My Hero Academia – Under Pressure – Season 3 – Episode 6 – Coming Out On Top
Pain and disappointment. That was the feeling amongst the students of Class 1-B as they went back to the lodges to change and rest for the remainder of the fifth day. They were in pain because in rather quick order, all four teams were beaten by a more experienced Pro-Hero, one who had known what they were going up against, and thus used their Quirks to perfection.
They were disappointed because mere minutes before the test had started, the students were on the top of the world. They felt they could take on anyone due to the advancements they felt they made. They were wrong, and it hurt them to realize how wrong they were.
"It doesn't matter if you're an adult, a teen, or a kid, no one wants to be proven wrong. Especially when they fully believe in something and feel that it's right. It almost feels like a betrayal of yourself. Because if you're wrong about this thing. You likely are wrong about other things."
As the students broke apart, the team leaders did their best to bolster their teams, putting up fronts of strength and confidence in order to showcase that this was just a bump in the road. Whether they actually believed that or not was something you'd have to ask them.
"The Trainer noted that this was our 'reality check' lesson, and our realities were checked, there was no doubt of that. Just as there was no doubt the secret second lesson was how we were going to bounce back. For some it would be fine, but others…well, sometimes you can tell you need a little push. Thankfully for my class, we had people willing to do that."
Hours after their defeat, Kuroda found herself against a tree. She just sat against the trunk and looked out at the sky above. A heavy sigh soon followed.
"Feeling that bad about it, huh?" came a voice.
She turned to see Eri approach her, a familiar look of being worn upon her face as she sat down next to her.
"Yeah, today was…something," admitted Kuroda with a heavy look upon her own face.
"So, was it the defeat that got you? Or the way we were beat?"
"The latter. I've already lost at times in this competition, that doesn't bother me. But the way that woman, Ripple, beat us, so simply, yet so completely, that hurt. Especially when I realized later on that she was toying with us the whole time! She could've beaten us in seconds flat instead of minutes, but she wanted to show just how outclassed we were."
Almost out of instinct, she punched the ground in frustration.
Eri nodded as she recalled her own shortcomings, "I understand that anger. When Auditory used her Quirk, I was surprised, but I felt I could overcome it. But then I looked at the others. Azujima and Ebirima were absolutely terrified of not having their hearing. I won't be forgetting those looks for a while. And by the time I got my own composure back together, we were surrounded by smoke and being picked off."
A sigh that mimicked Kuroda's came from her, and the two team leaders just starred off into the space of the area, not sure how they would overcome this feeling.
Kuroda was the first to break the silence, "You know, when I learned of my Quirk, and realized all I could do with it? I thought I was one of the most overpowered Quirk-users out there. I can touch almost anything and turn it into almost any element. That's OP! Or, so I thought. But between classes, the Sports Festival, my internship, the exams, and this camp? I'm slowly coming to grips that it is very limiting in how I can use it as a Pro-Hero."
"Ah, due to how just because you can change an element, doesn't mean you'll be able to in the course of a fight?" put out Eri with a knowing nod.
"Exactly! Remember the obstacle race from the Sports Festival? Projection was stunned when I turned that robot into feathers, because no one had seen me do that before! Because I never really had the opportunity to do that before! I can't wait to use my Change-It Weapon in the field because it'll let me feel like I'm actually using my Quirk more fully, instead of just using it when an opportunity presents itself."
Kuroda groaned as she admitted her own limitations, Eri again nodded in a very knowing sense, "I understand that. I can mimic just about anything I see, I have hundreds, if not over a thousand skills I can use at any moment…but being able to use it in a meaningful way whenever I want? That's different, and because my Quirk is tied to my literal body, those with abilities that can keep me at a distance are instantly better than me tactics wise. Oshibu, Tonen, Ebirima, Ueno, all of them could defeat me easily with their Quirks just by not letting me get to them. And I know that certain villains out there have other Quirks that can take me out without much effort."
The two sighed as one this time, and that got the two to laugh a little, which made them feel better.
Kuroda gave Eri a playful shove, "Look at us, acting all mature for our age and admitting our faults."
"Kuroda, with a few exceptions, we are the most mature people in our class," pointed out Eri with a serious expression.
A pause emerged, and then the two broke out laughing at the ironic truth of that statement.
Feeling a bit better about everything, Kuroda got up and then extended a hand to Eri. Her friend took it and rose up to equal footing.
"I think we should go try and cheer everyone up," said Kuroda, her usual charm back in effect, "my heart wasn't really in it before."
Eri's confident look was restored too, "Yeah, I'm sure Tonen will help us too if we asked."
"Oh, no doubt."
They headed to the lodges, but Kuroda couldn't help but give a look at her friend and rival once again, "We'll get better, Eri. All this proves is that we need to get more creative with how we do things."
Eri matched Kuroda's look in her very mimic way, "Indeed, and I pity those that try and stop us when we're at the level of those Pro-Heroes from before."
They pounded their fists in unity and then went to do the work of responsible classmates and friends.
"If you're curious, yes, they did come and ask me to help cheer up the rest of the class. I had my own little 'heart-to-heart' with others like Azujima and Sanda and was feeling a little bit better myself. But as Kuroda and Eri knew, the others looked up to us because we were both mature and confident, and if we were up taking on whatever came next, so would they. It took a while, and some obviously didn't want help, but we got the others out of their moping state."
The rest of the night had a more joyous feel to it, as the others went and relaxed, soaked in the hot springs, and then rested their bodies to prepare for the sixth day. Many of them promised themselves before they went to bed that no matter what happened next, they would just use it to try and push themselves farther than ever before.
As the morning dawned, there was a lightness in the air, mainly because everyone (most everyone…) felt refreshed and away from the dark cloud that hung over them most of yesterday.
As Tonen gazed at the class, he could sense they were indeed in a better place, and decided to play on it in a fun way. He got Kuroda's gaze and tapped his nose to signal to play along.
"Alright, so," he started out, which got many in the class to turn to him, "we've done a whole day of personal training, an obstacle course of death, a paintball war, a ballroom blitz, and a match with Pro-Heroes. Anyone want to venture a guess on what today will be?"
"Hmm…" Kuroda answered loudly to get others attention and showcase this was a time for talk, "well the tests have varied in terms of not just intent, but how everyone is used, or could be used. We've done tasks with Quirks, without Quirks, and with semi-use of Quirks. So, on that front, it's anyone's guess in terms of what we might get."
Eri leaned in a bit to address the others, "And then in terms of purpose, it was about personal growth, pushing ourselves to our limits, teamwork with limited power base, how to handle a chaotic situation, and being overmatched to see how far we still needed to go. So, by that token, we should expect a kind of 'purpose', but they've been so different to one another…who can say what's next?"
Fenella slammed the table in excitement, "Oooohhh, what if we get to play like a war game?! The leaders are the commanders, and we do 1v1 or 2v2 battles based on certain parameters to see who can come out on top?"
"That would fit to an extent," noted Ebirima, who played with her hair the more she thought about it, "it definitely would be different from what we've done so far. But that also sounds pretty intense."
"Just hope you don't go up against me, lass."
She nudged Ebirima playfully and got her to laugh. Anno morphed his hand into its more intense form and gazed at it longingly, "I would like a chance to actually hit something…don't worry guys, I won't hurt anyone too badly."
"Good to know, Anno," said Kanagita with a nervous laugh.
"I would predict a more team element to things as a whole…" started Ryo.
"…especially since no points were given yesterday." Ended Ryu.
Ikaim made a small ink geyser on his finger and watched it for a bit, "Honestly, with The Trainer it's hard to predict what he's thinking. I thought that Quirk of his was ridiculous when I first heard of it, but man can he get creative with pushing ourselves."
The others talked briefly about this, Tonen though looked at Iha though, who had continued eating throughout the whole conservation.
"Any thoughts, Iha?" he asked nicely.
"Nope," she replied bluntly, per usual.
"You'll just take on whatever happens?"
"Yep."
"That's why I like you, Iha, I always know where you stand."
"Thanks."
The others snickered in good fun at this, and then the conversation continued.
Ueno's head went into a mad wobble as he thought of what it might be, "I just don't want a repeat of Day 1 or 2. I don't mind personal training and pushing limits, but doing it all day? That's annoying…"
"I can agree with that," admitted Doza, "I don't care about the personalized tests as a whole, and they're really clever. But doing basically the same thing for hours? Feels like time is moving at a crawl."
"THAT is something I can understand fully," Oshibu said loudly. "When I go full force in my speed? Fractions of a second pass by, and they have me doing that running test for HOURS…it wears on me."
"Just remember, that's the point," Hana pointed out in a very matter-of-fact way befitting her No.2 rep status. "We're supposed to be doing challenges that push us. Yeah, it sucks right now, but it will be beneficial in the long run."
Chuya poked at her food intensely with her fork, "Yesterday was a setback for all of us, but if we push through it today? Then we'll be better for it."
Tonen looked at her, and eventually she met his gaze, and he nodded in appreciation of her speaking out on this.
Wasuke broke up the moment though as he all but stood on the table in a typical pose, "Yes! We will rise up like true Pro-Heroes and make a grand statement!"
"You want a statement, Wasuke? Here's one, sit down!" Kuroda said both forcefully and jokingly.
He did so and the others laughed. Tonen noticed that one of the two who hadn't spoken yet was Azujima next to him. He tapped him on the should, "You ok, Azu?"
"Yeah," he said softly, then looked at Tonen with clear pain in his eyes. "It's just…is it wrong to just want to go back to school?"
"Tired of camp?"
"Parts of it, yeah. I get what Hana and Chuya were saying, and I'll do my best no matter what they throw at us today…but I won't be mad when I don't have to go into that sensory chamber again."
Tonen patted Azujima on the back consolingly, "I understand, buddy. Just do what you can, and we're here if you need us."
Others chimed to show support for Azujima, which made him feel better. But as the topic turned back to the challenge of the day, Tonen's gaze went to another, Goya.
"You want to make a guess on things, Goya?"
Goya had been eating without a care for the whole conversation, but when asked the question, he ate a bite of food, swallowed, then said, "I have no opinion to give on this matter."
"Huh, that might the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."
The others burst out in laughter at this. Goya stewed but continued on with his meal. When the laughter died down they each made predictions on what might happen that day, some even made little side bets in terms of food or things people had to say if they won or lost.
Tonen and Kuroda allowed it because it was just good fun and no one went to far. But the two also shared a smile with one another as they could tell that their class was truly back.
And the timing was perfect too, as they went outside to go and do their personal training challenges.
True to their promises to themselves, many of the class threw themselves at the tasks so that they could get stronger. Kuroda and Eri especially went hard in the personal training after the conversation that they had. They didn't want to be upstaged again, so they went to work to improve themselves on that day, even if it was just by a little bit.
Tonen spend most of his challenge on his intake training. He felt that this was where he really needed to excel given the limitations in his own Quirk. So, he exhaled a lot of pressure from him, and then spent the rest of the time in an attempt to get it all back. While it was slow-going, he did make progress, and that was what he wanted.
Class 1-B tried their best with the time they had, but a moment of dread honestly befell most of when their sessions started, and the team exercise loomed.
After all, it's easy to say that you're "not afraid" of an upcoming task, but when it happens and you're on that precipice…things go from thought to reality really quick.
Not wanting to show fear, the class stiffened themselves as best they could as their teachers and The Trainer arrived.
"Alright everyone, it's time for Day 6," noted The Trainer in a calm tone and he gazed at the group.
This time however, no one replied with anything. Not a cheer, or a groan, or even a roll of the eyes. It was complete focus…or looks of anticipation.
"I see… Guess yesterday's test got to all in the way we wanted. That's good."
"If you were afraid for today's test, just know that's a fair feeling to have," Angel Wings said with a slightly sad smile. "We've all had days where things didn't go our way and we dreaded having to continue on."
"But you are all here, and THAT is proof of your worth," Armed Guard said with smoldering intensity. "Yet that is only HALF the step, let's see how you do when the test actually begins."
"On that note…" re-entered The Trainer, "I have some good news. Mainly in that there will be no 'you all failed' scenario today. Today's test will be very much like the days before the Pro-Hero test."
Some of the class couldn't help but exhale in relief at this, the teachers saw this but didn't overtly react outside of a stifled laugh from Angel Wings.
"But make no mistake, this will be a tough test, because today's lesson is trying to show you how you adapt when there is no plan to be had immediately."
Eri raised her hand, "Didn't we do that in the aptly name 'Ballroom Blitz'?"
The Trainer shook his head, "No, you had plans in that altercation, some of them were long-term versus short-term, but you had plans. This time though you'll be facing a foe that can't be predicted…and there are so many variables in this test that even long-term planning will be difficult.'
"Ok, I'll do the shark-like thing and bite…who are we going after?" Anno asked after he felt the anticipation for the test build within him.
"Not a who, Mr. Anno, but a what."
It was then that the class realized that The Trainer had one of his arms behind his back despite talking with them all, and within the hand that was revealed was a box. With his free hand he opened the box, and from within it came a bright ball of light, no bigger than a golf ball, but everyone couldn't take their eyes off of it.
"This is your target…if you can get it that is."
"I fail to see a challenge in that given our abilities," Goya said, insulted at the 'lightness' of the challenge.
This got The Trainer to smile, "Then by all means, Mr. Goya, grab it with your psychic energy."
Goya sensed a trap, but he knew not doing the challenge would be just as problematic, so he reached out and extended his psychic aura. To his surprise though, he couldn't grab it at all, nor even contain it within a psychic field just around it. He tried this several times, but to no effect.
"This special ball is made to resist Quirks of all kinds," noted Angel Wings to the rest of the class. "More specifically, your Quirks. That being said…"
She walked up to the ball and quickly grabbed it with her hand, then proceeded to move the now filled hand around before she put the ball of light back where she grabbed it.
"…it can be grabbed physically."
"I hate to agree with Goya on…well, anything," started out Kuroda, confused. "But how is this a challenge when all we have to do is grab it?"
"Yeah, are you going to…hide it?" wondered Kanagita.
"Not exactly," said The Trainer, small smile on his lips. "The challenge will present itself when we the test starts. On that note, you won't be able to pre-plan with your teams before then, and you'll be separated at the start so that no funny business happens."
"The rules are simple," Armed Guard added gruffly. "The entire area of this camp is the containment zone. The first person to grab the ball of light…wins. Other teams points will be gauged based on how WELL they've adapted to the test, and how close you come at times. So as always…give it your ALL!"
His usual yell forced some of them to recoil, but many of them were still surprised by what the test was, and wasn't, especially since they still couldn't see a challenge in it.
The teachers didn't let them talk about it though, instead, they got them up, and led them to one of the many clearings in the area.
Then, to their surprise once more, they put the box with the ball of light in the middle of the clearing, and then made a circle pattern around it with the students. Making it so no two of the same team were right next to one another.
The Trainer and the others backed up a good ways away, and he put his whistle to his lips, "Are you ready?"
Class 1-B looked at the box, which on a trigger opened itself up, and the ball of light hovered up in the air.
"Do you know what's about to happen? If so…you picked it up a lot quicker than we did…"
"Go!"
Not missing a chance to get the points, much of the class rushed to the middle to grab the ball. Others like Tonen, Iha, Kuroda, Ueno, and a few more stayed back to see what they felt would be a twist. Just as some would've predicted though, Oshibu was the first to blitz into the middle. He even took an extra step given the worry about the Quirks not affecting the ball and reached out to grab it at normal speed.
When he did though, the ball dodged the swipe, and then another, and then another, and when the other students tried to grab it, the orb of light shot into the air and then blasted off in another direction.
Ueno's head stopped its wobble as he and the others watched it depart, "It can fly?"
"Yeah, it can fly, Mr. Ueno!" called out The Trainer with a point to where the ball flew off to. "You all should probably run after it!"
Still stunned, Class 1-B gazed at each other for a moment, then quickly broke off and burst towards the direction of the target. But now that the challenge had presented itself, they turned on their Quirks and went to work.
Tonen, Goya, Fenella and Ryu went into flight mode and chased after it from above. Others like Hana and Sanda used the ground to their advantage and rushed toward it from below. Anno and Kanagita transformed and made mighty bounds to it, and the rest chased after it in the various ways that their Quirks allowed.
Even if that meant just running after it on foot.
The "flight crew" were the first to try and catch up to it, but because all four of them were on different teams, they weren't afraid to play a little dirty in order to get to the ball first.
Goya, not surprisingly, was the first to reach out and strike. Just as obvious was that he went after Tonen first, he put his rival in a field and sent him into the forest below.
Fenella took offense to that, for various reasons, and struck at him with her runes, "You can at least try to not be a dick, you wannabe boyo!"
Goya played defense and redirected the runes as best he could. While the two scrapped though, Ryu saw an opportunity, put on his afterburners and blasted past them and right to the orb of light.
But…just like before, the orb repeatedly dodged all attempts at being caught, even when Ryu used both hands in different spots to catch it. The misses were at times by millimeters, but they were misses nonetheless.
Things only got more complicated for him when Kanagita and Anno jumped in to try and swipe it away, which forced the Orb to bolt away and then enter the trees below for a more ground level chase.
Which fit perfectly for much of the class as they had to be on the ground in order to chase the orb.
Sanda was the first to spot the orb near the ground and barreled to it with the earth as his vehicle. Despite his impressive speed via the Quirk, the orb kept out of reach. The same applied when others from the class appeared from all over to try and get the orb for themselves.
Such as when Ebirima came out of nowhere and nearly got the orb, Sanda noticed that she used her bubble gum strands like vines, as she had each one attach to a tree and she's swing from spot to spot. At certain junctures, she even fired miniature versions of her bubble gum webs at the orb to try and catch it, but it always dodged or snuck through the openings.
Hana and Eri also had clever attempts to catch the orb, as the former used her own earth technique to sneak under the orb and tried to pop up "shark attack style" to grab it, but it always dodged. Then other times she would blend into the trees and tried to grab it "by surprise", but it always seemed to know when it would be grabbed and moved away.
Eri meanwhile did her best to keep up in her own way, as she used her Quirk to jump, bound, bend and twist her way through the various obstacles on the path the orb took so she could get close and attempt to get it. Her cleverest move though was when she made a guess that the orb was aware of hand movements, and then contorted her body so that she could grab it with her feet.
It whisked away regardless, but it was an advancement of her techniques, and thus it was clever.
Not to be outdone, Kuroda, Ikaim, and Ueno did their best to catch the target too. Kuroda went barefoot and repeatedly turn spots of the forest to rubber so she could bounce off and get closer to the orb. At one point, she actually tricked the orb toward a mass of bushes, and quickly touched the ground near them to turn them all into a very sticky substance.
But to her surprise, the orb bounded in a different direction just before it got caught. Ikaim used techniques like the others and used his ink blasts to get in close to the orb, but unlike the others, he actually tried to attack the orb directly. Including sending out a blast of ink right on the orb, if for no other reason than to see what it would do.
The answer was basic, but necessary, as it dodged the attack without a mark on it.
Ueno didn't have much better luck, as his momentum Quirk didn't affect the orb of light as promised, so he had to revert to putting the Quirk on himself and act like a homing missile. Every time it made a move, so did he. But no matter how much he "reversed" or "redirected" himself, he could never get close enough for a grab, and then few times he tried, it immediately went out of his reach.
Chuya used various techniques and tactics with her water to try and catch the orb, even trying to make an orb of water to get it in, but it would blow through it as she tried, or not get even close to it and thus failed the attempt outright.
One could have argued that Oshibu was the most persistent in the goal, as he raced all over the camp at times to catch this orb, and it refused to be caught. Being as the blitzer was never afraid to boast about his speed and precision, this hurt him a lot, and he got more and more frustrated with every miss he made, or when it went into the air and thus out of the range of him.
As for Ryo, Iha, Azujima, Doza and Wasuke, their only attempts on the orb was when it unintentionally went in their direction. But given that their Quirks weren't very "proactive" in the act of catching it…the best they could do was make chase in the hopes of being useful…eventually.
For nearly an hour, the students of Class 1-B did attempt after attempt to get the orb, but nothing worked.
Many stopped the chase because they knew that they couldn't catch it, Tonen even heard Iha mutter, "impossible to catch…" as she walked by him angrily.
"He said it wasn't a 'you'll lose' scenario though," Tonen said to himself after a pause, "all he said was…the opponent can't be predicted, and long-term planning would be difficult. Difficult, but not impossible, so what are we missing?"
Not sure of the answer, and having lost track of the ball of light, he blasted back into the air to gauge the area.
As he honed in on some noises, he saw a scrum as many of his classmates were all in an attempt to catch the orb. He went closer and focused not on the orb, but how everyone tried to catch it. Between their Quirks and their physical attempts, they did get close to the orb, but every time, without fail, it dodged them.
"How does it keep dodging us? It's not like it can…see…us…oh come on…is it that simple?"
With a laugh, and a makeshift plan, he quickly scanned the area for something that would help him. Sure enough, he saw a spot that might work, but he knew he couldn't do it alone.
He went back to the scrum and saw one of his allies, "Kana! Get over here!"
In the fray, Brick Break heard Tonen's call and paused, she hesitated though until Kanagita's voice broke through, "That's our team leader, we need to listen to him. He likely knows how he can catch that thing!"
With a grumble of frustration, Brick Break bounded to where Tonen was, and he lowered himself to the ground to meet her.
"What you want?" asked Brick Break.
"I think I know how to catch that thing. But I need your help to guide it to a certain spot."
"…what spot?"
He pointed out to an area, "Go to where you were before, I have a feeling they're still trying to get the orb there. Find a way to stop the others and then force the orb down that nearby path and towards that big clearing."
"Then do what?"
"Make sure it stays straight and true on that path, roar when it gets close, I'll do the rest."
Brick Break again grunted in frustration, the plan made no sense to her, but Kanagita again prodded her and reluctantly, she bounded away again. Tonen quickly went to where he knew he needed to be and prepared for his plan.
As he had predicted, the others were still doing their attempts to catch the orb, but none of them worked. But when Kanagita re-entered the fray, she did it so forcefully that all the others were stunned.
She enacted the plan and forced the orb down the nearby path and chased it. As Tonen hoped, it kept going straight, and Brick Break roared loudly. To the orb, it likely felt like a challenge roar, but to Tonen, it was a signal.
"If this doesn't work, I'm out," he said jokingly as he prepared his plot.
As he looked over the clearing, it was obvious how dusty it was. The dirt was incredibly loose here, it would be bad if a windstorm picked it all up and hung it in the air…
After some deep breaths, Tonen did exactly that. He created a dust storm of sorts, but made it feel less like an attack, and more of a natural occurrence. Then, he went out into the cloud of dust and debris himself.
On the path, Brick Break let loose another roar, and reached for the orb, and the orb bounded right into the dust cloud.
*thump*
Brick Break stopped just shy of the cloud, she tried to peer through it, but it was still pretty thick, "Where are you, boss man?"
"I'm here," came the voice of Tonen in the cloud.
A sharp exhale sounded, and the dust cloud dispersed. Tonen was still lightly covered in the dust, and his hands were over his heart.
Brick Break looked at him confused, "Why you hands like that?"
"Because, we won."
He lowered his hands slowly, and the orb of light was within them. Brick Break was at first stunned, then broke out into a victorious and raucous laughter.
Some of the others came rushing into the clearing, and were equally stunned when Tonen was seen with the orb.
"How in the world did you get that, TK?" asked Ebirima perplexed and amazed.
"Yeah, I calling a party foul," added Oshibu, not amused in the slightest. "My speed couldn't catch that thing, but your air pressure could? Bull."
"Chasing that thing was…exhausting…" lamented Ueno as he sat on the ground and let his head wobble. "That's some ball of light…"
Tonen couldn't help but laugh at the remark, "But that's where they got us. It's not a ball of light. We were just given a light show to confuse us. In reality…"
He stopped and tapped the orb, a series of beeps emerged from it and eventually the light powered down, revealing a small mechanical ball in his hand.
"…it was nothing more than a machine."
The revelation stunned the students into silence, then they burst out with a unified, "WHAT?!"
"Ok, I'm all for plot twists, but how could that machine avoid us like that?" questioned Kuroda.
"Because it could see us," Tonen answered.
"Good catch, Mr. Tonen," came a familiar voice and tone.
The Trainer and their teachers emerged from the path, and The Trainer specifically went to Tonen and grabbed the ball to show it off to the class, "This ball was made especially by your teacher, The Tinker. It needed to have three basic functions. First, freedom of movement…"
"Second, the ability to MOVE on a dime," added Armed Guard.
"And finally, to react in a split second to the dangers that were around it."
The Trainer admired the machine, "This orb doesn't look it, but it has cameras in all 360 degrees. Not unlike an insect, it sees everything around it, and when it's activated, like for this test, it would react and move just enough to dodge without hesitation, every single time."
Eri understood part of this answer, but not all, "So how did you beat it, Tonen?"
He shrugged, "With luck. I had a feeling it could be blinded if I did it the right way. I found this clearing with loose dirt, made a sandstorm of sorts, had Kana lured it in, and just stood directly in the path that it would likely take. Hit me right in the chest, and I caught it. Even covered myself in dust a bit to ensure it couldn't see me fully."
"Very clever, Tonen," praised Angel Wings with her usual happy smile.
"Though as you noted, LUCK was a factor here," cautioned Armed Guard.
"Indeed," chimed in The Trainer, "which is why you're going to find it hard to make that plan work the second time around."
"Second time around…?" said the class in fearful unison.
"Oh yes, you had a good run, but that was only an hour, we still have much of the day to go, did you really think you'd get off as easy as yesterday?"
A very familiar sigh emerged from the class, a further showing of how everything had 'returned to normal.'
The Trainer didn't let this dissuade him in his point though, "If you haven't grasped it yet, the lesson today was about adapting to a situation that is ever evolving. Imagine you go to a city you're not familiar with and immediately have to catch a villain that's very fast. Your short-term tactics won't work here because they know the city and you don't. You're having to process lots of information at once and try to come out on top. It's not easy."
"Another situation this is akin to is group warfare," Armed Guard added in with a very serious tone. "Imagine a large group of Pro-Heroes and villains going at it, and suddenly YOU arrive as backup to try and help. The chaos is so great that you have to adapt and take the challenge on one step at a time, while always being mindful of your surroundings."
"Whether you realize it or not, you all performed great," beamed Angel Wings with a motion to the class. "You honestly haven't seen as much of this area as you might think, but none of you got tripped up by the natural, and unnatural challenges you faced. Some of you even tried to use the environment to your advantage to get the win, and in Tonen's case, it worked."
As she finished, The Trainer chuckled and watched as the orb of light glowed once more, "Precisely, and now, we're adding another twist, an opponent that adapts with each win you get. Not unlike how you adapted in the various contests during this week. Now it'll be able to see through blinding obstacles, so you'll have to get really clever to catch it. Let's head back to the start area, this will be your rest period before the next round starts."
With another sign, but not wanting to argue, those that were there followed the teachers back to the start area, where the remainder of their classmates sat and awaited their arrival. They had already been given the lecture about the test as they had "bowed out" for various reasons. But they didn't know about the other rounds to come, and so they sighed as well.
With everyone altogether again, The Trainer started the robotic ball once more, and the matches began anew.
For the next several hours, Class 1-B got pushed once again to their limits, as they had to outthink a machine that could react in the blink of an eye, if not faster.
The only blessing was that because they knew it could be topped, they started to think about how they could do it in the chaos of the challenge.
Kuroda was the first to figure out what to do, as she pulled a Tonen and got aid from her own teammate in Sanda. They did a tag team move where Sanda raised up a bunch of earth in an area, cracked it into sections, and then Kuroda turned it all into reflective surfaces.
When the orb entered their trap, they sealed off the way it entered and created more "mirrors", with all the reflections, it couldn't handle the information that was given to it, and thus couldn't tell which direction to go into, and thus Kuroda caught it with ease.
Ebirima got the only point for her team when she took the long-game approach and made swaths of her bubble gam that was akin to fly paper. She set it up in key areas of the battleground, and due to the nature of it, the robot didn't think it was a danger, and got close enough to it to get stuck eventually.
With each victory they got, the teams had to try harder and harder to catch the ball. Kuroda, Fenella and Ueno were all able to catch it for victories in the matches that followed the first three, and by the end of the day, The Trainer blew the whistle and called the exercise done.
"Well done, everyone, well done," he said honestly and truly to them.
The class gave a weary thumbs up to the trainer, and did their best to rest now that the marathon challenge was done.
"So, do you want the bad news, or the good news?"
"Bad news!" they answered, as they clearly wanted it over with.
"I thought so. The bad news is that there was a lot of ways that you honestly could've caught that ball if you had been just that little cleverer, or had used more teamwork later on, Team Chuya didn't get a point due to that…"
Chuya's face scrunched up in anger, her team had failed to get a single point against that robotic orb, and it weighed on her.
"However, the good news, and I'm pretty sure all of you will be happy with this news…the tests are officially all over."
This stunned the class, and they quickly went over things in their heads to make sure they hadn't forgotten something.
Hana voiced what they all thought, "But you all said camp was a week, today's only day six…"
Angel Wings failed to contain a joyous laugh, "Yes, and originally, we thought about doing seven days of training. But given how well you all have done, and the lessons we've felt you've truly learned…we're going to give you the day tomorrow to have fun! After all it is a camp…and you're still only teens, shouldn't you be allowed to have fun a little?"
The class was instantly re-energized as they went into a frenzy amongst themselves and talked about what they would do on their free day.
"QUIET!" roared Armed Guard, and they just as instantly went silent.
"…thanks…" the Trainer said with a shake of his head. "If you forgot…since this was the last day of tests, that means we need to declare a winner."
This got the class back some of its energy, but for some of them, the reality of what was about to be said set in due to how the current day went.
The Trainer saw this but didn't say anything, instead, he pulled out his clipboard and went over it, "While there were some early favorites, you all did very well and kept things close towards the end. However, with today's results, the top two teams are as follows. No.2 was Team Tonen, and No.1 was Team Kuroda!"
Kuroda, Sanda, Ryo, Fenella, and even Iha, all were happy at this announcement and celebrated with one another.
Tonen got the attention of the others and gave them an applause for their victory, "Nice job, you guys! I'm fine with taking second…again…I should get used to this spot I guess."
Some of the others laughed at this as they recalled the various times Tonen had gotten second place in competitions. Others were a bit more sullen that they didn't win. Like Chuya, Goya, Eri, Anno, and a few more.
The Trainer blew his whistle to get their attention, "As for the reward for the team, you'll be getting special jerseys with your names on them and a badge that showed you won in the summer camp challenge!"
While he gave a roar of approval, some of the class…were more than fine with not getting this "trophy".
When that wave of emotions was over, they all got up and were dismissed for the rest of the day so they could eat, relax, and plan for what they wanted to do tomorrow.
"I would love to tell you what happened on Day 7 of the camp. How we honestly had a blast just hanging out with one another as actual kids at a camp with plenty to do. How we used our Quirks to make it even more fun. Of how we played pranks on one another, or how I got Iha to actually laugh at a joke. I would love to tell you how Kuroda and I got Chuya to hang out with us a lot and not mope over the loss in the team challenge, and so on…"
The class had a true "victory meal" that night for enduring the entirety of camp, and all of them enjoyed it very much.
"…I'd love to tell you the whole thing…but that day is a painful memory for the lot of us. Because while we were having the time of our lives that day…The Deck made their move elsewhere…and we all wish we could've been there to stop them…"
*credits*
