It was all so bright, so loud. That was all I could process as I finally rolled out of my shell with a weak chatter.

Another chatter responded as I heard another shell crack.

"Hey there little guy," I heard a voice coo, I wasn't sure who the voice was talking to. "Why do they look different?" the voice questioned as I started to open my eyes.

"There was a... mistake when creating her DNA, last time we let an intern do anything important," the second voice muttered the last part before speaking up again, "If the pack doesn't accept her we can use her for research later, it's no issue,".

There was a bright light shining on me and another hatchling, she was green with a blue stripe.

She was also staring at me with her head tilted, "She looks like she's blind in one eye," the first voice commented as I struggled to my feet.

A hand reached into the small box the other hatchling and I were in, I let out a screech when the ground was taken away from my wobbly feet.

The other hatchling started to screech as well, jumping up to try to get out of the box. I continued to wail as the lights dimmed and I could now see the two who were talking.

One was paler and had gingerish hair, the other was tan and had black hair. "It would appear she is, remind me to fire that intern," was all he said before I was put back into the box with the other hatchling, who quickly tackled me to the ground and stood over me angrily chattering at the two.

"What will you name them?" the second voice asked after a few moments of the hatchling's angry noises.

"I think the feisty one will be Blue and the other Kilo," The bright light cut off, causing Blue to rub at her eyes to adjust to the lack of light.

"Are you sure you want to keep the other one?" the second asked, the first nodded.

"I have a feeling Blue won't let anything happen to her,".
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Blue and I were introduced to three other hatchlings a few days later. We were tossed into a large room full of random objects laying on the floor.

The one they called Delta immediately seemed to take a disliking to me.

Charlie was barely younger than Blue and I, Echo took whatever opinion Delta had.

It seemed that she was the top hatchling here, I had a feeling that wouldn't last.

Blue didn't back down whenever she tried to push her around, but when Delta decided to push me, that was something Blue wouldn't allow. She jumped onto Delta, knocking her onto her side with a small screech.

Owen chose that moment to walk in, "Easy there Blue," he soothed as he picked her off of Delta and set her aside.

Delta got up with a hiss, glaring at Blue. I chattered as I made my way beside Blue, looking up at Owen. I could smell what he had in his pocket and I wanted it. Blue seemed to scent it as well, her focus turned to him as well.

"Okay, so the sniffers work," he mused as he stuck his hand into his pocket and revealed a chunk of meat.

That got Delta, Charlie, and Echo's attention. I was easily shoved to the side by Delta, which caused Blue to snap at her again.

There was a sharp clicking noise, "Hey, eyes on me," Owen demanded, the others attention looked away from Blue and Delta.

Blue hopped off of Delta, giving her one last hiss before looking up at Owen.

I quickly ran to her left side, trusting that she would watch Delta for me on her side.

A smile came over Owen's face, "Good," he praised us before tossing us each a piece of the meat. Blue snapped at Delta when she tried to steal mine.
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We worked with Owen for a couple weeks before he decided to have an individual session with each of us.

I wailed whenever they took Blue away from me, she didn't seem to favor it either.

I was the last one in the room, the others had already been taken. I curled up under the blanket Owen had given us and whimpered.

It was almost fifteen minutes later until I heard the door open, slow steps walked over to the blanket as I whimpered again.

"Kilo?" I heard Owen call, he didn't sound to far from the blanket.

I poked my head out from under the blanket and chattered, "There she is," a smile formed on Owen's face.

I chattered and jumped on his foot, it seemed to startle Owen.

He stooped down and picked me up before we left the room, were we gonna see Blue? I wanted to see Blue.
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We did not see Blue, instead we went to a room that smelled like she'd been in it recently though.

I chittered as Owen put me on the ground and turned around to face him, he was kneeling on the ground.

"Now this is Kilo, she's a part of Blue's batch,"

I looked around, was he talking to me? There was no one else in here...

"But there's she and Blue weren't made by the same person, so she might have a different reaction with empathy," Owen went on, I looked at him and tilted my head.

What was empathy? Owen turned to the side and used his hand to shield his face before he started whimpering.

Was he okay? I chattered at him with my head tilted the other way, but it didn't seem to do anything... I trotted up to him and chittered, it still didn't do anything. I didn't smell any blood, so he couldn't be injured... I crawled in between the space where his arm was bent and walked up to his face and rubbed my muzzle on his chin, don't be sad Owen!

His whimpering stopped as he moved his arm, I gave another small chitter. "I'm okay!" He soothed, my tail started twitching.

I jumped onto his knee and chattered again. Owen picked me up as he stood up, "Let's get you back with everyone else huh?"
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We stayed in that room for a while, until our heads were level with Owen's hip.

That was when we were put into separate cages, mine was next to Blue, "Where are we going?" I chattered at her.

She growled as someone else tossed a cage that had Echo on top of ours.

"Get them moved as quickly as possible," I heard someone order.

Blue jumped at the bars of her cage as someone walked past, causing them to nearly fall over as she screeched at them.

Owen seemed to choose that moment to appear, "What the hell is going on?!" He yelled as he made his way over to our cages.

"Ah, Mr. Grady," I heard someone say as they approached Owen, "Your raptors are getting much to big for this room and their enclosure is complete," he informed, putting a hand on Owen's shoulder.

Owen shrugged him off, "And I wasn't informed of this because-?"

I called for Owen, he glanced in my direction before crossing his arms and glaring at the man.

"It was emailed to you yesterday," the man informed, waving a hand.

Our cages started moving, "Where are you taking them?" I heard Owen ask distantly, that was the last I heard of the argument.
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It took almost five minutes before the truck stopped and another two minutes for all of our cages to be unloaded from it.

The cages were set in a room and then everyone left, the silence rang in my ears.

There was the sound of a buzzer and then the cages opened, another buzzer sounded and then a panel started to raise.

Delta was the first one to run out of her cage and take off through the panel, disappearing into the greenery.

Echo and Charlie were right behind her.

I was huddled in the back of my cage, Blue's face appeared in the open space of my cage.

"Kilo?" she questioned, taking a step inside of my cage. I gave a small chitter of acknowledgment, "Let's find the others," she suggested, nudging me with her nose.

I slowly lifted my head and looked at her, giving a small, "Okay,".

She took a couple steps back, so I got up and followed her out.

I lingered in the doorway of the cage before I took off into the brush, Blue was close behind.
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Three Years Later...

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I had been curled up basking in the sun, but of course Delta couldn't have that stand.

I could hear the humans busy-bodying around our cage when she pounced on me, biting into the back of my neck.

I let out a screech as I tried to dislodge her, which only let her teeth dig in deeper.

There was a snarl before her weight disappeared from my back.

"I told you to leave her alone!" Blue snarled as she pinned Delta to the dusty floor.

Blue had long since taken over as the beta of the pack, Owen was still the alpha.

There was a crashing through the surrounding trees, Charlie appeared and slid to a halt, "Pig's loose!" was all she said before disappearing back into the brush.

Probably in pursuit of the pig. Blue quickly released Delta and the two disappeared into the trees after Charlie.

I got up, shaking off imaginary dirt before I trotted after them.

"Ho!" I heard someone yell, Owen was back by.

I headed in the direction of his voice, "Where's Kilo?" I heard him call out, probably to the other humans.

I gave a call to let him know I was on the way, just as I breeched the forest line.

"There she is," Owen called, he had his hand in the air, probably holding the clicky thing.

I scratched at my jaw before moving to stand beside Blue. "Okay, eyes on me!" Owen ordered.

I glanced up at him with a tilt of my head as he started to click.

The others hated the clicker, "Blue! Watch it!" Owen snapped at her when she gave a fustrated roar.

Charlie snarled, "Give us the pig!"

Owen switched his gaze to her, "Charlie no! Don't give me that shit!"

Delta growled before she mocked him, "Delta, lock it up!"

I gave a chitter and looked up at Owen excitedly, he barely spared me a glance.

He, instead, started clicking, "And we're moving," he dragged out the and before he started walking along the platform.

The others snapped at each other to watch Owen, they all knew what was about to happen.

"Ho! That's good, that is damn good," Owen sounded pleased as he clicked the clicker with one hand and reached into the bucket with the other.

"See Charlie, that's what you get," Owen called as he tossed her a rat.

He grabbed another, "Echo," he called as he tossed down another rat.

"Delta," Owen tossed down another rat, he grabbed another and held it.

"Blue, this one's for you." The rat landed right in her jaws.

Owen raised a hand, "Hold! Eyes up!" we all looked up at him intently. "Go," Owen yelled as he lowered his arm, the others took off into the woods while I stayed behind.

I looked up at him with a hopeful chitter, he reached in the bucket and took out the last rat, "Here ya' go Kilo," I heard him mutter as he tossed down the rat.

I practically inhaled it before I headed back into the forest, hearing Barry give Owen a clap on the back as I disappeared into the greenery.