Two people have mentioned that it looks like I'm setting up Momo and Bakugo and I just want to say that's not really the case. I AM using Momo (and the other band members from the festival) as a way of showing Bakugo softening up to his classmates.
Enjoy.
Chapter 66: Joint Training, Part 4
The students were buzzing as Doko's team returned to the viewing area, some with anger and frustration, some with joy.
Aizawa immediately rushed over to help with Momo and Shinso, both of whom were barely conscious. Medical bots were swarming them. Doko felt like he was about to collapse himself.
"You'll all go to Recovery Girl," Aizawa was saying.
"But I feel fine!" Toru protested.
"Impossible to know what really might have happened to your body. You sustained a pretty large blow. Recovery Girl should scan you for internal injuries. And-" Aizawa met eyes with Doko. "Katayama."
He kept a straight face. "Yes, sir?"
"Your Quirk. Is it-?"
"It feels fine." Doko frowned. He'd been afraid that Shinso's brainwashing might cause him to retreat into his own head, to face his evil Quirk again. But…it had actually been more like a deep, dreamless sleep. Like nothing at all. A blank slate.
And when he'd returned, his Quirk had responded better to his commands than ever before. For a few minutes, he'd been unstoppable, his mind sharp with focus, his reflexes on point.
Did Shinso's Quirk…reset me, somehow?
"I guess I'd better go to Recovery Girl too, then," said Doko.
"No. Stay for a moment to hear the feedback. At least one person from the team needs to hear it. Then you can go on."
I'll miss Mina's match, or at least part of it. That was unfortunate, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. At least we won. He allowed himself to smile a bit, as he helped load Momo onto a stretcher being carried by the med bots.
"Katayama…kun…" she muttered.
He looked down at her bruised face, her eyes swollen up and barely open. "I'm sorry," he said in a sort of high voice. "I sort of fucked up the plan by coming to help you, I know."
"It's…okay…the plan was always meant to…change…" Her head lolled to one side, and the bots carried the stretcher away. Shinso followed behind on the next stretcher, clutching his side where part of his gym uniform had been burned away by Fukidashi's exploding attack. Toru walked at the back.
As they passed, Shinso looked up into Aizawa's eyes. "Sensei…?"
"We'll talk about it later," the man said shortly. "Go get yourself healed up first."
Doko and Aizawa turned back toward the crowd, where Vlad King was scolding his students.
"...A plan that relied on too many specific factors," the 1-B teacher was saying to the defeated Monoma, Kendo, Bondo, and Fukidashi. "I understand the strategy in itself. Distract with Bondo and Fukidashi's more prescient attacks, while Monoma attempts to get into position to copy the brainwashing Quirk in order to stop Katayama. But Kendo…pursuing a one-on-one battle to that degree may have been detrimental. You allowed yourself to get ganged up on and were never in a position to help your team. Also, you all underestimated the invisible girl."
"It won't happen again," Monoma muttered, rubbing his bruised arm and chest. Kendo just winced.
All the students turned to look at Doko as he arrived.
"Katayama, congrats on the win!" Kirishima declared. "Only…what was your team's plan, exactly?"
Midnight, All Might, Nezu, and Mirko were all watching as well. Doko met eyes with the rabbit hero, coughed, and scratched his neck. "It was nothing grand. Yaoyorozu thought it might be better to subvert their expectations and simply charge in with only a few basic strategies. She thought that'd be best to counter the caving under pressure that sometimes happens to me, and her as well."
Vlad King turned back on his students. "You see? You can't plan for chaos when the other team is prepared for it. By dialing back on a larger strategy, they contradictorily became more prepared for what you threw at them."
"Yeah, basically all we planned for is to use vinegar spray to free ourselves from the glue should we get caught, and to basically beat you all into submission before we could use Yao-momo's special tape. She also knew Fukidashi would send out a text attack to separate her from the rest of us, and knew she'd be fighting Kendo. In fact, I…" He coughed again, sheepishly. "I kind of messed things up by going to help her. If I'd just stayed to help Shinso instead, Monoma wouldn't have been able to copy his Quirk, and I wouldn't have gotten brainwashed…"
Aizawa crossed his arms. "I was just about to mention that. Despite the mistake, you did manage to pull through in the end. But your teammate's contributions cannot be minimized."
"Agreed," said All Might. "It was Hagakure who won the match, truly. In that moment of your brainwashing, it would have perhaps been easier for her to stealthily make her way to you and knock you out of it, but she chose to attack instead…perhaps because she realized that it would have the same effect and that you would eventually come to back her up, but also knowing that she needed to do as much damage to the enemy as possible before being discovered. It was bold, and paid off well for her."
Shoji crossed his arms proudly. "If only she was around to hear," he said.
"It was Yaoyorozu's initial planning and items that allowed Class A to keep fighting for so long, however," Midnight chimed in. "She'll make a great leader in the future."
"And Shinso performed well for himself, don't you agree?" said Nezu, looking pointedly at Aizawa. "There were a few moments where he slipped up and did amateurish things, and he didn't have quite the same reaction time as the others…but other than that, he was nearly indistinguishable from your average hero student studying at this level."
"Does that mean he's going to be in our class now?" Kirishima gasped.
"He totally deserves it!" said Uraraka, earnestly.
Other Class A members began to chime in with their opinions, but Aizawa cut in with a loud, "Quiet!"
Sharply, they cut off. Aizawa sighed and pinched his fingers. "I will work through what to do with Shinso after the other matches are finished. The full evaluations of his, and everyone's, performances today will take time to sort through. In the meantime, yes. Every member of Class A's team played their part."
"It was surprising, honestly," said Sero. "I kinda thought Katayama and Yaoyorozu would completely take charge, but things stayed really even. Until the end, that is. Speaking of which, what the hell, Katayama? Where do you pull crazy shit like that from? What the-"
"It's time to move on," said Vlad King, loudly. He looked back at his four students. "You lot should get yourselves up to Recovery Girl. And Katayama, as well. The third match will be-"
"One more thing," Nezu interrupted. "What are you thoughts, Miss Mirko?"
All eyes went to the rabbit. Rumi Usagiyama was staring directly into Doko's soul. He froze stiff, unable to break eye contact. He knew that if he did, she would think him weak.
Hands on her hips, Mirko sighed. "It was a pretty chaotic brawl. Both teams had a lot of…teamwork, I guess. The one-on-one fight between the girls was great." She pointed at Kendo. "Keep up the good work. You managed to hold off two opponents with far flashier and more diverse Quirks than you, just with skill and reflexes."
Kendo brightened. "Thank you!"
"Alright, now get to the old hag to get yourselves patched up." Mirko thrust a white-gloved thumb back toward the school building. Her eyes passed over Doko again, but seemed to intentionally avert.
Doko lowered his head, and followed the Class B team out of the clearing. She probably didn't like how I interrupted Momo and Kendo's fight. That's what she admires - solo combat. Especially in girls, it seems. Well, the ideals seemed so ingrained into the rabbit heroine that it seemed doubtful that he ever could have won her over.
Mina, now it's your turn to try.
…
The third teams lined up for their set to begin, walking side-by-side into the field for a few hundred yards before they would split up.
Mina Ashido looked at the other team with interest. To be honest, she couldn't remember their Quirks. The short brown-haired girl with the bangs that covered her eyes and a mushroom outfit didn't seem like much of a threat, nor did the very generic-looking boy with black hair. There was another girl though, also with black hair, who Mina remembered to be named Yui Kodai. Her piercing blue eyes met Mina's golden ones, and that dead stare of hers made the alien girl shudder and look away.
Then there was the second guy in their group, with pitch-black skin and white hair. He was talking to Tokoyami.
"You and I are the same," he breathed.
"Oh?" Tokoyami raised his eyebrows. "Shihai Kuroiro…as I recall, your Quirk allows you to integrate into anything that is black-colored."
Kuroiro grinned gruesomely. "You and I are fated to clash."
"So you too understand the majesty of the abyss."
"Of course. I live in eternal darkness."
"Oh, pipe down, you two," said the mushroom girl, whose name was Komori. "Don't be so dramatic."
"The darkness is strong inside you both, I'm sure," said Aoyama, striking a pose, "but it pales in comparison to my dazzling light."
Mina and Sato shared a deadpan expression. They'd ended up teamed with the two most theatrical people in class, and personally, Mina was harboring doubts about Sato as well. Even if he's worked on his endurance issue, both of these matches have been pretty drawn out. Can he last that long?
They split up from the other team to walk toward their own cage, and for some reason Mina thought she felt eyes on the back of her neck. Was it that girl Yui Kodai? She couldn't be certain, and didn't want to turn around and find out.
…
"So," said Nezu. "Thoughts on how this one will play out?"
All Might squinted his eyes at the screens. "I couldn't begin to say, but I will say that none of the students have disappointed me so far. They've exceeded my expectations. Seeing the signs of their growth so clearly has been wonderful." Midnight nodded in agreement.
"I'm worried about this one," Shota Aizawa said frankly.
"Me as well," said Vlad King.
"Oh, and why might that be?" Nezu asked in interest.
Shota blinked at the screen. "None of my nineteen are missing the necessary qualities to become a great hero, however…when I look at this team…none of them are really the type to step up into a leader role the way Iida could in the first match or Yaoyorozu in the second. Tokoyami is strong but not a strategist. Without anyone taking point, their performance could be weakened."
"I fear the same for my team, actually," said Vlad King. "It was just the way the dice rolled with random teams, but…this matchup will certainly be a strange one. It will be interesting to see who steps up to lead among this group, if anyone."
Shota looked pointedly at Mina Ashido. She COULD be a leader if she stepped up and applied herself. She has the right temperament. Is this her moment to shine? I really do wonder…
…
"So," asked Sato, "what's the plan?"
He was looking at her and Tokoyami, Mina realized. Aoyama was off in the corner, examining his armor. Clearly, not the type to come up with a strategy.
Mina glanced over at Tokoyami. She wasn't quite sure why. Wasn't he the strongest of the four of them? But the bird boy simply bowed his head and said, "I shall send my attacks wherever you tell me. I am not one for complicated thinking."
"WHAT HE'S SAYING IS HE'S A MORON!"
"Shut up, Dark Shadow."
The three boys all looked to Mina. Her eye twitched. "Uhh…"
I don't want the responsibility of being the leader! What if I mess up? Doko's not watching right now, but Mirko is! She's given praise to several people already! If I don't get acknowledged by her, I'll feel terrible.
"Okay, okay," Mina pressed her hands together, racking her brain. She wasn't the best at this. She was more of a tactile, reflexive kind of gal. But they're looking to me. Think! Think! What would Aizawa-sensei do in this situation? What do I know about the enemy?
The boy Kuroiro wanted to fight Tokoyami. That was all she knew.
I can work with that.
"Okay, I've got it," she said. "It's not much, but…" She looked at Aoyama. "Oi, Disco Ball."
"Yes, mademoiselle?" He framed a palm under his chin.
"How do you feel about being used as bait?"
…
The alarm sounded. The match had begun.
Fumikage Tokoyami followed the others. Ready, Dark Shadow?
OF COURSE! I LIKE THIS PLAN! IT MEANS I'LL BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION!
Good, just don't say I didn't warn you. Fumikage had a suspicion about what the boy Kuroiro might try in their "fated clash". Still, it would not do to play his cards too early.
Even my own classmates are under the impression that Hawks taught me nothing. I spread such a statement in the hopes that I would be able to use the element of surprise in such an exercise as this. Soon, it will be time. But not yet. Not yet.
The winged hero's words flashed through his head again, as the two of them had sat on that rooftop, looking out at the city. That had been during the work study, after Hawks had taken him on a flight for the first time…and he'd finally gotten a moment alone with the pro. During the internship, Hawks had only interacted with him briefly to ask about USJ, and the rest of it was spent chasing after him with the other sidekicks.
There's been plenty happening at UA. You just invited me back to the work study to squeeze that information out of me, didn't you, Hawks?
HA! Yeah, I'm sorry about how the internship went. I realize all I did was interrogate you about the USJ attack. Probably made you feel like a carrier pigeon, huh?
Don't insult me, number thre…I mean, number two. Why are you so interested in the League of Villains, anyway?
Don't worry about that. But there was another reason I was interested in you, you know. Because I saw you in action, and thought, what a waste!
What are you talking about?
Well, I'm not one for training the next generation, but I'm referring to you focusing on close combat. It's fine to cover your weaknesses, but you've also got to improve your natural talents. Let yourself move freely, Tokoyami. Flying is the best thing in the world. Those who can fly…should!
He'd sent Dark Shadow out ahead of them, into the industrial labyrinth. FOUND THEM! The creature reported.
"Found them," he echoed to his classmates, pointing down an open horizontal shaft of pipes that seemed to stretch on for nearly a half-mile, fading into darkness. "They're down there."
"That tether between the two of you can get much longer now, hmm?" Aoyama commented.
"Right then!" Ashido shouted, raising her palms. "Tokoyami, bring one of 'em over!"
You heard her, Dark Shadow.
The sounds of battle were distant, whispering through the shaft on the wind. They could hear clanging, a strange whooshing noise, and then Dark Shadow's roar.
Fumikage sensed him racing back toward them, shortening the tether. "Here he comes!" he warned his teammates.
Dark Shadow came bursting onto the scene, roaring, and throwing a human figure into the midst of the Class A team. As it turned out, it was the dark-haired boy with plain looks…Kosei Tsubaraba.
Tsubaraba swore loudly as he was flung to the ground. He inhaled, and then blew out a massive platform beneath his feet to jump off of, right as Sato's fist and Ashido's acid shot converged on the spot where he'd been.
The boy flipped in midair, blew out another air-barrier, and jumped sideways from that one, putting distance between himself and Ashido, but Sato's fist came up and shattered it. Panicked, Tsubaraba continued to try to retreat. Fumikage brought Dark Shadow around…
...And predictably, Kuroiro leapt out of the creature, and aimed his fist straight at Fumikage, a massive shit-eating grin on his face. "The trap was set perfectly!" he snarled.
Ashido's acid came at him from the side, and Kuroiro ducked, trying to merge into Dark Shadow again…but Fumikage pulled the spirit back to himself, and Kuroiro was forced to scramble backward into the shadows, hopping nimbly over Aoyama's laser.
Ashido slid forward to grab him, but her fingers passed through nothing but shadow.
Meanwhile, Sato was giving chase to Tsubaraba, who was hopping nimbly about on his air-platforms, breathing harder and harder.
Fumikage unfurled Dark Shadow again to help capture the air-barrier user, but Ashido held up her hand. "Wait," she hissed…
Kuroiro's hand emerged from the dark side of a surface, near the edge of the horizontal shaft that he and Dark Shadow had come from…and grabbed Aoyama's cape.
Aoyama turned, an expression of distress on his face. "He…" he squeaked, and was suddenly yanked away into the shadows. "HEEEEEEEEEELP!" he cried.
"Tokoyami!" said Ashido, sharply.
"Aye," he muttered. "Black Fallen Angel."
He threw his black cloak aside, and Dark Shadow wrapped itself up in it, and then grabbed Fumikage about the chest. Since Dark Shadow floated, defying gravity…Fumikage was lifted into the air, and Dark Shadow propelled him forward.
…
"WHOA!" said Sero. "He's really flying!"
"Yes, go Tokoyami!" Ojiro cheered.
"I can't believe Kuroiro just snatched Aoyama like that," muttered Awase.
"That boy is in need…of radical reform," said Ibara, folding her hands against her chest.
"Oi, that bird kid," Mirko asked loudly. "He studied under Hawks, right?"
"Why, yes," said Nezu, as they watched Tokoyami pursue Kuroiro (with Aoyama in tow) through the dark maze of pipes. Kuroiro was sliding through the pipes, keeping one arm un-integrated to pull the laser boy along.
"No wonder he's so speedy and flashy." Mirko made a tsk sound. "Hawks like to chat people up, but who was it that saved him from that flame guy after Endeavor fought the freaky Nomu? Me."
Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the screen, watching the chase unfold. "C'mon, Ashido…" he muttered. "If this was your plan, then what was the follow-through? What did you ask Aoyama to do? Come on, show me…"
Right on cue, Aoyama's frightened face suddenly…went straight. He seemed utterly unbothered, being dragged along by his cape through narrow pipe corridors.
Then, he began to twist, shooting his laser this way and that.
"Whoa!"
"What's he doing?"
"He's not coming close to hitting Kuroiro."
"No," said Aizawa, a smile creeping across his face. "But he's changing the shadows."
The shifting light from Aoyama's laser passed over Kuroiro's pipe, making it…not black anymore. And Kuroiro popped out, right as Dark Shadow arrived, and snatched Aoyama away.
"YES!" Kirishima cheered, pumping his fist into the air.
"But here come the girls," said Juzo Honenuki of Class B.
Running up toward their position were Komori and Kodai. Kodai was as straight-faced as ever, but Komori…was smiling.
She raised her hands into the air. "Shroom, shroom, shrooms EVERYWHERE!"
…
Fumikage looked down at his arms and legs. Growing up them were all kinds of mushrooms, popping up like gross, invasive protrusions. Spotted, colored, moist.
In Dark Shadow's arms, Aoyama screamed, struggling to get free. The same thing was happening to him, and the blonde boy was not having it.
"Ah!" he yelped. "The fungus…no! NO!"
Komori emerged from the shadows, Kodai behind her. "Don't worry, shroom! They wear off in a couple of hours, shroom! And they won't poison you or anything, but…"
Suddenly, Fumikage began to cough. A desperate panic seized hold of him. Something is inside me. They're growing inside me. THEY'RE GROWING INSIDE MY THROAT!
They were surrounded by mushrooms now, a whole field of them growing up into the tunnel. But they can't grow on Dark Shadow. Fumikage brought his Quirk round for another attack, but Kuroiro grabbed hold of it and possessed it again, throwing Dark Shadow against one wall, then another, yanking Fumikage along like a tether.
Aoyama began to cough as well, tears in his eyes. He was whimpering in panic and disgust.
Yui Kodai threw something at him, and then enlarged it by pressing her fingers together…a metal bolt. Aoyama shot his laser into the sky, slicing it into halves that landed on either side of him, but then Komori was upon him, yanking his cape. He tried to turn, but she grew more mushrooms on his arm, and then Kodai was behind him. Almost lazily, she tossed a metal nut into the air, enlarged it so the central circle would fall around him like a pool floatie. Then, she shrank it just enough to constrict his arms at his sides, trapping him inside it. Aoyama fell to the ground, covered in mushrooms and defeated.
Fumikage doubled over, the mushrooms in his throat making it impossible to focus on anything, on anyone. Kuroiro was still thrashing Dark Shadow about, and he couldn't…couldn't see…
Another metal nut descended upon him from above.
…
Mina stopped short. She'd seen the whole exchange, and had been running to help, but now she saw her odds, and her heart and hopes both plummeted. Nooooo, she thought, the mushrooms growing up toward her legs. I didn't expect her to grow them in their throats. What the hell?
Sato finally smashed Tsubaraba's last barrier, and landed a good solid on him, knocking him toward her. Frantically, the 1-B boy looked back and forth, split on where to breathe to defend himself, and Mina skated around him with her acid shoes, spraying a light level of the viscous stuff around his waist. "Acid veil!"
Tsubaraba shrieked and began to claw at his own waist, as steam from the acid began to rise up.
"Oh, don't worry, I didn't make it sharp enough to hurt you. But it's gonna solidify, and when it does…"
The boy dropped like a rock, constricted about the waist by her sticky trap. Mina grinned. That's one. Personally, she'd been hoping for Dark Shadow to bring back one of the girls, but…
"They're coming!" Sato declared, getting into a fighting position at the edge of the shaft. "I'll hold them off! You get that one back to the cage!"
"No, I think you should both stay here!" Tsubaraba protested frantically. "Don't take me back to the cage! Bad idea! Bad idea!"
"Shut it," Mina growled. She looked up at Sato. "You can't take all three of them," she told him. She could already see that he'd exhausted himself trying to chase Tsubaraba around and break through his platforms. His shoulders were sagging. He'll crash soon.
"No," Sato muttered. "No, I can't. But you should get away, at least. You're the leader. You're the one who came up with this plan."
But it failed. Mina could only turn, and start to drag the boy away. She used her acid shoes to skate and make the ground slicker to bring him along, considering he weighed a lot. However, the cage wasn't that far.
What am I going to do…what do we do now?
…
Doko returned to the shockingly quiet spectator area.
All Might noticed him first. "Are your fellow students alright?"
"Yes. I had the shortest checkup so I'm back first." Doko searched the man's sunken eyes for any hint of the apprehension from earlier. Nothing. I guess he's got a better poker face than I give him credit for. "What's happening in the match?" With a sinking heart, he saw that Class A looked…somber.
Tsuyu blinked at him. "Ribbit…Mina managed to capture one of their team…"
She nodded at the screen. A camera shot showed the Class A cage, where Kosei Tsuburaba slumped. But, meanwhile, in the Class B cage…
Sato, Tokoyami, and Aoyama all sat. Sato was passed out. The other two had huge metal nuts constricting them around the torso.
"Shit," he swore, looking back at Mirko. This doesn't exactly look like a win for us.
"Ashido's still out there," Sero commented. "And the other three Class Bees don't know where she is. Still, how can she even the odds before time runs out? All they have to do is stick together and run down the clock."
…
"We should split up," said Kuroiro.
"Huh? Why?" asked Komori.
"Because the pink girl's gonna try to draw this out. We need to cover more ground if we're gonna find her."
Komori furrowed her eyebrows. "We don't need to find her at all, shroom. We've already won. We could just stay here at the cage and run down the clock, shroom."
Kuroiro cracked his knuckles. "Nah, I don't want to do that. That's sleazy. I have standards, you know. We should at least try and give her a fight, I think."
"I dunno," Komori frowned. "What do you think, Yui-shroom?"
Both of Yui Kodai's teammates looked at her expectantly.
Yui blinked. Inwardly, she thought, it would be better if we had an established leader that would just make the decision that we could follow. Democracy is great, but it can lead to indecisive situations like this. And no one on this team is fit for that role. Conversely, I think…Mina Ashido is likely the leader of the other team. And she is still free. Which means…
"Hmm." Yui nodded her head toward Kuroiro.
The boy smiled. "Thanks, Kodai. Now, Komori, make more black mushrooms. I have a new idea."
…
Unknown to them, Mina Ashido had heard their whole exchange, crouched silently upon a pipe from a hidden spot above the Class B cage.
Now, she retreated, getting herself as far away from the cage as possible. She wanted to make sure they spotted her back toward her own cage, to remove any suspicion that she might have been around to hear their plan.
Are you back yet, Doko? Are you watching? What about you, Aizawa-sensei? Mirko? Is everyone watching?
She was all alone now, but Mina did not plan on losing.
A minute or two later, Mina arrived at the clear path that led back to her cage, and turned around. She began to slowly walk back the way she'd come. All was quiet up ahead.
She continued to walk through plain sight, heading in the general direction of the B-cage. As she went around a corner, she began to creep, looking around in suspicion as if acting wary of opponents.
There were mushrooms here. Not many, but some. The outermost reach of Komori's Quirk. As she went around the next corner, their density increased, and increased again at the next turn. Mina scanned the ground carefully, as if she was nervous about the mushrooms, but in reality she was looking for something specific. Black mushrooms.
Where are you, she wondered, seeing a few here and there out of the corner of her eye. None had blatant white spots that would be Kuroiro's eyes. Mina kept walking.
Two lefts, then a right. It was now like she was wading through mushrooms, they were so plentiful here. A few black ones were around, and up ahead to her left…she saw one that looked off.
Mina passed it casually, pretending to be unaware.
Then, when Kuroiro leapt out behind her, she whirled, one arm outstretched. The boy gasped, and she slammed the full length of her forearm across his shoulders, slamming him into the wall as she turned.
"How did you-" he tried to lift his fists to counter, but she drove her other hand into his chest, and sprayed her weak acid. It spread and solidified, its edges sticking to the wall, pinning Kuroiro against it.
The girls were definitely watching. Now that they've seen his sneak attack fail, they'll panic and rush in to help!
It happened exactly that way. Kodai and Komori were racing forward up the corridor toward them. Mina doubted her ability to carry Kuroiro back, but just pinning him would be fine for now. No, the real person I need to capture is…
"After her, shroom!" Komori waved her arms, and the mushrooms began to stack up, growing on top of each other, growing higher and higher and making a sea, a torrent of fungi.
Mina stepped back from Kuroiro, skated sideways, and swept up her right palm, sending out sharper acid that melted through the mushrooms. Komori shrieked and stepped back, surprised.
The acid continued to spread and smoke and drip, continuing to dissolve the fungi to nothing. "Kodai!" Komori shouted.
Calmly, Yui threw a piece of metal at Mina, and then enlarged it in midair. Mina moved nimbly aside, jumped up off a nearby wall, flipped in midair, and landed on a higher platform. She ran over the ledge, as Yui threw more large objects at her. Skating and ducking and dodging the whole way, using her agility.
Now I've put some distance between Kuroiro and myself, which means one of them will try and go free him!
As it turned out, it was Komori, who ran forward to try and dislodge the solid acid around her teammate's chest. Immediately, Mina jumped down between the two girls, and shot out acid from both her hands and feet.
"ACID VEIL!" she yelled, creating a wall, a solid wave of the stuff that separated Yui and Komori. It stretched from one side of the corridor to the other.
Yui stumbled back in surprise, and tripped over some dissolving mushrooms. "Ah!" she squeaked, jerking her hand back, having brushed it against some acid.
"Yeah, you better be careful!" Mina taunted.
Komori whirled, having not successfully freed Kuroiro yet. "Ah, gotta get back, shroo-"
Mina leapt down upon her, chopped her in the neck, and slung the short girl over her shoulder, skating away, putting distance between her and Kodai. Come on Yui, give chase. Don't stop to free Kuroiro. Take the bait.
Komori was trying to struggle free, but she was light, and Mina knew that she herself had the strongest arms of any girl in their course besides Kendo.
Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation in her throat. Oh no. You ain't getting away with that!
Mina sent her acid up through her body, and burned the mushrooms away. She continued sliding forward coolly, breathing normally, dragging Komori along.
"Why isn't it working, shroom? You should be coughing up a storm! Put me DOWN!"
"You're talking to the alien queen," Mina growled. "I'll burn through all your strategies, all your attacks. You can't beat me! I'm gonna WIN!"
…
Class A was going wild.
"That's the Pinky I know!" yelled Kirishima, pumping his fist in the air.
Doko was smiling, watching her go. "She's not wasting any time. She's still trying to capture them. She's still trying to win."
"It was like she predicted everything they'd do, ribbit," said Tsu.
"Strange," Sero commented. "I don't know Ashido as the type to use her brain."
Doko's fist shook. "Urge…to smack you…upside the head…too strong…"
"I'll do it for you," said Jiro loudly, and hit Sero in the back of the head. "OW!"
"Ribbit," Tsu laughed. "One does wonder where Mina-chan is getting this new cleverness from. Certainly not you, Dokkun."
"I'd agree, but not because I'm self-deprecating again." Doko blinked at the screen, watching his girlfriend move. "Mina didn't get it from anyone. It's her own potential she's using, because she's finally found some real motivation." He looked over to where the adults were standing.
All Might and Midnight were dazzled, and even Eraser Head was grinning a little. And Mirko…
Mirko's jaw was dropped.
Doko felt a strange mix of emotions. Pride, yes…but also a bit of jealousy. And he immediately regretted it.
…
Yui shrank several platforms, and then grew them up again in front of the acid wall, creating a makeshift staircase. She climbed over it and hopped down the other side, seeing Kuroiro still pinned to the wall to her left. He was clawing at the acid, trying to free himself.
Yui ran over to help him, but he snarled, "No! Go AFTER her! Don't let her put Komori in the cage! I'll get myself out!"
Yui understood. Ashido pinned him and left him here, but as long as he's not in the cage, we're still up by two. However, if she gets Komori in, we're only up by one. It's clear who I need to help.
"Hmph!" she nodded determinedly, and took off at a run, leaving Kuroiro behind.
I could have gotten over the acid more quickly. But she'd been wary of the acid burning her, and she'd been flustered besides. The girl moves so fast. It was like she predicted everything we'd do. We should have had a backup strategy or something. If we had a proper leader, they could have come up with it…
Yui thought she'd be able to catch up to Ashido if the girl was carrying another person, but she also had those acid-skate shoes, and Yui could not see her up ahead as she went around each turn. I know the cage is this way. If I don't catch up in time…
She came around a corner, right as the cage closed on Komori. She was too late.
…
Mina turned, and saw Kodai on the other side of the clearing. The girl's chest was rising and falling, and her lips were slightly open. Her eyes were wider than Mina had ever seen them. This is the most emotion she's likely to show.
Komori pressed up against the bars of the cage, having just been thrown inside. "Back up, Yui-shroom! If you're so close, there's a chance she can capture you and make things even! And if Kuroiro can't get out of the trap…"
Mina prepared to skate forward and catch the girl. She's gonna turn and run now. She hoped to catch me before I got her teammate in the cage, but now she knows her best option is to turn back and try and free Kuroiro before time runs out.
But she didn't turn and run. She opened her mouth to answer Komori's question, and for the first time ever, Mina heard Yui Kodai speak.
"I won't get captured," she breathed, and uncrossed her arms in front of herself, throwing two objects from her belt.
Mina gasped, as the shadow of two massive bolts descended down upon her. She rolled out of the way.
Kodai threw more objects at her. Mina dodged left, right, low, hopped over one as it bounced. Then, she accidentally skated into the path of one, and drove her palm into it, bursting it into an explosion of acid.
That blocked my view! She's coming!
Sure enough, Kodai was upon her, throwing up one of her nuts and getting ready to press her fingertips together to trap Mina the same way she'd done Tokoyami and Aoyama, by constricting them inside a metal ring.
Panicked, Mina lifted her arms to shoot acid at the descending trap…and Yui drove an elbow into her exposed stomach.
Mina's breath ejected out of her mouth, and the two girls slammed back against the bars of the cage. Behind them, the nut landed harmlessly against the concrete. A diversion?
Mina was pinned against the cage by the girl's elbow. Calm-faced, Yui brought her other fist around, but Mina blocked with her forearm, ducked low, and kicked off the cage behind her, causing the two of them to roll sideways. She gained the upper hand with her stronger arms, and slammed Yui into the ground.
Mina got ready to blast her chest with solidifying acid to trap her, but Yui tossed an object into the sky, underhanded, up over both of them. Frantically, Mina tried to reach her hands and keep them apart, but she pressed them together, and the screw grew massive, descending down upon them…
Yui rolled out of the way, and Mina skated sideways. The screw bounced against the pavement between them, and on the up-bounce, Yui shrank it down to size, and snatched it out of the air, returning it to her belt.
She has a limited amount of items. If she has to start going to pick them up off the ground, I'll get the advantage. Just hold out!
Kodai enlarged a metal disc in her hands and threw it like a frisbee, whirring toward Mina. Mina reached out and caught it, flexing her muscles, and threw it back with a twirl. Panicked, Yui shrank it in midair as it hurtled back toward her.
Mina followed up, skating upward and creating a wave of solid acid, like Todoroki's ice-bridges. She went toward Yui and got height on her at the same time, and prepared to jump down on her.
Yui looked up, and then threw a shrunken pipe against the ground. On the up-bounce, she enlarged it right in front of Mina's face in mid-air, and it knocked her off-balance. Mina windmilled her arms, trying to skate backwards and find her balance. Yui threw another pipe, and she was forced to blast it with acid.
As Mina fell backward, Yui grew something else against the ground.
Komori gasped from the cage. "My mushrooms?!"
A massive mushroom grew up from the ground. Yui leapt up onto it, bounced off the cap, and fle over Mina's head, landing on her other side…and landing a devastating blow with a swinging fist against Mina's shoulderblades.
Mina howled in pain and stumbled back, exhausted. She felt like shit, having already exhausted herself from carrying two people to the cage alone. Also, her acid reserves were nearly empty, having mostly been spent on the two massive waves. It would take hours for her body to regenerate them back. By contrast, Yui stood there, only barely breathing a little harder, but otherwise composed. Inexorable. Implacable.
Mina sighed. I gotta end this now.
She skated back-and-forth, bobbing and weaving forward toward her opponent. Yui threw one bolt, but nothing else. Mina swept up her palm and underhanded an acid blast at the girl's chest, the last of her reserves. Yui dodged, grabbed Mina's outstretched arm, and attempted to throw her to the ground. Mina kicked out with one boot and hit the girl's leg, which caused Yui to wince, but not let go of Mina's arm. For a moment, the two of them struggled against each other, stalemated, but then Yui threw something into the air again.
This time, Mina grabbed both of the other girl's arms, and forced them apart, preventing her from putting her fingertips together. Yui's blue eyes widened in panic, as the tiny screw bounced harmlessly off of one of Mina's horns.
Then, Mina drove her face forward, and headbutted the other girl. "HYAH!"
Yui stumbled back, falling onto her butt, dazed. Mina walked forward, realized she had no more acid to trap the girl, and decided to just drag her to the cage instead. It was right there, anyway.
Too late, she realized that Yui had fallen back toward the edge of the shadows of the clearing, the dark labyrinth of pipes looming up behind her.
And Kuroiro leapt out from there, planting himself between the two girls, and grabbing Mina's arms.
Mina struggled backward away from him, trying to wrench herself free. "Guess you got yourself out, huh?"
"That's right," Kuroiro said with a gleeful smirk. "You have a good eye for combat. And…" He looked directly at her face. "A good eye for me too, I think."
Suddenly, his finger was touching her eye, and she squinted, trying to wave him off. "HEY! EYE POKING IS A FOUL!" she complained…
But when she opened her eyes, he'd disappeared.
And suddenly, she felt something very strange in her right eye. Like something swimming around in it.
OHHHH my god. He…HE POSSESSED MY SCLERA!
Mina screamed, and went to her knees, clawing at her own face frantically. Get out get out GET OUT! Her heart was racing and racing and racing…
…And she passed out from panic and fright.
Yui Kodai stood, wiping blood off of her face and sniffing. "Kuroiro-san," she said, calmly. "Get out of there before I trap her."
The boy obeyed, popping back out of the girl's black eye.
Yui carefully placed an enlarged nut over Mina's unconscious body, and lowered it down around her, shrinking it to capture size. "I know you can't hear me," she murmured, "but it was a good fight."
Mina was out of commission. The victory had gone to Class B.
…
"What a demonic strategy," Ibara muttered.
"Damn," Kirishima swore. "That was so close, too. If she'd just had time to get Kodai in the cage…"
Doko watched the screens, dejected. Mina…
…
Later, the four teams had all gathered back up in the spectating area to receive feedback. Unlike the last match, most of them were awake and relatively uninjured. Sato was still a little delirious, but Mina had woken herself back up, and stood next to Aoyama and Tokoyami with a neutral expression. Doko wondered what was going through her head. She's never been all that great at dealing with defeat. He hadn't been there to see, but apparently after the forest fight in which he and Bakugo had been captured, she'd been inconsolable.
Vlad King started with his students. "Well done on the victory, you four. Though it should have been far easier than it was, don't you agree? It was far too close of a thing."
Kuroiro and Tsubaraba's eyes averted, their shoulders slouched. "Yes, sir…"
"Kuroiro, your schemes worked well, but even so, you never quite took the position of leader. If one of you had stepped up to the plate and directed the rest of the team, you would have had far more focus, and would have been able to capture Ashido more quickly. As it stood, you only were able to come up with a basic strategy as a group, one that Ashido saw right through. However…Kodai. Good work holding out. I'd call you the MVP of your team. Your close combat skills and reaction time have vastly improved since the start of the year."
Kodai's lips lifted up into a fraction of a smile. "Hmm," she breathed, bowing gratefully.
"As for the four of you," said Aizawa, "I don't think I need to explain too much to you. The enemy had two Quirks that were capable of invading your person in a very intimate and frightening way. You should have planned for this. I could tell that like your opposing team, you somewhat lacked central leadership. Tokoyami, your strategy with Aoyama as bait was strong, but there was no follow-up. And Sato, you wasted too much time and energy early on. That continues to be an issue for you."
The three boys bowed in despair.
"As for Ashido…" Aizawa turned to the pink girl. "I'll be frank. That was the best performance I've ever seen from you."
Mina's eyebrows rose. Her head lifted up a half-inch, and her eyes glowed with surprise.
"I could tell you were trying to step up into that missing leadership position. For the starting group battle, you weren't quite there, and made mistakes. But once you were alone, you managed to not only hold out for far longer than I expected, and even made it so Class B was facing a legitimate threat of defeat. You have clearly grown a lot. I'm proud of you."
Mina's eyes shimmered. Her lip trembled with emotion.
"Agreed!" All Might put in, clapping his hands together. "You did brilliantly, Young Ashido."
Nezu turned to Mirko. "And what are our guest's thoughts?"
All eyes went to the rabbit heroine. She was writing something down on a piece of paper, with a pen that was shaped like a carrot.
Then, she hopped into the air.
The classes gasped, and Tsuyu let out a dazzled ribbit as Mirko went flying, far higher than even the frog girl was capable of jumping. Then, she landed right in front of Mina, bending her knees and hitting with such an impact that her feet seemed to make the ground shudder beneath them.
Mirko stood up straight in front of the pink girl, and handed her the piece of paper. "My contact information," she said. "Get in touch with me after all this is over."
She winked, and then turned, walking out of the spectator area. "I've seen enough, ol' Nezu. Thanks for the invite."
Waving, she walked back up to the school, leaving them.
…
I changed the way Yui's Quirk works for this fight, a little bit. Though it's hard to tell in the manga, it seems that she only needs to press her fingertips together Uraraka-style in order to return the objects to their original size, and that she can actually just shrink and grow them at will without even having to touch them or activate anything. I changed this because it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Is she just using her mind? How does her mind connect to an inanimate object? So, I made it so she has to press her fingertips together and physically activate every shrink and growth.
Also, the manga establishes that she can't use her Quirk on living things. I took a bit of liberty with that as a mushroom does technically live…so, for the purposes of the story, she simply can't use her Quirk on other people and animals. Plants and fungi are still fair game.