Chapter 3: Costumes and Combat
Hey howdy hey hello, welcome to the show! It's everyone's favorite (and least favorite) anonymous aromantic Slimefolk, here with the third chapter.
This one's a long one, and I got to go into detail on Moxie and Hiryu's Quirks. Also, costumes! That's fun.
Enjoy!
Feel free to review, but don't just rip into me. I'm doing this for fun, not excessive criticism.
"Today's the day for Hero Training, huh?" Moxie spoke to Uraraka.
"Yeah! I wonder who our teacher will be, though…" Uraraka nodded back.
"I have arrived... through the door like a normal person!" All Might shouted, coming through the door in a ridiculous pose.
"It's All Might!"
"So, he truly is a teacher!"
"That's a costume from the Silver Age, isn't it?"
"It's style is so different, its giving me goosebumps!"
"Indeed! Now, let's not waste any time and get to the lesson today!" All Might laughed.
The class sat in awkward silence as All Might quickly read over a paper, he cleared his throat and tossed the papers to the side before speaking.
"I shall teach you guys Hero Basic Training!" The blonde Hero announced proudly, hands on his hips, "It's a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a Hero! You'll take the most units of this subject. Let's get right into it! This is what we'll do today… combat training!"
"Interesting, will we be fighting more robots?" Hiryu asked herself.
"Hell yeah!" Moxie pumped his fist in the air, amongst other general sounds of excitement from the class.
"And to go with that… are these!" All Might pointed at a wall, which opened to reveal several shelves with suitcases, "Costumes made based on your Quirk registrations and requests you sent in before school started. After you change, gather in Ground Beta!"
"Yes sir!" The class responded.
Excited to get to their costumes, the class rushed the wall impatiently. Hiryu was happy to wait for everyone else, and hung towards the back, but Moxie was the first one to reach the wall, rocketing out of his seat.
Breaking the rules a little bit to use his Quirk, he leapt out of the crowd around the wall, landing and leaping off of the ceiling, and then rushing out the door before All Might could think to scold him.
Moxie changed as quickly as he could and tried to rush out to Ground Beta, but someone caught him by the hood. Looking up, he found Shoji holding him back.
"We agreed to wait so we could all walk out together." Shoji told Moxie, looking at his costume.
Moxie wore a dark-green bodysuit with a matching hooded cape, his signature floppy bunny ears included. He wore his usual heavy black boots and a black belt around his waist. Similarly, he had padded black gloves to protect his hands.
"Oh, okay!" Moxie nodded, bouncing back and forth on the spot, occasionally muttering "Bounce, bounce." to himself.
It didn't take long for everyone else to join the group, and they all made their way out onto Ground Beta together. Moxie could barely contain himself, leading the pack.
All Might seemed immensely proud as they stepped out together in their costumes.
"They say the clothes make the Hero, young men and ladies. Be fully aware… from now on, you are Heroes!" All Might told them, looking at all of the students in their costumes standing before him, "Now, shall we begin, you embryos?"
Everyone started readying their costumes for the oncoming training, putting on helmets and whatnot. Moxie adjusted his hood a bit and Hiryu donned a pair of goggles.
"Nice costume, Hiryu!" Kirishima complimented.
"Oh, th-thank you…" Hiryu nodded politely.
Hiryu wore a solid color black bodysuit underneath a set of armor, it didn't cover everything and seemed to be more for show, resembling the silver scales of her tail. She wore a pair of pale blue goggles in place of her usual glasses, and had a pair of gauntlets in the same fashion as the rest of her armor, with dangerous looking claws tipping each finger.
"Now, it's time for combat training!" All Might exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention back to him.
"Sensei!" A guy in armor raised his hand, "This is a battle center from the entrance exam, will we be conducting urban battles again?"
"Iida, is that you? Nice costume!" Moxie gave him a thumbs up with a grin.
"No! we're going to be moving two steps ahead! You see, most of the time, fighting villains takes place outside. But, if you look at the total numbers, atrocious Villains appear indoors at a higher rate." All Might said, "Imprisonment, house arrests, backroom deals… in this society filled with Heroes, truly intelligent Villains hide… in the shadows. For this class, you'll be split into Villains and Heroes, and fight two-on-two indoor battles!"
"Without basic training?" Tsuyu blinked, putting a finger on her chin.
"You learn best by doing, young Asui! This is a real battle to understand those basics! However, the key this time is that there's no robot you can just beat up!" replied All Might.
"How will wins and losses be determined?" Yaoyorozu questioned.
"Can we beat them up anyway?" Growled Bakugo.
"Will the punishment be expulsion just like with Aizawa-sensei?" Worried Uraraka.
"Isn't this cape crazy?" Aoyoma asked.
After a short breakdown from all the questions the class was slinging at him, All Might pulled out a script and began reading off of it.
"So! The situation is that the Villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in their hideout. The Heroes need to catch the Villains or get the nuclear weapon back in the allotted time. The Villains need to protect the nuclear weapon for the whole time or catch the heroes," All Might explained, pulling a box out from somewhere, "As for teams and opponents, those will be decided by drawing lots!"
"Sounds like an action-movie plot." Jiro said.
"I've never watched many action movies, is it really so similar?" Hiryu asked quietly.
"They're being decided so haphazardly?" Protested Iida.
"Pro's often have to team up with Heroes from other agencies on the fly, maybe that's why?" Pointed out Midoriya.
"I see… the discernment to look ahead… please excuse my rudeness!" Iida apologized with a bow.
"It is quite alright, young Iida!" All Might said, still speaking loudly.
"Wait, are we treating the weapon like it's real?" Moxie blurted out.
"An excellent question, Moxie, my boy! And the answer is… yes! You are to treat the fake weapon as though it is real!" All Might responded, "Though, you should have raised your hand…"
"Oh, sorry." Moxie's hand shot up into the air.
"Let's… let's just draw." All Might sighed.
After a few seconds, everyone had the piece of paper with their partners name on it.
"Kirishima, it's you and me!" Moxie called happily, bouncing into place next to the red-haired boy.
"Alright! A perfect duo of manliness, that's us!" Kirishima grinned, hardening his arms and smashing his fists together.
"E-Excuse me, I think we're partners…" Hiryu spoke up nervously, a little scared of Shoji.
"Hiryu, right?" Shoji asked, receiving a very quick nod, "Try to relax, you can't fight if you're nervous like that."
"R-Right!"
"Now, for the first teams…" All Might pulled out a letter from the 'Hero' box and another one from the 'Villain' box, "Team A as the Heroes, and Team D as the Villains!"
"Bakugo's up? This oughta be fun!" Moxie laughed.
"Alright, guess we've got a bit of time to figure out our game plan!" Kirishima grinned.
"I don't think those two could have ended up on better teams." All Might noted, looking at the grinning duo, "They're pumping each other up effortlessly."
Monitor Room
Everyone gathered around the monitors to watch the fight, but Kirishima was quickly distracted by Moxie. Meanwhile, Shoji and Hiryu were one of the few pairs who didn't gather around the monitors, sitting at a table in the back of the room.
"Alright, so what's your Quirk?" Moxie asked.
"Hardening! I can harden my skin and become super tough!" Kirishima said proudly, "What's yours?"
"Bounce! I can use my Quirk to bounce off of any solid surface, and protect myself when I fall! It's only active in my legs though, and I need to really jump to get it going." Moxie explained, "I can also use it to hit really hard with my legs! I can even double jump, but that takes a lot of concentration…"
After a minute or so of sitting awkwardly in silence, Shoji spoke up.
"So, what's your Quirk?" He asked, forming a mouth on one of his limbs.
"Oh, m-my Quirk is Ice Dragon." Hiryu explained, "It's why I have my wings and tail. I-I can also breathe out a frost that freezes whatever it touches."
"More combat oriented than my Quirk. With my Dupli-Arms, I can replicate any of my body parts." He formed an extra eye to demonstrate.
"Th-that's really useful!" Hiryu told him.
"Thank you."
The first fight was an explosive one, in more ways than one. Bakugo clearly wasn't holding anything back, firing off a massive blast indoors that caused huge damage to the building, which Midoriya barely dodged.
That wasn't the last huge explosion from the fight, but the next one came from Midoriya. He let loose a massive attack in a showdown with Bakugo, but instead of hitting Bakugo with it, he aimed it upwards, destroying the floor and allowing Uraraka to use a makeshift move that brought them victory in the end.
Midoriya was certainly worse for wear because of it, though, being carted off to the nurse's office while All Might scolded Bakugo.
"A-All Might-sensei, sir?" Hiryu called, "What are w-we going to do, now that they've destroyed the building?" She asked quietly.
"We'll simply move to a different one!" All Might said, "The next match will be Team E as the Heroes and Team C as the Villains!"
"Looks like we're up!" Moxie laughed happily.
"Let's crush this!" Kirishima grinned, as the two made their way to play the villains in the next exercise.
Inside the building, Kirishima and Moxie stood next to the fake weapon, with five minutes to come up with a plan.
"What's our plan?" Moxie asked.
"You're fast and mobile, right?" Kirishima asked, "Well, you go out there and crush 'em, and if they get past you, I can use my Hardening and hold them off in here!"
"Sounds perfect!" Moxie nodded, happy with the plan.
At the signal, the Hero team rushed into the building. It occurred to Moxie as he ran through the halls that he had no clue who the Heroes were.
Rounding a corner, he ran into Yaoyorozu and Ojiro. Well, that was that problem solved. Wasting no time, he jumped into action.
"It's Moxie!" Yaoyorozu shouted, jumping back and forming a shield. She knew this was the perfect arena for Moxie, he could make full use of his mobility.
Moxie bounced into the ceiling and onto the left wall, bouncing off the wall to slam into Yaoyorozu's side, sending her flying down the side hallway. As he hung in the air, Ojiro's tail slammed into his stomach, smashing him into the ground.
"It's just like Yaoyorozu's plan. After Moxie attacks, he'll be open for a counter strike!" Ojiro spun around, sending Moxie tumbling back with another tail strike, "I've got him, get to the weapon!" Ojiro shouted down the side hallway.
Yaoyorozu nodded and rushed down the hallways away from the fight, wincing a little when she heard Ojiro cry out.
Ojiro slid back and took a stance as Moxie landed on his feet, gritting his teeth.
"To challenge me head on in a place like this, you must be pretty strong!" Moxie decided, smiling despite the bruises undoubtedly forming on his stomach, "Show me that strength!"
Moxie rushed headfirst towards Ojiro, bouncing to the left wall to dodge a tail strike, slamming feet first into Ojiro's shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Ojiro grit his teeth and slammed his tail into Moxie's side, knocking him away.
Bouncing to his feet, Moxie steeled his resolve and pushed his Quirk to its limit.
"Ricochet Riot!" Moxie rocketed into the ceiling, ricocheting off of the walls, floor and ceiling all around Ojiro with blinding speed. Striking the poor boy over and over, knocking him all over the place.
Observation Room
"Wait, what the hell was that?" Kaminari asked.
"He just suddenly got so much faster!" Ashido commented.
"It seems he's going all-out now. I wonder what the drawback will be." Iida scratched his chin.
Ground Beta
"This is the end, Hero!" Moxie landed in front of Ojiro, spinning around for a roundhouse kick.
"Hero Team… wins!" All Might suddenly announced.
Moxie's foot froze just an inch away from Ojiro's face, "Wait… what?"
"Sorry, Moxie… she got past me." Kirishima told him over the radio, "She just rushed past me on a pole, I didn't even have a chance to react."
"It's cool, I shouldn't have let her go." Moxie assured him, smiling despite the loss, "Let's get back to the class."
Ground Beta Entrance
The two teams had met the rest of the class at the entrance, and were standing opposite them.
"The MVP of this match is Yaoyorozu. Can anyone tell me why?" All Might asked.
Yaoyorozu knew exactly why, but didn't feel right raising her hand to explain when she was the MVP.
"No one?" All Might seemed surprised.
"Uh, well… she was the one who touched the weapon?" Kaminari suggested.
"True, but beyond that, Yaoyorozu created and implemented a well thought out plan that brought her team to victory." All Might explained, "Next up is Team B as the Heroes and Team F as the Villains."
Ground Beta
"It seems like they're both holed up in the weapon room." Shoji told Hiryu, "I'll head in through the front to distract them, so you can attack from the back."
"R-Right. The main goal is to capture the weapon… correct?" Hiryu asked.
"That's right." Shoji nodded.
With a powerful flap of her wings, Hiryu took off, soaring around the outside of the building.
Peering through the window, Sero saw Hiryu flying around.
"How shall we counter her?" Tokoyami asked Sero.
"I've got an idea." Sero told him, giving a confident thumbs up.
While she waited, Hiryu took the opportunity to enjoy herself flying around, doing a few simple tricks. Suddenly, Shoji came over her radio.
"I'm outside the door, moving in." He told her, rushing through the door.
Immediately, he came face to face with Dark Shadow. The windows were covered haphazardly in tape. Clashing with Dark Shadow, he tried to shout a warning to Hiryu, but too late. Hiryu crashed through one of the windows in the back, getting entangled in Sero's tape.
"What the-" Hiryu struggled against the tape as Shoji and Dark Shadow clashed.
"Long as we keep them busy, we can run out the timer!" Sero laughed, keeping an eye on Hiryu, "Sorry Hiryu!"
"Hiryu, the weapon!" Shoji shouted as Dark Shadow slammed him into the wall.
Puffing up her cheeks, Hiryu let out a breath of frosty mist, freezing the tape. Shattering it, she leapt into the room, spreading out her wings to take off.
"Not on my watch!" Sero wrapped her wings in tape as she flew into the air, causing her to crash into the ground next to Tokoyami. Laying on more tape, Sero pinned her to the ground.
He felt a little bad, watching Hiryu struggle against the tape, but he couldn't let her win the training exercise.
"Shoji!" Hiryu let out another breath of frost, freezing Tokoyami's legs and waist, as well as some of Dark Shadow, startling them both.
Taking advantage of her opening, Shoji pushed past Dark Shadow and rushed towards the weapon.
"No!" Sero shouted, turning towards Shoji.
Wiggling her lower half, Hiryu freed her tail, slamming it into Sero and knocking him to the ground. Shoji just barely made it to the weapon before Dark Shadow grabbed him, touching it and winning the match.
"Hero Team… wins!" All Might announced, causing Dark Shadow to pull back.
"Hey, are you alright?" Sero asked, as he and Dark Shadow helped pull the tape off of Hiryu, "Sorry about taping you down like that…"
"I-It's alright…" Hiryu scratched her cheek, accidentally cutting herself with the claws on her gauntlet, "Ow!"
"Good job, I didn't expect you to trap the windows like that." Shoji admitted.
"You fought valiantly." Tokoyami told him.
And that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it.
I kept going back and forth on whether to give Moxie a cape or a jacket, but decided on a cape in the end, cause it's way too in-character for him to want to wear a cape.
I'll be back with the next chapter soon. Enigma, out.