BNHA: Dual Fates
Chapter 59: The Interlude...
"Toga, I asked you to find one so why aren't you looking?!" Shigaraki's irritated voice resonated over Kurogiri's phone and through the speaker.
The said bartender kept the device held up as comical waves nearly pushed the said girl off of the bar stool she sat on. "Whaa!" With a harsh thunk, the blonde fell and landed on her butt. Hearing the anger spout from the speaker and falling from his unexpected shout, caused a pout to play at her lips. (I.. did not mean for some of it to rhyme. X'D) "I'm sorry! I was busy thinking about Miss Muni and how cool she is! I love how she's so brutal! Blood goes everywhere like beautiful red rain!" With her arms high above her head, she stood with a little whirling dance and giggled.
"Unless you want to die, I suggest you hurry it up!" Tomura trailed for a moment, over the phone everyone could hear a sigh and silence after it until he spoke again, in a much calmer tone. "Anyway- Kurogiri? How's the wedding officiant? It took me a while to find one of those damn people and I don't want him getting away," questioned their temperamental leader. Despite how angry he seemed, there was almost a possessive tone behind his words and Kuro's head looked toward the phone rather curiously.
"Yes... He... Is indeed secure. We're keeping him in the back room so no disturbances are made. By the way- have you seen Dabi?" With the said man missing since the last time they discussed their plan with Haru, the bartender's curiosity lingered and he wondered if Tomura took him with him somewhere.
"I had him go out and look for a place for the wedding, while I was busy with that damn Officiant... Right now- I'm waiting for a good moment to grab. She's mine," His last two words were whispered, barely noticeable, neither Kuro nor Toga picked that up and by the sound of his silence it was proof he was relieved that they didn't.
"To grab, you mean 'kidnap'? Wait- you plan to kidnap her during school hours? Hehehe!~" This time it was Toga's turn to perk up. Pure joy filled her face when her cheeks blushed at the thought of the kidnapping, however, it was only her little fantasy that made her believe such a thing was romantic. With her balled fists close to her chest and her eyes wide with life, it was hard for her to contain herself.
"Yes... But only when an opportunity comes. Kurogiri- use your quirk to get me close to her and back here as fast as you can, when I tell you to," Demanded the flaky man, for he couldn't stop thinking about the idea of her in a dress. Her beautiful, tan scales which would be reflecting the rays of the sunset, and crimson tainting the bottom of her wedding gown where her victims would lay, all but caused uncontrollable red tints to fill his pale cheeks on the other side of the phone.
"Very well, sir," Just like that, with a simple click on his phone the call ended. He really does like her... Why would he bother going through so much trouble to marry her, when he could simply marry her off to some random villain? He wouldn't have chosen to marry. That girl looks no older than seventeen or eighteen, I can only hope she's of age... When the bartender sighed, he picked up two shakers and began to mix together drinks for future needs. I might as well prep some beverages, to contribute. His last thoughts echoed rather exhaustively and ignored the giggling child across the room.
~~~~Uviel~~~~
A stadium, old, abandoned, re-structured thanks to Cemetos and a few others, kept a metal dome over the student's heads as they all stood along the vast walls inside.
Their hero costumes were all put on and Kage quietly floated with the cybergirl on top. Haru, on the other hand, sat next to her, a frown and cross-legged without so much as a slip off from the lack of space. Haru's feet, which were covered by thin skin-colored material, kept her from sliding off the side.
"So..." Began Mr. Aizawa, as he pulled out a stopwatch and bore his dark eyes into many other pairs. "This entire stadium was reconstructed for the sole purpose of this training regimen. Principle Nezu believes this to be an excellent location to improve your overall stability as heroes. Your quirks are not allowed in this, in fact, you will be pushing or moving all obstacles that get in your way. Which will include large rocks, boulders, or any kind of other heavy objects that could slow you down. Your main priority, however, is to sprint until the time on this stopwatch is done. There will be no jogging or walking in between laps. This is so I can see how much work you will need to increase your stamina and endurance. Keep in mind, hard resolve is what will keep you going... If you lack resolve or heart, then you will surely give up sooner than most," After he explained, a hand rose above one of the student's heads and took notice of Momo who looked rather concerned.
"Mr... Aizawa? Heroes don't give up that easily, so why are you mentioning that part?" Curious, her dark hues remained on a similar pair before a sigh sounded from the Teacher in black.
"If your resolve is weak, then you will most likely give up on someone's life if they're too hard to save! Every second counts, every moment is dire, and the more time you spend wondering if you'll even make it to them, the more likely they are to die sooner! Keep all of this in mind. Hesitation can kill an innocent life... This is what the training is for. The more exhausted you become, the more you will falter and question your chances. Now- anything else?" As silence befell them all, he kept his attention on the students until one of them spoke up.
"How come we're not allowed to use our quirks?! I could just blast my way through those obstacles!" Bakugo, as usual, fumed and made sparks fly from his palms. Furious that he nor anyone else was allowed to use quirks. "Besides-" Quickly, with a finger pointed at Uviel and her friend who were chilling on top of Kage, he continued. "Saito and Yukimura will make the training unfair! Saito's damn strength and Yukimura's speed will-" Before he could finish, an outburst from their Teacher silenced his own.
"It cannot be helped with Saito! She doesn't use quirks, to begin with- but to make sure nothing is easy for her, I've already restricted the use of her robot and her boots. She can still wear them but she cannot use them. As for Yukimura, she will be given weights on her ankles to slow her down, much like the time when Edgeshot had to fight Saito and Hatsume. Now then, since that's cleared..." After a moment's pause and with a close of his eyes, they snapped back open to reveal those red hues from his quirk. "I will be using my own quirk to make sure no one else can use theirs and I will also pick who to go first," Finally, after a long explanation, he felt like he was getting somewhere and so, he walked away from the long trail made by Cementos.
It was so long, that the kids could barely see the curve of the path. The stadium was indeed vast, but the path they had to run on was thin and countless obstacles such as cement walls and boulders covered it. Beautiful green grass the size of a football field reached the barely noticeable, distant curve of the path with little to no trees around.
"Yaoyorozu Momo, since you were the first to raise your hand- you will be the first to run. And remember, this goes for all of you, if anyone chooses to use their quirks despite the rules- then you will have to run all over again," Against the wall Aizawa's back pressed and kept his other hand in his pocket.
"W- What?! Aw," With a pout, the dark-haired girl walked over to a long red line spray-painted across the start of the path and took a position.
"Woooo, hahaha! Go Momo! Let me see those ti-" Mineta, who cheered her on, was soon suffocated by Ashido from a deathly head-lock. His words were cut off and muffled into her arm with many struggling attempts to get free, the pinky didn't much like the idea of making her friend feel uncomfortable.
"You can do it!" In Mineta's place, Mina rooted for Momo with a lift of her other arm. It was hard not to express her joy and encouragement, especially when the training is meant to test resolve.
"Go girl, you got this!" Yukimura cheered, for she ignored what she had done earlier before class and did her best to keep on her bright smile. The brunette could definitely sense nervousness from Momo when she heard the girl's breath hitch, but she knew she was trying to calm herself down to prepare.
In and out, Momo breathed, corrected her posture more, and hunkered down to get ready; her newfound determination sharpened her eyes as she stared at the long path ahead.
"On your mark-" Aizawa began with his red hues focused on the girl and lifted his free hand out of his pocket. "Get set-" This time, his fingers inched on top of the start button on his stopwatch and waited. Back to the girl, his attention went, making sure she was just as ready as his finger on the device. "Go!" As fast as his eyes could follow and as quickly his fingers tapped on the stopwatch, he watched her sprint.
At full speed, she leaped over a stone stump in the path and weaved through several walls with short widths. However, there was that large, particular wall that scared her a little. It was much larger than her and the other walls she zigzagged past. In fact, it blocked off the majority of the thin path. Its height loomed over and made dread fill her mind, about how impossible it would be to climb over. Disbelief, discouraging, many words could describe how she felt at that moment.
How am I supposed to get around this?! Panic, and afraid, she wavered at the sight and halted just before the intimidating wall. The sounds of her distant friends cheering were what kept her from giving up right then and there, for it also encouraged her to ponder as fast as she could. With a slap to her cheeks, her eyes soon showed the determination she had at the start and took a deep breath. If I use one of the other walls I zigzagged around, I could jump over to the top of this instead! With a simple nod of her head, she turned around and did her best to climb the walls behind her.
It took her a few, but she managed and leaped to each other wall until she did as she planned. Across the smaller wall, she closed the gap and used her hands to latch onto the top of the giant one. Momo did her best to hang on, as the balls of her feet struggled to scrape up the cement and climb.
What took her a minute or so, took less time to hop over. As steady as she can make it, she landed on her feet with a bursting sprint to the best of her ability. She could feel her heart pounding and her heavy breaths escaping, but nonetheless, her dark eyes were fixated on the curve that grew closer by the minute. I see it! When I begin to turn here, that will mean I'm almost halfway back to start! Just knowing that much, made a relieved smile on her face bloom. Sweat already trickled down her soft complexion with the bounces of her belt tapping against her legs along the way.
As time passed, so did the run, and it showed the girl leaning over with panted breaths. In front of Aizawa who held up the stopwatch, she saw that her time was two minutes and thirty-five seconds. "Not too bad, Yaoyorozu. Next time, do a little better. There is always room for improvement. However, your thinking skills of how to overcome that large wall were impressive, good job," When he nonchalantly congratulated the girl, he saw her eyes light up with joy and increased confidence before he moved his eyes to the rest of the group.
"Alright, next- Kirishima Eijiro," As calm as ever he announced. Those dark hues watched Momo make her way back to the group and give the next dude a thumbs-up.
"G- Good luck, Eijiro!" Shouted the lighter redhead sitting atop Kage. Her small and cute smile never waned when she watched his muscular backside move closer to the start of the path. It was a little difficult to hold back her crimson cheeks, for she couldn't avert her gaze from his cool outfit and manly vibe. Why can't I stop staring? Her embarrassed and astonished thoughts echoed until she saw his crimson eyes peek at her from over his shoulder.
"Thanks, Uviel!" His own burning cheeks lit his face up with life and with a wave of his hand, his attention returned to the starting line. Whaaaa I can't wait to show off some manliness to her! In Eijiro's mind was nothing but pumped-up confidence and excitement, for even an old feudal era background comically appeared behind him.
"Get ready-" Shota began, with a lift of his hand and prepared his finger on top of the stopwatch's button. "Get set-" Now that he was prepped, his quirk-empowered hues looked back at the boy. "Go!" As if on cue, when his hand swiped, he watched Eijiro sprint a lot faster than Momo had.
He did as Yaoyorozu did, he zigzagged from side to side, although, he was much quicker and more skilled. That sort of skill brought him to the large wall after he saw it grow closer, with its looming, discouraging height that most people would see at a rock-climbing building.
He didn't even stop to think, for he bashed his head into the wall in hopes of crushing it but it only resulted in blood trickling down his forehead. He paid no mind to the sting he received or the warmth from the red liquid. This time, instead of using his head that way, he chose to use his head another way and that was to do the same Momo had done. Although unlike her, he climbed the closest smaller wall and leaped across the gap, successfully landing on his feet. He wasted no time keeping his balance, in fact, he let gravity yank him down with an easy landing and with a bursting sprint.
"AAAH!" Through gritted teeth, he rammed into a large boulder that barely nudged and used all of his human strength to push it out of the way. All of his muscles appeared as strained as his face looked, but nonetheless, his efforts were not in vain. The said boulder inched a few spaces but when it was finally pushed out of the way, he took no time at all to think before continuing through the path. "Hahaha! I see the curve!" He yelled, went over a conveniently placed fat tree with a hardy leap, and up ahead he saw a cemented cliff to the side. Curious, his crimson hues blinked as countless rocks came barreling toward him. "What the-!" For a moment, hesitation kept him from moving.
All of those tumbling rocks made it difficult to even pass, for the ground shook beneath his feet upon each rolling rock. When he saw that there was no end to them, frustration started to fill his mind, and decided to just wing it. With one large jump, he stepped onto one of the rocks and practically used them as stepping stones to get across. The crunching sounds and the rumbling were all resonating around him, although. However, one tiny slip almost made him fall off and it was enough to push him into making a risky jump to the other side.
"Hah!" His quick timing allowed him to roll to a slow stop, it wasn't long until he pushed himself into a burst of speed once more. Uviel... I hope I look cool! He could feel his own legs burning and his heart ramming against his chest, the sweat which trickled down his skin nearly made all of his muscles gloss.
After a long run, he slowed down and he reached Mr. Aizawa not too much longer, panting like a dog. "Whooo! That was pretty fun!" He stood there in pools of sweat with a bright smile that could outshine the sun itself.
"Well done, Kirishima. Your time was four minutes and twenty-two seconds. I saw how you hesitated during the rock slide, you couldn't figure out how to get passed them so you used them as stepping stones. Your stamina for running a long time seems to be good too, you did an excellent job. However, I'd suggest working on keeping yourself calmed down a little more, it looked like you were frustrated and that can also slow you down," Shota, who kept his stopwatch held up, saw how exhausted the boy looked and gave him a nod of approval.
"Alright. Thanks, Mr. Aizawa!" Eijiro's bow was quick before he ran back to the group and halted next to the cybergirl atop her robot. Flustered, he gave her a shy smile and hoped that his performance at least made her face red. When he peeked his eyes up at hers, he saw that it was much brighter than he expected and saw how hard she tried to hide her cute smile.
"Y- You were so cool out there, Eijiro.~" From Uviel's sweet smile, her stunning sapphire hues averting and her sweet smile trying to hide, she wasn't aware that her reaction only made the darker redhead turn tomato-red.
"T- Thanks, haha!"Scratching his head and nervously shifting his feet, a purposeful cough from their Teacher snapped him out of it, and knew that it did the same to Saito, for she too flinched upon his abrupt sound.
"You two... Leave romance out of classes. Anyway-" As Shota scolded and rubbed his irritated eyes, his finger pointed at Mezou who looked a little taken aback by the choice. "Shouji Mezou, you're next," It was just for a moment that he deactivated his quirk and pulled out some eye drops, while he made his way over back to the wall.
He didn't need to see if the said student complied or not, his faint footsteps were enough to say he did as ordered. When he turned around and lifted the stopwatch, he rose his free hand with those quirk-empowered eyes regaining their red hues. "Get ready—" His voice, loud and authoritative, shouted for all to hear. "Get set-" Slowly his finger inched on top of the button, to prepare his timing. After he saw how the boy got into position for a full burst sprint, he swiped his hand to signal him. "Go!" As fast as his eyes could see, the tall student raced about as fast as Kirishima had and performed large leaps over top of each small wall instead of zigzags like the previous two.
Mezou could hear his classmates cheering him on, as he jumped over each small wall with little to no effort. To say their encouragement wasn't effective, would be a life, for he felt nothing but motivation in his veins and pumping him full of energy. His swift feet carried him closer to the impending giant wall, which gradually became bigger the further he ran and he knew by its sheer size that he wouldn't be able to hop over. One big jump should at least let me grab onto the edge of it. If I scrape my feet along its side, it should give me a couple of inches extra. With that in mind, he did as he planned and leaped. Much strength was put into his legs, just before the balls of his feet scrapped against the surface and pushed him up.
Thankfully his plan worked, for his many hands hoisted him up and yanked him over about as fast. However, as soon as he saw the same thing Kirishima had to go through, he wasted no time and used all of his arms to push the boulder back; which was a little easier than when Eijiro had done it.
With haste, he swerved around when there was some space and sprinted. His large mass and height seemed to have given him an advantage when he saw countless rocks coming his way. That's the rock slide Kirishima went through! I have to hurry! His mind raced, panic boiled his adrenaline, and was almost run over by a few large rocks if he hadn't caught the last one in time. He didn't know what to do, how to get through the rest of it seeing that he was halfway. Another rock rolled and crashed into the one he held, which caused more strain on his muscles the more he tried to hold them off.
Finally, after darting his eyes between a couple of other tumbling ones, he jumped over a large space to the side to avoid being crushed under the weight of possibly a third rock, crashing into the two he held off. Weave and dodge, he rushed through the chaos and soon found himself on the other side face to face, with fallen trees that blocked his way.
So many trees, too many to count, the path was well hidden beneath it all and he nearly lost motivation. Think, I need to think! For a moment he closed his eyes and shook his head until an idea came to mind. It took him a few seconds to look closely at the cluttered trees to notice a pattern, a small path that most wouldn't have noticed.
He didn't want to spend too much time thinking, as he quickly made way for the barely noticeable pathway and performed many tricks to race through. It took him some time to finally get past the thick trees, even more so to keep going until he became too exhausted. At that moment, when he reached Mr. Aizawa, he kept that calm facade and tough act despite how unbearably tired he felt. The sweat, the heavy breaths, and his aching limbs all screamed at him to lie down.
"You did some good work out there, but you were stuck at the rock slide for a bit and hesitated at the trees. Regardless, you performed well with the time of four minutes and fifteen seconds, a little less than Kirishima but otherwise excellent. There are some things to work on, so I'd suggest giving yourself a little more time to train your focus," After what Shota explained and congratulated, an appreciative bow was what he received from the tall student before he watched him head toward the cheerful group.
As Uviel smiled and pondered about Eijiro's display during that run, something felt strange. Something, that she couldn't put her finger on until recognition hit her. "G- Guys! Guys! I-" As fast as her feet could stand on top of Kage, she saw everyone's heads look at her with concern when she watched her own vision begin to change.
Like a movie projector, as if the film was being burned, blotches of black filled her sight, and responses in her body had shut down. What? What?! Why?! He's taking over me again?! Why?! Fear was all she could feel, and all alone, in the blackness of her mind was where she floated. She couldn't see, no sound resonated, not even a floor was beneath her feet; all until a faint, bouncy laugh filled the air. She froze at the voice and dared not to look behind her, for she felt an odd presence that most people would freak out from.
After all this time... You were aware of me, little girl.~ The same flashed image as before, of a pair of grinning lips and sharp teeth, appeared. Only this time it was in front of her but faded as quickly as it showed. His words seemed more like a statement to her than a question, which seemed to add more unease.
Beyond fear at this point, she felt devastated, as if a predator or a monster was right behind her just waiting to devour her entire body, mind, and soul. Despite that, nothing happened except for the distinct feeling that he was really close to her backside. Hesitant, her head shook as it sluggishly looked over her shoulder and lo and behold, there stood a thin, muscular, pale male slouched over like a creep in a horror film.
It was so terrifying, that she couldn't even scream. His sharp teeth, wicked grin, bright red cybernetic eyes, and long drapes around his southern region, even the strange colored USB cords protruding from his scalp. It all felt like something she'd seen in a nightmare but at this point, to her, it might as well have been.