D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kamiko ---

"Are you certain we need to avoid the bubbles?" asked Meg.

"Pretty sure at least," confirmed Bower. "See one of the reasons we call them bubbles is because they move. Not quickly, but they do move. So… knowing we're getting shuffled around? I'd say it's a pretty strong bet that the bubble will be shifted around if we're inside,"

Meg clicked her tongue. "So how awake will you all be after three days?"

"Um… I… I don't really know. I just got to Rank 3 and I imagine I'll be fine but I can't be sure… um… if you don't mind I can probably just sleep on your shoulders?" said Kamiko.

"I will be fine," stated Hunter. "I could be active for more than three days before getting to Rank 4 and now that my power has grown I suspect it will be even less of an issue,"

"I'm not sure. I can definitely force myself awake for three days but not much longer. If we enter into some serious combat or the centre is filled with particularly problematic monsters I might end up dead weight," explained Bower.

"Yet we can't get rid of you because we need you to sense the bubbles. Good as I am… I can't tell they're there. Which is annoying, because if I can't tell they're there I can't see their weaknesses," complained Meg.

*Well she didn't say anything about me sleeping like this… so it might be fine?* "What's the plan for food?" asked Bower. "I'll be fine myself, I've got a bunch of nutrient bars that can be eaten on the go and I'm well used to not setting up proper camps so I know I can make do… what about you lot?"

"As a lamia I can deal with not eating for a prolonged duration. I have been eating well but just to be safe I will simply consume a few days' worth of food before we set off. It won't be the most comfortable thing in the world but I trained to deal with that a long time ago.

I will likely be able to remain at peak performance for about a week, and acceptable performance for another one afterwards," stated Hunter.

"I… um… I have a bit of a thing for jelly and the people packing the rings took that into account… so um… I've got a massive supply of jelly. I can easily eat that on the go. I can probably eat once a day? Maybe less? But um… might be easier for me to just have a cup or two of jelly every few hours to keep me going. I… haven't really tried to go without sleep it just hasn't come up.

So I don't know if staying awake means I'd need to eat more or what have you…" explained Kamiko.

Meg rubbed the felt around her eyes as she processed the information everyone was giving out. "I see. Kamiko I suppose you're fine. If you can sleep up there I'll allow it. Bower though, you'll need to either deal with it or convince Lil Sis to carry you when you need to rest,"

"I am not against such a thing should it be needed," added Hunter.

Meg glared at Hunter for saying so, but didn't voice any issue with it. Instead she continued on, "My current plan is for everyone to eat there fill right now and ensure that you have a good chunk of meals ready to eat in your ring if there isn't any already. I will reluctantly include additional food for Bower in that as I do not believe he has a storage ring,"

"No I don't but I have this bag," said Bower as he shoved his entire arm into his belt pocket. "I don't know how you thought I was keeping all my extra supplies on me like additional arrows, food, water and whatnot. Admittedly I was enjoying the food Kat made most meals but I DO have supplies of my own,"

"Huh… well alright then. Everyone eat up and then get ready to move because we won't be stopping until we hit the centre!" decreed Meg.

--- Kamiko --- (Night Day 8)

Things had been a bit tough… well for everyone else. Kamiko was still happily sitting on Meg's shoulders. Bower was already looking somewhat worn out. The constant vigilance needed to keep them away from the bubbles slowly wearing him down as they refused to stop and rest. More than once a bubble had quickly shifted in their direction and Bower had needed to get everyone out of the way.

It meant he truly had no moment of rest unlike everyone else who could somewhat zone out at least.

Kamiko herself had taken a small break in the early morning just to ensure she would remain in top shape. It had meant Meg needed to watch the compass during that time… but now they'd figured out the trick it seemed to remain on course at least. There were a few moments of slight concern.

Bower triggered the first one. He stopped to make out an incoming bubble… forgetting that they weren't meant to stop at all. Hunter had used her tail to pull him along and ensure he wasn't separated from the rest of the group. If he had been it would have been a massive pain to keep moving forward, or perhaps even finding him despite the bracers Kamiko and Hunter were wearing.

The second one was actually Meg, she needed something to drink and had stopped with one hand on her hip as she chugged some water. She'd obviously remembered that they weren't planning to stop and didn't want to take too long… but wasn't paying attention to the specifics. Once again Hunter had to pull the distracted person along to keep them moving and close enough to avoid getting separated.

Bower looked ready to criticise Meg after that and it would've been fair considering she spent twenty minutes doing the same after his own mistake… but in the end Bower decided to save his breath.

--- Kamiko --- (Midday Day 9)

The entire group was a bit worn down now. Hunter's hair had collected a few leaves at some point and Meg's attempts to remove them had been smacked away by Hunter as they kept moving forward. Bower was developing what Kamiko could only assume were his species equivalent of bags under the eyes. His scales were sagging away from the eye sockets and you could see bits of skin underneath.

Meg was doing fine comparatively and so was Kamiko though she'd basically been cheating to keep herself in good condition. Meg carrying her around did remove a lot of the effort she'd have been otherwise required to engage. That's not to say Kamiko did nothing though. She was regularly checking on the compass and had also taken it upon herself to pass out food and water.

Whenever somebody was starting to look thirsty, or she heard the rumble of someone's stomach Kamiko handed over some supplies. She did quickly burn through her leftovers but Hunter provided the rest of her own as compensation to ensure that Kamiko had more to hand out. Meg was not so generous and Bower wasn't storing any of the leftovers himself which mean Kamiko wasn't sure how long it would last.

"Do we know how close we are?" asked Kamiko.

"No," grumbled Meg. "And we can't check either because that would require stopping for someone to jump that high. Unless Bower magically has the answer?"

"I'm afraid not," admitted Bower. "I'm already starting to wear down a bit. It seems that recovering my Rank 3 strength didn't restore me to the peak of the rank. I'm spending far too much effort keeping track of the bubbles. I've got no mental effort to spare to work out how far we are from the centre,"

Meg looked over at Hunter who quickly shook her head, "I can tell that we should have reached the centre by now if we had been able to take a straight line. I suspect that we will see it soon or the mist is engaging in more delaying actions, perhaps stretching the space we have to walk through now it cannot move us around,"

"God I hope note," grumbled Meg. "If it can be stretched like that I see no reason it can't be bent or twisted in such a way to ensure we never get to the centre,"

"Well… um… Bower did say that it might be artificial… the um… the forest that is. So… um… maybe it's meant to be hard but not impossible?" asked Kamiko.

"Then why would it be acceptable to move us around so much if we stop?" asked Meg.

"Um… well… if this is a place meant to train people I imagine they're meant to find some way to notice that change and adapt to it…" explained Kamiko.

Meg looked uncertain as she glanced at Bower for confirmation but he just shrugged and said, "Yeah it's one idea but there's no way to confirm it. I can't rightly say how intentional this sort of thing is,"