As Lee gets home, the sun is starting to set. Lee thanks the wolf for taking him home before heading the rest of the way.

  “There you are, Lee; where did you go?” Sue asks, a bit of panic seeping into her voice.

  “Sorry, mum,” Lee says, head tilted down. “I was going to stay home, but two of my friends came to me asking for help.”

  “Friends from the woods?” Kenji inquires and Lee nods. “Are they children like you?”

  Lee starts to think for a bit. “Not really, but they are young and live in the woods; their parents don’t mind them walking around or being with me.”

  “So you met your friends' parents?” Sue inquires and Lee nods. “We would like to meet them, but not today or this weekend, because you are not going to the woods.”

  “I understand,” Lee says thinking Sue is finished as he places his bow on its hanger. “I was supposed to tell you first, but my friends never come here unless it is an emergency.”

  “Just go take a shower,” Sue says as she doesn’t know what else to say. Lee nods and heads upstairs to take a shower; once Lee is out of sight, Sue covers her face with her hands.

  Kenji pulls her into a tight hug. “What is the matter?” he asks.

  “I’m not sure if we can trust Lee; did he really make friends in the woods?” Sue says returning her husband’s hug. “Or is it part of his imagination? No other children would venture into the woods like Lee does.”

  “I don’t know,” says Kenji after a while. “We can try convincing Lee to bring his friends and their parents over for a chat,” Kenji suggests and Sue nods.

  On the following day, Hinohara finds itself being patrolled by military forces and police. Sue and Kenji notice the helicopters and drones over their house and the woods. As they are wondering what could be happening, the doorbell rings.

  “Good morning, sir. Sorry for disturbing you,” says a military officer with a salute as Kenji opens the door. “We are knocking on every door to inform you that yesterday there was an attack in the woods, and we found out that an humanoid intelligent beast or an unknown alien has been sighted.”

  “Is it dangerous?” inquires Sue standing next to Kenji.

  The officer shakes his head. “We don’t know yet. It seems that this being has the ability to control the Great Dire Wolves. Yesterday, he saved a little girl, and four gang members of the Terracotta Dragons are missing.”

  “But why would you say this being is a beast?” Lee asks, just having gotten downstairs and heard the conversation. “Did it not save a girl?”

  Sue and Kenji look behind them to see Lee with a cold expression on his face.

  The officer looks at Lee and nods. “Yes, but it seems that it is capable of controlling lightning.” The officer reaches into his breast pocket and removes a small square device that almost looks like a business card; when he presses on it, a hologram video shows. “This is the only video we are allowed to show; the rest is a bit… how do I put it… hellish.”

  As the image plays, it shows a small person’s face fully covered with the exception of the intense glowing blue eyes. Then the sound of its deep grunting voice is heard. “That’s enough.” Then his eyes grow even more and lightning shoots from its back and lands at the man’s feet.

  “You look just like a child. What are you? How can a child control the whole pack of Great Dire Wolves?” the voice of a man is heard; then, in a quick movement, something long is seen heading to the camera and the image starts to spin. As it lands, the camera is facing upwards.

  “I said that was enough.” The sound of the other voice is heard again and the man is seen nodding then reaching for the phone; as he picks it up, a few wolves are seen in the image before it stops.

  The officer then places the card-like device back in his pocket. “We are still not sure if the being was the one controlling the wolves or a wolf controlling it,” he says before shaking his head. “There are speculations also that it could be a hidden tribe that only now showed itself; maybe this individual one is an exception. We don’t know, but we will be going to patrol the whole forest until we find this new creature or the gang members, if there is anything to find.”

  “Understood,” says Kenji. The officer nods then goes to another house; Kenji closes the door and shakes his head. “These robots are getting ever so more advanced, but still they give out too much information.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Lee looks at his dad. “Robots?” Lee inquires.

  Kenji nods. “That one, he was a robot; the military uses them when they need to pass information on a large scale without panicking the population.” Kenji lets out a frustrated sigh. “They only get programmed to do a simple task, deliver a message; so that way, there is no human feelings in the mix, and we can’t tell if they are telling the truth or not, or even if they are hiding anything.”

  Sue then looks at Lee. “Was that your friend in the recording?”

  Lee nods. “Yes, it was my friend who shot the lightning.” Sue and Kenji look at one another, so Lee continues. “When I first met him, I was afraid of his leader and the parents, but as I saved him, the leader let me go; then I kept seeing them in the woods, and we became friends.”

  “Lee, they can be dangerous; it is best if you stay away from them,” says Kenji.

  But Lee shakes his head. “They are my friends; sometimes they help me hunt and protect me, and in return I give them some of the beasts I kill and beast stones.”

  “But Lee, the army is going to search the woods,” Sue says. “Your friends can be in danger, and they might not be friendly to you next time.”

  Lee shakes his head with a smirk. “The army won’t be able to hurt my friends; they need to fight the whole wolf pack.” Lee makes a pause and starts to fidget.

  “What is the matter, Lee?” asks Sue. “Did you say something you were not supposed to?”

  Lee shakes his head. “I think it is best if the army finds the gang members; that way they won’t bother my friends.” Lee then looks at his parents. “Can I go and ask my friends to take the army to where the bad men are?”

  “Sure, but I will go with you,” says Kenji with a final note in his voice.

  Unable to say no to Kenji, Lee and his dad head into the woods; Lee meanders around with precision with muscle memory, whereas Kenji stumbles more than once. As they get to Lee’s cave, Lee collects his belongings that he left there.

  “Why are you collecting that?” Kenji inquires.

  Lee puts his backpack over his back again as he looks at his dad. “Because they are mine; if the army finds them, they could take them away.”

  “Okay,” says Kenji and starts to turn around with a feeling that someone is watching them. “Lee, we have to inform your friends that the army is coming; where is their house?”

  Lee looks at his dad confused. “They don’t have a house, dad.” Kenji's head snaps to look at Lee. “They live in caves, and we don’t need to go anywhere; they are here already.” Lee says noticing the telltale signs of the wolves hiding. Lee then looks to a single spot and says, “You guys need to be careful; the army is going to come around to look for those bad humans from yesterday.”

  Just then there is a howl and a wolf steps from the shadows. Only now that Lee can compare the wolf’s size with his dad's does he realise how tall the wolf actually is; Kenji being one metre and eighty, and the wolf standing straight, its back is almost at Kenji's height, so even Kenji needs to look up to look at the wolf's face.

  “Lee… step back slowly, we might be close to the wolf pack.” Kenji says and takes a step back and tries to grab Lee. As Lee takes a step forward, Kenji reaches for his backpack but stops as the wolf bares its fangs at Kenji.

  “Dad, it’s okay,” Lee says waving his hand downwards at Kenji for him to wait. Lee then takes his backpack and drops it on the ground casually in front of the massive wolf. “This wolf, I call him Shadow; I think he is the pack's alpha,” Lee says as he looks at the content inside his bag. Then he adds as he stands up, “Found it.”

  “Wait, you call it Shadow?” Kenji asks, and Lee nods like it's nothing special. “So you have seen it before?”

  “Yes I have; there are more wolves around us right now,” Lee says then looks at Shadow that has his gaze fixed on Kenji. “Shadow, the army is going to come into the woods.” Almost as if understanding Lee, Shadow lays down so as to be face-to-face with Lee. “They are looking for the bad men from yesterday; it is best if you take them straight to them; can you do that?”

  “Lee, he is a wolf; he doesn't know what you are saying,” says Kenji taking a step forward closer to Lee, but the wolf once again shows its teeth and Kenji freezes.

  Lee shakes his head. “It’s okay, dad; he does understand me.” Lee then opens his palm right in front of Shadow. “This is for you.” Shadow looks at the beast stones in Lee’s hands and opens its mouth; Lee lets the stones drop inside before turning around and heading to Kenji. “Let’s go home before the army shows up.”

  “Sure, let's go,” Kenji says, but as he turns around, he falls backwards, the shock being overwhelming. Noticing Kenji fall, Shadow places a single paw to cushion the fall. When Kenji opens his eyes, he finds himself on the ground near their house; Lee is seated on a rock. “What happened?” Kenji asks confused.

  “You fainted and my friend brought you here,” Lee says as he stands up from the rock.

  Kenji gets off the ground and looks around. “Was your friend the big wolf you call Shadow?”

  Lee shakes his head. “No, I don't think I and Shadow are friends.” Lee then thinks for seconds and adds, “Well, I like him, and he likes me, but with my friends, we play and run together in the woods; Shadow is more like a parent that looks around to be sure that there is no danger.”

  That night on the news, there is the report that four men have been killed in the woods by the wolves when they tried to abuse a girl; luckily, the girl was alright and was saved before any grave harm happened to her. With that, a legend about a protective spirit making the woods its home emerged; a short image of Lee with the lightning shooting from behind him was shown and people were advised not to look for it, and to only go in the woods if necessary.