"Hey! Hey!" Bei let out a sudden shrill cry of excitement, prancing from toe to toe. "Guess what? We're going! We're going on a killing spree!"

'B59, do not scare the prey.'

"Ah, yeah." Bei grinned sheepishly, standing on both feet properly. "Don't call me B59! I'm Bei now!"

'Oh, all right then, Mistress Bei.'

It wasn't any better, but at least the voice wasn't calling her a ridiculous mixture of letters and numbers. Bei laughed cheerfully. "Actually, now that I think about it, are you another living being, or are you just a dictionary?"

This time, the voice replied in a much softer voice. 'A robot. Like you. I was built in a different way and created to be installed into other, more major robots—like you—and guide them around.'

"Oh, okay. Do you have a name?"

'My kind has no use for names.'

"So you don't have one."

'No. Unlike you, Mistress Bei.'

"Then can we decide one for you?"

'...I suppose so,' the voice said after much hesitation. Bei let out a squeal of excitement. 'Oh—but Mistress Bei, do bear in mind that a female name would be more appropriate! I was designed to be more of... a female.'

"Oh, okay. Casten! Casteeeen!" Leaping up, Bei leapt and seized Casten's shoulders. "I need help thinking of a female name!"

"Oh, um, okay. Why?"

Bei grinned. "My voicey needs it."

Casten narrowed his eyes. "While we're on that subject, you never told me what this voice was, you know. You always mentioned it, but you always interrupted me before I could ask you."

The raichu ignored Casten's subtle demand for an apology. "Oh, my voicey is just something installed into me to function as my dictionary! I want to give her a name, though, and she says a female name!"

"Okay." Casten thought for a moment. "Um, what about Kaelyn?"

"Okay, Kaelyn it is! Thanks, Casten! How long more until our killing spree, again?" Bei asked absentmindedly, while spinning around, spraying around the sand in all directions.

"Um, in a while."

"Okay then."

'So...' the voice said, a little nervously now.

"Kaelyn! Yeah, it sounds pretty."

'You say everything sounds pretty, Mistress Bei.' A hesitant pause. 'But I suppose it will suffice if you deem it—'

"Yay! Kaelyn, Kaelyn!"

'Mistress Bei, I have something to discuss.'

"Oh, okay." Bei didn't get the serious tone in the voice's—Kaelyn's—voice and grinned. Casten was busy finding driftwood up ahead. "Wait, discuss as in discussion? No way! Casten makes them so boring. He just talks about how I can't go off into the forest by myself! He's so mean."

Kaelyn ignored her. 'You have not met any other creature before Casten. Correct?'

"Mm."

'I... would have to apologize there, Mistress Bei.'

"Why?"

'I was deliberately leading you away from any other life form. I thought—Well, I supposed it would be dangerous... What if they were from the company that created you, just not in their uniforms? What if they brought you back? You looked so happy traveling around freely, Mistress Bei, so I thought...' Kaelyn was speaking in a very small voice, Bei noted a little lately.

"Oh, that's okay. Why didn't you get me away from Casten, then?"

'That was... a mistake.' Kaelyn didn't sound very rueful, though. 'I accidentally missed him. I never sensed him, though, it's rather strange... Perhaps he is different from all the others—or, perhaps, reacted differently when he saw you—from a long distance, it must be.'

"...Well, that's okay! Casten's fun—he gave me my name, too!"

'I'm glad.'

"Hey!" Bei said suddenly, prancing forward to swoop something off of the ground. "It's so cute!"

Kaelyn took her time analyzing it. 'That is a seashell.'

"I want to keep it!"

'Go ahead—there is no law saying you cannot take seashells that belong to no one.'

"Okay then!" Brightly, Bei smiled, then picked up the stiff bag she made out from dried reeds (those stuff were pretty useful). She tossed it in, and smiled before waving Casten over. "Hey! Casten! I found a seashell and it's really pretty!"

"Good for you," Casten replied shortly, nudging Bei slightly. "There's a pyroar over there—he's holding a dead litleo. It could be the litleo's dad. I mean, the litleo that we drowned yesterday."

"I do not regret it," Bei reminded him curtly.

"You don't regret killing anything. In any case, stay out of the pyroar's way and we should be fine. I mean, I don't know, plenty of things can happen... Plenty of stupid and dangerous things can happen... Be ready to run."

Bei didn't like that idea. "Or be ready to throw the pyroar into the water next," she suggested enthusiastically. "If we get rid of it, we can a threat off of our butts."

'Mistress Bei, the pyroar is suspicious. Alert Casten immediately,' Kaelyn said suddenly, interrupting Bei's other morbid thoughts.

"Oh, Kaelyn says the pyroar is suspicious."

"Agh. Dang it." Casten withdrew slightly. "Then... we move, now."

"But why?"

Casten was already hurtling down the shore. The pyroar gave a a loud roar, and a roar was something Bei could not back down to. She spun around, feet planted firmly in the sand as she settled the dried reeds bag a safe distance away. She let her cheeks crackle with electricity, making a snapping sound, and the pyroar growled in reply, spitting the corpse of the litleo that it was holding by its mouth into a bush.

"You killed my son."

"And I'll kill you, too."

...

Did she have that much sadistic pleasures?

A/N:

"Bei" in Chinese = seashell/shell