The day started over after having successfully deactivated another tower as Chemistry was in session.
"And this equation which you weren't able to solve would have enabled you to-" Hertz said before the bell rang. "That's it for today, class. Remember to do the chemistry exercise for tomorrow."
The class then dispersed as soon as the bell rang. The group then met up with Yumi in the quad of the school.
"So how was class?" Yumi asked.
"Pretty much the same before the RTTP." Izuku said.
"And here comes Sissi, as usual." Sachiko said.
"And I predict that as she walks up to us she'll say: 'Hello, Ulrich dear. Can we talk for a minute?'" David said.
"Hello, Ulrich dear. Can we talk for a minute?" Sissi asked Ulrich.
"Right on the money." David said.
"First of all, I am not your 'Ulrich dear'. Second of all, I will not go to your room to explain Exercise B on page 52." Ulrich said.
"How did you know what I was going to say?" Sissi said before groaning and walking off.
"A Sissi attack isn't as annoying as a XANA attack but it's ten times as boring." Yumi said.
"That's for sure." Ulrich agreed.
"Anyway...hope you guys have your fun." Ranma said packing up his bag.
"Where are you going?" Dan asked.
"I'll be heading into the woods for a few days." Ranma said. "I wanna check out to see if there has been any kingdom activity."
"You sure you don't want any help looking? I can contact Perfuma and Chopper to help you out since they're already there." Hope said.
"No. They never went to the places I did and I'm the only one who knows the way." Ranma said. "Plus...it's been awhile and Pugulis made no move to attack any of us. That cannot just be good luck."
"I have to agree with him. If what he's told us is true, they should have made multiple attempts." Frisk said.
"Maybe they're planning something?" Mahiru asked.
"All the more reason to check out Pugilis's activity." Hope said. "Good luck, Ranma."
"Thanks...I'll let you guys know if I find anything." Ranma said as he headed off.
"So you guys wanna sneak into town tonight?" Ulrich asked.
"Sorry but I have a date with my pillow." Odd said.
"I need to work on Aelita materialization." Jeremie said.
"And I have a lot of studying to do." Yumi said.
"Same goes for us. Sorry Ulrich." Mark apologized.
"Oh. All...all right then." Ulrich said.
The group then split up, leaving Ulrich all alone. Sometime later, Hope was walking down the hall when he heard a voice.
"Hey, Hope. Can I talk to you for a minute? Man to man?" David asked.
"Yeah, what about?" Hope asked.
"Listen… This may seem out of left field, but… Has there ever been anyone you're in...love with?" David asked.
"Love? I don't know much about that." Hope said. "You know me. For one reason or another, I always seem to have the worst luck with girls."
"Yeah, I figured as much." David said. "It's just that, well… Ulrich and Yumi's relationship is getting a bit rocky, which isn't really a surprise at this point. Not to mention a certain someone that I've been getting a little close to lately."
"Yeah, I've seen it all over Ulrich's face. He's tired of the same thing over and over again. More than that, I think he believes he and Yumi isn't gonna work out like he thinks." Hope said.
"Well, what did you expect with these two? Budding romances aren't always love at first sight." David said. "I mean, take a look at me and Sectonia for example. It took me a while to accept the darkness inside that she had been keeping at bay until her redux. I guess the same would go for my team and Cheetah, I guess. Considering the history we had, it was difficult to accept her as a comrade at first."
"A lot of people have darkness they usually keep away for awhile. For example, I ran away from my family to start as a hero, but when Black was going to use them for his own gain, I had to face my demons. But after I did, I knew in my heart that I wasn't going to stay away from the Ginovas." Hope said.
"But eventually, the past always catches up to us. It's pretty much like my dad in the World of Light. He decided to fight against Alabastar thinking he was going to die, as a means of ending the era created by our fathers." David said.
"But in the end, both generations ended up taking down that vampire creep without any casualties." Hope said.
"Yes. And as such, it opened the doors to new worlds. Not just for us to explore, but for many others as well." David said. "Whoa… I can't believe how much the conversation derailed there."
"It just shows how close we're bonding. We've got more in common than you think." Hope said.
"Yeah… Do you think the others see that with me and Barbara too? N-not like anyone is going to admit it, not even either of us." David said.
"Probably. I mean, you guys are rivals, and you make each other better." Hope said. "But it's up to you to decide if she, Cold and Ivy want to come with you, and it's their choice if they accept."
"We'll be facing twice as much guff from their Diana if they do, but hey… That's nothing new for either of us." David said. "Ulrich and Yumi, on the other hand… At this point, I'm wondering if there's any hope for them."
"Oh trust me...they may say it's over now but in the end they'll be close." Hope said.
The next day, as Yumi walked through the school yard, she saw Ulrich speaking with a young girl named Emily.
"Why is he with Emily? It looks like they're having a good time." Yumi inquired.
She then met up with the others.
"What game is he playing?" Yumi asked.
"What? He's just talking to her. You're not jealous, are you?" Eijiro asked.
"Don't be ridiculous. Besides, she's a year older than him." Yumi said.
"You're a year older than him." Yaoyorozu said.
"It's different for me because I'm his girlfriend, I mean good friend.' Yumi said.
"Look, he's been depressed lately, and maybe he's trying to keep some pressure off him by talking to someone else. You don't have to make a big deal out of it." Hope mentioned.
"Who says I'm making a big deal about it?!" Yumi said.
Later, Yumi is seen staring at the two til Sissi walked right up to her.
"Look at those two. Two months together and they're really hitting it off." Sissi said.
"What?" Yumi said.
"You didn't know? Well, I've decided to give up on him as should you." Sissi said walking off.
"I'm not going to be taken in by your tricks." Yumi shouted.
Yumi then walked away. Later with the group…
"Looks like XANA's launched another attack. He's been getting more active lately." Miu said.
"I can't reach Ulrich." Jeremie said.
"I'll go get him." Yumi said as she left.
"Should...we be worried about that?" Frisk asked. "Yumi is definitely not in her right mind today."
"Yes, but this is a true test of their relationship." David said.
"We should probably just go ahead to the factory and wait for them there." Asta said.
"Right." Mahiru said.
The group soon headed to the factory, with Yumi and Ulrich not far behind, but both arriving in foul moods aimed at each other.
"Okay...that's probably gonna affect teamwork." Hope said.
"No time to worry about that. I'm sending Odd, Ulrich and Yumi in first. Anyone who wants to follow will have to wait." Jeremie said. "What?" he said before noticing something. "So this was his plan. Nuts!"
"Oh no. He tampered with the virtualization process." Miu said.
"More than that. He's deactivated the devirtualization process. If they get hit, they're gone for good." Jeremie said.
"It's too risky to send us in with those conditions." Zenitsu said.
"He's right. We'll just have to trust those four will be okay." Jexi said before getting a ring on his comm. "Hello? Ranma?"
"Jexi. Glad I got you. Listen...I need you guys to send a medical team to my location ASAP." Ranma said.
"A medical team? What happened?" Ramona asked.
"Don't worry. The medical team isn't for me." Ranma said looking across the forest to see multiple Pugulis soldiers beaten up all across it.
"Well… Okay, if you say so. We're on it." Ramona said.
They hurried out to the woods and started working to heal the Pugulis soldiers.
"So I found out why they weren't coming at us." Ranma said.
"That means there was someone else here." Cheetah said. "They still have an unfamiliar scent on them. Likely from whomever they were fighting."
"She's not wrong." a Hitmonchan groaned. "We came down one at a time since Chrysalia left. We wandered the woods but...someone left traps all across the forest and we ended up triggering each one."
"Yeah and if we didn't trigger a trap, we would encounter this other guy who would challenge us and beat us down like we were punching bags." a Sawk said.
"Who was it? Did you get a good look at him?" Hope asked.
"We can't really remember the guy who set the traps nor the guy who beat us up. They struck so fast." a Throh said.
"These guys obviously can't give them any info like this. Let's get them to the medical bay." David said.
The heroes returned every single injured Pugilis member to the Sunny just as the RTTP had launched.
"We thank you all so much." a Pangoro said. "We wouldn't have survived without you."
"Happy to help." David said communicating to the Sunny. "But you should thank Ranma more than the rest of us. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have found you."
"Then this will be awkward. We were planning on ambushing him but...we got ambushed instead." a Poliwrath said.
"By those mysterious figures, no doubt." Poison Ivy said.
"If only we had some kind of description. We might have some clue as to what they look like." Sectonia said.
"Well...he got a look at one of them. Only cause he hid." A Mienshao said pointing to a Pancham hiding in the corner.
"Wait a second…" Hope said. "That Pancham… could it be?" he said to himself.
"You saw one of the attackers?" Ramona asked.
"Yeah...I did. I came down with Pangoro to watch him win." Pancham said. "But...he charged at the trap guy to punch him and ended up triggering a trap he put on himself."
"Whoever this guy is, he's really good at traps. What did he look like?" Hope said.
"He has red wavy hair...and his mouth was covered in this weird mask." Pancham said.
"Wait...no way...that jerk is here?" Asta said.
"Huh? You know who it is Asta?" Akane asked.
"Yeah. We were on a team together to determine members for the Royal Knights of my world to fight against this group I told you about. He's a member of the Purple Orcas...Xerx something." Asta said.
"Xerx Lugner, vice-captain of the Purple Orcas." Cheetah said. "But this doesn't make sense. I've been hearing that someone attacked him and took his place during that exam. I can only make out a name. Zora Ideale."
"It seems this Zora guy used Xerx's name and pretended to be him for the exam." Jexi said.
"Which means the person Pancham described is actually Zora, not Xerx." David said as the bell rang on his end. "I gotta go. Science Class. See you guys later." he said as he hung up.
"Now that we know who it is, it won't be long before we find a way to deal with him." Cheetah said.
"Right. And we will avenge the honor of our kingdom." a Crabrawler said before wincing a bit.
"Not with those wounds, you will. We can't send you back to Pugulis like this." Ramona said. "For now, you all need to rest and heal up."
"As for Zora, you just leave finding him to us." Ranma said.
"Thank...you. All of you." Crabrawler said.