Notes:
This is a non-pokemon AU setting, and circumstances for major characters are completely different from their canon counterpart. There's personality changes that you may not deem appropriate for these characters. But that's okay.
Sapphire Birch clutched the steering wheel tightly, staring intently between the taillights ahead of her, and the road surface. It was pretty scary to follow potentially-almost certainly, dangerous arsonists but it was even more dangerous and frightening to do so with your headlights off! Her heart stopped momentarily when the small hybrid vehicle swerved a little on the road. After all, it was the day after a snowstorm and the only light was a half moon that was partially covered by clouds.
Now this sounded illogical to do, but it was something that had to be done. No one else in town seemed to give a damn about the forest that the Hoover Corporation was threatening with its chemicals and waste. No one but her; she who had infiltrated the company, tapped major phonelines illegally and listened to the recordings late at night. And it was a fruitful endeavor; Sapphire found out about Jake Lark's (the CEO of Hoover Corps) plan to set the forest that rested on either side of the road that led out of her quiet college town (imagine, a college town quiet!). She tried to tell the police about this night beforehand, but no one listened to her and she couldn't show them her proof because that would incriminate herself and then her Papa would murder her.
So here she was, dangerously following dangerous people on a slippery road without headlights! When the suspects, named Jones and Erin, finally pulled over, Sapphire whispered a "Thank god." and pulled over too a little ways from them. Their lights turned off and Sapphire hurried jammed on the night vision goggles she bought from a guy named Silver and her duffel bag and hopped out of her car. She shivered in the cold January air and turned on the goggles.
Sapphire saw that they were getting their fire-starting materials out of the back of their pickup truck. She silently went to the treeline, watching their red figures haul blue tanks of what she thought was gasoline, or maybe kerosene, into the forest. She stalked into the woods as well, stepping carefully onto the snow and over fallen bramble and tree limbs. There was a slight crunch under her feet, and Sapphire ventured at an angle towards where she thought they would be.
There were tiny dots of red from small critters, and she could see the human-shaped red in the distance. They moved slowly with the tanks in their hands but eventually they stopped. She hid close behind a tree, fumbled with her bag for the video recorder, and an audio recorder. She checked the tape for the audio recorder and press Play before stuffing it into her pocket. Sapphire turned on the video recorder and put it on night-vision mode.
Then she heard them speak.
"Hey, Jones! Take those tanks over there." That must be Erin then.
"Fine, fine!" Jones grunted. He made groan while lifting a tank of gas and began to haul it over to where Erin had indicated.
Sapphire crept towards them, ducking behind trees as she did so. She needed a better look! And she didn't think her recording equipment could quite catch what they were saying. Sapphire pushed the goggles up to her forehead and squinted over. She went closer until she could actually see Erin, and the tanks while peeking from behind a tree.
'Shit,' she thought as she gazed at the tanks. There were four of those suckers. She looked down at her bag. Did she have enough liquid nitrogen? Sapphire would have worried more when she realized something. Jones hadn't returned, and Erin hadn't made a sound since her ordered Jones to haul the fifth tank to...wherever.
She looked back quickly. The rest of the tanks were there but Erin was missing! 'Where did he go?' she mouthed to herself.
"Well, well...What do we have here?"
Sapphire spun around to see one of them; possibly Erin but she couldn't see too well what the person Erin looked like. "Uhhh...Hi?" She squeaked, waving a little.
The man frowned at her. "What are you doing here, little girl?" he asked.
Sapphire glanced to the right. "I was..trying to document the local wolves in the area." Not a particular lie; there was at least one wolf pack in the woods.
"Bullshit." The man spat on the ground. "You were documenting *us*!"
He grabbed her hand that held the video recorder. "No hand it over, girl!"
Sapphire scowled and kicked him square in the chest. "As if, asshole!" Then she spun around and ran for it. Even if she couldn't prove that Hoover Corps was behind this, she could at least identify the people who set the fire, if they do. Hopefully they wouldn't because she saw them. Alternatively, maybe Lark gave them orders to dispose of anyone who saw them...meaning her.
"Shit!" she cursed and dropped the bag-it was heavy, and ran faster. She couldn't be caught. Sapphire just kept running, dodging trees and tripping over branches. Somewhere along the way, she'd dropped her video recorder. She didn't look back either. Then she heard a gunshot, then several and then a man screaming.
She slowed and glanced back. 'Oh my god,' she thought. 'What just happened?' And then she remembered the had to back; sabotage the tanks. She didn't know what had happened to the man that was chasing her, but he wasn't chasing her anymore. And she needed her duffel bag to do it, so Sapphire went back.
She found her duffel bag around the area where she had thought she dropped it. She hauled it onto her shoulder and trekked back to where the tanks still stood, untouched. There was still no sign of the guy who was chasing her. Sapphire set the bag down and pulled off her gloves, opened the bag and pulled out a thick pair of elbow-length gloves. Then she carefully lifted out a large liquid nitrogen container and set it down.
Sapphire opened one of the gasoline tanks and opened the liquid nitrogen container as well. She pulled up the container, and carefully tilted it over and watched as liquid and vapor flowed out. Once she thought it was enough, she lifted the container to stop. Sapphire continued to move to the next gasoline tank and repeat what she'd done.
There was a rustling, and Sapphire froze. She slowly lifted the liquid nitrogen tank and set it down. Sapphire hunched as she eyed the darkness. "Hello?" she breathed. She heard more rustling but it came from her left side. Sapphire turned in that direction, getting nervous. Ugh.
She slowly looked around. Nothing. Then a man, not the one who was chasing her, was charging towards her. He saw her and screamed, "RUN!"
Startled, Sapphire did run. She ran faster than she ever ran. She didn't look back. Then she heard the man scream. Sapphire couldn't help by screaming a little herself because obviously, something or someone was taking out those men. SHE COULD BE NEXT.
This was a bad idea. A very bad idea. So very bad.
Then Sapphire found out the hard way why those men scream. A giant black wolf suddenly sprung at her from god knows where, and toppled her to the ground. It sunk its teeth into her forearm that she had raised in defense. Sapphire screamed and the pain was excruciating; it shook it's head violently. Was her arm going to be ripped off?!
No. No, this can't happen! "I TRIED TO SAVE YOUR FOREST ASSHOLE!" Sapphire yelled at the wolf and smashed the heel of her palm into its face. It yelped and leapt away. Sapphire stood up, clutching her arm.
"Stupid!" she yelled at it. "I'm tryin' to save your ass!"
It looked like it understood...her? It's ears turned back, and it's tail tucked itself between it's legs. It whined before turning around and running away. Sapphire stared as it ran, confused.
"What just happened?" she asked herself aloud. She looked around like she was expecting something. Anything but nothing.
The pain came back into consciousness and she hissed. Sapphire felt blood drip down her arm. She needed to get this looked, pronto. Clutching her arm to herself, she began to jog in the direction of what she hoped was the road.
He was washing out his mouth with river water, his left foot a little wet from smashing the ice that had formed near the bank. Ruby Crison spat the water out and scooped up some more to wipe the bit of blood from his mouth. He felt sick from the metallic taste in his mouth and fear from what he'd done. Ruby bit a girl. During the Wolf Moon.
She would turn by the full moon turn. Dread coiled in his gut like a vicious serpent. He breathed in deeply. The worse was the fear. The fear of his father and what'd he do once he found out he unjustly turned a person. He couldn't help himself; he felt the wolfish territorial instinct kick in when he saw her handle those gasoline tanks—he pounced, bit her arm.
A howl pierced his self-loathing; his father was calling the Pack back together. He had to go. Ruby wiped his wet hands on his pants and shifted into a big, black wolf. He went to answer the call.
The Pack wasn't the biggest; 32 people. His father Norman and his wife Caroline were the Alphas. Ruby, on the other hand, was an Omega—the lowest rank in the Pack. He shuffled towards the back of the Pack, shoulders hunched and he gazed up at his parents on the raised platform. Norman was tall, broad-shouldered and—Ruby shuddered—had red smeared on his mouth, on his hands. His mother, however, was clean. She was pouring some water from a bottle onto a small hand towel.
"My Pack," Norman called out and the members stopped their talking. "tonight we had some unwelcomed visitors that tried to burn down our home."
Granted, Ruby frowned, most of the members actually lived in the college town down the road that split the forest in two. That wasn't the point though.
"We all raised to the challenge, those of us that could." He meant the younger werewolves—the lucky ones that couldn't participate. "The materials meant to harm the forest were removed…and so were the men that tried." Caroline had passed Norman the damp towel, and he used it to wipe at his mouth. Ruby had always wondered if the taste of blood ever bothered him; he knew their Pack didn't normally kill humans.
"But I don't believe our Pack, and our home are safe." Norman went on. "Someone sent those men. You recall the last meeting I had called, about the company that tried to persuade me to sell them our land. I suspect they did it."
Murmurs erupted among the members. Ruby felt an arm fling itself around his shoulders.
"So how're we gonna stop 'em, Norman?!" the owner of the arm shouted out, his free hand cupped around his mouth.
Ruby scowled and shrugged off Gold's arm. 'When did you…?'
Norman gazed over the crowd and rested his crimson eyes on Gold-and by proximity, Ruby. "I'm not sure yet, Gold." he replied with a frown.
Gold smirked. "Maybe we should pay them *visit*." He waggled his eyes suggestively.
But Norman shook his head. "No. I'd rather not expose us."
Gold slouched, disappointed. "Damn."
Norman had continued to talk after that for another half hour before dismissing everyone.
Gold slapped Ruby's back. "See ya later, Ruby!" He winked and left Ruby with an aching back.
Ruby glared as Gold took over into the darkness of the trees like everyone else and joined his parents as they went to the cabin house near the platform. This was the Crison family home, or rather, whatever Alpha and his family's house,. It wasn't as grand as Young Adult fiction novels would have you think an Alpha family would have but it was home. Solar panels were on the roof.
"I'm going to take a shower," Norman said once they were inside and had taken off their jackets. Caroline nodded and he went upstairs. Ruby looked up at the ceiling when he heard the water running.
He was yanked into the kitchen. "Wha-Mom?"
His mother glanced up then looked at him. "Okay," she sighed. "What's wrong, Ruby?"
Ruby laughed. "What do you mean? Nothing's wrong, Mom."
Caroline grabbed his chin, leaned in and sniffed. "I smell human blood on your breath. And I *know* you didn't participate in the disposing of the those men."
Ruby inwardly curse; he knew he should have popped a mint. He tried to be clueless. "Of course I didn't! That's barbaric, not to mention murder."
His mother narrowed her eyes at him. "Ruby," she said, tone low. "If you bit someone, and it wasn't those guys, you know the full moon is tomorrow, right? That person will turn, and their mind will be completely wolf-like until they're like that for a few hours. They could hurt someone, or **worse**."
Ruby didn't have to know what she meant by 'or worse'. He knew exactly. He gulped and tugged at his collar. "Um," Ruby moistened his lower lip. "Okay. I-I did bite someone-"
"*Ruby*!" his mother hissed at him in shock.
"But I didn't mean to! I thought she was with those guys because she was doing something to the tanks." he replied quickly. "It was an accident."
Caroline remained silent for a moment before she spoke again. "You have to tell your father."
Ruby blanched. "He'll kill me!" Ruby looked up at the ceiling-the shower was still going.
"He'll be more angry if you expose us because we didn't quarantine your victim." she replied briskly.
He flinched at the word 'victim'. "I'm sorry, Mom." he whispered.
She hugged him. "It'll be okay. You'll find her, bring her here and we'll take it from there."
"Find who?" Norman came into the kitchen dressed for bed and rubbing a towel into his hair.
Ruby jumped. *How'd he sneak up behind them?!* "Um."
"Ruby bit a girl tonight-he thought she was helping those men." Caroline said.
Norman paused and slowly pulled the towel to the nape of his neck. "What."
Ruby felt the urge to run but his father would have easily taken him down in doing so.
"I-I accidentally bit a girl...and she got away." Ruby stammered, taking a step back. The next thing Ruby knew, he was slammed against a wall with Norman's forearm pinning at his throat. Ruby gasped.
"Norman!" Caroline exclaimed.
"Do you realize what you've done? You could blow our cover like this? And you've torn that girl's life apart and it hasn't ever started!" Norman growled.
Ruby tried to breathe despite the pressure on his windpipe. "Didn't...mean...to...Sorry!"
"Sorry isn't going to cut it. Last time I understood your lack of control, but you're 18 now and you should have been able to control yourself-or finish the job!" Norman scowled. He pulled his arm away, releasing Ruby.
Ruby coughed and rubbed his throat. "I know...I know..."
"You need to find her before dusk tomorrow. Skip class. I expect you to start searching at daybreak. It shouldn't be too hard to find her since you have bond now. Find her, bring her here. You'll have to explain how you messed up her life." Norman instructed coldly. He went to the refrigerator, opened it and took out a bottle of milk. "I'm going to bed. Good night." Then he left the kitchen.
Ruby slid down onto the floor and put his head in his hands. "I messed up-again." he choked out, a lump had begun to form in his throat.
His mother sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "At least no one died this time," she whispered.
"But I ruined her life forever. What if she likes silver jewelry? She won't be able to wear it anymore." Ruby replied. Of course he would think about that sort of thing.
"And perhaps not. If we're lucky she'll be one of those girls that like to read Young Adult fantasy novels. This will be a dream come true." She lied.
Ruby snorted. "Those crappy novels know nothing." And his mother agreed.