stay bold - iz*one power au

9 - hopeless

The trio could only watch in silence as Hyewon leaves the building. Yena, who has been long-time friends with Hyewon, simply doesn't believe that she actually attacked them. She thinks it's a misunderstanding. Yuri also doesn't believe it, she knows that Hyewon is a good person.

"Hey..." Chaewon enters the room, trying to be cheerful but failing. Yena and Yuri also enter, sitting on the vacant seats, followed by Chaewon.

"So, now what?" Wonyoung says. Yujin shrugs, and nobody replies. "We can't just keep moping around, right? We still have that Maxibloom problem to handle" Wonyoung continues, glancing at everyone. "We barely have any leads" Chaeyeon replies, stomping her foot out of frustration. "Maybe the Maxibloom is dead, y'know?" Minju chides, earning a nod from Chaeyeon. "Maybe we're looking for something that isn't even alive. It's probably decomposed by now"

———

How much more wrong could they be? In the depths of somewhere, the Maxibloom is planning it's next move. A row of Overbloom incubation cells lines the wall, which seems to be made of wood. 1 out of 12 incubation cells is empty, and the inhabiting Overbloom is currently facing the Maxibloom which is sitting on it's throne. "Yellow, your power is electricity" the Maxibloom says, it's voice is deep and husky, it doesn't sound human.

Yellow, who seems to be an exact replica of Yena, nods as it activates it's powers. Electricity runs all over it's body, making the Maxibloom smirk.

———

"What about the Flowerlife people? Don't you think they have some sort of connection to the Maxibloom?" Wonyoung scoffs in disbelief that her teammates are losing hope. "In a world full of flowers? Yeah, I doubt that. They're probably just some cult" Minju shakes her head, smiling bitterly. Wonyoung opens her mouth, about to speak, but decides against it.

"They did talk about making a new world with their so called 'master'" Eunbi says, recalling what the opponent said earlier. "Sounds like a cult to me" Yujin shrugs, agreeing with Minju. "Come on, guys! We can't just give up!" Wonyoung stands up, facing all of her members. They don't make eye contact with her, only lowering her confidence. She didn't expect her team members to be this hopeless. "I know Hyewon unnie isn't here anymore, but do you think she would've wanted us to give up this easily?"

Nobody replies, causing Wonyoung to sit back down awkwardly. Chaeyeon sighs, getting up from her seat. "I'm going home" she says as she leaves the room. Sakura looks at the door as Chaeyeon leaves, furrowing her eyebrows. "Yeah, why don't we just call it a day?" Eunbi sighs, looking at Wonyoung with remorse in her eyes. Minju is the first to stand up and leave. "Come on..." Wonyoung pleads, tugging on Yujin's arm as she notices that the older was about to stand up. Yujin looks at Wonyoung, her face is expressionless. Yujin pulls her arm from Wonyoung before also walking out of the door.

"You can't be this hopeless, right?" Wonyoung shouts, but all of them have made up their mind. They just wanna go home after the stressful events of today. "Yena unnie?" Wonyoung looks at Yena. Even the usually cheerful girl is feeling down. One by one, they start to leave, leaving Wonyoung in the room. She sighs in disappointment, slamming her hand on the board in anger. "You guys suck!" she yells out of frustration, pulling her hair. She doesn't really mean it, she's just really angry. She sits back down, choosing to stay for a while to collect her thoughts.

After a whole 10 minutes, she finally decides to go. After turning off all of the lights in the base, she leaves. The sky is already dark. She wipes her tears with her sleeves as she just finished crying due to frustration. She then walks home, which isn't really far.

———

"We're home!" Eunbi forcefully puts on a cheerful voice for her cute companion, Geumbi. Eunbi puts Geumbi on the ground before going to the kitchen to eat something.