Chapter 5: Test of Strength II

“I did it,” gasped Kibum as he collapsed to the ground exhausted. His hand made its way to his chest to hover over his heart as a vain attempt to stop it from beating so erratically. This is way too much exercise for one day. He looked sideways to see that his section guard has also taken a prone position on the ground. The rise and fall of the man’s chest was rhythmically normal as compared to the technopathic boy. Oh , the metal hold. “M.D.1: Release.”

The metal encasing the section guard’s entire arm slowly retracted back into its regular form – a wristband. Hangeng, now liberated, picked himself up from the ground. He dusted his clothes and walked over the other boy lying on the ground. He extended his hand to the boy to lift him up. “You are really good,” he said sheepishly.

Kibum took the hand graciously. “You aren’t bad yourself.”

“Tch, my Hannie is amazing,” scoffed Heechul walking up to the pair. The other spectators arrived to check on their friends.

“That was amazing, Kibum! You were amazing.” Kyuhyun beamed at his friend. Kibum smiled back – his heart beating erratically for another reason besides exhaustion.

“You were hot out there,” Yesung whispered secretly to Kibum. The technopathic boy’s smile faded from his face. He slowly moved away from the dark-skinned man feeling creeped out.

“You and Kyuhyun were both amazing!” An overly-enthusiastic Henry yelled as he patted both boys on the back. A rescue Kibum was grateful for. The boys could also hear a buzz of agreement from Ryeowook, Shindong and Zhou Mi.

“Are you injured anywhere,” Ryeowook questioned. He quietly rolled his long sleeves up till his elbows – ready to heal if needed. When Kibum replied with a shake of his head, Ryeowook turned to their first section guard, giving him a once over. He noticed how the Chinese man’s hand kept lingering over his chest when he felt that no one was watching. “I can heal that if you want.”

Hangeng paused for a second, shocked. He quickly moved his hand from his chest to the back of his head. A light tint of red appeared on his cheeks. “Ah, you noticed,” he said feeling embarrassed. “If you don’t mind,” he said a few seconds later.

“You’re hurt?” Heechul asked worryingly. He gently took hold of Hangeng’s hand.

The four first years were shocked at the exchange. Of course a bit of the shock went to the discovery that the two were dating, but most of the reason for their shock was the red head’s change in demeanor. They were so used to – were only exposed to – a rather irritable, always scowling, Heechul.

“Could you please remove your shirt,” instructed Ryeowook. He needed to inspect the damage that was done.

“Hey, you little kid,” yelled a jealous Heechul. He was jabbing his finger in front of the healer’s face. “This better not be excuse to see my Hankyung shirtless!”

Ah, there was the Heechul the first years were used to.

“It’s impossible to heal a wound if there is something hindering the process,” Ryeowook replied calmly and professionally.

“It is okay, Heechul ah,” reassured Hangeng. He took hold of his shirt and started removing it. He made sure to remove it slowly when his shirt was passing up slowly against his chest.

There was an audible gasp made from the members present. Heechul’s retort never left his mouth once he saw the wound afflicting his boyfriend. A large portion of Hangeng’s chest was discolored and swollen. The wound was colored with a mix of abnormally dark red, blue, and purple. It was ugly and looked as painful as hell.

Ryeowook tsked at the severity of the wound. He immediately placed both his hands on the wound (ignoring Heechul’s protests) applying a little force as he did so. A small glow could be seen emanating from the boy’s hands. The dim glow spread over the large bruise. Hangeng let out small hiss because of the pain. Ryeowook sent an apologetic glance towards the Chinese man.

“I-I did that,” stuttered Kyuhyun. He started at the unpleasant wound. “I-I’m sorry!” He bowed upper half to extend his apology.

“Holy,” said Shindong in shock. “To actually inflict a wound of that caliber on Hankyung hyung. . .Holy. Imagine if it was directed to someone who didn’t have hyung’s ability.” He saw the confused glances of the three first years and continued, “Hyung’s ability doesn’t just include amazing feats but it includes the strength and stamina to perform those techniques. Strength and Stamina that far exceeds that of a normal human.”

Kyuhyun gulped. He didn’t know his attack could damage someone that much. He just added a little more force than usual. A little. He didn’t want to think what would happen if he intentionally wanted to hurt someone. The very thought of it made him shudder.

Kibum put a hand on his friend’s shoulder to give him comfort. He smiled reassuringly to his friend. Kyuhyun unconsciously leaned in to the skin contact. Kibum always knew what he was feeling, and Kyuhyun was thankful for the constant presence of his friend.

“What’s taking so long,” Heechul hissed impatiently. He wanted Hankyung to be healed, but this first year was holding on to his ‘Hannie’ a little too long.

Ryeowook didn’t reply. He was too concentrated on healing the wound. His eyes remained closed and his hands were unmoving. His eyes were clenching tighter as the glow hovering the wound was starting to reduce into a smaller patch. The wound was getting smaller.

“Heechul, please don’t pressure him,” Hangeng said trying to soothe Heechul. He looked down at his wound. He was starting to feel less pain that was originating from it.

“Done,” said Ryeowook stiffly as he withdrew his hands. He resisted the urge to bring his hand over his chest. He let out a sigh. He could inflict the wounds he heals onto others; that’s his offense, his trump card. But first, he has to commit those wounds into memory.  The means to ‘commit the wounds to memory’ is what he doesn’t want others to know about, especially Henry. Because to first ‘memorize’ it, he has to transfer the wound to his own self – his own body. The wound isn’t there physically but it’s there mentally, emotionally. He can feel it; as if the wound was originally inflicted on his own person not on somebody else’s.

Wow, Kyuhyun. You really know how to pack a telekinetic punch. He tries to sound amusing, but the pain he feels throbbing on his chest burns terribly. His hands tremble for a quick second before he regains control of his body.

Ryeowook’s eyes remained closed till the pain washes away. It will go away. He repeats that sentence numerously in his mind like a mantra. The only upside to his offense is that the mentally inflicted wound doesn’t stay there as long as it should take for it to heal. The pain is only there momentarily. At least I have another weapon in my arsenal of wounds.

“Thank you,” smiles Hangeng as he puts on his shirt.

~*~*~

“Hello, everybody!” yelled a voice at the end of the field.

“It’s those two,” blanched Kyuhyun. Even though the two were a distance away, he can recognize the silhouetted outline. It was the two who were looking for them the other day. The so-called messengers. “Don’t tell me they’re the next section guards. . .”

“Ah, the fishes and monkeys pair!” said Henry once the pair was a few steps away from the large group.

“It’s time for the next test!” Donghae greeted eagerly.  “My name is Donghae, and my friend here is Eunhyuk.” At the mention of his name, Eunhyuk greeted the first years with a wave of his hand.

Kibum, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun sent each other a glance. This boy, Donghae, was just as energetic, if not more, than their Henry. Their personalities were so eerily alike.

“Let me explain a few things about our test,” said Eunhyuk hoping to get this test over with already. He had homework to do. Actually, he had a pile of them to do. Damn, procrastination! “There’s no rules or anything, just find which one is the real me.”

As he spoke the last two words an echo came afterwards. Ten Eunhyuk clones materialized. They were materializing from the same area and so suddenly that the quartet wasn’t able to get a good look of the real one’s position.

“Lastly, Donghae over there adds to the difficulty. Let’s just say that he won’t let you get close to us so easily.” Each word was said by a different Eunhyuk. The clones each pointed a finger at Donghae who was smiling while trickles of electricity wash down from his body.

“Good luck,” was all Zhou Mi said as he along with Yesung, Shindong, Heechul, and Hangeng quickly ran to the farthest end of the field.

“Just great,” muttered Ryeowook. He was already trying to come up with a plan with the bits of information the section guards were telling the quartet and by the body language of the fleeing group. It’s either that guy talent is long-ranged or…he doesn’t have much control over it. He glanced up towards his friends only to notice that they were staring at him. “What?”

“What’s your plan?” piped Henry, saying what all three of them wanted to say.

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you like to analyze things,” started Kyuhyun looking at the ground. “To an…extensive length.”

“I say this again: excuse me?”

“What those two were trying to say is,” said Kibum much to the relief of the other two. “That you are the most rational and sensible person out of all of us. You tried to warn us about Hankyung ssi, but I just blindly ran out there.”

“Uh-huh.” Ryeowook said suspiciously. “Thanks for the kiss-up guys, but I need more data than this to formulate a plan.”

“Ah, so you guys don’t know where to start,” an Eunhyuk clone said nonchalantly. He had a huge grin plastered on his face. “Of course, we won’t make this easy. But do you need a handicap?”

“Yeah, they probably aren’t all that bright.” Taunted another Eunhyuk clone located at the far right. “Why don’t we make this easier? How about a change of clothing?”  The Eunhyuk clone then looked somewhere in the center of the clutter of clones. The quartet couldn’t see any change of expression from any of the clones, but the shirts the clones were wearing changed into different designs and colors. No clones were wearing any same clothing.

“Easy for ya bunch of idiots?” said an Eunhyuk on the left. The rest of the clones snickered at the comment.

~*~*~

Donghae just watched as the clones continued to taunt the first years with words such as ‘es,’ ‘stupid,’ and ‘fools.’ He was isolated on the back and completely ignored thanks to Eunhyuk. He then glanced towards the first years that were getting angrier by the second.  

“Eunhyuk is taking the joke a little too far.” Donghae muttered to himself as he looked at the faces of the first years. He and Eunhyuk made a plan beforehand to see who gets the biggest reaction from the first years since their test was “easier” than what the two had the previous years.

(“Let’s make them suffer, Donghae ah! They should be happy that it’s us testing them not Heechul hyung….”)

~*~*~

Ryeowook’s eyes narrowed. He does not take any slight on his person lightly. Kibum and Kyuhyun glanced nervously at each other. They were angry at the clones, too, but the light atmosphere was changing drastically and it’s all thanks to their healer.

“You’ve done it now.” Henry said deviously. He brought his hand up and began to pop each knuckle. He was getting angry, too. No one insults my friends.

“I was going to wait until we’ve gathered more data, but how am I supposed to gather data just standing here,” said the healer slowly, but dangerously. He was glaring straight at the Eunhyuk clone that started the insults. The Eunhyuk clone suddenly felt the need to move a few steps back. “Henry, attack.”

While Ryeowook was talking nobody noticed the boy sneak up close to the Eunhyuk clone. Henry brought up his fist and punched the Eunhyuk clone square on the face.

The clone staggered back in shock and brought up a hand to cradle his aching face. “You little—”

“I didn’t even hit you that hard,” said Henry. He was staring at the clone with distaste clear on his face. “Wimp.”  

Henry rubbed his wrist secretly and mentally winced. Ow, how do people make punches look painless? The boy really didn’t know how to fight; he was just sneaking behind the clone to pants him when he accidently tripped on the unleveled ground.

~*~*~

“How anticlimactic,” mumbled Heechul from his position on Hangeng’s lap. “Any regular person could punch.”

The upperclassmen – once they were a good distance away from Donghae – were seated on the forest floor watching the test attentively, interested in what else the first years could do. They put an amazing show for their first test that there might be more interesting events that will happen.

“Are you sure he even intentionally punched the clone,” questioned Shindong. He was squinted his eyes in hopes to see the testers clearly. He could have always moved closer, but he didn’t want to risk getting hit from Donghae’s lightning. He’s improving, but his control is still lacking…Leeteuk hyung did want this to be an opportunity for Donghae to further improve his ability.

Yesung looked at the scene intently – more specifically, he was observing the healer. “This is when he’s going to do it,” he mumbled to himself. It bugged Yesung. He knows the healer will do something, but he can’t place how.

~*~*~

“He can’t,” said Ryeowook, appearing before the clone Henry has injured. He then proceeded to lay his palm flat on the clone’s chest in a rapid motion. “Don’t ever look down on me.” He seethed at the clone, his tone low so that only the clone could hear.

The clone, much to the surprise of everyone present, started to scream in torment. He was clutching at his chest. The scream was cut short as the clone dematerialized. Ryeowook looked blankly at the empty space the clone used to occupy. “You can’t even handle pain of that caliber?”

“Ryeowook?” Henry questioned his friend worryingly. The boy standing before him was not the Ryeowook he knew; the cold stare that harden the healer’s face, the stiff stance…What’s wrong? “Ryeowook,” the boy called out more firmly. He was about to place a hand on the healer’s shoulder but the healer turned around dodging Henry.

“Yeah, Henry?” Ryeowook replied with a forced smile. That’s right, I’m not there anymore. “Oh, thanks for the opening!” He gave Henry a thumbs-up sign. Calm down, calm down. The healer was feeling light headed and his head was throbbing. He rubbed circles on his temples disguising it as a gesture to style his hair back in place.

“Ryeowook, are you--” started Henry, but was cut off by a yell.

“Donghae! What the hell happened to being our defense,” shouted some infuriated Eunhyuk clones while the others were slowly backing away from the quartet. The clones may be separated entities, but when an Eunhyuk clone “disappears” they return as fragments to the remaining clones. The clones are aware of what happened to one of their own if they “die.”

“Oh yeah,” the boy in question answered embarrassingly. He looked from the clones and then to the quartet. He brought an arm to the back of his head to scratch it lightly. “We started already? I was waiting for the go signal.” He looked seriously confused.

Everyone either facepamled, sweatdropped, or both. 

“Donghae,” said Eunhyuk slowly, making sure to stress the syllables lengthily. “Game. Start.”

“Gotcha,” Donghae said elatedly. He brought up his right arm straight over his head so that his right palm would face the sky. Bright erratic lines of blue could be seen snaking and jumping around his raised hand. The sound of cackling could be heard by all, and then he lowers his arm and shoots the massive lightning bolt at the quartet’s area. “Heads up!”

~*~*~

“I worry about Donghae sometimes. Shindong expressed with a slight shake of his head. He turned to his friend who nodded their heads in agreement.

“At least we aren’t in the receiving end of that attack,” said Zhou Mi as he involuntarily shuddered. He watched as Donghae gathered up energy to perform his attack. “I hope the first years don’t get hurt.”

“The four will be fine,” said Hangeng as he watched the test taking place. “Leeteuk won’t let anything bad happen.” He looked at the first years expressions of horror as they noticed the forming lightning bolt. His mind was momentarily brought back to the horror on the Eunhyuk clone’s face before it dematerialized. “I’m curious as to what happened to that Eunhyuk clone.”

“That person was the same one who healed you, right,” asked Shindong also interested. “The clone…it looked like it was in pure agony.”

“It’s his power,” spoke Yesung suddenly, but quietly. “Right after healing Hankyung; it’s curious isn’t it?”  

“The same area, too.” supplied Heechul. He brought his hand up to Hangeng’s chest, mimicking the action the Healer performed. “It’s the same motion as when he healed and when he attacked.”

“What are you trying to say,” said Zhou Mi a little confused. “That he transferred Hangeng ge’s injury? That wound that even gege couldn’t endure? That would mean to a clone…” Zhou Mi’s words trailed off as he understood the impact of that statement.

“Frightening,” murmured Yesung – the thought that ran through everyone’s minds. Yesung moved his attention to the healer, his affixation on the technopath momentarily distracted. Yesung’s face remained impassive as he tried to decipher the healer. He knew what the healer did. What Yesung didn’t understand is why the boy did it. Too endure that pain – to even voluntarily accept any kind of pain. He could see alright, but he couldn’t see the motives of why a person does what he does. He’s a mystery. . .

~*~*~

“Ow, ow, my back,” complained Kyuhyun. He found himself lying on the grassy floor. Beside him was Kibum who was also lying on the ground. “That was a close one.” He picked himself up from the ground and extended a hand to his friend (who he had tackled earlier to save him from the stray bolt).

“Thanks,” mumbled Kibum. He quickly dusted his clothing (“Damn, I liked these pants.”) and searched the scene for his other two friends. “Ryeowook? Henry?”

“Present,” joked Henry as he raised his hand up. He was standing a few feet away from the pair. “I almost got electrocuted. Luckily one of those clones bumped into me and took the hit.”

“Yeah luckily. After all, you do have luck on your side, don’t you?” Ryeowook said from his sitting position on the ground. The healer surveyed the area and noticed that there were only four Eunhyuk clones left. They must have got struck in the crossfire. He fired at his teammates. But, then again, why doesn’t that guy make more clones?

~*~*~

“I have a plan, guys,” said Ryeowook as the quartet regrouped. After that one attack, Donghae hasn’t fired anything at the four yet. The quartet stayed clear from the Eunhyuk clones (which were again reloaded back into ten clones) in the meantime, remembering that the electrokinetic boy would only attack if they got close to any of the clones.

The three looked at the healer expectantly. “I want you to attack the Eunhyuk clones.”

“Very funny,” laughed Kibum, but stopped at the seriousness of his friend’s expression. “You’re not joking are you? Did you see that attack?”  

“No and yes.” Ryeowook gave the technopath a look that said ‘of course, I did.’ “I need you two to alternate between attacks.” He pointed at both Kibum and Kyuhyun whose mouths and eyes were both open-wide. He spoke before the two could protest. “I’ll give you two a tip: only attack one at a time. One attack and the other should defend.”

“What are you and Henry going to do?” Kyuhyun eyed both of them before continuing his complaint, “Why are you putting Kibum and me in the line of fire!” He then suddenly remembered the incident with the clone. “And what the hell did you do back there?”

“It’s just another part of my talent.” Ryeowook explained vaguely. “Look, I’ll tell you guys later after we’re done with all this.”

“Common’ Kyuhyun,” said Henry as he patted Kyuhyun on the shoulder. “Ryeowook and I aren’t the ‘combat type’ when compared to what you and Kibum could do. At least you two have the higher chance of survival when put up against that talent.” Henry continued to persuade them till the pair went off to do Ryeowook’s task.

“Thank you.” Though Ryeowook’s words were directed at Kibum, his sight was directed at the electrokinetic boy and the clones. He observed as Kibum got rid of two clones, and Kyuhyun deflecting a lightning bolt with his telekinesis.

“Ah, they’re good,” commented Henry as he followed his friend’s line of sight. He turned back to his friend to look him straight in the eye. “What was that back there?”

“Not now, Henry,” said Ryeowook quietly as he broke eye contact with his friend. He looked back at the battle-scene. The healer balled his hand into a tight fist. “I’m sorry, Henry.  I can’t tell you just yet. I will, Henry, but not. . .”

“Not anytime soon,” Henry resumed for his friend with a sigh. He titled his head back and gazed up to the sky, trying to see beyond the clouds and sun. “Don’t worry about it, Ryeowook.” Henry took one last glance at Kibum and Henry before he turned to Ryeowook – a grin appearing on his face. “Now, tell me what your real plan is.”

End of Chapter 5.

~*~*~

A/N:

Yay! The second bit of Ryeowook's talent explained, and you guys got a teeny glimpse of Ryeowook's past. I think we're making good progress. Yep yep! But I did feel as if it sort of went 'dark' in that part...hmmm, but it did get back to it's lightheartedness? Oh wellsss. ^_^;;  

The test arc will wrap up next chapter! And we'll head into another arc and then after boom, bam, boom missions~ It might take a more dramatic turn there...;D 

Hehehe, thanks for reading, I appreciate it! I realyl do! >v<

Until next chapter,

spring samurai <3