The blinding light dazzled Ravena as Brand, Tommen, and Rosie all absorbed their Databeast eggs at once. Each one stood about a metre and a half apart, getting some space for their Databeasts to form, but despite that all Ravena could see was a wall of blinding light. It was a glorious conflagration of energy as three Instar-stage Databeasts were brought forth from the souls of the trio, drawing on energy from their Element Stones.

For Brand it was an experience like no other. It was as if the energy flowing through his veins ignited in an intense but controlled burst. It connected with the Databeast egg and it was like the egg had found kindling. The burst had quickly become a bonfire as it touched with the egg. Brand once again entered that trance-like state where there was nothing but him and the energy, like when he had materialised fire in the restoration pod, except this time there was another existence. It still felt like a part of him, but it was also very much something else.

He felt he could touch it and shape it, but that it very much had a will of its own. And it was making itself. His energy steadily flowed into the egg as it transformed and pushed this way, that way. It was drawing off his energy, acclimatising itself to his soul.

Brand knew that the resulting creation would be both a mix of himself and the egg. It would be truly part of him, he could feel it, and it would be able to draw on his energy for itself. He would be able to draw on its energy too, for the creature certainly had that. It had increased his energy reserves significantly, for the energy that flowed through his veins now flowed through its also and multiplied greatly.

The creature had no form but it was slowly gaining one. A small, long body with a large head. Four small stubby legs. A long flat tail that was almost the length of the rest of it. It looked like a…

And suddenly he was back in the real world, holding a tadpole. Not a tiny, just born one that was all tail, but one that was partway to adult and had just grown legs. It was about half a metre in size and he had to use both hands to hold it up properly. It was looking up at him with big eyes and was moving its webbed feet as if swimming.

He was amazed. This was his Databeast. He was connected to it fully, it felt like just an extension of his body. It was connected to his shield through the element stone.

He lifted it up to eye level and rotated it around a few times. There were deep orange and red hexagonal markings running up and down the sides of the Databeast and some more muted ones ran along its head and back. Its underside was a very deep red. It stared at him for a little bit before burping fire at him.

“Hello!” he said, smiling. It burped fire at him again.

Brand looked up to see Ravena smiling at him, then he looked over at the other two. Tommen was carefully inspecting his - small and shiny black - Databeast and Rosie was all over hers. She had gotten a quite large Instar Databeast that Brand recognised - a Calfwort. It was a fluffy small highland cow, but instead of brown fluff it was covered in green fronds. It was no less fluffy and cute for it though. He recognised it because Authorn was its juvenile stage and he’d fought plenty of them.

The Calfwort was standing and walking and reached her hips, and she was bent over fussing over the young Databeast, which it clearly enjoyed.

Tommen clearly had not got the Databeast that he expected. It was hard for Brand to tell exactly what it was, but it appeared to be a thin, spiny caterpillar with a hard metallic black carapace. “What is it?” asked Tommen to Ravena. He was currently turning it over in his hands. It was even smaller than Brand’s new one, which he didn’t really know the name of either.

“That’s a Lepidusky. They’re quite rare around here. I’m interested in seeing what it turns into,” Ravena told him. “They’re strong though, despite their size. Watch out for the spikes.” Tommen’s hands were already bleeding a little from handling the Databeast. The dark red shone against the metallic black of its carapace. The Databeast didn’t seem to notice. It decided to circle around and settle into his hands wrapped in a spiral shape.

“Cool. It’s no wyvern, but it looks pretty gnarly. I wasn’t expecting to get one now anyway, truthfully,” said Tommen. “And I can carry it around on my shoulder.”

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“Me too, I think,” said Brand. He had placed the tadpole Databeast over his shoulders, across the back of his neck. It had worked at first, until the little Databeast decided to reposition itself. It had moved so it was lying over only one of his shoulders, that went right through the middle of its stomach. Its big head was hanging down on Brand’s chest, its tail was hanging down his back. He could feel its webbed feet pawing against him softly. “Are you comfy there?” he asked it. It burped some fire contentedly.

Brand knew he looked a bit silly, but if it was comfortable for the Databeast it was good enough for him. It was strange to feel so immediately in-tune and comfortable with another being. But it didn’t feel like another being, it felt like him, just extended and in a different form.

It wasn’t at all what he’d expected it would be like, but he was very happy with it.

“And you have a Sparkbelly. I think it can evolve into a Twizard at Juvenile and Salamandrake at Vanquisher, but obviously that depends on where you go.”

“And Rosie of course has a Calfwort. Though they appear a lot in the wild, it’s actually very uncommon to get them with people,” said Ravena.

“Looks like the totems worked then,” said Brand as he made his way over to Rosie. Tommen was still holding his Databeast as if he didn’t know what to do with it. “At least for us, anyway,” he added.

“Well we’re still not sure yet. Until you actually evolve an Authorn and a Twizard it's still up in the air,” said Ravena.

“And I don’t think this can turn into a Darkdron, whatever that was,” Tommen commented.

“Not as far as I know, but it's still early days for you. Personally, I have no idea what it’ll transform into, perhaps professor Dalton will. If I had to guess I’d say it's unlikely though given how rare it is for an insect type to transform into a lizard type or vice versa. Still, two out of three is incredibly good odds for hatching Databeast eggs. I’m amazed frankly,” said Ravena.

“I’m really glad we got the totems,” said Rosie. “Look how cute this one is!” she was rubbing the green highland cow calf on the head and it was pushing into her hands, nuzzling her. Brand wanted to pet the cow, but wasn’t sure if he should. It was Rosie’s Databeast after all, and he knew how intimate the connection between Databeast and Tamer was now. In some ways it didn’t feel that different from petting her, so it seemed a bit too much to ask.

“You can pet him, I don’t mind,” said Rosie, breaking him out of his thoughts. “As long as I can hold your newt thing.”

“Oh, sure,” he said, taking the Databeast off his shoulder and handing it to her. The Sparkbelly seemed content to just sit in her hands and burp fire occasionally. It didn’t feel as weird as he expected to let Rosie touch the Databeast, but it still felt odd. Somewhat invasive.

Still, that didn’t stop him from bending down and petting the Calfwort that had now walked up to him. It had big black eyes hidden behind a layer of leafy fronds. He went down to pet it and was surprised at how soft the fronds felt. He was expecting proper hard plant material, but actually it was quite soft and let his hands flow through it. It was more like fur than plant, but it was definitely plant.

It was very odd, but that was the wonder of Databeasts. Just seconds ago it had been an egg, then Rosie fused her soul and element in there. Three ingredients had combined and now it was a Calfwort. It really was incredible, thought Brand, as the little Calfwort shoved its nose into his hands.

“You can pet mine too, but you might lose a finger,” said Tommen. He had managed to teach it to go on his shoulder, but it still curled up into that same lazy spiral shape. For a second it stretched and reared up, revealing its many legs and highly segmented body, but then it settled once more.

“It does look really cool. I’m sure it’ll evolve into something worthy of its spikes,” Rosie encouraged him.

“True, if it can muster up even half that sharpness then you’ll have a terrifying Juvenile on your hands. Right now you’ll have to settle for chucking it at them,” laughed Brand.

“You know it's odd. I can almost feel that it has something, some kind of weapon. I think it has a Tech, though I’m not sure what right now,” Tommen commented.

“It’s probably a Poison Spray or some similar variation. Lepidusky’s tend to if I remember correctly. If you go to Professor Dalton he’ll scan you and have it figured out in no time. Otherwise you can meditate on it and try to figure it out yourself,” said Ravena. Brand was reminded of his trance-like inner world. If he went there, could he figure out what Techs his Sparkbelly might learn?

“Hmm. That feels sort of correct, I think. It's hard to know,” said Tommen, looking at the Databeast on his shoulder.

“I had a vague feeling about Clerk’s also. Speaking of, I’ve been feeling something for a while now, since we defeated the Databeast in the Stasis Room,” Ravena said, releasing Clerk in a flash of light. “He also gained a lot this battle, didn’t you?” she said as she bent down to pet it. Clerk yapped at her before dissolving once more into light, only to take on a new form. Brand could feel the energy surge around them once more as the Databeast transformed from Instar stage to Juvenile. Clerk was evolving!