The Systems Challenge

Patrick blinked. It was clear he hadn't expected to be asked that. "Uh, I guess maybe twenty feet at best? Uh, I mean that's how far I can at least guarantee that it'll reach," he replied slowly after a minute.

Kim nodded. "Well, with that range, you certainly won't be able to reach the bear from the ground unless you're aiming for its legs or feet."

"Nothing I can do about that," Patrick replied definitively.

Kim merely shook her head. She didn't have the energy to deal with his attitude about the matter. "Doesn't matter. If you climb down to the bear's leg that I just came up on, go around to the inside of that leg, and then find the hole that was cut so I could get out of the bear, that should be enough."

"Wait, why would that be more effective than using my flamethrower up here?"

"Because you won't need to punch through its skin," Elwin chimed in. "Plus, I doubt that the bear would understand how it would be getting hurt from its underside that it can't escape. Where on its back, it would likely roll to try and put it out."

Patrick opened his mouth to reply but closed it almost immediately. Kim felt a little satisfied that he was at least starting to understand what she had been getting at. Though, she hoped that it would be the worst of her headache on the matter.

Especially with how her skin was still stinging from being in the bear's stomach. Not to mention the smell. She hoped that the other either hadn't noticed because of the direction of the wind or were just being kind enough not to mention it. She really didn't want to deal with more than she absolutely had to right then.

"Okay, so… once we get there, how long should I use my flamethrower on it before stopping?" Patrick asked as Kim was about to turn to lead the way.

Kim paused at that. While she would have rather gotten started on making their way into position, she had to admit that Patrick's question had merit. That how long they blasted the bear could be important. As in, if they had it go too long, they risked getting caught in the bear's death throes, while stopping too soon would mean that they might create more complications for themselves. Although, Kim also had to admit she wasn't worried about that last one too much.

"Let's just play it by ear, okay?" Kim asked, not really sure how to respond anyway. "We can't be sure that it'll be as effective as we'd like, so we can at least have you shoot it in bursts rather than until your MP is pretty much bled dry."

Patrick sighed. "Yeah, that'd work, I guess."

Kim couldn't say that she liked his attitude about the matter, but she wasn't going to complain. It was probably the best she could expect right then. Besides, she really didn't care to expend any energy to complain about it. It just didn't feel like it'd be worth it, even if she had energy to spare.

"So, should we get going?" Kim asked, when no one showed any signs of moving at all.

"Might as well," Jonas suddenly said. "We're not going to be able to do anything from up here."

With that, they started making their way down the left side of the bear. Part of Kim couldn't help but wonder if the bear was even aware of them. If it was, she doubted that it would think of them as a threat, given how it didn't try to dislodge them.

Although, she couldn't say that she really cared if the bear even noticed them or not. She'd never been the kind of person who thought about animals or nature or any of that. If anything, she typically felt it was a waste of her time. Largely because she had enough problems of her own that she didn't need to add to her list of troubles and concerns. Which was also certainly true in this world with all that was going on.

The primary reason she was wanting to take down this bear right then was largely because so many others of their combined group had been interested in dealing with the challenge that the stellar bear posed. While Kim couldn't remember if she'd been part of that group or not, it didn't really matter. They'd already come so far in finding a way to defeat it that it hardly mattered if she was part of the reason that they'd gone after the bear in the first place or not.

Kim hardly felt surprised when the others passed her by on her way down. While she had been in the lead, she couldn't deny that her stinging skin and overall fatigue was making her move a little more slowly than the others. It was possible that they'd have passed her anyway, but her overall condition wasn't optimal at the moment anyway.

She had a feeling about when would be the best time to move to the inside of the bear's leg, but she doubted that it would matter at this point. She would be more surprised if they waited to hear what her opinion on that was rather than going to the other side of the bear's leg where they thought would be the best location to make their attempt.

Kim paused in her climb as she heard an eagle cry echo around the mountains. She looked around and saw that it was getting towards late afternoon and she couldn't help but wonder if they'd manage to finish off the bear before the evening announcement was made.

Part of her hoped that they would, just so she could hear what might be said about it, while another part of her hoped that they wouldn't. Just so that she'd be able to not worry so much about it. Especially since the announcer hadn't really said anything about the stellar bear since they had originally told them that they should avoid it in the first place.

Kim started her descent again when she felt her eyes start to threaten to close. She knew that she was tired and probably could use a chance to get some sleep, but she didn't feel like it was a good time right then. Especially with how high up she was from the ground with nothing holding her up but her hands holding onto the bear's fur.

Briefly, she considered just climbing all the way down off of the bear and letting the others do their own thing, but at the same time, she felt like she'd be selling herself short if she let herself call it a day just because she was a little tired and just a little fatigued. Besides, she didn't give them the idea to just let them take it away and do whatever with it without expecting to be able to see how it unfolded throughout its execution.

Although, part of her wondered if she was making a mistake. That part was also something that she wasn't able to silence. Even as she tried ignoring it, that part of her wouldn't go away. In fact, it was starting to get on her nerves as the others came in sight. Though, she could tell that they hadn't yet located where she'd come out of the bear. Which she could understand, since she was confident that if she didn't know where to look herself, that she'd have likely been unable to see it.

When she got next to Elwin, she tapped his shoulder before motioning towards where the hole she'd cut in the bear's belly. Though, as she looked, she felt a little surprised at how far away it was. When she'd moved from the hole tot the bear's leg, she hadn't realized just how far she'd travelled.

Thinking about it now, gave her a cold sweat. Not so much because she thought that she might have to travel towards it again, but rather because she couldn't help but imagine what could have gone wrong as she dangled from the bear's fur with only a free fall drop below her. Especially with the condition she was currently in.

Still, when Kim pointed out the hole to Elwin, he quickly pointed it out to Patrick, who immediately shot his flamethrower into the open wound, eliciting a loud cry of pain from the flames entering through it's open wound that was still dripping blood and possibly digestive enzymes from its stomach. While it was clear that the bear wasn't sure where its pain was coming from, it wasn't happy about it.

Though, Kim couldn't help but feel her own stomach clench in a kind of sympathy pain for the bear. She could only imagine what it might be like to start getting cooked from the inside out like that. How painful that would have to be.

And still the flames kept pouring into the bear's open stomach wound.