---------->Full moon rising. The origin story of Al-X-wolf.<---------

<NOTE: Some dialogue is translated from wolfese for ease of reading>

In a standard.green.forest somewhere in the world an old werewolf is chastising his young student, a brown furred lycanthrope that has managed to keep a pair of glasses on top of his muzzle and in front of his eyes at the same time.

-You are going _where_?

-College, master - said the young werewolf.

-What do you want to do there, pup?

-Study, of course.

-Study what? All you need to know I've taught you already! You know the ways of the hunter, the secret of shapechanging, the core of the martial arts of our people, and even how to keep the fleas off your fur without a collar!

<insert sepia colored flashback, insert tear-jerking soundtrack too>

Close up on a young werewolf standing on his hands.

-Ugh, master....

-Yes, pup? (offscreen)

-Could you... like... get off?

Full shot of the old werewolf sitting, in werewolf form, on the tip of the cub's airborne feet.

Change the scene to a forestry of lush green bushes and trees. Both lycanthropes are staring at a cave.

-Well, pup, you have tracked that rabbit to that cave, enter and bring it.

-Yuk; all right, master.

The young wolf enters the cave cautiosly and disappears from sight; the elder shifts to werewolf form and climbs a tree. Soon, barks and roars are heard inside the cave and the pup comes out running.

-WAAAAAAAAAAAHH! HEEEEEELP! ( a _very_ large bear is in pursuit)

-Use your nose, pup! At _all_ times!

-You knew this!!!

-Why, of course! Har, har , har!

<end the flashback, cut the horrible music too, please>

-But I want more! I was a human before you bit me (and it hurt, damn it!), and I don't want to lose touch with my human half!

-Aarrrgh! You are just like that moron Jon Talbain; I instructed him in all the martial arts of werewolves and what do I get in return? "Oh, I'm cursed, I'm damned, I must get rid of this curse" Bleagh! I taught him the techniques of garou-fu and he learnt _nothing_ of the core. I thought it might be different if I taught you the core first and then the techniques, but noooooooo, you want to go to human college!

-Well, I just don't like the climbing laser kick and the wolf hurricane and all that...

-Aaaaarrghhh!!!! But it's your heritage!

-Duh, I guess I wasn't worthy of the gift of lycanthropy.

-(sighs) At least you _know_ it's a gift and not a curse.

-I'm mostly grateful for all your teachings...

-Mostly?

-...I know how to concentrate my ki energy to shapeshift willingly and do attacks, it's just that I don't buy the energy blasts and all that.

-Humans will reject you; werewolves are a bestial bunch, you'll go nuts soon.

-I can learn to control my bestial nature, in fact, I've been learning some tai chi chuan to calm my furies...

-Tai chi? Where from?!

-Oh, that nut that comes to the forest to practice.

-Argh; then I guess there's no holding you here.

-Nope. No, sir. I want to broaden my horizons.

-All right, go, leave this old wolf all alone, I don't care.

-Sentimental blackmail won't work, master.

-Damn, can't blame me for trying, can you? Well, go, shoo, scat, I guess you can go with my blessing and this warning: you are a primal creature, the beast in you will surface sooner or later, no matter how tight you keep the lid. Beware specially the nights of the full moon, try not to be around someone you care about then.

-Arigato, sensei.

-Don't be ridiculous, you can't speak japanese and neither can I.

-Heh, bye, then.

Alex, the young werewolf, enrolls in college, and majors in communication sciences; he learns heaps of strange theories and models that chart the way humans communicate. By concentrating his ki and channeling through these models, he begins to learn the Communication Sciences Martial Arts techniques, and is taken as pupil by one of the hidden masters there.

-Ugh, master...

-Yes, son?

-Can you... like... get out of my mind?

With no small effort, Alex. now calling himself Al-X, learns the basic techniques like the Stimuli Response Hypodermic Needle attack, the various applications for attack and defense of the Shannon & Weaver's communication model, and the deadly The Medium is the Message attack of the late master Marshall McLuhan. Soon, he begins improvising to affect not only minds, but also media devices and plot points in the story that is life.

In secret, he also develops the ability to make subtitles appear whenever he is presented with a foreign language, or to translate all his growls and grunts, unfortunately, only practitioners of the CommSci Martial Arts and people in the metareality known as RL can read them.

One night at the department shared with a friend majoring in communications too....

-What are you watching? - asked Al-X

-Ah, some old loony tunes cartoons.

-Eeew, I hated them as a kid, the only one I could stand was Wile E. Coyote, I loved the way he could make those signs appear to say something and....

-And...

-Uh, sorry, I just remembered I have homework.

Al-X locked his door and shifted to werewolf form, he concentrated and gathered his ki, he focused his will on making himself understood; he extended his hand and... grabbed something. It was a large mallet.

-What the....?

He reached again, but formed the words on his mind; he grabbed a wooden handle and pulled it out of that strange space, and held a sign that read "I did it!". He, indeed, had done it.

One day, he was summoned by his master.

-Al-X, your graduation is close, and you must leave to seek the way to join your two halves.

-My... two...? How did you know?

-Your body language is clear to a master of the CommSci Martial Arts School. That and that little fang that keeps showing when you smile, and the fur I found on your gi, _and_ the dead lamb that was the mascot of the football team..

-^_^; I guess I was too hungry...

->cough< Well, as I said, it's time for you to leave; I've gotten you tickets to travel to China amd Japan.

-What? What am I going to do there?

-Learn all you can, and find yourself.

-Well, I do get lost sometimes, but I'm never _that_ lost.

-I meant spiritually.

-Ooops, sorry.

-Well, go; you graduate tomorrow and leave the day after.

-Thank you, master, and goodbye, I promise to return and complete my training.

Al-X leaves, and his master stares after him, he speaks to the air. -He's young and impatient.

-But he's our only hope (answers a disembodied voice much like the

old werewolf's)

-No; there is another.

China, land of mystery, wonder, and a better-avoided town of amazons; Al-X-wolf trots in wolf form, with a backpack strapped to adapt to his shapechanging; thirst is killing him and he smells water nearby; he speeds up and arrives at a strange place dotted with pools of water with bamboo sticks sticking out of them. He is too thirsty to notice and approaches one of the pools to drink. He hears a voice, a chinese voice that he doesn't understand, but he uses his techniques to make the subtitles appear in his mind.

-...tragic story. -ends the chinese man. -This Jusenkyo, valley of cursed springs, is very bad if you fall in spring.

-<pant><pant><pant> <subtitles: uh, okay, thanks for the warning> (Al-X-wolf leaves in the direction of a small river he sniffed earlier)

Jusenkyo guide: So strange, first person to listen to warning is furry animal that thinks like man.

While traveling in Japan, Al-X gave directions to a clueless kid who turned the wrong way at the first turn. Al-X only shrugged. That night he had a vision, a dream, some would call it a Sending, but to the CommSci trained werewolf it was an uplink,

-AL-X

-Urgh, yeah >yaaawn<, that's me. Who are you?

-I AM ALEJANDRO, YOUR RL SELF

-Hey, I've heard of RL, I didn't know I was a player character, I always though I was part of the supporting cast.

-YOU MUST GO TO NERIMA.

-And where the hell is that!

-IN TOKYO, YOU GIT.

-And why?

-SHEESH, YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW.

-Well, enlighten me.

Suddenly, a lot of episodes, OAVs and mangas of Ranma ½ are downloaded into Al-X's mind.

-Groovy, now I see; you want me to court Ukyou or Nabiki.

-SADLY, THEY ARE ALREADY TAKEN; YOU MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE TOURNAMENT AT THE TENDOU DOJO.

-Why?

-BECAUSE I SAY SO, STUPID!!!

-Yup; excellent reason.

-DO NOT MOCK ME, AL-X, I CAN DELETE YOU WITH A STROKE OF MY BACKSPACE KEY.

-Sheesh, I wonder if you are not a werewolf in RL too...

-Just go, okay?... ehem... YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU SEEK THERE.

-Since you are giving me character motivation, I might as well go.

And thus, Al-X-wolf arrived to Nerima, a couple of days too late to enroll in the tournament, but in time to get himself hired by Nabiki...

but that is another story.

THE BEGINNING

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The pieces by Vince and Tsurugi were good, but too dramatic for my tastes, so there you have it ^_^ The blatant references to Star Wars will actually be worked into the GRIT, sometime..., you can also find veiled references to the Werewolf: the Apocalypse roleplaying game (Al-X would be a Glass Walker Theurge), there are some references to my life, and TerBril will recognize what college I graduated from :^_^

-- Al-X-wolf "And if I die today I'll be the happy phantom aka Alejandro Melchor and I'll go chase the nuns out in the yard" alejandrom@mail.proesa.com.mx - Tori Amos