“Oh, that’s your quirk? That’s so cool!” Minami said as she ran through the dense fog holding Houki’s hand. If you can use that to clean some of the rubble in the way it would make it easier for us to go back and forth. “Also, don’t worry about the pairs thing. We will be getting our points individually. Just think of this as... a joint operation; yes, a joint operation would do,” she said to her partner right before the rest of the others they left behind caught up to them.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Minami crossed her arms in front of her chest, asking for a break in others’ line of thought. “That’s not how I said that I would help you! If I just give you any dummies that I get, I won’t score any points of my own. I have already helped you locate the center of the disaster area, but you’ll have to get your own points and bring them back to the bus on your own. There’re plenty of victims around for everyone and you won’t even need to have super strength or speed to reach most of them. Just use your brains if you wanna be real heroes someday! You can call me if you guys end up in a position that you need help to get out, or if a villain ambushes you but for the time being, I’ve helped as much as I can without damaging my own chances,” she declared before grabbing Houki’s hand again and running into one of the crumbling building around them.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Minami said as she busted a janitor’s closet, grabbed a pair of mops, a curtain from a nearby window, and some power cord from whatever electrical appliance she could find nearby and turned them into an improvised stretcher. “On our own, I don’t think that we could haul that many victims away at once, so we use this and divide them evenly. What do you say?” she asked the other girl while going around and getting the easiest to access dummies.

Once they had six dummies, Minami would propose that they leave, since it was unlikely that the improvised solution would sustain more than that much weight.

[Going back to the bus carrying some dummies, with Houki. If she wants to follow]

---

---

"Ugh... I ain't getting anywhere with this...", he muttered to himself. As he walked around he went for a few of the dummies that he could, namely a few of the lighter debris, some that were simply held under by a small bit, which he could lift a little to get them out, or ones that were simply trapped behind an array of beams and debris rather than held down by anything. At most he could get... Two or three, he can't carry all of them back though. He'll move on to a safe spot... They'll probably put that in mind, then carry two over his shoulder. He'll probably take care of this for now and go looking for a place he'll be more useful... 5 is a no-go it seems.

As he was walking through this thick fog he crossed paths with one of the others as they were reaching the border, "ah...", they made a stretcher. Huh, neat... Still, not something his quirk can make, nor would he be able to carry on his own either.

"So where are you fine ladies headed to after this?", he asked, was it joking? Was it flirting? He didn't talk like he was flirty, but his line was flirting. In actual fact he was not flirting and just wanted to know where they were headed... What would that information do for him? Who knows. In any case regardless of that result he too would make it to the bus. This was no good... They needed 20 points, he'd need to have insane saving skills if he's going to do that. If he recalled there were some villains, but... He's never really been in a fight either, well he'll have to think of something anyways. He has some ideas.

@KoL @TheWindel

@Animal@AdmrlStalfos19
The haul was a big one, and Shiki’s shirt certainly had seen better days as the beanie-wearing youth dragged his heavy load over rubble and busted roads. Sweat poured from his pores, while fatigue had already began showing on his expression; being a gamer boy certainly hadn’t done him much favors in regards to the endurance grind of rescue work, no matter how many corners he could cut with a non-human rescue target. Still, the young man could pride himself in being the ‘first’ to complete a circuit, the last steps up the bus taken with gusto. Outside of the baby the small proctor of the exam had tossed in, there were no other dummies retrieved yet, and he could have sworn the girl with the Chinese buns gave his sweat-laden form a ghost of a smile before turning back to her tablet.

Eventually, he left, and the child-proctor turned back to her own work, flicking through a mosaic of imagery that showed all the incidents that had occurred previously. The cat girl’s construction of a makeshift stretcher was a clean, admirable move. Her head was certainly in the right place, but considering her own abilities, allocating the task to someone else would have been a wiser choice. As expected, Aritage definitely must have enjoyed playing up on the whole ‘fear mongering monster’ deal, but even though turbine boy was rash and reckless, the marble trick was an interesting one. Not effective, but his commitment to striving for victory in the face of retreat may have stirred the hearts of a different judging panel. Only question was whether or not he planned to be bait to begin with, wasn’t it?

In the residential area, the trio there moved cleanly as well, but had yet to recede completely. If Jigokuraku Academy’s entrance exam had hired workers from the ‘Help Us Company’, their method of extraction would probably have been more merit than demerit but hey. It was better than amputating the legs completely or something like that. She scratched her chin as a bright light temporarily blinded that screen, before their female companion joined them.

“Should I…” Well, it never hurt to give people a head start. “Guess I will.” Bringing up a different screen, she typed in a couple of commands, pressed the enter key, and rewarded her kindness with another bite of fried noodles.

Still chewing, she monitored the screen for Zone 8, pulling out her phone at the same time. It connected to a speaker rather than any other phone and soon, her voice rang out clear and disinterested within the Dragon’s lair. “Heyo,” the child-proctor said, “I know you know this, but it’s a bit nerve-wracking anyways. Don’t go too hard on them, alright? Thanksies.”

Yup, two good deeds within the span of ten minutes. She really was too nice for her own good.


@follycle@ShwiggityShwah@Delta44
Hiroki’s defiance rang clearly through the misted streets, and no matter the wounds on his body, the scratches on his prized turbines, the sheer incompatibility of the match-up in front of him, the cold truth that this confrontation was hardly necessary, he stood his ground. How much of it was prideful recklessness? How much of it was genuine bravery? In that moment, no one knew but the youth himself, but no matter the origin of his ferocity, aggression must be answered in kind. Coiling its reptilian limbs and crouching down once more, the feral eyes of the Beast narrowed, before bursting forward, the pavement cracking underneath its diamond-hard claws.

An unstoppable force to match the unwavering will of the man that stood before it. Was there another trick up Hiroki’s sleeve, or was he going to go all in, all out? It mattered not. Upon its namesake, the Beast would smash through everything and devour what scraps remained of human valor.


@AdmrlStalfos19@vFear@Lugubrious
Before any clear consensus could be arrived at as to what their next step would be, Goro, Umi, and Taro could all hear the distinct scritch-whirrr of a record scratch as the child-sized dummy’s vocalizations suddenly changed, their cries and whimpers and sobs turning into…

“TheytookmommyanddaddybutIdon’tknowwheretheytoldmetohidebuttheygotcaughttheytookmommyanddaddybutIdon’tknowwheretheytoldmetohidebuttheygotcaughttheytookmommyanddaddybutIdon’tknowwheretheytoldmetohidebuttheygotcaughttheytookmommyanddaddybutIdon’tknowwheretheytoldmetohidebuttheygotcaughttheytookmommyanddaddybutIdon’tknowwheretheytoldmetohidebuttheygotcaughttheytookmommyanddasomanysomanysomanysomanysomanytakentakentakentakentakentakentakentakentakentak-”

And, just like that, the dummy turned silent but for the sound of heavy hyperventilation.

They had something else to look for now, didn’t they? A whole treasure trove of dummies, even. But if the misted streets reeked of possible ambushes, this was certainly the prelude to an even greater trap.


She looked outside, and it still didn’t look like anyone was coming. Rubbing the back of her neck, the woman cast a glance back towards the dreary interiors that she was supposed to make her dramatic entrance from, before shrugging.

The Beast and the Dragon might enjoy being able to play their incredibly unrealistic depiction of villainy, while the Shadow and the Mastermind no doubt had planned ahead of time for moments of quiet despite the exams, but for her poor old self, there looked to be no such relief. Early mornings in Kirisama were bad enough, but to have all the donuts eaten before she even got to the site?

Wholly insufferable. Not like it was her fault her clock didn’t go off.

Stifling a grimace (for that would cause more lines on her face) and a yawn (because that was an unmaidenly expression to begin with), the Ruler stepped out of her concrete palace and decided that a quiet stroll would take the edge off her boredom.

---

“Oh, Mari. It’s good to have you with us.” Houki hadn’t even realized the other girl had joined them, so quick was she to arrive; it must have been her leg Quirk at play there. All the same, she was happy to see they wouldn’t be alone in this zone, the fire and smoke starting to make it even more difficult to see. “That’s a good idea. With how your Quirk works, we’re going to be relying on you to bring back civilians as quickly as possible,” she said to Mari, wiping away some of the condensed grit and fog that had been building up on her glasses. “We should start-”

The sound of a new voice cut through the manic surroundings and Houki turned to see a boy joining them up. She couldn’t quite place his name or if she had noticed him before. But from his Quirk’s explanation, she could acknowledge he would be useful. Before she could say anything, Minami voiced her concerns about the point system. Ah, right. This was supposed to be a contest after all, an exam all the same.

“Minami has a point, but even still we shouldn’t skimp out on using our Quirks if need be,” Houki said, looking right at Kaito. “My Quirk allows me to dispel lasers from my eyes whenever I glare. If that comes in handy at all do not hesitate to use your own Quirk to bolster mine.” Then a pause as she reconsidered her words. “After you’ve asked for my permission of course. I don’t know how you can do so but I feel it is similar to Shiki’s tail method….”

With that said and done, she nodded to Mari and Kaito. “If you are having trouble, don’t hesitate to call for us. We’re going in.” Hand still clenched in Minami’s, she was led into one of the many burning buildings that incorporated the zone. Following her lead, Houki watched the cat girl work to create an improvised stretcher. “That sounds like a plan, though this smoke is going to make seeing difficult. You take the front then.”

With that decided, Houki checked the room closest to their starting point. From there she would work her way towards rooms further from the stretcher, stopping when she reached the fourth farthest one and heading back. By then, hopefully, she would have met the quote of six dummies. Regardless of the number, she would take the back of Minami’s stretcher, ready to lead it out of the burning building and back towards the bus. Assuming nothing else was bound to intercept them.

As it turned out, the duo did have one distraction, though it was in the form of a fellow student. Houki could barely make him out among the fire and brimstone though she did hear his voice. Now that they were running away from Zone 5, sound was becoming clearer. “Hmm? We’re going to pass the test and then go to school.” Houki slowed down her pace so the boy could hear, hoping Minami didn’t mind. What else was she supposed to say?

Though it was amusing to see yet another student join up Team Teamwork, so to say. Houki glanced at Minami, wondering if it was the cat girl’s looks that made them so popular…at least they made it back to the bus now with hopefully some points to show for it. “Welcome to the club,” Houki said to Hikari. “Are you going to help us carry more civilians or will you lone wolf it like the others?”

---

---

As he settled into Area 2, by the bus, laying down the dummies, one of the girls called back out to him. Would he lone wolf it or jo-, he's gonna join them. Almost instantly he answered,

"I'm joining up with you guys", it was almost sudden, but by the look of him, his body language didn't give off any vibe of having any ulterior motive, because he had none. He just wanted to pass and get this over and done with. Besides they'll probably grade on cooperative efforts too... Hopefully. That's part of hero work right? Cooperating with others. Still in any case, looks like he'll be tagging along with them. He can scrounge up some points helping them out, but if it's too slow he may have to consider another method...

"Besides, it's a rare opportunity to be in a test that doesn't require sitting silently at a desk for three hours", he mused. It was true, it would to him almost be a shame not to do something different in a different type of test.

"I did still see a lot more dummies back in Zone 5 that I couldn't reach, and some I did but could not carry with me. Should we head back there and clean house?", he suggested. Though he had a sneaking suspicion that if they returned, the villains responsible for all this as part of the test probably would not let them freely do it without any repercussion... Still, it'd be better to be attackedas three than be attacked as one.

@KoL @TheWindel

Haruishi Mari

Attempting to rescue a dummy in Zone 5

@KoL @TheWindel

Mari blushed suddenly, realizing her faux pas. She had no intention of stealing her fellow test-takers' points, but the cat's arguments were valid. "I...I..." Mari stuttered, finally, FINALLY, at a loss for words. And while some of Minami's statements were infuriating, Mari could only focus on her own mistake, though Houki softened the blow somewhat. After stating that they'll only help each other if necessary, Minami and Houki left to rescue civilians on their own, leaving Mari with Kaito, who was offering her a boost.

@Zelosse

Somewhat deflated, Mari turned to Kaito, "Sure, I could really use a boost right now." Not knowing what to expect, Mari reached out her hand. Unsure whether a simple high-five would suffice for the quirk to activate, Mari chose to clasp hands with Kaito.



A surge of power went through Mari's body as a faint, smooth purring emanated from her chest, something she had never noticed before. "This...this is amazing!" She called out, "Th-thank you!" This was the best thing that has happened to her all day! Looking around, she noticed there were an abundance of dummy civilians, but they were all trapped under debris. She headed to one trapped under a car. Even if she had twice her strength, she couldn't dead-lift a car by herself, but she had another plan, and this car would be her test subject. Getting some distance on the car, Mari took a deep breath, before dashing at the car, getting up to 60 miles-per-hour. She expected lightning to blast out of her shoulders at this point, and was planning to slow before actually reaching the car so that she didn't electrocute the dummy, yet no lightning came out, puzzling Mari. Still, she decided to roll with the punches, and kept her speed up. When she reached the car, she slowed enough to pivot her body and aim a kick at the underside of the car, hoping to get it to roll off the dummy. If it did not roll off completely, she would quickly try to take advantage of the momentum, and aid it all the way off the dummy. If the dummy were freed, she would proceed to fireman carry the civilian, and race back to the bus. She just hoped that the treatment wasn't too rough, since she still held on to the belief that they were being graded on 'bedside manners'.

@Sho Minazuki@TheWindel@KoL
The weight of even two dummies over Hikari’s shoulders was crushing enough, over a hundred and fifty pounds of mass per dummy pressing down on him, but the rubble made it hard going as well, and for all his projected plans, the blond light manipulator only managed to struggle his way through mounds of debris after scraping his knees more than few times by tripping over unseen objects within the fog. It was thoroughly exhausting, and his nonchalant mannerisms were undercut by how much his limbs felt like jelly, how much sweat he had paid to work at things solo without any physical augmentation to back it up.

Compared to the girls, at least, he didn’t smell of smoke and reek of soot. Though there was nothing technically challenging about the burning rooms that Houki and Minami plunged into, the ‘fires’ that were set inside the rooms were more obnoxious, irritating smoke than anything, and it was simply insufferable to spend too long in any room at all. Though Houki’s eyes were certainly watering at the end of it, it was Minami’s fine sense of smell that suffered the most from the effects of the smoke. Their stretcher was a good choice, but the lack of rags to protect their noses and mouths from the black clouds evened it out soon enough. Between the two of them, they came up with only half the amount they initially aimed to grab, two adult-sized and one child-sized awkwardly squeezed into the makeshift stretcher, the combined weights of the dummies against the already somewhat damaged plastic of the curtains making it a somewhat difficult proposition as the material began to sag. Thankfully, the stretcher held out long enough for both of them to lift the 300 pound combined mass of their dummies off and out of area, coughing and tearing up all the while.

Though her muscle mass wasn’t optimized towards displays of strength and endurance, Minami was still the chief reason that the two girls made it back to the bus to begin with, Houki’s own strength hardly sufficient to help with even one-third of the uneven weight. They definitely couldn’t run like this, though, and it was probably for the better if neither of them had worn makeup before heading out to the exam.

They’d looked like a total mess, after all.

Regardless of what cost had been paid to gather five dummies in front of the bus, it was now not only up to the unlikely trio to decide what they would do next, but also who would be the one to take credit for the dummies, if any of them planned on bringing the dummies into the bus to begin with.

Would it be Minami, who could easily be credited for all the best ideas so far, from preemptively exchanging contact information to creating a stretcher to doing the majority of the heavy lifting between the two girls?

Would it be Houki, who was instrumental in finding the dummies in the smoking rooms while Minami was still struggling with the assault on her senses?

Or should Hikari, just because he’s a guy, do the rest of the heavy lifting while they were all tired and thus inadvertently grab the points?

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Five dummies were a lot, after all.


@Stern Algorithm@zelosse
The terrain itself conspired against Mari’s attempts to pick up speed, but physical augments weren’t the only thing that Kaito’s rhythm boost offered, and her eyes were able to pick apart the more dangerous spots to be putting her feet as she sailed through the desolation and destruction of the central zone, her healthy, tanned thighs pumping up and down with the regularity and speed of pistons. Twisting right at the car, her foot lashed out like a professional soccer player, applying all the built-up momentum in a powerful, scooping kick.

WHAM!

The first thing Mari felt was the rusted chassis of the car break as her foot smashed into it. The second thing Mari felt was the sharp, hot pang that accompanied splinters of metal tearing through her shoe and leaving bloody gashes behind. But the worst case scenario, that of her own foot getting trapped within the complex network of cylindrical shapes beneath the vehicle, did not pass, and her kick was indeed potent enough to flip the burnt out remnants of the car over, exposing the dummy underneath.
The first dummy of many, if she were lucky.

But the throbbing of her foot, the injury that it sustained…was it quite worth it? And would running further only aggravate the wound until she became just as invalid when it came to rescue efforts as the many dummies littered around the disaster area?

Those thoughts impeded Mari, caused her to think twice about her next actions, if only temporarily.

---

After delivering his first and only dummy, Shiki decided to take a short breather from his exhausting trip. Shun was probably waiting for his return, but neither of them can carry multiple dummies by themselves. No, they needed an easier way to transport them across zones, one was difficult enough. During the trip back, Shiki realized this and tried to formulate a plan in his head.

The first thought he had involved in stealing the bus, but he wasn't actually serious enough to follow through with it. Although, it did lead him to the idea of stuffing all the dummies in some kind of container, like a dumpster or something and transport them like that. But, they most likely needed additional help pushing through the rough terrain, preferably someone who's quirk revolved around power. Come to think of it, he did notice a strong biker looking chick earlier. Maybe she could be of some help, judging by her appearance alone. Was there even enough time for him to search for her and get all the dummies back to the bus? Shiki didn't want to completely abandon Shun, but he wasn't too worried about him falling behind in the exam due to his useful quirk.

It was settled then, Shiki thought it was worth a shot to score several points at once. If the Biker Chick is really as strong as she looks, then his plan will undoubtedly succeed, maybe. While heading towards the direction where he last saw the Biker Chick, he pulled out his phone and quickly texted Shun. The number exchange from earlier was being put into good use already!

“Try to collect as many dummies as you can and dump them all in one place. I have a plan to move them all at once. 🐻 with me.”

With the message sent, he proceeded to enter <Zone 5> on his own. He suspected the Biker Chick went into the deeper zones, so he planned to search through <Zone 8> first and then head back into <Zone 6> later. At least, it would allow him to scout for potential dummies to bring back with him.

---

@Scribe of Thoth@1Charak2

@Stern Algorithm

"Damn she's fast." Kaito mumbled to himself as Mari, empowered by power chord and apparently her own enhancemeng quirk, took off like a bullet as they put foot after foot down in a blur of motion. Through the fog he could just barely make out her target and so decided to make his way to her.

The sound of her striking the car echoed in his ears even at a distance but his hope of a quick and decisive victory over the rusted out car turned to fear as she cried out in pain.
It seemed obvious something had gone wrong but from his view it was hard to be sure.

"Mari!"

Calling out, Kaito put as much speed as he could in his run but weighed down it wasn't easy to catch up in a timely manner. As he got close, the scene was clear. The car was moved and the dummy was open to rescue but blood was on her feet. The rusted car had retaliated as it shattered under her kick and cut down with jagged metal into her leg.

"Shit. Shit!" Discarding his amp and guitar on the pavement, he was by her side inspecting the wound. "This is bad," not touching her and instead merely inspecting the damage, Kaito was confident her shoe was going to be a detriment or fall apart after the metal had shredded it. Without proper footing the young womans running quirk would be a painful hassle. "What were you thinking with that kind of kick. You're lucky there isnt 6 inches of rusted metal sticking through your ankle or something!"

More concerned with the blood than anything else, Kaito was hard pressed on what to do. Salvaged cloth from around here was liable to hurt Mari in the long run if it was dirty and wrapped around a cut. The other problem was the shoe holding up. Maybe it would last, maybe it wouldnt.

"Look this is going to sound weird but you have to try and ignore the pain. I can make you a wrapping for your leg but as for the foot itself.. you can probably take my shoes if you can be more careful with your hits."

“Phew! That was rougher than I thought. Thanks for being there, Houki,” Minami said as she fell on the ground exhausted as soon as they reached the bus. She left the other girl talking to their newly found companion for a little while longer, while she recovered her breath.

“Just… like Houki said… we are going to go back soon to try and… rescue more victims. What about you?” Minami said to Hikari between coughs when she was feeling better. She didn’t have any idea that they would use such potentially deadly smoke and flames in the entrance exam but when you think about it, a school for dropouts and people who can’t afford the big ones isn’t likely to have much in terms of safety measures.

“Before we go, though, we should mark our dummies… just to be safe.” Minami didn’t want to doubt the honesty of her future classmates, but it was easy to see someone like Windy trying to pull a fast one on everyone. Better safe than sorry, after all. “Here, you can have one of the adults and the baby. This thing won’t hold well enough for another attempt, but I can bring two more here to even the score,” the cat girl said, handing a marker that she produced from her backpack to Houki, after marking one of the adult dummies the two of them rescued with her name.

“Ok, if you are ready, we can try finding some easy ones in car or convenience store. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got enough of flaming buildings for today,” Minami said as she got ready to go back to Area 05, as soon as Houki gave the sign.

[On standby to move to area 05 with Houki and maybe Hikari]

---

---

Shun pursed his lips in thought as he did a quick sweep of the bookstore. He was a bit out of his element, but there were definitely a plethora of points to be scored in there. Neither he nor Shiki had the strength to move the debris, but his small size had other advantages. He dropped to all fours and started crawling along the base of the toppled bookshelves, peaking in the spaces underneath for any dummies or outstretched limbs that were close enough for him to crawl in and drag out, or spaces large enough for him to pixelate into that would give him easier access. He had his head wedged in between two bookcases at a particularly awkward angle when his phone buzzed in his back pocket. Already on edge from the general ambience of the area and the stress of the test, he jumped in surprise, slamming his head into one of the shelves.

"Ow ow ow ow!" He babbled rapidly, furrowing his brow in annoyance as he realized he was only being assaulted by his phone and not the serial ass-grabber he saw back by the bus. He wriggled out of the space he was in, checking his phone. This better be a teammate with important intel and not his mom wishing him luck or something.



It was a number he didn't recognize. He'd been in too much of a hurry to leave back in Zone 2 to actually put anyone else's number in his phone. In hindsight, that was a tactical error. So much for championing teamwork and cooperation. It was probably Shiki, he mused, since the other boy was the only one that had knowledge of where Shun was. Nevertheless, he shot back a quick response before diving back into the crawlspace he was previously tackling.

> You can count on me!!! ^.^

He was a fraud. A liar. A fake. That was a false assurance. He wasn't making progress at all. He didn't have a single dummy yet. He hoped he could deliver before he disappointed whoever was counting on him. Or worse, failed. Shun was pretty sure he didn't have any schools left in this half of Japan he could even apply to.

---

@Animal

@Zelosse


Some say mankind's greatest fear is the unknown, others say it is death. In that moment of clarity, Mari knew that was bull. There is something more visceral, that men would leap into the unknown to avoid, that men would choose death if only to be released from it. Man's greatest fear, of course, was pain. Mari must have screamed, she realized, noticing, once the blinding flash had receded, that she was on the ground.

But the first thought that crossed her mind was whether to give up. All the confidence, all the 'talk' melted away. She had never saved a person in her life; she had barely saved herself. She didn't know a thing about hero work, and the fact that hero work was painful work was only just made known to her. Besides, she had run away to avoid pain, and here she was throwing herself back into it. At least her father had never cut her. Shakily, she pulled the harmonica out from under her shirt and grasped it tightly to ground herself, wondering why she had never torn it from her neck and flung it, screaming at the top of her lungs, into the nearest river bank, abandoning her past completely.

As she came back into herself, she realized Kaito was beside her. How could this skinny-jeaned punk rocker hope to compete in an arena where monsters like All Might and All for One could level cities on a whim. Perhaps it was stupidity, like herself, thinking she could do something, thinking she could make a difference. As Kaito's words finally started making sense to Mari, she merely nodded at his suggestions, letting out a wheezy, "...I expected the metal to bend, not shatter."

Wincing, Mari untied her shoe and took off her sock, inspecting the damage. There was blood, and there were cuts, but she didn't seem to be 'bleeding out', as it were. It seemed the shoe had soaked most of the damage. Mari slowly slipped her sock back on, and accepted Kaito's offer of a cloth wrapping, and his shoe. "I'd also like to wrap my foot up a bit too, to cushion it, if you have spare material," Mari asked. She did as much as she could to facilitate the first aid Kaito gave her.

Once her foot and leg had been sufficiently wrapped up, she slipped on Kaito's shoe, and slowly stood up, using Kaito's shoulder. She gingerly tapped the sole of her foot on the ground, feeling the dull throb of pain, muted by the wrappings. She stamped her foot a few times, increasing the force, just to get used to the different levels of pain and learning how much she could tolerate, though she wondered if her adrenaline was somehow numbing her.

"I-I think I'll be okay," Mari said with little confidence, "I'll ferry this dummy back first, and if I can't take any more...I'll forfeit and stay with the bus. But if I get used to it, I'll come back, and be a bit smarter about kicking cars."

Lifting the dummy across her shoulders, Mari headed back in the direction of the bus. But before she took off, she turned back to Kaito and said, "...thanks..."

During the trip back to the bus, Mari kept a note of her injury, while pushing her running speed, in order to gauge what speed she could comfortably run at without exacerbating her foot.

---

It was evident that Umi’s voice had reached the other two, as a certain half of the duo had lit the way for her. Not just figuratively either, but quite literally as well. She began running immediately after catching sight of him, figuring she’d need the head start; after all, with her running like a complete girl, she’d be vulnerable to any unknown pursuers that lurked in the fog.

"Th-thank you!" Umi called out as she ran, though she would also be thankful that nothing was there to chase her down.

Come to think of it, she never got the name of the boy that was emanating with light. Perhaps this would be a decent opportunity to get to know him better, while the three of them were together. They were all allies, after all. Just as Umi opened her mouth to say something, a recording had played from the dummy that she was holding. What everyone was hearing would’ve been more correct if it had came from a chipmunk rather than a human, but perhaps it came across that way due to the sheer speed that it was playing at.

In any case, they had their choices. They could come back to that scenario later, and deposit the dummies they had in hand just so they secured their points, or they could take the dummies with them and keep going. Umi was also thinking that now might be the time to prepare her Quirk for combat, just on the off-chance that going to the aforementioned destination was what the villain responsible for setting the situation would’ve wanted the three of them to do.

Umi decided to do the smart thing, and confer with her future classmates before acting on anything. If not for their presence, she would’ve overthought herself into agony by now.

"Wh-what do you g-guys think?" she asked, "P-press forward? Go b-back?"

---

“Huh? Why would I…?” It was about then that Taro clicked. He pressed his eyes shut and nestled his eyes into his hands, shielding them from the universal batsignal that followed. Even through the safety of his eyelids and his hands, the flash still pressed through: a bright white, threatening to engulf his hiding eyes. Almost like a rabbit poking out of its burrow, Taro poked out of his hands once the light had passed. At first, he almost looked impressed: his furrowed brow loosening and perking a little higher before it quickly pressed back into his eyes. Now, he was wary: if Umi could have seen that, then who else might have?

The first movement in his sightline drew his eye. His arms tensed as he swung his head to meet the figure, only to find a familiar face instead: Umi. His gentle sigh of relief was stained white by the cold.
“We should go back.” Taro concluded out loud, his eyes returning to scanning over the fog-concealed buildings. “If there ever was a safe time to assume we’re being tracked… that time is now. At least one point might get us a seat in the class.”

Though seemingly conflicted as a young man with an invisible face could be, Goro gave a light nod a moment after Taro finished. “That’s fine. The heroic thing would be to rush off in search of the parent dummies, but since we have nothing to go on it could take ages. Plus, the run back to the start isn’t so far from here. We’ll drop ‘em off and be back to keep looking in just a couple minutes.”

He looked at his dummy and winced. The way he and Taro worked, they should have been able to lift the pole off them, rather than roll it. They could be docked for inadvertently causing the would-be disaster victim damage. If Umi stuck around, she would have been able to slide the dummies free while he and Taro had the debris up, but what was done was done. Maneuvering his dummy into a piggyback position, Goro prepared to light the way back to Zone 2.

Aritage really was making them work for it, huh? Still warm and comfortable on the heated leather seat of the bus, the child-proctor continued to multitask between examining the separate zones and marking up new dummy-saviors as they came it. There was the slightest wince when she noted that the tanned girl had sustained an injury on her foot, emboldened perhaps by the musician’s power-up, but before she came to a conclusion whether or not to call in some external help or not, the two of them worked to come up with a temporary solution for that injury. Good. She couldn’t comment on their skill at first aid, but that sort of self-reliance was what she wanted to see.

Switching over to the residential area, she pursed her lips slightly at the decision the trio of Sumi, Goro, and Taro made. Not bad, but not totally good either. There was always a line, wasn’t there, between ‘heroes’ and ‘professionals’. Still, points were points, and when the three made it into the bus, they all looked a little worse for wear. None of them had attempted any of the herculean feats that Hikari, Minami, or Houki did, but the second trio came in winded regardless. She offered them a smile, then shooed them off to carefully monitor the situation with Shun.

No one was in the area, but the Dragon could make it there fast if something went wrong, at least.

And as for the group that was growing right in front of the bus…well, guess the Mastermind would have his hands full as well.

---

@Stern Algorithm@Lugubrious@vFear@KoL@TheWindel@Sho Minazuki@AdmrlStalfos19
It would have been an exaggeration to say that Mari’s foot injury was crippling, but she was certainly favoring her uninjured foot by the time she scrambled over the mounds of rubble in Zone 5 with her dummy. The extra weight and the injury had made her the last to arrive at the bus, where a surprising amount of other students had gathered. Some were still catching their breaths, while others were just about to set off once more, but it was clear that they have all found success one way or the other. Only the trio that had set off to fight villains had yet to produce any concrete results, it appeared.

Karmic retribution? Perhaps.

But the sight of the goal sped up her own steps, and there was even a spring when she climbed up into the bus…just in time to see one of the adult-sized dummies twist and contort. It grew in size, its pearl-colored body shifting into flesh and fiber, and it crackled as complex joints too bothersome to replicate within an artificial body popped into existence, bone and cartilage and flesh and hair sprouting out. And, with all the magnanimity of a child, the human being that formed from the body of a dummy, yawned. Blinked. Looked out the window. Scratched his head.

“Wow, guess I picked a bad time.”

He stood at a daunting 6’5, and his body was sculpted like a Greek God, all rippling muscle and might, constrained only barely by the smart three-piece suit he work. His hair, dark as the blackest dusk, was slicked back, while his eyes shimmered with the gold of a cruel sun, and with three great steps, he closed the distance between himself and Mari. Glanced to the window again, where so many others were outside. Placed a finger against his lips.

“Shhhhhhh.”

@zelosse
Kaito was now alone and with no one he could benefit with his quirk, the masked youth was noticing that he may have been just a little bit too carefree. He could have come with Mari, helped her out, maybe carry the dummy for her, and then bring it up the bus and ‘accidentally’ take credit for it. He could have even come along with her just so he wasn’t so alone in the Zone, where dummies still played their audio tracks of pain and agony. But no. He didn’t. And now here he was, doing…whatever the hell he was supposed to do in a disaster zone with a quirk that actually literally did nothing to help himself work.

Shuffling through a mound of rubble, he skirted past the large gap that lead to the underground system and was just about to turn the corner to try his luck with one of the bent-over cars when the youth caught a glimpse of movement past the fog. Another student to help? Naturally drawn to the shape, Kaito headed over only to encounter…

“Geh.”

As their eyes met, both Kaito and the strange woman froze. With auburn hair and storm gray eyes, she was certainly on another dimension compared to the exam-takers, simply from her dimensions of her figure and the outlandishly lavish outfit she wore. Dressed in a frilly outfit that looked like it came from the 1900s, she held a parasol in one hand and an embroidered handkerchief over her mouth, while silk gloves covered her slim hands. The coloration was a bold (but hilariously edgy) red-and-black, and her hair itself was done up fashionably with a decorated hat worn slanted to complete the faux-Victorian design. She looked at Kaito, then around him, and finally let out a sigh.

Maybe she should have stayed holed up after all. Shoulda brought a book to read. Alas, mistakes riddled her career no matter where she went…

Thrusting her hip out sideways, and bringing up a splayed hand over her eye, she ignored the reddening of her ears as she said, boldly, dramatically, “The Terrors of the Abyss Calls, and the Black Banquet Begins! Look Upon the Trumpeting of the Apocalypse and Despair, Foolish Heroes! What Stands Before You is Naught But the Obliteration of All That You Cherish and Glorify! The Half-Fallen Ruler of Hell’s Gates! The Queen of Shadow and Sin! The True Symbol of Villainy and Plunder!”

She flourished her parasol and opened it, casting red sparkles around her.

“I Am The Maiden of The Sundered Bell! Bow Before Me and Abandoned Your Unfated Ideals!”

@Scribe of Thoth
It was claustrophobic and tight, and as he shimmied through the small spaces that only he could enter, Shun definitely felt the shelves groan and shift. Dangerous. So dangerous. If he was pinned, would they be able to distinguish his own screams for help from the screams of the dummies? Would anyone even notice him being gone until the exam ended? And even if he could possibly pixelate himself out, what injuries would he have sustained simply by having all these hard, wooden masses fall down upon him?
Twenty minutes had passed since the exam had started, and he was doubtlessly now in the minority of students who hadn’t managed to save a single dummy. Sweat dripped from his back, and not all of it was from exertion alone.

But he pressed on, and after two of the crawlspaces ended up in disappointing dead ends, Shun finally struck metaphorical gold, his hand grasping onto the leg of a child-sized dummy that he could forcibly pull out from between the tight gaps of the oaken bookshelves. Some more effort, some more scrapes, some more of that dreadful groaning from the pile above, and he popped out.

The first dummy.

He’d done it.

It was only then did Shun notice the bloody scrapes on his knees, the burning scratches on his palms and knuckles.

---

Suddenly, the giantess of a woman that was The Dragon had got a message from the proctor of the exam.

“Heyo,” the child-proctor said, “I know you know this, but it’s a bit nerve-wracking anyways. Don’t go too hard on them, alright? Thanksies.”

"OK, mother, I got it the first time round," The Dragon replied, in a tone that implied that she did need to hear it.

The Dragon continued down the path that the tunnel would lead her... only to find the "pregnant" dummy that she kicked over the far yonder from earlier. How no-one else had stumbled upon the treasure trove of dummies that was the underground subway, she didn't know. But she was getting pretty tired of not encountering any aspiring heroes so far. A recording from the "pregnant" dummy had played.

"Please help me," it said, "My... bab-..."

"Shut up!" The Dragon snapped, kicking the dummy again, "We both know you're as real as a ¥30 bill, so stop trying to make me feel bad..."

...

The Dragon would continue to kick the "pregnant" dummy along as she exited the tunnel and made her way up the stairs that lead to the subway. She was evidently bored, but that didn't stop her from staying vigilant.

@ERode

A wave of elation washed over Mari as she delivered her first dummy into the bus. Despite the pain of her injury, Mari felt like she would be able to continue with the exam. But before she let herself get carried away with this sense of accomplishment and new hope, she turned to the proctor with the large forehead. "S-Sensei! This dummy that I am carrying...this one belongs to Haruto-san, the boy who plays music. I...I don't have an dummies of my own yet, ma'am." Mari shook a little, fighting against her pragmatic side. But it was thanks to his boost that she was able to kick the car away, and thanks to his medical help that she was even able to come back to the bus at all. She wanted to be a hero, but points be damned, this was the right thing to do. Before the proctor responded though, Mari heard some strange noises. Turning her head towards the back of the bus, she saw a dummy morph into a human. Her eyes wide with shock, Mari merely stood there as the large man approached, shushing her. "S-sensei..." Mari greeted, assuming that this too was one of Jigokuraku's instructors.

---

After what felt like a long trip, Shiki finally arrived to <Zone 8>. The area was more desolate than he imagined. There were no dummies in sight, yet he could still hear the horrifying screams coming from one direction. No sign of the Biker Chick either, has she moved into a different zone or did she push forward? Nonetheless, Shiki decided to investigate the screams by the radio tower. As he moved closer towards the source, the sound of physical abuse became more distinct.

Shiki found himself standing in front of the entrance leading to the subway. He silently glanced down at the staircase, hesitant on going any further. Someone was definitely down there and he was too scared to go in alone. He could hear the feint cries of a female dummy and the menacing sound of footsteps approaching him. When the dummy came into his sights after being violently kicked from around the corner, he began to tremble in fear.

Please...Don't let it be a villain!... He mentally repeated, wanting to believe it was just one of the students mistreating the dummy, much like he did earlier. However, that false sense of hope immediately vanished when The Dragon eventually revealed herself from around the corner. Yep, he didn't recall anyone with her intimidating appearance back on the bus. The color on his face instantly turned pale, knowing he was completely screwed.



Shiki screamed out on the top of his lungs with both hands holding onto his head in disbelief. His stress level was at an all time high today and it was still morning. He attempted to bolt out of there the moment he laid eyes on the villain, having the head start advantage. The adrenaline rush forced his fatigued body to move like if he was actually being chased by a highly skilled invader in Black Souls 3™. In this high tense situation, all he could think about was running away. However, he is no Mari or physically capable of sprinting beyond the radio tower without being caught.

---

@AdmrlStalfos19@1Charak2

@Stern Algorithm
The child proctor raised a brow at Mari's statement. As far as she could tell, Kaito was nowhere to be seen, and logic dictated that the person who freed and carried the dummy was the one that deserved the point in the end...but she wasn't going to simply deny a request like this either. With a slight nod of her head, she readjusted the scoring slightly, before going back to her business.

The hulk of a man, on the other hand, was certainly amused by the reverence that Mari treated him with. He smiled boyishly and said, with a slight shooing motion, "Well, you wouldn't be totally wrong in calling me 'sensei', but for now, if you could leave the bus and keep our little meeting a secret?"

@ERode@Stern Algorithm

With Mari off in relatively better spirits, Kaito paced back gingerly to his guitar and stared at the instrument with a mixture of hesitance and excitement. Even if he could capture none of the dummies while charging his quirk it was still uplifting to think he could help the others achieve their dreams of success. What bothered him was Maris reaction to it all. Was it fear?
With the runner slowed down, and now gone, what was left for Kaito he wondered.

As their eyes met, both Kaito and the strange woman froze.

Thrusting her hip out sideways, and bringing up a splayed hand over her eye, she ignored the reddening of her ears as she said, boldly, dramatically, “The Terrors of the Abyss Calls, and the Black Banquet Begins! Look Upon the Trumpeting of the Apocalypse and Despair, Foolish Heroes! What Stands Before You is Naught But the Obliteration of All That You Cherish and Glorify! The Half-Fallen Ruler of Hell’s Gates! The Queen of Shadow and Sin! The True Symbol of Villainy and Plunder!”

She flourished her parasol and opened it, casting red sparkles around her.

“I Am The Maiden of The Sundered Bell! Bow Before Me and Abandoned Your Unfated Ideals!”

An old woman?

There it was. That single moment between an idea and reality that could define the here and now, and it was wearing clothes so outdated you could put the woman in a museum and they'd pass for a display. They were old but the eyes spoke volumes or so his grandfather had told him. Not that this knowledge served him any good.

"Uh, excuse me? Ma'am? I hate to bother you but this is a training exercise so you shouldn't be here. If you wandered into the grounds on accident I'd be more than happy to escort you out."

For the would-be hero it seemed unlikely a woman of such advanced years would be a teacher, nevermind a 'villain'.

---

Shun wriggled out of the crawlspace at last, his meager prize of a single dummy following close behind. He winced as he stood, inspecting his hands. Was there glass on the floor from the shattered window that he hasn't noticed? What a pain, this really stung. He pulled his phone out, dragging the child-sized dummy behind him as he exited the ruined store. He hung his head dejectedly, typing out a quick series of texts - in true disjointed Shun fashion - to the number that had contacted him earlier, unknowing that the recipient was likely running for his life at the moment.

> Heading back to the bus, only got 1 doll
> Can't do anything more here w/o a strength quirk
> Sorry!!!!

He sighed again, tucking his phone away and pulling the pretend-child into a bridal carry to make a jog for Zone 2. Upon arrival, he headed for the bus immediately, eager to drop off his dummy and head back out. At least Shiki had gotten that dummy from under the mailbox earlier, otherwise Shun would've felt bad about heading back with only a single point for himself and no real team contribution. Even now, the latter was weighing on him. So much for teamwork, he wasn't helping anyone right now. He could hardly help himself. Not to mention, he still hadn't seen any villains. Were they biding their time? Already engaging other students? Or was that a bluff designed to keep them on edge? He groaned audibly. At this point, the villains seemed like they should've been his target all along; his quirk was basically useless so far.

---

@Animal