Chapter 89
[Silence]
The next morning came, and Sora found himself waking up in his room, though not as well slept as he would have thought. The outcome of the match he had against the Data Vanitas yesterday had put things into perspective for him. He already knew that he wasn't ready to face the real deal. It was why he was fighting this Data replica to begin with. But when his classmates came to his aid, and they fought together and seemingly won, the Data replica had practically spat in the face of that idea and thoroughly wiped 1-A out in an instant.
It made The Keyblade wielder realize a large flaw in his idea of fighting Vanitas. He may be able to keep pace with the Dark Remnant, but his friends here can't. They have a long way to go, and by the time they could even hold a candle to him, it might already be too late. He came to the conclusion that in order to fight Vanitas, it would most likely have to be alone. He couldn't fully depend on his allies here. It was a very hard pill to swallow, especially since he always got through things by having his friends by his side.
But that also ended up having the negative side effect of being unable to take on a big threat by himself. He wasn't as strong as Aqua, who could go and continue fighting for over ten years alone in the Realm of Darkness. Or Riku, who could conquer Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness, and retake control of his body on his own. He was just a guy. A guy who the Keyblade didn't even choose, yet he had one anyway, as well as all the baggage that came with it.
[Play KH1.5 Remix OST Dearly Beloved]
Sora then shook his head and spoke up to himself. "Stop doubting yourself." He said. "Just because I wasn't chosen, that doesn't mean I can't stand with them. That goes for my class too. They can stand alongside me when they get stronger." The Keyblade wielder had to remind himself that even though he wasn't as great as his fellow wielders, it didn't mean that he couldn't hold his own. He took on 1000 Heartless by himself when he was split off from Donald and Goofy in Radiant Garden. He escaped being trapped in the Verum Rex video game by himself back at Galaxy Toys. He held his ground against Xemnas and even beat him back on his own in The World that Never Was, and he even took on every Organization member, new and old, by himself, in the datascape that Moogle made here. He beat them all too. Sora took a deep breath and then got out of his bed, feeling a bit rejuvenated after his self given pep talk.
[Silence]
As he exited his room, he saw Shoto, Hanta and Rikido doing the same thing. The four of them saw each other and after exchanging small waves, the four of them took the elevator to the ground floor and went to the men's restroom to get ready for the day. The four of them saw Tenya, who was already finished getting ready, and Denki and Koji, who were both brushing their teeth. Katsuki was there too, but he was dealing with the laundry, as he still had one more day of house arrest to go through. Thankfully, nobody was teasing the explosive teen about how he still had one more day to clean, while Izuku was allowed to go back to class.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Among Kosei]
Speaking of Midoriya, he rushed into the restroom as Sora finished brushing his teeth, and the One For All user frantically began to get ready for the day. "Wow. Someone's full of energy."
"I missed three entire days of school, and in that time everyone else got so far ahead!" Izuku exclaimed, fully waking up any guy who was still groggy in the restroom. "I can't afford to fall any more behind than I already have!"
"Even though the circumstances as to why you're so eager are deplorable, I agree with your mindset of striving to improve yourself and not fall behind, Midoriya." Iida told him.
"You didn't really miss much though." Todoroki pointed out.
"What about that Work Studies thing that you all mentioned on the first day of my House Arrest?" Izuku told him.
"It's not that hard to get, Izuku." Sora told him.
"Wait. Aizawa didn't talk about it when you came back though, Sora." Kaminari remembered.
"Yeah. How did you know about that already, anyway?" Sero wondered.
"A third year friend of mine told me about it during the internships." The Keyblade wielder answered. "He told me not to worry about it though. Needed to focus on the internship at the time."
"Wow." Sato replied. "So you knew about this a while ago."
"Really, it was just mentioned when I asked about him being at the place I was interning at." Sora explained. "He said he was doing a Work Study, and then when I asked, he gave me some details."
"At least you won't have to be informed about it." The Class Rep looked on the bright side.
"Yeah, and that means I didn't fall behind as much as I would have thought." The Keyblade wielder commented, unintentionally jabbing at Midoriya's lack of knowledge about the Work Studies.
"Well, here's hoping that Midoriya can catch up as fast as you did." Denki hoped. "I'd like this frantic episode to only happen today."
And with that, the boys in the restroom got themselves ready for the day. As they went to the common area, the rest of the class was up and going through their morning routines. Some were eating breakfast, others were doing some last minute check ups on their homework, and a few were heading to the restrooms to do their hair and clean themselves up.
Eventually, everybody, except Bakugo, were in their school uniforms and left the Dormitory to go to the main U.A. building for their classes. The mostly regular 1-A routine. Occasionally they would see other classes walking towards the school as well, mostly Class 1-B, as they were basically neighbors, and the usual exchange of banter between Neito and 1-A would happen, at least until Itsuka would chop him in the back of the neck to shut him up.
Once the classes reached the campus, they dispersed to their assigned classrooms and 1-A went to theirs, waiting for Aizawa to arrive.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST UA High School Support Department]
Before Izuku went to his seat however, he bowed and spoke up to his class. "Guys! I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused!"
"No sweat, Deku. Thanks for your hard work." Ochako told him.
"All he did was vacuum." Kyouka pointed out, before noticing Midoriya breathing hard enough for steam to come out of his nose. "And what's with those steam nostrils?"
"Class Rep, Iida!" Izuku shouted. "I'm sorry I disappointed you!"
"R-Right." Tenya was a bit taken aback at how serious his friend was. "Well, I'm glad you learned from your mistakes. Follow the rules from now on."
"I'll catch up with everything I fell behind on in these past three days!" Midoriya declared.
"That's the fighting spirit." Ejiro liked that attitude. "Do it, man!"
[Silence]
Aizawa then showed up. "Time to take your seats, everyone." Once everyone did so, Homeroom officially began. "Morning. Now that Midoriya is back, we'll go into more detail about what the Work Studies entail." Aizawa then looked at the entrance to the classroom. "GO ahead and come in."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Katsuki and Izuku]
Class 1-A then saw three people enter the room, and among them, Sora was very surprised to see these three people enter his class. Aizawa continued speaking to the class. "I'll have people who've experienced them firsthand explain. I suggest you listen carefully as they point out how work studies differ from internships." Sora's eyes brightened, as he recognized these three, even working with one during his internship. "These three are third years at U.A. They rank at the very top of our student body. You may know them as, The Big Three."
Mirio Togata, stood tall and confident, with his arms crossed in an enthusiastic manner, complemented with his equally as calm but excited smile. He was very glad to be here. Next to him was Nejire Hado, who stood politely, with her arms behind her back, but the bubbly expression she had on her face spoke for itself, as she was barely containing her excitement to be here as well. And finally, Tamaki Amajiki was there too, standing next to Nejire, but his posture was not as confident as the other two. He was slouched down, and his hands were in his pockets. He didn't even look at the students of 1-A, being the timid person that Sora remembered.
"The Big Three." Izuku silently repeated, recognizing Miro's face from somewhere before. "And it's him."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Nevertheless Go Beyond]
Sora could not hide his smile, seeing these three here. It was one thing to learn about something cool that would help him become a better Hero in this world, but learning it from his friends, is another thing entirely, as it makes him further appreciate said friends, and gives him more reason to admire them.
The rest of the class was also taken aback by the presence of the three best Hero Course students of the current age. "The best of the Hero Course." Sero said out loud.
"The Big Three." Kirishima repeated.
"Ho wow!" Mina was excited.
"Of all the talented students here, they're the ones at the top." Iida noted.
"They're on a different level." Momo stated. "Still in school, but practically Pro Heroes."
"If they're as good as I hear, then they're the students we should be chasing after." Jiro said.
"They don't look all that special to me." Kaminari commented, seeing them like regular people. "Except the girl, she's pretty hot." That earned a small annoyed glare from Sora, but then Minoru began to drool while gazing at Hado, which earned the Keyblade Wielder's very annoyed glare towards him.
"The guy from outside." Izuku muttered quietly about Togata.
[Silence]
"Get to it. Introduce yourselves briefly." Aizawa told the Big Three. "Let's start with Amajiki."
In that moment, Tamaki looked up, but his gaze was so intense that all of Class 1-A was actually taken aback, and feeling intimidated. Well, everyone except for Sora, who was just surprised that Amajiki was able to look that intense.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Among Kosei]
He then spoke. "It's no good." Making Mirio and Nejire look at him confused. "You two go. I just can't." He shook in place, very clearly shy. "Even if I try to imagine them as potatoes, I can see their human bodies...I know that they're still people. No words are coming out. My mind's blank, and my mouth is dry." As 1-A was confused, the shy guy of the group broke completely. "I can't say anything. I wanna..." He faced towards the wall. "...go home." Everyone except Sora was shocked at the sudden mood shift, while the Keyblade Wielder just shook his head, though still smiling, as he could see that Tamaki hadn't changed a bit.
"O…kay. So um...are you really one of U.A.'s top Heroes?"
Hado giggled at this before speaking up. "Come on Amajiki. You need to have the heart of a lion. Not a kitten. You know, even though you're human. Get what I mean?" She then spoke on his behalf. "This is our kitten, Tamaki Amajiki. And hi, my name is Nejire Hado. I'm supposed to talk about Work Studies. You First Years have a really exciting time ahead of you." She then noticed all the different little details about Class 1-A. "Hey, wait hold on." She approached Mezo, and got a little too in his face. "Why are you wearing a mask? Is it because you're feeling sick, or just trying to look cool?" Before he could answer that, The Third Year then looked at Shoto. "Oh whoa! And you must be Todoroki, am I right? Yeah! How'd you get that big burn on your face?" Once again, she had another question for another student, before the student she was talking to before could answer her question. "And Ashido, if your horns break off, you think you'll grow new ones? Oh and can you wiggle them?" Then again. "Mineta, are those balls, your hair? I don't get it, like what? How do you get a haircut?" And again. "Oh, Asui, you're a tree frog, not a gross toad, right?" Aizawa was getting annoyed, but she didn't notice, or she just didn't care. "Ohmygosh, there's just so much I want to know about every one of you. Let's have a QnA." But then she saw one person in the back of the class. "Wait a second." She recognized who it was. "OH Sora! Hey! How's it been?"
[Play KH1 OST Welcome to Wonderland]
That turned the attention of the class to Sora, who then muttered out. "Oh jeez." Before speaking up to Hado. "Hey, Nejire. It's been great."
"Since you're here, that means you got your license, huh." She pointed out. "Why didn't you tell me the good news? I would have been so happy to congratulate you."
"I was sort of busy...under house arrest." The Keyblade wielder replied.
"Oh, yeah. You were one of the three that got in a fight. Weird. I didn't think you would do that." Hado commented.
"Hey, I didn't get in the fight!" Sora defended himself. "I just...didn't stop the fight...and...smashed a robot that was going to try and stop the fight."
"Really? That's even weirder." Nejire said. "I'd think you'd want to stop a fight more than let one play out."
"Hold on." Uraraka had to speak up. "You know her?"
"Oh yeah, we met like a while ago." Hado answered. "Little after the sports festival, the three of us saw him knocked out, getting dragged over to the Development Studio by Moogle, Bimbi and another Support Course student with, I think, pink hair? He was helping test out support items and he passed out from it apparently. His face was so funny. He was all, 'guh agh bleh.'" She even made a face with her tongue sticking out and her eyes rolled back, while making those noises.
"Okay! I think that's enough talking about stuff other than Work Studies!" Sora wanted this conversation to end. Not because he was embarrassed, but because Aizawa was at his limit with Nejire.
[Silence]
"This is completely irrational." The Homeroom teacher had his quirk on and glared at Mirio, who was slightly and understandably taken aback by the intimidation, though it was nothing compared to Sir's gaze.
"Oh, there's no need for you to worry, EraserHead." Togata assured him. "I'm up next and I'll get the audience refocused." He then took center stage and spoke up "The future is gonna be...!" He held his ear out and awaited an answer, but nothing came.
"Gonna be what?" Denki asked.
"Awful! That's your part, guys!" Togata jovially berated them. "Oh crap! My call and response was a total fail!"
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST I'll Become a Hero]
As Mirio laughed at his fail, Rikido whispered to Koji. "Is it just me, or does it seem like each one of them is a complete weirdo? What's the deal?"
"Their strangeness is palpable." Fumikage agreed with Sato.
"Ok, you guys look like you have no idea what's going on." Togata correctly assumed for a majority of the class. "I guess we are Third Years who just showed up in your classroom to explain a program that's completely voluntary. I can see how you'd be confused by that." The Third Year then pondered something. "You guys got your Provisional licenses as First Years, right? Huh. This batch of new students has proven to be pretty darn energetic. So the problem is...you must all not have a sense of humor. That's why my joke didn't land."
"Don't do it." Tamaki quietly warned, as Nejire also knew what was coming.
Mirio then raised his fist and proudly proclaimed "Heads up! The rad new plan is that all you First Years fight me at once!"
[Silence]
"Huh?...HUH?!" Everyone in the classroom was surprised at that.
"You want to fight us?" Ejiro repeated.
"What like...now?" Hanta questioned.
"Well, if you want them to experience our experience, this is a pretty rational way of doing it then. Right EraserHead? Rational." Togata said, rubbing his nose.
Aizawa conceded. "Do whatever you want."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST UA High School Support Department]
They did just that, and after everybody changed into Gym uniforms, The Big Three and Class 1-A went to Gym Gamma. Mirio took one side of the building, and faced towards Class 1-A, stretching and preparing for the fight. "Is he… for real?" Sero asked.
"Oh yeah. Totes real." Togata answered, still stretching his legs.
"Mirio, you're impossible." Tamaki said, facing the wall of the gym. "It would have been simple enough for us to just tell them. 'This is what it's like. Here's what we learned from it.' Not everyone has your level of drive. Plus, think of how bad it'll look if some of them can't recover after fighting you. No one wants to spend the next few years in a hospital bed."
That comment got 1-A a little shook, but Kirishima commented on that. "I bet he's just trying to psych us out."
"Hey, listen up. It's story time." Nejire said while poking Mina's horns, to the pink girl's discomfort. "Long ago, a student got frustrated in class and quit being a Hero, and it was terrible for everyone. Did you know that? So Togata, I know our job is tough, but you better make sure you know what you're doing. Be careful, okay?"
"Please stop touching those." Ashido requested.
"Let's think about this." Tokoyami spoke up, directing his attention to Mirio. "You're obviously much further ahead than us, but we've fought against people as powerful as Pros before." He was referring to the practical exams against the Data Organization.
"Not to mention that we took down some legitimate Villains." Ejiro added, referring to U.S.J. "I don't think you need to worry about hurting us. We're not a bunch of wannabes." He and most of the class were confident in that regard.
[Silence]
Togata nodded at that. "Heard. But you're gonna have to show me that's the truth. Now who's gonna start this party?"
Kirishima was ready to brawl. "I've got this."
"No. I'm first." Izuku spoke up.
"You stole my thunder." Ejiro responded.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Go Seize It]
Aizawa then spoke up. "View this as a learning experience! It's a good opportunity for you!"
"Oh, the problem child." Mirio remembered Midoriya. "Yes, this is perfect. I've heard you've got plenty of fire in you."
Izuku crouched towards the ground and got ready to charge towards Togata. He was going to take full advantage of this opportunity to gauge himself against one of the three best students in the school. He activated One For All, ready to go.
Sora and the rest of the class were also ready to go. "The close combat team should surround him, first thing." Rikido suggested.
"Let's do it." Kirishima said, hardening himself, while others turned on their quirks, or were getting into battle ready stances, or in Sora's case, summon Oathkeeper. "We've got ourselves a new mentor. Thanks for the opportunity, man! The opportunity to kick your butt!"
Midoriya charged forward, and went to attack, but then something very shocking happened, which genuinely took everyone aback.
[Silence]
Mirio's clothes fell off of him.
Jiro screamed while Sero yelled out "Why did your clothes just fall off?!"
"Oopsie!" Togata struggled to put his pants back on. "My Quirk's kind of tricky."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Iron Battle]
In spite of the small shock from that sudden surprise, Izuku recovered and pressed his assault sending out a kick that went...through Mirio's face, doing no damage whatsoever, as the One For All user landed behind the Third Year student, who commented on that. "Went for the face, huh?"
Hanta's tape, Mina's acid and Yuga's naval laser also phased straight through Togata, with no damage being inflicted upon him, but almost hitting Midoriya, who had to dodge the incoming attacks. It made a smokescreen though. And when it faded..."What's this?" Tenya saw that their opponent was no longer there. "Where'd he go?"
"I think I'll start by taking out the long distance fighters!" Mirio stated, now behind Jiro, who is in the back of the group. She screamed again, seeing the big naked guy so close to her. Then she got punched in the gut.
"He warped?" Shoji was confused.
"His power isn't just slipping through things!" Rikido noted while running towards the back line.
"How'd he luck out with such a good quirk!?" Ejiro said as he followed his classmate.
"You're wrong. Mirio's quirk isn't what you should be jealous of." Tamaki said, though it was too quiet for the students to hear, not that they could even pay attention to Amajiki's words, as Fumikage tried attacking Togata, only to miss and get punched in the gut instantly after. "You should be envying his skills. That's what sets him apart, First Years." Hanta was about to attack, but Mirio already closed the gap and instantly took out him and Minoru. "Mirio did a Work Study with a Hero, but he didn't stop there. He kept building himself up." Togata then counter attacked Aoyama, Ashido, and Asui, punching them in their guts after they tried to attack him from range. He then appeared in the center of the rest of the ranged fighters and took out Mezo, Denki and Momo. His assault took only six seconds and he already took out ten of the 19 people that he was up against.
The naked man then grabbed his pants and struck a pose before yelling out "POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Everyone that was still up, including Sora, were shocked at just how quickly the ranged group was taken out. The ones that were on the ground were feeling like this was a repeat of the aftermath of yesterday, although they were also all feeling a lasting pain in their guts on top of that. "Mirio Togata." Aizawa spoke up, with Shoto next to him, who was not participating in this battle, and instead watching on the sidelines. "In my opinion, he's the person closest to taking the spot of the Number One Hero. And that's including the Pros."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Threat Incoming]
"He took out more than half of them in an instant." Todoroki said out loud. "A student, but closer to being Number One than most Heroes."
"You're not gonna fight?" Aizawa wondered why Shoto was staying out of this battle. "You must be interested in taking the top spot yourself."
"I didn't even get my Provisional license though." Todoroki pointed out, justifying his inaction.
Back in the brawl, Mirio then spoke once more. "Think that's it for the long distance fighters." He turned to the rest of them. "All that's left are the ones who specialize in close quarters combat. Oh, and the all around fighter in the back." He pointed out Sora, who was in the forefront.
"I have no idea how he just did that." Kirishima was concerned about their chances.
"It's one thing to be able to phase through stuff, but warping too?" Ochako commented.
"He's unrivaled." Mashirao was rightfully intimidated. "Do we stand a chance?"
"Hold the flattery." Togata told them, as he got into a combat stance, ready to go.
Tamaki kept his face leaned on the wall, but he silently judged the group after hearing the word 'unrivaled' come out of one of their mouths, at least until Sora spoke up. "He's not unrivaled. He's just more experienced. And he's creative with his quirk. But we shouldn't focus on what his quirk is. We need to focus on what it can do, or in this case, what it can't do."
Izuku spoke up next. "Sora's right. Whether his true power is slipping through matter, or whether he's somehow warping himself through space. Either way, he's still landing his attacks directly. We should be able to counter him the moment he's about to make contact. Even if we can't tell what he's doing, we should theorize with what we do know, and use that knowledge to find a way to beat him."
"Yeah. You said it." Ejiro felt reassured, as well as the rest of 1-A. "House arrest didn't put a dent in your fighting spirit!"
"Then see if you can figure out how to win!" Togata told them as he blitzed towards the group. Everyone focused on their opponent, but then, right when he was about to reach Sora in the front, he phased through the floor, leaving the pants behind.
[Silence]
"He went under!" Rikido spoke up.
Sora turned around and looked towards Midoriya, who also looked behind him and saw Mirio appear. The One For All user preemptively went for a kick, surprising and impressing the Third Year.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Katsuki and Izuku]
But the First year was too slow, and Togata phased through his leg with his arm. "Watch this. An Ultimate Move!" He reached for Izuku's face, yelling out "Blinder Touch Eyeball Crush!" He forced Izuku to close his eyes as Mirio phased through the boy's face, feigning an assault on the eyes, before rotating himself in the air, and striking the First Year's gut hard. "I've discovered that most people try to launch a counterattack, just like you did." He said as he phased back into the ground. "So naturally I trained to work around such moves. Nice try though."
As Midoriya was taken out of commission, Iida focused on that, which left him open to get instantly punched in the gut by Togata, who then immediately reached the hardened Kirishima, who also got punched in the gut, and even though he was hardened, it didn't matter as the force of the punch was strong enough to take him down anyway. As the six remaining combatants looked to Ejiro, Mirio already got behind them all and took out Koda, then Sato, then Ojiro, then Uraraka and Hagakure all at once. He went for Sora, but the Keyblade wielder made the right call to defend himself rather than counter, and managed to block the gut punch aimed at him, with Oathkeeper, though the force of the punch did push the boy back quite a distance.
Mirio grabbed his pants and struck another pose. "POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
[Silence]
Sora skidded to a halt, and while the other students were on the ground, Nejire spoke to Tamaki. "Hey, check out Togata, huh? He's gotten super powerful, lately. Are you even watching?"
"Mirio's been strong ever since we were little kids." Amajiki told Hado. "The problem is, he needs to learn how to hold back."
"Well, maybe not for Sora. He took a punch like the others and he's still standing tall." Nejire pointed out.
Togata then popped his knuckles and shifted his attention to the Keyblade wielder. "And now, we're down to just one." He got into his combat stance.
"Oh yeah?" Sora replied, before getting into his combat stance. "Well, I'm the one to beat."
[Play FF7 Remake OST Critical Shot]
After briefly sizing each other up, Mirio charged towards Sora, ready to continue the battle, while the Keyblade wielder prepared himself for his opponent's assault.
Togata phased through the ground, but when he reappeared, he did so in front of Sora rather than behind him, making the Keyblade wielder put his guard up, however, Mirio chose to phase his entire body through Sora, getting behind him that way. Instead of turning around, however, The Guardian of light used his flowmotion to get away from him.
Togata positioned his body and phased his legs through the ground, before suddenly blitzing towards Sora, keeping pace with the boy's flowmotion. Sora dashed in another direction, but Mirio did the same positioning trick with his legs in the ground and corrected his course. Sora observed this and then changed directions a third time.
As Mirio did his leg positioning trick, Sora timed his moment and when Togata was in position and about to blitz him, The Keyblade wielder surprised the Third Year by blitzing towards him and slashing at the legs as they came out of the floor, knocking him off balance as his legs were able to be struck in that instant. "Whoa!"
Sora went to grab the legs, but when he did, he passed right through them, as they were no longer solid at the moment. As Mirio's body fell into the ground, Sora used his flowmotion to dash to the ceiling and jammed the teeth of Oathkeeper into it, to keep himself there. He waited there and looked through the gym, noticing all eyes were on him at the moment, even Tamaki's.
Then Togata appeared from the ground and Sora blitzed over towards him, closing the distance as fast as Mirio closed the distance between his classmates. Togata barely saw him coming and activated his quirk, as Sora thrusted Oathkeeper at his eyes. Sora stuck his other arm out and it went through Mirio's chest, but the boy kept his arm in the chest, finally remembering how Togata's quirk works, as he was told back when they first met, but he had forgotten about the details, since it had been so long.
He then saw Mirio's face begin to move away from where Oathkeeper was, meaning that his face might be solid now, so Sora let go of the Keyblade and stepped forward, extending his arm out and going for a palm strike, that luckily managed to land on Togata's cheek, surprising Todoroki, Aizawa, Amajiki, Hado and any student on the ground who could see the counter attack.
However, when Sora pushed further, his palm phased through the Third Year's face, who spoke up. "Nice, strike! But it'll take a lot more than that to take me down!" The Keyblade wielder then felt his shirt get grabbed, before Mirio's face phased out of Sora's arm and Sora's other arm phased out of Togata's body, allowing the Third year to see and take a breath in, before headbutting the Keyblade wielder in the nose.
Sora gripped the hand that was holding his gym top and leaned back, pulling Mirio down with him to the ground, but Togata phased through him and back into the ground. Sora then quickly took off his gym top and dropped it to his left. He dropped it there, because Mirio would know not to go for Sora's back, as he would know that the Third year would do that normally, and it would be unwise to do another feign frontal assault, so an assault on the side where Sora's blade is not able to immediately defend would be the best choice.
He made the right call, as Togata reappeared there, but Sora's gym top got on his face at the instant that he would be solid. Sora took his chance and ran towards Mirio, who was already phasing through the gym top , but as he was able to phase through that, The Keyblade wielder took the chance to move through the temporarily, and hopefully still at the moment blind Togata.
As Sora moved through his opponent, he could feel his body slightly get pushed further, meaning that Mirio was turning off his quirk to breathe and see again. Perfect timing, as he managed to get through and raise Oathkeeper up. He swung down, but Togata caught the blade with his palms before it could strike his right shoulder. "Really nice, attempt." He complimented. "But you can't hide your shadow." He commented, as Sora realized what he meant. He saw the boy's attack coming by looking at his shadow and seeing it there.
The Keyblade wielder felt a tug, before he let go of Oathkeeper and let Mirio throw it over himself and away from them. The Third Year instantly turned around and went for a punch to the gut, but as Sora protected that spot with his hands, Mirio shifted the direction of his punch and instead uppercut the Keyblade wielder in the chin, launching him into the air.
Togata then followed up, phasing his feet into the ground and then launching himself into the air. As he loaded a punch, ready to slam Sora back down the ground, The Keyblade Wielder used his flowmotion to get away, and resummon Oathkeeper. Sora wanted to cast Aero, but the other incapacitated 1-A students were still scattered at that area, so if he did use the spell, he would end up pulling them into the attack as well, which he did not want to do. So instead he casted Thunder, and saw it pass through his opponent. No point in attacking him at the moment then.
As Mirio partially phased into the ground, he quickly took in a breath, angled his body and blitzed towards Sora, who used his flowmotion to dodge and through Togata's body, not allowing him to keep that breath in his body. Mirio's expression then changed from one that was impressive, to one that was more serious.
Togata then immediately shifted positions and attacked Sora again, who dodged and countered, only to phase through his opponent. This exchange kept happening, and the speed of the exchanges got faster and faster, until there was just a streak of blue light and a streak of the color of Togata's skin, as the two were moving that fast.
But then, in an instant, the two streaks stopped, and Sora could be seen slashing through Mirio's body again, missing his attack, but Togata landed a powerful palm strike on the Keyblade wielder's throat, stunning the boy long enough for Mirio to punch him back in the air. Wasting no time, Mirio called out. "Time for the photo finish! Ultimate Move!" He blitzed to Sora's position and struck him, before moving to the ceiling and blitzing back to Sora and striking him again, then back to the ground, them back to Sora, then the ceiling, then Sora, again and again and again, dramatically increasing speed and power in his attacks with each blitz. "Phantom Menace!" Sora got struck all over, and each strike hit even harder than the last. It got so bad that he let out a pained scream before getting grabbed by the face by his opponent. "And once more with feeling!" He slammed Sora to the ground to finish him off.
[Play FF7 Remake OST Victory Fanfare]
Togata put on his pants again and struck one final pose for the people watching this fight. "POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Although it took a bit longer than expected, and Mirio did need to get a bit serious at the end of that sparring match, he did successfully manage to take out all of his opponents.
"Oh wow! Sora managed really well on his own, huh?" Nejire commented.
"Well, he is similar enough to Mirio." Tamaki admitted. "He just needs more experience."
"Looks like the match is finally over." Aizawa said.
Shoto was taken aback at this display. This was basically what had just happened to them yesterday against the data replica Vanitas, but even more of a defeat, because Sora got taken out too. And it wasn't even a defeat where Sora barely lost, no. He got laid out by Togata. As much as that should demoralize someone, he actually saw that as almost inspirational. It showed that given time, he and the rest of his class have the potential to reach that level of strength and skill.
[Silence]
After everyone who got punched in the gut managed to get back on their feet, Mirio pulled Sora up and helped him raise his arms up so he could cast Cure on himself. When the spell went off, it healed Sora to a point where he could keep himself up, but he was still sore all over. He'll need to cast again when his magic recharges.
At that point, Togata got his gym top on and spoke to the class. "I tried to make it so you wouldn't see my willy. Sorry if you got a peek. But anyway, that's a taste of what it's like to fight me."
Everyone was still hurting as Izuku spoke up. "We all just got punched in the stomach without ever knowing what was going on."
"I got punched everywhere." Sora added.
"Right, so what do you think?" Mirio asked the group. "Isn't my quirk strong?"
"Yeah! It's too strong!" Hanta angrily agreed.
"That's not fair! Mine's nothing in comparison!" Toru yelled out.
"How can you slip through things and warp!? Do you have two powers like Todoroki does!?" Mina demanded to know.
"Nope. just the one." Togata answered.
"Just one." Izuku noted.
Nejire raised her hand and spoke up. "Ooh! I'll tell you what his quirk is." She turned Mirio. "Hey, hey, can I say it?" She turned back to 1-A. "Permeation. Cool, right?"
"Hado, let Mirio explain his own power." Tamaki told her.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Momo Yaoyorozu]
"Yep. I've got a sweet quirk that's called Permeation. What you guys thought of as a warp was, you guessed it, simply an alternative application of that power." Mirio confirmed, as Nejire pulled his top in tiny annoyance that she couldn't talk about it. "Oh. Sorry, Hado."
"So how exactly do you warp?" Izuku was curious, as he was acting like he had a notebook in his hands and he was writing about it.
"I activate my quirk in my entire body. Then I can pass through anything I want, no sweat. EVERYTHING. That includes solid ground." Togata explained.
"So, that was you falling through the floor of the gym?" Ochako realized.
"That's right. I went deep underground." Mirio confirmed. "And then, when I release my quirk while I'm falling, something super strange happens. Apparently, things with mass can't overlap. That's called physics, so I get repelled upward. Think of it this way. The ground spits me out and I fly up into the air. That's how my warp works." He explained in further detail. "By adjusting the direction I'm facing, or the pose I'm holding, I can change the angle I come out at, so I can aim at different spots."
"That sounds like a buggy video game." Ashido commented.
"AAHAHA! Hey, that's pretty funny!" Togata liked that comment.
"You're able to avoid any attacks, and you can move to where you want in an instant." Tsuyu realized. "Ohhh. You were born with a really strong quirk."
[Silence]
"Not true. My power is only strong because I made it that way." Mirio corrected her. "While my quirk is activated, my lungs can't take in oxygen. Even if I breathe in, the air will just pass through. In the same way, my eardrums don't work, and light can't go through my retinas. Two weaknesses that Sora was able to partially exploit." He pointed out, before continuing on about how his quirk works.
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST My Hero Academia]
"I can pass through everything. But that means I can't feel anything while I'm in that state. Even though I have a body, I can't stop falling. I could probably keep going down forever." He stated. "Does that make sense? That's why if I want to go through something, like say...a wall, I have to concentrate really hard. I'll activate everything except one leg, then I release the other leg and land on it, and then the first leg is the last one to go through. Even for a simple act like that, there are a bunch of little steps involved."
"Oh man. If I were in a hurry, I would mess that up, every single time." Kaminari admitted.
"Seriously, if you can't feel anything, then how are you supposed to move?" Mineta questioned.
"Growing up, I was always behind, as you might expect. In no time, I dropped to dead last. I dropped my pants a lot too." Mirio told them. "In order to get to the top with this quirk, I couldn't just hope that things would get better. I had to think. I learned to make combat decisions, and picked up a few new tricks. But above all, I learned to predict what happens next. And what made those predictions possible in the first place was experience. I based my predictions on what I learned." He explained in detail. "This was kind of a roundabout way to get the point across, but that's why I wanted to fight. To show you through experience, rather than words."
Togata then went on to properly explain the Work Studies. "In our Work Studies, we're not treated as guests, like in our internships. We're regarded as one of the sidekicks, or even as a Pro. That can be super scary. Pros can get hurt, and sometimes they end up watching people die. But every scary and painful thing you go through is an important experience that you can't get inside a classroom. Even at U.A." Mirio then clenched his fist as he spoke up one last time. "I transformed the experience I got at my Work Study into power. That's how I got to the top spot. Just like how Sora's experiences have made him into the capable guy he is, these Work Studies will help him and the rest of you gain that experience. And that's why I think they're worth it, even if you're scared. You with me, First Years?"
At that point, most of 1-A was applauding him. "He even gives pep talks like a pro." Ojiro commented.
"I can't believe he went through all of this for us, even though he could have just explained it." Yaoyorozu said.
"So these really are different. I did kind of feel like I missed out on stuff during my internship." Denki realized.
"Yeah. They try not to let us do anything too dangerous." Kyouka pointed out.
"Guess it won't be that way during Work Studies." Sero noted.
"Now that we've got our licenses, we'll be treated like Pros when we're on the scene." Iida stated.
"We've got to prepare ourselves for that." Rikido understood.
"It's just what I wanted." Ejiro was pumped.
"Yeah! This is great." Toru exclaimed. "All of us came to U.A. because we wanted to be Pro Heroes, right?"
"That's true." Mezo agreed with that.
"Se-lä-vē!" Yuga also agreed.
"We have to keep climbing." Tokoyami was with them.
"And be Plus Ultra." Koda spoke up.
"And we'll all reach the top." Sora concluded.
[Silence]
As Todoroki realized that he really needed to get his Provisional license soon, Aizawa spoke to his class. "Let's get back to class now. Say thank you."
"Thank you very much." Everyone in 1-A said, before beginning to leave the gym.
"Hey, so do you think we got the point across?" Hado wondered. "Maybe not?"
"I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything." Amajiki said. "Let's be grateful to Mirio."
[Play Boku no Hero Academia OST Worthy Rival Written and Read as Friend]
As Class 1-A went through the rest of their day, the words of Togata stayed in their heads. How his quirk held him back at first, but after years of hard work, training, and scary or brutal experiences, he made his power into something so great that it made him a contender for becoming the next Number One Hero, even amongst the other Pros. It truly inspired everyone there, even Sora, to continue working as hard as they could, to get stronger, and to truly become the best that they could be.
Meanwhile, the Big Three walked through the halls of U.A. and Nejire commented on Mirio's work. "Hey, so we thought you hurt some of them on accident, you know. But no one was injured, so I think you did a good job. Way to go, Mirio! A+!"
"It was pretty close a few times, and they saw me naked." Togata pointed out..
"Yeah, but did anyone surprise you? You know, other than Sora." Hado was curious. "I wanna know. Come on, spill."
"Well, I mostly defeat people using the element of surprise. It's my basic strategy in a nutshell." Mirio stated. "But that problem child analyzed my first round of moves and then predicted what I'd do. I bet Sir would love to meet him." He had a really big smile on his face.
[Silence]
When the day was finished, Class 1-A went back to their dormitory. Since Sora did his practice against Vanitas yesterday, he was taking today off to rest. And after everyone was out of their uniform and in more casual or comfortable clothes, Katsuki came out with a trash bag. "HEYYYYYYYYY! IF YOU GOT TRASH, THEN BRING IT OVER HERE, RIGHT NOOOOOW!" He was taking the trash out.
"Bakugo! Thanks!" Kirishima appreciated it.
"SURE!" Katsuki replied.
"I have some as well." Fumikage stated.
"HAND IT OVER!" The explosive teen loudly instructed.
Then more of the boys came with trash bags. "Mine too." "And mine." "This is heavy." "Thanks, man." "Merci!" "Yeah, thank you."
"YOU BASTARDS! IT'S LIKE YOU'VE BEEN HOARDING THIS FOR WEEKS!" Bakugo barked at all of them as he took their bags.
[Play KH3 OST You've Got a Friend in Me]
Meanwhile, Sora was sitting with the girls on the couches, mainly because most of them were curious about how he knew the big three before this, but the girls were also just used to inviting Sora to hang out with them, to give him a break from any guy shenanigans.
"Togata's story about how he went from last place to the top was so killer, wasn't it?" Mina fangirled about that.
"Yeah!" Toru agreed with her.
"I'm really looking forward to getting into a work study now." Tsuyu commented.
"I hope we get the chance." Ochako said. "I think they're still figuring out what to do with us First Years."
"I suppose there's nothing we can do, until Mr. Aizawa gives us the go ahead." Momo pointed out.
"It'd be weird not to." Sora stated. "It'd be good for us to get that experience."
"You're just saying that, because you have one ready for you." Kyouka pointed out.
"Ehhehe. Yeah, I guess." The Keyblade wielder sheepishly confirmed, as before the fangirling, he told the girls about how he interned at the place where Mirio was doing a Work Study at, and how he was welcome to do a Work Study there when he earned his Provisional License.
"You're so lucky. You know that." Ashido said to him, poking his shoulder over and over again. "Getting to go to the same place Togata went to, if we're allowed to do these, that is."
"I'm honestly not too surprised." Asui admitted. "This is Sora we're talking about. You know, the 'Positive Hero, Light Heart'?"
"Yeah. He and Togata are a lot alike with their upbeat energy." Hagakure agreed.
"They're both talented too." Jiro pointed out.
"Yeah, I mean, Sora managed to hold his own for a lot longer than the rest of us." Uraraka reminded them.
"Well, I had more...experience." The Keyblade wielder stated, which made the girls remember what he was talking about with The Organization, as well as his recent bout with Vanitas, and the training against the data replica of the Dark Remnant. And Ochako knowing a bit more, with the bits of his childhood that he told her and Tenya about way back when.
"That is a fair point." Yaoyorozu agreed with Sora. "And it further cements Togata's reasoning as to why those Work Studies would be worth it for all of us."
"Yeah." Mina agreed with that, before changing the subject. "By the way, Sora, what was that about you being out cold and looking all 'blegh ugh.' That Hado mentioned back at the class."
"Oh jeez. I was hoping you'd forget about that." The Keyblade wielder commented, his embarrassment coming back.
"No way could we forget something like that." Toru chimed in.
"The story does sound interesting." Kyouka was a bit curious. Plus it was a pseudo nice change of pace to see Sora look a bit embarrassed about something.
"It was shortly after the Sports Festival, if I heard correctly." Momo remembered.
"She mentioned a pink haired girl in the Support Course." Tsuyu remembered that as well. "Was she talking about Hatsume?"
"Was this during that time you promised her that you'd test some of her inventions?" Ochako asked, remembering Sora saying that to Mei about that when they were making teams for the Cavalry Battle back then.
"Yeah, but it's kind of a long story." Sora told the girls. They were not deterred however, and the Keyblade wielder had a feeling that he wasn't going to find a way out of this. He sighed and decided to conclude his day, by telling the girls the story of how he met the Big Three. Not a bad way to end the day, to be honest.
I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! I'M NOT DEAD! So yeah, It has been a while, since I have uploaded anything. You can thank my niece for that, as she has decided that out of everyone in the house, I am the favorite. Meaning that I am the one that she wants to see and she will be upset when I'm not around or if she can't hear me. It makes me want to constantly check up on her now too, which makes writing a lot harder. I also finished the Star Wars fic chapter before this, but I wanted to post both at once, to tell all my readers that I'm still active.
Aside from that though, let's talk about this chapter. The Big Three have now met the rest of 1-A, and Mirio kicked their butts, just like how Vanitas kicked most of their butts the day before. The group has now had a negative side of seeing what happens if they lose, through Vanitas' victory, and they now have a positive side of seeing just how strong they can become, through Togata's victory. It also helps that I needed to get back into the swing of things, so I needed to write a fight anyway. Other than that, the good things that Sora did way back in the Hero Killer ark are now coming back to help him grow further in the upcoming Shie Hassaikai ark. I'll do my best to make sure that I can write that ark, and not take too long. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and until I decide to Upload again. ;)