Chapter 11

Sparring Discoveries

                In no more than ten seconds, Ryeowook, Yesung, and Katrina materialized in a huge, open beige room lined with slender, round pillars and lighted by four chandeliers. On the far wall there was a hemispherical alcove containing three large arched windows that let in additional light, making the room the cheeriest one in the Haven. Ryeowook smiled.

                “Welcome to the training room Katrina,” he said as he led Katrina and Yesung to the right wall, where Shindong and Kyuhyun were sitting, watching Eunhyuk and Donghae spar in the middle of the floor. Leeteuk, Siwon, and Sungmin weren’t there yet; they were still in their meeting. The three new-comers sat next to Kyuhyun and Shindong, watching with them as the two fighters attacked and dodged, laughing all the while. Katrina smiled.

                It seems like they made up, Katrina thought as Eunhyuk suddenly s through Donghae’s punches, grabbed his shirt, pushed him down, and pinned him on the floor, all in a single fluid motion. Katrina’s eyes widened. Eunhyuk was a more formidable fighter than he looked. Kyuhyun smiled at Katrina.

                “Don’t worry, you won’t be fighting him just yet,” he said, causing Katrina to sigh in relief. “You’ll be fighting Sungmin first, who is a far more challenging opponent.” He smirked. Katrina struggled to keep her eyes from widening any further. She knew he was just trying to get into her head. Katrina fake-smiled back.

                “That’s good, I like a challenge.” Katrina retorted. Kyuhyun snorted, smirk still on his face.

                “Have you forgotten that I can read your mind? You can’t hide your true feeling from me. I know you’re scared.” He taunted, causing Katrina to get annoyed.

                “Stop getting inside my head!” she exclaimed, extracting an amused expression from Kyuhyun.

                “Who’s going to stop me?” Kyuhyun smiled, as he turned his attention back to Eunhyuk and Donghae, who had started fighting again. Katrina turned away, steaming with anger.

                Don’t you worry Kyuhyun, Katrina thought, I’ll wipe that ignorant smirk off your face soon enough!

                Challenge accepted Kyuhyun’s voice echoed through her skull. She stared at Kyuhyun, who was smiling evilly to himself.

                Smart a- Katrina’s thoughts were interrupted by Ryeowook, who was chuckling at the two bickerers.

                “It’s no use Katrina,” he smiled. “No one can beat Kyuhyun in a battle of wits, not even you.” Shindong nodded in agreement. Katrina pouted. She would find a way to get back at her new enemy, there was no doubting that. She just had to figure out how.

                All of a sudden, Leeteuk, Siwon, and Sungmin appeared in front of the windows in a cloud of black smoke, causing the fighting duo to stop sparring. In a whirl of motion, everyone lined up at attention, shoulder to shoulder in front of the three. Leeteuk smiled.

                “Alright everyone, today we’ll be working on hand to hand combat, which everyone will need to improve on if we’re going to rescue Madame Christine likes the prophesy implies. But first-“ he paused as he looked at Katrina, who was on the very end of the row, “I would like to see what our new member can do. Katrina, step forward.” He commanded. Katrina made her way front and center as the others headed back to the wall and took their seats. Leeteuk nodded. “You’ll be sparring Sungmin for your first match. You both will only use normal attacks until I give you the ok to start using your powers.” He explained as Sungmin stepped forward, positioning himself across from Katrina.

                “Whoa, whoa, wait!” Katrina exclaimed. “I don’t even know what my individual power is, and I still don’t exactly know how to transport yet!” It wasn’t like she was bad at fighting. In fact, she was pretty good at it, but going against someone with magic? Huge disadvantage. Leeteuk shrugged.

                “You need to discover your powers on your own, and the best way to do that is by being under pressure,” replied Leeteuk. Sungmin gave Katrina a friendly smile.

                “Don’t worry Katrina, I’ll go easy on you.” He insisted, getting into fighting position, but Siwon shook his head.

                “No Sungmin, give it everything you’ve got. You’re doing this for the same reason she is: to get better,” reminded Siwon. Sungmin shrugged, giving Katrina an apologetic look. Katrina gulped. Although she tried not to show it, she always got scared before a fight, but when the fight would start, she would be in her zone. She took a deep breath. She could do this. Leeteuk raised his hand, and with a snap of his fingers yelled,

                “Begin!”

                Immediately, Sungmin jabbed at Katrina who dodged it quite easily, blocking the strike with her arm and stepping to the side in order to get an opening for an attack. She tried to elbow her opponent in the face, but he was very quick and caught her arm between his hands and twisted. With a fluid motion, he was able to throw her down, stunning Katrina for a second. As he went for the killing strike, her mind played Sungmin’s actions in slow motion. He was about to karate chop her in the neck, bending his knees just slightly to get a better angle. She knew exactly what to do. Rebounding from her shock, she rolled over just as Sungmin’s hand was about to touch and back kicked his left knee, causing him to lose his balance. Katrina took advantage of this as she sprung to her feet, elbowed his shoulder, and simply pushed him down, all in the timeframe of a second. Before she could pin him down though, he sprung back up almost instantly and was about to attack again, but they were both stopped by Leeteuk’s signal.

                “Ok, that was pretty good.” Leeteuk remarked, giving Katrina a small smile. “Now, use your powers. Anything goes.”

                “And this time don’t go easy on her Sungmin!” Siwon scolded, causing Sungmin’s face to be wiped of emotion. Now he was serious.

                They both got back into their positions, and Leeteuk gave the signal again.

                “Begin!”

                With a flash, Sungmin was gone. Katrina looked around for her opponent, only to be met with a firm kick in the back. She lost her balance and stumbled, trying to turn around to face Sungmin, but by then he had disappeared again. She stood in one place, looking around for the black wisp of smoke that would signify his arrival, but nothing happened. She started to turn around when she heard the faintest sound. She caught sight of Sungmin in the middle of materializing behind her once more. Again, she imagined his movements in slow motion, allowing her to see his weak points. He was fully grounded, so there was no sense in going for the legs again, but his hands were guarding his face, leaving his abdomen vulnerable. She formulated a plan in her head: Fake punch to the head followed by a rapid round kick to the stomach followed by an elbow to the head while grabbing his arms with her other hand followed by a rapid jerk of his arms resulting in him sprawled on the floor. It was a perfect plan. However, before she could even begin executing her plan, she found that she couldn’t move; not a single muscle would respond to her mental commands.

                Punch! Come on arm, PUNCH! She commanded herself, but it was no use as she was forced to watch Sungmin in slow motion as he swept her legs out from under her. As soon as she landed on her , everything returned to normal speed. Sungmin pinned her down in seconds, winning the round. Katrina couldn’t get up for a few seconds; she was still in shock.

                “What just happened?” she asked out loud as Sungmin helped her up.

                “I controlled your body.” He smiled as he got back in sparring position.

                “Sungmin can control the movements of others, as well as himself.” Siwon explained, receiving a confused look from Katrina.

                “Ok, I can understand controlling other people, but can’t he already control himself without powers? I mean, it’s kind of a function of the human body: to move.” She sarcastically asked. Sungmin smiled.

                “Don’t worry, you’ll see what he means soon enough.” He smirked, as he readied himself for the next round.Katrina sighed, readying herself for the next round.

                Maybe if I transport too, we can be on even ground, she thought. Of course, knowing how to transport would really help.

                “Begin!”

                Instead of immediately transporting, Sungmin advanced towards Katrina, who was ready to block his strikes. She knew she had to observe the trajectory of the strike in order to know where the hand was going to hit, but before she could see anything of the sort, she found herself on the floor once more.

                What happened now? She didn’t even remember Sungmin hitting her, but after a few seconds, various spots on her body started to blossom with pain. Sungmin smiled.

                “That’s what Siwon meant; I can make my body move as fast or as slow as I want. I just speed my motions up so you wouldn’t have a chance to attack. I can do other things too, but that’s for another time.” He helped her up again as Leeteuk shook his head.

                “Come on Katrina, I know you can do better.” He said as he raised his hand for the start signal. Katrina got in position once more.

                Hey, you try fighting against someone who can control your every move! She mentally replied. At that moment, a sparkle from one of the chandeliers caught her eye. This gave Katrina an idea. Please let this work. she pleaded.

                Meanwhile, the boys decided to place bets on the winner for the third round. Eunhyuk, Kyuhyun, Donghae, and Shindong put their bets on Sungmin, each throwing in 5000 won in the pile while Ryeowook put in only 1000 won for Katrina; that was all he had. They were about to close the betting when at the last second, Yesung threw in 20,000 won for Katrina.

                “Whoa, Yesung! Where’d you get all that?” Donghae exclaimed. Yesung  shrugged. Eunhyuk shook his head.

                “Well, you just wasted a big chunk of money. No offense to Katrina, I mean, she’s actually doing pretty well for her first time, but she doesn’t stand a chance. Like she said, she doesn’t even know exactly how to teleport yet, and that’s the only way to defeat Sungmin.” Eunhyuk explained.

“Yeah, but she could use her own power to help her out. She’s already used it a couple times, though I don’t think she’s even noticed yet.” Donghae rebuked. Yesung just shrugged again in reply, focusing on the fight that was about to restart.

                “Begin!”

                To the chandelier. Katrina thought, but nothing happened, and Sungmin was advancing fast. Again her mind went in slow motion as she watched her opponent come upon her, ready to strike again.

                Take me to the chandelier! She commanded herself, but she still couldn’t transport as Sungmin came dangerously close. Katrina suddenly felt panicked. She needed to avoid him at all costs.

                I need to go to the chandelier NOW! She mentally told herself, and in a flash, she disappeared from Sungmin’s sight. Sungmin was surprised. He frantically looked all around the room for Katrina, but he never thought to look up. She was perched right above her adversary on the chandelier, exactly where she wanted to be. Seeing that Sungmin was distracted, she took her plan into action. She gracefully leaped off of the chandelier, and aimed a kick straight at his head. Just a moment after she jumped, he finally saw Katrina and tried to run away, but for some reason, he just couldn’t run fast enough. Katrina enjoyed the rush as she slowly fell down towards her sluggish opponent, just like when she would jump from her bedroom window. Before she knew it, her foot collided with Sungmin’s shoulder, causing him to slowly fall down. Katrina found her footing again as she landed on the floor, and time flowed normally again as she quickly tackled Sungmin and pinned him to the floor. They both looked at each other, breathing heavily from exhaustion and adrenaline. It took a few moments to sink in, but she finally realized what she had just done.

                I transported. I won! She celebrated in her head as she got off of Sungmin and helped him up. Everyone except Leeteuk, Siwon, and Yesung had their mouths wide open in disbelief. It usually took much more practice to be able to beat Sungmin, one of their best fighters, yet Katrina defeated him on only her third try. Plus, whether she realized it or not, she had just used her individual power to win, and the others were very impressed.

                “I told you! I told you she would use her power!” Donghae exclaimed, bouncing up and down in excitement.

                “Then why did you bet against her?” Kyuhyun muttered as Yesung and Ryeowook gathered their winnings, grins fully displayed on their faces, even Yesung’s. Shindong laughed.

                “I should know better than bet against someone who can see the future.” Shindong smiled. Ryeowook shook his head, still smiling as Yesung separated the winnings fifty-fifty.

                “No, Yesung didn’t have a vision about this.” He explained, but as soon as he did so, he remembered something: The Valkyrie vision! He had totally forgotten. They had to tell Leeteuk.

                Leeteuk smiled at Katrina. She really is Christine’s daughter after all. He thought to himself as Sungmin and Katrina bowed to each other.

                “Nice job!” Sungmin smiled, and Katrina returned the gesture.

                “You too! That’s a pretty awesome power by the way.” She replied.

                “Thanks! I like yours too.” Sungmin straightened up. “I wish I could control time.” He grinned as he was about to go back to his position next to Siwon. Katrina met this statement with confusion on her face as she too straightened from her bow.

                “Control time?” she asked, bewildered. Leeteuk nodded.

                “You used time control to slow down Sungmin’s movements quite a few times.” He explained.

                “Yeah! And you also slowed yourself down when you were jumping off the chandelier!” Donghae chimed in.

                Katrina couldn’t believe it. Had she really just controlled time? It took a few moments, but eventually excitement filled every part of her body. This was so cool! She had powers!

                Leeteuk waited for the information to sink in before he continued.

                “Any questions before we continue?” he asked. Katrina thought for a moment, and then smiled as an idea formed in her head.

                “Yeah, can I fight him next?”

                She pointed towards Kyuhyun.

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Aw! I broke my ten-day-post-a-chapter-everyday-streak :( Oh well, that's what senior year will do to you I guess.

Anyway, yay! Katrina finally found her power (sings Power by BAP lol) Hope you guys enjoyed this extremely long chapter, and I can't wait for your comments and subcriptions ^^ And, as always, thanks to the ones who have already subscribed and commented. You guys are the reason I do this :)

~Justjoking <3