My Hero Academia: Under Pressure - Chapter 8 - Safe Zones

A week passed since the incident with the body and the card. Angel Wings did her best to explain the situation to the rest of Class 1-B and begged them not to pester Tonen, Ebirima, Azujima and Iha about what happened. Kuroda helped ensured that happened once the explanation was given of what happened.

Each of the four had to deal with things in their own way. Azujima arguably took it the best as he was more concerned about how his senses reacted to Iha's power up and wondered if this was a natural evolution he could expect from his gifts. Iha was in full repentant mode and offered to help Azujima with everything she could. Tonen got her to calm down that act after a few days of it as it was wearing on Azujima. The two started to form a more natural friendship not long afterward. Speaking of bonding, whatever Kuroda had said to Ebirima got her not only happy, but she connected with the class rep on a whole new level. Between her and Fenella she always had someone around to talk to, and this only grew as Iha and Hana and even Eri joined their little "friend group" alongside Kanagita.

The only ones not in the "girl group" were Ryo and Chuya. The former was very much attached to her brother at the hip, and Chuya was reluctant to do anything with anyone for reasons she'd only describe as "personal".

As for Tonen, his burden was the hardest. After hearing about "The Deck", he wanted to tell everyone and get their opinion on it. But he swore he wouldn't. And while he did confer with his parents on what Principal Ayatsune told him, it didn't bring him much comfort. Especially since they mentioned that there really wasn't a lot to tell about them at the moment. They asked for him to focus on his schoolwork and training and so that's what he did.

The week that was flew by and Tonen did his best to bring out his best in every way while also trying to be there for those who needed him. Some of the others like Azujima and Ebirima could tell he was struggling with things but every time they brought it up he waved it off and deflected onto another topic.

What became a catharsis for Tonen was combat practice and training. Armed Guard pushed them hard in various circumstances to try and bring out their abilities. And as promised, he helped Tonen work on some defensive abilities with his air wall. But he struggled with it as it was something he had never even tried before. Armed Guard said it would take time, but he would eventually learn it.

After several days of hard training and classes, Angel Wings and Armed Guard had everyone go and get into their hero outfits and meet them outside. The class didn't know what to expect but were always up for using their hero outfits.

As they approached the outside of the school they saw the two teachers in front of a bus.

"Circle up, everyone!" said Angel Wings with a wave of her hand a motion to the spot just in front of them.

As soon as they were all in position Armed Guard grunted, "Good. You're here. The last week we've pushed you hard, very hard in fact. There were various reasons for that."

For a brief moment Tonen noticed Armed Guard looking directly at him, but when Tonen tried to meet his eye he turned away.

"The main reason is that while you're still new in UA you need to be prepared for the eventualities that await you beyond these walls. UA has many facilities, some of which you've already witnessed. But today you go to one that'll truly test both your mental and physical abilities."

Angel Wings clasped her hands in joy, "Indeed! You're going to be heading to a place that I personally loved to train at, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Also playfully nicknamed the 'USJ'."

"Let me guess, you 'playfully' call it that because you can't brand it as such due to Universal Studios Japan?" asked Eri, who clearly already knew the answer to that.

"No one likes a spoil sport, Ms. Ogata!"

The class snickered as they never saw Angel Wings get worked up like that.

"Anyway...you'll be meeting one of your other professors there, alongside a special Pro-Hero who is a good friend of mine. So treat them well."

"If you don't..." warned Armed Guard, his voice getting especially growly, "You'll be...disciplined. Do you UNDERSTAND?!"

"Sir yes sir!" the class cried out in unison.

"Good. Then off you go. You'll receive more instructions once you're there."

The teachers motioned to the bus and the door opened. Kuroda, as the class rep, entered the bus first and made sure everyone got on and sat down quickly and without fuss. As the bus took off the teachers waved to them.

"Do you think they'll do well today?" asked Angel Wings, curious to his thoughts.

"More than likely, should they not get arrogant," concluded Armed Guard with a clear lack of caring.

"So...I do believe we have some rare time to ourselves. What should we do?"

"Well...they did just put in an air hockey table in the teacher's lounge..."

"Oh, FUN! Race you there!"

With waiting for a response she jumped into the air and used her wings to rush form. Armed Guard wasn't pleased and chased after her, "It's hardly a fair race when you can FLY!"

On the bus, the students all relaxed in the seats and for a while no one said anything.

That is, until Sanda looked around at everyone in rapid succession, "So, uh, guys, does anyone actually know about this USJ place? I've never heard of it. I mean, not that I needed to know about it but-"

"I've heard of it, Sanda," answered Ebirima from the chair behind him. "My older brother went to UA a few years back and I heard him talk about the place. According to him, it's a massive area setup up in disaster scenarios."

"Disaster..." started Ryo.

"...scenarios?" finished Ryu.

"Yeah, disaster scenarios," Ebirima confirmed with a laugh. "It's meant to test us in way that UA's practice areas can't because this place apparently uses weather and terrain to help set the tone."

"Oooohhh..." piped up Fenella with a teasing look to a Hana, "I guess we know who's going to ace this test whatever it is, ya?"

"I doubt it'll be that simple," scoffed Hana. "Besides, I can't control how my powers shift based on terrain, and even I don't know how it reacts in all areas so I might transform into something not that helpful."

"Well aren't you a worrywart, lass?"

A snap of fingers got their attention and they saw Tonen giving Fenella a stern look, "Leave Shifty alone, Red."

Hana tilted her head in confusion, "Shifty?"

"Don't you remember, you said that you were a bit 'shifty' in your acceptance speech for being Kuroda's NO.2. Seems to fit you."

"Oh, yeah, I can live with that. Should that be my hero name too?"

"I think you can do a little better."

"I don't know, I kind of like it...Shifty..." teased Fenella again with some pokes to Hana, making her laugh at the touch.

The others watched the two do their little game before Ebirima pulled Fenella away, "Come on, come on! Let's all focus on the task ahead, right Kuroda?"

"Uh-huh," answered Kuroda, who was looking as confident as ever. "I think this could be very fun, push us to think on our feet. I'm already going over in my head the materials and elements I can use in various scenarios to over certain things."

"Such as?" asked Wasuke, curious.

"Well if there's fire, I'd want to make things that are either fire resistant or retardant. To either put out flames or shield myself or others. If it's water, water repellent, or absorbent, depending on the need, and so on."

"A fair assessment. While I do concur that this will be a good test for some of you based on your abilities, it'll be a harder test for those who don't have an easy advantage. Such as my shield, or Ueno's momentum shift."

"Oh great, I'm doomed," Ueno lamented as his head spun around like usual.

"I didn't say that! I just said it would be a challenge! Challenges are great!"

"Challenges make my head spin."

"Your head is always spinning," noted Wasuke.

"Because life is a challenge.'

This snappy remark got many in the class laughing, Tonen just rolled his eyes, "Shield Hero, Dizzy, please stop. Anyone else looking forward to this?"

"I am!" stated Anno as he flexed his hand, "This could be a good test of my Shark abilities, especially if I'm in water."

Doza leaned in, "How fast can you go in the water? And don't say as fast as a shark."

"I was tempted to... But in truth I don't know how fast. I've never pushed myself in the water believe it or not."

"How's that possible?"

"I live an hour from the ocean, that's how. My parents didn't have time to take me to the beach or any nearby lakes as much as I wanted so while I can swim...I don't know how fast I can go."

"Doubt it's faster than me," boasted Oshibu with a pose.

"Did you forget I bet you during that first combat test despite your super speed?"

"But this wouldn't be a combat test, would it? It'd be a pure speed test and in that I'd win."

Eri chuckled lightly at their "measuring contest", "I would agree with Oshibu on that. For the sole reason that he's had time to refine his speed and you have not. Plus, his Quirk speed is more instantaneous, while yours requires momentum and strength. Is that fair, o mighty shark?"

Anno bared his shark teeth because he knew she was trying to provoke him, but he scoffed and looked away, "Still beat him in combat."

"That you did."

"What are you looking forward to in the USJ, Copycat?" asked Tonen.

"A nice question. For me, it's more about the second experience than the first."

Ikaim tried to piece together what she meant, but drew a blank, "How does that work? Are you saying you're not skilled enough yet? You're pretty awesome every time we do drills and such."

Eri gave a small bow to him at the compliment, "Well thank you, flattery will get you everywhere. But you're thinking small scale. My Quirk relies on me viewing things and then using them. So before I came to UA I focused on combat techniques. As well as certain acrobatics and gymnastics. But in rescue training like we're about to do, it's more about adapting to specific scenarios. Scenarios that..."

"...you haven't studied because you haven't focused on those specific tasks yet?" finished Kuroda with a knowing point.

"Correct. So I'm not going to beat myself up too badly on how I do, or don't do, today, because I can go back to the dorm and just learn what I need to in order to improve for next time. Better to fail in training than in the real world where real lives are on the line."

"That's really smart," noted Kanagita, clearly in awe at Eri's longterm thinking.

"Yep," added Iha, equally impressed.

Eri looked at both of them and smiled in kind, "Why thank you ladies."

A very long and faux groan emerged from the back of the bus, and they all turned to see Goya playing with his spheres and looking annoyed, "Do you all ever stop patting yourselves on the back?"

"Why should we when you don't?"

This got a large reaction from most of the class. Goya though just smirked, "Almost clever, except I don't pat myself on the back. When I praise myself, I know it's deserved, which is all the time. Thus it doesn't matter what scenario I'm put in, or what dangerous situation is ahead of me. My mind and abilities will see me through. First time, and every time after."

He gave a sneering smile to all of them, and many scowled at him in reply. But their hate was broken up by a laugh, it was from Tonen.

"First time, every time? Yeah right," he mocked.

This irked Goya, "Excuse me?"

"Oh, for such a 'great mind' you have short term memory. Kana?"

Kanagita was surprised at being called, "Yes?"

"When you and Goya fought in that first class battle, who won?"

"I...I did."

"That's right, you did, and you should be very proud of that."

Kanagita blushed slightly and looked away, Goya stewed at this, "She caught me off guard, that's all."

Tonen made a buzzer sound to call him out, "But you were the one who said 'first time, and every time after'. Or does that not count when you're piledrived out of existence?"

Goya flared up and rose to challenge Tonen, who rose up in equal measure, ready to scrap. Before they could though, two iron rods were pointed at them, they were in the hands of Kuroda, "Boys, I love a scrap, but not here, and not on our way to a training mission. Now sit."

Tonen happily sat, "Whatever you say, K-Rep."

Goya hesitantly sat down and then went back to his spheres.

Kuroda scoffed and sat down, "Good enough. I feel like someone hasn't talked yet. Oh, Azujima! What do you think of the USJ thing?"

Azujima thought about it for a bit, "It's good to be a challenge as Wasuke said. If it's a true rescue mission my senses could be used to guide whoever to where the in-danger people are, or warn of potential other dangers."

"Very smart! I hope to be paired with you then, it'll make it a bit easier on my part. Let's see...and...oh, Chuya!"

Also at the back of the bus sat Chuya, once again far away from the others, and once again irked at being talked at, "Yes...?"

"I'm sure you've had some training from your soldier parents in regards to rescue ops, you looking forward to the test?"

"I'll be ready, it's what's required of me."

"Girl, you need to lighten up."

"K-Rep, what in our time with her states that will happen?" joked Tonen with a mocking expression.

Chuya twitched at the joke at her expense but unlike Goya, didn't fire back.

"Oh hey, there it is!" spoke out Ryu suddenly.

"Yes, brother, look how big it is!" added Ryo.

Now curious, the entire class looked outside the windows of the bus to see the structure. It was a massive domed building and proudly showed the letters "USJ" in front of the gate. The size was very impressive, but most of them understood that it needed to be that big to house what was inside.

Once the bus stopped, Kuroda pulled out the metal rod she had on her before and made it glow as she stood up, "Alright everyone, let's go! Keep it orderly and see what awaits us inside!"

With a motion she guided everyone off the bus, then rushed to the front of the pack to guide them all into the domed building. As they entered, every single one of them, including Goya and Chuya, were in awe of what they saw. Because spawned across a massive space were six distinct zones that had different elemental attributes and settings. It was such an impressive scale that they were floored that someone took the time to make this and maintain it all. All for the sake of their studies.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're thinking something along the lines of this is 'overkill', right? But it's honestly not. Hero work is more than just fighting bad guys, it's saving people who could be in various positions or situations beyond a normal street fight or robbery or even hostage situation. The weather, the elements that come from it and more can change a situation into something much deadlier and thus students like us had to be prepared for it. This was one way to do that. And come on, you know it looks cool!"

"Finally, you are here," came a voice.

They turned to see one of their other teachers, Ignatius Quo, hovering towards them in his chair. Beside him was a white-haired man in winter gear.

"Welcome Class 1-B to your first bout of Rescue Training here at the USJ," Quo stated in his monotone voice. "You'll be doing several sessions here over the course of your time at UA, be ready for it and all the challenges it will bring."

"Who's next to you, Big Brain?" asked Kuroda as she eyed the winter-dressed man.

"Don't...interrupt me... Furthermore, while your other teachers may be fine with being called by their hero names, I decided am not. It's Mr. Quo or teacher. Now...as for your other question, this is Wakaro Naritoshi. He's someone who will help you with your training today while I advise and supervise. Mr. Naritoshi, the class is yours."

"Thank you, Mr. Quo. Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to meet you," the man known as Wakaro said with a wave to the class.

"Wakaro Naritoshi. Rescue Hero. Hero name: Snowpiercer. He's dressed in winter clothing for a reason as his Quirk allows him to literally penetrate snowy areas just by walking through them. Snowbound or blizzard trapped, he can get to you and create a still barrier around him so that you're not harmed by the cold. A perfect Quirk for rescue operations."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Naritoshi," answered the class.

"Ha, ha, how kind of you, but unlike my colleague here, I'm fine with you calling me by my hero name of Snowpiercer. It sounds cooler."

The class got a kick out of this but didn't make too much noise as Snowpiercer got in front of them and motioned to the areas around them.

"As noted by Mr. Quo, today you're at the USJ to go and partake in rescue training. There are six areas here that are designed to replicate certain kinds of natural and even man-made disasters that you can come across. Though for some reason they never got around to making a snow area."

"Well that's odd," noted Hana. "I've been all around Japan because of family and there's plenty of places to get snowed in, especially spots like Aomori City."

Snowpiercer was impressed by her response, "That's my home base of operations believe it or not. And don't fret that there isn't a snowy area here to practice in, most major cities like Tokyo don't get a lot of snow so it's fine that they wanted to spend time and money on practice areas that likely you'll find in your careers."

Quo cleared his throat to get their attention, "A snowy area was proposed, but overruled due to costs and such. However, if some of your powers, like Mr. Naritoshi's, had more of a snow focus you would've been taken to certain other locations for focused training. But that doesn't appear to be needed for your class at present."

"And there you have it. But don't think that these other places aren't dangerous, or should be taken likely. You'll find that there's a lot that can go wrong in them if you're not careful. Which brings us to your first assignment. You'll be put into pairs of two, and then a pair of you will go into each dome or zone. Your missions will all be the same, extract a set of dummies that have been placed to symbolize trapped people. You'll have to get them out with minimal damage to get passing grades. However, it should be noted that we might have added extra difficulties to ensure that it's not too simple. Use your wits, and your Quirks, to get you and your civilian targets out safely. Understand?"

Chuya shot her hand up, "Sir, how will be divided into pairs and zones?"

"Randomly," he answered before turning to his colleague, "Mr. Quo, would you do the honors?"

Quo brought up a holographic projection via his chair, "I shall. To ensure no prep time, and thus keep things even we'll do this by batches of ten. 5 pairs for the first round, and five for the second. Here are the first five pairs and the zone you will be in."

The holographic screen cycled through various pictures of the class as well as the zones in the USJ and eventually landed on pairs and settings.

"First pair. Azujima Yakishi and Hana Yasuyomi in the Ruins Zone. Ryo and Ryu Jurou...odd that they got put together...will be in the Landslide Zone. Eri Ogata and Wasuke Bohiko in the Mountain Zone. Kuroda Fuji and Oshibu Noka in the Conflagration Zone. Finally, Ebirima Koge and Fenella Merida in the Flood Zone. No talking as you head to your zones. Wait for a signal from here before you head in. The rest of you will remain here and wait for the first batch to finish."

Eri raised her hand, "A question, if I may."

"You may," replied Snowpiercer with a motion to continue.

"You said we have to save some dummies. How many are there in the zones?"

"That is part of your test. Sometimes you won't know how many are there in a given area. As such, search far and wide in your zones to ensure you don't miss anyone. However...we did put a special mechanical light on your dummies. When all of them are within a foot of one another, the lights will turn green and let you know that you're done. But until that happens, keep up the rescue efforts, off you go."

The assigned pairs formed up and then went into the central plaza area before they broke off to go to their assigned areas. They didn't talk, but each of them gave a certain look to their partner as some weren't sure how well they would do together. The two pairs that did gave looks of comfort to the other.

They reached the areas and turned back to the entrance. Quo tapped his chair and a hologram projected itself into a countdown. When it hit zero, it then flashed, "GO!". Not wanting to waste a second they all rushed into their areas.

In the Ruins Zone, Hana and Azujima looked around and saw a massively destroyed city. Unlike their training spot at UA, these buildings were wrecked from nearly top to bottom. Some even collapsed upon one another to set the tone.

"This isn't scary at all," noted Azujima as he looked around.

Hana gave a noise of acknowledgment, "Let's just be glad this is only a training area. Ok, so, we need to find the dummies. Can your super senses detect them?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure what they look like, or material they're made of so they might not emit a smell. I can try though."

Azujima dialed up his senses on his helmet and searched for any trace of the dummies in the area. But quickly he realized this wouldn't be easy as there were sights, sounds and smells from not just this area, but the other nearby areas getting in his way and causing interference. By opening himself up he allowed everything to flow in. He shook his head and dialed it back down.

"No good, sorry. On the plus side, I know what improvements I need to make to my helmet next go around."

"It's something," Hana said as she sighed and looked around. "Alright, let's try and get lucky and see where things take us. I'll take point, you let me know if anything happens around me, ok?"

Azujima dialed up his helmet for a certain range, "I'm on it, let's go."

The two raced off and looked around for what they felt might be good spots to hide dummies. They didn't dare enter some of the buildings in case they were rigged to collapse. Azujima even warned Hana about ones that were close to breaking down.

After a few minutes of searching, Azujima spotted something down a pathway, "Hana, hold up!"

She stopped and went back to him, "I think I see something down there. Hold on, let me zoom in."

With a dialing of his helmet, Azujima focused in on a pathway that was more of a gap between two buildings pressed upon one another. As he looked deep into it, he found a humanoid figure.

"There! There's one of the dummies!"

"Well done, Azujima! You stay here, I'll get it and come back without triggering anything."

Hana knelt down and touched the ground, and not unlike her first combat trial with the class, her body dissolved into the earth and she vanished. Knowing this trick, Azujima focused not on her, but the dummy. Sure enough, she appeared behind it, and grabbed it before doing the same trick to get back to Azujima.

"Huh, that worked," Hana said surprised as she laid the dummy down.

"What do you mean?"

"I've never done that transport method with another object before. This will help immensely as we try and get around and find the dummies."

"Oh, good point. Well, now that we know what to look for I...I..."

He paused and looked down at the dummy, something bothered him about it.

"What's wrong?"

Azujima held up a hand to stop her from talking. He adjusted his helmet and focused on something within the dummy, "I hear something...it's...the light!"

"You can hear light?" she asked confused.

"No, that mechanical light, the one on its shoulder, it's a machine, and machines have signals. It's on right now! Searching for proof of contact from the other dummies. I can hear it! And if I can hear it..."

"You can find the others!"

"Right, ok, let me track it."

Once again Azujima dialed his helmet to his needs. This time though to listen for the mechanical signal from the lights. Once he locked onto the frequency he used his helmet to tune out everything else except for that sound. After some fine tuning, he heard three other instances of the sound.

"I got it!" he exclaimed, happy that it worked.

"Wonderful, this time you lead the way."

With a smile and a motion they moved towards the next spot. A dummy was in the bottom floor of a building. Azujima made sure it was secure enough and when he got that confirmation Hana rushed in via her technique and got the dummy out.

The one after that was on a platform hanging out from one of the buildings. It wasn't on the ground level so Hana had go and climb up via some openings in the building itself. Getting up there was tricky but she was able to get the dummy and tossed it down to Azujima before she headed back to the ground.

"One more, right?" she asked as she dusted herself off from the landing.

"Yeah, and uh...this one will be the hardest," answered Azujima as he pointed to a building in the distance.

They made their way to said building and once there Azujima pointed up a few floors.

Hana's eyes bulged slightly at this, "It's up there?"

"Yeah...can you use your technique to get up there?"

"No, I doubt there's a direct earth connection to the dummy. I can move along the ground, but only up it when it's curved, not stairs or a direct move upward. I'll have to go in on foot. Monitor the building as best you can, just in case something happens."

"Will do, be careful."

"Thanks. Well...off I go."

With a nervous laugh she went into the building. Every step she took she did her best to not trip anything or cause a chain reaction. Her guess about not moving up the floors was accurate as she had to take metal stairs to get from floor to floor.

As she reached the third floor Azujima called out from the ground, "It should be close to you, Hana!"

She looked around and there was a dummy leaned up against a wall, slightly covered in rubble. Hana went to it and then looked out the window to signal her partner, "Got it! It's slightly covered so this will take a sec."

Hana proceeded to remove the rubble and lifted up the dummy. Unlike the others, this one seemed very heavy, and she had to use both arms to drag it. It took a lot of effort to get it from floor to floor. As she was moving down the flight of stairs to the ground floor, she felt something shake.

"What was that?"

Outside, Azujima's helmet started to pick up signals, "Oh no. Hana! The building's starting to drop! Get out of there!"

Adrenaline kicking in, Hana got to the ground floor and instantly touched the ground with her hands. She dissolved and raced out of there and appeared right behind Azujima. Who was relieved at the sight.

"Oh thank goodness."

"Yeah, that's one word for it," she joked while taking in heavy breaths to calm herself.

A loud crash got their ears and the two watched as the building slowly crumbled upon itself. After it settled it sent a dust cloud out towards them and beyond.

Coughing heavily, the two cleared the air, and looked upon the even more ruined building. Azujima was the first to react, "I'm really glad that didn't fall on you."

"Same, now come on," Hana instructed as she motioned for him to help lift the dummy. "This is the last one, let's drop it off with the rest of the dummies and be done with this."

In the Landslide Zone, The Twins looked at the buried landscape in front of them in awe.

"Sister, doesn't this remind you of that one vacation..." started Ryu.

"...where we saw that former town buried in dirt? Yeah, this is a lot like that, brother." finished Ryo.

After a bit of gazing they turned to one another to formulate a plan.

"Do you think some of the dummies are buried within the landslide?" asked Ryu.

Ryo thought it over, "Possible, it would make things difficult, though not impossible. But..."

"But...? What's wrong?"

"There's no major machinery here outside of you, I'm not going to be much help."

"Oh, that is a problem..."

In unison, they hung their heads in grief, but Ryu popped up quickly, "Wait, sister, there is machinery here!"

"Where, brother?" she asked looking around.

"Remember what Snowpiercer said? There is a device that'll light up when the dummies are close together! That means a wireless signal!"

"And I can talk to that! Awesome!"

She held out her arms and the veined structures emerged upon their arms. Her face tensed when she searched for them.

"They're being quiet, they're telling me they're not supposed to talk to me because they serve a single purpose."

"Huh, who knew machines liked to be secretive, sister?"

"We all have our personalities. Ok, I can't get them to move the dummies away, but, I can guide you to them so we can get this done relatively quickly. There are...five in our area. And..."

"...a few are buried, right?" finished Ryu with a shake of the head.

"Two, I'll save them for last. Ready to start?"

"Ready."

"Let's go!" they said in unison.

Working in perfect sync like usual they went off to find the dummies. Ryo actually rode on Ryu's back while he was in robot form and guided him to the signals she picked up. In quick succession they got the three dummies and put them in a safe spot. But when they got to the ones that were buried their mission got a little harder.

Ryu dropped off his sister and prepped his hands for action, "How deep, sister?"

"At least three feet based on what I'm getting, brother," she answered as she reached out her hand for information from the device. "Do what you can to clear things away and I'll let you know when you're close do you don't hurt the dummy."

"Alright then, heavy load, coming through!"

Ryu winded up a punch and slammed it into the dirt, instantly making a small crater. Then he shifted into digging mode and even used his rockets to help speed up the task. When he got close Ryo gave him a signal. The dummy was extracted and they moved to another spot to go and get the final dummy.

A few minutes and a lot of digging later, the Twins had gotten their final dummy and placed it with the others. Satisfied with their work they high-fived one another and sat down for a breather alongside their rescued bounty.

In the Mountain Zone, Eri and Wasuke started their journey by climbing up a mountain face. Wasuke used the inner sides of his arms where the pointed sides of his shields were to bury into the ground to gain more of a foothold as he went up. Eri meanwhile seemed to fly up the rock wall with without so much as hesitation.

Wasuke was impressed, "I thought you said you focused on combat techniques before coming to school, Eri?"

"I did say that," she replied, "but I also said I learned some gymnastics and acrobatics. And it just so happens that my parents love to mountain climb on their off days. So...I learned to do that so I could join them."

As if to enforce that fact, she went and propelled herself from a few spots and launched into the air before landing gracefully at the top.

Wasuke had to take the harder road and was a little gassed by the time he was up alongside her, "Well as Ikaim said, you are awesome."

"And like I said, flattery gets you everywhere."

"Should I tell that to Tonen so you'll stop glaring at him when he's not looking?"

This caught her off guard and she turned to face him, "Excuse me?"

"Oh don't deny it!" Wasuke said with a small boast, "You're subtle, but you can get caught. I only thought I noticed it the first time, but the second and third time I was looking for it and there it was. I'm not sure why you glared at him after the incident with the dead civilian but to each their own motives I suppose..."

"I didn't...look I don't glare in malice. I glare because of our combat test together."

"Where he beat you."

"He beat me because of iha!"

"...which means he beat you."

The two stared down the other, but Wasuke was much more playful with it, even raising his eyebrows in a way to show he wouldn't stop until she admitted it.

She sighed and groaned, "Yes, he beat me, and I hate that because of what he said."

"What did he say?" he asked.

"He said I should've knocked him out instead of playing with my food."

"Such banter! And here I thought he saved all of that for Goya."

Eri couldn't hold back a smile at that comment, "Yeah, those two will beat each other up eventually. But in his case, it makes me mad because he saw something I didn't. He lost the fight, he knew it, I knew it, but not only did he plan things better, but he was better prepared mentally. I should've been that way. I'm supposed to be a prodigy, the quick learner, the..."

"Copycat?" teased Wasuke, citing Tonen's nickname for her.

"Yes, the copycat. I glare at him because I see my own failure. And due to dumb luck in sorting I've never been able to show him that I've learned from it."

"Well...like you said on the bus, it's not about the first time, it's the second for you. That was our first major combat against the others in our class. We didn't even know what each other's Quirks were at the time for the most part and like you said...he got the victory because of Iha. So should you really let this affect you? Or should you move on and just be ready for the inevitable rematch?"

The wisdom of the statement caught Eri by surprise, "And here I thought Tonen was the big brother type."

"The irony of that statement is that Tonen's a single child and I actually am a big brother. One with two sisters. So I've become very familiar with the art of the female glare."

He gave a loud laugh at this and Eri rolled her eyes and motioned for him to follow, "Yeah, yeah, 'Shield Hero', now come on, let's go find some dummies."

"Ah, yes, we shall. Why do you think Tonen does the nicknames, though? Bad memory? More fun?"

"Eh, to each their own, oh, found one!"

She pointed to the side of the mountain and a dummy was on the ledge just a few feet from the top. Eri slid down and grabbed it and carefully threw it up to the top. After which she quickly rejoined him.

"That's one, how many more do you think?"

Wasuke looked around for hints as to the others, "Hard to say. Pro-Hero Snowpiercer said that it varied upon the region. Let's just keep our eyes peeled. Especially off the side given that one we just found."

The two search on and after a few minutes they found another, and another a few minutes after that. But they had a drought once the third was discovered. At one point Wasuke sat down to rest his feet and he pointed up to the tip of a nearby mountain, "There's one!"

Eri turned and did a double-take at the location, "They want us to go up that high?"

"Do you want it, or do you think I should?"

"You go ahead, I doubt the handholds will be good up that high. But go deep with each piercing stab you do, it's a long way down otherwise."

"Thanks for the tip, off I go!"

With a deep breath he rushed to the mountain and latched onto it. He followed Eri's advice and made sure that every cut he made into the mountain was deep so that he could move on. He even shifted his style from time to time in terms of what part of the shield he put into the mountain to make sure he didn't fall. Eventually he got to the top just enough to grab the dummy.

"Catch!" he yelled from the top.

He dropped it to Eri, who did indeed catch it in a rather graceful manner, "Got it!"

"Good, on my way down!"

Switching his stance once again, he used his bladed sides to literally glided down the mountain with good speed. He landed on the ground with pose, "Ta-Da!"

"Impressive, I might have to mimic that one day," she noted as she put the dummy down alongside the others.

"By all means, and then you...oh, look! We're done!"

Eri gazed at the dummies and their sensors were going off showing they were indeed done, "Huh, very nice. A pleasure, Wasuke."

"The pleasure was mine, Eri, let's get out of here."

Within the Conflagration Zone, Kuroda and Oshibu were surprised by how on fire everything was.

"Huh," Kuroda said with a tilt of her head, "it really is on fire, I thought they were joking."

Oshibu gave a short laugh as he adjusted his shades, "Heh, fire only hurts if you stay in it for too long. I'll have this done in no time!"

"I don't think-"

Before she could finish he darted away, causing her hair to fly in the direction the sudden burst of air went into.

"...that's a good idea."

Kuroda exhaled sharply as she didn't like to be ignored. She tapped her foot lightly on the ground as she knew he would return. Sure enough, he did for a brief moment.

"Didn't find anything that way, I'll go this way now!"

"Can you just-"

He burst away again and this really got under her skin. Kuroda pulled out one of her rods that she added to her costume and changed it to a heavy steel.

She waited until she felt he would come back and carefully positioned the rod so it would be hidden on the other side of her body.

A feel came over her and she swung it. Just as she did, Oshibu returned.

"Ok, none over-"

The bar hit him square in the chest and sent him to the ground. He gasped for air as the bar hit him quite hard.

Kuroda knelt down a bit and gave a satisfied smile, "Good, now that I have your attention, have you ever thought about NOT rushing into things? Or did you forget that doing so got you beaten by a shark...and now me?"

"That...wasn't...fair..." said Oshibu as he continued to try and get his breath.

"Oh, you want fair? Well, we're supposed to be doing this together, and for all you know you rushing off could've caused harm to the area and the dummies. Did you ever think about that?"

"...no..."

"Do you even know what the dummies look like?"

"...no."

Kuroda gave a sound a mocking sound of knowing, "Yep, that's what I thought. Despite what you might be thinking, I don't like beating people up for not listening to me. But I do get a sense of joy when I get to do it so that people take me seriously. Are you going to take me seriously now and listen to what I have to say before rushing off?"

He met her eyes and saw they were deadly serious, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry."

"Good. Up you go."

She quickly grabbed his arm and lifted him onto his feet. Oshibu rubbed his chest as he could still feel the sting of the attack, "That really hurt, Kuroda."

"Well I was hurt when you thought you could do this without me," she replied with a fake pained voice. "This is supposed to be a tag team exercise, now act like it."

"Ok, ok! I'm sorry, again. So...what is your plan?"

"We don't know what these dummies look like, and I'm going to bet you didn't do that deep of a scan of the area and just looked around for obvious targets, right?"

He looked away at this, "...maybe."

"Quick feet, not so quick with the brain. Oh well. We're going to take this slow now. We'll go spot by spot and check EVERYWHERE for the dummies, and then once we find one, we can go a bit quicker to try and find the rest. Understood?"

"...yes."

Kuroda smiled as she knew she finally got through to him, "Good. Now, be a good speedster and check that first building. Check it THROUGHLY. I'll rush to the one next to it and try to find one in there. Now go."

Oshibu got into position and raced off towards a burning building, being sure to both look around and yet not stay too close to the flames for long. Kuroda meanwhile went and did her best with the building she had. She altered her outfit to a material that would repel heat, but that didn't help with her head as that was exposed so she made sure to keep that in mind.

As Kuroda searched the burning building she saw a dummy trapped under a piece of burning rubble.

"Found one!" she exclaimed and raced towards it. "Now for some quick changes."

She grabbed the rubble and turned the rock into ice. This change put out the fire as it couldn't burn the ice. Once it was out, she changed the rubble again, this time to a lightweight rubber and easily pushed it off the dummy.

"You're coming with me, let's hope Oshibu isn't falling back into old habits."

Kuroda put the dummy over her shoulders and got out of the building. Just as she did, Oshibu appeared next to her.

"Good, you found a dummy," he noted as he looked at her, though maintaining a good distance between them.

"Yeah, it was...why are you standing so far from me?"

"I don't want to get hit again."

She eyed him curiously, "Did you not do what I asked?"

"No! I searched the whole building top to bottom and then the next building after that. Then came here to check on you."

"Then you have no need of getting hit. Here's what the dummy looks like. You go that direction and search everywhere, I'll do the same over in this direction. Understood?"

His old style returning he smirked and adjusted his shades, "Don't blink, I'll be back with some dummies before you know it!"

He blitzed away, leaving Kuroda alone once again. Her eye roll and groan matched her frustration with the ego presented, "Why are so many of them showoffs?"

Not getting an answer from the universe, she went off to search the other buildings.

Minutes passed and the two went in search of the dummies in places both high and low. The burning area did weigh on them, but eventually they got the task done as they found six dummies.

Kuroda took a moment to catch her breath after dropping the final dummy, "I won't lie, this heat is murder on my hair."

Oshibu took off his shades and wiped them against his costume, "Yeah my glasses were getting steamed something fierce in those buildings. Might need to make some adjustments later on."

"Same for me and my head. But that'll be for another time. Shall we go?"

"Race you to the-" he started but was cut off by Kuroda pulling out an iron rod and twirling it in her hands with a displeased look. Oshibu clammed up at this, "I mean...let's go together?"

She grunted and put the rod away, "You're learning, let's go."

Finally, at the Flood Zone, Ebirima and Fenella had their jaws almost on the ground at the rather pristine spot they found themselves in. The zone had a large lake with a boat in the middle, a waterslide that was quite a ways up, and surrounding land that gave a kind of natural and peaceful look.

"Is this a disaster area or a paradise?" asked Ebirima as she looked around.

Fenella was just as impressed, "Ya, too bad we can't go swimming, it'd be fun."

"Maybe we can sneak in her sometime and make a splash!"

"Only if we don't wash out!"

"If you wash out I'll be sure to wave goodbye."

"Oh please, we'd fail together lass, we're tidally-locked."

The two looked at one another and burst into laughter at the string of puns they did. They sobered up though and looked around for the dummies they needed to find.

"So, there are some dummies around here we need to find," reminded Ebirima as she gazed for spots they could be. "I doubt they'll all be on the boat."

Fenella looked hard at the boat, "Dunno, could be at least one there, might be one or two on the waterslide or its rafters."

"Rafters?"

"Oh, uh, support struts. The wood parts holding it up."

"Right, sorry."

"Don't worry bout a thing, lost in translation and all that," Fenella said consolingly.

A thought crossed Ebirima's mind as she measured the distance between the land and water elements, "How are we supposed to get over there?"

"Me, I'ma your ride!"

Fenella held out one of her arms and with a motion one of her runes glowed. She summoned it forth and enlarged it until it was a few feet in diameter. Quick as a flash she hopped on and to Ebirima's surprise the sigil didn't flinch, nor did Fenella's feet fall through a spot where the sigil wasn't connected to itself.

"Wow, didn't know you could do that," admitted Ebirima.

"Took some practice, but I made it work, hop on!"

She extended a hand and Ebirima took it and got upon the sigil. With the two on board Fenella guided it to the boat, "We'll start there and see what we find! I'd betcha anything at least one dummy is there."

"Let's hope so!"

As they got to the boat, Ebirima hopped off and started to search the vessel. Sure enough, in the captain's quarters was a dummy. She pulled it out and with Fenella's help got it onto the sigil.

"Told ya so," teased Fenella with a snicker.

Ebirima laughed as well, "So you did. You take that one to the shore, I'll go and check the waterslide."

"Can you reach that far with your strands? Lass...that's quite a distance."

"I appreciate your concern, I just have to aim it right and have the right position."

Ebirima climbed to the top part of the boat and aimed at one of the wooden support beams, she made sure to aim higher than where she was hoping to hit. Confident, she fired a strand, and though it didn't hit where she wanted, it got close and stuck.

She pulled it taught so that it would rebound when she was ready. With a wave to Fenella she signaled she was good, "I'll see you around, don't gum up the works while I'm gone!"

She stuck out her tongue and allowed the gum strand to slingshot her to the waterslide.

Fenella just shook her head slightly, "Gum up the works? Please, like I'd ever want to...rune your day. Yah, that's a good one. Come on, dummy. Let's drop you off."

With that she glided back to the shoreline. Ebirima meanwhile got closer to the supports beams via her slingshot and then shot another strand out. It grabbed the beam and pulled her in another direction just before slamming into the first beam.

"I got to work on my timing," she noted as she tried to not throw up from the extreme forces jerking her body around. "Oh, I see one!"

As she got close to the second beam she saw a dummy body draped against an intersection of the beams. Ebirima launched two strands at once and used them to both send her in a direction towards the dummy, but also slow her down. Once stopped, she sent out another strand and this time swung with it to reach the dummy spot.

"Hmm...how will I carry you? Oh! Backpack!"

She wrapped some strands around the dummy and then carefully tied them around her so that it wouldn't weigh her down too much as well as not interfere with her swinging.

"I should go drop you off," she thought to herself, "but something tells me that there's another of you in the waterslide itself. There are rocks on the slide, so perhaps one of you is there. Only way to find out is to go up, up, up!"

With renewed energy she shot out some strands and went up to the top.

Meanwhile, Fenella dropped off the dummy and glided around the shoreline to see if any dummies were there. She found another and quickly got it back to the other, then searched the shoreline again. When another wasn't found she paused and sat on the sigil.

"Ok, think lass...you're in a water zone, it's supposed to be a rescue mission, where would be a good place to do some rescuing?"

A splash caught her ears and she turned to the water to see a frog was hopping across the shallow edges. This sparked an idea in Fenella, "In the water! Probably treading water as if they had fallen out of a boat! Thanks froggy, I'll be sure not to eat one of your kind later if I get the chance."

She hopped back to an upright position and aimed the rune to glide across the waters once more. The open areas were fine to view but she noticed some more shadowy spots by the waterslide and when she went to them, a body peaked out near some greenery.

"Got'ya! Ok, drop you off then go meet back with Ebirima. I'm sure she'll appreciate a hand."

Ebirima was at the top of the waterslide, dummy backpack still attached, she was a bit winded though, "Ok, next time I search the surrounding area...leave the dummy behind. I need to work on my cardio."

From her vantage point she tried to see if she could find the dummy in question, but the loops blocked her sight.

She paused to think, "Ok, I can't go body style down that, the rocks would hurt me. So...bubble gum inner tube!"

Ebirima whipped out some strands, put them into a circle and then inflated it with her own breath to make it big enough for both her and the dummy.

Carefully, Ebirima placed it on the water and situated herself, "Ok, here we go!"

With a push she went down the slide, as expected, it was full of rocks, but she used that to her advantage by going and use the inner tube she made to bounce off of them, or used strands to slow herself down just enough to not get prodded by the rocks.

After the second loop, she again stopped herself, but this time it was because the offshoot slide that was full of boulders had a dummy propped on top of it.

It took some effort, but she was able to get to the dummy, though another problem quickly emerged, "How am I supposed to get you two down from here?"

"Need a lift?" called out a voice.

Just off the edge, Fenella returned with her sigil. Ebirima was glad her friend had come back to aid her, "I'm relieved! It would've sucked trying to get these two down by myself."

"What are friends for? Now come on, I already got two more, let's see if this is all of them!"

Fenella wheeled around and helped get the dummies and Ebirima on the sigil. They floated down the shoreline once more, and sure enough, when all five were put together their mechanisms flashed green to show they were done.

The two hugged the other in joy at their completed task.

"We did it!" shouted Ebirima.

"Never a doubt in my mind, lass," added Fenella. "I bet we were best in show with how easy we made that look."

"We shouldn't water down their accomplishments though."

"I might let it slide then."

With another gaze and another laugh, the two exited their area.

One by one, the pairs of students who went into the zones came out, all surprisingly close to one another. After they were all out Quo used a speaker to talk to them.

"To those who just came out, return to the entrance. Do not talk to the others, they have not seen what you've gone through nor know what to expect."

As the ten returned to the entrance, Quo and Snowpiercer addressed the rest of the students who were sitting quietly on benches.

"I know that was hard to just sit there and wait for your turn," acknowledged Snowpiercer with a shrug. "But we wanted to make sure it was an even playing field for when it was your turn, which is now. Mr. Quo? Would you be so kind as to assign the remaining students to a zone?"

"I shall. We'll get the computer to randomize them again..."

The computer was once again brought up, and once again it assigned two students to a zone.

Quo waited for it to be finished and then announced the pairings aloud, "Very interesting. We have Goya Ramasu and Sanda Hidaki in the Conflagration Zone. Next is Iha Jun and Doza Risuke in the Landslide Zone. Anno Mako and Kanagita Amame in the Ruins Zone. Ueno Gematsu and Ikaim San in the Mountain Zone. Which leaves Tonen Keitomo and Chuya Taki in the Downpour Zone.

Many of the others looked at Tonen and Chuya as they were not the best of comrades. Sure enough, as Tonen looked at his new partner, she was giving him an all too familiar glare.

Tonen sighed and hung his head in frustration, "Terrific".

*credits*