Well, it's been a while since I put out an actual author's note, soooo… uh, hello! Been a while, hasn't it? I don't typically put these here because they take up page time, so I'll try and be as quick as possible so we can actually get to the chapter. With that said…
Volume 10, huh…. I'll be honest, I never thought that I'd get past single-digit volume counts. And yet, here we are, at the forest camp training arc, reaching the crescendo of said arc before shit hits the fan. This is also slowly beginning to reach Sports Festival levels of length. To be fair it makes sense. It also oddly mirrors MHA in terms of volume number where this exact event happened. I think… ANNNNDDDD I'm a little off. We're not exactly matching, but we're pretty close all things considered.
Another thing: there are a few people I want to give thanks to, as DLB has reached its second anniversary. Seriously, two years. I've put two years of work into this fanfic. What started as a project to work on during the pandemic evolved past that and transformed into something else. And quite frankly, it's rather shocking. I never expected this to happen, and I thought it would be dead by now. But I guess that didn't happen, and I'm glad about that.
So, to Dounthair5618 and Doc43Souls, thank you for sticking around behind the scenes. It means a lot that you'd take time out of your day to not only talk to me but, in the case of Dounthair, work on crossover projects with me. And in the case of Doc, thank you for doing a large chunk of beta-reading for me since the end of Volume 7, which doesn't seem all that long ago… until you realize it's been four months…. Yeah, time flies.
Of course, a mandatory thank you to every reader and commenter for sticking with me for as long as you all have. I know FF as a platform is practically broken, and the analytics on the site are basically broken beyond repair because, let's face it, the fossil of a website isn't going to be around for much longer much to my immense depression, I know there are still people out there reading on it. So thank you to everyone who has been sticking with me for this long. Seriously, without you guys, this story wouldn't be where it is.
Two years, 500K-ish words, teetering on 600K when counting author's notes, 72 chapters, and a dream. And to think, we're only NOW just reaching the halfway point. Yeah. We're JUST reaching the halfway point of the fic. It sounds absurd, and it is, but that's the truth. If I were to guess how many more chapters there are for this particular arc… I'd say somewhere around four to five chapters, which would make it surpass The Sports Festival Arc. It is one of the most important for the plot, ergo it's going to be longer as a result.
So, with that in mind… how about we get to the chapter now? I said I'd make this quick, and I ended up taking up almost a whole page. I'm a bit of a liar if you couldn't tell. Hehe. So, cutting to the chase… let's get into the chapter! Once again, thank you all for being here, and I hope you enjoy the chapter! Comment, like, follow, favourite, or whatever you wish to do.
I wish you all a wonderful day!
[Beta read by Doc43Souls]
Tenko hummed to himself as he watched the members of The League get ready for tonight's big event. Dabi had recently returned with intel on The Camp. The Heroes don't expect a damned thing, even after what that Vampire had done with that stupid Thrall. Honestly, he was worried for a second that because of The Vampire, they would've been found out. But, fortunately, that didn't happen. Fortunately, The Vampire's screw-up also wasn't much of a screw-up, as his involvement had gotten rid of one of those stupid brats, and had immobilized one of them completely, leaving The Heroes with two fewer people to use on the playing field.
Sometimes, meddling was helpful, it seemed. The Vampire had used a cheat code, that being his Flesh Buds, to permanently erase one character file, and bugged the other. It was honestly a perfect set of events. Well, not perfect. There was still the issue of the Stand Users. But, they could be dealt with from a distance.
Besides, Jirou had her Imagine Dragons in order to deal with any Stand Users that came after her, and the rest were ordered to stay far away from any Stand Users that they knew of. They were given descriptions of who they were, what their names were, and what their abilities were. Muscular was more than annoyed that he was being forbidden from fighting them, but once he was told that it was like bringing a gun to a fistfight, he quickly understood that it wouldn't be a proper fight.
"Tomura Shigaraki. Everything is ready to go for the scheduled attack. We are ready to go at your command," Kurogiri spoke, his tone of voice low so the others wouldn't hear. He didn't want them to get too rowdy and wanted to start the mission early. There was a good reason why he had picked nighttime for the attack to commence.
For starters, most of the brats would be tired from training all day. Second of all, the staff would be on high alert, which would mean they would be prone to making more mistakes in the heat of the moment—reverse psychology at its finest—and they too would also be tired from a long day of working kids to their breaking point. And finally, so The Vampire could attack with them. After all, the sun was his major weakness.
Of course, there was also another reason. His involvement. Currently, Tenko wasn't wearing any of the hands on his body. Rather, he opted for his black hoodie and a new face mask that he requested Sensei to make for him. Said mask was a face-covering that obscured his face from under his nose and past his neck, with built-in air filtration so that the smoke from Dabi's flames and the gas from Mustard wouldn't affect him.
He had it commissioned by his Sensei a few days back. It was a request that had confused Sensei, as he had no idea he was actually going to be a part of the raid until he had brought the design to him. Sensei of course wanted him to re-think his choice, but he flatly declined. After all, what kind of leader was he if he wasn't with his group of allies?
That was a trick question. He wouldn't be a leader at all. He would've been a coward. If he was going to be The Leader of The League Of Villains, he was going to be on the front lines with them. That, and with his Quirk having gotten a slight upgrade with his Decay working faster than it had before, he wouldn't be completely useless like he had been during The USJ.
The USJ was his debut. His Quirk was just as strong as he had been—not at all. But now? Times have changed. He was at least decently powerful. He was still walking in under-levelled. But, what fun was there without a challenge? This was a stealth operation and assassination mission, after all. To kill that stupid Vampire. His Decay was faster than that bastard's regen hacks, and, not to mention, he could potentially gain the trust of Kira Yoshihara.
After all, connections were important. More important than anything. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
"Thanks for the info, Kurogiri," Tenko replied as he sat back at the bar table, grabbing his non-alcoholic apple cider, pulling down his mask, and taking a sip. Kurogiri stared at him for a few seconds, before looking back to the rest of the members of The League, then back to Tenko.
"Tomura Shigaraki. You have changed."
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Kurogiri. Your point?" Tenko asked as Kurogiri hummed.
"You're less… explosive. For the last ten years that I have known you, you have never once acted this mature. Has something happened that you are not telling me or Sensei about?" Kurogiri asked as Tenko frowned, putting his drink down and pulling his mask back up to underneath his nose.
"Nah. I just came to an epiphany recently. How can I be a leader if I do not think of my allies? This is The LEAGUE of Villains, not Tomura Shigaraki's squad of disposable fodder," he hated using that name, but he couldn't allow Kurogiri or Sensei to realize that he had woken up from his fugue state.
"I see…" Kurogiri began as he put his ghastly hands behind his back, turning to face the rest of The League. "You have truly grown from a child to an adult, it would seem. That is… refreshing."
"Don't you even go there, Kurogiri…" Tenko rumbled as the man made of purple smog chuckled to himself. "What's so funny?"
"You remind me of an old friend of mine. Twenty years ago. Before… this…." Kurogiri said, his voice trailing off into something reminiscent of nostalgia. "Before… I was Kurogiri. I was… someone else. I can hardly remember my time as that other person. My memories are scattered. But I remember bits and pieces of my previous life. I remember personalities, but not names. You remind me of a mix of my two… friends."
Right…. Tenko had forgotten about Kurogiri's origin. He was something called a "High-End Nomu." But not just any High-End Nomu, the first High-End Nomu. As such, Kurogiri was the "worst one" as The Doctor had described it. It had a personality, and free will, only following orders because that was its only purpose in life. If it suddenly had a reason to defy orders, it would do so at the drop of a hat, or so The Doctor said.
In truth, Kurogiri was loyal to Sensei, The Doctor, and Tenko. He saw them as his only family, which made sense. For all Kurogiri knew, he was created in the lab of The Doctor and was told to be the guardian of Tenko when he was still under the delusion that he was Tomura Shigaraki. It was a sad existence, but the only one Kurogiri knew.
"I see… would you ever want to see them again, Kurogiri?" Tenko asked, his question honest as Kurogiri perked up at hearing that. His gaseous face shifted, revealing a small bandaged pale cheek, and a small fleck of blue hair on the side of his face. There was a hint of a smile on the body's face.
"If possible. I would love to…" The gaseous cloud overtook the visage again before Kurogiri coughed into one of his hands. "Granted, if I can remember them."
Tenko nodded, before lazily glancing at the time. 12:30 p.m. Just a few more hours to go until it was show time. "Remember, Kurogiri, teleport me a few feet away from where The Vampire is, once he sends the signal that he has located Kira Yoshihara."
"Understood, Tomura Shigaraki."
Today was going to be a successful day. He was going to make sure of it. His checklist was simple: Kill The Vampire, capture Midoriya Izuku, and make sure Jirou can complete her mission with the assassination of Yaoyorozu Momo. If even one of those things were done, he would count this whole mission as "successful." Even if it meant losing a few people in the process.
The Heroes won the first battle, but they weren't going to win the war. He would make sure of that.
xxXXxxXXxx
The afternoon had started the way it was supposed to—uneventful, all things considered. There was a brief meeting with the teachers to discuss how this evening was going to play out. Frankly, it was a little unnerving to see everyone in such a high-tension environment. Yoshihara didn't say much during the meeting. She wasn't the proactive type when it came to that kind of thing.
The plan that they came up with was that, once the clock struck 7:30, Pixiebob would create Mud Beasts to patrol the forest—up to a hundred for each direction. That would be the first line of defence. The second line of defence would be the Pussy cats themselves. They would divide themselves between each portion of the camp, leaving Aizawa and Vlad to defend the lodgings per their class.
As for The Stand Users—the ones that were viable for fighting, so excluding Kota for obvious reasons—each would tag along with a member of the Pussy Cats. That way if one of the two Stand Users, one of which being the Vampire, targeted a member of the Pussy Cats, the Stand User who was partnered with them would have a higher chance of winning.
Then came what the rest of the students would be up to. That was pretty self-evident. The students were to be held up in their lodgings during that time to ensure maximum security, and so that nothing bad happened. Of course, that was assuming that the warp villain Kurogiri didn't know about that location. If they did, then Plan B would come in, and that would be allowing the students to fight back—which Aizawa argued should've been Plan A, but Mandalay disagreed.
Yoshihara agreed with her on that. It was better for the other students to not get involved if possible. They had already lost Ida and Tsuyu because of that, both to The Vampire. It was better to not run the risk of said Vampire running into any more students. That was just a recipe for disaster.
That was earlier in the afternoon though. The meeting was thirty minutes long, and it was now around about 1:00 p.m. Training was supposed to begin an hour earlier, but Aizawa accidentally slept in, and that had pushed everything back. He blamed the lack of their being Strong Coffee in the machines.
Right now, Yoshihara stood lined up with the other teachers, dressed in her hero costume. Flanking her right was Aizawa who had his signature scowl adorning his face, and to her left was a tall, large beast of a man whom she could've sworn she had seen at the gym she had frequented when she was in her early days of body training prior to U.A. Maybe they just looked similar, because she remembered he had even spotted her when she was struggling with doing a deadlift that she thought she could do, but barely could.
She'd have to ask when the day's training was over with. Right now, she had more important business to attend to. Said business was the training of the group of students in front of her, with the help of Aizawa and Tiger, which was the name of the man in the orange matching costume of the other Pussy Cats. As for the students she was saddled with, the group was rather… unorthodox to say the least.
There were six students she was given to train. Tokoyami, Kendo, Tetsutetsu, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Monoma. They were all dressed in gym attire, which was protocol for training. She had originally thought about allowing them to wear their hero costumes, but then again if they were attacked at random in public, they wouldn't have it, now would they?
This was the first group of students she was training, whereas Josefumi was off somewhere else training Kota with his Stand. Zeppelli and Bucciaratti were training two other groups of six, leaving the rest to do Quirk training. It made sense, even if it was a little annoying.
"Alright," Yoshihara began, giving them a singular once over. She was given full control of the lesson she wanted to teach. The other two were there to give the students assurance that she "wouldn't go overboard." As much as she didn't want to agree with Aizawa, she did tend to go too far in some cases. But those were few and far between. Tiger was there because this was his compound, so it made sense.
"Now, I know a majority of you have a dislike toward me. But we're ignoring that for this instance. Otherwise, we won't be getting anywhere anytime soon. Am I understood?" Yoshihara questioned, earning nods from everyone. A good start. "Great. Now, Tokoyami, come here. Stand about three or so feet away from me, please?"
Tokoyami did as he was asked. "Summon your Dark Shadow."
"Out of curiosity, why?"
"Because I want to see something. It will determine how the lesson goes from here on out, and it will determine whether or not I would speak with you after said lesson," Yoshihara explained, as Tokoyami's eyes narrowed, before summoning Dark Shadow to his side. In response, Yoshihara summoned Killer Queen. Dark shadow saw it immediately, indicated by how its eyes shifted.
"Whoa! So I wasn't seeing things the last time!" Dark Shadow commented as Tokoyami looked at the creature made of darkness.
"What is it you see, Dark Shadow?" Tokoyami asked as Kira spoke up.
"My Killer Queen. That's what he sees," Yoshihara said, earning a look from both Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. "For now, we'll leave it at that. Put Dark Shadow away, and get back in line. I just wanted to see if what happened at The Sports Festival was a fluke or not. But now that I know it isn't, we'll speak more about this after the lesson."
Tokoyami said nothing and returned to the line. Afterward, Yoshihara stepped forward, scanned the crowd, and picked out Kendo. The orange-haired teen stepped forward, as the blonde looked her up and down. "Alright. From what I know, you know a fair bit of martial arts, correct?"
"I'm a black belt in karate and a red belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kira-sensei." Yoshihara nodded. Being called "sensei" felt wrong. At least she was formal about it.
"Good. Then that means you have a better experience at dodging because frankly, that's all you can really do when a Quirk user is dealing with a Stand User, aside from taking down said user. Therefore, I'm going to be testing each of you to see how you do. Kendo will be going first, seeing as she has the most potential to take me down. If everyone can back up far enough so no one gets hurt, and if Kendo can take fifteen steps back, we can begin the exercise."
Everyone did as they were instructed, even the teachers. They glanced at one another, but otherwise said or did nothing. If they had a problem with what she was doing, they didn't indicate it. Once everyone was a far bit away, and once Kendo had done what she was asked for, Yoshihara looked over to Aizawa and spoke. "On my mark, countdown from three."
Aizawa nodded, as Yoshihara turned to face Kendo. "Your goal is simple. Knock me out. Don't hold back, just do it. Otherwise, I will keep attacking you. I'll refrain from using Sheer Heart Attack because none of you are ready for that." As she said that, she pulled out a pair of Quirk Disabling cuffs from her pants pocket. "My goal is to put these Quirk Disabling cuffs on you. If you win, you pass the exercise. If I win, you fail. Pretty simple. Any questions?"
"Why do I have to knock you out? Wouldn't that mean no one else would be able to participate?" Kendo asked as Yoshihara smirked.
"You're assuming you'll be able to do it. But I digress. In a real fight, Stand users are out for blood. Their only goal is to kill you unless they say otherwise, and even then that can change at the drop of a hat. Your only option is to retaliate in kind, or in this case, knock me out so I cannot attack you. Restraining me will do nothing, as my Killer Queen can very much still harm you. Hence, knocking me out," Yoshihara explained as Kendo hummed.
"I see... that makes sense. But that still doesn't mean I like it," the orange-haired teen said, earning a frown from Kira.
"Doesn't matter if you like it or not. You will do it. Do whatever you think you need to do in order to achieve victory. You're the hero, I'm the villain. Treat this as if it were life or death. Your life versus mine. Understand?" Yoshihara said, earning a nod from Kendo, who immediately got into a fighting stance. Yoshihara looked over to Aizawa and nodded. From there, Aizawa began to countdown.
"Three…"
Yoshihara had Killer Queen appear in front of herself, as Kendo enlarged her right fist.
"Two…"
Yoshihara narrowed her eyes, as did Kendo.
"One…"
Kendo slid her right foot back and left foot forward, whereas Yoshihara stood perfectly still, putting her hands in her pockets.
"And begin."
Kendo leapt forward, cocking her enlarged fist back, preparing to hit Yoshihara in the head, when Killer Queen returned the favour, moving faster than Kendo ever could, and reeled back its fist. Kendo's eyes widened, feeling the disturbance in the air as if something was coming towards her. She was too slow to dodge, as a fist-like imprint made itself clear on Kendo's stomach, rocketing her back into the ground, making the ground shake in the process.
The other students flinched, while Monoma recoiled completely. It wasn't hard to garner why. Yoshihara may or may not have put a little extra force into the punch on accident. But still, the point was made. Or, at least she hoped it was, and that being that rushing in wasn't the best idea. Especially with as much of a disadvantage as those without Stands had.
Yoshihara approached the downed teen, twirling the cuffs around her ring finger as Kendo tried and failed to get back up. Yoshihara then stood next to Kendo, grabbed her wrist, and applied the first cuff, then immediately afterward she applied the second. Her Quirk was forcibly deactivated, meaning she lost the match.
"Now, can anyone tell me what went wrong, aside from the obvious?" Yoshihara asked, looking over to the group of five. Silence, until Kendo sat up, groaning. When she did, she spoke in a slightly rough voice, but still audible enough to hear. "I rushed in, and got punished for it."
"Correct. Now, by any chance did you notice something when you charged at me?" Yoshihara asked as Kendo nodded.
"Yeah. There was a shift in the air. I take it that was your…. Uh… Killer Queen yeah?" Kendo questioned as the blonde smirked. She had Killer Queen take off the cuffs from the orange-haired teen's wrists. The Stand passed it back to Yoshihara, as she clipped them to her belt.
"Correct. Now I'll be honest with you, this type of tactic only works with close-ranged combat Stands or Stands with humanoid manifestations. Luckily, most of them have such a thing. Unfortunately for you all, most of the time it hardly matters in combat. But, should you corner a Stand User, and they have this kind of Stand when it attacks, there will always be an imprint left in the air. Use that to your advantage. You might be blind to them, but they still leave real-world effects behind."
As Yoshihara said that, Monoma spoke up. "Okay, but what if it's windy? What happens then? How're we supposed to defend ourselves against Stands then?" Monoma questioned as Kira frowned.
"You'll die. Simple as. Either that or you gun for the user and pray to God they are dimwitted enough to let you." When Yoshihara said that, Monoma's expression became grim. The blonde sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "Of course, the movements in the air aren't the only way to tell if a Stand is attacking you. Stands also leave other things, such as footprints if you have a key eye, and assuming they have feet. Kind of like how my Sheer Heart Attack leaves behind tank treads in the ground."
"So what, we guess? Is that it?" Tetsutetsu asked as Kirishima crossed his arms.
"That's bullshit!" The red-haired clone of Tetsutetsu said as Yoshihara shrugged.
"And so is life. But you don't see anyone else complaining. Those are your only options since Quirks can't interact with Stands. Despite being linked by the virus, they aren't linked enough to actually do anything. Ergo, why we are trying to make sure that you have some chance against Stand users, even if it is extremely slim."
"Then what about Dark Shadow?" Tokoyami questioned, summoning the aforementioned Quirk from his stomach. The thing waved at Kira, who hummed.
"Yeah, Dark and Moody makes a good point, Kira," Kaminari quipped.
"That's because I have a theory. Tokoyami, humour me if you will. Do you truly believe Dark Shadow is a Quirk?" Yoshihara asked as Tokoyami raised an eyebrow.
"It does not meet the qualifications for a Stand, because everyone else can see it. I've had it since I was spat out into this mortal coil. My parent's Quirks are both Shadow Manipulations of some kind, with my bird attributes being from my father's side of things. If you're suggesting Dark Shadow is a Stand, I disagree," Tokoyami said as Yoshihara chuffed, staring at the bird-show creature.
"Then, if that was the case, why can it see Killer Queen and you can't? If it's a Quirk, then it shouldn't be able to see Killer Queen. After all, sentient Quirks, while rare, are still Quirks. They're still biological. So, in light of that," Yoshihara said before fishing around in her pocket for something. She knew it would come in handy at some point, and when she brought out what it was, Tokoyami's eyes widened. It was one of the yellow bullets.
"Why do you have that?" Aizawa questioned from a distance.
"Classified. Speedwagon Foundation protocol. While I might not be a member, I am involved, and as such I am held to the same standard. That aside, it's a dud, so it will cause no harm. What I'm banking on is the tip. If it glows when I point it at Tokoyami, Dark Shadow is a Quirk, because it is reacting to the potential for someone to become a Stand User. If it doesn't… well, then that means Dark Shadow is what we call a "Semi Awakened Stand." Something that exists in a grey area between Quirk and Stand. Something that Killer Queen was stuck in for years. Sometimes those with Quirks can see it, sometimes they can't. It depends on how close it is to fully awakening."
Yoshihara shook her head, pocketing the bullet for later use. She didn't want to get too side-tracked, especially considering they were on a time limit. "We can have this discussion a little later. I have a lesson to teach, Kirishima, you're up next."
It went about as well as Yoshihara expected. As the lesson continued, as she kept making them repeat the lesson, things hardly got any better. Notably, Kendo was the one who got the closest to knocking her out, even compared to Dark Shadow and Tokoyami. Those two had the right idea. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu rarely got close enough to do anything, even when using their hardening and Steel Quirks. Killer Queen was the gap between her and her peers that none of them could cross.
However, she did notice that they were able to dodge Killer Queen more easily as the exercise continued. It got to the point where Kendo, the one who ended up doing the best in the exercise, was able to get within touching distance. Unfortunately, Killer Queen was far faster and far stronger than any of them wanted to admit.
Dark Shadow helped Tokoyami in the exercise because Dark Shadow could see Killer Queen. But because Dark Shadow had to vocally communicate to Tokoyami, and because they didn't share a mental link like she had thought they did, Tokoyami's plans to take her down fell short due to Dark Shadow telling Tokoyami where to dodge and duck.
Then came Monoma. Monoma was the oddball of the group. He could copy Quirks, but only one at a time. And only for five minutes. So his results depended on whether he copied Kendo's Quirk or Kirishima's Quirk. There was also the fact that he was fairly flexible and aware of his surroundings. But even compared to Tokoyami and Kendo, he didn't get nearly as far as them. But he was the best dodger.
Every time it was his turn to take a shot at knocking out the explosive Stand Users, while he didn't make much progress in the actual knocking out department, she saw his progress as the best. While the others were more focused on knocking out Yoshihara, he was more focused on the dodging part. To notice the differences in the air when Killer Queen made its move.
Out of everyone, Monoma was the most successful in the exercise.
After an hour of the exercise, everyone except for Yoshihara and the teachers were dead tired. They were beaten, bruised, and exhausted from the exercise. Yoshihara overlooked the group and sighed. "You all did good. Kendo and Tokoyami got the furthest, whereas Kirishima and Tetsutetsu weren't even close. Though I suspect that's because of the type of Quirk you two have. Kendo and Tokoyami have the range, you two don't. But out of everyone here, Monoma did the best in this entire exercise."
"What?!" Kirishima exclaimed. "But how! He got nowhere near close to knocking you out! He did worse than us!" The rock-skinned teen said as Yoshihara smirked.
"True. But unlike the rest of you, he understood the assignment. Yes, the goal was to knock me out. But, what was the true purpose of the test? It wasn't to take me out, it was to get better at dodging. Something he excelled in. For that, if I were to score you all out of a hundred. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu would've gotten a thirty, Tokoyami would've gotten a forty-five, Kendo would've gotten a sixty, but Monoma would've gotten an eighty."
The look on everyone's faces was an absolute treat. Now she understood why Aizawa liked teaching so much. It was doing things like these. She couldn't help but grin at seeing them all. As for Aizawa and Tiger, they looked satisfied with the outcome, Aizawa more so than Tiger. Tiger for his part had actually stepped in a few times and given some pointers to Kirishima and Tetsutetsu because of their overall rigidness.
Aizawa hardly helped. He simply watched, and that was the point. This was Yoshihara's place to teach, not his. Part of her assumed it was because he was tired, or if he was reserving his energy for when The League showed up. Both were smart. Although once everyone was told by Aizawa to go train their Quirks, he did give them pointers, most of which consisted of him telling them not to rush in and to plan their every move.
It was smart, especially when dealing with an opponent you can't exactly counter. After it was done, Aizawa gestured for Yoshihara to go over to him. She did so, keeping her hands in her pockets. When she approached, Aizawa sighed. "For your first attempt at teaching a group of people, even if small, you did okay. My only critique is that your explanations lacked reasoning. They didn't look convinced by what you were saying. The only one who seemed to believe you was Monoma and Kaminari. The other three didn't, at least not fully."
Yoshihara frowned. "That's stupid. Why wouldn't they believe me?" The blonde questioned. Aizawa leaned against the tree behind him, crossing his arms.
"You seem to have forgotten your reputation. Unfortunately, it follows you. They are biased to not listen to the opinion of, in their mind, a murderer. Which, by definition, you are. Semantics aside, to them, why should they listen to a villain? Next time, you have to make sure they understand. You went too easy on them. If it weren't for what was happening tonight, I would be admonishing you more. A single punch won't make them understand the threat of what your kind of power can entail."
"My Stand isn't exactly anything other than a killing machine, Aizawa-sensei," Yoshihara replied curtly. "I can't use my ability to its fullest against them. If I use my ability, it'll be only on the lowest setting. The same goes with Sheer Heart Attack—even Killer Queen's punches. I hold them back for a reason," the blonde said as Aizawa hummed in acknowledgement.
"You get the point," Aizawa said. "You can't keep holding back. It won't do you or the others any good." The black-haired man frowned. He watched the retreating forms of the other students as they went off to do Quirk training. "The others should be done with their groups. You all taught the same thing, and the next group that was scheduled for tomorrow might have to be held back, assuming tonight's counter-attack goes poorly. As for you, you're free to do whatever training you can with your Stand."
Yoshihara nodded, leaving the area in question. She had a few things in mind, but none more apparent than the main thing she had been trying to learn, or get someone to teach her about for the last week or so. And considering she was good at hearing things and remembering things, this was the perfect opportunity to do said thing.
She had overheard a lot of what Josefumi had done when it came to The Spin. One of the things that he talked about was something about "seeing a golden rectangle" or "envisioning the Golden Ratio" or stuff like that. She knew what the Golden Ratio was. Anyone who's taken an art class knows what it is. Considering U.A. had said class, and considering Nemuri had covered the topic, she knew what she was looking for.
Walking throughout the forest was her main way of searching for what to look for. She wanted to use The Spin. She wanted to make Killer Queen as strong as it could become because while Stands were powerful and had an advantage against Quirks, what with them not being able to be seen, they weren't nearly as powerful as some Quirks.
She had seen just how strong Izuku was, what with him being able to shatter windows with pure air pressure resulting from his fists of all things. If she was going to keep up with someone like him, she needed to find new ways of enhancing his power. She wasn't going to hang back and allow it to exist in a lull. Sheer Heart Attack was not the end-all-be-all of Killer Queen. Yoshikage had said so, and he had been Killer Queen's previous user.
As she walked, she could make out vague shapes on the trees. Spiralling into one another in a cube-like formation. Never perfect. It needed to be perfect. She had to be able to envision it perfectly, she had to focus on it, and more importantly, she had to be of clear mind when she saw it.
There were no disruptions allowed. The forest and all of its sounds of nature made it extremely hard to do so. Yoshihara also wanted to keep moving while doing it. Why? Because that way she didn't rely on staying still. Fighting was a dance more so than staying still and waiting for the next opponent to attack. All of her fights had been like that. There was no moment she could realistically stand still, and unlocking a new ability that required focus and using said ability while on the move was going to be a difficult task.
She had once heard from Gyro that learning such an ability as The Spin while on the move or in a high-stress situation made the person learn faster. While she personally didn't subscribe to that notion, it made sense. After all, learning in a high-octane situation allowed for quick and snappy mastery of combative abilities like The Spin.
An idea came to her during her walk. Why not instead of walking, she ran instead? Besides, running was also good for cardio. Good for allowing her to see The Spin during something fast, like a battle, and also to get better stamina and leg muscles. Not that she had other avenues for that, but running was just better for that particular muscle group whereas the other avenue was better for lower back movements as well as better balance… for reasons. Oh, and flexibility, too.
She shook her head. Best not to get distracted. She decided to start picking up the pace, starting with a light jog. It then progressed into a sprint. As she ran, it became harder to even so much as form it in the back of her mind. However, it was needed for what she wanted to achieve. She needed to be able to see The Spin whilst she moved fast. If nothing else, she wanted to because of the scenarios she had gotten herself into time and time again. Standing still was a bad idea in Stand Fights unless there was no other choice.
Yoshihara had lost track of time as she ran through the forest. She only realized that it was late when she saw the moon slowly beginning to show itself. She stopped dead in her tracks, before scrambling to look at her phone. Drawing it out of her left pocket, she checked the time. When she did, her eyes widened.
It was already 8:30 p.m.
The attack was going to happen in—
She smelt smoke in the air. Alarm bells rang throughout her head as she looked up into the sky. Thick black clouds of smoke filled the air as Yoshihara realized the colossal fuck up she had made. She had been so focused on trying to unlock The Spin that she singlehandedly screwed up the plan the teachers had in mind for when this raid happened.
She was supposed to be with Tiger right now.
Tiger was probably looking for her.
Tiger was alone, without a Stand User to help him, assuming she ran into a Stand User.
She was stranded, in the woods, during a villain attack, with a murderous Vampire hunting her down. All because she was too absorbed in her own thoughts. Her phone had been blowing up with text messages for the last hour from Aizawa asking about her whereabouts, and why she hadn't met up with them yet.
"Oh my god… What have I done?"
In that train of thought, she had only just noticed what appeared to be a snake with wings flying in her direction, mouth agape and seconds away from biting her. Killer Queen appeared and punched it into the ground, the snake dying on impact. But where it came from, more appeared, flanking her from every direction. Killer Queen had been fast enough to punch as many of them out of the way as it could, while Yoshihara herself was dodging them by slipping through them—thank Nemuri for teaching her that one.
As she slipped past one of the snakes, she failed to notice a scaled fist coming her way. It was intercepted by Killer Queen grabbing the hand and weaving it past her face, delivering a punch of its own to her attacker's face, the sound of scales breaking apart and splintering, along with bones fragmenting and blood gushing filled her ears, as her attacker stumbled back, slamming into a tree and collapsed with several others falling suit.
The blonde stared down her attacker, not knowing what she was looking at. Long black hair with pure hate dancing around in golden yellow eyes. Sickly pale skin with scales decorating his lower jaw, which was filled to the brim with fangs. He was dressed in a black suit ripping at the seams in certain places, meaning he was bulging with muscle, and considering his arms looked to be the size of a semi-large tree, she couldn't blame the suit for cracking under pressure.
His hands had claws the size of butcher knives, each of which dripping with a purple liquid—most likely poison with the snake motif that was going on. What was not snake-related was the black veiny wings that protruded from his back that fanned out in a crescent moon shape as he straightened himself out. It was then that she realized exactly who it was she was staring down.
Though she may not have seen the creature before. She knew damn well who it was. After all, it gunned straight for her. And those hateful yellow eyes… the ones she saw back on the day she had all but broken Bakugo Katsuki. She could never forget those eyes.
They were the eyes of the person who murdered Ida. The eyes of the person who had enthralled Tsuyu Asui. The killer of two of her classmates.
"Vampire…" Yoshihara sneered, as Killer Queen got into a fighting stance. The Vampire grinned from ear to ear, a disgustingly cocky expression on his face as he stared her down, almost like he was sizing up a victim.
"Kira Yoshihara. We meet again. Do you like the new form I created for myself? This time, that stupid Sheer Heart Attack of yours will do nothing to me!" And as he said that, he wasted no time summoning that strange Snake Stand of his, sending twenty of them in her direction all at once. Killer Queen responded by punching at speeds unseeable with the human eye, destroying as many of them as she could that didn't outright miss her.
Unfortunately for the blonde, that had been nothing but a diversion, as The Vampire took a single step forward, and disappeared. Her eyes widened, as she quickly turned around, only to have a hand go right through her left shoulder. Yoshihara couldn't hold back the scream of pain as she was thrown against a tree, before being kicked in the stomach. She could feel bones break, as the tree cracked under the immense pressure of the weight The Vampire had used to attack her.
Killer Queen in response punched the monster in the jaw again, blowing the whole thing off in one go. This, however, hardly phased the monster as it regenerated almost instantly. In return, the Stand-using Vampire summoned more of those snakes that had pinned Killer Queen to the ground with their jaws. Yoshihara tried having Killer Queen return but to no avail. It was like it had been permanently trapped.
The blonde slumped against the tree, shakily grabbing her horribly wounded shoulder as The Vampire stared down with a hint of disappointment on his face. "Is this all you have to offer? After all of this time? After your performance at The Sports Festival, after taking down my strongest thrall in Tsuyu Asui. After besting a Stand User after a Stand User, you mean to tell me that this is what I get from the Joestar named Yoshihara Kira? What a complete letdown."
The Vampire kicked Yoshihara in the face, forcing the blonde onto the ground. The Vampire knelt to her fallen form, as the blonde spat up blood. He reached down, and dipped his finger into the small pool, putting the bloodied fingers in his mouth, sucking the life essence off before huffing. "Too rich for my taste. You must eat a lot of high-quality food at U.A. and with that foster mother of yours… maybe after I'm done with you, I'll get rid of her next."
Killer Queen fought against the snake binds holding it to the ground, but to no avail. Yoshihara tried to get up, rage flowing through her body, only for The Vampire to stomp down on her side, forcing her to the ground as another sickening crunch echoed throughout the forest.
Yoshihara screamed in pain once again, though it tapered off as blood spewed from her mouth. Pained gasps and attempts at breathing were all of what she could do, as The Vampire grabbed her by the back of the head. "You know… I've heard records of what your ancestors did to that one boy. Koichi Hirose, his name was. It's a shame he passed away from sudden heart failure… He seemed like a sweet kid," the vampire hissed, his split tongue flicking at the air like an honest-to-God snake.
"Ah… but I think you're owed an explanation. Pit Of Vipers. One of its abilities is called Spiritual Bind. It's the very thing keeping your Killer Queen from moving from its spot. Once it bites another Stand, it completely immobilizes it from where it's being pinned. Very useful, don't you think?" The Vampire droned, his tone of voice devoid of emotion as he grabbed Yoshihara by her neck, lifting her off the ground and into the air.
The teen grabbed onto his wrist with one hand and slammed his arm with as much physical strength as she could manage. Unfortunately, it did nothing at all but seemingly amuse the creature. She couldn't breathe, as was evident by the struggling gasps for air she was making. "Awe~! I love to hear those sounds. The soundssss of someone struggling to hold onto any semblance of life they have~! Truly music to my earssssss~!"
The more he talked, the more snake-like he started to sound. Killer Queen kept trying to break out but to no avail. Its attempts got more frantic as her breathing began to get cut off. But, yet again, to no avail. The Vampire chuckled, watching as Yoshihara's face began to lose colour, and for the colour in her eyes to slowly fade. "I've been waiting for thisssss moment for decadessss. With this, my brother will be avenged!"
She wanted to say something. Anything. But she couldn't. There wasn't anything that she could do in this situation. Not with Killer Queen rendered immobile. She was useless without her Stand against this monster. As her vision began to darken, and she slowly began to lose consciousness, for a split second, she could've sworn she saw another hand grab onto The Vampire's wrist, avoiding her hand entirely.
She also could've sworn… that The Vampire's hand had begun to disintegrate and turn into dust. And as soon as that happened, The Vampire staggered back, giving her a chance to breathe. She greedily took in gulps of air, as a boot landed next to her face.
"You okay, brat?" A familiar voice spoke, as Yoshihara looked up. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. The person who had saved her life wasn't a hero. For the second time in her life, she was saved by a villain. She was saved by that hand villain from The USJ. Only this time, he wasn't wearing hands all over his body. They were surprisingly absent.
"Shigaraki! What do you think you're doing!?" The Vampire snarled, unaware that his control on the snakes that had pinned Killer Queen down had disappeared. Killer Queen, as a result, rushed toward The Vampire and gave the bastard a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking him to the ground, and bouncing against the path as Yoshihara struggled to stand up.
Blood dripped from her open wound, and it hurt to stand. She was running on pure adrenaline and sheer anger. Her eyes narrowed at The Vampire but quickly glanced at Shigaraki. "You… why?"
"Why not? 'Sides. You're not the only one who has a vendetta against this asshole," Shigaraki replied as Yoshihara stared at the monster. "Truce?"
"Truce…" Yoshihara replied as Killer Queen got in front of its user. The Vampire collected himself, wings spread out wide as he snarled in rage like an angry bull. The only thing behind the monster's eyes was rage and pure vitriol. Its teeth bare, and lips curled back into a deranged snarl, it spoke.
"I will not be robbed! I will not be denied my revenge! Least of all by a filthy maggot like you! TOMURA SHIGARAKI!"
And then… the monster charged.
-To Be Continued-