Almighty Therianthropy
Chapter 4
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Minutes later, Bunny, Jack, July and Revere popped out of a tunnel and found themselves in a small town outside Stockholm, Sweden. Bunnymund sniffed the air to find the werewolves and the other three following him quickly. July rode on Revere's back as he darted through the trees. She had brought her own dual handguns to fight with, though they looked a little different than any standard gun Jack had ever seen. For instance, they didn't have triggers, but they still had trigger guards. The nose was also shaped weird. Jack was given his gun, which he was kind of uncomfortable holding. He was hoping he'd at least get some practice in before using it, but now he just had to hope that he wouldn't waste the silver bullets that July made.
"There!" Bunny came to a halt, pulling out his boomerangs. Jack and July also readied their weapons, and gasped in horror at what they were seeing. Werewolves, no… not just werewolves, other were-things too, were massacring innocent adults and children. People tried running and screaming for help but the beasts caught them before they could run or drive away, tearing them out of their homes and cars and biting and eating whatever flesh they could reach. With their strength they ripped off limbs and skin, causing these people slow and painful deaths. There was blood everywhere, and the monsters bathed in it happily. Jack had never seen anything more disgusting in his life. Bunny was seething in anger.
"STOP!" July screamed, firing a shot into the air with her gun. The shot wasn't a bullet; however, it was a red, white and blue firework. Oh, I get it. Jack thought. Those guns control her power into bullet form. The were-creatures stopped and looked at her.
"Who are you?" A were-bear asked in a Russian accent, going up to them. The other were-beasts also gathered around. "I see you brought some Guardians with you. Saves us some time." The others laughed.
"I am Lady Liberty." She called herself. "What the fuck do you think you're doing here?"
"Oh right, the American spirit." A were-jackal with an African accent said. "What are you doing here? We weren't even going to come near your country, unless there are some infidels you'd like us to take care of."
"Infidels?" Bunnymund growled. "What are you talking about?!"
"Yeah, we thought you were just after the Guardians!" Jack said, trying hard not to throw up.
"Oh, no, not just you." A were-tiger stepped forward. She was the largest and best-spoken out of the group with a lovely Indian accent. "You really don't know? I thought the Guardians knew about us." Jack looked at Bunny, but he was just as confused. "Oh my, I suppose we should introduce ourselves." She nodded her head as some sort of signal, and all of the creatures turned into their original human forms, including her. She was a lovely Indian woman in her late thirties wearing a colorful sari. The rest of them also looked like normal human beings wearing the traditional clothing of their countries.
"Don't let your guard down." July whispered, gripping her weapons tighter.
"Ah, come now, miss." The woman smiled. "America is all about compromise, yes? Let us speak before we fight." She bowed. "We are the Almighty's Therianthropes. We have been given our gifts by God to wipe away all that do not believe in Him."
"Yes." The were-jackal, who was now a tall African man, said. "We thought we were monsters, chastised by all, until we found each other and realized our true purpose so many years ago."
"The Dark Ages." Bunny growled. "That's when you bitzers got brainwashed into believing such tripe."
"Watch your mouth, rabbit." The Indian woman said calmly. "Yes, back then we discovered our purpose. We are soldiers of God, and we will cleanse the Earth of non-believers, and the causes of such people." She glared at Jack and Bunny.
"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, completely gob smacked.
"You, Easter Bunny…" Said the were-bear, now a big hairy Russian man. "You and Santa Claus have shamed the days of our savior's birth and death. You have made children believe in you and your ridiculous traditions, hence making them forget what the true purpose of those days are. And we will stop you from doing such awful things."
"Awful?" Bunnymund repeated, making sure he heard that right. "AWFUL?! And KILLING innocent children is BETTER than what I'm doing?!"
"This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." July said quietly. "You're murdering people who don't believe in God, something or someone that NO ONE has confirmed the existence of? And yet they believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny, spirits that ACTUALLY exist? They are the RIGHT things to believe in, not in something that is not even real."
"Unbelievable." The Indian woman gasped. "You don't believe in the Almighty, Miss Liberty?"
"I don't. I believe in him." She pointed up to the sky at the Moon. "And them." She nodded to her friends.
"It's funny; your people do not share your beliefs."
"I'm working on that." July pointed the gun back to the woman's head. "So is that why you're attacking Sweden? Because they don't believe?"
"That is correct." She transformed again. "But now we must get on with our duty. I can see there is no compromising with you. We will let your country live, but now you must die." The others transformed while the were-tiger lunged forward. Jack reacted, pulling the gun out of his pocket and pointing it at the creature's head. She stopped, more interested than afraid. "Oh no, is that silver I smell?" Jack, though incredibly angry and horrified by these were-creatures, was hesitating in pulling the trigger. The were-tiger, as well as July and Bunny, noticed this. "Well, go on, I'll hold still." She smiled wickedly. "A Guardian's kindness towards the living is their weakness."
BANG BANG
"You forgot… I'm not a Guardian." July shot the beast in the face. As she writhed on the ground, the others charged toward them. Jack reacted again, this time using his own power to freeze all of the were-beings in place. "Good job, Jack." July put her weapons away in their holsters. "I'll take care of them." She held out her hand, and the teen sighed and gave her the Ruger.
"I'm… I'm sorry…"
"No, it's okay." She understood. "You froze 'em, now I'll shoot 'em." She smiled before cocking the gun and swiftly shooting each one in the head, never wasting a bullet.
"Uh, I could use a little help over here ya bloody whackers." Bunny growled. The three turned to him, and he pointed to his feet, which were frozen to the ground. They had to laugh. "Come on, it hurts!"
"Oh man, I'm sorry, Bunny." Jack knelt down, trying to move the rabbit's big feet or breaking the ice, but the winter spirit was only making it worse.
"OW!" The rabbit yelled. "Why don't ya watch where you're aiming next time?"
"I said sorry!" Jack whined.
"Here, I got it." July knelt down and rubbed Bunny's feet, using her powers to melt the ice.
"Thanks, sheila." Bunny shakes his feet one at a time, getting rid of the frost. Jack pouts, unhappy that he couldn't do anything about his frozen feet and that he didn't acknowledge his apology. Suddenly, Revere shrieks, pointing in the direction of the forest. They turn and see North, Tooth and Sandy hurrying to them. "Hey, where were you guys?"
"We ran into were-creatures in forest!" The toymaker huffed. "Sandy knocked them all out." Sandy held his little fists in the air.
"They're not dead?" July asked. Sandy shook his head. "I'll go finish the job, then. Come on, Rev." She hopped on the eagle's back and they flew into the forest.
"We… didn't make it." Tooth looked over the bloody scene, a horrified look in her pink eyes. The Guardians all hung their heads in shame and remorse.
"Come; let's wait over here by sleigh." North put his hand on Jack's shoulder, who couldn't tear his eyes away from it, wishing this didn't happen.
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"Okay, they're all taken care of." July and Revere met the Guardians by the sleigh, which rested by a small river in the woods. The eagle went to 'chat' with the reindeer. "I'm guessing you're all up to speed."
"Yes." North said. "This is very serious."
"Yeah, so what are we standing around here for?" Jack asked a little too harshly.
"He's right. We need to get back to my warehouse and finish those weapons." July said. "That reminds me… Sandy, what kind of weapons would you like?" The golden man thought for a moment before making some shurikens with his sand, and then demonstrating how he would use them by making sand-whips and whipping the shurikens into a tree. "Wow, why didn't I think of that?"
"I can help you make those!" North became excited, not making weapons in a long time.
"Really? Santa and I working together?" She put an arm around his back. "Sounds awesome! Come on, let's hurry."
"Yeah. Those bastards ain't gonna wait for us, mates." Bunny said. They all couldn't wait to kick some were-butts, especially Jack. He would not hold back next time.
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A/N: Ooo, things are getting interesting! (I hope) This one seemed a little short, but I wanted to explain a few things about how I got the idea for this fic and some fun facts. I had just come up with Bunny fighting werewolves and thought it was cool and wanted to make it a story, but I needed a plot. So I went to Wikipedia and saw a story about a guy who claimed that werewolves weren't the devil's servants, they were God's. I found that very interesting and came up with were-things leading a cult that believed such things and tried killing those who didn't believe. I also wondered how religion would play a part in the Guardians' universe. If Santa is real, then was Jesus, the guy that Christmas is supposed to be about? Are Christmas and Easter still Christian holidays with the Guardians around? So this story was born and, add a little JackRabbit and my OC, you get this.
Therianthropy is the metamorphosis of humans into animals. For some reason, it's not a word in MS Word's dictionary. There're all kinds of were-beasts of legends all over the world, not just werewolves. So the beasts I came up with represent the legends of their countries: were-jackals from Africa, were-bears from Russia and were-tigers from India. There are many more kinds of were-beasts, and I'll try to include all that I can.
There was a poll taken about religion for each country, asking if religion was a part of their everyday lives. (Found on Wikipedia. This is what I'm basing that certain part of the story on.) Sweden was the country that answered 'no' the most, Denmark a close second, with other countries including Japan, Australia and Canada. Very surprisingly to me, America was at the bottom of this list, making it one of the most religious countries. This honestly shocked me. My OC is not atheist just because I want her to be, but because it makes the most sense with the world they're living in. Her 'god' is MiM; because he exists in that world and the Guardians are proof of that while God has yet to be proven to exist. That is my explanation. So then, please review and feel free to ask questions, but I don't want any negativity towards atheism or any religion. Thank you!
- Taru-chan