"Alright, shall we go?"

She nodded happily, and they resumed their journey, leaving behind a man that was about to piss himself. Why had he been scared of such a clown?! He didn't know himself, but he also didn't want to figure it out.

​​

That is how they kept going until they finally arrived at their destination. It was a relatively small blue building with a large backyard. There were a few empty dog houses and toys all over the place that were visible.

As they reached the front gate, she was almost jumping out of her sneakers in excitement. As she rushed to knock on the door, it opened by itself. There stood a woman smiling brightly. She was a calm beauty that had decided to dedicate her life to the poor strays of this town.

If he remembered correctly, she and his girlfriend had never gotten along. He had never known why either, as both seemed to share a similarly playful personality at times.

"Hey kid, how have you been? Not too bored?" She greeted, also nodding at Josh.

"Of course not! I've spent the day researching the ancient canine knowledge of our predecessors! I have scoured countless video pages and vlogs and seen lots of pictures!" She grandly declared. She was very good at phrasing "wasting time on the Internet" eloquently.

"Ah, then if you've seen so many dogs already, then I guess you must be tired of watching them, right?" She teased her.

"No! It's not the same! I want to see real dogs!"

That is when the two-headed inside quickly, Josh slowly following behind. He could already hear exclamations of happiness. The little one was showing all of her knowledge as she enumerated all the different species.

"That's a bulldog. This one is a terrier, a pit bull, a boxer, a dachshund, a german shepherd, a beagle, a labrador retriever, and finally a loud-mouthed devil dog!"

"Pff, By devil dog, you mean a chihuahua, right? This specific one indeed loves to bark a lot. You got all the others right. Very good, young lady." She ruffled her hair as she said that.

"Of course! I have the best teacher at home!" She looked toward Josh in the back, but it really just was the Internet to thank in this case.

That's when Josh fully entered the room. There were so many of them. They were hairy, relatively big, had four paws, long sharp front teeth, and long tails.

In front of him, there were rats, nothing but rats. The two were now ruffling them gently as if dogs. But the scene looked so weird with the lifeless rats!

That is when the little one turned toward him with puppy eyes. "Can we bring one home? I'll talk to my sister! I'll convince her for sure, or my name isn't —!"

"Sure, you can get one. Make sure you pick carefully." Josh interrupted her. There was no need to hesitate in a dream.

She had been ready to fight tooth and nail for her case, yet she had won so easily?! She couldn't believe her ears. She even wondered if he was sick. That's why she hurried up and chose one before he changed his mind.

In the back, the woman could be seen giggling at the enthusiasm the little girl was showing. She then began to instruct her on how to take care of it. It included things like walking it often. Please, a roadkill would have walked more than that one!

Before long, they were leaving, with Josh exchanging cellphone numbers with the woman in case they had any questions. The little one could be seen carrying the fat giant rat in her arms as if a little puppy.

Just as they were walking, Josh heard the beeping of his cell. Just as he checked his new message, he almost had a heart attack. There was a picture of a beautiful woman in very thin blue lingerie on the screen. Yes, the dog lady they had just left.

The caption under the picture could read: "If she leaves you, my specialty is taking care of single dogs. Very good care~ ;)."

Now that he thought about it, something similar had really happened. He had exchanged numbers with her, had gone home without any dog, and later there had been pillow talk suggesting that he should stay far away from the dog lady.

They finally returned home and ate supper. It was high-end gastronomy: some juicy Wagyu beef with mashed potatoes. Back then, he couldn't afford something so fancy, but he'd just enjoy the moment, even if fake.

The tender meat melted in his mouth as he greedily devoured it. Then the mashed potatoes may not have been very fancy, but it was traditional food that just spoke of home. It was a blissful moment, a very blissful one. But, as it was often the case, it soon came crumbling.

CRASH! RUMBLE! NEIGH!

Out of nowhere, the wall of their small apartment got obliterated. There were pieces of wood, brick, and plywood flying everywhere. Josh quickly went to cover the only valuable in the room.

"What the Hell is that, Josh?!" She cried out.

The head of a horse came out of the hole. Its mouth was so full of so many teeth that it could only be an abomination. Yet, she didn't scream or cry. She just clenched his hand, finding safety in his presence.

Josh instantly got into action. He grabbed the nearby rat and threw it next to the creature. It kept it busy for a good 5 seconds. Then it flung it all across the room. But, he was already in front of the monster.

Josh jumped on the creature's back before bashing its head repeatedly while shouting: "Surrender already, or it will end badly!" At the same time, he sent as much killing intent as he could. Then, he grabbed its mane and forcefully guided it toward the hallway.

"Be right back! You can visit Mister Igloo in the meantime. Soon we'll have a rat— I mean a dog and a horse!" He reassured her.

"Are you going to be fine?!" She showed a trace of worry.

"Please, you think a murderous Nightmare is dangerous? Have you forgotten? I know yoga, and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Seeing how confident yet silly he looked, she couldn't help but laughingly nod. It was as expected of him. She even added: "Hmm, it's true you should be fine taming this thing. After all, you already tamed my sister!"

He almost choked on that one. He wanted to berate the cheeky girl, but that's when the Nightmare began galloping again. He kept riding it for a while until...

[Tamed ]

[Congratulation on taming—Error! Error! Error!]

[No taming emblem found but taming confirmed!]

[Verifying integrity of Tower Protocol. Verified.]

[Searching for any anomaly. One found: Josh Motherfucking Malum!]

[Fixing of the anomaly. Error, error, error!]

[Entity is a Player. Actions non-dictated by the Tower. Added exception!]

[Lack of Balance detected.]

[Sealing Pet Until Conditions are Met!]

[Feat achieved: First to Tame without a taming Emblem.]

[Increased chance of humans obtaining the Tamer Class!]

What the fuck was all this?! This is the exact moment that Josh woke up. In front of him, he could see a creature kneeling in front of him. . He couldn't help but laugh out loud!

It was so majestic! It looked powerful too! So what if it was sealed? This always happened in games. The Boss version was always stronger than the pet version for obvious reasons. Josh raised his hand and patted the creature's head.

He needed a name for it. He thought for a few moments before grandly declaring."From now on, you will be known as...Nightmare!" Did he imagine things, or did the creature try to facepalm?...