“Docks don’t look heavily guarded.” Chaeyeon says after looking through a telescope at the bow of the ferry boat. There was obviously still security, but nothing more than they were used to.

“That doesn’t really mean anything though. The androids can hide in plain sight.” Sakura replies, not looking convinced.

“I guess that means we’re going with plan B.” Eunbi decides. “Hyewon, go get the others to the lifeboats.”

~~~~

“Are you sure this is safe? I don’t think Yujin’s old enough to drive yet.” Yena quips as she steps onto the inflatable raft. Her smile was quickly wiped away though by spray of ocean water.

“And I thought ducks were waterproof.” The puppy jokes back, snickering to herself from another orange boat.

“Didn’t cross your mind to not mess around with a water user in the middle of the ocean?” Yuri mutters rhetorically before taking a seat next to Yena whose clothes were drenched for the second time that day. After about another minute, all twelve girls were finally split between three lifeboats. With a swipe from a couple of Hyewon’s ice shards, the ropes they were using to tether the vessels were cut, and the group was now on their own.

“Uhm… just making sure. Sea monsters don’t exist, right?” Minjoo asks nervously looking down into the ocean below.

“We know more about space than we do about the ocean, so we can’t rule out that possibility.” Nako replies to scare the brunette, and it evidently worked as Minjoo was now clinging onto Chaewon tightly.

“So, how does this work? We don’t have any oars to row.” Hitomi asks, the ferry already too far away for them to change their minds.

“How it works is you hold on.” Yujin says with a wink before controlling the waves to jet the three lifeboats around the coast as if there were motors attached to them.

~~~~

After about five minutes of the other girls screaming, holding on for dear life or a mix of both, Yujin finally directed them to a beach on the east side of the island that looked pretty secluded.

“Okay… now I know how you girls feel when I’m carrying y’all while running.” Chaeyeon says through a cough.

“Never give Yujin a license…” Yena mumbles while clutching her stomach.

“You’re welcome again, girls.” The puppy replies with a sly grin before Eunbi calls everyone’s attention.

“Alright everyone, from here, we’ll be trekking through the forest to the middle of the island. Try not to be seen by anyone because we don’t know who’s an android and who isn’t at this point.” The leader says. “Kkura, you sense anything?”

“Mmm, yes. Technological disturbance big enough to get my attention from this far gives a 99% chance that it’s connected to KYB.” The tech-girl replies.

“That means we’re on the right track then. Dust yourselves off, girls. We’re one step closer to ending this whole mess.” Eunbi encourages after seeing some of the members already a bit tired.

“She’s right, let’s do this!” Yujin cheers, her powers keeping her from feeling seasick like the others were.

“Does she know that we still need Kkura-unnie to lead the way?” Hyewon asks after Yujin bolted towards the forest without any extra thought.

“Probably forgot already. Let’s go catch up.” Wonyoung sighs, and with that, the squad was in motion.

~~~~

Back at PD Campus…

“I said that Saerom-unnie said that Officer Hwang said that KYB moved up the attack to this afternoon!” Rei says when Gaeul and Leeseo both stare at her incredulously.

“I heard it the first time.” Gaeul replies, her mind beginning to race a hundred miles an hour.

“I told you it was a futile effort! Just save your energy and yield.” Dr. Han says with a laugh from her cell.

“Why you little…” Gaeul was about to head back and give the scientist a piece of her mind, but Rei grabs her shoulder.

“No time to waste, unnie. We can hand this mad doctor to the new authorities after we take down KYB and the syndicate once and for all.” The Japanese girl says before pulling Gaeul and Leeseo back up to the surface.

~~~~

“I’m sensing high amounts of technology up ahead.” Sakura says as they approach a large mountain near the center of the island. In front of them now was a large granite wall, but Sakura could tell it was more than just that.

“I don’t see any sentries guarding the area. Just in case though, I want Minjoo to accompany Kkura to the wall.” Eunbi replies.

Minjoo nods and cloaks Sakura before heading closer. The group couldn’t see the two girls, but they could tell they arrived when the entire wall lights up. Slowly, the cliff begins splitting open to reveal a large room that appeared to be an airplane hangar. After Eunbi gives everyone the go signal, the group heads in.

~~~~

“There’s something off about this place…” Wonyoung whispers.

“What do you mean? We haven’t run into anyone yet.” Yujin replies. With the layout of the place being unfamiliar, they decided to split into groups of four and fan out in search of Kim Yong-bum.

“That’s her point exactly, Yuj. Usually, these places are crawling with soldiers.” Yena interjects.

“Let’s just keep moving before our luck runs out then.” Yuri says.

After about five minutes of walking through a winding hall whose plain design made it look never ending, the four reach a locked door that Yena easily short-circuits to open. On the other side was a large room with a fountain in the middle. Aside from that though, the place had zero amenities.

“This must be the center of the mountain. These guys really hollowed it out.” Yena comments.

“I still don’t see anyone or anything though.” Wonyoung says before the sound of another door opening behind them catches their attention.

“Eunbi-unnie?” Yujin asks when she sees her leader’s group enter the room. Shortly after, Chaeyeon’s group also arrives through another door.

“Something’s really fishy…” Eunbi mumbles just as all the doors behind them shut again.

“That can’t be good.” Chaewon says as a hole opens in the ground to project the face of the person they’d been looking for the whole time.

“You really thought you could get in that easily?” Kim Yong-bum asks.

“Not really, but since we’re already here, why not tell us where you are so we can get this over with quickly.” Yujin replies to which KYB begins to laugh.

“Now where would the fun in that be? Aside from your human leader, your group has some of the strongest mutants in the country, and I prepared something to test those claims.” He says before the projection disappears. A couple seconds later, the room begins to fragment and shift.

“Girls, scatter!” Eunbi orders before taking Hyewon’s hand and pulling her towards her before she could be crushed by a metal platform rising up from the ground.

When the dust settles, Eunbi finds that they’ve been enclosed in a medium-sized room with no exits.

“Welcome to The Cube.” KYB’s voice says from above.

~~~~

“The Cube? What a stupid name.” Yujin says.

“Maybe focus less on taunting and help me find a way out of here.” Wonyoung replies. She had been looking around for anything she could mentally grab, but there was nothing in the room except for the fountain they’d seen earlier. Yujin walked up to it, and to her surprise, there was real flowing water in it.

“What kind of game is he playing?” The puppy asks before two more panels open up from the ground. She and Wonyoung get into a fighting stance as two androids begin rising up from the ground.

“You really thought giving me a water source would be a good idea? Bad move.” Yujin then says, launching a torrent of water right towards their adversaries. To her shock though, the one on the right jumps right in front of the attack, extending its arms to absorb all the liquid.

Wonyoung, on the other hand, tried to attack the other android, but before she could grab it with her powers, it disappeared from view.

“Uh-oh…” The younger girl mumbles.

“Uh-oh is right. This robot’s acting like a sponge.” Yujin says as she dodges an energy attack. Wonyoung wasn’t as lucky as she was hit in the back by the invisible android. With her powers relying on having sight on her target, she was at a huge disadvantage.

“Wonnie!” Yujin yells, but before she could get over to her girlfriend, the sponge-droid jumps in her way again.

With all of her water attacks being absorbed, Yujin opted for hand-to-hand combat, but these androids still had the extra durability and armor that would wear opponents out over time. This culminated in Yujin catching an energy attack right to the chest. This put her on the defensive side now, and she was being pushed back fast.

Meanwhile, Wonyoung was still having trouble with the camo-droid. Every time it looked like she had it in her grasp, it would disappear into thin air again. The bunny quickly racks her brain for an idea while trying to block punches.

“Wait, Yujin! Lead your dance partner over here!” Wonyoung says. Yujin nodded and started backing up until it was in Wonyoung’s range.

“Now, switch!” The younger girl then says before grabbing the android with her mind and swinging it into the wall. “Take the camo-droid!”

Yujin turns to look at the area where Wonyoung was fighting and notices some puddles leftover from her attack on the sponge-droid and gets an idea of her own. Yujin pulls the water from the fountain and lays it all on the floor. This exposed the camo-droid as its steps were now splashing on the ground.

“Gotcha.” The puppy quips before using the water to engulf the android in a bubble and crush it under the pressure.

On the other side of the room, Wonyoung was tossing the sponge-droid around like a rag doll until all that was left of it was pieces.

“Don’t you ever think of hurting my girl ever again!” She yells angrily.

“Calm down, Wonnie. I’m fine!” Yujin jokes, thinking Wonyoung’s outburst was a bit cute.

With both enemies now defeated, a door on the other side finally opens.

“Sakura?” Wonyoung asks.

“Definitely.”

~~~~

“Ugh, you don’t give up, do you?” Yuri asks when Yoo Eun-kyung, the masked singer, rises up from the ground with an android next to her.

“Well, having another machine here would’ve been too easy for you.” The woman taunts back.

“Mutants, androids, clones, doesn’t matter. You’re going down!” Yena replies before launching an electric beam right towards their two foes. Unfortunately for her though, the android blocks the attack without taking any damage.

“You gotta be kidding me, rubber?” The duck mumbles.

“The president has taken special liberty to build androids that would directly counter your abilities. You can thank your friend, Sakura, for the information.” The masked singer says with a smug grin before beginning to hum a song.

Yuri was getting ready to counter-call her spell, but for some reason, she began to feel drowsy herself.

“Aww, what’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?”

“How are… you doing this?” Yuri mutters, grabbing her head in pain.

While this was happening, Yena was in a one-sided fight with the rubber-droid. None of her attacks were doing anything to affect the machine’s armor while all of its attacks were doing a lot of damage to her. It also didn’t help her focus that the masked singer’s humming was affecting her too.

Yuri’s eyes were getting very heavy, and she might’ve fallen asleep on the spot if her gaze didn’t land on Yena at that second. The older girl was barely holding on, and that managed to light a fire in Yuri.

The popstar focuses her mind and blocks out all the noise. The masked singer, taking this as a sign of weakness, steps closer, sensing victory.

“You don’t have any help this time…” Eun-kyung says, and just as she was about to swing a punch at her, Yuri opens her eyes and throws a jab right towards her attacker’s stomach. Eun-kyung takes a big inhale at having the wind knocked out of her, and with her singing paused for a second, Yuri yells, putting all of her power into her next few words.

“STAND DOWN AND TELL US WHERE KYB IS!” Eun-kyung’s eyes go wide at this, trying her best to resist the charmspeak, which was ultimately futile.

With the singing stopped, Yena also regains her focus, giving herself time to actually assess the situation. That’s when she notices the chinks in the android’s armor. Though it was covered by rubber in a majority of areas, Yena could see a little gap between its shoulders.

The duck dashes in, easily dodging energy attacks until she’s right up on her adversary. Yena charges up a thunder punch and though the android catches it with both hands to absorb all the electricity, Yena’s other hand was free to grab the machine’s shoulder and send a shock throughout its body.

“Good job, Yena. Now let’s go. I know where KYB is now.” Yuri says, the door behind them opening.

~~~~

“I can’t get any of my plants close!” Hitomi says after having another set of vines shrivel up due to the poison gas surrounding the android she was fighting.

“I kind of have my hands full too, Tomi!” Nako replies. She was facing an android that was absorbing all of her punches and hitting back twice as hard. It was similar technology to the one Hunter Geun used for his armor. The short girl was as stubborn as usual though and kept feeding the android energy.

“Why. Won’t. You. Break?” Nako says after throwing another punch that would’ve probably left a dent in the strongest metals. The android was still unaffected though and quickly threw its counterattack. Nako held up both forearms to block, but this strike was too strong and sent her flying into the wall.

“Nako!” Hitomi yells, but she was in no position to help out. She was running out of seeds to throw, and she assumed breathing in the poison being exuded by her adversary would be fatal.

C’mon… there has to be something in here that I can still use. The peach-cheeked girl thinks while rummaging through her pocket until she takes out a pack of poison ivy. She was saving it to capture KYB, but it would have to do in these circumstances. Hitomi throws the seeds on the ground and forces them to grow and crawl towards the android. This proves to be slightly successful as the vines manage to make contact with the android and snare it, giving Hitomi a chance to get to Nako.

“You good?” She asks after propping the short girl up.

“Very annoyed, but yes.” Nako huffs. She’d been waiting for the counter-droid to come and attack her again, but while she was on the ground, it simply stood still. That’s when she finally realizes that this android had been built to prey on her stubbornness.

“How about I take the poison-droid, and you take this one?” Nako suggests, trying to use her head for once instead of relying on her brawn.

“You sure you can handle the poison?” Hitomi asks, seeing that the android had finally managed to rip through the vines that were ensnaring it. Nako only nods before taking a deep breath and charging the poison-droid.

With her extra endurance, Nako manages to push through the gas which even surprises the android. Sure, her skin was stinging a bit, but the short girl’s biggest weakness was also one of her biggest strengths. Nako refused to give up and once she was in front of the android, it was over for the machine.

Meanwhile, Hitomi had also figured out with some quick observation that the counter-droid relied on absorbing force for its power. With that in mind, the peach-cheeked girl positioned her vines in such a way that the more the android struggled, the tighter the vines would cling onto it. The android couldn’t absorb force if the only force being exerted was from the machine itself. After a few minutes of trying to rip through, the android finally runs out of energy and collapses on the ground.

“You done, Nako?” Hitomi asks, and when she turns, she couldn’t help but chuckle seeing her partner still beating the poison-droid to a pulp. “Hey, it’s already destroyed. We should go look for the others.”

~~~~

In another room, Chaewon and Minjoo were stuck in a game of running around as neither could get in close to either of the androids they were facing. Minjoo’s opponent had thermal vision and Chaewon’s had eyes all over its body.

Minjoo couldn’t hide with her invisibility, and Chaewon’s clones couldn’t sneak up and attack from different angles.

“Any ideas, Min?” Chaewon asks after dodging an energy beam. She’d already taken significant damage from having her clones get hit in their ambush attempts.

“Nope. This thing can even see me when I’m using my advanced cloak technique.” The brunette replies. It must’ve had an even more advanced set of tech than the ones Sohye used with her shades.

“Well, we’re going to have to think of something quick before-” Just as Chaewon was about to finish her sentence, another one of her clones was hit with a direct blast that caused all her clones to stumble.

“Chae!” Minjoo shouts, running towards her girlfriend only to get hit with an attack from the thermal-droid. With both girls down, the two androids close in to deliver the final blow.

“You can’t beat us that easily…” Chaewon mutters. “Minjoo, I have a plan.”

Minjoo nods and listens to what her girlfriend whispers to her.

“Wait, you can still do that?” The younger girl asks.

“Well, no better time to find out, right? Now move!” At that moment, Chaewon shoves Minjoo out of the way of another projectile attack.

“Hey ugly! Over here!” Chaewon yells to get the eye-droid’s attention.

“No, over here, actually!” A clone of hers calls from behind.

“Don’t listen to those two. I’m the main target!” A third clone says.

On the other side of the room, Minjoo drops her cloak and waves at the thermal-droid before disappearing again. She knew she was still visible to the machine and decided to use it to her advantage,

Both girls try to lead the androids around until they are both in the center of the room. The robots charge their energy attacks and fire, but at the last second, two things happen simultaneously- the clone the eye-droid was aiming at and the heat signature the thermal-droid was tracking both disappear into thin air which leads to both blasts hitting the opposite android.

“Nice one!” Chaewon cheers, hugging Minjoo as both reappear at the other side of the room. In the confusion, Minjoo had cloaked Chaewon at the same time one of her clones walked in the thermal-droid’s sight. This confused the android who began following the clone’s heat signature instead. With both androids aiming at the same target, Chaewon went back to one of her old tricks when she first joined PD Campus- making her clones dissipate at will. Back then, that only happened because she couldn’t control them very well, but this time, she tried to do it deliberately.

Now, the door on one side of the room opens, and both girls exit to find their friends.

~~~~

“How you holding up?” Hyewon asks Eunbi who she was standing back-to-back with.

“Pretty sure I have a broken knuckle, but other than that, I’m peachy.” The older girl replies. In their room, Eunbi was facing an android made of solid metal, and Hyewon was facing a fire droid.

To say this was a tough fight would be an understatement. Hyewon had fought fire before when she faced Yeji, but this machine’s flames were not letting up. Every time the ice and fire met, mist would fill the room. Hyewon was getting a bit drained though from the effort. In the most recent clash, the fire melted through her ice like a hot knife through butter.

Eunbi’s struggles came from the obvious fact that punching a piece of metal would likely hurt you more than it would hurt it. The IZ*ONE leader was playing it smart though and analyzing the robot’s movements in between throwing in attacks.

“Are you ready, Hyewon?” Eunbi asks, finally getting her adversary’s attack pattern down.

“I thought you’d never ask.” And with that, Hyewon freezes the entire floor. While the fire-droid’s feet heated through the new surface, the metal-droid became significantly less mobile, allowing Eunbi to duck its attack and shove it into the fire-droid’s way. With how uneven the ground was, the metal-droid slides easily across the floor right into a fire blast that melts right through it.

“Okay, that leaves just one.” Eunbi sighs, but both girls knew that it wouldn’t be easy taking the last android down.

“You’re going to want to take cover for this one, unnie.” Hyewon suddenly says through gritted teeth.

“Alright, I trust you, but please don’t overexert yourself.” The older girl replies, jumping behind the scorched remains of the metal-droid.

Hyewon stares down the fire-droid whose hands are still lit with flames.

“You think you have heat? I'll make you feel ice so cold that it burns…” The brunette mutters before her whole body begins to light up in a white aura. From behind cover, Eunbi could feel the temperature in the room drop significantly.

Undeterred, the fire-droid engulfs its whole body in flames and charges Hyewon. She was ready for this though, curling both hands up to her side, building up an ice attack.

Closer… closer… NOW. Hyewon throws her hands forward and blasts a beam of cold white ice directly in the android’s face. When the mist clears, the robot is frozen in place, its eyes dimmed.

“That w-was a-amazing!” Eunbi says through her shivering.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry if it got a bit too cold for you.” Hyewon replies, running up to her girlfriend and giving her a surprisingly warm hug.

After a couple seconds to catch their breaths, a new door opens up in front of them.

“You thought you could beat us with that? Try again.” Eunbi says, eyes staring up into the ceiling knowing KYB was watching.

~~~~

“I can’t get in close, Kkura. The floor’s too sticky.” Chaeyeon says from across the room. The android she was facing was dripping slime everywhere it walked which was both slippery and sticky. Chaeyeon couldn’t approach without risking being an open target.

“And here I thought you were the fastest mutant in the country! There isn’t any machinery in this room for you to use either, Miyawaki. Maybe you should just let me save you two the trouble and allow me to wipe your memories.” Sohye laughs from next to the android.

“Really? With how much you talk, you could have me believe your power was not knowing when to shut up.” Sakura replies, still deep in thought.

“Hilarious. I should be thanking you though. Your files really helped in developing these androids.” Sohye says back, and when she notices the Japanese girl’s expression shift, she grinned. “Yes, those notes you made on your friends’ weaknesses? We put them to good use.”

“Don’t let her words get to you, Kkura! I’ll figure something out!” Chaeyeon says while dodging a projectile attack.

“What a pity, letting your girlfriend take care of another mess you created.” Sohye interjects, slowly starting to walk towards Sakura. Chaeyeon wanted to run over, but the slime-droid threw another few blobs of goo to deter her.

“So, how much of your memory would you like me to erase? A couple days? Weeks? Maybe even years? It’ll help you go back to the cold calculated girl you used to be. You’d be able to fit right in with us.” Sohye then says as she circles around the tech-girl. Though she was still wearing her shades, Sakura was smart enough to keep her eyes shut just in case. She could just feel the tension rising in the air along with the guilt in her. Once again, a mistake made from her overthinking had put the group in danger.

Chaeyeon watches this all happen angrily. She wanted to help, but she needed to get rid of that android first. As she lets her gaze wander, the feather girl finally gets an idea.

As fast as lightning, Chaeyeon ran towards the wall and right as she was about to crash into it, she shifted her feet to plant on the vertical surface. Now, she was running around the walls of the room so fast that all the slime on the ground began to lift up. Even Sakura and Sohye were beginning to lose their footing on the ground with how quickly the wind was picking up.

Kkura! This is your chance! Chaeyeon’s voice speaks into Sakura’s head. The Japanese girl nods and takes a deep breath, remembering combat training from campus, before dropping down low and using a sweeping kick to get Sohye off balance.

“Yah! Put me down!” She yells as she was getting swept into the tornado Chaeyeon was making.

Get in the center, Kkura. I’ll finish this off. Chaeyeon then says.

Sakura does as instructed and watches in awe as the wind around her continues to swirl and pick up everything, including the slime-droid. After about a minute, Chaeyeon stops and everything that had been caught in the tornado drops to the ground.

Both Sohye and the android were now sitting in a pile of hardened slime, unable to break out. Chaeyeon walks up to Sohye who was still struggling to escape and gives her a hard smack in the face to knock her out.

“Good job, Kkura. I hope you’re okay and don’t let what Sohye said get to your head. Now, can you get us out of here?” Chaeyeon asks with a chuckle, and it just about melted Sakura’s heart. This was why she loved the feather girl. She didn’t ask about the words Sohye said. She didn’t mention anything about her inability to fight on her own. All she did was comfort her and tell her she did well.

“Yes, I can.” Sakura replies with a smile before walking towards the back wall.

“Sohye may have said there was no technology here to control, but…” After feeling around a bit, the Japanese girl sensed a door mechanism that she quickly overrode to open an exit. Once she had anchored her consciousness in, she also noticed five other doors that were locked near them and decided to open them as well. “... there’s always some kind of tech if you know where to look.”

~~~~~

The two girls exited the cube and followed a long path until they arrived in a new room, a bit bigger than the one they were just trapped in, but definitely smaller than the open one they were in just before that.

Shortly after, they hear footsteps coming up from behind them, and to their relief, it was the rest of the girls, all a bit battered, but ultimately alive.

“You girls, okay?” Eunbi asks everyone.

“Yeah, now can we please get to KYB, so I can give him a piece of my mind?” Nako replies.

“Actually, I got the information out of the masked singer. His chamber isn’t that far away from here.” Yuri says, and at this, the ground beneath them begins to shake.

“Uhh, what’s happening???” Yujin asks, feeling the floor slowly rising.

“You girls clearly weren’t oversold. I can see now why you are all part of IZ*ONE.” KYB’s voice begins to project into the room.

“Yah, where are you taking us?!” Chaeyeon replies.

“Up to my office, of course. It’s time for one final test.” The man replies as the ceiling opens up and the group find themselves in what appears to be a large apartment building with a glass wall overlooking Ulleung Island.

Standing across from them was the KYB president himself, Kim Yong-bum. Something about him looked different though. His build was a lot sturdier than the first time they’d seen him, even the robot version. He also looked taller and a lot younger than his pictures.

“Welcome. Make yourself at home.” KYB greets, gesturing to the room around him.

“Enough funny business. Stand down. There’s twelve of us and one of you.” Eunbi says.

“Aish, always directly to the point. Are you really sure you don’t want to give up? Your friends will all fall soon anyway. There won’t be a home to return to.” He says flatly, which gets a confused expression from the girls.

“Oh, no one told you? Well…” At this, KYB turns on a flat screen TV on the wall, which was displaying four different camera feeds, all showing their mutant friends fighting against armies of androids in Seoul. “... I may have pushed that attack up.”

With the snap of a finger, more panels open from the ground with model 5 androids rising up from them. The girls were surrounded and just when they thought they’d escaped one trap, they’d just walked into another.

 

A/N: Hi everyone! Onsite work this week was really tiring from a travel standpoint. i really got home around 9pm every day and barely had any time to write, but because I promised a chapter, I worked hard to get this one out today! I literally wrote the whole cube part in this one afternoon. I reviewed it of course, but i apologize in advance if there's anything wrong with it. This was a really long chapter after all.

Anyways, here, we had the girls all going through rooms that challenged their weaknesses, and by the time they get out, they step into another trap, the final one. To give an idea of how these last couple chapters will go, we'll be going back to Seoul for the next one to see how the everyone's dealing with the attack. After that, we'll have the final fight chapter on Ulleung island + the return home and aftermath. Then, the chapter after that will be the epilogue/last chapter. Given my work sched, that may take anywhere between 2 and three weeks, so I hope you can all be a bit more patient. This is a story 4 years in the making after all.

Thank you once again for all the love and support. I've been getting some comments and messages recently that really touched my heart, and as we end this series, i hope to hear more of what you all thought of the overall series like favorite moments and stuff. I got my cc and twt, if you ever want to reach me there.

Have a nice day, everyone, and I'll see y'all in the next one!