Huntik Heroes
Chapter 18
Time for the missions. I'll be starting with Russia to give Reiko her chance to learn more about what Seekers have to do. As well as giving her and Asahi some….. reasons to get closer. There are multiple reasons I had them go to Russia after all. And deal with a blizzard inducing threat. Anyway, these will be a bit shorter just because I don't feel the need to go over with some of these. Like most mission are one episode or maybe even a chapter. So, on with the show.
(No POV)
Reiko gulps on the flight to Novosibirsk. "Are you really sure I'm ready for this?" she asked nervously. Asahi looked at her before looking away. He hem hawed around a bit and just told her 'maybe'.
"The best way to grow is with practical experience after all. It's helped a lot of Seekers grow. And if you do want to keep learning this, then this might just be the way to do it." Asahi says while setting his hand atop hers. He gives her a smile and assures her he'll be right with her during the mission.
While she is still nervous Asahi's smile helps to reassure her. Once they land, they note how cold the area was. "Is this a side effect of whatever that magic creature is?" Reiko asked with a shiver. Asahi shivers as well and wonders the same. "Let's head to the local branch."
They hurry over and meet with the local Huntik Foundation safehouse. Once there, they are given cups of coffee before discussing the mission. "As you know, there have been a rash of blizzards afflicting the area. They defy both quirks and meteorological understandings. So we suspect that a Titan is involved."
Asahi hums and asks if they had an idea on the likely Titan. "Could it be a Frostanna?" he asks with some confusion. The agent hums before noting that the scope seems to large for that Titan. "It could be an Ymir as well. But we don't know. That was why we requested some aid in this matter."
Reiko gulps again and asks if there was more they had identified with the energy or on the maps. The agent hums before bringing up the maps on his holotome. He noted the focus region and the swirling clouds around. Reiko looked closely at the movement and saw something.
"The epicenter stays consistent….. but there is something. Here. Here. And in these two spots. These seem to be orbiting the center and expanding as it grows." Reiko says with fascination. The more experienced Seekers were surprised and could see some of what she meant. Especially when they used her projections to predict and track the path of said points.
The agent hums before asking how she knew or suspected that. "It's because I had used similar ideas to increase the power and velocity of my own attacks. When I still had my quirk." Reiko said. She noted that while she could only carry or lift an object about the weight of a person, she could make small items hit harder by making and item rotate around her to build up power.
"So that means these points along the outside are…. Being used to expand the power and strength of the storm?" Asahi questioned. The agent agrees and wonders what else could be involved in the increase of this storm.
He then offers to get them some heavy-duty winter gear and that they would investigate some of the rotating areas of power. "We'll see what we can find out. And maybe make it easier for you going toward the center of the storm." Asahi nods and suggests they do it in the morning. As it was getting late and marching through the snow would be hard enough during the day.
After resting, they were set up with hearty winter gear and other equipment to hopefully make it easier for the two to get to the root of the threat. The lead one being a snow truck that could hopefully keep them warm and safe on the trek through the storm.
"This is Visaly. He will drive you toward the center of the storm. And cover you if needed," the head of the branch said with a gesture. The man in question was a bear in build and look. And it was complimented by the fact he had a Breaker amulet around his neck.
But he was friendly fellow and patted both teens on the back hard enough to almost knock them to the ground. "Well malyshi! Shall we get started!?" he said with a booming laugh. Asahi let out a slightly strained chuckle but agreed and thanked the man.
They load up and head towards the building blizzard. Passing civilians who were leaving the area. Reiko looked out with some worry and asked if they should help those evacuating. "I hate to put it this way, but it's better that we leave them. If we don't take out the source this storm will get worse and threaten more civilians."
Reiko could see the sour look on Asahi's face as he says this. And when she asks, all he says is that it reminded him of an absolute garbage person who thought his power automatically made him a hero. And he was more than happy to put the brat in his place. More than once.
As they continued, the storm increased in intensity. From the amount of snow falling to the speed of the winds. Though it was slightly abated thanks to something somewhat strange. At one point during the trek, the wind let up and the snow fell straight down.
"What the heck?" Asahi questioned while looking up to the sky. Reiko is also surprised but she surmises that it has to do with the rotating energy points she found. "Maybe…. There!" Reiko says before using Asahi's holotome to scan the air. Spotting a stealth airship of some kind.
Visaly questions why it was an airship. "That's not a Blood Spiral or Organization tactic." Asahi wonders as well, but it's Reiko who has her own suspicion. "It could be that someone found a Titan or two and just thought it was a strange energy source. And they built these items to harness more power?"
"Could be. But why go that far if all they intend to do is cause massive snowstorm?" Visaly asks before adjusting to the recently returned winds. "We'll just have to ask them. If they are still alive." Asahi says in a slightly morbid tone.
The trio continue on until the wind picks up more and overturns the truck. "Great. Guess we're on foot from here on." Asahi says before starting up some heat packs. Reiko agrees and asks if they should use a Titan to speed up their trip. "No. It would just make the wind's colder." Visaly says as the group starts the trudge to their destination.
Even with all the gear, the teens still feel the sting of the cold as they keep going. Their adult guide though is fine. Given he's got a few advantages. One of which has to do with a flask he brings out from time to time.
Asahi checks his holotome and says they've got maybe an hour or so of walking to get into what would hopefully be a cave section to keep them out of the storm. "Can you hear me?! Visaly!? Reiko!?" Asahi shouts and looks around in a panic.
He curses before summoning Springer. "We need to find Reiko! Can you track her?" he asks of his little friend. The two tailed fox seems serious and quickly sniffs the air before gesturing for Asahi to follow him.
They run for a few minutes until he sees something that makes his blood run as cold as the air. Springer had come upon what looked like a frozen river. And there was a hole in the ice. Asahi ran over and quickly dove into the water to pull Reiko out.
"Hang in there Rei! Just hold on!" Asahi says as he pulls them both out of the water. Her face was blue but there was no good place to hole up and prevent the onset of hypothermia. But luckily Springer could help and dove into Reiko's suit to try and warm her up. While Asahi found the caverns to take shelter in.
Once inside, he pulls out a Titan he borrowed from Izuku. "Thanks for this man. Burn! Ignatius!" Asahi calls out to summon the burning body Titan. He sets Reiko next to the Titan before stripping her out of her wet clothes. 'Sorry Reiko. It's necessary.'
Once out of her wet clothes, he strips down as well and pulls out a space blanket to warm them both up. As well as the heat from Springer and Ignatius. "Okay. Did not bet on this when we started the mission. Also….. wow Reiko is more endowed than I expected." Asahi thinks aloud with shivers and a gulp.
The girl starts to warm up and their wet gear starts to dry from being near the Titan. The two sigh and Reiko slightly acknowledges Asahi before both try to get some rest. With the amulet of Mitama putting out a bit of heat itself since Reiko couldn't summon her yet.
"Well now. Did you two have some fun while I was stuck in the snow?" Asahi vaguely heard as he was waking up. He shook his head and looked over to seen the large man in front of a different fire. This one seemed to be for cooking or heating water.
But that wasn't the part that drew Asahi's eyes. It was the shit eating grin Visaly had directed his way. And that was when the boy remembered the position he was in. As well as the two's current state of dress. "This isn't what it looks like!" Asahi says before trying to stand.
Only to feel a bit light headed and he leans back. "Relax boy. I know what it was about. Good thought to use that fire Titan for some warmth. Not to mention it let out enough light to let me and Breaker find you." Asahi seemed confused until he put his hand behind himself and felt fur. A very large amount of fur.
He turned to see the large Meso Titan behind him and Reiko. Possibly sharing some body heat. "Um, thank you. Didn't you need something to keep you warm?" Asahi said before looking around for his clothes. Visaly leaned back before mentioning he also had a Breaker Cub amulet. "So I am always ready for coldest months."
Asahi chuckles a bit before asking if he could look away. The older man rolled his eyes but did as asked. As he was finishing changing, Reiko started to wake up again. "Uh… what? Where are we? What happened?" she questioned before sitting up. Not noticing that she wasn't wearing anything at all.
Visaly quickly turned around while Asahi went red faced so fast it should have knocked him out. He looks away before trying to subtly tell Reiko about her wardrobe malfunction. And when the girl notices she screamed loud enough to make some of the snow outside fall.
"How much did you see?!" she asked while quickly getting dressed. The boy gulped before saying, "I uh….. saw everything. Technically more than once. Look if I hadn't, you likely would have died! You fell into a river!"
Reiko's eyes were wide and she remembered more of what happened. "That's right. It became a white out and…. I couldn't see anything and then….. I heard something crack and felt…. A painful cold all around." Reiko recounted.
The Russian man told her that she was very lucky. "Many have died due to very similar circumstances. The boy found you quickly and saved you." Reiko looked down and again wondered if she was really ready to be on a mission. At least until she noticed something.
"Hey. Why has the snow stopped?" she questioned while looking out the entrance of the cave. Visaly looked for himself and agreed it was odd. He hustled to the mouth and took a look around. "It's…. almost clear?! How is that possible?!"
When Reiko finished dressing, she and Asahi hurried to the entrance. And they saw exactly what he meant. There was no wind, no snow. Just a blue sky above them. But Reiko looked again and saw what they were missing. "Look out there. We're just in the center of this storm. And it's growing bigger."
The more experienced Seekers realize she's right and the eldest says they need to hurry. He calls Breaker over and tells the teens to hop on. "We'll make better time and we have less to worry about now," he says as the six limbed bear starts lumbering through the snow.
That is when they come upon a strange town. While it looks relatively normal, something stood out. A massive building on the outskirts. And while most couldn't see it, the building was brimming with magic and primal energies.
"What the heck?" Asahi said as they worked their way through the snow toward the slightly ruined building. Once they arrived, they saw a strange machine in the center of the building. One that seemed to have multiple amulets in it.
Asahi took out his holotome and scanned said amulets. "Looks like we were right about the Titans involved. Ymir, Frostanna, even some less known ice titans. But what the heck happened?"
"I think this has something to do with it." Reiko says from a higher position. Visaly and Asahi follow her up and find a man standing next to some sort of console. Stood in this case being frozen in place. Dead.
The other Seekers hum and question the events again before looking to deactivate the machine. Visaly found what were likely the notes of the doctor. "Seems he found a few of the amulets and noticed the energy coming off them."
The journals noted that the man had tried to find a way to harness the power of the amulets to be a power source. "Something about clean energy. He believed that the amulets had been meteorites made into this and they possessed some radiation or something that could power many things."
"So I'm guessing things didn't go as planned. And what resulted was a burst of cryo energy that built into a massive storm. Coincidences formed of uninformed decisions. Any notes on how to shut down the machine?" Asahi asked.
The older Seeker noted a few breakers to shut down and a sequence of buttons. "But we also need to take out those drones. They weren't part of the design, but they were taken over by some titan energy he pumped into it."
Asahi nodded and put a call into the other agents telling them that they had found the source and were shutting it down. "We just need to take out the other machines. That should resolve this matter." Visaly then directs the teens to the sets of switches needed to shut down. And the other agents found the drone and were positioned to take them out.
And on Visaly's word, all the pieces were dealt with. "Did it work? I think so tovarisch. Now we just wait right?" With the machine shut down, the group assumed that would be the end of it. For the most part it was. Outside the blizzard was dissipating and the small machines that were feeding back into the main machine were taken out with a coordinated strike.
But something else wasn't done. As Asahi was walking over to inspect the machine again, a spear of ice was launched at him. He quickly put up a shield, but he was still knocked back and out.
Reiko called out to him and from the snow something formed. A feminine form Titan with long claws and a mass of white hair. She held her hand aloft to strike the downed Asahi. But the former ghost girl reacted quickly and summoned her Storm Gladiator.
Visaly jumped in next with his Breaker, but it didn't last long. "I guess I used him up a bit with everything that has happened. And I don't have anymore Titans!" When Reiko hears this, she has a minor moment of panic. But it fades and she says, "well luckily I still have a few!"
She then summons Sorcerel and a Hoplite to cover Asahi. She then starts to melt the ice using Boltflares and asking Visaly to get Asahi out of there. She fires a few spells at the frigid Titan, but it barely seems to notice. And the girl keeps having to leap away to avoid all of the Litho Titan's attacks.
"This is getting me nowhere! But maybe….." Reiko says while looking down at Mitama's amulet. She doesn't want to use it initially, but she start realizing she might not have a choice. Especially when Storm Gladiator is sent back to it's amulet.
She feels Mitama's furious energy and knows it could come back around on her. 'But I don't have a choice,' she thinks before holding the amulet in front of her. "Shine brightly! Divine Beast; Mitama!" Reiko calls out and the massive white wolf appears.
It lets out a loud howl before letting out a blast of light from it's mouth. This knocks Frostanna back and the twisted smile it had been wearing drops. Replaced instead by a furious visage. "Good job Mitama! Keep it up!"
At Reiko's urging, the wolf fired another blast of light before charging the other Titan. And she is happy to see her Titan is winning. Even getting in some shots with her spells as well as Sorcerel's.
But there is a problem. Mitama doesn't care about all the damage it is causing and the building starts to collapse around her. It's only after a beam almost falls on her that Reiko realizes some of the problem. "Mitama stop! Please!" she shouts hoping to get it's attention.
All to no avail, as it continues to rampage and attack. Firing beams and even fire from its body before finally sending Frostanna back to her amulet. But the large wolf still looks ready for a fight. And Reiko has to put everything she has into recalling her Titan.
She takes a few deep breaths before saying, "okay. Guess I can't use Mitama fully yet. Any of your previous Seekers have these kinds of problems?" She looked up to Sorcerel with that, but the magical Titan could only say through the bond, 'not exactly'.
Panic began again as the building started to come down around them. "Oh come on! What else can go wrong!? Bubble Lift!" Reiko shouts before casting spells to pull a few of the other amulets to her.
She starts cursing as she keeps running out of the collapsing building. Worrying more as Sorcerel had dissipated after a large chunk of the ceiling fell on her. "Now or never! Hyperstride!" Reiko shouts as she sees the exit and pushes herself out of the collapsing building.
Asahi was waking up as the building was coming down and wanted to go rescue Reiko again. But Visaly stopped him. "You should trust her boy. She is stronger than you give her credit." And the man's faith is confirmed as Reiko leaps out of the building. Crashing into the snow in front of the two men.
She shakes her head before saying, "a handful of Titans. Ready to be delivered to the Foundation. Is it always like this?" Asahi laughs before helping her up and congratulating her on a job well done. "How about we get somewhere warmer? Like back home," he says with a smile. One Reiko returns and agrees.
Back at UA, Momo had recently rejoined her class and seemed to be more determined to grow beyond her experiences. She was a little nervous at hearing Kaminari's electricity crackling and other sounds around the facilities. But she seemed to be making progress.
"I'm glad to see this didn't make you run. You'll be much stronger for it. Let alone the chance to face your demon. Though it is a bit more literal in your case." Midnight said with a gentle hand on Momo's shoulder. The girl smiled at her teacher and agreed.
As the day went on, Momo noted that the Seekers were missing. "Yeah they had some missions. Even Yanagi went along. Given she's a Seeker now." Ida explained on the walk to the training grounds. Momo seemed surprised by this and asked what they were doing.
"Not entirely sure. Something in Russia? At least that was where Asahi and Yanagi were going. Midoriya went with Shield to Australia thought. Something happening there." Kirishima says with a shrug. "I see," is all Momo says before saying she hoped they'd be safe.
During training, she seemed to be thinking quicker than before. "Normally I have to plan out everything. But after what happened, I need be faster on what I create." A few of the others nod at this and take ques from her. Each working to improve some shortcomings.
With their training and classes done for the day, all of the students head home. Except for Momo. "I'm going to meet with a therapist. She was recommended by our family one. Mostly relating to traumas and kidnappings. Given my family's status it isn't uncommon. Though I don't suggest the rest of you visit her. Mainly because she isn't cheap." Momo says with a little chuckle.
She then heads to the downtown region of Mustafa. Eventually finding the address of the nondescript building in question. She gets rung in by an associate and walks into the office. Where the doctor is looking out at the city with her back to Momo.
"So how are you feeling today my dear? Better I hope?" she questions in a calm tone. Momo nods and said it felt good to be with her classmates again. "Though I do feel uneasy at times. But there is something else I could use your help with more."
Momo walks over and around the large desk to be even with the tall chair of the doctor. She then gently kneels down before bowing her head to the ground. "Please master. Will you comfort your pet today?"
A boot is then gently rested atop her head when she hears the chair turn. She nervously looks up and sees the doctor. Or that was what was told to others and used to fool the Yaoyorozu therapist.
Looking down at Momo with some enjoyment and arousal, is Sarah or Sadie herself. The woman gently leans on her hand before moving her foot to in front of Momo's face. "You know what to do," is all she has to say. And Momo kisses her boot.
I'm sorry about that last part ya'll, but something about imagining Momo in that position was just too tempting and entertaining! But this also sets something else up. We know about the traitor Aoyama, but this way there are other traitors. And one they'd be less likely to suspect. After all, I doubt many would think a victim like Momo would be traitor.
But on the lighter note, next chapter will have to do with Izuku and Melissa facing off with the Organization's more aggressive members. This mission though was more for Reiko to grow. And to get something that plays into her original costume and other inspirations. Namely a Yuki-Onna. Please review!