So, you might have noticed I've been gone for a bit. This is due to a number of things all coming up together in my life. None of those are super problematic by themselves, but combined they mean I have a lot less time on my hand for fanfics. Does this mean I have given up on my weekly updates? Heck no, I love that schedule, it really gave me a full sense of progression I miss with my current erratic updates. I fully intend to go back to it. When will that be? I... genuinely hope it will be in the second half of this month or at worst in the next, but I have decided to not make promises anymore. You will notice when I'm back to it because... well, you will go back to see new chapters weekly. Until then, I hope you all will stick around and keep telling me what you think about my stories.
(XX)
Izuku stepped through the streets, following Kanamoto and Umisaka. The blonde teen and the Octovian were keeping their guard up while scouting ahead, and Izuku and Kita, the Displacen girl, were doing the same for the back. She was ready to jump ahead to help them in close quarters if needed, but otherwise, like him, she had her weapon on the ready.
"Still no sign of anyone." Izuku muttered in his communicators.
"I don't like it." Kanamoto admitted. "I expected at least Kitamura and Mikazuchi to show up by now, not to mention Toga and Shiko."
"If they aren't here, better for us." Umisaka replied, his tentacles on the ready to react to any attack, "And if they are hiding, they still have to come out and attack us to win."
"What's the plan if they do though?" Kita asked.
"You handle Mikazuchi and we try to trap Kitamura. She isn't that strong if we all team up on her. The remaining guards should be Ikketsu and Miyake, and they are both suited for the role of defending the weapons, so that tracks." Kanamoto replied as they reached the final street between them and their target.
"Yes." Izuku nodded, "The worst case scenario is that six people converge on us, but that's unlikely, because then they break the stalemate against the others."
Kita nodded back, and Izuku hoped they were right.
-x-
Ochaco kept her eyes open as she walked up and down the roof.
"You shouldn't be so worried." Kumogami said, as he aimed his sniper rifle. The purple teen had been training since day one with it, apparently. He had given it a name as well, although she wasn't sure if 'Viper' was the least original name she had ever heard or a fun pun, considering the kind of projectile the weapon shot.
"I'm worried because I'm up here doing nothing while the others are all fighting. What happens if I don't fight at all in a combat exam?"
"I'm sure they have something planned." Kumogami said. She made to reply but he raised his hand and she shut up immediately. They had already done this a few times, and so she had no problem waiting as he took aim and fired. A streak of light shot out of the rifle, before an explosion of green slime exploded on the body of Satoshi Sugiyama, the Gargantea teen, enveloping him.
She hissed. The 'Viper' was actualy an NV-49 S, the latest in the Nembiver Sniper Rifles. Nembivers were ambush fighters, that usually dragged enemies in traps and then either captured or shot them dead. That rifle could fire both regular bullets and a series of various special projectiles, ranging from laser charges to the Nembivers' Acid Charges, which the green slime was meant to emulate.
"Not enough to take out a Gargantea, it seems." Kumogami replied after a moment, when there was no announcement of Sugiyama's removal from the match.
"Should have just used the laser bullets." Ochaco replied.
"Harder to aim properly. I need more time before I can use the laser reliably."
Ochaco nodded, deciding to not press. She was a close quarter combatant that only had a regular gun as a side arm, she wasn't about to judge a sniper's skills.
"We move then, I think we can…"
"Guys!" She turned around and stared in surprise as Umisaka, without his mechanical body, and Kita arrived at the top of the roof. "Guys, sorry we…"
She didn't even let them finish, rushing them even as her weapon activated, a metallic cover rushing up her arms and closing around most of her hands, leaving the fingers free but covering the palm and the back up to the knuckles. She instantly punched toward Kita, who yelped and dodged out of the way.
"Are you crazy?!" She shouted.
"One of the enemies is a Kashik." She replied, "What would you two be doing here, anyway?"
"Uraraka, it's us." A voice called in her ear. She turned to see Umisaka speaking in the communicator. "It's us. Midoriya and Kanamoto were taken out. We decided to regroup."
Ochaco studied them both. They both looked exactly like Umisaka and Kita, and they only knew of one Kashik among their enemies. According to Hara, Kasikoka Shiko, the shapeshifter from the Chugoku branch, had a penchant for preferring female disguises, hence why she had attacked Kita.
She was still fairly sure this was a trap, though. While Umisaka having his communicator was a hint otherwise, only a complete idiot would believe them like this. There was only one way to test it, though, and that would instantly switch this into open combat. Depending on their opponent's skills, she wasn't sure how good an idea it was to move into close combat with only a sniper as support.
Ochaco sighed, and then pressed a hand on her ear. "Midoriya, Kanamoto, you guys ok?"
"All green."
"No problem here."
She smirked, "Terrible lie." She declared, glancing left and right. The fake Umisaka seemed almost surprised she had outed them so easily, but the fake Kita just rolled her eyes.
"Tch, this isn't fun at all." The fake Kita said, before transforming again, her body dissolving into a translucent blob before reforming again, this time growing in size until she matched in both size and appearance Sugiyama. The Kashik turned Gargantea rushed toward Kumogami. The Nembiver teen and Uraraka both fired, Uraraka opening her hand to reveal the blaster in her palm while Kumogami fired his side arm, a gun that normally would have been charged with normal bullets but now carried only paintballs to simulate the normal weapons in the training environment.
The Kashik blocked it with both arms. Ochaco's Concussive Gloves were meant for a slightly shorter range, at least without charge, and a bullet wasn't enough to replace it.
She turned around and noticed the fake Umisaka was gone. "Where…"
A knife slid close to her side, and she only had a moment to recognize the danger. She instinctively grabbed it, the iron glove closing around the weapon, the blade pressing against the palm of the Concussive Gloves. The person looking at her wasn't Umisaka anymore, but instead a… Naked girl?!
Ochaco stumbled back in surprise, and the girl didn't miss her surprise, pushing the knife forward again. Rationally, she knew it was fake, a training weapon, but Ochaco still gasped as it hit her in the shoulder.
Himiko Toga stared down at the girl. "Ssssh, miss Uraraka, we just want to take care of the Sniper."
"Not true." The Kashik shouted, blocking another shot with his Gargantea form while Kumogami desperately kept running away. "We are supposed to take out everyone."
"You are no fan, miss Shiko."
"It's mister right now. And I don't believe being fun is part of my duties." The Kashik replied, before one of his fists slammed toward Kumogami. The teen managed to duck under it and fire a shot straight at the Kashik's face, finally getting a reaction as the Gargantea stumbled back.
"Tch, guess we should finish here." Toga raised her fake knife, ready to stab down, but Ochaco beat her, slamming her hand on the floor of the roof. She had several seconds to charge the Concussive Gloves, and the resulting blast was enough to shatter the roof and make both of them fall on the floor below, while also blasting them apart. She stumbled back, feeling the growing pain in her shoulders.
The Concussive Gloves, as they were called by the HASC, were a fairly common tech in the Intergalactic Community, simple arm-connected blasters that released a repulse beam that pushed stuff away. At their lowest setting, they could stun someone just like a good punch, even from a few meters, but at their strongest, fully charged, they could shatter concrete easily. Ochaco had ideas on how to use them long term, but right now she still needed to grow in them. Until she was fully ready, even with the metallic braces around her arm, using the full strength harmed her shoulders, and she had been instructed to not use them too often at the high charged setting.
She had a moment to look around before a group of four syringes shout up from behind the rubble and aimed for her. She dodged them, and they slithered back around Toga's neck, where they and two more were connected to some sort of tank. The girl had reverted to normal, apparently. Her body had turned back to that of a normal, blonde girl, and she was now wearing a white body suit and a set of long tubes that connected to the syringes on one said and went back to her back on the other.
'Injectors? Or is she trying to take something?' Ochaco wondered. The latter made sense, considering she had also noticed her knives seemed shaped weirdly, with a deep groove above the blade.
Before she could think about it more, the girl pulled out a gun and shot her. Ochaco fired her right repulsor, the paintball exploding in midair.
"Honestly the gun doesn't feel like it fits." She commented.
"My Trainer says I should focus on close quarters, but having a ranged option is for the best. I just went for the simpler one." Toga replied, smiling. Ochaco knew very well what she meant. Her trainer had also commented she might eventually want an option with a longer range than the Gloves' repulsors, especially if she needed a lethal option, but in her case he had argued to wait a bit, to let her train her Quirk and with the Gloves.
She moved a hand forward and fired a repulsor shot, then another. 'I won't lose.' She thought, 'I will become an Agent. I will help my parents.'
-x-
'I won't lose.' Toga thought, 'I'm not going back to my parents.' She ducked low, dodging a shot from the girl's weapon. It was a very common weapon, from what her Trainer had taught her.
She ducked below Uraraka's next repulsor shot and extended her Seekers. The technology that controlled those extendible tubes was frankly out of this world, but she was thankful for it, it gave her a lot of options. The tubes shot forward, only for one of the syringes to get destroyed by a shot and another caught by the girl's left end.
This Uraraka was a tough one. "Are you done yet, Shiko?!"
"This guy is fast!" Shiko shouted back in the communicator.
"Just turn into something faster!"
"If I do that he will… Ah shit! Call you back!" She heard a loud blast from the broken roof above them, though luckily it didn't break apart. Hard light or not, she didn't want to know what concrete-copying hard light felt light when it fell on your head.
Himiko grimaced but rushed forward. She was a close quarter specialist, training for infiltration missions. She still had a lot to learn, for sure, but still… She dodged a repulsor shot, and then dove low, using some of the rubble to break her opponent's line of sight.
'Become one with your surroundings.' She thought, repeating what she had learned, 'You are the hunter. Don't attack, ambush. Don't face, blindside.'
Himiko had been told she was a natural at it. That she almost vanished entirely by holding her breath and attacking from the opponent's blindspot. She slid around Uraraka, and her knife ready to stab through her flank, and dashed forward, the extendable syringes covering for her as she stabbed Uraraka's side with the faux blade. It wouldn't draw much blood – the blade could cause some scratches if she used it right, but wouldn't break further in…
And then a metal-plated elbow slammed down on her neck. She gasped.
"Ochaco Uraraka, out. Himiko Toga, out." A voice declared in her communicator.
Toga lost consciousness right afterwards.
-x-
"A double KO?" Izuku wondered.
"They probably hit each other with their last attack. It's rare, but not impossible." Kanamoto replied, "Are you ready?"
Everyone nodded, and they dived in the building where the weapons were hidden. They had done a quick run around. Seven floors, no back exit, windows on every floor. Izuku, Kanamoto and Kita went room by room for the first floor, then the second, while Umisaka used his particular body to move floor by floor outside the building, trying to spot the enemy through the windows. Izuku opened one door after another, finding nothing but empty rooms and open windows. He clutched his gun, ready to fire at the slightest danger. Meanwhile they were getting continuous updates. "Satoshi Sugiyama, out… Yusei Kumogami, out... Takumi Asai, out… Noboro Fujihara, out… Shigeo Adachi, out… Kiyoshi Endo, out…"
"Clean." Kita whispered through the communicator. Izuku replied with an affirmative, as did Kanamoto, and they proceeded to the floor above, Kanamoto opening the way using his special eyesight to prevent ambushes while Izuku covered them from the back. , As they went up, he glanced out of the window mid-way through the stairs, expecting to see Umisaka climbing up… And then his eyes went wide.
"We got company!" He shouted about at the same time Umisaka did in the communicator, and then Nana Kitamura fired the gun she had been holding on. The window crashed into a thousand pieces, Izuku throwing himself to the ground, rolling down the stairs while covering his head to avoid any real damage.
"Midoriya!" Kita called.
"Kitamura is here! Umisaka, are you ok?!"
"She is floating outside the building! Mikazuchi is here too, just walked in!"
Midoriya nodded. "Kanamoto…"
"I don't need you to tell me. Umisaka, slide in through a window, you and me will go upstairs to take care of those two. Midoriya, are you sure Kitamura will be after you?"
"She has a bit of a grudge." Izuku replied.
"I'm glad to hear that." Kanamoto replied. "Kita, you are against Mikazuchi."
Kita nodded, teleporting downstairs next to Midoriya and helping him up. Kanamoto nodded one last time and then rushed upstairs. Izuku took a deep breath, moved to the closest window, and slowly raised a hand so it would be visible outside.
The window instantly shattered, a shot running through. "I think it's safe to say we have her attention."
"I'll go stop Mikazuchi downstairs. It's better if we don't have to fight both him and her together." Kita said, and Izuku nodded, as she teleported to the stairs and then down. He took a deep breath, preparing his gun. He ducked low, making sure he was below the line of the windows that lined the corridor. The windows alternated between one closed and one open, and there were ten on the side. He didn't stop at the first or second, but went for the third before standing up-
A bullet almost hit him, instead flying barely above his head and crashing against the wall behind, taking with it several strands of green hair. Izuku fired back a shot, but Kitamura had moved out of range of his Goo Gun, the red material falling harmlessly long before it could hit her. Izuku ducked back in time to not get shot by the second hit, and took a deep breath.
He couldn't win this with the Goo Gun, and while there was a ranged use for the Piercer, it required a lot of strength he still hadn't developed. Which left…
He sighed and pulled out his second gun, flicking the safety off, and then stood up, a bullet scratching the side of his face before exploding into paint on the wall behind him.
He took the shot.
The bullet sailed through the air and got Kitamura in the leg, red paint covering her whole leg. She hissed, knowing what that meant. She had just been shot.
Izuku sighed, ducking back down. The truth was, for all the incredible weapons supplied by the HASC, sometimes, human weapons did the job. His secondary gun was a regular gun. No special attachments, no unique abilities. The only different thing about it was that it was made with some alien alloy that made it more resistant and extended the range by twenty or so meters, but in all other aspects, this was a normal gun that fired normal bullets.
It was a weapon made exclusively to hurt and kill people.
Saying Izuku didn't like it, even if he acknowledged he needed it, was an understatement.
He paused, and heard the gunshot ringing from both the floor above and the floor below. Kita and Mikazuchi were probably going all out below. From what he understood, their native species were like cats and dogs when it came to their relationship, and even if they were both only half-Aliens, that rivalry was still there.
He kept law as he dashed back to the second open window, standing up and opening fire again. This time, Kitamura had made a mistake in guessing which one he would choose, and paid the price when another shot hit her shoulder. Izuku expected that to be considered enough to take her out, but that proved to be a mistake when he relaxed for an instant and Kitamura answered opening fire. He gasped as his own right shoulder was hit and he stumbled on the ground, wincing. That would leave a mark, for sure.
"Yukio Mikazuchi, out." The communicator suddenly said, followed by a cheer from Kita. Izuku was about to answer when it sounded again, "Takohiko Umisaka, out."
'Dammit.' He put his hand on the communicator, "Kita, your situation?"
"A few grazes, but he is worse off."
"Go upstairs to help Kanamoto."
"… Are you sure?"
"Kitamura is after me, right now. So long as she focuses her attention on me, she can't help her allies."
Kita nodded, and soon after Izuku watched her appear first in the corridor, then up the stairs. To cover for her, Izuku fired at Kitamura again, though this time the black-haired girl managed to float out of the way. Once Kita made it past, he ducked back down and recharged his weapon. "Senta Ikketsu, out." That was one of the two guards on the floor above.
He breathed in, moved low toward the fourth window, then backed to the first and stood up. Kitamura once again had made a mistake predicting his hiding spot, and he used that. This time, instead of firing again, he took an instant to take aim properly. The distance was perfect, and since they were underground there wasn't wind to disrupt his shot. He fired, and Kitamura shouted as she was hit right in the chest.
"Nana Kitamura, out." The radio called, and Izuku watched Kitamura hold the shot she was about to fire, glare at him and then, dejected, land on a building nearby. He sighed in relief, then stood up, preparing to head for the floor above, only to turn around and see Kita, pistol in hand.
"Midoriya!"
"Kita, is everything-" He froze as she raised the gun and fired. He gasped, hit straight in the chest by the shot, a yellow material that, Izuku realized a moment later, was used to simulate a Plasma projectile.
He had just been killed by the Kashik.
"Izuku Midoriya, out." The voice announced.
-x-
He spent the remainder of his time sitting on the floor scratching yellow goo off his chest and arms. "Kashikoka Shiko, out… Yukiko Kita, out… Ichiro Miyake, out… The weapons have been recovered by the Agents…"
And shortly after, the time was up. One member of the enemy team had survived, against three of their own. They had won. But Midoriya wasn't sure he could say he had won.
Kanamoto, walking down the stairs next to Kita and Umisaka, just glanced at him and shrugged as he stood up and joined them downstairs, and then back to the entrance for the training area.
"Good job everyone." Chief Konoe said, "You all put up a good fight, all things considered. I will forward a review of your overall performance to your Trainers, so look forward for it, alright?" She winked at them, before leading them upstairs and back to the main room.
On his way, Izuku looked around. Kitamura, who still had spots of red paint on her face, was talking with Uraraka, who seemed to be having fun retelling her own fight. Kita walked up to him and offered some words of support, and Kashikoka Shiko, now looking like a blonde girl with light green eyes, told him she was sorry for the nasty trick. He waved it off, just complimenting her for her skills, and then sat down, as they arrived in the resting area.
Looking around, he spotted Himiko Toga. She had a bandage around her neck, one of the few people actually showing more than a few bruises and a lot of paint on their gym clothes, and as he wondered what had happened, Uraraka walked up to her. They clearly exchanged a few words, but it was clear Toga had dismissed what was likely an apology. Looking around, he noticed several people were actually doing the same thing, as he had done with Shiko. He sighed. Maybe that was just the nature of things.
'I just hope the test was considered a success…' He thought. He wasn't sure. On one hand, he had taken out Kitamura. On the other, he had won that in the first place because Kitamura was holding a grudge against him. Would she have risked the confrontation if she didn't have her current dislike for Izuku, something caused by an Alien Virus? It was hard to say.
And then he had lost to Shiko without really realizing who they actually were. He knew realistically there was basically no time for him to notice before they took him out, but he still felt like he should have clued in on the Kashik's identity.
He sighed. Well, that was that. As more and more groups of Trainees walked back in, he could only hope the interview would go better. 'It's just a matter of working hard. I need to prove I've been achieving results. I have! Right? I mean, one mission was transferred, but the others…'
"You look like a dead man, Midoriya." A familiar voice said. Haya slapped him on the back, grinning as he stumbled forward two steps.
"Ah, sorry, Haya. I guess I am a bit worried…"
"No, I mean, you literally look like a dead man, I can see the paint on your gym clothes." She replied. He looked down. Sure enough, he did still have some paint here and there. He chuckled.
"Eh. I did die. What about y-" He paused, staring at her hair and face, now partially colored of a dark red that looked far too similar to blood. "You died too?"
"Wow, what incredible insight, Midoriya. Work hard enough and you might even guess I got shot in the head." Haya said, rolling her eyes in an exaggerated way, but without letting the grin fade to show it was in good faith, "I got sniped. What happened to you?"
"Kashik."
"Ah." She nodded, "Tricky stuff in the heat of the moment. Sure, they are easy to figure out when you have the time to think them through, but…"
"Yeah, if they can just shoot you without consequence, they have won." Izuku sighed, "Noted."
"Well, don't worry too much, at least you weren't the first death." She paused, "I hope. You weren't the first death, right?" Izuku shook his head, and Haya sighed in relief, "Thank goodness. It doesn't actually matter for the evaluation, unless you just got eliminated without firing a single shot or something like that, but… well, there is a bit of a rumor."
"A rumor?"
"The Curse of the First Death." She shivered, leaning closer, "They say that the first person that dies in the first team exercise, whenever that is, will never pass the training stage."
"Is that true?"
"Who knows. Realistically, only a handful of people manage to make it as full Agents, the majority either dropping out entirely or ending up in a non-combat Office. It's probably just statistics." She shrugged, "Either way, it's not you, so it's not a problem. You just have to worry about regular failure now. You should relax."
"Well, right now he should actually focus on the final part of the exam, so he has no time for relaxing!" Another familiar voice said, Shishikura standing next to the two. Looking at him, Izuku noticed that unlike them, Shishikura only sported one 'wound', a large orange blot on his right arm.
"When did you arrive?"
"In time to hear you talk about the Curse." Shishikura provided, before turning to Midoriya, still proudly speaking loudly and carefully "Either way, Midoriya, Haya, I just wanted to tell you the showers are open but it hasn't been announced yet. You probably want to go there everyone finds out!"
Izuku and Haya stared at him, as did every person in the vicinity.
A second later, the entire gym was rushing for their turn showering. Judging by the distance, Midoriya would be quite a bit behind.
"Dammit, Shishikura." Izuku thought, before smiling. At least, for a bit, he would have something different from the final test to think about.
(XX)
Fight, fight, fight, fight!
Honestly, it's always fun to write some combat. Gunfights are interesting to write, if still something I'm less proficient at right now, but I think Kitamura v Midoriya was solid enough to publish it, and my beta seemed to agree, so nice, progress.
And hey, more importantly, we got some Uraraka and Toga action. What's not to love?
I'm sure some people might be able to guess what's going on with those two, or just why they are here. Not how, though, that is still a good question. Some of this will be brought up in the next chapter, with the Interview, but the more juicy stuff will come... eventually. For now, take this as an appetizer.