Shota Aizawa felt a bit of sympathy for his class as they waited for him to finish the afternoon Homeroom. When he was done, they'd be going to the Unforeseen Situations Joint, or USJ to complete the first of their Rescue Trials. Many of them, including Izuka, had been excited the first time around as they wanted to become Rescue Heroes, so training like this was crucial for them. But after the attack by the League of Villains and the death of Izuka, many were more than a little apprehensive about going back there, to see the spot where a classmate was literally tortured and killed. The fact that Izuka was still alive and healthy wasn't enough to shake those feelings from the rest of Class 1-A.

Finally, Homeroom ended and Aizawa began the class. "Okay students, you know what time it is and what we'll be doing. Before we head to the USJ, I have some important things to tell you. First, the security at the USJ and the rest of the school's facilities have been massively upgraded. Special Sensors have been developed by the Support Course that are tuned to DNA signature, specifically the DNA of Shigaraki and Kurogiri. If either appear anywhere on school grounds, the whole place will go into lock-down, the students will be evacuated and every hero in the city will come running."

"Unless the sensors are jammed again..." Kaminari said bitterly. He didn't display it like some of his classmates, but he had also felt guilt over the USJ attack as he hadn't been able to use his quirk to undo the jamming.

"I can assure you, that won't happen." Aizawa said, not unkindly, "Power Loader has completely reworked out alert system. Now, on top of the normal alert system, we have a computerised check system. Every five seconds, every sensor and electrical system sends a signal to the school's central computer. If any are jammed, the signal can't be sent and so the school is still alerted. There are at least nine other fail-safes, but truthfully, that was the only one I understood." their teacher admitted. "In addition, we will have five teachers with us today, including myself."

"Five? Who are they?" Mina asked.

"Myself, All-Might, Thirteen, Power Loader and Ingenium." Aizawa stated.

Iida immediately perked up, "My brother!? He is truly coming to assist!?"

Aizawa nodded, "Yes. We'll be dividing you into five teams of four for the training, so we have one teacher for each team. Iida, Ingenium won't be teaching yours to ensure there is no bias. Likewise, Midoriya, All-Might won't be teaching you for this."

The girl nodded. She was among the only students in class not bothered by going back to the USJ. She hoped she'd get to be in Thirteen's or Ingenium's group as they were great rescue oriented heroes! Aizawa held up a piece of paper, "I'll be assigning your teams now. Team A, you are Aoyama, Kaminari, Sero and Mineta. Team B, you are Ashido, Kirishima, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu. Team C, you are Asui, Koda, Todoroki and Hagakure. Team D, you are Iida, Sato, Shoji and Bakugou. Team E, you are Uraraka, Ojiro, Jiro and Midoriya."

Team A looked a bit annoyed; they were a motley crew of strong and strange personalities. Team B was fairly happy with their group; Ashido and Kirishima knew each other from Middle School and both Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami were the kind that could work with almost anyone. Team C was... unconventional to say the least; Koda and Todoroki didn't really talk, Toru didn't really STOP talking and Tsuyu just said whatever she wanted. Team D was going to be an explosive group no matter what with Katsuki as a member, but pairing him up with the serious and devoted Iida and Shoji was bound to cause fireworks. Sato looked desperately to Izuka, who just smiled sympathetically and made a prayer motion with her hands. Team E was another of the more happy teams, as Ochako was thrilled to be with one of her best friends, Jiro was happy to have three serious comrades and Ojiro was looking forward to seeing the three girls in action. Izuka was happy regardless of what team she was on, though she was happier that two of her comrades had great rescue quirks.

With their teams assigned, Aizawa dismissed them to change into their battle gear. Izuka's costume had been destroyed when Tomura turned her to dust, so while she waited for the Support Course to be done recreating it (with a few modifications), Izuka just wore her Gym Uniform, though she was upset over the loss of her mother's gift; the choker and pendant. Inko had assured her daughter that it was alright, but Izuka still hated that she'd lost it to Tomura.

The Bus Ride to the USJ was much more tame than last time and they were all near silent, which Aizawa would have welcomed if it wasn't so ominous. He noticed more than one student looking at Izuka whenever she wasn't paying attention. She was muttering to herself and writing in her notebook, Katsuki beside her with an arm draped lazily over her shoulder. Todoroki didn't look happy about that but he said nothing, choosing to look anywhere but at the blond boy.

Finally the silence was broken by Tsuyu; "Hey Izuka, you mutter a lot." she commented.

Izuka looked up with a blush, "Oh, was I? Sorry, it's a habit."

"It's not a bad thing." Tsuyu said, "I just noticed it more today. You do it in class a lot."

"Yeah, it's a habit I've always had. When I get into what I'm writing or thinking about, some of it tends to slip out and I mumble. Funnily enough, it's a habit I could never break, even with the villains." Izuka said nonchalantly. The class froze for a moment; Izuka had told them about how her quirk had made a sort of mental protection for her, but they still found it odd how cavalier she was about her kidnapping and torture.

"Did.... Did you want to talk about it?" Kirishima asks carefully. The class gives him death glares, as if he'd said something insensitive, but Izuka just smiles sweetly.

"That's kind of you, Eiji. Truth be told, I'm really not that upset about it. If it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have All-Might for my dad and I probably wouldn't be here with all of you. It wasn't fun at the time, but I'm glad it happened if it brought me to all of you." Izuka said cheerfully. The class looked at her with awe again and Aizawa had to suppress a sigh; Izuka was a sweet girl, but she cared far too much about others and nowhere near enough about herself. Thank god she had a class of overprotective big brothers and sisters to look out for her.

Izuka's expression turned odd for a moment as she looked out the window; "You know, Tomura hated my mumbling. If he heard me do it, he'd take one of my fingers. He was strange like that... even back then when he was just a teenager, he didn't know how to handle problems without using violence. But then afterwards, if he hurt me when he didn't want to, he seemed... sad? Apologetic even? I think he saw me as his pet or toy that he occasionally felt bad for abusing."

There was a strange lilt to her words, almost like fond nostalgia, which thoroughly confused her classmates. "You almost sound like you liked him." Tokoyami pointed out.

Izuka shrugged, "I guess I sort of did. You could call it a kind of Stockholm Syndrome I suppose. I hated All for One... he was an unrepentant monster, but Tomura and Kurogiri? They were different. They did what All for One told them, but they didn't seem evil to me. Kurogiri was always... sad. He was the first person to kill me, back before I even knew about my quirk. All for One wanted Tomura to decay my body, but Kurogiri stopped him and shot me instead. I could see it in his eyes... he was sorry. As for Tomura, he was raised by All for One. He's basically a kid that was abused for years and was then taught that he should be able to hurt others at his leisure. If things had been different... I bet Tomura could have been a great hero. His games weren't all torture, you know. He liked video games and card games, and sometimes he'd watch a movie or an anime and would make me watch with him. He'd be hugging me like I was a stuffed toy, because I was the only thing he could touch that would never permanently leave him."

Many in the class looked disturbed at the image and the sympathetic tone Izuka used when referring to the two villains. "Midoriya, you can't seriously think those two are okay, right?" Kaminari asked.

"Not a chance!" Izuka suddenly snapped, "Kurogiri is a criminal and needs to be brought to justice. The people he kidnapped were murdered and he knew they would be. As for Tomura..." she hesitated before continuing, "He needs to be brought down hard. He's just a kid on the inside and has grown up twisted; he needs serious psychiatric help and proper punishment for his actions. He needs to be made to face the facts; that life isn't a cruel game that he can abuse. If I can, I want to save Tomura from himself."

Kaminari scratched his neck sheepishly, "Sorry Midoriya, that was probably a pretty bad thing to say on my part. It's just kind of weird to hear you sound almost positive about them, especially after they killed you."

Izuka just shrugged and smiled; "Nothing in the world is black and white, Kaminari. Some Villains are just people who needed help and made the wrong choices. Feeling sorry for them doesn't change that what they're doing is wrong and we as Heroes have to stop them. Still, I'm kind of a softy when it comes to things like this, which is why I want to be a Rescue Hero!" she grinned, "Less moral ambiguity."

The class exchanged strange looks as Izuka got back to her writing. For the first time, they felt like they understood a fair bit more about the strange, quiet girl's mind. They all had reasons for being a hero, some of them had told their classmates and some hadn't, but Izuka was always someone that they had just sort of guessed about; she wanted to be a hero because she wanted to help others. They never really considered that sometimes, helping others meant saving them from themselves.

Finally, they arrived at the USJ, which from the outside, looked the exact same as before. Aizawa led them all inside and that didn't look any different either, at least until they looked at the fountain. The old monolith in the middle had been replaced by a statue; a stone carving of a flexing All-Might. The class looked at it with some trepidation, because perched on the statue's carved fist was a stone depiction of a bird, with large wings that looked like fire, and numerous long tail feathers. It was a phoenix, and an obvious homage to Izuka. At the statue's base was a small plaque of bronze, with some words carved into it; "This Statue stands as a monument to the Heroes that protected the Students of U.A from a deadly villain attack. May they continue to watch over the people of the world. PLUS ULTRA!"

"They put in a statue, really?" Izuka muttered, disbelieving before noticing several students were looking elsewhere. With a curious frown, Izuka peaked around them to see what they were staring at and was thoroughly confused to find it was just a vaguely discoloured section of the concrete floor. Suddenly it clicked; this was the spot she had died... the discolouration was from where her blood had soaked into the stone.

"Guys..." she said gently, "I'm alive okay? Don't worry about it."

"Not that easy, stupid Deku." Katsuki frowned, pushing the class away as he moved to the stained ground. Without a word of warning, he shot a powerful explosion at the ground, destroying the discoloured spot and a large portion of the surrounding concrete.

"Bakugou! That is school property!" Tenya scolded.

"Yeah, and Aizawa-Sensei is right here! Do you want more detention?" Ochako said, causing the class to look towards their teacher, who was very obviously looking away.

Aizawa looked back and made a face of mock surprise; "Oh no, the horrible stain was smashed. Too bad I didn't see who did it, I'd give them detention." his eyes softened, "I'll be sure to see next time though, so no more reckless destruction."

The students smirked and nodded. Aizawa sent a text to Cementoss about the needed repair and just as he finished, the other four teachers arrived, each in their hero gear (though Ingenium had decided not to use his helmet).

"Greetings, we are here! What happened to the ground?" All-Might asked.

"Someone blew up an old bloodstain. Didn't see who." Aizawa deadpanned. All four teachers looked to Katsuki but said nothing.

"Well nothing of great value was lost then! Now students, you have obviously met myself, Thirteen and Aizawa, but let me introduce Power Loader and our special guest teacher, Ingenium!" All-Might said grandly, gesturing to the two.

Power Loader grinned and waved his clawed hand. He was sitting in a large robotic construction suit, which left him towering over them all, even All-Might. Ingenium, who wasn't actually a teacher but a volunteer, bowed politely and smiled. "Greetings, Class 1-A. I am Tensei Iida, first son of the Iida Family, though you will most likely know me as the Turbo Hero: Ingenium! My younger brother Tenya has told me much about you all, so I look forward to working with you. Might I ask which of you is Izuka Midoriya?"

Izuka blushed bright red and stepped forward. "T-That's me!"

Tensei looked her up and down, before grinning happily, "It is nice to meet you, Midoriya! Tenya told me of how you spoke for him after the Entrance Exams and during the election for Class Representative! Thank you for believing in him! He is a bit overenthusiastic at times, but I know he'll be a great hero!" Tenya blushed at his brother's praise, but beneath the reddened cheeks was an unmistakeable look of pride.

"Oh my goodness, Ingenium is thanking me!" Izuka gushed, entering fangirl mode. The Class had yet to see it since all the Pros they'd met so far were ones she'd already met. "Mr. Ingenium sir, could I please ask you for an autograph? I'm sorry, that's so rude of me! I just really love heroes, especially rescue heroes!"

Ingenium laughed, "Of course! It's not rude at all! I'm glad you're a fan of Rescue Heroes!" he said, happily taking Izuka's notebook and signing his name on the page about him. As he looked for the best spot to sign, he briefly read some of Izuka's notes, his face going from happiness to wonder. Midoriya had drawn two pictures of him; a standing shot of him in his armour but no helmet and an action shot of him running with his helmet on. Both pictures were annotated and Ingenium was shocked at how accurate some of the information was, especially considering the notes appeared to have been made through conjecture and logical deductions.

"These are excellent notes, Midoriya! With analysis skills like yours, combined with your healing, I think you'd make an excellent Rescue and Support Specialist." Tensei complimented, handing back the signed book. Izuka made a noise that sounded like a mix between a kitten's mewl and an excited puppy as she hugged the notebook to herself. The Class sweat-dropped; for a girl with an immortality quirk and All-Might as a father, Izuka was very easy to please.

Thirteen cleared their throat to get the class's attention, "Hello everyone. I'd like to apologise to you all for the events that happened last time. As the supervisor of the USJ, I should never have allowed it to happen, especially since I lectured you all on using your quirks safely only to be turn around and ignore my own advice. I deeply apologise for my errors, please forgive me." the Space Hero bowed.

Yaoyorozu stepped forward, "As President of Class 1-A, I thank you for your apology, but I think I can speak for all of us when I say it wasn't necessary. We were all caught unaware and made mistakes. Many of us used our own quirks recklessly and were left vulnerable as well. Ultimately, the blame rests only on the villains."

Thirteen tilted their head, before turning to Aizawa. "Eraserhead, you have some good students."

The man smirked, "Yes I do. Now let's get to training so they can become even better."

"Of course! Firstly, I assume you've been assigned teams already? In that case, here are your supervisors for the trial! Team A will be with All-Might, Team B will be with Ingenium, Team C will be with me, Team D will be with Power Loader and lastly, Team E will be with Eraserhead." Thirteen said, gesturing for the teams to gather together, their supervisor standing behind them while Thirteen's own team waited patiently at their side.

"The Rescue Trial is actually three part, and you come take it over three seperate days. This is because you will only enter two of the zones today, two another day and the last two on another day. This should have been your second day, but after the Villain Attack, we've been set back, so instead, we'll be having two days with you all clearing three zones!" Thirteen explained.

Aizawa cut in, "The reason we split the trial up in the first place is that the activity is essentially the same regardless of zone. Only the terrain is different, so having you all do the same thing six times in one day will just lead to you all getting bored and forgetting crucial information. It would have been like All-Might asking you to attack and defend every location in the Combat Trial; you'd have gotten some experience from it, but the diminishing return would have made it more effort than it was worth."

"Eraserhead is correct. Now as this is the Rescue Trial, your task will obviously involve rescue! Normally I'd explain this next bit, but since we have our resident inventor with us, he can explain his toys." Thirteen said, turning everyone's attention to Power Loader.

The Excavation Hero grinned and pulled two mannequins from the pack on the back of his robot suit. They were both genderless mannequins, one adult sized and one child sized. "These two dolls are of my own design: they're my patented Rescue Practice Dolls. They're essentially robots designed to act as replica humans. They're made from synthetic flesh and bone, the same used in modern medicine to replace lost limbs or damaged areas. These dolls have the most realistic artificial cardiovascular system to emulate the blood of the human body and all the interior components have been carefully shaped to resemble human organs. The robots even have a special randomiser in their brains to change how they act based on a randomly generated string of character points to simulate a personality! Essentially, they are the perfect fake humans and will react realistically to injury. You'll be rescuing them!"

Thirteen took over from there; "In each of the six zones is a supply of these dolls. During the prep stage before you enter a zone, these dolls will scatter around the zone and some will purposely injure themselves. Your job is to safely evacuate all the dolls to the rescue area by the Zone entrance. Naturally, you'll have no idea of their locations or of the number of dolls you need to rescue. In the real world, Rescue Heroes often have to search for those trapped or rely on the assistance of the locals to help inform them of where people are likely to be. Be careful though, the injured dolls may be worsened if you treat them too roughly which will reflect badly on your performance."

Aizawa pulled out his PDA, "Each of you will receive a personal and a team score. Each Zone has a time limit of 40 minutes. If you manage to rescue all your dolls, your score will be based on how much time you had left. If you reach the limit, it'll be based on how many dolls you missed. You'll also lose points if any Doll's health declines while in your care or if any Doll's die. Child Dolls will naturally have a bigger point penalty than the adults. Think you can all handle this?"

"YEAH!" The class cheered.

"Good. Team A, report to the Ruins Zone, Team B the Landslide Zone, Team C the Mountain Zone, Team D the Conflagration Zone and Team E the Flood Zone. When done in the zone, head to next one on your left as you leave. Reconvene here when you're finished or if there is any kind of emergency." Aizawa instructed, before leaving his fellow supervisors to take control of their teams and lead them off. He'd chosen the teams himself as well as their supervisors, purposely picking himself for the team Midoriya was on.

After all, a Rescue Hero that needed rescuing from their own sacrificial nature was going to be a problem in the future.

He led them to the Flood Zone, keeping Midoriya at his side so they could speak quietly. "Midoriya, remember, this is a Rescue Trial. Your healing would be useful in a real rescue situation, but these dolls cannot be healed. Don't try it."

"Yes Sensei!" Izuka chirped.

"I also wanted to talk about what you did the last time we were here." he looked at her and noticed she was looking chastised already, "Look, I understand why you did what you did, and I even recognise that given your position, it was the only thing you could do, which is why I'm not angry with you." he said gently, causing her to perk up and look up at him with shining hopeful eyes, "But I am afraid of your attitude. You have no sense of self-preservation and that is a scary thing. I understand that you want to be a hero that inspires hope and feelings of safety in others, correct?"

Izuka nodded.

"Then you should know that seeing their hero die, even if she comes back, would bring nothing but fear to the people."

"But Sensei...!"

"But nothing, Izuka." Aizawa interrupted, shifting to using her first name like he had when she was a kid, "I am a Pro Hero already and I knew about your quirk and I was still afraid. Your classmates were terrified and horrified... you heard how much they care about you, so imagine how they felt to see you tortured then murdered. Especially since they knew you surrendered for their sakes. How do you think you'd feel if someone else died for you?"

The girl sniffled, her lip trembling and her eyes filling with tears. Aizawa briefly felt a stab of guilt, but he knew this was an important lesson. Immortality or not, he couldn't allow Izuka to be so recklessly selfless. Teaching a Selfish person to be selfless was difficult, but teaching a Selfless person to be selfish was damn near impossible. "I'm sorry, Aizawa-Sensei. I was just scared... I didn't want the others to be hurt. I'm sorry I disappointed you."

Aizawa, conscious of the kids behind him watching him, ruffled her hair. "You didn't disappoint me at all, you just scared me, but apology accepted. Just be sure not to ever sacrifice yourself unless it is absolutely the only choice left, okay?" Izuka sniffled again and gave him a watery smile as she tried to subtly rub her face and dry her eyes.

A few steps behind the two, Ochako and Ojiro exchanged looks. "What do you think they're talking about?" Ochako asked, looking to Jiro.

Jiro, with her advanced hearing had heard it all. "He gave her some advice." she said dismissively.

Ojiro raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Was it good advice?"

"Yeah. The kind that the Cinnamon Bunny needed to hear." Jiro smiled. Secretly, Ochako and Momo had made badges for the "Izuka Midoriya Protection Squad" and had handed them out to the whole class. Bakugou had sneered but taken one anyway, while Todoroki had looked at it blankly before pocketing it and pretending like nothing had happened. They were in the process of writing a proposal to Nezu to make it an official club... maybe Jiro should tell them that Aizawa-Sensei might be willing to be their faculty advisor?

Putting that thought on the back burner, Team E (or Team Eraserhead as they thought of themselves) arrived at the Flood Zone. Aizawa-Sensei led them into a small cabin beside the entrance and pressed a button, signalling the dolls to position themselves around the zone. The cabin lacked windows, so they couldn't see where the dolls were hiding.

"You have five minutes to strategise. Get going." Aizawa told them, leaning against a wall.

The four immediately huddled together, Izuka taking the lead. "Can you three all swim well?" she asked.

"I can swim great!" Ochako grinned.

"My tail makes me a fast swimmer." Ojiro added.

"I'm fine at it, but I can't hold my breath for long." Jiro said.

Izuka nodded; "Alright, I have a plan. I'll fly over the zone to scan for dolls from above. Ojiro, I need you to swim around and find what you can in the water. Kyoka, stay on dry land but use your jacks to see if you can find anyone trapped underwater. Maybe try using your quirk like a sonar? Ochako, float yourself to the wrecked ship and search it. Rescue any doll you can. Kyoka, report any dolls you find to Ojiro or Me. If any of you can't free someone trapped, tell me and I'll come help. Think that's good?"

The other three nodded. The five minutes expired and the team dashed out, immediately beginning their plan. Izuka took to the sky and flew around, specifically over the giant green water slide that mimicked a waterfall and river full of rocks. Ojiro dived into the water, swimming like an otter and searching a few feet beneath the surface. Kyoka submerged her jacks and began listening carefully, trying to use a small sound wave like a sonar. To her surprise, it actually worked. Ochako easily floated herself to the ship and began running about the deck to find the dolls. Their teamwork proved highly effective: Izuka easily rescued the dolls trapped in the fake river/waterfall while Ojiro was able to rapidly swim around and pluck out the dolls that were trapped just below the surface or floating on debris. Ochako cleared the ship, using her quirk to move broken parts of the boat's engine off of the dolls in the ship's workings. As for Kyoka, while she didn't perform any direct rescues, she was able to locate many dolls tangled in fake seaweed in the murky depths of the water where Ojiro couldn't see, and even located some dolls that Izuka had missed amongst the rocks in the fake river. The only problem they encountered was when Ojiro was unable to free a doll trapped by some rubble underwater. Even his muscle tail wasn't strong enough to lift it, resulting in him calling Izuka for help. Without her fire to help propel her, Izuka was relying entirely on One for All to augment her while she swam and that had resulted in her overdoing it a bit and getting a sprained ankle, though they'd rescued the doll. Five minutes and a quick heal later, Team E was stood on the shore, alongside a small army of fake humans while Aizawa tabulated their grades.

With their teamwork, quick and efficient rescues and Kyoka's detection skills, the team of four had easily cleared the Flood Zone in twenty four minutes, leaving them with sixteen minutes to spare. No dolls had died (though the one Ojiro needed Izuka's help to rescue did come close from being underwater too long) and only one doll's condition was worsened by the Heroes when Ochako accidentally overdid it with her quirk and made a doll on the ship hit the ceiling of the engine room, though the injury was negligible. "Impressive. You four made a good team. As expected from two would be Rescuers and a Sensory Type. Your score is 96 out of 100. You were docked two points for Uraraka injuring one of dolls, though it was minor, and another two points for Midoriya injuring herself. Overall, an excellent first time score."

Team E whooped and highfived one another. Ochako and Izuka apologised for their mistakes, though their teammates waved them off with a smile.

Team E's next zone was the Downpour Zone and compared to the Flood Zone, it was a walk in the park. The faux city within the zone was almost completely undamaged, aside from some broken pots and windows, as well as some toppled trash. The wind and rain was monsoon level and would have caused trouble for a civilian, but not a hero team like Team E. Jiro was safely bundled away in a relatively quiet corner to use her hearing to detect the dolls. Even without Plus Ultra Mode, Jiro could hear everything in the zone while her jacks were attached to the ground and she was easily able to pinpoint the locations of the dolls and pass them to her team over their earpieces. Ochako was carried on Ojiro's back so she could offset the force of the winds with her gravity control, allowing them to move relatively undeterred, though the two did suffer a nasty fall that Izuka had to catch them from after Ojiro's tail slipped while they were scaling a building to rescue a child trapped on a broken fire escape. Surprisingly, Izuka was the one that suffered most in this zone; the rain constantly interfered with her wings (they were made of fire) and the wind blew her off course easily because she was so light. Aside from Mineta, Izuka was the smallest and lightest person in class, even with her muscles. Still, Izuka persevered and managed to do her job without injuring herself or risking the dolls. It only took the group twenty two minutes this time and to be honest, Aizawa was thrilled mostly because it meant he wouldn't need to stand in the Downpour Zone any more. They all looked a bit worse for wear on their way out.

All of them (including Aizawa) used Izuka as a space heater while their grades were decided. They scored 94 points this time, as they had lost 6 because of Ojiro's slip. "If you hadn't been saved by Midoriya, you could have been seriously hurt. If just Ojiro had fallen, you'd have lost 10 points, but if his fall had injured Uraraka as well, it would have cost you 30 points. As it is, you still lose 6 because you forced a fellow hero to turn away from the civilians in order to save you. 3 points from Ojiro for the slip and 3 from Midoriya for turning away from the Civilians. It's harsh, but in a Rescue Situation, you need to prioritise the Civilians over everything." Aizawa explained.

Ojiro groaned; "Damn... sorry girls. I messed up."

"It's cool." Kyoka lightly swatted his shoulder, "Now you know for next time right?"

"Yeah! We're all just starting out!" Ochako added cheerfully.

"It's fine to make mistakes in practice 'cause then you can improve. Let's try harder in the next zone!" Izuka offered shyly. Ojiro smiled gratefully at their comments and proceeded to follow them to the Ruins Zone for their final test of the day.

The first half of their real USJ Rescue Trial went out with less of a bang and more of a whimper as compared to the Flood and Downpour Zones, the Ruins Zone was a cake walk for Team E. Despite the Dolls being better hidden thanks to all the rubble, Kyoka pinpointed their locations easily, since she didn't have to filter out the noise of water or wind, and she had gotten so used to the sounds of the dolls, it was much easier for her to find them. Without water to disrupt her fire, Izuka was in her element, easily flying around the zone, using One for All to lift rubble and carry numerous injured dolls. Ojiro was also in his element, as the wrecked buildings left him with a plethora of ledges and foot holds for him to clamber around on, allowing him to really climb like a monkey in an urban jungle. Ochako acted as Izuka's partner, as with her Zero Gravity Quirk, she could sort of fly and could easily move rubble in a way that was probably even safer than Izuka's strength. Of course, as with the last two tests, the team did have some trouble.

Rather than the terrain causing them issues or just minor slip ups on their part, it was the Dolls themselves and their generated personalities that caused them a headache. A couple of dolls were uncooperative, actively moving away from the Heroes or trying to save others themselves and causing problems. One had pulled at a chunk of rubble that was holding up a damaged building and it was only Ochako's quick wits that stopped the building from crushing both the hapless doll and the child doll that it had been programmed to think was it's daughter. All in all, the whole zone was cleared in 15 minutes, narrowly missing the First Year Record by 32 seconds.

Aizawa waved them over when they were done and smirked proudly, "Well, I can't say I expected any less from you after the last two zones, but I'm still amazed. It's rare for a First Year Team to clear a zone in the time limit on their first attempt, let alone clear three of them. Your score for the Ruins Zone is an excellent 99 points; you only lost a single point due to your lapse of attention allowing that mother doll to almost worsen the disaster, but your quick intervention saved you from a worse penalty. Good work, I'm proud of you four." he told them.

Izuka and Ochako beamed at him before hugging each other happily while Ojiro sighed in relief and Kyoka bashfully twirled her jacks around her finger.

"We really made a great team." Ojiro smiled.

"Yeah! As Rescue Heroes, we could make our own agency! Ojiro, Kyoka, do you two want to be Rescue Heroes like Izuka and me?" Ochako asked.

Kyoka shrugged; "My quirk is better for reconnaissance and maybe some combat if I train my body some more. Still, I think I'd be okay as a Support Hero to a Rescue Team."

Ojiro nodded in agreement, "I don't think I'll ever be a devoted Rescue Hero, since I'm better at fighting, but I feel think I could possibly be a Balanced Hero. It'd actually be great to become a Balanced Hero with a quirk like mine, since most Balanced Heroes have really strong and versatile quirks. Actually Midoriya, I think you'd be good for that."

"Really? I mean, I can fight if I have to, but I'd rather not. I like healing and helping people, so hurting them, even villains is kind of against my nature. I think a Support and Rescue Hero is what I'll be, with Kacchan doing the fighting since he likes it. We've had a plan for our agency since we were 10." Izuka smiled.

Ojiro and Ochako laughed at the thought of a ten year old Katsuki and Izuka planning a Hero Agency, while Kyoka looked oddly pensive. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something, Izuka." Kyoka said seriously.

"Sure, what is it?" Izuka asked.

"Well it's about what happened here last time. Not you dying I mean, but the fight with the weird guy Noumu. It's just..." Kyoka hesitated for a moment, not sure if she should continue. Izuka just tilted her head cutely and smiled, urging Kyoka on with her look. "You killed Noumu, you and Todoroki, right?"

"Oh." Izuka looked surprised, "That's what you were wondering about, huh? I understand, I just sometimes forget that you guys don't know everything I do."

"I know Noumu was an Artificial Human." Kyoka said, "It's just that considering how upset you were when you told us about you supposedly killing All for One, I figured even an Artificial Human would give you pause."

Izuka smiled sadly, "As horrible as it sounds, killing the Noumus is the closest to saving them as we can get. You see, they're not really Artificial Humans; they're normal people. All for One would pick a person with a strong body, or someone with a certain body type and begin layering quirks into them, along with brainwashing. The body can't handle all those quirks being forced on it, so it begins to go into shock, which combined with the effects of the brainwashing leaves the person brain dead. Their body functions, but they have no mind at all; no conscious, no subconscious, no anything. Because the damage is mental and not physical, not even my healing can restore it.... They become literal living dolls that can only act by obeying the orders of All for One. The Noumu I killed was probably told to obey Tomura as well."

"S-So some of the people that All for One kidnapped... they were..." Ochako looked sick.

"Noumus, yes." Izuka said sadly.

"This is going to sound awful, but why didn't he make you into a Noumu?" Ojiro asked.

Izuka paused for a moment, not having considered that possibility before. "I... I don't think he could. I told you how I could resist his brainwashing and mental conditioning quirks, so I think that was part of it. Also, because my body evolves so easily when I die and get reborn, it probably means that if he made me a Noumu, he wouldn't be able to control me and I'd have gone wild or kept my mind and escaped."

Without realising it, all of Class 1-A had been exposed to a portion of Izuka's own self evolution. Not from the Links, but from watching Tomura torture her, though none had realised at the time due to shock and horror. Izuka had taken a lot of extremely bad and bloody injuries, but the blood she'd lost had been oddly minimal and despite the grievousness of the wounds, she hadn't gone into shock. This was a result of Izuka's evolution having grown used to Tomura's quirk, allowing her to survive longer while it was used on her, though for an Immortal, surviving longer during torture wasn't much of an advantage.

Aizawa watched the conversation closely, keeping quiet and out of the kids' notice. Recovery Girl had warned the teachers about something she'd learned of Izuka's evolution and they'd likely discuss it after the Sports Festival. The teacher just hoped she'd take it well...

Shaking himself from those dour thoughts, Aizawa spared a thought for his fellow supervisors; his team had done excellently so he wondered how well the others had done...

[TEAM A]

All-Might was frustrated beyond belief. He had led his Team A through the Ruins, Landslide and Mountain Zones and with each zone, it became clear that his team wasn't going to do well in this sort of training... and the worst part, it was through no fault of the students themselves! Team A worked hard and seriously; Aoyama kept his narcissism to a limit and Mineta's more motivated attitude did wonders for his performance, but none of it was enough to overcome the main problem; the four weren't good rescuers! It had started well in the Ruins Zone; Aoyama had used his Sparkle Point to accurately cut his way to Dolls while Sero and Mineta used their quirks to keep rubble from falling and to make sure everyone was safe regardless of what chunks of concrete were smashed by Aoyama's laser. All-Might had been pleasantly surprised, though Kaminari wasn't a great help, but the boy made up for it by carrying dolls and trying to use the ear piece of his costume to try and boost his hearing. Unfortunately, that was the team's first great weakness; they had no talent in finding the dolls so they just searched blindly. Even with the ear piece, Kaminari could only hear a little better than a normal person and as it turned out, none of the group had any sense of direction.

They ended up timing out in the Ruins Zone, rescuing 70% of the Dolls, but this left them with a relatively low score of 54 Points (timing out meant the highest score they could get was 75 out of 100). From there, it had gotten worse; in the loose ground of the Landslide Zone, Mineta and Sero couldn't use their quirks, since tape and sticky balls would just pull at the crumbly dirt and sand, not adhering to anything solid. Plus, Aoyama's laser was less effective since he couldn't safely cut his way into the dirt like he could concrete. In the end, they timed out after a measly 20% of the Dolls being saved, resulting in a score of only 14 Points... The Mountain Zone was a lot better, with Mineta using his orbs to create foot holds to climb rock surfaces and Sero rappelling down with his tape, but Aoyama had very little to do besides carefully cutting the occasional rock that trapped a doll. Again they timed out, managing just one doll shy of 50%. They got 43 points there, mostly because All-Might felt bad considering how hard they were trying. Their combination simply lacked anyone to find the victims, which was crucial for Rescue! All-Might kept his cheerful disposition when dealing with his dejected students; he needed to find a way for them to do better! Maybe he could talk to Izuka later... she had notes on all her classmates.

[TEAM B]

Ingenium was a happy man. He was one of the Balanced Heroes, so he appreciated Combat, Rescue and Support, though truthfully he loved Rescue the most. And here he was, at U.A again, mentoring a team of great kids that were doing excellently! Yaoyorozu was the backbone of the team through Landslide, Mountain and Conflagration, creating sonar and special detectors to find the victims as well as specialist gear such as climbing gear and heat resistant clothing for the changing zones. Ashido and Kirishima was powerhouses, using acid and sharp claws to effortlessly go through sand, rock and concrete to get to the trapped dolls, while with Tokoyami, it was like the Four Man Team had a fifth member, as he seperated from Dark Shadow to rescue other dolls. The Team had the same basic routine throughout the three zones: first Yaoyorozu would create whatever gear her teammates would need to operate efficiently, then she'd go about creating the tracking gear to find the dolls, finding them while her teammates prepared. From there, Ashido, Kirishima and Dark Shadow would tear off to wherever Yaoyorozu ordered them while Tokoyami followed behind, acting as a delivery boy taking Dolls to the safe zone and extra supplies from Yaoyorozu to his teammates. Their longest time was 35 minutes in the Landslide Zone (Tensei felt they were just getting into the grove of things) and their shortest time was 22 minutes in the Conflagration Zone.

They got excellent scores to match: the Landslide Zone was cleared with 84 Points (they lost a few because Ashido accidentally damaged a doll with her acid and Dark Shadow took offense to the personality of a child doll and took a bite out of it's leg). The Mountain Zone earned them 98 Points, only losing two points due to Kirishima almost cutting Ashido when he swung his sharp fingers out too far while digging. But the cream of the crop was the Conflagration Zone, where they managed an amazing 100 points! A perfect score! They hadn't made a single mistake, something Tensei was certain had only happened two or three times before during a first lesson.

So Tensei Iida was extremely happy; he hoped he'd get some of these kids as Sidekicks when they graduated! He was eager to chat about them with Tenya too! His little brother had some amazing friends.

[TEAM C]

Thirteen felt mixed about her own team. Team C worked hard and despite Koda's quiet nature and Todoroki's somewhat anti-social nature, they worked well together, but like with All-Might's Team A, their quirks simply weren't well suited to search and rescue with the exception of Asui. Asui and Todoroki were the backbones of the team; the former being extremely agile and able to get to pretty much any spot in the zone, while Todoroki was powerful and creative enough to use his ice to make paths and access points for his allies. The problem was that Koda's quirk was completely useless in the USJ (in a real situation, he might have been able to use animals to scout, but in the enclosed space of the USJ, it wasn't possible) and Hagakure's quirk could even be potentially detrimental, at least without using Plus Ultra Mode to become visible. Oddly, Hagakure was also the one that became their only source of scouting, as she could manipulate the Invisible Bubble of her Plus Ultra Mode to render rubble and walls invisible, allowing them to more efficiently find Dolls trapped underground.

Their first zone was the Mountain Zone and it had gone fairly well all things considering. Asui could climb on the rock faces easily and Todoroki could hover briefly with fire jets or climb easily with ice stairs. Koda, as the strongest physically (and also the gentlest) was made the escort, taking Dolls to the Safe Zone once Asui or Todoroki passed them along, while Hagakure cautiously used her quirk to see through rocks to find Dolls underneath. They had managed a reasonably good 80% before time out, earning them 75 points, since they made no mistakes. The next zone was much tougher for poor Asui; the Conflagration Zone. The extreme heat made it nearly impossible for her to function well, and when Todoroki responded by freezing the entire zone like he'd done in the Villain Attack, he had inadvertently made it worse since Asui was even worse in extreme cold and the sudden freezing had injured some dolls, costing them points. They ended up only rescuing 10% of the dolls and got a horrible 10 points due to all the deductions caused by the injuries Todoroki caused. The boy had bowed and apologised and his teammates had forgiven him, but it was still annoying, especially since Thirteen had to get the flames going before the next team came! The last zone was a return to form for the team though as it was the Flood Zone. Asui was in her element and Todoroki cautiously froze portions of the lake surface to move easily. Koda wasn't much use here, as he couldn't swim, so he stayed on the shore, guiltily watching his teammates. With Asui's excellent swimming abilities, they actually managed to win before timing out, getting it done in 38 minutes and scoring 89 out of 100, losing points only due to Hagakure and Koda being more of a detriment than a help, though Thirteen felt awful saying so when they saw Koda's face fall and his eyes turn tearful.

Thirteen suspected Koda really wanted to be a Rescue Hero, so it probably hurt him to fail at the Rescue Trial, especially since his team had also failed both matches in the Combat Trial. Thinking to themselves, Thirteen wondered if Nezu would allow her to bring real birds and fish into the USJ...

[TEAM D]

Power Loader had built and perfected the Rescue Dolls, so he had seen their inner workings at every stage of development and construction... still, he didn't expect to see those innards so much during an actual Rescue Trial... he was also fairly certain that Bakugou might have been a high functioning sociopath.

Team D, for lack of a better word, failed appallingly. Iida and Shoji were brief glimpses of light in the murk of Team D; Iida ran and rescued like a mad man while Shoji's hearing and mini clones were a godsend and almost made up for the other two. Sato was well meaning at least; he just misjudged his own strength a lot and would hurt dolls by smashing rubble recklessly or grabbing them too roughly. Bakugou was just a very angry young man that didn't take any lip from annoying dolls. Every time a Doll would say something that annoyed him, BOOM! No more doll.

The Team went through the Conflagration, Flood and Downpour Zones and despite not timing out in any of them thanks to Shoji's sensory skills and Iida's speed, their scores were rarely above 10 points due to the fact that the Hero murdering the victims tended to be looked down upon and points taken. Power Loader was just happy that Bakugou only reacted that way with robots and not people.

His long-suffering teammates took it in stride, knowing that their personal scores would be better at least. Bakugou didn't seem to care; he made it abundantly clear he didn't want to be a Rescue Hero and didn't want to be on a team without Midoriya. Power Loader just sighed and ignored the boy, offering a silent prayer to Midoriya for having to control the explosive blond.

[THE RESULTS]

Finally, after a hard day's work, the five teams reassembled at the fountain with their supervisors. The students rested and chatted while the teachers worked out the scores to decide the class's rescue rankings. As part of the U.A Grading Scheme for Heroes, each student had a grade for Combat, Rescue and Support as well as an aggregate grade for both their Heroic and Academic abilities. They'd yet to be given a Combat Grade (All-Might had forgotten) but they would now get their first Rescue Grade.

"Alright you lot, listen up. First, we have the team scores. Here they are:

1. Team B: Ashido, Kirishima, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu with 282 out of 300.

2. Team E: Uraraka, Ojiro, Jiro and Midoriya with 281 out of 300.

3. Team C: Asui, Koda, Todoroki and Hagakure with 174 out of 300.

4. Team A: Aoyama, Kaminari, Sero and Mineta with 111 out of 300.

5. Team D: Iida, Sato, Shoji and Bakugou with 22 out of 300."

Eraserhead shot Ingenium a slightly annoyed look, which Ingenium replied to with a smug smirk. Izuka and her team were happy to have done so well, but they were a little disappointed to have missed first place by only 1 point. Still, with someone like Yaoyorozu on the team, it was difficult not to win. Izuka knew Momo was the smartest student in Class 1-A and definitely the most versatile.

"Congratulations to Team B. You may have only one by a narrow margin, but victory is victory, so be proud. Team E, you just came short, but don't get disheartened, keeping working and win next time. Team C, you made some mistakes but managed to retain at least half your points, so while there is a lot of room for improvement, there is also something to be proud off." Aizawa said, before turning to the bottom two teams; "Team A, you were unfortunate to be a team with unideal abilities in poor locations. Because of this, your low performance is to be somewhat expected, but this school is all about going beyond, so I expect you to work together and find solutions to the problems you encountered. As for Team D..."

Izuka gulped as her Sensei's eyes narrowed on Kacchan, the rest of Team D noticeably edging away while the boy stood there defiantly. "You, Bakugou are entirely to blame for the loss of Team D. While Sato was also a detriment in how he used his quirk, he still entered the trial with the right spirit and genuinely tried, but you... you actively sabotaged your team, destroying dolls for simply sassing you. I know for a fact you wouldn't do that to real people, so why do it here?"

Katsuki growled, "I'm not a fucking Rescue Hero! My job is to kick the bad guys' asses while Deku saves the people."

Aizawa scowled, "So is that what you want to be? A parasite leeching off Midoriya's hard work? If that really is your goal, then I tell you now; give up on being a Hero. The world doesn't need another thug in a costume."

All-Might exchanged a look with his daughter. This wasn't like Katsuki. He was aggressive true, and his tone and mannerisms were often violent, but he never actually became physically violent outside of a real situation like the Villain Attack. "What is this about, Young Bakugou? I know you are not the kind of boy who just wants to destroy."

Katsuki looked away from the Number One Hero's gaze. "Yeah, well maybe you're wrong about me!" he snapped, turning and stalking off, much to the bewilderment of the class.

"No he's not!" Izuka yelled, suddenly looking angry as she followed him out of earshot of the others, "What's gotten into you!? You're not acting like yourself!"

"Maybe that's a good thing!" Katsuki yelled back, "The "Me" from before was a fucking weakling or a fucking bully! I tried to change and yet I'm still the same pathetic weakling as I was before!" what looked suspiciously like tears began to glint in the corners of his eyes.

Izuka looked taken aback; of all the words she'd use to describe Kacchan, Weak wasn't one of them. "Kacchan... My Lion, what is this really about? Why are you so upset?" she asked, softly this time, using her more loving and intimate nickname for her boyfriend. She felt a little jolt of happiness when she saw Katsuki blush a bit.

"I...I shouldn't have fucking come back here. To the goddamn USJ..." Katsuki said. The defeat in his voice wiped away the brief bit of amusement Izuka had felt at his reaction to his nickname.

"Why? I-I know it was a horrible thing that happened, but it's over now. Just forget about it." she said.

Katsuki barked a sad laugh, "Yeah, as if I fucking could. They put up a fucking monument... like a goddamn memorial or something! For fuck sake, they left a damn blood stain! How can I forget it... how can I forget breaking my promise; the only damn one I ever cared about." he sat down on the long stairway, his head in his hands. "I've never been back to that park you know."

He looked up and saw Izuka's confusion, "The Park you were taken from, six years ago. I treated you like shit for five years, from the moment we turned four and you hadn't developed your quirk. I had promised to marry and protect you as a kid and then I became a fucking bully, no, an abuser! Then that Mist Fucker comes to kidnap me and the girl who should have hated me saves my life. I failed to protect you. I prayed you know; I actually fucking prayed, begging whatever would listen to let you come home safely. And then, like a miracle, you did. I made a promise then to truly protect you then, to become stronger so you'd never have to sacrifice yourself again." Katsuki looked up, tears of anger and frustration in his eyes, "I failed again, and you died. I gave a lot of shit to that Half n Half fucker, and he deserves it, but I'm to blame too."

Izuka gasped, "S-So, today in the trial, that was you... punishing yourself!?"

Kacchan gave a wry smile; "I knew the Teachers would be grading us as individuals. Even if I fucked up myself, the other three wouldn't get caught up in it. I don't deserve to succeed in a fake trial after I failed so fucking miserably in the real thing."

A lot of things suddenly happened, things that Katsuki had expected, and things that he hadn't. He expected Izuka to get angry, to slap him and kick his ass to the curb. He almost, in the darkest corner of his mind, expected her to immediately run to Half n Half. He was right about one thing at least; though Katsuki wished he wasn't as he felt the stinging slap impact with his cheek. No sooner had Izuka's hand struck his face was it replaced by her lips, kissing him softly with tears in her eyes.

"Katsuki..." she never used his full name, but she needed to here, "I want to tell you some things. Firstly, I never thought of you as a bully or abuser. We were best friends as children and I never thought that changed. I didn't like how you treated me, but even though you said mean things, you never hurt me and you never forced me away. Katsuki, you were my hero! Second only to All-Might! I wanted to be as strong and confident as you! When I was rescued, I was so happy I could be with you and that feeling hasn't ever gone away! I love you and we are going to do this together. Everything; we are going to graduate together, we are going to go Pro together, we are forming an agency together and we're going to fight, rescue and support together! I hate fighting, but I can do it if you're by my side! So be by my side while I rescue people."

Katsuki looked into Izuka's eyes... those big, shining green eyes. They always looked at him with admiration and with love... The boy felt like he was stood before an angel, a messenger of Heaven that brings nothing but peace and forgiveness. It almost felt sacrilegious to reach up and kiss her, but he did it anyway. "Thank you, Little Rabbit. Your Lion fucked up, but he'll do better."

Izuka beamed at him, touching her nose to his with a happy giggle. The two soon stood and dried their eyes before returning to the class, who were looking at them curiously. Aizawa raised an eyebrow as Katsuki stepped forward to face him, before being shocked as the boy bowed. "I'm sorry. I let what happened last time get to me. It won't happen again."

Aizawa's eyes flew to the small red handprint on the boy's cheek and then to the sheepish look on Midoriya's face. He smirked a bit; "Emotions and Promises are tricky things. You're still a novice, so I'll let it go this time."

Katsuki nodded appreciatively and turned to his three teammates. He didn't bow this time, but he did at least nod respectfully, "Look, I'm not going to be saying this again, so open your damn ears. I'm sorry I fucked up the trial. You can count on me next time."

Shoji nodded in return, "It's fine. Calm your spirit and you will go far."

"Indeed! While your wording left much to be desired, it takes a man of character to apologise sincerely for his mistakes. You have my respect, Bakugou!" Iida yelled. Tensei smirked at the gestures of his little brother.

"I wasn't much better to be honest." Sato shrugged, "Let's do better next time, eh Bakugou?"

All-Might grinned happily. His two young students were beginning to grow up. Aizawa disinterestedly tapped at his PDA, before announcing the grades of the class.

Momo Yaoyorozu: A+

Izuka Midoriya: A+

Ochako Uraraka: A

Kyoka Jiro: A

Fumikage Tokoyami: A

Mina Ashido: A

Mashirao Ojiro: A-

Eijiro Kirishima: A-

Tsuyu Asui: A-

Tenya Iida: B+

Mezo Shoji: B+

Shoto Todoroki: B-

Hanta Sero: C

Yuga Aoyama: C

Minoru Mineta: C

Koji Koda: C-

Toru Hagakure: C-

Denki Kaminari: C-

Rikido Sato: D

Katsuki Bakugou: Ungraded

The Class looked at the holographic display, unsure how they should take it. They were clearly ranked, but some had the same grade...

Aizawa explained; "Your grades are ranked on the actual number of points you got. The Letter Grade is simply the highest mark you could get with your points. Midoriya, you missed out on top spot by three points. Bakugou, I decided that due to you being mentally compromised, I won't grade you for today's work, but I expect you to work damn hard to make up for it."

"You got it. I'm gonna be Number One! Izuchan, Ponytail, make way 'cause I'm going to kick you both down a few spots!" Katsuki declared. Katsuki had decided; he wanted to be Number One and that would never change, he'd love Izuka and compete with her all at once, after all, once he reached the top, she'd be the only one that could possibly compete with him!

The Class thanked their supervisors and piled back out to the bus, ready to head back and change before going home. As they walked up the long staircase, Izuka was suddenly stopped by Tsuyu jumping in front of her with a happy smile.

"Izuka, I have something for you." she said, taking Izuka's hand and dropping something in it.

Izuka looked at the object, happiness lighting up her eyes and she saw the familiar fabric and ran her fingers over the metal pendant. "My Choker! I thought Tomura destroyed it!"

Tsuyu grinned, "I found it underwater in the Flood Zone. It must have come off while you were helping us."

"Thank you so much Tsuyu!" Izuka said, hugging the frog girl happily, giggling at Tsuyu's own croak-like laugh.

Izuka slipped the choker around her throat and gripped the metal pendant. The metal had been damaged, causing most of the pendant to have warped and broken, leaving the Phoenix looking more like a single, fiery feather. The girl thought on this as she fingered the edge of the cool metal.

Phoenix... that was what her quirk was, what the Villains had named her. Izuka had always sort of accepted that; it was a logical name after all and the theme worked for her so why fight it. Now though, she wasn't sure what to think.

She did know one thing though; Tsuyu was getting a present in thanks! Perhaps the whole class would, as thanks for being her friend. Izuka grinned to herself, there was still two weeks before the Sports Festival, it was time to prepare!

Without even realising it, somewhere in the back of Izuka's soul, a new light had formed and in two weeks, that light would spill forth.