Thanks Koichi, I get tired of copying/pasting that. And actually no, I didn't. I wasn't introduced to Rockman until EXE came out. Truth be told, I made hyenas Solrists because when I hear the word hyena I think of a weird dog-thing in Africa, which is always hot. Yeah… ^^; and no, the other characters aren't lycanthropes, at least not yet. This is a series based on lycanthropy so someone is bound to get infected, but I dunno who or what or why yet. Anyway, next chapter time. I am full of a lot of energy so instead of wasting time with my rants, I am going to get right to the story. Recap: Chaula, Bass, and Protias escorted Lan and Chaud to the Underground, where they met up with Hana, who turns out to be a werehyena. Chaud transformed into his snake form to try and teach Lan how to control the shapeshifting powers when the eclipse happened, forcing Lan into snake form and wiping out every Solarists memory of being human. Chaula, Bass, and Protias tried to fight them off but Chaula was knocked unconscious. Recap over. Now, while you are contemplating last chapter, I am going to tone things down with Raika's chapter. We are going to see how his time away from Chaula was spent. Yosh!

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Raika blushed lightly and walked away from the tree, turning to everyone.

"Ok, well, let's go. While we are waiting for Chaula and the others I can introduce you to most of the pack. Come on." He said, walking towards town. Everyone nodded and followed him. Megaman and Protoman looked back at the tree, worried about Lan and Chaud, before they followed the others. Raika took them to a part of town that was filled with lycanthropes, some were in full form and some were in half form. Megaman shivered and walked up to Raika, climbing onto his back and looking over his shoulder.

"Um, shouldn't they be underground?" Megaman asked nervously. Searchman looked over at Megaman as Raika carefully took him off his back.

"Because they don't need to be, only Solarists do." He said as he continued walking. Megaman and Protoman exchanged quick glances and kept pace with everyone. Raika continued walking until they came up to a park-type area where a guy was hunched over on a park bench. Raika walked up to him and touched his shoulder, making him jump and turn around too fast for any human. "Manny, what are you doing?" Raika asked, raising a brow. The guy sighed and stood up, stretching. His hair was a dark black and he had green eyes. He was a little bit taller then Raika. Where Raika wore military style clothes, this guy had mad scientist. He wore a white lab coat over a pair of slacks and a yellow t-shirt as well as some white gloves, not unlike Raika's. He looked at Raika then back to his PET

"I'm working on Devon for school next year. I figured that if we have a costume for him we might as well have a navi. And the Headmaster agrees and put me in charge of bringing Devon to life." He explained as he took out a laptop and started back to work on his project.

"And just how long ago was this assigned to you?" Raika asked. Manny looked up from the screen with a tired look in his eyes.

"The end of school. I have been working really hard on this and it's driving me mad! I keep making mistakes in the scripting." He complained, turning back to his work.

"Do the others know about this?"

"No, of course not. I don't want them to get as irritated at this as I am. Plus, everyone has made something on their own that they can be proud of. Chaula made DeoBane, Hana made Iriya's sword, the twins made the medallions, and you turned LunarLord from a spikey virus to a half-navi. I want to do something on my own that I can be proud of too." He said, not looking up from the screen. Raika smirked at his friend and turned to everyone else.

"This is Manuske guys. He's the brains in our group. He helped with the scripting in our "Call of the Wild" program and he designed a lot of the technology at the base." Raika said. Manny waved once at them not looking up from his work. An alarm went off on his computer and he looked up at the sky, seeing the moon cover up the sun.

"It's started, hopefully all the Solarists are in the Underground now. So Raika, where's Chaula? You two are never separated when you are home." He said.

"Well, thanks to Hana's big mouth my friends came over for the party, and two of them are weresnakes. She went to the Underground with them to protect them until the eclipse came" Raika responded. Manny looked up from his computer and stared at Raika sternly.

"Raika, you should know better than that! She needs the whole pack to help her with all those Solarists, and with her in close proximity of two weresnakes, that is suicide." When he said this, Raika's eyes widened and he started to sweat.

"Well, Bass and Protias went with her, not to mention that she probably met up with Hana and Hyaman by now. She's safe with them, right?" He asked, knowing the answer deep down. Manny shook his head and closed his laptop.

"If it weren't Solarists, she would, but even Bass can't take on all of those reptiles at once. I'll get the twins, we should go check on them." He took out his PET and sent an e-mail. "Come on, let's go. I'll follow you." He said after he put away his laptop. Raika nodded and began walking.

"If I know Chaula like I think I do, she would have taken them to Creatchow. We should start there." Raika said as he and the others followed him. He took them to the forest and saw three lions and a lemur standing in front of a large tree.

"I was wondering when you would get here, we almost went down without you." One of the lionesses said. Raika nodded and looked to everyone. He was just about to start talking when he heard a long, painful howl come from beneath the tree. A howl he not only recognized as Chaula's but he knew was a call for help. Raika, Manny, Searchman, the lemur, and the lions all shifted around nervously.

"Guys, this is going to be dangerous, so I ask that only your netnavis come down with us. The howl you just heard was Chaula calling for help, which is something that almost never happens unless she is in deep trouble." He said as he and Manny took off their coats.

"But wait, how can we help? I mean, we don't even know how to use our new powers." Roll said in her kangaroo form. All the other navis agreed with her. Raika sighed and looked at them harshly.

"I am asking you for your help! And that is not something I like doing either. You will know how to use your powers when the time comes. I don't care if you do come or not, but right now, MY best friend is in danger and I am going to go save her whether you help me or not." Raika snapped as he changed. His feet and hands became thick and turned into hooves while tan and mint-green fur engulfed his back. The skin on the top of his head could be heard breaking as two giant antlers came out and started forming branches. His face thinned and lengthened as the rest of his body grew thick. He went down on all fours as a little tail came out from the top of his rump, completing the transformation. He looked magnificent and deadly, his fur tan except for his white belly and a few curling lines of mint green on his back. Raika walked over to the entrance of the tree as Manny crossed his arms and sighed.

"You know, Battle-Tactics was the only class I didn't get an A or B in, but I supposed that doesn't matter to you, does it Raika?" He asked him. Raika shook his head.

"No, not really." Manny sighed and and relaxed his arms.

"I figured as much." He said as he took off his gloves, revealing thick, clawed, three-fingered hands. Everyone gasped as he began changing. The first thing to come was a long, wormlike tail. His face angled as some whiskers came out from the sides of his nose and black fur engulfed him. The lower half of his body grew fat as his ears grew a little more pointed. When the transformation was over, a big rat stood in the place of Manuske.

"Let's go." Raika said as he opened the entrance to the Underground and the lions, lemur, Searchman, and Manny rushed inside. He was just about to go in when the other navis rushed inside as well. He looked to his friends as they smiled and waved.

"Be careful." Dingo said to him. Raika nodded and went inside, rushing ahead of the group. They had gotten to the main city when Raika saw a blue rattlesnake throw Chaula against the wall. He grew very angry as he and the others rushed forward. He grabbed the snake with his antlers and threw it aside with Searchman's help before he rushed over to Chaula.

'Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok.' He mentally begged as he walked up to his friend. His nose went to her face as he gently rubbed her with it. He raised his head and sighed. She was unconscious, but she was safe.

"Raika!" Bass and Protias called out as they rushed over to him. Raika turned to them and looked sternly at them.

"Get her out of here, we'll cover you!" He commanded. They didn't argue as Protias helped Bass get Chaula on his back. He flew to a less-crowded entrance as Raika followed them. When they got to an exit, he turned around and saw a bunch of reptiles headed his way. He glared and reared up. "Back off!" He said as he slammed his hooves down, sending out a shockwave that knocked them all back. Bass and Protias managed to escape and Raika nodded, calling out. "Scatter, now! Get out of the Underground and meet back at the house!" He shouted as he ran toward the way he came. He managed to get to an exit as the others fought to get away.

TBC

Another cliffhanger! Will they all make it out? Find out in next chapter, coming out tomorrow. Read and review.