A/N: Kai is back, baby! I think the art pieces that I made to go with this chapter have gotta be some of my favorites so far. I put one up as the cover art (for the next couple of weeks), but you can go see it and another sketch on my Instagram: the_red_swordsman

Now, what say we close out this phase on a high note?

Armed and Ready

"Dude, robot arm!"

"That's so cool!"

"I knew you'd come back manlier than ever!"

"I guess this means that you're back in fighting shape, ribbit."

"We're glad to see you made a safe return."

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Kurai!"

The young man held up his hands with a small laugh as he was all but swarmed by the other students. "What's the deal?" he asked them. "You'd have thought that I was dead or something."

"Dude, you up and disappeared without a word to any of us," Jiro said with a slight frown that got his attention. "Ashido was pretty upset this whole time."

"Without a word?" Kurai repeated, confusion flickering across his face. "I left a letter with Mister Aizawa for you guys!" At this, everyone grew quiet and turned to look at their teacher, who was wearing a very evil smile.

"Did you now?" he asked. "Sorry, it's been a busy few days having to adjust everything on campus to a dorm schedule. Must've slipped my mind."

"Seriously?" Kurai demanded as he turned to face his teacher. "Why'd you do that?!"

"I'm not a mailing system, and I've had a tendency to forget things ever since I took a hit to the head during your final exam," Aizawa answered as he made a pointed look at Kurai's sword, which was hanging from his belt. "You also didn't tell me that you were coming back early."

"Must've slipped my mind," the young man said with a thin smile. "Guess we're even."

"No way!" Mina suddenly shouted as she stomped over to stand in front of the teacher. "You knew what was going on this whole time, and you lied about it! What's with that?!"

"Rational deception," Eraserhead answered blandly. "You all have a tendency to over-worry about things that are out of your hands. This seemed like a good opportunity to have you exercise some self-control. Also, if you really wanna blame someone for your worries, point at him. He's the one that left without saying anything."

"Much as I hate to agree with him after what he just pulled, I do feel that an explanation on your part is owed for this, Kurai," Iida said with a frown directed at his classmate. "Why did you say nothing?"

"Yeah, you said that you had no idea when a prosthetic would be ready for you!" Ochaco said vehemently.

"That wasn't a total lie," Kurai said defensively.

Before he could explain himself, Vlad King barged into the room, announcing that it was time for Aizawa's class to clear out and make way for his kids. After a brief argument, 1-A's teacher gave in and told his students to clear out and head back to the dorms, where they could best spend their time reading up on hero informatics.

"Man, I just got into my gear," Kurai complained. Seeing the expectant looks of everyone around him, he then added, "I'll explain everything once we get back into the dorms." This seemed to mollify the lot of them, and they began to drift past him, with the exception of Mina and Bakugo, the latter of whom hadn't moved since All Might's close call.

The two of them locked eyes for a moment, though Kurai wasn't exactly sure what he was seeing in the other boy's gaze. Normally Bakugo was an easy read, but for the first time since they had met, Kurai found himself unable to tell what the blond boy was thinking.

Eventually, the other student let out a scoff and blasted his way off of his training block to land behind Kurai and departed with the words, "You've got a lot of catching up to do, Saiyaman."

"Nice to see you, too," Kurai muttered as he watched the other boy go. It wasn't until Bakugo was around the corner that he realized that it was the first time the two of them had actually stood face-to-face since Kurai had given up his arm to save his classmate's life. Even throughout the first weekend at the dorms, Bakugo had pretty much avoided any direct contact with him. What's his problem?

He wasn't given much time to think on the matter before Mina had wrapped herself around him in a fierce hug and the words, "You are in so much trouble, buster." While this was happening, class 1-B was filing in past them and All Might, who seemed to have something on his mind as he looked at Kurai.

"Would it help if I said I'm sorry for trusting Mister Aizawa to deliver that letter?"

"Not even close."

"Yeah, that figures."

Before the couple could leave, Kurai felt a lanky hand on his shoulder, followed by All Might saying, "I'm glad to see you on the path to recovery, young Hikari."

"Me too, All Might. Me too."

"Okay, spill!" Ruby demanded as Kurai sat down at one of the dining room tables, surrounded by the majority of class 1-A, many of them still admiring the advanced-looking prosthetic that had replaced his right arm. "Why'd you leave without sayin' anything, and where'd you get that awesome new arm?!"

"Yeah, okay, in hindsight, I should've said something," Kurai admitted as he stared at his new limb. Mina was sitting on the stool next to him, having pretty much refused to detach herself from his side since he had returned. "I didn't want to raise any false hopes, though." The arm was made of a dark metal with intricate glowing lines that somewhat resembled veins running just underneath the surface. The movements it made were flawless, comparable to an actual flesh-and-blood limb; nothing in the way of jerky movements, stiffness, or hesitation that came with most replacement limbs these days.

"False hopes?" Iida repeated. "You have a new arm! What about that could be a false hope?!"

"Because the tech is fully experimental," Kurai answered quickly, shutting them all down. "Yeah. I didn't want to get you guys excited for me and then be disappointed if it didn't work out."

"What makes it experimental?" Yaoyorozu inquired as she eyed the piece. "Granted the design looks unlike any prosthetic I've ever seen, but it seems to work flawlessly."

"Oh, it does," Kurai said with a large grin as he drummed his new fingers on the table. "Akarui provided the initial designs for it, but the Iida family doctor was the one that fine-tuned the blueprints and constructed it. Seeing as my brother knows how my quirk works better than just about anyone, he was able to provide the schematics necessary for a new arm that could handle my powers."

"Wait, that thing can process Energon?" Mina asked, all of them looking surprised at that piece of news. After all, they had seen what Kurai's quirk could do- the amounts of energy he could release were enormous, enough to blow any normal replacement to pieces, never mind the absurd strength it could grant him that would shatter intricate mechanics on impact.

"Process it, channel it… It's powered by my quirk," Kurai told them with another smile, enjoying the startled reactions that he was getting out of them. "That's why it responds so well to my commands- it's tied in to something that my brain already regulates instinctively. It really is an extension of who I am." To demonstrate, he briefly conjured a little ball of energy above his metal hand before it blinked out of existence without any harm done.

"That's amazing!" Iida exclaimed. "The design is certainly genius, but how did you find a material that can hold up to the intensity of your quirk over any length of time?"

Here, Kurai's smile finally wilted. This was a part of his new arm that he had not been looking forward to explaining to Iida, of all people. "That was the hardest part of making the thing," he said slowly, trying to measure his words carefully before he let them out. "Anything that could normally stand up to Energon would end up giving me metal poisoning after extended exposure to my skin and nerves. We needed a metal that was already made to be in constant contact with the normal parts of a human anatomy that could also handle my quirk."

"I'm tempted to claim that no such metal exists, but clearly there is one," Yaoyorozu said, her brow furrowed as she mentally listed off every metal, composite, and alloy that she could think of. When she came up without a matching metal, she cocked her head at her classmate and asked, "So, what is the material?"

"…Ingenium."

There was a long silence after that, which was eventually broken by Iida. "Kurai, are you saying that-?"

"Your brother's spinal damage is completely irreparable," Kurai said, speaking quickly now, as if he wanted to get the explanation out of the way as soon as possible. "He called; told me that since he couldn't be a hero anymore, he wanted to make sure that he could still save people, even if it was through another person. When he heard your doctor and Akarui had been talking about the design issue, he offered his engine parts to make the prosthetic, and since our blood types are compatible, it turned out to be a perfect match." Pausing for breath, he added, "They didn't tell me that little detail until after I'd had the surgery, of course, and by then it wasn't like I could give the parts back."

"Kurai." Iida's voice stopped him. "It's okay, really."

"It is?" Kurai replied, now feeling surprise enter him. "You're not mad?"

"Not at all," the bespectacled boy answered with a bright smile. "I'm glad to know that my brother can still help people, even though his legs were taken from him. Besides, you always tell me that you're going to be using my engines for yourself, right? Since you can't have those, I suppose you'll have to make do with Tensei's."

Relief and gratitude washed over Kurai, so he stood up and held out his new hand to his friend. "Thanks, Tenya."

"Just put that arm to good use," the class rep answered as they shook hands firmly. "Let's both do the name of Ingenium good in his stead."

"You got it."

After the two released each other, Kaminari took the opportunity to ask, "So, did the surgery hurt?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Kurai laughed wearily. "They had to open up my arm and connect all the nerves to the right places, so even after I woke up, it was all kinds of hurting for me."

"What about your phantom pains?" Mina asked him worriedly. "Have they still been bothering you?"

"Not so far, which has been a huge relief," he answered, leading her and his other close friends to relax a little more. "I guess since my brain is registering that I have an arm again- even though it's just through my quirk- it's stopped trying to use the last sensation that I experienced to reconnect the feeling."

"Does that arm feel pain, or stuff like that?" Kirishima asked him.

"Not really?" Kurai replied. "I mean, I can sort of get a feeling in it, but it's not like what I had with skin and muscle, you know? I'm not sure that I could really explain it."

"Nah man, there's just one more thing I wanna know," the redhead grinned as he sat across from his friend and placed his elbow on the table, hardening the entirety of his arm as he gave Kurai a challenging smile. "How much can this thing handle?"

"You're on," Kurai grinned as he placed his elbow down and gripped Kirishima's hand. "Kaminari, care to referee?"

"You got it!" the electric student answered as he leaped off the couch that he'd been occupying.

"I call next round!" Yang declared.

"Hold on, is this really such a good idea?" Uraraka cautioned them.

"Hey, if Kurai says he can handle it, he's got it," Mina grinned, relieved to see him acting more like himself again. However in a lowered tone, she did ask, "You do have it, right?"

"Doctor cleared me for regular activities this morning," he answered. "Recovery Girl was able to be there every day, so my healing went a lot faster than I thought it would. She said it was important that I have an opportunity to catch up to my classmates before the provisional license exams." With an impish grin, he added, "You could say that I'm… armed and ready." Yang let out a cheer while everyone else let out a series of groans and/or boos in his direction, making him laugh again.

"Okay guys, let's have a clean match!" Kaminari said dramatically as he raised his hand high above his head. "May the best hero win… Go!"

"It's a good thing that Momo was able to make a new table," Mina said as she and Kurai sat on the bed in his room. "Otherwise I'm pretty sure Mister Aizawa would've kicked you guys out."

"Yeah, there's also the fact that Todoroki was able to burn the evidence," Kurai chuckled as he began to unpack a new box onto the work station that had been set up in his room. In it were some spare parts, specialized tools, and to Mina's surprise, what looked like a spare arm.

"What's that for?" she asked as he set it in its own drawer.

"My arm can actually come off so that I can do repairs or make adjustments," Kurai explained. "Whenever that happens, I've got the prosthetic that my insurance covered as a spare so that I can still work with both hands. It feels pretty stiff compared to my brother's design, but I got some practice with it yesterday so that I won't be totally unprepared whenever I have to make the switch."

That's cool," she said as he turned back toward her. Putting on another grin, she added, "Look at you- robot arm, lightsaber, superhuman abilities… You should change your alias to the Jedi Hero."

"Why do you think I called myself the 'Guardian Hero'?" he teased her. "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace in the old republic…" She rolled her eyes at him as he finished the old quote. "I had no idea that I'd end up resembling Anakin Skywalker so much, though."

"As long as it doesn't progress into full-on Darth Vader, I'm okay with this," she told him as she held out her arms. "I mean, it's not what I wanted for you, but… You get what I mean?" He was surprised to see that her eyes were starting to mist, so he moved to the bed in order to give her the hug that she clearly wanted.

As soon as he had his arms around her, she started crying into his shoulder, letting out all the worries and anxieties that had plagued her since his disappearance. "Is there ever gonna come a day when you stop scaring me?" she asked him pitifully, tugging at his heart. "The USJ, I-island, the forest, now you disappear without an explanation! I would have kept quiet from the others, but I deserved to know!"

"You're right," he said apologetically as he stroked her frizzy hair with his natural arm. "You're totally right, I should have said something. But I didn't want to let you down again after all the stuff that you mentioned, you know?"

"Not knowing is the worst part," she sniffled as she thumped him on his chest. "Jerk."

"Sorry."

"Hide anything like that again, and I'll melt you."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Glad we understand each other," she sniffed again as she drew back. "Now, you owe me four days' worth of cuddles, buster, and you better believe that I charge interest."

"You hate math, how do you know what rate to charge?"

"Subject to change," she answered with a little giggle as she stood up. "I got a TV in my room, so let's use it."

"Shouldn't we be studying hero informat-?"

"Dude, I am this close to melting all of your textbooks."

The next day, Kurai spent time talking to his friends about the changes that they had made to their costumes over the past week with the help of the support course. Kirishima had added sleeves to his outfit so that he didn't have to worry about his quirk cutting people that he rescued while Kaminari had finally put in a request for some aiming gear that would help him not to electrocute any innocents in the vicinity of his lightning bursts. Everyone else's costume designs were pretty minor, though Kurai did end up talking to Yaoyorozu at one point about her costume.

"I need to have lots of exposed skin in order to create objects of various size," she explained as they sat down for their lunch break. "The problem is that even though I've managed to accomplish this, my costume still ends up being destroyed whenever I create larger objects. Then I have to use up lipids to re-create the outfit."

"Why not change the areas of exposure, as it were?" Kurai asked, doing his best to keep his face from heating up as he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" He hesitated, wondering how to phrase his thoughts delicately. "I mean, it seems like a lot of the bigger objects that you create come out of your back, right? But that's where most of the fabric is."

"True, but I need something consistent to hold the costume together," she said with a frown. "How do I remedy that?"

"You got a pencil and paper?" he asked her. Initially she said no, but she quickly produced the required items from her arms and handed them to her classmate. After a few moments of him quietly scratching on the paper, he handed the result back to her and said, "How about something like this?"

"Wow," Yaoyorozu said, impressed by the design. "I had no idea that you could draw."

"Dad made me and Akarui basically learn how to be sketch artists so we could rely on our own skills to identify suspects," he explained. "What do you think?"

"This actually might be just what I need," she answered him with a slow nod. "I'll show this to Mister Power Loader and see if he can help. Thanks, Hikari."

"You're welcome. And if you need help with that wrist guard, I'm sure Akarui would be happy to write a program for it. He's been pretty bored since he finished the designs on my arm."

"I'm tempted to complain about being made to work out on the weekends, but I should be grateful that I'm getting a chance to catch up with everyone," Kurai panted as he watched Ectoplasm's latest clone fade away from in front of him. And it's been a while since I've felt well enough to actually try fighting.

"Doesn't seem like you have to do a lot of catching up from where I'm standing," Sero told him from atop his pillar while rubbing his sore elbows, which had been spitting tape non-stop for the last twenty minutes. "Whatever your brother did to your quirk, it seems like you've been able to keep ahead of even guys like Bakugo and Todoroki, no problem."

"Yeah, but I've spent a lot of the last few weeks taking it easy," Kurai shrugged, wincing as his muscles ached in protest. "My body started to atrophy a bit after the last surgery, even with Recovery Girl's quirk aiding my healing process. I need to get back in shape."

"Yeah, but you already had an ultimate move all lined up once summer camp got started," Sero pointed out. "That thing where your hair turns that weird purple-blue and you get a third eye?" The tape-themed hero hadn't seen the form in action, but he'd heard about it from some of the other students that had witnessed it firsthand.

"Yeah, I started calling it 'Divine Eye'," Kurai nodded. "Upside is that I can 'see' in just about every direction, but at the cost of most of my firepower and eyesight, and I get a wicked headache if I use it for too long. Still, Midnight said it qualified, seeing as the pros outweigh the cons if I use it right."

"Nice."

"How about you? Got anything in the way of an ultimate move?"

"I got somethin'," Sero nodded. "But I think you've got a visitor- I'll get back to it." With that, he turned away so that Kurai could turn around and see Midoriya approaching with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Midoriya," Kurai said as he shook hand with his friend. "What's up?"

"Well, I feel kinda bad asking you for help, seeing as you just got out of the hospital, and you need time to work on your stuff…"

Kurai waved that aside and said, "Don't worry about it. What can I help you with?"

"Well, I recently put in a request for support bracers on my arms so that I reduce the risk of abusing them with my quirk," he said as he looked down at his gloves. "They should be coming in by tomorrow, but it doesn't really solve my other problem."

"What do you mean?" Kurai asked with a frown. "And what's wrong with your arms that you'd need braces for them?"

"Well, I messed up my left hand fighting Todoroki, and then that fight with Muscular did a number on my right arm, and the scars are liable to break open if I make the same mistake again," Midoriya explained. "Plus, scar tissue takes longer to heal every time that it gets re-injured, so if I do keep making the same mistakes, I could end up with permanent damage to the muscle."

"Ah."

"I heard from Yaoyorozu that you helped with her costume design, so I was wondering if you had any advice for me on how to improve what I can do with my quirk?"

Kurai blinked in surprise. "She told you about that?"

"Well, she told Ochaco and the other girls, and then she mentioned it to me."

Kurai put his chin in his fingers as he mulled the problem over for a moment. "Well, you were right to reinforce the equipment in your arms, but maybe you should think about switching up your fighting style a bit."

"How so?"

"I know you like to- understandably- model your fighting style after All Might," Kurai began. "But if you're injuring one part of your body too frequently, try using another- your legs, for example. You haven't done anything permanent to them yet, have you?"

"No, but I thought you preferred not to use kicks when you fight?" Midoriya looked very confused by the seemingly contradictory advice.

"I try not to kick somebody unless I'm sure it's going to be a knockout move," his friend explained. "It's risky, leaving the rest of your body so open to attack, plus you can wind up largely off-balance if you don't stick the landing. But when used correctly, your legs are some of your strongest weapons. I mean, take Iida- he mostly kicks due to the fact that his quirk is in his legs, but I'm sure he'd be happy to give you some pointers. I'd love to help you myself, but it's really not my forte."

"No, that's actually a really good idea!" Midoriya said excitedly. "Thanks, Hikari!"

"Oh, one other thing!" Kurai said before his friend could leave. "Maybe ask about some kind of armor for your hands and feet, in addition to the bracers you already ordered. It'll lend your attacks more of an impact without needing to use so much of your power- another way to reduce the strain on your body and powers. Case in point…" Whirling around with the full force of his body, Kurai smashed his metal fist into the concrete in front of him, cracking the stone all the way up to the top of the pillar, where Sero let out a startled yelp.

"Hey!" he shouted down. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry!" Kurai apologized before he turned back to Midoriya and indicated the damage that he had wrought. "Obviously it wouldn't be the same, since I don't have to worry about ligaments and all that, but I barely had to use any of my power to make that punch happen. If I'd tried the same thing with my left fist, it would've taken a fair bit more energy to accomplish."

"Got it," Midoriya nodded rapidly as his eyes scanned the prosthetic. "Your brother really did an amazing job with that arm!"

"I know, right?" Kurai chuckled. "Problem is, I'm already being tempted to over-rely on it as my primary fighting limb. I need to make sure to keep a balance in my body, or else I could become predictable to my opponents."

"I remember you stressed the importance of unpredictability when we first trained together," Midoriya laughed back. "But thanks, really. This is all gonna help me a lot."

"Anytime, Midoriya. Keep in mind that I might come to ask you for a return favor sometime soon if I can't figure out my second ultimate move. Akarui explained how he changed my quirk a little bit more while I was learning how to maintain my prosthetic, but it was still kind of confusing to me."

"Sure!" the other boy smiled. "Let me know how I can help, and I'll do my best!"

"Enough chit-chat," rumbled a new Ectoplasm clone as it spawned in front of Kurai, cutting off any further exchange between him and Midoriya. "You still have another hour to spend honing your powers, not socializing."

"You want a honed quirk?" Kurai asked challengingly as he settled into a wide stance while closing his eyes. As his third eye appeared, he added, "I'll show you honed."

That night, the girls were all gathered in the dining room area, enjoying various drinks and the time to relax. In the background, they could hear some of the boys yelling at each other over some game that Sato had brought out- some kind of kitchen simulation, if the shouts were anything to go by.

"You'd think that they were a high-class restaurant under inspection, the way that they go on," Weiss muttered as Kaminari made a particularly loud demand for some kind of gourmet burger.

"Yeah, but it's kinda fun to spectate," Uraraka giggled.

"By the way, how're things with you and Freckles, huh?" Yang asked the gravity girl. "I'm surprised you're not over there to cheer him on."

Ochaco blushed before she answered, "Deku usually doesn't play a game unless there's heroes involved, so I'm pretty sure he's sitting this one out. Plus, I don't wanna be the girlfriend that never gives him his space, you know?"

"I totally wanna be that girlfriend, but Kurai's stubborn with his boundaries," Mina giggled.

"Given that you two attend all the same classes and sleep in the same room half the time, I'm not sure how many more boundaries you could cross, or how much more time you can spend with him," Blake pointed out, causing several of the other girls to laugh while one of Mina's eyebrows went up.

"You guys noticed that?"

"Dude, you show up to breakfast wearing his shirts almost every morning, and you live on the same floor," Jiro chuckled. "Wasn't that hard to figure out."

"I'm just glad I haven't heard anything," Ruby said pointedly, causing Mina's other eyebrow to shoot up. "Then again, I am on the other end of the building, so maybe I'm just not close enough."

"Honestly, you're more likely to hear him talking in his sleep than anything else we do," the girl said evasively with an impish grin. "You'd be surprised at how often he dreams about marketplaces where food eats people. Plus, Midoriya is way closer to his room than you are, so if anyone's gonna 'hear anything', it'd be him." Mina was clearly loving the various reactions that she was eliciting from the other girls by failing to directly acknowledge the borderline accusation. Yang was grinning broadly with a wink and a thumbs-up, and Jiro was nodding with something like approval, while most of the others' faces were coloring various shades of red, with the exception of Asui and Blake.

The frog girl knew of her friend's habit of playing pranks on her peers, so she knew it was more than likely that this was another joke she was having at their expense. Blake was likewise maintaining a straight face, but out of all of them, she was the best at keeping her emotions in check, not to mention that some of her favored reading material more or less numbed her to feeling embarrassment whilst discussing more mature topics.

"While I hold the opinion that what you two get up to in your private time is your business alone, I strongly advise exercising… certain precautions," Yaoyorozu finally told a chuckling Mina while failing to hide a blush. "We are still students, after all. We need to maintain our priorities."

"Blech, you sound like Iida," Yang groaned.

"How crass," Weiss sniffed, despite her own reddened cheeks. "Is this what 'girl talk' normally consists of?"

"It does if it involves my sister," Ruby sighed.

"Okay, let's talk about something other than boys," Yang said challengingly. "What else is there to do around here? And before we get started, no books."

"Hey! Books are awesome!" Hagakure said indignantly.

"I second this motion!" Ruby declared as she put her fist up.

"What they said," Blake commented.

"Jiro makes lovely music," Yaoyorozu reminded them, causing the girl with the short hair to fidget in place. "She's also a very adept teacher."

"Music?" Weiss asked, looking intrigued. "What kind?"

"Uh… a little bit of everything," Jiro admitted as she started playing with her ear jacks. "I really like punk rock, but I can do some classical pieces, if that's what you're asking about."

"Ooh, cool!" Yang said excitedly. "Weiss here used to do classical concerts back in America at Carnegie Hall and other high-end theaters! You two could totally jam!"

"You sing, ribbit?" Asui asked the albino girl.

"Since I was very young, yes," Weiss nodded, but like Jiro, she seemed a little reluctant to admit it. "It's been a while since I performed, though."

"Well, it's not like we're gonna put on a concert," Mina told them. "But it'd be totally fun to see what kinda stuff you two could do together! I bet it'd sound really sweet!"

"Maybe…" Jiro said as she looked down and fiddled with her jacks a little more. "Let's keep that on the backburner until after the exam, you know? We should probably get some rest, soon."

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Yang snorted as the boys started shouting at each other again. "Unless one of you knows how to get them to chill out before they start throwing punches, we're gonna be up for a while." As she spoke, they all turned to watch the chaos unfold.

"You were supposed to be on dishes!" Sato told Kaminari.

"I had to rush a delivery because Sero skipped out on the veggies!"

"I was covering for Todoroki!"

"I said I didn't know how to play this game."

"Who the hell made him the head chef?!"

"You did, Bakugo! The kitchen died in agony because of your bad managerial skills!"

"Say that again, Tape Arms, I dare you!"

"Fight, fight, fight!" Kirishima laughed.

"Smash Bros?!"

"Damn right; I'll kill you!"

As they began to change the TV settings to the Nintendo console, Yang took out her phone and said, "Someone needs to record this. I get the feeling it's gonna be worth remembering."

"I'll get the popcorn!" Ruby shouted as she ran for the kitchen, Mina close behind her.

Deku: What was up with that last bit?

Mataras: Honestly, I just had the random thought that it might interesting to see what happened if your class tried to play 'Overcooked', and this was the result. Also, I've seen too many Bakugo vs. Gordon Ramsey memes to not make him the head chef.

Kai: I take it this means we're heading into the Licensing Arc?

Mataras: Not quite...

Kai: What, you have more of your own filler you wanna put in before that?

Mataras: Yes and no. If my readers recall, there was a couple of OVA episodes released after the conclusion of season 4 that detailed a training exercise designed to prepare class 1-A for the rescue part of the exam. We only got to see half of the class going at it, so I'm gonna take a little liberty and design a different scenario for the other half of your class for this story. Namely, we'll get to see how Mina and Kurai do with a rescue scenario.

Deku: Didn't they already do that with Gang Orca during the Internship Arc?

Mataras: Yeah, but there was fighting involved, plus they had pro supervision to aid them. Not gonna be the case in the next chapter.

Kai: Will we have the same exercise as the others did?

Mataras: You think Eraserhead is one to repeat an exercise?

Kai: Okay, then what kind of rescue will we be doing?

Mataras: That's for me to know, and you to find out.

Deku: Why do you even ask him anymore?

Kai: I don't know!

Mataras: Next time- Crash Course

Deku: Be sure to check out the new OP sequence that Mataras made for phase 3 on his YouTube channel!

Kai: Let's get this exercise started! I'm back, and I'm ready to Go Beyond!

Mataras: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unveiling...

"We'd work best if we split up into groups of three," Weiss announced as she stepped away from the wall with the map, her chin in her hand. "Ideally, we would all stick together for support, but the person we're supposed to save doesn't have time for us to waste on running into the wrong tunnel. All of you, take a picture of the map with your phones for reference, and keep them handy for contact in case you find a way in, or better yet, a civilian."

"About that…" Hagakure said as her phone hovered in the air with the screen aimed at her friends. "I'm not getting a signal right now."

"What?" Weiss asked worriedly as she checked her own device. "Drat!"

"I guess in this scenario, the cell towers must've been hit," Jiro muttered as she put her phone away. "I should be able to hear anyone calling for backup if they find the civilian, but that won't help anyone not in my group."

"I can send animals to show people where to go, if my group finds them," Koda volunteered timidly. "There are sure to be plenty of rats and other small critters that I can get to help us."

"I'm not as good at picking up on soft sounds like Jiro, but I can compensate with extra ears to listen for anything out of the ordinary," Shoji added.

"Good ideas, all of you," Weiss said approvingly. "Unfortunately, that still leaves a team without means of communications."

"Yeah, my scouter won't work as a com device without a signal," Kurai said with a negative shake of his head before anyone could ask him. "I could tune it to a short-distance radio wave if we had walkie-talkies, but we don't have Yaoyorozu to make us any. It'll still work as a map since I already have the schematics of the training grounds already downloaded, but I can't call for help with it."

"Double drat," Weiss huffed. "I suppose if nothing else, you can yell for help. Even with the rubble in the way, we should be able to hear one another with the tunnels bouncing the sounds off the walls."

"That'll just make it hard to tell where the sound is coming from," Sero pointed out with a frown. "I think it might be safer to meet back here at a designated time. If one or more of our groups don't show up by then, we can send another team to help them out."

"That might also help us save some time if one group did find the civilian, but lacked the necessary skillset to get them out safely," Weiss mused. "Okay, let's meet back here in an hour if we don't see each other in the tunnels. Form up and head out as I call you. Aoyama, Hagakure, and Ojiro, I want you to head for the southeast entrance. Blake, go with Koda and Sato to the south entry. I'll go to the west with Sero and Shoji. Hikari, you and Ashido should go with Jiro to the north, just up the road. If there's any problems with your prosthetic, I want you to evacuate immediately. We don't need this practice rescue to turn into a real one, got it?"

2023 A/N: The adventures of our young heroes continues in Your Hero Academia: Unveiling! Kurai's problems are far from over, and before all is said and done, everyone will know who the Guardian Hero is...