The Systems Challenge

It wasn't the fact that she wasn't facing the descending paw of the stellar bear anymore, nor was it that she still felt weak in her legs from having the bear cause that tremor, but rather it was the sudden shifting of her location that was currently disorienting Kim. She wasn't even really sure what happened as it felt like a mist enveloped her, obscuring the bear's paw and her surroundings, before clearing, leaving them her in a completely different location altogether.

"Thanks, Blinky," Thomas said nearby.

Kim wanted to turn her head towards the noise, but at the moment, she was still trying to settle her body down, as her mind was struggling to catch up to everything that had happened. She felt unsure how long it might take, but glad that the bear wasn't about to crush them anymore.

Kim wasn't sure how long she remained like that, unable to bring herself to move, even as she heard others moving around her, but as she started to feel her head start to clear, she felt like her body was returning back to normal and that she could move without any worries again.

"What happened?" Kim groaned as she started to sit up, not feeling normal enough to try standing up, and look around at her surroundings.

"Blinky pulled us out of there," Thomas explained, still laying where he was, the Blynx now sitting on the ground nearby, looking like it didn't have any worries at all.

Kim nodded absently, looking at those around her. She could see Jonas, Bart, Thomas, Owen, Frank, Stanley, and Elwin. Elwin, Bart, and Owen all seemed to have recovered enough to move again, though Frank looked like he might be unconscious or something. Which made her wonder: Why? Why did they seem to be so affected by Blinky's ability when they'd been travelling around so much with that cat before they'd even reached them.

"If Blinky got us out, then why're you still on the ground?" Elwin asked, though Kim could tell from his voice that he wasn't faring much better himself. He sounded like he was ready to drop where he was.

"Maybe because Blinky didn't have time to properly go through his ability," Thomas mused. "I'm not really sure myself, because we're still learning about it as well."

"I'm guessing it's because of getting knocked down from the bear causing the ground to shake under us," Frank said, his usually hostile voice sounding like he was trying to not throw up.

"How do you think we did on fighting the bear?" Stanley asked. "Did we have it on the ropes?"

"No, if it's a boxing reference you want, I'd say that it probably turned around as we hit it so it could enjoy our ineffective attacks somewhere it wanted before nearly smashing through our ribs and heart with one blow," Jonas remarked a moment before he actually threw up.

"Nah, we had him. If he hadn't hit the ground like that, we'd have been able to have knocked him down," Stanley insisted.

Kim couldn't help but look away as she rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure what fight Stanley was looking at, but it was clear that he had a different take on what had happened. Which to Kim was still the same as denying what happened there.

"Where's Patricia and Patrick?" Bart asked, sounding a little worried. "Why didn't they come with us?"

"Probably because Blinky's reach can only extend so far," Thomas said, still laying where he was. Kim couldn't help but feel like he was merely laying there and didn't intend to even try to move.

"Sounds reasonable," Kim said, wondering how far the Blynx had taken them. "I just wonder if they'll be able to find us or really how far back they'll go before they decide they can't find us."

"You know, that's a good point," Owen commented. "We really have no idea where we got moved to, so we can't say how close we are to those who were left behind."

"You know, I think the bear hitting the ground like it did was its way of backhanding us," Bart remarked, sounding almost contemplative. Kim looked at him, wondering why he was changing the subject again. It felt a little off. "Like we'd annoyed it to the point where it just wanted us to go away."

"If you want, I'm sure you could go ask it," Jonas replied. "Though you might want to keep your distance when you do."

"Think we'll… make it back to the city again?" Bart asked, making Kim wonder if he even was hearing the responses he was getting. She couldn't be sure if this how he was when he got tired, but she had a bad feeling about it. If only from what it indicated about what might happen down the road in regards him.

At which point, she resolved to have Elin see if there was anything wrong with him and if she couldn't find anything, to have her cast healing spells on him just in case. The way he was shifting topics felt like he might have either issues that weren't immediately apparent before. Which would count in favor of the abuse she suspected he'd endured in his own world before getting brought to this one.

"Maybe you should lay down and take a nap," Owen suggested. "You might need it more than you realize. I can't even tell what city you're referring to."

"Might be good for all of us," Elwin said. "Though, in that case, who would keep watch? We can't be sure nothing else around here would be dangerous."

"And if something attacked us now, how would you suggest we fight it?" Kim asked dryly. "If we can't even stand, how well do effective of a response do you think we'd be able to make?"

"Probably a little better once some of us get some sleep," Elwin replied. "The person keeping watch would be able to just wake everyone up if something does happen and let those who were asleep deal with it once they woke up."

"Assuming they could get everyone else us," Jonas remarked. "You never know how easy or difficult that might be. Just like whoever is on watch might not be able to stay awake themselves, no matter how used to it they are or confident they can do that."

"Don't worry. I'll take the first watch," Elwin said even as he yawned.

"I feel much better already," Frank drawled, sounding more annoyed right then than he usually did.

Kim rolled her eyes again at that statement. Frank certainly wasn't good for the morale of the rest of the group, but it wasn't like she could just vote to evict him. After all, this wasn't like the reality shows she'd occasionally see on TV. Though, typically she never really understood them, as she never actually sat down to follow any seasons. So, if there were any explanations about any part of those shows, she just didn't see them when they'd be given.

"Well, if you're going to keep watch, then we should see if we can fall asleep," Owen said. "It still might be early morning, or midday, or something, but if we can sleep, we should. If we wake up and Elwin fell asleep himself, then we can at least know that all of us really needed it."

Kim couldn't argue with the logic behind Owen's words, though the thing was for her was that she didn't feel remotely tired. Or at least not that kind of tired. She could feel the strength returning to her limbs, although she had a feeling that if she stood up and tried to walk right then, that she'd be a little unsteady.

However, it was clear that the discussion was over for the moment. Or at least for the most part. Which she mostly hadn't really feel had been necessary. As much of what was said was more pointing out the obvious than anything else. Though the part about the fight with the bear was beyond pointless.

She'd felt her sword bite into the stellar bear's flesh and it didn't seem to really notice. She'd used up some of her sword's elemental attribute buffs, though only the ones that had daily uses for. She didn't want to use the ones that took multiple days to recharge if she could help it. Or at least until she felt like there wasn't any other way to deal with it. Although, she had a feeling even those wouldn't be as effective as she'd like.

Kim wasn't sure if it would deal any damage itself or if it'd be like her sword and just give superficial cuts that didn't have any significant effect. Like it'd be merely more wasted effort.

Which made her see why they had been advised to steer clear of the bear. Though, she wasn't sure she yet understood all of what had been said when the announcer had talked about it. She couldn't say that she really paid attention to all that had been said about it, so she wasn't sure if there was anything she'd missed about it that might tell her something more about it.

As she thought about all of that, she felt her eyes fall on her sword laying on the ground next to her again. While she didn't know much about the bear, she suddenly realized that her sword might be able to help her know if there was actually a place they could attack the bear that would give them a chance at winning. Though, she wasn't sure if she should use it just then.

A loud noise pulled her attention away from her sword. She felt more than saw the others looking in the direction of the sound as well. It sounded familiar, though she couldn't quite place it right away. Like the source was on the tip of her tongue and she just couldn't quite spit it out.

However, she didn't have long to think before she saw the silhouette of the creature come into view over a mountain to the east. What she saw was that the creature was a dragon. It was too far away to make any real details out, but with how they were, she doubted that they'd be able to do anything to defend themselves if it found them.

So, Kim merely closed her eyes and let fate determine what happened as a result. If she didn't survive, then she was willing to accept that. She didn't know what this dragon would want, but she knew they'd only be able to put up a token defense against any attacks it might make. Which meant they were completely at its mercy, should it find them.