[Adelie]

So like a boss with a skill cooldown and a vulnerability window, then. A slow-moving boss that could be kited until she either ran out of running stamina or she defeated the boss. She could work with that, except - okay, how was she supposed to defeat the boss?

Heck, was she even supposed to defeat this thing? Wouldn't it be animal abuse or something? Would she get in trouble for harassing an endangered species or something?

But that was getting ahead of herself. She didn't even know if she could do damage to the penguin-beast, and it wasn't like she had some magical powers or even a weapon that could do something to it. She had ... sand. Sand, and the crystal, and that was about it.

[Adelie]

Which reminded her - the crystal.

The crystal which had so conveniently started glowing and flashing right before she was suddenly attacked by a giant penguin-monster out of nowhere. The crystal which, still, glimmered oddly as she held it protectively in her hands. They were - oh, she was an idiot if she hadn't caught on yet that those two things were related. Of course the mysterious crystal she had was related to the mysterious creature. Of course the sketchy research experiment had turned out to be actually sketchy.

Of course. But what was she supposed to do with that information? She could potentially throw the crystal to the penguin-beast - but would that actually keep it from chasing her? And how was she supposed to explain this whole situation when she went to turn in the crystal later?

[Adelie]

But it was worth a shot to see what happened, at least. "Hey, big guy!" she shouted. The penguin-beast turned its eyes towards her - although she couldn't tell if that was because it understood what she was saying or if it was just reacting to the sound. It would be creepier if it were the former, either way.

"You want this?" she asked, holding the crystal aloft. The penguin's eyes tracked the movement of her hands as she waved the crystal back and forth. So it was interested in that, at least. "Well, come and get it!"

And with that, she took the crystal and hurled it with all her force in the opposite direction of where she was standing. She just hoped it wouldn't break upon landing.

[Adelie]

The bird squawked, looking at her in surprise. It was such a human thing to do that for a brief moment, she almost wondered if the creature attacking her possessed intelligence - and then she tossed that thought right out of her head because, unfortunately, she had priorities. Right now, she was trying to stay alive. It didn't matter if the thing attacking her were human or animal, man or mineral - she would deal with the logic and ethics of that after she found her way to safety.

So she stared right back at it. "Go on," she told the bird-creature. "You came here for the crystal, right? You can have the crystal, if that'll make you happy."

The bird stared at her some more, eyes unblinking. Not surprising - did penguins even have eyes? Did she have time to think about that, right now?

[Adelie]

And then it lunged - at her, to her surprise. She'd expected - no, she'd practically banked on it going for the crystal, since it had made perfect sense in her head. Crystal glows, monster appears. Then, monster must want crystal. That's the way it worked in books, or in games, or in anything, really.

So she almost took a savage peck to the face because she was caught off-guard, and then only managed to avoid the following slash because she lost her balance and wobbled off the rock she was standing on. And then, and then, and then - and goodness. She'd expected her job to become easier when she tossed the crystal away, but it seemed like it was the exact opposite.

Somehow, letting go of the crystal had flipped a switch on the penguin-beast, and it was even more aggressive than before.

[Adelie]

Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Apparently, despite all logic and evidence, the penguin-beast that had shown up specifically for the crystal was actually avoiding it. Maybe it found the crystal precious and wanted to avoid hurting it, or maybe it was scared of the crystal and wouldn't go near it, or maybe it just didn't like it. Whatever. The point was, her plan had absolutely backfired on her.

To put it back into gaming terms - she had managed to trigger the enrage mode on the boss, and she hadn't even done anything. The only tool at her disposal she'd literally disposed of, and now it would be hell to get it back.

God. She wanted to scream.

[Crystal Synthesis Complete]