Kairos shuddered as he leaned against the street lamp. He wasn’t quite sure why he shuddered. The wind was somewhat strong and blowy, blowing his wing membrane around and messing with the feathers on his neck and tail. The sun though was rather warm, and whenever the wind would die down, the sun’s rays would cheer him up. Or maybe the reason why he shuddered was to shake away some intrusive thoughts.
“Hey!”
Phovos appeared, holding her little smartphone. While wrist-based technology was more popular among Temthans and Rethavok, many Ksithans still preferred to use microcomputers they could put in the pockets of their clothes and wraps.
“Hey, Phovos. I thought you wanted our second date to be at a fancy restaurant?” Kairos immediately asked. “What changed your mind?”
“I wanted to play Walkymonsters.”
Kairos blinked, then shook his head, jogging his memory. “That GPS-based game where you walk around throwing cubes at cute animals?”
“That one, yes.”
“It’s still going?”
Phovos nodded. “Yep, three or four years strong now. I only got into it recently, and they just released a new quest.”
Kairos summoned one of his many, many devices out of thin air. He had personal tech for every species but often didn’t use any of it. “Hm. I think I have it installed somewhere…” After a quick shake of his claws, Kairos scrolled down the screen of his device and found the app. “Yep, here it is. Let’s see if I can remember the password… Yep. That’s the one.”
The Raptor smiled. “Cool. I caught an altacolour Volushun today. About ten minutes ago actually.”
Kairos blinked again. He couldn’t remember any of the creatures’ names. It had been a long time since he had even thought about Walkymonsters. “Well… Maybe you could show me. Has it had many updates?”
“Loads!” Phovos beamed. “You can fight over bases and sometimes Big Bads appear!” Phovos showed Kairos her phone. “See, that one there? We could probably do that one together.”
The Whenvern hesitated, then shrugged. “Sure. But I don’t think I have many good…” Kairos glanced down at his device. “Oh. I have that Ghostar. Will he work?”
Phovos peered at Kairos’s screen. “Oh wow…”
“What?”
“With those moves? That’s rare as fuck. Can’t get them any more!” Phovos trailed off. “You have three of them as well… Well, when that Bad Boss spawns, we can’t lose!”
Kairos smiled, then tapped on one of the bases. The bases were all based on real life local monuments. Shops, museums, statues, fountains, places of interest. He remembered that they had a little button on them that players could press to get random items. He pressed the button and something popped up.
“Oh, what’s that?”
“A Boss Battle Trinket,” Phovos exclaimed. “You get one a day. Use them to fight the Big Bads.”
“So I’ll be able to use it to fight that one there?”
Phovos nodded, then trailed off again. She was busy catching creatures. The trick was to throw the cubes in such a way that the Walkymonsters couldn’t dodge them.
“Oh wow.”
“What?”
“Another altacolour…”
“Which one?” Kairos asked.
Phovos showed her screen to Kairos. “That one…”
“Elecutie? The… game mascot?”
“Yeah…”
“Awesome!” Kairos grinned. “You know what? This game’s more fun than I remembered.”
Phovos smiled back. “Yeah, I really like it. Gets me out and about as well.”
“So, are we doing that Big Bad?”
“Of course!” the Raptor giggled. She grabbed Kairos by the arm and dragged him towards the fountain where the base was located. “I’m so glad to have someone to play with!”