Ashes to Ashes, Power to Power: Chapter 5

'Huh, these bodysuits are pretty cool,' I thought with a hum as I stood in one of the many locker rooms the USJ had, staring at the black bodysuit that was given to everyone by the Duchess after we were shown our groups.

They were made out of some kind of durable fibre that was both light and flexible as well, a faint hexagonal pattern stitched onto the surface while the joints themselves were reinforced by what appeared to be plating and each bodysuit had two white dots at the collar.

“These look like something out of a sci-fi movie,” A voice spoke from behind me and I turned to see an older guy walking towards me, his upper body covered in slight scars as he put on the top of his bodysuit.

“It does feel like that. Oh, Kevin Nagatomo.”

“Kai Ishitori, pleasure to meet you. So, are you like the rest of us that got denied hero school when we applied?”, He asked and I snorted as I crossed my arms and shook my head.

“No, I was diagnosed to be Quirkless for most of my life until my Quirk randomly activated. So, I decided to try and get those years of myself back.”

“Quirkless? Oof, I have had a rare few co-workers that were quirkless and all of them say that their childhood was very rough.”

“Oh, that doesn't even begin to describe it, but mama didn't raise a bitch so I just pushed through, became much more than they all would ever be worth and here I am,” I answered with a shrug, to which the man grinned and nodded.

“Good stuff. Now then, what's your Quirk?”

“What's yours?”, I asked and we both grinned as the man stayed silent.

“Nice, good to see you're not as naive as most of the guys here.”

“They told you their Quirks?”, I asked, laughing as the man just grinned and nodded before looking up as the intercom switched on.

“Alright, groups! You have one more minute to get to your respective groups. I repeat, one more minute!”

“Well, I'm in third so I gotta go.”

“Lucky you. I'm with the first group,” He spoke and I just gave him a pat on the back as we followed the others out of the room, my eyes focused on everyone gathering at the plaza in the centre before we began to separate.

“I'll repeat the rules once more for those that don't understand, but this will the last time, okay?! Anyway, you and nine others are to head into the first zone as one group! Once there, you are to rescue the civilians and bring them to the safe zone. Once you've done that, move on to the next zone and when everyone is saved, the civilians will go back to their starting positions and the next team will do the same! This will occur until every team has saved everyone, understood?!”, Toga asked over the intercom, most of us murmuring in agreement as I just stretched my body.

“Good! Now, group one, you're up in three…two…one…Go!”, As she finished counting, I watched as Kai and nine other people charged down the pathway towards the Ruins Zone that was the first zone.

Unfortunately, we were not given any way to watch them fight, but I was okay with that since if I knew how good they were doing, that would force me to try and do better than they are.

“First group has cleared the Ruins Zone! Moving on to the Landslide Zone! Second group, go!”, The second group were rushing forward as Toga gave them the all-clear and I took a deep breath as I stepped up along with the rest of the group.

“Anyone as nervous as I am?”, The woman besides me with the fox ears and tail asked with a nervous smile, to which I nodded along with a few others.

“Yeah, but nerves just mean we care about doing well,” I answered and she gave a small laugh as her ears twitched.

“Good point there. I'm Riku by the way.”

“Kevin,” I nodded with a smile and she smiled back before I turned my attention back to the pathway that led out to the rocky area that laid further down the path.

“Hope I get to at least show off some of my strength,” The short guy on the opposite side of Riku with black hair and rock-like skin spoke up and I smiled as the others nodded.

“We all do. Rescuing is cool, but rescuing in style like All-Might is where we'll see who's the true heroes,” The burly guy on the far right spoke up as he flexed his arms and I smirked as Riku rolled her eyes.

“Group Two have finished the Ruins Zone and moving on to the Landslide Zone! Group Three, you are free to move!”, The second Toga gave us the all-clear, I grinned as I charged in, the other in the group keeping up while Riku and a guy with bird-like wings for arms were at the front of the group.

Letting my hand skin across the surface of a rocky wall we ran past while making our way to the zone, I activated my Quirk and felt my body beginning to harden, each step feeling heavier but stronger as I transformed myself into solid rock.

“Holy shit, that's a cool quirk!”, The guy with the big muscles spoke up with a thumbs-up and I returned it with my own grin as we finally entered the zone.

My eyes immediately focused on the collapsed building in the distance, one of its corners barely hanging on as the rest was buried under debris. I could also hear the muffled screams from within, which were more than likely sounds made to replicate that of civilians.

“Five civilians up ahead, three more to the right and one to the left!”, Riku called out and I nodded as I turned to the right along with Rock-Skin.

As we turned I stared at the half-buried house with a thick concrete slab placed almost too perfectly to block off the front door.

“I'll charge through and you come in afterwards for the door, okay?!”

“Got it!”, Rock-Skin nodded as he slowed down and I began to speed up, raising my arms in a cross and running to the side before bashing and carrying the slab to the side with a roar.

Behind me, I grinned as Rock-Skin charged through the half-cracked front door, rushing back towards the front entrance before grunting as I reached up and stopped the doorway from crumbling in.

“I got one more inside!”, He spoke as he rushed past me, carrying a small robotic dummy that was giving off the sound of crying, to which I just nodded as he rushed back in.

“Got her!”

“Good! Is that the last one?!”, I asked and he nodded as he walked past with another smaller dummy, taking a deep breath before slowly stepping in and letting out a loud whistle.

As I did so, I nodded as I heard a faint scream, turning to Rock-Skin whose eyes widened before he nodded and took over for me.

“Okay, is there anyone in here?!”

“D-D-Down here!”, A voice called out from the left room and I frowned as I walked into what was a torn-down living room, looking quickly at the broken furniture before my eyes locked onto the pile of blankets in the corner.

“Are you hiding under the blankets?”

“Y-Yeah,” The voice spoke and I walked over, slowly peeling away the blankets layer by layer before stopping my surprise when I saw an actual child giving me a terrified look.

'Okay, keep calm and keep it moving.'

“Hey, are you feeling pain in any area? If you are, which one?”

“M-My left arm. I think it's hurt,” She spoke and I nodded as I gingerly lifted her left arm, narrowing my eyes at the blue bruising just below her elbow before grabbing a blanket and ripping a chunk of it off.

“Okay, this is going to hurt, but I need you to be strong, okay? Can you do that?”, I asked, smiling as she nodded before softly grabbing her forearm, the girl faking her winces as I softly wrapped the blanket around her arm before tying it around her neck.

“H-Hey, Kevin! I got only a few more in me!” Rock-Skin called out and I nodded as I walked over to her right side, deactivating the hardening around my arms and chest as I picked her up and began to make my way out of the room.

“O-Okay, so we got real people too?”, Rock-Skin asked with wide eyes as I walked past him, to which I nodded before he dropped the doorway. The second he did, the entire building caved in on itself, both of us blinking before I shook my head and looked to him.

“Pick up the civvies and let's get them to some help.”

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It appears that the child in my arms was not the only human as I could also see an elderly couple and an older gentlemen at the medical area, placing the girl down softly before smiling as she giggled.

“You were pretty cool.”

“Thanks. I guess that's a passing score.”

“You'll have to wait and see,” She spoke with a grin and I just shook my head at the child's weird mannerisms before rushing after the others as they all gave the thumbs-up.

“Group Two have finished off the Ruins Zone! Move on to the Landslide Zone!”

“You heard the woman! Let's go save more civvies!”, I spoke with a grin as I rushed towards the next zone, chuckling as they all just shook their heads and followed after.

The Landslide Zone was a fairly easy one as we only had to lift up various debris and rocky structures from the civilians, with myself and Riku doing some on-site medical treatment to stave off their pain before we carried them off to the medical site.

The next zone was a lot harder as we found ourselves in the mountain zone and while there was not a literal rock mountain in the centre of the USJ, the structure they used to simulate it might as well have been a mountain with how large they had made it.

I frowned as I saw some of the dummies letting out pained groans as they lied on the edge while some of the dummies and even one person was barely hanging on to the edge.

“Hakari! Get to the person on the edge! Everyone else, climb down slowly as we might spook them and make them lose their grip, okay?!”, I spoke up and everyone nodded in agreement before we made our move.

I myself decided to go for the highest one since that would be the most work, holding onto an edge and dropping down as the robot dummy looked up at me.

“Help! I've fallen awkwardly onto my left foot when I dropped down.”

“Got it. Can you try and roll it?”, I asked as I knelt down, watching as the robot tried before a wince echoed from its voice as I saw the left ankle lighting up with a dim red.

'Okay, it's not a bright red so it's not a huge injury, but it's not a dark orange so something is definitely broken,' I thought, narrowing my eyes as I carefully examined the image of an X-ray on the robot's foot.

“Alright, I'm going to splint your ankle and carry you down. Try not to move it, okay?”, I said, reaching into the emergency pouch that everyone was given before pulling out a pre-made split along with some bandages.

Thankful for the emergency medical lessons I've been taking over the past couple of months, I secured it within the minute while also admiring the soft sounds of pained breathing that the dummy was making.

The developers really went all out on its design, huh?

“Okay, I'm going to move now. Are you ready?”, I asked, watching as the robot gave a simulated shaky nod before I knelt down on one knee, lifting them up before slowly and carefully shifting it around until it was secured over my left shoulder.

“Alright, time to get down,” I decided to take it carefully as I sat down every time, gripping the side of the edge tight while dropping down from side to side.

It was a long process and I'm fairly sure I took the longest out of everyone, but as I dropped down onto the ground, I let out a soft sigh as I walked over to the medical area and placed them down next to the other dummies.

“You took a while there,” Riku spoke with a grin and I rolled my eyes as I stood up before following after her and the others.

“Let's just say that it's a lot harder to carry someone down a mountain than I expected,” I said as we began jogging towards the next zone and I felt myself breathing heavier and heavier with every step as we finally entered the Conflagration Zone.

“Okay, this is going to be a lot harder than I expected,” Hakari muttered as we all walked into the building, staring at the blazing fire around us that was burning brightly.

“Remember to make sure your suits are all zipped-up and sealed!”, One of the instructors in a heat-resistant suit spoke up and we just gave the thumbs-up before I squinted while wiping away the sweat.

“I'll fly up high and see if I can't see anything!”

“Make sure you don't go too high, Hakari!”, I shouted and he gave a nod before he took off, Riku turning to me as I turned to the rest of the group.

“Riku, Rocky and I'll scour the eastern side. Muscles, you and two others check the western side. The rest of you are in the middle!”

“Got it!”, They all nodded before Rock-Skin and Riku followed after, the three of us walking through the burning city before I raised an eyebrow as Rocky's skin bulged out even more.

“You can increase the durability of your skin?”

“For a few seconds, yeah!”, He nodded and I grinned before we stopped in front of one of the taller buildings right as we heard more than a few cries for help.

“I'll go top! You two check the bottom!”, Riku spoke as she rushed up the stairs, Rocky going left while I touched the marble tiles and transformed my entire body into the same material.

The smoke burned at my lips as I kept low, charging through a burning door and into a room before locking onto the two dummies positioned next to a fallen beam.

One was simulating the cries for help while the other was unconscious and the one that was crying also had red eyes to show that they had inhaled too much smoke.

“Got it!”, I muttered as I walked over, grabbing the beam before draining the heat from it while picking it up at the same time. It was still a struggle to both drain energy and keep my transformation, but I forced myself through it as I held the beam high, letting the other dummy drag their friend out of danger.

Placing the crying one on my back while picking up the unconscious one, I rushed back out of the building just in time to see Riku and Rocky carrying out their own dummies, the three of us rushing to the medical area where I noticed us being the only ones there.

“I'll go chec-Hakari!”, I exclaimed as I took off, my eyes wide as I stared at the birdman falling to the ground.

'You're not fast enough! Come on, think! Use that big head of yours!', I cursed as I saw the man accelerating, already feeling my body beginning to get tired before an idea came to mind as I crouched and hopped into the air.

With a thought, the heat that I had absorbed exploded from my back and sent me flying through the air, easily catching Hakari before I curled around him and took most of the impact.

Rolling across the ground, I flipped to my feet before digging my heels into the ground, coming to a slow stop and groaned when we finally stopped.

Making sure Hakari was okay, I let out a relieved sigh as I placed a finger under his nose and could still feel his breathing, shifting him around to where I wasn't hurting his wings before I began jogging back to where Riku and Rocky were waiting.

“It's okay. He's just out could. Most likely a heat stroke,” I spoke up as I got closer, everyone letting out relieved sighs as I placed him down before looking to the instructor as they knelt besides me.

“Think he can go on?”

“No, he's out cold,” I said and they nodded before giving a thumbs-up.

“You all passed and are free to move on. I'll get him back to our medics.”

“Thank you,” I spoke with a smile as I stood back up, the others bowing their heads in thanks as well before we moved on.

“Come on, team! Let's win this for Hakari!”

“For Hakari!”

A/N: And we are almost done with the test~!! Next chapter, the Flood and Downpour Zone and an extra surprise~

What that is, we'll have to wait to find out.

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!