Yamagori sat in the stands of the stadium. The room the examinees were in had just opened and everyone was moving out towards various locations on the field. Even she had to admit she was a little surprised when she heard they would only be passing less than 10% of the examinees. It seemed the Heroes Public Safety Commission was serious about focussing on a quality over quantity approach to heroes since Stain's arrest.
'Even still, this might be just a bit overkill.'
"Medusa? That you?"
Upon hearing her hero name, Yamagori turned her head and saw a hero walking up to her that she recognized. 'Oh give me a break. Why did he have to be here?'
The hero walking over to Yamagori was a man in his late twenties with brown hair. He wasn't wearing his costume, but Yamagori knew all too well who he was. Akinari Hiromoto, a hero with a Quirk that allowed him to stretch his limbs out as if they were rubber. The two of them had gotten to know each other a bit back in their hero days, before Yamagori had gotten arrested. Though Yamagori couldn't honestly say she liked the guy. He had a rather pompous attitude, which annoyed her back when she was doing so horribly as a hero.
"I heard some rumors you were teaching now." Akinari said. "Didn't think they were actually true though, considering… well you know."
"Well they are. Guess you learn something new every day." Yamagori told him. "Now would you please buzz off. I'd like to watch in peace."
"Ouch. That's a bit cold for an old friend of yours."
"I don't recall us ever being friends." Yamagori retorted. "I'm a little surprised to see you teaching though? Your hero career take a hit?"
"Far from it. I'm a teacher at Ketsubutsu High thanks to my great track record as a hero." Akinari said as he took a seat a few chairs down from Yamagori. "I have to ask, aren't you rushing your class a bit? I mean, taking the provisional license exam during their first year? That'd be hard even if they had a top pro hero teaching them." He glanced over at Yamagori. "And no offense, but considering you were a low rate hero that got arrested… well you know."
'God, he's just as annoying as I remember. Maybe even more so.' Yamagori thought to herself. "It's nice of you to worry about my class, but it's unneeded. They'll be just fine."
"I take it you told them about the provisional license exam's little… tradition then?"
"The crushing of U.A. Everyone ganging up on the one school that has the Quirks of their students known to the world due to the Sports Festival." Yamagori chuckled as she reminisced on past memories. "Man, that was such a pain to deal with back when I took the exam during my school days. But to answer your question, no I didn't tell them."
"That's rather mean of you, don't you think?"
"Not at all. There simply wasn't a need to tell them." Yamagori explained. "My students are smart enough to figure that much out on their own. Besides, when you're a hero, your Quirk becomes more and more well known as you gain popularity. U.A likes to think a little further ahead, that's all."
"All that, and you still think your kids can pass?" Akinari questioned. "Sorry, but they're gonna have a bit of a tougher time than you think. My class is going to leave them in the dust."
Yamagori curved her lips up for a small smirk. "Care to put your money where your mouth is?"
Akinari raised a brow. "What did you have in mind?"
"A little bet to see who has more of their students pass." Yamagori said. "The stakes are two week's worth of paychecks."
"You're on. This is gonna be the easiest money I've ever earned." Akinari said. "I'll even give you a break. We'll base the bet on passing the first exam."
"Works for me." Yamagori said, leaning back in her seat.
The buzzer for the exam to start sounded a few seconds later. At that moment, all of the examinees went into action. Yamagori watched as her class was quickly ambushed by a large horde of students from varying schools. Shinobu seemed to have gone off on his own, but that was no surprise to her. She was confident he could handle himself.
"Let's see how many of your students fail right off the bat." Akinari said.
The two teachers watched as a flurry of balls were thrown at Class C. But several of the U.A students managed to defend their group with an impressive display of their Quirks.
Akinari raised his brow a bit in surprise. "So they've already got their ultimate moves down? That's actually a little impressive."
"Feeling scared yet?" Yamagori asked.
"Hardly. Knowing my students, they're about to put their plan into action any second now."
As if on cue, a lone examinee appeared in front of Class C. They created a portal on the ground and in an instant, five of Class C's students were swallowed up.
"A warping Quirk, huh? He one of yours?" Yamagori asked.
"Indeed. And it seems he got some of your students in his trap hook line and sinker."
"Big deal. I take it he just warped them to another part of the field where the rest of the class is lying in wait?"
"Not exactly." Akinari said with a smirk. "Oji Miryoku's Quirk is a bit different from your usual warping Quirks."
The remaining 15 students of Class C, as well as a majority of other schools in the area stood in shock. In the span of a few seconds, one person had whisked away five of U.A's students to an unknown location and then disappeared themselves. Even though everyone seemed to be gunning for U.A, no one had been expecting someone to change their location. But it was a strong strategy, keeping five targets all for themselves and not having to deal with interference from other schools.
"Crud, where'd that guy take them?" Hikari wondered.
"We can worry about that later." Hyde said. "Right now, we need to worry about ourselves."
True to Hyde's word, the remaining schools were already planning a second wave of attacks. Things were only going to get tougher for them if they just stood still and did nothing.
"Everyone brace yourselves!" Hyde shouted. Using his Quirk, he rose up the area all of them were standing on in the form of a giant pillar. His classmates did their best to keep their balance and avoid falling down as the pillar shot up. It rose up to the height of a small building before Hyde made a stone pathway shoot out from the pillar and go towards the city area. "Let's move! Hurry!"
Nobody needed to be told twice as all 15 of them began rushing across the stone pathway at full speed. Marcus, Satoshi, and Dan each took to the air to give the others more room to run. They moved over the horde of examinees below them and made their way to the city where they would be able to hide and ambush them.
"They're getting away! Get them!" one of the students down below shouted.
"I'd like to see you losers try! See you around!" Hyde laughed.
As Class C ran along the pathway, the horde of students they passed gave chase. Some of them fired off long range Quirks and assaulted the stone path overhead. The tremors could be felt by Hyde and the others as they ran.
"You just had to egg them on, didn't you Hyde?!" Nene asked.
"Just shut up and run!" Hyde shouted back.
The assault of long range Quirks continued to assault the stone pathway. Eventually, it took enough damage in one area to the point that it cracked and split off. Without a connection to the base stone pillar Hyde had made earlier, the rest of the stone path fell towards the ground. The U.A students running all began to fall with it.
"Hang on!" Dan shouted as he, Marcus, and Satoshi all flew down to try and help the others. Dan managed to grab Alicia, Sarah, and Fiona, but before he could help any of the others, another flurry of long range Quirks came flying at him. Dan was forced to turn towards the city and flee with just the two classmates he had managed to grab.
Marcus and Satoshi were in similar circumstances, only able to flee with a couple of others before being forced away from the main group. Once again, Class C had found themselves split apart even further.
Dan flew as fast as he could towards the city. However, holding onto three of his classmates with tentacles of water was weighing him down. He found himself quickly descending further towards the ground. Eventually, all four of them fell onto the rocky surface a short distance from the city.
"Do you think the others managed to get away?" Alicia asked.
"We'll have to trust that they did. It's too risky to head back when we're all split up like this." Sarah said. "Let's get to the city and come up with a plan."
Dan, Alicia, and Fiona nodded in agreement. It was tough, but this was still an individual exam. They couldn't risk putting too much effort into helping their classmates only to end up failing themselves.
All they could do was hope that all 21 of them would be able to pass.
"Woah- Oof!"
Sakura let out a groan as she landed right on top of Shiro after being sucked down into the portal the mystery examinee had made. She got up off her classmate just in time for Fujino, Rekka, and Merci to fall from above too and land on Shiro.
"Why me…" Shiro moaned as he felt the weight of three of his classmates on top of him.
"What the hell was that?" Fujino asked as she got her bearings.
"That guy must have some kind of warping Quirk." Sakura said.
"Uhh… guys?" Rekka said. "I don't think we're at the exam site anymore."
Taking a look at their surroundings, the group realized that Rekka was right. Instead of the testing field filled with various types of terrain, they were now standing in what seemed to be the lavish hall of a castle. And it was unlike anything any of them had ever seen. The stairs, the walls, the floor, all of it was a glistening pink color. It was like they were in a dream.
"Where the hell are we?" Shiro asked. "And what interior decorator thought this was a good idea?"
"It's pretty, but at the same time a little overboard to the point that it's gaudy." Fujino commented.
"Untrue! With moi around, any place would dazzle with beauty!" Merci said.
Fujino rolled her eyes. Of course she'd have to end up with the most annoying member of her class. She noticed a window nearby and walked over to it in order to get a better grasp of their location. But when she looked outside, her eyes widened. "What the hell is this?"
Curious as to what Fujino meant, the others all walked over and took a look out the window as well. They soon found themselves equally shocked. It was clear they were in a castle, but all of it had a pinkish color to it, just like the room they were in. The bigger surprise however was that a wall of rainbow colored light was surrounding the castle. They could only assume it covered the whole perimeter. And it continued to go up with no end in sight, past the white clouds and pink sky, though a much paler shade than the castle. It was as if they were in a dream world.
"Ok, now I really want to know where the hell we are." Shiro said.
"I think that guy's Quirk isn't a typical warp Quirk." Sakura suggested. "Based on these surroundings, I think we got teleported to another dimension."
"Another dimension?! Is that even possible?!"
"Quirks have grown to such a wide variety that it wouldn't surprise me." Sakura said. "I'm guessing anyone that gets sucked into that portal of his ends up in this castle."
"Ok, but how do we get out?" Fujino asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
The sudden voice caused the five students of Class C to turn around. Standing at the top of the stairs in the hall were a group of examinees. Sakura quickly counted nine students in total.
"Looks like Oji got five in one haul. That's a pretty nice start." one of the students said.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at the nine sudden arrivals. "I'm guessing you're with the guy who trapped us all in here?"
"That's right." one of them answered. "And hate to break it to you, but the only way out of this place is either to find the secret gate hidden in this castle, or wait for the Quirk user to fall unconscious. And since he isn't with us right now, your chances of escaping are squat!"
"Let's take them out quickly before Oji sends the next group." another one of them said.
"Sorry about this, but you five are done for!" a third one said.
Without warning, the Class C students were attacked by the new group. A barrage of long range attacks flew their way.
"Get behind me!" Shiro said. He moved forward to act as a shield for his classmates, but before he could bring his arms up to block the incoming attacks, he felt an invisible blast hit him out of nowhere. On its own, it wasn't too bad, but a flurry of them hit Shiro like a wave. Without enough time to bring his arms up, the barrage of attacks from the others slammed into him and sent him flying back.
"Shiro!" Rekka exclaimed.
"Get back, I'll blow these losers away!" Fujino said.
"Wait, Fujino! Don't use your Quirk!" Sakura told her.
"What?! Why?!"
Another round of attacks came at the Class C students. Sakura helped Shiro to his feet. "Come on! We need to move!"
Deciding to trust their class rep, the others followed Sakura as she ran towards an adjacent hallway. It wasn't long though before their attackers were hot on their trail. Sakura and the others found themselves ducking and dodging as the attacks from those with long range Quirks flew past them.
"Why'd you tell me not to use my Quirk?" Fujino asked as they ran. "I could blow these guys away in a second."
"Out of everyone in class, you're the only one who wasn't in the Sports Festival." Sakura explained. "Right now, our opponents have an advantage over us in three ways. First, they know our Quirks. Second, they're probably from the same school as the one that trapped us here, meaning they likely have a decent grasp of the layout of this place compared to us who know nothing of it. And lastly, they outnumber us by almost twice our number. At the moment, our one advantage is that they don't know what your Quirk is, Fujino. Our best chance at making it through this is if we save it for the right moment to catch them off guard and take them out in that opening."
"In other words, we just have to lose these guys for the moment." Fujino realized. "We need to fight them on our terms."
"Exactly." Sakura said. "But getting away from them is going to be easier said than done right now."
"Leave it to me!" Rekka said. She turned around for a brief moment and threw up a series of floating embers with her Quirk. They covered most of the narrow hallway, acting as a temporary wall. "That should hold them for a few extra seconds!"
"Good job, Rekka. Now let's hurry."
The five students continued to run as their pursuers found themselves blocked off by Rekka's embers. It didn't keep them occupied for long though, as they fired off attacks that collided with the embers and forced them to explode. But the precious few seconds had allowed Sakura and the others to distance themselves by a fair amount as they turned a corner.
Down the hall they were currently running through, Sakura noticed a large set of doors at the end. "In there!"
The five of them rushed through the doors, only to find themselves in what appeared to be a large dining room. Long tables stretched all the way to the end of the room. Chandeliers hung on the roof. The left wall was made entirely of glass, creating a large window that allowed them to see the outside. Unfortunately however, there seemed to be no way out other than the way they came through.
"It's a dead end." Fujino said.
"There they are!"
Turning around, Sakura and the others saw a couple of their pursuers running down the hall towards the room they were in. The rest of their group soon followed.
"Close the doors! Hurry!" Sakura said.
Not wasting a moment, Rekka and Merci pushed the doors shut. Fujino and Shiro then moved as much as they could to the doors to create a makeshift barricade to hold their pursuers back. Shiro pushed his body against them as the doors shook from the other group trying to force their way in.
"What now? We're trapped." Rekka said.
Sakura looked around the room. There really were no ways out from here. This dining hall was going to have to be where they made their stand. But did they have a chance at winning?
'Think. With the people we have here, what's our best strategy?' Sakura asked herself.
"Somebody come up with something! I can't hold this much longer!" Shiro told them, struggling to keep the doors shut.
Sakura looked up at the chandeliers. Perhaps they could use them. "Fujino, how accurate do you think you are with measuring the distance for your Quirk?"
Fujino followed Sakura's line of sight and realized what Sakura was getting at. "Leave it to me."
"Ok, listen closely everyone. I have an idea." Sakura told them.
The group of nine students banged against the door repeatedly. They were gradually weakening whatever was keeping the doors closed. Finally, the blockade gave way and they forced their way in. The nine of them stood near the doorway and quickly looked for their targets. But they were nowhere in sight. They only had time to notice a wall of embers to their left and right put up by Rekka before a shout was heard.
"Now!"
At that moment, an explosion was heard above them. The next thing they knew, the chandelier directly above their heads began to fall down towards them. With the threat coming down from above and the left and right blocked off, the new arrivals instinctively rushed forward, proceeding further into the room. Little did they know that doing that would soon seal their fate.
Hiding under one of the long tables, Merci stretched out his flower stems and forced the group to trip over and fall. Before they could get up, Sakura manipulated a seed woven into her costume. The seed was for a tree and with it thick branches of wood came out from her costume and moved over the group, holding them all down. Those that managed to avoid tripping over Merci's vines were caught through a mix of Merci's flower stems and vines from the free arm of Sakura's costume.
"Crap, we're stuck!"
"Hakamura, use your fire Quirk and free us!"
"I can't! The fire will spread to the rest of the wood and we'll all be engulfed by flames!"
Fujino, Shiro, and Rekka all came out of their hiding spots. "Worked like a charm, Sakura." Shiro said with a grin. "Now let's hurry before these guys get free."
Sakura nodded her head. She manipulated the wooden branches and restrained all nine of the students. They struggled to get free but to no avail. Sakura, Fujino, Marci, and Rekka all took a ball and lit up the targets for two students each. Shiro took the remaining one, leaving him one defeat short of passing.
"You sure you're ok with being the odd one out, Shiro?" Rekka asked.
"Yeah. It's kinda my fault we ended up here in the first place." Shiro admitted. "Besides, I just need to defeat one more person. No big deal."
"In any case, we still need to get out of here." Sakura said. She looked at one of the nine defeated students. "If what they said is true, we need to either find the exit to this dimension or knock out the one that trapped us all here."
"The exit is probably our best bet." Fujino said. "No way the guy that put us all in here is going to be dumb enough to-"
"Huzzah! I have come to check in on you, my friends!"
The sound of a new voice caused Sakura and the others to turn and see the familiar face of the student whse Quirk had put them all in this strange castle in the first place. He stood at the doorway, striking a dramatic pose.
Oji opened his eyes from his pose as he looked at the scene before him "My friends, have you all vanquished the enemies I… sent… your… way…?" His excitement slowly diminished as he realized that all of his allies had been taken out and four of the five U.A students had their targets shown that they had passed. "Uh oh."
"What are you doing here, Oji?!" one of his classmates yelled.
"I came to see if you needed help, and to tell you where the next batch of examinees I threw in here were!" Oji yelled back.
Shiro grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "Looks like it's my lucky day. I found my next defeat and our way out all at once."
Oji slowly backed away. He was about to open a portal back into reality for him to escape through, but Shiro grabbed him before he could. One punch to the face was all it took for the crocodile teen to knock him out. Shiro quickly took one of his balls and lit up all three of Oji's targets just in time before the entire castle began to wave around and distort. Everyone there began to glow in a strange light before vanishing from the castle.
The next thing Sakura and the others knew, they fell out from a gate and landed on a rocky ground. They each groaned as they picked themselves up. One quick glance around was all it took for them to see they were back in the testing area at the same place they had been captured.
"Woo! Five people just passed in quick succession! That brings the total to 27! Right on!" Daisuke announced.
As the five of them grinned happily at each other for having passed, their targets lit up with a blue light, likely to show that they had passed. An electronic voice spoke from them. "Those who have passed should go to the waiting room."
"Well that's that then." Shiro said. "Let's get going."
"Agreed. Sakura said. All five of them began making their way to the waiting room. "I hope the others are doing well too."
Up at the stands, Yamagori saw the notification of the five most recent passes and the ten students that had just failed. Akinari had also seen it and based on his expression he was beyond shocked.
Yamagori's lips curved up into a grin. "Now I'm just a former low class hero that got arrested, so please correct me if I'm mistaken. But did five of my students just pass while ten of yours just failed?"
"Ngh… this is impossible…" Akinari muttered to himself. "What kind of training did you give them?"
"My students know from me that the world is not a kind place. They should expect unfairness at every turn." Yamagori explained. "But unlike the person I was, they'll be able to overcome that. They've worked hard to get this far in such a short time and they won't allow themselves to fail now."
"Medusa…"
"Pay close attention Akinari." Yamagori said with a smirk. "You're going to see just what Class 1-C of U.A High School is made of."
A/N: Hope you all liked the first main chapter of the first exam. Who from Class C will be seen next chapter? You'll just have to wait and see.