1. Project IZ*ONE

Chapter 2 - First Impressions

Yena was nervous. The director just ended his spiel and had the tours and orientations begin. This meant that she had to be separated from her friends, Yiren and Sihyeon, because their powers were classified differently. The groups were divided into combat-centric, mental-based and elemental-based powers. Yena was classified into the latter group which was led into an empty white room. It was hard to tell how big it actually was because of the color; it could've stretched for miles for all she knew. Yena looked around at all the people conversing and wanted to get into the action. The problem now was that with her friends were gone, she suddenly felt a bit more timid. Doubts started to fill her mind on if she'd actually be able to make more friends here knowing that not everyone was here for the same reason. While she was thinking this, one of the trainers went up and called the attention of the group.

"Greetings, everyone! My name is Soyou, and I'm going to be teaching you girls how to control your elemental powers."

"How can we trust you though?" Asked someone at the back. It was understandable to doubt any authority figure for mutants. Most adults these trainees have met have been manipulative and cruel.

Soyou then raises her hand and produces a ball of fire which she tosses is to the sky. Everyone was shocked as she proceeded to aim a finger to the ball and fired at it creating a beautiful explosion high above the trainees garnering many oohs and aahs from them.

"That answer your question?" She asks smugly, arms crossed. The group nodded excitedly at the prospect of learning from someone who had mastered her powers.

"Surprised? Many of you were born around the late 90s to the early 2000s, no? Well there were always "mutant" births before that, just not as often. The reason why you don't hear much about us is that many usually don't survive to this age." She said the last part sadly as if reminiscing of tougher times. The trainees could relate to that for sure.

"Now, you might also be wondering what you're doing in this white room too, right?" She then whispers something into her commlink and everyone gasps as the room slowly begins to shift. Some get out of the way as trees sprout from the ground and lakes are formed. "You see, the Korean government spared no expense in creating this facility. I'm going to be grouping you into fours to practice your powers, and yes, I've already planned the groupings." Yena was somewhat relieved by that. She was afraid of being left out if they had to make groups themselves. She'd already been so awestruck by the amount of information told to her by Soyou already that she felt like her head was going to short-circuit.

~~~~

"Hello everyone! I'm Choi Yena, pleasure to meet you all!" Now that things were more settled and they were in a smaller group, Yena felt a bit better about taking the initiative to talk to the others. Her group was seated in an isolated clearing a bit farther away from the other trainees. Soyou had mentioned that they should spread out a lot since their powers were all elemental based, meaning they could all have a wide area of effect. Her group consisted of one of the two young tall girls she'd seen bickering earlier, a Japanese girl with puffy cheeks, like a squirrel, and a pretty, but extremely quiet looking girl who she didn't even see walk into the hall. This is gonna be an interesting group. She thought to herself.

Yena was about to suggest someone else to introduce themselves next when the young girl spoke up energetically. "Hiii! My name's Ahn Yujin! Maybe you've heard of me?" Come to think of it, Yena did think that girl looked familiar but couldn't put her finger on it. "Uhm, I'm sorry, I can't remember exactly, but you do look familiar. Are you a celebrity? She asks. "Well, was a celebrity." Yujin responded glumly. Her mood shifted almost instantaneously though as she addressed the other two girls. "What about you guys? What're your names?"