BOOM!
The ground jerked suddenly beneath Ochaco's feet, and she jolted forward, just barely catching herself before she could tumble into another pedestrian. Steadying herself, she looked up from her phone in alarm.
The Shibuya crosswalk was bustling with life as usual, crowded and thick, but all around, people began stumbling to a stop, reacting in confusion to the sudden tremors and a now very noticeable rumbling in the distance. Ochaco glanced nervously from side to side, trying to find the source, but there was nothing- nothing except the quakes and that ominous, ominous growl.
Phrases of 'What's going on?' and 'What's happening? 'rippled throughout the crowd, echoing from all sides and only thickening the tension in the air. Ochaco quickly pocketed her flip phone, disregarding the text she was writing and instead pulling the pocket camera from the folds of her jacket. It tittered as it woke, the lens popping out enthusiastically, and she rushed to hit video.
Her actions couldn't have been more timely. Because five seconds after the video began, the diamond center of Shibuya split open with a skull-jarring crack!
Debris flew outward with the force of a hurricane, and bystanders were flung back like dolls on marionette strings. Shrieks rung out and footsteps thundered as people desperately leaped the get away. Ochaco struggled to keep her footing as people stampeded past, moving in a small arc and anxiously keeping the camera fixed on the action in front of her.
Right there in the middle of the crosswalk, an incredible three meter hole crumbled outward, the center of which protruding an insanely large, meaty fist. Dirt and scum trickled through the clenched fingers, flicking outward as the hand promptly splayed, arm flinging to grasp the road and haul up the body attached to it.
Ice settled in Ochaco's lungs as the grotesque grizzly bear of a man climbed up into the streets, the camera beginning to shake in her hands. With a face like King Kong and muscles the size of tractor tires, this was no ordinary man.
"Akuma," Ochaco breathed.
Clothes hung torn and ragged off the man's bulging body, ripped apart from when he'd grown in size. He bared sharp teeth and veered his massive head left and right, snarling his menace to the screaming civilians all around.
"It-It's an Akuma," Ochaco stammered quietly, trembling fingers moving to zoom in on his face. "Fo-Fourth one this week, and it's only We-Wednesday. I'm here in Shi-Shibuya, about tw-twelve meters away-"
"WHERE ARE THEY?!"
The bellow was wretched and immediate, cutting into Ochaco's report and causing everyone in the vicinity to jump. He stomped a humongous foot into the blacktop, a resounding crunch following the jagged indentation in the road. "WHERE ARE THOSE ACCURSED BRATS?!"
Accursed who? Ochaco thought wildly as she staggered back several steps, heart nearly beating out of her chest. But there was no time for her to question the demand. Just then, the villain's eyes came to rest on her, and her heart dropped right into her shoes.
Like a banging drum he released a warbling shriek, his voice bouncing among the buildings and alleyways of the city, and he bolted forward with the speed of a freight train. In sudden terror Ochaco lurched back, but she stumbled on a loose piece of debris and fell onto her rear, her voice shrilling in her throat as the man dove in for a devastating blow-!
Crack!
...
...Huh...?
Brown eyes peeked open, one at a time. Arm raised in a last pathetic defense over her face, Ochaco twitched. She was not dead. Instead, she was lying in the shadow of the one who saved her life.
She gasped, once again lifting the camera. Panting just in front of her, someone donned in lively green dug craters into the pavement with their bright red shoes, arms crossed above them to block the heavy blow from above. The bodysuit was fuzzy and warm-looking, complete with fur trim and a cotton tail. It'd be hard to mistake him for anyone else- the Symbol of Hope himself.
The word on her tongue tasted sweet with relief. "Rabbit!"
He was there like a guardian angel, pushing back against the villain with all his strength. The floppy ears of his mask dangled flat against his curly hair, and his lean limbs shook ever so slightly with strain. Nevertheless, with freckles peeking out from beneath his mask, he gave Ochaco a bright, winning smile.
"Everything is okay!" Rabbit told her cheerfully. A pant was still evident in his voice, but his grin never wavered. "I'm here, now."
Ochaco felt her heart flutter at his words and she beamed in spite of her situation- she couldn't help it, the hope he radiated was just too contagious. She turned her attention back to the villain just as Rabbit did, and watched right up close as Rabbit veered back a gloved hand.
"Detroit-!" She could almost hear the pure power crackling within his arm. Suddenly, she remembered something, and she quickly braced herself behind him as he shouted; "Smash!"
It all happened so fast that Ochaco barely had time to think, or even worry about getting it all on camera. A split second of pause right on contact- and then the force of the punch sent the villain piercing through the air and right into the side of a building, so incredibly fast that it barely took the entirety of a second. Dust plumed out from where the villain hit brick, the 'crash' that accompanied it echoing through the alleyways even now. The wall creaked and people staggered in crowds away from the site, giving it a good chunk of breathing room.
Rabbit wasted no time. He quickly turned and held out a hand- his other one, she noticed- for Ochaco.
"Can you stand?"
His eyes were incredibly green. They shone with energy; physically and metaphorically of course, filled to the brim with confidence and magic. Ochaco could only gaze straight into them with awe and wonder, comparing them to polished emeralds and wondering who on earth had the right to be so amazing.
She suddenly realized she was staring, pointing her camera right at him. She jolted and flushed, reaching out to take the hand he offered. His cream-colored glove was leathery and rough. "Ye-Yeah. Thank you."
"Good." He grinned- he was always, always grinning... she'd never seen him with a frown on his face before- and pulled her to her feet. He fell right back into a battle stance, squinting at the place where he'd thrown the villain. "Okay. The police should be on their way. You'd better get somewhere safe."
"Ye-Yeah. Thank you!" Ochaco stammered, already backing away.
The bystanders had already chosen a comfortable perimeter around the fight, a safe ways off from where Rabbit was preparing himself for round two, and Ochaco hurried to meet them. A few strangers quickly looked her over to ensure she was okay, asking her if she injured herself at all, but she kindly waved them away. After all, she was far less shaken than she was excited; giddy as a kid on Christmas. She got to see Rabbit right up close-right up close!- and now she had a fantastic view of a villain fight. She trained her camera on the scene, shivering with anticipation, and let it unfold.
Across the road, the villain was already picking himself up off the ground, shaking concrete crumbs like a dog would shake off water. He growled viciously, eyes smoldering and fixated directly on Rabbit.
"THERE YOU ARE."
Rabbit smirked-a wide, confident smile that reached the gleaming green of his eyes beneath his mask- and he crouched farther into a fighting stance. "Here I am."
Like the snapping of thunder in a storm, the akumatized villain bellowed in rage. He tensed every bulging muscle in his gigantic body, ready to pounce at a moment's notice-
But he didn't get so much of a chance. Because that was right when an ear-piercing BANG snapped the villain off his balance, sending him tumbling several meters to the left as the enormous, sudden burst of fire was left to die in the air. Ochaco jerked to find the source of the explosion, swinging her camera all around.
Smoke sweeping the area like fog, Ochaco could barely see where a tall silhouette swooped in, landing a few somersaults and hopping up beside Rabbit. She zoomed in with the lens, enhancing the picture.
"Hey there, Cottontail~" A low voice purred, and smoke thinned around a handsome, angular face, framed with spiky blonde hair and twitching, fluffy wolf ears. "Miss me?"
"You sure took your time," Rabbit grumbled, and then jerked to cry "Look out!" just as the villain came bursting through the settling cloud, charging straight at them. He missed, though just barely, with Rabbit and his companion dodging the big meaty fists by a hair. The villain barreled past the heroes and couldn't stop, instead skidding right for the bystanders nearby. The crowd rippled with shouts and the line drew back several meters, Ochaco stumbling to follow all while keeping her camera on the fight.
The villain screeched to a stop only a couple meters away, his gigantic body blocking out most of the picture where Ochaco's camera was pointed. But it wasn't for long, because he was already up and ready again, roaring once more in the general direction that the heroes must be.
"What are they going to do?!" A woman nearby shrilled, and Ochaco reacted, pointing toward her and getting an accidental close up on her face. "He's enormous! They're never going to get his akuma!"
"What are you saying?" A man on Ochaco's other side argued determinedly, and the camera immediately went to him. "Of course they will! This is Rabbit we're talking about! He knows exactly what he's doing!"
"And do you see that who's with him?" another woman yelled excitedly, pointing. "That's the Lone Wolf!"
"With both of them together, they're sure to come out on top!"
"They're so powerful!"
"Look at them now! They're getting ready to attack! Young lady, are you getting this?"
Ochaco felt her lips twitch upward and nodded. Both Rabbit and the Lone Wolf were in her sights now, fists clenched around their weapons- a harp and a baton respectively- and grinning up at the villain, now in the center of the crosswalk instead of looming in front of the crowd. It was a perfectly placed picture, all captured in the screen of the camera. "I've got it all."
Rabbit gripped the harp in his hand, his fingers slipped between each of the strings to get a better hold. It was the shape of a teardrop, and sharp along the curve, making it fantastic for a handheld axe or a blunt force weapon, but the real magic came through the music. If Rabbit managed to tear the Akuma out of the villain, he could play a melody to cleanse it. The hard part was getting close enough to the villains to get the Akuma. But that's what the Lone Wolf was for.
The Lone Wolf's black baton twirled between his fingers, the threat played up by the sharp toothed smirk on his face. There were two burlap diamonds attached to each end of the baton that held in an explosive material that combusted on impact. Whatever Lone smacked with a diamond promptly detonated, and the best part was that there was no limit to how many times he could use these explosions. Well, none that anyone knew of.
The baton was perfect for long range combat, and in addition to Rabbit's close range harp, they made a force to be reckoned with.
Lone swung first. The baton stretched and grew several meters in order to reach the villain- just one of the many magical properties it possessed- and exploded strongly on impact, sending the villain stumbling off to one side.
Next, it was Rabbit's turn- the green superhero soaring in from the left so quickly that Ochaco couldn't even process how he got there, and the harp bludgeoned the villain's face so hard that Ochaco could hear the crack even from all the way across the crosswalk.
The villain reacted immediately, grabbing Rabbit's leg and swinging him in a wide arc before letting him fly straight into the side of a building. But Rabbit was fast- faster than human. The moment he landed, red shoes on brick, he springboarded right back.
In the split second it took for Rabbit to bounce back, Lone struck, blasting the villain from behind to catch him off guard. Then he swung up like an acrobat, wrapped the baton around his throat, and yanked him backward into a chokehold, effectively rendering him shocked just as Rabbit came in from the front, swiping the blade of his harp at an accessory Ochaco never noticed before- a thick belt around his waist.
The belt snapped in two, and a blast of wind burst forth, purple mist spewing out and relasing a large, winged creature, which promptly fluttered away into the sky. But Rabbit was two steps ahead. Like a boomerang, he threw the harp out and it soared in an arc, catching the butterfly in its strings. Rabbit leaped to fetch it as it came back, and, wasting no time, strummed three chords.
The harp glowed brightly, enveloping the dark purple butterfly in a fleeting, almost angelic light. The light pulsed, and burst out, and then, like a shooting star, the butterfly, now white as snow, took flight.
"Bye bye, little butterfly," Rabbit breathed, watching it go.
The light from the harp expanded and swept out over the area, reversing the damage to whatever it touched. The crosswalk, the buildings, and the road all repaired, leaving Shibuya as though it hadn't been touched.
Ochaco and the others stood by in awe, watching everything patch together like magic. The camera struggled to focus through all the blinding light, and turned out blurry when the magic finally died. She managed to clear up the picture just as the villain dissipated into waves of purple mist, leaving nothing behind except a confused, groggy looking man in what appeared to be a wrestling costume.
Lone grinned at Rabbit, leaning up on the other hero's shoulder and pulling his attention. He held up a closed fist. "Go beyond, baby."
Rabbit chuckled softly, bumping the fist with his own.
"Plus Ultra."
Ochaco had never been interviewed before in her life, making the onslaught of crazy questions a bit too much for her to handle.
Rabbit and Lone had left long before the press arrived, which was probably for the best. As much as it saddened Ochaco that she couldn't get more pictures or details on the heroes, she understood how overwhelmed they'd get by the sudden onslaught of anchors.
After all, the press that surrounded the crosswalk were thick in numbers and crowded the area even more than the bystanders had. There was a giant camera everywhere Ochaco turned, and a journalist always within an arm's length. They were all over the story that was the- now purified- Akuma, flooding the poor man with various interrogations, wanting to know as much about his Akumatizing as possible, but there really wasn't much the man could say. All memory flies out the window during such an episode. It was really all up to the witnesses to testify.
And Ochaco was not just any witness. She was a witness with footage.
"Excuse me, young lady, is it true you caught the whole thing on video?" One of the anchors asked excitedly, shoving a microphone in her face.
"Are you planning to release it to the public?" Another one jumped in.
"What about the picture and audio? What did you manage to catch?"
"Well, uh..." Ochaco chuckled awkwardly, trying to ward them back with her hands. It was a little overwhelming to have so many questions thrown at her at once, but nevertheless, she felt she had to take advantage of it. After all, What was the shame in self advertisement in situations like this? "Yes, I plan to upload the video to my blog! Are any of you familiar with the Heroblog? It's a page dedicated exclusively to Rabbit and the Lone Wolf! Pictures, articles, videos, theories! Run by yours truly. Look me up, join the herofam!"
As the anchors nodded and laughed, Ochaco smiled. Rabbit and the Lone Wolf were a uniting factor that brought people together in wonder and hope.
They were so otherworldly. So fascinating!
Now if only she knew who they were.
"Miraculous Ladybug and My Hero?" Believe it or not, this is actually pretty fun to write. I'll be posting hopefully every week, each chapter an episode. Let me know what you guys think! Reviews are very welcome!
-DFTM