26.10.2019
Hello and welcome again to 'The Greatest of them All'!
I do hope that you're enjoying your time spent reading this story. So without further ado, let us begin the Joint Training part of this Joing Training Arc!
The members of team A found their way to the abandoned school and decided to wait in the teacher's lounge, noticing, that it provided the biggest field of view out of every room on the first floor.
"Being the first ones to enter the zone has its benefits", started Setsuna as they sat in the quite spacious room.
"Yeah, we have the most time to strategize about ourselves", Izuku picked up on her reasoning.
"And no chance to strategize about others", she finished, as the two smirked at each other. "A fellow genius?"
"While I wouldn't call myself a genius, I do admit, that I am gifted in terms of intelligence", Midoriya smiled sheepishly and scratched his right cheek.
"Are you perhaps gifted in… other ways?", the green haired girl asked with a sly grin on her face, as she rested her head in her opened hand.
"Setsuna!", Kendo shouted almost instantly and looked like she was about to karate chop the girl.
"And what if I said yes?", Itsuka turned to the other green haired student in the room and was shocked to see, that instead of becoming a blushing mess, like she saw him do many times, he mimicked Tokage's pose and had even wider grin on his face.
"Since when does he tease people back?!", she screamed internally and decided to just observe the situation.
"Uuu, never thought you had it in ya to play along", Setsuna smirked and leaned in Midoriya's direction. "Now I'm very much interested, Broccoli Boy"
Loud cough from Tokoyami seemed to finally get the two to stop their confrontation. Though Kendo could swear that Tokage shot her 'opponent' a look that said 'we will finish this later' before turning to their bird headed teammate. "I know that getting along with each other will undoubtedly rise our chances of winning, but a good strategy would be even more efficient"
"It will be hard to come up with a strategy, since we know nothing about other teams", Jurota finally spoke up after being silent for most of the time they spent in the zone.
"So, everything we have to do is simply... ", Izuku started and looked at Tokage.
"Gather intel", she said after a realization hit her. "Why didn't I think of this earlier?!", the Lizard Tail Splitter Quirk user shouted in frustration and immediately detached her head from the rest of her body. "Since I will have to control only my head, I will be able to fly it further and do some scouting. Shishida, could you open the window for me?"
The Beast Quirk user nodded and opened the nearest window and the four teammates observed as Setsuna's head flew out of the building.
"Since my genius is gone we will have to rely on you to come up with a strategy for us, Midoriya", Itsuka was the first one to speak and point out how they can utilize the free time.
"Actually, I may have a rough idea of how we should act", this took the two 1-B students by surprise. "Taking into consideration all of our Quirks I would say that we are suited for attack, defense and scouting to some degree. However, we severely lack in the field of stealth, so we can already scrap that idea", his three teammates were listening with great care. "If we were to move out, I think that Setsuna should provide constant bird's eye overview of the immediate area. Shishida could carry the rest of her body, while she does so. Me and Kendo would be the first line of attack, while Tokoyami and Dark Shadow will take care of defending from any ranged attacks that may be directed at us. What do you think?", the green haired hero in training concluded his explanation and waited for any questions that his teammates could have.
"Wow, you came up with that on the fly?", the normally polite Jurota had his mouth slightly opened, as he slowly processed the plan, that was laid out moments ago.
"Y-yeah", Izuku scratched the back of his head and looked at other students present in the room. "Do you, um, like the plan?"
"It's very detailed and I really see no flaws in it", it was Kendo's turn to speak up and voice her thoughts.
"What she said", came edgy boi's short answer as he stood near the windows, looking at the buildings that surrounded the school.
"Great!", Midoriya smiled brightly and relaxed himself on the chair. "Now we need to wait for Tokage, so that we can decide on a plan of action for when the exercise starts"
The girl in question returned two minutes later with a smile. "I have great news! The market spot is already occupied! And I got the chance to scout their members"
"Who are they?"
"Awase, Monoma, a purple midget, guy that looks like a rock and someone dressed as a knight"
"Mineta, Koda and Iida", Midoriya introduced his classmates.
"Should we watch out for them?", Itsuka asked and tried to match Setsuna's descriptions with students she saw back in the control room.
"Mineta's Quirk is a great crowd control tool, he can rip those purple balls from his head, they are like super sticky, better dodge", Izuku started on his explanation. "Koda is more or less useless, not to be rude, but seeing as his Quirk allows him to control animals and we saw none in here. Iida is probably the strongest from this trio. His Quirk allows him to run super fast for a certain amount of time, before he has to rest up. What about your classmates?"
"Awase can stick together two objects at an atomic level and Monoma can copy Quirks of people he touches"
"He can copy Quirks, huh?", they turned to see a grinning Izuku, who in turn stood up. "Then he is in, for a big surprise!", the teen exclaimed and threw his hands in the air.
"So, should we go after them?", asked cautiously Jurota.
"Yes, if we take out another team, then our scores should go up significantly"
"So it's settled then, let's go kick some ass and take names!", Setsuna was the first one to literally fly out the door, only to come back seconds later, attach herself back to her body and leave once again.
Her teammates only chuckled and followed her to the school entrance to wait for the green light to start the exercise.
A couple of minutes later, their earpieces came to life. "Alright, everyone seems to be in position. I'll quickly explain the general rules of this training", tired voice of 1-A's homeroom teacher announced and then continued. "The main goal is to be the last team can do everything to succeed, but if you go overboard, you'll be disqualified, so keep that in mind. That should be everything. Good luck and remember, we will be watching"
"Does that mean, that the exercise has already started?"
"I think so"
"Let's hunt down Monoma, before he gets out of our range!", Tokage surely was the instigator of Team A. And Eraserhead has written her as such in his report.
"Shouldn't we disqualify Team A for acting before the exercise started?", Snipe voiced the thought of most of the faculty gathered in the control room.
"And why SHOULD we do it?", Aizawa asked back and turned to his fellow Pro Hero.
"Well, they started acting before we gave them permission", answered Thirteen.
"Principal?", the Erasure Hero turned to the littlest person in the room. The rodent insisted on watching the exercise play out in real time instead of catching up on his own with the provided footage. 'I'm very interested in this year's batch of trainees' or something along those lines.
"While it is true, that they acted before they were supposed to, we never actually told them to sit tight and be unproductive", Nezu started the explanation on his point of view. "If you think carefully, what young Tokage and young Midoriya came with is nothing different than a strategy. They didn't attack anyone nor did they try to hinder their plans. All they did was gather intel, which is a very important skill to possess. If you ask me, we should reward these two for their quick thinking and planning. Besides, it's not like they were the only ones to do something"
Aizawa pressed a couple of buttons and on the biggest screen in the middle came up the feed from a forest cottage, another starting point. "Team D", the hero stated simply.
"Ah, yes. As you see, young Yaoyorozu started creating gear for her teammates before the exercise started. So do you think we should also punish her team?", the question was directed at the doubting members of the faculty. One by one they shook their heads and some smiled lightly as they caught onto their boss's way of thinking. "That's what I thought!", the rodent exclaimed happily and turned back to the screen. "It looks like we are about to see the first confrontation"
Eraserhead shifted the camera feeds to the center to allow them to see the fight that was about to commence. "Problem Child…", the sleep deprived hero mumbled under his breath and took a few steps back as not to obscure anyone's vision.
Sure enough. Members of Team A were slowly and cautiously jogging towards the open air market that they passed on their way to the school. The spacious square offered little in terms of cover, so they easily spotted their soon to be opponents. Using the destroyed stalls to hide their presence they inched closer and closer to the middle of the market, where a heated argument took place.
"And why should we follow you?!", the blonde member of 1-B shouted in Iida's direction.
"I didn't say that you should follow me!", yelled the Soumei alumni while doing his trademark chopping movements with his right hand. "All I said is that we should leave this place as it is very dangerous to stay here with two other teams in the vicinity!"
"Oi, Monoma, you know I know that we are the best, but maybe we should really move out? I'm getting chills as if someone was watching us!", Awase tried t reason with his classmate, but to no avail.
"Is he always like that?", Tokoyami asked in the direction of his 1-B teammates.
"Yeah, he's very passionate about humiliating you guys and making us look like the top dogs", answered Kendo with an irritated sigh.
"I think it's time for someone to throw him off of his throne", Izuku spoke up and scanned the environment. "Tokage, you should go after Mineta. Even if you step on one of his balls you can always detach the sticky part and continue fighting. Although I presume that he will be too occupied ogling your body to fight. Tokoyami and Shishida should be able to take down… Awase?"
"Yeah, Awase"
"And while you are keeping the two occupied, Kendo can take down Koda. Just-", the green haired teen turned to his orange haired teammate. "-don't go too hard on him please", he pleaded with a smile.
"Wait, what about Monoma and the knight guy?"
"I'm the only one that can rival Iida's speed and Monoma shouldn't be a problem since he can only copy Quirks", Midoriya flashed them a reassuring smile. "Besides, I think I told you, didn't I? I have something to prove", he stood up and started walking menacingly towards the group. "I'll show everyone what I'm made off"
And that'll be all for today! I would like to-
...
...
...
Nah, just kidding. I won't be that cruel ;D
Let's give you some action finally!
"I think we should stick to his plan", Kendo was the first to speak up, as she also stood up and followed the green haired student. "Besides, it's not like we have a choice now, do we?", she smiled at them, which in turn made the other three smile back at her.
"Let's go get 'em boys!", shouted Setsuna and jumped into action followed by Shishida and Tokoyami.
"What in the- Team A is here!", shouted Awase, as he was the first was to spot Midoriya after Tokage's yell caught his attention.
"Damn it, that's why I was suggesting we leave this place as soon as possible!", yelled Iida while getting into a fighting stance.
"As if class 1-A could ever beat the mighty 1-B!"
"Kinetic Capacitors: Acceleration!", shouted Izuku and rushed at Monoma at an inhuman speed. Pebbles in his path were flying off the ground, even if only for a millisecond.
"I'm going to show you that we are so much more than-!", his tirade was cut short when he saw Midoriya three steps in front of him.
"I'll finish him with Kinetic Capacitors: Augmented Punch!", he thought confidently as he reeled his right fist backwards.
"Kinetic Capacitors: Augmented Punch? Really? Don't you think it's a bit too long?", the second personality inside the green haired teen's head spoke up.
"How about… Smash?", he proposed hopefully, as his fist was mere inches from Monoma's gut; a look of terror all over the blonde's face.
"Too plain"
"Hmm… I got it!", he yelled mentally and a victorious smile appeared on his face. His fist connected with the obnoxious teen. "Texas Smash!"
The last thing Monoma remembered before losing consciousness was a green bullet speeding towards him, then flying through the air and crashing into a nearby wall.
To say that everyone was frozen in place by that show of strength would be an understatement. The time literally stopped for a few seconds, as the eight remaining teens tried to process what just happened.
Iida was the first one to snap out of it and he charged Izuku, just as the green haired hero's knew he would. Midoriya took a quick glance in the direction of his teammates to see if they followed his plan and was happy when he saw them act according to his strategy.
Koda was currently being overwhelmed by Kendo's fighting prowess and her skill in martial arts as the only think he could do was shield himself from the attacks.
Mineta was having a hard time focusing on Tokage for two reasons. Number one, she split herself into seven pieces and left her head out of the fight in order to be able to easily coordinate her attacks; aiming for his blind spots. Number two, because… he was Mineta. And Setsuna's costume really hugged her body. Not that Izuku knew of course… yeah…
Awase was the only one that stood his ground somewhat. Tokoyami was using his Dark Shadow to limit his opponents moveset, seeing as the demon like creature was immune to the Weld Quirk. And while that was going on, Shishida was circling around his classmate like a vulture, waiting for an opening to use his Quirk and put the black haired student of out the fight in one strike.
Midoriya knew his limits, but was not as accurate when it came to Iida's abilities. In their time spent in UA, they sparred five times. Iida won two fights and Izuku won three. In every case it came down to speed. But it seemed, that the Soumei alumni became faster since their last duel.
The armored kick connected with Izuku before he had a chance to put up any real defense and was sent flying a few feet backwards.
"You've gotten faster Iida!", the green haired teen complimented with a smile.
"If I aim to become the best hero I can be I cannot allow myself to fall behind!", was the Engine Quirk user's answer.
"Then I have to treat you seriously! Kinetic Capacitors: Double Acceleration!", with even a bigger boost to his speed, Izuku was ready to take on the strict teen.
Ah, now, now we're done for today.
I know it's not much in terms of action, since the most of this chapter was still taken by dialogue, but I promise that there will be more of it in the next chapter ;D
PS. If you don't want to read about me diving deeper into the 'behind the scenes' aspect of this story you are free to live right... now
So, the first really big choice was regarding Izuku's style of fighting. When I asked you if you want to make him strength based or speed based I had no idea how I was going to implement either one of these ideas. Although I was slightly rooting for the speed ;D
I was thinking about implementic Nana as a voice inside his head for quite some time, so when the vote was complete and I was to go with the strength; an idea struck me.
Since Nana is here and is serving a completely different role than in the canon, why not make my own One for All? And thus, the Kinetic Capacitors evolved into Smash over the course of a couple of days.
Besides, if you squint your eyes tight enough, you can see similiarities. One for All is a Quirk that stockpiles... Quirks, right? And the Kinetic Capacitors Aug is an aug that stockpiles... no, not augs, but kinetic energy that can be used similar to the power stockpiled by One for All. And (as someone pointed out in the comments) Midoriya's augments act like a Quirk.
Okay, I'm done now. See you next time when we will take a look at other teams and explain a little bit about this whole line of augments and moves ;D