Shaggy spun on his ass and stared into his doppelgänger’s face. He glared at the obvious representation of his inner wolf. Why the game decided to show him this instead of the four-legged form was beyond him. But whatever, the wolf-analog obviously had a lot to say.

Doppel-Shaggy smirked, sharp teeth visible. “You know why the game chose this form. Don’t pretend you don’t.”

“Yeah,” Shaggy sighed. “So is this one of those come to an understanding with yourself things, or are we supposed to fight?”

“It could probably go either way, really.”

“Fair.”

Shaggy nodded as he considered the trope in its entirety. It was pretty standard “look within yourself” nonsense. Although whether he had to conquer himself or merge with his inner wolf was another matter. He sighed again and stood to his feet, the doppelgänger doing the same at the same time and in the same way. Shaggy grimaced as the doppel-Shaggy grinned.

“It’s part of the whole shebang. I have to do it.” Doppel-Shaggy said.

Shaggy rolled his eyes and looked around. The half-broken studio was frozen around them. A pure-white landscape was just beyond the walls. Shaggy moved over and tried to pass through the hole in the wall, but he was pushed back by an unseen force. Stumbling a bit, Shaggy caught himself and stood straight again.

“So we’re stuck in here.”

“Obviously.”

“Well, get on with it then.” Shaggy grumbled.

“Huh?”

“You said you wanted to talk. So talk.”

Doppel-Shaggy looked confused for a few seconds until it hit him. “Oh yeah! I wanted to discuss how shitty you did against that Tiger-guy. I mean, he fucking wrecked you. He was tougher, stronger, and had way more control.”

“Thanks. Noticed. But don’t you mean us? Aren’t you like the game’s representation of my inner wolf?”

Doppel-Shaggy waggled his head. “Kind of? I mean, in the Death Realm maybe. But that’s only so you can have a proper talk/fight with me.”

“So you came out just to say what we both already know? Way to go, Deathville. You’re using a shitty trope badly. What’s next? Is tiger-guy gonna be my father?”

“Seriously. Curb the daddy issues. We got real game problems. How are you going to take out that tiger?”

Shaggy shook his head as he circled the trashed dance studio. “I don’t know. Evolve? Get stronger? Hunt him down with the pack? Have Levy hold him in place while we shoot his ass with a bunch of green lasers?”

Doppel-Shaggy pulled a sour face. “All but the first two of those sound shitty. Do you really want to get help to take the asshole down?”

“One on one didn’t work. So why not? I get by with a little help from my friends, after all.”

“It doesn’t sit right with me. We should find the bastard’s home turf and break his arms and legs. Then hang his torso from the HLO building’s fence.”

“You got anger issues.”

“I’m literally you! Also, a representation of your inner wolf that may be a metaphor for your repressed anger and aggression.”

“Really? You're going to get psychological now? I thought you said we didn’t have time for our daddy issues?”

Doppel-Shaggy shrugged. “It’s what you’ve been assuming your inner wolf was, right?”

Shaggy gave a sort of half-nod. “Kind of? It’s the easiest way for me to rationalize the thing. Otherwise I have a literal beast within me. Which is disconcerting.”

“And may prove a few people right about you?”

“Wow! You really are going the psychologist route, huh? But, I’m sorry. This is a game. So I don’t want my emotional baggage to weigh me down in here. This is supposed to be fun, after all.”

“Fine…” Doppel-Shaggy sighed theatrically. “If that’s the case, though, you know what we have to do.”

“Yeah. But we both knew it was going to come to this.” Shaggy grinned and grew his claws.

“You are such a simple creature.” Doppel-Shaggy growled, voice deepening.

Shaggy spun to look at his doppelgänger and found that the bastard had shifted into the man-wolf form. He started to swear, but the enormous beast was already upon him. Lanky furry arms ending in massive claws slashed at where Shaggy was. He ducked and jumped forward, claws out, slashing the side of his target. The giant werewolf spun and growled as Shaggy’s claws left long, thin streams of blood. They both paused as the streams of blood flowed into the air and froze.

They shared a confused look before the werewolf launched itself at Shaggy again. This time Shaggy wasn’t fast enough, and he was lifted bodily as the werewolf’s claws ripped into his stomach. The werewolf carried the impaled Shaggy across the room and slammed him into the far wall. Streams of blood filled the room as Shaggy sides bled profusely.

He slammed his own claws into the wild beast’s head and shoulders. Sending more and more reams of blood into the air. The two growled and roared at each other as their wounds opened and closed. Shaggy was delighted to find that he wasn’t getting any hungrier in this realm. So his healing would never deplete or end. Of course, it was annoying that his doppelgänger also appeared to be in the same situation.

Shaggy twisted his claws into the werewolf’s shoulder and felt himself fall to the floor. Finally released, he dove through the beast’s legs, clawing his knees as he went. More and more streams of blood filled the air and Shaggy felt himself step into one. Cold blood splattered his arm and cheek. But he ignored it as the werewolf sent a kick at him. He backed away, stepping into more blood.

The werewolf roared and pounced, arms out. Its black fur became matted with red blood as the two wrestled through the dance studio. Shaggy would claw streaks of blood from the werewolf’s hide and the werewolf would do the same to Shaggy. Soon the small area they were fighting was filled with rivulets of blood. Shaggy couldn’t move without getting a splash of ice-cold blood on his body. But it was the same for his doppelgänger.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Shaggy backed away from the werewolf and felt his entire back soaked with frozen blood. He seized up from the feeling and the werewolf jumped at the opening. The beast slammed into Shaggy’s chest, sending them both back into a sea of red.

Cold blood soaked Shaggy to the bone, and he heard the wolf whine with the sensation. Shaggy waited for them both to slam into the floor. But the feeling never came. Instead, he floated in a sea of red blood. The werewolf’s claws were still embedded in his shoulders. Shaggy yanked the claws out and went to swing his own into the Werewolf. But he hit nothing but pools of blood.

“Did I win?” Doppel-Shaggy asked inside Shaggy’s head.

“No. I think we both lost.” Shaggy sighed as he floated on a sea of blood.

“Ohhh. So this is like a metaphor for what will happen if you keep attacking all of your problems like a crazed animal?”

“Yes.”

“Hey! That’s kind of like what your…”

“Yes! I know what it’s like! I don’t need a damn video game to remind me! I know I fucked up and I’ve already worked through all of that!”

“Yeah. But you also know I’m an avatar created by game mechanics to unsettle you. So…”

“So mission fucking accomplished. I am unsettled. Can I go back to the game now!?”

Shaggy's question was met with silence as he continued to float through the sea of ice-cold blood. He shivered from the experience and tried to settle his thoughts. Thoughts of childhood stupidity worked their way into his brain, and he breathed an annoyed sigh. Steadying his breathing, Shaggy centered himself and let the old memories flow over him.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

He floated weightlessly through the cold sea, taking calming breaths and clearing his mind. Soon he felt the air warm up and a strange pressure sat on his arms and chest. He blinked and found himself in a dark world filled with ominous creaking and the sounds of skittering insects. A sudden onrush of pain in his body told him he was back in the game world. He wanted to slap the game’s developers as he felt a sizeable chunk of building was on top of him. Bastard game had rezzed him back in the collapsed Dance Studio. What kind of sadistic game would do that?

“BOSS!” a woman’s voice shouted, sounding muffled through the debris.

Shaggy rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s why the game put me here. Fucking pack is out looking for me.”

He tried sending them a message through the pack link. But a wave of pain flared up in his brain and he was overcome with a sudden dizziness. Checking on his inner wolf, Shaggy saw the creature’s space in shambles. The beast was lying on a cushion, idly licking its wounds. Shaggy saw that the thing was cut and bleeding from several long gashes on its body. The beast raised its head as Shaggy looked in on it and the two shared a look. Shaggy did his best not to see his own eyes reflected in the beasts, but he knew they were the same.

He quickly pulled his vision away from the inner space of his mind and focused on the problem. His pack was looking for him and he was buried under building rubble… again. With no way to contact his pack mentally, Shaggy smacked the large piece of rubble on top of him. His hand made a rough smack against the stone and he felt his nerve endings scream at him. Pain flared from his knuckles up to his shoulder. He grunted in pain as he realized his entire body was like a raw nerve.

“Here!” someone shouted.

Shaggy sighed in relief as he heard footsteps and shuffling. Soon, the rubble above him was being roughly yanked away. He tried not to think about what would happen if a slab of concrete crushed his head and laid as still as possible. With a lot of shuffling and voices shouting different commands, the stones above him cleared away for Shaggy to see his pack. Surprisingly, every single one of them was there.

Shaggy grinned and tried to say something witty. But all that came out was “Ow.”

“No shit, boss. You had an entire building on top of you. What the fuck were you doing?”

Shaggy tried for another witty remark. But again, all he could do was groan.

“Rita, perhaps now isn’t the time for twenty questions. We need to get him out of there.” Sybil’s voice said.

“Right. Stanley, Cekrass? Do you mind? We still good, Vick?”

“Yeah, we’re still clear. How’s the boss?”

“He’s fucked up.” Tom said from nearby.

The way Shaggy was positioned under the rubble, the only ones he could see were Rita, Cekrass, and Stanley. The two strongest pack members were heaving large blocks off of Shaggy. A question rose in Shaggy’s mind, but he couldn’t convey it. Rita must’ve seen his face and guessed, cause she answered his unasked question.

“Ephemara is following your friend.”

Shaggy blinked for a few seconds and then almost ripped his shoulders out, trying to get out of the rubble.

“ARGHHHHHH!” Shaggy screamed as every nerve ending in his body exploded.

He was pretty sure he blacked out, as when he next opened his eyes, he was out of the rubble. Rita was glaring down at him and looked like she wanted to slap him. Cekrass and Stanley were standing guard over his body. Tom was nowhere to be seen now and Shaggy tried to look around, but his neck wouldn’t listen to him.

“That was fucking stupid, boss. Ephe is fine. You think any of us would be stupid enough to tussle with a guy that dropped a building on you? Why do you think it took so long for us to dig you out? We had to wait for that jackass to move on.”

Shaggy blinked as he let his eyes take in the open sky above him. It was dark and filled with stars. It had been all day before his pack got to him. He gave a sigh. Rita nodded slowly when she saw him understanding. She looked over her shoulder and Shaggy heard more rustling from nearby. Soon Tom came back into view, a plastic bag in his hands.

“Got it.” Tom grinned.

“Great.” Rita said. “Now feed the idiot so we can get out of here.”

“What about Sybil? She was supposed to get him clothes?”

“I’m sure she’s coming. But let’s get the boss up, huh?”

Tom sighed and moved over to Shaggy. “Sorry, boss. This is going to be awkward.”

Shaggy blinked, confusedly. Until Tom pried his jaw open slowly. Shaggy groaned from the pain as Tom grabbed a squeeze-bottle of red liquid and sent a jet of liquid into Shaggy’s mouth. Shaggy tasted strawberry and almost spit the nasty liquid back out. But, needing to heal, he made himself swallow. His aches and pains slowly went away as Tom kept a steady stream of juice aimed at Shaggy.

“Easy! Don’t drown the idiot.” Rita admonished.

“Boss’ll be fine.” Tom said as he put the empty bottle down and grabbed another.

Shaggy finished off three bottles of raspberry, strawberry, and some weird flavor he couldn’t identify. Once the third bottle was finished, he had enough strength to sit up and started shoving handfuls of food into his mouth. Tom had bought or stolen several burgers, random candies, and chips. Shaggy was gulping them down hurriedly as Sybil came back with clothes. The tags were still on the things, so Shaggy could guess how she had acquired them.

Sybil’s head snapped his way. “Hey, don’t bitch. It’s the middle of the night. Most stores are closed. Although it’s good to see we’re all connected again.”

Shaggy nodded as he tipped a bagful of chips into his mouth. He sent orders for Ephemara to come back. But all he got were sharp angry feelings and what he was sure were the mental equivalent of swear words. Shaggy groaned.

“Will one of you talk to Ephemara? She isn’t listening to me and she needs to get away from that tiger shifter. If he smells her, she’s done.”

Rita reached over and smacked him in the head. “Boss. We know. We could smell the bastard all over the area. What possessed you to wander into his territory?”

“I didn’t. It was a trap. One I tried to avoid, but the dick caught me and whooped my ass.”

Shaggy put on the shirt and jeans Sybil had gotten him. A bright yellow symbol on the front of his shirt drew his eye, and he looked down. ‘I’m with stupid’ was printed on the front of his shirt and the arrow was pointing straight up at his face. He gave the smirking Sybil a glare.

“What? I think it is both appropriate, and it fits nicely.”

Shaggy stuffed a candy bar into his mouth as his pack mates all nodded in agreement. He even saw Stanley giving the short blonde woman a thumbs up. Bunch of traitorous pack mates. He brushed the crumbs off his mouth and sighed.

“Fine. Let’s get back home.”

“Home?!” Rita shouted. “Boss, you just got ragdolled. We need to strike back!”

Shaggy shook his head. “No. The dude tore through me when I was in my Man-beast form. I don’t want to risk any of you in a fight with him. He was literally a cat playing with its food before he finished me. I want every one of you to be able to shift before we even make the attempt.”

“What if he has his own pack?!” Tom shouted.

“Then we are really fucked. But I doubt it. I don’t know how tiger shifters work, but I don’t think they are pack creatures.”

Rita sighed and rubbed her head. “Boss, he thinks you’re dead. This is the best time to strike. What if he marches into our territory, anyway?”

“He was a bounty hunter, Rita. He cares about being paid. Which he will be if he reports that I’m dead. So let’s have our enemies think I’m dead while we strengthen our position in the neighborhood. Meanwhile, we do our best to get stronger. Like I said, I want all of you to achieve the werewolf form as soon as possible.”

Shaggy stared down at each of his pack until each nodded quietly. Some were easier than others. But once he had gotten looks of acceptance from Rita and Cekrass, Shaggy left the crumbled building. Vick was standing on the sidewalk by the collapsed building. The sharpshooter was smoking a cigarette and watching the street. He tipped his hat to Shaggy and shouldered his rifle.

“Back home?”

“I know you heard all that. You good with it?”

“Yep. I want my wolf as much as the rest of them. But you can’t fault them for wanting to stomp in the face of the guy that hurt ya, boss.”

“I don’t, Vick. But we got to be smart about it. Numbers are good, but I want us tough on top of it. I ain’t sacrificing any of you.”

Vick tossed his cigarette. “That’s good to hear. Even so, I figured you’d rather fight your tiger than go home and explain all this to Levy. I mean, Ephemara is already going to give you an earful.”

Shaggy sighed as the others of his pack joined them on the street. He felt Ephemara fuming and returning slowly. He sent her orders to go back to the deli. She sent back a spike of annoyance, but confirmed the order. Shaking his head, Shaggy walked toward the north. His deli and his wife awaited, and he needed to formulate a plan to take out the tiger bastard. Sure, his inner wolf and the recent Deathville had tried to dissuade him from the path of violence. But that had always been a problem for him in the real world. He didn’t see that being any different in the game world. At least in the game, when he beat a guy to death, the consequences would be less severe.