AN: I apologize for spamming you with update notifications. My formatting did a weird thing and the first couple of tries were…. less than successful. Also, this is shorter than my normal updates. I really wanted an epic USJ chapter that covered a ton of stuff, but it didn't really pan out that way. I figured an update was better than me beating the horse for the next two months. I hope you enjoy Gohan at the USJ! As always, please leave a review if you like what I write and/or constructive criticism! Reviews really do make me more motivated to work on these projects.
Chapter 6: The USJ!
Gohan stared at his new license as he flew away from Snipe-san, relying on his ki sense to warn him of any dangers nearby. He couldn't believe that this dimension was actually going to pay him to do the things that he was already going to do. It felt a little strange, really.
As he neared UA, Gohan could sense far more people gathered around Aizawa-san and Thirteen-san than just Class 1-A. The young Saiyan frowned and focused on the ki signals surrounding the three teachers. He could identify the life signs of the 1-A students, except for Iida, who was moving back towards campus at a high speed. However, three signatures were unusual, like there were several people occupying the same space. One, in particular, seemed like it was four or five people overlapping. And that person was standing right in front of Toshinori-san!
Gohan flared his aura and flew faster, pulling up in front of the USJ's doors a few moments later. The doors were standing ajar and Gohan could see a group of students huddled together over a prone Thirteen.
"What happened?" Gohan yelled as he flew into the complex. He could see the torn back of Thirteen's suit, but nothing else was clear.
"Son-sensei! One villain has a warping Quirk and hurt Thirteen-sensei really badly!" Uraraka pointed down the stairs to a group of students and All Might. Gohan turned to Shoji, who had his extra limbs flared out like a satellite dish.
"Shoji, do you have a fix on where everyone is in the USJ?"
"Yes, sensei. I know where they are. Most are doing alright, from what I can tell."
"Good," Gohan said. "When All Might gets up here, he's going to need directions to retrieve the other students. Good job, Shoji-san."
Shoji nodded, his face inscrutable behind the half-mask.
"But Son-sensei, why would All Might need directions? Isn't he busy with that big villain?" Uraraka asked, tilting her head.
Gohan didn't answer, having spotted Aizawa being carried by Midoriya and Asui at the bottom of the stairs. He disappeared from beside Uraraka, re-appearing beside Midoriya. Midoriya let out a quick yelp as all three students jumped.
"Aizawa-san! Midoriya-san, what happened to Aizawa-san?" Gohan kept his eyes trained on the injured teacher even as he asked the question.
"That big villain back there, the hand guy called it Nomu, was beating on Aizawa-sensei! Aizawa-sensei used his Quirk to save Asui, but Nomu just beat him again!" Midoriya looked up at Gohan, tears in his eyes. "And All Might-sensei is fighting that thing, but I hit it at full power and Nomu didn't budge! He needs help!"
"Get Aizawa-sensei up the stairs, Midoriya-san. I'll go help All Might-sensei." Gohan ruffled Midoriya's hair briefly as he gave the boy a quick grin. "The other teachers should be here soon. I can feel Tenya getting close to the main building."
Midoriya nodded, and the pair of students made their way to the stairs. A sudden rumble in the ground and a plume of dust and smoke rose over the fountain area in the center of the complex.
"Son-sensei!" Midoriya cried.
"Go! I'll deal with it, don't worry." Gohan sprinted forward to the center of the complex, trusting Midoriya to prioritize getting the wounded Aizawa out of danger. He appeared in the open courtyard in time to see All Might struggling in the grip of a massive black-skinned creature that was half in a shadowy warp gate. Suddenly, ice covered one side of the creature. Gohan's head whipped around to see Todoroki standing at the edge of the courtyard, frost spreading out from his right foot.
All Might tore out of the large beaked creature's grip, ripping the frozen arm off and leaping back out of the portal. The creature remained in the portal, blank eyes staring into nothing. Two villains stood by the fountain, watching the interaction. One had blue hair was scratching his neck furiously, and the other was a mass of shadows with glowing yellow eyes.
An explosion boomed as Bakugo and Kirishima appeared from behind the villains. Bakugo tackled the shadowy villain to the ground while Kirishima missed a swipe at his target, dodging a retaliatory swipe as he darting back to stand by Gohan after his failed effort.
"Gotcha, you warping fucktard!" Bakugo growled, a manic grin playing across his face. "You can only turn part of your body into that mist shit, so you protect the rest of you by covering it up." He kept one palm pressed to the villain's metal bracer, occasionally letting off crackling pops from his palm.
"Damn it," Kirishima groused from behind Gohan. "I almost had the other guy."
"So I heard you people are here to kill All Might," Todoroki said in an emotionless tone, walking up to stand by Gohan. "I think you overestimated yourselves."
The blue-haired villain started scratching harder at his neck, glaring at Bakugo through the hand covering his face.
"Today's kids are really something… our League of Villains should be ashamed. You're still at full health AND you've taken down my escape route. Nomu, take out the explosive brat. We need our escape route back."
Gohan lunged in front of Bakugo, gently pushing him out of the way while planting his foot in the back of the warper. He nudged the striking arm of the Nomu to the side, launching it into the back wall as he kicked the warper in the ribs and knocking him behind the blue-haired villain.
"Students, please move to the upper lobby. All Might, make sure they get there." Gohan's eyes never left the blue-haired villain, his mouth set in a firm line.
"Young Gohan, they are here for me," All Might shouted with a worried expression. "I will take care of them!"
"All Might-sensei, focus on your students," Gohan said calmly. "I can handle this. Get these four upstairs and go get the ones from the other disaster zones." He tilted his head out of the way of the Nomu's fist, grabbing the arm as it passed and throwing the enormous creature over his shoulder in a single smooth motion. The Nomu smashed through the ship in the Flood Zone, splashing into the water on the other side. Bakugo and Todoroki's shouts of protest at being sent away died in their throats at the casual display of strength.
"But…" All Might sighed. "Of course, Young Gohan. Come, students, let's allow your new teacher to show these villains why they should have stayed away from UA." All Might led the students up the stairs, directing Kirishima and Bakugo to help with the injured Aizawa. He turned back briefly at the foot of the stairs. "Young Gohan, be careful. The young villain has a rather powerful Quirk, judging by his threats against the warper."
Gohan continued to stare down at the blue-haired villain, not showing that he heard All Might's warning. "Why did you come here? You had to know that this wouldn't end well."
"Shigaraki Tomura," the warper under Gohan's foot croaked, "it may be time to retreat." A black cloud of smoke flared out from under Gohan's foot. The warper stood up and moved beside Shigaraki, both staring at Gohan floating over the portal.
"Why didn't you fall into the portal?" Shigaraki shouted. He scratched his neck with increasing force, his breathing speeding up as he glared at Gohan floating over the portal. "What cheats do you have enabled?! How much did you grind for this raid?! WHAT KINDS OF GUIDEBOOKS DID YOU BUY!?"
"I… don't know what you're talking about." Gohan blinked at the villain. "What do you mean by grinding? That sounds like something Master Roshi would say…"
"KUROGIRI! GET THE NOMU AND KILL HIM!"
The warper closed the ineffective gate under Gohan, opening a portal beside Shigaraki. The black-skinned Nomu lumbered out of the gate along with a rush of water.
"NOMU! KILL HIM!"
Nomu surged forward, throwing a massive haymaker. Gohan tilted his torso just enough to dodge the attack, keeping his lower body still. He continued to dodge blow after blow, never moving his legs. Gohan kept his eyes on Shigaraki as he dodged, maintaining a small smile as the young man scratched his neck harder and harder. After a few moments of dodging, Shigaraki screamed in frustration, running at Gohan.
"WHY CAN'T MY NOMU HIT YOU!? YOU CHEATING MOTHERFUCKER!" Shigaraki alternated strikes with the Nomu, trying desperately to hit Gohan or cause. Kurogiri opened portals randomly around Gohan, sending Shigaraki's hand out at increasingly odd angles. "What kind of mods have you enabled to let you do this!?"
After a couple of minutes of dodging, Gohan dropped his guard and shrugged.
"Alright, I'll let him hit me." He stood still, allowing the Nomu to land a solid strike to his chest. The powerful strike launched Gohan into the back wall, a cloud of debris covering the immediate area.
"TAKE THAT, YOU CHEATING FUCK! YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED OUT OF MY WAY!" Shigaraki turned to the Nomu, glee obvious in every line of his body. "NOW GO KILL…"
"Huh," Gohan's voice came from the dust cloud. Shigaraki's head snapped over to look at the Saiyan. "That thing really does hit like All Might. I think he bruised a rib." Gohan walked out of the dust cloud, rubbing his side, while Shigaraki grew redder in the face. "Nope, sorry, that was just a rock under my shirt."
Something seemed to crack in Shigaraki and one eye suddenly went red. "NOMU! KILL EVERY KID IN THIS BUILDING!"
Before the Nomu could move, a dark and oppressive energy enveloped the area. The energy drove Shigaraki to his knees as the cement cracked all around him. A quick glance around showed Kurogiri and the Nomu drove to the floor by the oppressive feeling.
"What did you just say?" Gohan said in a velvety soft voice.
"Ki… kill… kill every k… kid in the b… b… building," Shigaraki stuttered out, his voice cracking in fear.
Bright gold light blinded everyone as it erupted from Gohan. Blinking away the spots from his vision, Shigaraki started at the sight of his opponent revealed in swirling dust and smoke. Bright yellow hair waved in an origin-less breeze and blue crackles of lightning danced across his skin. Teal, pupil-less eyes bored into Shigaraki's own eyes before Gohan spoke.
"When you were just trying to kill me or All Might, I was angry, but that is the life we chose. However, you have just threatened my students, who are no threat to you. That was a mistake." Gohan disappeared from view, appearing behind Shigaraki. He leaned forward and talked quietly in Shigaraki's ear. "I have some prior experience with ending threats. Let me show you how hilariously outclassed you are."
Gohan reached over to the Nomu, grasping it by the skull. He threw the massive creature in the air, launching himself after it. A quick vertical spin flowed into a falling axe kick, rocketing the Nomu down into the fountain. The Nomu created a massive crater, bouncing up as Gohan appeared underneath it. A brilliant yellow beam of light enveloped the Nomu's body, leaving the head intact but vaporizing the body and the ceiling above. The Nomu's head landed on the ground with a soft slap.
"How…" Shigaraki murmured, his eyes wide under the hand mask. "How did you CHEAT!? HOW COULD YOU?!" The villain leader lunged out, handed aimed at Gohan's chest. 'If I can get him just once, I can win! Nothing can stand up to my Decay! This cheating fuck can't beat me! Sensei said I was ready!'
Gohan grabbed the villain by the wrist in a single swift movement, stopping his forward momentum cold. As Shigaraki swung his other hand to attack Gohan's face, Kurogiri's black mist engulfed the hand and redirected it. The pale hand darted out from a small portal behind Gohan, aiming for his spine. As the first finger brushed against Gohan's back, a furry brown tail wrapped around Shigaraki's wrist and jerked to the side sharply at the same time Gohan's hand squeezed. Two sharp pops echoed over deafening silence until Shigaraki's scream ripped apart the silence.
"ARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
Kurogiri flared his smoke body around his young master, blanketing Shigaraki and Gohan in inky darkness. Gohan jumped back out of the smoke cloud as it snapped closed.
"Damn it," Gohan cursed as the smoke dissipated. A pair of gunshots went off behind him, and he could feel a slight twinge from the impact of the bullets. "I'm an ally," he called over his shoulder. "Try not to shoot me!" The young Saiyan continued to stare at the empty space where Shigaraki had been.
'This isn't over. Something is about to shift and cause a problem. I just wish I could pinpoint what it is.'
As always, please leave a favorite and/or a review if you enjoyed what you just read! Hope to see you next time!