Dungeon Delving

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters and works, if you recognise it from somewhere else, surprise it isn't mine.

Betad by morde24, Atrius, Hermes, Priapus, Marethyu, Old man of the mountain and TheDonFluffles

The Guild of Gamers: The Tamer

Chapter 04: Dungeon Delving

"So, there was a report of 'some brute' attacking some college students," Midnight says as I arrive back, making me blink.

Pft, the cry babies ran to the authorities? Typical weaklings, hiding behind someone else once they realise how pathetic they are.

But my father taught me a special tactic for things like this, he called it the ultimate defence.

"It wasn't me," I say, crossing my arms and staring at her. The shaggy defence, just keep denying everything until they give up.

"Don't worry, you aren't in any trouble, Momo thought to make sure you wouldn't get in trouble for coming to her defence," Midnight says reassuringly, making me pause.

"It wasn't me," I say again, making her chuckle slightly.

"Kaito, you know there were cameras right?" Midnight points out, making me hesitate. The shaggy defence is failing, so I'll move onto my fathers other teachings.

Grabbing Midnight, she squeaks in surprise as I toss her over my shoulder and carry her back to my room, though she doesn't put up much of a fight as I kick the door open and toss her onto the bed.

"Wait, Kaito, I need to talk to you about-" Midnight starts, interrupted as I rip a hole in her costume, mounting her once again.

Whatever she was going to say is forgotten as I sheath myself inside her, pinning her to the bed.

My father's other foolproof defence for distracting women. He might be questionable at the best of times but some of his teachings are very effective.

— Later —

It turns out she wanted to talk to me about the examination Blue went under, apparently while they learnt a lot about slimes (since it was a chance to have a slime participate in its own examination) they realised something far more important.

I told Blue to listen to Midnight, and he obeyed her instructions perfectly. So now they want to know if I could do that with other monsters, on a much longer term basis.

If I don't have an upper limit on how many monsters I can control, I could essentially supply heroes with tamed monsters

Naturally, that could be a game changer for this world, but for it to be truly effective they need four things.

I need to not have a monster limit, I need to be able to order monsters to obey someone on a much longer term than just a day, they need to make sure the monsters won't go berserk if I come across a nullifier quirk, and they need me to be willing to actually tame and give away monsters.

To start with, the nullification part is easily tested.

"Blue, bounce," I say easily, watching as Blue starts to bounce around the testing room happily, not trying to eat anyone even as 'Eraserhead' stares at me.

"I believe we can conclude that while his Quirk allows the taming process, once tamed the monster won't revert to its hostile state even if his power is nullified," Nezu says happily, and while I don't blame them for thinking that, the answer is much simpler.

My power isn't a Quirk, so there's nothing to nullify.

"Now, we need to see if Kaito can have a monster obey someone on a long term basis," Nezu continues. "Assuming you're willing to do so, of course."

He's a smart little guy, because he can clearly see I'm experiencing some mixed feelings on this. I'm fairly attached to Blue, and I don't particularly like the idea of giving away any monsters.

"Not Blue, he's off limits. As for other monsters… it'll be a case-by-case thing, I won't give a monster to anyone I don't think will treat them right," I say, crossing my arms and glaring at the teachers and researchers.

I won't have powerful monsters be abused by weak fools because they're bound by my power. The weak should serve the strong, not the other way around.

That said, if I find people I think deserve a monster as a partner, that's a different story. In my tribe, most of the warriors had an animal companion, like giant wolves to ride on the hunt.

"Of course," Nezu says calmly. "But first we need to find out if you have a limit on how many monsters you can tame, so I'm happy to say I've gotten you access to a nearby dungeon. It is a C-rank dungeon, more than a first year student would normally have access to so you'll need a teacher to escort you. I should warn you, while the monsters in this particular dungeon may look… more childish than most, they are no less powerful."

"My current monster is a gelatinous blob, I sometimes keep him in a water bottle. I know looks can be deceiving," I say in a deadpan tone, turning back to where Blue is happily bouncing around the room.

He could melt damn-near everyone in this room if he wanted to, maybe some of the heroes would be able to avoid it but Blue would slaughter the researchers in seconds. I could unleash him in a city and he'd kill hundreds before anyone managed to take him down.

And he's so damn cute.

"Very true, now Midnight has offered to escort you tomorrow, though for future expeditions it may be someone else, depending on who is available," Nezu continues, making me nod gratefully at Midnight.

I've seen footage of her fighting, she's good, despite being physically weak compared to the other heroes, specialising in capturing people with her Quirk and whip.

I would not be opposed to giving her a monster, especially since I'll be at U.A with her, so I'll be able to see how it goes in person. If she mistreats it, I'll just have to punish her in my own way.

I have a whip too, after all.

— Nezu —

With the expedition arranged, Kaito left the room with Blue by his side, making Nezu stroke his chin in thought.

The ability to weaponise monsters could change everything, how much simpler would dungeon clearing be if the heroes could take trained monsters with them?

How many heroes would be alive today if they had a monster by their side?

Kaito claimed that if Blue 'died', it would simply return to Kaito's side once it recovered, which had sent the researchers into a frenzy trying to work out if any monsters truly died.

When they cleared a dungeon, were the monsters who repopulated it the same ones they slew? Was that why this battle seemed so futile?

…would the Kaiju return once slain? They had seen no sign of the single Kaiju they had managed to slay, but was it biding its time or simply taking far longer to return?

It was true that more dangerous dungeons took longer to repopulate while weaker dungeons seemed to repopulate overnight at times, did that mean that the more powerful the creature, the longer it took to return?

It was both interesting and extremely demoralising to know, which made this opportunity to turn monsters to their side all the more important.

Kaiju fights would be far simpler if they had their own S-rank monsters to fight by their side, able to return from death should the worst befall them.

Kaito was clearly protective of his monsters, which was unsurprising, as many quirks affected the user's mind. This was an unfortunate road block, but they had to gain his trust and convince him to aid them.

Kaito claimed he didn't think he had a limit, and Blue remained docile the entire day Kaito was gone, happily following Midnight's orders.

If there truly wasn't a limit, if he could order them to permanently follow someone else's orders, they might have a chance to turn the tide in their favour.

Kaito agreeing to come to U.A was a godsend, because hopefully he would develop bonds with his classmates, supplying them with monsters of their own.

From there, the teachers and heroes that escorted him to the dungeons could gain them, until more and more people had monsters that would become their force multiplier.

As for Kaito's wish for them not to be abused? That was something he could easily agree with, because this wasn't the first 'control' Quirk they'd seen and it wasn't too uncommon for the controlled person or animal to break free if they were abused too badly, and he certainly didn't want to alienate Kaito, so he would make sure they only gave trusted heroes the chance to gain a monster.

Plus, he knew how cruel humans could be to 'lesser' species, still carrying some scars from his time in the labs. He certainly wouldn't be facilitating a repeat of his past upon the monsters.

Some of the teachers had brought up Midnight's… rather public relationship with a student, but he'd made his position clear.

Midnight was doing something very good for them, because Kaito clearly liked her, and she had the best chance of gaining his trust. He wouldn't be surprised if Midnight returned from their expedition with a monster of her own.

Maybe it was because of his inhuman nature, but he simply didn't care about Midnight spending her nights with him.

If it got them the power they needed to counter the dungeons and Kaiju, he'd happily offer every female teacher and student to Kaito, but humans were strangely prudish about such things.

Instead, he'd simply ensure that nobody interfered with them or any other relationship that developed.

The survival of the world was far more important than the delicate sensibilities of humans.

— Kaito —

Arriving at the entrance to the dungeon, I prepare myself for what could be a difficult time.

Blue is back at U.A, because they want to make sure that distance doesn't break my control of him.

Which means it's just me and Midnight going in, though while this dungeon is a C rank one, most of the monsters are apparently on the weaker side, the reason it's a C rank dungeon is because there are some much more dangerous creatures in it.

Dungeons can apparently vary massively in monster strength, an S rank dungeon could have monsters any beginner hero could deal with, but they also have monsters that could kill even the strongest heroes.

"Are you ready?" Midnight asks, making me nod.

"I've been waiting for this," I say simply, feeling the familiar feeling of excitement brewing in my chest as I stare at the portal.

My plan is to get two monsters, one for me and one for Midnight.

I don't want to tame too many because while I don't think I have a limit, quality is better than quantity. If I have too many I won't be able to give them the training they need to thrive.

Blue wouldn't be as powerful as he was if I had taken a dozen slimes back with me, and as a result I wouldn't have the power I got from having a tamed King Blue Slime.

I can't tame anything above D rank at the moment, but I can train low rank monsters up to a higher rank, which is my best bet to get more power.

"Then let's get going," Midnight says, heading into the dungeon with zero hesitation as I follow behind her, she's definitely done this plenty of times before.

Arriving in yet another forest, Midnight must have seen my curiosity as she turns to me.

"Dungeons usually take a form similar to their surroundings, and both the dungeons you've been in have been in forests, though that's not always the case. There's a dungeon in the middle of Tokyo that leads to an arctic tundra where it's so cold most people would freeze to death even before they found a monster," Midnight explains as we start to walk through the dungeon. "Environmental dangers can be just as bad as the monsters at times, but you'll learn a lot more about dungeons during your classes. We had to make an entirely new subject to prepare our students to deal with them."

"Ah, got it. I guess I got lucky with the one I was dropped into then," I say, pausing as I spot the first monsters of this dungeon.

Hanging upside down on the trees are three blueish bat monsters with no visible eyes, and we've clearly awoken them as they fall and start to fly.

[Zubat, the Bat Pokémon - Rank E]

Pokémon? Why does that sound oddly familiar?

"These guys aren't that dangerous, just watch out for their sonic attacks," Midnight says, immediately going on the offensive as she strikes out with her whip, hitting one of them out of the air despite its speed.

It's still alive, but she calmly stomps on it and snaps its neck, finishing it while it's down as she unleashes some of the gas that her Quirk creates, catching the second one in the cloud as it falls asleep and falls to the ground.

She's good, I can see why she's a teacher at U.A.

I don't bother with my own whip, I'm not good enough to hit such a fast moving target with it yet, but what I am good with is my hands.

It stops in front of me and opens its unnaturally large mouth, screeching as I charge forwards, moving through the visible sound waves and delivering a right hook straight into the bat's face, sending it to the ground.

The sound is painful, an immense ringing in my ears making me wince, but not enough to stop me from pulling out my knife and finishing the little bastard.

[Sonic Resistance - Rank E]

You have a minor resistance to sonic and sound based attacks.

Heh, this is why I tank attacks. You're just making me stronger.

"I take it you're not interested in one of these?" Midnight asks, watching me sheathe my knife.

"Honestly, it's a maybe. Sonic attacks are pretty unique after all, but I want to see what options I have first," I say, making her nod as we move on.

I can see what they meant when they said this dungeon isn't that dangerous, because while we were attacked by some bird monsters called Spearows, most of them try to avoid us.

Monsters aren't completely mindless, they won't attack if they think they'll be killed, so the small green and brown caterpillars flee away from us (slowly at that), as do the purple mice.

Nothing above E-rank yet, but I'm not really worried about that. I want something interesting, I can make it powerful myself.

Feeling something's gaze on me, I stiffen up and look around, seeing a nearby bush shake slightly as I move towards it quickly.

Spotting something trying to run away, I move ahead of it with a smile as I stare down at the tiny creature, I've not seen one of these before.

It looks similar to a white hedgehog, with green fur instead of spikes, with small flowers growing on its body. It tries to run into the bushes, but I easily pick it up and hold it in place.

"Hello, little guy. Now, what are yo-" I start, freezing.

[Shaymin, the Gratitude Pokémon - Legendary Rank]

…this is a Legendary Rank monster?

Held in the air by my hand, Shaymin simply squeaks as its tiny legs flail, not trying to attack me as it stares up at me in panic.

Maybe it's a baby? But I can't take anything above D rank, this is way beyond my limits.

U.A think nothing that dangerous spawns in the dungeons, I wasn't expecting anything stronger than C rank, maybe a B rank if we got lucky. Not this.

"Hey, there, little guy. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," I say, making it freeze up and stare at me, with tears in its eyes as I gently place it back down.

Bullying a baby monster isn't particularly fun, but as I place it down it doesn't flee immediately as it stares up at me.

"I don't think I've ever seen or heard of one of those before," Midnight says as she approaches slowly, keeping some distance.

"I think it's a baby monster, if such a thing even exists," I say, gently reaching down and patting the grassy fur.

"Are you going to tame it?" Midnight asks, very slowly approaching as it stiffens up, before relaxing as she kneels down.

"I can't, it's species is too powerful for me at the moment, I can tame D rank monsters, my power claims this is a Legendary rank monster," I admit, making her freeze as her eyes widen in shock.

"Legendary rank?" Midnight repeats, staring at the tiny creature. "Maybe we should put it down, before it can grow-"

As she says that, Shaymin stiffens up, clearly understanding us but I move between her and it.

"No, it's no threat to us," I say firmly, giving her a warning stare. "Let it be."

Kill an Ultimate rank monster while it's weak? Not a chance, if it can become strong then it'll be worth fighting or taming when I'm more capable.

As I speak, I feel a sense of gratitude overcome me, making me turn back to Shaymin as I remember what the system claimed it was, but as I do Shaymin suddenly seems to remember that it's an ultimate monster as a flurry of green bursts from it, forming a thick wall of razor sharp leaves for just a moment.

It's noticeable that it didn't hurt either of us, and as the leaves fall to the floor Shaymin is nowhere to be seen.

But now I know there's a legendary rank monster in here, I'll be back for you little guy.

"Sneaky little bastard, not even the smallest track to follow," I say, looking around with a chuckle. "Ah well, there will be other opportunities."

"What was a Legendary rank monster even doing in a C-rank dungeon?" Midnight asks, clearly worried.

It makes sense, they occasionally use this dungeon for students at U.A, finding out they sent kids into a place with something called 'Legendary' is definitely a cause for concern.

I don't have an answer to her question, so I don't reply as I look around the forest with a frown. There's a real concern we'll get lost if we go too deep, apparently dungeons get rid of 'unnatural' things, so they can't build signs or structures inside the dungeons.

I've been marking trees to help us find out way back, but it's still a very large forest.

Setting off, we have to fight off more bats and worse, a swarm of large, bee-like monsters called Beedrills (not the most imaginative name, but given their drill arms I can certainly see how they got it), and as our deadline approaches I consider grabbing one of each of the types of bugs we've seen.

My power tells me that the brown caterpillars can evolve into the bees, but I haven't seen what the green ones become yet.

But before I go through with it, I find something more interesting.

"Kaito!" Midnight shouts as the fangs of the large purple snake bit into my arm, poison being injected into me as I growl.

[Ekans, the Snake Pokémon - Rank D]

Ignoring the fact that its name is just snake backwards, I have already made my decision as I grab the monster by the neck and pry it off my arm.

Its poison burns but I just shift my arm into slime form, feeling the pain go away as I consider how to weaken this guy enough to capture it. I have poison resistance anyway so I wasn't in any real danger.

Shifting my arm back, I grip the snake by the tail and simply swing it at the tree it dropped out of, whacking it against the trunk a few times before I reach out and start the bond.

The little bastard seems to have gotten the message as the contract goes through, a flash of red light signifying our new bond

Letting it go, it slithers up my arm and wraps around it, not too tightly as I smile.

"Got a thing for snakes?" Midnight asks, seeing the monster suddenly become tame as I chuckle.

"A little, my mother has a snake of her own. Hers just happens to be big enough to eat an elephant, and its entire herd, in one bite," I say easily.

Good old Jörmungandr.

But this guy isn't for me, it's for Midnight herself. It has a similar enough fighting style to compliment hers, though maybe I should have gotten her something that fights differently to her to cover her weaknesses.

For all her talent, she lacks physical prowess, so a monster with great strength and endurance would also work well for her, but Ekans can evolve to become stronger and if she does well, then I can just get her another monster.

"…I see. She certainly sounds impressive," Midnight says after a long pause, watching me stroke Ekans.

"You have no idea," I say simply, chuckling to myself. It's no exaggeration to say she could slaughter every single person and monster in this world without breaking a sweat.

As the time limit rapidly approaches, I prepare to head back with just Ekans and maybe some of the bugs but as we walk back, I notice something odd.

A trail of flowers that wasn't there when we first came through here.

My curiosity will not let me ignore something like this, even if it looks like a fairly obvious trap if I'm being perfectly honest.

Following the path, with a rather exasperated Midnight behind me, heading deeper and deeper into the forest as we find ourselves atop a hill, looking down on a clearing.

"Kaito, we are not fighting that," Midnight says sternly as she sees what I'm staring at, her eyes widening as she sees the monster that seems to be sleeping in the middle of the clearing, soaking in the sunlight.

Almost frog-like, the massive green body has a giant flower blooming in a pod on its back, it's far bigger than anything else we've seen so far. My power tells me that it's absorbing sunlight with its flower, and that's how it feeds and grows stronger.

"I've never heard of anything this big in this dungeon before…" Midnight whispers, making me narrow my eyes.

[Venusaur, the Seed Pokémon - Rank A]

Dungeon Boss

Dungeon Boss? What does that mean?

Quest Added

[Conquer the Viridian Forest Dungeon]

Objective: Defeat Venusaur

A part of me wants to rush down and challenge the beast, but I'm no fool. I don't even have Blue with me and as powerful as he is, he's only Rank B now.

Besides, it's not alone. It has smaller versions of itself also resting as they absorb the sunlight in the clearing.

"I know, I'm not ready for him yet, but I'll be coming back for him," I swear, making her smile.

"Then I think it's time we got out of here, it's already getting late, you'll have plenty of chances to come back," she promises, making me give her a smile as I give the Venusaur one last look.

One of its large eyes opens lazily, locking onto me for a moment before it dismissively closes its eyes again.

I'll be back, just you wait.

— Nemuri (Midnight) —

Following the marks Kaito placed on the trees, she considered what to make of what they'd seen today. She had a camera in her mask so she could show the researchers the footage of 'Venusaur' as Kaito claimed it was called.

This dungeon was one they used for their second and third years, but if any of them had come across that thing…

It wasn't Kaiju sized, but it still looked very powerful and Kaito claimed his power insisted that it was an 'A rank' monster.

They didn't actually give ranks to monsters like that, just dungeons, but Kaito's power clearly knew something they didn't, which was a concerning thought.

Why did Kaito instinctively rank and learn the names of monsters? He could also identify the abilities just by watching them, but wasn't his Quirk too versatile?

He could identify monsters, tame them, take their form, and learn abilities from them? Either he truly won the Quirk lottery or something fishy was going on.

Oddly enough, she didn't think Kaito himself was suspicious, just the circumstances around him.

And then there was 'Shaymin', a Legendary monster, according to Kaito's power. A legendary monster that could clearly understand her words.

The leaves it used to cover its retreat shredded some of the nearby trees, they would have torn her body to pieces just as easily. It was small, it certainly wasn't weak.

They had been sending students in here, sometimes unattended for the talented ones, never realising what powerful beasts existed inside it.

Which made her wonder if such powerful monsters could be found in every dungeon. It was all too common for a dungeon to be reclassified as a higher rank later on after some powerful monster showed up, far stronger than anything they had previously found.

Mapping out dungeons was impossible, as they seemed to shift and grow over time, so how many 'weaker' dungeons had some truly deadly monsters lurking in the distance?

Her ruminations were interrupted by the sound of something running towards them, making her curse herself for letting her thoughts wander inside a dungeon, turning to the noise just in time to see Kaito punch a strange bi-pedal monster in the face.

The round furry monkey-like creature flew back as Kaito grinned, watching it jump back onto its legs, hopping on the spot as it glared at him.

She took a closer look as its pig-like snout flared up angrily, glaring at Kaito as he glared right back.

With the exception of its hands, feet and the tip of its tail, the creature was covered in thick off-white fur, with a very round body.

"Oh, I like you! Congratulations, Mankey, you're my next monster," Kaito said happily, making 'Mankey' holler angrily as Kaito decided to throw hands with a monkey.

Honestly, Kaito was too simple for her to be truly suspicious of him, despite all the mystery around him.

The Mankey proved to be a rather talented fighter, dodging and weaving under Kaito's attacks as it bounced around the trees, swinging around with its tail to avoid Kaito's attacks before it launched itself back and repeatedly punched Kaito in the face.

Getting ready to help, Kaito waved her off as he grinned, watching the Mankey jump back into a tree, leering at him.

"Oh, I definitely like you," Kaito chuckled, unconcerned about the slight amount of blood leaking from his nose.

As the Mankey launched itself back at him for another attack, Kaito moved with a level of grace that you wouldn't expect from someone his size and gripped the monster's arm and threw it over his shoulder in a textbook judo throw, slamming the smaller creature down on the ground.

"Ekans, bite," Kaito ordered, his new snake still wrapped around his arm immediately lashing out and biting the Mankey, making it start to thrash around angrily, limbs flailing at Kaito in a rage.

Moving away, he waited for his opponent to stop throwing a tantrum and get back up, an excited smile on his face.

As the Mankey started to charge him, Kaito smirked briefly.

"Ekans, Glare."

Turning its head to the charging monster, Ekans' eyes glowed as it reared up its head, making the monster freeze up in panic.

Capitalising on his opponent's vulnerability, Kaito simply kicked it right in its pig-like snout, sending it tumbling back.

"Bind."

Slithering down his arm, Ekans launched itself at the downed Mankey, wrapping around it and binding its arms against its body.

The Mankey didn't particularly enjoy its new position, screeching and hollering as it struggled and rolled around, but Ekans clearly had a very tight grip on the other monster, leaving it defenceless as Kaito walked up to it.

"Welcome to the team, you angry little bastard," Kaito chuckled, holding out his hand again as a red glow came from it, thin red tendrils of energy reaching out and touching the Mankey.

Ekans apparently understood what happened as it calmly released the Mankey, slithering back to its perch on Kaito's arm.

Mankey slowly rose to its feet, looking around in confusion before it turned back to Kaito, engaging in a staring contest with its new master for a moment.

Then it punched him in the face again.

And Kaito punched it right back, immediately devolving into another brawl as she sighed.

Men.

— Kaito —

Grabbing my slightly broken nose, I just force it back into position and grunt as I give Mankey a stern glare as it sits on the ground.

"You done?" I ask, making it huff angrily before it rises to its feet.

[Mankey, the Pig Monkey Pokémon - Rank D]

This little guy is dumb as a brick, goes into a rage over any inconvenience, and just tries to punch whatever makes it angry.

I love him.

"Good, now follow me," I order, making it kick the ground angrily before it starts to follow me.

"You okay, Kaito? You took a few good hits there," Midnight asks, making me smile.

"I'm fine, nothing my regeneration from Blue can't fix up," I say, pausing as I hear the sound of something being hit.

Turning around, I see Mankey clutching its head angrily, having walked into a low hanging branch.

Naturally, Mankey took offence to being 'attacked' by an inanimate object, lunging towards the tree and hammering its fists against the trunk in a rage.

Each hit made the tree shake, wood breaking beneath its fist. Thank fuck I have my blunt resistance because he hits hard, and before long the tree topples over and collapses, making Mankey holler in triumph, turning and looking at me and Ekans proudly.

"Nice work, buddy. You really showed that tree," I say, making it huff happily as it starts to follow me again.

"Are you sure you want that one?" Midnight asks, staring at the angry monkey with doubt.

Naturally, this also angered Mankey who immediately started to charge towards her, only stopping when I simply grabbed him and picked him up watching his legs keep running in the air for a moment.

"He's perfect," I say simply, placing him back down and patting his furry head.

— Later —

Sitting in Nezu's office, I hold Mankey in my lap as it glares at everyone, smiling as I stroke its surprisingly soft fur.

Ekans is lounging on the back of my chair, and a Caterpie is sitting on the arm of the chair. I decided to capture one on my way back, mostly out of curiosity over what it turns into.

The 'battle' was just me picking it up and taming it, even if it did spray some webbing in my face in the process.

[Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon - Rank E]

"I see your trip was fruitful, you still don't feel any upper-limit?" Nezu asks, making me shake my head.

"I'm limited on how powerful the monsters I tame can be, though even that limit is increasing, but I don't feel like I have a limit on how many monsters I can tame," I explain, making him nod.

"I see, now while your expedition has revealed some rather worrying things, I wish to discuss something else with you," Nezu says, briefly making eye contact with Mankey (which angers him so I have to hold him in place so he doesn't attack). "…is that one going to be okay?"

"He's fine, he just doesn't like your face," I explain, preventing Mankey from escaping my grip as it scowls.

"I see," Nezu says simply, deciding not to question it. "Now, the Monster Research Association has approached us with a request for you to join them full time, and frankly I do not want that."

"Oh? I take it they want to study my monsters more then?" I ask, making him nod.

"Very much so, and they aren't patient enough to wait for you to graduate from U.A. I understand their reasons of course but they're far from the only group interested in your powers," Nezu explains, making me snort. "So, with your agreement we came to an arrangement that benefits everyone involved, yourself included of course."

"I've already agreed to go to U.A, and while monster research sounds interesting it's not something I want to do full time. I'm a man of action at heart," I say, making him nod.

"I suspected you'd say something like that, now the MRA offered to fund the construction of a new building on the grounds of U.A, to house your growing Menagerie, as your dorm room will become rather full indeed at this rate, in addition they'll pay for the feeding of your monsters in exchange for being permitted to perform non-invasive studies on them, as well as you keeping a research journal where you document what you learn about each monster type."

"I'm not exactly a scientist, so I hope they don't expect that much," I say simply, making him nod.

"They are aware of that, but your power grants you a greater understanding of monsters and their abilities than we currently have," Nezu points out. "You'll be exempted from the usual homework during your time at U.A, using that time to document anything you learn about the monsters, in an online research journal that the researchers will have access to."

I mean, if they're footing the food bill it saves me a lot of trouble. I hadn't actually considered where I was going to keep my monsters, Blue can shrink down to fit in a bottle, but something tells me Mankey might take offence to me trying to stuff him into something.

"They do realise that I will probably catch a lot of monsters, right?" I say, making him nod.

"They're counting on it, even. It's no exaggeration to say that they get a lot of funding for their research, given the threat the monsters represent," Nezu says, which does make sense.

I imagine a lot of soft, rich people are hoping to solve this problem by throwing money at it. Mother used to raid worlds, take the richest, most privileged men and women, then dump them in some barely habitable environment like a jungle or island so she could laugh at them flailing around when they couldn't just use money to solve their problems.

…she's not a very nice person, but on the other hand it was pretty funny. Besides, she's basically a saint compared to my old man.

"I get final say on what experiments they do on my monsters," I finally say, making him nod.

"I already told them as much," Nezu says, easily agreeing. Smart little bastard, ain't he?

What I'm truly sensing is just how desperate this world is, this might just be the end times for this world. What a lovely place father sent me.

Oh who am I kidding, I love it and also he probably started the end times.

Well, technically your mother did it. I just helped.

…are you always listening in?

Let's not ask questions you don't want the answer to.

I'm going to ignore you now.

I'm going to fuck your mom now.

Okay, that's not the insult you think it is. You're literally my dad, I know you've fucked my mom.

I both can and will link my senses with your system so you have to watch and listen to me fuck your mom.

Why am I the mature one when it comes to conversations with my dad?

Either he's gotten bored, is actually going to fuck my mom or he's laying low and plotting something, so I'm just going to pretend he doesn't exist.

You just can't win against him.

"Then I'm in, for what good my notes will be," I say, chuckling. I am far from an academic.

"I suspect they'll station some researchers here, so I wouldn't worry about that," Nezu says with a shrug.

Ugh, I'm going to have to deal with some lab rats poking and prodding me for answers? They better watch it, I poke back.

And I poke hard.

— Nemuri (Midnight) —

"Are you sure?" Nemuri asked, making Kaito huff in amusement.

"This is what you guys wanted, right?" Kaito pointed out as he held out his arm, Ekans resting on it.

When Kaito had asked her to meet with him, she'd honestly expected more sex (not that she was opposed to it), so she was rather shocked when Kaito told her that he hadn't tamed Ekans for himself.

He'd picked Ekans for her, studying her fighting style and finding a monster that would compliment her capture-speciality.

She was honestly touched, not just because he'd put so much thought into what monster he wanted to give her, but because she was the first person to be given one of his monsters.

She knew Nezu hoped to get hordes of monsters on the side of good, hoping to use Kaito as a force multiplier to turn the tide back in the favour of humanity. This was Kaito extending an olive branch, or perhaps giving them a test to see how Ekans would be treated.

Kaito was smarter than he looked, smarter than he acted. She'd realised that as she spent more and more time with him, behind the barbarian look and rough act was a cunning mind.

She almost pitied anyone who tried to take advantage of him, expecting a brute who only thought about fighting.

Extending her own arm, she watched as Ekans slithered from Kaito's limb to hers, wrapping around her arm, though not tight enough to hurt.

She knew Ekans could crush her arm if it wanted to, she'd seen it in action in the dungeon, once it had something constricted there was little escape.

She knew students who'd been constricted by others of his kind, resulting in broken bones if they were lucky, and this Ekans was apparently long for its species.

Raising its head, its tongue flickered out and licked her cheek, before it lazily rested its head on her shoulder as it had done with Kaito.

Already she could see the benefits of having Ekans by her side, its glare could briefly paralyse her opponents, it could bind people so she could put them to sleep, and its bite had a deadly venom to it that could really fuck up a monster, giving her a more lethal option in dungeon clears.

Plus it would work wonderfully for intimidating students who annoyed her~

"She'll follow your orders, and I've told her not to hurt any humans without being ordered to," Kaito explained, making her smile gratefully.

"Do you have anywhere to be in the next few hours?" Nemuri asked, making him give her a knowing cocky grin.

"No, but we should use your room. It'd be weird with Mankey watching," Kaito said simply, making her blink and look around, spotting Mankey glaring down at her from the top of a wardrobe.

"…agreed," Nemuri said, glaring back at the furry bastard. What the hell was its problem?

"Blue, you're in charge while I'm gone," Kaito said, making her blink. Blue was here?

Looking around the room, she paused as she spotted a glass of a rather deep blue liquid on his bedside table, a small tentacle rising out of it and 'nodding' at them.

Huh.

"I'm on top this time," Nemuri said, making Kaito chuckle.

"You're welcome to try and stay on top," Kaito said simply, making her give him a playful glare.

— Kaito —

Laying in bed with the sleeping, exhausted Nemuri, I spot Ekans resting on top of her mirror.

The funny thing is, I get stronger as my monsters get stronger, so if I get other people to train my monsters then it makes getting stronger myself easier.

If she does well and Ekans grows, I'll benefit from it.

But I'm not just going to give monsters out to anyone who wants one, not a chance. I will give them to people I deem worthy, or people I want to keep safe.

But frankly, that's all something I'm going to have to worry about later because something much more important is coming up.

The U.A entrance exam is in four days and it turns out that the students are ranked for their performance and I intend to establish myself immediately by taking the number one spot.

Me, Mankey, and Blue are going to train our asses off, because I've been waiting for this.

This is gonna be fun.

— Bonus Scene — Nezu

Despite Kaito's claim to not be an academic, and it was clearly true from the rather simple terminology he tended to use, he clearly knew monsters.

They had eventually decided that the best way for him to document what he learned was in a wiki-format.

Kaito (with some help from Nemuri) had quickly gotten the hang of making pages, and set about making pages for all the monsters he'd encountered in the two dungeons he'd visited so far.

Adding names, surprisingly well drawn illustrations (they'd have to get him a camera for future expeditions), what his power ranked them as, and what he knew of their strengths, weaknesses, and evolutions.

He'd also put notes on which monsters from the first dungeon tastes the best, apparently the dire wolf meat was too stringy for his tastes, while the boar meat was tough but good.

Nemuri had the idea of keeping a page for his musings, and they didn't expect much to come from it.

They were wrong.

Kaito had a theory on dungeons, one that sent a shiver of fear through him.

They'd already discussed the theory that the monsters that returned were the same ones that had been slain, making monsters essentially immortal no matter how many times they were cut down.

But Kaito had an expansion on that theory. He wrote that he believed that because monsters never truly died, they'd constantly be growing stronger and evolving, over and over again until they inevitably reached their strongest form, that of a Kaiju.

Researchers had already started looking at each Kaiju and comparing them to monsters in dungeons near where they first emerged. There was no proof of course, but it was concerningly plausible.

He also claimed that monsters lost some of their power when they 'died', so frequent clearings would delay their evolution.

If he was right, it meant that even the weakest E-rank dungeon would eventually become an S-rank.

Of course he seemed excited about that, because it meant no matter how strong he became there'd always be stronger monsters to fight.

He didn't seem to realise, or perhaps care, that this meant humanity was living on borrowed time.

They needed to find a solution to the dungeon problem, and fast.

So, with that in mind, why did Kaito claim that 'Venusaur' was the Dungeon Boss? Kaito himself couldn't explain what that meant, but he claimed his power insisted that Venusaur was the boss of that Dungeon, much stronger than anything else they'd ever found in that Dungeon (Shaymin notwithstanding because they also didn't know what to make of that one either).

What would happen if the Dungeon Boss was tamed? It was a long shot, and Kaito claimed he could only tame D-rank monsters at the moment, but he also said that when he first found his power he could only tame E-rank monsters, so it wasn't an impossibility.

Author's Note: Yes, I'm using Pokémon in the dungeons, because this was originally going to be a Pokémon fic.

Also sorry for the delays, I put 70+ hours into Skyrim in four days, Legacy of the Dragonborn is bad for my ocd nature.

I am entirely motivated by praise and interaction, so leave a review and I'll probably write faster.

I have a discord server (technically someone else's but my name is on the server so it's basically mine) with a bunch of other authors and a load of porn. Here's the link for that: discord .gg/wd3tUYWVCd

I also have a bad P word that FF doesn't like, what's on it? Right now, nothing that you can't find elsewhere and I don't know if that will change to be honest, I don't like the idea of paywalling content but I also like money to fund my pizza and games addiction, so here's the link for that as well: Pat reon . com/TheDarkWolfShiro