Chapter 35: USJ
A/N: Well, finally at USJ. After 34 chapters. Did not expect it to be so long. I estimate the arc will be about 4 chapters but knowing my horrible track record with estimations, I could be easily wrong. Please don't hold me to it lol.
"Sensei, is Class 1-B going to come with us to USJ too?" Izuku asked as he led his fellow students to the bus.
"No. Two of their students got expelled and their homeroom teacher is sorting things out,"
"Why did they get expelled?"
"Quirk discrimination and assault," Aizawa replied with boredom, "Get on the bus!" he announced to everyone and sat at the front. The rest of the students clambered in behind him. Aizawa closed his eyes for a quick nap.
"Hey, you got the metal pole finally!" Izuku said to Kaminari.
"Yup, I didn't want a sword like Watanabe cuz it's too sharp. The metal pole will let me conduct electricity with a weapon more easily," Kaminari explained, "Plus I got the iron net to trap enemies too!"
"Whoa, that's really cool!" Kirishima said, "I wish I had thought of incorporating my costume with my quirk," Kirishima complained.
"You could get some weapons like me if you want," Watanabe pointed out.
"Yeah, but I don't have weapons training. I do have close combat training though,"
"Watanabe, do you even know how to use all those weapons?" Jiro asked.
"Yup," he gave a cheery smile, "Izuku does too actually. I don't get why he didn't ask for any weapons in his costume,"
Izuku shrugged, "My power levels are still out of control. I would break them instead of getting any use out of them,"
"Momo should have weapons training since you can make anything!" Izuku pointed out.
Momo laughed nervously, "My parents did have a personal trainer for me but I still don't think I'm as good as you,"
"Don't sell yourself so short," Shouto, surprisingly comforted. Momo looked at him with surprise. She wasn't expecting the number 2 hero's son to defend her skillset,"
"You guys should really learn to use weapons. They are really helpful in combat," Izuku said.
"But we do have our quirks though," Sero said.
Shouji shook his head, "We do, but weapons would enhance our skills by a lot. Imagine Tokoyami for example. If he had a sword or something, Dark Shadow and he could alternate between close-range and long-range,"
"Still wouldn't be appropriate for all of us dumbass," Katsuki replied, "Weapons would hinder my quirk cuz they would explode instead,"
"That is true," Tsuyu agreed, "But it would be cool if I could incorporate weapons into my acrobatic skills. What do you think Midoriya? You are the analysis,"
"Hmm?" Izuku looked up from his notebook, "Sorry, I wasn't listening. I was thinking whether the Support department can make a grenade for Katsuki that can only be activated by his explosions," he said with a smile on his face.
"Hn, I have enough explosions already, idiot,"
"Yeah, but you still need to burst through any obstacles. You can just bounce a grenade off the walls," Izuku replied.
"Didn't Bakugou say that he was going to be nicer to Izuku?" Hitoshi pointed out
"He did say that," Aoyama twinkled.
"I don't think, 'idiot' is a nice thing to say,"
"I didn't mean it as insult dumbass!"
"It's alright. A polite Kacchan is worse,"
"What did you say, you bastard?"
"Can't argue with that," Mina grinned. Bakugou fumed.
Denki moved closer to Watanabe, "You aren't getting mad at Bakugou?"
Watanabe shook his head, "I'm offering him a second chance as promised. Using insults is just part of his personality so can't be mad at that,"
Denki rolled his eyes, "Since when are you so understanding?"
"The talks with Hound dog are really eye-opening,"
"Didn't he tell you that you and Bakugou have similar anger issues and the only difference is the way you two were brought up?"
"...Shut up," Watanabe grunted causing his friend to laugh.
"By the way, Watanabe, do you wear those weights all the time?" Iida asked
"Weights?" Hagakure asked.
Iida nodded, "Yup. He took them off in the locker room before putting on his hero costume. They were so heavy!"
"Not that heavy!"
"Shouji couldn't pick them up," Sato pointed out.
"Ojiro wears heavier ones," Watanabe argued.
"Both of you are insane," Hitoshi replied as Koda nodded mutely.
"Wait, was that the smash we heard from our locker room?" Uraraka asked.
"Thankfully, the floor seems to be built to take a lot of force," Ojiro sighed. Watanabe nodded sagely. "it still doesn't explain how both of you dropped your weights simultaneously," Tokoyami pointed out.
"Chipper down, we are here!" Aizawa announced as the bus pulled into the entrance of USJ.
The students disembarked and followed Aizawa into USJ.
"Hello. I've been waiting for you,"
"Whoa, it's Thirteen!" Uraraka exclaimed with joy, "She's my favorite hero!" she said in a small tone.
"Please, come on in," Thirteen led the students inside.
Once they were in, the students gaped at the size of the interior. It contained what looked to be a sea, a city as well as a mountain range, "It's so big!" Kirishima gaped.
Thirteen smiled beneath her mask, "Yup. I built it to prepare students for any kind of disaster, natural or man-made. From fires to earthquakes, this center contains everything. The USJ or Unforeseen Simulation Joint,"
Aizawa stared around for a bit before moving closer to Thirteen. He spoke in a hushed voice, "Wasn't All Might supposed to meet us here?"
Thirteen nodded, "He wasted his three hours before getting to school. He'll still make an appearance at the end."
"Tch," Aizawa said, annoyed, "Why does Nedzu put up with his tardiness?" he asked rhetorically.
"He does have an awful lot of experience. Don't be so salty. You weren't a good teacher when you first started either," Thirteen pointed out, "Now then class, pay attention!"
"Yes, Sensei!"
"You know my quirk; black hole. I use it to suck rubble. I can even turn it to dust. Sure, I use it for rescue purposes to remove rubble and suck people out of tight spaces, but it is a highly volatile quirk. If my concentration lapses even for a second, I might end up sucking the civilians along with the rubble and injure or even kill them."
The class fell silent as the seriousness of the lecture hit them, "Looks like you have already understood my point," Thirteen smiled, "You need to learn how to control your quirks. Even if you are fighting villains, you need good quirk control. Or you will end up killing the villain and innocent bystanders. The same goes for those of you who want to be rescue heroes. You need to know exactly how much of your quirk you can use without causing too much damage. Those of you who will go underground may have it hardest because not only will you have to learn control, you will also have to make sure villains cannot identify your quirk or its usage. Am I clear?"
"Yes sensei," The students replied, slightly more somber but still pumped up.
"Wonderful," Thirteen said cheerfully, "Let's get started then," She turned around, "We'll start with the-" Thirteen stopped short as a purplish cloud appeared in front of them.
Several figures appeared out of the mist, "A warp gate?" Izuku muttered to himself.
"Whoa, are those mock villains for us to fight as we do the rescue?" Kaminari asked.
"As expected of UA," Kirishima replied.
"No!" Aizawa put his hand out in front of them warningly, "Those are villains. Actual villains,"
Some of the members of the class fell back in shock but Bakugou stepped up with confidence, "So what? They're just extras anyway," he said and got ready to fight but Aizawa stared him down with his quirk activated, "You are still a student. Let Thirteen and me handle this,"
"Tch," Bakugou reluctantly fell back.
"Thirteen, you get the students out. I'll handle the villains," Aizawa said, readying his capture scarves.
"But Eraserhead! You aren't a head-on fighter like All Might,"
Aizawa didn't lose his cool, "You can't be a one-trick pony if you want to be a hero," he replied before jumping down into the plaza, using his momentum to smash down into two villains before whipping out his capture scarf to counter the third one.
"So manly!" Kirishima exclaimed with respect.
"It's dumb," Watanabe replied promptly causing the class to stare at him, "It would have been a better choice to pull the villains in with Thirteen's quirk and have Aizawa-sensei take care of the remaining grunts,"
"That is a fair point," Tsuyu thought hard.
"It is a better strategy but it would put you, students, in greater danger. The alarm has been overridden by the villains so we can't expect the other teachers to help. I'm going to prop out the door with my quirk. You guys make a run for it while I support Eraser," Thirteen explained.
"Yes, sensei," Disheartened voices scattered through the class. Izuku clenched his fists in anger. He was a hero in training with All Might's quirk! But even then he was still useless.
Thirteen got ready to blow open the main gate when Kurogiri appeared, "Now, now, the fun is yet to start. We can't have you alerting everyone already, now can we?"
"Purple mist and suddenly appeared in front of us without any sound or any other indication. Does he have a warp quirk?" Thirteen pondered, "Sorry, but I can't risk my students' safety," she said and activated her quirk. Kurogiri grunted in pain as he felt himself being pulled in, "Students, run!" Thirteen yelled but Bakugou had already moved, "Oi, villain! You really thought you could get away so easily!?" he yelled and pounced on Kurogiri. Kurogiri swiftly warped away from Bakugou's explosive attack, "My, my, what a dangerous quirk. You should really be careful with that,"
Izuku nudged Watanabe who seemed to be staring at the Nomu with extreme concentration, "Oi, you alright? Are you in shock?"
Watanabe shook his head, "No. Sensei!" Watanabe called out to Thirteen, "Eraserhead won't be able to keep up with that... thing," he pointed to the Nomu.
Thirteen grunted back, trying to catch Kurogiri who kept escaping his black hole with the warp, "Eraserhead is more than capable. You don't need to worry about that,"
"It's not that!" Watanabe replied angrily, "That thing's bad! It's a chimera! Or at least it's got multiple humans in it!"
Thirteen momentarily deactivated his quirk in shock, "How do you know?"
"My quirk. I can see its heat signatures. A human should only have 1 heat signature but that thing has 3-4 signatures in it. If it's got multiple humans in it, it might have multiple quirks too!" Watanabe deduced causing Thirteen to sweat. She turned to warn Aizawa to steer clear of the Nomu but that allowed Kurogiri to escape.
Kurogiri warped right in front of Watanabe, "You know too much already. I can't let you leave now," Kurogiri threatened but Izuku had taken advantage of Kurogiri's monologue to ready his finger, "SMASH!" he flicked his finger. The resulting air pressure made Kurogiri hit the wall of the plaza, "You lot are too troublesome," Kurogiri readied his warp, "Seems like I have to separate you," he said and made several warp gates. All of the students started falling into them but Uraraka was quick to use her zero gravity on as many as she could while Sero used his tape to pull them out.
Thirteen cursed, she failed to protect the students, "Where did you take them?" She demanded as she activated her black hole once more.
"Relax, they're still here," Kurogiri said as he opened up a warp behind Thirteen, "You should be more worried about yourself," he said as he diverted the black hole to Thirteen's exposed back tearing through his suit.
"Thirteen!" Ashido yelled out in panic.
"Now for you guys!" Kurogiri drifted towards the remaining students but was sucked back by a panting Thirteen once again, "Don't think I'm going to let you do whatever you want!"
Kurogiri narrowed his eyes, "I expected nothing less!"
"Iida! Your quirk is the best choice we have right now. Run back to UA and tell a teacher!" Thirteen ordered.
"But sensei! I can't just leave my classmates and go! That is not honorable!"
"Iida, right now we need backup. A hero's duty is to protect everyone and if you will be helping us out more by getting back up," Shouji calmly explained.
"Shouji's right. We will cover you," Uraraka said with determination.
Iida clenched his fists, "...You guys... fine! But the door?"
"I'll dissolve it with my acid!" Mina assured, "We have to do it now while Thirteen is keeping the villain occupied,"
Iida nodded and got ready but Uraraka stopped him, "Wait," she said and lightened Iida's boots and suit, "Now, you can get there faster," she smiled. Iida nodded, "Thanks," he said and set off for a run.
"Don't think I will let you go that easily," Kurogiri warned and warped right in front of the gate. Iida tensed but he had faith in his classmates. Sure enough, Uraraka made Shouji and Ashido float up. Sero used his tape to catch them and flung them towards Kurogiri. Ashido readied her acid and splattered it down like rain on Kurogiri who had no choice but to dodge. Shouji used the chance to extend his arms to enormous sizes. He created a hand of a size that would rival 's gigantic hands and punched towards Kurogiri.
Kurogiri cursed and fell back. He tried to counter but Thirteen was back on her feet once again, supported by Uraraka. She used her black hole and pulled back Kurogiri once again. That was all the time Mina needed to dissolve the doors down and let Iida run straight for UA. Kurogiri cursed, UA would be bringing back its entire force now. He quietly formed a warp gate back to Shigaraki to inform him of the new developments.
Watanabe cursed as he got up with a groan. He still seemed to be in USJ, in the fire disaster part. He heard shuffling around him and froze. He turned slowly to see two villains facing away from him. They hadn't seen him yet, "Aren't those brats going to get here already? I want some blood,"
"That damn warp gate did promise us that he would scatter the brats," the other villain replied before both of the villains were swiftly knocked out by Watanabe via a smash to their heads. Watanabe looked around to make sure no one heard him and dragged the bodies behind the building. He didn't see anyone near him. He could be by himself. He used his infrared vision to try and pinpoint his classmates but immediately deactivated the quirk, clenching his eyes, hissing with pain.
"Stupid," he muttered to himself, "I forgot this is the fire zone. All the fires here are too bright, I won't be able to see anything," he berated himself and switched to X-ray this time. He saw several villains scattered around the fire zone and hundreds more all across USJ. He cursed to himself. In the X-ray vision, everyone looked the same! The skeletal structure was the same for most people with the exception of some mutant quirk users. At least with Infrared, the heat signatures were varying and he could see the body outline which helped him build a face.
He pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and used his X-ray to determine the villains' position and plot his next move. He stopped short as he saw someone with an extra bone that looked like a tail, "Ojiro!" Watanabe exclaimed in his mind with joy. He swiftly made his position towards Ojiro's position and checked for visual confirmation. Yes, that was Ojiro. He used his X-ray to wait for the nearby villains to move a bit further away before using his chains to lift Ojiro to the roof of the building. He clamped his hand over Ojiro's mouth to make sure he didn't scream, "It's me, Watanabe," he said in a hushed voice as Ojiro struggled against his grip.
Hearing that Ojiro calmed down and Watanabe let him go, "How did you find me?"
"X-ray vision," Watanabe pointed to his eyes.
"Anyone else here?"
"I don't know. I can't use infrared vision here because of all the fires going on here. And in X-ray everyone's endoskeleton is similar. I only found you because of the cartilage in your tail,"
Ojiro looked at his tail with narrowed eyes, "Thank god for that. So we don't know where any of our classmates are?"
Watanabe shook his head, "Nope. I'm pretty sure they're still in USJ like us though,"
Ojiro nodded, "So should we fight the villains?"
"No, I'm pretty sure they are low-level grunts but there's no way for us to know. It's better we get out of here stealthily instead of drawing attention,"
Ojiro nodded, "Roger. I hope everyone else is doing ok,"
Watanabe smiled, "No need to worry. Once we're out I can use my infrared to find the guy who's jamming the signal,"
Ojiro nodded, "Lead the way," he said.
"Now what do we have here?" The two heard a voice behind them, "Two little brats just for us,"
Ojiro and Watanabe turned swiftly to dodge a gorilla-looking guy's punch. There were three more with him. Watanabe wasted no time to use his chains and pull out the villain's legs from under him. Ojiro jumped and slammed his tail down into the gorilla's head. He used the resulting jump to fly up and deliver a splitting kick to the other two. Watanabe grabbed the last guy and swiftly used his hidden blades to cut through the holes in the villain's armor. Then he ducked down and delivered a crunching kick to his ribs.
Ojiro and Watanabe froze, using their ears to make sure no one heard them.
"Sweet moves," Ojiro complimented, "Are those master Yoroi's moves?"
"Yup, how did you guess?"
"Agile, acrobatic moves but devastating, stealthy and crippling at the same time. A chaotic and frightening combo,"
"Where did you learn?"
"With Master Yoroi,"
"Really? I never saw you there,"
"Well, I did private sessions. I didn't fight at the dojo,"
"Why not?"
Ojiro smiled, "I'm his son!"
Watanabe choked on his spit.
A/N: Hope you liked the chapter. Leave a comment with your thoughts.
I dropped Watanabe in the fire zone specifically so that he couldn't track his classmates. Or the UA traitor would be exposed, right there. Izuku, Kaminari, Bakugou, and all of the others will be done next chapter. I just put Watanabe and Ojiro's one in this chapter cuz I wanted to develop their friendship more.