Class 1A took our seats, braced for a new week of challenges. Our homeroom stood at the front. It was always a lottery: either we'd be reviewing the advancement of quirk regulations across the last forty years, or we'd be thrown into a battle and spend our free periods in the nurse's office. I wondered if Recovery Girl was given a heads up on active days like those, so she'd be prepared.

We thought we were ready for anything, but were somehow still surprised.

"Bit of a field trip today. We're going to an off campus facility called the USJ. It's a day-long class where you'll have three instructors; myself, Thirteen, and All Might." Field trip? Was this off-campus facility a museum or was it a wrestling ring surrounded by lava?

"Thirteen?" Uraraka's voice was heard over the rest of the whispering, "She's one of the best rescue heroes ever!" Was I supposed to know that?

"Correct." Said our teacher, "Which is exactly what we'll be focusing on today: search and rescue. Being a hero isn't just about fighting villains, but natural disasters and catastrophes and collateral damage. It'll be long and tough but this kind of training is something you need to keep in mind at all times. It should help you try and minimize the damage you do when fighting yourselves. Meet out front in your PE uniforms in fifteen. Dismissed." He walked out, sleeping bag under his arm.

My earlier disappointment evaporated as I let myself feel excited. This was way further up my alley; no outright fighting but helping? Learning how to save people? I felt a little jittery as I changed. Asui seemed similarly pleased.

"Are you excited too?" I asked as we exited the locker rooms together. She nodded.

"I think I'll really get to show off if we do a flooding scenario. I really want to be a marine hero, and that involves pirates but a lot of rescue too." Pirates? I pictured Tsu swimming after a pirate ship to recover a treasure chest.

"That is so cool." I told her, "I bet you'd be great at that."

"Hey!" Uraraka caught up to us and our conversation, "Oh my gosh yeah. With the boys it's all about who can throw the biggest punch, but this seems like it'll be so amazing, not to mention practical. Have you guys seen Thirteen before? Her quirk is black hole, and nobody expected her to use it for rescue!" We were given the whole spiel. The three of us sat in the front of the bus, and I realized that I was sitting with friends. People who had similar interests. I felt a little emotional at the realization.

The trip was only about twenty minutes, which became half an hour because Bakugo and Deku got into another fight, blowing out a tire and finishing the journey tied up by Mr. Aizawa's scarf. We arrived; the building was a huge dome from the outside, like some sort of greenhouse on steroids. Stepping inside was like stepping into an amusement park.

I was glad that I wasn't the only one amazed.

"WHOA!" Cried Kaminari.

"Is that a volcano?" Asked Jiro. It was definitely a volcano. And by the volcano was a jungle area, and there was an urban area beside a big lake. Trees, hills, sand, cars, it had everything.

"Welcome to the USJ." Mr. Aizawa declared, "And meet Thirteen."

Thirteen, a woman in what looked to be an astronaut suit, gave her introduction, which was much of what Uraraka had already told us in the bus. Since my attention drifted, I noticed that All Might was missing. I glanced at Deku, who kept checking the door over his shoulder and fidgeting. He did always get called aside by All Might, I always figured he was being tutored to try and stop him from breaking his bones. But…

"Seems our third teacher is running a bit late, but we'll get started regardless." Thirteen said, and Mr. Aizawa seemed beyond annoyed, checking his phone, "Who here has seen a rescue hero in action?" A few people raised their hands.

It was impossible to keep my eyes away from the spectacular facility, even as I did my best to pay attention. Something strange caught my eye. Right beyond where we stood were long stone stairs down to a sort of town square. The fountain at the center of it... was sputtering strangely.

Then a dark shadow appeared on it, inky and purple. It began to bubble and grow. Was that another obstacle we'd be learning to navigate?

Say something, I thought. If it's nothing, I look silly and paranoid and possibly weak, but that's it. What if it's something?

I tried to find a moment to interrupt, anxious and kicking myself for not just speaking right away.

"Excuse me!" I blurted out rudely, cutting the hero's lecture off. Everyone turned to me. I pointed shakily, "I'm sorry but… is that supposed to happen?" Everyone turned and saw what I'd seen. The shadow grew bigger until…

Someone stepped out of it. Then someone else. And another.

Mr. Aizawa pulled on his goggles immediately and crouched into a ready stance. His arm flew out, as if to stop us from advancing.

"No." He said, "Those are villains."

"What?"

"Is this a part of the class?"

"This is real." Our teacher said in a low voice, "Those are real villains. Thirteen? Keep the children safe. Get them out of here now. I'll hold them off until All Might gets here."

"Got it." Said Thirteen, already corralling us back.

"But your quirk isn't suited for close combat!" Deku exclaimed in a panic. "It works best at long range, and when you're hidden!"

"Oh really? Well, it's not as if we have much of a choice." He looked at us fiercely, and it was the most emotion I'd ever seen on the man's face, "Do not try to fight, do you hear me? Get out now." With that, he leapt down the stairs.

More villains had continued to filter in. There were dozens by now. We watched in awe as Eraser Head kicked, hit, and used his scarf to knock out ten, all before his feet hit the ground. We backed up at Thirteen's prodding.

"Out the door, now." She ordered. "Who's fastest? We need to alert UA now."

"Juniper."

"Not long distances." I said, shaking, "I can try."

"Try."

"Ida would make it there faster." Deku interjected.

"I will not run away!"

"You are getting backup!" Thirteen snapped. The shadow leapt up from the fountain and came right us. Many screamed. "GO!" Ida took off. I closed my eyes and took a big deep breath.

Ida was halfway to the door, moving in slow motion. The shadow was right above us. Thirteen was pointing her blackhole hand at it, and Mr. Aizawa was in the thick of it, fighting villains left and right.

Was I supposed to try and run all the way back to UA? I'd never make it. I'd pass out long before I got there and be useless.

No, Ida would do it. He'd make it there much more efficiently.

I wanted to move my classmates away from the incoming shadow, but I didn't want to accidentally hurt them. Not to mention, what was stopping the shadow from pivoting and hitting us anyway?

I put my hands on Thirteen's torso and pushed her out of the immediate land zone for the shadow. She was the pro, we needed her in the game.

I needed to preserve my strength… I needed more info.

I stood behind Thirteen and placed my hands on my shoulders to try and brace her if I'd applied too much pressure.

Time resumed and she crashed into me. We were sent rolling on the concrete while my classmates screamed and disappeared. Ida made it out right before the door slammed closed.

"What was that?" Thirteen looked to see me, scraped and bruised. "Damn it, kid. Get out now."

"Oh? Did I miss one?" The shadow had a voice? I flinched as it came at us, hiding behind Thirteen. She used her black hole quirk on him, but he dodged.

A portal. I learned then that the shadow was a portal. Because he split in two. One end took the brunt of her attack, the other hovered to her side.

She ripped off half her own suit, likely her skin. She stopped hurriedly but collapsed.

"Shi-" I was surrounded by the inky portal myself.

I expected to be popped right over the volcano, or in the middle of a busy highway, but instead I found myself in an unstable-looking building. Was this a random building or still inside the USJ? Where was everybody else?

"Hey, I think there's one in here!" I sat up quickly when two men turned into the shabby room. They grinned and one of them had his arm turn to metal.

An explosion. I covered my face.

"Get up, moron." I glanced to see Bakugo kicking the men aside, "There's more where that came from." I blinked, then scrambled to my feet, following behind. We found the stairs and started down.

"Where are we?" I asked, head pounding, "And where are the others?"

"We're all still in the USJ far as I can tell." He nodded at a window and I saw the waterfall. "They split us up, but they kept us in here."

"Why would they want us here?" I asked, "Hostages?"

"Who cares?" He punched his hand explosively, "We need to get rid of as many of these guys as possible."

"Right." Despite our teacher's warnings, I agreed with Bakugo. The villlains clearly had no qualms about hurting us, so we'd have to defend ourselves at least. And if we'd be fighting anyway, it'd be best to incapacitate as many as we could, since at the moment we had one hero only taking all these guys on. "Do you think the others are okay?"

"They'll be fine." He gave me a sidelong glance, "The brat?"

"Back at UA with Ms. Joke. He'll be safe." Then again, I thought I'd be safe behind Thirteen. No. I knew Ms. Joke. I trusted her. "For once, I think I gotta focus on myself."

"Thank god, I thought I'd have to drag your ass."

The floor suddenly rumbled. We were still at least four stories away from the bottom when the roof started to cave, blocking our exit.

"Ah. I'm guessing this is a building collapse scenario." I noted wryly, "Hey, how good are you at landing on your feet?" But he was way ahead of me, standing at the window. He peered down.

"Should be fine, a broken bone at worst."

"Let's try climbing down. I'll get us out of dodge if the debris comes falling."

"Fine. It'd be a pain to fight injured anyway." We eased out the window and climbed down the outside of the building without any issue, then moved away from the structure as it collapsed into rubble. In front of us was a huge lake that led to a waterfall, which came from a sort of snowy mountain. I imagined the water must have been freezing. To our right was more of a dirt area where it seemed some of our classmates were fighting villains. Past them, through the highway area, was the town area where Mr. Aizawa was fighting. It was also just across the lake, but I didn't see any functional boats (one sinking cruise), so we'd have to go around.

The exit was behind Mr. Aizawa, past all the villains.

"Thirteen is hurt." I said, "I think I'll try to get her out." One simple, reasonable goal: get Thirteen and get out.

"Fine. I'm finding someone to beat up." No surpise there: Bakugo would never pass up an opportunity to test his fighting out for real.

"See you on the flip side. Don't die."

"AS IF!"

He ran toward the action in the dirt area. I knew I'd get caught up in a fight if I followed so I took a moment to try and find a way across the lake.

"Hey girlie…" I turned to see a villain with a hook on his head standing between Asui and the lake. I breathed.

Jogging over, I grimaced in apology and kicked his knee. In real time, it snapped into an unnatural position and he howled. I took Asui's hand and we jumped into the lake before the noise could attract more enemies.

Lucky for me, I was a good swimmer. Asui looked like she was more comfortable than ever. She peeked her eyes out and I kicked my legs to stay afloat.

"Thanks, ribbit."

"My pleasure."" I felt adrenaline pumping, "If it wasn't so terrifying, I'd say that was kinda cool."

"Are you kidding? You were awesome." She suddenly went under water, then quickly resurfaced, "We should move, there are villains in the water too." Well that wouldn't haunt my dreams. I could picture the nightmare already: me floating in villain-infested waters.

"Great." I groaned. We swam further in and Tsu found me a lifesaver from the sinking cruise to hold onto so I could catch my breath. She fought off a few villains underwater, then came up panting.

"You good?" She asked.

"Yeah, just a little tired. You'd have been great at this scenario, huh?" We both looked at the sinking ship.

"Well, I'm sure we'l get a chance to try this again."

"I'd say we have a good excuse." I agreed. I peered at the exit. Ida wasn't back with help yet. " We gotta get to the other side of this lake."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, ribbit?" She frowned, "Things seem really dangerous over there." Oh yeah, it was hard to make out much, but there was a flurry of action in the town square, people flying left and right. And we'd have to go through that to make it to the steps that led to the exit.

"Don't worry." I told her, "The plan is to sneak past and get Thirteen out. She's hurt." Maybe we'd get lucky and run into Uraraka. That way we could bypass the stairs entirely.

"Alright." Asui agreed easily, "I can be backup."

"Then let's do it."