Their Hero Academia – Chapter 83: Of Sound and Wing
To say Toshi was worried was an understatement. While no one had said anything bad would happen if they lost the relay, that didn't mean he wasn't going to give it his all. Which meant he had to make sure he wasn't going to let anyone else down either. And he was more than certain that, however the relay worked out, Aizawa and Uncle Kacchan would be using whatever he saw to help format their lessons going forward. Their teacher would just use any failings to push them all the harder.
He couldn't allow his differences with Tatsuma to be the reason they failed. While there hadn't been any more violence or any scuffles between the U.A. and Shiketsu students (Not even from Katsumi, which seemed to be a minor miracle in and of itself), there was still a strained feeling when some members of the two groups interacted. And Tatsuma had made a point of avoiding him.
He needed to be able to clear the air with the Shiketsu girl. Even if there was still bad blood afterwards, he needed to apologize and he needed to make sure that they'd be able to work together. Plenty of Heroes didn't get along off the field but could put their differences aside enough to fight alongside each other. He would have liked to at least get to that point.
They had a few minutes before they had to start getting ready, so he sought her out, finding her standing alone. The other Shiketsu students looked to have already peeled off to find their respective U.A. partners.
"Ah, hey, Tatsuma," he began. "Do you have a minute to talk?"
Tatsuma didn't budge an inch. When she spoke she didn't even turn around. "Later than I expected this to happen. The instructors have forced your hand."
Toshi frowned and swallowed nervously. "You're right," he said. "I have been putting this off." Not very heroic of him, really. "And the timing makes it look even less great than it already is."
Best to just get it out there.
"I owe you an apology."
She turned to look at him now. With her arms crossed and her stoic stance, it made her already tall figure even more imposing.
"For what?" The question is not one of confusion or lack of knowledge, but rather did he understand what he should be sorry about.
Toshi was of average height for his age, with maybe a few more inches to go, but the way Tatsuma simply towered over most people did nothing to ease the situation. "I was pretty insensitive when we talked near the beginning of the camp," he began. "And didn't do a good job of listening to what you were actually saying. It's been pointed out that I don't always see the privileged position my family gives me and I trivialized something very important to you."
He looked up. "And for that, I'm sorry."
Tatsuma listened, looking at him carefully before speaking. "Well I can't find a realistic problem with your apology. So..thank you." Her eyes narrowed a bit. "I'd argue it's something many Heroes should see as important, but now is a pointless time to argue it."
Toshi nodded. It was about as good a reaction as he could have hoped for. Tatsuma didn't seem like the type to lash out violently, the way Katsumi might (Though in truth, Katsumi was always more bark than bite), but he'd been deeply afraid of making things worse. He was a Class Representative. He was supposed to be a leader, someone others looked to and who helped make things right, not someone who caused trouble with other schools.
"You're not wrong," he agreed. "I've grown up around enough Heroes, not just my family…" He winced slightly. A reminder of all that probably wasn't the best choice of words. "But a lot of them question if they're not good enough, if they're not doing enough. And their failures stay with them too."
Dad didn't talk about it much. He wanted to keep a smiling face, especially for this family. But as Toshi had gotten older, he'd been more willing to talk about the lives he couldn't save, the times he was too slow or too late. He'd wanted to impress upon Toshi that being a Hero could bring great joy, but that it would weigh you down too.
"I don't know why the press or the public treated your mother differently. But she didn't deserve that."
For a time, he had had her attention. Maybe he'd gotten this right. Tatsuma was also a Class Rep. and as such she represented her school. As much as she may have wanted to show up UA, she had to know holding grudges like that weren't good for anybody. And it was true that in the past, the rankings had led to a lot of damaging and toxic behavior. You just had to look at Izzy's grandfather for that. But things were different now, right? But when he mentioned her mother, he suddenly felt the situation change, the hairs on the back of his next standing up.
Human life had started long after the dinosaurs had died out, despite what a lot of science fiction would have people believe. But if a man had been threatened by a t-rex, he was certain it would felt like what he was feeling now.
Toshi would later swear that he saw Tatsuma's eyes go red. "Because of the damn rankings!" Smoke started to unfurl from her nostrils. "She fell from the all-mighty Top Ten! The heroes of all heroes! You think anyone says anything if someone drops a rank in the 20's or 30's? No, no one cares about their efforts. But if someone can't cut being in the Top Ten-!" Her skin looked like a very thin layer of scales was forming.
"That's all my mother ever heard! 'You couldn't cut it.' 'Leave it to the men!' 'You weren't meant to be among the elite!" All because of how the rankings portray what Heroes are supposed to be!"
She was now towering over Toshi now. "I won't dismiss what your father has done for this country, or any of the others in the Ten, but if you can't see how it has also harmed those who have done nothing but sacrificed-!" Her hands clenched. She was very, VERY close, then snarled and turned away.
"Seung's worked too hard to keep her emotions in control. I can't disgrace that effort." Tatsuma let out a breath, a steaming hot one. "You'll never get it. You're too ingrained. I should probably just accept that." She was quiet for a moment, before finally speaking up again. "What else did you want?"
To his credit, Toshi had managed to stand his ground during Tatsuma's tirade, only taking a slight step backwards once. As it was, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. "I'm sorry," he began. "This is important to you, I can tell. And I'm sorry for the pain it's caused you and your mom. What happened to her wasn't right and wasn't fair."
He straightened up a little. Maybe this was too much meddling. But wasn't meddling the job of a Hero? Tatsuma had so much anger in her, it was going to consume if she didn't find a way to break it.
"And maybe I am too close to see some things. But I'm also close enough to a lot of things to see some of the details. When your mother started dropping in rankings, it was a different time. The world was still hurting from the loss of All Might and wanted its Heroes to be more perfect than they were, than they could actually be. I don't know, can't know, if that was the cause, but I'd be surprised if that didn't have something to do with it. And none of that would make it right or fair if it did.
"But while I can't quote you chapter and verse like Shota could, I can tell you that plenty of people have risen and fallen out of the Top Ten in the last decade or more, and only the trashiest and least reputable 'news' sources and commentators are bad mouthing them. Creati dropped down to Number Eleven a while back. And you know what she did? She congratulated Rodeo, who jumped up to Seven and knocked her ranking down."
He frowned. "What happened to Ryukyu wasn't right. I agree with you on that. And you've every right to be angry about it. But I don't think it's like that anymore."
He shook his head. Maybe there was still something he was missing. But he had to try and bridge that gap. "But maybe you're right. Maybe this is something we can't agree on. But can we work together?"
She looked back at him. "If Ground Zero and Deku could learn to work together, it would be embarrassing and shameful if we couldn't." There is the vaguest hint of a smile. Maybe he'd said some of the right things. At least, he hadn't made it any worse.
Toshi gave her a small smile of his own. "Oh, the stories I could tell you about that…"
The Rookies' relay course was set up in the woodlands around their compound, virtually invisible from the treetops, but complicated once you got to it. There were bridges and swings, with complex structures built into the trees. The tree line itself was thick with trees and other vegetation, making it difficult to see where any attack might be coming from. Fortunately, their path was pretty straightforward.
"You got Tomodachi okay?" Inuzaki asked. He was ahead of Shota, in dog form, pausing every so often to sniff the air.
"Good enough," Shota told him. The "civilian" they were rescuing was a training dummy, like the kind they used at U.A. It was about the size of an adult man and loaded with sensors that would tally up injuries and damage. They had immediately decided that he'd needed a name. Shota had him over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. He didn't need his arms free to use his Quirk, after all.
"He's pretty heavy though!" Shota said. "Maybe he should run the course too!" He was in good shape—you couldn't be in the Hero course and not be—but he wasn't anywhere near as fit as Toshi, Kirishima-Bakugo, or Shoji. Even Inuzaki was in better shape than him when he was in human form. Still, his joke did get a laugh out of Inuzaki, so it was worth it.
Dad always said you had to take care of your body as much as your Quirk. Maybe he needed to start working out more. Toshi was always working out. But he got up so early to do it!
"Smell anything?" Shota asked.
Inuzaki stopped and shook his head. "Maybe. Lots of smells. I can smell people. Mostly the Rookies. They've been through here a lot. Might be trying to make it confusing."
"Let me try," Shota said. He took in a breath then started to unleash one of his sonar-screams, but stopped when Inuzaki started whining.
He cut the scream immediately. "What, what is it?" Shota asked.
Inuzaki winced. "Your scream hurt my ears," he said, quietly. "It was like a knife through my skull!"
Crap! His Quirk and Inuzaki's weren't compatible? How were they going to do this? He had to scream to use his Quirk! When they got attacked, he'd have to use it! But if it hurt his friend, then what could he do? Maybe it was only certain frequencies?
"That's only when you're a dog, right?" Shota asked. "Change back for a second. I'll get a quick look and then we can keep going."
"Okay," Inuzaki agreed. He stopped though, his back leg scratching at his ear. "Hang on, gotta scratch first."
"Oh! How cute!"
The girlish voice seemed to come from nowhere. It could only be Ojiro! But where was she?!
Inuzaki sniffed. "Ah ha! Got you!" He jumped up and seemed to collide with something in mid-air. Ojiro reappeared as they hit the ground.
"Oh, dang it!" Ojiro cried out. She tried to get up, but Inuzaki's weight was keeping her down. "I got distracted!
"Hold her still!" Shota said. They'd been given 'capture cuffs' so that they could harmlessly take their classmates out of the fight, though there was a good chance they'd have to do at least a little damage. He had some in his pocket, but he also had the dummy! Crap! What were they going to… Inuzaki changed back to his human form in a puff of smoke. He had capture cuffs too! Right. Why was he worried?
Ojiro was quick though, using that moment of transition to act. She brought her legs up, flipping Inuzaki over her, then sprang up to her feet. "So close!" she said. "But not quick enough!" Meanwhile, Inuzaki changed back to dog form in midair, landing easily. He and Ojiro circled each other warily.
Before he could help, the ground started shaking. Shota swallowed hard. He remembered now, one of Class 1-B had a vibration-based Quirk, didn't she? Mio Yamaguchi, a dark haired girl.
The vibrations picked up intensely, knocking Shota off his feet. He hit the ground, twisting to minimize the damage to Tomodachi, but he knew he took at least a small hit. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," Shota told the dummy. Carefully getting back to his feet, he looked around for any sign of Yamaguchi or anyone else. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of Ojiro and Inuzaki fighting.
He wanted to help. He really did. But if there was more trouble coming, somebody had to watch.
Doing the right thing sucked sometimes. But he had to trust that Inuzaki was going to be able to handle it. "Better hold your ears, Tomodachi," he told the dummy. "It might get loud!" If he kept his powers really focused, hopefully he'd wouldn't hurt Inuzaki either.
There. Yamaguchi stepped into view, looking beyond Shota. "Can't you catch one dog, Ojiro?" she asked, sounding annoyed.
From behind him, Ojiro called out. "It's really hard! He's really fast!"
Yamaguchi rolled her eyes. "Okay, let me just take care of the kid and I'll help." She brought up both of her hands, unleashing vibrational waves that seemed to blur the air in front of her.
Dang it! Just because he was short and a few months younger, it didn't mean he was a baby! Why did everybody treat him like he was a little kid!
"YOU'RE NOT GONNA STOP ME!" he shouted, clenching his fists. He unleashed his Quirk, turning a shout into a broad sonic wave. His wave met Yamaguchi's vibrational blast in mid-air, where there was a small explosion of air as the two different waves hit each other, before his own caused hers to dispense. Somewhere behind him, he heard Inuzaki yelp. He just prayed his new friend could hold on.
"What?" Yamaguchi said. "How'd you do that?"
Shota grinned. "I canceled out your vibrations with my own!" Maybe not as good as Uncle Shota's Erasure, but his sonic vibrations could stop hers well enough.
Again and again, Yamaguchi threw her vibrational blasts at him, but Shota kept canceling them out. Her vibrations were at least as strong as his sonics. Keepings up that kind of pace, matching vibration with vibration, was making his skull rattle. Even without the blasts hitting him, he could practically feel the vibrations in his bones. Even though he wasn't used to fighting someone with powers even a little bit like his own, he was holding his ground, but if he didn't do something, he was sure to lose!
"Okay, that's it…" Yamaguchi said. A look of annoyance crossed her face. "Guess it's time to bring down the house!" Her eyes narrowed and she brought both hands together and pointed them down, ready to unleash another vibrational blast. The air was practically humming as she charged up her power. He had to do something… now!
Shota took in another breath and screamed, hitting the ground under Yamaguchi with a carefully modulated sonic pulse. While he mostly used his Quirk for purely destructive sonic screams, he could do so much more than that depending on the frequencies he hit. Everything from sonar to force fields to all kinds of other effects. In this case, he could hyper-agitate molecules causing…
An explosion! It wasn't a big one, but the ground underneath Yamaguchi exploded, knocking her off her feet and several feet back. As she landed, Shota rushed over, unclipping one of the capture cuffs from his belt. Yamaguchi was still trying to get her bearings when he slapped one end on her wrist and then the other.
"All right!" he cheered. "Got you!"
Yamaguchi just stared at him, then rolled her eyes. "Monoma's never going to let me hear the end of this."
Shota wondered why Monoma would give her a hard time. She tried her best!
"Oh, dang it! This is so unfair! How you can you be this cute and this tough?! IF YOU WERE CLOSER, I'D GIVE YOU SUCH A SMACK!"
Shota's attention was instantly drawn to where Inuzaki had managed to corner Ojiro. She'd climbed up into a tree, and Inuzaki was back in dog form, circling the bottom of it.
Inuzaki transformed back to his human shape. "Can you get her down? I'm not so good with climbing."
Shota nodded. "Let me try this one…" He let lose another scream, shifting the pitch a bit. This time, when his sonic attack hit the tree, it began to shake and vibrate violently, but it didn't explode.
"Nnnnnnnoooo fffffaaaaiiiirrrrr," Ojiro wailed. She was struggling to hang on and ultimately lost the fight. She fell, landing flat on the ground. "Ouch…" She held her up arms. "Just cuff me already."
They'd probably gone another two kilometers, easy. Shota wasn't really good with eyeballing distances. Every now and then, they'd trade off, with Inuzaki resuming his human form so he could carry Tomodachi and so Shota could scan the area with sonar. But the forest was so thick with trees and everything else, it was hard to see anything that way. Buildings were a lot easier.
"How much further?" he asked. He was pretty sure they'd been told how far they had to travel for the hand-off, but he may not have been paying the best attention.
"About another couple kilometers," Inuzaki said. "I think. Everything looks bigger from down here."
Not too much farther then. But there were definitely more of his classmates or schoolmates out there, waiting for them. Unless they were really dogpiling the other teams, there had to be at least one, maybe two more coming after them. Even Shota could do that kind of math.
"Do you smell anything?" Shota asked. It hadn't worked so well last time, not with all the other smells in the forest, but maybe they'd get lucky.
Inuzaki made a weird face, one which looked even stranger on a dog. "I smell something," he said. "Like ink, maybe?"
"Oh!" Shota said. He knew who that was! "Fukidashi!"
"The cartoon girl?" Inuzaki asked. He sounded a little annoyed, which was surprising, given how well he got on with everyone. "I tried talking to her a few times, but every time I did, she just kept going on about how cute I was. Just like the invisible girl. It got old really fast."
Shota frowned, looking around. Where could she be? His eyes fell on a strange looking patch of ground. "Do you see that?" he asked, pointing.
"Is that patch of ground a different color?" Inuzaki asked, curiously.
Shota bent down and grabbed a stick from the ground. Getting back up with Tomodachi on his shoulders was tricky, but he managed it. He gave the stick a toss towards the patch of ground.
The stick hit something, making a small thunk sound. Instantly, Anime Fukidashi sprang from the patch on the ground, partially covered in leaves and dirt. "Aw," Fukidashi said as she landed. "How did you know?!"
"The ground was a different color," Inuzaki said. He bent down low, ready to pounce.
"Dammit!" Fukidashi yelled. Her head somehow got larger as she yelled, becoming larger than the rest of her body. "Betrayed by the drawing on the animation cell!"
Inuzaki looked over at Shota. "Is she all right?" he asked. Shota just shrugged. Even he and Toshi had no real idea how her Quirk worked or how it affected her.
Before any of them could act, suddenly, something snaked around Tomodachi, yanking him off Shota's shoulders! There was Kaminari, coming out of the bushes behind Fukidashi, her Cords wrapped around the dummy and dragging it towards her. He could even see a few sparks dancing across her Cords and areas of the dummy lighting up as it registered damage.
"Nice job being the distraction, Fukidashi," Kaminari said. Her expression turned slightly apologetic. "Sorry Shinso, but you're not winning this one."
He couldn't get in a good sonic blast with her holding Tomodachi like that. He was in the way and she could still shock him either way. "Aw, c'mon, Kaminari," he said sadly. "We gotta win this one! Everybody's counting on us! I don't want to disappoint everybody! I just… I just gotta…"
Her face fell as he talked. There. There was his moment. "Aaaaah!" Shota let out a shout, a regular one, and charged, tackling Kaminari about the middle and knocking her to the ground. He hated tricking her like that, but if everybody was going treat him like a little kid, then maybe he should take advantage of that. He landed on top of her, with his head on her… He jerked his head up quickly!
Kaminari's Cords reflexively reeled in when he tackled her, but as she soon as she was able, her Cords poked into his back and unleashed a jolt of electricity. It wasn't a strong shock, just enough to make him release his grip, but it still hurt. Shota let out a cry of pain and let go, as Kaminari shoved him off her. As he hit the ground, he could see Fukidashi trying to hit Inuzaki with a comically oversized hammer.
"Dang it!" Fukidashi yelled when her latest hammer strike failed to hit Inuzaki. "Why won't the music change? Isn't he a comedy character?!"
Kaminari, meanwhile, was back on her feet, heading for Tomodachi again. She was too close! If he missed with a sonic blast, he'd hit the dummy. But he'd been working hard on his Quirk all through the camp. And Bioshock helped him figure out some other pitches he could use. If he could go high, Bioshock had said, he could go low.
Infrasound.
He opened his mouth and pitched his sonic power low, buffeting Kaminari with waves of low-frequency sound. She stopped in her tracks, suddenly clutching her stomach. She wobbled on her feet, before falling to her knees, throwing up. Shota was already on his feet, running past her. "Sorry!" he called out. "It won't last long, I promise! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"
As quick as he could, he hoisted Tomodachi over his shoulders again.
Inuzaki had Fukidashi cornered now, growling. She let the hammer fall from her hands and it vanished as soon as it let her fingers. "Sure, now the dramatic music plays."
Inzuki reared up and hit Fukidashi hard with both front paws, knocking her to the ground. She hit her head on the ground and laid there, stunned, with little cartoon birds floating around her head.
Shota definitely didn't understand how her Quirk worked.
"C'mon," he said, moving as fast as he could. "They won't be down for long!"
He and Inuzaki ran. Soon enough, he could see Kocho and Shida waiting up ahead, standing next to a small sign that clearly marked the second leg of the relay.
They'd done it!
Shinso and Inuzaki had definitely looked worse for wear by the time they'd arrived and handed off the training dummy (Which they'd named, for some reason.) to Koharu and Shida. The two had spun a tale of being ambushed twice, but had managed to successfully fight their way through. It gave her a good idea of what to expect. There would probably be at least four attackers then, though there might be more. She'd done the math. There weren't quite enough students for a totally even split.
At least for now, Shida was carrying the dummy. With her spider-legs carrying her in a way that reminded Koharu a lot of how Shoji traveled with his own Quirk, she was able to hold the dummy in her arms and remain mobile. Koharu herself was flapping her wings, floating just a bit above ground level. That way, if they needed to engage, she wouldn't waste any time on a takeoff. The forest canopy, for now, meant moments to fly really high were going to be few and far between, but there was enough space between the trees that someone could still fly under it.
And flying above the canopy had been strictly prohibited. Even if it wasn't against the rules, there were several other students with flight Quirks and it was likely at least one of them would be playing the Villain for their leg of the relay. And she'd be leaving Shida behind if she did that, which seemed like it would defeat the purpose of the exercise.
None of which did anything to quell her body's primary panic at the spider-like aspects of the Shiketsu girl. Given there were spiders that ate moths, it was a natural reaction for animal-type Quirks like theirs. She was getting better at it than when the camp had started, though. It helped that the other girl was incredibly nice (and, she admitted with a blush, rather cute), but her instinctive reaction was still just below the surface.
On the plus side, the two of them were going to be incredibly hard to sneak up on. Between Shida's multiple-eyes and her own antenna, they had a range of extra-sensory perception.
"See anything?" Koharu asked quietly. Her antennae weren't giving her any good information, unless you counted knowing where several squirrels and more than a few birds were.
"Not yet." Shida said. If she'd noticed that Koharu tended to keep her distance from her, she didn't let on but she seemed happy enough to be working with her. Her six eyes glanced about in multiple directions. "I doubt that will be the case much longer." It didn't help that she wasn't sure where exactly to look. Knowing who the "Villains" were would have helped, but Heroes seldom had a heads-up.
"Me neither," she replied. But Shida was right. Sooner than later was to be expected.
It didn't take long for that sooner to become now. There was a great cracking sound and one of the trees fell, blocking the way forward for a moment. Someone strong then, or maybe Kaniyashiki from 1-B with her scissor Quirk? But even then, between her ability to fly and Shida's legs, it would only slow them down for a minute. So what was their enemy's plan?
A sound like jet engines told her what it was: a distraction!
Faster than a bullet, one of the Iida twins-Sora, she realized-blasted through the air right towards them. She was fast enough that Koharu couldn't react in time to stop her, only to get out of the way. Iida stuck an arm out as she flew past, grabbing the arm of the dummy Shida was carrying as she tried to rocket away.
Like Koharu, Shida hadn't seen Sora coming. She'd told Koharu before they'd set out that, while spiders had six eyes, their sense of sight actually wasn't all that strong. She could see more than most people, but only by volume, not by magnification. There was no way either of them should have been able to see her coming in time. But somehow, Akira's second-from-the back left spider-leg to shot out in a reflexive strike.
It was a solid strike, enough to send the Iida girl flying off course, slamming head first into a tree trunk. She still had the dummy though, which made things complicated. Already, she was scrambling back to her feet, although quite unsteadily. Koharu spat a blob of String Shot at her, pinning her to the tree with a mass of sticky strands stronger than steel.
"How did you do that?" Koharu asked, unable to keep the amazement out of her voice.
Shida bowed her head slightly and smiled. "My leg hairs. They're very sensitive to vibrations. It's a bit of an instinctive reaction to danger like that."
"This is excellent tensile strength," Iida said, as she struggled to break free. She sounded impressed. Koharu could hear the other girl's Jetpack engines firing, but for the moment, her String Shot held. "I would love an opportunity to examine this at a later date! The uses are practically unlimited!"
"Sister!" a voice called out. It had to be Tensei Iida. "As much as I am in agreement with you, now is hardly the time for scientific curiosity!"
"It is always the time for curiosity, little brother!"
"I have asked you to stop calling me that!"
"Maybe you two could have this discussion another time?" Another voice asked. It was Shoji. He sounded very, very tired. Koharu didn't blame him. The Iidas were very nice, but they could also be exhausting.
Shoji dropped down from between two trees, using his extra arms like spider-legs, free-falling the last few feet to land with a slight thud. Tensei Iida, meanwhile, dropped down with a series of shot Jetpack bursts to slow his fall. Both of them were between Koharu and Shida and the dummy.
She shot Shida a quick glance. "How long can you hold your breath?" she whispered. Iida and Shoji were playing defense for the moment, watching them.
"That's a complicated answer with my mixed body. But I can "hold it" long enough. What are you planning?" Koharu remembered, vaguely, that spiders didn't breathe in the same way as some animals, but she didn't know how that applied to the spider-girl.
"I can drop a sleeping powder from my wing scales," Koharu said quickly and quietly. Shoji was eying them warily, all six of his arms up in a fighting stance, while Tensei Iida attempted to free his sister and the dummy without success. "If I can cover a wide enough area, I can knock them out. Iida's crazy fast and Shoji's crazy strong. Probably the best chance we've got."
"Hmm, I could use my legs to lift my body above the powder. Plus I should be able to use my leg hairs to feel the vibrations of where they might move even if I can't see them," Shida suggested.
Koharu nodded. These were all Hero students with months of training that she simply didn't have. And many of them had even more than that, coming from Hero families. Neither side here had a full understanding of what the other could do, so evening out to neutral was the closest they had to an advantage. "Let's do it."
She flapped hard, gaining height and propelling herself forward towards the boys, already releasing her Sleep Powder from her wings. Down below, Tensei Iida looked up and let out a cry of alarm, while Shoji moved towards Shida, his top pair of extra arms stretching out to grab at her.
Shida saw Shoji heading for her, scanning above herself with her uppermost eyes. Staying on the ground was a bad idea as she had no idea how strong Shoji really was. She bent her legs, took a moment to look Shoji in the eyes, and gave the six-armed boy a wink that Koharu would have called flirtatious, before her legs suddenly unbent and sent her flying up into the air. Shooting well up past the smaller trees, Shida extended several of her legs to pierce and grab onto the nearest larger specimen. Others of her legs lashed out at Shoji.
Shoji dodged out of the way of the initial strike, pushing himself to the side with his lower set of arms. "Good reflexes," he said, his voice smooth, like silk. He craned his neck to follow Shida, top arms extending out at her, but his maximum extension wasn't enough to get him close.
Meanwhile, having recovered from his initial shock, Tensei Iida was rocketing into the air. He was a major threat, though without the armor and support equipment Koharu had seen him use during the final exam, possibly slightly less of one. And she had the advantage in maneuverability.
She flapped hard as she flew, releasing her Sleep Powder from her wings until the air was filled with the orange powder. Iida got the worst of it, flying directly into the cloud of it. He coughed and sputtered and was out almost immediately. Which meant that his Jetpack cut out and he started falling like a stone. Koharu cursed and went into into a dive, catching him in midair by grabbing his wrists. She let loose a cry of pain as her jerked to a stop. It felt like her arms were being torn from their sockets!
"Dammit," she hissed. Iida was heavy, muscular and compact. She could just about manage to carry her own bodyweight when flying, but he was definitely heavier than she was. She dropped down low and released him, letting him hit the ground. He'd gotten more than enough powder that he didn't wake up.
Shoji, meanwhile, was still standing. She'd had to stop spreading her powder to keep Tensei from dropping and he hadn't gotten nearly as big a dose. His arms lashed out again, grabbing her wrists!
It had been a gamble that she'd be able to drop Shoji, especially as big as he was and as little powder as she'd been able to release. She was glad Shida had her back. As soon as she'd seen Koharu drop down to save Iida, the spider-girl had already been making her way down the tree when Shoji extended his arms to grab Koharu.
She watched as Shida did her best to land from an angle that she hoped was in Shoji's blind spot. Her legs made surprisingly little noise when they were in motion, and she sped toward the big, six-armed boy. When close enough she extended her two front legs and brought them in a scything motion toward the back of Shoji's knees.
Shoji was a big guy, which made him a pretty big target. The blow from Shida knocked him down, bringing him to his knees and making him release Koharu. Looking over his shoulder, he tried to swat at Shida with his Extendo-Arms, but the move was awkward and uncoordinated. Koharu used the moment to escape, taking to the air again. She swung out with her legs, striking Shoji upside the head. The blow wasn't enough to put him down, but it did spin his head around. He looked back and forth rapidly, now caught between her and Shida.
Shida dodged Shoji's clumsy blows easily, her eyes and leg hairs giving her incredibly reaction time to his attack. She used her four back legs as a brace as she used them to hold herself in an almost standing position. She launched her remaining arms at Shoji, each attempting to strike at the arm joints of his extended arms.
When it came to extra-appendages, Shoji was definitely unarmed by comparison to Shida. Even as he'd been able to turn to face her, her spider-legs struck home, nailing him in each of his Extendo-Arms. The silver-haired boy let out a cry of pain as his arms retracted, snapping back with a strange, stretching sound that was more than a little nauseating.
He'd done a remarkable job of staying upright, but between the pain from Shida's attack, the blow to the head, and the whiff of sleep powder he'd gotten earlier finally making its way through his system, Shoji went down, slowly sliding to his knees and then to the ground.
They'd done it! Three hero students, and they'd managed to beat all of them! She'd even managed to take out two! Of course, Shida was also a Hero student, so that evened the playing field a little, but still!
"Let's get the dummy," Koharu said. It should still be where they left it, next to Sora Iida. She quickly glanced in that direction. The other girl was asleep. She must have gotten enough Sleep Powder too. Koharu stopped, her antennae moving rapidly. There was something stirring up a lot of air.
Anything Shida might have said was cut off as something swooped down and slammed into her. Rough, clawed feet grabbed her shoulders and she felt herself being carried into the air. It had to be Hizashi Koumori, the bat-like member of Class 1-B.
"Sorry, Kocho," he said. "Totally most heinous to do the sneak attack, I know, but we gotta win this one!"
Just before Koumori had grabbed her, Koharu had seen Shida briefly give herself a smile of triumph. That had abruptly ended when Koumori struck. Koharu could see Shida move on instinct to try and help, but she stopped, as though remembering what Koharu had told her. They needed to get the dummy. Shida cursed quietly before heading over to Sora to grab it. With any luck she'd be able to secure it and get back quick enough to help.
But Koharu couldn't count on that. She needed to do whatever she could to try and free herself.
It was the element of surprise that had let Koumori grab her. He was bigger and stronger than her, to be sure, but all he had was his feet around her shoulders. Her wings were still free. And he wasn't rocket-powered like the Iidas. He was as dependent on muscle power and flapping for flight as she was, which meant his flight was a lot easier to disrupt. She flared her own wings out, spreading them wide. It attacked like an immediate drag chute, jerking Koumori back.
"Whoa!" he cried out. Reflexively, he released his grip on her as he sailed back. That was all she needed. For just a moment Koharu let gravity grab hold, then flapped her own wings, diving back toward the ground.
Just as suddenly, however, she was hit by what felt like a solid wall of force that set her bones rattling and seemed to echo through her skull. Flailing, she started falling again. It was hard to think clearly, everything was spinning…
Clawed feet grabbed her again, this time grabbing her legs. "Sorry about the sonar, dudette," Koumori said. He did sound genuinely apologetic. She knew he was pretty mellow guy most of the time, though how mellow tended to change with how awake he was. "I'll have you down in a second."
No! She had to prove herself! She couldn't lose now! "No," she said, "I'm sorry… for this!" With his grip on her legs, she flapped her wings just once, giving herself just enough ot a push to swing upward, slamming both of her fists into his snout! Koumori let out a cry of pain and released her again. This time, she flapped and kept herself into the air, but hit him with a blast of String-Shot, pinning his arms-and more importantly, his wings-to his sides. A pang of regret shot through her as he dropped like a stone. Koumori was even bigger and heavier then Iida. There was no way she could keep him from falling…
Koumori, at least, was awake. He twisted in the air, trying to break free from her String-Shot, but hit the ground hard, letting out a soft moan, his eyes fluttering. That looked like it had hurt. Maybe she'd make it up to him back at U.A. with a fruit smoothie from her stash of exotic fruits.
Koharu landed next to him, bending down to make sure he was okay. Kuomori was still breathing and it didn't look like he had any major injuries. Didn't look like that had felt good, but it looked like he'd be fine.
It wasn't the first time she'd had to hurt someone. She'd sparred with friends and fought in the Sports Festival and trained against others here at the camp.
It didn't mean it felt good. Maybe Park had been onto something about children fighting like this…
Shida skittered to a stop next to her, the dummy safely in her hands. "That was amazing, Koharu! I came as quickly as I could, but it turns out you didn't need it." Skida smiled, but frowned slightly; she must have noticed the disturbed look on Koharu's face. She frowned, all her eyes narrowing in concern. "Are you okay?" She didn't specify if what troubled her was physical or mental, but there was something in her voice that suggested this wasn't the first time she'd seen someone react like this.
Koharu shook her head. She had plenty of options that didn't involve hurting people when it came to takedowns. Maybe she could learn to focus on that. But she'd have to fight anyway if she followed her dream and became a Hero. But what did that mean for now?
Maybe those were questions for another day.
"Just thinking about something your friend said," she told Shida. "But c'mon. We can talk about that later. Let's get this thing to the next marker."
These were definitely questions that needed answers. But for now, she'd faced one of the first major challenges of her Hero training and she'd come out on top.
For now, that was good enough.