The Systems Challenge

Having Harold Carson show up at the bare fringes of dawn, wasn't Kim's idea of a good way to get woken up. Though, she doubted that Harold would be willing to shut up and go to sleep until an actually reasonable hour, but Kim wasn't sure she should have expected anything different after the way the night had ended with the discussion about what strategy to try and employ against the oversized bear.

While Harold seemed friendly enough, Kim couldn't help but notice that his teammates didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about his return. Which made her wonder how much of an 'accident' it was when he'd gotten left behind. Though, she doubted that he noticed himself.

Also, Kim couldn't help but notice that Heather and Sonya didn't have a problem being friendly with Harold. Which she suspected had to do with the fact that he hadn't been part of those who had abandoned them to the goblins. Unless there was more to the story than any of them were willing to talk about.

When they had a fire going again, Harold shifted out of his hybrid wolf state, and how his limbs dislocated in order to allow the body to shift back before re-locating themselves in the position they should normally be, was rather unsettling to Kim, and she had a feeling others, Heather and Sonya included, felt the same way. Even though no one actually said anything.

"You have no idea how long I've been trying to catch up with them," Harold said as a pot of water was put above the fire to start heating up. "I knew they were going to head towards the bear first, but it took me a while to even find a way out of that bog."

"We thought maybe you'd gotten sucked up in some of the quicksand Thomas saw," Stanley said, though Kim had a feeling that statement was a complete lie. Though it did appear that he was recovering, if only a little, from how he'd been unable to do move much after their abrupt exit from the fight with the stellar bear.

"No worries," Harold said, almost too carefree for Kim's liking. "What's important is that I caught up to you guys."

"In that case, you're in time to help us figure out what strategy to use against the bear," Jonas said, though he gave Kim a look like he was planning on using that as a distraction.

While Kim understood why he might want to do that, she wasn't as certain what he might be trying to distract anyone from. It could be to distract Harold or Stanley and the rest of his group, or everyone else altogether. She hadn't had a chance to get with Jonas to know what he had in mind, just that he was up to something.

Regardless of what it is, Kim didn't really feel like participating. Whatever he had in mind, she was confident that he'd be able to work it out without her help. Otherwise he wouldn't have initiated his 'distraction' without giving her an idea of what he was up to or even had in mind.

Instead, Kim tapped Sonya's shoulder. "Mind if I speak to you over there?" Kim asked, indicating a general direction with her head away from the others.

Sonya nodded, her expression showing Kim that she wasn't sure what Kim wanted. Which was good, since Kim only thought of this herself when Jonas gave her that 'look' a moment ago.

When they had walked about forty feet from the others, Kim stopped and turned to face Sonya. "While they talk about strategy about the bear, I was wondering if you'd be willing to fly me over the bear."

Sonya blinked. It was clear she didn't really understand either what Kim was proposing or why she was asking that in the first place. When she spoke, it was only a single word that summarized her entire expression completely.

"Why?"

Kim expected that response and so had an excuse ready. She wasn't sure she'd actually call it a 'reason' since she wasn't sure of her idea itself in the first place. It might be a half baked idea, but it was at least one that she felt was likely to be better than anything else the others might suggest.

"Just because we'd seen the bear a little from above, but that's when it was already climbing the mountain slope. Plus, our best vantage point with the bear was that from the ground. So, I was thinking that if you would help be fly over the bear, then I could have a better idea of what strategy might be more effective against it."

Sonya was clearly thinking about what Kim had suggested, though, she couldn't say how much of her suggestion had been complete bull. What she had in mind was to use her sword to see if she could locate where the bear would be weak. Where they could actually do something to actually have a shot at killing it.

After a minute, Sony nodded. "Sure, I'll do that. Uh, so long as you don't plan on trying to get me to land around the bear or jump off onto the bear, that is. If so, I'm not sticking around for you to get away, okay?"

Kim nodded. "Sure, I just want to check a few things out is all. I don't plan on actually doing anything until I can work out what I might learn."

Sonya looked at Kim like she was skeptical about her suggestion. "And why didn't you suggest this to the others? I'm pretty sure they'd like to take a look as well."

Kim nodded. "Maybe, but how many runs do you want to make? I wouldn't be surprised if we'd need to do at least two trips, since I doubt the others would be quiet as they did their overlook." Kim was about to consider that good until another thought popped into her mind a moment later. "Assuming that they don't try to get you to land or try to jump off themselves."

Sonya sighed. It was clear she didn't like the picture Kim painted with her words. Not that Kim had gone as far as she figured she probably would have been able to if she really wanted to hammer the issue home. Yet, she had a feeling she might hurt her own case if she did that.

"Fine. I'll take you, but remember, you owe me if the others notice and want me to given them a fly over as well," Sonya told Kim.

"Sure," Kim agreed readily. "But let's move farther away from the others before we leave. Otherwise they'll notice."

"Fine, but keep in mind that you'll need to wait until I change into a dragon before you can enter whichever clearing is far enough away, alright?"

Kim nodded. She wasn't sure if it was something to do with Heather or not, but her demand was at least a reasonable one. Besides, it wasn't like Kim had many bargaining chips at this point, nor was it a point that was necessary for her idea to work.

Although, Kim had a feeling that caution was the more important factor to work with right then. At least in order to keep the others from learning about her and Sonya leaving. So she and Sonya walked a couple miles away.

Past what Kim thought was necessary to keep the others from learning about it.

Or at least that's what she thought, but when Sonya called to her to let her know that she'd finished changing into a dragon, Heather, Elin, and Elmo came into view in the dim early morning light. It was clear they weren't just taking a leisurely walk or anything, as when they walked past some trees that had blocked their approach until that moment, they headed straight towards Kim.

Kim could only accept defeat at not having been able to leave without having been noticed. Not that she thought these three would have drawn much attention from the others anyway. Though, she thought maybe Bart would have noticed them leaving, but she doubted that he would care that much.

"Wherever you're going, we're going to," Heather declared as they approached.

Kim didn't react for a moment. She didn't see a point of even trying to give a token refusal or anything, so she merely nodded after considering her options. Where the better one was to let them join her. Which also would likely get it so that Sonya wouldn't have to take more than one more trip if the others became aware of their flyover.

"Can't you just stay here?" Kim heard Sonya ask from behind the bushes where she'd changed her shape.

"I could, but I'm not going to," Heather replied conversationally. "At least not unless you want me to let the others know what you're doing."

"Blackmailing me, huh?" Sonya mused.

"Not at all," Heather refuted with a smile. "Blackmail can only occur after you've done something. If it's before, then its extortion."

Kim couldn't help but chuckle. Arguing over which crime is being committed isn't exactly something she'd have thought would be a good point to make. However, Sonya didn't seem to take the issue to heart and merely sighed.

"Fine, all of you can come," she relented.

Kim waited until the three 'interlopers' passed her before following them to find a place of Sonya's back for her to watch from. As she made sure that her sword was in a easy position for her to touch when she was ready to make an attempt to use it to locate any weaknesses the bear might have.

Regardless of what had been said before, she was certain that the bear had a weakness somewhere. She just didn't have any idea at the moment as to where that 'somewhere' might be. Just that she was certain it had to be there.

Then as her stomach rumbled, complaining about her leaving before she'd had anything to eat, she tried telling her stomach that she'd get something to eat when she got back.