Chapter 4.

“We should look for Kibum to make sure he’s okay,” suggested Kyuhyun worry clear in his voice. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him…”

“We should be heading to class,” Ryeowook said as the bell rang. “He should be there already.”

When the three arrived in their classroom they were surprised to see that Kibum’s seat was empty. There was no trace of their technologically inclined friend. They thought that Kibum was just running late from wherever he was, but as time went by there was still no sign of him. Kyuhyun’s worry increased.

“I’ll find him,” proposed Henry.

“How? We’re in the middle of class,” Ryeowook said instantly before Kyuhyun could speak. He knew Kyuhyun wanted to go talk to his best friend himself, but it was better if Henry went. Henry knows better than you do, Kyuhyun. He mentally added an apology to Kyuhyun.

“You’ll see,” he smiled. Henry’s facial expression changed in a heartbeat. It turned from his usual happy-go-lucky grin into a scrunched frown. “Ow! Ow,” he suddenly yelled, doubling over to clutch his stomach.

The whole class started murmuring at Henry’s outburst. Kyuhyun mentally applauded Henry for the convincing performance. Ryeowook just rolled his eyes at his friend’s over exaggerated acting.

The teacher moderating the class walked up to Henry. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Henry made a gesture that suggested the teacher come closer. He then whispers something into her ear.

“What?” asked the teacher, throwing the boy a confused look. Henry tried to whisper his excuse to her again.

“Mr. Lau,” she scolded. “You are going to have to speak louder.”

“I need to do the number 2! You hear me now? I really need the toilet really, really badly!!” The class then started laughing causing Henry to turn red.

 “Quiet down!” The teacher reprimanded the class. “Mr. Lau you may go.”

Henry then scurried towards the door. “Oh, and since my stomach really, really hurts, don’t worry if I take a long time,” he added causing the class to break out in laughter again.

 “That was anticlimactic…But there were much easier and simpler ways to get out of class.”

 “Well, that’s Henry for you.”

~*~*~

“Damn, Kyuhyun,” muttered Kibum. He decided to stay in his dorm room for the remainder of the day. To take his mind of the pain still lingering in his chest, he decided to create something. So, there he was, alone in his room, screwing in bolts and wielding metal into a new gadget.  

He held up his gadget to inspect and admire his handiwork. It was modeled to look like a gun, but when it shoots—he pointed the gun at a mug sitting innocently on the table—it sends a strong electric current. He pulled the trigger allowing a bright spark of light to escape the gun and pierce itself into the mug causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces.

“Bye, bye Sungmin,” he smirks, a little too pleased with himself. Kibum was beyond pain now. He was jealous. Very jealous.

“Planning to murder someone?”

Kibum, surprised by the sudden sound, dropped what he was holding and turned towards the direction of the voice. He was greeted by the sight of a smug-looking Henry.

“What do you want?”

“I just wanted to check on how you’re doing. Kyuhyun was worried, you know.”

Kibum ignored Henry and started sweeping off the shards of glass from his desk.

 “Why didn’t you come to class today? I just made a fool of myself in front of everyone to look for you.” Henry whined as he walked over to Kibum’s bed.

 “Nobody asked you to.”

 “Why aren’t you joining the club?”

 “I didn’t even say I wanted to join. I was forced remember,” he said as picked up his invention from the ground.

“I bet somebody is being jealous.”

 “Don’t make me shoot you.” Kibum stressed his threat by aiming his gun Henry’s way.

 “Why aren’t you joining the club?” he repeats unfazed.

 “You already know why.”

 “So you’re just going to give up?” frowned Henry.

 “Why do you even care?” 

 “Because we’re friends! You’re not even going to try?” Henry was honestly getting fed up with Kibum’s ‘I’m-a-loner’ attitude as of late.

 “What’s the use? He obviously likes Sungmin,” Kibum answered bitterly.

 “You should at least try! You’re already thinking you’re going to lose without even trying!” yelled Henry.  He really needed to work on his friends’ self-esteem issues. “Without you in the club, Kyuhyun and Sungmin are just going to get closer and closer! Don’t go crying to me when they suddenly say they’re going out! Take your chance while you still have it!”

Kibum was left speechless from Henry’s outburst. He just continued to inspect his invention. He didn’t want to admit it, but Henry was right.

“So you’re just planning on murdering the competition instead? That’s your plan?” Henry smiled deviously as he pointed towards the invention in Kibum’s hands. “You know…if you join the club and we go on one of those missions, and say, Sungmin hyung gets shot by the ricochet, you could always pass off his death as a criminal’s doing…”

Kibum just stared at him completely stunned. Was the boy he was talking to really Henry?

“Just saying,” Henry shrugged when he noticed Kibum’s shocked expression. “Well, just in case you’re interested. We’re meeting after school.”

~*~*~

 It was ten minutes before four o clock. Kyuhyun and Ryeowook were waiting outside the school gates for Henry – and hopefully Kibum. Ryeowook sighed, it took him most of class time to convince Kyuhyun not to go looking for Kibum.

(“Stop worrying. Henry will handle it.”)

It wasn’t enough to hold Kyuhyun off. So Ryeowook opted to threaten (which everyone seems to be doing these days) him with the “return” of an arm long gash. Kyuhyun remained quiet after that, he didn’t question if it was all a bluff. He couldn’t dare to.

Ryeowook then spotted the familiar light-brown hair color of his close friend. To his (and Kyuhyun’s) disappointment, Kibum wasn’t with him.

“Not excited to see me?”

“Kibum is not coming?” asked Kyuhyun, glancing around, trying to spot his friend.

“Don’t worry. He’ll definitely show.” Seeing the confusion on his friends’ faces he adds, “I’m lucky, remember?”

“Looks like first years can actually make it on time,” scoffs Heechul as he walked towards the trio. The upperclassman’s fiery red hair wasn’t hard to miss especially under the bright sun.  The upperclassman was the only Sapphire Club member in the vicinity. Where is everyone?

 “I’ve been sent by the others to fetch you,” Heechul said impatiently. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to see the confusion in the trio’s faces. “You should feel honored that you are standing in my presence! Now follow me.”

Heechul led them to the back end of the school. The trio was skeptic to follow their upperclassmen into the forest but when the red haired upperclassmen sent them a bone-chilling glare, they were more than willing to follow him into the forest. They were walking in all directions – north, west, south, and east. The trio felt like they were walking for hours and all they saw was trees, trees, and more trees.

“Oh god, he’s going to kill us!” yelled Henry which earned him a smack on the head from Ryeowook.

Though, Ryeowook found it strange that throughout their trek not once did they see an animal scurry or fly by. It was also strange that the trees had a reoccurring pattern. Of course a forest would be filled with similar trees, but Ryeowook had a suspicion that they passed the very four same trees in each measure of distance they move forward.

“Hey, Henry!” greeted Zhou Mi once they entered a clearing in the forest which revealed a wide field. Ryeowook distinguished something odd flicker in the clearing. Before he could pursue the thought further, two other people approached them.

“I don’t think I have completely introduced myself. My name’s Yesung, and this here is Shindong.”

 “You’re probably wondering where everyone else is,” said Zhou Mi as he motioned the trio to enter the clearing. “The other five are preparing for your ‘test,’ and the other two are out on a mission.”

 “You’re also probably wondering why Zhou Mi, Yesung hyung, Heechul hyung, and myself aren’t preparing,” said Shindong as he watched the trio. Kyuhyun and Henry just shook their head, but Shindong continued anyway, “It’s because our powers aren’t really meant for combat. My ability is to be able to change my appearance.” He demonstrated by transforming his hair bright green then rainbow colored.

“Awesome!!” exclaimed Henry.

“Why isn’t he part of it?” asked Ryeowook pointing at a scowling Heechul. Shindong mentally noted to teach the first years the “ropes”—especially when addressing and dealing with Kangin and Heechul. While he’s at it, maybe he can prevent them from losing their sanity like the rest of the club.

“Because…nobody can beat Heechul hyung,” replied Shindong trying to calm a temper-rising Heechul from the first year’s lack of honorifics. Shindong paused before he continued his sentence, “But with the exception of Leeteuk hyung.”

“What about you, Mimi?” Ryeowook and Kyuhyun raised their eyebrows at Henry for his comment. “What? Isn’t it possible to call friends by nicknames? It’s like Sungmin hyung and his ‘Kyuninie.’ Or how you call Kibum, ‘Kibummie.’”

 “Kibummie is one of his nicknames?” asked Yesung finding interest in the conversation.

 “Hey, only I can call him ‘Kibummie’,” stated Kyuhyun -- causing more eyebrows to be raised.

 “Then I call dibs on Mimi!!”

“Erm, my power is empathy, which means I can sense the emotions of others. Oh right,” interrupted Zhou Mi bringing the topic right back on track. “I need to be explaining to you guys what is going to be happening.”

~*~*~

“I thought you said we’d be having four new members?” Shindong asked Yesung while Zhou Mi was doing his explanation to the trio. “I thought you are the amazing-knower-of-everything. Maybe that Kibum guy was right. The future is not definitely set, hyung.”

“You wound me, dongsaeng. I’m not some kind of amateur,” said Yesung, patting the other man on back. “You think I wouldn’t have seen that? There are going to be four new members. You’ll just have to wait a few seconds.” Yesung said the last part impassively. It was starting to get boring, especially when you knew the outcome.  

“Then why do I only see thr-”

“Kibum!”

Kyuhyun turned around to face the direction of where Henry was pointing. He saw Kibum enter through the area where they entered. “You came!”

“Of course, I came,” he said simply. “You’re such an idiot. You didn’t run after me. I’m going to make sure that next time around, you’ll definitely be running after me.” He then passes a sly smirk to Henry—who in turn smiles back at Kibum with his thumbs up.

Kyuhyun just watched the two; he was clearly confused. Ryeowook couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Kibum and Henry’s total obviousness and Kyuhyun’s total obliviousness. 

“Plus,” Kibum added, “I’m not leaving you alone to do dangerous things. “You’re probably going to get yourself seriously injured – or worse, killed -- without me watching out for you.”

Kyuhyun couldn’t help but smile at his best friend’s condescending, yet endearing, words. I’m glad he’s back to his normal self. Kyuhyun was then struck with curiosity, “Wait, how did you find us? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Tracking device,” he said simply, pulling out another one of his gadgets from his belt.  The device the technopath was holding was smaller in size – smaller than the palm of his hand. It was ovular shaped and had on display a blackened screen.

“You got me bugged?” said Kyuhyun as he grabbed the device from Kibum’s hands. “Why is there a heart around my name?” he asks, looking closer into the device.

“What heart,” Kibum asked nonchalantly. He quickly hid the gadget back on his belt. “That’s not a heart. It’s clearly a triangle that has a .”

“The test will now begin,” announced Zhou Mi who was holding his phone over his ear. He said a quick goodbye to whoever he was talking to and slipped the phone back in his pocket. He surveyed the group once more. “Ah, Kibum you came. Okay, quick recap. All there is to this assessment test of sorts is that you have to pass each section. To do that, you have to beat the section guard in whatever he planned to have you guys do. Don’t worry it is you four against one section guard. The first section guard is Hangeng ge.” He points over to the other Chinese man, Hangeng, who was standing at the far end of the field. “In total there are about three sections. Easy, right? Good luck!”

“I knew you would come,” whispered Yesung who suddenly appeared before the quartet. He laid an arm around Kibum’s waist (much to the other’s discomfort) and led the four into the center of the field.

“Good afternoon,” greeted Hankyung. “I am section guard number one, Hangeng or Hankyung if you prefer. My rules are simple. At least one of you needs to be able to pass me and get into the safety line.” He points to the self-dug line a few feet behind him. Hangeng looked at the quartet to see if they understood. When the four replied with the nods of their head, he signaled the beginning of the test.

“We can’t underestimate him.” Ryeowook started, “He has talent, too. We need to formulate a --- Kibum, wait!”

“That’s going to be easy,” said Kibum a little too confident as he begins running for the safety line. He was a few inches till the line when Hangeng intercepted him. It happened all too fast. Hangeng grabbed Kibum by the wrist and flipped the boy to the ground. He twisted the boy’s arm in an angle so it could rest on the boy’s back. Kibum grunted in pain.

“Yeah! That’s right, Hannie! Show them who is boss!” Heechul cheered from the sidelines. He was happily clapping his hands with glee.

“No! Don’t hurt his pretty face!” yelled Yesung.

“That has got to hurt,” cringed Shindong.

“Sorry,” breathed Hankyung from his position on top of Kibum. He had no intention to let the boy go just yet. “I’m supposed to be challenging you four’s abilities.”

Henry’s mouth was opened in horror of how the other man had no qualms in hurting Kibum. But what scared Henry even more was how comfortable the Chinese man was in performing the move. He isn’t acting seriously. He’s just playing with us.

Ryeowook shook his head. This is why I wanted to come up with a plan first. He tried to analyze the man’s movement for his talent, but couldn’t decipher if what he just did was it or not. He could be an expert martial artist, I need more data. But firstly, they needed to free Kibum.

“Mmphh (Kyuhyun)!” came Kibum’s muffled yell. His face was planted uncomfortably down on the ground. He couldn’t freely move his hands nor could he voice activate any of his devices. No hands and no voice meant no use of his gadgets.  I’m pissed off, dammit!

“Yeah,” replied Kyuhyun. He was still a little stunned with the display; more so by the fact that Kibum just outwardly went for it.  Henry and Ryeowook stared at Kyuhyun oddly. How he understood what Kibum meant, they had no clue.

“Mmp. Phmm. Mmmp. Mm! (Get. Him. Off. Me!)”

“Oh right.” Kyuhyun formed a fist on his right hand and brought his arm up so that his right forearm was angled on front of chest.

“What is he doing,” muttered Hangeng as he watched the boy cautiously.

Kyuhyun’s eyes narrowed as he kept his concentration on the Chinese man atop his friend. The tension in his fist was building up causing his arm to tremor slightly. In a swift motion, he pointed his arm at the Chinese man’s location and unclenched his fist.

Hangeng watched in confusion before he felt a sharp, brute force knock into his chest which sent him flying off the technopath. He was startled by the sudden attack that he couldn’t brace himself for the attack, but he was prepared for the rough landing. With a jerk of his leg, he was able to flip himself over so he could ease into a somersault once he came in contact with the ground.

The rest of the spectators were left in shock with the exception of a future-seeing man. The three upperclassmen were shocked with the discovery of Kyuhyun’s powers. Hangeng was certainly shocked. After he completed the stunt, he inspected the area of his chest where he was shoved. He noticed there was a dark angry patch of red.  The Chinese man sighed, this is going to bruise. But I can bear with the pain for now.

~*~*~

Kyuhyun was shocked with the Chinese man’s quick recovery. He added a little more force than necessary in that attack because of his short miscalculation of distance. There was enough force in that to break bones, he inwardly cringed. When he told Ryeowook and Henry of this revelation the other two were also shocked.

What is this guy’s talent?

~*~*~

Kibum picked himself up from the floor. He moved his shoulder in a circular motion to check if there were any damages. Nothing too serious, he examined. He also mentally thanked Kyuhyun for releasing him. Then Kibum remembered how close he was to the safe line. While everyone was distracted…it was perfect!  He scanned the area; the safe line was a few feet away. Strange, I was just right next to it.

Kibum ran for the same line a second time.

~*~*~

“Hannie,” screamed Heechul. “The first year!”  

At his boyfriend’s call, Hangeng began to run -- his pace increasing at an abnormal level.  The force of the telekinetic push sent him a far distance away from the safe line.

~*~*~

Kibum ran as quickly as he can but he wasn’t getting closer to the safe line. It was as if the safe line was stretching farther with each step he took. He looked past the line and noticed how much distance the section guard was closing in. “Activation: Propelling Missiles.” commanded Kibum. “Activation: Ground Solid.”

Five small metallic circles flew off from Kibum’s belt and propelled in the direction of the section guard. The small devices flew with preciseness and speed similar to a bullet fired from a gun.

The second device appeared out of the cuff of Kibum’s sleeve. It was a flat and rectangular in appearance and was about the size of a ruler in length.  He pressed one of the integrated buttons on the sides and threw the device ahead of him. Once the device touched the ground it increased in length and width creating an extended metal pathway leading to the safe line.

Kibum jumped onto the pathway. The low sound of metal landing on metal could be heard. Under the soles of Kibum’s shoes were three wheels that weren’t there before. It was Kibum’s version of rollerblades. He glided the metal pathway with ease.

~*~*~

“Go, Kibum!” Kyuhyun and Henry cheered loudly. They were pumping their hands in the air to emphasize their cheers.

Ryeowook had a small smile form on his face. These new turn of events work in their favor. They were going to win this one. Then the suspicion from earlier resurfaced in his mind. He was surer than ever that there was something else at work in this landscape. He, too, noticed the “moving” safe line.  It must have something to do with the other stationed members. He surveyed the area and for a split second saw someone behind the trees.

~*~*~

Hangeng dodged a miniaturized bullet for the nth time. The little missile propellers were starting to annoy him. Though, he was impressed with the devices handiwork, but now isn’t the time for admiration. He has a job to be done.

He kicked off from the ground and performed a back handspring to dodge an onslaught of bullets. In the process, he was able to swiftly kick one propeller down to the forest floor, successfully destroying it. He maneuvered his landing with a twist of his body to catch one of the devices in between his feet and crushing it between the forces of his landing and the hard forest ground.

Two down. Three to go.

He performed a consecutive number of offensive acrobatics to destroy the remaining flying devices.

~*~*~

“What he’s doing is physically impossible,” said Ryeowook.  

“Why isn’t he even the slightest bit tired? That’s what I want to know,” Kyuhyun said enviously.

“That’s his talent,” confirmed Henry. He was quietly examining the section guard to see what his ability to detect talent would tell him. Henry has been practicing his detection abilities after the club meeting. He was disappointed with himself that the talent he has had for many years hasn’t even developed the slightest. He couldn’t even notice a group of people with talents.

“You’re right,” said Zhou Mi. “Hangeng ge has what people would call ‘photographic reflexes.’ It’s when you can copy any movement after seeing it. But Hangeng ge takes it to a whole new level. Not only can he copy real movement, he can copy fictional movement, too.”

“That’s my Hannie,” smirked Heechul.  

~*~*~

Kibum was catching up to the safety line. He looked forward and so that the section guard has destroyed the last of the missile propellers. Damn, I’m so close. I’m not going to mess up a second time. Kibum proceeded to pick up his speed.

By the time the safe line stops moving, Hangeng is there. Their eyes meet – determination of wills ablaze.

“We’re nearing the end already, right?” Hangeng asks the boy lightheartedly. He readies himself in a fighting stance.

“It is,” said Kibum as he skidded his skates to a halt.  He eyes the safe line behind the section guard. He breathes in calmly and retracts the skates from his shoes. He grabs a handful of mini-bombs from his pocket and throws them in the section guard’s direction. Hangeng skillfully dodges the explosions with ease.

Kibum anticipated this and ran for Hangeng’s left side while the man was momentarily distracted. Hangeng intercepted Kibum by grabbing the boy’s wrist. Just as he did before, Kibum mentally smirked. With his other hand, he clicked the metal band around the section guard’s wrist. “M.D.1: Activate.”

Hangeng’s eyes widen as the metal band elongated over his forearm completely covering it in metal. The weight was too much to bear for the section guard. He let go of the technological inclined boy as he crashed to the ground.

Kibum was now free to walk the safe line.

He could hear the yells and cheers of celebration from his three friends.

~*~*~

“The first years are good,” praised Leeteuk from his position behind the mirage of trees.

The pair was located in the middle of a circle of trees. What set those trees apart from the rest was that these trees’ barks, trunks, and leaves were in multicolor fading in and out. The trees’ outline and form were flickering and swaying in an abnormal way.

“Leeteuk, you have to stop moving forward. That kid almost saw you,” warned Kangin. He was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and eyes closed. He had Leeteuk’s hand entwined in his.

“Aren’t you supposed to be concentrating?” Leeteuk shushed him. “I’m only amplifying your power. I’m not the one performing it. So concentrate!”

~*~*~

“It’s our turn now!” piped up the electrokinetic boy. “Finally, Hankyung hyung was taking forever!”  Donghae tugged Eunhyuk’s arm as he lead him to the clearing where the tests are taking place.

End of Chapter 4. 

A/N: 

So, there you have it~! Section 1 all done and over with. I hope it was okay since I'm just a newcomer in the art of writing action moves and stuff. I'll need to practice more on it. ^-^;; 

Now you know most of the members talents, and even caught a glimpse of Kangin's talent! All that's left is Siwon...You'll find out soon in the 6th chapter! 

I hope you enjoyed the update! Thank you for reading! :D 

P.S: Hehe, did you guys notice the story poster? It's all thanks to a magical place called 'A Panda's Graphic Shop.'

Love,

spring samurai