A Werewolf In Under-Town

The players were winning. Not by a small margin, either. Once Shaggy and Xiv’s groups managed to disable more giant bots, they activated more factories. Once word was sent down to the players, all hell broke loose. Player controlled robots fought against Cog robots on the ground while the players battled for control of the larger robots. Once the first factory was claimed and Xiv’s robot was in working order, they set about conquering the other capture points.

They quickly learned that only a few robots could be activated at a factory. Once the limit was reached, they would move on to the next. The Boyz and Wings were a little cagey at first. But being surrounded by giant robots, there was little they could do. Once they realized what was going on, though, the guilds quickly rushed to acquire their own giant robots. It was a mad dash all around, but eventually giant robots were stomping all around Cog’s city, tearing through the few remaining bots.

Shaggy watched it all through their robot’s giant view-screen. A growing sense of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. He had a sinking feeling that Cog had made a run for it. That or he was preparing something especially nasty. Of course, the random shouting over the giant robot’s shared intercom wasn’t helping things.

“Anika, you can’t take that section. It belongs to the Silver Wings!”

“Fuck off, Derek. The Boyz claim all this territory and the factories. Go somewhere else.”

“Anyone know what this writing shit is on the walls?”

“Magic mumbo-jumbo! Just wipe it off and move on. Other people need to get their upgrades.”

“So is the Raid over? Lame! There wasn’t even a boss in this shitty event.”

Shaggy rubbed his eyes and tried to collect his own thoughts. The players were going to turn on each other here soon. Ren directed their giant robot to scan the horizon and the large city full of factories and robots was cast before them. Off in the distance, Shaggy could see The Mad Witch’s magical protection. Still lit up and waiting. But for what, he didn’t know.

“It’s not over, right?” Dave asked.

Shaggy shook his head. “No way in hell. Even if Cog ran, he’d have a few surprises in store for us somewhere.”

“Well, he better activate them soon. The guilds are already carving up the city into their own little territories. We don’t want to be here when the shit actually hits the fan. Even with a giant bot, I think we’d be overrun by bots. Big and small.” Slink said as he idly tapped away at the terminal.

“Isn’t there a way to drag him out?” Shaggy growled. “We’ve taken his city and his fucking toys! He has to be absolutely pissed, right?”

Levy shrugged her shoulders next to him. “No telling. If he left a surprise, maybe it won’t activate until we try to leave. But if he is still here, then he has a bunch of time to prepare something nasty.”

“Hey, Ren!” Vlad called. “Try moving us toward the city limits. Maybe that’ll proc some kind of end-of-raid boss battle.”

“You sure that’s a good idea? The guildies are all jumpy as fuck. If we make any weird moves, they are going to hitch a fit.”

“Like, can’t we just talk to them?”

All of them turned to regard the terminal. The squawking voices of the other players were still reverberating through their robots’ head. It was like a cascade of idiocy washing down into their ears. Everyone was shouting, and no one was listening. Shaggy was sure he heard the same swears and complaints being repeated multiple times. Shaggy gave Dave a pitying look and the gregarious man’s smile faltered a little. There was no sense diving into that pool of shouting maniacs.

“What about your god?” Levy asked.

“My god?” Shaggy squinted his eyes in thought before he guessed what she meant. “Oh no way, I’m not letting that jackass ride shotgun again.”

Levy sighed through her nose. “You don’t know that’s going to happen. Just invoke his name. See what happens.”

Slink, Vlad, and Dave were looking at him eagerly. But Shaggy snorted. “He’s a God. Can’t he just see what’s going on? If he wanted to do something, he would’ve already.”

“Not if he can’t find us. Cog is still probably hiding this place from him, right? So just call him up.” Slink said excitedly.

“Yeah, Shags. Even if you go full on God-Demon-wolf, all it will mean is that you’re more useful than usual.”

“Fuck you too, Vlad.”

“He ain’t wrong, dude. Beside I want to see what a God Werewolf looks like.”

Shaggy sighed and checked his pockets. He still had plenty of food. Probably more than enough to survive another possession from the Blood God. With gritted teeth, Shaggy moved to the center of the room and blew out a breath.

“Is he doing it!?” Ren shouted from his place, ensconced in the wall and unable to see.

“Shh! Ren! He’s gonna do it!” Vlad hissed.

Shaggy rolled his shoulders and shook out his arms. He had been sitting for a while in the giant metal robot. Not the most comfortable of places. He wracked his brain for a prayer or summoning call to get the Blood God to zero in on him. But he didn’t know the right pomp or ritual to do it justice. So instead, he went with his old standby. Brazen idiocy.

“HEY! Xang! What the Hell! Cog’s getting away!”

Shaggy could hear Levy groaning loudly before his entire world went red. Judging by the way the others started looking around, they were also seeing it. Which was small comfort for Shaggy as the robot began to shake. He didn’t feel any invasions in his body, which he took as a plus. But the shaking was getting worse. The player voices of the intercom were going nuts, which was another clue that the Blood God was doing something.

“Uhhh, guys?” Ren called. “Some shit’s going on with the realm!”

Shaggy spun to look at the vidscreen and took in Cog’s magical realm. The dark sky was… bleeding. It wasn’t raining, but instead, red streaks of blood were pushing through the sky and dripping down the edges of the domed dimension. Shaggy though it looked like they were in a cracked snowglobe, but instead of leaking, they were taking on blood. It pushed in form all around them as the desolate ground shook and writhe violently.

More voices were screaming over the robot’s intercom. But Shaggy ignored them as a deep baritone echoed through his mind.

“Took you long enough, dumbass.”

“Hey! We were busy!” Shaggy snapped on instinct.

Xang snorted through his mind and Shaggy had to catch himself as he felt his brain vibrate. “You should have called me as soon as you stepped within the betrayer’s realm.”

“Yeah, well, shit happened.”

“Is he talking to you?” Levy asked, sounding excited.

Shaggy nodded as he felt Xang’s presence leave his brain. The God was clearly off to find Cog and Shaggy was happy to be rid of him. However, his happiness was short-lived. Xang was instantly back, with his oppressive presence pushing down on Shaggy’s mind. Shaggy grit his teeth and endured as his own memories flipped past his eyes. The god seemed to take everything in, from their entry into Cog’s realm, to them stealing the giant robot. He felt the blood God sneer as he scanned over Cog’s magical scribblings on the inside of the robots. Xang snorted again, and Shaggy could feel the God’s anger.

Xang quickly finished perusing Shaggy’s memories and pulled back a little. “Fool! He still intends to mettle with things he best naught.”

“Yeah, he’s an asshole. So where is he?”

“The coward hides. But he will present himself, gather your allies and prepare.”

Shaggy growled, as that was what they had been doing. Damn useless, God even knew that. “Can’t you do something? We don’t exactly want to wait for—”

Shaggy was cut off as their robot shook again. He sighed and turned a mental eye to Xang. “We get it! You’re a big scary God. Knock off the earth-shaking.”

“It’s not me, dumbass! Our prey is presenting himself!” Xang said excitedly before pulling his presence away again.

Shaggy could still feel the Blood God. His existence was everywhere now. Especially with the blood still seeping into Cog’s realm. He turned back to the screen and watched. The players had all turned to watch the sky drip blood. The controlled robots on the ground even stopped, as they were no longer given commands. A general hush seemed to fall over everything. The only sound was the ground shaking and the sound of a few buildings being shaken to the ground.

Then, with a sudden and almost alarming ferocity, the whole of Cog’s City exploded upward. Tiny robots went flying everywhere and a few of the giant robots were shoved roughly away. A huge mound of dirt was pushing up from the middle of the city. Players were hooting and hollering over the intercom as the city itself was reshaped. A giant black pyramid was taking shape right in front of them. Ren had their robot back off as the giant pyramid pushed buildings and players back from all angles.

“What the fuck!” a player’s voice shouted.

“Whoa! Is it the end-game!?”

“Hey! The robots are acting funny!”

“Those magic scribbles are doing stuff!”

“How fucking big is this thing?!”

Slink rushed to take in all the new data at the terminal. But Cog wasn’t done. At the four corners of the giant pyramid, four giant insect-like spikes rose from the ground. They curled inward, their points almost meeting at the apex of the pyramid. Each spike was the same black-onyx color of the pyramid. Shaggy shuddered as he realized where he had seen the pyramid before. It was the same one he had seen in Xang’s realm. The one where Cog sat upon a throne of bone and pissed off the Blood God.

He took a deep breath as Ren kept back their robot away. The pyramid was still crawling toward the sky. Players and robots that approached were tossed aside by purple lightning. It arced up from the base of the pyramid. Collecting at the top and shooting down one of the four spikes. Even the giant robots weren’t immune to the lightning. Shaggy watched one freeze up as the purple lightning slammed into it. The giant robot went skidding to the ground as its legs and arms locked up.

Ren moved their outer camera to look up at the pyramid as it started to tower over their hundred foot robot. Player’s, robots, and giant robots were tossed off the pyramid as it continued to grow. Shaggy could barely make out a purple orb of energy glowing brightly at the top of the pyramid. He sighed as he listened to the players still ranting and raving about one thing or another. That’s when he heard something worrying from the radio.

“Uhh, our robot is moving on its own!” one voice shouted.

“The human-sized robots are swarming player bots again!” Another added.

“The robots are revolting!”

“Our big bots suffocating us!”

“What do you mean the self-destru-”

They all watched as a giant robot imploded from the inside. Sending bits of shrapnel flying all over. The pyramid emerged unscathed from the blast, and Shaggy could feel Xang’s annoyance. The blood God was now just a presence in the realm. Not quite in Shaggy’s head, but he’d bet the damn God would have answers.

“What’s he doing?!” Shaggy asked.

Xang’s voice came back slowly. Barely contained rage hidden within the words. Shaggy could guess that the God was being careful not to turn his brain into jelly.

“The fool seeks to sap and harness my power. He intends to trap me within those shells of metal and seal me away.”

“HE CAN DO THAT!?” Shaggy asked, shocking Levy and the others.

They were all giving him concerned looks. Even as the players were fighting on the pyramid outside. Shaggy ignored them as he awaited an answer.

“No. He is a fly trying to trap a spider. But his machinations will turn his creations back on your army. You must get to the old bastard and slay him.”

Shaggy grit his teeth. “That’s the plan.”

“Do not forget my crown, champion. The Mad Witch is sure to try some trickery. Do not let her have it!”

Shaggy grimaced and nodded while waving the Blood God away from his mind. When he focused back on his friends. He found that most were looking at him. Vlad seemed annoyed, Levy was worried, Dave was excited, and Slink was working. Shaggy shook his head and sighed as he pointed at the vidscreen.

“We got to charge up the pyramid and get to Cog. All while avoiding the lightning and newly hostile robots.” Shaggy huffed.

Vlad nodded and turned to mist an evil smile on his face. “I got the cannon!”

Dave sucked in a breath, a look of hurt on his face as he watched Vlad go. “Aw man! Guess that means I’m stuck watching things go down, then?”

Ren grunted. “Not really. We got boarders! Humanoid bots have climbed our legs and are punching their way in! They seem way stronger than before.”

“We have reports of them glowing purple and exploding once defeated.” Slink added. “We just lost another giant bot!”

The pale teen’s words were punctuated by a flash of purple filling their view. Apparently, the big ones could go critical too. Shaggy groaned as he grew his claws and got ready to leave. But Levy put a hand on his shoulder.

“You need to be up here to handle Cog. Dave can handle the boarders.”

Dave chuckled. “Hehe! Exploding robots in tight spaces? Hell yeah!”

Dave became a blue blur and rushed off. Shaggy could hear Slink relaying what they knew to the other robot pilots, and he glanced at his wife. Levy grinned at him as she summoned her staff. What Xang had said echoed through his brain and he asked.

“Do you think Korrigan will try something?”

Levy paused in thought. Soon, though, she nodded glumly. “Yeah, if she thinks she can get away with it. She’ll try to renege on the deal with Xang. We’re going to have to deal with that, too.”

“Great…” Shaggy groaned.

“The pillars!” Slink said after listening to the radio some more. “Ren, go for the spike pillars. They are redirecting the lighting back up the pyramid. We have reports they can be damaged.”

Their robot trudged over tot he closest pillar. Fighting was going on all over the pyramid. Shaggy could see players and robots duking it out everywhere. Nothing could really challenge the giant bots. But Cog had apparently regained control of a few of those as well. Everywhere burst of purple explosions dotted the screen. Shaggy bit the inside of his cheek in annoyance and tried to be patient. Next to him, Levy was doing something with the magical runes she had drawn on the inside of their bot.

Ren grunted. “This damn pillars are tough as hell!”

Shaggy watched as Ren threw haymaker after haymaker into the large black spike. Every now and again, a burst of purple lightning would flash and Ren would move their bot out of the way. Thankfully, Slink had coordinated enough players that most knew what the goal was. The players on the ground also seemed to pick up on things. They threw whatever powers or magic they could, but still the pillar held firm.

Occasional their own robot would shake from the inside. Dave was clearly having a blast tearing up robots within the giant robot’s narrow halls. Slink mentioned that repairs were still ongoing, but the robots were doing too much damage too fast. If they didn’t hurry with the pillar, they were going to lose the giant robot. The climb up the gigantic pyramid was going to be a hell of a slog without the robot.

“Ha!” Ren shouted, snapping everyone’s eyes to the screen again.

A large crack had appeared in the pillar. Judging by the widening green glow from within, they were making headway. It wasn’t long before the pillar finally cracked and fell. It’s long curved body slamming into the pyramid. Shaggy didn’t want to waste anytime and quickly shouted.

“Go! Up the pyramid Ren! We need to get close before we lose control of the robot.”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya!” Ren snarked as he turned their robot and rushed up the side of the pyramid. Players and other robots followed.

Shaggy watched as their robot kicked swarms of tiny robots as it raced up the pyramid. Ren was using the robots, legs and arms, to push and climb their way up. Nearby, other robots moved to intercept them, but Vlad kept them at bay pretty easily. Slink’s terminal was going nuts with shouts of celebrating and complaints coming from the players. Apparently, the one pillar only knocked out their side of the pyramid. There were some arguments about killing each pillar before rushing the boss, but they ignored it.

Shaggy shifted his hands into claws and then back to regular hands nervously. This was it. At the top of the pyramid was the raid boss, Cog. Waiting in his new younger body. Shaggy tried to center in on what he knew about the older man. Cog controlled robots with his mind and was a half-assed mage at best. He had his cybernetic limbs, but Shaggy didn’t think those would be too much trouble.

Shaggy lost his train of thought as their robot was shoved sideways roughly. Levy tried to stop his trip and wound up falling to the floor. Shaggy steadied himself as Ren swore. He helped Levy back up as a smug voice yelled over the radio. Eclipsing all the other squabbling players.

“The boss is the property of the Silver Wings. All unaffiliated players or other guilds can kindly fuck off!”

“Hey, fuck you!”

“Arrogant ass!”

“Whoever gets there first, nimrod!”

The rest of the radio chatter was full of players snarking or outright swearing at the leader of the Silver wings. Shaggy didn’t disagree, but another jarring knock made him look at the vidscreen. Another giant robot was slamming into them and trying to knock them off the pyramid. It didn’t take a genius to realize that the Wings were making an end-of-raid play. But they weren’t having it. Ren pushed back, but the two bots were neck and neck as they ran up the steep incline.

A short while after a harsh hit, Vlad appeared next to Shaggy in a puff of black smoke. Shaggy raised an eyebrow and the irate vampire swore.

“Fuckers took out our cannon!”

“Were also losing too much of our legs. Fuel efficiency is down. I think Dave is still down there, though. We keep taking damage from explosions. We can’t keep this up.”

“Vlad.” Shaggy said.

The vampire nodded and turned to mist again. “On it!”

Vlad rushed off to help Dave as they continued their race. Ren was still doing his best to trip up the Wing’s robot. But just by looking at the other bot, Shaggy could tell they were going to run out of steam first. However, a lucky elbow from Ren shoved the Wing’s robot just over the edge of the pyramid and into the path of the purple lightning. Shaggy almost cheered when the opposing bot froze up, but the sight at the top of the pyramid stopped him.

The top of the pyramid was a large, flat square. Three claw-like pillars hung over the square top, collecting and sending lightning back down the pyramid. At the center of the flat square was a purple ball, reaching outward toward the sides of the pyramid. Shaggy thought it looked like a mage’s shield spell and he clenched his hands. That was going to be a pain to get through. But before they managed to get to the top of the pyramid, a loud explosion rocked them again. Levy and Shaggy were thrown to the ground and Slink swore as he slammed into the terminal with his hip.

“Fuck! We’ve lost a large section of our hip. Our entire left leg is shot! We aren’t going anywhere.”

Vlad and Dave appeared suddenly. Vlad struggling to carrying a panting Dave. His blue armor was cracked and blackened in places. Shaggy could see part of Dave’s face from cracks in the mask. Levy hurried to get a healing potion into Dave as Vlad looked around. The vidscreen flickered, showing the purple dome Shaggy was sure housed Cog. Ren’s housing popped open and the large rhino-man quickly got out and collected his hammer.

“It’s a race for glory.” Shaggy said as he hurried toward the hole in the robot’s chin.

“Dude, we can’t make it. Not before the others do.” Vlad said, pointing at the flickering screen.

Shaggy nodded. He agreed, but what else were they going to do? He was just surprised no speedster had made it up the pyramid yet. Shaggy looked between Dave and Vlad and smiled.

“Why don’t the two of you rush up there, then? Hold a spot for us or something?”

“Do you really see the other guilds accepting that? Besides, they aren’t the ones that need to kill Cog. You are,” Levy pointed out.

Shaggy grit his teeth and exited the giant robot. Sounds of fighting and snapping electricity filled his ears. He dropped to the pyramid’s surface and turned to the others. They all looked at him and then at the dome protecting Cog. He grunted loudly and huffed angrily. He really didn’t want to fight Cog alone. But more and more players were getting closer. They needed to move now.

“Hop on!” Shaggy called up angrily and started to shift.

He didn’t wait to hear what the others had to say. Instead, he just transformed into his werewolf form and looked at them all. Levy dropped off the robot and landed on his back. Followed by Slink, Dave, Vlad and then Ren. Whose added weight hurt even Shaggy’s densely muscled back. Shaggy gave a howl and rushed to the top of the pyramid. He was nowhere near as fast as he could’ve been. But he hoped that having everyone with him when he made it to the top would mean he wouldn’t have to fight alone.

An orange speedster zoomed past Shaggy as he ran. Slink and Levy threw spells and energy blast at the player. But they easily dodged around everything and made it to the top first. Shaggy groaned mentally as he watched the other player touch the purple shield. With a rush of energy, a wave of purple magic exploded from the top of the pyramid and blew the speedster off the side. Shaggy thanked his good luck and put on as much speed as he could.

Whatever anti-personal magic was on the Cog’s protective dome was slowly reforming. But in the middle, where the dome had been protecting, sat Cog on a familiar throne of bones. A bone crown upon his head. Shaggy felt Xang’s presence at the back of his mind as he put on a last burst of speed and slid to a stop atop the pyramid. The purple barrier was slowly reforming behind him as Cog stood.

Shaggy sat down and let his friends get off his back. It felt like they had all made it to the top. As he shifted back into his human form, he looked around. The six of them were now encased in a magical purple dome with Cog. The previously old man looked as young as ever. His black and silver cybernetic arm and legs glowed faintly with purple magic.

Shaggy shook off his transformation and flexed his clawed hands. Cog sneered at them all as he popped the knuckles of his human hand.

“Well, it looks like if you want to put down a dog. You have to do it yourself.”

Shaggy and Cog glowered as all around them purple magic whirled and players shouted. He could feel Xang pressed up against the back of his mind. Eagerly waiting for a display of brutality and Shaggy was all too happy to give it to him. With a last look at his friends, Shaggy pounced and the final fight of the raid began.