“So, that’s, uh, really you, under there?” Ace asked. “Yep. ‘Fraid so.” I said. “I kinda like it, really.” “You do?!” James said. “Great. Now I’m the odd one out.” he said, frowning childishly. “How?” I asked. I felt kinda dreamy, almost zen. “Well, now I’m the only one without fur ‘n stuff.” “Uh, no, not really,” Don said. “That just makes Beldas the only one with fur, besides Vitara.” “But don’t you...” James started. “Naw, these are feathers, genius.” Don said. “But this is kinda weird. Now all of us have tails. That’s kinda creepy. I feel, well,” “well, what?” James asked. “WHAT?!” I shouted. “Uh, we all have tails. Why?” “I-uh-I-I...” I stuttered. I slowly reached behind me, and felt- a furry tail. “Aggh!!” I shouted, all-too weirded out. I shivered, and my mind kinda went into spasms. I guessed that this was just some kinda human-psychology thing, that I know questioned what I was. Which I did, really. My hands convulsed like spiders in disgust. When I was creeped out as a (to this day, it’s hard to accept) human, I got goosebumps. That was a genetic reflex from when humans were primitive primates (which by some opinions, they still are) and had fur. The fur would raise, and would release heat to warm the body. Every hair stood up, and I looked like I was a human (or *gulp* Lupius, as the case may be) fur-ball. “No one, say, anything.” I said slowly. Everyone in the room burst out laughing. I smoothed out my fur, and they stopped. Eventually. I was still creeped out by the fact I had a tail. A  tail, for God’s sake!  I decided that I would just have to unstitch the tail-holes in the pants Ace gave me. “Uh, so, you guys were all born with tails, right?” I asked them they nodded. “Yep, we were born with em. It’s pretty normal since we grew up in Lernalaban, and stuff, but-”  “What does Lernalaban mean, anyway?” I interrupted. “It’s native for ‘Dragon Island’, since dragons and griffons are both classified as dragons. Why?” Ace asked. “I shrugged, and it felt odd with fur. “Just wondering.”  “Hey, doesn’t it hurt to, like, sit down and stuff?” I asked. “Not normally. Well, it might for James ‘cause of that stinger, but that’s just him.”  We all looked to him. “Nope. I’m immune.” he said. Life was even stranger now that I thought about it. I knew a dragon with parent problems, a head-banger griffon, a psychic griffon, and now I was a werewolf. I had been having a weird couple of days. “Okay, so. When we leavin’?” I asked. “Tomorrow, sometime.” Ace said. “Okay, so we got some time to ki-AAAAGH!!!!!!!!” I screamed. I sharp, painful vicegrip, it seemed, had clamped down on my tail. I looked around, and Vitara was gnawing on it. “AAGH!!!! LEMME GO LEMME GO!!!!!!!!!” I screamed. I yelped and ran around the room, dragging Vitara. I cringed, shivering. “What am I s-supposed to do?!” I whispered. “Scare her off.” Don said. I turned and growled menacingly, my long, sharp teeth bared. Vitara yelped and ran into Don’s arms. She nuzzled he head into his shirt, shaking. “Oh, sorry. I think I over did it.” I said apologetically. “Naw, don’t worry about it. If you feed her,” he said, and I instinctively grasped my sore tail, “then she’ll forget about it.” Don said. “Didn’t work for me...” James growled. “Well, because you ATE ALL THE FOOD BEFORE SHE COULD!!!” Don shouted. “Still, it’s the principle of the thing...” he mumbled. His ears perked up, as if he were remembering something. “I wanna try something.” he left the hut, and came back with a piece of cloth. “Smell this.” he said. “No!! Why?!” I asked, surprised. “Just do it. Trust me.” I sniffed it. And then, my head, well, freaked out. My mind suddenly went away. I couldn’t see. Well, I could, but in a way I can’t describe. I got a picture, bright in my head. Black hair, shampoos daily... brown skin... two horns, tiny bits of which have been worn against the cloth... and for some reason, another picture, which I barely noticed, formed. Red, no hair, smelled kinda bad, sweaty... and it was gone. I opened my eyes, and shouted, “Whoa!! That was cool!” “What?” James asked. “I got, like, a picture in my head!!”  “Of who?” James said slyly. I think he knew what I was gonna say. “Well, I don’t think the person was human, had brown skin, black  hair, horns, and kept good care of their hair. And there was something else, red, I could see...”  “I knew it.” James said. But Ace was thinking, a look of disbelief on his face. “I didn’t. Pik had a thing for Babe this whole time...” “No! He can smell like I can, moron!!” he shouted. “Oh. OOH, so it was Kia! Oh, my bad, heh heh...” he chuckled. “So, wanna see who’s better?” he asked. “Uh, Ok?” I said. “But lemme warn you,” he said as he walked out of the hut again. “Nobody beat’s Player!” he shouted. “Who’s Player?” I asked Ace. “Long story.” he came back with an old shirt. He tore off a sleeve, shut his eyes and threw it -hard- off into the woods. He handed me the cloth. I sniffed it, and got on all fours. He did the same, but with a different cloth. The winner would bring his cloth back first. “Ready?” I asked. “Ready.” and we went. My nose was to the ground, and I felt as if I was being dragged by it. The cloth’s trail was florescent in my mind’s eye. I finally got to it, and old shirt that read, “Deep rockers, Yann city ‘03" I picked it up in my mouth, and bursted back to the hut. I was not like a dog. A dog would trot happily back to the hut, sure that he had already won. But I was more wolf than human now. I bolted back with every tendon in my body working furiously, as I had to be back there with time to spare. I made it back, and stood up. I took the shirt out of my mouth. “Blecch!! It tastes like feet!” I shouted. “Well, it is James’ shirt.” Ace said. “Good point.” I tried to scrape the taste off my tongue with a black claw. “Well, did I win?”   “Yeah, but James does have a broken arm, dude. Give him a break.” Ace just meant to not rub it in his face, but I threw the shirt back, and ran for it. I got it, and waited. My mind began to wander. I looked into the icy sheen of the treetrunk next to me. I looked at my face, my real face, for the first time. My hair was deep brown, and hung over in my face. My eyes were still green. My fur was brownish-grey. I had two stripes of grey above my eyes, and apparently, they served as eyebrows. My eyes were larger than normal wolves, and they were much more expressive. My snout was shorter, but still distinctly wolf-like. I felt my face, and made some expressions. Happy, sad, confused, that kinda thing. I had more muscles in my face, and could make more emotions with it. My ears had small, black tufts of hair on top, and when I was mad, they flicked back. Three white stripes were on their backside. My hair was usually short, but it had grown to about shoulder length. I looked around and sniffed the air.  I felt a lot of strange things, but I felt as if I was being restrained somehow, by something. I finally went back to the hut. I looked down from the hole in the ceiling. James was sitting down, talking. “So, what should we do? Tie him down or something?” he asked Ebaele. “No, no, I have tranquilizers here with me. Do not surprise him, his emotions are crucial now. Just calmly tell him why you must do this. He will understand.” “Understand what?” I asked as I swung down. “Oh, hi. James said.  “Dude, Ebaele has to tell you something.” “Well, the woods around us...” he started nervously. “They affect you. I was surprised because when you first changed, your instincts did not take over. You should not have been so conscious, so aware. But, we have decided, it is the woods. As soon as you leave tomorrow, you will be... different.” he said. “What do you mean, ‘different?’ what are you talking about?” I asked slowly. “You will need to be restrained.” “What?! Why?” I asked. “Because if ya don’t,” James said, “You’ll go nuts. Really. The smells of the outside world will drive you insane.”  “How  would you know?!” I shouted at James. “I know, because I went through it. When I got my senses,” “how did you get them, anyway?” I interrupted. “I got bitten by a radio-active dragon.” “What?!” “Don’t interrupt. You’ll attack anything that moves.” “Is that because I’m half wolf now?” I asked stupidly. “Surprisingly, no. the wolf half of you is actually smarter. It’s your human side. Your primal instincts, the primate kind, will make you go crazy. Once the wolf half fully, uh, what’s the word?” he asked Ebaele. “Assimilates,” he said, like a patient teacher. “Oh, right. Once the wolf half assimilates the primate side, you should be all set.” “Uh, won’t that screw with my mentality?” I asked. “Yes. Yes it will. You will be more sympathetic, a bit more questioning, of human ways you once accepted without question. And, uh, James? I think you can explain the other part,” he said, turning red and showing the childish side again. “What?! Why me? You mean the, uh, you-know-what, thing? I can’t tell him that! He’s a kid!” he shouted. “La la la, I’m not hearing this!!!” I shouted, covering my large ears. “I’ll find that out eventually, OK?” I said. “OK. But you’re still gonna have to be tied down and stuff.”  “Uh, can’t I just change back?” I asked. “Really, Beldas. Do you want to?” Ebaele said. I thought about it. I really didn’t. I liked this. It felt right. “No, you’re right.” “Hey you guys back already?” Ace asked. “Yep. Where you guys been?” I asked. “Just walkin around. Hey, this is a weird question, but can I pat you?” Ace said. I stared at him, ears flicked back. “What do you think?” I said. “Okay, fine.”  But I felt a hand on my head anyway. It was from behind me. I know this sounds weird, but it felt- this sounds really messed up- but it actually felt good. It was like a massage or something. My eyes shut, my mouth opened, and my tongue fell out. “I’m gonna call him, Wolfie.” Don said from behind me. I welled up with rage, but I was at his mercy. “Aww, isn’t he cute? He’s like a big dog or something!” Yhavane said. “I turned around, scowling as best I could, and said, “I s-swear t-to God I’m g-gonna k-k-kill you for this...” I said. I finally managed to jump away. “Agh, quit it!!” I shouted as Ace reached for my head. I growled menacingly, without meaning to. “Okay, fine! Be that way! Jeez. You let Don pet you...” he said, sulking. “No I didn’t! He snuck up on me!” I shouted. I covered my head for the rest of the night. As I fell asleep, though, Yhavane snuck up and scratched behind my ear and giggled. After a few minutes, she stopped. I growled. “What did I do?!” she whispered, scared. “Did I say stop?”  She sighed and continued scratching. Without my knowledge, even when Yhavane left and I was asleep, my tail wagged. I still find it creepy to say that.