[note: I have nothing to say to anyone, except that I finally got Lillian and Wai-Shun's addresses (Stalker time! XD) so's I can get them presents... but anyway, I wrote this a long time ago. If you've never played Golden Sun 2 - you must. The people of Garoh are SO VERY COOL! If I see this anywhere else on the 'net, Catch will catch you (threatening, I know).]

Catch of Garoh - part 1 [incomplete]

Before I lose you all in the legend that abounds throughout my story, and the particular curse those of us lucky enough to originate from Garoh suffer from, let me explain...

Garoh, during the day, is quite the common attraction. There's a slight incline you must pass before reaching our humble dwellings. Here is where most tourists are frightened off - our ancestors took it upon themselves to decorate our walls with simple images of our curse.

As soon as you reach the town, guarded only by the mountainside and a pool of delicious crystal-clear water, it seems as any town would. The Inn for visitors is rarely full during the day, as most people take this time to explore the city. Shops lay scattered about; the usual - an armor, weapons, and miscellaneous items shop. All of them are connected by underground tunnels. There's a boulder that sits in the center of the city. Nothing attractive; just a gigantic mound of rocks. But remember - looks can be deceiving...

Return at night and the city is completely transformed. The people dare not show their faces, and instead wear hooded cloaks, refusing to reveal their true identities. Theives? Murderers? Ah, neither. As soon as a full moon rises, visitors are urged and warned to stay inside their Inn room.

What secret have we to hide?

Should we look upon the moon when it's full, all of us - each and every one of us - turns into a canine anthromorph. Some prefer to call us 'werewolves,' for whatever reason - personally, my transformation resembles a samoyed more than a wolf; my fur is thick and white, and I sport something of a mane or ruff around my neck.

If we decide we don't want to transform on that night, we can gaze at the moon's reflection in the pool - and oh so compelling... it's beautiful, natural glow makes me want to howl and run! Who could resist the chance to throw away human stresses and run free? Not I.

Why the people of Garoh were granted this ability is beyond even my knowledge. Master Maha claims it has something to do with the Magik each of us learns - I believe Felix refers to it as Psynergy - when we're but pups.

Some of us take a few extra steps in our Learning. We're granted more Magiks, but we pay a price some are too frightened to pay - we stay in our anthromoprh form for ever.

... Before I ramble on anymore, allow me to tell you my story. Perhaps after hearing my tale, you won't be so quick to judge a werewolf next time you see one.

I concentrated deeply. My eyes were shut tight, but I was ready... Mahar was a sneaky one; he'd take advantage of my weak position. He could attack me now, and I'd have to begin the spell from the beginning. Ground... I could feel my Magik slipping into place. My ears twitched slightly. Gods, this loathsome human form... How I wished I could have my regular ears! Then I would be able to hear when Mahar was planning the suprise attack I knew would come... A slight crack in the leaves behind me. My eyes, my boring green-gray eyes, opened. I twirled around; I admit, even as a human I'm graceful. Familiar chants echoed around me as I turned, my palms open, towards my attacker.

"Eat this, Mahar!" I taunted, releasing the charged Magik. A bolt of electricity lept from my hands, crackling and twisting unpredictibly through the air. Mahar leapt backwards, but not fast enough. The bolt hit his shoulder, and he let out an involuntary yelp. Burnt fabric fizzed slightly as he brushed at his shoulder.

"Beautiful, Catch, but we're not working on Bolt right now." His eyes looked me over, and I could sense some hidden surprise and wary.

Not even I had planned that one.

"Ma'r, I didn't mean to... I don't... I... I don't know..." I said, grasping for words.

"What's this?" Oh, that voice. How I hated that voice... always filled with taunting, with cynical sarcasm... the voice of Kii, my older brother, and a regular pain in the tail. "Catch, stuttering? Has the Queen of Words finally lost her, ah... her touch?" His brown eyes were filled to the brim with giddiness. Why he loved to pick on me is an obvious reason - even for what I am, I'm different. My Magik is frequently leaping beyond my own control. I summon a whirlwind, I create a thunderstorm. I summon a breeze to cool my back, and I light myself on fire!

"I surprised myself, Kii. That's all." My blueish hair, dappled with a sort of gray tinge, flew around me as I shook my head. My back itched... I caught myself before attempting to reach up with my hind foot to scratch.

"Surprised yourself my tail," Kii said. "You meant to kill good ol' Mahar. If your accuracy wasn't so off, you probably would have done a decent job..." He paused. I knew this wasn't the end of his sentance. Oh no. He'd jump in with another insult and walk away laughing, as if he was the funniest thing in the world.

Well, the joke would be on him this time.

Again the Power surged through me, pulsing slightly. My face was stony still, as it usually is when I've been angered.

"of denting his fingernail!" Barking laughs lept from Kii's mouth. I almost lost my concentration; that was by far the worst insult I'd ever heard.

"What about this?" I asked. Kii looked up at me just in time to see my outstretched hand. In it a few whisps of upset air twirled around. The Magik from inside of me coursed through my hand, tearing at the air all up and down my arm. The scant hair on my arms sood on end, waving just slightly in the growing disruption. Kii looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, daring me to hit him. Suddenly, every ounce of Power inside of me clicked. I buried down into the depths of Me and tapped in to every secret Source, searching for whatever energy I could find...

The ground beneath me shook slightly. Power surged up from it, through my feet, both planted firmly in the earth. It took every bit of physical strength I had to prevent this newfound Magik from knocking me over.

By now the air around my arm was nothing to laugh at. I had managed to conjure not just a decent sized whirlwind, but more of a small tornado. With a howl, I pushed the air off of my arm. I could see my Magik tearing at the air around my arm, condensing and organizing itself, and then shoving powerfully towards my brother. Before he had a chance to yelp, the gigantic mass of disrupted weather was upon him, swallowing him up. The whirlwind made its way towards a tree, battering my brother on it several times as he spun around. The tree itself began to topple over.

"That's enough..." I whispered, beckoning with my Magik to the tornado. Obediently it returned to my hand. The whirling air began to slow down, and whatever remaining Magik there was crawled back into my body.

I collapsed into a heap at Mahar's feet.

Kii lay not ten feet away, beaten and sprawled out across the broken tree trunk.

"Not bad, Catch..." Mahar whispered, surveying the scence. "Not bad at all..."

I wish mother had had the same response. As pleased as Mahar was, Mother was none to that I had chosen Kii as my victim.

"Mom, you know I've used him for target practice just as many times as he's ever used me." I said into my dinner.

"Hai," my mom replied, her voice stern as always. "But your Magik is so much more powerful than his! And so much more uncontrollable, as well..." She shot a glance at me. I almost let a growl slip. I don't like sympathy; I never have and I never will. And here my own mother was, her eyes saturated with it.

As though it was my fault that I couldn't control my Magik.

"There's a full moon tonight," my mom said warily. She had never much liked being a werewolf. No one in my family had, for that matter. For some reason my brother absolutely hated it. He refused to pay attention to the Teachings I so avidly studied. He wanted to be rid of the curse and a human for ever. Can you imagine? A human! What sort of a way to live is that? Without a tail to cuddle up against, without thick fur to protect you from the elements, without such acute senses of smell and hearing... Humans may have eyesight, but what is eyesight when you cannot hear the world around you? What is eyesight when you cannot hear an enemy sneaking up behind you? And they're so slow compared to canines... slow, lumbering, clumsy humans. Can you imagine?

"A full moon!" I yelped happily. Of course I had been counting down the days. Oh, I could not wait... Already my blood was pumping. I wanted to run! I wanted to hunt! I wanted to catch myself a nice, plump rabbit... I wanted...

"I want you to stay inside tonight, Catch." Reality slapped me across the cheek. I gaped at my mom.

"Say what?" I managed between surprised gasps and gulps for air.

"I don't want you to go outside. Stay in tonight." She said again. Kii looked at me with his one good eye; the other was swelled shut from his encounter with the tree.

"Why?" My voice sounded shallow, empty.

"Because... It's... It's unnatural, Catch." I could tell that years of parenting stress were just beginning to peek out from underneath my mom's well conditioned mask. I had known for years that she disliked being a werewolf, but I never imagined that she would prevent me from taking part in the single thing that made my life worth living. She knew that I lived for these moons, for the time when I could sever the ties to human reality and roam as a dog. Or at least as a part-dog.

"Unnatural." Hollow. If she took this away from me, I'd be nothing more than a broken shell. Not even the thrill of Magik-working would restore me. "Mom. I am a werewolf. I am in my being an unnatural werewolf, at that. I'm an oddity. An odd unnatural being. In that, isn't it only natural for me to take part in 'unnatural' rituals?" I seethed. "There's no way either of you can stop me from leaving tonight. If you even try to do so, I'll attack you with my Bolt and let your ashes ride the winds of my Whirlwind, and don't doubt me for a second." Dishes fell to the floor with crashes as I stood up. Darkness was creeping outside, and it wouldn't be long until the moon would rise...

"Catch." Mom's voice was cold... deathly, steely cold. Some infantile instinct within me made me slouch slightly and back up, much like a scared puppy. "If you leave this house tonight, you are never coming back." Silly threats coming from a lady dressed in a cleaning apron, brandishing a ladle dripping with lemony scented lather. Despite the goofy apperance, her face was etched with wrinkles, her mouth cocked downwards, her eyes sheening with rage while teeming with tears. I could tell even without my keen canine abilities that she was as angry as she had ever been; It radiated from her defiant posture. Kii grinned beside her, his longish hair damp from assisting with the dishes, trickles of caked blood still clinging desperately.

"Okay." I said calmly. I was waiting, biding my time. None of us moved; we barely breathed. Finally I felt the moon rise. The lady I called 'mom' had built this house so that no windows saw the moon. Still I felt it rise. "Okay." I said again. "Goodbye." The chair I had been leaning against clattered to the floor as well, surrounded by broken dishes. A ladle flew past my head, splatering me with bubbles. But I was free...

"CATCH!" Kii yelled after me, chasing me over rocks and around houses. "CATCH, I'LL SKIN YOU!" He threatened. I stopped and looked at him. So slow...he was so slow. He would never catch me.

The moon called to me. I could feel it calling to my soul, begging for a glance. If you only knew, reader. If you only knew what it felt like... The moon, calling to you, with it's deep, resonating voice. There's no sound, but you can feel it vibrating through your body, through your very being! And the sight of it... a gigantic, magical orb floating in the sky, surrounded by its many servants. Gentle but powerful...

My fur grew, spreading down my arms and legs. A tail peeked out from the base of my spine, curling upwards at the tip. Muscles in my legs stretched and strengthened, elongnating slightly. My brain was overwhelmed with the sense of smell and of hearing. I wagged my tail and howled deeply, rejoicing. Kii stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes were closed, and his body was glowing slightly.

Fool.

I leapt at him, flashing my claws, snarling. I bit at his ear as he toppled backwards. He called out in fear and covered his eyes, trying so hard not to look into the moon...

Fine, let the brainwashed pup live life as he does. This way I could run from him even easier...

And run I did.

The wind whistled through my fur as my feet - all four of them - hit the ground, leaping off. Flying felt this way, or so I imagined. I howled again, thanking the moon for my blessing.

Tonight I would run. Tonight I would hunt. Tonight I would bask in the rays of the moon. I would feel this power run through me. Tomorrow I would see Master Maha about furthering my Learnings. Tomorrow was tomorrow, and nothing to be feared - because tonight was now, and tonight was a glorius, beautiful, wonderful thing.

Rabbits scurried at the sound of my footsteps. Various creatures I had never even seen before took to the shadows, watching the hybrid of a wolf run by them. Long ago I had passed the city limits. Deep inside of me I prayed that Master Maha wouldn't find out I had left the boundaries; if he did, I would be thrown from the city and forced to live on my own. Not that I would mind... I just craved the knowledge elders of our clan had kept for years. I wanted to know what made me change. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know if there was others like me, and if they too could use Magik.

My breath painted temporary clouds in the air, waving around and disappearing. My legs cramped slightly. I lay down near a small pool and drank deeply, my ears upright, listening attentively to the noises of this night.

A howl of a wolf - a real wolf - was carried on the wind. Water droplets chimed gently against the pool's surface as I snapped my jaw shut, listening to the eerie song of the canine. Envy enveloped me suddenly. How I wished I could be that wolf... forever free. I looked at my reflection in the water. An oddity. One blue eye and one grey eye glared back at me, my blue-grey hair still sweeping over my furry shoulders. The tattered remains of my shirt hung loosely around my shoulders. Homemade shorts were beginning to wear down, and my tail had torn a hole in the back when it had grown in. My paws... my paws were a twisted attempt at perfection and production, but instead resembled those of a monkey. All of my limbs were oddly disfigured - far too long to be wolven limbs, and my arms were too long to be human. This allowed me to run on all fours, but it gave me a lopsided appearance... almost clumsy.

A shadow loomed behind me in the dark.

Idiot! How had I missed him? Had I been so entranced by my own reflection to ignore my sense of smell completely? I lept awkwardly, just dodging the attack the human male sent at me. My footing was wrong... I slipped on the pool's marshy bank and fell into the water.

I wonder... I stayed under, watching the distorted male and his travelling companions - two females; one with long red hair pulled into a ponytail atop her head, the other with blonde hair falling neatly around her face. The male had scruffy brown hair, long in back and pulled into a sort of tail as well. All of them wore the markings of travellers - their capes were torn and stained from battle cuts. Each of them was dirty; it was evident none had suffeciently cleaned in days.

My lungs were beginning to scream for oxygen, and I focused myself. Again I felt Magik creeping in to me. This time there was no air to disrupt, but water instead.

The faces of my attackers turned from curiosity to surprise in moments. I shot off the magic, sending a whirlpool towards them. They leapt out of its path as I heaved myself onto the bank. I shook off, droplets of water splattering everywhere.

The male came at me, his glistening sword shining, reflecting the light... The... sunlight? I felt myself pale and backed up a step.