Back at UA High, we were preparing for our very first Joint Training exercise with Class 1B, and our first training in the Winter gear. Of course, my costume had been designed to accomodate both winter and summer temperatures, so I wasn't at all changed. Yaoyorozu had donned a large cape and Ashido a jacket, though Hagakure still wore nothing but boots and gloves.
"Aren't you cold, Hagakure?" Jirou asked her.
"Totally freezing!"
"Toughing it out, huh?"
"My winter style's cool as heck, don'tcha think?" Smiled Ashido, spreading out her arms to show off the cape. Jirou and Uraraka hadn't changed at all, and Asui had merely added neck warmers.
"All of our costumes have undergone considerable transformations since the school year began," I noticed, thinking about my own new accomodations.
"It's crazy how you made it through the summer in that getup, Iida," said Sato as he pulled on his mask.
Nearby, Midoriya had caught sight of Bakugou's new winter look and had immediately seemed impressed.
"You've got a new look too, Kacchan!"
"Huh? Got a problem with it? Then say it - to my face, you stupid nerd!" Bakugou yelled. He'd swapped out his tank top for a sweater with a turtleneck.
Midoriya gushed "Your costume must guard against the cold and generate heat, yeah? Since your sweat glands serve as weapons, it only stands to reason. What great modification!"
"I don't want your praise either!" Bakugou snarled back.
"You've got the most drastic upgrades though, Midoriya," said Ojiro. "Those gloves are recent, right?"
"I need to keep up my new abilities, and yeah the gloves are pretty awesome. This is already my second pair, actually. Hatsume modified them to take more of a beating!"
Right, Hatsume. She certainly does drive me to distraction with her strange behavior, but there's no denying her talent or how hard she works to create our modifications.
As I contemplated these issues I noticed that Uraraka was wearing a funny look and suddenly punched herself in the face. What a strange thing to do?
"Oh, are we slacking off?" Came that smarmy, arrogant voice we all knew way too well. "Is that your way of underestimating us?"
"Oh, they're here," said Kirishima. "Nope, we're not underestimating anyone. Just excited!"
"Hey, is that so? Too and for you. The tides are rolling our way now! Hear me Class A! Today is the day we settle this rivalry!" Monoma screamed as Class 1B shot him confused looks.
He pulled a sheet of paper dramatically out of his pocket.
"Check out this survey I took at the culture festival! Which did people prefer - Class A's dinky concert or Class B's ultra-high-quality Theatrical production? Well take a look! Yes, our margin of victory was two entire votes!"
Oh dear; after all we'd done to make that concert the best it could be?
Kirishima and Jirou both took up the paper, and Jirou's face fell.
"For real? Well, can't argue since we didn't see their show."
"You've been hogging the spotlight like pigs in slop ever since school started, but those days are coming to an end! Because today it's A vs. B! Our first joint battle training! And we're gonna - argh!"
Kendo had been heading towards him to karate chop him silent, but Mr. Aizawa got there first.
"Quiet, you."
He and Vlad King Sensei were facing both our classes now.
"WE've got a special guest today," said Vlad sensei.
"So try not to make fools of yourselves," said Mr. Aizawa.
"A guest?" asked Yaoyorozu.
"Fresh meat!" Bakugou yapped.
"A girl, I hope!?" Said Kaminari.
"We'll show em the ropes!" Said Tetsutetsu.
"He's hoping to transfer to the hero course," said Mr. Aziawa, and Midoriya and Ojiro both gasped.
It was the guy from the Sports Festival who had fought Midoriya!
"Hitoshi Shinso, from Class C of General Studies!"
"Shinsou!" Gasped Ojiro.
"So that explains the look you gave me earlier in the hall!" Said Midoriya.
Everyone had started buzzing about our new guest. He was dressed in regulation gym uniform, but with a neck cloth not unlike Mr. Aizawa's and a strange device around his neck shaped bit like Midoriya's own metal grille. In appearance up close, I saw that he had dark circles under his drooping eyes, and his slender features and spiked up hair made him look like a younger version of Sensei.
"Isn't that Aizawa-sensei's binding cloth?"
"The mask looks unique, though."
"Good to have ya, man!"
"He can brainwash those who respond to him, right?" Aoyama asked Ojiro.
"I didn't stand a chance."
"Midoriya got whammied too, but broke the spell somehow," Mineta commented.
"That was just a fluke, really," sweated Midoriya.
"Go on, introduce yourself," Sensei told Shinsou."
He looked around at all of his, sporting a serious frown.
"I had encounters with several of you at the Sports Festival, but don't think that we're friends just because we fought. I'm not the type for displays of good sportsmanship like that. I'm already so far behind you all. I'm doing everything I can to catch up. I'll be a great hero some day, and strive to use my quirk to help people. So to me, all of you here are just obstacles to overcome. I'm not here to make friends."
"Wow, delightful," sighed URaraka.
"How stiff," said Tokoyami, clapping politely.
"Reminds me of Early-roki," Sero snarked at Todoroki, who glanced at him rather good-naturedly. "Oh yeah?"
"Uh huh."
Monoma alone - no, not alone, Midoriya wore the same look - was grinning. "I like this guy."
"Let's get right to it, then…" said Sensei.
"Battle training time. It's a series of matches pitting class A against Class b. The Battlefield is one section of Athletic field Gamma. Both classes will split into teams of four and square off against another team!"
"Four person teams!" Said a girl in a lizard-body suit. "Should be fun!"
"Yep, fun!" Said a girl next to her, who was dressed like a large mushroom.
"With Shinso added in," said a boy who looked rather like a large beast, "we've got 41 altogether. How do we account for him?"
"Shinso will be participating in two matches, joining Class A for one and Class B for the other. Meaning two of the five matches will be five vs. four."
"That's not fair for the four person teams!" Cried Hagakure.
Vlad King sensei shook his head. "The four students who have to incorporate the inexperienced Shinso are actually at a disadvantage. Having five members will give you the edge numbers-wise, but it's also a handicap. The scenario this time around is 'Heroes trying to capture steam of villains." So think of the opposing team as villains! Capture four of your opponents to win."
"Villains do the team-up thing too, huh?" Said the Mushroom girl to Tetsutetsu, the boy who Kirishima had fought at the Sports Festival. He punched his hand and fist together. "Nice n simple! Love it!"
I felt my mind spinning out of control with the complexity of this assignment. I have so many questions! what are we supposed to be doing with this? "So we're heroes, but the opponent views us as villains!? Which role to we play up then!?"
"Let's go with heroes," suggested Yaoyorozu.
"Each team's home base has a cutesy-cutesy lock-em-up prison. The instant someone's thrown in the cage, they count as captured."
"What high stakes!" I cried.
"The efficient strategy would be to disable the enemy near our own base," said the beast boy. "Easier said than done, probably."
"Capture four opponents to win? Is that what you meant by handicap?" Asked Bakugou.
"Yes," said Sensei. "Not only is Shinso inexperienced, by the five-person team he's on still loses if four members are caught."
"So that team's gotta fight while carrying deadweight? Crap," said Bakugou.
"That's a nasty way to phrase it."
"He's not wrong," said Shinsou.
"This guy's light-years ahead in the maturity department!" Cried Kaminari.
Sensei and Vlad King both held up boxes labeled "Lots A" and "Lots B."
"Now, time to draw lots."
We drew. I was in Group 3, with Todoroki, Shoji and Ojiro. Yaoyorozu was in Group 2 of Class 1A, alongside Aoyama, Tokoyami, and Hagakure. Kamianri was on the first team with Kirishima, Asui and Koda; Bakugou on the fourth with Jirou, Sero and Sato; and Midoriya, Uraraka, Mineta and Ashido in fifth.
"Now you, Shinso," said Vlad King. "You'll join one team from each class."
He was to be with 1A for the first round, and 1B for the fifth.
"I know you said all that stuff," said Kirishima. "But heck, I still wanna be friends! Good to have ya!"
"Tell us how your quirk works," said Tsu.
"Wit those looks, you must be popular with the ladies. I can tell," said Kaminari.
"Thanks for having me," said Shinsou.
"I like you already! You seem ready to crush that rotten Class A into the dirt!"
"Please ignore everything he says," said one other 1B boys on his team.
"Thanks for having me," said Shinsou.
"Going fifth, you'll be getting a rematch with him, Deku," said Uraraka.
"Yeah. With Shinsou all powered up, I can't wait t see how he fights."
"Teams start at their home bases. The time limit is 20 minutes per match. If time runes out, the team with more remaining members wins."
We gathered then in the Entertainment Zone, where we could watch the Field on the monitors. Ashido had turned around and cried, "All Might and Midnight are here! Together! Is love in the air?"
"Cut that out," Midnight replied. "I don't mess with older men." They joined us and continued speaking in the back.
"Now," said Vlad King Sensei. "Match 1, START!"
The League of Villains' Hideout
"I…DEVOTE MYSELF TO ALL FOR ONE. NOW, SUCCESSOR. PROVE THAT YOU ARE WORTHY."
The other members exchanged glances of some surprise.
Less than a minute later, the League of Villains - that powerful group at the name of which the rest of the world trembled - was being blasted back by the swipes of the hands of the towering behemoth.
"WHY…TELL ME WHY? OH LORD, WHYYY?! WHY IS HE SO WEAK!?
"What's up?" Asked Spinner. "He doesn't make any sense!"
A voice came crackling in over the radio which had hung on the giant's neck, now seated on the ground. A crackling, horrible, smug, old voice.
"You seem to be at a loss, Tomura Shigaraki."
"Doctor…" Shigaraki murmured.
"Did you say 'Doctor?" Asked Spinner. "Could it be the doctor we're looking for?"
"Are all your pals there with you? How've you all been doing?"
"Fine, thanks. But we're about to be mincemeat," said Shigaraki as the creature raised its fists preparing to smash them into the ground. The force of the blow turned the rocks around them to beaten pieces of rubble and sent the League scattering.
"I WANT TO ACCEPT HIM! BUT ALL FOR ONE, I - I JUST CAN'T!"
"Why not?" Asked Shigaraki.
"I take it you've met Gigantomachia?" Came the Doctor's voice. "He's a big supporter of All for One. He even used to be his bodyguard! He is one of the people All for One trusted most. With that extraordinarily durable body of his, he could handle multiple quirks even without getting remodeled first. When All for One was weakened by All Might. He knew his defeat was inevitable, so he hid Gigantomachia away. Such careful planning! And all this happened just a few years after he picked you up. No matter what might happen to him, he made sure his hopes and dreams would live on."
"Call me crazy," snapped Dabi, "but I'm having a hard time seeing this as some generous gift."
"Nice insight, Dabi! I'd say you're right. Gigantomachia is loyal to a fault. So loyal that it hurts him to think that Shigaraki doesn't measure up to his old master!"
Dabi's hands twitched, the words of competition hitting a nerve. From the open hands, a wall of flames blasted him into the sky, high above the others.
"We'd better go all out to show him we're worthy!" And a wall of flames came barreling towards the monster.
"That won't be enough," came the calm, impersonal voice over the radio. "For now…hm, let me see."
And the flames came into Machia's mouth, swallowed and ineffectual.
"Not very effective, Dabi!" Cried out Himiko Toga.
"Machia," came a radio voice - but a different voice this time, not the Doctor's. The familiar voice of the League's old master. All for One.
The creature instantly changed. No longer raging, he was bent on all fours over the radio, clutching it in his large hands, and rubbing his head up against it. Even purring rather like an over-sized cat.
"A recording of All for One's voice is just the thing to calm him down," the Doctor explained.
"We don't want this guy," said Shigaraki.
"Oh, you don't? He could be quite handy to have in the future! Kurogiri has been babying you for too long. Open your eyes, boy."
"That's harsh, Doctor."
"Hpmh. Give me a minute…"
There was silence.
"A minute for what?" Asked Toga, looking nervous.
"I swear, if this old coot doesn't get to the point -urk - burp!" Gasped Twice.
"Really, Jin? Burping? Gross," began Toga, but she was interrupted by the same noise coming from her own mouth.
From her mouth came the black sludge, a familiar one…
"Isn't this the quirk All for One used in Kamino?" Cried Mr. Compress. "How? Why? What's going on1?"
"Let's have a real chat," the voice of the Doctor echoed behind them as they all disappeared in the black sludge.
They were no longer at the hideout, but instead in a large laboratory surrounded by test tubes - test tubes containing what looked like larger, even more powerful Noomu.
Watching them from a chair before a large monitor was an old man. Bald, with a large mustache, shiny goggles and a hooked nose.
"Stinky," coughed Toga.
"This is…" Shigaraki looked around..
"Where're we now?" Asked Dabi, but then something in attack caught his eye.
"NOmu? But unlike any we've seen before…"
"HO HO!" Came the Doctor's voice. "Can you tell the difference? HO HO HO HO! Once again you've got sharp pair of eyes, Dabi! Yep, these little ones are nothing like the mid and low level Nomu. They're High-End! Super Nomu! I could almost call Master-pieces! Impressive, huh? My finest work yet."