Chapter 116: The Golem Stampede! A Trampoline Called Mina!

"Ahhhhhhhhh! How the hell did this even happen?!"

Ren's shout bounced across the entire hillside as he sprinted at full speed with a whining dummy pressed against his chest. The rescue test had begun, and just like he'd suspected from the very first second, it had turned out to be hell in every sense of the word.

Behind them, a stampede of earth golems kicked up clouds of dust and shook the ground with every step.

"Who was the genius who thought this was a safe simulation?!" Ren bellowed, dodging a root sticking out of the trail while the dummy let out another annoying groan right in his ear.

A few steps ahead, Mina was running with her own dummy in her arms, accidentally blocking the path as her legs pumped at full throttle.

"Pinky, move your butt! I'm not gonna die getting crushed while hauling a dummy!" he shouted, giving her rear a shove with one foot.

"Huh?! Hey, you brute, my legs are already working overtime!" Mina stumbled a little from the kick, but she immediately turned her head with a defiant grin. "If you've got so much energy for shoving, why don't you use it to carry another dummy! Besides, I'm the one saving the day here!"

"Saving the day would be not having five stone bears breathing down our necks!" Ren shot back, the air burning in his lungs.

"Aw, don't be such a killjoy!" Mina laughed, giving a little hop over a fallen log without losing rhythm. "Just focus on running, lightbulb head!"

*

One hour earlier.

An exhausted Ren and an energy-packed Mina waited on the Wild Wild Pussycats' instructions after Tiger's infernal training. His legs still felt like jelly, while she kept bouncing on the spot with a smile that refused to fade.

Ragdoll was standing in front of a huge, colorful spinning wheel, shifting from side to side with barely contained excitement. The funny thing was that every single slot on the wheel had exactly the same option written on it: "Mountain Rescue Exercise."

"Alriiight, my adorable little kittens!" Ragdoll exclaimed, gripping the handle with both hands while giving a couple of excited hops. "You did suuuper well on the warm-up!! And so, drumroll please, dun-dun-duuun! Your prize is...!"

The wheel spun with a screeching racket and, after several dramatic revolutions, landed exactly where everyone knew it would: "Mountain Rescue Exercise."

"An all-expenses-paid trip to the mountains for a biiiig rescue exercise! Isn't that exciting?!" Ragdoll cheered, clapping her hands. "How thrilling! Lady Luck was on our side!"

"Wow, I can't believe it! We won!" Mina applauded with genuine enthusiasm, playing along without spotting the trap.

Ren looked at the wheel, then at Mina, and decided to keep his comment to himself.

Uh, seriously? Mina, I expected more from you.

Mandalay stepped forward with a small smile, cutting Ragdoll off before she could keep improvising.

"Alright, now pay attention. The rescue training consists of three phases, and you'll need to pass every one of them to complete it," she explained calmly, folding her arms. "The first will test only your physical conditioning. Use of your quirks is strictly forbidden. We'll be supervising you at all times, and as for the dummies..."

"And you two better not try to cheat!" Pixie-Bob cut in, hanging off Ren's arm and pressing her ample chest against him. "I'll be watching you from start to finish! And you..." She pointed at him with a wink. "You better behave, handsome. I don't want you breaking my heart so soon!"

"Ahem, Ryuko, could you please behave yourself?" Mandalay asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, yeah, captain, geez. Don't be so uptight, Mandalay, I can give good instructions too," Pixie-Bob protested, straightening up without fully letting go of Ren. "Look, ahem, ahem. Continuing with what our dear leader was saying, THIS IS GONNA BE A SUPER FUN RESCUE EXERCISE!"

Ren raised his hand toward Mandalay to ask a question, and in the motion, his arm accidentally brushed Pixie-Bob's chest. The heroine blushed and, far from pulling away, pressed even closer against him with a mischievous little laugh. Ren blinked, a little stunned by the reaction.

What a way to motivate a tired young man. I wonder if I can smuggle her back to Musutafu as carry-on luggage.

"Yes, Ren? What's your question?" Ragdoll asked, jumping in ahead of Mandalay.

"Ah, yeah, sorry, I got a little distracted," he admitted, clearing his throat. "The thing is, you mentioned three phases, and it wasn't totally clear to me how they work. Could you explain, please?"

Beside him, Mina raised her hand with a couple of bounces, unable to stand still.

"Oh, and one more thing! Pixie-Bob said this was gonna be fun, but, uh, fun for us or fun for you guys? Because I feel like the answer might be a little scary," she said, scrunching up her nose. "And there's no way I wanna end up covered in mud again!"

"I'm so glad to see you both this committed, kittens," Ragdoll answered. "The truth is, the exercise will be split into three stages. The first will be in the mountain zone, where you'll have to pull two dummies out from the rubble."

"Oh, so, that's all?" Mina murmured, a little disappointed.

"Buuut!" Ragdoll raised a finger with a dangerously sweet smile. "There's one teeny tiny little detail! You'll do all that without using your quirks, while a bunch of earth golems created by Pixie-Bob chase you across terrain full of drops and unstable zones. Exciting, right?!"

Mina opened her mouth to answer, then decided to keep quiet.

"The second phase will be tomorrow, in the lake area!" Ragdoll continued, counting on her fingers. "For that part, you'll work in pairs! Only one of you will get to use your quirk, and the other will have to completely trust their partner to be rescued while you push through a ton of obstacles. And the third phase..." She pressed a finger to her lips. "Is a se-cret."

"A secret?!" Mina exclaimed, hands flying to her head. "Nooo! That's a million times worse! Now I'm gonna spend the whole night imagining the worst stuff! What if they make us cross a canyon dangling from a rope? Or fight a bear? Or a bear with a quirk?!"

"That's exactly the idea, cutie," Pixie-Bob said, winking at her wickedly. "A hero doesn't always know what's waiting for them. If you learn to improvise under pressure, you'll survive any mission."

Ren let out a sigh, feeling what little optimism he had left evaporate into the fresh mountain air.

Coming up to the mountains was definitely a bad idea.

*

Back to the present.

"I don't get it, this is supposed to be the first phase!" Ren panted, dodging a swipe from an earth bear that grazed his shoulder. "The first phases are supposed to be easy! So what the hell is this?!"

The dummy let out another annoying sound against his ear, and Ren was seriously tempted to chuck it off a cliff.

"Ren, use me as a trampoline!" Mina yelled from up ahead.

In the distance, he spotted a small stone wall cutting across the path. It wasn't Pixie-Bob's doing, just part of the mountain's rough terrain, and it was too tall to clear on the run. Mina was already dropping to a crouch on the ground, holding her own dummy, which was just as annoying as his.

Ren didn't think twice. He launched into a sprint and used Mina's back to push himself up, but when he landed on the other side and turned around, he saw several stone beasts closing in on her fast. He set his dummy on the ground, crouched at the edge of the wall, and held out his hand.

"Get up here, quick! We don't have much time!"

Mina grabbed his hand and pushed off hard, just as a huge bear claw ripped apart the ground where she'd been standing an instant earlier.

"Uwaa! That was way too close!" she yelped, landing safely beside him.

Now on top of the wall, Mina let out a nervous laugh and gave him a friendly elbow in the arm.

"Hey, Ren! We make an awesome team, huh?! With moves like that, we're gonna crush this in the blink of an eye!"

"Well, seems like you don't hate me so much anymore, so yeah, we make a good team," he admitted, picking up his dummy again. "Now... RUUUUN!"

The two of them took off running again, Mina hot on his heels. They tried to take a path that branched off to the left, but a stone elk and a giant stone rat burst out of the underbrush, blocking their way with guttural growls.

"No way through there! Let's go the other side!" Ren ordered, changing direction.

The new path had four stone dogs waiting for them, all lunging at once with their jaws wide open. The only way out was a narrow passage, and right in the middle of it stood another huge bear, planted in the middle of the trail with zero intention of moving.

"Ahhh, coming here was definitely a mistake," Ren groaned, looking in every direction while his mind raced a hundred miles an hour.

That's when an absurd idea popped into his head. He turned to Mina, weighing the odds.

"Mina, tell me, how strong are your legs?"

"My legs? They're super strong!" she answered instantly, puffing out her chest with pride. "After all that dancing and training, I can run, jump, and dodge attacks no problem. Don't underestimate the power of Ashido Mina! Plus, my reflexes are amazing, hehehe!"

"Perfect, that's what I wanted to hear!" Ren nodded at the bear in the passage with a look. "On the count of three, use me as a trampoline and smash that monster's face in, got it?"

And without waiting for an answer, he launched himself straight at the beast. Mina's eyes went wide.

"Huh?! Whaaat?! Wait, wait, I didn't catch what I'm supposed to d-"

"ONE!"

"Hey, no, no, no! Explain it to me again, 'cause I'm not following you at all!" she yelled, chasing after him despite her own complaints.

"TWO!"

Mina let out a strangled gasp and clenched her fists with sudden determination.

"Aaaah, fine, fine, I'll do what I can! But this better work, Ren!"

"THREE!"

Ren slid across the ground using the momentum of the run, ending up right under the stone bear, offering his back to Mina as a platform. She caught the plan in a split second. She sprinted at full speed, jumped, planted one foot firmly on Ren's back, and, without dropping her dummy, pulled off a midair somersault that ended in a monster kick against the bear's head.

"TAKE THIS!"

CRAAASH!

The earth beast burst into a thousand pieces on impact, scattering dirt and rocks all across the passage. Mina hit the ground from the force of the blow, stumbled backward, and was about to fall flat. Ren, still on the ground, reacted and pushed himself forward, grabbing the first thing his free hand could reach to break her fall, which happened to be Mina's butt.

"Huh?! Hey, hey, thanks for saving me, but... was that seriously the only part of my body you could grab?!" Mina exclaimed, cheeks slightly pink as she elbowed him in the arm.

Ren let out a tired laugh and immediately pulled his hand back, raising his palms in surrender.

"It was the first thing I found, I swear!" he defended himself. "It was that or let you bounce off the ground."

Mina huffed, though the smile came right back to her face.

"Well, I guess I forgive you, 'cause that kick was insane," she conceded, staring at the bear's remains with satisfaction. "Did you see how that monster exploded?! It was, like, perfect combat choreography, totally improvised!"

The two of them started walking again, still carrying their whiny dummies and trying to catch their breath between laughs.

"Although next time, gimme a little more than three seconds to prep, okay?" Mina asked, giving him a nudge with her shoulder. "I almost had a heart attack when you started counting!"

"I wasn't sure it was gonna work," Ren confessed, leaning a little on her so he wouldn't fall over.

"What do you mean you weren't sure?!" Mina stared at him with her mouth hanging open. "Of course it worked! I mean, look at us: you sliding under the bear, me pulling off a flying kick... We were spectacular!"

Then she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, barely containing her excitement.

"Although, honestly, you've got a special talent for dragging me into ridiculous situations."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ren answered, letting out a sigh as the finish line started to peek through the trees.

"You better!" Mina shot back with a laugh, adjusting her grip on the dummy. "'Cause if you start shouting again without explaining anything, the next kick might land on somebody else. And that somebody has a very shiny head, by the way."

"Threat noted," he said, drawing another laugh out of her.

Mina gradually slowed her pace as she noticed the exhaustion piling up on her partner. Ren was covered in dust and scrapes, his breath ragged and his legs shaking from fatigue.

"Hey, hang in there a little longer," she told him, with a sincere smile that softened all the earlier noise. "We're almost there, for real."

Ren turned his head toward her.

"Together?"

"'Course, partner!" Mina gave him a thumbs-up without losing an ounce of enthusiasm. "After everything we just survived, no way I'm leaving you hanging now. Come on, last one there carries both dummies back!"

"That's cheating, you're already ahead," Ren protested, forcing his legs to speed up.

"Talent isn't cheating!" Mina laughed, taking off toward the finish line with him right on her heels.

*

They crossed the last few meters almost at the same time, panting and cracking up, each of them dropping their dummy onto the safe zone marked with little flags. The instant the dolls hit the ground, they stopped whining, and a sharp beep confirmed that the extraction had been completed without any serious damage.

"WE DID IT!" Mina screamed, throwing her arms in the air before dropping backward onto the grass, her chest heaving at full speed.

Ren dropped down next to her, staring at the clear mountain sky while his heart kept pounding.

If this was the easy part, I don't even wanna imagine what the lake one's gonna be like.

A slow, enthusiastic round of applause broke the moment. Ragdoll came trotting down the slope, followed closely by Mandalay and a Pixie-Bob wearing a smile that was way too proud of her own cruelty.

"Meow! That was amazing, kittens!" Ragdoll cheered, the ears on her hat flopping around. "The sensors show zero damage to the dummies! And that flying kick, Mina, almost made me cry from the emotion!"

"Right?!" Mina raised a fist from the ground without bothering to sit up. "It was a total work of art!"

Pixie-Bob crouched down next to Ren and rested her elbows on her knees, sizing him up with a mischievous smile.

"Not bad for a pair of rookies!" she said, clicking her tongue in approval. "Although you, handsome..." She gave him a soft poke on the chest with one finger. "You look like you survived getting hit by a train. I think you need a recovery massage. And, coincidentally, this eighteen-years-young-at-heart big sister happens to give top-notch ones."

"Deal," Ren answered with a weak smile, without lifting his back off the ground. "But if you ask me to get up right now, that massage is gonna have to happen straight in the coffin."

Mandalay stepped closer with her arms crossed and a small approving smile.

"Good work. You managed to communicate under pressure, made quick decisions when the terrain shifted, and most importantly, you never left your partner behind," she said calmly, looking them both over. "You adapted, you protected each other, and you kept your cool. That's exactly what I expect from two rescue heroes. I'm proud of you both."

Mina sprang up with a start, her eyes shining with excitement at the praise.

"Really? We did good?" she asked, turning toward Ren with a grin. "Did you hear that?! We're officially the best rescue team on the whole mountain!"

"Let's not talk too soon," Ren muttered, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "We've still got two phases left, and something tells me I'm gonna suffer a whole lot more before this is over."

"Killjoy!" Mina gave him a little nudge with her elbow, without dropping the smile. "Let me enjoy the moment, will you? It's not every day a girl blows up a bear with a single kick."

Ragdoll gave a couple of hops and planted herself between the two of them, throwing an arm over each of their shoulders.

"Come on, kittens, you earned yourselves a break and a huge dinner!" she announced, tugging on them to pull them up. "Although, heads up, Mina, I've still got to crack the big mystery of why my Search can't see Ren's cute little head. I haven't forgotten, huh! That puzzle is mine!"

"That again?" Ren let out a sigh as the heroine dragged him down the slope. "I already told you, my head is a super boring place, not worth the visit."

"That's exactly what's the most suspicious part of it all!" Ragdoll insisted, laughing hard. "Nobody has a head so boring that it doesn't even show up on the radar!"

Mina was walking on the other side, getting her strength back with every step, and used the moment to shoot Ren a knowing look.

"I wanna know that secret too, huh?" she said, lacing her hands behind her head. "A guy that not even a quirk can read... that's straight-up novel material. You gotta tell me everything someday, lightbulb head!"

Great. Now I've got a pro hero and a nosy pink girl chasing the same secret.

"When I figure out that mystery myself, you'll be the first to know," Ren promised her, giving a tired shrug.

"That counts as a promise!" Mina celebrated. "And I never forget a promise!"

As the group made their way back down toward the cabin between laughs and complaints about sore muscles, Ren allowed himself a moment to breathe deeply. The mountain was still a merciless enemy, dinner was waiting for them, and somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, he had, against all odds, started to feel like he was actually part of a real team.

One phase down. Just two to go: a treacherous lake and a weird secret. But hey, at least the view is nice, and the company's even nicer.

Behind them, the slope was covered in golem debris and the tracks of a chase neither of them would forget, while Pixie-Bob was already reshaping the terrain for the next day's surprise.

**********

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