Project IZ*ONE

Chapter 19- Under Pressure

"I don't think there's any reasoning with her, unnie! We have to take her down the hard way!" Hitomi didn't know what was going on with Noe, but she knew the only way to help was getting her under control first.

Noe attacks again, and this time, Chaeyeon wasn't so lucky. The rock only barely grazes her arm, but the sensation burned. She winced in pain but kept running around, looking for an opening.

"Kkura, how's the hacking going?" Chaeyeon asks for an update as she and Hitomi had been pushed back to where the entrance was.

"Almost there! Nako, you get in there and help them. Chaewon can guard me from here." Sakura says, sifting through the circuit board with her mind, shifting wires around like pieces on a puzzle board. Chaeyeon and the others were counting on her to get them in, and she had to deliver.

Nako tries to assess the situation, seeing Hitomi shield herself with trees and Chaeyeon dashing around. The two were clearly tiring, and Chaeyeon was injured. She had to do something quick. She watches more intently, looking for a weakness. Noe was sitting on her stone spire blocking any of the two girls attacks before they could even get close. It was like she was in her own personal fortress. Looks like we need to sneak up on her to get the upper hand. She thinks.

"Yah, Chaeyeon-unnie! Lead her to me, I have a plan!" She yells. Chaeyeon despite grimacing, heeds Nako's instructions, and makes her way over, Noe's attacks not too far behind. By the time she arrives in front of the smaller girl, Chaeyeon sees another large rock heading towards her, too fast to dodge this time. She closes her eyes, but the impact doesn't come. When she opens them, she sees Nako in front of her, the rock secured in her hands before crushing it.

"Sneak up behind while I distract. Hitomi can finish it off if you can catch Noe by surprise." Chaeyeon nods, mustering her strength and disappearing in a flash, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Nako slaps away the incoming boulders one by one without much effort. Her strength was truly out of this world.

"C'mon Noe-chan! I thought you were better than this!" Nako taunts, easily getting the other girl's attention. This time, Noe forces up stalagmites from the ground, sharp as knives, and throws them all at once. Nako appears to take this as a challenge and runs straight towards them. Chaewon watches in awe of Nako's courage or arrogance; she couldn't discern which. When the impact was supposed to happen, Nako braced herself and pushed forward, crushing the incoming projectiles, some even just bouncing off her as if she were invincible.

"It's gonna take a lot more than pointy rocks to beat me!" She yells as she breaks right through the stone spire with Noe toppling to the ground. When the dust settles, Nako moves in for the finishing blow, but Noe placed her palms on the ground and it began to soften, the quicksand managing to ensnare the shorter girl. Noe wipes a stain of blood off the corner of her mouth before bringing up another boulder way bigger than the others. When she throws it forward, Nako couldn't do anything but try to hold the boulder off with sheer strength. The quicksand loosening her footing definitely wasn't helping.

"Yah, guys! Any time would be good!" Nako yells, starting to feel overwhelmed. Just as she was about to run out of stamina, Chaeyeon runs in and smacks Noe across the face, making her lose concentration. Without her stone tower, Chaeyeon found it way easier to circle and aim at Noe. She flashes by time and time again with a punch, jab or kick. When Noe was finally showing exhaustion, Hitomi made her move, commanding the roots within the ground to hold her down, and getting Nako to safety. Hitomi strengthens her hold on Noe until she was out cold.

"Sorry, Noe. We'll make sure to get you back safely, okay?" Nako says. Despite Noe clearly wanting to kill them, Nako and the others did their best so that she wouldn't be too hurt. She was a fellow mutant, under control of this organization. It wasn't her fault for attacking them.