THE WEREWOLF'S FURY
New and Improved! (I told you I'd get to it sooner or later)
Now, don't get your shorts in a bind. I only rewrote the first couple chapters. The reason? I reread them, and during the entire thing, I thought to myself "Holy crap, these first chapters suck!". I'm only re-wording it to make it sound better, not making an entire new beginning. (because it would screw up the rest of the story).
Hamtaro and all related characters ©Ritsuko Kawaii. Any related names, places, or ideas are unintentional and completely coincidental.
Chapter 1
The lights were on at the clubhouse. This wouldn't be too uncommon, except for the fact that it was late at night. Normally the group wouldn't go there after dark, but Boss had organized a little slumber party and to watch a scary movie.
"God damn this TV!" Boss roared. "It never works!"
Pashmina gave him a dirty look. "Ahem, Penelope is here."
"Oh, right. Watch the language . . ."
"Ha! You'd better hope that Penelope's first word isn't a swear word, the way these boys talk around here," Sandy giggled.
"What? I don't swear, it's all Boss! I need to keep my vocab clean for the ladies," Stan said suavely.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Boss said. "Now is there anyone here who can fix this TV? I kind of wanted to watch that movie."
"By the way, Boss, what movie is it? And what's it rated? I don't know if Penelope can watch a horror movie because she'll get scared."
"The movie we're watchin' is called Night of the Black Fox. And I have no idea what it's rated. Besides, if we can't get this darn television to work, we won't be watching anything," he told her.
"Maybe we could tell our own horror stories," Howdy suggested. "I think I've got a good one up my sleeve . . . If I had a sleeve! He he heeeee!"
The ham-hams groaned. "Get on with the story, will ya?"
"Alrighty. If you're easily scared, I'd suggest you leave . . ." he started. "Too late! Now ya gotta stay. Well, one night, out in these here woods, a ham-ham went out to play with his buddies. He walked into the trees, and soon got lost. He looked around, hoping he'd find his way back, but he couldn't. Suddenly, he heard a scratch. Another. Another. They started to sound more like footsteps as the seconds passed. Then, without notice, the ham-ham heard a loud roar and a dark figure right above him . . . it was a werewolf!"
"What happened to him?" Bijou asked.
"Hold on, you'll see. His friends soon noticed he was missing, and decided to go look. They split up, and one of them actually did find him. Or what was left. All that remained was a bloody pulp of flesh and bone."
"Ew! I think that's enough, Howdy," Sandy said, a frown on her face.
"Good, because that was the end."
"Great, Howdy. Now look what you've done." Pashmina motioned to Penelope, who was cowering behind her. "Could you at least give us a little warning beforehand?"
"I did!" he insisted. "Didn't I say that it was scary right at the beginning?"
"Yeah, he did," Panda backed him up. "But I guess we didn't believe you. You always lie to us and fib and make up all these things. Kind of like the boy who cried wolf. Or in your case, werewolf."
"Alright, guys, enough! We should do something else to keep us occupied," Boss interrupted. "Who wants to play a game?"
"That depends. Board game or card game?" Hamtaro asked him.
"Board game? More like bored game. Let's go play outside," Stan suggested.
"But Stan! It's dark outside! And that story Howdy told has me totally creeped out," his sister complained.
He rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows that Howdy was just trying to scare us. That story wasn't real."
"He's right," Boss complied. "Howdy's story is just a load of bull."
"But it's dark out, like Sandy said. What are we supposed to do in the dark?" Cappy questioned.
A smirk appeared over Boss' face. "Why . . . we could play hide and seek. It's way more fun in the dark, because you can't see the hiders as easily."
"I have a better idea. Hide and seek tag. That way we can run if the seeker is near us. That's my favorite way to play," Stan said.
"Should we bring a flashlight just in case?"
"Sure. I don't care."
Boss and Stan walked toward the door, while everyone else just sat at their spots. Boss looked back and noticed, and motioned them to follow. A couple of groans were heard, but they did come with.
X X X X X X X X X X
They gathered at the field near the clubhouse. Boss had the flashlight gripped tightly in his paws.
"Okay. First we need to decide who's 'it'. Let's do rock-paper-scissors. The loser is the first seeker."
They all formed a circle, and prepared to show their sign. On the count of three, they revealed . . . and in a freak coincidence, all had chosen 'rock' except Cappy and Howdy, who picked scissors.
"Face off between Cappy and Howdy, it looks like. Okay, on the count of three . . ."
They revealed. Howdy had scissors, and Cappy had paper.
"Ha ha har! Always stick with your first choice!" Howdy teased.
Cappy started to count, and the ham-hams scattered in all directions. While he was counting, he overheard Sandy and Maxwell talking north of him. That's where he'd go first, he thought to himself.
"Ready or not, here I come! He shouted as he started off. Like he said, he headed north. Straight into the woods. He had thoughts in the back of his head, a little voice telling him not to go. But he did anyway.
He pushed aside some branches, hoping to see someone. No one. Cappy continued on, only to hear a rustling in the bushes. He stopped. He was about to jump in, to try and catch the ham-ham hiding inside. But right as he prepared to leap, Sandy made a mad dash out, just avoiding getting tagged. All Cappy saw was the brief flash of brown stripes rush by him.
He sighed, and ventured further. Maxwell had to be out there somewhere, he heard him. Cappy had soon gone so far, he was completely lost. He began to panic, shouting for Maxwell. Maxwell had actually gotten out from his hiding spot and followed Sandy, but Cappy didn't see him then and thought he was still out in the woods somewhere.
Suddenly, he heard another noise in the brush. Thinking it was Max, he walked closer. But to his surprise, he did not see the warm, caring eyes of Maxwell, but instead the cold, green eyes of something else. Cappy turned to run, but it was too late; the creature made a mighty leap and landed upon him, pinning him to the ground.
He looked up, straight into the face of the beast. In the dark, Cappy could make out the long, pointed snout of it, and the shaggy coat. It was still unclear to him what exactly it was, but he knew one thing for sure: it wanted him dead.
Its teeth were enclosed in a menacing snarl, while the jet-black claws flexed in and out, preparing to strike its target. Muscles lined the creature's long, thin arms and legs, and the tail waved back and forth, excited for the kill.
It raised its body into the moonlight, lifting its huge paw up the slice him. The silver light from the moon confirmed to Cappy what he was dealing with, and he let out a scream. "WEREW-"
He didn't get the word out before the werewolf smacked him across the face, leaving three red lines below his eyes. The beast was overconfident in itself, and drew its attention away for a short moment, but long enough for Cappy to slip away from it. He didn't get far before the wolf noticed, and lunged at him. He lost his footing and fell, once again looking into its face. It stared back, seeming to cut into his soul with its emotionless eyes. Cappy looked away, terrified beyond belief by the dark figure above him. But it was too late before he noticed his fatal mistake: he exposed his throat.
Taking this as its chance, the werewolf opened its jaws and clamped down upon his neck, scything through the flesh in his neck. Cappy grabbed at its muzzle, trying to pull it away, but failed. He sputtered out a final "He-helkkkhhh-ehhkk . . ." before closing his eyes for the last time. He fell lifeless.
The werewolf looked down at him, blood dripping down from its teeth. It simply stared at the carcass for a bit, then picked him up by the head and dragged him deeper into the forest, leaving a trail of deep crimson behind.
X X X X X X X X X X
Nearby in the field, the ham-hams realized that Cappy had not returned from the woods. They had begun to search, but had no luck so far. Sandy was put on the spot, for she was the last to see him.
"Maxwell and I will go look in the trees over there. That's where I last saw him."
They started off into thee dark forest, but were stopped by Stan. "Hey! I want to come with too!" he called after them.
They followed the thin trail for a bit until they reached the spot that Sandy had hid. Maxwell sniffed the air to catch Cappy's scent, and followed it west. But that wasn't the only smell in the air. There was something new . . . something that he had not smelled before . . .
Stan ran ahead. "I'd bet money that he got lost. He is the most scatterbrained guy that I've ever met."
Maxwell sniffed the air again. "He's close."
Stan could smell him too. He pulled aside a branch that was in his way, and stopped in his tracks at what lay in front of him.