CHAPTER 3:

"Damn. Damn damn damn."

Bruno's body stung as he washed his wounds off in the bath tub. He watched the 
pink mixture of blood and water swirl down the drain. The Mightyena's sharp 
fangs left massive gashes on his limbs and torso, and his face and body were 
covered with deep claw marks. He shivered. Atleast that dog was gone now. Bruno 
gave Mightyena a terrible pounding during the attack and, after leaving him a 
momento in the form of one more deadly chomp, she finally burst through the 
window and ran off. He was sure Karen would be mad at him later, but it was 
either him or the mutt.

'There. That should do.' Bruno turned on the faucet to get out the last of the 
washed-out blood, put on his blue trousers, then proceded to the sink for the 
first aid kit. The kit was actually a big, bulky duffle bag, for one gets 
injured frequently when he's a master of physical fighting. When he opened the 
bag however, the overwhelming medical scent made him sick to his stomach. Bruno 
never cared for that smell, but this was the first time it made him feel truly 
ill. He sat on the edge of the tub and put his head between his legs, the 
surefire way to relieving nausea.

It didn't work. Minutes passed and the upset in Bruno's stomach worsened. 'Shit, 
I did catch something from that filthy dog.' He heaved and clenched his teeth. 
He curled his arms across his belly and paused. Fuzz? Bruno didn't want to look 
down but he did. To his horror, there were patches of grey fur on his abdomen. 
Smoky fur also sprouted on his upper arms but his lower arms and hands were 
covered with black hair. Bruno didn't have long to wonder about his growing fur 
before he felt a hot, burning pain in his spine. He collapsed on the cold tiled 
floor in agony, arching his back. His fingernails, formed into sharp claws, dug 
into the floor leaving jagged scrapes. The fiery sensation was strongest at the 
base of his spine. When the pain ceased, Bruno glanced back. He was greeted by a 
bushy black tail formed from, logically, his tail bone.

'Aw shit.'

Suddenly, Bruno's jaws and legs ached terribly. He squeazed his eyes shut as his 
face started to protrude and form into a furry muzzle and his canines grew into 
sharp fangs. His sense of smell suddenly sharpened. The aroma of soap and the 
odor of ointment stung at his sensitive canine nose. His femurs began to deform 
and bend slightly, his feet elongated and the bones of his clawed toes curved, 
turning into paws complete with hard pads on the bottom.

Bruno opened his now yellow and red eyes. His eyesight was much worse, 
everything looked monochrome with only a few shades of color present, and the 
bright light of the bathroom irritated his oculars. But his hearing and sense of 
was smell heightened. Something piqued his interest. He perked his large, 
pointed ears and rotated them, searching for the source. A low, singing murmur 
was heard followed by the oily scent of human flesh. This smell excited Bruno 
and he suddenly had the urge to hunt.

"I'm on a quest for toothpaste

I must hurry, no time to waste

Brush my teeth, make them clean

Then I'm gonna leeeeeave."

Will didn't mind that the last line of his little diddy failed to rhyme 
perfectly. He decided to continue his fantasy tune with whistling. That reminded 
him of a real song, "Whistling in the Dark" by "They Might Be Giants." Will 
smiled as he lowered his voice several octaves.

"A woman came up to me and said, 'I'd like to poison your mind,

With wrong ideas that appeal to you, though I am not unkind.'"

WHAM!

The bathroom door crashed to the ground and shattered into several pieces. Will 
screamed. Prowling from the heap was a Mightyena. It was more than twice the 
size of Karen's, was wearing blue pants, had a big tuft of spikey black hair on 
its head, and human-like arms, torso, and lower jaw. It was Bruno. Will suddenly 
got a flashback of when he was five years old. He saw a man walking a Houndoom, 
and young Will toddled up to the dog eager to pet it. He was greeted by a stream 
of flame shooting from the irate canine's mouth. From that day forward, Will was 
in constant agony. He had to wear a crude mask to cover his badly burned face 
and one completely singed eye. Will learned to calm his mind through meditation 
to ease the pain, thus contributing to his strong ties to Psychic Pokemon. As 
Will's one exposed eye locked with Bruno's slit crimson ones, the young man felt 
the Houndoom's hellish fire burning his flesh.

Bruno bared his long fangs and charged at Will. He slammed the boy into the 
ground nearly shattering his spine. Will cringed as chunks of saliva from 
Bruno's snarling black lips splattered onto his face. The were-Mightyena felt 
Will's terrified heart pounding against his paws. Bruno suddenly lunged at his 
throat and swifty tore it open with powerful jaws. Will only let out a small 
squeak before the blood from his ripped jugular splashed into Bruno's face. 
Bruno pulled away and pinned his ears back. The coppery taste excited him again 
and he commenced tearing at the throat. After ripping that to ribbons, he 
started mauling his victim's soft belly, his claws tearing through the stomach 
wall, his teeth yanking out vital organs.

Bruno finally ceased his attack, panting. He sure did make a mess. He buried his 
snout in Will's torn-open body cavity and rubbed his nose in the sweet nectar, 
lapping up blood and gnawing at some now unidentifyable organ. His muzzle soaked 
with blood, Bruno lifted his head to the air and let out a low, bellowing howl.

***

 

"Gengar, you know what to do," Karen called.

The ghost Pokemon morphed into the shadows cast by the full moon. Houndoom 
searched frantically for her opponent. She was just about to use Faint Attack to 
search Gengar out when a deep canine's cry was heard. Houndoom and Gengar 
stopped what they were doing. The ghost disappeared into her trainer's shadow as 
Houndoom bristled the smooth fur on her back, snarling. A large dark quadroped 
shape came galloping across the land, fading and appearing again under the 
moon's shadows.

"Mightyena?" Karen questioned.

The creature reached Karen and stopped just a few inches from her. It then stood 
up on its hind legs, towering over the Dark trainer. As Houndoom backed away, 
Karen gasped.

"Bruno?"

Despite his Mightyena characteristics, Karen could recognize Bruno's spikey hair 
and large, muscular frame. She should know, she sees it every night, even if it 
was only for an hour. Karen smiled as she scratched behind Bruno's floppy ears. 
He closed his wolfen eyes and purred. Neither of them noticed Will's mask 
flutter from Bruno's snout to the ground.

"Well," Karen giggled as she rubbed her hands through Bruno's thick grey and 
black fur. "I guess this means we can train together, huh?"

END