"Damn. Damn damn damn."

Bruno's body stung as he washed his wounds off in the bath tub. He watched the pink mixture of blood and water swirl down the drain. The Mightyena's sharp fangs left massive gashes on his limbs and torso, and his face and body were covered with deep claw marks. He shivered. Atleast that dog was gone now. Bruno gave Mightyena a terrible pounding during the attack and, after leaving him a momento in the form of one more deadly chomp, she finally burst through the window and ran off. He was sure Karen would be mad at him later, but it was either him or the mutt.

'There. That should do.' Bruno turned on the faucet to get out the last of the washed-out blood, put on his blue trousers, then proceded to the sink for the first aid kit. The kit was actually a big, bulky duffle bag, for one gets injured frequently when he's a master of physical fighting. When he opened the bag however, the overwhelming medical scent made him sick to his stomach. Bruno never cared for that smell, but this was the first time it made him feel truly ill. He sat on the edge of the tub and put his head between his legs, the surefire way to relieving nausea.

It didn't work. Minutes passed and the upset in Bruno's stomach worsened. 'Shit, I did catch something from that filthy dog.' He heaved and clenched his teeth. He curled his arms across his belly and paused. Fuzz? Bruno didn't want to look down but he did. To his horror, there were patches of grey fur on his abdomen. Smoky fur also sprouted on his upper arms but his lower arms and hands were covered with black hair. Bruno didn't have long to wonder about his growing fur before he felt a hot, burning pain in his spine. He collapsed on the cold tiled floor in agony, arching his back. His fingernails, formed into sharp claws, dug into the floor leaving jagged scrapes. The fiery sensation was strongest at the base of his spine. When the pain ceased, Bruno glanced back. He was greeted by a bushy black tail formed from, logically, his tail bone.

'Aw shit.'

Suddenly, Bruno's jaws and legs ached terribly. He squeazed his eyes shut as his face started to protrude and form into a furry muzzle and his canines grew into sharp fangs. His sense of smell suddenly sharpened. The aroma of soap and the odor of ointment stung at his sensitive canine nose. His femurs began to deform and bend slightly, his feet elongated and the bones of his clawed toes curved, turning into paws complete with hard pads on the bottom.

Bruno opened his now yellow and red eyes. His eyesight was much worse, everything looked monochrome with only a few shades of color present, and the bright light of the bathroom irritated his oculars. But his hearing and sense of was smell heightened. Something piqued his interest. He perked his large, pointed ears and rotated them, searching for the source. A low, singing murmur was heard followed by the oily scent of human flesh. This smell excited Bruno and he suddenly had the urge to hunt.

"I'm on a quest for toothpaste

I must hurry, no time to waste

Brush my teeth, make them clean

Then I'm gonna leeeeeave."

Jim: ((eep. o.O))

Will didn't mind that the last line of his little diddy failed to rhyme perfectly. He decided to continue his fantasy tune with whistling. That reminded him of a real song, "Whistling in the Dark" by "They Might Be Giants." Will smiled as he lowered his voice several octaves.

"A woman came up to me and said, 'I'd like to poison your mind,

With wrong ideas that appeal to you, though I am not unkind.'"

WHAM!

The bathroom door crashed to the ground and shattered into several pieces. Will screamed. Prowling from the heap was a Mightyena. It was more than twice the size of Karen's, was wearing blue pants, had a big tuft of spikey black hair on its head, and human-like arms, torso, and lower jaw. It was Bruno. Will suddenly got a flashback of when he was five years old. He saw a man walking a Houndoom, and young Will toddled up to the dog eager to pet it. He was greeted by a stream of flame shooting from the irate canine's mouth. From that day forward, Will was in constant agony. He had to wear a crude mask to cover his badly burned face and one completely singed eye. Will learned to calm his mind through meditation to ease the pain, thus contributing to his strong ties to Psychic Pokemon. As Will's one exposed eye locked with Bruno's slit crimson ones, the young man felt the Houndoom's hellish fire burning his flesh.

Bruno bared his long fangs and charged at Will. He slammed the boy into the ground nearly shattering his spine. Will cringed as chunks of saliva from Bruno's snarling black lips splattered onto his face. The were-Mightyena felt Will's terrified heart pounding against his paws. Bruno suddenly lunged at his throat and swifty tore it open with powerful jaws. Will only let out a small squeak before the blood from his ripped jugular splashed into Bruno's face. Bruno pulled away and pinned his ears back. The coppery taste excited him again and he commenced tearing at the throat. After ripping that to ribbons, he started mauling his victim's soft belly, his claws tearing through the stomach wall, his teeth yanking out vital organs.

Bruno finally ceased his attack, panting. He sure did make a mess. He buried his snout in Will's torn-open body cavity and rubbed his nose in the sweet nectar, lapping up blood and gnawing at some now unidentifyable organ. His muzzle soaked with blood, Bruno lifted his head to the air and let out a low, bellowing howl.

***

"Gengar, you know what to do," Karen called.

The ghost Pokemon morphed into the shadows cast by the full moon. Houndoom searched frantically for her opponent. She was just about to use Faint Attack to search Gengar out when a deep canine's cry was heard. Houndoom and Gengar stopped what they were doing. The ghost disappeared into her trainer's shadow as Houndoom bristled the smooth fur on her back, snarling. A large dark quadroped shape came galloping across the land, fading and appearing again under the moon's shadows.

"Mightyena?" Karen questioned.

The creature reached Karen and stopped just a few inches from her. It then stood up on its hind legs, towering over the Dark trainer. As Houndoom backed away, Karen gasped.

"Bruno?"

Despite his Mightyena characteristics, Karen could recognize Bruno's spikey hair and large, muscular frame. She should know, she sees it every night, even if it was only for an hour. Karen smiled as she scratched behind Bruno's floppy ears. He closed his wolfen eyes and purred. Neither of them noticed Will's mask flutter from Bruno's snout to the ground.

"Well," Karen giggled as she rubbed her hands through Bruno's thick grey and black fur. "I guess this means we can train together, huh?"

END