TW: Fight scenes
𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝟴:𝟭𝟮
  
    So after the little fiasco where Clover blew up the entrance of HA, we tried to make it inside quietly. A few that had witnessed the accident gave Clover looks, but thankfully the angriest girl was long gone by the time we made it inside.

    Big surprise that the inside of the school was just as fancy as the outside. The faculty didn't give us a tour of the campus, which left a lot of us curious to see more of the huge building. We were all led into a huge classroom that looked more like a college lecture room or auditorium than a math class. All of the girls from outside plus a lot more sat with me and Clover to listen to the beginning speech before the exam.

    Once the lights dimmed, it was only a second before an older woman walked out. Her long pastel violet hair hung over her shoulders as well as large, white feathers that shot off the shoulders of her costume. She didn't look too familiar, but she radiated importance.

    "Who's that?" I leaned over and whispered to Clover.

    "I am Principal Rio," Oh- "And welcome to Hīrōzu Academy." Her voice was gentle but firm, like she had a kind soul but she held so much power. "I hope to say this again later to welcome each of you as students here, but for now, let's just get you through these exams." She walked in front of a large projection screen that displayed slides of information about the exams. Her hero costume that was a flowy white and purple dress with a large train in the back swished with her steps. "You will first be spread out to take the written portion of the exam that will test you on each major subject. Don't worry though; thats just a formality because here at HA, we want to know more about our students in their fighting and teamwork skills. Academics can be taught, but the way you start out in combat says more than we need to hear. That is why you will compete in two practical portions that will test you in combat and strength.

    "The first will be an individual test that will pin you against one assistant-teacher here. Then, you will be broken into teams of four against two faculty members to act as villains and keep you from succeeding. More will be said about each test as we take you through them." Rio concluded her informative speech as a wave of comments covered the crowd.

    "Wow, that's...a lot.." Clover said. I didn't know what else that Jes girl said to her, but I've never seen Clover with such little confidence. This was an opportunity to be a hero and work together, which are her two favorite things! I knew I couldn't do much to help her in the written or individual exam, but I had to help her in the group exam.

    Rio concluded her speech with the motivation Clover and I needed, "Remember students, your chances here at HA are no different than anyone else, no matter what you may think. I make it my job to see that everyone who deserves a chance here gets it. Don't hold back, and don't stress. Just do your best and show this world what heros can do."

     Well, we can try.

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    The written exam took about four hours, which I saw as three and a half hours too long. I couldn't be more thankful that Rio told us it wasn't as important as the practical part.

    In the most modesty, I would say I nailed the individual exam. I was up against the 1-H assistant-teacher, Layla. Her Quirk was called Manifest-Porcupine, so she had spikes down her back that were made up of whatever she ate. It was a bit of a surprise to find out the hard way that she ate a ton of rock candy before her fight with me.

   I did, however, learn that it hurt her to shoot the quills out, so I used that to my advantage and fought up close and avoided her attacks. I used my Quirk the best I could by forming around her hands to weight her down before using my brass knuckles to land a punch.

    I ended up beating her than fleeing, which got me the win. At least, that's what they told me by the end. I may have won, but the staff explained that this could mean anything. Even though they didn't tell us much about our tests, I was confident in my scores.

    After that exam, we were put back into the auditorium to be separated into groups for the team exam. The head of admissions explained that we would be grouped by our classmates from middle school or new people if we didn't have any. That had to be the greatest news I could hear at the time because it meant I would work with Clover. But we had no idea who the other two girls would be.

    We all sat in the auditorium while teams of four fought one at a time, and the rest of us got to watch from the monitors displayed on the screen. We wouldn't get to know who our teammates were until we got to the combat grounds, which was alright since I knew I was with Clover, so I could strategize with her in the meantime.

    We watched as so many kids gave it their all. What surprised us was how the results for each of them were either insanely good, or embarrassingly bad. Not much in between. Though, I had to remember that these students were in junior high like Clover and I.

    After the second to last fight against Rio and the school nurse, it was time to move on to the final match. They had given us numbers before hand to call out, so we wouldn't know our teammates until we arrived to the arena. Me and Clover watched carefully as both our numbers were called out. "Ready?" I stood up and held out my hand to her.

    Clover hesitantly nodded before taking my hand and standing. "Ready as I'll ever be.." I really did hate to see her like this. I began to miss the Clover that would have shot up out of her seat and dragged me to the grounds to destroy the competition. If winning this fight would give her the confidence boost to get her back to her cheery, happy self, then dammit we were gonna win.

    What could go wrong, right?

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    Ok little word of advice: never ask what could go wrong. Ever. Because that's the kind of talk that will get you screwed over in the worst possible way.

    I didn't quite realize that by the time Clover and I made it to the exam grounds. I had to admit, HA never stopped impressing me with their over the top scenes. They had about five different environments set up where the kids would fight the teachers in, and ours happened to be in the desert terrain. We were up against the other 1-H teacher Artemis, a shorter lady with pitch black hair, and the vice principal, Ringo, a darker skinned pro who wore an orange and white suit and thick gloves. Both ladies waited in the wide open area and talked to each other while Clover and I waited for the rest of our team to show up.

     I started feeling good about this. The desert terrain would give me and Clover a ton of room to fight and fly. Not to mention, the sand would give me freedom to use my weapons without breaking anything. Even though HA let students bring their own gadgets to the exams, Clover talked me down to one, so I chose the one we designed together, Tenshi. I went ahead and whipped out the sniper scythe and loaded it up. I looked to Clover who was still holding her head down. I gently nudged her shoulder, "Hey, we got this. What could go wro–"

    "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" I couldn't put it better myself. I turned around to see the last girl I wanted to, and another girl I didn't mind as much.

   Mack gave us a short wave and a tired "Yo," while Jes was the exact opposite. Her ears flipped back while she bared her fangs and claws at us.

    I saw Clover's expression spike in nervousness the second she saw Jes. And I wasn't much different.

    "No. There's no way I'm working with you two." Jes crossed her arms and held a pissed off, serious glare while Mack just stayed out of it. "This is my shot to get into the best school in the country. I worked way too hard to get where I am to let a couple of screw ups take this from me."

    "Hey, you think they clean the sand in here?" Mack asked, avoiding the argument.

    Jes rolled her eyes and got ready to say more, but the countdown to start the match began.

    "Students, prepar to take your mark in 5....4.." the computer voice announced.

     I looked to my new team that was close to another argument if someone didn't do anything. "Listen," I grabbed their attention. "We're stuck together whether we like it or not. So let's just pass this test, then we never have to see each other again."

    "..3....2.."

    "Just stay out of my way," Jes growled and cracked her knuckles.

    "1. Begin!"

    Before any of us could react, a swarm of six arrows flew at us. "I got it!" Clover jumped forward and got ready to defend.

    "No you don't," Jes shoved her back and chose to take matters into her own claws. But her actions stalled our defense before any of us could handle it until the arrows hit the sand around us and detonated. We were surrounded in a ring of dust and smoke as the series of blasts kept us from fighting.

    "That was more disappointing than anticipated," a voice said from behind the smoke. The shorter of the two teachers stepped fort and drew back three more arrows at us. "You kids have a lot to learn..let's hope we can school you before you get yourselves killed," we were met with the clear green eyes of Artemis while she squinted her aim at us. I turned around to see Mack had disappeared and Jes took off too. I moved to run away myself until I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and lift me up high in the air.

    Though I was surprised to see Clover act so quickly, I wasn't gonna let her down then. I threw Tenshi high up while Clover's wings supported us and shifted. Once I was in my weapon form and ready to go, Clover caught Tenshi and followed my instructions to wield her. She shot Artemis's arrows that were flying towards us before she flew away.

    I pulled up my window inside to look out and see what we could do. Jes was running fast towards Ringo while Mack was dodging Artemis's arrows. Artemis had a headband that held a piece of glass over her right eye. The cross helped me guess it helped her aim. She pulled her arm back and without a breath she fired an arrow at Mack who actually did a good job dodging. "Haha! You missed!" Mack gloated after the arrow landed in the sand next to her.

     "Oh, honey, I never miss." Just as Artemis lowered her bow, her arrow began to beep in the sand, triggering vibrations that grabbed Mack's attention as two robotic snakes shot up out of the sand and hissed at the girl.

    "Oh, shit.." Mack cursed to herself.

    "Clover, down there!" I yelled out to my Meister to act fast. Mack's Quirk couldn't help her against these surprisingly realistic bots, so it was up to us.

    Clover nodded and dove down to where Mack was trying to talk the snakes out of eating her. Clover didn't hesitate to use me to grab her light and throw them at the robots until they glitched apart and powered down. Mack then waved at us and shouted a thank you.

    Clover landed us behind Jes who was yelling at our other opponent, Ringo. Her Quirk I still wasn't sure about, so we had to prepare for anything. Ringo wore thick gloves with a glowing circle on the palm that she lifted up and aimed at us. Before we knew it, small blasts of heat and energy were fired at us. Clover held me up to protect her, but once Mack showed up, she flew in front to take the damage.

    "What the hell is your problem‽" Jes barked at us.

    "Just keep Artemis back!" Clover shouted. I was proud to see her stick up for herself and take charge. I knew she could bounce back. Now it was time to kick ass.

    Ringo smiled at us and let her hands glow with light. "Bring it on, kids. I ain't afraid!" Clover loaded Tenshi and fired at Ringo. The teacher used her own star-like blasts as a shield of sorts that protected herself from our attacks. "Is that all you girls can do? Come on, I'm a pro, give me a challenge!" She confidently threw her long, dark hair over her shoulder and continued to effortlessly counter us. The light bullets in Tenshi we're about the same as Ringo's stars, but we needed to do more.

    Clover fanned out her wings and threw herself forward, gripping Tenshi in her hands and aiming the blade at our opponent. She had a plan, and was counting on me to follow her lead. I watched Ringo get ready to throw more stars at us and waited until Clover was out of the way to release my weapon form and jumped down at Ringo. I held her hands away from Clover as my Meister took a swing followed by my punch to Ringo before we backed up.

    "Ow, damnit!" Ringo held her nose and stumbled back. Her nose wasn't bleeding yet, but I was sure it had to hurt. I moved back as Ringo began to notice the full damage of our attack. Instead of slicing the teacher in half, Clover had instead chopped offer her hair in the fight. And Ringo was not having it. Her eyes widened as the huge chunk of dark hair on her left side, now cut just below her ear, fell off her shoulder and onto the ground. Ringo's expression flipped from confident and smiling to one of pure rage and vengeance. "You..little monsters!" She threw her fists down and hit the sand, sending a mass amount of energy and fire towards us as her stars nearly exploded out of her hands.

    Fun thing about sand: when it's hit with enough force and heat, it turns to glass. And that's exactly what the raging pro did hit us with. She shot waves and waves of hot stars until there was a thick wall of glass in front of me and Clover. We turned around to see Jes and Mack run towards us as Artemis fired more and more arrows. Ringo's glass soon encased all of us right as the arrows were shot. They stuck to the glass, inches away from hitting Mack in the face.

    The four of us watched as Ringo calmed down and Artemis lowered her bow. Artemis held two fingers to her mouth and whistled as four robotic coyotes swarmed us and surrounded the glass prison we were trapped in.

    "You know," Mack said, "I began to think that this couldn't get worse, so this one might be on me..."

A.N.
So I am back— sort of. While I still have a lot to work with insurance and repair wise, I knew that holding off an update would just throw the whole arc off. So take this as a chapter to last while I do my very best to get the last two out next week.

Here we got to meet some new characters: four of the faculty at HA, which also belong to the author -AngelMaria- who is very kind about lending me her characters. For your question today: who is your favorite teacher/faculty member in UA?

Character Spotlight: Ringo and Artemis
(-AngelMaria-'s originals) Quirks: Pinpoint and Starmaker

Fun fact: -AngelMaria- tells me that Ringo actually grew up in foster care while she was living in America as a child. And Artemis was kicked off several archery teams for having an unfair advantage.

Thank you for tuning in, and stay safe readers ≈