The next day was much like the last with a report from Scratches at lunch about the rat.  Testing of Conk's healing was still needed but it could indeed heal its new parts and the tail rope could handle enough weight to handle itself, Wings, and Queenie together but not much more.  Any attempts by her to try and adjust the rat were foiled by its regeneration, as slow as it was.

Either it couldn't be adjusted anymore, yet, or only Jelin could do it.  He thought about it and decided it was something for him to work on later.  He had hoped he could make the rat useful enough to bring it as well but since it wouldn't be ready in time for his mission anyways then working on it in his spare time or waiting until he returned from the humans would likely be better.

Claw awoke the next morning as a [Child Sprinter Mantea].  Her legs had formed slight ridges along the fronts in the front the legs and backs along the back legs, while the shell parts over her wings had what looked like wave marks etched in them.  Her hair shortened to slightly past her shoulders and the outer edge of her irises gained a small yellow line.  There were no other noticeable visual differences. 

She seemed to have a similar energy as Conk had after her 'Speedster' evolution, though.  After as quick of a physical inspection as he could manage he moved out of the way along with everyone else and watched her disappear outside faster than even Conk.

As they all rushed outside to see how her new evolution affected her, they saw her managing short hop-flights to collect breakfast.  The second most notable thing other than her new false flight abilities was just how fast she was.  What Jelin noticed, even if no one else did was also how her movements weren't as smooth.  

She kept moving in bursts of speed and seemed to sometimes even misjudge things slightly.  The only reason he even noticed it was because of how used to her incredible control he was.  Right now she seemed to have as much or slightly less control of herself than anyone else.

<Are you having control problems?>

It seemed Legs noticed as well.

<Not exactly.  Everything seems to slow down around me and then speed back up again.  It's slightly disorienting.>

Jelin chimed in next.

<It's not that everything is slowing down but that you're speeding up.  It seems to happen each time you try to move too much.  If it's working like I think it is then you should try and be careful.  There's a chance you could not just exhaust yourself but injure yourself internally.  And if you damage your brain or mind then I'm not sure if even Conk can fix it.>

<Right.  So it seems to happen when I move too much?  I'll try to move very little until I have it more under control, then.  Thank you.  I was hoping to try and burn some of this energy like Conk did but I suppose that was the wrong answer.>

<I'm just guessing here, but you maybe should find a different solution as that energy might not be more of how much you can handle before dying or something.>

<Ah.  That...is possible.  I'll try to be more careful.  I apologize for my recklessness.>

Everyone gathered their breakfast and gathered near Claw so she wouldn't have to move to join them.  Once breakfast was over, Jelin suggested Scar wait until after lunch since Claw wasn't in hunting shape.  Scar begrudgingly accepted and went off to hunt.  Conk commented about how a farm might actually be worth considering after all.

Jelin thought about it for a few moments and then suggested it could be something for everyone to work on setting up while expanding their home.  When he returned, it could be a good thing for Wings to oversee.  Everyone agreed that it could work and Jelin gave them the bare information necessary to try and make such a thing.  The only extra suggestion he added was to maybe consider some underground areas for various reasons and have if not the farm there then at least a farm there.

Claw stayed mostly still throughout the discussion and when everyone started heading off again, she tried to start moving slowly back towards the nest.  Jelin watched over her for a bit, offered a few last suggestions, and then went off to find Conk again.  He did ask both Wings and Queenie to constantly check on her.

As Jelin walked in Conk's direction he briefly considered what a mantea with 'Lightweight', 'Speedster', 'Sprinter', 'Charger', 'Regenerator', 'Wild', and 'Jumper' type evolutions would be like.  It likely wouldn't happen any time soon so he didn't need to think about it too hard, but it definitely had its own flavor of terrifying in his thoughts.

Scar returned at lunch and Jelin decided to eat quickly and motioned for her to do the same.  They both finished before everyone else and Jelin apologized for leaving them early but he didn't want Scar to have to wait much longer since she was already waiting and extra half a day just for them.

When they got back to the nest they saw Claw resting outside of the main room with her eyes closed so they didn't bother her.  Scar moved over to the evolution spot and then confessed that she wasn't sure exactly what direction to go.

Jelin thought about it for a little while and then explained how he thought she had been going after Claw too much recently.  They were different kinds of combatants.  Instead of trying to choose mostly aggressive evolutions all the time, she needed more balance and should probably go for something as defensive as possible this time.  Next evolution should probably also be at least mostly defensive as well.

Scar didn't seem too happy about the idea but agreed.  Jelin stopped her before she was about to go into evolution and explained a bit further since he didn't want her mental state to somehow affect her evolution.

<Think about it this way.  Claw's natural state is defensive and controlled.  She keeps rigid control of herself in any situation, hiding her emotions, her presence, her intentions, and even most of her actions.  All of that is a type of control and it all follows the idea of a defensive stance.

To balance that out she picks the wilder and more aggressive evolutions.  It creates a kind of balance for her that matches up with her natural tendencies.  What about you though?

You're natural tendencies are already balanced in a way.  You like to protect others but prefer aggressiveness in a fight.  You like to both lead when charging forward and remain behind when retreating.  Trying to follow a similar path as Claw and go aggressive as possible just doesn't fit you.

With your last evolution you should have a lot of aggressive potential now anyways.  As far as I remember, though, you haven't picked any kind of purely defensive evolutions.  The closest you've gotten is picking a few balanced ones, right?  So getting one purely defensive and one mostly defensive will help balance you back out.>

Jelin gave her some time to think about it.  When she raised her face again and looked at him she was blushing slightly.  He started to ask why when he felt waves of appreciation and happiness from both Claw and Legs.  Taking the hint, he realized that he had let anyone who wanted to listen do so, as that was his default talking mode, and Claw and Legs had likely listened in before adding their own thoughts afterwards.

He gave Scar a smile and told her that she could take all the time she needed to think things through and he would be ready whenever she was.  She responded by immediately slipping into her evolutions.

{Child Arachne Guardian}

{Child Arachne Companion}

{Greater Child Regenerator Arachne}

{Greater Child Poison Arachne}

{Greater Child Vampiric Arachne}

{Greater Child Defender Arachne}

{Greater Child Assault Arachne}

{Greater Child Arachne Charger}

{Greater Child Arachne Hunter}

{Greater Child Arachne Heavyweight}

<Do you want advice or do you know what you want?>

<I think I know but I'll listen first.>

<'Guardian' is a good idea but I think 'Defender' can make up for that even better.  'Regenerator' we already know about and fits you greatly as well being purely defensive while still supporting you offense.  So I'd say it's between 'Guardian' and 'Regenerator' since if you get 'Defender' instead of 'Guardian' then you'll probably want it after you can heal yourself.>

<I was going to go with 'Defender' from what you said earlier but I'll do like you said and pick 'Regenerator' since that makes sense to me.>