Yena was nervous. The director just ended his spiel and had the tours and orientations begin. This meant that she had to be separated from her friends, Yiren and Sihyeon, because their powers were classified differently. The groups were divided into combat-centric, mental-based and elemental-based powers. Yena was classified into the elemental group which was led into an empty white room. It was hard to tell how big it actually was because of the color; it could've stretched for miles for all she knew. Yena looked around at all the people conversing and wanted to get into the action. The problem now that her friends were gone, she suddenly felt a bit more timid. Doubts started to fill her mind on if she'd actually be able to make more friends here knowing that not everyone was here for the same reason. While she was thinking this, one of the trainers went up and called the attention of the group.

"Greetings, everyone! My name is Soyou, and I'm going to be teaching you girls how to control your elemental powers."

"How can we trust you though?" Asked someone at the back. It was understandable to doubt any authority figure for mutants. Most adults these trainees have met have been manipulative and cruel.

Soyou then raises her hand and produces a ball of fire and tosses is to the sky. Everyone was shocked as she proceeded to aim a finger to the ball and fired at it creating a beautiful explosion high above the trainees garnering many oohs and aahs from them.

"That answer your question?" She asks smugly, arms crossed. The group nodded excitedly at the prospect of learning from someone who had mastered her powers.

"Surprised? Many of you were born around the late 90s to the early 2000s, no? Well there were always "mutant" births before that, just not as often. The reason why you don't hear much about us is that many usually don't survive to this age." She said the last part sadly as if reminiscing of tougher times. The trainees could relate to that for sure.

"Now, you might also be wondering what you're doing in this white room too, right?" She then whispers something into her commlink and everyone gasps as the room slowly begins to shift. Some get out of the way as trees sprout from the ground and lakes are formed. "You see, the Korean government spared no expense in creating this facility. I'm going to be grouping you into fours to practice your powers, and yes, I've already planned the groupings." Yena was somewhat relieved by that. She was afraid of being left out if they had to make groups themselves. She'd already been so awestruck by the amount of information told to her by Soyou already that she felt like her head was going to short-circuit.

~~~~

"Hello everyone! I'm Choi Yena, pleasure to meet you all!" Now that things were more settled and they were in a smaller group, Yena felt a bit better about taking the initiative to talk to the others. Her group was seated in an isolated clearing a bit farther away from the other trainees. Soyou had mentioned that they should spread out a lot since their powers were all elemental based, meaning they could all have a wide area of effect. Her group consisted of one of the two young tall girls she'd seen bickering earlier, a Japanese girl with puffy cheeks, like a squirrel, and a pretty, but extremely quiet looking girl who she didn't even see walk into the hall. This is gonna be an interesting group. She thought to herself.

Yena was about to suggest someone else to introduce themselves next when the young girl spoke up energetically. "Hiii! My name's Ahn Yujin! Maybe you've heard of me?" Come to think of it, Yena did think that girl looked familiar but couldn't put her finger on it. "Uhm, I'm sorry, I can't remember exactly, but you do look familiar. Are you a celebrity? She asks. "Well, was a celebrity." Yujin responded glumly. Her mood shifted almost instantaneously though as she addressed the other two girls. "What about you guys? What're your names?"

"Uh-h, my n-name is Honda Hitomi. It's nice to m-meet you all" She stuttered as she thought of every syllable as she wasn't well versed in Korean yet.

"A Japanese girl? That's so cool, why'd you guys all come here anyway? Not that we don't welcome you, it's just weird that they decided to send you guys is all." Yujin asks the question that had been on Yena's mind the whole time. She liked this kid, had the same vibe as her and liked talking with others. She was definitely giving Yena a run for her money in terms of being energetic.

"Ah, I'm not too sure m-myself. It was just an o-order. M-maybe the facilities in Japan were all full? Again, I'm n-not too sure." Hitomi responds meekly.

"It's fine, we're glad to have you all. We can share our culture with you and vice versa. It should be really fun!" Yujin really did have the energy of a large puppy. Seeing her take the reins of the conversation made Yena realize how tired she'd gotten of doing so. It was a nice change of pace.

"Hello, I'm Kang Hyewon. I look forward to training with you all." The chilling voice that came out of nowhere surprised the three other girls. They'd completely forgotten about the fourth girl who had just spoken up.

"Ah, I see, pleasure to meet you too, Hyewon!" Yena greets her, just missing the way Hyewon's expression changed at her response. I got stuck with these two hyperactive girls? Well, at least they can take care of doing all the talking.

"Okay, now that introductions are out of the way, why not show off our abilities now?" Yena asks as they begin to get up to begin training.

~~~~

Aish is no one really going to speak up first?

Groupings were just assigned for the mental based power class and one in particular was just sitting around without any interaction. The silence was deafening, and it was starting to get on the nerves of a hamster like girl on the side.

I get that one is Japanese, but that tall girl isn't even sparing any of us a glance while that other girl is looking around twiddling her fingers. This is a mess. Unfortunately, their instructor for the introductory class was none other than Bae Yoon-jeong, and she had just so happened to be observing their group for the past 5 minutes.

"Yah, what are you four doing? Are you all just gonna sit there like mannequins until class is over? I'm going to put you all on dish duty if I don't see any progress soon." She says strictly. She continued to berate the four about how it's important to foster teamwork and all the cheesy values they preach in movies, and they could only nod in response. When she finally walks away, the Japanese girl sighs.

Damn that woman is scary, but I see her point. Teamwork and the understanding of others raise the probability of a successful operation by 121.7%. She then musters up her courage and speaks up.

"Hello, my name is Miyawaki Sakura from Japan. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She says quickly.

"Finally, someone said it!" The frustrated girl from earlier says exasperatedly. "And it was the Japanese girl too? I can't believe it." She glares at the other two Koreans in the group hoping someone else would take her turn.

"Hel-" The shy girl was about to speak when she was cut off by the tall one. "Why don't you go next then hamster girl?" She says indifferently, not even taking the effort to look at her. For someone so young looking, she certainly acts all high and mighty.

"Fine, I'll go next. My name is Jo Yuri. Happy giant baby?" The tall girl scoffs at this before responding. "I have a name, you know?"

Yuri grins slyly. "Really? I wouldn't know since you keep sitting there whining, princess."

"Uhm, my name i-" The shy girl is cut off once again. "Princess? It's Jang Wonyoung to you peasants. Ugh, I can't even believe my parents sent me all the way over here."

"Guess what, Wonyoung? I don't care where you're from because in here, we're all the same." Yuri bites back.

I got stuck with these two? Just my luck. I see an 86.3% chance of this going very poorly going forward. Sakura sighs to herself at what she's witnessing.

"Hello?" a small voice asks.

"What!?!" Yuri and Wonyoung both yell in unison.

"Can I, uhm, i-introduce myself now too?"

"Oh, I am so sorry. Go on, what's your name, friend." Yuri feels apologetic towards the girl for leaving her out.

"Hello, my name is Kim Minjoo. I hope we can all get closer together through training." She says after mustering up the best smile she could.

A moment of silence passed as the same thought ran through Wonyoung, Yuri and Sakura. This girl is extremely pretty.

And with that, their training officially began.

~~~~

In the combat power training room, training was already in full swing. A dashing blur scurries through the bushes and around the trees looking for her next target, movement light as a feather.

I gotcha this time, Chaewon. She makes a mad dash towards the figure in the clearing but coming up with air. "C'mon, Chaewon? Can't you at least make these things solid?"

A voice in the canopy replies. "No can do, Chaeyeon, I'm still practicing it." Chaeyeon felt movement behind her, quickly reacting by crouching and turning to trip her opponent, but once again,  her foot goes through a doppelganger, "But the way you attack makes me think I shouldn't change anything at all." And with that, Chaeyeon's on the ground, feigning the acceptance of defeat. "Hehe, nice moves, Chaewon." She then gradually shifts her weight to one side, flipping Chaewon over with her on top. "But you should really practice finishing the opponent."

Nearby, another duo finds themselves in a practice confrontation. "Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because you're short and cute, Nako."

"What did you call me? I'll beat you this time for sure." The girl, Nako, despite her diminutive size, lifts a large boulder next to her effortlessly before tossing it to her opponent.

As the dust settles, there's a girl standing by the boulder, obviously taken aback, but confidence not shaken. "Good dodge, Eunbi! I'll try finding a bigger one next time so it'll hit!" Nako says with a sarcastic laugh.

"Sheesh, don't try too hard though, we're supposed to be learning to fight as teammates. Can't really do that if I'm dead, you know?" The older girl, Eunbi responds. Damn, that was close. All these young bloods with so much power on their hands. She thinks. People would call Eunbi a 'late bloomer'. As opposed to girls like Wonyoung and Yujin who had their powers develop early, Eunbi would be classified in the group of people who get their powers late. She had admitted herself to the program, something few trainees did. Normally, they had to be forced to go, or would go as late as possible. Eunbi signed up early and willingly, something many in the administration still pondered about.

"Good point, unnie! But I'm sure with our powers, there can't be too much we can do in training to hurt ourselves too badly anyway." Nako says cheerfully.

Chaeyeon and Chaewon were just coming over having finished their training with each other. "You both make good points. Let's just work together to get chosen for the special task force!" Chaeyeon cheers. "What's so good about that, though?" Chaewon asks curiously. At that, Chaeyeon's expression sours for a moment before responding, "Well, the final team gets the most freedom out of everyone, you know? They don't have to attend as many trainings and stuff. Wouldn't that be something nice?"

"Not only that, Chaewon, but the task force members get to be the symbols of all mutants. We would have the chance to change the narrative about us." Eunbi adds. She'd had to exert a lot of effort to convince the younger girl to enlist with her from Woollim, and even now, Chaewon was still full of doubts.

"Also, the team would be the bridge between our two countries! You guys would be able to fly to Japan and find out so much more about a new place like I'm doing here." Says Nako.

"Huh, I guess there are a lot of benefits after all. Fine, let's all work hard together so we can make it. Fighting!" Chaewon says, finally swayed by what her teammates had said.

That group was one of the quickest to gel together despite not knowing each other very well. Cheetah, one of the trainers, had been observing them during training and was impressed at the leadership shown by Kwon Eunbi. Hmm, we may have found something with those four, but we still need training to bring out the best in everyone. She thinks to herself.

She then gets up and gathers the trainees in for announcements. "Okay everyone, good work today. I see a lot of promise in many of you. Keep it up, and if you need advice or guidance in using your powers, just come ask any of the trainers."

"Now, the rest of the afternoon is dedicated to all of you getting acclimated to your new surroundings in this facility. You will all be assigned to dorms and you can move around, take a shower or elect to stay in your rooms until dinner at 7pm sharp. The dorm assignments will be posted in the main hall shortly. Again, it's a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope that our time here will be fruitful!" She finally concludes.

"You hear that, Eunbi-unnie? Dorm assignments!" Nako says enthusiastically. "I hope we can stay in the same rooms."

"I do too, Nako, but remember, everyone here is supposed to be your ally. Don't be afraid to be open even if we aren't your roommates, okay?

"Okay unnie! But I'd still prefer if our group was all in one room. I'm glad I met you all!"

~~~

"You've got to be kidding me. I'm with you!?" Wonyoung shrieks as she reads the dorm assignments on the board.

"Don't get all worked up because of me, kid. You think I'm happy about this?" Yuri responds with a sigh.

"There's got to be a way to change the assignments. You must want this too, right?"

"Aish, you really think they'd do that just because you have a problem with me? If what we've seen so far is any indication, they must've had these arranged from the start. No use complaining now, roomie."

Wonyoung squints to get a better look at the list closer now. "Well, I hope the others we get stuck with aren't as annoying as you. Let's see...Na Goeun, Takahashi...Juri? I don't know how to pronounce these Japanese names...Choi Yena, and...no way. This has to be my worst nightmare." Wonyoung turns pale as she finishes reading it.

"Really now? You've only known me for what? 4 hours? How could I be your worst nightmare?" Yuri says coldly.

"No, not you..." She points at the last name of the girls assigned to their room with a shaky finger. "Ahn Yu-" She's cut off when a familiar voice speaks up. The owner of the voice grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around. "What's up, Wonyoung? Looks like you're gonna be stuck with me a while longer hehe."

"Ahn Yujin..." Wonyoung gives off an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, that's my name. Don't wear it out." She responds coolly.

"Ugh, you are impossible." Wonyoung stamps her feet and walks away.

Yujin then focuses on Yuri, greeting her. "Hi! As you already know, my name's Yujin. Don't mind Wonyoung over there. She always acts like a brat when I'm around. Are you going to be one of our roommates?"

"Ah, yes I am. My name's Yuri. Pleasure to meet you." She says curtly.

"Wait, I'll call over one of our other roommates. She's a really cool unnie. She's as energetic as me!" Oh, joy. Yuri mumbles to herself.

~~~~

Yena had a blast in training. Seeing how her groupmates used their powers was a breath of fresh air to her. Finally, people like me. She'd watched awestruck at the mock battle Hitomi and Yujin were having. Water bending versus earth bending. It was a sight to see. It distracted her long enough to slip on the ice path Hyewon had made while she wasn't looking. "Yah, keep your head in the game next time, okay?" She'd said. Hyewon was pretty cool and not just because she controlled ice. There was an air of mystery to her that she was intrigued by. As she was remembering this, her thoughts were interrupted by hearing her name being called.

"Hey, Yena-unnie! This girl's one of our roommates, come over here!" Her new friend Yujin, who she was glad became her roommate was calling her. Yujin reminded Yena a lot of herself. The boundless energy and knack for keeping up a conversation was uncanny. They hadn't known each other for long, but she felt like they just clicked.

"Yeah, coming!" Yena was about to greet Yujin when she stopped in her tracks seeing the girl who she just said was going to be their roommate. No way, this has to be a dream...it's her. It was the girl who she'd seen enter the hall that caught her attention.

"Hello! My name's Yuri. Looking forward to being your roommate!" She greeted cheerfully.

"Ah, uhm, h-hi. My name's Y-yena." She responds quietly.

"Huh, unnie, what's wrong?" Yujin asked not sure what to make of Yena's sudden change in demeanor. The girl who had been so energetic and sociable during their first meeting was suddenly stuttering and shy. Well...I haven't known her that long, so maybe it's nothing. She thought.

"Ah, don't worry about it!" Yena ends up laughing awkwardly with a hand scratching the back of her head. Pabo-ya. This is so awkward. She thought to herself.

Hmm, this is pretty awkward. Yuri thought to herself. She doesn't have the same vibe as Yujin, I wonder what she was talking about. "Well, it was nice meeting you both, I'll see you in the dorms later!" Yuri said her goodbyes and walked off.

"Yah, Yena-unnie, you sure you're okay? You looked pretty nervous." Yujin asked

"I told you it was nothing, Yujin. Let's head to the rooms now so we can get the best beds! Race you there~" She said to change the topic.

"Oh, you're on. I'll have you know I was a track runner in my old school." Yujin says confidently reminiscing about her glory days as a student. "Wait...Yena? Where'd you g-, OH, you sneaky bastard. Come back here!" She races on to catch up to the older girl who had gotten a head start.