A very short chapter this time. Next chapter is full of sadness and feels. I posted a new story, so go check that out if you want. Enjoy~
They had to wait ten minutes, so Ace and Luffy went to the bathroom and then came back. When they did, they heard happy guy tell Todoroki that he hated them. Ace glared and Luffy frowned. "Are we the only real happy ones? I thought he was happy, but apparently he hates us. Everyone's lying," he said spitefully. Happy guy turned around and heard this, with Luffy walking away with his head dipped. Ace glared at him and hurried after his twin.
"Don't worry. I'm sure there are plenty of happy people waiting for us in the hero world," Ace assured him as they walked back to the team members. Happy guy ran after them, looking guilty.
"I dislike Todoroki because of past issues, not with you guys. You two are nice guys," he said. Luffy wasn't convinced and looked away sadly.
He said, "We already had one happy guy lie and then attack us, what's one more?" Ace said, "Don't do that, Lu. Don't make someone else make you upset. Remember, you weren't going to lose your cheer?" Luffy's eyes widened.
He exclaimed in horror, "Oh no! Mean people are everywhere, we can't be mean." He said it with conviction and then smiled at the formerly known happy guy. "Well, you deal with your problems. You don't have to pretend anymore. I have Ace and my friends and that's all that matters."
Happy guy looked truly hurt and guilty, and walked away with his head down. But he held hate at Todoroki, and hatred wasn't a good quality for someone who strives to be a happy hero. Ace and Luffy had felt hate before, but when they were little, when everyone was after them for various reasons. From when their parents abused and mistreated him.
But after Gunhead saved them, they never wanted to hate anyone ever again. "I miss Gunhead," Luffy said suddenly. "Skyping isn't enough." Ace nodded, agreeing with him. They held hands on the bench near everyone else from their class who passed, which was awesome. Neither wanted to acknowledge it, but they were surprised that some of them passed. Like Mineta. Well, only Mineta.
Then the next match was starting, the voice over the speakers giving a scenario where only they could help. Heroes and first responders weren't there. The four of them with rescue training headed one way, Luffy running on air. He looked around and found a cluster.
"Sugar Man, Tailman! Over here! There are four over here! One buried under rubble and one unable to move!" the other three nodded and all four of them were there. Sato pulled the debris off of an old woman actor and Ace picked her up.
"Don't worry, ma'am, we'll take you someplace safe until help arrives. Lu, keep searching! I've got this one!" and Ace ran off to the already-designated safe place and brought her there. "Don't stress, you'll be fine," he said with a kind smile. She thanked him in a feeble voice. Man they were good actors.
Luffy was directing his classmates and brother to more people. Ace used his power to burn a hole in one huge piece of rubble and gently take the kid out. "Don't worry, I got you. I'll take you to safety right away and you can have your wound checked."
"Thank you!" he cried. Ace let him down and flew back as fire. Luffy was crouching in the air and pulling up a block of rubble that Ojiro was holding with his tail. "Ace! Help us out!" Ace ran after and was there to quickly pull both people out before the other two couldn't hold it up anymore. Sato, huge from eating so much sugar, took both victims and was giving them assurances.
Luffy directed his teammates to each area that most would have a hard time searching and were saving as many people as they could, and burning ways in to get people that were hard to pull out. They all used the way Thirteen old them to speak. Encouraging, but not lying. Worrying over them, but not freaking out. Expressing care and concern without scaring them.
When they heard an explosion, Ace and Luffy commented on the approaching presence, Luffy said he was going to be a shield for the camp and to keep rescuing people. "Got it! You heard it guys, we're on our own now!" Luffy sprinted in the direction of the camp that the villain actors were targeting. Luffy stood in front of it and made a massive wall shield infused with a lot of haki.
They asked what he was doing. "Shield! So no one here gets hurt and the other heroes don't need to worry!" Luffy shouted. One of the villains shot the cement at them, but the wall deflected it. Soon it was barraged with tons of the cement weapons, it bounced off every single one, Luffy using haki to keep the whole thing protective.
If he failed here, he'd lose so many points and would fail the exam. When Gang Orca saw him and the other heroes protecting the camp, he shot his own weapon that didn't damage the wall. The victim actors were screaming. "Don't worry! We're here to save and protect you! You've been through enough, let us take care of it!"
He tried out a new move and shoved one of his hands through the shield and let out a burst of wind that threw many of the smaller ones far back, slamming into the wall and dropping their weapons. They were conscious, so Luffy assumed they would be out of the game if there was a certain amount of damage.
The younger twin did this multiple times, asking for help from the others, who replaced him so he could focus on the shield. When the villains started attacking from the side, Luffy rushed to the edge of his current wall to form another, this time both walls on two sides, him in the corner. This was nothing, he could handle this. He wished Ace was here, but he could handle this as the others worked to fight off Gang Orca and the smaller villains.
They held them off and luckily they didn't move to any sides that he couldn't block. It was tiring, but he had to do this. He covered himself in armament haki everywhere but his face, which gave him a boost of energy.
A direct attack from Gang Orca was against the wall but the hardened air deflected it. Ace finally came back, saying Sugarman and Tailman were able to get the easier rescues. "Help protect my wall!"
The victims at the first aid station were screaming. "Don't worry! We're here, trust us until the pros get here! No one is gonna let you guy hurt anymore!" Luffy said and called Ace's name. He shoved a hand through the wall and shot a burst of air through Ace's huge ball of flame, directing it right at Gang Orca throwing him off his game so Ace could be right there and kicked him in the arm before dashing away again. It seemed to have done a little bit of damage as Ace had his whole body of haki super hot. It left a burn on his arm.
More and more people were being taken to the first aid station, people frantic. Now he wasn't the only one defending the station, but he was the one with the wall. Ace shot forward, and covered himself head to toe in haki as he sensed the attack that was going to be thrown against him.
Gang Orca put his forehead near Ace and sent a shockwave that pushed him back but kept him awake. It obviously shocked the guy and Ace got an uppercut. Luffy shot a blast of air back at him as he was just barely thrown off and Ace turned into fire and rode that blast of wind until he was right at his face and used the steel knee cap to get him in the jaw.
It did little to no damage, but it was a distraction. He jumped back, everyone trying to support him. "How many more to save?!" Ace called, dodging his attacks with observation haki.
"Only a little more! Keep doing it!" Luffy shouted. He had to hold the walls up now and couldn't afford any time to not focus on it. But then Ace was blown backward and hit the wall, only as flames and not injuring him. "You okay?" Luffy asked.
Ace nodded, though he was coughing. Todoroki finally showed up and iced up the feet of all the villains. Ace flew to each one and punched them once, enough to knock them out. But the not happy guy came and he and Todoroki started fighting while in the middle of an emergency.
They could have great attacks with wind and fire like Ace and Luffy, but they weren't trying to help each other at all. They were arguing like children. "Todoroki, not happy guy, what are you doing?! This is a battlefield!" Luffy shouted.
But he could hear what they were saying and so could Ace. They were loud, arguing about Todoroki being rude to him once. Ace bellowed, "Stop doing this or your not heroes!" They stopped. "Look at what you're causing!" Ace shouted and pointed to the crying actors. "Work together or get out of the way!"
When a blast of fire came at Ace and a hero that had been hit by Gang Orca, Ace sensed his friend. "Midoriya! Get him!" and Ace sucked in the flames right as they would have gotten the guy. He would have been burned badly. Midoriya got there just in time, saving him while Ace kept the fire from getting to Luffy's walls.
"What are you doing?!" Midoriya demanded while still in the air, furious at them like Ace was. The smaller villains weren't stopping as Gang Orca took out the unhelpful Todoroki and not happy guy.
"Lu! One more time!" Ace shouted. He had a huge ball of fire in his hands above him and Luffy put his hand through the wall. He burst out wind only this time it was wider instead of a blast. It made heat waves blow out of Ace's huge flame and melt the guns of the smaller villains, the cement inside the shooters falling on their own feet as their outfits melted too. Once the skin showed, Luffy and Ace turned off their powers, both panting.
Luffy was exhausted, and was so glad when the alarm was sounded that the citizens were all rescued and the test stopped. That was the end of the exam. Luffy let the walls down and was panting, his arms shaking.
Ace and Luffy made tired highfives, and Ace put his arm around Luffy. "I think we did okay. We did our best," Ace said with a grin. Luffy said he was hungry. They were instructed to change and then wait on standby. Luffy and Ace were both physically exhausted, but when the sleepy guy got to the points, which were taken away, not given, and multiple observers along with those they rescued gave the points. Well, took them away.
And when the names of those who passed got up, they looked for their own names and saw them. They still had no government last name, so their last name was just Gunhead. Whatever, but they both passed! Midoriya did as well and they hurried over.
"Midoriya, we did it!" Luffy said, and the three of them celebrated, the green haired one crying a little bit. Apparently everyone from their class passed. Except two. Both were obvious to the twins. Bakugo and Todoroki did not pass. Todoroki and not happy guy failed, as they deserved. They not only hindered those working against Gang Orca, but they almost hurt somebody during their argument. Bakugo probably didn't pass due to his attitude. They were judged sharply on how they acted around traumatized and scared victims.
The two had no doubt Bakugo wasn't the kindest person when it came to that. Ace said, "We really misjudged not happy guy." Luffy nodded.
They were given their results, and compared them. Ace had lost two because he said "fuck" right in a child actor's ear. Luffy laughed at that. He had lost one point because he also said a swear word but it wasn't as bad as "fuck". He said "shit" when surrounded by the little kids. It was their rescue training that saved them. They knew how to treat traumatized victims of a disaster, and their teamwork was great and they were both strong. Luffy's shield protected them all a lot.
So close to full scores! But they passed with flying colors. Luffy grinned. "Looks like I win this one, huh?"
Ace chuckled. "By one point." Luffy replied, "Still, though."
They gathered with the others, and were asked for their scores as everyone compared. "I got 99 and he got 98." Everyone around them went silent. "It's probably because we did our internship with Thirteen and we just learned about how to do this," Luffy said in a hurry.
When they were asked the demerits, they told them it was because they'd sworn in front of the actors who were supposed to be kids. "Well, that's what you get for being really charismatic. You're nice in any situation," Momo stated, but she also got in the 90s as well. Ace and Luffy smiled.
"Man, I'm tired. I had to hold up that wall for so long," Luffy complained.
Ojiro and Sato came over, and they had marks in the 90s as well. "All four of us actually learned something from our internships! The rescue squad," Sato said with a grin. The other three were so happy. "We got high marks on our team work, even when you and Luffy weren't fighting together. Thirteen was right about our quirks. Luffy's was really helpful and our strengths helped us pull people from the rubble. Plus Ace melted easier exits in some of the buildings."
Luffy said, "We should all thank her. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear she helped us pass this exam." They all agreed to do so. After a lengthy speech from the sleepy guy directly the whole test about them having the power to make decisions themselves in an emergency situation, those who didn't pass were told they could take a 3 month course and then get their own passes.
Todoroki was lucky and everyone but Mineta was happy for him. They went to get their backpacks and costume cases and got their licenses. It had their photos on it and their hero name, along with their real names. Lu and FireFist Ace. They hugged in happiness. When they went outside, not happy guy came over.
Luffy and Ace said nothing. "I'm sorry!" he said, slamming his head on the ground with a bow. "I made you think that I was lying before in my personality due to a petty grudge I've had for a long time. I wasn't lying to you, and I'm so sorry it seemed that way. And I'm sorry for causing you both trouble during the rescue exam while I got in what could have been a fatal argument."
Ace didn't say anything, knowing what Luffy was going to say. "We forgive you, but you can't be a true hero if you hold hate in your heart. That got in your way this time, it could get in your way next time when more is at stake. We hope you're able to get your license," Luffy said and he and Ace walked away holding hands. Both were exhausted, and would not be the ones cooking food tonight.
They both took photos of their licenses and sent them to Gunhead, though he would be at work right now. They hoped he'd see it before they went to bed.
