A Werewolf In Under-Town

Shaggy stared at the chromatic group of ninjas with both annoyance and trepidation. Heroes along their southern border could be both a great thing and an enormous pain in the ass. But judging by the grandiose way the head ninjas had introduced themselves, Shaggy was thinking they would be more of the latter. They had huge theater kid energy… like Vlad.

Levy joined him in the middle of the street, still on the look-out for more drones. The sounds of sirens were still going in the distance and Shaggy knew they didn't have long. But the horde of ninjas was still just watching them. The leader, clad in his white Gi, was still basking in the adulation of his last statement. Shaggy wanted to roll his eyes and make a quick exit, but he wasn't sure how far they'd get.

"How are you on MP?"

Levy snorted as she tapped her staff against the ground. "I'm draining the NPC corpses in the street. I'll be full soon. We running or killing?"

Shaggy grinned at his wife, but before he could answer her, the ninja leader spoke up again.

"Running is futile! For we shall chase you all the back to whatever hell you crawled out of!"

"Laying it on pretty thick, Josh." said the Red ninja.

Even though their faces were covered, Shaggy could see the movement of their mouths beneath the mask. If he had to guess, only the five colorful ninjas were players. The rest of the horde, the ones clad in black, were all probably NPCs. So the Shadow League was a guild like theirs. Filled with more NPCs than people. At least that's how it looked to Shaggy.

The white ninja groaned as he turned back to the red one. "Am- I mean, Aka! My name is Shiro! Remember?"

"Yeah, whatever. Are we attacking?"

Shaggy grew out his claws again and ready for a running battle. If things got bad, he could wolf out and pick up Levy. After Red finished talking, Yellow and Green pulled weapons out of thin air. Actually, it was more like they created them. A bright white flashed in the street and then the yellow ninja was holding a bow. Next to them, Green was holding two sai. All three weapons looked to be made of some kind of prismatic material that faintly glowed white. Shaggy raised an eyebrow at the weapon's appearance.

"Magic?" He asked Levy.

"Nope. Some kind of personal ability."

"Hmm."

Shiro, the ninja leader, waved a hand at his compatriots and announced. "No! We are not savages that slaughter our enemies in the street. But let this be a warning to you and your Legion, Shaggy! We know you and we are com- Dammit, Jacob, stop!"

Shiro's little speech was interrupted when the blue ninja rushed forward, a white sword appearing in his hands.

"His name is Ao." Aka said with snark.

Shaggy ignored them as he watched the speedy ninja charging them. He wasn't sure how his claws would hold up against the bright sword. But when he heard Levy's staff light up with magic, he knew he wouldn't have to find out.

The blue ninja got a little closer and then flung himself at Shaggy and Levy. The ninjas were clearly powerful as the ninja cleared the distance quickly. It was like Shaggy's pounce ability. The white sword was coming down on them, so Shaggy dodged to the side as Levy took a step back. Shaggy crouched low and pushed the blue ninja's right hip, throwing him off as he recovered from his chop and stabbed down at Shaggy. Levy's staff, cloaked in purple magic, met the sword before it got anywhere near Shaggy and Levy's foot kicked out the guy's left ankle. The ninja collapsed to his knee and Shaggy performed a rising knee strike to the bottom of the ninja's chin.

The blue ninja's head snapped back with a loud crack. His body collapsed to the street as Levy backed away again. Shaggy put himself between his wife and the rest of the horde. But he didn't have to worry. The large group of ninjas were staring at them. He couldn't see their faces, but Shaggy was sure they were in shock. Taking the moment to check on Levy, he saw her rubbing her foot through her shoe.

"It was like kicking a damn tree. Guy was dense."

"Like me?"

"No one is as dense as you, love."

Shaggy scoffed at her antics as he turned back to the ninja horde. Blue was still unconscious at their feet. His sword was gone. It vanished when Shaggy's knee rocked his skull. Which told Shaggy a certain degree of concentration was required for their summoning. A good thing to know.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Those weren't scripted abilities, Josh. They both know how to fight."

"I can see that, Amy, thanks." Shiro groaned as Shaggy reached down to the blue ninja. "Could you not kill our friend, please? He's an idiot, but I really don't want to listen to him bitch about getting his ass-kicked AND losing his skill progress."

"What skill?" Levy muttered before she shouted back. "How about no?"

Shaggy dragged the blue ninja to his feet and put him between them and the ninjas as the yellow ninja summoned their bow again. A white arrow appeared, fully drawn as the ninja got ready to fire. The sirens were louder now. They needed to make a break for it soon. He glanced back at Levy as Shiro/Josh spoke up again.

"Look, I don't want to be a dick here. But if you kill him, we are going to have to respond. Our two guilds are going to clash at some point. That's just the nature of the game. But we don't have to start things off right now. What do you say to a truce until both of our Newbie Protection wears off?"

Shaggy grinned. "What? We just leave each other alone until the timer runs out and then we annihilate each other?"

"Until BOTH timers run out." Shiro/Josh said again.

"Guess that means they know how long our timer is compared to theirs," Levy said.

"Which means they've snuck into our territory. We'll need to strengthen the southern border."

"That's a conversation for later, dear. Why don't you give them back their idiot before the cops get closer?"

Grunting, Shaggy tossed the blue ninja across the street at the crowd of NPC ninja. The black mass of ninjas crowded toward their flying compatriot, trying to catch him. He slammed into a few of them with a meaty thwack. Not waiting for anymore conversation, Shaggy began shifting into a wolf as Levy was already halfway on his back. The cops were down the street, their lights flashing.

Shaggy's transformation finished and Levy got herself squared away on his back as the ninjas watched. Shiro was clearly still waiting for an answer. But Shaggy wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. It was a good deal, but they didn't really ne-

"We agree!" Levy shouted from his back, kicking her heels into his flank.

Shaggy gave a low growl at being spurred, but she just didn't it again as the sounds of cops and drones grew closer. Annoyed, Shaggy took off at a run. But he didn't head straight north. He rushed off to the east first. He would wrap around the outside of the downtown and then they could double back to the deli. Maybe they could steal a car to replace the one they had crashed.

Levy murmured something from his back and a black mist crept up from the ground around them. Shaggy kept running as the mist clung to his fur. The inky mass almost had weight to it as it hung off him. He almost questioned what his wife was doing until the mist slowly floated off his body and formed two more wolves running on either side of him. They had a dark tinge to them, but now so did he.

"Doppelgangers." Levy said, happily into his ear. "Decoys. Haha!"

Shaggy chuffed happily as he saw the large road marking the border into downtown. As the three wolfs got to the street, one went into downtown and one went south. Shaggy, meanwhile, turned north and headed into the residential area northwest of downtown. But his four-legged form was bigger than some of the houses. So he quickly shifted back to human and he and Levy jumped into someone's backyard.

"Oh! They have a pool."

"Focus, love." Shaggy said as he heard the sounds of drones.

"Relax. We've pretty much escaped."

"Drones are still in the air and I can hear cop cars further back."

"Then we just need to find us a car and get back home. I'm thinking something sporty."

Shaggy snorted. "Pfft. In this neighborhood?"

Levy scowled. "It could happen."

"Right."

She and Shaggy rushed to the other side of the yard and jumped the fence into an alley separating two houses. They crept through the alley and peered out into the street. Both sides of the street were lined with houses. Each house had a driveway, and each held at least one car or motorcycle.

"Bike." Shaggy said almost unbidden.

"No. I'm not riding backsies during our police escape. Get your pack to grab you a motorcycle." Levy said as she stepped out of the alleyway and started walking along the sidewalk.

Shaggy kept his eyes on the sky as he joined her. The sound of drones was thick to their south. He could even see a few of the buggers. But they were swooping down into each yard and using their cameras and lights to scan for them. They weren't in immediate danger, but they needed to go. He turned to tell Levy that only to find his wife frozen on the sidewalk, her eyes locked on a car a few driveways ahead of them.

"Hellooooo Baby! Where have you been my whole life?" Levy cackled and she practically skipped to toward the car.

Her staff was weaving magic through the air as Shaggy walked over, confused. "What the hell is something like this doing here?"

"Getting stolen." Levy cackled as she worked her magic on the slim-looking sports car. "It's even in my color. This is destiny."

"No, seriously. This car is worth this whole damn block. What the fuck is it doing here?"

Levy's staff flared with power and she gripped it harder. "And there are some heavy protections on it."

"Yeah, so maybe we should leave it." Shaggy said, seeing the drones getting closer.

Levy said nothing as the clunk of the car's locks echoed in the street. She grinned like a madwoman as she rushed toward the car's driver's seat. Shaggy rolled his eyes as he ran around to the side and got in. Levy was already backing out of the driveway before he even got his door closed. Once she had backed out into the street, Levy revved the engine a few times and practically purred.

"Ohhhhh, Love. This is the best part of our night."

"Levy, I love you. But you're crazy."

"Ohhh, baby. You love me because I'm crazy."

Shaggy said nothing as he pointed out the window, silently telling her to punch it. She didn't let him down. Levy tore out of the block like a bat out of hell. He wasn't sure how they were going to escape with his wife driving like a maniac, but Shaggy had enough on his mind already. They needed to prepare for an eventual Guild War with a group of ninjas. Which probably sounded exactly as much fun as it was going to be. He tried to think of plans as he ignored his wife cheering in the driver's seat as they tore off into the night.