 
## Not So Secret Origins

Wizard #1, Ace #1, Dogboy #1

Joe Rover

Published 2018 by Marshall Jefcoat

Distributed by Smashwords

_Copyright_ 2018-Present by Marshall _Jefcoat_

_Dogboy symbol Trademark 2017 Marshall Jefcoat_

_This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient._

_If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy._

_Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author._

_All_ rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

All characters, locations, and organizations in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

For All those who dare to dream

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Beginnings (Wizard of New Town, #1)

Journey to Neo-Geo (Life of Ace Journeyman, #1)

Rebirth (Dogboy Reborn, #1)

Thank You

About the Author

## Beginnings

## A Wizard of New Town Story

Joe Rover

Published July 2016 by Marshall Jefcoat

Distributed by Smashwords 2018

Copyright 2016-Present by Marshall Jefcoat

Dogboy symbol Trademark 2017 Marshall Jefcoat

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

All characters, locations, and organizations in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

# Coming Soon-ish

Journey to Neo-Geo: A Life of Ace Journeyman Story...

February 16, 2012, 10 miles outside of Newton City...

Wow, 2012, I was only 18 at the time. Fresh out of high school and on my way to my internship at Neo-Geo Mountain. I had zero interest in the world of geology or archeology but the internship was college credit nonetheless while I figured out what I wanted to do. Besides my best friend, Glen, was into that stuff, sort of. He was more interested in the romantic side of archeology, you know, exploring caves, finding ancient treasure, solving the mysteries of the past. He was in for a rude awakening once he found out how dirty, and exhausting, real archeology work was.

Upon disembarking the bus, we were greeted by the site supervisor, Dr. Richter. "Welcome to the Neo-Geo base camp. This is where you will eat, sleep, and categorize. You will be spending eight hours a day out in the field or in the lab; but don't worry, you'll be able to go into town on Friday nights."

"Whooo!" someone shouted. "Party!"

The crowd tried to suppress a laugh with varying degrees of success.

"Y-es..." said Richter, putting his hands behind his back as if he was a military general. "We'll start today with a brief history of Neo-Geo."

That brief history lasted five hours. I'll give you the short version. The mountain was formed the normal way of lava and plate tectonics over millions of years. The city of Newton (originally called New Town) was founded in the 1800s (give or take) as settlers moved west from the East trying their hand at ranching or gold mining. Newton was close to a river, before the water treatment plants and dams and such, and Neo-Geo housed many precious gems such as gold and diamonds. But soon the residents found that Neo-Geo wasn't your typical mountain. The gems were...different. A mixture of ruby, quartz, emerald, and lapis lazuli stone created strange effects, according to legend of course.

The story goes that these minerals caused people to act differently and gain abilities beyond normal people. Then one day everyone in town simply vanished. But people didn't stay away too long, the temptation of new land and gold was more powerful than superstition and Newton became the booming metropolis we now know.

Over time scientists discovered the strange properties of the ruby, quartz, emerald, and lapis within Neo-Geo, which is how it came to be called Neo-Geo (as in new geology, and it also rhymed really well). Science admitted that there was something odd about the mountain but Science still will not admit to anything supernatural. And that is basically why we are there: to study the rocks and figure out why they are different and maybe reproduce it. Richter is also curious about why the original settlers just vanished.

***

I stared at the ceiling of our cabin as Glen finished in the bathroom. The cabin wasn't the greatest but at least it had lights and running water (not to mention a bathroom, I was not looking forward to trekking across the camp in the middle of the night to use the toilet). I'd been watching the ceiling for so long that the wood was starting to make a pattern...one of Sandy's face smiling at me.

Glen then came in babbling about something; it took me a second to come out of my daydream. He was using some kind of green-tipped brush on his hair. "You're doing highlights again?" I asked.

"My roots where beginning to show." He pointed at his brown hair. His mixture of dyed green and natural brown hair always made me think of a meadow. All he needed was to plant some flowers. "Gotta make a good impression." Dr. Richter seems like the guy who'd appreciate a green and brown haired kid. And elephants love to have dinner parties with mice, I thought. Glen said a quick "good night" before literally jumping into his bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out...and not long after that, snoring.

Years of campouts, sleepovers, and the like had made me immune to his snoring. I took one more look at the Sandy pattern in the ceiling, rolled on to my side and turned out the light.

***

"Go towards the light," a voice said. It sounded a lot like Glen's.

I was in a long corridor. It had a pattern of thin lights that ran along the sides, floor, and ceiling. At the other end of the tunnel was a bright light.

"Go towards the light," the voice instructed again.

I started towards the light. The light got brighter and brighter until it covered me. I saw flashes of rubies, quartz, emeralds, and lapis. "Flxintaoajcslsdfot," the voice said. It was trying to tell me what the strange mixture of minerals was, but it came out as gibberish. The light then faded and I stood in space. It wasn't the boring old space you see from a telescope; this was the kind of space you see from like NASA satellite photos with all the colors and lights. The strange voice continued to speak in gibberish. Suddenly it was as if a trap door opened and I began falling through a tunnel of strobe lights.

I then fell out of bed.

I stood up and rubbed my head. Glen was still sound asleep. It was light outside. "Sleeping in, Glen?" I said. "So much for a good first impression." I opened the door and walked out into a lush land of plants, animals, and colors. This was not the dusty desert that I'd been at hours before. The place was completely transformed. If it hadn't been for the massive mountain nearby, I would think I was in OZ or something. In fact, Neo-Geo was the only thing I recognized.

The colors seemed brighter and...cleaner than normal. The sounds were like music; as if everything was singing a song in harmony. The sound seemed to be coming from everything. It was like everything had its own song but that song harmonized with the big/main song.

"Journeyman, Ace Journeyman," a voice said softly, like a summer breeze. "Ace." I then felt someone shaking me and the voice become more urgent.

"Ace!" Now it was Glen.

I gasped as if I'd been holding my breath for ten minutes and sat up. I was back in the cabin. Glen and some guy where there. "About time," said Glen. "Thought I'd need to get a bucket."

"Dr. Richter wants to see you," the other person said coldly.

And now The Wizard of New Town...

# A Literary Journey

The name is Max. Though I imagine you don't care about the tall, unassuming 29-year-old walking down East 42nd Street.

I come from Newton, a thriving city of 3,000,481. Sorry, just got a text: the Johnson's had twins. Newton is a thriving city of 3,000,483.

I am a writer by trade. You might have read some of my books, but probably not. My latest project is going...not well.

"Look at this place," I said to my life-long friends, Trent and Duke. "Pollution, grime, crime, and noise. Lots and lots of endless noise. Everyone running around not really going anywhere. And everyone is so busy with their smart phones they don't even notice the person next to them."

"Did you say something?" Duke said. "Ashley just sent me this funny cat video."

*sigh*

"Got writer's block again?" Trent giving me "the look."

"No! What? Why do you ask?"

"You always get testy when you are struggling. You get distant and reflective and start longing for days long since passed."

"You become a downer," said Duke. "Seriously, I don't even know why we hang out with you."

Our friendship started about the second grade when Duke and Trent were being bullied. I came to their rescue one day and we've been friends since. Soon afterwards I retired from the "being a hero" gig; it got me nothing but trouble. Anytime I try to help someone, I get smacked in the face (and in the case of the school bully that was literal...nearly broke my nose). I ended up with detention for fighting and the bully, Troy, got a warning. I believe it was his fifth one that day, and it was only ten in the morning.

Trent was always the smart one. He won the spelling bee three years in a row. He won the national science fair; got straight "A"s; and went to Harvard. He graduated with a degree in computer science and went on to help program a social media app.

Duke, on the other hand, was street smart. He was fast; knew the best hiding places; and could spot a con or trick a mile away. But he wasn't smart enough for an academic scholarship. He did play sports, but he wasn't good enough for a scholarship. He ended up as a trash collector.

I kept waiting for the day that jealousy would destroy the friendship, but they had their ways. Trent always made Duke feel valued. "Thank goodness you guys came," he would say. "My neighbors put something really rotten out; I was about to pass out from the smell." Trent understood that he needed Duke as much as Duke needed him. Duke got his chances to rib Trent though. Smart as he was, Trent lost at games of chance and could be conned; it was one of the few times Duke felt smart.

"Well, this is my stop for the day." I stopped before the stone lion statues that guarded the public library. Why these lions decided to protect a library was beyond me.

"Research and inspiration?" said Trent.

"Here's hoping," I said with a fake cheering motion.

"I hate research," said Duke.

"Necessary evil," I said.

"Like my union," said Duke.

"Or debugging code," said Trent. "Which reminds me," he and Duke continued towards the bus stop, "just yesterday, I had to debug a 50,000 line program...and it didn't have comments. Why is it so hard for coders to leave notes?" Duke looked back at me. "Help me," he mouthed. I shrugged and gave a little wave.

***

My footfalls echoed among the nearly empty halls. In an age of streaming and e-books, the library was all but abandoned.

Obviously the stone lions were not doing their job.

The librarians didn't help either. They continually tried to promote the fact you could use the library's website to rent books, music, and videos, as well as research from home. The librarians also had a tendency to promote the self-check counters and the ability to renew your library card online. Where they being helpful or putting themselves out of business? The jury's still out.

Most of the people here were older or those who preferred print to the cybernetic world. Other patrons were those who, for whatever reason, did not have online access.

I came to the library for three reasons. First, I blame Trent. He is always talking about how easy it is to create a virus or to hack into a system. He loves to show Duke and me, in excruciating detail, how vulnerable our computer network is. I have enough problems without worrying about someone hacking into my computer just because I checked out _Ancient Societies_.

The second reason I blame on Duke: coming here makes me feel like I've done something. This is one reason I'm jealous of Duke. At the end of the day, he can say, "I kept the east neighborhood clean for another week." But what about me? My work is all in some cybernetic realm. Does what I do exist or is it just ones and zeroes? Also, I'm a writer. It reminds me of the old saying: If an author writes but no one reads it, did they really write?

Third, as a writer, I spend most of my time on a computer or in front of a notepad. If I did everything online that I could, I'd never leave my apartment. I can rent movies and books online. I can order food and clothing over the Internet. I can pay bills and check my bank account. I can talk to friends or promote my books through social media. So now and then it is nice to have an excuse to be offline.

***

I was about three hours into a book about medieval culture when I yawned. My eyes were getting heavy and I soon fell asleep.

Hey! Don't judge me! I doubt you never fell asleep while studying.

# The Castle in the Dark

Moor Manor...wow, what a place. The owner obviously never heard of a maid or discovered a little thing called electricity. The manor looked to be falling apart. The manor, like the owner, has been around for a long time. Rumor is that the owner is immortal, but I think he's just old (very old). The manor is lit by either torches or fire from the fireplace, and the occasional flash of lightning from the storm that never seems to dissipate. Cobwebs adorn the place though you could search for hours and never find a spider; it is as if the spiders' made the webs, decided that the place was too spooky even for them, and hightailed it outta there.

"Minion!!" a voice rang through the hallways.

"Coming Master," said a short man as he came through the door panting. "And the name is Min-yon."

"I don't care," said the master of the manor. "Now go to the shelf and get me a jar of eye of newt."

Min-yon limped and shuffled over to the bookcase. Min-yon did not have a hump or a limp but did have to pretend because he was, after all, only a minion. "Sorry Master," Min-yon said with a lisp, "but we are all out of eye of newt. I can order more from the Internet, and with their drone technology, it will be here by tomorrow."

The master shot Min-yon a look that could peel wallpaper. The master rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Minion, I am trying to rid the world of science and technology, do you honestly think I want to use it!!"

"...Um...no?"

"Go to the newt farm and get the eyeballs the right way."

Min-yon had to hold back the feeling of vomit as he thought about the "right" way to get eyes out of a newt. "Why must we destroy technology, Master?"

"Because, slave, science is destroying magic. With this spell, I will bring the world back to its proper time; a time when magic ruled. There will be no more smog; no more noise..."

"No more telemarketers," Min-yon said.

The master seethed for a moment then calmly said, "There will be peace and harmony. New ideas will flow and mankind will finally evolve to its full potential." He went silent for a moment. "Now, go, and fetch me some eye of newt. And make sure it's fresh."

"How could it not be?" Min-yon mumbled suddenly gaining a New Jersey accent.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, my lord and master," Min-yon said regaining his "minion" accent. The master returned to his cauldron (being careful not to let his impressively long, white beard dip into the liquid) and began chanting as Min-yon continued to mumble, "I never should have answered that henchman ad I saw on the Internet. 'Be a minion,' Mom would say. 'You'll travel and meet interesting people.' Bah." Min-yon then slammed the door behind him.

# What Just Happened

I snorted awake. I stretched and yawned. Boy, what a good nap. I then noticed the people staring at me. I chuckled softly, smiled, and closed the book. I stood and began inching away from the library patrons. Once I was far enough away, I turned and scurried to the shelf to put the book back.

The book hung inches from its spot as I realized something: there were people in the library; more than the 10 to 20 that loiter around. Much more.

"Is there a sale?" I said aloud.

The extra people were strange but nothing to worry about; maybe it was a lunch hour or something. ***grumble*** _Speaking of food_ ... I thought as my stomach continued to protest; I was getting hungry. Luckily there was a diner not far from here.

The library door clanged behind me. "Was the library door always made of iron?" I shook my head and took a deep breath. The air smelled fresh and seemed to rejuvenate me, a nice change from the smog. "Can't remember the last time the library was that full."

I descended the stairs. A groaning, kind of crumbling noise, made me stop. It sounded kind of like stone moving. I turned but only the stone lions stood near me. I continued down the stairs and heard the noise again. I turned once more but there were only statues. I shrugged and took a couple more steps and heard the sound again, but this time it was joined by a low growling noise. I started taking the stairs two at a time. Once I reached the bottom, I turned again, but there was still nothing.

"Excuse me, young Sir," a voice said. I twisted in a surprised half jump-half turn that would put figure skaters to shame. In front of me now stood a knight on horseback. "Could you point me in the direction of Wilber's Court?"

"Two blocks that way, turn right, go three blocks, and take a left."

"Thank ye kindly Sir." The horse snorted a "thank you" too. The horse and rider began their journey down the street.

"Must be a renaissance fair." I put my hands on my hips. "And they didn't invite us. But in all fairness, Duke was kicked out after winning the pie eating contest three years in a row." I checked around me. "Why am I talking to myself?"

***

I ordered a deluxe cheeseburger from the diner. As I waited, I read one of the free newsletters diners usually have for customers.

"Order up!" said the cook.

I thanked the waitress as she slipped the plate in front of me and refilled my soda. The burger looked amazing. For once the "World's Best Burger" ad told the truth. The smell was sweet with a promise of greasy-goodness. I was about to dig in when I heard a small poof and a puff of cloud popped over the food. I coughed on the cloud as it dissipated. Once the fit was over, the cheeseburger was gone and replaced by a bowl of stew. "What is that?" I said picking at something with my fork. It was chicken feet. Actual chicken feet. In the stew.

I turned to the waitress. "I think there's a mistake. I didn't order this."

"Yes you did, Sir. You ordered the chicken feet surprise."

"No, I didn't. And what's the surprise?"

"It comes with the beak."

Good thing I hadn't eaten yet or there be one more surprise all over the floor.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't order this," I said.

Suddenly another employee drew a sword and pointed it at my neck. "You dare question our wait staff?" Hmm, maybe he was the owner...

"Whatever happened to the customer is always right?" I choked.

The workers laughed, heartily I might add. "What a crazy idea!" one said. "The customer right?" "This is my place," the owner said, "I am the one that's right."

"I bet you don't get much repeat business," I said.

That was probably a mistake because I ended up sucking concrete outside.

***

As I limped back home, I called Duke. My first instinct was to Tweet a scathing review of the place, but figured I'd wait until I calmed down some. Duke's phone rang a couple times and then I got his voicemail. "This is Duke, Son of Thorn-bear, I am unable to come to the phone right now as a horde of orcs have raided the storehouse. Please leave your name and I shall return your call, if I survive."

"Thorn-bear?" I tried calling Trent.

"Good day friend," came Trent's voice. At least he answered. I asked him to come over so I tell him about my day. "I shall make my way posthaste."

"Have you been dipping into the energy drinks again?" But he hung up before he could answer.

***

I got a good couple minutes of pacing in before Trent arrived. I opened the door to see...I have no idea what I was seeing. Trent now had long, white hair and his eyes seemed almost a glowing blue. He was also sporting a bow and arrow set. His clothes looked about the same but more...fancy. And did he have pointed ears?

"I came a quickly as I could, dear friend, but the trolls at the bridge required two goats. I hate price hikes but it was either pay or be eaten. Now what is troubling you?"

I told him about the crowd at the library, the knight, and the transforming cheeseburger. He mostly smiled and nodded. It wasn't until I mentioned calling Duke that Trent's eyes darkened like storm clouds and his smile twisted into a frown. "You contacted Duke, Son of Thorn-bear!! You know of the trouble he has caused and yet you contact him?!"

"What trouble?"

The door smacked open as Duke entered. He looked shorter but stockier. And he had a beard? The guy couldn't grow a beard if you grafted it onto him, and now he had one that reached his chest. "I'm sorry, Maximus, the raid lasted longer..." Duke spotted Trent. "What exactly is Tristan of the North Winds doing here?"

"Tristan?" I said. "Maximus? Can you guys please explain to me what is going on?"

Trent...uh, Tristan folded his arms. "I will not abide a place where a _dwarf_ stands." Trent tossed his flowing hair back and made for the door. "One side, dwarf."

"Not happening, elf. I will leave before you."

"Hardly. A dwarf could never beat an elf to anything except for the dinner table."

The two squinted at each other than glanced at the door through the corner of their eyes. They took off for the door and ended up reaching it at the same time and getting stuck. They threw insults at each other and with a pop sailed out the door and into the wall.

"What just happened?" I said while the two clambered over each other.

# Destiny Calls

The next morning, I woke at my writing desk. A page with notes about a story where two friends began fighting after being changed into a dwarf and elf stuck to my face. I shook my head. My place looked normal. My door didn't look like an elf and dwarf had just been fighting over who got out first. No dent where they crashed into the wall.

"Wow, what a dream. No more five day old pizza and fantasy movies before bed." But at least I had an idea for a story. It took place in a modern city and soon things from the past start to appear. And...actually that was all I had for now, but it was a start. I went to my notepad and grabbed my pen. I slid the notes to the side and turned to a new page ready to start writing. My pen stayed frozen over the paper as I realized I needed an opening line. I hate opening lines. You have to get the reader's interest with just a few words. Do you think they'd mind if I did something like "Call me Ishmael?" Probably. I'm sure I'll think of something.

***

Two hours later and I was still on the first line. I hit my head with my hand, repeatedly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," I said. I put my head on the table and sighed.

"I actually prefer that opening," came a voice.

I looked up. "Who's there?"

"Just little ol' me," the voice said. It was coming from the table. My pen pulsed a purple light and with a poof became a wand—a proper old school, wooden magic wand. It then floated into the air. "Hello, Max," it said.

I screamed.

It then screamed.

I screamed some more and it screamed some more too.

"Why are you screaming?" I asked the wand.

"Because you are screaming. Why are you screaming?"

"Because you're a talking magic wand."

"Well of course I'd be able to talk. I am a magic wand after all. It would just be weird if I could talk and I was a sword."

"I must be dreaming," I said standing up.

**"*buzz*** Wrong," said the wand.

"Then I'm going crazy."

"Sorry, no. You're just having a conversation with a talking magical item." I raised my eyebrow. "Well, it's not that insane."

"In what world?"

"In this one. Or what this one will be soon enough."

"Say what?"

"I was brought back because there has been a disturbance in the natural order. The universe, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen you, Maximus, to restore balance and order. It is your...destiny," he said "destiny" as if he was making a grand gesture with his hands (if he had any).

"What? Me? Now that's insane?"

"That's what I said. But the cosmic forces of the universe are smarter than a humble..."

"Stick?"

"I was going to say 'highly intelligent magical tool of order.'"

"So, uh, now what?"

"Now, you must defeat the evil wizard that wishes to plunge the world back into a time when magic was boss."

"Why?"

The wand pulsed and then went silent for a moment. "I don't know. But the universe wishes it so."

"So I'm supposed to go on some epic adventure, one in which I'll probably die, to stop an evil wizard from unleashing untold chaos upon the Earth? And I'm supposed to do this because some stick tells me the universe chose me?"

"Did I mention the part where it's your destiny?" I frowned at him. "Come on, it'll be fun. Magic, adventure, duels, possibly a damsel in distress. Come on, come on, come on..."

_I've got to be dreaming. Or nuts._ I rubbed my temples and growled in frustration. "Fine."

"Great! Now to begin our journey of adventure! But first, we'll have a healthy and nutritional breakfast."

"Why?"

"Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Why do I have a feeling this is going to be a _long_ quest?"

# Next Time

I stepped out of the door to my apartment building. "Whoa...!" Newton was completely different. It was a melding of the modern world, with skyscrapers and traffic lights, and the Middle Ages, with huts and horses and hay bales. Some people were dressed in modern clothing while others were dressed in tunics and cloaks; or in the case of one group: monk robes.

"Welcome to New Town," said the magic wand.

"For a supernatural...thingy, you aren't very good at geography. This is Newton."

"Not anymore. This is New Town. In order to permanently transform something, you have to change its name, which is why Trent is Tristan and you are Maximus. New Town is the original town name; over time it became Newton."

"Newton didn't exist during the Dark Ages. No one even knew the Americas existed."

"That's why it's called magic, boy. Don't fret the details. But this place, when it was founded, was called New Town. Now, to the marketplace so we can get supplies."

***

"So," I said to the magic wand as we walked, "what's your name? I can't very well keep calling you 'Stick.'"

"You are my new owner. You choose my name."

"Okay, I guess we're sticking with 'Stick.'"

"Wha? What, what? Stick? Is that the best you can do? You're a writer for Pete's sake!"

"Yeah, and I'm going to call you 'Stick.'"

Suddenly the wand shot in front of me, its form pulsing a purple light. "Show me some respect, child! I have existed since the beginning of time!" The wind began to pick up and the nearby animals scattered. "I was formed from a branch of the Tree of Knowledge! I was forged in the fires of Prometheus! I was advisor to kings and to the greatest minds of time!"

"Then you should have a name."

"It is not for the likes of you to utter, Mortal!"

"Right, sure it isn't. So tell me."

The winds ceased and the animals returned from their hiding spots. The wand dropped a couple levels. "Fummum," he muttered.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"Phil. Okay? My name is Phil."

"And what's wrong with Phil?"

"Nothing. It's just...the other mystical items would always tease me."

"Magical items can be cruel," I nodded.

"Mjolnir thought he was so great just because he was Thor's hammer. 'Oh look at me, I can make thunder and lightning.' Meanwhile I get stuck with the newbs. No offense."

***

"Behind you!" I shouted at the strange man in the cloak and hood. Without looking, he hit the person in the stomach with the hilt of his blade. He then spun and landed an uppercut to the thief's chin to finish the job.

"Did you see that?!" said Phil from the case on my belt. "He just took out three armed men by himself!"

"Who are you?" I asked the stranger.

"I am a bounty hunter," he said in a deep, demonic-like voice that seemed to echo. "I have heard the stories of you."

"There's stories of me?" I asked Phil. "I haven't done anything yet."

"Typical quest prophecy stuff," said Phil.

"Are you here to take me in and collect on a bounty?" I started reaching for Phil the Wand.

"No, though the bounty is 1,000 credits."

"Then what do you want?"

"To join you. Like you, I know that our world has changed."

"Really? Wow, cool. So, uh, what do I call you?"

"Throughout the lands I am known as Ryack." He then pulled off his hood to reveal a gawky young man with ginger hair and freckles. "But before all this, I was Ryan," he said in a higher pitched "nerd" voice. "I used to do game walkthroughs on the Internet." He sighed. "I was one away from one million subscribers."

## Journey to Neo-Geo

## A Life of Ace Journeyman Story

Joe Rover

Published 2016 by Marshall Jefcoat

Distributed by Smashwords 2018

Copyright 2016-Present by Marshall Jefcoat

Dogboy symbol Trademark 2017 Marshall Jefcoat

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

All characters, locations, and organizations in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

# Coming Soon-ish

Rebirth: A Dogboy Reborn Story...

My mag-cycle whirled under me. The soft whoom, whoom, whoom of the magnetic propulsion made my thoughts drift.

2022...

"This is madness!" I shouted at the leader of the Xacian (Zac-z-an) army, Joey. Joey was actually a clone of me but implanted with the conscious of the Xacian leader who'd been killed long ago. "Harvesting the Dark Matter is disrupting the fabric of the universe."

Joey, aka Jackal, stood before the crack in space with his hands out stretched. "Nonsense! The Xacian Empire will have the Dark Matter. We will once again rule the galaxy." He turned to look at me. It was kind of like looking in a distorted mirror. His face looked like mine but he had black hair and yellow eyes instead of my blonde hair and blue eyes. He was also more muscular and a few inches taller.

The world around us sounded like paper tearing. The crack was getting bigger. Pieces of ground were beginning to float into the air.

"Dark Matter is the glue that keeps the universe together," I said. "Without it the cosmos is coming apart. Look around you."

"No! You look around! This is all your doing!" I looked around. I saw the other members of the Delta Team of the International League of Super-Transbeings. Sportsgirl tried to fight off a Xacian warbot with her plasma baseball bat, but it was too much for her. She had been fighting for a while now and was exhausted; she finally fell to the ground, unconscious.

Turbo, the Xacian experiment to fuse parts from different beings to create the ultimate weapon, fell to his knees as his power source began to fail. The witch, Daphne, and the gremlin, CyberCypher, had also fallen. CyberCypher had managed to take down a warship before he was beaten.

La-Zar, the alien marksmen/bounty hunter, was still standing. He (at least we think it's a he—it's hard to tell with that mask on) blasted a couple soldiers with his duel ion pistols and then slashed a warbot with his plasma swords. He planted a fusion grenade on a downed warbot and kicked it back at a group of soldiers. The explosion caused the crowd to go flying but a warbot shot him in the back and he was out too.

Glop, the swamp monster, had sprayed the ground with some acid. When the tanks ran over the spot, they fell in. Glop then got hit by some kind of heat ray and fell to the ground. He tried to crawl to some water to heal, but he passed out before getting there.

Ace Journeyman had been put in some kind of stasis field that prevented him from falling asleep thus making it so he couldn't travel to the Astral Plane and help us. Agent Zee, a zombie (not a mindless one), had been knocked apart and was trying to get his pieces back together but one soldier was sitting on his chest. And Quintessa, an elemental, had passed out from exhaustion. She had tried to use her powers to seal the crack but it was beyond her capabilities.

The giant, Zero, and Brood, the vampire, were the only ones remaining. Zero was about 60 feet tall and swatting at fighter ships like they were flies. Brood dashed through the horde of soldiers shifting from human to bat and back as needed. He threw one soldier and smashed his fist through one warbot. But it wouldn't be long before they couldn't fight.

"This," said Jackal waving his hand across the battlefield, "is all because of you. If you would have left well enough alone and let us rule this world, we would not have to harvest more Dark Matter." His claws then came out. In one fluid motion, he slashed at my face and then kicked me to the curb. "And now you can die with this world." He held his hand above me ready to strike.

CRASH!!

The sound woke me from my flashback. A vehicle had spun out and was now stuck on the tracks for the magnet train. The crossing signal warned us of an oncoming train. There was no way that the driver could escape in time. I had to help him.

I got off my cycle and started towards the accident. I then stopped realizing something: my powers were gone. I had lost them five years ago in the Dark Matter battle.

Still...I had to do something.

I raced over to the vehicle and began pulling at the door. It wouldn't budge. The driver was still half out of it. I kept pulling at the door. The train was getting closer by the second. _Stupid 800 mph trains,_ I thought. Come on, come on.

Something then began to happen. My hands started to glow with a golden Aura. The Aura then spread into the door. If I remember correctly, Brain said that I was somehow quantum entangling my hands with the door. What I did, the door had to follow. I pulled back and the door had no choice but to brake free. I pulled the man out but the train would get here before we could get away.

I picked up the man, took a couple steps, and vanished in a burst of sparkle-like dust. I then reappeared by my mag-cycle.

"Whew," I said laying the man down. I then realized that if the train hit the vehicle, the train would most likely derail. I ran at the vehicle and vanished again. I reappeared; my speed plus my strength rammed into the vehicle. The vehicle skidded away with an ear-splitting screeeech. In the process I stumbled into the path of the train.

"Uh-oh," I said.

WHAM!!

The train hit me and then ran over me. Of course it had to have 20 cars to it too.

"Ow," I said when the train was finally gone and I was flat on my back. As I sat up, I could see the golden retriever fur vanish back to...wherever it goes. The fur had protected me like armor. I stood up and cracked my back. The fur had mostly protected me.

I glanced over at the man, who started to wake. I looked back at my hands; I could see the tale-tell signs of the golden retriever's fur growing on the back of my hands.

"Whoa," I said. My powers were back.

And now The Life of Ace Journeyman...

# Old Friends

The mall was busy; it always is at this time. Sometimes I miss how things where...back before this whole mess started. It used to be you could find a couple swinging their kid back and forth as they walked. Or a mother chatting with a friend while her child played in the playground area. Or teens sending messages to each other. Now the mall was virtual. Now the couple and the kid, the mother and friend, the playground, the teens were all virtual avatars. The real people were in VR pods, somewhere.

An elderly woman waited by the 3D printing machine for her order. (The woman was probably at her local 3D printing shop in the real world.) The machine hummed and a couple flashes of light followed; the door opened and the woman pulled out the materialized dress. The woman held it up and checked herself in the mirror. A man grumbled behind her and she finally moved on. (The man must have been on the same server and it was taking some time for his order to come through; she was hogging up all the broadband.) The machine then printed out his order, a pizza and soft drink. He took a bite and left to find a place to sit down. The food was real enough. He, like the woman, were probably on a VR headset instead of in a pod, that way he could move around and eat. They were in the virtual world and the real world at the same time. It was kind of like talking on a Bluetooth phone.

"I remember when they had to teleport it to you," a voice said. I turned to the hooded figure. He sat down. "Makes me feel old."

"Imagine how I feel," I said. "I can remember the days when they had to mail your order." I sighed. "It's been awhile."

"Five years," the figure said.

"When you stopped the Xacian [Zac-z-an] armada from destroying the universe." The Xacians had been mining Dark Matter for eons. Dark Matter is an indestructible material that they used for their ships, armor, and weapons. But Dark Matter also kept the universe together. The more the Xacians mined it, the more the universe "expanded" until finally the strain was too much and the universe began to rip apart.

"You were there too," he said.

I had been there. I was part of a league of heroes, the International League of Super-Transbeings (or ILOST). We were Delta Team: Sportsgirl, Turbo, Daphne, CyberCypher, La-Zar, Glop, Agent Zee, Quintessa, Zero, Brood, and me: Ace Journeyman. And of course, our leader...

One by one the Xacian forces took us out. "I still have nightmares of the stasis field," I said.

He lowered his head. "I wish I could have done more."

"What else could you have done? You sacrificed your powers and nearly your life in order to repair the damage." He looked away. "Why did you want to see me? After all this time?"

He lowered his hood. It was him. I half expected it to be one of his friends or something, but it was really Joe Rover. "I want to know what happened back in 2012, with you," he said.

"Why do you care?"

"I have my reasons," he said. Was it just me or did he look a bit like his old self? After he lost his powers, he became more human looking. He lost his slightly pointed ears, his sharper canine teeth, and his sharper nails.

"Wow, uh, I don't know where to start. I guess from the beginning."

"That'd probably be for the best," he said.

# Neo-Geo Mountain

February 16, 2012, 10 miles outside of Newton City...

Wow, 2012, I was only 18 at the time. Fresh out of high school and on my way to my internship at Neo-Geo Mountain. I had zero interest in the world of geology or archeology but the internship was college credit nonetheless while I figured out what I wanted to do. Besides my best friend, Glen, was into that stuff, sort of. He was more interested in the romantic side of archeology, you know, exploring caves, finding ancient treasure, solving the mysteries of the past. He was in for a rude awakening once he found out how dirty, and exhausting, real archeology work was.

Upon disembarking the bus, we were greeted by the site supervisor, Dr. Richter. "Welcome to the Neo-Geo base camp. This is where you will eat, sleep, and categorize. You will be spending eight hours a day out in the field or in the lab; but don't worry, you'll be able to go into town on Friday nights."

"Whooo!" someone shouted. "Party!"

The crowd tried to suppress a laugh with varying degrees of success.

"Yes..." said Richter, putting his hands behind his back as if he was a military general. "We'll start today with a brief history of Neo-Geo."

That brief history lasted five hours. I'll give you the short version. The mountain was formed the normal way of lava and plate tectonics over millions of years. The city of Newton (originally called New Town) was founded in the 1800s (give or take) as settlers moved west from the East trying their hand at ranching or gold mining. Newton was close to a river, before the water treatment plants and dams and such, and Neo-Geo housed many precious gems such as gold. But soon the residents found that Neo-Geo wasn't your typical mountain. The gems were...different. A mixture of ruby, quartz, emerald, and lapis lazuli stone created strange effects, according to legend of course.

The story goes that these gems caused people to act differently and gain abilities beyond normal people. Then one day everyone in town simply vanished. But people didn't stay away too long, the temptation of new land and gold was more powerful than superstition and Newton became the booming metropolis we know now.

Over time scientists discovered the strange properties of the ruby, quartz, emerald, and lapis within Neo-Geo, which is how it came to be called Neo-Geo (as in new geology, and it also rhymed really well). Science admitted that there was something odd about the mountain but Science still will not admit to anything supernatural. And that is basically why we are there: to study the rocks and figure out why they are different and maybe reproduce it. Richter is also curious about why the original settlers just vanished.

***

I plopped heavily into the cafeteria seat and stared at the bubbling glop on the tray for a moment. A few seconds later Glen joined me. He had a smile bigger than his face. "Wasn't that great?! How interesting! Wow!" I noticed that his tray was filled with potatoes, steak, and green beans. I glanced back down at the glop on my tray. How did that happen?

"Yeah, it was...something."

"Like getting your head drilled by a screwdriver?" said a pretty redhead sitting down next to me.

I laughed nervously. "Yeah. It was pretty dull. That Richter guy needs a personality upgrade."

"My father is known to drone on."

I choked on my glop. "F-f-father?"

"Oh relax, I'm not going to tell. I know he's as interesting as paint drying on a hot day. He can be odd; he named me Sandy after all."

"Your geologist father named you Sandy?" I said.

She finished her bite of salad. "Sandy Onyx Richter to be exact. Parents can be cruel."

"Yeah," I aimed for sounding like I was sympatric. "I was named Ace."

"That's not so bad," Sandy said. "Was your father a World War II pilot?" she joked.

"Actually, I don't know. Mom doesn't talk much about him."

She looked at her tray. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Not a problem."

"Anyhoo..." Glen said (thankfully) changing the subject, "I'm looking forward to starting tomorrow. It should be great fun."

Sandy stood. "Oh it is," Her smooth face shined a mysterious smile. "It is until Dad gets hold of you."

***

I stared at the ceiling of our cabin as Glen finished in the bathroom. The cabin wasn't the greatest but at least it had lights and running water (not to mention a bathroom, I was not looking forward to trekking across the camp in the middle of the night to use the toilet). I'd been watching the ceiling for so long that the wood was starting to make a pattern...one of Sandy's face smiling at me.

Glen then came in babbling about something; it took me a second to come out of my daydream. He was using some kind of green-tipped brush on his hair. "You're doing highlights again?" I asked.

"My roots were beginning to show." He pointed at his brown hair. His mixture of dyed green and natural brown hair always made me think of a meadow. All he needed to do was plant some flowers. "Gotta make a good impression." _Dr. Richter seems like the guy who'd appreciate a green and brown haired kid. And elephants love to have dinner parties with mice,_ I thought. Glen said a quick "good night" before literally jumping into bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out...and not long after that, snoring.

Years of campouts, sleepovers, and the like had made me immune to his snoring. I took one more look at the Sandy pattern in the ceiling, rolled on to my side and turned out the light.

# Into the Light

"Go towards the light," a voice said. It sounded a lot like Glen's.

I was in a long corridor. It had a pattern of thin rays of lights that ran along the sides, floor, and ceiling. At the other end of the tunnel was a bright light.

"Go towards the light," the voice instructed again.

I started towards the light. The light got brighter and brighter until it covered me. I saw flashes of rubies, quartz, emeralds, and lapis. "Flxintaoajcslsdfot," the voice said. It was trying to tell me what the strange mixture of minerals was but it came out as gibberish. The light then faded and I stood in space. It wasn't the boring old space you see from a telescope; this was the kind of space you see from like NASA satellites with all the colors and lights. The strange voice continued to speak in gibberish. Suddenly it was as if a trap door opened and I began falling through a tunnel of strobe lights.

I then fell out of bed.

I stood up and rubbed my head. Glen was still sound asleep. It was light outside. "Sleeping in, Glen?" I said. "So much for a good first impression." I opened the door and walked out into a lush land of plants, animals, and colors. This was not the dusty desert that I'd been in hours before. The place was completely transformed. If it hadn't been for the massive mountain nearby, I would think I was in OZ or something. In fact, Neo-Geo was the only thing I recognized.

The colors seemed brighter, cleaner than normal. The sounds were like music as if everything was singing a song in harmony. The sound seemed to be coming from everything. It was like everything had its own song but that song harmonized with the big/main song.

"Journeyman, Ace Journeyman," a voice said softly, like a summer breeze. "Ace." I then felt someone shaking me and the voice become more urgent.

"Ace!" Now it was Glen.

I gasped as if I'd been holding my breath for ten minutes and sat up. I was back in the cabin. Glen and some guy where there. "About time," said Glen. "Thought I'd need to get a bucket."

"Dr. Richter wants to see you," the other person said coldly.

# Richter

"Just keep me posted," Dr. Richter said to his daughter.

I poked my head into the office. "You wanted to see me." Sandy issued a small gasp once she saw me but quickly recovered with a sunbeam of a smile. She nodded towards me as she left.

Richter offered me a seat. "I'm a no nonsense type of guy, Ace," he said, "I'll get right to it. I'm surprised to see you here."

"Excuse me?"

"I knew your father." _Whoa._ "I was shocked to see your name on the pre-selection tests everyone took in January. And I'm kind of surprised your mother would let you come within a hundred miles of this place...after what happened to your father." He must have noticed a confused look on my face. "She never told you?" He went to the window and looked out. He looked like an old soldier who'd seen too many battles. "I was Samuel's friend, much like you and Mr. Otero. We did everything together; except for archeology." Richter shook his head. "Samuel never had much use for it. You take after your father in that department. And I suppose in other areas too..."

_What's that supposed to mean?_ "What happened to my father?"

"I finally talked him into joining me at Neo-Geo. I was so close to uncovering its secrets. Not long after he arrived, he...changed. Started acting differently. I contacted your mother; you and she left to come here. You probably don't remember, you were three at the time." He paused for a moment as if he was trying to fight back some personal demons. "It was too late. By the time she arrived...Samuel was gone."

"Gone?" I asked. "Dead?"

"No. Gone. Vanished, like the settlers. Just poof. I turned for a second to pick up a stone tool. When I turned around, he was gone. No footprints, no drag marks, nothing."

Suddenly this internship was a lot more interesting.

***

"I don't trust him," Glen said flatly. "And quite frankly, I don't trust his daughter." This is serious. Glen trusts everyone. I was far from convinced. "Think about it. She shows up out of nowhere and sits next to you at lunch. No offense, but she's out of your league."

"How is that not offensive?"

Glen studied the rock he was holding and sat it gently into the pile marked limestone. After almost a week of working the site, we were settling into a routine. "You know what I mean. Dr. Richter knows more about your father than he's letting on...if he even knows anything. He could be lying to you."

I looked at the rock I was holding and tossed it behind me. I have no idea where it landed. "Why would he do that?"

"How should I know? He could be some creepy stalker." I put my hands on my hips. "Yeah...OK, probably not that, but you get my point."

"Hey you two!" shouted an assistant. "Stop talking and get to work!"

"I tell you, Ace," Glen shook a rock in my face; he then realized what he was doing and carefully put it into its proper pile, "that Richter rubs me the wrong way."

***

Three more hours of looking through rocks had reduced me to just looking at the rock, saying "rock," and throwing it into a pile. Glen had returned to his normal jovial self, going on about how "awesome" and "exciting" all of this was. "Oh my gosh!" he said, "Is that basalt!?" With each iteration of how "amazing" categorizing rocks was, I yawned bigger and more frequently until I...couldn't...*yawn*...take it...anymore...and fell asleep.

***

Someone started tapping on my forehead. I opened my eyes. A person about my age stood there. I didn't recognize him from the orientation. "We're here," he said as if he was just announcing that a meteor the size of Texas was about to hit the Earth. That was when I noticed we were moving. We were in the back of some kind of transport. There were others about my age, maybe a little older, with us. They were all dressed in military fatigues and armed. That's when I noticed I was wearing fatigues too.

"Come on, David," said the one that woke me; he nudged me towards the exit. "We need to report in."

"David?" I said.

***

"Gentlemen," said the general, who stood just like Dr. Richter—with his hands behind his back, "we have arrived. Beyond this point we are in enemy territory. The enemy will not tolerate our presence here. The enemy will show no mercy. Our mission is to..." The general stopped. "Is there a problem, Private Windmaker?"

Everyone turned to me. "Who? Me?" I said.

"Do you see another Private Windmaker?" _Uh..._ I looked around. "We normally stand at attention when getting orders."

"Oh, uh, sorry?" He snarled at me so much I thought the ground was going to shake. The one who woke me looked at me with disbelief. "Sorry, Sir?" The general narrowed his eyes at me but moved on.

***

"What is wrong with you?" the one that woke me said. Whose name, by the way, was John. "You act like this is your first day."

"It is." I grabbed the go-bag out of the transport.

John sighed and groaned, "David."

"My name isn't David," I said. He sighed again. I put the bag on my back and discovered that it was heavier than I thought. I ended up flat on my back.

"David," he sighed again shaking his head.

"I'm not David," I said.

***

We finally arrived on the outskirts of the town. According to the general, insurgents had taken control of the town and were holding people hostage. We split into groups; I was with John.

The town was deserted. Not even a tumbleweed. "Spooky," I said and got a "shh" from John. We approached the first house. We took positions at the door. John made a bunch of motions with his hands; I just stared at him with a blank look on my face. He made the motions again angrier this time. I shrugged. His face started to turn red as he signaled me again.

"I don't understand what you are saying," I said. "Just tell me."

"Do you want them to hear us?" He exhaled noisily. "What is it with you? You were the top of your class."

"I'm...not...David," I said.

Finally, he looked me in the eyes. He seemed to be lost and confused and concerned all at once. "You're not David," he whispered. Then the questions started. "Who are you? What happened? Where's David? Are you a spy? Are you with the enemy?"

"You know as much as I do. And, no, I'm not a spy. I was at Neo-Geo Mountain cataloging rocks and fell asleep...and now I'm here." I slapped my arms to my side in frustration.

"Neo-Geo?" Now John had a new expression, one I'm not sure I can identify—kind of a mixture of terror and worry. "It's supposed to be off limits."

"What? Why?"

"You don't have the clearance for that."

"Does David?" He nodded. I gestured "well?"

"Nice try. I don't know who you are. You could be Russian, Chinese...Martian for all I know." I started to protest, but he shut me down. "Ah. Like I can take your word on who you say you are. How did you get to Neo-Geo?"

"I'm doing an internship for Dr. Richter."

"Dr. _Emil_ Richter?" I nodded. "How'd he get funding? He's supposed to be persona non grata in the scientific community."

Glen was right!

There was a noise nearby. "Maybe it was a rat?" I whimpered.

"I doubt that." John got on the radio. "We've got possible contact." Three men with guns stepped out of the shadows. "Make that definite contact." He turned to me. "Get your gun out!"

I fumbled with the AK-47. "Now what?"

John already had his pointed at the men. "Point it at them!"

I did that.

"Stop," John ordered.

The three stepped aside to let another man come through. He was dressed in exotic robes. They looked Middle Eastern but not. Like seriously custom made stuff. The material seemed to have veins that pulsed as if it was alive. The pulse seemed to radiate...evil. The man looked filthy, even more than John and me—and we've been trekking through the desert for hours. The man regarded me for a moment and then ignored me. He turned to John.

"Ah," he said in a voice that could freeze gasoline, "the United States 'Special' Ops. You've been chasing me for how long? What is your cover story this time? Rescuing a poor village from the big, bad insurgents?" The three men laughed. The man cut them off with a quick wave. "At least this time you were smart enough to bring one of Us along." He then slowly turned to me. "A journey-man no less." That was how he said it, as if it was a thing and not my name. He turned back to John. "Did you even tell those brave fools that the people of this village aren't hostages?"

"John?" I said, "I'm not sure I like how he said that."

Suddenly doors started to open. People started coming out carrying guns.

"I'm definitely not liking that!" I said.

The people began chanting as the man reached into the pocket of the pulsing robe. He produced a red, green, blue, and white gem that looked a lot like the gem Richter showed us during the orientation; the one made of quartz, ruby, lapis, and emerald. The chanting increased.

"What is going on?" I asked as rumblings sounded all around me.

"Drop it," John ordered, leveling his weapon at the mystery man. He, of course, ignored John.

"John!"

"Shoot him!" John shouted.

I pulled the trigger. A) I probably should have squeezed the trigger, whatever that means. B) I was not prepared for the kickback.

The gun went wild and so did I. Bullets started going everywhere.

I must have gotten lucky in my short burst of gunfire because the chanting stopped and the man groaned. He had blood coming from his shoulder.

"You pathetic sub-creature!" he said.

"Was that an insult?" I said.

"I will beat you," he said raising his hand to smack me, "within an inch of your..." Suddenly his voice changed to a young woman's excited voice, "...Diamond!"

"Huh?" I said tilting my head.

Everyone froze for a moment. Then I felt like I was on stage and I was just pulled off by the hook. The world seemed to pass me by at super-speed. I could see people, buildings, and animals but they blurred by so fast I couldn't tell much more. Suddenly I smacked into something and tumbled to the ground.

I was back at Neo-Geo.

"Diamonds!" the young woman repeated. "I found diamonds!"

# Friday Night News

As it turned out, finding diamonds wasn't as exciting as you would think. Richter was not interested in diamonds at all, even though the woman who found them, Julie, found about 200 of them. Just another reason not to trust Richter: who wouldn't be jumping for joy at finding diamonds?

"Crazy dream." Glen took another bite of carrots.

"It seemed so real. Like I was some soldier and we were trying to free some village. The guy in the dream told me that Richter is up to something. He said that no one is supposed to be at Neo-Geo."

"Sounds like your subconscious is finally being sensible," said Glen.

"If you don't trust Dr. Richter so much then why are you still here?"

Glen pfft-ed. "You kidding me?" He took another bite. "I need the credit hours. Besides, how awesome is this." _Not that "awesome" word again,_ I thought. "This is the best place ever! We have a real mystery! What happened to the settlers? What is up with the minerals here? Why is Dr. Richter so sketchy? I love it! Squeeee..." _Did he seriously just squeal?_

"Breaking news," the reporter on the TV said. "We have just learned that the village of Funnel has been destroyed in an airstrike. We have with us Private John Watermark with his side of the events."

The video changed to show a young man in fatigues. I spat out the milk I was drinking. It was John from the dream!

"We had come to liberate this town," John said. He sounded just like the John from my dream. "Unfortunately the insurgents had other ideas. The village no longer was strategic, and they destroyed it. We were in the town and some of us didn't make it."

The video returned to the reporter. "Also with us we have Private David Windmaker. Private, what do you remember?"

I once again sprayed my milk.

"What is _wrong_ with you?!" a drenched Glen asked.

I turned Glen's head towards the TV.

"Honestly," David rubbed the back of his head, "I don't remember much."

"Oh," said Glen.

"It was kind of weird," David continued. "One minute I was in the transport and the next I was being pulled out of the town by John. I remember something about a mountain."

John then stepped in front of the camera. "I think that's enough."

Glen and I stared at each other as the reporter moved on to a story about a volcano.

***

"There's got to be a logical explanation." I sipped my milk. The nightclub pumped in continuous dance music while strobe lights created a dizzying, almost hypnotic, effect. It was Friday night and that meant free time in town. Most of the interns had decided to check out the Black Rock nightclub.

"And that explanation is that you're a superhero!" Glen smiled so big I thought he was going burst. He was also bouncing in his stool so much I was afraid it'd break.

"Please, superheroes don't exist."

"Then how do you explain those psychics that help the police?" I raised an eyebrow. _Uh-huh..._ "What other explanation do you have? You dreamt that you were a soldier named David Windmaker and you met John and then you went to a village. Then a couple hours later, BAM!, it's on TV."

"Not completely. What about the guy with the weird robe? And the town wasn't destroyed by an airstrike."

**"*pfft*** Don't you know anything about superhero stories? The government is always trying to cover this stuff up."

"If everyone in town really were bad guys like I saw then why would Robe Guy destroy the place?"

"Good question. Maybe he was losing. And rather the military get hold of something, he called in an airstrike. If he had powers, like you said, he could have leveled the place himself."

"What's with you two?" I stiffened at the sound of Sandy's voice. She was beautiful, but if Glen was right, she could be spying on us for her father. I wanted to ask her out, but at the same time interrogate her. "Why aren't you guys on the dance floor?" We glanced at the mass of other interns "getting down" on the dance floor. "Steve seems to be enjoying himself." Steve, the "Whooo! Party!" guy from our first day, was doing The Worm. He then hopped up and started doing The Robot as everyone chanted his name. "Come on." She nodded with her head, "I know of a place to eat called Le Flame."

I started to follow her; Glen grabbed my arm. "Is going with her the best idea?"

"Yes," I said dreamily and kind of high-pitched. I cleared my throat. "To study her, of course. Find out what she knows." He wasn't convinced. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer and all that." He rolled his eyes.

***

The night air was cool with a slight February nip to it. The streets were busy with people heading towards their various Friday night activities. Street lights were starting to come on and the city was switching to its nighttime wonderment. The building lights made the city look as if it were made of stars while the darkness of the uncultivated land outside the city made it seem as if the city was an island...alone in the world, the only place left on Earth. And through all this, I could almost feel the might of Neo-Geo Mountain like some giant more powerful than the mechanisms of man lurking and waiting. I could almost hear distant chanting, much like what I heard in that village.

Sandy's voice brought me back to reality. "How long have you two been friends?"

"Well..." said Glen, "it all started a lot time ago, in a land far from here..."

"Hey pal," someone said, "you got the time?"

Glen looked up at the sky. "Hmm, 6:56."

"That's a nice watch," the guy said.

Glen looked at his wrists. "What watch?"

"Give it to me."

"Can't. Don't have one."

Someone else then sighed. Soon three others joined us. An older woman said, "Initiates." She turned to the other two. "That's the last time we give them a script."

"Yes, Mama Steal," the other two said. At first I thought they were saying "Steel," but later I'd find out it is "Steal."

"Allow me to introduce myself," the woman said. "Mama Steal, matriarch of the Steal Clan. These two are my darling boys, Tim and Jim Steal. And that useless lump," she pointed to the one that tried to rob us, "is our cousin, Jeb Steal. I would like to apologize, normally we are much more efficient, but what can you do with new hires."

"That's...OK?" I said. "Uh, never been apologized to by someone trying to rob me."

"We take customer service very seriously." Mama Steal then pulled a revolver and pointed it at Sandy. "Now, Miss, hand over the handbag."

"I can't," she said to Glen and me. "It has my father's research."

"I ain't gonna ask again," said Mama Steal cocking the gun.

Now's my chance to do something really stupid. The reason: the same reason any male has done something stupid since the beginning of time: to impress the girl.

I stepped in front of the gun. Stupid thing number one. "She'll do no such thing," I said. Stupid thing number two.

"Don't be a hero, kid," said Mama. "Give me the purse."

"Over my dead body." Stupid thing number three. I'm out.

Mama smiled. "The customer's always right." She then fired.

***

One minute I'm staring at a bullet; next, I'm staring down at my body.

"Oh boy. I'm dead."

Glen and Sandy forgot about the Steal Clan and went to my side. Glen started calling me. _That's not going to do much._ Sandy cradled my head. _Oh sure, now she does that._ Mama Steal kept demanding the purse but Sandy and Glen were not listening. She finally had enough of them.

"I've had enough of you," she said. Didn't I just say that? "Give it now." She cocked the revolver again. _Now_ Glen and Sandy were paying attention. Mama began to slowly squeeze the trigger. Oh! So that's what squeezing the trigger means!

"NOO!!" I held my hand out. Suddenly a strong wind came from nowhere. The wind knocked the gun clean away from Mama. It landed at Sandy's feet. Mama Steal looked from her empty hand to Sandy's feet. Sandy looked from Mama Steal to the gun at her feet. Both suddenly went for it but Sandy got there first. She pointed the revolver at Mama Steal.

"I think it's best we left." Mama began slowly backing up. "Come on boys." The three, plus Cousin Jeb, vanished into the night.

"We've got to get him to the hospital," Glen said.

Sandy pocketed the gun. Glen started to move...my body. "No!" Sandy suddenly said. "Don't move him."

"Why not?"

"Just...don't." She sighed heavily. "Get a glass of water or something." Glen stood there. "Go!" He took off. She then held my body's head. "Stay here, Ace. Don't go."

Soon Glen returned with a cup of water. Sandy took it and tossed it on my face. I felt that same "stage hook" feeling and suddenly I was sitting up spitting out water.

Sandy relaxed. "Now you can take him to the hospital."

Glen and I looked at each other. "I think you have some explaining to do," I said.

# On the Record

"He's a _what_?!" Glen said as soon as the nurse left. The doctors had patched me up and a report of the shooting was filed with the police. The officer who took our statements told us that the police have been after the Steal Clan for months.

"A journey-man," said Sandy. "Or some call them Spirit Walkers. He can leave his body and move along the Astral Plane." Glen and I both shrugged. "He can only do it when asleep or unconscious; and as you have seen, you can control the elements." We continued to stare. "Earth, wind, water, fire, plant, and metal. You summoned that blast of air that knocked the gun away." We both made a noise of understanding. "You can also hijack others."

"That explains the whole 'David' thing," said Glen.

"But that was halfway across the world," I said.

"On the Astral Plane distance doesn't mean the same thing as it does here." Sandy sure seemed to have an answer to everything.

I crossed my arms. "Why tell us now?"

"I was going to tell you earlier. It's why I had my father's notes in my purse." She couldn't look at me for a moment. "My father asked me to spy on you."

"I so call it," Glen said.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was heartbroken. "Why is he spying on me?"

"He knew that your father was a journey-man too." Wow, I had to let that settle in for a moment. "He believed you'd inherited it." I waited for her to continue. "He thinks you'll be able to find your father." She paused again and I waited, still fuming. "It was his fault, or so he believes. Dad thinks that your father vanished because he kept pushing Mr. Journeyman into delving more into what happened to the settlers."

"Keep going," I said and huffed.

"Since your father is a journey-man, he can access the Hall of Records within the Astral Plane. The Hall of Records is a recording of everything that has happened, is happening, and could happen. If your father could access the records of the settlement, he could find out what happened."

"Well?" I said.

"He disappeared before he could tell my father." She turned for a moment and then turned back. "The more they looked into it, the stranger things got. Mr. Journeyman warned my father that it was becoming too dangerous and that they should stop, but he wouldn't listen." Sandy took out a tissue and dabbed her eyes. "I'm sorry I deceived you."

I don't know if I was ready to forgive her just yet. "So, these records, they would tell me what happened to my father." Sandy nodded softly. "How do I get there?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Glen waved his hands. "Are you really going to just trust her? Who knows if these records exist. She could be leading you to some trap."

"Don't have much choice."

"I guess you're right." He turned to Sandy. "But why didn't you want me to move him before you woke him?"

"Because if his body is moved before he returns, the connection between spirit and body will be broken and he'll have to find his body before he can return to it."

"That doesn't seem so bad," said Glen.

"He'll have an hour to do so before the separation is more permanent." Glen and I gulped.

I pulled at the collar of my shirt. "So, again, I ask 'How do I get there?'"

"The only thing your father said was to look for a white door with a golden star on it."

"Oh, that sounds simple." I rolled my eyes. "There a few billion doors in the world."

"It is simple. Your instincts will take you to it. Remember space is different there. What you do is look for it with your mind. You picture it and try to search for it. Oh, and remember that you are basically a ghost. We won't be able to see you or hear you and you can't interact with the physical world other than by manipulating the elements. You won't be able to touch us."

"Anything else?" She shook "no." "So how do I get to the Astral Plane?"

"You have to be unconscious."

"I don't know if I could sleep," I said.

"Who said anything about sleep?" Sandy said. "We can't afford to wait till you fall asleep." She nodded towards Glen. "Glen'll have to knock you out."

"I don't know," said Glen. "He's my best friend."

"It's for the greater good," said Sandy. "Come now, he must have done something to irritate you."

"Well...he does rag on me about being interested in geology. Like all the time. Ever since we got here. It's been nothing but complain, complain, complain. He even put some basalt in the shale pile."

Sandy gasped and shot me a look. "He didn't!"

"He did!"

"That should be enough to punch him right there." She put her hands on her hips.

"You're right! If it hadn't been for me, we wouldn't be here and he wouldn't have found out about his Dad. He wouldn't have gotten powers. I'm also the one that warned him about you and Richter. And who doesn't know the difference between basalt and shale!?" He started over to me.

"Glen. Buddy?" He cracked his knuckles. "We can talk about this." He wound up. "Not the face!"

POW!!

He hit the face.

When I recovered, I was standing behind them. "Thanks a lot," I said. They continued to look at my slumped over body. "Oh, right. Can't hear me." I shook my arms and hands and took some deep breaths. "OK, Ace, you can do this. Just focus on where you want to go and the strange alternate plane of existence will take you there. *Phew* Never thought I'd say that."

I closed my eyes and focused on a white door with a gold star. "Ohm," I said. "Ohm..." White door. Gold star. White door. Gold star.

After a few minutes of this, I sighed. "This is going nowhere." I opened my eyes. I was still in the hospital but the door to my room was replaced by a white door with a gold star. "I did it?" I brushed off my shirt. "Of course I did." I then looked around. "Right. No one can see me. Isn't that typical. I do something right and no one is around to see it." I took a step forward and then realized that my shirt was white. In fact, I wore a white shirt, white jeans, white shoes, and a white jacket. The jacket did have black stripes on the sleeves. "Freaky."

I continued towards the door. As I approached, it slowly opened. The door itself was quiet but I could hear angelic music coming from the wall of white light beyond the door. White light, heavenly music? My first instinct was to turn around. But I had a job to do: I needed to find out what happened to my father. I took a breath like I was preparing to dive underwater and stepped into the light.

# Into the Records

The heavenly music swelled. The light was so bright I had to shield my eyes.

Finally it began to dim as did the music. And what I saw was...

"A library?" I said.

It looked like your typical public library: brick, mortar, columns. There were even two stone lions guarding the entrance. The only thing unusual about it was that it sat on a cloud. In fact there were clouds as far as the eye could see.

"Not what you were expecting?" The sudden voice made me jump. A young woman with long black hair stepped next to me.

"Who are you?"

"Name's Lizzy," she said.

"Ace. And, yeah, not what I was expecting. I thought it would be more, I don't know, mystical."

"Where else would you keep the records of all the knowledge and events of mankind than a library?"

"The Internet?"

"Maybe. But here everything is true. And you don't get pop ups."

We began to climb the cobblestone stairs. I heard a rumbling noise. I turned to see the stone lions turning to watch us, their eyes glowing yellow.

"The lions are watching us?" I whispered.

"Of course they are. They keep out the undesirables."

As soon as we entered we were greeted by a bookish looking man: wild hair, big glasses, and a bow tie. "Welcome to the Hall of Records. I don't believe I've seen you here before, young man. What's your name?"

I wanted to give a fake name, but it felt like I was unable to. I had the same feeling when I met Lizzy, like it was impossible to lie here. "Ace Journeyman."

The place went immediately quiet, which was quite the trick since it was a library. Everyone was staring at me.

"Are you related to Samuel Journeyman?" asked the librarian.

"His son."

The librarian lowered his head and everyone followed suit. "Oh. I'm terribly sorry."

"That's actually why I'm here. I want to see the record of what happened to him."

The librarian sucked in his breath through his teeth. "Normally, that wouldn't be a problem...but the record has been destroyed."

"Destroyed? By who?"

"It's 'whom,' and it was your father."

"My father? He's alive?"

"Most definitely. If you can consider it living."

"Then how about the record of what happened to the settlers."

"Destroyed. Again, by your father."

"Why?"

"I imagine the same reason he destroyed the record of his disappearance."

"And that reason would be?"

He grunted an "I don't know," as he shrugged. "I keep records. I'm not a mind reader. If you want mind reading, you'll have to go somewhere else." He waved me off as he left to help another patron.

"Well, that was useless."

"Maybe you can help me," Lizzy said. I'd forgotten that she was even there. "I'm looking for information on a golem."

"Golem? What's that?"

"A creature made of clay brought to life. It then follows the instructions on the paper put in its mouth."

"Sounds kind of like a robot." She gave me a skeptical look. "I'm serious. Thing made by a person, activated, and programmed."

She rubbed her chin in a cute sort of way as she thought. "Never thought of it that way. Maybe our White Hat is a computer expert."

"White Hat?"

"It's this mystery guy that is looking for a certain golem. He needs to find it before December 21 so he can reactivate it and rule the world. Normal supervillain sort of thing."

"What would a girl like you be doing looking for a guy like that?"

She blushed and turned nervous. "No reason, heh." She then sighed. "Yeah, OK. Ace, here's the thing...I work for E Ops."

"E what?"

"Ether Operations." I was dumbfounded and she could tell. "Ether. It's the seventh element: air, fire, earth, water, wood, metal, and ether. As in ethereal. We're a special branch of the US military. We investigate and fight the things that go bump in the night."

"What?"

"I was told to keep you busy while our team came for you and your friends. Even if that meant revealing the agency. Plus, you're kind of cute."

"What?" I took a couple steps back.

"I'm sorry. Nothing personal. It's my job."

I turned and suddenly found myself back at the hospital. I opened my eyes to see ten armed men with guns pointed at me. The men and guns parted and John Watermark came into view.

"Long time no see, Ace," he smiled.

# Next Time

"You have no right!" Dr. Richter shouted. "You can't just shut us down!"

"We have all the right we need, Doctor," said Watermark. "We own the land. It is you who is trespassing. But we'd be willing to let you continue, as our researcher, if you lend us the boy."

***

"So what do you do here?" I asked Watermark. "What does E Ops do?"

"We police transbeings."

"Trans-what?"

"That's our name for them: transformed beings."

"Why 'beings'?"

"Because it's not just humans. It's animals, plants...even water." He put his hand on my shoulder as if he was my best friend. "Let me tell you a secret, Ace," he said, "since I like you. You know all those stories of gods, heroes, and monsters?" I nodded. "Well, they're true." My mouth dropped. "Yeah, created by a race of aliens called the Xacians. They've been doing it for eons. They've been running experiments on us to create the perfect soldier in their bid for galactic conquest.

They created the Minotaur, the sphinx, the kraken. But boy did they make a mistake when they created god-men like Zeus and Ra. They had to purge the experiment. You know the story of Zeus fighting his father and the other Titans? That's when Zeus and the others fought the Xacians. The gods won but only for a while. The Xacians returned and turned humans against the 'gods.' People rebelled and the gods became myth. People started hunting them down and that's when transbeings went underground."

"And no one can stop them?"

He shook his head. "There are good aliens out there. That's how we found out about the Xacians. They showed up, warned us, and even gave us some toys, like the microchip. Over the years they've told us how to make cell phones, the Internet, and social media. They've also been running experiments to 'upgrade' us so that we could fight them. Their experiments are the stuff of legend: Hercules, Robin Hood, Paul Bunyan. We even had some heroes that helped us during World War II. That's when they started wearing colorful tights and using codenames, our suggestion. The more outrageous they were, the less believable they became."

"Superheroes do exist?" I said in awe.

"I said ' _every_ ' story, didn't I?"

***

"I know I can do more," I said to Watermark.

"A missing kid does not fall under our orders," he said.

"I was given these powers for a reason. People need help and I can do it."

"People don't need a hero," he said. "They don't want to know that a monster really is in the closet. People just want to go to work and come home. They don't want to worry about if they are going to get hit by a bus little alone being attacked by a werewolf."

***

"Kill the journey-man before he finds the kid!" the man shouted.

I screamed out as I aimed my hand towards the goons coming at me. Vines ripped from the ground and began to snag the thugs. The vines then tossed them into the air. They landed in the nearby lake.

"Enough of these tricks," said the man. A fireball appeared in his hand.

***

Mama Steal and her two boys entered the dark room.

"I'm not sure I like this, Mama," said Jim.

"Hush now. I'm trying to figure," she said. "The note said to come here. But I'm thinking it's a trap."

"No trap, my dear." The Steal Clan turned to face a man wearing an old fashioned gentleman's suit and cloak. He tipped his white top hat. "I have a proposal for you. I have a certain obstacle that keeps getting in my way. I wish to have it removed."

"And what is this obstacle?" Mama asked.

"Ace Journeyman."

Mama's smile was a mixture of delight and revenge. "We're in."

## Rebirth

## A Dogboy Reborn Story

Joe Rover

Published 2017 by Marshall Jefcoat

Distributed by Smashwords 2018

Copyright 2017 by Marshall Jefcoat

Dogboy symbol Trademark 2016 Marshall Jefcoat

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

All characters, locations, and organizations in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental.

CodeCraft is a parody of Minecraft by Mojang. MyVideo is a parody of YouTube. PostBook is a parody of Facebook.

# Coming Soon-ish

Rebels: A Wizard of New Town Story

"Excuse me," Max said as he bumped into another person. "This is nuts," he complained. "Just a few minutes ago this place was Westside Mall."

Now the place had the look of an old fashioned marketplace. Instead of individual stores, there were individual stands. One person was yelling about his new shipment of scarves and other clothes and another was trying to hock jewelry.

Suddenly a flounder was shoved in Max's face. "Fresh fish!" the seller shouted. Max smiled uneasily and edged his way around as the salesperson continued to shove the fish in his face and say, "Eh? Eh?"

"Quickly, Max, we must find a purveyor of magical items," said the talking magic wand. It circled Max and floated into the air and hovered as if it was trying to get a bird's eye view of the place.

Max closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He hoped that if he did this enough everything would return to normal. He hadn't really believed the magic wand when it told him that a spell was changing the modern world back to the Dark Ages, but seeing this marketplace...

All the wand could tell him was that some villain believed that magic was dying thanks to progress and science and decided to revert everything.

Max opened his eyes. Nope, the marketplace was still there. So much for his hope that this was all a dream or some hallucination. He couldn't really be some kind of hero on a quest to save the world. That was just ridiculous. He was just...Max.

Just a few hours ago, he was a writer trying to figure out his next book. The muses were not kind and he had writer's block. He'd fallen asleep in the library while researching the Dark Ages and that's when everything went crazy. His two best friends were now at each other's throats and his pen transformed into a magic wand.

That's it! Max thought. He must still be dreaming. He was back at the library still slumbering and drooling on that book. Max began to slap his face. "Wake up," he said. "Wake up." The magic wand floated back down to him as Max slapped his face again.

"I have located the merchant," said the wand.

And now Dogboy Reborn...

# It All Started Out Normal

"Our top story this morning is that the International League of Super-Transbeings has been called in to deal with the rouge hurricane," said the holographic female TV anchor. "This is the third such rouge hurricane this month. The leader of the ILOST Delta Team, Ace Journeyman, stated that they are looking into the cause of this strange phenomenon." The reporter paused as the camera angle changed to a two-shot.

"Whew," said the male anchor, "that looks like a tough one. Glad I'm a reporter and not a superhero. But at least we have some good news today."

"That's right, Jason," said the female. "This Friday is the five year anniversary of the Dark Matter Event. I've been looking forward to this."

"So have I," said Jason. "Five years ago this Friday, the Earth was invaded by the Xacians [Zac-z-ans]. They plotted to mine all the Dark Matter in the universe. Now I'm no cosmic scientist, but according to Dr. Wilber Wells, Dark Matter is what keeps our universe together. The more the Xacians mined, the more unstable our universe became. Luckily we had Dogboy, right Janet?"

"Yes, Dogboy, or as we now know him—Joe Rover. He sacrificed his powers and almost his life in stopping the crisis. Unfortunately, Mr. Rover was unavailable for an interview..."

My phone began to ring. I gave the voice command for the Omni-Cuff to pause the holographic video and answer the phone.

"How're you dealing?" came the sweet sound of Sally's voice. I grunted a "fine." "I know how hard this time of year is...especially with it being the fifth anniversary." She paused for a moment. "Any flashbacks?"

Even though I'd lost my powers five years ago, I still wasn't use to how...human my voice sounded. "No," I lied. It was the same every year, the closer it got to the anniversary the more flashbacks I would have. It was as if my subconscious was trying to tell me something, but everyone just said it was part of the healing process.

I heard Sally sigh. "Joel Tobias Rover, I know when you're lying to me. We are dating, you know."

"I've got to go, Sally. I don't want to be late for class."

I took one last look in the mirror and headed out.

(I know I'm no artist, but the rules of time travel state that if I show you the real me or anything "unfiltered" from the future, it'll cause a paradox...and I'd rather not destroy the universe. So get over it.)

***

I could just plug into the virtual net and take my college classes that way, but it was time for my required offline time. Since just about everything can be done online now, we are required by law to take a certain amount of time offline in order to keep fit and healthy. This law came to pass because of our alien friends the Grays.

The Grays once looked human but after spending all their time online, they'd became the stereotypical alien. They became very slender and short because they didn't exercise and all their food was delivered through needles in their VR Pods. Their skin became gray because they didn't get any sunlight. Their fingers had become long and slender so that they could use their touch screens without "fat fingers." Their heads grew because of all the knowledge; their eyes became huge so that they could see their screens better, and their mouths, ears, and noses became smaller because they talked online and their oxygen was feed into them by their pods.

The Grays have been visiting Earth for a long time. They've been abducting people to learn more about us so that they could be prepared for when they finally revealed themselves; they didn't want any misunderstandings (and they wanted to make sure we were friendly). Now, they weren't being mean or evil by abducting people, they just didn't have any social skills since all their interactions were online.

And they aren't the only aliens. In fact...

"Hey, what's up, Joe?" said a guy with purple skin, four arms, and antenna. He gave me a high-five.

"Not much Blerg," I said. "On my way to class."

He said I should message him later for a meet up in the virtual world. I gave him a nod then passed some firefighters trying to get an alien pet cat out of a tree. The cat's sonic screech ended up knocking the firefighters and ladder over sending them all crashing to the ground. The cat laughed a hissing-meow and jumped down landing on a firefighter. It laughed again and took off.

"Man, I hate Flexian cats," the firefighter said.

As I waited at the bus stop for my hover bus, I overheard a couple teenagers.

"I hear they've got an earthquake scheduled for ten today in Paris," one said. "Remember when we were kids and we'd dare each other to see who could stay in the epicenter the longest?"

Even though we'd developed the technology to end hunger, disease, and natural disasters, we still schedule them in thanks to a warning from the Blobaton [Blob-ah-ton] race. The Blobatonians [Blob-ah-tone-knee-ons] had been human too, but once they eliminated all disease, stress, and other strife from life, they'd evolved into blobs. No resistance/stress, no muscle. No pain, no gain. And all those other clichés.

"Those were the days," the other said with a longing sigh.

"How about we play hooky and hop the next warp portal to Paris? I bet you can't last two minutes."

"That's childish...I bet you five credits that a piece falls off the Eiffel Tower."

"Are you crazy? They reinforce landmarks, stupid. But it's a bet anyway."

The bus pulled up; its ion engine making a slight whirling noise. The driver grunted as I placed my hand on the scanner. The signal traveled through my arm and into the Omni-Cuff placed next to my ear. It got the information it needed for the transaction and travelled back to the scanner. A holographic green checkmark appeared. The driver grunted again. "Stay behind the yellow energy shield."

Megaton University...

Since classes were online, the university was about the size of a medium sized house. It probably had two classrooms and an office.

Some of my classmates were talking about the upcoming Awesome Comics superhero movie. It was the story of the Dark Matter War. The "characters" would be played by actors, of course, but the actors would be transbeings. No special effects required. All the fire, flight, and fighting would be real. It'd have some of the biggest names in acting. Tickets were selling fast.

Normally class would be quick. The lesson would be downloaded straight into your brain via the Omni-Cuff. Once you needed the information, the Cuff would simulate the area of the brain and you'd remember. But since we were in offline time, we had to do the class the old fashioned way: reading, writing, taking notes, and listening to lectures.

The door opened and our instructor, a fairy transbeing, entered. She was a little shorter than most people with pointed ears and wings. She, or her ancestors had just been another failed experiment done by the Xacians.

"Open your textbooks to chapter 3," she said and class began.

***

After class I headed to the headquarters of the Paranormal and Weirdness Specialists, or PAWS. The building was designed to be distorted to baffle any intruder.

After making my way through the security checks and various tricks and traps, I found Brain's lab.

Brain helped me to navigate the world of superheroes, back when I was a superhero. He provided me with gadgets and trained me in strategy. Once PAWS learned that he was the brain behind Dogboy's technology, he was hired on the spot. In just five years, Brain had advanced PAWS and the world at large in ways we didn't think possible. He perfected the 3D fabricators, invented the magnetic-ion drives, and created the Omni-Cuffs, and much more.

Brain was at the holographic whiteboard muttering to himself. On the screen was some kind of formula that probably not even a room full of geniuses could figure out.

"Take a seat, Joe," he said without turning.

"How did you know it was me?"

"It is Monday at 3:15. You always visit me at 3:15 on Mondays. Also, the squeak of your shoes could only be made by your size. You are also the only person who waits at the door for a moment before completely entering. And finally, security told me." I sighed as I sat down. "Let me guess, you are thinking about the upcoming anniversary."

"How?..."

"You always get a little down at this time of year. It does not take a genius to figure that out."

I rubbed my face. "I don't know. I guess I just find it...annoying that they are having a parade and a movie about the Dark Matter War."

"Event," said Brain. "No one likes to call it a war."

"Whatever," I huffed. I looked at my hands. "It feels like they are making light of it."

"Joe...they need to. All of us need to. It is how we heal. People need to celebrate, tell stories, and make fun of what happened or we would go insane. But I have a suspicion that is not the entire reason you are feeling a sense of depression."

I exhaled some air sounding slightly like a horse. "I think part of me misses it. Being Dogboy, I mean. The adventure, the mystery, the feeling of purpose. Not the 3 am training sessions, those I can live without."

"Understandable." Brain turned to the whiteboard. "I miss it too. Why do you think I agreed to my current occupation?" He turned back. "But is that the only reason? There is not...something else." He gave me that knowing looking of his: a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Sally called you, didn't she?"

He seemed a little agitated. "Of course she did. She is your girlfriend. We are all worried about you. Every year, like clockwork, you start having flashbacks of that day." I looked at my feet. "It is nothing to be ashamed of. You were 16 at the time. Anyone would be terrified. And though technically you are alive, a large part of you died that day." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Joe, that is what they are: flashbacks. They are not a vision of something to come."

I suddenly stood. "What?! Where did you hear that?!"

"Danny told us." I was steamed. "He is worried just like the rest of us. You will never heal if you do not accept the fact that your gifts are gone. If you keep holding on to some notion that they are returning, you will never overcome this."

"I don't believe this! I told Danny that in confidence for this very reason. I knew you'd try to analyze it. How do you know that they won't come back?!"

"Because I tested you. You are 100 percent human. There is no trace of Sirian DNA in you."

"When did you do that?!"

"When you were still fighting for your life. I had to. You were dying. I needed to find out what was wrong."

I waved him off. "I'm outta here. I need...space." I stormed over to the door. "Later," I said, softly. I then slammed the door.

Dust fell from the ceiling and on to Brain. Some cracks had also formed around the door. "Hmm?" said Brain glancing at the ceiling.

# It Gets Weird

My mag-cycle whirled under me. The magnetic energy kept the vehicle hovering while the ion engine propelled it. The ion engine allowed it to reach incredible speeds, but I kept it somewhat slow.

The soft whoom, whoom, whoom of the engine made my thoughts drift.

2022...

"This is madness!" I shouted at the leader of the Xacian army, Joey. Joey was actually a clone of me but implanted with the conscious of the Xacian leader who'd been killed. "Harvesting the Dark Matter is disrupting the fabric of the universe."

Joey, aka Jackal, stood before the crack in space with his hands out stretched. "Nonsense! The Xacian Empire will have the Dark Matter. We will once again rule the galaxy." He turned to look at me. It was kind of like looking in a distorted mirror. His face looked like mine but he had black hair and yellow eyes instead of my blonde hair and blue eyes. He was also more muscular and a few inches taller. "Those weak alien races thought they could hide here, but they will see no one escapes the Xacians."

The world around us sounded like paper tearing. The crack was getting bigger. Pieces of ground were beginning to float into the air.

"Dark Matter is the glue that keeps the universe together," I said. "Without it the cosmos is coming apart. Look around you."

"No! You look around! This is all your doing!"

I looked around. I saw the other members of the Delta Team of the International League of Super-Transbeings. Sportsgirl tried to fight off a Xacian warbot with her plasma baseball bat, but it was too much for her. She had been fighting for a while now and was exhausted; she finally fell to the ground, unconscious.

Turbo, the Xacian experiment to fuse parts from different beings to create the ultimate weapon, fell to his knees as his power source began to fail. The witch, Daphne, and the gremlin, CyberCypher, had also fallen. CyberCypher had managed to take down a warship before he was beaten.

La-Zar, the alien marksmen/bounty hunter, was still standing. He (at least we think it's a he—it's hard to tell with that mask on) blasted a couple soldiers with his duel ion pistols and then slashed a warbot with his plasma swords. He planted a fusion grenade on a downed warbot and kicked it back at a group of soldiers. The explosion caused the crowd to go flying but a warbot shot him in the back and he was out too.

Glop, the swamp monster, had sprayed the ground with some acid. When the tanks ran over the spot, they fell in. Glop then got hit by some kind of heat ray and fell to the ground. He tried to crawl to some water to heal, but he passed out before getting there.

Ace Journeyman had been put in some kind of stasis field that prevented him from falling asleep thus making it so he couldn't travel to the Astral Plane and help us. Agent Zee, a zombie (not a mindless one), had been knocked apart and was trying to get his pieces back together but one soldier was sitting on his chest. And Quintessa, an elemental, had passed out from exhaustion. She had tried to use her powers to seal the crack but it was beyond her capabilities.

The giant, Zero, and Brood, the vampire, were the only ones remaining. Zero was about 50 feet tall and swatting at fighter ships like they were flies. Brood dashed through the horde of soldiers shifting from human to bat and back as needed. He threw one soldier and smashed his fist through one warbot. But it wouldn't be long before they couldn't fight.

"This," said Jackal waving his hand across the battlefield, "is all because of you. If you would have left well enough alone and let us rule this world, we would not have to harvest more Dark Matter." His claws then came out. In one fluid motion, he slashed at my face and then kicked me to the curb. "And now you can die with this world." He held his hand above me ready to strike.

CRASH!!

The sound woke me from my flashback. A vehicle had spun out and was now stuck on the tracks for the magnet train. The crossing signal warned us of an oncoming train. There was no way that the driver could escape in time. I had to help him.

I got off my cycle and started towards the accident. I then stopped realizing something: my powers were gone.

Still...I had to do something.

I charged forward towards the vehicle and began pulling at the door. It wouldn't budge. The driver was still half unconscious. I kept pulling at the door. The train was getting closer by the second. _Stupid rocket trains,_ I thought. Come on, come on.

Something then began to happen. My hands started to glow with a golden aura. The aura then spread into the door. If I remember correctly, Brain said that I was somehow quantum entangling my hands with the door. What I did, the door had to follow. I pulled back and the door had no choice but to brake free. I pulled the man out but the train would get here before we could get away.

I picked up the man, took a couple steps, and vanished in a burst of sparkle-like dust. I then reappeared by my mag-cycle.

"Whew," I said laying the man down. I then realized that if the train hit the vehicle, the train would most likely derail. I ran at the vehicle and vanished again. I reappeared; my speed plus my strength rammed into the vehicle. The vehicle skidded away with an ear-splitting screeeech. In the process I stumbled into the path of the train.

"Uh-oh," I said.

WHAM!!

The train hit me and then ran over me. Of course it had to have 20 cars to it too.

"Ow," I said when the train was finally gone and I was flat on my back. As I sat up, I could see the golden retriever fur vanish back to...wherever it goes. The fur had protected me like armor. I stood up and cracked my back. The fur had mostly protected me.

I glanced over at the man, who started to wake. I looked back at my hands; my nails were longer and sharper than normal. My knuckles were also hairier.

"Whoa," I said. My powers were back.

***

I stumbled into my apartment. My powers were coming back and they were coming back with a vengeance. My vision pulsed as my head throbbed. I was thankful that it waited until I got home before causing this pain.

The world turned to various shades of gray and became blurry. There was still some color but not a lot. I could feel and hear my bones as they transformed. My body began to itch like crazy as the fur began to sprout. Why it had not hurt earlier I don't know.

I could hear the squishy noise as my tail began to grow. I could hear the crack as my ears and teeth became sharper. I caught my reflection as my face morphed into that of a golden retriever. I felt as if my blood was boiling.

Sounds and smells came to me in an instant, but not as you'd normally think of sounds and smells. I could sense the traffic. I could "smell" the hot dog vendors. I could "hear" children laughing. Busses rumbled. I could hear the hum of the Internet as people logged on and off, on and off. Water running. Cats meowing. Alarms. Traffic. More cats meowing. I could smell things in the wind. Perfume. Wood burning. And the unpleasant odor of cats. The smell of the ion engines like lightning. People. I could smell their confidence, their fear, their hunger.

Finally it was too much and I collapsed.

***

"Where? Where am I?" I asked.

I stood on nothing. A dark nothingness reached out forever. A black void of nothing. It was all silent. Except for a single sound.

Laughter.

I knew that laughter anywhere. It was a twisted version of my own. I then heard that perverse version of my voice. A confident voice that hid a dangerous threat. "Welcome to the Nothingness."

The sound seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. I couldn't see anyone or anything.

"Jackal. How is this possible? You're dead."

"I told you once, dear boy. You cannot destroy me."

I then saw myself on the battlefield during the Dark Matter War. The rest of the team was defeated. The villains that I'd managed to recruit were either injured or dying. I was limp in Jackals hands as he held me by the lapels of my purple jacket.

"You cannot defeat me," he said. "I am you. The Xacian Empire will never be destroyed. We are the darkness that lives inside you all." He then shook me as he said, "You. Cannot. Win." He shoved me out of my jacket and held it high. "And this shall be a sign to all the Earth that we have won." The Xacian crowd went crazy. "The Mantle of the Sirians will be destroyed." He slid his claw down the cloth and it began to tear.

I was then back in the Nothingness. Jackal laughed once again. "The prophecies are right, fair dog. Once I escape this prison, I will return and Earth and all of reality will burn as the Xacian Empire rises again!"

He laughed as I felt like I was falling. Though in that nothingness, it was hard to tell if I was indeed falling.

***

I woke in my apartment. I could have sworn I saw some kind of light fade away like it was retreating out the window. But I was surrounded by a gray and blurry apartment.

Now that my powers had returned so had my "bad" vision. I now saw things much like a dog would. The first time around Brain had made me a pair of glasses that allowed me to see as a human.

I experienced a moment of fear as I realized that I no longer had those glasses. It'd taken months of training to be able to see with this dog vision, but with a five year lapse, it was difficult. I didn't know if I'd be able to find my way around. My eyes began darting around the apartment looking for anything familiar. I then saw next to me, folded nicely, was a purple cape and hood along with my old pair of glasses.

# Dogboy Reborn

I wasn't sure what to do at first. But I knew that there was no way to keep the return of my powers a secret from my friends. The big pair of glasses resting on my nose would be a definite clue.

Danny was ecstatic.

"Alright! Crime-fighting 'ere we come!" He pumped the air like he did before a big game.

Brain was more reserved. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. It was hard to tell if he saw this as an opportunity to further his career or if he was worried about my mental health. This wasn't the first time I'd questioned his motives over the years. There'd been many times he'd used my gifts for his own purposes. One example is when he made a clone of me for a national science competition. This clone one day became Jackal.

Also, since he had been Dogboy's gadget man, he'd gotten his pick of jobs. Everyone wanted the man behind Dogboy's amazing toys. And he has made a pretty penny selling the machines we now use in our daily lives.

Sally, on the other hand, was very easy to read. She was scared for me. She knew that this meant a life of danger. At any time, I might not come back. She didn't know if she was ready for that.

It'd always been a strain on our relationship before. At least until the day she stole the prototype Dogboy belt. It had traces of my psychic energy on it. Enough for her to become a hero in her own right. She became less scared of me going adventuring knowing that she could protect me. Sadly, the belt had been destroyed during the Dark Matter War.

As for me, I'd always felt that there was something more to my life. That I could make a difference. I'd always felt so powerless because of the bullies at school. After the accident that supercharged my budding powers, I was no longer afraid of the bullies and I could make sure that others didn't feel that helpless. I could finally see justice served. No longer would they get away with what they did.

That was great when I was 16, but now...I don't know. I have other responsibilities.

***

Days passed with much debate and much worrying. Sally knew what choice I would make; she just wondered how long it would be before I acted on it.

Finally Friday came and after walking about five blocks, we made it to the parade route. Danny helped Sally set up her camera and within moments she was ready. She seemed a little more reserved as she spoke.

"This is Sally Pine for WAG News. Today is the fifth anniversary of the Dark Matter Event and in order to celebrate, the city has thrown a parade. Behind me you can see Ace Journeyman, Brood, and Glop. Unfortunately the real Ace, Brood, and Glop are with the rest of the ILOST heroes trying to evacuate Florida as Hurricane Sammy continues to slam the area. Authorities still have no clues as to how Florida's shield-dome failed or how this rouge hurricane was created. We have not seen this kind of digital mayhem since the days of the infamous Terabyte. But Terabyte, like many of Dogboy's former foes, was killed during the Dark Matter Event..."

While Sally continued, I watched the people. They really seemed to be enjoying the day. Brain had said that this was more for them than for us. He said they need to make light of the horrors.

The floats were pretty good. They looked like some thought was put into them and maybe even handcrafted. They had that "imperfect" look that only things handmade have. The balloons ranged from cartoon characters to ILOST members.

Kids were running around trying to gather up the candy or trying to get sprayed by the water guns. Some were pretending to fight with their toy weapons. The adults sat in chairs and talked: some about the parade, some about where they were when it went down, and some talked about last night's TV shows. Teens and older kids pretended to look bored.

Watching the people wave flags and eat tons of fattening food, I realized how right Brain was. People needed to know they were safe. Even if that meant I wasn't.

Sally then stopped talking. I turned my attention back to her. She nodded a couple times as she listened to someone over her Omni-Cuff. "This just in, police have found two people unconscious. They are the people who were supposed to play Brood and Agent Zee. Police have no leads as of now..."

I turned to the float. Standing next to Sportsgirl and Glop were Brood and Agent Zee. _If Brood and Zee have been knocked out then who are those two?_ The crowd must have just gotten the media update because everyone went silent and froze. Sensing the jig was up, "Agent Zee" stepped forward.

"Hello Megaton city!" he said. He looked like a convincing Zee with his fedora, ragged trench coat, chest armor, gloves and pale skin. The crowd muttered nervously. "Zee" sighed and pulled out a double for Zee's plasma blaster, complete with stylized red "Z" on the gun, and fired it into the air. The people stopped talking. He removed the bandana and sunglasses. Instead of Zee's decaying zombie face, he was completely normal. "What a wonderful celebration for a bunch of 'heroes.' A bunch of freaks who destroyed our Glorious Leader, Jackal." He removed the hat to reveal his purple and yellow hair. He then tore off his sleeve. The drone cameras zoomed in on his arms. People gasped as the video showed his bar code tattoo.

"Joe, can you believe this!" said Sally. She turned but I was gone. "Joe?" She looked around. "Be careful," she whispered.

"That's right. An Xacian lives amongst you. You thought you destroyed us all, but you can never really beat us." He aimed the blaster at the balloon of Turbo and shot it. As the balloon deflated, the Xacian continued, "You fools worship these false gods when you should be worshipping a real one, Jackal. He will rise again and when he does..."

He was then interrupted by the sound of someone landing on the float. He turned to face a six foot humanoid golden retriever. The dog wore a purple cape and hood that melded into a purple vest, blue jeans, and black boots—you could see his fur and claws poking out of the tops and toes. He wore black sunglasses and an off-white shirt with a picture of a dog howling at a black moon. The Xacian gasped and took a step back as the cameras flew around fighting to get the best angle.

"Dogboy," gasped the Xacian. "How...how is this possible?"

"This ends now," I said. I took a step towards him and something flew into me. I crashed against the wall of the float. The figure landed. It was dressed like Brood, black duster jacket, black pants, black boots with red trim, black shirt with red collar, but his head was that of a bat and his red gloves had been shredded and replaced with bat-claw hands.

"Bat?" I said. Bat had been a member of the Animal Gang back during my first time as Dogboy, but he, like many of the villains I'd faced back then, had been betrayed and then killed by the Xacians once they joined forces with me.

Bat then unleashed a sonic scream. It brought me to my knees. With my dog senses it was like being front row at a rock concert.

2022...

Bat blasted a group of soldiers with a sonic scream. He landed and Rabbit appeared next to him.

"That's showing them," said Rabbit as if he'd just drank ten energy drinks. "That will teach them to mess with the Animal Gang."

A tank came rolling down the street. Blasts from its ion cannons obliterated buildings. The cannon then turned on Bat and Rabbit. The beam began to charge up. It fired. Suddenly something green landed and scooped up Rabbit; it leapt into the air and then fired a tongue back at Bat dragging him along. The blast left a crater in the street but that was all.

"Don't celebrate yet," said Frog. "We have plenty more to do."

Bat's scream was interfering with my hearing making me "see" things.

Then a blur of something smacked into me sending me tumbling. When I recovered, I saw a person with a rabbit head. He was dancing around with his crazy footwork and occasionally throwing in some pretend jabs.

"Rabbit?" I groaned.

"No, mate," he said. "That was my brother. I'm the new Rabbit: better, faster, and stronger."

"How could you work for an Xacian? They stabbed Rabbit in the back...literally."

"It's nature," said Rabbit. "You're a dog and I'm a rabbit." He then vanished in a blur and set me flying with an uppercut to the chin. I came crashing back down. "You're outnumbered," Rabbit taunted. "In more ways than one." He then duplicated himself. The clones began knocking me around as the original turned to Bat. He pointed to the Xacian. "Get him out of here."

Bat took to the air. "No!" said the Xacian. "Our message must be heard. Lord Jackal will return!" Bat used his feet to grab hold of the Xacian's shoulders.

Rabbit absorbed his clones. He bent down to me and scoffed.

My head cleared. I stood. He reached towards me. "Not this time," I said. Foom. I took a step and teleported behind Rabbit. He made an "eh?" noise. I used the trans-matter device in my belt to summon my leash grapple gadget. I fired the grapple at the Xacian's feet. Bat saw what I was doing and tried harder to get away. I planted one clawed hand into the ground and used the other to hold onto the Xacian; I wasn't going anywhere. Bat had two options: let go or be dragged down. He chose the former.

Once the Xacian was on the ground, I retracted the leash and flipped the switch on it. Now I could use it as a whip. I snapped the lead at the Xacian; he was wrapped up (the police quickly moved in to apprehend him). I turned my attention on Rabbit.

"You know what they say." He shrugged. "Run away and fight another day." With a whoosh he was gone.

I moved to the front of the float; I put my hands on my hips. The wind picked up making my cape flutter behind me and ruffled my fur. The crowd was in stunned silence for a moment and then broke into thunderous applause.

# Fear Stinks

"Welcome one and all to the fifth annual Cybee Awards. Tonight the elite of the MyVideo celebrities will gather here to find out who's the best," said the reporter. A hovering limo pulled up to the red carpet. The wheels folded back down to the ground. "I believe we have our first nominee. Star of the CodeCraft death run series _AHH RUN_ , it's WilberX9."

A green-skinned young man with a pink and blue spotted tail excited the limo. He waved to the crowd. "Death is only the start," he said quoting his catchphrase.

Another limo came into view. The reporter made a fake gasp. "Is that? Yes, I believe it is. It's SumoMon from the series _Flight Sights_. I hear she's up for another Best in Special Effects. Though everyone knows her power of flight comes from her silk wings." SumoMon took a moment to show off the butterfly-like wings on her back.

As SumoMon left to go inside, the crowd turned their attention to the next celeb. "Next to strut the red carpet is, Prankerz." A group of people wearing tuxedos and facemasks strolled down the carpet as if they owned it. "Prankerz has been nominated for three awards. Their hidden camera channel has over three million subscribers."

Another limo pulled up. The ion engine slowed. Inside Sally finished getting ready.

"Do I really have to do this?" I asked Sally. "There's a reason I kept my identity a secret."

"That ship sailed the day you used up all your power to seal the Dark Matter rift and passed out." She straightened my bowtie. "And now you've revealed yourself to the world...again. People want to see Joe Rover."

"No. They want to see Dogboy."

"Don't be such a lager. It's not the Blue Screen of Death." I sighed. "And try to smile." I gave her a half-hearted smile. "That's the ticket," she said sarcastically.

The usher opened the door and the cameras began flashing. A couple of drone cameras began circling around me. People started chanting "Dogboy."

"Dogboy, over here," said a reporter.

"Give us a smile, Dogboy."

"Does this mean you're coming out of retirement, Dogboy?"

"Why are you in your human form, Dogboy?"

"Yeah, we want Dogboy!"

I turned to Sally. "I told you they were here for Dogboy, not Joe Rover."

"Smile," she said almost threateningly.

***

"Congratulations TinyTom for winning Best in Sound," said the host. "That channel series _Documentary of a Video Game Foe_ was quite explosive."

"I still have trouble hearing out of my right ear," said the co-host. "RIP headphone users, am I right?"

"Next are the nominees for Best Rage Quit..."

"Stop fiddling with your bowtie," Sally warned.

"I'm not a fan of things around my neck. It's too close to a dog collar."

"Psst," came a voice from behind. "Hey, Dogboy, how do you teleport? Do you die and then get reborn somewhere else? Or do you travel through some other dimension?"

I turned. "The name is Joe."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Well?"

I sighed.

"AR-GUH-AH!!" shouted someone. "THIS STINKS! I WAS SUPPOSED TO WIN THIS YEAR! I'M DONE!" The nominee then stormed out.

"And on that note..." said the host.

There was some laughter as the background images changed to the Cybee Award emblem, which kind of looked like a pilot's wing pin. The banner below it now said "Best Journalism Channel."

"Our nominees for Best Journalism Channel are Zynx1, GoNews.com, Blu3G0ld, and WAG News." The audience clapped or cheered after each name.

"I'm so nervous," said Sally.

"And the winner is..." Dramatic music began to play. "..." The presenters paused even longer.

"Are you sure we don't need to go to commercial, June?" said the co-presenter.

June laughed. "Not right now, silly. But did you see that game last night?"

"Oh wow, it was good. I'm glad my team won."

"Just get on it with it!" someone shouted.

"The winner is WAG News." The crowed clapped and there were some "whoops." "Unfortunately the publisher and editor could not attend." An "aww" sound played. "But we do have WAG News' star reporter on hand to accept the award. Come on up, Sally Pine."

"Knock 'em dead," I said.

She took a deep breath and headed for the stage. The hosts shook hands with her and gave her the trophy. It looked like a normal trophy you might get from a high school sporting event but with the Cybee emblem on top.

"Thank you everyone," Sally said. "It has not been an easy road. The publisher, Max McGruff, had to spend many hours begging people to subscribe, like, and comment on his videos. I'm sure you know what that was like." Some laughter rippled through the audience.

"In an age of instant connection, many believed journalism to be dead, but McGruff and his friends would not give up. They saw that the world still needed someone they could trust." Sally looked towards me. "Someone...to believe in." Thanks to my psychic sense of smell, I could tell that was hard for her to say; she was basically giving me the go ahead to continue as Dogboy.

"McGruff knew that people needed a voice. That they needed to know—"

BOOM!!

All the doors exploded. Dust, smoke, and debris filled the area. Figures began to appear in the smoke. People with animal heads wearing a gray shirt with a letter "A" entered.

One with a bear head/mask spoke. "Oh sorry, did we ruin the party?"

I'd been shocked by the appearance of Rabbit and Bat, but Bear wasn't a surprise. He'd been the second-in-command of the Animal Gang. Unlike the others in the gang, he hadn't joined me in defeating the Xacians.

"If you'd all be so kind as to give us all your money and jewels, we'll be on our way," said Bear.

I might not have been surprised by Bear but I was surprised by what happened next. The police present for the event started helping the Animal Gang.

An officer handed over a bag of loot to Bear. "There's a good lad." The officer had a hard time hiding his shame.

"What are you doing?" I asked an officer that was collecting watches from a group.

"My job," she said. "The commissioner told us not to interfere with the Animal Gang."

"That's right, Dogboy," Bear sneered. He shoved people out of the way as he came up to me. "We have an agreement with the police. They leave us alone...and we don't annihilate the city." He glanced at Sally, "And that includes the media." Sally's eyes lowered. "It also helped that we were such big campaign contributors during the last mayoral election. We totally support that spineless twit." He held out his arms as if he was proclaiming some new gospel. He then turned back to me. "Five years is a long time for a city to go without its Watchdog." He got his face right in mine. "Now be a good doggy and bow."

Instead, I blew a blast of dog breath in his face. He jerked back and began coughing and clawing at his face. He covered his eyes and said, "Get him!" He then retreated as a couple gang members helped him.

The first to come at me had some kind of bird head. He swung and I dodged. I used his momentum to grab and toss him away. The next had a horse head. She threw a punch but I caught it. She threw another, which I also caught. "Uh..." she said before I delivered her a head-butt.

A man with a goose head was next to try. He tried to hit me with a side-kick but I grabbed his leg and spun him through the air. He crash landed on top of some seats. Another came at me with a knife. I used my belt to summon in my bone blaster. The gang member, I can't remember what mask she wore, screamed as she charged me. I fired the stun pulse at her. The blue bolt connected and she went somersaulting through the air; she landed...somewhere.

The goons finally got smart and decided to attack me all at once. I managed to get off three more shots before the blaster's charge ran out. But I was still able to defeat the others with some well-placed kicks and jabs and some finisher moves.

The thugs groaned or crawled into corners to lick their wounds. The remaining ones began to chant, "Skunk. Skunk. Skunk."

"Skunk?" I said. "You mean the little guy that was afraid of his own shadow?'

The ground then shook as a deep thud, thud, thud reverberated throughout the hall. Something then paused at the door. Even with most of it destroyed by Bear's entrance, the figure still had to smash away some of the wall so he could get in.

"Wow," I said to the towering behemoth. "Been working out Skunk?" I remembered when Skunk was a freckled 5'4" kid that weighed about 95 pounds or so. Now he looked 6'8" and had the muscles of an aircraft carrier. "Bear wasn't kidding. Five years _is_ a long time."

Skunk turned his back on me. He then raised his tail. _Uh-oh_. I can see where this is going.

Skunk blasted me with his stank. I went flying across the hall and smacked into the wall. I coughed on the smell. I looked up. My glasses had been knocked off. Everything was blurry and all I could "see" was the smell. The people blurred in and out and blinked from place to place. I coughed some more.

"I can't see!" I said to Brain.

I was in the past again. This time I was in the middle of battling Terabyte for the six or seventh time. The ex-government anti-virus had unleashed a light flare.

Brain's voice came in static bursts over the comlink. Terabyte's malware had infected most of the city and was now seeping into our communications. "You have other senses," was all Brain managed to get out before the line went dead.

"You have other senses," I repeated. I closed my eyes. There was lots of white noise. The smells and sounds were everywhere. I could still taste the stink from Skunk. Finally, through all that I could feel something: a quake. Skunk was making the ground vibrate as he charged at me. I rolled to the side. I heard a thud as Skunk collided with the wall.

My head was starting to clear. I blinked a couple times and was able to retrieve my glasses. Skunk was pulling his head out of the wall. With a crash, he pulled it out. His face was full of fury like some rabid animal.

He fired off another blast of stink. I countered with my own dog breath smell. The two odious smells collided. It was a battle of wills as he each poured on the gassy power. The two forces pushed against one another.

He won out. I had to catch my breath and dive for cover as the skunk cloud ripped through the spot where I'd just been standing. I was out of breath. I was huffing and puffing. But I had no time to catch my breath; Skunk was aiming at me again. My only hope was to blast him before he could hit me. I blew again. But this time it was different. Instead of just smelling bad, the breath was blowing things.

This is new.

Skunk fought against the gale and soon the wind died down. I stood up straight as Skunk tried to figure out what to do next. "Give up," I said. "Give up now or...uh, I'll huff and puff and blow you out the door." Somehow I'd developed the lungs of the Big Bad Wolf.

The henchmen raised their hands but Skunk was far from over. He charged at me once more. I huffed and blew at him. For a moment he kept coming but soon he looked more like a mime trying to fight the wind then a hulking villain. Within seconds he'd lost the battle and was flung against the wall. And not a moment too soon, I was now really out of breath.

"Thank you, Dogboy!" someone shouted.

"That's Joe," I sighed. I turned to the police present. "They're all yours."

They didn't move. They looked around as if I was pointing at some invisible person.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We told you: we're not allowed to interfere with the Animal Gang," said an officer.

Everyone looked uncomfortable. The silence was unbearable.

"You are really going to let them go?" I asked. "They tried to rob the place in front of everyone. Is this what the world has become?"

"A lot has changed since Dogboy," said an officer. She actually gave me a dirty look, as if it was all my fault. "There was no hero here."

"Is this what I fought for?" I pointed at Skunk, who was still unconscious. "Is this what everyone sacrificed for? We nearly gave our lives at the Dark Matter Battle. And now we have a world of fear."

"We didn't have a superhero to help us," one of the politicians repeated with a voice of venom. "We had to do the best we could. Make deals with the ones with power."

I shook my head. "Those people out there believe that they are safe not because of a superhero but because of our police and rescue forces. They believe that our leaders do what is best for us."

"We did do what was best," someone said. "We can't stop the Animal Gang. And we sure didn't have you around."

"Exactly. I'm _not_ always going to be around. Even if I have my powers, I still can't be everywhere. We need to stand up together."

There was some mumbling. People looked at their feet or at the ceiling. Finally one officer started over towards the gang members.

"Sam, don't do it," someone whispered as she passed.

She stood next to Skunk with her hands on her hips. Someone coughed. It was a bit tense for a moment and then finally another officer started towards Skunk. He was soon followed by another and then another.

"Skunk, you're under arrest," Sam, the officer, said.

# Home Again

Zzzztt!!

"E-OW!" Brain cried. He rolled out from whatever console he was working on. The hovering mechanic's creeper hummed as the mechanical arms wiped at Brain's forehead. It then adjusted to become a mobile seat. Another arm offered him a drink. "You realize that this equipment is over five years old," said Brain. "It is obsolete."

"It's technology from a race of semi-all-powerful beings," I said.

"Even still," said Brain. "This place was at least a thousand years old before we even found it." He sat up and swiped a fan-arm away. "Lucky for you, I was able to get most of this mobile outpost running again, or you would be stuck commuting from our hometown."

I put my hands on my hips. "What about all the stuff you added?"

"Still obsolete. I have done much in five years." He headed over to his workbench. "Here." He tossed me a belt and jacket.

"You shouldn't have?"

"I really should not have. I have improved upon your old utility belt. This one now has 3D Fabricators installed. I have also added some to your jacket. This will cause less of a strain on the battery and give you access to more gadgets."

I snapped the belt on. "New toys? Sweet."

"As I have previously stated much as changed in five years. You will need to upgrade just to survive."

Brain went on to explain that when I transform my vest will now be a sports vest with extra pockets. These pockets have individual Fabricators and are programmed for a specific gadget. The belt will also 3D print some gadgets.

"I have also upgraded the Doghouse. Since this was a Sirian colonization outpost, it was equipped with a defense system. The years had not been kind. The outpost was left to the elements after the Sirians abandoned it."

The Sirians, a race from the planet Sirius (Sirius is a planet and a star by the way), arrived on Earth long ago to colonize but left once they discovered it was occupied. Brain theorized that they left the Doghouse because it would cost too much fuel to move it again. It was designed to land and be a base; not land and take off again.

"What kind of defense system?" I said.

"Danny, could you come here for a moment."

Danny was doing some repairs on the Dogmobile. He was covered in who knows what. He started towards us.

Zzzztt!!

"Bbbllbllbah!" Danny said as he was zapped by arcs of lightning.

"Ah, that never gets old," said Brain. "Third time today." He looked at me. "Invisible fence." I continued to scowl. " ***sighs*** Fine. I'll add Danny's biometrics into the system." Brain typed in some commands using the holo-screen from his Omni-Cuff. The fence dropped. A now charred and smoking Danny paused for a moment and then flopped to the ground.

The elevator dinged and Sally stepped out. She started towards us. We were about three miles below the surface. I'd tell you where but that would defeat the purpose of a secret base.

"Wait!" I called out. "Maybe you better stay there."

"I already know about the invisible fence," she said. "And Brain knows what would happen to him if he tried to pull anything." She shot Brain a withering glare.

Brain fiddled with his fingers. "Yes. Yes, I do."

Sally's eyes scanned the giant red doghouse. Glowing blue circuit-piping of energy pulsed throughout the outside of the building. I could tell she was still trying to get use to letting me go adventuring again. She was putting on a brave face; it didn't take superpowers to know she was struggling. She pointed a finger at Brain. "You better keep him safe."

"I will endeavor to do my best." Sally's eyes narrowed. "Ma'am."

I smiled. Sally turned her gaze on me. "And you, Joel Tobias Rover, don't do anything foolish. I expect you to come back in one piece."

I saluted her. "Yes, Ma'am."

Sally ruffled my hair. "You boys have fun. I get to cover the world summit. At least the bits they tell us." She sauntered back to the elevator.

Danny then joined us. He was still charbroiled and smoking. Wisps of smoke came from his mouth as he said to Brain, "What'd you need?"

# Welcome Back, Mr. Rover

"You ready for this?" Brain asked over the comlink, the dog whistle.

"Somebody's got to retake the city. End the Animal Gang's hold. And the police seem unwilling. And they were my mess in the first place."

"Do not blame yourself for the actions of others," Brain said.

"Hey, listen to this," said Danny interrupting us. Heroic rock music began to play over the comlink. "I just created a crime fighting playlist for you."

I bobbed my head in time to the music. "Good choice." I closed my eyes and let the music wash over me for a moment. I inhaled then slowly exhaled. This was it. The point of no return. I could still go back to my normal life and let the Animal Gang run things.

I dived off the building.

I was falling fast. The wind was blowing at my fur. I called for the leash grapple and fired off a hook. The leash brought me into a swing.

"Whaaaa-hoooo!!!" I shouted. "Man! I forgot how much I miss this!" I landed on a rooftop and kept running. I leapt into the air and fired another hook.

***

"Your money, now!" said the chicken man; he was flanked by two other chicken people. Like all Animal Gang members, they wore a gray shirt with the red "A," blue gloves, black jeans, and the animal head mask (though some aren't masks—usually captains and other higher-ups were the ones genetically altered to have powers and the animal appearance).

The chicken man moved his gun form the person's chest to their head.

"Ahem," I said.

The three turned. "Dogboy!"

The leader fired his gun; eggs shot out. I dodged. The eggs exploded behind me. _Exploding eggs?_ I thought. _Seriously?_ He fired more. I dodged and ducked as I ran towards him. Once I was close enough, I used my high-tech cape to snag the gun from his hand. I then snapped the cape around his legs and pulled him off his feet. One of the other chickens came at me. I swished the cape in his face, stunning him, and followed up with a series of jabs to his chest. I then used my telekinesis to boost-jump me so I could forward-kick him in the chest. He sailed into a trash can.

The other looked at me and took off. I chucked the lid of a nearby atomizer garbage can at him knocking him to the ground.

***

The alarm at Sammy's Jewels went off. Three pig masked gang members exited.

I dropped down from the rooftops. "Three little pigs and a dog." They stopped in their tracks. "Writes itself, doesn't it." I huffed and puffed and blew a blast of dog breath at them. They coughed and wheezed and waved their hands in front of their noses. Finally with an oink-sigh, they passed out.

***

A hover car rocketed down the street nearly running over an elderly woman. Inside was a group of hamster themed gang members; they were going on about robbing a bank.

"Easiest score yet, boys!" said one.

THUD. The roof dented in a bit.

"What was that?"

Claws then ripped through the roof. I pulled it open like a sardine can. The car swerved and hit a pole. I pulled a hamster out. "Shall we dance, hamster?" He whimpered and shook his head.

***

I rested on a rooftop. The city was beautiful. The city lights looked like neon stars. Even the honking and shouting of the streets below was muted up here. I took a moment to catch my breath then tapped the dog whistle comlink in my sunglasses. "OK, Brain, what's next?"

"Reports say that Bull runs the drug empire. His headquarters is at Madam Wong's China Shop."

"So there's a bull in a China shop?"

"It would appear so."

"I see the bad jokes haven't changed in all these years."

"Excuse me?"

I closed the link.

Madam Wong's China Shop...

"Get to work, you useless slugs!" Bull shouted with a snort. "I'm not paying you to stand around."

"You're not paying me at all," said a gang member dressed as a slug.

Bull suddenly turned to face him. Bull snorted so much you could almost see his breath. "What was that?"

The slug worker lowered his head. "Nothing, Sir."

Bull took two steps and then I came crashing in from the ceiling. "This ends tonight, Bull. Surrender now."

He chuckled. "Dogboy. I was wondering when you'd show up." He motioned to the crowd. "Everyone knows that drugs would have little effect on you, what with your regeneration powers. But I pride myself on knowing what drugs work on everybody."

"I don't have time for this," I said walking towards him.

He then blew something in my face. "Wolfsbane," he said.

I felt light-headed. I began to stumble. The room began to shift in size, angle, and color. The room tilted like a villain's lair in some TV show from the 1960s. Bull and his crew began laughing at me. The sound was distorted and slow. Their faces began to push and pull creating odd angles and shapes.

"Having a nice trip?" Bull said in demonic, slow voice. He then shoved me and I knocked over some crates. I was buried underneath. I could still hear the laughter.

Jackal laughed. I was on the ground, bleeding. "You never stood a chance. You are pathetic. Worthless. You only got these powers through a freak accident of genetics."

Suddenly it was no longer a memory and Jackal stood before me. He laughed. "Still the worthless mutt. You fell for a trap any idiot could see." He knelt down to meet me in the face. "You can't even beat the Animal Gang. How do you expect to beat me once I return?" He stood up. "Don't look so shocked. You know it. I know it. The world knows it. The Xacian Empire can't be beaten so easily...least of all by a Sirian half-breed like you."

"Joe. Joe," came Brain's slowed voice. "Joe...fo-cus. Wool-f-f-f-sss-bane wo-wo-wo-won-n-n-n will not affect you in your hue-mon form. Joe. Please answer."

I closed my eyes. Jackal continued to taunt me. "Wolfsbane is our creation. We altered the Earth plant to destroy Sirians. It is the might of the Xacian army. You will never be rid of it."

I pictured my human form. _Joe._

I began to feel the change. My ears became more human; my fur became hair; my tail retracted.

Bull was celebrating. "I took down Dogboy! Me! Not even our Glorious Leader could." Bull then heard a rustling noise and turned. A golden light was breaking through the crates. They erupted.

I stood there, back as Dogboy and cured, as the last bit of light faded. Bull snorted again. He really was seeing red now. He kicked back one leg repeatedly and lowered his horns. He charged.

He got closer and closer and wham! I used my telekinesis to slam a bookcase of crates into him. He splatted against the wall. I turned and headed for the exit. The underlings parted as if I was Moses. When I reached the door, I found it locked. I turned as I heard a ticked off Bull charge again.

I phased (dogs are good diggers). He passed through me and broke through the door. Madam Wong screamed as Bull smashed through the cases of fine China.

I stepped into the main room. The broken dishes crunched under my feet. "Olé."

Bull shook off the broken dishes, and those not broken where now. I could see the breath coming out of him as he snorted. Madam Wong screamed some probably not nice things to him in Chinese.

He ignored her. "I'm going to KILL you!!"

I took off my sunglasses and widened my eyes. "No. You won't." I gave him a dose of puppy dog eyes.

He froze; his arms went limp. "No...I won't."

He was under my control now...Oh, like you can say "no" to a begging puppy's cute little eyes, especially when they throw in a whimper for good measure.

"You want to tell me where your leader is, where Rabbit is."

"Rabbit...isn't our...leader."

"He's not? You want to tell me who your leader is."

"I want to...no. He'll kill me."

"You want to tell me."

"No, I can't," he whimpered.

"Who is your leader?" I forced everything into the command.

"I-I-I..." He then passed out.

I groaned and rubbed my temples. A sharp pain was forming. This happened anytime I used this power.

_"That's right,"_ Jackal whispered to my mind. _"Release me. Use the power and release me. I know who the leader is and where to find him. Release me. I'll help you."_

"Yeah right." I put my sunglasses back on.

# Something Big This Way Comes

Doghouse...

"It's going to take some time to crack the encryption on these files," Brain said. "Why don't you take a break and I'll call you when it's ready."

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

After defeating Bull, we hacked into the Animal Gang's network and snagged some files. Hopefully this would tell who the new gang boss was and where they were.

I shuffled off to my room in the Doghouse. The door hissed open and then closed behind me. I flopped into bed, yawned, and closed my eyes.

Almost immediately, I was back at the Dark Matter Battle. The city was in flames and the tear in the universe was only getting bigger. Heroes stood to one side of me while the villains stood on the other.

"We might be crooks, murderers, and general scum," said Glue, the first bad guy I ever fought, "but this is our home too. And if anyone's going to destroy it, it'll be us."

Then just before the battle, Bear took off. One of the Animal Gang members called him a coward, but there was something. Something important. Bear had something with him. I would have to worry about that later.

"Joe! I have something!" Brain said over the speakers.

"It's only been two minutes!" I said.

"Yes. Their encryption was quite impressive."

I groaned and dropped to the floor.

***

"Tonight the world summit will have topics from the United States pulling out from the land near Russia to rumors of a transbeing army," Sally reported via the MyVideo channel. "Unfortunately for the safety of all those involved no one knows the location of the summit." Except for Brain and Sally. He probably figured out the location before they even knew the location. And Sally was one of the best reporters in town. If she couldn't squeeze the location out, no one could.

Brain looked like the typical scientist sitting at his desk with his head resting on his interlaced fingers. It seemed as if he was deep in thought. "Joe," he said without turning, "I have uncovered an order for the Animal Gang member, Gopher, to pick up some weapons. These weapons are to be sold on the black market. The pick-up is in an hour."

"That's great," I said flatly. "But it doesn't tell us who the big boss is."

"I am getting to that." He took a moment to inhale deeply. This was serious and he was needing all the strength he could muster. "It's Dragon," he said quickly like he was trying to rip off a bandage.

"What?! How is that possible? He was killed!"

"Well..." Brain was not enjoying this. "He's back." He brought up a blurry image of someone setting houses on fire. It'd been part of a real-estate scam. You couldn't see him clearly but there was no mistaking the wings and flame-breath.

This was just wonderful. Dragon had nearly killed me the last time we fought. It'd taken just about everything I had just to beat him.

"What I'd like to know is how the Animal Gang went from a group of losers to having a criminal empire," Danny said while chewing on a sandwich.

Ding! The light bulb went on over my head.

Brain used his extend-o-shoes to reach up and tap the light bulb. "I really need to get that fixed." The light flickered for a moment and then went out.

I excitedly wagged a finger at Danny. "Danny...you...you...genius! I know how they did it and I know why ILOST is having trouble with Hurricane Sammy. Brain, you said Gopher doesn't show up for an hour?"

"Uh..." said Brain.

"Prefect. That should be enough time." I started to run off.

"Enough time for what?" said Brain.

I barely turned as I kept running. "Dragon's up to something big. Bigger than just Megaton city."

Danny folded his arms across his chest and smiled at Brain. "I told you I was a genius."

About an hour later...

The gull-wing door of the Dogmobile hissed as I opened it. The ion engine whirled to a stop; it sounded like some kind of alien spacecraft landing.

"You sure about this?" Brain said via the comlink. "Rabbit has already beaten you once."

"Somebody's got to end this. And Rabbit is the only one that knows where Dragon is."

"Then send in the drones."

I opened the trunk and three paw print shaped drones hovered into the air. "Go search," I said and the drones took off. I activated a holo-screen so I could watch.

The drones shot through the dock area occasionally stopping to scan a building. When it found no signs of life, it moved on to the next area. Soon one detected life signs and the others moved in to support it. The drones activated their lasers and began to move in a circle. It didn't take them long to cut a hole.

They moved inside and activated a night vision feature. They silently zipped down the corridor. Once they had reached light the night vision deactivated. The screen then showed an armed thug approaching. They sunk down to the ground. As the man passed the three drones just looked like paw prints on the ground. Once he was gone, the drones took to the air again.

They zipped down this hallway and that until they ran into a patrol. The guard taking point gasped as the drones suddenly appeared. The others were a little quicker on the draw but still slower than the drones. There was a series of phoo, phoo, phoo as the drones fired knockout darts. The drones continued their mission indifferent to the unconscious patrol.

Finally the drones found Rabbit. He was pacing, one of him anyway. One clone was watching TV and the other was eating chips.

"That stinkin' Dogboy," said Rabbit. "Who does he think he is? How dare he get Bat captured! He was my only friend. That stupid speech." Brain later confirmed that the police had begun rounding up Animal Gang members.

"You've still got us," said the chip eating clone.

Rabbit groaned in disgust.

"Just forget about him, mate," said the one watching TV. "In a few minutes, Gopher will be here to pick up the guns. Then we can ditch this stupid town once and for all."

"And step out on Dragon?" said the chip eater. "We can't do that. Dragon helped us. Got us off the streets."

"Sure," said the TV watcher. "He got us off the street and into jail more times than I could count."

"What about revenge on Dogboy for killing our brother?" said the chip eater.

"First off, Dogboy didn't kill him; the Xacians did. Second, we didn't even like him. As I recall the first thing we did when we got the news was toss all his stuff in the nearest incinerator and got drunk on carrot cake and carrot juice."

They continued to argue as Brain interrupted. "Sounds like our window of opportunity is closing. If you wish to gain information on Dragon's whereabouts, now is the time."

I told the drones to go into a holding pattern. I took a few steps and teleported. I landed just outside the room Rabbit was in. I summoned in a stink shoe, pulled the lace, and threw it in. The high-tech tennis shoe filled with gas plopped near the three Rabbits. They looked at it and then each other. "Great," said one and the room was filled with gas. I heard them coughing and sputtering and then I heard them fall to the ground.

Once the room was clear, I entered. "Uh-oh," I said.

"What is it?" said Brain.

"There's only two."

I then got hit by something moving as fast as a bullet. I tumbled and crashed.

"You might have been fast enough to get my slower clones, but you'll never be able to beat me."

I stood up. "We'll see about that."

"Tough talk for a mutt."

He was a flurry of punches and kicks. He was too fast to stop. It was just POW, POW, POW! OOF! BONK! KLUNK! THUD! POW, POW, POW!!

Rabbit danced around me; his feet a blur of motion. "I could do this all day, mate." He then dived into another round of BIFF! BOFF! BLONG! Followed with another POW, POW, POW! I was on my knees panting. I was barely able to keep upright holding on to my knee. Rabbit started laughing. "I've done it! I've won!"

"I've done it! I've won!" Jackal howled. I was bruised and battered. The tear continued to make a sound somewhat like nails on a chalkboard and paper going through a shredder. "Those fools on the Council of Alphas called me a Mad Dog when they tried to put me in the pound back on Sirius." He shouted towards the sky. "Who's the Alpha now?!!" When he turned to look back at me, he was almost foaming at the mouth. "I told them I knew how to bring peace to the galaxy. I escaped and drifted in space, alone, for months, maybe longer. Then the Xacians found me. They showed me what true power was and I showed them how to bring peace to a lawless universe."

"By destroying it?" I said.

He smacked me across the face. "You are the one that brought this upon us. Not me." He strolled over to the tear in space. He held is arms out as if he was going to hug it. "Isn't it glorious? The power of it." He chuckled. "Could a rabid Sirian do all of this?" He scoffed. "No bad dogs, only disease? Ha!" He turned back to me. "And now Earth...will...burn."

**"NEVER!!" I shouted unleashing a sonic bark. The sound wave hit him and he stumbled. I managed a step and with a** whoosh **teleported. I smashed into him and we both tumbled towards the tear. I could see into it. The nothingness that stretched out forever.**

Jackal stuck his claws into the ground. He was laughing as he looked from the void to me. "You cannot defeat me! I am you! I am the darkness that lives within. We are all the darkness within. It doesn't matter how deep you bury me. I will escape. We all will." The crazy look in his eye was getting even crazier. He looked back at the tear and laughed. "I was the one to show them how to mine Dark Matter. How to use it to make transbeings. Dark Matter flows through me; it flows through you; it follows through all transbeings. It is our lifeblood. You, Pup, do not have the power to stop this."

"You have no idea how strong I am," I said. "I'd give up all my power if it meant saving the Earth."

He smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile; it was one of evil. A smile that said he knew something. I could see his canines.

"Then...I'll see...you...later." He then let go. He continued to laugh as the tear slurped him up.

I had to let go too so I could hold my paw-hands out towards the tear. "You want Dark Matter!" I cried as the vortex pulled me in. "Then take mine! Take it ALL!" I focused on the tear as if I was using telekinesis. Golden light began to leak out of my hands. It was slow at first and then it came flooding out. I screamed as the power left. The vortex devoured it, but wanted more. It did want it all.

The world around me became white as it drew out the last of the energy. Finally it seemed satisfied and began to seal. I stood for maybe a second as the world returned to normal. I then collapsed.

As people rushed up to me, I was already changing. My fur and tail was disappearing as the last bits of juice left me. My uniform reverted to my street clothes. Finally...my face.

The people muttered my name, "Joe Rover," before everything faded away.

"You're nothing," Rabbit taunted as he continued to zip and dance around me. "You always were. Nobody cares about 'Joe Rover,' they want Dogboy. Joe is just a boy who through a freak twist of fate got superpowers."

No.

He was wrong. I was something. Dogboy had been the hero...but I was Dogboy. It was _me_ that trained. It was me that made the decisions. Jackal was gone. The monster was gone. And he would stay gone too. I was the boss here.

But there was no way to beat Rabbit. He was just too fast.

Too fast?

"Remember, young grasshopper," Danny half-joked. It was during one of our 3 am trainings back when I first became Dogboy. "Speed and strength in a fight isn't everything. It'll only get you so far. Technique and discipline will make the difference."

I watched as Rabbit danced around some more. He was everywhere. He had speed but no discipline. He just hopped around without a care as to where he landed. His feet were always going. He was always ready to run. He knew he was fast. He knew no one could catch him.

He continued to taunt me as the Fabricator printed up a collar cuff. I watched him, saw his pattern. He thought he'd beaten me.

I then saw it. The slight bend in his knees before liftoff. I threw the dog collar cuff at him. It snapped around his legs. "Oh...no...!" he seemed to say in slow-motion as I used my telekinesis to launch me towards him. In a fluid motion, I grabbed him by the collar of his Animal Gang shirt, landed, and lifted him into the air.

"Where's Dragon?!" I shouted.

Rabbit was beaten but he still grinned. "You'll never stop Dragon, mate. He's already won. He's been planning this for years. He brought down the shield-dome for Florida and caused the rouge hurricane so that the heroes would be occupied."

"Why?" I said shaking Rabbit.

"The city's been his since the day you vanished. Now...the world."

I let go of Rabbit and he fell to his knees. "The summit," I whispered. I tapped the dog whistle comlink. "He's going after the world leaders at the summit. It's the only reason to keep the world's heroes busy with a hurricane."

"You'll never make it." Sally had been looped into the call. She was in the middle of reporting the event (from the press box that received an official feed from the summit—once all the top secret stuff was edited out).

"Not without some help."

The air started to pick up. Some kind of light surrounded me. I could hear an ion engine, but this one was louder and more powerful. I looked up to see a high-tech purple and black jet overhead.

"Did someone say they needed help?" Brain said. "Say hello to the Dogfighter."

# Dog vs. Dragon, Fight

Meanwhile at some undisclosed location...

"With the acquisition of that base, the Americans will be too close to our territory," said the Russian leader.

"We need that base for research," said the President.

"What kind of research?" the Russian leader huffed. "Finding out how many troops we have? Holes in our defenses?"

"This brings up another interesting point," said the Chinese leader. "Rumors are that Russia is building a transbeing army."

"That is nonsense!" said the Russian leader. "You know as well as I do that according to the Accords of 2020, no government can use transbeings for military or political reasons."

"That is correct," said the Korean leader. "The transbeings belong to the world and not to any single government."

"There are ways of getting around the Accords, and you know it!" said the Chinese leader.

BOOM!

The wall blew apart. The world leaders coughed on the dust. The security forces quickly drew their weapons and began covering their respective leader. Figures moved through the cloud and took down the guards with only a few shots getting out. The dust cleared just in time for Dragon to make his appearance.

"Really?" he said. He looked human but you could sense something more to him. His skin seemed thicker and his nails longer. And if you looked closely you could make out a forked tongue. "All this talk. If you want something done, you have to show some action. That is why I run a criminal empire and you..." He pointed at the leaders. There was a slight crack as his hand transformed into a scaly claw-hand, "run nothing."

"You won't get away with this!" said the President as Spider began encasing the leaders in webbing.

"And who's going to stop me?"

The room was suddenly filled with light. "I will," I said. I then hopped down from the jet. Brain remote-piloted it away.

Dragon laughed. "You? You are alone. The other heroes are fighting a never-ending hurricane, thanks to an old 'friend.'"

Suddenly a swarm of bats entered the room; they formed into the familiar form of Brood. We were soon joined by Agent Zee, who came running into the room puffing. "Geez, Brood," he said. "Did you forget zombies are slow?"

"How? How did this happen?" said Dragon.

"It wasn't too hard," I said. "A friend of mine wondered how low-level goons like you could form an empire...even with a five year head start. I then remembered when Bear ran off before the Xacian fight. It wasn't fear. He had a copy of Terabyte on a microchip ready for you. It didn't take much to convince Terabyte to leave you once we'd freed him."

"You released the most dangerous digital threat of our time?" said Dragon. "Bravo." He rubbed it in with a slow-clap.

"I have bigger fish to fry," I said.

Dragon chuckled. "You have no idea." Flames started to curl around his mouth.

The sound of a jet passing over soon reached us. There was a crash and a figure landed with a heroic thud and a ground-pond landing pose. Turbo had arrived.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said, "but I love to make an entrance."

Turbo had been created by the Xacians in an attempt to create the perfect weapon. They fused a human with the DNA of dinosaur, scorpion, eagle, and some other stuff. It left Turbo with the head of a T-Rex, the body of a human, retractable eagle wings on his back, and the legs and arms of some kind of reptilian creature that allows him to shape shift, turn invisible, and regenerate. A power source of some kind runs this new body.

Zee cocked the plasma blaster he had pointed at Dragon. "I believe we're enough now."

Dragon's tongue flicked as he spoke. "Finish them." His wings and tail ripped through the back of his suit. He took to the air, slowly transforming more and more into a dragon. He swooped down to snatch the President out of the webbing like an eagle snagging a fish. "I guess I'll just have to take the consolation prize." He flew through the hole in the ceiling Turbo had made.

Turbo shrugged and smiled, which is creepy and silly on a T-Rex head. "Whoops."

"Go get him, Dogboy," said Zee as he blasted the web balls Spider spat at him. "We got this." One ball got by him and hit Zee in the head. It knocked his head off his shoulders, and it rolled to a stop on to the floor. "Seriously!?" he said. Spider laughed as Zee's body tried to locate his head.

I teleported to the roof and summoned my grapple. I fired it; it snagged Dragon's leg. I was yanked into the air.

"What?!" said Dragon once he spotted his hitchhiker. He snarled and turned to the President, who was still dangling from one of Dragon's hind legs. "I had hoped for a better finale, but..." He then dropped the President. The President shot by me, screaming the whole way. Dragon laughed in victory. I watched helpless as the President vanished into the night.

I then saw a light and heard the whirl of the Dogfighter.

"We've got him Dogboy," came Brain's voice. "Finish this."

Dragon must have figured it out because he roared in complete rage. He then grabbed the rope and snapped me towards him. Once I was close enough, he grabbed and held me in his clutches. Flames came from his mouth as he said, "I'm going to do what I should have done six years ago. I will devour you!"

"First, chew on this." I breathed out a blast of dog breath. Dragon's fire went out and he began coughing and sputtering on the foul smell. He released me and I began to fall.

I was falling towards the jet.

"Not this time," said Dragon and he smashed into me. We then crashed into the woods. I shook off the blow as he lit up the place with his fire breath. "We finish this like men," he growled. "No friends, no Pack."

The cut on my lip began to heal as I wiped away the blood. "Fine by me."

We charged at each other.

He swiped at me with his claw, but missed because I teleported to his back where I clawed his wings. He howled in pain and tossed me off. He shot fire at me. I summoned the flea ray gadget. I switched the comic book ray gun to the freeze function. The super-cooled air met with the super-hot air. It seemed like another battle of wills as the two forces pushed against one another. Finally the freeze air broke through and hit Dragon in the mouth. He muffled in rage as he clawed at the ice around his mouth.

I charged at him. He saw me and swiped me with his tail. I went somersaulting through the air and crashed, painfully, into a tree. Both tree and I fell to the ground. The tree caught fire adding to the flames already present. Dragon dug into the ground and pulled up a huge piece of land. He chuckled as he held it over his head. He then saw that I was gone. He tossed it aside as he looked around.

"Hiding little hero? Did you forget that dragons have an excellent sense of smell?" He suddenly turned to his tail. I became visible once again. He chuckled and I bit his tail. He screamed and tried to shake me off but have you ever tried to get a dog to let go of something they didn't want to. I had a death grip on that tail...I mean, death bite on that tail. He repeatedly smashed me into the ground but I wasn't letting go. Finally, he prepared to breath fire again. As he shot flame, I dropped. Hello, singed tail.

Now he was ticked.

"Dragons are the most _powerful_ beings on _Earth_! I will not be beaten by a _PUPPY-DOG_!!" He roared once more but this one was like nothing before. The ground shook and he unleashed a whirlwind of fire. "There is no escape!" he hissed as he began to consume everything in fire.

The flames were surrounding me. There was no way I could get out. Who knew how far these flames reached. He could have made a wall of fire 500 feet out for all I knew. The more he roared, the hotter it got. The flea ray would be of no help here. But maybe...

My phase power is based on a dog's ability to dig.

I used my claws and dug. It seemed for a moment that the flames would follow me, but I was soon clear of them. After a few seconds, I found a safe place to get out. Once on the surface, I could still see the whirlwind of fire and hear Dragon roaring.

"I wonder if he'll ever realize I'm not there," I said.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion. I'm not sure if the flames hit some kind of explosive or it was just from the sheer power released but either way...boom. I was knocked off my feet from the mix of shockwave and heat.

Dragon was gone.

***

"Thank you for saving me, Dogboy," said the President. He then cleared his throat. "I mean, Mr. Rover."

"Not a problem, Sir," I said. "It's what we do. And it's just Dogboy."

The President smiled and then nodded to Brood and the others. They nodded back.

The President turned to the other leaders. The security team of one leader was using a fire extinguisher on her. One was sitting in a bucket of water and some smoke filled the air. Another was stomping on his toupee trying to put it out. Others were still being removed from Spider's webs.

"I feel that in the spirit of this day," the President said, "we will withdraw our forces from the disputed land. Dragon was right; we are too busy fighting each other to get anything done. We are all talk and no action. I am changing that." He then stretched out his hand towards the Russian leader. The Russian leader hesitated for a moment but then took the President's hand.

Brood, Zee, Turbo, and I left the leaders to continue the summit, which within about ten seconds fell back into arguing.

"There is something that is bothering me," said Turbo. "Why would Dragon think that killing the President would allow him to become President? Wouldn't the Vice President be next?"

"Dragon did have followers everywhere," said Zee. "Maybe it went further than we thought."

"It is something to look into," said Brood.

I yawned. "Yeah, but some other day. Right now, I'm exhausted."

"As am I," said Turbo. "I must replenish my power supply soon."

"And I must away to my coffin for a good day's sleep," said the vampire.

"Zombies don't really sleep," said Zee, "but I could go for some maggots and worms."

"That is disgusting," said Brood.

"Says the guy who drinks blood," I said.

"Animal blood," he said. "And like werewolves are all that innocent. Eating sheep and blowing down the houses of pigs."

"At least we're loyal," I said.

Zee and Turbo looked at each other and sighed. "Some things never change," said Zee.

The comlink beeped. I tapped my sunglasses. "What is it Brain?" I said.

"We have a location on Terabyte. He's at the stock exchange."

"Looks like naptime's over," said Turbo.

I sighed, shaking my head. "Some things never do change." I looked out towards the rising sun as the Dogfighter lowered into view. With a quick ker-snick, my claws grew. "Time to let the dog out."

# Next Time

"What?!" I said. "Brain's in jail?!"

"That's what he said on PostBook." Danny swiped the air to bring up a hologram of Brain's page. It read, "Current Status: Incarcerated."

"How did this happen?"

All Danny could do was shrug.

***

The note told me to meet my mysterious helper in the parking garage. The place was cold and dark...and I think I saw a robo-rat scurry by. Yuck.

"I bet you don't even remember this place." A shadowy figure stepped from behind some equipment. The voice sounded familiar. His shape looked familiar too, but it couldn't be. "This place used to be the base of a great empire. That is until you came along. This place gave birth to us. You the gallant hero..."

"No, it can't be..."I shook my head.

"And me...the terrifying villain." He stepped into the light.

"Glue..." I breathed.

He was wearing his white and blue protective armor. I could see the pale white, almost liquid, face of Glue behind the faceplate. "Here is where we fought for the first time. Here is where the world learned of Dogboy. It is only suitable that you should die here." He raised his arm and wrist cannon was fabricated into existence.

"Why help me free Brain?"

"To bring you here. To finish the job I started all those years ago." The cannon whirled. "I'm finally going to rub you out."

He fired.

# Thank You

I would like to thank the Canva app and the Adobe Spark Post app for the help in creating the cover page. I would also like to thank Pixabay.com for the images. And Thanks goes to Adobe Photoshop for the help in altering some of the Pixabay photos. Also, thanks to the creators of the ProCreate app for helping me with the hand-drawn images.

Also, thanks to Linda Aksomitis for her help in setting up the eBook (such as telling me about Canva and Pixabay) through her class. Finally, thank you Smashwords for having a place for writers to publish and have their work distributed.

And thank you to my family for all the support you have given me, especially my mother.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who downloaded this book. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed it.

Please remember to review this eBook with your favorite retailer and share it with friends and family (and your enemies if you so choose). Thank you. 

# About the Author

One day while on a field trip, I was bitten by a radioactive writer. Thus, I was granted the proportional imagination and typing speed of a writer. I also found that I could stick notes to walls and developed an early warning "grammar sense." Eventually, I learned that with great action verbs comes great sentences. From that day forward, I was The Somewhat Impressive Writer-Man.

But really...

Joe Rover is the pen name of an author who spends his time writing many family-friendly fictional stories. "Joe" has been a journalist, computer programmer, photographer, and graphic designer. He is currently studying digital animation and business.

Joe can be contacted through:

Twitter: @JoeRover2

Wattpad.com: Joe Rover (@JoeRover2)

Website: https://jtrover.wordpress.com/

