Diego woke up once more. "Ugh...what fresh hell awaits me now?" He looked around and noticed he was in....a prison cell? But there was no toilet or bed or much of anything. Just a blanket and a....dog bowl? He looked down at himself and he saw that he was naked from head to toe.
After covering up with his hands he looked around the bars of this cell and realized that it wasn't so much a prison as it was a kennel. He also noticed that he wasn't the only one here. Various people were yelling out and angrily cussing out the various people who were passing by.
Every single one of those people in the cages were as naked as he was. They seem more concerned by the people walking around then their state of dress. A few of the caged ones were even women, but most of them were men of varying ages.
He noticed that the people who were occasionally walking around outside the bars, were about twice his size. That's when he heard something. "Ah, good you're finally awake."
He turned to source of that sound and saw an older gentlemen in the cell next to him. He then asked him, "Uh, sir? What is this place?"
"Not sure kid, this is just where we end up when we're bad. Whenever I try to escape, I end up back here. Waiting for my owner to come back for me."
"Wait, your owner? You can't own people anymore...right? I'm pretty sure that's been outlawed since sometime in the late 1800s."
The old man laughed. "You must be new here. Actually, you are new, I haven't seen you before and that cell was empty just a few moments ago."
"Wait, I just appeared here?" Diego thought hard about this and realized, "Of course! This is another stupid dream. I just gotta wake up and everything will be ok. Say, old man, do you know a way out of here?"
"Well, kid there are only two ways out of here. The left door and the right door." The old man pointed to his left and right ends of the hall.
"The door on the left leads to freedom, someone will take you and will give you a good life, or at least that's what they say anyway, honestly, I'd rather just roam around without any worries, foraging for food and stuff but that's not allowed, I guess."
If this is a kennel then Diego hypothesized that the door he's talking about leads to you getting adopted by someone. He didn't really like the idea of being someone's pet.
"What about the other door?"
The old man suddenly looked rather solemn as he said, "You don't want that door...I've seen many people go through that one...they never come back out."
"W-what happens in there?"
"....I don't know and I'm hoping that I can escape once more before I find out. Don't have much time left, but I'm banking on my owner realizing I'm gone."
"So if the left door is for adoption, then the right door would be for..."
Diego shivered as he realized the implications of said door. He hoped he could find a way to wake up before he was put to sleep. But just as he was wondering how he was going to escape, the door to his cell opened and there stood a women in what looked to be scrubs. Was she a vet of some kind?
"Congratulations, little guy, you're going to your new home!"
"Wait, little guy!? I'm not an animal, I am a human and- Hey!"
With that she grabbed his hand and lead him to the left door. He covered himself with his other hand and followed her, if only on the grounds that it least wasn't the other door.
As the kennel employee lead him to a room with a desk and some paperwork on it, he tried to plead his case with her again.
"Look, I think there's been a mistake. I'm a normal human being like yourself. I'm not some kind of animal."
"Hehe, I'm aware of that."
"Then why are you treating me like an animal?"
"Because, humans are pets here!"
"But, you're human too....right?"
She chuckled and then said, "That's adorable, Teenie Weenie Boy."
"...Demona?"
"Nope, I'm the other one."
..."The other one? What's your name?"
"Oh, I don't have one. At least one that is pronounceable in any language or text format."
"But you look human."
"Well, of course I look human. If I was in my true form, The Mistress would be super upset with me, on account of the fact that any mortal who lays eyes on it would have their mind shattered and their very soul erased from existence."
He stared aghast at her as she had a big smile after saying that, like it was some kind of joke.
..."I'll take your word for it."
"You don't believe me do you?"
"I BELIEVE YOU, I DON'T NEED T-"
Before he could object she pulled off her face like it was a cheap rubber mask and Diego saw what could only be described as a multitentacled monstrosity with razor sharp teeth and eyes that were the color of blood.
He screamed as the visage was burned into his mind, all he could think about was that monstrous form and every cell in his body started to feel like it was on fire.
But then she just put on her normal face again and everything went back to normal. Diego shivered and he breathed as he felt the pain and terror slowly leave his body. Surprisingly, despite feeling like he just witnessed an eldritch nightmare beyond mortal comprehension, he was actually ok.
As he calmed down, he felt confident at having no-selled what was apparently something no other mortal survived.
"Hehe, oh whoops, that wasn't my true form. Would you like to see my real true form?"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed as she went to take off her face again. But just before she could she was smacked in the back of the head by Demona.
"Stop doing that! She needs him alive!"
"Come on, he deserves it after what he did to my hair."
"I SAID I WAS SORRY!"
"Heh, not as sorry as you're gonna be."
At that point, the door to the office opened. Both Demona and her unpronounceable cohort greeted her.
"Welcome to the Demane Society!", they both said in unison. With Diego facepalming at that very weak attempt at a pun.
"
Ok, maybe it won't be so bad being a pet. I mean, it's better than being an immobile statue, right?
" thought Diego to himself.
At least that's what he thought until he turned around and saw who was adopting him.
"Hello, my new pet." said a woman in orange dress with snow white hair and suspiciously yellow eyes.
Diego looked like he saw a ghost. No, that couldn't be her, right? She couldn't possibly-
"Yes...yes I am her.", she whispered to Diego before he could even ask the question.
"Well, all the paperwork seems to be in order. You be a good pet for The Mist- er, for Missy. Ok, Diego?"
She then patted him on the head and handed "Missy" a blue dog collar. It had his name engraved on the tag and on the back it said, property of the Mistress.
"Well, pet, let's get this collar on you and I'll walk you home."
Diego backed away from The Mistress as she approached. He noted that much like the other two, she was twice his size. In fact everything around him was bigger than normal. It's as if, compared to them he was the size of a mid sized dog.
"Hang on, Mistress. I know what's going on here. This is a dream. I remember everything so....that means none of this can hurt me and quite frankly, after what you put me through last time, I'm not going to be your pet. In fact, I'm not going anywhere."
Demona then piped up and said. "Well, not that you have a choice in the matter, but if you want to be difficult and be a bad boy, then you'll just be sent back here, where you'll get adopted again or just stay here until there's no more room and be taken to the other room to...well you know."
So it's true, this isn't a no-kill shelter. That definitely made Diego very uneasy.
"Do you know how we do it?"
Diego shook his head.
She pointed back to the unpronounceable one, who simply mimed the act of taking off her face again and then said "and the soul is completely gone."
He gulped as he was very sure she wasn't lying. "Is there an equivalent to the ASPCA in this hellscape?"
That's when Missy walked toward him. He closed his eyes and expected the worst but then she gently patted his head and tickled his chin lightly.
"Aww...don't be scared puppy boy, I promise to take good care of you. Trust me, Diego, you're going to love being my pet."
He opened his eyes to look at her, but rather than the rather evil look she had when he was awake, she looked, somewhat normal. In fact, she had a smile on her face and seemed to be genuine in her actions.
Still, he did not trust her, I mean after all this, no one would. She then lightly scratched the back of his neck. For some reason, the sensation of her nails made him feel excited.
"Every pet has a spot they love to be scratched and I'm well aware of yours. Hehe."
As he was distracted with the feeling of her scratching his neck, he felt something get wrapped around it. It was the collar. He reached to try and take it off but before he could, she whistled.
For some reason, he immediately stopped and looked at her. She then snapped her fingers and in her hand was a one of those retractable dog leashes. The actual leash then magically connected to his collar.
"Well, time for us to go home, Diego." and with that she started leading him to the door.
"Wait, but I'm still naked! Don't I get anything to wear!?"
"You already got a collar, what else do you need?"
She retracted the leash as she went through the door, choking him and forcing him closer to her.
As his eyes adjusted to the light he realized he was outside in what looked like a normal neighborhood. A bright breezy sunny day, perfect for walking your pet.
Despite the fact that apparently humans don't wear clothes in this universe, Diego still felt embarrassed.
He was essentially walking around naked, while being pulled along on a leash. As he saw another demon (he assumes it was a demon, much like the Mistress as it was twice his size despite their human like appearance), he threw his hands over his crotch as it turned to look towards him.
Looking straight ahead as he saw demon after demon stare at him, some were confused, while some others were amazed at what they saw. Most of them thought he was adorable.
As Missy and her new pet waited at a nearby crosswalk, she turned to look at him and saw his discomfort. "Something wrong?"