Strange Reunion

A day and a half after leaving where their base camp had been, Kim could see where the fight with the bear had been. Or at least where it had started before it ran off after Kim managed to take out whatever it's weakness had been.

Jonas still wasn't sure about the finer details and accepted that Kim didn't really understand them either. Maybe if they had other stellar bears that they could fight and kill they'd be able to figure out a few things, but even if that was the case, Jonas doubted that he'd be that interested in finding out. Especially with how it felt like it would take more effort than it'd be worth.

However, as they saw the damaged trees where Sonya crashed through, he felt satisfied that they'd soon be able to put this whole incident behind them. Though, the only hitch in that idea was the fact that he suspected Sonya hadn't fully healed, especially with what had happened before, where she wasn't able to heal like normal.

Though, if his count was accurate, it was just under two more weeks before that would be possible. Though, he couldn't say if something else might be possible to occur to affect that estimate one way or another.

Still, once they were all together, he hoped that they'd be able to figure out a plan of action. It wouldn't be long and provided that there there wasn't anything big that had happened while they were gone, then they could focus on figuring out what the set challenge was and how to complete it. Jonas was confident about that.

Letting the others go ahead of him, Jonas took a few minutes to look around him. He wasn't sure if it was just the fact that they were getting closer to the end of these challenges or if this last one just went smoother than he had expected, or maybe even that he was just being paranoid, but it felt like something was going to happen. He couldn't be sure what it was or where it would come from, or even what form it would take, he was just confident that something was going on. All he could be certain about was that he wasn't going to like it.

As they arrived, he saw Bart and Elmo dragging what looked like a wild boar into the camp, coming from the opposite direction that Jonas was coming in from and Heather looked like she was changing or something, under her blanket, her face beet red. Sonya looked like she wasn't going to move or anything for a while, but for some reason, it felt like she looked apologetic or something. Jonas wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but he couldn't say if it really mattered or not. Not when it wasn't anything that seemed really out of place or that would be a potential problem.

"Good to see you've finally gotten back," Bart said, as he and Elmo finished dragging the boar to a place that looked like they'd designated for cleaning out the animals they hunted.

"Yeah, it's good to finally get all of us back together," Elwin replied, looking like he was ready to help clean the boar and get it ready to cook.

"You don't need more meat, Elwin," Owen remarked. "We have plenty of bear."

"It's just been too long since I had any pork," Elwin replied, sounding rather wistful. "Bear is good an all, but you just don't know how good it is to have pork."

Jonas couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed like Elwin liked pork more than anything else. Although, he suspected that Elwin would also want other things as well to go with it, but weren't likely to have on hand or the ability to find in their surroundings.

"So, what's been going on since you've been here?" Patricia asked, sitting on the ground and leaning against a rock.

"Nothing really, we found someone who's looking for his sister," Elmo replied. "Though, we mentioned about Kim's sword being able to locate her, but that we'd have to wait for it to recharge before it could be used to do that."

"And why should I use it for that when it's able to do that?" Kim asked, sounding like she might refuse the request even before it was made.

Elmo merely shrugged. "We just let him know that you could do that. I'm pretty sure we never said you would."

"Okay, so all of you let him know that?" Owen asked and the expression he wore was making Jonas feel like something wasn't right. Though he couldn't say what it was.

"Uh no," Elmo said, sounding a little confused. "It was me and…"

Elmo trailed off and Jonas waited for him to continue, but after a couple minutes he suspected that just wasn't going to happen. However, with Owen's expression and Elmo's response, Jonas started to get a sinking feeling. One that said there really was something going on. Something that he probably wasn't going to like. At all.

"Where's Elin?" Kim asked, looking around.

"Who's Elin?" Bart asked, using a knife to start cutting the boar open to clean the parts of it that they weren't going to use at all.

"What do you mean 'who's Elin?'" Kim snapped, looking like she might either try to throttle Bart or draw her sword and attack. "She was with Sonya when she crashed."

"But there was only me and Elmo," Heather said, as she came out from under her blanket, fastening her belt over her pants.

Jonas turned to Owen. "Any chance you might be able to figure out what's going on?" he asked, hoping that this was just as simple as most of the other problems they'd encountered so far.

Owen shook his head. "No, I already checked their minds and I'm not sure what the cause is, but it almost feels like any memory of her or related to her was either erased or wiped away somehow."

Jonas wasn't sure he like the sound of that. Not when they had just gotten there. Maybe it was related to the person they'd mentioned who was looking for his sister or maybe it was from something else. All Jonas could be certain of was that this was going to be a bigger headache than he'd like.

"I'll go see if I can find any sign of Elin," Jonas said. "I'll be back if I think I need anything, okay?"

Kim nodded. ""Let me know if you find out what might have done this, okay?" Kim growled.

If Kim's reaction was anything to go by, Jonas was confident that he didn't want to know what would happen when Kim found out what the cause was. Or at least in the event it was caused by another person or creature. If it was caused by something environmental or something else, than he doubted that Kim would be as hostile towards it, but he was glad that he'd already volunteered to go. He certainly didn't want to stay around Kim while she was like that right then.

Jonas didn't waste any time in heading out. If the erasure of Elin's existence in the memory of those that had been with her was caused by an individual, Jonas was pretty sure he didn't want to be around when that person came by again. Plus, if someone had done that, he wasn't sure if Elin was okay wherever she was. As there might be a reason for her existence to have been erased.

At that moment, Jonas just didn't have enough information and he didn't like that. Especially since he didn't have any sources to work with to aid in his search, not that he was confident that he'd be able to trust any other person right then. As he couldn't be sure if whoever had erased the memory of Elin, couldn't also get to anyone he might send out to gather any information.

While it was risky for him to go by himself, he was fairly confident that his ability to enter the shadows would help him avoid detection. Or at least for the most part. Although, he couldn't be sure what he'd do if it did turn out to be something other than a creature or person who had caused this. He planned on going with the assumption that it was that way, but more out of caution than anything else.

He would like it if it wasn't caused by any kind of creature, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be that lucky. That he'd have to deal with something that had deliberately caused this to happen. Mostly because he was pretty sure that that was the way things like this worked with this lousy competition.

As Jonas walked away, he couldn't be sure which direction to start in, but he doubted that Elin had disappeared soon enough that all traces or where she'd gone had disappeared. He'd need to find those traces and see where they might lead him. With his enhanced senses, he was confident that it would be more a matter of time than anything else.

And while it was possible that whoever erased her memory had also erased those traces, Jonas doubted that that creature was able to erase all of the traces. Primarily because he doubted that whoever was behind this had his enhanced senses. So, it was possible that they might have missed something. Something that would let Jonas get to the bottom of this and locate Elin.