Chapter 11: The Race
The simulation started again; as expected, Bakugo was destructive but less so than before. Any chaos he caused was strategically recycled from what was already destroyed in the arena, making sure to use anything he could to misdirect or stall his pursuers. The hero team, Sero, Ashido, and Ojiro, found it difficult to handle his onslaught of tricks and decoys. However, they too had a trick up their sleeve.
If Bakugo had any weaknesses, it was his cockiness and the brutality of his attacks. He could exhaust himself if he was forced to keep attacking and that was their ticket to a win. The problem, of course, was that their attacks, by comparison to his, weren't much to exhaust him. They had to resort to a similar tactic that he was using, taking debris and throwing it in his way, forcing him to make a sudden dodge or to unleash an explosion to move forward as he planned. It worked for the most part, however, Bakugo Katsuki was a hard guy to get the upper hand on.
"You think you can get me that easy?!" Bakugo growled as Ashido came into view, preparing to use her acid on the ground beneath to slow him down. He raised his arm, his gauntlet heavy with ammunition for a devastating blow. "I ain't going down like this!"
Ashido had barely a second to dodge as a powerful explosion ripple through the air, aimed at the platform she was on. Without her, his greatest concern was promptly dealt with and his success was a guarantee.
"Bakugo wins," Aizawa announced through the speakers, his deadpanned tone remained despite his partial annoyance toward the teams. "Come back up so the next group can go."
With the previous team making their way back to the class, Sato and Bryan headed down the Arena, conversing as they went. Sato took the moment to explain his quirk to his partner, believing that the information would be useful to the half-human. Unsurprisingly, Bryan found Sato's quirk to be funny, "Who knew these quirks could be so strange. Merlin would love to have a look at you."
Sato didn't respond, a little confused by his statement but excited to see what his partner could do. Bryan only offered half of his abilities to the student, simply because he didn't see the point of going all out so soon. After their brief rundown, they began talking about strategy. "We will have to make it to the end together."
"Yeah, yeah," Bryan gave Sato a lopsided grin, his head awkwardly tilted in a dramatically lazy fashion. "That frog girl seems more like the muscle here. The other girl though, what does she do?"
"She plugs in her earphones and can listen in or send shockwaves through the ground," Sato answered plainly; admittedly, he didn't wholeheartedly understand the complete abilities of Kyoka Jiro. He did know the basics and had enough experience watching or working with her to have a good idea of her capabilities. "They work well together, I couldn't get very far."
Bryan nodded, his wolfish grin widening at the thought of experiencing the simulation. "Then they need to work alone."
The two made it to their starting point, Jiro and Tsuyu were nowhere to be seen. The shared goal between the "villains" was to make it to the end, but Bryan had some tricks up his sleeve. When the match began, Bryan quickly told Sato to run before he abandoned his partner for a different route.
"What's he up to, ribbit?" Tsuyu asked as she and Jiro gave chase.
Jiro's brows furrowed out of annoyance, she figured that Bryan was going for the classic split to separate the opposing team play. It was a dumb tactic, in her opinion. Still, as he was part of the exercise, she knew they were going to have to follow his lead. "Follow him and try to get him back with Sato."
Tsuyu nodded and left her partner's side, confident that she could find the unusual man without much hassle. However, that confidence was slightly faltered by some level of uncertainty. It was understandable though; she didn't know anything about Bryan's abilities, though she was aware that Bryan had supernatural abilities similar to a quirk, thanks to Midoriya.
From the ledge above the arena, the students watched, trying to keep up with Bryan's movements. Eveline and Zelda already could tell that Bryan was eager to show off, showing much of his battle-hungry side. Neither of them was surprised though, they just hoped that he would remember that he was participating in a simulation.
Hey, Eveline, Eveline stiffened, forgetting, for a split second, that Midoriya could speak to her telepathically. She turned slightly to look at the teen, finding that his eyes were solely focused on the battle below. I-I was thinking that we should talk about some things.
Eveline resisted nodding her head, Sure, how about after dinner? She had hoped that he would look at her, but he never did.
Yeah, meet me in my room... He seemed to have second thoughts but quickly added, That's okay, right? It's not creepy to you, is it?
What?
I-I asked you to meet me in my room, He answered, a blush coated his freckled cheeks while his eyes remained on the group. A part of her wondered why he wouldn't look at her, it hurt. That's not inappropriate, is it?
Eveline smiled, thinking to herself that he was surprisingly cute when he was flustered. Was she making him flustered? I'm not offended by it. Besides, we have more important things to worry about than that.
She couldn't tell if he was relieved or had simply relaxed the slightest bit, but he returned his full attention to watching the arena, leaving her with a few more questions to ponder on. However, knowing that Midoriya was eager to have a conversation with her did lift her spirits. She could feel the weight of unanswered thoughts and theories and having one person willing to share in the burden made everything just a little better.
"He's toying with her." Eveline snapped out of her thoughts and turned her attention to Zelda. She looked down at where Tsuyu was and saw the poor girl being jerked around by Bryan. Pity filled her heart as she realized that Bryan wasn't giving those girls a chance, though she was aware that he was showing off too much, making it equally an advantage for them later on if they ever faced off again.
"It's quite a strange tactic," Iida remarked disapprovingly, "but I guess we could face off against someone like that in the future."
Eveline wasn't sure what she could say about the ongoing fight, but she did note that there seemed to be something off about him. She could assume that it had to do with Anna being gone, although she wondered if there was more to it than that. She'd try to look into his heart, unfortunately, as the son of Elaine, he would know if she peeked into his heart. Not only that, but both agreed to never listen to the other's heart so if she broke that promise, he'd have every right to invade hers.
The fight naturally didn't end the same as the first round; with Bryan's Fox Hunt, Sato and him succeeded. In all honesty, Jiro and Tsuyu would have a better chance now that they witnessed his power, but third rounds weren't in the class's schedule.
The rest of the rounds went by fast, with everyone enthralled by the powers of their guests. Tokoyami's round garnered the most interest from the class. Zelda's vampiric powers complimented Dark Shadow, making their shared powers a greater force to be reckoned with. Zelda's only complaint was Mineta. He was entranced by her vampiric beauty when he first saw her the day before, but seeing her in action was too much for the pervert. It was amusing to see Zelda immediately pin him down with her demonic energy while encompassing Tokoyami in darkness.
Midoriya took many notes of Zelda's abilities, the sound of his pencil scrapping against the pages of his notebook as well as his incessant muttering was more or less drowned out by the cheers of his classmates. Eveline, however, heard him loud and clear as she watched him. Though their powers were incredibly different from one another
"We're up next," Iida smiled warmly at the blonde, "your cousin was amazing, by the way."
Eveline smiled rather shyly, hiding her face with her long bangs. "She's always been that way. Her mother wouldn't have it any other way."
Iida nodded, "I look forward to working with you then. If she's that strong, I can only imagine what you're capable of."
She refrained from answering; Iida's kindness, while genuine, made her feel unworthy of praise. She wasn't strong; everyone said she was, but she knew those praises to only be pretty lies.
As they reached the starting line, Eveline realized that she hadn't a clue of what Iida wanted her to do. Do they just run? Zelda hadn't; she took her time eliminating their pursuers before reaching the end. Was she expected to do the same? Perhaps now was also a bad time to remember that, besides healing herself, she hadn't used her powers in a long time. Did she even remember how to use them, could she control herself?
Be strong, Eveline pressed her hand into her chest, her eyes widened slightly as Midoriya's soothing voice entered her head again. Follow Iida's command, he'll tell you what to do and won't leave you behind.
The race began, Iida took off toward their destination, Eveline followed without realizing how she was doing it. From above, they saw the sparkling golden outline of wings; three pairs to be precise.
"Sh-She has wings?" Uraraka asked softly, to no one in particular.
"All goddesses have wings," Zelda stated, her tone concealed her own surprise. She hadn't thought Eveline could still use her wings after all these years. "However, she's technically a quarter human, so it's taking pure energy creating those wings."
"Wait," Midoriya turned to the dark-haired vampire, "she's human?"
"A quarter," Bryan corrected, "her mother was reincarnated as a human."
That piqued everyone's interest; they knew only what Bakugo had shared with Kirishima and Todoroki and they couldn't deny that they wanted to know more. Midoriya, on the other hand, wondered what came with Eveline being partially human. Did that hinder her use of magic? He quickly wrote down his questions before watching the match unfold.
Eveline waited for some sort of command from Iida, following his lead as instructed. However, something was eating at her; something felt out of place and she wasn't able to figure out what it was. If she could hazard a guess, she felt a disturbance and it had to do with the birds that were keeping an eye on them.
It's someone's quirk, isn't it? She frowned as the thought passed through her mind. Animals weren't something she could control meaning she'd have to attack them, but she'd rather avoid doing that. Likewise, she wasn't sure if she was capable of a harmless attack. The energy she was using could easily burn Zelda, even a human would feel negative effects. If only she could reach animals like she could people.
"Watch out!" Iida cried as a wave of birds swept before them, blocking their path. "This is Koda's doing, we need to get through."
Eveline nodded and placed her hands on Iida's shoulders, "I can make them leave, but I might be distracted. Keep one hand on me, okay?"
Iida nodded, taking her hand as he led her out of sight. They were not running as they had before, this time they were going at a normal pace. She focused all of her energy on finding Koda's heart. She wasn't sure if her plan could work, but she was willing to try. She found Koda's heart after only a moment, she could sense his intentions, and all she needed was a little faith.
Please cease, She called softly, I do not want to harm these birds, please call them off. If I do anything, they may be accidentally killed and I know neither I nor you would be happy with that. Please, call them off.
She could feel his resistance, but it was weak; he had never felt something like this and that was the only advantage she had. Even if she couldn't stop his feathered friends, with Koda confused, they wouldn't be much of a problem. She was lucky. Both she and Iida saw the wall of birds thin; the birds flew around in a fit of unorganized panic, allowing for them to make it through.
"Go," she said with a smile, "we can make it, but I'll need to ride on your back."
"Fine by me!" Iida picked her up and raced toward the birds. As Koda wasn't giving them directions, their wall faded and the duo made it through with ease. Kirishima was their only obstacle now.
"You won't make it through me!" he grinned, his body already hardened for combat.
Iida understood that whatever Eveline had done was temporary and they needed to make progress in the time she had bought them. He opted for the easiest solution he could; he sped toward the redhead and leaped over him as best as he could. It wasn't perfect, though; Kirishima reached up and narrowly grabbed Iida's foot, slamming the partners down into the ground. Eveline flew off of Iida's back, landing on her side just a few feet from the blue-haired teen.
It was a defeat for Iida and Eveline.
Midoriya felt a strange urge suddenly overcome him, an urge that he wasn't wholly unfamiliar with though he was confused as to why he was feeling it. He wanted to race down to Eveline and check on her, her arm was badly scraped by the fall so he could rationalize that. What struck him as unusual was this bizarre desire to throw Iida against a wall; he had never felt that way toward anyone in his class, which gave him just the slightest bit of anxiety.
"Are you okay?" Midoriya jolted slightly, abruptly turning to see that Uraraka was standing behind him. Her hands were closed into fists that were pressed into her chest while she stared at him with concern.
"I'm fine," he answered a little too quickly before glancing around, hoping no one else noticed his slight spectacle. "I'm fine. I'm just anxious about my match."
Uraraka didn't seem all that convinced but she did offer him the slightest smile as she expressed herself. "You'll be fine, I'm sure."
Midoriya only gifted her with a nervous smile before suddenly deciding to rush off to the starting line. He hoped that he might catch Eveline as she came back up. He knew she was okay, she could heal herself, what he needed was to just hear her say that to him and he'd be fine.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late and short chapter, classes have been giving me some trouble lately. But hey, it's almost Christmas and I hope you guys are all doing well and being safe! I'll have a new chapter ready in December, I promise. In the meantime, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving being it by yourself or with a very small group. See you in December!
