The smell that was wafting off the rats was a potent mix of wet fur and sewage. Another time, Lucky would have considered rolling in such a rich smell, now the smell caused the dark sensation deep in Lucky’s core to bloom into a shiver that raised his hackles. Four giant rats, six of them. This could be a difficult fight. Lucky’s copper brows met over his pale eyes as he studied the rat in front of him. Where did giant rats come from?

Titanorat

In chaos, the scavenger thrives.

The moment hung suspended, nothing moved. “Don’t let them draw you away from Sugar and Girl, we need to keep them safe in the center. Keep aware of your flanks.” Lucky growled. That growl started a chorus as the other dogs growled.

The rats closed in slowly, but their final lunge was impossibly fast. Val yelped as one of the rats sunk its dirty teeth into her shoulder. Lucky lunged forward with a [Bite] that let him get his teeth into the rat’s forelimb as it charged for him. Clenching his teeth, Lucky yanked back into a [Trip] that sent the titanorat tumbling and had a chime sounding in his head.

**DA-DING!! You have gained +1 Trip!!**

The rat landed heavily on its side, its whiplike tail thrashing behind it. Lucky leapt back as teeth snapped at him, his paws skidding a little bit against the asphalt. The sudden crack of two nearly simultaneous gunshots broke his focus on his opponent and drew his attention to Girl. She was close to him, only a pawful of feet away, standing in a stable shooting stance with a gleaming revolver in each hand. Smoke curled up from the guns, the acrid smell burning his nose. She wasn’t looking toward Lucky, instead she was facing toward where Intrepid was tangling with an especially brutish looking rat. It was squealing, drawing back from Intrepid and Girl. The two shots had hit side by side on the upper left of the rat’s chest. Intrepid was low to the ground and moving quickly toward the rat’s flank.

Again the guns spat and Lucky flinched at the explosion of sound. His attention had been pulled away for only a few seconds, but it was long enough. Claws raked his flank while he was distracted, scoring a pair of long lines down his right hip. His head snapped back around to his own opponent and he pulled in a deep breath, feeling [Breath of Light] snap into place. His exhalation was radiant, spreading in a narrow cone from his mouth and washing over the rat. The sound it made was loud and filled with pain. Lucky’s mouth snapped closed, unintentionally ending the skill prematurely.

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Titanorat!! You have gained 40 experience!!

Lucky tried to turn toward left toward Val and as his weight came down on his right hindpaw, he faltered, almost going down. A yelp escaped his muzzle as he pulled his hindpaw up close to his stomach, trying to stabilize himself on only three paws. He felt [Healing Howl] click into place and threw his head back to unleash it. As the warm feeling of the healing skill washed through him, dulling the pain in his flank, he watched Val leap up onto the back of the rat she was fighting and sink her teeth deep into the nape of its neck. It shook, trying to dislodge her. He heard a third round of shots and another chime in his head.

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Titanorat!! You have gained 40 experience!!

Another warm wave of healing energy washed over him and he could actually feel the wound on his hip closing. His eyes scanned across his field of vision, looking for other rats in the area as another chime went off.

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Titanorat!! You have gained 40 experience!!

He saw Val leap clear as the rat tried to roll over on her and the Doberman launched herself back at the rat almost as soon as she landed. It was belly up for only a moment, neck bared, but it was enough time for Val to sink her sharp teeth into it. The final chime sounded.

**DA-DING!! Your party has slain a Titanorat!! You have gained 40 experience!!

Lucky was panting heavily and he wasn’t the only one injured. Girl slid the revolvers back into the holsters and grinned down at Intrepid. “That was amazing!” She said, reaching down to ruffle his ears. “I’m so glad you came with us.” For once, Intrepid’s tail freed itself from its coil around his leg and wagged a couple of times before curling back up.

“How’s everyone doing?” Lucky asked, looking Val over carefully.

“I’m alright, thanks to Sugar.” She answered.

“Fine over here.” Axel said.

“I’m alright.” There was pride in Intrepid’s voice. Girl may have helped, but he held his own just fine against the titanorats.

“Well,” Girl began, “That answers one question I had.”

“What question is that?” Asked Val.

“Axel’s class mentioned that his species would gain the fire trait, I wondered how other things could change because of classes or abilities. Clearly growing larger is possible, maybe Axel would eventually turn into a fire elemental or something. It makes me wonder what else can happen.”

“I suspect it could be anything.” Sugar said.

“Anything.” Val mused, softly. “I think that’s a terrifying thought.”

Intrepid laughed nervously, “At least I’m not the only one.”

Lucky’s eyes scanned their surroundings once more as the rest of his pack fell silent. He didn’t see any more of the rats, but there could be any number of things creeping up on them. It seemed so strange that he felt safer in the wilderness than he did in this City. When he spotted nothing, he said, “Let’s keep moving. I want to know what that blast area is before night comes. Hopefully we can get somewhere safe to sleep after that.”

“Shouldn’t we drag these out of the street so cars can go by?” Girl asked.

A thoughtful grumble escaped Lucky as he looked at the large rat carcasses. “I’m not even sure we could.” He admitted, “They’ve got to weigh as much as a car.”

“They’re as big as a car.” Val muttered.

Lucky trotted up to one of the rats, grabbed it by the nape of its neck and braced himself against it. “A little help?” His pale eyes rolled to meet Val’s as she panted a laugh.

“You sure you need help, boss? Big bad ol’ fluffball like you?” She taunted.

The multicolored dog grumbled as he dug in and yanked back on the rat. He almost lost his grip on the rat when it gave way and followed almost effortlessly behind him. His hindpaws scrambled against the asphalt and he almost went head over tail. Val’s laughter was as gruff as her speaking voice and howled out of her as she leaned against Girl. The rat’s momentum had it smashing into Lucky when he stopped, wiping his legs out from under him and he plopped down on his rump. Girl’s grin spread from ear to ear and she was laughing just as hard as the dog she leaned against.

Lucky climbed stiffly to his feet and shook out his fur. “Well, it’s out of the street.” He huffed as he padded over to move the rest of them.

“Shouldn’t we like, loot them or something?” Girl asked.

“Loot?” Val responded, tilting her head to one side.

Her face grew serious, almost frowning. “Yeah, in video games, when you defeat an enemy they have items and stuff. We get experience, shouldn’t we be getting items too?”

“What kind of items do you think a rat would carry?” Axel grumbled.

Girl’s cheeks pinkened in a blush. “I don’t know, but shouldn’t we check?”

“Check how?” Intrepid asked. He was sticking close to Girl and Sugar while the other three went about moving the rats out of the road.

“I don’t know. In video games if you can loot something there’s like sparkles sometimes. I guess these don’t have sparkles. In some games you have to like skin the monsters or something. Sometimes you gather up, like, skins and teeth and stuff and do, like, bounties and things. Um… do you think there are quests to do?”

“Quests?” Val asked.

“Yeah, quests. There are people in games, NPCs, that give quests you can do. The quests will be like, find six widgets or whatever. Then you bring the widgets back to the NPC and they give you like money, xp, and some kind of reward. Or at least a reward of some sort. Sometimes you get faction points or whatever. I mean, I don’t really play video games that much. I like sports and stuff, being outside, you know?”

Lucky sat down, head tilted to one side and watched Girl as she continued to ramble. After a moment he said, “Are you alright, Girl?”

“I’m okay. Fine really, I’m alright.” She wiped her hands on her jeans, tucked them in her pockets for a moment, then rested them on the grips of her revolvers.

“Are you sure?” Lucky’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t seem fine.”

“I said I’m fine, Lucky. Let’s go.”