In spite of his best efforts, and the fact Bakugo didn't overtly seem to hate his very existence, trying to get his teammate for the exam to strategize was an exercise in futility. So, after five fruitless minutes of trying to convince Bakugo that they needed to think up a game plan for how they were going to deal with the monster that was their class president, Izuku headed to the observation room. If he couldn't work out a coherent strategy with his partner, then the least he could do was watch his classmates perform in their exams. He had been wowed by the progress many of them had made, Tsu and Tokoyami in particular worked as a nearly flawless duo in their match against Ectoplasm, and thanks to the quick thinking of Yaoyorozu, she and Todoroki managed to subdue Eraserhead. Some of their other classmates on the other hand, weren't so lucky.

Poor Kirishima and Sato had gotten railroaded by Cementoss, and that was nothing compared to what Principle Nezu had done to Ashido and Kaminari. Before he knew it, it was time for him to head down to the practice area for his own match, his heart hammering painfully in his chest. But even as he and Bakugo approached the entrance to the practice fields, his former best friend still refused to even speak to him.

"Kaa-chan," Izuku said, in a desperate plea as the intercom announced the start to the exam, "We need to be smart about this, Percy can attack us from anywhere, you know how powerful-"

"He's an idiot," Bakugo growled, "And so are you, if you think I'm going to do anything but pummel him into the dirt."

"We can't beat him in a fair fight!" Izuku said, "Even with those weights on him that make him slower, he's still out of our league! You saw what happened a few weeks ago, you saw what he can do! We can't beat him in a fair fight, our only chance is to-"

"What?" Bakugo demanded, rounding on Izuku, "Run away? Like cowards? Like hell I'll run away from this! That bastard has been making a fool of me since the start, and I'm going to put him in the dirt for it!"

"Kaa-chan listen to me!" Izuku pleaded, "We need to work together on this, going off on our own isn't going to-"

"Shut up!" Bakugo roared, "Just because you've managed to finally get a handle on that stupid quirk of yours, doesn't mean that you're on my level! This is my chance to show everyone what a real hero can do, to show how far I've come. So for once, will you just shut up and stay out of my way Deku!"

Izuku was going to respond, but he paused, not because of what Bakugo had said, but because the street beneath their feet had started to rumble, and Izuku could hear the sound of metal scraping against metal. Then, something far worse, a strange rushing sound, coming from right behind him, turning slowly, his entire body shaking, Izuku's eyes went round in abject horror,

"Tidal wave!" Izuku shouted, as thousands of gallons of water came rushing down the street from behind them. Izuku and Bakugo barely had time to jump clear of the sudden rush of water, before the tsunami washed over the entire street. Windows were destroyed, cars overturned, and buildings were demolished as the cascading waves slammed through the fake city.

But they barely had the chance to even breathe, because no sooner had the pair of them jumped clear of the sudden ambush, than a dark figure erupted from the surface of the water. Two enormous cyclones burst from the water, barreling towards each of them. Bakugo barely managed to blast himself out of the way of his cyclone, and Izuku escaped by a hair's breadth, by channeling One for All into his forefinger, and blasting himself away with a massive air current. However, they were nowhere near being safe. In the air, Izuku had no real maneuverability, and had no way to protect himself from the blow that suddenly connected with his spine. All of the air seemed to simultaneously leave his body, as he was catapulted across the area, landing in a small heap on the roof of an adjacent building.

Unable to move, Izuku was lucky enough to have landed in such a way that he was able to see what happened next. After dealing with Izuku, Percy, who had apparently jumped out of the water he'd created, turned his attention on Bakugo. But Bakugo was not one to go down quietly, nor on terms not his own. Almost as soon as Izuku had been hit, Bakugo was on the attack, closing in quickly with blasts from his gauntlets. Percy, who was suspended on a sort of platform of water, allowed the younger hero to get in close, an amused expression on his face. What Percy had either not expected, or had forgotten entirely, was that Bakugo's arsenal was not limited to mere explosions. When the distance between the two was close enough, Bakugo created an immense explosion, that flared into a nearly blinding light. Izuku had to shield his eyes, even at the distance he was at, because the shine from the attack was so immense.

He could hear Percy spit out an annoyed curse, and when Izuku managed to look again, the man was on one knee on the water platform, his hands covering his eyes. Bakugo used the diversion to his advantage, and maneuvered around to Percy's flank. However, there was a problem with his plan, Bakugo relied on his quirk to maneuver, and there wasn't much subtlety in flying using explosions. Bakugo had flown around Percy, in the hopes of flanking him. Drawing an arm back, Bakugo let out a primal roar and thrust his hand forward to blast the stunned hero in the back. However, even with the added weight, Percy was too quick. Whether he'd been feigning his incapacity all along, or he was simply able to recover quickly it wasn't clear to Izuku, but as Bakugo thrust his harm forward, Percy countered. Spinning on the spot, Percy caught the flying hand and the blast deflected harmlessly away, though Izuku was sure that Percy's ears were likely ringing after the attack.

With Bakugo in a horribly compromised place, Percy pressed his advantage and leveled a devastating blow with his metal fist into Bakugo's midsection. Spittle and bile spewed from Bakugo's mouth as he was dazed completely by the attack. Having managed to recover himself, Izuku shakily got to his feet. Channeling One for All into his legs, he leapt through the air, and by summoning his quirk into his arm, he was able to launch his own attack in the hopes of catching Percy unawares. Only Percy was not to be out done, instead, he dropped Bakugo, catching the boy by the leg and hurled him at Izuku as he was flying towards them. Izuku had barely any time to register the sudden body flying in his direction, much less to try and maneuver out of the way, before Bakugo's prone form slammed into him, sending them careening through the air.

They hit the water painfully, and Izuku was harshly reminded that landing in water was far from a pleasant experience. His vision blurring, he saw that Bakugo had apparently recovered enough that was able to move again, and was already swimming to the surface. Not wanting to be left behind again, Izuku gave chase, and they broke the surface only a second apart from one another.

Breaching the surface, Izuku took in deep lungfuls of air, and tried to wipe the water that was dribbling into his eyes.

"You idiot!" Bakugo roared, slapping the water in frustration, "I had everything under control until your dumb ass decided to try and play the hero! What did I tell you about staying out of my way?"

Something in Izuku snapped. He had worked far too hard, had been through far too much, and was beyond frustrated at his former friend blaming him for everything he'd done,

"I'm sorry!" Izuku shouted back, "I'm just trying to help, but you're so thick-headed and uncooperative that you're just charging blindly into a battle with someone you know we can't beat!"

"What did you say to me?!" Bakugo roared, and shoved his fist forward in an attempt to blast Izuku to smithereens, Izuku flinched out of habit, only nothing happened.

"What the-" Bakugo said in confusion, staring at his hand,

"You didn't think they paired you with me just because All Might retired, did you?" A familiar voice beside them asked, and Izuku and Bakugo turned their heads and saw Percy sitting casually on top of the water.

"I'm your natural counter bud. Sure," He shrugged, "You can still sweat while in the water, but the water washes your sweat off of you so quickly that you can't utilize it. Now," He glanced up at the large digital clock displayed on the roof of the facility, and Izuku followed his gaze, "You still have about twenty minutes, and while I could definitely finish things here, after all you are quite literally in my element, I won't. So why don't you boys dry off, get your heads out of your asses," He looked pointedly at Bakugo as he said that, "And try and put something together for me yeah? I'll be waiting for you at the exit." With that, he stood up, and dove into the water, swimming away from them at a ridiculous pace. The wake thrown up from his sudden departure sent Izuku tumbling under the waves again for a moment. When he and Bakugo had managed to shake off the effects of their class president's departure, they shared a glance. Bakugo just scowled, before growling and swimming in the opposite direction, near an awning of a building that wasn't completely submerged in water.

"You coming or not?" He shouted behind him as he swam, and Izuku shook his head to clear the cobwebs, before following after him. A few minutes later, they were sitting on the roof of a building by the flooded street, and Bakugo was trying to quickly dry off his gauntlets.

"He's an area of attack type fighter," Bakugo said suddenly, as he waved off his gauntlets in a vain attempt to dry them, "Which means that if we try and pick him off from a distance, we'll be slaughtered in an instant. Our best shot is to draw him in and try and push him away from the objective, while one of us keeps him occupied the other will need to try and sneak off towards the finish line."

Izuku blinked, too stunned to really be able to speak.

"What shit-stain?" Bakugo growled, and Izuku was quick to apologize, frantically waving his hands in front of his face,

"I'm sorry!" He said, "It-it's just…only a few minutes ago it seemed like you'd rather fail than work with me…" He trailed off, his voice growing somber, and Bakugo snorted.

"Don't tempt me Deku," He growled under his breath, "But as much as I hate to agree with the idiot, he's right. He's in a league of his own, on par with the pros, even with those stupid restraints he's wearing." Bakugo clenched a fist tightly in mounting frustration, tiny sparks exploding between his fingertips,

"That bastard was playing me right from the start, he remembered my fights during the sports festival, knew I was going to open with a stunner. He was only acting like it hurt in order to draw me in. I underestimated him again!" He spat a wad of salvia and stomach bile that hadn't washed out of his mouth in a puddle on the roof.

"It won't happen a third time. I recognize the differences in our power right now, but he's got years on us and even longer using that stupid, overpowered quirk of his." Bakugo shot a nasty grin in Izuku's direction, "And I know that he's starting to reach his peak in power, while I'm only beginning to tap into mine."

Izuku really rather doubted that was the case, considering Percy hadn't even seemed tempted to tap into that other power he'd used against All for One, but he didn't think it terribly smart to tell that to Bakugo at the moment. There was no reason to piss him off again.

"Besides, and as much as it kills me to admit this, you've managed to get a handle on that stupid quirk of yours enough to make you at least on par with the other forgettable losers in this class,"

"Thanks, Kaa-chan," Izuku sighed, it was the closest he was likely going to get to a compliment from the boy,

"So stop sitting there like an idiot!" Bakugo snapped, ignoring Izuku, "I know you've been rattling around with ideas in the stupid egg-head of yours, you think a plan yet or not?"

Izuku nodded, "Yeah…I think I have."

BREAK

Percy sighed and once more glanced up at the clock on the ceiling. The boys still had ten minutes remaining in their exam, and Percy was beginning to regret his decision not to end things when he could have. He was starting to get bored just standing guard at the entrance, and the weights around his wrists and legs were beginning to actually become cumbersome. Though he would admit that they were exceptionally well-made, and made a mental note to talk to Hatsume about getting him hooked up with a couple of sets of things for himself and for Rumi. He had no doubt that they'd be nearly indispensable for training purposes. A sudden series of explosions beside him drew his attention away from the weights, as he turned and saw Bakugo blasting towards him.

Sighing, Percy crossed his arms and waited for the boy to approach. He would admit to being more than a little disappointed, he'd thought that after all this time, he would have managed to break through to the angry young hero, but apparently Percy needed to beat another lesson into him.

"Haven't we been through this already?" Percy asked loudly, as Bakugo prepped one of his hands in a familiar gesture that Percy recognized as what he did before either launching a smokescreen or a flashbang.

"Shut up and die already!" Bakugo roared, before his hand exploded and the field was suddenly covered in a thick smog. Covering his head in a bubble of water which filtered out the smoke, Percy almost groaned. The kid was becoming somewhat predictable, which was a shame because he was normally one of the more tactically intelligent members of the class. Feeling that someone was behind him, Percy turned, and prepared to deflect whatever incoming blast was heading his way, only to be proven exceptionally wrong in his initial assessments of the boys. It wasn't Bakugo that was coming around on the other side of the smokescreen to flank Percy, something Percy discovered in the most painful way possible, when Izuku's foot slammed into the meat of Percy forearm. Almost certain that it might have been fractured, Percy was so effectively dazed, as well as slowed down by the added weights on him, that he had no way to get around the sudden explosion that ripped into the back of his uniform.

He was unable to stop the gasp of pain, as he felt the heat from the blast tear through the fibers of the protective uniform and burn into his skin as he was launched through the air by the sudden attack from Bakugo. He landed harshly on the ground, but used his forward momentum to throw himself into a roll and landed back on his feet, skidding to a stop a few meters away.

"Well ain't you two a pair of cheeky dickwaffles," He panted out, rubbing at his arm which was throbbing painfully. They had used Percy's own preconceptions against him, and had taken advantage of the fact that Percy couldn't tell the difference between the water in the bodies of separate individuals, only that he could detect them. But Percy was not about to be upstaged, not yet. Placing his hands on the ground, he commanded the earth underneath the boys to shake, while simultaneously ordering the water from the miniature lake that once was a city street behind him, to rise up.

"But I still have a few tricks up my sleep." He grunted, as he commanded the earth beneath both of their feet to open up. For a half moment, the earth of the facility shook, before the ground beneath both Izuku and Bakugo's feet opened up into enormous chasms. Predictably, however, both Bakugo and Izuku leapt out of the way of the sudden attack, which was exactly what Percy had been hoping for. The moment he'd launched the attack beneath his classmate's feet, he simultaneously commanded the water behind him to race forward. The sudden flash flood came on faster than either Bakugo or Izuku could handle, and neither had been prepared for that type of a counter attack. The water slammed into Percy, who allowed himself to be washed into the waves and rode the water towards the boys at speeds he wouldn't have been able to achieve with his limited mobility. While both Izuku and Bakugo had managed to maneuver out of the way of the second attack, they were once again separated.

Deciding that Bakugo would be both the easiest to deal with, and the more obnoxious of the two to fight, Percy went after him first. Sending a cyclone of water up at the boy, which Percy rode, rising high into the air, throwing several missiles of water out of the rising cyclone, Percy burst through the protective barrier. Bakugo had, as Percy had hoped he would, not run away from the ballistic attack, but had blown them to smithereens, leaving him completely exposed as Percy reared a fist back and punched him in the back. Bakugo let out a startled gasp of pain, as he fell from the air, only to be caught mid-air by Izuku who reared a fist back, and launched a blast of compressed air at Percy who had landed on the surface of the water.

Seeing the attack coming, Percy countered with a blast of wind of his own, clapping his hands together as he commanded the wind to shoot forward. From the clap of his palms, a tremendous gust sprang to life, shooting forward and meeting Izuku's attack head on. The two attacks collided, before violently exploding as an entirely more powerful burst of wind that sent Percy sprawling and skipping across the water he'd flooded the arena with. But he wasn't granted a second of reprieve, as no sooner had he gotten back to his feet, than was he under siege once more.

The sound of explosions drew his attention skyward and Percy barely had to think about how the hell Bakugo had managed to recover from Percy's attack so quickly before the boy was launching his own super attack.

"Look down on me will you!" Bakugo roared, as he pulled the pin on the grenade. Had Percy been working under optimal circumstances, he would have simply blown Bakugo away, or had gotten out of the way, but weighed down as he was, he didn't have the time to maneuver away from the attack, so instead he willed the water around him to form a protective barrier. The pin was freed from its holster and Percy caught a brief glimpse of light shine from the inside of the gauntlet's inner mechanism before his vision was obscured by the watery dome he'd summoned around him. The attack from the canon slammed into Percy's dome-like shield with a ferocity that Percy had not expected, and his hold on the barrier nearly faltered as he was forced to one knee, and the water of the dome shook and ungulated with the shockwaves of the blast.

Growling as his own frustration were mounting at being forced on the defensive, Percy let the water shield around him drop and was prepared to launch himself at Bakugo, only to be forced to leap out of the way as Midoriya leapt at him, slamming an overcharged punch into the water, which erupted violently, the shockwave of the attack sending Percy and Midoriya flying through the air. Managing to stop his fall, Percy, too consumed with his own mounting frustration, leapt after Midoriya, ducking under a powerful right hook and leveling his own metal fist into Midoriya's chest. The smaller hero bent over, gasping and gagging on his own spit.

But as Midoriya fell to the ground, writhing in barely concealed agony, Percy realized his fatal mistake. He'd been so distracted by Midoriya, that he hadn't realized that Bakugo hadn't joined in the fighting. His stomach fell out of his shoes, as he turned towards the exit, and saw Bakugo was hurtling through the air as fast as his explosions could take him near the exit. Gritting his teeth, Percy decided that he wouldn't go down that easily, and that Bakugo was still within range of him enough, that one good hurricane force blast of wind would knock him off course enough that Percy could still pull a win through for this.

If he were honest, he was rather enjoying himself, in spite of the frustration. He'd been hoping that his classmates would bury the hatchet, at least slightly, and work together, but this was beyond what he'd been hoping for. They'd launched a well-planned, and well-coordinated attack that caught him off guard and did what needed to be done. It was a valiant effort, it was just a shame that it was about to go to waste. Percy reached out one hand, intent on summoning a gale that would blow Bakugo back in his direction, but before he could get the attack off, something large, heavy, and powerful wrapped itself around his hand, keeping him from launching the attack.

Confusion turned into bewilderment and abstract horror, as he looked at his arm and saw that a large, black tendril of…something, had wrapped around his entire arm, locking him firmly in place. Craning his neck, he followed the tendril back to its source, and saw an equally confused Izuku, starting at his own wrist, where the black tentacles had appeared.

"What in the name of…" Percy started to say, but was cut off as a loud buzzer chimed.

"Bakugo passes through the exit gate, and with that, Midoriya Izuku, and Bakugo Katsuki pass." Came Principle Nezu's voice over the loudspeaker.

Sighing, Percy was feeling an odd combination of frustration and pride. He was immensely competitive by nature, and there was little more he hated than losing in anything, especially in a fight. But he was equally proud of his classmates, who had grown far more and far more quickly than Percy had anticipated. handicapped or not, a number of Percy's attacks weren't limited by the inhibitors the weights placed on him, yet the both of the young heroes had managed to find a way to succeed regardless, it left Percy feeling immensely proud. Especially given the fact that both of them had nearly killed one another on the first day of class. Still, in spite of those feelings, there was one other thing that Percy wanted more than anything else at the moment.

"Hey Midoriya…think you can let go of me?"

"I-erm-I don't really know how to turn it off…" Midoriya said, still staring in utter confusion at the tendril attached to Percy's hand. As confused and perplexed as Percy himself was at the latest strange development of Midoriya's quirk, Percy was a tad too tired to think too hard about that at the moment, especially with his own exam coming up immediately after he got back.

Sighing, Percy scratched at the back of his head,

"Well that's just…wonderful"

It took nearly ten minutes before Midoriya was able to figure out how to turn off his new-found ability.

"What the actual hell was that Midoriya?" Percy asked as they made the slow ascent up the stairs towards the observation room, while Percy rubbed awkwardly at his wrists, after spending nearly a half an hour with the added weights it was strange not being burdened by the additional mass. He felt oddly limber, in spite of how tired he was.

"I have no idea," Midoriya replied, looking inquisitively at his own arm, as though it would explain itself to the young hero.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth I guess," Percy said with a shrug, "Quirks are weird man, do they even really know how they work?"

"No idea," Midoriya said, finally looking away from his hand and over to Percy, "Though some have speculated that it's simply a genetic mutation, or even some kind of a virus, but the genetic mutation thing is the most revealing theory."

"Speaking of genetic mutations," Percy said, eyeing Midoriya warily, "I had some other questions I've been meaning to ask,"

"O-oh?" Midoriya stammered, "W-well I'll t-try and help I suppose," Percy rolled his eyes, it was always like that with him, get the kid talking about quirks and he wouldn't shut up, ask about literally anything else, and that damn stutter came back, he should really get around to having Midoriya pay Hound Dog a visit. Brushing that aside for the moment, he asked the question that had been burning at him for a while,

"Have people become…I don't know…tougher?" He asked, and Midoriya's head quirked to one side,

"How do you mean?" He asked,

"I mean, that I hit you and Bakugo hard enough to send you both into traction and I was holding back, but you both walked them off like you just got the wind knocked out of you. Back in the day, that kind of blow would be enough cripple someone or worse."

"Oh!" Midoriya perked up at once, "That's an easy one, see a lot of people's bodies have to develop or change to compensate for their quirks, and a lot of people are naturally a lot more durable as a result. That and I remember reading a study once when I was a kid where a bunch of scientists found the remains of a skeleton from like, three-hundred years ago, and when they looked at the bone-density of the skeleton compared to the bone-density of modern humans and they found that for one reason or another the bodies of human beings have evolved regardless of their individual quirks." The words were tumbling out of the boy's mouth so rapidly that Percy was genuinely having a difficult time keeping up with them all.

"While people's bodies have to adapt to their individual quirks, it's been found that over the last two hundred years or so the musculature of people have changed as well. Humans have faster metabolisms, thicker bone density, higher rates of muscle mass than in the time you come from."

Percy blinked, "That explains entirely too much." he grumbled, "I miss the old days where I could knock a guy out with a punch."

"You know you sound like a real old man when you talk like that right?" Midoriya noted,

"Shut up and let me suffer in peace," Percy snarked as they entered the observation room, where they were immediately swarmed by their classmates, most of whom were congratulating Midoriya on his victory. Bakugo and Kirishima were having their own dialogue in the corner, and it looked like Kirishima was trying in vain to get some more information out of the hot-head. Catching his eye, Kirishima flashed a wide grin and a thumbs up at him, which Percy returned.

Percy's attention was drawn downward when he was whacked painfully in the shin by a walking stick,

"Gah!" He gasped out as he rubbed painfully at his now likely bruising shin and glared down at Recovery Girl, who matched his icy stare with one of her own,

"What was that for?" He groused in annoyance,

"For hitting those boys as hard as you did," She said reproachfully, "You could have seriously injured Bakugo over there with that punch to his back."

"Hey," He said indignantly, "I was making sure to pull my punches! I never threw anything that I thought might cause serious injury."

"You still need to be careful!" She said again, whacking him again in the shin before gesturing to a table in the corner, on which sat a liter of water, "Now drink up, you need to recover your injuries before your exam."

"Wait, 'your exam,' what does that mean?" Kirishima asked,

"Kero, wasn't Percy's exam fighting Bakugo and Midoriya?" Tsu asked,

"No," Aizawa said, as he stepped into the observation room, Principle Nezu sitting on his shoulder,

"Given Mister Jackson's current skill level, we felt that it would be more prudent to test him on something with a little more applicability to his current weaknesses, rather than a battle. Now hop to it Mister Jackson. There's a shuttle waiting for you outside,"

"Shuttle?" Jiro asked, "He isn't taking the exam here?"

"Nope," Nezu said happily, "His exam will be at the USJ, we will be streaming it live to your classroom for anyone who wants to watch,"

"Otherwise, you're free to go for the weekend," Aizawa finished, "See you in class first thing Monday to go over the schedule for the trip." Without another word, he swept casually from the room, Nezu humming merrily from his shoulder.

Grabbing the jug of water, Percy popped the lid and began making his way out of the room, his classmates wishing him luck and well wishes along the way. Thanking them, Percy made his way out of the training facility and towards the front of Campus where sure enough, a shuttle was waiting to take him to the USJ. He had the bus to himself, which meant he had plenty of time to ruminate over what the exercise would entail. He hadn't bothered to consider seriously what his exam would be since Aizawa told him that he would be taking a different practical, but with the added time he started to consider the possibilities.

Since the test was taking place at the USJ, Percy was certain that it would be a civilian rescue type of exam. As Rumi had been clear to point out, it was his current biggest weakness as a professional hero in training, and the USJ served as the perfect proving ground to help test him on how far he'd come.

By the time the bus arrived at the refurbished facility, Percy had finished his water, and was feeling slightly more refreshed, though his fight with Bakugo and Midoriya had taken more out of him than he had initially anticipated, and Izuku hit far harder than Percy had been expecting him to. The boys had clearly come further in their week apart than Percy had anticipated.

Stepping off the bus, Percy took a moment to look up at the rebuilt training facility, a stage feeling of apprehension swelling up in his chest. Unbidden, his right arm began to throb in pain as his mind was overcome with memories of the fight against the Nomu, of seeing Shigaraki's hand stretching out too close to Tsu's head for Percy to be comfortable with. His heart hammering in his chest, he closed his eyes and unconsciously began to rub his throbbing arm, and had to remind himself that his classmates were ok. That he had seen them only a few minutes ago, and that he'd killed Shigaraki himself.

He suddenly realized that there was an awful lot more thinking behind having Percy's exam take place at the USJ, beyond whatever the main objective of the exercise was. They not only wanted to see how much he'd learned and honed his skills, but also wanted to test his mental fortitude. Gauge how well he dealt with his trauma, and how well he dealt with adversity.

Well, he was never one to take a challenge lying down, ignoring the pain in the arm he no longer had, and with determination burning in his breast, he strode forward into the facility.

Aizawa, Nezu, and the rest of the staff were gathered in the small entrance yard that loomed over the exercise arena. Principle Nezu was perched on a small table beside a simple ear mounted radio, kicking his legs back and forth in a jovial manner.

Percy's eyes unconsciously swept over the facility, it looked precisely as he remembered it looking all those months ago. Without meaning to, his eyes were drawn to the small courtyard at the waters edge, just short of the large lake in the middle of the facility. He could all be see Shigaraki stalking forward, his hand outstretched. Closing his eyes, Percy willed the vision away and focused his attention back on Nezu, who was watching him with interest.

After a moments observation, Nezu hummed to himself before hopping to his feet.

"Welcome, Mister Jackson, to your examination. As I'm sure you've likely deduced by now, your exam will be a civilian rescue scenario. That radio," He pointed tot he small device beside him on the table, "Is a direct link to me. I will be giving instructions and updating you on mounting situations and crises that spring up across the facility." He pointed at Percy,

"Your job, is to save as many civilians as possible, rescuing them from their dire circumstances and depositing them in those safe zones," He then pointed down to the facility. Following the finger, Percy could see several large areas, marked off by bright purple spray paint, that read: EVACUATION ZONE.

"You will receive points for as many civilians you can rescue, you lose points for any civilian you fail to rescue in a timely manner. Additionally the manner in which you rescue the civilians will be monitored, and scored as well. Similarly. you will be deducted points for any unnecessary collateral damage caused to the city itself. Simple right?" He asked, but there was a shrewd gleam in the rodent's eyes that Percy didn't think he liked all too much.

His mouth slightly dry, and his pulse racing, Percy simply nodded his head.

"Excellent," Nezu said, clapping his hands together happily. "Well then, if you don't mind, why don't you put your ear piece in, and we'll head off to the observation platform. I shall inform you when it is time to begin."

"Nodding once more, Percy reached down and grabbed the small radio device. He put it in his ear, taking a moment to adjust it so that it was as comfortable as possible, before leaning down and beginning a few quick stretching activities. He was still a little sore after his fight, and he needed to make sure that he didn't cramp up during the middle of the test, besides, the activity was doing wonders for keeping his mind occupied, and not focused on the memories that were threatening to overwhelm him once more.

Before long, the squeaky voice of Nezu rang in his ear, "Your test begins Mister Jackson, in three…two…one…Go!" As soon as the first syllable was out of Nezu's mouth, Percy was moving. Leaping through the air and down the might staircase that led to the courtyard below.

"There is a fire in the city district," Nezu's voice said in Percy's ear, and sure enough, right as Percy turned to look across the large facility, the city-style landscape at the other end of the building suddenly lit up in flames. The tongues of large, orange infernos licked the air above several of the buildings. Channeling the wind around him, Percy launched himself forward, crossing the distance of several city blocks in little to no time at all. Before long, he was perched on the roof of a building opposite the inferno. Thinking back to a conversation with Rumi that he'd had, Percy reached out with his senses and tried to feel for the oxygen molecule in the air. It was tricky, but after a moment he managed to get a hold of what he though was what he wanted, like closing his fist around a candle's wick, Percy tried to smother the oxygen fueling the fire. Instantly, the flames inside the building were extinguished in a sudden 'WHOOSH.'

Not bothering to take the time to celebrate his victory, Percy raised both his arms into the air, and summoned several large bubbles of water, the bubbles shot forward into the building, gliding up and down staircases, as Percy commanded them to search out the civilians, and trap them inside the bubbles. Within moments, ever bubble was filled and Percy was fairly certain that the building had been properly evacuated. Sure enough, as the bubbles touched down in the evacuation area just to the side of the burnt buildings, the radio in his ear sparked to life once more.

"Boating accident in the lake, several injuries and more trapped inside a capsizing boat. You will have three minutes before the occupants of the boat lose oxygen and die." The statement was punctuated but a sudden and immense explosion behind around, Percy could see just over the tops of the buildings billowing smoke coming from the middle of the lake.

Retracing his steps back in the direction he'd just come from, Percy was honestly rather grateful for the sudden dip in the lake. A quick soak in the lake and he'd likely be feeling as good as new. As he got closer to the lake, Percy could see the remnants of a ship that was rapidly taking on water and was in the process of completely capsizing. Taking off in a leap that took Percy the remaining distance from the urban area to the lake, Percy shifted into an immaculate dive into the lake.

The moment he broke the surface of the water, it was like he'd woken up from a particularly refreshing nap. His senses were sharpened, his aches and pains disappeared, and he felt a surge of energy swell into his body. Along with the newfound vigor, was a sudden understanding of the situation around him. While submerged in the water, Percy could feel and sense far more than he could on land, and as such, had absolutely no difficulty finding and locating the hostages that were in the water. With barely a cursory thought, Percy commanded several large air bubbles to surround the boating victims that were submerged in the water, and to be taken to the nearest evacuation area.

Seeing the bubbles follow his command, Percy rocketed forward towards the downed and fractured ship. He briefly entertained the idea of flipping the ship rightsize up, but that kind of thing could risk injuring the occupants inside. Punching a hole in the side could cause similar issues, so Percy decided that his best course of action was to simply swim inside and and take possession of the civilians as needed. He could differentiate clearly the different forms of people in the ship, and in less than a second, he had collected all of the remaining civilians from the accident in an air bubble and was transporting them to the surface.

As he got closer to the surface, he could barely keep the grin from his face. Things were going far more smoothly than he had expected them to, and it certainly felt like all his training with Rumi, however brief, was actually working out in his favor. Breaching the surface, Percy was just about to repost his load of civilians in the evacuation area when something very strange happened.

A crimson blur, barely perceivable by the naked eye, raced through the air out of the corner of his vision, less than a second later, Percy felt as his hold over the bubble behind him disappear, as the bubble was destroyed.

Stunned and confused, Percy whipped around, momentarily abandoning the civilians as he search for whatever had caused the incident. His eyes went wide in confusion and horror as hundreds of crimson quills rose into the air from the tree line by the lake, before arcing towards him. He braced himself. summoning a wall of water around himself to stop whatever the incoming attack was. His efforts were in vein, however, for the quills were not launching an attack at him, but rather raced towards the civilians in the water behind him. Realizing his mistake, Percy whirled around and reached out a desperate hand towards the civilians, as he commanded the water to form a protective barrier around the civilians. It worked, somewhat, however Percy's miscalculation cost him. Several quills embedded themselves into the chests of his civilians, and several more swopped around and hoisted the civilians out of the Water.

"W-what," Percy stammered out, his pulse racing and his chest constricting in fear. "W-what the hell is this-"

A sinister chuckle cam over his radio, as Nezu spoke calmly, yet delightedly into Percy's ear,

"Mister Jackson, surely you didn't think that it would be as simple as just rescuing civilians did you? We here at U.A. hold our students to a much higher standard, and as for yourself? Well Mister Jackson…you're something else entirely. So I asked for someone to…step in and measure you properly."

A dark, winged shadow suddenly loomed over Percy, blocking out the light from the sun shining through the clear glass of the ceiling. Turning around sharply, Percy had to squint through the sunlight refracting around he figure as their wings beat a calm pattern in the air, but Percy didn't need to see clearly to recognize the man flying there.

"Told you I'd be seeing you again kid," Pro Hero Hawks said, smirking down at him, as several additional quills raced through the air behind him holding civilians high above the ground,

"Let's see if you've got any bite to all that bark."

AN: Well then, I hope that makes up for the lack of action in the last few chapters! I had a devil of a time trying to figure out how I wanted all of this to go, but I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out! And was anybody expecting that little stunt with Hawks? I bet not, but I think ya'll are really gonna like where this goes next chapter! As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week.

All My Love and see you next week,

LilDB