And we're finally back!

Sorry for the extra week's delay, honestly, the editor "kind of" overestimated the rate at which he'd be able to check this chapter. But, to be fair… this is about to be the second longest chapter yet!

(First one is 21 if you're curious. Huh, it's always the Momo chapters too. Go figure.)

But in either case, I don't have any announcements this time, so let's get into it!


"Good luck in your matches, Midoriya, Tennyson." Yaoyorozu said, trying to contain all her emotions.

A translucent pink dome had manifested around her, and Gwen was floating just next to her… with a magic book, as ludicrous as that sounded.

So this… This was really going to be it, right? Her chance?

Seeing Tennyson and Midoriya then give her a thumbs up, felt like a jolt to her system–

Gathering her strength, and wiping the cold sweat on her face, she took in the warmness of the compound.

Gwen raised her arms. "Eo Recentia."

She raised her hand to wave–


Everything suddenly flashed white.

It was scary, feeling all five senses suddenly return empty… only to then appear at the second floor of a parking lot.

Instinctively, she looked up to Gwen again, and found her floating there. Only then did her sense of feeling tick back in again… starting with her pounding heart, feeling cold.

"Ugh…" As the bubble dispersed, Gwen also came down.

"Ms. Tennyson!?" Yaoyorozu caught her.

Gwen shook her head. "Ms. Tennyson is my– Ugh, nevermind, call me Gwen."

As strength returned to her, Yaoyorozu let her go with a soldier's efficiency.

"Teleportation hangovers really *are* the worst."

Yaoyorozu gave her a second to recompose. In the meantime, she looked around with adrenaline pumping through her veins. However… she saw no one to fight.

"And… may I ask where we are? Where are Kevin and Ingenium?"

Gwen directed her eyes to the same sights, putting her spell book away.

"I thought it would help if we surveyed the situation first." She stated. "If we teleported to him, we would already be in a firefight."

The headache of hers then subsided enough, Gwen put her hands on the temples of her head. "Now, to get to sensing them…"

Yaoyorozu heard a winded twinge in her tone however, and couldn't help but be concerned.

"I… I think perhaps we could ask Mr. Levin to take us back to the festival on the trip back. It should be easier on you–" She blurted out.

"No." Gwen lowered her hands. "Not unless we want a bunch of confused heroes at the school's gate, we can't."

Yaoyorozu's eyebrows went up. "Right…" she said. Her head lowered, self-reproaching. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Gwen tried giving a reassuring smile, before putting her hands on her head again. "I knew this was going to be a two-way spell, not to mention the upcoming fighting we will have to do."

And even with her exhaustion… Yaoyorozu felt a dignified air surrounding Tennyson's cousin.

"If I wanted to take it easy, I would have stayed in America." Gwen closed her eyes again. "I'm prepared to do whatever I can."

Yaoyorozu clenched her hand. That last line felt like a small knife digging through her skin…

"Ms. Te– Gwen had to shoulder a lot of the burden by coming here. Both the tracking and transportation are thanks to her ability." She thought before reaching for the front of her jacket. If she was ready, Momo knew she had to be too.

"To do what I can… and maybe even more." She thought, as Gwen found herself getting a beat on their location.

She tried her best to not hum–

"Excuse me, Ms. Gwen?" Yaoyorozu said. "Could I get a shield?"

"Just Gwen is fin–!"

The second Gwen turned; she saw Yaoyorozu taking off her jacket!

"Wait!" Gwen put up a square shield around her, covering it from all sides and setting the opacity to its maximum. "Yaoyorozu wha–?!"

"I just thought about it." the student replied from within the pink box… with a concise and steadfast tone.

The silhouette of her undoing her hair and sounds of taking off her shoes and sweatpants came through.

"The sports festival put all of our likenesses on television for everyone to see." She said. "So, there is a chance for my identity to be exposed as I am."

A pink glow covered her entire body.

"However, I won't worry about it. I can't afford to." she thought. "If I'm going to be of use, I have to do whatever it takes…"

With her shadow coming to a standstill, Gwen slowly lowered the shield. What emerged was a battle-ready Yaoyorozu.

Wearing a silver and black ninja yoroi with a black flak jacket, trousers, light sandals, and fingerless gloves; she stood tall and strong. Covering her hair was a cowl, and a face mask going up to above her nose. Apart from the steel staff reflecting the light on her back, she stood like an actual shadow.

"Looks pretty good." Gwen remarked.

"Thanks." A slightly muffled response came from her, as she also looked down at her outfit.

"This was Master Hamato's description for an authentic ninja garb." She thought, before taking off her fingerless glove to manifest another item.

It was a purple cloth, with two holes.

"A bandana?" Gwen asked.

"I believe it is called a hachimaki." She tied it over her eyes. "But yes."

With her eyes also obstructed, Gwen could almost feel how driven and anxious she was.

From under the purple cloth, it was almost as if those pupils that always reflected her doubts disappeared, leaving behind only the white sclera. The creation girl unsheathed her staff and checked it.

"Following from it, I assume it would also be most dangerous if we called each other by our names." She said, before putting the staff back. "So, as my codename… call me Creati during this mission."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, but seeing her stand up not so pensively, she smiled.

"Good call."

Yaoyorozu felt her cheeks warm up.

"Then…" Gwen took out her spellbook. "I guess I should dress for the part as well."

Honestly, getting to see it glow pink again, Yaoyorozu couldn't help but feel tantalized by its mystical aura.

"Then, for my codename, call me Lucky Girl." Her finger brushed under a set of incantations. "Vestimenta Sua!"

A twister enveloped her body in an instant, and she emerged with a black bodysuit, purple gloves, a purple utility belt. A black and purple cheshire cat mask completed the look.

"What do you think?"

Yaoyorozu nodded. "I think we look harmonious." Seeing as they both chose the black and purple color palette.

Gwen smiled at her, before letting the pink glow take over her eyes again.

Kevin and Ingenium's energies… and their struggles over a fierce fight… were both easy to sense.

With his life force veining, the hero was shakily zipping around.

"I'm not finished yet, Kevin." she could faintly hear from the battlefield.

Kevin had his much more annoyed scowl. "You have to make the end memorable, huh?–"

She could hear them. Countless bodies covered in steel hitting the ground–

"The knights!" Gwen broke her concentration.

Yaoyorozu instantly got on edge. "What happened?"

"I think I know why Kevin gave in with the charm." Gwen said. "This way!"

Platforms formed under Gwen's feet, and Momo took out a grappling hook. Away from the gaze of the public, they chose to travel from the skies but in the back of Momo's head, Gwen's premonition continued to blare.

"No, Yaoyorozu. I… should be there." Tennyson had said, and they objected for good reason. However… was that the right call?

Yaomomo looked at Tennyson's cousin, and saw her worried.

"What happened Gwen?.." She thought. "What did we set out to face?"


Minutes earlier

Stain came down with another two-handed strike using his katana.

Kevin quickly grabbed the building next to him and ripped a part of concrete, blocking the hit. He fell onto his knee as the hero killer growled and put his full weight onto the contact point.

The concrete started to crack under the pressure, but the ex-con didn't.

"HAAAAAAA!" He pushed back and got off from one knee. Using his momentum, he tried to hit the hero killer, but it was for naught. The hero killer jumped over and Kevin slammed the concrete block onto the wall instead.

With an animalistic roar and inhuman speed, Stain emerged behind him with two daggers. The swings missed as Kevin ducked, turned around while standing up, and threw a fierce uppercut.

Stain's air was briefly knocked out as he flew back onto some containers.

Kevin, taking advantage of the brief pause, took a knee.

"He's persistent."

"More like a sociopath." Ingenium remarked from where he still laid.

Kevin turned to the hero, raising his brows. "Oh Tensei, welcome back. Glad you could join us.

"Sorry." The hero remarked, as his body still felt dull. "He has a paralyzing quirk of some sorts."

"Could be related to the slashing or blades and stuff. Whatever, that's fine, just give me an idea on how to take this guy down."

Sneaking another look, Kevin groaned. That was his hardest punch, and the guy was already getting back up.

"Your best bet is to disarm him at this rate." Ingenium remarked from the ground, as the ex-con got to his feet. "As notorious as he may be, he can't have many more swords left."

Kevin sneaked a sardonic frown. Great, basically "Continue trying, but also, try not to be carved up like thanksgiving dinner in the meantime."

He felt his eyes widen.

Ingenium was… lying on his elbows, with his back straighter than before.

"Hold up, Tensei, you–"

"I've had enough." Stain emerged from the trash cans, taking out brand new knives! "You're finished, both of you…"

Kevin growled. "Yeah, whatever dude."

He lunged forward, and Stain did too. They were about to meet in the middle!

*VROOOOOOOM!*

Stain could barely notice it but in a flash of glimmering blue, Ingenium sprung back on his feet!

"Recipro… BURST!"

The engines in his arms went into overdrive. He rushed forward towards Stain and jumped right before making contact. Stain could only narrowly avoid the high-speed kick aimed for his face.

"Come on!" Kevin cried out, but Ingenium wasn't done.

He landed on his two feet and immediately bounced back. Spinning midair, he came towards him with a downward punch!

Stain instinctively raised his arms, blocking some of the hit as he got slammed to the ground and slid back.

"Nice one."

"Thanks…" Ingenium took his stance next to Kevin, standing with extreme difficulty. "Thought… we could fight… dirty for a change."

Kevin smirked in response.

"You're learning, Tensei." His pride was swelling up from within.

"You're never too old to do so." Ingenium added. "Now… let's make this an unfair fight!

However, the duo would never get that chance. Right as Kevin was about to stomp on the poor killer, a knight in shining armor faded in.

"Huh?" Kevin barely flinched–

"Ahhh!"

A red laser hit Kevin squarely in the chest, sending him flying back.

"Nailed him, sir!"

"Well done, Knight Banneret!"

Ingenium changed targets, as aching struck him in his side. The ones who appeared and surrounded them were Forever Knights. Was this a hallucination caused by the blood loss or something?

"Nope, Tensei." Kevin assumed his stance again. "This is very much real."

The one leading them had full-body crimson red battle armor,a yellow visor and two swords.

"Form up!" One knight drew his sword and raised it to the sky to shine. "Heed the orders we've been given! Protect, Mr. Akaguro!"

Yes, this wasn't any dream. Ingenium tried to stay on his feet.

"Mr. Akaguro?" Stain echoed it… right before he appeared before that very same knight, sword to his throat. "How do you know that name!?"

The knight was paralyzed with fear.

"Please relax, sire."

From among them, a differently dressed individual stepped forward. It was another kid, brandishing a brown bowl haircut and eyes. He wore a red tunic which had metal arm and leg braces; a belt bearing the infinity symbol; red boots; and a red half-cape.

The knight looked at the kid. "Squire–!"

The kid was fearful to the bone. Especially when the bloodshot eyes filled with determination looked back.

"P-Please release him sir." The kid said. "We're here to assist you."

Stain did no such thing. He was on edge, feeling vary of all this medieval force–

"Of course, he wouldn't." Another figure warped in. Wearing the very same armor as his brothers-in-arms coupled with an orange gown and the knight's insignia on his chest. Not to mention the gold face plate which accentuated his facial features.

"His instincts have been impressively tailored for the field, Winston." He cleared his throat. "Forbear, for his instincts at negotiation may have dulled. Especially against such formidable foes."

"And now things are worse." Kevin said, instantly unnerved. The ninja's visor glowed red.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Stain asked. It was tiresome to repeat himself, however today apparently had to be an exception.

Among the crowd, it was Ingenium who muttered in recognition.

"Enoch."

Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, Eno... How do you know him?" he said, taking his eyes off the enemies for a second.

Ingenium shrugged. "Me and my friends made a list before splitting up. And I happen to have some spare time in the office."

Kevin tilted his head. "So, you memorize a villain list in your free time?"

"It helps to not be completely rusty. Guess the knights took interest in us finally."

"Very bad time for it to happen too." Kevin nodded.

Trying to be sneaky, one of his hands went behind his back, secretly reaching into his back pocket, before finding the red and gold charm.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hero Killer. I apologize for our unannounced entrance."

Stain's muscles visibly relaxed. "What is your purpose here?"

"The same as you." Enoch answered.

Kevin however was focused on his back pocket.

"Come on, what did it say? Come on…" Now he rattled his brain. "I even memorized it last…"

His eyebrows narrowly shot up.

"Auxilium."

Enoch was taken aback, as was Winston, both faintly hearing him.

"What was that?" Ingenium asked.

Winston turned to his superior. "'Help'... in Latin, sire."

Enoch nodded and crossed his arms. "The stripling has lit a beacon then."

Ingenium was still confused, however. "Wait, wha..?"

His eyes went back and forth between Kevin and Enoch.

"Kevin, what did you–"

"Don't worry about it." Kevin said as he could feel his back pocket warming up.

Stain's eyebrows raised. A beacon…

The killer's gaze traveled, beginning from his first two opponents, the tens of individuals in shining armor. And…

His ears picked up sirens.

…all the ones currently on their way. No matter what they said, there was no trust involved with anyone here.

Especially after the mention of a beacon.

"In either case, this place has gotten too crowded." he muttered, sheeting the sword.

Enoch raised one hand. "Rest assured, Hero Killer."

Stain raised an eyebrow.

"My colleague will see to it that your business here is concluded."

He gave the signal… and in this circle made by Forever Knights around the two heroes, the ninja stepped inside.

It had a dual-sided yellow plasma blade drawn…and it walked up to the two heroes.

The gold mask was obstructing Enoch's face, however there seemed to be a hint of joy in his voice. Not one of sadism, or any particular amusement, but rather one filled with pride.

One which could only be achieved after a successful mission.

"And as for restrictions on time." A faint sneer escaped his lips, as from his black gauntlets, a trigger with a red button emerged. "The Forever Knights always have contingencies."

The button was pressed, and all fighters present were treated to a unique kind of fireworks…

One after the other, spread out all over the city, detonations occurred. Lighting up like flares all over the city, only to be followed by sounds of crashing and screaming.


Ben 10: Hero Force

Chapter 33

One of Those Days


Shivers were sent down the spines of all of them, except for the knights.

Kevin gritted his teeth.

"No–!" Ingenium turned around, away from the ninja.

The laser lancers cocked into action.

"No sudden movements there, bright eyes." Kevin said. "Or, you know, not *yet* anyway."

The ninja was still walking towards them, visor glowing red.

Enoch assembled his hands behind his back again. "I'm afraid you two aren't going anywhere–"

As if he were the wind itself, Stain had drawn his sword and pressed it against Enoch's neck.

The knights re-aimed their lances, as even their crimson mechanical ninja felt it fit to pause.

"You would put innocents in danger?" he asked demandingly.

Enoch wasn't bothered.

"No need for aggression." He stated.

With a brusque, bored tone unrivaled by anything else he had to endure, he continued to talk at the hero killer. "Our knights are implementing your preferences."

It didn't lead to Stain lowering his sword. However, Enoch chose to move all the same.

Cracking his neck, he gathered his composure.

"No *real* *people will be harmed."


"Down, mutant!"

One knight showed a girl down on the ground. "Don't you dare interfere…"

"You can't do this!" The girl protested. "It's our st–!"

"Quiet!" The knight backhanded her.

As two from the squad set up the explosives, the rest set up a perimeter and opened fire to store fronts, trees, and benches. Citizens ran for their lives in a frenzy like no other, however some… 'particular people' weren't lucky enough to get away.

The girl on the ground had blue tanuki features, with different shades of brown fur, blue bob-cut hair, and a fluffy racoon-like tail. She was wearing a red hoodie, a white shirt underneath and navy-blue shorts. She was a heteromorph, and now, her fur was standing on edge, her bright white canine teeth showed–

"Nazuna?!"

The knight's partner then showed up with a fox-like girl next to her, wearing the same school uniform.

"Sorry." the fox despaired as the knight threw them together. "I couldn't get away–"

"Are you two done here?" The two knights were approached by another, this one carried the infinity symbol on his shoulder.

Both gave a bow. "Yes sir!"

The commanding knight looked in the distance, at the blinking detonators.

"Good." he said. before turning towards the girls. "However…"

He turned around with hands assembled behind his back.

"Try not to make too much of a mess."

The two knights instantly bowed their heads. "Right!"

Nazuna held onto her friend's hoodie, as Michiru was trying to intimidate them. The two knights however drew their laser lancers all the same–

"Look out!"

They could barely react to their commander getting hit with a pink disk!

"Creati!"

Yaoyorozu and Gwen were coming down at them from above.

"I have them!" Yaoyorozu kicked one knight in the face, before turning around and elbowing another in the gut.

The armored mook reeled, right before he got his lights knocked out by an uppercut.

More knights started to fire at them, but Lucky Girl got in between with her shields. The two civilians whimpered in fear.

"It's okay, it's fine." Yaoyorozu tried to assure them. However, their gaze quickly shifted to the bombs.

Creati noticed it as well.

"Get some distance. Please move!" She gestured the girls away and moved to disarm the explosives, but these were unlike anything she'd seen before.

"Lucky Girl!"

Gwen lifted her head up from behind the shield. "Switch dance partners?"

Yaoyorozu tilted her head. What did dancing have to do wi..?!

"Yes!"

Gwen nodded.

"You're surrounded, Lucky Girl!" The knights didn't lay off their fire, however. They heard their plan, and they weren't planning to let them execute it. "Your day of reckoning is at hand!"

"Really? Does that day plan include a rope and a burning stake by any chance?" Gwen opened her arms to the side.

The shield dynamically expanded, before she clamped the edges back together, trapping all of them inside a bubble!

"Because that would be on brand."

Creati got in between, as Gwen eyed the beeping bombs, even as she winced due to the lasers. "Are you ready?"

She took out her staff…

"They're all yours then." Gwen said, before dropping the bubble and running off!

The knights, however, only saw red. They aimed their weapons at Creati.

"Seize her!"

Yaoyorozu stayed silent and kept her moves unadorned. Even as the horde rushed her, she stayed fearless… and as her dynamic blows hit their bodies one after the other, a silent burning fury accompanied them all.

With five down, there was only one left.

"Eat laser, pros!" He directed his lance.

Yaomomo uncovered her backhand in an instant, manifesting a metal plate to bounce back the blast.

It dazed him. Sweeping his feet, she then slammed her staff right on his head, knocking him out!

"That's all of them…"

She felt her eyes widen. "The bombs–!"

"Taken care of." Turning around she saw Gwen, lifting her hand and gesturing to the explosives sealed inside her bubbles.

Silently they all went off consecutively, but also contained safe and sound. The two girls they just saved, stood up.

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome–" Yaoyorozu answered.

"Are you a new hero?" The tanuki-girl spoke with stars in her eyes.

Yaomomo felt taken aback.

The fox-girl spoke nonchalantly. "She must be obviously. It's not like Shirou is the only hero around here."

"I know! But the way you beat them down with the staff, it was so cool!"

"No, we…" Yaomomo stumbled, unsure on how to handle the attention. "Um… Thanks for the enthusiasm, however I need you to get indoors… a-and away from windows."

"We're just not sure if this is over yet." Lucky Girl assisted.

The two girls seemed convinced.

"We will!" The tanuki girl said. "Come on, Nazuna!"

The two ran into the store inside. Yaoyorozu looked around, feeling her nerves settle. Benches and trash cans were knocked over, some small fires had broken out due to the blaster bolts, but all the knights were on the ground.

"Was that all?"

"In this direction, yes." Gwen responded. "The rest are scattered behind us but…"

Putting one hand on her head, she tried to sense them, but it seemed to only make her head hurt worse.

"Uh, they are just warping in, setting up bombs, and warping out of locations. It's a headache to try keeping up."

Her eyes opened up.

"For now, we should focus on getting to Kevin." Pink platforms manifested under her feet. "Willful destruction isn't exactly the knights' calling card. Something must have happened."

"I see." Yaoyorozu responded, nodding. However, it was as if she were forcing herself to move away.

"If we manage to stop them, these terrorist acts should cease…" the words dropped out of her mouth.

Gwen tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

"I just…" Yaomomo cut herself off, looking at the streets again. "I don't think it's right for us to leave people to fend for themselves. Against a threat such as the knights they must be requiring our help."

"There are police and pro-heroes for that. We have to let them handle it…" Gwen responded, as a lightbulb went off in her head. Yaoyorozu could see it too.

"This is a distraction." she said. "If Ingenium was also on the case, then he would have many sidekicks, and officers to help them… With these explosions, they are sure to be delayed."

The coin had dropped in Yaomomo's head too, but she just couldn't help herself being hesitant.

Gwen saw that, and sighed. If they could do both, she would want to help the people, no question. But they had to be smart. She took out her spellbook.

"We should go." She put both feet on the platform. "I have this spell that I could–"

Momo caught onto her pause, as a pink disk appeared in her hand. She looked behind her shoulder, seeing a knight with the infinity symbol reach for his own wrist!

A ninja star manifested from her wrist too, but the knight was faster! He hit the button on his armor, and all the knights faded away.

"They got away." she could say.

"A teleport beam?" Gwen said. "That's new–"

Another explosion went off. It reflected from Momo's eyes.

"That came from a farmer's market…" Yaoyorozu uttered.

"We need to go." Gwen stated, however Momo didn't move.

The location felt familiar to her.

"One of our offices had opened in that neighborhood." Yaomomo let her head fall to her hand. "My father said it was to take the pulse of the heteromorph com…"

Her eyebrows went up.

"Could these be deliberate targets?"

Her mind went back to the two girls they rescued.

"Kevin and Ingenium aren't heteromorphs. What if this is a separate operation?"

Without even looking at it a grappling hook manifested from her wrist, resulting in it stinging.

"I still have many reserves." She pulled her right sleeve back down and pulled up her left one. "If Ms. Gwen were to go, I should be able to at least–"

"Yaomomo!"

Gwen's call cut right through it.

"Sorry." She said, and lended her hand down to Momo as she stood on one of her pink platforms. "You ready?"

"But we..." Momo could say… before cutting off her own retort. She clenched her fists, and Gwen could very well see it.

"Understood."


Kevin, with his arms crossed into an x, skidded back.

"Huff… Puff…" he breathed out, as his metal arms almost fell to his sides.

With the wind starting to come through the alleyway, letting his scarf wave… the Forever Ninja rushed–

"HIIIIYAH!" Ingenium came out from Kevin's back, with blue fire bursting from his elbows!

Forever Ninja dropped onto his back, dodging his kick. Before the hero could regain his footing, it then pushed itself up from the ground and countered with a double rising kick!

Ingenium flew back with the impact, only for Kevin to jump and catch him.

Enoch, with his hands assembled behind his back, leaned towards Winston.

"How is it doing?"

Winston's look at the touchscreen was very scrambled. He seemed… rather out of touch, with one hand always going to fix his hair and his expression always stupefied.

"I… I think it's going well, sire." he answered. "Power output is only at 40%. All weapon systems are fully operational."

"How about the data inflow?"

"Several patterns have already been identified." Winston tapped the tablet. "That should smooth the energy usage even further… and I think it is directing the rest of it to our servers."

Winston turned the tablet to Enoch. The golden masked knight nodded.

"Good." He said, as he watched the battle himself. "That should serve the analysts well in the next tune up."

Kevin, despite the cracks in his armor, continued to close the distance. With his boxer style, he continued to swing his arms. His whole body seemed to flow with the attacks he threw out, stretching and balancing him around to carry the weight of whatever he used to strike with.

The Forever Ninja blocked an elbow, only to get hit by two kicks back to back!

"He's giving the inspiration that he's a hand-to-hand battler… but knows how to utilize every inch of his body properly." Enoch crossed his arms. "Prison seems to have served him well."

The ninja quickly got his balance back. Kevin, seeing an opening, tried to , it was prepared. Flexing its open hands, the ninja manifested yellow ninja stars–!

…Only for Ingenium to blaze forth and knock them out of his hands with a rising knee.

"The hero's life has kept him in shape."

The engines of Ingenium sputtered. "Huh–?!"

And that proved to be the ninja's chance to land a chop to the side of his chest. Ingenium fell to the ground once again.

"However, without the challenge of this life, flashiness has become his template. His actions… They resemble commercials of action figures. Flashy and boasting, however also static and wasteful."

His engines tried to roar again from the ground, only for the ninja to step on his ankle.

"Ah!" The blue fire on his elbows went out like a candle.

Enoch shook his head. "A pathetic message-bearer. That's what's become of him–"

Ingenium, refusing to stop, reached for his back. He pulled out a green suitcase which formed into a rifle as he completed his motion.

*Pew!*

It hit the ninja's visor, cracking half of it!

Enoch tilted his head. "Although...safe for his heart, it seems."

"Hey, tin can!"

As the ninja held his face, Kevin came from his blindspot and smacked him away.

Forever Ninja flew back, he tossed his plasma blade forward midair, hitting Kevin's shoulder!

"Ah!.." Kevin felt a surge of yellow energy tensing his body. " A restraining feedback?!"

However, it was only momentary. Just as quickly, his muscles obeyed him again.

Winston looked at his superior. "The lethal setting remains in reserve."

"Keep it that way." Enoch faintly waved his hand, before putting it back on his mask's chin.

"So, you decided to use the rifle!" Kevin remarked as Ingenium got a persistent smirk on his face.

"It was about time!" Ingenium admitted. "Now, get in close!" He laid down some cover fire.

As Ingenium emptied a whole bunch of energy bolts onto the robot, it turned off one side of the blade and started deflecting. It was like a light show and Kevin suddenly took the spotlight, dealing a blow onto the ninja's chest.

The ninja backed away, dodging the next hit, but a blaster bolt hit its shoulder.

"A pro-hero full of vigor… and a transgressor of equal permanence, working together." Enoch thought. "Perhaps they could get in the way of my master's plans."

With the endless barrage of strikes and blasts, they forced the ninja on the back foot.

Kevin then tried to sweep his legs, as Ingenium took aim–!

The ninja pulled out a kunai from its forearm and threw it with an amazing sleight of hand. It hit Ingenium's shoulder piece, making him miss–

"Tense–!"

Then grabbing Kevin by the collar, the ninja headbutted him, before kicking him back.

Both heroes panted with exhaustion. The ninja took position again. Ingenium pulled out the kunai.

"You better take five." Kevin said.

"No…" Ingenium could say, before coughing. "I got a little more–"

"... time before kicking the bucket?" Kevin took the lead between them. "Yeah, kinda my point."

Despite his spirit, Tensei was starting to shake, his left foot also making a red trail behind him… the one that just had a knife stuck into it…

"I got you into this." Ingenium said.

"Yeah." Kevin felt his anger spike. "And it became my job to get you out, so let me do it!"

From his feet, a stone armor conjured upwards to replace his cracked metal one.

"Come on, you overgrown roomba. Here I am!"

Enoch wasn't even faintly amused. Ingenium opened his mouth–

A small pellet fell in front of them, and suddenly the passageway overflowed with purple smoke!

The knights around the two heroes scrambled.

*Cough! Cough!*

"Knights! Stay sharp!"

*Cough Cough!*

Kevin's anger got replaced by a smile.

"What is going on, sire!" Winston had dropped the tablet, hiding behind Enoch.

The golden masked knight simply looked up.

Two girls, dressed in black and purple suits, dropped down from the sky. Stain narrowed his eyes. "More children…"

"The transgressor's cavalry no doubt." Enoch stated. "Later than expected, however inconsequentially so."

Pink disks manifested on the cheshire one's hands, as the other took out the staff from the sheathe on her back.

"What are you waiting for?!" One of the knights with an infinity symbol stepped forward, one hand raised. "OPEN FIRE!"

Instantly taking positions back-to-back, Gwen put up a pink dome around them.

"Creati, Ninjutsu door opening up in five…"

"Understood." she raised her staff.

As the knights let the lasers bombard, Gwen opened a hole from the top, letting Yaomomo leap up and then drop into their lines!

Ingenium was still lost on what's happening. "What in the–"

Kevin came right back and knocked out two knights behind them!

"Not the time to gawk, Tensei!" He said. "Help the girl!"

"R-Right!" Ingenium ran after Momo, despite the blood.

Kevin smirked, as he took his place next to Gwen, who had just dropped the dome.

"So, you really came." Kevin remarked, blocking one knight's sword, and pummeling them back.

Gwen made a shield and launched three blasts through it.

"Well… it sounded like you needed it." She said and gestured around them. Considering the fine mess."

"Yeah, I agree, it could definitely use a lady's touch. "Kevin grabbed one knight in the head, and kneed him in the face! "Speaking of messes, where's your cousin?"

Gwen opened her mouth–

"In the festival, I presume."

All of a sudden, the knights stopped attacking… Enoch approached before them.

"Gwen Tennyson, registrant to the arcane arts." He said. "How courteous for you to come and help your old adversary today."

"Enoch…" She said in recognition.

"Yep, someone really dug him up from that sleeping machine." Kevin muttered. "Pretty desperate move."

Gwen looked at him questioningly, as did Enoch.

"What?" Kevin raised his shoulders. "I know people."

Gwen didn't question it.

"In either case…" She turned to Enoch, with hands glowing pink. "I don't know what brought you back. But this will end."

Kevin palmed his fist.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." He said, before running ahead.

However, yellow shurikens rained down to the path between them!

"Ah, tsk tsk tsk." Enoch said. "Unfortunately, I can't be an opponent to the two of you today."

Kevin stepped in front of Gwen.

"Yeah? Why, 'cause you want to fuel the learning algorithm a little longer?"

Enoch's empty eyes… fell down onto Kevin.

"I figured it out, smart guy." Kevin gestured to the ninja. "You had this one fighting two-against-one with us so it could adapt to us."

Enoch's response was still a composed one.

"Well done, Kevin Levin." He remarked. "However, your knowledge in the situation hardly matters."

"Up until Ingenium took out that gun, it didn't." Kevin came with the snarky remark; however it was ineffective against Enoch.

Seeing that he couldn't get a rise out of him, Kevin felt unnerved. Crouching down to one of the unconscious knights near the bottom of his feet, he absorbed their armor's metal.

"Anyway bozo, what matters is that my partner was hurt before but now…" Kevin said, gesturing to Gwen on his side, raising her glowing hands. "She isn't. And it's definitely not a match for us both."

The ninja lit up both sides of its plasma blade. Enoch brought his hands forward and crossed them on his torso.

"You are mistaken." he remarked.

The ninja then, without warning, froze before them.

Mechanically, with glowing red tech lines emerging, its arms opened to their sides. It's once a dual-sided blade split into two… and both arms followed suit. Starting from the shoulders down to the middle finger, his arms split from the middle, giving him four arms!

"The warrior is at 100% power, sire. Lethal settings engaged!" Winston called out.

"Very well, squire." Enoch said delightfully, before gesturing to the ninja. "Please you two, now if you demonstrate for me the validity of your words."

Automatically two hands grabbed the yellow blades… as his other two arms grabbed the katanas from his back.

Gwen annoyedly side-eyed Kevin.

"Yeah, I know." Kevin said, putting up his fists again. "I'm dumb."

With the plasma blades kept at his sides, the ninja used his upper arms to spin the katanas like a helicopter!


Yaoyorozu dove into the crowd of knights.

"Stop her!" One of them gave the order, but she tried to be nimble.

Throwing her grappling hook to a roof, she got some air.

"Don't fight fair, Momo. Fight to win!"

She swung around and came down on one with a dive kick!

Jumping up, Momo then got behind one of the knights. Putting the staff back on her back, she grabbed him from under the arms…

"Don't shoot!" He cried out.

Right in that second, more smoke pellets manifested in her hand. Opening her fist, she let the pellets go, and then the knight in order to vanish into the smoke.

"Because of the suit, I can't make titanium shields."

Crouching next to the big green trash can, she bid for her chance.

"So, it is time to resort to other methods."

Making sure they lost her, she got back up, making more pellets–

"There!" One knight called out.

The knights fired, and she threw the pellets. Instead of purple smoke however, they burst forth with a violent detonation!

"What the!.."

Momo tried disappearing into the smoke again, only to swiftly appear before them.

"Remember the techniques!"

She pole-vaulted towards them. Hitting one with a flying kick, only to rise and hit another with a roundhouse kick. Then raising her staff, she spun it and hit one other right in the torso, knocking away their sword!

She looked around. As the smoke unraveled, all that was around him were beaten bodies.

"Phew…" She relaxed–!

A green blaster bolt zipped by her face, hitting a knight behind her.

"Ahhh!"

Momo instantly put up her guard.

"On-the-field lesson one!" She heard a distinct voice. "Always have someone watching your back!"

Momo turned around… and saw the injured Ingenium.

"Now, need a hand?" He asked, almost laughing.

Momo wasn't amused though. She thought about the lesson, putting one hand on her chin…

"Yes–?!"

Before she could properly answer, more knights engaged. Ingenium, kept trying his engines but they continued to sputter–

"Come on!- Ah, fine!" He turned his attention to the rifle instead, blasting knights down.

Momo remained as Ingenium's diversion. She threw herself onto one of the knights, quickly busting one of his kneecaps, kicking him in the face, and then sending him packing with a back kick, all the while making herself turn to other opponents.

"All in one…" Ingenium thought, his eyebrows raised. A smirk ran through his face, this teen was wicked–

Just then, his thoughts stopped dead in their tracks.

Using her hand, she parried the sword of another knight. They tried to strike again, but she blocked them using the staff. As soon as they pulled back, Momo went for a poke, stabbing and shattering the helmet all in one blow.

The air suddenly felt ten times heavier.

He could see her fight with impressive agility for her age, never taking a second to stop to rest, always straining herself… all with a burdened conviction on her face.

As the noise of combat fell on deaf ears, Ingenium cut through it with a muttering under his breath.

"Helen…"

As more knights came through, Momo retreated back.

Making more explosive pellets, she knocked down another wave of the knights and it managed to provide some breathing room.

"Creati, was it?" Ingenium asked, and Momo answered.

"Yes, sir… Ingenium."

Her answer was swift, and nervous, as made explicit by her fib. Honestly, even despite all the things she came to hear about, being in the presence of a real pro-hero on the field made her waver. Not to mention, he was a real plumber.

"I have to say… It's an honor to be fighting alongside you today."

She respectfully bowed her head. Ingenium seemed to appreciate it but was also remaining humble with ease.

"Same here." he said. "Though… I really would wish it were under better circumstances."

Momo tilted her head.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I, uhh…" Ingenium put down the rifle, and leaned on it like a cane. Momo could feel the apprehension intensify. "I-I just wanted to say, it's rare for me to meet famous people outside the hero sphere."

Momo narrowed her brows. "Outside the hero sphere?" She echoed… only for the coin to drop!

One hand went up to her hachimaki to check–

"Magister Labrid informed me, don't worry." Ingenium responded, raising a hand. "Other than Gwen, I heard there is supposed to be only one other girl in the team."

Momo hissed in embarrassment.

"I…" she lowered her gaze, trying to not face him even with her mask on. "I apologize. Tennyson himself wanted to show up, however–"

Ingenium held up his hand.

"That's alright. I get why he's unavailable." He shrugged. "My brother is too, as you know."

Momo felt like slapping herself on the forehead. Of course, he would know of the Sports Festival!

The pro-hero then cleared his throat and stood up straight. "I understand you're filling in for him. And you're doing great, from what I can tell."

He gestured to the beaten and battered knights around them. Momo did the same–

"Not even a scratch." She saw him point to her suit.

Momo looked again and… didn't even blush.

"I appreciate the compliment." she said.

Ingenium instantly noticed the muted reaction and tilted his head.

"It's in my best interest to at least attempt…" She said, slowly opening her arms, only for them to assemble back, clutching onto the staff. "...Even if the outcomes are only a fraction."

Ingenium… could see the adrenaline of battle fade from her body as she spoke. He extended his hand. "Ya–"

"ENOUGH!"

One knight pulled himself up, also possessing the infinity symbol on his shoulder. Momo instantly got back into combat stance, holding her staff with both hands.

"Must be a ranking indication."

From his cracked helmet, the knight looked livid. "I've had it… WITH YOU PEOPLE GETTING IN THE WAY OF MASTER ENOCH!"

Ingenium took aim. Momo started spinning her staff, taking position in front of him. It allowed him to see the forced tense state of hers, and… it did nothing short of paining him.

"DON'T EXPECT TO COME OUT OF THIS ALIVE!"


Enoch saw it all.

As his robot and men poured their hearts over his commands, he intently watched everything from the sidelines, not involved, arms crossed.

There was neither sighing nor shaking and puffing however, but only a slight hum that would slip out between his lips, muffled by the mask and kept to himself.

One hand of his raised to his chin, only to form into a fist.

If Stain learned anything from him, other than the fact that he and those who he commanded were an odd bunch, was that there was power but an irritating minimalism to his movements.

And like that wasn't enough, the child next to him was the complete opposite. With his shaky stature, his pensive and stressed nature was painfully evident, holding no power of his own. Even if he were to stand up straight for a change, beating him would be no different to breaking a toothpick, not that Stain would do it without reason.

No, the only thing that made him useful was the tablet he had buried himself in…

… or at least the tablet he was supposed to have his head buried in. Stain could see him throwing glances towards the actions for the child with a cat mask. The interest in the boy's eyes towards the pink energy attacks seemed unparalleled, and yet his superior was seemingly okay with not reprimanding him.

"O-Oh, sorry sir, umm…"

The child had looked back into his tablet, as his eyes briefly crossed the black slits that passed as Enoch's eyes.

"The ninja can fight at full power as long as there is energy in his power cell, sir. No need to worry." he said.

The mannerism of Enoch didn't change.

"And how much power does he have left?" He asked.

Winston scrambled to check. "82 percent..." he hesitantly replied–

"Very well." Enoch's response was once again brief, collected. "Prepare to withdraw our forces as well as our associate."

His orders elicited a very brief pause from Stain. Those words, they were so calmly stated!.. Retreat, right now?!

And the child was seemingly comfortable with going along with it.

"Very good, Sir." he stated–

"Is that it then?"

Instantly Winston felt his superior's gaze shift as his head also slightly turned to the left, at the killer. The cold, calculating atmosphere got replaced by one of burning, confused bloodlust.

You lot come to interrupt my work only to retreat… at the cusp of total victory." The killer said. "And now you dare presume my allegiance?"

Winston felt a smile creep up his face, as he saw Stain engage with his superior again, so he instantly put a hand over his mouth.

Thankfully Stain's attention wasn't on him.

"Our enemies are the same." Enoch stated, channeling a peculiar obliviousness… that Stain hadn't seen before. "I don't see a reason for presuming bad blood amongst us."

Hearing it immediately pissed him off.

"Your organization is one of apathetic, surgical operations… sloppy ones at that." Stain countered.

However, the air around Enoch didn't change, still showing no indication that he understood.

The killer's blood red eyes made contact with Enoch's infinitely black eye-holes.

"Even if our enemies are the same, what I don't see is an actual benefit for us to see each other at all."

"You would never know. Your conviction is a powerful motivator–"

Keeping the eye contact, Stain's bloodlust suddenly flared.

"Don't test me with these lies!" He reached for his sword. "I am well aware you couldn't care less about *my* mission!"

"And that's a problem… however it's not one you have strictly with us, isn't it?" Enoch retorted, once again quick, but also condescending. He broke off the eye-contact, turning to watch the unfolding battle, each of the heroes fighting with utmost determination alongside a pro-hero.

"People just don't care. They enjoy pretending that they aren't drowning in a very living infestation, don't they?"

He assembled his hands… and feeling a hint of his cold, dead, calculated expression once more from behind that mask, Stain followed his drifting gaze.

"They don't know it's what influencers rely upon."

The killer saw the injured Ingenium chatting with the black-dressed teenage girl as they fought. Focusing his senses, he could listen in, and Enoch could see his souring expression.

Holding onto his delight at his leisure, Enoch declared.

"Even in their lowest moments, there is no telling what act they'd pull, all for the sake of just a little… more."

Stain moved towards them, eyes locking on as if he were a weapon and someone had pulled on his trigger. He drew his katana…

Winston quietly approached next to his superior.

"You did it, sir." He said with the lowest, but still audible voice he could channel.

Enoch took a deep breath, as his usual suave pattern of behavior returned. The cold calculated aura manifested around him again.

"It's an unfortunate loss." he stated. "However, given the limited options… incurring a retaliation from the legendary Ben Tennyson is unacceptable."

"When all is said and done, the Hero Killer will be subject to the witch hunt…" his squire stated under his breath, a cold sweat still appearing over his brow.

Enoch assembled his hands behind his back.

"And we will have facilitated the conditions to let it transpire as so."

Winston looked back at the battlefield. All he saw now was a ninja, keeping Gwen Tennyson and Kevin Levin busy, while a number of soldiers bogged down the girl in the ninja suit, and further weakened Ingenium. "But the league…"

"...will not be able to add him to their ranks." Enoch answered for him. "His character wouldn't allow him to do so."

His superior tilted his neck slowly and forcefully, cracking it.

"The result will be to the benefit of both parties, only for the moment." he said, as Winston felt a silent fury burn. "My liege's reckoning will be absolute."


Just then Gwen blocked one of the plasma blades!

"Hey, look!" Kevin gestured over to Tensei and Yaoyorozu. "Look at how they're getting along."

"That's great. Hmph..!" She grunted. "Not the time though!"

Three more descended one after the other, but Gwen put up a shield for them too.

The blades hissed loudly. Gwen strained her hands, trying to pour more power, but the shields shattered! Gwen put up another, but the same thing happened. The ninja struggled, only to cut right through.

"Hey, terminator." Kevin held it by the shoulder, turning him around. "...Step off!"

He landed a fierce uppercut. The robot's head went all the way back!

The ex-con laughed. Besides his knuckles hurting like hell at this point, seeing even more electricity come out of that broken visor was quite the…

Like it was on the press of a button, the bot's head came back down. It raised his swords, and Kevin raised his arms–!

"AH!"

Kevin fell to his knees. The sword had gone through and chipped his forearms. The knight raised all four swords!

Gwen put her hands together, and put the robot's head in a bubble!

It whirred around confusedly, right before targeting Gwen again.

"Ah!.. Hssss." Kevin was left to clutch it, before taking a deep breath to look. It had only cut off his armor and shirt, thankfully not his skin.

"Guess, it's not in the stun setting anymore." He cracked his neck, before recalling the little squire's words. "They seriously took off the gloves."

Putting the blades back, the ninja punched the bubble helmet with its four three-fingered hands. It shattered, and just then Gwen launched an energy tendril, trying to snatch one of the plasma blades–

The robot saw it coming. It grabbed the energy tendril, and using the katanas, slashed it in half!

Gwen reeled back. She tried making steps to attack from above, but the ninja jumped to her level and kicked her down.

The robot then stabbed the steps… letting itself fall to even ground, as the shattered pieces fell down like glass behind him, before vanishing.

Gwen jumped back, making pink disks to fire. The ninja followed.

Before she could shoot, it got in her face, bringing its spinning arms closer–!

Gwen crossed her arms, trapping herself in a bubble.

The ninja pressed itself against it.

"It's futile to resist." Enoch said. "Face it, Gwen Tennyson, this fight is a foregone conclusion."

"Yeah?" She called out with alarm in her voice, behind her pink shield. "Well, sorry if I drag out the ending! Kevin!"

"On it!" Kevin took a deep breath, refreshing the armor, before stomping the ground!

The robot jumped to the wall in response. It allowed Gwen to drop the shield and take a breath.

However from there, with the swords stuck into the wall and all six limbs unraveled, it looked like a spider.

"Ew…" Gwen said, before starting to fire upon it.

With slight clinking from each limb, it continued to avoid her…

"Let me." Kevin got in between them, with one of the large green dumpsters raised with both hands!

He jumped into the air, shifted to hold it from the side, and threw it with all his might!

And the dumpster hit the ninja dead on, sticking right through the wall!-

As he landed, Gwen tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey." Kevin said.

"That was a careless move." She said, with very obvious concern. "What if there was someone inside?"

"There wasn't." Kevin shrugged, brushing it off with his usual prideful expression. "And besides, I think we've got bigger problems."

The hissing sound came back to her ear. She looked up.

"What do we do?" She asked.

Kevin scratched his hair, humming. "I've got no clue. Like I said, the tin can has a learning algorithm."

"And that does…?" Gwen asked. "So, we can't use the same move twice?"

Kevin shook his head. "Probably that's not it… if so, it must have a way bigger memory than anything else I saw from the knights, but probably not."

Gwen looked up at the dumpster again. It was starting to be shimmed from its spot.

Kevin opened his hand. "What it's probably doing is identifying our patterns during combat, figuring out what we do the most, and trying to find a counter to only those moves."

He groaned, also sneaking a look at the side too, shaking his head. "So, if we're gonna take it down, we need to overwhelm its processor. Do a lot of moves we haven't done before, the more unpredictable the better, but where do we get that?.."

A light bulb went off in Gwen's head. "I think– I think I got it!"

He watched her pull out a small purple book. She opened a page, letting it float in a pink orb. "You want them in order or mixed?"

"What's that?" Kevin asked.

"A bunch of spells." Gwen nervously answered, speaking fast. "Spells I never really got to perform… or really don't know what they do, exactly. But my magic still never did work well with tech."

Kevin scowled. "Now that doesn't–"

*BOOM!*

The robot bursted out! With all blades at hand, it landed in front of them.

"Caution to the wind then. Play 'em, Gwen!" Kevin said, and got behind the redhead, while the robot looked on peculiarly, tilting its head like an animal… before running at them, blades spinning!

Gwen held out one hand, as the book floated up to her. She squinted.

"Abducere…" She drew a pink circle mid-air. "...Omnia!"

She waved her hand behind it, and a blast launched forth! The robot couldn't dodge it. When it hit, it split the robot into 5 different layers, all lined up behind it!

"Holy…" Kevin murmured.

The first layer was the armor, the second were the inner metal parts like joints and skeletal structure, the third were the wiring–

Enoch looked on with dissatisfaction at Winston. The brown-haired kid was left to scramble with the tablet.

In the midst of it though, Kevin's eyebrows went up. A smile crawled up onto his face.

"Oh, but where are my manners?"

He put a hand on the first layer, the robot's outer plating.

"While she's doing her thing, I can't let her be the one to have all the fun."

The crimson red metal started crawling up his body, replacing the stone. "Nice armor." He remarked.

Winston pressed another button. "Aaaand… It's magnetized sir!"

All of a sudden, with the pink glow being overcome by a yellow one, all the parts merged back together–

Kevin slammed it in the torso. Forever Ninja moved to retaliate with the swords!

However… they didn't go through.

The robot was caught off guard, whereas Kevin grinned.

"What's wrong? Can't cut your armor?!"

He gave it a left uppercut! Gwen opened up another page.

"Oh, this one…" She extended her hand. "Reanima Verdanica!"

The robot went static again, as flowers grew from its inside. Kevin took the chance to land a right roundhouse, letting some of the petals wave in the air.

The visor turned red again, and Gwen opened up a new page–!

"Umm, uh… Statere Amittere… In Sinistram!"

Before it could strike, as it ran, the left leg of the robot gave out, making it stumble.

It could hardly stay on its feet. The bot kept stumbling in place on its own like a drunk person. Kevin then helped him out of course… by sweeping its legs, and slamming both hands onto it as it was on the ground!

Gwen smirked. It was working. Blindly casting spells were working!

She excitedly turned another page.

"Now what's…" She just read it outloud, turning to the ninja and Kevin, currently on top of him. "Transfera Identica!"


"Creati! Wait up!" Ingenium tried to follow her. However Momo was fighting beyond intently now.

She jumped into the midst of Forever Knights, hitting one with the back of the staff before kicking the gun out of one soldier's hands!

Turning around, while also spinning the staff, she slammed it to another knight's head. Jumping up, she then kneed another in the chin.

"No." she said in her head. "I can't."

Landing down, strands of hair also flowed down and further obstructed her face to the enemy.

"That's eighteen down… between myself and Ingenium." She breathed heavily.

Ever since she had teleported, it has been endless running, jumping and combat. And her stomach was starting to hurt.

"Die, alien conspirator!"

Another knight then approached her, who seemed to be female by her figure and voice, along with three others by her side. She drew her gun–

A blast hit her squarely in the chest.

"Alien conspirator, really?" Ingenium asked. "Sounds to me like you're running low on insults!"

He took aim again, and pulled the trigger, only for it to click but not fire.

"Jammed?!"

"Sounds to me it's you who's running low!-"

The other three drew their guns, but Momo rallied first, kicking one in the face, as her staff clashed with the sword of another.

As their metal grinded against each other, she grabbed the staff with both hands. However, the knights didn't fancy a fair fight. Yet another one, finding himself at such close range, drew his sword.

From her side eye, Momo saw him raising his sword. Quickly changing her stance, she managed to block both swords at the same time!

However, the force made her fall on one knee.

The first knight instantly crouched and swept her leg, making her fully fall down. Her cowl fell back as well, revealing her hair.

"She's strong…" One knight told the other. The other knight, however, spat.

"Desperate more like it." He said, before putting both hands on the hilt. "And history–"

"The only history is that armor!"

Holding the gun by the nozzle, Ingenium swung the rifle as if it were a bat!

One managed to dodge it, while the other couldn't.

Momo grabbed her staff, and tried to trip him, but he jumped.

"I can hear you!"

Ingenium gritted his teeth. Blue flames came out of his engines again. "Okay… let's try it one more time!"

The knight threw his sword in the air, but Ingenium zoomed out of the way and jumped!

"There!"

He landed a kick right to his side. The knight crashed onto the wall, knocked out.

Ingenium landed. "Phew…" He put both hands on his knees, and then helped Yaomomo up–

Both fighters looked around and saw the knights gathering.

"They are on their last legs…" The higher-ranking knight pulled himself up from the ground. "Keep throwing everything at them!"

With hands assembled behind his back, Enoch side-eyed the battle, and didn't object.

"I hate it, but he's right." Ingenium said, tasting the iron flavor of blood dropping down from his nose. "Back to back, Creati."

"What?" She asked, panting.

"Just like how some heroes do it." Ingenium replied. "We fight, covering each other's backs."

The two of them walked back and pressed their backs onto one another's. A pro-hero with broken armor, and smoking engines was on one side.

"Come on." Ingenium hit the side of the rifle. "Unjam–"

Green plasma fired onto the ground, and Ingenium felt just a little bit of relief.

And on the other side was a student… with her hair now unleashed, feeling her pupils vanish again behind the purple hachimaki, as she raised the staff.

Her hands ached, and her heart beat as if it was going to jump out of her chest , but she didn't move even an inch.

Her gaze made contact with the high-ranking knights, and from his body language, he seemed actually taken aback by her grit.

"Let's test your mettle then…" He drew his sword. "Full force attack!"

The knights ran ahead at them with their swords, and the brawl started swiftly.

Spinning her staff in defense first, she reflected the initial blows, before going for a poke. Momo tried to avoid any wider swings. She wanted to avoid any movements that would hinder Ingenium.

"Sorry about this Kevin." Ingenium thought, as he used the rifle as a sword, before headbutting a knight's helmet and smacking him with the gun.

"Ah…" He reeled back, blood coming out from his forehead.

Right at that moment, Momo kicked another from their side, poking their calf and landing a chop on their side. She stepped forward a little bit, getting a little distance between her and Ingenium to attempt a swing from the left–

Three swords came towards her at once!

She raised her staff to block, but they instantly pushed her back. Ingenium felt her left foot slipping, and so straightened his back, preventing her from falling down!

Right when he was focused on her, one knight tried to engage him, but his engines revved up.

"Here!" He grabbed his hand with the sword, before hitting him with blue fire coming out of the other elbow. Seeing him back off, he took the sword, and stabbed its hilt to his stomach, making the knight fall down in pain.

"I think you lost this." Ingenium then dropped the sword next to him.

"Open fire!" The high-ranking knight commanded.

Instantly pellets manifested in Momo's hands, and she knocked down all three knights with three pellets!

Ingenium then took his own aim and knocked down two with two of his own shots.

But with the third and final one… his gaze grew hazy.

"Come on." His once firm stance faltered again; his ears rang. "Not now–"

Firing the laser lance, the knight hit him in the leg. Ingenium collapsed and yelled in pain!

The knight raised his lancer. Momo, however, instantly turned around, and threw a pellet!

Exploding in his face, the pellet knocked him to the ground.

As the wave seemed to be finished, she put the end of her staff to the ground, leaning on it, before lending down her hand.

"Are you okay, sir?" she asked.

Ingenium got back on his feet, putting a hand on it.

"Yeah, just a flesh wound," he said. Honestly, his own suit's armor probably blocked it, but the heat itself probably just burned something.

But, hearing Yaoyorozu's tone, he felt as though that wasn't quite important right now.

"Creati." A sympathetic tone came from Ingenium. "Is something bothering you?"

Momo side-eyed him, however, then turned back to the battleground. "No, everything is fine."

As she knocked down another knight, her gaze casted down and narrowed.

"No, everything is fine." Her gaze casted down, right as she knocked down another knight.

Ingenium didn't speak. Expression unchanging, his gaze turned back to the front, silently beating on any who tried to approach him, and shooting any who didn't.

"I guess…" Yaoyorozu said, shivering, as her stand-up posture slacked.

Her staff lowered.

"Nevermind." She raised it back up again, but Ingenium felt how spiritless that was. "We should just continue as is."

Unfortunately, the number of knights were starting to dwindle too much for that to happen–!

All of a sudden, Gwen got thrown right in front of them. With an angry scowl, she got back up.

"Are you alright?" Ingenium made sure to ask.

"Yeah, yeah, Tensei."" All of a sudden, Kevin's voice emerged from Gwen's body! "The bastard really just snuck me."

Both of them however were too perplexed.

Kevin looked down.

"Oh yeah." He said. "Tl;dr, one of Gwen's powers."

"It's a spell!" She shouted, as she was trapped in Kevin's body and getting chased around by the Forever Ninja!

"Okay, let me help out!" He said.

"No! Do the spell!" Gwen said, however Kevin shook his head.

"Can't exactly have a body that doesn't have its money maker intact, can I?" He leaped back against the ninja, coming down with a kick. Right as that happened, Gwen took her chance. Running back and still armored up, she raised her leg and landed an ax kick right to the robot's shoulder!

As they fought, Momo caught them performing the spell again, and end up in the right bodies.

She winced, as the intervention made the area around them clear up of opponents.

"Yaoyorozu…" Ingenium said, as if he were whispering. She winced, as her straight as an arrow posture slacked.

"I guess…" she said, mumbling. "I find solace… right now."

Ingenium tilted his head–

"It's been a dream come true for me, to actually help a pro-hero on the field." she said, shaking her head. "And… it just means a lot to be of assistance."

A hand descended upon her shoulder, however it wasn't soft as if he was sad along with her, or heavy, like he was being stern.

He patted her shoulder.

"With an idea like that, I imagine you will be of assistance to a lot of people." he said., as Momo's reluctant gaze hesitantly turned, but still couldn't quite face him.

He kept up a lively cheer in his tone, even if his side and feet were absolutely killing him right now.

"I can't imagine just the kind of agency you'll start." he said, and laughed nervously. "And then… maybe we can do a real team up."

Momo smiled, imagining it for herself. "I feel the same way–"

However, as if it were a mere recording, that brief levity they found got cut short.

A cold, and hateful aura… rapidly approached them like a dark cloud.

Momo felt her goosebumps. Even the knights froze where they stood, not daring to move.

"Fake…" Stain approached them.

Instantly she turned, raising her staff–

A nicked staff cut across her side, cutting right through her suit and skin!

"Ahhh!" Then he spun around. Momo put up her arms, only for a spinning kick to hit her.

It sent her back… making her drop flat on her stomach!

"Stain!" Ingenium shouted. And, the notorious killer stood before him, fuming with deep, hateful eyes.

"Ugh…" Momo tried to pull herself up.

"No, Creati!" She heard Ingenium's voice, as well as the cocking of his rifle. "I'll handle this…"

Stain's eyes narrowed. "Even now, you try to appear powerful. As if you weren't just hiding behind a child."

He had put his dagger back and armed himself with the katana.

The two adversaries looked at each other one more time, Ingenium took his chance for a deep breath while Stain took it to charge in.

Ingenium tried to fire. But Stain was too fast to hit!

Holding it by the nozzle, Ingenium let their weapons fiercely collide.

"Tensei!" Kevin yelled. Seeing the stand off from the corner of his eye, he pushed back the ninja, and tried to run at them.

But, putting away one of its swords, the Forever Ninja grabbed Kevin's face and slammed him into the wall!

"You–!"

Gwen tried to make a shield, but the Forever Ninja tossed one of its swords, almost cutting off her outstretched hand.

Momo tried to rise, but using more force only made her lose more blood, weakening her already depleted stamina.

Having his blade grind on the rifle, Stain started to outright slam it now, with every blow feeling like an avalanche!

"You think you're a hero!?"

The rifle's green paint and then its metal were getting dangerously chipped away.

Ingenium noticed smoke emerging from the rifle, as the killer's hateful glare descended upon him!

"You're nothing–!"

"Ingenium!" Momo managed to throw her staff to him. Tensei barely caught it, switching it out for the remains of his weapon!

"Hah… Hah…" Ingenium breathed panickedly. Stain raised his blade and… only attacked him three more times.

All in the midst of Momo just blinking… The first strike came from above, wide and powerful. Holding it high horizontally, he managed to block it.

Instantly, the second strike came, and to his lower right. Even as seconds felt like moments, Ingenium could only move halfway. The blade skidded through his armor, right before contacting his blade.

Ingenium felt like this was a chance. Stain had pulled away too soon as if their blades bounced off from one another.

His eyes landed on his face, as his heart skipped a beat. "If I hit him n–!"

Stain crouched, and the chest of Ingenium, guarded by only the fractured armor… was left wide open.

"INGENIUM!" A petrifying cry came out of Momo.

With both hands Stain pushed the sword up.

Kevin, Gwen, Winston… Barring Enoch and the ninja, everyone felt as if a shadow passed over them.

Stain, stabbing through Ingenium's gut, made the sword's tip emerge from his back.

"Fame, money… that's what all of you are really after." Stain said, as a copper-like smell filled the air, and a blood curdling aura rose.

Ingenium looked down, and spat blood, strength leaving his fingers first, and then his whole body.

"Poisoning young eager minds, under the guise of agencies and team-ups, to compensate for your own weakness. You bastards won't be heralded as heroes."

Kevin's mouth fell open, as Stain ripped out the sword and Ingenium fell limp on the ground. The killer waved his weapon, letting the blood splatter down. "Not while I'm around."

Fear rang through all of them, but Kevin… He fell onto his knees.

"Tensei?.."

A collected but pleased smile appeared on Enoch's face, behind his fabled mask, and Winston could see it.

"Forever Knights!" He called to his scrambling men. "Time to withdraw."

One after the other, Knights then started to press the button on their gauntlet's one after the other… however Kevin couldn't hear them.

Stain was looking at him. Over his shoulder, Kevin could feel the unhinged satisfaction, and the demonic malefic aura finally tempering after being flared for so long.

"Kevin…" Gwen shouted in desperation; however he could barely hear it. Ingenium was twitching on the ground.

"Run…"

He heard Ingenium faintly say. Seeing the sights, the ponytail had rushed and sat next to him.

"Get… help… Kevin…"

"Kevin!" Gwen shouted, trying to defend against the Forever Ninja. "KEVIN!"


"Kid!"

And the terrain around him morphed.

His hands touched uneven, sturdy rocks as he was on his knees. The walls around them were crumbling, as a weird blue aromatic scent filled the air of the cave…

"Forget about me, kid!"

Kevin raised his head… and saw a giant, gray, muscular bearded man with sideburns, wearing a white tank top and black baggy pants.

"Run!" he commanded.

He… feeling his eyes as wide as a puppy's, slowly he shook his head.

"I can't… Kwarrel."

"Don't argue kid!" Kwarrel started to be pushed back by a man, dressed in armor of color blue.

"Run..!" he said again, losing strength.

Kevin, feeling the lock hanging from his neck and the old breeze creeping up at his sleeveless shirt, got to his feet… only to run ahead.

He closed his eyes, as a blaster got raised.

"Time to finish the job–!"


"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Palms directed towards the sky, Kevin shouted with a bloodcurdling intensity!

Yaoyorozu fell silent, as did Gwen, the knights… and even Stain.

"Y…Yaoyorozu…" Ingenium managed to speak again–

"Right…" She turned her attention to the pro-hero again… who was bleeding out.

"Right,right, right. Alright Momo, think think. Impalement. What's the first aid for treating it?- Don't remove the object. But it's already removed…"

Her hands were shaking, seeing the black fabric soaked with red, she… She was freaking out. First things first, she took off her gloves and started to roll up her sleeves to create.

"OPEN FIRE!" One knight ordered. And as Gwen put up a shield around Yaoyorozu as well as Ingenium's body. Kevin, however, just took the hits, still armored, and ran through!

The knight's eyes went wide as did Stain's.

"BASTARD!"

Without mercy, Kevin cocked back his hand, lunging towards him.

Stain took a stance with his katana, only for Enoch to get in the middle of them!

With a blue plasma blade accompanied by diamond shaped crossguards igniting from his gauntlet, Enoch clashed with Kevin's armored hand.

The sight seemingly unnerved him.

"Go." he said. "Get our associate out of here."

Winston, however, was in awe. Seeing his superior's usual ice cold, disciplined exterior finally move with intent, and clash with Kevin's consumed and crazed stance was nothing short of awe-inspiring to him.

"Get our associate out! Forever Knights!" Enoch's composure gave way; but, Winston felt that the aggression wasn't directed towards him.

Two knights, who seemed to be also intimidated, appeared from behind him.

"Y-Yes, sir!" They said apprehensively in unison.

One then grabbed onto Winston's shoulder, as the other shakily put one on Stain's arm. The killer hissed, however the knight–

Both were suddenly knocked to the ground.

It was Gwen who had shot them. With her eyebrows knitted, She closed her fist… and both hands lit up with pink.

"You aren't going anywhere."

She engaged Stain. The killer reserved himself to only dodge the blows, only for the Forever Ninja to be swift, and interfere.

Winston gave Enoch a thumbs up, and the superior returned the gesture with a nod.

"Excellent work, Squire."

"No!" Gwen shouted, trying to get past the ninja. But it was relentless!

Winston took his chance to press the button on the knights' gauntlets himself, letting them teleport alone.

Enoch nodded satisfiedly. The brunt of his forces had successfully evacuated, only the four of them–

"Hey… Stain!"

And all of a sudden Kevin started to push at him even harder.

"You are going to regret that."

Having his left initially behind his back, Enoch switched his grip to both hands. Kevin started to shake.

"I'll put a hole in your chest… myself!–"

Enoch hit him in the face, parrying him back and dropping him to the ground.

"Do not overestimate yourself, Levin." He put his left hand behind his back, before bringing the blade vertically in front of his own mask and swinging it down, ready for a fight.

However, as Kevin got up from being on the ground stomach-first, he laughed.

"Ha…" The laugh sneaked out from his lips. "Hahahahahahahha…"

Kevin wiped his mouth, as his armor crumbled off his body, falling to the ground.

"His hair is rising up." Yaoyorozu noted, as she sneaked a look from tending to Ingenium. "Almost like Mr. Aizawa."

Enoch hesitantly circled him with the blade pointed down, however… the pristine gauntlet, unused the entire time, started to flicker.

And Kevin looked up to him… as a blue static aura manifested.

"My turn."

Kevin, without his armor, suddenly grabbed the plasma saber!

The blade's plasma suddenly burst forth and flowed into Kevin.

"It's never a good idea for me to get too close…" he said mockingly.

His hair fell back down, however his pupils were still gone, as a static aura emerged around him!

Yaoyorozu gasped. "Did Kevin…"

Did he absorb the gauntlet's… energy?!

"You forgot the meaning of 11 or what, twerp? I got your powers, plus my own!"

The reason eluded her as words from five years ago played in her head.

"Unexpected." Enoch murmured. He reached to his right hand with his left and turned the blade off!

"Huh–!" Kevin's pupils came back, as a shockwave pushed him to the wall.

It was his left gauntlet. He had a concussive blaster built into it.

The blade reignited.

"Sir!" Winston cried out.

"Withdraw the arms, Winston." Enoch said, taking his stance again. "I will provide for the time."

"You will!?" Kevin got back up, smiling. He cracked his neck, as blue static escaped his hands.

"I just wonder if I can get you in with one blast…" It formed into electricity.

Enoch scowled from under the mask, gritting his teeth. The hand behind his back opened, and cracked every finger as it closed back up again.

"LET'S FIND OUT!"

He threw it, and Enoch could barely reflect it.

"His power…" he panted–

Just barely, he dodged an uppercut. "He closed the gap!?"

Kevin, with a deranged look, went after him.

He went for a right hook, and Enoch barely managed to block it, with his left hand behind his back!

However, Kevin didn't let up, hearing Enoch's breathing!

He went for a left roundhouse. Enoch repelled it, this time however holding his right hand with his left.

Leaning back with his punch, Kevin followed with a right uppercut. Enoch made the tip of his blade move, leading the blow away.

He stepped to the right and tried a blow on the left! Enoch, with a burdened sigh, moved his entire hand to parry.

Kevin jumped and tried a superman punch. However, this time… Enoch's movements came alive. He blocked, and instantly pushed an offense!

As if he were fencing, he moved forward, landing blow after blow to Kevin's arms. Minor cuts formed around his arms–

Kevin dropped his guard and rushed to grab Enoch's neck. However, the knight flipped backwards into the air, and got some distance.

Seeing those defensive moves return, after such a lightning-fast offense, it felt irritating, but… it also felt like he had drawn blood, pleasing him.

"You've been holding out on me, old man!"

"Hmm…" Enoch tried changing his stance.

Still holding the blade with one hand, he brought it noticeably back, angling forward in parallel, while bringing the other hand forth from behind his back and held it u–

However, his opponent didn't give him the chance!

As they met again, Kevin's footwork came in, skipping to the right for a punch. But Enoch quickly twirled, blocking with one hand with the sword over his back, only to finish turning and face his opponent again!

His stance had gone back to his previous one.

Kevin tried a right elbow. Enoch countered, and grazed his opponent's arm.

He then attempted a poke followed by a rising slash, Kevin held up his arms and blocked it.

Kevin tried to sweep his legs, but Enoch jumped over it firmly, and got back into form, spinning his arm around carefully.

"You disappoint me!"

Enoch twirled around after another parry, letting his sword come down with a two handed strike!

However, Kevin blocked it with his forearm, and from how it looked, it felt almost as if a feather landed on him.

Letting it brush across his skin that burned only to rapidly heal over, Kevin grabbed him by the throat!

"Game over!"

Enoch tried to raise his left hand for a concussive–

Kevin touched it first, draining it of power. His eyes turned completely blue. "There won't be a second push!"

The blade deactivated, as it also ran out of power. Kevin's expression only became wilder because of that.

"WE HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS!" Kevin's voice roared, reverberating in the alleyway!

Enoch reached for Kevin's grip, trying to pull himself out of it, and… breathe!

"Wha… What is he doing?!" Yaoyorozu got up with her staff in hand, but just then one of the gauzes she applied gave way. Momo had to crouch right back.

Gwen, with her shields coming out of her hands like lunch trays, found herself still busy with the ninja!

"Sir!" Winston got to his feet… as Stain watched peculiarly. Kevin's blue, glowing eyes turned to him.

"Finally." he threw the limp body of the superior to the ground.

Stain drew his daggers, electricity enveloped Kevin's hands.

"I'm going to make you pay in blood!"

"Let's see it, child." Stain spoke. "What conviction lies beneath your brutality… and quips!?"

A red glare appeared in his eyes, as Kevin rushed forward with his blue glare–

"Another time perhaps."

Both fighters paused, as following the voice, a black and purple portal opened between them!

"Please remain calm, we are of the same mind." said the rippling void, as two yellow eyes manifested. "Hence our associates are here."

"You're…" Yaomomo gasped, instinctively putting a hand on her mouth. "You're from the USJ."

"Humor us. I believe you will be interested in what we have to offer."

Stain's eyes narrowed, as they were now off Kevin.

"No! You won't get away–!" Kevin fired a beam, however Kurogiri teleported it back to Momo.

Gwen gasped, as she stretched out her hands and made a shield over them!

"Don't worry, Creati. I got you."

"Dammit!" Kevin said.

Kurogiri's yellow eyes went down to Stain. "We need to leave."

The killer looked on skeptically, however… seeing the so-called pro-hero lying bleeding on the ground, he decided to nod.

"Warrior!" Winston yelled. The Forever Ninja leaped back with a backward flip and helped up Enoch.

Kevin took aim again, however the electricity faded from his body. Black marks appeared under his eyes.

"No!" he yelled, as the blue aura started to leave his body, leaving… him… drained…

"Ugh…" Kevin fell on one knee.

"Like the mist said."

A remark came from Stain. Kevin raised his head. From in front of the portal, and as the knights brushed past him, the killer chose to look back, with an expression that seemed solemn.

"Perhaps another time."

Kevin's eyes glowed blue one more time. "No!" As Stain turned away and got inside, he waved his hand, but nothing came out! "What's going on!?"

The blue glow disappeared from his eyes. Kevin looked at his hand, and unfortunately saw the electricity dispersing.

"No…" He closed his fist. "Fresh out of power."

The sirens of an ambulance and multiple police cars could be heard incoming as the last villains left the scene.

"Ingenium!" His eyebrows went up. Without wasting a second, he ran back and crouched next to the girls.

"Kevin…" Gwen said, sitting on her knees and looking at the black markings around his eyes. "You absorbed–"

"Not the time." he sternly remarked and sat down. "How is he doing, doc? Give me some good news."

"He's alive." Yaomomo could say fearfully, as her hands continued to press on his chest. Kevin looked as well.

The ninja girl had taken off her bloodied armor, ripped open the skin tight suit under it, and covered the whole area with bandages.

"I've managed to seal the blood flow, however…"

Her head flinched. She gestured with her eyes.

"Continue applying pressure here, but gently."

As she lifted her hands, Gwen reached but Kevin overtook her. He put a hand over it, and lightly pressed down. "What's going on?"

Yaomomo put the back of her hand on his forehead.

"He's cold." She put her ear next to Ingenium's mouth, hearing the irregular breathing. After that, she put two fingers on his neck. The dread in her tone intensified.

"He's going into shock."

Kevin raised his head, and… Gwen could see him. It seemed as though a stone dropped in his stomach.

"Eyes on me." Kevin said, faintly getting the dazed man to move his pupils. "Like that Tensei, yep, eyes on me."

"I thought you sealed his wound." Gwen said.

"I did the impalement but…" Yaoyorozu stammered. "He… must have more in this case. He's losing blood."

"Check his arms." Kevin commanded, keeping up eye-contact with the groaning and pained Ingenium. "That's the bastard's style. And when I found him, he was definitely impaled on the right foot."

Gwen nodded and removed the armor. Sure enough, he was bleeding from there.

"Yaoyorozu." She said, and instantly another pack of gauzes manifested.

"Apply them wherever you can, try to keep both feet elevated. Kevin, keep talking to him."

Kevin sneaked a look at the girls at work, before shifting his gaze back onto the hero. "Already on it." Ingenium's eyes were starting to drift off again.

"Tensei, what did I say, come on." His tone, as much as he just wanted to cuss and order him around, got soft. "Think of your brother Tensei."

Ingenium's eyes got back to him. "K… Ke…"

"Yep Tensei, eyes on me or… I swear I'll tell your brother."

Ingenium drifted in and out.

"Don't make me tell on you." Kevin said. "I…"

Gwen picked up on what he said–

"Hello?! Ingenium?!" A male voice spoke at the entrance of the alleyway.

All three teens perked up. The help was finally here, and from the sounds of it, they already had a stretcher out. Kevin, all of a sudden, felt a hand… wrapped around his wrist.

He looked down. Ingenium had raised his hand and grabbed onto Kevin's arm.

"G… Get…"

"No, no." Kevin shook his head. "Save your strength, Tensei. Just–"

Ingenium's eye contact threw him off. Barely moving his head, he got his blue hopeful eyes to glimmer under the light.

The ex-con winced. And taking a deep breath, biting his tongue, he turned to Gwen and Yaoyorozu.

"Gwen. Ponytail girl." he opened his mouth. "Thanks for the assist, but this is your cue."

Both girls looked at him.

"No, Kevin, let us help–"

"Time's up, Gwen." He countered instantly. "Remember you can't be seen out here. If the police see you… it's just gonna make it more complicated and…"

Gwen could see his eyes drifting to Ingenium.

"It will be more difficult for him to get help."

She lowered her hand, clenching her fists.

"The medical professionals are here." Yaoyorozu spoke, with her breath and hands starting to tremble.

She closed them as well, pressing them to her knees. "There is no question they can treat him better than me."

"They'll get him stabilized." Kevin corrected her, really enunciating the last part. "This primitive… fucking Earth tech."

Gwen could see his desperation.

"Then I'm also staying."

"Who's gonna get her home then?!" Kevin snapped, not taking his hand off Ingenium's chest. The black lines under his eyes really became evident.

He closed his eyes in regret, breathing through his teeth.

"I'll… I'll be fine." Kevin said, as he reached into his backpocket. "As you know, I picked up a couple of things about talking myself out of bad situations."

He took out an ID Mask.

"Go back to the stadium. Tell Tennyson, that green mop head, do what you have to do." he said. "I'll make sure Stain doesn't finish his job."

Gwen reluctantly got up, and as her eyes checked her work once again, Yaoyorozu followed.

She took out the book, and flipped to the page–

"I'm dropping her off!.."

Kevin looked at Gwen over his shoulder.

"...Then I'm coming back."

He shook his head, looking up, scoffing. His eyes went down to Ingenium, and… the pro-hero blinked to him in recognition.

Kevin got irritated but… also couldn't help but smirk, mostly because he was reaching his limit.

"Fine." he replied.

Gwen nodded and got to the correct page.

The pink bubble emerged once more, and as Gwen chanted the words, Momo watched Kevin stay behind.

Kneeling in front of his wounded friend, still holding down on the wound… with his back turned to them.

"Eo recedentia."


Yaoyorozu shook her head. As her lips pursed, her eyes went down back to her hands.

Present time

Back at the tournament grounds, taking advantage of the break, their little group had chosen to assemble right outside the east gate.

She sighed.

"We got back, and changed in the restroom." she said, her hands briefly opening. "After Ms– Gwen left, I went to find you."

She raised her head. Her story had at last reached its conclusion and… the entire group seemed very desponded.

Midoriya had his mouth open, looking like he was going to say something, but… he just shook his head instead, in complete disbelief.

Ben was slumped back. He didn't seem like he could look anyone in the eyes right now. He just kept his arms crossed, eyebrows knitted, and mouth sealed shut.

The first words, hence escaped from Kirishima's lips. "Fuck, man…"

And Yaoyorozu couldn't find it in herself to point out his language.

"So…" Midoriya opened his hands. "Do we… Do we not have a word on Ingenium?"

Yaoyorozu shook her head. "My guess is towards him being taken into an emergency room right now or… perhaps he is still in the ambulance."

She could feel her heartbeat speed up.

"There is no way to be certain… We have to wait for Kevin, or Gwen."

"Then…" Midoriya felt himself deflate. "What do we tell Iida… back at the stances?"

Momo shook as she heard that.

"I don't know." Tennyson spoke up.

"Actually, he just left." Kirishima came to her rescue, with a very muted version of his attitude. "They just announced that he left 'cause of a family emergency."

She put her hands over her face.

"Guess now we know why…"

Silence took hold, and Yaoyorozu closed in on herself. Her despair was seemingly overtaking her, and… it was just cascading over everyone–

"Midoriya!"

The group all turned their heads towards the doorway. Midnight came through. Everyone suddenly felt snapped out of their depressive thoughts.

"Hey boys, and Yaomomo." She gestured to Midoriya. "Sorry, but would you mind if I stole this handsome gentleman away from you?"

The group also saw Todoroki behind the teacher… as well as Bakugo?

Seeing them make eye-contact with him, Bakugo walked back into the shadows. However, Midnight paid no mind.

She licked her lips. "His turn is coming up to fight."

Seemingly with no soul left in his body, Midoriya got up from where he sat.

"Much luck dude." Kirishima said with every reason to be unenthusiastic, and Midoriya nodded.

"Thanks…" he said, taking a deep breath. He was going up against Todoroki, and… if there is anything this story made for him, it was that it took away his nerves at the idea of fighting the recommended student.

Tennyson gave him a nod too, and so Momo raised a thumbs up.

"We will be watching." She said, even though her muscles ached–

"Hey Kirishima." Tennyson spoke. "Could you maybe go with Midoriya?"

Yaomomo raised her head. Midnight, as well as the students that followed after her, tilted their heads.

"That's no problem, right Miss Midnight? You said his fight was coming up, not necessarily about to start."

She nodded. "Yeah, he's on in ten minutes."

"Alright then. What do you say, Kirishima?" Ben said, channeling some enthusiasm. "How about you give him some tips on the good ol' one two."

He raised his hands and punched the air as he said that.

Kirishima, after having a stupefied expression at the beginning, nodded.

"Yeah…" He got more fired up. "Yeah, I could show him a couple of things… Come on, Midoriya!"

"O-Oh, yep. Kirishima, wait up!" Midoriya ran after him.

"As if you could teach him, shitty hair." Bakugo said under his breath, as him, Midnight and Todoroki chose to walk too… leaving the two of them alone.


"Okay, I'm just saying, I'm getting worried." Jiro opened her arms. "We haven't heard from Tennyson or Yaomomo for a really good while now."

"Is there a specific reason why you left out Midoriya and Kiri?" Ashido raised an eyebrow with her cheshire smile.

Jiro huffed in frustration–

"Quit your yammering." Bakugo entered the stances. "Your precious lot's been outside the east gate."

Jiro, ignoring that this was maybe the very first time Bakugo addressed them without a nickname, asked. "Really?"

He grumbled, and… honestly Jiro didn't see that coming.

She hadn't even noticed Bakugo being gone, and… it almost seemed like he left out of his own curiosity.

"After that ego was put through the shredder…" Jiro thought–

Mineta cut in. "And they're still there, Bakugo?"

"Yeah, runt." he scoffed, with a little bit of anger between his teeth. "Damn shitty hair and Deku are in the prep room now."

Ashido perked up with her hands assembled. "So… you're saying they're really alone now?"

Jiro's eyebrows went up, and Bakugo shrugged, his scowl getting more annoyed. "Can you really not do the math, Racoon Eyes?"

Just the absence of a 'no' was enough to get Ashido get up and go, followed by Mineta.

"Uraraka." Jiro said, grabbing her arm. "You're coming with me."

"Wha– Why–"

"Because I need someone on my side!"


Momo and Tennyson were indeed left to their own devices, as Midoriya and Kirishima left. However, she wasn't really eager to just wait around.

Yaomomo wanted to see her classmates, and hopefully revitalize at the sight of them… despite how painful it was also going to be with everything she knows.

"It's better if we get going as well." Yaoyorozu rose from where she sat. "Before we arouse suspicion."

"Yeah…" Ben said, as he put one hand on his neck.

Yaoyorozu nodded, and moved to walk past him–

"I'm… not sure if you want to go back like that though."

She tilted her head and looked at herself. "Like what?"

Tennyson pointed. "Your side."

Momo touched it and… she could instantly feel the wetness. When she raised her hand, it had hints of red.

"Hm?.." She raised it up. The blue fabric had darkened.

"I… must have been too caught up." She slowly said, trying to put all the pieces together–

She slapped her hand on it. "Oh, did you think they–"

"No." Ben shook his head, rather stiff. "It wasn't there when we first met up, and you were leaning forward the entire time. They couldn't have seen it."

Yaomomo sighed. Well, that was a relief. She rolled back her sleeve–

"No, no." Ben said, sitting down on the bench in front of her. "You've done a lot, leave it to me."

Yaoyorozu raised her head.

"It's the least I can do." he said. "I… imagine you had enough."

She shrugged and lifted up the side of her jacket. "Very well."

He examined the cut. Thankfully, despite the blood on her, it seemed to be shallow. It must have just been exposed for a good while.

"But the fact that she couldn't tell…" Ben thought.

He noticed Momo raising her right hand and gritting her teeth before manifesting a piece of cloth. She handed it to him.

"So…" Ben said. "Overdid it with your creation?"

"I mustn't have realized it due to the adrenaline." Yaoyorozu then extended her finger forward, and with a little pink glow, brown disinfectant dripped down on it. "It all just… transpired too fast."

Feeling it was enough, she retracted her hand.

Tennyson nodded. "I know how that feels." He put the cloth on the cut–

"Ow!.."

"Sorry." Ben gasped. "I… I didn't actually get to do this a lot."

"It's fine." She responded. "It… *can also* mean you're being thorough."

Tennyson responded with a true smile, looking up at her. "I can only hope I am." he said, as his presses on her side also became much gentler.

It made Tennyson busy with something, and seeing him work in this focused manner, reassured her, but… as he continued and finished by wrapping a bandage over her side, it reminded her of Ingenium.

When he was done, she put a hand on her side and… felt the wound as well as the bandage, grabbing onto it.

"And, there we go." He said. "I did everything right? Right?"

Momo nodded as she could feel her heart weigh. It hadn't hurt as she let her fingers brush over the bandage. Tennyson moved to get up, ready to leave–

"Tennyson, what are we going to do?"

He turned around. Momo hadn't found the strength to get up, still sitting by the tree.

"You said you didn't know but… Forever Knights, the 'infamous' Hero Killer, and those from the USJ are all after us now."

Ben sighed. "It really was the same mist man then."

"Yes! I…" Momo answered with a higher tone, hands assembled, before she stopped herself. "I connected those two together, but you avoided the question earlier."

She looked up to him, feeling herself unravel.

"Only two of those threats came after us today, and…"

"You got through it." Ben said, looking her in the eyes. "Everyone managed to get through it, WITH your help."

"Ingenium is in the hospital." she said, her voice cracking. "It was my failure."

"Yeah, and those two girls would be too." Ben said. Yaomomo felt like she was going to sink into the ground.

"Yeah, I could tell, you mentioned them to be honest with us but quickly brushed past." Ben said. "How about saving their lives today?"

"I… could have done better." She said, her voice faltering for just a second. "I should have done better."

"Yaomomo, no." Ben sat back down. "Thanks to you, Ingenium managed to get the help he needed. Thanks to *you* he won't die in some alleyway. You did the best with what you had–"

Momo retorted, shaking her head and hiding her eyes. "*You* would have been able to take him to the hospital yourself."

"Are you kidding?" Ben asked sarcastically. "I know at least a little first aid, Yaomomo. First rule with any stab victim, do NOT move–"

"*You* would have never let him get stabbed to begin with!" She raised her tone, and that caught Ben off-guard.

He shut his mouth. Momo closed in on herself.

"I *know* you would be able to do so much better. I know… that it should have been you out there." she said. "You wouldn't have let anyone get hurt…"

Ben leaned forward, and apprehensively put a hand on her shoulder.

"We can't regret that now." he said. "We…"

He sighed, clicking his tongue. He felt Yaomomo's gaze turn to him, and so Ben sighed and tried to speak confidently.

"Magister Labrid said he would give us a call when he found something on the DNAliens." Ben said. "Then, after the festival… what do you say we put our heads together and take these three down first? Okay?"

She replied. "Okay."

"Really?" Ben asked again.

"Yes." she nodded her head, as she was looking like she was still calming down.

"We will stay here and be done with this first. Then the Highbreed."

Momo nodded her head again. She still looked winded but, at the very least, not as desperate.

"Now, do you have enough left for new clothes?" He gestured to her bloodied shirt.

Yaoyorozu scowled, even just thinking about it. She put a hand on her stomach. "Yes, I should still be able to manage."

Gritting her teeth, she let a new jacket manifest out from her arm.

Ben could see Yaomomo straining herself and watched it very discontentedly.

Ben grabbed them before they fell onto the ground, but as he was going to hand them back, he could see her panting, very much in pain.

"You're not okay…"

Yaomomo shook her head. "No… I'm at my limit."

"Food…" Ben thought out loud before his gaze snapped back to the tournament stances.

A lightbulb had lit over his head.

"What should I get you?" he asked, making sure he still had his wallet on him.

"I don't know…" She said putting a hand next to her head, clearly lightheaded. "The richer it is in fat content however, the better."

"The richer in fat…" Ben echoed, hand on his chin. "Perhaps there is something in the festival–"

Ben snapped his fingers. "I got it…"

A smirk spread all over his face, as if he seemed actually excited.

"Oh, you're gonna love this. O-or I mean, I hope you love it." He stammered. "Okay, I'll go grab your food."

He handed her the jacket back. "Can you still get to the bathroom to change?"

Momo nodded, with a hand still next to her head.

"Great. Meet back at 5 then?" He said. "*In* 5 minutes, I mean?"

She nodded. "Okay, but…"

Ben started running off already, and so she raised her hand next to her head and needed to shout. "...what are you planning on bringing me?!"

Ben turned around. "Something that will open your eyes." He said, jazzing his hands.

Momo smiled.

"Okay…" she laughed under her breath and they both went on their ways.

Ben raised his hand with the Omnitrix. "Jetray!" He dashed away into the distance, and Momo got back inside, finding herself a bathroom.

Five or so minutes later, just like they agreed upon, Momo met up with Ben as she waited right by the east gate, leaning next to it.

She saw him running in human form, all the while carrying a paper bag.

"There." he said. "Hope you didn't wait too long."

"No…" She shook her head, and the two walked inside. "You were the one so fast actually."

"Yeah, thank Jetray for that." he said, and Momo instantly caught on.

"Speaking of which." She curiously tilted her head. "Why didn't you return as so?"

"Ah..." Ben put on his showman act. "Well, the answer is simple. I couldn't dare ruin your experience with these!"

Her gaze narrowed. The paper bag had a logo on it, but… it was as Tennyson said, she has no recollection of ever entering one of their restaurants, nevermind eating there.

"What is it?"

Ben opened the paper bag, and immediately a rich aroma of sauce, cheese, onion, and a whole array of spices rushed to her nose. It was enough to… at the very least pique her interest.

She reached in and grabbed the paper cardboard bag from the bottom. When she lifted it up, she was greeted with a pile of golden French fries, covered with red chili, cheese sauce and, from what she could tell, jalapeño slices.

"Chili fries." he said. "What's honestly better to charge up a quirk that runs on fat."

Momo could see his mouth water a little as well, and… even though she literally couldn't help but feel the same way, she extended it to him first.

"Don't you want any?" she asked innocently, whereas even just the smell was seemingly messing with him.

"No…" he gently pushed it back showcasing self-restraint. "You try it first."

She could see him being at the end of his rope, and so nodded.

"Alright." A plastic fork manifested from her hand, and she stabbed into them. As she pulled the fork back, the cheese stretched with it before snapping.

Ben puffed up his chest. "It looks like the Tennyson delivery service doesn't disappoint yet again. It's all still fresh off the fryer."

Momo nodded, and blowing on it a little, put them in her mouth.

The taste that flowed into her mouth… was indescribable.

"These… These taste so good!" She exclaimed, clearly in awe.

Ben pumped his fist. "Yes!"

She took another forkful.

"But I have to make sure, it's not malnourishment speaking, right?" Ben asked, and Momo with almost puppy eyes shook her head.

"Clearly there is some word of malnourishment." Ben said, but still pumped his fist in celebration again!

And seeing him smile, Momo did so too. She extended the cardboard bag to Tennyson.

"No…" Ben said. "I shouldn't…"

But Momo, even with her mouth full, insisted. At that point, there was no choice in Ben's mind but to give in.

He reached with his fingers, only to pause and look at her. Momo's eyebrows went up, as she manifested a plastic fork for him, already much quicker than she was manifesting the bandage and the jacket.

He too then grabbed a bite, and the two both relished eating what Ben liked to call, 'a sometime food'.

Seeing him smile, Momo felt her attitude turn… just a little melancholic.

"I'm… sorry for what I said back there." She said. "I lost my nerve."

Ben shrugged. "It's okay." he responded. "I get it. You… You wanted to do more, to save more people."

Yaomomo, reluctantly, nodded. It felt like there was a good chance that he wasn't quite on the mark.

Ben assembled his hands.

"But we can't dwell on the past." he said, looking ahead of him, before that gaze fell onto the Omnitrix.

His hand brushed past it, mourning. "No matter how much we want to."

Yaoyorozu could notice his expression change.

At the time Ben couldn't realize what happened… or how much grief it would cause him to fix it…

But by digging up his own pain, he had failed to truly see hers.

"All we can do is look forward, and make sure that works out for the better…" he said, before looking at Yaomomo again.

"...together." His eyes got a livelier and more determined aura.

"You look like you have something in mind." She stated. Ben nodded.

"I said, after today, I'd put my whole focus on finding who did this to Ingenium." Ben repeated. "I know it's best if we started today, but we can't and… a lot of people are about to be troubled by what they are going to see tonight in the news."

Yaomomo, wincing, nodded in acknowledgement.

"So, I'm going to put on a show." He said. "I know… it's not going to offset anything but, since we're on a good amount of Japanese tv, I can at least make sure people have fun right now."

She could see Ben puffing up.

"This fight in the finals…" He said. "It's not just for me, or for Todoroki anymore… it will be for everyone." He raised his fist. "I plan to put on such a show that it will be all they print about on the front page!"

And seeing the conviction, she decided to go along with it. Honestly, that optimism, seeing it this close made everything feel just a little better.

"I guess…" She stabbed her fork into it again. "...I shall look forward to watching it–"

"Hey, guys!"

Just then, Ashido and Mineta showed up, followed by Jiro and Uraraka.

The group immediately noticed the fries as well as the pair's close proximity and smiles, and as the latter two felt thrown off, the former felt very vindicated.

"Whatcha doin?" Ashido asked.

And Ben's answer couldn't be any more casual.

"Oh, Yaomomo wasn't feeling well, so we grabbed some chili fries from the festival grounds." he pointed back with his thumb.

"Turns out I've overused my quirk." She assisted him. "The reaction happened to come over me a little later than expected, is all."

Mineta raised an eyebrow. He wasn't buying it, and for the first time, Ashido felt the same way as the little perv.

"You sure nothing else happened–OWWWWW!" he tried to ask, only for Jiro to plug her earphone jack to his head, completely deadpan.

Ben shrugged. "What's he talking about?"

Momo sweated internally. "Wait, is there any chance they overheard us? Jiro has great hearing. Will they ask us what the knights are?!"

However, Jiro did no such thing. She just crossed her arms, with her face flushing a little. "Oh, you know, Mineta being Mineta."

Both Ben and Momo looked at each other and shrugged.

"Anyway, with that sorted, let's head back then?" Uraraka asked, and as Mineta managed to pull himself off from the ground, everyone complied.

And as they walked, Ashido sniffed the air, before sneaking next to the pair. "Oh, those smell good."

"Yeah, you said they were chili fries?" Uraraka asked too, sounding interested.

"Yeah." Ben said. "Lucky for us, they had a food truck in the festival grounds. Try it."

Yaomomo extended the pack of them for her to try as well as two new forks, and as they tried it, both Ben and her could see their eyes growing.

Ben sweatdropped.

"We might need to do another run." he said, and Yaomomo agreed.

"It's our responsibility to share our knowledge with the class." She said, stabbing her fork into it again.

Ben agreed, and… couldn't help but have a sneaking suspicion that it was going to be *some* run back.

Meanwhile, a bar inside Kamino had its own kind of tension starting to rise… based on what Stain could tell.


Inside the dimly lit bar, from behind the counter and a wall of drinks at his disposal, was the man with the portal that brought him here, stylistically dressed.

Over by the red high-top tables, clearly amiss and unresponsive to anything that went around him, stood a gray… frog from what he could tell, wearing a black and green tunic, and using something akin to a blowtorch on some cylindrical device.

Stain's eyes then went to the three who also watched the frog, those of which were the knights that assisted him in the alleyway. They seemed to be rather irritated.

The young one seemed to stick close to the man with the golden mask who was clearly superior, as the crimson red armored one stood guard before both of them.

And lastly… there was an even peculiar person. Out of the entire room, the only one staring at him directly without hiding it.

A young man, perhaps barely old enough to drink, with a severed gray hand on his face, bluish-white hair, pure black outfit and… blood red eyes akin to his own.

He was also standing next to a purple and black screen which said 'Audio Only'.

"Well, you seemed to have called us all here." He remarked, getting everyone's attention all the while standing against the screen. "Talk."

And from behind the screen, the master couldn't help but smile ear to ear.


That's the end! What did you think?

Little did our heroes know, the situation had escalated and they found themselves in a way worse battle than advertised.

Honestly, writing all the characters was really fun this time around. Momo, Gwen, Ingenium, Stain, Kevin…

Especially that scene for Momo and Ben at the end. For real, it wasn't supposed to go on for that long, but I just figured this is way too much fun to cut short.

Particularly when I thought of inserting Chili Fries into it all. :D

Also yep, for Kevin your eyes didn't deceive you, he did do the thing! Now, is this foreshadowing anything in the near future? Yes, and no it's not the first thing you're thinking of. :D

And also the knights. I could write an entire chapter about how their mannerisms came about.

But I want to just talk about the Forever Ninja for now.

When I started writing out the brawls, one of the things I wanted to do the most was to establish a distinct "style" for everyone. Not only to make the conflict clear of course but to communicate the character of everyone there.

For example: Kevin of course, kept his prison-boxer style from before, however Ingenium(because of injuries) had to make do with impromptu moves as opposed to speed, and Stain kept his disordered but powerful and fast style, so on and so forth.

But one of them that really came to bother me overtime was Momo and the Forever Ninja. Idk, since both of them had the "ninja theme"... it sort of felt like they were stepping on each other's toes.

So, when I thought about it and remembered the "I find your lack of faith disturbing, Mr. Breath." from the Forever King in the classic series, the lightbulb just lit up. Now when the ninja gets serious, he's General Grievous! XD (basically) (and very blatantly, sorry not sorry.)

Fun fact, after he "became General Grievous", it really happened to inform what I wanted to do for Enoch's fighting style too at the end. If you didn't recognize it, here's a hint: "Twice the pride, double the fall." :D

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now. The next chapter will hopefully not be this long, and will be out in time. Until then though, have a great day, and I will hopefully see you on the next one!


Reply to "Guest" Review

Tiger1301: Nice TFS reference you got in there.

DBZpower197: Ayyyy, I'm glad you noticed that! Thanks!