Lucky was sprawled on his back in the sunshine when it happened. What had been a perfectly lovely lazy summer day was completely ruined by the appearance of a bright shape before his eyes.

Greetings Lucky Lachlan!

You have been chosen.

The End is coming.

You have three days, prepare yourself!

The startling appearance of the shape caused Lucky to roll swiftly to his feet, tilting his head as he studied the white markings against the grass colored background. His bright blue eyes were puzzled and eventually he tilted his head to the other side, continuing to stare at the strange shape.

*DA-DAH* You have acquired the language skill - Basic English!

The sound startled Lucky and he raced in a quick circle looking for the source, his nose working furiously, searching for any sign of an intruder in his yard.

*DA-DAH!* You have acquired the survival skill - Scent at level 1!

Lucky felt confused. He had always been able to smell, what in the heckin’ world was this voice talking about? He sniffed his way around the perimeter of his yard, checking into all his favorite spots. Just there, under the big oak tree, was a strong puddle of the hazy brown scent of squirrel. Fluffy tail wagging, he leapt up on his hind legs, front paws against the tree for balance and barked his deepest, fiercest bark at the leafy branches where the cowardly squirrel hid.

*DA-DAH!* You have acquired the language skill - Expert Canine!

*DA-DAH!* You have acquired the combat skill - Intimidating Bark at level 1!

The dog stopped barking, looking around again for the source of the dings and the voice. His tail slowly wagged to a stop, drooping slightly. The voice sounded pleased with him, but he wasn’t sure that pleasing the voice was the best idea. After all, the voice didn’t belong to his Girl. Girl was important, this voice? Perhaps not so much.

He dropped to all fours, shaking out his long multicolored coat of fur before plopping down on his haunches and scratching at his flopping left ear. Above him, the cowardly squirrel began to chatter at him. Lucky ignored the squirrel, scratching at his ear with fervor. Maybe I should talk to the old dog next door. Lucky thought, eyes narrowing as he found the sweet spot with his hind paw.

He stood up again, shaking out his fur, and trotted over to the eastern fence line. Sniffing along the fenceline he marked the few spots that he and Vinny hotly contested.

“Hey, Vinny!” He barked, loudly. He couldn’t see through the tall wooden fence, but he could smell that Vinny was in the yard. “Vinny!”

He heard a deep snore that cut off midway through and then Vinny’s sleepy bark. “What?”

“Did you see the grass-colored thing?” Lucky headed toward the part of the fence that was behind one of the large bushes and pawed at the already disturbed dirt before settling in for a dig.

“What grass-colored thing?” Vinny asked through a yawn.

*DA-DAH!* You have acquired the general skill - Dig at level 1!

The hole was barely big enough for Lucky to fit through, but he wriggled his way through to the other side. Vinny, an old blue-grey pit bull, was lazing on his home’s back porch, half in the shade. “The grassy box with words on it.”

Vinny snorted and flopped over onto his side. “Where was the box? What’d it smell like?”

Lucky padded over to the smaller dog, sniffing his way across the yard and sharing a good sniff with Vinny before he answered. “That’s the weird part, Vinny. It didn’t smell like anything. Now there’s this voice that keeps saying stuff to me.”

“Saying stuff?” Vinny asked, lifting his head again at last. “What kinda stuff?”

“It’s saying stuff about skills. The box said something about me bein’ chosen or something. Said the End is coming and I must prepare.”

Vinny couldn’t help it, he laughed. “You kidding? Chosen for what?” The old dog shook his head as he rose slowly to his feet. “Only thing you’re skilled at is chasin’ squirrels.” Stretching first his front legs and then his back, he climbed to his feet. “It’s nothin’, kid, just ignore it. It’ll go away.”

“I donno, Vinny, I feel like it’s maybe important.”

The old pit bull glanced at Lucky from the corner of his eye as he stiffly made his way down onto the grass. “If you think it’s important, why don’t you ask that idiot husky?”

“Lobo? Why would I ask Lobo anything?”

“His man plays all those games on the moving window all the time. Maybe he knows more about boxes and skills.” Vinny’s tail wagged slowly as he sniffed his way along the fenceline, dismissing Lucky easily.

Lucky watched his friend for a moment before he trotted over to Vinny’s dog house and jumped up on the shallowly angled roof. From there getting over the chain link gate was a simple hop. “I’ll be back later, Vinny!” He called out as he trotted toward the road.

It was only a few houses down to Lobo’s and Lucky made good time. The husky’s fence was meant to be escape proof. Digging into the ground only found more fence below and the wooden ramparts were tall and imposing. Lucky stood on his hind legs and easily nosed the latch of the gate open, slipping inside the fence while it swung back closed.

*DA-DAH!* You have acquired the trait Escape Artist!

That’s just silly. He thought. I’m not escaping, I’m getting in.

“Lobo?” He barked as he trotted down the side of the house toward the back yard.

“Hey! Luck! Is that you, man?” Lobo’s voice was surprisingly slow for someone who moved so fast. The red pointed husky raced around the side of the house, doing a tight circle around Lucky.

“Yep. It’s me!” Lucky and Lobo shared a nose to nose sniff before circling each other, still sniffing.

“Oh, Luck! You smell like Vinny, you seen Vinny today?”

“Yep. He said I should ask you about the grass colored screen I saw. It didn’t have any smell!”

Lobo went still, even his tail stopped wagging, “It didn’t have a smell?”

The bigger, fluffier dog flopped down on his haunches. “No smell at all.” He scratched at his collar, jingling the tags attached to it. “It said I’d been chosen and that I had to prepare. Then I started learning skills.”

“Skills?” Lobo’s tail wagged eagerly. “What kind of skills?”

“I just got a trait when I came in here. Escape artist it said. Which is dumb, because I wasn’t escaping.”

Lobo tipped his head, tongue lolling for a moment as he thought. “What other skills do ya got?”

“I got a skill for diggin’ and one for sniffin’ and for barkin’.”

Lobo climbed to his feet. “My man never plays any games with barkin’ as a skill, that’s awesome. Let’s see what else you can get.” Tail wagging madly, Lobo dropped his front legs into a bow.

Lucky couldn’t stop his tail from wagging as he went into a bow as well. Lobo bounced forward and Lucky bounced back out of range. Then, quick as a squirrel, Lobo turned on his heel and raced away. Lucky was a big dog, he had a ground eating stride, but he wasn’t fast by any means. Lobo, on the other hand, was a smaller dog, light on his feet and deft and quick at turns. They raced around the yard, dodging trees and chairs, leaping up and down the terraces. At one point, Lobo darted under the patio table and Lucky soared over it, gaining just enough ground to finally bowl the husky over. The pair of them fell into a nipping, snarling, tussle.

*DA-DAH* You have acquired the trait Relentless Pursuit!

*DA-DAH* You have acquired the Combat Skill - Body Slam at level 1!

*DA-DAH* You have acquired the Combat Skill - Style: Dog Fighting at level 1!

*DA-DAH* You have acquired the Combat Skill - Bite at level 1!

Lobo wasn’t strong. If the contest was solely about strength, Lucky would have won easily. Instead, Lobo was able to wriggle his way away from the bigger dog and take off running again. After another, briefer, chase around the yard, Lucky flopped over on his side, panting. Lobo danced around him for a moment, testing to make sure his friend was really giving up, then he darted in and nosed Lucky.

“You get anything else?” The husky asked, panting lightly as he too flopped down.

“A trait ‘n three skills, all combat skills.”

“An’ you said the grass said you was chosen, right?”

“Right.” Lucky rolled to his back, rubbing his fur into the cool grass beneath him.

“‘En you should try to get as many of those skills as you should before the ‘End’ happens. Wonder what’s going to happen?”

Lucky stopped squirming and went still as a thought struck him. “You don’t suppose it’s a bad end?”

Lobo raised his head and gave the bigger dog a flat look with his pale blue eyes. “Luck, it told you to prepare, it gave you fighting skills. Whatever it is, it ain’ a good end.”

Lucky sneezed and sprang to his feet. “You mean Girl is in danger?”

Lobo’s thickly furred ears swept back against his skull. “They could all be in danger.” He looked toward the house. “We better spread the word and stick close to home.”

“Easy for you, your person hasn’t left home in forever. Girl goes to school.”

The red husky tilted his head to the side, ears flicking a bit. “Since when would that stop you, Luck?”

Tongue lolling in a canine smile, Lucky looked back toward the gate. “I better get home before she does. I won’t let her out of my sight until I figure out the grass words.”

“Good idea. I’ll help spread the word tonight during Dark Bark.” Lobo said as he shook some grass out of his fur. “I better get back inside. Maybe I can get my person to take me on a walk. You’re right about him never leaving.”

Lucky nosed the gate closed when he left, locking his friend back in his yard. He was halfway back to his own house when his nose twitched and a familiar grey scent teased his nostrils. A low growl rumbled deep in his chest and he turned toward the scent. He and the neighbor cat had a more than slightly antagonistic relationship. The cat was a fat, spoiled, ball of well groomed fur who thought she owned the neighborhood. Clearly, Lucky disagreed. She was sunning herself on her porch, grey tail swishing slightly and a constant, nasal sounding purr rumbling from her.

Lucky crouched the last few feet, moving slowly. She was asleep. The dog’s ears twitched as the purr changed cadence and the cat twitched in her sleep. Dreaming. Even better. His tail wagged slowly as he put one foot on the bottom step of her porch. He shifted his weight slowly, listening for a creak. When none appeared, he lowered his head until he was level with the sleeping cat. He took a big breath and reached deep within himself for his best bark. The sharp crack of sound echoed across the neighborhood and the cat…

It was glorious.

She leapt to her feet, fur standing on end, tail puffed to thrice its normal size. Her ears were flat against her head and a feral and snarling hiss tore from her. At first, he laughed, tail wagging quickly behind him. The cat was breathing rapidly, little chest rising and falling so fast she looked like a bellows. Her fur was on end, her muscles were trembling and her wide orangey-brown eyes looked terrified. She crouched, making herself smaller, breaking eye contact with the dog.

Usually she bolted. Usually he chased her. This time she looked scared. Startled, he’d seen before. Not scared.

He looked away, watching her from the corner of his eye.

She made a pitiful meow, slowly flicking her fluffy tail back and forth.

Lucky’s eyebrows twitched and he tilted his head to the side. She seemed distressed. He whined. The cat’s ears flicked forward and her tail flicked again.

**DA-DAH!! You have acquired the language skill - Pidgin Feline!**

He leaned forward to sniff at the cat, trying to make sense of what she was trying to tell him.

“What?” He whined again.

The cat reeled backward, eyes dilating for a moment before she stretched forward to touch Lucky’s nose with her own. “Words smell not.” The cat’s expressions and language were like and not like those of a dog, but suddenly those expressions made sense to him.

He tried to use gestures like hers to communicate with her. “Grass words smell not?”

She meowed, “Yes.”

The cat had seen the same thing Lucky had. The same words. “Chosen?” He asked, tail wagging eagerly.

“Chosen.” She meowed, her tail stilling. “What do?”

Lucky backed away from the stairs and sat on the sidewalk. “What mean?” He whined, the closest to a meow he could get.

She sat up, tail curling around her feet. She lifted one paw to her face and groomed it for a second, ears flicking, before she spoke again. “What point? Why do? What do?” She made a shrugging gesture with her shoulder before washing her ears with her paw.

“What point? People point. Protect Girl. Protect… woman. Yes?” Lucky answered. He struggled with the feline language.

“Why? What for me?”

The dog was floored. “What for you? Who care. Protect.”

“Not dog.” The cat chewed at her paw again. Her fur was still fluffed, she still looked on edge, but she was relaxing.

Lucky snorted a breath out of his nose, wrinkling one corner of his mouth in a snarl. “Cat.”

The cat yawned. “Dog.” She muttered before turning around and walking smugly away.

Lucky snorted again and watched her walk away, her tail swishing. He shook out his fur and jogged back to his yard. He jumped from the front porch railing over the fence and landed lightly in the backyard.

**DA-DAH!! You have gained +1 Dexterity!**

He checked the position of the sun in the sky and sat back on his haunches, considering his day. The scentless-grass screen had said he should prepare. How should he prepare? What skills would be important? What skills hadn’t he gotten that he could get? What would he need to do when the end came? How could he best protect Girl?

He had a couple of hours before she would return and he needed to make the best use of them. He jumped up the back steps and slipped through the doggy door, nails clicking on the linoleum floor of the kitchen. He lapped up some water as he thought through his choices. He was definitely going to practice more with Lobo, maybe go visit Bruno too. Maybe even Vinny would wrestle a bit.

Lucky sniffed around the first floor, looking for crumbs or interesting leftovers. Nothing. He huffed a sigh as he wriggled through the doggy door again. He sniffed his way around the back yard, trying to remember where he’d buried his favorite toy. He was in the back corner of the yard when he finally caught the scent of it and almost as soon as he did he heard the chime in his head.

**DA-DAH!! You have reached Scent 2!**

He sneezed as a range of distant scents assailed his nostrils. He could smell so much further. He sat back and lifted his head, inhaling deeply through his nose. So many scents. He could smell every animal within a block. It was almost dizzying. He could even recognize most of the scents. He jogged over to the hole between his yard and Vinny’s, barking a greeting before slipping through.

“Hey, old man.” He trotted up the yard.

Vinny was sleeping on the back porch again, lazily rolled on his side. He opened one eye and chuffed out, “Hey.” He yawned hugely and stretched his legs. “What’d the idiot husky say?”

“Lobo thinks I should get all the skills I can. I got a bunch’a ‘em wrestlin’ around with him in his yard. You wanna play some?”

The old dog lifted his head and met Lucky’s gaze. “Not today, pup.” He rolled upright. “What skills do you have? Maybe I can help think of some you don’t have? Or can you get better at skills?”

“Yeah. I have scent at rank 2 now. I can smell the whole neighborhood.”

Vinny cocked his head. “The whole thing?”

“I can smell Sugar and Calypso.”

“That’s heckin’ far. Can you smell Quigley?” Vinny asked. “That son of a woman owes me a rawhide.”

Lucky took a few deep breaths, pointing his nose in each of the cardinal directions. He caught the faint, stale, scent of Quiqley to the north. “He hasn’t been in the neighborhood in…” He sniffed again, thinking hard. “Three days. He left going north though. I could maybe track him down for you.”

“Nah. Too much fuss, he probably doesn’t have a rawhide to give me anyway.”

Lucky flopped down at the bottom of the stairs, rolling in the cool grasses. “You’re probably right, that hound never has anything.”

Vinny snorted. “What do you expect, Lucky, he’s a stray.”

The larger dog winced and stopped rolling in the grass for moment. “I forgot.”

“Course you did.” The pitbull snorted. “You never lived anywhere but with people. It’s easy to forget what life is like out there for strays.”

“You were a stray, weren’t you Vinny?”

The blue-grey dog got to his feet stiffly and ambled down the stairs. Numerous scars speckled his coat. “Yeah. I was a stray. Until the woman found me. I owe her. I wish I had gotten the grass-words. I feel like she might need my protection as much as your girl needs you.”

“Heck, Vinny. I didn’t even think of that. You know the cat that lives on the other side saw the window too.”

“How do you know that?”

“I talked to her.”

“You talked to a cat?”

“It’s one of the things I have. Uh… pigeon cat?”

“Pigeon?”

Lucky shrugged. “I don’ know. It said pigeon cat and then I could understand her.”

“That’s crazy.”

Lucky shrugged again and rolled to his stomach, looking up at Vinny as the old dog crossed toward the back corner of the yard. “I’ve got dig as a skill, too. ‘N intimidating bark, n’... um… bite?”

“So it’s given’ you skills when you do things dogs do. What if you do things dogs don’t do?”

“What do ya mean?”

“I don’ know. Try walking on your hind legs ‘r something.”

Lucky tried, but it didn’t go well and he didn’t get a new **DA-DING!**. Lucky grumbled as he headed back to his yard. He could smell that heckin’ squirrel in his yard and if nothing else, maybe he’d feel better if he chased it around a bit.