The Systems Challenge

As they traveled the next day, Jonas wasn't sure what to expect. The dust cloud had cleared, and at night it felt like the lights of a modern city could be seen. Not only did it obscure the stars overhead that he'd become accustomed to seeing, but it also made it a little harder to fall asleep.

Though, it did help a little for those who were on watch. As it didn't have the darkness around them so pervasive if there was any cloud coverage or if they were camping under the canopy of some trees.

However, while he couldn't be sure which direction the bear might have in mind to head, the silhouette of it hardly seemed to have moved. He wasn't sure what that might be about, but he at least hoped that it wouldn't be a bigger problem that he hadn't yet considered.

He also hoped that the bear was merely standing on top of the canyon and wasn't actually that high up off the ground. After all, they certainly didn't have any means to fly, so if it was too tall, then they'd maybe be able to attack it's ankles. If that was the case, then Jonas wasn't sure what their prospects for a victory might be.

Though, it was possible that they might be able to climb up the bear, but he couldn't imagine the bear being very accommodating with that. Especially if it wasn't very happy with their presence, which he was pretty sure would be the case, given what he remembered about what Elmo had told him that he'd learned from his View Stats spell.

If the bear didn't pay them any mind, then he thought he'd have grounds to try and talk Elwin out of fighting it, but he doubted that he'd have a chance at that. If only because he was confident that it would at least recognize his and Elmo's scent. Which would mean it would likely be hostile towards at least two of them. Assuming what Elm's spell revealed was accurate. He wasn't really sure why it would be wrong, but he also couldn't bring himself to trust everything that he'd found on this world. Especially with how it came to anything that came from whoever was running this competition.

Even though all the information he'd received had born out, he couldn't be sure that it was completely accurate. After all, he did recall how it was stated to the 'viewers' of this competition that they were 'willing participants' and hadn't been shanghaied into being a part of the competition.

He wasn't really sure what to believe when the source of the information came from the people conducting this competition. Even if it was through an indirect means.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Jonas looked around him. While getting lost in his thoughts while they walked was something that would allow time to move faster while they walked along, he had to admit that it wasn't exactly helpful to him right then. Instead of working out some problems he had going on for himself right then, he was merely ruminating over his grievances with the competition and those running it.

"What's that over there?" Elmo asked, drawing everyone's attention to the east of their current position.

Jonas looked and even with his enhances senses, he wasn't sure what he was looking at. In the distance he could see something forming out of thin air. Not like he was looking at something that might be a mirage, but rather like something was coming into existence in front of them.

Briefly he thought about how it looked on Star Trek with how the people would 'beam in' or transported to another location, but it wasn't quite like that. It was more like how a ghost would disappear in movies, but in reverse.

Before Jonas really had time to even register what was happening, Elwin already had his sword drawn and looked ready to attack whatever was appearing before them. Though, Jonas couldn't say that whatever was happening in front of them was anything for them to be on guard about. Not with how slowly it was occurring.

"You probably need to learn to relax," Patricia remarked.

"Always staying on guard is what'll keep us alive," Elwin replied, sounding like he was instructing them rather than defending his actions. "If we let our guard down for even a moment, we might not be ready when the next attack comes."

Jonas couldn't help but sigh. Maybe that's the way it was in the world Elwin was from, and maybe even the world they were in right now, but he couldn't say that living like that was any way to truly live. It would almost be like waiting for something bad to happen, no matter what else occurred in your life.

At least as far as Jonas was concerned.

"Wait, is that Stanley?" Elin asked, sounding as surprised as Jonas certainly felt over that revelation.

"Looks like it," Elmo added as the figures solidified in front of them through some leaves from the trees and bushes.

Before them was Stanley Clinton, Thomas Walker, and Frank Winchester. At first Jonas thought that's all there was to see, but then he noticed a can on Thomas' shoulder. It looked like a regular house cat, but its fur was a striped gray that seemed to shimmer on its own in the light. Like it had a kind of dust on it that made the air around it sparkle when it got disturbed.

Jonas pushes down the urge to tell Elwin to put his weapon away, mostly because he knew that these people weren't enemies, but wasn't sure how long it'd take Elwin to realize that. Especially since Elwin didn't seem to be even aware his sword was still out.

"Where'd we end up this time?" Frank asked, looking around.

While Jonas and those with him could see Stanley, Thomas, and Frank, Jonas suspected it was the vegetation from the plants that shielded Jonas and the others from view.

"Near us," Patricia remarked, an almost sadistic grin on her face as she spoke, causing the three to jump. Jonas was confident Patricia only did that for her own entertainment.

"Who's there?" Stanley called out as Frank nocked an arrow to his bow and Thomas readied his spear.

"You can put those away, you know," Patricia said as she came out from behind the foliage. "You're acting like something might jump out to grab you if you're not careful."

"Sorry, it's just that we're getting used to travelling that way," Stanley replied, putting a hand on Frank's and Thomas' shoulders. At which point they lowered their weapons.

"No problem," Patricia remarked. "We were just passing by here anyway."

"Who's we?" Stanley asked.

"Just us," Patricia replied vaguely, gesturing for the rest of them to come out.

While Jonas really didn't trust Stanley, and by extension Frank and Thomas, he had a feeling Patricia had encountered them before and so knew a little more about them than he did. Though, he couldn't be sure if she wasn't, at least part, under Stanley's influence with his Politician System.

When the rest of them came out, Frank glared at them like they had done something to offend him. "Why were all of you hiding back there?"

Jonas rolled his eyes as Owen replied, "We could ask the same of you. We were walking along and you appeared out of nowhere. Which meant you were standing there invisible for reasons we can only guess at."

"We weren't here a moment ago," Frank snapped, sounding like he was itching for a fight, though Jonas had a feeling he'd run if his opponent proved to be at least as strong as him.

"Everyone, let's take a step back," Stanley said, sounding rather gracious and placating at the same time.

Jonas could feel how his words were affecting him already. Like what he said was completely reasonable and a good idea. Not that he cared at the moment. Although, he supposed that it was a good idea to at least know what it felt like so he could be on guard if he felt it when he really had a reason to resist.

"How did you get here then?" Elwin asked. "I'm pretty sure none of you had a system that would give you such an ability and the teleportation pond would have wiped all of you out if you'd used that."

"Teleportation pond?" Thomas asked, sounding more amused than Jonas thought he should be. "No, no, no. We just used Blinky here to move around."

While Jonas had no idea why he named the cat 'Blinky,' he had to assume that he was referring to the cat on his shoulder. Though the cat didn't seem concerned by the conversation around it, or how the topic had shifted to it. Instead, it looked like it had decided that was a good time to start cleaning it's face.

Jonas looked at the others in the group and wondered what they thought. While he vaguely remembered something about them getting a creature or something as a friend or something, he couldn't really recall the details. Though, he did recall something about that they could benefit from its abilities or something.

Maybe I just need something to eat or I'm more tired than I realized, Jonas thought to himself, not sure if it was just that he really didn't remember or that he was just too tired to really remember.

"Well, why don't we at least sit down and we can talk about it, okay?" Stanley offered and Jonas felt almost compelled to agree.

It wasn't the same sensation as before, this felt more like he didn't have an option in the matter. Although, he was confident that he'd be able to resist if he really wanted to. He just hoped that his confidence wasn't put there by his own hubris. If it was, he had a feeling he'd be in trouble if it came down to a real confrontation between him and Stanley.