Chapter Eighteen: Stick 'em up!

"never give in to your primal side completely... it can get barbaric..."

-Alpha.

entering the game store, Beta found what seemed to be a shop in the front, and a stadium in the back.
Humans and Bukis rushed around the store, some Larping, some playing card games, some playing videogames on the demo units.
looking around, he found that he couldn't read the Viradan text adorning each box in the games section, it seemed that he'd lost his translating sight, but kept his translating voice.
odd.
however, from the boxart, he recognised a few earth-titles, mostly racing and warfare games, though.
a jack russel approached him "see anything good, earthie? Xlenian games are way better, but we've got a few imports from your world, too."
Beta scoffed, the armband and badge he was forced to wear had given him away to an employee.
"i'm good, and this isn't the first time i've looked at Xlenian games, you know."
"oh? gimme an example."
"does K-D-M-X mean anything to you?"
"KingDogMan X? he's still ranked first in a couple rosters, mainly Conqurers Cathedral."
"that's me."
the canine laughed "look everyone, this earthie thinks he's KDMX!"
the other patrons laughed.
"okay, let me prove it to you. you got C.Cathedral?"
"we do, but you're definitely not KDMX, he was playing long before you earthies came here."

the two canids entered VR pods, a large crowd gathered around a huge screen ready to watch the match.
the two of them ordered the program to begin.
"Game.... START!"

[players logging in: Luja and KingDogMan X]

the two avatars faced off in a demonic church, looking much like their physical selves, but KDMX was sporting devilish wings and horns, while Luja had a halo and double angel wings and an archery set.
a firey sword was in KDMX's right paw, and a shotgun in the other.

[NOTICE - High ranking player recognised, Elite: KingDogMan X, ranked 1/100,000, almighty ratio is 1/2.]
[opponent is average: Luja. ranked 50,000/100,000, almighty ratio is 1/8895.]

the angelic canine panicked "holy-- you really are KDMX!?"
"i am," he replied, his voice distorted devilishly "i also levelled past Demon into Devil, whereas you're still on angel, not diety... specifically, you're a... dominion, the fourth order of the nine."
Luja turned and ran, but in blinding speed, KDMX was ahead of him, and thrust his blade through the angel's chest.
"i win."
[Luja takes damage of 99999 deducted from HP of 605. Luja has run out of HP. Game Over.]

the duo exited the pods and the game, the crowd cheered, and the humbled jack russel groaned.
"damn, guess you weren't lying..."
"no, I wasn't." Beta said with a slight smirk.

the employee helped translate the titles as Beta browsed, before asking "so, why's it king-dog-man, anyway?"
"i do come from earth. i wasn't always a wolf."
"right, of course." he rubbed his eyes and sighed as if it should have been obvious.
Beta picked out a game, the cover showed a young dog and cat pair wearing futuristic armour in the void of outer-space. "this looks good."
"s'an RPG, outer void 4: astral stars. it has turn based combat as well as real time."
"i like those. can you translate the back?"
"sure." the employee looked over the back of the box "it says: fight for Power, for Justice, for Honour, for Victory! Astral Stars pits the republic of Felino angainst the kingdom of caninix in another installment to the outer void series, who will you side with? ... then it says: engage in massive interstellar battles in your ship, or fight your way through hordes of foes on the surfaces of alien planets in your quest to defeat your foes! ... so basically you either pick being a dog or a cat and try to beat the other one's army. turn-based stuff is on land, real time happens in the ship."
Beta nodded "sounds interesting, how much is it?"
"102.30, it's pretty new."
Beta winced "real expensive... any way i could get a discount?" he asked hopefully, ears perking.
"not unless you win the tag-team battle tourniment, but the reigning champs are absolute pros, they've never lost even once. not even when they were newbies." the jack russel said tauntingly, causing the wolf to mutter a curse beneath his breath as his ears folded back.
"you feel like signing up?"
Beta considered it, and was about to answer when a gunshot rang out.

everyone panicked, a group of shady-dressed figures wearing masks had walked in with guns "everybody on the ground now!" one of them ordered.
they went right up to the desk and demanded the money from the register, to which, the panicking blonde human clerk hurriedly transferred the funds digitally to the robbers' handheld.
Beta snarled, drawing their attention as he stood up.
"i said, ON. THE. GROUND!"
Beta shook his head.
they growled and pointed their guns at him "the FUCK do you think you are?!"
his vision went red in his growing savage bloodlust, and he snarled like a wild animal before answering...
"you've no clue who you're talking to."
every rational and logical part of his brain was ordering him to shut up and stay safe, but the rest was demanding he stop these thugs. he wanted to obey his logical mind, but his body disobeyed.
and besides, he wasn't helpless.
they cocked their guns, prepared to fire.
"you just made a bad choice, shithead."
Beta's ruby-red eyes began to glow, his pupils turned to slits.
his voice came out far huskier, more beastial "go inhale flouride, you worthless pricks."
shots were fired, but that was the last Beta knew as his body started moving of its own accord, and everything was lost under a red haze and the roar of the blood rushing in his ears.

---

the wolf was faster than he looked, much faster, one second he was by the far wall, the next he was above them, fangs bared before he sunk them viciously into the arm of one of the thugs.
he swung his head like a dog does with a chew-toy, tearing open a wound.
he suddenly leapt away, over to another thug, whom he lashed out at with his claws in an outright savage assault, leaving clothing torn and gashes cut into his victim.
the remaining two thugs tried to shoot him, but the moment they tensed their fingers on the triggers, the wolf's ears swivelled in their direction and he was suddenly upon them, snatching the guns from them and snapping them to pieces in his maw, just as his fangs became longer and sharper, more feral.
they panicked as a red mist began to waft up from the wolf's body, his sclerae turned black and his bloodred eyes turned a fiendish yellow, full of malice, and he began to laugh maniacally as he charged toward them.
before they had a chance to run, he'd already caught one of them, breaking both his victim's arms with his bare paws in a sadistic display of brute strength.
the light brown of his fur changed, becoming auburn as he threw his injured foe away like trash.
clearly, any control he had over himself was long gone.
the last thug quickly dropped to his knees and raised his arms in surrender "i give! i give!"
the now savage Beta cocked his head and made a noise similar to a 'huh?' at his foe's surrender, it was as if he didn't understand at all what the thug was doing.
the other patrons frightened whimpers and crying, however, seemed to be affecting him, dousing his bloodlust with something not unlike concern.
his eyes fluttered, he swayed from side to side, he looked tired.
the vapour stopped, his fangs de-feralised, his fur reverted to normal, and his eyes returned to their normal ruby-red.
and then the wolf passed out.

the thug was stunned. from the armband and badge, it was clearly a guy from earth, but what the hell? that outright barbaric assault hadn't been expected, and he was sure earth wasn't making bioweapons anymore...
so what was this guy?

the police arrived soon after with paramedics, and the injured were taken away, as was the wolf himself.
the thug didn't understand what had happened to him, but he knew one thing for certain.
he didn't want to encounter that wolf again, no chance in hell was he going to be fighting him ever again!

---

a few hours later, in a hospital, Beta lay unconsious as a worried Zenef and Lightningblazer stood nearby.
he was currently in a Coma, and the authorites wanted to question him once he woke up.
on the news, Beta had been shown going completely insane and bashing a group of thugs mercilessly, but the look in his eyes on the recording had made it clear that he wasn't in control when that had happened.
the doctor, a short black-haired human woman, attached nodes to the unconsious wolf's head "there's nothing wrong physically, so it could have been a psychological issue. this'll let us see his brainwaves."

beep... beep...

the monitor displayed a wave like that on a heart monitor, each 'pulse' reading his brainwaves differently.

beep... beep... beep, beep, beep.

the pace began to accelerate.

beep beep beep beep beep

the wave distorted, briefly showing a curvy line instead of peaks.
something was wrong.

beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!

Zenef gasped "Beta effects machinery! if he's unconsious, stuff'll go haywire!"
but, nothing else in the room was being effected.
lightningblazer shook his head "it's not that..."
Alpha appeared to Zenef, looking worried.
'enter the neural annexe, from there we can enter his mind'
Zenef told the doctor what he intended to do, and meditated.

in the corridors of his mind, the young human and the nobleman wolf hurried toward the red door, rushing inside and entering the 'annexe', a threshold between Alpha's/Beta's mind, and Zenef's.
across from them stood a large black ornate doorway, it looked similar to one you'd find on an old church or a castle in ancient times.
"that was never there before..." Alpha said with a degree of fear in his voice, his ears flattening against his scalp and his tail tucking between his legs.
Zenef had never seen the wolf this terrified before "woah... guess this mustn't be good..."
Alpha shook his head and whimpered pitifully.
cautiously, they approached the door that loomed before them, anxiety growing with each step.
the heavy doors opened for them, and they entered into what appeared to be the interior of a european castle, fully furnished and everything, as it would have been in the middle ages.
Alpha let out a slight chuckle "well... we were an emperor once..."
the joke lifted their moods a bit, and they continued on, deeper into the castle.
an array of assorted weapons hung on the walls of the next room, ranging from knives and swords to guns and miniature cannons.
they noticed a younger-looking version of Beta, in wolf form, dressed in the same attire as Alpha, around ten years old, swinging his arms about in the middle of the room, a pair of Katars attached to his paws.
they tried to get his attention.
"um... excuse me?" Alpha asked cautiously.
the young wolf spun around and looked at them oddly.
"soul, successor, you're here?"
"soul?" Alpha wondered
"successor?" Zenef asked, confused.
"yes," the young wolf replied "the soul of 999, and his reincarnation. you are here for the remnant, yes?"
"you mean Beta?" Alpha asked curiously
"i do, the remnant of the past life has been taken to the top of the palace, after the intruder broke in and posessed us." the young wolf answered, turning back to continue practicing with the katars.
alpha pointed to a staircase "c'mon, let's go find him."
Zenef nodded and followed the wolf.
around fifteen storeys up, they found a very young incarnation of the wolf, no more than five years old.
nothing but a cub.
it was immersed in watching a holographic screen, an ever changing scene played on it, moving too fast for Zenef and Alpha to identify the content.
the cub absently pointed to his right, toward a heavy-looking iron door.
they heaved the door open and went inside.

another flight of winding stairs was inside, but when they reached the top, they found a large white wooden door, a cloaked figure stood beside it.
"who are you?" Zenef asked.
the figure said nothing, it meerly pointed at Alpha with a human hand, then at itself.
Alpha nodded in understanding "it's the human part of us..."
the figure nodded, and unlocked the door with a small antique key.
they walked past the figure and into the room, discovering something shocking.

Beta was there, hanging from thick black chains suspending him a metre from the floor.
he was in a crucified position, and smaller chains were bound to his throat.
Alpha panicked "BETA!!"
the wolf didn't respond.

"he can't hear you." came a sinister voice

in the corner of the room, upon the large bed, sat a crimson-furred canine, smirking evilly at them.
the duo gasped, it was the spectre that had tried to take Bailey's body, and it seemed he now inhabited Beta.
Bedlam Sillias.
"you?!" Alpha barked in surprise "when did you get in here?!"
"i found my way in shortly after i was chased off, i was drawn to this wolf... he posesses a few qualities desireable in a host."
Zenef got angry "get out of Beta you big jerk!"
the red canine laughed cruelly before maliciously adding "make me, Runt."

(Next Chapter: Inner Conflict, and Sacrifice...)