”Some breeders are honestly the worst, really.” she’d huff a little as she still impressed a quick bout of first aid upon her new cat-loving friend.

There were plenty of nice ones she had met, but some simply saw the cats as breeding stock to sell and use up like they were worth nothing, at it made her really mad to think about innocent cats being treated without the love and devotion all of them deserved.

If those breeders were such asses about it, there were plenty of good people that could treat their cats a thousand times better.

Hearing the lady question whether or not working with cats is part of her hero work, she looked up with a slight blush on her cheek. ”Oh, uh… Well no, I just really like cats… really.” she’d stammer as an answer.

”If I wasn’t able to be a hero, I’d probably have become a veterinarian or some such. And I figure, being a hero isn’t mutually exclusive with being a friend to all cats, right?” she’d remark with a warm smile as she put the finishing touches upon dealing with the scratches on the lady’s hand.

”Well, unless it was like an evil giant megacat that wants to destroy Tokyo! Like Godzilla, or Purrzilla if you will!” she’d muse, her head immediately lost in a fluffy cloud of kittens again.

---

”Well, I would rather want to show you, but I doubt the lunch ladies will appreciate it if I showed off its special feature in here.” she grinned with a slightly devilish smile.

It was a big one, and definitely not one for the faint of heart. So casually she pointed to the exit so that they could go outside, and she made sure to nab a granola bar off Elijah’s plate before they left.

A little payment for now, because all that engineering and inventing had worked up a heck of an appetite.

”So well, the best way I can describe the little secret in your fancy new arm as… “Absolutely En Fuego.”” she explained, being as vague as possible.

She took a bite from the bar, but kept part of it from being victimized by her ever voracious appetite.

Once they were outside, she would hop back a few paces before raising her throwing arm. She was no softball champion, but she could probably hit this shot.

”Okay, clench your fist and then whip your elbow backwards!”[/font[ she’d tell him, revealing the way to activate the fancy secret.

And just as he would do so, she’d use her strength to throw half the granola bar straight at Elijah, in the hopes that he would somehow figure out how to use his new tool…

…One of those trial by fire tricks… Literally.

---

Elijah |

”Oh man, tell me about it. I actually busted a few ribs during the practical!” she’d regale as she let out a deep breath.

It had been a while, but the exam had properly kicked her ass something fierce. But if anything it had been a lesson in that everything afterwards would only be harder, and that if she couldn’t take a few lumps facing off against a bunch of drones, then she shouldn’t be a hero anyways!

”We had to save a bunch of civilians from criminals and some nasty monsters during a crazy storm, it was… well… super crazy!” she exclaimed as she further explained her story.

She hadn’t heard anybody else’s experience other than her own and the two students that she had done the exams with. So she was somewhat eager to hear other people’s experiences.

”What about you? Let me guess, one of those firebug villains who tried to set Shibuya on fire!” she pondered with an eager smile.

---

Letting out a laboured sigh, Johanna would welcome the knowledge that the active dangers were averted. And with such a drop in adrenaline would come her mind flooding with all the little niggles and bumps that she had sucked up in the past fifteen minutes.

”I’m… probably glad that I don’t have to go another round.” she called back to Prism with pained humour in her voice.

She’d let about half her metal plates drop to the floor, the lack of weight on her body making it feel like she was almost floating for a few seconds.

But there was no time to truly rest, the civilians were still very much in danger and it was their job to ensure that they wouldn’t be. The weather had gotten worse, dramatically so, and even her inexperienced mind could quickly figure out that staying in place was not the perfect solution to the problem.

But Prism’s expectations of her powers were maybe a bit too farfetched too, although they couldn’t be blamed for aiming high.

”Well I can armor whatever I hold, but I doubt I can make a shield large enough to keep everyone safe from all sides, and if I covered them in plates then they would get weighed down too much.” she explained, feeling a twinge of guilt about not being able to do the cool elaborate thing that would be super helpful.

But even she had her limits, and she was a would-be hero in training, not a true hero capable of doing such feats… Not yet, she hoped…

Without waiting on Oberon to suggest, she figured she at least had to offer some idea.

”I don’t think hunkering down is safe either, but if we could find a room that hasn’t been compromised, I could use my abilities to fortify it long enough for hopefully the weather to become less dangerous.” she posed.

She was no structural engineer, but perhaps it was better than expecting civilians to run headlong into an unrelenting storm.

---

Despite her best attempts to look brave and unyielding, the more she took breaths the more she still felt the aftereffects of going through a wall at high speed, but in situations like this she had to keep her shoulders high and her face pointing towards the enemy.

Civilians depended on her, if she couldn’t do it here then why would she even be looking to be a hero anyways? And the words from the civilians breathed further life back into her as she rebuilt her shield and mace.

”Back for round two, are you boys?” she’d growl a little under her breath as the goons had picked themselves back up, and seemed rejuvenated now that their leaders had entered the fray.

She’d take a step forward and threw a heavy low swing at the group, one that was more meant to push them back rather than take their feet out from under them. But as she did, a duo of them would try to split off and go at the civilians cowering.

”Take on someone who can fight back, cowards!” she yelled at the two as she used her uncanny swiftness to close the distance and tackle them off their feet.

But with her back turned towards the rest, it would mean they would see their chance to try and launch an attack at her back, which she had left relatively unarmoured in favour of frontal defence.

Most of their attacks were lazy and unguided, clanging off her armour and at best chipping bits and pieces off it. But one would strike lucky against the inside of her knee, causing to buckle for just a second.

She’d use her mace to keep her standing only just, as she looked at the civilians. ”I will deal with these bozos, be sure to stay back.” she’d tell them with an amount of authority on her voice that she’d not usually use.

With her staggered, all the hyena’s attention would be towards her, the biggest and most exciting target. They wanted to take her out, have some bragging rights among their goon friends, but Johanna was only beginning as she stoically let her armour endure the barrage, letting it slowly whittle away.

Time was on her side, and she trusted her allies to come through.

---

Johanna’s smile, like so many times, was absolutely beaming positively towards Freja as they talked about excitement.

”Pleased to meet’cha, Freja!” she’d exclaim. ”And ‘Retry’ is an awesome hero name, by the way!” she’d add.

It was cool, it was mysterious too. Definitely matched the cool vibes Freja seemed to have about her, Johanna reckoned to her internal monologue.

”Oh yeah, I’d love to walk around the campus, there’s so much cool stuff I still want to see. Like did you know they have an entire building that can simulate any and all situations, like both holographically but still which you can feel physically!” she’d exclaim.

Undoubtedly Freja had also been through the USJ, as everyone who had done the official entrance exam had to. Although Johanna had heard there were a very select few every year that get in directly because of how talented they are.

---

”Wait, the orange ones?!” she looked dumbfounded at the boy, before her smile exploded back to life. ”I LOVE the orange ones, too! It’s such a cool fur colour, especially when they’re lounging in the sun and they’re like a little fluffy ball of golden beauty!” she excitedly added.

She nodded along intently, as if the two of them had deep philosophical debate. ”For real, for real. The dumb ones are cool too, when they try to jump from place to place and they completely mess up, but they totally try to act all cool about it, I love that too!” she’d agree some more as she admired his collection.

The boy’s name was Hyousuke, and from the moment they had walked in there was already a kinship forming, Johanna could feel that. Two people who definitely knew how to appreciate cats in all their glory.

”Pleased to meet you, Hyousuke! I think you might be the very first official member of Cat-Club, other than me of course! And I can clearly see you know your stuff about cats, too! she chattered excitedly.

---