Watching her crystal monster scurry towards her, Scarlet decided to act as if the image she was seeing as a representation of the outward existence of the core inside and treat the being as such. It helped that relating to it as if it was a living being was far simpler than trying to relate to its crystal form.

When it reached her, she crouched down, gently taking the crystal it had brought over from its mouth and, in turn, scratched it behind its ears, copying what she had seen in a cat-video on the data-web. Its reaction made it obvious that it was the right action, purring and rubbing its head against her hand, a feeling of content radiating outwards. In turn, she projected the desire for it to return to its crystal, pushing the thought onto it and, when it didn’t comply, she pushed it inwards, tightening her control of it until it shimmered and flowed inwards, leaving Scarlet to catch the crystal.

Turning back, she noticed that Keera was watching her with a strange look on her face, causing her to raise an eyebrow in question.

“That seemed so easy…” Keera said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“It was. I think the Doctor deliberately guided us to relatively powerful crystal monsters, powerful enough to allow us to take down most of the local monsters until we can establish ourselves and venture out further.” Scarlet explained, her mind sweeping the area, just in case the one rat had not been alone.

“You think he would care?”

“I think he’s smart enough to watch out for his own interests. I thought about the system the Federation has here for a bit and I’d guess that the town’s quota is set depending on the amount of people sent here, so it’s in the Doctor’s interest to keep us alive. I doubt that the quota would be measurably reduced if he claims that we all died, as there is no way for the Federation to check. That’s why I think he tries to give us the tools to succeed but tests us so that we don’t waste resources if we can’t hack it. It’s a balancing act for him, between pushing us from the nest to see if we can soar and keeping us alive.” Scarlet laid out her thoughts, linking what she had seen the Doctor do and how he had acted.

“That… makes sense. So, sending us out here is really a test, a test if we can soar, as you put it.” Keera admitted, looking a little happier than before. “I’ll start clearing a spot for the fire-pit.” she added and started moving the debris away until she had a nice patch of bare ground. Scarlet watched for a moment, before decided that she should make a round around their camp-site, just in case she had missed something and that she knew her way around, in case something happened later. It also allowed her some distance from Keera, allowing her to relax some of her mental defenses and let go of some of her vigilance.

As she walked, she decided that the whole motion of throwing the crystal might be the second that killed her, if she ever failed to spot a danger. Keeping the crystal cat under control once it was manifested had been a little more taxing but not that much, maybe that would change with time or if she needed to keep it from doing something in its instinct, but time would tell.

With that in mind, she pulled the crystal out and let Cyca emerge, as she had decided to dub her little monster. There was a sensation of happyness and the small monster looked at her for a moment before padding alongside her, as she mentally commanded it.

It was interesting, Cyca seemed to have senses equal to a cat, maybe even a little better and thanks to the connection between them, Scarlet was able to feel its sensations, allowing her to parse the smells of the forest, looking for things that were out of place. Even the rat they had killed before had left a trace on the floor, one that Cyca seemed to remember. There were other tracks, but Scarlet was not quite certain what the impressions she was getting from Cyca meant. It was a mix of disregard and disinterest but not much more.

Regardless of those tracks, she was unable to detect anything that might be a threat so, after looking in on Keera, who had started digging her firepit, she decided that checking out the route to the river and the river itself was a good idea. She kept Cyca moving next to her, using the monsters better senses to gather more information. But other than the scent-tracks she had already noticed, she was unable to find anything, until she actively sent Cyca after one of the tracks, following it until it got to a small hole, making her realise that the tracks Cyca was uninterested in, were just the tracks of small forest animals, in this case likely a mouse.

Unless she misunderstood the nature of crystal monsters, they had no interest in normal food, just the energy of their brethren, so hunting normal animals was pointless. That line of thinking brought her to a slight tangent, wondering why they were apparently aggressive against humans, who, strictly speaking, should just be another type of animal. Sadly, she could only file it away as a curious fact that she had yet to understand.

Nothing happened on the rest of the way to the river, but as she approached the banks, she felt unrest from Cyca, making her wonder what waited below the water. The river itself was relatively unspectacular, a meandering band of clear water, maybe fifteen meters across, simply flowing along. From the grassy banks, trees stretched their branches almost half-way across, shading the water and causing the few rays of sunlight to paint a wonderful image of light and shadow. The surroundings made Scarlet feel content, it was one of the magic moments that one wanted to last forever. It was a beautiful image, not spectacular but a wholesome, calm beauty that invited to lay one’s head down and rest.

But Cyca seemed very cautious of the area closer, causing Scarlet to focus on all her senses, trying to understand just what had the crystal monster spooked so bad, making it act in such a cautious manner. But her senses were unable to detect anything but a few fish, their minds feeling as tranquil as the water surface. Sadly, estimating the size of an animal from its mental feel was next to impossible, unless one had extensive experience with that particular type of animal and could draw rough comparisons, but even then it was more a guess than anything concrete. As Scarlet had never even seen the fish that lurked below the surface, she was unable to even say for certain that they were fish, they might be something else.

Seeking more information, she picked up a branch and tossed it into the river, close to where she felt one of the fish below the surface, causing a brief spike in its mental activity which she attributed to a flight-reflex, before returning to its tranquil mental state.

Wondering if the stick was just not good enough to rouse it, fearing that the fish were similar to phiranias, Scarlet focused on Cyca, ordering her to follow the closest track of a small forest animal. Cyca seemed to be quite happy to oblige and get away from the river, instantly scurrying after a set of tracks that smelled slightly different from the mouse-track they had followed before. They followed it for a minute or two, until Scarlet felt a feeling of excitement from Cyca, who was feeling the thrill of the hunt. Looking where her monster sensed its prey, Scarlet saw a small squirrel-like animal sitting on a branch, grooming itself. Not quite sure how to best take down such an animal, Scarlet gave Cyca the mental order to kill it, unsure if such a relatively vague order would work. Previously, she had given exact orders, without much room for interpretation, now, Cyca would have to find its own way.

The result was quite shocking, literally. Instead of stalking forward, Cyca’s two tails moved in a sinuous manner, rubbing together, until they suddenly moved apart and, with a soft, cracking noise, a strangely slow, pale-gold lightning bolt connected the animal above and the spot between Cyca’s tails. The small animal started to react but not fast enough to dodge the lighting bolt, even if it was clearly slower than lightning should be. Cyca turned to Scarlet, her body-language and mental impression displaying a tired but smug look with a feeling of ‘praise me’ floating in her mind. Behind Cyca, the still smoking carcass of the squirrel dropped from above, landing with a soft plop, startling Scarlet from her stupor.

Before even approaching the killed squirrel, Scarlet took the time to gently pet and groom Cyca, knowing that crystal monsters seemed to have even more surprises hidden within than she had anticipated. Once Cyca gave of a feeling of content satisfaction, Scarlet picked up the crispy critter and walked back towards the river, curious what could make a cat that threw lightning bolts so anxious.