Chapter 12 - Rematch with the Cat

"What the hell!"

It was next day. Jamie was with Ivan, in one of the enclosures of Warpet's Delux. The front half of the enclosure had an even surface covered with trimmed grass, with a stream at the front, close to the entrance, with a wooden bridge spanning it. In the middle of the enclosure it started to slope with a multitude of Douglas Fir plants evenly spaced out along the slope, except for the top which was littered with black rocks of various sizes. In the very middle of the enclosure, there was a large, grey stone with a yellow swirl. The stone was 8 meters tall by three meter wide jutting from the ground. From it, gentle gusts of wind would radiate from it at irregular intervals, along with grey light, which saturated the enclosure, giving a slight grey tint to everything.

Jamie was at the top of the slope with Ivan looking into a den. Inside it was two oblong shaped objects with one quarter of the bottom of the objects buried in the dirt below it. On each of the objects in the middle, there was three swirls close together. A stream of grey light was flowing towards the centre of the black swirls.

Ivan started laughing upon seeing Jamie's response to the sight. After he finished, he said "Those are eggs Jamie."

Jamie's eyes started twitching as he looked at Ivan. "And those eggs are in the den of a pair of Grey Pawed Wolves."

"So?"

"What do you mean so. Wolves don't lay eggs."

Ivan shook his head, smiling. "Wolves native to our planet don't. Grey Pawed Wolves originated in one of the portals that opened up. The land there had a dense amount of energy on it. The eggs can gather the energy needed for the baby to form far easier and effectively from the environment then from staying in the mother. As for predators trying to eat the eggs, you've seen for yourself how fast and vicious Grey Pawed Wolves are. Besides, watch this."

Ivan bent down to pick up a small stone from the ground. He then tossed it at one of the eggs. As it hit the egg the stone rebounded and a brief howling sound came from it. Seconds later, two wolves Jamie's height appeared on either side of Ivan and Jamie, snarling. The wolves fur was brown, except for around the paws, which were dark grey. Ivan held up his hands in a placating manner, saying "Easy now. Just wanted to show the newbie how airtight your babies defenses are."

The wolf on the left huffed, then lay down in it's position, watching them intently. The wolf on the right mimicked it's actions. Jamie took a moment to compose himself, then asked "how long does it stay in the eggs for?"

"Grey Pawed Wolves? Usually four months. It can vary on how dense the energy is around it, and what type of energy is in it's surrounding. Keep in mind, if you move the egg abruptly from a place with dense energy to another place with less energy in the surroundings, it can affect the development of the egg. It can increase the time it takes for an egg to hatch, and affect the creatures future development."

After finishing, Ivan took two small, grey objects from his pocket and tossed one to each other the Grey Pawed Wolves. They each caught it in their jaws, mid air, gulping it down. He turned and walked towards the entrance of the enclosure, gesturing for Jamie to follow him. As they walked down the slope, Jamie continued to ask questions.

"How long until these ones hatch?"

"It should take four more weeks. We should be back from the portal by then. I'll show you firsthand some of the tricks we use on wolf cubs to get them used to humans. And I hope you keep in mind what you saw here. "

"Keep what in mind?"

Ivan turned his head to look at Jamie "That if you see an egg or anything innocent looking, not to recklessly touch it. The creatures in the portals have evolved and adapted with energy far longer then the creatures on our planet have, and the way they defend themselves are different. Even the most defenseless thing like a creature in an egg can get you killed if you recklessly approach it. If the Grey Pawed Wolves didn't trust me, they would've torn us both apart earlier."

Jamie gulped.

Ivan smiled and slapped Jamie 'lightly' on the back, causing him to stumble forwards. Ivan smiled. "Cheer up. As long as you take the necessary precautions, some of the portal trips can be quite wondrous."

>>>>>>>>>>

After Jamie finished his shift, he entered the training hall with his bonded beasts. Once he entered the building, he immediately went to the body scanner. First, he re-registered Blackwing again, as it's body size and strength had increased upon reaching stage 2. Next, he tried to see if the Blackwing had learned any new skills. As a result, Jamie just spent 5 minutes awkwardly standing there watching Blackwing glaring at the dummy. There was no noticeable difference in Blackwing's ember and bite. Dissapointed, Jamie led the way to the Virtual Training Room. Once they were inside the training room and the Virtual Beast Training Simulator had started, Jamie turned to Blackwing.

"Are you ready to fight?"

Blackwing let out a loud roar in response.

Jamie set Eve as a Bystander, the fighting style to Life and Death (Frontal Encounter), and the location to a Stadium. Jamie hesitated, before selecting a single, average sized stage 1 black cat, the one that killed him. He couldn't help but smile maliciously at the thought of watching it get torn apart. He set the pain feedback to low, then asked Blackwing "Are you ready?"

Blackwing raised it's head and roared.

Jamie started the match, and a flash of light appeared, then Jamie and Blackwing were at one end of the stage, with the cat at the other. A countdown rang in their heads

"3,2,1,Begin."

Blackwing and the cat both started running forwards, with Blackwing flapping his wings. Once Blackwing had run a quarter of the distance of the stage, he started slowly lifting off the ground. By the time the cat and Blackwing had reached the center of the stage, Blackwing was well in the air. Opening his mouth, he spat out an ember at the cat on the ground. The cat's tail tilted and it started to zagging to the left, avoiding the ember and running underneath the dragon, and past it without slowing down, before altering it's direction towards Jamie. Jamie's eyes widened in fright as he realized what was going on.

"F**K! Not again."

Jamie turned around and jumped off the stage, running to the seating area, trying to delay time while the dragon circled around as the cat pursued him. Just as he reached the stands, the cat leaped on his back, tearing at his neck. Jamie screamed as it tore into him, before he fell to the ground. The last sight he saw before his eyes closed was the cat yowling in pain as it burned.

"Match over. Mutual K.O."

A flash of light appeared, and Jamie and Blackwing were standing at one side of the stadium, with Jamie lacking any injuries. Jamie took a deep breath, closing his eyes, trying to calm his mind. After five minutes had passed, he opened his eyes, then thought about the match. He then rubbed Blackwing around the neck and said "Lets go again."

Blackwing let out a roar. Jamie started the match and a flash of light appeared, then Jamie and Blackwing were at one end of the stage, with the cat at the other. A countdown rang in their heads.

"3,2,1,Begin."

Jamie transmitted to Blackwing "Stay on the ground, approach it slowly."

As Blackwing walked towards the cat while it sprinted forwards, Jamie also walked forwards, with the idea to keep Blackwing between himself and the cat at all times. As they closed in Jamie transmitted to Blackwing "Try to use your ember when it's close."

The cat reached the duo before they had even reached a quarter of the distance. As they closed in the cat started to slow down, and the dragon spat out an ember. The cat's tail tilted and it zagged to it's right, trying to avoid the ember. The ember still barely managed to hit it's hind legs, and it yowled, at it slowly started to burn. Jamie stepped to his right to keep the dragon between them as it burned.

"Match Over. Trainer wins."

A flash of light appeared, and Jamie and Blackwing appeared at one end of the stage.

Eve transmitted to Jamie "Your too fragile. You should start increasing your Martial Warrior stage."

Jamie sighed. "I have limited time. If I focus on increasing my Martial Warrior stage, I neglect increasing my Astral Body. And it's too late at this time, we will likely enter the portal next week."