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Hakaro gritted his teeth as the day one flunky implied he could be dating the Loudmouth herself, stuffing his hands in his pockets to conceal the budding flames at his fingertips as his emotions swelled. Luckily, before things could get out of hand, their teacher finally managed to arrive. It wasn't long before an awfully put together Epicenter had made her way onto the bus. Her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, and she barely had any makeup on. Not to mention that she managed to leave a couple of her blouse's buttons open. "Good morning everyone! I'm glad you all made it! Who's ready for some fun memories at the beach today!?" She threw a hand in the air. Her chest bobbed up and down frantically, as she tried to catch her breath. "Let's get going then!" Clenching his eyes shut, Hakaro slowly breathed through his nose as the lazy-looking principal made his way on board and the bus took off. In the back seat, Sasaki Inu cracked the window open, using the tip of his finger to light a cigarette as stealthily as he could. Leaning down behind the seat ahead of him, Inu took a slow drag from it, feeling the smoke fill his lungs and revitalize him. Even though he had already smoked one on the way to the bus, these things always felt good. Wait, shit, is that the nicotine? As if it were an intervention against Inu's potential substance abuse problem, a tiny spear made of hard light zigzagged down the center aisle of the bus, before making a sharp turn beside Inu and skewering his cigarette, pulling it from his mouth. A dot of hard light on its tip extinguished it, before the cigarette was tossed out the window. On the back of the seat, right in front of Inu's face, appeared words seemingly written in glowing gold. AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE OFF THE BUS Somehow, unbeknownst to everyone riding the bus, Sun was clinging to the top of it. As the wind blew his hair back and his cheeks filled with air, he felt pure bliss, allowing his tongue to hang out the side of his mouth. It wasn't long before the bus had parked at the beach, though the hill between the lot and the waterfront prevented the ocean itself from being visible from where they all were. With a cheer and a grin, Epicenter stepped out of the bus to greet their host for the trip, the Tidepool Hero - Anemonesan. After a few seconds for everyone to file out, and for Sun to jump off of the roof, she gestured toward the youths. "Oh! Ms. Anemonesan! This is my class!" She bowed towards the Tidepool Hero. "We are in your care for the day! Would you mind listing off the day's activities?" A sneaky grin was turned away from the brood. With a warm smile, the pro hero returned the bow. "Welcome, everyone! I'm so glad to be able to help teach you all about what it's like to have a career in heroics!" Each word was like a musical note as she joyfully led the group up to the crest of the hill. "While I'm sure you all are eager to fight off some villains, there is actually a lot more to the job!" As they reached the top of the hill, the group was hit with the fresh scent of garbage, the beach now revealed to be in absolute disrepair, seemingly having been used as a dumping site for people who didn't want to pay to have their trash properly handled. "All this garbage here on the beach is poisoning the ocean, and harming the wildlife…" Anemonesan's face turned somber as she looked out over the mess, before returning to its cheery default, "But that's where we come in! The job of a hero is to make the world a better place, so today you all get to be heroes to this little ecosystem!" Even though she was assigning everyone to garbage cleanup, her bubbly personality made it seem like it was almost a blessing. "Remember, this all can be quite toxic, so put on some of the gloves we have provided here if your quirk won't protect you from these things! Have fun everyone~!!! "Oh! And before I forget!" Anemonesan extended an arm outward, her tentacle fingers stretching and reshaping to gently corral a certain Konpaku Rei and a certain Yokuna Yasha toward her as the students dispersed toward the beach. "Now, I was told beforehand that the two of you failed in an exam on your first day, so I should save an extra-difficult job for you. Don't worry, I understand how much pressure a school like this can be, so I found a really special task that the two of you can do together." Using her free hand, she pointed over toward another nearby hill, "Now, right over that way you will find the end of a storm drain. Ordinarily, only rain water would come from it, but due to people throwing their trash where they shouldn't, the garbage buildup at that point is especially bad." Retracting both arms back to her, she gave each of the two a little pat on the head, "Go ahead and get to work now, I'm sure a task like this will help you two to bond, and then together with your new blossoming friendship, I'm sure you guys will ace the next test they throw at you!"

"And before you ask...no...I don't want to play any card games." A huge, shit-eating grin spread across Hane's face. "MMMMMM, Keika-boy, I didn't realize you cared so much about me. Not wanting to risk taking my crown from me, so you opt to sit out? You're so thoughtful!" "Heroes don't dethrone kings," Kiburi added. "I don't want to be a hero though, so I have no problem taking your crown." For the brief duration in which Hane turned to address one of the other students - some bitter guy she couldn't be bothered to remember the name of - Kiburi continued shuffling the deck, before splitting it in half and setting the halves down on the table. "Pick your pile." Hane turned and grinned. "Oh, I see you wanna a knight of rebellion, here to take down the king. Well, let it be known this won't be my Battle of Camlann," He looked around, making absolutely sure no one else wanted to join in on the game before seeing Nanami and Miyu wrestling in the pool, letting out a whistle of appreciation as he took in the sight. He then turned to Akuma, watching the feelers rise out of his skin. The bouncing boy leaned over, poking a feeler. "So, is this like an erection or something?" He asking joking. He then turned to Midome, shrugging. "Some hot dinosaur girl that resembled a pickle attacked us. We tried to stop her, but it seemed all our attacks could do was tickle the pickle. Then she passed out from hunger. Sucked to, she didn't respond when I asked her out on a date. Anyways, wanna play Old Maid?" "Next time, instead of doing what you morons did...how about you evacuate the civilians? I mean seriously..." Hane listened to Keika's complaints and his reprimands with a serious look on his face, before placing the deck he was shuffling on the table. "Yeah, you're right Keika," Hane stated, his tone being very serious. "In hindsight, I could have went to evacuate people, but in the moment, I thought that the girl could had charged ahead, seriously hurting someone, so the best choice of action was to stay there and make sure she didn't move too much," He sighed as he leaned back. "As for getting slaps on the wrists, who cares?" he shrugged as he put his hands behind his head. "I'll break the law as many times as I have to so long as I'm helping someone in front of me that needs me. I didn't take this chance to become a hero for the money or praise. As long as people are being saved, that's good enough for me," "My Quirk's no good for evacuation," Toshiko huffed, a puff of frosty mist escaping her lips as she did. "Besides, if we all evacuated civilians, nobody would be there to stop the villain! I had to play to my strengths! That's an important part of being a hero!" After the brief moment that she had turned around to address Keika, Toshiko turned back to the TV to see that she had lost a life while her back was turned. Oops. "What're you playing? “What kind of game is that? I’ve never seen that one before.” "Just an old platforming game," Toshiko smiled, turning her attention back to the game as she proceeded to jump over turtles and mushroom monsters alike. "My dad has a lot of these really old consoles lying around at home, so it was a nice change of pace to see this old thing. Would one of you like to try it out? I'm no elite gamer, but I like to think I'm pretty good at these old games."

Apology Simon barely even perceived being dragged out of Dia’s temple. In one moment, he was in the temple’s inner sanctum, and in the next, he was being flung against the warm midday cobblestone of the Temple Square. He was panting a little, but he tried to conceal it to a degree; focusing his breathing through the nose allowed him some degree of control over his circumstances, even as the watchdog loomed large over him. “I don’t know what possessed you to do what you did, Simon,” the dog said, “but you will confess your sins to the people of Galatea before you die. Well, Simon thought, at least his death would not be a surprise. He tilted his head back to get an upside-down view of the gathering crowd. There were many gathered already, some clearly gathered by the guards and some arriving simply because the crowd was already there. Simon had to smile at what had been provided to him. An audience was an audience, no matter the reason they had gathered, and he pushed himself up to recline against his elbows; it was much less comfortable than when he normally performed it on his cot, but it still gave him an inkling of presentability and he was determined to have it. With that, Simon began his confession. “You must forgive me, my fellow citizens of Galatea, that I cannot rise to my own defense. My strength has failed me recently in these recent months,” he said. “Forgive me too, then, that you probably remember me as a singer, not this broken man who lies before you. And lastly, I ask that you forgive me for the unrehearsed and unrefined performance you are about to witness. I only wish it were not so.” He coughed. “I have been placed here today, and you have been gathered, at the behest of a representative of our many gods, to confess all of my sins to you now. I will do this freely, as should you, of course, should you be unfortunate enough to find yourself in a similar situation. Surely you all remember tales of a holy man -- some would even dare to call him a saint -- who could not help but admit how he and his friends stole fruit from an orchard in his younger years. If I may be so bold as to invoke him further, he proclaimed that it was not the desire for the fruit, nor the desire for friendship that drove him, but the desire to sin itself. That was what was intoxicating to the holy man. “But I am not a holy man, my dear Galateans. I have never claimed to be. I see some of my followers in the crowd among you; if you ask them, they will confirm what I say. Nor do I dare compare myself to a holy man in even the remotest sense. As I said, you probably remember me as a singer and nothing more. But I do bring up this anecdote to question the nature of my demanded confession itself. Am I supposed to be confessing to my sins? Or to my desires?” He looked out to the masses, and that was when he spotted something: a bristle of movement as the familiar face of Taros’ watchdog made his way through the crowd. It was not enough to cause him to stutter in his speech, but it was of note. “‘He is stalling!’” Simon said. “Yes, I can hear the murmurs among you. ‘He continues to speak yet refuses to confess!’ I am sure even this distinguished watchdog next to me is thinking these same thoughts you are.” He gestured to the dog in question. “This man would have me admit to heresy. Of blasphemy. All I am asking, then, is to-” “I see you’ve been busy, Watchdog of Hinder.” Taros’ dog breached the wall of people and stepped into the circle the crowd had provided Simon. “I wish for this not to end in bloodshed,” he said. “I’d ask if there was a better way, but the look in your eyes tells me otherwise.” “Ah,” Simon said. “Well, I would consider it bad form to interrupt a performance, but I will make an exception here.” Again, he addressed the crowd. “These are watchdogs, after all. What they do is the gods’ will. In fact, I might recommend stepping back quite a bit, in case the gods decide to be, ah, rather sloppy with their actions today.” OOC

Having managed to get through the flames, Marie grimaced as she saw the Houndoom standing triumphantly against the three chasers that had attacked him so far. The man didn't seem to be paying much attention to her, having just dispatched of the Sharpedo. So, underhanded as it was, Marie took the opportunity to strike letting loose a stream of bubbles. Kura didn't seem bothered by the attack, instead raising his hand towards Marie without looking at her. Charging it with Dark Flame, the Godslayer fired a burst towards Marie. The girl quickly dove out of the way of the attack, though as it collided with the ground the resulting explosion of flame still managed to catch and push the girl back. After tumbling for a moment, Marie grit her teeth as she clenched her fist and hit it against the ground. Knowing that she couldn't just stop here, the girl worked herself back up and got back to her feet. Taking another deep breath, the girl let loose an icy wind towards the Houndoom. The man turned to face her, boredom clearly evident as he raised his hand and batted the wind away. Going for yet another attack, Marie launched a bubblebeam straight towards the man. Conjuring forth his dark flame yet again, this time a trio of canine heads burst out from the ground, taking the attack dead on. Snarling at her, Marie let loose another stream of bubbles only for the triple headed hound to bite at it and fizzle the attack away. The girl grimaced, starting to panic at the sight of the beast. As long as it was in front of him, there was no way that she would hope to land an attack at against him. And to make matters worse, the three headed beast slowly started to make its way towards her. In the face of this insurmountable foe, Marie thought and thought and thought. She had to figure out how to get past his defenses. An attack that would strike no matter. Thinking back, she remembered the Lucario did something like that. Even when his sphere of aura had been avoided, it continued to turn sharply and fiercely. Coming up with a plan, Marie looked upward and let out a shout, causing a pulse of pink energy to fly upwards. As she did, the three headed beast leaped at her, faster than she could react. Biting down on her wrist and ankle, Marie cried out in pain as the flaming beast continued to attack, only to then whip its heads around and fling Marie towards Kura. The man stood still, raising an arm and charging it with dark flame as she was hurtling towards him. However, he had no shield up and she figured this would be her best chance to attack. Letting out a stream of bubbles, the man went to move his hand only to pause as the pink energy had taken a steep arc above him and struck Kura on his head. Marie followed up, letting loose a bubblebeam right into his chest. She didn't hit much, still hurtling towards him, but the man seemed to go from bored to annoyed. As if her attack had been a slight against him. Clenching his fist and charging it with Dark Flame, when Marie got close enough, he punched her in the gut. The air was knocked out from her almost immediately, as his punch followed through and the flame exploded launching Marie straight into the ground. Coughing, trying to catch her breath, Marie was reeling in pain as she clenched at her gut. Still, she was conscious. And she refused to give up. "I...I can't let...a bully like you win..." Determined, the girl worked herself up a bit more as she tried to push herself back up. Having made it to the center area, Nine looked around to see that the others that had gotten here had been beaten back. Kura himself, impassively standing in the center, seeming to have not moved from his spot since the battle started. Looking at the man now up close, Nine couldn't help but feel a sense of revulsion building up. In spite of this, he still gave a friendly smile towards Godslayer. "Sorry to keep you waiting, but, I don't suppose I could convince you to stop and just go home?" Kura looked around. "I am home. But nothing will convince me to stop." Shrugging he said, "oh well, thought I'd try. But it's for the best, really. After all, looking at you kind of pisses me off." Glaring at Kura now, Nine continued. "Everything you believe in I can't abide by. And everything you've done I can't stand. My name is Nine, self declared God Saver. So to echo your sentiment, let me show you the futility of everything you've worked for." "I don't really care. Once this is over all that will matter is what I want. Go ahead and throw yourself to your death sooner rather than later." Giving a chuckle, the intensity still on his expression Nine said, "just what I'd expect." Igniting his arm, Nine let loose a stream of flame towards Kura. The Godslayer extended his hand out and created a wall of Dark Flame, Nine's own flame colliding against the wall harmlessly against it. Kura, bringing his other hand back, tossed a blast of dark flame towards Nine. Leaping to the side, the Chaser ignited arm and let loose a wave of flame to the side, guarding against the resulting explosion only to look back towards Kura. With a three headed beast of dark flame near him, Kura beckoned it towards Nine, the beast in turn charging at him. "Sorry boy, but I don't have time to play with you." Moving forward, Nine began to cartwheel. As both of his hands touched the ground, the Houndoom pushed upward letting loose a dark pulse to send him hurtling into the air. As he sailed over the flaming beast, Kura looked up and created a wave of dark flame towards Nine. With hands overhead, Nine launched another dark pulse and rocketed towards the ground. Landing on his feet, wincing at the force of his landing, Nine ignited his arms and swung them down, sending two waves of flame towards him. Swinging his arm upward, a column of black flame erupted from the ground, acting as a wall against the Chaser's attack. As it dissipated, though, Nine had already seemed up close and personal with the man. With his hand ignited, Nine thrust it forward only for Kura to ignite his own arm with dark flame and catch Nine's hand with his own. As the two flaming hands clashed, both more flame into it the longer they stayed interlocked, Nine smirked at the Godslayer. "C'mon big guy, is that all you got?" Kura's glare became more intense at this, his flames starting to entirely engulf Nine's arm before he wrenched the Chaser's arm down and let go. Igniting his other arm, Kura then viciously punched Nine in the face, causing the Chaser to stumble. His posture didn't break too much, though, and Nine clenched his fist as he stepped forward towards Kura. As the counterpunch came towards Kura, the Godslayer raised his hand to block it, only for the punch to be backing a surprising amount of force and force his hand away and strike him in the gut with it. Taking another step forward, Nine covered himself in a dark aura and let loose another punch. This time, it hit Kura square in the chest and it did the dark aura around Nine flared with an intensity that Nine had never felt before. Wincing in pain as his arm felt like it was starting to crack under the surprising strength that was suddenly flowing through him. Being forced to take a step back from the power of his own strength hitting him, the Godslayer then let a low snarl escape as he brought his hand up towards Nine. Summoning an orb of dark flame into his hand nearly half the size of Nine himself, the man let the blast explode into the chaser. Being sent hurtling back, Nine tumbled across the ground, feeling his bones start to creak yet again. Though, still conscious, he managed to pick himself back, igniting his arms yet again. Spitting out blood from his mouth Nine, roughed up and burned as he was, managed to stand up. With an intense focus in expression the Chaser muttered, "strong and straight forward. I got it. Alright. Time for round two."

Happy birthday Ash!