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Next Day

Early Morning

It was around 5:30 in the morning when Class 1-A was gathered around their homeroom teacher for their first day of training. They were all sporting their PE uniforms and most were tired from being woken up so early. The sun could barely be seen from behind the mountains for goodness sake!

Class 1-B showed up shortly after, with their class looking mostly worst for wear. The only students that didn't seem affected from their lack of sleep were those that typically woke up at such an early hour.

"Good morning, students," Shota started as Seikijiro joined him in front of the classes. "This is going to mark our first day of training camp. If you need a refresher as to what you're to accomplish during your time here, here it is."

"We're going to be training your Quirks as a form of reinforcement training," the Blood Hero said in tangent. "The main goal here is to strengthen everyone's Quirks, and later on obtain your Provisionary Licenses in the upcoming exam. Consider this camp as a preparation course for going up against active hostiles and aggressors in the coming times. You'll need to steel yourself for when the time comes."

"YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, VLAD KING-SENSEI!" Tetsutetsu shouted, startling everyone that was half asleep.

"Not in that way, Tetsutetsu," Itsuka said in a tired, irritated voice.

"Also, iron and steel are not the same thing," Denryoku said in his deadpanned voice. He didn't have the sound of grog when he spoke. "Just so you don't get confused."

"Hehe, kinda like how Kirishima and Tetsutetsu aren't the same thing," Hajikeru said in a slurred, drowsy tone. Mornings were not his favorite time of day and it shows why. The armored, hardheads of manliness didn't take that identical thing too well.

Denryoku let out a sigh before jabbing one of the studs on his finger onto the bubble teen's right arm, emitting a low voltage shock. It was enough to jolt Hajikeru fully awake out of pure surprise alone, yet not enough to do damage. His yelp and lack of a mark proved it.

"Thanks, pally," Hajikeru said to his best friend without a hint of fatigue.

"Don't mention it," he replied.

"Can he pass some of that electric stuff over here?" Tooru muttered as she propped herself up against Mina and Tsuyu, both of whom didn't look too good either.

"Bakugo, Shiozaki," the Erasure Hero called out. He threw them each a ball, similar in appearance to the ball they used during the Quirk Apprehension Test.

They both had their tests on the first day of the term, but were done at different times. While Shota skipped the orientation ceremony and went straight to the Apprehension Test, the Blood Hero's class went through student introductions and the curriculum for the semester. After that, they had their Quirk Apprehension Test and finished several hours after their sister class was let out.

"This is the same test from the beginning of the school year, sensei?" Ibara asked as she delicately held the ball with both hands. Meanwhile, Katsuki was casually tossing his with the same angry look.

"That's right. Vlad told me you scored 330.5 meters at the beginning of the school year. Bakugo, your score is 705.8 meters. Let's see how much you both improved."

"Not really much of a competition, is it?" Hanta asked as the two students prepared themselves. "Bakugo's score is already more than double than that other girl's, so what's the point of this?"

"The point of this is to see individual growth, not to see who can throw a ball the farthest. That much is already made clear," the Blood Hero responded with a gruff tone, causing Hanta to shut up.

Katsuki went first with his throw, setting off an explosion that rocked everyone within the vicinity. He also shouted 'Go to hell!', which didn't settle well with the devoted girl beside him.

As the dust was settling down and after she pushed down the urge to berate the violent blond for his choice of words, Ibara made her throw. She started with a high throw that didn't look like it had any horizontal movement, but then she moved her hands into a praying position. The vines that made up her hair dug into the earth behind her and reemerged in front of her. She then willed one of her vines to catch the ball and then throw it with a whiplash effect after a long wind up. It was quite mesmerizing for those that didn't know how her Quirk worked.

Izuku was taking notes in his notebook and muttering as he watched Ibara make her throw. Every student was wondering where he got his notebook from.

"709.6 meters."

"341.3 meters."

It came to be a surprise when the two received a lower than expected score.

"That… was not what I thought would happen," Eijiro said in a stunned tone.

"That's to be expected," Shota spoke as he gained the attention of the two classes. "Over the last term, you all have gained a fair amount of experience. But most of your growth was mostly emotional and technical. You've learned to steel your nerves and how to think tactically on some level. But now it's time to concentrate on the physical aspect. Your Quirks improved a small amount over the last three months. Now, we're going to speed up that process over the next week."

"Your Quirks behave the same way muscle fibers do," Seikijiro added. "Under intense and consistent use, they get torn down and repair themselves stronger than before. If you keep using your Quirks past their limits, they will become stronger. But that doesn't come without putting them through the wringer."

"Told you," muttered Denryoku. Hajikeru simply cursed under his breath at his big mouth.

The Erasure Hero's shit-eating grin made itself present when he spoke the next statement.

"We're going to be achieving Plus Ultra for the rest of the week. So try not to die on us in your journey through hell."

A collective gulp could be heard from the 44 students.

Many, Many Hellish Hours Later

Forest Lodge

True to the teacher's word, everyone's Quirks were pushed beyond their limits and their heavily fatigued and battered bodies were evidence of such training.

Hajikeru had been stationed in front of a large shallow ditch. He was told by the Erasure Hero to constantly use his Bubble En Masse, as this was the most costly move in his arsenal, until his throat was dry. Then he had wait for his body to naturally replenish his salivary glands before expending it again. If he got dehydrated, there were several gallons of water that he was only allowed to drink if he was dehydrated. He wasn't allowed to share and he wasn't allowed to have a break longer than it took to replenish his salivary glands. The moment his mouth and throat was satisfactorily moist, it was back to being a human bubble dispenser.

Doing nearly 12 hours of this training left him with a majorly sore throat and a case of muteness. Yesterday was a preview for the rest of the week, apparently.

Denryoku was paired up with Denki atop an earth spire due to their identical Quirk natures. Denki had to have his hands wrapped around some electrical cables as a seemingly endless amount of electricity was forced into his body via generator. This made his 'wheeeeey' sound more like painful screaming. He was given the same punishment, except he had his fingers magnetically strapped to the generators. And since his Quirk rendered him immobile when he absorbed past his limit, he was forced to constantly emit electricity back into the generator.

The electro teen repeated this process until training was done for the day, and he wasn't able to walk or move his arms without pain by the end of it.

Sherry was tasked with coating her limbs with her Quirk and keeping it up for as long as she can without cutting herself. It was more of a mental exercise than it was a physical one. Technically, her Quirk didn't need to be stronger than it is now, but she does need it to be safe for use at all levels of power before she considers a power increase. The Sports Festival proved why she needed to be below a certain threshold in order to safely use it. Constant use of Cyclone would give her a proper feel for controlling it at better degree.

By the end of the day, she had well over 70 cuts on her limbs. But the number of them lessened as time went on. Nothing a little antiseptic can't fix.

"Welcome back from a long day of training, kittens!" PixieBob exclaimed as she called over the tired students. "I know you all want nothing more than to rest, but that won't do if you want dinner!"

"If you want to eat, you're gonna have to make it yourselves!" said an overexcited Ragdoll. "It's curry time! Best you don't mess it up!"

Most of the students groaned out a mess of affirmations as the green haired PussyCat continued to make fun of them for being tired.

"Of course," Tenya said in a resolute tone. "In an emergency situation, Heroes would be required to prepare food for the hungry and provide moral boosts as a part of providing aid to those in need." He then addressed to both classes. "Everyone! Let's make the best curry we can!"

He received many groans as replies, but no one was backing out.

'Thank you, Iida,' Shota silently acknowledged.

When everyone was in working order and they got changed out of their PE uniforms, they all put themselves to work on making the best curry ever!... Or as best as 44 exhausted students can do.

Hajikeru, Rikido, Koji, and Kojiro were tasked with gathering firewood and tinder, since they have plenty of strength to spare. Their Quirks mainly focused on a body part that didn't require physical labor to strengthen. It was a good bonding experience for the giants of both classes, excluding Juurouta and Mezo since their limbs are sore.

The task of making a fire to cook the curry and rice was left open for anyone that can do the task.

"Hey, Todoroki!" Mina called out. "Lend us some of that fire, would ya!"

"Think you can do that, Bakugo?" Hanta asked the explosive blond.

"This is beneath me!" Katsuki said as he let loose an explosion. To his ire, all it did was blow the firewood into smaller bits and char it.

"Too much!" Fumikage said from the side.

"That won't do," Momo spoke in a lecturing tone. "If you keep relying on others to do your work for you, you won't be able to learn what you're capable of."

'That's rich coming from someone who can make almost anything,' Kyoka thought silently as she watched Momo sprout a lighter from her hand.

Denryoku stopped by Katsuki's station with a handful of tinder while Hajikeru approached them with an armful of wood. The larger boy unceremoniously dumped the wood into the fireplace and walked away without saying anything. Considering his mouth and throat were not properly hydrated yet, he still couldn't speak more than a few words at a time.

The electric-Quirk user then brought the hollowed-out studs on his index finger and thumb close to the end of the dried sticks and moss. Smoke began to emit from where the electricity touched briefly and after some light blows, a fire was started.

After placing the burning tinder in the pile of wood, Denryoku looked at Katsuki and deadpanned delivered a 'Your welcome' before walking away.

"What the hell was that about?!" Katsuki shouted. He didn't receive a response.

"Show off," Hanta muttered under his breath. He still didn't like the dark haired, electric Quirk user, even after they heard of his good intentions from Denki during the Sports Festival. If one had to guess, it could be because of his nonchalant attitude that he's reacting to.

Seeing as his fellow electric Quirk user accomplished that, Denki confidently thought he could do that. Putting a bunch of sticks in his hand, he let loose his Quirk around his hand. When he was done, he realized his palm and fingers were feeling a bit too hot for comfort. Now seeing the hot mess in his hand, he had to let go of the now burning sticks to keep from burning himself. The bunch was now nothing but burnt wood and embers.

"Crap," he said as he looked at his failed attempt.

"You need to make contact with a small surface area to ignite it," Denryoku said from behind him, effectively startling the blond.

"Dude, don't scare me like that!"

The outburst didn't even phase the dark haired teen as he continued speaking.

"Make sure you only get the ends so the rest of the tinder can serve as fuel for the fire. And be sure you don't get burned in the process."

At this point, Denki just had to acknowledge that he was getting help for the failed bravado attempt.

"Uh… Okay. Thanks, Emera."

He received a thumbs up in response.

Later

Once the curry and rice was made, everyone finally got their first taste of real food, even if the quality was comparable to pet food.

"This food may be crap, but I'm too hungry to care about it!" Eijiro said as he shoveled his face with food.

"Chew your food before you start choking, man!" Hanta replied as he was doing the same thing.

"You should do the same thing, Haji," Denryoku told his best friend while they were at another table.

The other occupants consisted of Juzo, Tooru, Mezo, and Fumikage. The latter two weren't really part of the larger conversation, but that didn't mean they were excluded from it altogether.

The dark haired teen didn't get a coherent response from his pinked eyed friend at first, as he was busy stuffing his face with curry and rice. After swallowing the stupid amount of food in his mouth, the larger teen addressed his best friend.

"That training went on long enough for me to taste the soap in my mouth, Denryo," Hajikeru said in an irritated tone. "Don't tell me what I can't put in my mouth. I need to forget about it!"

"Wait, you tasted soap in your mouth?" Juzo asked from across the table. His training consisted of softening the hardened dirt as far from his person as he can, then quickly cancel it out. He repeated that action for 12 hours. "Is that what makes your bubbles? That shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

"I'm not supposed to taste it, Honenuki. And because I used my Quirk for so long, my mouth probably forgot what my saliva tastes like."

"TMI, Utakata," Tooru said with a hint of disgust in her voice. "I'm eating here."

"Oh, c'mon, Hagakure. Don't be so dramatic."

"I'm not being dramatic! I'm just saying don't talk about that stuff when we're eating."

"Seriously, Utakata," Setsuna butted in as she was placing her food on the table to join them. "Don't be gross when there are ladies around."

"You want to be the kettle or the pot this time, Tokage?" Denryoku plainly asked, not even looking up from his food. She clearly took offense to this and was about to give her rebuttal, but she was interrupted by Juzo and his addition.

"You chew with your mouth open, you pick your ears when you think no one is looking, you have a habit of low blowing anyone to get the upper hand, you have a mouth almost as bad as Awase sometimes…"

"Alright, I get it!" Setsuna shouted with irritation and embarrassment clear in her voice.

The greenette received some giggles and chuckles in response to her outburst. For some reason, though, Hajikeru began to laugh even harder than before.

"Hey, it wasn't funny to begin with, Utakata."

Through his laughter, Hajikeru said, "No! I'm not laughing at that! Jiro just decked Sero!"

"Really?! Why?!" Tooru exclaimed as she stood from her seat to see the commotion. Sure enough, there was Hanta nursing a bruise on his cheek, Kyoka looked pissed for some reason, and Mina was comforting Momo for some other reason. Both Mezo and Fumikage gave off a quiet grunt in acknowledgement before returning to their dinner.

"The stupid one with tape compared the taller one's Quirk to poop," spoke up a tired voice from beside the table.

A bushy head of purple and tired eyes stumbled to the wooden table with a plate of curry and rice. Considering he had to go through physical hell today, Hitoshi was moving more sluggish than usual, which was a feat in of itself since he moved with little energy to begin with. The reactions from most of the table's occupants were mostly nonchalant, as half of the occupants were from his class and two others from Class 1-A simply didn't care for his presence.

Two other occupants, however, had mixed reactions from his presence. Tooru really didn't like the guy, simply because of his stunt that almost landed her in Recovery Girl's office. While she was in that hazy landscape, as a result of his Brainwashing, she could still hear and see everything around her. But because she was restricted to an observer in her own body, she couldn't resist or react of her own will. It made her feel trapped and she didn't like how Hitoshi used his Quirk against her. Granted, it was during a competition, but telling her to fall on her kneecap from a meter up onto concrete was unforgiveable jerkface worthy.

Hajikeru, on the other hand, had an overall positive view of Hitoshi, but still held some reservations about him. On one hand, he did threaten his entire class with his determination to get into the Hero Course. He didn't really think too much of it at the time, but that did serve as a wakeup call for those in both classes. Overall, it helped his class prepare for the incoming Sports Festival.

But what really grinded Hajikeru's gears about the Brainwashing Quirk user was how he broke Tooru's confidence in herself, if only temporarily before it was patched up by himself, Mina, and Mezo. Those involved with improving her Quirk with her 'Shine Bright' ability, as she now calls it, know it wasn't going to be an easy task to bring it out, much less at will. And there were times where she didn't know if it was going to be worth it by the time the Sports Festival came around.

Hajikeru knew that feeling all too well when he was growing up, so he sympathized with the girl. He, along with Ochako, Mina, and Tenya (oddly enough), was very much her endless source of encouragement whenever she needed it. Every idea and every word of advice was absolutely meaningless if the recipient doesn't have the will or motivation to use it.

And to think, she would have had no problem showing the world what she could do if Hitoshi didn't get into her head with how 'blessed' everyone in the Hero Course was for having 'incredible' Quirks.

But at the same time, he couldn't blame him for feeling that way. He had been placed in the General Ed. Course because his Quirk didn't have any practical use against robots and as a result, he felt unjustly excluded. Some would probably agree with the bias set against those with non-combat oriented Quirks.

So when he was given the opportunity to be in the Hero Course, he completely went for it. He was one of the only students outside of the Hero Course that actually posed a threat throughout the first two events, afterall. And his Quirk is quite deadly for various reasons.

"I'm assuming Sero mouthed off without thinking," Fumikage stated as he looked up from his food briefly. At the same time, Dark Shadow stole a bite of his master's curry before receding into his abdomen.

"That does sound like something he would do," Hajikeru said as his laughter died down.

"I'm going to see what's up with Momo," Tooru said as she left the table.

"So you have one of those too, huh?" Setsuna asked as she began chowing down with no manners. "Ours is Tsuburaba."

"How bad?" the pinked eyed teen asked as he ate.

"He told me my hips were great for birthing."

Hajikeru began coughing uncontrollably from the comment, as did the some of the other occupants at the table. Denryoku and Juzo didn't react since they were present when that happened, but the greenette caught the other three 1-A students and Hitoshi off guard.

"Yeah, he took one look at me in my rep-suit (reptile catsuit) and he was like 'Damn girl, you make any babies wit those hips'."

Add laughter to his choking fit and Hajikeru was very much in hell at this point of the night. Juzo joined in the laughfest too, while Mezo, Fumikage, and Hitoshi were doing a good job of hiding their laughter. The only one that was unfazed was Denryoku.

"He was the only one to go to Recovery Girl that day," he said nonchalantly, as if he were giving off pointless trivia.

Off at another table, Koosei let out a sneeze that startled his table mates, as well as a chill down his spine, as if remembering a memory. A memory full of flying fists and scary teeth.

Day 3 of Hell on Earth Training

Afternoon

The second day of Quirk Training took off much faster than yesterday, which meant the students began suffering earlier. This was especially true for those that failed the Practical Exam.

"Hey, remedials," Shota called out, jolting some of the tired students awake. "I don't see your muscles moving. Get to it."

His replies varied from tired groans, which earned a threatening glare, to complaints about their sleep deprivation or remedial lessons, which also earned a threatening glare, to self motivating shouts, which he did nothing about.

"Kirishima. You and Satou failed because you were not able to overcome what Cementoss put you through during your exam. You both rushed into the situation before thinking a plan through, completely depending on your Quirks to carry you through the test. As a result, you were overwhelmed when you reached your power's limits.

"Kaminari. What you did during your and Ashido's exam was within the parameters set beforehand, but you both failed in executing the plan in a timely manner. As Heroes, we're often given a time window in which an objective much be achieved. Anything more than that could result in unnecessary casualties.

"Apart from that, you all need to pull your weight more than your classmates. Think about why you're here in the first place and go from there before complaining how tired you are."

The flunkies let out the best they can let out at their homeroom teacher's speech.

"Don't try to lump me in with these flunkies, Aizawa-sensei," Neito muttered with fatigue clear on his smug face.

"Shut up, Monoma," Hitoshi said from his side. He already looked tired by default, so there was no way to tell if he was sleep deprived too. The only thing different that seemed off on the purple haired teen was the bandages around his knuckles.

"Get moving," the Erasure Hero snapped.

"Sensei's really letting them have it," Hajikeru lowly muttered as he spotted five of his classmates and friends move with heavy resistance from their bodies.

It was barely midday, four hours since they started training, and he was already through half of the water left to him for his Quirk Training. He had just downed what was left of one of the five-gallon containers and now he had to wait until his salivary glands were replenished. He wasn't coughing too much yet, but that usually began when he ran out. The real pain here was straining his throat and mouth to constantly dry out. It really didn't help the fact that he was restricted to 20 gallons a day. It may seem a lot to any normal person, but he burned through most of it with his saliva. Some of it goes to the rest of his body, but most of it goes to the glands in his mouth since that's the first thing that dehydrates.

Meanwhile, Denryoku was flexing out his fingers and stretching out the muscles in his limbs to relieve some stiffness. Since he was up on the rock by himself for the meantime, he wanted to take in the sights before getting back to torturing himself. He easily spotted his best friend by looking for a small ditch full of white bubbles, a signature of Hajikeru's Bubble En Masse.

"I was still right," he muttered. "He definitely ate his words yesterday."

He could still hear the wordless groaning from yesterday. It almost sounded like someone had gagged him with a toad that had a sore throat. Add to the fact he was acting as a translator when he couldn't speak at all and he was a hundred percent sure his bubble blowing friend was regretting saying that when he was bored.

Later that Night

"Well, kittens!" PixieBob announced. "Our stomachs are full and the dishes are clean! And now, it's time for…"

"A TOTALLY AWESOME TEST OF COURAGE!" Mina shouted at the top of her lungs. Her fellow flunkies were also very excited to be participating in the exciting activity. However…

"Sorry, but the remedial bunch will be coming with me for a review lesson," Shota said in his typical deadpanned tone.

Immediately, Mina's face morphed into something that screamed 'You've got to be kidding me!'. Speaking of which:

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

And like that, the flunkies were dragged away by their homeroom teacher's capture cloth. They each let out as much resistance as they could, but it was completely pointless.

"Poor Mina," Tooru said in sadness in watching her best friend get dragged away. "She would have loved this."

"Maybe she could switch with Kyoka," Sherry offered as she had an arm around the shaking, rocker girl. She had on a bright yellow, V-neck shirt; equally bright red short-shorts; and a pair of high tops with a stylized 'C' on the sides. "I'm sure a bit more studying is better than getting spooked."

Even though Kyoka didn't say anything, she was really considering that proposition.

"So here's how the Test of Courage will go," PixieBob started with a map of the path the students will take. "Class 1-B will be first to scare everyone, while Class 1-A will be the ones getting scared. The scaredy cats will be going in pairs of two and they will leave to get themselves scared everything three minutes. At the middle of the route, there will be a little desk. On the desk is a card with your name on it. Bring it back to this spot as proof of your journey through the Haunted Forest of Frightened Kittens!"

'Did she change the name of the forest just for this?' collectively thought the students.

"The scaring group is not allowed to touch anyone directly, but other than that, go crazy with the scare tactics and Quirks!"

"You will be judged by the creativity of the scares and how many students piss their pants!" Tiger added. This caused some discomfort with the students, especially with the 'piss their pants' part.

"Revelry in the dark," Fumikage muttered.

'Why does he keep saying that?' Ochako thought with a bit of fright.

"C-can we not do this?" Hajikeru asked with a bit if nerves. At the moment, he was wearing a grey T-shirt with the word 'POP' in violet inside a cyan explosion graphic; knee-length, orange cargo shorts; and a pair of grey sneakers. "I'm not a fan of being scared."

"What's wrong, Utakata?" Minoru asked looking cheeky. "You scared of the dark?"

"No, but I am scared of what Denryo has planned for this. He is absolutely evil when it comes to scaring people."

Turning to look at Denryoku, they saw him with his eyes turned an electric green color on his nonchalant face.

"This'll be fun," he muttered with a barely noticeable amount of excitement in his voice. He was wearing a black, collared shirt with bright green accents at the ends of the sleeves; dark grey shorts that reached his knees; and a pair of grey sneakers.

"Alright, kitty-cats!" PixieBob shouted over the muttering students. She held out some strips of paper with her paw-like gloves over her head. "Class 1-B will go with Ragdoll to set up their scare spots and Class 1-A will draw lots to see who your partner will be!"

The lots went like this:

Pair 1: Mezo Shouji/Fumikage Tokoyami

Pair 2: Katsuki Bakugo/Shoto Todoroki

Pair 3: Kyoka Jiro/Sherry Teikiatsu

Pair 4: Yuga Aoyama/Momo Yaoyorozu

Pair 5: Ochako Uraraka/Tsuyu Asui

Pair 6: Hajikeru Utakata/Tooru Hagakure

Pair 7: Mashirao Ojiro/Minoru Mineta

Pair 8: Tenya Iida/Koji Koda

Pair 9: Izuku Midoriya/[Partner Unavailable]

"Yay! I'm not going to be scared alone!" Tooru gleefully shouted, ignoring the look of hopelessness on Izuku's face.

Even if Hajikeru wasn't looking forward to being spooked silly, he was glad he was paired up with someone he was good friends with. He couldn't handle the embarrassment if it were anyone outside of his usual circle of friends.

"Aoyama," Minoru groaned in despair as he reached out to Yuga and Momo. "Please let me be with her."

Yuga replied by rapidly shaking his head in denial while Momo looked disturbed.

Then the little grape boy looked at his second choice of partner swapping.

"Utakata, please switch with me!"

"You want me to be your partner?" Hajikeru asked in confusion. He already knew what the tiny boy implied, but decided to mess with him for a moment, however brief it was.

"No! I want her!"

"Not happening, you perv!" spoke up the invisible girl while using Hajikeru's large hand as protective helmet.

The pink-eyed teen was definitely not thinking about how soft her hair was under his fingers.

Nope. Not even a little bit.

He wasn't blushing from the contact either.

"Oi, Air-Head!" Katsuki shouted to the other blonde. "Switch with me!"

"And leave Kyoka to get scared all alone with only you to keep her safe?!" Sherry replied with fake shock, holding the smaller girl close with one of her arms. "I don't think so!"

"I don't want to be paired up with Icy-Hot! Now switch with me!"

"Sorry, no switching partners after the lots were drawn!" PixieBob called out.

"FUCK!"

15 Minutes Later

"See? Nothing scary about this test! Totally not scary. I'm having so much fun right now! Those 1-B guys better try harder to scare me!"

Tooru said all of that as she was hanging onto Hajikeru's back and shaking from the first scare of the test. It was a simple jumpscare that Pony orchestrated by having one of her horns pass between them at high speed, creating a hollow, swooshing sound as it passed. It startled Hajikeru, for sure, but it wasn't enough to scare him. Tooru, on the other hand, screamed like something nibbled on her toes at the beach, high pitched and loud. She then hopped onto her partner's back for safety from the rest of the test. Of course, the bubble teen was embarrassed for his friend's spastic actions, but couldn't really form the words to tell her to get off. Again, who was he to deny a friend in need?

"You know you're going to be a target now that Class 1-B heard you screaming, right?" the bubble teen asked with a reddened face. He was 100 percent certain that his partner had no idea what she was doing to him. When she did the same thing a few days ago, he wasn't really giving it much thought since he was exhausted. Now, he was all too aware of what was happening, but he was trying to play it off as no big deal.

"That's why I have you! You'll be my shield to keep the spooks away!"

"If that's true, then that's a really soft shield."

"Hehe, you said it, not—"

What Tooru was about to say was interrupted by a loud crashing noise from beside the pathway. From within the trees, Hajikeru spotted something flash. Making a choice then and there, he quickly made an Orange-Type Pressure Bubble to be out of the way of whatever it was he saw. When he did that, a bright, shiny object darted out of the forest and into the space that the two students had just occupied before embedding into a tree. Instinctively, he held one of his hands out to cover Tooru as a form of protection.

Tooru had released her hold on her large friend when she saw what had happened just now. She barely saw that same object just out of the corner of her eye and her larger friend had acted so quickly that she didn't get a chance to point it out. She was thankful for his quick thinking now that she saw how deep that object was embedded into the tree trunk.

"Damn it," spoke a deeply masculine voice from within the trees. There was an audible thump that sounded like heavy footsteps coming from the voice's direction. "I was hoping that woulda at least put you out of your misery."

The owner of the intimidating voice made himself known as he stepped out from the dark shadows of the trees. He was huge, towering at nearly three meters tall with a compact, muscular build. He was wearing bright orange trousers with paw prints peppered throughout, stuffed inside a pair of military boots. Adorning his chest were multiple wounds, ranging from simple slashes to large, irregular wounds, healed over into scars. His ragged face suffered a similar look, but with part of his left ear missing and the left side of his mouth extending past his jaw line, giving him an unnaturally wide half-grin.

But what was most disconcerting about the man was what was around his arms.

Wrapped around both arms was what appeared to be multiple black leather straps, reaching from the upper part of his deltoids to the base of his hands. There were at least a dozen of them on each of his arms and they all hanged loose from each of the fasteners. It was tough to see in the limited moonlight, but the bottom side of the straps was incredibly rough with microscopic hooks.

"But it looks like it won't be an easy paycheck this time." His voice vibrated the air with intensity, nearly causing the two students to buckle out of fear. But they held fast, even as their minds tried to process what was happening to their school trip.

AN: Merry Christmas! And Happy Holidays... Yeah, I wasn't expecting to upload this today, mostly because I thought I was going to finish this chapter a while ago. I had a crappy October, November was just bad for my writer's block so I edited some of the previous chapters. Not to mention I'm working on two stories at once, so the mindsets are different for each of them. But on the brightside/darkside, I've thought of a solution for this dower crap. I still haven't written it yet, but I've had this idea for a while. I'm just trying to figure out how to play it. Spoiler warning: People may want to watch their sugar intake when it gets published. Anyway, That's all from me! Until next time!

This better not take another few months to get another chapter out. I'm finally getting to the good stuff and I can barely write about it!

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This thing is still on, isn't it?

-OmegaBox

Edit: Stupid website didn't register the chapter the first time and now I'm pissed. Oh, and it should be fixed now. If not, they have until New Years Eve to run.