"So, we finally meet." Eunbi says casually to their opponents for today. They were lined up for the greetings, both teams buzzing with excitement. Some were roommates, others were training partners, the point being that these two teams were pretty close with each other.

"Good luck to you guys, too!" Chaeyeon says enthusiastically, shaking the other leader's hand. "Let's have a good match!" Both sides look at each other trying to intimidate the other side jokingly but they simply ended up laughing together.

Eventually, a voice projected from the speakers. It was representative Lee. "Alright, everyone. Proceed to your respective sides and prepare yourselves. Not only are the trainers watching, but so are your fellow trainees. You girls have made it this far with your skills, ingenuity and teamwork, and I expect no less than a heated final today. Good luck to you all again!" While everyone is looking at the domed roof, slowly emulating a forest environment, excitedly, Eunbi was nervous. I have to prove myself today.

"Getting cold feet, unnie?" Yena joked.

"Yah, just stick here and do your job." She replied sternly. Chaewon looks on, concern etched on her face. You can do it, unnie.

"Don't worry, Eunbi-unnie! You know that I take these tasks seriously once the match starts. Let me get my kicks in." She says in with a laugh.

"Lay off her, Yena. Let's just get in position." Yuri chides, pulling her by the ear away. "Yah, Yah, alright I'm going!" She whines in protest.

~~~~

Across the field, Chaeyeon's team was having a last second huddle-up as well. Like the other team, they were in high spirits at the prospect of facing their acquaintances.

"I'm so excited!" Nako said, jumping up and down. "I can't wait to get it on!"

"Slow down, tiger, you'll be sitting on defense anyway." Yujin teases.

"Yah, defense can be as fun as offense, you know." She responds, but inside she knows that it won't be. The speed and adrenaline you get from going for the flag are not the same as the jitters and nervousness you get defending the flag, being put off by even the slightest rustle in the bushes.

"Hey, Sakura. Get your head in the game!" Chaeyeon said, catching her friend zoning out. It looked like there was something else on her mind.

Follow orders. This is my last warning. Jurina's words echo in her head. She had a task in front of her that she didn't agree with, but rebelling would only get her friends hurt sooner. She decided it was best to follow for now.

"Oh, sorry, nothing's wrong." Sakura said with a laugh. "Just getting a feel for the terrain."

"Speaking of which, so you guys don't get surprised, let's set up the mental link now." Chaeyeon turns to Sakura who nods. "Remember guys, we can't solely rely on Sakura for positioning. Trust your partner as much as you trust her." And with that, a horn sounded in the distance. The finals had begun.

~~~~

"Okay, remember guys. Hyewon and I will target Sakura and Chaeyeon to give you two a path in." Eunbi said, going over the plan again while their group moved forward.

"Why can't I just send some clones out there to do the job?" Chaewon asks.

"Because, it won't be enough to stop her and Chaeyeon. Besides, we need you to be at full power when you have to face off against their defense." Chaewon nods, and motions for Minjoo to follow her as they flank left, disappearing into the foliage.

"Are you sure going forward on offense is a good idea?" Hyewon asks. "We're leaving middle ground exposed."

"Aish, don't you trust Yuri and Yena?" Eunbi takes Hyewon's silence as an agreement.

After trekking for a few minutes, Eunbi swore she heard movement to her right. "Get down." She whispers as they inch in closer towards a clearing, and that's when they hear voices.

"Doesn't this place look similar to the snow forest we faced Gaeun's team in?" Chaeyeon asks. "It looks the same except without, well, the snow." Sakura just rolls her eyes in response, focusing on her environment. Although she had a job to do for Jurina, she didn't want to let it be obvious.

After a bit of silence, Chaeyeon decides to break it. "You see anything out there?"

"Yes, it seems like their whole mid-field is empty." She observes.

"That can't be right. Shouldn't it be Yuri and Yena there?"

"Yes, that's how they're normally positioned..." As she moves from camera to camera, she sees their objective, the flag, and right next to it, Yuri and Yena bickering like children. "...they switched positions like us." At this she rolls to dodge a flash of ice that would've frozen her on the spot.

"Sakura!" Chaeyeon yells, turning just in time to notice a figure running towards her, Eunbi. Using her speed, she nimbly dodges her attack, positioning herself next to Sakura.

"Good plan, guys." Chaeyeon says seeing Eunbi and Hyewon faced off against them.

"Thanks, but you can hand us the flag if you're that thankful." Eunbi says sarcastically.

"No can do, unnie." And with that, she dashes towards her. The two ended up locked in hand to hand combat, but even with Chaeyeon's elite speed, Eunbi still managed to connect on a few blows. Luckily for her, she could dash away whenever she felt like it, hoping to eventually fatigue Eunbi.

"Nice moves, Chaeyeon, but you gotta be able to hit me too." She says with faux confidence. It's easy to see the beads of sweat falling off her after every engagement. "Do I though? I'm pretty sure we can play cat and mouse all day." Chaeyeon jokes back.

Across the clearing, Sakura is now on the move. She was so used to being behind confrontations, she never bothered to take combat lessons seriously. I know most of you prefer to stay at a distance, but sometimes, it's necessary to get your hands dirty. Her instructor, Cheetah had said. At the time, she thought little of it, but now as she's busy dodging all of Hyewon's frozen projectiles, she regrets it.

Seeing Sakura struggling, Chaeyeon runs across the field to protect her, leaving Eunbi gasping for air. "Sakura, stay behind me!" She says as she approaches Hyewon.

"Yah, your fight's with me, Chaeyeon!" Eunbi yells, still further away, being left in the dust by her.

"Don't worry, unnie. We can switch dance partners for now!" Hyewon says. Eunbi shooting back a curious look. Did she just make a joke? She didn't have much time to contemplate it as she noticed Sakura running to hide, presumably warning the others.

C'mon, C'mon. Sakura says in her head, the projected bar in front of her reading 90%. Can't you download any quicker?!

"Yah, Sakura. You can't just rely on others to fight for you, you know." Eunbi's voice breaks through her thoughts. She turns in time to catch a blow to her side. Sakura rolls over, clenching the area Eunbi had just kicked, groaning.

"Sakura!" Chaeyeon yelled, turning and running to her teammate.

"Oh, no you don't." Hyewon says under her breath, freezing the ground in front of Chaeyeon, causing her to slip and fall.

"Yield" Eunbi's voice said as she was now restraining Sakura. 99%...

"No hard feelings, Sakura, I'll buy you lunch after the match." 100%. Sakura smiles before losing consciousness.

"NO!" Chaeyeon gets up off the cold ice and turns on the jets, melting through the ice at her feet, and charging into Eunbi. "What did you do?!" She has Sakura in her arms but she's not moving.

"I don't know! I was just restraining her but then she gave me this smile, and passed out. I don't know what happened." Wait... Chaeyeon hesitates, familiar words flowing into her head. Sakura, what did you do...?

~~~~

Yuri and Yena are on defense instead of Eunbi and Hyewon. Those were the words Yujin and Wonyoung heard before the connection was cut.

"Oh, no. What could've happened to Sakura-unnie this time?" Wonyoung asked worriedly.

"They're probably fine. These people aren't like Jurina. they wouldn't go that far." Yujin responds as the two make their way silently through the forest. The air between them was still awkward from their last argument. They were supposed to get closer to learn each other's tendencies, but instead, Yujin and Wonyoung had fought and hadn't reconciled yet. I'm pretty sure that by 'getting to know your partner' Chaeyeon meant hanging out and not avoiding them. Yujin thought. She'd been treating Wonyoung coldly since their fight. Sure, Yujin may have made a mistake claiming to know all about her when in fact, it was mostly just superficial things. She'd labeled Wonyoung as this spoiled rich kid, and though at the time it was true, she never really gave her a chance to prove her wrong. On the other hand, she's still irked that the younger girl brought up her financial situation. She worked hard, so her family could live a better life, but maybe she did let the fame get to her head.

"I'm sorry about yesterday..." Wonyoung says out of nowhere as they're wandering around the forest.

"Pardon? Are you actually apologizing?" Yujin found this hard to believe seeing as Wonyoung has never apologized to her for anything since knowing her.

"Yes..." She nods slowly and sincerely. "I may have gone a step too far, bringing in your personal life."

"The great Jang Wonyoung apologizing to little ole me?" Yujin says with a smile. "Don't you think this isn't the best time?"

"Aish, are you gonna forgive me or not? You better before I take it back."

"Wonyoung, I already forgave you the other day. I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I'm the one who started it."

"You mean, I swallowed my pride for nothing? Hmph." Wonyoung pretends to make it a big deal stamping her foot, causing Yujin to laugh.

"You know one more thing I know about you, Wonyoung? It's that you can never stay mad at me." Yujin teases. It is true though. Yujin was always known as a practical joker, especially towards Wonyoung. She may not admit it, but no matter what Yujin did to joke around with her, Wonyoung always ended up keeping her around anyway.

After making their way over a stream, the two start to hear voices, presumably Yuri and Yena. Yujin scoffs. "What's the point in hiding the flag if those two are making such a ruckus."

The two hide behind the shrubbery and observe the scene in front of them. The two are clearly bickering about something and not paying attention to their flag just next to them. Wonyoung shushes Yujin and waves her hand trying to wriggle the flag out of the ground while Yuri and Yena are still talking.

----------

Five minutes earlier...

"Yah, Yuri, stop slacking off." Yena said to her partner.

"I am not slacking off! I'm just observing the forest. Don't you think it's crazy how they can just change the scene whenever they want? Everything feels so real." Yuri continued to look around the area in awe. They'd been through several terrains but this was the prettiest one so far. The flowers were blooming around them and the wind was flowing gently through the air. Pine trees were littered across the landscape, taller than any tree Yuri had seen in her life. It all just felt serene despite knowing it was just all a simulation.

"So basically, you're slacking off." Yena says bluntly.

"Aish, you're no fun on missions. I like roommate Yena way more than soldier Yena." It wasn't that she didn't like Yena when she was serious. Seeing her standing there on top of a rock formation, observing the area for any intruders, made her feel a stronger sense of security. She looked so calm and mature, but Yuri had a stronger connection to the goofy and hyper-energetic Yena more. It always felt complex getting to know Yena. One day, she'd be a calm sky, the next, a thunderstorm ready to rain down on her enemies.

"Besides, it's not like I can do anything until I see people. What am I gonna do, ask them to come out of the bushes politely?" She adds.

"Actually, you could technically do just that. It's better than you sitting around here staring blankly to the sky." Yena says bluntly.

"I'm not just lazing around."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

The two went back and forth several times, neither side relenting at all.

"You have to know when to take things seriously, Yuri." Yena says coldly.

"Don't you think that's what I'm doing? I'm just saying to chill out a bit. I never thought I'd be the one having to tell you that." Yuri replied, clearly beginning to look irritated.

"Yah, we can talk about this after the match." Yena tries to end the discussion.

"No, I'm just getting started with-" Before she can finish her sentence, Yena turns around, eyes widening, yelling. "WAIT! Where's the flag?"

Yuri turns around as well only to see a hole in the ground where they'd planted the flag. "OH MY GOD! Eunbi's gonna kill us!" And the two rush into the forest trying to find the thieves.

----------

"Don't you think that was too easy?" Wonyoung asks.

Yujin laughs a bit before responding. "Those two love birds, always quarreling." They are just about to cross the stream they'd passed from earlier when they heard people running in their direction. "Uh-oh. They're coming!" Yujin says as she grabs Wonyoung's hand and starts sprinting towards edge of the forest.

"Yah! Ahn Yujin! Come back here!" She hears Yena yell. Just when they think they're home free, a voice yells out. "STOP!" And Yujin's mind just freezes for a second, causing her to lose her momentum from running and trip over.

"Give us back our flag, please." The voice says sweetly. Yujin felt compelled to grab the flag from Wonyoung and handing it over to them, but Wonyoung stops her.

"Yuri-unnie!" She yells to the forest. Her voice echoes through. "Don't make me bring the trees down on you two!" At this, a lightning bolt hits the ground right in front of them, singing everything but them. Wonyoung looks at Yujin shrugging. "Welp, worth a shot."

"You can just give us back the flag now and go away." Yuri says as she steps into their line of sight.

"That's a tempting offer, but I'm gonna have to pass." Wonyoung replies, stunning Yuri. She normally doesn't have people ignore her voice. Wonyoung then signals Yujin towards something behind Yuri and Yena, something flowing. I hope the dunce gets what I mean.

"Huh, how'd that not work?" Yuri asked.

"Don't worry, unnie. I'll tell you later." She teases.

"Enough of this." Yena says sternly. "Just hand it over and things won't have to get messy."

"Yeah, catch us if you can, unnies!" Yujin yells as she takes Wonyoung by the hand again, turning and running. Before Yena and Yuri can make chase, a huge stream of water sweeps the two of their feet, the stream they had passed, soaking them head- to-toe. They tried to avoid it, but Wonyoung took down the trees and trapped them there. "Yujin!" Yena yells in protest as the two youngsters make their getaway.

~~~~

"Ugh, it's so boring here. Where's the action." Nako whines as she and Hitomi guard their team's flag. Hitomi simply rolls her eyes. Nako was never one for waiting for the enemy to come to her. She loved being the one doing the surprising.

"Defense is as important as offense, you know?" Hitomi says to her partner.

"Of course, you'd say that." Nako grumbles. "You can just sit and play with trees all day." Out of nowhere, an apple plops onto her head causing Nako to yelp, grabbing at her head. "Cheap shot..." She says looking at the peach-faced girl pretending to mind her own business.

"They'll show up sooner or later. Just stick to the plan." And just as Hitomi says that, she sees movement out of the corner of her eye. The bushes are moving yet there was no one there. She gives Nako a knowing look. "Stay sharp..." Hitomi settles down and feels the energy of the trees around her, tapping into them. Gotcha. She locks onto the movement and the roots curl around the intruder's foot. A shriek can be heard from the forest.

When she commands the trees to bring the person over, she sees the branches holding thin air. "Is that you Minjoo?" She asks politely.

Eventually, they hear a sigh and Minjoo appearing within the large oak tree's grasp.

Nako lets out a laugh. "Looks like we got you, Minjoo. That was too easy."

Hitomi glares at her, saying. "Weren't you the one complaining the whole time? I'm the one who did all the work." While their guards are down, they don't notice several sets of footsteps sneaking up on them, mistaking the noise as rustling leaves in the wind. Everything happens at once.

Hitomi is hit from behind, causing her to lose her focus, enough for Minjoo to squeeze out of the tree branch's hold. Nako is tackled to the ground by four copies of Chaewon, struggling to keep her down. Finally, the real Chaewon, or Minjoo assumes it's the real one, waltzes over to the flag and grabs it. "Thanks for the distraction, Min." She says giving the younger girl a wink causing the brunette's face to flush. Chaewon then looks at Hitomi. "Hey, you're cute." Minjoo's expression sours, while Hitomi was just confused.

"Yah, Chaewon-unnies, get off of me!" Nako yells.

"Minjoo, we gotta go. The flag isn't going to take itself to the finish line." Chaewon says, wincing a bit as Nako throws one of her copies aside. She focuses her thoughts and all her copies begin to run back to her as she takes Minjoo's hand and runs off.

"Hii-chan, we gotta go after them." Nako says.

"I'm one step ahead of you, again." Hitomi smirks, simply touches the ground and roots erupt from the ground chasing after Minjoo and Chaewon. "C'mon!" And they take off as well.

~~~~

"There it is! The goal-line!" Yujin yells as they're still running as fast as they can. The two territories had been divided so that each team would have a forest area to themselves. In the middle area, it was a large meadow, sunflowers, poppies and many other flowers sprouting across the simulated ground. Once a team grabbed a flag, the middle ground would light up like a finish line of some sort. All they had to do was run across it with the flag.

On the other side of the field, another team emerges with a flag, Chaewon and Minjoo. Seeing Yujin and Wonyoung, they speed up too while also being trailed by Yujin's teammates. Just as the two teams are about to cross the line, the simulation halts abruptly. The forest fades away, leaving everyone, including the onlooking trainees confused.

"Yah, we were just about to win that one too!" Yujin groans.

"As if! We were definitely about to cross the line before you two." Chaewon barks back.

"Guys, where's Eunbi and Hyewon?" Yuri asks as she and Yena had just caught up.

Somewhere behind them, Eunbi is looking towards the white ceiling. What just happened. Is the only thing going through her mind. Chaeyeon is in front of her with Sakura in her arms. She'd just lost consciousness randomly. Eunbi was sure she didn't hit her that hard.

Suddenly, a voice projects from the loud speakers. It's Lee Seunggi again. "I'm sorry to interfere, but I'm going to have to call off the final challenge. Something urgent came up in the other match that we must attend to immediately. I apologize again to both teams., but make no mistake, we took note of your efforts. There will be more events in the coming weeks to try out. Everyone else, please go back to your dorm rooms, thank you."

The two groups gather up, waiting for an update. Eunbi takes a look at everyone. She sees Chaeyeon holding onto Sakura gingerly, creases forming on her forehead, as if she were deep in thought. The other members are all unsurprisingly curious as to what happened. She sees that Yuri and Yena aren't talking with each other which she thinks is odd, and Yujin arguing with Chaewon about who would've gotten to the finish first. This is a mess. She thinks to herself. She feels a tap on her shoulder. It's Hyewon.

"I don't like this." She says agitatedly.

"I don't either. What could've possibly happened to Gaeun's team?"

"I'm not sure, but it had to have been bad." Hyewon responds in a quiet tone.

After a few minutes, the speakers pick up again, and Seunggi speaks up, advising both teams to head back to their dorms as well. There was an underlying tension in his tone, but Eunbi could only breathe a sigh of relief thinking she was safe for now.

~~~~

It was a long walk back to the dorms, and it looked like everyone was already in them despite it only being around 5:00pm. The whole place looked like a ghost town, sunset coloring the area a dark orange. Normally there'd be trainees milling around relaxing, reading or exercising, but right now, not a person to be seen. The facility was arranged like a university campus. It was situated high in the mountains to keep unwanted visitors out. The main training grounds were placed right at the crest of the mountain while the dorm and cafeteria buildings were spaced out further. It was about a five-minute walk to get from the dorms all the way to the training facility. 'To get some exercise in early and late.' Bae Yoon-jeong had said. "Strange..." Chaeyeon says out loud. "Why'd they try to get everyone back inside before us?" She was also confused as to why trainer Hongki hadn't shown up to heal Sakura's condition. They were clearly watching them, so why'd they just leave them behind? She'd been leaning on her shoulder the whole time as they walked back.

"So that we wouldn't know what happened." Hyewon responds out of nowhere, surprising the rest of the group. Her presence had always been quiet, few people had heard her say more than two sentences in a row.

"Oh, it was just you, unnie." Yujin says with a small laugh, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry, I was just surprised."

"She's right though." Chaewon says. "For whatever reason, they want us to find out what happened in Gaeun-unnie's match last." That just puts everyone else on edge. They were all roommate's with at least two of Gaeun's teammates, so they must've thought it was something worth hiding.

"I'm sure Gaeun-unnie did fine though, right? Maybe her team just beat Seoyoung's team too badly." Minjoo says nervously, trying to bring up the mood.

"Well, the only thing we can do is get there quicker, so we can ask them ourselves." Eunbi says. "In any case, that was a good match, guys. It was nice going against your skills." The others nod in agreement.

"Seunggi-sunbaenim did say they took note of all our effort, right?" Yena asks. "You think they're gonna make us the final team?"

Yuri scoffs. "As if duck face. It's only the first challenge. We still have to be consistent to make the team." Yena only turns to look the other way. The others are still confused as to why those two have been acting coldly to each other. They always hung out and their personalities matched up just right. Everyone assumed they would've been a couple by now.

~~~~

The group had just arrived at the dorm entrance being met by trainer Young-jun. Before they could ask any questions, he speaks up. "I know you guys must be confused right now, but there will be an official announcement tomorrow. I think it's best for everyone to just get some rest and stay inside. For today, dinner will be brought to your rooms."

The twelve girls just give him questioning looks. Everything felt off about this whole situation, and they were supposed to simply brush it off? "Look, I'm not at liberty to say any more." He adds after being intimidated. "It was a direct order. I'm sorry." And with that, he rushes off leaving the group to head to think for themselves.

"Well...that was certainly interesting." Eunbi says.

"It's only a bit past five and they want us all in our rooms already? I've had a curfew before, but this is crazy." Wonyoung responds.

"The only thing we can do for now is comply. Just ask your roommates to fill you in later." The group sighs at Eunbi knowing she was right.

"See you guys tomorrow then!" Chaeyeon waves at the group and begins to walk off with Sakura, her roommates Minjoo and Chaewon not far behind.

"Don't you need to bring Sakura to the infirmary?" Eunbi asks before they can leave. Chaeyeon turns to her, trying to hide the concern on her face, putting up a cheery façade. "Oh, it's fine, unnie. She just needs some rest, probably just drained her energy too quick is all."

"I'm sorry if it's my fault for her being like that. I didn't mean to." Eunbi is apologetic. Sakura had just passed out in her arms, and she didn't know why. Did her blow hit harder than she thought?

Chaeyeon smiles back, waving it off. "Oh no, unnie. You did nothing wrong. It was in the heat of the moment after all. Chaewon, Minjoo, let's head back already." There's definitely something she isn't telling us. Eunbi thinks, but decides to put it off for another time, leading her roommates back to their room.

~~~~

"Goeun-unnie! Juri-unnie! We're back!" Yujin opens the door expecting to greet her other roommates, but is greeted by...nothing.

"Huh? Shouldn't they be back by now?" Wonyoung asks.

"Yeah, they should be." Yuri says. "I wonder what happened."

The same empty rooms greeted the other groups of Chaeyeon and Eunbi. Gaeun's team was nowhere to be found. For the next few hours, they all waited separately. The staff delivering their dinner wouldn't answer any of their questions either. Everyone was left in the dark.

~~~~

"You sure we don't have to bring Sakura to the infirmary?" Minjoo asks worriedly. The Japanese girl had been passed out on her bed for the past couple hours already.

"I'm sure." Is all Chaeyeon says.

"I doubt Eunbi-unnie could've hit her that hard. It must be something with Sakura's powers." Chaewon deduces.

"How do you know Eunbi's powers didn't have a bad interaction with hers?" Minjoo asks again. It was really hard to assuage Minjoo when she got worried. She hadn't even known Sakura that long yet she was the one in the room most worried about her.

"That can't happen because..." Chaewon stops herself before she accidentally says more.

"Because what?"

"Aish, it's better if Eunbi-unnie explains herself." Chaewon says.

After a couple minutes, the speaker lights up and a voice speaks. "Attention everyone, in light of recent events, there is a strict curfew tonight. Violators will be sanctioned. Please wait for the official announcement tomorrow."

Chaeyeon seems to be pondering something as she turns to look at Chaewon and Minjoo. "Hey guys. Mind doing me a favor?"