Search results

Mia stood up. "It's at the Colosseum." She turned toward the exit, only checking if Ivy was following as an afterthought.

Shit. Shit, what was happening. “Owen? You in there? Come on!” His body was coiled like a spring, hackles up, ready to bolt. The Radiance wasn’t doing anything. Maybe they did have to knock him out. Maybe that was the only way to snap him out of it. Just so long as Vix didn’t fucking try to...

So Ivy wanted to spar. Mia wasn't sure if she'd be that good at it if she'd never fought before. But if they tried she would get better. "That would be nice," she said. "Do you want to go to the Colosseum training rooms?"

"I don't think anything will happen. We'll stay here and do what we want." Mia paused. "I'll keep sparring more."

A shiver went down Dave's spine at the pleading in his voice. Every Poochyena braincell in his head wanted to obey and get out of here as he began to glow. He was evolving. "Owen, hey, Owen!" He braced himself, legs shaking, called on that little buzz in his head, and summoned a Radiant Guard...

Mia looked blankly at Ivy. "No. I feel fine."

"The other me is dead. It's too bad. I could have sparred with her." Scythes couldn't permanently harm her body. And she could make hers blunter so they wouldn't hurt her human body. That would be good. "I would have to make myself bigger, though."

Mia shrugged. "I remember being a shade a bit. But mostly I remember the other me. I don't remember being her but I remember everything Dave remembers about her."

Dave had told her about nightmares once. Mia didn't dream, or at least didn't remember them if she did. "Were they nightmares about teeth? Dave said that's common but it sounds very weird."

Dave stared at the psychotic grin on Owen's face, the naked hunger in his eyes, and the blood froze in his veins. He took a step back, automatically, heart hammering, stomach twisting. His brain screamed at him to run. "Owen?" he said, his voice shaking. "You all right?" Vix was squabbling...

Dave hesitated as Wishkeeper attacked, Poochyena brain recoiling. He almost ran in there just to spite it, but would Owen want them to intervene? Was this like a thing where he had to defeat his inner demons to be free of them, or something? He waited, tense, and prepared to jump in as...

Mia tilted her head. “Is your world not Cynthian’s world? Do you not have memories from there? I remember Dave’s world. It was another me there but I still remember it.” Maybe Ivy was different. A lot of things in Cibus didn’t work the same way for everyone. “They said we all need to recover...

“When Team Spectrum members die their spirits just go into Diyem. He can’t bring them back from there right now because he’s a Charmander but we’re going to get him the power he needs so he can make them new bodies.” She paused. “Souls don’t exist in my world. Are there souls in yours?”

“Why would you forget her? She’ll only be gone for a little while.” Mia squinted at Ivy.

“No, it’s something on TV.” Did Cynthian’s world have TVs? “Made-up stories. Do you have those?”

“I’m Mia,” she said, watching Ivy eat. After a moment she asked, “Why do you talk like that? You say your name a lot. Like the Pokémon in cartoons.”

“You can buy another one. The God Squad is paying so we can eat as much as we want.” Mia wondered how a familiar could drool. It must just be part of the body goop. She tried to do it herself.

"It's a food. Like the one I have." Mia didn't lift her hotdog or make any move to show it to Ivy, just held it where it was. "They're made with a lot of salt so they trick your brain into wanting them, and then you put sauces on them with even more. Dave likes to give me hotdogs because it's an...

"I'm fine," Mia said. "The hotdog isn't as good as the hotdogs I liked in my world. Does your world have hotdogs?"

Mia tilted her head. "Hello. Are you Cynthian's familiar?" She had never talked to Cynthian before, but Dave had mentioned he came from a world with genetics, and that Roselia worked differently in his world. And then Brisa had said Cynthian was a girl now. But now she was dead, for a while...