Masao wasn't surprised when the rest of the students from the other schools would gun for them.

They had been on international tv twice before, so a lot of the more intelligent students would have used those events to study them and their quirks.

The wiser ones would have made plans perhaps.

They were also a part of the minority of the second years there, though age could be hard to tell, he did know most of the schools didn't send second years given the extensive process they had to go through to take the exam.

So, they would be considered an easier target off the bat for those reasons alone.

He could understand the mindset, but it would prove wrong rather soon.

One by one they all got a personal flag and tied it on different areas of themselves.

The flag wasn't that big compared to himself, so he tied his on his crest rather than his tail.

Sunny had his on his ankle, Haya on her wrist, Oswald wrapped his around his neck and Mirio and Nejire chose opposing arms to tie their flags.

Then instead of being lead to another area to go out into the field, the walls of the room fell apart revealing a large arena, the space around them reminding him of the USJ if it was much larger.

"I'm sure you all have areas where you'll be the most comfortable fighting, and I'm confident you'll be able to find them on your own. There're enough flags for the seven hundred of you to pass spread throughout the area. Good luck."The woman stated.

Taking that as their que to start he leap immediately rushed for the desert area.

Well, it was mainly a desert, there was a lot of high rocky walls to the barren land, either way he will be able to use the area to his advantage.

He was confident that the others were similarly moving to their preferred areas.

Even if he couldn't hear Nejire's shooting off into the sky Masao knew his friends well enough that they would have split off too, they would work better on their own.

As fun as it would be to work together, they could do so later, for now though they would need to prioritize themselves.

And this desert place would be a good place for him to find the flags.

The heat around him helping him and encouraging his body that he needed to move, an animalistic instinct urging him on and driving him.

He scaled one of the rocky walls and moved his head to get himself a good view of the area around him, unsurprised when he saw that more than a few of the students had followed him to the desert.

Having a basic animal mutation quirk and alone out in the open of a desert area, he could see how he would seem like a good choice to the rest of the examinees.

It was a fairly wrong one.

Understandable, but wrong, nonetheless.

A grinning grey skinned boy with an ice themed quirk smirked up at him, white fog building up around his hands and feet.

"If you think that you can get away by hiding up there-" the boy tried to jab, only to stop when Masao leapt off of the underside of the cliffside.

The boy clearly had not expected him to go straight for him.

Masao did not let the moment of opportunity pass him Masao whipped the boy with his tail, launching the grey-skinned boy back into his group of friends and sending all of the five to the ground.

Rushing forward he grabbed one of the fallen students by their helmet protected head, raising it and then smashed it into the ground with enough force to knock the person out.

Giving the remaining four students a wet and gurgle-like hiss.

"Dude, I don't want to-" a boy with horns sputtered out while trying to get up but he swiped at them, stealing the flag from horn-boy's neck, tearing the flag and knocking the boy back down.

Masao swiped flags from the person he had pinned and then another from the person nearest to him.

Only to feel a sharp a reeling wave of cold that made his blood feel prickled, frost covering half of his face and his mind blanked on him for a moment.

Had he not had a heating system he could have been thrown into unconsciousness by his hind brain.

Instead, though, since he had his suit heating him up, he was able to turn to the grey-skinned boy that had originally led the group after him and hissed with his teeth fully bared as he crawled over to the boy.

Perhaps feeling somewhat vindictive, Masao took a smidge of feral joy in watching the fear creep into the grey-skinned boy's body and how he now reeked of fear as well.

Masao leapt onto the boy, his teeth tearing the grey-skinned boy's personal flag from his neck and into unusable shreds, dropping the ruins onto the boy's chest.

"Nice try." Masao hissed at the boy watching him like a deer in headlights.

Standing up to his full height Masao tore through the frost on his face, then left the five to escort themselves to where they would be going next.

Pausing only to tuck the personal flag from one of the students in one of his pockets, then went about searching for the other flag types he'd need to move on to the next part of the exam.

He unfortunately had to deal with a more than a few of the other examinees attempts to take him out.

With every few coming close to causing him genuine trouble as he sniffed out the flags.

Something that might have been harder if the flags were not made of a synthetic material he could smell with little flicks of his tongue, perhaps if they had not used dyes that smelled so strongly, he would not have found them as fast.

Finding flags buried in the sand, hidden in the cliff faces, and plucking one he was tossed in the middle of a cactus field with a rock.

Once all ten were collected he made his way to the waiting room, not surprised when he found himself to be the first of his friends to the room.

Not the first person certainly but more than happy to claim 'bragging' rights in the group for being the first person of the group there.

Masao made his way to the refreshments and poured a pitcher of water directly into his mouth.

His costume could help keep him from overheating but that did not stop him from becoming dehydrated.

Grabbing a plate, next he began circling the table to grab whatever would be helpful for Sunny before he picked up the largest of the crabs and placed them in the empty pitcher.

Done collecting his haul, Masao set himself up in the corner and began eating the crabs, content to wait for his friends to join him in their own time.

He was less surprised when Sunny was the first person to follow after him, whether Sunny used Masao's quirk or not his own animal-like instincts and senses would be a great help to him.

And Sunny's desire to avoid confrontation meant a focus on flag hunting and getting here.

Masao gave a soft thrill to catch Sunny's attention, one of his ears twitching before Sunny sharply turned towards him and sat right next to him in an attempt to hide away from the rest of the room.

"Here, eat." Masao said handing the plate to Sunny and wrapping his tail around Sunny in an indirect hug.

He was not sure where Sunny and Oswald's comfort level was now, they were officially dating each other, but tail comfort was not likely to cross any new lines for either of them.

Hado happily bounced into the room clearly proud of herself minutes later, with Haya walking inside side by side with her, one of the black metal rods in her hand.

Hado waved to them and then dragged Haya over to eat and drink something before the next part of the exam began.

Togota was not the last of them to come to the waiting room, that honor was Oswald's, the pinkette was also missing a foot and had replaced it with a homemade pegleg.

Something that course made Sunny sad once he saw that Oswald was missing part of himself.

Their group had plenty of time to regroup themselves, eating and taking a quick bathroom break.

Checking their gear and if they needed to patch it up.

Hado Happily recounting her time in the large area of mini-skyscrapers, Haya piping in about the water zone being rather similar to the water-rescue zone.

However, as the last hundred slots were soon to be filled, they became more serious once again.

"So, what do you think the next part of the exam will be like?" Haya asked them as she finished a series of stretches.

"Rescue work most likely, combat and rescuing civilians are the main parts of being an active pro-hero, our quirk use will be seen through it, and we have already shown them how well we handle combat." Masao answered.

"Yeah, that sounds like it'd make the most sense." Togota agreed, nodding his head then placed his helmet back on.

"So, how do we want to play it?" Togota further inquired.

Masao thrilled, lightly scratching as neck.

"Suneater, Sparkler, Lemillion and I should aid in rescue efforts, our quirks would be of best use there, Arcus did you finish and get approval for your new comms?" Masao replied turning to Haya.

"Yep, took a lot of work but they should be stable enough for us to use, the range is finicky though." Haya answered pulling on the small devices from one of her hidden pockets and passing them out.

"Good then you will help us coordinate with each other and any of the other students willing to be cooperative." Masao explained placing the new com on his crest before turning to Oswald.

"Given your bedside manner, do you want to provide us backup or aid Arcus with making a triage unit, Mellow?" Masao asked.

Oswald frowned "Triage, I know what shit to ask, and I can give bits of my hair to any kids. And Arcus can tell me if you guys need me." Oswald responded.

Masao nodded and looked out across the room of the other students to get a better idea of how many of each hero there was in the room with them.

However, appearances did not make a hero, Oswald's costume would have a great many confuse him for a lime-light hero and not an underground hero.

When the final person cleared the exam, and the area was emptied it was no surprise to Masao when the tv screens showing the arena allowed them to see the battle fields crumble before them.

"Dude is that... " one of the students from another school began to question.

"A recreation of the volcanic disaster of Hokkaido from the Dawning? Yeah, I think it is." a girl answered as they all stared at the ruined battlefield with fallen buildings and natural elements of the environments.

Lots of fire and ash in the air along with people that weren't there before terrified and looking for help.

Now for those of you who passed the first exam, this will be your last one.*The woman from before said over the intercom.

As you can see the field has fallen into disaster, your task will be to rescue all of the bystanders within the site as if you were already provisionally licensed, how you go about this exam will determine if you pass or not.*The woman clearly stated for them all.

And before you worry, all of the bystanders on the field are trained professionals from the H.U.C. and there should be no real medical emergencies.*The woman assured an ad for the company flashing across the tv.

You will be scored upon how you rescue each person, and if you do well enough, you'll receive enough points to pass the exam. You'll have ten minutes to rest and recover yourself before the beginning of the rescue portion of the exam.*The woman explained before the screen changed to add a count down at the bottom of the screen.

"Okay, how will that change things for us?" Haya questioned.

"Not by much, we'll need to wear protection for the smoke and ash and carry more protection for the people out there." Masao answered reaching into his pockets and offering the masks inside to Sunny and Hado.

Togota wouldn't be able to take masks with him, and Haya pulled up her neck covering to also protect her mouth.

Oswald remolded his face and his mouth and nose were covered by a thin layer of pink.

"Heads up, but I won't be much use here. Fire and I don't mix." Oswald added.

Considering what had happened to his mother and aunt that was an understandable limitation.

"That should be fine, just stay back and help Haya with the people we rescue." Masao replied, then motioned to the rest of the students with his head.

"You and Arcus should go and see if you can find others that will help you set up a safety zone for triage before the exam begins." Masao suggested.

"Got it." Haya said then moved to mingle with the rest of the students, Oswald giving a lock of hair to Sunny before going to follow Haya.