The First Match


At Miss Delson's signal, the doors that barred entrance to the training arena swung open, accompanied by the sounding of a buzzer. Kusari, Catherine and Mina dashed into the arena, quickly moving to locate their designated bottle. The bottle was inside one of the many buildings that filled the arena, seated in the middle of a painted circle on the first floor, located on a chest-of-drawers inside the circle, although it was best not to ask why the whole thing was in the middle of the room. They'd ended up with the bomb, its two colours reflecting the light across the room in strange colours. The room itself wasn't a particularly defensible area, with access points all over the place, but given the nature of what they were protecting, Kusari decided that he prefered having to protect the bomb over the medicine.

"Alright, you two get going!" Kusari instructed, "We're going ahead with the plan."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Mina fired back, pushing open the door and darting out, Catherine following close behind.

Kusari took a deep breath and glanced around. As expected, not much he could use to mount a defense, but he could at least do something about what he already knew. Ethan had a nasty habit of using the shadows, and he didn't know the limits or extent of it, so he turned around until he was facing his shadow. He hoped that would be of some help; he'd just turned away from at least five easy access points.


On the other side of the arena, Kageko, Ethan and Lucina found their own bottle in a similar-looking building, once again left atop a chest of drawers. They had gotten the medicine, which meant time was on their side. They could play defensive for ten minutes and they would win. Unfortunately, they'd already decided on their strategy, and this knowledge didn't change that.

"Right. Anyone having second thoughts now that we know what we have on our hands?" Kageko asked, quickly inspecting the room for anything they could use to their advantage. No such luck, but he'd only been looking for a minute.

"Let's just end this quickly, I don't want to hang around with you any longer than I have to." Ethan retorted, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles.

"I was hoping to avoid something like that. We move as a team, Ethan. You do know what 'team' means, don't you?" Kageko replied, looking up for a place he could use as a viewpoint, hopefully spot the other team's offensive, if not their base.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it, Oh Lord First-Place." He grumbled. Kageko shook his head and disappeared, reappearing on the top of another building some distance away. He looked around and flashed back.

"Nope. nothing." Kageko reported. "Hey Ethan, if you can look from inside of a shadow without coming out of it, do you mind doing a little scouting around? A clear path to their base or their attack force, doesn't matter which. Just please, look."

"It's Easy, and no, I can't do that. As soon as I enter a shadow I come out the other side, I can't 'hide' inside it. Though I have another trick that might help," He replied with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Good. I'll keep looking from high up. Come back in three, no, one minute. I'll do the same, we can compare notes. Lucina, please, go ahead and prepare your defense." As soon as his teammates nodded his acknowledgement, Kageko disappeared again.

Ethan rolled his shoulders before his shadow began rippling like a body of water. "You might want to step back a bit, he doesn't like other people that much," Ethan said over his shoulder to Lucina who watched the shadow with interest.

"He?" She replied in confusion, "Who is 'he'?"

"You'll see," Ethan answered, as he knelt down to touch the rippling surface of his shadow. Moments later, a black hand reached out from the shadow, clawing at the ground as it pulled itself up. It looked almost identical to Ethan, only it was pure black, as though it was made of ink or shadows.

It opened its mouth as if to speak, but all that came out was a low growling noise.

"Isn't that just you?" Lucina tilted her head.

"Almost, not quite." Ethan answered curtly, turning away from his teammate. He stepped into a nearby shadow and disappeared from sight, with the shadowy clone of him following soon after.

As soon as her two teammates were gone, Lucina began to pull the many bottles of water out of her backpack, placing them in groups around the windows and doors that surrounded the room. She unscrewed the caps, preparing them for easy use, and returned to the centre of the room.

She had only barely done so when Kageko reappeared, almost tripping over himself to avoid a group of bottles. "One minute sharp. Where's Ethan?"

"He left just after you did," Lucina answered, "Did you see anything?"

"I found a clear path to the other team's base. Not much shadow but there should be enough." He was about to leave again when Ethan's head popped up from the shadow he'd left through.

"I found their attacking team!" Ethan announced.

"What? Where are they?" Kageko demanded. "Scratch that, where are you?"

"Your glorious plan, Blinky. I'll intercept, you go get that bottle. I can take both of them."

"What happened to being a team?" Kageko asked as Ethan disappeared back into the shadow. "Dammit," Kageko swore, "Lucina, you're in charge of our fallback. Stay here."


Ethan pulled himself back out of the shadow just as Catherine and Mina arrived, the growl of his shadow alerting him to their presence. He turned to face them, the shadows around him seeming to darken as he prepared to fight.

"Two of us on one of you!" Mina said, "This fight should be… Easy!"

"Maybe count again? Your math teacher must be crying." Ethan replied, sliding into a fighting position while his shadow mirrored his stance.

"That's just part of your quirk, it'll go away once we kick your ass." Catherine fired back.

"Good luck." Ethan retorted, "You're right about one thing though: this will be easy."

Ethan clenched his fist and raised his hands slowly, straining as though he was pulling something up with him. The shadows around him darkened even more, and began to slide towards him, winding around his legs and travelling up his body till they emerged from his back as two large black tendrils that seemed to draw in the light around them, darkening the arena ever so slightly.

Ethan Easton - Shadowsilk

Ethan can shape and manipulate darkness to some degree! He can forge from the shadows weapons and constructs, dive into one to transport himself across large distances, and also see in the dark. His biggest weakness is bright, direct lights, which can dispel shadow.

Ethan rushed towards Mina, his tendrils digging into the floor to help speed him up, propelling him forward in leaps and bounds. Mina stood her ground, waiting till the last second, before she dove forward, rolling under Ethan and coming up behind him. She kicked the back of his leg, trying to knock him down to his knees, but his tendrils kept him on his feet. She tried to punch him in the head, but by this time he had turned around and managed to block her strike, countering with a wild haymaker. She dodged backwards, putting distance between the two of them while she analysed Ethan, planning her next move.

Meanwhile, Ethan's shadow charged at Catherine, running on all fours like a wild animal. Catherine unslung her guitar, grasping it by the neck and resting it on her shoulder as the shadow drew closer, a small smirk on her face. She swung the guitar at the shadow as it pounced, catching it in the stomach and knocking it away from her. It hit the ground and slid back slightly, but quickly recovered, charging forward again with determined vigor. She prepared to strike again, but instead of pouncing, the shadow feinted and slipped around her swing, landing behind her. Thrown off-balance by her own attack, Catherine was forced to drop her guitar and duck inelegantly under the pounce, narrowly avoiding its attack. She scooped up her guitar and backpedalled, finding herself back to back with Mina as they watched their two opponents.

"Any luck?" Catherine asked.

"Not much," Mina answered, "How about we swap?" She offered, glancing over her shoulder at the other girl.

"Why not." Catherine answered. She rolled her shoulders and charged Ethan, while Mina made for the shadow.

Catherine danced to the side, dodging Ethan's first attack and swinging her guitar at one of Ethan's tendrils. It hacked through the tendril like an axe, severing the tip and unbalancing Ethan slightly. The tip dissolved into a shadowy dust that disappeared just as quickly, returning back to the shadows it had come from. Catherine smirked, resting her guitar on her shoulder.

"Still think this fight's gonna be easy?"

"Well, you're the one on your ass, so I'd say my chances are pretty high," replied Ethan with a vicious grin. Catherine opened her mouth to reply, but one of Ethans tendrils whipped out, knocking her legs out from underneath her. She crashed to the floor, landing heavily on her right side. She tried to crawl away, but the tendril twisted around her leg and threw her into a nearby wall.

"Catherine!" Mina cried out in alarm, rushing to her aid, only for the shadow to take a swipe at her. She jumped back to avoid it, but ended up further away from Catherine.

"I'm ok!" Catherine replied, wincing as she pulled herself to her feet.

"How cute," Ethan drawled, as he slowly approached Catherine, "You might be ok right now, but you won't be for much longer. Time is on our side, and I'm going to enjoy spending it kicking you two up and down the street."

"Oh would you just shut up?" Catherine retorted, "We'll see how much time you have after this!"

Catherine's eyes glowed for a moment, and as soon as Ethan made eye contact with her, his vision was clouded by a strange darkness, filling in the edges of his vision till all he could see was Catherine and her glowing eyes.

Catherine Meikuriy - Evil Eye

While Catherine's quirk is active, anyone who makes eye contact with her will be subject to an illusion of their darkest, most selfish desires. However, the ability can only work on a small number of people at a time.

"I'd say enjoy the trip, but I know you probably won't." Catherine commented, her voice growing more and more distant as the illusion took over Ethan.


Feeling a little guilty for treating Lucina the way he did (come to think of it, the whole plan had Lucina sidelined by both of them, Kageko thought) and deciding that she deserved a pat on the back and maybe tonight's dessert, he got himself to Ethan. It took all of two trips, but he got there.

Ethan was so still that Kageko had to do a double take. He stood staring blankly off into the distance, seemingly enamoured by something Kageko couldn't see, while he completely ignored the world around himself. Ethan's strange shadowy clone stood between Ethan and the two girls, guarding the boy, vulnerable in his hypnotised state.

Catherine and Mina, on the other hand, stood in their combative stances, watching the shadowy figure carefully. They looked unharmed but wary; they must have fought the figure once before, and it hadn't gone well for them.

Kageko made his decision, and teleported down to the street level, landing in a combative stance beside Ethan's shadow.

"Great timing, Kageko," Catherine called at him from across the street, "You just missed me beating Ethan, if only you'd been quick enough to help him."

"I still made it here quick enough to stop you two from getting any closer." Kageko replied. And he had a plan. He just hoped it would actually work.

He kicked Ethan so hard his foot hurt. The other boy toppled and rolled several feet away. Ignoring the warning growl from the shadow and waving it at its master (Kageko hoped it understood him; his plan was doomed if it decided that he was a threat instead), he teleported just inside Catherine's striking range, to her left. In the time it took her to turn, he'd backed away one, two, three paces, into a wall that looked just solid enough that his body covered the large crack spreading out in the middle. Hoping his acting skills were up to scratch, he put what he hoped was a shocked look on his face and made sure his breath caught in his throat, just loud enough for Catherine to hear.

Catherine grinned, and stepped forward, taking a swing at him. Kageko waited till the last second before teleporting behind Catherine, and delivered a solid kick straight into her back. Already off balance from her attack, Kageko's kick knocked her over and sent her tumbling into the wall, which collapsed on her. As solid as it looked, it was worn and battered (and judging from the lack of rebar and other strengthening material in the concrete, pretty rushed in its construction), and Catherine plowing into the crack headfirst was enough to destroy it. She appeared uninjured, but wasn't getting up soon.

"One down," He said, turning to face Mina, "One to go."

"You must be tired after all that. Let's have you stay here a little." Mina commented innocently, staring intently at Kageko.

"A hero never tires of justice," Kageko muttered to himself, repeating a mantra that his father had drilled into his head. He prepared to teleport to Mina, but before he could, the pupils in her eyes morphed, narrowing into snakelike slits.

"Trust me, you'll sleep like a rock," Mina said, as Kageko found himself suddenly losing sensation in his arms and legs, the sensation slowly spreading out across his body. He looked down in alarm and saw that his arms and legs had turned into a grey stone, with the rest of his body following suit. He opened his mouth to cry out in alarm, but before he could get anything out, his body completed its transformation, and he found himself completely encased in stone.

Mina Ishihara - Petrifying Eyes

While her quirk is active, anyone who makes eye contact with Mina will be turned to stone, for as little as thirty seconds, to as long as a minute and a half. Unluckily for Mina, she isn't exempt from her quirks effects, so any reflective surfaces can petrify her too.

"Two down, zero to go!" Mina exclaimed, moving over to dig Catherine out of the rubble, "Now we just need to get the bottle,"

"Easier said than done," Catherine groaned from underneath the rubble, "We still have to beat Lucina, if you've already forgotten."

"Oh we'll be fine," Mina dismissed, "There's two of us, and my eyes still work. We'll have the bottle before you can make that noise you did while Iwata was throwing you through a wall, Cath."

"Bring that up again, and I'll throw you through a wall," Catherine growled darkly, before setting off towards the building that was the enemy base.

Mina laughed, a laughter that surprisingly held no malice, only amusement. "That would be infighting. We'll have points taken off, and you'll be punished!" She giggled, following Catherine towards the base.

"Be quiet," Catherine insisted, "We're close to the enemy base, don't blow our cover."

Mina opened her mouth to reply, but was suddenly interrupted, as a long tendril of water suddenly struck her in the stomach, sending her stumbling back. She backpedalled and almost regained her balance, just before another jet of water splashed her straight in the face. Her hands went up, covering her stinging eyes.

"Too late," Lucina announced from inside the building, "I heard you guys fighting from a mile away, and you talk almost as loud as you fight."

"Then you should know we took them both out. And considering I was in fifteenth place, I'm starting to think the ranking system is unfair." Catherine replied, ignoring Lucina's comment, "Friendly advice for free, Lucina: surrender. Should spare you a world of hurt."

"Nice one." Lucina answered, "I think I can beat you, but really, I just have to delay you for long enough that you can't make it back to base with our bottle. Five minutes on the clock, so you'd better move quickly, if you want to have any chance of success."


Eventually, Kageko felt the sensation returning to his body, as the stone began to transform back into skin. He gasped as oxygen flooded back into his lungs, surprised that he hadn't suffocated in however long it took for it to wear off. He dismissed his concerns, filing them under concerns for later, and took his first unsteady strides, trying to get his muscles used to being used again.

He turned to look at Ethan, who was still yet to shake off whatever illusion he was under. Kageko wished Lucina was here; a splash of water would be more helpful than anything he could do, but wishful thinking wouldn't help him right now. He rolled Ethan over onto his back, grunting with effort.

He turned to face Ethans shadow. "I could use some help." He said with a scowl. The shadow remained silent, not even doing him the courtesy of growling.

"To hell with this." He muttered, then punched Ethan in the face.

The reaction was immediate, from both Ethan and his shadow. Ethan leapt to his feet, roaring in anger as he spun around, searching for a target. Ethan's shadow charged towards Kageko, growling in anger. Kageko quickly teleported away from the shadow.

"Ethan! Calm down!" He shouted, "They're gone, they beat us and disappeared!"

Ethan didn't calm down, in fact he got louder, his shadowy tendrils almost exploding out of his back and tearing things up. A striking resemblance to a toddler that had been denied his favorite toy and then given a picture book to tear up.

"Ethan!" Kageko shouted, "Stop!"

"Where is he?!" Ethan shouted, still destroying his surroundings in anger, clearly looking for somebody specific.

"Calm down. It was just some kind of trance. The girls left right after they beat us, I didn't see where to though."

"Well why didn't you stop them?!" Ethan replied, out of breath and his eyes still wildly searching around, "Scratch that, why are you here without that bottle?"

"I came here to help you!" Kageko replied, "It would all be pointless if I can't get across the halfway line with it."

"We don't have time to argue about this," Ethan said, dismissing the argument, "We need to go get their bottle."

'What? No, we need to go and shore up our defenses!" Kageko urged, "It's both of them against Lucina, we should help her."

"I'm not timing them out." Ethan snarled. "We're gonna go get their bottle, and if Lucina can't take care of them herself, she can quit and leave in disgrace. I'll send her off with fireworks, if not on one."

He took off at a sprint, moving towards the enemy base with his shadow following right behind, leaving Kageko behind.

"What happened to being a team?," Kageko muttered under his breath, as he raced off to follow Ethan.


Kusari stood in the centre of his team's base, circling slowly around the bottle and flittling his vision between the many access points. While Ethan and Kageko's teleporting would inevitably take him by surprise, he was doing what he could to prepare himself. His nerves were on edge, his muscles were tense, and his fists were clenched, but he was ready.

A flicker of movement caught his attention, and he instantly bought his hands up to defend himself, ducking down behind his fists as he turned to face the source of the movement. There was nothing there, not even a bird or a rat to explain the movement. He relaxed slightly, until realisation hit him.

"Gotcha!" He cried, spinning around as he extended his fist, catching Kageko in the jaw just as the other boy appeared behind him. His punch was solid, and sent Kageko backwards, clutching his jaw in pain.

"Nice try, Kageko," Kusari said, as he resumed his boxing stance, "But I'm smarter than that,"

"Figured it was worth a try," Kageko replied, massaging his jaw, "Gotta use my Quirk to my advantage."

His vision quickly flicked over Kusari's shoulder, and in an instant, Kusari realised his mistake. He turned around just in time to see Ethan leap out of his shadow, snagging the bottle on his way out.

"Gotcha!" Ethan announced, landing with a roll, "Smarter than that, are you? Maybe next time don't fall for the most obvious trick in the book!" He gloated, spreading his arms wide to show off his success.

"What are you doing!?" Kageko shouted, "Get out of here, secure the bottle!"

"Oh calm down," Ethan replied, "I just won us the match, let me showboat for a bit!"

He once again moved to leap into his shadow, but instead of passing through like a liquid, he simply stopped, landing on the ground like any regular person. His celebration quickly morphed into confusion, an expression mirrored by Kageko, who teleported to his side.

"Give me the bottle, let me try!" He said, swiping the bottle from Ethan's surprised hands. He tried to vanish from the interior of the building, but failed, re-appearing only ten feet from Kusari.

Kusari, on the other hand, broke out in a wide smile. He stretched, rolling his shoulders, then resumed his boxers stance. "Sorry, but that's my Quirk in action," He admitted, "You're in my Zone now, there's no getting out."

Kusari Kennomi - The Zone

This quirk allows Kusari to generate a "Zone" around himself, an orb with a twenty foot diameter, that prevents anyone from leaving or entering, while also boosting Kusari's physical abilities. However, the Zone lasts for three minutes, no more or less, and traps Kusari too. In addition, once used, Kusari has a cooldown before he can create another Zone.

Kageko and Ethan stood shoulder to shoulder facing Kusari, their usual animosity forgotten in the face of this new threat.

"Can your shadow help?" Kageko asked.

"I dismissed him," Ethan answered, "Thought I would need my shadow back for a quick dive."

"Can you bring it back?" Kageko urged.

"It would take too long." Ethan replied, "unless you can keep him off me for fifteen seconds, there's no way."

Kageko quickly eyed Kusari, who was yet to move, still standing with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Hold this" he said, handing the bottle back to Ethan, "I'll see what I can do."

Kageko quickly considered his options. He had already tried attacking from behind, that hadn't gone so well. The Zone removed any ability to hide and attack from stealth, so he couldn't play to his strengths. And since Kusari was a boxer, he was probably used to taking a punch, making hand to hand a poor choice. Luckily, Kageko didn't have to beat him, all he had to do was delay him.

He teleported in front of Kusari, swinging a wild roundhouse in the hope of catching his attention, but Kusari ducked under the blow with inhuman speed, countering with a light jab that sent Kageko stumbling backwards. Without giving him even a moment to recover, Kusari followed this up with a kick that threw him against the walls of the Zone. He then targeted Ethan, throwing a quick punch to break his concentration, before sweeping his legs out from underneath him.

Kageko picked himself up off the ground, wincing as he did so. The walls of the Zone were unpleasantly solid, and he was sure there would be more than a few bruises on him once this was over. On the other side of the Zone, Ethan stood up.

"Ethan!" Kakego called, "Ditch the shadow, help me with this!"

Ethan didn't reply, but the shadow tendrils emerging once again from his back were enough of a reply.

The duo charged Kusari, approaching from either side in an attempt to throw him off. Kageko threw a punch towards Kusari's head while Ethan swung a kick towards his legs, mimicking Kusari's attack on him. Instead of defending himself, Kusari ducked Kageko's punch and stepped sideways, dodging Ethans kick.

"Sorry guys," Kusari said, "But you can't match me physically in the Zone, might as well just surrender, else I'll have to keep attacking you."

"How about this?" Ethan said, as he grabbed the bottle from where he left it, right at the edge of the Zone. "Stop using your quirk, end the Zone, or I'll smash the bottle."

"You wouldn't," Kusari said, though his stance showed uncertainty. Kageko made a mental note of the effect Ethan had on people. "If you smash it, you lose."

"Try that on Blinky, he might actually care." Ethan replied, "I'm not here to win some silly training exercise, but I'm not losing to you either."

"Well, it's still bad news for you: I can't drop the Zone, it stays up for the full time no matter what," Kusari admitted, "The three of us are stuck here for three minutes, period."

"Then I'll just smash it anyway. Did you actually think I was bluffing?" Ethan said, as he raised the bottle. The liquid inside rolled over each other, and to Kageko's eyes it was just that little shake away from mixing and dooming them all. "I'm bored of dealing with you three, denying you any hope of victory is good payback."

"Ethan! Stop!" Kageko said, as he teleported to Ethans side, grabbing the taller boy's wrist, "We still have two minutes left, we can just wait out the Zone!"

"And spend the next two minutes getting kicked about by Little Mac over here?" Ethan said, glaring at Kusari.

"How about a compromise?" Kusari suggested, "You two stay over there, and I'll stay here till the Zone goes away, then you can run off with the bottle."

"How can we trust you?" Kageko asked suspiciously.

"You can't, but you have the bottle. I'd say you have all the bargaining power in this situation." Kusari answered.

"No we fucking don't." Growled Ethan. "The girls know how to fight. One more second stuck in this spit wad is one second closer to losing our bottle. Here's the deal, Kageko,"

He whirled on Kageko, and both him and Kusari took an involuntary step back. This Ethan was someone else...no, something else. The superficial anger and rage was gone, replaced by a cold fury. It was the aura of a person who stalked the streets, cleaning society one vermin at a time.

"Knowing our luck, Lucina is losing ground, and it won't be long until she loses the damn bottle. If we don't take him out, we have no guarantee of safety. Watch." He looked at Kusari, a gleam in his eyes. "Alright, let's say I don't want to keep you company in here." His shadow started to ripple, the ever familiar sign of him summoning his shadowy clone

"The hell are you doing?" Kusari said, raising his fists as he approached Ethan, "I already told you, there's no way out."

This time, Ethan didn't stop, instead looking at Kageko. "You believe me now?"

The shadow stopped rippling as Ethan stepped back to avoid the powerful roundhouse Kusari swung at him. His head bumped against the Zone, the impact making it bounced back, right into Kusari's incoming punch.

As his head was slammed against the wall, Ethan felt the force field of the Zone crack from the impact. Before he could process it, the Zone dropped. The effect on Kusari was immediate, his almost beautiful boxer's stance fell apart, and he started breathing heavily. Ethan frowned, but kept an eye on him even as the shadows all around started moving again.

The first thing Kageko did was run to the open window and check. "They're coming back! You were right, Ethan, they have our bottle! Come on, the roof!"

That was Ethan's cue. He sank into the shadows even as one of the girls kicked the flimsy doors to the warehouse open. Kusari leaned back against the wall, panting slightly. The girls flung the door open and heavily put the little green bottle down on the table.

"Hey girls, good to see you," He said breathlessly, sinking to the ground as he spoke, "I did it, I delayed them for three minutes,"

A buzzer rang, and Miss Delson's voice announced the result.

"The medicine has been secured, and the match is over!" her voice crackled to life over the megaphones around the arena. "Team Catherine, Mina and Kusari win!"


As the two teams walked off the camera and several robots came in for...some purpose, the rest of the class began to talk amongst themselves as they filed out of the viewing room, following their teachers out to meet up with the teams. Asano found himself walking beside someone he only knew from roll call, Raul Rivera, the student with blue and black hair that brought out his vibrant purple eyes. He turned to face Asano and started talking away.

"Man, that fight was intense," Raul said, a cheery smile on his face, "I've never seen someone use a guitar as a weapon before. And the way Kusari was taking on both Ethan and Kageko, without taking a scratch! You don't expect that from someone ranked twelfth against the number 1 student and the angry powerhouse."

"Yes, that is quite the upset. Guess the simple test isn't everything." Asano replied a little louder than was necessary, thinking about the margin.

The chatter quieted as they met the teams on the field. Ethan had his arms crossed, refusing to look at the other team, while Lucina gave the other team a polite handshake, a wide smile on her face, though Asano thought he saw her lips almost lose it. Kageko gave her a pat on the back after she came back, whispering something in her ear that made her perk up for real. Then she noticed the entire class watching, and her face turned a brilliant shade of bright red.

"Now for a vote." Mr Young addressed the students. "Do we evaluate now, or do a general evaluation after all the matches?"

He was almost immediately drowned out by students shouting their suggestions, loudly voting for each option. Miss Delson called for silence, and moments later, they tallied up the votes, which fell in favour if evaluating immediately after the match.

"Alright, please remain silent till I ask you to speak." Mr Young said, as he prepared to interrogate the students.

Unfortunately for Asano, Raul didn't seem to understand the instruction, as he constantly talked to Asano throughout the evaluation, drowning out most of the evaluation. That Miss Delson talked more to the teams than the other students didn't help, but he caught bits and pieces, from Kageko defending Lucina's efforts in their defence, to points lost for tactical errors on Kageko's plan. 'You say you didn't know Kennomi's Quirk, and yet you planned the attack as you did. There's nothing wrong with taking risks, but could you say 'I didn't know what the enemy had up their sleeve so I failed' if you were attempting to retrieve an item of such importance against a real enemy?'

By the time the two teachers were finished, almost all the other students were feeling sorry for the teams, as their plans and actions were torn apart with a critical eye. Having become more practiced at zoning out Raul's chatter, Asano glanced around, noticing Damien calmly observing the evaluation with his arms folded across his chest, and when he turned to look at the other side, there was Shiki with her notebook and mechanical pencil scribbling away. Asano made a mental note to ask for a look inside that notebook someday, but he switched his focus back to the teachers, in time to hear their new announcement.

"The contestants from the first match will be joining us in the viewing room for the remainder of the matches. In the meantime, the two teams we call out next should group together and head to the entrances for preparations. Ten minutes after that, the second match will commence. For the first match Red was protecting the medicine, but keep in mind that this may not be the case." Miss Delson said, "Now, the next two teams, Mr Young?"

Mr Young cleared his throat, and read the teams off the clipboard. "Team Red will be: Asano Torio, Shiki Tendou, and Yuwaka Arai. Team blue will be: Varik Larkson, Jun Hamada, and Damien Rodriguez."


Wow, this chapter took forever to finish. My apologies to everyone reading for the delay, I really wasn't in the right frame of mind when writing this, but hopefully that hasn't affected the quality of writing.

Regardless, thank you for reading, and extra thanks for everyone who reviews.