Chapter 44
[Silence]
Shoto Todoroki and Momo Yaoyorozu were closely coming up to the entrance of the Monetary room. Momo had her arms crossed, and didn't look as confident as she usually was with tests like these. Shoto looked indifferent, as usual, only focusing on the task given to him right now. "It's our turn now." He said, before looking back at his partner and seeing her uneasiness. "Yaoyorozu…" He got her attention. "What's wrong? Are you nervous?"
"Oh. No..." She answered, though it didn't sound like she was sure of that.
"It's okay." Todoroki understood. "With what we're facing, I don't blame you."
The two then entered the room and watched as Tenya, who was frozen from the neck down, was set free from his cold restraints by Sora chopping the ice in just the right spot to break all of it at once. The class rep got back up, shivering. "T-Thank you. I apprec-ciate being able to move again."
"Well...you're moving alright." Mashirao commented as Recovery Girl was looking at his tail for anything serious. Thankfully for him, nothing too serious, just a few cuts and a lot of bruises.
"How about you go somewhere that'll warm you up." Sora suggested to his friend. "Don't want you to catch a cold...well, aside from the cold you're already feeling."
"W-Was that a joke just now?" Iida saw Sora's play on words.
"If you want it to be." The Keyblade wielder replied with a cheeky smile, then he saw the two recommendation students. "Oh, hey! You two are up already?"
"Yes." Shoto confirmed to Sora.
"This match is gonna be awesome to watch." Sora commented, "Not that the other matches weren't cool. But this one is probably gonna be the best 1-A test to watch."
"Maybe so." Todoroki said, staying as composed as he usually does.
Sora then turned to the other recommendation student. "I'll be watching you both kick butt today. Show your bad guy what for, Momo." He gave her a thumbs up. She returned the affection with a weak smile, and Sora noticed her lack of determination. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Before she could answer, Moogle spoke up. "Step on the platform, Kupo. We may be breezing through these tests, but that doesn't mean we're gonna take a break, Kupo."
The two recommendation students then stepped on the platform and were taken into the datascape. They had materialized inside the center of the mock cityscape. "Don't worry, I have a plan in mind for us." Shoto told her.
A moment later, their opponent had been materialized somewhere else, and the announcement was made "Team Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. Practical exam. Ready? Go!"
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Darkness In Heart]
Shoto immediately went to the closest alleyway and Momo followed him. "Since we have no idea what our opponent can do, our first priority is to make sure we can't be taken by surprise. If you can, make a motion sensor that will inform us when there are three people moving in its range."
On a rooftop in the cityscape, Marluxia, with his hood up and Graceful Dahlia in his hand, looked down into the city, scanning everything he could see, before pink petals came out of his sleeves and surrounded him. He vanished and the petals went into the near vacant city.
Back in the real world, since everyone saw Marluxia do that, Present Mic decided to get this one out of the way. "The Graceful Assassin, Marluxia! His Quirk, Floraform! He can create special plants from his body that have some pretty crazy properties. The pink rose petals can change the molecular composition of what they touch, and he has black vines that are really hard to break. But he needs time to charge for bigger or more precise attacks, and the pink petals' effects are only temporary."
Back in the datascape Todoroki and Yaoyorozu were nearing the end of the alleyway as the flame user explained his plan. "Our success will depend on which one of us finds the other first. Once we spot him, I'll keep him focused on me. Then you can run to the escape gate and win this thing for us. Just stay close to me until then." He checked to see if the coast was clear, and it seemed to be for now. "Ok. Let's move."
"...Sure...No problem." Momo complied as she began to make what Shoto requested, while on the move.
[Silence]
As minutes went by, Yaoyorozu finished making two motion sensors and gave one to Todoroki. He took it and put in on his right wrist. "I know I asked you to make this, but how will this detect him?" The sensor looked like a watch, but without a screen.
"It's sonar based, and will vibrate when there are a certain number of people inside it's range. The vibration will get more intense the closer the person is." Momo explained. "Turn the dial counterclockwise and it will then be configured to vibrate when two people move in the range."
"In the event that we split up and our target pursues one of us. It also doesn't make a sound, so it won't give us away." Shoto understood. "With these, we should be able to at least know if he's close by, then if we see him, we can do my plan."
Yaoyorozu seemed to just accept this strategy and followed the ice user. "I'd expect nothing less from you, Todoroki."
"What do you mean?" Shoto asked her as they stayed on the move.
"You were able to come up with a plan to use against an unknown opponent so quickly." She pointed out. "...You knew exactly what was best as soon as we started."
"...This is nothing." Todoroki told her.
"No..." Momo said as she stopped in her tracks. "You're wrong."
Shoto stopped as well and turned around to see what was up with her.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I Absolutely Won't Use The Heat]
"As students who got into U.A. through recommendations, we started from the same place." She stated. "But in terms of the practical skills that a Hero needs, I haven't really managed to do anything that stands out. During the cavalry battle, I just followed your orders...And then when it was my turn to fight, I failed before I could do anything..."
[Silence]
Todoroki could see that she wasn't confident in herself right now, but he couldn't understand why. Before he could say anything about that however. "...Are those…?"
Yaoyorozu saw Shoto's confused face and then turned around to see what he was looking at. "Huh?...Flower petals?"
The pink petals seemed to breeze in their direction, which was strange, considering that there was no wind at all. Then Todoroki realized something. "This is unnatural...meaning a quirk is at play. Yaoyorozu, he's here somewhere."
"Huh?" She responded. "But my motion detector would..." Now it started to vibrate intensely, the moment the flower petals surrounded them.
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Graceful Assassin]
She felt a presence hovering behind her as someone leaned to her ear and said. "I didn't earn the title 'graceful assassin' by being easy to detect. Your heart shall be judged." Making his presence known to the two, Marluxia, with his hood still covering his face, was ready to face them in battle.
Vines and pink rose petals covered Momo for a brief moment before they seemed to phase into her. She felt a tight grip that really stung her actual heart and she placed one of her hands on her chest, as if to try and reach for her heart to stop the sting. Marluxia casted the Doom ability on her.
Shoto turned around and attempted to attack the man with fire, but Marluxia vanished into petals again, before reappearing behind him and whispering into his ear. "Your heart is now in shackles." The Graceful Assassin vanished and then the same thing happened to him as well, the vines and petals appeared and entered Todoroki's body before he could do anything about it.
Marluxia then appeared in front of the two. "You each have been cursed. Fifteen chances you have to avoid my blade." He pointed the Graceful Dahlia in their direction. "Should you fail to do so..." He smirked as he then said "then you will sleep for all eternity."
The Organization member did a wide horizontal swing at the two. Both students leaned back to barely dodge the attack, and then Shoto spoke out, igniting his fire to attack the member. "Yaoyorozu, go!" Marluxia vanished before the attack could hit him, but it created a brief opening in the perimeter of petals that Momo used to run away from the fight. He was about to pursue, but then a barrage of ice came toward him. The pink haired man twirled his scythe around for a moment, before quickly and relentlessly slicing up the ace barrage into nothing. "Your fight is with me."
"Is it now." Marluxia replied, confident in his success. He spun his scythe above him and in that moment, Shoto was pulled towards him, giving the Graceful Assassin a chance to slash him once, knocking the boy into the air, then warp to in front of him and hit him up even higher, then warp again, to hit him even higher.
The two were now high enough for Marluxia to grab Todoroki, wrap him in black vines, and then dangle him from the power lines. The Organization member landed on the ground and looked at the boy. "You think you've caught me?" Shoto spoke up. "This is nothing. I could burn or freeze these vines in an instant."
Marluxia twirled his scythe around, then slammed the handle on the floor. Multiple pink petals slowly scattered around the floor and changed the concrete to a black substance. "That was just to keep you in place. This…" He points at the black substance. "is what will finish you off, should you attempt to escape before I deal with the girl."
"This is your strategy? You're pretending to be some cherry blossom grim reaper?" Shoto insinuated.
"It seems that unlike your lackey, you're sure about yourself." Marluxia stated out loud. "Since your plan was to fight me alone, you most likely knew how much of a liability she would be."
"She is NOT a liability, OR a lacky." Todoroki called out. "She's one of the best in the class."
"With the way I've seen her acting, she doesn't believe that." The Graceful Assassin pointed out. "She doesn't carry herself with that same confidence that you do." He smirked. "If she truly were as great as you said she was, then she would have made the plan and then you might have been able to win."
With that, he left, allowing Shoto the choice to either break the vines and immediately get taken out, or to stay and think about what was just told to him. "She really doesn't believe in herself?"
[Silence]
Momo kept running, thinking about multiple things. She wondered how far she was from the exit, if there was a shorter route to take to get there, if Todoroki was okay, if any of this was even right, if she should stop in order to make herself something to move quicker, if she could even make it at all, if she could pass this way, where was she running to. She was so unsure and so distracted by her stress that she was starting to slow down.
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Scythe of Petals]
Suddenly, pink petals breezed past her and she skidded to a halt. The petals circled in front of her and then Marluxia, who still had his hood covering his face, had appeared right in front of her, but he didn't immediately use his weapon. Instead he just decided to stay where he was, extending his free hand in front of him, letting black vines form out of it that slowly went to the girl.
Momo had a terrified look on her face as she realized that her partner was already taken care of, leaving her left to deal with. She couldn't even stand up anymore as she fell back on her rear and just kept backing up as fast as she could, trying to think of some way to get out of this, but then the vines caught one of her legs.
She felt the pricks latch onto her skin and then she felt a tug. She saw Marluxia slowly rotating his hand, wrapping the vines around it to slowly pull her in closer. Yaoyorozu had to think fast. If she gets pulled in, then it's game over, but if she gets free too early, then the Organization member will easily adapt to her and not make the same mistake.
Marluxia kept slowly pulling her closer and closer to him. While he could end this fight whenever he wanted, he needed to make sure that both these people knew just how much better he was than them. While most would call that egotistical, he simply calls it, asserting himself in his rightful position.
Momo was almost in range of his scythe when she finally managed to think of something, then when she got in range for him to attack her, he raised his arm with Graceful Dahlia. Right when he was about to swing, he saw the girl make a lighter and a compressed air can. She lit the lighter and then used the compressed air can to blast him in the face with a small burst of fire.
Marluxia got hit and the vines around his arms dissipated, as well as Graceful Dahlia as he held his hands over his face and yelled out in pain. He didn't even see those on her costume. It was like she somehow made those out of thin air. Before he could give her any opening to attack, he vanished into petals and went further ahead in the direction she was originally going. Momo however, went in the opposite direction.
[Silence]
Back in the real world, Aizawa had watched everything that Yaoyorozu did, figuring out the exact same things that Marluxia did and said to Todoroki on his own. Since the cameras were video only, the homeroom teacher could only figure this out, based on her actions and posture. While he would like to help her boost her confidence, he can't right now, and could only watch, just like everyone else in this room.
Back with Shoto, the vines around him had dissipated as well, and he began to fall, but before he could hit the black substance, it also vanished. While he wasn't going to get immediately taken out, he was still gonna land hard on the ground. And land hard he did, hitting the ground flat on his chest and getting the wind knocked out of him for a brief moment. He stayed like that for a bit before struggling to push himself up. While he did that, he was thinking about his partner, realizing that the Organization member actually made really good points. If he manages to find her, then he'll make sure to listen to her and let her be the leader he knew she could be.
"Todoroki!" Momo's voice called out, as she saw her partner on the floor and rushed over to him. "Todoroki!"
"Yaoyorozu!" Shoto called back to her.
"I'm sorry I came back!" She apologized as she stopped a few feet away from him. "I couldn't..."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Darkness In Heart]
"Hey!" The flame user spoke up. "Watch out! The pink petals are coming this way!" Momo looked back and saw them swiftly approaching. She had no idea what to do and the stress was making her freeze. "Yaoyorozu! You've got a plan don't you?" The girl looked back at him as he continued to speak. "I'm sorry. I should have asked before, and not just tell you what to do. But you have an idea right?"
Momo seemed close to breaking down as she said "Your plan didn't work, so there's no way mine will be any good...We're both going to fail..."
"Spit out your plan already!" Shoto raised his voice. "I'm saying that you're the one whose better at this stuff, not me!" Yaoyorozu looked at him again as he told her. "When we were voting for class rep, you had three votes. Remember? One of those votes was mine, because I thought that YOU would be best at leading our class."
Momo then remembered that she did have three votes to her name. But that wasn't all she remembered. 'If it makes you feel any better, I voted for you the first time.' Sora's words rang into her head, as she remembered him voting for her as well. She ended up ridiculing herself in her head, and then, Marluxia's blade end of Graceful Dahlia was right in front of her throat. "Have you decided to give up?" The unhooded Organization member wondered.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Go Seize It]
"...Not yet." She replied, as she subtly created a flash grenade in her hand, and closed her eyes before releasing the pin.
Shoto copied her and closed his eyes, but when Marluxia caught on, it was too late and the flash grenade went off in her hand and temporarily blinded him. Once again, he chose to fall back.
Yaoyorozu ran to her teammate and helped him up. "You're right. I have an idea. A plan for us to win." The petals came back and Marluxia formed once more, seeming annoyed at the repeated surprises that the girl kept making. "This final exam isn't over. We can still beat this Villain!"
"So you've got a strategy." Todoroki said.
"Yes." Momo said with certainty in her voice. "I've been thinking about it since your first fight with him. His weakness."
"Alright. Just tell me what to do." Shoto told her. The Graceful Dahlia went flying towards the two and Todoroki pushed her out of the way and took another hit from the scythe.
"That's eleven strikes left for you, boy." Marluxia stated as he reformed to where his weapon was. "You can't be her shield forever." The flame user then used his fire and attempted to blast the Organization member, but he vanished before the flames could hit and stun him again.
"Todoroki." Momo called out to her teammate as she got up and began a retreat, making sure he closely followed. "We need to hide from him for now. I can't explain everything, but right now we need to make sure that he can't reach us for at least a couple minutes."
"Is that how long we need to get the rest of your plan underway?" Shoto asked.
"Yes, and for my plan to work, it'll all be a matter of timing." She told her teammate. "We are going to pass this final."
"Timing?" Todoroki repeated. "How is hiding from this guy gonna help us with that? He can sneak up on us, even with the motion sensors."
"Just do as I tell you." Yaoyorozu instructed as the two turned a corner, while Marluxia gave pursuit. "Get ready to use your ice on my mark and do the same thing you did to Sero at the Sports festival."
"Your hopes are doomed to the darkness!" Marluxia yelled out as he threw his weapon with all his strength.
"Now!" Momo ordered.
"This is it." Shoto told himself as he let out a huge amount of ice that engulfed the scythe inside it and created a massive ice spiked wall that could not be broken with a few swings, or scaled over in a few seconds. They now had time to make the distance they needed and plan. "I blocked him with the wall at your command." Todoroki said as he heated himself to melt the ice on him. "So can you tell me the rest of your plan now?"
[Silence]
The boy looked to see his teammate with her back turned against him, and the chest portion of her costume pulled out as she was making what looked to be a capture scarf, similar to Eraserhead's. He looked away. "Is that Aizawa's scarf you're making?"
"It is." She confirmed. "I don't know the materials it's made of or precisely how it's constructed. So it's not exactly the same. But I created my own version with a special material woven into it." She then explained their small dilemma. "Since this is a residential area, we must keep collateral damage to a minimum, and our enemy moves so quickly when he's materialized himself into petals, making it difficult to catch him. So here's my plan."
Back in the real world, Sora was very impressed to see the quick thinking on Momo's part, expecting nothing less from her and her smarts. It also didn't go unnoticed that he saw her confidence boost, but even so. he's still gonna talk to her after the match is over, to make sure that she doesn't doubt herself again.
In the datascape, Yaoyorozu had explained her plan to Shoto and the two had just finished getting everything set up. They got themselves into position, and watched for pink rose petals.
[Play KH3 Re Mind OST Lord Of The Castle]
Pink petals were seen coming over the ice, then they descended slowly towards the ground. Todoroki's left arm began to burn with his flame quirk, and Momo, though a bit tense, looked confident that her plan was going to succeed. The petals were about to reach the ground, but then suddenly, instead of Marluxia forming first, the Graceful Dahlia formed and rapidly spun through the ground like a wheel towards them, briefly surprising the students.
Once the scythe reached Yaoyorozu, Marluxia, who no longer hid his face under his hood, had formed in front of her and unleashed a ludicrously fast ten hit combo, that knocked her back a good distance. "Five left for her." The Graceful Assassin counted, before dodging Shoto's attempted fire blast and hitting the boy hard with the scythe, launching him back to where Momo was. "And ten left for him."
The two students got themselves back up, and watched as Marluxia ran towards them. Todoroki sent out an ice barrage, and the Organization member met the attack head on by repeating that scythe roll attack he did to them earlier, cutting straight through it. He reformed himself then saw a fire blast come straight for him, but he jumped up before the flames could hit him. Another black grenade was right in front of his face and he closed his eyes, to shield himself from the incoming flash.
Instead of a flash however, the man heard a loud bang that rung through his ears and made him cover them for a moment. Yaoyorozu tricked him by making a sound grenade that looked exactly like the flash grenade she used on him before. As he was recovering from that, Momo and Shoto looked back for a brief moment to see how far they were from their destination, before Todoroki sent out another ice barrage to hit the Organization member while he was distracted.
Marluxia opened his eyes and saw the ice coming. He grabbed Graceful Dahlia and threw it towards the ice, making it slice through the barrage and hit the Ice user before he could dodge. The Graceful Assassin then vanished and reformed where his weapon was and hit the boy two more times. "Seven..." He then went for a slice at the girl, but then stopped mid swing when she held her hands behind her back. He decided to jump back to avoid another surprise.
Momo kept her hands behind her back, and thanks to the Organization member only focusing on her arms, she created an empty sound grenade with her leg and kicked it towards the man, who covered his ears and closed his eyes, giving her time to turn tail and get to where she needed to go. Shoto took the opportunity and froze the ground between the two students and their opponent before running with his partner to where he needed to go.
Marluxia opened his eyes after a moment and then saw the grenade in front of him not go off. Now he was just angry that he fell for that girl's trick a third time. He also saw the large pool of ice that was in between him and the two students, who were now attempting to flee. He decided to get serious and he began to glow with a pink aura before twirling Graceful Dahlia around himself and starting his desperation move with the scythe roll.
The Graceful Assassin rolled his way through the icy floor and was swiftly catching up to the two children. The girl looked back and informed her partner to dodge, which they both did, but as the two each jumped in opposite directions, Marluxia reformed himself and threw his scythe straight at the boy, and landed another hit. "Six." He then continued the scythe roll and swiftly turned himself around to pursue the girl.
Taoyorozu couldn't avoid him and had to take a hit. "Four left on me." She kept count as she continued to run after the hit. She saw the man circle around for another attempt, but this time she saw it coming and rolled out of the way, but then Marluxia reformed and threw the scythe at her, hitting her again. "Ngh!...Three."
The Organization Member then went for Todoroki, who tried to hit him with fire mid charge, but once again Marluxia reformed and jumped over the flame attack, throwing Graceful Dahlia towards the boy and barely missing him. But Graceful Assassin reformed where the weapon was and slashed the boy four times. "Two left." He said before he vanished for a brief moment.
The two students continued running forward, and they almost reached their destination, but then they saw a huge amount of pink petals form around the area they were running to and then the two looked back to see Marluxia, who was still glowing pink, jump in the air, twirl his scythe and then slam the blade into the ground and turn a massive chunk of the floor around them into a black substance for a brief instant. The two students were flung into the air, both feeling immense pain from the attack.
Shoto got flung further ahead than Momo, and both landed hard on the ground. But as soon as the girl saw where she was, she knew what she needed to do. She looked back and saw the Graceful Dahlia inches from her face. "There's no hope for you."
Momo kicked herself back a few inches away, but got hit twice from the scythe before she triggered her trap. As she was about to get hit a third time, the Organization member heard something to his left and looked to see the end of a clear tripwire trigger a catapult with a long scarf loaded into it, launch the scarf towards him and cover the entire area. As he was distracted, Momo shouted out. "NOW!" As she quickly made a fire proof tarp to cover herself.
Shoto ignited his left side and in an instant, he blasted the entire area in front of him, engulfing Marluxia in the fire, while Yaoyoyozu kept herself under the protection of her tarp. "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHAAAAA!" The pink haired man screamed out in pain before the scarf around him suddenly began to harden and then bind his entire body in an instant. The Graceful Assassin then fell to the ground and groaned in pain, as the girl came up from under the tarp, a little sweaty, but not burnt at all. "...So this...this is the heart of a Hero."
[Play KH3 Remind OST Link to All -Second- Connect all of the Keyholes]
Back in the real world. "That was amazing!" Sora cheered out. "They actually 'beat him' beat him!"
"That's so cool!" Ochako exclaimed.
"Yaoyorozu managed to figure out that he had a weakness to fire, and was able to exploit it at just the right moment." Izuku noted. "Not only that, but she also made a scarf that would react and harden to the heat and bind the Organization member too."
Back in the datascape, the students got Marluxia to his knees and then cuffed him. "That went almost exactly according to your plan." Shoto stated. "It really just was a matter of timing, like you said. Thanks, teammate."
"Team Todoroki and Yaoyorozu have passed the finals!" The announcement was made as the two recommendation students were being taken out of the datascape.
Once the two were back in the real world, they were greeted by Sora. "That was awesome you two! You guys actually managed to beat him. Like...REALLY beat him."
"It was thanks to her plan." Shoto pointed to his teammate. "She figured out his weakness and how we could exploit it, even when he got serious at the end."
Momo, who seemed a bit more confident, but still not fully confident in herself had replied "To be honest, I think we just got lucky. Yes, my plan worked, but it came close to failing a few times. I had no idea that he could control his weapon while in his petal form, or that he could warp himself to his weapon with those petals. Not to mention that he almost drained our hit counters to zero. If I didn't land as close as I did to the tripwire, then I would have..."
Sora grabbed her hand and spoke up. "Momo, let me ask you something. Who was it who scored first place in that Quirk Assessment test on the first day of school?"
"Huh?" The girl responded, surprised at Sora's action and question. Then she remembered. "Me..."
"And who was it who I said I voted to be class rep before I gave the position to Tenya?" Sora asked.
"...Me." Yaoyorozu answered.
"And who was it who decided to stay by my side and fight off the Heartless during that second wave of the Villain attack on U.S.J.?" Sora requested to know.
"Me." She stated.
"And who was the girl on the team that managed to briefly steal the ten million point headband during the cavalry battle before I stole it back?" Sora reminded her.
"...Me." The girl said.
"And who was the one person who managed to stun me a few times during that survival training with the Isamu students?" Sora added.
"Me..." She replied.
"That's right. You. You did all that." Sora stated. "Out of everyone in the class, only you beat me in the Quirk Assessment, only you voluntarily stayed to fight with me, and only you have been able to break my focus during a fight. Tenya, and all his speed couldn't do that. Shoto's ice and fire couldn't do that. Katsuki's explosion couldn't do that."
The class deputy was seeing where this was going, but was still taken aback, because she herself hadn't realized all she had accomplished and how much she was recognized by people she thought were leagues above her. "I...I did..."
Sora looked right into her eyes as he told her. "You have always done such amazing things, and you still do. Out of the four tests done so far, only you were able to come up with a plan that managed to actually take down a member of the Organization. The first team failed, the second team won by getting the cuffs on while Terra was distracted, and the third team won by running. You and Shoto actually took down Marluxia, and he was fighting seriously at the end."
"...We did..." She repeated.
"Don't ever doubt yourself Momo." The Keyblade wielder said. "Not after everything you've done to get as far as you have."
Yaoyorozu was frozen for a moment, before she placed her free hand over her mouth and began to slightly tear up from the encouraging words. The 1-A students, Itsuka Kendo, Vlad King and Recovery Girl smiled at the heartwarming moment that happened in front of them. Momo then pulled Sora in and embraced him, barely able to speak, telling him how grateful she was to hear that from arguably the best student in her class. Sora hugged her back and after that moment was finished, the two students decided to stay and watch the rest of the matches with the others.
[Silence]
Yuga Aoyama then strutted his way into the room, winking at the people in there before pointing at his teammate. "Come, my partenaire à tête de bulle. And let me shine our way to victory."
Uraraka had a slight deadpanned expression as she followed her partner to the platform. "Um...can you translate what you just called me?"
"You're my bubble headed partner." He stated. "Your bubbly demeanor, combined with your floaty quirk make that the perfect title for you."
"...Oookay..." She responded before the two were taken into the datascape.
Tsuyu walked out of the temporary nurse's office and saw the other students looking at the screen, Sora was the first to see her and greeted her. "Hey Tsu. How're you feeling?"
"Better, thanks to Recovery Girl." She told him. "How many matches have gone by?"
"After yours? Two." The Keyblade wielder answered. "We're about to watch the next match. Wanna watch with us?"
After a brief moment to think about it, she nodded and joined the crowd as the datascape's location had finished loading in. Iida also came back to watch his classmates as well, now that he wasn't shivering from the cold.
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Scent of Silence]
As the two were materialized, they recognized the area. They were in the mountains zone of U.S.J. Or at least a data recreation of U.S.J. The only difference was that there was a gate highlighted over where the main entrance was. It was strange to Ochako, because while the small hike and climb up the stairs would be a bit tiresome, this is just as straightforward as Iida's match against that Xehanort guy was.
In the center plaza portion of the datascape, Zexion was just created and he immediately could smell that he wasn't alone in the area. "Team Aoyama and Uraraka. Practical exam. Ready? Go!" an announcement sounded off and he could only guess that the two scents were 'Uraraka and Aoyama'. Smelling that they weren't that powerful, he decided to head in their direction.
Back with the two students, they walked through the mountain zone and did their best to stay on ground level, though it was unavoidable when there was a chasm that the two had to cross. With some quick thinking on Ochako's part, she used her Quirk on Herself, then grabbing her partner and holding onto him as he too began to float from his partner's quirk. The French boy fired a short blast from his naval laser and the two made it across the chasm. After that, Uraraka deactivated her quirk, letting both of them land on the ground before they continued on their way.
Zexion, who easily managed to track the two, had just seen what they did, and he was slightly intrigued. He summoned his lexicon 'The Book of Retribution' and silently watched the two students continue their way through the mountainous area. In spite of not having a pen, his book catalogued what he saw as the two continued to solve the natural puzzles that stood in their way, from simple platforming, to clearing obstructions.
Ochako and Yuga managed to exit the mountains zone and observed the areas around them. It was deafly silent. "It looks clear...a little too clear." The girl stated.
"Hmph. And here I thought we'd run into our opponent by now." Aoyama boasted. "He's probably lost in one of the other zones, helplessly wandering until he finds it's exit."
"...Maybe...I don't know." Uraraka replied. "It just seems too easy."
"That's because you are with moi." Yuga explained. "Any task that I involve myself in becomes childsplay for my alliées."
"This is serious, Aoyama." Ochako said. "All our other classmates ran into their opponent minutes after the test started. But there's no hint of our opponent anywhere."
"My my, Uraraka. If you paid attention to the matches as much as the crowds pay attention to yours truly, then what should we expect? Isn't our enemy unknown?" Yuga pointed out.
"They still all had the same pattern." Ochako replied. "They come looking for us, or go to a place they know we'll go to, then when they find us they say something before fighting."
"Then it's simple, our enemy has yet to find us." The French boy stated.
"Or he's waiting at the entrance for us." The girl hypothesized. "I can't see the entrance from here, but there's no way that it's gonna be this easy the entire time." She decided to end the conversation there and the two continued forward, For now, they just had a straight shot forward, a stair climb and potentially an Organization member waiting for them at the top.
Zexion watched as the two began their accent up the stairway, remaining out of sight. He looked around the vast complex and looked at the multiple areas that weren't encased in domes, pondering the ideal place to take them.
Back in the real world, the other students were having the same suspicions as the pair taking the actual practical exam. Why was it so calm for them? Why hasn't the Organization member made a move to stop them? How is this exam going to go down? "The Organization member is still...in there, right?" Asui questioned.
"He's still there, Kupo." Moogle confirmed. "He's just choosing not to make a move against them right now, Kupo."
"Hmm...maybe to lure the two into a false sense of security?" Izuku guessed.
"Or he's set a trap at the exit and is waiting for them to spring it." Tenya theorized.
"Either way, this guy clearly doesn't prefer a physical confrontation." Momo pointed out. "It's obvious that he's just waiting for the right moment to attack. We just don't know how he'll go about it."
"Only time will tell if he'll make a move or not." Shoto concluded. With that said, the students continued to watch the match before them unfold.
Back in the datascape, Zexion, who was still hidden from the students, seemed to be fixated on the ruins zone for a moment, but then he turned his attention back to the pair of teenagers as they were reaching the top of the stairwell.
[Silence]
Uraraka looked around, seeing if anything was out of the ordinary, but nothing looked like it was touched. "Was it really that easy?" She asked herself out loud.
"I told you it would be mon amie." Aoyama spoke to his partner as the two walked towards the exit together. "My sparkle must have scared him off to the shadows."
Zexion got behind them without making a sound, then snapped his fingers right in between the two. The two students stopped in their tracks and their eyes began to glow green. Neither moved for a moment, and the Cloaked Schemer smirked, before preparing the next phase of his plan.
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Disquieting]
Back in the real world, all of the students except for Sora were visibly confused. "What did he just do?" Asui asked.
"I...don't know." Midoriya answered, but before he could start guessing, two more screens came up next to the screen showing the datascape, but they each showed something very different. It showed a room that looked like it was made of quartz due to how bright white it was, with a massive locked door in front of the both students, who now somehow were by themselves. Behind each student was a staircase that seemed to lead to what was most likely the basement of this strange place.
Sora recognized the design from his visit to Radiant Garden. Specifically when he traversed through the Cavern of Remembrance and found the entrance to the Garden of Assemblage. Needless to say, it made Sora feel a bit tense seeing Zexion use that area as his template to trick these two. When He test fought the Cloaked schemer, he was shown the Destiny Islands, moments before its destruction and he ended up beating him in that fake area too. It was after that fight was finished, he managed to figure out what the Organization Member's power was.
"I guess now's as good a time to say it." Present Mic spoke up again. "The Cloaked Schemer, Zexion! His quirk, Mirage! He can alter the perception of anyone he interacts with, making them see, hear and even feel physical illusions of whatever he wants them to perceive around them."
"Illusions?" Todoroki repeated. "So that's what those extra screens are showing. They're letting us see what he's showing them, so we understand what's going on."
"Still, this is a troublesome quirk to fight against." Iida pointed out. "Especially when you don't see it coming."
The students then looked back to the monitor and focused on the two screens that showed the illusions.
[Play KH Re:Coded OST Castle Oblivion]
In Ochako's point of view, she looked around, briefly panicking and cursing herself for dropping her guard right at the end. She at first went for the door, but as she got closer to it, she saw it creak open, and pitch black aura seemed to seep out of it while black claws seemed to scratch the door, in an attempt to get through. She understandably backed up and realized that the only way she could go was down the stairs, so she went to the flight and began her descent.
In Yuga's point of view, he saw the same designs, but instead of immediately attempting to run away, he tried to at least blast the claws, but that only made the creatures behind the door get more aggressive and the black aura pour out even more. The boy, who now realized that wasn't the right choice to do, quickly began his descent down the stairs.
Back in the actual datascape, Zexion watched as the two students fell for his illusions and began gaping down the stairs they had just climbed. He was also lucky enough to have his Lexicon absorb the boy's laser blast into one of the pages for him to make use of later. He followed the two as they descended the stairs, continuing to keep them under the effects of his illusions.
In Uraraka's point of view, once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw a series of closed doors in front of her. She was confused at that, when one of the doors opened by itself and nothing came through it, she only became more confused. Seeing behind her the black aura slowly creep over to where she was, while multiple pairs of yellow dots seemed to get bigger, signaling to her that those were these creatures' eyes, she decided to continue on this set path given to her.
In Aoyama's point of view, he saw the same series of closed doors and then watched the same single door open with nothing coming through it afterwards. He briefly looked back up the stairs and saw the black aura creeping towards him, while the yellow dots got bigger for him as well. Electing to not chance a second laser to further anger these things, he followed the path laid out for him as well.
In the actual datascape, Zexion watched as the two students made their way towards the ruins zone of U.S.J. He almost laughed at how easy this was, but he kept his composure and silently continued to guide the two to where he wanted them to be.
In Ochako's point of view, it was a series of hallways that seemed almost identical and seemed to span on indefinitely, however it wasn't what it seemed, as whenever she would make a wrong turn, a hallway would seemingly close off in her face until she went the right way. It was messing with her head so much that she was starting to get a headache from this.
In Yuga's point of view, it was the same series of hallways that spanned on forever, and the same trick was applied to him, however unlike his partner, who he didn't know was also dealing with this and getting a headache from it, the French boy was starting to get slightly claustrophobic, unsure when the next wall will suddenly appear right in his face.
Once again, in the actual datascape, Zexion watched as this all unfolded. He purposefully made it this way so that the students wouldn't be immediately ready to retaliate against him once he gets to where he needs them to be. While it was also a bit entertaining to see the two fumble their way around empty streets and sometimes trip and fall back on their rears, it eventually got boring and the Cloaked Schemer just made the course a hallway after that, so he could get the two where he needed them to be sooner.
[Silence]
Once they arrived and he was in position, he had them stand a good distance away and face each other. He then summoned the Book of Retribution, as well as three copies of this Lexicon and spread the books around the three of them, making a makeshift perimeter. He then finally spoke up. "I see you've found your way here."
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Forgotten Challenge]
The two students immediately had startled responses. As they both said "Who's there?"
"I suppose an introduction is in order." The Cloaked Schemer realized as he watched the two students look back towards each other, seeming to tense up when they looked in that direction. "My name is Zexion, and I have come to see what you can do. I have already learned everything from your partner, and now I wish to test my newly acquired techniques against you." He then watched as the two got into their fighting stances and prepared to face each other.
[Silence]
Back in the real world, Sora didn't even need to see the other two screens to know what Zexion was doing to them, but for the other students, it helped them figure out what the Cloaked Schemer's plan was. "That's a problem." Sora commented.
"While I don't like who it's being used against, that is the most clever way to deal with enemies that have a two to one numerical advantage against you." Izuku commended the Organization member's tactic. "Using your illusions on both of them to make their ally look like you."
"This still raised the question of how they're gonna get out of this." Tenya pointed out.
Back in the datascape, both students were unsure of their chances against their opponent, but they both stowed their fears and remembered that they had to win this battle.
[Play KH1 OST No Time to Think]
Uraraka began to charge forward, and went straight for Aoyama, but the French boy thought fast and used his naval laser to shoot her from a distance and keep her at said distance. He used his Quirk as sparingly as he could, because he really couldn't afford any stomach pain right now.
Ochako couldn't stay far, and decided to take a big risk, using her quirk on herself in spite of the small headache she received from that maze she went through and her well known motion sickness. She floated over one of her opponent's lasers, and just as she was starting to get a little nauseous, she managed to close the distance through the air and release her quirk when she was right on top of Yuga.
In Uraraka's point of view, she was right in over Zexion as she released her Quirk and used her weight to knock the man off balance, she then took out the cuffs and then locked them onto his hands as well as her own. She thought the match was now over, but then she noticed that the announcement didn't go off. After a moment of realization, she figured out what she just did.
[Silence]
In Aoyama's point of view, he was very confused. He saw Zexion pin him to the ground and then cuff both of them together. Not only that, but the announcement didn't go off when that happened. Maybe it was because it wasn't him who cuffed the Organization member? He didn't have much time to think about it as he saw Zexion pull him up with the cuffs and then wrap one of his arms around the French boy's neck. In a panic, he fired his naval laser.
In the actual datascape, Zexion smirked at the events that were transpiring in front of him. Was the girl going to choke her partner out? Was she going to drive him to the ground? If it was the latter, then which way would she go? It was a nice guessing game for the Cloaked Schemer. However, all of his choices were wrong, when he saw the girl make the boy's body rotate and fire his laser all around the two. As he wasn't prepared for that, he couldn't dodge the laser in time and got hit hard enough to knock him down.
[Play KH Re:Chain of Memories OST Face It]
Both Ochako and Yuga's eyes no longer glowed green and the girl let her partner out of her grip. Aoyama attempted to back himself up a bit, but then remembered that he was still cuffed to someone and looked to see who it actually was. "Uraraka? Where did you..."
"Looks like I was right." She spoke up. "That guy used some trick on us to make us fight each other." She uncuffed both of them and they looked towards their real opponent.
Zexion pushed himself back up. "How?...How did you manage...to figure that out?"
"It's simple you homme sournois." Yuga spoke out, ignoring the slight stomach pain he was feeling. "With her wits and my sparkle, there's nothing we cannot do!"
The Cloaked schemer growled at that stupidly cheesy reason as to how they saw through his illusion. "Is that so?" He replied. "Then I shall personally make you see that your hopes are nothing! Nothing but a mere illusion!"
[Play KH2 OST The 13th Struggle]
Zexion called his Lexicons back to him and they circled around him while the two students got themselves ready to take on the Cloaked Schemer together. Now the real battle begins, and there was no running from it.
Aoyama made the first move and shot a laser towards the Organization member, but Zexion had one of his Lexicons move in front of him and absorb the attack into its pages. He went forward and used one of his other Lexicons to attack Ochako, but she managed to mostly avoid the book, only feeling a slight tug that knocked her off balance for a few moments.
The Cloaked schemer saw Yuga attempt another laser shot from the stomach, and got ready to block it with the Book of Revolution, but ended up being tricked, as a pair of lasers came out through the knees pieces instead and managed to go under the book and hit him in the legs, tripping him up.
As Zexion was starting to get back up, Uraraka attempted to close the distance, but the Organization member saw her coming and sent one of his lexicons to intercept her, pulling her back with a small magnet spiral and absorbing some of her data into the pages. She tried to swat away the book, but it vanished before she struck it with her hand.
Aoyama kept the pressure on as he fired another pair of lasers from his knee pieces, but Zexion managed to block this attack with his Book of Revolution and keep himself from getting hit again. The Cloaked Schemer got himself back to his feet and then made his Book of Revolution hover to the center of the area.
"You should share your powers." He spoke up before the Book of Revolution opened up and out of a page came a vortex that was starting to suck the two students towards it. They both grabbed on to whatever they could that was close by. Ochako was lucky enough to grab a fence that was still planted in the ground, and Yuga managed to hold on to some very heavy debris that wasn't affected by the vortex.
Uraraka's fence wasn't able to take the pressure and the piece she was holding onto has snapped off, making her get pulled into the vortex for a brief moment, allowing Zexion to absorb much of her data. Once he had enough he made the vortex spit her back out towards her partner. Aoyama didn't see her coming and couldn't brace for her slamming into him.
"I have enough." The Cloaked Schemer said out loud as the Book of Revolution as well the other three lexicon copies of it began to circle around the area and glow a dark purple. The Book of Revolution generated Yuga's stomach and knee gear, giving him access to the naval laser, and he also began to float, showing Ochako's Zero Gravity Quirk kick in.
The two students saw this and realized that their task just got a lot harder. If that wasn't bad enough, the other three lexicons made their contributions to increasing the challenge by each making another Zexion, who also had the same perks at the real one.
The four Zexions began using the copy naval lasers and shot laser after laser towards the pair of students, who solely focused on evading as much as they could. Neither of them could dodge all the attacks however, as Aoyama's armor got scraped a few times by the lasers, his pointy face mask was blasted off of him, and his cape got slightly singed at the tip of it. Uraraka's headpiece also got blasted off, and her costume ended up getting slightly roughed up as well.
As the two were starting to feel fatigued, the Cloaked Schemer then had himself and his three copies circle the area and all aim at a single spot. "See my illusion!" He exclaimed as all four Zexions fired and clashed lasers in the middle, making a makeshift laser wall. The Zexions then continued circling the area, continuing to keep the naval lasers firing. The two students saw one of the lasers getting close and they both used some of the energy they still had to move and keep themselves from getting hit.
Once that attack was over, one of the Zexions crouched and held his stomach in pain. "Ghhh!...what the?" Ochako realized that the Cloaked Schemer was experiencing the side effects of the naval laser Quirk and used the rest of her energy to bolt over to the real Zexion. She saw him get up and attempt to throw a punch, but her fighting instincts kicked in and she used the Organization member's momentum against him, pulling him down to the ground and holding the arm down. As Zexion attempted to grab her with his other arm, Yuga used his naval laser to propel himself to the pair and pin down the other arm, giving his partner enough time to use the cuffs on him and end the fight.
[Silence]
As soon as the cuffs got on his wrist, the clones disappeared and the lexicons vanished with them. "I've been defeated?" Zexion realized as he could no longer do anything.
Then the announcement came in. "Team Aoyama and Uraraka have passed the Finals."
Back in the real world Midoriya spoke up. "Uraraka's judgement was great! She found out which one was real by making him overuse Aoyama's naval laser and experience the side effects."
"Ribbit. I'm surprised that it actually affected the Organization member, because his quirk is illusions, not copy. So how did he get the side effect?" Tsuyu wondered.
"Those Lexicons he uses in battle take the data of the people he faces and the attacks they absorb, Kupo." Moogle answered. "That includes the negative repercussions of any natural abilities that are absorbed, Kupo."
"That makes sense." Izuku noted. "Aoyama's quirk is the laser, but his belt just helps him control it better. So he copied the natural ability of Aoyama's naval laser, as well as the stomach pain that comes from overusing it. They won because Zexion didn't calculate that weakness as a factor."
"It's not surprising that Uraraka won. I'm happy for her." Tenya commented.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST U.A. Corridors]
As the datascape was dematerializing and the two students came back through the platform, they were each congratulated by their fellow 1-A classmates. Yuga couldn't stay long however, as his stomach pain that he was enduring throughout that last struggle was starting to become too much. He rushed out of the room and made a break for the restroom to hopefully avoid staining his costume.
Asui then spoke up again. "Now that this match is over, which team is taking the field next?"
"Ashido and Kaminari are paired up for the next battle." Momo answered, remembering the order that everyone was going.
"Against Luxord." Sora added.
"Why does that name sound familiar?" Ochako asked.
"He's the guy I mentioned to you and the rest of our team during the cavalry battle, when you asked how I kept track of that ten million point head band." The Keyblade wielder reminded her.
"Oh yeah!" Uraraka remembered.
"Wait, what?" Todoroki, Iida, and Yaoyorozu asked in unison.
"This Luxord guy had something to do with that?" Shoto asked, as the other two students were wondering the same thing.
"He played mind games with me, using cards." Sora explained. "Had to keep track of one card among at least four, and at most twenty cards total. I beat him at his own games after I figured out how to keep track of the one card in the group."
After that explanation was said, Mina and Denki came through the door and saw the students in there. They were happy to see their fellow classmates willing to watch their match and after some cheering on from Sora and a few of them, they stepped on the platform and entered the datascape.
As the two students were brought into the datascape they recognized that they were fighting in a data recreation of Ground Gamma. While the pair didn't spend much time memorizing the location, they still knew at least enough to maybe get out. After a moment of time for their assigned Organization member to form in the area, the announcement went off. "Team Ashido and Kaminari. Practical exam. Ready? Go!"
The two ran forward and then decided to think about a plan while they were on the move. "So, what do you want to do?" Mina asked her partner.
"Eh, let's just run." Denki told her. "Even if he does find us in this maze of a training ground, I'm pretty sure I can fry him if he tries anything. You might not want to use your power. It would look bad if you melted a grown man, even if he is fake."
"I know right?" The pink girl agreed with that comment, completely fine with letting her partner do all the work if things get tough.
[Silence]
"Such naivety." A voice spoke out to the two, which caused them to stop in their tracks. The two looked around and then saw who was talking to them.
[Play KH3 OST Meeting Luxord -cutscene-]
Luxord was standing on the top of one of the structures, seeming slightly amused at the two children, who were oh so confident a few seconds ago, slightly tense up at the sight of the man. He then warped to the floor in his traditional card style, standing a good distance in front of them. "It seems that you think that this game will be easy to play."
"Wait...game?" Kaminari repeated.
"Why yes." Luxord answered, shuffling his Fair Game deck in front of the two students. "Is that not what any challenge is?"
The two students were about to just get out of here, but then Luxord blocked them off, using his cards to keep them from going back. "What the?" Ashido said.
Back in the real world, Itsuka and Neito were paying close attention to this, as they were going to face this man as well, so they needed to know what he was about. While they were observing, Present Mic did his announcement. "The Gambler of Fate, Luxord! His Quirk, Card Control. He can control playing cards of any type and add many properties to them. This can range from altering their size and durability, to even placing elements and people inside of them! He can do this with dice too, but he rarely uses those."
Back in the datascape, Luxord spoke to the pair that tried to walk away. "There are no walkouts on my games." He then threw a card to each person and before they could react, the cards phased into them, then he phased a card into himself as well. "Now, it's time to explain the rules."
[Silence]
"Rules?" Both students asked in unison.
"Quite right." The Gambler of Fate confirmed. "I Luxord, The Gambler of Fate, have challenged you to a turn based time trial by combat. And while you may know the basics of a time trial, mine comes with a few extra rules. So listen well." He flaunted the Fair Game deck in his hands before he continued to speak. "The first to run out of time is the loser, however we both start on the same max time of ten minutes. In order to outlast your opponent, me, you must attack me and steal my time to add to your own."
"Sounds easy enough." Denki said with a cocky expression.
"If only it were so." Luxord stated. "You see, in order to make the game not end too quickly, you cannot directly attack me until you beat one of my card games, these can vary to finding my card amongst a group of many other cards, picking a number and making a specific card land on that spot amongst others, or eliminating all cards that create a shield for me in a specific order."
Before the students could accuse him of being unfair, he told them his restrictions. "However, the only way I can damage you and steal your time, is by using my cards against you and winning these games. I can still physically hurt you, but it won't affect your time at all. And to be frank, it's not as fun winning that way." He said. "You had better remember those rules, because I will not be repeating them."
[Play KH3 Re Mind OST The 13th Struggle ~Luxord Ver.~]
Luxord finished shuffling Fair Game and drew the first card. "Now. Let the game begin. We'll start with my turn."
The two students barely even remembered the rules, but knew that they were gonna have a fight on their hands, and they got ready to tussle. This was not going to go, as smoothly as they originally thought it would though, because Luxord was making them fight on his terms.
The Gambler of Fate threw the first card in his hand straight to the floor, before card warping to another spot, drawing three cards and then throwing them towards the pair of students. Mina threw some of her acid towards the cards and melted all three of them before they reached the two. Luxord at the time she was going that, had already set two more cards on different spots on the floor.
He warped again and sent another card towards the pair, and as the girl threw more acid to melt that card, he drew another three and threw them towards the pair, Kaminari saw them coming and enveloped himself in electricity to deal with them. However, his attempted shield did not work and he got hit by all three cards, removing 30 seconds off of his already dwindling timer. With the three cards phasing through the boy, they landed on the floor.
Luxord then drew and threw one more card to the floor before turning himself into one of his cards. "Do you think you can find me?" He asked them before he, as well as the cards on the floor slid over to where the pair could see them all gather. Then swiftly move around the area before flipping themselves up for the pair to guess where he was.
Back in the real world, the students couldn't see the faces of the cards either, and while they all kept their eyes on the Luxord card when he was on the floor and reached the others, they lost track of it almost immediately after they moved. Then Sora spoke up. "He's the third furthest card on the west side."
In the datascape, Ashido and Denki at first tried to just see if they could look behind the cards, even trying to have one person stay on one side of the card, while another person looks through the other side, but it didn't work, as the card always somehow adjusted to their perspective and made sure that they couldn't do that.
Kaminari then saw one of the cards go back to the ground and seem to bolt towards his partner. "Look out!" He exclaimed as he pounced towards her and pushed her out of the way of what would turn out to be a small explosion. "Holy crap man. Even the guessing game is timed?"
Denki and Mina got up and then realized that they had to make a guess, but they didn't keep track of Luxord, so they panicked when they chose the furthest card on the north side, only to both get blasted away by the explosive card and see the Gambler of Fate reveal himself to be the third furthest card on the west side. Their time dropped by two and a half minutes while Luxord happily restocked hit time to the full ten minutes. "Too bad." He taunted.
In the real world, the students were all very impressed that Sora actually knew exactly where Luxord was. While the Keyblade wielder was proud of himself because he's still got it, he didn't show it to the other students and instead focused on the match.
Luxord drew the next card in Fair Game and threw it to the floor. After that, he warped to another spot and then drew seven cards, using them to propel himself up with, before making the cards scatter in the students general direction. Ashido threw acid and managed to melt two of them, but she got hit by three others and she as well and Kaminari dodged the last two.
Luxord then landed in front of them and drew five cards. He threw the five down around him then let them circle around him, making a small dome that protected the man from any extra attack. "On to the next game."
The five cards showed their faces to the pair, four of them Xs and one was an O. The two students could guess that they had to hit the O card while it was on the move, and Ashido managed to fling some acid towards it and melt it. Then the four cards flipped and then showed another O card take the place of one of the X cards. After another well timed acid flick, the O card was melted, then the cards flipped again. Then the girl repeated the process again until they got to the last card.
The acid girl managed to hit the last card and then the forcefield broke. "Impressive." The gambler commended the girl before he let the two take their free shots. He wasn't too thrilled feeling some of his skin burn or to get shocked for a brief moment, but nevertheless he allowed it and the two managed to take a minute off of his dwindling time and give said minute back to them. He then warped away. "The game continues."
He drew six cards and then walked into another two before he let the six cards move towards the pair, two at a time. Once the first pair of cards reached them, they quickly turned into red rectangular electric attacks, that homed in on the two. Denki pushed his partner away and took the brunt of the attack, as he was resistant to electric attacks. He didn't count on the other four cards immediately warping to him to continue the barrage, but he still managed to take it all without completely short circuiting, but he then realized afterwards that he just lost that minute they earned back by getting hit by the six cards.
Luxord was surprised to see that happen and ended up genuinely laughing at that bad luck before continuing his turn. Sending more cards to the ground and occasionally throwing some at the pair to keep them on their toes. He once again turned himself into a card and had them look for him. He watched them desperately try to keep an eye on his card, only to lose him and helplessly try to find him in the multiple cards that they had to choose from. They failed of course, and Luxord took another two and a half minutes away from their time and filled his time up by another two. He now had nine minutes on his clock, while the two students now only had one.
"Let's move on to the next game." The Gambler of Fate announced as he warped in front of the two and then had four cards pop up behind him. "The boy picks a number between one and four and you will make the O card stop on that card. The order goes from left to right. Be careful, because this will be your final game if you lose." He told Ashido.
Kaminari took a moment and then said. "Three."
Luxord looked at Mina. "Snap your finger when you want me to stop." He then snapped his fingers and the four cards behind him turned into three X cards and one O card that rapidly switched from card to card going from left to right. Ashido realized that it wasn't going to slow down and she was also pressed for time, after a few seconds of watching and some praying she snapped her fingers. The cards immediately stopped shuffling, and the O card was on the fourth spot. Luxord smiled.
[Silence]
"Victory is mine, children." The two of them suddenly couldn't move at all and were then transformed into dice that he caught in his hand, then shook in his hand for a moment. "The dice have been cast." He threw the pair of dice to the ground and let the faces of the two students were shown as the value rolled. "And they roll my victory."
In the real world the students present were admittedly intimidated at what just happened to their classmates. Luxord easily beat them in his game, and the worst part was, they couldn't even say he cheated to win either. If he lost one of the games he presented them, he let them hit him. He didn't extend his turns, and he didn't shorten the students' turns. The only reason they know about the game's rules was because Sora explained it to them at the same time Luxord did, so they wouldn't get lost during the match.
Kendo and Monoma left the Monetary room, now getting ready to plan their method of winning against him. While the announcement went off "Team Ashido and Kaminari have been immobilized. Exam over."
"How did you manage to beat this guy at his games?" Asui asked Sora.
"I remembered the rules and didn't buckle under pressure, even when my time was running low." The Keyblade wielder answered as the two failed students exited the datascape. They were no longer a pair of dice, but they also weren't too happy that they lost. "You just got unlucky. Next time, you'll kick butt for sure." And with that, the sixth match was over. Sora remembered who was next and sighed. The next match will be...different, to say the least.
And here are the next three battles dealt with. So here's what was nerfed this time. Marluxia's weakness to fire was amplified, Doom is not on a time limit, instead following the 2 FM formula if hits from his scythe drop the counter, and he doesn't get access to his Specter Nobody. Zexion doesn't have access to his book realm and that's it, so he's mainly just the Re:Chain boss fight but copies the students instead of Dark Mode Riku, Strengths and weaknesses. Luxord really isn't nerfed too much, because he is the fairest and arguably the easiest member to deal with, so the only nerf he gets is that you don't have to hit him to beat him. Once his time limit expires naturally and you have enough time to outlast him mid turn, he automatically loses. Now the next chapter...Ooooooh boy, the next chapter. A sitar playing water dancer, and a one eyed sharpshooter are guaranteed next chapter, with a certain bitch faced blondie probably also being included, at least if I keep up the pattern of three matches per chapter. Also this is to answer the questions for the Guests that I can't respond to in the reviews about why 1-A isn't fighting people like Dark Riku, Roxas, Vanitas and what not. I chose the matches by Quirk Compatibility and Process of elimination, And specifically for 1-A, I also tired to match them up with people that would similarly take the place of the Pro Hero they faced in canon. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and until I decide to upload again. ;)