Jeno had been training for the past couple of weeks, and he still wasn't one hundred percent sure on how to completely hone his power.
The others had been informed on what he could do, and most tried to help him, but to no avail.
No one came out of a session with him without being attacked back, and mainly at a higher degree than what they could actually do.
And that never stopped making Jeno feel terrible.
Today's trainer for Jeno was Jaehyun, and to see how long Jeno could keep Jaehyun's strength capacity, and to say it wasn't painful would be the biggest lie in existence.
Jeno faced Jaehyun as the older told him what to do.
"Your task today is to find out your limit. Endurance, and the length of time you are capable of emulating a power. Today is strength. We need to know how long you can contain holding the urge to fight back, and what the build up is after you hold back. Understand?" Jaehyun explained, looking at the younger.
Jeno nodded.
"See how long I can hold it in until I burst. Understood."
"But in this case, frontal attack is your distraction. You've been working on endurance with mental deflection just standing still, but in battle, you need to learn how to endure during combat."
Jeno could feel the upcoming challenge, but nodded anyway.
It hasn't taken long for Jeno to reach his limit in the past, making it difficult to hold back the immediate need to attack.
His father and mother had somewhat trained him to hold back, but since his lack and no need for that strength after moving in the dorm with the others, he hadn't been keeping the endurance he used to. He needed to dig that back now, making the already tiring process gruesome to obtain again.
Jaehyun got ready, bringing his stance into a defensive one as Jeno reflected his own.
Taeyong had already informed Jaehyun on Jeno's physical combative experience, when Jeno had proved himself fighting the men at the old police station when he was held, so Jaehyun wasn't going to go so easily on the boy.
Jaehyun lashed out first, almost getting Jeno in shock, but Jeno quickly ducked out of the potential contact of the older, but that didn't mean that he missed the power radiating off of the older.
Although not usually seen, Jaehyun's strength aura was visible to him, a distorted mist of grey surrounding the man.
Just as Jeno seemed distracted, Jaehyun swung at him again, this time catching him off guard, catching the younger on the lip, causing it to bleed a little.
Jeno stumbled backwards as he had tried to escape the punch, eyes wide, but something was bothering Jaehyun as he didn't try to stop attacking the younger.
Jaehyun continued his attacks, as Jeno did his absolute best deflecting them.
Jeno's hair nor eyes were turning into his Defect white, but every attack that Jaehyun had landed on the younger, he could feel his energy being absorbed into the younger.
Jeno didn't try to attack back, not until he could finally gain some type of control over his increasing want to switch to his Defect side.
Jaehyun was being relentless, trying to drive Jeno to the edge, as the younger only assumed a defensive position, no move to attack.
"Fight back!" Jaehyun grunted out, this time one of his punches landing on Jeno's stomach.
Jeno stumbled from the impact, but did not fall. He looked at the older who had paused, coughing, feeling something wet going to down his chin.
He quickly swiped his chin, and brought his hand into his point of view, the color of red making him see the same.
Jaehyun was slightly in awe.
Usually, someone being hit with that intensity would've immediately collapsed. It was why Taeyong didn't like sparring with him.
Jeno could see the shift in Jeno's view, and was instantly preparing himself for attack.
Jeno came at him, not even worrying that Jaehyun was his hyung, letting no mercy into his swings.
Jaehyun was shocked at the intensity the boy was coming at him with, although he was still holding back.
Jeno had the experience of a fighter, but he still wasn't tapping into his Defect side.
Impressive.
Jaehyun did well in making the younger's attempts seem small, until Jeno landed a particularly hard punch on his jaw.
The ache was there, but the focus was to keep this boy in his ranks, so Jaehyun continued to try and land more attacks on the younger.
At this point, it was an even fight between two grown men, fists flying, most hits not meeting their intended intensity due to practiced deflections, but it was neck to neck, a fifty-fifty chance of who the winner would be.
Jaehyun could finally see Jeno's hair starting to turn white, although slowly in his attempt to keep the younger's blows at bay.
He's letting go.
He made a mental note at the time that Jeno had been able to keep it together.
Something that he didn't tell Jeno was that Taeyong had put something in the water Jeno had been drinking earlier. Special antioxidants that would make it harder for the younger to keep control, something that sort of hyped Jeno full of energy, that would make him work ten times harder to focus and maintain control.
Jeno tried to fight the urge, the familiar wave of power rushing over him as he tried to divert Jaehyun's blows from him.
Jaehyun kept landing his punches as Jeno got distracted to keep his power in.
One to his chest.
Four.
Another to his back.
Three.
One hit his cheekbone.
Two.
Another to his shoulder.
One.
One last one to his jaw.
Go.
In a flash, both Jeno's hair and eyes were a raging white, his aura in strength almost overpowering Jaehyun where he stood.
He made a move to attack Jeno once again, but the younger caught his forearm, to where the old couldn't move. Jaehyun pulled at it to get out of his grip but to not avail.
Jeno harshly let go of his arm, before kicking the older square in the chest, making the older fall down harshly, breathing hard.
Taeyong had been watching this whole time from the sidelines, and stepped in, making sure Jeno wasn't going to make any more moves.
"Jeno, that's enough," he said, checking Jaehyun.
Jeno fumed, not completely finished, but turned until he found a nearby tree, before punching it harshly, making a chunk of the trunk break off.
His fist was bleeding, and so was his lip and cheek.
Bruises were forming in other areas that Jaehyun had hit.
Taeyong walked over to where he was fuming, and rested a hand on his shoulder, slowly leading him back to the building.
Jeno was still radiating power as he was taken to the building, rage overpowering his persona.
He couldn't shake it off, as much as he tried in the silent walk with Taeyong.
Taeyong seemed to sense the turmoil going on in Jeno's mind, and stopped their walk.
"Jeno, calm down," he told the younger, turning him to face him.
Now that the younger had acknowledged that he was having troubles with his emotions, he felt the tight hold he kept on his focus slip. Taeyong noticed as his vision started to blur at the edges.
"I-I'm trying, but it's not working," Jeno let out, his voice gruff.
"When you get inside, clean up and take a rest. If you're feeling better by dinner, you should join us to eat," Jaehyun advised, limping slightly as he caught up with the other two.
Jeno felt a pang of guilt hit him seeing the older. He didn't mean to hurt him.
In order to not explode on the other two, he kept silent, just holding the anger as they walked to Neo City again.
By the time they made it, Jeno wasn't any better, so Jaehyun stopped them, looking at the younger. They stood by the luminous metal, Taeyong looking at the younger.
"Jeno, I'm only going to say this once, and one time only. You must let go of this anger. Do anything, just do not enter this building feeling like that."
Jeno clenched his jaw, before practically glaring at the older in his emotion of rage, although Jaehyun noticed that the younger didn't quite actually look at him.
In a blur, Jeno raised his fist, before immediately punching the metal beside him. He sighed in the satisfaction of finally being able to release the power he had to keep in.
Although still kind of pissed from the still unknown water modification by Taeyong, Jeno brushed past the older two, and made his way inside the entrance.
Jaehyun turned around to look at Taeyong, eyes wide.
Taeyong looked at his hand, as it was pointing to the spot that Jeno had punched.
The metal fortress that Taeyong had built, virtually indestructible, not even Jaehyun could leave a dent.
But apparently Jeno could.