"You know I was thinking," Rick said. "Instead of going to meet other werebeasts right now why don't we go back to your place and see if we can find any trace of what was there."
"Do you think it was a weregorilla or a Sasquatch?" Frank asked a bit of concern in his voice.
Rick thought for a few moments. Before coming to Moon Lake he would have said that it was a Sasquatch but now it might be a weregorilla. He didn't know which one it would be unless... "Maybe Sasquatch and weregorilla are actually the same only with a different name," Rick said out loud.
"Well that does make sense," Frank said nodding. "But there are no weregorillas registered here. So if what I saw was a weregorilla then whoever it is they're breaking the law if they're living in Moon Lake."
"Maybe they were just passing through and you happened to photograph one," Rick suggested.
"Could be," Frank admitted as they pulled back up to his ranch.
They made their way to the edge of his property where he had photographed the Sasquatch/weregorilla which happened to be a wooded area. Looking at the picture on his phone again Rick asked, "So which way did it go?"
Frank pointed to a spot and said, "He went through there," and began to move towards the spot he had pointed at.
Rick followed asking, "Can you smell what it was?"
Frank nodded and said, "I am picking up an old scent. My brain keeps telling me that it's a gorilla's scent. Though since the scent is old it may be confusing me a bit. A weredog would probably be able to get a better read on the scent than I can."
"Well you may be right," Rick said looking around as they pressed into the woods. "From the sightings of Sasquatch it would appear that it's half man and half ape, kind of like how when you're transformed people would say that you're half man and half horse. I'm starting to think that they were seeing a weregorilla and just didn't know what it was since most people have only heard of werewolves or maybe other predator werebeasts."
"That could be," Frank said nodding. He seemed to be about to say something else when out of nowhere what looked to be a werecheetah came flying through the woods and pounced on Rick knocking him to the ground and pinning him. She gave a low growl and on instinct Frank transformed. As his body bulked up and his height increased the seams of his clothes strained until they finally gave way to reveal the fur growing on his body. As his face pushed out into an equine muzzle he took a couple steps and grabbed the werecheetah by the scruff of the neck and threw her off of Rick. "What do you think you're doing Diane?" he asked anger evident in his voice.
"He's going to expose us all," Diane said with a low growl. "I thought I could frighten him enough to where he wouldn't say anything about us."
Rick got up saying, "I wasn't going to say anything about werebeasts. In fact I was going to do what I could to deflect attention away from Moon Lake by saying it was nothing more than a kid in a costume. Who are you anyway?"
"This is my kid sister Diane," Frank said the anger still in his voice, "and she should be in school right now."
"You're not my father Frank," Diane said crossing her arms.
"But I am your legal guardian until you turn eighteen," Frank said making sure to punctuate the words legal guardian. "And by the way, were you reading my emails again?"
Diane just shrugged and then got a look of horror on her face. She pointed and Rick's arm and said, "You see what you made me do when you pulled me off of him. You made me scratch him and now he'll die if another werebeast doesn't transform him. Since you're the only other werebeast here I guess you get to do the honors."
Frank looked at Rick with a little concern and said, "He may not die. He has an extra X chromosome so he may transform into a werecheetah."
"Beside even if I do die I know it was an accident so I won't blame you or your brother," Rick said looking at his arm the best he could. There was blood welling up from the scratches he could see. It's curious that he hadn't noticed that he had been scratched and even now he really didn't feel them. Turning back to Diane he said, "I don't think I'll die though. This may sound a little crazy but last night I had a dream where I was a werecheetah meeting a weregorilla who was to be my husband and we were getting married because I had turned nineteen again. And I did feel like I was fully female though I was younger. I'm not sure how that would work. This dream didn't feel like a regular dream though. It felt like it was more. I've had a dream feel like that once before and it turned out that a year later what I had dreamed came true."
Frank's phone rang and he carefully picked it up out of his torn jeans then carefully answered it. "What is it hon?" he asked as he moved out of ear shot.
Diane was looking at Rick with a puzzled expression before saying, "That's interesting. I've never heard of a normal actually becoming younger when they're transformed. Sure they take on a more youthful appearance but that's because werebeasts have a longer lifespan than normals." At this point her face took on a look of horror once again though this time it seemed a bit more horrified.
Frank came back with a long face and said, "Bad news Rick. It looks like the cells in the first sample you gave started breaking down. They're theorizing that because of your extra X chromosome the process was slowed down enough to the point where whatever it is that makes us werebeasts bonded with the cells before destroying them. This means that the usual procedure of introducing another werebeast into your system won't work. They may be able to do something but you need to get to the hospital as fast as possible. They're sending an ambulance to pick you up. I just hope that you won't die. I think we could be friends if you do live. I can even offer you a place to stay since I have an extra room that won't be used."
Rick nodded and said, "That's very generous of you and I'll have to take you up on that offer since I'm not going to die."
Frank smiled but he had his doubts about that. He had heard of dreams coming true before and Rick seemed to think his last night would come true. Maybe it would if the proposed treatment actually worked. Though no matter what happened there were going to be repercussions for at least Diane and himself since their actions had led to Rick being scratched. If Rick survived he would most likely be almost completely female with D cup breasts. He wasn't sure how that would be explained. Well he supposed they'd cross that bridge if they came to it. For now he tried to keep up a hopeful attitude as they walked back to his house to wait for the ambulance though he would like to drive Rick himself except for the fact that he would need to change back and put clothes on. By the time he had done that the ambulance would be there and they would be able to get Rick to the hospital faster. So he resigned himself to waiting for the ambulance though he would change back and put clothes on while they waited.