Chapter 28: A Familiar Face

Hey howdy hey hello, welcome to the show! Enigma's here with chapter 28!

Some interesting developments in this chapter, to be sure, but nothing overly wild.

I want to take the opportunity presented by the work studies to have some Moxie and Hiryu-centric chapters soon that split apart from canon, instead of splitting it between the two.

Of course, they have to get their licenses first.

Enjoy!

Feel free to review, but don't just rip into me. I'm doing this for fun, not excessive criticism.

"As bystanders, at this disaster site… we'll be having you all conduct rescue maneuvers."

"Just as bystanders?" Moxie scratched his chin.

"They make it sound like we'll just be ordinary citizens, but…" Yaoyorozu trailed off.

"Not just as ordinary citizens, but also as individuals who have acquired these licenses before, we will test your ability to adequately carry out rescue operations." Mera explained.

"Hm…?" Shoji spotted something.

"I see people!" Sato shouted, "Children and elderly! It's dangerous, what are they doing?!"

"These individuals have gone through all sorts of training and are now much sought after!" Mera told them, "They're all a part of HUC, short for the 'Help Us Company'!"

"With Heroes being so big now, of course there's a job like that!" Someone remarked.

"The folks of H.U.C. are on standby all over the field disguised as casualties, and it's your mission to extricate them." Mera continued, "Now, this time you and your rescue efforts will be graded via points. Both the HUC members you're saving, and HUC members assigned to you in the stands, will mark down your points based on mistakes you make! The test starts in ten minutes, so go use the facilities now if you need to."

"Let's just get rolling already! How boring!" Moxie groaned.

"Speak for yourself, some of us need a breather, man." Kirishima sighed, sipping from a water bottle, "You've really been upping your stamina since our final exam, eh?"

"I lost because I didn't have the stamina, so I'll never lose like that again!" Moxie declared.

"Actually, you lost because you were too loyal." Yaoyorozu cut in, sitting down between the two of them, "If you had been willing to leave Kirishima and go over the walls, you could have captured Cementoss or escaped through the gate."

"I would've had to leave Kirishima, I couldn't do that!" Moxie grinned.

"You should have more faith in your classmates." Yaoyorozu sighed.

"A terrorist attack by Villains has unfolded!" Mera practically shouted, alerting everyone, "The scope of the damage encompasses the entirety of x city, and the collapsed buildings have injured a great many! The damage to the roads is severe, causing considerable delays to the first responders! The Heroes on the scene must lead the rescue efforts until they make it there."

Moxie pulled up his hood, and Hiryu threw on her jacket, prepping for the next part of the exam.

"Save as many lives as you can, even if it's just one!"

"We should head out to where we can best assist." Iida said, as everyone rushed forward, "For example, Tsu, you should head towards the river!"

"I-I'll head for the industrial zone; there I can help spot people amongst the rubble." Hiryu decided.

"I'll come with you to help melt through it!" Ashido told her.

Moxie went to rush off, but hesitated, realizing he didn't know where he could help. Kirishima turned back to talk to him when he noticed.

"What's the matter, man?" Kirishima asked.

"I don't really know where to help!" Moxie laughed sheepishly, "I'm a combat specialist!"

"I don't really know either, man. Hiryu's been training for this stuff, but I specialize in combat too." Kirishima admitted, "Our Quirks don't really help with rescue."

"Then… let's just hang around the triage area!" Moxie suggested, "This was a terrorist attack, right? What if the Villains come back?"

"Man, that's genius! That way us combat guys can help out!" Kirishima slammed his hardened fists together.

"Those kids… they aren't really helping, but they're at least playing to their strengths." The HUC members in the crowd assigned to Kirishima and Moxie observed, "And they've successfully predicted our twist…"

Hiryu, meanwhile, was really in her element. Using her flight and thermal vision goggles to spot injured civilians and ferry people to the triage zone.

"Over there, someone's trapped beneath the rubble!" Hiryu informed the Heroes below, "We need a strength enhancer!"

"She's really taking command!" One of the students observed.

"How out of character!" Ashido thought aloud, melting through some rubble.

"Impressive, clearly trained for this…" Hiryu's observer thought, making a note.

Moxie

"Kirishima, Moxie! You're here, huh?" Midoriya asked, passing off an injured young child to another examinee.

"Yeah! We're standing guard!" Kirishima explained, "It was Moxie's idea!"

A massive explosion went off near the first aid station, and a number of people in black bodysuits swarmed out, heading right for the station.

"The Villains have shown up, and they're on the move! You Hero candidates on the scene will suppress the Villain incursion, all while continuing the rescue operation." Mera told them.

"How will you respond… Heroes?!" Gang Orca asked, leading the "Villains".

"This is our moment!" Moxie grinned, "C'mon, Kirishima! We'll hold them off!"

Moxie and Kirishima charged out to meet the Villains, getting shouted at by Shindo, who wanted to use his Quirk to slow down the Villains. Shindo was quickly incapacitated by a sonic attack by Gang Orca.

"With this gap in our abilities… you think you can hold me off?!" Gang Orca asked, "You're underestimating me!"

A huge wave of ice hit Gang Orca then, as Todoroki arrived to help, followed quickly by Yoarashi.

Kirishima and Moxie clashed with the Villains, Kirishima smashing through the cement launched by their guns without issue and Moxie outmaneuvering them at every turn.

Still, there were a lot of them, and even as backup arrived they had a hard time suppressing all of them. It certainly didn't help when Yoarashi and Todoroki began arguing, Todoroki's flames and Yoarashi's wind throwing each other off.

"Arguing with each other like that… what's their problem?" Kirishima wondered, smashing a Villain's cement gun and knocking them out with a blow to the head.

Hiryu was flying in with an injured civilian when Yoarashi and Todoroki attacked again, their attacks interrupting each other and sending Todoroki's flames flying towards Shindo, while Yoarashi's wind blew Hiryu out of the air, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Aaaaah!" Hiryu cried out, twisting so she hit the ground back first, protecting the civilian, "Augh… dang it… you alright?"

"I'm alright, miss Hero! Are you alright? Please, there's so many Villains!" The civilian asked, staying in character.

"I-I'm fine… just a little banged up…" Hiryu smiled, picking herself up, "W-We'll have to wait here, sorry… with winds like that, it's not safe to fly… sorry…"

"Why do you keep apologizing? Points deducted!" The HUC member scolded.

"Dang it… my nervousness… is it showing through?" Hiryu wondered, hiding amongst the rubble, watching the Heroes and Villains clash, Gang Orca taking down both Yoarashi and Todoroki in a flash.

"Look out, we can't hold them all!" Moxie shouted, as a number of the Villains pushed past the intercepting Heroes, rushing for the first aid station.

Suddenly, Shindo stepped in, despite being hit by Gang Orca's sound wave, he used his Quirk to tear up the ground and immobilize the Villains. Midoriya dove in to help finish them off.

And then, suddenly, a massive tornado of fire erupted, swirling around Gang Orca.

"Those two… have they finally started cooperating?" Moxie wondered.

"If they have, that's a load off our shoulders!" Kirishima grinned.

Then, reinforcements began arriving. The evacuation was nearly complete, and they could afford to send more people to help combat the Villains. Suddenly, a situation that they were struggling to contain, rapidly became trivial with the help of the fellow examinees.

And then, a massive sound wave was blasted into the air by Gang Orca, dispelling the combination attack by Yoarashi and Todoroki.

"Well?! What do you have next?!" Gang Orca demanded.

"Kirishima, let's combine our powers!" Moxie shouted, "That move we thought up!"

"Right!" Kirishima hardened his entire body, running over to Moxie.

"Combination Move: Jade Riot Cannon!" Moxie and Kirishima roared together, as Moxie used his Bounce to send Kirishima flying towards Gang Orca like a bullet, smashing into him at the same time as Midoriya.

"Get away from them!" Midoriya yelled, his kick being blocked by Gang Orca, who was forced to take the unexpected attack from Moxie and Kirishima in the side.

And then, the alarm went off, signaling the end of the exam.

"All stationed members of the HUC have been rescued from the crisis area." Mera announced, "This may be considerably selfish of me, but with that I must bring these provisional license examinations… to a close!"

"It's over?!" Midoriya shouted.

"Sorry, Gang Orca." Kirishima grinned.

"Guess we didn't really need that combo move, huh?" Moxie laughed, bouncing over, "But it worked! It really worked!"

"After we tally the scores, I will present the results of the examination to you all here. Those who have suffered injuries, please direct yourselves to the medical office. To the rest of you, please change back into your normal clothes and await further instructions. Thank you."

Some Time Later

The examinees all funneled outside for the presentation of the results, anxious to see how they did.

"Times like these are the absolute worst…" Jiro breathed shakily.

"I know what you mean…" Hiryu sighed.

"You shouldn't be worried; you were totally awesome during the rescue exercise!" Kirishima told her, "Better than me and Moxie, all we could do was stand guard."

"It's been a long battle, boys and girls, but now it's time for the results. Before that, though…" Mera started speaking, ceasing all conversation, "Regarding the scoring system, we of the Heroes Public Safety commission, along with the members of H.U.C., were deducting points on two issues as we watched you perform."

"Essentially, we judged you on your ability to act flawlessly in a crisis. Anyhow, here are the names of those who passed the test, in alphabetical order. Keeping everything I've said in mind, please take a look…"

The screen lit up with the list of names, as everyone scanned the list, looking for their names.

"Mo… Mo… Mo…" Moxie scanned the list carefully, as his friends found their names, one by one.

"I'm up there!" Ashido cheered.

"So am I…" Jiro sighed with relief.

"Me too." Hiryu sighed as well.

"I did it! I passed!" Kirishima cheered.

"I knew I'd crush it!" Moxie grinned, pumping his fist in the air.

"But… Todoroki… you failed?" Ashido asked.

"Hm? Todoroki?" Moxie repeated.

"So neither of our top two dudes passed!" Sero remarked.

"I assume you've all had a chance to view the results. Next, we'll be handing out score sheets. We've explained the scoring system in detail, so read them over carefully." Mera explained.

"Ooh, let me see!" Moxie grinned, snatching up the paper.

"Th-Thank you." Hiryu bowed her head politely, taking her own paper.

"It was a punitive scoring system, with a threshold of fifty points. On your score sheets, you'll see how many points you lost for each given action." Mera told them.

"Seventy-two, eh? I was complimented for positioning myself well and playing to my strengths, but… my hesitation in the beginning lost me a number of points." Moxie sighed, "And I wasn't really the most helpful overall."

Gently, Hiryu tapped Shoji's shoulder, drawing the boy's attention.

"Yes?" Shoji asked.

"I-I-I c-can't…" Hiryu handed him her paper, "C-C-Could you…?"

Shoji politely took the paper and looked at it, his eyes widening in shock.

"Th-That bad-?"

"Hiryu, you scored a ninety-six!" Shoji told her.

"What?! No way!" Jiro shouted, "Even higher than Yaomomo!"

"I told you Hiryu was killing it!" Kirishima grinned.

"She did super well, rescue exercises really fit her!" Ashido gave a thumbs up, smiling.

"E-Everyone…!" Tears welled in Hiryu eyes, though she held them back, "Thank you so much! That means a lot!"

Mera went on a long spiel then about the responsibilities they would be facing as Heroes, culminating in the reveal that those who failed could make up for it with a special training course, before leaving everyone to mull over the exam.

"To think we've come so far…" Hiryu mumbled, looking at her provisional license.

"You crushed it, kiddo! Good job!" Tenna laughed, patting Moxie's head, "I'll be heading back to the states tomorrow, so keep killing it without me, alright?"

"I will!" Moxie grinned, "We'll keep improving and climbing from here, so just watch us!"

And there it is! What did you think?

Personally, I'm pretty proud with it. Could've spent more time on the exam itself, but I think that would have made the chapter too long.

Enigma, signing off.