Serena was briefly introduced as the new Activator of Kyungsoo before the first class began. She noticed that Activators had a different crest than Winged classmates on the uniform.

The seating in the room was four columns with pairs of desks - presumably for the Activator to sit beside the one they Winged. She saw that there wasn't an even ratio between Activators and the Winged. I'm guessing it's possible for an Activator to wing more than one Marked? She thought. As she had guessed, the teacher instructed Serena to sit beside Kyungsoo (who had arrived at the classroom much earlier than Serena and they did not end up walking to class together in the morning).

Serena grumpily glanced at Kyungsoo, who was avoiding any eye contact with her. 

The core classes were much faster in pace than Serena's previous school. This was because they had to fit time during the school day to allow the Winged to practise their powers. Serena was able to keep up with math and science classes, but struggled in the languages. Kyungsoo seemed unaffected by the change in pace. 

When it came the time for lunch, Kyungsoo was about to walk out of the room when Serena rushed over. 

"Hey, could you at least wait?" Serena was annoyed. Her temper was usually in control, but this person kept pushing it to the limit. 

"Sorry..." Kyungsoo said meekly. "I'm not used to having company."

During class Serena observed the other students and it seemed like no one recognized Kyungsoo before. "How long have you been at this school?" Serena questioned. 

"I've been here since first grade..." Kyungsoo hardly finished any of his sentences firmly.

"What?" Serena was genuinely surprised. "Then how come no one came up to you during class today?"

"I don't know them that well." Kyungsoo admitted. 

"Let's work on your social skills then." Serena gave a small pat on the shoulder to Kyungsoo, and he gave a little jump in return. "So do you know how the practise goes?"

Kyungsoo looked down. "Yeah."

"You don't sound excited for it at all." They reached the cafeteria line. 

"I don't want to do it." Kyungsoo looked away. "I don't want to fight."

Hrm, he's really passive. Serena tilted her head. "It's only practice, not really fighting each other...right?" Come to think about it, Kyungsoo still hasn't shown her his power yet.

Kyungsoo glared at her. "A fight is a fight, there is no such thing as just practice. There are better ways to practice using powers, yet the school chooses to fight."

"They must have a reason for it." Serena pondered. For someone who was passive Kyungsoo had firm beliefs. The two of them spent their lunch time quietly eating at the same table. 

The location for power practice was in a confined space that somewhat looked like an indoor football stadium. There was a spectator area and the field, as well as an on-site medical station. The floor and environment could be changed accordingly to suit the Winged's needs. Serena was in awe of the technology. 

"If they had this at every school then it would save up so much space! The pool could turn into the gym and then it could turn into classrooms..." Serena thought out loud. 

"It's also pretty expensive." Someone whispered. "I heard that this place is funded by the government." Kyungsoo became even more suspicious as to why training was in the form of fighting after hearing this. 

The big screen flickered on and displayed the match schedule. Kyungsoo's practice fight was third on the list. Serena urged him to take a seat in the spectators area and was eager to watch the powers in action. 

The first practice battle was between two veterans. The girl had the power of magnetism while the guy had invisibility. To Serena it seemed like the guy had the advantage, but the girl proved her wrong as she could sense his location through the change in the magnetic field of the room. The spectators could hear the guy's footsteps as he tried to dash between floating magnetic pebbles. 

The girl's hands were held out with fingers sprawled and keeping her balance in check. Her eyes glanced around and made sure that the pebbles continued to circle around the entire area. Both of them were trying to notice patterns from the other one and hoping to catch their mistakes. Meanwhile their Activators were looking quite tense in the spectator area. The moment the guy's sleeve whisked by the surface of a pebble ever so slightly, the girl clenched her fists. Immediately afterward the pebbles flew towards the guy's location and pinned him down. The battle was over and the guy revealed himself. 

The girl bent down with an arm reached out to help the guy up. The both smiled at each other. Since they're veterans they probably fought each other a lot already. Serena was still amazed by the 'battle', while Kyungsoo slouched in his seat.

The second practice battle was between a pink-haired Winged named Sungjong and a blonde-haired named Kevin. Their 'battle' was different than the first one, in which they weren't fighting against each other. Instead, they were each standing on opposite ends of the stadium and a clay boulder was placed in between them. When the teacher gave them the signal, Sungjong bit his lip and focused and Kevin stared intensely at the boulder. 

"This match-up is always a nail biter." Someone spoke in the spectator area. "Do you guys remember the last time this happened?"

"I brought earplugs just in case, guys. I figured since last time Sungjong didn't attend he'd probably be practising this time." Another warned. 

Serena turned to Kyungsoo. "Do you have any idea what they're saying?"

Kyungsoo shrugged and simply plugged his ears with his index fingers after they started mentioning that it might be needed. Even Kevin on the field already had his ears covered with earplugs. Without any warning, Sungjong clicked this tongue and amplified the sound with his power of sound wave manipulation. This caused the entire stadium to shake and the boulder started to move towards Kevin. Not wanting to back down, Kevin made a push in mid-air, causing the boulder to shrink in size and turn its direction.

"Density manipulation..." Kyungsoo was ever so slightly interested in Kevin's power. 

"How the heck is this supposed to be a battle!!" Serena was shouting as she could not hear herself. This was a battle of concentration and perseverance. Both Kevin and Sungjong were fairly new as Winged, but Sungjong's power was well known to be quite annoying to go against while Kevin's had a lot of restrictions placed onto it so that it doesn't cause too much trouble as he has a tendency to not remember what the previous density the object was originally at. Ten minutes into this battle and both sides were not backing down, while the spectators yawned and did their own activities in the stands.

"It's a good thing they set up 15 minute timers." Someone nodded. "Otherwise we'd be here all day."

The teacher blew the horn to indicate that the time was up. Sungjong fell down onto his knees and was finally able to breathe normally. Kevin immediately attempted to massage his arm muscles. Their score was based on how far the boulder was pushed away from where it was placed at the beginning of the match and it appears that Kevin had won this round.

"It's always a tough fight against you." Kevin held out his hand.

"Same." Sungjong smiled and shook Kevin's hand.

"I hope your Activator gets well soon. Then we can have a rematch when you're at your full power." Kevin waved a farewell.

The people in the stands murmured. "I heard that Sungjong's Activator was ill again." "Are you serious? His powers are still pretty strong without her around." "I think he's getting used to it?"

Serena did not question what was wrong with Sungjong's Activator because at last it was Kyungsoo's turn. He sighed as he stood up to head down to the field. He had no intention of fighting and was only there to tell them that he would forfeit his match. His battle partner was a slim girl with a long black ponytail. She wore fierce eyeliner and had a vibe that made others fear her slightly, however Kyungsoo was unaffected by her appearance.

"New boy, I won't go easy on you." she crossed her arms.

Kyungsoo ignored her and walked straight up to the teacher. "I want to forfeit my match."

"I'm sorry, but we cannot allow a forfeit unless you are injured or ill." The teacher checked her tablet. "It doesn't seem like you've  had any issues with your health from your last checkup."

"What's wrong new boy? Too coward to fight?" The girl taunted.

The teacher urged him to the field. "You'll have to stay in the field for the allotted fifteen minutes."

Kyungsoo did not like this at all. The girl took a bag of sunflower seeds and threw the contents onto the ground. The seeds immediately burst open and they quickly grew. Without hesitation she sent them flying towards Kyungsoo. He ran backwards in an attempt to dodge the rapidly-growing plants.

"Oh come on new boy, we just got started." She had a smirk on her face.

"Kyungsoo…" Serena grew worried. He continued to avoid the plants' grasps, but this would not last forever. After a misstep Kyungsoo tripped over himself and the plants tied his limbs together.

"Gotcha." With a wink the girl began to walk towards her helpless prey. Serena could see that Kyungsoo was wincing in pain as the grasp grew tighter. The teacher called for the match to end, but the girl held up her index finger. "We're not done yet. He still hasn't given up. My plants are telling me he still has strength left." More of the plants wrapped around him and Serena could not sit still any longer. She rushed down the stairs to the field and pushed the girl over. The girl scraped her hand on the ground and became enraged.

"No one stops my fights, ESPECIALLY not an Activator."