**Lycanthropy**

[Fenrir Shade]

Lately Fenrir has had terrible nightmares. They've been persisting for a month now, each night growing more and more vivid. Tonight, is no different...

Fenrir is looking through blurry, lightly red tinted eyes, and was larger than usual. A full five feet taller. Usually during these dreams, his 'target' is a lamb, or some chickens, but tonight his mind picked a woman, walking through the marketplace by herself at night. The thing he was seeing through had massive claws, and could leap buildings in single bounds. This beast decided to prey on this woman, silently tackling her and tearing into her body. It ripped her limb from limb, slashing through her stomach and biting into her face. Fenrir was no stranger to blood and violence, but this was a horrible image, one he didn't want to see. This wasn't murder anymore, this was negligence of all other life. Then, the worst thing possible happened. The thing began to eat the woman! He couldn't stop the dream however, couldn't end the hell he was experiencing. He had to watch. And watch. And watch. As this woman was brutally slaughtered, and then devoured.

He awoke in a cold sweat with a terrified scream. He had finally managed to rip his mind from the images in his nightmare. He walks to the bathroom and washes his face with water. He looks into the mirror and examines his reflection. His eyes were extremely bloodshot, and his typical stubble was replaced with a full fledged beard. He glanced at his razor, and contemplated shaving, but decided to skip it. He puts on some clothes and leaves his house, heading for the castle. He didn't change his appearance, other than a brief shower to remove his slight stench.

He enters the castle's grand hall, and heads for the dinning room to join his friends for Breakfast. "Morning... How's everyone today?" he sleepily asks, dragging himself into a chair and grabbing his typical bowl of cereal.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Fenrir, upon receiving no response, looks around him to find the entire dinning hall vacant. "What the-" he stands up with his cereal in his hand, and begins searching. After a few minutes of searching, he assumed they went off on an adventure and he overslept. 'Oh well.' he sits at the rec couch and turns on the News, something he hadn't watched in a few months now.

"-And the Royal Family has shown up to explain the situation." the camera Cross Dissolves into a scene with a podium, and the King and Queen were giving a speech, but it's been dubbed over and summarized by the anchor, "We will fill find the thing that did this to this woman! Something this cruel must be killed!" whether those were their exact words was unknown, because it wasn't them talking. Then the camera show a scene of a woman torn to pieces and partially devoured. Fenrir drops his bowl on the floor and stares at the T.V... "No..." he stutters, "No!" The woman was the same one from his dream...  

[The Jolly Victini]

B.E.N. walked downstairs from Rose's room. She was still asleep, but he wanted to play, so he decided to go downstairs to the rec room to see if anyone would play a video game with him. Upon opening the door he saw Fenrir stand up and his bowl of cereal crash to the floor. He jumped and ran over to Fenrir. "Hey! Fenrir! What's wrong?!" the young B.E.N. asked.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Realizing that B.E.N. was watching him, and knowing that he had to handle this subject delicately, he shakes his head and clears his mind. "Oh, B.E.N., nothing. I just...." he couldn't think of a reasonable story, a believable excuse for freaking out, "I Don't know.... I'm sorry for scaring you." He bends down to start cleaning up the mess he made using a conveniently placed towel.  

[The Jolly Victini]

B.E.N. decided to accept the given answer and hop up onto the couch. "So, what'cha watching?" he asked, not having turned to see the TV yet.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Fenrir immediately grabbed the remote and change the channel to Looney Toons. "Oh, um, just my favorite cartoon show of all times. "he says, not in the slightest bit fabricating the truth.  

[The Jolly Victini]

B.E.N. watched the cartoon curiously. As soon as he saw the Coyote smack into a cliff face after missing a road runner, B.E.N. burst into a fit of giggles.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Fenrir forgot about his troubles for the time being, and began to laugh with B.E.N. feeling like a kid again. He hadn't watched the show for a very long time, and it brought back great memories, and some bad ones. But he swiftly pushed the latter deeper into his subconsciousness, and focused on the good.

He slowly picks up B.E.N. and holds him in his lap like he was his own child, which he obviously wasn't, but it was something he hoped would come true one day... 'Huh, I haven't ever thought of that until just now... I really need to focus on my long-term life expectancy, see where I'm going, and where I'd like to end up... But that's for a different day.' he thinks to himself, looking at B.E.N. with a smile.  

[The Jolly Victini]

B.E.N. continued to watch the show until he fell back asleep, his ear twitching every so often.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Fenrir lifts B.E.N. up and carries him to his room, placing him in his bed. Fenrir covers him up and leaves the castle, determined to get the bottom of what's been happening to him. He runs to the scene where the vast majority of the kingdom was at. He wades through the people until he reached he king and queen.  

[The Jolly Victini]

S.M. turned to face Fenrir upon his entrance. Upon ordering the cameras be shut off, everyone did just that and left the scene, going about their business. "Hey, Fenrir. I take it you saw the news?" he asked.  

[Fenrir Shade]

Fenrir stutters out his reply, "Oh, uh, y-yeah. A l-little bit. W-what do we know?" he realizes his nerves were getting to him, and takes a deep breath. "Sorry, I just woke up, saw what happened and was startled by it." He bends down and scoops up some shadow in his hands, and throws it in his face like cold water.  

[The Jolly Victini]

"I've got no idea other than to post a few more guards in the town and maybe one of them can see what's doing this..." S.M. replied, looking to the now covered mess of what once was a normal Mobian.  

[Fenrir Shade]

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea." replies Fenrir, avoiding looking at the bag. "Were there any witnesses?"  

[The Jolly Victini]

"Not a single one." S.M. said, shaking his head. "She was in the wrong place at the wrong time..."