The sun was just starting to rise and the seven of them were still going at it. The strenuous training in the mountains kept up for an eighth hour. Bang blocked more sword attacks from Himchan, Jongup and Youngjae all at the same time. Himchan swung at Bang’s front, so Bang quickly sidestepped and then blocked another frontal swing from Youngjae, who pushed him further and further back until he was in Jongup’s swinging range. Bang pushed himself to the limit, defending himself from all three at the same time. While trying to both block and attack, Bang hardly noticed Daehyun getting into position a few feet behind his three way brawl.

“I’m over this.” Daehyun said casually. With a heavy swing, Daehyun slammed his golden sword into the mountain ground and sent a fissure cracking through the ground. Bang began to stumble on the unstable ground and nearly lost his footing completely. Youngjae jumped high above Bang and blasted four heavy balls of water down at him. Each ball smashed into Bang, knocking him off balance even more and then shoving him backwards on his . With the ground still shaking from Daehyun’s sword swing, Bang flailed around on the ground, attempting to pull himself up. Himchan came dashing over to Bang with a stream of jagged lightning shooting from his blade. The lightning ripped through the ground faster than Bang could move. He was hit. Bang flew through the air, he lost grip of his sword and landed sloppily right beside Zelo. In beast form already, Zelo didn’t bother with a sword and just started clawing at Bang. Bang avoided the slashes as best he could, but still wound up with more than a few scratches on his chest and legs. Zelo took to all fours and pounced on Bang’s back. Zelo apologized before he cartwheeled off Bang’s back and tossed him across the mountain ground. Bang landed on his face but staggered to his feet fast.

“Dammit.” Bang said, wiping some dirt from his face.

“Surprise.” Jongup said, slashing through a rift he had created with his finger blades. Bang took a jump backwards as Jongup came dashing through the portal. Jongup started swiping away at Bang, all ten of his blades capable of dicing Bang into small bits. Bang was inches away from the edge of the mountain when Jongup pounced backwards.

“Don’t fall, buddy.” Jongup said nicely. Bang wavered on the edge, peering behind himself to see nothing but sharp rocks below the edge.

“Well, you shouldn’t have pushed me this far.” Bang wavered forward and then backwards, not really positive how to stop himself. Just then, Hyo Shin came into view and blasted a tunnel of gravity at Bang. The edge Bang stood on shattered under Hyo Shin’s gravity increase and Bang went falling down as if he suddenly weighed a ton…which he did.

“Uncle!” Zelo shouted, running to peer over the edge with Jongup and Daehyun.

                Bang was hanging onto random vine he had found on his way down to rock bottom.

“He’s alright.” Jongup gave a thumbs up to Bang.

“That was too close.” Zelo gave a wide eyed look to his Uncle.

“How did you know he would find that vine to cling to?” Youngjae wondered.

“I didn’t, you fool.” Hyo Shin admitted.

                With Bang back on his feet a few minutes later, the gang sat in a circle to catch their breath and exchange exhausted expressions. Bang, however, looked ready for another go.

“Let’s go! I have some other moves I wanna try out.” Bang jumped to his feet and cracked his knuckles. Daehyun and Youngjae fell on their backs side by side, rolling their eyes in unison.

“Chill out.” Daehyun said lazily.

“It’s been eight hours, we’re tired.” Youngjae added on. Zelo got to his feet quickly, wanting to help Bang train some more.

“I’m ready, pal.” Zelo faked some energy into his voice.

“Well, the rest of us aren’t.” Hyo Shin didn’t hide the tired expression on his face as he stood up at the same time as Himchan. Jongup crawled over to Daehyun and laid his head on the boy’s chest so he could get some rest as well. “Bang, I understand you want to train yourself so that you can protect the city with us…” Hyo Shin started to speak in a patronizing tone.

“That’s not why.” Bang suddenly said strongly. “I wanna get strong so I can kill that bastard that messed with Sooyoung.” Bang slammed his fist into his palm and caused a current of energy to whip up around himself.

“The mugger?” Zelo asked. “You can’t hurt humans, Bang.”

“No, not the mugger. That smug bastard that works for Razzo.” Bang cut Zelo an irritated glance and then summoned his sword, ready to get back to training already.

“His name is Kai.” Hyo Shin said.

“How’d you figure that out?” Himchan asked.

“I did some research.” Hyo Shin brushed off the question and put a hand on Bang’s shoulder. “Bang, we will continue to train you, but not today. We’re freaking tired, buddy.” Hyo Shin nearly flinched when he looked into Bang’s intent eyes. Hyo Shin saw a bit of himself in Bang…at least the part of himself that existed five years ago. Before his first encounter with Razzo, Hyo Shin had been different. He had been headstrong, unstoppable and reckless. Now, it wasn’t that Hyo Shin was different in a bad way…but nonetheless, he had been changed.

                On the way down the mountain, the boys made small talk. Zelo and Jongup led the way, talking about dumb things like how Jongup thought the world was flat. Behind them was Himchan, who walked alone without much to say. Really, he was just thinking about getting home to watch a new drama that was going to premier. Daehyun and Youngjae were a couple feet behind Himchan, play fighting as they strolled. Daehyun was teasing Youngjae because he had lost several online bets over the past three days and if there was anything Youngjae hated…it was losing money. Right behind those two was Bang. Bang walked with a vacant look on his face, almost as if his head was in forty different places at the moment. He was really thinking about how much he wanted to get his hands on Kai and beat him to pieces. Not only that, Bang was trying to keep his mind from wandering to Sooyoung’s condition. Momoru had said she was recovering well, but those were just words. Was she traumatized? Scarred for life? Bruised and afraid? Bang rounded a corner with the rest of the group, feeling a bit guilty that his reason for joining up with Hyo Shin was so that he could get revenge…instead of protecting the city.

                Hyo Shin was the last in line as they left the mountains. As the older man walked behind his boys, he paid close attention to Bang. Recalling the previous night, Hyo Shin wondered how Bang was holding up mentally.

                After Bang had passed out in Daehyun’s arms the night before, he was carried into the family room and laid on a couch to do what unconscious people do…which is nothing. Zelo was hurriedly explaining as much as he knew to everyone. As far as Zelo knew, Kai had drawn Bang out to an abandoned part of the city and battled him. Zelo had gone on to explain how Kai offered to make a deal with Bang. The deal was for Bang to decline Hyo Shin’s offer in exchange for Kai keeping Bang’s loved ones safe, a deal Bang had refused strongly. Kai then revealed that he had orchestrated an attack on Sooyoung as a threat to Bang. However, this sort of backfired and only made Bang more intent on wiping Kai out. Around an hour later, Bang had woken up and confirmed most of what Zelo said, with more than a few added curse words. Bang asked to be accepted onto the team of LOCKS so that he could make sure nobody he cared about was hurt by Razzo and his goons. Hyo Shin had agreed mostly because he knew Bang was not stable enough to have out of their sight…he needed to be monitored very closely and if they weren’t the ones to do it, then it would definitely be Razzo.

                Jonghyun lifted weights the next morning. Minho sparred with Onew. Key and Taemin ran side by side on the treadmills. Inside Edward’s home gym, the LOCKS (minus one) trained and conditioned themselves as they always did. Key suddenly hopped off his treadmill and threw his hands in the air as if he had had all he could take.

“Hello!” Key said, getting everyone’s attention.

“What’s your problem?” Onew said.

“Are you missing a 24 hour sale or something?” Minho joked, taking a seat on the floor.

“That’s not it.” Jonghyun said, ripping off his shirt to examine his muscles in the mirror.

“Really? You have to admire yourself right now?” Onew rolled his eyes.

“He’s wondering where Henry is…and yes, I have to.” Jonghyun flexed.

“It’s not fair we have to wake up this early to train and he gets to sleep in.” Key folded his arms.

“He’s not asleep, you brat.” Onew said.

“Then what? Talking to his girlfriend? Taking selfies?” Key was about to go confront Henry himself.

“You’re so out of the loop, Key.” Taemin said, stepping off his treadmill.

“Well then get me in the loop!” Key yelled at the younger boy.

“Henry isn’t even here. He’s been gone since before daybreak.” Taemin said, sitting right next to Minho on the floor.

“What? Well, where the hell did he have to go so early? And still, why does he get to skip practice?” Key pouted. It was bad enough that Henry was so bratty and obnoxious towards all the others, now he even got to skip out on the morning training Edward forced them to do. Key kicked the side of the treadmill in frustration, lightly cursing Henry under his breath.

 Jonghyun laughed and shook his finger at key. “You probably are missing a sale, huh?”

“Leave me alone.” Key snapped.

“Edward doesn’t even know where he went to.” Taemin said.

“And he isn’t answering our calls.” Minho added with a slightly concerned look that only irritated Key even more.

“Why would you even calling a brat like that?” Key huffed.

“He left a note saying he’ll be back soon.” Onew said right before taking a long drink from his water bottle.

“That’s my bottle.” Jonghyun pointed out casually. Onew spewed the water from his mouth and dropped to his knees, choking dramatically. “Yes, a little bit of me is…inside your mouth now.” Jonghyun rested a soft hand on Onew’s tense back. “It’s a very intimate type of Skinship, don’t you agree?” Jonghyun teased as Onew ran from the gym gagging.

                Henry had tried countless things to pass the time. Reading a light novel he had purchased from the airport gift shop, listening to his mp3 player, watching the in-flight movie and making small talk with a grumpy Latino man a row beside him…none of it settled Henry in the slightest. He was still tense and worried as he flew first class to visit Sooyoung in the hospital. Staring out of the plane window, Henry tried to talk himself up. “She’ll be fine.” Henry had only spoken to Momoru one more time after he had received the news of Sooyoung’s mugging. The second time, Momoru sounded more chipper, assuring Henry that Sooyoung was doing really well and didn’t want him to go through the trouble of flying across the country to be by her side. However, Henry was more than intent on visiting his girlfriend. In Henry’s mind, it wasn’t all about the mugging either…really, he just wanted to get away from the city, the other LOCKS, Razzo and all that responsibility he had never wanted in the first place. Even if just for a couple quick days, he wanted to be regular Henry again and do regular things like visit a loved one. “I hope she still likes me.” Henry laughed at his half joke. Sooyoung and Henry both knew that their relationship had been fizzling lately... and in a weird way, Henry was glad something so serious was bringing him to her side again. Hopefully, the attack on Sooyoung would somehow bring them epically closer than they had ever been before. A small part of Henry though that idea was totally naïve, twisted and farfetched, but was willing to go along with it anyway. Leaning back, Henry couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about how mad his Uncle was probably going to be. “Serves him right for inviting those losers over for dinner.” Henry closed his eyes and tried to doze off. He failed.

                Back on land, Insoo and Gunwoo were having a heated duel. Basketball. One on one. Gunwoo and Insoo were at local park, trying to out maneuver and out score one another. Insoo was usually the sportier between the two brothers and would normally have no problem crushing his brother at a basketball game, but that wasn’t the case in this particular game. Gunwoo was mopping the floor with Insoo. Gunwoo had deflected nearly all of Insoo’s shots and had him tripping over his own feet as he fell for countless fake outs. Insoo finally got the ball and was determined not to let his fancy, pretty boy older brother snatch it from him again.

“How’d you get so good all of a sudden?” Insoo asked, dribbling the ball cautiously.

“Maybe I’ve always been this good. Maybe I’ve just been letting you win all these years.” Gunwoo didn’t sound like he was joking. Insoo thought it over for a few seconds. “Hurry up.” Gunwoo ordered, making a move to take the ball. Insoo started a dash towards the left, which Gunwoo followed. Quickly, Insoo his heel, spinning around to the right and darting to the net. With a light jump, Insoo made a lay-up…his first point of the game. Insoo cheered for himself as he caught the ball falling through the net.

“Damn you.” Gunwoo shouted, shoving Insoo down to the hard concrete ground. Insoo fell on his side and just laid there for a couple seconds, stunned. With bulging eyes, Insoo looked up at Gunwoo’s furious expression.

“Are you out of your mind?” Insoo said.

 Insoo pulled himself up to watch his brother slam dunk the ball on the opposite net. Gunwoo flashed a handsome smile when two female joggers clapped for him. “Hey, ladies.” Gunwoo winked.

“Dude, are you freaking serious? I’m bleeding.” Insoo said, inspecting the scrape on his elbow.

“Quit crying.” Gunwoo said coldly. Insoo shook his head, totally confused as to how his brother had grown such a violet competitive nature overnight.

“Just give me the ball, I wanna take a break.” Insoo held his hands out for Gunwoo to pass the ball.

“Take it. I win. You lose.” Gunwoo threw the ball full force as if they were in a game of dodge ball. Insoo moved just fast enough to stop the ball from crashing into his face from over ten feet away. The force with which the ball rammed into Insoo’s palms sent a jolt of sharp pain through Insoo’s whole body. Gunwoo walked off the court towards the park bathrooms, leaving Insoo speechless. Not only had Gunwoo never been good at sports, he had never even been the competitive type. Typically, Gunwoo would have played halfheartedly, stopping every ten minutes to act like he was injured or sick. Where in the hell had this eye of the tiger come from? Insoo inspected his bleeding elbow again, still unable to process that his brother had shoved him down.

“Hey.” One of the female joggers said on their way back around the court.

“What?” Insoo answered, a bit annoyed.

“Is your buddy single?” She asked, cheesing like a cartoon character.

“He’s gay.” Insoo snapped and headed for the bathrooms…on the opposite side of the park.

                On his way out of the park bathrooms, Gunwoo staggered a bit, not feeling too well all of a sudden. Feeling like he had to gag, Gunwoo rushed to a small fountain and took a long drink of water, still, he felt like something large and gross was trying to come out of him. Gunwoo was just about to go looking for Insoo when his phone rang. The number was blocked, but Gunwoo answered anyway without really thinking too much.

“Who is this?” Gunwoo asked.

“Razzo, its Kai.”

“Who?” Gunwoo questioned.

“Is this…Gunwoo?” Kai asked, hesitantly. Gunwoo was silent for a long while and then clutched his chest with his free hand. In pain, Gunwoo dropped to one knee and went cold all over. Gunwoo shut his eyes tight and tried to breathe through whatever pain was running over his body. Gunwoo opened his eyes again and got to his feet calmly. Razzo had taken control of Gunwoo with a little more effort than he would have liked.

“What do you want, Kai?” Razzo asked through Gunwoo’s mouth.

“Are you having trouble with the boy’s body?” Kai wondered.

“I said what do you want.” Razzo snapped at Kai. Razzo didn’t have time for Kai nosiness. Really, Kai was a lot less cunning than he thought he was, Razzo almost always saw through everything the boy said or did and knew Kai had several of his own hidden agendas lingering within everything he did. Kai went on speaking casually, trying to stay on Razzo’s good side.

“I have a location for us to hit.” Kai said.

“Possible Zodiac Stone holders?” Razzo asked, making sure Insoo wasn’t anywhere within hearing distance.

“Yes, sir.” Kai answered. Razzo made quick arrangements of where he and Kai would meet and hung up before Kai could even agree.

                Insoo stood by the courts, watching a pick-up game between some much younger boys. The boys playing were pretty horrible actually, almost as bad as Gunwoo used to be. Insoo scratched at his head, still trying to understand where his brother’s sudden skill had come from. But it wasn’t only the skills Insoo was taken aback by…it was the mood swings and aggressive nature. Insoo and his brother had never even been the type to play fight or wrestle, and not once had Gunwoo ever laid a violent hand on Insoo. Confused and unsure of how to proceed, Insoo just stood off to the side of the courts, watching the pitiful game.

“Insoo, I’m leaving.” Gunwoo said from behind Insoo. Startled, Insoo turned around to see Gunwoo standing where he hadn’t been just a second ago.

“Uhm, already?” Insoo was secretly glad they were going to be ending their day so much earlier than planned.

“Yes. And I can’t give you a ride home.”

“What? Why?”

“I have something urgent to do.”

“I don’t mind coming with you.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to.” Gunwoo began to walk away.

“So you’re going to make me walk?” Insoo yelled after his brother.

“Look over there.” Gunwoo pointed lazily at a bus stop across the street. “A bus should be there in about thirty minutes.” Gunwoo didn’t wait around to here anymore of Insoo’s .

“I can’t believe you.” Insoo bit his lip, holding back a lot of what he actually wanted to say. Insoo was starting to get a little angry with himself. Not usually was Insoo so hesitant and timid. Most times Insoo was that guy who said what everyone else was thinking but was too afraid to speak up about. Insoo wasn’t sure what it was that was going on with Gunwoo…but it was starting to make even Insoo himself act differently. “Wait…I don’t have any money on me!” Insoo yelled in frustration as he took a seat at the bus stop.

                Dasom had been in the restroom at her mother’s boutique for over ten minutes. Luckily, there was another girl working who could attend to the small group of picky women who had just flitted inside. Dasom stared at herself in the restroom mirror, she was sweating. Dasom had been feeling off since the day had begun. With shaking hands, cold skin and shortness of breath, she was starting to wonder if she could take the rest of the day off. Hastily, Dasom dug into her purse and pulled a small pill bottle out. Inside the pill bottle were some sleeping meds she had taken from her father’s medicine cabinet at home. So far, Dasom had only taken two…or three…maybe four. But Dasom didn’t think too much of stealing the pills…she really did need them. Ever since that scary nightmare involving Gunwoo choking her, she hadn’t gotten more than an hour of sleep. Even though at the moment, it wasn’t sleep Dasom needed, she still thought the pills would help her relax at least. She took two of the pills with a gulp of some orange juice she had in her purse as well. “Just three more hours to go.” She said, checking the time on her pretty wrist watch. Dasom turned to leave the restroom, but the door was locked. How? It only locked from the inside. Dasom didn’t understand why the door wasn’t opening, she pulled and pulled and then shoved and shoved…but still it remained closed. The light in the restroom went out then and Dasom gasped to be shrouded in the darkness. “Hello? Hello? Somebody let me out of here!” Dasom screamed and slapped the door with the palm of her hand. A pair of frigid hands slipped around Dasom’s neck then and began strangling her. Dasom flailed around in the dark restroom, hoping she could kick the door open and expose her attacker to the customers or her coworker. Suddenly, the light in the restroom came back on and Dasom saw her attacker in the mirror’s reflection. Gunwoo took advantage of Dasom’s shock and choked harder, tighter, until Dasom stopped breathing.

“Get up, please!” A raspy voice said loud enough to wake Dasom up. “Dasom, please don’t be dead.” The raspy voice spoke again, sounding more pestered than afraid. Dasom opened her eyes and saw that she was inside the break room of the boutique.

“What happened?” Dasom asked frantically.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” The female coworker said, pointing at the empty pill bottle on the floor beside Dasom’s heels. Dasom massaged her own neck lightly as she got to her feet.

“Did you like…overdose?” The coworker looked from the bottle and back to Dasom about ten times.

“No. Those aren’t mine, don’t be silly.”

“Oh.”

“I guess I just fell asleep. I haven’t been getting good sleep to be honest.”

“Oh.”

“Well, back to work we go.” Dasom smiled so brightly that the coworker had no choice but to relax a little.

“Sure.” The coworker smiled as Dasom left first. Slowly, she picked the pill bottle off the floor and read the prescription…clearly, Dasom had lied.

                There was a fairly large crowd gathered at the High School. The competitive eating competition had been promoted a lot on the internet, TV and even newspapers. Daehyun, Youngjae and Himchan were among those in the crowd. Out of the three of them, of course, Daehyun was the one who had signed up to compete.

“I can’t believe you’re actually doing this?” Youngjae said, looking around at the crowd. Most of the spectators had already gathered in front of the main stage where the announcer was going over the history of the competition, prize money and how the reigning champ had flown all the way from Hawaii or some other tropical place. Himchan sipped on a huge latte, looking uninterested.

“So many overweight people…events like this should be shut down. I mean, what’s the point of eating all this gross food. Do you want to get sick or something? How dumb.” Youngjae went on ranting about how disgusting he thought competitive eating was. “I already feel sick and I’m not even competing.” He said, rubbing his stomach.

“Shut up, Youngjae, you’re going to jinx me or something.” Daehyun yelled, giving Youngjae a chop on the back of the neck.

“Can’t believe you’re going to try and eat 100 hotdogs for 40 bucks.” Youngjae laughed to himself, shaking his head at the idea of Daehyun literally exploding on stage.

“40 bucks?” Daehyun and Himchan said at the same time.

“Yeah, that’s the prize right?” Youngjae shrugged.

“More like $4000.00” Daehyun corrected. Youngjae’s eyes bulged as Himchan passed him a random flyer for the event. Indeed, the prize money was $4000.00. Suddenly, Youngjae didn’t think this event was disgusting after all. Youngjae hopped behind Daehyun and started massaging his shoulders and hyping him up.

“Buddy, I believe in you. You’re a pro, you’re going to mop the floor with these skinny amateurs. You are a real man who knows how to eat, don’t let them think they have a chance for a split second.” Youngjae went on pumping up his friend, even when Daehyun tried to shake him off.

“Now you’re just being money hungry, as always.” Daehyun cut Youngjae a sly look.

“Who me?” Youngjae faked shock.

“Who else?” Himchan said in between sips of his latte.

“I just want my best friend to crush the competition. And maybe…”

“Split the money with you?” Himchan suggested.

“No, no, never.” Youngjae lied with a nervous looking grin on his face. “Unless, he wants to, I mean…”

“He doesn’t.” Himchan answered for Daehyun.

“Who asked you anyway, Himchan? Don’t you have a drama to watch or something?” Youngjae snapped. Youngjae couldn’t stand someone trying to come between him and his money.

“Just for that, I’m going to make sure you don’t get your hands on that money, Youngjae.” Himchan declared, pointing a finger in Youngjae’s greedy face.

“Hey! Don’t ruin my chances of winning.” Daehyun shouted at both of them. The three of them took a step backwards, eyeing one another like rival predators in the wild. The boys circled one another, not taking their eyes on each other for a second.

“I admit…I want the prize money.” Youngjae said.

“I admit…I don’t want you to have it.” Himchan glared.

“I admit…I shouldn’t have brought you two with me.” Daehyun grumbled.

                Daehyun heard about the competitive eating contest online and had been planning to enter contest since he and the rest of the guys first arrived in the city. Youngjae had overheard Daehyun talking about it out loud and insisted he come along (really, he just wanted to get out of the house and away from so much Bang, Zodiac Stone, Razzo talk). Himchan was only with them because neither Daehyun nor Youngjae could drive themselves there and wouldn’t have made in time if they walked. Surprisingly, Himchan hadn’t been difficult to convince…maybe he wanted to get out of the house for the same reasons as Youngjae. Really, the situation with Razzo and Bang was both stressful and confusing. There wasn’t much the group of LOCKS could do at the moment besides train like hell and wait for Razzo to make a move so that they could counter. Until then, sitting around the house watching Hyo Shin pace around like a madman was not anyone’s definition of a good day.

                “None of you guys have to worry about that prize money…you know, since you won’t be winning it.” Key said, walking up to the group with Jonghyun right beside him.

“Hi, Himchannie!” Jonghyun cheesed at his favorite victim, Himchan.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Youngjae asked, totally thrown off. Key and Jonghyun didn’t even attend the high school and lived on the other side of town. Plus, a competitive eating contest just didn’t seem like something they’d ever go out of their way to attend.

“A friend of ours is competing.” Key said nonchalantly yet so sarcastically.

“Which friend?” Youngjae wondered.

“Uh oh…” Himchan put two and two together.

                Onew approached the group then, looking peeved already. “Daehyun…I should’ve knows you would be here.” Onew rubbed at his forehead. “Not that it matters, I’m literally going to devour all my competitors.” He declared, leveling his gaze to meet Daehyun’s.

“Don’t make me laugh.” Daehyun countered. “You have no idea how I eat.”

“And I don’t wanna know. I just wanna see the look on your face when I win.” Onew grinned, making sure to disguise the little bit of worry he actually felt.

“Keep dreaming! When it comes to anything involving food, I’m better than you.” Daehyun and Onew walked towards each other until they were practically nose to nose. Youngjae watched the stare down with an excited expression. Anything that got Daehyun more pumped up to win that money was good in Youngjae’s book.

“That’s right, Daehyun, tell him how it is.” Youngjae instigated.

“Keep your puke bucket close, you’re going to need it.” Onew said.

“Yeah, I’ll use it to carry my prize money home” Daehyun replied with a smug laugh.

                As the boys bickered, Himchan wondered if Onew, Jonghyun and Key were here because they really wanted to be (Onew probably was) or just because they felt the tense awkwardness from being stuck indoors with Edward. Himchan didn’t have much problem admitting that Edward’s team had always been the more hard-working and dedicated between the two, so it was a bit odd to see them casually out for the day…especially considering the situation the city was in. Himchan was done thinking about it. Ready to go grab a seat by the stage, Himchan turned to walk away but froze when he felt a muscular arm around his waist.

“Let’s have fun today, Himchan.” Jonghyun pulled Himchan closer and smiled cutely.

“Jonghyun! Get off me, you weirdo! Let go, let go!” Himchan pulled free of Jonghyun’s hold. Key and Jonghyun laughed as they walked ahead of the group. Onew and Daehyun went walking in a different direction to meet up with the rest of the competitors and take to the stage.

“C’mon, Youngjae, let’s get seats.” Himchan said after composing himself.

                Bang sat across from Insoo. The two boys had run into each other at a small diner a block from Insoo’s house. Bang was there because he was hungry and didn’t feel like waiting for his stepmom to ruin another potentially good meal. Insoo stopped at the diner to wait for his mom to pick him up and drive him the rest of the way home. Initially, there was a small awkwardness between the boys, mostly because Insoo seemed so happy to see Bang and Bang had more than a lot on his mind. However, it had actually been Bang who suggested they sit and eat something. Insoo opted to just take a water since he had no money on him, but Bang ordered him a slice of pie anyway…he remembered Insoo liked blueberry pie only because Bang had never met anyone else who did. Sitting across from his friend, Bang felt comfortable for the first time that whole day. After being beaten up at his early morning training and still having thoughts of Sooyoung and Kai on the brain, it was a much needed moment of easiness to sit there with normal Insoo. Normal meaning…no connection to all the crazy that had been going on lately. Oh wait…his brother was possessed by a super powered evil entity. So much for normal. As Bang laughed and ate with Insoo, he couldn’t help wondering here and there if maybe…there was some sense in agreeing to Kai’s offer. People that Bang cared about (Uko, Sooyoung, Insoo, Gunwoo, and father) would be safe from all the chaos that was secretly taking place around them. Insoo finished his pie and slid the plate to the side of the table for the waitress to come pick up. As Insoo made small talk with the waitress, Bang noticed the cut on his friend’s elbow.

“Did you fall?” Bang asked, pointing at the bruise.

“Oh, something like that.” Insoo admitted as the waitress rushed to another table.

“What do mean something like that?” Bang asked, wanting a straight answer. With Razzo and his goons in the city, Bang was hyper sensitive to anyone he knew suddenly having bruises on them. “Tell the truth, buddy.” Bang tried to laugh and look casual. “Even the mighty fall.” Bang added, stuffing a forkful of potatoes into his mouth.

“Actually, it was Gunwoo.” Insoo said, already wishing he would have just lied to Bang.

“What?” Bang nearly spat out his food.

“He got angry over a game of basketball…” Insoo told himself to shut up then…there was no way he wanted to get any other people involved in his own confusion over Gunwoo’s mood swings. Since he barely understood what was happening with Gunwoo he felt it best to just keep his suspicions under wraps until he had a clear theory.

“So he attacked you?” Bang’s eyes were wide and kind of freaking Insoo out.

“Not really. He just shoved me down pretty hard, but it’s no big deal.” Insoo shrugged, smirking as if it was all so frivolous. “He didn’t mean to.” Insoo nodded.

“Did he say that?”

“Seriously, Bang, just let it go.”

“Has your brother been acting strange lately?”

“Huh?” Insoo jumped as if touched by a hot rod.

“Has he?” Bang knew he was on to something just by obviously Insoo wanted to get off or avoid the topic. Although Edward had erased Insoo’s memory of the night at the junkyard, Gunwoo was still not Gunwoo and was going to continue to not be Gunwoo. If anyone in the world was going to notice subtle or not so subtle changes in Gunwoo, it was going to be his little brother…who was also his best friend.

“He’s been different.” Insoo admitted through clenched teeth.

“Violent? Mean? Secretive?”

“Actually all of those. It’s like, something changed him…on the inside.” Insoo leaned forward suddenly to look Bang right in his eyes. “I knew something was off from the moment he came back.”

“You did, huh?” Bang was getting angry. Razzo possessing Gunwoo was already horrible enough, but now, it was worse because Insoo was spot on in suspecting something was different about his brother. Bang was smart enough to know that if Insoo somehow stumbled upon the truth about Gunwoo being possessed by Razzo…it wouldn’t end well for Insoo. But what was Bang supposed to do? Have his friends memories erased again? What good would that do when he lived under the same freaking roof as Razzo? Bang wanted to tell Insoo he was probably just paranoid and misunderstanding things, but he knew there was no way Insoo would take his words seriously. Nobody knew Gunwoo as well as Insoo and so there would be no way of Bang changing Insoo’s intuition. Slowly, Bang sat back in the booth, wanting to escape Insoo’s eye contact.

“Insoo, I have to tell you something.” Bang said. Insoo leaned back as well with a raised eyebrow.

“About what? My brother?” Insoo saw Bang going pale in the face.

“Yes.” Bang answered, shaking a bit. Bang didn’t really know if telling Insoo the whole truth was the best idea in the long run, but if it turned out to be a huge mistake, he could always just ask Edward to erase his memories again. For now, Bang just wanted to know how Insoo would react…even so, he was still a bit scared to say it out loud. How do you tell someone there sibling is possessed?

“Dude, you’re being really weird. Did Gunwoo say or do something to you too?” Insoo asked in a lighter tone, hoping it would make Bang just come out with it already. Bang rolled his head from side to side, unsure of the best way to answer Insoo’s question.

“Yes and no.” Bang said finally.

“Can’t you just give a straight answer?”

“Insoo…your brother is…”

“Bang!” Someone said.

                Both boys jerked their heads to the left to see a tall, good looking guy smiling happily at them. It was Minho.

“Uhm, hello?” Bang recognized the guy quickly, but had no idea what his name was. Insoo rolled his eyes and sighed to himself. Minho cut Bang an irritated expression when Insoo was paying attention.

“What are you doing here?” Bang asked, wondering if maybe another battle was about to erupt in the middle of the cheap diner.

“Looking for you, duh! Bro, don’t you know our project is due tomorrow?” Minho lied with the most animated hand gestures and expressions he could manage.

“What?” Bang squinted at the tall guy.

“We have to get to work, like now. I can’t afford to fail Psychology for the fifth time.” Minho leaned down and pulled Bang up from the booth like he was a four year old. Insoo gave Minho a long inspecting look, concluding that he definitely wasn’t a student at their school. “C’mon, we can still finish in time if we start now. Like, seriously right now.” Minho started to shove Bang out of the diner. Bang struggled against Minho’s as best he could, but it was no use, there was no way Minho was letting him get back to that table to spill his guts to Insoo.

“See you later, Insoo. Sorry.” Bang called out, handing some money to the waitress on the way out of the door. Insoo sat in confused silence for a few minutes before gathering his stuff to leave.

“Bang in psychology? Yeah right.” Insoo shook his head at the obvious lie as he exited the diner.

                Minho took Bang behind the building and immediately chopped him in the back of the neck.

“Owe! Hey, I don’t think we know each other well enough for neck chops, buddy.” Bang massaged his neck. Minho walked in a circle with his hands on his hips as if he was some letdown father about to discipline his kid.

“You were about to tell him everything.” Minho said, still pacing.

“No I wasn’t…I mean, so what if I was?” Bang said blatantly, not even caring if it set Minho off. Of course it did. Minho stopped walking and jolted up to Bang with bulging eyes and a reddening face.

“Are you crazy?” Minho yelled. Usually, Minho didn’t lose his cool, but the fact that this newbie was about to possibly ruin everything for both teams of LOCKS made him really freaking mad. Was Bang really that dumb?

“I just figured that…” Bang started to say.

“That we could erase his memories afterwards?” Minho interrupted loudly.

“Yes!” Bang yelled right back.

“So what if we can? What if he ran and told his mom first and then she told the girlfriend and then the girlfriend told her cousin and so on?” Minho saw a flicker of realization on Bang’s face. Clearly, he was starting to see that telling Insoo would have turned out to be a mistake. Bang took a heavy seat on a crate beside the two of them and face palmed himself.

“Okay, okay, so maybe it was a bad idea.”

“I know you meant well, but trust me, it wouldn’t have gone well.”

“Were you following me?” Bang asked suddenly. The way Minho had interjected into his conversation with Insoo at just the right moment was too convenient. Minho laughed to himself and patted Bang on the shoulder.

“I wasn’t following you, my friend. This diner just has really good pie.” Minho laughed, pulling out his own fork from the pocket of his blazer. “It so good I use the same fork every time I come here.” He said with a wink.

                Sunmi crept and flitted around the familiar home. Not much had changed since the last time Sunmi had been inside the home. Really the only noticeably different thing was a couple new pieces of art on the walls and the fridge was a lot less stocked than it used to be. Heck, her parents had even left pictures of Sunmi where they had originally been. Sunmi felt a little guilty since she had disposed of mostly all her family photos after running away with her fiancé a year ago. Sunmi began to walk upstairs, letting her hands slide along the wooden banister and her eyes dart around the hallway, taking in more familiar things. Sunmi poked her head inside her old bedroom and saw that it was in the process of being converted into a bland looking spare room with dull white walls and a king size bed. Sunmi hadn’t really expected her old bedroom to stay untouched, however, it would’ve been a nice surprise.

                Sunmi slipped into her younger sister’s room and laughed lightly at how little things had changed there. Still, photos of famous models lines the walls and a couple framed photos of the girl herself were mixed in there. There was a mannequin in the corner of the room, wigs thrown here and there, and an expensive looking camera hanging from a nail on the wall. Sunmi inspected the camera with an annoyed expression. “What happened to the one I bought you?” Sunmi mumbled.

“Oh my God!” The girl said in a high pitch scream, making Sunmi jump and nearly drop the camera.

“Oh…hi.” Sunmi said, jerking her head to the right to see her sister, Bora in the doorway.

“Oh my God, oh my God, Oh my God.” Bora jumped up and down, squealing excitedly. “I cannot believe you’re really here in my room right now.” Bora ran at her sister and grabbed her in a tight hug. Sunmi immediately wanted to cry. No one had hugged her in nearly a year. “Yeah…I’m here.” Really, Sunmi was overjoyed to see her sister, however, she would have preferred to do it from afar. It had never been her intention to come face to face with Bora. Heck, she hadn’t even noticed anyone was home when she snuck in. In fact, she was certain she had been alone. Sunmi cursed herself mentally for letting her guard down so easily and being caught off guard by Bora.

“Sunmi, it’s been over ten months since I’ve heard from you. Where the hell have you been? How have you been? How could you do this to me? You just ran off with that man and never….” Bora was starting to cry, which made Sunmi even more annoyed with herself for not being able to avoid this very situation. Now, Sunmi had no choice but to lie. What else could she do? Telling his sister that the man she claimed to be in love with ended up being an abusive womanizer who she may or may not have accidentally killed with her LOCK powers wasn’t really a practical explanation. And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Was Sunmi then supposed to explain how she had gotten caught up with Razzo and his horrible plans to bring chaos to the very city Sunmi’s family lived in? Sunmi stared at her sister with wavering eyes.

“I’m sorry, Bora.” Sunmi said.

“That’s it?” Bora shook her head looking all hurt and perplexed.

“We didn’t even know if you were alive or not?”

“I know. But I’ve been doing really well.”

“I can’t believe you just show up like this…how did you even get in here?” Bora’s voice and expressions were starting to become more and sharp. Sunmi tried to form some type of lie on the spot, but no clear concise words would come out of . Running into Bora had not been a part of the plan. All she had wanted to do was look around her old house, grab some clothes she had left in the back of her closet and then get the hell out.

“That doesn’t matter.” Bora concluded after two minutes of silence from Sunmi.

“You’re right.” Sunmi sighed.

“How about you just tell me…why you’re here.”

“Because I missed you.” Sunmi half lied. Truly, Sunmi did miss Bora, and a part of her was willing to bet that was the real reason she decided so hastily to break into the house. Maybe deep down, Sunmi had been hoping to have this moment with Bora. Way, way deep down.

“I missed you too.”

“Look, I can’t stay long. As a matter of fact I need to go right now.” Sunmi grabbed Bora’s palm and flashed a pleading expression. “Please, don’t tell mom or dad you saw me.” Sunmi squeezed Bora’s palm, feeling like the worst sister ever when Bora started to tear up again.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’re really about to disappear again.” Bora spoke as if she was in a trance, not fully aware of what was happening right in front of her. The longer she spoke to Sunmi, the more she began to wonder if she was even real, or just a figment of her imagination.

“Bora, I love you and I’m really sorry, but I can’t stay.” Sunmi was utterly confused herself. There was no way she could go back to her normal life as long as Razzo, Kai and Jay were in the city. However, there wasn’t really any running from her old life either, since Razzo’s whole operation was stationed in the same city as her family. Sunmi wondered if the only way she could ever be happy again was to go back in time before she ever met her former fiancé. Bora snatched her hand away from Sunmi and wiped the waterworks that were streaming down her face.

“Please don’t cry, Bora. I promise, I won’t disappear again…I just won’t be…around.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“I’ll call you, I write you, I’ll visit you…only you.” Sunmi knew she was lying on the visiting part. It was important to keep her family a big secret from Jay, Kai and Razzo (who were all loners). Sunmi couldn’t risk her ‘allies’ finding out about her family because they were all psychotic asses as far as she was concerned.

“What about mom and dad?”

“They can’t know I was here.”

“Why not, Sunmi, I don’t understand. Are you in some kind of trouble or something?”

“That’s one way to put it.” Sunmi started trying to sidestep her sister and get back down the stairs.

“What kind of trouble? Let us help you?” Bora blocked the stairway.

“You can’t.” Sunmi smiled at her sister, finally starting to tear up just a little herself.

“Where’s your husband?” Bora asked with a bite to her voice.

“Gone.” Sunmi made sure to look Bora in her eyes when she said it. She wanted her sister to get the idea of how serious the ‘gone’ was.

“What happened?” Bora’s voice shook. Bora wanted to cling on to any piece of info she could, hoping to drag out this encounter as long as possible. Soon, her parents would be home and then Sunmi would be forced to stay, forced to tell the truth and be her older sister again. Bora felt like she would go crazy if this new, broken looking version of her sister left again.

“I’ll call you, Bora. I have to go.” Sunmi pushed her sister aside and started down the stairs, skipping the last two. Sunmi was just about to open the door and let herself out when Bora blocked her way again.

“You don’t even have my number.” Bora pulled a brand new phone from her pocket.

“Well, give it to me, hurry.” Sunmi said.

‘No. Give me yours so I can call you first.” Bora folded her arms. Sunmi laughed a little at how stupid she had been to put herself in this situation in the first place.

“You’re being really difficult right now, Bora.”

‘I’M BEING DIFFICULT?” Bora exclaimed. Both girls paused when the doorbell rang. Sunmi stiffened and debated whether she should use her LOCK speed and just flash right out of the room. Yes, it would leave Bora even more freaked out, but at least she wouldn’t have to face her parents. Bora’s face lit up, knowing exactly who was at the door. Bora turned around and flung the door open to reveal the handsome guy standing on the porch.

                Sunmi stared at the guy with only a drop of relief. Obviously it wasn’t going to be her mother or father ringing the doorbell of their own home…but still, this was another person laying eyes on Sunmi. Which was bad. Sunmi wanted to dash right out of the house, but Bora was blocking the doorway as she…locked lips with the guy who had rung the doorbell.

“Sunmi, this is my boyfriend.” Bora said after pulling her lips of his.

“Hey there, my name’s Jongup.” Jongup said, waving excitedly. “Uhm, you two kind of look alike.”

“She’s my sister.” Bora said, smiling triumphantly at Sunmi.

“I was just leaving.” Sunmi said, pushing past Bora and Jongup. Once out on the sidewalk, Sunmi took off power walking in a random direction, not really caring where it led. All she wanted was to get away from Bora and the very feeling of normalcy that she missed so much.

                Bora watched Sunmi leave with a mix of both resentment and longing in her face. Jongup wiped a tear from Bora’s face and then went in for a hug.

“You’re sweet.” Bora said, inviting him all the way in.

“I always know when someone needs a hug.” Jongup smiled.

                Bora and Jongup were meting up for their first official date since exchanging numbers a month prior in Jongup’s old city. The two had actually ran into each other while Bora had been a model for some lame, amateur clothing line and Jongup had literally been pulled off the street to fill in as an extra for all of ten minutes. But ten minutes was enough for the two to hit it off with one another and exchange numbers. Jongup wasn’t breaking Hyo Shin’s rules too much by dating Bora because as far as she knew, he was only in the city for a week and then would be returning home (In reality, he was just going to stop seeing her after that week and focus on the LOCK business). But that was going to be a lot easier said than done because Jongup was already really starting to like this bubbly, ambitious, sassy girl he had secretly been texting and emailing for the past month.

“By the way, did you call me your boyfriend just now?” Jongup asked, taking a seat at Bora’s dining room table.

“That was for dramatic effect.” Bora laughed shyly. The two weren’t officially a couple, but Jongup really liked Bora. Like a lot. Ever since meeting her at the photo shoot back in the previous city, Jongup had felt like Bora could be the one for him. Bora on the other hand was just happy to have a new cut guy friend to show off and maybe kiss on a little bit. It was sort of hilarious in a way. For a while, the two just stared at one another with expectant, awkward looks. Well, actually Bora stared…Jongup was gazing, drinking in her beauty as if she had stepped right out of his dreams.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Bora suddenly asked, breaking into a small laugh.

“You’re just so beautiful.” Jongup replied seriously.

“Wait, are you being serious?” Bora laughed out loud, figuring he was just being sarcastic.

“So what do you want to do today? This is technically our first official date?” Jongup asked, still gazing.

“I don’t know, let’s go catch a movie or something. No big deal.” Bora shrugged, grabbing her car keys from the counter. Although Bora thought Jongup was just a tad bit clingy, she was happy she could at least use him and a movie to her mind off Sunmi sudden reappearance.

“Your wish is my desire.” Jongup said dreamily following Bora out of the door.

“Wait, are you being serious?” Bora laughed out loud again, throwing her head backwards.

                Insoo had been home for about an hour. After a hot shower and a large lunch made by his mom, Insoo trudged back to his room, hoping to fall asleep once his head hit the pillow. There was a lot of seriously annoying stuff on Insoo’s mind, which wasn’t usually the case for him. Typically, nothing stressed Insoo out. But ever since Gunwoo had returned home, Insoo felt on edge and worked up. And now even Bang was being odd. What the hell was Bang going to say to Insoo in the diner anyway? And who was that random dude that showed up with the bogus cover story? Insoo scratched his head as he went to close the shades in his room. “Dasom?” Insoo did a double take out of the window when he saw a pretty, tall girl standing across the street, looking frozen in place and…a little afraid. Insoo walked downstairs and peered through a different window, wanting to make sure his eyes were playing tricks on him. “That’s Dasom…what is she doing here?” Insoo walked out of the front door and across the street to confront Dasom.

                “How did I get here?” Dasom asked herself. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, Dasom began to look all around her for some sign as to why and how she was in Gunwoo’s neighborhood when she had just been in her bedroom settling in for a nap.

“This makes no sense.” Dasom said, going a little weak in the knees. Dasom turned around quickly, wanting to avoid running into her boyfriend and having to explain to him what she didn’t even understand.

“Dasom, hey, wait up.” Insoo called over to Dasom just as she was about to leave.

“Insoo, hello.” Dasom plastered a fake smile on her sweet face.

“What’s up? Are you here to see Gunwoo? He’s not home, you know?” Insoo asked curiously.

“I was just visiting a friend who lives in the neighborhood.” Dasom lied.

“Who’s your friend?” Insoo asked right away.

“Uhm…” Dasom tried to think of a believable name.

“I’m sorry, it’s not my business.” Insoo gave himself a small slap across the face.

“No, it’s okay, really.” Dasom laughed lightly. Insoo took a long, admiring look at Dasom while she stared at the house behind him. Insoo started to wish he would have just stayed inside his house instead of coming out to question Dasom. Whenever he was around her, he felt like such a sack of crap for being in love with her. Dasom was Gunwoo’s girlfriend. His brother’s girlfriend. The love of his brother’s life. How could he feel such a way for Dasom? Being around Dasom made Insoo feel the worst blend of guilt and glee.

“You said Gunwoo wasn’t home?” Dasom suddenly asked, yanking Insoo out of his own feelings.

“Uh, right, he left a lot earlier today and I haven’t seen him since. I figured he had plans with you.” Insoo answered.

“No, no plans.” Dasom’s words trailed off as she stared more and more intently at Insoo’s house in the background. For a split second, Dasom could’ve sworn she saw Gunwoo staring at her from the window at the top of the house. But then he was gone.

“You look worried about something.” Insoo finally said what he had noticed since he first saw Dasom from his bedroom window. Seeing the usually cheerful girl so anxious caused Insoo to be just the same. Even though he was prepared to keep his love for Dasom a secret until the day he died, he had no problem being a good friend and attempting to help her with whatever was clearly bugging her.

“Not something…someone.” Dasom accidentally said out loud.

‘Gunwoo.” Insoo wasn’t really asking. Dasom pulled her eyes away from the house and over to Insoo. Dasom didn’t even have to answer, Insoo knew she had sensed or seen the difference in Gunwoo as well.

“No.” Dasom lied again.

“It’s okay, Dasom, I know he’s been different since returning from school.” Insoo assured. “You aren’t the only one that’s worried.” He went on, seeing the growing desire to leave on Dasom’s face.

“I haven’t noticed anything different about him.” Dasom managed to sound truthful then. Insoo took a step back and put his hands in his pockets, feeling annoyed with Dasom for maybe the first time ever.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes. Have a good day, Insoo.” Dasom started down the sidewalk so quickly that she didn’t even notice Insoo following her for a couple feet. Dasom was more than worried about Gunwoo, she was worried about her freaking self. After having such violent nightmares about Gunwoo…and apparently sleep walking to his house, Dasom had right to be concerned for her own sake.

                Zelo, Taemin, Edward and Hyo Shin entered the old folks home with dark faces. It was clear that Razzo had already been there and done quite a bit of draining. True, old people already had little life and energy left in bodies, but this was different. The staff and the residents were all laid around on the floor, panting heavily or completely passed out. “Are they all…dead?” Taemin asked, kneeling down to check the pulse of one old woman who was curled up in a little wrinkled ball.

“Just about.” Edward was blunt. Standing in the middle of the lobby of the home, Hyo Shin peered around, catching the same hint of strong pressure Edward had felt only a second ago.

“I knew I felt Razzo’s pressure here. In fact, he may still be here.” Hyo Shin noted.

“I can’t believe they did this to all these old people.” Zelo looked around and the lifeless bodies.

“Edward, do you think you’ll end up in a place like this soon?” Taemin asked, rejoining the group.

“Soon? I’m only twenty-six, you jerk!” Edward shouted.

“Oh…okay then.” Taemin flashed an innocent smile at his mentor.

“Kids these days, right?” Hyo Shin chuckled. Zelo suddenly ran over to a petite female staffer who was stumbling from behind the front desk. Zelo caught the staffer before she fell flat on her face.

“Are you alright, can you stand?” Zelo asked, already picking the woman up and laying her on the counter as if it were a stretcher.

“Please! Don’t hurt me!” The woman freaked out and started slapping at Zelo’s hands. Hastily, she scrambled to her feet on top the counter, nearly falling over the edge. “Just take whatever you came here for, but don’t hurt me.” The woman’s voice was barely above a whisper, clearly, she was had been life drained by Razzo as well.

“We aren’t here to hurt you, please be calm.” Hyo Shin said, walking over to the woman with his palm out. For a long time, the woman just stared uncertainly at Hyo Shin. “You can trust us.” Hyo Shin nodded and shook his palm a little, trying to get her to comprehend that he wanted to help her down. Finally, the woman took his palm and let him help her off the counter.

“Two men came in here and started making everyone so…weak.” The woman fell into Hyo Shin’s arms, shaking like some kind of wind-up toy. “His eyes were so evil.” She began to cry heavily.

“Tell us if they took anything with them. Anything like a stone?” Edward rushed over to the woman.

“What? No, I don’t know.” The woman began to shut her eyes.

“So there was no Z Stone here…” Taemin noted.

“His eyes were so…evil.” She passed out then. Hyo Shin sighed as he laid the woman back on the counter.

“We’re too late.” Zelo held back tears, looking at all the half dead old people and staffers that Razzo had attacked with his draining ability. Suddenly Edward and Hyo Shin tensed, exchanging looks.

“He’s still here.” Hyo Shin stated. Edward took off running out the side door of the lobby with Taemin and Hyo Shin right on his heels. Zelo took his time following behind the trio, feeling too depressed to run at the same speed as everyone else.

                Out on the tennis courts of the old folk’s home, Kai drained more staffers and seniors who had been lucky enough to avoid the first strike in the lobby. The fogy gray light flowed from Kai’s blade, the life force from the second bunch of victims. Just a few feet behind Kai, Razzo (in Gunwoo’s body still) juggled a flurry of tennis balls with his mind. Gunwoo frowned as three more bodies dropped to the floor….without passing a Zodiac Stone.

“It was your idea to test this place for Zodiac Stones, Kai.” Gunwoo sent all the tennis balls crashing into Kai’s back. “So far, it’s a waste of time.” Gunwoo groaned and a caused a wave of frustration to shatter the tennis nets into shreds. Kai stopped draining the last body and gave a small, apologetic bow towards Gunwoo.

“Sorry.”

“Why would a Zodiac Stone ever live in the body of a useless, old senior?”

“Sorry…I should’ve known.” Kai said.

“Shut up. We have company.” Gunwoo grinned, sensing Edward and Hyo Shin’s pressure.

                “SUMMON, UNLOCK.” Hyo Shin was the first to shout as he ran out onto the courts. With his sword summoned, Hyo Shin swung and sent a fast orb of gravity at Kai. The orb smashed into Kai and sent him flying backwards into the chain fence that surrounded the courts. Before Kai could get to his feet, another three orbs of gravity shoved into him and caused him to rip right through the chain fence. Kai’s body flopped across the second and third tennis courts before he dug his sword in the ground to steady himself.

“Dammit.” Kai said, standing up to see Zelo and Taemin standing before him with their swords already summoned. Zelo had already UNLOCKED his second level of power and was in beast form with his claws and fangs both protruding. “Fine, you wanna fight. Let’s fight.” Kai braced himself. Taemin pounced into the air and pulled off a quick, spiral before coming down on Kai with a strong downward kick. Kai blocked Taemin’s downward kick with his sword, but not without struggle. Without missing a beat, Taemin back-flipped off the sword and lunged into a barrage of fists at Kai. Landing punch after punch, kick after kick, Taemin had Kai off balance and stressed as he tried to keep up with his superb combat skills. Taemin finished his assault on Kai with a strong elbow to the gut and then cartwheeled out of the way for Zelo to take over. Kai’s eyes bulged when Zelo came running on all fours. Zelo dug his claws into the ground and slashed, sending three strong claw shaped blasts at Kai.

                There was an explosion from Zelo’s energized claw blast. Both boys waited on the outskirts of the explosion, expecting Kai to make a move.

“Stay on guard, Zelo.” Taemin warned.

“Right.” Zelo crotched down like a cat prepped to leap at any moment.

                “Serpents dance!” Kai yelled from within the aftermath of the explosion. Taemin was expecting the serpents to come shooting from the smoke…but there was nothing.

“Taemin, behind you!” Zelo suddenly shouted out. Taemin turned around at the last minute to see two of Kai’s energy snakes looming over him. The two snakes came blasting downwards, smashing into Taemin like waterfalls of dark blue energy. Taemin’s body was blasted clear across the courts. Just then, Kai came blasting from the explosion, riding on the head of his third snake, charging for Zelo. Zelo was quick enough the leap up and land on the head of the snake as well. Kai and Zelo clashed swords and the snake blindly charged all around the courts in a wild, uncontrolled way. Kai swung hard at Zelo and caused him to fall off the head of the snake onto his back. Zelo scrambled to his feet and pounced right back up at Kai. Before Zelo even got close enough to swing again, the snake opened it’s huge mouth and blasted a dark blue ball of energy at Zelo. Like a cannonball, Zelo’s body soared across the court and smashed into the chain fence, ripping clear through it. Zelo had landed in a large prickly bush just outside the tennis courts. From where he was, Zelo could see Taemin starting up another attack on Kai.

“You punk! I’m not done yet! Bring it on!” Zelo shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping to gain all of Kai’s attention. It worked. Kai stayed on the head of his snake as it slowly slithered over to Zelo’s body. “I ain’t afraid of some overgrown worm!” Zelo growled.

“Serpent, strike!” Kai commanded his snake to charge at Zelo then. Taemin leapt into the air from behind Kai and his sword outward. Taemin’s sword morphed into a giant shuriken with a quick flash of light. Taemin reached all the way back and fired the giant shuriken at Kai’s serpent. The giant star hit it’s mark and ripped right through the energy snake’s body, causing it to explode into nothingness. Kai’s body was in free fall without his snake. Taemin once again took his chance to strike by ing his hands outward and making some kind of ninja language with them. After three different combinations of his fast moving fingers, Taemin shouted out. “SILVER STAR, SEPARATE!” The giant star flashed once and shattered into hundreds of smaller shuriken that floated around Kai’s body. “STRIKE!” Taemin ordered the shuriken to smash into Kai all at once. As best he could, Kai defended himself, but it wasn’t enough to fully stop Taemin’s attack, which sent him spiraling to the ground…where Zelo waited. On all fours, Zelo raced to Kai’s body. “BEAST CHARGE!” As Zelo ran, a bright spirit lion formed around his body. Roaring in unison, Zelo and the spirit lion rammed into Kai’s falling body, sending his sliding across the court and into a metal bench off to the sidelines.

                “Awesome!” Taemin and Zelo high fived one another and then broke into a small victory dance. On the other sides of the courts, Edward and Hyo Shin dodged a downpour of black energy rays from Gunwoo. Edward UNLOCKED his powers and fired two arrows up towards the possessed teen. Both arrows exploded right before impact and trapped Gunwoo in an icy cage. As the cage began to fall towards the courts, Hyo Shin summoned a pillar of gravity to surround the cage. The gravity around the cage was decreased, causing it to float awkwardly in the air. Before Gunwoo could make a move to escape the cage, Edward took a leap into the air and fired a larger, stronger arrow that exploded into a heavy stream of energized snow. The snow beam shot the cage clear out of the air and sent it smashing to the courts. But…Gunwoo was already gone before the snow attack had even made contact.

“Where is he?” Hyo Shin groaned, seeing the remains of the cage on the grounds.

“Here.” Gunwoo said, walking up behind the two men with Kai limping at his side. Zelo and Taemin dashed to the sides of their mentors and watched, unsure if another four way fight was going to erupt. After a long stare down between the four of them, Hyo Shin finally spoke.

“Senior citizens, Razzo? Really?” Hyo Shin yelled.

“Wasn’t my idea.” Gunwoo shrugged. “It was his.” Gunwoo shoved Kai in front of him. Kai was still off balance and weak after his double battle with Zelo and Taemin. Hyo Shin frowned at the honest look of fear in Kai’s eye. “No, I mean it…this was all Kai’s idea. If you want to attack him right now, I won’t stop you.” Gunwoo laughed with that joyfully evil glint in his eyes.

“Oh, shut up already, Razzo.” Hyo Shin said as Kai took a quick step backwards.

                “If you aren’t going to attack, then we’ll be leaving now.” Gunwoo grabbed the back of Kai’s collar and snatched him to his side. Right away, a swirl of dark energy wrapped around the two of them. Edward and Hyo Shin began to run at the energy warp before the two enemies could get away again. Just as Edward and Hyo Shin attempted to stop the disappearing act, the energy funnel expanded and forced both the guys backwards. And then Gunwoo and Kai were gone.

                Nearly fifteen minutes after Gunwoo and Kai had gotten away, Edward and Hyo Shin continued making rounds through the old folk’s home. Taemin and Zelo held their own small talk as they trailed behind the two adults. Edward was busy healing up the seniors as much as he could. Every now and then, Edward would try to strike up a casual conversation with Hyo Shin…but it didn’t work. Hyo Shin was too upset by what Razzo had done, there was no way he could hold a conversation. All Hyo Shin wanted to do was destroy Razzo and rid the world of this evil that was now possessing Gunwoo and had tried to do the same to him only five years ago. Edward kneeled down to heal a woman in her sixties.

“I guess we shouldn’t be so surprised. I mean, we knew this is what Razzo was going to do.” Edward frowned, realizing there was no saving this particular woman.

“Still, we shouldn’t have let this happen to all these innocent people.” Hyo Shin finally spoke.

“You’re right.” Edward said easily. Taemin and Zelo stopped their chit chat when they realized Edward had just agreed with Hyo Shin. It didn’t seem as though the two men even noticed what Edward had said, so the younger boys just snickered together.

“What the heck are you two laughing at? There’s nothing funny here.” Hyo Shin snapped. Edward rested his hand on Hyo Shin’s shoulder to calm him down as best he could.

“Chill out, Hyo Shin. We’re all disappointed.” Edward said.

“I’m not disappointed, Edward. I’m mad as hell! I’m pissed! Razzo basically killed all these people and there’s no stopping him from doing it tomorrow and the next day, and the day after that! We’re always going to be one step behind him. Before we know it, he really will have the last three Zodiac Stones.” Hyo Shin paced in a furious circle, throwing his arms around as he turned a bright red color in the face. The two younger boys dropped their heads guiltily.

“How about having a little optimism, Hyo Shin. Goodness, you sound like you’re giving up already.” Edward cut his rival a sharp look, suddenly very irritated with him. Edward hating losing to the bad guys and seeing innocent people hurt just as much as Hyo Shin, but he wasn’t about to have an outburst along with him. Yes, Razzo had one round one and two and might even take three and four, but that didn’t mean he was going to win the war. Holding on to that little bit of optimism was what kept Edward from being just as hysterical as Hyo Shin was at that moment. “Unless you have any bright ideas, stop complaining and pull yourself together.” Edward said, turning away from Hyo Shin coldly.

“Uhm…” Zelo laughed nervously, stepping in between the two men. The blonde had a gut feeling a full on shouting match was about to pick up.

“Actually, I do have an idea, you jerk.” Hyo Shin said, smirking with his arms folded in front of him.

“Oh really? Entertain me.” Edward replied. Taemin and Zelo also waited patiently to hear what exactly Hyo Shin had on his mind.

                Edward had bought Zelo and Taemin some cookies and cola from a vending machine. Clearly, they were bored and tired of walking around an old folk’s home populated with unconscious or dead seniors laying all around their feet. Sitting on a short bench, the two boys sipped and ate cookies in silence. Just a few feet beside the pair were Hyo Shin and Edward. With a hopeful, expectant smile on his face, Hyo Shin explained his ‘bright idea’.

“The Zodiac Stones were forged by a small family of magical women who were hand-picked by the first LOCK himself. Those women used their magic to create the Zodiac Stones, and well, you know the rest.” Hyo Shin nodded as he went on telling his story to a confused Edward. “Why do you have that look on your face?” Hyo Shin stopped short to ask.

“Because this isn’t a plan. So far, it’s just a history lesson.” Edward sighed.

“Shut up. Let me finish.”

“Well, you asked.”

“I didn’t ask for your smart attitude.”

“Life gives us a lot of things we don’t ask for. Get over it.”

“Like I was saying…those women never made the trip to Paradise along with the first LOCK and all the others he had invited into his government. They opted to stay on earth instead. At first, they offered their magical powers to LOCKS in need and tried to do some real good in our world, but that didn’t last long. After LCOKS found out about their mysterious powers and connection to Paradise, they became targets.” Hyo Shin saw some genuine interest growing on Edward’s smug face.

“I didn’t know that.” Edward mumbled.

“You’re not as smart as you think.” Hyo Shin shrugged. “A lot of LOCKS tried to take advantage of the family of women and force them to use their powers for selfish, bad reasons that the women disagreed with. When the women tried to disconnect themselves from the LOCK world completely, they were brutally attacked by a gang of LOCKS who wanted to use them as their own personal witches.” Hyo Shin paused when he saw that even Taemin and Zelo had stopped chowing down to listen.

“What happened next?” Taemin sat all the way forward.

“Yeah, go on.” Zelo said.

“There were no survivors from the attack on the family.” Hyo Shin said sheepishly.

“Oh no.” Zelo and Taemin groaned in unison.

“At least that’s what everyone thought.” Hyo Shin snapped his fingers and winked.

“Oh my goodness, stop being so dramatic.” Edward face palmed himself. “This isn’t a theater club, just tell us your plan.”

“Fine, fine.” Hyo Shin rolled his eyes. “I know from a reliable source that the family had a few survivors and are still living among us, in secrecy of course.” Hyo Shin saw the flicker of realization sweep across all three faces.

“So you think…” Zelo started.

“If we find the family of women…” Taemin chimed in.

“They’ll be able to help us track down the last three Zodiac Stones…” Edward raised an eye brow.

“Before Razzo.” Hyo Shin finished. There were a few minutes of thought where all Hyo Shin could do was stand and wait to hear what they thought of his plan. Really, he didn’t care what they thought, he would go through with it on his own whether they wanted to help or not. But still, he didn’t want Edward to laugh in his face.

“I don’t know…” Edward began.

“Or at least they’ll be able to help us stay one step ahead of Razzo.” Hyo Shin turned to stare out at the lifeless bodies around them. “So we don’t have to see things like this again.” He said.

“How would we even find the women? You said yourself that they’re living in secrecy.” Edward pointed out.

“I’ll get in contact with my source and get a lead on where they could be. From that point, we’ll have to work fast to find them before Razzo makes any more progress.” Hyo Shin answered.

“Even if we find them…how will we convince them to help us? They were brutally attacked and killed off by LOCKS. It was so serious that they had to go into hiding, so I doubt they’ll be too receptive towards us.” Taemin asked, standing up from the bench.

“Good point.” Zelo said.

“We’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.” Hyo Shin said.

“Hyo Shin, it’s a good idea in theory. But…the chances of finding that family are slim, you have to admit. They’ve gone out of their way to hide themselves away from the LOCK world and not only that, they have magical powers, which makes them about one hundred times harder to track down.” Edward explained as politely as he could manage.

“How about a little optimism?” Hyo Shin echoed Edward’s words from earlier. Edward shook his head, looking unconvinced.

“Aw, c’mon, Uncle Edward, you have to admit it’s worth a try. That family of women could really put us ahead of Razzo and his crew.” Zelo said, smiling a supportive smile at his actual Uncle first, and then Edward. Taemin opened his mouth to say something and Edward cut him off before he could get a word out. Not feeling like being triple teamed, Edward figured it was best to just surrender.

“Fine then. I suppose tracking them down is worth a shot. Although it’s going to take a lot of time and effort…time and effort we don’t really have.” Edward warned, motioning to the bodies again. Zelo, Taemin and Hyo Shin nodded together.

“Glad you see things my way. And to be honest…” Hyo Shin took a deep breath as if he was about to say something wise or crucial.

“What?” Spit it out.” Edward snapped.

“To be honest…I didn’t care if you liked my plan or not.” Hyo Shin said, turning his back to Edward like a victorious little brat.

“I’m going to punch you!” Edward shouted. Zelo and Taemin jumped in between the two men to stop the flying fists coming from both ways.

                Henry had landed. After a quick phone call with Momoru about where he was and how long until he got to the hospital, Henry stopped at a florist and bought a large bouquet of expensive tulips for his girlfriend. The car that would take Henry to the hospital waited with the engine running on the corner just outside the florist. Henry was inches from the car when his cell rang. Just as expected, it was Edward. Henry knew it would be wrong to continue ignoring his Uncle’s calls, so he finally answered with just a little extra charm in his voice than usual.

“Uncle, hi. I miss you already.” Henry faked, getting into the backseat of the car. Edward starting scolding Henry’s head off so much that Henry sat the phone down on the seat and started styling his hair in the reflection of the mirror.

“Are you even listening to me, Henry?” Edward yelled. Henry yanked the phone off the seat and tried to end the call as quickly as possible.

“Yes, Uncle, I was listening. Look, I know it was very selfish for me to come all the way out here in the middle of all the trouble Razzo is causing but…Sooyoung means everything to me and I have to see her.”

“Henry, the others are already mad at me for even letting you date that girl. Do you know how much they’ve given up to be committed to our job?” Edward sounded exhausted and Henry figured he felt like arguing even less. Really, Henry understood what his Uncle was saying and respected the fact that both his Uncle and the other boys on his team were mad for bailing on them at such a bad time. However, he loved Sooyoung and that trumped so much of whatever anyone could throw at him.

“I know, I know, I know. And I’m sorry for putting you all in a rough position…but, please don’t make me leave before I even get a chance to see her.” Henry pleaded, trying to sound cute and helpless to his Uncle.

“I expect you to be on the first plane out in the morning.” Edward said flatly. “Oh, and you’re so dead when you get back.” He hung up on his nephew then. As annoyingly rebellious as Henry could be, Edward had a small admiration for the way the kid wasn’t afraid to act on his own and make his own choices. Edward didn’t really want the other boys to be bad seeds like Henry, but there was a part of him that wished they would stray…even if just for one day. More than Edward wanted anything for himself, he wanted all the boys (even Hyo Shin’s gang) to find some genuine happiness in their life that wasn’t at all connected to Paradise or the LOCK world. And if that meant they had to stray, the so be it.

                Bang was alone in his room that night. With his dad still at work and his step mom out on an errand, it was only Bang and Uko in the house. Uko was playing with her dolls in the middle of the hallway (something that neither of her parents really allowed). Bang stood in the middle of his room with all the lights out. Staring at the wall, Bang tried to psyche himself up. He was about to step out and attempt to make a snack for Uko, but he knew she would bug him about the sour look on his face if he didn’t perk up right away. Bang struggled to keep all the upsetting events out of his mind for just long enough to take a couple steps out the door. It was impossible. Trying not to think of how much he despised Razzo for screwing with Insoo’s family only made him think about it more. It was the same when Bang tried not to think of block Kai and malicious plotted attack on Sooyoung from his mind. Bang started to shake from head to toe as his thoughts grew more hateful, more violent, and more impossible to control. In the darkness of his room, Bang could feel something growing on him…almost like a new limb. There was a thick wave of pressure rolling through the room in a way that made Bang’s skin icy and his stomach sink. Suddenly, a mirror in the darkness shattered and Bang lunged at the sound, ramming into his lamp in the process. The lamp fell over, turning on before it hit the ground. With the flicker of light, Bang saw a glimpse of himself in the mirror and quickly let out a bone chilling screech. What was he looking at? There was a half of Bang’s regular face…but on the other side was a shadowed, demonic looking smirk paired with a neon red eye. Bang wasn’t sure what to do. Was this him? Was it something else in the room with him? Was he even awake? Freaked, Bang grabbed the knob of his door and screeched again to see long, razor sharp claws in the place of his finger nails. Bang shoulder rammed through his door and saw a much clearer vision of his dark self in the hall mirror…right beside Uko and all her toys. Bang looked down at his sister and screamed that same shrill, evil banshee sounding screech. Uko dropped the doll in her hands, falling to the ground as if the wind had been knocked out of her small body. With Uko passed out on the floor, Bang dropped to his knees and wheezed as the demonic additions to his body started to melt away like some type of liquid shadow.

“Uko…wake up.” Bang shook his sister’s comatose body. “What have you done?” Bang asked his own reflection.

OMG I did not expect this update to take so dang long, but thanks for sticking around anyway!

Honestly, I had a lot of writer’s block this time around so I hope you still enjoy the chapter :D

You should check out the character bio update in case you’re lost about anything related to the characters.

Also….HAVE YOU HEARD THAT NEW 2NE1 ALBUM?! SO EPIC.

THANKS AGAIN! Next chapter coming soon!