Chapter 41
[Play KH3 OST Shipmeisters' Shanty]
Three days had passed since Parents Day and school was already over at U.A. High. Sora had just finished with his part of the project and was sitting next to Moogle in the Monetary Room, taking a breather. "hah...hah...hah...That's 18 down...one to go." Sora stated.
"Actually, you don't need to do that last one, Kupo." Moogle told him.
"Huh? But aren't all of them going to be part of the finals?" Sora responded.
"Yes, but the last one is reserved for you, Kupo." The merchant explained. "I locked that one from you for that reason, Kupo."
"Is that why the gate to that wasn't open until I just finished that last one?" The Keyblade wielder asked.
"That, and that specific one had so many complications that I had to deal with before it could have the chance to break this project, Kupo." Moogle answered.
" 'That one' was the most complicated?" Sora questioned.
"Yes, and to be honest, it makes sense, considering who it technically is, Kupo." Moogle pointed out.
"...I guess so." Sora agreed, before changing the subject. "Man, I wish I still knew my Cure spell."
"Unfortunately, I do not have an instruction sheet for that, Kupo." Moogle told him. "We stopped making those when business went a bit down under and just stuck to selling potions, elixirs, etcetera, or trading for the materials to make it, Kupo."
"How is that synthesizing going anyway?" Sora wondered. "You got any potions or elixirs I could add to my 'loadout' at all?"
"It's hard to do without a synthesis recipe sheet, Kupo." Moogle pointed out. "And those are only given when one sets up an actual shop, which I do not have, Kupo."
"Synthesis recipe sheet?" Sora repeated. "Wait, those aren't just printed out and handed to you?"
"It ain't exactly something that's just given out, Kupo." Moogle stated. "Say you open a restaurant chain, and in said establishments, you have a special dish that can only be made there, Kupo. You got a special recipe that doesn't leave the building and gets people to want to come, because those are the only places to get them, Kupo."
"That's weird." Sora commented. "I got a few synthesis recipes mailed to me from the restoration committee back before I even got into U.A."
"EXCUSE ME, KUPO!?" Moogle exclaimed. "HOW, KUPO?!"
Sora rubbed his ear for a moment before answering. "A chest full of letters for me washed up on shore and it had those in it with them. It also had that munny pouch I gave you a while back too."
"What recipes are they, Kupo?" Moogle asked. "Wait, you shouldn't know, Kupo. We wrote it in our native language."
"That whistle thing you do is an actual language?" Sora questioned.
"Yes, Kupo." Moogle answered. "But back to the previous subject, Kupo. Why didn't you tell me that you had those, Kupo?"
"You never said that those were hard to get." Sora defended.
"But you can't even read them, Kupo." Moogle pointed out.
"I didn't know that it was written in your language." Sora retorted. "And I wasn't just gonna get rid of them."
"You could have at least said something, Kupo." Moogle said. "I don't know what's in your pockets, Kupo."
"Ok. Ok." Sora conceded. "I'll bring them tomorrow."
"Please do, Kupo." Moogle requested. "I may have managed to make some stuff, but I doubt two panaceas are gonna help you out in the long run, Kupo."
"Panaceas?" Sora repeated. "That medicine drug?"
"I figured it out while mixing some stuff last night, Kupo." The merchant explained. "Like I said, I doubt it'll be that efficient, compared to potions, ethers, and the other stuff, Kupo."
"I'm sure they'll still be useful." Sora reassured him. "I mean, they're the ultimate medicine to cure poison, getting paralyzed, allergies, all that stuff."
"Yeah, but we don't even know if Quirks like that count, Kupo." Moogle pointed out. "I mean, it's not like we can just test that, Kupo. I barely managed to figure out how to make those, and if the recipes you have don't include that, then these are gonna have to be used only in a crisis, Kupo."
"Hmm...I guess you have a point there." Sora noted. "Well, tomorrow, hand them to me when I get those sheets to you, okay? You'll have time to make whatever is on them and I can hold onto the panaceas just in case anything happens that might have me use one."
"Fine, Kupo." Moogle accepted. "Now go home while I start setting the difficulty modifiers on this, Kupo."
With that, Sora left Moogle to do his work. Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day.
[Play KH3 OST Hundred Acre Wood]
During the morning of the next day, Sora and Izuku were walking through the entrance to U.A. High, but Sora then noticed someone coming from behind them and he turned around to see who it was. "Tsu?" Sora spoke up.
"Eh? Asui?" Midoriya said, also surprised to see her right now. "Aren't you usually in class already?"
"I ran a little late today because I messed up making breakfast this morning. Ribbit." Tsuyu told them as they all walked in the building together. Izuku ended up walking ahead of the other two though.
"You make your own breakfast?" Sora noted.
"Me and my siblings' breakfast." Asui answered.
"Huh..." The Keyblade wielder had just noticed something.
"What is it?" Tsuyu asked him.
"Well, now that I'm thinking about it. I think that's the only thing you've told me about yourself, Tsu." Sora pointed out as the two kept walking together, until Sora was heading towards the Development Studio.
"Hey. The classroom is this way." Asui stated.
"I know. I just need to take a few things to the Development Studio first." Sora told her. "You want to come with me?"
"Ribbit?" Tsuyu responded. "Well, there is a lot of time before class starts, and it's been a while since we just talked."
"Yeah. The last time was that phone call during the internships." Sora confirmed.
"Eh...sure. It'll be a nice change of pace." Asui said as she walked with Sora. "What are you taking there anyway?"
"Just a few papers for Moogle." Sora replied. "He said he'll give me some stuff while I was there, so this just lets me feed two birds with one bread."
"Don't you mean kill two birds with one stone?" Tsuyu questioned.
"I'm not a fan of how that sounds, so I changed it to be more positive sounding." Sora said.
"Of course you would, Sora." Asui commented. "I feel like I should have known that. Ribbit."
"Well, we never really got to know each other." Sora pointed out. "Like I said, the breakfast thing is the only thing you've actually told me about yourself."
Tsuyu thought about it for a moment and realized that he was actually right. "Wow. That's weird. We never did get to know each other that much. It's just been Hero Course stuff we talk about."
"Well, since we got time, why don't we do that?" The Keyblade wielder suggested.
"Really?" Asui asked.
"Of course." Sora responded. "If I'm gonna be your friend and call you Tsu, then I should probably know more about you than just 'you've got a frog quirk, want to be a hero, and we're in the same class'."
"That is a good point." Tsuyu agreed. "Ok. Should I go first, or do you want to?"
"I don't mind you asking me a few questions." Sora offered.
"Hmm...well...Oh. I know." Asui thought of a question. "What's your daily life like?"
"My daily routine?" Sora repeated before he began to think. "Well, I live with Izuku and his mom."
"You live with Midoriya?" Tsuyu noted.
"Yeah." Sora confirmed, sounding a bit sheepish. "I...don't exactly have my own place, or any money to get one of my own."
"You're poor?" Asui realized.
"Kind of." Sora said. "I just don't have time to get a job, ya know. With all the Hero course stuff going on. Izuku's mom was kind enough to let me live with them until I could afford my own place."
"What about relatives or friends?" Tsuyu wondered.
"Technically I'm what you would call foreign." Sora explained. "I was raised on a set of islands at the start of my life until I was...forced to relocate for a while."
Asui could tell that the last part might be a touchy situation, and considering what little she knew, she decided not to push that part further. "How about we go back to the first question. Ribbit?"
"Oh right." Sora remembered. "So, my current daily routine is just, wake up and if I'm early enough, make breakfast for Izuku and his mom, get ready for school, walk with Izuku to school, you already know what we do during class so I don't need to talk about that part. After that though, unless someone asks me to do something with them, I just head back to Izuku's house and hang out with him until I need to get ready for bed. After that, it's just sleeping on the couch."
"You sleep on a couch?" Tsuyu noted.
"They don't have a guest room." Sora explained. "But the couch is actually really comfortable. That or I just got used to sleeping in it for the past few months. Sure, it's no bed, but it's comfy and gets the job done."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I'll become a Hero]
"Ribbit. Your daily life is actually pretty similar to mine." Asui stated.
"Really?" Sora asked. "What's your daily life like?"
Tsuyu pulled out her phone then showed a picture. "Well for starters, I should probably show you my family." As Sora looked at the phone, she pointed at specific people and named them. "My father, Ganma." He very much looked like a frog. "My mother, Beru." She looked like Tsuyu, but older. "My little brother, Samidare." He had a bang over his face, but looked similar to Tsuyu. "And my little sister, Satsuki." She was very small and had her hair tied into twin tails, but unlike the rest of the family, her mouth seemed normal. "I think you can tell that we're a pretty froggy family."
"That's actually really cool." Sora complimented. "So what are they like?"
"Well, our parents had to travel a lot for their jobs. So I was the one that took care of my siblings." Asui stated. "It's hard, but it's still a satisfying life."
"Wow, even though we're basically the same age, you're practically a parent." Sora pointed out. "No wonder you're so mature."
Tsuyu nodded then continued. "Still...with Hero studies taking up the rest of my time, I wasn't able to make any friends during middle school."
"What?" Sora replied. "Seriously? Come on. You had to have made at least one. Right?"
[Silence]
"Well...there was one girl who started stalking me around." Asui mentioned. "Her name was Habuko Mongoose. She was always alone too."
"Well, what was she like?" The boy wondered.
"Sometimes she would accidentally use her three second paralysis stare Quirk." Tsuyu said. "Other time's she'd flick her tongue out at me."
"Whoa whoa whoa. Flick her tongue out?" Sora repeated.
"She's part snake." Asui explained, which helped Sora understand what she meant. "Anyway...It was a bit scary at first, but I started to understand that she was probably too shy to ask me to be her friend. So I mustered up some courage and spoke to her. I asked if she wanted to be friends...but she had a pretty crazy reaction to that."
"Define pretty crazy." Sora requested.
"Ribbit. Well, she first called me stupid for wanting to be friends with her." Tsuyu said. "Then she started calling herself a monster. Then she started to repeat that a bit before beginning to cry, and then she hugged me and asked if she could call me Tsu."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Symbol Of Peace]
"Is that where you got the nickname?" Sora questioned.
"Well, yeah." Asui confirmed. "She was my first friend, and I liked the nickname."
"Anything else about Habuko that I should know?" The Keyblade wielder asked.
"She was socially awkward at the time." Tsuyu told him. "She still is, but not that much anymore."
"I'd like to meet her someday." Sora commented. "Maybe you could introduce me. Does she go here?"
"No. We ended up going to different high schools." Asui replied. "But even so, Habuko and I are still good friends. I actually have a picture if you want to see."
"Sure." Sora said as the two of them entered the Development Studio and Sora gave Moogle the papers.
"I'll put the items in your Hero briefcase, Kupo." Moogle said as he looked through the five recipes he now had.
"Thanks Moogle." Sora responded before he and Tsuyu left and began walking to 1-A.
"Ribbit. Here's one." Asui stated as she showed Sora the picture.
While there were two people in the picture, Sora could easily tell who Habuko Mongoose was. Tsu said she was part snake and one of the two students literally had a snake head. Another interesting detail was that Habuko had some messy red hair on her snake head, aside from that, she was basically human the rest of the way down. The school uniform was different, but that was a given since she was in a different school. "You weren't kidding about the part snake thing." Sora remarked. "Though she actually looks cute in that picture. I don't see how she calls herself a monster."
"If that's your first impression of her just from a picture, then I know you two would get along like a frog and a pond if you met each other." Tsuyu commented.
"I'm friends with Fumikage." Sora pointed out. "You also already know how I feel about animals. Remember the puppy?"
"Ribbit." Asui nodded. "I also remember you talking about the other 99 you rescued and taking a musket shot from a poacher to save some gorillas."
"Yeah, so people who are part animal are completely fine with me." Sora said before he then wondered something. "Hey, does she know any of us? Like, did you text about us?"
"Not really. I was too focused on school stuff. I really only text her to check in with her every now and then." Tsuyu told him.
"Heh. You weren't kidding when you said your daily life and mine are similar." Sora realized. "No wonder we get along so well. We can understand each other a bit better than most."
"Yeah Ribbit...huh...I'm actually really glad that I decided to walk with you Sora." Asui said. "I feel so much closer to you now."
"Same here." Sora agreed. "Now I feel like I can actually call you Tsu. Friends usually know a bit about each other, and now we do."
As that discussion was now finishing up, the two made it to Class 1-A and took their seats.
[Silence]
Once the bell rang for homeroom Aizawa walked in, but he was accompanied by...three...wait no, four people. One of them was hiding behind the girl in glasses. One thing that actually seemed to stand out with those people, were the uniforms they were wearing. They weren't from U.A.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST U.A. Reporting For Duty]
Aizawa then spoke up and explained the situation. "It's a little sudden, but for our next Hero exercise four Hero Course students from Isamu High will be joining us as guests."
Most of the class welcomed the idea, though some were more welcome than others. Minoru and Denki were both focused on the girl with glasses, the latter of the two even trying to ask for her number before Kyouka used her earphone jack on him to get him to quit it. It got so loud that Sora was surprised that Aizawa wasn't shutting them up right…
Aizawa activated his Quirk and glared to shut up the class. Once it was quiet he spoke to the group. "Introduce yourselves."
"Right." The girl with glasses went first. "Representing Isamu High's Hero Course as we participate in this Hero exercise. I'm Kashiko Sekigai."
The large boy went next, sweating a bit as he spoke. "I-I'm from the same class. I'm Dadan Tadan." He bowed. "P-Please to meet you."
The boy in the middle spoke next, ditching formalities. "Name's Fujimi." He then made a glare at Katsuki that did not go unnoticed by said student.
[Silence]
Aizawa then realized something when that was the final introduction. "We're supposed to have one more."
The student behind Kashiko slowly moved herself into view and Sora, as well as Asui knew who that was. It was Habuko Mongoose, and she saw Tsuyu. The first thing that happened once they saw each other was Asui getting up from her seat and Habuko running over to her. They both embraced.
"Tsu!" Mongoose exclaimed.
"Habuko!" Asui also exclaimed.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Symbol Of Peace]
While most of 1-A was confused at first, they quickly realized that Tsuyu was friends with this Isamu High school student. Sora was just glad about two things. First off, he technically gets to meet Asui's friend, and secondly, he gets to see what she can do as a Hero in training.
[Silence]
"Mongoose!" Fujimi spoke up. "Don't get all buddy buddy with these U.A. punks."
"What did you just say!?" Bakugo yelled out. "You Isamu shit head!"
"Kacchan don't..." Izuku tried to talk to Katsuki.
"Shut up you damn nerd!" The explosive boy jerked towards Midoriya.
"How about you shut up first." Aizawa 'recommended' to Bakugo.
After Homeroom was finished, and the rest of the classes were dealt with, Aizawa returned to the class and spoke to them once more. "It's time to go. Change into your costumes and make your way to Ground Omega. Iida, guide the Isamu students."
"Understood!" Tenya replied. While that was happening, Katsuki and Fujimi were basically giving each other death stares. They were actually like that for almost the whole time, only stopping when they were being told to pay attention during the class.
When everyone was getting dressed in the Locker rooms...well...it was eventful for the boys at least. Because Bakugo and Fujimi were not supervised by any teachers and the Isami student discovered how Katsuki was a top student.
"A delinquent like you is a top student?" Fujimi ridiculed. "U.A.'s system must really be going downhill."
"You want to say that again, Isamu shit head?" Bakugo 'suggested'
"I ain't a fan of stuck up punks like you, is what I'm saying!" Fujimi stated. "Looking down on me like there aren't any other top tier Hero Course High schools."
"A-Aren't you gonna try and stop them Midoriya?" Mineta asked.
"U-Uh...pretty sure that's impossible." Izuku said.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Among Kosei]
"If you're looking for a fight, how bout you look for one you actually stand a chance in!" Katsuki threatened.
"Oh...I'll show you just that." Fujimi promised. "We'll prove to you just how superior we are to you punks in this exercise!"
"Come at me then!" The explosive student roared.
"Settle down Bakugo!" Iida ordered.
"This shit head is asking for it, Glasses!" Katsuki retorted.
"Just. Shut. Up. Short Fuse!" Sora yelled out. "If you want to start a fight, do it during the training, not in here!"
Dadan then apologized. "W-We're so sorry! Fujimi says a lot of nasty things, but he isn't a bad person at heart."
"We too are sorry." Tenya replied.
"Yeah." Sora spoke up. "Short Fuse over there doesn't like admitting when he's in the wrong."
"I'M NEVER IN THE WRONG TOY SWORD!" Bakugo screamed out. "And don't think I haven't forgotten what you did three days ago! I'll murder you even harder than these Isamu shit heads for telling that hag to call me that name!"
"Ok. First off, calling your mother a hag is just...wrong." Sora reprimanded. "Secondly, I didn't 'tell' her to do anything. I just called you that when she talked to me, and she liked the name. Her calling you that is her choice."
"You still told her the damn name!" Katsuki pointed out. "You couldn't keep your shit eating mouth shut!"
"It's your fault for acting like this instead of maybe, I don't know, calming down and not exploding every time someone points out one of your flaws." Sora retorted.
"SORA! Stop antagonizing him!" Iida spoke up. "I know how insufferable he is, but he's not going to back down."
Sora growled at that statement, but it was true, so Sora just complied and did as the class Rep requested. Sora just hoped that he wouldn't have to deal with being on the same team as Bakugo.
[Silence]
After everyone was dressed in their Hero Costumes, they walked with Aizawa to the entrance of Ground Omega. The homeroom teacher then spoke up. "Today's Hero exercise will be supervised by me and one other person."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I've Come]
And as if on cue. "I AAAAAAAAAAM..." All Might began to announce as he seemingly fell from the sky and landed next to Aizawa. "...LIKE A SPECIAL GUEST, HERE!"
The Isamu students all had the same reaction as 1-A did when they first saw him. "A-All Might!" Fujimi exclaimed.
"In the flesh!" Kashiko realized.
"Such power!" Dadan praised.
"I'm so jealous of U.A. right now!" Habuko fangirled.
"So!" All Might spoke up. "About today's exercise. We're going to have all of you go through some Survival Training!"
"Survival Training?" Ejiro repeated.
"Like a battle royale or something?" Denki guessed.
A holographic screen appeared next to All Might before he continued. "Allow me to explain the rules!" He pressed a button and as he spoke, the holographic screen showed what he was saying. "With five students per team, and five teams overall, you will start at the predetermined positions that we have chosen for you! There is only one objective, and that is to survive! Whether you choose Fight or Flight, anything goes! Victory will go to the last surviving team!"
Aizawa then took over. "If you run into another team and manage to bind your opponents with capture tape, you'll make them combat ineffective. You should all already be familiar with capture tape, so I won't go into explaining it."
"Now! Let us announce the teams!" All Might stated.
[Play KH1.5 Remix OST Blast Away]
Team A
Izuku Midoriya
Tsuyu Asui
Ochako Uraraka
Mina Ashido
Shoto Todoroki
Team B
Katsuki Bakugo
Ejiro Kirishima
Momo Yaoyorozu
Mezo Shoji
Mashirao Ojiro
Team C
Tenya Iida
Fumikage Tokoyami
Hanta Sero
Rikido Sato
Toru Hagakure
Team D
Minoru Mineta
Kyouka Jiro
Denki Kaminari
Yuga Aoyama
Koji Koda
Team E
Kashiko Sekigai
Dadan Tadan
Habuko Mongoose
Romero Fujimi
Sora {N/A}
"All teams, move to your starting areas." Aizawa instructed. "The exercise will begin without warning in five minutes."
"Make sure you survive!" All Might added.
"Yes sir!" Everyone said in unison as they ran through the entrance.
Before everyone had split off there was some pre battle banter and encouragement.
"Let's do our best Deku!" Ochako cheered.
"Yeah!" Izuku agreed.
"I won't lose today Tsu!" Habuko stated.
"I'll give it my all too!" Tsuyu exclaimed.
"I might let you catch a whiff of my win, punk!" Romero boasted.
"Go ahead and try!" Katsuki challenged.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST U.A. Corridors]
The teams finally split off and Sora was keeping pace with the Isamu students as they were making their way to their destination. Fujimi then remembered that Sora was part of the team. "Oh yeah. I forgot one of you punks was on our team. Tch...guess your school needed this handicap to beat us."
"Wow." Sora deadpanned, realizing that this guy was basically Isamu's Bakugo.
"Fujimi!" Kashiko spoke up. "He's an ally! Just because he isn't from our school doesn't mean you get to look down on him! You don't even know what he can do!"
"I'm just saying. We'd be better off on our own." Romero stated. "He doesn't even know the first thing about any of us, and now instead of using all our time to make a plan, we got to use most of it getting this guy up to speed."
"Hey! That's not true!" Sora argued. "I already know one of you guys!"
"Oh really?" Fujimi sarcastically replied. "Who?"
"Habuko." The Keyblade wielder answered, startling the snake headed girl.
"M-M-Me?!" Mongoose stuttered. "H-H-How? W-What? W-Wait b-b-but..."
Sora let out a friendly chuckle. "Tsu said you were a bit socially awkward."
"Eh?...You're one of Tsu's friends?" Habuko realized. "W-Wait, Tsu told you about me?!"
"Well, yeah." Sora confirmed. "It was actually earlier today that she told me how you were her first friend, and the crazy way you two became friends."
"Gah!" Mongoose had no idea how to react to this. On one hand, she was glad that Sora was a friend of Tsu, but on the other, she doesn't know how to really talk to people that well. Sora was actually carrying the whole conversation right now. "U-Uh...um...I..."
"My name is Sora by the way." The Keyblade wielder introduced himself. "It's nice to officially meet you Habuko."
"Eh...N-Nice to meet you too, S-Sora." Mongoose meekly replied.
Sora then turned his head to the rest of the team. "I may not be from Isamu, but I'm willing to win this survival training in it's honor."
Sekigai smiled at that. "It would be our pleasure to work with you."
"Y-Yeah!" Both Habuko and Tadan agreed.
"Tch...whatever. Just don't slow us down." Romero told him.
[Play KH Re:Chain Of Memories OST Just Wondering]
Elsewhere in Ground Omega, Team A had reached their position and were coming up with a strategy.
"So what's our plan?" Uraraka asked.
"Can't we just fight the other teams?" Mina suggested.
"No. We'd be at a disadvantage." Midoriya explained. "We don't have Shoji, Jiro, Tokoyami, or anyone that can detect the other teams. If we start moving, there's a good chance that we'll be spotted by another team. Even if we get lucky enough to spot another team before they spot us, any fighting we do will be seen or heard by the other teams. And if we get multiple teams fighting us at once, even with Todoroki, we'd get overwhelmed."
"That's not even incorporating Sora into any of this." Shoto pointed out.
"I guess Sora would be a different factor." Izuku realized, "And not just because of how strong he is. He's working with the Isamu students, and we don't know any of their Quirks. On top of that, Sora can tell them our Quirks to give them an even bigger advantage."
"Guys." Asui spoke up. "Did you remember that this is a survival exercise?"
"That's right!" Ashido remembered. "All Might said that all we have to do is survive."
"I'd say our best option is just to sit tight and move carefully whenever we have to." Tsuyu suggested.
"Yeah. That's a good idea, and if we do get spotted, Todoroki could block off any pursuit and make quick escape routes." Midoriya added.
"Okay." Shoto said.
"Sweet!" Mina cheered.
"This is a pretty relaxing plan." Ochako noted.
"How about a snack Uraraka?" Mina offered as she took out a bag of chips.
"I'll take some!" Ochako accepted.
"Aren't you taking this a bit too easy?" Izuku pointed out.
[Play KH1.5 Remix OST Deep Jungle]
Back with the Isamu team, the five minutes had passed and the five were on the move, getting to higher ground while remaining as covert as possible. Even though Sora doesn't know the ins and outs of Ground Omega, he has been in enough forests to know what to expect from them, aside from trees. There are field patches in between groups of trees that are easy to get spotted in, there are rocky areas that can serve as good vantage points, and if you're lucky enough, you can find a cave at one of those areas that can serve as a hiding spot for an ambush.
The team was at one of the rocky areas of Ground Omega, but it took a bit of time for them to actually get to a spot that would work as a vantage point, during this time, Sora explained his 'Quirk' to the Isamu students then Kashiko and Dadan told him theirs. Romero didn't bother to tell Sora his, and Habuko didn't need to. The group managed to get to a good spot that could serve as a vantage point and they hunkered down for now.
It was quiet for now, but the team was still alert. Sora then spoke up. "Do you guys want me to scout around the areas we can't see?"
"Perfect idea. It gets you out of our way." Fujimi replied, earning a dry look from Sekigai.
"Ignore him Sora." Kashiko said. "As for that suggestion, I'm afraid that while getting extra information on the terrain around us would be useful, we would also run the risk you getting captured early if we did so."
"So are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?" Mongoose questioned.
"For now, we wait until someone else makes the first move." Sekigai instructed. "I heard from one of the other U.A. students that there's a rather troublesome student with them. If said student is anything like Fujimi, then he'll make the first move."
"Ah, Short Fuse." Sora realized who she was talking about. "Yep, once he figures out that this has started, he'll probably go off on his own to hunt down the other teams."
"We'll wait for that moment, let the opposing teams finish their struggles, then go after the victors when they lower their guard." Kashiko explained.
"How will we go about that though?" Tadan meekly asked.
"This is how." Sekigai replied. She then explained the strategy.
[Silence]
Elsewhere at an observatory, All Might and Aizawa watched from a distance. "Five Minutes already passed."
"It seems that no teams have moved yet." All Might pointed out. "Aizawa, are you sure you're okay with an exercise as boring as this, considering that the Isamu students are also here?"
"It's the time of the year where energy and tension starts running high in the Hero Course." Aizawa explained. "At this day and age especially, avoiding unnecessary combat and reminding the students of patience and self control is important."
"While you may have a point..." All Might began as he looked at the distance to see a few explosions go off. "Some people don't always think like that."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Combat Training]
Over where those explosions happened, Katsuki Bakugo was by himself, on the hunt for everyone. "I don't give a damn how many of you come at me. I'll kick all your asses!"
Nearby on a rocky hill, Kyouka had her earphone jack in the ground and informed her teammates "Bakugo's voice...and only one person's footsteps."
"He's all by himself." Minoru stated.
"Quite brash, as always." Yuga commented.
"Alright then, let's team up on him before his team catches up." Denki suggested while Koji nodded.
The team members each got into position and then began their attack. Katsuki was able to see a glint of light in the rocky area ahead of him and he blasted himself off the ground to avoid Aoyama's laser at it glazed the ground where he was. Bakugo then saw Mineta's purple balls coming at him from another direction and he dodged them while he realized that this attack was coordinated and planned. He smirked and remembered who else was on this enemy team, and said "Earphone Girl!" before blasting the ground below him.
The sounds of the explosions through the ground were way too much for Jiro to handle and she let out a scream that distracted Koda and Kaminari, who were guarding her. "Jiro!" Denki exclaimed as he caught Kyoka before she fell on her back.
Koji then commanded some nearby birds to distract Katsuki, while Minoru threw even more of his purple balls at Bakugo and Yuga got ready to fire another laser close by. Bakugo however, managed to negate all of their attacks at once, with a well timed explosive swipe of his hand, that blasted away the birds and redirected the purple balls to hit Aoyama, causing him to fall back onto Kaminari and Kota, binding the three of them together. Jiro was still covering her ears, basically stunned from that blast from before.
"Merci..." Yuga uttered.
"At least give us a chance! I can't move!" Denki yelled out.
Mineta managed to get to his group and was very annoyed with his opponent. "...Bakugo!"
"You called?" Katsuki replied, as he was behind the small boy. It wasn't pretty what happened afterwards, but regardless, the explosive student bound them all together in capture tape when he was finished, then ran off to find more people to fight.
Back with Izuku's team, they were on the move while that fight was happening, but halted when it was over. "The explosions stopped." He pointed out.
"What's happening out there?" Ochako asked.
Somewhere else in Ground Omega, Tenya's team had managed to spot Bakugo and decided to go on the attack. Fumikage went first. "Go Dark Shadow!" He called out his Quirk and it blitzed towards his target.
"Didn't I say that you're a bad match against me!?" Katsuki reminded the bird boy as he made an explosion in front of him that caused Dark Shadow to writhe in pain from the sudden flash of light.
"Leave him to me!" Iida ordered as he sprinted forward with his Quirk. Bakugo used his explosion quirk to back himself away and get out of Tenya's sight. "Get back here!" The class rep demanded as he followed the direction that Katsuki blasted himself, only to end up running directly into a trap that covered him in capture tape. Iida's "DAMN IT!" had distracted the others long enough for Bakugo to get around them.
The explosive boy then went on the attack once more and managed to easily capture the rest of the team using a combination of his quirk, his remaining capture tape, and even some of Hanta's own tape to leave the team dangling from a tree, all squished together with the tape holding them there, with the only exeption being Toru, who was wrapped neck down to the side of the same tree.
[Silence]
The other members of Katsuki's team then showed up. "Bakugo! You're advancing too quickly!" Momo called out.
"Where's the enemy?" Ejiro asked, ready to fight.
Katsuki then pointed at his work. "I'm already done."
"...He defeated ten people by himself?" Yaoyorozu realized.
"We know you're good Bakugo, but save some for the rest of us! Come on!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"Where are the Isamu shit heads?" Katsuki questioned.
"What?" Mezo replied, unsure if he heard that right.
"The Isamu students, Eyes And Ears! The ones teamed up with Toy Sword!" Bakugo reiterated.
Speaking of whom. Sora and the Isamu students were watching from the vantage point they hunkered down at. Kashiko was looking through her visor and had a small holographic screen appear on her forearm as she informed her team. "He's back with his team. Distance, exactly 100 meters. They're about to move out."
"That Bakugo person is amazingly powerful." Habuko commented while Dadan silently agreed.
Romero scoffed at that while Sora spoke up. "He's got a strong quirk, but he's also way too overconfident and aggressive."
"They're coming this way!" Sekigai realized.
"Alright then, Key Boy. Time to do your part." Fujimi instructed.
"Where do you want me to lead them?" Sora asked.
"Go for the field. It'll give you a straight shot when we back you up. 90 meters." Kashiko said.
"Alright." Sora accepted, summoning the Kingdom Key and looking at Tadan in a trusting manner. "I know you got my back Dadan. I'll get clear in time, so don't worry about me."
"80 meters." Sekigai spoke up, signaling that Sora had to go, now. The boy waved at his team before he jumped off the vantage point and descended to the forest below.
Back with Bakugo's team, they were walking together through the forest, staying on the same course while each one was feeling a little different about the current situation. Katsuki was impatient, wanting to run off again, but he knew that he couldn't do this a third time without showing some fatigue, so he begrudgingly stayed with his group for now. Ejiro felt a bit envious right now, because Bakugo literally took two teams out by himself and he has yet to see any action or do anything important. Momo felt annoyed at her teammate's reckless charging into battle, but couldn't argue with the results, so she just accepted the good fortune for now. Mashirao was a bit at ease, feeling confident that this team could stand a chance at winning this, especially with Katsuki's demonstrated skills. And lastly, Shoji was not focused on the team and more focused on keeping open eyes and ears out for anything that was around them. He was determined to make sure that the team would not be caught off guard at all.
As they continued forward, they passed a tree, and after a few seconds, Mezo heard some shuffling and Sora's voice. "Wind!" Suddenly, a gust of air had erupted in the middle of the group and picked them up off the ground spinning them around for a moment. The wind then dispersed and launched all five of them in separate directions. Shoji hit his back against a tree but managed to land on his feet when he fell to the ground, Yaoyoyozu hit the grassy floor but managed to tuck and roll in time, Kirishima went through a tree and then landed hard on the floor while his Quirk was active, Ojiro skidded on the floor before he pushed himself back up with his tail, and Katsuki used his explosions to correct himself in the air and land on his feet.
The explosive boy saw who did that and called him out. "Toy Sword."
[Play KH1.5 Remix OST Having A Wind Time]
Sora got himself into his battle stance and said "Hi."
"Where are the Isamu shit heads?" Bakugo demanded to know.
"Somewhere." The Keyblade wielder replied, before casting a Blizzard towards Katsuki, who blasted himself over it and blitzed towards Sora. The explosive student almost hit him, but thanks to flowmotion, Sora could easily traverse around Bakugo's attempted attack. "But I think you should focus on me, Short Fuse."
Sora then heard something coming from behind him and jumped away from his position, dodging a net that was shot out of a cannon made by Momo. Once he landed, he barely managed to dodge a few punches from Ejiro, before leaping back and then needing to jump over Mezo attempting to grab him, then barely manage to see Mashirao come in from Sora's rear and attempt an attack, only for Sora to block it and land feet first on the ground in front of the whole group.
"So they're close by." Yaoyorozu noted.
"I said they were somewhere." Sora repeated. "Close, Far, I don't know."
"Like you would go solo in a team exercise." Kirishima remarked.
"Didn't Katsuki just do that?" Sora retorted.
"Comparing yourself to Bakugo, is like comparing an apple to a tomato." Shoji spat back.
"Both are red fruit." Sora stated.
"And you're both male with strong quirks, but that's all you have in common." Ojiro replied.
Sora quickly figured out that there was no way he was winning this argument and just decided to go into the fight. He casted Water towards Katsuki, and his target dodged the spell, charging towards Sora again and to attempt another explosion attack. Sora was about to dodge, but then Ejiro managed to grab Sora's arm while he was focused on the blonde and held on tight. The Keyblade wielder quickly used his strength to pull Kirishima in between him and Bakugo right as the explosive student sent out another explosion. The hardened skin both protected Ejiro and Sora for that moment, before the Keyblade wielder smacked the back of Kirishima's wrist with the Kingdom Key to get him to let go.
Sora began to move, only for a very loud sound to pierce his eardrums for a second, stunning him for a brief moment and allowing Mashirao to knock Sora off his feet with his tail Quirk and make the Keyblade wielder tumble towards Mezo, who almost managed to get his arms around Sora. The Keyblade wielder was fortunate enough to use the Kingdom Key to stop his fall halfway and then use it as a base to flip his body over Shoji, then kick himself off the masked student's back to propel himself forward.
However, he ended up getting slightly stunned again by another loud sound and turned to see that it was Momo creating thunder B grenades in her hand and throwing them in close proximity to Sora to daze him. As she was making another, Sora called back the Kingdom Key and attempted to cast Blizzard at her, only for Katsuki to get to him and finally manage to successfully blast him, pushing Sora back and making him hit a tree. He recovered quickly and began fleeing, but then he saw Yaoyorozu throw another thunder B grenade towards him. Thinking fast, he casted Blizzard at the sound grenade and froze it before it could go off. He then used his flowmotion to get away from the group, but staying slow enough for at least Bakugo to pursue and his team to loosely follow.
Sora made his way to the field and once he got to the edge of the forest, Katsuki caught up and attempted to blast Sora in the back, but the Keyblade wielder turned his body around and casted Fire right as Bakugo set off an explosion from his palms. The two attacks had canceled each other out but Katsuki blitzed through the smoke in an attempt to surprise Sora, only for the Keyblade wielder to lean back and use both their momentum to kick Bakugo into the field.
As Sora was about to follow up with an attack, he once again got stunned by a thunder B grenade going off close to his ear, which gave Ejiro enough time to ram his hardened shoulder into Sora's chest and push him into the field as well. Mezo and Ojiro circled around and stopped a few yards away from Sora's sides. Katsuki got himself back up and Momo was next to Kirishima. The team had Sora surrounded in the field.
[Silence]
Since nobody was moving from their spot at the moment, Sora rubbed one of his ears and looked at Yaoyorozu. "Whatever the heck you keep throwing at me, it's annoying."
"They're thunder B grenades, only without airsoft pellets packed inside of them." Momo told him. "They're effective as sound grenades."
"Yeah." Sora annoyingly agreed with her. "Got to admit though, the teamwork you guys did earlier was pretty good."
"Heroes need to know how to work with others, right?" Ejiro remarked.
"And besides, fighting you one on one is basically impossible unless you pull your punches." Shoji pointed out.
"While it's a kind gesture the first few times, it will eventually teeter to the point of becoming annoying." Mashirao added.
"You're not making me look like an idiot again, Toy Sword!" Bakugo exclaimed as he got ready to fight.
Sora then raised the Kingdom Key and used what was left of his current magic pool to cast Thunder in front of himself.
15 seconds prior to that cast, back with the Isamu Students, Kashiko was observing Sora and reporting to the team what she saw. "He's lured all five of them to the field. He's slightly dazed from what looked like sound grenades going off close to his ears."
"Is he okay?" Mongoose asked, slightly worried.
"For now, but he's surrounded and hasn't given out the signal yet." Sekigai stated.
"Tadan. Make sure you're ready." Romero ordered.
"A-Ah...right...P-Personally, I don't like fighting and risking hurting one of our teammates." Dadan replied.
Suddenly a bolt of electricity was summoned in front of Sora and Kashiko spoke up. "That's the signal!"
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Obstacle Course]
"EEK!" Tadan immediately got himself into position. "R-Right! It's time for me to help out the team!" He had all the cannons on his suit aimed at the field and then yelled out "TAKE THEM ALL OUT WHILE SORA GETS AWAY!" Then all of the cannons fired at least three bursts of flashbang missiles.
As the other team members were about to attack Sora, Mezo yelled out. "Something is coming this way!" Everyone could hear the whistling in the sky and they turned to see what was coming for them. "What the?"
"Are those...missiles?!" Momo realized.
Taking the opportunity to flee, Sora blazed past the group with his flowmotion and went straight for the base of the rocky area that his team was at. Since everyone was more focused on the missiles, there was no pursuit and nobody saw which direction he went.
Sora covered his ears and looked away just in case, and then when the attack landed on the field, the boy was glad that he did that, because that was a hundred times louder than those thunder Bs from before.
[Silence]
Once the ringing had died down, Sora used his flowmotion and regrouped with his team a few seconds afterwards. "Nice!" He cheered.
"I'll admit, for a U.A. punk, you work well with us." Fujimi conceded.
"Good job luring them into the field." Sekigai congratulated him.
"That was amazing." Mongoose silently praised.
"Thanks. Also, nice job covering my escape, Dadan. I knew you'd come through when I needed you." Sora complimented.
"Eh?...Oh, yeah. I-It wasn't much." Tadan humbly replied.
"Egh. Spare me the mushy mushy crap." Romero spoke up. "We need to tape up the punks down below before they recover."
"Oh, right!" Sora realized as he rubbed one of his ears, still not fully recovered from the thunder Bs. "I guess we do need to do that."
"We can handle that Sora." Kashiko stated. "You stay here."
"Huh? You sure?" The Keyblade wielder replied.
"I can see you haven't fully recovered from the recent abundance of loud sounds ringing through your ears." Sekigai explained. "Also, considering that our position will be compromised thanks to all that noise, we need a lookout to spot the last team if they come this way. We need to be prepared for them if we don't want to lose this."
After a few seconds of thinking, Sora nodded and said "Alright. That makes sense. I'll keep watch."
With that settled, the Isamu students descended from the point and made their way to where the opposing team should be. It took them a few minutes, but once they got there, Kashiko noticed something. "This is odd...I'm not reading any life forms."
"They didn't escape, did they?" Dadan asked.
"Those might have just been flash bangs, but you covered the entire area, so I'm sure you got them." Habuko replied.
"They should be unconscious around this area." Sekigai stated.
"Heh! Probably should have used something stronger than flashbangs." Fujimi spoke up.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST We Are Fu#king Superstar]
"Hey." A voice spoke up to the group, the team turned to see Katsuki and his team fully unharmed, thanks to Yaoyorozu creating a sound proofed tarp to cover the group before the missiles hit the ground. "You're really irritating, you know." Bakugo smugly stated.
"In that small moment..." Kashiko started to speak, but then stopped herself to get ready for a fight.
Katsuki was the first to move on his team, but Mongoose was the first to move on hers, as she said "Leave this to me!" Before using her three second paralysis stare Quirk, stunning Momo, Kirishima, Mezo and Ojiro. "Attack now!" Habuko ordered.
Tadan was about to do that, but then he saw something. "Look!" He directed the team's attention above the paralyzed enemy team to see Katsuki in the air.
"He jumped before being paralyzed?" Mongoose realized.
Bakugo then got out of the three second paralysis and commented. "Just three seconds?" He then blasted himself towards the team. "What a weak Quirk!"
Sora, who was busy looking at other places of Ground Omega at the time of this short scuffle, had redirected his attention once he heard some explosions in that direction. He was about to jump into the fray, but then stopped once he saw Romero get into the action.
"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE US!" The Isamu troublemaker roared out before pink gas seemed to fill in tubes around his arms before being aimed at Bakugo.
[Silence]
"Fujimi NO!" Sekigai ordered but it was too late, as the pink gas was released and once it hit Katsuki, the pink cloud expanded at a rapid pace, beginning to cover a portion of the forest floor. "FUJIMI YOU IDIOT!" The Isamu class rep screamed as she covered her mouth and nose while Habuko did the same.
Sora looked at what happened and then yelled out. "Guys?!" He saw Romero use what was most likely his Quirk, but he could also see that the most of the others on his team had covered their mouths and noses as soon as the gas came out. "Hey guys!...Guys!" The Keyblade wielder yelled out again, only for no response. He was tempted to check up on his team, but he had no idea what would happen if he went into the gas and while he could hold his breath for a very long while, he didn't want to risk breathing it in if something surprised him while he was in there. For now, he decided that waiting where he was is the best move. Maybe it's just knock out gas and everyone passed out.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Evil Of Psychology]
Inside the Izuku's team was noticing the pick gas start to spread near them. Ochako then asked "What is that?"
"I don't know, but we should stay away from it." Tsuyu recommended.
"Let's move to a safer location." Midoriya instructed, before beginning to move further away from the gas.
Back at the vantage point with the teachers, Aizawa spoke up. "That gas...I read the Isamu students' data sheets, and that Quirk is troublesome. It might be best to stop the exercise."
"No." All Might rejected. "This situation can be considered a survival situation, so it's fine! If things get bad, then I'll personally deal with it."
Aizawa sighed. "I'll leave this in your hands then."
Back at Sora's vantage point, he was still looking to where his team was when the gas dispersed, but it was too thick to see anything inside the area. He was once again tempted to go in. "Sora?!" Came a familiar voice as the boy turned around to see Izuku and his team approaching the area.
"Huh? Izuku?" The Keyblade wielder replied, surprised that they were here. He didn't summon his Keyblade, mainly because he did not want to start a fight until he knew what was going on.
The team stopped for a moment before Shoto spoke up. "Do you know what just happened?"
"No...well...sort of, but not really? I don't know entirely..." Sora stuttered, unable to correctly get his point across.
"Did you see what happened?" Midoriya questioned.
"My teammate, Fujimi spewed out this pink gas at Katsuki's team but it spread really fast and covered the area up." Sora explained. "I don't know what the gas does, but the rest of my team hasn't responded to me."
"I see..." Izuku responded.
Sora then spoke up again. "I'm just as confused as you guys, so for now, do you think we can call a truce for now?"
"I agree with him. Now is not the time to fight." Todoroki said.
"Yeah." Midoriya agreed. "Until we know what this gas does..." He stopped talking when he saw Sora look back and point in the forest.
"I see something moving." The Keyblade wielder stated as the other students went to him and looked where he was pointing.
[Silence]
They could see a silhouette approaching them. "Someone's coming." Izuku said.
"Did they run from the gas too?" Asui guessed.
Uraraka then waved one of her hands and shouted out "HEEEEY! OVER HERE!" There were many silhouettes stumbling their way over and she as well as the rest of the group noticed that. "Over...here...? What is..."
The figures then came into view and it was a very unsettling sight. The previously eliminated teams, as well as Bakugo's team and three of the four Isamu students were now completely pale in skin, their eyes were blacked out, and they were groaning like they were starving. "W-What the..." Sora uttered out.
"Z-ZOMBIES!" Everyone except Sora and Shoto screamed out.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST A Huge One Appears]
While all of Izuku's team and Sora were terrified of what they were seeing, Romero was nearby, silently laughing at the reaction before making his way to the last people left.
The zombified students were slowly making their way towards the panic, but as they were doing so, a few of them were starting to use their quirks uncontrollably, like Momo randomly creating a ridiculous amount of nesting dolls from her arms, Denki electrifying himself as he walked, Hanta getting himself wrapped in his tape, Tenya's engines activating and making him hit a few trees whenever that happened, Katsuki's palms exploding at random and hitting a few others. It was chaotic. Not only that, but it seemed like anyone who should be getting hurt from all this chaos couldn't feel anything. It also didn't help that they seemed to be almost braindead at this point.
The Isamu student then managed to make his way to the group and let out a cocky laugh. "SO! What do you think of my Quirk!? U.A. isn't all that it's cracked up to AGH!" Fujimi was interrupted by the zombified Bakugo stumbling behind him and biting down on his shoulder. "OHHO MAH GAAWD!" He screamed out before he fell to the floor and began to twitch.
"Kacchan...He's still fighting, even as a zombie." Izuku pointed out. But before anyone could say anything else, Romero's body pushed itself back up and in that moment, he became zombified. "I-It's just like the movies! You turn into a zombie if you get bitten!"
Todoroki then pointed out something to the others. "The Quirk user is out of commission. We can't have him reverse this!" Most of the zombified students climbed up to where the students were and they were slowly closing the distance. "I'll just do this!" The ice user then froze the ground under the zombified students, keeping them in place, some of the students cheered at that but then the zombified students just broke through the ice like they didn't even care.
"It really is like the movies!" Midoriya realized. "They're stronger now!"
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed as the zombified Ejiro attempted to bite him, but instead bit onto the Kingdom Key that he barely managed to summon in time to block the bite. Sora then kicked the zombified Kirishima in the gut to try to get him to stop biting the blade, but he didn't budge. The Keyblade wielder then just let go of the hilt and kicked the zombified Ejiro away before resummoning the blade to his hand.
While the zombified students were starting to get closer, some of them were starting to show the base personality traits of said person, such as the zombified Minoru groping the zombified Kashiko's chest, or the zombified Koji still being silent despite every other zombie loudly groaning. It was a weird thing to see, but the group needed to focus. "Hey! What do we do?!" Mina asked the others.
"We need to get out of here!" Midoriya immediately ordered as he motioned everyone to follow him. Sora and all of Izuku's team then ran away from the zombified students and quickly descended the vantage point. Everyone except Tsuyu was looking forward as they descended and they made it to the ground easily. As they were continuing to run ahead, they heard a pained ribbit then they all turned to see Asui hit the ground face first from tripping over.
They called out to her, but she turned her head around when she heard a groan come from behind her. It was a zombified Mongoose that managed to catch up to her first and it seemed to stop in her tracks.
[Silence]
"Habuko..." Tsuyu softly spoke out to her friend. The zombified Mongoose stopped groaning for a moment, then...it didn't attack. "Habuko!" Asui repeated, relieved that her friend could recognize her and choose not to attack. The frog girl grabbed the zombified snake girl's hands. "You remember me, even as a zombie! Thank you Habuko!"
There was a small bit of relief from Izuku's team, but Sora saw the zombified Aoyama stumble his way towards her and was almost to her.
"We'll always be frienAAH!" Tsuyu was interrupted by Sora using his flowmotion to grab her and blitz away. He didn't rejoin with the group, because the other zombified students were in the way of a straight shot back to them, but they did stop at the top of a tree branch a small distance into the forest. "What the...?" Asui said.
"You didn't see the other zombies coming towards you. Yuga almost bit you." Sora explained to her.
"Oh...ribbit." Tsu understood. "Thanks for that. Sorry that I didn't think about the others trying to get me."
[Play KH2.5 Remix OST Night of the Cursed]
"It's fine. You were caught up in the moment with your friend." Sora replied. But before that conversation could go any further, a huge blast struck the ground where the other students were. "Whoa! What the heck?!"
"Did something just explode?" Asui guessed as she held onto the branch she was on.
"Well, whatever that was, it was where the others were at." Sora pointed out. "Maybe Izuku broke one of his fingers to blast the zombies away?"
"Ribbit. But the zombies don't seem to feel anything." Tsuyu remembered. "That would only slow them down for maybe a minute."
"Either way, we need to go back." Sora stated as he looked into one of his pockets.
"Go back?" Asui repeated.
"Yeah." The Keyblade wielder confirmed as he checked to see what he had in his pockets before continuing on. "I need to test something, and I can only do it if I find one of those zombies."
"Test something?" Tsu repeated again. "Shouldn't we be more focused on getting the teachers?"
"They'll step in if the situation gets worse than it already is." Sora explained. "For now, while we have the chance, I can get one of the zombies and see if I can do something to un...zombify them."
"How are you gonna do that?" The frog girl wondered.
"You'll see when I try it." The boy answered before he began hopping from branch to branch. "For now, just follow me. Stay in the trees so we're out of the zombies' range."
Asui did as instructed and closely followed Sora, hopping from tree branch to tree branch. The two stayed alert, the entire time they were moving, listening for the slightest hint of sound other than the rustling of leaves and the creaking of wood. But the two of them immediately stopped when they heard a singular groan.
The pair stayed still and looked around for a moment to see the zombified Romero alone, wandering around the forest. Sora had a small smile on his face as he whispered "Perfect."
"What are you gonna do Sora?" Tsuyu quietly asked.
The Keyblade wielder then pulled out one of the two panaceas in his pocket "Just keep a lookout for other zombies Tsu."
"Ribbit?" Asui replied, but before she could say anything else, Sora jumped down. And began to quietly approach the zombified Fujimi. Once Sora was close enough, he tapped on the zombie's shoulder and waited for it to turn around.
[Play KH3 OST No Time To Think 2 -cutscene-]
The zombified Romero turned around and then Sora pounced on him, tackling him to the ground and then mounting him. The boy managed to press his arm on the zombie's neck before ripping off the mask that covered Fujimi's face. Sora then took the panacea and poured a very small amount into the zombie's mouth. After a few seconds of vicious twitching, Romero's body stopped moving, as if it was knocked out. Sora then took his arm off of the neck and then watched as the pale skin returned to normal, the backed out eyes regained their color, and the zombified status was removed from Fujimi, but it also left him knocked out. "Yes!" Sora cheered.
[Silence]
Tsuyu was surprised to say the least. Whatever Sora just pulled out of his pocket managed to somehow work as a cure to this zombie virus. He basically skipped the whole zombie movie and went straight to the end where the cure is found and given to the populace. As Sora propped Romero over his shoulder and went back to her with his flowmotion, Asui asked "What did you just use on him?"
"Panacea." Sora answered. "It's a medicine that Moogle made to remove things from the body like poison, allergies, paralysis, stuff like that."
"That chibi looking support manager made a medicine that can do that?" Tsuyu questioned. "Since when was this a thing?"
"Yesturday." The Keyblade wielder stated. "He was testing some new combinations for synthesizing and made these by sheer chance."
"Well, that's conveniently and ironically well timed on his part." Asui commented.
"Yeah, well now we know it can cure the others. I have two bottles, and I don't need that much to cure another...1 2 3...18 students."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's head back and help the others." Tsu recommended.
"On it." Sora agreed with her as they went in the direction of where the zombies were before. It took about a minute to get back there, but when they showed up, they saw someone unexpected. "HUH?!"
"Wait, did a random stranger get turned into a zombie?" Asui asked.
"He's not a zombie." Sora corrected as he approached Yagi, and yelled out. "What are you doing!?"
[Play KH1.5 Remix OST Oopsy Daisy]
"Gah! Oh...young Sora, I was just..." Toshinori was beginning to explain.
"EP EP EP EP!" Sora shut him up before pointing behind him to show that another student was with him.
"Um...Mister, what are you doing here?" Tsuyu asked.
"I uh...work here, and while I was doing some maintenance I heard a bunch of noise." Toshinori made up. "I saw a bunch of zombies chasing some kids and they just walked past me...I guess they thought I was one of them, considering how I look."
Sora, who was doing his best to keep his cool just asked "Which direction exactly?" Yagi pointed at where they went and Sora began walking that way with Asui in tow, but not before leaving the unconscious Fujimi with the adult.
[Silence]
As the pair were making their way to the zombies they managed to see something in the distance. It seemed to be another rocky area in Ground Omega, but what actually caught their attention was the spot of ice that seemed to be sealing off something there. The two could only assume that the others managed to seal themselves inside that area for now, but they couldn't think about that for very long.
As soon as they were close to the rocky area, the two of them saw the zombies attempting to climb up. Thankfully none of them had noticed the pair at the moment and it gave the two of them enough time to get out of sight and begin formulating a plan.
"So what's the plan?" Asui wondered.
"I'll deal with the zombies, while you get the people I cure out of their biting range." Sora summarized his plan.
"Are you sure you want to deal with them alone?" Tsuyu asked.
"It'll be less risky." Sora replied. "And also, I'm not alone, cause you're part is just as, if not more important than mine."
After a small moment of preparation, the two got into positions and were ready to go. Asui was at the tree closest to the zombies that had multiple stable branches at a good height. Sora was at the base of that tree, hiding on the opposite side and making sure he knew what he was getting himself into. He had the Kingdom Key summoned in his right hand and the used panacea in his left. His magic was fully charged again and he had plenty of focus if he needed it. Once he quietly pumped himself up, he called out "Wind!"
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Go Seize It]
The Aero spell hit its mark and flung a good portion of the zombies around the area, separating them enough for Sora to run in and begin his assault. The first person he got to was Sero and took advantage of the zombified boy already restricting himself in tape, allowing Sora to easily pour some into the zombie's mouth and push him towards the tree for Asui to grab him with her tongue and pull him to safety.
The next person to come along was Kyouka and Sora was able to deal with her easily too, pushing her to the ground and pouring some panacea into her mouth, taking her zombification out easily and letting Tsu get her body out of there.
After her was Kaminari who was a bit more challenging, thanks to his zombified body constantly using the electric quirk. But Sora casted Thunder to force a short circuit early and render the zombie unable to zap anymore, allowing Sora to give him his dose before Asui took him.
Next was Kirishima, who was also not too hard, even with his hardening Quirk. Just some simple outmaneuvering did the trick and when Sora got the panacea in his zombified friend's mouth, Tsuyu took care of the rest.
"Tokoyami came next and he was a bit of a challenge, thanks to Dark Shadow also being affected by the zombification, but since it was day time and Sora knew the fire spell, Dark Shadow wasn't a problem for too long and Sora got the bird to drink his medicine before Asui tucked him away in the trees."
Koji was next by sheer surprise, as his zombie was silent enough to get close to Sora and almost bite him, but the Keyblade wielder was fast enough to get out of Koda's biting range and then back into it when he had the opportune moment to treat the mute zombie before letting Tsu do her thing.
Next was Momo, who was slightly challenging due to all those weird nesting dolls surrounding her, making it easy for either of them to slip and fall, luckily Sora could stop his falls halfway recover from them easily, and also, Momo's braindead state made it easy for her to slip on one of those and fall on her back, allowing Sora to pour the panacea in her mouth before Asui took her to a safer space.
The zombies were starting to group up again, but Sora already planned to counter this as he casted a second Aero spell and let the zombies scatter again. Two flew towards him, the zombified Mineta and Sekigai were almost about to hit him, but Sora used the Kingdom Key and swung it hard on Minoru's head, knocking the zombie pervert off the zombie girl and giving Sora the time he needed to give the purple pervert his meds before Tsuyu takes him away. Since Kashiko was still getting up as this happened, Sora was able to tackle her down and give her a dose as well. Then he let the frog girl grab her too.
Up next was Toru, who also almost managed to bite him, but Sora was able to back away from her bite. She was tricky to deal with, since even as a zombie, she is literally invisible, so Sora couldn't immediately figure out where her mouth was. It took a bit of uncomfortable fondling around the head and neck area, but Sora was eventually able to pin her zombie to the ground by the front of her neck and give her the last bit of the first panacea, before Asui got her body out of there.
Sora casted Aero again to keep the zombies separated as they grouped up while he was dealing with Hagakure. The next closest zombie was Tenya, who ended up tackling Sora instead of the other way around. Sora was lucky enough to continue using the momentum of the tackle to roll himself on top of the zombified Iida and give him his dose before Tsu removed the class rep.
After that came Rikido who was refreshingly easy to deal with. The only thing going for the zombified Sato was his larger size, but Sora easily used that size to his advantage when he tripped the zombie and then had him take his meds before Asui grabbed him.
Next was Dadan who was both easy and hard at the same time. He was easy because his mouth was covered, but he was also hard because Sora didn't know how to uncover his mouth without breaking the Hero costume. After a small debate in his head, he decided to just break the mouth area of the costume open and apologize later. After the panacea was fed, Tsuyu took him, broken armor and all.
Mezo came next and he was a much more difficult person to deal with, because there were multiple mouths to feed or get bitten from. Sora had to very carefully avoid all except one mouth arm and when he put the drink in one of the mouths, he was lucky to see it work and allowed Asui to get him.
Yuga was next and while the naval laser was annoying, the real pain was having to deal with the smell that protruded from the zombified Aoyama, as his quirk gives him indigestion and results in a very stinky side effect. Needless to say, Sora endured the smell long enough to give the drink to the French boy and let Tsu take him away, albeit a bit disgusted.
Katsuki was going to be a challenge, because there were constant explosions coming out of his palms, and just like his human side, his zombified form is aggressive. It took some serious maneuvering and patience on Sora's part but after deciding to just cast toe water spell to get the sweat off the zombie before pinning him and making him take a sip, he let Asui nab him.
[Silence]
Sora looked at how much panacea he had and he was happy to see that he had a whole third of the bottle left, more than enough for one final zombie. He looked at the final zombie, being Habuko Mongoose herself, and Sora just decided to go to her instead of letting her come to him.
[Play KH3 OST Apprehension -cutscene-]
Luck however was not on his side for this final struggle, as the zombified Habuko activated her Quirk right when Sora was about to get her and he stopped right in front of her. For the first second Sora was stuck in place unable to do anything. For the second second, he was helpless to stop Mongoose from getting her hands on his shoulders and leaning forward, pushing the both of them to the ground. For the third second, she opened her mouth and was about to bite into Sora's face.
Once the third second passed, Sora was barely able to get his arm in front of Habuko's neck, but that didn't stop the snake girl as her neck stretched long enough to get a bite on his shoulder. "AAAGH!" He yelled out, in pain before thinking fast and drinking almost the rest of the panacea. He drank a fourth of the bottle and thanks to that quick thinking, he stopped himself from turning, but the zombified Mongoose didn't lose her grip and continued to bite down on his shoulder. "AAAAAAAAAOW! TSUUUU!" He called out. "I've...got...10 seconds! Hurry!"
Asui came out from the tree area and rushed over to the two of them calling out "Habuko!" The zombified Mongoose heard her friend and let go of Sora just in before temporary immunity to run out on him. Sora used the distraction to get the last of the panacea into her mouth, finally dealing with the last zombie.
[Silence]
Sora held his shoulder, and for a while he kept his distance from Tsuyu to make sure it was safe, but once the two of them realized that he wasn't turning, they both sighed in relief and sat down for a moment.
Back at the vantage point with Aizawa, he just made one comment. "This was a huge mess."
After the exercise was over and everyone woke up from being unconscious, Aizawa explained what happened to them all before dismissing the class. Outside the U.A. entrance, the Isamu students were all together, waiting for their rides to come get them, but before they left the campus, Kashiko spoke up. "Sora...everyone...We're so sorry that we caused you so much trouble." She and Dadan bowed.
Momo, Tenya and Katsuki were there as well and Yaoyorozu replied "Don't worry about it."
"We too ask for your forgiveness!" Iida added.
While this was happening, and while both class reps loudly demanded that their respective troublemakers apologize to each other, to no success, Sora Tsuyu and Habuko were talking to each other.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Unwind]
Mongoose bowed her head at Sora and spoke up. "I'm so sorry that I bit you!"
The Keyblade wielder had a warm smile on his face as he replied to her "It's fine. You weren't yourself. I'm just glad that Tsu helped us out at that moment."
"Ribbit. Don't start praising me Sora." Asui requested, hiding a small blush. "It was nothing, really."
"What do you mean it was nothing?! You saved him from me and helped him save me!" Habuko exclaimed. "You're still as amazing as ever Tsu!"
Asui's blush became more apparent, and Sora decided to change the subject for her sake. "By the way Habuko, as a fellow friend of Tsu's, it was really nice meeting you."
"Eh? O-Oh! Yeah...likewise." Mongoose replied. "I just wish that I could have left a better first impression."
"Eh. I've had worse." Sora remarked. He wasn't wrong as some of his friend's first impressions were them trying to kill him, and yet they somehow became friends after that. "I hope I made a good first impression."
Habuko had surprised him and Tsuyu as she gave the Keyblade wielder a hug when she said "Your first impression was amazing. I mean, you're basically my Hero."
"Uh...well, I mean it wasn't that crazy...you know, just doing what any Hero should do, hehehe.." Sora replied with a small blush. This wasn't the first time he was hugged or praised by a girl, but considering that Mongoose was socially awkward, it was a surprise to see that she felt close enough to Sora to give him a hug. The boy looked at Asui to see if this was okay, and the frog girl motioned to hug her back, which he then did. This was a weird day for the Keyblade wielder, but it seems that weird is almost always good in this world.
And that concludes this chapter as well as the before Final Exams ark of this fic. There are three things I'd like to say. First off, Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays if Christmas isn't your style, and holy cow, I now have over 500 people following this story. That is awesome! Secondly the next series of chapters will now finally cover the Final Exams. That means no more waiting for a chapter to come out only for it to not be the final exams. Thirdly, Sora had a very busy day today, getting to know Tsu, meeting Habuko, saving the students from zombies, and testing out how the panacea works against a status effect like Quirk. Now I am going to explain this in the best way I can. The way the panacea works is that if Sora takes a sip, he loses any negative status affect afflicted on fim through quirks, magic, whatever. He drinks a fourth of the bottle, he gets 15 seconds of immunity to those kinds of quirks, half a bottle he gets 30 and a full bottle gives him a full minute. Here's an example, If Stain licked Sora's blood and froze him, than if Someone fed Sora a panacea, he would be able to move for a whole minute before the quirk effect came back into play. Here's example two. If Aizawa uses his nullifying Quirk on Sora and he drinks one, than even when Aizawa is staring him down, Sora can use his magic, flowmotion, whatever he wants until the item wears off and the homeroom teacher uses his quirk again. Hope that helps explain the way the panacea works. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and until I decide to upload again. ;)