The Battle Cats?

"H-Hot..." As the sun reached its peak amongst the vast sky, its heat envelop those unfortunate enough below. On an immense plains that seemed to stretch endlessly, there was a young man laying down on the grassy field with sweat dripping down his pale skin.

He lay there in silence, his ragged breathing the only sound in the vast, empty plains. The occasional rustle of the swaying grass added an eerie undertone to the otherwise still landscape. He could feel the sun's relentless heat pressing down on him, each bead of sweat trickling down his pale skin. His thoughts were a chaotic haze, the blazing sun doing little to help him think clearly. The more he tried to piece together his last memory, the more his head throbbed with confusion.

"Where am I? I swear I was leaving the convenience store, then I suddenly blacked out." He groans in confusion. The young man pushes himself up to sit, his eyes gazing upon the endless plains ahead. "This must be a dream... Yeah, totally."

The young man couldn't believe his eyes. Mere moments ago he was in the bustling city of his home town where around every corner a person is bound to be seen and now his was in the middle of nowhere on his own. He stood up from the ground, feeling the warm breeze of the air envelop his skin.

He was still wearing the clothes he wore before. A simple white long sleeve paired with a plain dark pants and black leather shoes. 'Thankfully, I wasn't dropped here butt naked.' he thought in relief. It sent shivers down his spine thinking of the possibility of walking around naked out in the open.

After a few seconds of hesitation, he walked forward. The sense of the unknown crept to his mind but standing still doing nothing was a much more worse decision than finding clues.

"Perhaps, this really is real." He muttered quietly. The feeling of grass accompanied with dirt under his shoes felt too real for his dream to recreate such intricate details. Hell, even the temperature by now would have woken him up from the heat. He had heard of stories were a person was weirdly enough transported from one place to another but only dismissed it as fiction, but seeing his current situation, he accepted the situation he was in quickly.

And then, a sudden burst of golden light erupted in front of him causing him to take a few steps back. It shone so bright that it made the already lit up sky even brighter. Slowly opening his eyes in pain, the young man saw a flat square hovering in front of his eyes. Once he had fully opened them, he stared ahead with widened eyes confused whether was he is currently seeing was real. Suddenly, a burst of golden light erupted in front of him, causing Loki to stumble back in surprise. The light was so intense that it made the already bright sky seem dim in comparison. Shielding his eyes, he squinted against the radiant glow, feeling a mix of awe and trepidation. As the light gradually dimmed, he cautiously opened his eyes, blinking against the residual brightness. There, hovering in front of him, was a flat square, glowing with a soft, ethereal blue hue.

[ Welcome, Loki ]

"What the hell." The young man's name was Loki, derived from the ancient mythology which his parents adored to study and speculate about. From the moment Loki was born, his parents felt that he was unlike any other child, hence the oddly unique name. He didn't really dislike the name but it was occasionally compared to a certain character in a cinematic universe which caused him to get annoyed by it a lot growing up.

[ You are currently in the tutorial. Please follow the next steps to progress through the tutorial ]

Loki couldn't help but squint his eyes as he read the screen in front of him. The screen gave off a blue hue, seemingly transparent from within but intangible nonetheless. "Tutorial? Is this some sort of game?" He wondered what it meant but his thoughts came to a stop when suddenly, a growling sound could be heard from the distance makin him look towards its direction.

There, in the distance, stood a small orange Shiba Inu. But this wasn't the friendly, cheerful dog breed he knew. Drool dripped from its snarling mouth, and its eyes—pure red—locked onto him with a terrifying, seething rage. It was like the embodiment of fury, sending chills down his spine. The Shiba Inu's growl resonated through the air, its drooling maw and blood-red eyes fixated on Loki with predatory intent.

[ Defeat Doge 0/1 ]

[ Rewards upon completion: 1 Normal Ticket ]

"Hey, that dog clearly has rabies this is not fair!"

Loki shouts as his eyes flicker upon the new messages appearing on the screen. If he were to compare the dog thirty meters away from him from any game he has played, just a bite from the dog might be the equivalent of getting poisoned from within.

Not wasting anymore time, the doge ran towards him at frightening speeds, the distance closing in quick. Loki was flustered, he has never even hurt a mouse yet it seems like he needs to kill the dog in front of him? This was a hard task, specially because he was just dropped out of nowhere and now has to do such a task.

It was not like he could refuse as the doge was now a few meters ahead of Loki, lunging towards him. Its mouth opening to reveal its sharp teeth that planned to rip him to shreds. Loki quickly jumped out of the dogs line of attack, dodging its initial rush. The doge that didn't expect him to dodge, stumbled upon landing on the grassy soil, rolling for a few seconds. 

His breaths came in ragged, inconsistent times showcasing his current physical condition. Loki was not really into working out but despite that, he was more in the lean side of things rather than being chubby. Perhaps, it was due to him always walking around, unable to pay for any vehicles nor public transport. Needless to say, he was not extremely fit and the heat was not helping him move better either.

The doge, now having recovered from its fall, prepared to lunge again to Loki. The latter however, was prepared this time around. Once the doge tried to pounce on him again, Loki grabbed both the front legs of the doge holding it in its place

Its feral strength made it harder to apprehend the creature causing its mouth to be a few inches from Loki's face. Loki slammed the doge to the grassy ground with a loud thud causing it to whimper in pain. Not giving it a chance, Loki stepped on the doge's neck placing his right foot firmly within its jugular vein or mostly somewhere close to it.

"Please! I'm sorry!" Pressing all his weight towards his foot, the blood that was supposed to reach the doge's brain couldn't circulate further. He didn't plan to see if the dog was truly out to kill him or whether it was all a dream. He has seen too many things like those and they didn't end well for the protagonist. As the doge's quiet whimper seem to grow quieter for a few seconds until its strength slowly subsided and Loki felt no more repelling force on his foot.

Loki's chest heaved high and low as he finally breathe in the fresh air around him in peace. He cautiously removed his foot from the dog's neck as it lay there motionless unlike from the start where it tried to maul him to death.

"Oh god, did I really kill that dog?" The adrenaline coursing through his blood also went away as soon as the battle was over, causing him to finally think with a rational mind. 

Dogs for him were house pets, meant to protect your homes but also were there for a person's mental benefit. What he did didn't feel right to him.

[ Defeat Doge 1/1 ]

[ Reward for completion: 1 Normal Ticket ]

As soon as the message popped up, a streak of silver light appeared and a silver ticket the size of an average phone hovered in front of him. There was a text engraved upon its side labeled "Ticket" and a few small words that seemed to be instruction in how to use it.

After a few seconds of analyzing the item, Loki reached out and grabbed the silver ticket. Still a bit confused about his current situation he decided to go with the flow for now.

He was always quick in adapting to new environments, especially because him and his parents moved around the country lots of times already, trying to find the ideal home for them to live in. It was why he didn't really deluded himself into thinking all of this is a dream even though it seemed too fictitious.

Once the ticket was now in his hand a new message appeared on the floating screen next to him.

[ Would you like to spin the wheel? Y/N ]

Without hesitation, Loki pressed the Yes button and a large cylinder object appeared to his right. It stood at a staggering 3 meters tall. Its glassy exterior showing its contents. It seemed to be a gumball machine but an extremely large one at that. Inside the machine were round cat shaped balls made of silver, its glossy exterior shining against the sun.

The ticket within his hand flew towards the machine's bill acceptor and after a few seconds, the machine shone brightly blinding Loki.

"What's with this place and shiny things, I can't see a damn thing!"

The inside of the machine spun, the silver cat balls seemingly flowing through a vortex of copies of themselves. After a few seconds, a silver ball popped out of the machine, the size of the ball seemed to be atleast 1 meter wide. With a small hiss, the capsule split in two horizontally, finally revealing the inside.

Within the capsule, a creature stepped out revealing its glorious appearance. Loki couldn't help but be flabbergasted upon seeing creature that walked out of the capsule.

"And you are?"