My Hero Academia: Under Pressure - Chapter 9 - Air and Water
Within the USJ, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, the students of Class 1-B were paired up and sent into zones that would test their ability to think in true disaster scenarios. One half of the class had already gone, and now it was the other half's turn. After being paired up they headed to their selected zones, but only after the first pair had returned and the zones had proper time to be "repaired" in regards to the task at hand.
No one spoke to each other due to the orders of their teacher Ignatius Quo, aka Big Brain. The Pro-Hero that was assigned to them to oversee events in Snowpiercer had made it clear that they needed to go and search for dummies that represented people and get them together until they glowed green via a special mechanism to alert them that they had completed the task.
As the five new pairs arrived outside of their zones, Quo put up a projection of the word "Go!" and they ran towards their areas.
In the Conflagration Zone, Goya and Sanda were both a bit taken back at first at the flames that were in the buildings and other spots.
"Dude, it's way too hot in here!" exclaimed Sanda as he started to fan himself. "Then again I guess it's only natural as the flames are everywhere, we're in a dome and thus the temperature-"
"I get it!" interjected Goya, very annoyed at the rambling of his partner. "Why couldn't I get Iha for this? She barely speaks."
"Hey! I have feelings too, you know."
"And I should care...why?"
This angered Sanda and he stomped on the ground, causing it to shake, "Because in four short words: I can bury you."
Goya reared up his metal spheres and aimed them at Sanda's head, "Think you can do it before I hit you?"
The two squared off, but Sanda broke it off first and looked around at the area once more, "Yeah, I probably could. But if we fight we'll fail the test, and that would go against your 'first time and every time after' thing, right?"
"...yes, yes it would," admitted Goya as he reluctantly lowered his arm and also looked at the surrounding area.
"Glad you can admit that. Now, how about you use your alleged genius and see how we can find the dummies in this place without getting burned."
"If I must... To be plain, we're both at a disadvantage here. You can shake the ground and manipulate it but that could topple the buildings with the dummies inside and that would be...problematic to our grade."
"And as for you, your telekinesis could grab the dummies...but we don't know where they are and since fire is incorporeal you can't just grab it and move it away, right?"
Sanda put on a smirk as he turned to Goya, who was once again annoyed with his partner, a vein pulsed in his head, "Right."
"Thought so. So...we need to figure out a way to work together to get this done. Obviously that's the point of the task but it's easier said than done when you consider what we're up against and-"
"Would you stop that?!" yelled Goya, annoyance boiling over.
At first Sanda didn't get what he was referring to, then he scratched the back of his head and gave a nervous laugh, "Sorry, I don't realize I do it at times. As Tonen would say, personality Quirk."
"Don't mention his name in my presence, especially when I'm aiming to prove today how much better I am than him. But that will be hard if we can't even figure out how to do this!"
"It'd be easier without all of these flames, but obviously we can't just dust them off. Oh, wait, we can!"
"What are you babbling about?"
"You can smother a fire with dust, or in this case, ground up earth! I'll manipulate the ground to make it more of a powder and then ride it around the areas within my reach. You can lift some up and take it to the higher places I can't easily reach. I'll go low, you'll go high, and..."
"The dummies will be more easily exposed," finished Goya as he thought about it. After a bit he gave a very reluctant nod, "It could work, it's worth trying out at least."
"Such praise," Sanda scoffed. "Alright, I'll get this started."
Sanda knelt down and touched the ground and cement beneath him. The area shook and cracks started to form around the two. As they grew, Sanda's focus and expression grew more intense. Goya watched as the cracks filled up with softer earth and the cement itself started to shift into more of a powder.
After a while of this Sanda stopped and had to catch his breath, "That should...do for now, I can make more as we move around.
"It should suffice, I'll grab this patch over here and float up to the top of these buildings and see what I can find. You do your ground search and put out as much as can. Oh, and do keep a watch so that you don't bury the dummies if you do that wave bit you do."
"Screw...you...now go."
Goya gave a mock bow to Sanda then levitated himself up and over to a mound of dirt that was nearby and lifted that up as well. He shot upward towards a fiery building using his telekinesis fired the dirt at the fires on the top floor to put them out.
By luck or fate, when he did so, the first dummy revealed itself to him, which pleased him to no end, "See? That's why I'm the best at this, found a dummy on my first try."
With a flick of his hand the dummy rose up and joined Goya, he looked over the rest of the building and pondered what he should do next, "Hmm...I doubt they'd put two in the same building...but I always was an overachiever."
He went floor by floor and put out fires to make sure that the dummies weren't in there as well. When he ran low on ground material he smashed nearby cement blocks that had broken off and refilled his supply from that and once done with the building went to the next one.
Sanda recovered enough to get back to his feet and center himself. He checked the mounds of soft dirt he had around him then slammed his foot on the ground to elevate the spot he was on.
"Ok, let's do this thing!" he said with a smile.
He leaned forward and the mound of cement he was on burst forward, the other dirt and cement mounds followed as he did. He raced down the street and quickly put out fires left and right as fast as he could. Some took lots of dirt and powder to put out so occasionally Sanda had to stop to refill. It was easy enough but it took time.
After a bit of putting out fires he saw a dummy draped out of a window on a higher floor of a building he was near. He checked to see if Goya was around, but he wasn't.
"Fine, up we go!"
He made a swooping motion with his arms and ended it with flinging them high into the air. Sanda rose on a column of ground and stopped it right next to the dummy. After he secured it he slowly lowered himself back to ground level."
Now knowing what he was looking for, Sanda looked around for other potential spots where they could be, "Hmm...let's go...this way!"
With earth, cement, and dummy in tow, Sanda raced off to other parts of the zone and tried to find the dummies. Eventually he found one more trapped between two slabs of concrete. He got it out and after a quick breather went out in another direction.
Minutes passed, and as Sanda went by an alley Goya randomly appeared out of it.
"Oh, there you are!" noted Sanda as he stopped. "I got two dummies, haven't found any others though. How about you?"
Goya smirked arrogantly, "As if you have to ask?"
He snapped his fingers, and from the darkness of the alley a set of four dummies appeared. Goya laid them down next to where Sanda's was and they immediately lit green.
"Oh, would you look at that, we're done! I...appreciate your plan with the ground, it did work. And I did most of the rest of the work. Go team!"
With arrogant laughter he headed towards the exit point. Sanda scoffed and shook his head angrily as he followed him out, "If he makes it out of UA without getting throttled it'll be a miracle."
Nearby at the Mountain Zone, Ueno and Ikaim were also at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of what to do.
"How the heck are we supposed to get up the mountains? Climb?" wondered Ikaim as he tried to figure something out.
Ueno just wobbled in place like he always did, "I hate heights."
"Oh yeah, right with you there. I wanted the Flood Zone, there was a waterslide there!"
"Waterslides make me nauseous."
"Is there anything that doesn't affect you in a negative way?"
Ueno paused his motions and thought about it, then started up again, "Sure, some things, just not lots of things because of my Quirk."
Ikaim sighed and rubbed his eyes in frustration, "Ugh, fair enough. Ok, let's think about how to get up to the higher parts here. I'm not a rock climber, and neither are you so..."
"Can't you just vault up?"
"What do you mean?"
"With your ink, I've seen you shoot it a good distance, and it clearly has a powerful flow to it. Why not just use it to go and...do I have to explain the rest...I'm getting dizzy again..."
"Well...I mean...I've honest never tried it before. Took me forever to shoot my ink with some force. I guess I can..."
He paused as he noticed Ueno was more wobbly than ever for some reason and this irked him mightily.
"You know what? I'm just going to try it so I can get away from you for a bit."
Ikaim turned his back to the nearby mountain, and then looked back to try and gauge how he should aim his streams. He sent out a small burst from one hand to try and feel the force as it hit the ground. Confident it might work, he put his hands together, took a deep breath, and fired a concentrated blast at the ground.
To his surprise, the ink jet did indeed launch him into the air. In fact he was so surprised that he almost didn't notice that he was going higher than intended. Once he got it though he cut the stream and then fired one directly below him and gently lowered himself to the ground.
"Huh, that really worked, and I don't feel that drained. Should still soak up what I can though," he noted and put his hands in the ink puddle that was below him because of the stream he put out.
He closed his eyes and the ink puddle started to shrink and went into his arms, causing them to go black for a bit until his skin returned to his normal color.
Filled up, he went to the edge and waved to Ueno, "It worked! Now...oh, how are you going to get up here? I doubt my jet will carry two people."
Ueno again paused his movements and looked at his partner, "I'll be fine."
Without waiting for a reply, he walked to the edge of the rock base, jumped onto it and propelled himself into the opposite direction. Gravity took hold and he started to fall towards the ground. Before he hit though, Ueno somehow bounded in the other direction and was launched into the air, where he landed not too far from a very stunned Ikaim.
"What?"
"You can launch your own body in another direction?
Ueno shrugged, "Yeah, it's momentum, that's my Quirk, remember?"
"Why didn't you do that to me then?"
"It's...disorienting, besides, now you know you can fly."
Ikaim made to bite back but figured it was best to drop it while he was behind, "Fine, whatever. Let's just go and get these dummies and be done with it, ok?"
"Found one."
"What?"
Ueno pointed behind Ikaim, and sure enough there was a dummy hidden in a small crevice in the mountain. Ikaim fumed for a moment at this but regained composure and got the dummy out of the crevice and onto more solid ground.
"Good work Ueno, shall we search for the others?"
"Sure. How about you fly around? You might be able to spot them easier from on high. If you find one, toss it my way and I'll redirect them to this spot."
"That's...a great plan," Ikaim found himself saying.
"Thanks" his partner replied without much emotion.
"I'll just...go fly now..."
Ikaim got into the same pose as before and launched himself into the air. Ueno meanwhile walked around and then used his redirect technique to launch himself up when needed to.
As predicted, Ikaim's vantage point allowed him a better view of things. He spotted two dummies instantly and worked with Ueno to get them to the spot with ease. Only occasionally having to land to reload on the ink that he had lost.
Ueno found another while searching the more hidden parts of the mountain. Mainly because his vertigo kicked in and made him fall flat on his face before he could Quirk his way out of it.
"Ow," he mumbled, "hope you're worth it Mr. Dummy."
After a few minutes of searching they got four dummies found and once together, they glowed with the green light signaling they were done."
"I'd say that was fun...but it wasn't."
Ikaim gave a halfhearted laugh, "Yeah, I got to get used to flying, but at least we learned..."
He paused as Ueno started to wobble heavily for some unknown reason, and at that point Ikaim gave up.
"Forget it, let's just go."
"Ok, I need to go lie down anyway."
In the Ruins Zone, Anno and Kanagita looked upon the place with very different expressions. Anno with curiosity, Kanagita with worry.
"I wonder how they planned out this section," Anno pondered as he looked at the broken down structures. "It couldn't have been easy. Or maybe it was? Don't know who built it after all."
"I saw a place like this in a movie once, I didn't like it," lamented Kanagita.
"Come on! Where's that strength and fire that I clashed with in the team battle?"
"That's not me, that's her."
"Come again?"
"My Quirk is kind of like a dual personality. I act one way, and my brick form acts another. Do I seem like the type to be fearless and want to show my strength all the time?"
Anno gazed at his diminutive partner. Even in the hero suit she made for herself it wasn't overtly intimidating, nor was she, "I see your point. Just never thought about it I guess. Thought it was like mine where you were just amplifying your personality in certain ways."
She laughed at the suggestion, "Definitely not."
"Are you afraid of your other half?"
"No, not really. I'm still kind of in control, that's why I'm able to revert when I want. It's just she's...a lot to handle...and not as...elegant when she speaks.
This time Anno laughed, showing his teeth as he did, "So I have heard. 'Puny Psychic' was what she said to Goya when she beat him, I liked that."
"That was funny, and Goya is really mean."
"He'll get his, but we need to focus and get ours. Our dummies I mean."
"Yeah...uh...ideas...?"
"Usually I'd make a joke about ramming through it like a shark, but honestly I think that would bring the buildings down and that could cause us problems."
"Why do you keep making shark references?" asked Kanagita. "Do you think we forget that you look like one?"
Anno muffled a laugh, "I just...started doing that one day. First as a joke, then it just kept coming out. Now I do it at times for kicks, to make you all think I'm an idiot and then stun you with how smart I can be, like when I bet Oshibu."
"You want people to think you're stupid?"
"Better than them looking at me and seeing a predator, or a monster."
The two shared a look, and Kanagita understood where he was coming from given how her transformation acts, and unlike Anno, she could hide her transformation if she wanted. He was stuck in that form, even his more reserved shark form made him look rather ferocious. She felt great sympathy for him due to that.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. As for the dummies, I say we stick together and take it spot by spot. Do you want to transform now? Or wait until you're needed?"
Kanagita thought about it for a moment, "Given how unpredictable she can be at times? I'd rather wait and help out when you absolutely need it."
"Then let's go."
Anno took point as they headed towards one of the ruined buildings. This particular one had a very large hole in its side, revealing many floors.
As they approached Anno tried to gain a look inside but could only see so much, "Not enough of vantage point, hold on."
He flexed and his much larger shark form emerged, he squatted down and then did a much higher jump so that he could see what was inside. He did a second jump after he thought he spotted something.
"There, on the 2nd floor, stay here, I'll grab it!"
Anno bounded once again, but this time in a way that let him reach the second floor. The building was at a slight tilt so he slid down the floor until he reached the wall. It was near that point that he saw a dummy. He carefully went over and grabbed it and then used the wall to bound away and back to the ground level where Kanagita remained.
Once back with her, Anno laid down the dummy, "That's one."
"Hopefully not too many more," hoped Kanagita as she looked around. "What direction should we go next?"
"Just pick one, we know what to look for now, so if nothing else we'll rule out a spot and be able to search the others."
"Ok...um...I choose...that way".
"I'll follow you this time, go ahead."
With a nervous expression Kanagita took point and they started to search for the other dummies. To her surprise, some were rather easy to spot. Including one that was upon a nearby telephone pole, and another that was buried until some rubble.
The most shocking one in her mind though was one that was buried in a way that only someone small could reach in and get them out.
"Looks like you get to be a hero in this form, Kanagita," said Anno with a knowing look.
"First time for everything," she replied as she lied down and combat crawled under the rocks to grab the dummy.
It was a tight fit, but her small stature ensured that she wasn't without wiggle room. She was able to get its arm and then slowly pull it out. Anno helped her up once she was out.
"Nice job, Kanagita. Alright, that's four, let's see if that's all of them."
They put the fourth dummy with the rest, but were dismayed when they didn't light green.
"There can't be that much more."
"Maybe one or two more. Let's keep going. Remember, this is meant to be like a real-life scenario. We don't give up until everyone is safe. Got it?"
"...yeah, got it."
Confidence restored, they went to go find the rest. They search multiple buildings, even carefully going into some of the ones that seem to have been tampered with but turned out to just be empty. They started to get frustrated until finally they entered a tall wrecked building and up in one of the higher floors was a dummy.
Anno grabbed the dummy, and Kanagita walked ahead of him to ensure that nothing was set off on accident. As they exited the building they sighed in relief, but that was cut short when the sound of crumbling grew behind them. They turned to see the building was shaking and broke off at its base. The angle made it so that the flat side of the building shifted and started to fall towards them and the nearby dummies.
Not flinching, Anno bulked up and readied his arms, "Kanagita! I can't hold this on my own, transform!"
"Ok," she replied and she closed her eyes and got into the right mental state. Her body bulged and grew and her brick form emerged, "Hmph, shark need help?"
"I'd prefer not to risk us or the dummies being flattened, now come on!"
Content, Kanagita went and stood next to Anno, the building tilted even more towards them and the two reached out their hands to stop it. As the weight hit them, the two struggled to keep it up. Anno knew that if they weren't careful it could break off again and bury them.
The weight of the building continued to bare down on them, and both Anno and Kanagita struggled mightily. Arms shaking, Anno did his best to bulk up even more, gaining a bit more mass to help him with his strength. Kanagita's brick form refused to yield and her anger seemed to fuel her more.
Despite that though, they were at best doing a stalemate with the building, with the problem being that the building's stamina was not in question. Anno knew this and tried to think of a plan, as he looked at Kanagita's anger-filled face, he got an idea.
Anno laughed. It started slow at first, and he got louder. Kanagita was not amused by this, "What's so funny, shark?"
"I'm laughing because I realized the truth. You really can't beat me on your own!"
"WHAT?!"
"Your strength pales in comparison to mine! I beat you in the ball throwing contest, and you needed Azujima to hit my gills to beat me in our fight during the team battle. I can tell I'm holding up much more of this building than you, so much for being the strongest there is! A shark is kicking your butt!"
The insults enraged the brick form of Kanagita, and as she roared in that rage she pressed harder against the building, Anno did the same and to his joy, the building started to be lifted upward.
"That's right, push! You want to prove you're better? Then let's see who can get this building to topple over, you or me!"
The challenge set, the two went all out and eventually, were able to shift the building enough so that it fell in another direction, even crashing into another building.
Now safe, Anno bent over and caught his breath, even gave a shake to his arms to ensure they were alright, "Yeah, let's not do that again..."
A hoarse laugh got his attention and Kanagita's brick form was next to him, haggard looking, but pleased with herself, "Shark boy, tired? I'm fine."
"No you're not, but even if you were fine, it wouldn't matter. We got the dummy and...oh, look."
She turned and the dummy was just in enough proximity to the other dummies to connect with the other mechanisms, stating they were done. As she saw that, Kanagita reverted to her regular form, "Oh good, we're done, I really was tired."
Anno laughed heartily at that, "I'm so glad to hear you say that, I would've hated it if your brick form was honestly fine after all that."
"Well, she does have a lot of reserves, but we have our limits. I know what you did to get her to go beyond, nice touch."
"I know it wouldn't have worked on you because of what you said earlier. Your insight as to your other half gave me the idea, so thanks for that."
Kanagita found comfort in that, "Who knew sharks could be so friendly?"
"We're friendlier than most think. Now come on, I want to rest after this."
"I'm right behind you."
At the Landslide Zone, Iha and Doza were digging in one of the areas buried by dirt. But because of the fact they couldn't figure out where the dummies were, they were just guessing as to where they might be, and this got Doza very frustrated.
"There has to be a better way of doing this!" he shouted as he felt his fingers sting with pain at digging.
"Probably," Iha answered as she stopped digging as well.
"There's no way that they don't put at least one dummy in here, but without us knowing where we'll be digging forever!"
"Why not use your Quirk?"
"It doesn't...it's not that simple."
"Resonance isn't simple?"
"Yes, overall is simple, all I have to do is touch something and concentrate on their frequency to break them down, but on dirt and earth? It's a little harder."
As he said it, Iha caught a fleeting emotion on his face, one she recognized all too well, "You fear your Quirk?"
The question took him aback, "What? No I...it's not...it's complicated."
"Talk, I'll listen."
"My Quirk isn't one you just turn on and off, like you or Kanagita or Ikaim. My body is always searching for the resonance of something. Anything I grab can be shaken apart if I don't keep my focus. My suit helps mitigate that but even it has a resonance frequency so again, I have to focus constantly to not blow it off my body. It's...a lot to handle."
"But you do, you're here, you want to help."
Her simplistic reasoning got a chuckle from him, "It's not that heroic sounding. I had few choices. Either just live in fear of my Quirk or...put it to work. My mother is Quirkless and my dad has a small-time one, so they felt I could do something they didn't, truly make something of myself. I don't know...something just...felt right about what they said, so...I tried, and I liked it, so I kept going. The entrance exam was easy for me because metal as an easy resonance frequency. I love being in those situations, but in class...or at the dorm...it's always weighing on me what I can do if I'm not careful."
He sighed and looked away as his negative thoughts poured into him. Iha understood his fear in her own way, but not due to her Quirk, but her personality, "My brain...doesn't work right."
"What?"
"My brain...is why I talk like this. Act like this."
"Huh, I thought you were just soft-spoken."
"I wish. It makes it...hard to convey who I am, how I feel."
"That's rough."
"I've already hurt someone because of that, I fear doing it again."
"Fear sucks."
"Yep."
The two looked at each other and smiled. An idea suddenly flashed through Iha's mind, "What if I powered you up?"
The idea intrigued Doza, "What good would that do?"
"Might make it easier to resonate the ground."
"Hmm...worth a shot, just be sure to touch my suit, not my hands."
"Ok."
She got up behind him and touched his shoulder, Doza immediately felt his Quirk charge up and quickly touched the swath of dirt in front of him. Almost immediately the dirt vaporized and a crater appeared before them.
"Wow," said Iha, not expecting that.
"Yeah...that's something. Let's keep going, and hope they don't mind us getting rid of the entire landslide."
After a few more craters, they found what they were looking for. A pair of dummies emerged when the dirt disappeared and they quickly put them away.
"Buildings next?"
"We can certainly try, probably won't be as easy, but let's give it a shot!"
They went to a chunk of building that was immersed in the dirt, and after Iha powered him up Doza went and touched the building. It wasn't as instant, but the building did shake apart in a way so violent it basically turned to dust outside of certain metal and glass objects that weren't the same resonance frequency. Another dummy appeared after the deed was done.
To their surprise, when this third dummy was put with the others, the lights turned green. The two gave a silent yet appreciative nod to the other and headed out.
Finally, in the Downpour Zone, Chuya and Tonen couldn't even look at each other, and for entirely different reasons.
The zone they were in was a domed area where a perpetual storm loomed. Heavy rains and winds were rampant, not unlike if the area was caught in a hurricane of sorts.
Tonen used his arm to block the rain from pelting his face, "So...this is a fun area."
"Hmph," replied Chuya, who didn't try and shield herself from the weather.
"Yep, this is off to a great start. So, do you want to try and come up with a plan to find these dummies? Or are you...?"
"I'll be fine on my own, I don't-"
"Need your help. Yeah, I've heard that before."
"I could've handled those robots fine and done what was-"
"Required of you? Yeah heard that before too."
She glared at him intensely, "Stop doing that!"
"Well stop being so predictable, then!" he bit back. "Look, I don't know why you hate me. If you think I upstaged you in the entrance exam, or if you think I'm trying to do better than you, or something even more base. I promise, I'm not trying to do anything other than get through this without dying. Ok?"
"You make fun of me constantly."
"I've made fun of you twice. Once in the class get together, and the second on the bus. The first time was because you weren't opening up like you were REQUIRED to do, so I knew that making fun of you would get you to do that. The second was to see if I could get a similar result, it didn't. And lest we forget, you were the one who accosted me on the first day of class as if I had ruined your entrance exam, when in fact I helped you with those Rescue Points you got."
"I don't...need...your help!"
"Get over yourself! Ok? I don't know why you act this way, why you feel the need to do a "lone wolf" bit, but it's annoying. Especially when we already have one of those in Goya, and if you haven't notice, everyone hates him. Meanwhile, you don't insult anyone, but me, and many of the others have tried to get you involved with what they do, and you reject them every time. Being alone will not help you here. No one is questioning your competency. Or your skills. You rank very highly in our class, no one is denying that! So get over whatever this is and move on. Especially right now, because we're supposed to be rescuing some dummies in a teamwork kind of way. Now are we going to do that, or not?"
This time it was Tonen who gave a glare, and Chuya responded in kind before she turned and walked away, "Not. I can find dummies on my own. I'll take this half of the area, you take that half. Let's keep our distance from one another, air and water don't mix."
"That is that the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say."
She gave him a final glare before heading down her chosen area. He watched until she was out of sight and then groaned in frustration.
"Nice selection, IQ. The only thing worse would've been putting me with Goya. Whatever."
He took some deep breaths to regain his composure and headed in the opposite direction of where Chuya went.
While not damaging per se, the torrent that was coming down in the air did limit Tonen's vision as he had to block the downpour and still try and see while gusting winds tried to push him around. An ironic thing as usually he was the one pushing things around with air.
The size of the area also couldn't be ignored as this was basically a mini-city full of buildings, roads, and everything else you'd expect from a spot like this.
As he trudged on he occasionally sought refuge in side streets and alleys to try and at least attempt to get dry. He wondered about whether he would need to search all the buildings in the area, or whether the dummies would be in more remote areas. He decided on the latter and followed the side street he was on until it reached a junction. When he did that, he found a dummy hidden by a dumpster.
He grunted at the irony, "Body by a dumpster...again...at least this one is pretending to be alive..."
Tonen put the dummy over his shoulder and followed the side path to another section of the area. As he entered a more open part, a huge burst of wind slammed into him. He planted himself as best he could and waited for it to subside. Eventually it let up and he was able to stand up straight.
"Well that wasn't fun, going to have to keep an eye out for...that..."
As he looked up, he saw a dummy draped across a terrace on the outside of a building that was multiple floors up from where he was.
"Well...that's different. Ok, Mr. Dummy, I'm going to have to lay you down here to go and get your friend. I just hope that burst of wind doesn't come back."
He laid the dummy down in another side street so the elements wouldn't blow it away. Tonen then positioned himself in a kneel and exhaled sharply. A blast of air came from his boot vents and he shot up with incredible speed. Once he got close to the terrace he grabbed onto it and landed on its base.
Tonen let out a sigh of relief at the success of the venture, "Been meaning to test that, might have to finesse it a little, but this is good. Alright, let's get you and-"
As he made to reach for the dummy another burst of wind hit him. Because he wasn't ready for it he hit the side of the terrace and went over it. Tonen was able to grab one of the guard rails just in time though, but the wind did test his grip.
As it relented, he pulled himself up and steadied himself, "Yeah...that sucked. Let's get down so that doesn't happen again."
He quickly grabbed the dummy and jumped off the side, using some air bursts to slow his descent. Tonen put the dummies next to one another and shrugged when they didn't light up.
"Meh, it was too much to hope for that these were the only ones. Let's keep looking around, boys."
With some effort he put each one over a shoulder and kept searching the area.
A ways away, Chuya was on her own searching for the dummies. Though she did her best to keep her focus, Tonen's words from before echoed in her mind, frustrating her to no end.
"He knows nothing," she muttered angrily.
A memory flashed in her mind, one of her in front of a man in uniform, "I raised you to be strong, I know you will do well at UA."
"I promise I won't fail you."
The memory faded, her strength and presence of mind returned and she refocused on the mission at hand. She checked the buildings and the areas around them in a systematic fashion. Chuya realized quickly that not all the buildings were unlocked, and so she left the ones that were locked alone and proceeded to other spots. The ones that did allow her in had sealed off upper levels in terms of stairs and elevators so her search of them was quick.
But, upon entering one building, she noticed a body on the other end of a room, a room that (in the scenario context) was hurt by the storm. Metal beams and wires poured out from the ceiling and made it incredibly hard to cross it.
This did not faze Chuya though, she saw this as a test of her skills. She transformed her body into its aquatic form, and then she extended her body so that her legs were still rooted near the entrance, but the upper half of her body could go and weave around the beams and wires.
As she got through them she reached the other side of the room and grabbed the dummy. Its extra weight made the return trip more difficult, so she got creative and used her powers to gently nudge the beams and wires and other obstructions just enough to leave her room to move the dummy through without having to cause a collapse.
Once it was completely through she put it on the ground and reverted to her regular form. She took a few breaths to collect herself as being stretched out as she was in her aquatic form caused her to fatigue slightly.
Quickly recuperated, she grabbed the dummy and headed out in search of others. Her search went on longer than she wanted, and the wind continually blasted her and the dummy, forcing Chuya to seek cover, especially if she was trying to search for dummies in her water form.
Getting creative once more, she stretched her arms up and grabbed a nearby terrace and pulled herself to it. From the new vantage point, one that was safe from the wind, she looked around to see if anything obvious stuck out at her. As she scanned the ground nothing was found, but as she look at the roofs of a build she paused.
"Is that a...?" she asked herself
She focused her sight and indeed dangling on the roof of a nearby building was an arm.
"I got to get to that rooftop."
Chuya bounded down, grabbed her dummy and headed for another building where she left the dummy safe on the ground as she went inside. To her relief, there was a winding staircase that clearly led to the room, but as she gazed at the stairs she was unamused.
"Pass," she grunted, and instead she transformed her arms into their aquatic state and blasted water jets onto the ground, shooting her upward until she reached the top of the staircase and stepped onto it to reach the door to the roof.
Now on the rooftop she quickly looked around it, and as she suspected, there was a dummy somewhat hanging off the edge.
Chuya picked it up, and felt its weight so she did a fireman's carry to help ease it off the ground. No sooner did she do so though than another burst of wind came forth. And not unlike Tonen before her it hit with such force that it blasted her backwards and knocked both her and the dummy off of the roof.
The suddenness of it made it so Chuya didn't react immediately, and when she did get her wits back she could only think of grabbing the dummy with her nearby hand as that was her mission.
The ground raced towards her and before she could think of something she felt a tugging on her hand and just as suddenly as before she was heading in another direction.
She looked up to see Tonen holding onto her, "Hope you don't mind the help this time!"
He exhaled and used the vents on his legs to get them upright and slowly lower them to the ground.
Once safely down, Tonen couldn't help but laugh lightly, "Wow. I'm glad I was nearby and saw you fall. It happened to me too on a terrace. Didn't realize the wind would get us like that. Glad you are...oh come on!"
As he gazed at Chuya he saw a very familiar glare aimed at him, "I didn't need your help, I could've used my water form to soften my fall."
"Maybe, but if you didn't do it quickly you would've injured yourself, or worse! So I'm sorry that I valued your life over you proving...whatever you think is more important than your life."
"It was my situation to handle!"
"Yeah, and I was nearby to help you handle it, just like the entrance exam! You're going to need help in the real world, you should know that being the child of a soldier! I'm not your enemy!"
Her glare didn't soften, not even when matched by one from Tonen, she just went and picked up her dummy, "Maybe, but that doesn't mean you're my friend either."
Tonen gaped at her for a bit before motioning with his hands that he was done, "Fine, whatever. You want to prove yourself to death? That's on you. But right now? Your mission is incomplete. My dummies are over there, did you find more than that one?"
"...yes, it's on the other side of the building."
"Good, let's put them together and see if we're done. Hopefully fate will be that kind."
He didn't wait for her and left to get the dummy she mentioned, Chuya followed him and once they were at Tonen's spot they put the four dummies together and they did indeed glow green.
Without a word to one another they headed to the entrance of the dome to get out of it.
But as Chuya walked beside Tonen silently, a line of his from before echoed in her mind, "What did you mean before about what I said about water and air not mixing?"
"Huh?" he asked confused, but he remembered the conversation and shook his head. "Oh, about that being the stupidest thing I ever heard you say?"
"Yeah. Why did you say that?"
"Because air is IN water. The chemical composition of water is H2O. Two molecules of Hydrogen, one of Oxygen, aka air. Air is IN water and without it it's not water. So yes, they do mix, and we're in a result of that via this rain."
"Except..."
"Or dear gosh..."
"When water and air mix externally, we get storms, like this hurricane-esque area we're in. And when you try to breathe in water, despite there being oxygen in it, your body can't handle, and you drown. And if you were to blast your air through water, it doesn't absorb it, it get blown apart by it. Or, it can become a waterspout and cause lots of damage. Add another molecule of Oxygen to H2O and you get H2O2, which is hydrogen peroxide, and can be harmful to the human body when ingested. So thus, water and air don't mix in ways that truly matter."
Tonen stopped and looked upon Chuya with an expression that showed he was unimpressed, "The only thing I got from that? Was that you went out of your way to try and prove your point about not needing help. And if that's the kind of logic you use to try and get out of making connections? You might 'prove yourself worthy', but you'll also be very much alone."
He stepped away, and Chuya watched him walk for a bit, another memory of her and the man in uniform flashed into her mind.
"But father, what if others try and be friends with me, or help me in tasks?"
"They might try," her father answered after some thought, "but given that most students at UA are aiming to be the top hero, and prove that they're better than all, even you, your trust must not be so easily given. Keep your guard up, my daughter, else you be hurt like I have been."
He bowed to his daughter, and she did the same in return.
In the present, Chuya's face hardened once more as she followed him again, "Alone? If that's what it takes, so be it."
The pairs exited their zones and once they were all out, they were called back to the entrance where the others waited for them.
As the twenty of them were resembled they quickly went into conversations about what had happened. Snowpiercer was fine with this but Quo was not, his eye twitched as the noise got louder.
"BE QUIET!" he shouted, stunning all of them into silence. His more basic pose and demeanor returned as they went quiet, "Good, we did not say you could talk. Now is the time for your evaluation."
"Oh, so we were being graded?" asked Kuroda.
"Of course!" said Snowpiercer with a kind smile. "After all, this was a test. And I am happy to say that all you passed...and all of you got B's."
The grade surprised many of them, including Fenella and Ebirima who felt they did their job flawlessly. As well as Goya who vainly thought his extraction of dummies was superior.
"The reason...that you all got B's was because all of you kind of forgot a key part of the exercise."
"We saved the dummies," noted Goya, angrily spinning his spheres, "there was no other task!"
"Close, you did save dummies, but you forgot that those dummies...were supposed to be people. Living, breathing, people."
A wave of realization came over them and they all hung their heads at the truth that just got bashed over their heads.
"Ha, ha, ha. Yeah, that's a fair reaction. Mr. Quo?"
Quo's chair approached them and various video footages appeared before them, "Wakaro is correct in his assessment of how all of you forgot about these being live beings. Even ones buried in the ground could still have been alive when you got to them. Many of you dropped the dummies as if they were just items and not people. Mr. Bohiko even threw one of the dummies off a tall mountain towards his partner. Granted, Ms. Ogata did catch that dummy, but that would not have been a great method to save a live person."
"My bad!" exclaimed Wasuke.
"Yeah, I should've thought of that," admitted Eri.
"Indeed, you should have," acknowledged Quo. "Many of you did the same thing. To be fair, none of you did things that would've caused death, and should that have happened we wouldn't have failed you as this was just a test and we were seeing how you would react to the situations and not the dummies per se. However, from now on, in any test of this nature, assume anything you're trying to save is alive. Which means careful extraction...and a lot less personal talking amongst you given that time would be of the essence..."
He and Snowpiercer gave very knowing look to the class and a majority of them went and looked away as they knew exactly what they meant.
Snowpiercer clapped his hands to get their attention, "Even so, you all did well today. You'll be back at the USJ in the future and have yourselves tested in the areas you weren't in now. Or, have more difficult tests here. For now though, you all did well. The bus is waiting to take you back to UA. I look forward to seeing you next time."
The class paid respect to Snowpiercer and then headed out. They had all learned a lesson today, and some had learned much more than that. The question was now whether they would truly grow from the experience...or stick to the ways that brought them there.
*credits*
