The Systems Challenge

"Hold on, why do I have to go?" Elmo protested, feeling like events were starting to occur faster than he could keep up with.

"You're going to help see if debuffing the bear will have any effect," Jonas replied, clearly not bothering to hide an amused smirk. Which really got under Elmo's skin for some reason he couldn't quite explain.

"Don't worry about your bigger spells, since you might otherwise hit the rest of us," Patricia commented.

Elmo wasn't sure what had gone on while he, Elin, Heather, Kim, and Sonya had been gone on the 'walk,' but whatever it was seemed to have passed, letting the others to return to normal. Although, they did insist that they fully agreed with what had been decided, even though they couldn't really explain why or how they came to that position.

"By the way, what happened to Harold?" Elmo asked, not sure why he wasn't present. "I know Jonas said he went out to collect firewood or something, but shouldn't he have been back by now?"

"Can't say I know myself," Patricia answered. "Stanley did suggest Harold go do that, but then he said something in his ear that I didn't quite hear. So, he might have added something that would explain why he's still not back."

Emo sighed. He couldn't say that he really understood it, but it wasn't like it really mattered. It just felt weird. Like maybe whatever happened to the others in their strategy discussions or whatever might have been similar to whatever happened to Harold.

Not that he had anything to base that supposition on. It was merely just a suspicion that he couldn't let go for whatever reason. Not that he could see why it really mattered anyway.

With no other recourse, Elmo climbed onto Sonya's back, as far away from the others as he could. Not that doing so let him be very far away. Given Stanley, Thomas, and Frank were only a few spikes in front of him. Not to mention that if Elmo had sat any farther back, essentially sitting on Sonya's tail, the spikes would be getting a little too small for him to adequately hold onto.

Elwin and Patrick had taken position ahead of Sonya's wings. Even though Elmo wouldn't be surprised if they'd tried fitting any more onto Sonya's back, Sonya hadn't seemed enthusiastic about carrying any more. She even seemed skeptical about carrying this many people at once. Although, Elmo had suggested that she could come back and get him later, the others insisted that he remain on Sonya. That if necessary, it would be Patrick who stayed behind.

Elmo didn't think that he should be forced into this, but all those who had supported Sonya being able to opt out had all turned on him and voted to require that he show up.

Being assured that he didn't have to climb down off of Sonya didn't really help settle his nerves about the situation. It almost felt like a betrayal that he wasn't allowed to opt out of this job. Regardless of the fact that he wasn't being required to do anything other than his basic debuffing of the bear's defensive stats.

An idea that was given while Sonya changed into a dragon. An idea that seemed to have everyone's support. Everyone's except Elmo's, naturally.

"Look at it this way," Elin said. "When Sonya returns, you should be on your way back with her."

"I know," Elmo groused. "It's just that when Sonya gets back, I'll still be heading out again in case the debuff has worn off by the time the second group arrives."

"Don't worry too much about that," Kim said. "Stanley and Frank felt like they shouldn't have to go either. Despite the fact that it was their idea in the first place."

Elmo nodded, not sure if that really made him feel any better or not. At least not with how his stomach was rolling around right then. Which wasn't helped when Sonya started to take off.

If it was like a plane taking flight, then Elmo was sure it wouldn't be so bad. However, with the flapping of Sonya's wings, it kept adding a drop to each time she lifted her wings before making another downbeat with them. Each time giving another jolt to Elmo's unhappy stomach.

The only good thing he could think about it was the small fact that his stomach didn't have its contents decide to make a reappearance. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to throw up 'over the side' of Sonya or how she'd react if the vomit landed on her. He was only confident that he really didn't want to find out.

As they flew towards the bear, Elmo did his best to try and settle himself. He knew that he wouldn't likely be forced to come off of Sonya's back, but it wasn't like he had any spell to debuff anything. He wasn't even sure where the idea even came from. Yet, when it was suggested, he wasn't able to even articulate that he couldn't do that.

It was like back in high school when he'd have to read a report or something in front of the entire class. Even though he'd have the words in front of him, he typically would freeze and typically have to wait until the teacher took pity on him and told him he could return to his seat. Although, it would typically cost him points on the project or assignment.

He wasn't sure what he could do to help, or even make it look like he was able to do that. He hoped that he'd be able to come up with something without anyone noticing he couldn't actually do that. Not with how far things had gone already down that road. Especially since he hadn't planned on doing anything like this in the first place.

Yet, as Sonya started pass the bear in order to come over its head from behind it, Elmo suddenly had an idea. That he could use his dispel ability to make it look like he was debuffing it and for all they knew, maybe the bear had some kind of stat enhancement already. So, if he was able to remove it, then technically it would be a debuff.

Although, it was a thin hope to begin with and he was pretty sure that the bear didn't have any enhancements to its stats. Yet, he wasn't sure if any of them would be able to know the difference anyway. It might not be much to hang his hat on, so to speak, but it was at least better than nothing.

As Sonya began preparing herself to land on the bear, Elmo took a deep breath to try and steady himself. He was about to open his mouth to call out his spell when Sonya's wings started to flap frantically.

Startled, his gripped the spike in front of him tighter, as if that would get Sonya to stop flailing around. As his head moved around, trying to figure out what the problem was, he noticed, only briefly, one of Sonya's clawed feet looking like it was caught somehow in the bear.

At first Elmo thought that it was just stuck to the bear, like glue, until after a minute, he realized that her foot was caught between sinking into the bear and pulling out of it. Though, Elmo wasn't sure if there really was a difference between the two, just that was the only interpretation that came to his mind about it.

Eventually, when Elmo was starting to contemplate jumping off of Sonya's back and hoping he'd be able to clear the bear, Sonya managed to break free from the hold.

"What're you doing!?" Stanley cried as Sonya began to fly away from the bear.

If she replied, Elmo wasn't able to hear. Though, he had a feeling he understood why she'd fled. The fact that it somehow had tried to pull Sonya inside itself. Yet, it didn't explain why that didn't happen when they'd been attacking its feet. Their weapons didn't seem to have that trouble, and he couldn't say why that would be when Sonya was nearly absorbed by it like it was a slime.

The only thing he could think about on his own at that moment was the face that he'd been able to get out of having to use any of his magic. While he had thought of a way to get around actually trying to debuff it, that didn't help with the current dilemma. How could they do any damage to the bear if they couldn't so much as stand on it to look at any potential vital areas.

Part of the realization for Elmo was an understanding why they'd been told to avoid the bear. Yet, he was confident that there had to be a way to eliminate it. That nothing was undefeatable. Unless the monster Tarrasque from the Dungeons and Dragons game actually existed.

Although, with what had been going on in this competition so far, he wasn't willing to rule that possibility out.