Chapter 1: Werewolves of Sinnoh
CODY HARVARD, 19
Even though much of that night five years ago was spent in a haze of pain, I remember it as well as could be expected, given the circumstances.
Of course, when the day had first begun, I hadn't thought of it as anything out of the ordinary. It was simply the first day of the rest of my life, what could be said about any other day.
The last thing I remember is feeling an immense amount of pain in my stomach. I'd been walking in the woods, mostly minding my own business, when I'd arrived at a clearing. It might have been nighttime, and thus unwise to spend any more time out in public than necessary, but I had a valid reason, or so I thought.
I laid down in the clearing and looked skyward. So many stars, so many constellations whose names I didn't know. I didn't even live too far out in the country, so I could only imagine what it would be like in a more rural area.
I also saw a full moon, one almost as bright as the sun would have been at midday. This in and of itself was a thing of beauty, but little did I know, it would end up being one of the most consequential full moons of my life.
A full moon. That's when the werewolves come out to play, is it not?
I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea. I was fourteen years old at the time, much too old to still believe in werewolves. They belonged in fairy tales, in childrens' books that nobody took to be factual in any way, shape, or form.
However, I'll never forget what happened next.
There was the vague, low sound of someone (or something) howling. It sounded like a wolf (or what we called a Lycanroc in our world), and it sounded fairly close to me.
Lycanroc...that's quite something. You don't really see them out in the suburbs. Hell, Skylock isn't that big of a town, but wild Pokemon NEVER come anywhere close to the town center. They seem to leave humans alone for the most part.
Of course, events that are out of the ordinary happen once in a while. "For the most part" doesn't mean "all the time." Even so, I wasn't very concerned, and simply continued to lie there, looking up at the night sky.
Suddenly, the howling seemed to get closer to me, as evidenced by the low sound becoming louder. It was almost louder than a siren, which, given what would happen later, seems like an apt analogy.
Still, I wasn't overly concerned, and I decided to try and count the stars that I could see. After all, my parents wouldn't be expecting me home for some time; they were the type of parents to give me at least a small level of freedom.
In the middle of this exercise, I felt a hot breath against my face. My heart began pounding as I realized that I wasn't alone in these woods.
Seconds later, there was a horrendous pain in my stomach.
"Aaaaaah!" I yelled like a banshee, my vision clouding with red. I couldn't remember anything so excruciating ever happening to me; there's nothing quite like your flesh being torn from your body.
I tried to take deep breaths, since that's generally used to calm oneself down. However, focusing on breathing is harder than you might think when you're in that much pain.
Whatever had bitten me removed its teeth from my stomach, which felt rather like getting stabbed in reverse, if that makes any sense. And then I heard the sound of footsteps moving away from me.
As suddenly as this event had begun, it had stopped. And yet the pain did not stop.
I realized that stopping in the woods at night was a major mistake, and that I'd paid quite the price for it. I didn't know everything about medicine, but I was fairly certain that if I didn't get my sorry ass to a hospital right away, I would be in serious trouble.
So I dialed the number for emergency services right away, thanking Arceus that I'd had the presence of mind to bring my phone with me. Much has been said about how scary it is to have to call an ambulance for other people, but nobody ever thinks they'll have to call one for themselves.
"What is the nature of your emergency?" the dispatcher asked me.
I tried to keep my breathing steady as I responded. "I was bitten by something in the stomach...hurts like hell...please get here as fast as you can."
When prompted, I gave the dispatcher my approximate location, and he told me that an ambulance would be there in roughly five minutes. Until then, I had to do what I could to stop the bleeding.
Since I was in the forest, there wasn't much to be done other than clamping a palm over the wound. I heard the rustling of the leaves, but my heartbeat was a much louder sound, as it was pumping blood throughout my body, and eventually out of my body.
I should probably go closer to the street so that it's easier for them to find me.
Reaching my arms out like wings in order to steady myself, I slowly stood up. This would turn out to be a big mistake.
The instant I stood to my full height, my head began swimming, and my vision was clouded with even more darkness than I was surrounded by. In addition, holding out both of my arms had prevented me from staunching the bleeding with one hand.
I took about ten steps forward before my knees buckled, and I fell to the ground. It didn't take much longer for me to lose consciousness, although it can't have been for very long.
When I woke up, I was lying in the back of an ambulance, my legs propped up on something, presumably to get the blood supplied to my brain again. My stomach still hurt, but it wasn't the pain associated with overeating; it was far worse.
One of the paramedics noticed that I was conscious again, and began asking me a series of questions.
"What is your name?"
"Cody Harvard, sir" I responded breathlessly.
"How old are you?" the paramedic asked as he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm.
"F-fourteen" I said, stuttering both out of fear and actual weakness. Being in the back of an ambulance was rather overwhelming, and fear can be contagious; if the paramedics, people supposed to be level-headed, were scared for me, then I couldn't help but fear for my life.
"Why did you call us?"
"I...was bitten...by something." Talking, as well as perceiving anything else in the world, was becoming more and more difficult with each passing second. Dark red, the strange color of blood, was encroaching upon my sight once more, and I knew I didn't have much time left in the waking world.
The paramedic nodded. Turning to his partner, he said, "The patient seems coherent. We'll admit him immediately for surgery to repair the wound in his stomach, as well as…".
I didn't hear what other treatment I would be receiving, for seconds later I was out like a light again.
It must have been a number of hours before I came around once more. The agony wasn't as bad as it had been, but everything felt rather hazy, as though I were on a heavy dose of painkillers. My head was still swimming as well, but again, not as much as it had been before.
Opening my eyes, I found that I was lying in a hospital bed. The room itself looked perfectly sterile, with a bunch of machines next to my bed; in other words, it looked just like any other hospital room.
Everything came rushing back to me.
Something bit me in the stomach, and I ended up in an ambulance. I was taken here; I guess they must have operated on me as well, or maybe they're about to. Well, which one is it?
I tried to sit up in bed, but I just didn't have the strength. My entire body felt enormously drained of energy; rather than being a spry 14-year-old, I felt like I was an elderly man.
"Good morning, Cody" a gentle female voice announced from some distance away. "I hope you're feeling better."
As I tried speaking, I realized that my mouth felt extremely dry, as though I'd been out for much longer than just overnight. I was basically rasping as I replied.
"Yes...I am...but I...need...water" I said weakly. "So thirsty."
"I bet" the nurse replied, making a noise that was almost a chuckle. "We did our best to keep you hydrated through the night, but it's understandable that you would be thirsty. I'll get some water for you right now."
The nurse, who came into view as she crossed the room to the bubbler, looked to be in her early thirties. She also wore a kind expression on her face, which is obviously what you want to see in such a profession.
She came back and adjusted the bed so that I was sitting up. It was then that I noticed the stickers on my chest monitoring my heart's rhythm, as well as the IV in my arm.
"Drink, but don't gulp" she told me, handing me the glass.
As it turned out, I was too weak to hold said glass; it fell out of my grip as soon as she gave it to me.
"Sorry about that," the nurse replied. "Let's try again, shall we?"
She refilled the glass. This time, rather than giving it to me, she told me to open wide like you're told to at the dentist's office, and to drink slowly.
I did as I was told, and the nurse slowly tipped the glass of water down my throat. I'm not going to lie; my face flushed bright red as she did this.
I'm a teenager now, and still I can't drink without help. How utterly humiliating is that?
As I drank, however, I began to feel much better. It's amazing just how quickly a little fluid makes you feel reinvigorated, although make no mistake about it; my body was still weak.
"So what happened?" I asked. "Did you find out what bit me?"
The nurse frowned. "You've been unconscious almost all night. How much do you remember?"
"Just lying on the ground in the woods...and then being bitten by something...but that's it. I don't remember anything else."
"We were able to perform blood tests overnight, and they should be coming back from the lab pretty soon. We gave you a rabies shot, a blood transfusion, and some antibiotics to prevent an infection. But like I said, we'll know before long what bit you, and we'll go from there."
Blood tests. So they don't know yet what bit me either. Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough.
A few minutes later, a burly, older man entered the room. He was clearly the head doctor assigned to me, judging by the way he radiated authority. He smiled as he saw me.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're awake, Cody," he said. "You gave us quite a scare, but I think you're going to be fine. You're looking a lot better already."
"Thanks for everything" I responded. It's been said before, but when you're in the hospital, you say thanks a lot.
Just then, another nurse, one with green hair, came in looking rather frantic. "The results have returned from the lab."
The green-haired lady might have been frantic, but it wasn't an excited kind of frantic, if that even exists. No, this nurse seemed quite worried about my case, and worries were often contagious.
"What are they?" I asked, breathing heavily. My heart was thumping as hard as it had been while I was lying in the middle of the forest, bleeding out from the bite wound. "What do the results say?"
The green-haired nurse grimaced, and I knew instantly that I would regret having asked that question. Of course, I'm certain they would have told me anyway what had happened.
"The results say that you were bitten by a Lycanroc. Your blood was intermixed with its saliva, and the speed at which you were bleeding seemed to suggest that type of wound."
Both the other nurse and the head doctor shook their heads at each other. My palms began to sweat as I realized that this could mean nothing good, not in the least.
"Does this mean…".
I think it was pretty obvious how I intended to finish that question, so I was even more dismayed when the head doctor nodded.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SnowLabrador
SnowLabrador Since FFN is glitching out today, I'm going to post Werewolves of Sinnoh here as well. I'm excited to see what this community thinks of it. Enjoy!
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