Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once the judge arrived and explained the rules, Isis stood ready by the starting line. A moment later she lunged across it, bolting toward the first obstacle, the pit.

Isis was a very special Lunar. The wings on her paws gave her extremely light steps, almost a cushion of air beneath the pads of her paws that allowed her to jump great heights and leap great distances and even hover for several seconds. As such, neither she nor Ganon expected the Pit to be a problem.

The narcissistic Lunar raced toward the black-mouthed pit, which spanned the width of the path through the forest, and as she reached the edge she leapt, moving up to a great height before she began her descent toward the other side. But as cocky as Isis was, Ganon was nervous. Mistakes could always happen...

Halfway across the bridge, Isis missed a step. The wind changed and the rope was wet, that was why. It certainly couldn't be her fault, that would be impossible! Perfection doesn't mess up. Nonetheless she fell, landing in the ropes with her paw dangling through them and looking straight down at where that waterfall hit the river far below with pulverizing force.

She would never admit to anyone that she froze, but she did. She froze for several seconds, just watching the spot where the waterfall became the river, and then she quickly pushed herself up, hunching down against the rope and trying to get her footing again so she could start. One paw after the other... slowly, that's a girl... go... that's right, thats the way, Isis... now, keep doing that... Yes, I can do this...

Once more she began her passage to the other side.

Isis felt her paws come down in the muddy river bottom and began to drag herself in, hunkering down against the current and fighting her way to the bank. Once out she shook herself vigorously to get dry and sighed, then trotted to the sample of the substance, which was embedded in a rock. She sniffed all over it, getting the smell of the substance in her mind and waving her tail slowly back and forth.

Immediately she set about snuffling at the ground. The whole area was well-tilled, so looking for mounds where it might be buried was futile. She just had to find it by scent. She picked up something faint and followed it, nose to the ground. Bah, digging... couldn't she hire someone with less dainty paws to do that? Once she located what she thought was the source of the scent, she looked down and apologized to her paws before she began to dig furiously at the soil.

Isis landed easily and bounced right for the third pillar, pulling off a showly little flip in the air before she landed. Now she was just showing off for the kyn back at the starting line! The fourth jump was the longest and so she paused on the third pillar and got a running jump. She suddenly got caught by a rogue gust of wind and faltered off-course. With a yelp she reached out and caught her paws on the rock, clambering frantically and pulling hard.

She dragged herself up in a few seconds and panted quietly, lying on her side for a few more seconds before standing. "Oof... stupid wind. Someone will pay for that," she growled, then she made the short leap to the other side. So far, Isis was setting a high bar for the other competitors. She trotted to the path and quickly ran down the side of the cliff, occasionally jumping down at shorter parts to save time. At the bottom she sniffed, looking out at the shallower, wider part of the river, then back into the canyon and she stepped onto the wide ridge near the bottom. A deep breath. These were long jumps, most kyn would probably have to jump and kick off a pillar to get all the way across. She let out a long slow breath and ran for the edge the first time. She had been dreading this. She had never been able to do this right the first time...

Isis hit the pillar and slid straight down, then fell off it into the water. She was thrown out to the wider, shallow area by the strong current and she stood up, growling and shaking herself. She ran back up, this time pissed. That was just a stupid mistake, and couldn't possibly be her fault! Someone screwed her up somehow, that was the only explanation! She shook herself vigorously to dry off, and this time she prepared a wind spell and leapt, sweeping the wind up behind her to carry her across the gap. She pressed her paws to the far wall and dropped onto the ledge below it, then ran a bit, preparing another wind spell, and leapt into the gap between the second and third pillars.

It clicked very suddenly, she soared straight to the opposite wall and kicked off it, between the third and fourth pillars where she landed on the right side ledge. She leapt up again, then kicked off the wall and came down right on the ledge of the alcove. Of course, she hadn't left her ball, she had put it down to talk to herself and picked it back up whenever she was done. Yeah, she was a little crazy. Now that object was glowing inside the cave. Quickly she trotted in, glad to be away from that last obstacle, and she looked for the top of that hole. She really hated this part, she came out all dirty. But nonetheless she dug and widened the spit before crawling in and starting her journey toward the pit.

Ohhhh, sweet freedom! She was out of that little tunnel, and she shook herself vigorously, scattering dirt around her and using the glowing object to look around carefully. There in front of her, up on the wall, was a ledge. No problem! She jumped up onto it, then looked for the next one. Just a bit higher up. She jumped, slid her paws a bit against the wall, and dropped onto the ledge she'd been aiming for. There were some more ledges, but she could see one that she thought she could probably reach, a little higher and across the pit. She tried that trick from the Pillar Weave and jumped up, then pushed off the wall for extra distance and height before she came down toward that ledge...