I don't own My Hero Academia or Kill la Kill, please don't sue.
Tenya Iida was standing behind his teacher, the Space Hero Thirteen, as she unleashed the full power of her quirk against the misty villain that somehow made his classmates disappear. Even from behind her, Tenya could feel the force of the vacuum Thirteen was creating. He knew that once something got too close, there was nothing that would stop it from being turned to dust.
"Ah, Black Hole, the quirk that sucks up matter and turns it to dust. Such an astounding power," the mist man said calmly.
Despite Thirteen's best efforts, only trace amounts of the black fog were being sucked up. Tenya had seen the villain be unaffected by attacks from Matoi and Bakugo, but how was he resisting Black Hole as well?
"However, you're a rescue hero Thirteen, skilled at saving people from disaster. Consequently, that means you have little fighting experience or battlefield awareness!"
The mist man created a vortex in front of him, right in the path of Thirteen's Black Hole. Tenya's eyes widened, he was going to move Black Hole somewhere else! Sure enough, the next portal he made was behind the Space Hero, teleporting her own attack and making it hit her. Tenya and his classmates gasped in shock, without Thirteen, there would be nothing protecting them from the mist man.
"He opened a warp gate!" Thirteen realized too late, her back being ripped apart and destroyed by her own quirk.
"How unfortunate, you've turned yourself into dust!" the mist man cackled.
"I'm sorry," Thirteen said softly, having finally shut off her quirk. "He got me." The back half of her body was now completely gone, leaving only a black void underneath her costume.
"Thirteen!" Ashido cried out, but the pro was unresponsive.
"Iida! Get out of here!" Sato shouted. "Go now!"
His classmate's words shook Tenya back to reality. What was he doing standing around for? He needed to get help so that the villains would have no choice but to leave. Firing up his engines, Tenya took off towards the doors as fast as he could.
"Engine!" he yelled, letting him push himself a little bit beyond his normal capabilities. It wasn't as fast as his Recipro Burst, but once he was out of the USJ it would be a long run back to campus. Using Recipro now would only ensure the villain would be able to catch up to him in the long run.
"A sheep trying to escape from the wolves," the mist man chuckled. "I simply can't allow that!"
Tenya thought he was fast, but evidently not fast enough to get past the portal opening up right in front of him. He dug his metal boots into the ground, bringing him to a grinding halt. He wasn't slowing down quickly enough though, the portal was already mere centimeters from his face. If he kept moving any longer he'd be sucked right up!
"If other heroes arrive it will be harder for us to put an end to All Might!" the mist man snarled.
Tenya grimaced, he couldn't afford to fail right now. Everyone was fighting for their lives, they needed him to get backup! This responsibility was entrusted to him, he needed to keep everyone safe!
Yes, that was the responsibility of a true hero, just like his brother Tensei! When the heroes and National Guard failed to ambush Uzu Sanageyama at Navarro, it was only his brother's tactical retreat to call for backup that salvaged the whole situation.
His path was interrupted by a fleshy mass of tentacles tackling the portal out of the way. Shoji was hugging the portal tight, using all of his arms to completely envelop it.
"Run!" he shouted. "I got him!"
Taking the opportunity his classmate created, Tenya continued his sprint to the doors. He didn't know what would happen to those he was leaving behind, so he needed to get to school and back as quickly as possible.
"You impertinent child!" the unmistakably deep voice of the mist man roared. "You won't set foot outside those doors!"
The doors were approaching rapidly, he was so close! Just a few more seconds and he'd be there! But that wouldn't be the end of it. How was he going to get them open? What if they were locked? Even if they weren't, would he be able to pry them open in time?
"I have no time for this!" the mist man shouted. "BEGONE!"
Tenya didn't dare to look behind him, but he could see the villain's shadow rapidly expanding as he caught up to him. It wasn't long before Tenya was completely covered by the black fog, but he forced himself to push through it.
Suddenly, Tenya found himself running past the dark fog. It was as if something had stopped the villain in his tracks. Or someone.
"I don't know what his quirk is, but he's wearing some kind of weird armor!" Uraraka exclaimed, holding onto the villain's back. "So he must have a physical body inside here somewhere! Now run Iida!"
Uraraka threw the villain into the air, her quirk making him completely weightless. Unable to maneuver in the air, all he could do was flail around helplessly.
"You pest!" he growled. "How dare you?"
Tenya had finally reached his destination and grabbed both handles as tightly as he could. Using his whole body weight, he tried to pry the massive doors open. Fortunately they weren't locked, but getting them open would take time. Tenya was beginning to see the first cracks of daylight shining through the doors, but the mist man had gotten used to weightlessness.
"I got you!" he screamed, shooting towards Tenya.
"Not so fast!" Sero's voice cried.
Tenya couldn't see what was going on, but based on what he heard, Sero had snagged the villain with his tape. Once he got the door's hinges used to moving again, opening the doors the rest of the way was relatively easy. The instant Tenya could stick his arm all the way through, he squeezed the rest of his body through the crack. This was it, all he needed to do now was get back to campus!"
"Engine Boost!"
Izuku Midoriya clung to the edge of the Shipwreck Zone next to Asui and Mineta, trying to stay as close to submerged as possible. The scene he was watching felt more like a horror movie than anything. Mr. Aizawa was laying down in a pool of his own blood, the villain called Nomu towering over him.
It wasn't as if Mr. Aizawa was weak, as the dozens of thugs he'd taken out could attest to if they were conscious. But getting his elbow destroyed by what seemed to be the leader's quirk made his right arm effectively useless.
Despite his appearance, the hand villain was actually quite clever. He used the thugs at his disposal to gather information out of harm's way, eventually realizing that Aizawa's hair revealed when he was using his quirk. It was clear to Izuku that he was the one calling all the shots.
But while the hand villain may have been the brains, Nomu was all brawn. It didn't speak, only shrieked like an animal and fought just as viciously. Watching his teacher get his face slammed into the ground repeatedly was one of those things that horrified Izuku, but at the same time mesmerized him.
Right now, it had Aizawa pinned down to the ground, twisting his arms like twigs in its massive hands. Aizawa screamed in pain, but the villain showed no reaction.
"You can erase people's powers. That's irritating, but it's nothing impressive," the hand villain monologued. "When faced with true devastating power, you might as well be a quirkless child!"
Aizawa had managed to turn his head just enough to get a good look at Nomu and activated his quirk, making his hair flow up and his eyes glow red. But all it earned him was getting his left arm slammed into the ground, twisting and breaking it.
True devastating power? Was that how it managed to overpower Aizawa even though he was using his quirk on it? But Erasure was able to erase even One For All, so how did Nomu not get its quirk erased? The only explanation Izuku could come up with was that it wasn't using a quirk at all, it was just that strong naturally. Like how Matoi managed to throw him over the wall without a quirk.
The villain lifted Aizawa's head up before smashing it into the ground one last time, seemingly just for the sake of it.
"No," Mineta whimpered. "I can't watch this anymore, we should be getting out of here fast shouldn't we?"
"Ribbit," Asui croaked in agreement.
While Izuku and his classmates were shivering in fear, the mist man warped in right next to the hand villain. What was he doing here now? Did that mean he teleported Thirteen and the rest of their class? Or worse?
"Tomura Shigaraki," he addressed the leader.
"Ah, Kurogiri," he replied. "Did you manage to kill Thirteen?"
"The rescue hero is out of commission," Kurogiri answered, notably leaving out the word "dead". "But there were students I was unable to disperse and one of them got outside of the facility."
Wait, if someone managed to get outside, that meant help was on its way! They just needed to stay hidden for a little bit longer and they'd be saved!
Shigaraki looked stunned for a second before he began gently scratching his neck. Then he started scratching harder. And harder. Soon both of his hands were raking across his neck incessantly, peeling his own skin off.
"Kurogiri," he said in a raspy growl. "You fool! If you weren't our way out of here, I'd tear apart every last atom in your body!"
Shigaraki scratched himself for a little bit longer before suddenly stopping. While he seemed to be much calmer now, the complete turnaround was eerie to say the least.
"There's no way we can win if dozens of pros show up to stop us," he concluded. "It's game over, back to the title screen. And I was looking forward to finishing this today. Damnit, let's go home."
"Did I hear that right?" Mineta whispered. "Did he say they're gonna just leave?"
"That's what it sounded like to me," Asui confirmed.
"This is amazing!" Mineta cried with tears of joy. "We're safe and we don't even have to fight!"
"Uh yeah," Asui said uncomfortably, noticing that the diminutive student was groping her... chest area.
While Mineta was still sure that they were safe, even as Asui held his head underwater, Izuku was less convinced. Shigaraki was far too calm when giving the order to go home, especially considering his outburst not seconds before.
"I've got a real bad feeling about this Midoriya," Asui agreed.
"It seems weird that they'd retreat at this point even if help is on the way."
All Might was almost certainly going to come, so they'd actually get their chance to kill him. They'd clearly put a lot time and effort into coming up with a plan to kill him, so why would they abandon the plan so easily when this was their best shot? Maybe even their only shot, they had to know that UA would beef up its security after this. What was going on here? What made this game over?
"Oh, before we leave, let's make sure the symbol of peace is broken," Shigaraki said, turning to face Izuku. "Let's wreck his pride!"
Izuku didn't even have time to process his fear before Shigaraki was right in their faces. He moved so fast they couldn't even see him!
"Let's make this hurt!" he roared, reaching out to grab Asui's face.
All Izuku could do was stare in horror as the villain extended his arm. The sight of Aizawa's elbow disintegrating at the touch filled his mind, if he grabbed her face there wouldn't be anymore Asui left. As all five of Shigaraki's fingers were placed on his classmate's face, Izuku braced himself for the gruesome scene.
But nothing happened.
What just happened? How come she wasn't decaying? Shigaraki looked just as confused as he stared at Asui's face, before coming to a realization and turning his head around.
"You really are so cool," he admitted. "Eraserhead!"
Aizawa was somehow managing to lift his head up, resisting Nomu's death grip on the back of his head. Blood streamed down his face, but he stared at Shigaraki with his red, bloodshot eyes. It didn't last long, as Nomu lifted him into the air and slammed him down again.
Crap crap crap! Izuku had used the brief distraction to jump out of the water and prepared a punch aimed at Shigaraki's head, but this would be the first time he used One For All on an actual person. This guy was clearly on a different level than the villains in the Shipwreck Zone, but he had to save Asui and get them out of there.
"You! Let her go!" he screamed, channeling One For All into his arm. "Smash!"
He felt his fist collide with something, but he wasn't sure what. The resulting impact created a massive shockwave that made large waves in the water and sent villains flying from the pure force. But most interestingly was that nothing hurt. Izuku looked at his arm in confusion and sure enough, it was perfectly fine. Finally, all that training had paid off and he was able to get a good smash in!
The brief moment of hope was dashed away as soon as Izuku saw what he had punched. Somehow, Nomu had managed to intercept his smash. The fact that such a large creature could move so fast was surprising, but what really troubled Izuku was the fact that it was completely unharmed. That shouldn't have been possible, he knew he was using One For All, the same as All Might's power!
So if this guy could absorb his punch, then that meant it would be able to take a hit from All Might. The villains were convinced that they would be able to kill All Might as long as he showed up, was this the reason why?
"I can't believe it works!" Shigaraki cackled with glee. "You see, Nomu here has been bioengineered to kill All Might. If his Shock Absorption quirk works on that 'smash' of yours, then All Might's punches won't be able to do a thing!"
Shock Absorption? That must have been how he took a One For All smash without taking any damage. He had to admit, it was a pretty good quirk choice for battling All Might. All of his attacks relied on pure force, delivered by punch or the shockwaves he was so famous for.
"Oh well, I'm done with you now," Shigaraki said.
Immediately after, Nomu seized Izuku by the arm and lifted its massive hand over his head. He screamed in terror, he couldn't move and he was about to be squashed like a pancake! Asui tried to pull him to safety with her tongue, but she wasn't strong enough to overcome the pure might of the monster.
"Get your hands away from him you ugly bastard!" Ryuko shouted.
As Ryuko Matoi ran towards the Shipwreck Zone as fast as she could, she was able to pick up bits of what Shiggy was saying. On the bright side, they were going to retreat. On the not so bright side, they wanted to kill Midoriya with their genetically engineered monster before they left.
Once Ryuko was in range for an attack, she jumped into the air as high as she could. She let out a battlecry and held her scissor blade out in front of her, ready to plunge it into Nomu's back.
"Get your hands away from him you ugly bastard!" she roared.
Upon hearing her voice, Nomu dropped Izuku, his body flopping limply as it hit the ground. The beast shrieked and turned to face her, trying to punch her out of the air. Ryuko blocked the attack by using the flat side of her blade as a shield, but she was still knocked off her trajectory.
She planted her blade in the ground to use as a brake, splitting the ground apart as she slowed down. Once she fully stopped, she took up a battle stance as Nomu marched slowly towards her. The mist man started to move as well but was stopped by Shiggy.
"Don't interfere Kurogiri," he ordered. "I want to see how this plays out."
Crap, so she was gonna have to fight this thing all by herself. Bakugo and Kirishima were way behind her and she doubted that Midoriya, Asui, and Mineta were in any shape to fight. Whatever Nomu was made out of, it was tough enough to take a full power attack from Midoriya, so she'd have a tough fight ahead without Senketsu.
However, she had a plan that would hopefully end this quickly. That thing might have been made to kill All Might, but she still had something he didn't.
Ryuko matched Nomu's slow march, but once it was close enough, she ran at him without warning. Nomu reacted quickly though, it began to match her speed while taking its arm back for a punch. As soon as the punch was in range, Ryuko slid down to the ground and between its legs. The beast searched frantically for her, but it was too late.
"Shock absorb this!" she yelled.
She'd been holding back against the villains for the most part, mostly because they were so weak that they weren't actual threats. That all went out the window now. This thing was threatening her friend, she wasn't taking any chances!
With two swift slashes, Ryuko severed both of Nomu's arms from its body. Her scissor blade cut through the flesh like butter. Nomu's limbs fell to the ground harmlessly where they writhed a little before dying. Ryuko smiled smugly at her accomplishment, it didn't matter how much shock Nomu could absorb when her scissor blade was... well, a blade.
"Hey! Are you guys ok?" she asked as she ran over to pull her classmates out onto dry land.
"Yeah we're fine," Midoriya answered. "I broke my finger but other than that we're unharmed."
"Especially now that you're here!" Mineta added, climbing out of the water by grabbing onto Ryuko's breast.
Thank god they were ok! Except for Mineta, who mysteriously had a large bump on his head that totally wasn't her fault. Ryuko briefly sighed with relief before reverting back to burning rage.
"Hey assholes!" she yelled at Shiggy and Kurogiri, pointing her scissor blade menacingly at them. "It's over. Your little Shock Absorption trick failed. Stay right where you are and don't do anything stupid while you wait for the pros to arrive."
"Is it now?" Shiggy cackled maniacally. "Nomu, why don't you show our friends what you can really do?"
Nomu, who had been completely immobile since Ryuko cut its arms off, started to walk toward the sound of Shiggy's voice. It was like it needed to be activated, more like a robot than a thinking being.
Ryuko rolled her eyes. So this thing could keep going without its arms, big whoop. But the flesh on the stumps of Nomu's arms started to expand rapidly. As it continued, the layers of muscle had begun to fully take shape, forming into a new pair of arms. To top it all off, a layer of black skin coated the newly formed arms, leaving Nomu without a scratch.
"What the hell is this?" Ryuko asked. "I thought you said his quirk was Shock Absorption!"
"I didn't say that was his only quirk," Shiggy laughed. "This is Super Regeneration. You can hack him to bits all you want, he'll just get back up good as new!"
No way. Multiple quirks? Was he joking? And of course it just had to be able to regenerate. Of all the bullshit, overpowered abilities it could have, it just had to have that one. Seriously, Ryuko would have given anything to have a power like that. Except be a freakish abomination like Nomu.
Crap, what was she going to do now? If this thing could heal from that, there wasn't anything Ryuko could do to take it down. That wasn't the worst of it, her classmates were still in danger and so was Aizawa. She hadn't noticed before, but her homeroom teacher was lying in a pool of his own blood, his limbs bent at unnatural angles.
"All right, you guys need to get out of here," she told her classmates. "And take Aizawa with you."
Asui and Mineta nodded and ran over to sling Aizawa over their shoulders. Midoriya on the other hand, stayed firmly in place, even though his legs were shaking in fear.
"What about you though?" he asked. "And I don't think Shigaraki and Kurogiri are going to just let us leave. I'll stay here and fight with you! I refuse to just stand here and watch you die!"
Ryuko appreciated the offer, she really did. But what was he supposed to do? If her own attacks were doing almost nothing to that monster, then his did actually nothing. If she had the chance to leave, she would have done so in a heartbeat. It may have been selfish, but her top priority was finding her father's killer. She couldn't exactly do that if she was dead.
"I'm sorry, but you need to get out of here. You already broke your finger remember?"
Midoriya clutched his broken finger, but stood his ground. "You're outnumbered three to one! You'll need all the help you can get. I know I already used up a smash, but that just means I have seven more!"
Ryuko couldn't help but smile at her friend's determination. Besides, he did have a point. She wasn't fighting just Nomu, but Shiggy and Kurogiri as well. Even if Midoriya's smashes didn't affect Nomu, they would be more than effective against the other two.
"All right you little badass," she chuckled. "Let's show these villains what happens when you mess with UA!"
"Isn't this so sweet?" Shiggy asked mockingly. "Nomu, Kurogiri. Kill them!"
Izuku Midoriya readied himself for battle while Ryuko did the same next to him. The instant it heard Shigaraki's orders, Nomu shrieked and barreled at them at top speed. Ryuko charged to meet it, but Izuku noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
While Nomu was charging straight at them, Shigaraki and Kurogiri had broken off, running towards the entrance of all places. Izuku quickly looked in the direction they were going and his heart sank when he saw what they were trying to do. They were going after Asui and Mineta!
Shigaraki was already more than fast enough to catch up to them without a sweat, but with Mr. Aizawa weighing them down they didn't have a chance. They seemed to notice their situation and tried picking up the pace, but there wasn't anything they could do. In a few seconds, they'd all be dust.
Izuku gritted his teeth. Not if he had anything to say about that! He charged his left index finger with One For All, ready to unleash his power on the pair of villains. Asui and Mineta would get hit by it too, but the important thing was getting the villains away from them.
"Hey! Leave them alone you stupid villains!" he shouted, gaining their attention. "Delaware Smash!"
With a single flick of his charged up finger, Izuku unleashed a miniature hurricane from his hand. He clutched his hand in pain, but the attack was worth it. Shigaraki and Kurogiri were launched into the air, but Asui and Mineta stayed stuck on the ground, still holding onto Aizawa. On the soles of Asui's feet, Izuku could see Mineta's spheres gluing them to the ground. He was impressed with his classmate, it was pretty clever to come up with that on the spot.
Kurogiri fell to the floor like a brick, even making a metallic clang as he hit the floor. Shigaraki on the other hand, twisted gracefully in the air and landed on his feet like a cat. His lieutenant reached for a hand, but the young villain just shook his head with disgust.
"Alright kid, you're pretty strong," Shigaraki admitted. "But if you're not gonna help test Nomu, then I'll rip your molecules to pieces myself!"
Izuku didn't have time to wait for what Shigaraki would do next, he just wasn't fast enough to react. Without thinking, he unleashed another finger smash at the villain, knocking him and Kurogiri back more.
Damnit, he wouldn't be able to keep up at this rate for long. While he framed it as a boast, the truth was that seven smashes wasn't a lot. And now he was down to five.
To make things worse, Kurogiri had gotten up and made a portal next to Shigaraki as well. Shigaraki stuck his hand through the portal, causing Izuku to immediately understand what he was trying to do. He instinctively dropped to the ground, causing Shigaraki to merely grab the air as his arm emerged from a portal behind him.
The portal closed, but another began to open underneath Izuku. He rolled to the side and dodged another attempt to decay him from long range. As he stood back up, more portals opened all around him. Even though Shigaraki only had two hands, any one of those portals was a possible angle for Shigaraki to attack from, so Izuku had no way of knowing where to dodge.
Even if he knew where Shigaraki was coming from, there was no way he'd be able to dodge every time. So Izuku did the only thing he could think of. He jumped through a portal.
Ryuko Matoi blocked Nomu's giant fist by using her scissor blade as a shield. While she dug her feet into the ground to prevent her from being knocked back, she felt the shock she absorbed from the attack all over her body, making her almost drop her sword. Ryuko thought of herself as stronger than average, but this thing was something else.
"What the hell did they feed you? Steroids?" she grumbled.
Nomu showed no reaction and used its other arm to punch her in the stomach while she was still recoiling. Ryuko was launched into the air again but skidded to a halt as she hit the ground. She growled and immediately charged at Nomu, refusing to give it time to react.
Anticipating Nomu's punch, she twisted around its arm and severed it with her scissor blade. Ryuko then slashed across its upper thigh, causing the leg to slide cleanly off. Being temporarily lopsided due to having the limbs on its left side completely gone, Nomu fell over, having to use its still attached arm to stabilize itself while it tried to regenerate.
Ryuko took this opportunity to drive her scissor blade clean through its back and out its chest. Yanking her blade down, she cut through the beast all the way down to between its legs. The two almost halves of Nomu began to split apart, but its regenerating muscles kept it together.
"Heh, regenerate all you like, it still takes time for you to do it!" she laughed. "As long as I keep hacking you to bits you'll never touch me!"
If she could keep dealing damage faster than it could heal itself, she could effectively prevent it from fighting. After all, she didn't need to win, just survive long enough for backup to come. Though winning would be nice of course.
Unfortunately, Nomu was able to regenerate a lot faster than Ryuko had expected. Now fully healed, it quickly turned around and reached out for Ryuko. She jumped in the air to dodge, but it was too late. It grabbed her with its giant hand, completely restraining her.
"Damnit! Let go of me!" she yelled.
She was struggling hard, even slowly hacking at its fingers with her scissor blade as much as she could but it wasn't enough. As Nomu tightened its grip, she began to feel her ribs crack under the pressure.
Seemingly satisfied with its work, Nomu chucked her as hard as it could. Ryuko flew for several seconds through one of the miniature forests that separated each zone, breaking through each tree she hit. Eventually, she slowed down enough to completely stop. As she slid to the ground, she saw Nomu charging at her at full speed. She slowly managed to stand back up, but had to cough a lot in order to do so.
Looking at her sleeve, Ryuko saw flecks of red on the remains of her bright blue UA tracksuit. Blood.
Ryuko was no doctor, but she knew that coughing blood was a sign that something had punctured her lungs. One of her ribs must have pierced them when Nomu was crushing her. If she didn't finish this soon, that meant there was a very real chance that she could drown on her own blood.
Nomu rapidly closed the distance between them, snapping Ryuko out of her thoughts. She readied to defend herself with her scissor blade, only to find that she no longer had it.
Shit! It must have flown out of her grip when she was thrown by Nomu. Sure enough, the bright red blade was embedded in a tree trunk at the very edge of the artificial forest. Just freaking perfect.
Without her sword, Ryuko didn't have many options to defend herself against Nomu. But she did have one.
"Alright bird-brain!" she taunted. "Let's see what you're made of!"
Nomu was getting close to her fast and prepared to punch her at full force. Right as it was in range, she yelled as loud as possible and met the monster's punch with her own.
The shockwave produced by their fists colliding completely flattened the trees that were still standing, giving Ryuko a much better view of her surroundings. They were far away from the edge of the Shipwreck Zone where they started their fight and now closer to the entrance stairs than anything. Asui and Mineta had made it to the foot of the stairs, though climbing up with Aizawa would be much more difficult.
Shiggy and Kurogiri had apparently decided to leave them alone, as the young villain was just kneeling on the floor surrounded by various portals. At random intervals he would stick his hands through them, leading to Ryuko wondering where the portals led.
Unfortunately she didn't have time for such thoughts, as her right arm was now dangling uselessly by her side while Nomu was unharmed. It was pretty clear that she shattered every bone in her arm, limiting its movement to small shoulder rotations. So that's what Midoriya felt.
Nomu looked down at her with a toothy grin, though that seemed to be the only expression it had. As it lifted its hand up to smash her, Ryuko used her only option left. She ran as fast as she could in the other direction.
Hey, it was a legitimate strategy! Far better than breaking her other arm and getting killed. Additionally, she didn't run without a destination in mind. She ran to retrieve her scissor blade, while Nomu dropped down on all fours to pursue her.
Once she reached the tree her scissor blade was buried in, she tried to pull it out, but it was really stuck in there. She put her foot against the base of the tree so she could push off better, but the blade still refused to budge. It didn't help that she could only use one arm as well.
Nomu was just a few meters away from her now. Fueled by adrenaline, Ryuko yanked the blade out with all her might. Finally, it came loose. Ryuko wasn't done yet though. Still using the force she used to free her sword, she swiped it across Nomu's chest. The monster stood still for a moment. Then its top half slid off its bottom, landing on the floor making a sickening squish.
"Heh, how do ya like that, ugly?" Ryuko laughed softly, savoring the few precious seconds she had before Nomu got back up again.
Nomu's head just stared blankly at her.
"Oh forget it. Why do I even bother?"
As soon as he took the plunge into one of Kurogiri's portals, Izuku Midoriya popped out of the ground behind Shigaraki. Surrounding him were portals laid out across the ground for him to access. While the villain leader was still busy sticking his hands through portals, his lieutenant quickly noticed him.
"Tomura Shigaraki!" he warned his master. "Behind you!"
Shigaraki turned around to face him, but it was already too late. Izuku channeled One For All into his pinky, the last unbroken finger on his left hand. As he predicted, Shigaraki reached out for his left arm, trying to stop him from flicking his finger. Good thing that wasn't what he was trying to do.
Using his right arm, Izuku punched Shigaraki in the side while he was still distracted. It didn't have much power behind it, only the strength he gained during his ten months of training, but it was enough to knock the villain off his feet. And into a portal.
Kurogiri instinctively closed all of his portals, but his boss had already made it completely through. Shigaraki was now where Izuku used to be, all the way at the edge of the Shipwreck Zone. Izuku could only barely make out his silhouette at that distance, but he was doing something that could only be described as throwing a tantrum.
"Kurogiri you idiot!" he yelled so loudly Izuku could hear him. "Bring me back right now and I'll kill you!"
The villain was about to oblige, opening a portal for Shigaraki, but Izuku wouldn't let him. Even though he didn't use it to attack Shigaraki, he still had One For All charged into his pinky.
"Delaware Smash!"
The gigantic windstorm produced by his attack blasted Kurogiri into the air, dispersing the black fog that seemingly made up his body. He was actually remarkably similar to a human underneath all the mist, even wearing a bartender's outfit.
After a few seconds of sailing through the air, Kurogiri landed, making a large crater in the ground. Right on top of Shigaraki. The young villain screamed at his comrade in rage, giving Izuku time to focus on his current situation.
He'd now used up all the fingers on his left hand and while not as painful as breaking an arm, still hurt a lot. He wouldn't be able to throw even a normal punch with that arm. Even though he still had his right, one of the villains he'd have to deal with was Nomu, who could shrug off his smashes like they were nothing.
While Izuku was still taking his time to think of his next actions, Ryuko came running out of one the miniature forest that separated the entrance from the Shipwreck Zone. Or at least it used to be a forest. Most of the trees were snapped in two. She was carrying her scissor blade in her left arm, while her right was just trailing behind her.
"Ryuko!" he exclaimed. "What happened to your arm? Where's Nomu?"
"Hey Midoriya," she said nonchalantly, though Izuku could hear that she was having trouble breathing. "It's back there, I broke my arm trying to punch it."
She tilted her head back to where she came from, where Nomu was lying on the ground in two pieces. Its top half was rapidly regenerating a new abdomen and legs, while the bottom half simply died.
That struck Izuku as odd. The bottom half was the larger of the two, so why was only the top regenerating?
Nomu's legs were nearly finished regenerating, only the skin needed to complete. It evidently didn't care though, as it shrieked loudly and charged at both of them. Izuku and Ryuko stood their ground and jumped back right before the monster was about to punch them, making it hit the ground instead.
"Goddamnit!" Ryuko screamed in frustration. "How the hell are we supposed to deal with this thing?"
Izuku frantically tried to think of an answer to that question when Nomu suddenly sent Ryuko flying with a backhand, slowly advancing toward him. He instinctively charged his middle finger, the first one on his right hand to go. But what would he do? Nomu had Shock Absorption, it'd just absorb anything he threw at it.
But the ground didn't.
"Delaware Smash!"
The instant his finger made contact with the ground, a massive explosion sent hundreds of tons of rock and debris flying at Nomu. The larger chunks of rock merely bounced off the monster's skin, but some of the smaller pebbles actually managed to pierce through. He must have launched them so fast that they practically turned into bullets!
When the dust finally settled, Izuku saw that he gouged a gigantic crater into the ground. Nomu was in the center of it, still regenerating from the various puncture marks all across its body. Ryuko managed to shamble next to him, looking over the edge of the crater as well.
"Damn," she said. "You gotta be as powerful as All Might with an attack like that."
Izuku was too fueled with adrenaline to freak out over Ryuko's comment. While the crater was pretty deep, he had no doubt that Nomu would be able to climb or even just jump out. It was a temporary solution. What they needed was a plan. Fortunately he was beginning to form one.
"I think I have an idea," he said, causing Ryuko to turn her head toward him. "I've given it a lot of thought, and I think I understand how its regeneration works. Whenever you cut off a body part, only the main body regenerates, the rest of it just kind of dies. I thought that just the largest piece of it regenerates, but when you cut it in half only the top half regenerated. It must have a 'center', somewhere that it regenerates from. If it didn't then every time you cut off a body part it would form a new Nomu. If I had to guess, that center is its brain."
Ryuko stared at him for a second, then smiled. "Well how about that, looks like we got a fighting chance after all!"
"But we can't just go in swinging for its head, it'll be much more protective of it than its other body parts," he explained. "But if you can cut the head off, I can bury it in the ground. Hopefully it'll be so surrounded by debris that it won't have the space to regenerate."
"Alright, sounds like a plan-"
"But of course that's assuming that the head is the center of regeneration at all. It could be the heart in which case it would just regenerate a new head. Maybe the villains knew we would try to find a way around its regeneration and purposely made the brain exposed so we would try to target it. But that doesn't make sense, it would need the brain since it controls the regeneration through its nervous system. But it could have another quirk, if it has two then there's no reason it can't have three or even more. Maybe it just needs a certain threshold and the head is both small and important enough that its body would regenerate a new head and we'd have two Nomu-"
"Hey!" Ryuko exclaimed, cutting off his mumbling. "We won't be able to accomplish anything if you keep second guessing everything. Just have a little faith in yourself!"
"Right! Sorry," he muttered.
"You can apologize once we're out of this mess," she said. "Looks like we're gonna get to see if you're right after all."
Ryuko gestured to the pit, where a pair of giant black hands were grabbing onto the edge. Izuku heard a loud shriek and suddenly a massive blur flew out of the crater. Nomu landed in front of them, cracking the ground under its weight.
Nomu struck out with a punch, but two two of them were ready for it. They jumped out of the way, Ryuko to the left and Izuku to the right. The monster was trying to track Ryuko, but she had sliced its foot off, making it lose balance.
Disoriented, Nomu changed its target to Izuku and tried to grab him. Nomu's Shock Absorption meant that it could absorb the full force of his punches, but on the flip side that also meant he wouldn't feel any of it. That's probably why he didn't break his arm the first time he punched Nomu.
He charged One For All into his entire right arm and drove his fist into Nomu's palm as hard as he could. The force rippled across Nomu's entire body, its muscles shaking like rubber. Even if it wasn't hurt, that had to push its Shock Absorption to its limits.
"Ryuko, now!" he yelled.
Ryuko smirked and jumped onto Nomu's back while it was still recoiling from Izuku's smash. Climbing onto the massive beast was difficult with only one arm, but Ryuko really dug her left hand into Nomu, even managing to break its skin.
It thrashed and shrieked, but Ryuko held on tightly. She stabbed her scissor blade into its neck, using it to hold on as Nomu desperately tried to throw her off. For a brief second, she managed to make eye contact with Izuku and nodded.
Time to see if it would work.
"Scissor Blade: Decapitation Mode!"
"Delaware Smash!"
Ryuko's extended scissor blade pierced through Nomu's thick neck. With a yell, she violently twisted it, shearing Nomu's head clean off. The disembodied head flew up into the air, a toothy smile still on its face.
At the same time, Izuku used his smash to target the edge of the the pit he created. The force of his attack caused the crater to start collapsing, a small rockslide sending massive chunks of concrete tumbling toward the bottom.
As Izuku grunted in pain from breaking yet another finger, Ryuko jumped off of Nomu's decapitated body like a springboard. She dive kicked Nomu's head in midair, sending the still shrieking head into the center of the crater.
Ryuko's kick was forceful enough to bury Nomu's head deep into the ground, but the rockslide wasn't done yet. Hundreds of giant boulders slid to the bottom of the crater, piling up on Nomu's head and burying it alive.
Ryuko landed next to Izuku, both of them panting heavily and staring at the now filled crater where Nomu was buried. Next to them, its decapitated body went limp and fell over.
"If manages to get out of that- Midoriya! Behind you!"
Izuku screamed in shock as Ryuko tackled him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a portal open up behind them. And Shigaraki stepping out.
"I can't believe you managed to find a way to take down my strongest party member. You kids really are something," he laughed. "But you're pissing me off. Time for you to die!"
Ryuko held her left arm out in front of Izuku, which was a little insulting to be honest. He was training to be a hero to protect people, not the other way around! And while he had broken most of his fingers, it wasn't like Ryuko was in perfect shape herself.
Shigaraki crouched down low and stretched out his fingers, ready to sprint toward them. He took off with his blindingly fast speed... only to fall flat on his face.
On the bottom of his foot, Izuku saw a small purple ball gluing Shigaraki to the ground.
Minoru Mineta groaned as he carried his teacher over his shoulder. Just how many bricks did the guy eat for breakfast? At least he got to stare at Asui's butt for a while, until she caught him and stuck her tongue in his ear. Gross, but also kinda hot.
"Ugh, how much longer do we have to carry him?" he whined. "I'm getting tired!"
"We're almost to the stairs, so about halfway," Asui answered without a hint of sympathy in her voice.
"Halfway?" he shrieked. "Don't tell me we're gonna have to carry him all the way up those stairs!"
"Getting Mr. Aizawa to safety is really the least we can do," she responded. "He risked his life to save us and Matoi and Midoriya are doing the same thing right now!"
Midoriya. He just had to be so frickin' perfect didn't he? How was he supposed to get girls when they were all drooling over that guy?
"Why does everyone like Midoriya so much? He almost sent us flying!" Minoru spat enviously. "Well, if it weren't for me that is."
"Maybe because he isn't a little creep," Asui said. "And it was his plan that got us out of the Shipwreck Zone in one piece. I seem to recall someone else wanting to just do nothing."
"Yeah, that other guy sounds like a real piece of work," he agreed. "Who is it by the way?"
"Forget it," Asui grumbled.
Their conversation was interrupted by the loud blast of what sounded like an explosion behind them. They'd heard their fair share of shockwaves and explosions while carrying Aizawa to safety, but this one sounded really close. Minoru also heard what sounded a lot like Matoi and Midoriya's voices.
While neither of them had bothered to look back while carrying Aizawa to safety, Minoru finally decided to see what was going on. And there was definitely something going on.
Matoi and Midoriya were standing at the edge of a huge hole in the ground. The hole looked to be about halfway filled with broken pieces of the same material the USJ's floor was made of. Both of them looked like they'd taken a severe beating though, with Matoi's right arm hanging limply and Midoriya's left hand swollen and bruised.
But what really shook Minoru was what was next to them. Nomu's body. Without a head.
"Why are you stopping?" Asui asked irritatedly. "We're almost there, just keep going."
"L-look..." he said shakily, pointing a finger at the scene below.
"Oh. I guess that really is something," Asui said, just as shocked as him. "Midoriya and Matoi really are something else aren't they?"
Just perfect, another amazing accomplishment for Midoriya. But with Matoi, Minoru had never been more in love. She was just amazing, all the girls in his class were, but Matoi made them all look like sixes in comparison. Only Yaoyorozu could even begin to compete in boob size, but Matoi blew her out of the water in pretty much every other category. She also had something the others didn't: Her costume.
Minoru had a pretty vibrant imagination, but Matoi's costume meant he didn't have to use it much. Pretty much everything he could ever want to see was laid out for him. And just a single slip mid-battle would mean he'd get to see everything. And the best thing was she didn't even care! Too bad she didn't have it now though, he'd probably have watched the whole fight if she did.
"Wait, does that mean we're safe?" Minoru realized. "If they managed to kill that thing, then what do the villains even have?"
His statement was immediately contradicted by a black vortex opening up behind the pair. As Matoi tackled Midoriya out of the way, Shigaraki stepped out of the portal. Minoru had seen his terrifying quirk in action. Hell, he was carrying the result of it right now!
Minoru gritted his teeth. He couldn't let his perfect girl die in front of him, otherwise he'd never get to grab her butt! Well technically he could, but he had to have some standards.
He plucked a single sphere off the top of his head and closed one eye to aim. The ball would have to land in exactly the right spot, or else Shigaraki wouldn't step on it. And he couldn't throw multiple because then he'd notice.
He'd just have to get it right the first time then. Minoru took a deep breath and launched the ball from his fingertips. He squeezed his eyes shut and crossed his fingers as the purple sphere sailed through the air. And landed right in front of Shigaraki.
Yes! The villain didn't even seem to notice as he stepped on the ball, cementing him to the floor until Minoru decided to let him go. He looked like he was about to rush Matoi and Midoriya, but Minoru's sticky ball made him trip and land on his face.
He plucked two more spheres from his head and ran to Matoi's side. Asui had laid Aizawa down on the stairs and followed closely behind him.
"I can't believe you're choosing to act like a hero now of all times," she remarked. "What made you do that?"
"I'm not gonna let a babe like Matoi die!" he answered. "Not when I haven't even seen her naked yet!"
"Yeah I guess that's more like you," she said. "But I suppose it's a step in the right direction."
Minoru stopped once he reached Matoi. Even though her arm was broken and her face was covered in blood, she was still ridiculously hot. Asui was holding Midoriya up next to them, who was gritting his teeth in pain.
"Hey Mineta, thanks for the save," Matoi said.
"Anything for you," he replied. "So, do you want to get something to eat after school?"
"Don't push it," she warned.
Minoru just shrugged. In fact, he was almost about to cry tears of joy. She actually thanked him! Going out with him was pretty much just one step away.
Shigaraki picked himself up and quivered with rage. He tried pulling his foot off the ground, but the purple sphere wouldn't let him budge. Eventually he reached down and grabbed it in his hand, turning it to dust.
"You little pests!" he hissed. "I am so done with you brats! I was going to kill you quickly, not anymore!"
"Mineta," Midoriya suddenly spoke. "He was only able to destroy Aizawa's elbow when he put his entire hand on it. I think he has to touch something with all his fingers in order to decay it. If you can stick his fingers to your balls, he won't be able to decay them or anything else!"
"Say no more! I've got a move that I've been working on that's perfect for this!" he boasted. "Maybe then we can talk about that date Matoi?"
"Absolutely not," she said bluntly.
"We'll see what you have to say after this!" he exclaimed. "Grape Rush!"
Minoru ran at Shigaraki, plucking balls off his scalp and throwing them as fast as he could. The villain leader just laughed as most of the spheres missed their mark, but Minoru kept throwing. He could feel his scalp starting to bleed, but that didn't matter right now!
Shigaraki eventually got too overconfident and tried swatting a ball out of the air, but it stuck to the back of his hand like glue. He tried using his other hand to decay it, but another hit him in the body, making him slip and stick his palm to the ball instead of his fingers. The villain frantically tried shaking free but his hands were essentially glued together.
A pink blur then whizzed past Minoru and tightly wrapped around Shigaraki. Asui lifted him up with her tongue and slammed him down on the ground. He stood up still tied in Asui's tongue and his hands glued together, but he was laughing maniacally.
"I bet you brats think you're so smart don't you?" he chuckled.
"What are you talking about?" Matoi snarled. "You're done!"
"Maybe," he admitted. "But I hope you didn't forget who the real final boss is."
A deafening shriek came from the crater and a large black fist emerged from the rubble.
Ryuko Matoi wanted to rip her hair out in frustration. She and Midoriya had put so much into that attack to bury Nomu. She'd seen it with her own eyes, Nomu's head was completely sealed without any room to regenerate. But sure enough the giant monster was standing right in front of her without a scratch on its body.
Shiggy was practically dying of laughter when he saw their expressions, earning him another slam into the ground from Asui.
"Alright, you three need to take Shiggy and get out of here!" she ordered. "Looks like it's time for Plan B!"
"What's Plan B?" Midoriya asked.
"Serve up some finely chopped bird brain!" she yelled.
Ryuko rushed Nomu head on, screaming as loud as she could. When the time was right, she jumped high above its head, ready to stab the monster in the brain. If that really was the center of its regeneration, then cutting it to pieces should kill Nomu for good.
Nomu was fast though and grabbed her right out of the air. Holding Ryuko by her left arm, it crushed the limb as hard as it could. She dropped her scissor blade in shock as she felt her arm snap like a twig, but Nomu wasn't done with her yet.
It shrieked loudly as it firmly grabbed Ryuko's legs with its other hand and began to stretch her apart. Just as she felt her spine was about to snap, it swiftly slammed her down on its knee.
Surprisingly, Ryuko didn't feel anything. In fact, she couldn't feel her legs at all.
Ryuko rolled away from Nomu, her body completely limp. As the monster slowly approached her to finish her off, she feebly tried crawling away. It was pointless though, both her arms were broken and she was probably paralyzed from the waist down. Not to mention she was still coughing up blood.
She forced her eyes to stay open, knowing that the next time she closed them would likely be her last. Was this really how it was gonna end? Not in a glorious battle with Satsuki Kiryuin to avenge her father's death, but to some scabby creep's pet freak?
As Ryuko silently waited to be reunited with her father, Nomu raised its massive fist above her, casting an oppressive dark shadow.
Suddenly, the entrance doors were blasted off their hinges, letting daylight stream into the facility.
A massive figure walked through the dust cloud, but his face was nothing like Ryuko remembered. In place of the usual cheery smile was a furious scowl.
"HAVE NO FEAR STUDENTS!" All Might announced. "I AM HERE!"
It was the last thing Ryuko heard before slipping into the bliss of unconsciousness.
A/N: Well that just about wraps up the actual USJ part of the USJ arc. Sorry, but I won't be covering All Might's fight with Nomu, you all know how that goes. Ryuko wouldn't even be a part of it since she's almost dead at this point. I wonder if she'll be able to recover from that...
The hardest part about writing this chapter was figuring out what to do with Shigaraki and Kurogiri. They're not the strongest characters, but their quirks make them really tough to make a good fight scene featuring them. Especially Shigaraki, who I couldn't even let touch anyone. Hopefully I did them justice.
Also, Mineta of all people being useful? I don't actually know why I decided to include him because I definitely don't like him, but I guess I wanted to give him something since his quirk is actually pretty useful. I guess I also thought it would be kind of funny to have Shigaraki get taken down by Mineta.
But on to the main focus! Ryuko Matoi vs. USJ Nomu!
Even without Senketsu or her life fiber powers being activated, Ryuko's still really freaking tough. She's able to survive explosions the size of small buildings, wrestle two gigantic crocodiles, and take out one-stars with ease. She also had the scissor blade, which is pretty much the perfect weapon for getting past Nomu's Shock Absorption.
Unfortunately, that's about where the positives end for Ryuko. As fast and strong as she is, she's no match for someone who could keep up with and trade blows with All Might. And while the scissor blade could cut Nomu, it can't do anything to stop it from regenerating. Her only chance was to stab it in the brain. Nomu wins 9/10.