[AN:]Welcome back, gentle perverts.

I intended to update this yesterday. Sadly I forgot it was Monday till later in the day, and then recalled I had to put out an Origin chapter. So, we're starting back up today.

Anyway, here we go. :)

Chapter 2.1: Battling Beauties

Cramped, hot, and filled with tension, the confines of the S class pick-up truck would annoy the typical traveler who traveled the country for pleasure. John, however, felt it provided plenty of room to serve his purposes. The journey South would take quite some time, as frequent stops would need to be made. Adventures did not pay for themselves. The adventurers had to go out and seize what they needed, and as such, John and his team would need to reach out and grasp every opportunity that they could. The budget demanded it.

While John drove, Kara manned the gunner's seat in the back of the truck. Heat radiated upward from the asphalt roadway, causing visual distortions in the air. At a distance, the road looked to be covered in water or a fine sheet of glass.

The open grassland around them teemed with life. All manner of creatures great and small roamed the wilds outside of town. Kara eyed a large two headed beefalo herd as it grazed behind a laser fence. Each of the massive beasts could easily outweigh the truck. One charge from a single animal would end their trip even as it began.

Luckily, the beefalo were content to eat grass and enjoy their day, though they were known to be suspicious animals. One head would eat while the other stood watch. In this way, the entire herd could eat while keeping an eye out for predatory beasts, or worse, wild demi-humans.

John initially decided to stay near town for one month while working the local area. He wanted to increase his funds a bit. As a novice tamer he could only acquire a class I weapons licensee. This meant that he could use any melee weapons and sub-sonic projectile weapons that he liked.

Actual firearms were allowed as well, at his licensing level, but he would need to have each and every weapon accounted for with a separate permit. So far, he had three such weapons. Two of them were being used by Kara as standard equipment to supplement her plasma weapons. The other was a simple shotgun. It was nothing fancy, it used standard shells. That one was for John.

When he was granted full-tamer status he would automatically acquire a class II licenses. It was an enviable upgrade that would allow him to use almost any type of standard weapon available to reserve military forces. He would not be able to use elemental, or full-automatic weapons of high caliber, however. That sort of weaponry was reserved for people with a class III license.

Licensing of the third level required a great deal of training, job experience, and a lengthy safety course. At present he already had more than enough college credits in the arts of taming to test into a class III license. However, he needed to take the three month training and safety course. Seven years of technical college served him well in regard to general knowledge. He simply needed that class to fulfill licensing requirements.

John thought about his possibilities for a class III license. Acquiring one would greatly improve his team's viability. The problem was that he would not be able to take the course for a year. One year of active duty taming was required minimum, even for those who test out of the credit requirements. Of course, the typical tamer who did not go to college had to perform their duties for five years before being allowed to test and to take the class.

An hour passed before they arrived at the first camp-ground used by traveling tamers. The best wild demi-humans were to be found in the true wilderness, but such creatures were the interest of veteran tamers. A novice would find life as a tamer much easier, and more survivable, by checking into a nationally sponsored travel center.

Travel centers were used as a base of operations while joining up with a sweep team. Such teams generally included three to four tamers and their harem. They were led by an expert in the taming field.

While on their sweep the gathered team would provide mutual group defense and learn valuable real world skills that textbooks cannot provide. These services were not free, of course. However, the fees were nominal outside of the lodging. The government wanted to give tamers every possible chance to become highly capable.

There were six other trucks in the parking area, and one circumspect convertible. What sort of fool would drive an open roof convertible across the country? A truck with a gun-position was one thing, but a convertible car? It was lunacy.

John's eyes narrowed. He growled low under his breath. Another thing came into sight that he truly despised. "Damn... Teenagers."

The activity bus was something John hoped not to see. Its existence in the parking area meant that a tamer class trip was in session. The place would be packed with high school students completing their final course requirements for graduating from their elective survival and capture courses.

He didn't dislike the concept so much as the competition it brought with it. There was also the fact that it brought surly teenagers along for the ride. Anyone over the age of twenty was an old man, or someone's grandad.

The tiresome creatures were quite exhausting to endure with their enthusiastic focus on loud music, and their incessant nattering about inane topics. They also never invited him to their parties, not that such a thing was desired in the first place. Socialization was overrated, and unproductive. The constant skitter and skirl of their babbled nonsensical teen rantings was one of the few things he did not miss about academic life.

John stepped out of his truck then looked back at Kara. He nodded to her, and she responded with a silent nod of her own. The two moved into the heavily reinforced building, and made their way to the registration desk. Along the way two laughing teenagers stopped chatting nonsensically for a moment. One looked up and said, "Hey there, grandad! The weather treatin' yer old bones right?" The teen's obnoxious behavior was rewarded by snickers from his equally useless friends.

John's left eye twitched a little, but he chose to ignore the snotty little bastard and to continue on. Teenagers. Oh, why did it have to be teenagers? What he would not give to be able to properly summon Damian Spire's Whirling Inferno at that moment. Burn them. Burn the whole lot of them. Rain fiery hell down upon the teenage plague that blights mankind.

"Patience... All in good time," murmured John darkly. A slight, but wicked, smile crossed his lips as he thought of setting those useless nattering magpies aflame. It was both a disturbing thought, and a delightful one at the same time. Whether or not he would have actually done it if he possessed the power was still anyone's guess, however.

"Hello, Sir," chirped the customary Generica as they approached. John was no longer surprised to find one of them working in this location. They seemed to be the go to Demi-human for clerical and receptionist positions pretty much everywhere. In fact, if it were not for their animal nature he would suspect that Genericas secretly ran the world. Was the Generica Illuminati real? Perhaps it was.

"Hello. I seek lodgings and addition to a sweep team," replied John matter-of-factly. There was no reason to commit to small talk. His purpose here was a common one for those who traveled through the area.

"Of course, sir. One moment," stated the Generica as she tapped a few keys on her computer. Not long after she started typing, she looked up. "How many rooms and days will you need and be staying sir?"

"What are the current rates? I suppose I only need one room."

She clicked a few keys and replied, "We have nightly, weekly, and monthly rates sir. We also have either room or cabin fees depending on the size and accommodations required."

Several teenagers ran through the lobby laughing obnoxiously while talking in a tone of voice unnecessarily loud. They were standing directly next to each other, dammit.

"How much is it to rent a cabin for one week?" he asked. Rent a room? Next to these ridiculous creatures? He'd rather use Damian Spire's Whirling Inferno on himself!

She glanced down at the information then said, "Eleven hundred with boarding included, eight-fifty without."

"How much for a standard room?" he asked in annoyance.

"That would be six hundred with boarding and four-fifty without," she responded in an overly sweet tone.

John nodded. His dislike for teenagers, their absurdly loud music, and their socially exclusive parties not-withstanding, he needed to be economical. It would cost most of his remaining funds to stay for the week, but the hunting would hopefully be good in the area.

"We'll take the room and board. How much will it cost to join a sweep team?" asked John.

"Current prices are for basic sweeps and private patrols. Basic sweeps are twenty-five dollars per day. Private patrols are four hundred dollars per day local, or seven hundred per day for wilderness tours," she replied. The girl did not even need to look that information up. Those prices were fairly standard.

"Is it still four tamers to a team for basic sweeps?" asked the man.

She nodded at him. A basic sweep team was just a roving patrol of the outlying areas. If they caught something, the captures would be sold at auction and the entire team would split the money. Of course, one of the team members could pay the standard trade value of said Demi-Human to keep her. The situation worked out the same, either way. It was generally a lucrative method of making money with relative safety. This method also kept the government from having to provide well-funded and staffed military forces in out of the way places to keep the wild Demi-Human population down.

A private patrol was basically paying an experienced tamer on staff to take the client out on a patrol by themselves. The client kept all the Demi-Humans captured, but the guide was paid whether the tamer caught anything or not. In the right season and location, a private patrol could earn a large amount of money in a short amount of time. Of course, the opposite was also true. It was possible to catch nothing at all.

"I'll join a basic sweep team. When will the next available team be leaving on patrol?" asked John.

She checked the schedule and then looked back at him. "Team four just left. It will be a little over two hours before team five will set out. There is still one slot left for that team if you wish to join it."

John nodded at her and replied. "That would be helpful."

"Yes, sir," replied the Generica before calculating his bill. "Team sweeps are day-by-day. You can only reserve status after eight AM each morning due to their current demand. The total for your bill is six hundred twenty-five dollars."

The man pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and counted out a large portion of it. Handing the money over to the secretarial Demi-Human was a simple process, but it left a hole in his wallet and soul. He'd spent an absurd amount of money recently. After their transaction was complete she gave him the entry code for his room and a card key. Without both he would not be able to enter.

John glanced over at Kara. She immediately fell in at his left, and they moved toward their quarters. The room had to be verified to be in working order before they moved their equipment inside. It would be problematic to bring everything over now, but have the card key not work.

...