The initial sweep of the room left Natalie aeam fused; they found no traces of the boss's loot chest. There ossibility that the enter didn't have one, sinything could happen in the dungeon, but she found that unlikely, as did the rest of the team. Odds were higher that they were missing something. But a sed look-through of the arena uhed nothiher.

  Aually, was the oo figure it out. "Jordan," she said. "e look at this."

  Natalie turned from her own iion to see Ana peering inside one of the mirrors. Jordan, who had been her, walked over to join her. Jordan's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to identify whatever Ana ointing at, then they shot up. She turned around, looked at the roof of the arena, then back to the mirror.

  "Wow. Good catch."

  "What is it?" Natalie walked over to join them, as did the rest of the team. She peered ihe mirror, seeing only the room and themselves reflected back.

  "There. On the ceiling." Jordan poihrough the gss.

  Natalie scrutihe refle. It was awkward through the mirror; Jordan's finger didn't line up perfectly. But her eyes finally snagged on the object of i.

  A small box, nearly camoufged, hung by a rope from the ceiling. Natalie, surprised, turo look at it in the real world—but saw nothing where it should be.

  "Huh?" Natalie said.

  "Invisible," Ana replied. "Except through the mirror."

  "Tricky," Sofia said.

  "How do we get it down?" Liz asked. All five of them were crowded around the mirror, shooting gnces between the refle of the dangling loot chest and where it should be.

  "I ," Ana said. Gauging the location of the chest for a sed, she withdrew her crystal ball. Magic hummed to Natalie's sense, and a moment ter, a giant bck tendril of energy whipped out. It sshed the air where the rope would be.

  On making tact, the entire assembly blinked iehe invisibility effect dispelling. The box hit the ground with a loud thump, locks rattling and sending a wave of dust rushing outward. Tile cracked around it.

  The team approached, excited to see what they'd gotten. As was being , Sofia fihe lock open and popped the top. She reached in and withdrew their first piece of equipment.

  Natalie paused.

  ***

  Pet Colr

  Rare

  Lv. 2

  Effects

  - Minor increase to physical Prowess.

  - Minor increase to physical Tenacity.

  - Submissive. Decre an Owner. When obeying Owner's ands, Colr will slowly evolve. Demeaning and unfortable ands provide more evolution points.

  - Hindrance-Free. Leash ot be tangled in bat aively grows or shrinks.

  Description

  A thin bck colr with a gold loop for attag a leash. A silver e adorns the front, currently empty.

  ***

  The group stared in sile the item in Sofia's hands. Sofia's expression was suspiciously bnk.

  "Seems like a great fighter item," Jordan ented, her tone deliberately professional—to the point of being obviously mischievous. "All yours, Sofia. Who do you want as your owner?"

  Sofia looked slowly up at Jordan. Her face remained ral. "And what," she said, an edge in her voice that betrayed her trolled expression, "makes you think I would wear this?"

  "A rare? With prowess and tenacity boosts? That evolves? mean, I would take it, but tenacity is a waste o's perfect for a fighter."

  "So, Nat could use it."

  "Nat already has the overpowered css," Jordan said dismissively. "Besides, I don't think she'd do well with orders."

  "And I would?" Sofia said, a hint of a groearing.

  Jordan shrugged—but wisely didn't respond. Her smirk was answer enough.

  Sofia turhe venomous look to Natalie. "This is your fault."

  "My fault?"

  "Your css's doing."

  "Sorry it keeps giving us amazing loot," Natalie said. "I mean, sure. It's weird. But two minor boosts? It's a good item."

  "And fashionable!" Liz piped up.

  Sofia turhe gre to Liz. Liz, who had been biting back a grin, wiped the expression away. Her eyes went wide, and she frantically waved her hands. "Sorry! Sorry! But, I mean, it is kind of funny. Isn't it?"

  "No. And if you think it is, why don't you wear it?"

  Liz's eyes widened even more. "It's a fighter item," she stammered. "I 't."

  Sofia eyed her scathingly, then said, "It's not funny."

  "Right. Totally isn't." Liz took a long, steadying breath, ly selling the words. "It's not funny at all."

  "Hm," Ana said. "But it is."

  Everyone looked at her.

  "From an objective standpoint, it's humorous," Ana said. "Beyond that it's simply an unusual item, it's clearly geared for a fighter. For you. sidering your rivalrous retionship with Natalie, it appears to me as if the dungeon is deliberately taunting you. Putting you in a difficult situation. That's amusing."

  The two girls stared at each other. Ana with her bnk expression, and Sofia, who wasn't sure how to react. Ana had stated it too matter-of-fact.

  "I'm gd you think so," Sofia finally said. "But it's not."

  "If you want my opinion, I believe Natalie is the best choice," Ana said, "but since I uand that might make you unfortable, I could also be your owner. I would treat you fairly." She paused. "Insofar as the item allows. It does say demeaning ands provide more evolution points."

  Natalie had no idea if Ana was being genuine or just teasing Sofia, and that made the situation even funnier. She couldn't help herself—she started ughing. Liz and Jordan joined her, with Liz burying her fato Jordan's shoulder to hide her face. Sofia sputtered and growled at them until they finally calmed down.

  Even Ana's lips started twitg, though maybe Natalie imagi. The girl really was hard to read. She had to be messing with Sofia. But Natalie couldn't tell.

  "Oh, don't cry about it," Natalie said, wiping her eyes. "Here. I'll put it on for you." She stepped up to Sofia, then grabbed the colr out of Sofia's hands. Maybe from shock, the white-haired girl let Natalie do it. Natalie turhe colr around in her hands, figuring out how it worked. She unhooked it, then slipped it around Sofia's ned cmped it shut. After situating it so the e faced forward, she hooked the leash around the loop.

  Smirking, Natalie patted Sofia on the shoulder, holding the leash in her left hand. "There. It looks good. Now, be a good girl and make me your owner. However that works. We're wasting time."

  Natalie expected a storm of e from Sofia, but instead, the white-haired girl stared at Natalie, her face going a deeper and deeper shade of red. That, of course, made Natalie herself blush—especially with the colr around her neck, and Natalie holding the leash. She coughed and stepped back, then added, "Please."

  "Fine," Sofia said, finally tearing her eyes away. "But only if the evolution makes it worth it. A minor prowess and tenacity boost is not enough for this … this ridiculousness."

  "If it's anything like my wand, it'll be amazing," Liz said. "So I don't think that'll be a problem."

  "Hmph," Sofia said.

  Sofia's brow furrowed as she focused on figuring out how to 'decre' an owner. Slowly, words engraved themselves onto the silver pte on the front of the colr. When the writing fihe group stared at the result.

  "What?" Sofia demanded, fidgeting with the strap of leather, trying to look down at it. "What does it say?"

  "Natalie's Pet," Jordan said.

  "It is named [Pet Colr]," Liz said faintly.

  Sofia had no respoo that, and had also apparently run out of gres, because after a long pause, she simply turned back to the loot chest.

  Natalie still held the leash as Sofia closed the chest lid, then ope a sed time, seeking their sed piece of loot. She clipped the long strip of leather to her belt, freeing her hands.

  Her pet.

  She liked the sound of that.