"When facing an opponent the first thing you need to do is size up your opponent. Figure out their weak spots. And quickly, before you attack."

It was all I could do to remain standing as Yoongi circled me. My lungs felt like they were literally bleeding and it hurt to inhale.

I'd met the orange Marked trainer early afternoon. We were in a private training room in the center on the second floor, above the main training rooms. The entire first hour he'd made me run or perform reps of different exercises with no break.

Apparently Jimin had put together a brief training plan early this morning and sent it to Yoongi. So the beating my muscles were getting with all the exercising and exertion was partly Jimin's fault.

Now, my entire body was shrieking, so I didn't know if I was excited or scared that we were now actually going to go over basic physical combat skills.

"The weakest spots on the human body are the base of the skull..." Yoongi tapped the back of my neck. "... your trachea, and your solar plexus." He tapped each part as listed. "As those are weak spots on your opponent, it's also your weak spots."

I resisted the urge to wipe away the drops of sweat sliding down my temples. I was going to take a very long shower after this.

"Jiyeon."

Yikes. I snapped to attention. Even though Yoongi hadn't lifted his voice a decibel, the warning tone in his voice was as if he'd roared at me.

He was standing in front of me again, looking at me with unyielding intensity. "You need to focus. Next time you space out it's ten pushups. Then double the next. Got it?"

I quickly nodded, attention now zeroed entirely in on him. Holy carp, if this was him being easy I didn't want to know how he was when he was in full geared trainer mode.

"Good." Yoongi nodded once and launched back into his disquisition.

As I was a tad bit shorter than the average height, it meant I was pretty well matched for opponents both smaller and larger. I'd have to build a lot more agility to match the speed of smaller opponents, though, as well as agility to twist around larger opponents.

"Generally if your opponent is tall, they rely on brute strength," Yoongi told me. "For those guys you want to stay low and deal swift blows. Focus on the groin, kneecaps, and bladder areas. You're going to be going through a lot of body building exercises to build the power you'll need behind your strikes."

"What happens if I'm fighting an Outworlder?"

Yoongi set me with an unflinching look. "Then you'd be dead."

I shuddered at his bluntness. I mean, I guess I appreciated his honesty.

"Not even the humans who tried combating against the Outworlders when they initially landed on Earth could best us. It's just as you said. We can morph into anything in just the blink of an eye," Yoongi continued. "You humans are no match against us."

"What about Outworlder against Outworlder? How do you guys fight each other?"

"You're getting off topic," he replied shortly. He paused and then exhaled. "Naturally, Outworlders train entirely differently for battles against each other. It's a much more...tedious kind of training. Especially for us exclusives."

I stiffened. Exclusives. The few times I'd tried looking up Outworlder classifications, specifically for exclusives, no viable results came up. And Yoongi had said 'us exclusives'. That meant he was 'exclusive' just like Jimin. I briefly wondered if all seven Outworlders I'd met last night were exclusives.

"What is—"

"Enough." Yoongi's voice left no room for argument. "We're getting too distracted now."

Information flooded my head as Yoongi resumed listing key points to remember when defending and fighting as well as different scenarios and how to handle each one.

Just as my head began spinning Yoongi clapped his hands. "Alright. Fight me."

I blinked. "What?"

Yoongi stared right back. "Fight me. It's the easiest way I can analyze what we need to work on and where you already have potential."

Action movies I watched when I was little zipped through my mind. The way the characters would be locked in deadly dances, pulling the coolest stunts, tackling and literally spinning their opponents onto the ground—

My thoughts shattered when Yoongi, quicker than I even thought possible, darted forward.

One moment I'd been standing and now I was flat on my back, air punched from my lungs upon impact onto the ground.

Yoongi didn't even blink. Unimpressed. "Get up." He took a step back to allow me to slowly clamber to my feet. "That was pathetic."

"I... I wasn't even ready." The moment the protest escaped my mouth I clicked it shut. Yikes. I just talked back to my trainer.

Yoongi's face never shifted though his eyes sharpened. "And why weren't you ready? I told you to fight. Ten pushups. Now."

I was going to need a wheelchair tomorrow based on how all my muscles were on fire as I obeyed.

When I was back up Yoongi shifted into what was probably a fighting stance. "Let's try this again shall we?"

The barest ripple of muscle warned me one second too late. I tried ducking only to find myself once again on the floor.

"Better."

I managed to gape up at him. "B-better? You just knocked me on my ass in a millisecond again!"

The corners of his mouth twitched. "You saw me coming this time. Naturally, your reflexes are much slower than mine, but agility and quick reflexes are pretty simple to hone in. Now get up. Again."

This time Yoongi attacked much slower and for a few moments we were locked in a 'fight'. Really, it was just Yoongi basically beating me up, though his blows were well controlled and landed on my body with sharp raps. It ended when once again he hooked my legs out from under me and I went crashing to the ground.

My dignity also went crashing to the ground and disgrace filled me at how incompetent I was. "Well that was humiliating," I muttered, voice faint as my lungs earnestly tried to fill enough oxygen in them.

Yoongi offered me a hand and helped me up. "Humiliating as may be, I'm getting a better idea of what we need to focus on first with your skills."

"How's it going?"

Yoongi and I turned to the doorway of the training room we were in where Jimin had appeared soundlessly.

I swallowed hard as I took him in. It looked like he'd just finished an intense workout. His arms were folded across his bare chest. Even from this distance I could see the sheen sweat covering his honey-toned skin laced with silver Marks.

Yum. Wait—what? Bad Jiyeon!

"Ah, Jimin." Yoongi stepped away from me, a knowing grin on his face. "I was about to conclude today's lesson with basic self-defense maneuvers. Starting with what you wrote on the plan— being pinned to the ground."

I fired a glare at Jimin who was now grinning shamelessly. One track minded prick!

I wasn't surprised in the least when he spoke.

"I'll take over the final part of the lesson then." His eyes shifted to me. "Ready to learn how to really pin a man down, partner?"

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧