My Hero Academia – Under Pressure – Season 3 – Episode 2 – Splat

"Needless to say…we weren't exactly prepared for what we were about to do."

At the summer camp for UA Academy, Tonen Keitomo and his friends were very much in shock still over the revelation over the camps 'activities' during the week. The first day was all about person training to the extreme, and then they found out the rest of the days would be a mix of that kind of training, and a team competition of sorts.

"We were told things would be tough, but this tough? Not so much. As the 'big brother' of the group, I was the one many looked to for encouragement, but even I was willing to admit that this was going to be a rough week, and since we didn't know what teams we were going to be in, many wondered how we'd be split up, who the leaders would be, and how 'competitive' we'd get with one another."

With the intent of keeping things calm enough for the time being, Kuroda took charge as the class rep and made it so that chatter about the week and the team competition were kept to a minimum as they got their brief respite before they turned in for the night.

Once they were in their lodges, Kuroda and Tonen each tried to keep the trepidation of what was coming up low. They focused on the little things to make them happy, like the possible improvements that they could get from the training.

"I never really thought about trying to take in the air around me more," Tonen admitted to kick things off for the guys. "But after those hours of training? I did notice a small increase, and if I can learn do that in greater amounts? I'd be able to recharge in record time and thus never be out of air outside of extreme circumstances."

"Me learning to go 'Super Shark' on command would obviously have many benefits," added Anno with a pose.

"Verily," chimed in Wasuke, "and many of us were training our reaction skills so that we can better use our Quirks in specific situations or adapt much easier."

Azujima couldn't help but groan though amidst this, "Mine just hurt. I hate being overloaded like that, and I still have a headache from the hours of the noise."

Tonen wrapped his arm around Azujima in support, "Yeah, you probably have it rougher than all of us Azu, but if you are able to resist those headaches in the future, isn't that worth it?"

"…yeah, you're right, TK. But it'll still stink to get to that point!"

"No doubt," most of the guys said together, which got them to laugh afterward.

The ladies had similar conversations about their Quirks and tests, but Fenella couldn't help but thread the needle as it were with a sly look to Kuroda, "So, almighty rep, do you hope you're one of the leaders of the groups tomorrow?"

"We're not talking about that, Fenella," she replied sternly.

"Oh, come on… you know you're curious. After all, you're our class rep, what happens if you aren't the leader? Will you be able to overcome?"

"Yes, because that's what Pro-Heroes do. Don't forget, I spent a week under the command of Royal Knight and I did just fine. As I'm sure you and Ebirima did with ESP."

"Yeah, she was great," noted Ebirima with a smile, "a bit odd at times though."

"Aren't we all, lass?" Fenella joked with a poke to her friend.

"You especially, Fenella."

As she was near a bed when this barb happened, Fenella grabbed a pillow and wacked her friend in the head. To which, Ebirima grabbed a nearby pillow and wacked her friend in return.

Both of them rose up to continue the combat but Kuroda interjected, "Enough! I'm too tired to deal with a pillow fight…as fun as that honestly sounds."

She gave another stern look to the two and they relented, much to the amusement of the others, including Eri, "Not to mention, a pillow fight is a bit cliché for girls like us."

"Eh," added Iha.

"You two need to lighten up," stated Fenella as she sat back down. "We're going to be run ragged the next few days, why not have fun where we can?"

"Well, I'm sure tomorrow they'll let us do the hot springs," put out Ryo.

All of them snapped to their friend, who nearly jumped out of her spot in surprise.

"What did I say?"

"There's a hot spring here?" asked Kanagita.

"I didn't see one when we arrived," noted Hana.

Ryo pointed to a certain direction, "It's over there, I could hear the machines, they're tasked with keeping it both the perfect temperature and clean."

Kuroda thought about it for a bit and recalled something, "Oh, so that's what The Trainer meant by resting, perhaps at least. I know I brought my suit, did you all bring yours?"

They all nodded their heads, all except Chuya, who wasn't around as Kuroda just noticed.

"Where is…?"

She stood up and looked around, sure enough, she saw an outline of a person going up and down near a bed. Kuroda motioned for the others to stay put as she went over to the spot.

As she approached, she saw Chuya doing push-ups near the bed with her stuff. She would do some, then switch up to do some sit-ups. Then go back to the push-ups.

Kuroda couldn't really tell what to feel about this, "After the long day of tests we had, you're doing MORE exercises?"

"It's part of my routine," Chuya replied without breaking her stride. "I do this every night before bed. That way I burn some extra calories, and get myself more exhausted for a better night's sleep. It ensures I'm good to go in the morning without issue."

"…sure, let's go with that. One last thing, will you be good with taking orders from whoever is your potential leader tomorrow?"

This got Chuya to stop, she knew she was being tested, so she looked up at Kuroda directly as she replied, "Yes, I will follow whoever is in charge of me. Though I will say…I hope it's not Goya."

A pause brewed between then, but Kuroda broke it with a small smile and laugh, "Good answer. Alright, continue with your workouts. But I do hope you'll at least try and mingle with us during the week."

"I will…do that…so long as it doesn't interfere with my routines…and I definitely don't do pillow fights."

"Oh, you heard that? Fair enough, though. Alright, I'll leave you be, I'll actually get the girls ready for bed, so wrap it up so we can turn off the lights."

Chuya nodded and went back to her workout, Kuroda watched for a bit and then let her be.

Both sides of Class 1-B turned in for the night, because they knew that the next day would bring forth challenges both family and new.

True to the word of The Trainer, they woke up bright and early so that they could get some breakfast in them, and have a little time to loosen up before their four-hour training session with their individual tests.

At first, all of them thought it would be easier due to how they had endured them before, but as they quickly found out, that wasn't the case at all. Whatever "ease" they felt they had starting out was quickly squashed by the intensity of the tests. Not to mention, they were now tired muscle-wise from the day before, and as such, they had to overcome both pain and exhaustion as they tried to do better.

Which as they realized as the hours went on…was probably the point.

Eventually, noon hit, and the students got a small break, and some light energy via some drinks and snacks, all of the healthy variety of sorts, to help get them ready for what was coming next.

Though there was still a big question that needed to be answered before what came next, and that was what made The Trainer so giddy when he approached them.

"Students!" he exclaimed loudly. "Welcome to the team part of your summer session. In this series of events, you'll be doing something different every day, and you'll be doing it for eight hours. You'll feel the burn after this, I guarantee it!"

He belted out a laugh, but none of the students matched it. He noticed this and sobered up quickly.

"Now, as noted, there are going to be four teams, and as such, there are going to be four team leaders. However, to address that, I'll let your teachers handle it."

He motioned to his right where Angel Wings and Armed Guard now greeted them.

"We know you all rather well," started Angel Wings with her kind smile, "so we worked with The Trainer in order to pick fair leaders. Ones who likely wouldn't mind leading you or being put into that pressure position."

Armed Guard nodded in agreement of this, "While you are here to train and grow, it's IMPORTANT to understand who you are personality-wise, and how you can work with others in either a leadership or follower state. That will be part of your test this week with the team trials."

"As for the rest of you, we did our best to sort everyone out so that the pairings would be…fair enough."

"It's impossible to fully balance you out, which is why certain tests will NOT have you using your Quirks."

Eri raised her hand at this, "But isn't the point of the week to grow our Quirk's abilities?"

"It is, but as you know more than most Eri Ogata, sometimes you won't have your Quirk at your disposal."

"Not to mention," added in Angel Wings, "many of your Quirks are truly integrated with your bodies. The stronger they are, the strong you are likely to become. My wings for example got stronger when I got fitter."

"And my defenses were able to last longer as I built up my natural endurance. So not everything you do during this week will be Quirk-focused, as we're trying to build up ALL of you, and not just part of you."

"With that," inserted The Trainer as he got the classes attention once more, "I'll reveal to you the leaders four!"

He pulled out his clipboard and gazed at it quickly before he cleared his throat.

"When I call your name, stand up and come over here. First up we have, Kuroda Fuji…"

Kuroda smiled as she was the first called, likely due to her natural leadership with the class. She got up and stood next to the trainer.

"Second we have…Eri Ogata."

Slightly surprised, but more than happy to take the role, Eri joined Kuroda, who playfully nudged her to show the support of one of her "rivals".

"Third, and to prove we think some of you boys have leadership talent, we have Tonen Keitomo."

Tonen sighed in mock anger. He knew it was coming, he was one of the pseudo-leaders of the group, and everyone, but Goya, looked up to him, so he was indeed a natural pick for the leadership selection.

"Don't look so down, Tonen," joked Kuroda with a nudge to him as well.

"You really didn't want to be a leader, Tonen?" Eri asked with clear curiosity.

"I would have been more than happy to be under the command of either of you," he replied with an honest smile that got both of them to laugh.

The Trainer cleared his throat again, as he wanted to end the chatter, "And finally, we have…Chuya Taki."

This one got a much bigger shock from the class, which included Chuya in this case. Given her…less than social attitude with the class, she wasn't expected to be one of the leaders, yet she was called. Chuya wiped the shock from her face and joined the other leaders. Tonen tried to catch her gaze to congratulate her, but she wouldn't meet it.

"Ok, so, these are your leaders. You are to follow their guidance when applicable, such as with this this first test, which I'll detail after the rest of the teams are setup."

The remaining members of the class were a bit tense at this. As many wondered how they would be paired up, and whom they'd have to take orders from.

"To go along with Kuroda Fuji is…Sanda Hideaki, Ryo Jurou, Fenella Merida and Iha Jun.

The unique arrangement declared, they each rose up and went over to their leader.

The Trainer flipped a page and quickly read it, "To go with Eri Ogata, we have Ikaim San, Ryu Jurou, Ebirima Koge, and Azujima Yakishi."

Also intrigued, but not disappointed, they all got up and joined Eri.

"Tonen Keitomo's team will be, Kanagita Amame, Hana Yasuyomi, Ueno Gematsu, and Doza Risuke."

Tonen watched as his new "team" come before him, he could see why some were put with him, but then realized the irony of what was to come.

"Which means that Chuya Taki's team will be, Goya Ramasu, Anno Mako, Wasuke Bohiko and Oshibu Noka.

A much different vibe came from them when their names were called. Mainly because there were a lot of strong feelings within this group, and most of it was aimed at Goya, who suddenly realized the truth of the matter.

He may be on a team of powerhouses, but they were powerhouses that would keep him in check should he act out. This was only magnified when he saw Anno give him a toothy shark grin.

The teams now sorted, the two teachers whistled to get their attention before things got out of hand.

"Your first test as a team is over there," Angel Wings said with a point of her finger toward a forest path.

"You will have the next 20 minutes to get a semblance of team unity, then proceed down the path," explained Armed Guard.

"We'll sound a horn when you have five minutes left and should head to the area, then the real fun begins," finished The Trainer.

The three left to head down the path, and left the rest alone to deal with…everything.

Kuroda waved her team over to a spot away from the others, and beamed at them to show how happy she was to be with them, "I think this is a wonderful team! Lots of different powers and personalities."

"Meh," said Iha nonchalantly

"Come on, Iha, aren't you at least a little excited?"

"Eh?"

"Fair enough."

Sanda threw in a groan of his own here, "I appreciate the pep talk, Kuroda, but if you really think about it we haven't really been together in this variation before so you have to wonder just how well we'll do as well as how our Quirks—"

"Sanda!" overrode Ryo, who felt something was off, and looked around, only to remember her brother wasn't there with her. "Oh, right."

Fenella patted her on the head gently, "It's ok, lass, you'll be fine without him."

"Thanks, Fenella, we honestly don't get separated that often so…this will be different."

"Indeed, though what's NOT different is who our leader is…"

She gave a big smile that read, "told you so", this didn't amuse Kuroda though, "Weren't you the one asking if I would be ok not being a leader?"

"I did," she admitted in reply, "but it works just as well you are the leader, you were almost born to the role."

"As long as you follow my directions, Fenella, I can live with that."

"Oh, I have no problem listening to you, how about you lot?"

"I'll follow your lead," said Sanda first.

"Ditto here!" Ryo followed-up.

"Sure," finished up Iha.

Kuroda couldn't help but laugh at this, "Different personalities indeed. Alright, let's go over a few things before we head out…"

Over with Eri, she took stock of her team, which was very unique indeed. When combined with her own Quirk, even she had to admit that her team had…versatility, if not consistency.

Ebirima shuttered in place a bit when Eri gazed at her, "Please don't do that, Eri, you're making me nervous."

"Sorry Ebirima," Eri said with a small chuckle, "just doing what I can to formulate a good plan or strategy with who we have."

"Two projectile shooters, one radar sense, a mimic, and of course, a mech!" rattled off Ryu with a flex at the end.

"Well, aren't you boastful without your sister?"

"Oh, uh, sorry about that."

"It's fine, really."

"He is right though, we have a rather unique squad," Ikaim admitted with a small squirt of ink from his finger, "even me and Ebirima have different uses for our Quirks despite them being similar in nature."

"Which makes me the lame duck of sorts…" Azujima put out lowly.

Eri walked right up to him and made Azujima look her in the eye, "I never want to hear you say that again, Azujima. You know just how valuable you are to this class. You even helped train me for the Sports Festival, remember? I know you're still feeling the effects of your solo training, but we each need to be uplifting here, not depressing, got it?"

For a moment, Azujima could've swore she was talking, and acting, like Tonen, but he stifled the laugh that came from the thought and just nodded.

Ebirima piggybacked off this, "Besides Azujima, there's no Quirk usage for some of these tests, and others we'll definitely need your sensory skills!"

"Precisely, so, let's try and get on the same page and think of quick ways to work together in case they come up on the first test."

As Tonen gazed upon his squad, a lighthearted laugh came out.

"What's so funny?" asked Hana, curious.

"Oh nothing, Shifty, just got a fun little group here. Have to ask though, you ok not leading the group? You are our No.2 rep after all, I wouldn't mind if—"

She cut him off with a raised hand, "I appreciate that, Tonen, but with this group, you are our best leader, I'll follow you just like I would Kuroda, because you two have honestly always been the leaders of our class."

"Thanks, Shifty."

"So much emotion…" said Ueno with his head wobble going strong.

"Can't help it, Dizzy. Though now I must ask you, are you going to be ok with physical challenges not involving your Quirk?"

"I'll make do."

"Good enough. Doza? Any potential qualms?"

Doza thought about it and shook his head, "No, I'll just make sure to keep my Quirk in check, wouldn't want to resonate anything out of existence on accident."

"That would be bad," admitted Hana, now slightly worried.

"He'll be fine," encouraged Tonen with a wave of the hand to calm her down a bit. Then he turned to Kanagita, "Kana? You going to be able to keep Brick Break in check for the non-Quirk tests?"

Kanagita stiffened up a bit when she met Tonen's gaze, but she relaxed soon enough and nodded, "Like Doza, I'll do my best."

"And that's all I can ask of you, all of you. I won't make a promise that we're 'definitely going to win', but if we try, and push ourselves, we'll do good. Hopefully that should be enough…for everyone but Armed Guard."

This got a jovial laugh from everyone, and thus raised their spirits.

But with Chuya's group, spirits were…on edge.

Goya was the most perturbed of the bunch, and spun his spheres around quicker than he usually did, all to try and calm his raised temper, he decided to deflect some of it onto Chuya, "Well? Aren't you going to say something, oh fearless leader?"

"Don't call me that," chastised Chuya with a glare to him, "I didn't ask for this leadership position, but I will do it as best I can. So, my first order of business is that you, nor any of you, will call me anything but Chuya. True leaders are as equal as the people under them. No leader is perfect, or above anyone else when it comes down to it."

"What garbage is that from? Your fath—"

Quick as a flash, Chuya grabbed Goya by the throat and slammed him to the ground. Chuya's glare was more intense than before, and even Goya was stunned by the fury of it.

"You know exactly why you were put on my team, Goya. Because while none of the others would put up with your crap, I won't handle you insulting me, or my father, without getting physical. The others would be above that, but not me. You will work with us or I'll make you every waking moment with this team a nightmare. Do you understand me?"

The two shot beams of hate to one another, but Goya eventually relented, "…yes…now can I please be let up?"

Chuya released him and rose back to her feet, as Goya returned to his, she noted, "And before you ask, that particular speech was from my father. It's called 'asserting dominance'."

The other three failed to contain a set of chuckles at Goya being put in his place. This got Chuya to turn her attention to them. Which got them to clam up.

"Anything to add?"

"I thought it was a brilliant display," boasted Wasuke.

Oshibu waved off the perceived bait, "I'm good, I'll follow you."

Anno gave another toothy grin to Goya, "As far as I'm concerned, Chuya, you got my respect for life."

Chuya gave a small smirk at that last line, but regained her more military-style composure quickly enough, "Good. Now, I don't know what lies ahead, but I will run this as a tight ship so that we can get through this without much issue. We must work together, all of us. Because while it may be true we don't all like each other…we all have enough ego to want to win over the others, right?"

"Oh yeah," Oshibu said with a flick on his shades.

"Sharks don't like being in second," said Anno with a pound on his chest.

Wasuke raised a fist in mock victory, "To do anything less than our best would be foolhardy!"

Chuya turned to Goya, who hadn't truly relented his harsh gaze at her, "I will do my best to win…to…help the team win."

"Good," she said forcefully. "Now, I want to go over some simple commands my father used with his unit to get quick reactions…"

The next few minutes flew as the teams tried to make sure they were ready for whatever was coming. A horn eventually sounded, and they each went to the forest path they were guided to.

The teams didn't talk to one another, but instead focused on what was ahead, which eventually became very clear as they eventually saw their teams standing within the forest in front of four paths with structures built behind them.

The students started to talk amongst one another about what was about to happen, and this irked Armed Guard, "SILENCE!"

They quickly shut up, which got him to grunt in joy.

"Better."

"Alright students," said The Trainer as he stepped forward, "now is the time for your first team exercise. We decided to go a bit basic with your true body training, and thus, we have…an obstacle course."

He motioned to the fourth paths, and indeed the structures that were there were a course of various trials. But something was off about each of them.

"To reiterate, this is a non-Quirk test, and we have cameras throughout that'll ensure that we catch anyone who decides they're above following the rules."

Eri raised her hand, "I have a question."

"Go ahead, Eri," Angel Wings said with a motion to her.

"My Quirk, as well as others here, are inherent, we use them without thinking, so what are we to do?"

The Trainer was impressed by this, "Another excellent question, Ms. Eri. The answer is that while you do have an inherent Quirk, like others, the obstacle course is one that'll negate many of your inherent abilities or use for them. For example, I know you are athletic, and you could use some of those qualities here, but that would be incredibly overt. Same as if Mr. Anno over there went full shark form, we'd be able to see it easily. So, just use some of your more base-level skills, and you'll be fine."

"Thank you."

"Any other questions?"

Kuroda raised her hand and was called upon by him, "What about the leaders? Do we have a special task during this?"

"Yes indeed! All leaders must be at the back of the pack for their groups. Your job is to help and motivate your other teammates, as the goal is to get to the second part of the test as a unit and not just as individuals."

Azujima looked over the four paths and noticed something odd, so he raised his hand, "Why are they all different?"

"Pardon?" asked The Trainer.

"I can see the four courses, they're all different, why is that?"

"Part of it is variety, the other is that while having you run each on uniform would be equal in opportunity, these different obstacles will force you to react to what's ahead of you instead of what's going on beside you. Especially since you won't be able to see what the other teams are doing thanks to the trees blocking you. The third reason…we'll save for after the second part of the test."

"Which is?" asked The Twins in unison, unintentionally this time, and thus got them to air high-five each other.

"You'll see when you get there. We'll be waiting on the other side of the course. The course is long, so do well to pace yourselves, while also trying to get a good time. This will count toward your overall score. Each team event will be rated out of 100 points. We'll examine you during and after the tests to judge how well you did as a team and individuals. Be wary of that."

Angel Wings clapped her hands excitedly to get their attention, "And with that, let's get set up!"

She pointed to a path and assigned a team to start there. Per the instructions, the leaders were at the back so that they could help their team as each obstacle arose. They were allowed to arrange the line of their team however they wanted to though.

"Everybody ready?" questioned Armed Guard with his booming voice, "Then…GO!"

With that, the race commenced, each team raced to their path and obstacle course, and went full-force at it. Or at least, they did the best that they could given that they never knew what would come up next.

Even the very beginnings of each course were different from one another. Kuroda's team had to climb a cargo net, while others had to climb up ropes, or go through a net as they hiked up their legs, or hop from one partition to another on a bridge construct.

Each person did their best, and each leader did their best to encourage their teammates. For example, it was Chuya's team who had to climb the vertical ropes to get to their next challenge, and since she had done that training with her father, she advised each of them on the proper technique to get up without much issue, and without getting too tired.

It was after they got through the first two to three obstacles from the course that they realized just how massive this course was.

At one point, Tonen was on top of a winding tower and he could see that there was at least another ten or so obstacles that they had to complete.

"We're going to be dead before the second part of the course," he said to himself before he continued on.

The challenges only got harder as they went throughout the courses. At one point, Eri's team had to walk along a plank bridge, all the while dodging small swinging logs that would try and knock them off. With a note stating that if they fell off, they had to go again.

Sure enough, multiple members of her team got hit, including herself one time as she tried to save Azujima from getting knocked off, but got herself hit as well.

The other teams had just as much difficulty with their own courses. High spots, low spots, dodge challenges, strength tests, and more, each faced issues.

Kuroda's team had to work together on a singular rope in order to lift a heavy tire up to a certain level, only then could they advance. Tonen's team had to work a balance obstacle as a team as well, and it was difficult with their different weights and how they had to position themselves.

Chuya felt the strain of leadership multiple times through her tests. Goya insisted on being the lead as they progressed, but multiple times he rushed to the obstacle and almost got beaten by it as a result. Chuya gave him orders, but she could tell he only reluctantly followed them.

She wondered if her father had to deal with someone like him in his unit.

Minutes passed, and then many more minutes. But eventually, the end started to come into sight.

One by one, teams started to see the end of the course, and a brief burst of energy came onto them as they raced through the final few obstacles to make it to the end of the course.

As they were told before, they saw their teachers at the end, which ensured they were indeed at the end of the first course.

The first team to get through was Eri's, though it was only about a minute ahead of Tonen's, Kuroda's, and then Chuya's.

When they reached their teachers, they all did the familiar motion of hitting the ground in exhaustion. All three of their teachers laughed softly at this.

"Tough course?" teased The Trainer, though he knew the answer.

"That's one way of putting it," answered Tonen as he breathed heavily.

"You can take a few minutes to rest now as we explain the second part of today's test," commented Angel Wings.

This would've gotten a noise of joy from Class 1-B, but then they realized that if part one of the test was this difficult, what would the second part be like?

To answer that, Armed Guard pointed behind him, "THAT is your second test for the day."

Slowly, but surely, each member of the class gaped at what he insinuated. Because though it didn't register before, they soon came to the grim reality that they were looking at a 100-foot-tall wall of rock. It had clear indents in it to grab onto and climb up, but to say it would be easy would be a stretch even for seasoned climbers.

Goya was particularly incensed by this, "We just got through a massive obstacle course, and now you expect us to do that?"

"Expect? No. You WILL do it."

"As you can see," pointed out The Trainer, "this cliff is one you can climb even without rock climbing experience. Your challenge, as it were, is to climb up quickly. Again, you can't use your Quirks. But…because this is a team challenge, you can choose to interfere if you want to."

"How can we interfere if we are trying to climb without falling ourselves?" wondered Fenella.

"…figure it out. But you make a good point, if you try and take out someone else…you're putting yourself at risk. So keep that in mind!"

"Um, what if we do fall?" asked Kanagita, her gaze fixed on the rock wall.

Angel Wings approached her and locked eyes to keep her steady, "If you do fall, and your Quirk can help you, you can use it. If you don't have a Quirk that'll help, I'll catch you."

"Not that I don't trust you," started out Ebirima, "but what if many of us fall at once?"

"I'm confident that won't happen."

Her confidence did not inspire the others, but that didn't stop the teachers from the task at hand. They put the members randomly along the wall, thus interference could happen. Each were able to grab handholds before the task started.

"We'll see you at the top," The Trainer noted with his hand raised, then he dropped it, "Go!"

The class instantly went to work to climb the rock wall. But as one would expect, the pace in which they did the task varied from person to person.

For example, one of the faster climbers was Eri, who had done rock climbing before in her own personal training and thus her Quirk adapted her body and skill to make it easier to do. Which, due to it not being overt, was not cheating in this particular case. Though to climb a 100-foot wall was still a challenge for her overall, especially after the obstacle course.

Many others in the class didn't have her skill though, and thus went much slower up the rock wall. This caused many to groan in frustration at points, because their Quirks would've helped them immensely, or made the task trivial. Such as Goya with his psychic ability, or Kanagita and Anno, whose alternate form would've made the climb child's play.

But if it was easy, it wouldn't be a test, and so they persisted.

The teachers watched carefully as the class rose higher and higher up the wall, Angel Wings ready to swoop in for a save at any moment, while Armed Guard wondered how many would do well enough on their own.

To the surprise of none, Eri was the first to reach the top. Soon followed by Fenella, Oshibu, Anno and others. Kuroda led the "middle of the pack", and encouraged her team while at the top to keep pushing forward.

Chuya was one of many who struggled with this task. Alongside Iha, Azujima, Kanagita, Doza, and Ebirima, but for very different reasons throughout. Azujima, Kanagita and Iha had trouble due to their smaller sizes, Ebirima was very much afraid of falling, and Doza had to work hard to make sure he didn't crumble the rockface itself.

As for Chuya, while she had physical training via her father, climbing up a cliff was not one of them, and it got her very angry that she wasn't at the top already.

With intense focus, she went up the wall one grip hold at a time, and soon she was almost at the top. Just a few handholds away though, someone leaned over the edge from the top and looked right at her with a rather disturbing smile.

It was Kuroda.

"Hey Chuya," Kuroda started, grin more intense than before. "Remember that conversation we had after Tonen got kidnapped?"

Chuya's eyes went wide as she knew what was about to happen.

"Yeah, I told you that when the time came, I'd get my pound of flesh. Well, what kind of class rep would I be if I let that cloud hang over you? So…"

Quick as a flash, Kuroda grabbed Chuya's hands and flung them off the wall. Chuya plummeted to the ground as a result.

"Don't forget, you can use your Quirk on the way down!"

As quickly as she could, Chuya went into her water form just a few feet before the ground. Where she went…

SPLAT!

Those above and on the ground watched her splatter all over, as well as watched as the water formed back and Chuya emerged once again, though this time with a glare aimed at Kuroda, who gave a mock salute in return.

On top of the cliff, Tonen grabbed Kuorda's arm and reared her around, "What in the world was that?"

Kuroda shrugged, "Oh, just fulfilling a promise I made to Chuya. She still had some dues to pay. Don't worry, I'm good now. Besides, I was allowed to interfere, remember?

She patted him on the shoulder and then turned around to watch the others get up to the top. Due to her "dislodging", Chuya was the last to get up, and when she did, the teachers arose behind her via Angel Wings carrying them.

The Trainer signaled them to come over, and looked at his notes as they did, "You all did pretty well for your first attempt."

"Even though there was an act that could be considered foul play…" noted Angel Wings with a disappointed look at Kuroda.

She answered with a familiar shrug, "I was allowed to interfere."

"You were," pointed out The Trainer, "but I'm going to make an amendment on that. You can't interfere once you're at the top. Otherwise you all will be fighting to knock everyone off, or prevent others from doing that. Save the 'fighting' for on the wall, not above it, ok?"

They all nodded, and when Kuroda and Chuya locked eyes, the former gave the latter a playful wink to show she wouldn't interfere with her anymore. Or at least, not on the rock wall.

"I won't tell you your times as that might affect you going forward. I'll let you know at the end of the day how you all did and what the scores are presently."

"Is that it?" asked Iha.

This got The Trainer to stifle a laugh, "Is what it?"

"Are we done?"

"Done, Ms. Iha? Oh no, you've barely just started. We started this trial at around 12:30pm, and it's only a little after 1pm now. You still have until 8pm before the day is over."

"So what are we doing for the next seven hours?" wondered Doza.

"Simple, there's a path over there that'll lead us back to the ground level. You're going to go back to the obstacle course, shift over so you all are doing a new one…and then we're starting the challenge all over again."

The class was stunned at this. The teachers each smiled in their own way at the reaction.

"We told you this would be hard," consoled Angel Wings.

"This will be an INTENSE challenge, and the more you do it, the more you push yourselves," Armed Guard said with an odd enjoyment on his face.

The Trainer applauded the statement, "Exactly. You're tired now, but that's when the real challenge begins. Can you keep up the pace even when exhaustion sets in? How far can you push yourselves when you think you have nothing left? That's what this test is all about. Pushing you to your literal limits…and then asking you to go even farther than that. Well, enough dawdling! It's a ten-minute walk back to the course, so rest up as we go and get ready to start again!"

He blew a whistle around his neck, and Class 1-B very reluctantly got up and made their way to the path to start everything anew.

Tonen had said before they would be dead before they reached the second part of the challenge, but now, he wondered if they would TRULY be dead by the end of the day's challenges.

*credits*