"Alright, I'll try this again." Rigel said as he picked up another rock. Once again he focused his mind, and thought about the rock smashing into the tree. This time the rock didn't even move, it just shattered into several pieces. "Darn it, why won't you go where I want you stupid rocks?"
"I don't think talking to the rocks will help Rigel." said Aludra."It's not like they can hear you."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Rigel said. "Man why couldn't I have evolved earlier? I probably could have wiped the floor with that Sceptile. Wait a minute, where is that Sceptile?"
Aludra and Tarazed looked back to see that the Sceptile they defeated had disappeared from the spot where it collapsed. "I guess he woke up and ran away." said Aludra.
"You guess?" said Rigel. "Don't you think you would have seen it?"
"I would have if I wasn't trying to get you to wake up." Aludra replied. "You were out cold."
"Well, how long was I unconcious?" Rigel asked.
"I'd say about twenty minutes." said Tarazed. "That was enough time for us to get over the fact that you had evolved, and then we tried waking you up. I may or may not have pecked you a few times."
"Twenty minutes?" Rigel said with surprise. "All the stuff in that dream happened in only twenty minutes?"
"What dream?" asked Tarazed.
"Never mind, it doesn't matter." Rigel said. "Anyway, what do you think my parents will say now that I've evolved?"
"Maybe you should go home and find out." said Aludra. "I think I need to go home too, and if I go now I can probably make it back before dark."
"Alright, bye Aludra." Rigel said as his friend walked away. "See you later. Watch out for that Sceptile."
"Hey Rigel." said Tarazed. "I'm kind of tired, and you're quite a bit bigger than me, so I was wondering, could I maybe ride on your back or something?"
"Are you that tired?" said Rigel. "You didn't seem to do much, and you had twenty minutes to rest. I think you just don't want to walk or fly, but sure."
Rigel and Tarazed then began their trip home, walking through the forest, Tarazed perched on Rigel's back, both of them glancing to the left and right as they went, and listening for the smallest noise.
"Do you think we should have gone with Aludra?" asked Tarazed. "What if she runs into the Sceptile?"
"She should be fine." said Rigel. "I think we beat it up pretty badly. Besides, she's the one who knocked it out isn't she? You need to have more faith in others Tarazed."
After almost an hour of walking, Rigel could see his home up ahead, but his family was nowhere in sight. "That's weird." he said as he looked around. "It's almost dark. Mom or dad would have finished their foraging by now, and they usually wait outside for Meissa and I."
"You should probably just wait for them." said Tarazed as he flew off of Rigel's back. "I'm going back to my tree. See you tomorrow Rigel."
"Bye Tarazed." Rigel said before entering his burrow. "Alright, hopefully they'll hurry back." Rigel spent about a half hour looking out the entrance of his burrow, thinking about the strange dream he had, until he saw his mother and sister coming out of the forest.
Rigel ran out to meet his family, but stopped when he saw his mother step in front of Meissa and take an aggressive stance. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" said his mother angrily as the jewel on her head began to glow.
"Wait, uh, I..." Rigel tried to speak, but couldn't manage to say anything. He always hated confrontation, and seeing his mother ready to attack him effectively rendered him mute.
"Answer me! Who are you!" she said again. Rigel still couldn't get himself to speak, he could only stand there and stutter. Suddenly a multicolored beam of psychic energy shot towards Rigel from his mother's jewel, but dissipated as it hit him.
With that, Rigel was finally able to force himself to speak. "Mom! It's me, Rigel!"
"What, Rigel?" said his mother as the light from her jewel faded. "What happened to you?"
"I think I evolved mom." Rigel said. "I have no idea what I am now, but that weird rock made me evolve."
"Wow," said Meissa as she walked up to him. "That should help you out a lot once you go out on your own."
"What are you talking about Meissa?" said Rigel. "When was I leaving?"
"Well son," said his mother. "Sometime soon you need to leave and make your own life."
"Go forward and find what the world has to offer..." Rigel said quietly, remembering his dream.
"Yeah, you could put it like that." said his mother. "And now that you have evolved, that should be a lot easier. Let's go inside, we can talk more there. Your father should be back soon."
The family then walked into the burrow and spent most of the night discussing Rigel and Meissa's future, before going to their beds to rest up for the next day. Rigel could not sleep though, the bed he used to sleep in was now too small for him to get comfortable, so he could only lie awake and think about the things that had happened that day. "I guess tomorrow I will tell Tarazed and Aludra about this." he thought. "I wonder how they'll take it." After what felt like hours, Rigel finally fell asleep, with images of the stone filling his dreams once again.
