Meanwhile, at the USJ, Midoriya was in his own brand of trouble. He, Uraraka, and Iida had arrived at the facility ready to train together. Once they got inside, though, a pair of talons flashed through the air and nearly gave Deku a haircut before slamming into the front wall.
"AWRRK! Sorry!" exclaimed a voice. A boy with the head, wings, and legs of an owl dropped to the ground. "Out of the way, hurry!" he added, running away from them hastily.
Uraraka tilted her head. "What was that about?" she asked.
Suddenly, a firework exploded above her head, nearly frying her own hair. A short, thin girl with blonde hair dropped through the smoke. "Get back here, Anso!" she yelled. "I'm not finished with you!" She shot more fireworks from her hands, using them to propel her through the air.
Chada, the Boxer hero, chased the other two next, but Iida stopped him. "What in the name of sanity is going on?!" Iida asked. "Two students just ran by us, and one looked like she was about to kill the other one!"
"Yeah, figured as much," Chada replied, panting from running after his friends. "Kira Firani. Pyrotechnic manipulation. Hot temper. Hates to lose. Going all out against Anso."
"How do you know that much about her?" questioned Uraraka.
Chada turned a world-weary smile on the Float girl. "She's one of mine," he answered. "Lives in the kid commune I run in Yokohama. Redemption's Road."
"Wait- you run a commune?" exclaimed Midoriya, wide-eyed.
"Yeah," Chada replied. "and this is the first year any of our heroes have been able to attend U.A. We got six in this time around."
"But... how?"
"Well, the Beetle kid, Butomu Rino, bombed the written part, or we'd have seven."
"No, I mean... how did you get the clearance to run a commune?"
"Ah. That's a complicated question." Chada sighed. "Short answer? I have friends in high places."
Iida snapped his hand to his forehead. "If you run the facility, and you're here-"
"I left another hero in charge, by the name of Jisei Henkasuru, the Surface Tension Hero. And now, I gotta get back to practice." Chada turned and ran after Firani and Anso. The three 1-A students looked at each other and shrugged, then went to the Earthquake Zone. There really wasn't a better place to practice physical combat, which all three specialized in.
Once there, another surprise hit the three. Uraraka saw a green blur shoot from building to building. The blur suddenly stopped short in midair and redirected itself, hitting what appeared to be a human covered in some sort of sludge. Both students were falling toward the ground with no visible means of staying in the air. Midoriya and Iida reacted immediately, running toward the place of impact.
The green blur landed a good punch and kick, then was thrown off of the goo user. Both of them were shocked, though, when they were separated and gently brought to the ground by Iida and Midoriya.
"Aw, man!" exclaimed Jotan, jumping out of Iida's arms. "I almost had you!"
"Says you!" replied a feminine voice. It took Deku a second to realize the voice was coming from the pile of goo he was holding in both arms, and another second to realize that he was holding a girl in a pile of goo. The sludge melted away, and a girl with light blue hair and green eyes hopped down and charged Jotan. Another ball of goo covered her fist as she stepped into a right hook, which blatantly missed Jotan and headed straight for Iida.
Uraraka jumped into the fray and touched Jotan and the girl, the latter of whom shrieking slightly as she was lifted into the air by her own force. Jotan turned to Uraraka in midair, resting his whole body in his hair. "So... Ochako Uraraka, Tenya Iida, and Izuku 'Deku' Midoriya... Joint training it is, then?"
His hair shot out and wrapped around Uraraka's waist. Deku jumped up and tried to grab her, but the hair simply pulled her farther away. The girl, meanwhile, reformed her goo shell and struck out at Iida, who promptly spun away, crying, "Don't get that on my uniform! You'd show disrespect to the company who made it and the school that gives it by doing so."
The girl hesitated. "Don't want my melee attacks? Fine," she murmured, raising one hand. "Have a Goomy instead!" A ball of goo broke off of her hand and shot at Iida with blinding speed, splattering onto his face. Midoriya ran forward and tried to help Iida, but the girl spun around and targeted him. "You aren't exempt from the Goomy tax, either!" she exclaimed, firing another ball of goo at him. It attached to his arm firmly, and he realized that it was moving on its own- and that it had a mouth that was about to chomp down on him.
"Hey! Arrk! 1-A guys!" yelled a voice. Anso dropped down from the air and swiped at Midoriya's arm. "I got you covered! Get the girl away from Jotan!"
That looked like it would be darn near impossible.
Jotan and Uraraka were nearing the tops of the buildings.
Jotan smiled down at his foes. "So, Uraraka," he murmured, "we're gonna be here a while. It doesn't look like you're gonna return my gravity any time soon, and I'm not releasing you until you do. Wanna talk?" He hesitated. "Oh, wait, sorry." He removed his hair from her face. "Okay, now do you want to talk?"
Uraraka shook her head and spat out a black hair. "What gives?! We just got here, and you're trying to kill us!"
"I'm what gives," replied Jotan. "I assume you know where we're from. The Redemption's Road heroes were having a training match... a team battle, if you will. Your friends separating me and Shiori kind of broke the vibe. And I don't take kindly to having my vibe broken."
"Sounds kind of selfish," Uraraka snapped.
"Maybe so," Jotan said, a tendril of green hair rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "but isn't it natural for someone who can't feel?"
"What?"
"My Quirk, Insomnian, basically reverses the functionality of my hair cells and my nerve cells. I can move my hair freely, but..." He shrugged. "I can't feel my body at all. And on top of that, my affected nerves are directly connected to my right brain."
Realization sank in, and it hit the girl hard. "You... you have..." Uraraka was speechless.
"No emotion or expressive ability whatsoever." Jotan smiled. "So I just... do whatever. Try to get what enjoyment I can out of life. That's why I became a hero... because my Quirk limits me, limits every area of my life. I want to get rid of those limits."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Uraraka. "You barely know me."
Jotan thought a moment. "Because I knew you'd listen. My fellow RR members, they've heard it all before, and they say 'go for it'. I wanted someone to tell me I was wrong, because then I know they're listening. And you..." He smirked. "You let your guard down way too easily."
Suddenly, his hair swung down, throwing Uraraka at Iida, who'd just bounded off the wall of a building to catch her. She slammed into him, quickly making them both weightless and releasing Jotan, who dropped into a different building. He looked at Uraraka from the other side, and she glared daggers at him. "You jerk!" she yelled. "Psycho!"
"Why, thank you, m'lady," Jotan replied, bowing noncommittally. "It's an honor to have the truth told of you, more so than a compliment!" And with a loud cackle, he was gone, off to find and harass Firani.
"Uraraka, are you okay?" asked Iida.
"I'm fine," she replied, dusting herself off. A green hair clung to her, and she swiped it away in disgust. "Is he okay?!"
"I've never seen a Quirk quite like his," murmured Iida. "It seems to have affected every aspect of his being."
"That's for sure. And none of it's good." Uraraka thought about Jotan's 'disorder'. He'd seemed normal enough... but then, so had Mineta, until she'd actually met him. What has that Chada guy gotten himself into? she thought.
Hello, everyone! I... Am... the Great Mighty Poo! LAAH! Anyways, I just wanted to thank those devoted few who actually follow the story, and ask a few questions.
1. What do you think of my Redemption's Road characters? I still have one to introduce, and that'll come later, but we've got Zan Shiori (Goo-ipulation), Ari Anso (Am-Owl-gamate), Azmoria Jotan (Insomnian), Sakiva Chada (Boxer), and Kira Firani (Fireworks) for now.
2. What should I do next- a canon event, or a non-canon one?
3. Any of Jaxon's forms that need more time in the limelight? Look back at chapter 2 for a rundown on all of them.
Again, thanks to all of you! Remember to leave a review, and as always, happy reading!