"Hey!" Barrel exclaimed. "Shock practices a [i]lot[/i] more than me!"

It took a half second after he said it to realize he wasn't doing himself any favors. Barrel gratefully took "Corvin's" question to spare himself further embarrassment.

"Yeah," he said. "Lock started a band. We meet every Saturday to--"

A loud, tumultuous explosion erupted into the town square, followed by a series of bangs and crashes. Several passing monsters looked around in confusion, though it only took a few seconds to realize the noise and ruckus came from Jack's house. Barrel quickly forgot about band practice as monsters around him expressed concern and started to crowd together.

"What happened?"

"Is everyone okay?"

"It came from Jack's house!"

"Jack?"

"Is he all right?"

Barrel started to head for the gate to Jack's house out of curiosity, but stopped. It was probably better to [i]not[/i] be anywhere near it when Jack inevitably came running out the front door.

Shock must have really outdone herself to set [i]that[/i] up!

~~~

"Because once in a while, I don't want to be up all night," Lock said. "I'm not a true nocturnal monst--"

They barely passed the main gate when the explosion went off. Lock unhooked his arm to grab Lillith's hand instead as he ran into the square.

Whatever Shock did, he [i]definitely[/i] wanted to see the aftermath!