Emerald Lightning
Disclaimer: I do not own DC comics, Gonjiki no Gash Bell, A Certain Magical Index or My Hero Academia.
Kenshin: Let's see… The guest from chapter 20 review… I'm not gonna extend the word count explaining something to someone who clearly missed the humor, and giving Kei's joke a point.
Yusei: Due to certain circumstances we haven't had much time to work on this chapter, despite originally planning to translate that OVA, mostly because we needed a break from this story's shit. Since no one likes it anyway... I mean, no context will be lost; you've seen the OVA. *yawns* Also, we ran dry on things to do for the chapter following because most of our thoughts are on the Achuto Island arc.
Serena: Are you talking about the blue electricity scene?
Yusei: Don't ruin the surprise… ah, who cares?
Kei: Enjoy this chapter, and if you must leave a review on how much we suck.
Chapter 21: Who Aces the End of Term Exams? Exposition
It's just been a while since the internships ended, with time being in the final week of June.
"Now now! How are you gonna handle this dangerous zombie?!" Izuku throws his fists up as he prepares himself, facing against this guy in the midst of Grounds Delta, a forest which doubles as a training area for the young heroes at UA. Passing by trees he avoids a pink mist coming his way, summoning an emerald forcefield to protect himself.
Giving a quick look around he notices that he's surrounded by his classmates, all of them skin bleached and eyes dark empty holes. Standing in front of him is the cause, a pale, slouchy, bug-eyed guy with gray unkempt hair. His hero suit is an overcoat that crosses between a sorcerer's robe and a lab coat, with copper yellow buttons and crimson nozzles running through his body, complete with a violet clear mask to cover his mouth and nose.
"That's a pretty dangerous Quirk you got there," says the electric hero in training. "Summoning a gas from your body that turns people into zombies…I guess Isamu has a lot of interesting Quirks there." Green lightning shoots out and hits everyone affected by the Quirk, pinning them together.
"Is this all you can do? Because I can just do that. Also, if you have a mask you're not immune to your own virus am I right?" He raises his hand to the zombie man, his vision blurring just a bit.
"Then I guess I'll have to do that." He amasses the virus in gaseous form in his palm. "Time for my special move; Death the Crisis!" He raises his hands to shove it in his face.
Before being zapped by olive lightning and blown into a tree. "Takes care of that." He drops down taking a knee, his full-sized aortic pump beating like a racehorse. Why does he feel so tired is the question plaguing his thoughts.
Looking up he notices the guy dropping down as if the magnetism wore off. Seeing the others being able to move, he realizes it did. 'It…what's wrong with me?'
"Gotcha!" Out of nowhere, Bakugo flips over Izuku slamming him into the ground. He then wraps tape around him. "I win!"
"Damn it Kacchan…"
As he tries to struggle free, he notes the rest of the class regaining their skin tone. Among them are also three others from Isamu. His former bully scuffs, saying, "Guess it only lasts fifteen minutes."
"Huh? What happened?" Many of the other students say.
"Why does my mouth taste like sweat?" The invisible girl asks herself this while spitting.
Yaoyorozu drops on her behind. "For some reason, I feel very tired."
"My head hurts way too much," Iida groans as he feels his head.
"FUJIMI!" One of the Isamu kids, the girl with white hair, approaches her zombie classmate. "How many times do I have to tell you to wait before using that?!"
He looks aside scuffing. "I'm not apologizing."
Up above, Aizawa and All Might, having watched the events unfold, sigh with relief at the resolution.
…
"With today's hero training, I was hoping you'd get a better perception on survival," says the Quirk erasing teacher. He stands before the class of twenty, those of Isamu to his left. All of them are bandaged and bruised from today's training. "By retaining self-control and patience you will be able to muster better ideas and make better plans."
His eyes then scan over to Bakugo. "But I guess some of you don't like that approach still."
"Hey, if it works it works," he says with a shrug.
The snake looking person among Isamu's students gives a bow. "We thank you for putting us into your care." She then eyes Asui. "Tsuyu! We'll meet again!"
"Definitely!" she replies, smiling as the four of the students make their exit out the door.
With their exit, the school bell rings, echoing throughout the halls of UA High. The homeroom teacher stands up from his seat before heading for the exit. "Just a reminder for all of you, the End of Term Final Exam shall take place next week. Make sure you improve your mind and your body for it…"
As soon as he leaves and the door hits locking up, the shouting begins.
"I HAVEN'T STUDIED AT ALL!" shouts Ashido with a carefree tone and expression, echoed by another person in the room next to them. Her ranking from the Midterm exam equals her to twentieth place out of the twenty in class.
"Oh yeah…" Sero says, his grades not much better than hers putting him in eighteenth place. "It's so easy to lose focus when you're busy with the work experience, USJ, and the Sports Festival, I haven't had much time to study."
"I wonder if the finals will be different by a lot compared to the midterms," says Sato as he one-sided converses with Koda. Their scores are thirteenth and twelfth respectively.
"Sucks that there's gonna be a practical part of the test too, so you can't even cram," says Mineta as smugly as the purple balls on his head imply he is.
Realizing his score for some fourth wall breaking reason, the girl with the pink overtone gripes. "Ninth place?! I thought you were in the bottom half too!"
"I guess the world wants to get over boring, dumb perverts," is his reply, still grinning ear to ear like a goblin.
"Mineta, your cockiness is showing," speaks Asui, ranked in seventh place.
"That's pretty sad," speaks the French Japanese who sits in his chair with hands holding his head. He faces his pink partner in crime. "You should consider cramming still…"
"You're not one to talk…" says Shouji with his arms crossed, one of his mouths speaking aimed at him. Unlike the laser boy ranking in nineteenth place, he's sitting smoothly at eleventh place.
"Do not worry fellow classmates!" begins Iida as he makes the five finger point. He's in third place. "Let's buck up and prepare!"
Todoroki gathers his stuff as he prepares to leave, saying, "It shouldn't be too hard to avoid a failing grade as long as you just attend classes and pay attention." He's in sixth place.
"Didn't Bakugo say not to make jokes?!"
"Everyone, let's not despair," says Kendo in an announcing voice. Her score shows her at second place. "If anyone wishes to join your Class President and Vice-Rep in the study hall after school, you are more than welcomed to do so!"
That's where first place speaks, the bubbly Yaoyorozu. "That's a good idea. I would love to assist my fellow classmates with lecture stuff!"
"Yao-momo/Ken-chan!" shouts the group wishing to join them in the study, which includes Ojiro, tenth place, Jirou in eighth place, Hagakure in seventeenth place, Uraraka in fourteenth place, Ashido, and Sero.
"I'll be sure to do everything I can," says Yaoyorozu happily, before turning off hand to whisper, "I can't help with the practical test though." Only one person hears this, the half haired teen getting up from his seat to leave afterward.
"Man, talk about a gap in personal virtue…" mutters Kirishima with a sweat drop. His score is in sixteenth place.
"If you want help, I'll beat the info into ya!" growls Bakugo with a dastardly devious grin.
"That's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say."
Izuku looks off from his seat upon hearing Kacchan's shouting declaration. He's seen his test score, and his smarts are nothing to sneeze at. He could probably tutor as well, considering they're both tied for fourth place. But, that doesn't always equal educating.
Tests aside, he has another problem to worry about, his Quirk. 'It wore off so easily on him… why is that?'
The group makes their way to their dormitory ready to take the night to study. As they enter the lounge the twinkling one pats his belt. "My belt took some damage from that fight."
"You could ask the Development Studios to fix it for you," Kendo says as she comes before him. Hearing her, Izuku looks in listening. "It might be a good time to upgrade our equipment and costumes actually. That way we're more than ready for the test…"
"Maybe you can get something to help fix that stomach problem you have," adds the pink girl as she approaches him with a grin.
"Oh, who the fuck cares?" shouts Bakugo as he brushes by them.
Ashido pouts ready to snap back. "Hey! No one asked for your-"
"If you're so worried about your Quirk hurting others or yourself than figure out how NOT TO!" he barks, shutting her and the others up. "Or get lost. No one is gonna coddle you when you graduate, enter the real world, and cut someone's arm off because you're not used to using your Quirk on people or no one took the time to send your ass home."
He then glares at Izuku. "Look at Deku over here! He can tear you apart molecule by molecule but you don't see him bitching about it; he simply worked it out by himself."
The emerald teen glares back with mild annoyance at being made an example. "If you can't even accomplish what this loser can then go home because I'm not gonna lose my chances because I didn't think. You shouldn't either." He then brushes by the electric protagonist going towards the steps.
Izuku exhales loudly with annoyance. "He's got a way with words, that Kacchan."
"Yeah, like a modern Gandhi," says the laughing Sero as he handwaves the last guy's compliment. "Who forgot he was motivating people."
Chuckling at that, the electromagnetic teen heads off going for his room. Once there, no fuss or muss, he drops his gear off and rushes straight out the front door. "Might as well look into that quickly."
Making a dash for UA's main building, he heads down the halls of the first floor towards a large metal door steeped in his way. Checking the sign on the side it reads, "Development Studios," meaning he's in the right place. Here in the heart of the Support Course region, he stands ready to take action on himself. He makes a knock on the door.
And gets promptly and vehemently blown back upon an explosion that rips the door off its hinges.
Covered in the smokes of whatever explosion knocked him away, there is a conversation above him as he lies back. "I swear to God! Why the hell would you consider using that?!"
From his recollection that's the voice of Power Loader. "That's the thing teach! Just because it doesn't work how you expect it doesn't mean it's useless! I can do something else with this!" That's a new one to him. As the smoke clears he looks aside to the source of the next voice, seeing a pink haired girl with steampunk goggles on her head. She wears a black striped tank top with baggy green pants.
"That's not what I was saying!"
"Hmm?" The girl looks Izuku in the eyes, before smiling. "Hey! Who are you?!"
"Confused…" is his response, though he turns bright red when she gets in close. As he resumes his tomato impression he gets up on his behind crab-walking away from her.
"Oh, Midoriya," says the teacher as he comes out.
The girl smiles standing up before him. "Sorry about that; working on a new project and that happened. Who are you?"
"I…" He stutters for a bit. "Izuku Midoriya. Uh, I'd like to get something from this course."
"Is that so?" She comes in closer, eyes locking with his. Turning from a prickly rose to a scarlet pumpernickel, Izuku crawls further away from him.
Power Loader grabs the girl by the shoulder pulling her away. "I won't hesitate to ban you Hatsume." He then turns to the electric teen, still coming down from her closeness. He should be used to girls by now!
"Midoriya. What brings you here after hours?"
Izuku stands, brushing off the dirt and dust from the smoke and floor. "I was hoping to get some help."
The scrawny adult pounds his fist into his palm. "Oh, so you want a costume upgrade?"
This sprouts a weed of an idea for him. "Maybe. That's actually a good idea… I seem to be having a problem with my Quirk. I've been getting weaker since I came back from the Internship. For example…"
He fires green lightning at the door, controlling and lifting it off the ground. Sweat forms and pours as he attaches it to its hinges, and it locks into place. "I spent months cleaning up garbage by the beach, but I'm having trouble with something this simple. It's like my body regressed or something."
"Weak…" Hatsume says with narrow eyes.
"I'm not weak!" he shouts back, astonished by her response instead of angry.
The support course girl with her carnation colored hair delivers a hot pink smile getting in close to him. "Then I have just the thing for you! A total upgrade to your uniform, and in only two weeks!"
"Can you do something in a whole week? Because I have that Term Final coming up." The words as they slide off his lips somehow spark the support course teacher to gaze sideways, obviously hiding Izuku assumes.
"Oh…" She hums for a bit. "Well, if it's like that, then that's a good assessment of yourself. Maybe I can provide the support only Rinna could develop.
He's starting to think this girl makes no sense. "What does that mean?"
"It means let's cover your weakness with a weapon." That's when she takes his hand, guiding him into the workshop.
There he sees a variety of items, some of which he isn't even sure he or anyone else can use. She gestures to a spread on a table, pointing to the first item. "Since your powers are electricity, this will be perfect."
"You got any iron sand?"
"Nope. You gotta get that from Achuto island. The beach there has plenty of it."
"Hmm…" He turns his attention to a weird looking item. It looks like a flashlight but colored a silvery chrome with a red button. He pulls it towards him with his magnetic force. "What's this?"
"Oh, that's a dud," she says, waving her arm back to him. "I thought about turning a flashlight into a sword of light, but I couldn't create a functional power source for it in battle. It takes too much juice to sustain a blade."
"Hmm…" Izuku presses the red button, aiming it outward, and to their surprise, a beam of blue light brighter than the rarest moon shoots out to a certain length. Mei becomes shocked with awe as he waves it around, a whooshing sound accompanied as it gleams across the air.
"How did you-"
"I collected energy into it from the em spectrum, mine. But, I think this is too dangerous for me, too much force." He hands it over to her.
"No, keep it. Not like I can use it-but hey! I got something you'll love to try!" Hatsume quickly goes over and hands him a suit of metal. "You can fly in this!"
"That's too heavy, and I don't wanna use my power to fly all the time."
"How about this?!" She hands over a whip.
"I'm not into that!" Hatsume then goes to the next item. His eyes stare at the silver object she so obviously wants him to take. "…really?"
"It works well with your magnetic powers because while heavy it's made of metal. Meaning you can control it easily." With her explanation concluding he moves on.
- Extra Scene -
In the study hall of UA High, several of the students of Class 1-A come together sitting before a table. In a circle, they are Jirou, Ojiro, Sero, Ashido, and Kendo, with the smartest girl in class standing before them holding a textbook.
"And surely you must detail that the bird was the major component and the true motive to the murder," says Yaoyorozu, chirping like the caged thing with wings as she explains Susan Glaspell.
"Seems rather sexist…" says Ojiro writing down notes.
"That's how things were back then," says Jirou as she writes.
Kazuki: Let's see. *reads things* If you don't like, keep reading to hate - wait, what?! Why is Kei reading these things?
Yusei: *brews tea* He's pretending to be angry and annoyed with the audience, sort of like a gimmick.
Kazuki: Some people will take that seriously though.
Yusei: Oh definitely. I'm sure there are more people who hate his attitude and how he portrays it in writing. But that's not my problem. *sips tea*
Kazuki: *sighs* Can't believe he made me do this... Tune in whenever when we continue with Rising Action, or part 2.
Yusei: Also, we're taking in Q&A's for all of our stories. Any question is fine, who they come from is fine. Just so long as you're okay with whatever answer *yawns* we give.