𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵/ 𝗜-𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗

'FIRE' 2

The next day, Yuji headed to the ground with Hanbin because they were the first people to woke.

She was innovating to her new set of clothes, it was pure black, and she badly wanted to practice with her socks only, her hair was in a loose ponytail, and she did not bother to wear makeup because she is planning to practice the whole day.

The others kept on coming. Ni-ki was the last person to show his eyes were a bit swollen, maybe due to exhaustion the previous night.

''do you have an extra ponytail?'' Jay asks her. She nodded and gave him one.

''thanks'', she noticed that he was struggling for 3 minutes already, she went to him and tied his hair instead.

''Thanks again,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the Ground started practicing earnestly by Jay's lead, and they continued to practice until late at night with only short breaks. They were all tired from rigorous practicing. Yuji cannot feel her legs anymore due to too much exhaustion. She was repeating the choreography the most.

''please focus,'' Jay snapped, while the others remained silent. They practiced till the staff called them for dinner. Yuji sat between Daniel and Jake.

Yuji quickly finishes eating her food because she was starving. The boys looked at her in surprise and worried at the same time.

'' do you still want more? I-I still have here. I am not hungry,'' Jake offered. She quickly scoops some rice from his plate, earning a grin from the boys.

''I think we should finish what we can do today and go rest up afterward. Were in a dire situation you know that too, right Hyung?'' Daniel suggested.

After they eat, they all stayed for another hour for their own rest time. Yuji sat on the floor with the other members, and most of them were from I-LAND while others are still eating. Finally, Ni-ki took the chance to speak.

''I thought the highly skilled people from I-LAND are working hard, and I don't get why the Grounders aren't practicing harder,'' Ni-ki told them. Since the beginning of the practice, Yuji wanted to point out that but chose to find the right time and hopes to say to it adequately.

''even though we worked hard, six of us got disqualified,'' Jake commented.

Yuji personally doesn't want to fall behind; she is trying her best, but she was still anxious because some of the I-LAND members wanted to send her out. She wants to make them regret voting for her.

Jake leaves the room for a bit calling Yuji with him. Ni-ki led the group instead.

''you three are good, but a bit slow'' she heard Ni-ki from inside. Ni-ki started to show the proper way of certain moves and solely tutoring kyungmin.

Yuji went inside first because she heard a small commotion coming from them. She saw Daniel walks towards Ni-ki. ''we're saying we won't practice right now.'' he tried to say.

''wait. wait. wait, right now everyone is-

Ni-ki cut him off, ''that's not it, earlier we talked about how we need to focus,'' he told him.

Daniel frowned and suddenly groaned. He looks obviously tired; they were now talking about the team's physical condition due to exhaustion that causes difficulty in focusing, which is why the other members thought of resting first.

Daniel stepped in to mediate, but he avoided eye contact with Ni-ki, which made them more pissed.

''you guys need to stop that, seriously'' Yuji interferes, she found herself mad and held the bridge of her nose. She was frustrated.

The other members started to talk to Ni-ki, They are now telling him that they were focusing and he's the problem. The fight grew intense and made Yuji step forward between them. She taps Niki's shoulders, preventing him from talking again. Ni-ki carefully removed her arms from him and left the room. She bit her lower lip and immediately followed the boy outside.

Jay and Yuji talk to Ni-ki outside the practice room. He told them what really happened and the situation. Yuji sighs in stress because grounders are unable to settle the difference in their opinion. She wants to follow the schedule and not mess up, but if the grounders are going to keep it that way, she doesn't think she'll be able to go back at I-LAND, which made her anxious.

''you see....'' Yuji started. They were all gathered, forming a circle and sitting on the floor.

''we should be grateful because.... oh boy, how should I say this?.... in I-LAND we are more likely to work on our own, and I observed that here at Ground you guys are a bit less competent than the I-LANDERs, throw a tantrum to me I don't care, but that is what I saw, and it's somehow annoying because the test is all about teamwork, but we're acting like this, what do you think will be our future then?'' she told them calmly, ''our efforts will be useless if we will keep this way, we just have to be patient, we can do this.''

they agreed to her, and apologized to each other, and promised to continue work harder.

The next day, the ground team went on practicing again without any breaks, and as promised, they need to sacrifice most of their time for their performance, which Jay is leading their choreography.

Meanwhile, the grounders are surprised by the unexpected visit from Rain and Doobu as they greeted each other warmly.

''let's gather over here,'' Rain announced and went in front of them.

''This is really unexpected.''

Yuji tied her hair tightly and stretched her neck; she is now already estimating how much scold they will receive.

''now, who is your implicit leader?'' he began talking.

youngbin responded and pointed to JAY and NI-KI. Rain quickly recognized the two because they are both from I-land.

''What are you guys doing at the ground then?'' he eventually asks them. A silence has occurred, and they glance at each other.

''We just trust them because this is about teamwork,'' sungchul answered.

''you don't like you mean it.''

''No, I Rreally mean it,'' sungchul defended.

'' I'll see when you're dancing and when you're done dancing. I'll be watching you throughout 24 hours.'' PRODUCER rain instructed,

''don't be nervous, and let's try our best,'' Jay said before going to their own formation, nodding and automatically started dancing when the song played. The producer and director focused on observing them.

Their dance was going smoothly, but the back's formation slowly falls apart and is noticeable, and even leaves the most important teamwork choreography, refusing to do the flying part. Some are still not familiar with the movements, which earned a strict face from the monitors.