Hi guys ^^ I'm sorry that the update took this long, but work and life really messed with the time I had to write. But as an apology I made this chapter a little longer than usual. I will try hard to update the next chapter earlier. Despite the long wait I hope you will have fun reading. And a big thank you to everyone who followed, favorited or/and reviewed this story so far. It always makes me happy. ^^
Also, I'm still searching for nicknames for Vivi from Bakugo. Just write suggestions in the comments if you have one. :)
Chapter 6. Rivalry
"Those painful memories are what help us make it to tomorrow and become stronger." – Erza Scarlet
Besides the two teams who are up first in the combat training everyone from the class is in the monitoring room. Before them is a big split screen which shows different parts of the building's insides. "All right let's begin the indoor combat training. Team A and Team D. Your time starts now!" All Might says via a speaker to the teams. "Pay attention, kids. Think about what you would do." He speaks without turning toward the class.
Vivi watches as Izuku and Ochako enter the building through a window, thinking about how she would proceed. Finding the other Team wouldn't be a problem thanks to her senses, but what should she do exactly? She glances at Eijiro, who stands some feet to her left, his eyes on the screen. Planning now is probably not going to work anyway, since they don't know if they will be heroes or villains or who they are up against. The Fairy Tail way would probably not work either, since there is a nuclear missile somewhere in the building and blasting through walls could probably blow it up if it were real. That wouldn't be a really hero move, since it could mean causalities in a real scenario.
She gets ripped out of her thoughts by an explosion. Bakugo just jumped at Izuku and Ochaco with a surprise attack from around a corner. Izuku could barely dodge the attack. He pulled Ochaco out of the way of the explosion as well.
"He almost got the jump on him!" Vivi hears the little grape guy exclaim, she didn't bother learning his name until now. Something with M, she thinks.
"Sneak attack, Bakugo? What kind of man pulls cheap tricks like that?" questions Eijiro.
"It's a viable strategy! He's playing the part, acting like a true villain would!" explains All Might.
"Yeah, or attacking from the shadows. From where it's least expected." Adds Vivi, getting the attention of some of the class, while she continues, "Villains won't care for rules or that it's a cheap trick. They use whatever they have in their inventory. They don't care for anyone in their way. All they do is destroy and kill." While the boys of the class look mostly confused, the girls look at her in understanding, remembering her scars and how she said that she fought a villain before. They know that she speaks from experience just like All Might.
"It didn't work. Midoriya dodged him." Points Mina out, her eyes back on the screen.
"Look! There he goes!" notices Denki, as they watch Bakugo charge at Izuku.
Everyone watches in surprise when Izuku manages to grab Bakugos arm and throws him over his shoulder. Bakuguo lands hard on the ground. That was a good move. Compliments Vivi Izuku in her head. But that most certainly just pissed him of more.
"Hey, who is Bakugo talking to? I'm not hearing anything. Can we get any sound with this video?" asks Eijiro while they see Bakugo say something on the screen.
"He's got a radio in his ear so he can talk to his partner. I gave it to him before the game started along with a map of the building. Also, this." All Might explain while he talks something out to show the class, "A roll of capture tape. Wrapping this around your opponent means your apprehended them and their out for the rest of the game."
"So, there's a fifteen minute time limit and the good guys have no idea what floor the nuclear weapon is hidden on, am I right?" wants Mina to know.
"Correct!"
"Then the heroes are clearly at a disadvantage here." Is what she brings up next. "A big one."
"Real Pros have to outwit villains on a daily basis. That's life. Even when the odds aren't in or favour, we fight. All together!" he begins, while raising his arm.
"It's hero plus ultra!" shouts the whole class in unison, raising their hands in the same way.
"Monsieur he's on the move." Points Aoyama out. They all turn their attention back on the screen to watch the fight.
Bakugo launches himself at Izuku once more, this time aiming a kick at his head, which Izuku manages to block. Ochaco flees from their fight, while Bakugo aims another explosive punch at Izuku. He jumps to the side to dodge the explosion.
"Little guy's really good." Sais Rikido Sato, a boy with really big lips.
"He's holding his own and he hasn't even used his Quirk jet." Agrees Hanta.
"Yes, he seems to know where Katsuki will aim next. From what I can tell they fought before. And probably a lot more than just once. His analysis skills are really good." She ignores the confused stares she gets about her using the angry blonds first name and just continues to watch. It's like fighting Natsu, Laxus, or Gray. You just know what they will do next because you knew them for so long. But their relationship seems different. More like an enemy-hate relationship than rivalry between friends. While in thought Vivi automatically begins to chew lightly on her bottom lip, a habit she has since she was a child. She was never able to get rid of it.
Izuku flees from Bakugo, who loses him in the building, leaving him in anger. Bakugo screams something they can't hear and let's explosions out of his palms.
"That guy has some real anger issues. Kind of scary." Points Denki out.
They watch as Bakugo proceeds to blast through doors in search for Izuku. Yeah, I called that he would fit into Fairy Tail. You can cross property damage from the list of things he needs. Does he have a stable and living birth family? Otherwise, you can cross that too. Vivi asks herself while watching him.
After a little while, in which Ochaco found Iida and the nuclear missile, Bakugo also caught up with Izuku again. Vivi watches over the screen as Bakugo reaches for a pin on one of his gauntlets. All Might reacts at that, "Young Bakugo don't do it! You'll kill him!" Of course, he doesn't listen and pulls the pin out, which unleashes a massive explosion that rips almost half of the building apart.
Even the monitoring room shakes because of the power from the explosion. "Woah! This is nuts!" exclaims Eijiro.
Vivi stares in awe at the screen. Oh, shit! That was super strong! But wait, people here aren't as durable as back home, which means this explosion could have really harmed Izuku badly. Is he okay? A breath of relief escapes her when she sees that Izuku is lying on the ground almost unharmed. Seems like he was able to dodge in time.
As it looks like Bakugo wants to unleash another explosion from his other gauntlet Eijiro speaks up again, "Sir, isn't this getting out of hand? That Bakugo is acting real crazy. He's gonna kill him."
"Not so." Answers All-Might before he speaks into the mic, "Bakugo, use that stored up power again and I'll stop this fight. Your team will lose. To employ such a strong attack indoors is inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting! That's a poor strategy, whether you're a hero or a villain! The penalty will be a massive loss of points!"
That only seems to make Bakugo even angrier and he proceeds to attacks Izuku with hand-to-hand combat. He launches himself at Izuku who prepares a counterattack. Before he can succeed Bakugo uses an explosion to move behind Izuku and blasts him in the back.
"What was that move?!" questions Eijiro.
"He doesn't come of like a boy with a strategy, but he's actually quite intelligent." Sais Shoto.
"What are you talking about?" asks Eijiro.
"He changed his trajectory while in mid-air using a blast that doubled as a smokescreen. Very clever." Answers Shoto.
"A fated attack like that requires an extreme amount of precision. He had to calculate the physics and demonstrate control over his quirk." Adds Momo.
"Ugh, Bakugo is over talented, I hate it." Sights Denki.
Bakugo continues to attack Izuku, hitting him in the side with a right hook and grabbing his elbow in the process. This time he is the one who throws Izuku over his shoulder and slams him on the ground with full force.
"This is hard to watch. All he needs to do is wrap tape around him, not kill him!" shouts Mina.
"Bakugo's certainly acting like a villain." Notices a boy with a bird's head who is known as Tokoyami Fumikage.
"I thought Midoriya was pretty amazing at the start of the fight, but he's completely outmatched in terms of combat power. Not to mention Bakugo seems like a natural at all this stuff." Sais Denki.
Vivi can't help but worry about Izuku while she watches them fight. She can even understand that he starts to crawl away from Bakugo in that moment. When it comes to combat Katsuki just seems to have more experience and talent. But from everything I have seen of Izuku this far, I'm sure he will have an idea. He has a sharp mind and is ingenious.
"He's running away!" exclaims Mina, a worried tone in her voice.
"Not very manly but he doesn't have a choice. He's outgunned, unless he's got some kind of plan. It's possible." Speaks Eijiro.
After Bakugo and Izuku exchanged a few words, they charge at each other. Izukus right arm begins to glow, finally loading up his quirk, while Bakugo charges at him with explosions in his palm.
"They're going to kill each other! Sir!" shouts Eijiro.
Vivi is to focused on the fight to even hear him. For a moment Izuku and Bakugo are replaced by Natsu and Gray, both caught in their own rage so much that they charge at the other with the intend to destroy, to kill. She feels the fear and helplessness creep up inside of her she felt back than. When they didn't react at all at her panicked shout to stop and she knew she wouldn't be fast enough to reach them. The image is so strong that she can even feel the fire and ice from that time. They were barely stopped in time by Erza before they could severely harm the other. In the end, her tears the only thing able to tear them out of their rage.
She is torn out of her flashback by All Mights shout, "BOTH OF YOU! STOP!" Vivi takes a shaky breath and blinks the tears away that gathered in them. Right afterwards she inhales a deep but shaky breath, forcing the images out of her mind, as she remembers that it was only a memory and she focuses on the here and now. Natsu and Gray are safe and they are still best friends. No one was killed. No one died. Nothing bad happened. I'm not there. I'm right here in U.A. and Bubble is with me. We have fight training and are not in war. Everything is all right. Another deep breath later her thoughts finally reach her heart and her heartbeat calms down. She is able to focus on the fight again. No one noticed the short absence of her mind since everyone is fixated on the screen.
The sound of an explosion makes clear that All Mights words came too late. The whole building shakes. The force of Izukus punch, which he directed towards the ceiling, destroys the floors all the way upwards as well as the roof of the building, while the shockwave shatters the windows in the process. Ochaco uses her Quirk on a nearby pillar. Without the gravity stopping her, she uses the pillar like a baseball bat and sends the debris that emerged because of the destruction at Iida and the bomb. She uses the moment in which Iida is distracted and tries to protect himself with his arms to cling herself to the bomb.
A moment of silence follows in which the timer runs out, before All Might declares the hero team the winners with his loud voice.
In the meantime, Vivi looks at the destruction of the building in awe. Damn, he really is strong. Who would have thought that Izuku can cross property damage of his list too. Seems like Katsuki wouldn't be the only one who would fit into Fairy Tail.
"What a weird way for this to end. The losers are practically untouched and the winners are both on the ground." States Denki.
"How does the old saying go? They may have lost the battle but won the war." adds Tokoyami.
"This class is intense." Notes Tsuyu.
After Izuku has been taken to the infirmary, because of his injuries, Bakugo, Ochaco and Iida step back into the monitoring room and join the rest of class 1-A.
"Well, despite the results, the MVP of this exercise is young Iida."Declares All Might.
Almost the whole class gasps at that in shock. Tsuyu is the one who asks the question they all have, "Shouldn't it be one of the heroes instead since they're the winners?"
"Valid question. Why didn't I choose one of those two? Who has a guess?" he questions towards the class.
Momo raises her hand right after the question was asked, "Sir! I can tell you why. Iida embraced this challenge. He was the only one who truly adapted to his assigned role. I'll explain. Bakugo's judgement was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya. As you pointed out earlier, lunching a large-scale attack indoor was a foolish move. It could've been disastrous.
Similarly, Midoriya's plan was also poorly thought out, considering the amount of damage he received. He rendered himself helpless. Not smart.
As for Uraraka. She let her guard down mid-battle and her final attack was far to reckless given the hypothetical stakes. If she'd treated the fake weapon as though it were real, she never would've risked using such an imprecise move.
Iida was fully prepared for his opponents arrival. He had a strategy and never lost sight of his mission of protecting the dummy weapon. Even if he was foiled in the end. Technically the hero team won, yes, but they took advantage of the fact that this was training. They didn't respect the spirit of the trial."
Everyone stares at Momo in shock after she finished. Vivi grins and pats her on the right shoulder, "Momo, you are great. You really do remind me of my friend. She tends to scold everyone just like this and points out their mistakes without mercy."
Momo smiles slightly at the Dragon Slayer, not really knowing if she should take that as a compliment or not. From the look on Vivis face it was meant as a compliment.
"Yes, well, you overlooked a few things." Stats All Might after the shock about Momos flawless answer leaves him, "Young Iida could've relaxed a little bit during the exercise. But otherwise, you nailed it."
"One should always start with the basics and devote themselves whole-heartedly to learning. That's the only real way to become a top hero." Explains Momo.
"Now they, time to blow this joint." Begins All Might, "Let's move onto the next match. Think about everything we saw discussed as you tackle this training for yourself."
"Yes, Sir!" chorus the class, while Bubble shouts, "Aye, Sir!" even though the Exceed doesn't even participate.
The next match is Team B with Shoto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji against Team I containing of Mashirao Ojiro and Toru Hagakure.
"Good luck, Shoto!" wishes Bubble, when his friend leaves the monitoring room with the other participants. The dual-haired boy just turns his head towards the Exceed and nods, but doesn't react otherwise at his words.
Their match takes place in another, still intact building, since the one used before was almost completely destroyed. It's over in a few seconds in which Shoto freezes the whole building in ice, after he told his teammate to wait outside. The whole class stares in awe at the immense amount of power, while they shiver because of the cold. Vivi is the only one unfazed by it. Her mouth just waters at the sight of the gigantic amount of ice.
When All Might declared the hero team the winner Shoto melts the ice with the heat from his right side.
"Holy crap." Stunned stares Sato at the display of power.
"That guy's kind of intimidating." Remarks Denki.
"He got in on a recommendation so he must be good." Realizes Tsuyu.
"Moving on!" Interrupts All Might before more comments can be made, "Time to gather around for a review of the second match. After that we'll move on over to our next battle."
"Aye, Sir!" chorus the class this time, copying the Exceed.
After the next fight Team H containing of Tokoyami and Tsuyu against Team G with Hanta and Kyoka Vivis team is finally up to fight. She and Eijiro would go as the hero team against Team C as the villains, containing of Momo, the grape-guy and Denki. Vivi can barely hold her excitement in check when they stop in front of the building with the other team and the bomb inside it. "This is gonna be great." She grins and looks at her partner in crime, or rather in hero work. "Let's form a plan. What was your Quirk, again?"
The red head grins, "It's hardening. I can harden my whole body." As demonstration he hardens his arm.
"That's cool." Reminds me a little bit of Gajeels steel form only that it's not steel. Vivis eyes travel up the building. "I think we can work with that. I can locate them easily since I can smell them with my quirk."
"Really? That's useful." Eijiro grins. "You can also make storms right?"
"Yep." She pops the p. "I think we should approach them together. There's a possibility they will split up and that some will secure the bomb while another one tries to find and fight us. Staying together gives us a better chance to attack. Like Mina said before do they have an advantage. But they don't know what hit them. Want to show them?" she grins again, showing of her sharp canines. Time to get this show going.
"For sure!" he holds his fist up which Vivi bumps without hesitation. They continue planning by memorising the map of the building and placing the comms in their ears.
When the start sound rings out Vivi immediately sniffs the air, finding Momos perfume right away. With her are two other smells. One of them smells strangely similar to Laxus. It's the smell of the air in a lightning storm which is filled with electricity. It's probably Denki. She represses the homesickness, that comes automatically along with the smell into the back of her mind and focuses. The other one smells like grape juice. "Found them. They are not moving right now. Let's go to them."
He nods with a grin, before they step into the building. Right afterwards they both hear All Mights voice trough the radios in their ears, "Ah, young Moon, before I forget. Please try to not destroy the building. Young Midoriya and young Bakugo already did enough damage as it is."
Eijiro blinks in confusion and looks at the Dragon Slayer, who rubs the back of her head with a crooked grin, a guilty look on her face, "I'll try my best, I promise."
All Might sights, "I guess that's all I can ask for. Have fun."
"Always." Responses Vivi with a grin, a small lightning storm cloud crackling in her hand because of her excitement.
"If All Might said that to you your Quirk has to be really strong, right?" asks Eijiro interested.
"You'll see. Let's go find these villains." They follow the scent of the other team till they reach a doorway. It's blocked by metal bars which seem to be nailed to the wall from the other side.
"They blocked the door." Stats Eijiro, "Maybe they left one way open. Let's try to find it."
Vivi shakes her head at that, "I don't think Momo would make a mistake like that. We need to find a way to break through the door." She narrows her eyes in thought, while starting to nibble on her bottom lip. The red head besides her narrows his eyes as well. There's no way I can break the door Fairy Tail style. That would probably hit the bomb and destroy the building, which could cause civilian victims in a real scenario, like I thought before. We have to break the door, or wall, in a gentler way. Her eyes travel over Eijiros form, who stares at the metal bars, deep in thought.
After a little while she comes up with an idea. "Eijiro," she begins. The red head blinks at her in surprise because of the use of his first name but doesn't really care about it. "Can you break through the stone wall with a hardened hand?"
"Maybe. Do you have a plan?"
"Yeah. Harden your hand like this." She holds up her flat hand, fingers against each other, "And then try to break through the wall like this." She shows how he should hit the wall with his flat hand, fingertips forward. "And do that all the way once around. If we don't have a door, we make our own." She grins.
Eijiros face lights up with a grin, "That idea is super manly, Moon."
She smiles at him, "Just call me Vivi. I hate this formal stuff. Where I'm from everyone just uses their first names."
He nods and uses his Quirk like she told them. Like that he formed a large enough doorway for them both. "And now? The wall is still standing." He points out.
"Just punch it here." She touches the self-made doorway in the middle of its highest point with her fingertips, "It should bring the door flat down, without throwing it across the room… Ah, and harden your whole body before entering. They probably know what we are doing because off the noise. Then, you take the left, while I take the right side. We guard each other's backs."
"You got it!" Like she asks hardens Eijiro his whole body and punches the wall at the exact spot she pointed to, bringing it to the ground. Lightning charges at him from the right which hits him immediately afterwards. He takes it with a grin. Great foresight, Vivi! "I'm made of stone! I do not conduct electricity, you villain!" He points out, turning to his left, where a shaking Mineta stands. Without hesitation he punches him in the face, sending him crashing into the wall behind him and knocking him out.
In the meantime, Vivi stepped up to guard his back, in front of Denkis line of sight. Lightning shoots towards her.
Meanwhile in the monitoring room Mina worries about her action, "Oh no! Why did she step in front of Kirishima when he's the one who is immune to Kaminaris lightning!"
No one was prepared for what they see next. The lightning hits Vivi, who just grins and sucks it into her mouth. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand afterwards, "Thanks for the meal, Denki. You're lightning is really tasty, like I thought. I'm all fired up now!"
Everyone is left stunned by her action, most of all Denki who stares at her in complete shock. Even All Might looks surprised, since the Dragon Slayer never said something about that part of her magic.
"Did she … just eat the lightning?" asks Tsuyu complete overwhelmed.
"Aye!" calls Bubble out, "She can eat the different elements of a storm because of her quirk. It gives her a power up in return."
"Wow, that sounds great! So, she also could eat Todorokis ice?" questions Hagakure.
"Yes, she could. Depending on the element she eats the same storm type gets stronger. Eating lightning powers up her lightning storms, while eating ice would strengthen her ice type storms. But regardless of which elements she eats, all of them reload the energy she used up with her quirk till that point in time." Explains the Exceed.
"A power up?" All might mutters to himself and then widens his eyes in shock when he realises what that means. … He reacts to late.
Vivi sucks in a deep breath, careful lowering the magic power in her attack, while also making sure she doesn't actually hit Denki. Remembering that people here aren't as durable as on Earthland. "Storm Dragons Lighting Roar!" she's so excited that she calls out the name of her attack like she used to do back home. A powerful lightning storm cloud is released from her mouth. It misses Denki barely and hits the wall besides him, crashing through it … and all the walls of the building behind it, leaving a giant hole in its way.
Denki falls onto his ass, not able to hold himself on his shaking legs, staring at the destroyed wall besides him with big eyes.
"Oh, dammit." Vivi mutters and speaks up afterwards, bowing deep in apology, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to be that strong. I didn't calculate the power up I got from your lightning. I thought I held enough back to only destroy one wall."
"… She held back…" mutters Denki in disbelief.
Vivi scrunches her face in worry, Shit, I think I scared the poor boy. Maybe I can make it right somehow? The Dragon Slayer stands straight up again. Wait! We still have a fight to win! There's one villain left. With that realization she turns around, just to look into the shocked faces of Momo and Eijiro.
The red head soon regains his grin, "That was super manly, Vivi!"
Momo only sights in defeat, "I give up."
Vivis eyes go round in shock, "What? You're giving up? Why?"
"Because my teammates aren't able to fight anymore, so I'm clearly outmatched. Sometimes you need to know, when to give up. This is the right moment."
"THE HERO TEAM WIN'S!" declares All Mights loud voice over the comms.
"We won!" cheers Eijiro. The hero team exchanges a high five.
Afterwards Vivi steps towards Denki with an apologetic smile and holds out her flat hand, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or anything. I just miscalculated. Your lightning is really strong. It's sweeter than my brothers."
"Your brother?" He takes her hand, letting her help him back on his feet.
"Yeah, he has a lightning Quirk too and is super strong. A pro hero who defeated the number five of my home once. I learned a lot from him. Maybe I can show you a few things he thought me?" Vivi smiles at the blond boy, her offer made in earnest.
"Really?" asks Denki amazed, "You would do that?"
"Sure. We can train sometime together if you want to."
"That would be awesome." He grins back at her.
"What happened?" asks Mineta, who just gained back his consciousness, noticing the destroyed wall in confusion, his head still aching.
