Night has befallen the forest. Jake is sleeping while Eve keeps watch with a flashlight.

Jake: *snores*

Eve: (Even in his sleep, he’s annoying... )

Eve looks at their bag of supplies.

Eve: (Between Jake and that bag, I’ve got a lot of weight to carry until Hayze gets back-)

Eve’s eyes widen, she looks down at Hayze’s dagger.

Eve: (He could have used this in his battle against Aaron’s team, yet he gave it to me to mark a path for him to follow. He was confident he’d at least survive to follow it. It’s cocky, but I kind of respect it.)

Eve stares at the dagger for a few moments when suddenly she hears the sound of leaves cracking. She jumps to her feet and readies the blade, frantically shining the flashlight around.

Eve: Who’s there!

Silence.

Eve: (I can’t fend off an attack from a team all by myself… this could be it!)

Eve hears leaves cracking again but much closer. She shines her flashlight in the direction of the sound: it’s Hayze.

Eve: Hayze!

Hayze passes out from exhaustion and falls onto the ground. Eve rushes to help him.

Eve: Jake! Wake up!

Jake farts.

Eve: UGH! YOU ARE SO USELESS!

Alec and Tobias sit across from each other with a campfire between them. Alec is sharpening his scythe.

Alec: So is this fire even necessary for you? You can’t see anyway.

Tobias: I get cold, you know.

Alec: *nasal grunt* Whatever.

Alec inspects his scythe.

Alec: We should be hunting, not sitting by a fire twiddling our thumbs.

Tobias: We will soon. But first, we must wait until the moon reaches a higher point in the sky.

Alec looks up at the moon. It's not even halfway up.

Alec: *grunts* That will be another hour at the least! We’re wasting time! With our skill sets, nighttime combat should be a priority! We should be using every second of the darkness to our advantage!

Tobias: We are a team of 2. We have a unique disadvantage that other groups could exploit. That’s why we must be intelligent with our plans. We must strike when our opponents are most vulnerable: their sleep.

Alec: Are you saying I’m not intelligent!

Tobias: No, I’m saying you aren’t never unintelligent.

Alec stares at Tobias for a second.

Alec: I’m going to assume that was a compliment.

Tobias: It was not.

Alec points his scythe at Tobias.

Alec: I’ll gladly kick your ass if you don’t change your tone!

Tobias smiles.

Tobias: If you think you could defeat me for one second, you’re a fool.

Alec clenches his fist.

Alec: OH YEAH?

Alec swings his scythe at Tobias. Tobias blocks the attack by grabbing the base of the blade.

Tobias: I’ve dealt with insolent brats like you before, Alec. Don’t make me embarrass you.

Alec thinks for a moment, then backs off.

Alec: Why did you forfeit in the Sports Festival? You were going to defeat that “insolent brat” that ended up winning the whole thing, yet nobody talks about that.

Tobias: I had already won the battle in my own eyes.

Alec: Is that supposed to be funny?

Tobias: Is it?

Alec: Whatever, I don’t get how you could just give up like that… that tournament was yours.

Tobias: Alec, I didn’t want the tournament.

Alec: Then what did you want?

Tobias: To humiliate the false hero. I may be blind, but I see the truth far better than anyone.

Alec: And what was that truth?

Tobias: Although we are in the hero course, we don’t all have good intentions.

Alden is standing by a campfire warming his hands. Angel walks over and hands Alden a bottle of water.

Angel: Drink; you need to keep your strength up.

Alden: Pfft, I’m already strong!

Angel: It’s kind of hard for me to take you seriously when I know you have a 40-pound ball shoved up your butt.

Alden shivers.

Alden: Don’t remind me…

Angel shakes the bottle.

Angel: Last chance.

Alden is reluctant but takes the bottle anyway and starts drinking. Angel sits down.

Angel: You gonna take a seat too?

Alden: I’d rather not sit down…

Angel: Right…

Silver is standing about 20 yards away from the campfire, looking out into the dark forest.

Alden: That guy is such an asshole…

Angel laughs.

Alden: What’s so funny!

Angel: Do you really have zero self-awareness?

Alden: I’m aware of my greatness!

Angel: Alright, that answers my question…

Alden: That guy thinks he can just push me around.

Angel: Lilith could push you around.

Alden: Hilarious joke, Angle.

Angel smiles.

Angel: Silver has been kind of intense, but I know that he has good intentions and wants us to pass no matter what, so I’m just going to stay out of his way and do what I can to help when he needs me.

Alden: *grunts* And that’s the difference between you and me. I’m not a beta; I’m an alpha.

Angel: Right…

Alden: I’m not going to let him walk all over me!

Angel: But… you already have…

Alden: I’M NOT GOING TO LET HIM WALK ALL OVER ME ANYMORE!

Angel: What do you think will happen when you inevitably go number 2?

Alden starts sweating.

Alden: I- I- um… I…

Angel: At least it will be easier the second time.

Alden: THERE WILL NOT BE A SECOND TIME!

Silver looks up at the stars.

Silver: (Tomorrow, we will hunt down our first and last opponents. I will pass this exam with flying colors. My failure in the Sports Festival taught me what I need to do to succeed now, but this time, failure is not an option.)

Silver walks over to Alden and Angel.

Silver: Alden.

Alden starts sweating profusely and turns white.

Alden: Y- ye- ye- yes?

Silver: Take this.

Silver detaches one of his canisters of silver and hands it to Alden.

Alden: Why is this so heavy?

Silver: You too, Angel.

Silver detaches another of his canisters and hands it to Angel.

Silver: Keep these on you when we’re on the move. It will expand my range of attack and hopefully catch our opponents off guard.

Angel: Right.

Alden: This is so heavy! I don’t want to!

Silver glares at Alden.

Silver: You will, and you’ll like it!

Alden: Yessir! Thank you, sir!

Silver starts walking back to the treeline.

Silver: You two can sleep. I’ll keep watch for a few hours, then I’ll wake you up, Angel, to switch.

Angel: Right.

Alden: What about me!

Silver: What about you?

Silver leaves to continue his watch.

Silver: (Hayze… you taught me two essential things: Always take my opponents seriously and always have an ace in the hole. Alden is annoying and nearly useless, but he’s a resource nonetheless, and Angel is the perfect yes-man for this operation. I don’t care who we fight tomorrow, as long as we are victorious… and we will be.)

Lilith and Gus search through the ruins of Hayze and Aaron’s fight. Lilith flashes their flashlight on the burnt stumps of trees.

Gus: This has Aaron written all over it…

Lilith: Yeah… but where is he?

Gus continues walking forward until he trips and falls into a crater.

Lilith: Gus!

Lilith runs over to the crater's edge and shines the light on Gus.

Lilith: Are you alright?

Gus: AH! I landed on my keys! Oh… that hurts… that hurts…

Lilith drops their supply bag and climbs down into the crater.

Lilith: I wonder what caused this?

Gus: Ah! Oh my god… it hurts…

Lilith: Gus, the fall was like, 3 feet.

Gus: Sorry, Lilith, it looks like you’ll have to go on without me; I’ll just lay here and die.

Lilith: Is this so you can nap instead of searching for Aaron?

Gus: *snores*

Lilith: (How did he fall asleep that quickly!)

Lilith hears a strange noise.

Lilith: Huh?

Lilith shines the flashlight on the center of the crater.

Aaron: *groans*

Lilith: Aaron!

Lilith runs over to Aaron and sees his current condition.

Lilith: Aaron! What happened?

Aaron: *groans* Don’t make me say it…

Lilith shines the light over Aaron’s gunshot wound.

Lilith: You got shot! Does that mean you lost to Wes!

Aaron: NO! I’D NEVER LOSE TO WES!

Aaron winces in pain.

Lilith: Gus! Can you- oh right. I’ll be back with medical supplies, Aaron.

Lilith leaves to get their supply bag.

“ Wes: Sure, you were able to handle one of your Howitzer Burst attacks, something that you’ve never been able to do before, which means your durability has gotten better, but that also means that the attack isn’t increasing in strength if you were getting stronger on both sides then that would mean that every time you get hit by the move you take the same amount of damage, no less, no more. “ - Chapter 58

Aaron: (What I’ve been doing has been working, but it’s not good enough anymore. I needed a fight like this one to confirm my suspicions: My fighting style is becoming obsolete as my opponents become stronger and stronger, I’m predictable. It’s time for me to evolve. It’s time for me to get better.)

Wes is fast asleep. Saige is heating their water bottle over a fire as Blair watches with her arms crossed.

Blair: What are you doing?

Saige: Having fun.

Blair is silent for a few seconds before taking a deep breath.

Blair: So, what’s your deal with Hayze?

Saige: My deal?

Blair: You showed up out of nowhere right before midterms, and just like that, you two are the best of friends.

Saige: Yeah, and?

Blair: *sighs* Did you like… know him before transferring or something?

Saige: No.

Blair: Then what gives! Why is he so chummy with you!

Saige giggles.

Saige: You seem kind of, oh what’s the word? Jealous?

Blair: Bitch, just answer my question!

Saige: May I ask you a question?

Blair: What...

Saige: Why do you care?

Blair is taken aback.

Saige: We’re stuck in this forest together for the next 4 days, and I know your problems with me stem from my friendship with Hayze, so we might as well sort that out now.

Blair looks off in the distance.

Blair: *sighs* I’ve only known fighting one way my whole life: who is stronger than the other. It’s why I battle the way I do, er well, the way I did. After just one month at U.A., it became clear that if I wanted to reach the top of the pecking order, I’d have to get stronger, but I didn’t know how to. But then came this guy who barely knew how to use his quirk, and he outsmarted and put Colossus on the ropes. That inspired me… I knew how I could improve: by doing what he did. So that’s what I did during my first fight at the Sports Festival, it’s how I won. Then he outdid himself by defeating Silver, the head honcho of our class. He wasn’t relying on his quirk, he was relying on himself, and I knew that’s what I needed to do. But then my second fight happened, and I was utterly annihilated. That was pretty demoralizing, and wouldn’t you know it, my opponent went on to face him in the next round. I ran into him just before his match, and I’ll never forget what he told me:

“ Hayze: Don’t ever tell me what I can’t do. “ - Chapter 23

Blair: That line has stuck with me ever since. No matter the challenge, no matter how powerful his opponent is, and especially no matter the odds, he doesn’t stop believing he’ll win. I aspire to have that kind of confidence in my abilities. That was when I knew I could learn a lot from him and wanted to be around him more. I saw him as a way to get stronger.

Saige laughs.

Blair: What’s so funny!

Saige: It’s cute that you made it all sound like it’s strictly business.

Blair: What does that mean!

Saige holds up her index finger.

Saige: First of all, you lost at the Sports Festival because you played your opponent’s game.

Blair: What?

Saige: You let her dictate how the match would go from the very beginning. You gave her all of the control. Obviously, the main goal of a fight is to win, of course, but a plan to have during the battle is to get your opponent on your terms. So, for example, she told you you had 3 moves to try and defeat her before she defeated you with one. So instead of trying to catch her off guard or possibly take advantage of her overconfidence, you simply went along with precisely what she said.

Blair: Well I-

Saige holds up a second finger.

Saige: Second of all, Hayze’s fighting style is unique to him and him alone; just mine is to me, and yours is to you. You can’t just copy how someone fights and expect it to work out 100% of the time. With that being said, that doesn’t mean you can’t use other people’s styles as inspiration to improve and expand upon your own. Always remember, if you can’t call something your own, it doesn’t belong to you, understand?

Blair: K- kind of.

Saige holds up a third finger.

Saige: Third of all, maybe you should actually try talking to Hayze?

Blair: What’s that supposed to mean!

Saige: You know why Hayze talks to me a lot? Because I took the time to build a friendship with him instead of assuming one would start on its own.

Blair: No, it’s because you’re a flirtatious floozy!

Saige: Hayze wouldn’t know a girl was flirting with him if she wrote on a piece of paper, “I’m flirting with you.” The moral of the story is that Hayze is a distant guy, that’s how he’s been his whole life, and that’s not going to change. And yes, I know you’re a stubborn and prideful girl, but if you want to get closer to him, something's gotta give, and trust me, you’re going to be waiting a long time before Hayze stops being distant.

Blair: I- I- I see what you’re saying…

Saige puts her hand on Blair’s shoulder.

Saige: Also, maybe tone down the whole beating up every man who slightly irritates you. It’s penis repellent.

Blair blushes with embarrassment.

Blair: That’s not! I- *sighs* Okay…

Saige: Good, now I’m going to go have some fun!

Saige starts walking towards Wes’ unconscious body.

Blair: What are you-

Saige: I’m going to put his hand in the water to see if that whole myth about people peeing themselves is true.

Blair: I… (You know what, don’t waste your time.)

Blair looks at the fire.

Blair: Th- thanks, Saige, I’ll think about what you said.

Saige: No problem, bestie!

Blair: DO NOT CALL ME THAT!

Saige: Awww, but I thought we were best friends now!

Blair: No! I still don’t like you!

Saige whimpers.

Blair: That doesn’t work on me!

Saige: Worth a shot. Oh, and by the way, you’re on watch duty all night tonight.

Blair: What! Why all night!

Saige: Blair, if you fall asleep around me, I will almost certainly remove your panties and wear them like a bandana for fun.

Blair: OVER MY DEAD BODY!

Saige: No, over your asleep body.

Blair grinds her teeth.

Blair: FINE! I will take watch all night!

Saige starts clapping.

Saige: Yay! Thank you, Blair!

Blair: Fuck you, slut!

Blair walks off. Saige stares at her with concern on her face.

Saige: (Oh well, I can’t stop her from liking Hayze.)

Hayze wakes up. He looks around and sees that he’s leaned up against a tree and his wounds have been bandaged.

Eve: It’s about time you woke up.

Hayze: *groans* Thanks, Eve.

Eve: Don’t mention it. It’s not like I had anything better to do.

Hayze gets up.

Eve: What are you doing?

Hayze: I can take watch for a while; you should rest.

Eve: I’ll pass.

Hayze: I know Jake hasn’t taken a single shift, don’t tell me you’re not exhausted.

Eve: It’s not that.

Hayze: So you don’t trust me?

Eve: It’s not that either… I just like doing things myself.

Hayze: I guess that makes two of us.

Eve and Hayze are silent for a few moments.

Eve: So what happened after we left? We heard that massive explosion and assumed that was it for you.

Hayze: Yeah, Aaron and I fought for a while.

Eve: And how did that go?

Hayze: I’d say well.

Eve: I assume you didn’t get their orb?

Hayze: No, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen since Lilith wasn’t with them.

Eve: So we had the numbers? Then why did you send us off?

Hayze: Why should we risk our orb when they don't have theirs?

Eve: I- ugh, I guess.

Hayze: We weren’t going to gain anything from fighting them, so it was better to run and live to fight another day.

Eve: Yeah, I know.

Eve and Hayze are silent for a few moments.

Eve: Here.

Eve hands Hayze back his dagger.

Hayze: Oh right, thanks.

Hayze takes back the dagger and loads it into his gauntlet.

Eve: You got along with just one of those?

Hayze: Yeah, I didn’t need it.

Eve: Of course, you didn’t.

Hayze: What does that mean?

Eve: You’ve defeated Silver and Aaron now, and you went head to head with Justus, so I’m just coming to terms with something.

Hayze: Coming to terms with what?

Eve: *sighs* That I was… wrong about you.

Hayze is surprised.

Eve: Get that look off your face! This isn’t an apology, but I will acknowledge that you aren’t the dead weight I’ve always treated you as.

Hayze: I’ll take it.

Eve: Good cause that’s all you’re getting.

Hayze: *laughs* So, why the sudden change of heart?

Eve: I already told you that.

Hayze: No, I mean, why did you feel the need to tell me that?

“ Silver: Gus has shown on multiple occasions that although he’s lazy, he doesn’t neglect his team and follows orders when needed. You’re strong, we know that, but if there’s anything we’ve all learned up to this point, it’s that strength isn’t everything. The Sports Festival was an ample opportunity for all of us, and we didn’t want to take a risk… and that’s how we viewed you. “ - Chapter 30

Eve: I have my reasons.

Hayze: Well then, I guess it’s time we addressed the elephant in the room.

Hayze and Eve both look back at Jake.

Eve: He’s useless; that’s all I can say at this point.

Hayze: He’s not useless.

Eve: How? We’re talking about the same guy, right?

Hayze: Jake is by far the biggest slacker in our class, and yet he hasn’t been kicked out of the hero course, so clearly, U.A. sees his potential.

Eve: I guess U.A. must be blind then…

Hayze: No… I think we’re just going about things the wrong way.

Demetri and Isaiah are next to a campfire. Isaiah is sitting while Demetri is lying on the ground writhing in pain. His nuts have swollen to the size of grapefruit.

Demetri: *groans*

Isaiah: Dude, we get it. You’re in pain; just shut up already.

Demetri: Fuck you! I can barely walk like this!

Isaiah: Switch out the ‘w’ for ‘t,’ and I’d be happy…

Demetri: God, you’re annoying.

Isaiah: Same for you, asshole.

Kevin is standing a distance away but can still hear Isaiah and Demetri.

Kevin: (It’s incredible how after everything those two have been through together, they still act like bickering step brothers…)

Isaiah stands up.

Demetri: Where are you going?

Isaiah: You know what, I’m sick of it!

Demetri: Sick of what?

Isaiah: I’m sick of being the butt of every joke. Nobody ever wants to be on our team, nobody ever takes us seriously, and nobody ever thinks we’re going to be good heroes!

Demetri: Who cares what they think! I know I’ll be great!

Isaiah: Really dude? It’s literally just me.

Demetri looks sad.

Demetri: *sighs* Yeah, I’m sick of it too…

Isaiah sits down.

Isaiah: It’s not like I can blame them, though… we’ve done it to ourselves.

Flashback to Isaiah and Demetri asking for Blair and Eve’s bra sizes in the first exercise against Hive Five.

Demetri: Yeah… yeah, we have.

Flashback to Isaiah and Demetri not being picked during the 2nd round of the Sports Festival.

Isaiah: We’ve had plenty of wake-up calls that we need to change, but we never do.

Flashback to Isaiah and Demetri getting beat up by Eve during the Sports Festival.

Isaiah: Honestly, though, the moment I’m least proud of is when I didn’t initially leave the cabin that night in the forest.

Demetri: Me too.

Isaiah: That was the moment where I realized I couldn’t get mad at the way our classmates were treating me because they were right.

Demetri: Every time we taste even the slightest bit of redemption, we always immediately go back to the bottom.

Flashback to Isaiah and Demetri asking for Ash and Eve’s pantie colors in the second exercise against Hive Five.

Isaiah: So what do we do? How do we break free of this cycle of mediocrity?

Demetri looks away.

Demetri: I don’t know, man. I’d say stop with our… “incidents,” but I think we both know that isn’t going to happen.

Isaiah: Yeah… you’re right about that.

Demetri and Isaiah are both silent.

Kevin: You don’t need to stop your “incidents,” just make them productive.

Isaiah: Kevin? You were listening?

Demetri: What do you mean by that?

Kevin: Trust me, you’re much better off figuring it out together.

Demetri: Together! I hate this guy!

Isaiah: Me too, but I hate him!

Kevin: There’s strength in numbers, remember that, and also, have you ever asked yourselves why you hate each other?

Isaiah and Demetri both are silent for a few moments before turning to look at each other.

Isaiah: Like it or not, we’re in this boat.

Demetri: And it’s our job to stop it from sinking.

Isaiah: Together.

Demetri: I hate you.

Isaiah: And I hate you.

Isaiah holds out his hand.

Isaiah: Friends?

Demetri shakes Isaiah’s hand.

Demetri: Friends.

Kevin smiles.

Kevin: (Maybe I can’t get them to like me, but I can get them to at least like each other.)

A drop of blood lays in the dirt; Killian dabs his finger in it and tastes it.

Killian: Not far…

Killian turns to Whitney and Gavin.

Killian: Looks like we just found our first victims.