First Encounter

It had take a couple hours after Stanley's party had left, before Jonas and Kim decided that it was time for them to leave. Which was really still too long in Elmo's opinion, but he didn't care to voice it, partly because he stll was afraid of Kim and partly because he wasn't sure he'd be able to say anything coherent when Jonas would challenge it.

Elin seemed fine with whichever decision, so she was just as cheerful as when she first came out of the room she arrived in wherever this was. Though, she certainly was much more comfortable wearing the clothing that Elmo had brought over.

Kim had taken one of the more revealing sets of clothing, to Elmo's surprise. However, once she put on the armor that she'd brought over, including the kind often seen medieval knights wear, the glowed for a minute, making anyone from being able to see her body. When the light dissipated, what was left was Kim wearing what looked liike bikini armor.

Kim was appalled at it. While she assured everyone, she could feel the armor and clothing that should be covering several parts of her that were now revealed, like her six pack, none of them had an explanation for what this was about. Elin even put her hand on Kim's belly to see if she could feel the clothing or armor, which apparently was in some sort of in between existence, since it was clear Kim could feel Elin's hand touch her skin.

"This has to have been designed by some patriarchal pervert," Kim seethed.

Elmo decided not to comment, since he really didn't want her to take her anger and frustrations out on him. Though Jonas merely suggested that Kim ask her tutorial for insights as to what the armor thing was about. Not that the tutorial was of any help about that.

"Well, lets just move on, since its not going to change any time soon," Kim commented when the two hour mark of their wait arrived.

"Maybe if we find some other armor in the dungeon it won't turn into this when you put it on," Elmo suggested.

Kim glanced at him, making him shrink back, nervous that she'd lash out at him for that remark.

"Maybe, but I have my doubts about this place," Kim replied curtly. "Regardless, let's head out.

+++

Their first encounter was almost right off the mark of when they left that room. It was a small group of what looked like child-sized lizard kind of people. Elmo first hoped that they'd be able to pass by without incident, but once the lizard kids noticed them, they attacked.

"Leave these to me. I want to try something out," Kim said before Elmo had a chance to think of which spell to use.

Kim walked meet their charge, not drawing her weapon, which Elmo couldn't understand. How was she going to fight without her weapons out? He wondered. Or maybe was she going to fight with her bare hands?

Jonas leaned casually against the wall as iif he was bored, making Elmo wonder what his chances of survival with this group really was.

Kim waited until the creatures were almost three feet away from her when the lead one suddenly fell, a deep cut suddenly appearing in its chest. Even after the blood spurted out, it took Elmo a minute to realize that Kim had somehow done that and couldn't think of how. Her swords were still sheathed, so he couldn't think how that would have occurred.

The other three creatures didn't seem to be bothered about their companion's death. They just ran around it, as Elmo realized they were weilding spears, about twice as long as they were, which maybe meant the spears would reach eight feet.

However, Kim then drew her longer sword and cut the tips of the spears off before swinging her sword at each of the creatures, one at a time. Each time her blade flashed in whatever light source made it possible for them to see in this 'dungeon,' one of the creatures died.

The last creature seemed to realize how much peril it was in and started to flee, but didn't get very far before Kim swung her sword and separated the creatures upper half from its lower half.

"Let's look at what they might have been carrying," Jonas said.

"Why? Can't we have a servant do that?" Elin asked, sounding rather disgusted.

"Because we don't have any servants, princess," Kim remarked dryly, wiping her blade on the dirty cloth one of the creatures had been using as clothing.

Elmo had to suppress his amusement at the indignant look Elin gave Kim. "How about while we look, you keep an eye out for anything that might approach us while we do this, okay?"

Elin nodded slowly. "Alright, but I'm not a princess," she said.

Was that what she had a problem with? Elmo wondered as he began examining one of the bodies. If it was him, he'd have had more of a problem with the tone she'd used, not that he'd have actually said anything about it.

"I found something," Jonas said, holding up what looked like a gold coin.

"Nothing here," Kim announced as she finished searching the last one she'd killed.

"I'm not finding anything, either," Elmo sais.

"I'll search the last one," Jonas said. "If we all did that, we'd probably get in each other's way."

"Sounds good to me," Kim remarked.

Elmo remained silent. He figured it would be better to not say anything at the moment. It probably would get him in trouble with the two that seemed to have become the leaders of their group.

In the end, only that gold coin was what the creatures had on them. Maybe they could have used the spears, but Kim had quickly destroyed three of them and the other looked like it would fall apart with a good enough swing. In essence, worthless except as a dangerous toy.

"Status," Elin said when they were done.

"What're you doing?" Elmo asked.

"Seeing how much XP I got," she replied absently.

"Why check it now?" Kim asked.

"Actually, it might be good to get a baseline of what we can expect from creatures like this," Jonas remarked. "That way we can see how strong these were in comparison to any other creatures or monsters we find, in addition to seeing if we get EXP as a party or on an individual basis."

"Okay, I can work with that," Kim said. "Status."

"Status," Jonas said a moment later.

Elmo sighed. It looked like he was going to have to check as well. Otherwise he'd be the odd one out, and that would likely only hurt him in the group.

"Status," Elmo said, feeling a little depressed.

"Looks like we do get EXP as a group," Jonas remarked. "I got 75."

"Really?" Kim asked, her voice full of amusement. "I got 85."

"I got 75 myself," Elin said.

I tried to hold out, but when everyone looked at me, I knew what was expected.

"I got 75, too."

"Okay, it looks like if you're the one who defeats the enemy, then youget more than the rest of the party EXP," Jonas said.

"Maybe that's how non-combat systems, like Stanley's are supposed to level up," Elmo remarked.

Jonas looked at Elmo in a way that made him feel uncomfortable. Almost as if he was sizing Elmo up in the even they started fighting. The look didn't last long, but he felt like it wasn't over quick, either.

"Well, let's continue on!" Elin yelled, excitement evident in her very being.

"Not so loud," Kim scolded gently. "We don't know how far your voice will carry or what might hear you."

"Sorry," Elin squeaked.

"It's okay," Jonas said. "We're still starting out, so it's not a problem for these things right now. Just don't let them continue. Then it will be a problem."

Elmo shook his head in annoyance. It almost sounded like Kim and Jonas were the adults and Elin and Elmo were just kids. How he wished he could show them that he wasn't just some 'kid' to look down on.

"At least we can be pretty sure Stanley's group didn't choose this way," Kim remarked as we continued moving.

"Why's that?" Elin asked.

"Because if they had, we'd likely just have seen the bodies of those creatures rather than them still being alive enough for us to kill," Kim replied.

Elmo nodded at that. It certainly made sense, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that the group of creatures had come through a secret passage or even from a turn that Stanley's group hadn't taken. There were too many possibilities that he wasn't sure what the exact likelihood of whether or not Stanley's group had come this way.

"Something on your mind?" Jonas asked, startling Elmo out of his thoughts.

"N-nothing," Elmo said.

"Really? Then you should focus on our surroundings," Jonas said. "Unless you're thinking about something that you'd like to share, we probably should get used to focusing solely on our surroundings. There'll be less chance of us getting surprised that way."

Elmo nodded. "Okay."

Jonas clapped Elmo on the shoulder before moving ahead of the group. "I'll do a little scouting. Maybe the next group of creatures we find won't be so small."

"Sounds like a plan," Kim said. "Be careful."

"Good luck!" Elin said as Jonas moved off into the distance at about twice as fast as they'd been moving.