Episode Guide

Episode #3:  Bad Fellow

** Opening Sequence **

Darcia is standing just outside the lab on a ledge, with Cheza in his arms.  He glares down at Hige and Kiba, and instantly recognizes them for what they are.  He "thanks" them for helping to awaken Cheza, the Flower Maiden.  Darcia grabs Cheza by the back of her neck, and raises her into the air.  Bright light floods the corridor where they stand, and she opens her eyes and lets out a high-pitched scream that deafens the wolves.  Even Toboe and Tsume, who are some distance away, hear the noise and are affected by it.  Darcia then disappears with Cheza into the blinding light.  Kiba makes a feeble attempt to catch up with them, but they are long gone by the time her reaches the ledge.

Hubb is at Quent's apartment.  He shows Hubb the claw mark on his hand, the one made by Tsume when he rescued Toboe.  Hubb is somewhat disbelieving.  Quent tells him that the wolf took the form of a young man, and Hubb stares at Quent like he has lost his mind.

Tsume and Toboe are still hiding out in the abandoned building.  Toboe still has his hands over his ears to shield out the deafening noise, which had long since stopped.  Toboe, of course, recognized the sound of the voice, but Tsume refused to believe that, assuming it was a screech from a robot.

Back at the apartment, Hubb wants an identification on the young man, but Quent says he would not be able to remember his face.  Frustrated and disappointed, Hubb gathers his things and begins to leave.  As he does, Quent tells him he had been charmed by the wolves.  Hubb thinks the whole thing is just some ludicrous story from a drunken old man, but of course he believes it somewhat or else he wouldn't have visited Quent in the first place.  Quent knows the wolves are only perceived to take on human form, that they have developed some sort of skill to trick the humans' minds into seeing a human form; the wolves do not actually turn into humans.  Before Hubb leaves, Quent tells him the story of the Red Moon from the Book of the Moon.  The story goes that god placed wolves to live on Earth, and that the wolves placed the humans to live alongside them.  Hubb doesn't seem impressed, and leaves.

Down in the sewers below the police station, Hige and Kiba roam in search of food.  They feed on sewer rats while they discuss what had just taken place.  Hige just wants to forget about Darcia and Cheza and move on, out of town, but Kiba is determined to find out about the Lunar Flower and what Darcia has to do with finding Paradise.

We get a brief vision of the inside of a noble's castle, where some sort of weird, twisted festival is occurring.  There are people in cages, dressed in outlandish outfits, dancing with snakes, breathing fire, and all sorts of other freakish things.  One of the nobles there speaks to himself of receiving the White Flower.

Back at the single huge tree that grows on top of a collapsed building that seems to be Tsume's favorite place to hang out, Tsume and Toboe feed on rolls found within a box.  Toboe wonders about Leara, and Tsume tells him it would be best to leave her alone, that she was frightened enough.  He also tells Toboe that he doesn't want him following him any longer.  Of course Toboe, always the optimist, still wants to try and make friends with stubborn Tsume.  Upset that Tsume still doesn't want to consider Toboe as a friend, Toboe grates on his nerves by telling him that he only wants to hang out with humans because he can bully them around.  Tsume gets really angry, throws his roll at Toboe, and yells at him to leave.  Frustrated, but probably still not deterred, Toboe leaves him.

Cher is in the hospital recovering from her run in with Darcia.  Hubb comes by to visit her, bearing a gift.  While talking, he asks her if she knows about the Book of the Moon.  She says she does, and asks why.  When he says it was because Quent mentioned it and how it was about humans being born from wolves, Cher had a frightening flashback about Darcia.  She claims it is a fairy tale, but judging from her reaction, it is obvious she doesn't think so. Hubb leaves the room so she can get some rest.

Back at the tree-hideout place, one of Tsume's former gang members points out Tsume to the police, probably so he can get out of going to prison.  The police follow Tsume, but he knocks over all three of them and charges back to the tree, where another police officer and the former gang member wait.  He knocks the police officer unconscious, and confronts the man. he holds a blade to his throat and demands an explanation.  The man tells him that since the gang had disbanded, just about everyone got caught, and it wasn't fair how he was the only one to get away.  The man is spared from getting his throat cut when the other police he knocked over earlier run up to them.  Tsume bounds off.

Leara is once again in the marketplace with her father, carrying groceries.  Leara speaks of searching for something, and one can assume she is talking about Toboe, especially based on her father's reaction that what she saw was all in her head.  Leara runs off, and her father accidentally runs into Quent as he follows her.

Toboe, probably partially frustrated at Tsume, charges at the crows, finally gaining the courage to confront them and get at their food.  Tsume's words about taking care of oneself by oneself stuck in his head, and he wants to show Tsume that he can take care of himself, probably so that he will start to like him.  While chowing down on the garbage, Hige and Kiba merge from a manhole a few yards from him.  Unfortunately for Toboe, Leara happens to come across the group.  She looks terrified of him, and he wants to explain to her not to be frightened of his appearance.  She doesn't listen, and screams for her father.  She announces to the whole world about the wolf, and of course Quent overhears.  Hearing her screams, both her father and Quent come running to her.  Toboe, Hige and Kiba run off in different directions.  Toboe runs into a dead end with large pipes sticking out of the walls.  In a final attempt to make amends, he appears in human form before Leara.  He tries to understand why she is so upset, but she is still afraid of him and will never trust him again.  Hige beckons him from within one of the pipes, and reluctantly Toboe follows him in just in time before both Leara's father and Quent show up.

Tsume is still running from the police.  He is stopped dead in his tracks when Blue jumps in front of him on the ledge he was running across.  She growls at him furiously.  Unable to change course, he runs directly at her, and she lunges at him at the same time, grabbing him by the arm, and sending both of them plummeting to the ground below.  Luckily, they both land in a pile of crates.  Tsume runs off in wolf form, leaving Blue semi-conscious on the broken wooden crates.

Hubb and a police officer stand in a field among countless dead birds, with feathers falling continuously from the sky.

Quent finds his dog, and she regains consciousness.  He notices grey wolf hairs in her coat, and pretty much figures out what happened.

Kiba and Hige are once again running through the sewers, with Toboe following.  It is the first time Toboe has seen the other two wolves, and Hige introduces them both to Toboe.  Hige tells him that they are searching for the exit from town, which apparently can only be achieved, at least unnoticed, through the sewer system, to find Paradise.  Toboe asks if they have seen Tsume, but gets the impression from both of them that he is better off to forget him.  Kiba spots blood on the floor of the sewer below a grate, and eyeballs the stairs leading up to the surface.

Back at the police station/laboratory/whatever this place is called (it is never mentioned by name, but seems to be a huge building with lots of different things inside it) Hubb looks up information about the Book of the Moon on his computer to no avail.    He is interrupted by one of his fellow officers bringing him his lunch.  He informs Hubb that they found the leader of the gang that caused the ruckus the other day, and that with him were two dogs.  Hubb is startled by this news, and judging by the expression on his face, decides for himself that these rumors must be true.  Just then, Quent bursts into his office. 

Tsume sits alone in a dark room, brooding over something, when the door opens and of all people who should come in but Kiba, followed by the other two.  Kiba tells Tsume that the scent of his blood hangs heavy in the air.  Toboe begs Tsume to come with them to leave town and try to find Paradise.  They have all decided that there is no reason to stay in the town, and that they will never be able to fit into society.  Tsume even admitted that it was the scent of the Lunar Flower that brought him to this town in the first place.  Meanwhile outside, police have them surrounded, and begin to fire upon the building. They escape out onto the pillars and pipes that lead from the building.  Toboe loses his footing and slips, catching a small pipe before he could fall.  Tsume, in a sense of deja-vu, runs back to rescue him.  Again, using the only tool wolves have to grasp with, their jaws, he grabs onto Toboe, and since Toboe is also a wolf, he doesn't freak out like the boy did.  Tsume looks temporarily relieved as he tells Toboe to go on ahead.  The gunfire starts again at them and they start running again.  Incredibly, no one gets seriously injured, and they are able to make their way to the edge of town.  They make their way over the labyrinthine maze of midair pipes and beams, and manage to climb over the wall at the border of town.  However, Tsume hesitates.  While he is debating, Quent and Hubb arrive together on the scene, and Quent opens fire upon Tsume.  Hubb forcibly tries to prevent him from shooting by grabbing his rifle, and telling him that they are not wolves but humans.  Tsume makes up his mind and joins the others.  The wolves begin their journey in the frozen outside of the world away from the humans.

** Ending Sequence **