<h4>Chapter 140: The Return</h4>


    Kat had been leading the worm on a wild goose chase for around an hour now and things really hadn''t developed. Sure she''d led the thing plenty far away, and sure it hadn''t managed to her Kat in the slightest, but she was down a lot of energy and the worm was alsopletely unharmed.


    Kat looked at her energy reserves and saw they really were lower than she''d like. They sat just below one third of full. Which was actually pretty good. In her hour-long chase Kat had managed to refine her stomping a bit.


    Changing minor things like limiting the amount of energy she used, stomping every fifth instead of third step, jumping carefully over or around the worm and using at a quick chance to burn no energy as it reorientated itself after the jump.


    Nheless, the energy consumption was still a bit much, and Kat could see that the sand skipper was approaching the mist wall. They were still maybe forty-five minutes out or so, but she did still need to fly over to them


    *Is it time to start my trip?* Kat thought as she jumped over the worm pretending to skate over its long body andnding lightly on the sand. After watching the worm turn around Kat decided to see if it was still actually chasing the skipper first.


    Letting herself hover just above the sand she watched as the worm under the ground paused… and then headed straight for the skipper. *Well I suppose that would make this too easy.*


    Kat tried to eye the speed of the skipper and the worm, but it didn''t do much good. She couldn''t estimate their rtive speeds well enough. Kat sighed. *I guess I should justmit to the flight then. I can''t even be sure that I''ll have enough energy to get to the boat now.*


    Kat took off following along the worm''s path and rapidly overtaking it. She made sure that she didn''t leave the rtive vicinity of the ground to ensure that the Barbarashi didn''t start to home in on her… *Wait? Is that actually an amazing idea?*


    Kat started to think of the implications. *It is a giant worm and birds eat worms… if I could lead them together perhaps, they''d fight each other?*


    Kat started to picture the epic fight between bird and worm. One roaring its gravelly roar and the other shootingser beams. The Barbarashi diving from above and the worm breaching from below…


    Then Kat realised that the worm was easily twice the Barbarashi''s size, weighed likely four times the amount if not more and could very easily just dig into the ground and ignore the bird leaving it to harass her in the open skies as she desperately tried to run to the sand skipper before her energy reserves ran out.


    *Yup, let''s just scrap that n as epic as it might sound on paper and concentrate on flying close to the ground.*


    ##


    Kat found herself rapidly gaining on the sand skipper. She was perhaps five minutes out tops. The worm was far behind and the fog wall was certainly in sight for the other two. The only issue that was still rearing its head was that Kat was rather low on energy. In fact, she was already started to feel the edges of fatigue creeping in and knew that meant she didn''t exactly have much time.


    *Would it be better to run? No I doubt it. It seems to be more energy efficient to fly at speed then to run. Which I''m not quite sure makes sense but I''m notining.* Kat looked towards the sand skipper and watched for Grace and Skye.


    Neither seemed to have noticed her approach, with their eyes seemingly scanning the horizon for any further threats from the front. *Still, a bit poor form to neglect the back. Sure I''m keeping the worm off but what if there was something elseing for you.*


    Kat didn''t know of course that Grace''s hearing was even better than Kat''s own before she enhanced it, and anything sufficiently speedy to catch up with them would have been heard before too long… except for flying things such as the Barbarashi and Kat herself.


    As the minutes ticked by and Kat got closer, she could more readily feel the weight of fatigue reaching her. The mist wall was close, the worm was far, but was the sand skipper close enough for her to manage.


    *The question is, can I afford to slow down? Am I burning more energy by trying to catch up quickly and then rest once Ind on the skipper? Or would I be better of matching the pace until they hit the mist wall to conserve energy.*


    Kat eyed her rapidly diminishing dregs of energy as she flew. *Nope, I really don''t have the luxury to take it slowly.* Kat pushed herself and her energy to get thatst burst of speed.


    She zoomed off, returning to her original speed after havinggged behind a bit. The sand skipper was so close. Grace turned around and saw Kat flying with a quick nce but soon went back to steering, assuming things were fine.


    Things were not fine. Kat felt her strength rapidly leaving her. Kat''s speed hadn''t dropped just yet, but she could feel thest of her energy entering her wings and her other limbs growing heavy.


    Kat focused on holding her wings steady. Ensuring that whatever happened she was at least on course. She inched closer towards the sand skipper as it maintained its max speed. Grace checked on Kat once again and saw her surprisingly haggard form before saying something to Skye.


    Whatever it was, was lost on Kat. Her ears felt heavy and only the rushing of wind filled them. Her eyes were unfocused and her wings wanted nothing more then to let her drop to the ground and rest.


    But Kat held on. Copsing into the sands wouldn''t help anyone. *If I fall now they''ll have to either stop or leave me. If Grace can''t convince Skye to stop then she''ll face whatever punishment the contract has in store.*


    Kat didn''t notice this in her fatigued state, but it seemed that Grace had convinced Skye to slow their speed. Even as Kat herself lost speed and what little height remained, she continued to draw closer to the sand skipper.


    Just as Kat felt her wings giving out, she also found the mast of the sand skipper in front of her face. Looking up quickly in surprise Kat mmed head first into the mast. Though she had tilted it slightly to avoid crushing her noes she instead felt the full impact on her horn before dropping into the floor.


    The mast shook but held steady. As soon as Kat deposited herself in the skipper, Skye pulled the sail up once again and they shot off rapidly approaching the mist wall once again.


    Skye first took a good look at Kat. Watching for any sign of possible movement or an indication that Kat was still conscious. Once she seemingly found none, Skye speaking.


    "This might sound callous of me, but should we… you know" Skye said and mimed slicing her neck.


    Grace shook her head


    "Why not?" asked Skye trying to gauge Grace''s reaction "She is probably the most dangerouspetition. And I bet we''ll have to fight her after the orb. This might be our only chance to take her out"


    Grace sighed "Well, even ignoring the fact she just spent an hour and a half keeping a giant worm off our tail, I doubt we could"


    Skye raised a confused eyebrow "She''s knocked out. Face first in the ground and right next to us. If we can''t take her out now how are we ever going to"


    Grace cast a nce towards Kat and thought about speaking of how they''d met "Well, Skye, I suppose I should tell you how I teamed up with Kat. It was a situation much like this except she was face down in the snow"


    Skye nodded but kept her gaze ahead of her as Grace continued "Well, I thought the same as you. Best chance to eliminate one of the strongestpetitors and I tried to stab her in the back, quite literally


    "Despite this, her tail managed to find my hand and grip it with such force that I couldn''t move my arm a single inch" said Grace. Of course, she neglected to mention Kat wasn''t actually unconscious and that there was a bit more to the story.


    Skye clicked her tongue, looking from Grace to Kat and back. "Is that true?"


    Grace nodded "I had no chance"


    Skye didn''t seem to be particrly happy about this news, and if she could see the faces of the Timmy''s she would see they weren''t a fan of attacking Kat either. Perhaps that may have changed her mind, however for now at least, Kat was safe enough.


    Kat for her part thought it was all rather funny. *I mean I can hear them. Surely Grace knows right? I wonder how Skye would react if I jumped up.* Kat tried to twitch on of her fingers and found it still unresponsive. Ok guess I''ll have to take a raincheck on that one.