Winter Hollow, a village set in the heart of Romarenia, brimming with peace. Unfortunately, that peace was broken when the monster appeared. This monster didn't seeked humans, or animals to hunt them down, much to the surprise and confusion from the villagers. Gold and food were it's goals. When nightime comes with the bright, beautiful moon up in the black sky, it was the sign that the monster was comming.
The werewolf was comming.
At these hours of the night, the werewolf roamed around, heading to the village in order to prey on the food, and steal the money of innocent people. It is unknown from where it came from. It is heavily believed, as legends say, that it's actually a man that can shapeshift when the moon appears. Probably a man who made a pact with the forces of the underworld to earn the ability to turn into a werewolf to do such deeds.
The villagers had tried fighting back against the werewolf before, using pitchforks, fire, and silver. The results were... Painful. Very painful for the villagers, and due that incident, they haven't fought back against the monster again, not even the strongest man in the village. Do not fret, in this story no one dies. They only get big boo-boos.
Wanting to stop the werewolf, the mayor of Winter Hollow decided to hire a monster hunter, a well renowned monster hunter known over all Euhoofe. Many monsters had fallen before her, and the mere presence of her puts fear into even into the most dangerous criminals.
Yeah, it's actually called monster huntress since this is a woman that we are talking about, but she prefers the term monster hunter.
Right now, a carriage drawn by two horses was heading straight to Winter Hollow, passing through the foggy road. Inside of the carriage was a young woman clad on a overlong, black and white fur collar coat, almost covering her face. She had a humburg hat on her head with her lime green hair sticking out from her hat.
The carriage went to stop, causing the lime haired women to look out from the window. There it was her destination, Winter Hollow. Not wasting any time, she opened the door and stepped out of the carriage, ajusting her hat as she put her foot on the ground.
"Well, here we are," the driver of the carriage said, an old man, looking at the woman. "What brings you here in this town?"
"Bussiness," the woman replied in a contralto tone as she looked at the driver.
The tone of her voice, and the way she was looking at him, creeped out the old man, and the two horses, who looked at each other. She clearly gave a menacing aura. Not a person you want to mess with.
"I'm so sorry to prey! Is not my bussiness, not at all! I'll just leave..." the old man, and before he could give a command to the horses, the two poor creatures quickly rushed at high speed, pulling the carriage and leaving behind a cloud of dust.
The cloud dissapeared moments later, and the woman blinked a few times. She didn't had time to pay him for the ride. That incident with the ice cream cat monster put some problems with her throat that it made her sound deep. Kind of a bittersweet experience. She pulled the letter of the mayor out from her coat, taking a look at it to give it another read.
"This is an emergency! We need your help, Lemon van Hecksing! A werewolf appeared in our town, and has been stealing the money and food from the villagers. It only appears at night when there's a moon, and it's too strong to fight against. You're our last hope. Signed, Mayor Maiden, the mayor of Winter Hollow."
When Lemon first read the letter, she was rather confused by the actions of the werewolf. These kind of monsters usually prey on the humans. Nonetheless, she had a duty. The werewolf needed to be stopped. She put the letter back to her coat, and started to make her way to the village's entrance.
There wasn't sight of any villager, not even a sound was heard except for her footsteps. Lemon looked up at the sky, noticing the clouds moving away, letting the silvery moon appear. A blood-curdling howl was heard all over the village....
It was the signal that it was comming.
Quickly reacting, Lemon pulled out her most effective weapons against werewolfs. The anti-wolf spray can, now 20% more effective just for good measure. Lemon narrowed her eyes, and waited for the monster to appear. She already had dealt with werewolves before, and they didn't stood a chance against her. This one will be easy as pie.
She had to admit, the only thing that wasn't wasy as her life of monster hunter was paperwork. If that was a monster, she would gladly slay it with her heart's content. Lemon's thoughts were drifted away when she suddenly felt something on her leg, and quickly turned around, a glare on her face towards the werewolf.
A soft bark was heard.
Lemon's expression softened, somewhat, and looked down at the ground. Her expression became one of bliss, her eyes wide with a big smile.
A male wolf pup was looking up at her with curious eyes, and he rubbed his head against her leg. Lemon picked up the pup, and put her nose close to his, earning a happy bark from the pup and an affectionate lick to her cheek.
Something clicked inside her mind of all the sudden. What if this pup was the werewolf? No, that couldn't be the case. Actually, a certain woman with twin-tailed hair would snark at that logic. Legends said that werewolves are humans who can shapeshift into werewolves. And this pup was too cute to cause harm.
She already made up her mind. He didn't presented any harm. To simply put it, a cutie like the pup wouldn't harm a village.
Another howl was heard, catching Lemon's, and the pup, attention, and the two turned to look at the source of the howl. The eyes of both widened in surprise, the monster itself standing on top of a house ceiling with the moon behind him. No doubt, the werewolf.
It leaped off the ceiling, heading to Lemon's direction and sending her a fierce glare. It was taller than her, and muscular looking. It's sharp teeth looked like they could tear through any kind of material, even metal, and it's eyes were yellow.
The pup immediatly hid inside of Lemon's coat. As for the monster hunter herself, she in turn glared at the monster. The werewolf took the glare as a sign of defiance and growled as it grew it's claws before raising it to attack Lemon. Lemon simply pointed at it with her anti-wolf spray can, and the werewolf's glare turned into a confused expression, stopping dead his attack in it's tracks.
A purple mist sprayed out of the can, directly at the face of the werewolf. Moments later, Lemon stopped with the spray, and waited for the effects to kick in. The werewolf could only sniff at the smell of the mist with that same look of confusion.
1...
2...
3...
And only crickets were heard, no present harm in the werewolf. Lemon blinked a few times, and murmured something under her breath.
The werewolf only smirked and raised it's arm again, only to be hit in the head with a baseball bat, courtesy of Lemon, who had a pout on her face. The werewolf shook it's head and growled at Lemon, only to be hit, again in the head with the baseball bat.
Shook head, growl, hit in the head, repeat.
Shook head, growl, hit in the head, repeat.
Shook head, growl, hit in the head, repeat.
Shook head, growl, hit in the head, repeat.
Shook head, growl, hit in the head, repeat.
The pup wolf looked outside of Lemon's coat to see what was going outside, tilting his head at the sight of the monster getting wacked again and again by Lemon.
The werewolf had enought of this wacking, and let out a howl of anger. Lemon had a nonchalant expression and-
Okay, for the sake of the rating of this story, we won't describe what Lemon did to the werewolf. Let's say, it was very painful, so painful that if the villagers were present to see this battle, they would feel bad for the werewolf. Even the pup felt bad for it.
Actually, it is not that bad. She simply slammed the bat against it's feet.
...
I take that back, it really sounds painful. The werewolf isn't even wearing shoes.
"AHHHH! MY FEET!" the werewolf screamed, holding both of it's feet as it felt to the ground.
That was very mean.
Lemon gave a look at me. "Shaddup."
Wait.
Did he hust talked?
The werewolf quickly put it's hand into it's mouth, and it started to sweat. Lemon's ear perked, a look of surprise on her face. Before she could do something else, the werewolf quickly left in all fours, making whimpering sounds. The pup wolf came out of her coat, climbing up to her shoulder as he looked at the werewolf leaving the village.
That could be the end of the job, but the werewolf just talked, which is impossible. Granted, monsters can talk, though there are few. The werewolf is one of the monsters that cannot talk. Something clicked in Lemon's mind. Adding that the werewolf stealed money and food from the villagers rather than eat them, even though it could attack them, and the fact that he can talk, only meant one thing...
Lemon Zest and his newfound friend, the pup wolf, walked through the wood to follow the footprints that the werewolf left. She had to think a name for the pup later. Right now, the hunt for the werewolf was important. If that was really a werewolf.
Eventually, Lemon found where the werewolf went. Much to her surprise, however, the footprints led her to a cottage. Scratching the back of her head, Lemon slowly walked up to the cottage. The pup, for his part, hid inside of Lemon's coat again, keeping himself quiet. When Lemon was close to the cottage, she crouched down below a window, and leaned her ear against the wall.
"What!? Right in the feet!?" a voice said inside the cottage in a tone that can be described as surpirse and cringe, a male voice to be exact.
"I told you, we should have used thic fabrick," another male voice said in a high pitched tone.
"Didn't expected someone to hit him in the feet, Spot," the first voice said.
"With that monster hunter there, how we can continue our plan, Rover?" another male voice said, sounding like he's in pain.
"Eh, let me think. I honestly didn't thought the mayor would hire her," River said, which Lemon thought it was the boss of the two. "Say, she was pretty?"
"If I were you, I wouldn't want to be near her," the owner of the third voice said.
Lemon raised her eyebrow, and slowly rose up to peek at the window, looking through it. Inside the cottage there were two men of varying heights. One was small, and the second was medium-sized. To Lemon's surprise, the two were with the werewolf itself.
"Rover, I think she had a pup with her," the werewolf said as it took off... it's head?
Lemon van Hecksing couldn't help but huff in anger. It was a costume all along with a big man wearing it.
"And the plan is to steal the pup from her and blackmail her, Fido?" Rover asked, raising his eyebrow.
"This is Lemon van Hecksing that we are talking about, she may do something ugly with us!" Spot said as he threw his arms up in the air.
Rover nodded, crossing his arms. "Yeah. I prefer to spend time in prision. That's it, if we get caught, and that won't happen."
Rover shouldn't have been that boastful. Tempting fate as it was called, since Lemon is now recording the whole thing with her cellphone in order to show it to the police. Of course, that wouldn't be enough.
"That's right! We escaped from the goverment, and we can escape from Lemon," Spot said with a boastful smile.
Fido shuddered. "Please don't remind me of that time with the goverment. I'm still feeling the effects of-"
A knock was heard, drawing their attention. The three looked at the source of the knock, their eyes widening in fear upon fixing their gaze on a very familiar figure with lime-green hair. Lemon simply waved at the three with a fake sweet smile.
That fear was shortlived as Rover pulled out a control remote with a red button, a smug look on his face. Lemon didn't had time to jump, as the ground beneath her feet opened, causing her and the pup to fall to the pit.
A thud was heard, followed by an "Ouch!" from Lemon.
Rover chuckled, with Fido and Spot smiling in delight. "Problem solved."
Suddenly, a sound was heard underneath them, sounding like a motorcycle. A saw came through the floor, freaking out the three criminals, and the saw began circling them. The next thing they knew, the floor beneath them fell.
"Crud..." the three muttered.
The three fell downwards to the pit, letting out a scream that someone could easily mistake for a bunch of girls. The three landed to the ground in a thud, with Lemon van Hecksing glaring down at them.
"Wait!" Spot said, quickly standing up to his feet, and pulled out a box wrapped in blue paper with a green ribon.
Lemon tilted her head in confusion. A boxing glove came out of the box, punching Lemon right in the face, and causing the pup to come out of her coat, and sending the woman flying to a wall.
"Take that!" Rover and Fido cheered, and Spot pumped his fist in the air.
The pup looked back at Lemon, a look of worry on his face. The pup puffed his checks and looked up at the three criminals, starting barking at the two. That didn't go unoticed by the three, and Rover rolled his eyes before grabbing the pup.
"So, what do we do with this pup?" Rover asked, booping the pup in the head.
"I say we put him in a cell, and we will send him to a dog catcher," Spot suggested, a grin on his face.
Lemon groaned as she shook her head, her ears perking up at what Spot said. She looked up, seeing the sad face of the pup.
Eyebrow twitch.
An animal-like growl.
Steam comming out of her ears.
"Alright, boys, let's put the pup, and Lemon into a cell. Maybe she won't bother us if-"
*BOOM*
A cannonball was shot and hit Rover's body, the pup being freed from his clutches. Fido and Spot let out a scream of fear as Rover was sent to a wall, getting crushed by the cannonball. The pup wolf landed safetely into the ground, and quickly ran towards the one who saved him.
"Where the heck..." Spot trailed off as he looked at where the canonball came, his eyes widening. "Oh, my."
Lemon van Hecksing was holding a cannon, using it like a bazooka and pointed at Fido and Spot with it, a vicious glare on her face.
"This is going to-"
*BOOM*
Fido yelled as he was thrown into a jail cell, landing in the ground beside Rover and Spot, the three were wrapped in bandages, result of the cannons shot at them. Officer Shining Armor locked the jail cell, and whistled a song as he walked way.
The three criminals couldn't help but sight in defeat.
Meanwhile in the streets of Winter Hollow, a parade celebration was being held in honor to their hero, Lemon van Hecksing. Many people of the village chanted Lemon's name as the open-ceiling carriage where Lemon and the wolf pup were with Mayor Maiden passed by, a banner on the carriage said "Our Hero".
"Oh, thank you, thank you for saving our town!" Mayor Maiden said as she shook hands with Lemon.
Lemon simply gave a smile, and gave her a thumbs up. The wolf pup inside her coat simply snuggled against her, letting out a happy noise.
The parade lasted all night until morning, and only the confetti and streamers were lying in the ground. It was one a heckuva of a night for Lemon. Speaking of her, the monster hunter was carrying a big bag full of money, the reward for stopping the criminals, as she walked out of the village.
A soft bark stopped her in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. The pup wolf was staring at her with sad eyes, tilting his head. Judging by that look, it gave her the impression that he didn't had a home. Lemon gave the pup a warm smile, and patted her shoulder as a signal to climb up. The pup wolf smiled and rushed towards her, climbing up to her shoulder.
Lemon tightened her hat, and began to make her way to her headquarters. Another night, another work done. Whenever monsters start to haunt the humans, she will be there to put a stop to them. As the saying goes, where there is dark, there is light.
The only thing she hoped she could put a stop was the paperwork. And cure her throat problem.
