It had been a couple of hours since they got back. After hastily placing the beasts in the enclosure they rented, the Beastmasters went to report the findings with Amelia and Nicholas, giving instructions to the trainees to feed the beasts later on if they had not returned.
Jamie unlocked the the silver, glowing gate, attached to a tall, silver fence ringing the perimeter of a spacious, grassy enclosure, illuminated by golden lights located at the top of the massive building the enclosure was in. He and Emily entered with Eve and a 2 Tailed Tiger following behind them. They were carrying between them three small blue bowls filled to the brim with soft, malleable red balls of food, that Ivan had fed them earlier.
As they entered the enclosure, Emily whistled, and the Zaututor's and the Yellow Fur Black Stripe Bear that was in the enclosure looked towards her, then started running towards them. Jamie and Emily's eyes widened.
"Eve, make sure those beasts don't ram into me." "Scott, stop them."
As the two beasts moved forwards to put their body between them and the overenthusiastic alien creatures, Jamie let out a chuckle. Emily shot him a glare.
"Why do you always chuckle whenever I call out the name of my beast?"
"Because it's the same name as our boss."
"I named him BEFORE I started working at Warpets Delux."
"It's still funny."
As the beasts approached, they slowed down. Jamie sat down on the grass, putting the bowl besides him, while Emily moved to put the two bowls on the grass in front of her.
"Stop!"
Emily turned to look at Jamie. "What's wrong?"
"We need to hand feed them."
"Oh. Sure."
She sat down on the grass next to Jamie, putting the two bowls besides her. Jamie reached into the bowl, grabbing a single ball red ball from the bowl, flinching slightly. The ball felt rubbery, squishy, and slippery to the touch.
"I'll feed the Yellow Fur Black Stripe Bear."
Sending a mental command to Eve, she moved slightly to the right, positioning herself between Jamie and the two Zaututor, and letting the Yellow Fur Black Stripe Bear have clear access to Jamie. Jamie smiled, and gestured for it to come forward, waving the food at it. It rushed forward as fast as it's small frame would allow, and Jamie hastily tapped into his Astral Energy, sending it a mental image of it staying a small distance away from the Jamie, as he hand fed it one ball at a time.
The Bear slowed down, and stopped in the place that Jamie had showed it. Jamie held out the ball, and the cub stood on it's hind legs and bit at the food. Jamie hastily moved his hands to avoid it getting bitten as the food entered the cubs mouth. After eating a couple of bites of food, it started to get impatient, and took a step forward, to get at the bowl on the ground.
Jamie hastily sent the cub a mental transmission, of Jamie getting up and walking away with the food if the cub took another step, and of it receiving food, if it went back to it's position. The cub halted, debating, before it went back to it's previous position. Jamie immediately rewarded it with more food.
A giggle broke out to his side as Jamie was feeding the cub. He turned his head, to see Emily pulling her hand back and giggling as the Zaututor's were licking at her hands. He smiled, turning his attention to the cub, continuing to feed it. After a while, when the cub looked like it wasn't interested in the food, Jamie pulled out a milk bottle from his pocket, and gave it some milk to drink.
"How do you know we have to hand feed it?"
Jamie turned his head, surprised.
"Uhhh, because that's what Ivan taught me? It gets them used to humans, and helps them develop some impulse control. Ultimately, the store wants beasts that obeys humans and are accustomed to their presence, and being constantly touched and ruffled. "
Emily let out a sigh. "I did not know that."
"Why not? Didn't you used to work at Battlepets Galore for a year before?"
"I did....and I ended up quitting because the store isn't very good. They are almost indifferent when it comes to raising their beasts, and the results are less then impressive. Frequently, the beasts that are sold cause issues with the person they are sold to, such as property damage as they move about, making loud noises, and the way they behave when they eat. On the rare occasion the beast might snarl or even lash out at the human. If they did not offer free consulting services and sold the beasts at low prices, they would be out of business. As it is, most of the sales come from selling pet food. I quit right after they decided to stop buying a quota to enter the portals, because they weren't making enough money off selling the beasts they found inside to justify the expense of the quota, and the price of raising them."
"I did not know that...I was considering buying the Triple Eyed Viper if I had hit the bonding requirements after the evaluation. It looks so cool."
Emily shook her head. "It's a good thing you didn't. The unique coloring of the Triple Eye Viper is caused from feeding it the wrong diet. It might look cool, but it's combat ability is sub par compared to another of it's kind. Triple Eyed Viper's are usually really good, and has three abilities at stage 3, not one. It does have the unique option of using a poison herb to evolve as a result of it's diet though."
"Damn. Have you learned much from working at Warpets Delux? Ivan has taught me a lot."
"I'm stuck with Lennox. He mostly gets me to do random stuff around the store, like cleaning the enclosures, and serving the customers at the front, instead of teaching me anything. Sometimes, he teaches me things when incubating an egg, but that's about it."
"You should raise the issue with the boss."
"I don't want to rock the boat. Besides, Lennox mostly focuses on incubating the eggs in the store anyway. I know a lot about the eggs he frequently looks after, and what sort of things to provide and look out for to maximize their growth potential, and avoid issues."
"I know a little about looking after the eggs. Keep it in dense energy, with the appropriate energy surrounding it, and don't move the egg around."
"You need to keep temperature in mind as well. And there are methods to find out what sort of energy is the most appropriate for the egg."
"Such as?"
"Move them into a more energy affinity neutral area, try putting an energy rich item around the egg one by one, such as different basic evolution stones. The energy suction from the egg increases near energy beneficial to them, and decreases in energy bad for them. "
"Interesting....I did not know that."
Having finished feeding the beasts, Jamie and Emily got up, walking towards the exit.
"Afterwards, do you want to get a bite to eat at Snacker's Attack?"
"Again? A meal there cost 400 mystic credits."
"Come on, don't be a money grubber."
"It's 400 mystic credits for a single meal. It's a lot. Once is enough to fulfill my curiosity. Besides, I want to continue trying to teach Blackwing to understand the human language. It's exhausting, having to communicate with him mostly in images."
"You spend a lot of time with your beasts. You refused a meet up twice with us, on that pretext."
Jamie shrugged, as Eve sent a mental communication to Jamie. "And they were excuses too. You just didn't want to hang out in a large crowd of mostly strangers. Wonder what she would say if she found out."
Jamie sent a mental communication back. "It wasn't entirely an excuse. I do have to teach Blackwing the human language."
Eve snickered through the bond. "You spent a whopping thirty minutes doing that, both times."
"Shush Eve."
Without missing a beat, Jamie changed the subject with Emily."I have been meaning to ask, how come you only have one beast? Haven't you hit the required criteria for soul links?"
Emily briefly looked away. "I have three soul links. I just don't have the money to buy a decent beast. I am hoping I find a good one in a portal exploration, it's partly why I quit the other store."
Jamie chuckled. "Maybe you shouldn't spend so much on exotic foods and clubbing."
Emily snorted. "It's fun. What's the point of having money if you don't spend it on enjoying yourself. Besides, given how long you spend on your beasts, it makes me reconsider getting more beasts."
"You should.....if only for your own protection."
"What protection? I do see and hear about the tragic situations of some of the other cities, but our City Guardian has swiftly, and effortlessly repelled three large scale creatures invasions storming out of the portals that I know of, and has only revealed two beasts so far."
Jamie's expression turned grave. "And yet, people still died each time. It's always better to be prepared, and if necessary, to sacrifice some of your enjoyment so you can protect yourself. The City Guardian, whoever they are, is a living being too. They don't spend the whole 24 hours on guard against an invasion. The same goes with their beasts. And City Guardians can fall too."
"Sure, Sure. Whatever you say."
They departed once they exited the building, Jamie heading for his accommodation, and Emily to Snacker's Attack. Along the way, as he was passing the glowing silver buildings, he pulled out the transparent trinket box he got from Lance out of his pocket, looking at it. Inside it, was a glowing black stone.