THE CURSED MEDALLION – RETURN

It's been a long time since it happened, I remember it well - the power of that medallion, tansforming humans to animals. At first I thought I had lost my mind, it was just downright crazy... too crazy for words. I can remember thinking how could it go wrong?

I was wrong. The medallion was destroyed but the curse still lives on. May God have pity on the poor soul who falls into its lap...

**

Part I
It All Starts Anew

Zuid-Laren, the Netherlands.
A quaint little town with its everyday routine: people go to work, people come home; children play in the streets... and a snooping raccoon, hanging around amoungst some trashcans...

Wait a minute... a raccoon? Wild raccoons don't live in the Netherlands! What's he doing there? Obvioulsy being a raccoon he can only be up to no good, and probably rumaging for food.

'Another fish bone... blegh... not even a whole one either...', the raccoon complained as he pulled a fish carcass from the pile of waste, he tossed it over his shoulder and dove back into the trashcan. He swished his tail in anger, smacking it on the metal of the trashcan, causing it to tremble.

As his tail swished and banged on the trash can he didnt even notice as the can began to rock, and before he knew it was tipping over. He rolled out from amoungst the spilled garbage and sat down, next to a mauled trashbag.

'I'm so hungry!', he muttered to himself, 'I could even eat a young sparrow by now!'

With a grunt he stood up on his four paws and took a good look around, 'Where the blazes am I anyway?'

He began walking down the alley, taking in his surroundings. A sharp tweet caught his attention and out of the corner of his eye he could see a small bird fluttering through the sky. It was obvious to the raccoon there was something wrong with its wing. As it landed and hopped under a bench it let out a small tweet, oblivious to the predator stalking it.

'Could my dinner be served?' the raccoon asked himself as he crept unsuspiciously around the bench, not taking his eyes of the bird.

The little bird hopped around, sensing the raccon. It shifted its head side to side, as if trying to make out what this strange bandit-looking creature was. The raccoon pulled back its mouth to reveal a row of sharp teeth. Without warning the raccoon leapt towards the bird, and grabbed it in his paws; hungrily he bit through the throat of the little bird! Once the bird had stopped moving the raccoon carried it to a nearby stream, and sitting on the waters edge began his well needed meal.

After his meal he licked off his tiny paws and walked from under the bench, letting out a hiccup,. “Ah, that hit the spot! Now for somewhere to digest.”


With a full stomach he pulled himself up onto the bench and lay there for a few seconds. He couldnt help but being startled as an old lady sat next to him, The raccoon let out a snarling sound , warning her with his eyes as he jumped off the bench again. Disappointed he waddled clumsily towards the center of town.
'Stupid lady...', he grunted, shooting vicious looks over his shoulder at the old lady who had began to knit a scarf. It was indeed the old lady that he met before. A nice old lady, in the mid-eighties now. Old and very wrinkly in her face. But her looks still remains dashing, even at her age! Looking at her closely an old memory snuck into the raccoon’s head, No, it cannot be... but it looks like her...could it really be her? The lady from years ago? He shook his furry head violenty. Impossible, just Impossible!

As his tummy started to rumble again he shamefully grabbed his ringed tail, 'Oh my stomach... it must have been that blasted bird! I ate it way too quick!',he complained. He looked up from his moaning just long enough to see the old lady looking at him, recognition flashing in her eyes.

Seeing this furry little mammal, she couldnt help but ask herself, could it be? The little bandit waddled over to the bench and with a small jump landed on her legs. He looked up at her, his black eyes studying her face. Curiously he began to sniff her finger and with a flick of his tounge began to lick her..

“You're a cute little fella, aren't ya?”she said softly, stroking his back. She noticed something red around his neck, moving the hair out of the way she realized it was a collar, “What's this?”,she mumbled as she inspected it. As she studied it the nylon of the collar against the fur caused a snap of static electricity, scaring both her and the raccoon.
“Ouch!”she exclaimed, pulling back her hand as the raccoon leapt from her lap. He looked up at her, his black eyes surrounded by their mask studying her expression. She looked back at him, a crooked smile coming over her lips.
As a bus pulled over the old lady stood up stiffly and grabbed a cane the coon had not noticed, she leaned on it as she walked to the bus turning as she climbed on.
“Bye Coon,” she said with a raspy voice, “I hope we meet again.”
As the bus drove away the raccoon’s stomache started to rumble again, his paw instincitvely went to his furry belly.
“Yes, that bird was a bit too much...” he grumbled, climbing off the bench.

As the sun was slowly beginning to set, the raccoon was just beginning to wake for his evening roaming. He yawned widely and stretched his legs out in front of him. Strangely, his right paw felt something in the dirt. Something cold and hard, he studied it with his paws, and felt it used to be round and silvery, now being broken off.

Panic began to grow in his mind. Oh my God, that cannot be ,he whispered softly to himself. That can only mean one thing. The medallion... has taken yet another victim of its curse. But what can it be this time? He looked around with both eyes studying his surroundings. All he could see is another raccoon, sleeping by the park pond. But where were all the people?

Slowly and still stretching his fur-covered body he waddled over to the unknown raccoon, crossing a sandy path, the sand tickling his tiny toes making him let out what seems like a little giggle. Behind him, his tail formed a trail in the sand, dragging it across the ground. Sneakily he softly taps the furry grey body of the other raccoon. But the strange animal didnt even budge. Instead it began to snore, and snore loudly. Again, our hero taps the other raccoon very softly.
“Come on, sleepy-head!” he said, trying to wake up the other raccoon. When that didnt work he huffed and decided to try something else.
He crawled to the head of the other raccoon thru the soft grass, and looking at it, realizes its a girl... a pretty girl. With a sly curve to his lips that could only be described as a devilous raccoon grin he licked her.
Her eyes flew open as she awoke. Two little brown eyes opened up and stared right into his black ones. She blinked and looked around nervously as if he had done something wrong.
With a small voice she said, “who are you? Where am I?”

Yup, she’s a victim alright, he thought to himself. He’d dealth with more than one case.
Slowly he crawled to her so as not to startle her, trying to think of a way to explain to her what has happened.
“W-Who are you,” she stammered, “And why... am I like this? Am I dreaming?”
Our hero shook his head no.
She looked down at herself “OK... that coonsuit was a bit too much, but how... and where is my medallion? Do you know where it is? Did you steal it?”
Our Hero looked at her, his black eyes full of innocense, he shook his head know, still unsure of how to explain, of what to tell her.
“Do you know whats happened to me? Do you have something to do with it?” she asked as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Our hero shook his head violently, he opened his mouth to explain but she didnt give him the chance, “fine, dont answer me, silly boy. I believe you, I think. But I have two questions: is this for real, and where's my medallion?”

Great. he rolled his eyes, A female bewitched raccoon that keeps on asking questions. Just my luck! He gave a deep sigh, and decided he might as well tell her the truth. She wasnt going to stop asking questions until he did...
“OK, listen,” he began, “That medallion of yours. That's broken. It is kaput. Busted. Outta here. And about all the rest: I'm real, you are real, all this,” he gestured to the park around them, “is real.”
She looked at him stunned, and was about to speak but he cut her off, “Sorry... but you have been turned into a real raccoon. I don't know how that is possible, maybe that suit of yours was the catalyst.”
The female raccon’s jaw dropped, revealing sharp white teeth... she looked him up and down and he could almost hear her thoughts (oh my god, a talking raccoon!)

She was lost for words, and slowly she backed up... as if trying to get away from him. Now she really knews this was dream. Raccoons cannot talk. That's impossible! That's... insane! With her left paw she tried to squeeze her right paw... or what's left of it. She looked down shocked. Holding up her paw she examined it! Gone are her perfectly manacured hands... now they are grey with lots of black, hairy, sharply nailes and: PAWPADS! Tiny black pawpads on either backside of the paws. With a gulp she looked to the raccoon... it was true, she really was an animal... how was she going to survive, she knew nothing about being one.

“Impressive, no? I knew someone who actually transformed into a dolphin and another one into a killerwhale. But that was years ago,” Our hero says, a smug smile playing at his lips.

She looked at him with shocked awe, how did that even make sense. People didnt actually get turned into animals, it was impossible. She felt a lump forming in her throat, it was just too overwhelming, as bitter tears rolled out of her beautiful eyes, she begans to sniff silently.
“Why... why must this happen to me? Did I do something wrong?”she sobbed.
“Awww, you did nothing wrong,” our hero said to her, stroking her softly on the back to comfort her, “You are not used to this, you have to learn to survive.”
“Survive? How?”
“Well, I’m going to teach you.”
She sniffed, “really?”
He nodded, “What’s your name? You do have a name, don’t you?”
The female raccoon swallowed her tears and whispered softly, “Xan.”
“That’s a beautiful name! Almost as beautiful as you!” he exclaimed, “I'm Retep.”
“A-and, you’re going to help me? To get me back to human form?” Xan asked.
“Yes, of course,” Retep said.
She leapt toward him and wrapped her arms around him hugging him tight, “thank you, thank you, thank you!” she shouted holding him tight.
“Whoa, calm down,” Retep laughed as he pulled himself out of her arms.
She looked up at him, her round brown eyes full of excitement for the first time. It lasted only a moment before she looked around at a rumbling sound, “What... what's that?”,she asked.
“That, my fellow coon...”Retep says, “is your belly, hungering for a snack.”
“Oh,”she said, putting her paw to her belly and feeling the rumbling inside, “but what will we eat?”
“Well, all kinds of stuff,” Retep said, “trash, rodents, birds,and fish! Oh those yummy fish!”giggled Retep while his mouth watered thinking about those slippery, tasty morsals.
“Um, I dont eat fish,” Xan said simply, a look of disgust on her face.
“What do you mean you dont eat fish?” Retep rolled his eyes, looking at the park pond where he had already spotted some victims.
Without any hesitation he bounded toward the pond and crawled onto a log that had fallen in the water. He waited for a moment and then majestically swooped a medium-sized fish out of the water and with a ploof it landed in the grass, flopping around as it tried to get back to water.
Xan jumped back from it, watching in horror as the poor fish gasped for air.
“Get it!” Retep called from the log.
Oh, I’ll get it alright, Xan thought as she picked the fish up by the tail. She held it in front of her and waddled to the edge of the pond, tossing it back into the water. The fish flopped in the shallow water before it took off swimming into the weeds and to safety. She looked up with satisfaction clear on her face.
Retep glared at her as he climbed from his log, “What was that all about? That was my lunch!”
“I put it back, fish belong in water,” Xan said defiently.
“So? We eat fish!”
“Not me.”
“Yes, YOU TOO!”
“I don't want yucky fish, they are GROSS! Besides Im a vegetarian.”
“They are NOT! If you want to survive, you have to eat THAT!” Retep said, “and what do you mean, you are a vegetarian?”
“It means i dont eat meat.” Xan said, turning her back to him and sitting on the grass.
Every single hair on Retep's body stood on end. He felt as if he could lash out and attack, but... he knew that she only wanted to help. But then again, that girl needed to be taught a lesson! So, he revealed his sharp teeth and started to growl viciously at Xar. She looked at him, startled suddnely realizing she was in trouble. Being friends was one thing, but taking food away from that very same friend... was another very different thing. Without her realizing it her instincs boiled up, and suddenly she was ready to fight back; she wanted to stop but she couldnt fight it. She jumped onto her feet and hissed and bit, lashing out at Retep!
Retep jumped back, narrowly missing a swipe of her sharp claws to his eyes. He lunged then, and having much more experience as a raccoon he managed to get in a swipe of his own, leaving a scratch on Xan’s cheek. She let out a whimper as she leapt back, putting her paw to her cheek. She began to shiver with fear and backed off, with the hair of her back and tail still upright she looked at Retep, his eyes full of anger.
What have I done? She asked herself, she turned and ran as fast as she could, she had to get away.

Part II
Feeding time

The next morning Xar woke up feeling lonely in an empty card-board box underneath a bridge. Still a bit sore and bloody from the fight the day before she sighed and whimpered when the stretching hurt
She heard the sound of a bike coming towards her and poked her head out of the box. A few moments later she saw someone coming down the path on a red mountainbike. He seemed to sense her, and looked down at her. His brakes squeaked slightly as he stopped his bike and hopped off, leaving it lying on the side of the path.
Instincitvely Xar dived deep back into the sloppy card-board box, hissing a warning. He ignored her and before she knew it, she was in his arms, “Hey, it's allright!,” he soothed, “Oh you poor thing, you're bleeding...what has happened to you?”
He stroked her back and Xar couldnt help but feel just a little safer.
“Come on then, I’ll take good care of you, I’m Simon! Damn you're pretty one!” he crooned as he stood up and carried her towards his bike. She knew she would be safe now but her instincs were telling her she wasnt alone; she looked over Simon’s shoulder, could that Retep have been following her? All the way to the water's edge underneath the bridge? Xar gave out a tiny yelp and a shiver, trying to show Simon that it wasnt safe and that she desperately wanted to get away.
“It’s ok,” Simon said stroking her. He looked behind him and could make out the grey and black body of another raccoon climbing up the hill.
It was Retep. Xar began hissing and snarling, trying to desperately to get away. Simon had to hold her tight to keep from dropping her, “Its alright, dont worry you’re ok, you're coming with me!”
Hurridly Simon pulled a flashy backpack off his back and put Xan in, zipping it up leaving just enough room for Xan to stick her head out. Carefully he slung it back on and picked up his bike, swinging his leg over, “now dont try to jump out!”

As Simon peddled away Xan poked her head out she saw Retep waddle onto the path and look up at her, completely flabbergasted. She smiled (the best a raccoon could smile) as she was carried away.

Feeling safe for the first time ever, Xan dove back in the backpack, head-first. It was nice and comfy. And she had the chance now to lick her wounds without being disturbed! She could feel however the moving back of her rescuer who brings her to safety... where-ever safely may be... She lets out a wide sleepy yamn and decides to go back to sleep again. She now deserves a long good nappy! All she could her with her tender hearing is a 'finally, she's gone back to sleep' of her rescuer... She firmly curled her blood-stained tail around her and went to sleep.

Not before long she wakes up in a very large house, still a bit drowsy of that very good nap! But where is she now? With a bit hazy view she looks around. Xan is now in a dog basket, lying on a soft yellow blanket with blue doggybones printed on it. The basket itself is made out of rotan, and it's littered with doggie toys. Her attention goes directly towards a big plastic red ball, with some advertising on it. But... she can't read it?! Why can't she read it? She recognises the letters, but she can't make out the words! Only the shapes and the forms of the letters are now the only things familiar to her. Yes, ofcourse she knows the alphabet back and forth and all the numbers... but this is too weird. Can it be, now that's she's a raccoon, that she CAN'T READ ANYMORE???

With a sigh she puts her paws against the plastic of the ball and feels it rubberyness. And again some tears are starting to flow from her eyes. She even lets out a tiny sniff. Why had this to happen to me? Why -o- why?,she sighs in herself. Raccoons were always her favorite animals, but now's she's actually one, she loaths it. And then to think of it that a male raccoon is hot on her trail? Next to the basket stands a little bowl with dogfood and some water next to it. Great. Meat. I hate meat,she sniffs and looks digusted to the 'food-and-drink-department'. But somehow she has to overcome her disgust over meat, and with another big yawn she left the basket and sniffs a bit on the dog food. Yup, still fresh and it smells good, rings it thru her mind. Sneakily she looks around if no one sees her, and... begins to eat quietly. “Mwoammm... wewwy wood...” she mumbles in herself. With her tiny claws she picks up some food and brings it then to the mouth where she tucks it in and within no-time her mouth is littered with tiny dogfood remains! But while she is gorging herself full, she hears a tiny queaky sound. She pricks her ears... and sees a tiny mouse trippling over the kitchen floor. But the mouse didn't sensed the danger he was in now... Xar leaved the food for what is was, and decides to stalk the little mouse that still hasn't got a clue of the danger. I may not like any sort food, but this is an OPPORTUNITY!, Xar thought. Within seconds she spotted the mouse in a corner and it now realises it's the end of the road for the little mammal. Angsty the tiny creature flicks his ears in fear.

As fast as lightning she jumps towards the mouse and within notime she has the loud squealing mouse between her teeth. Yeah yeah, squeal all you want little pest. It's one-way-stomach for you!,says Xar with her mouth full, the blood of the mouse dripping over the body on the floor. Then she grabs the mouse with her two front paws out of her mouth. Finally her prey stopped squealing. It was dead, that's for sure! Calmy she begins to rip the tiny head off, releaving some of spine of the mouse. Quicky she puts it in her mouth, chews on it and swallows it in his entirety. Including the tiny head. Another a quick swallow and already Xar is full. She licks her mouth off all the blood with her tongue, still a bit reddish. That was kinda tasty,she ponders and uses her sensitive nose and ears to sniff around for more...

...And she finds it: a small nest somewhere deeply hidden in a corner of the kitchen! She can actually hear the tiny squeaks resonate from it. This is a chance not to be missed,rings it thru her mind and like a cat Xar sneaks up towards the nest, now obviously motherless. Without any hesitation she crawls up to the mousenest. Hello yummies,Xar laughs and starts to eat the young pups, one by one by one... 5 in total! She can barely swallow her little preys but she must! She MUST eat! Softly she starts to chew again with her sharp teeth. Xar then discoveres that there is one mouse left to go, obviously the yongest of the whole batch. She picks it up and hears the tiny prey squealing like hell! “Sorry little one, it's eat or be eaten...” she softly say, but this last little one is a feisty one! Quicky she swallows all the mouses' sisters and brethren and decides to give this one the benefit of the doubt. But she knows that this little mouse pup won't survive at all, all alone in the nest and without mother mouse now being eaten by that big bad female raccoon!

With a tiny sigh she picks the little one up again between her tiny paws and discovers that the little mouse pup finally has given up. Lifeless lies it there between the paws, now silent and still. “Well, that means only one thing...” Xar sighs and this one too disappers between the gaping jaws of the raccoon and the dead mouse lets itself glide over the tongue to the stoamch... One quick swallow and it's all over. GULP! After a satifactional BURP the coon sniffs a bit around but the nest is now completely empty and devoid of life. She gives a tiny sniff and lumbers then back towards her basket. Now that as a snack!,she grins and crawls back into the basket where she has a good sleep.