The White Werelupe
"Guys!" I called, "Hey guys! I'm home!" I called out as I pushed open the gate to my yard, "…Guys…?"
That was odd. My youngest Neopet Vhai, my little Red Kougra, always came barreling around the corner at the sound of my voice to give me a big hug.
Something was definitely off and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The Mystery Island Jungle was silent, which was even weirder. Usually the clang of my Blue Gelert's sword practice filled the yard with noise. Mercologos was always learning new sword techniques.
A little worried, I now made my way through the yard, and then stopped in growing alarm.
Vhai's blue bouncy ball wasn't just burst; it had three gashes into the rubber like something had taken a swipe at it. The grass was scuffled up; several furrows had been kicked up as though a fight had happened. And… and… that little red patch on the ground… WAS THAT BLOOD!
For a second a terrible rage washed over me. Someone had hurt my pets! Then I rubbed the talisman that I always wore around my neck, a habit I had picked up whenever I got very angry or very worried. I let out a trembling breath. No way. Mercologos was way too good with a sword to let anyone or anything hurt his siblings. Not to mention Alkuna, my Blue Lupe, fought dirty; biting wherever she could and kicking all the tender spots that made bullies cross their eyes and clutch their wounds.
Still… "Guys? If this is a joke it's really not funny." I thrust my head into the Neohome and felt the final clue that something was very wrong hit me like a kick in the gut.
Lacody, my Red Gelert, was ALWAYS cooking in the kitchen, and the house always smelled delicious with whatever she happened to be cooking up on any given day. The house had a cold, empty smell that told me my little Chef had never gotten anything in the oven when the whatever-it-was had happened.
Okay, okay, deep breath. Something ruined my yard, possibly attacked my pets and ended up bleeding for its troubles. My pets had not gone quietly; that was for sure.
I walked around to the back and saw more signs of a fight. My beautiful Rowzes had been torn apart. My Starflowers had been trampled. And my Snap Draiks had been ripped up by their roots. My pets would never do this on pain of eternal grounding.
The back gate had been ripped off its hinges and many, many clawed paws had tromped around back here. A closer examination brought fire to my eyes.
Werelupes.
I knew the Haunted Woods were full of them. It would only make sense that a pack of them would move to a new place, like our island, and start claiming territory right and left. Things were harder here of course; the coconut natives hated Werelupes on sight and their spears were very sharp. Not to mention the island was hot and humid… a bad place to be when covered in a dark, thick, heavy fur coat.
All things aside, the Werelupes should have given up on the Island being a home. But their pack leader must have been very stubborn. And they had taken my pets, ruined my yard, and destroyed several of Vhai's toys.
I gripped the talisman and squeezed, gritting my teeth. They had always howled insults at me and were the cause of Vhai's fears of the dark. Occasionally they showed themselves, made threatening motions, then ran off jeering when I stood up to them. But this time they had gone too far. No more insults. No more patience. No more tolerance. It was time to show them what I could really do. I walked into my Neohome and pulled a green backpack and its precious contents from their hiding place behind the couch.
---
I bounded through the forest swiftly and silently, using my skills to follow the trail the Werelupes had left behind as they dragged off my struggling pack.
I snarled to myself. They were my pack. They were my family. Nobody messed with my family. Nobody.
As I got closer to the center of the Werelupe territory, I could hear snarls, jeers and howls.
Not wanting to be seen, I took to the trees; carefully working my way over the crowd of shaggy, brown beasts. I tested each branch carefully so it wouldn't break under me.
"Come on Gnasher! Don't tell me you can't handle one little Gelert pup!" one of the crowd jeered.
Peering down I saw three of my pets trapped in a cage of bleached bone and leather. My brave swordfighter Mercologos was keeping the other Werelupes at bay with his sword, which he swung at anybody dumb enough to get within range. One Werelupe wearing armor was dancing just out of reach; too hemmed in by the others to back away, too far away for Merc to jab with the blade.
"If you think you can take him on, do it yourself Jaggedclaw," Gnasher, the Werelupe evaded the blade, and then snarled in frustration as he dodged a little too slow and lost a tuft of fur from his scraggly tail to my brave pup's whirling blade.
"As you wish" sneered Jaggedclaw and he lunged forward, trying to knock the sword from Merc's grip, "See? This is how you- Ouch! Why you little- OW!"
As exhausted looking as Merc looked, he was still plenty determined enough to cut Jaggedclaw's arm, then slice upward to leave a shallow but stinging cut on his tender nose.
The injuries didn't do much other than hurt, I could see, for they healed almost immediately; leaving only a little blood on the ground.
"ENOUGH!" roared the Werelupe King, shoving his way through the crowd, "You lot are pathetic, not even able to overpower a little Gelert, who is little more than a PUPPY!"
Merc slowly raised his sword into a defensive position as the Werelupe King closed in, a low growl stirring in his throat.
I had not been sitting stupidly while the activity was going on, and was now climbing carefully down the trunk of a tree within arms reach of the cage where my pack sat trapped.
"Give it up boy," the Werelupe King snarled at my brave guy, "You're outnumbered twenty to one. And see this…" he lifted a vial containing some creepy looking fluid, "Do you know what this stuff does? I'll tell you… It transforms pets into Werelupes, loyal to the Werelupe King, which happens to be me."
"Just try to get me to swallow that stuff!" Merc challenged.
"Oh but see, I don't have to... I just have to splash some on you." The Werelupe King smiled a nasty, not-quite-sane smile and pulled the cork, "Face it kid, not even the White Werelupe can save you now."
At that moment, I ripped the roof off of the bone cage with a jarring…
KA-CRUNCH
"Oh, can't I?" I smiled, baring every pearly white fang in my long muzzle.
I sprang down from the tree with a thud, landing next to my young pup, whose blade wavered between me and the other Werelupes. Silly pup. But then again he didn't really know me in this form.
I took a menacing step toward the other Werelupes, who fearfully took four steps back.
"Am I so weak that I cannot even protect my pack?" I demanded, taking advantage of the fact that I was the height of a human, thus towering over the little Neopet sized Werelupes.
The Werelupe King threw the potion at me but I blocked it, knocking the vile stuff away from my pack and letting it splash over my furry arms.
"Are you suggesting that I'll let you kidnap my family and turn them into your mindless, useless lackeys?" I asked, taking another step forward and towering over the King.
"And…" I grabbed the Werelupe King by the scruff of his neck and dangled him high over the heads of his subjects, "Are you trying to tell me that you're going to do one Berry Picking thing to stop me from punishing you for trespassing into MY HOME!" I roared, blasting his face with my breath.
Then, with a nasty smile of my own, I pulled a bottle out of the backpack I had strapped to my back before leaving our Neohome. I watched the neon blue fluid swirl merrily within the glass in mock fascination.
The Werelupe King gulped fearfully as I pulled the cork, "And the best thing is; you don't even have to drink it. I just have to pour it on you. I'll even give you a sporting chance." And I dropped the Werelupe King on the ground. He wasted no time in bolting for the trees in terror.
I let him get three meters away before lobbing the dreaded bottle after him. There was a crash of shattering glass, a splash of spraying contents, and a horrified howl that rapidly changed into the squeal of a Jubjub as the Werelupe king and three of his lackeys were doused in the Blue Jubjub Morphing Potion I had thrown on them.
I turned to look my pack over before nodding in satisfaction. They were scuffed up, exhausted and frightened, but none of them were hurt.
A smug looking Alkuna flaunted a chunk or two of what had once been white briefs with yellow duckies on them. Looked like my gruff, tough girl got a few really good bites in.
Little Vhai was trembling and clutching Lacody's arm as he looked way up at me.
"It's all right," I said softly and offered my paw, palm up to them, "I'm here to get you home where you belong."
"Who are you?" Vhai asked, then ducked behind LaCody when I turned to look at him.
"Can't you tell?" I grinned, swishing my long white tail elegantly, "I'm the White Werelupe."
The four of them shared a look.
"I'm sure you have many questions," I said, after aiming an icy growl at a glaring pair of yellow eyes in the almost pitch black shadows, "But now is really not the time to answer them. Climb on my back. I'll take you home."
---
"Mom? MOOOOOOOM! Are you home?" Lacody called as they pushed open the front door of their Neohome.
The mysterious White Werelupe had disappeared almost as soon as they had climbed off her back in the yard.
I sat up slowly from my position on the couch, my whole body feeling fuzzy from sleep and my head felt muddled. It cleared away in an instant as I saw my weary but unharmed pets, and I scooped all four of them into a massive hug.
"You're all right!" I gasped, incidentally bumping a contraption labeled 'Sleep Ray' out of sight under the couch as I got to my feet with my pets in my arms.
"We're fine Mom," Alkuna growled, though she didn't sound half as cranky as she usually did when she got pulled into a hug.
I ignored her comment and checked each one of them myself with gentle hands and several healing potions at my side just in case. Only when I was satisfied did I stop fretting.
I knew they were all right, a voice snorted sleepily in my head.
I ignored it.
"Okay," I said quietly, "I think its time for you four to take baths and get ready for bed. Especially you," I pointed at Mercologos, whose eyes had begun to droop as he leaned on his sword in exhaustion, "my brave little swordfighter."
It was proof to me just how tired they were; none of them whined about having to take a bath.
You should tell them, scolded the voice gently, They are your family and they are my pack. They have a right to know.
"You're right," I sighed tiredly when they tromped out of the room, "Though I suspect they have already figured it out…"
I tucked each of my pets into bed and gave them a final, relieved hug before turning out the lights. Vhai hugged his plushie, Woobley, tightly and asked in a small voice if I would leave his night light on and the door open a crack in case he had a bad dream. I agreed and stayed awake for several hours after that to make sure they were asleep. I checked on them a final time before falling asleep on the front room couch.
I dreamed…
I was a human with four pets I loved very much. I was the White Werelupe, who guarded my pack with fang and cunning. We were the same. We were a team. And that night, we patrolled our territory vigilantly. As the silvery moon rose above the trees and bathed our yard in cold silver light, we lifted our muzzle to the sky and howled.
---
"Gallery of Heroes
The White Werelupe is a mysterious being said to haunt the Haunted Woods. Like a ghost, it has no real form or gender. But unlike real Werelupes, it is not evil or vicious.
When the White Werelupe finds a human with a pure heart, it comes to them in a dream and joins with them in an equal union. The Werelupe becomes solid and living, caring for the Owner's pets as though they were the Werelupe's own pack. The Owner becomes immune to the bite and potions that transforms Werelupes. The owner wears a talisman that lets him or her talk with the White Werelupe.
When the Owner sleeps, he or she transforms and the Werelupe awakens and patrols the home and neighborhood, protecting the family with all of its skills. The Owner dreams of the Werelupe's travels.
When the Werelupe sleeps, it transforms and the Owner awakens and cares for the pets and home; raising the Neopets that are family to both. The Werelupe dreams of the Owner's life.
Should the Owner and White Werelupe become angry or upset (as in the kidnapping or harming of the pets) the talisman's powers flare up. The human then falls asleep, either naturally or by artificial means, and the Werelupe separates from the human as a solid creature of its own. Gaining the size and power of a human and Werelupe both, the White Werelupe hunts down its enemies with all of its abilities."