"Jamie, these two have bought the last Labrador Retriever pup to bond with."
"Okay, right this way please."
Jamie gestured for two people to move his way, then led the way to a room in the corner of Battlepet Delux, with the two people on his left, slightly behind him. Following him was a petite blond female with shoulder length hair in a low ponytail, wearing a dark blue V-neck top and light blue jeans with a shoulder handbag. She was holding the hand of a boy wearing plain dark blue shorts, and a light blue shirt, plain, except for the area around the right chest, where there was a shield. On the shield there was an image of a ocean, with a sun rising. Underneath the shield was the words 'Rising Primary School.'
Heading to the back of the room, Jamie asked "Did the checkout clerk tell you the conditions of the purchase?"
The women nodded, and replied "Yes. Payment half up front. I have forty days to try to get it to initiate the bond, and it remains in the store until then at all times. If I want to approach it I must be accompanied by a Beastamer or Beastamer Trainee from the store, and once the bond is complete, it must be verified by a bondstick in-store. "
Jamie smiled. "Yep. Sorry, I am required to ask. Also, if you can't get the beast to initiate the bond before the deadline is up, you can chose to cancel the purchase, and get half the initial upfront payment back, or buy another 40 days. If you chose to extend the time, you can negotiate the price wi....."
The boy cut in "Why can't we take it home now?"
Jamie looked at the boy and gave him a wide smile, responding "Because the government requires all Battlepet stores selling staged beasts for bonding to ensure the process is done safely."
"Do the creatures really explode when a human initiates the bond contract? It's what I was shown in Beast classes."
"I believe so. It's what I was shown at school as well."
Jamie looked forwards and continued his sale pitch. "Both parents of this Labrador Retriever pup are at stage 5, and are fifteen years old. They have three abilities. They can produce a barrier, empower their bite, and disorientate creatures around them. The pup has already learned how to empower it's bite already."
Shortly after he finished his spiel, Jamie reached his destination, a locked room. He smiled to them and said "Just wait a moment."
Jamie took the keys hanging around his neck, and unlocked the door. Inside, he went to a fridge, looking inside before grabbing one of the small, round, plastic containers that was filled with small brown rectangular objects. On the container was labeled "Special Labrador Retriever Food." Once he grabbed the container, Jamie exited the room, locking it behind him. Turning to the women, he smiled and handed her the container.
"This is for you."
After the women received the container, Jamie led the way to the retriever pup, still yammering on.
"The best way to get the pup, or any beast to initiate the bond with you, is to spend time with it and feed it. The mealtimes for the pup is around 7:00am and 5:30pm. If you haven't arrived to feed it around those times, someone from the store will. Has the clerk registered you on our system?
'She has."
"Excellent. When you come in, ask for the Special Labrador Retriever Food. They love the stuff, and it's good for their development. As part of the conditions of purchase, your entitled to get one container every time you come in to feed the pup. We sell it in our store if you want to purchase some after bonding it for a treat."
"You should try to spend at least three hours every day with the pup. Since you have purchased it, our store will do the bare minimum to take care of it, such as feeding it normal food if you miss the feeding times, and reducing our contact with it as much as possible without causing it to be neglected. We will also switch people attending to the pup so it doesn't grow attached to one person. In the dog pen, there is a bell to the right hanging on the wall. When the pup wants to initiate the contract, it will drag you to it."
"How does the pup know how to do that?"
Jamie turned his head to smile at the boy. "It was trained by a Beastmaster."
As they reached the pen, Jamie walked to the steel desk next to the pen. He unlocked one of the drawers, withdrawing two soulsticks and a remote. He put the two soulsticks on the desk and turned to the women, smiling. "Before we proceed, I need to verify if your soul meets the requirement to bond the pup. I need you to hold each soulstick for five minutes each."
After Jamie had verified each soulstick, picked up a bunch of papers stapled together from the desk, handing it to the women while smiling. "You should take this. It shows everything necessary to train the pup when you have bonded it. And if have any issues, you can contact the store for assistance."
Jamie then unlocked the pen, and smiled at the two, waving them inside to the pup inside wearing a collar, looking at them curiously. "The pup is called Max. He has been trained to be really friendly and docile to humans, so you should have no issues."
>>>>>>
Jamie walked towards the training room, his bonded beasts following him. He sighed, rubbing the side of his face. It hurt from smiling too much. After Jamie entered the building, he walked towards the screen next to the scanner, gesturing for Eve to enter the middle. After he had finished re registering her body, he touched on 'Register Skill', then tapped on the 'Start', then said to her mentally "Let's see what you can do"
A black smog formed around her body, causing it to gradually be hard to see her, and stabilizing around her body five seconds later at a radius of five meters around her body. Jamie could not see anything inside the smog, not even the golden glow from her tails and paws.
"Skill Registered."
After the cool, detached voice rang in the building, the smog started to disband. After five seconds, Jamie could see Eve again.
"How long can you keep that skill going for? And can you see inside the smog?"
"10 minutes. Yes, I Can."
Jamie's eyes widened. Taking a deep breath, he touched on 'Register Skill' again and said mentally "Next skill."
Eve leaped forward and bit the dummy.
"Skill Registered."
"Well, that was...boring. Do you have any more skills?"
"I do."
Jamie tapped on register skill, then said "Let's see it."
Eve backed away from the dummy, then looked at it intently. The rings on the tips of her tail began to change, one of the tails tip and ring turning brown, the other black. Eve moved forwards instantaneously and bit the dummy.
"Skill Registered"
Jamie stood there perplexed for a second, before saying "Did you just use a skill to use two of your skills at once?"
Eve tilted her head up, tails wagging, then mentally sent back "I did. Awesome isn't it."
"Great.....and what's the catch?"
Eve's tails dropped slightly. "The release points for the skills have to come from different areas of my body. And the skills I use double their energy requirements."
Jamie scratched his head. "Make sense. Do you have any other skills?"
"No."
"Then lets see what you can do in a fight."
Jamie finished the registration process, then entered one of the Virtual Training Rooms, and started Virtual Beast Training.
Jaime set Eve to fight with Blackwing as a Bystander, the fighting style to Life and Death (Frontal Encounter), and the location to a Stadium. Jaime selected a single stage 3 leopard to fight, then set the pain feedback to low.
Jaime then started the fight. A flash of light ensured, and Eve and Jaime were at one end of the stage, and a leopard at the other side. A countdown rang in there heads "3,2,1,Begin."
Eve and the Leopard ran at each other, running at almost equal speeds. Once they were around ten meters away from each other, black smog started to form around Eve and the rings and tips of her two tails started to change color, one tail turning from gold to gray, the other turning from gold to brown. As the smog was almost finished forming, the leopard moved forward near instantaneously, crashing into Eve and biting into her neck. Eve let out a yelp as the black smog formed, blocking Jamie from seeing what was going on. A couple of seconds had passed before a bland voice could be heard.
"Match Over. Tamers Victory."