Their Hero Academia – Chapter 84: And It Was Going So Well Too…
If there was one thing Takuma was certain of, it was that he was definitely not meant for the great outdoors. It was too hot, too bright, and too buggy. Why anyone would willingly go there, let alone live here at least part of the year like the Rookies did, was beyond his ability to understand. Couldn't they have had their training camp at a nice indoor facility? With air conditioning?
It was enough to crush a young man's dreams.
Of course, he was also pretty sure he'd gone into some form of social media withdrawal. Two weeks without his cellphone, without checking his email, without filming or uploading a single video, and, most importantly, without the validation of hundreds or thousands of strangers on the internet was taking its toll on him.
Sure, he'd pushed his limits. And sure, he'd picked up a few new tricks with his Quirk. And sure, he'd even learned more than a few extra rescue and combat options. But this was about what was really important!
It didn't help that he was working with Tsuchikawa. While he didn't find the cat-boy nearly as annoying as Aoyama seemed to, he was incredibly grating. Especially the constant flirting! He had a boyfriend! And sure, he occasionally looked at the eye candy that were people like Yoarashi and Inuzaki and Shoji, but that was beside the point! Functional bi's and disaster gays were just natural enemies! It was how the world worked!
So, he was in unknown territory, with someone he did not especially like. His Quirk was well suited for the environment, at least. He could just swing from the trees, like he swung from the model cities in training. And they could just secure the training dummy with his Acid Tape, so the risk of someone snatching it from them was fairly low. And, if he had to admit it, he'd allow that Tsuchikawa's cat-like traits made him pretty well suited for the environment too.
So on the balance, the outlook was pretty optimistic. The other big advantage they had was that Kocho and Shida had passed on not only who they'd faced, but who Shinso and Inuzaki had gone up against as well. He felt a little bad for Kimmie, getting taken down like that, but such were the fortunes of war.
She's probably vent about it, hit someone, and move on. She was pretty predictable like that.
So the Iida Twins, Kimmie, Fukidashi, Kaminari, Shoji, Vibration Girl, and Bat-Guy (He was bad with names, okay?) had already gone down. That took quite a few people off the table, especially after he also subtracted the other relay-runners.
He was also sure Aizawa was evil enough to pick people who were good counters to their Quirks. But the question was… who would that be?
He shrugged. They'd figure it out.
He looked over to where Tsuchikawa was carefully assembling pieces of wood and leaves. "Okay, both of us need our hands free if we're gonna fight and use our Quirks. You still going to be able to do cat stuff if we tape the dummy to you?"
The dummy had had a few shakes already, some lights on it showing it had taken damage when the first two teams had been carrying it. It was definitely getting harder for each time down the line. They'd have to be careful.
Takuma frowned. Was there something in the bushes? They were too small for somebody to hide in, weren't they?
Tsuchikawa held up a hand, his eyes narrowed. They were taking on a more golden, catlike appearance. His ears shook a bit. Takuma would swear he saw the other boy's hair stand on end.
"It shouldn't be a problem," Kazuchika said, his tone sounding normal, but his eyes seemed like they were trying to convey something to Takuma. Tsuchikawa showed Takuma what he had been working on. "Just try not to admire me too much while you put it on." He sounded the same as he always did, but the expression on his face conveyed deadly seriousness to Takuma as his eyes shifted toward the bush. "Play along," Tsuchikawa mouthed, not a sound spoken.
Takuma frowned, but nodded. There was definitely something catty afoot, and for once he didn't just mean trading insults with Aoyama! Tsuchikawa had definitely picked up on something. "Puh-lease," he said. "Have you seen my boyfriend? You could only wish you had abs like that."
The rustling in the bushes picked up.
"I'm not interested in being a hardbody." Tsuchikawa started to make hand signals. He pointed at Takuma's tape, then brought his hands together as if he were crumpling something into a ball. "I prefer to be nice and soft. More people want to hug you that way." He then made a "toss motion" toward the bush.
Takuma nodded in response. "Yeah, well, I'm more of a dog person anyway." One of his new techniques then. He brought up an arm and flicked his wrist, shooting out a stripof his Acid Tape from the back of his hand, concentrating it on maximum stickiness. As he shot out his tape, he twisted his wrist again and again, spooling the end of it into a messy ball. He swung the strand around a few times, then spun around and snapped his wrist, releasing the tape. His new "Acid Tape Bolo (™)" went flying through the air, landing in the bush with a wet, sticky sound.
Almost immediately, the ball came rolling out of the bush, bringing numerous leaves and twigs with it. He could see small arms and legs sticking out and a couple of small people stuck to the outside of it. What the heck?
"Okay, didn't see that coming," he said. Not someone from his class though. He really needed to keep up on Class 1-B and what they could do.
More rustling followed and from the bushes and behind every tree, tiny little mantis-faced girls exploded into view. It was like a small army of teeny tiny women!
"Give it up, boys!' the tiny women shouted in perfect unison. The stereo effect was more than a little creepy. But it would also be a really cool vocal effect for videos. He'd have to remember that. "You're outnumbered!"
"I think it's time for a strategic withdrawal," he said. "Before they go all Guliver on us!"
"Kamakiri," Tsuchikawa noted, giving a little shiver. "Horror movies with tiny creatures always got to me the most as a child." He nodded his head toward trees. "I suggest we take the high road." There was a very subtle shift in how Tsuchikawa carried himself that Takuma couldn't quite place. The other boy kicked his shoes off, which shifted from human feet to the digitigrade feet of a cat. He pointedly made sure to keep his project of sticks and leaves strapped on to his body as he leapt onto the nearest tree and effortlessly began to scratch and climb his way up the trunk just like his feline contemporaries.
Grabbing the real dummy, Takuma shot off another strip of tape and grabbed a tree branch, using it to pull himself high up into the nearest tree, swinging around so that he landed on a sturdy branch. The dummy was heavy and would probably compromise his mobility eventually, but he had strong arms, shoulders, and a core from pulling himself along with his Tape for so long. Below, he could see the swarm of tiny Kamakiris circling the bottom of the three. There had to be dozens of them, easily. How many could she split herself into? Even if they all stood on top of each other, they couldn't reach… could they?
Takuma flicked his wrist again, shooting and snapping off a few strands of super-sticky Acid Tape, and just let them fall to the ground. Most of the Kamakiris were able to scramble out of the way, but he caught a few of them. The remainder shook their fists in indignation.
"Can't stay up here," he said. "We're sitting ducks!"
Tsuchikawa was looking around, also sniffing occasionally.
"You're right. If she's here, I can't imagine others are too far behind." He points to some of the higher trees, many of which had multiple branches. "Ever seen Tarzan, Pinky?"
Takuma followed Tsuchikawa's finger. "Yeah, that'll work." He looked down below. Most of the free Karakiris had gone, but he couldn't guess as to where. They were small enough to hide in a lot of places.
"Give me just a minute." He carefully released a few strips of tape, then used them to fix the dummy to his back. It'd hold well enough. And he could dissolve it later if he needed to. "You sure this isn't just an excuse for me to carry you?"
Tsuchikawa raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. "Contrary to what you may think, I can take a hint. Besides," He perched on his branch, pushing his legs and arms against the wood, tightening the muscles. "I can handle my own travel." He then gracefully leapt from the tree they were at, and silently landed on another tree's branch. He looked back at Takuma, his tail lifting up and making a beckoning motion. Tsuchikawa then leapt to the next-closest tree-branch.
Takuma was close behind, swinging from branch to branch with strands of sticky tape. He wasn't Midoriya or Shoji (Nobody was Shoji. Shoji was proof of a kind and loving god. And also of a cruel and heartless god, for making him both taken and straight.), but this, he could do. Depending on who they'd sent after them, this could be pretty easy. He already knew, from what the others had said, that it wouldn't be anyone who could fly…
There was a sudden flash of light, brilliant and blinding, like a strobe light combined with a spot light, bright enough to make him wince and close his eyes. Even then, he was seeing spots. Takuma's next toss of tape came up empty. For a second, he was in blissful freefall, but then gravity, harsh, unforgiving gravity seized hold and he began to fall.
Splut!
He hit something warm and gooey. It wasn't solid, but it wasn't liquid either. His eyes snapped open and he would find himself surrounded by a blue-green something.
"Your boyfriend won't be jealous, will he?" a voice asked, a bit echoey and bubbling. Where the hell was it coming from? He kept his mouth shut tight. He was already feeling lightheaded from lack of air... "I mean, I'm guessing you haven't had sex with him yet, and here I've got you inside me."
Bondo. It had to be. The slime-girl from Class 1-B. Takuma felt most of the slime peel back, and gasped for air as he touched the ground, leaving only a tentacle wrapped around his midsection. "Good work, Aoyama," Bondo said.
"Merci," Aoyama said, coming up from behind the slime-girl. He was shining brightly, like a miniature sun, fully charged with power. "My Brilliance Barrage set him up for your tender embrace quite nicely."
"Nobody with a sense of self-respect talks like that, Sparky." Tsuchikawa called, followed by a sudden pinecone! He leapt to another tree, and threw a walnut! Then he jumped to a different branch, making use of the smaller branches as camouflage, before flinging another. Each time he grabbed a different item from the trees, flinging it at quick speeds before leaping again.
The first pinecone hit Aoyama upside the head, causing the faux-French boy to let out a cry of pain. He fired laser blasts from his hands, trying to track Tsuchikawa, but the cat-boy was decidedly faster than he could aim. The other projectiles struck home with Bondo, each of them simply sticking to or sinking into her slime body.
"Is that all you got?" Bondo, turning her head to follow Tsuchikawa, called out. "Bring it on, kitty!"
Takuma frowned. With Bondo watching Tsuchikawa and not him, he might have a shot at this. This was a trick he could only do to her…
He flicked his wrist and sent out a strand of tape. It wrapped itself around her tentacle, making a really, really gross sound where his tape met her slime. As soon as it was wrapped around her, he changed tactics, changing the tape from sticky to acidic. There was a sizzling sound as it melted right through her tentacle.
"YOUCH!" Bondo let out a scream, even as the tentacle wrapped around him dropped to the ground. He'd seen her take some hits and get blasted apart during training, before pulling herself back together. Most of the time, he wouldn't use the acid part of his Tape on a person, but there would be times where he would have to, he knew. His Mom sometimes had to use her Acid on people, after all.
She spun around to face him, the tentacle pulling itself back into her overall body mass. "Okay, now I'm mad!" Her other arm shaped itself into a hammer and she lashed out, leaving him just enough time of dodge out of the way.
"Remind me to never take you to the park, Sparky. You're Hell on the environment!" Tsuchikawa taunted as Aoyama's lasers destroyed the branches just after the catboy leapt away from each one. If they kept to the plan, then Tsuchikawa was going to have to get close. The Shiketsu student jumped to the ground, landing on his hands and feet in a very catlike pose, then began to bound in near-leaps toward Aoyama, with a subtle turn of direction toward Bondo.
Aoyama tracked Tsuchikawa again, firing brilliant laser beams, but missing the bounding feline each time. Finally, his shot missed again and hit Bondo, temporarily splattering the slime girl and sending blue-white slime flying everywhere. "Non! I did not mean…!"
Only Bondo's head had remained intact, and Takuma watched in horror as her "hair" transformed itself into tentacles, propping her head up. "Aoyama, you idiot!"
Takuma still had the dummy, at least. Keeping that safe was absolutely mission priority one, no matter how much he wanted to stay and fight. Keep the civilians safe, even if you had to let the Villains get away. He snapped off a quick shot of Tape, wrapping up Aoyama's ankles. A yank knocked him to the ground. Just as quick, he fired off another strip and latched onto a tree with his Tape and took off into the air.
Tsuchikawa leapt after Takuma, not taking the time to throw any more taunts. He'd done what he'd set out to do. Before they could get too far from their pursuers, he yelled: "Give me the dummy! I'm faster than you!" Contrarily, Kaz shook his head, removing his makeshift project hiding. "Tape it on!"
Safely in the tall branches of a tree, Takuma made quick work of taping Tsuchikawa's little project to him. From any kind of distance, it would at least look like he had the dummy. As much as he hated to admit it, the cat-boy had had a good idea when he'd suggested it. Neither of their Quirks were suited for a long fight and both of them had good mobility. Heading off pursuit was and still remained their best option.
Below, he could see that Aoyama had recovered and was coming after them. Too, he could see Kamakiri, missing one arm entirely and a few fingers from the other hand, backed up by members of her swarm. And… Kenta? Where had he been hiding this whole time? His best friend went to work immediately, taking several bites out of the tree that Takuma was in. He could feel it getting ready to fall already.
"You've got it!" Takuma shouted to Tsuchikawa. "Run for it!"
"Stay low! I got this!" Tsuchikawa gave a mischievous wink before quickly leaping to another tree branch. In this case, "stay low" meant to be inconspicuous. Tsuchikawa deliberately made it so he could be seen, speeding like crazy through the trees. He let out a taunt toward his pursuers: "Enjoy the view, everyone! Someone should appreciate all the squats!" He noticed he was going to reach a point with few trees. Tsuchikawa would have to hit the ground soon.
Takuma snagged another branch and swung, but as he did, he heard a terrible cracking sound as the tree whose branches he'd snagged began to fall over. He snapped off his tape and prepared himself for a fall. Quickly, he snagged another tree and swung himself low, landing right in front of the fallen tree. Teeth marks. Just like he expected.
"Almost had me there, Kenta," he said, grinning. He knew Kenta worried a lot that his Quirk wasn't much compared to a lot of the rest of the class. That was total nonsense, but a little positive reinforcement didn't hurt.
Kenta stepped into view, grinning too. "So how much did it kill you not to be the center of attention back there?"
Takuma had to laugh at that. Leave it to Kenta to figure it out. "Am I that big of an attention whore?"
"Do you really want the answer to that question, bro?"
"Okay, ouch," Takuma said. "Fair, but ouch." He noticed that Kenta was wearing a belt over his gym uniform, with bulging pouches. "What's with the new fashion accessory?"
"Oh, this?" Kenta said. "Bioshock pointed out that because of how quickly I metabolize what I eat, I should be getting more out of it. He opened one of the pouches and pulled out what looked like a candy bar made of metal. "For example, iron helps with vitality and stamina." Kenta popped the whole thing in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed quickly. Almost immediately, he seemed to stand just a little straighter, dropping into a fighting stance. "Sorry, bro, but I've got to give it my all!"
He came out swinging, surprising Takuma with his speed. He dodged the first punch, then the second. Kenta definitely had gotten any energy boost from that meal! On the one hand, he was happy for his friend. On the other hand, "Not in the face! Not in the face! That's how I make my money!"
One of Kenta's blows connected with his midsection, knocking the breath out of him. Especially with the dummy taped to his back, he just couldn't match him for speed. Kenta was already in very good shape, without any mineral supplements, they were usually evenly matched, but now...
Another punch knocked him back. Then one to the face. It'd probably leave a bruise. "Okay," he growled. He gave Kenta a shove, giving himself some space. "Now I'm mad."
He swung his arms back and forth in wide arcs, shooting sticky strips of double-sided Tape everywhere, not even bothering to aim, just filling the air with tape. By the time he'd stopped, Kenta was covered in multiple strips, stuck to the ground. He was trying to crane his neck to get his teeth into some of it, but to no avail.
Takuma shrugged. "Sorry, dude," he said. "Especially for this."
"For wha.. Mghmph!" Anything else Kenta might have said was covered up by a quick strip of Tape over his mouth.
"Can't have you calling for help," Takuma said.
Now, where had Tsuchikawa gotten to?
The aforementioned catboy had gone groundside, dodging, leaping, hissing, and generally making the biggest pain in the ass of himself as he could be. Tsuchikawa didn't know exactly how long he had been doing it, but-
"Agh!" Finally one of Aoyama's lasers hit and sent him crumbling to the ground. He groaned as he saw the shadows of the other students hovering over him. Tsuchikawa looked past them for a moment and smiled. "Congratulations, Sparky, your aim isn't as bad as I thought. Unfortunately, you got the wrong guy." He revealed the ramshackle dummy he'd constructed, then pointed behind them.
Takuma frowned. Aoyama and Kamakiri were not to be taken lightly, no matter how much he disliked his classmate. He hated the idea of leaving Tsuchikawa to face odds like that alone, especially if Bondo had also managed to pull herself together. Especially since Tsuchikawa was likely not to let him forget how it was his plan that had saved the day.
But here and now, the mission mattered. He had to carry on.
In the distance, he could see the next relay station.
He swung on.
One thing was for certain, if (When, he meant to say when!) he became a full-fledged Pro-Hero, Isamu was definitely going to specialize in urban environments. Unlike cities of concrete, asphalt, glass, and steel, the forest floor was uneven and made up of countless different surfaces. And sure, cities came with their own obstacles, especially in the aftermath of disasters, but the odds of a branch or log being in the middle of his path was higher here. He had to put a lot more concentration into sliding along it, constantly regulating his energy output and his limb position to stay on a consistent path. He knew Heroes went where they were called, went where they were needed, but he also knew where he was most suited for.
Even with those challenges, he was still managing to go at a decent clip, though he couldn't go full out. What surprised him was that Park was able to keep up with him. Her Quirk, which she called Hypervelocity, allowed her to vastly boost her physical abilities. She had her limits, but had assured him that keeping up this level of speed wasn't very taxing. That she was doing it while carrying nearly sixty-five kilos of training dummy was a testament to how strong her Quirk was.
Though that was hardly the most surprising aspect of teaming up with the intense Shiketsu girl. She'd displayed far less open hostility to him than she had to some of his friends and had even gone so far as to tell him his victory over the "children of Heroes" was impressive.
Having a vote of confidence from someone who was outright disdainful of his friends was incredibly weird, to say the least.
Mentally, he was reviewing the list of people who'd been playing the Villains for previous relay teams. Assuming no one was playing the role twice, it still left a number of terrifying possibilities. Izumi or Tokoyami would be some of the strongest possible threats, having incredibly powerful Quirks. But people like Monoma or Kana, who combined skill and intelligence, could be just as effective in the right circumstances. And that was without getting into the fact that he didn't want to fight his girlfriend. Her Iron Fist Quirk could deflect his lower power blasts and even without her Quirk, she was skilled and had reflexes fast enough to grab him and get him into a headlock (Which was a whole other basket of things he wasn't getting into here).
"Open field coming up," he said, looking ahead. "We'll be exposed."
"It does seem an obvious point of ambush," Park remarked. He was just glad that he seemed to not be setting her off in the same way Midoriya or Kirishima-Bakugo had. He was almost surprised she was participating at all, given the way she'd reacted to other student versus student displays. It was too much to think she was doing it on his account, but maybe she wasn't as bad as she seemed at first. "Do you have a suggestion?"
Isamu definitely wasn't used to people turning to him for advice or plans, but in this case, he did have a slightly better idea of what they were potentially up against. He knew all of Class 1-A to one extent or another, and had at least a passing familiarity with the majority of 1-B. "I can launch myself pretty far," he said. "Just needs a good burst of energy. If you could match that with a jump, we could probably clear it in a couple bounds, maybe avoid everything in its entirety."
Park shook her head. "That would require both enhanced strength and speed. I can't boost more than one attribute at once. I could boost my speed further to make up the distance," she suggested. "I do want to conserve as much energy as I can for when the inevitable occurs, but I don't believe that level of distance will tire me too much."
"Okay," he said. "Straight through it is then. Stick together, watch each other's backs."
He poured on just a little more power, trusting in Park to match his speed. As soon as they were in the open and exposed, the attack happened. There was a sound from above, half roar, half screech, accompanied by the flapping of wings. Craning his neck, he could see a gryphon, easily the size of a car, swooping down. It looked… wrong somehow, as though it was not quite natural in a way he couldn't describe. It dropped down before them and let out another roar-screech, pawing at the ground with its talons.
How…? Kuroiro, a girl from 1-B with black skin and white hair and the power to bring drawings to life. It had to be.
With impressive reflexes, Park skidded to a halt before coming too close to the beast. Her eyes hinted at concern, but not fear. He didn't know her background, but she certainly looked like she'd been the victor in most fights in her life. Recognition seemed to dance in her eyes.
"Wasn't this creature at a training exercise once?" Park had not participated in that one specifically, but she had been watching.
"It's a drawing brought to life," Isamu said. He'd executed a perfect stop with counterforce and hopped to his feet. "Kurorio from 1-B's Quirk. It's not really alive, so you don't have to hold back."
He started charging up energy in his hands. "You need to protect the dummy. I can distract it, while you get by."
"I appreciate the gesture, but going further alone could very well lead to me being outnumbered." She stood with legs apart and took a deep breath. "If you could keep it relatively still for a moment," A light red streak of something seemed to course through her body. "I should be able to do something about this thing."
Isamu nodded. The creature was focusing more on blocking their path than attacking now, but he had little doubt if they got any closer, it would be a different story. "Hey, ugly!" he shouted. "Try this on for size!" Bracing himself, he unleashed a volley of energy pulses, firing them off with a rapid-fire pop-pop-pop sound. The griffin roared and tried to flap out of the way, but he kept up the pressure, firing on its wings to keep it grounded.
"Perfect." Park's body still coursed with light red streaks as she suddenly ran at the gryphon. Isamu noticed it was at normal running speeds, however what wasn't normal was the sheer impact of the punch Park threw at the living image's head. Some manner of sound was made, though whether the image had bones or not, Park had definitely broken something about the creature. The impact sound was wetter than he'd expected, the gryphon literally dissolving into an inky mess that faded just as quickly.
Isamu had to admit, he was impressed. Park had a combination of strength and speed like almost nothing else. The only person he'd seen who'd exceeded her was Deku. No wonder she was one of Shiketsu's best. And she'd done it one handed, carrying the dummy.
"Let's go!" he shouted, throwing himself forward again.
More creatures appeared, virtually out of thin air: a lion, a tiger, a bear. Isamu skidded to an awkward stop. And behind the creatures, her ebon-blank skin and white hair in stark contrast to each other, was Kuroiro. She was carrying what looked like an overstuffed binder of papers. "Guess Monoma was right," she said, as though reluctant to admit it. "Perfect place for an ambush."
Monoma. So they were facing him too. Great.
"I will deal with these paper creatures." The red streaks grew brighter, running across her body. She hands Isamu the dummy. "That should give you time to handle her before she brings out more." Before he responded she took some steps toward the paper animals.
"Got it." Isamu grunted under the dummy's weight, but he could manage it. He'd lose a lot of mobility this way, but Park did have the best chance of fighting the living drawings. He started charging energy up in his free hand.
Park stared at the images. These things were not alive and felt no pain. A chance like this didn't come around often. She always felt guilty after hurting someone, but this..she relished it. As the thought left her mind, the tiger leapt at her. Amplifying her strength, with practiced reflexes she grabbed the creature's front paws. When she was convinced she had a firm grip, with a bit of effort she pulled them outward, and with a shout tore the front legs from the creature with a messy spray of ink. Thankfully, the tiger made no true animal sounds, but simply fell, unable to keep moving forward as it dissolved.
The lion and bear came at her at the same time. The streaks in her body shifted from bright red to a lighter color. Suddenly Park sped up between the two images with superhuman quickness. Her left hand shot out to grab inside the lion's mouth. If this were a normal lion she'd never try this, but with this fake one she could be ruthless. Her hand latched onto the left side of its mouth and cheek, pulling and tearing an inky gash down the entire left side of the creature as she sped past. By the time the bear registered its prey was no longer there, the lion now had a huge long patch of missing substance starting from its left cheek and going all the way to the end. As if the air was left out of it, the lion crumpled to the ground and started to dissolve.
Looking at the bear, Park studied the ground and the various stones and sticks on it. "Let's see how much like paper you are." She began to hastily grab and start throwing the rocks and sticks with a velocity that well exceeded even a skilled baseball player. As the barrage of objects kept hitting the bear, the force and speed caused them to shred right through the creature. It wasn't long before so much of the bear's inner mass was gone, that it couldn't support a standing position anymore. Soon it was like so much crumpled paper, oozing black fluids from every hole, with so little substance that even the breeze seemed able to move the remains.
Kuroro had looked increasingly worried as Park tore through her creations. Her attention was split; she was trying to control multiple creatures at once and desperately searching through sheets of paper to find something that might slow Park down. More than once, Isamu saw something start to flicker into existence, only to disappear before it fully formed. Park's speed was uncanny. He hadn't even had time to move.
He was probably only going to get one shot at this. Taking careful aim, he released the energy he'd been charging in his hand as a powerful pulse. The ellipsoid of energy shot out and hit Kurorio's binder with significant force, tearing it from her fingers and causing her to cry out in pain. She clutched her hand and shot him a venomous look, but the blast had carried her binder far from her. No way she could reach it before one or the other of them could get past her.
But she set her face in grim determination and ran for it anyway, turning her back to them. Isamu fired off another energy pulse, aiming for her feet and knocking her down. Both of them had capture cuffs and could restrain her, then move on.
Park had made her way over, running at a normal human pace to catch up.
"Nice work," she complimented as she brought out her cuffs to keep Kurorio contained. "Did she say anything about who was with her?"
"Monoma," Isamu said, as they secured Kurorio. The black-skinned girl grumbled the entire time, but didn't put up any resistance. "The, ah, noisy blond from Class 1-B." As opposed to all the other noisy people, blond or otherwise. "He's got a mimic Quirk. He can copy any move he's seen and he's seen a lot."
He frowned. "Smart too. At least as far as plans go." But decidedly lacking in the natural charisma that Midoriya had. He'd been around Class 1-B enough to know the rest did not especially flock to Monoma.
It took Park a few seconds to figure it out. "Ah, the arrogant one's relative," she recalled with a straight he'd said seemed to stick with her. Monoma had seen her fight with Kirishima-Bakugo, after all. He'd probably picked up more than a few of her moves. Definitely something they'd have to watch out for. "We can assume he's not alone."
"Yeah," he agreed. He looked at Kurorio. "One down, one out there for sure, maybe two or three more."
Great. Just great.
The next attack came immediately after they'd crossed the treeline into the next wooded section. With a snap, a heavy tree fell down behind them. Out of the corner of his eye, Isamu spotted someone running behind the trees and moments later, another tree came down, blocking the way forward too. Not anything he or Park couldn't get over with their Quirks, but still…
A tree to the right fell. Someone was boxing them in.
Isamu felt his heart race in his chest. He still had the dummy, which limited his mobility options, but freed up Park for hers. He could still fight long-range and, if he had to, he could definitely slide a bit from a standing position. He didn't need contact (And boy, wouldn't that surprise Dad!), just thrust.
His eyes darted this way and that, seeking potential targets and threats. Besides him, Park had dropped back into a fighting stance, red-lightning dancing across her body. Her muscles were coiled like springs, ready to launch her into action at the slightest provocation.
So where was the attack going to come from? If there was one thing he knew, it was that Monoma was bound to try and do things in the most dramatic way possible.
"I've told Kuroiro she needs to have a back-up option for when she can't use her Quirk," a voice from above said. Monoma's. Isamu scanned upward, looking for him. "But that's a lesson for another time, I suppose. I'm not going to apologize, but your journey ends here!"
He watched as Monoma dropped down from a high branch, using his Capture Cloth to swing down just like he'd seen Aizawa-sensei do. The other boy was good at what he did, he'd admit. He fired off a few blasts, trying to track him, but Monoma was too agile, too fast, for him to get a good bead on.
Monoma executed a perfect landing, reeling his weapon back in. He locked eyes with Park. "Understand, this isn't personal. This is a matter of school pride." He took a slight step back. "Now, Dashi!"
A brilliant blue beam shot out from somewhere behind the trees and struck… Monoma?
There was a blur as Monoma shot forward, straight towards Park.
Shiro was glad that he and Dashi had practiced this. Her blue light accelerated every bit of motion, but it wasn't as though he was actually any faster, his thoughts were still moving at the same speed. It was like being on a high speed roller coaster in his own body. In less than the space of a breath, he'd dashed past Haimawari and Park, a length of capture cloth trailing behind him from each arm.
"PerfectTrace:TheVoice-Whiplash!" His words came out as fast as the rest of him moved, probably barely audible as a high-pitched squeak to anyone else, as he cut his movement off with a stomp to the ground and a sharp arc of his arms.
The lengths of cloth each wrapped tight around an ankle as he pulled the two to the ground. "AND," the same moment the cloth had gone taut, he was moving again, the acceleration letting him leap halfway up and then off a tree trunk with only a few steps' start, "PerfectTrace:Eraserhead-HANGMEN!"
"Remember, Monoma. Nothing you can do to keep yourself from being like a bug on a windshield if you botch a landing or a turn, but speed is weight." Dashi had warned him.
He caught an outstretched tree limb with his feet and swung over it sharply, redirecting his momentum straight down again, the velocity letting even his thinner frame exert sufficient force to exceed the combined weight of his opponents and their cargo. "Fly, my rivals!" The aura of blue light around him dissipated as he touched ground again. His heart was pounding, and he didn't know if it was a consequence of the acceleration, or his own excitement. He hoped he could take another burst.
To his credit, Haimawari never lost hold of the dummy. Shiro could make out a faint glow around his hand and he must have been using the adhesion aspect of his Quirk. He'd known the effect was strong, but the other boy's skill under pressure was remarkable.
He had expected what happened next even less. Once his capture cloth had released them, Haimawari had fired his Quirk, using careful bursts from his free hand and his feet to right himself in the air and then slow his fall, like a retrorocket slowing his descent
When had he learned to do that?!
As for Park...
Park cursed vehemently in her mind at the disorientation of being snared and hoisted, let alone the subsequent free-fall, but concentrated enough for an almost pink form of energy to course through her body. In mid-air she spun so her body caught itself, allowing her to fall on her feet.
She shook her head to get her bearings, then cracked her neck. Yes, she decided. This was certainly The Arrogant One's relation.
Another harsh sound caught her attention.
Isamu was still reorienting himself after the fall when he saw Monoma taking off into the branches again. He had to be pulling back for a reason, otherwise why not press the advantage?
SHUNK / SHUNK / SHUNK
Crimson pigtails streaming behind her, he spotted Kitiara Kaniyashiki as she wove her way around a cluster of trees, angular slashes following in her wake as she brought her arms around them. His vision just got back to normal in time to note that instead of cutting all the way through, she'd created two half-cuts on the largest tree, resulting in creating a wedge still held carefully in place. Suddenly, she stopped, turned, and charged back at the same tree with a gleeful smile. "Hiyah!" She delivered an elbow strike to the wedge, and it flew out from the rest of the tree like the bottom piece of a daruma toy. The large tree toppled towards him and Park, it's branches catching the other sliced trees enough to bring them down as well.
As the trees were falling, Monoma descended again, and the blue light coated his appearance once more. He touched down, and one step brought him within swinging distance of Park. He somersaulted around her, seeming more intent to distract than attack. "Overhere,Shiketsu." The blue light fell away and he advanced on her from behind, capture cloth swirling around him like an octopus ready to grab prey.
Still dodging trees felled by Kaniyashiki, Isamu attempted to slide across the ground, dragging the dummy, to assist Park, only to yelp and draw back a hand in pain. A caltrop was embedded in his palm, and he now realized he'd just narrowly missed another. He was bleeding, though the deterrent was already dissolving into ink. He suddenly recalled the number of already blank pages in Kuroiro's binder, along with realizing Monoma had inverted himself to dump these out in his path just moments ago.
His mouth set itself in grim determination as he fired a series of rapid-fire blasts, clearing out the rest of the caltrops.
Shiro signaled Dashi to hold off and conserve her energy for the time being. It was time to get the measure of his designated foe. If he was truly in danger, he trusted his classmate's judgment. "Perfect Trace: Cellophane." He whipped out a length of cloth from each arm, secured at the elbows, and began swinging from branch to branch. He swung into Park's path each time she started to head in Haimawari's direction, managing to stay just out of reach. He'd spent most of his life across the street from two similarly short fuses, and learned all his father had to teach him about provocation, so he knew just how to poke and prod. The most important thing was keeping the attention focused on him.
Once he was reasonably sure Park's ire was sufficiently raised, he set down right in front of her, his body snapping into Southern Praying Mantis Style's ready stance. That apparently caught her interest, as she assessed him, beginning to circle him like a caged cat. She was looking for an opening.
"No more honored Heroes to copy?"
"Oh I have plenty. For you, however, sometimes there's no need to reinvent the wheel." A shift of one foot across the forest floor, and his stance changed. As sharply and quickly as snapping his fingers, he was in a classic Hung Gar stance, closing the opening that had been left on one side.
Park's gaze narrowed in continued frustration. She was clearly debating her opening move, while also feeling the sense of urgency to assist her partner.
"Ah." Shiro smiled, advancing on her now. "Haimawari told you my Quirk, so you don't want to give me anything. Your defense is exceptional, and your capacity for brutality was certainly a spectacle, but I can beat them both."
"You are related to him alright. You both have the same arrogant bearing." Yongmudo was a defensive art and was best when used against an aggressor. Shiro was in no hurry, which meant Park had to act with more urgency than she'd prefer. She ran at him, but rather than any refined techniques, she threw a punch more at home in a street fight. It was a sound approach; if she kept her style simple, she could force him to respond in a way that could make better use of her own style.
To reach him, she must move to him. Her attack offers him a chance to intercept her. The weapon with the greatest reach, his capture cloth, seeks the nearest target. The carbon fiber reinforced fabric lashed forward, initially seeming to be on a path to Park's face, but a precise chop of his opposite hand against the taut cloth results in a whiplike strike to the wrist of her extended arm. Before the cloth had even fluttered back down, Shiro moved forward, with an open palm strike aimed at her shoulder.
The cloth's strike throws off the punch, but it was never intended to do damage. Park's other hand shoots up to grab Monoma's wrist and twist it into a Hapkido joint lock. Intending to keep him in place for a moment, she attempts to launch a series of kicks at his exposed arm and side.
Shiro's eyes widened as his strike was denied the impact he was expecting. "No." The firm protest comes out as barely a whisper, as Shiro refuses to get lost in remembering what happened to Kirishima-Bakugo. He will not meet force, he will let it move him. One kick landed, and it hurt, but he was determined to make use of it. Park didn't have as much on him in height or broadness as many of his classmates did, but she was solid muscle, easily outweighing him. Contorting his body, and using her own mass to pivot around, he rolled through the lock. The remaining kicks were glancing blows at best, and he dove away from her. With less grace than he would have liked, he hurried back into position to keep her from gaining an unobstructed path to Haimawari. "Boost Rush is an exemplary Hero, however flawed his personality might be. Of course, I don't think he could have gotten out of that." He smiled, and signaled for another burst of speed.
The light that had accelerated Monoma had to have come from Kimiko Dashi. The other student's Traffic Light Quirk was the perfect counter to his own Slide and Glide. And while Kaniyashiki wouldn't use her Quirk on people, she'd already demonstrated that she was an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. His own mobility was limited, and only getting worse as trees littered the area, and he had to be on the lookout for anything else Kuroiro might have equipped Monoma, or any of them with. He could slide and drag the dummy along, but it wasn't the smoothest ride for any of them. It'd probably count against him if it got too banged up from it.
They were not in a great place.
"Guess it's just you and me, pal," he told the dummy. Great, he was talking to it. The object of the exercise was to get it to the next group. But heading into hostile territory while he was hobbled wasn't the most promising idea in the world. He didn't know where Dashi was or Kaniyashiki.
"Timber!" There was a change in the light, and what might have been seen as the first reddening of the late afternoon sun suddenly vanished. Three additional trees, apparently frozen in place by Dashi after being cut by Kaniyashiki, groaned and creaked as they tumbled down.
Isamu felt his jaw drop momentarily, before reality caught up with him and he dodged out of the way. "She was holding them back this whole time?!"
Monoma swung across the area again, smiled, and gave a small theatrical bow, presumably on behalf of his classmate. "She's been training."
Isamu found himself almost completely cut off from Park, who was once again engaging in a rapid-fire series of blows with Monoma. Between his mounting fatigue, and the exposure it would result in, going airborne was out of the question, and going around either side of the barricade was going around a corner blind.
Should he try and complete the mission? It was the logical way to go. Park had already demonstrated she was more than capable of taking care of herself. But was it the right call?
No, he didn't feel good about leaving Park. Not at all.
So he wouldn't.
"Hey!" he shouted, firing off a few energy pulses over Monoma and Park's heads. They were moving too fast for him to hit them, but maybe he could distract Monoma for a moment. "You forget about the real target, Monoma!?" He fired a few more pulses, this time in the other direction, into the treeline. Maybe he could draw the others out. A few bolts struck trees, sending up a shower of wood chips.
A crimson beam tore out of the woods and he threw himself forward, just barely avoiding being struck. Dashi. He'd seen her beams flashing several times already, supporting Monoma against Park, but never been able to get a bead on her to fight back. But he'd seen where it had come from this time and fired a few more pulses in that direction. He still couldn't spot her. She was well hidden, wherever she was.
Dammit. He needed to do something, anything…
Isamu forced himself to his feet, still dragging the dummy. He just needed one good shot… More beams shot out from concealment. He jerked this way and that, applying small shots of force to give himself the smallest of boosts. But it was hard going and he faltered, a red beam smacking him straight in the chest.
He stayed there, hovering and off-balance, not moving. It would wear off, but until then, he was stuck.
Park could feel a bit of a growl building in her throat. This was taking too long. She was sure she could beat him in a fight with no outside factors, but this wasn't about beating the enemy. She tried to see where Haimawari was, caught up in his own conflict. She had to break this stalemate. She remembered her promise to the UA instructor that she wouldn't harm any more of his students, but that didn't seem feasible right now.
"Tell me, 'Monoma,' is Teacher Bakugou your instructor?"
The boy inclined his head, idly twirling a bit of cloth in one hand. "An interesting question. As of the moment, he's only just begun his faculty tenure with UA. As he's here as one of the camp chaperones, the argument could be made that we are all his students at the moment, you and I alike. Looking at what's on paper? He's the new Heroics instructor for first-year students at UA. Then there's the personal component… I've sought advice on heroics from him since I was old enough to cross the street."
Park closed her eyes, mouth closed but letting out a prolonged sound of annoyance. "You're making me break a promise." Her body lit up with red energy again. "At least this will be quick." She came at him with inhuman velocity.
Dashi and Kaniyashiki emerged from the forest, both looking entirely too smug. Dashi paused long enough to fire off another "go" beam in what he presumed was Monoma's direction. Kaniyashiki tried to grab the dummy out of his hands, but tugged and tugged without success. She shot Dashi a dirty look. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"
Dashi frowned. "He's still touching it. And probably using his Quirk too. It's all in the same stop field. It won't move until my Quirk wears off or I release it. Not sure if I should drop it while I'm still keeping the one on Monoma going. I can maintain more than one for a while, but mixing colors gets tiring."
Kaniyashiki kicked the ground in annoyance, then looked beyond Isamu, listening to the sounds of combat. "Seems like blondie's actually doing pretty good."
"You know, I was excited about this. It's a wonderfulpuzzletohavetosolve!" Shiro was off like a rocket when the blue light hit him once more. "There'snoway I could just straight-up outfightyouandasfunasthisis-" his rate of movement swung between superhuman and simply vigorously trained, as the augmentation from his classmate rapidly came and went. He was grateful for the hand signals he'd worked out with Dashi in order to get the most use out of her Quirk. For her part, she'd been diligently scrambling from point to point in order to maintain line of effect and line of sight to him. "-but I had to figure out how to fight you without bustingmyselftopiecesintheprocess." He did a passable baseball slide past Park, trying to trip her up again. "You should watch some of the archival footage of the UA Sports Festival with Deku's debut if you want an idea of what I'm talking about. I mean, he's no Lemillion, but a bit more relevant inthiscasedon'tyouthink?"
Having to go on the attack had already put Park at a disadvantage, but she had been certain she could outfight him. However she was shocked as he managed to keep up with her. She had heard he was a fighter, so that itself didn't surprise her, but the speed he was utilizing was impressive. The boosts he was getting nearly put him on her level. Then he started speaking..what she had no idea. She saw the cloth coming, getting her leg over it in the nick of time.
"I don't give a damn about stupid theatrics!" She snarled, the one bit from him she had understood.
Her strikes met empty air, as the blond boy dodged out of her way, his speed putting him up on her back, his legs locked around her.
His voice was back at a normal speed. "Then it occurred to me! Winning is 's no need for me to struggle in pursuit of some delusional aspiration of besting you in combat. This body of mine wasn't born blessed, but I HAVE been blessed with extremely capable classmates. Haimawari has the dummy right now, you don't. Even the most optimistic would not see a path to victory for him when he's outnumbered thusly. If you can't assist him, then the two of you lose. I just had to wait until he was responsible for the win condition, and then take you out of the equation. So, shall we enjoy this dance? I have so much more to learn from you."
Why the hell wouldn't he just shut up and fight? Why did all these would-be "Heroes" like to talk so much? But she couldn't dislodge him easily.
Monoma jumped off her back, landing back in front of her. She spotted the hand signal this time and saw the beam hitting him. She could match his speed briefly like that, but it wasn't enough. Her Quirk only allowed her to amplify one physical trait at a time. If she made herself faster, her attacks would be too simplistic as her brain would not be able to keep up the commands. She came to a decision. As Monoma kept talking, energy coursed through her again, but this time the red seemed to be laced with a bright white. Suddenly his words were as clear to her as someone speaking slowly and deliberately. Even as he whipped his cloth towards her, she grabbed it in her left hand.
Park then spoke. "I am no teacher." She then pulled, not superhumanly, but strong and forceful enough to dislodge him from his position.
As he came close enough to strike, Seung suddenly moved slightly out of position, causing him to fly by her. That was when she hit him with a spinning heel kick, launching him up and over the barricade created by the fallen tree.
Power still thundering through her body, she launched herself directly at the barricade, shattering it with a single blow as she came out the other side. She narrowed her gaze as she saw Haimawari restrained in mid-air. Monoma landed a moment later, shaken, but still on his feet. He'd apparently managed to roll through the landing after being propelled by her strike.
Haimawari would have gasped if he could. He could practically feel the white hot fury from Park. Whatever Monoma had said or done, it hadn't been anything good. Whatever limits she had, she'd definitely been pushed up to them and maybe beyond.
The last remnants of the blue light faded from Monoma, as he watched Dashi help him to his feet, a look of concern on her face. His breathing was irregular, and he was checking his own balance, to say nothing of him looking more than a little pale.
"Good work, both of you." Monoma smiled weakly at the girls. "You're… outnumbered… Park," he said between rapid, shallow breaths. "No shame… in conceding. Although you have… my compliments… for besting our forti- -fications."
Dashi let out a laugh as she brought up her arm, charging up a "stop" beam. "So much for the Shiketsu big shot! Time to go back home!"
Later, when asked, all present said they never assumed the taunt was meant to be racially charged. Dashi was arrogant and flippant and maybe anticipating a bit of a gloat, but to anyone's knowledge, not prejudiced.
That did little to suppress the chill that suddenly filled the air.
It started quietly, like a sizzle, but it grew louder and louder as multiple shades of red energy coursed through Park's body. She had been looking down, but slowly brought her head up. Her eyes weren't visible as a bright energy seemed to literally be pouring out of them. She stared past them all, then right at Dashi. That was when the scream could be heard, followed by the whole area lighting up in a barrage of red lights.