Chapter 25: Internship from Hell, Part 2
AN: Salutations! I well and truly apologize for the deluge of notifications that i'm sure you lot are getting right now. For anybody curious, but hasn't read the AN's lately, I just updated all previous 24 chapters to be minus the AN's. I also added the Chapter names to the beginning of the chapters themselves rather than be their own thing. this is partly because there are only so many 30 character titles I can think of. Case in point, 'Internship from Hell' is 20 characters on it's own. Throw ", Part 2" on there and you hit 28, which borders the limit. I'm also really sorry that despite taking an extra two days this chapter is actually shorter than usual. I just haven't had the time to really sit down and work on this, so I only actually finished this chapter a few hours before posting it. I hope the quality is still up to both your and my expectations. Anyways, there's not really anything to say today, and i'm sure you lot are just as excited to read this chapter as I am to write it, so let's not wait around, and get this show on the road!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Reborn! _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sharing a look with Toko-no, Tsukuyomi, I slide into a basic fighting stance and step forward, allowing him to take a quick leap backwards. Dark Shadow emerges from Tsukuyomi's back, wrapping around him prepared to attack or defend.
Hecate doesn't move. Taking the initiative, I 'blink' behind her, pushing my ability to its utmost limits. Appearing behind her in a burst of static noise, I send my fist hurtling towards center mass, hoping to take her out of the fight quick and easy.
My plan goes wrong the moment I make contact. I can see my fist hit her, feel my skin touch her dress and the flesh underneath. I can also see, in high definition, first person point of view, a pulse of purple energy that originates from the point of contact.
Suddenly, my attack is not only deflected, but i'm also sent flying backwards, crashing into one of the corner poles. A grunt of pain escapes my mouth, as my arms fall against the ropes to hold my body up.
Slightly disoriented, I look up to see Dark Shadow trying to hit Hecate, only to be blasted away, same as me. Looking closely, I can see the same flare of purple energy light up every time Dark shadow hits her.
Standing up, I tilt my head to the left, cracking it, before repeating the motion to the right. Let's see, some sort of physical repulsion technique? Tactile telekinesis? Vector manipulation? A barrier? Don't know, too little information.
Wreathing my right hand in Lightning Flames to harden my skin, I 'blink' back towards Hecate, aiming to nail her with a right hook to the body right as Dark Shadow swipes at her from the opposite side.
To my irritation, she moves her hands in the way, one tapping against my fist, the other catching Drk Shadow's attack in her palm. Both of her hands light up once more, Dark Shadow being sent flying once more, while I - having braced myself against such a move - slide backwards, my right arm being knocked away once more.
I frown, taking a moment to look between my right fist and Hecate. Not Vector manipulation. My fist didn't just move backwards, it was sent backwards. Not a barrier, as it still felt like I hit her, even if I didn't do any damage. That narrows things down to Tactile TK, or some sort of physical reflection ability.
Well, either way, that means punches aren't going to do much. Which means ninety percent of my anti-unit attacks aren't going to do much. Think, Izuku, think! If her type is immune to fighting type attacks, what can we do that isn't a fighting type move?
Tuono di Applauso? A sonic type attack might work, but if i'm wrong i'll also do damage to Tsukuyomi. Ruggito del Drago is out of the picture for much the same reason. Shit, think man think!
I start to 'blink' around Hecate in an attempt to distract her from Dark Shadow while I think. Sadly, it doesn't seem to work. Even if I 'blink' out of her sight, she finds me soon enough thanks to the limited area available, and Dark Shadow still can't seem to hurt her.
Maybe my Dying Will Flames? Sun? Don't know any offensive moves, or actually any moves in general, so that's out. Sky? No, still too unstable to use reliably, and trying to replicate the X-Burner, even if I was able to do so, would probably result in the same effects as if I was using Ruggito Del Drago.
Wait a minute, that's it! Unbidden, a large grin appears on my face. With one last 'blink', I appear above Hecate, my feet actually touching the ceiling. Before gravity can assert its dominance, I once more focus my Lightning Flames to my right fist.
"Tsukuyomi! Get back!" Following my command without hesitation, he jumps backwards and Dark shadow follows, wrapping in front of his partner protectively.
As I start to fall, I kick off with my legs enhanced with 20% of OFA, meaning I drop down on Hecate at near 100 kilometers per hour, a small trail of emerald electricity following my descent.
Having heard my voice from above, she's already turning ever so slightly to lock eyes with me. Time slows down from my perspective. As I inch closer and closer to her, a solitary finger ever so slowly drags its way through the air to point at my incoming fist.
The moment my fist touches her finger, three things happen in rapid succession. Firstly, I feel my body not only stop falling, but also stop moving entirely. Secondly, my grin widens even further as do her eyes.
Thirdly, my Lightning Flames, previously contained in my hand, lash out wildly. I had forgotten one of the first tricks I learned with my Lighting Flames: turning them into electricity.
Near quarter a million volts arc through Hecate, mildly electrocuting her. It also lashes out at everything around her, which is why I told Birds and Birds Junior to get back. It also hits me, but using regular Lightning Flames to cancel them out means that aside from scrunching my nose at the smell of ozone and a few singed arm hairs, i'm perfectly fine.
The moment of weightlessness only lasts for a second, and I let gravity take a hold as I bend my legs forward, dropping down onto my feet. Hecate is apparently shocked solid, not moving a muscle aside from a light twitch in her eyebrow. Her hair, previously immaculate, is now sporting a fair resemblance to Frankenstein's Bride.
The scene gets ruined when we hear rambunctious laughter coming from off the field. Turning, I see Hawks, literally rolling on the floor laughing, tears coming out the corner of his eyes.
The sound seems to snap something back in place within Salem's mind, and me and Tokoyami watch as she stalks over to the prone form of Hawks - now pounding the floor with one hand and thus not looking in her direction - before stepping on his back and stomping repeatedly.
"AH! I'M SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! AHHHHH!" I snicker a little while doom and gloom mutters something that sounds vaguely like 'revelry in darkness'. Just gonna ignore that for now.
When Salem's done...disciplining her boss, she walks over to the side of the room, opens a locker, pulls out a hairbrush, and starts fixing her hair. Before I can wonder what to do next, a bright and chirpy voice calls out from near Hawks' prone form.
"Wow, that was such a cool fight! And that finishing move? It was like a green lightning bolt! Ten outta ten, newbies!" The speaker turns out to be a young woman, around Hawks own age.
Clad in a blue outfit reminiscent of a brazilian dancer, but more concealing as fabric in a feather design layers itself into a skirt that reaches her knees, a shirt that starts at the small of her back and curves forward and upward until it meets a bit above her belly button, and covers her chest up till her collar bone.
To go with the skirt-shirt combo is a head-dress with actual blue feathers that go nearly straight backwards, blue high heels with a few feathers coming out of the back, golden bracers with blue lightning bolts engraved on the top, and a small set of fake blue wings coming out of her back, connected to the shirt.
Standing next to her is a slightly older looking male, probably early to mid thirties. Brown hair swept back, and wearing a classical butler styled 3-piece suit complete with white gloves and gold rimmed glasses on a bead chain. The only unusual things of note would be the fact that his skin is a pale grey, and his eyes solid black.
Judging by available information, i'm going to guess that the girl is Thunder Bird, and the male is Phantom. Hawks finally pulls himself up, brushing off his pants as he does so. He turns to me and Gloom with his trademark carefree smile.
"How'd ya figure out her weakness?" Tokoyami looks away.
"I just followed Midoriya's lead." The eyes turn towards me, and I shrug.
"Her Quirk doesn't so much 'redirect' as it does 'reflect', so I took a guess that it only worked on kinetic attacks. If I turned out to be wrong, I probably would've moved on to breaking the ring in order to create a diversion in order to catch her off guard."
Hawks and Thunder Bird laugh at that while Phatom adjusts his glasses and speaks up in an airy, muted voice, as if speaking from farther away than he really is.
"It would not be suggestable to partake in the demolition of agency property when only taking part in a friendly spar. Such actions-"
He keeps going on for a bit, though I tune him out. My god it's Tenya all over again, only at least Sonic The Rip-Off has hand-motions and vigor on his side. This dude's about to make me fall asleep. Finally, I notice that he stops talking. I shrug at him and make a noncommittal grunt, hoping that he takes that to mean that I listened. He sighs an airy sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose.
By this point, Salem has rejoined the group, and apparently it's time for introductions. Blue is Tori Bakufu, also known as Thunder Bird as expected. Grey is Seishin Yurei, also known as Phantom. Jeez, what is with this world and its names? You got 'Bird Blast' the Thunder Bird and 'Spirit Ghost' the Phantom. Absolutely ridiculous, I tell you. Like Iron-Iron Iron-Iron, who turns into iron.
Well, digressing from that little digression back to the main point, seeing as it's now bordering 11:30 me and macbeth get released back to our rooms to shower and prep for lunch, after which we'll have 'lessons' followed by actually patrolling with Hawks.
Lunch is an uninteresting affair. Blue reminds me a lot of Pinky, and Grey is a more boring version of Tenya. The food is also pretty good, but after being spoiled by Lunch Rush the Enigmatic Cook, most foods taste a little bland.
Lessons are also fairly boring. Me and Mary Shelley Junior end up sitting in the conservatory. Apparently it is technically Hawks 'office', though there's only one desk, and it's surrounded by trees and plants.
The desk belongs to Salem, who spends two hours making sure me and Paramore know the laws of interning. We aren't allowed to directly fight any villains unless given no other choice. No breaking normal laws such as jaywalking, unless of course it's done to capture a villain. And so on, and so on.
Finally, at nearly two forty five in the afternoon, I step into the conservatory to meet up with Hawks. Of course, i'm in my hero suit, but it's had some upgrades since last time I wore it.
Moving upwards, my dress shoes have been replaced with metal boots designed so that the foot portion still looks like dress shoes while the metal continues upward halfway to my knees, the metal flaring out ever so slightly before folding back in on itself just above my ankles. They also have a very slight heel to them, along with a small spike on the back that curves upwards.
Over the metal shin guards is a pair of pants that looks mostly like the old pair aside from being slightly closer to dark grey than black and having orange flames around the hems.
My torso looks completely different. I got rid of the vest in exchange for a full suit jacket, and underneath said jacket, not that it's immediately apparent, is a pair of dark green suspenders connected to my pants and arching over my shoulders to connect in the small of my back in Y formation.
The tie is gone, though I replaced with with a large black coat that hangs off my shoulders, held up by a pair of golden chains connecting just below the shoulders and a high collar. It's also actually held to the tops of my shoulders thanks to some small magnets in my jacket, not that i'll ever tell anyone of this. It'd ruin the coolness factor.
The coat is mostly unremarkable save for the gold chains connecting the shoulders, and a large emblem on the back dominating the available space. A singular golden bullet laying upright on a light blue shield edged in gold, with a pair of muskets crossing behind the shield. It's the symbol of the Vongola, though instead of having the word 'vongola' underneath, my coat has the name 'Giotto'.
All of these are still made of the same material as the last set, with the coat being made of the same extra thick material as the suit jacket and former vest. The only difference this time being the metal boots, and a few small pieces of high-carbon steel implanted across my suit jackets chest and back to increase impact resistance, but spaced to still allow flexibility.
The final change in my outfit is in the gloves. Previously they were solid leather with some lightweight steel covering the fingers, with an 'X' and an 'I' on the back. I decided to skip over the 'Version Vongola' set, and go right into the metal gauntlets.
Pitch black metal starts just below my elbows, hidden under my suit and the shirt underneath. Etched with gold and silver swirls that make the form of the old viking symbol for Mjolnir, hammer of the God of Thunder, Thor. It stretches out straight and smooth until it reaches my wrists, where it flares out slightly before folding back on itself just like my boots.
The back of my hand is now covered with a large gemstone similar to the one inside my Vongola Ring, which is sitting back in my room in a hidden box. Mostly emerald green with a few orange streaks swirling through it, the gemstone is carefully smoothed down into a half-sphere, ringed with pure white metal, and with a white metal band engraved with the word 'Ricordare' - italian for 'remember' - stretching across the gem lengthwise to secure it further.
My fingers are now almost completely covered in the black metal making up the majority of my gauntlets. The metal is broken up at my knuckles, revealing pure white cloth underneath, in order to keep my fingers mobile. Each finger has three segments of metal, with the final piece covering the tips of my fingers narrowing down into claw like spikes at the end of each finger.
I like to call this 'Vongola Armatura, Beta'. All together, the outfit weighs in somewhere around 10 kilograms. It's designed to provide maximum protection, using my absurd physical strength to basically negate the weight of it, though of course I can still drop certain parts like the coat and jacket in order to lighten the load when I'm not using One For All. It's also designed to look intimidating as all hell while still being classy as fuck. I love it. Remind me to give Mei a warm welcome next I see her.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Reborn! _ _ _ _ _ _ _
AN: And that's a wrap for today folks. Sorry if you expected the fight against Salem to be longer. I just wanted to showcase how, when Izuku fights like a brawler, he can sometimes forget some of his more basic abilities or plans. Case in point, I mentioned his ability to create electricity waaaaaay back in the beginning, but I think this is the first time he's actually used that power in this story. Anyways, the next two chapters will be third-person, moving between some of the more important characters - though of course Izuku will get a section of his own, he is the main character after all - showcasing for the first time that the world doesn't revolve around our little green-bean with attitude. I hope it'll also make those of you who feel that this story is sticking far too close to cannon feel a bit better. There's actually been a lot of behind-the-scenes changes i've made, but of course, since this story is first person, Izuku wouldn't know any of this, and as such none of you - the readers - would know about it. That changes as of next week. Also, just a heads up, don't forget about the poll for Game of Flames Vs. Thunder Bull. When I take it down I'll go back through the reviews for any votes in there, but it's all around easier for everyone involved if you just hop on over to my profile and follow the link to the actual poll to vote. Well, that's all I have to say for now. Catch you guys next time on Hero Academia, Reborn! Chapter 26: Internship from Hell, Part 3!
Signed,
Phantom Drache