Chapter 79
[Silence]
Oblivion and Void Gear had clashed who knows how many times at this point, but the wielders of these two blades persisted on continuing their fight anyway. Vanitas pushed forward and forced Sora back, but the Guardian of Light kept his balance and stopped himself from being blown away. He went for a counter slash, but the Dark Remnant moved explosively fast, swiping at Sora's wrists and knocking Oblivion out of his hands, before pushing forward and aggressively striking the boy over and over again with Void Gear, until he finally blasted Sora away with a dark magic infused swipe across the chest.
The Keyblade wielder was sent flying through a series of ones and zeroes before he felt his back slam against the metal wall of the Monetary room. He then dropped to the floor and landed face down, groaning for a moment before uttering out. "D...Dang it."
Over at one of the terminals in the room was Moogle, who had a tired expression on his face. As he saw Sora struggle to get up, then cast Cure on himself, the merchant spoke up. "Alright, Kupo. That's enough for today, Kupo."
"Huh?" Sora was confused. "Wait, but I'm still good to keep going."
"Look at the time, Kupo." Moogle said while pointing to a clock in the room, showing that it was 10:30 PM. "It's past curfew, Kupo."
"Oh." The Keyblade wielder realized, slightly surprised that he was fighting, and repeatedly losing to Vanitas for so long. "Uh...sorry."
"There's no need to apologize for wanting to better yourself." A familiar voice said as Sora turned to see Nezu at the entrance to the room. "It is after all, what we at U.A. strive for in our students."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Self Analysis]
"Principal Nezu." Sora straightened up.
"So, how much progress have you made from this?" The principal was curious.
"Uh...well..." The Keyblade wielder was unsure of how to answer that.
"His reaction time and endurance are slightly improving with each attempt, Kupo." Moogle spoke up for him. "Even so, he's still getting thrashed around by the data copy of Vanitas, Kupo. He can barely last a minute before being unable to retaliate, Kupo."
"Hmm." Nezu noted. "Nonetheless, minor progress is still progress. Now Sora, I suggest that you let yourself rest and reflect on what you think you can do to potentially close the gap between you and Vanitas."
"Yes sir." Sora conceded, knowing that he needed to take a break sooner or later. While he didn't get the results he was hoping for, he still at least made some progress in that he can slightly deal with and barely avoid Vanitas' attacks more effectively. He sighed as he walked out of the Monetary room and back to his dormitory, knowing that this was going to take much longer than when he test fought the Data Organization before.
As he reached the front of 1-A's dormitory, he noticed Izuku practicing kicks, which was kind of odd for Sora to see, as he could have sworn that Midoriya was a brawler who would always use his arms to smash his opponents. If he wasn't so tired and caught up in his own thoughts, he would have asked his friend what he was doing, but he honestly wasn't in the mood to do that right now. He still waved at him when he walked past though, which Izuku reciprocated before going back to practicing.
Sora got inside the dormitory and took the stairs to the fifth floor, giving a friendly wave to any classmates that he walked past, who would either nod or wave back to him. Once the Keyblade wielder entered his room and locked the door, he took out his gummiphone and decided to record another message. "Hey guys." He said as he reached his bed. "So, thanks to Moogle being the useful computer guy that he is, I now have a way to train against this new super strong Vanitas. Bad news is I didn't really do too good on the first day. He is really REALLY strong, and I got tossed around a lot. I'm still okay though. Nothing that a good old Cure spell can't fix." He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I know it's gonna be tough. Honestly, when is it ever not tough with us? But I'm gonna keep at it, because I know that this will make me stronger and help me figure out how to fight against Vanitas. Especially since Ven, Aqua and Terra aren't around to tell me how. I honestly really could use their advice right now. Eh, but hey. When you all get this message somehow, I'm sure they'll give me a list of tips and tricks to help me out." The boy then yawned. "I wish I could tell you guys more, but I'm really tired right now. I kept going till after curfew, and I'm gonna need some sleep for tomorrow. I'll send another message then. Good night guys. I hope you're all staying strong too." He ended the message there, sent it out and then tucked himself in, before letting himself pass out.
[Silence]
As the new day came, Sora woke up and had gotten himself ready for school. The school day went by pretty fast when it involved the normal courses, but once everyone in Class 1-A had gotten into Gym Gamma, they were all already hard at work improving themselves. People like Hanta, Ejiro, Shoto, Mezo, Tsuyu and Fumikage were starting to make some progress on their natural abilities, while others like Denki, Kyouka, Tenya and Ochako were still working on it.
Sora had waited until near the end of the scheduled training time for their class to start looking for someone to do a potential Ultimate Combo with. After thinking about it for a bit, he decided to approach Todoroki. "Hey, Shoto."
Todoroki noticed Sora coming towards him and he stopped what he was doing. "What is it, Sora?"
"So, I was thinking, do you want to see if we could try an Ultimate Combo?" The Keyblade wielder asked.
Shoto was a bit surprised, but partially expected this from his friend. "Which power do you want to try it with?"
As Sora was given the option to choose, he made his decision. "Let's go with Ice. You're more used to using that side still anyway."
"Fair point." The ice user understood. He let Sora stand to the right of him.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Your Power]
At this point, Aizawa had noticed that it was time to go. He was about to call off the training, until he noticed Sora and Todoroki next to each other. "He's gonna do it again, isn't he?" He mumbled with an annoyed expression, knowing what the two of them were going to attempt
A few other students that were nearby had also noticed the pair, and some of them stopped what they were doing to watch, curious if there was going to be another Ultimate Combo made today. While Ectoplasm and Cementoss would have scolded them normally, the time for training was about over anyway, and the latter of the two also had quickly made multiple barriers around Sora and Shoto, as well as in front of the students to ensure whatever happens, it wouldn't run the risk of hurting anyone. While the former had made certain that every student had a clone of him with them, to make sure that they don't get hurt in case the barriers break.
The Keyblade wielder and ice user both took deep breaths and as Sora summoned and held Oathkeeper with his left hand, Todoroki had grasped the handle with his right. As both of them began to channel their powers into the blade, the air around them began to feel cold, as the temperature began to decrease. The two exhaled at the same time, their breath visible from the cold air.
Ice particles began to form and swirl around them, while the floor below them was slowly getting covered by ice. The pair then slowly raised Oathkeeper up, but as they did so, the two of them could see the blade begin to form an ice shell around itself, as if like before it was beginning one with the element that was being used by the pair of them at the moment. The blade was fully encompassed in a perfectly shaped ice shell of Oathkeeper when it was pointed directly upwards.
As the two of them took a deep breath in, silently knowing what the other was thinking, they kept pouring their power into the blade. As that happened, the ground around them began to freeze over at a surprisingly fast pace, freezing over many of the cement barriers and reaching where the students were. But when the Ectoplasm clones picked them up to avoid their potential freezing, they were surprised to see that the ice had only frozen the ground, and not them, though it did become more difficult to stand on, due to it being slippery.
The ice-covered Oathkeeper then shot out dozens upon dozens of ice crystals from the tip of its blade, with a gust of cold wind carrying them up. Once the ice crystals reached the top of the building, they seemed to stop and stay in place. Most of the students watched in amazement as the two of them let out all this power, while the teachers were equally impressed with this display of both power and control.
Sora and Todoroki both then let out another breath, as they were shoulder to shoulder with bits of ice coming out of Shoto's right side and Sora's left side. The two of them both looked at each other for a brief moment, before nodding to one another. The pair then spun the ice covered Keyblade in their hands until they both held in in reverse grip, and then took in one more deep breath, before swinging downwards, slamming the tip of the Keyblade into the ice covered ground beneath them.
The Ice crystals then swiftly began to rain down with a beautiful lustrous shine, but once they made contact with the ground below, they exploded into a freezing cold wind that looked like a miniature snow storm. The dozens upon dozens of ice crystals had hit the ground one after the other, and all around Sora and Todoroki, were cold winds and ice crystals that glistened as they descended. They let go of Oathkeeper and stood tall once the ice crystals stopped raining down, and they looked around them to see the entire gym frozen over, with the only non-frozen things present being the people inside. The two of them exhaled once more, before Shoto activated his flames on his left side to warm himself and Sora up.
As the two of them began to warm up, they could hear other students commenting on what they just did. "H-H-Holy crap, that was c-cool." Kaminari commented.
"They both p-p-poured their power into Sora's Keyblade like how he and K-Kaminari did yesterday, and created a d-devastating elemental attack with ice." Midoriya noted. "If he can do that with Todoroki's ice, th-then I wonder if he can do that with his fire too."
"T-T-That was so awesome!" Kirishima yelled out.
"Yeesh! Th-This is the second time this has happened to m-me!" Toru shivered, as she remembered the first day of combat training, and how she was stuck in a frozen building. The only differences this time was that the ice was not holding her down, and there was also no storm of ice crystals last time.
"S-Same." Mashirao agreed with her, as he was the other unfortunate victim of the same circumstance.
As Sora had finally warmed up, he could hear the sound of ice cracking, and he turned to see the ice around Oathkeeper begin to crack, until it shattered and showed the Keyblade, perfectly fine. The boy grabbed the hilt of the blade and easily pulled it out of the frozen ground.
[Silence]
The Keyblade wielder smiled and gave a thumbs up to Shoto, who reciprocated the thumbs up, but had the same stoic expression he almost always wore. The pair then heard Aizawa speak up. "If you're done here, then melt all the ice before you leave. Our time is up for today." He sternly said to the pair. While he was impressed with the level of power and control shown, that didn't mean that he wasn't slightly annoyed with how over the top that move was, or the fact that there was ice everywhere that needed to be dealt with before Class 1-B could do their scheduled training.
Todoroki nodded, while Sora slightly stuttered. "O-Oh. Yes, Mr. Aizawa."
"After you two finish cleaning up, you're dismissed." The Homeroom teacher told the pair, before dismissing the rest of the class for the day, Leaving the two of them to melt the ice on their own and get rid of the water afterwards.
As the two of them were doing this, The Keyblade wielder spoke up. "I'd say that we did a pretty good job."
"I can agree with that." Shoto said, opening up some windows.
As Sora casted Aero just outside the windows to suck up the puddles of water and fling it all out there, he asked his partner something. "So what do you want to name it?"
"You're giving me the option to name it?" Todoroki replied.
"Yeah. I mean, you helped me make the attack." Sora pointed out.
After a brief moment, Shoto came up with a name. "Snow Storm."
The Keyblade wielder was a bit surprised that Todoroki came up with a name so easily, then again, Sora himself wasn't the best when it came with names, so. "Alright. Snow Storm it is." As the gym was now back to normal, the pair left, heading back to the school to change out of their Hero costumes and go back to the dormitory.
[Play KH 358/2 Days OST Lazy Afternoons]
Todoroki decided to go to his room, while Sora thought to make himself some food. The Keyblade wielder went to the kitchen and looked to see what different meats, plants and spices they had. After looking through everything they had, he decided to make some katsudon for himself. As he had gotten two pork chops and was in the process of seasoning them with salt and pepper and coating them with flour. He heard someone else enter the kitchen and heard a familiar female voice. "Oh, hello Sora."
"Hi, Momo." The Keyblade wielder replied, briefly looking at her and giving her a smile before going back to making his food. "You making some food too?"
"Actually, I came to make myself some tea." Yaoyorozu said as she walked past him and started looking through the cabinets for what she needed. "I already had my fill of calories when I got back here."
As Sora began to coat the meat with egg and panko, he replied to her. "Oh yeah, cause your quirk uses those up, right."
"Correct." She confirmed as she grabbed a Harrods afternoon tea bag from a tin container in the cabinet. She then changed the subject. "I saw that you managed to make another Ultimate Combo today. This time with Todoroki."
"Yeah, I figured that he'd be a good person to try one with." The Keyblade wielder said as he heated oil in a pan and began to cook the first coated meat.
"Considering the results, that was a good choice." The class deputy replied as she was heating up some water. "Are you going to try again with him tomorrow, but use his fire half?"
"Nah." Sora answered. "I actually want to try something new. But I don't know exactly how to do it yet."
"What do you have in mind, if I may ask?" She was curious.
"Well, I want to try and summon something new. Something I know I can summon, because I've seen others with my quirk do it before." The boy explained as he flipped the meat he was cooking to the other side.
"What would that be?" Momo questioned as she poured the water into her tea cup and added the tea bag she had into it.
"They could make chains out of light that could wrap around enemies." Sora answered.
"Wait, like astral chains?" Yaoyorozu realized.
"Yeah, and I think I can do it, because I've made other things before." The Keyblade wielder stated.
"Like what?" She asked.
"A swinging boat, a train and tracks, big spinning teacups, basically big theme park rides." Sora casually said as he removed the first cooked slab of meat from the pan and began to cook the second one.
Momo looked at him with wide eyes before speaking up again. "Wait, you can make all those, but don't know how to make just chains?" She had finished brewing her tea but stayed in the kitchen to talk to Sora. "That's like knowing how to sprint before you can even walk."
Sora sheepishly chuckled at that. "Uh, yeah. I thought that too. Embarrassing as that is, I still want to learn it. I just don't know where to start."
"Hmm..." Yaoyorozu was pondering something as the Keyblade wielder had finished cooking the meat and began mixing the dashi soup stock, soy sauce, mirin and sugar together in a pot. "Though I might not be too useful, I could maybe assist you with that."
"Really?" Sora replied as he began boiling the mixed materials.
"Our quirks, while not identical, are similar enough for me to at least be of some use here." The girl pointed out. "The method of physically creating the chain should be at least close enough."
"That is true." The boy agreed as he got a skillet and put some of the soup in there, as well as some cut up onions, then let it simmer. "Do you think that after I finish eating, you could give me a few pointers?"
"I don't really have anything else planned for today as of yet, so I don't see why not." She was fine with that idea.
"Really? Thanks, Momo." The Keyblade wielder was excited to hear that.
Yaoyorozu smiled before replying "You're welcome, Sora. Always a pleasure to help."
As Sora added the meat and simmered that with the other materials, Momo had left to enjoy her tea in the common room. After a few minutes of simmering, then beating an egg in a bowl and adding that into the mix, he soon finished up cooking his food and joined Yaoyorozu in the common room. As he ate his Katsudon, she drank her oolong tea.
[Play KH Project Destati: Darkness -At Dusk I Will Think Of You-]
Once the pair cleaned their dishes and put everything they used away, they went outside to the front of the dormitory, seeing that the sun was setting, but the two agreed that they still had time before curfew hours would arrive. Deciding to use that time to the fullest, Momo spoke up first. "Okay, so you've said that you've seen other people with your quirk do this, correct?"
"Yeah," The Keyblade wielder confirmed.
"So, how would they normally do it?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Well, they normally do it the same way they would summon other things." Sora summoned the Kingdom Key and then mimicked the action that he would do whenever he was casting a Fire or Blizzard spell. "Same action and everything. They just hold this pose whenever the chains come out."
"Have you tried this before?" Momo wondered.
"Sometimes, but it never worked for me." He answered.
"Hmm." The girl put her finger on her chin and began to ponder a few ideas. "Maybe you're not visualizing it properly."
"Huh?" Sora was a bit confused.
"Well, from what I remember, you call out your attacks and then the element you call out will appear from the blade. Maybe, you could call out the word 'Chains' and then it could help you visualize it enough for you to summon it?" Yaoyorozu explained.
"So, you want me to scream out the word 'Chains' and hope that chains come out?" The Keyblade wielder summarized.
"It's what you do when you summon other things through your weapons." She said with a straight face.
Seeing the valid point she made, Sora shrugged. "Well, no harm in trying." The Keyblade wielder got into his fighting stance, then after taking a deep breath, he thrusted the Kingdom Key forward and called out "Chains!"
...Nothing.
He tried again, thrusting the blade a bit further. "Chains!"
...Still nothing.
He waved it around while yelling it out. "CHAAAAAAINS!"
..."Nothing." Sora stated.
"Well, at least we know that, that's not how it will work for you." Yaoyorozu took a page out of the boy's book and looked on the bright side of the situation. She began to ponder some more, before thinking of something else. "Hey, you've mentioned being able to summon other constructs with your blade. How do you normally summon those?"
"You mean like the theme park attractions I can make?" Sora replied, seeing Momo nod in confirmation. "Here I'll show you. I'll summon the blaster one."
"Blaster one?" Yaoyorozu repeated, before seeing Sora raise his blade up and a trail of sparkles came out of the tip as he did so. Then, the sparkles from the blade seemed to move and take the shape of a square that was the size of a door. After that, more sparkles came out of the square and formed the shape of a small cart with three blasters inside it, as well as three pairs of goggles on the seats where those blasters were. The boy leaned on his creation, while the class deputy was just shocked. "You know, when you said that you could do this, I half expected to not be surprised, but seeing you do it, I just..." She couldn't at this point. "When did you learn how to do this?"
"A little over half a year ago." The Keyblade wielder spoke truthfully. "Though I don't really use them that often."
"Why not?" Yaoyorozu wondered.
"Most of them are only useful under very specific situations, and those situations are pretty rare. Also, keeping these things out gets really exhausting." Sora answered.
"Wait, you have to expend energy to keep these constructs together?" Momo realized.
"Yeah, and when I stop doing that..." The boy demonstrated this by letting the Blaster Blaze attraction behind him dissipate into the glowing particles from before, which soon faded away. "That happens."
After processing what she just witnessed, Yaoyorozu came up with her next idea. "Okay, try summoning chains the same way you summon the attractions. The same motion, feeling, but instead of visualizing a theme park ride, you envision chains instead."
"Alright." Sora replied, before twirling the Keyblade around, letting the sparkles form around him as he raised the blade up. But nothing happened this time. The sparkles didn't create a shape of anything, or move at all, which actually puzzled them both. "Um...that's never happened before."
"Maybe you expended too much energy?" Momo guessed.
"No, because the sparkles still came out." Sora pointed out. "It's just, they didn't form chains."
"Okay. Well, maybe you just have to do it a few times, and then it'll work after." Yaoyorozu suggested.
"Maybe." The Keyblade wielder was willing to give it another go. He did the same stunt and more sparkles came out, but once again, nothing. "Are you serious?" He tried again with the same result. "Come on. I know I can do this." He did it one more time, this time adding in more twirls and bringing out even more sparkles, but once again, nothing. "This is getting annoying."
"Ok. I guess it won't work that way either." The class deputy noted, before thinking again. "Hmm..." She saw the keychain on the Kingdom Key and then had another idea. "Wait a minute. Sora, turn your blade around and hold it in reverse."
"Huh?" The boy was confused.
"Please do it?" She requested.
"Uh, sure." Sora twirled the blade and held it in reverse grip.
"You see that chain on the hilt of your blade?" Momo pointed out.
"Yeah. What about it?" The Keyblade wielder didn't see what she had in mind yet.
[Silence]
"Instead of trying to cast it as you would normally do, why don't you try a different approach?" She began to explain. "You already have a chain on that end of your weapon, so instead of just creating a new one on the other end, try and use that chain as a base and think of making an extension of that chain." She noticed Sora's inability to grasp what she meant so she gave him a simple instruction. "Here, just, pour some of your power into the chain of your blade and see what happens." The boy looked at the chain of the Kingdom Key, still a bit unsure of what she had planned, but decided to follow her instruction anyway. He took a deep breath and concentrated.
[Play KH3 OST Sora Enters the Dark World -cutscene-]
As this happened, the chain of the Kingdom Key began to slightly glow in a goldish orange hue, which the boy immediately noticed. He concentrated more and soon enough, the whole chain, save for the Lucky Emblem on the end, was glowing a bright golden orange color. The pair both looked surprised, but Yaoyorozu quickly gave him another instruction. "That worked! Now while your power is flowing through it, think about extending it past the open end of the chain, think of more chains beyond the ones you have right now."
Sora nodded before pouring more power into the chain of his blade, and as he did so, the Lucky Emblem on the end had vanished, and he could see that bit by bit, his chain was extending. "I-It's working." He realized. He kept pouring his power into the blade and more chain links began to form, one after another. "It's working!" He exclaimed. He looked in front of him and saw that nobody was there, which gave him an idea. He pulled his arm back and prepared to thrust forward, fully concentrating on the chain that he made, and after taking in one more breath, he thrusted forward with all his strength, and the chain he had created suddenly expanded exponentially in length, and at the end that way thrusted forward, a kunai light construct had formed there, and stuck to the ground almost a hundred yards away, leaving both Sora and Momo dumbstruck.
Yaoyorozu was at a loss for words, but when Sora pulled back and the chain reverted back to its normal size and the lucky emblem on the end of it returned, she saw him excitedly jump in tha air and let out a cheer, making her realize that she just helped him unlock a new power. "You did it!" She cheered out, running to him.
"I did it!" The boy repeated, as they both excitedly hugged each other, ecstatic at the achievement that they just made. "Hahahahaha! I knew I could do it!"
"That was amazing!" The class deputy cheered. "And just think of the utility that you can have with that! There are so many more opportunities for you, now that you have the ability to create those."
[Silence]
After calming down, the two split from their hug before Sora spoke to her once more. "Thank you so much for helping me Momo. I would have never figured this out without you."
"Of course, Sora. As I said before, It would be a pleasure to help out a friend such as yourself." Yaoyorozu replied. "Now you have something to work on tomorrow that Mr. Aizawa won't be annoyed by."
The Keyblade wielder paused for a moment before realizing her point. "You're right! Oh man! I can't wait to test this out tomorrow!"
The two of them went inside and as night fell on U.A. high, the students rested for another night, preparing to continue their training on the next day.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Combat Training]
When the next day came and the classes went by, 1-A was once again hard at work with creating their Ultimate Moves. Some classmates like Minoru, Rikido, Ochako and Tenya were getting the hang of it now, and while some others were still a work in progress, they were at least seeing what limits they would need to work to break, or finding out other potential routes to take in order to reach their destination. Some, like Jiro and Kaminari, looked to the support course for some upgrades, while others like Bakugo and Asui, would discover other exploits through simple experimentation.
Sora used this day to get a feel for his new chain ability, and he had already discovered plenty of uses, thanks to Ectoplasm and Cementoss giving him plenty of scenarios to try. He could use it not just for long ranged attacks, but he could also use it for maneuverability, restraining single targets or multiple enemies, he could latch it onto an object and use it as a sling, he could use it as a rope to pull objects to him or fling himself somewhere, he could use it to keep objects from collapsing onto someone or something. The possibilities were very numerous with this new ability of his.
[Silence]
After the class was dismissed, Sora went to the Development Studio to get Moogle for another go at the Data Vanitas. He could see Denki and Ejiro in there already, talking to Mei about something, but when Moogle saw Sora, the two of them went off to the Monetary room together to continue the training, but not before the merchant brought something up. "So why didn't you come by yesterday after you finished cleaning up, Kupo? I figured that you'd want to fight Vanitas as much as possible in order to figure him out as fast as you could, Kupo."
"Well I do want to fight him as much as I can." Sora pointed out. "But if I do it every day with no breaks in between, then it'll be both annoying and unhealthy. Besides, it's not like I'm not going to be doing anything on those days that I'm not fighting him." He showed off the new chain ability he learned.
"Heh, I was wondering if you could ever do that, Kupo. I've seen other wielders and masters do it, so I figured you should be able to, Kupo." Moogle commented.
"Well I just needed a day with a friend to figure it out." Sora said, looking proud of this accomplishment.
"So are you gonna take another day with another friend tomorrow to get another upgrade, Kupo?" The merchant wondered.
"One day of fighting Vanitas, and then a day of rest and improving myself?" Sora liked the idea. "That sounds like a good pattern to me."
"Well then, let's make today count for something, Kupo." Moogle said as the two reached the Monetary room and the merchant started up the datascape. "Whenever you're ready, Kupo."
[Play KH3 OST The Encounter]
Sora stepped on the platform and was once again transported inside the datascape, coming face to face with the Dark Remnant in the same destroyed Kamino Ward. "Ah, that's better. I was hoping to have company." Vanitas said as he got into his battle stance.
Sora summoned Oathkeeper in his hands and then got into his battle stance. "Let's go, Vanitas."
The two of them then charged and clashed blades once more, however, compared to the last time, Sora was much more calm and collected, and not only that, he was already beginning to get a read on Vanitas' moves. The Dark Remnant went for a horizontal swing, but the guardian of light had easily maneuvered out of the way and went for a counter slash, which Vanitas parried. The two of them continued this dance of blades, showing equal skill in swordsmanship. But once the Dark Remnant backed away, things began to change.
Vanitas slashed in front of him and made multiple waves of dark energy that sped over towards Sora, but the boy was used to these attacks now and avoided them with no issue. As he watched Vanitas cast multiple crawling fire spells, as well as some fast moving fire spells, the guardian of light countered this by casting Blizzara over and over again, overpowering the fire spells and nearly catching the Dark Remnant off guard. Sora then casted Thundara, which also kept Vanitas on his toes, before charging forward to continue his assault.
Vanitas thought fast and created the black barrier around himself, repelling his attacker away before sending out multiple black silhouettes to attack Sora in his stead. The guardian of light activated his flowmotion and was able to dodge and parry the attacks that were sent out, before seeing the real Vanitas appear above him. Sora narrowly dodged the downward slam attack, before quickly attempting a back attack, only for Vanitas to vanish and counter slash. The boy blocked the attack and was sent back, but he threw Oathkeeper towards his opponent, making Vanitas block that instead of pursuing him.
Sora resummoned Oathkeeper before dashing straight towards Vanitas, but the Dark Remnant had summoned a glyph behind him and three crystals that circled around that glyph. Suddenly a beam formed that the guardian of light narrowly dodged. But he was then caught by surprise when a silhouette of Vanitas grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him to the ground, before throwing him towards the beam. Thinking fast, Sora used his new chain power to latch onto the ground and pull himself away from the beam and then redirect himself towards the real Vanitas.
As the Dark remnant was surprised by this new move, he rotated his body to reposition the beam, making it move towards Sora, who saw this coming and used his flowmotion to corkscrew around the beam until he reached Vanitas and slammed Oathkeeper on his mask, finally landing a blow. "Yeah!" The boy confidently yelled out, before getting struck hard in the back by the silhouette from before, then getting struck again in the front by the real Vanitas. Before he could retaliate, both attacks swung violently at him, beating him around like a ragdoll until Sora saw numbers.
[Silence]
Sora was flung out of the datascape and hit the same spot on the wall he hit the many other times he was flung out of there. "Ow...spoke too soon."
"Well if it's any consolation, you at least landed a hit this time, Kupo." Moogle pointed out.
Sora grunted before getting back up. "That's true." He casted cure on himself. "Alright ready to go again."
"Understood, Kupo." The merchant fired up the datascape again. When Sora reentered and had another rematch with the Data replica, the door to the Monetary room opened and the merchant briefly looked to see Toshinori. "All Might, Kupo? What brings you here, Kupo?"
"I heard from the principal that young Sora sometimes comes here to train after school." Yagi said. "I figured I'd come and check his progress. He is a student here, after all." He looked at the screen and recognized what he was seeing. It was a recreation of the Kamino Ward battle that the two Keyblade wielders had, except this time, Sora was not severely exhausted or deprived of almost half of his blood. While it was a bit uncomfortable to see at first, he knew that this would be the best method of training for someone like Sora.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST You Can Be A Hero]
"Well, he's certainly made progress, Kupo." Moogle stated. "He's able to last longer and he's starting to be able to put up a fight, Kupo. He's still a far cry away from being able to actually defeat him, but if I know Sora, and I do, Kupo. He'll keep trying until he not only defeats Vanitas, but until he can do it with almost no problem, Kupo." As he said that, he saw Sora land his first strike on the Data Vanitas, before barely avoiding a silhouette's back attack. "It's just gonna take a little bit, Kupo." He winced as Sora started to get quickly overwhelmed and beaten around until Moogle stopped the data battle, watching Sora get form in the real world again and tumble to the ground next to him. "Looks like you can manage to get a hit in now, Kupo."
"Yeah." Sora nodded as he struggled to get himself back up. "Now I just have to figure out what to do after I get that first hit in, you know, besides getting beat around."
"You'll figure it out, Kupo." The merchant replied.
"You always do." Toshinori spoke up as he grabbed Sora by the arm and helped the boy to his feet.
"Huh? Yagi?" The Keyblade wielder was a bit surprised to see him.
"I see you're hard at work improving yourself, Young Sora." The former number 1 Hero said. "It's good to see that you're not just bettering yourself during class, but outside of it too."
Sora casted cure on himself before replying to him. "Well, If I want to keep the promise I made to you when you told me about your power, then I need to keep getting stronger, so that I can be there when the Heartless come running to back up the League of Villains."
Toshinori put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Just remember, you're not alone in this."
"I know." The Keyblade wielder replied. "I'll have my friends at my side. And they'll be just as strong as me. I believe in them."
Yagi should have expected this from Sora, but it was still hard to believe nonetheless. As much as he wished he could help Sora grow, it seemed like in spite of his young age, he was just as, if not more mature than everyone around him. He was constantly hopeful, almost always had a smile on his face, and somehow managed to lighten the mood, no matter what situation he was in. His personality and mindset was practically the definition of positivity and optimism. As hard as it was to admit as a teacher, he had nothing to teach this student of his. All he could really do was give his support, and he accepted that. "And I, as well as everyone else, believe in you. You'll be giving Vanitas his just deserts in no time." The Keyblade wielder's smile was as confident as ever, which was all the former Pro needed to see. "I'll leave you to it then."
As Toshinori was leaving, he heard Sora speak up. "Thanks for coming by, Yagi."
"You're welcome, Young Sora." The U.A. teacher gladly replied before leaving.
The night went on as per usual, with Sora fighting and fighting on and on until curfew hours, then heading to the dorms to rest up for the night and prepare for tomorrow.
[Silence]
As the fourth day of training came, more and more people were starting to get a grip on their skills and were solidifying their preferred fighting styles. Meanwhile, others were getting their requested support gear and testing them out. Denki was practicing with disk shaped devices that could trail his electrical discharges, allowing him to partially control the direction they go. Kyouka was getting used to the speakers she added to her gloves and using those for a while, and so on and so forth.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Heroic Fighting Battle Song]
Sora had decided to continue training with his chain ability, and see how he could implement it into his already existing fighting style. He found that he could use it as a method to either extend his combos without using his flowmotion to close the distance, or as a potential combo ender through either simply restraining opponents, or pulling them in for a single powerful blow. "Okay, this chain really helps out with giving me longer combos."
"Have you thought of a name for this particular technique?" Ectoplasm asked.
"I think I'll just call them 'Chain Attacks', I mean, it works, right?" The Keyblade wielder said.
"Aside from using your chain in an offensive manner, it also allows you to chain together attacks that you previously could do via your flowmotion." Ectoplasm replied. "The name fits, and it's simple."
As Sora continued to train with his new ability, he could see other students improving themselves too. "Now, onto me, Dark Shadow." Tokoyami ordered.
"Right!" The quirk replied as it covered Fumikage with its body like a cloak. Midnight saw this too and gave a thumbs up.
"By covering myself with Dark Shadow, my strength is enhanced, and I'll be better at close combat." The bird boy stated. "I call it, 'Abyssal Black Body'."
"Is that hard to say?" Midnight replied. "It's important that it's easy to call out."
"Got it." Dark Shadow replied with a nod.
As Yagi and Aizawa were just within speaking range of each other, the Homeroom teacher spoke to Toshinori "Some of them have solidified their fighting styles. And there are those who are already putting together multiple special moves."
The pair of them turned to see Katsuki in one of the elevated areas, with a thick slab of cement in front of him. He took a deep breath and tried something new. "Not from my entire hand. But a blast from a single concentrated point." He made a circle with tips of his fingers on his left hand and placed it on the palm of his right, charged up that specific spot, then let out a narrow, but powerful explosive blast as he called out "AP SHOT!" The blast went straight through the wall and the explosive teen smirked, proud of his new ability. "HAHAAAA! I DID IT!"
"No surprise that young Bakugo is doing well. As usual." Toshinori said as he looked towards Aizawa.
"Uh huh." The Homeroom teacher agreed.
As the pair were focused on eachother, they failed to notice a piece of the concrete Katsuki had blasted crack off and fall in Yagi's direction. "HEY! WATCH OUT!" Bakugo called out.
[Silence]
Aizawa noticed it but he wouldn't be fast enough to get to Yagi in time. And while Toshinori saw it coming, he was not fast enough to get out of the way.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Jet Set Run]
Sora was about to use his chain to intercept but to his and the teacher's surprise, someone else had gotten there first. Izuku Midoriya, sporting an updated look, had pounced in between the concrete and Yagi, had activated his full cowling, and then as he called out "SMAAAAAASH!" He destroyed the concrete, but this time, he used his leg and shattered the cement with a powerful kick, supported by iron armored soles around his red shoes. He landed on his feet and had a confident smile on his face, as he looked at the two teachers, letting them see his new technique.
[Silence]
Once he finished that small display, he then walked over to Toshinori. "You okay, All Might? That was close."
"Yeah." Yagi replied, looking relieved and proud, while Aizawa had noticed the small changes to his costume, being the iron soles and arm supporting braces, as well as the implementation of kicks in the fighting style.
Denki and Ejiro then reached the group, and the electric student, with his updated look also spoke up. "Dude, Midoriya, what was that? You swooped in and wasted that rock."
Kirishima, with his updated look also spoke up. "I always thought you were more of a puncher."
Sora dropped down and also spoke up. "Nice kick, Izuku!"
"Oh! Thanks!" Midoriya took the compliment, before showing off his new attachments. "And I was more of a puncher before. It's these new soles. Hatsume suggested them and I think they'll really help my game. Plus, Iida's been showing me how to use my body better, so my fighting style has changed. I've only just figured out what direction to go in. I still have a lot of work to do. Nothing I'd call an ultimate move yet."
"I dunno." Toshinori corrected. "Based on that kick, I'd say you're further along than you think. So, you should be ready for this test."
Aizawa then approached the group. "Hey, All Might. It's dangerous in here. You should be careful."
"Yeah, I know." Yagi replied before looking towards Katsuki. "Sorry for the scare, Young Bakugo."
As Izuku looked at his aggressive classmate, he could tell that Katsuki was shaken for a brief moment, before he immediately went back to training. "You watch yourself, All Might!"
Midoriya then noticed the updated looks of Denki and Ejiro at this point. "You guys made improvements to your costumes too?"
"Yeah!" Kaminari replied. "I see you've noticed we look pretty awesome!"
"You're not the only one here with a brand new style." Kirishima pointed out. "We've all been making changes here and there. Now's the time to upgrade, right?"
Sora looked around and began to notice this as well. Kyouka had those new speakers on her hands, Shoto had braces on his wrists and more equipment on his belt, Koji updated his mask, Denki had a disk shooter on his wrist for those new disks he was practicing with. Ejiro had some sharp armor around his jawline, cheeks and forehead. It actually made the Keyblade wielder feel a bit out of place.
"Just you wait. My new special gear is gonna blow your mind." The electric student boasted. "It's a serious power boost. Wanna see? Come on, it's totally amazing!"
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST An Abdominal Investigation]
"That's enough, Class 1-A." The four boys recognized that voice and turned to see Vlad King with Class 1-B behind him. "Class 1-B is scheduled to use this training room every afternoon."
"Class 1-B?" Midoriya repeated.
"Maaaan." Denki looked annoyed. "Crap timing."
"Eraser, get you kids out of our way." Vlad King ordered.
"You're not trying to kick us out early when we have ten whole minutes left, are you?" Aizawa pointed out.
Neito then came into view and began doing what he always does. "Hey, did you hear? The license exam has a 50% pass rate. That means your entire class might fail!"
As he continued to boast, much to the group's annoyance, Kaminari noticed how the 1-B troublemaker was wearing just a suit and tie. "Wait...is that Monama's costume?"
"Well, since his quirk is 'Copy', he said he didn't need anything too eccentric. Just that." Itsuka stated.
"This is him toned down?" Sora questioned.
"Unfortunately, his observations are correct." Fumikage reluctantly agreed. "If we're taking the same exam, then we'll crush each other. That's the hand that fate has dealt us."
"And why we won't be in the same location." Aizawa cleared up. "Our classes applied to different spots."
"There are two exam days, in June and in September." Vlad King stated. "And the tests are held in three different places. We don't want students from the same place fighting. We split you up. Each school has at most one class as a single location."
[Silence]
While Neito quietly sighed in relief, he still continued to boast. "How sad we won't be able to face each other directly!"
"Man. This guy is nuts." Kirishima commented.
"Yeah. I think he's officially gone off the deep end." Kaminari agreed.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Go Seize it!]
"All those other schools, huh. Interesting." Hanta commented. "I didn't know that was the case. So we'll be facing kids from other places."
"Yeah, and on top of that, we're taking the test earlier than most other students." Izuku added.
"That's true. Very few first years in the country try for a provisional license." Aizawa confirmed. "In other words, the test will be made up of students who've trained longer than you, and with quirks you don't know about. Ones that are powerful. The actual content of the exam is a mystery, but you can expect that you're going to have a rough time. Try not to get hung up about that. But keep it in mind."
"Yes sir!" Everyone in both classes said in unison, understanding the gravity of the situation that they will all be walking into.
[Silence]
Once class 1-A had finished with their last few minutes of training and class 1-B went in to do theirs, Sora had decided to take a detour before going back to the dorms. He pulled out his phone and looked through his photos on there, before finding the one he was looking for, as well as a specific text from a more recent offworld friend of his.
[Play KH2 Remix OST Shipmeisters' Shanty]
Sora entered the Development Studio and was noticed by Moogle rather quickly. The merchant was puzzled at first. "Wait a minute, Kupo. I thought you wanted to do the training every other day, Kupo."
"Oh, I'm not here about that." Sora cleared up.
Power Loader then spoke up. "So then what brings you here? Came to make a request?"
"Actually yeah." The Keyblade wielder confirmed.
Hatsume heard that and immediately rushed over to him. "Did I just hear that right?! Are you seriously asking us to make a baby for you!?"
"A very specific one." Sora said clearly enough for Mei to get the idea that she wasn't given complete reign over this.
"So then what kind of baby are we making for you then?" Hatsume was still curious.
The Keyblade wielder pulled out his phone and showed a picture of a certain set of high tech goggles, and a paragraph long text that explained the specs that came with it. "This. And I'd like it to be just like the one in the picture."
Moogle and Power Loader got closer to see what it was that he wanted. Moogle recognized it almost immediately. "Aren't those the goggles that Hiro made you, Kupo?"
"Whoa. Talk about elaborate." Power Loader looked at the text that explained all the specs. "What happened to the original model?"
"I didn't think I needed them, so I let the guy who made them for me keep them for himself." Sora explained. "If I could contact him I would, but he's...out of reach."
Power Loader got the point and then turned to Moogle. "How long do you think this'll take to make?"
"Hatsume, how much chocolate you got with you, Kupo?" The merchant asked her.
"Enough for a whole day if we split it." Mei answered.
"It'll be done by tomorrow morning, Kupo." Moogle stated immediately after.
"That fast?!" Sora was shocked.
"Did you forget who I am, Kupo?" The merchant rightfully boasted. "Besides, if the rest of your class is getting costume upgrades, you ought to get one too, Kupo."
The Keyblade wielder was honestly surprised to hear that his request could be done in less than 24 hours. "Well...thanks, Moogle."
"Anything else you want?" Power Loader wondered.
"No, just that." Sora answered before heading out. "I'll leave you guys to it."
Once the boy left, Mei immediately got into Moogle's face. "Can you let me do this one? Please please please please PLEEEEASE?!"
"If you do, EXACTLY as I say, then I will let you HELP me do it, Kupo." The merchant gave his terms.
"THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!" She cheered. "LET'S MAKE OURSELVES A BABY FOR SORA!" The two of them split a chocolate bar, got their tools, and got to work.
I feel like I'm getting my groove back. I know that I say that I write these chapters whenever I'm in the mood, but this chapter was just so fun to make, that I didn't take any breaks when I was writing it, unless I was forced to. I felt like Hatsume does when she works on her support babies. I didn't want to stop, even when encouraged to. Goes to show how much I like this story. Speaking of people liking this story, JEEZ. I decided to look into the full scope of how popular this fic is, and HOLY COW. over thirteen thousand views, seen in over a dozen countries, it's been added into a community by someone else, the fanart I received from before, and it's even on the first page of a Google search for KH and MHA fanfics. I'm actually intimidated by how popular this fic has gotten. That' doesn't mean that I'm going to stop it though. In fact, I welcome the idea of seeing how high this story will reach by the time I finish it. Because I intend to finish it, and the only way I'm not finishing this, is if I die, and I am a very cautious individual, so that outcome will not be likely. Anyways, now that all of the students are getting their upgrades in both moves AND costumes, I figured that it was about time to give Sora the same treatment. Now he knows Blizzara, thanks to Shoto's Ultimate Combo, and thanks to Momo's help, he now knows the Chain ability from the KH4 trailer. What do you think Sora will improve next? And how do you think said think will be improved I wonder? Hope you enjoyed this chapter and until I decide to upload again. ;)