You spell Werewolf with an 'L', right? (Open, PM me if you need the background)

John slid backwards from the power of the blow straining to keep his feet under him as the ground slipped by under his moccasins. His ‘Aiankurabu’ enchantment made his hands and forearms as strong as a piece of iron and for the moment that was a good thing as he covered his face. His jean jacket also held back the long claws that were meant to spate his head from his body. As fast as the initial blow was the second came just a hint after it with just as much power as the first. The combinations of both strikes were like giant hammers stunning the shaman for a moment as John fought to being his senses back to the present. There was no third or fourth strike, just the sound of a deep growl that made the shaman think of Wahkan’s bike Hehaka-Luta. He slowly dropped his arms and stared at the beast making that growl, all eight and half feet of it.

The beast was wolf like with a large maw filled with razor sharp teeth and fur all over its body yet after that there wasn’t much lupine about it. The beast stood on its hind legs like a hume and on the end of its huge hume like arms were five long fingered hands with even longer claws. Muscles rippled along the length of its body as it snarled and growled at the Shaman. John though kept his calm and spoke evenly to the beast.

“She’s not here Ivan.”

The words from John seemed to have little effect on the beast with the exception of making it growl and snarl louder. Then the maw rippled and amazingly words flowed from the beast. “I can smell her scent John Greywolf. I know she is here in Midgar.”

“Yes, she was here, but now she is gone Ivan.” John answered hoping to calm the wolf called Ivan.

Ivan though wanted no explanation. He could smell the one he hunted and he would not be swayed from his pursuit. “What have you done with Aine?” The beast growled yet pronouncing the name perfectly.

John shook his head all ready sensing this was going to be a short exchange and more than likely would not end the way he wanted it to. “I didn’t do anything with her Ivan. I was trying to help her and then she disappeared. If you calm down we can find her together and keep her safe together.”

If there was a chance to get through to the hume side of Ivan John saw it quickly fade as the beast gave a long high pitched howl to the night sky before leaping on to the building to its right. Using the claws on the end of its hands and feet the Lycanthrope quickly scaled the brick wall right to the roof. There was no following Ivan that way, but the Shaman knew he could follow from the street. He quickly reached into the pocket of his cargo pants and pulled out the shrunken form of his mount Cetan Nigan. As he spoke the word to make the bike grow to normal size a screech split the night sky. John looked up to see his faithful friend Ohitika the Golden Eagle fly overhead heading in the same direction as the Werewolf.

“Keep an eye on him Ohitika. We’ll need to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else this night.” He whispered starting up his motorcycle with a throaty growl of its own.

(OOC. Since no one else wants to join I am most certainly in!)

I walked along the empty streets with my kitten enjoying the cool night air and the quiet which allowed my head to simply be vacant of thought or any presence of contemplation. I was enjoying my first chance at being without need, of being able to walk and not be called by some messenger looking for an answer to a question about my Crescent Moon. We had finally completed a second set of trials for my new Air Ship, an assemblage of tests that put her through what would be expected of her during an amalgam of possible situations. I was expecting a better outcome than what was given by my crew and my ship at the start. I knew it was a lot to expect of the green sailors at my disposal and the unproven engine plant that my chief engineer Roland had dreamed of. And yet to my bewilderment, which I rarely find myself in with the exception of when I am around one shaman by the name of John Greywolf, the crew and my chief engineer Roland responded with fortitude to bring the Crescent back into fighting disposition.

“When are we going back to the Crescent?” Nafeesa asked barely lifting her head from the book she was presently engaged in reading. As of late I had found her reading more and more, devouring all sorts of literature on just one subject, the spiritual. Something had happened to my Nafessa out in the desert with Wahkan, an awakening of sorts I assumed.

“Why do you want to return to the ship so early my kitten? It is a quiet and peaceful night and I for one do not wish to be locked behind iron doors from it.”

She finally looked up from the tome she was reading and smiled. “I wasn’t asking to head back now. I kind of want to walk and enjoy the moon…and your company.”

I have to admit her confession struck me to the core and I simply smiled as she took my hand in hers after she put her book away. The past time during the trials I had spent too long from her side in our bed enjoying each ones touch and reassurance. Now though, as we strolled in quiet, those old feelings came back. I was about to comment on something vaguely resembling an emotional declaration when the street just exploded in front of us. I am not sure what gave me a warning that what was about to transpire was set to happen but a herald of the fight was given to me and I drew Mayhem with my left hand like a whip. Nafeesa reacted like the warrior she was growing into too drawing her ‘claw’ with a single fast move and setting her feet defensively.

There in front of us stood a beast I had never seen before, a wolf like being erect on its two hind legs, growling at us both. I pulled the hammer back on Mayhem hearing the click of it popping home as Nafeesa spoke. “What is it?”

“Dead for interrupting my quiet walk,” I growled letting Mayhem fire a single round. I felt the kick of my pistol, saw the fiery plume of the expelling gases, and yet the beast never flinched as the bullet I assumed struck home. For the second time I felt bewilderment as the beast let loose a roar of anger that shook my kitten and me.

I readied for a second shot and Nafeesa set herself to attack as soon as the bellow subsided, only the beast only stared at us and amazingly spoke. “I am not tracking you. Lower your weapons and I will not kill you both.”

“That’s very nice of you.” I heard Nafeesa reply with genuine compassion.

The beast looked at us with red eyes and I was ready to fire a second shot when the thundering growl of an approaching motorcycle broke our standoff. I turned to see John Greywolf sprinting toward us as fast as his mount would carry him but then I spun back to the beast as it let out a great howl to the moon. My blood shivered as the sound of loneliness in its voice then the beast leaped back into the dark of the night. I saw it scamper literally up the side of a building disappearing from sight just as John rode up.

“Please explain to me what that was?” I whispered as the motorcycle quieted.

John slid Cetan Nigan up to Keiko and Nafessa as all three watched Ivan scale the side of the building and disappear over the edge onto the roof. The Shaman heard the Pirate’s question and answered while keeping an eye on the path Ivan took up the side of the building. “It would take too long to try and explain Ivan or why he’s here. Right now I just need to keep him in sight and follow to see where he ends up.”

He didn’t wait for Keiko to say another word. He simply touched the crystals embedded in the handlebars and the motorcycle leapt back into the chase. John flew down the streets cutting corners sharply and dodging the occasional pedestrians as he tracked Ivan. The Werewolf was fast but John kept him insight as the beast leapt from rooftop to rooftop running toward something, but what that something was John had no clue. All he could do was follow Ivan and hope to arrive where it was the Werewolf was going with him. The pair raced through the lower section of Midgar passing building after building then suddenly John lost track of Ivan. The Werewolf had been jumping form rooftop to rooftop steadily, but then he was gone, so the Shaman turned Cetan Nigan back and stopped by the last place he had seen the beast.

The building looked like most on this side of the city, run down and in need of great repair. John looked at the entrance, a set of broken doors held together by a chain, as he came to a stop on the street. He dismounted Cetan Nigan and spoke the word to ‘shrink’ the bike. After putting his ride away John started in squeezing under the chain. The inside wasn’t much better than the outside the Shaman thought as he looked around and listened. The faint almost undetectable sound of something scrapping on the floor above passed John’s heightened hearing. It made him think of a very large paw slowly scraping on the floor as something took a small step. The Shaman looked to his left and saw a small set of stairs going up a floor and decided on moving that way carefully.

He went up quietly and reached the second floor with no problem. There was a single hall in front of him with three doors running along the dirty and stained east wall while a matching one was on the west. Six rooms…six possible hiding places for Ivan to spring from. At the end of the hall was another set of stairs going up. John wondered if this was where the Werewolf was hiding, there were three floors above him and Ivan could be anywhere on one of them. He quieted his thoughts and concentrated listening for any sound that might tell the Shaman where the best had gone. Yet no sound passed his ears this time.

John stared at the stairs and thought the only way out was through. The only way to find Ivan was to go and find him and standing here would not get that done. So with another cautious step John began to walk down the hall…only he didn’t make it very far.

I ran for the Red Dragon with Nafeesa a step behind. We made my mount and before I had my helmet on my kitten was straddling the bike and holding onto me. The Red Dragon was roaring and flying off into the fray before my helmet had booted up and was linking with the AI on my mount. As the HUD lit up and the gauges started to register the voice of the intelligent entity that made up the Red Dragon sounded in my ears.

Engine RPM 8000, 62% of performance capacity-

The rest of the monotone voice rendered with its calm electronic phonetics became a jumble as I gassed the Red Dragon feeling the engine rev and the jerk of the extra horsepower. I felt Nafeesa tighten her grip on my waist as I took the first corner laying the bike low into the turn braking just enough to keep us upright. I wanted to catch John more than I wanted to catch that beast I have to speak true, but after taking the turn I looked up to see nether in sight. I raced the Dragon along the street looking left and right trying to somehow magically ascertain the way the shaman went, but it was all for naught…almost. I was slowing to try and make a guess when Nafeesa touched my shoulder before pointing to my right.

“They went that way!”

My kitten’s sharp eyes had spotted a fresh skid mark from the shaman’s bike and small pile of debris on the street from the roof above. I turned my mount in the direction and sped off feeling more confident now that I had markers to follow, like breadcrumbs on the trail leading me home. I kept the Red Dragon at a speed that allowed our eyes to find the signs of the beats and John’s passing, and from the ease we were able to find the markers the pair had no intention of covering their tracks. Then down a lone street the trail went cold, no more markers or signs or debris, just empty buildings. I pulled the Red Dragon to a stop and put my foot down while I scanned the street and sidewalk on both sides of us. Nafeesa looked with me and sighed with frustration as there was nothing to tell us where to go.

“What do we do now?” My kitten whispered.

My answer to her was to gun the Dragon and turn it in a sharp arc. I intended to roll back down the street and if need be search each and every abandoned building on this damnable street. Only about halfway down a howl split the night, the same one I had heard before from the beast. I stopped the Dragon just as Nafeesa pointed to a hovel on our left where the howl had issued forth. We both jumped off my mount and were running for the doors the building when the wall on the second floor above us exploded outward raining down chunks of material around us. I barely ducked a piece and my kitten skillfully dodged another.

John was able to take three steps, three silent but long strides down the hall just before Ivan came for him. The Werewolf’s attack was silent coming from the left out of the dark of the abandoned room, but not to the heightened hearing of the Shaman and that was the only thing that saved John from losing his head. The first swipe of Ivan’s large paw and razor sharp claws missed by a mere inch as the Shaman ducked stepping to his right trying to get a safe distance from the beast. The Werewolf though felt an advantage from his surprise attack, primal senses telling the animal side of the Lycanthrope to press his assault. So Ivan came at John with another attack and another driving the Shaman backwards till there was no more room to retreat or fall back.

For a second time John barely saved his life with a quick move. He drew both arms up while using his Aiankurabu technique to focus his Chi energy into his hands and forearms. With a blink the Shaman’s skin and bone took on a stone like quality and it was just enough to keep the blow from doing more damage than it did. Even though Ivan’s claws didn’t cut into flesh the power of the strike still hit John like a ton of bricks and there was nothing he could do to stop that as he left the floor flying backwards into the wall and then disappearing through it with a loud crash of splintering wood and drywall. The room filled with the dust and debris from the now destroyed wall, trash left behind by vagrants settled backs to the floor after being scattered by the force of the impact, and among it all Ivan breathed deeply. Those primal instinct’s that told him to press his attack now told him to find her. He had to find her, it was all that mattered. He turned and started to leave when something told him to stop. A scent on the air, a barely audible noise, or maybe just a feeling, whatever it was it stopped the Werewolf cold. The beast snarled low and menacing before turning around to face the hole John had been thrown through.

The dark of the other room where the Shaman vanished hid any sign of movement, but Ivan didn’t need to see what he sensed was there. His snarl shifted to a growl a second before the hole exploded a second time. A transformed Shaman burst into the room, his body taking on the form of his totem Ursus the Bear. He was taller now, more hardened muscle rippled across his arms, and the intent on stopping the Werewolf had doubled. John lashed out with a quick punch using his larger frame packing more power.

((John uses his Form of Ursus the Bear – 845-90 = 755 MP))

Ivan slid to his right to dodge the strike only to see the Shaman’s ruse too late. The punch was a feint to move the Werewolf into the real attack while distracting him. John kicked with his right foot slamming the heel of his foot right into the stomach of the beast sending it backwards through the door into the hall. The door jamb both combatants passed on their way into the room a minute before splintered and cracked as Ivan grabbed it trying to keep his balance. The Werewolf only left itself open as John struck with a huge left cross then an uppercut with his right. The combined blows sent Ivan into the hall and into the opposite west wall breaking the old drywall and wood as he did.

Now it was John who pressed his assault. The Shaman slammed his knee into Ivan’s side with three bone crunching strikes then hit him with another left-right combination that stunned the beast. There was no time to rest though, no time to stop as John grabbed Ivan in a bear hug lifting the Werewolf free from the floor. He turned toward the stairs he used earlier and with a grunt started to run at the landing with all the speed he could muster. When he reached the edge in a full run and the first step down was all that was left the Shaman jumped. The beast and John both took flight across the open space of the stairwell, both sailing through the air in a tight bond, and then with a smash into the wall like a giant cannonball.

The chunks of old brick and mortar fell down around us like rain, very large drops that could kill you if one hit you in the head. Nafessa, my little dancer, dodged all the pieces with such agility and speed it looked like debris was falling in slow motion. I on the other hand, well let’s just say I at least was not bludgeoned to death though I did feel my hat brim take a hit or two or three. Amazingly in the flying cloud of objects I spotted two very large bodies, one was the beast but the other looked like John…only bigger, which was strange. Then I realized I had just chased the shaman, who was known to find himself in other-worldly predicaments, through the streets as he chased down a very large beast that talked better than most of the men I have sailed with. The definition of ‘strange’ rarely fits situations such as these.

I watched as the pair flew through the air in their embrace like a large hairy muscled missile and as with anything in this world what goes up must come down, unless propelled by an ION engine. Both John and the beast fell right out of the sky and onto what used to be someone’s method of traversing the city. In other words, the car was as crushed like a can when those tow landed on it. Glass broke and flew outward while the metal just bent and screamed as it did. John and the beast disappeared going into the street leaving me and Nafeesa stunned just a bit.

“Was that…John?”

I nodded slowly with Mayhem drawn, “I am hoping so my kitten, because if it were another beast I would very displeased.”

We walked toward the wrecked car on edge ready to either help John or unleash on the beast. We were halfway there when a body popped up…and it was not John. I pointed Mayhem at the head of the beast as it turned and looked at me and fired a single round right for the magical spot between the eyes. There was a second, a gout of flame as my bullet exploded from the barrel of my gun, and then I saw the impact of the round. I saw the beast’s head snap back from it and I felt a bit of hope, maybe I hurt him. Then I saw the head slowly come back to its normal position and right there in that magical spot between the eyes was my round, flattened and tangled in the beast fur. It snarled with its large wolf-like maw and saliva dripped down from the lips in long glistening strings.

“It’s bulletproof,” Nafeesa whispered holding her claw out in front ready to defend.

“Let us hope it is not sword and knife-proof.” I replied drawing my Revenge from its scabbard. This was not the outcome I had hoped for; a knife and sword fight with some creature that just happened to be impervious to my bullets.

Yet we cannot all get our wishes, so I started to think of a plan to get myself and my kitten out of this other-worldly predicament we found ourselves in this time.

Somehow as they flew through the old wall of the building Ivan was able to turn the tables by actually turning in John’s grasp. All at once in a blink the Shaman was on the bottom as the pair slammed home into the parked car. The impact dazed John even in his Form, the weight of the Werewolf adding to the force of the landing exponentially. The world went fuzzy for a second and that was all Ivan needed to deliver a second strike, an elbow to his head as they fell to the pavement in a lump. The blow stunned John just enough to allow the Werewolf to get to his feet as he struggled to get his wits back.

Someone said something, what he was never sure as all the sounds around him were muddled and crammed together. It was hard making sense of what was happening around John, but he knew the sound of a pistol being fired, and this pistol sound was familiar. He shook his head growling as he saw Ivan’s head rock back then forward, the effect of being shot right between the eyes. He watched as the Werewolf took a long stride forward and his ears picked up the sound of a sword being drawn from a scabbard. It was then John remembered Keiko and Nafeesa, the pair must have followed him here when he was chasing Ivan. The two had dropped right into a battle they never should have looked for the Shaman thought rising to his feet in a semi-crouch. He had to stop the Werewolf, and he couldn’t seriously hurt him while doing it.

John went from his crouch to an attack howling hoping to draw Ivan’s attention, and he did. He went to punch the Werewolf with a haymaker right cross but the beast was just a second quicker getting a large arm in blocking the blow at the last possible moment. With the first attack blocked John countered swinging and dropping his hips delivering a body blow Ivan couldn’t block. The Werewolf bounced, hopped in place as the power of the punch took his off his feet for a brief second. The Shaman pressed inward grabbing Ivan in a cross body hug, his right arm over the shoulder while his left was under, locking his hands right on the beast’s spine. The fight turned into a grappling war now as John tried to drive Ivan down the street to get into position to take him to the ground. The Werewolf though fought back digging in the long claws on its feet and pushing back against its attacker. Ivan reached around with his arm and grabbed onto the Shaman ready to counter when the time came.

The two grunted and howled as they pushed their muscles to the limit, each trying to exert their will on the other. Time stopped as everything came down to one or the other failing and John suddenly saw his chance. Ivan shifted his weight just enough and the Shaman had his opening. He started to step sideways getting ready to twist at his hips and toss Ivan to the ground only it didn’t end up that way. It was too late to stop what came next even if John had sensed the trap. The sideways step created just enough room for Ivan to drop his head and bite down with his maw on John’s shoulder. The Jean Jacket kept the long fangs from puncturing the Shaman’s skin, but the power of the bite was something else entirely. There was a sudden flash of pain in John’s shoulder, a bolt of agony that rode the nerves from his neck down his left arm immobilizing the appendage.

Now it was a fight and John was down one arm.

I saw the beast bite down on John’s arm and that was more than a signal the fight was far from being over and in our bag. I ran at the beast intent on saving the shaman only I was not sure how I was going to do such a task. The beast was bulletproof as I learned with shock from before so my plan to simply wade into him with my sword Revenge might have seemed a little lacking. Yet, I had no intentions of letting John take the brunt of an attack when wounded. So I sliced as hard as my hand would generate speed with a slashing down stroke. I felt nothing as the blade cut the air, but as soon as metal met beast I felt my hand ring with pain…and success.

My Revenge cut into the beast flesh, the sharpened blade cleaving flesh and muscle with effort, but then I struck bone and my sword stopped so hard my hand jolted. I felt the tingle form the impact in my hand climb up through my arm to my shoulder as I drew my Revenge back and yet as my sword pulled free the wound was all ready healing. I heard Nafeesa gasp from shock but I was all ready lining up my next attack with a quick shot of Mayhem, only the beast made his move first. He tossed John and his considerable new size away like a boy tossing a bean bag at a wall. The sudden appearance of John in front of me held my shot for a split second but as soon the shaman was past us I leveled my pistol at the head of the beast just as it howled at me. The scream was loud shaking the very windows that had yet to be broken around us, but I never swayed from my aim. My hand never wavered as I fired a second shot right its damnable throat.

The flash form the muzzle of Mayhem blocked my sight to see where my bullet struck but when the beast screamed with a gurgle I felt I may have found a weak spot. It reached up with both large paws, and hands depending on how you looked at it, clutching where I had shot it. It looked skyward trying o howl but it could not with my bullet lodged in its craw. I watched as Nafeesa came leaping in nimbly and screaming wildly as she attacked. She led with a strong side kick to the beast’s throat and amazingly she staggered it for a second, but as her feet landed back on the pavement the thing countered. Its hand came round with a lashing cut and slammed into her back with a crack. I watched helplessly as she was thrown down the street landing in a rolling clump.

“Nafeesa!” I screamed running for her while firing another round from Mayhem. I knew it would not hurt the beast this time as it struck home in the chest. I only cared for my companion as I ran for her to protect her.

The world spun and whizzed crazily as John flew through the air after being tossed from the jaws of the great Werewolf Ivan. The bite from the Werewolf didn’t break the Shaman’s skin, but it sure hurt John like no one’s business. The pressure from the mandibles almost broke the bone of the shoulders, came close to rendering the arm useless. It was only the fact John had enacted his form of the Great Bear that helped him escape serious injury, the increase bone density sparing him. Still, he was in some trouble as the current situation showed. John might have travelled well down the block if not for Ivan’s lack of aim and the vehicle his struck.

Both instances were tied together thankfully.

Ivan had misjudged where he threw John and that fact led the Shaman to hitting an old vehicle that had seen better days. It probably hadn’t run in sometime and after John slammed into it the machine would never leave this street again. Glass blew up and flew all around the Shaman as his hit the door. The metal screamed from the impact bending as it wailed wrapping around John’s body. The whole mass shifted and slid an inch or two as the vehicle stopped the momentum of the Shaman. His neck snapped and it stunned John for a moment, just long enough to hear a gun’s report before he looked up to see Ivan chasing after Keiko. Up to this point the Shaman had held his own with Ivan making sure not to hurt the man-beast but now the Werewolf had made the wrong mistake. John growled low and jumped free from the wreck around.

John exploded toward Ivan, running as fast as his thick muscled legs would carry him now. In the short distance the Shaman built up a nice bit of speed, enough that when he hit Ivan broad side like a runway train he picked up the beast in his arms easily carrying him. The Werewolf let out a scream as it felt the Shaman start to squeeze crushing its ribs. In so much pain was Ivan he never saw the wall of the building he was being driven toward. The Werewolf was able to get one blow, a small meaningless tap, to John’s head before the pair hit the wall with enough force the beak the brick into dust.

Yet the wall held, the broken pieces of brick and mortar raining down on them. The crashing stop stunned Ivan though and it was all John needed. He roared letting the Bear animal magic course though his veins and take over. All of the sudden the Shaman was gone and Ursu had control. The Bear felt the overwhelming need to protect, to drive the interloper who put his loved ones in danger down. He lashed out with blow after blow, kicks and knees, into Ivan. Every strike was like a hammer, every blow a devastating blast. Soon the wall did finally give falling inward as the Werewolf was blown through it into the abandoned room beyond.

The Shaman chased after his enemy, followed his adversary into the dark delivering more blows until Ivan no longer fought back. Only when Ursu knew the threat was gone did he give control back to John and his instincts. The Shaman gasped from breath feeling his muscles ache and hurt with all the effort of the fight. He stood inhaling and exhaling in great gulps as Ivan began his transformation back to human form, his skin and body melting backwards to what he looked like before becoming the Great Werewolf.

That old room was as dark as midnight on a moonless night on the deck of my Crescent Moon, and yet I could everything about John. I watched his body heave and gasp as it stood over the still form what used to be the great beast we were fighting in the street. That’s correct, I said ‘used to be’ because what was lying unconscious on the floor was not the same thing we were in a desperate battle with. Gone was the long hair and thick hide replaced by tattoos, but the rippling muscles were still there. The beast had transformed back into his human shape, only it was not like someone releasing from a ‘Form’. It was not like a magic spell had worn off and now the human appeared out of some cloud of smoke or bright flash of light. This was something else entirely.

“It’s skin…I mean his skin…it just melted and-” Nafeesa stood behind me whispering still in shock.

I only nodded cutting her off, “I saw it happen my kitten…every second of it” I responded still in shock myself, but from the fact the human showed no signs of damage from where I shot him twice. As a matter of stating he had no damage at all, no mark from my Mayhem or Nafeesa’s kicks or John’s massive blows. It was as if the human had just…fallen asleep.

John stood over the human still in his ‘Form’ and for a second I felt as if he might end the man’s life even though I knew better. The shaman was part animal now but even then he was still John and helping people was his purpose in life, his ‘path’ as he called it. I started to enter the room through the massive hole John made when he took down the beast as my kitten spoke up again.

“Did you hear his bones? They sounded like they were…breaking?”

Again I only nodded as I came to the realization she was right and what I thought was the wall continuing to break from the fight of the two titans was actually the human. It would seem his return to the human side of his duality was painful as his skin flowed like hot wax and his bone cracked and shifted as he reverted from whatever it was he had become. My distaste for shape changing grew just a little as I approached John.

“Yes Nafeesa, I heard that too.” I answered and stop just behind John keeping my distance from the human. The tattoos on his arms went from the wrist all the way up to the top of his shoulders but not an inch past that onto his bare skin, like two sleeves from a shirt but the rest was gone. His face looked pained as he took short breaths and I noted there was no hair on his head. Not a single blade of hair was on his head, as bald as a new born babe’s. He looked built, like John, with strong shoulders and a wide chest. He also wore a pair of pants, the only clothes on him, and I began to wonder how just his trousers seemed to survive that terrible transformation.

Then the human coughed and lurched on the floor. I jumped back drawing Mayhem with a snap in his direction.

John wasn’t sure what caused his descent into the form of the great bear so deep, what made it impossible for him to distinguish between his spirit and Ursu’s, but he was back to his memories and his soul. He was back standing in the old room of building across the street from where he had chased Ivan the Great Werewolf and who was now unconscious on the dirty floor. The second thing the Shaman noticed as his call to the Bear spirit left his body was the toll the battle had put on him. His shoulder screamed in pain as did all the other spots Ivan had hit or attacked, and then there was his back that seemed to be one large bruise from his hip to his neck.

The Shaman turned to see Keiko and Nafeesa standing by him, both upright and in one piece thank the Great Spirit. He had known on the vaguest levels they were here, merging with the spirit of Ursu melds hume and animal and leaves John with only the faintest of memories sometimes. He gasped against the pain in his shoulder and reached under his jacket to feel. The wound felt large so John assumed he had been bitten but there was no bleeding and no puncture wounds which meant his jean jacket had saved him from being savaged by the Werewolf’s maw. Third thing John took in was the fact Ivan was now in his hume form which meant he had done enough damage to halt the transformation. He had heard and been told the Great Werewolf once transformed could only revert if he chose to or if he had been hurt enough to cause an unconscious reversal. If he could knock out Ivan then the Werewolf would change back in the simplest of terms which is what must have happened.

That was when Ivan suddenly coughed and convulsed causing Keiko to draw down on him with her very large and very accurate pistol. John held out his hand speaking calmly to his friend and companion. “It’s all right Keiko, Ivan won’t be changing again tonight.”. The pain in making just a simple move as holding out a hand made John grimace as he bit it back. He reached into his cargo pants pocket and brought out his communicator speaking quickly. “Wahkan, we’ll need a pick up here at my location…Ivan is coming with us so please hurry.”

He hung up the connection without giving Wahkan as chance to ask how bad he was. John didn’t want his friend to worry as Keiko and Nafessa were doing right now. He could see the concerned looks on their faces as he put the communicator away then smiled. “It looks much worse than it actually is…one of you better go out and wait for Wahkan. We’ll need his help to get Ivan onto the Siang Tien Tang and out of here before someone sees us.”

The look both gave him made John wonder if they would do as he asked, and if he would have to ask again. Wahkan and the air ship would be here soon and he would need the safety of the Siang Tien Tang to heal.