IZ*ONE looked at the whiteboard with confusion. They were sure that there were more objectives on it. Did the instructors erase some of the items on the list? Why does it almost seem like the objectives were changed as well? They’ve only completed two of the items on the list and they were already tired even though they just had a filling lunch.

“Welp, I should get going. I stayed longer than I planned,” Instructor Ella announced. “Good luck with whatever you guys have left to do.” The older twin (Both instructors had randomly commented that Ella was born about ten minutes earlier, but Instructor M was the more mature one between the two of them) walked away past the river and back to where they came from before and disappeared into the dense jungle.

Wonyoung, being the gentle and pure soul she is, asked the younger instructor something she deemed important, “Instructor M, how will your sister find her way back?”

Instructor M pat the maknae’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about her, we’ve both worked here long enough to know every single thing about this place.” Instructor M then addressed the rest of the group, “So you guys have completed two objectives, and it’s… just about 3 pm now. You should get to the next task, which is finding all three landmarks that we’ve set up here.”

“Uh, how is that important?” Sakura asked.

The instructor rubbed her neck, “Well, you see. You guys have already done the fundamental and basic parts of surviving. You made a shelter, found food, and have a stable supply of water. You’re pretty much set up. So-”

The girl group began to jump up and down for different reasons. Half of the group celebrated the fact that they got the basics down and had a high chance of not dying in Fiji. The other half whined and stomped their feet because their instructor made the test longer than it had to be.

“Please tell me it’s over.” Chaewon mumbled, “I want to sleep.”

“As I was saying,” Instructor M sighed, “The only reason why I said find the landmarks is due to the fact that the show will give you guys mission anyways. I’m just giving you guys variety show lessons, but obviously you guys don’t need to be taught since you guys are as loud as a soccer stadium watching a championship game.”

IZ*ONE glanced at each other with wide eyes. Did their instructor just diss them?

“And no I didn’t insult you, it was a compliment. You being loud makes you stand out amongst a big crowd.”

The young women relaxed, and they possibly thought about being louder than they already were. There were numerous times where a camera has caught them being absolutely crazy, and sometimes they’d sing very loud inside dressing rooms and cause the idol group in the room next to them to start singing with them.

“Remember that you guys are being graded on skill, efficiency, and teamwork. Not on completion. And that’s only because your training experience here prepares you for whatever you may face in the show, and the test outcome will vary from whatever you find in Fiji. Meaning, it may not be raining here but it could be raining on the day you arrive.” Instructor M continued, “Just get yourself used to spending long periods of time in the jungle without technology. By the way, LOONA did the same thing as well.”

The girls asked a few more questions before going off to find the three landmarks. If they found all the three landmarks, would the test be over? Yes, the instructor answered. If the fire died out while they were gone would they have to light it again before the test was considered complete? Yes, because they were supposed to keep it alive until the end, and if they had to light it again they’d have to wait a whole hour before they officially end the exam.

Instructor M gave them one more note before she let them go, “At least bring one backpack with all the essentials like towels, knife, water, extra clothes, or whatever you consider important.”

And with that, they were off. Sakura, Chaeyeon, Chaewon, and Hitomi walked back downstream to visit the flowery spot that the oldest Japanese had spotted on the way back from their expedition to get food. Eunbi, Hyewon, Minjoo, and Yujin headed east, crossing the river and back in the general direction where the entrance to the Jungle Field. Yena, Yuri, Nako, and Wonyoung headed farther west at the request of the maknae, saying that she had a good feeling about going that way.

Wonyoung led the small group, looking every which way to catch a glimpse of anything that could classify as a landmark or a geographic wonder. The whole girl group did not travel farther than two miles west when they were looking for food, so the longer they went on walking the less familiar their environment became. A good twenty minutes or so later, Yena pointed out that the foliage began to thin and the ground become mossier the more they traveled. All four of them had almost slipped at one point and they made a point to link arms, from tallest to shortest (much to Wonyoung and Nako’s annoyance), so that they could keep each other steady.

After a few more minutes, they found themselves face to face with a cave. It was fairly big with vines climbing up and down on its walls and branches from trees above the opening spiraled downwards with ivies following suit and creating a giant curtain. No stalactites were growing from the roof of the cave and there were also no stalagmites rising from the ground since the Jungle Field and the training camp could not support a cave that complex enough. However, there were little ponds of water scattered about and there were side entrances that lead to smaller caverns. There was even a tiny stream coming from somewhere deeper inside. It would be slippery, but on the plus side, there was enough light being let in for them to see well inside.

“Please tell me this is one of the landmarks she talked about,” Yuri prayed under her breath.

Wonyoung grabbed Nako’s hand and tugged on it, “Can we explore?”

The Japanese barely nodded her head before she was dragged off inside the cave to examine one of the side caves. Yena and Yuri walked around the outside first before following the other two inside.

Yuri stared at her reflection in one of the ponds. Yena had gone off to the far back wall of the main cave and looked around, even trying to climb it at one point.

“Y’all!” called out who they assume was Nako from one of the side caves, “there’s something you guys should see!”

Yuri didn’t immediately run from her spot next to the pool and stared at the entrance where Nako’s voice echoed from. She saw Yena bolt away, and Yuri felt disappointed that the older didn’t come and fetch her. However, her crestfallen mood dissipated the moment the duck stopped in her tracks and ran back to clasp her hand and tugged her to wherever the tiny woman had called them to go to.

When they finally found the correct tunnel that led to the other duo, Yuri had to let go of Yena and bring her hands to .

Having a cave of this complexity in the Jungle Field was amazing enough but having a grotto with its own underground spring was beyond astronomically phenomenal. This was the only place in the whole place with actual forming stalactites with water dripping from it and plopping into the spring. The cavern is the size of a living room and the spring went as deep as four and a half feet (which is only inches below Nako’s eyes). On one side was the same stream that they had seen and followed to find the maknae and the short woman, only this time it rushed down a declining slope that lead into the spring like a waterslide. On the other side were rocks that were conveniently arranged to be steps that provide a stable way to get back up to the top.

Wonyoung dropped the backpack off to the side and took off her hooded parka. She stretched and grabbed Nako and then yeet her down the slide.

“OH, YOU AS-BUTTHOLE!” the tiny firehawk squawked all the way down the ride. The baby bunny laughed her heart out before following the older down.

Yena got ready to go down and smirk at Yuri before committing to the slide and joining the others. Oh that smile, that damned smile was the only thing replaying in the hamster’s mind as she slipped off her shoes and primed her buttocks to go down the stream.

Yuri realized how long the slide actually was now that she was on it, and from where they were before it the slide appeared shorter than it really was. It was also a lot less steeper than she anticipated. The first part of the slide was steep enough to give the rider the initial speed needed and from then on the slide was just a steady cruise. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it was slow. It was pretty fast, and Yuri was not having it

She screamed as high as her vocal cords could allow, which was very very high. Her voice pierced everyone's ears and caused the water from the stalactites to shake off from the rock. No, she wasn’t scared of rides, she just had to scream for the thrill of it. Everyone screams when their bodies are being moved at speeds reaching the terminal velocity of a meteor, it’s an incredibly normal thing. Right?

Well, it didn’t matter anymore since she reached the water. The only problem is, she forgot to swim because she was too busy fussing about the momentum that she’s being thrown down the slide.

Funnily enough, she didn’t feel herself sink to the bottom of this Nako-deep pool. She found herself being held by a pair of arms and when she turned around to see who it was, she scolded herself for not knowing who it was from the get-go.

Yena gave her that weird duck smirk and said, “Hey there.”

“Yeah, hey.” Yuri wanted to fight that stupid smile and the first thing that came to her mind was, “Thanks for saving me, babe.”

“No prob- HuWhAt?” obviously, she was not prepared for the hamster to retaliate like that.

Yuri pecked her cheek, “I said thank you. Anyway, bye-bye, I love you!”

Before Yena could recover from her shock and answer Yuri, the hamster dived into the water and pulled the older down before leaving her to talk with Wonyoung and Nako.

Yena was definitely not prepared whenever Yuri was like this, but hey if she got to hear the main vocal say those three words then maybe it isn’t that bad. Even if she said those words as a joke.