The Systems Challenge

While Elin understood why Elmo might be uneasy because of what happened with Aquis, she couldn't help but wonder if this would still be the same. After all, Pink was such a pretty color, that it has to mean the dragon is nice, right?

Not to mention that if it was trying to hunt them, she'd have expected it to approach them in a different kind of way. Such as diving low to the ground after having spotted them, then approaching so they themselves wouldn't know where the dragon was.

That way when it would launch its attack they wouldn't be as likely to have their guard up. Which in turn would make it easier for the dragon to kill them with less effort than it would have to expend if it attacked them directly.

"Get ready for it," Patrick said, though Elin suspected that he was talking more to himself than the rest of them.

"Just a thought, do you think this dragon would be weak to ice-type moves like the dragon-types in Pokémon?" Patricia asked.

"Pokémon?" Elin asked, feeling like she was missing something.

"Hard to say," Elmo said at the same time. "I guess there's only one way to find out, but at the same time, you'd need to remember that Pokémon is largely a game series and I really doubt they knew about these dragons when they made the dragons in those games."

Elin wanted to ask again about what they were talking about, but she was confident they didn't have enough time. The dragon hadn't quite landed, but it was moving so swiftly that it would be landing before anyone had a real chance to answer her question if she did repeat it. Which Elin felt was even more annoying.

Elin watched as Elmo , Patricia, and Patrick braced themselves for an attack, though Elin couldn't help but just watch. She knew she could use her magic a little to fight, but right then there wasn't anything she probably should do.

If the dragon was going to attack, then she knew that she should essentially help heal the others, since they really didn't have anyone to cover them directly, leaving them to the point where they were the front line.

"So glad I found you guys," the dragon said, sounding like it was out of breath, as it landed.

Elin blinked. Out of all the options, she wasn't expecting that the dragon had in fact been looking for them. She didn't know if she should answer herself or let the others, like Patricia, take the lead on that point.

Yet, it looked like everyone else was stunned at the fact that the dragon didn't seem immediately hostile towards them. Elin wasn't sure what to make of this development, but she didn't feel like saying anything either. She felt like she should wait for one of the others to recover enough that they could talk with the dragon.

The dragon, however, didn't seem to even notice the silence. "If you all climb on my back, I can take you to the others," the dragon continued, making Elin look at the others to see if there was something that she might have missed that they'd caught.

When no one moved, other than Elin continually looking at each person around her, not sure what she should be doing herself, the dragon sighed after a minute. "If you really don't believe I'm not here to help, I can at least direct you to where the others are, but I think it'll probably take a couple days of walking to get there. Which you might not like given how close that bear is to you."

Elin wasn't sure what the dragon was getting at, at first, but when the bear was brought up, she looked in the direction the bear had been in and felt uneasy to see what she could of the bear above the trees that it looked like it was facing in their current direction. Although, she couldn't say she'd know what it would look like if it wasn't facing their direction, either.

"Why were you looking for us?" Patricia asked, sounding like she was finally recovering from her surprise. "And how do you know we're who you were looking for?"

The dragon stared at Patricia like it was surprised. Which Elin couldn't help but wonder if she should be worried at how the dragon would react to that or not. At least once it recovered from what Patricia had said.

However, what she didn't expect was how the dragon started chuckling. Like it found something funny that none of them understood, given the fact none of them joined in with the laughter.

"Yeah, I forgot, you guys never saw me actually in any of my other forms, have you?" the dragon asked conversationally. Elin wasn't sure if the dragon wanted them to respond to that, but before she could even open her mouth to say anything, the dragon continued. "It's me, Sonya. I stayed behind with Heather to help her out when you guys went on to try and keep the king from getting killed."

Elin blinked. She was surprised to hear this from the dragon, but she couldn't say that it was impossible. Though, she couldn't really recall what Sonya's system was, she also couldn't deny the possibility that this dragon was in fact Sonya. Besides, it wasn't like there weren't other possible ways for Sonya to have gotten turned into a dragon anyway.

"Uh, why a pink dragon?" Elmo asked, sounding like he was merely testing the waters as he spoke, ready to run if Sonya the dragon didn't care for what was said.

However, to Elin's surprised, the dragon laughed again. "I really have no idea," she said. "It wasn't something that I was able to control. I just got the dragon form and this is the color I always turn into when I take this form."

"You said something about taking us to the others?" Patrick asked, sounding like he wasn't as interested in what they had been talking about, which Elin couldn't help but feel appalled by.

Why wouldn't Patrick be as interested in hearing about these details about Sonya? After all, it'd been a long while since they'd last spoken.

"Patrick's right," Patricia said, interrupting Elin's thoughts. " We should get out of her quickly. If the bear is in fact heading our way, then who's to say it wouldn't catch up while we were asleep."

Elin sighed. She couldn't deny the point that Patricia made, though she felt like there was so much more that she wanted to talk with Sonya about. Yet now, they were being moved along as if nothing else mattered.

So, not wanting to create more problems than she already had been, Elin climbed up on Sonya's back, in-between a couple spikes that ran along her back by her front shoulder. For one thing, it gave Elin something to hold onto while she rode sidesaddle. As she wasn't going to sit so her skirt would lift up and show an indecent amount of her legs to those around her. If it was just someone like Kim, that would have been different, but with Patricia and Patrick, she didn't want them to see that much of her if she could help it.

When everyone was on Sonya's back, Sonya took off. During that part, Elin nearly fell off. Maybe it was because of how she was sitting or maybe it was something that would have happened no matter what, but Elin just barely managed to stay on by holding tightly to the spike in front of her.

Patrick seemed to be having the time of his life with the ride. While he was screaming, he seemed to sound more excited than scared. Almost like it was a thrill for him.

Elmo and Patricia were rather quiet, while Elin was fine with. She couldn't say if they were scared or having fun, but they weren't making any noise, at least. Though, while she could look back to see how they were reacting, she had a feeling that she'd see them enjoying the experience as well.

Elin knew she was enjoying the sensation of the wind in her hair and face, seeing the ground so far below her, and how fast it was clear they were moving. Part of Elin wanted to just laugh and cry out her excitement while another part wanted to just look all around her and even at the ground passing below.

Yet, one reason she didn't look around is because she was having to spend most of her time keeping from getting thrown off by the constant moving muscles beneath her. She hadn't expected that Sonya would have so many moving muscles right there as she flew, but it was clear that there was quite a bit of movement involved in flying for Sonya. Elin wasn't sure if the others were having the same trouble, but she didn't want to ask. If they weren't, she wasn't sure if she'd hold it against them, even though she was the one who chose this spot before they had chosen theirs.

The flight also was over almost before it began in Elin's opinion. The sun was just about fully set behind the mountains before Sonya started to make her landing. Though, it wasn't until they were almost on the ground that Elin even realized that they were landing.

She could also see that someone had started a fire nearby and other movement in the growing darkness around the campsite. Which likely meant that they were back with the others again.