Yes, I broke my promise again by releasing this chapter early. It's just so hard to restrain myself, but I'll make an effort this time. I'll try to wait until Wednesday afternoon.

I had a good time writing this chapter, mainly because of how intense it is. You'll see what I mean when you read it. But I'd like to thank everyone who has supported this story thus far; you don't know how much it means to me. We're at 25 followers, which is monumental.

Current music: Life After You - Daughtry

CODY HARVARD, 19

Much of what happened next was a blur; after all, I was still in my "berserk" form as a Lycanroc. It was unfamiliar territory to me, being willing to do just about anything and not caring about the consequences.

I remember the cop placing me in the shackles and repeatedly muttering about how depraved it was of me to bite a student at GPU. Wait a minute...did I bite someone?

I couldn't remember attacking a fellow student, but there was blood dripping from my fangs. I didn't want to believe it at first, but the taste of blood was also still on my tongue.

And then I recalled that night when I'd first been bitten. Perhaps that were-Lycanroc who had infected me had been in the same state I was now. That is to say, they didn't realize what they were doing, or that it was bad.

Still, part of me was still not fully cognizant of what I had done. I remained partially anesthetized from the consequences of my actions, and so I remained as calm as could be as the policeman led me into a cop car.

Only later would I wonder why the cop didn't have backup if he was dealing with someone as potentially (okay, not even potentially; SURELY) dangerous as myself. He must have been wearing some pretty thick body armor; how else could he feel safe around a werewolf on a rampage?

So I bit someone...eh, she just ran off. Sometimes life's okay.

On some level, I knew that what I'd just done was very, very wrong. But it was as though I were underwater, and that voice of reason, of decency and humanity, was very muffled and far away.

It was a fairly short ride in the cop car, during which both of the policemen in the car, the driver and the one in the passenger seat, refused to acknowledge me. They didn't make small talk either, although the passenger did look back at me angrily, once more in the manner that you'd treat a Lillipup you were pissed at.

The frenzy was starting to fade, but everything around me was still in a haze of red. I could not understand the full implications of what I'd just done, could not comprehend the idea of expulsion from the university, or worse, jail time.

To my surprise, I wasn't driven to the police precinct right away. Instead, when the cruiser stopped, I saw the neon red letters above the entrance to a hospital's emergency department. This raised some serious question marks, since I didn't know how an ER could be the right place to take a rampaging werewolf.

Both of the cops pushed me out of the cruiser, and I fell in a heap onto the pavement. There was a small amount of pain, but nothing too major; I didn't think anything was broken, and I was grateful for the sturdiness of Lycanroc bodies.

As you're probably expecting, this gratitude was short-lived.

I was led by both police officers into the emergency department, where some parents were waiting with their children, as well as a few trainers with their injured (or sick) Pokemon. Still others were waiting on gurneys before they were taken into surgery or whatever.

There were a lot of people in the ER, but I had a hard time sparing any emotion for them. Even before what happened next, this is when I started to "come back", if you will, and begin to process the events of the last few hours.

A few of the children in the waiting room audibly screamed at the sight of me. I didn't blame them, for I would have done the same in their position. The sight of a Lycanroc in chains must have been an alarming one.

"We've got a were-Lycanroc who bit a student at Greater Pastoria University" one of the cops told the woman behind the desk. "He needs an antidote, right now!"

The secretary looked down at me. "Yes, hurry into the room! We'll get the antidote ready, and then he'll be harmless." Turning to those waiting, she said to them, "Don't worry, we'll get this situation under control!"

Her facial expression, however, did not look as though she believed what she was saying. And that terrified me further, until I realized that I was the dangerous one here.

They took me into one of the smaller patient rooms, where a doctor in full PPE was waiting. I was surprised that they'd gotten the room ready for me that quickly, but then again, perhaps one of the cops had called the hospital on the way here. That seemed like the most likely explanation.

Anyway, the two police officers restrained me on the bed, and suddenly an enormous needle was injected into my arm.

That must be the antidote. They're making me tame again...oh, what a shame that is.

There was a burning sensation throughout my body, and I tried to scream, but only let out a small howl. It was as though needles the size of the one I'd just been stabbed with were all over my body, and it hurt a lot.

Eventually, however, the pain stopped as suddenly as it had begun, leaving me completely exhausted. Looking around the room, I saw that the cops were still there looking at me, still holding me down on the bed even though I'd presumably be harmless now.

Later, I would have to face the music, but that was delayed due to my increasing drowsiness. It didn't take long before I fell into a dreamless slumber.

I woke up some time later, my mouth feeling extremely dry and my back stiff. My head also throbbed, but my entire body was covered in a cold sweat.

"Wake up!"

Phew, that was all just a dream. I didn't actually become a werewolf and bite someone. I didn't actually get hauled away by police and taken to a hospital. I'm just sick, and I had a fever dream. Yes, that's it. A nightmare.

I spoke groggily, eyes still closed.

"Come on, Mom...five more minutes...so tired…".

"I'm not your mother, and you won't get five more minutes! It's been said before, but punishments can't be altered to suit the guilty one's convenience! You are going to talk to us right here, right now!"

Opening my eyes, I saw that I was a human once more. I was lying on a thin hospital bed in a small room off from the hallway. A hospital's emergency department. My bare arms, bare chest, and bare legs were covered in towels, soaking up the copious perspiration coming from my body.

Before I worked myself up, I saw that I was wearing a pair of boxer shorts. Still, it was more than a little humiliating to be seen like this by a stranger.

"There you are. Took you long enough to wake up - the antidote has made people sleepy before, but it's morning now. Clearly, there was a greater effect than one would normally expect."

That was the doctor from earlier, still in his personal protective equipment. He wasn't the one who had just now ranted at me about punishment and not getting five more minutes.

And then I turned to my right, which took a great deal of effort. There were two police officers staring me right between the eyes, each of them looking stone-faced, so angry they didn't know how to express it.

All of this led me to one horrifying conclusion. I had circled around it the way water circles around a drain, trying desperately to avoid getting sucked in, but I ultimately had to face the truth.

It hadn't been a nightmare.

As I realized this, something else occurred to me: The police officers had probably been in this room all night, or however long I'd been asleep. If they'd been watching me sleep, I was even angrier than I'd been in my frenzy last night.

"You're in a heap of trouble, Cody Harvard. You're in a heap of trouble indeed."

That was one of the cops taunting me, and I was almost tempted to snap back at him. Of course, doing so would get me nowhere that I wanted to go.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, figuring that was a relatively safe question.

The other cop laughed dryly. "While you were sleeping, we matched your face with your student ID. We also figured out the name of the student you bit."

Even though I was no longer in my Lycanroc form, I realized that my mouth still had the hot, metallic taste of blood in it. I didn't want to believe that I'd acted on my wolflike instincts, but it became evident that this is exactly what I'd done.

"What was her name?" I blurted out, trying to play dumb. Really, I didn't think I was fooling anyone even then, least of all myself. I knew full well what had happened.

When my vision had gone red, and my awareness had been more or less suspended, I must have bitten Bella.

One of the police officers shrugged, but there was a certain fire in his eyes. It was clear to see that he was very angry with me, and it's never a good idea to get on a cop's bad side. I was dead meat.

"You have a right to know what you're accused of, so I'll tell you. You bit Isabella Fox, a fellow freshman at Greater Pastoria University. She's currently recovering in the hospital."

"This hospital?"

From the moment the cop confirmed my worst fears, I knew that I needed to find Bella. I needed to be able to apologize to her. The odds were less than zero that she'd accept my apology, but I just wanted to say something, anything, to explain myself.

The cop frowned. "You do not have a right to know that, least of all when she's the one you bit. Why would you even want that information? So that you can finish the job?"

"No, it's not that...I…".

My voice trailed off; I could scarcely believe my own words. I had no right to stand in front of Bella, get down on my knees, and beg for forgiveness. Indeed, if I tried to do that, it would do more wrong than good, so why did I even want to?

"Is she going to be a werewolf?" I finished.

"All indications are that she will become one starting next month" one of the police officers replied gruffly. "And so the disease still spreads, one person to another, bite after bite. Hell, the other day I saw a were-Lycanroc with an Alolan menu in his hand, looking for a dish of pineapple st-".

The other cop glared at his colleague, and he stopped waxing poetic about Alolan cuisine. Then, both of the police officers turned to me.

I felt the need to go on the defensive. "I didn't realize what I was doing...please forgive me, I'm only human!"

"Well, you should have thought of that before you decided to bite Ms. Fox!" one of the cops scolded me. "And news flash: You're not just human anymore! You're a were-Lycanroc, and you should know your own strength!"

You should know your own strength. That line sounded as though it were mocking me, especially in the context of what I feared the most.

As far as I was concerned, being able to infect others with this horrific ailment was not a strength of mine; rather, it was a liability. This was particularly due to the fact that I didn't feel like I'd had control over my actions.

That didn't erase my culpability, though, and neither did it make me feel any better about what I'd done. After all, when someone's barreling towards you on the road, you don't stop to think about whether their brake is out, or if they're drunk, or if they actually want to kill you. You just get out of the way!

By the same token, it didn't matter whether I'd been negligent or deliberate in my attack on Bella. Her life would be changed forever because of me, and not in a good way.

When I didn't respond with my physical voice, one of the cops sighed.

"Look, Cody, all we're trying to do is get to the bottom of what happened. It's clear that you bit Ms. Fox, and we're just wondering why. But we can't question you here."

Honestly, I was just fine with that. I had no desire to be interrogated by the police as I was lying on a hospital bed, naked except for my boxer shorts.

A few minutes later, after more silencee, a woman I recognized walked into the room. She was of roughly average height and build, with brown, slightly graying hair and glasses. She was a woman I loved dearly, but at that moment, judging by her expression, one would be forgiven for thinking she didn't love me back.

"Mom?" I asked rhetorically. "It's nice to see you again."

"It is," she replied sternly, nodding. Her tone of voice suggested that she wasn't actually happy to see me again, and why should she be when I'd just done something so terrible?

The worst part was that she didn't appear angry with me; it was far worse. She looked as though she were disappointed, like I'd let her down. Which, of course, I had.

My mother was carrying a shopping bag that had clothes in it, and she placed it on the ground. I wasted no time in throwing off the towels and putting on said clothes, since they were my own.

When I was once more fully clothed, my mother started scolding me over what had happened last night.

"Cody Harvard, you know full well how unpleasant it is to be bitten by a were-Lycanroc. It's natural to want revenge, but this is something you pay someone back for. You don't pay it forward by biting someone else!"

She continued ranting about how much of a disappointment I was, how much I'd let her down, etc. She basically went over everything her earlier facial expressions had suggested, but none of her words could hurt as much as my internal guilt did.

When my mother was finished with her speech, she took a water bottle out of her purse and started chugging it down. As she did so, she was sobbing.

"It's okay, Jessica" the cop said to her; clearly, he and my mother were already on first-name terms, which was definitely odd, but I wasn't in a position to question it either.

"No, it's not!" my mother choked out in between sobs and sniffles. "My son isn't who I thought he was. I knew he was a lycanthrope, but I didn't think he was capable of this...such evil…".

The cop patted my mother on the back. "I know that this must be incredibly difficult for you, Jessica. It's hard to accept that your son is guilty of such actions, but there are plenty of support groups available if you need them.

"Anyway, the focus now is not therapy; it is time, Cody Harvard, to take you to the police precinct and have you answer some questions for us. We need to get to the bottom of this. We've accessed your medical records, which say you've been a werewolf for five years. Honestly, it kind of surprises me that you didn't bite anyone else in that time, or at least weren't caught doing so."

"The wolfsbane" I blurted out. I didn't care, right then, that speaking out of turn might hurt my case. I was desperate, not to justify my actions, but to explain my side of the story in the hopes that they would listen.

One of the cops (who, by the way, seemed interchangeable; I could barely tell one from the other) raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about, Cody? Are you just fishing for excuses, anything that will make your crime less depraved? If you're just trying to butter us up before your trial, it's not going to work!"

"I'm not trying to butter anyone up," I replied. "I'm just trying to tell my side of the story."

"The way I see it," the other police officer said, "there are no 'two sides' to the story. Some cases are complicated, but this one's pretty cut-and-dry. There are eyewitness accounts from your fellow students that you bit Isabella Fox last night."

With every word the policeman said, my mother's face blanched just a little bit more. She was being pulled towards a terrifying prospect, a conclusion she didn't want to accept.

Indeed, she began shaking her head as she grew paler and paler. She even grabbed one of the nearby IV poles in order to steady herself, and for a moment there, I truly believed she would faint.

But then she was able to get control of her breathing again. She said, "Cody, you should follow the orders of the police. I'll see you later, okay?"

I didn't respond; I couldn't bring myself to do so. Call me a coward, but I didn't feel as though I could face my mother right now. The woman who had brought me into this world terrified me more than the police officers.

So I followed the cops out of my small room, down the hallway, and back through the waiting room of the emergency department. To say the very least, this was heavily awkward, since there were peculiar looks on the faces of people waiting.

Can I blame them? I'm the one who's being led away by the police through an ER. If I were them, my eyes would be glued to that guy as well.

They led me to the police cruiser once again, and I was unceremoniously pushed inside after being handcuffed. And then the drive began to the precinct.

Although it was a Sunday morning, traffic was pretty heavy in Pastoria City. Perhaps some people were heading to morning services at the Church of Arceus, but I wasn't one of those people. I knew Arceus existed, and everyone knew I respected the Creator, so did I really need to worship him as well?

We passed three such churches, as well as an outdoor shopping mall with a doll, twenty feet tall, right next to the street. The doll was holding the traffic light for this particular intersection, and audibly said "Red light" or "Green light" when the light became that color.

I didn't know why, but something about that doll creeped me out. Perhaps it was the expression in her dead blue eyes, or the robotic manner in which she announced the color of the light, but it made me feel even more as though I were being led to my doom.

This should go without saying, but I had far too much time to think in the back of the police car. I was going to drive myself insane even before I had to answer their questions.

Finally, we parked in front of the police station, an imposing five-story stone building with wooden doors. If the job of police was to intimidate their suspects, this building served that purpose quite well.

Just as forcefully as I'd been dumped into the car, I was pushed out of it, and nearly ate pavement. However, I managed to keep my balance as I was hauled into the police station.

Much like when I'd been shown back through the emergency department, it was highly humiliating to be hauled through an area with people watching. The people waiting in line at the front desk for whatever reason all stopped to stare at me as though I were an animal in the zoo.

I can't tell you how many identical-looking rooms we passed. We walked down the hall and to the left, and I lost track of the number. It must have been a pretty big number, though, because it felt like it took forever before we arrived at the desired interrogation room.

(Desired, of course, by the police. I wanted no part of this, but I also had no choice but to take part.)

"Please have a seat, Mr. Harvard" a female voice announced.

I looked around and saw a gray-haired, bespectacled woman behind a desk. There was a desktop computer on the desk, but she didn't pay it any attention, instead focusing on the suspect who'd just been hauled into her room.

"Who are you?" I asked gruffly. Perhaps I was digging my own grave here, but I wanted to get answers rather than giving answers.

The woman behind the desk frowned. "I'm Detective Joanna Liat. I'm going to be the one questioning you today, and I expect you to know your rights."

I nodded; there was no reason not to tell the truth here, not when there would be plenty of witnesses to call on from the university. No doubt the whole campus knew of the attack by now.

"First of all, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Detective Liat read me my rights and all that jazz, which was probably meant to feel reassuring. However, all it did was remind me that I was in deep trouble, and would probably not be walking out of this precinct the way I'd entered.

"Do you understand these rights, Mr. Harvard?" the detective asked me.

I nodded, but in reality I'd barely heard her. For the first time, I'd allowed myself to process that the whole school knew about what I'd done. They knew that one of their own had been bitten by a were-Lycanroc, by me.

They know the truth about me. They know I'm a beast.

Other than accidentally hurting someone I cared about, that was my greatest fear. In just a matter of hours, both of my worst nightmares had come true.

"First question: How long have you been a lycanthrope? And do you need me to define the word lycanthrope?"

"There is no need to do that, miss," I said. "And to answer your other question, just a tiny bit over five years. It was the middle of October when I transformed at age fourteen; today's the first of November, is it not?"

Detective Liat nodded before moving on to her next question. "Have you been taking wolfsbane monthly as prescribed by your primary care physician?"

"Yes. I've taken it every single time I'm supposed to. But it didn't work last night. At least, not well enough."

"That answers my next question as well" the detective replied, jotting some notes down on a sheet of paper. It's worth noting that she spoke in a rather genial tone, which stood in stark contrast to what she was accusing me of having done.

No. She's not accusing me of doing those things. Everyone knows I did it; hell, I know it more than anyone else.

"What was your next question?" I asked. My main goal in doing this was to buy time, to waste precious seconds so that Detective Liat would run out of time to question me. It was a Hail Mary, to be sure, but did I really have any other play?

The detective frowned at me. "I was going to ask why you believe your wolfsbane did not work. I suppose that's a different question than why you went berserk, to put it one way."

"Why are you asking me this question? Isn't the reason for my wolfsbane not working irrelevant?"

Detective Liat pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Answer the question, dammit" she muttered. The way in which she said those words would have been comical if not for the current situation I was in.

"Fine," I replied. "I did not refrigerate the wolfsbane prior to taking it yesterday. When I lived at home, I had easy access to the fridge, but on campus I needed to use the communal one; as you know, I'm a university student, so…".

"I get what you're saying" the detective responded neutrally. "So you were too scared to have the other students be aware of your lycanthropy? Too cowardly to admit that you were dangerous?"

"I wasn't dangerous back then. I was still a human."

Detective Liat seemed to be struggling not to raise her voice. The way things were going, however, she was losing that battle; her volume got a little higher with every sarcastic word she uttered.

"I'm sure the family of Isabella Fox would agree that you were a docile little werewolf who obeyed the laws of Pastoria City. I'm sure young Ms. Fox isn't in intensive care right now as they monitor her for complications from the bite."

"Look, you know what I'm saying" I replied, echoing something the detective had said not half a minute earlier. "I'm just trying to tell my side of the story, and isn't law enforcement supposed to be as objective as possible?"

It was then that Detective Liat called my bluff. She banged her right fist on her desk and stared me right between the eyes.

"You're just trying to waste time so that I can't question you, aren't you? You think that if you don't answer all my questions, your crime is just going to go away?"

"I didn't say that. I didn't say anything like that."

"Then what's wrong with you?" the detective bellowed. "I've seen a lot of strategies used by criminals. They try to deflect, to deny, but to delay is literally the oldest trick in the book! We see it so often, it almost gets boring. Like, next time you're accused of a crime, find a more creative way to get out of it!"

I didn't say anything; I didn't have the faintest idea of what to say. I simply sat there, looking at the floor rather than at the detective.

"Please, Mr. Harvard", Detective Liat instructed me in a much more measured voice, "look me in the eye. Don't stare at the floor. I need to know that you're fully cooperating with the investigation."

What investigation? They already know what I did. That said, this lady isn't pulling any punches.

I did as I was told, and saw that in the detective's steel blue eyes, there was the same expression I'd seen in my mother's face that morning: Not anger, but disappointment. Except that the disappointment felt worse this time, since all Detective Liat knew about me was that I was a were-Lycanroc who'd bitten a fellow student last night. It's not like she had high expectations of me that I'd failed to live up to.

"I need you to understand that your crime's got consequences. For one, my office has received a notice from Greater Pastoria University, and they have something they'd like you to know."

My heart dropped like a freight elevator whose chains had been cut. "What is that?"

Detective Liat cleared her throat. "They want you to know that, effective immediately, you have been suspended from the university until further notice. There will be no refunding of tuition, and until such time as a decision is made regarding your future at GPU, you will not be permitted on campus, with one exception."

"W-what is that exception?" I asked, my voice breaking.

"You will return to campus after this questioning, and under the watchful eyes of the police, you will pack up everything from your dormitory. After that, you will be taken to jail, where you will await your arraignment, and a trial date will be set."

Suddenly, I felt as though Detective Liat were speaking from the top of a mile-deep hollow, and I was at the bottom of it. If that analogy doesn't make sense, then just understand that I was completely and utterly terrified, to the point that I could barely make out her words. They seemed to be coming from far away despite me being at point-blank range.

Even so, I heard the words jail, arraignment, and trial, and instantly knew that this was serious business; if I wasn't in trouble before, I certainly was now.

And then, to make matters worse, I was being suspended from school. I'd have nothing to distract myself with while I waited for my trial, and to make matters worse, even if I was ultimately allowed back, the make-up work was going to be a nightmare.

I can't worry about that now. I just have to get through this. I have to make things right somehow.

But that only invited another question: How in the world could this story have a happy ending?

Who here appreciates the Squid Game reference? Fun fact, there's an actual Squid Game doll statue at an intersection in Quezon City, Philippines, and reading about that gave me a flash of inspiration for that scene.

Also, I did decide that there will be non-Pokemon animals in this universe, for that's what makes the most sense for what I am writing.