According to the information I had gathered, being unable to move about while one’s apprentice and various other friends were in the process of (painfully) transforming into werewolves could be called a “major bummer”. Though I had also heard that was outdated terminology.

Jerome was writhing on the ground as his clothes burst apart due to his growing frame. The transformations of Tylissa and Great Girl were somewhat more controlled, but we were still drawing quite a bit of attention from those in the surroundings. It probably had something to do with the portal we’d come through and the team of mercenaries surrounding the area. That included Calculator, Captain Senan, and Rocker who had probably shown up merely for the sake of ‘extra credit’.

I really wished I had something to contribute to the situation, but being injured, out of physical stamina, and out of mana keeping my eyes open even in a time of crisis was basically my limit.

Jerome was soon a full wolf with dark brown fur, crawling to his feet and snarling. He leapt for the nearest target in sight- in this case Calculator- who watched unconcerned as teeth approached him. Then Jerome was flipped on his back. Any time he rolled to his feet, he was toppled back over. That pattern kept up until Great Girl got control of herself.

It was to her credit that the official powered mercenary was the first to recover her senses, though as far as I could see she was stuck in hybrid form, a snout and claws formed. She stepped over to Jerome, who upon next reaching his feet found himself distracted by her form. He sniffed her offered hand, something that I thought was a bit of a risk, minimized by the fact that Great Girl getting bit again shouldn’t particularly change anything. It would just hurt.

Her distraction lasted long enough for Shockwave not to have to flip Jerome any more before Tylissa got control over herself, likewise remaining in a stable hybrid form. Instead of being cautious like Great Girl, she simply embraced her son, who let out a soft whimper. It seemed the presence of additional werewolves in control calmed his aggression, though Tylissa seemed unwilling to release him regardless. I could understand that, because we had just barely gotten him back and this happened.

Sometime during that Calculator had made his way around to me. “I see you’re in a state. I don’t suppose you can explain any of this?”

“Portals. Werewolves. I guess they’re werewolves now.”

“How about yourself?” Calculator asked. “You seem to have some bite marks. The same with your halfling friend. Is it a case of requiring humans?”

I shook my head. That hurt. I imagined mana crystals rattling around in there tearing apart my brain, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t actually happening. It just felt like it. “Just a coincidence. We should be equally susceptible to such a thing.”

“At least they’re holding together,” Calculator sighed. “Let me see if I understand the situation from your messages earlier. Jerome there went through this portal before it closed.” I gave a thumb’s up which was significantly less painful than nodding, though I couldn’t really raise my arm much. “Not knowing about this, whoever was responsible for closing this particular portal did so. From the fact that you managed to tear it open again, might I assume their success was incomplete?”

“I’d say it was… done to within any reasonable tolerances. I had to basically create a new portal. I learned Gate, by the way.”

I could see the mental gears turning within Calculator’s head. “The same Gate traditionally considered a top level spell? A level of power that should not be within your grasp for quite some time, given that you are fatigued by what could be considered mid-level spells.”

“Yes, all of that.”

“Am I to assume you recently got a large amount of experience or…?”

“A little bit of that, a little bit of… overdoing it.” I gestured to my body on the stretcher. “And assistance from Midnight.”

“Well. Far be it from me to chastise someone for risking themselves for the sake of loved ones. Let’s load you all up and take you on your merry way. How secure is this former portal?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” I said honestly. “But Gate shouldn’t really create anything lasting.”

“We’ll allow the portal experts to come by later then, instead of hurrying them in on a deserved day off. Which you should have been taking as well.”

“I was!” I began to protest, but he just held up a hand.

“I already said I understand. Given that you have not taken most of your personal days or vacation I would suggest doing so for at least the next day or two. We can discuss later whether this excursion fits within official duties.”

-----

A knife edged hand came down towards my forehead, connecting with the crown in slow motion. “Bad Turlough,” Doctor Martinez said. “I understand you were facing off against your nemesis and then had a personal matter to deal with, but your bloodstream is full of crystals. Also lycanthropy.”

“There was no way I could have predicted that one, not that I would have been able to do much about it regardless.”

“You’re lucky your body is fighting it off. I imagine it will be gone soon enough instead of… melding with your DNA like happened to the other three.” He shook his head. “Can’t believe I have to keep track of another kind of werewolf.”

“... You didn’t have to deal with normal, magical werewolves before?”

“I will remind you that magic is one of the least common sorts of supernatural happenings here. Until lately, at least.”

“So…” I said. “What should I do?”

“Absolutely nothing. And I mean that. No magic at all. Minimal moving about. And definitely no consuming more mana crystals.”

“Well, I’m out of the good ones anyway.”

He glared at me, even if he understood it was a joke.

Then he sighed, “As for other matters, your tusk seems to be growing back without much issue.” Given the whole portal thing, Doctor Martinez had limited his inspections of people to what was necessary yesterday, and was now catching up with other things. Including the urgent stuff I was involved in. “It will likely take quite some time, however.”

“I don’t care too much about being uneven,” I shrugged. “How are the others?”

“Physically? As healthy as one could expect for having been bitten by diseased canines. Further details should be asked yourself. When they come visit you, because you’re not allowed to walk today.”

Pfft. How boring.

-----

Izzy was the first to come visit. Part of that was because she was least injured- experienced and small, but agile. Great Girl’s wounds might have been similarly minimal, but the whole thing where she got lycanthropy changed that.

“So…” Izzy said.

“I’m not allowed to use magic for another week, so I can’t send you back before then,” I said. Midnight bapped me on the back of the head with his paw.

“About that,” she said, sitting on a tall chair that brought her vaguely closer to my eyeline as I reclined in my bed. “I don’t think I want to go back.”

“You like your life here?”

“Yeah. And… I want to be friends again. With you. Or at least try to.”

I was silent for a while. I had a lot to ponder on that subject, and it didn’t seem like Midnight was going to give me any help on that. “I don’t think there’s much left there to rebuild from,” I finally said. “And as much as I enjoyed it at the time, my therapist has told me that maybe relationships based entirely around punching people and being the only source of social interaction is probably not a healthy one.”

“I think I knew that,” Izzy said, climbing out of the chair. “I was stupid to even think about it.”

Before she could make it after the room, I called after her. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We can just try again but with a foundation of punching each other and being just one of a number of social contacts.”

She looked back over her shoulder, “Yeah, that sounds alright.”

-----

Sophia was next. “Sup, dude. Can’t believe they left you incapacitated like that.”

“I already required healing yesterday, applying too much more powers to my body would have negative effects. Especially with the other things I did to my body.” I looked at her. “You look surprisingly non wolfy.”

“Do I?” Sophia opened her mouth, her teeth transforming into sharp points. “Maybe I just hide it well.”

“Being able to control your transformation on a partial level within twenty-four hours is impressive,” I said. “Some people never get it down.”

Sophia shrugged, “Yeah, well… it’s mostly a physical transformation isn’t it?” She grew a foot taller, “I’m literally,” she dropped to her actual height, “Constantly.” She returned to her ‘normal’ height of around six feet. “Using transformation abilities.” She held out her hand, transforming just that into claws, “This is just another one. Though the full moon messed with my head.”

“... Sorry this happened to you,” I said.

“Not as sorry as we would have been if Jerome died,” she shrugged. “You didn’t ask me to get bit. I wasn’t good enough to completely avoid it, and now I have this. Don’t worry about it. Besides, now I get to tell my mundane friends about my powers. I probably have to, or something stupid and avoidable will happen around a full moon at some point.” She clicked her tongue, “Would have liked to get bitten by a wizard, though. Could use some magic to go with my physical prowess.”

“That’s not how that works.”

“I freaking know!” she threw up her hands. “Think I can get a portal power, though? I went all the way through one. Was that your world?”

“Hard to say,” I admitted. “I haven’t traveled much. There are many places it could have been, so there’s a decent chance. Given Doctor Doomsday’s whole… thing recently. But about getting a portal power? I seriously doubt it. Power exclusivity and all that.”

“You literally have your class and a portal power,” she pointed out. “And I’m a werewolf now.”

“First, lycanthropy is an exception. Second, my class and portal power are just the same thing.” I frowned. There was something about that, and what Izzy had said. I needed to talk to her about how it worked. There were annoying inconsistencies I couldn’t wrap my head around.

“Well, I’m gonna go jump in a pile of nerdy books,” Sophia waved, “Just in case that influences things in my favor.”

“Good luck with that,” I waved. Midnight hadn’t said anything. At first it was probably because he had no input, but at some point he’d gotten into some sort of mind-spiral. “Hey, Cat Buddy, what’s going on in there?”

“... Would I have turned into a werewolf if I was bitten?”

“I don’t think the world is ready for the answer to that question,” I admitted. “Good thing you stayed safe, huh?”

“My level increased but I still have regrettably little mana,” Midnight commented. “I could only stay away from the battle.”

“I’ll try to get some points to pour into Familiar Bond and further efficiency upgrades,” I promised. “Should be good for both of us.”

-----

Shockwave was home sleeping off an ungodly amount of fatigue, so the only people left to meet me were the man himself and Tylissa. “Nice beard,” I said to Jerome.

“Hah,” he said. He was just old enough to begin growing a patchy beard. Now, he had a proper five o’clock shadow going on. He’d probably get a bit hairyer in general. “... Thanks for coming to get me.” Tylissa echoed the sentiment, standing with a hand on her son’s shoulder as if she were afraid to let go.

“Of course,” I said. “I wouldn’t just leave you. Now, I’m not in a position where I can chastise you for making reckless decisions but… why?”

“That’s… actually…” Jerome nodded. “Pretty simple to explain. Though I was hoping you could get some sort of technomancer in here before I pull it out.”

I tilted my head. “A technomancer?” Sure, I could imagine him finding a magic something on the other side of the portal, but something that needed a technomancer…

“I can’t say for sure,” Jerome said. “But I think I found something made by Doctor Doomsday through there. It was messing with my attempts at scrying-”

“You know Scry?” I widened my eyes.

“I’m messing around with Divination stuff,” Jerome said. “That one’s still too much mana. I think it’s… Arcane Eye? And locate spells and stuff. But everything was weird around the portal for no reason. Anyway, that wasn’t the point. I thought it was weird, went to take a look, found a thing and got stuck there. And we should get someone in here because I really don’t think they want me taking out anything made by that guy in this building without supervision.”

“Fair,” I nodded. “I’ll get someone. Though they might have you take it somewhere specific.”