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If anyone had looked at me, you would have seen this. A normal, six foot one, reasonably handsome looking man, broad and muscular, and a flurry of blonde hair. A term Alduin frequently uses is the term Greek god, and while I am in all ways modest,it's a fair description. My name is Ryan, and I am a Navy Seal for the United States of America. I have served, to date, five times in Iraq, and after my latest tour, decided I was sick of sand, and went on a long holiday overseas. My first destination was to New Zealand.

Now, I suppose you might wonder why I was heading there.A population of four and a bit million, barely the size of L.A or New York, in a pair of islands a good distance away from Australia. It's the middle of nowhere, as one US journalist described it. But my reasons were much much more complicated, and I wasn't exactly on holiday, well certainly not later on. Three of my friends were with me, and when they heard of the reason I was here, they jumped aboard.

It was because of a rumour, a very interesting rumour that had filtered through the papers, of aliens in a small town in New Zealand, and thus I came to that town. It was called Dunedin, and it had a tiny population.Now at this point nothing was known, all I was doing was being on holiday, while keeping an eye for any strangeness.

So incredible, then, that I happened to be walking down the main street, and a pair of twins in front of me, and this youth beside them, chatting about various things. One of the twins wore a magnificent necklace, and he stopped to do up his shoes. As he did, a Islander casually bent down, and grabbed the necklace, wrenching it off the twin. As he did, the twin began to distort, and change form. Suddenly he was a anthro fox, his bushy tail swinging around in confusion. The youth had dived at the thief, knocking him bodily to the ground. I went to burst forwards as someone spoke.

"What the hell?"

One of the citizens had spotted the fox, and suddenly everyone was. The fox backed against the wall, looking around in severe terror. The other twin, who I guessed was another fox, took three steps, and covered the fox with a pulse gun.The youth with the thief in his grasp spoke hurriedly to the thief.

"Give it back to him, before his brother kills you."

"What is it?"

"What do you think? Now, if you want to get away alive, give it back to him."

The thief tossed the necklace at the fox creature, and took off. The fox grabbed the necklace, and changed back into his human form.

The youth backed to the twins, and I heard them speak quietly in an alien language.

"Any plans?" he whispered.

"I told you the populace don't like the idea of aliens." the boy hissed back," On three, we run into the mall."

"I think it's a little late to be getting lunch."

"It's packed, an angry mob will not be quick.When I say."

Cameras started coming out, and the boy shouted, in the same language.

"Run!"

The three ran straight into the mall, half a hundred people in tow.I followed, determined to get to them.They went down the escalator, but I didn't follow, knowing that they would have to come back up. As most of the mob followed, they sprinted across the lower food court, and got on the escalator going back up.I sprinted along the middle floor. The three turned left, and looked at us in fear.

We pursued them through many corridors, gaining slowly.The youth was breathing hard, and I knew he was having trouble. Then, after a few jinks, they came to the top floor of the mall, overlooking two floors of gap. They tried to turn left, run along to the escalator back down, but a group of men were coming that way. They turned again, but they were blocked that way. The youth turned quickly to the twins, and spoke hurriedly.

"I suggest you Teleport now, and I'll try to lie."

"You're that good a liar?"

"You have any better ideas?"

"Five seconds.Gareth, hold my hand."this was the twin who had lost his necklace. As we came to a halt, the twins disappeared, and the youth shouted.

"Where's my payment?" he called to thin air, his voice echoing through the mall.

Silence reigned for a few seconds.Then one person came forward.He was heavy set, and looked in an ugly way at the youth.

"What are you talking about, demon?"

"I met them this morning, said they needed a guide. They didn't say anything about themselves, except they were unfamiliar with this place. Then they cast some sort of spell so I could speak to them in their language, and I showed them about. In case you hadn't noticed, I have no disguising necklace."the boy smiled slightly, and rested against the bannister. Honestly, he could have been an actor, with a lie like that.

It didn't go down well with the man.

"Bollocks." the man stepped forward, and the youth levelled a finger at him, making him stop moving.

"You try and hit me, I'll file a charge for assault at the police station. Your argument's really going to be shaky." I saw the fury building in his body, and the boy held the entire mob at bay with his voice.

Then the spell was broken, and the leader shouted.

"Not unless we can prove who you are!"

He dived at the boy, and knocked him around the chest. The boy fell backward, his upper body weight greater than his legs, and he flipped over the bannister. I rushed forwards as he began to fall, and saw him falling backwards, almost hitting the escalator with the back of his head. Several joined me in that eternal moment, and then the boy hit the ground. He had landed on a cluster of tables, and there was a series of pings bouncing off the walls, the metal legs of the tables splitting apart. He was looking up, and I saw his face contort in pain. I winced in sympathy, looking down.

Miraculously, he got to his feet, and made off to underneath us. As one, the mob turned towards the elevators and escalators. I ran down, and realised he would be using a fire exit, so I left the building and ran around the block, and thus saw the youth entering a cafe on the other side of the road. I got the building, listening keenly for speech inside, standing in front of a sushi bar. A voice spoke.

"I need a coffee.I've been awake all night."

Now I was impressed. Then the proprietor spoke.

"O.K., sir, but coffee's bad for a headache."

"Trust me, I really need a coffee. Make it strong. Also, where are the toilets?"

"Through that door, mate."

"Cheers."

The voices faded, and as I realised the boy had left the room, I quickly snuck in, ordered another coffee, and sat in a corner.Doubtless the boy was recovering his wits, after a fall like that.

After a few minutes, the boy exited the loos, and took the coffee from the proprietor.

"Quiet day?"

"Yeah, not much happening."

"Hah, not over here. An entire crowd just went and chased three others, no idea why. Didn't catch the words." the boy lifted his hood over his head, and sat down at a table.

"What had the three done?"

"No idea."

"I see. Woah, there's more coming this way. How many saw this?"

"Maybe a thousand."Five people were coming towards the door, and I watched as they entered, barely paying any attention to the other clientele.

"Long morning?"

"No, but it was insane.Some creature appeared in front of us, and then disappeared with a friend of his, who looked like a human."

"Creature?Have you been drinking?" the proprietor looked at the man in a strange manner.

"Honest to God. We were all there." the first guy looked at his friends for back up. "We gave chase, but two of them vanished and the third jumped off the second floor of the Meridian into the food court, and then ran off."

Then the youth spoke.

"He jumped off the second floor?Wouldn't someone be killed, or at least badly broken by such a jump?"

"He wasn't human, his friends had strange devices on them, and he just picked himself up, and ran off."

"So when did the, creature make himself known?"

"It was strange. He just appeared, you know, and then his friend drew something like a pistol, and stood in front of him.Then the third threw a necklace at the first, who put it on, and suddenly he changed back into a human disguise. It was creepy he could do that. Anyone with that sort a necklace should be rounded up."

"Really?" the boy drunk a bit of his coffee."I told you something had happened.It seemed somewhat chaotic over there." he directed this at the proprietor.

What a kid, what an absolutely brilliant creature. He strikes up a casual conversation with a bunch of men who chased him not five minutes previously. As he finished and walked out, I finished mine, and walked out after him. He seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, and I followed him to a bus stop, getting on the bus directly behind him. I could have been a bit more sneaky, but I think the boy wouldn't have noticed a truck if it was honking at him. I got off at the stop after, noticing which house he had gone into, and I crept into the garden, listening at an open window.

It was then that I found out the boy was human. His name was Alduin, and his two friends were Alecto and Gareth. After staying a little longer I found that they worked for the Central Exploration Outfit, what ever that was. These aliens explored planets for a living, and Alduin worked with them. As I listened, I became more determined to join them. But how to come into contact? Knocking on the door would hardly work, Alduin would deny anything I suggested, and for any of my own tricks to work, I would need to make sure only he was aware.

This would take some time, and when I got to my hotel, I rung to my superiors.

"This is Viper, I wish to talk to the chief." I said.

"Ah, Ryan, how's sunny New Zealand?"

"Worrying news, sir. I have been walking around, and located a small group that may be a potential threat."

"Terrorists?"

"Quite possibly."I said, smoothly,"Request permission to keep tracking on them?"

"We need a name."

"The leader's name is Alduin."

"Al Dwin, got it.Keep watch, mention any subversive activities."

Perfect. I could stay in New Zealand for a length of indeterminate time, seeing if I couldn't get info on him. My friends, Jason, Matt and Bo Jenkins stayed with me, I told them what the chief had said, and they were eager for it.

Firstly, I had to keep a watch on them. Follow Alduin's movements,where he worked and everything. I had to speak to Alduin alone, and for about fifteen minutes at least. The problem was that Alduin kept a lot of company. During the day, the creature called Gareth, who was Alecto's brother, a fox, was living with him. Furthermore, he had friends who visited once a day, and they certainly didn't bother with disguises in his house. The ones that scared me were the dragons. Seven feet tall, and more, there were three, Devlin, Draco, and Brendan, and I was not prepared to meet them yet.

Next I tried to follow Alduin, but that presented me with a problem too. Although he did use the bus occasionally, he was known by his friends for walking to work,and he didn't walk. At five thirty in the morning one day, I was hiding in the foliage, looking for him to leave for work. The door opened, and Gareth, in his human disguise, opened the door.He looked around cautiously, not spotting my hiding place, and went to the gate, making sure no one was around. Then he went back inside.

"Have a nice day, Alduin."

"I will do, Gareth, see you at four."

Suddenly a model car, about one and a bit metres long came driving out of the front door, over the curb, and away down the street. I cursed silently. Alduin always used his car form to get around early morning, or late night, so it was futile trying to strike up a conversation.

The months past, and I became increasingly edgy, determined to get Alduin's attention. My immediate superior rang me about a week before I said sod it, and asked me how the covert operation was going on.

"I think we'll have enough to go on soon."

With this promise in mind, I said hang it. Several months after I had first seen Alduin, I decided that the time had come, and we were going to get into the house.

Weapons were retrieved, boots were polished, maps of his house were run over time and time again. Then came the fateful day. It was Saturday morning, and Alduin was in the house, speaking with one of his friends. It looked human, but we had no idea who it was. None of my buddies knew about Alduin's alien friends.

Bo was positioned on a house down the road, with a clear shot into the living room. The main door opened forward into the living room, with the kitchen area directly to the left. To the right was a bank of windows, but trees effectively screened any watchful neighbours. To the left past the kitchen was a corridor leading into bathroom, bedrooms, etc., and at the end of the living room was a single door to a small ante chamber, then the back door.

Matt got himself a battering ram, and would use it to break down the back door. Jason would come in from the bank of windows along the side of the house, and I would enter via the main door. As stealthily as we could, the three man squad converged on the house. Jason drew a flash bang from his belt, and pulled the pin.

I wasn't expecting to have an interesting day.After a good breakfast, Devlin had teleported in, in disguise of course, and we were talking about possible planets to visit. He seemed very keen to show me his own planet, and was occasionally trying to sell me the idea. I was very keen, but for show I made myself look uninterested. All, and I do mean all, my kit was behind the couch, which faced the wide gallery of windows overlooking the lawn, although from this position we couldn't see the grass. Devlin was sitting on a chair next to the couch which angled towards the computer desk in the far corner. Gareth was whistling as he cleaned up the morning dishes, he knew everything about working in a kitchen, except cooking.

The next thing I knew, I heard a shatter of glass, and I turned to see a circular device tumbling through one of the windows. I transformed instantly into my bionic form, throwing myself over the couch. Not fast enough however, because the device exploded, deafening us all and blinding me, I don't know about the others. I landed on my bag, grabbed my rocket launcher and my C.E.O pistol, and stood, shouting.

"Devlin! Gareth, are you O.K.?"

Just as I did, there was a tremendous noise from either side as both doors were broken down. Knowing roughly where the doors were, I aimed my pistol in my right hand at the back door, and the rocket launcher, which I fire over my left shoulder, at the front door. Then an imperial voice shouted.

"Put the weapons down!"

"Not a bleeding chance in hell. Gareth, are you alright?" I shouted back. Gareth howled in misery, and I shouted again.

"If you've got him, so help me I will fire this!"

"Alduin, put the rocket down!" I heard the sound of Devlin dropping his gun, it was only later that I realised that the person who had broken in the back door had his gun in Devlin's back. Seeing naught but white, I listened for footsteps, they weren't approaching me.

"Alduin, if you don't put the weapons down, my sniper will shoot you."

"On what cause?You burst in here, you and your friends, guns drawn, who do you think you are, SAS? Now look whoever you are, I suggest you leave before I lose my temper."

There was a patter of glass, and a bullet zinged past my shoulder. I sniffed the air, feeling the heavy odour of gunpowder.Silence fell.

"Five seconds." I said, my voice dangerously quiet. As I did, I suddenly realised I could see again, it was dim, but gradually coming back. As it came back fully I realised what I was seeing.

Three men had busted in here. One was behind Devlin, one in front of me and one by the kitchen door.They all wore special equipment, and all carried lethal looking guns.I turned to Gareth, who was whimpering behind the centre bar in the kitchen.

"Gareth, get out of here."

Gareth was only too happy to obey. Rubbing his eyes, and stumbling, he made his way past the guy at the door, who seemed uninterested in the disguised fox. They were all looking at me. Then the one by the door spoke.

"Alduin, my name is Ryan, now, I need to ask you some questions."

"Oh really. Is this a game? Can I start with, what the hell do you mean by bursting in here? You're SEAL's, I know that much, so what the hell are you doing in Dunedin, armed for a fire fight?"

One of the others seemed to grow weary of this, and levelled his gun at me.

"You heard the Sergeant, put the weapons down."

"And I'm ordering you, whoever you are, to shut up!"

O.K., I was being smart. The guy didn't like that, and fired a single round at my shoulder. I felt the crack of the bullet as at the same moment it zinged off me, embedding itself in the roof. Ryan shouted.

"Hold fire!"

I looked at the roof, at my shoulder, and then at the guy who had fired. He looked somewhat scared. Devlin looked at me, and imperceptibly shook his head. I took a deep breath, and looked at the SEAL who called himself Ryan.

"Now, Ryan, if we can refrain from shooting bullets haphazardly, maybe you will explain your purpose here?"

"Will you put your SRAW down?"

"Of course not. But I have no intention of firing it. Can you accept a gentleman's word that I will not harm you?"

Ryan thought about this.

"We will discuss why I am here in your room."Then he changed languages, and spoke fluently in a foreign language,"Your friend will have to be tied up."

Devlin looked at me, then at Ryan. I looked at him, and spoke back to him in the same language.

"If your intentions are peaceful, and Devlin comes to no harm."

"Devlin?" Ryan looked at the disguised dragon in considerable alarm. Now this was somewhat creepy.He knew who Devlin was, and he certainly knew who I was.

Dev gave a small nod, and Ryan spoke to Matt.

"Cuff his hands, and search him for weapons. Do the same for Gareth."

"Now wait a second."I held my pistol up."Gareth is merely my housekeeper, he wouldn't carry a gun, and I don't trust him to have one. He knows nothing of anything. Leave him be."

"I'm sorry Alduin, but your chance to contribute anything to this is long gone."

I fumed inwardly.

Ryan kept his pistol aimed at me as I went into my bedroom, as I watched Devlin sit down, arms behind his back. Ryan came through the door, and shut it.

"Jesus Christ, Alduin, did you have to threaten me with that thing? This could have gone so much easier."

"What would have, Ryan?"I said angrily."You had better start explaining yourself."

"I have spent many months observing you, Alduin, ever since you jumped off the second floor of the Meridian."

"You mean I was pushed. So let me guess, you hunt aliens?"

"No." Ryan actually smiled at this."I am an alien." he drew out a remote, and pressed a button. As he did, he began to shift form, and change.He resembled one of Takori's race, except he was pure white, and none of them had ever discovered intergalactic travel.

Oh come on.Even if Alduin hadn't spotted by now, everyone else should have.

"So, you are a alien race living on Earth, very successfully, I guess, and you came to my flat with your friends because...?" I left the question hanging, and Ryan filled it.

"Because I had heard of an alien outfit on Earth. They call it the Central Exploration Outfit. One member lives here, and I wanted to speak with him in private.I wanted to ask whether I could have joined this outfit."

"Asking me in the middle of the night hadn't crossed your mind?"

"Alduin, if a human had turned up, saying what I am saying now, would you have admitted it?" Ryan queried.

"So why did you get your friends involved?"

"Two reasons, firstly because I had to speak with you in private, and any of your friends could be detained while I did so.The second was that Al Dwin is a subversive terrorist in the eyes of the US army, and I was keeping an eye on him."

"Are you telling me that you told them I was a threat?"

"Yes."

"Well, I never wanted to go to America, anyway." I smiled.

"It's a nice place."

"It is, but a bit too expensive for a Grocery Assistant from New Zealand." I shot back.

"Alduin, I know you're upset by my methods, but please listen to me. I really am desperate to join your group.With my position, I can get you anything, any technology from the US. I can get you a rifle much better than the one you carry."

"Mr Ryan," I said firmly," if that was a bribe, than my suggestion is to get out. An explorer of the Outfit has to show themselves to be many things, but if you continue on this path, you're not going to get a good answer."

"So what would I have to do?" Ryan asked.

"You have to prove yourself.Now, look at this from my eyes. You are a team player, you get on well with people, you are good with weapons, but also with your mind. I see the spark of fire in your eyes.You are an explorer, or at least a man with all the talents to be one."

"I see."

"Come down to the beach on Sunday, and we'll see what you can achieve." I said solemnly. Ryan bowed to me, his tail flicking.

I dropped my rocket launcher as he changed, and also put my rifle on the bed. He changed back into his human form, and opened the door.

Devlin had been cuffed, Gareth was nowhere to be seen. Matt saluted to Ryan.

"We can't find Gareth, he must have left the area. Bo said he hasn't left the premises. This fellow won't say anything." he gestured at Devlin, who looked as though he was enjoying this. Matt came forward with Dev's pistol.

"This was on him. It looks like a gun, but it doesn't do anything." he handed the gun to Ryan, who looked at it critically, and pumped the trigger gently a few times.

"I don't have time for toys."he said, tossing it over his shoulder and onto my bed."Alduin has told me what I needed to know, we are to head to back up."

The squad spoke in affirmation, and they trooped out, looking sideways at me, and for where Gareth was hiding. Ryan started to step away, and I spoke to him quietly.

"I hope you're paying for this."

"Alduin, I have a mine of money.I'm sorry about this, I hope you understand."

"I understand you wanted to talk to me, but I don't understand this method." I hissed back. Ryan looked apologetic, and then walked over the ruins of my door.

I stood beside Devlin, shaking my head in disbelief. Devlin looked at me.

"Alright, I demand an explanation."

"I'll give it to you once I come up with one."I replied, annoyed."Ryan's a tiger creature who wants to join the C.E.O."Devlin laughed.

"He's got guts that one.He certainly made his presence known."

"So you think he'd be good?"

"I think he'd be excellent. I just hope he knows how to be tactful." Devlin laughed.

We propped the door back up, and with Devlin using a few tricks of his, we got the door back on it's hinges. The back door was merely stood up against the frame, and we put a piece of cardboard across the window while I rang for a glazier.He would come around in a few days to fix the window.Gareth teleported back into the living room.

"Where did you go?" I asked.

"Back to Central. Silverine just heard about the SEAL's."

Silverine spoke over his com link.

"Gareth, talk to me."

"The SEAL's have left." Gareth said. I grabbed the com. off him.

"Hi Silverine. It was an tiger creature who was in charge, he wanted to join the C.E.O, and busted down the door to ask."

"Well, he's got a certain something by the sounds of things. What did you say?"

"Well, tomorrow we're going to the beach."

"Oh good.Mind if I come?"

"Not at all."I replied."Bring Draco and Simba, ask Simba if he could be a plane or something, I would like someone to race against."

Draco's voice came over the link.

"Hey, Alduin, mind if I join you in the skies? I want to find out what you find so addictive about that Lightning form."

"Excellent."

They signed off, and Devlin, with surprising ease, slipped back into our earlier conversation. According to him, he had been subject to this sort of thing before, although not quite like this. I said I wasn't surprised at his lack of experience, it isn't every day a squad of Navy SEALs attacked the house you were in. Devlin laughed at this point. Gareth, his nerve completely broken at this point, dropped a plastic cup as he started drying, and I told him to leave it before he dropped something glass, and he slipped into his room. I shouted through the door that Gareth could try some yoga, and we left it at that.

That couldn't have gone much better. Admittedly I made Alduin quite annoyed at me, but Devlin looked fairly amused, and no one got hurt, that was the main thing. My squad was keen to know everything, and I made up a few things, and I did the same to the Chief. I'm good at that sort of thing.I had found a dangerous weapon in his house, well, I had, and that he had destroyed it, that wasn't true.At any rate, the Chief was relieved, and said that I should keep an eye on him, just in case. The rest of the squad would return to America.

That was perfect for my designs, and I bid my friends farewell as they got into their rental car, heading to the private airport. I went back to my hotel room, and shut the curtains, changing back into my normal self. No matter what anyone says about disguising, I can not get to sleep quickly when in a foreign form. My remote control is thus my prized posession, and I was going to show Alduin how prized when I saw him tomorrow.