The Systems Challenge

Elin rubbed her eyes as she yawned. While she understood everyone's desire to deal with the stellar bear that seemed to always be moving, regardless of the time of day, she wasn't sure this had been a good idea in the first place. Nor was it a good time in Elin's mind to do this in.

Not only had it been annoying to have everyone discuss what strategies they had in mind to try against it, but those 'discussions' never really went anywhere. Or at least as far as Elin could tell. Not to mention how vocal some could get about whatever idea they had or opposed.

Then there were ideas like Kim's that just seemed crazy to begin with. Like she was trying an elaborate way of killing herself. Though, Elin wasn't sure if she really should try to talk Kim out of it.

She also suspected that the primary reason it hardly received any opposition was simply because she wasn't trying to get anyone else to jump into the bear's mouth with her. As while some of the plans others had come up with involved Kim, Elin suspected that they felt that whatever role they had in mind for Kim could be substituted with someone else if Kim didn't come back from her plan.

Which seemed rather likely.

Yet, one thing Elin wasn't happy about with this plan was how early Kim seemed to feel they should start implementing it. As the sun hadn't even risen and everyone had barely had a chance to get anything to eat at all before Kim ushered Sonya into taking the others to a nearby rise from the valley floor, that the bear was currently on, where they were to wait to see if there was anything else that needed to be done once Kim had her shot at whatever weakness she'd become aware of inside the bear's mouth.

Or wherever it was past the bear's mouth, Elin silently added to herself.

Now, Elmo was sitting near Sonya's tail, Heather was up by Sonya's neck, Kim was by Sonya's wings, Jonas was a little behind that, Patricia and Patrick where just a little ahead of Elmo, and Elin herself was sitting directly behind Heather.

As she listened to Jonas and Kim talk, a part of her was rather annoyed at the fact that Kim wasn't saying anything about how close she was to Heather. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but somehow it felt like she should be at least reacting in some way to that fact. Though, Elin wasn't sure why she felt that way.

Currently they were approaching the bear, Elmo was supposed to use his magic to try and force the bear to open its mouth. Whether it was because his magic made the bear sneeze, which seemed to be the general consensus of what the effect of that would be, or because he was able to aggravate it enough that it roared, Kim planned on jumping into its mouth, regardless if she might need to worry about how 'open' its mouth really was at that particular moment.

Once the mouth was open, Elin was supposed to buff Kim's str stat, which should also help her with her jumping, though, Sonya had expressed concern about Kim using her as a 'springboard' to jump from. Elin wasn't sure what the problem would be, though Kim assured Sonya that it shouldn't be that big of a problem. That it whatever force Kim used would just push Sonya 'off course' a little and shouldn't be that much of a problem for her.

Heather was the only other one who was concerned about how it might affect Sonya, though Elin could understand why she was also concerned. With how Sonya didn't heal very well for the time being. Though, Elin still didn't understand why or how that happened.

Still, despite all that, they were currently getting in range of Elmo's spells and the plan was about to start getting implemented. Which Elin hoped would go smoothly as it seemed to go in Kim's mind. Primarily because Elin didn't want anything to happen to Kim, even though they'd been at odds for the past week or two.

"Now, Elmo," Kim said, nearly making Elin jump as how sudden her voice rang out in the very early morning air.

Elin wasn't sure why, but she suddenly wished that she could turn and see Elmo as he responded. "Brimstone Flare!" Elmo cried, his voice echoing around them.

Elin waited with bated breath, not sure when to expect the bear to move it's mouth, let alone open it. As it felt like it should be happening any moment, but at the same time, she wasn't sure if it was going to happen at all.

The stellar bear wasn't like any creature she'd ever heard of, so she wasn't sure what she should expect. Though, after a minute, the bear didn't react to the spell at all.

As Sonya flew around the bear for another pass, Elin felt like her stomach was starting to get tied in knots. She didn't know what that was about, but it felt like things were taking much longer than they should. That they should be moving faster through the air than they actually were.

Elin wasn't sure what was behind that sensation, only that she couldn't shake it, no matter what she tried to do with her thoughts.

When they approached for another pass, Elmo called out, "Frozen Shrapnel!"

Multiple spears of ice shot out towards the bear's nose. While she couldn't be sure that it was exactly a nose, she didn't dare speak that thought out loud. She wasn't sure if the others would not like her saying that. She doubted everyone would, but she really didn't want to seem like the only one who would wonder about things like that.

As the frozen spears reached the nose, they faded from view as if they just simply were either absorbed or faded out of existence altogether.

Elin didn't know if that was something they should have expected, but it was what was what it looked like to her. Which also meant that the attempt failed as the bear's mouth didn't show any signs of opening.

While it didn't really bother Elin any more than the first time had, she felt like Kim was radiating an aura that was making her feel like she'd somehow done something to get Kim upset with her. She did her best to keep telling herself that it was the fact that this was taking longer than they'd like, but if it was helping, it wasn't helping enough to keep her from wondering if she should find a way to try and get off of Sonya without creating more problems for the effort to get the bear to open it's mouth.

When they came around for the next pass, Elin felt like her nerves were starting to fray and come apart altogether. If they didn't get the bear to open its mouth this time, she wasn't sure if she shouldn't just jump from Sonya's back herself, regardless of how high up they were.

As they approached, Elmo called out, "Burn! Brimstone Flare! Water Cannon!"

Elin wasn't sure which she found more surprising. The fact that Elmo had thrown out multiple spells on this pass, or if it was because he called them out almost one right after the other. Where she wasn't sure if one didn't have time to manifest by the time he was expending his MP on the next spell.

The first two spells didn't have anything for Elin to see, but with the last one, she saw a surge of water shooting out to smash into the bear's mouth. Like it was a river going from Elmo to the Bear's nose.

Whether it was the combination of the spells or something else, the bear opened it's mouth. As she noticed the movement, Elin knew that it was time for her to use her magic. Just as Kim called out for her to do her part of the plan.

"Stat Enhancement!" Elin called out focusing on Kim's Str in her mind. She hadn't thought of sitting next to Kim when she'd use her spell, so she wasn't sure if she actually needed to touch Kim or not, or if just focusing on her Str would be enough. When they first started out, she'd suggested that she make the enhancement then, but Kim told her to hold off. That she might need the extra time in order to get out of the bear. That she couldn't say how long she'd need overall.

Yet, Elin felt her MP flow out of her as she felt, more than saw or heard, Kim stand up. While she knew that Kim was going to jump, she hadn't expected it to give Sonya's body such a jolt. To the point where she and Heather were thrown off balance, and Elin even felt herself start to slide off of Sonya's back.

In addition to the jolt, Elin distinctly heard a loud crack, though she wasn't sure what the source was. Just that it was either really loud or really close.

Sonya, however, seemed to be floundering. Her wing beats were rather erratic and she seemed to be heading down towards the ground, faster than Elin would like. Although, she didn't know if that meant Sonya couldn't fly anymore. All she knew was that she wasn't ready for what looked to be a very sudden and very bumpy landing in a grove of trees that kept getting closer to them as Sonya clearly couldn't keep them up anymore.