------------------------------

“SEHUN-AAHH!! OVER HEREE!” Sooyun shouted as she waved her hand, hoping that Sehun could notice her upon the crowd, for it was the first day of training camp, and all 50 new recruits had gathered here for the first meeting. Sehun had promised Sooyun that he would introduce Jongin to her today, for she had been really curious listening to Sehun’s stories about this best friend of his. Sehun saw his little best friend and soon dragged the lad beside him, breaking the crowd.

Their gathering place was an outdoor meeting point. The seats were arranged in half a circle, with the back seats higher than the one in front. In the center of the circle was a 10m wide oval shaped podium made of grey and white granite. Sooyun had picked the first row seat, for she was too thrilled to miss out on anything on the day.

“You’re too loud, Sooyun-ah!” Sehun whined as he approach the female.

“Yeah, whatever, blower. So, you must be Jongin, huh? Nice to meet you!” she smiled and let out her hands to the boy beside Sehun.

He was a bit shorter then Sehun, just a little bit. His skin tone is also darker, bur for all she knows, Sehun is the one with the overly-white-for-a-guy-like-him skin color. Jongin’s hair is the same color as Sehun’s, but Jongin had a messier do, and while Sehun had his bangs over his eyebrow, Jongin had his hair parted just a little to his right, exposing a part of his forehead. One thing that stood out in Sooyun’s eyes the first time she looks at Jongin is that he had some really nice jawline. But what capture her most are his eyes, for the pair of dark brown irises pierce to the very soul of hers. Never has she been so petrified by someone’s stare, and yet there stood Jongin, that even when he’s smiling, even when Sooyun knows he means no offense what so ever, but something about his eyes were just so strong and passionate.

“And you must be Sooyun. Nice to meet you too,” Jongin smiled the brightest smile Sooyun ever saw and took her hands in his.

“Ya! I know he’s good looking, girl, but quit staring at him. He gets shy a lot you know,” Sehun snapped his fingers a few times in front of his childhood friend’s eyes, getting her attention back.

As a matter of fact, Jongin did looked quite flustered as Sooyun was staring at him, still holding his hands, for Sooyun herself is a beauty to Jongin. Yes, Sehun had once told him that his friend is somewhat the popular girl in her institution, but he didn’t thought of her to be such exquisite. That moment, Jongin got jealous of Sehun, for having such lady as his friend all along.

“Shut it, Sehun!” Sooyun shot him a glare, making him back off and raise his hand as if to show his innocence.

“Sehun talked a lot about you. I envy you two,”

“Oh, really? What did he say about me? Don’t trust anything he said. Must’ve want to ruin my image before we even met,” Sooyun folded her arms, ready to attack Sehun for every lie he throws at Jongin about her.

“Ah, as a matter of fact, he said you’re one of the strongest he had ever battled with,”

“Aaaww, that was so sweet of you, Sehun-ssi,” Sooyun as she tip-toed to pinch Sehun’s nose after getting over her own surprise.

“Yeah, thanks a lot, Jongin,” Sehun said and blew some wind to mess Jongin’s hair and to stop whatever Sooyun is doing to him. Jongin chuckled and hung his head, perhaps feeling embarrassed.

“Anyway, I wonder how they would pick the fighter for today’s opening combat,” Sooyun said as she sat down.

“I heard last year’s contestants were a pair of twin sisters and I’ve heard of a pair of lovers too some time before. That’s kinda cruel, don’t you think?” Jongin commented as he sat on her right and Sehun on her left.

“Hmph, it’s just a showoff of power, I don’t think it even matters,” Sehun shrugs his shoulders.

Listening from her brother’s stories, it’s a tradition in the camp to have a pair of the recruits to be randomly picked to showcase their abilities in a combat simulation inside that very own podium in front of their eyes right now.

Tour de force, that’s the name; a magnificent performance of skill and ability. The rules were simple enough: showcase what you got and play it against your opponent. The first one to make the other touch their knees to the podium or push the other outside the podium would claim champion. If none managed to do so within 20 minutes, the battle would be halted and both would be titled winner. Battling on the first day puts their whole training experience in a gamble. Victor would gain respect, but also perhaps, hate. Loser would gain nothing but experience if they fought well and shame if they failed to display their skills.

And so the welcoming ceremony starts.

Sooyun half dozed through the opening speech, only to have Jongin nudged her shoulders again and again because he felt uncomfortable them to sit on the front row, yet she fell asleep. Sehun on the other hand, was struggling hard to hold back his laugh and he was even blowing light breeze around her so it’s comfier for her to sleep. At her most drowsiness, her head once fell to rest on Jongin’s shoulders, making the later froze out of surprise, shyness, and embarrassment, as he was only able to look at Sehun who by now is laughing soundlessly, shadow-hitting his own thighs.

*

“And, now!!! The event you have been waiting for most!! We will now start our welcoming combat, the tour de force!!”

Sooyun jolted upright upon hearing the ceremony name blasted though the speaker. Oh, how she had been waiting for this to happen, how she even wished she would be picked to fight today. She was confident upon her talent because if she were to fight on the granite platform, it means she would be fighting on a ring made out of her own element.

Some of the other campers are not as bold as her, and some just wished to keep their powers hidden until it was necessary to display them. Sehun and Jongin are for example the ones that rather conceal their personal gifts until time of needs, and that’s why they’re not as interested.

“All of you knew about the battle and all of you knew the rules. This year! We’re making something new! It’s not going to be a battle between two anymore!” the instructor announced, and the crowd goes whispering here and there.

“This year, will be a battle between NOT TWO! But THREE of you, new campers!!”

The trainees went loud. Nervous glances were apparent here and there as three means bigger chance for those who didn’t want to get chosen, chosen. There were also eager eyes and buoyant stances shared around, for those who want to fight get higher chance to expose their strength.

“And now, for the fighters!!” the man on the podium started circling around, looking into each and every pair of eyes that points him.

Sooyun were already on the edge of her seat, her hands gripping tightly to her seat. “Please, please, please…” she muttered under her breath.

“Perhaps… any volunteers?!” the announcer asked, intending to provoke the crowd. And bless how he succeed to cause shouts here and there as a lot of campers started standing up, trying their hardest to grab attention. His attention was however diverted to something else.

“OVER HERE!!” he had heard from that particular position. Two handsome guys with a smaller girl in between, and all three were standing up. She had both of her hands on the males’ hands, one on each side of hers, raising them. The girl looked eager and confident. The boys are however on total opposite of her. The one on her right looked simply bewildered, confused, and baffled, while the one on her left looked surprised of a second, then pass from his face a form of anger and irritation before he soon pulled his hand off her grip and quickly sit back down.

“Most enthralling,” he had thought to himself. “YES, YOU THREE OVER THERE!! WE HAVE THIS YEAR’S FIGHTERS!!” he quickly declared. All eyes went to the trio. Sighs of reliefs were exhaled, and so does sighs of disappointment.

“YESSS!!!” Sooyun expressed her utmost excitement before receiving a slap on her forehead from Sehun.

“Screw you,” Sehun muttered. “This is useless.”

“Don’t be so harsh, Sehun-ah. Let’s try and enjoy this, shall we?” Jongin pointed his head at the stage.

There is no way of backing down after they had been chosen. None has ever coward out, and as much as Sehun hate to step up, he also didn’t want to be the first.

Jongin offered Sooyun a hand as to bring her up to the podium, but she was too vivacious to even wait for her friends and ran by herself up the granite stone. Blinking a few times, Jongin then regain his composure and put his arms around Sehun’s soulders.

“Come on, buddy,” Jongin stood him up and walk with the un-amused Oh Sehun to the battle ground.

(((a/n: try listening to Lindsey Stirling - Beyond the Veil while reading the fight! the song is a good match :) http://youtu.be/ASGmADPzXuY)))

*

“As usual, knees touching the granite, or any part of the body to the ground,” the instructor stated after positioning Sehun on one end of the oval, Jongin on the other, and Sooyun in the middle.

“For the keeping of peace and well-being, TOUR DE FORCE, BEGIN!!!”

*

“As always, ladies first. Now, shall we, Jongin?” a smirk formed on Sehun’s lips and the wind blew lightly at Sooyun.

“Come at me, boys. I can handle both of you,” Sooyun raised an eyebrow and get to her fighting stance: right foot in front her left, knees slightly bent, elbows set beside her body, and palms open wide.

“You know, I have the advantage here. I’ve fought with both of you before, so I know your skills and also your tricks. How about if I give you guys time to know each other first, then?” Sehun folded his arms and took a step back, indicating he won’t be joining the fight for a while.

“Sounds good to me,” Jongin replied.

“Then, 5 minutes. I’ll join you guys soon,” Sehun said as he raised himself with his power and sat cross-legged 3 meters over his friends’ heads. Protests can be heard from the audience, but none dared to interfere.

“A good way to know each other, don’t you think?” Sooyun said, her attention now turn fully to her new acquaintance.

“Most unique indeed,” he replied as he put his hands inside his pocket; an odd stance to enter a combat.

Sooyun was cautious and she didn’t let her guard down because this fight is what she had been dreaming of. She needs to win this. She tried to remember everything Sehun had told her about Jongin.

“His power is teleportation. He can bring people to transfer along with him. But whatever he wants to bring along with him has to be within his touch. He is diligent. He trains by himself a lot. He did ballet when he was younger. He also did mountain climbing. That means his physical strength is also good. He reads a lot. He doesn’t like to drink. He has never date before, too shy to ask one out.

Wait, what? Focus!

Unlike how he usually is, he is a devil in a combat. You will never know where he would appear next. He is very fast, precise and rigorous upon his every movement. Thanks to his immense training, his energy reservoir is huge. Meaning, I’ll not be able to tire him to kneeling down. I’ll figure about how to get him off guard along this fight. Now, who would make the first move?”

Jongin took a step forward. Sooyun took one back.

What Sehun had said about him being a totally different person when battling is now taking place. His eyes. Something about his eyes changed. It was still burning with passion, but this time it was not something friendly. The pair of orbs had focused and turned hungry, animalistic, predatory, almost satanic. His smile, too. Those friendly and shy smiles are gone. His lips are now twisted to a smirk, a crooked one, too, as if he’s hiding some lunatic plan inside his mind. She got taken aback by the change that happened under a millisecond.

“There he goes,” Sehun smiled to himself from above upon seeing Jongin's transformation. “That’s for getting us into this, Sooyun-ah…”

“I’m dead,” Sooyun thought to herself.

*