Once we reached the finish line they immediately took us to our rooms, where we collapsed in an exhausted heap. We didn't get our time or place for the race.

When I woke up next, I woke up excited. We got dressed and a man escorted us to the same room we got our results before. I smile the whole time.

Once all the other teams arrive the leaders step up and smile at us. We quiet instantly.

"Well, yesterday was certainly an interesting day!" Ms. Salju comments into the microphone as soon as she steps up to it.

I grin and look at my team. We all share a knowing smile. But we made it. We did it!

"But two teams must leave, as you well know." She continues sadly, "and I have the results right here." She waves a piece of paper at us and I feel nerves start to make my hands shake. I don't want to go home. Not yet.

"In first place with two hours and forty-seven minutes is...."

I hold my breath, my eyes squeezed shut.

"The Snow Ferrets!"

I let out my breath in surprise to find everyone watching us in surprise. I'm surprised too. Two hours and forty-seven minutes? It felt like at least four hours!

After a couple minutes everyone starts clapping for us. Well, except the Black Serpents of course. They just glare at us, but we don't gloat like they did.

We know we won, they know we won, and I don't want to stoop to their level and gloat.

"In second with three and a half hours is......the Water Horses!"

We clap politely. The leaving teams are the Crystal Wolves and the Hungry Sharks.

The Black Serpents came in third. They had four hours.

Ha. Take that.

We are taken back to our rooms after we politely say goodbye to the Hungry Sharks and the Crystal Wolves. As I walk, I think about the remaining teams. There's us, the Black Serpents, the Water Horses, and the Iron Wasps. Four of the seven.

Wow....this game is going by fast.

We get back to the room and play around with our elements for a while before having an early night. But no one can sleep, so, instead we talk about the next round.

"What do you think it's going to be like?" Kin asks us, staring at the ceiling.

"What?" Nero asks.

"The next round." She explains, "Strategy."

For a couple minutes we lay in silence, alone with our thoughts.

"Last time it was a game." Anemos informs us.

"Yeah....do you think it will be this year?" Kin wonders aloud.

"Probably, it's always a game." Terro says, joining the conversation. I don't join. I'm just content to listen to their voices.

It's good to not feel alone.

"What game do you think it'll be?" Neve asks, also joining. I smile in the dark. She had become much more relaxed around us. She isn't the timid girl she once was. Well, not around us at least.

"I bet it's going to be a giant game of chess!" Nero tells us.

I can almost see Ignis rolling her eyes as I hear Neve giggle.

"I think it's going to be more than that.....maybe an intense game of hide and seek!" Kin suggests.

"Or tag." Ignis adds.

"Yeah.....maybe...." Anemos says with a yawn.

"I hope we'll win." I hear Neve whisper.

"Don't worry. We will." Terro assures her.

I can see Neve smile in the dark as she yawns, "Good night you guys." She says, cuddling up with Frost.

"Good night Neve." I hear Kin say, her bed squeaking as she gets into a more comfortable position. Everyone yawns and moves around to get comfortable and a couple minutes later all is quiet. I lay still on my back.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite." I whisper to the dark, something my brother would always say to me before I go to sleep.

I feel a tear prick the corner of my eye and this time I let it fall.

Then I turn on my side and go to sleep.

. . .

"Wake up wake up wake up! We're late!"

I sit bolt upright and see everyone moving. The lights were on and Anemos is talking.

"We're late guys! We have ten minutes!" He exclaims before running into the bathroom.

I practically fall out of bed to get ready and ten minutes later, by some miracle, we're all ready, yawning uncontrollably.

Why am I having de ja vu?

The man comes and we go to the stadium. This time I don't hide from the camera's. I wave to them, hoping Dad is watching right now, maybe waving back. That would be nice.

There are news reporters everywhere, trying to talk to us, but we just ignore them and they eventually go away.

We are, once again, led into that boring metal room and this time Terro reads the note.

"Snow Ferrets
Welcome to the strategy round. You will play a game of capture the flag. There will be seven different paths, each one containing your animal mascot, a ferret. The animals will be different elements based on which path they are in. This round is a race. You have ten minutes to prepare. Good luck."

Terro finishes.

"Wait....so there will be, for example, a snow ferret in a snow biome?" Nero asks. I nod.

"And a water ferret in a water biome?"

I nod again.

"Ohhhh, okay." He says.

"Great. Seven ferrets." Ignis mutters.

"Look on the bright side!" Neve exclaims, "At least we're not the Hungry Sharks or the Iron Wasps, right?"

Terro chuckles darkly, "Or the Black Serpents."

For a minute we just stand there, relishing the idea of the Black Serpents having to find a lightning serpent, a water serpent, a fire serpent, an ice serpent, a metal serpent, a wind serpent, and an earth serpent.

Then we start making a plan.

"Okay, should we split up?" Anemos asks us.

I think about it.

"Yes." Ignis votes, "We can get more of them that way."

"But what if we get in trouble?" I argue, "We'll need the others."

"That's stupid! It's so slow!" Ignis debates.

"No! It's smart!"

"Stupid!"

"Smart!"

"STUPID!"

"SMART!"

"ENOUGH!"

We both turn to see Terro watching us. "We should stay together in case we need each other." He folds his arms.

Ignis smirks from him to me and we blush. That just makes her smile widen, but before anyone can say anything the bell rings and we whip around to see the door open.

"Together! Come on!" Terro exclaims, running out the door and into the stadium.

I feel my heart sink to see how much it's changed. In front of us is seven paths. One of them wet, one burnt, one metal, one frozen, one sparking, one covered in dirt, and one with a low fog hanging over it. Could they be any more obvious?

"Lets start with this one!" Terro shouts to us over his shoulder, starting with the first one, the one with fog.

We don't slow down as we get to the starting line, we just keep running, and running, and running. Eventually my side starts to cramp and my thighs burn, so we have to slow down a bit.

The fog gets thicker and thicker, until it's so thick I actually get lost. Neve, who was by my side, disappears.

"Neve! Guys!" I call out. No one responds. I shiver, wrapping my arms around me.

It's creepy. I'm all alone in a thick fog, tickling and rolling over my skin eerily. I shiver again. "GUYS! ARE YOU THERE?" I call out desperately. No one responds. I feel panic begin to set in. My heart beats a million miles an hour and I have the random impulse to run. How did we get into this mess? Why didn't I notice the fog was getting thicker! I'm such an idiot.

I try to calm down, but it's too hard. I have the feeling something's going to jump out at me from the fog and get me. My heart races and my eyes hurt from me opening them so wide. My breathing becomes fast and shallow and I feel myself start to lose my sanity as I whip around, the fog seeming to close in around me....trap me.....

Finally, I break and run through the fog, but that just makes it worse. I feel my throat tighten in fear and I know something is chasing me. I run as fast as I can, my legs pumping underneath me. I am about to Dart when I run into something hard, the side of my face and my ear hitting it painfully hard. I fall back, letting out a cry of pain.

I reach up and touch my ear, wincing slightly at the pain. It wasn't bleeding, but that is going to become an ugly bruise. I sigh and carefully stand up, feeling in front of me to see what I ran into. After a minute my fingers slide against whatever it is and I squint through the fog to see a wall. A wall?

I feel along it until I come along a corner. I must have reached the end of the path! But that must mean......

I look around hopelessly in the fog for the wind ferret. It's probably camouflaged in the fog with it's swirling grey coat! I've seen pictures of wind animals before and they usually have the ability to create fog and camouflage themselves in it.

I let out a sigh of frustration. How are we ever going to find the ferret in all this fog!? There's too much!

But maybe if I- wait. Too much fog! That's it! Anemos needs to blow the fog away to find the ferret!

I stop. Wait. Are the other team's animal's in here?

I gulp. I really don't want to encounter a wind wasp or a wind serpent. Great. I eye the ground warily.

But how am I going to get to Anemos? Should I wait and hope he figures it out? He's a smart kid, he could do it. But then I'd feel useless. There's only one option left.

"ANEMOS! ANEMOS BLOW THE FOG AWAY!!!! ANEMOS!!!!!!" I scream, hoping by some miracle that he'd hear me and figure it out. For a few moments I wait for a response but then I start shouting again. And again. And again.

But there is no response.

I look back at the wall. Should I leave it? Maybe I'll be lucky enough to stumble into someone. I gulp. I feel so alone....and cold. I shiver. It's colder than before. Should I Dart around? Maybe I could get some of the fog to go away by Darting. It's worth a try.

I take my hand off the safety of the wall and clutch my Shinju, feeling the electricity course through my veins. I stand there for a minute before taking a deep breath and Darting into the fog. I run in circles as fast as I can, causing a wind to occur. The fog starts spinning around like a small tornado and I run through the center of it, making it disappear.

I stop Darting and turn around to see what I did. The fog where I just was is gone, but more fog is slowly pouring into my temporary hole. I feel myself huff with frustration. We're wasting so much time! Come on Anemos!

"ANEMOS I SWEAR!!!! ANSWER ME!!!" I shout as loud as I can, feeling my frustration and anger pour into the words making them louder. "BLOW THE FOG AWAY!!!!! ANEMOS!!!!!" I practically scream, ignoring the pain in my throat. "ANEMOS!!!!!!"

I stop and look around at the fog surrounding me, exactly the same no matter where I look or how hard I squint. The hole I made is gone and there isn't a single difference in the fog. I groan in frustration and fall to the ground, seriously thinking of giving up.

But I don't give up. Do I just wait? Where is Anemos and the others? Are they okay? Are they together?

"ANEMOS!" I call weakly, my voce hoarse, feeling myself give up. This is impossible. Why couldn't I be a wind elementalist?

"Blitz?"

I whip around so fast I get a small headache and almost fall over, feeling my heart soar as I see Anemos squinting through the fog. I scramble to my feet and Dart over to him, deciding I'm not letting him out of my sight.

"Oh my gosh Anemos! I could kiss you right now!" I exclaim, but I don't. Instead I just give him a really tight hug, glad to see someone for a change.

He coughs, "Blitz! You're suffocating me! But, I must admit it's nice to see you too."

I give him one last squeeze before letting go, and then I immediately start talking, "You have to blow the fog away! The ferret is probably camouflaged in it!" I exclaim.

His eyes widen and the he hits his forehead, "Oh god I'm such an idiot." He mutters before looking up and smiling at me while he rolls his eyes, "Smart. Hang on."

He puts his hands together out in front of him and I watch eagerly. Seeing an elementalist at work will never cease to amaze me. He slowly moves his arms up, and the fog starts stirring. Then, he pulls his arms apart and the fog dissipates, leaving me stunned.

"That's all you have to do!" I exclaim. He smiles and nods at me. All of the fog is gone.

"Blitz! Anemos!"

I look to see Terro running towards us, waving. "Good job! The ferret's over here!"

Me and Anemos glance at each other before running after the earth boy as he turns back around and runs that way. The others appear and I see they have formed a circle surrounding what I assume is the wind ferret. When I see it I feel my heart swell in the familiar way it always does when I see a cute animal. Or any animal.

The wind ferret looks almost exactly like Frost except it's fur is a grayish-white. Kind of like Anemos' Shinju.

Kin spots us and waves us over, "Anemos! He's too scared! I think you have to catch him." She calls as we walk over.

I look at the ferret and see it does indeed look terrified. It's protective fog gone, it is now crouching low to the ground, trembling, and looking around at us, it's eyes huge, every couple minutes.

Anemos' eyes soften and he slowly walks toward the ferret. The fuzzy creature spots him and watches him warily as he draws nearer. Soon he is about three feet away.

"Shhh.....shhh it's okay!" Anemos whispers encouragingly, "I'm not going to hurt you! I just need you to come with me!" He says in a low, soothing voice, "I'm not going to hurt you." He repeats.

All element animals are very smart. They can usually understand what we say by our body language and tone of voice, which is why as Anemos slowly reaches out his hand, offering the wind ferret to go into them, he slowly complies, able to understand that Anemos isn't a threat.

The wind elementalist smiles and brings the ferret up to his chest, where the poor thing snuggles up and goes to sleep.

"Do we have to give them back?" He asks us, looking at the wind ferret sadly.

I shrug and Neve smiles at him.

We walk back out of the wind path, where we find a cage with our symbol carved into it. Anemos gently sets the sleeping ferret into it and we close the gate, locking it and walking to the next path quietly.

The fire gate. There are burn marks everywhere and some of the walls are charred.

"Ahhh! It feels like home! Just smell the smoke and volcanic ash in the air!" Ignis says happily, taking a deep sniff.

Nero looks at her in alarm, "There's volcanoes!?!"

Ignis rolls her eyes at him, "Of course! Can't you smell it? The fire ferret is probably in the volcano, matter of fact!"

Nero groans and I grimace knowingly at him, not liking the idea any more than he does. We have to go in a volcano?

"Come on." Terro sighs, walking forward and we follow him. The farther we walk the heavier the smell of burning fumes gets until I start coughing. I hate smoke.

Nero gives me a drink of water every few minutes and Anemos helps by giving me a breath of air, but I always end up coughing anyway. Why do I have to have such a problem with smoke?

Finally, after about fifteen minutes a volcano looms up in the distance. I hear Neve inhale sharply and I think I did to.

Anemos squints at it for a minute, and I can practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"It looks around 1,200ft tall and about 500ft in diameter." He says suddenly, nodding to himself, "Yeah, definitly somewhere around there."

I gape at him.

"How did you know that?!?" Nero exclaims in disbelief.

Anemos rolls his eyes, starting to walk over to the volcano, "I have eyes you know!"

Nero shoots me a glance before running after the wind boy, "That's not what I meant!" He shouts.

We run after them and two minutes later we're at the foot of the volcano. You'd think it would be hotter, and it is pretty hot, but it isn't as hot as I thought it would be.

I look over at Ignis to ask what to do and to my surprise I see her tearing up.

"Ahh.....home." She sighs. She stands there for a minute before wiping the tear away and squinting at the volcano, her clever orange eyes flashing.

"Terro....can you make a path?" She asks.

Terro's eyes widen, "Won't the lava come out?

Ignis rolls her eyes, "Not into it moron! Can you make a path up the volcano?"

Terro glares at her. "Of course, but it wouldn't kill you to be a little bit more descriptive!" He takes a step back and puts his arms out. I watch nervously, hoping Ignis knows what she's doing.

Terro slowly moves his hands apart, his eyes narrowed in concentration, and a line of dirt up the mountain splits until it's wide enough to be a path.

"Cool!" Nero exclaims. Terro's arms fall to his sides and he rolls his eyes at the water boy.

"Let's just go." Ignis says, starting up the path. Terro shrugs and follows her, us close behind him.

We walk for a long time. The path is steep and rocky, making the going slow. That, added with the fact that the farther up we go the hotter it gets, makes me wish to never even see another volcano in my life.

I take another huge step forward, my lungs burning and my face and hands wet and sticky. My breath is coming out in pants and I start to wonder if Anemos was wrong about the height of the horrible cone of doom. It feels more like 5,000ft high!

"How.....much........farther?" I hear Kin pant from behind me.

"Not much." Ignis says. She isn't even sweating.

Not much is right. Minutes later we reach the top and everyone except Ignis collapses on the ground. I look around and see everyone is soaked and panting, our faces bright red, Neve's most of all.

"Why....why aren't we burning alive?" Terro asks Ignis. He isn't panting as hard as us, but he has definitely been affected by the climb.

Ignis shrugs. "I don't know. Probably something to do with a chemical or something."

"Well, it's definitely hot!" I exclaim, fanning myself with my hand.

"Yeah. Look around for the ferret, it could be anywhere." Ignis comments to us, looking around.

I finally snap out of my exhausted stupor and look around. We are currently sitting on the rim of the volcano, which is huge. There is steam everywhere, making everything appear faded and distorted. I have to blink a couple of times to make sure my eyes aren't messed up.

"Can you get rid of some of this steam?" Neve asks Anemos. He nods and sweeps his arm. The steam disappears.

"Cool again!" Nero exclaims happily.

I roll my eyes.

"Where is that stupid rat.....I didn't climb all the way up this dumb rock for nothing...." Terro grumbles.

Ignis ignores him, squinting around the volcano, or, as Terro called it, the 'stupid rock'. I do the same but can't see anything. The steam is coming back quickly and Anemos has to blow it away again.

"I have an idea!" Neve suddenly says, her words coming out weird and scratched.

We all look at her curiously. She hasn't said much during this round.

"Maybe Frost can find it!" Neve coughs.

"That's a great idea!" Nero exclaims. Everyone agrees.

"Where'd you get that from?" Ignis questions.

Neve shrugs, "Frost is nibbling on my ear, so, you know." She says in her croaky voice. This must be harder for her.

"Well, let her go! Remember, we're still in a race!" Kin says.

Neve nods seriously as Frost climbs down her arm and onto the ground.

"Go look for another ferret Frost!" Neve commands her ferret. The little furball wiggles it's nose and scampers away.

"Do we follow her?" Kin asks.

"Oh! Good point!" Ignis says before chasing after the snow ferret. We follow her, sweating more and more the closer we get to the opening to the volcano, until Anemos stops.

"Ignis! You go on, it's too hot for us!" He pants, and I see his hair is drenched in sweat.

The fire girl looks at us for consolation and we nod, panting and sweating furiously.

Ignis doesn't even look hot! I try to imagine what I look like. My short yellow hair wet, my face probably red.

I shudder.

"Well, if you're sure....." Ignis says, looking at us.

"Just go!" Nero exclaims. "You'll lose Frost!"

Ignis nods and runs away, her orange and red ponytail disappearing quickly in the weird steam-fog. We all fall to the ground, panting and sweating. I feel so gross.

"Why didn't we do this one last?" Terro groans. I shake my head, feeling too hot and tired to respond.

"Could I have a drink, Nero?" Anemos asks politely.

"Sure." The water boy says, crawling over to Anemos and telling him to cup his hands. He does and water appears in them. Anemos drinks it thirsting and I lick my mouth.

Soon we are all drinking water out of our hands, a refreshing thing, but once we finish we just sit there awkwardly. Anemos blows some of the steam around us away and Neve gives us a cool breeze, which feels like heaven. She tries to make it snow a little, but it instantly melts in the sweltering heat.

"Where's Ignis?" Nero complains after what feels like five hours but is probably only one.

I sigh, "She's taking forever."

"We need something to do...." Kin mutters, looking around.

"Let's play a game!" Nero exclaims.

"Like what?" Terro asks, joining the conversation.

"Something with our elements." Kin says.

"Let's have a battle!" Nero exclaims.

"No, we don't want to get hurt." Anemos says.

"What if we make little element people and have them fight?" Kin suggests.

"That's an awesome idea!" Terro praises her.

"Sounds fun." I comment with a shrug.

Kin makes a little arena of metal and we each make little replicas of ourselves out of our element. I make mine riding a horse.

"Hey! You can't have a horse!" Nero whines.

I roll my eyes at him, "You can have one too!"

"Oh." He says, making himself a horse. I roll my eyes again.

"Ready? The last one standing wins!" Kin exclaims. We all nod.

"Three. Two. On-"

"GUYS GUYS I GOT HIM!"

We turn around quickly, our element-people disappearing. Ignis is running toward us, her ponytail bouncing and a flame in her arms. Frost bounds in front of her, reaches Neve, and jumps into the happy girls outstretched arms.

I gasp and Ignis reaches us, smiling. "I found him! Well, Frost did." She says, and I notice the flame is actually a fire ferret. It has sharp claws but looks adorable.

"Aww!" I say, reaching out to pet it, but then the memory of the lady from Miota's with the fire dog crosses my mind and I think better of it.

Ignis smiles at the ferret, "Isn't she cute? I'm naming her Ember!"

"That's a great name!" Kin says while at the same time Anemos complains, "Why couldn't I name mine?"

Ignis rolls her eyes at him, "You can!"

"Oh. Well, his name will be Fog. It seems fitting, right?" He asks us.

We nod and he smiles.

"Well, we'd better go." Ignis says, turning to the way we came. I chase after her gratefully. We make out way hastily off the volcano and back out of the path, dropping Ember off in the crate provided.

We walk over to the next path. The snow one.

"Ooo! This ones mine!" Neve exclaims happily, then she frowns. "But I already have Frost!"

As if on cue a man appears with white hair and a pale face. "Hello! I'm here to take your snow ferret to where it needs to be. You will get it back later." He says, holding out a crate.

Neve looks into her arms sadly where Frost is looking up at her with big black eyes. "Sorry Frost, but we'll get you right back! Just you wait!" The younger girl promises the ferret, picking her up and gently setting her in the crate.

The man smiles at Neve, "Thank you. You will have to go and do another path first so we can get.....Frost......situated."

Neve nods, sniffing, and the man walks down the path, disappearing in the distance.

Neve starts to get teary-eyed, "I just promised her! I just promised her I would get her out right away but now we need to go do another path!"

I quickly rush over to comfort her, kneeling down, "It's okay! We'll just do the next one really fast so we can get to her as soon as possible! It's not your fault. Don't worry." I say, holding her. After a minute she calms down and becomes happier.

I smile. "Now we have to go really fast!" I exclaim, standing up. We walk right over to the next one, which turns out to be the lightning one, and walk quickly down the path.

We walk for a while before I realize the path is widening. The walls slowly move outward so we have more room to walk. I look back at the others before impatiently walking a little quicker. The wall keeps widening and widening until it opens up onto a field. The sparking walls are still there, just surrounding the huge amount of grass. We stand there in shock for a minute. The field has got to be at least the size of three football fields.

"What?" Nero asks nobody in particular, "Where's the ferret?"

I sprint onto the field and suddenly a yellow blur shoots by. I smile. Of course.

I've got to outrun the little ferret.

"You guys stay here," I say, taking a step back and preparing to dart. I smile at them, "I've got a furball to catch."

And I'm gone. I dart across the fields, appearing to the others as a yellow blur. My eyes flicker across the fields, looking for the lightning ferret. Where is it?

All I can see is green! I dart to the left corner, see nothing, and am about to dart to the bottom left corner when I see it. It flashes in front of me and I react instantly. I run after it. Since we're both darting, I'm just chasing it normally, but to the others we're just two yellow streaks.

I'm a pretty fast person normally so I pump my legs faster.

Faster, faster, faster! I have to catch it! I stare at it's fluffy yellow tail, sparking slightly, and leap forward.

I slam into the tiny rodent and we roll over and over, but I make sure not to let go. Once we stop rolling, the ferret starts scrabbling to get away, but I know how to handle animals and hold it so it can't bite or scratch me. It's then I realize it's a girl.

I stand up and dart back over to the others, stopping so close to Nero he falls backward onto the ground.

"Got her!" I exclaim proudly. They smile at me.

"What're you going to name her?" Neve asks.

I think for a minute, looking back down at the creature as I think. She has spiky fur, but it is strangely soft.

"Zap." I say, smiling as she touches me with her nose and I feel a small zap.

"Cool. Lets go!" Terro exclaims, turning and starting to jog back. I smirk at him. "Wanna race?" I challenge him.

He looks at me, "It's not fair."

"I won't dart." I promise him. I'm pretty confident I could win, even without my element.

He looks at me closely, as though making sure I'm not lying.

Finally, he nods, "Lets do this."

"Wait! Us too!" Nero exclaims, stepping up next to me. I shrug and we all get into position. I set Zap next to me and nod at the ferret, grinning.

For some reason I get the feeling she smiles back.

"Three." Kin counts off for us. "Two."

I look over at Terro to see him watching me with something in his eyes. He quickly looks away.

"One!"

We launch forward, and I feel myself fly over the ground. I feel my Shinju sparking, begging me to use it, but I force myself not to. I'm not a cheater. Cheater's are the worst.

My brother taught me that.

I used to race him when he was still....when he was still alive. We used to race around the house three times. When he was busy I'd do it by myself, beating my own time. After he passed away I continued the practice, but it was never the same. I never got the thrill of overtaking him or the determination to pass him when his broad back bounced in front of me.

But now I do.

It's close. Terro is surprisingly fast and we run neck to neck, the others behind us.

"You.....can't.....beat me." Terro says between pants as the finish line, the beginning of the lightning path, bobs into view.

I look at him, feeling my eyes sparkle. He looks at me. The line is now ten feet away.

"Try me."

I put on a last burst of speed, launching myself forward. I hear Terro give a cry of surprise and anger as I pass over the line, winning. The boy passes over the line seconds after me, looking disgruntled.

I smile at him, "You wanna go again?" I ask.

He glares at me and a couple minutes later Anemos arrives, quickly followed by Ignis, Kin, Nero, and Neve. They are all flushed from the run but don't look at all affected with the fact that they lost.

"That was fun!" Nero exclaims.

"Now lets go get Frost!" Neve says, walking over to the snow path. I quickly put Zap in her cage and jog after the others as they disappear into the snow path, feeling excited.

Excited to win.
*****************
Shoutout to @45amazing54 for their comment way back in chapter 1! It was nice and I appreciate it!