Force of Will
By SamwRyder
Completed on 6/23/30
A/N: I just wanted to let you all know that after talking to my beta I have decided to move the scene with Ranma and the girls into this chapter. I do apologize for any inconvenience but he felt it would flow better and I am inclined to agree. Thank you.
Chapter 4
In the deepest most remote parts that remain within Japan, the earth quivered, the many flocks of birds took to the skies, the largest and heaviest of trees toppled as their roots wrenched themselves free of the earth, rocks shift and crack and fall, and an ancient shrine all but papered with talismans of sealing fractures, the pieces clattering against the multitudes of stone surrounding it.
As the quaking stopped, the deer atop the mountain scatter like cockroaches introduced to a lightbulb. For a time all was still.
Back in Tokyo Ranma shivered, there was a distinct sense of wrongness that passed over him. As if the very world fought against an unnatural force intent on ripping its way into reality. The feeling faded faster than it'd come, leaving Ranma to wonder if it'd really happened or it was something his sleep deprived mind was coming up with. Sleep had never been a problem, in fact he'd learned to sleep in just about every environment and had trained to where he could get himself to fall asleep at the drop of a hat. It wasn't that he couldn't sleep either, just that he didn't have the time.
Class didn't turn out the way he'd been expecting. Oh he did well enough in english class, to the point where Present Mic had made a habit of calling on him whenever something needed to be translated, but no one else knew how. Too bad that didn't translate to the other areas of his schooling. His maths were awful, he just couldn't get his head around it, as was his class in history.
Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was almost glad that the upperclassmen had taken over all the training fields after class despite it being in the first few days, leaving his and Ojiro's duel for a day closer to the weeks end, even if it did leave it a day before hit match with Kuno. Which meant it was today. Granted he still hadn't fully climbed out of his new workload but it wasn't like he could refuse the match either.
Adjusting his bag Ranma grimaced as he rounded the corner and found a massive swarm filling out the space in front of the gates. They'd been there for days, reporters. As he approached them they split to form the narrowest path required of them and began all but shouting their questions at him.
"What's All Might like in class?" "As he's no experience in teaching how does he stack up compared to the other heroes training you?" "You are part of the hero course, aren't you?" "Hey, has All Might expressed an interest in any of you?" "What do you think of All Might now that you've had prolonged exposure? Is it true that the admiration everyone feels toward him is part of his quirk?"
The questions were like artillery shells, unrelenting. "The media has received word that All Might is teaching here. Ignore their irrationality and the questions they will no doubt ask. As you've been warned tardiness will be treated as normal." Aizawa had told them a few days prior, and Ranma as much as he wanted to shove them aside because he hadn't received detention yet and while Kaminari had whenever anyone brought it up he'd go white as a sheet and just shake his head.
He'd just managed to pierce the crowd when one of them called, "hey, if you don't want to give us the story we can always just run with what we've got. You know, how All Might returned to his alma mater for the specific purpose of finding his way closer to you kids."
The words stopped Ranma and he spun on his heel about to rage at the muckraker who would say something like that about the symbol of peace himself when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Young Saotome, please make your way inside, class will start soon. Konotsuji-San has always been this way." All Might said, a wide smile on his face.
He didn't want to, reporters were foul things and deserved nothing but scorn. He wouldn't attack them, it went against his teachings but he'd already resigned himself to only deal with a handful of them when he went pro and ignore all the rest. Still, he did as he was told and as he did he found Willa emerging from his chest, a flaming streak that shot into the air. As it always did when she emerged it left him feeling colder.
"Now, Now." All Might's voice started behind him but he didn't stop to listen.
He could feel Willa following him on to the school's ground and a feeling of danger filled him. He threw himself forward as water sloshed through the space he'd been just before. He fell into a fighting stance as he turned and found himself facing a squat young man, at least if the uniform he wore was real, he'd beady little eyes and purple balls on his head. "What the hell!" Ranma snarled.
"I gotta know man, I gotta." He said and pulled a squirt gun from his pack and sprayed it at Ranma. When Ranma jumped away again he had to twist to avoid a water balloon thrown by a gangly pale boy that looked so weak a strong breeze would topple him over and drag him down the street.
"Mineta-San." The boy Ranma had dubbed gangly called, "are you sure this is okay?"
The other boy chuckled darkly, "I checked Gosunkugi-san, no quirks, no actually trying to hit him, and were golden! There's nothing that says we cant have a water fight in the rules."
That his attackers had bothered to actually plan it all out and knew a way to get away with it under the rules brought Ranma from the simmering rage he'd fallen to after All Might had sent him away, rage well past boiling and straight into a furious geyser. Fire swept to his hands burning nearly white, the boys took a half step back turning white.
"WIlla." He said, pointing towards his class's window.
He had hoped the two would have ran off, it didn't. Mineta only narrowed his eyes and rushed forward far faster than Ranma had thought the shorter boy likely capable of and with each step he fired another thin stream of water at Ranma. He met each with a flaming hand that reduced the water to rapidly rising steam.
He could see windows opening and people leaning out to watch or yell about how they needed to stop, even the teachers calls to return their attention to class. Finally he saw what he'd been waiting for. A black clad man swinging down using grey bandages, Aizawa-Sensei. Gangly ran, or at least he tried to, the bandages reached out as if they were controlled by Aizawa's very will to wrap about him.
"Saotome, fire's out and explain." He snapped while glaring at Mineta, daring him to move.
Ranma shivered but told his sensei what happened, causing the man to sigh. "I won't lie Saotome. The chaos that seems to follow you is getting on my nerves. At least you've the sense not to escalate." His capture sped out and wrapped about Mineta.
"Get to class, you're to choose a class representative, decide amongst yourselves." He looked toward the student that had all but assaulted a student in his class. "Will you walk under your own power or will I drag you?"
Ranma bolted into the building and to his class each and everyone of them were standing and staring, glaring, or looking at him with no small amount of sorrow on their faces. Ranma flushed, and started nervously chuckling while scratching the back of his head. "Aizawa said we're picking a class rep?"
"Indeed," Fumikage said, moving to sit on his desk. "Iida-san has suggested a democratic vote."
He nodded his understanding and moved to his seat. "So do we nominate candidates or something?" He was trying to remember how one of his earlier schools had done this as well. but he couldn't remember much.
Yaoyorozu began tapping her chin, "It would stop everyone from voting for themselves but we don't know each other particularly well enough to nominate anyone."
A snort drew Ranma's attention to their most volatile classmate, "so we just get on with the goddamned vote!"
"Bakugo-san, is right, we just vote and anyone who gets more than a single vote is one we truly know is capable as someone finds faith in them despite the short time we've had together." Iida said holding his hand high into the air.
So the vote went. The majority of the class voted for themselves with only a few exceptions. Yaoyorozu received a total of four votes, Jiro received three, Fumikage two.
Yaoyorozu made her way to the front of the class and thanked them as Aizawa made his way back into the room.
"Good, you're becoming more rational." He said and checked the clock above the door and nodded to himself. "Earlier this morning there was an altercation between several students including our own Saotome Ranma. The other two assaulted Saotome in an effort to change his gender and confirm the rumor."
Kaminari paled. Despite the fact that Ranma had seen more than a few of them watching from the window, there were a number of angry mutterings passing through the class.
"They were under the impression that since there were no rules about water fights and they weren't using their quirks they'd be in the clear. Suffice it to say they were wrong." His eyes flashed red for a moment though Ranma supposed it could have been a trick of the light.
"That said I fully expect you all to put aside any plans for retribution. It's the teachers job and you can trust that we have taken care of it."
"Does that mean they've been expelled sensei?" Hagakure asked. From the way her sleeves were held Ranma could imagine the girl hugging herself.
Aizawa frowned, apparently he wasn't happy with what he was about to say. "They have been given their only warning, and every class has been informed that any such actions will lead to immediate expulsion."
The girls in the room frowned, "Sensei that doesn't seem right. Saotome-san may be a man but if those actions were taken against a woman then the perpetrator would not have been let go with a warning and Saotome-san's body is female when struck with cold water." Yaoyorozu said.
"I understand your frustration, however, the matter is being handled." He said.
Classes were a blur for Ranma, he did the work as best he could but his brain was more or less on auto pilot. He honestly didn't know what to think of what Aizawa said. It wasn't like he'd ever received much help in his life and he'd long since learned to just let some matters drop. Besides he wasn't sure that he liked his business and talked about so openly as it'd been. He appreciated the anger his classmates had in his defense bet honestly it wasn't really that new of a concept to him. When people found out he changed into a girl with cold water it was pretty common for them to pour hot and cold water on him until they tired of the exercise or annoyed him until he snapped at them to stop.
The bell rang and Ranma began to gather his things, it was finally time for lunch.
As Ranma was walking out the door a minute later, a slender hand reached for his than pulled away. Turning he found the entirety of the girls were grouped together, most of them looking more than a little angry. A volatile mix of emotions welled up within him and Ranma settled on a shaky smile rather than the one he usually wore. His nerves only grew as they waited for the male population of the class to evaporate even if a few shot I'm an odd glance as they went.
'This is it.' He told himself, 'this is where they condemn me for being a pervert like Akane did or maybe if I'm lucky, they'll just ignore me.' Still he smiled as Jiro stepped forward.
"Is it true Kaminari was going to splash you with cold water to make you change?" She asked stunning Ranma.
Even while nodding dumbly his mind was moving a mile a minute. They obviously weren't angry at him if they were asking about Kaminari... Unless they were going to suggest he was nothing more than a distraction to the class.
The pink skating girl, Ashido, as Yaoyorozu called her, spoke next. "What a jerk."
Yaoyorozu looked at her in disappointment, "you say that as if you didn't sexually assault Saotome-San, yourself."
Mina blushed and started at her feet. "I know, but I wasn't thinking about that, plus it's not really weird when a girl grabs another girl ya know? My mom's friends do it to her all the time." Despite her words she didn't seem to have much faith in her own words.
Ranma adjusted his pack and turned toward the door. "Look, just let it go. It's a jerk thing ta do yeah, but it doesn't change that it happens a lot when people first see it." He said to the girls over his shoulder.
"No, it's not okay!" Jiro said, "I don't care if you're a guy or a girl. We're people, not objects! I can't wait to see that ass tomorrow."
Ranma turned back to the group, eyes wide. It wasn't the first time someone had said they'd stand by him. It never lasted long though. Nonetheless, he smiled, there was no reason to lump his classmates in with the rest, after all, none of the others were future heroes. Absently he wondered if he held all those previous connections to, too high a standard. "Thank's," he said.
"But Jiro-chan, those boys have already gotten punished. What can we do?" Tohru said.
The rocker girl seemed to deflate, after all what could she do if the teacher had already punished him? She began twirling one of the jacks about in her fingers. It was Mina who answered.
"We could make sure they have a minor accident and make it worse every-time it happens?" Mina suggested seeming to be glad to contribute anything.
Tsuyu, shook her head and pressed one finger to the side of mouth. "That doesn't sound very heroic, Mina-chan. They're teenage boys. Kero, they'll grow up eventually until then we make sure we're not alone with them." The frog girl, for a moment Ranma wracked his brain to remember before it popped into his head, Tsuyu Asui, said. "Aizawa just told us not to go looking for retribution."
Mina sputtered for a moment before crossing her arms and pouting, "it's not like that! He just needs to learn a lesson."
"Which is what Aizawa-Sensei did by assigning Kaminari to read through the school rules and morality guide. The other's were punished as well." Yaoyorozu said.
Jiro snorted, "yeah more or less a warning and don't forget Aizawa punished the rest of us along with Kaminiari. It doesn't matter if we're already decent enough people to know not to do something like that. He's even making Saotome-San, the victim, do it."
"Saotome-San why doesn't this seem to be bothering you?" Uraraka asked, surprising Ranma. It was the first time she'd said anything after all. For the most part she had just been clenching a fist and nodding.
"Cause no matter what body I'm in, I'm still a guy." He said, unbeknownst to him however, Willa was above him. Tracing a line of text in fire.
(It bothers him and me a lot. But pop's would throw a fit if it ever came up.)
Yaoyorozu clapped her hands together, getting all of them to jump. "Well, we let Aizawa handle Kaminari and the others got everyone else a warning. But if anyone does it again, we'll come up with something. Saotome-San, if anyone does anything untoward please inform the teacher."
Though he knew he wouldn't, and from the way she and a few others, namely, Jiro and Tsuyu, looked at him; they knew it to, Ranma scratched the back of his head and nodded. He headed for the door and paused looking at the girls one more time. "Just call me Ranma by the way. I don't do formalities." He said with his usual smile and left not noticing the number of blushes that formed in his wake.
What he wasn't expecting however as he finished loading his plate in the cafeteria was the girls to assemble around him all over again. He probably could have handled the fact without to much trouble but found Nabiki walking toward him with a large frown on her face and he spotted Akane on the other side of the room rise and start towards her sister.
"Ranma-baby," she said as she reached the end of his table. "I heard what happened this morning."
Ranma shrugged, "no big deal Nabiki. Doubt its going to be the last time." He grunted as he skewered a piece of chicken and set about Saotome style conversation avoidance technique number three, the ravenous ostrich. He'd used it with her before when the conversations grew awkward and about half the time she'd let it go.
He could see it without even looking at her, how she wrinkled her nose before it vanished into a mask of calm. "So what's this about a fight between you and Kuno?"
Ranma winced, it seemed he wasn't getting off lucky today. He chewed faster, trying to get everything down so he could answer. One of the other things he'd learned about Nabiki, while she wasn't violent like her younger sister, she did not like to wait and when she had to something was going to throw a wrench into his day, even if it was something small like a sudden lack of hot water.
"Excuse me, I'm Momo Yaoyorozu and may I ask who you are?" Yaoyorozu asked ash she stood and extended her hand.
Nabiki looked like she'd been struck, as if she was truly insulted someone didn't know exactly who she was. "Nabiki Tendo."
"Nabiki! Had to come see if your fiancee was okay?" Akane grinned as she walked up.
"Fiancee!" All of the girls at his table cried and Ranma felt like slamming his head into the table until he lost consciousness but he knew the table had no chance of surviving if he did. WIlla would see to that.
Nabiki looked just as aggravated as he did however and a small sense of relief came over him, she wouldn't be targeting him for the moment. Still, he watched as Nabiki suddenly gained a smirk. "You know Akane, yes, I came to check on Ranma." She strode around until she was behind him and leaned on his back.
(It's a quirk marriage.) Willa spelled out. (The Tendo's want me.) She posed both arms behind her head as if she were trying to seduce someone. A few of them giggled in spite of themselves.
Before Ranma could say a word, in his defense, in explanation or for any other reason, an alarm began to blare and everyone jumped.
"What's going on?" Yaoyorozu asked as pulled a pair of earmuffs from her leg from a spastic shining glow.
"Intruders, someones breached Yuuei's walls." Nabiki called back, taking a pair of the earmuffs as she went.
The crowd snapped out of their surprise and began surging for the door, a mass stampede. Still, the crowd didn't start getting out of the doors, he leapt into the air and fought the urge to slap himself in the face. Some fools at the front were trying to force their way out the doors by pulling when the door was clearly marked push. he landed in a crouch and shot off bounding between the tables and he was as close to the doors as he was going to get and shot forward in a flying kick that sent the doors flying open with a large dent where they met. Rolling to his feet he grabbed the first of the fearful students. A large boy who the sumo's of old would admire for his physique and the one who'd been holding the doors closed. Absently Ranma noted the guy had to have a strength quirk.
"Calm down would'ya." He snapped, he was going to say more when he saw something. A slim distortion that had him doubting he'd seen it until he spotted it again a short ways further down the hall. "Be, safe." Ranma added to the boy though it was much quieter as he himself moved to follow after the distortion, Willa trailing just behind him.
He tracked it deeper into the school and through several doors marked staff only. Ranma had several guesses as to what was going on. Best case scenario, it was a student using the confusion to slip into area's he or she wasn't supposed to be, but it was more likely he was looking at the intruder. Finally he found himself in a corridor that was far warmer than the rest and watched as the intruder walked into the room at the end of the hall, closing the door behind themselves.
'Shit.' He thought, there was no way he was going to be able to slip into that room unnoticed with him having closed the door. Not to mention if the guy really was a villain and from everything Ranma had seen there was every reason to believe he was than the room was undoubtedly important. Which meant the door had to be well fortified. If he went for help, there was a decent chance no one would be there when he got back, even now the alarms were off. "What was it that Nabiki said when she had me move the training weights around the dojo last week?" He muttered then cracked him back. "Oh, right. Maximum Effort."
Rearing back, he slammed his foot into the door, it screeched as it flew off the hinges and skid across the floor. Leaping inside, flames rotating around him as his they were on a carousel, he found that he wasn't facing one person, but two. They were standing at the opposite end of the room, in front of one of the many monitors lining the three walls visible to him, and tapping away at the buttons lining the console. One was a young man with pale whitish blue hair, even paler skin, and what looked like scratch marks lining his neck. He wore jeans and a black hoodie. The other was a wisp of a person with no identifiable marks visible, all potentially obscured by the fact they were wearing ninja garb.
"You just got us caught Fade!" The white haired one snapped in a raspy voice. "You shouldn't have followed me."
"With due respect, I had my instructions Shigaraki-san. No matter, he will be dispatched." The one called fade replied, their tone level as they disappeared from sight.
That settled it, Ranma supposed. They definitely weren't students. Fire sprouted from his hands and lifted into the air.
"Great, a pyromancer. One who summons sprites." Shigaraki gumbled, "You'll have to hit him before he can gather enough MP for his bigger spells, Fade."
As if in answer, shuriken, honest to god shuriken, swept through the air toward Ranma. They likely would have gotten him in the back if not for a warning from Willa. Slipping into a forward roll, he avoided the shuriken and found himself face to face with an incoming hand. Bringing his hands in front of him, two intense streams of fire burst into life, acting like thrusters and sending Ranma sliding back the way he'd come.
"You've got pretty good mobility options for a mage without a teleport spell." Shigaraki mused.
More balls of fire slipped into the air and scattered across the room, creating a thin field of fire around the group. "So, you gonna give up?" Ranma asked as he turned and snapped his hand out, plucking an incoming shuriken from the air.
The white haired man began scratching at his neck, showing just where he got the scars from in the first place. "Fade, kill this guy already."
A veritable storm of shuriken littered the air, spinning at odd angles, flying at different speeds, curving far more than he'd ever seen before, but still they all homed in on him. Reaching into the air, Ranma clenched his hand into a fist and pulled. The fire reacted as if it were attached to a bungee cord, dragging Willa along with it.
She's going to be so pissed, he thought. He wouldn't put it past her to just start tracing messages in the air relentlessly while he slept.
Somehow Fade avoided the incoming fire, Shigaraki struck a few of them with a clipboard he took from the desk, obliterating them and slapped at the ones that did hit him until they went out leaving him covered in scorch marks.
The flames washed over him, flickering white at its tips. As fast as he could, Ranma began striking the throwing stars directly in front of him from the air, ignoring any that would pass to his sides. The ones that he'd knocked from the air fell to the ground, the metal that made them up warped and glowing hot.
"Shigaraki-san, I will hold him off. Finish gathering the data." The voice of fade stated from behind him. Whirling, Ranma swept his arm back, sending a swarm of balls of fire through the air, each no bigger than a fingernail. Every single one of of them struck the wall and fizzled out.
Shigaraki snorted, "yeah, whatever." Turning to face the terminal, he paused and called over his shoulder. "If you ever give me an order again, I'll kill you."
The fire around Ranma grew brighter and denser, "Incantation four: Mini-" Ranma cut off his chant, throwing himself to the side as a blade invaded the space he'd been occupying.
"You heroes and naming your attacks. It makes it really easy to know when to strike." Fade spoke, seeming almost casual. His or her voice sounding as if it was right beside Ranma.
Ranma grit his teeth. He just wanted to blast a thin layer of fire over the room, it would at the very least tell him where Fade was, but he couldn't. The fire about his feet was already causing the floor about him to burst apart and the influx of air to ignite in flames. It would sputter out just after, only to reignite again and again with each accompanying explosion of stone.
"Incant, three." Ranma started, ducking under a swing of the ninja's sword. Spotting the distortion under the fire's light, Ranma flicked out all of his fingers. "Ember Swarm."
Flames the size of fireflies sped from his hands, and unlike the last time the sharp hiss of pain and the bursting of the fire midair told Ranma exactly where Fade stood. His body flickered back into sight, giving Ranma a far more defined targed. Launching himself forward, the fire receded from his fist. Not for the first time, he wished he'd had some idea of how much of his fire he could use without causing serious injury, but chances to test it, well they were non-existent.
"An Opening!" Ranma roared as his fist sank into the ninja's stomach, bowling them backwards into a console.
"Kurogiri, I need an exit for two!" Shigaraki snapped from behind him.
Ranma turned to face the other intruder who was holding what looked to be an odd cell phone in one hand. The other was held against the console as it rusted and disintegrated under his touch.
A swirling black mass spread across the floor, and Ranma leapt back even as the white haired villain began to sink into it.
"Our party wasn't set up to deal with someone like you, but I saved the game, it's time for a soft reset." Shigaraki growled. He wiped at the sweat pouring down his face, then added, "Don't forget Fade."
Like a shadow, the mist extended across the floor. Ranma's heart thundered in his chest as he raced for Fade, who'd managed to rise to a knee while clutching his stomach. Ranma skidded to a halt at the edge of the mist, Fade less than a foot from his reach.
"Incantation Six: sniper, revised." Three large balls of flickering fire the size of bowling balls appeared in front of his hand. It wasn't an attack meant for people, so it was a good thing that his target wasn't a person. Instead his target was the floor, "Thermal Canon."
The door opened before he could fire however, pulling his attention to Ectoplasm. When he turned back, they were gone, the only thing remaining was a thin wisp of the shadowy form that disappeared before his eyes.
Ranma's eyes widened as a thought occurred to him. The majority of the damage had been caused by his fire. 'Damn, what if they think I did this?' He thought, his face drained of color as he turned to look at his maths teacher.
"Sensei I-" He was silenced as Ectoplasm shook his head and stalked over to the console, which was covered in rust.
"It seems Nezu was correct in sending me here." Ectoplasm said at last.
They didn't think he did it! He wanted to jump into the air and cheer, to fall into a chair laughing. His relief was short-lived as Ectoplasm turned his attention back on to him. "I believe you can release your flame now. Principal Nezu is going to want to have a talk with you, and I'd rather not leave a trail of scorched or melted metal on our way."
He had to look at his still flaming body to truly remember that he was cloaked in his cobalt flames. Ranma closed his eyes and breathed deeply. His fire wasn't the sort to sputter out, even when he wanted it to. As soon as it was born it had some small measure of will, and like every living thing it desired to continue living. Or at least that's how he always thought about it. He could feel himself warming as the fire drew in on itself, getting smaller. By the time he'd finished, his skin was steaming, even in the still warm air stuffing up the room.
Twenty minutes later he was sitting in front of Nezu and recounting his tale to the dog-rat-person that was his Principal.
"I see. Despite the danger you put yourself in today, I will not deny my gratitude, and I am of the firm opinion that gratitude should come before any lecture. You have helped us glean a lot of worthwhile intelligence, Saotome-Kun." He said, lifting his tea cup to turn it back and forth between his hands. "Due to your interference, you not only confirmed that our intruder wasn't a member of the press, but gave us insight as to their quirks. A warping quirk, an invisibility quirk, and the ability to break down whatever one touches, like was done to the computers. However, you endangered yourself in the process."
What followed was a forty minute lecture about the dangers of going into a situation that he wasn't prepared for, and the fact that he should have trusted his teachers to take care of the situation. It also covered the hows and whens of using a quirk such as his own, which he apparently should not have given the size of the room and the information stored with said room. By the end of it, Ranma was staring at him slack jawed, grunting whenever his brain thought it appropriate. However, if anyone looked into his eyes they probably would have noticed his brain had gone into autopilot at some point during the Principal's speech.
"As such, you will be punished, but I will leave Aizawa in charge of what exactly that is for now and leave this at a stern talking to. Do we understand one another, Ranma-Kun?"
Absentmindedly, Ranma started to nod and caught himself. "Yes sir." Ranma said, all but leaping to his feet, and was out the door before Nezu could bring up something, anything, that would stop him.
"Oh, and Saotome-Kun, a new uniform will be delivered to you this evening. It should make any more forced transitions a touch more bearable."
In that moment, he decided that the Principal was a total sadist, and educating students was his favorite past-time. It explained so much, especially why he was willing to employ Midnight. Still, he thanked the Principal and beat an even hastier retreat. As he neared his class, he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or bawl his eyes out while smacking himself non stop. He'd managed to miss the majority of the latter half of the day, leaving only half of Art History remaining, which made a small voice inside him dance in glee while a much louder voice screamed about all the extra work it would take for him just to understand the lesson when he wasn't there for it.
"I wonder what Nabiki will want for the help." He muttered. She hadn't asked for anything when giving out the directions to school, but when he went to her because their father's told him Nabiki was a better choice to ask, He'd listened, and ever since he was a glorified gofer, at least when he wasn't studying or practicing out in the dojo.
The door swept open, revealing the R-Rated Hero, and Ranma turned his gaze to her eyes, locking them there.
"Please join us Saotome-Kun." She gestured to his seat as she spoke.
Ranma did just that.
Instead of making some form of lewd comment like Ranma was expecting, and he'd a decent amount of reasons to think she would, considering how she'd make off the cuff innuendo to anyone who drew her attention. It never got as far as harassment, however. Nemuri-Sensei returned to her lecture about some twenty-first century artist who actually preferred creating cartoons over the painting of a clay pot featuring the greek hero Herakles strangling a serpent.
In other words, Ranma found it as informative as watching wet paint dry. Ranma was in the midst of fighting off his urge for an afternoon nap when a piece of folded paper landed on his desk. He looked around and found everyone's attention focused on Nemuri, there wasn't the slightest clue as to who'd written it.
'You're an idiot'. Was written in large block letters.
By the time class wound down, Ranma still had no more idea who wrote the note than when it'd first arrived. He wasn't dumb enough to believe that because is came from behind him meant that it was someone behind him that threw it. The lettering wasn't helpful either. (I wasn't sure if I should put a scene in that tells you exactly who wrote the note. I figure it can be something that's answered later.)
When Aizawa walked into the class he looked ready to say something, but stopped himself. "It seems you're all capable of making the correct choices. Good. Today, we'll be going over what to do in the event of an emergency on campus. Which is not to run towards the danger, for a start."
Ranma winced. After thirty minutes of going over the rules and requirements, Aizawa turned them to something else. Strategizing.
"Form into groups of those sitting in your row. I'll give you the scenario and you'll have a set amount of time per scenario to come up with a viable solution." He paused as if waiting for something. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
There was a mad scramble of scraping tables and chairs, inane chattering, loud steps and laughter before they'd finished. Ranma sat beside Shouji and greeted him quickly before turning to look across from him. It was one of the boys he'd never spoken to, but had often seen laughing. Wracking his brain for a name, he came up with nothing besides 'tape'. Besides the tape guy was Jiro, and at the end of the table was the last member of the group, the bird headed teen, Tokoyami. He hadn't spoken to the avian youth before either, but had taken note of his name due to the fact that like Ranma, he had a sentient quirk.
There weren't so many of them with such quirks that one could ignore another when they came around.
"The scenario. Four villains have taken control of a research facility that is focused on quirk research. They have taken the employees hostage. Your group is the first on scene, and you find the police cannot approach as it seems the air around the building is seeded with mines. Your goal is to rescue the hostages and capture the villain's. You have three minutes, begin."
Jiro didn't waste any time. "There's not enough information, we don't know the building size, how many employees, the villains' quirks, is any of the experiments are dangerous, or what the villains are after."
Shoji formed a mouth at the end of one of his tentacles. "Not to mention if there has been any form of negotiations done."
"The true identity of those bearing blackened hearts is oft the key to their undoing. A name is truly a powerful thing." Tokoyami said as he tapped at the table.
It took Ranma a moment to understand the other teen, but he agreed. If they knew their names, they might figure out if they'd been incarcerated before and what method had been used. Ranma wracked his brain, he strained to find anything to add to the conversation. Something that could be helpful. Finally, he snapped his fingers.
"Blueprints, even if the villains had someone on the inside, if we know the building better than they do we'll have an advantage." He said.
Aizawa came to them and told them to ask their questions, and Ranma thought he saw his teacher quirk a smile before the man answered in the same droll voice he always used.
"So we've a six story building, three above ground and three below." Sero said and tapped at his chin thoughtfully. "The camera's were where again."
Shouji pointed at the rough blueprint Aizawa had provided them. "Three here around the entrance each on a rotation so there are no blind spots. There's also two at each corner of the building's roof and they overlap."
"The only known quirks the villains have are the air mine quirk and the pain to strength quirk Aizawa said they used to get past the doors." Jiro added. "The worst part is we don't know where those mines are."
They looked at Ranma wondering if he'd had any thought and Ranma shrugged, "I was kinda hoping they had an evacuation tunnel or something we could use to sneak in."
Jiro began twirling her earphone jack about her finger, "I could use my equipment to send soundwaves towards the building? It might vibrate the air enough to set the bombs off?" She said.
"Saotome-San's fire might be able to do the same thing." Shouji added.
"So here's what we do then. We send Willa in to take out the camera's-" he paused when Ranma shook his head.
Extending his hand as if he was cupping something, he mentally prodded the heat within him and directed it to his palm. Willa climbed out yawning not a moment later. "Willa can only get 'bout nine hundred meters from me and at that point she's bout as hot as a match. Any further and she breaks down."
"Wait, she went further during the assessment test." Sero countered.
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I built up extra heat for her to absorb to go a bit further. I could do it here but it'd probably set off the mines."
"So sneaking in is a no go huh? Then we go in loud." Jiro said, "Shouji, could you get a rough location of the hostages? They'll have them all together."
The six armed teen thought about it before he nodded. nodded, "It won't be perfect, and it'd be better it I was closer. But I can extend my limbs until at least one is at the building."
"So, we target the hostages, after Shoji tells us where they are I blast the air to set off the mines in one area while Ranma does it in another about a minute later." She paused to point at the blue print again from two different angles. Then he and Sero get in through the window nearest them and take whatever guard they have stationed there. Ranma holds the room by clogging the corridors with his fire and Sero uses his tape to get the hostages to safety. After that we go for the villains."
"That's time people. Each group choose one person to present how you handled the situation."
One group after another gave their answer, Group one had Yaoyorozu give her answer which was quite similar to their own though instead of infiltrating the building they had Todoroki freeze the building over as he'd done in the battle trial.
Shouji gave their answer, explaining how they hadn't managed to complete the arrest, but Aizawa had him explain their plan nonetheless before they moved on.
Sato shook his head when Aizawa turned to him. "With Koda's help we could gather the information we needed, but we couldn't figure out a way to get by the air mines."
Then it was Tohru's turn. "Well, our plan was to have me sneak in and wait until they were alone to knock them upside the head with whatever was nearby and cuff them with suppressor cuffs."
Finally, Aizawa nodded. "Each of your groups took the scenario seriously, however the scenario itself wasn't the point of this exercise. The questions you asked me were. Knowledge is power, and it's often enough the reason heroes succeed or fail when their quirk isn't perfect for the situation."
The bell rang. "Before you leave for the day, I have arranged for the match between Saotome and Ojiro. If you wish to observe, follow me.
He guided them out of the building and into another, this one completely bare of anything save for the thick grey concrete that made up its walls and floor.
"Saotome, Ojiro." Aizawa gestured to the middle of the room while he moved to stand against the wall.
As Ranma did as he was told, he felt his heart begin to race, just like it always did when he was about to go into a fight. He couldn't stop smiling.
There were several skills Ranma had learned since he'd begun training in the art. All of them were useful, but one had come in handy so often that it became something he did without realizing it. The ability to roughly determine the skill level of his opponent in hand to hand combat. It was like their skill level was plastered on a billboard framed in neon lights.
Ojiro was no different. From the looks of him all of his training was very formal and done by a simple dojo master. Which wasn't surprising if he didn't travel. Those Ranma considered to be true master's of the art, the ones that never stopped advancing were often recluses. He'd been beating the dojo master's since he was eleven.
Ranma took up his usual stance, hands behind his back and his head tilted to the side as if he were confused by what he was seeing. It was the first step in the Anything Goes style, the mocking ape.
Across from him, he saw Ojiro's face twist in annoyance before he slipped back into a state of calm.
'Got ya.' He thought. It was the first blow even if his opponent didn't realize it, and it wasn't likely he did. There weren't many masters of the art in the world in this day and age, and most of those weren't the sort Ranma would ever consider a master. They barely knew how to do more than throw a punch properly.
Aizawa's hand went down, Ojiro lanced forward, and Ranma waited. He leaned to the side to avoid Ojiro's punch, back flipped over the sweep that followed, and landed in a handstand on Ojiro's tail as it swept by. Pushing off, he returned to his starting point and began step two.
Smirking, he waved at his opponent.
He attacked again. Ranma weaved through punch after punch and kick after kick, evading by the slimmest margin he could. He slipped into Ojiro's guard to stare him in the eye and grin as wide as he could before returning to his dodging.
Rearing back as quick as he could, Ranma started to throw a punch and Ojiro leapt back slamming his tail into the ground, he flipped through the air to land in a crouch.
"Fight back already! You act like you're so much better than the rest of us. This dancing shit aint showin' me anything new!" Bakugo howled from the sidelines.
"I disagree, Saotome-san seems to be getting the measure of Ojiro, whil-"
Ranma stopped listening to Yaoyorozu and returned his attention to the match. Though he had to admit to himself, Bakugo had a point. This was supposed to be a demonstration as much as it was a spar. Sprinting forward, his body low, Ranma crossed the distance between them in less than two seconds, bypassed Ojiro's guard, and fired a kick at the tailed teens face.
Like the attack Ojiro had thrown, it missed, however unlike Ranma, Ojiro blinked at the foot for a moment before jumping back to regain a bit of distance. Ranma found himself surprised, the other teen had dodged on pure instinct. It wasn't something you saw everyday, as even those with animal based quirks like Tsuyu's frog were not guaranteed to have instincts strong enough to do that.
Ranma attacked again and Ojiro slammed his tail into the concrete, sending several large chunks into the air as he rushed to meet him. A mistake Ranma was determined to make him pay for. His blonde opponent immediately went on the defensive as Ranma rained blow after blow upon him, his arms a blur of motion. The solar plexus, nose, throat, and temple were his main targets, but it didn't stop him from targeting the martial arts hero's arms and legs. He rolled backwards as Ojiro's tail went from defensive to offensive and tried to skewer him.
Ojiro stood there, arms held weakly in the guard position in front of him, though Ranma guessed it was mostly for show. His guard was too low and haphazard, his left eye was in the midst of swelling shut, and blood was leaking freely from his lip. Even so, he didn't look close to being ready to quit.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! Hell yeah!"
Ranma barely noted Bakugou's yell. He darted forward, aiming to sweep Ojiro's legs from beneath him, when Ojiro's guard tightened up as if it'd never been faulty in the first place. The tail was coming again, and Ranma, unable to slow his momentum enough to avoid it, went faster. He grabbed the tail and started to use it as a springboard when it changed directions and hurled him into the air.
He managed to grab Ojiro by the tail before he could go too far, and heaved his opponent into the air alongside him. It was apparent from the start that Ojiro had no idea what he was doing in the air, at least when he didn't put himself there. It wasn't a surprise, as unless you had a flight quirk one didn't typically train for combat without the ground beneath you. Using Ojiro's tail to change his direction, Ranma slammed his foot into the surprised teen's stomach, sending him into the ground in a battered heap.
Landing a few moments later, Ranma waited for the other hero in training to rise to his feet. He didn't.
"Saotome won." Aizawa said, sounding less than pleased. He pressed a button near the door, and from the wall came two robots on three wheels each. They looked remarkably like mail boxes, at least in Ranma's opinion, carrying a litter between them. "However, Saotome, that you spent much of that spar toying with your opponent is wasteful. Remedy that. The rest of you, ask yourselves, if Saotome were a villain you were trying to subdue, could you?"
He stalked out of the door after the robots.
"Dude, the way you guys were trying to wail one each other!" Kirishima roared as he rushed toward Ranma. "That's my type of fight!"
Shoji walked up beside Kirishima, "I doubt you'd have the stamina to pose a decent threat, as Ranma-san will outpace you, I don't know if he could get through your hardening Kirishima-san but you can't win if you can't hit him.. However, that's not why I'm here," he turned his attention to Ranma. "I would like to extend an offer to join a few of us for a meal."
"Yeah, why not." Ranma said, it wasn't like it would hurt to get to know his classmates.
So it was that. Ranma found himself guided to a decently sized restaurant a half block away from the train station along with Shoji, Midoriya, Jiro, Uraraka, and Kirishima. From the sign to the short curtains in the entranceway everything about U-chan's screamed old fashioned.
"This is so awesome! I love okonomiyaki!" Kirishima crowed.
(I want some!) Willa danced through the air ahead of them, the words trailing through the air behind her.
"Willa-san, I didn't know you needed to eat." Midoriya exclaimed, he pulled a battered notebook from his pack and started flipping through the pages. "When you eat do you gain mass? Is it converted into fuel? Do you taste or does everything taste burnt? Do you have a limit as to how much you eat?"
Jiro grabbed his shoulder stopping him, "Dude, chill, and it's rude to ask a girl those things."
Midoriya bowed his head with a blush. "Sorry." He mumbled.
(Jiro-Chan!) The flaming pixie rocketed through the air and slammed into Jiro's cheek.
The rock girl looked as if she was about to flick the sprite away when she stopped cold. "She doesn't burn." She whispered.
"She can control what she burns." Ranma said, "what I can't figure out is how she can actually hold on to something."
Yaoyorozu tapped her chin thoughtfully, "well fire is energy, I suppose that if she can control the energy's wave-length it could be physical, it's the same principle as telekinesis." Though as she said this she didn't seem too sure of her own words.
Kirishima paused and pointed toward a smaller building nestled between two much larger ones. "There it is. This is going to be good I can tell."
"It's surprisingly affordable too, and Ukyo-chan is so sweet!" Uraraka chirped, she skipped ahead of them into the building, "Ukyo, I'm back and I brought some friends!"
The name Ucchan was prodding the edge of Ranma's memory. There was the briefest flash of sadness, grief, possibly something else. It came and went so quickly Ranma didn't have the time to classify it.
The answering vice was deep and sweet, "welcome back sugar, sit anywhere y'all like."
Following the rest into the dinning area, he smiled, the traditional look wasn't just kept to the outside of the building. There weren't many pleasant memories of his training trip within him, but the few that managed to crop up were set in small diner's like the one in which he stood, or on rare occasions a food cart.
Only one person worked the grill, a slender young man with black hair tied into a long tail, waring a short sleeved blue blouse with the sleeves tied back.
As they took a seat at the bar, Ranma stared at the other boy... or was he a she? Either way, they looked familiar.
(Do I know you? You seem familiar?) Willa wrote, but the chef didn't see them as their head stayed focused on their craft. By the time they did look up the fiery words had burnt themselves out. Willa seeing that she'd gone unnoticed pouted as she flew into Ranma's air.
"What can I get ya?" The voice was gruff, but sweet. "Vegetable is our special for today."
Ranma watched as she finished the traditional japanese pizza, and with a deft flick of her wrist sent the dish soaring through the air to land without the slightest splash of sauce in front of Uraraka.
Even as they placed their orders, a small swarm of people entered the building.
"Train must be early." The chef murmured and in rapid succession set their okonomiyaki to cooking on the grill. "I've been getting alot more business since you started coming, Uraraka-san." The chef stated, giving the girl a wink before moving to the new customers to greet them.
Ranma's stomach grumbled. "It's worth the wait Ranma-san." Uraraka said as she looked almost greedily at the food before her. She hadn't taken a bite, no doubt waiting for their food to arrive.
"Don't wait on our account." Yaoyorozu said.
"Go on Uraraka-san. Eat up." Kirishima said, he gave her a thumbs up.
The rest of them agreed as Ranma's stomach demanded attention again. He couldn't help it, the food smelled good and a fragment of a memory played before his eyes. He was small, it couldn't have been more than a year into his journey, he was sitting on top of another boy eating the same delicious fare that was cooking in front of him. He couldn't help but smile. The boy felt like a friend.
The memory slipped away like so much vapor in the wind as an Okonomiyaki landed in front of him. He cut away a small section of the pie for Willa, who pounced on the food as she became a ball of fire that ate away at the edges of the okonomiyaki without the slightest hint of smoke. When he was younger, he would watch Willa burn the food away and would often ask just where it went. She'd just giggle with the sound of crackling fire and pat her belly. Eventually, he stopped asking. Turning to his food he dug in. He could honestly say, it was amongst the best he'd ever eaten.
Sadly it was gone all too soon. There was a pang of hunger from his stomach, and Ranma fought off the urge to order another serving. His compatriots were patting their stomachs contentedly, and if Uraraka was the sort to wait to eat, then she was more than likely the type to wait until he'd finished his own meal.
Rapping a hand against his stomach he sighed, 'I'll just get something when I get back to the dojo, it's not like I can afford more anyway.' He silently told himself. Standing he pressed the yen to the counter, and grinned toward the chef. "That was great thanks."
Ukyo looked at him, paused, looked over at Willa then back at him and finally smiled. "'Course sugar. Come back soon."
A/N:
As always, major thanks to my Beta: DeathofSnipers! All should scream their thanks to the heavens as without his support than this chapter wouldn't have gotten done!
Okay folks that's the chapter! I apologize for being late, a few difficulties deciding things. In the next chapter it finally happens. The U.S.J.
I hope you're looking forward to it, I know I am.
Please remember folks all chapter's are up a week or nearly a week before on my page along with all the story art I do. You can also download it as an Epub. (Ibook's only for now. If any of you could suggest a conversion site you know it would be greatly appreciated.)
Firemaster101: Thank you very much! WIlla's one of my favorite characters and she will start getting more screen time.
I hope you continue to enjoy the chapters I put out and if you've any suggestions I am always glad to hear them.
James Birdsong: Thank you for reading, I hope I can continue to write chapters your enjoy. I am thankful for your support.
K0tar: my apologies if the body Ranma's using isn't clear. I only ever view Ranma as a male no matter which body he wears as he always acts like a male. I will see if I can't make the needed change to either shift to using the proper pronoun or make it completely clear when he is changed into a she.
If you have any other thoughts, concerns or ideas please feel free to drop me a line.
KaijuOh: I don't have a reference photo . Currently, I am doing all the art for the story and I'm not artist. I am however, working on one of Ranma in his costume.
Thanks for reading.
Major Simi: Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it and really hope you contineu to do so.
Dumbledork: Thank you, finding the right dynamic with the class has been difficult to some extent but not because they can't get along. Ranma is a good hearted guy and usually is pretty easy to get along with. The question becomes which role did he fit. I think I got him in roughly the right place.
Thank you for reading and your continued support. I will work so I don't disapoint.
Law-Kun: The month of time is something I did rush through, though there was a purpose, part of it is because to keep it MHA i'd either have to do either villan fights or random encounters with characters from the show and I"d feel it was more natural if it happened after he began attending classes.
Willa will have a bit more explanation next chapter during the USJ, as will many of his opinions on his classmates. I wanted to give him a chance to know them a bit better.
I appreciate you reading and I hope you continue to read and enjoy.
Sceonn: While you aren't wrong, there's an exception to every rule. Finding these particular loopholes is going to be a challenge but one I do look forward to. Thank you for reading and taking the time to review.
Innortal: Thank you very much for the compliment and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. As for Ranma's quirk… Well, I have read a number of fic's where Ranma gets some power or another and it's usually wind, or something to do with adapting and the like. I figured some kind of change was in order and I'm glad people are reacting so well to my choice.
Bill Oreilly: Thank you so much for taking the time to read my work, let alone review it. I hope you continue reading!