Soo... completed the puzzle and it says face fears and has a red, orange, and yellow kitten.
So, my brain goes to this guy right away:
Red and orange ghost, like the puzzle had, and from what I saw of the puzzle, the yellow kitten could represent the stage it had beforehand, which was that caracal.
Or the red and yellow could represent the ghost and the orange could mean that orange at the bottom of the ghost!
Though I may be wrong...
But that's just a theory! A Smoothie theory!
By the way, that is a very nice puzzle! I loved it!