Perfect Pet: The Chiseled Blade

It was a long walk through the forest but the two eventually meet the end of it. From there, they could see a settlement not too far off in the plains as Sonico looks around nervously. As she stands uncertain of the path ahead, Alleyne continues forward until she feels a tautness in her leash and looks back.

“This...this is going to be the first time I've ever left the forest.”

She admits still looking down about it as Alleyne looks her over. After a momentary pause for thought, Alleyne approaches her Mistress as reaches up startling the rabbit girl as the elf takes hold of her ear.

“A...A-Alleyne?”

A newfound heat comes along Sonico's cheeks as Alleyne comes even closer, close enough for Sonico to take scent of as her nose twitches before she feels a sharp pain along the side of her ear. After proclaiming her feelings verbally, Sonico turns her attention back to Alleyne only to find her crouched down by the ground burying the bit of fur she had pulled off. Once finished, Alleyne rises up dusting herself off looking back at Sonico.

“Reclaim ta iire lle caela tul a n'alaquel.”

Understanding just enough of it, Sonico nods slowly before Alleyne sets out for the plains once more. Sonico gives the little spot some attention as a realization finally hits her. The thought that Alleyne hadn't left anything of herself for her to reclaim. Sonico doesn't say anything knowing Alleyne wouldn't understand her anyway as she just follows after before the chain became tight once more.

Now in the settlement and feeling in a far brighter mood, Sonico leads her pet along the busy street proclaiming openly toward the cautious elf. This was, after all, a settlement outside of the forest with different laws and takes on those who lived within the forest. At any moment the two could be nabbed into an alley never to be heard from again. Or at least Alleyne believes it as such.

“Ya'know, when you were close to me earlier it made me realize two things, Alleyne. One; you have the softest looking hair I've ever seen and two; you've been wearing the same outfit since I bought you. So after we get you a new outfit, it'll be time for a bath I think.”

She announces before opening up a door to a clothing shop. With her stepping inside Alleyne is left to study the outside of the store until she's finally yanked in as well.

“Wow! That looks super awesome on you, Alleyne!” Sonico praises.

“I think you'd need pants with that one.” She giggles.

“That's PERFECT!” Sonico applauds as the accompanying storehand smiles.

“So how will you be paying?”

“Er...paying?” Sonico asks blinking a couple times.

@~)~~~~

Outside, Sonico bows multiple times to Alleyne who had been put back in her original attire.

“I'm sorry, I got so excited I forgot we're lacking in the funds department.”

“Lacking?” An unfamiliar voice repeats prompting Sonico to look around. “Down here.”

Sonico looks down finding an older goblin with a pipe in his mouth eyeing up at her. Sonico crouches down as Alleyne eyes him suspiciously.

“Do you know where we can find work, sir?”

“Sure. There's a cave not too far from here. It might not look like much on the outside, but inside the resident imp is loaded!”

“Oh, we couldn't steal.” Sonico says having hoped what was being offered was a job. The goblin just laughs though.

“Steal? No, no. But you may have to use your pet.” He says pointing toward Alleyne with his pipe causing Alleyne to tighter her grip along her staff in response. “She looks like she could put up a good fight.”

“Fight?” Sonico queries.

“The imp has a fighter, very powerful. Dragons blood in her they say. If your pet beats her you take a chunk of that gold as a reward.”

“What if she can't?”

“You thinking you could get any worse off than you are now? It's free admission, you just gotta show up.”

It all sounds too good to be true, but Sonico did see Alleyne last night and she knows how capable she is with that staff. Plus, with no money they are about as low as they can be at the moment. So Sonico looks back at the goblin and nods her head.

“Alright, we're in. Where is it?”

“Not too far, I'll show you the way.” The goblin gleefully announces hurrying along down the street.

Sonico looks back at Alleyne wondering if she understood what she had just gotten her into. Though given Alleyne looks back at her no differently than usual it would make for an interesting revelation.

~♥~

The cave was a bit of a winding affair, but following the noises of metal clashing with metal, the two eventually made it into a massive opening where they came to a landing. Beneath them looked to be some sort of arena with two women already battling it out. One was a blue haired echidna wielding a scimitar while the other was a brown haired female with a cracked sword and shield combination. Based on that alone, Sonico makes her assumption.

“I guess she's the champion here.” She says watching down at the echidna as she lunges herself with a powerful strike sending the other woman hard across the wall.

The fight goes on like this with the echidna on the offensive end while it seemed all the other could do was block. Not one for fighting, Sonico instead studied out their outfits finding the woman in a tattered one piece while the other wore a bit of chain mail across her torso. What struck her as odd, however, was the fact that the two wore matching collars.

“Is her Mistress now around?” Sonico wonders aloud of the brunette before jumping back when the scimitar smacks against the wall just in front of them.

“Excellent, excellent!” The imp, who had been seated in the shadows, now makes his presence known as he claps his hands delightfully as in the arena the woman points her cracked sword down at the fallen and frightened echidna. “I guess we know what this means...”

“No,” The echidna pleads quickly slithering to the wall just in front of the imps chair. “Master, please! Another chance! I-I can beat her this time!”

“Five years added to your sentence!”

The imp laughs as the echidna screams with the opening of a trap door taking her from the arena before closing, but not before the imp has a chance to spit down the opening.

“Foolish snake, you'd never best my champion. She has the blood of dragons coursing through her veins. You did a good job, Branwen.” The imp cackles as he slowly reaches over for a handle connected to the Branwens leash. He then makes a slurping sound while eyeing down at her. “Very good.”

Pressing a button on the handle, an electric current races down the leash shocking Branwen as she screams dropping both sword and shield before collapsing herself to her knees. After a momentary rest, the imp pulls the trigger again making her scream even louder.

“Stop it!” Sonico shouts from the other side drawing the imps attention. “She won, didn't she? Why are you punishing her?”

“Fresh meat. Very fresh.” The imp replies licking his lips as Branwen grips tightly the dirt underneath her hands. An action witnessed by Alleyne while Sonico is too busy looking across at the imp. “Are you here to challenge my champion?”

“My pet Alleyne is.” Sonico says pointing to the elf.

“Then your sentence begins now.” The imp replies reaching for some controls.

“Sentence?” Sonico asks before hearing bars fall shut sealing out the passage behind them.

Sonico and Alleyne turn around before the floor beneath them opens up bringing them down in a hurry through the darkness with the last thing they hear being the imp's cackle.

*<
[<
/\

“Ouch...” Sonico groans rubbing at her back. “At least the landing was softer than I thought.”

Why was that? The question suddenly comes to her and she jumps to her feet looking back barely able to see where she had landed. So she reaches out and begins feeling around the ground.

“Alleyne? Alleyne?” Feeling around Sonico soon finds the handle for Alleyne's leash. From there she traces out the hefty chain until she feels the flesh of an elf. “Alleyne?”

Sonico continues feeling around until she feels the flatness of her stomach and leans in resting the side of her head across her chest listening until she hears the heartbeat. Shortly after, Alleyne begins to sit up as Sonic throws her arms around her.

“Oh, thank god! Alleyne, you had me so worried!”

As Sonico hugs her tightly, Alleyne gives a look of indifference more curious as to their whereabouts than anything. Soon, it comes to Sonico as well as she begins to look around as her eyes finally begin to adjust to the dark.

“Where...are we?”

“Master's harem.” Comes a response from beneath the two.

It surprises Alleyne back to her feet as Sonico jumps to hers allowing the echidna they had been watching earlier get back up.

“Are...are you okay?”

“Yes. Luckily you didn't land on anything vital.”

“Land? Oh! I'm sorry!”

“It's okay, you couldn't have controlled where you would have landed anyway. I'm Chase, by the way.”

As Chase gives herself a quick look over, Sonico exchanges glances with Alleyne and then to the woman before them.

“Um...you said this was a harem? What do you mean by that?”

“Down here we are all property of the Master above us. The...imp who most likely sent you down here as well. You are now his belongings.”

“What? No! No we're not! We...we have to get out of here!” Sonico frantically shouts looking around hoping to spot some sign out. Unfortunately, while there were paths they all led to darker corridors as the echidna begins to slither away. “Wait!”

Sonico chases after the echidna pulling on Alleyne's leash bringing her forward as well.

“The only way out is to best the champion in combat. You wager years of service and when you lose that's how much longer you're forced to remain. The more years you wager the sooner your chance comes.”

“How did you end up here in the first place?”

“Same way I'm sure you did. Out of money, out of luck...an older goblin approaches you with an offer.”

Hearing that makes Sonico gasp as Chase continues.

“He comes around once or twice a week to...spend time with his cut. He's not exactly a gentle lover.” She stops and looks back at the two following her. “That's more a warning than anything.”

“Well, we don't intend on being here long enough to find out because Alleyne's going to win.”

“Did you put in a fight request?”

“Fight...request?”

“If you didn't even do that then there's no point talking about it. You're here until you get your chance so--”

The echidna is interrupted by a low gong bellowing through the halls followed up by another. Hearing them, she shakes her head.

“The Master is hungry. You might as well come with me so you can at least learn the ropes early on.”

<*^)    
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_/   _\ 

The Master takes a hefty bite from a turkey leg tearing off the meat with his teeth as across from him his goblin accomplice eyes the kneeling Branwen with delicious intent in his eyes. Branwen keeps her eyes down trying not to react to the saliva and bits of food constantly splattered down over the side of her face. Off to the side stand Sonico, Alleyne, Chase, a harpy, and a human. Almost all were holding onto a serving tray with the exception of Sonico who struggled to keep hold of a wine jug as all had been changed into differing color bikinis.

“There might be a delay on future girls for your harem.” The goblin says.

“Oh?” The Master replies as he grabs his chalice and chugs down the wine inside splashing droplets down across Branwen's face. She struggles to keep from turning away, but with the imp in possession of the electrocuting handle of her collar she simply keeps herself obediently still.

“Authorities are noticing the disappearances far too quickly these days. I may have to move to a different settlement for the time being.”

“Then I expect more if they're to take longer.”

“More?” The goblin exclaims as the imp shakes out his chalice to those along the wall.

Sonico feels a tap at the back of her leg and looks over as Chase gestures her forward with a calming smile. Sonico struggles at first carrying the weight of the jug as she approaches the imps side going to pour it when instead she loses her grip causing it to spill out in its entirety. Sonico gasps as a fair deal also lands overtop of Branwen but the imp only focuses on the damage around himself.

“You...insolent...whench!” He goes to backhand Sonico but his wrist is grabbed by Alleyne who glares back at him. “Such a high spirit. Fine. We'll have my champion deal with the two of you.”

Alleyne releases her hold of the imp's wrist and takes a step back as Branwen looks to be struggling just to keep her composure.

/:(////)~
/\ /\

Down in the arena, Sonico looks around having reclaimed her hold of Alleyne's leash. Alleyne was also given back her staff for this encounter as across from them the imp tugs hard on Branwen's leash causing her to groan out.

“The rules will be simple. Teams of two, the first to knock an opposing member from their feet wins and when you lose you'll never get another chance at freedom! You'll have the rest of your lives to learn how to pour wine properly!”

“What? I can't fight!” Sonico protests.

“Begin!” The imp commands sending a shock through Branwen bringing her out to combat as she meets Alleyne between himself and Sonico.

Branwen pushes Alleyne back with her shield and swings high, but the elf ducks and shoots out the tip of her staff narrowly catching the champion in the gut. After her sidestep, Branwen slashes down at Alleyne who rolls to the side.

“Her rabbit is open!”

The imp shouts as Branwen turns her attention to Sonico now lunging at her. Alleyne pounces back blocking the attack just in time as Sonico cowers down frightened this was the end of her. The imp makes a subtle “tch” noise and reaches over pulling down a lever causing oil to spill out from the walls and a platform beneath his feet to rise a few inches.

“Keh keh keh. Try standing on this!”

“That's not fa--” Sonico begins to shout back before nearly slipping over the oil. She manages to catch herself as Alleyne looks around them seeing the oil coming up to just half an inch then just catches Branwen's swing for her neck.

The two continue to fight swinging with near misses and high impact blocks until Alleyne sees an opening and swings wide for the imp. Too wide for Branwen to block herself as Sonico cheers. That is until a small wall pops up beside the imp blocking the attack.

“Keh keh keh.” He laughs as Alleyne and Branwen struggle a bit more. Once again Alleyne finds an opening and strikes toward the imps opposite side getting the same effect. “Did you think I would be the easy target?”

With her arm outreached this time, Alleyne is easy pickings for a sharp shield strike across her forearm. She gasps dropping the staff down in the oil before clinging her wrist close to her. Watching this, the imp licks his lips eagerly anticipating the newest members to his harem.

“Concede...concede defeat and maybe I'll go easy your first twenty years of service.” He laughs again.

“Alleyne...whoa!” Sonico nearly falls but Alleyne manages to catch her. “Alleyne? Th-thank you.”

Sonico blushes as Alleyne holds her close and steadies herself back up holding her Mistress in both arms. The imp just points and laughs again.

“Ha! You really should declare your defeat if all you can do is dodge! Perhaps you haven't realized it yet, but Branwen was conditioned to be a fighter before I took her!”

“You...took her?”

“She's nothing more than my property, my tool, my piece of entertainment value. Your pet elf is no different.”

“You're wrong!” Sonico shouts back causing the imp to fall silent. “Alleyne is more than just a tool to me. She's my friend and above that...she's someone I admire. She's strong, compassionate...I would never take those things away like you did to Branwen. I'm sure she was a vibrant, loving woman before you defiled her with your filth!”

“Keh. She was beautiful once and now she's MINE!!!” He laughs out again before gripping the leash handle tightly. “And as proof of that, I'm going to order Branwen to strike you down now! Do it, slave! Now! Make them MINE!!!”

Branwen reacts charging at the two stepping lightly across the oil as Sonico squeaks out in fear only to see no change in Alleyne's features. This allows Sonico to calm as Alleyne side steps Branwen's strike and hurls Sonico through the air screaming as she soars toward the imp.

“What...what are you doing?”

Unable to do anything to block, the imp can only watch as Sonico comes crash landing on top of him sending him on his back before the rabbit even touches the floor. Seeing that her side had lost, Branwen lowers both her sword and shield turning to acknowledge the victor with a bow of her head.

(^v^)
<( )>
w

“No! Y-you don't understand!” The bound up imp shouts now outside beside the bound up goblin surrounded by their former harem.

“I understand.” Sonico says holding tightly to Alleyne's leash as both had returned to their appropriate wardrobes. “I understand you kidnapped these women and forced them into slavery!”

“No! That's not—MMPH!” Chase shoves a pinecone in his mouth and smiles to Sonico who returns the gesture then looks back at Branwen.

“Will you be able to take them into the proper custody?”

“Yes.” Branwen replies. “The settlement nearby has such a station for these two until they can be taken to the city.”

“I'm glad to hear that.” Sonico smiles as Branwen smiles back.

“We all owe you a huge debt. If you hadn't come...”

“Think nothing of it.” Sonico replies. “You just make sure everyone makes it home to their families nice and safely, okay?”

“Yes. Maybe we'll see each other again.”

“Here's hoping!” Sonico giggles as she tugs along on Alleyne's leash leading her down the path. “It's always so worth it to help people. Don't you think, Alleyne? And I really think we did some good today.”

<:3)~

Late night, a deer wanders through the plains sniffing at some grass when it hears a slight rustle of leaves by a cave's entrance startling it away. From the bushes comes Branwen, covered in blood with a hideous looking smirk on her face. In one hand her; her sword dripping with fresh blood while in the other she holds the tail of the now lifeless Chase. Alongside her by the cave's entrance were the severed heads of the imp and goblin each stuck on their own pike with grotesque expressions of fear immortalized on their faces. Branwen's body begins to quiver with excitement as she looks down the path tightening her grip on both her sword and the tail.

“Never tasted rabbits blood before.” She says to herself calmly before bringing Chase's tail up for a deep bite.