(41) FORCES AS ONE

“Are we really going to do this?”

Baekhyun groaned for the nth time that day. The sun was already beginning to set for the day as the blue skies melted into a creamy shade of orange. They'd already gone through a set of training for the day and had been resting on the porch as the breeze cooled their sweaty foreheads.

Kris nodded his head again, rotating his arm around to stretch his body properly. They still had a few hours before sun down and it was the perfect opportunity to get in a couple more practices.

“You heard me.” Kris paid them no mind as he continued to step out onto the lawn.

To his left was the messy mud pit from yesterday’s brawl while to the right was the remains of today’s battling. Right smack dab in the middle was the grassy area, untouched by any flame, mud or dirty substance.

Perfect for team sparring.

“I’ll do Baekhyun a favor and volunteer first then.”

Baekhyun was almost too happy to hear those words, though his smile disappeared when he turned around to find Chen smirking from not to far away. “Not you.”

“Too bad because I said it already!”

Chen’s high spirits and Baekhyun’s sudden faltering happiness was all it took for Kris to agree. He didn’t mind seeing Baekhyun like that. As he motioned for Chen to take the stage, Chanyeol had stepped forward, facing his brother with a serious expression.

“Me too. I want to fight too” Chanyeol wasn’t going to let Chen make Baekhyun suffer like that.

Kris saw Chanyeol’s sudden eagerness and took it as a good sign of the training, a proud smile appearing on his lips all the while he thought that it was purely his work making such a miracle.

“Oh okay. You can pair with Chen then.”

“What?” Chanyeol sputtered, “But-”

“Chen and Chanyeol! Versus…”

Kris wasn’t even listening to Chanyeol anymore. The dejected boy’s ears almost seemed to droop as he glanced over at Chen who shrugged. At least he knew what Chanyeol was trying to do and wasn’t disregarding him like how Kris was.

“Come here and let’s make a plan.” Chen motioned the boy over and the two began to quietly talk while Kris made his decision.

Sehun avoided Kris’ eye as much as he could, even ducking his body behind Kyungsoo’s small frame in hopes he’d stand out. If Kris saw Kyungsoo and Sehun together this time, he might pair them together. At least he wouldn’t be beaten physically by the boy if it were to happen.

“I can see you Sehun.” Kris sighed, “You and Suho get on the field.”

Before he could disagree, he realized that they were going to be attacking with powers this time. Seeing that they were up against Chen and Chanyeol, having Suho there would not only counterbalance Chanyeol’s fire, but there also was a possibility that Chen could be hit with his own medicine.

Sehun quickly made his way over to Suho to figure out how they’d win the battle, a bit too excited. The latter on the other hand hadn’t even heard his name be called because he was talking to Lay about having furthered their powers.

“Come on Suho! You’re paired with me.” Sehun proceeded to drag Suho onto the field so that they stood across from Chen and Chanyeol who were being extremely quiet unlike their usual personalities. “We need to beat them.”

Now that Suho knew what was happening, it was clear that he didn’t want to lose either, somehow finding himself thinking about the plan while Sehun continued to throw threats over to the other team.

“I take Chanyeol and you get Chen.” Suho hummed.

“What?” Sehun gasped, “I don’t want to go solo against the human pikachu.”

“I heard that!”

It wasn’t like Sehun was hiding the fact that going up against Chen wasn’t what he had thought of in the slightest. He just didn’t want to be electrocuted like Chanyeol in the last round.

“Can’t I just, you know. Use my wind to keep them back?” Sehun tried to reason with Suho though the latter was being pretty stubborn himself.

“And if they get through that?”

Sehun didn’t know. Rather, he didn’t care. He knew Suho had some kind of plan up his sleeve and just wasn’t saying anything to try and test him. Sehun made a pretty big deal out of being treated like a kid and his guess was that Suho had taken that to heart.

“Then… Then you can drench Chanyeol’s fire and…”

He thought long and hard about what happens next after that. He kept thinking until he could feel the aches from his brain shooting down to his eyeballs, still trying to concentrate despite how Kris was calling for them to get ready to start.

“Come on Sehun.” Suho chided softly, only wanting him to think about it carefully. “What happens when fire gets put out by water?”

Fire never mixed well with water, and Chanyeol and Suho’s powers proved it. Though they got along, Sehun could see it whenever they had gotten too close to one another’s elements. The subtle way Suho would crinkle his nose if the air was too humid and hot compared to Chanyeol’s overly loud complaining about cold weather had to prove it.

Sehun pictured a small kindled flame burning atop a pile of wood, the individual wisps swaying back and forth as the nearby leaves crackled and sizzled away. Then all Sehun had to do was think of what would happen if a giant bucket of water had been poured over it. As the fire fizzled and sputtered under the water’s sheer force, the gray strands of smoke rose into the air, clouding Sehun’s mind until he realized it finally what Suho was trying to get at.

“A smoke screen… Right?” Sehun said all too desperately.

He let out a relieved sigh once Suho began to smile. “Good job.”

The two had a brief moment to grin at their own little plan before Kris had become impatient, just allowing the fight to start whether they were ready or not. Both boys were confident and looked across the way at Chanyeol and Chen, finding the same smug smiles as if they were the ones that would win.

Kris had called for the battle to start and immediately did Sehun rush forward. With each step he took, he could feel the grass under his shoes giving way, as if to allow him to continue forward. Chen and Chanyeol weren’t prepared for such a frontal attack and brought their powers up protectively so that each ability rested in their palms. Sehun could see Chanyeol’s stance slowly begin to shift into something much more intimidating and that’s when he knew to release his powers. The reflected green strips of grass were replaced by a ghostly white mist glowing in his irises, all the more terrifying as Sehun continued to charge at them.

By being so close distanced, the wind behind his attack felt much more intense as it whipped around. The trees shook dangerously as if they’d be uprooted if Sehun had upped the power anymore.

Chen wasn’t ready for something so strong and struggled to keep his footing while Chanyeol had fully fallen down to his knees. The only problem now was that in Chanyeol’s hands were two orbs of fire that had already begun to grow bigger before Sehun had gotten so close.

With the raging winds causing havoc, the flames only grew bigger. Much bigger.

Chanyeol yelped as the fire began to singe his shirt sleeves, holding his hands high above his hand. The move was out of pure instinct and he didn’t know that the fire kindled in his fingers would join together to create a much bigger ball of fire.

“Get rid of that!” Chen screamed over the raging fire’s roaring.

Chanyeol would’ve if he could. It appeared that he wasn’t in full control of his powers just yet. When he pulled one hand to the side, the fire followed suit, burning brightly in his hand until he’d return to his original position. Then the newly made fire in his palm would adjoin with the ball he already had to create a much bigger fire.

A look of panic spread across Chanyeol’s face as he continued to try and rid himself of the fire hovering above his head. Eventually he’d flicked his wrist forward while anxiously trying to fix the mess he was making, sending three individual fireballs over to Sehun and Suho’s side of the field. The balls of fire sizzled as it hit the ground, almost boiling the grass if it weren’t for the water soaking up the place.

With the tiny scaled trails of smoke going up in the air, Suho cringed realizing he’d been found out.

“Nice try, Suho.” Chanyeol grinned happily.

Suho knew that Chanyeol could now see the water beginning to pour out from the garden hose he’d oh so discreetly gotten from the side of the house. Now it was just a race against time to see who’d be able to unleash their powers first.

Chen shot bolts of lightning towards Sehun to keep him from interfering. Something told him that Chanyeol wanted to face Suho alone and since Chen didn’t want to get his shoes wet, he just let Chanyeol do that.

Chanyeol had planted his feet into the ground and ignored the smell of burning pieces of grass under his heels as he forced the massive ball in his hands forward, flinging it Suho and Sehun’s way. Suho wasn’t that far behind either, having enough water pooling around his ankles to lift it up to the air and create a wall of water. The density practice he did earlier helped him picture an iron wall protecting them so the fire wouldn’t evaporate anything. His wall stood proud and pushing his palm forward sent the wall tipping over to collapse right over the ball of fire.

Then they were blasted by the heat and a shower of water.

The moisture in the air skyrocketed as pressurized air continued to blow out in all directions. Suho had successfully been able to smother Chanyeol’s fire in time so they hadn’t burned under such an intense heat. And it was just as Sehun predicted. Steam clung to the battlegrounds, successfully providing a sort of cloak for them to recover for their next move.

Their soaked shirts clung to their bodies like sweat on a hot summer day, only this time their entire bodies were wet from head to toe.

“Now, Sehun!”

Suho’s call was for an ambush while they still had the upperhand. He’d learned from Xiumin the hard way that the first move was always the best move to take.

Sehun was already on it. He’d ran through the smoke screen and could see the faint shadows of Chen and Chanyeol as they retreated backwards. If they moved anymore, they’d go out of bounds and it could be an automatic win for Sehun and Suho’s team. They doubted they’d do that though.

Just as they predicted, Chanyeol was the first to stop running. He held his hands out in front of his face and crossed his fingers, creating an ‘X’ while facing his palms outward and locking his thumbs together. His crimson eyes were barely visible behind his large hands, but they didn’t need to see his eye color to see the giant wall of fire being created in his place.

The familiar sound of fire crackling appeared and from the ground shot up Chanyeol’s familiar: The phoenix. It’s wings stretched widely and easily overtook the length of the playing field with a single move.

No words needed to be said as Suho’s body twisted around to come to a stop. He’d regained his footing, but the water that he sent over to the other side of the field had missed its mark. Instead of dousing the direct center where Chanyeol was, it had ended up evaporating the left wing of his phoenix. They could hear Chanyeol’s garbled scream somewhere off to the side, but nothing was more important compared to what Chen was doing in back of him.

The boy was seated, cross legged in a dry patch of grass, smile gracing his lips. It was too late to try and run away by the time they’d seen the sparks ground.

“Chanyeol! Get out of there!” Baekhyun yelled from the sidelines.

The poor boy was hidden by another screen of steam from Suho’s earlier attack and it all happened much too quickly for their liking after. Sehun and Suho crumbling to the ground in a tattered heap while Chen just cackled from the opposite side.

Nobody was paying attention to Chanyeol.

Baekhyun hadn’t wasted a second before rushing towards the field towards Chanyeol. By then the steam had let up and he braced for the worst, only to find a happy Chanyeol running towards him with outstretched arms.

“Baekhyun! We won!” He cheered, glomping himself over Baekhyun’s small frame.

“W-What? But you- And Chen!”

Baekhyun didn’t like to be confused, and being so made him infuriated. Since Chen had pulled such a risky stunt just then, Baekhyun had a new target to release his frustrations out on.

“That was the stupidest, most idiotic thing I’ve ever- What if you ing fried Chanyeol?” He hissed, rushing around to grab Chen furiously.

Suho was too ‘fried’ to hear Baekhyun swear and the latter was a bit grateful, though still worried. Lay was already on it to help the two that weren’t as lucky as Chanyeol.

“But we won.” Chen sighed, looking away at the others that were still confused. He grinned and grabbed Chanyeol’s shoulder, pulling him closer so that the two of them were standing shoulder to shoulder. “It was all apart of the plan, right Chanyeol?”

Chanyeol nodded his head happily, though it hadn’t lasted that long with Baekhyun looking at the two of them as if they’d committed arson.

And yes, Chanyeol has seen that face from Baekhyun before. So he’d know what it looks like.

“Chanyeol’s fire evaporated the water before Chen electrocuted it.” Suho croaked from the side.

He was more or less okay now since Lay had been so kind as to help him back to the porch and out of the death trap made by Chen and his own doing. “We were just as worried too Baek. Though, we couldn’t move and ended up getting shocked.”

“Yeah. Thanks Chen.” Sehun grumbled.

“Anytime, friend~”

Before he could process it, Baekhyun let out a relieved sigh. Looking up towards Chanyeol, the boy was oblivious to the fact that he was almost shocked by his own teammate. Baekhyun found that displeasing, so he’d left his side to go and grab Luhan, tugging him up to the front.

“We’re ready.”

“What?” Luhan argued, “What do you mean-”

“You two versus Kai and Lay!”

Kris was getting good at picking out teams, or so he thought. It hadn’t occurred to him that both Kai and Lay were also paired up with one another previously. Luckily they hadn’t made a scene about it like how Baekhyun and Luhan had earlier.

Initially, the thought of going against Kai and Lay had been very troublesome. They weren’t the types to start fights themselves, not to mention how pathetic their brawl against each other was. Yet, at the same time, Baekhyun found himself mulling over the thought of Kai’s teleportation abilities, and Lay’s ability to heal their wounds. In other words, this battle wasn’t exactly going to be easy.

Then again, Baekhyun smiles to himself when he realizes that he has Luhan on his team. Luhan knew how to fight- that is, whenever he got angry. They begin to plan seriously the second Baekhyun looks at the other with a mischievous grin.

Kai and Lay, on the other hand, didn’t go as well together as the other two. There was no logical way that they could use their powers together to create something bigger and better, though Baekhyun and Luhan seem to be thinking otherwise.

The match starts sooner than expected, and Kai and Lay struggle out their last words to each other before awkwardly getting into battle position. The other team can only watch as they move nervously, Luhan raising an eyebrow up at their uneasiness. Luhan moves his hands around, but Kai and Lay don’t feel anything out of the ordinary, so Kai uses the time to place a hand on Lay’s arm and teleport them in closer.

What they don’t know is that this was part of their plan all along.

Baekhyun and Luhan’s powers work together like the sun and the moon. Much thanks to Baekhyun’s wit, they’ve planned to merge their powers to create the ultimate illusion- using Baekhyun’s light to alter the scene, and Luhan’s telepathy to alter their sense of sound.

In other words, one moment, Kai and Lay are charging at Baekhyun and Luhan, and the next, they’re whacking each other in the face.

Lay manages to pick himself back up much more quickly than Kai is, glancing up to see what was happening when everything went dark. It was like they were fighting inside a cave where no light could get in. Everything was pitch black darkness.

“Looks like you’re a little confused Lay.”

The voice was quiet, but Lay could make it that it belonged to Baekhyun. He could practically hear the way Baekhyun’s voice went higher in the end, as if he were smiling as he spoke. It echoed around Lay’s head and he couldn’t pinpoint where the noise was coming from, causing him to turn around in circles frantically for an answer. The more he looked the more he realized he was alone, not even having Kai there with him anymore.

“What’s wrong?” The voice was close now. “Need a little insight?”

There was a faint touch on Lay’s shoulder and he’d immediately swung his fist back to try and hit something. Anything would be better in this case.

Then he saw Baekhyun, standing proud a