caribou. We're good."

"Good. Thanks," I thanked him.

We got to a thin spot of the woods where I could see the sky. It was noon. As I noticed it, my stomach growled. Time for lunch.

"Adam and Sarah," I started. They both looked at me, "would you mind going hunting for lunch?" I asked politely.

"Is fatty hungry," Sarah scoffed, mom and dad glared at her. Her tail lowered a little.

"We normally don't eat lunch until we make it to the campsite," Adam pointed out, "Besides, didn't you have a big breakfast before we left?"

Oh yeah. My face reddened a little. Fur may cover a blush, but us anthros can sense one. Luckily, mom defended me. "If the group leader wants to stop and eat, then let him eat." She looked at me with a smile on her face, "Adam and Sarah would love to go hunting for you."

They both walked by me, grumbling and muttering not nice things. I saw their grey tails disappear deep into the trees. We waited for a few minutes until Adam showed up with a rabbit with Sarah following behind. I thanked them, ate the rabbit raw (Yes, we can do that.), and went on our way. We still had a good five miles to go.

Another two-and-a-half miles passed by without any problem. "Grandpa, can you do a quick smell check?" I asked. I've had everybody switching every half hour or so.

"Yes," he replied. He parted his mouth and took a big whiff. He started lowering his head, but he stopped. "Wolves," he declared, "heading strait for us."

"Everybody hide!" dad and I ordered at the same time. We looked at each other for a second, then we split off.

I saw Ian and grandpa take for the top of the trees while mom, dad, Sarah, and Adam hide in the undergrowth. I went behind a tree.

I peeked my head around the edge to see the tan wolf from earlier in the spring; what was her name again, it doesn't matter. There also a reddish-brownish, muscular wolf with her. Lastly, there was a broad and tall one next to the female; he was grey. The grey one was sniffing the ground while the other two were talking. I could hear their conversation.

"Come on Kate," that's her name, "you know you took that caribou right out from under me. I think that was kind of cheating," the red one said.

Kate giggled before saying, "Just admit I'm a better hunter than you, isn't that right Hutch?" she looked at the tall grey one.

"I guess," he replied, "but can you help me, Winston told me the activity of rogues have increased. I found the scent of wolves, but they have the smell of human too."

"That could be dog you're smelling," Kate pointed out. Please listen to her advice, I don't really want to get caught. "It's probably nothing. Let's go east, that's the last place to check and I want to get home to Humphrey."

"And I want to get home to Lilly," the red one said.

Hutch just nodded his head, "Young love," he muttered, "At least you two have mates.Once we're done in the east, I'll report to Winston and Tony so you guys can see your mates."

"Thanks Hutch," Kate thanked. After that, they were out of sight range. All of us hid until we knew they wouldn't hear us and come back.

"Well," dad started, "that was interesting. I rarely run into the wolves while hunting."

"I've only ran into them one other time, and that was back in the spring. Let's keep moving," I commanded, "I would prefer having some time to set up camp before the sun sets." So far, I honestly don't mind being a leader. I don't understand why I was complaining at first.

Finally, after no more interruptions, we reached our destination. I chose one of the most beautiful parts of Jasper: North of us, there was a big waterfall with a small lake, you could see the beautiful mountains from here, it was a big open field, and humans don't come here often. We've camped here before, and we had no problem.

Time to set up.

"Okay," I started. I went on my knees and pulled out the tent, "grandpa and Ian can start working on one tent, mom and I will work on the other." We needed two tents to hold all of us. "Adam, Sarah, and dad, you can go out and hunt. I think one caribou should be fine."

Dad said, "Okay," and took Adam and Sarah with them.

Ian started pulling his tent out of his backpack and started working on it. Tonight, I'm sleeping with grandpa and Ian while the other four will sleep in the other tent; there should be room.

I started walking away from the site, "I'll be right back, I'm going to go get a drink." They all nodded and went back to work.

It's not to far a walk, you can always hear the waterfall nearby, and the water is always fresh and clean. I got to the lake, went on my knees, cupped my hands, and started drinking. That is until I felt something pushing me! I fell in the water, and wow was it cold. My head surfaced shortly after and I saw Adam laughing on the floor.

I growled loud enough that I knew he could hear it within his laughing fit. That shut him up pretty good. I took a few deep breaths and said, "Shouldn't you be out hunting?" I asked irritably.

"I was, but I couldn't miss this opportunity," he answered with a chuckle.

I stared cold daggers at him as I started swimming out. It will take forever for my fur and clothes to dry out. As he saw me coming out, he just walked away with his bow in hand.

I shook as much water out as I could; it's hard to do with a sweatshirt on. I stomped back to camp, Ian was the first to see me, "Wow, Luke, I didn't know you were that thirsty," he joked.

I growled again and said, "Adam."

Ian smile went down as I said that, mom went up to me and said, "Poor baby," she would have hugged me if I wasn't wet, "I'll start the fire." I forgot to tell someone to start a fire. Good thing grandpa and dad brought firewood in their backpack.

After twenty minutes of shivering, mom finally got the fire set. I took off my sweatshirt which helped a little bit, but the fire definitely helped more. I was mostly dry when I saw our hunting party returning; Adam looked at me and grinned.

Mom walked up to him and said, "You're going to be sleeping outside tonight."

I heard grandpa say, "It's going to be a cold one." Mom ignored him.

Dad walked up to mom, "Why, what did he do?" he asked her. She pointed at me and said, "He pushed Luke into the lake when he was taking a drink."

Dad didn't look to happy about that, "That's where he went? He said he was checking the surroundings."

"Nope," I grunted.

"Well then," he said, "I think that punishment is fair enough. You make Luke cold, you can spend a night in the cold." And so he did. Something was missing: normally Adam and Sarah work together. I soon figured out that she wasn't out of the picture.

It was in the middle of the night when I felt something crawling on my arm. I groggily opened my eye. It took me a little bit before I realized there was a grasshopper on me. That wasn't it, there were a lot of bugs on me all over. I hate bugs. I quickly zipped open the tent door and jumped out quietly. I didn't want to wake anybody else up, but it seems like someone else was up. I saw Adam sleeping by the burnt out fire, so it wasn't him. I heard chuckling from behind me. I went to the other side of the tent and saw Sarah trying not to laugh by covering her muzzle with a hand. I stared at her for a few minutes and left. I'll worry about this in the morning. Luckily all the bugs were on me, so there wouldn't be any left in the tent.

I went back into the tent; Ian and grandpa are still sleeping. Good. I checked the tent for anymore bugs, but there wasn't any. I went back under the blanket and fell asleep.

"Rise and shine, everybody!" I heard dad call. Ian and grandpa were still sleeping.

"Honey," I heard my mom whisper, "It's Luke's job to wake everybody else up."

"I know," he said like a little pup, "It's hard to hand leadership over to someone else," he pointed out.

"I understand, we aren't going to see Luke for a long time after tomorrow. I'm going to miss him," she sniffed. Was she crying? I've never seen her cry. I'll give them some time.

I crawled up to Ian and tapped him on the forehead. I heard him moan as he started to stretch. I backed away; Ian has a huge stretching radius. I barely missed it. I can't say the same for grandpa though.

Ian's right arm hit grandpa square on the nose, and he instinctively grab Ian's arm. Probably thinking he is an intruder.

Ian's eyes opened right away as he turned to grandpa. "Grandpa, it's me, Ian."

Grandpa slowly opened his eyes and turned to Ian. Once his mind cleared, he let go of Ian and said, "Sorry, bud."

"Time to get up," I told them both, "We got a long hike ahead of ourselves." They both got up and we all left the tent.

"Good morning," mom greeted us.

"Morning," I responded.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Besides the bugs, good."

"Bugs?" mom questioned.

"Ask Sarah. I bet she would love to talk about it," I responded nonchalantly.

Mom turned around and went back into her tent. At that point, I saw Adam waking up by the burnt fire. He was shivering a little. I felt bad for him, but he brought it upon himself.

I heard a zipper opening and I turned back to the tent. Mom and Sarah was coming out. She didn't look happy.

"Well Sarah," mom started, "do you have anything to say to Luke?"

She raised her head and said, "Sorry, Luke."

"That's more like it. We're a family and we have to treat each other with respect," mom said, "Luke, you and Sarah are going hunting together for a little bonding time. Just get us a caribou, then we can cook it and leave."

"Yes, mother," Sarah said.

"Good. Happy hunting."

I went to grab my sword and the claws so I could go hunting. I heard Sarah explaining to Adam what happened last night, he was snickering. "Ready?" I interrupted. I wasn't looking forward to hunting with Sarah; at least it's not Adam I'm hunting with.

"Sure," it was silent for a moment, but she broke it, "Where do we go?"

"Where you went yesterday."

"Okay." I could see mom smiling as I left, I smiled back. We walked in the woods for ten minutes in complete silence; it was awkward. Finally, she broke the silence, "Look, I know you're still mad at me from last night and I know we both have different hunting styles."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked skeptically.

"How about I make it up to you and add a little fun to this. Let's have a hunting contest: first one to catch a caribou wins."

"Okay, two things: one, we only need one caribou; and two, did you get this idea from the wolves yesterday?"

"I know you could eat almost a whole caribou yourself," she poked my belly, "and yes, I got inspiration from them."

I pondered for a moment. Then I reached out my hand, "Deal," I agreed, "meet back here." She nodded and took off with her bow. She may have have range, but I have assassin training.

I took the general direction Sarah was going because she knew where the caribou were located. From what I know, caribou don't often go in forests, they graze in plains; more of a challenge for me. I followed her scent trail until I caught a caribou one, then I started following that one.

Just as I predicted: they would be in the plains, but there were less than I thought. I looked into the plains only to find three caribou: one male and two female. Time to make my approach.

Luckily for me, the grass was pretty tall and there were some obstacles blocking their view, and I was downwind from them. I was a good fifty yards from them; I need to get closer. I was able to get to about twenty yards without a problem, but this is when I have to be super careful not to mess up.

I was about to make the next approach, but the male caribou looked up. He wasn't looking at me, but whatever it was looking at, it didn't like; it started running away. The two females followed him. My tail dropped to the ground, what were they scared of? It better not be Sarah.

A few moments later, I felt the ground shaking and heard a warning howl. Sounded like Sarah. I looked to my right only to see one of a hunter's biggest nightmare: stampede!

My heart skipped a beat, they were heading straight for me! I turned tail and started running. I was going to run out of its trail, but it was coming too fast. I turned so I was running away and in its trail. Do I really think I can outrun a stampede? I must be crazy.

They were gaining on me and I had nowhere to go. I looked to my left to see Sarah running on the outside of the stampede, fear in her eyes.

Run! That's all I could think at this point.

I was running out of time, and pretty soon, I felt something hit my side. I fell over and just closed my eyes waiting for my end. But it didn't come. I could hear the caribou's hooves beating the ground as they passed me. I opened my eyes to see hooves on top of me; they were jumping over me.

A good minute passed before it ended. I closed my eyes again, not believing what just happened.

"Well that was close," I heard a voice. I didn't recognize it; it was masculine and young, that's all I knew. I opened my eyes to see green one looking right back at me. It was a wolf. My eyes widened. "Stampedes are dangerous," he pointed out.

I finally found my voice, "Thanks, um..."

"Deklan, the name's Deklan."

"Thanks Deklan. That's funny, my middle name is Deklan," I said. What a coincidence.

"What's a middle name?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Nevermind that..."

I was interrupted by footsteps. I looked to see Sarah, tears in her eyes. "Luke!" she yelled as she ran to me. Before I could get up she reached me and hugged me really tightly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you were down here."

Deklan looked surprised and scared a little at seeing Sarah. "What are you guys," he asked shyly.

I was still hugging Sarah, comforting her as she cried on my shoulder; my heart rate was going back to normal. I answered his question, "We are call anthropomorphic wolves, or anthros for short. Half wolf, half human."

"Cool," he said in awe. That's my first positive reaction I ever heard.

"Are you the rogue that the other wolves were talking about?" I asked him.

"Rogues..." he put a paw on his chin, thinking, "No, I was a lone wolf for a while, but I recently joined this pack with my friend," he answered smiling.

Sarah finally stopped crying and turned around, leaning on me, "Thank you for saving my brother. I didn't know he was down here."

Deklan looked at Sarah for a moment before saying, "You started the stampede?"

"It was a mistake!" she defended herself, "I was hunting...and...I..." her voice was faltering. I decided to interrupt.

"Go easy on her, Deklan, she's had a rough morning. I think we need to head home now. Thank you again."

"Anytime. I hope I will see you again," he called as we walked away.

We walked in the woods in silence; apparently, Sarah did catch a caribou. I had one arm dragging the caribou, it wasn't too big, and I had my other arm around her. She was shaken up pretty badly. I'm not saying I wasn't, but I had to take care of her. She finally found her voice and broke the silence.

"Can we please not tell mom and dad about this? I don't want them to know I almost killed you today," she chuckled a little. I sat there quietly for a moment. "I can do all the talking, this wouldn't be the first time I lied to them."

"Why would you lie to your parents? Also, how do you lie to them; we are pretty much lie detectors."

"I don't want to lie to them," she defended, "most of the time I'm defending Adam, the other is because I don't want to get in trouble; mom can be scary."

I chuckled, "She'll do anything to protect me, huh. Sometimes she does over exaggerate; she still thinks I'm her baby. It's going to crush her heart," I pointed out.

"Yeah," she agreed, "I'm going to miss you too. Adam will, he just won't admit it; we're all family, and we all love each other. "You know," she broke the silence another time, "when you're out there, you might want to know how to lie; it can be useful on certain occasions. It's not that hard really, you just have to convince yourself you aren't lying."

"Hm," I thought outloud, "That might be helpful, thanks."

"Anytime," she responded.

We got back to camp with our caribou, everybody was looking at us. "Are you two okay," Ian asked, "We heard a warning howl and it sounded like Sarah."

"We heard it too," she lied, "It did kind of sound like me, but it wasn't."

"Looks like the bonding went well," mom stated. I still had my arm around her.

"Yep," I said, "she caught a caribou," I nodded my head toward the caribou in my other hand.

"Great," dad said, "Ian, will you go grab some firewood..." mom elbowed his side.

I laughed a little and ordered, "Dad, can you go get the pan?" in a mocking tone.

Dad laughed and said, "Sure thing, son."

We all had our share of caribou, Sarah and Ian sitting on both of my sides. We didn't talk about our hunting accident, and they never asked. It almost felt like grandpa knew, but he didn't say anything.

"So, Luke?" grandpa said as I was finishing my caribou, "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"As ready as I will ever be," I answered.

"Good enough," he said.

"Time to pack up and go home," I said. My last camping trip with my family, and hopefully not my very last.

So it looks like Sarah has changed. Wow, what a chapter. I'm excited because I was able to introduce Deklan. He is an OC I've had for a long time. I hope you enjoyed. See you next time.