2 weeks later
Gym Beta
"Alright..." Bushido started, ready to continue the three's punishment, "let's begin the warm up!"
The students bolted towards the hero, an began to deliver any form of damage they could - Bushido stopped them all, deflecting punches and blocking kicks. And instantly countered, delivering a barrage of attacks on each of them, landing perfectly in each of their weak spots.
Hayate landed right on his back, sliding across the wooden floor, and quickly getting back to his feet, "dammit! It's been two weeks and we still aren't able to even scratch him!"
"He's gotta have something we can take advantage of..." Sei added, "but the way he's guarding himself - all of the human weak points are being shielded perfectly!"
"Don't back down now!" Mira yelled, "it's impossible to protect every weak point! We've gotta force him to break!"
Immediately Hayate started to portal up to Bushido, zipping around the brute with amazing speed, searching and searching for an area unguarded. Bushido's attacks were all dodged by Hayate. He teleported infront of Bushido. Behind! Above!
And right into his fist.
'C'mon really?!' Hayate thought as he was sent back through his portal and skidding across the floor again.
"All you use your quirk for is evasion..." Bushido complained, "surely you can be more creative than that!"
Sei joined in and begun his assault on Bushido, finding the statistically perfect opportunity to attack and defend. 'I think I see a weakness!' He schemed, 'in 4 seconds, Bushido-Sensei will stop attacking. There I will commence a strike on his lower left torso, I sense a weak point there!'
Sei saw a brief moment of hesitation in Bushido after the 4 seconds, so he went in to begin his counterattack.
And was pummelled as Bushido repelled his blow, sending Sei right into the left wall of the gym. 'Really?!' He thought as he collapsed to the floor.
"I can tell that your attack was a completely calculated move" said Bushido, "but numbers and probabilities aren't everything in a fight, there's a feeling - an instinct! If you can't find that feeling, you're no better than those sparring machines!"
"Yes.. Sensei" Sei muttered as he recovered.
Mira went in to take his turn on the warrior, getting up close in mere seconds.
The training Mira had done all his life wasn't just for show. Ever since he lost his father, Mira had to train himself, and practiced MMA to do so.
Without anything to make weapons out of, Mira could only rely on those skills he gained. He dodged and blocked Bushido's flurry of punches and kicks. Seeing Bushido's last strike leaving him open, he took the chance and dealt out a punch straight to Bushido's gut.
But the monster was completely unfazed, "really?" Bushido muttered, and then gave a quick chuckle, "didn't even tickle." Mira went in for a second strike, but his arm was grabbed, instantly he was slung over Bushido's back, and thrown right over, crashing into the floor.
"You did all that defending, but your return was weak. You have technique but enough power!" Bushido stated.
"Y-yes Sensei" Mira mumbled as he slowly picked himself up from the floor.
The students trudged over to Bushido, absolutely still in pain from the beatdown. "Now that your warm-up is complete" Bushido yelled, "let's begin your real training."
The group moved to the end of the gym, and Bushido paced around the students, "spatial awareness. It is something, all three of you lack" The teacher said, "when your sense of vision was stripped from you, you panicked."
The three looked down, their mentor's critique hit hard, as they remembered the suffocating darkness they experienced just before the hoods dealt their last blow that night.
"But... you had another sense you could have relied on..." Bushido stared at Hayate, "YOU! What is that sense?" He questioned.
"Wha- um, well..." Hayate blared out stunned by the mini pop quiz, "touch?" He answered.
And was blasted straight across the the gym, landed right by the door, "WRONG!!" Bushido replied with a sadist smirk across on his face.
"Well?" He asked again to the other two.
"I-i-is it hearing Sensei?" Sei muttered.
And was sent flying into the air by one of Bushido's hulk-like fists, "CORRECT!!" He bellowed, while Mira just stood still, fearful that the next sentence leaving Bushido's mouth was a question.
Once the two had recovered, Bushido continued with his lesson, "you will lose your eyes again but this time you will use your ears." He clapped his hands twice, and sections in the walls open around the them. Huge, wooden logs flew right out of them, swinging from side to side around the four.
Bushido took some blindfolds out of his uniform's pocket and gave one to each of them, and wrapped one around his head. Then he walked through the swinging logs, sidestepping and waiting, not allowing a single one to even graze him, "you three will walk straight through this just like me!" He yelled from the other side of the gym, "you will not leave this gym until you do! So get to it!"
It lasted for hours. Numerous times the logs slammed into the boys, although the pain from the force wasn't even the worst part, it was the despair of being sent back and knowing you may have to relive that pain again. Hayate was pummelled by Bushido for cheekily using his quirk to teleport across, Sei was nearly crushed in between a log and the wall, and Mira was sent right back after getting hit by the last log, nearly crushing his spirit entirely.
But they were getting the hang of it. It took all of their lunch, pretty much their entire hero course period and a couple hours after school, but eventually all three of them were getting past the logs almost as easily as Bushido had! 'These ones have potential' Bushido thought with a proud smile as he witnessed them evading the logs easily.
Mira, Sei and Hayate collapsed to the floor, bruised and exhausted. The 'warm-up' they had was nothing compared to the 'training' Bushido gave them.
"Hoho, tired already?!" Bushido asked. Terror shook the three as they stared at him, fearfully expecting more 'training'. "Hahaha!! Well of course you would be!" Bushido exclaimed with a content smile, "congratulations! You're all stronger than you were five hours ago, and you're going to get stronger." He walked away from the boys, "now go to Nurse Kenkou and rest up, there will be no training tomorrow!"
Infirmary
"Hmph!! I can't believe Ms Hydra would put you three through all this!" Nurse Kenkou fumed, as she as she bandaged up Mira's arm, "I mean... Bushido? Really?! That's just asking for broken bones and fractured joints!"
"Yeah he can be a bit over the top" Hayate replied.
"I wouldn't consider this to be 'a bit over the top" She responded, giving Hayate a tonic.
"Nurse Kenkou, I was just wondering.." Sei asked, "How do your tonics work? Human biology has always been something deeply interesting to me."
"Oh! Sure!" Kenkou answered beaming happily at Sei's curiosity, "well... you know, once I dip my finger in cold water, my quirk converts the liquid into a healing tonic that stimulates cell reproduction" she pointed at Hayate, "I gave one to Hayate as he ripped a few muscles in his right arm."
"Yep, I can already feel her healing magic working on me" Hayate added, as he sipped on the cool green liquid.
"But... having to many tonics can lead to big problems..." she stated as she looked embarrassed and muttered, "...like cancer."
"WHAT?!!!" The three screamed simultaneously, causing the nurse to jump. Hayate nearly spewed his tonic all over Mira in front of him.
"Nonono! Don't worry" Nurse Kenkou advised, "stuff like that can only happen if you had one every single day, or 5 buckets in a day! I need to tell you so that you understand that I can't always use my quirk to heal you up, that's why I ensured that Bushido gave you all a day off."
'So she forced him into giving us some leniency, huh?' Mira thought.
"Well thank you for the information Nurse Kenkou" said Sei.
"No problem, you should all get to the cafeteria quickly though, its nearly 6:30!" She replied, and the three zoomed out of the infirmary.
Cafeteria
"Jeez, even after the tonic, I still feel super sore" Hayate whined.
"Quit complaining" Mira replied, "we're only half way, of course our body's still aren't gonna be completely ready to receive that much punishment." He looked at his friend and smirked, "Well... I really mean your body."
"Okay 'Macho Man', training like I'm preparing for Tough Mudder isn't something most people do everyday" Hayate retorted.
Sei laughed as the two continued their heated arguement, "Calm down you two, though it's pretty harsh, we've still gained a lot of skills from the training right?"
The 'experience' was hellish, but Sei was right. They knew that since the training had started, all three of them had seen drastic improvements in the strength, speed and technique. Mira grinned eagerly, "yeah we have, and there's still more to come! I'm already psyched!"
"Of course you are you gym nut" Hayate jeered, "but, it is helping me get stronger - so I can't say I hate it either."
After getting there food, as they looked for a free table they noticed a classmate eating alone. It was Kori, and she was quietly sitting in the corner, with her sharp purple eyes glazing over a book as she ate.
"Should we go sit with her?" Sei asked.
"No dude! Didn't you see what she did last time someone tried being friendly with her?" Hayate interjected.
"C'mon man, I don't think I've we've even tried to speak to her since the start of the year!" Mira replied, "let's go."
As the three approached, Kori looked up to the group, showing her usual emotionless face. "Sup Kori" Mira started, "is it ok if we sit with you?"
...
Nothing. They froze awkwardly before deciding to just sit with their classmate. Kori decided to ignore them and return to her book, though not for long. "Telekinetic theory?" Sei asked, guessing the topic of Kori's book correctly, and earning an annoyed glare from her, "that's interesting field of science, are you using that book to help you develop your qu-"
But before Sei could finish, Kori had gotten up and began walking towards the exit. "Kori what's the big idea!" Hayate yelled out, "we just wanted to be more friendly with our classma-" but an invisible force cut him off, slamming his face right down into his food.
"Don't bother" Kori muttered, as she left the cafeteria.
"I told you!!" Said Hayate, angrily wiping off curry and rice from his face, "she doesn't want anything to do with any of us!"
"We've just gotta give it some time" Mira replied, "she'll warm up to 1-A... eventually."
The next day
For hero training, Aizawa had asked the class to meet him by Grounds Delta, one of the newer grounds installed on campus that 1-A couldn't see on their initial tour of the school.
As the class made their way over, Taro approached the boys, "I see you three are in good condition" he stated, "good to have you back with us."
"Thanks" Mira replied, "hope we haven't missed much while we were getting beaten by Bushido-Sensei."
"But it's not like we've been doing nothing!" Hayate exclaimed, "I can't wait to show off my new moves!" A cunning and determined smile grew on his face, weirding out the rest of the class.
Grounds Delta
"Now that you're all here.." Aizawa began nonchalantly as always, "we can start the lesson..."
The class couldn't wait! What kind of training they would be doing? Disaster? Hostage? Evacuation? Or...
"Battle training." Aizawa stated. The class leapt up joyfully and excited to start, but were instantly silenced once Aizawa's eyes glinted red. "You'll be grouped up in teams of four, and will have to defeat the other teams to win..."
"So like a battle royale!" Satori whispered to her brother.
"Exactly..." Aizawa mumbled annoyed at his student's interruption, the glare he gave made her jump and apologise. "Like I was saying... to defeat a team you must either: immobilise them, incapacitate them or..." and he pulled out a small roll of white tape, "wrap them in this capture tape. Here are the teams..."
"Kye, Angel, Taro and Oma."
The group came together and Taro immediately began formulating ideas and strategies.
"Oma, come in and help with the plan!" Said Taro, but Oma just shrugged.
"Don't worry about me, I'll just go along with whatever you guys decide on" he replied and rested by a tree trunk.
"Yokina, Shin, Daigo and Kusaki."
"Woah, this is a really good team! Let's win this!" Daigo stated, pumping himself up, followed by the two girls joining in.
"Of course it's a good team, when someone as brilliant as me is on it!" Shin gloated, quickly killing the other three's vibe.
"Satori, Satoru, Fukuro and Okoma."
Satori immediately walked over to the behemoth on their team. "Okoma, listen. I know you're a big, strong guy who's all lone wolf and all, but were gonna have to work together if we're gonna win this, okay?" She asked.
"Hmph, whatever" Okoma grunted. Satori and the rest of the class were extremely surprised at the fact that he would put aside his unrivalled pride for the sake of competition.
"Mira, Hayate, Sei and Kori."
"Haha! Looks like we're gonna have to 'bother' now huh Kori?!" Hayate jeered, pointing a mocking finger at the psychic. Sei and Mira tried to stop him but the damage was already done, and Kori was ready to retaliate.
Suddenly the finger that pointed at Kori was now pointing at Hayate. Well really it was pointing at the inside of Hayate's nose, as the finger was rammed right up it! And was digging deeper!
Hayate screamed, begging for mercy. Mira approached, "Kori, I know Hayate's a dumbass, but could you please stop? Losing a teammate before it even starts would kinda suck." After a couple seconds, the blue glow from her mask subsided, and Hayate was finally free from the torture.
"Oh god..." he muttered, still shocked from the event, "I think I felt my brain in there!"
Aizawa sighed unamused and took a remote out of his pocket. After staring at the many different buttons he finally found one, an a large whirring noise sounded.
The class watched amazed as wave of bluish grey rose up above the wall that guarded the grounds. The metallic substance twisted and folded, until it reached the right form, a massive tree, the tree changed colour from a shiny grey, to an oak brown and leafy green. This happened all over the area, turning the flat training grounds into a dense forest.
The thing that made Grounds Delta so unique was the fact that it utilised the newest in simulation technology. The MESS, the Multi-Environmental Simulation System, which allowed the field to replicate the biomes of any environment: desert, arctic, or in this case - woodlands.
The four groups spread out to each corner of the forest. The horn blared, and the training begun.
Immediately, Kori dashed from the group, leaving the three boys stunned. They chased after her, "Kori! What are you doing!" Mira yelled out, "you can't do this alone!"
The three trailed her, and although she was exceptionally nimble, keeping up with her was nothing compared to what the three had already faced in their last two weeks.
"This might just be a lost cause" Hayate muttered, "someone like her just doesn't want to be around us."
Mira and Sei picked up on his comment, "what's that supposed to mean Hayate?" Mira asked.
But before he could explain, Kori turned around, looking ready to exploded! She grabbed the three with her quirk and held them in midair, approaching slowly.
"DON'T YOU DARE TRY AND SAY ANOTHER WORD! YOU THINK I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW MY LIFE STORY?" She screamed at Hayate. "You think you have the full picture? You have NO idea what I went through! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!!"
A loud boom interrupted Kori's tirade, as dark force erupted from where the three were being held. Kori flinched as her psychic power had been overcome. She knew it must have been Mira, after all, he was the only one she knew who had an attack that could do that to her.
As Mira and the other two landed back on the ground, she turned away from them, returning back to her icy demeanour, "just... leave me alone."
Suddenly, four students emerged out of the bushes around them, leaping up into the air! "Yeah! That would probably be so much better for us!" Satori yelled.
A monsterised Okoma slammed right into the ground, separating Mira's group. Once the dust and dirt kicked up subsided, Mira could see that everyone else was already engaged! Hayate and Sei were tag-teaming against the twins, and Kori was facing the beast Okoma. But where was their last member?
"You ready?" Fukuro whispered behind Mira.
Reflexively, Mira spun around and threw a right hook. Fukuro blocked it easily as if she anticipated it! "That's a good punch you got there" she added.
"Been practicing a lot" Mira replied smirking as he hopped away to get a bit of distance. Though the distance didn't help him, Fukuro took a small pebble out of a small waistbag on her utility belt, and flicked it at a tree. Mira snapped his sight to the flying rock as it bounced of the tree at flew straight at him! He deflected the rock, but now Fukuro was right next to him again!
She delivered a quick blow to Mira jaw, knocking him out for a couple seconds, but was brought right back to reality by another barrage of attacks. "Damn, you really know how to fight Fukuro!" Mira muttered, still recovering from the attack.
"Well, when your Dad's a hero, I guess you just learn a couple things" Fukuro replied.
"Really!? Who?" He asked.
"Snipe..." she answered, "we're both adept with ranged weapons, but hand-to-hand combat is always a reliable skill to have in the arsenal. But..." and she grabbed a pistol from her belt and cocked it, "I really am a sucker for guns."
Kori and Okoma battle felt more like a cat and mouse chase, as Kori ran and evaded each of Okoma's destructive attacks with ease. Though it seemed like Kori was entirely on the defensive, she was gradually wearing Okoma down, hurling trees and rocks at him, even tossing him around with her quirk was efficiently tiring him out, but it was tiring her out too. "You can't keep this up forever!" Okoma bellowed, "once you're out of strength, I'll destroy you."
However he was flung with away with extraordinary force like a rag-doll, covering an impressive distance. 'I'll never tire' Kori thought, 'I can't... not until I've made them pay.'
Satori and Satoru were the perfect duo. Everything they did was completely in sync with one another, and Hayate and Sei were having trouble overcoming it. Whenever one attacked, Satoru was in the way, nullifying the attack with his quirk. Then, Satori would bolster their power and strike back, dealing massive damage to the other two.
"Haha! Witness the unstoppable strength of siblings!" Satori remarked, "surrender while you still can!"
The two got up, still recovering from the last attack, "Heh, not a chance" Sei replied.
"Yeah, we haven't even gotten serious yet!" Hayate replied.
Satori looked to her brother, as if they were both reading each other's minds. They nodded, acknowledging each other's idea, "fine..." said Satori, "guess we'll just have to use 'it' then, isn't it Bro?" The silent Satoru nodded again, and the twins charged in.
Meanwhile, Mira had begun to catch up with Fukuro, Mira could respond to Fukuro's 'rock trick' now that he had seen it. And though her rubber bullets from her pistol stung like hell, they were manageable, he could send up Shadow Panels like he did in the soccer match to protect himself. With these, Mira could easily charge in to attack. Their fight was practically even, both were getting good hits in with each other.
But Mira had his own weapons, his Blackblade for close up attacks and his scythe allowed him to send out Black Crescent for ranged strikes. He started getting his own edge over Fukuro. 'She may know how to fight - but she's used to battling at longer distances, with less action. She isn't able to keep up with drawn out fights!'
It was true, Fukuro was tiring out. Her movements were becoming slow and more predictable, and Mira was capitalising on all of them. 'Dammit! I'm at my limit!' Fukuro thought, 'I need to end this now!'
Once up close she took a small ball out her belt and flicked it directly at his face, landing at the bridge of his nose. The ball exploded, releasing smoke everywhere around Mira's face.
'This is it!' Fukuro thought, 'now that he can't see, I'll use this moment to knock him out cold!' She dashed in close, and sent her fist out to strike his jaw again for the win.
'I can't see... but I can hear!' He thought, 'I can hear her fist coming towards me! it's just like...' he remembered the training Bushido gave Mira the other day, he imagined the large log about to slam into him...
And dodged!
The smoke dissipated and he opened his eyes. He saw Fukuro, her punch missing him and her her back wide open. "It's over!" Mira stated, he landing a kick on her back, and spun back over to face her again. He changed his blade into a scythe, a flung Shadow Matter at Fukuro, "Here's Black Crescent!" He yelled.
The attacked landed perfectly on his target, the blast from the impact sent Fukuro flying, and she landed right next to one of the giant oaks, incapacitated.
Mira sat down, removing his Black Knight Armour. After that he needed some rest, though the fight was only about 10 minutes, it felt like hours for him! Mira got up and raised a fist to the sky in victory. 'I did it, I got stronger!' Once he recovered, he rested the downed Fukuro by the tree (wrapped in capture tape), and went to help his team.
The time had come for Okoma to strike, Kori was weakened, as Okoma had predicted. He slammed the ground with his giant fist, sending up dust that covered the area they were fighting. Kori sent the dust cloud away with a psychic blast...
But Okoma wasn't there. She looked up, the beast was right above her! And descending with extreme speed. She sent out another blast, but she was too exhausted and Okoma had too much force! The blast couldn't blow him away. He landed, and delivered a punch straight to Kori's stomach, the pain was intense and she felt all the air rush out her lungs. Instead of Okoma, she was blown away and travelled metres in the air, eventually being stopped by one of the trees.
Her body ached everywhere, she didn't even have the strength to move. Okoma made his way over, the predator have finally trapped his prey. He reeled back, "let's do one more, for good measure!" He muttered as he swung his arm forward!
Kori gritted her teeth as all she could do was await the pain, 'I'm... too weak, too weak to deliver on my promise...'
Suddenly a large black panel obscured Okoma from Kori's view. Once his fist struck the panel, it exploded, sending Okoma backwards. In that moment, Kori felt someone quickly pick her up and bolt away from the monster. She slowly looked up to see her saviour.
"DAMN YOU! MIRA KAGEMARU!!!" Okoma roared enraged that his hunt had been halted by the boy, but Mira was moving too fast to bother catching up to him.
Once they had gotten far enough away. Kori forced herself out of Mira's arms. She had lost her mask after the fight, so her purple eyes stared daggers at him, "why did you do that?!" She snapped, "why do you care so much about m-"
"Alright stop!" Mira retorted, finally pissed by his teammate, "you really need to get a grip on the situation!" His stern attitude stunned Kori as she stood silent, "why can't you understand that we're allies?! Right now, Hayate and Sei are fighting to help us win, they're not just fighting for themselves, they're fighting for us too! I didn't stop Okoma for my sake!"
He sighed and began walking away from Kori, "we're here to support each other, through thick and thin. That's why we 'bother'." And he ran back out into the fray, to battle the beast.
Kori stood there, still shocked by her teammates words, "why...?" she muttered, tears slowly welling up, "why does he sound so much like her..."
"Ai."
Mira spotted Okoma and ran in to begin combat. "Come at me! Okoma!!" He yelled as he sent a Black Crescent right at him. Okoma the brunt of the impact, but wasn't fazed by it much.
"You got skill but no power" Okoma stated, and gave a cruel smile, "YOU'RE WEAK! YOU'VE GOT NO CHANCE!" He charged up to Mira and the two began. Okoma was unmatched when it came to power, his punches hit like a train, and Mira felt all of them. He tried retaliating but it was just as Okoma said, he didn't have enough power to make Okoma even flinch.
Mira dodged, deflected and struck when he could, but Okoma was a fortress. 'If I could use Half-Moon, then you'd see 'power'' Mira thought, 'guess I'll just have to use 'that' instead, but I need time to charge it!'
Mira and Okoma ran at each other, drawing their fists back. Mira knew taking more hits would lead to his loss, but he had no choice. Okoma was ready to strike!
But suddenly he froze!
Mira looked to his left, seeing Kori emerge from the bushes. Her eyes glowing a bright purple, "To be honest, I couldn't care less about you or those others Mira. But... I'm here to win too!" And she began forcing Okoma away from the Mira, although it was tough, Kori had recovered and she knew she could keep it up long for Mira to do something.
Mira was surprised by the sudden aid, but he was happy, he had a new ally. He smirked, "thanks, I'll take all the help I can get!" Now given time he needed, Mira closed his eyes controlled his breathing. He had been working on this new move since the training with Bushido... a new power! His armour began to glow the same dark purple that his scythe did when he used Black Crescent.
Suddenly Mira's armour grew! The armour began to reinforce itself, with more layers of darkness folding over each other, and the dim dark purple began to shine more vibrantly, as if energy was being imbued within the armour itself. "What is he doing?" Kori wondered, somewhat amazed by the spectacle, but she couldn't hold on any longer. Once the glow died down, she released, and Okoma was free again.
He charged Mira in an instant, bringing his fist back and slamming it right into his face! The air pressure from the attack sent many trees flying, opening up the sky to the three.
But Mira was still standing.
The punch was caught as Mira moved the steaming fist away to look at the surprised Okoma directly. "Let's see if I'm still 'too weak' now.." he stated.
And a punch landed right in Okoma's gut. He reeled back, shocked and in pain. Mira approached the monster again sending out two punches almost too fast for Okoma to see, he was sent flying, slamming into and snapping in two multiple trees. Okoma was completely out of it, lying limp over a few tree trunks.
"He'll be fine over there" said Mira, he looked to Kori, "use your capture tape to make sure he can't return if he wakes up."
"Really?" Kori muttered, "you're not gonna explain what the hell that just was? You've never done something like that before."
"Oh this?" Mira asked, showing off his new armour, "well, by compressing energy into my Shadow Matter, I can send out a lot more power into my attacks" he explained, "I call it, Black Knight Armour - Buster Spec!"
...
"Really nothing?!" Mira asked stunned by Kori's unresponsiveness. But he chuckled, "it's good to finally have you on the team Kori."
Kori turned and walked off coldly as usual, "let's find those over two" she stated.
Sei and Hayate had gotten serious, using their abilities to land successful attacks on The twins blind spots, trying their best to hold back one while battling the other. But those two had gotten serious too...
"Alright Bro let's do it!!" Satori yelled. Her brother nodded and they charged the two, Satori amplified her brother's speed and he got up to the two in an instant. Hayate and Sei could feel all their strength being sapped by Satoru, but they didn't notice that Satori was ready to attack herself. Up above the three, she dropped down to deliver two amplified blows to the weakened two sending them soaring. "Yeah! This is our combo move, 'Infinite Zero'! You can't stop anything if you've got no power to do so."
The boys got back up, Satori's attack definitely hurt a lot, but what was worse was the effects from Satoru's quirk that were still lingering. The two could barely run, and Hayate could only open up portals about the side of a fist in circumference.
"What can we do about this?" Sei wondered, "their teamwork is way too strong!"
A lightbulb lit in Hayate's mind, as a evil smirk grew on his face, "ehehe, then we'll just have to break their teamwork up."
"Satoru, I think one more Infinite Zero should end it, alright?" Satori asked, receiving a small smile and a thumbs up from the stoic Satoru. The duo began their combo again, as Satori powered up her brother, for him to weaken Hayate and Sei. He stepped back and Satori soared down from the sky, ready to deal the amplified strikes! The first punch went to Hayate, but just before it hit him...
Hayate put it through a portal!
The sound of something hitting the floor rang behind Satori. She turned around slowly...
To see Satoru knocked out cold on the floor - and a fist from a portal that went straight across where his head was! "AAAAGGGGHH!! SATOOORRRUUU!!" Satori wailed, quickly pulling her arm out the portal and rushing over to her brother.
The reducing effect on the boys was wearing off, and Sei could see that this was the prime time to attack, his 'instinct' was telling him.
"How could you Hayate?!" Satori cried out, "I can't believe you made me-"
But before she continued, a rocket slammed right into her face, knocking Satori out right next to her brother.
"Dude... that was awesome!! But... pretty mean" said Hayate, "I didn't think you had it in ya Sei."
"Wha- how can you say that!" Sei replied shocked, "you're the one that made Satori punch her own brother!"
"What can I say? Bushido-Sensei wanted me to be more creative with my quirk, so I did!" Hayate responded.
Mira and Kori eventually found the two nearby. They both gawked over Mira's new suit, and the three celebrated their win happily, while Kori brooded alone.
Hayate walked over to her, "Kori, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did about you. I'll keep what I know to myself."
Kori stared at him still unamused, but a bit less coldly. "I don't care anymore, let's just go. There are still two other teams we might have to fight."
The four ran through the forest, ready for the next challenge. Hayate whispered to Mira, "so... how did you get her on our side? I mean, she's even talking to us now!"
Mira smirked, "I told you, we just had to give it time."
