Dale (POV)

"Pizza again?"

Aurora asked Dale as he placed two large oven-cooked Pizza trays on the dining table. She stared at the food with disgust on her face.

"Oi! This is the second time I prepared it, so stop acting like this is torture."

Dale said as he used a rolling slicer to cut up the Pizza and then placed it on everyone's dinner plates.

"Don't be so mean! At least he learned how to cook something on his own."

Anette said as she grabbed a slice with her right hand. It is covered in mushrooms, jalapenos, corn, black olives, oregano, onions, pickles, and cheese.

"You could try adding some meat next time. It's not like we don't have enough of it in the stock room."

Rebecca commented as she devoured her slice and the potato wedges accompanying the main dish.

"I am trying to cook and eat healthy to complement my yoga exercises. Have you guys not noticed how much weight I lost over the last week?"

Rebecca and the twins study Dale's face and figure.

"Are we supposed to be impressed?" Aurora whispered to Rebecca for guidance.

"You have slimmed down a bit, but I wouldn't say it's a huge difference."

Anette tried to console Dale before taking a bite out of her slice.

"Thanks for the support."

Dale replied before grabbing the plate containing everyone's Pizza and stuffing his face with it.

"Dale, that's for everyone!"

Rebecca said as she leaned forward on the table to pull the plate out of Dale's hand.

"Sorry, but you guys don't deserve my hard work."

Dale refused to let go of the plate. It slipped out of his hand and fell onto the floor during the tug of war.

The twins looked at the Pizza and then at Dale with eyes tearing up.

"My bad! I will clean it up and cook up another one."

Dale told the twins before getting up from his chair to clean up the mess. But something brushed past his leg and darted towards the food on the floor. Dale thought it must be a rat that found its way into the bunker. But, to his surprise, a Green Turtle the size of a football was busy chomping away at the Pizza.

"Is that a Turtle?" Aurora asked.

"That is one freaky-looking Turtle!" Annette yelled out.

Dale and Rebecca kneeled down to inspect the creature. It looked unusual because its shell was made of wood partially covered by moss. It had hard amber crystals. Leaves began sprouting out of its wooden body until it turned into a small green bush.

"Were some freaky experiments in this bunker before we got here?" Dale asked Rebecca.

"Did you see any laboratory in this place? Either this thing got in by a crack in the bunker's defenses, or it was in our luggage."

"I see you all have met Twiggy." Mash's voice filled the dining room.

He had a large bottle of grape juice and a bag of Doritos in his right hand.

"This Turtle is your pet?" Rebecca asked as Mash knelt down to inspect Twiggy and feed him Doritos.

"Kinda…"

"What do you mean by 'kinda'?" Rebecca questioned with an annoyed look.

"Twiggy came out of my Egg from the Monster APP."

"What? Stop messing around, and just tell me!"

"I am serious, Rebecca…."

Rebecca and Dale stared at Mash's face for a long minute before accepting that he was not joking.

The twins threw caution to the wind, got close to Twiggy, and started petting his big head and moss-covered wooden shell. The little guy seemed to enjoy the twins' attention and giggled.

"If Twiggy came from your phone, shouldn't he be a 3D hologram?"
"I thought the same at first, but he is a living being made of Earth and Wood that can become a digital creature upon command."

Mash pulled out his phone and ordered his Butler to un-summon Twiggy. The little Turtle dematerialized where the twins were spoiling it with affection. The leaves that fell from its shell had disappeared, leaving the half-eaten Pizza as the only evidence of its existence.

"Summon Twiggy!" Mash ordered his AI butler.

Within two seconds, Twiggy rematerialized in front of Mash's feet.

"Reveal Twiggy's info!"

A holographic display appeared over Twiggy's head.

[Monster Name: Twiggy

Monster Type: Body, Mountain, Defense, Turtle, Wood

Monster Species: Terra Turtle

Age: 1 hour and 35 minutes old

Tamer: Mash Royce

Synchro Percentage: 0.4%]

"What the…" Dale whispered in surprise as he bent down to study the details.

"The Monster Type field is filled with all the answers I gave to the APP during the fertilization stage. Seems like Twiggy was physically customized to fit those traits."

"Do you have any idea what the Synchro Percentage is?" Dale asked.

"Probably related to affinity. I noticed the number increased whenever I fed and stroked Twiggy's head." Mash answered.

"Will something happen if the percentage increases?" Dale asked.

"Who knows? The APP or Fluffals says I should raise the percentage and find out."

Dale was surprised by that suggestion.

"Wow… This Fluffals is a cheeky bastard." Dale commented.

"Am I hallucinating, or is Twiggy asking for more food?" Rebecca asked everyone.

The little guy aims puppy dog eyes toward everyone in the room with the 'feed me and love me' look. Aurora raided the kitchen fridge and began feeding Twiggy Dragon fruit and carrots. Mash handed over the grape juice and Doritos to Annette. Everyone watched Twiggy ravage everything that came near his face.

"Twiggy's stomach is like a black hole. I already fed him three times his body weight, but it never seems enough."

"Was he this big when he hatched?"

"The first time I saw him, he could fit in the palm of my hand. Now he is bigger than a football."

"That fast?"

"How big do you think Twiggy will grow?" Rebecca said with a look of concern on her face.

"For now, his growth phase has slowed down, but the APP said that Twiggy will evolve in three days. So he might get bigger when that happens."

"Evolve? Damn!" Dale said in excitement and pulled out his phone to see the progress on the APP.

The display screen highlighted that only two tasks were left to complete before the egg would be ready. Dale estimated it would take him a few hours to clear it if he dedicated all his mental energy to it. While he was lost in thought about the possibilities of what his monster would look like, Rebecca grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to the kitchen.

"Did you forget we haven't had a proper dinner?"

"Ah! Do you have anything in mind?."

"How about some spicy Mac and Cheese instead?" Rebecca suggested as she opened a storage cabinet and pulled out ingredients to make the dish. Rebecca then proceeded to help Dale cook while Mash watched over the twins playing and feeding his monster partner.

"Dale! Quit glancing at the APP and focus on cooking."

"Sorry, I can't help myself. I want to hatch it as soon as possible. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Aren't you curious about what's inside your egg?"

"Curious? Yes! Impatient? No!"

Later that night.

Around 2 AM, Dale had cleared all the remaining tasks and headed to the gym where he wanted to hatch his egg. It is far enough from the sleeping quarters to avoid waking the others up. When he approached the entrance to the gym, he could hear someone screaming on the other side. When the door slid open, Dale found Rebecca on the floor with a giant bug on her chest.

The bug is a giant red larva that poured purple slime onto Rebecca's hair and skin.

"Get it off of me!" Rebecca cried out.

Dale rushed over and grabbed the bug. When he tried lifting it off Rebecca, she cried in pain because the slime had superglued to her body. Dale urged his brain to devise a solution to this problem when he remembered what Mash did at dinner.

"Rebecca, tell Ali to unsummon your monster!"

Rebecca followed Dale's instructions, and within a few seconds, the Larva dematerialized along with the purple slime on her body.

"What was that thing?" Dale asked as he helped her to stand up.

"I have no idea… It hatched out of the egg and attached itself to me."

"Can you do what Mash did and ask about its info?"

"Right, that should work. Ali, can you do that?"

[Miss Rebecca must assign a name for your monster partner before you can access it]

Rebecca was about to give it a random name but then reconsidered it.

"I will call it 'Luna' from now on."

"Why, Luna?" Dale asked.

"It's short for Lunatic."

"Oh."

A holographic 2D image of Luna rotated over the phone with all its details.

[Monster Name: Luna

Monster Type: Mind, Mountain, Intelligence, Insect, Wood

Monster Species: Terra Ant Queen (Larva Form)

Age: 2 minutes old

Tamer: Rebecca Lawman

Synchro Percentage: 0.0%]

"Luna is an Ant Queen?"

"She will probably grow up to become one in the future."

"Will you be able to handle her sticky situation?"

"From what Mash told me, it's like raising a puppy. Gotta teach it how to behave and what not to do. What about your monster?"

"Came here to hatch it. Do you want to stick around and see what comes out?"

"Depends… what kind of animal did you choose?"

"A bird type. Not sure exactly what kind of bird, though."

"It will definitely be among the species you studied about."

Dale nodded and then ordered his AI butler to activate the Monster APP.

The APP soon projected a hologram of an egg that slowly revolved. It is pure white in color with ten black rings around its surface at regular intervals.

[Congratulations, User Dale! All 10 fertilization conditions have been met]

[Do you wish to hatch your partner now?]

"Yes."

[Fertilizing…]

The egg began to rotate faster and faster until it became a blur. Then, the black rings merged at the center like a belt before expanding until the whole egg became black.

Dale and Rebecca were mesmerized by the visual sight, but they both noticed something odd. The hologram was becoming more solid with each rotation. Then, purple embers spewed out of the pores of the charcoal-like eggshell. These were real flames, and the heat they generated was enough to make everyone in the room sweat.

"Was it like this for your egg?" Dale asked Rebbecca without turning away his gaze.

"No fire but a lot of Earth and Wood."

The egg's rotation speed slowed until it finally stopped and floated towards Dale, who grabbed the egg gently and stroked its surface. There were no cracks on it and no sign of any movement from within it. Dale and Rebecca waited patiently for 5 minutes, but they both grew concerned after a while.

"Why isn't it hatching?" Rebecca asked.

"No idea… How long did it take yours to hatch?"

"After all the spinning was done, Luna appeared immediately."

"Then I must have done something wrong."

[There is no need for User Dale to be concerned]

"What makes you say that, Lina."

[You are already holding to the hatched version of your Monster Partner]

"But it's still an egg."

[Try knocking on it or shaking it vigorously]

Dale was confused by the instructions but found no harm in following his AI's instructions since waiting seemed pointless.

The oval charcoal rock suddenly wobbles before several dark Red glowing lines appear over the surface. The lines cause the surface to split, retract, combine and transform into a dark metal body Eagle chick with two cut Ruby eyes. Small red flames sprout from its head, wings, and tail like feathers. The claws on its feet and its short beak looked like they were carved from raw Ruby. Its dark metal body frame looked fragile and beautiful by the luster of the metal.

"Chiiiirrrrp ChaaAAA!"