Chapter 3: Mayhem's Moment Pt 3 (16,385) & Pt 4 10,888 Pt 5 (12,748) - ((Not finished yet))

Word Count: 39,400

Trigger Warning: This particular chapter and one specific scene have heavy mentions of depression and suicidal thoughts, so read with caution and seek help if you suffer from something similar. You are important to those around you. :)

I'll probably just say this whole story is a trigger warning of some kind, but I'll get to that eventually!

Enjoy this chapter!


"Go flirt with your girlfriend!" Ayaka told him watching Jirou as the darker boy cast his eyes once again toward Sveta and the group of the League that she was with, it was actually the same rambunctious group that Katsu had tossed Spinner into during his match. It was still funny to remember long after it was over. There had been something oh so satisfying about seeing that!

She shoved him ruthlessly in the arm watching the metal weirder falter as he had to hop a step to avoid any embarrassment.

"What the fuck?!" He demanded loudly, his own outburst drawing all the attention he'd been wanting to avoid.

Her laughter filled the arena as she wasn't able to stop.

Then again Ayaka was the one who found humor in everything but wasn't nearly as over the top about things as some of the others. She liked to have fun, but she wasn't going out of her way to do anything too crazy either.

"Shut up Ayaka!" He demanded his dark cheeks flush with color as he covered her mouth and her nose with his hand. Not all worried about the fact that she now couldn't effectively breathe. In his opinion maybe she needed a little nap to shut her the hell up and maybe she'd stop messing with him.

Besides what's a little attempted murder between friends?

Ayaka didn't bother to struggle, instead, she let her electricity filter out of her body, out of every pour, and send a shock through every single nerve ending he had in his hand. It made the small static shock people could get look like child's play and it was. Oh, it so was and his yelp of sound that he couldn't hide was so much more satisfying.

She grinned at him, as he jerked his whole body away from her. She let her powers flare out toward him, but he blocked her whips of electricity with one of his swords. This wasn't anything new between them, this level of bickering, fighting, and general discord, but it was truly all in good fun. For her anyway.

Jirou was simply angry, but he would never truly hurt her.

"Behave, cretins!" Saisho demanded as he passed them heading toward his team's side of the field. His amber eyes were hard, his body tired, but his wounds had healed thanks to that scrawny, blonde boy with the healing wires. He'd been smart to let the scar on his face stay. It was a reminder to obey, a reminder that everything he had could be stripped away just as easily and he would once again be left with nothing. He still had the lingering mark down his right cheek from where Shigaraki had drawn his finger down his face in his displeasure after he'd gone too far in his match. He couldn't deny that it hadn't exactly been deserved. He had let things go a little too far, besides no one liked blind dogs...so he got pretty damn lucky the kid's eye had been able to be saved. He was lucky the kid had lived at all, he kinda owed him from the elevator shaft too.

Ayaka swiftly grabbed his arm, monkeying herself along his back and shoulders as she covered his mouth when Jirou was ready to hurl insults at him. Remembering who he was. Her legs anchored around his middle. "Don't be stupid!" she hissed to him.

Shohei's displeased frown was heavy as he leveled a glare on them and snapped his fingers only once and the two children came to heel. Breaking apart like two of the same charges from a magnet.

"This is all your fault!" Jirou growled.

Ayaka only flicked him in the forehead hard. "I saved your life!" came her dignified response as she turned away from him and walked away to get out of the crossfire.

Jirou followed after her bickering the whole way. Some things would never change as she only fueled the fire by responding.


Juunko sat forward, her elbows on her knees she'd commandeered one of the only available couches on their side of the ring and she'd made sure to keep it. No one was going to take it from her, not if they wanted to keep all their fingers. She was ruthless with her possessions and people learned real quick not to mess with her. She'd left her white and naturally light blue striped hair down today, her fight had long since ended and she was still hyped from it, fighting always was such an adrenaline rush and she loved it. Enjoyed those moments of absolute freaking freedom that came with not having to hold back. She wanted that freedom all the time. She was sure she could have that one day, if not maybe day. She may look like she didn't care about what happened or what they wound up doing, but she was a smart cookie, not as on the ball as Kaiya, but that girl was a whole different breed of complicated.

She preferred how things were, easily able to do as she pleased so long as she stayed in the middle of the pack, she did her best in training and on missions, but for the most part she kept out of the line of fire. She was good at everything she did, so it wasn't all that hard to stay off the radar, besides what most of the others wanted, the ones who drew too much attention were the ones who were just a little bit weaker, whether it be mentally or physically. They lacked something that let them stand on their own, some secret scent or whatever and Itami-Sensei latched on to that like a shark circling it's bleeding prey in the middle of the ocean.

Her fingers curled over her cheeks and she sighed as she watched Osore Tsukuru out in the middle the battle just getting creamed, she knew that had to be quite the blow to the guy, but even if they were friends there was something oh so satisfying seeing that pompous ass get the smirk wiped right off his face by a girl no less.

When Juunko had dropped that bombshell on him earlier, when he'd been on his way into the ring. She'd snagged his wrist and he'd halted his light brown hair that was tied in a braid swayed over one shoulder as his brown eyes narrowed slightly, but she was one of the few he would allow to touch him, so he waited for her to say what she wanted.

"You do realize that Magne is a girl right?"

"You're shitting me! That muscular, stubble faced looking dude over there is some raging dyke?" he asked in clear denial, his gaze jerking back to look at his opponent and he frowned quietly taking a better look, but he wasn't seeing it.

"It even sounds like a dude, how-" he growled after a moment.

Juunko laughed, her hand slapping against her knee. "You can't be seriously asking how it's possible right?" she wondered, her green eyes sharp, assessing and so very clearly making fun of him. "You've heard of transgender before, they haven't kept us under a rock that much!" she asked him in such a way that was so clearly a put down.

The tan skinned boy huffed as he rolled his eyes and told Juuko to shut up as he crossed his arms over his chest as he lingered on the edge of the battle, he wasn't in any real hurry to get into the ring just yet as far as he was concerned the world could wait for him, he was that important after all. He suffered from an inflated ego and that was just fine with him. Not so much for everyone else though.

Juunko only flipped him a middle finger from where she sat and crossed one leg over the other as she pushed his leg with her own boot-covered foot. "Get outta here and go get beat up by Kenji-chan over there!" she told him as she made a wave of her hand in the direction of the ring.

"I won't get beat up, just you watch. I'll wipe the floor with this bitch! The League sure has picked a bunch of weirdos to fill their ranks," he said with a sneer, his lips pulled back over his teeth a bit.

"Perhaps, but we've got some real winners ourselves." Juunko couldn't help the comment as it hung there between them and as Osore began to walk toward the ring, she was quiet her usual smirk in place as she took another look at his opponent and then again looked at Chris, it was still likely that he could win, but it was just as likely that he could lose. It was going to take a great amount of his skill to stay on his toes for this match. Magne wasn't someone to mess around with, you didn't screw around with someone who held 9 armed robberies, 3 murders and 29 attempted murders.

Chris's opponent wasn't just physically fit, they were strong and definitely not someone to be messed with, or underestimated, as Kenji were perceptive and a quick thinker, a dangerous foe indeed. His biggest issue wouldn't just be his rush in tactics and hoping that his instincts were correct but it was also his lack of caution with his enemies, he was far too confident in his abilities and often left himself wide open. He was going to learn from his mistakes.

The fight between Kenji Hikiishi and Osore Tsukuru, certainly seemed to be interesting as the young boy was currently on the offensive, but Kenji was ready for him, her swing was strong as she slammed her fist against his stomach with enough force that he was scent flying back, but that had been an expected attack as a knife tainted with a black substance jutted out from the the toe of his boot and slashed against her upper leg ripping her pant leg and drawing blood.

When the first blood was drawn Juunko smirked slightly. "Things are about to get interesting."

Chris let his back hit the ground and used the momentum to get to his feet, he raised his head a grin sliding along his lips, despite the cut to his lip he'd gotten at some point turning the fight. He waited, his arms hanging down by his side. "How are you feeling Kenji-kun?" he taunted from where he stood. He was battered and bruised but he'd given as good as he'd gotten, but he had to admit as he held his side, where he knew some broken ribs rested that she was a lot damn stronger than she looked. He coughed, unable to help the motion as blood seeped down the other side of his lip staining his cheek.

The redhead frowned at his question, her eyes hidden behind the sun glasses she wore. She stepped forward despite the wound on her leg, she paused as the leg began to buckle, but she locked her leg and held her weight. The wound was deeper than she'd anticipated and blood trailed down her leg, but she ignored it and pressed forward in her advance toward the boy who was just like the last little snot nosed brat who felt he was so much better than them. "Good, I'm going to leave pieces of you for your friends to pick up later!"

Kenji the closer and closer she got to the boy, she felt it the wave of heat that traveled from her wound up through her body, it was hard to explain exactly what happened, but she knew something was wrong as his form seemed to flutter out of focus and the world in front of her grew dark and hazy and it caused her to stop in tracks and turn slowly around the ring that she could no longer seen but instead was swallowed in a darkness that she couldn't penetrate. "You little shit where did you go?!" she demanded, her hands balled at her side as she strained to listen to anything that she could hear that might give away where he was.

As the darkness only seemed to get closer when she turned back around, she felt the pounding of her heart rate increase as the first hand reached out and curled along her wrist, the next followed just above the other and the next as they all traveled higher and higher up her arm.

She tried to jerk her hand away, but as she stepped forward she felt arms curling along her legs and pull their weight dragging her down for a moment to land hard on her knees as someone approached from the shadows, someone she recognized as his hands curled in a fist full of her hair and jerked her gaze up to meet his own. "Roll him over," he ordered as he the eyes that stared back at him were eyes that matched his own. "If you want to be a girl so badly, let me do it for you."

Kenji felt herself rolled over, and her pants pulled down past her legs, she could still remember the hard cold concrete of the garage floor as she was held down. She bit her tongue and tested the bindings along her arms. She refused to scream, to give him the satisfaction of making a sound, but that did nothing to stop the pain she reencountered. With a panting bloody sob that left her mouth she rolled onto her side, bile being expelled as she lay there her cheek pressed in her own filth.

Bleeding from below the waist, she knew she had to stop the bleeding, but getting her legs to hold her weight didn't happen and for a moment she just pressed her hand between her legs and tried to stem the bleeding as best she could before she could gather her strength to move.

The fear was a combination of different things, the first being her still irrational fear of her father, the other was the darkness because that was where she was kept when she refused to do as daddy dearest wanted, which wasn't just being a good son, no he wanted other things from him too, things that went far beyond what was appropriate. She hated him and still feared him, even long after she knew he was dead. She panted clenching her teeth along her tongue and the pain slowly caused the scene to lessen, the darkness to recede slightly so that the sounds of the crowd filtered through for a moment.

"Kenji don't just stand there!" Twice yelled out. "That sword wielding shit's coming right for you!" He parroted in a higher-pitched tone.

Juunko turned her attention to Katsu who finally came back over, she cast him only a quick glance before she sat forward a little more on the couch and once a few people tried to get in the way of her view, she told them to get the hell out of the way and they parted like the red sea, before many were watching what was happening. Kenji was frozen in place, for a moment not moving, but taking panting breaths and with a look few had ever seen on her face, her hand was raised to move, but it hadn't moved much more than that.

"I didn't think you'd come out of hiding," she told him watching as Osore had pulled his katana from his sheath the moment Kenji had truly been ensnared by his quirk. She didn't move away as he sank into the vacant spot on the couch next to her, but for a moment her gaze traveled to him and the jacket he wore, that hadn't been what he'd been wearing earlier, before it had just been a simple t-shirt and she raised a brow at the black hoodie he wore as it couldn't possibly be his. "Why are you wearing that? Wait, wait- better question where did you get it? Holy shit you didn't steal it did you?!" she asked him, the smirk that slid along her lips was telling, she almost wished he had stolen it, it would have been quite the story.

Katsu narrowed gray eyes at her and pushed his hand against her shoulder as he playfully shoved her from the middle cushion over to the other empty side. "No, it's borrowed from the league member MR," he explained as he buried his fingers into the pocket on the front his gaze watching the fight even as the two of them talked as if things weren't getting a tad too serious out there as Osore sliced into the side of the redhead's muscular arm. Another line of red appeared on her skin. The other huffed out another breath for a moment, as his grin widened further to where it threatened to split his cheeks wide with how much he was in his manic high.

"MR! Dude you mean Magnet Rouge? You do, don't you?! He's a badass, he broke out of his transport on the way to Tartarus!" Her fingers curled along his shoulders and she shook him, her attention not currently on the fight, but it was fine because Katsu was paying enough attention for the both of them, even as his head swung back and forth as she shook him in her excitement. "He's a big deal on the street. Give me that hoodie, I want it!" She told him only half jokingly.

"Don't act like he's some celebrity Juunko," he told her with a disgusted look. "The guy just did me a solid," he muttered as he leaned away from her and thankfully the fight had taken a turn for the even more interesting and thus her rapidly shifting attention span was caught as Kenji had slammed a fist against Osore's leg when he'd been attempting dart past her, before he would circle around to hit her again. He was too cocky, so sure that he had this in the bag. The crack of bone breaking had all eyes turning to center stage.

"Oh damn!" she muttered with a low whistle as she stood on her feet on top of the couch cushions as though that would somehow give her a better view of the fight as the brunette took a tumble as his leg buckled under him and he fell on his side and skidded across the floor, where he didn't immediately get back up, his fingers curling along his leg above his knee cap and it was clear by the pale look in his face and the twisted grimace of pain that he tried to hide, he was hurt and it was pretty damn bad, if the fact that his leg was at a strange angle from the knee down.

Katsu tightened his hand, his nails digging into his palm as he forced himself to stay seated, but this was hard to watch, all the orphans were trained to work as a unit, despite how much a dick Osore was and what a pompous prick, they got a long in a strange sort of way. They were close and this was tough to watch. "We can't step in," he said lowly, but he watched the way Juunko leapt off the couch and moved a little closer to the ring as Magne was slowly making his way over, as blood dripped from his mouth down his lips. "Shit," she muttered, her voice just as soft as his. "He figured it out!" There was a note of panic in her voice.

"We don't know that," he said softly, his hand reaching out to curl along her shoulder, halting her from going any further.

"They'll call the fight like they did for you right?" her eyes were wide and her hand was clenched, but she didn't move any closer. It was a matter of pride somewhat that left them waiting to see what would happen.

Osore tried to get to his feet, but it was a struggle with his right leg broken like it was. He pressed his left leg and shoved attempting to right himself, but he felt bile travel up his throat and he emptied the contents of his stomach onto the ground. He swayed on his feet, only his left leg able to support him, his right leg wasn't able to manage it and thus he was forced to stab his sword into the ground and keep his balance.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen, a little scared there Red, was dear ol' daddy mean to you?" he taunted, his signature smirk sliding along his lips, even as it looked to everyone else that he should be down for the count. He was bluffing, but damn if anyone had to know that, but he could barely get his mind to focus from the pain, but they'd been trained to handle extreme levels of torture, this wasn't exactly any different.

Magne's lips thinned and her rage propelled her forward, eating up the distance between them with renewed vigor as she pulled her fist back and was already swinging the moment she was in range. Her fist was flying but just before, they made contact. Something unexpected happened as neither opponent was prepared to make contact. A pair of hands covered her eyes and jerked her whole body backward as Kazushi's voice washed over in a wave of command.

"Calm down," his voice rumbled, his purple locks fell over one shoulder and he sat heavily on the other's chest, he's knees along her sides and his hands curved still around her broad forehead and over her eyes ensuring she stayed down, even after her head had slammed into the ground. His eyes were narrowed but Kazushi wasn't winded from the excursion or his incredible leap over Osore and into a fight that wasn't any of his business, but keeping the merchandise alive was sort of his thing.

He waited, not phased by his position and once the other was a little calmer only then did he stand to his full height. His attention shifted now to his other problem as he turned to shove Osore in the chest, the boy didn't fight back and wisely let himself fall roughly on down in a spiral of attempted limbs to steady his fall. "Sit and stay you've caused enough trouble," his tone said it all he was not amused, as crimson eyes stared into the boy's own.

Osore narrowed his eyes as held out his hand toward Keniji and wisps of shadows were expelled from the other's body and reabsorbed into his own.

"He hits like a fucking truck," he growled his breathing labored as Akashi came over at a leasurely pace and spent a moment talking with Kazushi.

"She dipshit!" Chiaki scolded as she leaned over him from the other side, her bare foot kicked lightly at his foot, electing a soft sound of pain from the other. The sound made her giggle as her long white hair fanned over him. "You bitch!" He whispered angrily, not all surprised to find her here.

"Yep," she told him, as she popped the p with emphasis and her grin widened as her fingers dug into his hair and forced him to look at her. Her red eyes swirled and he couldn't move as she locked him into place. It was a neat little trick. "I like Ka-chan, so I can overlook his stupidity in the last match, but you took too many hits. Now, look at the mess we have to clean up. Don't forget we have to work with them. So get on the same fucking page, or I'll leave you bleeding all over the floor piece by piece that even Akashi won't be able to put you back together again," she sang the last part as though it were that old nursery rhyme nearly everyone knew.

She let him go and patted his cheek as she danced away from him and moved over to Keniji where she spoke in soft tones and careful gestures. Gone was the hateful demon she'd been to him moments ago.

With a wince his fingers dug at the spot above his knee and he breathed through the spasms of his muscles and tendons as they tightened and contracted along shattered bones.

At some point during his very original death threat Akashi had finally decided to grace him with his presence. "Took your sweet ass time, " he hissed.

"Well you know, " Akashi muttered, not at all phased by his derogatory comment as he was used to it. "Orders are orders," he gave him a little insight with that. The choice to not come over sooner hadn't been his to make and for a moment Osore was left to wonder if it was Kaiya or Kazushi, and a quick glance up proved that by the expression on Kaiya's face, it wasn't she who had delayed his treatment.

Akashi couched down, fingers gently probing the area before he cut a hole in Chris's pant leg and pulled it apart to peer at the swollen, black and blue appendage. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "I can fix it, but it's going to be a long session. Bone fragments have traveled," he explained without elaborating to where.

"We need to move him," his assessment had Kazushi pausing for a moment in whatever conversation he was having in his phone, before he let his gaze drift to the two of them. He didn't make a move to help them or even come a little closer.

"I'm walking off the field!" Nightmare demanded hotly. His features set in a grim line, he refused to look weak in front of all these fucking people.

For a moment a staring match began before Akashi squatted down and curled his arm around his shoulder and helped him to his feet and they walked slowly from the field. He took him to the couch and it was with the help of no one else that he laid down and Akashi began to get to work.

Junko watched from the back of the couch as her arms stretched over it, and she was quiet for a moment studying him before she reached out toward him before she curled her hand and retracted it. "You did alright out there, but you'll win next time. You've already figured it out haven't you?" she asked him with a small smirk.

Osore only flashed her a small smirk, he may seem like a pompous asshole and he was, but he wasn't a mindless buffoon either, he was more intelligent than people gave him credit for. This fight hadn't been him going all out; no, he'd been doing his own test of sorts.

"You'll have to wait to find out, " he told her as he closed his eyes and curled his arms up over the arm of the couch, and when his fingers curled, it was a small indicator that whatever Akashi was doing wasn't pleasant.

Katsu frowned slightly, his own gaze moving over the sea of bodies as his gaze fell on the girl who was currently sitting with the League and mending the damage caused not just by Osore, but him too. His fingers curled into a fist at his side and he turned away as her laughter filtered through and there was a moment silver had met red, before he forced his attention elsewhere.


It hadn't been easy to get away from Daichi, Kanna, Naito and Yuki, but it hadn't been all that hard either, no one attempted to keep her there when she said something about being back in a bit. Emiko Hajime was pleased none of them tried to come with her, that would have been awkward, not that it would have mattered but Akashi mingled with them only as much as was necessary. It was something she found a little odd, but who was she to press him?

Their friendship was a weird one; she wasn't about to even remotely say that it made sense, but it was more along the lines that they took from each other in ways they couldn't with anyone else.

She wrinkled her nose as she slipped past a few of the others. It's not like that. She thought as she rolled her eyes skyward for a moment and paused as she caught sight of a hint of the moon from her angle and paused letting herself imagine for a moment what it would be like to see it from somewhere up high, not flying per se, but it wouldn't be the last time she and Akashi snuck out on the roof, her portals made quick work of little rebellions like that, but they never dared go far. They would never leave, fear kept them rooted in place.

To be fair it wasn't like she had any blood relations here and her family was a distant memory she kept locked away. She wasn't sure they were alive, but she'd been taken in the middle of a crowded park where the family often gathered. She couldn't say that she fully understood how it happened, she could speculate, but it was a fuzzy memory that came back in strange pieces, that left her angry and distraught so she avoided them as best that she could.

Akashi had found her one evening sneaking out of her room and that had been the start of their very strange friendship, that was hard for the outside world to understand. They knew each other's demons and their secrets and had forged a bond.

She waved and generally did her thing about being social to those she passed, but her gaze was on Akashi as he placed a careful hand on Osore's shoulder and said a few private words to Juunko before he slipped away from them. She saw the exhaustion in his eyes that he did his best to hide. She quickened her steps.

Her fingers jerking along his arm and keeping him from embarrassing himself when he'd tripped over the air when he'd scuffled his feet.

His red eyes met hers and a softer look slid along his features. "Usually you don't seek me out during the day," he said, his grin smug and she curled her lip at him slightly.

"Don't flatter yourself," she told him with a frown as she let him go and set her hand on her hip. "Let's go," she told him as she began to walk past him and headed toward one of the exits heading to the rear of the building and the hallway wasn't anything exciting; it was covered mostly with large boxes just like the ones in the front room, whatever had been here before left him curious what was in the boxes, but he also didn't care enough to find out either.

Akashi glanced around looking for a moment to see if he was needed and thankfully he wasn't and thus it was the only reason he followed after her.

"Everything ok Emi?" The question was soft and quiet as he watched her lean against the crate and cross her arms over her chest. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants and waited for her to talk, something was on her mind. He wasn't going to pretend to have some idea, he didn't have a clue.

"Well-" she started and paused her gaze shifting to the door they had just exited and the hallway that separated them from the rest of the kids. "I noticed you've been doing a lot, figured you could use a break for a few, besides I saved you from falling on your face." she shrugged casually as if that was a common occurrence and it wasn't not exactly, but this was the first time they were in a situation quite like this.

Akashi had let his eyes fall shut for a moment but at her words, he cracked open a single red eye and looked at her. "Just take a few minutes of a cat nap. I'll be your look out," she promised as a small purple portal no larger than the palm of her hand opened and she kept an eye on the arena as the next match that was called, but given where they were she couldn't hear what was said, which was just as well. She'd fix that after a moment, she watched Akashi as he sank down the side of the boxes and let his butt hit the floor as he bent his knees and closed his eyes only after he ran his hand down his face.

Emiko frowned down at him before she sank down next to him, her position mirroring his own as her shoulder settled against his own before she let her fingers touch his chin and half the other side of his cheek as he directed his head to lean against her shoulder and her neck. The issue was the height difference, but this was a salvage solution. "Try and get some sleep," she told him, effectively shutting him up when he'd been about to protest, but he was just a little too tired to do anymore than shut his eyes and settle a little more fully against her shoulder. He was asleep within moments, but they leaned real quick the power of forcing your body to sleep and gather energy where it could.

She heard his breathing even out as she pulled a purple strand of energy from her portal and it got longer like one might see from a cord that was connected to an earpod, she placed the small knot of energy in her ear and allowed the sound of the arena to filter through the connection she made and listened as the match between Naito and Muscular was about to begin as both settled in the middle of the ring. Her fingers ran briefly through his hair, before she retracted her hand and ensured she didn't want to wake him and she did have a job to do too.

Nao stood regally in the middle of the ring, his hands held loosely at his side and his gaze never left his opponent and his clawed fingers flexed but he was stuck waiting for the match to truly begin as the larger male demanded to know why he was facing such a shrimp. Emi watched the pale onii's lips pressed together and was aware that he didn't say anything, as his right hand curled into a fist.

The boy didn't have his weapons today, but that was because he was the weapon, he had such superior strength, Kaiya had advised that he not worry about using his weapons. She knew the reason was more along the lines of they didn't want to outright display his weaknesses to those around them, not until they could know for sure how much they could count on the League. She could definitely say that the match was going to be a good one and that Kaiya had made the right call, they couldn't risk any memory issues at least not today.


"Let's try to keep this match a little more civilized if possible," Kurogiri said sarcastically, but it was the young boy who dipped his head toward him, a sign that he intended to not cause any trouble in that regard.

The larger man who faced him though was silent and had a harsh look on his features as he studied the boy who would be his opponent. He looks a little scrawny and hardly worth my time. With that thought in mind the older man sneered and clenched his hand into a fist at his side, he didn't feel like wasting his time with this one, he'd have preferred to face the bat boy from before that Saisho happened to get lucky to square off against.

This sucks.

The match started as the warpgate dropped his hand and Goto Imasuji was still lost in his own swirl of dismal thoughts and sure that this fight wouldn't be worth his time, that he wasn't even pretending to pay attention as he let his attention drift upwards towards Shigaraki and the girl, who'd been glued to his side from the moment they had gotten here. Why's he get the girl? He could share.

The fist that knocked him back a step and sent his head a little further up was he was given quite the uppercut had him gritting his teeth and retreating another step backward as his dark eyes moved back to the pale humanoid, with the horns on his head, well one horn...either way it wasn't important right now. What was important was figuring out what he was going to do about this kid. His attack had sort of hurt him. "I sort of felt that," he muttered with a short laugh as he raised his hand out and swatted Naito on the arm with his palm and what had looked like light love tap, sent the onii into the orange barrier that abruptly erupted around the arena and kept the occupants from having a repeat of Katsu's fight with Spinner, no spector casualties now.

Naito smashed against the barrier and was forced back into the arena instead of going through it. He coughed his head reeling from the blow, but otherwise he was fine. He should have attempted to move out of the way, but he hadn't been able to react as well as he would have liked.

He skidded for a moment in the dirt before he came to a stop half way between Muscular and his position at the edge of the barrier, he was in the middle of both a sign that he'd been hit with a heavy dose of strength and had his opponent hit anyone else, he'd have seriously hurt or killed them with that attack. The strength behind it was famoninal.

"I guess I'll stop holding back on you kid. I know they say we shouldn't kill you, but accidents happen," he called as he began to advance toward him, not even bothering to let him pick himself up. "It's time to fight for your life!" he threatened, as he raised his hand, his muscle fibers having replaced the skin of his hand with the rope like muscular fibers of his body. He was getting serious now and things were about to get ugly.

Goto pulled back his fist and drove it toward the boy on the ground. He wasn't about to go easy on him, no if this was a battle of wills he was going to see who was stronger, who wanted to win more.

Winning wasn't what he was after; no he just wanted to cause a little pain.

He's stronger than I thought, not as fast as I thought, but - he doesn't seem very smart.

I can use that, just need to outsmart him.

Naito knew his time was short and he was already in a bad spot. He fisted a handful of dirt and waited for the right moment, silently counting down in his head. 3...2...now! He rolled out of the way as Goto's fist drove into the place where he'd been only seconds before. He shoved his left hand up and used the momentum to drive his foot into the side of his head as he spun on his left hand and pushed against the ground he angled his body above the larger man, his right hand smacking against his right eye with the dirt forcing it in the sensitive area.

Goto gave a startled shout, as he swung out blindly around him as his eye burned and watered. He gave a roar of rage as he slammed his other hand against the ground. "Fucking brat!" he snarled as his eye leaked down his cheek at emptying to get some relief but it wasn't going to be possible.

Naito bent his feet and pushed forward as he slammed an clawed hand against Muscular's forehead and drove the other from his forced kneeling position to his back, and he skidded back a few paces. Showcasing his own strength and flexibility that was at a level that his opponent wouldn't be able to achieve given his size and muscle mass.

With a rotation of his legs Goto slammed his knees into the boy with all his might bucking the boy away from him as he staggered to his feet. "We're not done!" He yelled.

Nao caught himself on the palm of his hands and did a back handspring with a twist to keep his feet as he faced the man with dirty blonde hair.

He shook his head aware of the bruises across up by his eye and down his cheek from where he's been hit earlier and he was pretty sure the other side of his face matched thanks to colliding with Hayai's barrier.

If someone was keeping score it would be Muscular - 1, Naito - 2 with Hayai's barrier tied for second place.

A smirk curved his lips before a soft laugh escaped; the onii boy just couldn't help himself. It was horrible timing really, but he had horrible control sometimes.

Goto, hearing him laugh rushed right after him, managing to avoid anything that was in the way, but of course there was nothing to hinder him as he advanced toward him. "You little shit!" he snarled as he caught sight of him his eye was red and inflamed but none of that mattered, he could make out his form, every so often he would have to blink, but still none of that mattered. You're going to regret this fight boy. No one laughs at me and gets away with it. I'm going to enjoy making you bleed. You haven't seen anything yet!

The man's charge was something one might see out of a stampeding bull, all large bodied and long horns lowered to skewer the next poor sap who didn't run to safety in time. All anger and instinct...no rational thought.

It was the image that flashed in Naito's mind as he angled himself in a different manner, his stance shifting to make himself a smaller target as he raised his arms ready to shift at a moment's notice as Muscular got closer and closer to him.

He dipped to the left, kicking off with his foot to keep some distance between them. This was a fight that very well could turn deadly. He would have to use his speed to his advantage. They wanted to see what they could do, this wasn't like some little league game where the referees were on your side, they weren't. They were rooting for the other team, their calls always in their favor. Kaiya only had so much pull and given this wasn't the home court advantage, it wasn't surprising.

Then again when was anything ever in their favor?

It never was.

It was always a fight to survive, to live.

This wasn't any different than being home, fighting each other to see where they fell in the grand scheme of their abilities, their battle prowess and their own mental fortitude.

"I thought you'd be showing me your resolve?" Nao pressed a small smirk on his lips as he vaulted over him by using the bulging muscles in his forearm as leverage. His knee smashing against his face, before he twisted grabbed him by his hair, and the back of his head and threw him into the barrier, in a manner very similar to what had happened to him earlier.

This wasn't personal, it was survival.

Muscular's deranged laughter was expelled from his lungs as he picked himself up, he had cracked the barrier with the force. He rose to his full height. "I'm done playing around," he growled, as he increased the muscles on his legs and his speed went well beyond what it was before as he rushed him, Naito could just barely evade him now. As a fist just barely whistled past his head as he ducked in a messy slide like what would see from someone stealing a base in a baseball match.

He drew his claws back and racked them down the middle; they shredded through the muscle fibers that covered his torso. Tearing away and drawing blood as it splashed from the frayed areas to the arena floor. As disgusted as Nao might have been over the fact that blood had hit him in various places, he didn't react, he was used to this sort of thing, blood didn't disgust him as it would have a few years ago. The fibers gave way to true skin and he hated the feeling as the skin got caught under his nails but blood swelled and fell from the thick strips of flesh he had made part with his claws.

Goto grit his teeth, his breath coming out in a soft sound of pain he couldn't swallow back, it had been a long, long time since anyone had ever been able to truly damage him, to bring him true pain, to make him bleed...to make him see the own color of his blood. He drove his knee against the boy's side, the force of his strike sent him skidding across the ground like nothing more than a small pebble before him and into the other side of the orange barrier, it too cracked, as fissures formed outward from the impact zone and traveled up the barriers wall. Sections of it began to flake off, a sign of the incredible force that was being used inside the ring.

Naito was left stunned as he lay on the ground, his back in agony, actually as he lay there unable to figure out the intent of his wounds, he coughed up blood, but couldn't bring himself to lift his head. His chest, side and back hurt, a wash of complete agony he couldn't differentiate the locations of the pain, everything hurt. He knew he had to get up, but the only part of his body that would respond were his arms, nothing else wanted to move.

The true fear started to well up inside when he realized he couldn't feel any pain from his legs-any pain from the waist down! As he tried to move them nothing happened. Nothing happened! His heart rate spiked and his breathing became more labored than it already was. Was he going to be able to walk again? If he couldn't - if he couldn't, bad things would happen, he knew what they did to those who weren't useful anymore. He didn't want that to happen to him! He couldn't let it happen to him! Naito couldn't get enough air in his lungs, it felt like he was choking. Darkness swarmed along the edge of his vision. His purple eyes began to close as his concussions from earlier could only be ignored for so long. He coughed violently, as more blood was expelled out of his mouth across his white skin.

Akashi was suddenly in front of him, the next time he blinked his eyes forcing them open, he couldn't rest, he couldn't pass out - not with the enemy so close to him. He had to get up, he had to get to his fucking feet! "It's ok, you'll be ok." Naito could just barely register his words as the other boy placed his hand on his arm, the gesture gentle and soft. It also told him as he faded into the darkness as his clawed fingers curled along a small feminane hand that belonged to the healer's sister, that things were bad. So very bad.

"Goto enough, this match is over!" Shigaraki's voice rang out into the ring. Kaiya was next to him, her features impassive, but no one would be able to see the hand that trembled curled into the fabric of his side, her nails biting into the tender flesh underneath. The fight had once again gone too far.


Yuki Tsurara was waiting anxiously for her name to be called but that wasn't the only reason for her anxiety. She was waiting for Nao to be healed by Akashi and Chiaki, but the other girl was multitasking keeping Goto from bleeding out from his wounds that traveled his chest and down along his stomach, he'd been nearly eviscerated by Naito's claws. It confused her on why Kugutsu wasn't being called upon to help with the injured but she didn't question it. No one questioned what the Handlers did. No one questioned what Kaiya did. The longer it took for her friend to be healed the more anxious she became and that showed in how she started playing with her quirk. Her small hands were cupped together close to her chest before they glowed a soft white as small flakes of white started to form from her very hands and fill the makeshift cup, spilling between the gaps of her fingers and over the sides of her hands as the white powder was unable to be contained. As the white flakes landed at her feet, they didn't melt and instead continued to gather, building a small pile of snow that was quickly growing.

It was a long time before Akashi said that Naito could be moved from the ring, it was so long in fact that she wasn't sure what to expect, but she knew she needed to hide her worries quickly.

"You're anxious…" A voice uttered into her ear.

As icy blue eyes that surprisingly were not as cold as one would expect glanced at the speaker before breaking her hands apart and curling them into half fists -her quirk being the only reason the snow didn't fall- before she promptly threw two fistfuls of the soft white powder into the young man's face as he was only an inch taller than her and he was leaning in to speak into her ear.

"Was that really necessary?!" Kanna asked softly, swiping his hands over his grayish-green hair to try and get rid of the snow, completely unbothered by the cold it brought as he had the chilly powder on his face.

"Yes, because I don't get anxious. I'm totally chill," she told him, but there was a catch in her tone that she couldn't hide and it was clear she was nervous even as she tried to deny it. She did not mention that she had really thrown snow at him because she'd been worried about Naito and how could she not be because of his match with that muscular dude? That crazy man could have killed him!

"...Sure you don't…" Kanna muttered with a roll of his uncovered eye. He had given up on getting the snow out of his hair as it would melt soon anyway. He'd known the real reason she'd thrown snow in his face, Yuki wasn't hard to read, she was much like an open book in most cases.

Whatever the white-haired girl was going to say next was swiftly morphed into laughter as she spotted the snow that he had missed in his hair and on his face as it glittered in the light.

Kanna huffed, unable to stay annoyed at her, Yuki was a playful individual but she was far from malicious. If he had to guess he'd say she didn't have a malicious bone in her body, she didn't like to hurt people whether it be with her words, fists or quirk. That type of personality didn't always fly with the Handlers but she made up for it with the amount of control and power she had over her quirk, so it was usually overlooked. She had the scars to prove that her soft-heartedness wasn't always overlooked though.

"Masaru and Yuki."

At the sound of her name, the tiny girl of 4'9 froze for a moment, eyes darting to the ring to see that it had been cleared when she hadn't been paying attention and she had no idea how Nao was doing. She had no time to worry about that though as a hand was placed at the center of back and shoved her forward, forcing her to move into the ring. "He'll be fine," Kanna was quick to reassure her as he flashed her a small smile.

Yuki smiled slightly when she looked back at him before she shook her head, her barely shoulder-length snowy white locks swaying as she stepped up to the barrier and it parted to let her through and closed right behind her. She had just reached the center of the ring to face her opponent, a man that made her feel more like a child than her taller companions ever did. To the audience she must look ridiculous standing there across from Masaru.

Masaru had been the first in the ring and he was one of the few here who seemed to have such an issue with these fights, he of course didn't voice them...and he'd watched every single one and had even on legs that had moved of his own violation talked to a young girl who looked so much like his old classmate Kouken's little sister, that he hadn't been able to just ignore her when she'd nearly collapsed from quirk overuse earlier.

He hated these fights, he hated what they represented, but he couldn't deny the skill from these kids would rival, if not surpass some of the minor heroes who were saturating the city like a fungus, some who if he was honest with himself definitely didn't need to be around anyone much less trying to save civilians from villains and other natural disasters.

The hero world was dangerous and it was still too glorified and while that outlook was slowly changing, it wasn't changing fast enough. He wondered if their world would be able to change to confront it, but in reality he wasn't sure if such a thing could even exist. He had hope though, it was why he was doing what he was doing, playing in a dangerous game of Russian roulette.

He crossed his arms over his chest as the girl came closer into the ring, he could have gotten behind a few of those fights when some were facing such snot nosed brats, but his opponent was not like the other boys or the certain level of crazy he had seen lately. The girl was petite and seemed normal…nervous even if he allowed himself to give name to the emotion he could see on face, in her eyes.

The moment the fight was called to begin, he withdrew the two small metal of marbles from his pocket and let them float above his palm in a lazy circle, his stance didn't change and it was clear by those who knew him they could tell he wasn't taking this seriously. Gold eyes tracked her every exhale and every tense line in her shoulders, he refused to be made a fool as much as Compress had been, but to be fair the guy wasn't much of a fighter, he was more of their support and a distraction. So the simple fact that he'd been taken by surprise by the de facto leader of the Orphans wasn't lost to him and he knew he needed to be careful around her, it was clear her quirk was dangerous and from first glance seemed to be involve a form of super speed, but he knew it may be something else as well, but he was playing it safe and speculating the route of least resistance.

"Ladies first," he offered with a charming smile that slid along his lips, he'd already made his decision, he wouldn't hurt her, but he would defend himself and evade more than likely. It wasn't how he normally did things, but exceptions would always be made. He was adaptable, it was one of the reasons he'd been chosen to do the jobs he did.

"Thank you." She replied, eyeing the metal orbs rotating above his palm. Yuki couldn't help how her hands glowed in response to the use of her quirk and the snow started to fall from her hands to the concrete floor below her, only this was faster than it had been earlier. She threw her hands up palms pointed to the roof of the barrier, and snow shot up from her palms in a fast swirling vortex as she effortlessly created a miniature snowstorm indoors. The only thing that stopped the snow from reaching the entire vicinity of the warehouse was Hayai's barrier.

With the raging snowstorm going strong the snow on the ground was quickly piling up giving her more ammunition to work with. The temperature around them plummeted, shifting from warm and pleasant to freezing cold. The fridginess of the white storm didn't affect her at all, thanks to her cold resistance and immunity but the same couldn't be said for her opponent. She didn't like the idea of causing frostbite with the chilling bite she could enact with her snow quirk but she would if she had to.

Masaru had given her the first move after all, so Yuki would make it a good one. The soft white glow had spread along her entire body, even outlining the black clothes she wore but it was nearly invisible as it outlined every strand of snowy hair. The glow even entered her eyes turning them a whitish-blue. This time when she flexed her fingers the entire snow-covered ground shifted just before she put her hands together and threw them up, opening her hands and snapping them shut like one did when making a shadow puppet along the wall and miming some monster's mouth biting into something. This is what her snow did, only it sank a bit around the man before a massive snow beast with a maw full of sharp teeth erupted beneath the metal bender. She had molded the snow into the shape it was currently in, and had hardened it to the point of where it was more like ice than snow even though it looked like it was made of the fragile white stuff that still raged overhead and still covered parts of the ground. "Sorry Masaru but I need to put on a good show."

Masaru's golden eyes widened and his surprise was clear, but his features didn't change much beyond a curve of his lips as he used the two metal marbles to flex and expand as he used them to attach to the bottom of his feet and swiftly fly out of the way of the monster's waiting jaws. He raised his hand as a single beam pulled from the ceiling and he warped the metal, ensuring it would bend and mold to what he wanted as he stretched it out the beam flattening and separating into two large flat disks that he angled toward her and let them shift in front of him.

"Not bad," he complimented as he spun his hand and directed one of the metal boards outward as it sliced through the snow beast at the neck. I shouldn't underestimate her.

He was impressed with her abilities, but it wasn't just her. He had been paying attention to the kids since they got here watching, analysing and filing away what he could pass along. These kids were dangerous, they were able to go up against real Villains and hold their own at such a young age, he was right to be cautious, to be wary of them.

Masaru hadn't missed the way Kaiya had taken the stage during the young girl Miho's fight with Dabi, but he didn't mean when she'd called out Kurogiri; he meant that he'd seen the world seem to freeze where the blast of fire had been aiming for the Orphans side of the fight. He was safely not affected by whatever she had done, but he'd watched her disappear and body's move as the blue flames were held in place by the hands of time.

These kids left him with more questions than he currently had answers for, but he had a plan for getting the information and he'd already noticed who the weakest link was. He and Copycat would be having a night out on the town in the next few days. He'd already overheard the other man discussing such plans with Twice and Magne. As a way for the adults to bond, have a good time and generally get to know each other.

He'd have considered the guy to be an airhead, but he hadn't missed the calculated look in his eye; he was another to watch out for.

Yuki's eyes widened at the response she'd gotten. She was honestly surprised he wasn't taking it personally, she could have seriously hurt him if he hadn't gotten out of the way when he had. She heard the swoosh of metal before she saw it slice through her snow beast's neck, decapitating it. She responded in kind, holding out a glowing hand to the fallen beast's head, she curled her hand into a half fist, shaping what remained the snow beast into a large snowball before she raised her other hand to the ceiling specifically to the miniature blizzard she had created. Her raised hand stopped the onslaught of the blizzard, stopped the falling flakes in their place before she lowered her index and thumb fingers and pressed them together. The snow around her responded and as one their shapes thinned and became elongated into sharpened points. Needles, she had shifted them into needles. She threw her hand down and as one the hardened points rained down on Masaru.

Her lips thinned as she watched. She couldn't help but hope he'd do something to avoid getting pierced by the rain of needles she'd hurled at him. She knew she couldn't let up or else she'd catch Itami's eye just as Kugutsu had done and she didn't want that.

Masaru glanced toward the hardened snow that was suspended above him. He gave a low whistle clearly impressed, but didn't comment further his attention on the fight, as he pulled back the thin large sheet of metal he'd used earlier and he slammed the piece with the other piece he'd created earlier and kept the pieces merged into a solid ball that encased him in a hard protective shell effectively keeping him safe from the hardened snow as it slammed into his barrier, only a millisecond or two after he'd called them to his person. He was lucky he was close to what he needed or he might have had a rougher time. Her control is on point. Whatever training she's had was on par of the Hero Courses at UA. He frowned at this thought, it left him wondering what other sort of training they had. He knew one thing for certain: these kids were dangerous.

He didn't bother to open the little protective dome that he'd created around himself as the match continued. There was still a lot left that she could try and he was going to let her, but even from his space of hiding, he could feel the cold take its toll. Frowning he rubbed at his arms, he knew he'd have to do something about the temperature soon.

Yuki's glowing eyes narrowed as the other formed a protective dome around himself. Good she couldn't help feeling relieved at that but outwardly she tried her best to look annoyed and wasn't sure how well she succeeded. Her eyes landed on the giant snowball and she knew exactly how to keep up the barrage lest her Handlers think she's being too soft. She stomped on the snow-covered ground and unleashed a flutter along the ground as the snow hardened, nearly becoming ice. Still, it wasn't quite like that as she stomped her foot again, the snow underneath the ice-covered snowball shot upwards and threw the snowball into the air hurtling it toward the 25-year-old's metal dome, hoping to damage it in some way or at least knock it out of the sky.


A/N: So still working on this final scene for this chapter to be finished, but I uh as you can see had to break this chapter up again, because you know we're sitting at like 22k for Part 4...so i had to break it up again. Sorry! But This intro for the Orphans is almost at its conclusion! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks for reading!

~AJ Aviary
~Hallows_Eve (A03)

~ajaviary (Tumblr)