"They'll be fine..." a plump old woman dressed in a doctor's attire said to the group of three that were Iida, Ochaco and Midoriya, the rest of the student group had made their way back to the control room.
"Are you sure, Recovery Girl-Sama?" Midoriya shifted his eyes to the two boys in adjacent beds, both lying there asleep. Even Bakugou seemed to be peaceful right now, that expression was the most tranquil he had seen in years.
"They're just drained, is all... nothing to worry about," the old woman turned and walked up to the desk at her right, whereby they saw a bowl full of candy, "You all should really be going back by now, would you like some candy?" she reached out and grabbed three sweets from the bowl, one for each of her company.
"Thank you very much! Recovery Girl-Sama!" Iida suddenly bowed to her almost too violently and rushed out of the School's Pharmacy as swiftly as he could, although he forgot to close the sliding door behind him as left much quicker than the wind that formed in his wake.
"My, my, this school's youth and their energy," Recovery Girl heartedly chuckled as she turned to place one wrapped candy back into the bowl, "Would you two take some, then?"
"With complications arising regarding the combat practice arena, due to the building... being blown up... we have decided to relocate the place where we will take the test..." All Might began dramatically as he pointed towards the fallen building shown on the big central display in front of the students,
"To the one right next to it!"
He turned to the vast collection of keypads and pressed a button, and the photo changed to show a picture of different building located right next to the one from before, built north from the building form before.
Most of them looked on and nodded accordingly, taking in the sights of their new setting.
As far as they could tell, this building was a more residential construction, with a flight of stairs leading to all the floors above ground located on the outside to the front of the building.
"You have to remember though, you are not to follow Young Bakugou's example and unleash a devastating enough attack that could cause risk to your teammates or opponents, or yourself," He turned on his heel and gave his students a firm look, "Do I make myself clear!"
"Yes, All Might Sensei!"
A round of confirmation came from Class 1-A in return, although a few overly zealous ones were slightly distinguishable from the cheers,
All Might still wore the costume from his Silver Age, but he lacked the cape as it was probably being cleaned from Bakugou's blood at the moment.
"Excellent, now we shall carry on with the class!" He turned his attention to Omura and Midoriya, Team A. Before shifting to Tokoyami and Sato, Team I, "Follow me to the practice site!"
"I'm sure you'll do fine, you have this..." Omura told Midoriya in hopes of reassurance, his voice accompanied by the hiss of a pneumatic piston releasing steam from his gauntlet, followed by a metal clink once the rod reached its full length.
"Y-you really think so...?" Midoriya rubbed his arms together subconsciously in a self-comforting manner to calm his nerves. He stood in front of the building's dark entrance, Omura was sitting on a stone bench on the sidewalk behind him.
"I'm very positive." Rei nodded to himself with a hum and turned up in a cheer, "or I'm optimistic! But, you'll have to try hard; you're competing against all of us for a spotlight."
Midoriya turned around and saw the Omura seemed to be taking stock of his Armour's defence systems. In his hand, Omura was holding a revolving metal disk with a Platinum-Titanium plate protecting the inner workings.
On the sides were what seemed to be several holding cells for cartridges, where Omura held up one in his hand near his face, seeming like he was analysing it to make sure it would work as intended.
Midoriya still couldn't believe it completely that he was classmates with a guy who had the technical knowledge and skill to make such an advanced hero suit, while still being able to make time for their classes.
"H-have you made Hero Suits before?"
"This will be my first ever civilly designed, Model 1..." He said with a nod and Midoriya felt his tone as almost both proud and terrified at the same time, causing the boy to frown slightly in interest, "Conceptualised and fabricated with certain functions in mind."
"What can you do with it?" He asked further as he began walking back to his teammate.
"It makes me stronger for one, there are thousands of sensors in the inner linings which sense activity in my muscles and allow the armour to move in unison with my body." He reached up to his head and clinked it a couple of times with two knuckles, "See this."
"It makes me considerably tougher too, much more than any of my previous suits."
"What about those, Omura-san?" Midoriya asked and timidly pointed to the device on Omura's hands, hoping his curious inquiry would not be taken with a sneer from Omura, who he was sure needed to focus on the delicate device in his hand.
"These? These are flairs, I placed them around the hips of the Lieber. A design taking direct inspiration from another suit..."
"The L-Lieber?" Midoriya asked as his eyebrows creased in mild confusion as to what Omura meant.
"Oh yes... Lieber, it's the name I've given it." Rei gestured with his left arm to his armour up and down, "Labelling things helps with getting attached for me."
"Do you name all your creations, Omura-san?" he asked, hoping to further the conversation. Midoriya hadn't had friends in a long time besides his mother, and so when the hero course began, he was determined to make as much as he could.
He liked to think he had Uraraka already, and Omura seemed nice enough so he figured he might as well shoot for it.
"Well, I do name the remarkable ones," Omura paused and looked to the ground for a moment,
"But I don't label all of them... it's purely out of sentiment. There's only so many names I can think of for every valve or circuit I build... It could become a chore..." he elaborated dryly with a flat face.
"Of course, right!" Midoriya stood straight suddenly and his voice seemed to crack, causing Omura to turn back to him, clearly taken aback by the sudden outburst.
Midoriya shrunk under Omura's confused gaze. He had somehow managed to mess up a perfectly normal conversation due to his atrocious skills in social situations.
"Remember, this class is to understand the mindset of both sides in an exchange involving Heroes and Villains." All Might reaffirmed from the speakers once more, "You are not to inflict more harm than necessary to your opponents,"
Midoriya turned back towards the building with his mouth hung open before he heard Omura speak up again,
"Well, I say good luck in there," Omura got up from his seat and tipped his helmet to the green-haired boy before he walked past him, "And take this, please refrain from pressing the button on the bottom..."
Midoriya noticed Omura pass him something in his hand with a swipe, and he looked down to see what it was.
In his hand was one of the 'Flairs' Omura had been inspecting moments prior, which causing the green-haired boy to wonder why he gave it to him.
"I think you're too stiff too," Omura started before Midoriya could ask his line of questioning, "It would be terrible when we get in a fight."
Walking up to the building, his metal boots making heavy rings from every step, he placed the flairs-magazine inside its empty compartment on his right hip, along with the black box-shaped battery on the lower back of the armour.
"I'm... too stiff...?" he shook his head while he closed his eyes, "Right, don't be stiff, don't be stiff..." He chanted to himself, completely taking to heart the advice of one of the smartest people he knew.
He followed closely behind the flight of stairs, the sight of Omura's heavy grey plated back with armouring struts dominating his view as they entered the building.
"Begin!"
"So, what's our plan?" Midoriya looked around the empty hallway of the first floor as they were walking through the building. He guessed they must be somewhere in the middle, both had kept a steady pace for about a minute now.
"Whatever is your call," Omura responded, the silence in the empty residence was dominated by the whirling of the actuators in his suit.
"Eh?!" Midoriya blurted out and looked at the armoured boy unsurely, his brows appeared to almost shiver from the fright, but he forced himself from expressing his distress irrationally.
"Wouldn't your planning be better?" he asked a bit panicked and apprehensive.
"It's your's first..." Rei said in response with a laugh, "If it fails, we can go with mine after,"
Midoriya remained in silence and looked at Omura for a good few moments, his line of reasoning for not making a plan was... well, maybe it had merit but it sounded a bit too quippy; like Omura was not being serious with the whole situation.
"A-alright then... Omura-san, can you make something to scout out the place?" Midoriya wondered if they knew the whereabouts of the opposing team, they could get the jump on them and hopefully get an advantage.
"I have, I made a drone." he interrupted, and Midoriya stood silent again, "You didn't see me when we were outside?"
"Um..." he was stunned at how efficient and effective Omura was for already using a drone to map out the arena.
"Alright, I know exactly which floor they are on..." tilting his head he snapped his fingers, transitioning them to pointing to the floor below, "but not exactly which room they may be in."
"H-how did you find out exactly?" Midoriya asked curiously, quirking a brow while looking up to the taller student.
"I used a flyer to survey the outside of the building on every floor above the ground. They're not in any of the rooms, so they must be under the ground." He explained with a lightness to his voice,
"So, our advantage is that they may not know that we are aware of what floor they are on, so they won't expect us." He finished while shaking his head delightedly.
Midoriya took in his briefing of their situation and attempted to formulate a method of assult in his head.
"And there's all the trouble... So what's your plan?"
"Right, so what if we engage them on two fronts, we split up and cover more ground during the limited time." He turned up and saw Omura tilt his head in silence, seeming contemplative.
"W-we'll divide their attention and force them to engage us one-on-one. I'll go down the stairs from the north end, and you go down from the south."
"What if one of us encounter them early on, it'll be a two on one fight, it won't be fair." Omura added in with a finger held up for Midoriya to pause.
"I-... I'm hoping I'll be able to hold out for a while until you arrive, and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to put up with them..." He began to mutter with one hand up to his mouth, "but I don't have any ideas for the weaknesses of their quirks."
"Yes, I have no idea either..." Omura looked away and cleared his throat.
"So if we encounter them, I think we'll just have to hope for the best," he looked to the ground and frowned, "but what if we're overwhelmed, they could capture us easily if we're alone, so what if-"
"Maybe you're going about this all wrong..." Omura interrupted before his thought got too clouded and chaotic, and tried to offer a solution, "What if... we stick together, I'm sure we could pull off a qualified success."
Midoriya looked up into Omura's glowing eyes and thought for a moment before he nodded with what he said, "R-right, we just have to stick together and not get separated..."
"You're... very easily swayed, aren't you?" Omura somberly said in response to Midoriya's distinct lack of trust in his ability to lead. Even when he placed the responsibility over to him, he still caved at the littlest pressure he introduced with an opposing view.
"Huh?" Midoriya looked up again and wondered if he had done something wrong, but Omura suddenly held up a finger to his face.
"Alright, listen to this then... we'll go with your plan," Omura noticed how Midoriya's eyes widened out of confusion at his choice, "I'll make sure to keep the..."
"But Omura-san-!" Midoriya tried to say but he was stopped.
"One moment... do you hear that?" Rei turned up his head and looked around the dark hallways, his scanning frown could be felt from his movements.
Midoriya piped up too, immediately listening in as well to hear what took his teammate's concern.
"It sounds a bit like..." Omura started, turning his head down to listen as well, the sensory microphones of the suit's awareness system picked up faint traces of uniform thuds that resonated with the building's floors and walls, "Footsteps..."
"I... don't hear anything, Omura-san..."
Midoriya stepped away from Omura and stood alert around the rest of the room, turning his back to the armoured boy.
Omura's head shot up straight suddenly, and Midoriya heard the whirl of the actuators.
"Omura-san!" Immediately he turned around as the wall beside them burst away, accompanied by a guttural and savage roar.
Rei brought up his armoured hands to guard himself against Sato as he exploded outwards from the wall.
He came in swinging, and Omura quickly reached out and grabbed a firm hold before he caused too much trouble.
Coming into a clinch, their arms interlocked with one another and Rei was forced back two to three feet from the thwarted tackle.
His feet forming the support for their combined weight behind him, they halted to a stop as Rei took the opportunity to take in their predicament. Sato's muscles bunged out of proportions, and his eyes rolled back to reveal white, his teeth were shown as his entire face seemed to be in a savage trance.
Rei turned to a worried-looking Midoriya who it was obvious was unsure of what to do,
"I have this, Go!" Rei's stance turned deep and low for an instant, and as a result, Sato's stance was shaken, being thrown slightly forward he gave way as Omura suddenly pushed back, "Secure the bomb, I'll be right with you!"
Thousands of actuators in the Looper's legs activated in unison, driving the heavy metal boots forwards while Sato's feet slid across the concrete floor with little resistance.
"Go!" and with one final order, they disappeared behind the hole gaping in the wall.
Midoriya watched as Omura pushed Sato back into the hole the bigger student had created, and soon enough he heard the sound of them smashing through another wall.
At that moment, Omura became like an unstoppable locomotive, his heavy metal body ploughed through Sato's resistances like it were nothing.
'I have this, Go!' Omura's words echoed in his head again, "Secure the bomb, I'll be right with you!"
'He-... he has this fight, R-right!' He nodded to himself to steel his resolve and turned around, sprinting to the north side of the building without one more moment of delay.
His bright red sneakers sounded softly across the raging battle behind him. Omura seemed sure of his victory against the absurdly strong Sato, so he must have a plan figured out already, way before he requested Midoriya to take the lead.
It may have been for the best if Midoriya didn't join the fight between the two, he could only use One for All at either 0 or 100%, and in fear of bringing down the building on top of them decided it was best not to engage for the moment.
Maybe it was his intention all along, to fill him with confidence as he seemed so nervous. So if Omura was adamant they would win, Midoriya would be too.
Midoriya reached the flight of stairs that led down to the floor below, and began spiralling down to the bottom. The light became sparser and sparser, eventually setting the walls into a distinct lack of hue, due to the darkness covering every corner to be almost indiscernible.
Midoriya looked around from behind his back and mouth guard, holding both his arms up in expectation of an attack the whole time he walked around.
From what he saw at the quirk apprehension test by Aizawa-sensei, Tokoyami's quirk was an emitter type, capable of spawning a creature referred to as 'Dark Shadow' from his body to fight for him.
He didn't have a definite idea about how powerful it was or its range, so he had to be careful.
Walking around the dark hallways of the basement, he looked around his surroundings and he saw what looked like the standard props for the test. The foldable ladders and metal-drum barrels were quite abundant in every room he scouted out, so too was the thin layer of concrete dust that covered the entire floor.
The only light sources were the electricity boxes that there connected by crude wires, basking the darkness in a red or sometimes purple light.
Midoriya walked to every room, checking for the bomb but came out empty every time.
Occasionally, he would hear a loud clang ring through the building. Sato and Omura's fight upstairs seemed to be a dangerous duel, as the colossal blows they traded each time they engaged seemed to shake the building's very foundations.
Midoriya looked around again and entered a room that was to his left, failing to notice the dark figure of Tokoyami that followed behind him as he entered. This was the last room he hadn't scouted yet, the furthest one to the south side of the building.
He noticed the usual stacks of ceramic tiles, unused plumbing pipes and the vast assortments of tools that littered the ground.
"Okay, I just have to find the bomb, and touch it right...?" he went over and nodded to himself.
As his eyes grazed over the ground, he noticed a peculiarity in the dust and fell to his knees to inspect,
On the ground was a trail looking like it had been made by someone dragging a blanket over the dust, and he noticed that if he followed it with his eyes it would lead back to the doorway leading out into the corridors.
The nature of its formation led Midoriya's mind to one of his classmates in particular.
"Hmm, if Tokoyami-san were to have been in this room, why would he leave?" He cupped his chin and his eyes wandered, "This is the last room in the basement, so the bomb has to be here."
He looked up and tried to search around, getting to his feet he dusted off his knees before he stood straight and sighed.
Suddenly though, he felt a disturbance in the air coming from behind and turned around almost with a yelp just as an assault came his way. When he did turn around, he was greeted with a pair of glowing yellow eyes illuminating parts of a face shaped like a bird's, accompanied by a deep shade of purple swirling violently around.
Bringing his guard up just in time to block a swipe from Dark Shadow, Midoriya was sent flying towards his right, crashing into the metal barrels that caved in from his momentum.
"Gaargh!" rolling onto his back, he got into a crouch with his fists held up towards the two figures with him in the room, one stood completely still while the other floated in the air connected to Tokoyami with a strand-like stretch of energy coming from his belly.
"Your efforts will all be in vain, hero..." his deep voice called out from the distance, and Midoriya gulped. Beside the bird-headed student, Midoriya could hear Dark Shadow growl,
"But I indulge you to try and stop us..."
"This all seems incredibly excessive!" Rei called out as he continued pushing Sato back, his stride was more of a mechanical march that never broke rhythm.
"Aaargh!" Sato growled back and barred his teeth to Omura once more. In his yell, a few strands of his drool splattered onto the helmet and faceplate, and Omura released a destaining grunt.
Their exchange so far was of strength and resilience, neither willing to give in before the other.
As they entered another room, smashing through the walls in their way. Rei made to speak, but before he opened his mouth, Sato had reached down to grab the armour's middle and lifted Omura into the air with his other hand grabbing ahold of Rei's neck.
"Woah-!" he cried at being so suddenly lifted,
Swinging him over his body, Sato threw the armoured student hard on the concrete floor, forming a few chunks of rock when he brought him down. Rei's body bounced twice into the air before he settled.
Fortunately, he was able to see Sato wind his arms up to hammer down on him with both his hands.
Rei let out a grunt as he dodged, weaving his body on the ground slightly to the right to avoid the attack. Just in time too, as the moment he was clear, the large student's arms dropped like a sledgehammer and a kicked up dust that filled the entire room's floor in a shallow but dry and hazy smoke.
Omura reached under Sato's arms and pulled him downwards at an angle, the suit's incredible physical power enabling him to bring his opponent down right into his armoured knee.
Sato's shoulder experienced the full force of Omura's counter, and he yelled out in pain.
"Raagh!" He saw Omura flip sideways over to his front before trying to get away from him in a dash. But Sato reached out his hand and managed to grip Omura on his right ankle before he got away.
"Ooh!" Omura yelpt as he was swung like a rag doll again. Tethered to Sato who remained anchored to the ground, he crashed into the concrete once more, leaving another deeper dent right beside the first.
However, Sato hadn't let up just yet, his grip remained on his opponent's leg so he tugged upwards.
He pulled Omura by his feet and grabbed the struts around the armour's collar and lifted him above his head.
"Rargh!" With a savage yell, Sato threw Omura head-first onto the concrete with all his strength, leaving an even deeper dent where the iron rebar in the building's foundations became visible and jutted out around his opponent's body. Omura's limbs flailed around violently as his head became buried.
"Aagh..." Omura moaned as he shook his head, the actuators in his neck readjusting after stiffening on impact so that his neck would not break.
Despite the nature of his current situation, Omura still managed to maintain a faint smile.
The Inertial Shields in the suit had worked exactly as he had intended. If by conventional mechanics, the suit was just a protective layer around his body, his internal organs and fluids would swosh around on the inside whenever he encountered a sharp acceleration or deceleration with his body.
But with Inertial Shielding, if the suit could take the hit, he would be perfectly fine and would encounter no scratches in any conflict he took part if the suit remained intact.
"But... it can only take so much..." Rei could feel the damages to the armour. Especially the Looper's face where deep cuts were made on the plate, while one eye was dead silent and did not glow blue.
Noticing the metal rebars around his face and head, an idea came to his mind. And as Sato paced around Omura's unmoving body, blue sparks started to fly from the armoured student's head.
Becoming alarmed as to what Omura was doing, Sato panicked and kicked him in the head like a soccer ball, his feet ploughing inside the concrete for a brief moment before making contact and sending Omura flying to the walls.
As he crashed he made a heavy thud, and Rei released another grunt. Looking towards his opponent, he saw Sato was throwing anything available in the room, sending them sailing towards him.
Barrels, foldable ladders and iron pipes rained down on Omura, and the armoured boy brought up his gauntlets in defence.
The very apparent difference in the strength of the materials he threw and Rei's armour meant that they barely made a dent, often just giving way to their shape as they hit his wrists.
After a while of raining down projectiles on Omura, the armoured boy became buried in a large pile of the stuff, the glow of his armour becoming completely covered by the tin drums, broken ladders and bent pipes.
Sato was panting heavily, doubled over. His current posture was very reminiscent of a silverback and his face reinforced that image.
He was exhausted from their fight this early on and had a splitting migraine from overexerting his quirk. His sugar rush subsided for the moment, and while his intelligence was dumbed down during the time, he always remembered the events that transpired.
He had known how long and how hard he fought Omura and noticed how his attacks didn't do any significant damages to his power armour.
What's more, Omura hadn't used his quirk during their entire battle, all of it was just the suit, so he was afraid of what his awfully clever classmate would construct if allowed the chance.
He was not fond of finding out what it might be, so when he saw sparks rise from the pile Omura was under, he became distressed.
"D-damnit!" Sato said before he dejectedly downed another vial of sugar, before swiftly pocketing the container, wiping his mouth clean with his forearm.
Making to rush towards Omura as fast as he could, he broke into a sprint leaning forwards deeply and strained.
But he was too late, and before he reached anywhere near close to Omura, a triple jointed metal arm flew out and grabbed Sato by the chest, slamming him into the far wall that was behind him.
"Guah-hoh!" Sato cried in pain, almost coughed up as the air in his lungs were forced out.
He looked down and saw that he was held up by the three-fingered metal palm off his feet, one wide finger reached downwards while the other two were draped over his shoulders.
He tried to sink his hands between the arm and his body, trying to pry them away, but he found that he was unable to do so. The crushing strength was so overwhelming that the veins in his head seemed almost threatening to explode.
He released a heavy breath and looked up to see Omura rise to his feet from his knees, his armoured left arm resting on the construction that pinned Sato to the wall.
"That was a lot..." Omura said with a sigh and an almost playful giggle, "If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were trying to destroy me."
From his spot, Sato could see that Omura's armour seemed almost entirely restored save for the still missing left eye which was not glowing like the other.
His expression twitched when he saw Omura approach him from across the room, dragging behind him a drum barrel. Sato tried even more ferociously to get out of his metal binds before Omura approached any nearer.
"Ahh!" Midoriya would yelp as he was tossed around, tipping over the props in the room while Dark Shadow remained on his tail.
"It is futile... Surrender now, and I shall tell him to stop." Tokoyami announced dramatically as he stood in his place, almost posing up a storm.
Midoriya cringed as he landed on a pile. Despite the overwhelming difference in steady power output, he was able to adapt by using the ceramic tiles as a shield to guard against Dark Shadow's attacks.
Attacks he couldn't shrug, he'd try to guard. And attacks he couldn't guard, he'd try to dodge.
This strategy sounded very good initially in his head, but from the first claw, Midoriya could tell it would not go well as he would have hoped.
He got up and rolled to his side just in time to avoid a charge from Dark Shadow, tilling and ploughing away at the pile of junk Midoriya was on without any resistance.
Midoriya watched as the crushed tin cans and drums were sent flying, bringing up his shield holding his right hand to protect himself from the flying pieces.
"Are you listening? Surrender!" Tokoyami called out again, and Midoriya shifted to look towards him as a plan came to mind.
If he were to take out Tokoyami, would that mean Dark Shadow would retreat? His quirk was an Emitter type so that meant the user had to be aware or in control, so if he were to take him out by just capturing him with the tape, that would mean he had to forfeit.
So suddenly, with a spirited cry, Midoriya barrelled towards the Avian who took in a sharp breath when he saw Midoriya run towards him.
"Dark Shadow, to me!"
"... Haagh..." the creature growled and Tokoyami gulped. While the dark corners on the basement served to fule Dark Shadow's power immensely, his obedience at present was a bit hard to keep under control.
"Don't tell me... what I should do!" But regardless of how opposed he sounded to Tokoyami's order, Dark Shadow still came back and aimed for Midoriya's head with his claw.
But there was something wrong, Tokoyami could feel it, the intent Dark Shadow had behind his eyes.
It was an impulsive kind of glint, the kind that seemed he intended to hurt Midoriya more than necessary.
"Midoriya! Watch out!"
The green-haired boy's eyes turned wide before he immediately strafed to the left, rolling into a crouch again just in time to avoid Dark Shadow's attack which seemed more violent than before, its accompanying cry mirroring that notion.
"Dark Shadow! Control yourself!" Tokoyami tried to mediate his subordinate's behaviour but failed.
"I said! Do not tell me what to do!" it swiped its claws and took out a chunk in the wall beside Tokoyami, scraping away at the thin layers of grey.
"Damnit..." Tokoyami cursed under his breath and sunk low in thought, his mind racing to find a way to get his quirk back under control, preferably without the use of light.
He still desired to keep the exploitable weakness as unknown to the class, but as time went on between their fight, and as he saw Midoriya lose his strength, it began to seem like it was truly the only way.
Midoriya watched as the bird-headed student seemed to be struggling with the limited sentience of his emitter-type. Briefly, he wondered what made it so uncompliant, it behaved just fine when Tokoyami used it during the sunny morning of the Quirk Apprehension test, so what's changed.
Was it because they were in a fight, he only saw Tokayami use it as a utility but never once did he saw it used as a manner of assault. Or was it because their fight prolonged more than it would have liked, even Midoriya admitted he would find a stretched out battle irritating at the least.
"Mmmrrraaaa!" it shrieked and lunged at Midoriya again, turning around.
Tokoyami held in his hands the recognisable stretch of the red capture tape and had failed to convince Dark Shadow to simply capture Midoriya, the creature opting instead to engage the boy physically maybe to make him yield.
Midoriya clenched and rolled to the side, avoiding another hit before immediately bracing to blocking another.
The muscles in his arm stung from all the blows he had guarded against, searing especially around his shoulder and triceps.
Briefly, he saw another swipe come in before it hit his ceramic shield outwards from his body, rocking his arms as his guard became blown wide open.
He stumbled in his steps, staggering backwards with his left foot first followed by his right, his sneakers searching for grit behind him.
And it was at the moment he regained his footing that it happened, he got socked right on the jaw by the dark creature. It had snaked through his broken guard with its right hand and clawed right at Midoriya's jaw from the left.
His head wobbled violently for a moment and his metal mouth guard tore apart, its pieces flying towards his right along with the creature's arm following through.
Midoriya swore he saw stars before his vision cleared just in time to see the creature reel back its right arm, twisting its body to swipe inwards with its left.
The claw made a harsh impact on the green-haired boy and his body came crashing onto the ground, his butt leading with the rest of his body trailing behind it.
"Gah-!" he yelps as his body became limp, more seriously his legs.
"Dark Shadow! That is enough!" Tokoyami yelled again, his hands balled firmly into fists from tension. "He is on the ground and beaten!"
The creature remained motionless for a moment, and Tokoyami almost breathed out a sigh of relief, that was before he saw Dark Shadow immediately begin his approach to the exhausted figure of Midoriya, who was trying to get up on his feet.
"These are our opponents...!" it said with a huff, and reached out to Midoriya, picking him up with one hand from the collar off his feet, "I feel, it's our job to get rid of them! Don't you?!" It let out an almost frightening snicker as it turned towards its user.
'This thing is tough...' Midoriya stated in thought, barely able to lift his head to look at its approaching form, 'and Tokoyami-san has lost control.'
From the creature's punch, his vision became blurry. His left eye was a bit more closed than the other, and the other was not all that much better.
'I have to hold out... I have to find a weakness!' He took in a sharp inhale, attempting to catch his breath, 'But how...?'
From their fight, it was pretty clear which of them held the advantage of power and speed over the other, so Midoriya was really at a loss as to how he would win.
He felt the imposing figure of Dark Shadow loom over him, feeling one of its claws reach for the back of his collar pulling him up.
'... I have to change the way I think about it... maybe it's not about the fight...' he lifted his face and did his best to remain calm about his situation, scanning around the room for any merits to win.
But instead of that, he saw his classmate Tokoyami, looking at him with a mixture of frustration leaning more towards terror.
It reminded him of the face Bakugou made during the Sludge Villian incident.
Here he was, a hero-in-training making his classmate petrified because he was afraid he couldn't control his power.
How would he be able to save a person someday, if he couldn't save himself now?
As he looked Tokoyami saw something he wished were not, that Dark Shadow was absolutely out of control like he feared would happen. So, perhaps as a gesture of decency, he decided to at least inform Midoriya about its weakness, not that he himself could think of anything to light up their arena.
So damn be the class finding out his quirks exploitable weakness, for now, he had to make sure his classmate was safe.
"Midoriya! Listen carefully, Dark Shadow's weakness... it's..." Tokoyami began dejectedly, but stopped when Midoriya began to speak up.
"Go... Beyond..." Tokoyami looked up and turned to face Midoriya hung by the back of his collar, as did Dark Shadow, given pause by his sudden declaration.
"Plus...!" Midriya loosed in his hand the flair from his pocket after he took it out and looked up directly towards the Creature's yellow glowing eyes, mirroring it with newfound fire and vigour in his own,
"Ultra!" The sound of a click was barely registered before a bright light erupted, coming to wrap around the body of the dark creature.
"Raah!" A shriek came forward and Dark Shadow's claw let go of Midoriya.
"Aah-!" Midoriya released a small yelp when he was dropped, his arms covered around his face to protect himself from the erupting light. But he was not done just yet.
His left hand let go of the metal flair and suddenly became a blur, shooting towards Dark Shadow's face accompanied by a trail of green coloured lighting striking along with it.
Tokoyami gasped and the wind zipped past him on his right, tearing through the thin southern wall of the basement, exposing the lowest floor of the building to sunlight from the streets.
The debris from the broken wall fell onto the road, flying across the railings and rolling to a stop on the asphalt under the hot sun.
Midoriya remembered the little flair Omura had given him before they entered and had used it as a means of discombobulation by blinding light, taking the flash and using it to distract the creature before going in for a head-on assault with a smash.
But this plan worked almost too well, the creature not even bothering to salvage its broken guard almost like it was afraid of light or someting.
"Mrrraaahhh-!" Dark Shadow shrieked in pain, flying past Tokoyami onto the still-intact part of the wall on the south side, being launched along with the wind.
Midoriya landed on his knees, caressing his left arm as the sensation of shattering his bones washed over him.
His costume had ripped starting from his left shoulder all the way to his palms, revealing the putrid sight of his pruned up and purple skin.
He looked up from his arms and turned to the decimation he had caused. Lone bricks and tiny flecks of concrete broke away and fell, the newly made hole basking the basement in the warm light coming from outside.
"The building-!" Midoriya looked up and analysed his surroundings, hoping that his attack was not too damaging to the structure that it would just collapse. Completely forgetting, or maybe he was paying no mind to his injuries, he began counting in his head to the seconds that passed, waiting for signs that the ceiling or pillars might collapse over them.
Tokoyami turned to the mop of green hair that was now exposed in the distance, his mask completely destroyed his bated expression was in full view.
"Mmm... hngh..." Dark Shadow began groaning, lifting himself out of his embedded spot on the wall and shook his head to get out of its daze.
"Whew..." Midoriya breathed out a massive sigh of relief, before immediately yelping as the pain from his broken limb acted up again. "Ahh...!"
'The building's still standing, that was a punch compatible to All Might and...' he turned up with his teeth gritted and saw Dark Shadow lift itself out of its concrete confines, no apparent damage visible anywhere on its body, 'It's still getting up!'
"Midoriya, more control!" All Might instructed from over the coms and Midoriya shut his mouth before nodding frantically.
Tokoyami shifted his sights to his dark companion and saw that it appeared to be rubbing its cheek with its claw, apparently affected by Midoriya's punch.
While Midoriya began to panic from the little options he assumed he had. He had just broken his arms again, punching at a force powerful enough to destroy the thick basement's walls and it ultimately did nothing as far as he knew, Dark Shadow was not knocked out and Tokiyami was still left for capture.
With nowhere else to go, his mind wandered to Omura upstairs, who he hoped would finish and come down to help him.
"Ahhhh!" The mechanical arm broke apart from the joint furthest away from Sato, the pent up stress forced to metal to hiss and ring as the arm swung violently around.
The rush had finally taken effect for Sato, enabling him to break out and touch the floor with his boots. Immediately, Sato broke into a dash, stomping his feet violently on the ground, propelling himself forwards at whirling speeds.
Omura did the same, his armoured feet rounding like the wheels of a locomotive just as sparks began to emanate from his right arm dragging the metal drum.
They soon came upon each other, Sato reared both his hands up to slam down as Omura formed an oval-shaped metal shield from the drum on his right forearm.
Sato's fists came clambering down, grinding on Omura's board before it deflected off of it and sailed to the ground, kicking up dust as it made impact. Sato growled in frustration from his attack being deflected and turned up slightly,
Omura's hand was also forced down from the blow, the bottom edge of his shield embedding itself shallow into the concrete floor.
Quick to recover, Omura came out of his defensive stance into an offence, whirling the metal board around to extend his left arm into a cross that socked Sato hard on the chin. The harsh metal fist jiggled the larger's student's brain making him stagger for a moment.
"Goah-!"
"Hup!" Omura's tempo did not falter and quickly he followed up with a punch to the body with the shielded arm, making Sato double over into another cross thrown to hit him right on the nose. Omura had twisted his hips and feet with every hit, making small but concentrated dents in the concrete floor.
Movements emulating that from when he had seen Takashi boxing on the heavy bag and in competitions.
"Hoh- thoh-!" Sato made hurtful sounds and grunts with every hit. Almost losing the strength on his legs from the blow to the nose, where a thin trail of blood fountained as his head whirled back, his footing became haggard and barely salvageable, but Sato managed.
Omura stayed in toe, watching as Sato raised his knee in desperation to get a hit in.
The armoured student parried with his left hand, knocking back Sato's left leg down hard on the ground, again making him staggered.
Reaching his shielded arm across the distance, Omura blocked the larger student's right hand before he even extended and followed up with an elbow to Sato's collar, pivoting on his lead leg and spinning into his hits.
Rikido was stunned by the intensity of Omura's never-ending consecutive punches and parries. Every attempt at a counter was negated before he even got the chance to try.
Sato was sent back a step each time he was hit, and soon enough his back reached a wall.
Omura spun on his lead leg once more and smashed the broad side of his shield across the larger student's left shoulder.
"Haah!" With a bellowing cry, Omura extended his left arm to a cross once again, and hit Sato in the chin.
Rikido was barely conscious at the moment, his mind a haze from both Sugar rush and Omura's beatings.
However, he was still awake enough to be able to weakly lift his left hand into an uppercut, which amounted to nothing when it was blocked again when the armoured student brought his shield forward, letting it hit with a clang and following up with another cross to Sato's chin.
Rikido could really do nothing but release a tired and exhausted grunt, the only part of his body that was still holding up was his legs and they threatened to give at any moment.
Omura dominated the long exchange, never letting up on his relentless flurry of punches and bashes that picked at Sato's defences, and the spots that were opened were punished severely with a metal fist, rocking the internal organs.
Sato had to do something to get himself out of this pinch, but what could he do?
Omura was showing no signs of slowing, his suit must have done all the heavy lifting so he had spared strength, enabling him to fight maybe until his power source gave out.
Wait... the battery.
Omura had kept it near his lower back the last time he saw it in one of his suits, and if he didn't change his designs for this new armour, it might still be there.
So what if he ripped it out, take away the suit's power and leave it as just a hunk of metal covering his opponent. He knew he could easily capture Omura if he was left stuck in a metal cage.
"Hargh!" Sato released painfully as he crashed upwards against the wall, Omura having slipped his shield under the larger student's guard before bringing it up, hitting with enough force to lift his opponent off his feet.
Sato's hand lazily tried to reach for Omura's back when his feet made contact with the ground, his left arm loosely held up to guard his face.
His eyes were barely able to focus, from his view, Sato was sure he could briefly see the blur of the black box on Omura's lower back.
The armoured student was still in a flurried state, not even slowing down for even a moment or he could lose his ground.
His momentum was in full effect, both literally and figuratively, so Omura was afraid if he let loose a single moment to draw breath he might lose it all.
Rikido's attempts were bashed aside, again and again, every time he reached for Omura, he was met with either a fist or the oval shield.
Omura stepped back, and stepped hard behind him with his left leg, placing all his weight on one foot.
Rikido rebounded lightly from the wall behind him when Omura contracted. Leaning forwards slightly, Sato stepped forwards on instinct to retain balance.
"Going down-!" Omura switched footing and spun, faster than what the suit could seemingly achieve at max functionality, and squatted down low, bringing his shield to bash on Sato's closer knee.
His leg made buckling on one side, the larger student tilted towards the right in his path to fall down, but Rei made pursuit.
Springing from his squat, he reared back his left hand and coiled up. Thousands of little pieces tensed up along with him under the metal plates, tensing readily.
Then all pent up stress was released, sending Omura's left fist sailing under Sato's arm, knocking him back up, setting him straight as he began tumbling backwards to the side.
Omura turned while he released a small sigh, and saw that Sato's eyes were completely white, all his limbs wobbled loose, and his body was in complete free-fall.
"... That's not a good look..." he said with a small wince but figured he should follow through just to make sure.
If his opponent was not completely under when he attempted to capture, breaking through the flimzy red tape would barely be an inconvenience for him.
So, with a bit of weight on his spirit, he twisted his feet and brought around his shield aimed for the spot between the nose and the upper lip.
But something happened midway through that punch...
A sudden and lively grunt followed with the sound of two boots grinding on the floor.
Sato had suddenly turned his head down and looked straight at Omura, piercing through his visor. His eyes were still white, but his muscles bunged underneath his tattered hero costume.
He had shuffled and readjusted his feet, seemingly on instinct, and his posture was suddenly filled with life and grit.
Omura noted this was a sudden and unexpected change of pace and swallowed a light gulp.
What was Sato under the influence of a fight or flight reflex? Had he been beaten up so badly that his body assumed it was dying, and survival instincts kicked in to persevere?
All of it didn't really matter when, without even moving back an inch, Sato caught Omura's shield on the edges with his left hand, and a loud ring echoed across the building.
Omura stood there in shock, his metal face plate looked almost blinking and bewildered looking at the shield before it turned to his opponent.
"... Steady now, Sato-san..." Omura said with a little hitch, looking upwards after a moment of awkward silence to see Sato pant for air.
"Grr... raaargh!" Rikido pulled in the armoured student from his grip on the shield, while at the same time flying his right fist underneath his open guard.
The punch rang true and Omura released a breathy grunt.
"Doh hoh-!" Omura wheezed out as Sato's fist became buried deep in the plates around the armour's heart, even denting and bending some form of the titanium at some spots.
Omura reached and grabbed Sato on the shoulder almost instantly, hoping to impede the prospects of another punch coming his way. But by moving in closer, he had given his opponent exactly what he needed.
Not one to let up on an opportunity, Sato's grip tightened on the shield and he tried to pull Omura over his back. Using his shoulder as a fulcrum, his right arm going across Omura's belly, he slammed him down on the ground behind him and created a shallow blanket of dust around his feet and Omura's body.
The armoured student was thrashed on his back through Sato's sheer strength, forced in a position less than favourable for him once again.
Omura couldn't really do anything with this, his footing was jeopardized the moment Satoahad so suddenly caught his board, and he had no leverage from being lifted off the ground again.
Sato lifted his feet and stomped on the armoured student's chest, his boots almost ripping apart due to the incredible force behind them.
After the armoured student was struck, his chest piece became cracked in certain places. Despite the advancements on the Inertial Shields, they were still a technology in their infancy.
The hysterically pissed off Sato lifted his boots and brought them to the ground beside the downed form of his opponent, who appeared to be in a daze.
Coming down on one knee, the other one stayed up at a right degree angle and his body bent over forwards slightly, facing directly at the armour's visor.
Now thoroughly pinned down, Sato decided to try the hammer fist attack on Omura again.
Bringing both his hands over his head, he brought them down hard just as the shield came forwards again.
"Aaargh!" Sato's fists came crashing down on Omura, who for the most part was feeling what it was like to be squashed between the weight of two motorbikes.
The dust kicked up once more, like a wave sweeping through the dishevelled room with them at the centre, everything in the vicinity of a couple of meters were shaken slightly and most of the toppled over props in the room vibrated with the floor.
Omura grunted heavily as the oval shield became crasked and spoiled, the collision creating a very unpleasant ring echoing through the building.
The floor beneath them shifted as well, the spot around them coming loose and shaky.
Rei looked back and took note of it, but the would of grunting as Sato winded back up his arms retook his attention to his front.
"Raaagh!" And with the simple gesture of bringing down his arms, Sato had finally broken the shield. But his face didn't would celebratory or glad, it was just lost in the moment of the conflict.
When the hammering blow hit, the shield finally splintered away into a dozen pieces with bright glowing fragments and sparks to go along with it.
As did too, the ground; where the iron bars became loose and shook of the cinder binds and gave way to the both of them, sending them tumbling down to the level below them.
The basement.
Omura's bulky and plated high collar hit the concrete floor of the basement first, engraving its shapes deep and distinctly before the rest of his body settled with a clang.
Sato followed shortly after, landing in a squat on top of Omura, keeping him pinned to the ground.
"Aagh..." Omura groaned and brought his elbows behind to lift his head and shook it lightly off the ground.
The heavy thud of Sato's boots making contact with the floor came in tandem with a sudden crush over him. His head was forced back on the ground with a clink as it hit the floor again.
Looking up, he was what appeared to be his opponent, looking like he was winding up again for another slam. The blaring light of the floor above shined over his head, casting an ominous shadow over him.
This caused Omura to bring up his arms in guard, palms facing Sato. While his shield, his best defensive asset for the fight was broken, he still hoped he could block the coming blow.
So he tensed up and wanted for the crushing hit to impact, his teeth firmly gritted.
But it never came, as when a weight came over his forearms, it was not hammering or forceful. It was soft and groaning, accompanied by a suddenly out of place grunt.
Sato's final rush had left him, and his body collapsed over the armoured student's compromising position. With his arms spread wide, it seemed almost like he wanted to give him a hug, but it was just that he was so tired and spent, he practically fell asleep over his opponent.
When he settled over him, arms spread wide and head hung loose, Sato for the moment could do nothing but sleep.
Omura had closed his eyes instinctively in his brace, but when he felt the larger student topple over him he was left confused, so he opened his right eye fist to take a short peek followed shortly by the other.
What he saw was Sato, comatose and snoring. His face was turned away from him, Rei's head resting over his opponent's right shoulder with his plated arms coming up underneath Sato armpits.
"Uh... Sato? Are you alright...?" He began calling out softly and unsure, a small pause in his voice. "You are... asleep...?"
No coherent response came from his slumbering classmate, only the loud sounds of deep snoring with the occasional stir.
Omura tried to move, wiggling his body and pushing up from his legs. But he released a sigh when all he did was bring Sato along with him on his chest when he slid himself upwards.
"Alright...?' He looked up to see that they were facing towards a doorway that led out of their room in the basement, "Uh... Sato, I'm going to move you over now... just keep on sleeping."
The response he got was a snort and a stir, and Omura nodded, grabbing ahold of Sato under the arm and shoulder and beginning to push him off.
Carefully, Rei jerked him aside towards his right, while at the same time sliding away towards the left.
Sato's body went across the air, held up by Omura's plated arms and came at rest when he was made laying on his side, resting on one of his shoulders.
Omura quickly got up on his feet after a small and satisfied nod, clamping with the sound of his metal boots and pushing off of the concrete before straightening his back.
Despite the faulty state of the armour plates around his forearm, the rest of his suit was overall still functional without any major compromise.
Looking over his hands with a keen eye, he ordered for a recalibration after a moment of thought.
"Calibrate..." He told the interface of the suit, and of course, why shouldn't he make the commands he want carried out have simple and concise names.
Although the User Interface inside the Lieber was one of the currently most robust and versatile, it was nowhere near as flexible or powerful as he wanted it to be.
The most it could do was coordinate and regulate the thousands of actuators inside the suit to function as a single body. So there was much room for expansion.
However, if it came to it, he was sure it would have been enough to take on most of his classmates for the time.
Shifting his head around, the latches and bolted parts around the outer armour plating came apart individually before locking back into place, making small and pleasant clicks and whirls.
The metal spine that ran up his back, lifted upwards one by one from the bottom before latching back into place.
The interface was going through the armour to find anything Rei may have missed in damages to the body while he had already looked through it with his quirk. When it didn't find any, he looked back at his forearms and frowned slightly.
The small dents and bents around the plating of the forearm started to mould and made small creeks. For a moment, the pieces moved back into place and Rei began to smile.
And then came small blue arcs of electricity originating from his palm, snaking downwards through his arm, and the metal plates moulded quicker than before, making a sharp and stinging shriek.
"Hmm..." Rei's smile fell and he looked down sadly, "Alright, alright, I'll get there..."
He looked up just at the moment a rumbling noise picked up and he released a sound from alarm.
With the wind rushing through the doors, he almost got picked up so he planted his feet firmer after his steps first gave way. Also lifting his arms up to guard if necessary.
He could hear Sato groan beside him, and looked to see that he had fallen back on his face, but was still sound asleep.
His expression was now of concern when he looked back to the doorway.
That was Midoriya, without a doubt.
Surely he couldn't control his power yet, so that would mean a broken limb, and a lot of swelling.
He knew Dark Shadow would be violent given the state of the dimly lit basement, but he never figured it would turn so bad that his teammate had to use a hundred per cent smash. Things must really be escalating with him and Tokoyami, so Omura found he needed to get there as quickly as possible.
Turning around back to the sleeping form of Sato, he aimed down his left arm towards him, and out from his gauntlet was a slip of red tape held in a dark coloured metal contraption which sprang out with a whirl.
A hiss and he sling forward a red lining, making a mark and wrapping around Sato's right arm, just below the shoulder.
It was the red capture tape, and with his opponent thoroughly dozed off, he was certain it would hold for at least ten seconds, the time it took to cement a capture.
"Stay asleep now, Sato-san..." He said finally with a small laugh and turned back dashing through the door immediately, without another moment wasted.
Midoriya brought up his right hand and tightened the red straps that held the ceramic plate taught to his forearm, pulling them tight with his teeth. And before he brought it back down, used the sleeve of his suit to wipe away the numerable trails of blood running down his face.
Resing his arm on his knees, he buckled up and got to his feet. Determinedly staring down at the dark creature which seemed ready for more.
Midoriya's eyes periodically narrowed, desperately scanning for whatever weakness he could take advantage of.
Tokoyami's jaw didn't close for a long while, he almost started to sweat from his brows from seeing how much power the green-haired boy could truly muster.
He could feel the hit Dark Shadow took from the punch, well... not really feel it, but he could sense it, it was the hardest anything it had ever felt. Even he was surprised it didn't just dissipate and retreat back into his body after the whole thing.
"Y-your quirk, Tokoyami-san..." Midoriya called to his opponent and caused him to finally close his beak to pay attention, "It's really strong..." the boy finished, almost drawling out his syllables.
Tokoyami could see from his spot, that Midoriya was starting to smile maybe out of exhaustion and weariness. Despite the admirably easy tone, he could tell Midoriya didn't really want to go for another round with Dark Shadow.
"Hah-! Ahem... Yes, so it would seem..." Tokoyami cleared his throat and tried to speak as if sounding sure but came off as mostly awkward. The truth was that he didn't want Midoriya to fight again either, to risk losing the other arm, "I did try to warn you."
"Hah ha ha... you sure did, yeah..." Midoriya closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. But they shot open and his laughter stopped almost immediately when they both heard the sound of Dark Shadow growl.
"Don't be stiff, don't be stiff..." Tokoyami could almost make out Midotiya chanting something to himself while he got his guard up, his right side facing towards his opponent with his arm held high.
Tokoyami swallowed a heavy gulp when he realised what was about to go down again, or so he thought before a sight caught the corner of his eye.
Light, raining in from the streets outside.
His eyes shot open and he almost beamed, almost.
Turning quickly to his dark coloured companion, he shouted a command once again.
"Dark Shadow! Control yourself!" The creature almost stiffened due to Tokoyami's stern tone, caused by his previous state of utter distress. It turned to him in a bewildered expression and waited for the avian student to continue.
"You are to restrain your assault on our opponent! Never let your focus slip!"
"Mmm... got it..." It grumbled out, almost dejectedly. While its aggression in words was greatly diminished, its size even shrinking overall, it still held some resistance to direct orders.
Perhaps it was because it was not under direct sunlight, still not basking in it from all sides that it was left a bit cranky. But with this Tokoyami could work with, a controllable from of his Dark Shadow.
Tokoyami breathed out a massive sigh with that, while Midoriya looked on in confused silence as his head tilted loosely to the side.
"Huh...?" He wondered what was going on, now that the avian was so suddenly controlling the creature again, as he had done during the quirk apprehension test.
"Very well," But Tokoyami turning back to face him signalled to Midoriya that this fight was still not over, he still had to win. "Go! Dark Shadow!"
"Mmmraaah!" With the simple order, the dark creature came upon Midoriya. Sailing through the air at such speeds that it was almost blurring, trailing behind a dark coloured pathway connected to Tokoyami's body.
Midoriya retracted his head under his guard and braced for impact, his teeth gritting firm together. He couldn't help but wonder if his injured body could even hold against such power, but he was sure he would find out. The sound of the audible whistle of wind from Dark Shadow's dash dominating his thoughts as he shut his eyes.
But another sound suddenly cut through, harsh and metal. Like a slab of iron sliding across a concrete surface,
Which was exactly what it sounded like.
Omura's metal legs swiftly glided across the room and got in front of Midoriya just in time to guard. The armour's plated butt bashed Midoriya's ceramic tile across and the green-haired boy was knocked back to land on his bottom.
Platinum-Titanium forearms met the dark creature's claws and Omura got into a clinch, right arm held up sidewards with the other grabbing onto Dark Shadow's right claw, holding it firmly in place.
Midoriya landed on his backside and released a grunt, hearing the clang and commotion, he looked up to see the grey plates of armour struts covering his teammates back; a sight not too dissimilar to the one the moment they entered the building.
"Hello!" Omura took note of the creature's eyes widening in alarm just before Omura winded back his head, coming to rest tilted at about 45 degrees backwards before bringing it back front into a devastating headbutt.
This caused the now slightly weaker Dark Shadow to stagger back, a crack sounding out with the whirl of the armour's movements.
A follow-up soon came after if the form of Omura twisting his body into a straight right hand, knocking the creature in its left cheek.
The sound of a latch clicked unlocked, and a hiss came from the gauntlet's foremost plate. A notably sized cylindrical body of metal shot out from his arm, multiplying the force of Omura's punch at least twofold.
The jet of steam coming from the pneumatic piston ran around his arm in a spiral, leafing a trail of white smoke behind Omura's fist.
At the same time, a capsule ejected from the armour's elbow plate just as Dark Shadow became launched back a distance of a few meters.
"Mhaaa!" It would mewl in pain, caressing its head vainly from the imprint the punch left behind.
It did not really feel pain in the conventional sense, just the irritation from being knocked back and the inability to overpower the armoured student. Whose frown sneered at the expanse of his wrinkled cheek.
The indifferent face of cold command told the creature exactly how tough its new opponent was going to be.
Things were about to become serious.
The ejected shell of the CO2 cartridge bounced as it fell to the concrete floor, creating a metallic ring dominating the room.
"How's that for an entrance?" He said with audible delight, "Though I could have done with an anthemic score, this works fine as well."
Then he got into a stance with his arms in a guard around his body.
"Now about you two..." Omura was in great shape today, and much to his delight the building still stood after a Midoriya used a One for All Smash indoors.
He had his concerns it would just collapse over them on his way to the fight, but it never did.
Now faced with the other of their opposing team, he began to get ready.
He knew the match with Dark Shadow would probably be harder than his bout with Rikido, being a harder hitter than the boy while at the same time being faster.
Add to that how he never saw Dark Shadow as tired or worn out from fights, Omura had himself a formidable obstacle.
"Midoriya," he called out to his teammate and the green-haired boy perked up, "Good job."
When he got here, Omura didn't fail to notice the tattered state of Midoriya's suit, as was the same with his battered face. The boy had endured a fair amount of punishment during his own bout, and with no sufficient form of armour guarding his body, he made every hit he received show through his bruises.
"Mrraahhh!" the creature recovered from its state of shock and took a swing, a wild and erratic haymaker aiming for Omura's head.
"Now, just follow my lead!" and before Midoriya could say anything in response to that, Omura spurred into action.
He blocked the Shadow's haymaker with his left hand and countered immediately with a right cross, hitting the Shadow square in the jaw.
Slightly staggered, the creature attempted another swing but this also got parried by the outstretched left arm, which pushed off of the hit into another right cross.
Further dazed, it attempted to claw with its left up and over Omura's guard, but the armoured student ducked under and landed a hit under the shadow's arm, a body shot on its left flank.
"Mah-!" Dark Shadow choked out painfully with every hit, its layer of absent light around its body convulsed and dented.
While Omura's punches didn't have the same amount of raw power as Midoriya's smash previously, it was more concentrated up onto a point that it cut inside its dark body more effectively.
What was really troublesome was the boy in the suit itself, the one controlling it. Having power was one thing while knowing how to use it was another, and while by no means a master at combat, Omura surely knew the basics at least of how to fight.
"Hup!" a parry followed up by a targetted counter at the creature's temple.
It was not just his arms, Omura ducked and weaved repeatedly throughout their exchange, and even though Dark Shadow's claws scraped at the very top of the plates of the armour's head, chipping away tiny specks, it was unable to score any swipes or talon strikes as it did on Midoriya.
"Dark Shadow, stride back!" Tokoyami could be heard yelling from far away, standing with an intense stare from his spot beside the hole to the outside.
"Mrraahh- gah!" It was making no progress in brawls, and Omura had got in another straight with his left arm. But when he tried the follow up with his punch, Dark Shadow suddenly moved out of range which made the armoured student overextend, faltering in his steps.
If Dark Shadow couldn't beat Omura at his strengths which was a brawling, pseudo-boxing style of attacking; it would cater to its own, which were its superior reach and capacity for greater power.
It grabbed at the armoured fist stretched out, and without skipping a beat, immediately pulled Omura into its awaiting claw which shot forth out from the side like a cruise missile.
The boy didn't have time to change his foot position, he was aware he really needed to work on his steps after he threw a punch, aware of how easily he could be knocked off balance during the brief instance.
When Dark Shadow's claw reached Omura it buried itself inside the plates. Penetrating from the spaces between the metal scales where it was weakest, it entered from the side of the body and glided across to come around the back, scraping at the inner walls around the actuators, disabling some groups in the process.
"Hoh-!" reached down and gripped the arm of the claw embedded on the side of the armour, turning his head down to look at the damage.
They both moved laterally from one another, swaying back and forth before coming to a firm halt.
Omura looked up into the yellow eyes, which seemed to sharpen when its grip tightened around his waist. Releasing a grunt, Omura tried to focus on one thing; what was Midoriya doing if he wasn't helping him at the moment.
He wasn't fighting or landing in hits, but Omura could swear Midoriya moved away somewhere from his place on the ground behind him.
"Mmmhh... I thought your armour to be tougher..." the creature remarked, almost apprehensive in tone.
"It's... a start..." Omura said in response after coming up with nothing.
With that exchange, Dark Shadow strained its eyes and took the boy along with the heavy armour off his feet, carrying him over before slamming him against the wall across the room. Pressing on him with its grip still firm on Omura's abdomen.
"Oof." Omura huffed as his back crashed into the wall, moving his left hand on the creature's arm to lift himself up to alleviate some stress.
Dark Shadow stood there for a moment as their eyes locked once more, staying incredibly still in place almost like he was awaiting orders.
Because that was exactly what it was doing, but orders never came from Tokoyami, so he appeared to be confused when he looked back to its user.
Omura did as well, himself a bit curious and what they came to see was a scuffle.
A fight was happening between Midoriya and Tokoyami.
"You can still fight?" Tokoyami apprehensively exclaimed in disbelief at Midoriya, who was using only his good hand to engage as the other was broken, almost swelling with blood on the inside which made the skin turn a sickening purple shade.
Midoriya didn't say anything in response, only grunts and yelps every time he threw a punch and Tokoyami got out of the way.
With to his costume's black cloak covering his arms and body, the only method of attack available to him were kicks.
With the way Midoriya was moving it was clear to Tokoyami that he was hurt. Maybe his arm was the only thing broken but to keep it from moving too much, he limped and placed his foot and legs at odd angles, clearly a sign that he was beyond fatigue.
Evading an incoming punch from Midoriya's right hand by leaning back, Tokoyami lifted his lead leg, his left feet off the ground and pushed it into his opponent's chest, creating some space between them.
While Tokoyami was quick to recover, the other boy almost fell on his backside, grunting with every wobble.
The avian could admire his tenacity, few would have been able to stand after an onslaught from Dark Shadow, let alone fight.
Midotiya looked to the ground, he wanted to vomit from how exhausted he felt, like those gruelling days at the beach training with All Might. He even wondered if his contribution was worth it, now that even Omura seemed to be subdued against the far wall.
It was a decision, whether he just dropped to the ground to rest, possibly risking his capture from Tokoyami. Or he could plant himself like a tree and keep fighting, it would hurt a lot but so would be the same if he were to disappoint All Might.
The hero who believed in him so fully.
So he decided to clench up and looked forward, ready to meet Tokoyami to the very end of their match.
"Tokoyami..." Midoriya suddenly began, looking squarely at him with an unwavering stare.
"Hmm?" He turned up, giving his opponent a brief pause for the moment.
"I don't know about you... but I'm going to win!" as suddenly as he declared, Midoriya raised up his right hand towards the other boy and gripped hard, as hard as he could. "There's a lot of people counting on me!"
Tokoyami stood there with his eyes wide and made to open his mouth to speak.
"I- I... very... very well, good!" He stuttered at first, "Then I shall give it my all too-!"
"Flairs!" they heard suddenly from the distance, followed by terrible ringing sounds and whizzing cracks.
"-Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami turned immediately to take in the figure of his dark companion before it was engulfed in blindingly bright lights.
"Omura-san!" reached out vainly before pulling his arms back to shield his eyes.
Both turned to see Dark Shadow engulfed in an intense pool of sputtering lights. It was ringing and it was bright, trailing like the fizzle of fireworks.
Immediately releasing Omura from its grip, the armoured boy fell to the floor on his feet with a heavy clink and rushed forward, pushing off from his back leg tackling the creature with his arms quick to wrap around its body.
"Here we go!" as the ringing ceased, they heard Omura yell before a metal thud reached their ears, telling them that he was successful in taking the fight to the ground.
"Haah!"
"Mmraah!" Omura rolled with the creature three times before they came to a stop, situated on top of it he had prime positioning for a ground and pound.
So he took it, reeling back his arms before unloading everything he had into his hits.
"Dark Shadow, bring up your arms- huck-!" suddenly, something tightened around the avian student's neck and prevented him from barking out any more commands.
"Aahhh!" Midoriya's yell chimed into the chaos of this exchange.
In the brief moment of confusion when Omura rolled onto the top of Dark Shadow, Midoriya had taken the time to undo the wrappings of the shield on his arm and seeing that the red binds were the capture tape, had elected to use the tile as a weight to hook around a target.
The moment his opponent was distraught, even though it might have been a little sneaky for his liking, Midoriya took advantage of the situation and threw the tape and the weight around Tokoyami's neck and pulled hard.
His opponent was thrown back violently from having his weight be suddenly shifted from his neck, and unable to cope with the sudden tug he fell on his back, flailing his arms about in a panic due to the bind around his neck.
Midoriya grimaced, he hated having to see Tokoyami in such distress even though they haven't really interacted yet and he was his opponent.
But he made it clear in his mind that all it needed was 10 seconds and the match was settled.
"Hck-! Hck-! Hck-!" Tokoyami gagged and coughed on his back on the ground, trying to pry away the wire with his hands but it refused to budge, the ceramic tile that taught locked the tape was firmly resting under his weight, so technically Tokoyami was chocking himself.
Midoriya bit his lips in anticipation and increasing dread as the seconds ticked away in his head. His hands holding the capture Ribbon shivering violently.
His petrified eyes wandered to his teammate in the moment, where he could see Omura pounding away at the creature's face under him.
5,
6,
7,
8,
"Hoogh-! Grk-!" Tokoyami tried to take in a breath with his air passage constraint and gagged once more before he coughed up violently, reeling his head back to accidentally hit it hard on the concrete floor.
"Come on, come on...!" Midoriya begged the world to pass by sooner, even for the last two seconds.
9,
10...
Omura's punch bounced off of the creature's skull, erupting a heavy crack from it to which Dark Shadow shrieked again.
"All their opponents have been captured! Hero team wins!" The relief of All Might's voice to call the match was unimaginable for a word to describe.
Midoriya practically dived over to Tokoyami, whose face was visibly turning purple under his feathers.
He tried to undo the tape but it had somehow been tied from Tokoyami's struggles.
"If you would, please assist your classmates in need of medical attention, I shall be right with you!" The booming voice went silent and the static cut off, making them aware that their teacher was inbound.
"I can't- free this!" Midoriya exclaimed almost in a weep, desperately clawing and pulling at the tape when he heard the sound of heavy metal footsteps approach.
"Let me see." he heard Omura behind him from his voice through the suit's resonance and looked to him as he moved aside.
"It's tied around his neck, I can't break it!" Midoriya pulled back his hands as Omura knelt down beside him.
"Alright..." the armoured boy reached out and grabbed the tape on two spots as Midoriya watched on with a worried look. Twisting his wrists apart along with his arms it snapped right between his fingers without putting too much pressure on Tokoyami's neck.
"Hck- Kough-! Oh... Ohhh..." Tokoyami coughed first before his consciousness returned to him, his eyes were still glazed and they tended to wander but he was responsive.
"There we go... very good!" Rei nodded delightedly with a light whirl escaping his armour, and Midoriya breathed out a massive sigh of relief.
"... O-Omura-san...?"
"Now, we get up... help he pull Tokoyami-Kun to his feet." the armoured student stepped over to Tokoyami's right side while Midoriya stayed to his left.
A very dazed and discombobulated Dark Shadow steadily reacted back into Tokoyami's body, the trail that connected them becoming limp being dragged across the ground.
"Come on Tokoyami-Kun, you can do it..." Omura urged giddily kneeling from the side as he held out a hand, which Tokoyami absently grabbed onto. Midoriya paused for a moment before nodding firm and getting to his feet, reaching down to help his friend up to his feet.
Omura got up as well, and with the help of Midoriya they both pulled Tokoyami up, while simultaneously draping his arms over both their shoulders.
Tokoyami looked around aimlessly at first, the supporting entourage facing the hole in the basement wall leading out to the streets. He shook his head once, two times.
He released a breath and mightily cleared his throat.
"We... we did not win..." he stated dryly, following up with a cough to clear his throat once more.
"I'm afraid not, no..." Omura shook his head slowly as Midoriya nodded sympathetically along. He knew very well how it felt to lose.
"Hah haha... but we fought fiercely. We put up a fight," a faint smile formed on Tokoyami's beak, taking to their loss well.
"Yes, you did."
"You did great Tokoyami-Kun! And... erm... I'm sorry for using the-"
"Do not apologise, Midoriya... It was nothing." Tokoyami acknowledged dismissively, which gave Midoriya pause.
"That was... quite the experience, to test myself and Dark Shadow against the one they call the Golden Boy... those rumours hold merit." Tokoyami turned to the other beside him.
Rei remained silent before he turned to him and nodded, and even though his face couldn't be seen from behind the metal plate, both Midoriya and Tokoyami felt a smile from him.
And with all of that, their class came to a close.
So much for that promise about 'it won't take long'...
I'm so sorry. I'll try to turn out more chapters faster in the future.