Giant Werewolves Of Course

“The curse of the Were-macro is a devious affliction. Those who are bitten grow every full moon, turned into giants against their will,” Alkali said, flashlight turned on under his face for dramatic effect. “And every full moon, their power only grows. Forced taller, larger, beefier every month… and it could be anyone. It could even be YOU!”

Alkali swung his flashlight around the circle of friends, landing on KingDead’s chest. The group of four trick-or-treaters walked down the sidewalk, each trying to spook the others with scary stories. Mostly it was just for fun. But something about this particular story from the kangaroo struck KingDead as a little too realistic.

“Me?” King asked incredulously. “I’m already a giant though.”

“Not right now you aren’t,” Alkali said, sidestepping the logic. “And because of that you’re vulnerable. You could hulk out of your- what did you say your costume was again?”

The wolf wearing red, white, and blue superhero spandex said, “All-Might, world’s greatest hero!”

“Right. You could hulk out of it right now! It’s a full moon tonight.”

King scoffed. “Hardly. I think I would know if I’d been bitten.” The superhero crossed his arms confidently. He couldn’t remember ever getting a bite, not even a nibble during any of his giant-sized battles against the forces of evil. The last time that happened was over a year ago on Halloween. With 12 moon cycles in the meantime there was no way he’d overlook a sudden, uncontrolled growth spurt. One would be enough for him to guess, much less 12 over a year.

The full moon peeked out from behind a cloud. This particular Halloween was cloudy. And good thing too: It was a supermoon to boot. If it remained cloudy the superhero might never have ruined Halloween. He might have remained oblivious to his lingering infection. Symptoms hidden by his naturally macro size, he could’ve even lived his whole life normally.

Unfortunately for King, that’s when the moonlight struck his fur.

His fur prickled all over. A feeling similar to his hackles rising shuddered over him, and a single centimeter of growth snuck past his mental barrier. Huh. King scratched behind an ear, mentally shrugging the odd sensation off. He did much the same when the 10 centimeters came next. Maybe he had fleas or something? That’d explain why he was feeling so itchy all of the sudden. He approached the next house, asked for his candy, and received the bounty. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It was only once he left the porch and was exposed to moonlight again that he realized something could be wrong. He felt the prickling all over his fur and heard a ripping noise from the costume. His bulking shoulders ripped straight out of the All-Might costume when he shot upward nearly three feet in size. 1 meter of growth forced its way onto the wolf’s frame. The costume was left in tatters over his legs, chest, arms. He’d somehow even put on muscle, outbulking even the anime superhero he’d been dressed as.

“What the…” the superwolf muttered.

“Dude, King. Didn’t we agree no growth tonight? That costume was expensive,” Alkali chided.

“I swear, this wasn’t me. I don’t know what happened,” he answered defensively. It was a bit difficult for the trick or treaters to believe their wolfy friend, with him standing at 9 feet tall. The wolf huffed and tried to shrink back down. But something seemed to block him. A mental wall that shuttered off the other half of his size based powers, the powers related to shrinking away so he could be normal height. There would be no shrinking back tonight.

“It’s fine, just come back down to normal with us. We can find you another costume,” Quinn said exasperatedly. He took advantage of the pause to readjust his Rocket Raccoon costume.

Kit, dressed as a meerkat (transformed really but he’d never admit it), looked up at the wolf and gulped. “What if it’s… the curse of the were-macro?”

“Titanthropy is a real affliction, I swear. It’s quite the public menace. Exponential growth is nothing to take lightly,” Alkali said with a nod.

“Of course not. There’s no such thing as were-macros,” King said with finality. A cold sweat broke out over his brow as he felt the prickling sensation return with a vengeance. He clamped down on the impending growth as hard as he could, bottling up all 10 meters of growth at once. “So don’t even bring it up.”

His friends didn’t look too convinced, but they continued the festivities regardless. The growth power shuddered over the wolf’s frame with each step he took. All King’s focus needed to be kept on staying one size. If he couldn’t shrink, he could at least force himself to not grow. He barely even asked for candy at the next three houses. The only thought he could manage to hold onto besides the steel-tight grip he’d latched onto his growth powers was ‘I am not a were-macro.’ When the tickling, hair-raising sensation shot up his spine from his tail toward his neck for the fifth time that inner voice sounded a little less sure of itself. The wolf didn’t have the mental capacity at that moment to do the math required to figure out that this next burst would’ve added 100 meters to his size.

Lunar energy turned his natural growth gifts up to eleven. The barriers erected in his mind started to crack and let the growth free. His feet doubled in size all at once. King tried to ignore it, but his muscles were intent on adding mass of their own, going from well-built to positively hunky in an instant. As the costumed trio and their shaking wolf buddy came up to the last house of the night, they all said ‘trick-or-treat’ at once.

At least, three of them did. The fourth got as far as ‘or’ before he burst into an ear shattering howl. There was no stopping the growth this time. His body grew dozens of meters taller all at once, as his paws bowled over the other trick-or-treaters. Soon after, he grew big enough to demolish the entire house they’d been in front of. The wolf needed to catch up with all 110 meters of size he’d been holding back. Once that was finished, completely naked and looming over the neighborhood, King huffed and covered himself with both hands. His face was beet red from embarrassment, and from the strain of stopping even more incoming growth.

“Gggrrrrrr… what’s happening…?” King grumbled as the ground shook beneath him. Another increase in his size pushed over his frame in a burst of height, pushing him above 1000 meters tall. The city far off in the distance realized the full moon was in shadow now, with the tower of wolf eclipsing its light. Still the growth continued, not even allowing the superhero to catch his breath. He’d pushed above the cloudline now, 10 kilometers tall. The clouds spiraled out in wild patterns around his knees as if he’d risen from the depths of the ocean. The taller he got, the closer to the moon his body reached. And with all that extra space taken up, he could use even more of the moon’s light for werewolfy growth.

Down at his toes, the three other trick-or-treaters stared up in confused awe.

“I thought you said that were-macro story was just made up,” Quinn said.

“It was,” Alkali muttered. “So uhh. Who’s gonna go up there and stop him?”

The trio looked at each other. No one raised their hand. And an earth-shaking howl echoed over the entire continent.