LoamyCoffee: So much goodness. I'm really liking the depth these OCs and Sirius are getting, makes you think about them.
So much anime starting in April! Though I'm disappointed that once again My Hero Academia starts their season off with a recap episode.
Re: Actually, Genki and his father Ares are the only OCs in this story~
Apart from the Villains at least.
The other insect (and arachnid)-themed characters are from the other works of Shinya Murata, the Mangaka behind such favorite works as Arachnid, Caterpillar, Blatttodea, and Killing Bites. In Murata's works they're all either superhuman-ly skilled, or in Kabutomushi's case, have minor physical augmentations; in Arachnid and Caterpillar, Kabutomushi's [Kabuto Mail] (and forearm-mounted [Kabuto Spikes]) are subdermal augmentations; armor lining for her vital organs, and steel spikes implanted into her forearms respectively. Fuji Alice being Quirkless in My Hero Academia is a reflection of how in Arachnid she doesn't have an actual "superpower", she's just "wired differently" due to the mental disorder [Congenital Excessive Concentration].
It's been loads of fun including all these character cameos, since it means I don't have to shoehorn lots of OCs because there are certain roles that need fulfilling. Too many of those can bog down a good story, which is why I do Multi-Crossovers more than "A-and-B (and nothing else)" crossovers, that for whatever reason people bitch & moan about.
Skinnydude911: This was a pretty fun chapter to read, it was nice to see how they're doing things during their own internships and such. Knowing of one's limitations, better understandings of one's quirk powers and what they can and can't do/make, along with building up muscles and body mass can help these students along the way down the road. You also brought up a very good point about the life of retired heroes and villains out for revenge against them.
This Kumo that Hibiki had eyes on, is this related to Kumo-nin that Genki battled or is this a case of nearly identical names and powers but different person?
It was funny seeing Bakugou and Tsuyu make an appearance in this chapter along with Tsu being the subject of some friendly teasing from her senpai during her internship. Hope her date with Genki goes well in the future.
Re: Yeah, the recommended Heroes that Genki sent them to are veterans in their fields who are more in it for the pride of their work and not so much for the fame that you'd find in the Leaderboard. They're niche, like Aizawa, but like Aizawa, they are all very good at their jobs; they could be Leaderboard heroes if they tried, but it'd get in the way of their work. The bit about Retired Heroes was also a fun little bit of worldbuilding because it shines a light on an issue that the anime/manga didn't bring up. When being a Hero is a career and your identity is exposed like a raw nerve, there are going to be people who want to poke at it.
To answer your second point, the Kumo that Hibiki had his eyes on and the Kumo-nin that Genki battled before are completely unrelated. Kumo-nin dressed as a spider, Kumo dressed in a trench coat and hat with shades, and was Fuji Alice's mentor. Like her as well, in the world of My Hero Academia, he'd be functionally Quirkless, with [Congenial Excessive Concentration] being the "source" of his power.
Writing those extra little scenes was fun and funny for their own reasons. Not that I'm "bashing" Bakugou, but I like to show off that him getting beaten in the Sports Festival, and by someone from the General Course, would really fuck with his head and he'd carry that baggage into his Internship. As for Tsuyu, her scene was a glimpse into the life of a Mutant girl not part of the "Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou" demographic, as well as the fact that just because Genki likes her, doesn't mean she automatically likes him back; basically she's on the fence, but that's what dating is for. To decide what side of the fence, one is on about someone else.
*MHA*
It was the final day of internships, and Genki intended to squeeze as much training as he could into it as possible. Sure, he could've gone on patrol one more time, but he'd kind of gotten his fill of people making complete assholes of themselves, and he felt like he'd gotten plenty of media exposure already. Do too much too quickly and the people will get tired of you, unless you were an all-arounder like All Might who could do "anything and everything". Plus, he might not be able to continue some of his more-specialized training once he returned to Yuuei.
Sure, it had one of the largest operating budgets in the country and the most diverse facilities, but even they had limits on what they could or were willing to accommodate; hence why other Hero Schools that chose to "over-specialize" were able to remain competitive in the industry.
Not to say that the Hero Informatics at Yuuei was lacking in any way, but with how-far-ahead of him in the practical side of things the others still were, it'd be what he learned from the Edgeshot Agency that gave him the competitive edge he needed to pull up alongside them, and then move ahead. He may've beaten 1-A's "heavy hitters" in the Sports Festival, but neither of them would just sit back and stagnate while he continued to get better. It was a constant uphill battle in the industry, and the only reprieve really came when your contemporaries plateaued; be it from the inability of their Quirk to get any stronger, or certain toxic personality traits causing their popularity to hit a glass ceiling that prevented them from ascending any further up the rankings.
It might've given him massive migraines in the short-term, but by firing off his Giant Interneurons as he trained, he was cramming more into his brain and his muscle memory than a normal person could have. It was sort of like being able to give himself wider bandwidth for streaming and downloading, one of the more nuanced uses of a cockroach-based Quirk introduced to a Human anatomy. It'd been more-or-less discovered by accident since neither his father nor mother possessed this ability, but some blending of two similar Quirks allowed this synthesis to occur and push his Mutant Quirk further beyond.
And it wasn't only training he partook in. He also set some time aside to create channels with which he could receive Ninja Tools in the short and long-term. It was iffy whether or not Yuuei would let him chuck shuriken at his peers, despite most of the Quirks in 1-A (and 1-B) being more-dangerous than sharpened pieces of metal. However, what he was able to get in abundance were smoke bombs, eye closers, food pills, and caltrops; the latter of which Aizawa supposedly purchased in abundance since a fleeing Villain wouldn't get too far with a sharp piece of metal through the bottom of their foot.
Genki felt that maybe the quartermaster wasn't supposed to tell him that, but either thought it'd help with the sale and/or figured it was okay since Aizawa was his own teacher.
Personally, Genki didn't like waving his parents' money around, even if it was given to him as allowance, but sometimes having rich parents was more a boon than a burden. Plus, it wasn't like he could purchase ninja tools through conventional channels unless he was explicitly acquiring them through a Hero Agency where distribution laws were a little more liberal.
Those restrictions of course would be lifted once he got his Provisional Hero License, and if he distinguished himself from his peers he might even be allowed to take the Provisional Hero License Exam a year early. It wasn't unheard of for this to occur before one's second year; in fact, most of his extended family had been unsung prodigies with the drive, ambition, and skill to push themselves in the field and get a head-start on the other first-years. However, even though the current pass-rate was 50/50, there was no telling if the Hero Public Safety Commission would tighten those numbers or not, aiming for Quality instead of Quantity.
With a new bag of trick to beat his peers over the head with, or at least the one asshole in his class he really didn't like, Genki was satisfied that he'd gotten as much as he could've from the Edgeshot Agency in the one-week period he'd been given.
Depending on what offers he received in the future, he'd either branch out into other top-tier agencies as long as he held their attention, or maybe specialize in the ninja aesthetic and combine it with his costume's Kamen Rider-esque leanings. The Heisei era of the franchise alone had variants themed after space, samurai, magic, and video games amongst others, so a ninja aesthetic wouldn't be too jarring for merchandisers.
That and, it was Japan. Kamen Rider was always popular in Japan.
It wasn't that he didn't want to intern with his extended family per se, but family or not, he'd gotten his fill of their… eccentricities, as a child and pre-teen.
At the very least, his classmates could actually escape them. He on the other hand… could not. Sure, he could lean away from them, but as his auntie's incursion into Yuuei showed, if they really wanted to become a part of his education, there wasn't much he could do about it. That his family had expressed an interest in teaching at their last get-together, and his inclusion in Yuuei's Hero Course might be the impetus they need to get their Teaching Licenses and... intrude, upon his education.
He idly wondered if his peers had even survived their internships with his extended family, but figured if they had any umbrage with their experience, he could remind them that he did-in-fact, "warn" them.
And if any altercations were to break out, he was more-than-confident in the adaptation the Blattodea had perfected over the course of 350 million years.
Running the fuck away.
*MHA*
Eventually, evening came, and Edgeshot himself saw Genki off for the final train departing toward Shizuoka.
"Thank you for taking me under your wing, shishou," Genki said with a formal bow.
"Think nothing of it," Edgeshot said with a wave of his hand, clad in a more-ordinary-looking ninja garb so he wouldn't get swarmed by rabid fans and they could exchange parting words in peace. "Your father was a great Hero, even saved my life a couple of times. How could I not extend similar courtesy to his successor, Devil Bug Hero: Genkiburi?"
"I-I see…" Genki flushed awkwardly as the No.5 Hero in the country acknowledged him. Of the legacy he'd taken up. "The next time Internships come around… think you'd welcome me back?"
"Hmmm… Well…" Edgeshot hummed, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose if none of the other Top 10 request you I could take you back… But if this Hero happens to send a request your way, I'd highly recommend them," he said passing forward a Hero Trading Card in an innocuous blue protective sleeve.
"Why this Hero in particular," Genki hummed, giving the picture and stats a once-over.
"Well, call it a veteran's intuition, but I feel like they might break into the Leaderboard very soon," Edgeshot stage-whispered conspiratorially. "Sure, Ninjutsu is well and good, but sometimes what a Hero really needs is a little stopping power for that 'Hissatsu' you might need someday."
"Yeah, says the guy who can punch through armor plating," Genki chuffed with a roll of his eyes as he slid the card into his breast pocket. "Thank you, for everything," he said bowing once more.
"My pleasure," Edgeshot said returning the gesture.
"I take it the others were too busy to see me off?" Genki said finally addressing the absence of his peers.
"Well, you've gotten a lot of media coverage recently. I guess the others didn't want to get left behind," Edgeshot shrugged. "Seijin is close by, so they can get there in time for classes from here, even if they leave in the morning."
"Yeah, that makes sense," Genki nodded. "Tell them I wish them luck."
"Will do," the No.5 Pro returned, he and Genki parting ways, the bullet train departing minutes later.
*MHA*
After departing the Mie Prefecture on the cross-country express, his baggage and Hero Costume stashed overhead, Genki finally let his body sag from all the tension he'd experienced during his Internship. It occurred to him that if he'd gotten into the Hero Course the first time around, he might've been in better shape for Internships. Of course... if that'd been the case, getting the gold medal at the Sports Festival wouldn't have been as-spectacular as it would've for a General Course student, and he might not've gotten the attention he had from the country's Hero Agencies...
Deciding to ruminate on this later, Genki set an alarm for a short power nap as he made his way back to Shizuoka Prefecture, wanting to be well-rested for Monday classes.
Real life however, was not nearly that kind.
*Bzzzzzzt*
His phone vibrating in his pocket a half-hour into his power nap, Genki blearily opened his eyes to see he'd gotten a text message.
"Oh… It's just another Location-Only text…" Genki said sleepily as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, content to return to his slumber.
. . . .
. . . .
. . . . SHIT!
Whipping it out and staring at the message with wide eyes, Genki realized that the Location-Only text he'd received came from the Iga he'd just departed, courtesy of Kana.
'Shit, shit, shit, shit…!' Genki swore as he grabbed his Hero Costume and ran toward the restroom. The last time he'd received a Location-Only text, it'd been from halfway across Japan, completely incapable of responding as three of his peers got maimed by the Hero Killer.
Here and now though, he was actually in a position to do something about it. Migraines be damned, if he fired off his GIs at full tilt, he could make a break for Kana at full speed and get there within minutes.
Just as soon as he figured out how to safely depart a moving train whose clip peaked at 320 km/h (200 mph for the westerners in the audience).
. . . .
"Fuck," Genki swore tiredly.
*MHA*
"Gang way! Hero emergency! Coming through!" Genkiburi shouted as he made his way to the rear car of the bullet train.
As long as he left it ambiguous whether he was calling himself a "Hero" as in the title, or an emergency for a "Hero" as in the occupation, no-one could accuse him of willfully impersonating a Hero… right?
'Kami… If I got butt-dialed, I'm going to get in soooo much trouble for this…'
"What's going on here?" one of the engineers said stepping out of his compartment.
"I need you to open the roof-side emergency panel immediately," Genkiburi said getting straight to the point, his helmet hiding his age assuming no-one recognized him as a student. "I can't wait to get off at the next station, it has to be now!"
" . . . That's all? Okay, sure."
"Wait, you've been asked this before?!"
"Oh yes, plenty of times," the conductor hummed amiably. "It's more-common than you think. Should I hold onto your carry-on as well?"
'Shit, I forgot I grabbed that too,' Genkiburi thought to himself. "That'd be appreciated, yes," he said handing it over.
"Alright then. Once you're topside, we'll slow down the train as much as we can; but you must understand, we do have a schedule to maintain."
"That's okay. I won't be sticking around long," he said planting his fists on his hips and puffing out his chest, ever the part of the brave, confident Hero.
*MHA*
"THIS IS REALLLLLLY FUCKIIING STUPIIIIIID!" Genkiburi shouted impotently into the yowling winds as he laid belly-down atop the roof of the speeding train he was about to depart, the emergency hatch snapping shut behind him. "I've gotta time this just right…" he muttered, gripping desperately onto the roof as he was pushed forward centimeter by centimeter toward the yawning abyss at the end of the train.
A slight shudder rumbling from behind him, with his [Air Pressure Sensing], Genkiburi knew the train had slowed. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, so before the train sped up again, he put his poorly-thought-out-plan into action.
"Goki Slide!"
Using his [Oilpiration] from his palms and opening up his elytra, his wing casings immediately caught the wind and sent him shooting forward like a bullet from a gun in a blur of brown against the bullet train's white hull.
"Goki Thruster!"
Dilating the trachea on the soles of his feet and venting the air he drew in from the rest of his respiratory network, Genki's forward momentum was accelerated further.
Within moments he'd departed the train entirely, his body surrounded by chill night air and the lit windshield of the bullet train's rear compartment vanishing into a pinprick in the night.
"Goki Blast!"
Throwing his feet forward, before he could strike the train tracks, Genkiburi released a more-powerful blast from his palms and feet, softening the impact his body made as it hit the ground with a *WHACK!*
Anyone else would've shattered to pieces like an action figure thrown from a high rise, but the more-resilient of the Blattodea family possessed the uncanny ability to survive blows around 900x their body weight; hence why a rolled-up newspaper didn't always kill them. Amp that ability up proportionally to the average height and size of a Japanese human, and Genki could handle a great deal of punishment.
Didn't mean it didn't still suck though! Sitting where he'd landed and grabbing at his left knee, wincing inside his helmet, he inhaled sharply through his teeth with a whine of- "Ah!" -passing his lips an excessive number of times.
Of course, Genki didn't fixate on this forever. The rough landing had been a bit of a shock, but it was barely close to one of the worst beatings he'd ever gotten in his training before Yuuei.
Forcing himself to his feet, flashing a set of Kuji-in to modulate his brainwaves, once his head had cleared, Genki dug in his foot and fired off his GIs. The HUD of his helmet becoming incredibly bright as he keyed in the location he'd been texted to his GPS, a moment later he shot off into the night at full tilt, arms back and body forward to reduce wind resistance at superhuman speeds.
At least with him it served its purpose. For the weebs out there, it just made them look ridiculous.
*MHA*
Thanks to the reduction of drag force imparted on his body through use of the "Naruto Run", a term that'd persisted even two-hundred years after the series' conclusion in the early 21st century, Genkiburi made greater time than he ever could've during the Sports Festival. Sure, the international railway gave him a great uninterrupted straightaway to use that he didn't have during the Obstacle Race, but the decrease in energy spent and wasted was apparent, showing his time at the Edgeshot Agency hadn't gone to waste.
However, none of that would matter if he couldn't respond to Kana's distress call in time.
The wind whipping against his helmet as it bulled through thousands of pounds of air, when Iga's train station came into view, Genkiburi vaulted off the rails and into the city proper, leaping up at a nearby lamp post and swinging off of it to bleed out his momentum. Taking to the rooftops a moment later, he leapt over, weaved around, and slid below obstacles as he made his way to the GPS locator.
The trip took mere minutes what would've taken others many more, and within a brief amount of time he'd arrived at the police perimeter surrounding the park where he'd fought Shinobi Spider only days before, the blinking red and blue lights filling him with a sense of dread.
The gas masks on all of their faces didn't make it any better.
Dropping amongst their number in a crouch and a gust of wind, it was credit to the police officers' composure that they didn't yelp and shoot him on sight. Probably came with the territory of being stationed in one of the ninja capitals of Japan amidst so-many Heroes leaning into that theme.
"I'm-" *pant*"-here!" *gasp* "What's-" *WHEEZE* "-going on?" Genkiburi said palming a patrol car and pulling himself to full height.
"Holy shit, are you okay?" a younger officer, possibly fresh from the academy asked.
"I just… ran… a hundred miles… in…" he paused to breathe, looking up to the digital clock in his HUD, "ten minutes…" he admitted. "Oh shit, is that bread?"
"Uh, yeah, you want-"
Genki attacked the offered bread roll like a starving animal, tearing into it like a school of rabid piranhas. Once the bread had vanished, the young cop warily offered a bottle of water which Genki downed in almost an instant, coughing when some went down the wrong tube.
"You uh… You good?"
"Yeah… Yeah, just… burned a ton of calories getting here," he admitted, adjusting his utility belt. "What's happening? I got an SOS from inside that police tape," he said gesturing to the lengths of holographic police tape spanning the pylons encircling the park.
"Villain attack, what else?" the young cop sighed. "Edgeshot and his interns went in there, called for a police perimeter. We're still waiting on SWAT and full hazmat suits."
"What're we talking? Chemical? Biological? Nerve gas?"
"Poison," an older cop huffed, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. Swaddling some of the nearby grass was a haze of purple fog, and based on how the grass was speckled with brown…
"I'm going in there."
"Wait, are you sure about this?" the younger cop asked worriedly. "Don't you have classes at Yuuei in the morning?"
It was kinda nice to be recognized, but now wasn't the time to revel.
"My Internship doesn't end until a minute after midnight, tomorrow morning," Genkiburi returned. "I have as much right to be here as anyone else. And besides…" he said tapping a button on the side of his helmet, an inflatable ring sealing his neck from the elements.
"Besides what?"
"I can hold my breath a really long time," Genkiburi said walking through the line of holographic tape, his Acid Armor giving his body a sheen as he left the street light and waded into the poisonous fog.
*MHA*
As soon as the street lights vanished behind him and he passed the first wall of foliage, the sounds of combat reached his ears. Breaking out into a jog, trying not to give his position away, the haze of purple fog thickening on the ground, when his foot hit something fat and meaty he tripped right over it.
'Well that was undignified,' Genkiburi thought, mainly to conserve his oxygen.
Looking over his shoulder, his eyes went wide inside his helmet as he beheld a sickly-looking Ninja Green and Ninja Cobalt laid out and covered in bruises, cracked gas masks on their faces.
'Shhit shit shit!' Genki swore as he threw Cobalt over one shoulder before dragging Green back to the police, forgoing any and all forms of subtlety as the sound of combat continued from deep within the park.
By the time he returned to the edge of the park, the police had pulled back and in their place at the perimeter were men and women clad in fluorescent yellow hazmat suits, some wielding firearms. Even in a world where the MCU had become "the U", chemical, biological, and radioactive weapons were still banned by the Geneva Conventions, and Quirks of similar nature were treated with similar urgency because of their complete and utter lack of precision. Wind currents could carry Geneva-banned weapons for miles and miles on the wind currents, and Genki had noticed on his way there that the evacuation area had been pretty significant, hence why there were no rubberneckers on the scene now.
The foliage was keeping what appeared to be a heavier-than-air poison at bay for now, but if the Villain broke containment, whatever this shit was, it could smother half the countryside in the worst-case.
"Help! I've got wounded!" Genkiburi said making his presence known, the hazmat soldiers waving a group of paramedics toward him, helping the much-larger of the two teens onto stretchers. "Do we have any idea what that purple crap is?"
"We're bringing in an specialist with a Transport Hero now. All we can do for the moment is stabilize them," one of the hazmat soldiers answered. "If you want we can get you fitted for a-"
"I'll be fine," Genkiburi said opening his visor, taking in a breath of relatively-clean air before snapping his helmet shut and diving back into the fray.
For the first several minutes he didn't actually see the Villain that was causing all this. He was mostly exfiltrating whatever fellow interns he could find, one of which was Kana who'd signaled him in the first place, as well as a few hobos, drifters, and civilians that'd been caught up in the aftermath alongside a few more hazmat soldiers. Despite how many he rescued however, he knew there would still be more he couldn't find in time. The interns he'd rescued had gotten the shit kicked out of them; based on the location of the bruises it was likely a heavy-hitter who liked to punch things.
That just gave him more reasons for urgency as he dove into the park once again after sloughing off a layer of oil that'd turned a noxious shade of purple from exposure. Sure, his oil was insulating him, but it wasn't fool proof, and the purple fog was starting to creep out of the park into the surrounding street.
Digging into his utility belt for something his "gruncle" had sent him but he'd never had a chance to use, Genkiburi took another breath before diving deeper into the park than he had before.
He didn't like what he saw.
And not just because the twins and Ninja Red were laid out amongst the detritus of battle and Edgeshot was being held at bay in the park's central plaza. The Villain in question was just plain nasty, even by Mutant standards.
The Villain was a large brutish man with thick bones and strong muscles born of heavy labor, clad only in ruined cargo pants, and lacking any hair on his body. His eyes were yellow with blackened sclera, much like Mina, his gums a pitch black with a shock of white teeth. His large hands were tipped with black nails as well as his bare feet, his thick and overlapping skin reminding Genki of a bulldog, only damp and scaly in texture, colored a dark poisonous purple. On top of all that ugliness, his body was covered in what resembled yellow-white pustules which burst on occasion, releasing additional plumes of purple fog into the surrounding air, which was growing as thick as pea soup.
To make matters worse, the Villain was actively exhaling that poisonous shit into the air as Edgeshot zipped around the field using hit-and-run tactics with every ninja tool at his disposal, trying desperately not to hit the noxious pustules throbbing across scaly skin.
That the No.5 Hero hadn't already ended the fight with his Thousand Sheet Pierce, meant this Villain's poisonous emissions were no joke. Those with poison or acid-based Quirks tended to have bodily fluids to match; Mina's obsession with the Alien franchise hinted at a potential [Acid Blood] sub-Quirk on top of her [Acid Resistance], but that was neither here nor there.
That continuous sense of dread Genkiburi was feeling only grew worse as the Villain let out a crazed- "HYAAAAUGH!" -battle cry, a long tongue the color of pitch waggling in the air as he threw his head back, a phantom pain like a needle into his spine erupting from the Devil Bug Hero's nape.
'Trigger! SHIT!' Genkiburi swore as his hand went to the back of his neck, his spinal fluid quivering in the revulsion he felt as Edgeshot quickly aborted another strike, lest he get caught in a plume of poison released from a pustule on the Villain's right shoulder blade.
"Genkiburi? What're you doing here?" Edgeshot asked, favoring one side. On top of his costume he was equipped with a gas mask like the others, though by the pallor of his skin, it was clear the protective equipment couldn't do its job in such dosages.
"Got a Location-Only text, and you know what happened the last time I got one of those," Genkiburi answered, he himself equipped with a small auxiliary tank connected to his helmet courtesy of the SDF.
"Well I can't say I'm not glad for the help," Edgeshot admitted, and as the clouds cleared above Genki could see the tears in his costume. "I can fight him off a little longer," he said as he shot away from a thrown park bench. "You need to get-"
"I don't know where the others are. You'd know that better than me," Genki said as he clenched and unclenched his fists, a pair of brass knuckles bearing a trio of studs now equipped. "You go rescue the others. I'll hold this guy off until that 'specialist' gets here," he said dropping into a stance, armored fists raised. "It doesn't count as 'Improper Quirk Usage' if I just punch him really hard, right?"
Cue - BOKU NO NINJA ACADEMIA by Hyuman
" . . . Just don't get hurt. Your mother'd fold me into an origami crane if you did," Edgeshot assented before throwing a smoke bomb at the Villain's feet, and then an eye-closer at his face.
"You should be worried about the other guy," Genkiburi said as he banged his knuckles together with a loud *KLANG!*
"I mean it, be careful. He's on-"
"Trigger, I know!" Genki growled with a shudder. "Now go on, your interns need you."
Edgeshot coiled his arms around the interns in the plaza with his Quirk before vanishing into the treeline, the Villain letting out a furious yowl as he swept the smoke away with an angry swing of the hand, his darkened eyes locking onto the only Hero nearby.
"Hero… YOU DIE NOW!"
And like that, the fight began anew.
The Villain rushing him, pustules bursting and inflating in sequence across his frame creating a rolling storm front of poison, Genki shot sideways and away from the Villain as his fist struck the ground, the concrete shattering in its wake, and the nearby grass dying at a rapid pace.
'Think…! Think…! Think…!' Genki swore as his eyes darted to and fro, his helmet's augmented vision doing little to illuminate anything past the plaza. Even now, it was getting hard to see his hand in front of his own face. ' . . . THERE!'
Blitzing the Villain who stepped forward and attempted to bear-hug him on the intercept, Genkiburi with his Goki Slide slid between his legs belly-first before scurrying on all fours toward the ruined fountain. Countless ripples of air pressure pressing against his back, Genkiburi quickly dove into the water, the basin at his back and the ruined statue overhead pelted with chunks of concrete like grapeshot, courtesy of the Villain he was fighting.
A burst of compressed air and his oily hide letting him zip through the water and to the opposite end of the fountain as he avoided the second volley, when the barrage came to a stop Genkiburi leapt from the water before blitzing the Villain once again in a strafing pattern, clutching something to his chest with one arm like an American football, his other hand going into his utility belt.
"Pocket Sand!" he cried out expending precious oxygen as he hurled a handful of granulated rock into the Villain's eyes the moment he got close. The Villain yowling in impotent fury as he palmed his face with both hands, Genkiburi was quick to blitz behind the Villain, braving the thick haze of poison surrounding him as he held an American football-sized chunk of ruined basin in his hands.
Kids, don't try this at home.
"Punishing Fist Special: BRICK BREAK!" he quickly roared bringing the chunk of masonry down atop the Villain's head with all his might and a loud *SMASH!*, shattering it before kicking off and leaping away.
The Villain in turn staggered, blood a poisonous shade of purple trickling down the back of his neck, but to his credit all the hit seemed to do was piss him off.
'Dammit!' Genkiburi panted inside his helmet. 'How many 'uppers' is this guy on!?' he swore as the Villain shrugged off what would've been a near- if not outright fatal blow to the head.
True, killing Villains was generally frowned-upon for Heroes and Police alike, but in certain cases the Hero Public Safety Commission would spin such instances as being "necessary"; usually cases involving children, mind-wiping, environmental damage, domestic terrorism, etc.
"PTOOOOOOOO!" the Villain bellowed as he released a thick plume of poisonous fog from his lips, Genki sprinting away from the column of death that killed the grass in its wake.
'Dammit… If this goes on I might have to…' he said as his hand went to his neck again. 'No. Not yet. This fight isn't nearly that dire,' he said as he sloughed off his current layer of oil for a new one, the sheen of his old Acid Armor tinged purple. 'It's time to take this up a notch!'
Genkiburi blitzing at the Villain once again who fired handfuls of concrete his way like grapeshot, the young HIT weaved around the attacks like an oiled shadow, quickly closing the distance between him and the Villain once more.
'Each separate attack must be delivered with intent… to KILL!' he thought as the words of a certain Indonesian cricket-themed Hero came to mind. "Hissatsu Waza: DEVIL BUG RUSH!"
What followed was a- *BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BAM!* -barrage of brass knuckle-augmented blows like the pistons on a high-performance engine, the metallic deluge of destruction targeting every part of the Villain's body from the waist up. Each strike was jet-propelled from the elbow, and each blow left deep indentations on the Villain's body before another crater a few inches away replaced it.
Lashing out until his arms couldn't take any more, the Villain staggering backwards, body sagging away from him, Genkiburi leapt away only to wince.
'Agh! Shit!' Genki swore as he shook his brass knuckles free. The metal hadn't corroded, but some of the Villain's poisonous blood had gotten to his skin beneath his coating of oil, his epidermis flaking away and reddening like a first-degree chemical burn. 'At least I finally did some damage to this guy…'
But it wasn't to be. Though the Villain had been left leaning back from the force of the blows, his arms dangling limply at his sides, trickles of poisonous blood dripping onto the ruined concrete at his feet, a few seconds later the Villain regained himself, body leaning forward and flexing angrily, his teeth gnashing and blood dribbling down his chin as pieces of bone dislodged from his gums *tik-tak-clack*ed off the concrete.
To make matters worse, the pustules across his skin were once again belching out poison.
"FUCKING, SERIOUSLY!? HOW MANY 'UPPERS' IS THIS GUY FUCKING ON?!" Genkiburi swore as the Villain staggered back to his feet, little worse for wear. 'Agh! Damn…' he swore as his hand went to the small O2 tank on his back. 'Running… out… of air!'
Not to say he was out of air. It's just that he was beginning to run low.
'Shit! I should've brought extra…' he lamented.
That lamentation of course was cut off as the Villain's cheeks bulged, a cone of poison gas spewing past puckered lips a moment later like a high-pressure hose.
'ACID ARMOR: MAXIMUM!' Genkiburi cried out as a thick slathering of oil formed thickly around him before the poison gas could completely smother him. Though his oil protected his skin and his helmet shielded his head from the poison gas, his [Air Pressure Sensing] was rendered useless under the sheer volume of it he needed to protect himself, leaving him vulnerable to the flying knee strike to the gut that parted the poison cloud. Sent flying, before he could get up the Villain was swiftly upon him, a knee and the Villain's massive bulk pinning him to the ground, threatening to cave in his chest.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU!" the Villain, roided up on uppers, bellowed as his hands clamped around both sides of Genkiburi's helmet in a vice-like grip, the metal beginning to groan and two massive thumbs cracking the lenses.
'Shit, shit, shit!' Genki swore as some of the poison from outside leaked into his helmet.
Throwing up his hands and firing a blast of oil into the Villain's face, the moment his grip slackened Genki deactivated the insulating cuff around his neck before shooting out from under the villain with his oily hide, abandoning his compromised helmet altogether and clamping a hand over his nose and mouth.
'Damn, that was too close!' Genki swore as the Villain picked up his helmet in his hands and crushed it like a tin can. 'My O2! Shit!' he swore as the hose, once connected to his helmet, flailed wildly from his belt like an eel. Frantically grabbing for it and bringing his lips to the tube, he was only able to get half a good breath before the oxygen ran out entirely, leaving him in the middle of a cloud of poison gas with only as much air as he could hold his breath. 'This is not good… If I turn tail and run to get more, either he follows me and kills everyone, or he goes somewhere else, and still kills everyone. Dammit! Fucking! Shit! What do I do?! If I let this Villain out of the park, there's no telling how far his poison will spread!'
"Oi oi oi oi. Oi oi oi oi oi oi!" a new voice growled, their owner making their presence known as a darkened silhouette came into view up one of the pathways. "Hands off the intern, you purple dildo-faced freak!"
'Who…? Reinforcements…?' Genki blinked against the haze, which made his eyes water like tear gas mixed with laundry detergent.
Coming into view was a tall slender woman with messy shoulder-length blond hair, pinned away from her dark brown eyes with a few bobby pins. She was pretty with a heart-shaped face and light skin, possessing a full bosom and a slight hourglass figure that concealed strong yet supple muscle. Her attire consisted of a white tube top with black accents, a black long coat with white cuffs and lapels with black accents, black pants with a white belt, and on her feet were black combat boots with metal lining the soles.
"Hey, kid. Catch," the blond said tossing him a gas mask. "You need it more than me."
Genki fumbled with it before affixing it to his face and venting the poison gas within before asking- "But what about-"
"Come on kid, you know me better than that~"
'I do…?' he blinked, trying to see the woman clearly though the haze of poisonous fog around them.
"Alright, tough guy," the woman said cracking her knuckles as she walked up to him. "Let's see how you like fighting someone your own size!" she grinned fiercely showing teeth.
"RAAAAAGH!" the Villain roared in defiance as he towered over her.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'll give you one free shot~" the woman grinned cheekily as she leaned forward and turned the other cheek. "But I'm warning you, if you waste it-"
*WHAM!* -was the sound of the Villain's blow as he struck the woman in the face with all his might, her head snapping back as she fell backwards.
To the Villain's confusion however, the woman's feet remained firmly planted on the ground, cracks spiderwebbing away from her combat boots, her body angled back like a limbo liner.
" . . . you're gonna regret it," the woman finished, no worse for wear as she looked down her nose at the Villain. "Anchor Bolt…" she announced as the muscles of her abdomen defined themselves to meat-grinding proportions. "CATERPILLAR BULLET!" she roared as she recoiled from her stance like a carnivorous caterpillar, her own fist striking the Villain in a brutal punch that crushed cartilage and spurt blood.
The difference between this and Genki's Devil Bug Rush however, was that the Caterpillar Bullet actually knocked the Villain off his feet, sending him flying through the air before he crashed into a nearby fountain cracking the side of it with his skull.
"Imo… Imomushi…?" Genki blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light.
"That's my name, kid, don't wear it out~" the woman grinned broadly as she lifted her feet from the ground, retracting a trio of small pile bunker spike into each boot. "So, how's Megumi-chan's 'little man' doing?" she cooed as she tenderly mussed his hair. "You having fun on your first internship~?"
"I-Is this really the time for that?!" Genki squawked, blushing as another of his aunties messed with his hair. "That thing is still moving!"
It took a whole new dimension of ugly, inside and out, to make one Mutant call another "that thing".
"Ah, just leave that up to auntie Miki," the now-named Miki replied casually as she drew a black Beretta from her coat and took aim at the Villain. "Two to the head, you're dead."
Unfortunately, while she had been mussing Genki's hair, the Villain had drawn a pair of syringes from his pocket and jabbed them into his neck.
"Oh crap, is that-?" Miki asked as the Villain hunched over, his body inflating like a balloon as his skin became positively covered in yellow-white pustules like bubble wrap, each fit to burst against its neighbors.
"Trigger, and by the looks of things he's about to OD!" Genki shuddered as the Villain continued to mutate, his necrotized tongue falling out of his mouth as he let out a soundless cry.
" . . . So, you wanna get some ramen after this or-"
"Is now REALLY the time?!" Genki cried as the Villain's skin continued to stretch horribly, the cockroach-like teen on the edge of vomiting in revulsion.
"Right, right," Imomushi hummed as she leveled her Beretta at the Villain's swelling face. "Say goodnight~"
"I'd rather you didn't, actually," a new voice announced, the two insect-themed Heroes looking up into the moonlight sky to behold a young-looking woman alighting upon them on translucent butterfly wings.
She was short, only 151 centimeters, her shoulder-length black hair, bound with a butterfly-themed clip at the back, transitioning to purple and parted away from her face which was classically beautiful with large expressive purple eyes, thin eyebrows, and a small nose. She was clad in a black Gakuran-style uniform with gold buttons and a white belt holding up hakama pants; over this she wore a white haori with butterfly wing patterns that faded into turquoise and then pink on the sleeves, the edges cuffed with black and white dotted trim, her haori pants tucked into white tabi-style socks over which she wore white sandals.
"Who the fuck are you supposed to be?" Imomushi asked the petite woman irately as she waved her Beretta in the Villain's direction.
"I'm the specialist they called in. And I've been hunting this Villain for a very long time, so I'd prefer you didn't kill him outright," the beautiful woman said casting purple eyes toward the overdosing Mutant. "Doku… I'll end your suffering," she muttered to herself as she drew her blade from the scabbard at her side; it was the same as any katana from the handle to slightly above the hilt, but above that the weapon's blade was instead replaced by a rod with a needle-like tip, resembling an insect's stinger.
"If you're gonna end it, end it fast!" Imomushi snapped. "He's starting to get really gross!"
"Fuck 'gross'! He's gonna BLOW!" Genki cried as he threw his auntie over his shoulder and hauled ass, the woman letting him carry her off good-naturedly.
"Ah, yes, I suppose I should," the butterfly-themed Hero hummed, readying her blade as she landed before the Villain, bursts of compressed gas from her Support Items softening her landing. "Butterfly Dance: Caprice!"
The Heroine floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, heedless of the danger before her, she lashed out with her needle-like sword in a flurry of blindingly-fast strikes across the Villain's inflating body before unfurling her wings and leaping away.
The Villain ambling forward on all fours like a gorilla, before he could take even a single full step his body shuddered. White fluid standing out starkly against his skin coursed through his drug-addled circulatory system, from amidst the poisonous fog plumes of steam began to spill from the Villain's flesh as it split and tore, his body temperature then dropping. The sick red-purple swelling which had threatened to tear open from the pressure before began to abate, body shrinking and shifting to a pale purple-gray color.
Sweat and other liquids dripping from the deflating flesh, the Villain collapsed to the ground in a heap. The layers of pustules across saggy reptilian skin, fit to burst mere moments ago, began to sag and wrinkle like a prune in the sun. The Villain's eyes, once filled with a drug-addled, mindless fury, became calm and cloudy before he fell onto his stomach, consciousness fading, what was left of his blackened tongue lolling out and dripping saliva onto the battleground.
"I'm sorry…" the butterfly-like Hero muttered softly as she eyed the defeated Villain. "I hope in your dreams, you can escape the pain this world has given you…"
*MHA*
After The Lepidopteran Hero: Caterpillar and the Scale Winged Hero: Poison Butterfly finished with the Villain dispatch, the SDF arrived with industrial-strength vacuum cleaners to suck up the poisonous fog.
Since the fog itself was no longer being "supported" by the "Poison Villain's" Quirk Factor, the toxic fumes experienced an accelerated half-life, and would prove to be no real danger to the people of Mie. The park would have to be closed for a time, of course, as the plant life recovered and any residual particles fully deteriorated, but in time the land would recover in full since apart from the most-direct contact with the Poison Villain's body, any damage to the local flora was purely temporary.
The same, unfortunately, could not be said for the fauna involved. Those exposed to the Villain's poison experienced a wildly varying spectrum of symptoms depending on the level of exposure to the Quirk [Toxic].
Those inadvertently exposed to the Poison Villain's blood as Edgeshot and his Interns fought him, unfortunately experienced some rather horrifying, flesh-melting symptoms. There were only a few cases of such, and those cases alone belonged to "Hero Chasers" who risked life and limb to collect video and sound bytes to promote their brand online.
Because common sense in regards to Hero vs Villain battles largely allowed Heroes to fight under the assumption that sensible people would flee or at least maintain a safe distance without having to be told like a preschooler, the Edgeshot Agency would not suffer any major legal repercussions for the cases of a certain flesh-liquefying nature.
Gokiburi Genki, whose oil-saturated skin and arthropodal nature gave him certain resistances to external irritants, only experienced a mild burning of his epidermal layer. Left untreated, he was expected to experience fatigue, fever, and swelling.
The true danger was the poison in its gaseous state which burnt the interior lining of the lungs and caused them to fill with fluids, causing pneumonia-like symptoms, swelling of the throat and eventual suffocation. Damage to the eyes was not dissimilar to a lachrymator agent, which was the primary contributor to the incapacitation of the Seijin interns, if not getting punched by sledgehammer-like blows.
Fortunately, the Scale Winged Hero had been pursuing this Villain for a long time, developing stronger and stronger antidotes until she'd developed a drug cocktail which could curtail these symptoms almost entirely. Full meals and bedrest would tend to what the antidote could not, and because Villain-related incidents could case anyone at any time to miss work, the businesses employing those that'd been hurt themselves were ready for the rash of sick day call-ins to come in the following week.
*MHA*
As soon as Genki and Miki left the aforementioned park and the proper authorities moved in to cart off the Poison Villain, the two were quickly ushered over to a set of pre-fab showers meant to wash away any residual Quirk-related particles from those being pulled out of the park. Once that was done, antidotes provided by Poison Butterfly would be administered and they would either be allowed to go on their way, or be checked into a hospital for overnight observation based on the severity of their symptoms.
Since they were family, Genki didn't really mind showering next to his auntie.
Or at least, that's what he would've thought before puberty hit. After, he started becoming aware of his aunties' particular… "attributes", and similar nudity-related circumstances with his non-blood-related aunties who started to playfully tease him once his voice started cracking, would give an adolescent teen all sorts of mixed messages.
Not that he'd ever act on those impulses. They were family!
But it was the principle of the thing…!
"So, I see you put on a little more muscle," Miki hummed next to him as she raked soap through her hair. With her own height and that of the partition between them, she was able to look down into his booth and appraise him. "By the way, congrats on your Internship."
"Thank you…" Genki returned, angling his face away slightly so he wouldn't catch sight of his auntie's nudity. It of course didn't help that they both had arthropodal Quirks that created a certain level of… compatibility, between them. That invisible "something" that drew Mutants together for courting more often than not.
"Soooo... You still got that cat-girl fetish or what?"
"M-M-M-Miki?!" Genki squawked indignantly, a few of the police and hazmat nearby chuckling good-naturedly. "O-O-One, that isn't my f-f-fetish, and two, it's a 'leaning' toward-"
"Toward Mutant-type girls, I know, I know," Miki waved off lazily before reaching over the partition and mussing up his hair. After a moment her joking expression softened, and she looked him dead in the eye. "Genki. I'm glad you're alright. I guess in a way it's good I got sidetracked on my way to visit you, otherwise I wouldn't have been here when you really needed me."
"I could've handled it myself..." he muttered.
He-of-course knew that was complete and utter bullshit, but it was the principle of the thing...
" . . . Thank you," Genki returned a moment later, scrubbing away the last of the oily residue on his skin he'd been using to shield himself from the gas, before looking toward the burns on his hands. "Shit, I left my brass knuckles in there."
"No you didn't~" Miki grinned as she held them up for him to see.
"You brought those into the shower?"
*MHA*
Their showers completed and their clothes returned to them after a high-tech decontamination process, it was time for them to get their antidotes.
"Don't worry, it's just a little prick," an orderly said sticking him with a needle after an alcohol wipe. "Alright, you're next," she said turning to Miki.
"Nah, I don't need it. I'm immune," she waved off, the back of her Hero License displaying a bit of information about her unique constitution.
And she was right. A little-known fact in the arthropod world, at least for all but the most-ardent and anal-retentive enthusiasts, was that the caterpillar is immune, literally immune, to poison.
Jean-Henri Fabre, in order to research the strength of scorpion venom, injected said venom into various insects such as spiders, praying mantises, grasshoppers, and beetles. While each and every one of them died as a result, caterpillars, the larval forms of moths and butterflies, were completely unaffected.
Fabre wrote in the books where he recorded his findings, "Because of the simple nervous system that maintains it in its initial form, the caterpillar is less susceptible to poison than other insects with more-complex nervous systems." Described as "simple, yet mysterious", the process which allowed this organism to evolve, even today, over three centuries after Fabre's death, is still not completely understood.
That being said, while [Poison Immunity] was one of the more-niche Quirks that got little use in the real world, what actually allowed her to classify herself as a caterpillar-type Mutant instead was one of her "sub-Quirks" which gave her the machine-like precision and power of the Bagworm.
And good luck getting her to tell you how she found that out…!
"Genki! You're here!"
"Kana?" the Mutant blinked as the violet-clad girl ran toward him.
This might've actually been the first time he saw her face in full without her ninja scarf around it. She was extremely cute with flushed cheeks and large expressive eyes, her violet-colored hair short and messy but still cute. She was pale, almost ghost-like in appearance, but definitely the sort of girl who'd be swimming in fanboys and suitors if they knew how pretty she was. And that wasn't even counting how-beautiful she was bound to become in the future.
"She's a real looker. Too bad she doesn't have cat ears~"
"Miki. Quiet," Genki hissed before turning to the Seijin student. "Kana, are you okay?"
" . . . I am now," she returned with a bashful smile, twitting her thumbs demurely while her cheeks flushed darkly.
"Cat ears~"
"MIKI NOT NOW!" Genki snapped at her before turning back to Kana. "I got your call."
"I… I didn't think you'd arrive in time…" she confessed. "I… didn't think you'd get here at all…" she sobbed, rubbing at her eyes with chin tucked down.
" . . . Have no fear," Genki said softly, causing her to look up at him. "Why? Because I'm here."
" . . . " *Sniff* *Sniff*
The next moment Kana broke down, openly sobbing and "ugly crying". Burying her face into his chest and holding him tight, Genki smiled kindly in turn as he reciprocated the gesture, one arm cradling her back while his free hand stroked the crown of her head.
"It's okay. I'm here. I'm here," Genki said comforting the frightened girl, the smile on his face meant for her even if she couldn't see it.
It wasn't enough to save someone's life. You had to save their heart as well.
And the people in this world who can smile, are always he strongest.
*MHA*
After Kana got that good, long cry out of her system, she profusely apologized for getting tears and snot all over his costume. Genki's dismissal over getting "slimed" by telling her his costume was fluid-proof made her mood brighten immensely, and minutes later they'd reconvened with the other Edgeshot Interns who were still in traction.
"Hey guys. You look like shit."
"Genki, I feel like shit," Ninja Red groaned. Without his ninja scarf he was actually pretty ordinary-looking; for a Japanese person at least. Dark hair, dark eyes, Japanese features, and so-on. "I understand you held off the Poison Villain while Edgeshot exfiltrated the rest of us. You have my thanks."
"Uh-huh," Genki waved off. *YAAAAWN* "But uh… don't expect anything more out of me tonight. I'm no good to anyone if I can't keep my eyes open."
"That you came back for us, even after having already left Mie, is more than enough," Ninja Red returned.
"Alright, let's get something straight. I didn't come back for you, I came back for her," Genki jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, Kana flushing beet red and fidgeting with a small smile on her face. "You assholes staying alive is just a bonus."
"Urk…" the red-clad ninja winced.
"Geez, what'd you guys do? Get jealous that 'senpai' wasn't paying attention to you~?" Miki cooed, causing Ninja Red and those of his fellows that were still conscious to blush and turn away. "Ha! Nailed it."
"So um… What exactly happened in there, anyway?" Kana asked, trying in some part to cover for her peers. "A few minutes ago, the poison fog in the park started to just… dissipated."
"According to that butterfly chick, when that purple guy OD'd on Trigger, it caused his Quirk to extract all his body's fluids to make more poison," Miki began lazily. "He'd have popped like a pimple from his own super-heated fluids if she hadn't spiked him with a blend of Quirk suppressants, medicinal herbs, and that antidote she'd been cooking up."
"Ugh, honestly, you'd think with what happened in Naruhata, people in Japan would be smart enough not to use that shit anymore…" Genki grumbled, his hand going to his neck.
"Yeah, well," Miki shrugged lazily, "people are idiots. Hey, Edgelord!" she called out. "How you doing, buddy?"
"It's Edgeshot. You know this."
"Yeah, yeah…"
"Genki. A word?"
"Edgeshot…" Genki muttered lowly, a chilling murderous haze wafting off of him. "I'm tired, I'm cranky, I've spent the last hour covered in poisonous slime, and to top it all off… I have school in the morning," he said as though that were the most-terrifying thing. "Whatever you have to say to me better be really, fucking, good."
"I just wanted to say… you did a good job out there," Edgeshot stated. "You were better-suited for the job than I between your Quirk and Support Items, and reinforcements notwithstanding, you handled yourself incredibly well for a first-year."
"Yeah, yeah, warm & fuzzies all around," Genki huffed letting his crankiness show now that the fighting had ended. "Now are you going to drive me to Shizuoka, or do I need to tell my mother you made me walk home?"
"Oh! My! Gaaawwwd!" Edgeshot cried in English, holding his head. "I'm having a flashback!"
"G… Geez…" Ninja Red groaned from his stretcher. "What'd Genki's mother do to him?"
"Folded him into an origami crane. And not in the sexy fun way," Miki hummed.
"There's a 'fun way'?!" Ninja Cobalt asked incredulously.
*MHA*
AN:
I hadn't actually listened to "BOKU NO NINJA ACADEMIA" in years, but when it cropped up on my preference list again as I was writing this, I just knew I had to put this in.
Like the rest of his extended family, Imomushi/Inou Miki isn't an OC, but a character from MURATA Shinya's Caterpillar, which is illustrated by SAYAZAKI Isuka. Imomushi's immunity to poison made her a natural choice to include here, and her "Anchor Bolt: Caterpillar Bullet" acted as a perfect counter to the Poison Villain's Trigger-enhanced strength since in her own Canon, she's been punched in the face by guys as strong as those with strength-boosting Quirks, and shrugged it off. And that isn't even counting her ability to dispel 12/13ths of the damage dealt to her when she takes the right stance.
The Scale Winged Hero: Poison Butterfly, is a cameo of Shinobu Kocho from the Demon Slayer franchise. I haven't personally watched it, but my Beta, Spaceman, made the suggestion when it came time to make a "Poison Villain" hopped up on Trigger for Genki to face off against.