Jun leisurely stepped out of his pod and into the open space before him.

But there was a problem.

He didn't have any eyes to see the world, only another sense similar to echolocation, but this type of sight lacked color.

Like water rippling through the calm surface of a lake, disturbed by a rock thrown into it, Jun's skin shuddered from his chest, pulsing throughout his body.

This was a sign that he was currently going through an evolution, adapting to a certain situation that suited his needs.

A second later, the pulsing effect stopped and his world that was originally black and white finally gained color.

Despite the lack of eyes, he could see the world just as clearly as any other creature with them, even more accurately so.

What was unique about the two was that even if one of them evolved, the other would as well, sharing an invisible connection to one another.

This came as a surprise to the scientists watching through several hidden cameras, but since the two specimens didn't show any changes in appearance, they could only note the strange behavior down for future updates.

Additionally, there was a metal collar wrapped around their necks made of an unknown material.

『Strange flora. Artificial sunlight. And simulated weather?』 (Jun)

The open space Jun stood in seemed to be taken from a picture in the Jurassic period mixed with a fantasy-Esque take.

『Wow! This place is pretty~ So, did they dump us outside or what?』 Juno asked jumping about here and there.

『No, this should be the testing facility Weyland mentioned earlier. So, be prepared for whatever they throw at us.』 (Jun)

One after the other, the two entered the wild rainforest.

Jun took a high-key approach, stepping forward with heavy strides leaving behind deep footprints and shaking the shrubs and tree leaves hanging around.

Juno on the other hand seemed to have vanished into thin air, not even revealing so much as a glimpse of her figure. She crept and stalked within the shadows following Jun who made a loud ruckus, decimating everything in his path.

『Brother, you're so obvious and noisy! So unlike a xenomorph.』 (Juno)

『I'm like this because of you. How could I attract the attention of potential predators and observers away from you if I also had to hide? Not to mention my skin color is too striking and conspicuous...?』 (Jun)

Jun's voice trailed off because of the situation he found himself in. He was currently standing before a giant lizard that bore a striking resemblance to a T-Rex.

『No, it's too small to be a T-Rex and its features are different.』 (Jun)

The dinosaur had horn-like protrusions above its eyes, maroon-colored skin, and two tiny arms — a Carnotaurus.

It was the same height as Jun, and when it noticed his presence, it let out a threatening growl that turned into a furious roar.

Why was it so angry?

Because Jun had walked in on it pooping after a sumptuous meal, as seen by the half-intact dinosaur corpse.

The carnotaurus charged at Jun fearlessly with its bloody maw. Raw meat hung and stuck to its teeth. Blood dyed its white jaw and neck a deep reddish-brown.

Just as it was about to lunge at Jun's neck, Jun lowered his body, compressing the muscles in his thighs, and pushed forward with powerful strength, cracking the earth beneath his feet and tackling the Carnotaurus onto the ground.

Boom!

The heavy impact shook the earth as the Carnotaurus attempted to flip itself over, but Jun decisively held its head down, bringing his own closer to the side of its skull with an unhinged jaw and a secondary mouth peeking out from the depths.

The Carnotaurus' eyes narrowed to a slit and reflected in his fearful pupils was an inner mouth that shot forward, piercing his eyes, fracturing its skull, and puncturing its brain in one swift motion, killing it instantly.

Jun's inner mouth swallowed a large portion of its brain.

『Juno, let's eat before it spoils. We can finally reach adulthood with this amount of meat.』 (Jun)

『Yes, brother! By the way, you were pretty cool back there~』 (Juno)

『Naturally.』 Jun said with a smug tone.

They both submerged their faces in the dinosaurs' intestines, devouring everything from its blood, flesh, and bones, up to its brain and thick leathery skin, leaving nothing behind but a large pool of dried-up blood.

Both of their bio-mechanical skin pulsated as they underwent another period of growth and evolution.

Jun's skin thickened further and appeared compact with steel wire-like muscles stretched tautly. His crown grew an extra pair of curved horns and the ridges became more defined. There was also a new pair of horns that curved upward from his forehead, roughly where his eyes would have been if he had any, most likely developed from the DNA absorbed by the recently devoured Carnotaurus. And above all, his height finally stopped at 4 meters tall, or 13ft.

Juno on the other hand only grew another foot, reaching a height of 8.5 ft when standing. Her appearance had no drastic changes apart from the additional pair of large curved horns and a newly developing crown.

With the defeat of the Carnotaurus came more lethal threats, however, none of them were organic life forms. Probably due to the worry of the two specimens growing too fast for them to control.

Natural disasters were introduced such as earthquakes, floods, and thunderstorms. All of these were simulated by the crew in control of the testing facility.

Juno had actually almost died from being crushed to death during a magnitude 4 on the Richter scale, but because of the small yet concentrated scale, it was almost as if a bomb had hit the area with them in the center. A fissure cracked open in the earth and swallowed Juno then attempted to close itself together.

Jun had sensed the crisis she was facing and rushed to her whereabouts before throwing himself into the closing pit, forcefully stopping the earth from crushing the two of them.

They were severely injured with several fractured bones and torn tendons, but not without benefits. Evolution kicked in and their bodies grew stronger, the muscle and cell density increased, and the amount of energy they can hold and resist grew substantially.

After that came the flood, a tsunami caused by the earlier earthquake.

Debris from the land was torn and flushed around, bringing a fearsome torrent that hit the two like a speeding train, the impact would've caused some injuries if it weren't for their earlier evolution triggered by the earthquake incident.

Thankfully, they had dorsal tubes on their backs which could be used to store oxygen in several air sacs. Thus they could survive underwater for extended periods of time.

When the water level lowered until they were back on the ground, the clouds rumbled and thundered and a heavy downpour rained from above, bringing with it snakes of lightning that lit the cloudy gray sky.

Like sentient dragons, these lightning bolts targeted the two, but Juno was shielded by Jun's large frame as he took the brunt of the force.

His skin was charred and his blood boiled from the intense heat, but they pushed through, growing stronger and stronger.

What was originally supposed to be a test to see the capabilities of the new experimental subjects ended up being a training ground for the two specimens in question.

None of the observing members understood the terror they brought upon themselves.

Just as they were about to initiate the next test, a termor similar to the one a few hours ago that caused the emergency lockdown of the facility appeared again, but this time the red lights and sirens lasted longer.

When everything returned to normal, the originally clear blue sky glitched momentarily before stabilizing. None of the observing scientists witnessed this change, but the twins did.

『Something... is watching us?』 Juno asked hesitantly.

『What do you mean?』 Jun asked confused.

Juno paused, glancing from side to side, then lowered her head for a bit to ponder and suddenly raised her head in a certain direction above a thick tree branch.

『What is it, Juno?』 (Jun)

『There's something there.』 (Juno)

『Where?- What the fuck?!』 (Jun)

Whistling through the air and creating a wind barrier from the intense speed of the projectile was a spear that pierced Jun's thick bio-mechanical armor and dragged him several meters backward until his body hit the cliffside of a mountain, pinning him against the rocky walls.

Two red lights triangular in shape flashed in the distance where Juno was staring previously, then they disappeared along with whoever, or whatever those red eyes belonged to.

『Brother! Are you okay?!』 Juno shouted anxiously.

『I'm okay, stay there. Don't come out. I'll lure whatever it is that's targeting us, and you will deal a lethal blow on my signal.』 (Jun)

Jun gave out appropriate orders even though he was suddenly attacked and severely injured, rendering his right arm temporarily useless. He grasped the handle of the spear with his left hand in an attempt to pull it out, but suddenly an alarm blared from the metal spear and several spikes shot out from the handle, piercing Jun's hand and riddling it with holes.

『Ugh...』

Jun grunted in pain but still pulled the spear out. He used the needles to his advantage and firmly held onto the spear - it was unlikely he'd lose his grip and drop it unless it was forcefully pulled from his arm talking his hand with the spear.

Despite his blood being extremely acidic, the unknown material that made the spear showed no signs of corrosion.

『A Yautja?』 Jun said with surprise.

For a while, there was silence accompanied by the rustling of leaves caused by the breeze. Contained within this breeze was a new scent Jun had never smelled before.

Suddenly, another sound like something speeding through the air slicing it apart entered Jun's senses and alarm bells rang inside his head. Jun swiftly raised the spear in his hand vertically behind him.

Peng!

Sparks flew and a heavy force bent the spear backward from the impact. Jun caught a glimpse of the object that attacked him, which was a disc with curved blades. His interference changed its trajectory as it was redirected elsewhere into the forest, digging itself into a tree trunk somewhere with a thud.

Jun confirmed the identity of whatever it was that was targeting him and grew a little excited.

Yautjas, more commonly known as Predators, were an advanced alien race that prided themselves in their ability to hunt down powerful species they call prey.

『And it seems we've been targeted as this fellow's next hunt... were they also responsible for that earlier tremor? Were they looking for us? It's too bad. If they had found us earlier, we would certainly be dead, but now, thanks to those idiot humans in the endless search for powerful bioweapons, we have only grown stronger.』 (Jun)

『Come! Famed hunter! Show me your ability! Let's see just who is the hunter and who is the prey!』 (Jun)

Jun screeched and hissed so loud it shook the trees. Perhaps provoked and invigorated by his fighting spirit, the Predators responded in kind as it roared a defeating roar no less than his own.

Jun took this brief display of the Yautja's pride to narrow down its whereabouts.

His large crowned head snapped 40 degrees to the left. Then he burst forth in a rapid sprint.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The weight, force, and pressure behind his stomps were so heavy they emitted sound through the vibrations.

Suddenly, Jun's ankle was caught in a snare and the wire connected to it pulled his leg upward, immobilizing him and turning him upside down.

Captured in his senses was an uncloaked predator crouching on the tree branch at eye level with its head tilted to the side.

Was it mocking him?

Even if it was, Jun was long passed the mood swings humans were prone to because of their emotional states, thus he ignored these things and immediately threw the spear at the predator a dozen meters away.

The spear flew slower than when the predator threw it because of the spikes in Jun's hand that hindered him. Nonetheless, it was still thrown at an exaggerated speed.

The predator leaned to the side dodging the spear as it disappeared within the forest some distance then stuck itself into a tree trunk.

Jun took this time it used to dodge the spear to free himself by tearing the wire used to hang him upside down. He smeared the blood from his hand over it and pulled with all his strength. The steel wire emitted wisps of smoke before it snapped under the weakening, force, and weight of the alien it carried.

Jun flipped his body before landing on the ground with a loud thud, but when he raised his head, the predator was gone, disappearing as it cloaked itself invisible.

Danger!

It was too late for Jun dodge or block the attack in time as two blades slashed his abdomen. He did manage to shift his body slightly so that his guts wouldn't be exposed and spill out from the wound. Jun swung his thick heavy tail to the side creating a whiplash and fortunately, he managed to hit the predator.

The predator blocked with his two wrist gauntlets but was sent flying back. The impact temporarily disabled the cloaking device, revealing the predator wearing locational armor like greaves, pauldrons, and a belt carrying various tools.

The two engaged in a bloody battle, injuring each other severely, and after a few minutes of intense battle, Jun was bested by the predator. Several horns on his crown, large wounds littering his body, and his left arm mangled so badly it was just his exposed bone and pieces of flesh hanging onto it.

Of course, the predator wasn't spared, as his helmet had been destroyed revealing his ugly appearance. There was a nasty scar that stretched from his left eye down his cheek and over the two mandibles. Blood fell from the injury on its head dying half of its face bright neon green. The wrist gauntlets were damaged so its only use was the wrist blades, and its body too was covered in injuries, the most severe was the stab wound that penetrated its stomach and out its back, caused by Jun's spear-like tail.

Jun was now laid flat on the ground with the predator on top. His tail and legs were wrapped by a weapon similar to a bolas, and his only free arm was held down by the predator. Jun attempted to pierce its face with his inner mouth but was ruthlessly grabbed by the predator who slowly pulled it with force - slowly being torn out from its base at the back of Jun's mouth.

Amidst Jun's struggle, Juno stalked very quietly within the nearby brush, circling around the two and towards the Yautja's back.

『Now!』 Jun shouted in his mind and Juno dashed fiercely appearing as just a swift shadow.

The Yautja sensed a crisis coming from behind and from the front when Jun's tail, which should have been unable to free itself, came striking towards his face.

He dodged to the side, releasing his grip on Jun's tongue then kicked off from the ground gathering himself several meters away. 

The two met up with each other as Juno ripped apart the bolas wrapped around Juns legs. The three confronted each other, hissing and clicking noises filled with killing intent aimed at each other.

Thankfully, the Yautjas plasma caster had gone offline due to its helmet being destroyed and the wrist gauntlets being in a damaged state. 

As we were all fierce creatures, we didn't bother playing any mind games or retreating to lay out more traps playing a long waiting game and rushed towards each other.

Jun leaped to Yautja only to be met with a fist to the face, cracking his hard skull and sending him flying back. Juno took this chance to slash at its thighs, running past him with her tail whipping towards his torso, intending to extend the wound to its stomach. 

The Yautja caught the coming tail and then ruthlessly swung her around in two circles before tossing her towards Jun who had stood upright, again, only to be thrown back to the ground.

Jun was embarrassed and calmly picked Juno up.

『Sorry sis...』 He said apologetically.

『It's okay, It's barely hanging on. We can finish this battle quickly and get you patched up.』 (Jun0)

『Right. Then let's end this hunt and determine the winner.』 (Jun)