As the sun rose over Royal Woods, people began to wake up. Some of them would head to work, others would head downstairs, and others would relax. Everyone had a sort of routine, so to say. An unspoken schedule that got them through the day. Mad Dawg was still sleeping. He had no schedule, he just did what he felt like. Still, even if continuing to sleep for long periods of time wasn't seen as a routine, it was something that Mad Dawg needed.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-
CRUNCH!
Jolted awake, Mad Dawg's hand slammed down at what he thought might be an attacker, and smashed his alarm clock irreparably. Bolting into an upright position, Mad Dawg pushed his hair away from his eyes and blinked, realizing what had happened.
"Ugh… Not again…" He muttered, looking at the plastic chunks that were handing to his hand. "That's the fourth one this week."
Unplugging the remains of his clock, Mad Dawg tossed the twisted chunk of plastic and parts into his garbage bin, which had a few other alarm clocks' remains as well.
"…maybe I should put one in the bathroom or something."
Knowing that there was no point in fighting it, Mad Dawg listlessly pulled himself off of his futon and got changed. He was still groggy from his rude awakening, and he also didn't have any sort of plan for what he was going to do today. It took about half an hour by Mad Dawg finally left his house, leaving the door locked. He sat on the porch railing and looked around. Eventually he decided to-
"Wait. No, I can't do that here." He frowned.
Then he figured that he would go-
"They don't have that here."
Finally, he decided he'd hang out with-
"Wait. I don't have any friends." He realized. "Huh."
Truth be told, Dawg for the first time in a long time, was lost. When he first arrived, his goal had been to figure out where he was. Then, he needed to figure out what had just happened. He After that, he needed to get to know some people, who in this case were the Louds. After that, he needed to get a place to stay. Now… Nothing.
"No, wait." Mad Dawg muttered, as if suddenly realizing something. "There was something I needed to do. Tacos."
Jumping to the ground, Mad Dawg decided to head to the Royal Woods Mall again. Apparently, there was a 'Taco Shack', a fast-food taco chain. That was all Dawg needed to hear! Heading down the road, Mad Dawg cast a glance at the cars that went by. It occurred to him that while free running was fun and a great way to get around town, he figured he should maybe consider buying a car or a bike.
"Or an ATV." Dawg thought to himself. "Would that be legal to drive on the open road? More importantly, would it be cool enough to take that risk?"
As he considered the legal ramifications of dangerous driving, Dawg kept walking, eventually finding himself at the outskirts of the town. Looking around, Mad Dawg grinned, then went behind a store. Closing the lid on a large recycling container, Mad Dawg jumped up, got up onto the roof, and sighed. Cracking is neck, he grinned.
"Let's fly!"
Mad Dawg ran and jumped, rolling onto another rooftop, then taking off again.
Meanwhile…
"So, who's this 'Dog' guy you were talking about?" Sam asked. "He's some sort of dimension jumping… time traveler?
"Oh, you mean Mad Dawg? He's… He said he's from another dimension, and it could just be the future, but I believe him. He's this guy that my sister may have, sort of… hit with Vanzilla." Luna admitted. She figured if she told Sam amount Dawg, and his ability, but not much about his past, that wouldn't be an issue.
"Wait. What!?" Sam stopped dead in her tracks. "She… she hit someone?! Why isn't she in jail!?"
"Because… He got back up." Luna slowly confessed. "He… he got up, and he was healing, like freakishly fast."
"Okay, Luna…" Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Do you hear yourself right now? This is crazy! If you're trying to pitch me some sort of comic idea, I'm the wrong person to talk to."
"But I'm not making this up." Luna replied flatly. She knew this sounded crazy, but at the same time, it was true.
"Luna, if your sister hit someone, they'd be in the hospital, and Vanzilla would be covered in blood. Also, if this is all true, where is he?" Sam continued, clearly not believing her. "You expect me to believe some random guy just fell out of the sky and-"
THOOM
Sam And Luna flinched as a figure suddenly landed in a pose on the ground, cracking his neck as he stood up. He turned around and looked slightly down at Sam. The blonde rocker looking back in shock at the teen who appeared from nowhere. He then looked over her shoulder at Luna.
"Hey Luna." He nodded.
"Hey Dawg." Luna smiled. "Sam? This is Mad Dawg."
"Uh... hi." Sam blinked. "Okay… So, he's real, and- Wait. Is Mad Dawg your name? Or..."
"It's my real name." Mad Dawg nodded.
"That's cool!" Sam grinned.
"Yup." Mad Dawg smirked.
"Hey, where've you been the past week?" Luna asked. "I haven't seen you anywhere."
"I was doing… stuff…" Mad Dawg said, looking around, realizing that they clearly weren't believing him. He sighed before adding. "Okay, I've been doing nothing for the past week."
"…so what are you doing now? Jumping off of rooftops to try and break your legs for insurance?" Luna asked with a raised brow.
"I'm trying to get tacos and not get shot doing it." Mad Dawg grumbled, clearly remembering something.
"Back up." Sam suddenly ordered. "What happened to you?"
"You were shot?!" Luna asked in disbelief. The two pasued, then remembered having heard the news about an attempted robbery at Lobo's Tacos. Rumors had been circulating that someone had been shot, but the cops hadn't said anything about it.
"You were at Lobo's tacos?" Sam asked.
"Yup."
"You were there when the robbery happened?"
"Yup."
"You got shot?"
Mad Dawg pulled his shirt down and pointed to one of his scars, this one was still clearly new, and it was clearly different from the others.
"Yup." Mad Dawg nodded. "I tried to stop the dude and got shot."
"What are you doing out here?! If you got shot, you should be in a-" Sam began stammering, clearly shocked by what she had just been told. Her gut reaction was disbelief, but her mother was a nurse who worked with Bobby's mother, and she had seen pictures before of certain wounds. Even if it wasn't from the robbery, Mad Dawg had been shot.
Mad Dawg noticed she was about to have a breakdown, so he looked over at a nearby drain spout and whipped his arm against it, wincing in pain, Mad Dawg began to think maybe he should record himself doing this so he wouldn't have to constantly hurt himself to prove a point. Sam stopped sputtering and watched as the long cut slowly closed itself, as if nothing had happened.
"Okay, that may be the most metal thing I've ever seen." Sam nodded, eerily calm. Luna sighed in relief as it looked like Sam wasn't about to have a breakdown.
"Thanks." Mad Dawg smirked.
"I mean, you just… heal?" Sam continued with a genuine question.
"Yeah. Flesh, muscle, bones, some things take longer than others, but yeah." Mad Dawg nodded.
"Hey… Luna! He should be in the video!" Sam exclaimed, turning and looking around at Luna.
"Video?" The two asked in unison.
"Under the Full Moon!" Sam explained.
"Wait, you guys have a band? What type of music?" Mad Dawg asked curiously.
"Rock." Luna and Sam said with grins.
"Ah, women of culture." Mad Dawg said with a smirk and nod. "So like, what you thinking?"
"Okay, so how awesome would it be to have him as some sort of monster wandering through the video!? We could have him bleed to make some sort of trail and mix it with fake blood!"
"Actually, yeah." Mad Dawg nodded. "Get some blood packets to conceal it, a little bit of fake arm concealer thing…"
"Yeah! And we can get Dexx to do his make-up thing to make him look like a zombie-creature!" Sam continued.
"Sam." Luna said flatly.
"It'll be awesome! He can walk around and be this nightmarish entity like some sort of grim reaper!"
"Sam."
"And Dexx can easily make something to cover his arms so no one can tell what's real or fake!"
"Sam!" Luna shouted.
"Huh? What?" She blinked, coming back to reality.
"No." Was all she said in a very flat tone, before turing to Mad Dawg. "And what are you thinking!?You can't self-mutilate for money! Are you insane?!"
"No. I'm Mad." Mad Dawg replied with a cheeky grin and a thumbs up.
"Why are you doing this?" Luna asked quietly.
"Because I'm bored and need friends." Mad Dawg shrugged.
"That's a terrible way to make friends." Sam stated, now realizing that while her idea was cool, it was also extremely illegal and just wrong…
"But friends help each other, right?" Mad Dawg replied. "I mean, I've got this-"
"NO!"His conscious screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?"
"Look, it's not the way it used to be."Mad Dawg thought. "I've gotten better at controlling it, I mean, at the Lindholm's, I had a pretty good grasp on it."
"And if you fail, for any reason. Not only will you have ruined any chances you had at making friends or finding someone to help you get home, you'll need to drop everything and run for it. Only this time, there won't be a second chance."
"Yeah? And if I keep fighting it, sooner or later, it's going to break out and take over. When that happens, I won't be able to fight it. I need to learn to accept it, until I can find a cure for it."
"…Wow, you've actually thought this out."
"Yup."
Sam and Luna looked to one another, both clearly confused as to why Dawg seemed to freeze and stare into space.
"Did he break?" Sam asked.
"I have no idea." Luna frowned.
"Right, right… oh, sorry." Mad Dawg said sheepishly. "I uh, I zoned out for a second. What I was gonna say is I've been working on this big 'beast' costume. It's huge, and it's an animatronic costume mixed with a full-body suit. I was working on it for Halloween, and I've nearly got it done. I'd be more than happy to wear it for the video."
The two were surprised, then looked to one another, they were interested, but they had one question:
"What's it look like?"
Mad Dawg pulled up a picture and showed it to them. It was mostly shrouded in shadow, but they got the idea.
"Whoa…" Luna breathed.
"Yes. This." Sam said, her eyes widening in excitement. But the excitement was quickly cut short when Luna frowned.
"Wy are you offering to do this?" She asked Dawg. "We've only met a few times, and we barely know each other. Is there a reason you're offering to do this?"
"Well, first of all. I'm bored." Mad Dawg confessed. "Secondly, I've never been in a music video, and that sounds like a lot of fun. Third, I kinda, sorta need friends… and I'm not very good at making them. I just… do things and try to find people to hang out with. I know that sounds pathetic and stuff… but it's true."
Sam and Luna looked to one another, seeing that Dawg wasn't lying. Or at least, he was good at lying.
"Sure." Luna nodded. "We need to talk with the others about it, but I bet they'd be down to have you join for the shoot."
"Okay, cool." Mad Dawg nodded. "I'm gonna keep heading to the mall. I really, really need some tacos."
"Heh, sure." Luna shrugged. "Whatever works for you."
"Great! I'll call you!" Mad Dawg said with a grin, beginning to walk away.
"We don't have your number!" Luna called after realizing something. "And you don't have ours!"
"Exactly!" Mad Dawg shouted.
The two rockers watched Mad Dawg leave, having mixed feelings about the meeting. On the one hand, if his offer was true, it'd be awesome to have him in the video. But on the other hand, he just seemed… off.
"He's weird." Sam remarked, then added: "I like him."
Waiting at a crosswalk, Mad Dawg pushed the button for the traffic crossing. After about five seconds, Mad Dawg sprinted across the walk way, narrowly avoiding being hit by a car. Breathing quickly, Mad Dawg looked around, checking the street signs to figure out where he was headed next.
"You really couldn't wait another twenty seconds?"
Mad Dawg turned around and saw one of the older Loud girls, the one with blonde hair and white glasses.
"Nope." He shrugged, the blanked on her name. Snapping he muttered; "Hang on… don't tell me. Lori?"
"Leni." Leni replied.
"Right, sorry…" Mad Dawg said rubbing the back of his head. He was new where, but he felt guilty when he couldn't remember the names of the people he was interacting with.
"It's fine, when there's twelve of us, it can be a little tricky to remember all the names."
"No, no… It's just… Your Bobby's boyfriend, right?" Mad Dawg muttered, trying to remember something.
"Yup!" Lori smiled. "So, what brings you out here?"
"Headin' to the mall." Mad Dawg said, pointing over in a random direction with his thumb.
"Right, first of all, it's that way." Leni corrected Dawg with a slight laugh, pointing in the opposite direction that Dawg was pointing at. Did you get a job there?"
"Nah. I just really want tacos." Mad Dawg shook his head. "Enough to get shot over it."
The two stood there, unsure of what else to say, until Leni spoke up.
"Hey. Do you wanna get a coffee?"
Leni couldn't help but laugh quietly at Dawg's reaction. He seemed taken aback, blinking and looking around as if trying to figure out if she was talking to someone else. He reacted like no one had ever made an offer like that before.
"Then again, if he IS from another world or something, maybe no one in THIS world has made that offer before." She thought.
"Uh… yeah. Sure…"
A few minutes later, the two were sitting in Tyger King Coffee. Mad Dawg sipped his drink, a black dark roast.
"I don't get how anyone can drink that stuff black." Leni shook her head, almost in amazement.
"I like my coffee to remind me of my soul." Mad Dawg said in a calm, but no less chipper tone. He paused for a moment then laughed. "Sorry. Bad joke."
"I've heard worse from Lana. Bad jokes don't annoy me the way they used to." Leni replied. "Although don't take that as an invitation to try and team up with her to make as many bad jokes as- Dang it, you're gonna do that aren't you?"
"Maybe." Mad Dawg said.
"Please don't."
"I'm gonna."
"Please…"
"Okay, fine…" Mad Dawg sighed, over dramatically.
The pair returned to their drinks. Mad Dawg seemed noticeably less tense than he had been a few minutes ago. Either the caffeine had taken the edge off, or he was warming up a bit.
"This may seem like a weird question, but are you okay?" Leni asked. Mad Dawg looked at her with a slightly tilted head, his eyes looked around.
"Yeah. That is a weird question." He finally answered. "Why are you asking me that?"
"Bobby... said you seemed like you needed someone to talk to." Leni began cautiously. "He said that you seemed like a nice guy, so… I figured I'd talk to ya."
"You're trying to give me coffee therapy? The last shrink I saw had to go to a shrink herself after one session."
"No, no. This isn't some sorta therapy thing. I think" Leni shook her head. "But, you're new here. Both in terms of moving in, and in ways I don't think anyone could ever experience, and when we found you, you looked like you had seen a war."
"That's kinda true." Mad Dawg nodded.
"And… while I'm still on the fence about believing you with the whole 'from another dimension' thing, but it's clear you're not from around here."
"Uh huh." Mad Dawg said with a frown, not liking where this was going.
"I'm not gonna try to force you to say anything you don't wanna say, but if you need someone to talk to… I dunno. I wanted to see if you needed help with anything."
"Can you build me a device that can open a portal to another dimension so I can go home?" Mad Dawg asked, the sarcasm in his voice not one of condescension, but a joking one.
"No, but Lisa might be able too." Leni replied with a smirk. Mad Dawg was going to react with a sly remark, but was taken aback by the answer.
"Huh…" He muttered. "I'll keep that in mind…"
Lisa… she was the tiny one. Dawg knew Leni was joking, but going along with a joke could mean he got lucky. Then again, considering his luck, he'd probably be killed by whatever device she made…
"Can I ask you something?" Mad Dawg asked, looking back to the Loud.
"Fire away."
"Why are you doing this?" Mad Dawg asked plainly. "Why… why are you trying to be a therapist? With Lincoln and Clyde and even Luna, the conversations we had or the things we agreed to help each other with were mutually beneficial."
"Hey, you repaired Vanzilla. Sorry about hitting you by the way."
"You're still on about that?" Mad Dawg asked in surprise. "Like I said, we made a deal. You upheld your end, I upheld mine, the situation leading to it no longer matters."
"I know but-"
"I am also on many painkillers right now, and have been for the past two weeks. I think I have an addiction."
"Whoa, Dawg. If that's true, you should-"
"Again. Kidding." Dawg chuckled. "But seriously. Forget about the van incident. I'm fine. But back to my question, I get maybe you're still trying to figure out if I'm a threat or not, or maybe you're just trying to make friends. Honestly, if it's the latter… thank you."
Mad Dawg finished his sentence with an almost childish tone. Leni couldn't help but smile at that. It was clear Dawg was… different. Maybe this was just how he showed his 'soft side'.
"I act like I've got it all together. But the weird thing is I can take a lot of damage, do some really crazy things, but I've never been good at making friends. Aside from the ones I made when I was stuck living with them."
"Look, Kace. I'm not gonna claim I'm perfect. I've made some mistakes in my life. One of the worst ones was when the whole family kind of turned on Lincoln."
Mad Dawg seemed to freeze somewhat, his face a mixture of confusion and hesitancy. There was something in Leni's tone that made it clear this was not something she was not fappy about. It reminded Dawg of his tone when talking about Virus.
"So, this one time, Lynn Jr. had the whole family go to one of her games, and when she lost, she for some inexplicable reason blamed Lincoln for her bad luck."
Mad Dawg blinked.
"Then, the others started blaming his 'bad luck' for stuff he had nothing to do with. We didn't want him around, admittedly, he wanted space form us so it kinda worked out. But… no one… ever… tried to fix it... One thing led to another, we got more and more paranoid… Eventually, he was kind of isolated from the family."
Mad Dawg's face was now one of disgust. Leni couldn't blame him, she remembered how they had treated him.
"Damn, and I thought the freaks in the terror organization who created me were heartless." Mad Dawg scowled. Leni blinked, clearly angered by his remark, but continued.
"Excuse you." She scowled.
Dawg gave her a look, a mixture of regret and indifference.
"I should've done something, I should've talked to him, or tried to do... anything. But I didn't. There're still some scars that haven't faded amongst the family. My biggest regret was just... watching. I should have done something."
"No such luck I take it..." Mad Dawg said quietly.
"See? That." Leni suddenly cut in. "I don't know why you act like that. Like… there's been some really bad stuff in your life I can't deny that. When we found you, you looked like you had been through a war. And if that's true, I think you'd know how much it hurts nearly losing someone you care for."
"Sayonara... Kanshi Suru..."
"See if it that does anything. But don't come back."
"Yeah... I do." Mad Dawg quietly said. "More than you know… and more that I wanted to."
"And you're right. I know barely anything about you. I don't even know your real name. But it doesn't take a genius to see you're hurt." Leni continued, seeming a bit more serious than Dawg would've given her credit for. "Just form this talk, I can take a pretty good guess and say that there's still scars that even with a… a mutant healing factor won't heal anytime soon."
There was a strong tension between the two, so Dawg turned back to his coffee.
"I'm not saying this as some sort of shrink, I'm saying this as someone who's seen people I care for get hurt. You can't carry the world on your shoulders. I just want to help. Even if it's leaving you alone, I don't want to leave you without knowing there are people you can talk to."
"Yeah..." Mad Dawg said quietly. He looked at the floor then back up at Leni. Dang it… now he was conflicted… Leni was kind, and she seemed to be genuine… but Dawg was still hung up on the past. Granted, he literally died but still.
"I'm sorry. That comment about you and your family was extremely crass." Mad Dawg finally said. "It's just… I… I mean… you…"
Mad Dawg took a long drink of is coffee then finally said:
"It's just, you're right. You've hit the nail on the head pretty much every time! And… Agghhh…"
"Hey, people don't like being told when they're wrong." Leni smiled. Mad Dawg put his face onto the table and let out a fake scream. However, half way through, he and Leni began laughing. Dawg thought it over then added: "So... you're doing this to atone for your past mistakes? Huh. Never been taken advantage of that way before..."
"What!? No!" Leni exclaimed, shocked by the accusation. "I would never!"
"Hey, I'm the best guy to do this to. You don't know me, you can write it off as being a 'friend' and no one would think anything of it." Mad Dawg reasoned. Leni was about to shout, but then stopped, remembering a pattern.
"You're messing with me. Aren't you?" Leni said flatly.
"No."
"Ugh… Bobby was right, you are weird…" Leni admitted.
"Eh, I'm not nearly as bad as some of the things he told me about you." Dawg smirked. Leni's face drained of colour, and her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What."
"Oh, yeah. We talked on the way back to my place, he told me a lot about you." Mad Dawg continued, talking as if this was a casual conversation. When he looked back, he saw how genuinely furious Leni was. Mad Dawg stopped talking, deciding to see what was going to happen.
"I know you're lying to me. And I know you're trying to annoy me. And it's working. Why do you do this?" She said in a very quiet voice. "I'm trying to be nice to you."
"I was gonna add that what he told me about you was about how you were a really nice person." Mad Dawg smirked. "Anyhow, thanks for the coffee."
Leni laughed and shook her head. After living with Luan for so long, she really should have put together that Dawg was messing with her over and over.
"Later Mad Dawg!" She called.
"Later Lori!"
"It's Leni!"
"My bad!"
Back on the sidewalk, Mad Dawg felt like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He felt great! He hadn't felt this good since… wow. Since nearly a year ago… Whatever! Mad Dawg kept on a cursing, deciding to focus on the good this time. Before he had left, he checked to see what 'Taco Shack' had to offer, and was reading through the menu. Her found something called the 'TacoTaco' which was a taco inside a BIGGER taco. That was excessive, disgusting, and Mad Dawg was going to order five!
"So… I gotta get to the street up there, then turn right, and then it's just up there." He mused.
Looking up, Mad Dawg felt… content. The sun was brighter than before, the clouds were rolling gently, there was a baseball coming right towards him-
"Wait."
THUNK!
Disoriented and knocked to the ground, Mad Dawg groaned, feeling like the whole world was trying to stop him… He pulled himself up and looked around, rubbing his head, he hated when this happened… His healing factor could cure physical wounds, but stuff like headaches, hangovers, even colds? Nope.
"Ow…" He groaned. His vision blurry, the world spinning, Skorch purposely hurting him… "Yup. Things are back to normal…"
Pulling himself up, Mad Dawg picked up the baseball that had hit him and looked around, seeing he was next to a fence surrounding a baseball diamond. A young girl ran up and skidded to a sotp.
"Oh geez! Are you okay!?" She asked, nervously.
"Yeah… yeah…" Mad Dawg blinked, shaking his head. "I'm fine. It's cool."
"Lynn just… swung and hit it! We had no idea it'd go that far…"
"Wait. Lynn Loud?"
"Yeah. You know her?"
"Yeah, tell her I said hey." Mad Dawg nodded before wheeling back and throwing the ball back into the field. Due to the pain accidentally activated some of his more… hidden, powers. The ball went faster than intended, and shot across the length of the diamond and smashed into a large lamp post, denting the post as the ball landed into the diamond. There was a sort of shockwave that vibrated across the fencing surrounding the diamond. "…whoops."
Not waiting to stick around, Mad Dawg took off running. Margo blinked in surprise, seeing the newcomer run off, then tunring to see what had happened. During this, Lynn Jr. had run over and came to a stop.
"What happened?!"
"You hit someone." Margo said flatly.
"Ooh… I hope he's okay…"
"Yeah, he seemed fine." Margo shrugged. "But the arm on that guy!"
"Who was he?" Lynn Jr. asked.
"I didn't catch his name." Margo shook her head. "But he said he knew you. Weird guy with dirty blonde hair."
"Tall but kinda skinny?"
"Yeah."
"Seemed off kinda?"
"Not to be mean, but yeah."
"I know that guy." Lynn Jr. shrugged. "His name's Mad Dawg."
"Really?" Margo asked surprised as the two began walking back towards the others. "How old is he? We could totally use him on the team!"
"He's too old." Lynn Jr. lamented, agreeing with her friend. "But… he could come probably play a round some night!"
"That'd be awesome! We could go play at Coyote Field! If he's as strong a hitter as he is a thrower, he might end up knocking them outta the park."
"Alright, I'll ask him next time I see him." Lynn Jr. asked.
Mad Dawg had finally arrived outside the Royal Woods mall. He stood just in the entryway, looking around in a way that may make him look like a meth addict to anyone passing by. No one was running by screaming… No one was on fire… No one was driving a monster truck through the mall, terrorizing people… He was here. He was finally here… He sighed in relief as he walked over to the food court. Along the way, no one seemed to be walking across or in front of him, it was as if fate was wanting him to finally get the tacos he was after… He saw the sign for Taco Shack just ahead. Just below was another sign.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but Taco Shack is currently closed for renovations.
"…Damn it!" Mad Dawg cursed, somewhat loudly to himself.
