Drip.
    Drip.
    Drip.
    I groaned slightly. I tried to stretch but found my arms and legs restricted.
    "Morning sunshine," said Sally, probably still a bit miffed about learning I was a Joe Rover from another reality.
Drip.
    Drip.
    My vision was gray and blurry. My glasses are missing. I tried to move my arms but heard the rattling of chains.
    "Don't bother," said Sally. "We're chained pretty well."
Drip.
    "Where are we?" I asked.
    "TerrorByte's dungeon," said the 30 shades of gray blob across from me. I recognized the voice from various newsfeeds.
    I groaned softly as I tried to shift my weight. "Xam?"
    "In the pixels," he said. "I was nabbed coming here for our meeting."
    More chains rattled as another blurry blob moved. "I got a PM saying the meeting was moved up. It wasn't." Wasn't too hard to figure out that was Player R.
    A soft, yet frustrated (and scared) sigh alerted me to another prisoner. Judging by how Sally's heart beat picked up as did her breathing, I could tell it was Al Rock. "I came here to find out what happened to the others." Al Rock uses a male avatar while online but in reality he is a she. She had to use a male avatar because at the time, for some odd reason, women weren't allowed to play in the eSports games.
    I checked the area, trying to get my bearings. It wasn't easy with everything being a fuzzy blur of gray mixed with some limited color. "Are we still in the digital world?"
    No response.
    Sally filled me in. "They nodded."
    "That is worrisome." In the digital world I should have perfect vision even without my glasses. "This TerrorByte is more powerful than Terabyte ever was."
    "Obviously," Sally groaned. "He can raise the dead. The digital dead that is."
    "Are you sore about me not being the Joe you knew?"
    "Maybe." That's a yes. "Actually, no, not really. I'm upset that you didn't tell me."
    "You wanted me to tell you that you had been obliterated in a nuclear holocaust?"
    Xam cut in. "Could you guys table this until we escape?"
    I turned, as much as I could, to the three gamers. "Do you have any idea what TerrorByte wants?"
    Player R said no. "But you guys aren't the first 'guests.' There's been a revolving door of people coming and going for a few days now." Xam told us that he'd never seen any come back.
    "What could he need with all those people?" Sally asked.
    "And why save us?" said Al.
    I grunted as I tried to find some weak spot in the chains. The chains rattled and clanged but that was about it. "I have a good idea why he'd keep Sally and I: typical villain deathtrap stuff. I don't know about you. But let's find out." I closed my eyes and focused my hearing.
    All I could hear was the rushing, crashing, whooshing, and dripping of water. I sniffed the air. Nothing but the clear, wet smell of water. I sighed in defeat. "We're underwater." The water was blocking my senses. Once again, TerrorByte shouldn't be able to block my senses while in the digital realm.
    Sally's chains rustled as she deflated in defeat. "How are we going to escape?"
     "If I had my glasses, I could try hacking into the system."
    Xam spoke softly in defeat. "And he took our Omni-Cuffs."
    I pulled at the chains.
    "Those are super strong," warned Sally.
    "Yes. But...not...the...wall!" I heaved and groaned and strained. I gave it just about everything I had, but the wall would not budge. Looked like TerrorByte was smart enough to reenforce the walls. "Maybe I can dig-phase through these cuffs."
Bzzztt!!
    I got a nasty shock for my attempt.
    I sniffed the cuffs. "Xeno enhanced mountain ash." Mountain ash acts like a force field or taser to creatures like me. Normal mountain ash has no effect, but the ash altered by the Xacians does.
    This time before trying the wall, I sniffed it. Mountain ash.
    I sighed. "I'm not going to like this."
    "Joe, don't you dare," said Sally.
    "No choice. Not unless you want to wait around for TerrorByte to kill you." Sally closed her eyes and turned her head.
Fhew, foo, phew. I took some short, quick breaths to prepare myself.
Phase, I thought.
    I let out a howl of pain so loud that the walls started to crack. My skin burned as I slowly forced my body through the bonds. It felt like I was being branded and tore apart. My clothes near the bands were starting to catch fire. My eyes turned red and my canines grew as the pain screamed through my body.
"Release me," whispered the voice of Jackal. "I can make the pain go away. I created it after all."
With one more savage push and one more primal roar, I finally passed through the chains. I collapsed to the ground, panting. I think some steam drifted off my body.
"You've done enough, Joel," said Jackal. "Let me take care of this pretender to my throne."
I clinched my fists. "Never," I barely whispered; I didn't have the strength for much more than that. I stood, slowly. I was really shaky and uneven and felt like I'd been on a 3 day bender.
"Release your true power. The full power of the dingo, the jackal, and...the wolf. Come now, Joey, you know you want to."
My wrists and ankles ached from the burns and my clothes smelled charred, but I was already healing. Finally, I felt the slight electrical feeling of my eyes turning back to blue. I half stumbled towards the sweet smell of Sally.
"You can barely walk. How are you going to free us?" she said.
"With my lock pick." A small electrical charge passed across my fingers. With a barely audible ker-skit, my nails became claws.
It was slow going at first. Each time I made a mistake, I got a shock from the mountain ash. By the time I got to the last one, I made few mistakes but I was also running out of energy. Even my nearly boundless dog energy was running out. My vision began to clear and I could see more colors. "That's not good," I muttered as I released the last captive. I'm becoming more and more human.
I managed to open the door before my claws faded back into human nails. A long, dark tunnel stretched out before us. Judging by the continuous sounds of dripping water, we were still underwater.
I blinked to activate my night vision.  My eyes took on a soft yellow glow.
A dog's night vision isn't as good as a cat's but still better than a human's. That mixed with my dog senses allowed me almost perfect night vision. I guess it was more like radar-night vision than pure night vision.
I kept Sally and the gamers close to me as we traveled the tunnel. Everything was quiet except for the pattern of dripping water. We finally reached a ladder. My vision gave out a few feet back but I'd seen enough to know the way. I climbed the ladder; and using the last of my strength, pushed open the cover. I climbed out and helped Sally and the gamers.
Before we could celebrate our freedom, we were treated to a slow clap from TerrorByte.
"Excellent work," he said in that calm, crisp voice. Kind of like how a boss might say to an intern that just really messed up. He wagged a finger towards Xam. "I can see why the fates choose Max as a Speculum Bellator [Mirror Warrior if you're wondering]. You guys do not disappoint."
"Max?"said Xam.
TerrorByte began to pace, much like a businessman might at a board meeting. It was that same posture of calm. The kind of walk that says, "I fear nothing because nothing can harm me." "And I was quite right to put my faith in those Unums. They will greatly appreciate my help in eliminating you." He gave us a quick bit of side-eye and smiled. He enjoyed seeing us confused because it showed how powerful he was. He had all the cards; he had all the knowledge.
"That's why I kept you," he said to the gamers. "To present you to my fellow Unums so they can absorb your chi."
"What did you do to those people?" I asked, sick of his games.
TerrorByte simply waved as if he was swatting at a bug. He turned to the army of undying video game characters. He slightly turned his head back to us. "I had to get their souls from somewhere."
Sally gasped, "What?!" She charged towards the digital menace but Xam and Al held her back. "You monster!"
"Duh," he said, giving us a goofy expression. "It was simple enough to download their minds into the bodies of my coded compatriots. And wiping their minds...even more so." Sparks began to grow between TerrorByte's fingers. "Sally will join them and I will take R, Xam, and Al to meet their Speculum Sui [Mirror Self, FYI]." He then focused on me with a wicked grin. "As for you, Joel Tobias Rover, I'm afraid I can't let you live. You have a nasty reputation for spoiling our plans."
TerrorByte began to crackle with energy. He threw a palm out like he was throwing a ball. Red and black lightning hit me. I screamed as I was racked with electricity.

To be continued...

For more adventures with Joe and the rest of the Pack, check out the Dogboy Reborn book(s) at Barnes & Noble
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Until the next wormhole...
End of Transmission.