have always been of the belief that all beings are inherently equal, and that no amount of age or power gives one the right to go messing around with others' lives. That is why I can still scarcely believe that I did what I did. I, one of the nicest ancients in the universe, so I like to think, orchestrated events in such a way that I actually created people for my own use. You'd think that after my first handful of lifetimes I would stay away from such things, but I did it. In truth, getting the right mixes of couples together to breed these people was the easy part. The hardest part was yet to come, as I observed while watching my young, er... friends.

Danny Dale was a quiet sort of lad, and was especially quiet at dinner that night. His parents, brothers and sisters acted as if he were not even there, which suited Danny just fine. After scraping the last few peas off his plate, he went to his room to finish up his calculus homework. "If F of X is Y equals two thirds X times X over B..." he said to himself, not really understanding what he was saying. He looked out the window. The Canadian forests, dark and deep, were calling to him. Danny stuck his nose back into his book. He finished up the last calculus problem and closed his book, sliding it into his backpack. He stared out the window again and knew that he could stand it no longer. Careful not to be seen, as he never was, Danny left by the back door and ran through the forest to a hilltop clearing where the moon shone full on his face. Then Danny, timid little Danny, stripped off all of his clothing. The reason was obvious, for he was starting to become covered with golden brown fur. His teeth became razor-sharp fangs, and his nails, lethally long claws. From the base of his spine, a long, bushy tail emerged. "I wish I could tell someone." said Danny from his carnivorous muzzle. "I wish I could tell my family, but who would ever understand?" Who indeed would understand that Danny was a werebeast? That Danny was a wolverine? The thought faded quickly from his mind as he caught a scent in the air. It was a sneffid smell, and slightly gritty, but to a hungry wolverine, it smelled like poultry. Danny followed the scent, his huge, monstrously muscled form gliding along on padded feet as silent as the grave. When the moment was right, he sprang. The pheasant never even saw him. It was over in an instant, and Danny savored the sweet, raw flesh of his most recent kill. This was far better than anything he'd ever tasted from a human plate, and he let the blood dribble down his chin with savage glee. After he had finished eating, Danny walked around the woods. The sounds and smells that drifted around him excited his senses, constantly drawing him further into the wild. He walked for miles, that night. He thought he smelled another wolverine in the distance. A female perhaps? He thought he might just go check it out when his gaze crossed the sky above. The stars were disappearing. It would soon be time for humans, including his family to wake up. Danny hurriedly ran back to the place he had left his clothes, only to find that some other wild animal had shredded what had been a nice, clean shirt. He put it on anyway as he grew back into his slender, small, pitifully underpowered human form. When he reached his house, his mother came out to meet him, followed by the rest of the family. He presented a picture, with his clothes torn and dirty and blood caked on his chin. "What happened to you, Danny?" his mother demanded. "I tripped and fell in a ravine last night." Danny lied. "I'm okay, now, really. He suffered in silence as his mother tried to clean the blood off of his face. He wished that he could tell somebody the truth.

Amanda swore to herself that she would not cry, but she couldn't help it. Instantly, Daddy was at her side with a hanky. "I wish you didn't have to go, Puddin'." he said. "I know, but, It's time for me to do something with my life. College is a big step, but it's a step in the right direction." "You could always take up the family business, you know." said Dad. "And be the next `Son of Nerr, otter warrior'? No. For one thing, I'm not a son, and besides, that's more Regie's line of work. "I can always use a partner." offered big brother Regie. "That's what Jason is there for." "Well, at least be sure to stay in touch." said her best friend, Judy. "I will. You be sure to take good care of Regie while I'm gone." Judy kissed Regie and said "You can count on it!" Mom hugged her and said "Call us when you get to the Brown Institute, okay?" Amanda grinned and said "Can't I just send a telepathic message?" "Humor me!" "Okay. Good bye, everyone! I love you all!" After a round of hugs and kisses, Amanda hopped in the car and drove from Nebraska to the outskirts of New York. When the sun finally started getting low, Amanda didn't pull into a hotel. That would have been a waste of money. Instead, she just pulled the car up to the shore of the nearest lake. She undressed in the car, then stepped out to the edge of the water wearing nothing but her beautifully freckled birthday suit. She uttered her mantra. "Change... change...change..." which she knew she didn't need to, but it was how her parents had taught her, and it was sort of a habit. She began shrinking, her body becoming slender and sinewy as it covered itself in golden brown fur. Within seconds, Amanda was a river otter. She plunged into the water with careless grace and plucked a fish from the deep as easily as a little girl picks flowers. She surfaced and lounged on her back while she dined on sushi, then drifted off for a nice, long sleep. In the morning, she nonchalantly changed back into a human teenage girl, put on her clothes, got in the car and drove off, continuing on toward college. It was a long trip, but she didn't mind much. She was pretty adaptable, after all. Adapting was pretty much what she did. She was Amanda Verden, the Were-otter.

Gloria stepped off of the schoolbus with a flourish. She didn't have to, of course. She didn't have to ride the bus at all. There were more than a few boys who would have gladly given her a ride, but she enjoyed giving all the boys just enough to make their mouths water, as they did now from the windows of the bus. Gloria laughed inwardly. She had it, and she knew it. She was gorgeous, popular, and... well, that was all that counted, wasn't it? She would have liked to be rich, too, but that was okay. She could get boys to buy her anything. She was the kind of girl that all of the other girls normally hated, only, they didn't. Every girl on campus wanted to BE Gloria, the gorgeous, popular oriental beauty queen who needed no last name. As soon as Gloria got home, she smiled at herself in the wall mirror. Perhaps it was vain, but she liked to look at herself. She was, after all, beautiful. In fact, there was only one problem Gloria had. It was a fear. Deep down, Gloria was afraid that the beauty she loved so much would someday be taken away from her. Then she would find that she was nothing underneath. The more she admired herself, the more the fear grew. Yet what was she supposed to do, stop loving her face? Who could? It was perfect. It was absolutely perfect except for that little bit of extra hair between her eyebrows. Where had that come from? She immediately plucked it, and then discovered a freckle on her nose, huge and black. She got out her make-up kit and covered it. She was lovely once again. ...except for that mustache! Gloria looked in horror as hair began to sprout all over her face. She screamed in terror as her entire head began to change shape. She ran around the house, searching for help, but no one was home yet. As she ran, she tripped and dropped to all fours. She continued running along the ground, and her body shrank and changed. Soon, Gloria the teenage glamour girl was no more. She was a beast! She bawled her eyes out, now that all she knew was gone. She was no longer beautiful. She would never again be popular. She would be nothing more than a smelly little mink. She did not experiment with her new body. She did not delight in her heightened senses or explore her environment from a new angle. She only curled up and cried.

Sira yawned as the last few minutes of psych class droned on and on and on. Sira hated the academic classes. She preferred art, where she could put her sculpting talents to use. She also enjoyed those training courses specially tailored for the paranormal students of the Brown Institute which would let her use her powers. Her telekinesis was always a blast, of course, but now she also had an extra power. Until recently, Sira had lived her entire life as a weasel. Not a sniveling conniving person, but a real, flesh-and-blood weasel. The fact that her mother was formerly human had shown up little, save in the shape of her legs and her beautiful human hair which marked her as a freak among the other animals. Through her time with a group of misfit animals called the `Square Pegs', Sira had found an opportunity to become fully human, with lovely pale skin, and as always, her beautiful wavy blonde mane of hair. It was her recent contact with an incredible artifact called "Aphrodite's Mirror" which had altered her the most, however. It had given her the power to transform between her human and weasel forms at will. It was this power that Sira was most eager to play with today. She glanced over at Bobby, the boy who had asked her to help him do some research after school. Bobby had few friends, probably owing to the fact that he was a mutant with a gland which could unexpectedly shoot out nerve toxin. She had turned him down, and felt kinda bad about it, but she just had to get out and run today. She would make it up to him, later. As soon as the bell rang, Sira headed for the front court, a park-like area shared with the neighboring elementary school. There, she removed her outer garments until she was clothed only in her brown body stocking with the yellow gloves and boots and sash, and the big yellow stripe right down the middle. It wasn't much in the way of fashion, but it was comfortable, and more importantly, it was kryplon, made of a mysterious alien technology which allowed the suit to become immaterial when needed, such as when the wearer transformed into an animal. It did just that as she changed into her weasel body, shrinking and morphing, until she was an ordinary weasel, her wavy brown-blonde hair being the only remaining vestige of her humanity. She picked up a stick. Taking it to one of the elementary kids, she sought to expend her pent-up energies in a game of fetch. Her choice was well made for energy expenditure, too, for the boy she gave it too was Armstrong, who lived up to his name and threw the stick a good quarter mile. Sira was barely even breathing hard as she returned to the campus, the stick floating before her by way of Telekinesis. It was then that she saw a car pull into the parking lot and deposit a young lady with a suitcase. It was obvious that the girl intended to move into the dorms, but today? It was nearly summer vacation. She must be here for the summer semester, Sira realized. It was going to be a lonely time over the summer, with all the kids gone. Sira knew that this person could stand to make a new friend. Trotting up to the girl with the suitcase, she said "Hi. Welcome to the Brown institute." The other girl didn't seem at all surprised by the talking animal. "Hi." she replied. "Amanda Verden." "I'm Sira Taylor, but all my friends call me `Weasel Girl'." "Really? What a coincidence. My friends call me `Ottergirl'." "I can tell you and I are going to be friends."

Nick Norbin was the one I was worried about. In producing him, the special genes within his parents buried one another, and Nick was born normal. I had to switch to plan B with him. Nick had always known that he was destined for something special. He fancied himself a bit of a gadgeteer superhero. In fact, during the period of time when the superhero known as Jolt had been stranded on Mars and presumed dead, he made that his opportunity to done a bright orange cape and mask, and attempt to take the place of the missing masked marvel. He called himself Neon, and to this day, he would still wear the insignia of his favorite electrokinetic as he searched out good deeds to do, powers or none. That fateful day, I made sure he had one to do. Nick was strolling through the woods near his family home in Tennessee when he came upon a skunk in a bear trap. He stopped, and he stared for a minute. I was afraid that he would leave, but he didn't. Instead, he leaned down and opened the trap, letting the skunk go free. He didn't stop there, though. He first probed the skunk's leg to make sure that nothing was broken, then he gave the creature a sip of water from his canteen. He pet the skunk a few times, then got up and went away. The skunk immediately came and told me all that had happened. Nick had gotten to the edge of the woods when he heard me call out "Human called Neon, attend me." Nick froze and slowly turned to see a lovely golden-furred skunk sitting on the ground and gazing at him. Of course, that was me. "Was that you?" he asked. "It was. Approach, Neon." "You have me at a disadvantage, Ma'am." Nick said, politely. "I am Rixa, queen of the skunks." Nick, though unacquainted with royal protocol, bowed deeply. "I have heard of your act of kindness to one of my people." "It was nothing, really." "It was something. Normally humans hate our kind. What fills you with such compassion?" "I... I have no reason not to like skunks, your majesty. But I guess I also kind of admire them. I mean, what animal is as brave as a skunk?" I smiled. "I wish to reward you, man. You may choose one of the following as your reward. One: The power to speak to animals. Two: The power to transform into of one of my people. Three: The courage of a skunk Four: The power to transform others into members of my race Five: The power to command my people to do your bidding. "Gee!" Nick exclaimed. "I've always wanted to have powers, but I think that I had better take the ability to talk to animals. That way, I can share my knowledge with others, and maybe help pull our two races a little closer together." I was very glad to hear him say that. "Because you have chosen so unselfishly, I shall give you all of these. You, Nick Norbin, shall be king of the skunks, and I shall be your queen." Nick was flabbergasted and followed me to my lab where I would personally transform him into the king of the skunks.

While I am a being of great power, if I may be permitted to brag, and can accomplish a great many things with merely the desire to do so, transmogrification is a bit more tricky. To give Nick all the powers which I wished to bestow upon him, it was necessary to place him in a transmogrification device. naturally, there was none more qualified than I to operate such a device, yet I could not rid myself of a feeling of apprehension as Nick floated, naked and unconscious, in a column of greenish liqui-breathe as the nanotechs suspended in the fluid went to work, altering his body down to its very molecular structure. Last time I did such tinkering, I was indirectly responsible for genocide, and yet I dared hope that in this case, the exact opposite might occur. I prayed. When the work was done, Nick was helped down by two of my strongest skunks and lay recovering from the ordeal for several hours. When at last, I felt that the time was right, I asked Nick to try to change into a skunk. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening, but then, slowly but surely, Nick's nose turned black. His fingernails lengthened into claws, and he grew black and white fur everywhere. A tail shot out from his back, and blossomed into a beautiful fluff that would make an anteater jealous. It was not long at all before my large, human friend had become a large skunk. "I love it!" he said. "It's beautiful, Rixa." he kissed me. I wondered at that moment if he had taken the statement that I would be his queen the wrong way. It was not that he was unattractive, but he might find my previous lives a bit unsettling. At any rate, I now had Nick, and soon, would be able to give him the job of a lifetime.

There was one other. His name was William Falconer. His mother was a fortune teller from googoltown. His father had been temporarily transformed into a ferret during the strange incident in which the entire town had been transmogrified. There were many in Googoltown who still bore traces of their animal forms. A stripe here, a horn there, a tail on another. Mister Falconer had suffered no outward malformities, but his genes were to determine his son's life-path. He passed on the genes of a werebeast. As a result, William was one of the best sneak thieves in Googoltown. He wasn't a bad one. In fact, he used his psychic powers from his mother's side to locate things that people had lost, and then he would use his more dramatic power of being able to transform into a ferret to sneak into people's homes and leave their lost treasures. I was proud of William, and I wanted very much to meet him in person, but that was not to be. William had recovered Ben Stone's kite from a tree, and was in the process of mending it down in his father's basement workshop, with the intention of returning it to the boy's bedroom that night. He heard banging and yelling upstairs. He ran up to see a horrible sight. Two strange men stood in his living room over the unmoving bodies of his mother and father. "What have you done to them?" he demanded in a squeaking voice. "We have murdered your parents." one man said plainly. That is, the content of his words was plain. His voice sounded like six people talking in unison underwater. William was enraged beyond words. He began to morph into a large half-ferret form, with no other intention than to kill these invaders. "This is the one we seek." said the other man, his voice equally as inhuman. Then, before William could react, the men each unfolded a pair of long, insectoid appendages which gripped William by the shoulders. In only a second, they ripped his arms off. As William lay screaming and dying, the weird men attached his arms to their own shoulders. His arms functioned as well for them as they did for him. "Why?" William gasped. "Why?" One of the men bent down and held William's chin with his own hand. "Know that your death has been to further the holy work of Unalon, mighty one of Naru." The alien men then walked out and left William to die.

Nick did not hear the news when I did, but it was impossible to keep secret. The next time I saw him, I was trembling uncontrollably. "Rixa?" he said. "Rixa, what's wrong?" I answered honestly. "I have something that I must tell you, Nick, but the explanation is a long one."

"The first thing that you need to understand," I told him. "Is that I am more than just the queen of the skunks." "Well of course you are." "Let me finish. This is my one-hundred-thirty-seventh lifetime." "Huh?" "I am over four thousand years old, and have kept myself alive by transferring my mind into specially prepared bodies. It's sort of an artificial re-incarnation. My real name is Zungo Utra." Nick fidgeted. "Is there any particular reason your name ends in an `O'?" "My original body was male." Nick jumped in horror. "My QUEEN is a MAN?" he shouted. "Nick, calm down." I ordered him. "I am not a man. I am completely female. It's just that I have had male bodies before. My next one may be male, I don't know. Listen. That's not important now." I made sure that he was calm and listening, and explained. "There is another like me on this world. His name is Yndau, and he's as old as I am. He's power mad, and so conniving that he's nearly unstoppable. I found out some years back about a plan of his to sponsor a secret alien invasion." "Secret?" "They're called Urps. It's an anagram for `Unalon's holy society of pilgrims' in their language. They're a fanatical cult from the planet Naru. They hope to increase their strength here and then return to Naru, where they would force everyone to worship Unalon or die. After that, it's the rest of the galaxy." "How would they increase their strength?" "Naruvians have special powers. Their cells are porriferate, allowing them to add or subtract body parts at will." "You mean..." "They can incorporate human tissue into their bodies on contact. If they take a body part from a superhuman, they get that person's powers. Planet Earth has an abnormally high percentage of super-powered individuals. That means one thing. Human slaughter. Nick shuddered. "It was for this purpose that I secretly bred six humans with amazing physical and mental powers. Now here comes the gruesome part." I showed him a picture which I had received. It showed the Falconer family after the aliens had gotten through with them. "William was one of the six. The Urps found him and removed his arms, killing him. I'm told that they then absorbed his arms, and with them, the power to transform into a ferret." "And the others?" "Safe, but I don't expect for long." "We've got to round them up." I agreed with him. I told him of the other four and where to find them. "What of the fifth?" he asked me. "You are the fifth, Nick." "ME? But I'm no..." "No psionic? No werebeast? You are now. You're the only one of my... experiments, to put it delicately, to be born powerless. I overcame that problem by giving you your powers directly." "You mean when you made me king of the skunks..." "You are a wereskunk with the psionic power to speak to animals, among other things." Nick was speechless.

I agreed with Nick's assessment of the situation. The young paranormals had to be rounded up. It was, after all, entirely possible that Yndau had figured out what I was doing and attempted to thwart my plan before I could thwart his. This would mean that five more innocent children would die. I sent him out at once.

Nick went to Canada to round up Danny, first. He went to Danny's school to try to find him, but had no luck. Next, he tried to catch him on the way home. No luck there, either. Finally, he brazenly went up to the house and rang the doorbell. It was Danny's mother who opened the door, and was quite surprised to see Nick there. Nick was human, of course, but was wearing the black and white kryplon suit which I had supplied him. It only made sense, of course, to have a suit of clothes which would automatically appear on him after shifting to human form, yet the picture that a stocky man like Nick presented wearing what looked like spandex was startling indeed. Mrs. Dale regained her composure and said "Can I help you?" "I'm here to see Danny Dale." "And you are...?" "Nick Norbin. We, um... were going to discuss homework tonight. Got a big test coming up." "But it's the last week of school." "Exactly. Can't waste any time." Mrs. Dale eyed him suspiciously and said "Come on in." As she walked him upstairs, she asked "If you don't mind my asking, what's with the suit?" "Um... This is my biking suit. I had to pedal a long way to get here." She thought that the black and white made him look like a skunk. Had she voiced her opinion, Nick would have been flattered, but she kept quiet. When at last they reached Danny's room, they peeked in, but no one was there. "I guess he must be out playing." she said. "Sorry." Nick didn't go. Something was off. He could feel some sort of power acting on his mind. Using his own powers, he shut out any outside influence. After the briefest of moments, he saw Danny sitting on the edge of the bed. "Danny!" he said, stepping up to shake the boy's hand. "Danny, I didn't see you there!" said his mother. "Well, I'll leave you two alone then." Once his mother had left and he had overcome the shock of being noticed against his will, Danny said "Who are you?" "I'm a friend." said Nick. "And I know all about you." Danny stiffened. "You know... what?" "I know about your special power. It's called `Peekaboo'. You cloud men's minds so they cannot see you, allowing you to hide in plain sight." "Oh." "I also know about your other power." Danny sweated. "What other power?" "You change into some kind of beast, don't you?" Danny shook his head and denied it vigorously. "I know the truth, Danny. You're a were-wolverine, and I'll just bet you've been itching to let someone know." "How can you know this? I mean believe this?" Nick smiled. "Because..." he said. He began to shrink. His suit shimmered away and was replaced by black and white fur. His muzzle grew, he sprouted a tail, and very soon, became a skunk. He was a big skunk, of course, and looked a lot like a miniature wolverine. "...I am just like you. Now why don't you come down here so we can talk?" Danny's overbitten teeth were chewing on his nails in anxious excitement. "I've never morphed in front of someone before." he said. "I can turn my back." "It's okay. Hang on." Unlike Nick, Danny did not have a disappearing suit, and so the dramatic points of his transmogrification were lost as he became hopelessly tangled in his clothes. Nick pulled him out to see a big, strong wolverine with enormous canines flashing in a permanent smile, the translation of Danny's overbite. "This is fantastic." said Danny. "You're right. I thought I was going to burst keeping it secret." "There's more." "More?" "You were created for a special purpose, Danny. When the time came, you were to become an alien fighter. "A what?" "Your creation is part of a plan to save the world from an invasion, but now the timetable has moved up. You have to be called into service prematurely." "Er... don't I get any say in this?" "Of course you do. You can tell me to leave and I'll walk right out, but I doubt you'll get such an offer from the Urps." "Urps?" "The aliens. They already got one of us before we could call him in. They ripped his arms off, Danny." "Uh...." "Will you come with me?" Danny nodded his big, triangular head. "Now I've no doubt that the Urps will come looking for you. If you want your family to live, you've got to make your leaving so public that they won't come into the house to find you." Danny nodded. "Go outside and give me thirty minutes. I know what to do." Nick obeyed, returning to human form and going to wait behind a big maple tree. After a few minutes, he heard raised voices inside, then shouting. He heard crying and yelling and all sorts of unpleasantness. Then, at thirty minutes on the button, out came Danny. He yelled back over his shoulder "Well I don't care if you never want me back here! I don't care if I never see you again!" "Danny!" said Nick. "What are you doing?" Danny looked at Nick with genuine tears. "I have to save them!" he cried. "I'm running away from home." "I always thought skunks were brave." said Nick. "But I am humbled by your courage. C'mon. We have a date with a mink."

Gloria, who was still a mink, lay on her bed and shook. She simply trembled. It was partly out of fear, partly rage, and partly a type of madness that came from having her entire world turned topsy turvy. What would she do when school started up again? What would she do when her parents got back from the coast? The thoughts made Gloria tremble even harder. The doorbell rang. Gloria's head shot up in stark terror. A few seconds later, it rang again. Gloria ran to the front door and stood there, frozen with fear. There was a knock, this time. The sound prompted Gloria to ask "Who is it?" "We're friends of Gloria!" called Nick. "Is she in, please?" This told Gloria nothing. Everyone claimed to be her friend. "What do you want?" she demanded. "We need to speak to Gloria. It's very important." "Gloria isn't here! She's at a friend's house!" At this point, Danny turned Nick's attention to the driveway, using his peekaboo power to keep anyone else from overhearing what he was about to say. "Look." he said. "Two oil spots on the pavement." "So?" "Two missing cars. Her parents aren't home." "One of them could be Gloria's" "Maybe, but I think..." Danny stepped closer to the carport, then glanced sideways through the window. He saw a little mink staring at the front door and trembling. "Nick, it's her! It's Gloria, and she's a mink!" "I'll bet she's stuck." said Nick. "She must be terrified. Drop your power. "Gloria, can you hear me?" "Yes?" "Gloria, I know what's happening to you. I can help." Gloria paused. "Nothing's happening to me." "You're an animal, aren't you?" "Who are you?" Gloria demanded. "Someone who's been there. I can help you if you'll let me in." After a long pause, Gloria said "I... I can't reach the doorknob." Nick smiled with relief. "Is there a pet door?" he asked. "There's a cat flap in the back door, but no human being can fit through it." "Not a problem. Meet me there." A moment later, a skunk swaggered through the cat flap. "You're a skunk!" "Thank you." Gloria screamed. Nick whirled around to see a monstrous fanged head in the doorway. "Danny." said Nick. "He's with me." "I don't think I'm gonna fit." said the wolverine. Nick returned to human form and opened the door. Danny swung in with it. "Are you all right?" Nick asked. "I will be as soon as I get my head unstuck. There!" "What are you people?" Gloria demanded. "We're were-beasts. And so are you." "Me?" "Why else do you think you're a mink right now?" "I... well, I just..." "Would you like to be human again?" "What kind of stupid question is that?" Nick sighed. "I can change you. I have the power to change other people into skunks, I'm sure I could use that backwards to make you human. The thing is though, you need to learn to change yourself." "Change myself?" "You haven't even tried, have you?" "I had no idea I could. How do I do it?" "Think about your human body." "I've been doing that all day." "Not like you see yourself in a mirror. Think of it superimposed on your present self. Think of how it feels to be human. Think of... That's right. You got it." Fairly soon, Gloria the girl was on the floor an her hands and knees, having replaced Gloria the Mink. Danny grabbed a placemat to cover her with. Gloria swatted it away ungratefully. I can cover myself, thank you. Besides, I've no reason to be ashamed of my body." "I'll say you don't." said Danny. Gloria grabbed her clothes from the spot she had left them and put them on. "So..." said Danny. "You have a last name?" "Not to your knowledge." Nick helped Gloria to her feet and said "Now, there's something even more important to talk about." "What could be more important than my body?" asked Gloria. Danny rolled his eyes. "Your life." said Nick. "But my body is my life." "Exactly. You were specially created as part of a special force designed to fight an alien invasion." "First I've heard." "I know, but we need your help." "Dream on, fat boy." "The aliens are going to come for you." said Nick. "They'll kill you." "Then at least I'll die in my own gorgeous body." Danny was fuming at what he was hearing. "Nick," he said. "Do we have to take her?" Gloria was stunned at that. "Look at her." Danny continued. "You can bet she's the `I broke a nail!' type. She's useless to us." Gloria could not believe that anyone did not want her. "Danny, She's one of us." "She doesn't want to be on the team, and I don't want a whiny princess type for a teammate." "Hold it right there!" said Gloria. "Nobody rejects me." "Someone should." Gloria turned red. "You think I can't pull my weight?" "I'd be surprised." Gloria took a piece of paper and pen and scribbled out a note. "Dear Mom and Dad. I've joined the... what do you guys call yourselves?" "Um, we don't have a name." "Weasel warriors?" Danny suggested. "Animal fighters? beast knights?" "Fine. Beastknights. I've joined the beastknights. Be back soon. Love, Gloria. Now let's go fight some aliens."

"Happy Birthday!" Sira exclaimed as she handed Amanda a package. "It's not my birthday." "I know, but you can use one of these." Amanda joyfully ripped open the present to reveal a blue, sleeveless body stocking. "It's Kryplon!" Sira explained. "It'll vanish when you change into your otter form, and reappear when you become human again." Amanda hung her head to try to hide her smile. "Sira, you've been such a good friend to me since I came here. I don't know what I'd do without you." Sira shrugged. "I thought you could use a friend. It gets so lonely around here in the summer." "What about you? Don't you go home for the summer?" "I live here." Sira replied. "My parents are both dead. It's just as well, since my father was a scumbag." "I'm sorry to hear that." "It's past." Amanda held up the suit and said "I'm going to go try this on." Sira amused herself by telekineticly making the bed while Amanda disappeared into the bathroom. She emerged later in her new outfit, which was obviously too small. The legs came only to just below her knees, and it had ripped in several places to accommodate her frame. "I'm so sorry!" Sira exclaimed. "I'll take it back and get a larger size!" "I don't think they'll take it back after what I did to it. Besides, it's fixable." "She used an O shaped broach to pin a rip just below the neck closed. She covered one on her waist be adding a belt. The two slits on either leg she left alone, deciding they were cool. The four rips on her back fell in just such a way that they made perfect carrying straps for a trusty quarter staff. "I think I like it." she said. Sira gestured to Amanda's freckled arm. "And it shows off your spots nicely." Amanda laughed at that. "Lets see if it works." she said. Surely enough, the suit disappeared, taking the belt and the broach, as she shifted into her otter form. Sira shucked off her outer vestments to reveal her own brown and yellow kryplon suit, complete with super-heroine sash and weasel insignia. Then she, too, shrunk to her animal form. For several long minutes, the two little beasties chased one another like puppies, until their games were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Must be the neighbors complaining about the noise." said Amanda. "COME IN!" called Sira. Amanda started at this. She was not used to answering the door while not human. She suddenly remembered where she was, though, at the Brown Institute, a school especially designed for paranormals, where a good quarter of the population could turn into some sort of animal or monster or machine or carnivorous vegetable creature. They'd be used to it. They were, in fact. The stocky gentleman who entered, followed by his two associates bowed and said "Amanda Verden and Sira Taylor, I presume. "That's us." said Sira. "We are the Beastknights, and we need your help to prevent and ancient, evil being from causing an alien invasion." "That's my specialty." both girls said in unison. They exchanged glances and laughed. "I'm afraid that this is very serious. Your lives and the lives of countless others are in danger." The girls suddenly became very serious. "Go ahead." said Amanda. Nick patted the bed next to where the otter and the weasel stood. "Mind if I join you?" he asked. "By all means." Nick transformed into a skunk, which seemed to please the girls. Danny transformed into a wolverine and sat beside the bed. He then looked up at Gloria. "Don't look at me." she said. "I'm staying up here." "Fine." Danny said. "Stay up there." Gloria flushed. She hated the fact that Danny was indifferent towards her. She would win his heart, she decided, if it took forever, and even if she had to do everything he said. When she finally accomplished that, she would crush him like a bug. "I'll do it for you, Danny." she said with a coy smile as she shrank into her mink body. Nick outlined everything for Sira and Amanda and asked for their cooperation. Sira accepted immediately. Amanda was worried about her classes. "Oh, they'll let you defer." said Sira. "Super-emergencies call students away all the time. They understand. You'll be fine." Amanda agreed.

It gave me great pleasure and pride to see all of my young potentials assembled in my chambers, having risen to the challenge for which they had been bred. All, that is, who were still alive. making sure that they were all seated comfortably, I turned on the holojector. The first image that came up was one that looked like a brain with a claw on the stem. "This," I said. "Is a Naruvian. Naruvians are capable of building bodies around themselves using their sponge-like cells called Mesenchyme. Planet Naru has a vast industry which manufactures prefabricated body parts, but they are more than capable of taking what they need from a previous owner." Next came a picture of a three armed man. "Most Naruvians are peaceful and friendly." I said. "But not these guys. These are Urps. They won't always look like this, so be careful. These are religious fanatics who want to force everyone to worship their god or die. They'll start with their own planet, and then we'll be next. In the meantime, they'll be taking body parts from superhumans and animals in order to access their powers and build up their military might. This one is sporting an arm from one who would have been your teammate. He now possesses William's shape-shifting power, but more dreadfully, he possesses his psionic power. William had the power to find anything he was looking for. I believe that my adversary, Yndau, knows of my attempts to block his plans, which are to gain power by sponsoring this invasion, through the use of several very special individuals. "But why did you give us these powers?" asked Nick. "How are we supposed to stop them?" "The Naruvians possess some amount of telepathic power. It is not strong, but they cultivate it. Your psionic powers give you a measure of protection and a way to fight back on that front. Also, these beings can alter their forms by taking on new body parts. They are physically versatile. You need to be physically versatile to fight them. I have insured this by giving you each the body of a mustelid." "But we can't use them to fight." said Danny. "Well, I mean, I can, but the others are tiny." I suppressed a laugh. "This is not something which I've overlooked. Each of you has a halfway form which allows you to combine animal power with human size. Go ahead and try them. They did, and they looked absolutely monstrous. I was so proud! "But why didn't you tell us?" asked Gloria. "Simple. I couldn't risk letting Yndau know that you were connected to me. In fact, I took an awful chance by using the pretense of a reward to give Nick his powers directly. "So when do we start fighting these guys?" asked Amanda. "Patience, lass." I replied. "I would like to start you training immediately. After all, I don't want to send you into the field unpre..." I never saw what happened next. Something hit me in the eye, and pandemonium broke out. "It's them!" Nick yelled. Three men stood in the doorway of the queen's chambers. The one in the middle was baring his chest, which sported a strange protuberance. "I know that thing!" said Sira. "It's Bobby's nerve toxin gland! They killed Bobby!" "You will surrender." said the central intruder in his liquid voice. Danny's hands shot into the air. Nick yelled. Danny's hands went back down. "What do you want here?" Amanda demanded. "Your limbs and organs will be harvested for the forces of Unalon. Gloria screamed. Danny turned invisible. The central enemy fired a shot of toxin at Sira. Sira stopped the blob with her telekinesis. Amanda began to pummel a second intruder with her staff. Nick worked on the third. Sira pushed the glob back toward the enemy, only to find that the urp was pushing back. He was telekinetic, too! Nick's opponent was pummeling him with a third arm while strangling him with the first two. Nick was pulling back in an attempt to break free. If only he could turn around, he'd show this urp a thing or two about asphyxiation. But though he dragged the alien halfway around the room, he could not break free. "Danny?" he called. "Gloria? A little help?" Sira was pushing with all of her mental might, trying like anything to avoid being hit with the suspended globule of nerve toxin. When she knew she could fight no longer, she shouted "NICK, DUCK!" She let go and ducked. The poison flew over her head to hit Nick's assailant square in the face. Sira's opponent was now getting ready to fire another poison glob, but Nick was quicker. Extricating himself from his own attacker, who now lay paralyzed, he rushed to the one with the gland and employed his power to change others on the stolen organ. In an instant, it was nothing more than a patch of fur. Weaponless, he was a cinch for Nick and Sira to take out together. Seeing that he was now hopelessly outnumbered, the last urp shot out two tendrils to ensnare his comrades and drag them off at high speed. "We go after them?" Amanda suggested. "No." said Nick. "Rixa is hit. Tend to her." Nick shot Gloria an angry look It was a look which reminded Gloria that she had joined this crew for all the wrong reasons, and that she was utterly useless. Gloria began to cry, which only earned her further disdain. "Where is Danny?" Nick bellowed. "Do not chastise Danny." I told him. "He has been attending to me." Danny dropped his peekaboo cloak and allowed Nick to see both him and myself. "Oh... I... I'm sorry, Dan. I thought that you had... Y'know, chickened out." Danny explained. "As soon as Amanda said `Nerve toxin', I knew that Rixa was probably paralyzed. I turned her unnoticeable so that the aliens would ignore her and she wouldn't be killed." Nick nodded. "Listen." I said through a weak voice. "I will not survive much longer. Go to the burrow under the gnarled oak. Tell Mrs. Badger that she..." "Rixa?" "She carries... Zungo." Rixa passed away. There was a long, long moment of silence, until at last, Nick rose. "Where are you going?" asked Sira. "To find a gnarled oak."

It was not that hard to find at all. The Beastknights searched as a team, and quickly hit upon an oak tree so bent and knurled that it could only be the one of which I had spoken. Changing into their full beast forms, the crew located the entrance to the Burrow. Nick went in first, calling "Mrs. Badger?" In the dim light beneath the tree, Nick could make out a plump little animal who said "I'm here. Who are you?" "We are friends of Rixa." said Nick, as Amanda, Sira and Gloria followed him in. "Come in, then. Please, come in. What news do you bring?" "Rixa is dead." said Nick, tearfully. "Her last words were to tell you that you carry Zungo." Mrs. Badger smiled. "It's all right, then. She'll be fine. You needn't weep so." "How can she be fine? She's dead." Mrs. Badger shook her head and smiled. "She's right here." she said. "I don't understand." The badger stood up to show her tummy. She was very pregnant. "I volunteered to have one of my litter specially prepared for just such an emergency. The one was a body with no mind, but at the moment of her death, Rixa would have transferred her mind telepathicly to this body. She'll be born soon and be right as rain." "That makes no sense." said Gloria. "It doesn't at first, does it? But that's the way Rixa has survived all these forty centuries. You see, Rixa is really Zungo Utra." The four stared blankly. "Do you not know who Zungo Utra is?" "I'm afraid we don't." "Wait." said Sira. "I think I remember. He was a brilliant geneticist. He and another guy named Jovian Critt created the Limifite races." Mrs. Badger nodded. "Limifite?" asked Nick. "Talking animals. Me. US!" "That's him." Nick shook his head, violently. "What's wrong?" "I was deeply in love with a four-thousand year old MAN! I'm gonna throw up, I think." He skittered for the exit where Danny waited. "How soon are the babies due?" asked Amanda. "Not fully another month. You'll see him or her soon enough." I heard all of this from inside Mrs. badger's body. I would be eagerly awaiting the return to the outside, but in the meantime, my Beastknights were helpless and alone.

The Beastknights buried my 137th body and returned to my chambers to think. They knew that they had to mount an offensive against the urps, but how? While Nick beat his brain, Amanda sat next to Sira. "What?" asked the oriental prom queen. "I just wanted you to know that we're not mad at you for freezing back there." "Nick is." "He'll get over it. That was your first battle, right?" "Right." "You're not used to fighting. I'll bet you never knew about your powers before, either." "No. At least, not the changing one." "First battles are scary. You'll get better." "When was your first battle?" Amanda thought back. Ooh, that would have to be the day when my little brother was kidnapped. A bunch of big, strong, animals barged in, trashed the place, and I tried to fight them, but I was just a little otter. They broke my tail and then they tied me and Regie up with duck tape and dropped us in the bathtub to drown. I guess they didn't realize how hard it is to drown an otter." "How old were you?" "Five, I think." Gloria sighed. "You were brave at five years old. I screamed like a banshee today." "You just need to get used to the whole scene. I think I know what will help." "What?" "Rixa... I mean Zungo, has a whole bunch of Kryplon suits in the next room. Why don't we find you one?" Gloria smiled and agreed. They found danny in the wardrobe room, having just pulled on a pair of grey trousers with white stripes and an oversized white shirt with a big, grey wolverine pawprint on one side of the chest. He blushed when he saw the girls enter. "Oh, um... I was just... changing outfits... I..." "Don't be shy." said Gloria. "I've seen you naked. You have a cute fuzzy butt." Danny turned Scarlet as he returned to the outer room. Amanda chuckled as she said "What did you do that for?" "Oh, he's seen my tail end too while we were transformed. Besides, he does have a cute butt." Amanda was shaking with barely contained laughter. When she regained her composure, she pulled out a rainbow colored body stocking and said "How about this?" "Too bright. Oh, I like this one!" She pulled out an outfit that was nothing more than a pair of black hip boots and a white one-piece bathing suit which had a black letter M curling around the breasts. "What do you think? `M' for Mink?" "I think women as good looking as you shouldn't be allowed to wear stuff like this." "It's perfect, then."

Nick was still trying to come up with a plan for finding the urps when Gloria and Amanda rejoined the group. Even with Danny and Sira helping, nothing was forthcoming. "The problem is that these people are capable of looking perfectly normal." he said. "Nobody realizes when they've seen an urp." "What about smell?" asked Danny. Nick shook his head. "I've been going over Rixa's notes. They would have already grafted on so much native tissue that they would smell human. Still, I've sent out the skunks to try and track down the three that left here. So far, I haven't heard anything. "I think I can help." said a voice from the doorway. Everyone whirled to see a teenage boy with long, black hair and a strong but wiry frame standing in the doorway. The boy's most striking features, however, were his tiny, tiny arms. He looked like a tyrannosaurus, complete with a shirt that was caked in blood. "My name is William Falconer." said the boy, "And I'm looking for my arms." He passed out.

William came to on a bed of straw and columbine flowers- The one which had been mine. His bloody clothes had been removed and replaced with a comfortable silver and metallic blue jumpsuit, the sleeves scrunched up to accommodate his tiny arms. "You're William, aren't you?" asked Nick. "The ferret?" "That's me." William replied groggily. "But we thought you were dead. The urps took your arms!" "I almost did die." said William. "I almost bled to death, but then it occurred to me that if I transformed, my body might produce more blood to try to fit it's new pattern. I don't know how I found the strength, but I kept changing back and forth. Eventually, all that moving tissue around made my arm sockets heal closed. Not only that, but the more I change, the more my arms regenerate." "Egad!" said Danny. "I know how much transforming takes it out of me. You transformed dozens of times on half a blood supply?" "And I've been doing it since. I've been trying to make my arms grow back so that I can pay back the monsters who did this to me and killed my parents! At the same time, I've managed to track them down as far as here." "No wonder you're exhausted." said Amanda. Addressing Danny, William asked "You say you transform, too?" "We all do." said Nick. "We were all created for the purpose of fighting the urps. We were supposed to ask you to join us, but the aliens got to you first." "Is that how you knew about me? Well, you've got my help if it means trashing those alien punks." "Consider it garbage day." "Welcome to the Beastknights." said Danny. "Just one thing." said Sira. "How did you manage to track those goons?" "It's a gift. I can find anything that I look for." He sat up. "Right now, I'm ready to go find my arms!" "Nothing doing." said Nick. "You're not going anywhere until you eat." "What?" "You've taxed your body's supply of calories and building materials to the extreme. You don't go anywhere until you've had some nourishment to replenish your depleted supply." "Look, I'm fine." said William, rising to his feet. Immediately, he saw stars and lost his balance. Being at a loss to catch himself with his six-inch arms, he fell into Nick. "To the kitchen?" "To the kitchen."

Once they were fully fed, the Beastknights set out on their journey. They first made their way back to Nick's, then noisily drove off in his dilapidated station wagon. William insisted on driving, but Nick refused. After all, they were good guys, and a good guy didn't turn over the wheel to someone without a license. William sat in the navigator's spot and sulked. "Nice car." said Sira. "I like the color. Electric orange really suits you." "Thanks." said Nick, not seeing the sarcasm. "The color is from back when I was part of the Jolt squad. I'm thinking of repainting it like a skunk, now." Gloria rolled her eyes. "We're coming up on the freeway." said Nick. "East or west, William?" "..um..." "East or west?" "West... no, east!" Nick barely made the turn in time. "Do your powers always work that way?" "Next time ask me right or left." "Oh. Okay. So... where do we end up if we don't turn?" William checked the map. "This freeway ends up in New York City." "New York City?" Amanda echoed. William tried to fold the map, but he couldn't reach. He decided to start transforming some more in order to coax his arms into obtaining their proper length. "Anybody hungry?" asked Sira. "I packed some sandwiches and some oyster soup." "Oyster soup?" said Danny. "Bleah!" "I'd love some Oyster soup!" said Amanda. William was a ferret now, and balanced on his legs and face. "Mm Nmmd Lmngmr Mrms!" he shouted into the seatcushion. "What's that?" William finally managed to right himself, and sat there looking like a furry allosaurus. "I said `I need longer arms!'" he repeated. Gloria, who was seated next to Danny in the very last seat, turned toward the window and stared into nothingness. She asked herself what she was doing with this bunch of weirdos. The answer came to her as if from out of the blue. She was a weirdo, now. She was a were-mink. Life didn't get any weirder than that. "We are not Weirdos, Gloria." said Amanda. "And quit projecting your thoughts like that. You're giving me a headache." Well maybe it did. "Get out of my head!" Gloria growled. "I'm not in your head!" Amanda responded. "You're in mine! Your thoughts are all over the car!" "What are you talking about?" "I think I understand it." said Nick. "Your power allows you to put your desires into other people's heads. Right now, you're putting out random thoughts the same way, and Amanda, being telepathic, is picking them up. You're the transmitter, she's the receiver." "You mean she's always going to hear what I'm thinking?" "Until you learn to keep your big mind shut." said Amanda. "Well, I never!" "You should. It's fun." Gloria reached over the seat and started to smack Amanda. "That's it!" Nick yelled. He pulled over. "We are supposed to be saving the world. How can we do that when we're squabbling like children? William, you're behind me. Amanda, you're in front. Danny, you sit between Gloria and Amanda and use your power as a screen between them. Can you do that?" "I can try." There was a chinese fire drill, and the station wagon pulled out into traffic again. "Nick?" said William. "Something's wrong." "What is it?" "My arms." "Well, I know that, but..." "No, I mean my original arms. One of them is ahead, but the other is behind us." Nick looked in the rear view mirror to see a black convertible pulling up behind them. The man in the driver's seat had three arms. "It's them!" shouted Sira. "It's the urps! Nick, what kind of weapons does this thing have?" "Weapons?" Gloria repeated. "We're in a station wagon!" Nick grinned. "Not just any station wagon. This is my own, personal JOLTmobile!" He pulled a knob and a jet of oil shot out from behind the car. The convertible slid into the median, where it stayed, but a dozen other convertibles were now on their tail. "Nick!" came Amanda. "Do you have anything that WON'T endanger innocent civilians after we leave?" "Um... I got one." he pulled another knob. The tailpipe blew out a jet of opaque smoke. A couple of the cars crashed, but ten more still gained on them. "Ideas, anyone?" "The sandwiches!" said Danny. Amanda handed him several. He handed them to Sira. Sira, in turn, launched them out the back window, using her telekinesis to insure that they struck home. One after one, the drivers became blinded. "It's working!" Sira exclaimed. "Give me more!" "There are no more!" "Nuts!" "I have an idea!" Gloria called. She met with silence. "Well, what is it?" "Nick, change into a skunk!" "What?" "Trust me!" "Amanda, take the wheel!" Nick did as Gloria suggested, shrinking, sprouting fur, claws, and a long bushy tail, until he was a full skunk. "Pass him back here!" Danny passed him to Gloria, who lifted his tail and pointed his butt toward the open back window. In sudden understanding, Nick nodded slyly and let her rip, leaving the aiming to Sira's telekinesis. The remaining urp drivers clutched at their eyes and soared off of the road. "Gloria, that was brilliant!" said Nick. "Now pass me forward again. I have a plan." Returning to human form, Nick took the wheel again. He drove for several miles, then pulled off the side of the road. "Danny," he said. "Can you cloak our car?" "Now's a fine time to ask!" Danny replied. "I think I can." He concentrated really hard. Several minutes later, a bevy of battered black convertibles passed them by. "Keep us cloaked, Danny." said Nick as he pulled out onto the road behind the enemy. "Now, we'll find out where they're headed. As it turned out, they headed for a motel in Staunton, Virginia. "I suppose even aliens have to sleep." said Amanda. "What now?" asked Sira. "First thing to do is to change the car." said Danny as he clutched his cranium. "I don't think I could stand another day of running cloaked." "Agreed." said Nick. He drove until he found an auto paint shop. He let the others off at a McDonalds next door and took the car in. "Hey, Dude!" said the fellow at the counter, warmly. "We're just about to close here in a minute." "Please paint my car!" Nick begged. "It's an emergency." The painter looked at the car and said "I'll say. Electric orange?" "That's not what I mean." "Are you on the run from the feds or something?" "No. I'm trying to avoid detection by someone who wants to kill me." The painter's eyes grew wide with realization. "Hey! Electric orange! I know you! You're that Jolt guy!" "One of them." "What'd you change your costume for?" "New powers." said Nick , honestly. "New hero identity." "Oh? Who are you now?" "That doesn't matter. Can you paint it?" "Will do, Superhero Dude!" "Thank you!" "So like, what do you want on it?" "I don't care what color you paint it, just make it look DIFFERENT!" "I'll have it ready by morning!" "Thank you. I'll be here by opening time." As Nick left, another worker came out of the back room and said "Tim, you ready to go home?" "I don't think you wanna go home tonight, Bill." "Why?" "Because we've just been given a license to create!" "I'll order some pizzas and Mountain Dew. So what're we gonna do on this one?" "Mm. I don't know what it is about that guy, but something about him just says `badger' to me.

The other teens were laughing and chatting as Nick approached. "My Dad was `Otterman', so why can't I be `Ottergirl'?" Amanda said. "Well that's fine for you, but `Wolverine Boy'?" said Danny. "You could just be `Wolverine'. "Yeah, and get my behind sued off." "How about we call you `Wolvie'?" William suggested. "I still like `Fuzzybutt'." said Gloria, delighting in the colors she made Danny turn. "Sorry to break up the stimulating conversation," said Nick. "But We need to check into a hotel near enough to the enemy that we can keep an eye on them. I've picked one out, but there's a little matter of who's going to stay up and watch." "You should pick someone with excellent night vision." said Sira. "Yeah." agreed Amanda. "Someone nocturnal, like... a skunk." "That would be you." said Sira. "Not me." replied Nick. "I'm driving. Period. I need sleep." "I can't." said William. "I'm going to be directing you." "I will." said Danny." "You sure? What about your head?" "I'm feeling better. I'll stand watch." "Thanks, Wolverteen." "Wolverteen? I like that! Wolverteen!"

The night was quiet. There was no sign of trouble from the urps, nor any sign that they new the Beastknights were right next door. Danny, A.K.A. Wolverteen, kept a vigilant watch as the others slept. First thing in the morning, the Beastknights went to reclaim their car. When he saw it, Nick's first reaction was to walk in circles and say "No! No! No!" The paint was smooth and even. The artwork was superb. The car was painted to look like a giant badger. "It's unique." said Amanda. "It's bizarre!" declared Sira. Gloria made a gagging motion. "I kinda like it." said Danny. "You would." answered William. "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means you need sleep, my friend." Tim tried to present Nick with the Bill, but Nick promptly replied "I am NOT paying for this! This is the exact opposite of what I asked for!" "Dude, you didn't ASK for anything. If you recall, I asked you for specifics, and you responded by giving me total freedom. Now my time is valuable, and Bill and I stayed up all last night working on this. Now if you don't like it, too bad, but you ain't stiffing us." Nick was reddening. Gloria stepped forward. "Look, Tim is it? We're just a tiniest bit short of cash at the moment. Could you maybe allow us to defer payment on this?" Tim smiled a broad, stupid smile. "Ma'am, for you, I'd do anything. Tell you what. It's on the house." "Oh, thank you." "I think I love you." "I know. I'm using my psionic powers to charm you so that you'll agree to anything." "I sure will." said Tim. "Charm me, baby." He handed her the keys. Gloria smiled and swaggered away. The boys clapped. Sira and Amanda exchanged glances and silently called Gloria dirty names. Nick was still at a loss over what to do about the car. "Look at it this way..." said Danny. "What way?" "Peekaboo makes people not notice you. They treat you like your somebody else's problem. What screams `Somebody else's problem' more than a station wagon painted like a giant badger?" Nick put his head in his hand and alternately sobbed and chuckled.

The gaggle of lycanthropes returned to their hotel in the `Badgermobile' to continue surveying the urps, only to find out that the aliens were gone. Nick immediately sprang into command mode. "William, try to get a fix on our buddies. Danny, warm up the car. Sira, Gloria, make sure that everything is packed up and ready to roll. Amanda, I want you to come with me. I want to see if we can learn anything from the hotel.

They did learn something. The first thing that they found was the desk clerk balanced in a chair without his legs. He was, needless to say, quite dead. Next to him lay a dog with its ears and tail removed. Everywhere they looked, it was the same thing. The entire hotel staff was murdered, including local pets, and limbs removed from every body. Nick dropped to his knees and wept aloud. "I was such a fool!" he cried out. "I should have known! We should have struck when we had the chance!" Amanda heard Gloria think "We're ready at our end. What's keeping you two?" Amanda thought back and explained everything. She thought she heard Gloria throw up. "Come on." said Amanda as she pulled Nick to his feet. "We've got to get a move on before they do this again."

Nick was still and silent as he drove along. Amanda had changed into her otter form, and was snuggling up to Nick's leg in attempts to give him some comfort. It wasn't working. Danny tried hard to keep his eyes open while William physically exhausted himself by constantly changing from human to ferret. By now, his arms were a full fourteen inches long, but he wasn't about to stop there. Sira was bored. She wanted to talk to Amanda, but Amanda was busy trying to cheer Nick up. Gloria brooded. She felt guilty for manipulating the car painter to cheat him out of his money. That was wrong, wasn't it? Gloria was not as familiar with moral concepts as most people, but every time she thought of what she had done, it made her gut twist. All of the sudden, William sat bolt upright. "Nick, they're gone!" "What are?" "My arms! They're gone!" "Well, I know that. We're trying to find them." "No, Nick, I mean I can't track them. It's like they just aren't... Oh NO! Nick, they destroyed my arms! They destroyed my arms!" "Will, calm down! I'm sure that they haven't destroyed them. They're just running cloaked or something. Remember, Rixa said that they've got psionics, too. They're just jamming you." "So what do we do?" Nick sighed. "They can't hide forever. We'll pull over until your power kicks in, again."

The spot Nick chose was a nice, park-like one next to a slow- flowing river. There they ate lunch and rested. Danny curled himself into a big ball of fluff and dozed underneath a shady willow, snoring loud but friendly wolverine snores. Sira and Amanda, both in their animal forms, had managed to coax Nick into throwing a stick for them to fetch. The two would jump into the river and race for the prized twig, and Sira amazed Amanda at just how well a weasel could move in the water, for she retrieved the stick about as many times as her otter friend. Nick was actually starting to feel better, and was tempted to pass the stick to someone else, change into a skunk, and join the fun. The only problem was, like all skunks, Nick hated to swim. William hungrily gnawed at a fish which Amanda had caught earlier. His body craved protein, and he was more than happy to fill the supply. Gloria sat in the car and sulked. She was so angry with herself for not being able to do anything right. Eventually, Danny woke from his nap and wandered over to see if she was all right. When Gloria saw his furry face peeping through the window, she just stared. "What's wrong?" he asked. She turned away. Danny went around to the other side of the car and got in. "Gloria, what's wrong?" he repeated. "Nothing's wrong." Gloria insisted. "Yeah, and I'm a one-eyed wombat." "You look a little like a wombat." Danny laughed. "It's just that I can't do anything right." said Gloria. "I can't fight, I cheated the paint guy, and nobody on the team likes me." "That's not true. I like you." "No you don't. You said I was useless." "I did, didn't I? I don't think that now, though. At least you're trying, and you were brilliant the was you used Nick as a squirt gun." "Do you really like me?" Gloria asked. Danny nodded. "I like you even when you're a stuck up princess." Gloria's whole face brightened. "What?" "You said you like me and then you insulted me." "That makes you happy?" "It means that you're not under the effects of my charm." "And..." "And you like me anyway! Your affection for me is genuine." Danny hung his head in an embarrassed smile. "Well, now that you're feeling better, I know something that will make you feel useful." "What?" "Nick needs cheering up. It would make him feel a whole lot better if he saw you having a good time. Why don't you come out and romp around with us?" "I don't romp." said Gloria, haughtily. "Then you gotta try it. Come on." Gloria gave in. "What do I do?" "First, turn into a mink." Obediently, Gloria began shrinking into her other body. "That's it. I love that tail. Now just come on out and run and play and... romp." Danny led the way, jumping through the grass like a roebuck. Gloria followed, timidly at first, but soon she was having so much fun that she overtook him. As soon as she was out in front, Danny called "Hey, Gloria!" She looked over her shoulder. "You've got a nice fuzzy butt, yourself!" Gloria instantly curled her tail to cover her hinie while her ears turned a brilliant maroon. Danny licked his claw and did the "One point for me" gesture. The others laughed out loud. Nick became swept up in the spirit of gaiety and simply had to change into a skunk and go romping, too. Amanda brought William another fish and said "M thmnk m've gmt..." "Huh?" She spit out the fish and said "I think I've got a nickname for you." "It better not be `Ferret Boy'." William warned. "Ferrex." "Ferrex?" "Yeah. The ferret who looks like a T-rex." William looked at his hands for a moment. "Maybe I'll go with `Ferret Boy'. No, I'm kidding. Ferrex is cool. Have you got one for Gloria yet?" "I've got plenty of names for Gloria. But I think that she's going to be known from here on in as `Fuzzybutt'. William suddenly sat bolt upright and sniffed the air. "What is it?" "My arms. They're nearby." The ferret sprang up and ran, lizardlike, over to the skunk. "Nick, I think we've got trouble coming. It's the urps, and they're really close by. Nick waved his paw to call everyone into a huddle. "Alright, team, the urps are coming back to try to take us out again. Everyone make your way upriver. We'll meet at a hundred yards from here. The distance might just give us some planning time. GO!" The area Nick had selected at random was heavily overgrown, thorny, and steep. The advantage here would go to the small animals. Nick called out "All right, people... er, Beastknights, we've got a few minutes before the urps find us. Let's take advantage of the time to groom the battlefield." It wasn't long before eight large Naruvian urps reached the Beastknights' hiding place. These were no longer human, but a conglomeration of human and animal parts. They were meant for combat, not for subtlety. "Nick Norbin," addressed the leader in his gurgling voice. "You and your group will now surrender your bodies for harvest in the name of Unalon." "Sure, why not?" replied the skunk. This seemed to surprise the urps. "In fact, why don't you start with my bodily juices?" He sprayed them liberally and ran off as they choked and gagged. Before they could recover, Danny used the strength of his massive half-wolverine form to throw large logs and rocks into the group. He crushed two, turning them into splatters of white mesenchyme which solidified in mid air like silly string. Amanda surfaced from beneath the river only a few feet from the remaining urps. She taunted them and flicked her tail at them until finally, one advanced toward her, waving a stick. "Hey, that's my staff!" Amanda exclaimed. "You stole my staff from the car! The alien stepped off the edge of an underwater bluff and plunged into the cold stream. Amanda immediately switched to her halfway form and dragged the alien down with her. William, also in halfway form, flailed away with his tiny little fists as one drew closer to him. He acted tough, but he was drawing back, fearfully. Back, back... Sira dropped on William's attacker from above. With a mighty yank, she pulled the head off and tossed it aside. William was so excited about Sira's move that he didn't see the urp coming up behind him with giant beetle pincers ready to cut him in half. At Sira's warning, he whirled around and balanced on his tail, then delivered two powerful feet into his face like a kick-boxing kangaroo. It sent a second head sailing. Gloria had one on her tail, literally. She was in her full mink form for maximum speed, but she could not shake the alien following her. He had the legs of a racehorse, literally. Eventually, he was able to grab her by the tail and pick her up like a mouse. "You are fortunate." said the urp. "You will be killed carefully. Your hide will make an excellent addition to an already fine collection of body parts." Gloria let loose a noxious spray, hitting the monster right in the nose bridge. "I didn't know I could do that!" she exclaimed. It was not nearly as noxious as Nick's spray, but it was more than enough to make the alien drop her and stop breathing. Changing to her halfway form in a heartbeat, she wound up and smashed both fists into his head, sending it flying. Danny wrestled with his alien for some time, primarily because he was having fun. His opponent had the torso of an ox, but it didn't seem to matter. He was no match for the strength of an adrenaline-pumped Wolverteen. When he became bored, Danny put him in a full nelson and called "Sira, make a wish!" "I wish these goons were capable of feeling pain!" Sira exclaimed as she mentally pulled the head off of Danny's enemy. Nick's opponent was a bit more wary. he had tried to get away, leading the now human Nick out onto a natural bridge which spanned the river just upstream of a sizable waterfall. Both were surprised to find that it was not a natural bridge at all, but a precariously balanced rock. Each of them froze at an opposite end of the stone as it rocked and teetered, threatening to send them both plummeting to their doom. Amanda had been struggling with her alien for some time, now, both attempting to drown him and attempting to free her staff from his grasp. After about ten minutes, she was wondering how long he could possibly hold his breath, when she finally noticed that he had half a dozen goldfish gills plastered to each side of his neck. Alarmed at the possibility of being the first to drown, she tried to pull both herself and her staff free, but the alien would never let go. He had her right where he wanted her. He gripped the staff with several extra arms, and grabbed the end with insectoid mouthparts. Amanda was now getting lightheaded. She knew that she had to surface, but the alien had her firmly in his grip. Finally, she just stopped. She quit struggling and let go of the staff. The urp's own monumental strength brought it crashing into his face with a sickening crack. the brain gone, all of the appendages ceased their struggle and Amanda, staff in hand, shot to the surface. Nick surveyed his situation. The only thing keeping him from being dunked and sent over the waterfall was the alien on the other side of the rock. Likewise, he was the only thing keeping the alien alive. Either one of them could make a break for sure, but as they moved away from the center, they would tip down their end of the rock, insuring death and giving their opponent time to make it to the bank. The first one to move was dead. Then Nick had an idea. He started to change. No one ever figured out where their weight went when they changed, but fortunately for Nick, it went anyway. His end of the rock became a little higher. "No!" cried the alien. "Don't do that!" He reached beneath his jacket and pulled off a wing to make himself lighter. Nick continued shrinking, and continued going up. The alien removed another wing and his tail. Becoming desperate, he threw away a leg. Nick kept shrinking until he was a full skunk. The alien pulled off an arm... a furry arm with a black paw! William's arm! Nick dove into the water after it, sending the alien down into the current and over the waterfall. Grasping the arm for all he was worth, Nick sailed out of the water into the crisp, blue air, flying, falling, down... down... Had he hit the water with his full mass, he would have been killed. As a skunk, he merely broke a rib tip. It bothered him a lot as he made his way back uphill. The alien was not so lucky. The displaced boulder found its way to the bottom of the waterfall right behind him Sira met Nick halfway, waving a furry arm in the air. "Look what I've found!" she called to him. "Me too!" said Nick. "I'll bet they match." Danny had lined up the three surviving alien heads and was not being gentle with them. "All right," he snapped. "I want answers. I want names, dates and places!" "Your human brain is unable to process any information we may choose to share." said one of the heads. "Your reasoning capacities are far too feeble." William kicked him. "You're pretty tough on someone with no limbs, Ferret boy." "I have a right to be. You stole my arms and killed my family!" "You overestimate your place in the food chain." said another head. William picked the head up in his short, stubby hand and hurled it over the waterfall. "Anybody else want to criticize my views on ecology?" The two remaining heads kept silent. Nick and Sira joined the others, calling out "Will! We've got something for you!" "My arms! Quick we've got to pack them in ice and get them to a hospital!" The last head laughed. "Stupid human!" William looked at him. "What?" "The limbs are Naruvian now. The cells have been changed in structure. You only need stick them on." The first head hissed. The other head said, in Naruvian, "Hey, it's not like it matters. We'll surely be dead in minutes." "Let's try it." said William. Hesitantly, Nick held out one severed arm. William reached out with his second arm, and the two limbs seemed to melt together, until at last the arm rejoined at the shoulder as if it had never been gone. Amanda gave him the other arm, and the process repeated. Whole once again, William let out a whoop of joy, flexing his muscles and thrilling in the fact that they worked as good as new. "You now have naruvian mesenchyme in your blood." said the one head. "Be careful, for Unalon will punish you if you use it against him." William sneered. "I think I'll punish Unalon for misusing my body instead." "Now," said Nick. "What shall we do with these two?" "I have an idea." said Danny. He plucked a tail from one of the nearby bodies, then attached the two heads to it. "Go slither back to your master." he said. "Tell him the BEASTKNIGHTS are in town!" "That's right!" said Sira. "We're rough!" "We're tough!" said Amanda. "We're a team!" said Gloria. "And we're more than enough for you guys." said Nick. "BEASTKNIGHTS!" William yelled, his restored fist high in the air. "BEASTKNIGHTS!" the others echoed, caught up in the spirit of victory. That spirit lasted until they saw what the urps had done to the badgermobile's tires.

Several days later, the Beastknights were experiencing a different kind of excitement. "I think I see him!" Amanda cried. "Oh, look, here he comes!" "We don't know this one is him." said Nick. "We don't know it isn't, either. "One of these better ruddy well be him!" exclaimed Mrs. Badger, her face contorted with pain. "Easy." said Mr. Badger, patting his wife's paw, reassuringly. "How many is that, friends?" "This one is number nine!" It's a boy!" called Sira. "Three!" Mrs. Badger grunted at her husband. "I wanted a litter of three! Danny had volunteered to help William wash the baby badgers as they arrived, but since his wolverine form was still far to big to fit in the badgers' den, Gloria got the job. She hated it, and yet, it felt good, somehow. This was a good thing to do, and somewhere in one of these bodies was a four-thousand year old mind who would appreciate her efforts. One of them reached out and said "Glo...ri...a?" "I found him! It's Zungo! He's a boy!" "So tired." said the baby badger. "Don't know which is worse, dying or being born. I heard your story as you told it to the badgers. Good work, knights. Oh, so tired. The beastknights smiled and looked around at one another. Maybe this just might all turn out okay after all.

They didn't go after Yndau right away. That would have been stupid. Instead, they looked for Urps wherever we could find them. They destroyed more than I could count, and it gave them a sort of elation. They felt like they could do anything. I was glad of that, but at the same time, rather wary. I knew how cocky teenagers could become when filled with overconfidence. I feared that it would be their downfall. The teens managed to keep a low profile most of the time, until one fine day when they were taking a tour of the nation's capitol. The president, flanked by Secret Service, was out for his morning jog. A few bored reporters were there to get photographs which would probably never be printed. The Beastknights were there, wearing light coats to cover their kryplon suits. It was supposed to be a purely fun and educational experience until Nick spotted something odd. One of the secret service agents had a left hand on his right arm. "URPS!" shouted Nick. The secret servicemen reacted like alien invaders. All four opened fire on the Beastknights. They all missed of course. It's nearly impossible to hit something with the reflexes and agility of a weasel. Splitting up to draw the enemy's fire in four different directions, the biggest Beastknights tackled the bogus bodyguards while William and Gloria covered the president. "Get him inside!" shouted Nick. "Get that president outa here!" William and Gloria moved to obey, but they didn't get far. They were intercepted by what looked like amalgams of respectable senators and the white house guard dogs, since that was no doubt what they were. "What do we do now?" asked Gloria. Amanda had just finished with her serviceman and had joined the other two. "When faced with a tough decision, what does a politician do?" she asked. Gloria and William exchanged glances and replied "Go both ways!" They then split, catching the senator-dogs in a pincer movement while Amanda ran the national leader right up the middle. "In a spirit of gratitude," said the president, "I'll ignore that dig." Amanda took the president to the steps of the white house where another serviceman awaited. To him, she said "Sorry, but I have to do this." She scratched him with her claw. "Hey!" When the guard bled red instead of mesenchyme white, she was satisfied that he was the genuine article. "Aliens." the ottergirl explained. "If anyone in the white house bleeds white, or doesn't bleed at all, don't hesitate to shoot. Make sure it's in the head. They'll survive anything else." The Secret Serviceman nodded his understanding and took the president to safety. By now, scores of urps were coming. Disgusting conglomerations of human and animal parts swarmed over the Beastknights. there were some which were half park cop, half horse. Some had once been little children but were now mixed with parts of pidgeons and rats. Every alien body was an obscene testimony to the gruesome deaths which its contributors had died. The press licked it up like spilled ice cream. The mustelid warriors fought until they could not possibly fight any more, until at last, there were no more. The good guys had won, with no serious injuries. The bad guys were littering the streets. The press was now about to roll over them in a wave. "Stay in your halfway forms." said Nick. "We don't need these guys knowing who we are." A thousand questions came at once. there was absolute chaos until Nick held up his hands and called "ONE AT A TIME! ONE AT A TIME!" he turned the media frenzy into an impromptu press conference. "Are you a new washington super-hero team?" asked one reporter. "Yes and no. We're here not just for washington, but for the world." "What do you call yourselves?" "We are the Beastknights. I am King Skunk. These are my friends and partners, Weasel Girl, Wolverteen, Ottergirl, Ferrex, and..." "Mink!" shouted Gloria. She wasn't about to let Nick say "Fuzzybutt". "Mink." Nick agreed with a telltale grin. "Are you crimefighters?" "Of a sort. We are here to defend the human race against fanatical alien invaders called Urps." "What are urps?" "They are a faction of Naruvian, an alien race which is capable of adding or removing body parts from other species, including ours." There was a skeptical murmur. "And are you aliens?" someone asked. "No, not at all." said Danny. "We're human, just like you. We just happen to be a little extra." "Some of us are very beautiful, in fact." said Gloria. Amanda and Sira said, in unison, "get over yourself." "As a matter of fact," said Nick. "We were created for the express purpose of fighting these aliens. Truth be told, they've gone through countless attempts to..." At that point, Nick froze. Using her telepathy, Amanda asked "Nick, what is it?" "We need to stop this press conference, now." he thought back. Amanda knew just what to do. "Ni... King Skunk!" she shouted. "What is it, Ottergirl?" "I'm getting a message from H.Q.." she said, placing her hand over her little ear so that no one could see that there was in fact nothing there. "It's an emergency. Urps breaking into the washington zoo!" "Gotta go, folks." said Nick. "Time for one last magic trick." As if operating on one common mind, the Beastknights shrank to their full animal forms and shot away like lightning. they didn't go to the zoo, but made their way to a carefully hidden Badgermobile. "Now tell me," said Amanda, huffing. "Why did I do that?" "It was a setup. Ungh, I am stupid!" "What? What?" "We've just become bread and butter to the press. We're hot, and they're never going to leave us alone. We've given up any possibility of moving in secret." "But we also exposed the urps." "Did we? You saw the expressions on their faces. They don't believe in aliens." "If those weren't aliens, I'd like to know what they were." said Sira. "Mutants, or science projects, or robots of some sort. That's what they'll say. Probably the only papers that'll print the truth are the World Globe, the Star Herald, and the Weekly World Inquiry. William let out a HAH! at the irony which that presented. Danny scratched his head with his foot while trying to puzzle it out. "So you think that the urps let us spot them in order to force us out into the open? That the whole thing was staged?" "Who would be stupid enough to wear two left hands? And what would they want with the president? Their objective is physical power, not political power." Sira nodded. "You're right. We goofed."

I smiled warmly at the sight of my Beastknights returning home in their slightly worn badgermobile. I was now at the toddler stage, with my eyes open and energy overflowing, and I could not keep myself from running out of the burrow to greet them. "How was your road trip?" I asked them. "It wasn't good." Nick replied. "We've become public idols." "Let me guess. You got into a fight with some urps and got mobbed by the press afterward." "Yes, Sir." I sighed. "I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Don't fret about it." "But we've given up our element of surprise." "Worse things have happened." I said. "Why don't you come along with me, now. I'd like your opinion on a project that I'm working on." We went over some plans I had made for future generations of Beastknights. He had some interesting suggestions. "You've just got an empathic ermine over here." said Nick. "But if we put him with this lady..." "The illusion caster? That would render the camouflage useless." "I don't think so. I think the two powers would augment each other." "Then what about the empath?" "We put her with the sea otter." "But that leaves the stoat in left field." "Not necessarily. We pair the stoat with the thermokinetic and the martin with the clairvoyant." Zungo frowned. "If we don't give the badger empathy, we're asking for trouble." "But we can't. Our werebadger and our empath are both female." Zungo rubbed his baby badger head. "I hate manipulating people like this, Nick. It's just so... wrong." "It's not like you can ask their permission." "I know, I know. Crimony, why am I doing this?" "To save the universe?" "Oh, yeah. Right." Suddenly, Danny burst into the room and said "I've got it!" "Got what?" "How we can use this to our advantage." "What?" "Our media popularity. We locate an urp base, invite the press along, and raid it. The urps will be so exposed that they'll never be able to hide anywhere." "An intriguing plan." I said. "I like that idea." said Nick. "Round up the others. It's time for a meeting."

"It will be extremely dangerous." said Zungo. If you succeed, it will mean a great victory for our side. if, however, you do not..." He let the phrase hang. "Maybe we could call in some allies to help us." said Sira. "I could call in the Square Pegs." "And I could call in my brothers." said Amanda. "The more, the merrier." "No." said Nick. "This all depends on surprise. The more people who are in on this, the greater the risk of it blowing up in our faces, maybe even one of us getting killed. I say we make it us and one camera crew." There were nods of ascent. The only question was who would be the camera crew?

Everything at channel ninety-two news ground to a halt as six humanoid animals strode through the cubicle area toward the office of the news editor. When asked if they could speak to the chief, the secretary merely stared and pointed at the editor's door. Even that little gesture was unnecessary, however, for the editor himself came out to meet them. "The, uh... Beastknights, I presume. Won't you, er... come into my office." Nick waited for the others to enter and then firmly shut the door behind him. "Sit down, please. Make yourselves comfortable." There were only two chairs besides the editor's own, so Nick let Amanda and Sira take them while he stood. The others sat on their haunches. "So... to what do I owe the uh... pleasure of this visit?" "To put it simply, Sir, we wish to offer you an... Are our appearances making you uncomfortable?" "No, not at all, you're... Well... yes." Nick smiled. "Human form, everyone." As clothing appeared and fur and tails disappeared, the editor's demeanor became much more relaxed. "Where was I? Oh, yes. We wish to offer you an exclusive." "Interview?" "Even better. We want you to cover a raid on an urp base." The editor shot out of his chair. "You what?" he crowed. "You like the idea?" "Like it? I loathe it!" "I don't understand." "Look, you kids are good, and the public loves you. The media doesn't like you much after the stunt you pulled by not showing up at the washington zoo, but the public eats you up. Normally, I'd jump at a chance like this, but there's no way I'm going to put one of my reporters into the kind of situation that you're suggesting. I've gotten hundreds of urps sightings since your story, about half of them genuine. These guys butcher human beings. I'm sorry, kids, but no dice." "What if one of your people volunteered?" "If you can find a whole crew to volunteer for a cockamamie stunt like this, I'll make cheese for you. Until then, uh-unh. However, I'm not an unreasonable man. I'd be happy to give you free publicity by interviewing you guys on the air." "Thanks all the same," said Nick. "But not at this time. We'll be going now." The Beastknights returned to halfway form and piled out. "That was a bust." said William. "So we try another station. Someone's gotta take us up on it." said Nick. "Yeah," agreed Danny. "But then there goes our element of surprise. Like you said, we can't go blabbing." At that moment, a lovely blonde lady came up to the group. "Good afternoon." she said. "King Skunk, isn't it? I'm Andrea Pamelson." "Pleased to meet you, Ma'am." "I couldn't help but overhear the conversation you were having in there. I understand you're looking for a daring young reporter." "We sure are." "I think I might be willing to offer my services if the story is juicy enough." "Juicy like a raw fish." said Amanda. "Do you have a crew?" asked Nick. "Come with me. I've got just the cameraman for the job."

The next person the Beastknights met was an impossibly gangly youth who seemed about thirteen or fourteen, and about to bust with enthusiasm. "beastknights, meet Elwood." "Elwood E. Marrik!" exclaimed the boy as he vigorously shook each and every person's paw. "My friends call me Ermine the Kid. Long story. It's from a movie. Anyway, I'm a big fan of you guys. I've read every version of your debut story like a hundred times, and I went back and even did some extra research. Hey, Ottergirl, are you related to Otterman?" "He's my father." "I knew it! I can't believe I'm finally meeting you! I'm like you, you know." "You're a werebeast?" "Well, no... but I am a paranormal. I can make pictures out of thin air. Watch." Instantly, a big, yellow happy face appeared out of nowhere, and abruptly vanished again. Nick knew this boy. It was an incredible coincidence, but he had discussed with Zungo the possibility of breeding this boy with a were-ermine to produce a new Beastknight for the next generation. It seemed so logical on paper, but now that he'd met the lad in person, he had to ask himself why he thought he had some sort of right to manipulate people's lives and play god with their DNA. "You up for a dangerous assignment, Elwood?" asked Andrea. "Am I ever!" "Wait," said Nick. "Won't your parents object?" Elwood laughed. "My parents don't give a hoot what I do. So, when do we start?" "Just give us a few minutes to find the place." said Nick. "We'll call you, and your boss can get started on our cheese."

Nick found himself in downtown New York trying to gather information from some pidgeons. "Look," he said, one more time. "Have you seen any urps?" "No pigeon urps. pidgeons can't urp." replied one bird. "Horses urp." replied another. "Urp loud after lunch." "Not burps, URPS! Aliens!" "What an alien?" "They look like humans, only they take parts from other animals." "I seen one take parts from kitty." said the first bird. Peck peck kitty." "And rats. Chop chop, peck peck rat rat." said the other. "What did they do with the parts?" "Put on little man man body. Make weird." "That's them! Where did they go?" The pidgeons exchanged glances. "Well?" "Not see. Fly away scared." "Yeah. Maybe weird man man go chop chop on pigeon next. You got bread crumbs?" Nick paid his informants with a pretzel, then spoke into his telepathic link with Amanda, and through her, the others. "We've definitely got some in the area, but no specifics, yet. Any luck for the rest of you? Gloria responded from her post on the subway. "There's lots of weirdos here, but not the ones we're looking for." Amanda peeked out of a central park pond with her little otter eyes. "Some possible werewolves or something here, but no urps so far." Sira looked down from her perch atop the ninth street bridge. "So far, Nada." she said. "How about you, Danny?" Danny strolled casually down broadway in his giant half- wolverine form, and of course, nobody noticed. "I can't see any, I can't smell any." he said, his mental voice half covered by static as he pushed his thoughts past his cloaking field. "Will, this is your specialty, how are you doing?" William scanned the area around his place at Mr. Tiny's petting zoo and thought "Bingo. I got one. It's a man with cat's eyes." "Could be a mutant." said Sira. "Or a weirdo with contacts." said Gloria. "No, my power is telling me that this is who and what we're looking for." "Roger, Will." said Nick. "Beastknights, converge on William's position."

When everyone finally arrived, William was hidden behind a row of garbage cans in an alley. "I followed him here." he said. "He went down into that basement." The others craned their necks to spy the basement door. "Did you go in?" asked Nick. "Go in? Are you nuts? I'm sneaky, Nick, not suicidal!" "I'll go in." said Danny. "Are you sure?" "I'll keep my peekaboo cranked. In, out, no one will ever know I was there." "Do it."

"I'm in the basement." said Danny. "There are boxes, some washing machines, nothing spectacular to report. Wait! There's a door opening up next to the washing machines. It looked just like part of the brickwork. There are a bunch of aliens coming out. They don't see me. I'm going through the door." Danny's thoughts became more staticky. "I'm in a rather interXXXXX place. XXXXX looks like a big, comfy living room on one side, XXXXX row upon row of comatose XXXiens on the other." "Define comatose." "Well, they seem XXXX asleep, but they're hooked into these XXXX tubes, XXXXXXX like arteries or something. There are others which XXXXXXXXXXX from the heads. I'm heading for another stairXXXX now." "Be careful." "XXXXXXXways am. It XXXXXX like some sort XX vending XXXchine here. The XXXXXX are standing XX line XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX dispensing what XXXXX like hands, I think. XXXXXXXXXXX some sort of XXXXXXXX bio-factory. Down furXXXX below me is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and it's XXXX of animals. XXXXXXXX a zoo. Wait. Oh, my XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX people! They're keeping XXXXXXXXXXX here! Nick, we've got to help XXXXXXXXX" "We will, Danny. Come on back now." "You XXXX understand, Nick! These XXXXXXXXXXX severed limb XXXXXXXXX" "I do understand. Come back UP, Danny!" "Nick, we've got to help these people NOW!" Danny wasn't aware that he had spoken aloud, but he became aware as every eye in the place focussed on him. "Oops!" Danny bolted up the stairs as dozens, perhaps hundreds of urps raced after him. He sprinted from the top of the stairs past the rows of sleeping Naruvians, only to find suddenly that they were not asleep at all. A sea of arms shot out toward him. There was no escape. Danny was dragged, kicking and screaming, into one of the alien upright berths. "Cease struggling." a voice said to his mind. "You are not in danger." "What? What are you going to do to me?" "You will join with Unalon, but it will take time." "Join with Unalon? How exactly?" "Your mind and body will be assimilated." Suddenly, it dawned on him. "You people ARE Unalon, aren't you. You're some kind of collective entity." "You are perceptive. We have all become part of Unalon, as you shall be before tomorrow ends."

"Can you get anything?" Nick demanded. "Anything at all?" "He's definitely been captured." said Amanda. "But he's not in immediate danger. What do we do?" "We proceed as planned, but we have to move fast before they manage to pry our plans out of Danny."

"Where am I?" asked Danny. "You are within me." a voice answered. "Who are you?" "I am Unalon." "The urps' collective consciousness." "Not for long." "What do you mean?" "I am the overmind of Naru. At this time, most Naruvian people deny me their place within me, but when I return to Naru with the power I have gained here, I will be the whole of the Naruvian race." "What then?" "You have already guessed my intent. I will grow to include all life." "You can't!" "I can. The nature of the Naruvian is to adapt and make those around oneself adapt. Your friend, William, had demonstrated that admirably. He now has my mesenchyme flowing through his veins. He will be easily assimilated. "No, I mean you don't have the right!" "Right? What is right?" "Look, you just can't go assimilating people!" "Why?" "Because for one thing, they don't want to be assimilated." "Why? Why do you resist the union of flesh with flesh?" "For starters, it hurts." "Hurts?" "Yeah! It's painful." "What is pain?" Danny paused at that. It hadn't occurred to him that Naruvians, including Unalon, had no conception of pain. "It's an unpleasant sensation we get when our bodies are in danger." "In danger of what?" "Destruction, of course." "But you must die to yourself to be part of something greater than yourself." "That's why we don't WANT to!" "But you already have." "Huh?" "You gave up your former life to become a Beastknight. You died to your family." "I gave up my former life to PROTECT my family." "Do you still long for them?" "Yes." "They would never accept you, Danny. Not like I will." "My family love me." "Do they? Shall we find out?" Danny suddenly found himself just outside his house in Canada. "Go ahead, Danny. Open the door." Danny opened the door. His mother was there, and she screamed at the sight of him. Danny had not realized that he was in his halfway mode. He changed at once. "Danny?" his mother asked. "It's me." he confirmed. He stepped in. "Stay away!" his mother yelled. "My word, what are you?" "I'm... I'm Wolverteen of the Beastknights, Mom. I'm a sort of a superhero." dad stormed into the room. "How dare you scare your mother like that?" "I didn't mean to, Dad, I just..." "You worthless child! First you run away and now this. You aren't even human! You're a monster!" "Dad, I got these werebeast genes from you." "Not from me! You can't be my son. You're some misbegotten freak!" Mother wailed something unintelligible. "Look, I'm sorry about the way I left, but you should see me. I'm protecting the world from these aliens..." "Aliens are aliens, but you have no excuse for what you are." "Oh, Danny!" Mother cried. Danny stepped toward his mother. His father intercepted him. "You stay away from my wife!" He slugged Danny in the jaw. Danny rubbed his chin and pondered. "My Dad would never hit me." he said. "I told you I'm not your father!" "SHUT UP! I wasn't talking to you! Unalon, is this all you think of families? Have you no concept at all of love? If this is your world view, I want no part of you, literally!" The house vanished and was replaced by void. "Take a moment to think, Danny. You will accept your place within me eventually, it's just a matter of when."

One quick call and the news team was there in seconds. No time was wasted. Nick, after changing into his halfway form, addressed the camera and explained the situation. "While on a routine surveillance mission, Wolverteen located and managed to infiltrate an urp base. Unfortunately, he was subsequently captured. Our goal here is to free Wolverteen and destroy the enemy." He turned to the others. "Ready?" Four animal heads nodded yes. "Let's do it." Nick opened the basement door and found nothing unusual. "According to our last report from Wolverteen, there was a secret door in here. Ferrex, do your thing." William probed the walls and said "Here. Right here." "Weasel Girl?" Sira gave a telekinetic tug and the door ground open. "All right." Nick said, descending the staircase which had been revealed. "Eyes open, people." "Skunk, wait." That was William. "What?" "Something's wrong. We're going the wrong way." "Which way should we be going?" "Through the wall, here." "Huh? Okay, back out, everyone." Indicating the wall, Will said "Weasel, give me a pull right here." The whole wall swung out, over, and neatly sealed off the false staircase in favor of the true one. "Voila." As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, more than five hundred eyes turned their attention on them. "We're here for our comrade." Nick demanded. "He is no longer yours." said one of the aliens in its liquid voice. "He belongs to Unalon, now." "We'll see about that." Nick strode boldly forward, only to be blocked by a dozen burly urps. He stood there, unmoving, then suddenly knelt and swept his hand along the ground. The urps found themselves suddenly standing on tiny little skunk legs, unable to support their weight. They quickly toppled under the onslaught of the Beastknights. "Over here!" cried William. "I found him!" The knights pushed their way through to the chamber where danny stood, unmoving. "Danny!" shouted Gloria. "Danny, answer me!" "Try telepathy!" said Nick as he battered away at the enemy. "Danny?" thought Amanda. "Danny dale! It's no good, Nick. They've got too strong a hold over him. It's like talking through a wall." "What if you had direct access to his nervous system?" said William. "How?" "I'm part Naruvian, now, remember? I can mingle my neurons with yours and his, act like a conduit." "Let's go for it." Even as the others fought the urps back and the news crew filmed the event with a running commentary, Amanda slid her hand INSIDE William's, which rested inside Danny's. There was a moment of disorientation, and Danny suddenly snapped to. "Get me outa here!" he screamed. William helped him to his feet, only to fall down himself a moment later. A feeding tube had wrapped itself around his leg. "Amanda, this thing has got me." Amanda hit the tube hard with the butt of her staff, but more tubes snaked out and grabbed William Danny slashed with his claws for all he was worth. "It wants to assimilate him!" he cried. "Get him out! For the love of life, get him out!" William was now firmly pressed into the cubicle. "Danny!" he called. "Danny, it's eating me. Don't let it eat me, Danny! Please. PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T LET IT EAT ME! DAAAANNYYYYY! Then he was gone.

Lacuna.

Everything stopped. Even the enemy stopped. The beastknights could only stare at the place where their comrade had last been. It was a moment that would plague their nightmares for the rest of their lives. Gloria shook. The ground shook with her. A weird, boiling energy rose within her. A breeze filtered through the room. A zephyr. A wind. A gale. Gloria screamed, and became the only one standing amidst a squalling cyclone which slammed the enemy both humanoids and sleeping berths, against any available surface with the force of an enraged freight train. The wind lasted for an eternity. When it finally did die down, there was mesenchyme everywhere. Strangely, the Beastknights and the news crew had survived just fine. "Did I do that?" "Nick," said Danny, no longer caring the least bit about secret identities. "There are people downstairs. We have to free them." "Let's go." There were more aliens downstairs. "Danny, you free the people and the animals." Nick ordered. "The rest of us will keep these goons at bay." The one known as Wolverteen needed no keys. He opened every cage with wolverine strength and human adrenaline, fed by the rage of William's gruesome demise. He escorted everyone upstairs while the others covered his getaway. Sira blasted urp after urp with her telekinesis, and then caught something out of the corner of her eye. "GET DOWN!" she yelled. five aluminum spikes suddenly appeared. Four were imbedded in the wall, one in the lens of Elwood's camera. Sira rushed everyone behind the cover of a large, metal piece of equipment. Only then did she stop to see the urp with the outstretched hand. "What was that?" asked Andrea. "That was a hand from a kid at the Institute. We call... called him `Rail Gun', because he could shoot aluminum shafts from his fingers." More urps were appearing now, exchanging their old hands for ones like the one which shot. "They must have cloned it! We're gonna die!" "Maybe not." said Elwood. "Look what I found." Directly behind him was a ventilation duct. "We'll never get through that!" said Andrea. "We can!" said Nick, his voice now partially drowned by a rain of aluminum shafts. "Animal forms!" He changed even as he tore the grating off. "What about us?" asked Andrea. "I've got you covered." He ordered Amanda, Sira and Gloria into the duct while he transformed Andrea into a skunk. "Go!" he ordered, shoving her in. He turned to Elwood and repeated the process, turning Elwood into an ermine. "Huh?" he grunted. How did that happen? No matter. "Go!" he said. "Wait!" Elwood popped the videocassette from the camera and gripped it tight in his teeth as he shimmied up the duct. Nick went last of all. The group emerged at basement level in time to see Danny going back for them. "We're here!" called Amanda. "Is everyone okay?" "Not quite." Nick grunted as he emerged from the air duct with his legs and tail full of aluminum darts. "Danny, listen. Under the carpet in the back of the station wagon, there's a smuggler's compartment. In there is a little present for the urps." Danny went and found the object. He returned with "A hand grenade?" "Not just any grenade. That's a Libertech Fractal M.I.M. thermal grenade. A souvenir from my days as Neon. Now quick, send it down the shaft before the urps have time to fight there way through the mess downstairs." Danny was quick to comply. So quick, in fact, that he didn't leave Nick any time to say "After we get out! RUN!" If he hadn't had Sira dragging him, Nick would never have made it behind the badgermobile before the entire building lit up like a solar prominence. "Everyone all right?" asked Nick. "Andrea, let me turn you back. There. Sorry about the clothes. We'll get you some new ones. Elwood..." Elwood was already human. "Omigosh!" he exclaimed. "I did it myself!" Great. Now, there's just one more order of business for tonight." "Yes?" "Get me to a hospital and get this shrapnel out of my butt!"

There was supposed to be a quiet service for William, but that was not to be. Where the small group of friends gathered in a small chapel, more came and joined them. Some were people who had been rescued that last day. Some had known him before. All were saddened by his death. The pews filled quickly, and then the emergency reserve folding chairs. When William's friends left the chapel for the cemetery, where a gravestone had been placed without a body, the walking procession of nearly a hundred turned to two hundred, then three hundred. Then five, then a thousand. Ferrex, William Falconer, would be sorely missed.

Andrea had work to do at the station, but Elwood accepted the invitation to watch the late night newscast with the Beastknights. It was the least he could do, he felt. I, Baby Zungo was there, watching the newscast with the others. I refused to think about William's death, and instead puzzled the mystery of Elwood's transformation. He did have a partial werebeast template. That was why I had considered Elwood such good breeding stock. Listen to me! "Breeding stock"? This is a real live person I'm talking about here. That's it. No more messing with people's lives to further my own goals. Anyway, I figured that he must have somehow latched on to Nick's transformation power and used it for himself. On T.V. an aluminum spike zipped forward and killed the picture. It was replaced by Andrea saying "Our camera was destroyed at this point, but through the heroic action of King Skunk, the Beastknights were able to shuttle both myself and Mr. Marrik to safety through an air vent." "I understand that you and Elwood had an interesting experience getting into the air vent, Andrea." said the reporter next to her. With amazing aplomb and grace, Andrea went on to describe how she had been transformed into a skunk, scurried up the vent, and transformed back without any clothing. "How she does that without blushing I will never know." said Elwood. "Well, Elwood," said Nick. "What are your plans for the future?" "I dunno." "There's an opening on the team if you want it." The others ascended. "I would love to be one of you guys. I mean, ever since I first saw you I've fantasized about it, but... I don't want to try to fill the shoes of a dead man." "You could never fill William's shoes." said Gloria. "But then, neither could any of us." "She's right." said Nick. "We don't want a new Ferrex. We want Ermine the Kid." Elwood nodded vigorously. "Of course!" he said. "Beautiful." someone said. "But watch who you're calling a dead man." All eyes turned to the entryway. There stood a rather bedraggled looking ferret man. "William?" said the entire room in unison. "It's me, and I ain't dead." "But Unalon absorbed you!" said Danny. "I saw it!" "He absorbed my body." said William. "That was easy, but he was too distracted to assimilate my mentality. as soon as I discovered that I was still alive inside Unalon, I ordered the bio- factory downstairs to copy the body which "I" had just absorbed and then downloaded myself into it. With Unalon's intelligence at my fingertips... er, you know what I mean. It was child's play." "But how did you get out without us seeing you?" "You did. You shuttled me out with the prisoners. I was too dazed to say anything." "I guess I was dazed over losing you." said Danny. "I never saw you." "Anyway, as soon as I came to my senses, I came here. Did you really have a funeral for me?" Amanda could stand it no longer. She jumped up and embraced him, kissing him on the cheek again and again. A tumultuous group hug soon ensued.

Happiness is always welcome when it comes, but it is all too often short lived. Unalon was not dead. The Beastknights had destroyed only a single base. There was no telling how many others there were, and the Beastknights were determined to get them all. "We're going after one in Louisiana next." said Nick. "Are you sure about this Danny?" "I'll catch up with you on the next one, Nick, but I just gotta do this, you know?" "I know. We'll miss you a lot, kiddo." "Same here." Danny gave his comrade a quick hug and boarded a greyhound bus.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Danny's voice echoed. "Danny? Is that you?" Danny's mother came into the living room and with an enormous smile, she shouted his name and embraced him. "Danny?" called his father. "Son! I'm so glad to see you back!" "Mom, Dad, there's something I really, really have to tell you." "That you're Wolverteen of the Beastknights?" "You KNEW?" "Do you really think we wouldn't recognize our own son?" "Let me see you change." said his Mother. "Please?" Danny looked from one parent to the other, then reluctantly changed to his halfway form. "Remarkable!" said Father. "Beautiful!" said Mother. "But why didn't you ever tell us you could do this?" "I was afraid. I mean, don't you think that I'm some kind of monster?" "Monster?" said Dad. "You have saved a lot of lives, my boy. You're a genuine hero, and we are so very proud to call you our son." Danny found peace at last.

The End.