A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy took off like a shot at the sound of Slink’s gun. Bolting over the edge of the building and running past the Needle Sisters. Leslie even threw another wild bolt of electricity at him as he ran. But Shaggy ignored it as it whizzed over his head and ran straight for Tillani, who was still giving a speech to his assembled crew. But Slink’s gunshot had brought the gangster’s attention back around. His eyes went wide as he saw Shaggy barreling at him and even conjured some red-hot magma in his hand.

But Slink’s shot hit its mark. The hovering cat-bot above Tillani tilted dangerously in the air and started falling to the ground. The Cat-bot followed it’s programming as it fell and released its payload of deadly rabbit robots. They fell on top of Tillani and a few more nearby men just as Shaggy crashed into their line. Gunshots started going off again as Shaggy leapt up and slammed both of his paws into Tillani's chest. Shaggy bit forward as they both tumbled to the ground. Behind him, he heard shouts and gunfire going off, as well as the Needle Sisters firing away with their own powers. He even felt a few bullets slam into him as they rolled.

He took several shots as he and Tillani wrestled. As well as a few scratches from the rabbit-bots they were rolling around with. His wounds weren’t healing as quick as they normally did and Shaggy was starting to worry. Not only that, But Tillani’s skin didn’t feel right under his paws. It felt closer to putty than actual skin and when Shaggy snapped his jaws forward into the gangster’s face; he was overwhelmed with pain. His fangs and mouth felt like they were burning. They went tumbling down the street as Shaggy tried to pull away from Tillani, but the Rakgu Captain kept a hold of him.

“Oh, you don’t know who you are fucking with!” Tillani shouted as he gripped Shaggy’s fur and held on.

Shaggy twisted and turned. Trying to rid himself of the burning sensation in his mouth. He finally dislodged the stocky gangster by rolling over repeatedly in the dirt. But that did nothing for the pain in his jaws and teeth. Soon, he was forced to transform back into his human shape to rid himself of the pain. Getting into the calm head-space the transformation needed was a challenge, but luckily he pulled it off. But then he was on his knees near Tillani, who, for the most part, looked perfectly fine. His suit wasn’t even dirty.

Shaggy grimaced as he guessed what the Captain’s power was. Tillani smiled as he waved a hand at some nearby Rakgu grunts. They had moved to help their captain as he and Shaggy rolled down the street. But Tillani was waving them off, back toward the Needle Sisters. Tillani’s clothes and skin roiled as red liquid magma boiled to the surface.

“You should always identify your opponent’s weakness and strengths before barreling forward like that.”

Shaggy grunted as he stood. He was still in a good amount of pain from rolling the dirt, biting a man made of pure magma. But his Pain Suppression was doing its job and he could ignore most of it.

“Yeah, not really my thing. I’m more of an idiot, really.” Shaggy grinned as he waited for his Regeneration to finish. It was slowing down noticeably.

“I’ve noticed.” Tillani said, pulling another cigarette from his coat. “You know you and your lot have been a useful way for me to get rid of the non-believers in my outfit. I figured a batch of highly armed guys would stomp right through you kids. But color me surprised.”

Shaggy brushed the dirt off of his nude body and groaned as he listened to Tillani. “Please save the monologuing for someone who cares. I just want to kick your ass.”

Tillani raised his eyebrows as he drew on his cigarette. Nearby, the sounds of shouts and gunfire were still going off. Shaggy was sure he could hear the sounds of the Needle Sister’s powers still going as well. Finally, Tillani nodded and threw the remains of his cigarette in the dirt.

“Have it your way, dog!”

The gangster threw both of his arms forward and launched streams of roiling magma straight and Shaggy. Shaggy dove, rolling through the dirt and transforming his hand into his claws and he charged bare-ass, right at a man made completely out of fire. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he charged past Tillani, who remained stock still at his approach. He swung both of his claws through the air and into Tillani’s chest, feeling the cut through the jelly-like substance his body was made of.

Shaggy grimaced as the magma in the man’s body ate away at his claws. He withdrew his claws and jumped back as Tillani turned and shot another stream of magma from his hands. Shaggy dodged as best he could, rolling through the dirt and debris of the small street they were fighting in. Luckily, a lot of the surrounding buildings had been knocked down. Either by the sisters or the still falling Omegas. Cooling magma collected in line on the dirt street as Shaggy got out of the way of another blast.

Tillani was cackling as he kept up a steady stream of the burning liquid. Shaggy was too busy watching his feet and the magma to get close enough to attack. Shaggy belatedly thought about needing some ranged attacks, but a stream of magma hit his shoulder and he quickly brought his focus back to the fight. He brushed off the magma and rolled in the dirt before it did too much damage. He came out of the roll and leapt forward, trying to get close to Tillani, but he maintain his stream of fire like a firefighter hosing down a house.

“He has to have a limit.” Shaggy grumbled mentally.

Nearby, he spotted a thin piece of sheet metal and moved to grab it as he dodge another stream. He had to jump across a few trails of magma in the street, but he made it to his target and lifted it sideways as best he could and spun in place. After a full rotation, he tossed it toward Tillani, expecting the gangster to dodge out of the way. But instead, Tillani watched the thin missile barrel right at him. The piece of sheet metal lodge itself in Tillani’s stomach and immediately started melting as the Captain grinned maliciously at Shaggy.

Shaggy humphed in annoyance as he looked around for something else to throw, but Tillani's jeering filled his ears again.

“You know, I really expected a better fight from you. You're real squirrelly, I’ll give ya that, but so far, you haven’t been that impressive. Even in that big dog form of yours, you're just a big ole bitch, aren’t ya?”

Shaggy ignored the jabs as he spotted a thicker piece of metal nearby. He made a beeline for it as Tillani continued to goad him. But a stream of magma flew straight in front of his vision and Shaggy had to jump out of the way again as his chosen weapon melted in the dirt. Tillani gave a theatrical sigh and looked ready to start talking again, when a loud thump resounded in the street. An Omega had landed nearby and was pulling itself from its self-made crater. Shaggy heard Tillani grumble in annoyance as he turned to deal with the new threat.

Shaggy used the moment to bolt. He was used to following through on a bad idea, but there was no sense in going to Deathville for Tillani. Not when he had an out. Besides, even with his healing, Tillani would be an annoying fight. He would come back with a water pistol or something and freeze the cocky sonofabitch later. He had to dodge again as Tillani saw him trying to run away, but the Omega bot was moving closer to the Rakgu Captain drawing his attention again.

Shaggy could’ve cheered, but as he started to run, a shadow fell across him. He looked up the street and came to a skidding halt as a metal woman with an eye-patch was standing in his path. Shaggy sighed and rethought all of his decisions in-game as he grew his claws and glared at Chromia. The metal woman glared at him as behind him, he heard Tillani hoot in triumph. The sound of roiling magma and melting metal filled the air as Shaggy marched forward.

“Really should’ve killed her when I had the chance. Stupid familial sentimentality.”

Shaggy was ready to lunge when Chromia threw a plastic bag at his feet. Shaggy hadn’t even noticed the bag when he was walking forward. Chromia gave his naked body a quick scan before she snorted and turned around. Shaggy tried not to feel affronted as he noticed the bag was full of chips and candy. He had to stop himself from cheering.

“We’re even now dog-man. I’m going to help my new sister’s escape. You hold back Tillani. If you could do me a favor and both kill each other, that would be great.” Chromia said as she turned and walked off back the way she had come.

Shaggy shoved a handful of chips into his mouth and shouted back. “Aww, I knew you liked me. Make sure Slink gets back too, please. Little guy was trying to help your sisters.”

Chromia’s response was to flip him the bird and keep walking. Shaggy heard Tillani give an indignant shout, and he turned to look. He was surprised to see the melted bodies of three Omegas and even a few rabbit-bots laying in the dirt around the gangster. Slowly, cooling magma almost filled the streets. Tillani was glaring at him as a rabbit-bot that was submerged in Tillani’s stomach kicked its legs weakly. The rabbit-bot melted in half and fell away as Shaggy tipped a full bag of candy into his mouth.

Shaggy chewed rapidly and gave Tillani what he was sure was a chocolaty grin. He could somehow feel his Regeneration kicking back into full gear. He still wanted a bar or something that would let him keep track. So he had a more concrete idea of how much healing he had left. Maybe he would write to the game company. He and Tillani glared at each for what felt like minutes as Shaggy jammed as much food into his mouth as he could. Tillani’s arms bulged and bubbled as they lost their normal suit-covered look. Instead, they were replaced with red masses of bubbling fire and magma.

“Well, at least you won’t die hungry.” Tillani growled as his arms burbled and boiled.

Shaggy wiped the chip dust and chocolate off his mouth as best he could. He was pretty sure he just smeared a lot of it around, though. Not the way he wanted to charge into battle, with his mouth and face covered in chocolate and crumbs. But what the hell?

Shaggy threw his trash on the street and crouched low. Growing his claws and glaring menacingly at Tillani. The gangster’s face and skin were red with suppressed anger, and Shaggy was sure Tillani was going to throw both arms at him. Their standoff ended as Tillani drew both his arms back, summoning massive amounts of magma into his arms. Shaggy grinned wolfishly at the gangster and then charged.

Tillani thrust his magma arms forward, sending a large wave of magma straight at him. Shaggy debated whether or not to jump the wave, but he didn’t want to create an easier target for Tillani, so he changed direction and moved around the magma wave. But Tillani was waiting anyway. A stream of magma slammed right into Shaggy’s torso as he dodged around the wave. Shaggy felt his feet leave the ground as the solid stream picked him up and threw him backward.

He could feel his skin healing as the magma ate away at him. He rolled in the dirt and wiped the magma as best as he could as he tried to keep an eye on Tillani. His healing would not last long with the constant Damage-Over-Time Tillani’s magma doled out. The food had gone a long way to helping him, but he still had a distance problem when it came to fighting the damn gangster. He just couldn’t get close enough.

Shaggy shook off that thought. Even if he closed the gap, the man’s body was pure magma. He would still be taking damage. He just needed to play keep away for as long as possible and buy the others enough time to run away. Shaggy had to dodge another large circular stream of magma as he thought about playing keep away. He could see the gangster’s red face glowering at him from behind his massive arms of magma. Shaggy grinned at Tillani and raised a middle claw.

Tillani roared in anger as his arms of magma bloated and then disgorged themselves onto the street. Shaggy ran southward, away from where the sisters and Slink were fighting. As he did, his attention was again drawn upward. While the Omegas falling out the sky had slowed considerably, there were still a few coming down. Shaggy almost laughed as he thought of a way to mess with Tillani.

Keeping an ear out, Shaggy listened for any signs of nearby destruction. It didn’t long to find what he was looking for and, with Tillani in hot pursuit, Shaggy ran straight toward the sound. Tillani screamed incoherently as Shaggy ignored him. He found an Omega steadily beating its way through a small brick hut and got its attention as he glanced back toward Tillani. The Captain was glaring straight at Shaggy and drawing his arms back for another shot of Magma. He had to roll out of the way again as the stream hurtled through the air and collided right into the back of the bronze robot.

Shaggy grimaced as the bot’s whole torso was covered in roiling magma. But the bot, seemingly undisturbed, turned its attention to Tillani and trundled toward the gangster. Shaggy’s frown became a feral grin as Tillani changed his target to the bot. The air grew hotter as Tillani focused both arms on the approaching Omega, melting the thing down to scrap. But Shaggy was already looking for another pawn to throw at Tillani. Maybe if he was lucky, the gangster would wear himself out. Shaggy heard another loud crash coming from the west and turned toward it. But another surge of magma crossed in front of him.

“Oh no, we are NOT playing that game, dog! Hurry and die already!” Tillani screamed.

Shaggy turned to see the gangster running forward with both arms extended. Bubbling masses of magma churning as he tried to shoot more. That was when Shaggy noticed that Tillani had a hard time moving and shooting at the same time. He had to almost throw his arms around to get any distance with his magma. Filing that bit of information away, Shaggy barreled around another line of magma, feeling the hot air scorch his skin. It healed quickly as he ran westward, Tillani’s screams drawing another grin to his face. At the very least, he was annoying the asshat and annoyed people could get angry, and angry people became stupid real fast.

Shaggy pushed his way through a narrow space between two brick and metal buildings as Tillani kept up his indignant shouting. He felt a wave of magma slam into the walls of the buildings and a geyser of hot magma slapped into his back and burned his skin. Shaggy ducked into a forward roll and brushed off the boiling clump as he ignored the pain. He came up in the middle of another dirt street, but this one was full of Omegas and even a few cat-bot floating in the air. The bodies of civilians lay strewn around the ground, bloody and beaten. Apparently, The Rakgu weren’t defending their territory as much as people thought.

Shaggy gave a jaunty wave as the bots turned to him all at once. Tillani was squeezing his amorphous form through the alley Shaggy had just come through as the bots charged. Shaggy back-pedaled as Tillani turned at him, face apoplectic with rage. He had to keep the smile off his face as Cog’s robots aimed straight at the nearest target, Tillani. They fell on the suited gangster in droves. All attacking with little concern for if their allies got in the way. Shaggy watched as an Omega swung its massive wrecking-ball hand straight through a cat-bot and into Tillani’s torso. The gangster grunted as the bot’s arm got slowed to a stop in Tillani’s jelly-like body. The massive arm was melting away as Rabbit-bots pounced straight into Tillani’s chest and legs, using their sharp feet and teeth to tear away the gangster’s skin.

Shaggy continued to back up as he watched Tillani’s body morph and conform with each blow and scratch from the robots. Every bot was slowly being melted away the more they struck at the gangster, and Tillani didn’t seem to get tired at all. In fact, the angrier the man got, the hotter he seemed to burn as he threw armfuls of magma at his attackers. Shaggy was about to make another break for it when a Cat-bot dive-bombed him. The cat’s long claws scratched a long gouge in his arm as he used it to defend his face. He swore as he noticed several rabbit and cat bots were angling to attack him as well.

He kicked a leaping rabbit-bot out of the air and toward Tillani as he watched the hovering cat-bots. As soon as the next one dove at him, Shaggy raised a clawed hand and jammed it into the things rapidly moving wings. He ignored the pain of his hand getting mangled and grabbed hold of one of the cat’s front paws. As the bot’s wings stopped, Shaggy tossed it toward Tillani. It hit the dirt right in front of the gangster, as he was melting down another Omega. Seven rabbit-bots leapt out and attacked Tillani’s legs and Shaggy cackled as he sliced up another rabbit bot, throwing its metal carcass into Tillani’s bubbling body.

The surrounding air became almost unbreathable as Tillani heated up like an oven. Shaggy could feel sweating rolling off of him as he continued to throw every bot he killed into the Tillani’s magma form. Shaggy was sure the gangster was losing its cohesion of his amorphous body as Omegas swung through him repeatedly. He wasn’t sure anymore if it was a good idea, but with the way Tillani was become more and more of a red Blobby, he would not stop anytime soon. After he had tossed the next Cat-bot, though, Tillani exploded. Literally.

Magma shot out in every direction as Tillani’s magma body bubbled and lost all of its shape. Tillani was no longer shaped like a humanoid, but was now nothing more than an amorphous red magma blob. Pieces of robots fell into Tillani’s new body, boiling and burning with a red-hot fire that spread around the dirt-filled street. Shaggy sliced his claws through another leaping rabbit-bot and glanced around. Most of the bots were melting as Tillani’s magma form seeped in every direction. He stared at the mass as the sound of destruction and gunshots sounded in the distance.

As the magma continued to roll across the ground, Shaggy looked awkwardly left and right. That’s not how he saw the fight ending. Tillani didn’t seem to have any drive anymore. It seemed like he had lost full cohesion and was now just a flat mass of magma. Shaggy scratched the back of his head as he coughed.

“Well, this is awkward.” Shaggy spoke to the slow-moving body of lava.

The red mass burbled at him and continued to creep around. Shaggy briefly tried to think of ways to finish the Rakgu Captain, but nothing was coming to mind. He kicked some dirt on the thing and watched as it solidified over the top. Almost like a crust. Slightly emboldened, Shaggy grabbed fistfuls of dirt and poured them over the red mass. It took a few minutes, but soon the entire top layer of Tillani’s amorphous form was covered in a black crust. Shaggy wasn’t sure if it would do anything beyond being slightly annoying for the gangster, but he continued dumping dirt until he had practically buried the wide pool of lava.

“Well…” Shaggy said, blowing out a breath and wiping the sweat from his brow. “See ya around Tillani. You were an… interesting boss fight. Let’s do this again real soon. Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

Shaggy chuckled to himself as he started jogging northward. The falling Omegas had pretty much stopped but, not long from now, the Sword-bots would hit the streets. He wanted to be back to the bar before all that happened. He glanced back a few times, worried that Tillani would gather himself. But the Rakgu gangster stayed dormant as he ran away. Shaggy was examining his thoughts on the ‘fight’ when a loud buzzing came from overhead. Fearing more Cat-bots, Shaggy looked to Under-Town’s sky and was shocked to see a mass of new silver bots coalescing in the air above the center of Under-Town.

The swarm of bots swam through the air in every direction before they seemed to settle down and floated to a central location. After they did, the silver mass expanded outward, forming a large, slim silver screen. Shaggy blinked as the sliver mass turned pale blue and then an image appeared on the bot-created screen. He felt a shiver go up his spine as Cog’s youthful face glared down at Under-Town. An evil grin was plastered on the young bot-maker’s face as his image was projected in the air for all on Under-Town to see.

“Well, hello Under-Town.” Cog said, red robotic eye blazing with an eerie light.