It was at the gate to the huge mansion that passed for Raille's house that Twitch noticed the twisted bundle in the back of the RV. He had wanted to get some Mountain Dew and tripped over this…thing. He said nothing, but crouched and slowly pushed it over. He was slightly surprised to find that it was alive, and possibly human. It had to be the strangest creature Twitch had ever seen, and being who he was, that was saying a lot. Whoever and whatever it was, they were sickeningly thin, almost beyond emaciated. The person was clad in a filthy overcoat and their hair covered their face in a dull black heap. Every breath they took rattled.
"Hey-you," Twitch said as he kicked it. In an instant, it jumped to its feet with an agility that genuinely surprised Twitch.
"Wot?" it replied in a raspy mumble, wildly scanning its surroundings. "Wot ya wake m' up for?"
"We've-got-a-stowaway!" Twitch yelled, ignoring the thing for the time being. It mumbled something incoherent and collapsed back into its slumber, falling into an awkward and altogether very uncomfortable looking position. Raille came to the back to have a look.
"Aw, poor thing. Let's take it inside and get him…her…it…cleaned and fed! It looks like it hasn't seen a bath or decent food in ages!" She didn't know it, but she was right.
"That's-out-of-the-question," Twitch stated, "we're-not-drawing-attention-to-ourselves-if-at-all-possible-and-we-certainly-don't-need-another-mouth-to-feed. I'm-going-to-boot-this-abomination-to-the-street-and-we'll-be-done-with-it." At this, the thing again jumped to its feet and made a sort of guttural hiss. Through its shaggy locks, Twitch and Raille saw a large mouth lined with sharp yellow teeth. It raised two ghostly pale arms tipped with thick, pointed nails.
"Ain' leavin' m' nowhere!" it exclaimed, before jumping at Twitch with amazing agility. The two tumbled out of the RV and began to fight. Both combatants moved with blazing speed and unmatched finesse. Twitch unsheathed his claws and unleashed a barrage of swipes, which the vicious thing easily avoided with a mercury-like fluidity. It returned the attack so fast that it blurred. Twitch dodged with a nonchalant ease, and then cloaked himself. This left the creature to do what looked like an odd sort of seizure-inspired dance, as it dodged every single strike Twitch made with a supernatural ease.
All of this very much confused and, naturally, intrigued Twitch. The battle went on in this way for several minutes before the two broke briefly. Twitch was almost breaking a sweat, a rare and joyous feeling for him. The creature, whatever it was, said nothing, but cocked its head to one side and made a strange wheezing sound.
"What-are-you?" Twitch asked. The thing made no reply. A vaporous, brilliant energy began snaking its way along its veins. A wind suddenly whipped through the street, taking the thing's hair and giving Twitch the first view of its face. It was the pale, cadaverous face of a malnourished teenage boy. He had several oddities about him that weren't quite right. One eye was yellow with a pinhole of a pupil, while the other had no iris, just the black void of an abnormally large pupil. The veins in his eyes were a deep and very visible red. His mouth was twisted in a very disturbing grin. A single, deep scar trailed from his forehead to his throat, dividing his face in half. The dancing energy highlighted his frame and traveled along his veins, detracting from his body in just such a way that he looked as if he had the ears and tail of a spectral wolf. His nails elongated into vicious claws, and his canine teeth were suddenly much more pronounced. His own personal pack of magic wolves began to mill around his legs. He howled, and he and his pack charged Twitch again, trailing magical energy. Twitch stood frozen in terror, his cybernetic eyes wide. Twitch knew what he was up against. It was the one thing he feared. Menniker, suddenly not feeling so safe inside of his RV, only mouthed the word…"shaman."