A/N

After 198328950 years I finally return yeaah! TT.TT

I'm sorry for not updating for so long, I think my writing style is changing and writer block :(

By the way, my writing style actually changed and you'll see more of it since now on, but I do have a plan to edit everything once I finish this fic

For the time being, enjoy everyone XD

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Chapter 33

Breathing is hard.

"To the left, Jeong!"

Or at least, that is what Jeongyeon feel right now. Inhaling dusty air through , she tries to listen to what Sooyoung had screamed at her beforehand and dodges to the left, right on time to avoid Seulgi's strong swipe of her black paw. Jeongyeon quickly launches to Seulgi's defenseless side to hit her, only for the black bear to pull her arm back and deck her square on the cheek.

The impact of the hit is enough to send Jeongyeon down to the ground. The brown bear lets out a cough as she quickly jumps on her feet, taking a step back to dodge another strong swipe which she, unsurprisingly, failed to. Seulgi's sharp claws graze her chest and Jeongyeon snarls in pain when she feels her skin slashed open with minimum to zero contact.

Shook by the assault, Jeongyeon staggers and is unable to block when Seulgi rushes her, sending the two of them toppling over each other and roll on the ground. Jeongyeon ends up below Seulgi with the bigger bear pinning her shoulders down. For a few dizzying seconds, Seulgi growls menacingly above Jeongyeon who closes her eyes as her head is spinning like a top. Only when Seulgi notices the speck of red between Jeongyeon's brown fur does she gasp.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

Jeongyeon feels two strong arms pick her up by her armpits and then she's already standing with Seulgi's dark orange eyes staring worriedly at her. Jeongyeon blinks, then cough, before she swats her hands hurriedly when Seulgi starts to hyperventilate.

"It's okay! I'm fine! I was just shocked, that's all!" Jeongyeon quickly says to tone down Seulgi's worry. Even with her menacing stature and great power, Seulgi is a big cinnamon roll and she worries over the smallest things. This is one of the many occasion Seulgi grows worried and fears her student's well-being, even when she only scratched Jeongyeon or accidentally punched her too hard.

"Are you? Oh, thank God," Seulgi breathes out, paws her furred chest in relief. "I'm sorry I'm a bit distracted these few days and I end up hurting you. Things are a bit rough back in our region."

Jeongyeon smiles and pats the black bear's shoulder. "It's fine. It's just a little wound. I've had worse."

Seulgi grins. "I believe you did."

The black bear then pats the brown one to clean her from the dust. When they busy themselves doing that, Sooyoung saunters close to them, shaking her head at Seulgi who stubbornly clean Jeongyeon despite the latter protests. The Allosaurus stops right beside them and the two turn at her.

"So, I guess Jeongyeon is still too slow to be able to dodge perfectly," she speaks her observation.

Hanging her head low, Jeongyeon nods regretfully. "I am. Sorry, unnie."

"Oh, don't be," Sooyoung waves her hand. "It's only been a bit over a week. You're improving, and that's good. Besides, we've only been focusing on your strength last week so it's understandable that you're lacking in your speed. We'll focus on that from now on. Seul, you can rest for a while. I'll take over from here."

"Alright, unnie," Seulgi taps Jeongyeon's head once as an act of encouragement before she leaves. "You're doing great. Hwaiting, Jeongyeon-sshi!"

Jeongyeon grins as Seulgi walks away, as Sooyoung steps in front of her scanning her entire being.

"Okay, now, you listen to me. Me and me only. Focus on what I say, on what I tell you to do, and do it as fast as you can. You got me?"

The brown bear nods eagerly.

"Great," Sooyoung smiles. "Now strike with your left."

So Jeongyeon does.

###

"I don't understand!"

Yoona blinks as Sana yells out in frustration, the Anaconda's hands pulling her own hair. The older of the two shakes her head when her pupil wails at her.

"Unnie, why is my power like that?" Sana howls, referring to the way her power went out of control.

They've been trying to make her pink aura to follow her direction instead of having its own mind. Sana complained about how she was the last one to be able to control her own aura yesterday at the training with the Red Velvets. She grumbled to Yoona, and since the other snake is deeply concerned, she immediately agreed to focus on that part of her power.

"I know, that is a bit strange," Yoona coughs. She looks upon the pink tendrils of aura that seems to like to play with Sana's hair, juggling the soft-brown strands between its own pink. "Hmm... how about you try to talk to it?"

Sana stares at Yoona incredulously. Yoona shrugs. "I mean... maybe it can understand you."

"Fine, I'll try," the younger Anihuman huffs then turn to face her aura. "Hey, you, listen to me just for once."

It shimmies.

"UNNIE!"

Now even more concerned yet amused by Sana's aura's antics, Yoona scratches her head, watching as the two (yes, she had decided that she will address that pink... thing as its own creature) 'bicker'. It actually is just Sana yelling and the pink thing around her body either ruffling her hair or wiggles or looking like an absolute despite not having a face. Or a body, for that matter.

"I think we should tell Taeyeon-unnie," Yoona mumbles. It catches the two's attention, but while Sana nods in agreement, Pinky (yes, Yoona decided she'll just call it that) seems to cower and its bright aura glow flickers. "Huh? What is it? You're afraid of Taeyeon-unnie?"

It flickers even more.

Yoona is confused. "Okay, Sana. That... that thing certainly has a thought of its own."

Hearing Yoona's words, Sana stiffens, then look at her pink extension in fear. "W-what is that supposed to mean?"

The older Anihuman bites her lower lips. "I think... instead of Taeyeon-unnie, you should talk to Seungwan."

"Is this a bad th–"

But then the pink aura bursts, going from specks of fire into a massive flame surrounding Sana's body. Its fire-like tongues dance in a strange movement, with its color flickering into a strong bright pink glow that almost makes Yoona close her eyes.

"Hey, what–" Sana looks around, noticing that her aura encompasses her as if it's trying to protect her. "Hey, are you okay?"

Pinky still glows brightly.

Yoona clears . "Alright, fine. No Seungwan. We'll figure it out on our own."

The flame subsides, Pinky returning to its natural state of a calm glow around Sana.

"Okay, fine, I think I understand already," the older snake exhales when Pinky forms tendrils, once again playing with Sana's hair. "Sana, it's clear that your power has a mind on its own. But by the look of it, Pinky seems to like you and is on the right side of the morality spectrum so you should be grateful."

"Who– Pinky?"

Yoona ignores Sana's confusion and continues. "Sadly, I'm not well-versed in it. We still are going to talk to Taeyeon-unnie on what kind of training you are going to go with since now."

Pinky flickers again.

Yoona sighs. "And no buts. Or I'm going to feed you to Seungwan."

The older Anihuman then leaves, probably about to contact Taeyeon to talk about Sana's newfound quirk. Being left behind, Sana turns to Pinky, confusion clear in the Anaconda's eyes.

"What did she mean by feeding us to Seungwan-sshi?"

Pinky cowers and vanishes.

###

The bright sun feels like its sharp to the eye, but Tzuyu steels herself and flaps her wings with more purpose. Not far in front of her, Seohyun flies, gracefully and powerfully despite having flown for five hours straight. Today's training is that of endurance, the one Tzuyu despises the most, but she knows that she does lack in that area and so she has to follow Seohyun flying around the border of the region.

"Unlike real birds," Seohyun suddenly says, floating above Tzuyu with her wide wings shielding the younger Anihuman from the sunlight. "We all have less endurance to start with. As a Harpy Eagle, you have a great amount of strength and speed already. I do understand that we can't be all that rounded up, but I hope with this training you can at least improve your endurance."

The younger Anihuman simply nods, listening intently to whatever Seohyun says.

"Seohyun-unnie."

The Archaeopteryx twists her long neck to look at her student, finding Tzuyu staring at her with the pitch black eyes of hers. "Yes?"

"I just want to ask," the Harpy Eagle flaps her wings a bit faster to match Seohyun's speed. "What skill do you think I should improve on? As you said, we can't be perfect in all aspect. But shouldn't I focus more on the ability I excel most?"

Seohyun hums for a while, thinking about Tzuyu's overall power. She then nods to the Harpy Eagle. "You're best in your strength. I think we should train your dive so you'll have the advantage of aerial surprise attacks. We'll finish this round and then we'll go train that, okay?"

Grateful, Tzuyu smiles and nods at Seohyun. "Alright, unnie."

The two continues their journey in silence. Tzuyu busies herself with examining her talons, noticing the slightly shattered edges after some rigorous grabbing practice. She reminds herself to sharpen her talons later. For now, she simply enjoys the breeze and the sunlight that now feels gentler on her feather.

###

Jihyo really does underestimate Joy. She always thinks that Seungwan is the most strict and unforgiving of the trainers, but now that she's scheduled to have a private training with Joy, she starts to miss being electrocuted by the easily irritated Kirin.

"Come on, Jihyo! Focus! Is that the best you can do?"

The Phoenix pants in exhaustion just as a loud boom resounds all over the clearing. She's really tempted to check the condition of the mock-battle somewhere behind them, where Momo and Seungwan both in their beast form test the extent of Momo's physical prowess. While Jihyo is stuck with Joy, who is currently glaring at her, with her arms crossed over her chest and Jihyo could only grin.

"Sorry."

Joy sighs heavily. "Come on, we've been doing this for hours but you keep on being distracted by the fight there. Focus on me, could you?"

It's already been established by the soul plane training yesterday that Jihyo is an absolute loser in physical fights, but she has an outstanding ability in controlling her aura. She's able to touch other people's aura apparition inside the soul plane, a feat couldn't be achieved by everyone around her. Including Seungwan who they always say as the best aura manipulator there are.

So Jihyo nods, trying not to upset Joy even further. She closes her eyes and regulates her breathing, once again diving into the aura dimension that has grown familiar to her. She could immediately find Joy's emerald green semblance standing right before her. There's a distracting crackle of lightning but she tries her best to ignore it.

"Well, that's better."

Joy's distorted voice echoes inside the barren plane and Jihyo focuses all her attention to her.

"Okay, so we've been trying your actual connection with other people inside here and it works. Jihyo, now I want you to try to attack me."

The Phoenix knits her eyebrows. "Attack you?"

"Yup," the green semblance nods. "If you can affect me from inside the soul plane, we might work it out to be a projector-style aura manipulation."

"Which means?" preparing herself to punch, Jihyo takes a step back inside the soul plane.

"Which means you might attack someone from far away, just like Seungwan-unnie," Joy explains slowly, seemingly also trying to convey her mind correctly to the Phoenix. "Just... maybe you'll be a bit more... mentally than Seungwan-unnie."

"Well, that's great," Jihyo squares her shoulders. "Can I hit you now?"

Joy shrugs. "Go ahead."

It doesn't work.

The moment Jihyo's red semblance touches Joy's green one right on the chest area, the aura distorts, making Jihyo's fist goes through Joy's aura. She retracts her hand in disappointment, watching as Joy's aura returns to its natural state.

"I guess it doesn't work, then," she hears Joy talking as the green semblance scratches its head. "The most I feel is that you're tickling my lungs."

"Yeah, I know," Jihyo sighs. She had been excited about her power manipulation yesterday, knowing that she won't be as useless as she was in battle. But the training today utterly destroys her hope. What significance does her power hold if she can't even affect her enemies?

"Should we wait for Seungwan-sshi, or...?"

"How about this," Joy her chin. "What do you see from me?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean, like, what do you see inside there? About my aura, I mean."

Jihyo squints her eyes. She tries to locate anything weird aside from the mass of green. At times, Jihyo would touch part of Joy's aura which only ripples like water whenever her finger makes contact with it.

"Wait," Jihyo squints her eyes harder as she almost presses her face to Joy's chest. "I... I think I can see your heart."

"Can you?"

"Yup," the Phoenix nods with her fingers hovering near the darker shade of green right in the middle of Joy's chest. "It's darker in color and it beats along your pulse."

"Hmmm... that's new information. What else?"

"I don't know..." Jihyo tentatively touches her fingers to the mass of aura, pushing through the first layer right into the beating green. She experiments in grazing her fingertips to it and she gasps when she could feel an actual shape. "Joy, what do you feel?"

"Nothing. What do you do?"

"I'm touching your heart. Like, directly touching it."

A speck of fire from Jihyo's red semblance moves forward, suddenly encapsulating the green heart. The owner of the red one furrows her brow in confusion, only watching as her red aura flare around Joy's green, watching as the two mold together slowly.

"Weird. But really, I don't feel anything but– WOAH! HOLY , JIHYO!"

Just as the two colors completely mix, Joy yells loudly that breaks Jihyo's concentration. The Phoenix's eyes fly open at her mentor's surprised scream and she whips her head in panic to find Joy's whereabouts.

"What?! What?! What happened?" she yells as well, afraid if she somehow hurt Joy only to find the panther standing not far from her. The thing that makes her different from before is the red blaze surrounding her. Joy looks stunned, before she gasps and squeals at Jihyo.

"Oh my holy– an armor!" the panther jumps around happily. "Jihyo! You just gave me an armor! So this your power is? Cool! I've never seen one before!"

Jihyo blinks, trying to take in everything that happened to the panther. "Is it?"

"Yeah! Look!" Joy walks forward and presses her fiery hand to Jihyo. Their skin doesn't meet because Joy is still surrounded by the fire, creating an actual barrier between her body and the outer world. "See? Your aura, whatever you did back then, you transferred part of your power to the person you touched! Me as an example! And it makes a fire barrier between me and you. It's an armor!"

It takes a few long seconds for Jihyo to absorbs Joy's words. Once she understands the panther's meaning, her eyes go wide as realization comes crashing. "Wait, if it's an armor, so if I can implement this to my friends, they will be harder to be attacked?"

"Exactly!" the panther nods in excitement. Her glee rubs off to Jihyo as well, who seems to be still quite unbelieving of her power and only laughs when Joy hugs her tightly. "This is great! This is great!"

"Is it?"

"IT IS!"

"Oh my God, thank you," the Phoenix lets out another string of breathless laugh as she wipes the beginning of tears at the corners of her eyes. "I thought I would become a burden because no one knows what my power is."

"That's nonsense!" Joy giggles. "Your power is changing, and it becomes a great set of skill! Once you master it, you'll become the greatest asset in your own group, Jihyo. Now we can focus on developing this power of yours so you can use it on everyone!"

"Okay!" Jihyo nods hurriedly, laughing again when Joy hugs and ruffles her hair. "Okay! I will!"

"Let's do this!"

"Yeah!"

"A– okay, wait. How do we turn this thing off?"

Jihyo stares at Joy dumbly. The panther facepalms. "We gotta start from the very basic then."

Meanwhile, not far from the two ecstatic girls, a pair of shining blue eyes are watching them with similar pride. The Kirin smiles when Jihyo and Joy return to their meditation to try to solve the way to turn off Jihyo's power. She whips her massive head when she feels a looming presence near her, immediately locking eyes with a pair of purple eyes.

"It seems like your leader has finally figured out her power," Seungwan says to Momo, who shakes her similarly massive head and grins. "I can't say that I foresee this turn of event about her."

"That's Jihyo for you. Full of surprises," Momo smiles as well. She watches as the fire surrounding Joy dissipate before it disappears completely. "Man, I can't wait to try that power with her."

"You'll be lucky. Aside from giving protection, that armor could become a power-up, too," the Kirin takes a step back as she finishes her observation. She bows once to Momo and the nine-tailed fox smirks. "Shall we continue or shall we take a break?"

Momo barks and growls, before running a bit further away from Seungwan. "Let's continue. My tails still need to be taught to listen to me."

"Alright," Seungwan stretches her body with a loud purr. She stands tall facing Momo, electricity starting to appear around her as Momo prepares to pounce. "Now give me everything you got."

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"It's time."

To be continued...