Meeting an Old Friend

[09:02:22]

Althea walked out of the elevator in a happy mood, the plasma gun secured on her back.

Then, she needed to find herself a good ride. As such, after a little thought, she decided to go to the drug lord's garage and see what she could get.

When she got there though, she realized that the drug lord's garage was a warehouse of cars!

When she entered, the lights automatically turned on, revealing a huge array of cars for her to choose from.

It ranged from the best local sedans, to the foreign ones, to the SUVs, AUVs, and then there were luxury RVs and even helicopters.

There was even a small plane…

However, she was going to the city. There would definitely be too many cars blocking the road, and even if there was a monster truck here she probably wouldn't use it due to all the noise it would make. 

She walked deeper to look for more suitable choices and eventually found the two-wheeled vehicles and her eyes brightened.

The Jazzer series! The top of the line of this type of motorcycles.

She normally wouldn't know, but who told her brother to gush about it.

In the end, she chose a high-performing motorcycle with the least noise rate and the sturdiest specifications.

The model was excellent, it was very fast and famous for its strong engine that didn't produce any noise at all.

Most importantly, it was comfortable. Even her very pregnant self could sit properly and safely.

When she went out the gate, she took a minute to check the status of the father and daughter from before.

She could see the father and daughter poking at the gate from her side of the street.

Unlike her house, their house has wide gaps in their metallic fence. They can do this technique along the entire perimeter of the property.

And from their expressions, they seemed… to be enjoying it? Like a parent-child pair bonding in an arcade…

She shook her head in amusement before picking up the helmet and climbing up the motorcycle, heading to the exit of the villa area.

However, as she exited the main gate she saw a swift figure coming at her.

She instinctively maneuvered the bike to the side and raised her plasma gun, aiming at the attacking critter.

Just that… it wasn't really attacking?

Arf! Arf! 

"Dog?" 

What greeted her was a dog, one that fortunately didn't attack her. 

It was a dog about a meter in height. In appearance, it was a combination of various breeds, exhibiting the beautiful gestures of each one: it had amazing smooth fluff, long drooping ears, large eyes, a pointed but rounded nose, and a perennial smiley face.

It was also an old friend.

"Fufi?!" she exclaimed, albeit in a whispering tone in hopes of not attracting zombies.

She quickly parked the motorcycle and climbed down, walking closer to the dog.

She stared at it closely and, looking at its stupid look, she knew for sure this wasn't a zombie dog.

She leaned down with a bit of a challenge due to her large stomach, and the dog ambled closer in response.

Seeing his cute look, she couldn't help but smother his face and patted his head like she always did. "How are you okay?!"

Indeed, it not only survived the weird force, but it also didn't turn into a zombie.

Her heart felt very happy to see him okay. 

Fufi was a beautiful mutt dog she had been feeding for over a year now. He was obviously a mixed breed but very beautiful, his Labrador blood obviously a little more dominant in the gene pool.

She named it Fufi because he always looked like he was laughing.

He was so cute and she had wanted to take it home the first time she saw it. Unfortunately, Auntie was allergic so it couldn't be adopted.

However, she did feed, pet, and play with it whenever she had the chance–mostly before and after going to work.

Speaking of which, this thing was amazing. Loose animals weren't allowed in the villa area, but after so long this dog was still around.

However, as she coddled the little cutie, her hands paused.

Could she take it with her in that Other World?

If she couldn't, wouldn't she be setting herself up for heartbreak?

Fufi tilted his head, probably wondering why she stopped petting him.

Althea abruptly stood up and clapped her hand to get the attention of the surrounding zombies.

She took out her katana and beheaded a few. As for the last one, she cut off its legs and arms, kicking it to land right in front of Fufi.

She watched it groan and growl, but unable to move, no matter how hard it tried.

Althea looked at the dog and instructed him seriously. "You kill one too."

A few more zombies arrived soon after, cutting off their limbs, and then crushing their heads as an example.

"Do it."

In fact, she wasn't really expecting the dog to actually do it. What could a dog understand?

Unexpectedly,

Splat

Fufi really did it.

And judging by how the dog actually made a huge dent on the skull, he did it quite beautifully.

"Good boyyy~" She goaded and took out a piece of beef jerky.

Then after watching the dog eat its treat, she eagerly looked at him. "How is it? Do you see weird screens?

"Nod your head if you do." She said with a smile, nodding her own head.

The stupid dog just stared at her.

"..."

She sighed, covered the dog with zombie goo to his despair (though in fairness to him, he seemed to not be too disgusted with her at the moment), and she carried the dog to the back seat of the motorcycle.

Well, at least she had company.

It was at this time that a few more zombies appeared. She casually took out a slice of raw meat to distract them, but suddenly Fufi opened his mouth and gobbled on it instead.

"Ouch!! You—"

Fufi seemed to have nicked her finger a bit and a few drops of blood flowed.

[Would you like to enter a battle pet contract with Fufi? Yes | No]

"..."

Although I bit startled, she pressed Yes anyway. 

When she did, a small flat of light formed underneath them, which also disappeared into shimmering dust a moment later. 

Then... nothing.

She blinked and opened her stats, seeing a new icon on the bottom right with a cartoonized version of this smiling dog.

[PET STATS:

Name: Fufi

Age: 2

Level: 0 (5/100)

Life: 150/150

Spirit: 150/150

Physical: 31

Agility: 26

Defense: 14

Mana: 100

Skills:

Active: None

Passive: None

Elemental Affinity: Earth

Titles: None

Overall rank: A ]

"..."

What… was this?

Also, the experience requirement for pets seemed to be twice as hers? However, the base stats were higher.

But she had no time to study this for now. She had to shoot down the approaching zombies first. 

She missed a few, but the plasma gun was awesome and didn't have recoil or reload time so she killed them all fairly quickly anyway. 

Then, when she finally put down the gun, Fufi's cute paws landed gently on her thigh. She turned her head to meet his eyes.

She looked at the forever-smiling canine in front of her as if wanting to express something.

Unfortunately, she could not suddenly hear the dog's voice in her head. It was not as if the dog suddenly learned her language like those fantasy novels Ansel liked to read.

However, she now had an intuitive understanding of what he was trying to express.

She looked at him again, trying to decipher his meaning, and he barked happily in response.

Kill! Kill! Kill!!

"..."