Queenie was the one to evolve that evening.  After a brief look at her options she announced that she knew what to get next and slipped into slumber.  Jelin was really hoping she would pick the weird honey option he kind of remembered her having but telepathy would be a good option for her as well.  Either way, he was pretty sure she would be needing her name soon so he made the announcement through the link to prepare.

The sis fox seemed a little perplexed by how everyone seemed to start acting weird over the next few days.  She didn't really have too much time to ask about it or think about it too hard, though, as Jelin dragged her around all over his territory every afternoon to try out all sorts of things.  It wasn't until Jelin started asking about digging holes in earnest, mostly out of exasperation, that he found a clue to the answer.

He almost wanted to smack himself when he finally came to the answer and even apologized to her for going over the simple answer.  A few tests later that made no sense to her but confirmed it for him and he was certain he had a good hold on her strengths.  He knew she had had several evolutions before, thanks to the big fox, and asked her to share them for the final confirmation.

<[Child Dungeon Gem Fox], [Greater Child Wind Gem Fox], [Lesser Young Telepathic Gem Fox], and [Young Quick Gem Fox] are all my evolutions, I think.  Will you tell me what's going on now?>

<Yes.  I'm pretty sure I figured out what your real strength is.  I mean, it's not like you have to have only one, but there'll only pretty much ever be one real one.  It has some overlap with one of the girls and so I totally missed it.  It's perception!>

<Perception?  I...look, you've been able to explain away pretty much every strange thing you say so I don't want to doubt you, but...>

<But you doubt me?>

<No.  I just don't understand, I guess?>

<Nice turn around.  Okay, what don't you understand?  Perception is probably one of the greatest strengths possible!  My opinion, of course, but...I'm actually a little jealous.>

<Okay, but what do you mean by perception?  I understand what it's supposed to mean but you seem way too excited so I must be missing something.  And if I'm not, then I don't understand how it's a strength.>

<Right.  For any kind of conflict, whether an argument, a fight, or whatever, there's like this list that can tell you the basis of who's stronger.  The regular list is simple enough: Perception, Speed, Strength, Endurance, Stamina, and Skill with Knowledge to the side.  You look at them in both the positive and negative and you have your...let's call it the power list.

Perception is at the top because it's the most important.  If you can't perceive your enemy, how can you do anything about them?  If your enemy can't perceive you, you can do everything.  So the more you can notice and the less you can make your enemy notice, the better your chances of winning.

Speed should seem obvious as to what it is.  Think of a tree, if you want.  It can't move, right?  Mostly, anyways.  If you lose a fight with a tree when you have pretty much all the time you want, I think you should reevaluate your life. 

Strength is more about the force brought to bear than actual muscles.  The harder you can hit, and the weaker your enemy hits, the better the chances.  The reason it's below the other two, though, is because if you don't even know there's an enemy then you'll never hit anything.  If the enemy is too fast or you're too slow then, again, the force is wasted.

Endurance is almost the opposing set of strength.  The more you can handle and the less your enemy can handle, well you got it.  Stamina is the same.  It's when we get to skill that it sometimes gets harder to understand.  I'm not talking about Skills, but actual skill.  Having the ability to do and using the best possible actions with what you have to achieve your victory.  It's last not because it's necessarily the worst but because it's reliant on the others to an extent and is more of an equalizer.

Knowledge is the real weird one of the list.  It's above, below, and in between all over the others.  It's separated yet intertwined.  Perceiving your enemy before they perceive you is all well and good, as long as you actually know they're and enemy.  Knowing how to do what you need to or even knowing what you're doing in general is usually better than someone who doesn't.  At the same time, knowing all that isn't going to do much for you if you can't do anything about or with what you know.

That probably all sounded complicated but let's just drop it down to 'perception is amazing' and accept it at that, okay?>

<O-okay.  So, how does it make me strong, then?>

<Hmm.  Okay, think about it like this.  What if you can't see me, smell me, or hear me?  Do you want to fight me?  What if I say I can only hit you with a hair I pluck from my head?  Would you want to fight me then?  No, right?  I might only be able to almost nothing to you but I can take as long as I want to do it and there's almost nothing you could do in return.

So, all you have to do is focus mostly on your perception and you'll be almost invincible.  That includes negative perception, too.  We'll get to that later but it would be taking away your enemies way to perceive you.  Two of the girls have a kind of secondary strength in perception so teaching you just became so much easier. 

Yes, one of them is Claw.  She used mostly perception and knowledge in that fight and won.  So, you've already seen what almost pure perception and knowledge can do and I don't have to come up with some weird way to prove that it can work!>

<Uh...I guess?  She also used speed, though.>

<Nope.  She could have, sure.  Like I said, in general, you already beat her in speed.  Think back, though, and remember all the details of the fight as best as you can.  Didn't she almost seem like she was moving even before either of you attacked most of the time?  Knowledge and perception with little speed required.  She never moved faster than even the slowest of us.>

<Wait.  That was slow?>

<It's the power of perception.  She only appeared fast because she saw what you were doing and started acting before it happened.  Perception used correctly is very powerful.  You just need the knowledge now.  I think we'll have to do some not fun things for a little while to get you up to where you need to be to really start to make use of your strength. 

We'll still have you there for lessons with the human but I'll be giving extra lessons in the afternoon, too.  You'll need math, some chemistry, some physics, and some biology.  Also, remember, no evolving until I say your training is over.  I'm saying that again because you'll probably get frustrated and really want to just to make things easier or something.>

<So, when we're done I'll be able to do what that mantea did?>

<Except the regeneration part, sure.  Maybe.  She also has skill and more practice with doing things like that, so I won't guarantee that you can do that immediately.  Not in the same way, anyways.  With some time, practice, and work, though, you'll be able to do so much more.  Perception isn't her main strength, after all.  Let's go ahead and start now, I want you to have as much known as possible within about ten days.>

<Wait!  Isn't that a little too fast?  I'm not that smart, okay?  I'm willing to learn stuff if it can make me do something like that but to do that in ten days when I already barely understand what you're teaching the human just seems impossible.>

<That's why we need to start now and with the basics.  It helps other stuff make more sense.  Have you found me to lead you wrong, yet?>

<I...you...fine.  Just don't be too hard on me, please.>