Ebony

by EbonyAnimalSpirit

It started with a single crimson feather. One single feather, fallen among a sea of black... Lost to the fluttering, ebony waves, cold and drowning... Alone. We should have guessed we were bad for one another... but we didn't... Idiot {My Hero Academia} {HawksXOC} {Spoilers for Anime/Manga}

18. Chapter 18- Dark

Chapter 18

Dark

.:+:.

... trust you...

.:+:.

"... Have you enjoyed your time, working with Animal Spirit?" Tokoyami asked lightly with a glance up toward Koda, the both of them waiting patiently to the side of a foodstand for what they had ordered to be completed. Koda glanced his way with a smile and nodded brightly, his hands already moving in a series of signs.

'Yes...! She's been amazing, she's so helpful and she's been so kind too...! Even when we were doing combat training yesterday, I learned so much and she kept us going at such a nice pace, and she wasn't being too harsh either...!' Koda signed, smiling all the while as Tokoyami's eyes followed the gestures. 'She's very attentive, but not overbearing at all...! Even when we helped out with those car crashes a few days ago, she helped me with what to do, but she also let me come up with plans on my own, and make decisions by myself...! And she's always so calm and on top of things... I was really nervous about all of it to start with, but I've really been having a lot of fun, and I'm learning so much...!' Koda sighed, his fingers stalling again as he clasped his hands together in front of him, and Tokoyami smiled slightly at the larger boy.

"I'm glad you've been enjoying it." He murmured, "Animal Spirit has been very pleasant tonight, she seems a very fine person, and Pro." He hummed, and Koda nodded.

'Mr. Hawks has been nice tonight too.' Koda signed, 'He seems very friendly... Have you been enjoying your Internship?' He asked slowly, and Tokoyami sighed, Dark Shadow at his shoulder doing the same.

"It has not been... Altogether unpleasant." Tokoyami murmured, "When Hawks-Sensei is around, he is very polite, if perhaps a little unusual in his mannerisms. But generally he seems quite knowledgeable, and he is a capable Pro..." Tokoyami told him, before trailing off a moment. "... Though honestly he's scarcely been around the last few days. He is always on the move, and a large portion of my time has been spent with the Sidekicks, rather than him. Closer to the end of the day Hawks-Sensei does stray a little less, but he always seems more concerned with everything else going on around us, rather than being invested on any sort of instruction or advice... That's not to say he hasn't offered any advice at all, he has. And everything he has told, or shown me, have all been valuable... It's just perhaps not as much advice as I would have expected from an Internship." Tokoyami admitted, and Koda bit the inside of his cheek a little, looking unsure of what to say.

"... He's been much more attentive tonight, though." Tokoyami added, "He appears quite interested in Animal Spirit and being in her good graces... So it's like he's trying to be on his best behavior." Koda smiled faintly at the words.

'... I noticed he and Spirit-Sensei seemed quite... Friendly, with one another.' Koda signed slowly, though he drew up on the sign for 'friendly', because he wasn't sure that was quite the right word to use for whatever sort of relationship there seemed to be between Hawks and the Ebony Hero. Tokoyami even quirked a brow at it, and Koda smiled nervously.

'... Well actually, Spirit-Sensei doesn't act all that fond of him for the most part... I hadn't ever even seen her mad or annoyed about anything, or toward anyone, before Mr. Hawks showed up...' Koda admitted, and Tokoyami blinked. '... She almost acts like she hates him, it's a bit odd... Because... Well...'

"... Hawks-Sensei acts like they're good friends, and is not at all bothered by her ire." Tokoyami finished for him, and Koda nodded sheepishly, while Dark Shadow just snickered. "Their relationship is curious indeed... I have heard what the media has to say about them both, but the rumors don't seem to hold much accuracy to the real thing." He said and Koda shook his head a bit. "... Well anyway, it has been pleasant to be working with you all tonight. I look forward to the rest of Patrol." Tokoyami murmured lightly, and Koda smiled, nodding eagerly.

'Me too..!'

"Here you two are." The cook behind the stand announced, calling the attention of the Interns to him and handing out two boxes of food. The young boys took them gratefully and said their thanks, before turning and beginning to wind their way through the people in the street. Koda took the lead toward where they were meant to meet up with the two Pros to eat,

"Yo Tokoyami, who do you think Animal Spirit's favorite Pro is?" Dark Shadow asked, bobbing from the boy's one shoulder and to the other, and Tokoyami blinked at the question.

"... I am not sure." He replied evenly, and Dark Shadow leaned in closer to the boy's ear.

"You gotta have wondered though, yeah?" The Shadow asked, and Tokoyami paused, his eyes ahead and not on the creature.

'... I was actually wondering about that too...' Anima signed slowly, and Tokoyami blinked up at the taller boy. 'Mr. Hawks made a lot of guesses, and many of them I would have probably come up with too... but he hasn't guessed right yet, surprisingly.'

"Yes, I am a little shocked too... but I suppose that likely just means Animal Spirit has appointed a more obscure Hero as her #1." Tokoyami murmured in reply, Koda looked a little unsure though.

'... that could be why... but I was thinking maybe she picked her favorite Hero for some other reason... it seemed from Mr. Hawks' guesses that he was choosing Heroes that had similar Quirks or fighting styles to Spirit-Sensei, right? What if it has nothing to do with her Quirk, or theirs?' Koda mused, '... Spirit-Sensei doesn't really seem to me like someone who would make that decision based on something so simple... so what if... she chose her favorite Hero because of something deeper..? Or because that Hero represents something that has a bit more meaning to her, on a personal level...?' Tokoyami and Dark Shadow tilted their heads at the larger boy and his wonderings, intrigued.

"... you sound as if you may have a guess of your own." Tokoyami pointed out coolly, and Koda stiffened a little, before smiling sheepishly.

'... Sort of.' He signed quickly, '... But I might be going in the wrong direction, it's not as if I know Spirit-Sensei all that well... Or that anyone really seems to know her, honestly... I mean, even finding out she was from a different country was a huge surprise. There's just so little information on her, and I haven't really asked anything personal like that since I've been with her, it's not my place...'

"... I suppose that's true, but you'll never know unless you inquire." Tokoyami murmured, "Animal Spirit does not seem to mind questions being asked, and even if this question isn't exactly in the realm of an Internship- I don't believe she'll be opposed to you making a guess." He hummed, and Koda still looked unsure. The avian boy shrugged slightly, glancing away again. "... At any rate, it might be a nice reprieve from Hawks-Sensei's prodding... I'm not sure if it was entirely that, but her patience seemed to be wearing thin with Hawks-Sensei's constant attempt at conversation tonight." He added in near amusement, and Koda smiled at it, Dark Shadow snickering under its breath.

'... Maybe I will ask...' Koda signed slowly, almost all to himself as he glanced back ahead, both hands coming to a halt on the box of food he'd been given.

He and Tokoyami perked up slightly as the crowd thinned, and they came in sight of the small eating area that Koda and Animal Spirit had stopped in the very first day of the Internship. At a table toward the far edge of the space was Animal Spirit and Hawks, the two Pros sitting across the table from one another. The Winged Hero was chatting away on something they couldn't hear, and Animal Spirit was just sitting with her chin in her hand and quiet. The half a dozen or so other people utilizing the eating space were mostly huddled up, casting furtive glances back and forth at the two Pros (some of them sneaking a semi-clandestine pictures of the two from behind hands, elbows, etc...), all of them very much intrigued with the two Heroes sitting down for dinner together.

Neither Animal Spirit nor Hawks seemed to notice (or perhaps didn't care) the looks and murmurs, they stayed focused on one another. With Spirit just listening quietly to Hawks chattering between a bite here and there of his yakitori, both seemingly quite content in whatever the conversation was (even if it was one-sided).

As Tokoyami and Koda drew up at the edge of the space, Hawks looked up eagerly and grinned at the two Interns. He waved a hand at them, beckoning them over as Spirit glanced their way too- the otherwise unreadable expression that had been on her face changing to a soft smile as she spotted them, and she gestured for them to come over too. Tokoyami and Koda started forward, Hawks immediately jumping back into his conversation, and now with the Interns included. Tokoyami took a seat beside Hawks while Anima settled down beside Animal Spirit, nodding with a smile toward her as she softly welcomed them both back, and asked if they had any trouble finding what they wanted.

They all settled into eat soon after, the Pros and Students both (even as Hawks still tried to talk around his food), and it was... nice. Just chatting (or rather mostly listening in Animal Spirit and Koda's case), eating food, and sitting together.

Koda paused for a moment, his eyes on the table and chewing quietly as his thoughts faded for a moment back to what he and Tokoyami had been talking about beforehand.

... Maybe later tonight... I'll try to ask about my guess... for Spirit-Sensei's favorite Hero...

Koda cast a sideways glance down toward Animal Spirit, his attention latching to her as she paused in her food to remind Hawks (rather exasperatedly) to remember to chew before he choked. And the Winged Hero smiled and nodded to it... but didn't seem to really take the advice right away, since he kept chewing and talking, and Spirit sighed.

"Hawks. Shut up for a minute and eat the rest of that." Spirit snapped lowly toward the Winged Hero, and this time Hawks took the hint, shut his mouth, and finished the rest of his food in hand. Koda smiled nervously at it, while Tokoyami and Dark Shadow let out a silent sighs.

... much later tonight... when she doesn't seem so irritated with Mr. Hawks...

.:+:.

"Gah!"

There came a satisfying thump of her foot slamming against the man's jaw, sending him crashing into the pavement. The bent lightpole he had been holding and using as a baseball bat thudded beside him with a heavy, metallic clang. He let out a pained yelp as he hit the ground, and Spirit huffed as she felt gravity begin to do its work and pull her back down after jumping up into air to let her foot make contact with his jaw.

She flipped in midair, her body wavering in hazy black-red as she Shifted in no time at all, and then landed back down on the pavement gracefully as a cat. The landing sent an uncomfortable flash of pain rushing up from her front paws though, and even earned a shallow stab of pain in her side- but those were fleeting, and she didn't dare pause for even half a second.

She darted forward, rounding the man she'd just downed and uncaring of him trying to pick himself back up. She circled around to his head again and jumped as she reached a newspaper bin stapled to the ground not far off. Her paws met the side of the bin as she pushed herself backward off it, using it as a springboard and boosting her momentum. She Shifted again in midair, twisting as she did so and swinging her leg around with her and aiming it at the other side of his face as she went back to her Human Form.

Her shin slammed against the other jaw, knocking him back down again from what little he'd gotten back up. And this time he smacked against the pavement and stayed down, completely knocked senseless as Spirit landed in a crouch on the balls of her feet, her hands pressing against the ground in front of her. She cast him a glance, sparing two seconds to make sure he really was down all the way, before she glanced forward to scan the rest of the street.

The now downed man was easily six heads her taller and muscled to all hell (thus the swinging a light pole around with ease...), and had been making a rather large mess of the street with a few cohorts generally just vandalizing everything. His cohorts were not nearly as large as he was, and mostly they looked rather rough and maybe even a bit undesirable... they had Quirks and body-types of several different sorts, but they were all low-class Villains (or more just dumbasses causing problems, and not full-blown Villains...) and they weren't really much a problem. Quite honestly, the guy she'd just taken down had seemed the biggest problem of the bunch, and she'd just started and finished that encounter in about seven minutes.

Her red eyes darted a few dozen feet up the street toward where Anima and Tsukuyomi were, motioning citizens to back up and evacuate the immediate area as quickly and calmly as possible... whilst also keeping a wary eye on the Wannabe Villains that were causing all the issues. Anima was doing most of the direction work, and helping people along while Tsukuyomi hung back a bit and served as something of a shield for his classmate and the people moving passed him.

Like Spirit had told them at the start of Patrol, they had quickly moved into crowd control and were doing a great job with it. They were both calm and concise with the people on the street, and they were quick to help anyone that needed an extra bit of assistance getting out of the area. They'd actually been doing crowd control on more than just this bit of footwork already, and all through all the earlier scuffles and whatnot before this, they had been doing just as good of work.

Following Spirit's little talk with Hawks about not handling everything himself at dinner, the Bird-Brain had actually stayed true to his promise to do better, and had refrained from ending any trouble right off. He still kept an eye out on the immediate area with his feathers, and knew well before any of they did if something was going on, but he didn't apprehend any of the troublemakers right away. He told them where they trouble was, and quickly moved with Spirit and the Interns toward the location- and then allowed Spirit 'first dibs' on whatever was going on, before stepping in himself (if he even needed to... if Spirit could handle it on her own, he let her).

In the last two hours since their break for food, Hawks had actually let everyone else have plenty of opportunity to do things outside of just cleanup and reports. He hung back, kept a wary eye on everything and everyone, and acted accordingly to whatever popped up- mostly by calling out directions to the Interns, or helping keep bystanders safe when there were too many for the Interns to handle on their own. He also kept a sharp eye on the Villains themselves (when there were any), and served as quite an effective lookout. He stepped in usually only to minimize what damage he could to the area and anyone in it, and he warned Spirit of anything coming that she might not catch on her own. He did all of that, as well as directing the Interns with calm and confidence- especially when Spirit was preoccupied, and him hanging back and keeping an eye on them made her dealing with other things all the easier.

It was active, concise, and altogether extremely useful communication between himself, and Spirit, and the Interns. A sort of communication and sense of working together that had been mostly unheard of from the Winged Hero, and one that had honestly been sorely lacking before now.

Of course he wasn't altogether perfect at it, several times she had seen him seeming to catch himself in midair- almost second guessing something he had been about to do or say. And several times he had seemed to have to remind himself not to just jump in headfirst for something. He definitely still wasn't all that used to patience, or leaning on other people in the middle of an event. He actually seemed to have the hardest time just letting someone else do something that he could easily do himself- be it civilian evacuation, subduing a Villain, whatever. He had to check himself constantly in order to sit still for a minute and give someone else the chance to handle it. Rationally he probably knew that Spirit or one Intern or the other could get something done on their own, but there was still that habit to just rush in and get it done and over with still lurking... and he was keeping it at bay, but it was a harder habit to break than he might have originally figured.

All that being said though, Hawks was actually much better at teamwork than Spirit had expected of him. When he wasn't reminding himself not to do one of those bad habits, it seemed very easy for him to make snap-decisions that benefited the way she fought, and how well he could work with and around her, and the Interns... she supposed being able to adjust to fighting and working with other people should be expected of anyone as highly ranked as Hawks was, but still- she was surprised.

(And maybe a little impressed... but hell, where was all this skill with collaborative teamwork and fighting the rest of the time?)

Anyway, ignoring all the trying he seemed to be doing on improving his habits and communication and teamwork, etc- he was still very much the Hawks she had gotten so very used to... you know, the slightly annoying, and irking one-?

"Ooh! Great takedown, Sunshine~!" Hawks trilled from somewhere above and behind her, no doubt hovering over the little fighting area like a nosy spectator. Spirit's eye twitched as her jaw clenched, a flash of complete and utter annoyance rushing through her like a wildfire. "You really are great fighter! You totally took that guy down in like five minutes, tops~!"

Yeah, he seemed to have turned to open (and very loud) commentary on her work to help himself along with breaking his bad habits.

She usually wouldn't have even cared about the commenting, but it was nonstop, and he was milking it too. 'Spirit you're so awesome' this, and 'you're so badass' that and all other manner of praises and borderline fanboyish comments and- ugh.

It took nearly every bit of self control that she had not to snap at him to quit it. Or better yet, scratch that damn smile off his stupid face.

She grit her teeth, frowning as she glanced up and saw him hovering in air nearly over-top of her, his hands in his jacket pockets and smiling like an idiot even as she glared daggers at him.

He seriously needs to quit

She looked away from him and glanced over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing to slits and letting out a small huff. A bit further up the street the other wannabe Villains were already grumbling and annoyed, wrapped up by Hawks' vermilion feathers and all thoughts of continuing their destruction completely shattered. He'd actually gone ahead and handled everyone else, instead of sitting back to let Spirit move on to them when she was done with the bigger guy... and he had no trouble with them, they were sort of the smallest of the small fry, so he finished them in no time at all.

She didn't really care he'd gone ahead and just wrapped up with them, even if she could have easily stopped them herself- but whatever, it was a little less of a nuisance for her, so she let it go this time.

Spirit pushed herself up from the crouch and onto her feet again, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away from them and toward where the Interns were instead. Her head twitched to the right as Hawks landed at her shoulder, though she didn't let her eyes wander toward him as he did so.

Both Anima and Tsukuyomi were now helping the (newly arrived) police set up barriers to keep the public back. And a few of the officers were pulling out their own handcuffs and detainment devices from their cars, before heading over to round up the troublemakers. Both UA students set to work helping the officers with whatever was needed, and did so with patience and calm (though of course Anima looked nervous still, but it didn't show in his actions...).

Both Tsukuyomi and Anima had started helping the officers without being asked from the get go, and had been doing so right after dinner was over with. It was good they did, having a nice relationship with the police force was a great thing for all Pro Heroes to have- since you worked with police and other civil servants pretty much everyday as a Pro. It was even better to start building the relationship now when they were so young, and being so helpful for them was also a big boost the police in Heiku were sure to remember (and likely pass on to other departments).

Usually older and more experienced Pros didn't really take time to help with the more menial tasks the police did all the time, even Spirit didn't do it as often as she probably should. And generally the police were used to doing things on their own or with little outside help, and she was sure they didn't mind doing it- but getting help of any kind is always very much appreciated.

"They're doing great, huh?" Hawks hummed to her right, breaking her attention off the Interns and earning himself a sideways glance from the Ebony Hero. "Anima is really quick to lend a hand wherever he can, and even though he seems really shy and nervous, he's still very professional when he's dealing with other people. He even has a bit of quite confidence I didn't expect from him." Hawks hummed brightly, "Honestly I kind of expected him to be the sort of kid that needed to be told what to do all the time, or at least would constantly be asking for your approval, or if he was doing something right, or even if it was okay... but he actually makes a lot of decisions on his own, and they're good ones to boot. Plus his naturally kind and gentle demeanor is a pretty good boost for him in terms of public approval, and it'll come in handy with handling people caught in disaster situations, or mass panic, stuff like that."

Spirit blinked, her eyes narrowing slightly at the Winged Hero as he smiled, letting his head tilt back and his eyes fall closed, sighing. "... In a few more years he'll be a great Rescue Hero." Hawks hummed lightly, "He might lack a bit in actual Villain conflict, but he could really do well supporting more battle-centric Pros. And he'll definitely find a good fit in disaster relief." He smiled, casting a small glance her way. "He did a good job helping you out with those car crashes the other day, yeah?" He asked lightly, and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek.

... since when has been paying this much attention to Anima...? Or even had this much interest...?

"... yes." She answered slowly, "He stayed calm and he came up with a great way to use his Quirk to get people out of the wreckage safely. He was also good at providing onsite support to both injured civilians, and working with the police and the paramedics. In terms of teamwork, he gets along with, and works well with pretty much everyone in some capacity. He's flexible, and he seems pretty good at adjusting his own style to better accentuate others, or a certain situation..." She mumbled, "... he's very good at snap-decisions, that's what makes is easier for him to work situations like that, and he's levelheaded to an almost extreme... he might get a little jumpy to start, but he shakes it off pretty fast regardless." She paused a bit, "... to start with, he was a little wary of doing things without checking with me first, but that didn't last very long... Especially after I made it clear he was free to do what he thought was best. I trust him not to do anything seriously unreasonable- he's not really the sort to take big risks, or come up with some crazy plan." She added almost as an afterthought, and Hawks nodded.

"I see." Hawks grinned, "So, given everything you just said- it seems like you and I are pretty much agreed on most of his strong points~! So now I'm curious what you think his weak points are?" Hawks asked next and Spirit's eyes narrowed further at him.

"... Why the sudden interest?" She asked lowly and he just smiled coolly at her.

"Well, I'm just really interested in your thoughts on the matter~!" He replied, "I have my own ideas of course, but it's cool to see what you think! I usually do most of the talking when we're together, but your opinions and ideas are pretty interesting! And it's actually really nice to discuss things with you, 'cause you're surprisingly open-minded about things." He smirked and she tilted her head a bit. "Remember when we ate dinner, and had that talk about the next #1? You were totally level-headed and listened to everything I had to say, even though some of it was pretty touchy subject matter~!" He chirped, his eyes glittering. "Plus you made it clear last night that you have some strong opinions on this whole teaching thing, so I'm genuinely curious on what you think about all of this." He added a bit quietly that time, in reference to her yelling at him the night before, and she huffed. "You've clearly given your Intern some pretty serious thought, so why not chat about it with me for a bit?" He added lightly, and she looked away again.

... I'm not convinced he's just interested in my opinions... Especially not on just Anima...

He did start off this whole conversation with 'they're doing good' after all... And even though he's only talked about Anima since, I get the impression he's just... Talking about something he thinks interests me, in order to butter me up and then move into talking about what he really wants to.

That's definitely the sort of subtle, and yet not so subtle behavior I'd expect from him...

You're tiring, Feathers... You're so upfront and blunt about asking so many things, but then out of nowhere you revert back to trying to be sly about something... Oi

"... Is there going to be a segway into talking about Tsukuyomi afterward, then?" She asked dryly and he seemed to pause, "... Is that why you brought it up at all? Because you're actually more interested in what I think about your own Intern?" She grumbled, and he chuckled a little.

"Heh, was it that obvious...?" He asked lightly, "I mean, I'd love to hear what you think about Tsukuyomi if you're up for it..! But don't think I don't care about Anima at all, he's an interesting dude, and I do genuinely want to know what you think about him...! Because then I get to see how you look at everything, from a teaching standpoint~!" He hummed with ease, and Spirit just blinked.

"... Whatever." She grumbled after a moment, crossing her arms over her chest and letting her eyes drop closed. "I honestly don't understand why you think my opinions from a 'teaching standpoint' would be all that interesting, Feathers... But because I know you'll keep pestering me about it, fine." She grumbled, and he smiled at the reply, though she never saw it.

"... In terms of weakpoints for Anima, the biggest is what you already mentioned- he's not likely to ever be very good at handling Villains, or being in combat situations." Spirit mumbled, "He's a non-confrontational person, and it's hard for him to work himself up into actually fighting and possibly harming anyone. No matter how hard he tries, I think he'll always hold himself back unconsciously- even when the situation might call for full force... And though he could use his Quirk for combat in the right conditions, it'd be hard to use it on a regular basis for fighting. Especially in an urban setting, it wouldn't be reliable enough for confronting Villains head on." She said quietly, shrugging a bit. "... He's a decent fighter though, in terms hand-to-hand combat. He did fairly well against me yesterday, but I don't ever expect him to use it for anything other than defense purposes... it'd be good for him to improve his combat skills further in the future, even if he doesn't fight often, though... He's extremely shy, surprisingly gentle, and doesn't have a mean bone in his body, so fighting head to head with anyone is just not gonna be something he's good at, probably ever." She murmured, "... As you said earlier, that part will make him popular with the general public, and make him good in disaster relief and whatnot. He'll do well in calming victims down in the middle of a crisis, and he'll have great bedside manner if he helps with triage and field medicine." She relented, and he smiled a bit at the fact that she agreed with him- and said it so plainly.

"... It might also do him some good to be a bit less soft spoken. Potentially it could be hard for him to communicate with other people on the job if he doesn't learn to be louder... But he is new at this, and I think he'll grow to be more outspoken in time. Overall I think he's actually learned and improved a fair amount, since starting the Internship." She added last, and Hawks nodded a few times, his eyes shinning.

"Wow Spirit, you actually sound a lot like a professional teacher, ya know~!" Hawks told her brightly and she blinked her eyes open at that, looking his way in question.

"... What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She grumbled lowly and he smirked,

"Well, I'd have never pegged you as the teaching type!" He chuckled, "It didn't really strike me as your kind of thing, ya know? But you actually seem to act and think a lot like a real teacher would! All through tonight you've been super on top of everything, and calm and attentive, and even everything you just said are all things I'd expect an actual teacher to have considered and noticed about their student!" He chirped, snapping his fingers and pointing at her with ever a bright smile on his face. "You know, you might actually consider getting a job at a Hero School! I think you'd be great at it~!" She stiffened, before quickly looking away and gritting her teeth at the suggestion.

Yeah, no... I've literally been making this up as I go...

... Hell, I'm still not sure I'm doing anything right in teaching Anima anything...... I could never imagine doing this as a job, I'd crash and burn for sure...

... Of course it wouldn't ever be an option anyway. I couldn't ever be a teacher... Hell, even doing this Internship shouldn't have been an option, but the UA Principal just waved me passed to do it without clearing all the security checks and whatnot... And I still don't really get why he did that either.

Ugh

"... Tch... You only feel that way because you'd been acting like a prat the whole time before I showed up." She muttered sharply, "I'm not good at this, I'm just better than you've been, dumbass, and that's it." She hissed and he smiled at it all the same, if a bit softer.

"Well that's a little harsh... But you have a point I suppose, my teaching methods do need a bit of a polish~" He chuckled lightly, "But I think you give yourself too little credit Spirit~! I mean it is you who's been helping me do better tonight!" He told her, and she huffed still. "Besides! Anima is clearly impressed with you and what you've doing- that kid pretty much adores you from the look of it!" He added still, and this time she blinked in surprise. "And can't you tell? Both Anima and Tsukuyomi like you quite a bit! Don't tell me you haven't noticed how much Tsukuyomi's perked up since you joined us tonight?" Hawks asked. Spirit quirked a brow at it, and he shook his head at the look. "Ah, come on~! You definitely had to have noticed how quickly he started calling you 'Spirit-Sensei', yeah?" He pressed, and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek.

Hawks sighed, his hand falling on his chest and putting up a somewhat defeated air for a moment. "He didn't even start calling me 'Hawks-Sensei' until the second day, but with you it was pretty much right away~!" He sighed, though he didn't seem all that cheery about it as his tone might suggest... But that was gone soon enough as his hand left his chest again, and he gestured her way once more. "He's definitely been in higher spirits with you around! I think he has a soft spot for ya, and I can understand why~! You're a great teacher and you're a really nice person underneath all that grumpiness~! It's hard not to like you, Sunshine~!" Spirit bit the inside of both cheeks, her eyes flashing as she shot him a disgruntled glare that he didn't at all seem to notice.

"... You're an idiot, and you're giving me too much credit." She huffed and he blinked at the answer, his head tilting in question. "Tch, did it maybe occur to you that Tsukuyomi seems to be enjoying himself more tonight because you're actually paying attention to him?" She grumbled hotly, and his head only tilted more, the smile he had been wearing now replaced with a blank look, and she hissed. "Bloody hell Feathers, why do you think he chose you for his Internship in the first place..?!" She snapped lowly, "Tsukuyomi was in the finals at the Sports Festival yeah? He probably got a hundred or more offers from other Heroes and Agencies, but he picked you! And the minute you started actually engaging with him tonight he relaxed and started opening up more! He's been asking you questions pretty much every half hour since you offered, and he's been much more focused on doing his best when you're around to see it- he's even been asking you for pointers, and when you give them he's completely invested in what you say! The whole lightened mood had nothing to do with me!"

"... You think so?" Hawks hummed curiously, Spirit's fingernails dug into her hips in sheer agitation.

HE IS SO GODDAMN OBLIVIOUS

She wanted to smack him, scratch him, grab him and shake him in her anger and it was so hard to keep her hands to herself right then.

"You- ugh, bloody hell you're... Fucking hell you're so stupid sometimes!" She hissed, and he jumped a little at it, his eyes widening.

She'd called him a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them... Sure she'd many times called him 'dumbass' and an 'idiot', but he knew well enough she didn't mean anything by them. But being called outright stupid was a surprise... And no, he didn't get the impression she said it in a serious manner, she was just frustrated, but still... it caught him off guard.

"You know what? I'm not gonna explain it to you, you're just gonna have to pay attention and see it for yourself!" Spirit hissed, "So listen to me Feathers, you're gonna go over to Tsukuyomi and you're gonna talk to him. Tell him what he's doing well and give him a few suggestions, and be specific. You have to have at least thought up a few bits of advice on your own, so let him hear it, and let him know you've actually been paying some attention to him and what he does." Spirit grumbled, and his head tilted a bit further. "Just have a conversation with him for a few minutes while Anima and I wrap everything up here." She told him quickly and lowly and he blinked at the order. Spirit waved a hand at him and turned to begin walking away, "If you don't notice it when you talk with him, then you're hopeless and I can't help you." She muttered hotly over her shoulder as she walked away and left him standing there looking a little lost.

"... Heh...?" He breathed, but Spirit didn't hear it and was already a few feet away instead. Her polite and calm demeanor came back in no time at all as she gave a small greeting to the police officers she passed by, before moving closer to Anima,who was in the middle of helping a few officers try and set a heavy vending machine that had been knocked over back on it's feet... Whilst Tsukuyomi was off a bit further away still helping with barriers.

"Here, let me help you with that." Spirit hummed as she got near the vending machine crew, earning appreciative smiles and thanks from them as she stooped down beside Anima to get a grip under the edge of the machine.

Hawks blinked a few times, his eyes leaving Spirit as they began to hoist the machine up, and then over toward Tsukuyomi instead. He stuck his hands in his jacket pockets and hummed a little under his breath, Spirit's words still echoing on his mind.

... Just... Talk to him? About what's he's doing good with, and give him some pointers?

Kinda a weird set of orders, considering I've already been doing that before now? I've told him good job and whatever, and given him some advice... Though never as a one-on-one conversation I guess.

So is that what she wants? A face to face?

... Not sure what that'll do, or even what I'm supposed to 'notice' either... But I did tell her I would try and follow her lead, so~

"Hey, Tsukuyomi!" Hawks called brightly, waving a hand toward the UA student, all smiles and unearned confidence. Tsukuyomi jumped, his heart picking up and glancing over his shoulder quickly toward the call from the Winged Hero. Hawks waved in a gesture for him to come over and Tsukuyomi turned slowly, Dark Shadow tilting it's head in question as Tsukuyomi blinked, his eyes narrowing in question too.

"Come over here for a minute, I wanna chat with you~!" Hawks called again, chuckling a little. "And don't look so skeptical! You're not in trouble or anything, hehe~!"

"Ah, right..." Tsukuyomi mumbled, slowly heading over toward the blonde.

Spirit cast both Hawks and his Intern a small glance from the side, watching quietly as they moved up the street a little to be more to themselves, and Hawks starting his 'chat'... Not that Spirit could hear what he said from where she was (at least, not without actively focusing). She blinked, her eyes slowly moving away from them both and instead focusing her attention on the officer that had approached her looking to start filling out the Incident Report.

... Hopefully Bird-Brain doesn't act like an idiot when he talks to Tsukuyomi...

... And hopefully he realizes just how much that kid is actually trying to learn from him... And wants to.

She gave Hawks and Tsukuyomi no more notice as she gave her utmost attention to the report, Anima helping the rest of the police with various little things before making his way back to her side. The boy waited patiently as Spirit talked, and stayed quiet all the way through finishing up detailing what happened, signing the report, and the officer moved away again, leaving himself and Animal Spirit alone on the sidewalk.

Spirit cast a quick look over her shoulder to see Hawks still in the middle of his conversation with Tsukuyomi, the UA boy's back facing her and Hawks' face mostly out of view too from this angle. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away again, she wasn't looking to interrupt, so instead she took her phone out of her suit pocket to check the time.

10:07pm

... Huh, I hadn't realized it was that late already.

Usually by now I can feel how late it is, and I'm usually already tired... Though I guess I did get a lot more sleep today than I normally do.

I don't even feel tired at all right now, which is sort of nice... And I haven't even really noticed the wounds on my hands or the one from Stain either, which is another bonus.

Tonight has gone much better than I could have expected... Even if Hawks has infuriated me to no end... And even if I had to remind him to watch himself several times... Or with him calling me out on my speaking slip-ups...

... Or how those women totally heard him call me 'Sunshine'... Plus all the other people that saw us tonight and probably got all excited about seeing us 'working together'... Ugh...

... Maybe it hasn't gone that well after all... The cons may very well outweigh the pros in this situation...

She shook her head at herself, and tucked her phone back in her pocket. She glanced left toward Anima on her shoulder, and the taller boy blinked in surprise as she caught his eye, and she tilted her head a little. "Are you doing okay?" She asked quietly, "It's gotten pretty late already, but we still have a few hours left. How are you holding up?" She murmured, and he smiled softly in reply.

'I'm doing great...!' He signed, 'We've been a bit busier tonight than earlier this week, and most of it has been a lot more scuffles than just accidents... But I've been enjoying it, it's a great experience... And working with Tsukuyomi is really nice...! And I'll be just fine for the rest of Patrol, I'm not that tired at all...!' Spirit smiled slightly at the words, and nodded.

"... I'm glad you're enjoying it." She hummed, "... You and Tsukuyomi seem like really good friends, I'm glad you two could work together tonight." Anima nodded brightly,

'... Yeah..! To be honest, I feel a lot better with him around... He's so strong, and he stays really calm through most everything...!' Anima told her, and Spirit blinked.

"... You two worked together during what happened at the USJ, right?" She asked softly after a moment of hesitation, and Anima looked surprised at the question. "I heard Hawks talking about it when I got to his Agency Building." She explained and he nodded slightly.

'Yeah, we ended up in the Gale Zone together.' Anima signed, 'I helped lure the Villains around to different places to keep them separated from each other, while Tsukuyomi took them down.' He explained, and Spirit nodded in understanding.

"... I see." She mumbled softly,

To be quite honest, she remembered very little about Tsukuyomi's Quirk, even after reading the bare minimum of it in that little packet of student files the UA Principal had given her. And she hadn't asked him about it tonight either, mostly because it wasn't really her place to, given that Hawks was technically the kid's Mentor... And she'd somewhat assumed she'd see a little bit of it when on Patrol, but there really hadn't been much opportunity for him to really use it at all (what with Hawks taking care of 85% of everything).

She remembered it being called Dark Shadow, and was in essence, exactly what it said, given Dark Shadow was the name of that creature attached to the boy. Well, creature, shadow, persona, demon- something, anyway. And some living, feeling, and thinking thing that lived inside of Tsukuyomi, and seemed quite capable in both offense and defense purposes. What she had seen of it tonight (even what little it was) made it seem like Dark Shadow was both strong, fast, and mostly indestructible... Like a second set of arms and strength, or simply a living (much stronger) ally for the boy that was always by his side. And she wouldn't be convinced her assessment was all that valuable, given what little she actually knew and had seen, but that was the gist she was sure.

Anyway though-

"... It's good you two were able to work so well together, especially in a situation like that." Spirit told Anima after a few moments of breaking off into her own thoughts. Anima nodded in agreement to what she said, tapping his fingers together in front of him pensively. Spirit paused for a second more, her eyes flashing as she bit the inside of her cheek. "... I realize it might be a sore subject, what happened at the USJ..." She started slowly, and mostly because she wasn't sure if she should press it. After all, she had avoided this topic the whole week just based on the fact it was likely not a great memory for Anima at all... But now her interest was sufficiently peaked now, so she went ahead, cautiously though.

She had a few questions about the whole thing, though not many. She'd actually been updated about quite a few more sensitive details when she'd talked to the Public Safety Director the other day- tch

Yeah, I'm not thinking about that right now, it'll just work me up all over again... damn it

Even stopping her train of thought as fast as she did, still didn't keep the spark of anger and rage from burning anew in her core- and she hated she had let it happen... And couldn't stop herself from instantly getting furious either.

No thinking about it Spirit, move the fuck on-

-So suffice it to say, she just knew more than a lot of people probably did about the USJ thing... But she still had one question in particular she really wanted to know the answer to, and hadn't earned it thus far. And it wasn't that unpleasant a question either, so now was as good a time as ever to voice it.

"... I'm not gonna ask you about the Villains or anything like that... I was just wondering how everyone was doing?" Spirit murmured, and Anima tilted his head slightly at the question. "There were reports of people getting hurt when it happened, like Eraserhead, All Might, and Thirteen... And one of your classmates got hurt too, right?" She elaborated, "... I saw Eraserhead and All Might when I visited UA to turn in paperwork, and they both seemed fine, but what about everyone else? Are Thirteen and your classmate alright now...? I haven't heard anything about it since it all happened."

Anima blinked a few times, his eyes widening and looking a little taken aback for a couple of seconds as he just stood there, his hands folded together in front of him. He'd expected she would ask him about the Villains, or what their aim was, or even that she would just want more specifics about the fights that went on... He'd been afraid that this subject might come up from the very start, actually. So many people had pressed both him and his class about what had happened at the USJ, like a lot of the older students at school and other departments. Even his mother had done her fair share of asking, and the police had too- and he didn't like talking about it, or speculating, because he really didn't know anything about why it had happened at all... All he knew was that lots of bad people had showed up where they weren't supposed to, and wanted to hurt everyone in his class. And managed to hurt three of his teachers and one of his classmates- quite severely in Mr. Aizawa and Thirteen's case.

And the whole thing had been so frightening, that day was not supposed to be filled with everyone fighting for their lives against an unknown enemy. He honestly wasn't sure what would have happened to him if he hadn't been lucky enough to end up in the same area as Tsukuyomi- the USJ didn't afford much in terms of animals to call on for help, and he wasn't really all that good at fighting on his own. Things could have turned out really badly for both him and everyone else in 1-A, and he had realized that several times during the whole thing, and a hundred times afterwards. It was extremely fortunate that so few people got hurt in the end... And it would make sense that Animal Spirit would have wanted to know more about what went on, she was a Pro Hero and Villains were part of her purview... But she didn't want to know about any of that? Of all the things she might have asked, she only asked... If everyone was okay now...?

Anima clasped his hands together in front of him, his eyes gleaming as he smiled faintly.

... She's concerned about how everyone is doing... She's so nice...!

He caught himself and nodded quickly to her question, 'Yes...! Both Thirteen and Midoriya-kun recovered really well...! They're both okay now...!' Anima told her quickly, and Spirit's eyes shone as she followed the gestures. Her expression softened as she seemed to let out a small breath of relief at the answer, and nodded once. She smiled gently, hooking her arms behind her back and humming a bit in reply.

"I'm glad to hear it." She told him brightly, her voice a touch wispy too, and Anima blinked.

She... She looked so... happy. Like genuinely happy and relieved with the news. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her looking that delighted, even through the whole Internship so far... And of course she'd been happy and cheerful with him before, as well as supportive... But this was different, and it caught him off guard, as well as made his heart flutter a bit.

He sucked in a sharp breath of air, his hands quickly moving to cover his now very red and flushed face, and completely flustered. He turned away from her and to the side a bit, hiding his face still and fidgeting in place as he sweated up a storm.

... She... She is unbelievably nice...! And smiling like that, looking so... So happy... Oh...!

She's so cute...! Ahh...!

Spirit blinked, her smile disappearing and confusion replacing it as she tilted her head at the young boy and his sudden sort of jittery behavior- and entirely unsure of what caused it.

"... Ah... Are you okay...?" She asked reflexively, her head tilting further.

... Uhm... Did I say something wrong...? This is... A little odd, even for him...

Anima quickly shook his head though (whilst still hiding his face mind you...), and stayed not facing her directly as he shook his head a few times, and too many to be normal. "N-no...! I'm f-fine...! It's nothing...!" He replied quickly, his voice hushed and shaky. Spirit paused, blinking a few times at the reply and still...?

"... Uhmm... Alright... If you're sure...?" She murmured and he nodded quickly, though it took several good minutes of standing in silence for the young boy to seem to calm down again.

Oookay...

She cast a quick glance over her shoulder as she crossed her arms over her chest, sparing a quick look at Hawks to see him still mid conversation.

"Uh... Spirit-Sensei...?"

Anima's soft voice earned her attention once more and she glanced up at the boy to see him tapping his fingers together in front of him, though the red in his face had faded away finally.

"Yeah?" Spirit hummed, and he glanced quickly from her, and then to his fingers again, before ceasing the tapping and starting up gesturing signs instead.

'... I was actually wondering... I know Mr. Hawks already made a lot, but would it be okay... If maybe I guessed someone, for your... Favorite Hero...?' He signed slowly, and her eyes widened.

"... You really want to?" She asked, and he nodded a bit shyly.

'I know I'm probably not gonna get anywhere close, but... Well I just couldn't help thinking about it, after it got brought up, so...' He replied and Spirit paused for half a second, before nodding.

"Sure, I don't mind if you take a guess." She told him lightly, and his eyes flashed at the answer, almost surprised she had agreed so easily. His hands moved in swift precision as he spelled out the name of his guess for her, and Spirit's eyes widened further with every letter as it came.

... That...

He didn't stop with the signs even as he finished spelling the name, his eyes down and not focused on her as he kept on.

'... I was just thinking... About when you Interned underneath Noraneko..?' Anima asked and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes flashing.

Noraneko was the name of a Pro Hero over in Kyoto, and who had been a Pro for about 25ish years before Spirit had ever met him. He was a hardass, didn't pull punches or anything, and was ridiculously hard to please. Quite frankly she was sure the old git hated her, and continued to hate her all through her Interning underneath him about... Oh, 5ish years ago now?

It had been like it was now with Anima, Spirit was in high school on the Hero track and had needed an Internship with a Pro, and more than once. Without detailing everything, she'd gotten stuck Interning underneath Noraneko every time Internships were needed, and each time she went out with him, the more she came to dislike him. He'd never been fond of her to start with, and she'd tried to let it go and just move on... but he was rigid and immovable, and acted like an utter ass near every second she was around, so her ire for him pretty well matched his ire for her.

She did learn from Noraneko (the hard way usually), so her Internships under him hadn't been completely wasted, just incredibly frustrating. And she couldn't say she hadn't been pleased that he'd retired three years ago, because that meant she had no chance of being forced to work with him on some disaster or other... But away from all of that, she was thoroughly surprised that Anima even knew about her time with Noraneko at all.

Noraneko had been a very underground Hero, and most of his exploits had been under the radar and not at all in limelight. The old git had never been a very popular Pro Hero, and he didn't have a fan base or even many people in the general public who knew he ever existed (even despite the fact that... Admittedly... Noraneko had been very, very good at his job and seldom ever lost a fight). And even fewer people even knew (or had cared about, at the time) what she'd been up to before leaving school behind, or her early days in the Hero course before becoming a full Pro... So add both of those together in terms of being rather inconspicuous, it was quite a surprise Anima knew about it at all, or well enough to use it as a basis for a guess.

'... It's just... Well not a lot about your time before becoming a Full Pro is really known, but I do remember you working with Noraneko more than once... And especially that one time that you worked against the Villain with the Gigantification Quirk... She was signed on as a Sidekick for Noraneko when that happened, right? So you two worked together with him, for a few weeks at least...?' Anima kept on and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek as he finally raised his eyes off the floor to look at her, and she nodded as their gazes matched, smiling just faintly.

"... Yeah, she and I did work together, for about three months." Spirit replied softly, "Though I'm surprised you remember that at all... Most people didn't pay me much mind back then, and I really doubt anybody remembers that we worked together on that Giant Villain thing. Most of what everyone remembers about it is that she took that guy down in the end, so that kind of eclipsed any mention of me at the time, hehe..." She added lightly (because honestly she hadn't minded not being in the limelight), but he shook his head quickly.

'N-no, of course I remember! You did really well against that Villain, and your teamwork was amazing...!' He signed, '... And from the news coverage of it, it looked like you enjoyed working with her too... A-and even since then, she has mentioned you on talk-shows and in interviews a few times, so I figured you two must have made an impression on each other...' He told her and Spirit just barely stopped herself from smiling wryly at that last bit.

... Yeah, some sort of impression... But probably not the kind he's thinking of...

'... It seemed pretty clear from Mr. Hawks' guesses that he was picking Heroes with similar Quirks to yours, but... Well I just thought that maybe you'd pick your favorite Hero a different way...? Like maybe if you... Had a more personal connection with them...?' Anima kept on, his signing slowing just a bit as he seemed a little unsure of himself in his explanation. He trailed off for a moment or two, his eyes gleaming as he met hers tentatively, and stiffening when he saw her smiling at him, almost amused. "...uhm..." He mumbled softly under his breath, and Spirit smiled more.

"... You're on the right track, in this case anyway." Spirit told him lightly, her arms shifting from being crossed over her chest as she raised a hand, with three fingers held up. "She's not my #1, but she is my #3, and in that spot because of the time we spent together during my Internship, so you made a really good guess." Spirit hummed and his eyes shone, looking both a little thrilled, and a little awed at the confirmation. Spirit chuckled softly under her breath, the smile fading to a touch of exasperation as she waved her hand lightly in the direction of Hawks and Tsukuyomi behind them. "Don't tell Hawks that though, he'll probably be a little upset he didn't get the chance to guess it himself..." She sighed, and Anima smiled faintly in amusement, nodding once.

'... I won't mention it...'

Spirit hummed and glanced over her shoulder one more time toward said Winged Hero, and paused when she saw him smiling like an idiot and gleefully patting Tsukuyomi on the head... With the younger boy rigid in his place as he did so and eyes stuck on the floor, and a faint, almost unnoticeable blush to his face (and Dark Shadow hiding it's face in it's hands and looking near as flustered as the boy).

Spirit blinked, biting the inside of her cheek and letting out a quiet breath at the sight.

... That's progress... Maybe...?

She didn't have much time to wonder on it, Hawks quit with his patting and lead Tsukuyomi over at his shoulder toward Anima and Spirit. The blonde waved a hand at them as they neared, looking quite carefree as always, while Tsukuyomi seemed to have managed to put on that calm and formal persona he always seemed to have.

"You guys all done and ready to head out~?" Hawks asked brightly, "What do ya say about patrolling that big park near here? Bakanai, yeah~?" He hummed, stopping in front Anima and Spirit both, Tsukuyomi at his side.

"That's fine, it'll be a change of pace from the inner-city streets." Spirit murmured, he smirked and gave her a thumbs up.

"Great~!"

Spirit lead the way away from the area and passed the barricades, and further up the street and left in the direction of the park. Hawks placed himself in what was becoming a familiar spot on her right shoulder, while Anima and Tsukuyomi followed behind a bit slower. She shot the Winged Hero a sideways glance when he suddenly moved himself closer to her, and enough so their shoulders bumped lightly. He leaned in a bit and she instinctively stiffened, her hand raising to keep him at bay but it did little good as he just leaned in further still anyway. She could feel his breath on her neck as he tilted his head to her ear, raising his hand to hide his mouth from view of the Interns behind them, and Spirit grit her teeth at the sudden and unwanted closeness.

"... I do think I get it now, what you were talking about...!" He told her softly, smiling still even as he whispered in her ear, and Spirit quirked a brow. "... He seemed really excited when I gave him those pointers, and commented on his performance...! I mean... Well he sort of lit up, actually...!" Hawks kept on, his tone hushed and quick, but a little giddy too, and Spirit blinked. "Heh, I didn't think he'd be happy about me being all 'teacherly', but I guess so...! And he seemed to really be taking everything I told him to heart... Of course he didn't really show any of it outwardly all that much, but I could still tell...! And I think he really liked hearing all of that from me... And just talking, really...!" He smiled, though he paused for a second and the smile softened into something a tad embarrassed.

He sighed, pulling back a little as he finished and Spirit let out a quiet huff. Hawks pulled back a little further, though their shoulders remained close enough to brush against each other every once in awhile. He stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets, and remained smiling at her from the corner of his eye still as they kept walking.

"... you're definitely much better at reading the kids than I am, and you're better at knowing how to act around them too." He told her quietly, and softly enough she was the only one who could hear what he was saying. "... Grant you I wasn't really planning to be the kind and attentive type from the get-go, you know- since I settled for tough love right off... It's what I was used to and comfortable with, and it worked with me so I figured it would work fine with him too... But ya know? I might like your method better... Heh." He shrugged a little, his eyes flashing as he looked ahead and away from her. "I don't know... I really didn't think I cared all that much about his feelings or anything, as long as I got results in the end, and he learned a thing or two... But... Seeing him get all quietly pleased and happy like that was kinda adorable... And kinda makes me wish I'd been a bit more cooperative this whole time... It felt kinda nice, to make him a little happy." He admitted softly and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes flashing as she watched him from the corner of her eye.

Amazing what not being a total ass can do, hmm?

She might have voiced that thought out loud, and she certainly felt the urge to- but right then was not the appropriate time for it... Because this was a nice change in the Bird-Brain, and her snarky comments would just make her the ass in the situation.

"... Well I'm glad you started to figure some of it out for yourself, Feathers." Was what she told him instead, and he smirked at the words, nodding.

"... You know, you are a super good teacher, Sunshine." He told her lightly and she raised a brow at it, looking not at all convinced with the comment. "Really! You're doing a great job teaching both the Interns, and me! I really think you should consider getting a teaching job somewhere! The world could use that wisdom and heart of gold of yours being passed on to others~!" He smirked and Spirit grit her teeth,

Again with that stupid 'heart of golden' shit... And the teaching thing, I already made my stance clear on it, damn it. And still he brings it up... Ugh

"Shut it." She muttered sharply and he chuckled at the response, but for now let it go.

The street thinned out around them as the cobbled paths of Bakanai Park replaced the sidewalks and the buildings quickly became rows of trees and other vegetation. As they headed further into the park and left the city behind, everything grew steadily darker as the glow of the buildings faded to nothing- and what little light was available was owed to the spare few lampposts dotting the path on either side. Spirit blinked several times as they headed further in, willing her eyes to adjust to the dim, and her ears too, as the drone of the city and all it's movement faded to nothing. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure the Interns were still following, and found both Anima and Tsukuyomi seemed to have unconsciously sped up their walking in order to stay closer to both Hawks and herself. Which was reasonable, given the sudden lack of light, and the altogether unfamiliar terrain of the park (especially at such a late hour).

But even after several minutes of walking, the park seemed quiet and serene around them- incredibly so, after all the movement and bustle in the city. They saw no one at all walking through the park with them, and all there was to be heard was the rustle of the trees in the breeze, and the occasional rustle in a bush of some creature or other darting away.

Spirit kept them walking slowly along one of the main paths that lead toward the center of the park, Hawks by now seemingly humming some song to himself (of which she could faintly hear coming from the headphones resting on his neck), and the Interns starting a soft conversation between themselves too. There seemed little to nothing stirring at all in the park, and with the sudden calm came a slightly more relaxed atmosphere for their little group.

They stayed headed along the clearly marked cobbled pathway lined with lampposts the whole way- because though Spirit knew the park well enough to venture off the main paths and into less frequented parts, she wasn't really looking to do so with everyone else. With how little they were familiar with the area, it probably wouldn't be the best idea to go wandering aimlessly in the middle of the night, even with her there to be some sort of 'guide'.

(... Plus she just didn't want to deal with having to keep an eye on both the Interns whereabouts, and Hawks in the pitch black either... That sounded like a real headache...)

"Hey~! Maybe we can hit up that coffee stand while we're here~?" Hawks said brightly, shattering the quiet quite violently- and enough so both Spirit and the Interns jumped at the sound of his voice. He turned a cheery smile on Spirit for half a second (oblivious to the deadpan stare he earned from her), and looked ahead again, his hand raising out of his pocket to tap a finger to his chin. "Mmm, that sounds nice right now... Plus, you gotta wonder what Pro-mallow is on for today-!" He hummed, before cutting himself off rather abruptly, his smile breaking just as the words did. Because as soon as he thought of 'Pro-mallow', the memory of how savagely Animal Spirit had decapitated and devoured that poor Thirteen Marshmallow the other day came to the forefront of his mind... And just as quickly as poor Thirteen-mallow flashed in his head, the imaginary 'Hawk-mallow' popped up too, and once again he was imagining the confectionery version of himself falling victim to Spirit and her utter lack of remorse.

His hand moved from his chin to brush against his neck, grimacing as he noticeably shivered, and Spirit's eyes narrowed to slits at it.

"-actually, nevermind. I'm totally good, we don't need to go back." He said quickly, audibly gulping, and Spirit frowned (whilst Tsukuyomi and Anima exchanged confused looks).

"... What the hell is wrong with you?" Spirit muttered lowly, and Hawks actually jumped when she asked the question.

"N-nothing...! I'm totally good, I just realized I'm not really in the mood for sweets is all..!" He answered much too quickly, and not at all convincingly. The stare she settled on him made it pretty clear she didn't believe the answer, and Hawks smiled wryly, waving his hands in front of him and shaking his head. "Really Sunshine, it's nothing at all! Say, how about we-?" He started, but once again got cut off.

BLIIING

Both Spirit and Hawks stiffened, the electronic ring paired with a series of buzzing in their pockets. They stopped near in tandem with one another, the Interns halting too as the Pros pulled their phones out and quickly tapped the red alert screen to silence the ringing.

Spirit's eyes scanned the words at lightning fast speed, Hawks too as they read through the Dispatch Emergency Alert.

'MULTIPLE VILLAINS SPOTTED IN HOSU. SOUTHBOUND BULLET TRAIN HALTED. REPORTED UNCHECKED FIRES IN THREE QUARTERS AND SPREADING. CIVILIAN EVACUATION AND ASSISTANCE REQUIRED. REQUESTING ALL NEARBY HEROES FOR IMMEDIATE EVACUATION AND CONTAINMENT.'

Spirit felt a shiver run down her spine, her eyes narrowing to slits and immediately tense as she read the alert over. Hawks beside her was just as uneasy, his signature carefree smile nowhere to be seen now.

It would have to be something really big if Dispatch were asking for all nearby Heroes... Bigger still for there to be a train in distress on top of spreading fires across Hosu.

Shit

Her eyes darted from her phone and toward the top of the trees in the direction she knew Hosu to be in.

What the hell is going on over there? Multiple Villains, fire everywhere...?

What Villains...?

... It wouldn't be... Stain would it...?

... He wouldn't be doing something that chaotic, right...? I doubt it... But hell.

Her eyes snapped from the trees to match with Hawks, the Winged Hero looking as serious as she was.

"I can go ahead and be there in a few minutes, and start helping out." Hawks told her quickly, his fingers typing as he talked. "I'll call a ride for you three to head over behind me, and you can assist with evacuation efforts."

"... Right." Spirit murmured lowly, her eyes moving over to the Interns as Hawks took a step to the side and continued typing on his phone for a moment. "There's a situation over in Hosu, Dispatch is calling in all nearby Heroes." She explained quickly, and they both stiffened at the news. "We'll get there as quickly as we can, both of you stick with me as much as possible, okay?"

Both younger boys nodded stiffly, the unease that flared in them so suddenly being quickly replaced with determination. Spirit nodded back, her eyes flashing.

"Good-" she murmured, ready to turn back to Hawks, but her attention sidetracked when her phone buzzed in hand again and started to actually ring. She hissed a little under her breath at the very red screen and hit the answer button to silence the ringing, shooting Hawks and the Interns a small look to give her a minute as she answered the call. "Animal Spirit here." She murmured quickly, "I'm currently in Bakanai in Heiku, I'm about to head out and respond to the situation in Hosu-" she murmured quickly and before the caller on the other end of the Dispatch call could say anything (she immediately figured they were calling her in for the Hosu thing), but she never got any further than that before the voice on the other end cut her off abruptly.

"-this is not about Hosu. I have several reports of a Villain at large in Heiku. Three civilians have already been critically injured and the suspect has evaded capture from the police and several other Pros. Last known sighting was three blocks north of Bakanai Park." The Dispatcher told her quickly, and straight to the point while Spirit's jaw snapped shut.

Seriously? Another Villain, right now?

Shit...!

"This is a Class B Villain, Male, Quirk unknown, and extremely-" the Dispatcher kept on, but Spirit hardly heard anything else beside the drone of their voice after 'extremely'.

She felt her heart drop, a cold shiver running up her spine as the hair on the back of her neck suddenly stood up. Her pulse picked up and her body went rigid in instant, complete high-alert and her mind racing.

Something was coming, something close and getting quickly closer, and she knew it was headed straight for them even though she couldn't see, smell, or hear it, but she could sense it- a deep, instinctual, animal-like sixth sense... And one that made it immediately clear that they were all in danger.

Hawks noticed the change in Spirit's posture immediately, how tense she was and how defensive her body grew in those few seconds between her picking up the phone, and then promptly losing all focus on the conversation. He knew right away she felt something off, or even that something was headed their way, because he recognized the look in her red eyes with utter ease. And he didn't dare doubt her instincts on the matter, because in the next moment he felt something too, even if not as quickly as she did. Some part of his own senses flared, faint, minuscule- a near imperceptible shift in the air, but a feeling he knew well enough what it was, no matter how small. Years working as a Hero made the sensation unmistakable, and his body followed suit.

Just like Animal Spirit he went into a defensive stance without skipping a beat, his attention hyper-focused on their surroundings and already reaching around to grab one of the longer primary feathers from his wings. Spirit's head snapped to the left, her fists clenching at her sides and immediately moving to place herself closer to the Interns on one side, while Hawks took up a spot on the other. The two Pros sandwiching both Tsukuyomi and Anima between them without ever having to say a single word to one another, while the Interns picked up on the shift in mood in no time at all.

A single second after that, their attention turned up the path in the direction they had previously come from. The buzz and crackle of electricity danced on the air as the lamps lining the pathway began to flicker and surge, before line by line they popped and went dead and dark. In pairs of two, every single lamp quickly died in a straight line up the path toward the two Pros, and the two Interns, sending the park spinning into sudden darkness.

And following in the quake of the dying lamps swirled a massive, choking, and utterly pitch black cloud bereft of any light, and quickly consuming everything around it. It swallowed up the lights and the path and even the trees in the sky, like a storm made of a black hole where no light could escape it's hungry wrath.

It was headed straight for them.

Tsukuyomi froze, hugging himself tightly as what calm he seemed to be able to keep at all times shattered in fear the instant the lights started to fail. Dark Shadow on his shoulder was quickly getting larger with every light gone, it's body spinning and swirling with more fervor. Hawks noticed it immediately (as did Anima), and the Winged Hero hissed under his breath. He had to act fast and he knew the more pressing issue was that mass of darkness headed their way... But still, Dark Shadow and Tsukuyomi's behavior right then was really not good. But he hadn't time to handle it (or wonder on it for that matter), he had to move, and first things first- deal with whatever the hell is coming at us right now.

Hawks stepped up, placing himself in front of the Interns instinctively and wings raising to serve as an extra barrier between them and the hungry shadow. He drew a feather in hand up, more detaching from his wings and ready to send them rushing forward in a quick attack to maybe ward off the approaching mass. He hadn't a clue what it was, or what it could do, but a good guess would be coming into contact with it would not be ideal. Though even as he moved to counteract, he wasn't sure what all he would manage right then, with so little to go on and so little time before it overtook them. Hopefully between him and Spirit they would manage a sufficient plan of action, and manage to keep the Interns from getting seriously hurt- even if this initial move didn't do much... Wait.

Time slowed down for a single second as Hawks cast a glance to the right, his attention on the enemy diverted for just that long as his eyes narrowed to slits.

Come to think of it... she...?

Hawks' composure dissolved completely, his mind stalling and racing all at once in shock and confusion when his eyes landed on Animal Spirit, and he saw what he could never have anticipated.

The Ebony Hero froze

She hadn't moved, not an inch. She stayed standing where she had been, her red eyes locked to the hungry dark mass and body utterly rigid. She stared, her face pale and red gaze glittering, not even seeming to be breathing- but she was trembling.

Hawks felt his heart skip a beat, his blood running cold and his mind derailing. He stared, his eyes locked with the same Hero who had only a week ago faced the Hero Killer without hesitation... But now?

She was frozen, completely paralyzed, rooted to the spot and terrified.

What... The...?

He lost all sight of her, and everything else. That single second he allowed to let his attention move ending in his window to counteract slamming shut. Everything got overtaken by deep shadow, with no light and no way to see anything at all except an unending pitch black screen in front of their eyes. All sense of left or right and up and down was destroyed, and even more disconcerting was the sickening sensation of the ground slipping out from under them in the dark. The cloud of shadow buffeted them on all sides, formless and yet solid enough they were immediately pushed back and struggling to stay on their feet- and lost most of their footing no matter how hard they tried not to.

Hawks grit his teeth against the feeling of his boots scraping over the cobble, struggling to keep the feathers he had intended to send out from being blowing backwards too. He heard Tsukuyomi let out a yelp as (the already struggling) boy was knocked off his feet, and another more hushed squeak told him that Anima had lost his footing too- and though he couldn't see them at all, their voices getting quieter made it clear they'd actually gotten knocked backwards a fair distance.

"... Heroes? No, no, no... No, two runts...! Children...! But there are four...? Yes...yes, yes, yes four...! Two runts and... And... Two Heroes...!" A strange, hissing voice echoed all around them from the dark void, reverberating through their cores. "... I can feel you... Yes, yes, yes...!"

Feel us... Is this whole mass of darkness a person...?

Hawks got pushed backwards further, and enough this time that he lost his footing altogether. He flapped his wings hard to save himself hitting the ground, and only barely managed to stay somewhat upright. His wings beat like mad against the force pushing against him just to keep himself hovering and in the general spot he had been in, though without being able to see anything he wasn't really sure how well he managed to stay in one place... And worse he had little to real sense of where anyone else was.

Shit... The kids got pushed behind me I think, but where the hell is Spirit?

I haven't heard her or anything, she... She actually... She's not still frozen, is she...?

... And Tsukuyomi was starting to lose it to... crap...

I can't see anything, and all the wind and constantly getting knocked around is making it impossible to even use my feathers to try and get a sense of space or my surroundings.

Hell, I don't even know if I could physically retaliate against whoever this guy is... Or have any gauge on what this Quirk is, or if he can do more damage then just pushing us around and making it impossible to see.

... And the way he's talking... I get the impression this dude is not really all that stable.

Damn it... This is really bad.

We are literally in the dark here, on all fronts.

He hissed as the darkness rammed into him another time and this time he stumbled, his feet hitting the ground and wings fluttering haphazardly to keep himself standing.

"Yes, yes, yes...! ... I know you...! It's Animal Spirit and Hawks...! But that won't do, no, no, no...! No Heroes, no Pros... No...! I don't want you, gotta get rid of you...!" The voice went on, quickly getting louder and perhaps even a bit more manic. Hawks jaw snapped shut, his heart skipping a single beat and nerves instantly on a new high at the words.

"Get the Pros out of the way and then on to the runts, yes, yes, yes, YES!"

It all happened too fast. Too little time between the storm swarming over them and too little time after that before they were being pummeled on all sides, and too quickly to think of trying to come up with a plan, or some sort of reaction. And it all happened too quick for even the usually rapid-fire Winged Hero Hawks to properly react to the sudden enemy encasing them on all sides, robbing them of all sight, and who was now very clearly an immediate, and possibly deadly threat.

And it all happened way too quickly for Spirit to regain herself, even slightly.

She hadn't meant to freeze, and she hadn't anticipated what heavy, utterly spine-chilling sensation of sheer terror that had flooded through every inch of her either. She hadn't thought it would even be possible for anything to wipe her mind completely blank like that incoming darkness did... She couldn't fathom ever coming face to face with something that would elicit such potent, deep-set, and utterly paralyzing fear in her... Not ever again.

She couldn't breathe, her body stalled along with her mind and refused motion even when the need to run away became greater than even the fear. She wanted to run and she wished she had- but still she still couldn't move.

She couldn't move, think, breath, or react... In all the fear, any thought of the Interns or Hawks near to her were destroyed. The fear wouldn't even let her react when the whole world went black. She heard Tsukuyomi and Anima yelp when they got knocked back, and she heard Hawks' wings flapping as he fought to keep his own footing- and she heard the voice hissing all around from the darkness... But none of it made a dent, she was still frozen in place and with no way to make herself react, or even think of a reason to.

The formless and yet very tangible shadow surrounding and washing over her, sliding over and on her body... Sheer black nothing that brushed against her skin in sickly, forceful, prodding rhythm. She could feel it reaching out and grabbing on to her, tugging and pulling and quickly gaining firmer hold. It was going to drag her down, further into an unending abyss and she couldn't even move to try and fight it. She felt it wrap around her tightly, her feet leaving the ground and her bones and body aching immediately at the tightness of the grip. She sucked in a terrified breath of air and shut her eyes tight, rigid and ready for the agony that would follow as the darkness began to rip her-

The momentum changed abruptly, she wasn't being pulled in all directions nor was she being dragged downward. She felt herself wrenched upward with extreme force and then thrown sideways with double as much violence. Her body was left at the behest of being thrown for only a few whirling moments, before she slammed fast and hard into something... No, into someone.

Spirit yelled out in pain as her body rammed into Hawks, the Winged Hero letting out his own halfway pained, halfway startled yell as they made contact, and the sound of their bodies thudding together was sickening.

"Spirit-Sensei, Mr. Hawks...!" Anima's frightened yell echoed out from somewhere in the pitch black, but neither Pro really heard it.

The force at which Spirit had been thrown was enough to drive the wind from her, and send her body alight in agony- especially so through her torso. Hawks even felt his bones rattle as they slammed into one another, but that wasn't the worst bit. Spirit had been thrown against him hard enough to send them both flying backwards after the initial impact- and their movement only halted when Hawks' back slammed against something thick, heavy, and hard. He yelped, his back thudding against whatever it was hard enough to make it splinter (a tree probably), and earn a faint crack coming from the base of his wings that sent a sharper sort of pain racing up through his spine.

Spirit bounced off the front of him as Hawks movement got abruptly halted by the tree he couldn't even begin to see. He instinctively shot his arms forward to try and catch her, but he was a little too late (and stunned from the impact), and he heard her body thud against the ground a bit to his left, the Ebony Hero hissing quite loudly in pain.

Hawks grumbled, quickly trying to peel himself off from the tree and biting back at the pain the movement earned all through his body. He shifted, his eyes searching the nothing for Spirit and grimacing at how futile it was. He could hear her stifle a wince and reached a hand out to try and feel for her, shaking his wings out in the process and earning an electric sensation of sheer discomfort running through his back at the task. (So probably not broken or anything, but sprained and bruised surely)

"Tch... Spirit, you okay...?!" Hawks asked quickly, his hand finding what he guessed was her back, and he felt her jump under his touch.

Spirit grit her teeth, an agitated, pained hiss slipping passed her teeth as she folded in on herself after hitting the ground. The impact with Hawks and the ground was more than enough to hurt on a regular day, but now there was a special sort of fiery pain that had been reignited through her side where the wound had already been agitated the night before. The sudden wash of it was enough to snatch her breath away, and for a second she didn't even think of moving or getting up... But the pain wasn't the only thing at the forefront of her mind now.

Complete and utter fury had taken the place of that terror that had invaded on her emotions so suddenly. And the fury was more a burning rage at herself, and all the things that had ever made her freeze like that in the first place... And it was thanks to the shock of the sudden pain and impact against Hawks that had been able to snap her out of it, finally.

I can't believe... I fucking froze...! I'm so... So stupid..!

I know better damn it! I know this isn't the same, why the hell did I react like that...?!

I shouldn't have- FUCKING HELL

STUPID SPIRIT, STUPID!

She growled, low and rumbling and damn near dangerously, her fingers digging into the grass and soil and her red eyes flashing.

GET YOUR GODDAMN HEAD BACK IN THE GAME, YOU BLOODY FUCKING IDIOT..!

She pushed herself up, all too aware of Hawks' hand on her back but she ignored it. She shot a heated stare in the general direction Hawks was in, and though she couldn't see his face, she did feel his hand stiffen against her when she did so.

Because he definitely saw something- specifically a very unnerving, and very unexpected crimson red glow of Spirit's eyes even in all the pitch black.

E-eh..?! Her eyes DO glow-!

"I'm fine." She growled lowly and he swallowed, what little light her eyes provided disappearing from sight again as she looked away. She pushed herself up onto the balls of her feet deftly, her eyes narrowing to slits and quickly trying to adjust to the dark... though it was useless. Even when using her Quirk she would need at least a little light, there was no animal in the world that could physically see in complete darkness, and it was definitely pitch black.

Tch... damn it...!

Anima sucked in a shaky breath of air, his eyes glittering and darting around madly trying to catch sight of where Animal Spirit and Hawks had been thrown too. He heard their yells of pain easily enough, and the impact- but he couldn't see them at all, and he had no clue how hard they'd gotten hit or if they were hurt. He felt his heart beating like mad in his chest, pounding against his ribcage and icy cold fear coursing through his veins faster and faster with every second. This was terrifying, absolutely terrifying... not being able to see anything aside, the fact that they'd been overwhelmed so quickly and even the two Pros were having a hard time from the get-go made it all worse.

How were they supposed to fight something they couldn't see? Or even react enough to defend themselves?

Anima swallowed hard, his arms hugging himself slightly. He could tell he was trembling from the fear, and he couldn't help it either... worse than all the aforementioned though?

He glanced sideways slowly, swallowing again and still not seeing anything- but he could hear Tsukuyomi a little further off that way, and hear how hard his classmate was breathing. How hard he was struggling... and the hisses he let out, growling at Dark Shadow to quiet and to stop surging.

"... D... Dark Shadow... E...enough... no..." Tuskuyomi hissed through gritted teeth, the boy hunched over and on his knees, holding tightly to himself and shaking from head to toe. He could feel Dark Shadow spinning all throughout his core, feel the shadowy mass encasing his body and hear the creature cawing and growling at him, trying it's utmost to take control- and with no control or sense of reason either. Dark Shadow had been growing increasingly more restless the second they had left the inner city behind and entered the park, but given they'd stayed on the well-lit paths he'd been able to keep it in check.

But tensions had risen the moment Animal Spirit and Hawks announced there was trouble in Hosu, and that they'd be splitting up to head over and help. And it all spiraled from there when the lights suddenly began to go out, and that massive storm of pitch black overtook everything. Dark Shadow was hungry, agitated and vying for him to let up and let go, to stop forcing him down and to let the creature do what it will. And with how much he felt it surging, how wild it was and the sheer heat running through his veins born out of Dark Shadow's quickly rising rage and unease... letting Dark Shadow take control now would end in disaster, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to take back control if Dark Shadow seized it from him.

He couldn't let it happen, he fought with every fiber of his being against it and Dark Shadow fought back even harder. He felt himself losing his grip regardless of his efforts, and that sent fear racing through him like a wildfire- adding to the fuel and the flame of Dark Shadow's ire.

He hissed, curling in on himself further and his fingers digging into sides, pulling at the thick shadowy coating of Dark Shadow quickly engulfing his body. He felt Dark Shadow surge with a newfound ferocity when Animal Spirit and Hawks' yells of pain rung out from the pitch black, and the boy shrank in on himself further, holding his breath against the incessant pulling and tearing, like his insides were being haphazardly shifted around by an invisible hand. He was squirming and fighting with every inch of himself, alone and completely in the dark... unable to even move or get a grip while Animal Spirit and Hawks were being thrown around.

He couldn't do anything but sit there fighting with himself, even when both Pros and Koda were...

He grit his teeth further, his whole body trembling and shaking his head stiffly, stifling a gasp.

"... p...lease... Dark... Dark Shadow... s...stop...!"

Spirit's head twitched, her attention snapping over to the right and staring off into the pitch black. She heard Tsukuyomi hiss the words, though they were so hushed and strained she nearly missed them entirely- but she hadn't anytime to wonder on it either.

"No, no, no, no...! You can't get back up, I want you gone...!" The voice shrilled all of a sudden, and she winced a little at the loudness of it.

Spirit stiffened, the air and the darkness shifting and quickly washing over her with more force behind it- she couldn't see it, but she knew well enough she and Hawks needed to move, and quickly.

"Move-!" She snapped backward toward where Hawks was, spinning on her heel out of sheer instinct and reaching out for him. Her hand closed tightly around his arm as she pulled them both forward and onto their feet, and away from where the tree was. Hawks flared his wings out not a second later, his own hand gripping her arm and ready to pull them both out of the way by taking to the air- but even as fast as he reacted to it, the darkness seemed all the faster. He'd barely taken one wingstroke before the shadows on all sides rammed into them both in one huge, full-frontal assault. One that was too large to even begin to dodge, and both Spirit and Hawks' attempt at moving them out of the way failed miserably.

Hawks lost his grip on Spirit's arm while Spirit lost hers too, and they were both slammed into full on, being sent out in opposite directions by a heavy, core-shaking boom. Both Pros let out yells as they were knocked backward through air, coughing and sputtering as the breath was driven from them for a second time. The sound of the impact was heavy enough the ground shook as well as the air, and the sound of the two Pros and their pain were louder than before, and completely heart-stopping.

Tsukuyomi's breath caught in his throat, the sound of Hawks and Animal Spirit's yells of pain ringing on his ears and cutting him straight to the core- destroying his grip on Dark Shadow instantly.

Spirit hit the ground with an agonizing thud, a gasp escaping her at the impact and being sent sliding backwards a good few feet before halting again. She hissed, holding her breath against the searing pain that swept out from her side once more, and this time around she didn't even try to push herself back up right away.

But her attention on herself failed when some deep, rumbling, animalistic roar rose up from the depths of the shadows, shaking the air and vibrating through to her very core. Her eyes snapped open and she froze for half a second, a shiver running up her spine.

"... What the hell... Was...?" She started, only to trail off completely when the whole of the dark void around them shuddered.

"W-wha...?! No, no, no, no- you're supposed to be a r-runt... What the fuck...?!" The voice from the darkness shrilled, panicked and trembling near as much as the darkness seemed to be now. It was moving and shifting wildly, uneasy and quaking- and it seemed to quickly be trying to pull away from the direction that roar had come from... of which still persisted deep, rumbling, and dangerous snarls and hisses.

"No, no, no, no don't, don't- no, no, no! D-Don't do that... Don't... Get away from me...!" The voice nearly squealed this time, and the darkness around them wrenched, jolting backwards with enough force the air whined- but the shadows seemed to stagger halfway through the movement, before being snapped back violently. Spirit even hissed, bracing herself against the ground and feeling the darkness trying to grab out at her as it was being dragged in the opposite direction, and the voice out of the void was yelling now, completely terrified.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop...! Let go, let go, let go- no, no, no, nooooo!"

There was another harsh pull, the air itself shifting in tandem with the void being wrenched forward, and so violently waves of unruly wind whipped around in all directions. The wind was powerful enough to force Spirit to shut her eyes against it, digging her hands and knees into the ground to avoid being swept up and thrown.

She stiffened, the unmistakable sound of splintering wood reaching her ears even above the roar of the wind and the voice still yelling, and her eyes snapping open wide as her jaw dropped.

The darkness all around suddenly ripped open, the pitch black curtain it had created to keep them trapped inside, now shredding in the shape of clawmarks tearing through it like it was nothing... And a blow dealt by a looming, massive, angry and wild looking beast made up of throbbing, churning shadow, it's yellow eyes glowing red hot and maw open wide in a terrible and furious screech.

Is that...?

Out of the shredded wisps of darkness was revealed a man, floating among the black, thin and wild eyes filled with terror as the shadow beast turned it's glare on him. He quickly started to back up, the darkness spinning around him as he frantically tried to muster up something to fend the beast off, but he was absolutely no match for the now very much raging Dark Shadow.

Spirit swallowed, hard, her eyes widening even more and her heart skipping a beat when she recognized the completely distorted form of Dark Shadow, now ten times it's usual size and utterly fury-ridden and wild. And at it's core there remained Tsukuyomi, his body mostly consumed by the essence of Dark Shadow and seemingly unable to move, or hardly make a sound- though the fear in his eyes was easy enough to see, and the way in which he was clearly struggling against his out of control shadow.

Dark Shadow's hand swung out, easily tearing through the swath of darkness the man had conjured up to try and defend himself. Dark Shadow snatched the man out of air, and then slammed him down against the grass with so much force the earth caved in and slabs of soil and terrain flew like shrapnel from the impact. The man's yell of pain was nearly drowned out by the cracking of the earth and the roar Dark Shadow let loose, the earth trembling violently from the sudden force and rattling everything in a two mile radius to the very core.

Dark Shadow's grip on the man released right after slamming him down, leaving him bloody and bruised and with every ounce of sense knocked from him in an instant. The darkness he had brought forth vanished the moment his senses left him, Dark Shadow ending the conflict, and completely overpowering the same Villain that had both Hawks and Animal Spirit struggling- all in the course of three seconds. And with an ungodly amount of sheer force, and a million times more overwhelming, unbridled power from the creature- and the young boy it came from- than anyone could have even fathomed.

"... holy... shit..." Spirit muttered breathlessly, frozen in place for a second time and eyes fixed to the crater the Villain now lay in, with the beastly Dark Shadow standing over him, the threat completely eliminated.

No, the threat utterly decimated

Y... You have got to be... Kidding me... That much power... Is insane...

Her eyes dared to quickly dart away from Dark Shadow and she found Hawks several dozen feet to her right, settled on one knee and dirty (as well as already bruised) from them having been thrown twice. And the Winged Hero looked just as shocked and frozen in place as she was, and Spirit sucked in a sharp breath of air.

Hawks had absolutely no idea before now just how strong Dark Shadow was, at all.

She swallowed again, her eyes snapping from the blonde and toward Dark Shadow, her heart pounding in her chest and mind racing at the unbelievably abrupt turn of events.

They weren't where they had been when Spirit had first gotten the Dispatch call about the Villain, somehow the darkness had managed to move them all away from the main paths and deep into the trees surrounding. They seemed to have been pushed so far out not even the faint glow of the lightpoles could be seen through the trees, and everything remained a dismal dim that made it hard to see even with the Villain's Quirk destroyed. And on several sides all around them, about two dozen trees were either splintered all up their length, or completely destroyed and toppled in a circle of destruction.

Her eyes darted across the small clearing they had been dumped in, and picked up on Anima hiding slightly behind a tree several dozen yards away and looking terrified, though at least he looked unharmed. Hawks in the other direction looked a little rough, but he didn't seem altogether in terrible shape even despite the way she and he had been thrown around for a bit there.

But the gist of it was, they were all alone in some unknown, very dark section of the vastness of the park, already bruised and banged up in Hawks and Animal Spirit's case, and all of them reeling still from everything that had just happened.

Because yes, the Villain that had ambushed and overpowered them in no time at all was down for the count- but everything was still spinning out of control regardless... Dark Shadow let out another roar, fidgeting and agitated, and not looking any calmer with the threat out of the way. Quite frankly the creature looked even more angry, and Spirit felt her heart skip a beat when it's glowing red eyes moved and landed on her, and there was not a shred of recognition in it's gaze. Only wild, uncontrollable hunger and rage.

Shit-

"Well alright...! It looks like you saved us the trouble of dealing with that guy ourselves, thanks for that."

Spirit stiffened at the sound of Hawks' voice, the Winged Hero calling loud and clear out toward the looming beast and already on his feet again. He was walking forward, taking a few, slow and cautious steps toward Dark Shadow, with a very calm smile painted on his face- and expression of complete at ease that didn't budge even when Dark Shadow's attention snapped instantly toward him.

Hawks had immediately realized that Dark Shadow wasn't acting right, and once the initial shock of seeing the transformation (and pummeling of the Villain) wore off, he knew he had to intervene quickly in some way. It wouldn't take a genius to realize he had to tread lightly either, and that any wrong or too abrupt a movement could set the very agitated creature off... It wouldn't do to give Dark Shadow any reason to go on a rampage, especially not after seeing how overwhelming it's strength actually was. And Hawks could see Tokoyami there too, drowning under the shadow and seemingly doing his best to take back some amount of control- not that it seemed to be going well, as of yet.

Hawks remembered faintly that Tokoyami had mentioned something about Dark Shadow becoming harder to control when it got darker, though he hadn't given it much thought at the time. He did however distinctly remember thinking 'what did it matter if Dark Shadow got a little frisky, or even a little more mouthy when the lights went out? It can't be that bad.'

Frisky and mouthy were nowhere close to the reality, and yes- it could be that bad, apparently... A huge misstep on his part, to be fair.

If the Villain had been bad, or all the stuff going on in Hosu too- this definitely had the potential to be a whole lot worse than either of those. And he had to act quickly to try and keep that potential from being met.

"Hawks." Spirit hissed quickly, her tone low and warning. But Hawks just lift a hand slightly in a gesture for her to be quiet, cutting her off before slowly casting her a sideways glance, smiling coolly.

"... Don't worry, I've got it." He told her softly, and low enough as not to be in Dark Shadow's earshot. Spirit swallowed at the words, her eyes flashing and not at all assured by them.

But Hawks just looked back toward the looming creature, still calm and smiling and continuing his slow approach. "Gotta give you some props, that was some pretty impressive power you just showed off there~! Even Spirit and I were having a hard time, but not you, hmm~? Color me impressed, I didn't realize how super strong you were, hehe~!" Hawks kept on, coming to a stop about five or six feet in front of Dark Shadow and tilting his head back to match gazes with the creature that overshadowed him by a huge amount. He hummed, his eyes flashing and the carefree smile he had put on losing some of it's shine, and was replaced with something a touch more serious- though only just.

"But now that that mess is all dealt with, we can relax yeah? Everyone's fine, the Bad-Guy's down for the count, and nobody got too hurt- everything's good." Hawks murmured, his eyes narrowing a tad and his voice suddenly adopting an almost imperceptible edge. "No need to keep on being all huge and super strong now, yeah?"

There came a brief pause, Dark Shadow looking down at Hawks below itself, quiet and intense as Hawks returned the stare with one of his own. For half a second it got near dead silent, and even the air seemed to halt in quake of the tense born of that single moment... But that moment was all they earned, before Dark Shadow shift, it's arm swinging out toward the Winged Hero in no time at all. And the entire atmosphere suddenly went from tense and waiting, to serious and complete and utter chaos in three seconds flat.

"Dark Shadow don't...!" Tsukuyomi's voice rose in that instant, strained and breathless and still the creature gave him no mind.

Dark Shadow swiped at Hawks with lightning speed, it's claws tearing clean through the trees on the Winged Hero's left as Hawks nimbly lift off the ground and into air with just as much speed. He avoided the hit, his smile gone entirely now and looking uneasy with the sheer force behind the blow- the trees being decimated aside, the motion was so powerful that it stirred up window like a tornado, and it made flying not at all easy.

It was an attack with no amount of restraint or caution behind it, it was full on and it was completely intended to cause harm.

"... Well, that wasn't very nice...!" Hawks muttered, bringing himself up a bit more in air and quickly dodging the back end of the swipe, Dark Shadow redirecting instantly once it missed the first time. Hawks circled around behind the creature, giving himself some space and wings flapping like mad against the torrents of wind being churned up every which way.

Spirit hissed, quickly getting to her feet and struggling to back off and get out of the path of destruction Dark Shadow carved in the trees. The wind was struggle enough, but the ground quaked terribly under her feet with every step Dark Shadow took to try and face Hawks again- the Winged Hero quickly involved in a fast paced, dangerous round of cat and mouse.

Spirit backed off as much as she dared, moving toward the line of trees and making a beeline toward where Anima was, clinging to a tree trunk to try and steady himself against the vicious wind. She steadied herself against a rather nasty buffet of wind, leaning against the tree nearest him and red eyes flashing. "Anima, are you okay..?" She called quickly, earning his terrified and glittering eyes in an instant, he hadn't been aware she'd made her way over to him, he'd been too focused on trying to keep himself from getting knocked over.

Anima nodded quickly, hugging the tree and two very frightened looking squirrels clinging to his chest under his arms. "Y-yeah, I'm okay Spirit-Sensei...!" he breathed, his voice nearly lost to the wind and the clamor of Dark Shadow stomping around and swiping out at Hawks darting above him. Anima shifted a bit closer her direction, eyes darting over her person quickly in concern. "A-are you okay, Spirit-Sensei...? Y-you and Mr. Hawks were... you sounded like you got hit, r-really hard..." He stammered, and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek, nodding once.

"Yeah I'm fine." She murmured, her eyes moving from the boy and toward the Winged Hero fluttering all around in air, dodging wanton attacks sent toward him by a very angry Dark Shadow left and right. "... Hawks seems fine enough too, but I'm not really sure how long he's gonna be able to keep dodging around like that." She grumbled lowly and Anima gulped,

"... I... T..tsukuyomi told me... That D-Dark Shadow gets harder to control... A...and more powerful... W..when it gets darker...b..but..." Anima stammered breathlessly, and Spirit glanced back to him quickly from the corner of her eye. "... I... I didn't realize... How much it w-would..."

Spirit grimaced, looking away again and back toward Hawks and Dark Shadow.

So it's the dark, then...?

... Shit... We've gotten pushed really far out, there's literally nothing until the way of lights... And it's not like dawn's just around the corner either...

She swallowed, biting down on the inside of both cheeks and watching the dim red blur that was Hawks darting through air.

... Feathers said he 'had it' but I'm not so sure he does...

... This is so not good.

"Come on, we're all friends yeah~?" Hawks called out toward Dark Shadow again, "There's no need to be so worked up-!" He cut off, dropping three feet in two seconds and only barely missing another swipe of Dark Shadow's claws. It cut so close a few of his topmost feathers got sliced in half, and he swallowed a bit, readjusting as quickly as he could and hissing under his breath.

"... cutting it a little close there..." he grumbled under his breath, "Come on, you don't really wanna hurt me, do ya~?" He hummed, though he didn't say it loud enough for it to be an actual question... he was fairly sure it wouldn't much matter if Dark Shadow heard it anyway.

It was quickly becoming clear that any amount of talking was pretty useless, but he wasn't really sure what else there was to be done. As it was, he really wasn't the most powerful person around, and he surely didn't have much in the way of full-out offensive capability. He could dodge around and evade all day, and he was quick enough to do it effectively, even if Dark Shadow was incredibly fast for what sheer size it had grown to. Though the surges of wind and air it kept stirring up did make things a little harder, and every once in awhile a certain flap or angle of his wings caused pain to shoot up through them and into his back... he'd definitely twinged something in the base of his wings, or maybe even just his spine when he got slammed into the tree. It wasn't bad enough to hinder him from flying by any means, but it was uncomfortable, and likely to leave him sore as hell tomorrow... though at that moment he had bigger things to worry about.

In a world full of millions of strange, powerful and utterly unique Quirks it was not unheard of for someone to lose control. In fact it was something that happened frequently, though mostly in cases of young children, those hyped on on drug-use, or just under a lot of stress, or people that endured a lot of trauma. It was a part of being human, and it was human nature to sometimes be fragile and easy to set off and lose control- the trick was finding a way to minimize the damage done when you did lose control over your Quirk.

This was a bit of an extreme case however, because not many people had Quirks as powerful as Tsukuyomi's, and even fewer had Quirks with a mind and will of their own like Dark Shadow did.

Hawks only caught fleeting looks of Tsukuyomi drowning inside of Dark Shadow, but even that was enough to see how frantic and desperate the kid was, and terrified too. He was struggling with all his might to pull himself out from Dark Shadow's grip, and to regain some amount of control- enough to even just keep the creature from lashing out so hard, to hold the creature back even a little so that it's blows wouldn't be so deadly if ever it did actually manage to catch the Winged Hero.

The last thing Tsukuyomi wanted was to allow Dark Shadow to cause any further harm than it already had, and he hated the thought of what Dark Shadow might do to Hawks, Animal Spirit, Anima, or anyone else... he didn't want to be the reason anyone got hurt, he never wanted that, but it was happening and he couldn't stop it no matter how hard he tried. And with every second spent fruitlessly struggling against Dark Shadow's rage, Tokoyami's terror grew all the worse, and Dark Shadow fed off the fear.

"... Dark Shadow... Please...!"

Dark Shadow roared, rising up into the air and claws lurching straight up toward Hawks faster than ever before. Hawks stiffened, twisting painfully in air and stroking downward hard once to give himself as much boost as he could in what little time he had to try and evade the blow. He managed to drop down between Dark Shadow's hands and avoid getting grabbed, and then hissed as it's maw opened wide and he found himself without enough room to use his wings to maneuver out of the way. A flurry feathers detached themselves from his wings, headed downward and ramming into the top of Dark Shadow's beak hard enough to snap it closed. Hawks' feet landed against the small platform of his own feathers for two seconds, before pushing himself off again and to the side to meet dead air and back off again.

Dark Shadow grasped at the feathers holding it's mouth shut, tearing several of them to shreds before they managed to back all the way off like Hawks had. The Wings Hero grimaced, circling in air again and not a smile to be had on his face.

"Come on now, haven't you had your fill yet?" Hawks grumbled, his eyes narrowed to slits behind his visor. "I really don't wanna hurt you, so can we please just chill already?"

Dark Shadow's only reply was an ever more furious roar, it's body becoming increasingly more malformed, and even nightmarish. What little retaliation Hawks had used just then seemed to send the creature spilling even further over the edge, and it swung out wildly, ripping trees up and upheaving whole slabs of earth as it's body struck out in jagged waves and leaving unbridled destruction in its quake. The chaos was enough to level trees in all directions up to about 150 feet, and anything in that radius was at the mercy of wind and rubble, and shredded wood alike. Hawks' eyes dared to leave Dark Shadow for but a moment, sections of feathers already streaming away from him in the direction he'd last been aware of Animal Spirit and her Intern.

Spirit had been quick to order Anima move back as far as he could, and had done so early enough to get him halfway out of the destruction zone- but it wasn't far enough, and she could feel the trees and the earth upturning fast on their heels anyway. She hissed distorted reality swirling at her back as she quickly Partial-Shifted, ghostly wings sprouting behind her and pushing off the ground in the second the earth upturned underneath her. In the same instant a blur of red streaked past her on either side, several of Hawks' feathers headed directly toward Anima ahead of her and pinning themselves into his suit and pressing up under his feet, carrying him off the ground and into the air. It wasn't a super graceful pickup by any means, and it seemed hard for the feathers to direct Anima off the ground and out of the path of trees toppling over- the young boy instantly more frantic and shocked with being picked up wasn't helping anything either.

Hawks managed to get Anima mostly out of the way regardless, and a quick tug from Spirit as she grabbed the boy's arm and helped lift him up higher to avoid the falling trees was all the help the feathers needed. She kept hold of him, hovering in air at his shoulder and the vermilion feathers still doing their best to keep him aloft without shouldering too much weight onto her. Anima grabbed ahold of her arm and hand tightly, his eyes wide and very unsettled at the height they'd climbed to and the plane of destruction underneath them.

Spirit glanced back quickly from focusing on Anima toward Hawks and Dark Shadow, and hissed, her pulse picking up.

"Watch it-!" She snapped, but it was way too late- what focus the Winged Hero had allowed on her and Anima had left him a little too preoccupied for a few too many moments, and he was not at all fast enough to redirect and avoid the hit Dark Shadow sent toward him next.

There was a painful thud followed by a breathless yelp as Hawks got slammed into by Dark Shadow's heavy fist, it's claws closing around the Winged Hero and slamming him into the ground in a similar manner as it had the Villain earlier. It probably would have had the same effect too, if Hawks hadn't detached a large portion of the smaller, more downy feathers from his wings and stacked them under his back to try and cushion the blow... And it did, sort of- but the way his jaw snapped shut and a strangled yell of pain made it's way passed his teeth was enough to know it still hurt like hell.

"Dark Shadow, no-!" Tsukuyomi's pained voice rose up around the sound of Hawks' body making contact with the ground, but it cut off abruptly as the shadow's making up Dark Shadow's body surged over the young boy and covered his mouth, strangling his voice.

Spirit stiffened, wincing internally at the sight and the boy's yell, and Anima beside her sucked in a startled gasp of air, his face falling and trembling faster too.

Anima dropped a little, the feathers under his feet bobbing unsteadily for a few seconds as Hawks hit the ground, too stunned to keep his attention on keeping the boy's weight up, though he snapped his attention back almost right away. Spirit hissed, swallowing hard and thoughts racing now-

-shit, what do I do...?

Hawks coughed, the dust clearing and feeling a weight like a hundred pounds on his chest lifting as Dark Shadow pulled it's hand back only slightly, it's claws still pinning him to the ground. But even the little bit of movement was enough, and the feathers that had cushioned the blow began to wriggle their way out and then slam against Dark Shadow hard enough to get the creature to stop pinning him. As soon as he was free he rolled left, stumbling to his feet and flapping his now very small wings to try and earn himself a little more distance from the angry shadow.

Dark Shadow swung out, claws and shadowy pillars striking out from it's body against the flurry of red that hit in the face, and destroying nearly all of the feathers with utter ease.

Hawks grimaced, his eyes flashing and visor cracked and askew on his face as he stumbled back a few steps, before coming to a jolting halt when he failed to catch enough air to keep himself afloat. And even when the two or dozen or so downy feathers that were left returned and reattached themselves to the base of his wings, he was down a significant amount now and flying wasn't gonna be so easy. His body hurt from getting slammed into the ground, and he wouldn't lie- his head hurt too. He could already feel the bruises forming along his back, and over his chest where he'd gotten grabbed. And there was no shortage of cuts and gashes now from the rubble flying around, and the rocks digging into his flesh... he'd only gotten hit once by Dark Shadow, but that was more than enough, and he did not look forward to whatever he'd end up with if he got hit again.

"... oookay, that one stung a bit..." Hawks grumbled, smiling wryly for a moment and wipe away a trail of blood dripping down his jaw from a cut across his cheek.

"Oi, you okay?!" Spirit's voice reached him with ease, and Hawks cast a fleeting glance up at where she an Anima were hovering at the edge of the Dark Shadow-made clearing. He offered up a smirk her way, eyes gleaming and looking very non-bothered by how utterly ragged he was looking now.

"Yep~!" He replied lightly, Spirit gave him a very unconvinced stare, but he just kept smiling. "Don't worry Sunshine, I've still got this-" He hummed, before he stiffened, his eyes breaking from her and smile gone, jumping back again when Dark Shadow recovered from the barrage and lurched out toward him, roaring and screeching in rage.

"Sorry, but I need those feathers back now!" Hawks called out quickly, but didn't dare cast them a glance this time around. Spirit reacted in an instant, grabbing hold of Anima under his shoulders and not two seconds before the feathers that were keeping the boy up streamed away back toward the Winged Hero. The extra plumage made it easier for Hawks to take to air again and continue his dodging game, and Spirit grunted a little as she took on Anima's full wait and did her best to manage some sort of graceful touchdown on the ground again. She was fairly strong, but the size difference between her and Anima was large even still.

She set him down on the ground, lighting down behind him and letting the wings at her back fade into nothing. She caught Anima's scared eyes and she frowned a bit, stepping to the side to stand at his shoulder. "... what do we do, Spirit-Sensei...?" He asked breathlessly, and Spirit bit the inside of her cheek, looking from him and toward Hawks again, her stomach twisting.

What were they supposed to do?

She knew what Hawks was doing- well, sort of. He was clearly trying to diffuse the situation, through constant chatter and trying not to retaliate directly unless absolutely necessary- and she understood that. If at all possible she would like to just get Dark Shadow to calm down enough that Tsukuyomi could reign it back in, and to get there without having to physically hurt either of them in the process... But this was so far beyond talking it out.

If darkness made Dark Shadow crazy powerful and insanely hard to control, what time they had spent in the pitch black that Villain created wrenched open the gate for the creature to run loose. And now even with the Villain down and it no longer being utterly without light, they still had no light at all near them that was bright enough to curb Dark Shadow. They were in the middle of a forest, in the middle of the night, and with literally no lights except the distant shine of the city much too far away and hidden by the trees. Dark Shadow was enraged by the Villain, bolstered on by the darkness all around- and it was feeding off of Tsukuyomi's fear, without a doubt.

That kid was scared out of his mind, Spirit could see it, see the tears in his eyes and how hard he struggled against his own shadow... She could hear the terror and the pain in his voice as he kept pleading with Dark Shadow to stop. He was drowning underneath all of that rage and anger, and the fear that he would be the reason someone got hurt- was getting hurt, because this thing that was a part of him and lived in him was our of control and doing so much bad, and he was supposed to be the one to keep that living, breathing, feeling thing inside of him from doing that much harm.

He was supposed to keep the thing living inside of him from hurting anyone, but he couldn't do it, and every cut or bruise or wound on the Winged Hero was making the guilt and the pain and the fear so much worse. Every second that Dark Shadow lashed out, every tree felled, every moment it might harm, or even fatally wound who it was going after so blindly- all of it, the terrible possibilities and the reality, and he was absolutely helpless against that creature's sheer, overpowering, festering emotion. He was drowning underneath it, being consumed by it even- and every second sinking deeper and deeper, and that much farther from being able to come back to the top, and maybe be lost forever.

Spirit held her breath against the thoughts, her core twisting and her soul beginning to scream and squirm too.

This needed to stop, and soon. Before it was way too late and Dark Shadow was the only thing left, entirely unchecked and swallowing Tsukuyomi up whole... And no, talking wasn't going to do it. Hell, even trying to wait Dark Shadow out and just see if it exhausted itself wasn't going to work either. She knew that, she knew she- shit

Hawks was dodging about with an air of grace and speed and an insane amount of precision- he wasn't a top ranked Pro Hero for nothing. He was flying through the air, fending off and evading attack after overwhelming attack, and he was doing it and it looked almost easy for him. He was good, hell he was even amazing- he could have outlasted just about anyone in terms of endurance and agility and speed all combined into one, even Spirit knew she couldn't have ever come close to avoiding Dark Shadow as well as the Winged Hero did... Hawks wasn't a power house, but he was smart, and quick, and he had so much skill- even if he went around smiling like an idiot and acting like an oblivious fool all the time. And actually seeing him work up close, against someone with a million times more raw power than the Winged Hero had himself? And to be doing so well?

He's capable as hell... But...

He was getting hurt, here and there, constantly buffeted by wind, getting clipped by Dark Shadow's claws and body more and more. He took a direct hit more than once too, slammed into but quick to bounce back and keep on darting around- and he kept talking the whole time too. All bright and chipper and acting like it was all well and good, wondering when they would quit the little chasing game and encouraging Dark Shadow to relax... He even cast out a few reassuring words for Tsukuyomi too, letting him know it was fine, and that he could take it, and that he had faith the boy would pull Dark Shadow back in not time at all.

That damned Hawks was so unendingly calm and bright it was insane... Impressive too, but totally insane.

Because he was slowly, but surely, getting his ass kicked. He was getting worn down and though it was hard to tell, every hit took him just a little longer to bounce back from, or made his moving less graceful, a tad slower even.

He had to realize that this wasn't working right? That even what little time she stood there and let him try to talk Dark Shadow down, that he wasn't making any headway at all? That he was just flying around, running off his mouth and smiling like an idiot, and all the while just letting himself get beaten to a pulp? That with every new scratch, every new bruise, and stifled wince, and hit his body endured was only making it that much harder on Tsukuyomi to think straight, and fight passed the terror and the guilt, and seize control again...?

That as hard as Hawks was trying, and giving it his all in every way way he knew how and best...?

Spirit only let herself stand back for about ten minutes. She forced herself to sit still and at least let Hawks try. Let the feathery dumbass try his best and maybe he'd do it... Tsukuyomi was his Intern, the boy was his responsibility, and Spirit knew she had little right to get involved. She kept her attention on Anima, moving them back further and keeping an eye on him as Dark Shadow kept going, tearing up the earth and the trees still- but for the most part completely focused on Hawks. She forced herself to stay there, tense and ready to move at a moments notice, watchful, waiting, and increasingly more uneasy... But still she stayed still, five minutes turning to ten and hissing under her breath.

She had to let Hawks try, and maybe try herself too- to trust him when said that; 'I've got this'

She flinched slightly more with every solid hit the Winged Hero took, the bruises getting darker, his clothes dusty and ragged, the smear and traces or crimson red liquid getting more frequent as the ten minute mark approached... And her mind was racing faster, and the need to move and to act outweighing her attempts to try.

He does not have this

And she couldn't just sit still and watch his dumbass get constantly battered anymore, or Tsukuyomi struggle against Dark Shadow so fruitlessly either.

I have given him more than enough time-

Another agonizing thud rang out, Hawks a little too slow again to dodge and this time receiving a direct hit from Dark Shadow's entire body swinging around full force. Hawks took the hit straight on, the mass of shadow slamming into his gut and throwing him backwards with so much force, an entire torrent of air washed out in all directions from the impact.

"M-Mr. Hawks...!" Anima gasped, Spirit felt her heart skip a beat.

Hawks yelled, his visor shattering and falling away in dozens of honey-yellow pieces, while the Winged Hero hit the ground and skid, tumbling backwards more than a hundred feet. His body carved a shallow track in the mud and earth as he went, and his movement only halted again when he smacked into a fallen tree, the trunk and branches snapping and splintering against his body. The Winged Hero groaned, laying tangled in the tree limbs, and covered in mud, wood, leaves and whatever else now. He didn't get up right away like he had been, he grit his teeth and hissed, winded and slightly dazed, one eye shut and filling with blood leaking down from a gash on his temple.

Even for the rank-hoping, popular as ever, and admittedly very capable No. 16 Pro Hero- a hit like that was gonna down him for a few moments at least... And even then, there was little to no way this was gonna end well for the Winged Hero. Spirit knew it from the start, and in some parts Hawks had too... He just couldn't match up against Dark Shadow's raw power, no matter how hard he tried.

But of course even knowing that, the Bird-Brain still had to at least attempt... Damn it

Spirit hissed, dropping down onto the balls of her feet in a cat-like crouch, and Anima's attention immediately snapping her way when she moved. His eyes shone when dark, crimson-red beginning to spark off her form, rising up around her quickly and lacking what gentle, mysterious grace her Shifting usually had. This was fast-paced, fractured, jolting reality rising up around her body, the cloud sparking and almost... Glitching. Bouncing off itself in all directions and nearly like opposing wavelengths resisting one another, or the glass-like pieces in the mist being forced together unwillingly.

Spirit's eyes caught Anima's from the side, her figure quickly being lost to the storm of fractured reality but her eyes remained bright and burning crimson among the black.

"Get Hawks, and both of you back off from this area as much as you can!" Spirit ordered lowly, her tone nothing but deadly serious and urgent. Anima gulped, nodding firmly in reply and resolute.

"U-Understood!"

Dark Shadow's furious red glare turned on the still winded Hawks, the Pro wincing again and aware he was in trouble, though his body didn't want to move just then- and man did he try to get up... But no amount of forcing it earned any affect, and he swallowed.

... Alright... Maybe I overestimated how much I could take... Dark Shadow is seriously strong... Way stronger than I realized...

His eyes locked with Dark Shadow's for only half a second, before the creature was charging toward him. Hawks grimaced, his teeth gritting and eyes narrowed to slits.

"Shit-"

Hawks stiffened, his focus on the charging Dark Shadow diverted for half a second as the ground started to shake underneath him, bouncing in quick, successive burst almost like the rumble of... Footsteps..?

The heavy footfalls got significantly louder and closer in all but five seconds, and Hawks barely had enough time to try and look around before something huge and heavy jumped over him, and collided head on with Dark Shadow only ten feet away. Dark Shadow was halted dead in it's tracks, instantly locked together and pinned in place by what had jumped over Hawks and placed itself between the Pro and the rampaging creature in no time at all.

Hawks eyes went wide, his vision blurry still from blood and the impact, and for moment he stared, almost sure he was just seeing things... Because that didn't look right, right...?

He blinked quickly, trying to clear his vision and becoming more confused (as well as amazed) when he realized he wasn't hallucinating at all. His eyes gleamed, stuck in his spot and all thought of danger, or pain, or whatever else washed away in a huge wave of sheer awe.

In front of him, grappling with Dark Shadow and pushing the creature back was a different sort of animal- one that didn't look much like any one animal at all, actually.

She was easily as big as Dark Shadow now, and maybe even taller too, and much bigger than that of any land animal Hawks knew of off the top of his head. She grasped at Dark Shadow with her front, cat-like paws and claws, her back arched and smooth black fur dotted and flecked with feathers down her spine and all along the pair of massive wings attached to her back. Tail feathers stuck up above a feline tail underneath, but her back legs stretched out into powerful, deadly sharp talons, rather than the usual paws of cat. Her head was still fairly feline, apart from the her ears being larger, thinner and rounded, the fur short, and the pair of tusks sticking out on either side of her jaws. And then harder to see, under the fur and feathers her skin wasn't soft- but a thick hide that could have easily withstood even the hardest of hits... she was really, really big!

Every once in awhile her figure blurred at the edges, flecks of black energy like glass dancing off off her form, like her body didn't fit together all the way and actively had to readjust itself to stay altogether- and it kinda did. Because she was definitely a mash of more than one animal now, like some sort of Frankenstein-esque experiment that had jumped up full of life only a few seconds ago.

"... Woah..." Hawks breathed, his head tilting back just to get a good enough view... she was huge..!

Huge and totally awesome!

"This is really cool, Spirit..!" Hawks chirped brightly, for the moment forgetting all about his aching body and what trouble Dark Shadow was. "Seriously! I've never seen this before, is this a special move or something~?!"

Spirit's ears angled back in his direction, growling under her breath and resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She huffed, her front paws still holding tightly to Dark Shadow and wrestling with it in a near deadlock, doing her best to push it back and not get knocked over herself- Hawks was there for her to land on if she did, and Anima was sure to be there soon enough too. She did lash her tail though in agitation (the cat one), her wings flapping intermittently to help keep her balance and give her a little extra leverage forward.

She really couldn't risk trying to look back toward Hawks at that moment, but based on how excited his voice was, she imagined the dumbass was probably smiling like a child at her 'cool' appearance... And probably 'fanboying' too, even when he should have been much more concerned with himself and the task at hand.

He did see her wrestling with a very angry Dark Shadow, right? And he was still asking stupid questions?

I can't with him-

She hissed, grunting as Dark Shadow pushed harder against her and she felt her feet slide back a few inches, making her toss out any plans to respond to Feathers' comments. Dark Shadow's claws dug into her shoulders, throwing it's weight against her further and further, and Spirit flapped her wings hard, stirring up the air in her quake and sending debris flying. She dug her back talons into the earth and shoved forward hard, knocking Dark Shadow back and earning a few dozen more feet between them and Hawks. Dark Shadow was up on it's feet and swiping out instantly, Spirit growling as she ducked under the claws and pushed her head into it's chest, careful not to hit where Tsukuyomi was but to manage enough contact to keep the raging creature at bay a few more seconds.

Hawks blinked, pushing himself up off the tree just a bit and grunting as he did so. He was about to push himself up onto his feet, but got caught off abruptly by a voice to his left.

"M-Mr. Hawks..." Anima's soft voice startled the Winged Hero, his eyes darting toward the large boy who had picked his way over the shattered tree limbs toward the Pro. Anima audibly swallowed upon getting a closer look at the very battered and bloody Pro, and his hands shook as he stooped down and gestured for Hawks to grab his hand. "S-Spirit-Sensei wants us to... to retreat as far as we can, so we aren't in her way, and w-we don't get... caught in the fight..." The boy told him quickly, and Hawks hesitated for half a second, before nodding slightly.

"... Ah, right... That's probably a good idea..." Hawks mumbled, taking the kid's hand and stifling a wince as Anima hoisted the Pro onto his feet with a lot more ease than Hawks expected of the kid. Anima bent down a little awkwardly to place his shoulder underneath the Pro's, steadying him and frowning when he heard Hawks let out a groan. Hawks let out a dry chuckle next though, smiling wryly for a moment and casting a glance up at the UA student. "... definitely gonna be really sore tomorrow, hehe..." the blonde mumbled lightly, and Anima just grimaced at it. Hawks smiled still, glancing away from the boy and back toward Spirit and Dark Shadow, his smile fading a touch.

Spirit rammed into Dark Shadow hard enough to stagger it, jumping up into air over it and sinking her back talons in, dragging it over and pulling it off balance all the way and letting go. Dark Shadow landed hard on the ground, screeching in anger as Spirit landed neatly again. She whirled around to face it, poised and defensive and ready for whatever it threw at her next.

"... tch... okay, I really don't wanna hurt you, but we can't keep fighting like this." Spirit hissed, her voice low and incredibly calm even despite the amount of headbutting and wrestling they'd been doing. "The park's gotta be standing when this is over, alright? It's already enough of a mess, there's no reason to make it worse, and Bird-Brain was right- the Villain's down and everything is fine. So this needs to quit, right now." She grumbled, Dark Shadow raising itself back up from getting knocked over and growling lowly all the while.

Spirit lowered a bit, crouching down and her ears folding backward as her eyes flashed. She caught a fleeting glance of Tsukuyomi still drowning in the black, and for half a second their eyes matched, the poor kid scared and frantic still.

"I know it's hard, but you need to pull Dark Shadow back." Spirit grumbled lowly, "... I get it, I know it's suffocating, I know how loud Dark Shadow's emotions and thoughts are on you right now, and how heavy they are, and I know it just keeps getting worse the longer you can't reign it in..." She went on, steady and calm and the boy's eyes glittered. "... I know it feels impossible, and I know you don't want anyone to get hurt, I get it... but the only way this stops, is if you manage to even gain a little control- just enough to get Dark Shadow to pause, even for a few seconds. A few seconds is all you're gonna need, trust me." She murmured lowly, and the boy seemed to grimace at the words, though his face was still mostly buried in the shadow so she wasn't sure.

And she didn't get any more time to keep trying to talk, Dark Shadow was already rushing out toward her again and tearing up the earth as it went. She darted left as quickly as she could manage (what with weighing as much as she did just then), but Dark Shadow redirected too and their bodies crashed head on, sending painful jolts up through her body from the impact. She didn't dare let it knock her off her feet all the way though, getting thrown on to her back was quick way to get really hurt. So she dug her back talons in and threw all her weight against Dark Shadow's motion for a third time, both of them locked in a standstill for a few seconds before Spirit twisted (painfully) and dragged Dark Shadow to the right.

They separated again as Spirit quickly worked to regain her feet, only to lose her balance altogether when Dark Shadow's body stretched out, elongating in seconds time and slamming against her with half a dozen pillars made of shadow. She hit the ground and rolled, cutting off the yelp of pain she nearly let loose and quickly rolling back onto her feet again, growling in agitation and puffing for air.

... Tch... Being this big is great for physical strength and all, but I can't move fast enough like this...

She dug her claws into the earth, a low growl rumbling in the back of her throat.

... And I don't want to do what Feathers did and just keep jumping around either... All the chasing and fighting is just keeping Dark Shadow on a high.

It needs to quit moving for a bit and calm down enough for Tsukuyomi to even have a chance of taking back control... Though getting it to sit still isn't gonna be easy

She stiffened, hunching ever so faintly where she stood despite herself, her figure blurring further at the edges and distorting even more for a few seconds. It snatched her breath away and she hissed, trembling faintly and feeling a dull throb of a terrible ache starting to simmer deep down in her bones.

... Shit... I can't do this forever either...

Hawks eyes (or rather just the one eye that wasn't swelling shut) narrowed to slits, both he and Anima a fair distance back now from the center of the mega-brawl, and far enough to appease Animal Spirit's orders. The Winged Hero was standing on his own now, slightly tilted but steady (though Anima hovered worriedly at his side regardless), holding slightly to his ribs and expression utterly unreadable as he watched Spirit and Dark Shadow keep at it.

She made it look easy, going head to head with Dark Shadow and never bowing under it's insane amount of strength. For every charge, every hit, and every move Spirit matched it tenfold- every single thing that he'd have only managed to handle by dodging, she took the full brunt of it, and she didn't flinch.

She had so much power, more than he'd ever seen from her, and it was so different from how he'd seen her fighting before now... grant you he hadn't really seen much of Spirit fighting firsthand, but he had seen enough. Through Patrol today and the footage of her against the Hero Killer, and a few of the other snippets of video to be found on the web (of which he may or may not have spent a few days scrounging up from all corners of the internet the first few days after meeting her...), he had seen her fight and work before now... And what he'd gotten used to as the 'patented Animal Spirit Style' was nothing like this.

Most of Spirit's movements had this sort of fluidity to them, she didn't tend to stay in one place too long and most of her attacks were quick, precise. Everything about her fights were incredibly fast-paced and in many ways, very thought out. She composed most of her fighting on quick, successive blows and paired quick changes between different animal forms to keep her enemies on her toes, and give herself as much advantage as she could. In terms of full on, physical power she didn't really seem to use much brute force, and she certainly didn't appear to have much in the way of that when you compared her to a lot of other Pros... Sure, she could really pack a punch in human form, and more if she was in the form of some large bulky animal too- but she never really relied on any of that to fight.

A lot of her moves depended on being quick, being a step ahead of her enemy, and a great deal of control over her momentum and the size of her own body. Even compared to many other Pros, the skill in which she seemed to be able to use her Quirk in every aspect of her movement and her work was top notch. Spirit was a total Class S in the category of technique, without a doubt... So to see her abandon her usual way of fighting so quickly, and to still be doing so well was... Well, amazing really.

You wouldn't ever really think about it because she rarely strayed from her usual fighting style, and she didn't work with other people often enough to have a reason to change- but Spirit was the sort of Pro that would do well in literally just about any situation at all. And more so, she probably wouldn't just do well, she would do great.

He supposed she wasn't the No. 19 (or No. 26..?) Hero for nothing.

Hawks stiffened slightly, his thoughts breaking off as the brawl came to a short pause and he saw the way that Spirit... Hunched...?

... Did she...?

Did she just... Falter...?

Hawks grimaced, biting the inside of his cheek at the way Animal Spirit seemed to lose her composure for half a second there, panting and her body growing rigid... And the way her figure blurred so much it almost seemed to want to fall apart on her.

Thinking on it... I've never seen a transformation anything like this, or on as big a scale... I doubt she uses something like this very often at all, if ever...

... And it's hard to see, but she looks like she's getting tired pretty fast, or more so than usual... and her Quirk is kinda... 'Glitching' too it looks like... Hmm...

... Spirit might not actually be able to hold a form like that for too long, huh...?

He had no way of knowing if he was right, but he felt sure he was on the mark with the guess, and he bit the inside of his cheek more.

"... Hey, you ever see Spirit transform like this before?" Hawks asked aloud, intending the question for Anima beside him, though he never looked the boy's way. Anima jumped at the unexpected question, fidgeting for a few seconds and casting a nervous glance back toward the Pro, gulping.

"... N...no..." Anima stammered quietly, "... N...not... Not in person... At least..." He added, and Hawks' head twitched slightly in the boys direction, intrigued. "I've... I think I've heard it... It mentioned... Only... only once... A long time ago in an interview... It's... I think it's one of Spirit-Sensei's Special Moves... It's c-called... 'Chimera'..." Anima stammered, and Hawks' lips twitched upward for half a second.

"Heh... That's definitely a good name for it..." He murmured under his breath, his golden eyes glittering. "... a good name for a cool move..."

... And a cool move for a cool Pro... Hehe

Spirit straightened up just a little, her figure condensing again and losing the sudden spur of 'glitching' or whatever you would call it. Her (cat) tail lashed behind her in agitation, red eyes narrowed and steely as Dark Shadow growled, then charged again. It roared, swiping it's hand up and grazing Spirit on the left- barely though, so the hit stung but it didn't draw any blood. She jumped to the side, ducking out of the way of another blow and flapping a few times to give herself a little bit of extra momentum, and height. She dropped down again, grabbing tight hold of Dark Shadow's arms and careful not to dig her claws in too deep. Her weight on top of it managed to throw the creature back against the ground, and it began to squirm underneath her, but she pushed down harder, panting now.

"Sit still...!" She snapped at the angry mass of shadow, pushing down harder against it's arms as it wriggled harder. She ducked her head slightly, trying to catch sight of Tsukuyomi and managing it only barely, before Dark Shadow was struggling too much to keep an eye on him. "Tsukuyomi, you need to pull him back- keep trying! As hard as you can-!" Spirit hissed, only to break off in an annoyed hiss when her grip on Dark Shadow slipped.

Shit-!

She felt her balance tip, instantly struggling to keep her feet and keep Dark Shadow pinned down at the same time. She almost got thrown off entirely, and only managed not to by sinking her back talons deep into Dark Shadow's body and digging her front paws into it's chest with one, hard, decisive push downward. The push was hard enough to make the ground crack a little underneath them, and she hissed under her breath, red eyes glittering.

"... Tch... Come on I don't... wanna hurt you...!" She hissed out loud, grunting halfway through when Dark Shadow kept squirming harder and harder. And the more it squirmed, the more she felt her grip loosening, her muscles aching, and it wasn't just her grip on Dark Shadow she was having to wrestle with either- it was her Quirks. She could feel her body whining at her, wanting her to go back to some semblance of normal and not mashed together like she was, her body and her Quirk working in overdrive to keep all the parts sort of cohesive.

Fucking hell...!

"... quit squirming, damn it...!" Spirit hissed breathlessly, before cutting off in a small yelp when she fell a little, Dark Shadow's arms wrenching out from underneath her paws and she barely managed not to fall all the way into the creature. She stumbled, her paws hitting the earth and halting herself with just a few inches to spare between them, but she had no traction and no way to move herself out of the way of Dark Shadow's now very free claws.

It sank it's claws into her sides, digging in hard and grabbing hold of her tightly, immediately moving to push her up and off of him, and she couldn't even think to stop it. Her breath got snatched away, fiery pain searing through every inch of her the instant Dark Shadow's claws made contact with her body. It didn't break the flesh on her left, her skin and hide was too thick at that moment- but the right?

Y.. you've gotta be...fucking... kidding me...!

She couldn't see it, but she felt it- she felt it's claws dig down into the tender flesh around the stab wound, already raw from the night before, and now definitely being more than just irritated.

It felt like a thousand needles sinking in deep, sending every nerve alight in wildfire and her jaw snapped shut, a low, harsh growl in the back of her throat that was strangled by a yelp. Her mind wiped clean with the pain, her whole body rigid as rock and there was not a single thing on her mind outside of the agony, and the sudden, overwhelming, instinctual need to snap her jaws down onto what was causing that pain. To bite down and to break bone, flesh, whatever.

Bite Back

She stopped herself halfway through the motion, her jaws already parted and lunging froward toward Dark Shadow before she regained her senses and her want to not hurt it, or Tsukuyomi by proxy. Her mouth snapped shut audibly, grinding her fangs down and cursing herself and the roaring, howling, hissing storm of noise raging deep down in the very center of her soul.

Tch, no more of this shit-!

She reared back, wrenching herself free of Dark Shadow's claws and stifling the cry of pain that threatened to break passed her teeth when she did so. She fought through it, through the pain and through the anger and the roaring noise in her head, and she drew her paws up as she did so. Dark Shadow screeched as she tore free but cut off nearly instantly, it's red gaze matching with Spirit's as she drew to her full height, and stalling when he saw her eyes- burning bright, fiery, rage-filled crimson, a beacon of red glowing in the dim.

Spirit slammed down again, one paw finding Dark Shadow's beak and snapping it shut, while the other sunk into it's shoulder. The creature was pushed back against the earth with five times more ferocity than the first time, and Spirit's head bent, her muzzle three inches from Dark Shadow's face and lips drawn back in a nasty snarl.

She wasn't talking to Tsukuyomi this time, her voice rose cold and loud and reverberating through the whole area, and through everyone in it. Loud and cutting, and somehow reaching through to the deepest parts of that angry shadow, ringing faintly with the roars and howls and calls of a million other beasts.

"ENOUGH!"

---

Hey!

This chapter is pretty long, I applaud you for taking the time to read through all of it! And apprciate your time and patience too!

I hope you enjoyed it, and are looking forward to LOTS of fluffy stuff with Spirit and Hawks next chapter! ;w;

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