Chapter 65: Joint Training, Part 3
"So," said Aizawa, crossing his arms in front of his four defeated students. "Anyone wanna tell me what went wrong?"
Sero scratched his arm sheepishly. "I should have probably just gone with Iida and Uraraka…without me, they didn't have a lot of ways to capture anyone that they fought, and I misjudged what Ibara would do."
"I allowed myself to get split up from Uraraka," Iida muttered, clenching his fist.
Ojiro and Uraraka remained silent.
"I would agree with those assessments," said Aizawa. "Your team was highly mobile, but it seems like you fell back on that too much. Your spacing as a team across the field of battle was too uneven. You allowed the opponents to run you ragged, and just barely pull the advantage out at the last second. Ojiro, Uraraka, you both fought well, but remember not to your exhaust yourselves unnecessarily. Don't let emotions cloud your judgement. One thing Sero did have right is that he did not let his personal connection with an opponent cloud his strategy. That strategy was poor, but nevertheless…if the two of you had simply not been present at the cage, and been with Iida instead, how might have things gone differently? It would have been Kamakiri who would have been stranded away from his team, and you would have that much more energy."
"Yes, sir," Uraraka muttered. Ojiro simply nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, Vlad King appraised his own students. "Excellent work out there, you four! Especially Shiozaki and Yanagi. You two both made plans that did not interfere with each other, and managed to use field tactics to make two captures of extremely hard-to-catch opponents. Shishida, you did an adequate, though reckless, job of being the tank drawing most of the attention."
Shiozaki grinned pridefully, while Yanagi's smile was more subdued. Shishida bowed respectfully with a neutral expression.
Kamakiri huffed and averted his eyes, but Vlad King put a hand on the mantis boy's shoulder. "Even though you got captured, you did manage to draw the attention of two of their team and exhaust them enough to withhold them from giving assistance to Iida. You were definitely instrumental to the victory."
"Doesn't mean I'm not zero for two," he growled, staring daggers at Ojiro and Uraraka.
Nezu clapped his paws. "Well, that's one match settled! What about the rest of the students? Who would you all say did the best on each team?"
"Uraraka and Iida!" Mina declared, at the same time that several Class B members said "Shiozaki!" and the other half of them said "Yanagi!"
All Might crossed his arms. "I would agree with those four. Well done to all of you, however."
Nezu turned to look at Mirko. "Any comments from our honored guest?"
The bunny hero remained silent for a moment, pursing her lips. Then, she pointed back and forth between Uraraka and Yanagi. "You two," she said. "I like you. You fight with a viciousness that's required out there in the field. And even better, you're both cute little dumplings, so the villains won't expect it." She grinned in a very Bakugo-like manner. "You'll be dropping 'em like flies in no time."
A blush crossed Uraraka's face. "Well, thank you, Mirko ma'am."
"Yes," Reiko agreed with a nod. "Your support is much appreciated."
What the heck is her criteria? wondered Doko, watching the rabbit hero with a tilted head. You'd think she would have liked Kamakiri too, if she enjoys vicious fighters.
"Oh man, Ochaco got acknowledged by her," Mina cried under her breath. "I've got to do the same!"
"All in due time, sweetie. But it's my turn first," Doko told her.
Aizawa lifted his head. "Seems like the bots are done patching up the field. Teams A2 and B2, ready up."
Doko looked back at Shinso, Momo, and Toru. "Shall we?"
Momo nodded, flipping her cape over her shoulder. "Let's go."
The two teams lined up together as they prepared to step into the field. Kendo led the opponents, followed closely by Monoma, then the quiet Fukidashi and Bondo behind them.
Monoma grinned and leaned back, tossing a gaze Doko's way. "We're one win ahead," he announced. "Ready to make it two?"
Toru made a sound that might have been her blowing a raspberry at him.
Doko blinked. "Where do you get your confidence from, man? I've genuinely never seen you succeed at anything."
Kendo snorted despite herself. Monoma frowned, and looked back at Shinso. "These are the people you'll end up classmates with if you win," he said. "Isn't it shameful?"
"I wouldn't know," Shinso muttered. "It's dangerous to talk to me, you know. Even if the match hasn't started, I could cheat and brainwash you."
"You wouldn't risk your potential entry into the hero course on something like that." Monoma winked. "You and I are the same, you know."
"We aren't."
"We are. Both doomed with Quirks that force us out of the spotlight. In order to be heroes, we actually have to rely on villainous tactics. Isn't it twisted?"
"That's what we were given," Shinso replied plainly, adjusting his metal mask. "So we may as well run with it."
Monoma grinned. "I agree."
Doko thought about this for a moment, staring ahead at Momo's back as the two teams walked side-by-side into the field. That's what we were given…
That's what we were given…
Given by who?
His Quirk curdled deep in his stomach. I have to keep it under control. If it goes crazy while Mirko is watching, what will she think of me? He was still worried about Midoriya and All Might planned to do with him.
Don't be ridiculous. It's not like they're going to kill you just because you found out their little secret. But…even so…if they've kept this from everyone for so long…do I really know them at all?
Ahead of him, Momo and Itsuka were talking to each other.
"You know, we're often grouped together, you and I," Kendo was saying.
Momo raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"Ever since we both appeared in that commercial. You heard the people at the festival shouting Yaoyorozu! And Kendo! It's like we're two school idols. A double package."
"That's one way of putting it," muttered Doko.
"But still…you're a lot prettier than me, and smarter, and richer, with a flashier Quirk. So I can't help but be frustrated that we're compared together like that." Kendo was still smiling, but Doko could hear the genuine bitterness in her voice. "I don't subscribe to the delusions of the blonde brat behind me…"
"Hey!"
"...but I really want to beat you, Yao-momo. I kinda see you as the person I want to surpass."
Momo placed a hand over her chest. "I would consider you one of my dearest friends, so it would be rude of me not to accept your feelings. I shall step up to your challenge."
…
"First order of business: keep as far away from Katayama as possible," said Monoma when the four members of the B-team had gathered around their cage, waiting for the match to start. "According to Tokage, his ability to warp other people may still be unreliable, but we have to assume that he might have a grip on it. We can't let him get close enough to simply teleport us into the cage."
"Are you saying he's not worth it to try and capture?" asked Bondo.
Monoma grinned. "That's only advice for the worst-case scenario. Staying away from him doesn't mean we don't attack him. He can only teleport himself if he can move his legs. Bondo, if you can get just close enough to spread your glue over the ground and lock his feet in place…"
"What about the others?" asked Kendo. "Shinso is definitely an issue."
"Just be mindful and don't talk to him," said Monoma. "I bet Eraser Head has trained him up a bit with that capture tape, but overall it's the same situation as Katayama: we should keep our distance and keep our silence."
"Might be hard for you," Kendo muttered. Her fingers framed her chin thoughtfully. "Yaomomo will come up with some grand strategy to start. That's how her brain works. I bet that since their last team failed by splitting up and spreading over the map too much, their plan will be to lure us back somehow toward their cage while sticking together for the most part. If we can split them up and disrupt their plans, we can get the upper hand on them…particularly on Yaomomo, who doesn't perform as well under pressure."
Fukidashi's speech bubble read: I can split them up.
Kendo laughed. "That you can."
Monoma frowned. "Are you sure you don't just want to get Yaoyorozu alone to beat her yourself? Vendettas like that might cause problems for us."
"You can't talk about anyone having a vendetta," Kendo told him dryly. "A vendetta is what motivates you to get out of bed in the mornings."
"I resent that notion…"
"Guys," Bondo muttered. "Stop arguing. I bet the schism between you two is exactly what the Class A team is planning to exploit. I saw the warper boy looking back and forth between you, and Shinso as well. And who knows where the invisible girl is looking."
"That's another thing," Kendo said. "How do you think they might use Hagakure?"
Monoma waved a dismissive hand. "She is not worth worrying about."
"But she'll be hard to catch. Even saying I defeat Yaomomo, how do we plan on locking down any of the others…"
"Not to worry," Monoma grinned. "I have a plan."
More text appeared on Fukidashi's face. Oh yeah! Monoma, you recently upped the amount of Quirks you can copy at once, right? From three to four! You can take all of ours plus one of the enemy team's!
Monoma grinned. "I'd rather not take your Quirk, Manga, my dear boy. I may not have the proper physicality to use it. But yes, I will gladly copy Kendo's and Bondo's. Kendo's for the sake of combat against Shinso, and with double the glue output, we can keep our distance from Katayama's attacks even further."
"So you're gonna get two of the enemy's Quirks?" Kendo asked. "Which ones? Basically all four of them have really complex Quirks. I'm not sure you can even copy Hagakure's at all, and Yaomomo's and Katayama's may end up hurting you…"
"Kendo, Kendo, I thought you were supposed to be confident about this? All I'm hearing is worries and concerns and uncertainties. The opponents we have are formidable, true. But…"
Neito Monoma closed his fist. Memories flashed through his head.
It's so weird how he steals other people's stuff…like he's leeching off what makes them special.
It's like you have no identity of your own!
Freak! Thief!
You can't be a hero with a power like that!
"Standing up to formidable circumstances is what a hero does," he murmured.
…
"So," said Momo, hands on her hips, "is everyone clear on the plan?"
"Crystal," said Doko.
"Yes," Shinso whispered.
"Got it!" Toru's glove made a thumbs-up.
"Good. Now…" She looked forward to the corridor before them, where off in the distance, their enemies lurked. "...I know that I have a bit of a reputation for caving under pressure. Katayama-kun, you are sometimes the same way. We both feel an immense duty toward performing as well as our impressive Quirks allow us to. And when things go wrong, we can start to panic and lose focus."
Doko nodded. He remembered their text conversation before finals: how they'd both admitted that they felt like with Quirks that so many people called amazing all the time, they had an obligation to live up to those high standards. That they were the weak link in the human-Quirk relationship. And since then, that "relationship" in my case has become more real than she could ever know…
"And you, Shinso, are dealing with the pressure of being in a hero exercise for the first time. You want to perform well for the people who are watching. All strategy and logic aside, I shall remind you all of this: it's only an exercise. Let us keep our heads on straight, and perform to the best of our ability. Expect the unexpected. Be ready for things to go wrong."
Shinso nodded. "I don't plan on being a liability to the three of you. If I end up being one anyway, I apologize in advance. But I will do everything in my power to catch up and reach your level."
"We got this, guys!" said Hagakure, raising one glove into the air like a cheerleader. "No fretting! Let's win this with a smile! Even if you can't see mine!"
Momo turned to Doko, expecting him to say something.
He met her eyes, and remembered something he'd told her the last time they'd been at this training site. For the rescue race, when she'd been at her lowest point.
This time, he changed things a little.
"I'm rooting for us," he said.
Momo's lips lifted into a smile. "Yes!" She whirled forward, her cape whipping about. "Come on, then. Let's make a fight of it! Shinso, whatever happens in the future, for the next twenty minutes, you're a part of Class A!"
The alarm blared, beginning the match, and the four of them took off running down the corridor, abandoning their cage entirely.
…
"The match has now begun!" Midnight announced, clapping her hands together.
"Looks like ours have learned from last match's mistakes!" hooted Kirishima. "Sticking together and all going forward!" He pointed at the camera, which showed all four of the Class A team running together up the street.
"Yes, but is it wise to abandon the cage?" Shoji wondered aloud. His eyes - and two eyes coming out of his arms - were on Toru specifically.
"We'll just have to see," intoned Tokoyami.
"No doubt Yaoyorozu has a plan," said Todoroki.
Izuku shifted his way over to where All Might was standing. If they whispered, no one would be able to hear unless Jiro and Shoji were really listening.
For a moment, neither of them said anything. And then, from All Might: "I hear Katayama has had some difficulty controlling his Quirk recently."
"Uh, yeah. I think Aizawa-sensei has been helping him. He's been training him and Uraraka to fight without their Quirks. And maybe Shinso as well, now that I think about it."
All Might turned his head. "You sound a little jealous. Perhaps it's fine for Aizawa to show favoritism toward certain students, especially considering I train you personally all the time."
Izuku sighed. "I'm not jealous. I don't know why it might have come off that way." It's been lovely, talking and hanging out with Nejire these past few weeks…but seeing Uraraka and Iida teamed up in that last match really made me miss the days when it was the three of us. We're still friends but nowadays it feels like I don't talk to them as much. Uraraka, especially, has really broken out on her own…
All Might was watching Katayama intently on the screen. "You wouldn't be able to tell at a glance that he was having trouble with Quirk control. Young Katayama still seems as competent as ever to me."
"Are you suggesting he might be lying about it?" Izuku gasped.
"I'm suggesting…that the two of you appearing in a dream together by accident is something I find a little difficult to buy."
"You buy everything else about One for All, but this is what bothers you?" A shadow fell over Izuku's face. "With all due respect, All Might, you weren't there. And you can't possibly say that Katayama has bad intentions after all this time. After everything we both know he's been through."
"Perhaps not. But All For One did have plans for the boy. His fate is intertwined with ours, whether we like it or not. Perhaps…" All Might stared more deeply at the screen. "Perhaps we were always meant to let him in on the secret from the beginning."
…
Hitoshi Shinso ran with the others, hiding the items Yaoyorozu had given him in the pockets of the gym uniform. Will this be enough? he wondered. Would he be able to do enough to impress Aizawa?
The man's words flashed through his head again. I am giving you a chance because I have discerned that you have a sliver of potential. Don't waste it.
I can't waste it…
They came to an intersection of paths under the shadow of massive industrial structures. Yaoyorozu slid to a halt. "We should be close," she murmured. "Where are the…"
Katayama's head shot up in alarm. "MOVE!" he roared.
CRRRRRRAAAAAAAAASH!
A MASSIVE wall of text came bursting out of the wall of pipes and metal to their left, protruding out like the prow of a ship, scattering scrap and debris all over the place. The impact and shaking was enough to make Hitoshi lose his footing, and he fell back in panic, shielding himself as Fukidashi's attack drove further forward like a drill.
That Quirk is mad.
He felt the shadow of debris falling down upon him, a whole deluge of it, filling the whole alleyway up like a flood. He winced, preparing for impact and for the loss of all vision, when…
"WARP FIELD!"
The debris scattered out in a percussive violet blast, and Hitoshi felt his own insides turn inside out as the wave of warp energy passed over him. Standing at the center of a clear-blasted area was Katayama, chest heaving, his fist raised to the sky. Purple light coursed through his arms, and wreathed back from his eyes like some glowing mask.
In a split second, Katayama had warped to him, and was helping him up. "We've got to get clear!" he gasped, panic in his eyes. "I don't know what happened to the girls…"
A torrent of some off-whiste substance was pouring down into the alleyway. Standing on top of the text wall were Monoma and Bondo, mouths open, glue spilling from them. Hitoshi shuddered in disgust. They're trying to bury us alive!
"Let's go," said Katayama.
As the grey-haired boy warped up to the left, Hitoshi shot the capture tape up to a nearby pipe, and pulled himself upward. Still not as competent with this as I'd like to be. Gotta improve, gotta improve. He maneuvered himself up through the infrastructure of the destroyed wall, trying to get height on the opponents.
He came up on top of a precipice, looking down upon Monoma and Bondo from above. Behind them, at the back of the destroyed area, Fukidashi was running up toward the battle.
"Where's Kendo?" Hitoshi asked loudly.
Monoma looked up, and almost responded, but then he closed his mouth and grinned. He lifted a finger and wiggled it, as if to say, nuh-uh-uh, bad boy.
Fukidashi ran up the back slope of the text wall he'd created. Hitoshi sent out his capture tape to grab Monoma, but the speech-bubble boy reached them first, and he shouted something.
BOING!
Another text-attack bounced up toward Hitoshi, and he was forced to swing backward to avoid it. His back crashed against a loose pipe, and he scrambled, trying to find his footing against the wall.
From behind Fukidashi, two gloves appeared out of nowhere, and wrapped around the boy's cartoon throat. The boy let out a gasp of shock, and Monoma and Bondo whirled.
With a great heave, Hagakure threw Manga over her shoulder, and her glove crossed his unusual face, punching it. Hitoshi was running around wide to get in there and assist her, and thought, wow, that kid must be the lightest in the hero course.
Bondo spilled out glue to trap Hagakure's legs, but Hitoshi threw a flashbang at them from behind, courtesy of Yaoyorozu. All the players jumped back from the small blast at once, and fell off the text wall.
As the smoke cleared, Hitoshi dashed forward, sending out his capture tape to grab whoever had landed nearest to him. As it turned out, it was Bondo, and the larger boy spilled out more glue. Hitoshi couldn't get away in time. The glue surrounded his feet, and began to solidify.
"Here, Shinso!" A flash of purple, and something was falling into his hands. The plan flashed through his head again.
I need to save at least some of my energy for creating things on the fly. As such, I will only make one bottle of vinegar for us to use to escape the glue. Katayama will teleport it around as necessary, to whoever gets trapped. We must not let them gain the upper hand.
Hitoshi sprayed the vinegar around his feet, freeing himself…right as a massive hand came chopping down toward him.
He gasped, and just barely managed to tear himself out of the glue as Monoma's attack slammed down into the ground. So he copied Kendo's Quirk as well…
Katayama was warping objects and debris down from above, confusing the enemy and forcing them to run this way and that. Right. We've got to stay off the ground. Before Bondo and Monoma could lay down more glue, Hitoshi swung himself up by the capture tape, and retreated into the infrastructure of the half-destroyed walls.
…
"Well, it's turned into an all-out brawl, ribbit," said Tsuyu, gaping up the screen.
"It's so weird that Monoma isn't talking," said Kirishima. "I mean, it's 'cause Shinso is there, but…their communication is super limited. It's easy to see why this is descending into chaos…oh!"
Manga Fukidashi had been struggling with Toru as she tried to take him back toward Class A's cage, and he had just taken a deep breath and released a shimmering text attack up between them. SIZZLE!
"Ah!" They heard Hagakure squeal over the speakers. "Hot, hot, hot!" She appeared to stumble backwards, away from the text, and Fukidashi managed to get some distance between them.
He began to run back toward his friends, but Katayama appeared, capturing tape in his hands (courtesy of Yaoyorozu). He warped forward to grab Fukidashi, but the speech-bubble boy sent out a SHHIIIIING!
A sharp, pointy text, almost like a flying dagger, went zooming toward Katayama, and the warping boy dodged out of the way, briefly stumbling. In that moment, Manga turned to run, but Hagakure stepped in front of him and refracted light over her body, blinding him with a flash.
"Come on, get him!" Mina declared. "You two got this!"
…A torrent of glue spilled over the area, fast enough to where even Katayama couldn't react, and without warning, both him and Toru were knee-deep in the rapidly solidifying stuff.
"Oh no!"
"YES!" roared Tetsutetsu.
"That won't hold Katayama, though…"
"If he can't move his legs at all, he can't warp out. They need the vinegar spray to loosen him a little."
"That was with Shinso, though…"
Aizawa was watching the screen with concern. Class A's plan is sound, and makes good use of Yaoyorozu's items…but his eyes fell upon the camera following Shinso, who was maneuvering his way through the debris with the scarf, trying to get above Monoma to strike. They aren't utilizing him enough. If he doesn't step up and participate…
Then, there was the other battle going on. He wasn't even sure if Katayama or Hagakure had caught on yet, but…
That opening attack from Fukidashi wasn't just to rain debris down on them. It was a separator.
On the far side of it, in the undestroyed area, Yaoyorozu and Kendo were facing off. The two girls were standing several meters apart, watching each other, about to fight.
"Come on, Kendo! Show 'em that we've got the better president!" Tetsutetsu shouted.
"What a bunch of bullshit," Bakugo spat.
"What?" Awase challenged. "What are you getting mad about this time, blast boy?"
"Nothing. It's just that your amazing president may not be that amazing after all." Bakugo crossed his arms and looked up at the screen with a furrowed brow. "If she thinks she can take Ponytail one-on-one, she might be mistaken."
Jiro raised her eyebrows. "Are you…praising Momo?"
"Far from it!" Bakugo barked. "If it was me down there, things would go way differently! With that being said…"
Jiro smiled, taking his meaning. "She'll rise to the challenge. That's Momo's specialty."
…
Itsuka's enlarged fists were raised up before her, and her teal eyes were twinkling with excitement. "While the boys duke it out over there, it's just us," she said. "Ready?"
Momo couldn't help but smile, too. "You know that I am."
She created a metal staff and shield, as Itsuka leapt forward to attack. She slid out of the way of the first hand strike, and slapped her staff down onto the other girl's knuckles. Kendo yelped, retracted, and ran around her in a circle. Momo turned, trying to follow her movement.
The other hand came around, its shadow giving its presence away, and Momo gasped, ducking. It whooshed over her head, flapping her ponytail and cape in the wind. Itsuka slid back, and then brought one fist down from above while the other came in from the right.
Momo tried to step left, and realized at the last second that Kendo had put the wall to her left, meaning she had nowhere to go. With a wince, she added more molecules to her shield, enlarging it, and lifted it up to protect herself.
The fists slammed into it with a massive amount of force, and Momo's knees and arms buckled, her whole body trembling. Her eyes forced themselves closed. Gotta…hold…out…
I already spent a good deal of my lipids on helping my teammates with what they will face. I have to use the rest of them wisely. Not just to make basic weapons. I have…MORE POSSIBILITIES!
She popped a flashbang out of her arm, caught it with one finger, and flicked it up toward Itsuka's hands. It blasted them away, causing Kendo to howl in pain. In that opening, Momo drew a grappling hook from her chest, flipping her cape over her shoulder, and shot it out toward Itsuka's arm.
It attached, and Momo took off at a run, wrapping the grappling wire around Itsuka's wrist as fast as she could. Go, go, go…I don't want to use the special capture rope just yet…
The other hand came around, and struck her in the back. Momo gasped in shock, her breath escaping her like a vacuum. OWWWWW!
The grappling hook left her hands, and Itsuka threw it aside, leaping up onto a ledge to look down upon Momo. "Now!" she yelled, her eyes twinkling. "Try and dodge this!"
She leapt down, sending her big right fist out toward Momo. Momo created another length of wire, getting ready to counter…
...And Itsuka's fist shrank. Momo's wire went through nothing but air, her target having disappeared in front of her.
"Just a little something I learned from Shishida!" Kendo declared, and then her other fist came in from the left. Frantically, Momo used some of her arm fat to make a shield, but it was not big enough in time.
The fist struck the shield, and she felt the pain race up her arms, like it went into her very soul. And Momo screamed.
…
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Monoma cackled, as Doko struggled against the glue. I can't move my legs at all! We foresaw this coming, but without the vinegar to loosen me, I can't warp out…
Hagakure was having similar issues off to his left. I could warp HER out with my hands, but that's risky. Besides, what could Toru do on her own?
"The great warper, winner of the Sports Festival, brought low!" Monoma roared. "Say, where's your leader? Your elegant beauty Yaoyorozu? Without her items, there isn't much you can do, is there?"
"Katayama-kun, what do we do?" hissed Toru. "We need the spray bottle…"
Doko looked around wildly for a solution. Where's Shinso? Where did he go?
"Manga, put them to sleep. We'll be taking these two back to the cage."
Fukidashi nodded, and breathed in, preparing his vocal chords for an attack. Does he have something that would knock us out? Of course he does! That Quirk can practically do anything! And he couldn't move out of the way. Neither could Toru…the glue was just too tight and solid…
Solid…
I can warp solids.
Doko smiled, and slammed his fists down against the glue about his feet. "VOID SHRED!"
The stuff half-came apart, splitting up with a great deal of tense resistance. It was even harder than warp-shredding concrete, but it was enough. It loosened, and Doko was free.
He warped to Fukidashi, slamming a fist into his chest to knock the wind out of him before he could finish the attack. Monoma arrived, and attacked Doko with Kendo's Quirk. Doko warped backward, dodging, and flicked his wrist, raining more pipes down from above. Monoma gasped, and fell backward, disappearing under a pile of metal.
Doko whirled. Bondo was running forward to grab Toru. The boy seemed to be immune to his own Quirk, running on top of the glue surface as if it was nothing.
"Not a chance!" Doko shouted, and threw both hands out.
A purple outline shined out around Toru's body, briefly giving her more definition than she'd ever had…and then she teleported into his arms. Bondo's hand swiped through open air, and he paused, confused.
"Watch where you're touching!" Hagakure chided, as Doko stood her up and hopped away, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't forget anything, did I?" he asked. "No amputations?"
"Just my boots." One of her gloves pointed to the center of the glue field, where her blue shoes remained stuck. He'd accidentally warped her out of them.
Bondo turned to look at them, and Monoma's voice rang out. "Not her!" he spat. "Help ME, you idiot!"
Bondo started, as if surprised. "Right, Monoma! Sorry-"
He froze and swayed in place, cut off like a light, dead to the world.
Doko blinked.
Shinso was standing atop the wall, tapping his artificial vocal cords with his finger. "Lord knows that guy talks enough for me to get sufficient enough recordings to imitate him," he said.
Hagakure's fist pumped into the air. "YES!"
"Now," said Shinso, looking down upon the brainwashed Bondo. "Turn yourself around and walk toward our cage. Put yourself into it and close the door behind you."
"NO!" the real Monoma roared, and a massive fist swept up to throw all the debris aside. His face was bruised, and his blonde hair fell like a shadow over his face. He was snarling. "No, I won't allow this to happen!"
He raced toward Bondo with a massive fist outstretched, as if intending to knock him back to reality with blunt force. The counter to Shinso's Quirk.
Hagakure moved to intercept him, and he opened his massive palm and swung it about, swatting her entire body aside like a fly.
Doko gasped. "TORU!" he screamed, forgetting himself and using her first name.
Her gloves flew out away from each other, as if they'd fallen off her hands. He heard a loud crash against the wall. His eyes darted around wildly, looking for any sign of where she'd landed. Without the gloves or the boots, it was impossible to tell…
A scream rang out behind him, behind the massive text wall. Yaomomo. That was her.
Kendo had gotten her alone. Of course.
Shinso swung down off his perch, and kicked Monoma in the side, blocking his way to the slowly retreating Bondo. "Go help her!" he roared to Katayama. "I've got this!"
Doko nodded, and looked back at the text wall.
He warped himself into the air.
…
Momo was losing.
She needed an opening to use her special material, but Itsuka was not giving it to her. The orange-haired girl seemed never to tire, leaping and flipping about with those massive hands as if they'd weighed nothing.
Another swipe from above. Momo ducked, her head spinning. I can still make a cannon if I have to. I can still…
A closed fist from the side. She blocked it with her shield, and the force of the impact nearly blacked her out. I can't lose here! I can't!
Itsuka was still smiling. "As I thought," she said. "Even if you've gotten better at thinking on the fly, when it comes to a battle of stamina, I have the edge. It was a good fight, Momo. But now I've got to finish it."
Momo sighed. I told my teammates as much, didn't I? That I would have to take on Itsuka alone. I helped them as much as I could, but they can't help me. This was my fight to lose, and mine alone. And I lost it.
Itsuka's massive fingers came forward, as if to grab Momo and constrict her…
…And a lavender glow came raining down from the text wall.
Momo's eyes widened. She gasped.
Doko Katayama's glowing purple fist clashed into Itsuka's massive one, violet light erupting out from the spot where they were stalemating. Itsuka shimmered beneath him, as if trying to resist being warped aside.
"Don't interrupt!" Kendo growled, her voice barely heard over the whooshing of Doko's Quirk energy. "This is our fight, NOT yours!"
"Katayama…" Momo breathed. "Why…"
"Don't be stupid!" Doko shouted. "A one-on-one fight? We're training to be pro heroes, not pro wrestlers! This is a team exercise, and I am here to help my teammate! If you thought I wasn't going to save her, then you have a lot more to learn!"
Goosebumps crawled up Momo's arms, and she felt heat spread across her cheeks.
Itsuka smiled beneath the struggle, despite herself. "Fine then," she husked. "Take me on if you can."
…
"HELL yeah!" Kirishima pumped his fist into the air. "Katayama has his manly moments, you can't deny that!"
"Still, ribbit," said Tsu. "Did Yaomomo-chan even want his help?"
"It doesn't matter," insisted Midoriya in earnest. "You heard what he said. This is a team exercise. Getting Yaoyorozu alone was a sound strategy for the Class B team, but to assume that they would keep her alone the whole time is foolish."
Rumi Usagiyama AKA Mirko tilted her head at the screen, as Katayama and the orange-haired girl circled each other. The boy was teleporting back and forth, probing for an opening, while the girl kept her big hands close to her to shield herself. Occasionally, he would rain down debris on her from above, but she would block it fairly easily.
The two girls wanted to throw down alone, can't he respect that? It pissed Rumi off. Sure, the black-haired beauty was losing, but she was losing with pride, at least. Based on what she'd seen of the boy Katayama, he seemed easily able to handle himself, which is exactly what she respected in a hero…but interrupting their fight like that? Now she wasn't so sure how she felt about him. That thing he had said as he attacked…it directly clashed with her ideals about heroes.
Heroes shouldn't rely on each other. They are those who must be relied on, by the citizens of society. By teaming up, they show weakness. By showing weakness, they give openings to the villains.
These were the basic things Rumi had started to believe when she first debuted, and she'd continued to believe them all the way until now. And one brash little kid who thinks he's hot shit ain't gonna make a difference.
A large amount of people gasped, and she whipped her head to look at the other screen, where the rest of the fight with the other boys was going on. "What happened?"
…
Hitoshi jumped from ledge to perch to ledge, scarf flaring out behind him. Monoma's fists were chasing him, crashing and knocking debris aside, taking out the surfaces his feet were trying to stabilize on. I can't keep this up, he thought. It's too fast. I don't have the training, the reflexes…
He used the scarf to flip over above Monoma, and then shot it down to wrap around him. Monoma reached up with a massive hand, and grabbed the scarf, yanking it straight down.
Hitoshi's heart skipped a beat, as he went plummeting down toward Monoma. Shit. That was a massive error. In his mind's eye, he saw a single image: Aizawa looking down on him with disappointment.
He landed on top of Monoma's massive knuckles, and kicked away as hard as he could, the capture scarf ripping away from his neck. I still have the tape Yaoyorozu gave me, but…
As he jumped back, he saw Fukidashi emerge from the shadows, and Monoma's grin widened grotesquely.
Written on Fukidashi's speech-bubble was a message: I got it charged up.
He opened his mouth, and…
BOOOOOOOM!
The text attack exploded in Hitoshi's face, and he lost consciousness.
…
Kendo was shaping up to be one of the toughest opponents he'd ever faced.
Doko warped left, right, forward, back. Each time, her palms and fists were upon him, looming like shadows, simply in the way. She was keeping them close, but also managing to follow his warps, closing him off from all potential attacks while also keeping him on edge.
"Starting to regret your decision?" Kendo asked, as her hand chopped down and he narrowly warped left to dodge.
"I don't have the luxury of regrets," he forced out through gritted teeth. He flicked his wrist, and rained more debris on her. I don't think I have the energy left for another big Warp Field or Void Shred. I HAVE to get in close, but how?
He tried to warp back and forth and get between her hand and body, but her hand came back around like a shield and protected her. Her reflexes are insane. It weirdly reminded him of fighting Bakugo.
This time, when her hand came around, he simply rolled under it, surprising her, and made a feint warp toward her. When her other palm came around to shield her front, he warped into the air, directly over her head.
Kendo looked up, and brought her first hand back up open-palmed. The gust of wind it blew up shifted him aside, and he had to warp out of the way to regain footing. Can't…
Warped more debris from above. In the same moment, he warped forward, trying to overwhelm her.
Give her…
Kendo briefly faltered, unsure.
A chance to breathe!
He managed to land a blow to her chest, as she chose to block the debris instead. But just as quickly, her hand was coming back around toward him. He warped aside to get out of the way…
…And her other hand knocked him aside, his breath leaving his body all at once.
Doko skidded against the ground, head spinning from the force of the blow. Through blurry vision, he saw Itsuka lower her fists and shrink them, gasping for breath. "I finally got you," she said. "Your warps don't actually move you all that far when you're focused on fighting someone. My hands have just enough spatial coverage for it to not matter where you warp. I can still get you…"
Something slammed into her from behind. BOOM!
Doko forced one eye wide open. Momo had fired a cannon at Itsuka's back. Kendo whirled, but then Momo's special rope wrapped around her, and with her last conscious moment, Momo tied them together against the cannon, restraining them both. Itsuka struggled, but couldn't get free, even as she grew her hands back up. Momo's head slumped, passed out.
"Damn," Kendo clicked her teeth. "She got me."
Doko stood up on unsteady feet. They're…both down. If Toru was still down as well, that meant he had a responsibility to get Kendo back to the cage as quickly as possible. But how could he do that when she was attached to a massive cannon, and Momo to boot?
"Decisions, decisions," Monoma's voice rang from behind him.
Doko turned and looked up. The blonde boy was looking down upon him victoriously. "Whatever will you do now, warper?"
"You!" Doko snarled. "What happened to…"
In the last second, as his mouth closed and all conscious action fled his brain, he realized what happened.
Monoma copied Shinso's Quirk.
Doko swayed, his mind frozen in stasis, brainwashed, and eliminated.
…
Class A had gone silent.
"Wait…" murmured Ojiro. "Is that…"
Katayama was standing in place, brainwashed. Yaoyorozu had passed out. Shinso as well, from Fukidashi's exploding text attack.
"...All of them?" Uraraka finished, her voice catching in her throat.
Tetsutetsu began to laugh. Kaibara and Tsuburaba high-fived each other. "Monoma did it after all!"
Kendo was tied to Momo's cannon and incapacitated, and Fukidashi had basically ruined his throat from constant attacks, but Monoma was still up, and Bondo had broken out of Shinso's Quirk when the brainwashing boy had been knocked out. He had been almost to Class A's cage, but he was running back now, back toward the battle site.
Aizawa clicked his teeth. "Damn it…" he muttered. Vlad King was smiling proudly. "I knew my class could pull through."
"Two victories for us!" Tokage declared, hands on her hips. "How do y'all plan on catching up now?"
"It's not over," said Shoji, and everyone went silent. All eyes fell upon him.
"Huh?" asked Kamakiri, dumbly.
"It's not over," he repeated, and pointed at the screen. "You may not be able to see it, but…Toru is still conscious. She's still in the fight."
…
Toru Hagakure watched as Monoma walked over to Katayama's swaying body, grinning. "What a good little warper," he said. "How obedient. Now, why don't you walk yourself to our cage? Since your whole team came nearly to our side anyway, it's not all that far."
Like a zombie, Katayama began to walk away.
Fukidashi was coughing, knees buckled against the ground. "Don't worry, Manga," Monoma said. "Bondo will be back here any minute to pick up Shinso."
But…the coughing boy's speech bubble read. The invisible girl…
"Wherever she is, she's likely unconscious. As long as we get Katayama and Shinso into the cage, we win. And it's not like she can do anything on her own."
You're wrong, thought Toru, lurking in the shadows, waiting for her opening.
Monoma stood over Kendo and Yaoyorozu, his eyebrow raised. "Can you really not get out of there?" he asked.
Kendo briefly stopped struggling to answer him. "This rope is made of some alloy that she knew about. I don't know how it works, but it's tight, and I can't budge it. You still have my Quirk copied, don't you? Grow your hand up and pick us up that way. Get Yaoyorozu into the cage."
"I fear that activating your Quirk now may result in my brainwashing hold on Katayama to be relinquished," said Monoma. "I guess you'll just have to stay there for now. At least she won't be a threat." He narrowed his eyes at the unconscious Momo. "I would have liked to copy her Quirk and make some cough drops for Manga, but that may also release Katayama. I suppose we'll just have to wait until he gets into the cage."
Toru, meanwhile, was creeping forward. There's still ten minutes left. A lot could happen in that amount of time…
She would never get a better chance than this, right? With Fukidashi and Kendo unable to attack, and Bondo not back yet…
…And Monoma can't use any other Quirks while he's brainwashing Katayama-kun.
Completely invisible, Toru ran toward the blonde boy, and punched him full in the face.
"ARGH!" Monoma stumbled back, crying out in pain. He looked around wildly. "What the-"
He swung out blindly to counterattack, and she easily dodged it. Her fist found his chest, and the pitiful squeaking noise he made was music to her ears.
"It's Hagakure!" Kendo cried out from her position on the ground. "She's taken off her gloves and boots…"
"I know that!" Monoma spat, and spun in a circle, attacking out recklessly. Toru dodged all his moves. Her heart was racing with adrenaline.
She circled him, and hit him again. Again. In the shoulder, in the throat, in the face again. She kicked his side, and swept his legs, knocking him down. He scrambled backward, bleeding and bruised, eyes darting around like mad. "Where!" he shrieked. "Where are you!"
She didn't respond. She had no way of knowing if he could brainwash her. She just kept attacking, kicking and punching him again and again. From an outside observer, it looked as if Monoma was getting knocked around by nothing.
"GAAAAAH!" he roared in frustration. "Your hits don't do much damage, you know! Frail girl!" For a moment, his fingers brushed her arm, and his eyes widened. "A-ha!" He reached out to grab her, but Toru rolled low, and his fingers came up with nothing.
Monoma made a noise of frustration. "AGH! FINE!" His fist began to grow. In a split second, Toru knew…he activated a different Quirk. Katayama is free.
Fukidashi crashed roughly into her from behind, tackling her to the ground. His aim had been slightly off, but he'd still managed to find her. Toru struggled, and spat in his speech-bubble face, but Monoma was upon her as well, and now wrapping tape around her wrists as he found them.
"Apologies for being so handsy," he said. "But that is what you signed up for, of course." Blood dripped off his face.
"Go to hell," she hissed.
"Oh," said a voice. "He will."
Monoma and Fukidashi turned.
Katayama had come back, and his eyes were glowing a furious, smoldering violet.
…
Class A erupted in cheers. Class B watched in stunned silence, as Katayama finished the fight.
Rumi's jaw slowly dropped, unable to tear her crimson eyes away. It was like watching a dance. The boy warped around his two opponents with utmost precision, landing a punch here, a kick there. Blow after devastating blow, dodging all their desperate attacks the whole time. The blonde copier used his big fists, and then desperately copied his teammate's Quirk, sending out a massive text attack. Katayama simply punched it, shattering it to lavender pieces, and then warped the pieces on top of them.
"Come on!" Vlad King barked. "Regain the upper hand, already!"
Aizawa just shook his head. "They can't. Not when he gets like that."
A smile had crossed All Might's skeletal face. "When he puts his mind to it…he really becomes unstoppable, huh?"
Midnight licked her lips. "He's the shining picture of youth."
Monoma and Fukidashi were staggering, almost down for the count. Monoma sneered, and desperately ran toward the unconscious dark-haired girl, as if meaning to copy the creation Quirk, and the invisible girl hit him in the stomach again.
Fukidashi tried to charge up a weak text attack with his worn larynx, but Katayama warped a piece of metal against his chest, then a pipe against his legs, then another to pin his left arm, and another to pin his right. One at a time, individual pieces to pin the boy to the ground.
Monoma messily kicked the invisible girl aside, and tried to backstab Katayama with a big hand chop, but the warping boy whirled in an instant, teleported through it into the air, kicked Monoma in the top of the head, bounced off him, warped another piece of metal while in mid-air to sweep his legs, and finally, warped something out of the unconscious Yaoyorozu's pocket as he landed.
More capture tape.
Fukidashi was trying to struggle free, and Hagakure flashed him again with her rainbow move. Katayama split the tape in half, warped some of it into her hands, and the two of them captured their prey. Monoma tried to make a fight of it, but Katayama simply warped behind him, then in front of him, then behind him again, wrapping the tape around his chest the whole way. After a few seconds, the blonde went to his knees, defeated and worn out.
Bondo arrived from behind them, and opened his strange mouth as if to prepare a glue attack, and Class A gasped.
"Oi, Katayama! Watch out behind you!" Kirishima pointed, as if they could hear him.
Bondo was about to lay down a torrent, and then a capture scarf snaked out from the shadows of the ruined wall, wrapping around him at the throat and waist, and yanking him back, constricting him.
Shinso came limping out of the ruins, his face bruised, his gym uniform tattered…but smiling. Smiling an exhausted smile.
Within the next two minutes, they had taken all three of the Class B fighters back to the cage, and captured them. With Kendo and Yaoyorozu both down for the count, the match had ended.
"The victory goes to Class A!" Nezu declared, raising his paws into the air. The students were going wild with chatter, but the principal simply tilted his head back to look up at Rumi. "What did you think of that, huh?"
Her eyes were on the grey-haired boy, who tilted his head back wearily to the sky, and closed his eyes, as if drinking in the daylight. A vague purple glow seemed to fizzle out around him, and die.
"That winner of your sports festival is certainly something," she commented, "though he's not quite my type."
…
And that's that.
These first two matches had the characters I was most interested in using during this arc, and so they took up a lot of word count. The last three will be somewhat shorter, though I still have some character work I want to do.
Sidenote, if anyone knows of a good artist to commission an actual proper cover image for this story, please let me know. PM me or leave it in the reviews or however. Kinda tired of looking at my shitty pencil sketch.
Your continued support is appreciated as always.