OH, thank GOD, I thought I'd NEVER meet a telepath again. CAN YOU HEAR ME. PLEASE SAY YOU CAN HEAR ME.

He rocks back on his feet a little bit. I can hear you. I'm Tyelcormo, this is Karen. What are you, uh, doing here?

I'm not entirely sure how general that question is meant to be. I'm in Sunnydale because I have determined that there is very likely a Slayer in this vicinity, and that she very likely has not been assigned a watcher, and therefore my services might be exchanged for computer access and treats. Also belly rubs. I'm at this school because I believe it is the nexus of mystical energy within this town, and I expect the Slayer to frequent it. I'm in this girl's lap because apart from the concerning start she seems like a pretty great source of ear scritches. I haven't had any of those in a while.

Why do you think there's probably a Slayer in this town? And did you eat the principal of this school, by any chance?

Eat the principal! As if I don't have standards. As if I don't have honor. As if - no, it was those kids. Terrifying kids, I don't know what they're doing to them in schools these days. Anyway, the fact that there's a Slayer in this town is obvious from the fact that the entire Order of Aurelius was taken out overnight by a teenage girl.

Ah huh. Okay. We're in a bit of a hurry going after whatever ate the principal. Did you see which way they went? Would you like to help us out?

Absolutely! Provided nobody eats me, because I'd really like to avoid that. But you must grant me one thing.

I have not eaten a proper meal in weeks.

He nods seriously. What would you like?

BACON BACON BACON BACON wait that's disrespectful of the recently dead. Ahem. Any nutritionally balanced variety of dog food will be acceptable.

And how should I introduce you to Karen?

I don't know, I'm sort of confused about how the girl fits into the WAIT A SECOND.

Karen is the slayer, isn't she.

Don't get her hurt. Admittedly it'd be difficult, but.

I didn't come here to get the Slayer hurt. You may introduce me to her as Wishbone, former demon hunter and squire originally pledged to the service of King Arthur, coming up on one thousand five hundred years of experience opposing the forces of darkness. You may also tell her that until very recently I was living with a family in Maine that had no idea I wasn't an ordinary dog, and was spending my time reading all the books their teenage son brought home.

Okay. "So, Karen, this dog says he is Wishbone, former demon hunter and squire originally pledged to the service of King Arthur, coming up on one thousand five hundred years of experience opposing the forces of darkness. He also says that until very recently he was living with a family in Maine that had no idea he wasn't an ordinary dog, and spent his time reading all the books his teenage son brought home. He also says the kids ate Flutie and he can help us track them but we should get him something to eat first. Do you two want to start on finding a trail while I swing by the pet store?"

"OK. Normally I would ask questions here but I'm going to skip that part today until after there aren't high school students eating people alive. I just want to note that that sounds, like. Pretty out there."

"Just a bit, yeah." He hands her the tranquilizer gun. "I don't know if that'll work since they're not regular humans, but a higher dose would be dangerous if they're still relevantly regular humans. If you run into them, hit them with this and they're still on their feet then clear out, wait for me, we can change the dose with that information."

"Yeah. On it. Lead the way, superdog."

He flies into the pet store at a frankly inhuman pace, drops forty dollars on the counter and leaves at the same pace with a bag of dog food.

The kids are hiding in a patch of forest not far from the school. Wishbone points them out and then hides, which she figures is honestly pretty reasonable of him. It does, however, mean that once she's hit one she's not able to track down the others after they scatter.

Paging Alex. I have one kid down. It's Mercy. Can't find Wishbone right this second -

He sends both of them the location of the other.

Thanks. Going after the others.

OK, I have five kids down. They, uh, look about like you'd expect kids to look if they'd just eaten something alive, it's kind of disturbing.

Are they somewhere where I can swing the car by?

I got them in the woods, sorry. There's a road not that far away, we can carry them to it I guess?

Sounds good. I want to have them secured somewhere while we figure out what's going on.

He pulls the car in at the nearest road and helps Karen carry bloodied classmates to the car. 

She plops down in the front seat and hugs Wishbone when she's done.

"Where now?"