The next morning found the survivors of the pack beaten and bruised, yet still brimming with excitement for what the day would bring.

Sure, they’d had some missteps. A lot of them had even died.

But there was a new Big Plan, and that was always a reason to be excited. And it was even a Bigger Plan? The idea that there was a level beyond Big was startling and new, clearly the sign of a bright future for all of them. And there was only one pup to thank.

Boss Hi-Hi puffed himself up as he strutted around the hideout, graciously accepting the praise and admiration of his underlings as they went about their morning.

He’d envisioned this a thousand times, and it was even better than he could have ever dreamed. He knew he was Biggest; he’d always known he was Biggest. He was probably bigger than Yip-Yap, even!

Maybe not by much, but by at least a hair or two.

A paw’s length. Maybe a full arm, even.

Hi-Hi had been a full double arms’ length taller than Yip-Yap and the fact that the others were only just now recognizing his obvious immensity just showed how desperately they needed his amazing leadership.

But that was fine. Once the runts were cleared away, a nice fresh batch of mongrels would appear for him to mold and shape. Mongrels who’d never even heard of that tiny imposter Yip-Yap.

Mongrels who’d only ever known Boss Hi-Hi.

And once they were his, maybe he’d re-evaluate the actual size of some of these other pups. It seemed to Hi-Hi that anyone who’d been around long enough to remember not calling him Boss may very well be a secret runt.

It was always good to have options.

On that note, it was time to deal with Mo-Mo and Half Tail and Blep. Where the hell was Shh? Loathe as Hi-Hi was to admit it, he knew he’d need that jerk’s help. That itty-bitty speck Yip-Yap had once said Shh’s head was good and the rest of the dum-dums in the pack believed it.

Idiots.

Still, it meant that Shh could be useful in getting the others to accept a plan that was maybe a bit…advanced for them to grasp. So where in the hell was he?

One deep sniff later and Hi-Hi found himself joining a growing crowd at the mouth of the cave. What was going…oh. Oh of course. Shh had gathered everyone up and of course he was talking. He never shut up. Ugh. Ugh. He even had some others standing with him? What could possibly be going on?

Hi-Hi immediately noted and just as quickly decided to not to focus on Gert. There were some, after all, who’d claim that the female was Bigger than him.

Absurd! And some others might note she was stronger than him, too. Outrageous, unBig! And bluh, where’d she get that huge stick with that amazing pointy rock tied to it?!

Hi-Hi totally wasn’t jealous; his huge stick with a pointy rock was in his soul. Still, he didn’t like having to meet Gert’s eyes. For very Big, very Boss-like reasons.

The other one was Mo-Mo, and she was trying just as hard to avoid Hi-Hi’s eyes as he was pointedly avoiding Gert’s. That worthless little wad of fluff. Why even bother?

Which just left Shh, who actually had the sand to stare his own Boss directly in the eye.

Hi-Hi knew it.

He knew that Shh thought he was smarter than everyone, even smarter than him. That Shh’s insane ego and unbearable pride were too much of a distraction for him to ever be a true member of the pack. He should just shut up and do what his Boss tells him to do. Right? That’s how this works.

Well whatever. Hi-Hi didn’t need to waste time listening to whatever egghead nonsense Shh had cooked up this time. All he needed to do was march right up there and uh wait, are the others nodding along to this? Hi-Hi’s ears flattened slightly as he glanced over at the rest of his underlings, noting with growing concern that even Crunchy and Soup were hanging off of Shh’s every word.

Those were his closest followers. If even they were listening to what this dum-dum was saying, Hi-Hi might even be…

The mongrel decided he better listen, too, and figure out how to undercut whatever this was. Fast.

“...And that’s why…I just don’t think this is a very Big plan.”

Shh held his breath as the others began to immediately chatter and yelp amongst themselves. He couldn’t blame them. As far as he knew, this was an utterly unprecedented event in the pack’s history.

No one had ever questioned the Bigness of a Boss’s plan before, no one. But he was convinced now more than ever that even if Hi-Hi’s plan somehow was Big, Hi-Hi himself would make a singularly Small boss. He wants to protect his pack by throwing them away?

That was no Boss Shh would ever follow.

It was good that he’d fully resolved himself to that fact too Because barely before Shh had finished his speech, Hi-Hi had already pushed his way through the crowd to stomp towards the orating mongrel, his eyes practically bursting from his head with anger.

Gert’s hackles rose, the big female preparing to heft her stick, but Shh shook his head to stop her.

A fight would have been the traditional way to settle this, to decide who was Biggest and who got to make the Big Plans. But Shh couldn’t convince his packmates that Big wasn’t always Right by convincing them he was Biggest and therefore right.

Well, actually, no; that would definitely work. But it didn’t feel right.

The outline of a very Big Idea–perhaps the Biggest one in the history of the pack was beginning to show itself to Shh–and he simply had to follow that scent wherever it took him. And right now, it was telling him to try and talk this out.

So Shh and Hi-Hi stared each other down for an unprecedented length of time, the latter baring his teeth and rumbling in outrage and puffing out his fur as Shh simply stared back, as calmly as he could manage.

Which was…well, much calmer than he’d expected.

Was this really this easy? A simple snarl from any Boss should have prompted a tail tuck and a spritz of surrender pee, but the longer Shh took in Hi-Hi’s confrontational display, the sillier it all seemed. And so he simply stared back.

The others were clearly taken aback that Shh hadn’t folded yet, buzzing amongst themselves. Hi-Hi must have heard them as well, because he was the one to grudgingly break the silence.

“Well what’s your Big plan then, huh? Huh?!”

Shh sucked in a quick breath. Okay. Here goes. “Do you remember a few months back, when that little orange guy came through?”

The murmurs from the rest of the pack grow a bit more intense before an excited hand shoots up.

“Ooo! Um, yes! That guy! He was a goblin!”

“Yes, exactly! Good job, Sploot!” The particularly fluffy mongrel’s tail waggled with furious pride as the pups around him praised his Big memory. “Do you remember what he said he was doing?”

Sploot’s tail began to slow as he realized that no, he didn’t. “Uhh…”

Shh quickly jumped in to help the floundering mongrel. “He said that he was like us, he was weak and small and guards killed him and his pack mates all the time, too! And even,” Shh’s voice caught in the back of his throat, an involuntary shudder running down his back. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a whisper, “...even Players.”

The chattering crowd went quiet at that.

Even Hi-Hi quickly glanced around to make sure that no one had crept up on them. None of them had ever seen a Player before and not one of them was eager to ever do so. Something stronger than the outpost monsters? But Shh had.

It was the seed that had grown this entire plan. Not that they needed to know that, yet.

He continued on. “But remember what he said, right? That if he worked hard and was smart, he could get stronger.”

The crowd gasped as one, multiple excited hands shooting up pell-mell. Shh pointed at Waggle, the excitable male bouncing up and down on his toes as he blurted out.

“You mean Leveling Up?”

Shh nodded gravely. “I do.”

“I thought we couldn’t do that, though!”

“We can. But we need Experience Points, and the only things that give them in our zone are us and the outpost monsters. So we never found out.”

The crowd all but exploded in chatter at that. There was no question that this was Big. The higher mysteries of the world were inscrutable to mongrels and not particularly relevant at that, but they’d always vaguely understood the rough outline of how the basics worked…

Leveling makes you Bigger. Simple as that. But they’d never heard of a mongrel ever Leveling before, so they’d always just assumed that path was closed to them. Even Yip-Yap had only been Level One.

Someone called out above the noise. “So you’re saying we can become Level Two and…and beat the outpost monsters?!”

The pack went wild at that, howling out in excitement as Shh tried his best to quickly get things back under control. “Oh, hey! No, guys; I don’t think that would be good enough. Not even close, actually.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then someone cautiously piped up. “...Level Three?!”

They all started cheering again, and Shh could only groan.

“No. No, not even Level Three. I don’t think any level of mongrel would have a chance. We’re just…” He sighed. “We’re just too Small.”

A gasp rang out at such a shocking slur, and Shh pressed on quickly before he lost them forever.

“But, but! Remember what else the goblin said! He didn’t say he would just level up right? He said that if he worked really hard, he wouldn’t just get a little stronger, he would become something else that was way stronger!”

The pack tried its best to mull that over when–to Shh’s pleased surprise–Mo-Mo softly spoke up at his side. “He said he could become a hobgoblin…”

The little pup squeaked as the eyes of the whole pack were suddenly on her, Hi-Hi clearly outraged she had the gall to announce her existence at all. She was precisely on the mark though.

This was the whole goal of Shh’s Biggest Plan. He seized the moment.

“And if they can do it, why can’t we? Mongrels may not be enough, but what about whatever’s next? Whatever comes after mongrels? We can’t be the only ones in the world with just a single step!” Shh had begun pumping his arms in his growing excitement and it was lighting the rest of the pack ablaze. “I bet hobmongrels are TOTALLY stronger than those dumb outpost monsters! And I bet they have a way Bigger name than hobmongrels, which is actually pretty bad!”

He threw out his paws imploringly to the pack. “So come on! Don’t you guys want to find out what that Big name is with me and Mo-Mo and Gert?”

The crowd is awash with barks and howls again, all trying to guess what their Big name would be. Was this it? Was this success? It actually worked?!

The celebration was cut short when Hi-Hi silenced the pack with a piercing snarl, his eyes cold with fury as he slowly addressed Shh.

“Your idea is Bad. And you are Small.”

Dammit. Shh was so sure he’d had them, but Hi-Hi’s viciously clever wit was undeniable. His closest followers were already swayed away by the Boss’s debate skills, and the others seemed likely to follow.

But Shh couldn’t give up just yet. “It’s not-”

“Shut up, Shh. Always talking. Always Small. Right?” Hi-Hi draped an entirely unfriendly arm around Half Tail’s shoulder, staring commandingly down at the smaller female as she stiffened in fear. “Say that Shh is always talking and is Small.”

Half Tail couldn’t keep her teeth from chattering as she dutifully complied. “Shh i-i-is always t-talking, a-and he’s S-Small.”

Hi-Hi’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t say it to me. Say it to him.”

The female looked up at Shh, her fluff completely un-poofed in distress. “Y-You’re always-”

It was more than Shh could take.

He stomped forward, smacking Hi-Hi’s arm off of Half Tail’s shoulder as he hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m not Small, your brains are Small! Get your paws off of her.”

For a moment, Hi-Hi’s face was nothing but fangs. But then he noticed Gert looming behind Shh. Noticed the way that the pack’s sentiments seemed to be shifting. And so he shifted as well, barking a laugh directly into Shh’s face.

“I have Small brains? Nuh-uh, you do! We’re gonna Level up, really? You runt, you said it yourself; we can’t level up!”

Shh shook his head resolutely. “We definitely can.”

“Uhh, how? You dummy? We can’t beat the outpost monsters now and the only other Experience in the zone is…” Hi-Hi trailed off, eyes narrowing as he seemed to fully consider the idea for the first time. When he spoke again, there was a curious interest in his voice. And a decidedly dark gleam in his eyes as he stared down at Half Tail. “...Wait. Are you saying we should-”

“No.” Even Hi-Hi was shocked by the fire in Shh’s voice, the whole pack instinctively going into a half-tuck as he shoved a sharp paw into his would-be Boss’s shoulder. “We would never hurt other pack members, not even for Experience. Especially for Experience. That’s not what we do. We don’t get to be strong if it means hurting our own family, right?”

The rest of the pack seemed to be in complete agreement, but Hi-Hi was still silent. So Shh pushed his paw in a bit further. “Right?”

Hi-Hi’s eyes narrowed.

“Right.”

Shh pressed further. “Hurting each other is Small and Bad. And anyone who did that would be the Smallest and the Baddest. Right?”

“Right.”

“Good.” Shh gave one more push into Hi-Hi’s shoulder then raised his voice to address the whole pack once more. “Okay. Now, all you guys let me and Gert and Mo-Mo show-”

To Shh’s surprise, Hi-Hi quickly cut in. “Oh, you and Gert and Mo-Mo are gonna show us?”

“Uh?” This was not Hi-Hi’s usual style, and something in the other mongrel’s tone was deeply worrying. “I was just-”

Hi-Hi went right on barrelling over Shh, his tone light and friendly but his eyes as cold as ever.

“Shh and his buddies are gonna do their whole Big plan by themselves, guys! Woww~! Isn’t that so Big?!” He turned his head back to Half Tail. “That’s Big, right? Isn’t that just the Biggest?”

“Yeah~!” The smaller female’s response was utterly uncoerced now, Half Tail and the rest of the pack swept up in Hi-Hi’s sudden endorsement of the plan. “That’s sooo Big, Shh!”

Gert growled over Shh’s shoulder. “No, he didn’t say-”

“-That he needed very long to do it, either? Whoa, you’re right Gert! He totally didn’t say that!” Hi-Hi wagged his tail theatrically as he cried out to the pack in faux-admiration. “Can you guys believe that Shh and Gert and Mo-Mo are gonna do their whole plan by themselves, and before the next Big Moon even? Let’s show them our appreciation~!”

The pack dropped to their haunched and howled in a celebratory unison, their tails wildly beating onto the ground in their highest display of praise and admiration. But all Shh could see was the mocking light in Hi-Hi’s eyes. The Boss indulged in a smirk before speaking again, his tone suddenly reproachful.

“I sure hope you guys can do it. I mean, you really got all our hopes up. If you let us down now, after all this support we gave you?” Hi-Hi sighed, shaking his head. “Wow. That would just be…”

He trailed off, glancing expectantly down at Half Tail. She considered the idea for a moment, then spoke up, her little face scrunched. “...um, that would be Bad. That’d be really Small.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I think you’re right, Half Tail.” The little female’s tail when crazy at the praise as Hi-Hi gave another regretful sigh. “I hope you can do it, Shh! Because if you can’t? If the Big Moon comes, and you let us all down? That would be the Smallest and Baddest ever. You would be the Smallest and Baddest ever. So when that happens, and you failed? We’re all gonna laugh at you, then go pee on the outpost like real mongrels.”

The mongrel allowed even the pretense of friendliness to slough away from his tone…

“And then we’re gonna pee on you.”

Shh nearly staggered off his feet as the others began to shuffle back into the cave.

There it was. The ultimate insult.

He and Gert and Mo-Mo had practically just been thrown out of the pack. Briefly, his every instinct pleaded with him to rush back into the cave and tuck his tail and laugh. To insist that it was all a big joke and wasn’t it funny and weren’t they all still friends?!

But he didn’t. Mo-Mo was sniffling at his side and Gert looked ready to bash anything that made a sudden move near her. Shh wanted to make the Big Plan.

So he had to act Big. Had to be Big.

“Our plan is gonna work, Hi-Hi! Just wait! Until then, you can just go pee on yourself!”

Hi-Hi’s squawk of outrage was unmistakable even from deep within the cave, but Shh was done paying him any mind. He’d already spun around and begun to usher his two companions away from the hideout,

Mo-Mo silently followed but Gert seemed unable to hold back her own concerns. “But wasn’t he right, Shh? Even if there are hobmongrels, or mong…whatevers, we can’t ever be them. Where would we get the experience?”

“Don’t worry, Gert.” Shh couldn’t keep the knowing grin from his face. Basically no part of this had ended up going how he wanted, but he was still fully confident in this portion of the plan. “I’ve got a new friend to introduce you to. Oh, but first, we’re gonna do a favor for Yip-Yap.”

Shh’s ears and eyes knew that Gert’s response was to lay her ears down and flatly say ‘what’ but at the moment he could only hear the cheers of their future victory, could only see the future pride on the faces of all his packmates. He’d had a lot of time to consider the situation through the night. And the more he pondered it, the more it became clear that the situation of mongrels was totally unfair.

So why couldn’t he be unfair back?

The world had cheated him and cheated his packmates for his whole life, and now he was gonna cheat back.

Even if it failed, this was going to be great.