Chapter eight! Yay!!! Thanks to everyone who reviewed. It's so nice of you ppl!

Anyhow, this is the second day of the third test! Enjoy!

Disclaimer- I don't own Manking ppl, but I own Kigali ppl.

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Day 2

I plummeted out of sleep suddenly the next morning, as Zoe was roughly nosing me awake.

"What is it? It feels like I only slept for a couple of hours..." I whined at her, while rubbing my eyes sleepily. She tossed me my clothes.

"That's because did sleep for two hours. Hurry up! Get changed!"

"What's the big hurry?" I complained again.

"I feel two presences nearby. Some of the finalists might be catching up to us..." That got me out of "bed" in an instant.

"Who is it??? Is it Nagini???" I pressed her.

"I said TWO presences. Nagini usually flies solo, besides, I didn't sense that fox thing nearby." I sighed in relief and put on my now dry jeans.

"Ok, I'm ready. Let's scram." I dragged Zoe out of the cave in attempt of extending the distance between me and the other finalists. We broke into a slippery struggle up the mountain, but after twenty minutes we were worn out.

"The problem is," I panted, "that YOU don't let me sleep any."

"You sleep too much, THAT'S the real problem." She panted back.

"Oh yeah, look who's talking! You're the one who..." I trailed off as I noticed something peculiar in the white, mountainous landscape. There was a single, leaf-less tree standing by itself. It just didn't fit. Zoe looked over her shoulder, following my gaze.

"What the...?" She said, tilting her head in confusion.

"WOW!" I exclaimed, amused at the prospect of a tree growing near the summit of a mountain. I ran up to it and put my hand in its trunk.

"KEY! Don't do that! It might be a trap, you know!" Zoe warned me. I scoffed.

"Yeah, sure. Since when are trees traps? That's stupi—" I was suddenly hanging from one of the top branches of the tree from my ankle. It was one of those rope-loop traps. Zoe sighed. I crossed my arms. "When will you stop being right?"

"AHA! WE CAUGHT SOMEONE!" Zoe whirled around and I followed suit with some difficulty. An upside-down blur of green and red met my eyes.

"It's Ayame and Azami!" Whispered Zoe.

"Wait! Hey look sis! It's Kigali! Should we cut her loose?" Asked who I suspected was Azami.

"No, wait. If we cut her loose, she might get the items before us!" Answered Ayame.

"Kigali's our friend though..."

"I know, but we gotta pass the test!"

"But..." I zoned out on the twin's bickering and focused on Zoe, who was whispering something to me.

"...the pocketknife!" OH YEAH! I had completely forgotten! I reached inside the small bag I carried the knife in and brought it out triumphantly. I did a sort of upside-down sit-up and grabbed the rope that held my ankle with a quick look at the twins. They hadn't noticed, they were still quarrelling, oblivious to everything else. It took one swipe of the knife to cut the rope. I fell with a cat-like flip on a crouching position. That's when they noticed me.

"She got out!"

"Told'ya we should've used a stronger rope!" Zoe came to my side, growling.

"Fine, so you got out, but we won't let you through. Let's put our friendship on hold, because we challenge you to a shaman fight!" Ayame confronted me.

"I accept!" I called back, entirely aware that I had never integrated with Zoe. Ayame and Azami took out their memorial tablets and summoned their spirits. I held my breath as two huge forms materialized behind them, soon taking the shape of a russet-furred Mammoth and a emerald-eyed Saber-tooth. They immediately started integrating.

"They're doing Spirit Unity." Zoe informed me. I looked at her and curled my hands into fists.

"Let's do it!" I held my hand up above my head and yelled, "Spirit Unity!" Zoe's shape dissolved and became a cloud of blue aura. The cloud positioned itself behind me and became a blurry shadow of a massive wolf. It howled deep, nose turned up towards the sky, and then it became a cloud of aura again, which enveloped me and combined with my body.

I immediately felt the changes begin. A fluffy, light blue tail with deeper blue tiger-like markings sprouted from my tailbone. Two blue wolf ears matching the tail sprung from between my hair. My nails became silver and hardened into razor-sharp claws. My brown and white hair became entirely white, like Zoe's human form. Both of my canines grew a bit to transform into formidable fangs. And finally, two blue-striped angel wings grew out of my back. I opened my eyes, which hadn't changed their crystal-like blue, and twitched an ear in the twin's direction. I felt calm. Zoe was I. I was Zoe. We were one. Our thoughts were the same. Our movements were single. I was as strong as five grizzlies and as fast as cheetah, I had the reflexes of a tiger and the agility of a dolphin. I was seriously powerful.

I turned towards the twins and examined their Oversouls. Ayame was shining in the middle of a ruby colored aura. Her hair had grown up to her waist, and ivory spikes grew out of her elbows, knees, shoulders, and back. Her eyes seemed to be burning. The spirit of the mammoth. Azami was shrouded amidst an emerald aura. Her eyes seemed to shine like jewels, and she had claws to rival mine. She had also grown fangs, but instead of small, yet deadly fangs like mine, she had two lethal sabers that came out of her mouth like her spirit; the spirit of the saber tooth. Two against one. Not good odds. I looked around me. There was a high cliff nearby, and the snow was very slippery. Not helpful.

They both charged at me. Ayame was slow, but Azami came up to me with amazing speed. She was as fast as me, if not faster. I dodged just in time. Azami's claws slashed through the lone tree as though it were a piece of paper. I was not discouraged, I bounced off a boulder and zoomed towards Azami, my claws extended. I caught her unexpected; she went flying towards the tree and crashed down hard. Half of her saber tooth was missing, courtesy of me, and she now had several splinters, courtesy of the tree. Azami's Oversoul broke. She went back to her regular self, with her spirit whimpering behind her.

I turned my attention to Ayame, who had been trying to catch up to her sister the whole time. She frowned at her sister and then at me. Without a word, she got into a stance, and yelled.

"Spike Launch!!!" Huh? Spike launch? My confusion suddenly evaporated as I watched her spikes shoot out of her back, elbows, shoulders, and knees and head straight towards me. "Think fast!" She called out. I froze, not knowing what to do. Horrible images of me ending up as a pincushion flooded my mind. Luckily, that's when the "Zoe" part of me took over. I instinctively jumped up as high as I could, which was HIGH. The spikes missed me completely. I landed just as another round of spikes shot towards me. I jumped up again, but this time, not so high. I gathered all my speed, agility, and reflexes to do the impossible. I landed on a dart-like spike in full movement and bounced off it, gaining enough momentum to not only save myself from turning into a porcupine, but also to bounce straight into Ayame in a full body tackle. She fell backwards and slipped off the cliff with a scream.

"NO!" Azami yelled and swung herself towards the cliff, missing her sister's hand my inches. In the confusion, I felt my wings flutter and saw myself lift off the ground. Adrenaline shot through my veins as I soared over the cliff in a controlled dive. I saw Ayame dropping about fifteen feet below me. My brain instinctively did the calculations for me. She was forty feet away from the ground. More than enough time. I pinned my wings to my back in an aerodynamic fashion, helping gravity down. I caught up to Ayame, grabbed her wrists, and then pulled up into a victorious flare. But instead of slowing down, we kept on dropping. Jeez! She must have weighed a thousand pounds! That didn't make sense. Ayame was small and thin, she had to weight as much as me! Then I realized she still had spikes growing out of her back. I mentally slapped myself, of course! OVERSOUL!

"Ayame!" She whimpered in response, "Ayame! Listen to me!" I repeated over the rush of wind. Twenty feet 'till the ground! "Ayame! Break your Oversoul! NOW!!!!" She swiftly obeyed, liberating one wrist from my grasp and reaching for her memorial tablet. I flapped my wings as hard as I could, it slowed the fall a bit, but we were still falling fast. Ayame called back her spirit into the memorial tablet, and she immediately became 900 pounds lighter. The change of weight caused us to flare upwards with neck breaking speed, just when we were going to crash. I lifted Ayame up to the edge of the cliff and into her sister's anxious arms.

"Ayame!" Azami squealed, giving her a suffocating hug. I separated with Zoe, who wagged her tail and stood by my side in unwavering reliability. I was tired, but not exhausted. Ayame stood up shakily and faced me.

"Thanks," she said awkwardly, "and sorry, for fighting you." She shot a look at her sister, who nodded in agreement, "To tell you the truth, we don't think either one of us is even the true goddess. We were just chosen to come here because we were the strongest shamans our age in the Nomel Village... and besides, it's not worth passing these tests if you've got to fight against our friends." She took my hand in alliance. "We'll try to slow the others down a bit. We wasted enough of your time." She turned to her sister, who stepped up to talk to me.

"If you ever need anything, you'll always be welcome in our village. I hope we see each other soon." She said.

They waved as I started climbing again, this time in a steady pace. I was close to the summit. I could feel it. We climbed on. It was noon of the second day, which was not good. We had been held up too much. I hurried my pace a bit, Zoe noticed and followed suit. We were so close I could see the summit! Almost there... ten more feet... seven more... five...

"Kigali!" The yell echoed across the mountain. I turned my head to look at the source of the voice. Nagini stood at the bottom of the cliff I was climbing, pointing a threatening finger at Zoe and me. I ignored her and kept climbing.

"KIGALI!" She yelled again, this time louder, "Don't take another step! You are NOT going to pass this test! I won't let you!"

"Oh yea? Well, just try!" I called out behind me while scrambling up the side of the cliff. The summit was relatively flat, there was a huge house made out of wood, which was covered in snow. Zoe was already up and in her human form, looking over the edge at Nagini.

"She's on the move!" I looked backwards to see Nagini climbing slowly up the cliff.

"We have time! Let's go!" I grabbed her arm and we broke into a rapid run to the cabin. I reached for the handle and pulled hard. The door slowly creaked open and a blinding flash of light escaped through. We were stunned for a few moments, with sunspots in front of our eyes for a few seconds, and when our visibility returned, we were received into the lodge by a breathtaking sight. The only word to describe it was 'paradise'.

There was a wood entrance, but after that everything was... natural. The blinding flash of light had come from the roof... if there had been one. It was a gaping hole opening into the sky. The clouds parted right above the house, making the sun come down in the scenery with all its dazzling beauty. It lit up the snow-covered field, which had a stream running through it, it lit up the glittering crystal dome at the center of the field.

"It must be in there." Said Zoe, pointing at the dome. I took a step towards it when a red blaze flashed past me, going towards the dome. Nagini.

"No!" I darted after her, Zoe at my heels. But we were too late. With a mocking grin, Nagini entered the dome. Entered? I touched its surface, and my hand slipped through! It was a bubble! It flashed rainbow-colors as I went inside. As soon as I entered, my hair floated up as pure energy went through my body. The dome was about the size of a small cabin, and in the middle was a stand lit up in mystical aura. Nagini was standing above it. She turned around and I saw that she was holding something. It was a sort of book. She smirked.

"I already have MY item, now I'll head back to the village to pass the test." I picked up voices outside the dome. The other finalists! Nagini heard them too. She tossed her hair, "Let's hope someone grabs the other one before YOU!" With that, she exited the dome with a running start, clutching the book in her arms. I walked towards the stand and looked at the remaining item. It was a silver orb about the size of a tennis ball. I didn't see anything outstanding about it.

"Aww man! How come Nagini gets the good one!?"

"Hurry up Key!" Urged Zoe, "They're coming!" I reached for the orb, but hesitated before taking it. If I grabbed the orb, the hunt would be on. The remaining finalists would be on my trail, trying to take the item from me. At any cost.

"Key!" I sighed, snatched the orb from its resting place, and like Nagini, took a running start out of the dome. It was lucky I did too. Because I had come out so unexpectedly, the other finalists were surprised into a pause, giving me enough time to dash out the door after Nagini. Of course. They hadn't known there was someone else in the dome. They would have to gather themselves to come after me. I smiled despite myself. I whirled on Zoe.

"Zoe! We need a fast way down, got anything?" She grinned and turned into a... a...

"A GIANT PENGUIN?" I asked disbelieving. She chirped.

"Hey! Don't underestimate the bird! This thing is the fastest thing on the snow! So get on and let's move out." I followed her orders skeptically. Of course the skeptical part vanished as soon as she pushed off a rock. We balanced for a moment on the edge of a steep hill, halfway on the snow and halfway suspended in thin air, then gravity took over and we tipped towards the slope. After Zoe's belly came into contact with the snow, we jolted into a slide that would have made the cheetah look like a snail. It was so fast that my eyes started watering.

We flew off cliffs, landing on soft snow without losing any of our momentum. I held on for dear life to Zoe's sleek body, which was hard to do because I was still holding the silver orb. The ride was smooth and effortless, like a roller coaster that didn't need the uphill pull to go full speed the rest of the way. It was crazy! I felt my stomach jump and flip as we flew down the mountain, at times in zero gravity. I laughed out, but the wind caught my laugh. We were traveling faster than the wind! Not even the cloud could catch us now! I whooped in pure exhilaration.

We made it down the full length of the mountain in ten minutes tops. It usually took at least half a day to go down on foot. We had beaten a record! We soared off one last slope as we reached the foot of the mountain, where Zoe's torpedo-like penguin form slowly came to a stop. I jumped off, but found myself on the ground, with colors flying in front of my eyes. I was dizzy with the rush of adrenaline. I slowly stood up, supported by Zoe, now in her regular blue-winged-wolf. I looked at her from behind a curtain of messy hair.

"Remind me never to underestimate a penguin." She laughed, wagging her tail hard. Apparently, she had enjoyed our ride as much as I had. I organized my hair and turned my attention to the matters at hand. Even if we were ahead of the finalists, we didn't know if Nagini had found a fast way down the mountain and to the village, like us. Zoe trotted up to a large pile of snow and started digging in, uncovering the dog sled we had hidden the first day of the test.

I closed my eyes and focused my mind on a husky's furry body, and then on its voice. I cupped my hands around my mouth and bayed a wolf-like howl into the cold twilight. I only had to wait a minute, when the leader of the team busted out of the thin vegetation, followed by serene Winka and her shepherd friend. They crowded around me, wagging their tails and licking my hands in greeting. Soon, all seven dogs had arrived and were strapped on to their harnesses. I swished the rains, and they immediately pulled the sled into a steady glide.

"Not a fast as a penguin eh?" bragged Zoe next to my ear, hidden in my hood as a tiny snow mouse.

"Speedy enough. Much faster than walking anyways." Snow started to fall, soon to become a mild blizzard. The dogs ran on. After about four hours, the first rooftops of the village came into view. The blizzard was now a fierce snowstorm, making it hard for the dogs to pull me. I jumped off the sled and grabbed the reins of the leader, who was being blown off course. With much struggle, I led them towards the village, one hand on the leash, and the other in front of my face, trying to divert the cutting wind. I staggered into the kennels, to be received by a rather nervous man, whom I suspected had been freaking out about the dogs since I had left. I handed the leader's leash to him.

"Sorry 'bout that!" I called out behind me as I ran as fast as I could towards the center of the village. It was then that I realized that Tabitha didn't expect us back until tomorrow noon, and that I didn't know where her cabin was. I bit my lip and looked around for a victim to interrogate. I saw an old lady with waist-long white hair walking out of a cabin. I ran up to her and jumped in front of her in a hyper sort of way.

"Excuse-me-do-you-know-where-Tabitha-lives?????!!!!!" I asked her rapidly. Poor lady. She looked like she was going to have a heart attack, but she managed to point me towards the house.

"I has a porch with a white blanket with blue markings hanging from the railing and blue shutters in its windows. It's in the west edge of the village." She said after she recovered, with a slight amused look.

"Thank-you-lady-appreciate-it!!!!!!!!!!!!" I said as I dashed past her. I ran past dozens of cabins, bumping into more than one person. I was barely looking where I was going, worrying instead on the possibilities of Nagini having gotten here before me. Luckily, I had Zoe.

"Wait Key! We missed it!" I screeched to a halt and turned around. She was right. There stood a house with a small porch and blue shutters on the windows. I broke into a run again, barreling into the cabin, letting in a pile of snow in the process. Tabitha, who had been reading a letter by the fireplace, jumped up in alarm. She hadn't expected anyone for a day.

"I did it! I have the item!" I ran up to her, waving the orb in front of her.

"You have it? Already?" A shadow of a smile flickered in her face. "It seems you have beaten a record. You are the first one to arrive. Of course, you passed the test and—" The door crash open, this time bringing a snow-covered Nagini.

"YOU!" She said, pointing a finger. I rolled my eyes.

"I got here before you. I guess now we know who's better." I smirked. She practically exploded, but Tabitha stepped up in front of her.

"Did you get the item?" She held out the book, looking at me with annoyance. I made a face behind Tabitha's back.

"Very well, I think we have our winners. The others should be back tomorrow. Go to your tents and rest a bit. We will be meeting in the platform at noon tomorrow." We filed out of Tabitha's now-messy cabin. The door closed behind us. Nagini scoffed, flipped her hair, and stomped away, seemingly offended. Zoe growled after her.

"C'mon Zoe." We walked quickly to our tent. As soon we entered the tent, I undressed and put on my old, but dry, clothes. I lay down and as soon as my head touched the pillow, I was asleep.

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That's the end of the third test. Next chapter, we'll be learning more about Kigali's legendary item! Stay tuned!

Next Chapter- The Nevermeltice