Chapter 28: Marie and Bakugou
Deku
Izuku and almost everyone else was downstairs in the lounge making breakfast, same as usual. But then Mineta spoke up, "Hey, where's Kaminari?" Izuku looked around, and sure enough Kaminari wasn't there. Neither was Freeman-chan now that he looked; everyone else but those two were downstairs. "We should go get them, before it's too late and they're late for class!" Iida declared, before Sato said, "Hold on, I see them coming now."
The two missing students walked into the lounge area; hands intertwined. Kaminari had a big smile on his face, and Marie's shoulders looked more relaxed than they usually did. Ordinarily her body language was tense and on edge. The two of them went into the dining area, together, and the girls had a number of reactions. Ashido-san, Hagakure-san and Ochako-chan were giggling, Yaoyorozu-san covered her mouth and blushed, while Tsuyu-chan was looking thoughtful. Mineta looked at the couple and mumbled, "…traitor." That was when it hit Izuku and he blushed at the thought.
Iida seemed oblivious as he chastised them, "Kaminari-kun, Freeman-san, you need to work harder on your punctuality! You were almost too late for breakfast and making sure you were ready for the school day! What were you two doing?" Kaminari started to blush and Marie quickly said, "Just showing Denki some stretches, that's all. Heroes need to stay…flexible to be in tip-top shape, right?" Iida bought it! And said, "I see, that is indeed something that we should work on. Perhaps you can help everyone else with their stretches at a more appropriate time?" Kaminari snickered and Marie smiled, "Sure thing, Iida-san."
Once everyone had eaten, they all went to their rooms and got ready for class. In class, Aizawa-sensei declared, "We are going to have a practical test. Everyone get into your costumes and be ready to go to the USJ." Izuku and everyone else grabbed their costumed and quickly changed before getting on the bus to take them to the USJ. As luck would have it, Izuku and Ochako got to sit next to each other. "I wonder what we'll be doing this time," Ochako commented. "I guess we'll be working on our rescuing skills again. Maybe we need to go there until we've survived all the environments?" "Maybe," Ochako agreed, then changed the subject, "Can you believe that Marie and Kaminari-kun really did it?" Ochako was blushing as she said this and Izuku was just as red, "W-well I-I heard that Americans are… I mean that Freeman-chan is a good person, and all but… Uh… I guess that's just her?" He wasn't sure what to say about it.
He then quickly tried to change the subject, "Well, anyway, I guess she's mostly recovered from that fight she was in if she can do…that." Ochako replied, "Not really. She told us girls last night that she can't use her Ultimate Technique for about six weeks according to the Doctors. They told her if she did then she could be paralyzed permanently. She'll be partially handicapped in this test." Izuku nodded, "But, she's pretty smart with her Quirk, knows how to handle herself. It shouldn't be too bad for her." He looked through the bus and saw Marie was sitting with a giggling Ashido talking quietly.
The bus got them to the USJ and they saw that there was another bus there. Class 2-A got off at the same time as Class 2-B got off of their bus and the students all lined up behind their homeroom teachers. "Huh, you think we'll be fighting class B again?" Mineta asked as they went. "HAHAHA!" Monoma Neito's annoying laugh went off as Mineta said that, "I hope you're ready Class A! Because we'll mop the floor with you all again, just like last time!" Marie responded to that, "Hey copy-boy. Knock it off or I'll kick your butt so hard your new nickname will be 'Soccer-ball'." Aizawa-sensei and Vlad King both said, "That is enough of that!" Vlad King then continued, "For this exercise, the classes will divide into teams composed of members from both Class A and B.
"This is to promote greater cooperation, when in the field you never know who you may be teamed up with, and you need to be able to work with others you don't know well. Fourteen teams of three will be composed at random. Some, by necessity, will have more of one class than the other. Two of these teams will then compete against each other to rescue a group of civilians from a team of villains. Professional Heroes have volunteered to act as villains, and we will not reveal who they are. You'll have to adapt and think of the fly to succeed. And most of all, teamwork will be the key to success," Vlad King finished speaking as they entered the USJ and saw Thirteen-sensei holding two boxes for them.
"Alright everybody," Thirteen-sensei said, "Everyone take number from the box in my right hand to decide your teams. Once you're in your teams, one person per team will take a paper from the box in my left hand to determine which area you'll be in. Let's get started!"
Everyone grabbed a number from the box in Thirteen-sensei's right hand. Izuku was partnered with Marie and Tsunotori-chan from Class B. The three of them grouped up and Marie said in English, "Hey, I heard you talking earlier, Tsunotori-san. You're not a native Japanese speaker, are you?" Tsunotori-chan answered in English, "Is it that obvious? Dang it, I was hoping that those extra lessons with Itsuka would help." Marie nodded, "You're not terrible, but your accent is sort of obvious. Let me guess, Texas?" "Yep," Tsunotori-chan said, "And I guess you're from one of the Carolinas." Marie smiled and pointed her thumb at herself, "SC Girl born and raised." The rest of the girl's talk got Izuku lost as they talked faster and about things that he was sure only Americans understood, so he went to grab the paper telling them where they were going.
He opened it as he went back to his partners and saw that they were going to the Mountain Zone. "Alright, Freeman-chan, Tsunotori-chan, we're going to the Mountain Zone for this one," he said when the two girls stopped talking. "Alright," Marie said in Japanese and lifted up her hands, "Let's do it!" Izuku and Tsunotori-chan high-fived her, and then the group they would be facing off against walked over. "Oh yeah!" Tetsutetsu-san bellowed, he was grouped with Kacchan and Shinso-san, "This is going to be one awesome match! Don't you go easy on me, Pony!" Marie smiled at this and walked over to Tetsutetsu-san, "Alright, Steal Boy. If Pony does go easy on you, then I'll come at you guys twice as hard. So you better not hold back!" Marie put her fist out and Tetsutetsu-san fist-bumped her, "Let's have a good match!"
"So that's the black girl we've been hearing about," Shinso-san said as he walked up to Izuku. "She seems like a handful to deal with." Izuku shrugged and saw that Shinso-san had changed his Hero Outfit, he was now wearing dark gray shirt and pants with black boots along with his voice synthesizer and memory fabric capture weapon. Izuku told him, "She's…exciting but really friendly once you get to know her." Kacchan interrupted by exploding and yelling at Marie, "You better be ready, Kuroko! I'm gonna blast you straight to the Continent!" Marie responded to that by getting so close to Kacchan's face that their noses were millimeters from touching, "Bring it Firecracker Boy! I'm gonna kick the stupid out of you!" Izuki and Shinso-san both had exasperated expressions as they helped separate their team members.
"Freeman-chan! Bakugou-kun!" Aizawa-sensei yelled out as his capture tool tied up the two of them. "Any more fighting outside of the test and I will have you both confined to your rooms for a week, and you will automatically fail this test. Understood?" Bakugou clicked his tongue but said, "Yes Sensei." Marie had a vein throbbing in her forehead, but she bowed in Aizwa-sensei's direction and said, "I understand, Sensei. I'm sorry." Aizawa let them go and some robots came driving carts to take the different teams to their Zones. The whole drive to the Mountain Zone, Marie and Kacchan were silent, but one could just feel their shared negative feelings towards each other. They were let off and the two teams took their positions. The Mountain Zone would be tough terrain to traverse with steep cliffs, deep caverns, and even a small valley.
The robot that drove them to the Mountain Zone told the students, "Your mission in this Zone is to reach the summit of the highest peak, and safely evacuate six hostages out of the Zone within an hour. There will be other robots and one Pro-Hero there to stop you. Goodbye." The robot drove off, leaving the two teams alone. Overhead speakers announced, "Alright! All Teams ready! GO!"
Wolfheart
As soon as Thirteen yelled 'Go!', the two teams took off, climbing the mountains. Marie let Midoriya and Pony go ahead of her, she followed their scents closely as she activated her Quirk. Bakugou and his team went another path. As they climbed, Marie asked in English, "Pony, what kind of Quirks do the guys on Bakugou's team have?" Pony answered, "Tetsutetsu can cover his entire body in steel, but he needs to eat a lot of iron-rich food to keep it strong. Shinso can brainwash people if they respond to anything he says. He's also been taking martial arts lessons with Mr. Aizawa, he's pretty tough in hand-to-hand fighting, and that capture weapon of his is no joke." Marie nodded as they kept on climbing. "Alright then, six hostages, that's two for each of us. We need to figure out how many robots we're dealing with too, plus the Pro-Hero we might be fighting.
They climbed for five more minutes before Marie said, "Hold on, I think I got an idea. I saw this in some movies." They all stopped, and Marie put her head on the ground, making sure her ears were as close to it as possible. She couldn't place them directly on the ground, since her wolf ears were on top of her head, but she got them close. Marie focused on her hearing like never before for five solid minutes. "Alright, I can hear the other Team, they're to the East and about a dozen yards behind us, I think. I'm hearing robots too, a few dozen, but not too many, maybe forty at most. That's all I can hear." Pony and Midoriya expressed surprise at Marie's skill, "That's awesome!" Pony said, and Midoriya said, "Are you sure about that?" Marie shrugged, "I'm mostly guessing on the robots, but I'm pretty sure there's not more than we can handle." Marie stopped talking and focused on her smell then.
For a minute she smelled the air, taking it in with deep breaths. "Do these Zones have wildlife?" she asked. "No," Pony answered in Japanese, "Thirteen-sensei doesn't want to risk any animals getting hurt." Marie nodded, "Are there any Pro-Heroes with rabbit Quirks?" Both Midoriya and Pony gasped then, and Marie could literally smell their fear. Ohhhh shit… Why do I get the feeling we're about to get our asses kicked? "Th-there's one Hero like that…" Pony said. "Mirko, the Rabbit Hero, currently ranked Number 4 on the Hero Charts," Izuku said. "F-F-Four?" Marie said in shock, "We're facing the FOURTH STRONGEST HERO IN JAPAN!?" Midoriya quietly said, "Yes." Marie started smelling the air again and found some people she assumed were the people they had to save…and the Rabbit smell was also strongest with them.
"Well…crap. Looks like Mirko is with the hostages. If we want to win this, we gotta go through her," Marie announced. The three of them sat there quietly, pondering their options. Marie didn't know much about Mirko, but she knew that for ANY Hero to be the FOURTH highest ranked Hero in Japan meant that that Hero was a force to be reckoned with. Marie didn't know what to expect, but she was sure that in a one on one fight, she would go down hard. Midoriya then spoke up, "W-W-Well, it might not be as bad as we think. I mean, last year when we faced the Teachers, they were all wearing weights to slow them down and weaken them. M-Maybe Mirko has the same handicap. I mean, they wouldn't do this if they thought we couldn't pass the test, right?"
"Right," Marie said with more confidence than she felt, "We can do this, guys. We just need to focus, and we can win." Unfortunately, Marie's body betrayed her as she showed several signs of fear in wolves, her ears flattened against her head, her tail was between her legs, and she was licking her lips a lot. She had to focus to get her body under control and marched forward, "Let's do this!"
They kept on their course, and for about ten minutes there was no sign of any attacks. That was when Marie heard them. "Incoming robots at four o'clock!" she yelled and the three of them quickly faced where about a dozen robots were coming from. They were on treads and six of them blasted lasers at the Heroes-in-Training. Marie, Midoriya, and Pony quickly scattered, and Marie heard as two objects flew at the robots. "What was that?" Marie yelled as she dodged laser fire and kept on charging at the robots. "My Quirk is Horn Cannon! I can shoot and control horns out of my head!" Pony explained as she ran behind Marie. Midoriya quickly dashed ahead of them and kicked two robots to pieces right as Pony's horns destroyed two more. Marie wasn't to be outdone and she grabbed one by its arm and threw it into another, making both robots explode.
Pony fired two more horns and destroyed two more robots and Midoriya smashed a ninth robot with a hard punch. Marie ran between three robots and listened as they powered up to fire lasers. She jumped up just as they fired, the robots hit each other instead, paralyzing them long enough for Marie to slice them apart with her claws. Marie listened and didn't hear anymore robots, then she put her ears to the ground again. The robots were on the move.
"Alright, we might have more coming. I heard a bunch of robots heading towards Bakugou's group, and more are heading our way too," Marie told her teammates. "We need to keep moving, and fast. Tsunotori-san and I will take the lead, we can do long-range attacks. Marie, stay behind us in case we get to close quarters fighting, and keep your ears open in case we're attacked from behind, sound good?" Pony grunted in acknowledgement and Marie said, "Alright, let's do this."
The three of them ran as fast as they could towards the summit just as Midoriya said. Marie kept her ears open for any robots coming from the sides or behind and didn't hear anything approaching. She heard the robots before her teammates saw them and yelled, "Incoming, one o'clock!" She heard Midoriya say, "Air Force!" She heard four small sonic booms erupt from his hand, and four robots being reduced to scrap half a second later! Pony unleashed her Horn Cannon and Marie heard four more robots be destroyed. She didn't hear anymore robots coming their way. She got Midoriya and Pony to stop and put her ears to the ground a third time. She could hear some kind of fight through the ground, lots of explosions. "The rest of the robots are going after Bakugou's team," she announced, "I don't think that it'll slow them down for long."
Just then, she smelled a rabbit dropping from the sky. "MIRKO!" That was when something or someone hit the ground hard enough to cause a small shockwave, knocking everyone on their back! "So, this is how U.A. does things now, encouraging weaklings," a woman's voice said, and Marie figured that had to be Mirko. "I was getting bored waiting, so I decided to have some fun. Alright, Rookies, show me what you got!"
Midoriya recovered first and charged at Mirko so fast that Marie was sure he'd gotten her. Instead, the Rabbit Hero dodged him easily. "You got speed, I'll give you that," she said and dodged Pony's Horn Cannon. Marie ran at Mirko, running low to go for a tackle, but Mirko jumped up. Marie rolled forward just in time to avoid getting her back stomped on, and Pony's Horn Cannon went off again. This time, Mirko grabbed them and held them tight. Midoriya went at her, but Mirko whacked him in the face with the Horns instead before running at Pony. Pony avoided Mirko's low kick, but Mirko delivered a high kick to her solar plexus that knocked the air clean out of her. Marie ran at Mirko and Pony just in time to hear Pony start puking her lunch out.
Marie slashed at Mirko, and the older Heroine dodged her slashes. "Hmm… you certainly have a good handle on offense," Mirko said before throwing a punch that Marie blocked with her right arm. Mirko threw a high kick and Marie barely dodged it, Mirko's foot touched her ears; a few more millimeters and Marie would have been out cold. Marie tried to sweep Mirko's feet, but Mirko jumped up in time to avoid it. "Midoriya! Get Pony and get the hostages! I'll distract Mirko!" Marie yelled, then had to block a kick to her guts. Marie used both arms in and X-block and even then, Marie was sent flying back six feet. "Is that all you got?" Marie yelled back with a cocky smile that was all bluff.
Mirko cracked her neck and knuckles and said, "You should get going, Midoriya. I'll handle you after I deal with this little girl." Midoriya said, "No way! Freeman-chan-" Marie yelled at him, "Just go! Don't take too long though. Don't worry about me, Deku. Remember my Hero Name is Wolfheart for a reason! There's no way am I losing to some hopped up bunny." Mirko laughed at that, "I'll give you this much, little girl, you get plenty of guts. I guess I can stop holding back!" Mirko rocketed at Marie, and she barely managed to avoid her uppercut. Mirko then punched Marie's stomach hard. Marie took the hit and grabbed Mirko's head. She tried to knee her, but Mirko blocked Marie's knee and broke out of the clinch.
Mirko went for a kick and Marie blocked it with her knee before going for a claw slash that Mirko dodged. Marie then jumped forward and tackled Mirko down to the ground. "Tricky, nice," Mirko said, then wrapped her legs around Marie's waist and squeezed her tight! Marie screamed in shock and pain; Mirko's powerful thighs squeezed her tighter than an anaconda! "You fought hard, Rookie. If I wasn't wearing these weights, you wouldn't have stood a chance, but you did well with what you had," Mirko said. Marie tried to break Mirko's hold on her, but Mirko's legs were too strong, even stronger than Marie's own upper-body strength! Mirko squeezed her tighter, and Marie had to struggle not to throw up and she could feel herself suffocating. "Just give up, Rookie, before you get really hurt," Mirko smugly said.
With one last desperate yell, Marie grabbed Mirko's shoulders and screamed in English, "NNNEEEVVVEEERRR!" Marie lifted Mirko up at the same time as she slammed her head down, pounding both their skulls together. "KAH!" Mirko yelled in surprise before Marie did it again, this time hitting her nose, breaking it. Mirko let Marie go and Marie quickly jumped back and sucked in air. She couldn't concentrate on her Quirk and transformed back into her normal form as she tried to catch her breath. Thank God, she didn't break any ribs…
"You broke my nose," Mirko said, sounding angry. Before Marie could get up, Mirko stomped down on her stomach, hard enough that this time, Marie puked. Marie weakly grabbed Mirko's ankle, and Mirko said, "You don't die easy, I'll give you that, Rookie. You said you're Wolfheart, right?" Marie struggled and said, "Y-yeah." Mirko said, "I'll remember that. For now, why don't you take a long nap!" Mirko raised her foot to kick Marie again, when she heard Bakugou roar, "DIE!"
Mirko barely dodged Bakugou's blast, jumping high in the air. "Are you alright?" Tetsutetsu asked as he helped Marie up. Marie coughed, "She kicked my ass good. I told Midoriya and Pony to go on ahead while I distracted Mirko. Thought I'd at least last longer than this." Tetsutetsu said, "That's one of the Top Ten for you, I don't think any one student could take one of them on and win." Shinso then said, "Take a break, Wolfheart. We'll take it from here." The two of them charged after Mirko just as she landed a hard kick to Bakugou's head. Shinso let loose with his capture weapon, but Mirko grabbed it and pulled him in. He would have been knocked out if Tetsutetsu hadn't distracted her by grabbing her from behind. Mirko jumped up and flipped behind Tetsutetsu and kicked him into Bakugou before Bakugou could unleash another explosive blast.
Shinso then spoke up, "Hey, Mirko, do you really like to screw like a rabbit?" Mirko responded, "You-" then she was quiet. Marie got up and asked, "What happened?" Shinso responded, "I used my Quirk. As long as she doesn't get hurt or I don't get hurt, she'll be brainwashed for as long as I want. It's a good thing she's so cocky." Marie nodded, "Yeah." "Wolfheart! HEEEEYYYYY!" Everyone turned and it was Midoriya and Pony, with the hostages. "Oh wow, you guys got her," Pony said, then said, "Oh man! Marie, are you alright?!" Marie coughed, "I don't know, I think I lost a few inches off my waist, and my breakfast, but I'm not bleeding, and I don't think anything's broken."
"So what now?" Tetsutetsu asked, "We captured Mirko, but you guys got the hostages." Midoriya said, "I think we should just head back. I'm pretty sure that we'll all get credit for it." Bakugou clicked his tongue but said, "Whatever, Deku." No one argued with his plan, so the six students headed out of the Mountain Zone with their captured Hero and the hostages. Nothing eventful happened the way back, and when they exited, they saw that the robot was waiting for them along with Thirteen-sensei. "Congratulations, the six of you have all passed!" Marie said, "Thanks." Shinso released Mirko and she yelled, "can kiss my- huh? What the Hell!?" Marie told her, "He got you with his Quirk. If you kept your mouth shut, he wouldn't have been able to brainwash you." Mirko crossed her arms, "Sneaky little punk. Fine, whatever."
Mirko turned her attention to Marie then, "You're pretty impressive, Wolfheart. I think I'm gonna want to talk to you later. Later." With that, Mirko removed her weights and hopped away with one powerful leap that set off a small shockwave. "Man, that was painful," Marie said and patted her waist. "Man, I can see the bruise on you! What did she do, try to squeeze you with her thighs?" Tetsutetsu. "Yep," Marie said, and then turned to Tetsutetsu, Shinso, and Bakugou.
She bowed down like her Mother had showed her how a woman bows in Japan, with her hands in front, and bent down until her body was at a thirty-degree angle, a keirei bow. "Thank you all so much for saving me," she said and then she went to Bakugou and bowed lower, to a forty-five-degree angle, a saikeirei bow. "Bakugou-san, I'm sorry for how I've acted towards you. I hope that we can bury the hatchet, and work better together from now on." Everyone was quiet as they waited to see what would happen.
Bakugou actually seemed embarrassed before he said, "Fine. Whatever. I guess you're not too bad, taking on the Number Four Hero and breaking her nose. I guess we can work a little better K-…Freeman." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief once that was over. Once everyone completed the test, they saw that almost all the Top Ten Heroes were participating. Of the fourteen teams that were made, only six had actually completed the mission while everyone else was either captured or ran out of time. All the teams that won did so by working together.
