EXCHANGED

“Sh*t that was tough” Baekhyun cursed loudly as he opens the door to their house. He plopped on the couch with a big sigh. Leaning his head back, he took a deep breath and let it out.

It’s finally over.

He was busy savouring the comfy feeling that he almost forgot that there’s something in his jacket until it popped out its head; a white kitten with an L collar around its neck. Eri, the previously sleeping cat meowed in protest trying to break out while clawing his chest.

The man hissed and quickly placed it on the couch, away from him. “Oh, now you’re being clingy?” He grumbled as the cat went back to him, laying on his lap. He patted its fur absentmindedly.

The sound of footsteps begins to grow louder, he removed his eyes from the cat and stared at the first one to come through the door.

“What do you mean it’s tough you were barely there when we fought that damned robot” Suho complained loudly as he comes through the door, the other members behind him. He darts his eyes around the room, searching for an empty box. He found one behind the door as the other members came in one by one.

“Weapons.” Suho demanded. All of them handed in their guns, putting it inside the box before resting on the floor and couch. They were all tired from fighting the enemy. It would be easier if they fought with their power but since they’ve lost it, they had to rely on their combatting skills and weapons.

“Suho’s right, you have no rights to complain” Chanyeol grunted as he proceeds to lay down on the floor. He was indeed right, Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen fighting alongside with them, what was hard for him? Baekhyun was the only one that came back from the fight uninjured while the rest of them were spotted with cuts and bruises.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and protested, “You think it was easy to chase her around? Why don’t you try and see if you could do it” The man glared at the kitten on his lap. “She’s really fast I tell you!”

“Stop complaining, would you?” Chen whined across the room. “If it’s not for her, the red force could’ve completed the process to take over the world with our powers”

Baekhyun sighed. Thunder boy is right about that, but it could’ve been better if Eri didn’t run away from their secret hide out just before they start the war. He rubbed his temple in frustrations before continuing, “I almost lost my soul when she went out-“

“Told you to put her on a leash and you didn’t listen” Kai interrupted Baekhyun causing the latter to glare at him. The cat ended up being mischievous, escaping from its owner in the speed of light.. well it is light to begin with.

“She’s a ing cat why would I put her in a leash?” Baekhyun groaned and was about to defend himself some more but was again interrupted.

“Okay quit it! What’s done is done, we got our powers back didn’t we?” Kyungsoo said out loud to break the fight. He was the last one to come through the door with a bag on his hand, containing the orbs that held their powers.

Baekhyun was guilty that he couldn’t help the others out with obtaining their powers back but he also couldn’t lose his power in the process. It was hard to chase around the kitten, not to mention that it’s his power light. The creature is bound to be fast as the speed of light. Thankfully he found it just before the enemy could.

“But it’s kind of easy don’t you think?” Sehun asked around suspiciously. Kyungsoo made a face, not sure what to think about the youngest’s statement when they younger had been careless.

“Too easy that you could shoot it without looking? And almost shooting me that is?” Kyungsoo emphasized the latter part of his sentence with a bitter tone.

“Sorry”

It’s without a doubt that they were still not that professional when it comes to weapons, they had been training with their powers since they realised about their potential during their first time in Exordium.

“Well, they were careless enough to let just several of their people and the robot roam around the tree of life. Props to them though” Chen chuckled but then winced, unconsciously touching his injured jaw with his hands.

“I saw you fighting a girl back then. She’s quite tough I see, she managed to injure your jaw. Is it dislocated?” Xiumin teased Chen, causing the latter to throw his shoe at him. Chen mentally note in his head that he’s going to avenge for his pride.

Kyungsoo began to quietly distribute the orbs, knowing which one belongs to who as it glows up with a touch of its owner.

Xiumin silently observed the orbs in his hands, “Sehun is right, it was easy to get it back. Too easy that it seemed fishy.”

Sehun nodded, happy that someone is finally agreeing to him. “They’ll come for us as soon as they heard the news for sure, probably as we speak.”

They are now in Satia, living among the commoners to blend in. It was a good thing that they were still apprentices when the red force ambushed them. They weren’t officially introduced as the new guardians yet to the people of Elyxion so no one knows what they look like. 

Someone across the room tch-ed. “Don’t overthink, we wasted a lot of time already. The system is already ed up while we’re gone and there’s so much things to do.” Kai said impatiently and stood up to retrieve his powers.

What is there to overthink about? It was purely by chance yet no one knows why the enemy kept on roaming the tree of life every day without doing anything to it. But of course that’s another problem to solve for later.

One by one, they started to open the orbs that seems to contain their powers except for Baekhyun. He sighed and picked up his power (in its kitten form) up to his face.

He examined the kitten and sighed again. “For a cute thing you sure caused a lot of trouble” He couldn’t do anything but to wait for Yixing to turn his powers back from its cat version.

Where was Yixing when they went to battle the red force you asked? The said man was resting from his injury and couldn’t participate in battling.

It was just another normal training day that time, but it was their last. There was 12 of them, the next guardian to-be; the apprentices. All of them were training with the current guardians, their powers getting stronger in result of their hard training.

They were all gathered in a huge clearing with the tree of life in the middle.

“Your training has come to an end and it is time for use to pass down our powers to you” The former water guardian said to the 12 apprentices.

The apprentices looked at each other, some with worry written on their face, some being excited to take over and some just wants everything to be done so he could sleep for the rest of the day. Training was ten times harder that day.

“It would be a bit overwhelming at first but we trust you that you could control it by now” a feminine voice continued, the guardian of earth said gracefully.

“Are all of you sure that we are ready?” Suho asked with a hint of doubt. He was still doubting that they could do it. It is a big responsibility, they will be the new leaders that holds tremendous power. It would be