A/N: Hello again! We're finally entering the USJ arc! My USJ part will be divided into three chapters starting with an introduction, the actual USJ fight part with the villains and the aftermath of the whole incident. I hope you guys will enjoy the beginning of the arc. So here we go with the prelude to the whole incident. Have fun!
Chapter Eight: Byakko At USJ
On her way to the classroom Masha passes the cafeteria and cringes at the hallway she and her classmates had been trapped in when she hears a familiar sounding voice from behind. "Hey Masha, wait up!" She turns to see Ashido Mina, the girl with a bright pink skin and yellow eyes saving her from a flashback. Up until now the cat girl didn't have much time to speak with the cheerful and always energetic girl, but she kind of liked her from the beginning finding her cute and easy to talk to.
The young tigress waves and smiles at her female classmate. "Morning Mina!" The pink girl smiles right back at her and hurries over to walk by Masha's side. "How's life goin'?" the white- and black-haired girl asks, but Mina just rolls her yellow eyes. "Ugh! This English project's gonna kill me! Who'd you get paired up with?" Masha smirks and rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "Katsuki", she says matter of fact and notices Mina's eyes widening profoundly. "But we handed in our argument about Eraserhead already"
Her pink classmate stops and stares at her, flabbergasted. "Are you serious?! You got that partner and Eraserhead of all people as a topic, but you're finished already?! That's insane, girl! Whatever medicine you guys are takin', please share with me!" And then Mina's grin grows sneaky and she winks playfully at the tiger girl. "And exactly whom are you actually callin' by his first name here?" she sings with a sweet voice and squeals like a little child. Masha snickers knowing about this kind of character from herself. "I so love to mess around with this guy!" she admits. "I swear if I can manage to tease him enough his head's gonna explode!" The two girls talk and laugh their way to classes and later on after lunch break is finally over, the hero course is about to begin.
Uncle Shota walks in lazily as always only a second after everybody is seated and doesn't even try to waste any time on unnecessary greetings. He starts to discuss the student's new exercise for the day, explaining that they will be working on rescue attempts from natural disasters. What's most surprising that three pro heroes will be instructing the class and Masha wonders if that's because of the security breach thing. But she is glad that she'll be able to attend the hero training this time. Their teacher tells them that they're free to choose whatever they want to wear in this course, but also that a bus would take them to their training facilities and hence they'll only have ten minutes to get changed.
The whole class rushes out to the locker rooms as quickly as possible, most of the girls needing every second of the ten minutes to dress up due to the skin tight full body suits. The young tigress soon notices that the majority has decided to wear their hero costumes like she also did. But since her costume is way easier to put on, Masha is the first to be completely dressed. Her skinny jumpsuit in her favorite white tiger style only has thin straps and very short pant legs. Besides that the cat girl wears fingerless gloves and somewhat sandal-like shoes with soles that are strengthened with metal.
Ochako stares at her with her cute and big doe eyes and blushes. "Wow Masha, your costume is super sexy!" Jiro Kyoka with her short hair and the cool cable ears nods along. "You sure you wanna wear that with Mineta around?" The girls start to laugh, but before Masha can answer she hears Yaoyorozu sigh. "Well, if you ask me, I certainly do have my concerns about that..." They all hum collectively looking at the deputy's even more revealing costume.
"Hagakure is basically naked..." frog-like Asui Tsuyu states with a ribbit and the invisible girl starts to panic embarrassedly. "Ah! Don't say it out loud like this!" she whines. "Sweetie, nobody can see you. That's the meaning behind all that, right?!" Mina deadpans and turns to the cat girl again. "More importantly Masha, why are you wearing sandals? That's kinda weird. If you wanted to enhance the power of your kicks, wouldn't boots have been the better choice?" The young tigress grins and lets sharp claws grow off her toes as she always does with her fingers. "With boots I can't do this", she responds as the girls watch her feet in awe. Jiro whistles impressed. "That's nice!"
After changing the whole class gathers outside to wait for the bus. "Whoa, Masha! You definitely kill it in that costume!" Sero says standing next to the white- and black-haired girl. "Geez, outfits like that should come with a warning!" She glances to her side at the black haired boy. "And you got an unexpectedly sweet mouth, Sero" Masha smiles at him genuinely while she also recognizes Kaminari and Mineta checking her out, the purple head gaping at her with his eyes and mouth wide open. "Oh Masha, dream of my sleepless nights!" the electric blond swoons and the cat girl giggles while shaking her head about her friend. "So you like it?" He gives her a thumb up and a wide grin which she considers as a yes. "You guys look pretty awesome as well", she returns the compliment to the boys and spots Kirishima in his wild red hero costume.
"Just look who's dressed like a pro hero already!" she approaches the red head and he beams at her happily with adorable rosy cheeks. "Ya think?" The tiger girl nods. "Absolutely love your style!" He scratches the back of his head and his blush increases a little bit. "Thanks! Uhm... I mean... you too look really nice. Very tiger-like, suits you well" Aw isn't he cute as hell again?!
Besides, talking about cute... Masha turns around and searches for Izukyun, but literally runs into Katsuki instead who scowls down on her with his angry red eyes as usual. "Watch it, damn cat!" the light blond boy scoffs at her but stays on his place right in front of her to eye her up from head to toe, like he did on the day the two of them met for the English project. His eyes seem to grow even darker gazing at her like that and she raises her eyebrows questioningly. "Are you always running around being dressed so scantily?" the spiky head asks sneeringly and the cat girl snorts at him. Remembering his expression on the other day Masha wonders if that also was his thought back then. "Yup, got a problem with that?" she shoots right back and puts her hands on her hips. "Tch" He just turns his head away from her in response, but his gritted teeth show her sufficiently that he actually does have a problem. "Well, I think you look quite hot in your costume, Katsuki", the tiger girl coos teasingly, but his reaction catches her by surprise.
The blond gasps and his shocked gaze darts back to her making her heart skip a beat and then start racing uncontrollably. Right before Katsuki turns away from her to walk away without a word, she notices a slight hint of a blush on his face. What? Wait a minute! That Bakugo Katsuki, all mighty future number one hero, just blushed?! No way! Not a chance! So the proud perfectionist can't take compliments from a girl? Not to mention that arrogant as hell attitude he has there is actually showing everybody around him that he knows pretty well that he's looking good. Or could it be that all he ever thinks about is actually his strength and his quirk ability to be a pro hero and not so much his looks? Well, if that isn't interesting. Masha makes a mental note on that and decides to test this idea any time soon. Teasing the hot head will grow to another level if she really discovered a weakness here!
And then Masha finally sees her best friend in his green hero costume and hugs him from behind stormily. "Izukyun!" she cheers happily. "You look great! Nice design! There are some cool similarities to All Might if you have a closer look. And aunty Inko chose the color very well" Izuku answers with a sunny smile. "Thank you, Masha. Yours looks good on you, too. Fits your tiger image perfectly"
As class rep glasses Iida starts to shatter their eardrums with his deafening whistle and strict commands, the two childhood friends line up with their other classmates and stand behind a boy with six arms. They instantly begin complimenting him for his muscular built, his quirk and the mysterious mask he's wearing. The guy, Shoji Mezo, informs them that his power is more than just having six arms, calling his quirk duplicate arms which can turn into enhanced body parts. "Sheesh, that's way cooler than I thought!" Masha states and the young Midoriya boy agrees with shining eyes. "I thought it was only six strong arms, but that wouldn't make sense with the mouth on the hand thing" Shoji turns to the two friends relaxing a little bit during their conversation which makes Masha a little sad, because she supposes that their classmate had thought that they would start mocking him for his quirk. "Yeah, I get that a lot" Izuku and Masha start laughing and together they all wait until they can board the bus, passing a frustrated Iida during the process, because the busses' open layout ruined his boarding strategy.
"Iida, you really need to chill", the pink Mina and Masha comment at the same time and look at each other giggling. The young tigress sits next to Kirishima to her right and the metal divider that blocks the doorway of the bus to her left. Her sensitive tiger ears catch up a conversation to her right, noticing the cute frog girl Tsuyu questioning Izukyun about his quirk and it's similarities to All Might's and beginning to panic on the inside. To her great relief Kirishima speaks up. "Wait, hold on Tsuyu, you're forgetting that All Might doesn't hurt himself. That makes a huge difference" Seeing the others agree on that point seems to soothe Izukyun who blushed and stuttered helplessly after Tsuyu's comment and also Masha heaves a sigh. "Besides that, Izukyun can't change the weather conditions with a single blow", she adds. "All Might is way too insane!" Her classmates mumble in confirmation. Only Katsuki glares at her from his seat before looking out of the window again.
"But still..." Kirishima continues. "I bet it's cool to have a simple augmenting type of a quirk. You can do a lot with those flashy moves. My hardening's super strong and can destroy bad guys in a fight, but it doesn't look all that impressive" The crimson boy activates his quirk on his arm hardening his own skin to rock-like jagged spikes sticking out from his elbow down. "Oh, no way!" Izukyun says looking up at his classmate with his friendly green eyes. "I think it's really awesome looking. You're definitely pro material with a quirk like that" Masha smiles at the boys thinking that it's really hard to decide on whom of them has the bigger heart. "I agree", she tells Kirishima. "You'll be the type of pro hero who won't need any unnecessary flashy moves to impress people. Just coming in, saving people with pure strength, beating up all the villains and disappearing again before anybody even had the chance to notice. That's kinda really cool. A very manly and wild image, but still nice and friendly. I think you could be very popular if you just believed in yourself a little bit more!" Izukyun nods strongly humming in confirmation and the blond Kaminari sighs theatrically. "There she goes again!" he comments lightheartedly. "Our Masha saves the day"
The cat girl blushes and shakes her head. "I'm just being honest here!" she complains. "You really think so?" the red head asks looking down on his arm again. "Seems like it would be a lot easier to be a pro hero if I had something flashier" The eyes of their blond classmate Aoyama Yuga who sits next to Mina begin to sparkle. "My navel laser's got the perfect combination of panache and strength", he smiles confidently. "Yeah, but it's way lame if it gives you a stomachache, sweetie", the pink girl reminds him with a pat on his shoulder.
"Besides with your electricity you could also be an amazing pro, Kaminari", Masha exclaims causing the blond to grow dark red. "If you just could stop frying your own brain with your power, your quirk would be very strong" But Jiro in her corner just shakes her head destroying the electric blond's wide smile instantly. "Impossible! A dork will always be a dork", she deadpans very dryly with her arms crossed over her chest and all the others start laughing at Kaminari's unhappy face. "Well, if any of our classmates have pro quirks, it's Todoroki and Bakugo", Kirishima states and Masha looks over at the two boys being seated beyond the doorway barricade to her left. The always calm and somehow distanced Todoroki boy with his two colored hair has closed his eyes and sleeps softly behind Katsuki who still stares out of the window stubbornly.
"Sure, but Bakugo is always angry, so he'll never be that popular", Tsuyu ribbits and the young tigress has to bite down on her own lip to prevent herself from laughing aloud as the spiky haired boy explodes at this comment. "What'd you say?! I'll kick your ass!" he shouts jumping from his seat. "You see..." the greenish frog girl affirms unimpressed and Masha can't help it anymore but to snicker. "Ya know, we basically just met you, so it's kinda telling that we all know your personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage", Kaminari points out with a sideways smile on his face and Masha's soft giggle turns into a hearty laugh which sends Bakugo over the edge and he aims his boiling aggression towards the electric blond boy.
"You're gonna regret the day you applied to this school, you loser! I'll kill you!" he fumes and instantly shifts his attention to the cat girl. "And if you dare to continue laughing at me like that, I'm gonna set you on fire and burn you down to ashes, stupid cat!" The white and black haired girl locks her amber eyes with his and smirks provokingly. "Always those empty promises..." She twitches her tiger ears in amusement as the light blond tries to stare her down with his threatening red gaze and all of their classmates watch the scene holding their breaths.
Meanwhile the bus has reached its goal and Mr. Aizawa gets up from his seat turning to his students unenthusiastically. "Hey, we're here. Stop messing around!" Masha rolls her feline eyes at her uncle. "Ya know... Almost being killed by a classmate is certainly not something that a teacher like you should call messing around", she informs him after jumping out of the bus only getting a dead like glare as a response. The young tigress turns her head in search for Mina and spots her talking to Kirishima immediately sensing some sparks flying between them and letting them have their moment together, but not without making some mental notes for another matchmaking plan for a new shipped couple besides Izukyun and Ochako.
Said brown haired cute girl walks over to her and laughs with her hand in front of her mouth. "Pffft. Bakugo and you are so funny together. It's hard to tell if you like or hate each other", she tells Masha and she smiles right back at her. "Oh well, I do like him", she admits without hesitating and Ochako gapes at her speechlessly. "But since I'm having so much fun with messing around with him, I suppose he might hate me" The brown-haired nods understandingly. "I'm impressed that you're not afraid. He looks so scary, especially when he's angry and he always seems like he truly wants to kill you" The cat girl only shrugs her shoulders. "Nah, his bark is worse than his bite", she assures her adorable friend. "Besides his reactions are too hilarious, so it's rather funny than scary" The two girls start giggling together and are still laughing when the whole class finally enters the dome which will be their training facility.
The students are welcomed by the space hero Thirteen who is very well known for saving countless people from natural disasters with her quirk being a black hole that sucks up everything in its way turning it into dust and with a spacesuit making her perfect fitting hero costume. While Ochako freaks out fangirling because Thirteen is her favorite hero, Masha looks around inside the dome like structure which is called the Unforeseen Simulation Joint or short the USJ. She spots a huge fountain in the middle and various natural disaster set ups like a ship wreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm and many more.
"Holy crap!" Kirishima calls out. "It looks like some kind of amusement park!" Also the cat girl feels excitement building up in her chest. If it's about rescuing and saving people instead of fighting villains, maybe she could trust her own powers a little more in that case. Just then she overhears a conversation between Thirteen and Uncle Shota with her enhanced hearing abilities, noticing it's about All Might. The blond number one pro hero should have been the third instructor for their training today, but the space hero informs the homeroom teacher that the bulky guy has used up all of his powers during a fight earlier this morning and thus has to rest in the teacher's lounge.
Masha swallows hardly. So at least some of the teachers know about All Might's decreasing powers, but she's not so sure if that's good or bad. The more people know, the bigger the chance that information will leak out to the public. An uneasy feeling begins to grow in her whole body and Masha's skin starts to prickle. Worriedly she observes her classmates, not knowing if her anxiety only comes from hearing her teachers talk to each other. It is the same unpleasant feeling she had on the day her own mother abandoned her in the city, only ten times worse. Like something horrifying is about to happen to all of them in the next few minutes.
As Thirteen is very serious about warning the students about the power of each of their individual quirks and how they have the ability to save, but also to seriously harm or even kill someone, Masha scratches her itching arms and brings herself closer to her legal guardian. Not listening to the female space hero who reminds the class that although they might get their hero licenses to use their powers in public, there are still strict regulations on how the quirks can be used in the real world anymore, she shoots the black haired teacher a serious gaze to receive his attention which works instantly. He steps aside and stands right next to the tiger girl raising his eyebrows questioningly at her and she stares into his tired eyes to make sure that he understands that she's not joking or trying to mess with his classes.
"I'm having a very bad feeling about all of this", she mumbles quietly so that only the eraser hero can hear her. "I can't tell you exactly how or why, but something's terribly off here. It's making my body shiver, I've never felt something similar before" Uncle Shota returns her intense gaze calmly and furrows his brows in thought after her explanation, but before he can react, Thirteen ends her speech and Masha's classmates begin clapping their hands and cheering for the space hero.
At the same time Masha's body tenses up and her head jerks into the direction of the fountain in the middle of the arena. "Eraserhead!" she warns and as he hears his hero name from the young tigress, he understands that she's deadly serious. The lightbulbs above his head shatter and the water fountain begins to turn off and on again. A purple shadow crawls through the arena and forms an entrance-like smoky gate right next to the now malfunctioning fountain. The students watch the spectacle with wide eyes and open mouths, still being excited and thinking that this is a part of the training. But the tiger girl knows better and activates her quirk powers letting her black tiger stripes cover her arms and her face and also letting her claws and fangs grow all out. Her amber gaze from her feline eyes hardens and she concentrates on all of her senses simultaneously while a threatening low growl forms in her throat. She searches for Izuku's and Katsuki's eyes who both recognize her change and understand the situation immediately, focusing on their own stances to get ready to fight.
"Stay together and don't move!" Mr. Aizawa commands in a rough and harsh voice. "Thirteen, protect the students!" Masha's chest tightens in fear watching her uncle being so fierce. "Wow, what is that thing?" Kirishima wonders as a figure appears from the purple cloud. The crimson head still doesn't get the threatening atmosphere while a tall and skinny dude with light blueish hair and many severed hands clutching onto his arms and face enters the USJ with several other suspicious guys following him behind. "Wait, has the training started already? I thought we were rescuing people?" Kirishima asks even more confused until he shoots Masha a glance and recognizes her tense fighting stance. She nods once at the red head and he nods back seriously in a secret agreement. Finally he's getting the hold of the situation here.
"Stay back!" their black-haired teacher shouts and puts on his yellow goggles over his eyes. "This is real and those are villains" The students gasp collectively at Aizawa's threatening tone and they stare at the growing group of people beginning to speculate how the villains could have entered the secured school grounds without triggering the alarms and what purpose they might have. They come to the conclusion that one of the villains must have a quirk which is able to block the communications and that they've chosen the USJ to attack because the facility is isolated and strategically the best suited place, but the question still remains why a whole gang of villains would actually go to the trouble of launching into a school class.
Masha narrows her feline amber eyes and worries about uncle Shota who looks prepared to fight the intruders all alone. "What are you going to do?" Izukyun asks the teacher and the young girl can hear the same concern in his tone. "You can't fight them on your own! There's too many of them. Even if you can nullify their quirks, your fighting style's not suited for this. Your power works best in stealthy situations and one-on-one fights. That's not going to help with a group" Masha watches uncle Shota looking back at the green haired boy who has worry written all over his face. "You can't be a pro if you only have one trick", he claims back sluggishly and glances over at the teenage girl. His eyes linger on her for a while and fear tugs at her heart as he jumps up high into the air and throws himself into battle.
Eraserhead combines his martial arts, the gray capturing weapon scarf and his quirk to take down his enemies without any difficulties. With gleaming eyes the cat girl watches the black haired going all out until she is grabbed by her wrist and looks deeply into Izuku's green and friendly eyes. "Come on Masha, we have to go now. He can't fight properly if he has to worry about us. Let's believe in him!" Tears fill up her eyes and her sight gets blurry, but she nods and follows her childhood friend and her other classmates who're already fleeing the area and making their way towards the exit of the dome.
However before the students can even get close to the entrance doors, they are attacked by the purple shadow which turns out to be a villain in form of a powerful warp gate. Katsuki and Kirishima try to jump in with an explosive counter, but it's no use. In an instant class 1-A is surrounded by the purple portal smoke and gets scattered across the whole arena.
A/N: Okay so the introductory part of the USJ arc is over and next time we'll come to the fight with the villains and All Might's heroic entrance to save his students. Thank you guys very much for reading and I can't say it enough - of course for all of you who're following and adding my story to your favorites I'm beyond grateful and happy that you like it! I'm adding a tiny little spoiler here for all of you to look forward to - in the next chapter we're gonna see Masha's "true self" revealed for the first time in the story! So I hope this keeps you a little excited and willing to come back for the next chapter as well. See ya all next time, my friends! And until then have a great time and stay healthy! :-)
