"It's pretty…" Deku said to Bakugo as they floated through the water in a bubble of shinsu. "It's like we've really become fish."
—-Heroes of the Tower—-
"Deep Sea Fish Herding?" Deku asked.
"It's exactly as you heard. The test is to herd the hidden fish and catch them. However, you will not be doing the herding. That is the herder's job." He pointed to a picture in a projection.
"It's cute!" Uraraka said.
"This fish is called the Goby Dolphin, aka the chaser. The one who is in the center of the hole is called the Goby Queen, the queen of the Goby Dolphins. Beyond that hole you see, there exists another hole." The picture changed. "This diagram shows the structure. Below the big hole, there exists a deep hole that's connected to underground water. So at 10am the water level rises, and at 5pm, the water goes out through that hole. Because of its structure, we call this hole a wine glass." The diagram did indeed make it look like a wine glass. "When the wine glass is full, the fish gather there. That's the time for the Goby Queen to have its meal. The Goby dolphins prepare the food for her, using shinsu to create a net underwater. When the glass is full, they stand in a circle to create the net that they will soon start to narrow. When the Goby Dolphins chase the fish with the net, the queen in the middle slurps up her meal."
—-Heroes of the Tower—-
"Uraraka, they started to move!" Keiji said, looking at the herders.
"Finally, let's get going with this."
—-Heroes of the Tower—-
"What you need to do is protect the herders, so Bakugo and Deku, who have become fish, can reach the queen." Yuhan explained.
"Become fish…?" Bakugo asked.
"When the test starts, Deku and Bakugo will be placed into a shinsu bubble, and will go into the wine glass in a hole beside the big hole. The bubble is made to move according to the chaser's shinsu. So when the herders start the chase, the bubble will move with it. If Deku and Bakugo can use that method to get to the queen's mouth safely, and be swallowed up and come out through her other hole, you pass the test. Don't worry about the safety issue, the bubble can endure the digestive juice."
"So what do we do?" asked Ai.
"When a tuna appears for the group of sardines, sharks will appear to eat it. The Goby Dolphins have enemies.
-Heroes of the Tower-
"How does it look, Fuuko?" Uraraka asked. "What about the Thief?"
"Nothing, really." Fuuko Oyakawa responded, looking from a rock in a cave at said thieves. "I don't think they'll be moving soon.
-Heroes of the Tower-
The thief. Their real name is the Barnacle Goblin. They don't eat the Goby Dolphins, but they steal the fish they gathered. The giant wetworm they grow can stretch and move its body and mouth freely. They also can use this mouth to dig into shallow earth and reach the wine glass. They do this and steal the fish collected by the herders, and the thieves get the fish by cutting the worms' bellies. If Deku and Bakugo are unluckily caught by the worm before they reach the queen, they will end up being eaten and thus, fail the test.
"Another enemy of the Goby Dolphins is the Dog. Its real name is the striped Earthpig. They eat the Goby Dolphins, so they don't get along well with the thieves.
-Heroes of the Tower-
"Are the dogs not here yet?" Fuuko asked.
"Not yet. Watch the thieves for now." Uraraka said. "If the bubble gets caught by the worm, it's game over."
"Okay, and do you see the bull?" Fuuko asked.
"No, not yet. It's the same for the other ones but I really hope this one doesn't appear." Said Ryo Ogawa.
-Heroes of the Tower-
"The bull. This strange creature that appeared a few years ago is a gluttonous tyrant. Normally this type of creature doesnt exist in low levels like this, but...we don't know how it got there. Anyway, he is at the top of the food chain in this area. He came to be called the bull because of his bad temper and huge appetite. Goby dolphins are on his food list, and humans aren't an exception either. One time a few regulars ran into the bull. They were all eaten. If this creature appears while you're taking the test, things will become very difficult."
—-Heroes of the Tower—-
'They've started getting busy.' Fuuko noticed. 'Are they starting to move?' Suddenly, she noticed something rushing behind her. She turned to look, but saw nothing. 'Was it just a wild animal?'
Keiji looked at the dolphins moving. He slumped behind the rock.
"I'm so tired of being nervous, even though nothing's happening." He looked back to see a dim light further into the cave. "Light?" He got up to look.
"Keiji, what's wrong?" Uraraka asked.
'It moved!' He thought as the light moved. He tried to run, but the bull was already on him, ready to eat him. He jumped out of the way and ran. "The bull! It's the bull!" He hid behind a rock. After a while, the bull gave up on him and started going in the direction of the herders. "No…" he came out from behind the rock and threw a small rock at the bull. It ignored him. He ran toward the bull screaming, and that got its attention, as it wrapped a small tentacles around his ankle and got ready to eat him. It slammed him on the ground and leaned down to devout Keiji, but was saved by a shinsu blast, courtesy of Urumi Zahard. The princesses had arrived. They worked in tandem, Urumi blasting the bull while Saori zagged in and out, attacking and retreating.
Elsewhere in the cave, the spear bearers were hiding.
"This is boring!" Kirisu complained.
"Shut up, and be ready to go." Kida reprimanded him. After some time, Uraraka finally spoke to them.
"Spear bearers, get ready! Time to work!" The four spear bearers got up. "The thieves are on the move!" They charged to a cliff that overlooked a passage. "Don't miss any of them, or the game is over!" She turned her attention back to Keiji. "Keiji! The thieves have started moving! How's it looking on your end? Are the princesses doing okay?"
"Yeah, I think it ended sooner than we thought."
"What do you mean?"
"Saori, she demolished it. It's on the ground."
"It was that weak?"
"No...it was fast and powerful. She was just so much stronger." Saori was kicking the bull while it was down, however, it wrapped its tentacle around her waist and began crushing her. She stabbed it with her needle, and it let go.
"So easy." The bull, however, wasn't done. It got up, faster than before and bolted deep into the cave. The princesses chased after it.
"Never mind, Uraraka, it might take much longer than we thought."
Deep in the cave was Goro Miura, waiting for the princesses to come. "They took the bait…" he said to himself, waiting patiently.
The two princesses ran through the cave, looking for the bull.
"Urumi, go back, I can handle this!" Saori yelled back to her sister.
"No! I'm coming with you!"
"Just go back, Urumi, you'll just get hurt." Hurt by her words, Urumi stopped. "Wait, Urumi, I didn't…" Urumi had already run off. "Damn." Saori got back to finding the bull. As she got deeper and deeper into the cave, she suspected it might be a trap. The bull confirmed this by coming back, stronger and faster, wrapping its tentacle around her and dragging her into the water. 'Damn...this isn't...good…'
'I'll find it before she does, that'll show her!' Urumi thought, still mad at her sister. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, when she heard a deep voice.
"What are you looking for, Ms. Urumi Zahard?" She looked toward the voice and saw Goro Miura walking toward her.
"Mr. Miura, what are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you. I want to chat." He said, smirking.
"Uraraka, I lost the princesses, they're outside of communication range. Are the thieves moving yet?" Keiji said.
"Yeah, but there are a lot more of them than we thought. It's hard to scout the underground ones. We need to be careful."
"And the dogs?" Keiji asked.
"Not yet, but you were right."
"Good, then I didn't waste my time."
"We're ready, it's all about time and patience."
"Yeah, but...something doesn't feel right." Keiji said.
"A chat? I can't, Mr. Miura, I'm in the middle of a…" suddenly, he lunged at her, grabbing her by the throat and smashing her against a rock.
"I wasn't asking." He said as he choked her.
The spear bearers looked over the cliff and at the thieves, moving with the worms.
"When can we attack?" Kida asked.
"Wait." Uraraka said. "We'll bring the dogs to you. You should hunt them when they're fighting each other."
"Alright…" Kida said.
"Let...go…" Urumi said, as she was punched in the gut again. She struggled against his grip. "Please…"
"I won't kill you yet. It wouldn't be fun." He smirked before letting her down. She spat up blood onto the cave floor. "So, I brought a guest!" He gestured to the bull, which slowly came in view. It's tentacle was wrapped around Saori.
"Saori!" She managed to get out before coughing up more blood. The bull slammed Saori onto the ground.
"Now, Urumi...Kill her." Miura commanded.
"What?" Urumi asked.
"Kill her, and I'll let you live."
"No…" she weakly protested, blood still in her mouth.
"I will give you some time to think about it. In the meantime…" Miura picked up Saori, and began crushing her windpipe.
"No!" Urumi tried to get up and save her.
"You can end her suffering." Miura made his arms inventory visible. An arms inventory is like a pocket, but instead of giving data and calling people, it holds weapons. He pulled out a green hook from the inventory and threw it on the ground in front of Urumi. "This is the Green April. It's one of the 13 month series. Use it to kill your sister, or I will kill her much slower." Urumi picked up the weapon and struggled to stand up, falling back down several times. When she rose to her feet, she pointed the weapon at Miura. "Oh, dear. If only you were smarter."
"That's enough!" A shinsu blast came and sliced Miura's arm off. The arm and Saori fell to the ground, Saori gasping for air. "I suspected something was up with this test. Now I find you torturing the regulars?!" said Kazue Kaba, their rescuer.
"I'm just doing my job, Kaba. I thought you'd understand."
"Then I hope you understand that I'm just doing my job." Kaba suddenly appeared right in front of Miura and stabbed him in the heart with a needle.
"Bas...tard…" Miura said, before falling to the ground, dead.
"Ms. Kaba…Thank you…" Urumi said, on the verge of passing out.
"Take care of your sister. Oh, and, keep the weapon. You guys'll need it soon enough."
Kaba said, giving Urumi an arms inventory to keep the Green April in. "Protect it." Kaba walked away into the cave. Urumi walked over to her sister. She felt Saori's pulse and it was regular. She was just out cold at this point. Urumi suddenly realized the bull might still be there, so she stood between Saori and it, but the bull wasn't there.
"Where did it go…?"
"Just a bit till the test is over." Deku said, sitting back to back with Bakugo. "I wanted to talk to you about that night...I was out of line…"
"No, Deku, you weren't. I was the one out of line when I provoked your friend. I'm sorry."
"...you really have grown up, Katsuki. Out of respect for you, I won't call you by that dumb nickname anymore. We've both outgrown it by now." Deku saw movement in the water. "What's that?" Bakugo turned around to look at it as well. Something then came so fast at them that it cracked the bubble and passed them by a lot in just an instant.
"Shit!" Bakugo exclaimed. "Was that the bull?" It came back around and swam toward them. "Izuku, get up front with me, it's coming!" Deku was thrown by his first name's use, but did as Bakugo said. They both prepared their most powerful blasts, a total of three baangs, aimed right at the charging bull. It got incredibly close before the two blasted through the bubble and left it bloody and defeated.
Deku and Bakugo stood victorious, and Bakugo looked thoughtful. Bakugo resolved and grabbed Deku by the front of his shirt and pushed him out of the bubble. Deku was only kept in the bubble by Bakugo.
"Katsuki!?" He yelled.
"I think you should die now, Izuku." Bakugo said before letting Deku fall out of the regenerating bubble. Deku fell to the depths.
'Why…?' was his last thought as he drifted off.
-Heroes of the Tower-
The rest of the test went by as planned. The dogs attacked the thieves and the spear bearers and the rest of the team battled them to a draw before being alerted that the test was over and the bubble was on the outside. Everyone was transported back to Evankhell's mothership. Uraraka and Keiji came to greet the two wave bearers, but when she saw a shaken Bakugo in the fetal position, and Deku nowhere to be seen, she knew that the worst had happened. They had passed the test, but Deku was missing.