Rule #41b: A double-edged sword is still a sword

The majority of the work studies took up the entire winter break (likely in the hopes that keeping the students together and busy would make it harder for the villains to attack the first years as they had done several times over, in the past), still it felt like the break had flown by in a flash. And then, before they knew it, the third term of the school year had begun. Of course, there were still those who would continue to attend their various work studies throughout the term, only instead of everyday like it had been during the break, those days had been cut down to at least three to four days a week. Still quite a bit, but not enough that their schoolwork would suffer from it.

Seems like only yesterday we were following Aizawa-sensei down to the field, during orientation. Toru hummed idly as she waited for class to start. Now, there's only three months left and then we'll be second years! Ten months gone in the blink of an eye! Man, it went by fast!

"—My classmates!" Iida greeted from the front of the room, as he called their first homeroom of the term, to order. "A happy New Year to you all!"

Next to him, Momo bowed to the class. "Yes, happy New Year, everyone!"

"Today's class will consist of a practical briefing; we'll each share our accomplishments, challenges, etcetera, from over the winter break" The bespectacled class president decreed. "So, comrades, it's time to suit up! And head over to Ground Alpha—!"

SLAM!

"—QUIET! Time to get started" Aizawa-sensei stalked into the room, greeting them with much the same enthusiasm as he had always done. Although, their bedraggled homeroom teacher seemed surprised to note that they had already started without him.

"Happy New Year, Aizawa-sensei!" Mina cheered as she led the charge out of the classroom, her costume case balanced precariously atop her head.

"An auspicious New Year, sir!" Iida called from the podium. "I have appraised them of the schedule, as per your instructions"

"Good" Aizawa grunted.

"Man, Iida, you're really revving hard today" Kaminari commented as he & Sero followed after their trickle of classmates.

"Indeed!" He puffed up his chest with pride. "Thankfully Manual, the hero whom I apprenticed with during my work studies, is a leader in Hosu. It was just one week, but he taught me well. How to work hard, without being uptight!"

Well, at least he's not going on that revenge train again. Toru hummed, taking note of both the hero & the city he had studied with.

"Heck yeah! It's the only way to live—!" He grinned, legs going a hundred miles a minute in this strange little dance.

"I take it back!" Kaminari chuckled, "He's like a bike where the chain keeps coming off…!"

"Wouldn't Iida be a motorcycle, though?" Sero mused. "I mean, with his engines and all?"

DING, DING, DING, DING!

"Aizawa-sensei, please report to the staff room immediately" Principal Nezu's voice chirped over the intercom, calling their homeroom teacher away.

"Oooh! Someone's in trouble!" Mina giggled, teasingly. "Wonder what he did?"

"Who knows?" Toru shrugged as they made their way to the changing rooms, "Besides, isn't All Might-sensei taking Heroics today?"

"Rumour has it"

"Rumour has it, oooh!" Toru sang, mockingly.

"Shut up!" Mina playfully shoved the invisible girl towards the girls' changing rooms.

Toru laughed as she let the pinkette push her inside. "What? You were thinking, I just said it!"

"Oooh!" Toru crooned as she wiggled into her own costume. Across the way, the gravity girl was doing her best to squeeze her feet into new boots. "Ochako, is that a new costume? It looks amazing!"

"Yeah!" Momo agreed, "That new style is great on you!"

"Ah, you think so?" Ochako replied, flushing slightly in embarrassment. "Aw, thanks guys!"

"Hmm, what's this? A new Uravity wrist?" Jiro murmured as she and the pinkette snooped through the gravity girl's open costume case. Only a few of the accessories were left as the brunette quickly changed into her gear. The Uravity Wrist in question was a large pink cuff, no bigger than a watermelon and slathered in pastel pink. It looked light, but it was far from it "Oof! It's…heavy!"

"Yeah, there's wiring stuffed inside" Ochako explained, "Thanks to my quirk, the weight of it isn't a handicap, but the case sure is heavy, though"

Since she had it out, already, Jiro helpfully brought the cuff over to the brunette. "Oh, here ya go"

"Thanks" Ochako smiled, slipping her hand inside.

"Oooh!" Mina chirped as she pulled out Ochako's belt, next. "Hey, whatcha got in here?"

No sooner had the question left her lips did a back panel on the belt flop open, to reveal a small keychain All Might doll; the very same one that Ochako had received at Christmas from a certain green-haired someone. It was cute to think that she held the present in such high regard, that she kept it on her at all times or perhaps that was just the not-so-subtle crush talking. In any case, it was kind of funny to see the normally gung-ho heroine suddenly turned flustered as the keychain plopped onto the floor.

"Ah!" Ochako panicked as the doll landed square on the floor, for everyone to see. Red quickly coloured her cheeks as she pushed Jiro aside in her panic and quickly scooped it back up again.

"…Hm?" Mina titled her head cutely as she tried to piece together why Ochako was acting like a scared kitten. It didn't take long for recognition to light up in her eyes. "Hoooooh! I knew it—!"

"—It's not what you think, Mina!" Ochako quickly interjected, voice squeaky and face flushed.

"And what do we think it is?" Toru asked the room at large, because at this point, the conversation was not so private. And, let's be real, gossip captured girls' attentions the same bloodlust seemed to enrapture boys.

"Me thinks somebody has a cru~sh!" Mina sang.

"It's really not, I promise" Ochako shook her head.

Mina stopped bouncing up & down in her excitement. "Huh?"

"I'm just, um, keeping it close for now" Ochako explained, "Keeping it safe"

Suddenly, Iida's voice cut through any further heartfelt moments. "—NO! MIDORIYA!"

"Huh? What was that?" Jiro cocked her head as the sound of the class president's voice ricocheted through the walls. The boys' changing room (the one next door) was always rowdy whenever occupied, but Midoriya was hardly ever the one at fault. At least as far as the girls knew, no, that title usually went to Mineta. So it was strange to hear the boy's name being called out in such a manner. "Wonder what's going on, over there?"

Soon, Kirishima joined in. "BAKUGOU! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!"

"Of course!" Toru sighed as she turned back to readjust her gloves, "Sounds like its just Bakugou & Midoriya at it again. Those two are always going at it like alley cats!"

"Maybe we should hose them down?" Mina suggested. "That works with cats, right?"

"Or what?" Toru turned with a giggle, "Get them neutered?"

Just as she had done on the way in to the changing rooms, Mina soon began to lead the group out. "Keep them in different cages?"

"Open a cafe?"

"You two are nuts!" Momo interjected, though her lips quivered upwards at the corners. "Those are our classmates, they're not cats!"

"Are you sure?" Toru asked as she spun to face the vice president, walking backwards as she did so. "Cause I've seen Midoriya pick up Todoroki by the pits, and he does the long cat"

"Yeah, no, she's got a point" Mina nodded as they caught up to the boys who were being led by the aforementioned greenette, though he appeared to have Bakugou's mask sticking out of his hair.

Toru pouted in mock hurt."Wha—! C'me on, Mina! I thought you were on my side!"

"Besides" Mina bore a shit-eating grin. "Bakugou's more of a Pomeranian than a cat!"

"Ha!"

"—Uh, guys!" All Might interrupted, bringing the group to a stop in front of, what appeared to be, a candy floss machine. "I put all of my might into this one gag and you're completely ignoring it!"

"Er, are you okay, All Might-sensei?" Mineta asked, for once asking a rather pertinent and appropriate question. Because honestly? It sounded like All Might was having a mid-life crisis.

"I'm fine!" All Might got up in Kaminari & Kirishima's faces, causing them to backpedal into Shoji. He posed quite the imposing visage; all seven feet of him looming over his students as he shouted bad jokes in their faces. "And I am here the Symbol of Sweets! Get it? Sweets?"

"Ugh!" Their faces quickly dropped at the terrible joke.

"Sweet? Cotton candy? Get it—?"

"—Wait a second" Kaminari interjected.

"Oh thank God" Toru muttered under breath, "That was getting painful to watch"

"Where's Aizawa-sensei?"

All Might quickly pulled back out of their personal bubbles, but continued to stir the candy floss. "An urgent matter arose. So, he had to leave school and take care of it, immediately"

"Maybe he was in trouble?" Mina hissed in Toru's ear, all joking gone from her tone. "Why else would he have to leave?"

"I dunno" The invisible girl shrugged. Nothing recent came to mind, though most of her thoughts these days were occupied by the PLF and all that that entailed, so she would admit to not being completely up to date with the rest of her classmates.

"But enough of that! There's no need to worry" All Might cranked the candy floss stick with much more vigour, "So, let's get started with today's lesson, and show us what you have learnt at your work studies!"

"Right!"

First up on the chopping block, was Aoyama and Toru. Ground Alpha wasn't their usual chosen training ground, mostly because it was a flat expanse that held little opportunities for real world practise. What it did have however, was the room to let out the gigantic robot army that had been used in both the entrance exams and the Sports Festival. Unlike last time, however, there was little remorse from the robots as they sought to destroy to the two heroes facing them. A bit of daunting task, if she were being honest; but best to go first instead of last when there was nothing left but scraps to fight (there were the reserves, of course, but that was besides the point).

"…We are the saviours of this world!" The robots cried, sounding distinctly like Nezu as they charged, full throttle, towards the light-powered teens. "Humans are to be terminated!"

SWOOSH!

"NAVEL SABRE!" Aoyama declared as he shaved through vanguard with a sharp flick of his quirk. It was like a hot knife through butter, and then before you knew, robot heads were flying; it was rather satisfying to watch.

"Ooh! A new move!" Kaminari cheered as the sparkles flew, "Lucky! I wanna sword!"

"Tremble before us! This day shall be known as Judgement Day!" The remaining robots taunted.

But Toru was not one to be outdone. "Woohoo! Light me, 'Yama!"

WHOOSH!

At her call, the blonde spread his feet, squared his shoulders and hip thrust so forcefully that the beam which burst forward sent Toru stumbling forward a pace or two when it hit. But she didn't let that bother her, instead as the navel laser hit her back, she gathered the light to a pinprick in her hands until it was no bigger than her fist. Winding her fist back, the albino then tossed the ball of light towards the nearest charging robot and waited with anticipatory glee shining in her eyes as it alighted down on its chest plate. "AOI NOVA!"

A breath.

Two, and then—

KABOOM!

An absolute torrent of light exploded outwards, expanding upwards & outwards into—what could only be described as—a tunnel of light that scorched through everything that it touched as Toru amplified Aoyama's light to the nth degree. It incinerated the robots where they stood, digging deep into the earth and exposing the plumbing network hidden beneath the compact earth. It was only once Aoyama stopped feeding his quirk into the invisible girl that the tendrils she fed into the attacked slowed, before finally coming to a stop. Let's just say, it was a good thing that they had those robots tucked away in the reserve.

"Woohoo!" Toru cheered giddily, arms up in the air as she spun to face her teammate. Aoyama, on the other hand, was clutching his stomach and looking a little green around the gills. "Did ya see that? Did ya see that, 'Yama? Let's blow up something else!"

"What—what the—?!" Mineta spluttered as the pipes burst and water began to fill in the newly formed ditch only meters away. Usually that was the kind of destruction reserved for either Bakugou, Midoriya, Todoroki or a combination of all three. "What the actual fuck?!"

"Holy…crap…!" Kaminari breathed, hand coming up to itch at the faint sunburn peppering exposed skin.

"Remind me not to piss those two off" Mina agreed, eyes wide at their two light-powered classmates.

"That's the combo you've been working on?!" Midoriya demanded, eyes alight with all of the possibilities their two quirks could do…and all of the damage they had wrought in just one attack.

"Yep!" Toru nodded, proudly puffing up her chest as a wide grin split her cheeks.

Kirishima nudged the explosive blonde next to him, "They could outdo your blasts, Bakubro!"

"Tch!" Bakugou scoffed, hiding his pensive look in his collar. "Yeah right!"

"Wonderful job, you two, your work studies has paid off!" All Might clapped as he tried to swallow the fact that the weaker two of their classmates just blew up the legion of robots like it was nothing. "It's clear you are learning a lot from the Equipped Hero, Yoroi Musha at The Carmine Agency"

Toru bounced up & down on her feet as she helped Aoyama back to his. The motion wasn't really doing any favours for his nausea, though. "He's got loads of advice for supercharging our offence & defence, so we figured out new combos to keep up!"

"Who is Aoi, if I may ask?" Momo puzzled at the name of the new combo move as the two light users trotted back over to rejoin the class, looking a little more windswept than when they began.

"Ah, he's my great, great, great—something grandfather" Toru helpfully replied, "He could do something similar"

"Grandfather…?" Bakugou mused as if the anecdote had rung a bell, "Was that the one that blew up?"

"Yep! That's the one!" She sounded far too cheery about such a fact.

Shelving that particularly gruesome comment for the moment, All Might took charge of the class once more. "They have obviously improved" He stood there, hands on his hips in a poor man's imitation of his Symbol of Peace pose. "Now show me what the rest of you have learnt!"

"Got it!" They sang.

PARANORMAL LIBERATION FRONT STATUS REPORT
UA LEGACIES

HERO: PRISM

UA Term resumed.
All previous players remain, no new players added.
Possible side quest was investigated.

Side quest: Unknown, Players: Eraserhead & Present Mic