You were running, with short breath, burning lungs, legs hurting, back hurting, and shoulders aching. The thump of your heels against the cobblestone trembled through your body like tiny cracking whips reminding you there was such a thing as a time when things didn't hurt and you weren't coming back aching. Drenched, you slowed your pace ever so slightly.

As you did, Diane had just about begun to overtake you again, the monstergirl not even having worked up more than a sweat. You tightened your jaw and pressed to not slow down and stay ahead.

Behind you, you heard a giggle and a purr. You could almost feel the hand as it nudged against your shoulder.

Your cheeks burned, and you pushed, taking deep gulps of air and focusing on the road ahead. The destination was not too far off, you could do it, come on...

Reaching the corner that marked the end of the circuit, you broke the jog, breathing in air and slowing down as you took another handful of steps and stopped at the soft grass of the park. No sooner had you halted than something large and heavy barreled against you, hugging you from behind and knocking you over.

"Catch Rick," Monica proclaimed with a purr, nuzzling against your drenched hair and licking. "Tasty Rick," she added.

You tried to fight off the feline woman as she held you tightly, beginning to lick your hair in what looked like an attempt to groom you. Your hands flailed but she would not let go, merely adjusted herself so you were laying against her chest while you looked upon the others, trying to keep your embarrassment to a minimum.

Considering the giggling Diane was letting out, you were failing miserably.

Worst of all, you could tell she wasn't even worked up, showing barely the first hints of a sweat and little else. You knew you were slightly out of shape, but having the weakest member of the harem look like she'd barely taken a stroll made you feel as if you'd spent the entirety of your life seated in front of a computer or something.

"That was a very good run, Master," she cheered with a little grin that was full of amusement, and you could only glower while Monica kept licking your cheek and hair. "A small break and then we go through stretches."

"Monica, could you stop?"

A pause. "No."

That was that- you grumbled, watching Diane as she giggled some more, moving to take the spot next to you on the grass and beginning her own stretches. "I guess this is not even a warmup for you? How often did you train?"

"Doctor Hale insisted we have at least three hours of mandatory physical training every two days," she replied, leaning forward to touch the tip of her toes as if it weren't even hard. "As a frontier town, we were expected to potentially be able to protect ourselves if a feral rush ever came, so knowing how to fight was a must."

"That how you did the neck thing over at the gym?"

"Hm?" She paused, glancing upwards for a second, and then shrugging. "Not really, learning how to use flesh crafting to soften up a tough monstergirl's epidermis is a necessity if you're going to do surgery on them. It was a bit of a gamble, had she reacted by reinforcing her body with her energy, I wouldn't have been able to pierce through as easily." She glanced at you as you were resigned to Monica licking your hair. "I think that's enough, Monica, next exercise."

She paused, looking over your shoulder at the nurse. Her arms tightened around you. "No."

And proceeded to go back to licking.

You could only grumble. "Come on, Monica."

"Rick wait, later," the feline said, moving just enough to start work on the other half of your head.

"How bad is it?" You asked the nurse as she kept her dimpled smile all the brighter.

Standing back up, she then proceeded to open her legs as wide as they would go. Which... was all the way. "It's adorable, Master, really brings out your wild side." She flattened her body against the grass, glancing at you over her shoulder and proceeding to grin, tightening her glutes as she noticed your eyes tracing over her body. The expression turned into a pleased one.

You had to roll your eyes, making a mental note you should probably start looking into how to escape Monica's impossible grasp once she caught you like this. A deep sigh followed as you glanced a little at the clingy feline monstergirl and reached out, poking her ribs. Monica instantly froze and wriggled.

Aha.

A second poke. "Rick, bad," she said, trying to focus on licking your hair again- third poke, and she twitched. Quickly, you added softer pokes, moving your way up and down her ribs.

The next thing you did was wheeze as her hug tightened enough to knock the air right out of you. The instant she'd let go made you cough out and groan. Concern played across her face as she leaned in to touch your ribs, and Diane was there the next instant.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Rick bad," Monica whined, looking at you as you grumbled under your breath.

"Master, that... was unwise."

"Yes, tickling the super-powered woman was stupid," you muttered while reaching up to your hair and trying to comb it into something less 'wild'. "Nothing broken, lesson learned, next time I'll make sure the target of my finger-poking wrath is properly restrained."

Diane made a complicated expression but nodded, reaching out to help you stand up. "Time to stretch, Master, then we do the core strengthening exercises, then more stretching. And then you have a day of battles."

With a knot of dread, you sighed. "Aye aye." And thus the remainder of your morning slowly bled you of any energy.

"Fuck you." The young man glowered as he pressed the transfer button, and your dex confirmed having received the agreed-to amount of money. You shrugged your shoulders, watching him turn and leave. You'd been careful to keep the betting to low amounts- no sense in being greedy, especially when your match with the gym assistant had pointed towards how easily things could get out of hand or misinterpreted.

Still.

"You doing ok?" You turned towards Monica. The monstergirl was seated, naked, legs crossed, and covered in light scratches.

"Monica win!" She declared with a broad grin, Diane slowly shifting her hands over her body, focusing on the larger wounds.

"Only some deep lacerations, nothing life-threatening or crippling," the nurse declared, stepping back, and wiping the back of her hand against her brow. "I think that's going to be enough for some light practice, she should get put through a healing cycle to cover for what's left."

"I still say we should try something big tonight since we're going to leave tomorrow," Kiara said, rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders. "No one to chase after us with their feelings hurt."

"Talking from experience?" You quirked a brow, watching her shrug.

"Just saying, you don't really like getting some spare change from gullible idiots, right? Why not get some serious cash out of some gullible asshole?"

Your lips thinned as you considered the prospect. "Well, we'll see, first we need to get Monica healed." A pause in hesitation. "And no salvage."

"Doesn't really matter if they're gullible enough."

"Doesn't matter how gullible they are if they bring out someone who can beat Monica."

"Sure, a three or four badge tamer with a girl able to go toe to toe with Monica in a fight." She rolled her eyes. "Good fucking luck finding that."

With a small glare, you remembered Monica bleeding and staring at the approaching hammer-wielding Moriae. You kept the growl in the back of your throat. "I'm not going to take needless risks, we take a tour of things and we only move if there's something that seems within our capacity."

She didn't respond, and you took a moment, pausing, looking around to check that nothing out of the ordinary was happening in the tamer fighting pits. Nothing particularly caught your attention, and you didn't really notice anyone too focused in your general direction. The little twinge of nervousness ran down your spine, but you pushed it aside.

"Let's walk, then." Recalling everyone except Diane, you'd been just about to head to the hospital when you glanced at the nurse. "Wait, fuck."

"Master?"

"Nothing." You released Monica and Kiara; they both looked at you. "Sorry, force of habit, I want to try and keep you outside more often rather than keep you balled all the time." Turning to Monica, you smiled a bit. "Follow?"

"Follow." She nodded, gyrating her shoulders and relaxing as you headed out of the fighting pits and towards the medical center.

With the three monstergirls in tow, you made your way back into the city, enjoying the warm evening sun as it crept ever so slowly towards the horizon. You figured there were at least another couple hours worth of sunlight. The day certainly felt like it had been long and tedious, and there were still some aches left from the training that morning. Tomorrow would likely hurt worse, but at least you were going to hit the road, meaning your daily dose of planned exercise would boil down to those 'core strengthening' things.

The girls were rather quiet as they walked with you, each appearing to be lost in their own thoughts.

Reaching the medical center, you balled up Monica and set her up for a healing cycle, taking the chance to go to your room and check up on Raven.

Upon entering the room, you noted she was in her tauric form, sitting in the corner and using her hands and spider-legs to weave her silk, slowly but surely appearing to be making an ever-growing piece of cloth. The monstergirl was extremely focused on her task, seeming intent on not looking at you as you entered and grabbed some snacks out of the backpack you'd left.

"How're you doing?"

"Master Rick." She bowed her head in greeting, pausing her work. "I am doing well, I expect to have your shirt done within the next four days."

"Thanks." With a nod, you chewed on the mostly-tasteless granola equivalent. "You sure you don't want to go outside? Walk around a bit?"

"I am very comfortable here, Master Rick." Another nod, with a deeper bow. "Thank you for allowing me to work."

A pause.

She returned to weaving, quietly continuing to her task. You stood there awkwardly, wanting to sigh but not wanting to show it. How were you going to get through to her here? A slight inner groan followed. "Sure you don't want anything?"

"Thank you, Master Rick, but I am very content with my work."

There was a loss in translation somewhere and you didn't know what to do. A deep groan followed as you moved to leave the room, only pausing as the door closed behind you to let out a sigh.

You walked back towards the lobby. Diane and Kiara were standing near the wall, talking to someone. The sight caught your attention and you slowed down, watching as the nurse appeared the most engaged, but only for a handful of seconds. After whatever was talked about was done, she nudged the third monstergirl to leave.

You approached, and Kiara saw you coming and twitched, clearly slightly nervous. Diane for her part nodded.

"Anything I should know?" You wondered.

"We have Monica's ball, she's patched up," Diane declared, handing her over.

"I meant the girl." You gestured with your head at the figure that was leaving through the front doors.

"She approached me asking for medical advice," Diane said. "Her Master appeared to have sent her on an information searching trip on possible side-effects of lust-dust overuse on monstergirls."

"Huh," you muttered quietly, nodding a bit. "And is that... normal?"

"monstergirls being sent to do research for their Masters? All the time." She beamed a little, following as you moved to leave. "Nurses usually try to help when asked about these things, worst case scenario we'll usually at least point towards someone who might know more."

You blinked at the words right as you crossed the door to the outside. "Fuck me."

"With pleasure." Kiara reached out to grab your hand.

You jumped back. "Not literally." You glared at her as she smirked at you in amusement. "Fuck, whatever, I should've realized this sooner. Can't believe it slipped my mind."

"What is it, Master?"

"Raven." Grumbling- you would've slapped your head if you didn't resist the urge- you reached into your pocket and pulled out the dex. Fishing through the contacts, you paused as you briefly wondered who on the list ought to be the person you were going to send this to.

After a brief hesitation, you opted to use Felix. Introduction and thanks aside, you put into the email a singularly important question.

Did he have any knowledge of monstergirl-tamer relationships in Edo and how were they different from Johto? Or could he put you in contact with anyone who might?

Fuck, you should've thought of this sooner. You sent the message, pocketed the dex, and grumbled at yourself as you went to pocket the dex.

"You write very fast." Kiara's words made you flinch a little.

"Do you spy over people's shoulders all the time?"

"Only when it's possibly fun." She shrugged her shoulders. "So Edo culture? I can tell you a thing or two."

Your eyes narrowed at her. "You could've shared information sooner."

"What would I gain from that?" An upper curling of her lips told you of how amused she was at this. "Why give for free what I could get something out of?"

With a flat stare at her smirk, you spoke with little amusement. "It must be some pretty damn big thing if you think you're going to get anything out of it short of me patting your head."

The infernal grimaced; then scowled. "Fine, be that way. Never been there myself, but rumours do fly, Edo's very strict with monstergirls."

"I think I could've figured that one out by just watching Raven." You glared at her.

"Well, I'm sure I hold several non-cultural juicy pieces, but feel free to bargain for them." Kiara smirked with a cold amused grin, her eyes glinting as she leaned to caress your chest. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to trade me for them? You'd be amazed at what I hold, I can guarantee it. Pretty sure you'll give me a nice juicy reward for it too."

A scoff left you- having told her your secret was enough of a show of confidence for the time being, and she could stew until she fulfilled whatever it was that Diane assigned to her. "I'm sure it can wait. How about we try to see if we can find some last source for money before we leave tomorrow?"

The Succubus' lips parted further, amusement playing across her gaze before she shrugged. "I'll keep an eye out, then. We should probably go for the cooker's aisle."

"What's that?"

"It's what we call the... poorer parts of a city." Diane glanced at Kiara with a frown. "Is it wise to try and look for... things there?"

"Shitheads always go there to try and find some easy pickings," the Succubus replied. "We find a shitty human, get him all riled up, have him challenge or something, win money and call it a day." The frown on your face must have been apparent, as Kiara was quick to skip a step ahead. "If we're going to be winning some money through betting, might as well be from people who deserve to get some comeuppance, right?"

"I'm not worried about comeuppance." You shook your head. "I just don't want more complications to come out of this."

Kiara just shrugged, and you had to wonder how this might go down. The other times you just let her walk about and bring some tamer or another, would she suggest the same strategy now too? This was definitely one of the fields you were not very well equipped to handle, especially considering how the Succubus was clearly better at understanding the nuances of social interactions for people here.

With a deep sigh, you marched on, following the cobblestone as the Succubus took the lead.

By the time the sun was reaching the horizon, your nose picked up a rather enjoyable scent, something fruity. "I think it would be best to keep Monica balled for now, Master," Diane commented softly. "We wouldn't want her wandering off."

Quirking a brow, you nodded, but had to stop as Kiara turned to press a hand against your chest. "Don't ask for food unless you're interested in fucking whoever you're asking the food from."

"What?"

"Oh, she's right." The nurse quickly nodded along. "Most of the stalls here are unofficially run by monstergirls, monstergirls can't own property, so payment is typically done through exchange of services. A taming tends to be the more common option."

"Wait, who're their owners?"

"No one," Kiara snorted loudly.

"No, monstergirls are owned."

"And we both know the girls here might as well not be." The Succubus looked at Diane with a bored look. "If you have an owner and they don't fuck you, you're not really property, you're a free service. They happen to be stupid enough to believe that if they work hard one day they'll get a proper stable dicking."

Your alpha opened her mouth to retort, but you touched her shoulder, quietening her. "So don't accept any offers unless I'm willing to fuck a stranger for it. Got it." Glancing at Kiara, you frowned. "How are we going to look for a possible easy mark?"

"It's not going to really be any harder, just follow my lead, Rick."

After a pause, you reached out, grasping her hand and taking it away from your chest, and you leaned into her. "I asked a question, Kiara."

Huffing, she shrugged. "Just walk and you'll find an asshole soon enough, human cities are crawling with them. Happy?"

"No, what happens after we find one?" You pressed.

"Then you just let me do my thing and they'll be challenging you without thinking twice to check things, like all the other times." Her lips thinned. "Or are you reconsidering?"

"I already said I'm not stepping into some fight I'm not sure I can win." Releasing her hand, you grunted. "Lead the way."

With a roll of her eyes and a swish of her tail, the monstergirl turned around and began walking, leading the way once more. Her steps took you through increasingly widening streets, the houses at either side becoming scarcer with every handful of meters. Soon what began taking their place were empty lots with what appeared to be improvised tents. Sticks were used to hold sheets up, holding up large worn-out mantles and sheets as improvised walls.

Not being able to see what was at the other side of these cloth 'walls', you instead focused on the people.

At the sides of the road, there was a scattering of monstergirls. Every handful of meters there was a monstergirl or three, most naked; they sat on the ground and kept sharp eyes on the people walking past. Some of them had small cloth squares in front of them with little trinkets or bundles of leaves. You didn't move closer to inspect, but you could see how their eyes lingered on you while you looked.

Diane moved to hold your arm.

Soon you noticed where the fruity smell was coming from as you spotted some of these monstergirls were holding metal grids, propped by sticks, with a small flame underneath. Most of these were cooking small amounts of various sliced fruits. Your gaze bounced amongst them, noticing how none of the monstergirls looked starved; there was just an oppressiveness over how their eyes moved from your girls to you. It almost felt like being the turkey walking down a street lined up with wolves.

Kiara quietly stepped further ahead, straightening her shoulders and adding further sway to her hips, and her smirk grew as she practically seemed to glow with pride. Every move of her curvaceous body appeared to be intent on drawing attention, and she succeeded. You could feel the acid in the eyes of some of the monstergirls at either side of the road as you walked.

A light tug in your arm drew your attention, and you glanced at Diane as she gestured with her head towards your left.

Turning to look a little, you noted a young man had stopped in front of one of the monstergirls with a cloth and trinkets. They'd shared a word or two, the man picked up one of the trinkets, and the monstergirl stood up and led the way towards the area that had been divided with the cloths. The two vanished behind the cloth walls. Considering the warning your girls had given you, you could already guess what was going to happen back there.

You'd been just about to ask something of the nurse but reminded yourself there were many monstergirls with a great sense of hearing, so you just kept quiet. You weren't here as a tourist; you were meant to have an objective after all. Questions could come later.

As the lights were dimming, the smell of cooked fruit began to grow. The number of monstergirls was starting to increase, some clearly looking tired, sitting down along with the rest. Small conversations were being had, hushed voices and small mutters.

"Please, could someone give my sister a taming?" A voice called out.

The source of the voice was a small looking woman; her hair was a mess of copper, her skin a light green, eyes an intense azure. Next to her was another monstergirl of exactly the same appearance; practically twins if not for the tiny height difference. The other large difference was the look in the sister's eyes, devoid of emotion or focus, distant, her mouth only slightly agape, her body still and unmoving.

"She's been fived," Diane whispered under her breath, tugging for you to continue rather than stop.

With a slight nod, you kept moving, suppressing the shudder and trying your best to focus on the growing number of people that were wandering the streets. The volume of the noise and conversations was slowly growing, enough so you began to feel at least a little more confident in not being overheard as easily.

"Is this... normal?"

"In larger cities, yes." She nodded.

"Where... do they live? In the street?"

"No, that'd be illegal." The nurse shook her head. "Their owners typically give them shelter and food, but there are often too many monstergirls, being a tamer is not something just anyone can handle." She hesitated for a second. "Most humans only own one or two monstergirls."

"That seems... almost reasonable."

"For every human, there are four or so tamed monstergirls," she replied with a distant gaze.

Your focus returned towards the monstergirls at either side of the street. With a flicker of focus towards the areas cut off by the cloths, you'd see the human would walk off, while the monstergirl would move to pick up her belongings and leave. You could guess at why there wouldn't be much of a need to stick around now that the deed had been done.

Something stirred in the crowd as a cry was heard, and your attention shifted. Seeing what was happening through the clutter of people was a bit hard, but after moving a bit you could see what the commotion was. There was a woman... no, the canine tail betrayed her as a monstergirl. She was wearing a deep blue police uniform, and grabbing the wrist of another monstergirl, tightly. The caught monstergirl was wincing as she struggled to escape the grasp of the officer.

The woman was dragging the monstergirl as she was clearly desperately attempting to break free.

And then she did.

The blond smaller monstergirl broke free of the uniformed woman's grasp for a split second. The next she was gone. The space she'd been occupying was entirely replaced with empty space. "Fuck!" The officer looked around. "Teleporter!"

"Over here!" Someone called from the crowd to your left, and with a snarl, the officer sprinted in the voice's direction.

Not being quite able to distinguish the direction the officer had taken, you instead turn to look towards the right. Moving through the dispersing crowd, you looked about for a moment before pausing at a lonely looking little cloth without an owner. On the cloth, there were two purple crystal-like stones, each the size of your thumb.

Kiara and Diane had moved to follow, staying near you.

With a pause, you glanced at the monstergirl sitting only half a meter away. "These belong to the teleporting girl?"

"I know nothing." The mocha-skinned girl shrugged, looking away with a scoff.

"Why did she get into trouble with the officer?"

A loud snort followed. "Cop wanted one of 'em rocks, girl played stupid and didn't let her take it."

"Diane?"

"Those are tier zero elemental stones. Practically worthless if they're unrefined."

"They’re useful if you can refine and charge them up. The girl must've picked them out of the trash of some alchemy or enchanter's shop or something." Kiara yawned. "Unless you're going to tame someone, we're wasting time here."

"She's got a point," the dark-skinned girl snorted.

"Well, might as well ask," you said. "Any assholes going around these parts recently?"

"Besides the blues?" She rolled her eyes, her head leaning towards where the police officer had vanished into.

"Let me handle this, Master," Kiara scoffed, approaching the dark-skinned monstergirl, and her lips parted into a cruel smirk as she leaned down to look into the eyes of the seated girl. Her hand reached out and caressed her neck. "My Master is stressed and was feeling generous, you can point us towards someone annoying... or you can find out what it means to be on the receiving end of that stress. He made sure to bring his nurse with him, we can play for... quite some time."

A shudder, and the girl nodded quickly. "Some chums have been showing up at the late hours, been harassing some of the unlucky ones."

The infernal patted the monstergirl's cheek as she paled. "Anything about them we ought to know?"

"I don't know, I swear," the voice rose, eyes flickering between you and Diane and immediately lowering her gaze to the ground.

"Atta girl," Kiara said, turning towards you with a wide pleased smirk. "What should we do, Master?" Her voice had that bubbly saccharine quality to it you'd seen her use on Tomas, but her words held no apparent sarcasm in them; she was avoiding making it obvious.

You shrugged. "We'll come back in a few, I guess." A slight pause followed; glancing at the monstergirls peddling their wears for what was, basically, prostitution, you had to grimace inside. "Let's take a walk for now."

"Sure, Master!"

With a loud giggle, the Succubus took your left, and you walked with both her and Diane, one at either side. They followed you down the street as you got some distance from the crowd. The question you'd left unspoken before bubbled back to the surface, and you looked at either side. Kiara had a thoughtful distant look hidden behind her fake smile, while Diane appeared slightly concerned more than anything else.

"Why do they do this?" You finally asked, once sure you were outside of immediate earshot of the monstergirls. "I thought monstergirls could keep each other tame."

"Just because you can survive on gruel doesn't mean you'd want to," the Succubus next to you snorted. "In the larger cities, where things get out of hand, the masters guarantee they’ll stay tame, but it’s with other monstergirls for the most part.” she shrugged. “The ones happy to munch on rugs aren't going to show up here because they don't need to beg to look for what they like. Those that prefer some human in the mix are going to be the ones trying to test their luck and their looks."

Diane nodded at those words. "I might not mind taming monstergirls, but I certainly prefer you, Master."

"Ugh," the infernal gagged. "Save the sap for when you're in a room or something."

"What're your thoughts about this?" You turned to the infernal slightly as you walked, your head making a slight gesture back to the street you'd left.

"My thoughts?"

"Yes, your thoughts," you replied. "Diane made her thoughts clear, I'm curious about yours."

"Oh." A shrug, and her gaze turned away, her grip on your arm loosening slightly as her voice dropped into a sigh. "I'm a Succubus, I'll fuck anyone."

Somehow, you felt those words weren't quite so true.