Thwack!

A loud meaty sound resounded through the square as Chromia stepped up and slammed her metal fist into the side of Muscle-Lord’s head. The Muscle-headed player hadn’t even seen her approach. Although, if Shaggy was being honest, he hadn’t seen her either. He was more concerned about Slink, who was standing stock still as Moe, Larry and Curly slithered their way out of his sleeves. Poor kid had logged right into a shitstorm.

“Damn it, Jerry. Warn us before you kick things off!” yelled a voice from behind Shaggy.

Shaggy remembered Muscle-Lord’s friends and turned, but a gust of wind and the sound of an impact made him stumble backwards. Glancing around, he saw a yellow and black mass of blurry limbs rolling in the dirt. He was about to help Vlad when Muscle-Lord’s other friends attacked. He raised his claws as a player transformed into a dirt-covered golem and strode over to him. But again the attack was thwarted, this time by Dave, who slammed his blue-armored body straight into the other player. Laughing as he did.

“Ohohohoh! PVP! Oh yeah, I got this one. He can help me toughen up my armor. Or maybe get me some skills. Hey! Do you know you can turn off those annoying notification-things? I mean, I just found out…”

Dave continued to blather on as he lifted the golem-player up and ran him into a nearby building. Shaggy sighed as he lowered his claws again. He saw several of their Lackeys making their way toward the final two players. One was raising a wand above his head, and the other had drawn a damn claymore from his back. They were both waving them menacingly at the encroaching Lackeys. Shaggy raised a hand and shouted.

“Whoa! Hey, leave some for me, damn it! Why don’t the rest of you all make space for Slink and Muscle-brain's fight? Maybe take some bets and make sure that nothing gets damaged. All right?”

The Lackeys all looked at him and then back to the two players. Several Lackeys grumbled and holstered their guns, while others lowered their melee weapons. The Lackey’s that had known him the longest nodded and walked away to follow his orders. The others formed a circle around the two players and waited. Shaggy gave another sigh and waved at the two players.

“That looks like the best we’re gonna get. You two ready to do this?”

The magic-user put down his wand and looked at his friend. The sword-wielder nodded at Shaggy and lowered his stance.

“You think that was a good idea?” Asked the sword-wielder.

Shaggy shrugged his shoulders and raised his claws. “Probably not. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let any PVP happen around here without me taking part.”

Shaggy charged forward, claws extended as the player swung his big claymore in a wide arc. The blow was clumsy and Shaggy could tell it threw the other guy off balance. Shaggy raked his claws down the swordsman's thigh. Bright blood flowed over the guy’s pants legs and Shaggy rushed by and aimed at the Magic-user next. The player had been standing there idly, apparently thinking that Shaggy was only going to fight them one at a time. But the Wizard’s reflexes were quick as he raised his wand back up and a bright blue streak of light flew at Shaggy.

Shaggy ducked to the side to avoid the arcane missile, but the damn thing curved and slammed right into his leg. He felt his skin burn as the blue bolt hit him hard enough to stop his charge. The sound of footsteps behind him made Shaggy throw his body to the side. The swordsman’s blow whizzed by his head as another bright light went off in his peripheral vision. Shaggy rolled on the ground until the swordsman was in front of his friend, but the blue bolt lurched around swordsman still coming for Shaggy.

Shaggy grinned as the second bolt hit him in the chest and he felt his fancy armor absorb most of the blow. He could feel his healing, taking care of the bruising underneath the armor. His leg wound was also rapidly healing before everyone’s eyes. The bolts weren’t that powerful, but they were annoying. The swordsman quirked an eyebrow as the hole in Shaggy’s leg healed as they all watched. Shaggy could hear the Wizard tsked in disappointment.

“You’re going to need the big guns on this one, Arnold!” shouted the swordsman as rushed forward and stabbed.

Even with a cut up leg, the player was moving pretty well. So Shaggy ducked the blow and gave him another cut on the opposite leg as he rushed for the Mage. The age-old rule of taking out the magic users first resounded in Shaggy’s head. Another blue bolt hit him in the leg, but Shaggy ignored it as he charged with both claws forward. The mage danced back as Shaggy claws cleaved the air in front of him.

“Damn it, Otis! Keep aggro!” Arnold shouted as he stumbled backward.

“Arnold, he’s not an NPCs, he’s a player. He has no aggro.” Otis shouted back.

Shaggy could hear Otis’ footsteps behind him again, but he grinned at Arnold and threw himself at the mage again, claws extended. Arnold went to dodge, but was slightly too slow as Shaggy came away with a chunk of the poor kid’s shoulder. Shaggy heard Otis grunt, and then a sharp sting in his side. Looking down, he saw the blade of the large claymore embedded in his side.

“Ha! Got’em!” Arnold cheered while stumbling backwards. His shoulder was still bleeding heavily.

Otis grunted again, and the blade came out of Shaggy’s side. Shaggy grunted himself and turned, side already healing. Otis’ eyes widen and he swore under his breath as Shaggy charged again. This time right at Otis.

“Not the time to cheer, Arnold!” Otis screamed as he raised the flat of his sword to block Shaggy’s claws.

Shaggy felt his claws bounce off the side of the sword, and he followed up with another strike. Otis backpedaled as he hid behind his sword. Shaggy got as close to the other player as he could and tried to get around the sword. But Otis continued to play defense until Arnold shouted something Shaggy couldn’t quite make out. Thinking it was a spell, he dive-rolled to the side and came up in time to see a spear made of ice planted where he had been standing.

Shaggy growled, annoyed, but he had to dodge as Otis swung his claymore in another arc. Shaggy went for the player’s guts this time as he ducked under the wide swing. He flung both hands upward at Otis’ stomach but only felt his right-handed claws make it through whatever armor the player was wearing. Otis gave a shout in pain and jumped back, but Shaggy followed and raked his left-handed claws at his opponent’s face. Otis went down screaming as Shaggy’s claws went right across his eyes.

“Otis! Crepitus!” Arnold gave a shout of alarm, followed by what Shaggy was sure was a spell.

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Shaggy dove away again as a loud explosion went off where he had been standing. Otis’ body went flying as Shaggy shook the noise from his head. Arnold was standing a few yards away, mouth agape at hitting his friend with a spell. He shook off the shock quickly though as he threw an angry look at Shaggy.

“Look what you made me do!”

Shaggy shrugged his shoulders. “Dude, you were the one that hit him with the spell. What was I gonna do? Stand there and take it?”

Arnold sputtered, but answered. “Buh-uh-uh. Yes! With your healing, you could have taken that no problem.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to take every hit. My armor is already pretty low on durability from dying. I don’t need to get it exploded.” Shaggy argued.

The mini argument was interrupted as a yellow and black blur flew into the dirt between them. The blur dissipated as Vlad and a bright yellow Alien stopped fighting and stepped back. Shaggy was surprised to see Vlad bleeding black from his nose. But the yellow speedster was also sporting a few puncture marks from Vlad’s fingers.

“Amir! This guy killed Otis!” Arnold whined at the yellow speedster.

“Hey! You’re the one that exploded him!” Shaggy shouted back.

Amir looked at the slowly dissolving body of Otis before he turned back to the Mage. “Damn it Arnold! What have we told you about friendly fire!?”

Vlad took his moment to wipe the blood from his face as Arnold stamped the dirt angrily. “It’s not my fault none of you can dodge!”

“Dude. Your friend was blind and bleeding from both legs. How was he going to dodge!?” Shaggy asked.

“You stay out of this, damn it! Next time, just take the damn hit!” Arnold argued.

“How about you aim, Arnold!?” Amir shouted back. Turning to Shaggy, Amir said, sincerely. “Seriously, kill him, please. Do us all a favor. Jerry’s his dumbass friend, anyway.”

“Hey!”

Shaggy grinned as he nodded. “Sure thing. Vlad, you got this?”

Vlad exhaled tiredly before nodding. “Yeah. I’m good. You ready, Banana-man?”

Amir chuckled and blurred again as Vlad turned into a black mist. The two collided, and the black and yellow blur rushed off again. Shaggy turned back to Arnold, who still looked annoyed at his friend. Shaggy cracked his neck and marched forward, claws up and ready.

Arnold started to rapidly wave his wand in the air. Drawing some kind of words in the air. Shaggy rushed forward, but Arnold completed whatever he was doing as a sheen of air appeared in front of him. He rebounded off the magical force-field and barely caught himself as he stumbled back. Shaggy grunted in annoyance as Arnold looked smug.

“Protection ward, Asshat. Good luck getting through that.”

Shaggy flexed his claws and smiled as he took his armor off and threw it in the dirt nearby. He closed his eyes and focused as his body twisted and he fell to all fours. His transformation had definitely gotten faster. He merely had to close and open his eyes and he was in his were-form. He shook the lingering tingles from his bones and glared at Arnold. The player had a stupefied look on his face as Shaggy sauntered forward.

Shaggy swatted a dense paw at the protection ward and felt it bend slightly at his strike. He quickly batted at the thing again as Arnold shook off his shock. The mage raised his wand and started muttering a spell. Shaggy felt the ward firm up as he clawed at the egg-like orb that was protecting Arnold. He could see the thing getting weaker and weaker with every hit though. He even turned and used his hind legs to kick the thing a few times as he watched Arnold start to sweat, then fall to his knees.

Shaggy felt the orb fall as Arnold collapsed exhausted on his knees. Shaggy glared at Arnold before he snapped his head forward and bit down as hard as he could.

“That’s not fa-URGK!” Arnold started to say as Shaggy bit down on the player’s head and chest.

Shaggy felt blood seep down his lips before it transformed into motes of lights and disappeared along with Arnold’s body. Shaggy could feel his tail wagging as he howled in triumph. Nearby people looked out of their doors and windows as a few Lackeys cheered along with him. Shaggy saw a Purple alien had picked up his armor and was looking at him pensively. She shook her head, showing she wasn’t stealing it. She was about to put it down when Shaggy gave a short bark and waved his large head back toward the square.

Shaggy’s fight hadn’t moved him that far from the square. But he and the Lackeys that had stayed to watch his fight returned just in time to see Jerry, the Muscle-Lord, fall to his knees. He was bleeding from several small wounds on his body as Chromia and Slink stood nearby. Slink was cradling a small green snake as Chromia glared down at Muscle-Lord. Nearby a dirt covered Dave was excitedly talking to a few Lackeys.

The excited player was demonstrating some kind of punch combination as the Lackeys watched in rapt attention. Shaggy could still see the black and yellow blur appear here and there around the square. It looked like every one of them had come out on top, except for Vlad. Shaggy made a mental note to give the vampire player shit about that later. Muscle-Lord screamed in outrage from his kneeling position. Shaggy could see blood pouring out of the man’s mouth as he roared.

“You damn cheating bastards! You used an NPC! I would have whooped your ass if this had been a fair fight!” Muscle-Lord whined.

Slink rubbed the green snake on his arm as he answered. “That’s not much incentive for me to fight fair now, is it? Besides my snakes still helped her whoop your ass!”

“Fuck you, noob-boy. I’m gonna come back and fuck your shit up. I’m telling you, I’m gonna get more friends and more NPCs and we’re going to march all over your assess…”

Muscle-Lord continued his tirade as Shaggy exhaled loudly. He trotted over to the kneeling player as he continued to ramble on. He was happy to see a lot of people in the square’s shocked faces at a six-foot-high wolf just come traipsing through their square. But he focused on the still shouting Muscle-Lord as he leaned over and bit the big player’s head off. A cascade of lights went up in the air, followed closely by loud cheering. Slink grinned up at Shaggy.

“Thanks, Shaggy, he was getting annoying. Should we be worried though? He could cause more problems.”

Shaggy shook his giant head as Chromia cautiously stepped forward. Dave and the other Lackeys were moving toward Shaggy tentatively, too. It looked like the square hadn’t taken any damage from the fighting. Although a few houses near the bar were knocked down. Shaggy noticed that the incomplete bar was where Frank and the other builders had hidden during the fight. He was happy to see Petra and Mr. Blue had been monitoring their helpful builder friends. Although Petra had picked up the Laser Rifle again, and looked disappointed that she hadn’t gotten to use it.

They were all staring at him, though. Which was going to make changing back fairly tricky unless he wanted to appear bare-ass naked in front of all of them. He was considering it when Vlad and Amir showed up in front of everyone, both bleeding and both breathing hard. Vlad glanced around, staring at Shaggy for a few seconds before he groaned and sat back in the dirt. Amir also took in his surroundings before he sighed and lowered his head.

“I don’t suppose you can just let me go? I didn’t really like Jerry, anyway.”

Vlad huffed. “We probably couldn’t catch you. You could just run for it.”

Amir chuckled, but shook his head. “My Stamina’s real low. Even with my regen skills, it’ll take a few minutes to get back to full. You all got me dead to rights. Your choice.”

Shaggy glanced at Vlad as the vampire looked back at him. It was Slink who broke into their conversation.

“You could join up with us.”

Amir smiled. “Ahh, no thanks. I just came down here as a favor to Otis. But maybe I’ll hang around down here for a while. Things are getting pretty heated topside.”

Slink nodded understandingly as Shaggy and Vlad continued their silent conversation. Finally, and almost simultaneously, they both shrugged. Vlad waved a hand as Shaggy jerked his head to the west.

“You can get out of here. But make trouble for us again and we’ll dust you.” Vlad said.

Amir eyed Shaggy, so he nodded his big lupine head in agreement. The yellow alien speedster smiled and took a big breath. Shaggy moved out of the way and so did many Lackeys as the speedster took off in a yellow blur. Vlad seemed to remember something as he cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted.

“Oh, and leave our lizard friends alone too! Seriously! They’ll fuck you up!”

Slink walked over to a nearby table and sat in the makeshift wooden seat. Shaggy could see Moe and another green snake crawl up Slink’s pant leg. The young man sighed heavily as the snakes went up his shirt. Shaggy set himself on wolf hindquarters in the dirt and glanced between Slink and Vlad.

“You think he heard you?” Slink asked.

“I don’t care. I don’t know how well he’d do against those big-ass lizards, but my money’s on them.” Vlad answered.

Shaggy nodded and barked his agreement. Vlad and Slink snapped their heads up at him and stared. Shaggy preened under their stares. It felt good to be recognized for the awesome monster he was. Actually…

“Soft…” a voice said from right beside Shaggy.

Several Lackeys and Chromia were standing around beside him and rubbing his fur. He chuffed angrily at them, but that only made some of them look up at him happily. He growled, which is where most of the Lackeys got the message. But not Chromia. She kept scratching his side as the other Lackeys broke up and went back to what they were doing. She even chided Shaggy.

“Bad Dog-man, this is your only redeeming quality. Do you think you could stay like this?”

Shaggy snapped his teeth at her offending hand as Vlad and Slink chuckled. Chromia finally stopped scratching him and Shaggy felt a small part of himself whine in disappointment. He ignored it and turned back toward Vlad and Slink. Slink waved a hand at Chromia.

“Let her be, Shags. She whooped Muscle-Fuck’s ass. She deserves some scritches. So do you, so y’know. Enjoy it.”

Vlad laughed along as he rubbed the blood from his face. The vampire had a bunch of bruises and scrapes all over his visible skin. The fight with Amir hadn’t been easy, apparently. Vlad gazed back up at Shaggy and nodded sadly.

“Yeah, I need to get some more points. Seems I need to go have a few solo adventures of my own. Get my Vampire Lord thing going.”

Shaggy nodded before he scratched behind his ear with a back paw. He missed the scratches, but he that was a secret he was going to keep to the grave. He also had to find a spot to change back. The purple alien with his armor was standing nearby, looking like she didn’t know what to do. Shaggy huffed before he started walked toward the bar he was hoping had some of his clothes somewhere. But Vlad’s voice spoke up behind him.

“Where are you going? You need to shift back so we can talk.”

Shaggy glanced back over his shoulder and sighed as Slink’s eyes widened. The kid seemed to understand Shaggy’s dilemma after a short while. Shaggy put his head down lower as Slink laughed loudly and explained Shaggy’s predicament. Soon Vlad was laughing, too. Shaggy ignored them and wandered to the bar and prepared himself to run naked into its half-finished interior fully naked.