I screamed as the electricity continued to snap through my body.
    "Go to your grave, you pathetic pup, knowing that we will not make the same mistake as the Prius Spiritus," said TerrorByte. "In the multiverse before this, the twelve groups fought in bloody contests to decide which speculum terrae would survive. POW and the Unum battled for ages before finally destroying each other. With both eliminated a Great Darkness swept the multiverse. Finally, after eons of Darkness, that multiverse was destroyed and a new one, ours, was formed from its remains. This time the Unum will destroy POW before the Grand Contest. We will rule the multiverse as gods and the Evil Darkness will stay banished."
    He ended his assault. I fell to my knees and coughed. "Still alive?" he said. He then unleashed more energy. "There just isn't enough life energy for every reality. Billions of people making choices everyday. Sacrifices must be made! Only the strong can survive!" His blasts grew stronger. "You cannot be allowed to join POW!"
    Now he really unleashed his fury. It felt like having thousands of very angry ants breaking through every cell of my body. I started to smell burnt hair.
    Finally...he stopped again. I panted and felt as if I wanted to throw up. TerrorByte growled. "Why..." He zapped me. "Won't..." Zap. "You..." Zap! "DIE?!" ZAP!
    I rested my hand on my knee. My other knee rested on the ground. "Why won't I die?" I whispered. While I tried to catch my breath (and TerrorByte continued to snarl), I felt my hand itch. I glanced down to see fur growing along the back of my hand. My powers were returning! Somehow TerrorByte was charging me. That's never happened before.
    Maybe it was because I was in the digital world. Or maybe it had something to do with TerrorByte being from the same world as me. Maybe it was just dumb luck.
    The air crackled and hummed. TerrorByte drew in as much power as he could for a final blast. The air split as energy danced. A giant ball of black and red electric death formed over TerrorByte's head. The simulated world began to sputter and flicker.
    "And now...you die!"
    TerrorByte flung the sphere with all his might and hatred. The sphere connected and I was engulfed in white light. Wind cracked as the sphere exploded. There was a lot of pain, but it passed quickly—kind of like ripping off a bandage.
    TerrorByte laughed. Sally reached out towards me while Player R blocked and Al tried to comfort her. "And so ends the career of the Megaton Miracle. Ah-hahaHAHA!."
    "Think again!" Al Rock pointed.
    The smoke cleared and the light faded. I stood, but now in my Dogboy uniform. I now stood as a 6 foot humanoid dog. My purple cape fluttered to rest as I opened my eyes. "That was a mistake,"I said.
TerrorByte looked a lighter shade of yellow. It wasn't fear; the blast had taken a lot out of him. He took a couple steps back all the while pointing at me. "End him!"
The horde of video game characters lurched towards me. It would be pointless to fight them since they would just respawn. But with TerrorByte weakened...
"I am Alpha," I calmly stated. "Here me howl." The horde marched on. I belted out the biggest howl yet. The air shook and the simulation glitched.
The binary army halted for a moment. They looked confused. Since TerrorByte had charged me, I had some residual energy with his signature. Also, I was in the digital world where the rules of the physical/analog world didn't apply. I doubted I could do this again.
The leader finally knelt. Then like a group of spectators doing The Wave, the rest knelt. I started towards them and then vanished in a burst of sparkling golden fur.
***
TerrorByte ran. It was all he could do at the moment. Rain slapped at his face making it harder to see. Once every door opened for him but now all the building doors were locked. No one would come to his aid.
He ran on.
His breaths came out in bursts of smoke as the empty streets blurred around him. He paused to lean upon a wall. The lights of the eStore selling old fashioned television sets flickered on. The TVs hummed and beeped and made static noises.
"Hehheh-heh." The sound came from the old 2000 set. TerrorByte took a chance and looked. What he saw froze his code to the source.
"Jackal."
"Long time no see," the ex-warlord said. His voice seemed to make the rain colder.
TerrorByte swallowed not only his spit but his pride. "Help me...Master."
Jackal laughed and the image flickered and jerked. It was not the sound of laughter from a joke but a laugh of malice. "And just why would I help you? I already taught you how to journey through worlds. I told you what would happen if you killed your mirror selves. And what did you do when I asked you to free me from my prison? You boarded up the door." Jackal's voice raised slightly, but he still had that calm, collected tone to it. A grin of pure evil spread across his face. "Besides, the hunt has begun. I think I'm going to enjoy this."
The screens and lights went black.
Screeeeeech!!
TerrorByte turned to the noise. He saw me walking towards him, dragging my claws across the building side. TerrorByte turned and ran. He only got a few feet before I teleported in front of him. A slight growl revealed my canine teeth. TerrorByte turned to run in another direction, but in a flash, I was there. I pointed a finger towards him. He fled once more.
He ran winding through the maze of alleys while I followed along the rooftops.
"That's right,"whispered Jackal. "Toy with him. Revel in the hunt."
The digital titan stopped. He panted. He stepped backwards, his eyes darting every which way. I slipped into the shadows near him. My cape made a slight swish as I passed. He turned.
"TerrorByte," I said sounding like I was coming from everywhere. "It is time to face your crimes. The crimes you have committed against us."
"Who are you?" cried TerrorByte. "You can't be the Dogboy I faced? He wasn't like this!"
"TerrorByte," my voice echoed and whispered, "you have been found guilty. Guilty of mur-der!!"
TerrorByte ran. His breath quickened. His eyes blurred over. Then...POW!
I clothes-lined him.
With an ooff, he went airborne for a second then crashed to the ground. I stood over the yellow and gold cybernetic master. The supercharge from TerrorByte was fading and my eyesight was starting to blur again. But nonetheless I could smell his fear. It was the smell of power...my power. There was no escape for him. He was at my mercy.
"Finish him!" Jackal egged. "End it now!"
I raised my fist. TerrorByte cowered. In one quick, fluid motion I snatched my glasses from his suit. Once I slipped them on, they changed to Dogboy's sunglasses.
"Much better." I picked TerrorByte up like a washrag. "Let them go."
But now that I hadn't killed him, his fear faded. He knew I wouldn't kill him and with that knowledge came confidence. He smirked. "No."
"Fine." I dropped him. With a tap to my sunglasses, I activated a system similar to the Omni-Cuff. Within minutes I'd gotten into TerrorByte's system. In his weakened state, it was much easier. If I'd tried this earlier, he would have squashed me.
"You're right. It is easy to transfer their minds." I tapped the Undo button.
***
"Within minutes of TerrorByte's capture, thousands of people—including the three eAthletes, recovered from the eComas. TerrorByte was transferred to a PAWS facility where he waits trail."
I turned off the holo-screen. "It's kind of disturbing that the news never covered the thousands of other victims until now. They only mentioned the three celebrities. I didn't even know they existed until we got captured." I faced Sally. She was busy working on something.
Sally and I were alone in the Doghouse. Danny and Brain were still at Geek Con, but they said they had a really interesting tale to tell. Normally, if Sally and I had the place to ourselves we'd be laughing or watching some movie, but there was just this awkward silence.
I leaned back in the chair. "Shame that TerrorByte's cosmic power faded from both of us. It was pretty awesome being that strong." I leaned forward. "But also a little scary." I glanced at Sally; she continued to work. "I wonder if his power would have recharged you like it did me?" Still nothing. I let out a sigh. "Are you upset by what TerrorByte said? That I'm not really from this reality?"
She answered but didn't look away from her screen. "No. If it's even true, I've known you a lot longer than I knew that Joe. I only knew him for a couple days. I've known you for years." She finally turned. "You're the one I fell in love with."
I smiled, relieved. She turned back to her screen. "I, uh, guess I'll see you tomorrow then." I decided to risk it and put my hand on hers.
ZzzzTTT!!
We both yelped as the electric spark shocked us.
I smiled, showing my teeth. "I see we still have that old spark."
Sally shook her head. "This is what I get for dating a guy with fur. Especially one that drags his feet when he walks."
We laughed for a bit, which was nice and stress-releasing. She wanted to continue working so I told her to turn off the lights before leaving. As soon as the door closed behind me, she went back to her research on parallel Earths. She was looking up various theories and who were the leading experts. As time ticked by her hand began to itch. She scratched at it but it continued to itch. Finally, she looked down to find a small patch of fur growing. She blinked and it was gone.
"What?"

That's the end of this story, but more Side Quests are coming.

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.