Before the start of the match, Bard began to explain the details of his powers as well as his mask.
"Some of you don't know much about it, so I'll give a simple explanation of my powers," said Bard. "First of its not exactly telepathy; I'm not able to read people's minds, all communities, anyone telepathically. I can control people's minds, but only if I focus on my target and the stronger their minds, the harder it is to control them.
What makes it easier is having them talk to me; it lowers their guard for a few seconds giving me enough time to take them over. Once under my control, the target will be able to move under my orders. However, if they get shot, they can break free of the power depending on how strong my grip is all how strong their mind is. I've never tried it before, but I think it's impossible to brainwash too many people at once as my focus would be too splintered."
"Despise that it is a powerful ability, especially the not expecting it," said Heather encouragingly.
"But do keep in mind that I can't make the person I control talk. Also, orders that require them to think are also off the table. For example, I can show them the target Heather Owson and order them to write it because they can see it. But I can't ask them what your name is and get them to answer."
"I know we all kinda deal with this but isn't it hard when people learn about your power?" Clueless asked. "Will anyone talk to you?"
"That's why I have this," he said, gesturing to his mask. "It acts like another set of vocal cords. A Vocal Modulation Mask: Persona Chords. I have to be right in front of my target to take over."
"So you can't do it if you're in another room or something," said Heather.
Bard nodded. "Yes, but this mask allows me to copy the voices of anyone I choose."
"Ah, I get it," said Clueless.
"It's just like with Mr Eret's goggles," said Heather. "Without mass, no one will be able to know that you're actually speaking until it's too late."
"Whoa, you've got to be unbeatable with that thing," said Dogsbreath.
"And start!" Blood King's voice yelled from their microphones.
Seconds later, they heard the sound of a horn indicating the start of the battle.
"That was fast," said Clueless.
"We don't have a plan; let's go for it," said Dogsbreath and quickly took off.
Everyone followed him immediately followed him.
Back in the present, Bard had just managed to take over Bear, much to the astonishment of Salem.
'He copied my voice and brainwashed Bear?' Salem stared and looked down at Bard. 'How did that happen?'
"Now is the time to strike!" said Bard as he reached for his binding cloth.
"I've got this!" said Salem and performed the same technique you just used on Wartihog on Bard.
Bard's eyes widened as he had now been rendered utterly useless.
Salem had the ability to create solid air with his breath, the thickness depending on how deeply grieved and as such took the name, Air Force.
Salem then began hitting Bear as hard as he could to snap him out of Bard's control. "Wake up, Bear! Come on, snap out of it!"
Bear finally snapped out of Bard's brainwashing, and Salem looked down at Bard. 'Bard, from General Studies, he is able to take over people's minds, but you can break free. I heard about his powers from my classmates, but no one mentioned good copy voices.'
Then when they were still reeling from Bard's surprise manoeuver, Clueless launched himself at them.
"No good, he's fast!" Salem yelled and quickly jumped clear from Bear.
Bear caught him in his massive hand, but Clueless merely smiled. "You got a good grip there, bro?"
Clueless then unleashed a massive surge of electricity, electrifying Bear. Despite getting electrocuted, Bear still have enough strength to toss Clueless images and some nearby pipes.
Clueless winced as his shoulder had taken a heavy hit. "Man, he almost thought through that jolt."
"Bear!" Salem cried.
Heather then appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him. "I've got you now."
She then quickly took off towards their prison.
"Oh yeah, throw that dude in jail, Heather!" Clueless cheered.
Sadly he didn't have any time to celebrate as Bear managed to shake off the paralysis and began chasing after her.
"No way! Why haven't you passed out?"
The rest of the two classes continue to watch the battle unfold.
"Man, did you see him?" said Calder. "That guy is super powerful."
"You can do it, Heather," said Fishlegs.
"Don't you worry," said Hiccup, and everyone looked at him. "Trust our classmates; they've got this."
Dogsbreath managed to pull himself out of the wreckage and immediately saw that Wartihog was in trouble.
"Wartihog!" he cried; you remember the last time he encountered Salem's powers. 'The air wall should be weak enough to break easily.'
He slammed his hardened fist into the air wall, but it didn't shatter. "Nope, pretty tough. In that case, let's do this!"
He then hardened his body to the maximum and punched the wall, this time breaking through it and freeing Wartihog.
"Thanks, Dogsbreath," said Wartihog.
Heather shot right past them; she had rotated her body fast enough to make Salem dizzy and make it easy for her to carry him to jail.
"I won't let him escape!" she said as she flew by.
"Nice," said Dogsbreath as he and Wartihog turned to Bear, who was charging at them at full speed. Then he and Wartihog took up fighting positions. "And we'll make sure to stop this guy.
"Flight any little ones, please lend me your strength!" said Wartihog as insects began to fly around his wrist.
"Get some!" Dogsbreath yelled, hardening his body to maximum, encouraging his fist.
They then swung their attacks at Bear, but then he became more human-sized.
"Back to my human mode," he said as he went right past them. He then quickly spun around and faced Dogsbreath and Wartihog while their backs were turned. Then he quickly bulked up back to his beast mode. "And the beast has returned."
He then promptly grabbed the two of them, making sure to grab Wartihog around his mouth to prevent him from speaking.
"Only one of you can stand up to my strength," said Bear looking at Dogsbreath. "You're a tough one, Dogsbreath. So you'll go first!"
He then tossed Dogsbreath with all his strength into the air.
Bard could see everything from his prison and could see exactly where Bear tossed Dogsbreath. "That's where she is."
Dogsbreath found himself completely helpless as he was heading directly towards Faith.
"I spotted a lost sheep, plummeting from the sky," she said and then her bind wrapped around him.
The two classes watched as Dogsbreath was put into jail, knocking him out of the game.
"Oh no, I can't believe they caught him," said Fishlegs.
"Agreed, but Heather was able to ensnare Salem," Speedfist noted.
"So the scores are even," said Ranger.
"No, they're definitely not," said Snotlout.
Wartihog was trying to free himself from Bear, but he had too strong a grip around his mouth, preventing him from speaking to any animals.
'I can't talk,' he said, panicking. 'He's too strong!'
Bear sniffed the air and could sense both Heather and Clueless closing in on him. Clueless fired his pointers, and Heather unleashed a powerful dust of wind.
"I know what trying!" Bear roared and jumped out of the way of their attacks.
Bear then began to retreat, knowing that he was now outnumbered. 'I have aided, but Wartihog is not making this easy. I can't fight while carrying him; best to withdraw and tip the scales of this battle into our favour.'
Moments later, he returned back to base, and they quickly put Wartihog in prison with Dogsbreath.
"And with that were up to 2 to 1," said Xar.
"Sorry I failed, Wartihog," Dogsbreath moaned.
Salem was all alone in Class A's jail; he was still feeling rather woozy from Heather's constant spinning.
"I can't believe she captured me," he groaned.
Heather and Clueless then grabbed some pipes and began free Bard, but it wasn't easy.
"This is stronger than it was during the Thawfest Festival; he got better," said Clueless.
"Class B's been training hard," said Heather.
"Yeah, they definitely up the game since we last bought them, huh?"
With a few more swings, they finally managed to free Bard.
"Oh, what's this?" said Blood King with a large smirk on his face. "Class B's already pulling ahead. Each team has three competitors left, but it's obvious that Class B is setting themselves up for a win. I can't say I'm surprised, given their brains and brawn! My superior students are attacking furiously! Looks like they'll finally crush Class A!"
The other teachers just remained silent, though it was clear they didn't approve of Blood King's biased commentary.
"Yeah, keep bringing the truth, Mr Blood!" Cael yelled encouragingly.
Naturally, the members of Class A didn't much appreciate the one-sided commentary either.
"Stop with a biased commentary!" Ruffnut snapped.
"Man, that beast is strong; he'll be hard to take down," said Tuffnut.
"And his sense of smell is no joke either," said Calder.
'Bard, I'm afraid your inexperiences showing,' said Eret.
Hiccup had also noted Bard's inexperience. 'He was ready to attack with the binding cloth, but he reacted after seeing the enemy. He can't keep up with the intense speed of the battle. They need another way to take advantage of Bard's abilities.'
Bard was also aware that he had let his team down.
"What should we do, Heather?" Clueless asked. "We're losing."
"We spent too much time figuring out how Bard's powers work instead of planning; they took us completely by surprise," said Heather.
"This is my fault," said Bard. "I should've been able to move faster to capture them. I'm sorry."
"No, we should be the ones apologising," said Heather. "You ended up having to fight the other team without any help from us. I blame myself for not having a smarter strategy."
"Yeah, don't beat yourself up," said Clueless. "For someone who is not used to this, you had solid intuition. No one got to hurt, and I needed to be rescued, too; this kind of thing just comes with the territory, I guess. I know you said earlier that you weren't planning on making friends, but I like you, Bard. You're totally a future hero."
"Whatever," said Bard. "We need a new plan."
"I have an idea," said Heather and began pummelling the something in her pocket. "Clueless, look for your pointers."
Clueless looked at her blankly. "Okay?"
At Class B's base, Faith had just been informed that she had been used as a decoy.
"You used me as a decoy as an ambush," she said. "What a simple act of deception; I fear I must whip you now."
Bear stared at her. "Wait… what? But we succeeded in our mission; if we catch two more members of their team, we can beat them. Now that we know about Bard's voice changer. So we grabbed him and have while ignoring Clueless there's no way we can lose."
"That's about right," said Xar. "It's disappointing that we lost Salem, though."
Bear sniffed the air and found something rather unusual. "Trickery!"
"What is it Bear?" Xar asked.
"This will sound strange, I'm not sure what it means, but there are three Heathers heading our way!"
"Wait? Three of them?" Xar stared. "So that must be their strategy; they're fooling your sense of smell."
"If that's the case, I must chastise them," said Faith as her hair began to grow. "Devious schemes are home works of defilement."
Faith was stressed like an ancient Greek priestess, fitting considering she had Greek ancestry, except she was wearing combat boots. With the ability to extend her vine-like hair and control it, she called herself Demeter, after the Greek goddess herself.
Back at the monitor, Class B were rather confused with Bear's statement.
"I don't get what Bear's saying," said Eric, whose costume arms and legs resemble drills. "She can't multiply herself like Multiple Man can. There should only be one of her."
"Any idea what's going on?" Agnar whispered to Hiccup.
"I think she somehow found a way to mask their scents, but I'm not sure how," said Hiccup.
"I think I do," said Astrid as she leaned in towards them. "I gave Heather a bottle of perfume for Christmas, and I think she still has it on her. I think by squatting that perfume over them…"
"…they would smell exactly like her," Hiccup finished.
"Wait, are you saying that both Bard and Clueless wearing ladies' perfume?" Agnar asked, trying to keep a straight face.
"So you want us to wear perfume?" Clueless stared. "Why even carrying a perfume bottle anyway?"
Heather blushed. "Never mind why I'm carrying it. Just track down your pointer."
"Why do you want me to do that?" Clueless frowned.
"During the fight, one of them stuck to Bear's pocket," said Heather. "And if I remember correctly, you are able to track them down thanks to that special eyewear wearing."
"You were really watching carefully, huh?" said Clueless, amazed. "Amazing, Heather!"
"I think it's more amazing that you didn't notice yourself," said Heather.
With their scents covered with Heather's perfume and Clueless using his pointer to pinpoint Bear's location, they finally had the upper hand.
"Bear's nose might be their biggest asset, so we have to assume that no matter what we try, they'll always know our location," said Heather.
"And we'll use that against, right?" said Bard.
"Three people who smell like Heather, so as long as he doesn't see us here, have no idea which one of us is which," said Clueless. "It looks like he hasn't noticed the pointer yet, either. He's just hanging out."
"Ideally, we would know where his other two classmates are," said Bard.
"Instead of trying to figure that out, we should try to get the beast man while we can," said Clueless. "His powers are way too much trouble. Speaking of which, are you okay, Heather? You went flying earlier."
"I was mostly able to control the fall, but I doubt I'll have much luck if I tried biting him head-on," said Heather.
Meanwhile, Faith was extending her fine throughout the entire area.
"By the name of the goddess I named after, I will bring divine punishment down on their wretched schemes," Faith announced. "Locations! Sniff them out for me, Beast."
Bear sniffed the air. "10 o'clock! 12 o'clock! 2 o'clock! They fanned out in are heading this way!"
"If all three of them are approaching, they must know where we are," said Xar. "Is there anyone on their team who has recon powers?" It was then that he noticed the pointer on Bear's pocket. "Uh, hey, wait, Beast. Something stuck to you, and it looks like a part of Clueless' gear."
"One person captured," said Faith pulling their attention towards her. "I will bring them into the light."
"Be ready for anything," said Xar. "We don't know who it is. Clueless could be coming in hot."
Faith drew back vines revealing the person that she had captured was indeed Clueless.
"Right about that! Sucks to be you!" Clueless smiled. "I hope you had a good time because you three are about to taste a triple shock!"
"The sacrificial lamb," said Faith and quickly formed a shield around them with her vines and wrapped them around Clueless himself. "The many layers of vines have sealed off his electricity, and even if anything gets through, the shield will cast aside. It is a perfect protector."
Clueless smiled within his vine prison. "Oh, I got this. Your overgrown hair extensions won't save you! If I'm within 10 m of a pointer, my powers should straight it!"
He then unleashed a massive surge of electricity which shot out straight towards Bear or, more accurately, the pointer on his pocket. Xar realised what was going on and quickly fired several scale bullets that knocked the pointer right off Bear's pocket. A few seconds later, the electricity hit the pointer, rendering Clueless's attack pointless. Faith then created another set of vines that completely encased Clueless, leaving him trapped and helpless.
"No way!" Clueless cried.
"That was close," said Xar.
Xar's ability allowed him to cover himself in super dense scale, which could use as armour or fire-like bullets. Xar's costume was Chinese to match his Chinese ancestry; he even had a long black ponytail that reached the middle of his back, so he gave himself a hero named Dragon Shroud.
Faith then lowered Clueless' present towards her.
"Next, hurry up and get your vines ready," said Xar's voice.
"Right, where are the others hiding?" Faith asked, and then suddenly, she became motionless.
"No!" Xar cried. "That wasn't me talking just now! It was Bard's voice modifier!"
They were also concerned about Clueless; they had forgotten about Heather and Bard, which had been part of their plan.
Just before Clueless got captured, the three of them encountered Faith vines and stopped writing their tracks.
"Vines! Seriously?" Clueless moaned, "We're going to have to deal with Faith too."
"It's over if she catches us," said Bard. "Should we turn back?"
Clueless' face lit up as if he had just got an idea. "Hold up. It's possible that I have an idea. What if I'm the only one of us who gets captured?"
"But why?" Heather asked, looking rather confused.
"If they think that I'm like the big bad here, I'm the last person they want to draw close," said Clueless. "During the Thawfest Festival, Faith used a ton of vines to protect against my electricity. I'll go wild and become the focus of their attacks, and then she will have your vines to work with. You get it? Pretty smart guy, huh?" Clueless out!"
Before either Heather or Bard could stop him, Clueless purposely stepped into the vines, and they immediately ensnared him and dragged him away, screaming.
Bard tightened the grip on his binding cloth. 'Maybe I underestimated my teammates; even he can be clever. That's the difference experience makes… this is the Hero Course.'
Xar began looking around wildly, trying to pinpoint Bard's location, but thanks to the echoes of their surroundings, that was impossible.
'I can't tell whether voice came from; he usually echoes to hide his position,' he said, and then he quickly turned to Bear. "Bear, where is the enemy hiding?"
Bear then ran right past him without saying a word and merely pointed.
"Using words would be helpful!" Xar yelled, but Bear just kept on charging ahead without saying a word. "Hello! Seriously? You'd be saving you just look at my mouth, you know! Okay, fine. New plan is to wake Faith up."
He then fired a few scale bullets at Faith, but before they hit her, Heather zoomed in and grabbed her. Then in the short space of a few seconds, she placed her on a toll ledge, making it impossible for him to reach her.
"I can move faster than you can do should your scale bullets!" said Heather.
Xar quickly fired a barrage of scale bullets at Heather, but true to her word, Heather easily avoided them.
'She's too agile for me to hit!' Xar cursing turned to Bear, hoping to get some additional support. "Bear! Heather is here!"
Bear ignored him and began smashing his way through some pipes. 'Communication is breaking down!'
He looked up and suddenly saw Heather moving at an extremely high speed. He quickly protected himself by cutting himself in scale armour, but it barely protected him from Heather's kick which had been accelerated thanks to her rotating body.
Bear was smashing his way through pipes and continued to press forwards. 'Based on the movement of the scent, I can tell whether true Heather is. Which means the person hiding here is definitely Bard. Impressive… you say you're behind us, but your terrifying opponent. I consider your proper threat already!'
Bear smashed his way through several more pipes into eating face-to-face with Bard, who just looked at him emotionlessly, adjusting his voice modulator.
"You're pretty good," said Bard using Xar's voice.
'I won't fall for that ruse!' Bear roared, raising his fist.
'But Trapster taught me well!' Bard yelled and pulled down on his binding cloth.
Unbeknownst to Bear, he had wrapped the cloth around a large piece of piping directly over his head. With one good pull, the pipe broke away from the rest and hit him square on the head. It says a massive shockwave of his entire body, and he nearly toppled over, but he was able to control himself and recovered quickly.
'Not bad,' he said through gritted teeth. 'Not bad at all! But villains aren't taken out so easily; they would never be defeated by something like that!'
Bard just looked at him, his eyes filled with terror.
"Dodge!" Xar's voice yelled.
Bear raised his fist. 'I told you…'
"Behind you! Look out!"
'…I won't let you brainwash me ever again!' Bear roared, prepared to deal the final blow.
However, it was, in fact, Xar yelling as Heather was spinning him around with incredible speed. She then released him and sent him flying directly at Bear.
"Come on! Duck! Please!" Xar begged.
Sadly, Bear did not duck, and Xar collided into his head, knocking them both out instantly.
"Sorry about that," said Heather.
"All right!" Fishlegs cheered.
"Yes, expertly done," said Speedfist.
"Hey, Bard's awesome. I say he's good to transfer," said Agnar.
"No, Heather's and Clueless' quick thinking let him shine. That's why he did so well," Hiccup concluded. "That is teamwork. By erasing their smells with Heather's perfume making them hard to pinpoint, and using the vocal modifier, they made it so that the other team couldn't communicate."
Hiccup smiled broadly. 'With enough time to prepare, he was able to control the fight and use their paranoia against them.'
"Brainwashing it's an even more annoying power than I thought was before," said Ranger.
'With his voice changing support item and the binding cloth, is completely different to the person I fought at the Thawfest Festival,' said Hiccup as he closed his notebook. 'I'm sure he'd been training hard the whole time without us knowing. He's working hard to achieve his dream in order to become a hero.'
Using Faith, who was still under the control of Bard, they had heard wrapped her vines around Xar and Bear and escorted them to the prison. Once inside, Salem quickly shook Faith to snap out of the brainwashing.
"Hey, Faith! Wake up! Come back to Earth!" said Salem.
Faith was shaking under the brainwashing and discovered she was in the prison. "Why am I in the prison? What happened here?" She then noticed Bear and Xar unconscious on the ground, wrapped in her vines. She soon realised what had happened. "I was forced to do these vile actions? I failed my flock… please forgive me. I have sinned."
She then fainted, and Salem quickly caught her. "Wait! Faith stay with me; we just got you back."
Heather then turned to Bard. "You're not behind at all. I don't think we could have won this fight without you, Bard."
"I'm not nearly what I need to be," he said as he removed his voice modulator. "I can't let others carry me. I need to get strong enough to become a pro hero on my own."
Back at the monitor, everyone looked at the scores, which were 2 to 4 in Class A's favour.
"Despite their failures, the team of Class A plus Bard are the winners!" said Blood King through gritted teeth.