Chapter 28

"You're really happy nowadays, Nayeon."

The young Anihuman who was singing her lungs out while washing her dishes paused, turning to face her keeper who was standing at the doorway. Giggling, Nayeon put the plates down to approach her keeper and took her hands in between hers.

"Of course I would! Unnie, we're going to be trained by the strongest Anihuman team alive! Who wouldn't be thrilled for that?" Nayeon exclaimed cheerfully, jumping up and down in front of Wheein to emphasize her point.

The petite keeper only smiles, letting her sister do whatever. After the whole trouble with chasing the true leader of SM Region, Nayeon and Tzuyu are significantly happier. Probably because nothing else will hinder them from the upcoming third exam. Taeyeon had visited them earlier this week, tied to a wheelchair and the ever-present IV-line, expressing her utmost gratitude for the girls and the keepers, even going as far as promising to grant the keepers each a wish–any wish, when the third examination ends.

The word 'end' sent an uncomfortable tug to Wheein's heart, but she decided to keep her silence because her sisters are at their own cloud nine these days. Nayeon, being Nayeon, just becomes more and more active and giggly. Tzuyu, though. She smiles more and is improving in her interpersonal relation, less snarky and less savage.

Understandable. Her sisters are all thrilled to be able to train with the best of the best –heck, if Wheein herself is one of the Anihumans, she'll be thrilled as as well– to become a stronger Anihuman. Tiffany, who now seems more cheerful, less strained and less stressed, had told them to prepare because Soshi team won't be that lenient to the girls, yet they still happily looking forward to the training days.

"I'm sure you'll do great," Wheein said after realizing that she'd been inside her mind for too long. She pats the deer's head, making Nayeon grins ear-to-ear and hugs her sister tightly.

"We'll do our best! I promise!"

###

"MINA-UNNIE! CATCH!"

"STOP PLAYING WITH ME I– BALLS!"

Yongsun shook her head at the hysterical laugh made by the Red Kangaroo at the corner of the couch, elated because she just succeeded in tricking her older member by throwing a ball straight to the wall. Across the room, Mina whines, rubbing her sore face for she just kissed the wall in full speed.

The she-wolf then turned, angrily, and Dahyun had to stop laughing because Mina tackled her to the floor.

"I'm sorryyyyy!!! I'm sorryyyyyy!!" Dahyun half yells half chokes, struggling to free herself from Mina's death grip on her chest and the relentless tickle on the sides of her stomach.

"I told you not to play with me!" the older of the two snarled. Her fingers are now jabbing Dahyun's waist until the younger lost almost all the air in her lungs.

"But you are so cute when you chased the b- AAAHHH!!"

Mina bites Dahyun's exposed neck violently.

"Mina I didn't know you are into biting."

It took only one second after Jihyo said that for Mina to release her breathless victim, jumping to the unaware Phoenix and starts mauling her as well.

"AHHHH WHY ARE YOU ASSAULTING ME ALSO!!!"

Jihyo flails to no avail, weak under Mina's grip and could only breath when Yongsun decided to step in. She pulls the wolf by her collar, ignoring Mina's protesting whine as she put the black-haired girl to the couch, glaring when Mina squints her eyes in challenge.

"Minari, seriously?" Yongsun giggled. She the Anihuman's hair once to make Mina calm down. "You're going to turn into a literal dog if you continue like this."

"But she started it!" Mina pointed to Dahyun stubbornly.

The pink-haired keeper shook her head. Her once calmest, most reserved sister had changed into someone more active and a bit more easily triggered –for the better or the worse– to the point of no return. "Yeah, I know, but you've been acting like your wolf counterpart for the better part of the week. You're an Anihuman you know. You ought to act properly depending on your surrounding. To be an Animal or a human. You can't blame your instinct when you have your conscience to stop yourself. You have to work on your situational assessment, Minari."

"But–!"

Yongsun gave her a pointed look.

Mina sags. "Okay, unnie. I'm sorry. I'll try to tone it down."

"Awww," the keeper grins, then pulling the younger girl to her embrace. "It's okay. You're growing. You'll experience some changes but do remember to take notice of your surrounding, okay?"

The black-haired Anihuman nodded, already happy again clear from the wide smile on her face. "We all change! But Jihyo-unnie seems a bit weak these days."

"Oh, you tell me," the Phoenix groans, unwilling to lift herself off the ground, ignoring Dahyun who slumped herself over her. "When you guys grow stronger, I grow weaker. Terrific."

"Maybe your power is shifting, you just don't know about it yet," Yongsun offers, trying to ease her sister. She noticed Jihyo had grown saddened by the fact that she somehow lost most of her fighting prowess after the whole fight with Taeyeon. It was actually been reclining since after the second examination but it was getting more and more worrying now. "You're going to train with the Soshi team in a few days. They'll be able to help you."

Jihyo sighs, burying her face to Dahyun's brown locks and closes her eyes.

"I sure am hoping they will."

###

"Sana-unnie is weird."

"You just noticed that now?"

Chaeyoung shrugged, sipping her soup straight from her bowl without any care of the world. Hyejin hit her with a wooden spoon until she put her bowl down. The two exchange glares, and the younger girl sulks when Hyejin squints her eyes in warning. Giving up, Chaeyoung took her forgotten spoon and starts eating in a manner.

"Okay, so about Sana's weirdness," Hyejin continues, satisfied that Chaeyoung obeys her. "What about it?"

The tigress tilted her chin to the phyton singing while twirling around in the kitchen. "I don't know. She's been weird from long but she's getting even stranger now."

Hyejin looks over at her reptilian sister, grimacing when Sana started doing some body wave following the music in her head. "I get that she's excited over the upcoming training sessions. But why is she like this?"

Chaeyoung shrugged again. "I'm also feeling uneasy around her at times. Like.. you know, feeling wary as if you're being watched by a pack of coyotes?"

"RUDE!"

The loud, whiny voice and the slam on the table surprised the two whispering girls. Sana is already standing at the other end of the table, pouting as she flopped down on her seat and started wolfing down her own food.

"Yha swuld," she spoke with full of salad. "Swyop tokin avout mi on wy bag."

"Stop talking about you on your bag?"

"YAH!" Sana threw a fork to Chaeyoung who dodged easily. "I know you girls are conspiring something about me!"

"We aren't," Hyejin shook her head. "But you've been acting a bit weird around these days so we grew worried."

Sana giggled adorably and started wiggling again. "Awww! You care about me!"

Hyejin had to stop herself from throwing her plate to the phyton's face. Chaeyoung scooted further from her fellow Anihuman.

"No, seriously, I'm fine," Sana grins, waving her hand to stop her sisters from worrying her. "Just toooooo excited! Trust me when I say that I will return back to normal once I get a beating from the Soshi team! They won't go easy on me! I know it already!"

The keeper leans to the tiger. "I think I know what makes her weirder."

Chaeyoung shudders. "What?"

"She's a freaking masochist now."

"HEY I HEARD THAT!"

###

"So you guys are going to train in three days? For how long?"

Byulyi starts after she sat on her seat, scooping some soup to fill her stomach tonight. Momo nodded excitedly, attempting to chew her food quickly and swallows them quicker so she can answer Byulyi, only for her to choke on that one slice of cabbage. Jeongyeon sighs at the sight of her member's struggle and put a glass of water in front of the coughing vixen.

"Next time, don't chew your food. Just swallow them whole so you'll choke faster."

"You're cruel," Momo whines while Jeongyeon only grins. The bear then turned to their keeper who is already eating her share of food, content enough in seeing her sisters bickering.

"Yoona-unnie said we're going to train for a minimum of a month and a maximum of three months. Depending on our progress. I hope we all can train without any trouble along the way," Jeongyeon explains, making Byulyi nods in understanding.

"Oh, oh, you know what, unnie?" Momo adds after she's relieved from her choking earlier. "They said they'll invite another region's ruler to help our training! Wouldn't that be great?"

"Mhm," Jeongyeon butts in, also excited by the thought of training with another circle of people. "To train Jihyo and Momo, they said. Soshi team has only one Legend so they need another Legend's help!"

"That's fantastic," the oldest of the three smiles. "Another person means another head who thinks differently. You girls can take a lot of lessons from both mentors for your future. Do you know who they are?"

Momo shook her head. "Aaa not yet. Yuri-unnie said this is going to be a surprise. Honestly, I'll be okay with anyone!"

"Me too, me too," Jeongyeon agreed. "Man, I just hope one of them is a bear also. I kinda want to try 'bear wrestling' to test the actual limit of my strength. Can't risk another glass shelf coming down just because I leaned on it. The only one close enough to a bear in our team is Chaeyoung but she can't stand on her hind legs for too long."

"You can wrestle with me!"

"You have nine extra limbs Momo I'm not going to wrestle those appendages."

Gasping, the vixen reaches over the table to place a hit on the older's face only to grasp at empty air. "Come on! My tails will behave!"

"The last time you said that when we were training, Mina ended up tied to a lamp post, Jihyo tripped and fell to a pond, Sana hanged upside down on a tree and Nayeon almost broke her antlers."

Momo sulks after Jeongyeon said that. "My fault. Entirely. Sorry."

Byulyi can't help a chuckle that escapes her lips at her sisters' conversation. She tapped the table twice to catch their attention. When she succeeded, she grins and stirs her soup almost absentmindedly.

"You just have to train more to get used to your body, that's all. Jeong and Mo, both. You girls are fast learners, I believe you'll be able to control your power easily. Practice makes, perfect, remember?"

The two grin and nod at Byulyi's words. "Ne, unnie!"

"Okay, good," the keeper chuckles again. "Now eat. All three of us have a night shift. Might as well eat a lot to prepare for the long night."

"OKIE DOKIE!"

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As promised before by Taeyeon and her team, all nine members of team TWICE are back at the massive castle of the SM Region at the end of the week. Before the actual training starts, all seventeen of them bid goodbye to Jessica and SinB, who regretfully, have to continue their journey across the world.

SinB, with her signature blonde streak on her brown locks, promised the elder Anihumans that she will definitely return to the SM Region. Either as a challenger for the throne or simply as another region's ruler paying a visit. For the short two days, she had befriended all members of TWICE, with Momo and Chaeyoung being the closest to her because of their natural high-energy and their fondness of playing around. It was disheartening for her to leave her newfound friends behind, but the council wouldn't wait any longer to hunt their necks down if they stay over the week.

"I'll be back one day!" the girl exclaimed as she hugs Momo tightly. "I'll grow strong and I'll be back one day! And then I'll beat you at arm-wrestling, Momo-unnie! That's a promise!"

Momo only laughs, patting the girl's head to show her fondness of the young Anihuman. "I can't wait! Grow up fast, B!"

The girl grinned, showing her perfect rows of teeth not fully mature yet. "I will!"

She then turned to her guardian, who is crushed in a group hug between the members of Soshi minus Taeyeon. Tiffany cries again, typical her, but Jessica only rolls her eyes fondly and once again flicked the Snow Leopard on her forehead. The falcon hugs her members each for at least ten seconds, before turning to her leader in wheelchair last.

Taeyeon simply smiles when Jessica broke their hug, brushing her hair over the falcon's blondish locks.

"Take care."

Jessica nods once, sighing with her eyes already full of longing even before she departs. "You too. So long, partner."

The Dragon bowed. "So long, partner."

They sent Jessica and SinB off from the massive front-door of the Silver Moon castle, waiting until the two were nothing more than just two dots on the horizon. Only by then does Taeyeon moved her wheelchair to face her challengers, smiling firmly at the nine eager girls.

"Okay, I guess it's time," she exhales, fingers meeting each other as she cast a glance to the younger Anihumans. "Your training period starts now, until the day we deem you worthy to take on the next, and last examination. I've promised you that we're going to have a guest, another group of mentors to help you progress in your training. Though, it seems like they're late, so I'll postpone the actual training to three hours from now. You're free to do anything in the meantime, and we'll meet at the backyard once we're all ready. Are we clear?"

"Ne, unnie!" comes the immediate response.

Taeyeon nods in satisfaction at the chorused answer from the younger Anihumans. "I expect great things from you, team TWICE. With that well said, please enjoy your stay. I'll be in my room if you need anything."

Tiffany took the cue to help Taeyeon by pushing her wheelchair to her room, despite the latter's protest. Left by their leaders, the Soshi team all split up, going to their own activities until the promised hour. Chaeyoung and Mina decided to follow Yuri to her personal training yard, wanting to see the lioness in action to take some notes. Tzuyu went with Seohyun, both going to fly some rounds to let the wind caresses their feathers.

Jeongyeon follows Sooyoung to try to get some exercise before the real training starts, with Nayeon tagging along because she doesn't know who to follow. Sunny took Dahyun under her wings as she noticed the Kangaroo's heightened medical power and decided to bring her to the library to read some more books about aura manipulation in the medical field. Yoona asked Sana to join her sunbathing on the roof, which the phyton immediately agreed to. Momo tags along Hyoyeon for the seasoned defender is about to patrol the region.

Meanwhile, Jihyo, having nothing else to do and not quite interested in her other members' activities, chose to stroll around the wide castle, imprinting the interior to her brain. She was fascinated to see beautiful paintings on one of the rooms, obviously belongs to one of the Soshi members because of the scattered canvases and palettes. She admires the high walls, the heavy curtains swaying lazily in the winds, the shining floor under the sunlight, the colored glass on some of the windows, and the simple yet mesmerizing interior design of the Silver Moon castle.

A few minutes of walking around with no actual destination in mind, Jihyo came across a massive wooden door at the darker side of the castle. There's a carving of the Silver Moon symbol on the door, and some ancient words engraved to the walls lining it. She was just looking over the words to admire it, not once trying to decipher it when a rough voice resounds from beside her.

"'Here once lays the great king G-Dragon' is what the words are saying."

Jihyo turned in surprise.

"That room used to be King GD's personal room, and the rulers after him decided to keep it intact as a tribute to him."

Standing not far from the bewildered Phoenix is a short girl, probably around Taeyeon's height or maybe even shorter. She has pitch black hair that shines dark red when the sunlight hits her in an angle, almost like Momo's rainbow fur. She wears a black leather jacket, black  crop top that shows her toned abdomen, and black leather pants secured by a belt and some chains tied to her pocket.

"That's a new info for you, eh?"

Jihyo noticed the girl smirking at her, showing her uneven incisors with sharp fangs jutting from the side of her lips.

But Jihyo couldn't be more careless.

"Pretty girl."

Because the moment her eyes met the wild silver of the girl's irises, for the first time in her life, Jihyo had felt what she later calls as an absolute fear.

To be continued...