With the Tiger-man’s declaration, he disappeared. Swirling motes of dust were the only sign that the big tiger-humanoid had moved. Shaggy braced himself and tried to focus, but the blow still came from right in front of him. A knee was slammed into Shaggy’s stomach and he was lifted bodily from the ground. Instead of rocketing backwards, though, Shaggy felt the Tiger-man grab his leg and slam him back onto the floor.

A burst of air escaped Shaggy’s lips, and he flailed with his claws. But his assailant disappeared again. Getting to his feet, Shaggy tried to watch the mirrors again. But the orange and brown blur of the tiger-man was dashing all over the place. Shaggy crouched low and stood sideways, clawed hands out in either direction. When the tiger’s blurry movements got close, Shaggy would swipe with his claws. But every time, he hit nothing but air.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” The tiger’s booming voice echoed through the dance hall. “They told me you would be much more trouble than this. But I’m not going to complain about being overpaid.”

With another gust of wind, Shaggy felt someone behind him and spun. But he was still too slow. A large, orange and black-furred fist slammed into his chest and Shaggy went flying. This time he careened out the north wall, cracking the mirror wall as he went. He sailed out onto the street as his healing pushed out shards of glass from his body.

“Okay. Got to pull out the stops on this one.” Shaggy thought as he lay in the street.

He sent waves of his frustration straight down into his caged inner wolf. Letting the beast gorge itself on his feelings. A warm-feeling suffused Shaggy’s body as he felt all his anger and frustration leave him. He sighed loudly and slowly got to his feet. Idly, he spotted the trench-coated tiger sauntering his way. The asshole was smiling happily as he passed through the Shaggy-sized hole in the wall. A swell of new aggravation rose in Shaggy and he forced it down into his wolf, feeling his body shift.

His arms and legs elongated and his face stretched outward. He glimpsed the tiger-bastard’s shocked face, and he smiled. He could feel his teeth grow larger as he grew, and the beast within merged with his own mind. The two became one and Shaggy glared across the street at the tiger. Who was grinning again.

“Oh-Ho-Ho! So that’s what they were talking about!? Now you might be worth your price, little doggy.”

Shaggy growled as he already felt his body growing tired from holding this form. It wasn’t anything dangerous yet, but he needed to hurry. With that in mind, Shaggy burst forth. His new speed launched him across the street and in front of the tiger in an instant. He feigned a swipe with his left claw while raising his leg for a kick. His wolf-shaped leg caught the tiger-man in the chest and smacked him back into the dance hall.

Shaggy delighted in watching the smug cat get batted away and gave chase. The tiger tore up the wooden floors even more as his body skidded to a stop. He righted himself just as Shaggy was back in his face. Shaggy jabbed his claws into the tiger’s face, trying to end it. But the tiger moved, his arm coming up and catching Shaggy’s jab. While Shaggy tried to wrench his arm free, the tiger-man slammed two swift crosses into his abs. Shaggy grunted under the weight of the blows and stopped trying to pull his arm free.

Instead Shaggy planted his feet and grabbed the tiger-man’s waist with his free hand. With a mighty tug, Shaggy lifted the bastard up and started running. They both hit the south wall and crashed through it into an alley. The blow made the tiger let go of his arm and Shaggy back-stepped out of range. The tiger did the same, but as he moved, he grabbed the nearest thing and threw it at Shaggy. A large green dumpster went flying in Shaggy direction and he had to dodge back into the dance hall.

The tiger pushed his advantage and followed, aiming a haymaker at Shaggy’s head. Shaggy ducked and raked his claws against the tiger’s stomach and chest. Running back into the alley, Shaggy spun in time to see the tiger-man’s trench-coat and shirt fall in pieces. Red lines of blood trailed along the man’s furry stomach. Flecks of green fire eating away at the skin. But the wounds slowly healed, even the graying skin was quickly repaired. The tiger hissed as the wounds closed and he glared at Shaggy.

“Them things sting, you great big mutt. I guess those horns aren’t just for show.”

Shaggy blinked. He didn’t remember having horns before. Were those new? Where the hell had they come from? Shaggy briefly remembered getting a notification a while back when fighting Tone’s old group. But he hadn’t checked it yet. Could that have been it?

While Shaggy was distracted, the sneaky cat pounced. Literally. The large tiger-man slammed into Shaggy’s chest with paws and feet, hitting Shaggy in the upper chest and thighs. The tiger’s small black claws sank into Shaggy’s chest and they both tumbled backward. Shaggy grabbed the man’s wrists and tried to pry him off. But the claws were in deep and the tiger wasn’t budging. So Shaggy launched himself forward for a body slam.

He and the tiger hit the pavement. Shaggy put all of his weight into the slam and grinned as the tiger-man groaned loudly. But then his opponent quickly rallied and Shaggy felt the tiger-man’s legs bury into his stomach. With an almighty heave, Shaggy was launched high into the air. Shaggy went sailing over the rooftops straight upward as the tiger got to his feet. He tried to roll, swim or anything to get out of the way, but he was in free-fall. He watched the tiger pounce off one alley wall, then another as he leapt up toward the falling Shaggy.

With the few seconds he had, Shaggy spotted the roof of the dance studio and activated Pounce. His body lurched in midair as the ability took hold and he went crashing into the roof. He heard the tiger give an annoyed yelp as he missed Shaggy by inches. Shaggy skidded to a stop on the roof even as his body cracked it in several places. Getting to his feet, Shaggy saw the tiger land on all fours and glare at him. He was about to launch himself back into the fight when a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him.

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Shaggy felt his body shrink and his newfound strength disappeared. The tiger froze as a naked Shaggy stood before him. Back in his human-form. The tiger-man’s nose scrunched up in annoyance.

“What are you doing?! It was just getting good! Shift back!” The tiger-man roared.

Shaggy panted as all his bones seemed to ache. “Ha… wheeze… I… can’t just… do that…”

The tiger-man froze again as Shaggy tried to explain. Soon, a wide grin appeared on his face again, and he happily rubbed his paws together.

“Ohhhh! Your new to that form aren’t you. Okay. Then let’s make it fair.”

Shaggy blinked at the tiger-man’s words until the large tiger-humanoid shrank. His orange and black fur shrunk back into his skin. His paws and claws became human hands and a head of long black hair grew from the tiger’s head. Soon the green eyes of the tiger became the green eyes of a tall, black-haired man. Clothes still mostly intact, the man gave Shaggy a spin and threw out the tail of his trench-coat.

“See, that’s how the transformation is done.” Said the man’s new, less growly, voice. “Now, I’m not as tired as you. But this should make it more fair, no?”

Shaggy coughed as he stood there, naked and annoyed. “If you really want to make it fair, you can tell me who you work for.”

The tiger-shifter paused and nodded slowly. “I suppose that would be fair and not like it matters. You’re about to die, anyway.”

Shaggy gave a mental happy dance. Sure, it was most likely that the HLO had sent this little head-hunter. But confirmation was always good. But then the man spoke again and Shaggy groaned.

“But then again, I am an asshole. So fuck you, go to your grave wondering, bitch!”

With that, the man launched himself at Shaggy. Unable to move, Shaggy was tackled to the rooftop as the man landed atop of him. The man slammed his fist into Shaggy’s face as he weakly tried to fight back. His whole body was sore, but the pain in his face kind of lessened the overall pain. Shaggy felt the bones in his nose and cheek break and fix themselves multiple times as the shifter punched him over and over.

He got some small satisfaction from watching the man’s face twist in anger as Shaggy kept healing. The man roared as Shaggy gave a gurgling laugh.

“Ha-urk-Ha! Y’know, if I wanted a kiss I would’ve…”

Shaggy’s snarky quip was cut off as the man slammed another fist into Shaggy’s face. The man’s knuckles were like iron as Shaggy felt the rooftop crack underneath him. An awful and petty idea struck Shaggy, and he started lifting his face into the man’s punches. Each time he did, his head was slammed back into the rooftop, creating cracks that spread out along the roof. So enraged was his opponent that Shaggy didn’t think the tiger-shifter noticed. With his fleeting strength, Shaggy gripped the man’s ankles and waited.

Soon, the roof creaked ominously and the back of Shaggy’s head stopped hitting anything. With a final punch, the tiger-shifter roared at Shaggy.

“Why won’t you die!?”

Shaggy burbled nonsense up at his attacker. His teeth and jaw healing, but slowly. The man must’ve seen the slow healing because he started punching Shaggy again. Attacking like a wild animal, the man didn’t notice the roof creaking get louder and louder. Shaggy’s vision went black as he heard and felt the roof start to go. The tiger shifter must have noticed too, as Shaggy felt the man try to move. But Shaggy held on with whatever remaining strength he had. He felt his body go weightless and his vision blurred with images of falling debris and the surprised face of the tiger-shifter. Shaggy was grinning even as his body turned into cubes of white light. The last thing he felt was Rita and his pack getting closer through his pack link.

Shaggy blanched even as he was dying. He immediately sent them orders to run, but his vision was suddenly black and white. He didn’t know if the message had gotten out, but he hoped his Pack was smart enough not to tangle with the damn tiger-shifter. Shaggy held no illusions that the bastard was dead. If Shaggy could survive a falling building, then so could that asshole.

You have died

No respawn/emergency point nearby

Initializing Deathville protocol

Shaggy swiped away the standard Deathville protocol and stared at the open sky. He was in the black and white version of the dance studio. Black clouds moved along a white sky as the rooftop debris was frozen mid-fall around him. He briefly wondered what kind of weird test Deathville was going to throw at him this time or if the tiger-man was going to kidnap him. As Shaggy understood it, player death was handled weirdly by the NPCs. If the HLO or whoever had sent the tiger-shifter wanted Shaggy captured, he would appear in jail. But if the game wanted him dead, then the game would make the NPCs think he had died. That way, when he popped up later, they would be surprised.

Of course, his time in Deathville would also help with the story that he was dead. If he got an especially hard one, he could be in the Death World for multiple in-game days. Sure, Levy could handle things, but Shaggy wanted that tiger fucker for himself. The guy had clearly mastered the man-beast form and was adept at using his transformation to the fullest. He even seemed comfortable staying in the transformed state. Shaggy bristled at being bested. But that was the great thing about games. At first, you don’t succeed. Come back and do it again. Over and over.

“Well, that was shitty.” Shaggy heard his own voice say from beside him.

Sitting up, Shaggy glanced around till he came face-to-face with his own face. Another Shaggy was sitting in the building debris, glaring at Shaggy. Doppel-Shaggy frowned at him and crossed his arms over his naked chest. Shaggy took in his doppelgänger appearance and frowned. The man looked just like him, but there was something off about him. Maybe it was in the shape of his face or the almost feral-looking eyes. The man reminded Shaggy of his father, and that instantly made him dislike the doppelgänger.

“We don’t have time for your nonsense parental problems,” said the Feral-Shaggy. “You and I need to talk.”