Jessica and Tiffany looked at the other nine members of their team. The buff, bald guy from earlier was there. A younger, wiry guy with a military hair cut. Four guys that were about the same age, wearing the same clothing of blue track suits. The buff lady from earlier. Finally, two fraternal twin teenagers in their gi's. A ragtag team indeed. 

 

 

The buff guy took the initiative to speak first and the rest of the team let him, mostly because of his age and build. "Okay, I'm Sangchu. As much as I don't like having to work with you all, I don't want to forfeit my chance at this training, so I will. I think our strategy is pretty simple; don't get out." 

 

The rest of them looked at him like he was an idiot. Obviously not getting out is the goal, not strategy. The buff lady spoke up next, "Um okay, Sangchu-ssi. I'm Nana. We all know that's not the strategy. The strategy should us just being faster than the other team." Nana gestures to the other team, "Compared to them, we have smaller in physique members. All their people are jacked and don't have the agility and speed that we do. I think if Sangchu-ssi and I handle the attacking, and the rest of you dodge, we'd be safe like that. We won't run the risk of losing too many team mates. Okay?" 

 

One by one, the green team members nodded at Nana's plan. It did make sense. The other team's members looked like body builders compared to them. Jessica's team was had the advantage since the other team didn't have the collective agility and speed that they do. 

 

They rest of them introduced themselves. The wiry guy is Hyukjae. The four guys in track suits are Chanyeol, Kai, Suho, and Tao. The twins are Luhan and Sehun. 

 

Jessica whispered for Tiffany to stay close to her the entire match. The blonde couldn't do her job if there was no redhead by the end of the match. 

 

 

Yunho and Boa stepped out from sidelines and the Jung Kwangjangnim announced, "Alrighty then! I hope you're all well acquainted. There's a few rules we need to make clear. One, no use of powers or other abilities. If you make it to the next round, there'll be a chance for that. Two, no close contact. Attacks will be made using the foam balls. Three, everything else is fair game."

 

"Now, line up on the walls. There are ten balls. The balls have been placed in the center of the dojang. When I say start, you start. Okay?" Boa said. The competitors nodded. "Start!" she yelled and everyone made a mad dash for the center line. 

 

 

Though the green team made a dash for the balls, they ended up backing off. Nana and Sangchu were the only ones to take any of the foam projectiles from their team. The buff duo retreated from the center line and waited for the other team to attack. Knowing that they had the disadvantage of having less means of attack, this was the smartest thing to do. 

 

 

The other team didn't think much of their fallback, so they tried to aim for the specific members of the green team they thought would be the weak links. One person shot the foam projectile at Hyukjae and missed. The wiry man ducked and the ball flew past his left side, hitting the wall. Hyukjae ran backwards to the ball and procured it. He threw the ball like he was going to hit the person who aimed at him, but the ball curved so that it hit the person next to him. 

 

 

Jessica was under attack from two people. They figured that she would be blocking attacks to Tiffany. The two attackers aimed for Tiffany and Jessica managed to catch one and the little monkey demon caught the other. Both equaling two outs. The person that was called out because of the demon protested, "That's not fair! That monkey caught the ball, not a member of their team! I'm still in!"

 

"I said other than powers and close contact, it was fair game. Neither was used to get you out. That little one is fair game!" Yunho chided. The master held a thumbs up to the demon, "Good job, Tae!"

 

The monkey demon grinned at the praise, "Thanks master!"

 

Jessica glanced at the little one, "You have a name?"

 

"It's obviously not 'little b*stard'. I'm Taeyeon, blondie," the monkey demon said in a snarky tone. She'd been waiting for the chance to tell the blonde. 

 

"You're a girl?"

 

"Didn't feel any balls on you when I was on your shoulder, did you?"

 

Jessica scoffed and focused back on her task. So far, three out, nine to go. She groaned. This was too much work. 

 

 

 

Nana was able to get another two people out by catching one ball and hitting one of the other team's members square in the face. It left a pretty bad mark. Seven more to go. Sangchu aimed for the other team's feet since he figured they were slower. He managed to get another person out with that tactic. Six to go. 

 

 

Unfortunately, the twins ended up out when the other team aimed at them when they were trying to get some stray balls. The four track suit guys managed to get four people out, one each. They seemed to be really proficient in aerials. Tao and Kai especially. Dodging was their thing. Tiffany wasn't able to get anyone out since

Jessica was blocking her from receiving and making hits. 

 

 

Jessica and Sangchu got the last two guys out by cornering them in the middle and hitting them on their sides. The guys ran into each other. 

 

 

 

Boa called the end of the dodgeball match and dismissed the losers. To the remaining eleven, "I'm impressed with your teamwork even though you all just met. I'm also impressed by you only losing two members. Before we move onto the next round, you all left will have to do something first. Clean up this dojang and meet us outside in ten minutes." Boa and Yunho left the winning team to enjoy their spoils. 

 

 

 

 

******

 

 

 

 

"So your girl won this round," Boa stated dryly. 

 

Yunho smiled cheekily at his colleague, "Of course she did! I told you that blonde kid is great."

 

"Notice anything during that match?"

 

"What?"

 

"The fact that she was practically a human shield for that redheaded girl."

 

Yunho dropped his smile and nodded. "Yeah... I wonder what's up with that."

 

"That redhaired girl doesn't seem familiar to you? You saw her flip that blonde girl."

 

The Jung master scratched his chin and looked up. The redhead did seem familiar, but her couldn't point it out. She had made it this far without really doing anything because of Jessica. Plus she managed to make Taeyeon friendly with her. How the little monkey demon acts with Jessica, is how she normally acts with people other than himself. "Maybe... You don't think?"

 

Boa sighed and nodded. "You said that Jessica asked you to train her because the spirit world sent her to you, and me. That order would have come from either the big guy or his little niece, Soonkyu."

 

"But Jessica said she's protecting her."

 

"Provision for her return to the human world. The important thing about this to take note of, is why the redhead needs protecting."

 

"The demon here," he said solemnly. It made sense. There was a demon, other than Taeyeon, here. 

 

"Yes. You know why we're holding this little competition."

 

"Why can't we retire without doing all this crap?" he asked looking up at the sky and shaking his hands dramatically. 

 

The other master shrugged her shoulders, "This is the last thing we have to do for them. Then, we're done."

 

"I feel kinda bad though. Seeing as whomever trains under us will have to go through the same thing."

 

"It's a cycle. We can't change that. You know that."

 

"Yeah, but still..."

 

"Don't think too much of it. This is the path they've chosen." She turned to the outbuilding where the competitors were coming out of, "We need to move on."

 

That was something Yunho didn't want to hear this woman say. Because it was true in so many ways. 

 

 

 

 

******

 

 

 

 

"Congrats! Now we'll be leading you all to the next venue. Follow," Yunho commanded. 

 

They all followed again like lemmings. The masters had led them just behind the outbuilding where a giant field was. It looked about the size of a soccer field. 

 

 

"You'll be drawing lots again," Boa said simply and held up the same bowl from earlier. 

 

The remaining eleven filed up, half expecting to pick numbers and half expecting to pick colors again. They all spread out to look at their slips again. This time it was numbers. Jessica got the number three. Tiffany got a pass. 

 

 

"You all have numbers. We will be setting this next part up tournament style. Since there's an odd number of you, one of you has a pass of the first round. There'll be five pairs and the the person with a pass. We have a board with the pairs. Do not think this was rigged in any way. We don't know who has which number, the board was set up randomly," Boa explained.  

 

Yunho brought out a board with the pairs. From left to right, 1 and 7, 3 and 4, 5 and 9, 2 and 10, 6 and 8, and the pass off to the side. The Jung master spoke, "You all will be fighting. One on one. You may use your powers or any other abilities. There aren't any rules other than no killing. You can push your opponent to right before their breaking point. If any of you should decide to try to push your luck, we will step in and make sure you yourself will never be able to practice in any of the Martial Arts ever again. Got it?" They all nodded. Jun Yunho just threatened to maim them and leave them. "Okay, now that you understand, 1 and 7 step forward. Also, the person with the pass."

 

Number 1 was Chanyeol and 7 was Nana. They both stepped out and looked at each other. Chanyeol had a problem fighting a female, but Nana told him to not even worry about it since he'd be losing anyway. Tiffany stepped forward and was told that whomever won the last match of the first round, would be fighting her in the second round. She nodded obediently and went back to Jessica. 

 

 

The blonde let her charge cling onto her arm. Jessica wasn't sure how this was going to work out. Tiffany didn't seem to have any training in anything. The redhead couldn't lose, they both needed to win their fights so they could train with these masters. Taeyeon moved from Jessica's shoulder to Tiffany's neck and clung onto her. The little demon didn't think Tiffany would be able to make it through either. The blonde and the demon exchanged looks of worry. 

 

 

Being struck out of their little world, Tiffany and Jessica looked up to see Chanyeol and Nana already on the field, ready to begin their fight. Jessica sighed, this was going to be an even longer day than she anticipated. 

 

 

 

 

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A/N: I'm sorry about not posting this up last night. >_< It kind of all got deleted as I was typing it up. And it was late and I was super tired.