Stranger lay back against his blanket gazing up at the clear night sky. No matter how many times he looked, there was always something awe inspiring about it, the stars shone with the same splendor as diamonds; sometimes forming pictures in the like a sword or sea serpent. Stranger's favorites were shooting stars, a long time ago he once heard a storyteller claim that they were the souls of the departed descending from the heavens to be reincarnated into a new life.
He had never believed in such mystic mumbo jumbo before, but after what happened with the demon Sekto at Raider's hideout Stranger was willing to except that there were something's in this world that defied the laws of nature. The Grubs had asked him to stay and become their leader, but after years of moving from one place to another Stranger found it difficult to stay in one for place for too long. Though he did make a habit of stopping by every couple of weeks to make sure they were okay.
He had returned to his bounty-hunting persona, though Stranger's identity was accepted amongst the Grubs the Steef was wary of flaunting his racial features to outsiders who might still held negative annotations against his species.
Still, the bad things paled to the joy Stranger felt sitting amongst the towering pines, and the vast mountains that gave off a bluish hue in the moonlight.
The weary Steef was just about to lay his head down and call it a night; his acute hearing caught a strange humming noise off in the distance. It sounded unnatural-manmade.
With lightning speed Stranger scurried up one of the tallest pine trees to survey the area. At first he saw nothing, but then as his gaze turned eastward Stranger spotted in the distance a small sphere shaped craft gliding slowly across the night sky.
It seemed to be struggling to remain afloat as it just barley hovering over the treetops. As the ship drew nearer Stranger could see tears and holes in the ship's hull; whatever it had come from it didn't escape unscathed.
The engine seemed to have finally given out as the pod fell, quickly disappearing into the tree line.
Stranger knew not whether whoever was inside the vessel was still alive or not he couldn't ignore what was happening. It was true that Stranger disapproved of the machinations that had ravaged the lands of Oddworld, but he couldn't just turn his back on someone he could help- not like before.
It wasn't difficult to find where it crashed as smoke funneled into the sky like a signal fire.
Stranger loaded his crossbow with a Boombat, he had made up his mind to help; but that didn't mean the Steef was going in unprepared for a fight if the ship's pilot proved to be of an unsavory nature.
It took roughly ten minutes for Stranger to reach the crash site, he could make out the skid marks in the dirt where the ship initially crashed narrowly avoiding any of the trees before coming to stop in the gorge below.
Smoke still billowed out of the now dead thrusters as Stranger cautiously came up beside it. Tentatively he touched the hull, it was warm, but not so much that it would burn the skin.
As he circled the derelict craft Stranger came up to the bow the darkened glass made it difficult to see who was inside and if they were still among the living.
Taking a chance the bounty hunter pressed his face against the glass, it didn't take Stranger long to make out the crumpled form of a lone female; her face pressed against the console and unmoving.
He had get whoever was in there out; the ship could still go up in flames any second, Stranger scrambled to find a release button but couldn't make out anything under the charred dirt covered vessel.
Deciding to go for the direct approach Stranger cocked his bow & with the Boombat shot through it opening up a hole big enough for him to climb through.
He quickly checked the unconscious girl's pulse; she was alive, but from the many cuts and contusions that dyed her silver fur red.
As Stranger turned her over he was bewildered by what he saw.
Her features somewhat resembled a Steef, the nose was smaller and eye were more oval shaped. The most prominent trait she possessed was a short silver horn protruding from her forehead.
Stranger had encountered many different people & races in his life, but never had he seen anyone like her before.
"Uh-ugh." A faint moan brought Stranger back to the situation at hand.
At first he though of carrying her over his shoulder, but then seeing the gaping wound in her left leg Stranger decided against it. The only option would be to carry her bridal style, but that would mean it'd be difficult to defend himself if the girl decided to attack. It was a chance Stranger had to take- he couldn't let a life be snuffed out if he could help it.
The mystery girl was surprising light in his arms; even with the knapsack that was still slung over her shoulder, and with a few strong jumps they were out of the ship and above the gorge just as the ship burst into flames.
"That was cutting it a little to close there." Stranger thought, chastising himself for taking such risks.
As he was about to make the trek back to his campsite the bounty hunter caught slight movement from the girl's knapsack. At first he thought it might just be a trick of the wind-but then after seeing the movements become grow stronger he knew that there had to be something inside the bag.
Gently placing the girl against a tree stump Stranger gingerly pulled out his knife while reaching to pull the open the knapsack.
Just as his hand were inches from lifting the strap a ball of black fur shot out of it teeth bared and growling menacingly at Stranger.
"What in tarnation?!" (I know it's corny but I couldn't come up with anything more creative) It looked like a Fuzzle, but the Steef had never seen one with black fur before.
At first Stranger thought it would simply scurry off into the woods, instead it placed itself in front of the unconscious girl seemingly intending to keep the bounty hunter from coming near her.
Stranger could see it would be a fruitless endeavor to try to force the creature away; seeing how it hadn't attacked him when it had the chance, the bounty hunter did not want to risk causing harm to the girl.
Instead Stranger sheathed his knife, kneeling down to try and make himself less intimidating to the agitated Fuzzle.
"Just take it easy there Fuzzle, I've no intention of harming your master. If I had I wouldn't have bothered pulling you out of that now smoldering scrape heap." The ash furred Fuzzle still seemed leery of the Steef- but at least it wasn't barring those nasty fangs as menacingly as before.
"I can treat her injuries at my campsite, but I'll need to carry her to get there." It seemed crazy to Stranger that he was conversing with an animal as if it could understand him. Yet it somehow seemed to be able to understand what he was communicating.
The Fuzzle seemed to be debating on wither or not to trust the Steef, but when Stranger offered to let the creature ride on his shoulder it finally relented.
Slowly the fuzzball climbed onto the bounty hunter's shoulder as he once again picked the girl up and headed back to his campsite that would now be housing three.