Chapter 9 - Saving Private Mineta
Matthew, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida were kneeling down in the bushes, staring at the West Base from a distance. A few seconds later, they were joined by Milo and Ashido, who knelt beside Matthew.
"I gave them a good coat, so we have about fifteen to twenty minutes." said Milo.
"Is there anyway to make your slime stickier?" Midoriya asked. "Or make it last longer?"
"Weirdly enough, it's by eating jello that I can make my slime stickier." Milo replied. "One time, I ate three green apple jellos and a guy I blasted ended up getting stuck on a wall for about an hour. The sad part is, I don't like jello, so I don't regularly eat it."
"I think you oughta acquire a taste for it; it could help you in the long run." Matthew spoke up, before turning to Uraraka and asking, "Tell me again, who did you guys run into on the way over here?"
"We went against Todoroki, Kaminari, Sero, and Murdock." Uraraka replied.
"So that means they've sent four people to attack our base, five counting Bakugo, but he's split from the pack. That means they've left about seven people to keep guard. And we've taken down Kirishima, Sato, and Hagakure, so that leaves about four people left. That would mean Jiro, Annabelle, Joshua, and that other girl, the captain… uh, what's her name again?"
"Momo Yaoyaorozu." Midoriya replied. "Her quirk is 'Creation', which means she can create objects from fat cells in her body. The more she eats, the more she can create."
"Boy, the names just roll of the tongue, don't they?" Matthew asked, his tone joking. "What a minute, do you know all about the quirks of your classmates?"
"Pretty much; I've been writing down about their quirks and studying them to see how they work."
Matthew's face lit up in excitement and he said in a joyous tone, "That's it! Midoriya, you're a genius!"
"I am?" Midoriya asked, somewhat confused. "How?"
"You have knowledge of all of your classmates' quirks; you know their strengths and weaknesses by studying them! We can use that knowledge to defeat the four that are inside there! Okay, so what do you know about Yaoyaorozu's quirk?"
As soon as he asked that, Midoriya began giving out information on Yaoyaorozu's quirk that soon turn into muttering. Matthew listened intently, while Milo looked at him inquisitively. Uraraka and Ashido began giggling quietly, while Tenya just stared at Midoriya; apparently, this had happened before many times.
"Does he do this a lot?" asked Milo, turning to Ashido.
"Yeah, he does that whenever he's thinking." Ashido replied with a smile. "It's kind of cute, to be honest."
Milo smiled at that comment. Midoriya, upon realizing all were watching him, stopped muttering and apologized.
"It's cool; that's actually helpful information." Matthew replied. "What about Jiro's quirk?"
Another long string of muttering followed, to which Matthew listened intensely. After Midoriya finished, he said, "Alright, I think I have a plan; but, considering the fact that Jiro might be listening to us, we'll have to do this in complete silence. Everybody gather into a huddle."
Everyone gathered around, and Matthew began telling his plan, all the while trying to keep as quiet as he could.
Inside the West Base, Jiro was actually listening to their conversation, trying to see if she could pick up on some information. She had one of her ear jacks in the wall of the West Base, which allowed her to hear their movements and what they were saying. However, since they were trying to keep completely silent while telling the plan, trying to hear what they were saying was going to be a problem.
"Can you hear what they're saying?" asked Yaoyaorozu, who was standing behind Jiro.
"No." Jiro replied. "One of them guessed that I was listening, and now they're mapping out the plan in silence."
"That's Matthew for you; he's good at probabilities like that." Joshua spoke, his tone showing that he was in a fighting mood. "They're just sitting out there planning; why don't we rush them?"
"Hang on, Joshua." Annabelle replied, trying to keep him under control. "In case you've forgotten, there's six of them out there compared to us four. We need to strategize what to do, or we'll be overwhelmed."
"In case you've forgotten, four-eyes, I can take on four people using my quirk!" Joshua replied. "It's like we have four extra people on our team when we use it."
"Four extra people who can't control their temper…" Jiro added, her tone sarcastic.
Joshua was about to give a comeback, but stopped because Jiro was the one who made the comment. He liked her, and wanted to have a chance with her, so he decided to keep himself quiet. He then moved over to watch Mineta, who was sitting in the hostage chair, his arms bound and his mouth gagged by metal clamps that Yaoyaorozu made. They had him tied up after he attempted to pinch Annabelle on the rear, and then they had him gagged when he started making comments.
Mineta tried saying something, but it only came out muffled. Joshua then said, "When you act like a womanizer, this is what you get. If you want to get a girl, grape-in-a-cape, your way of thinking has to change, cause it is going to get you nowhere."
"Hey, they're on the move." Jiro spoke, her ear jack still in the wall. "Three of them are coming towards the front of the base, while three are going around."
"Get ready…" said Yaoyaorozu, using her quirk to create a sword and shield for herself.
Joshua took a crouching stance, Annabelle put her fingers to her head, and Jiro jumped back away from the wall. The four waited for thirty seconds, before Midoriya suddenly came flying in with green energy surrounding him!
"Manchester SMASH!" Midoriya yelled, kicking into the ground and causing several chunks of debris to fly everywhere.
Yaoyaorozu, Jiro, and Annabelle quickly jumped back, while Joshua activated his quirk and charged at Midoriya, swiping and clawing at him! Annabelle activated her quirk and started firing the debris at Uraraka and Matthew, who had followed into the building after Midoriya had attacked!
"Heads up!" Matthew yelled, pulling Uraraka out of they way of the flying debris. "Help Midoriya; I'll get Mineta!"
Matthew started running towards Mineta, but had do a baseball slide when Yaoyaorozu took a swipe at him with her sword. Matthew then kicked up and began dodging the attacks from Yaoyaorozu, trying to find some way to take her out without actually hurting her.
Meanwhile, Uraraka was facing off against Annabelle and Jiro. Before they fought, Jiro asked, "No hard feelings, right Uraraka?"
"No hard feelings, Jiro." Uraraka replied with a nod.
Jiro then began using her jacks to attack Uraraka, who was trying to touch her and send her flying. Annabelle then used her quirk to lift Uraraka into the air, but Uraraka countered by lowering her own gravity and jumping off the wall. Meanwhile, Joshua was squaring off against Midoriya, blocking his kicks and attacking with several tiger-like palm strikes. When none of his attacks didn't work, Midoriya decided to change his strategy and dodge around, trying to look for an opening.
Suddenly, the back wall of the base busted opened, and Iida came rushing in at top speed; Ashido had melted the wall using her acid, and Milo used his slime to slingshot Iida through the wall! Iida rushed towards the chair that Mineta was in, grabbed him by his cape, and then rushed out through the entrance of the base entrance!
"Retreat!" Matthew yelled, rushing to the door.
Midoriya and Uraraka followed, with Joshua also chasing after them.
"Iida's got Mineta; follow them!" Yaoyaorozu ordered, heading for the door with Jiro and Annabelle behind her. As for Milo and Ashido, they decided to wait until the three girls were far enough, and then followed them so that they wouldn't be noticed.
Iida moved through the forest swiftly, carrying Mineta under his arm like a mailman with a package. Mineta's only response to moving so fast were several yells that were muffled by the metal clamp over his mouth.
"Iida!" A female voice called out.
Iida stopped running and slid to a stop. He looked and saw Sunshine running up to him, a worried look on her face.
"What are you doing here?" Iida asked. "You're supposed to be guarding the prisoner!"
"That's just it!" Sunshine replied. "Todoroki's group freed Aoyama! They're heading back to their base! Ojiro, Shoji and I went after them, but we were confronted by Sero and Murdock! They're handling them right now, so I was the only one to get by!"
"That's not good." Iida said quietly. He then ordered loudly, "Go after Todoroki! I have Mineta, and I'm heading back to base!"
"On my way!" Sunshine replied, running off into the forest.
After she ran off, Tenya began running towards East Base. He was hoping that he would get there in time, before Todoroki made it back to West Base with Aoyama. If he made it before him, then that meant that East Team had lost the battle!
Meanwhile, Matthew, Uraraka, and Midoriya were heading through the forest when Bakugo once again appeared out of nowhere and attacked Midoriya! Uraraka and Matthew both stopped when they happened, and turned to see Bakugo pinning Midoriya against a tree!
"Deku!" Uraraka shouted in shock.
"Where is that stupid quirkless, Deku?!" Bakugo roared in anger.
"Hey! Kacchan!" Matthew yelled, holding up the grenade bracer for him to see. "Looking for this?"
"Don't call me that!" Bakugo yelled angrily, blasting himself into the air towards Matthew.
"Hey, you can have it back; it's useless to me now!" Matthew yelled.
Matthew then threw the gauntlet at Bakugo, who was now well aware of his strategy. Bakugo dodged it, and attacked with an explosive punch, which caused Matthew to jump back, hoping to get the battle away from Uraraka, so she wouldn't get hurt! Matthew then ran forward to try and attack him, but Bakugo jump flipped over him, grabbing him by the neck! He then proceeded to throw Matthew, sending him rolling into the forest. Matthew fell through a bunch of bushes and tried to recover, but Bakugo flew forward and punched him again, sending him crashing into a tree! Bakugo then raised his left arm, pulled the pin, and fired off a large blast, which engulfed most of the trees in a bunch of flames!
Bakugo grinned sadistically and let out a crass chuckle. He then turned around to face Midoriya and Uraraka, and said in a prideful tone, "Nobody could've survived that blast; looks like your little cheater fiend is going to be helping you win this one, Deku!"
"Hey… grenade head!" a pained voice yelled out.
Midoriya and Uraraka gasped, and Bakugo's expression turned to shock, like when he had lost to Midoriya back when everything was beginning! He turned around and, to his horror, saw that Matthew had survived the blast! His shirt was on fire, and most of his body and face looked burnt, but he was still alive! Matthew then grabbed his burning shirt and pulled it off, throwing it to the side!
"I'm gonna knock you out!" Matthew yelled, before jumping through the air.
Bakugo didn't even see Matthew kick him in the face; he had moved so fast that it was like he teleported! After kicking him hard in the face, Matthew landed and proceeded to unleash a combo of punches at him! Bakugo couldn't fire another any explosive shots at him, and was trying desperately to block his attacks! However, a lot of them were hitting him and causing him to become disorientated! Now desperate to get away and recover, Bakugo tried swinging wildly at Matthew, only to be met by a hard uppercut to the face!
Matthew took that opportunity to kick Bakugo's leg, sending him crashing to the ground! Bakugo tried to blast him again, but Matthew countered with an elbow drop to the chest. He then proceeded to jump and punched on Bakugo's chest, and then got on him and began pounding away on him like an MMA fighter.
Bakugo tried to attack back, but Matthew was kneeling on his arms, so he couldn't aim his blast at him. Over and over, Matthew began pounding away at him, blood spurting from Bakugo's face after each brutal punch was received. After getting hit over and over, Bakugo fired an explosive blast at Matthew, knocking him off! Bakugo then turned over onto his stomach and tried to get up, but Matthew sprung into the air and stomped hard on his head, slamming him to the ground! That did a lot of damage, and Bakugo went unconscious!
Matthew then grabbed Bakugo's right arm and raised it up and back, like he was but to break it! He then said in an angry voice, "I won… I bested you. Me, without a quirk, beat a guy with one of the greatest quirks in the world. Oh how the 'great' Bakugo has fallen… how he has shown what he really is…"
Matthew lifted his foot, like he was about to bring it down onto Bakugo's shoulder, but he stopped. He then put his foot down onto the ground, dropped Bakugo's arm, and said, "No… you're not worth getting kicked out. I'm nothing like you…"
He began walking away, up to Midoriya and Uraraka, who were looking on in shock. They locked eyes with Matthew, who asked nonchalantly, "What?"
"What?!" Midoriya yelled. "You defeated Kacchan!"
"And you survived that huge blast!" Uraraka added. "How did you do that?"
"I ducked at the last second." Matthew replied. "However, he still got me; I'm gonna need to get some ointment or something after this."
"Don't worry; we'll bring you to Recovery Girl afterwards, and she'll heal you." said Midoriya.
Suddenly, the siren went off, signaling that it was the end of the exercise. Aizawa's voice came over the loudspeaker, saying, "The Hostage Exercise has ended; the winners are… the East Team."
Inside the observation tower, Aizawa and Cementoss were watching the reactions of the students on a large screen, all split into different sections through the different cameras set up around the forests. Members of East Team were celebrating their victory: Ashido was hugging Milo around his neck, Matthew, Uraraka, and Midoriya were pumping their fists in the air and cheering in victory, and Iida was panting hard inside the East Base, having ran all the way with Mineta under his arm. As for members of the West Team, they were pondering how they were defeated, and were accepting it rather begrudgingly; how they were defeated was that Joshua used his quirk too long, and had entered a feral state. Because of this, he attacked Todoroki and Aoyama, seconds away before they were into their base. All in all, the exercise had went well.
Aizawa then spoke into the mic again, saying, "However, there is one detail involved in your victory; for stealing a piece of equipment from the other, and nearly killing said person, Matthew Noble is disqualified. His punishment will be decided during our discussion about the exercise."
The look on Matthew's face, along with most of the members of East Team, turned to shock. Aizawa wore a somewhat smug smile on his face when he said that; he didn't mind making it harder for Matthew to be U.A, considering the bet that was currently going on.
"I find your decision to disqualify him illogical." Cementoss spoke, after Aizawa was finished. "From what you've told me about him being quirkless, he needed an advantage against those who have quirks. And in most cases, villains fight without rules, so why should he, somebody without a quirk, follow the rules that were meant for those with quirks?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you have a dizzying intellect?" Aizawa replied with a question. "Matthew Noble needs to learn that, despite his difference from his other classmates, there are still rules to follow. And beating the crap out of one student, no matter how much of a jerk he can be, and stealing from him is just as bad as the villains are."
"And there's nothing personal against this particular kid, since he's quirkless and is breaking every taboo that has been established in U.A?"
"Correct; nothing personal…"
It was a lie, as Aizawa didn't want to tell about the bet that they were having. Aside from this, Aizawa was trying to see how far he could push Matthew before he cracked. The kid had proven that even though he didn't have a quirk, he still compensated for it with great skill and physical prowess. This was the making of a true hero, but he needed a little push to get him there… maybe this disqualification would be the push that he needed.
It was a long shot, but Aizawa was hoping it would work, and maybe even strengthening this quirkless hero.