Traitor VS Newbie
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest, and slightly shorter, chapter of Hailstorm Vol.2! Now a quick announcement for those wondering, I'm mildly under the weather at the moment so my next chapter for Breath of the Rifleman is likely gonna be out a little later than usual, which is also probably gonna set my other chapters back a little too. So just a heads up on that. But for now, hopefully you'll all enjoy what I've managed to get out and as always I'd like to thank my fellow readers for their support of this story up to this point. And to answer DCDGojira's question, I don't have any side stories planned for this one at the moment given some of my upcoming stuff, but hopefully that won't sour the enjoyment of the current story. Now then, let's jump on in!
U.A.: Training Field Gamma
Momo had mentally prepared herself for a number of possibilities when it came to this training exercise. She'd organized a plan, took Shinso and his quirk into account and had steeled herself for the possibility of going up against one of her classmates. Or so she had thought she'd steeled herself. But the moment she found out that the one they were facing was Slade, she felt herself pause.
Sure it was a training exercise and she knew Slade wasn't actually an enemy, but the fact that she hadn't ever considered the possibility of what she'd do if he ever betrayed them is what was currently stopping her in her tracks. "Momo, how do we want to play this," asked Hagakure as they continued to keep an eye on Slade who'd fixed them all with a calculating gaze, "MOMO!" That snapped her out of her trance as she glanced at Hagakure.
"Right, sorry," replied Momo as she gave Slade a determined look, "Shinso, Aoyama, you take Slade! Tokoyami, keep the rest of the villain team occupied. Hagakure, you're with me."
"Right!" They all said in agreement before splitting off with Aoyama firing his navel laser at Slade.
The density shifter leapt off the pipe he was on and jumped from one to the other as Aoyama fired his laser repeatedly. "Not bad trying to force me to the ground," commented Slade, "but you'll have to do better than that!" He leapt behind a large vertical pipe before bouncing upwards into the air thanks to his currently low weight and density.
"Slade, we got a problem down here," called the voice of Kendo as he landed on another horizontal pipe. 'Nice try,' thought Slade as he jumped again and continued maneuvering through the pipes where he last saw Shinso, 'but I know to keep my lips sealed and my eyes open from this point on.' He landed on the ground then in close proximity to the rest of Momo's group as Aoyama reaimed his laser. 'And besides, you got other problems.'
"Oh no," said Tokoyami suddenly, "everyone get away!" For a moment, everyone was confused at his sudden statement until Dark Shadow returned and slammed his fist into his master.
"What in the world, what's going on!" Exclaimed Aoyama as Slade took his opening and ran straight at him while increasing his density. The sparkling student didn't have time to react as the density shifter barreled into him, yanking his belt off in the process while sending him into some nearby pipes. Tokoyami was having a similar experience as he was knocked into some of the pipework by his own quirk.
"I'm sorry.…...Fumikage," said Dark Shadow, "He…got me." 'Kuroiro most certainly did,' thought Slade as he leapt out of the way of a smaller laser shot by Aoyama. The 1B student with a shadowed body, Shihai Kuroiro, had the ability to fuse with and control shadows to a degree. And given that Dark Shadow was a literal living shadow, it easily fell into his wheelhouse. Though given the way Tokoyami's quirk was thrashing around it was clear he didn't have complete control, and Slade was also kicking himself for not remembering that Aoyama's knee guards doubled as extra focusing weapons for his quirk.
"Hagakure, light!" Ordered Momo as she dodged around an attack from Dark Shadow.
"On it," replied Hagakure as she got onto a platform and leapt into the air, "Warp Refraction: Say Cheese!" 'Oh yeah, and then there's that,' thought Slade as the invisible girl reflected and greatly increased the sunlight into a dazzlingly bright light. It was enough to weaken Dark Shadow as Tokoyami called him back to him. It also forced Kuroiro to leap out of the shadow quirk as he landed and ran for the nearest shady spot.
"Kuroiro, this way!" Shinso tried to say while using the voice of one of his team members. But Slade quickly put a stop to his attempt by forcing him to back up with a drop kick which narrowly missed. Shinso pulled out part of his scarf as Slade charged in with a punch and wrapped it around his limb. The brainwashing student then turned and flipped Slade over his shoulder and onto the ground where he landed with quite the impact due to quickly raising his density at the last second.
"Not bad," said Slade, "I'd have been disappointed if you couldn't even pull that move off."
"I've learned a few tricks," replied Shinso as he went to reel in his scarf, only to discover that Slade had a tight hold of it. 'You're not the only one with tricks,' thought Slade as he stood up, his currently heavy body preventing Shinso from pulling his scarf out of the density shifter's grasp.
"Keep back Shinso!" Called Aoyama as he came in with a new belt Momo had made with her quirk, "I've got him!"
"Correction," said the voice of Kuroiro as his hand suddenly emerged from one of the shadows and seized Aoyama, "I've got you!" The sparkling student squealed as he was suddenly yanked towards the more shadowed part of the training field where the 1B student could move more freely, sliding along one pipe after another.
"Aoyama," Shinso said before being yanked forward by Slade and quickly clotheslined, the blow powerful enough to almost flip him over as he landed hard on the ground.
"Keep your eyes on your enemy," said Slade as he rested a heavy foot on the brainwasher, "they'll exploit even a moment's worth of distraction if you let them, example." He raised his arm then to block a metallic staff from Momo who'd just arrived along with Hagakure, "notice that even while talking I don't forget to pay attention to my surroudings!" He pushed his arm back, forcing Momo away as Hagakure attempted a punch to his head and wound up regretting it as she stumbled back and held her hand.
"So was this your plan Slade," asked Momo, "trying to fight a three on one battle?"
"It's more like two on one as long as Shinso here is down," corrected Slade, "and with Tokoyami occupied trying to use Dark Shadow with caution, I'm fairly confident I can handle you and Hagakure." Momo and the invisible girl both grit their teeth at his declaration, before smiling.
"You think Tokoyami has to be that cautious," said Momo, "clearly you're forgetting something." Slade raised an eyebrow at this before an unexpected sound occurred.
"Rendezvous-ooh-ooh, rendezvous!" Cheered Aoyama as he came 'flying' out of the pipework. Or to be more accurate, he was being carried by Tokoyami who was flying with the assistance of Dark Shadow. The birdheaded student was using his cloak to allow Dark Shadow to hide on his back while the quirk was crossing his arms underneath his master. Since Dark Shadow had the ability to float, he was actually able to carry Tokoyami like this while keeping his human arms free.
"I don't believe it," said Slade, smirking despite the situation, "he mastered his new move: Dark Fallen Angel!"
"Thank you for noticing," Said Tokoyami as he flew towards Slade, "now what will you do in this situation?" As he said that, Aoyama was able to fire a few small beams from his navel, not powerful enough to put him down but enough to hurt if they hit.
"I guess," said Slade as he lowered his density and leapt off of Shinso, "I'll have to retreat for now."
"Don't think it'll be that easy," said Momo as she looked up towards the flying duo, "Aoyama your Navel Buffet! Tokoyami, keep flying!"
"I'll change the shape of the shadows," said Aoyama as he began bombarding the pipeworks with multiple small lasers in a similar fashion to a machine gun, or bomber given that he was doing so while airborne. "So don't think your shady friend will be able to help you down there!" 'Like that's my biggest worry right now,' thought Slade as he jumped, bobbed and weaved through the pipework with a combination of acrobatics and the occasional use of the cables on his wrist gauntlets.
"We've got problems," said Kuroiro as he and Slade both leapt out of the pipework into an open area with the whole of Momo's team right behind them. Slade had to slow down to keep pace with the 1B student as he didn't want to risk leaving him alone to get captured. Though it seemed a moot point as Shinso came swinging out of some more pipework by his scarf and landed in front of them.
"This is as far as you two go," said Shinso as the two came to a halt.
"Shit-er," said Kuroiro before his eyes suddenly took on a trance-like state.
"Damn it dude we told you to keep it down," said Slade with a sigh as he turned towards Momo and the rest of her team arriving to surround him and Kuroiro.
"I honestly can't believe just the two of you tried launching a surprise attack," said Momo, "I know at least you are smarter than that, Slade. But you forgot something important: even unexpected circumstances are within expectations for me."
"I know," said Slade as he slapped Kuroiro across the face to undo his brainwashing, "that's why we made a plan B." Momo was about to ask what he meant by that until she felt something strange on her nose, and her cape, and her arms?
"These are," Momo said as she examined the strange growths. And they weren't just growing on her.
"M-Mushrooms!" Exclaimed Hagakure as she and the rest of the team tried brushing them off of them. Even Tokoyami and Aoyama, who were airborne, had mushrooms growing on them.
"That's our cue to leave," said Slade as he and Kuroiro both leapt up to a higher platform and booked it away from the enemy team.
"Stop!" Exclaimed Shinso as he tried using his scarf to capture them. It fell short, however, due to extra weight from several more quickly growing mushrooms. And they weren't just covering Momo's team either. In fact, the entire area was being covered by rapidly growing mushrooms that practically seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"You weren't kidding when you said she could make these things grow fast," commented Slade as he ran and leapt through the newly grown field of mushrooms, "remind me not to piss off Komori in the future."
"Even Monoma thinks she's scary," commented Kuroiro who was moving in the shadows again, "that should tell you plenty about how she can use her quirk to make people miserable."
"Either way it'll buy us the time we need," said Slade, "Kendo should be in position soon so we better split too."
"Right," agreed Kuroiro, "if you were impressed by Kinoko's quirk, you'll flip when you see Manga's quirk." Slade smirked at that as he fired his cable and reeled himself up to a high spot in the pipes. 'This view should do well enough,' thought the density shifter as he eyed Momo's group from a distance.
"BAM, THUD, CRASH, WHACK, AAAAHH!" Yelled the voice of the 1B student who appeared to have a literal manga page for a head, Manga Fukidashi. In another moment, solid, ten-foot-tall Japanese Kanji came shooting out of the pipework and crashing into the location of Momo and the others. Slade couldn't help the low whistle that came out of his mouth upon witnessing the feat. 'A quirk that allows one to materialize sound effects and onomatopoeias into existence as giant letters or various other effects. It's every comic lover's dream come true.'
Though in this situation it served another purpose than mere shock and awe. As Manga sent out a few more tall words, he succeeded in separating Momo's team. Not even Tokoyami or Aoyama could get in from the air. "Looks like that's my cue," said Slade as the dust began to settle, revealing the location of his target, "time to get going."
Down in the mass jumble of letters, one member of Momo's team was busy trying to get his bearings. He was already pretty certain by the amount of damage the letters caused that he'd have no chance of busting through them with his own physical strength, so instead he looked for an opening. 'While being out of sight would normally be to my advantage,' he thought, 'just blindly yelling things out could easily get my own teammates brainwashed if I'm not careful. I need to find either my team or the enemy team in order to make the most strategic use of my quirk.'
His thoughts were interrupted then as he noticed something strange: one of the few lights being let in from the letters was being, blocked? "Shit," he exclaimed as he moved out of the way just in time to dodge a high-density ax kick which cracked ground to a fair degree.
"Not bad Shinso," said Slade as he took a fighting stance, "you dodged that, but now what?"
"So it's just you again," said Shinso as he readied his cloth bindings, "or is Kuroiro hiding in the shadows around here along with you?" Slade simply shook his head, not falling for the bait before he rushed Shinso. The brainwashing student ducked and dodged around his first few blows, quickly coming to the conclusion that trying to take him on in hand to hand wasn't the best of ideas. 'So let's try this instead,' thought Shinso as he used his cloth binding to snag and pull down a nearby pipe.
But his opponent, anticipating such a move, increased his density and used a spinning kick to knock the large pipe towards him. Shinso rolled out of the way and yanked his scarf off the pipe as quickly as he could. It turned out to be a good move as Slade landed on the pipe just as he got the last of it off. 'So much for stepping on his weapon,' thought Slade as he rushed forward again, 'guess I'll just have to deal with it as is.'
It turned out that Shinso had a couple more tricks up his sleeve as he leapt up and wrapped his cloth around another pipe, swinging out of Slade's reach and up into more of the interior workings. "You're nowhere near as fast or maneuverable as Clay," commented Shinso, "he would've caught me by now." Slade refused to answer his provocation, keeping his temperament in check as he lowered his density and jumped off some nearby vertical pipes to get closer to his opponent's location. Shinso had planned on this and used his cloth bindings to pull down another couple of parts of the pipework.
Slade simply smirked at this while using his wrist gauntlet cable to snag another pipe and reel up higher while avoiding the pipes. 'Two can play at that game,' he thought as he quickly increased his density while swinging upward, yanking the pipe he'd used as an anchor off before spinning back and slinging it at Shinso. The General Class student's eyes widened as he just managed to leap out of the way, but was too slow to escape the rest of the structure collapsing under him as he crashed to the ground with the rest of it. Shinso groaned in pain on top of the pile of pipes as he rolled off of it and shakily got to his feet.
'That's not good,' thought Shinso as he felt a bit of pain in his leg and side, 'my mobility is gonna be down.' Something Slade was clearly counting on as he landed a short distance away from his opponent. He fixed him with a stoic expression as he approached, cracking his neck along the way.
'What are you gonna do now, I wonder,' thought Slade as he adjusted his density to something similar to Aizawa. The sound of cannonfire broke him from his thoughts as he looked up to see where it came from. 'Momo, have you really decided to use that experimental move at this moment?' "What in the world," Shinso couldn't help but question as he too glanced in that direction.
'Guess I'm out of time as far as gauging Shinso's abilities goes,' thought Slade as he readied to charge at Shinso. But at the last moment, the voice of Tokoyami cut in. "Shinso, catch!" Exclaimed the birdheaded student as he took a moment to fly close to the ground and flung something towards his ally who managed to catch it.
"Thanks," said Shinso as he flipped on the new device, "this is exactly what I needed." He turned his attention back to Slade, "Now let's try this again!" In a reversal of the entire fight up to this point, he was the one charging forward as Slade quickly leapt back. 'A stun baton, are you kidding me?!'
The density shifter narrowly avoided another swipe as he found himself on the defensive. "Yaoyorozu really is smart," noted Shinso as he kept swiping at Slade with his new weapon, forcing him to back up, duck or weave around his blows, "she figured out how to eliminate my disadvantage to you in close range after witnessing one brief encounter." Slade again said nothing, not daring to risk being brainwashed and electrocuted. But then another problem occurred as Shinso managed to wrap his scarf around his waist. "Moreover, your weight advantage just became a disadvantage!"
Slade tried to back up but wound up running into a vertical pipe as Shinso hit him in the chest with the stun baton, sending a painful current through his body that made him grit his teeth in agony from the voltage. 'Not yet,' thought Slade as he raised his density a bit despite the pain, 'I can't go down like this!' He then proceeded to headbutt Shinso, causing him to stumble back, losing his contact with the stun baton and almost fall if not for his grip on his cloth bindings. "It's over," said Shinso as he managed to right himself, feeling a bit of blood on his head from Slade's counterattack, "now go down!"
He rushed forward one more time with a jab of the stun baton. But as he was about to get close, Slade smirked and moved back, through the pipe. 'Oh no,' thought Shinso as his opponent phased out of his bindings and through the pipe, leaving nothing but the metal for him to strike, 'I forgot he could lower his density enough to phase through objects.' The brainwasher quickly went to the other side in hopes of catching him right as he went solid, but he was already gone. Shinso tried to keep his cool while looking around the area but still failed to locate his opponent as hearing him was almost impossible thanks to his light footfalls.
Then a shadow appeared behind him as Shinso whirled around with the stun baton, only for Slade to catch his wrist before increasing his density again. "Nice going," complimented Slade before shoving the stun baton back against Shinso's Persona Cords, electrocuting him for several moments, "I hadn't anticipated you'd be skilled with batons too." Shinso obviously couldn't answer as the moment the electrical instrument was removed, he began to stumble. Slade then slammed his higher density fist into his solar plexus, effectively knocking him out of the fight and consciousness. "And you're right, Momo is smart."
Shinso obviously couldn't answer back due to being knocked out as Slade picked him up and began walking towards his team's jail. Along the way, he was greeted with an interesting sight: Kendo had managed to grab ahold of Hagakure while also dragging Momo. The creation quirk user had managed to wrap Kendo in several cables that were still attached to her body while also still having the cannon merged with her. Slade was honestly amazed Kendo had managed to get all the way over here with so much weight.
"Need a hand there?" Questioned the 1A student upon seeing his team leader in such a state.
"If you wouldn't mind?" Said Kendo while breathing heavily, "She got me pretty good. I honestly don't feel like I won our fight. Class 1A really is full of tough students."
"Guess you'll just have to take what we can get for now," said Slade as he tossed the incapacitated Shinso to Manga, who was also present, before getting to work untangling Kendo. It took a few minutes, but eventually he was able to free the Big Fist girl from Momo's trap before carrying his friend bridal style towards the jail with everyone else.
"On an unrelated note, I can see why you like her," quipped Kendo. Slade simply 'hmfed' while trying to hide the blush on his face which only succeeded in making Kendo giggle. They would come to find Tokoyami had also been incapacitated by Komori's mushroom quirk, scarily, affecting his lungs. The end result of the battle, a perfect victory for Kendo's team and the first victory of Class 1B over Class 1A. They were now tied as everyone eagerly awaited the start of the next match.
Look's like any beginner's luck Shinso might've had has run out as Kendo's team, with a little assistance from Slade, has pulled out a victory over Momo's team. It's anyone's game once again, but what will happen in the next match? But before we get there, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as Clay steps up with his team to challenge the ever versatile team of Juzo Honenuki! 'Til then.