I do not own Dragon Quest VIII or any of its characters.

Disgusting

Kane smiled as he held out his arm. The Liquid Metal Slime, the same as had been on Wisher's Peak, and then had been following them, elongated its body in order to travel up his arm before reforming over his left shoulder. He was much heavier than Smiley, but Kane couldn't stop smiling as the slime burbled and cooed happily.

"Looks like we've got a new friend," Jessica smiled. "What are you going to name him?"

"Bubbles," Kane said instantly, Jessica laughing. "What?"

"You're not very creative, are you?" Jessica asked.

Kane shrugged. "I don't need to be. He's a slime."

"You and your monsters," Angelo shook his head. "Let's keep going. If we're going to go to Pickham so that the King Trode can get a drink and we can find this Brains character to see what he knows about Dhoulmagus, we should hurry along. It's several days away."

"Oy, wot's that?" Yangus asked, pointing to a building on the side of the road in the distance.

The entirety of it seemed to be a single stone with an ornate door on the front and a ramp leading up to the top. They walked over to it and found that the door was locked, but on the top of the building was a man wearing a shirt with the left side of the torso red, the right green, the sleeves opposite the torso, and his pants matching his sleeves. He wore a long, white scarf, had bushy, black hair hanging behind his head but the top of his head was bald, and had a pair of thick, black, leather gloves.

"Excuse me," Kane called out, the man turning to them from where he'd been standing like a statue.

"Ah, you come to see me, and I ignore you!" the man said in a strange accent, smiling beneath his bushy, black beard. "What was I thinking? Come! Speak! I listen! Allow me to introduce myself!" He raised a hand in front of himself, pointing to himself with his thumb. "I am Morrie! Here I borrow my ears to the wind." He turned away from them again, folding his arms across his head and bowing his head. "I hear it on the wind. There is someone magnifico come here soon." He turned back around, opening his mouth to speak, only to stare at Bubbles. "But this is impossible! You are not a trainer, even, and yet you have a companion!"

"Trainer?" Kane frowned.

"He's like that," Marik nodded. "He's had several monsters as friends. They just seem to like him."

Morrie stared at Kane, muttering to himself for a moment, then stepped forward. "What monsters have you tamed?"

"Not tamed," Kane corrected him. "Befriended. There's been Slimes, Hellhounds, this is Bubbles, there was a Candy Cat and a Dracky when I was young, I used to play with a couple of Mischievous Moles as a child, and I took classes from a Dancing Devil. Granted, that one ended up trying to have me for lunch, so I killed it, but...yeah. A fair few."

Morrie nearly fainted. "Ragazzo, you are magnifico!" He shook his head, then pulled out a small, silver arm band with a rough, orange crystal set into its face. "This is a holding stone. It can contain any three monsters. Gather a team of three and return. I wish to see what you can do."

"A team for what?" Kane asked.

"Trust in Morrie," Morrie urged him. "You will be great!"

Kane sighed, slipping the band onto his left wrist. "Can they be anything?"

Morrie nodded. "Any you decide. You need three, however. No more, no less."

Kane nodded, thinking. "I'll be right back."

Everyone frowned as Kane began to shine white.

"What, you're just going to fly off and grab three more?" Angelo asked. "Just like that?"

"It'll only take me about...half an hour," Kane decided. "I know exactly where to look."

And then, the white light pulsed and he streaked into the sky and faded from view.

"He can cast Zoom?" Jessica asked. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, he's really good at that one," Marik nodded. "But without a lot of experience, that spell can make someone sick for days. That's why he doesn't use it much."

The others shook their heads.

"A half hour?" Morrie gaped. "No. Is impossible!"

"You don't know Kane like I do," Marik smiled. "I have a feeling I know where he's going. A half hour might be lowballing."

Morrie stared at him, then began to mutter, turning away again. Exactly thirty minutes later, Kane returned the same way he'd left. However, this time, he had more company. Bubbles still decorated his left shoulder, but now, there was a Candy Cat held in his arms, lying on its back as he lightly scratched its stomach, and the crystal in Kane's bracelet glowed faintly. Morrie stared at it, then at the cat.

"You got...four!?" Morrie gaped.

"Yeah," Kane nodded. "This is Fluffy. He wasn't expected, but I used to play with him a long time ago, when he was a kitten, and he found me while I was gathering the others, so I brought him with me."

Morrie shook his head, sighing. "Truly magnifico." He nodded to himself. "Come. I will show you what lies inside."

Then, he turned, leaping from the building and landing on the ramp leading inside. Kane and the others all shared exasperated looks, then walked down the ramp to meet Morrie, who promptly promised them the interior of the building was something they'd never seen. And upon entering, Kane had to admit, Morrie was right. It was a bar tended by attractive women wearing pink-and-black two-toned bunny girl outfits with the color patterns matching Morrie's outfit.

"I like this place already," Angelo grinned.

"Oh!" a blonde bunny girl smiled. "Morrie, darlin'!" She ran over to them. "I didn't expect to see you in here today! Heard something on the wind then, have you?"

Morrie chuckled. "Curioso, ay? I like that in my ladies!" He looked back at Kane and the others, speaking in a slightly lower voice. "But not too much, eh boys!?" He laughed again. "No. I come to see your face, Mirrie, my bellissimo flower!"

Mirrie giggled, cupping her cheek as she turned away, waving a hand. "Oh, you! Flattery will get you everywhere!"

Angelo grinned instantly, and Kane sighed.

"Well, I'm failing to see what bunny girls have to do with me having a team of monsters," Kane said.

"Ah, of course, ragazzo," Morrie nodded. "Va bene! It's a-this way! I be waiting for you in the bottom!" Then, he unlocked a cage door and walked through the cage occupying the back left corner of the room and down a set of stairs.

"I bet it's like a talent show," Yangus suggested. "But wiv monsters."

"I don't think so," Kane shook his head, hearing what sounded like a battle from the stairs and narrowing his eyes. "I'd better be wrong."

They followed Morrie down the stairs, but Kane wasn't wrong. At the bottom of the stairs was an underground coliseum, and inside the arena, two teams of three monsters were battling viciously.

"Ooo!" Bubbles whimpered, shrinking back as Fluffy began to tremble.

"It's okay," Kane muttered, hugging Fluffy and reaching up to rest a reassuring hand on Bubbles's head. "Morrie, what is this?"

"You be amazed, ah!?" Morrie asked. "This is what I wanted to show you, ragazzo! Can you feel it? The sights, the sounds, the smells..." he began to swing his arms around, turning to them slowly before standing with his feet spread and one fist raised, the other held up level with his chest, "of MORRIE'S MONSTROUS PIT!"

Monstrous was right. Any monster able to be made into a team was peaceful, but the monsters in the pit were not. They were vicious, savage, and were literally fighting to the death. Already, a slime and a Hammerhood in the arena were dead, both bludgeoned to death by a walking humanoid made of sand-colored bricks called a Golem.

"Morrie!" another blonde bunny girl, this time wearing green and black, whispered from beside him. "I thought that name was our little secret! Don't go tellin' the whole world!"

"Ah! Scusi, my flower!" Morrie nodded. "Yes, the sights, the sounds, the smells..." Morrie repeated his earlier gestures, retaking the same pose, "of the MONSTER ARENA!" He glanced at the bunny girl as she began to clap. "The rules are simplissimo! This is a place of monster cobattimento! Teams of three monsters fight heads to heads. There are seven different ranks for your team to try! And this is all you need to know! Simple, no?"

"You take peaceful monsters who want to coexist with humans and pit them against one another in a deathsport?" Kane asked evenly, walking to the railing just as the Golem crushed its last opponent beneath its fists.

"Si!" Morrie grinned proudly, oblivious to the murder in Kane's eyes or the sympathy and worry on Jessica's very pale face, or the sympathetic fury in Marik's eyes. "So, ragazzo! You are wanting your own team, ay?"

"I have a team," Kane said evenly.

Morrie laughed. "I a-like this one! But the rules say you will need the two hundred thousand gold pieces. Now you know why this place is full of the rich people, ay?" He chuckled. "So, ragazzo, can you pay the money?"

"No," Kane said, his grip tightening on the railing with one hand, holding Fluffy with the other, as he got an even clearer picture of the sorts of things that went on at this hellhole.

"Sorry," Morrie apologized. "I do you wrong. I should never have asked such a question. Scusi. I explain what I mean. The two hundred thousand gold pieces you need for to have your own monster team...I will make a-the payment for you!" He jabbed his thumb at himself again. "But naturalmente, I not give it you without 'no wires attached', ay! There are conditions! You must swear this one thing...You must swear to fight your way to the very tip of the Monster Arena!" He turned, pointing dramatically to the ceiling of the coliseum, then looked back at Kane. "What do you say? Can you swear it? Do you have what it takes? CAN YOU CONQUER MY MONSTROUS PIT!?"

"Yes," Kane growled. "I'll take every other trainer down without any mercy."

Morrie seemed impressed, because he began to repeat the same gestures as before. "Then it is decided! Ragazzo! From this moment, you are the owner of your very own monster team!" He held the pose as the bunny girl at his side began to clap again. "So, let's get straight down to business, ay! First, you will need a good, strong name for your team. An instenso name that shows the-the-the PASSION! If you cannot think of a good name-"

"Razers," Kane cut him off. "With a 'z'. As in to destroy everything."

"That's your name!?" Morrie asked. "Where is the forza, the bravado, the PASSION, ay? Ah, nevermind! It will do! So, ragazzo! Now you have named your team. Now you must think of the team members! At first, your team will consist of the three monsters you found for me. Let me see them."

Kane nodded and held his hand in front of his chest in a fist. The holding stone flashed, and three monsters appeared before Kane. One was a Hacksaurus, a large, dragon-type monster wielding a battleaxe as tall as it was. One was a Golem. And one was a Slime Knight.

"Magnifico!" Morrie gaped. "Such a strong team for only just starting!" He cleared his throat. "Va bene! What are their names?"

"Pete," Kane gestured to the Hacksaurus, "Frank," he gestured to the Golem, "and Otis." He gestured to the Slime Knight.

"Ragazzo!" Morrie yelped. "You cannot have monsters with such...plain names such as this! I will name them!"

"No, you will not," Kane said. "That's their names. Live with it."

Morrie grimaced, but then nodded. "Now remember, the strength of-"

"Save it," Kane interrupted, returning his monster team to the holding stone. "They're not strong enough to win, and they don't get stronger by fighting. I know. I already know what three monsters I need to take this place down." He turned, walking back toward the stairs. "I'll be back."

Morrie watched him go, then hurried after him. "Ragazzo! You will be needing this!"

Kane turned, accepting a key to the door at the top of the stairs from him. Then, Kane turned, leading the others out of the pit. As they walked away from the building, he let his team out once again, introducing them to King Trode and Medea properly. All three, despite their intimidating appearance, at least for Pete and Frank, were very pleasant.

"'Ow'd ya tame them so quick?" Yangus asked.

"I beat Pete into submission then invited him to join me, overpowered Frank in a physical strength contest, and Otis took a liking to Bubbles," Kane explained before his expression turned cold and dark.

That place was terrible. An unacceptable affront to every peaceful monster of the world. He would tear it down. He would destroy everything Morrie had built. He would put an end to that place. He simply needed the right team.

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