Chapter 13
During the summer, before classes at UA started, and after taking the entrance exam, Kenichi and his family went on a world tour to meet and network with Heroes from around the world. Kenichi and Momo were expected to act as perfect children of their station. It was annoying but a necessity of their lives and one that Kenichi was uniquely able to take advantage of. He shook the hands of many Heroes and cataloged all of their Quirks. Kenichi also helped the image of his family by happily, even gleefully, meeting with any pro hero. He showed no interest in their ranks, Quirks, or anything else. If they were a hero, he wanted to meet them. His open and inclusive attitude toward them all greatly boosted his families popularity abroad. It made his parents and sister exceedingly proud, even if Momo knew he was collecting Quirks.
All of this meant Kenichi had Quirks as powerful as New Order from shaking hands with the number one hero in America, Star and Stripe, or as weak as Glowing Eyes, from an unranked Hero in Canada. He could bend the very fabric of reality to his whims, or make his eyes glow, and a bunch of things in between.
In the case of Todoroki freezing the entire building in an effort to trap and weaken him, Kenichi felt the power of New Order was just plain overkill. However, being able to make his eyes glow a baleful red bright enough to be seen through the black ballistic plastic of his face mask? Useful! Instead of breaking reality with New Order, he activated another Quirk from a hero who specialized in urban operations and silent take downs, The Owl. His Quirk was pretty simple in function, it allowed him to make a certain around around himself darker. Not pitch black darkness, but enough to make streetlights at night useless, or to greatly dim fluorescent lights. Combined with a pair of night vision goggles he was able to take down many criminals in the darkness.
With the Dark Light, he didn't pick the name, Quirk active, the room he was in dimmed until someone with basic human vision would barely be able to see. This made the red glow of his eyes stand out even further and let the glow illuminate the viscous grin on his mask, making it appear bloody. Pulling up his hood to cover his head just cast it in deeper shadow and made the glow appear even more sinister.
Lastly, he had one last Quirk to activate to complete the image, one borrowed from a rather nice British hero called Steamworks. A simple Quirk that let the user manifest and control steam within a given distance. The steam had to be anchored to a surface but it could be any surface and the user could control the temperature of the steam from somewhat cold to boiling. Kenichi activated two small spots of steam at the corner of the mouth on his mask and let the warm steam rise into the cold air.
The rule of cool must be obeyed when being a hero!
Besides that, every girl in class was currently watching him and he wanted to make an impression. Goddamn hormones did a lot of his thinking for him even when he thought he had full control of them. They were just that evil!
-Line Break-
Todoroki calmly walked through the frozen building. He was in no rush, fully confident that his opponents had been frozen solid and trapped. His attitude wasn't completely unfounded. While Yaoyorozu-san had shown an impressive ability to launch the softball yesterday, his other feats were just simple feats of strength. Nothing special in the eyes of the Icy Hot teen. The little air cannon could be a bit of concern, but muscles had trouble working when in freezing temperatures. Given the outfit that Yaoyorozu-san had been wearing, Todoroki was confident his opponents would be close to suffering from frostbite when he arrived. He didn't even consider Kaminari to be a threat to himself.
It took him a while to open and glance into rooms with closed doors, he'd had to defrost a few doors to get them open. It was on the third floor after opening a frozen door that he knew something was wrong.
-Line Break-
Kaminari shuddered as the whole building froze, even his feet were frozen to the ground! Well, not his feet, just his boots. They were nice and thick so a small burst of his electricity was enough to shatter and melt his feet free. He was also glad he'd left the door to the room ajar, being so close to the epicenter of Todoroki's Quirk had left it frozen solid!
Closing his leather jacket tightly around himself, Kaminari muttered, "Looks like Kenichi-san was right. What a scary Quirk!"
He carefully watched the entrance and it wasn't long before Todoroki waled down the hall without looking at his surroundings at all. Once he saw Todoroki leave, he waited a few more moments to see if Tokoyami would be following his teammate.
When it looked like Todoroki was alone, Kaminari decided on his course of action. The door to the room was out of the question as an exit. He could unfreeze the hinges but all the excess ice around it would make opening the door extremely loud. He wasn't the smartest, but he wasn't a complete idiot either. Making a ton of noise would just get attention he didn't want.
Instead, he made his way over to the one window in the room. He ran his hands around the edges while channeling his lightning and used the heat energy generated to melt the ice and free the window to open. He slowly opened it and winced every single time it squeaked. He let out a sigh of relief as he managed to get it completely open without anyone seeming to notice. He took a peek outside and spotting no one, tapped his earwig, "Hey partner, The ice dude is on his way up to you but the blackbird either took a different entrance, or can't take the cold and is outside."
"What's your plan?"
Kaminari looked at the open window, "I've got a window for an exit. I'm going to slip out and circle the building to see if I can find the other guy. I think I can take him, if not I'll try to retreat and let you know. Any advice?"
Kenichi was silent on the line for a bit before he said, "Tokoyami-san said his Quirk was Dark shadow, right?"
"Something like that, yeah."
"Well, if it's based on darkness and shadows, try making a bit of light with your Quirk. It could be a good counter."
Kaminari blinked at that, it seemed rather obvious if he thought about it. Light and Darkness were always 'opposite elements' in games and crap. It seemed worth a try, "Thanks. Let me know if ice-guy shows."
"Will do."
With that the line went silent and Kaminari climbed out of the window. He crouched down and looked to his left and saw the way was clear. He turned to double check his right and froze in place, "Oh... crap."
-Line Break-
Tokoyami was... annoyed. Todoroki had taken it upon himself to deal with their opponents solo. Freezing the entire building was a truly powerful display of his partners Quirk... However, it left him out in the cold, literally. He wasn't susceptible to the cold like his bird-like countenance might suggest, but his costume wasn't exactly thickly layered. The freezing temperatures would slow his reactions down and the now slippery floors would be difficult to navigate.
So, he'd been relegated to an observer. At least, he was until he heard the voice of Kaminari from just around the corner where he was standing. He took a quick peek and noticed that a window about half way down the buildings side had been opened. He didn't have super hearing or anything, Kaminari just wasn't very subtle... or quiet when he was speaking.
Tokoyami had a smile on his face as he opened his cloak and looked at his stomach. It seemed he and Dark Shadow would be having a feast of violence after all!
He didn't have to wait long. Once he heard Kaminari drop to the ground he stepped around the corner and the bird shaped Dark Shadow grew out of his stomach. Both he and his Quirk had Kaminari in their sight as he looked in the opposite direction. When Kaminari turned around and beheld their glorious dark visage he looked shocked.
"Oh... crap."
-Line Break-
Kenichi watched the ice on the door to his room melt a short while after getting off the line with Kaminari. He could hear the sounds of combat from the ground outside but paid it little attention. His whole focus was on the challenge before him. He would deal with Tokoyaki later, if he managed to get past Kaminari in the first place. He had faith that Kaminari could pull something out, after all it was broad daylight out and he could produce light with his Quirk. Tokoyami was the one at a disadvantage.
As the door to his room opened, Kenichi sprang into action. He'd waited to the side of the door and far enough away that if it was opened violently he wouldn't be in the cross fire, yet close enough to reach it in just two bounds.
Torodoki barely had time to realize he could hear the sound of shattering ice and widen his eyes in surprise before a fist slammed into the side of his face and knocked him clean off of his feet. The special grip on his shoes to keep him from slipping on ice did him no good as he crashed to the ground on his side and went sliding across the floor.
Todoroki could swear he'd just been hit by a sledgehammer as his head swam and he felt nauseous. He slowly resisted the sight of Kenichi as the other boy stalked toward him. His eyes widened and he felt a singular moment of primal fear at the sight of his opponent. Brightly glowing read eyes, blood covered fangs, and breath so hot it caused steam to swirl in the air from his mouth. Todoroki moved back a bit in fear as he briefly wondered why he'd ever stopped being afraid of the dark.
-Line Break-
Seeing Tokoyami standing in front of him along with a giant bird shaped shadow with glowing yellow eyes instantly made Kaminari resort to his 'best' attack. He instantly amped up as much of his electricity as he could, "One point three million volt indiscriminate shock!"
Tokoyami would have loved to scream as the lightning from Kaminari's Quirk rippled across the ground and crawled up his body. Unfortunately, the voltage had his muscles firmly locked in place forcing him to bear with the pain in silence. Dark Shadow, on the other hand, wasn't bound by such human limitations and let out a pain filled scream as the brightly glowing lightning crawled all over his shadowy body.
When the attack ended, Tokoyami slumped a little but didn't let himself collapse to the ground. Despite the pain and wisps of smoke all along his body, he refused to fall. Barely able to keep himself from doing so was taking most of his concentration though so he used what little effort he had left to call out to his Quirk, "Capture him Dark Shadow."
"You got it! He's going down!"
The shadow creature extended across the distance between the pair and quickly grabbed Kaminari in his wing-like hands.
"Wheeeee!"
Dark Shadow stopped and looked at Kaminari in his grip at the sound, "The hell?"
Whatever, it wasn't Dark Shadows problem, he retreated to his partner and held out the short circuited Kaminari who continued to make happy sounds as he was moved around. It took a bit of effort, but Tokoyami managed to wrap Kaminari in the capture tape he possessed and secure his capture.
All Mights voice came over all the earwigs, "Kaminari-shonen is eliminated!"
-Line Break-
Kenichi held back a sigh as he heard about Kaminari's elimination. He hadn't seen what happened but he could put enough together from what he heard to guess. Right now he needed to focus on Todoroki. After giving him a quick blindside blow that he'd hoped would lay the teen out, he was somewhat impressed to see that Todoroki was only rattled. He'd greatly held back on that punch, it was necessary for him to do so if he didn't want to give him brain damage or potentially kill him. It's not like he disliked Todoroki or anything that would justify that kind of force.
That didn't mean he needed to give him too much time to recover though. Just enough to know he'd not done some instantly serious damage. Since Todoroki was moving, Kenichi quickly pulled out his capture tape and vanished from sight. A moment later, Todoroki was wrapped up tightly.
"Todoroki-shonen is eliminated!"
Nodding to himself, Kenichi did a quick check on Todoroki. Specifically, he looked into his eyes and checked his pupil dilation. Seeing that everything looked normal, he left the teen on the floor to recover from the blow to his head completely unaware of the minor bit of trauma his guise may had given his classmate.
Could Kenichi have simply used his speed to capture Todoroki from the beginning? Yes, yes he could have. It might have even gotten the point Kenichi was trying to make across, though with lower odds on sticking. He deliberately blindsided Todoroki because he needed someone to knock the arrogant out of him.
Todoroki had very obvious potential for being an amazing hero. He just needed someone to slap him around a bit to knock the arrogant out. After that, he needed someone to help him get over what his father had done to him. Kenichi started the arrogance beating early, so that should help things along nicely!
He closed the door to the room and stepped back to stand near the middle of the room with his arms crossed over his chest. As the villain in the scenario he should just remain where he was. While he knew he could hunt down Tokoyami easily with his sharp senses, it was his job to guard the bomb and he would do so. There was also the advantage of making a possibly injured opponent expend the energy required to get to him. Tokoyami only had a few minutes before the match would end in Kenishi's favor.
-Line Break-
"Todoroki-shonen is eliminated!"
Tokoyami reeled back a bit at that surprising announcement. He knew that Kenichi-san was pretty strong but had though even he would succumb to the ice tomb that Todoroki had turned the building into. He stepped away from Kaminari and looked through the front door of the building through the fod the cold generated when contacting the warmer exterior air. He shuddered at the cold but firmed up his resolve. The match had become one on one and he was going to have to confront Kenichi in his lair if he wished to win.
He glanced at Dark Shadow as it floated nearby, perhaps it was still a two on one fight. He moved into the building and managed to carefully make his way to the stairs without slipping. Upon seeing the ice coated flight of stairs to the second floor he realized that 'going in quietly' was out of the question, "Dark Shadow, shatter all the ice in our path."
"Hell yeah!"
Within the darker interior of the building Dark Shadow was much stronger than he had been outside in the sun. He cackled and laughed as he punched the floor and shattered the coating of ice constantly. With the slick ice getting crushed and moved out of the way by Dark Shadow, Tokoyami started making quicker progress until he arrived at the fourth floor. Todoroki hadn't seen any reason to close doors after he checked rooms so it was easy for Tokoyami to eliminate those spots. If Todoroki had been a team player he might have actually told Tokoyami what room Kenichi was in before confronting him.
Seeing the closed door, Tokoyami didn't hold back, "Knock it down Dark Shadow! The end draws near."
With a roar, Dark Shadow punched the door with all of its might and sent it careening into the room. An instant later there was a crash as the door was simply backhanded away by Kenichi. As the duo of Tokoyami and Dark Shadow stepped into the still darkened room with Kenichi, they beheld his dark visage for the first time.
The pair looked over the deep glowing eyes, bloody looking smile, and darkness. Tokoyami was impressed and excited, "A fellow being of the night perhaps? It matters not. Surrender villain! Your time has come and such glorious darkness will only empower me further."
Dark Shadow pretended to crack its 'knuckles' as a show of intimidation. Kenichi just grinned beneath his mask as he watched. He knew Tokoyami would appreciate all his effort, such a bro! Kenichi changed his voice to make it deeper, darker, and scratchy, "Ah, the second hero." He casually gestured over to where Todoroki had decided to stick around.
Technically, Todoroki was allowed, even supposed, to leave once he was eliminated. However, he refused to do so. He wanted to see the trial through to the end. He needed to understand why he lost.
A part of Tokoyami wanted to squeal in joy as Kenichi went along with him. With his looks, his 'dark desires,' and his way of speaking, he'd had trouble relating to many people and had very few friends. It excited him that he might be able to make one more in his new class.
Kenichi lifted his hands and loudly cracked his knuckles, "Don't hold back now, hero."
"Subdue him Dark Shadow!"
Dark Shadow was a very powerful Quirk and, more importantly, was independently intelligent. That was an exceedingly rare trait for Quirks to have. Kenichi had Tokoyami's Quirk code, but there was nothing in it that specifically let him know what gave it sentience. It was frustrating because he wanted to make a sentient Quirk to act as a mental assistant. He'd keep working on it, but for now...
Kenichi reacted to Dark Shadows charge by carelessly punching the energy being in the face with a fair bit of his strength. The blow sent Dark Shadow flying off to the side and cleared his view to Tokoyami, "The shadow beast alone will not be enough to subdue me. Neither of you will be a match for me while working apart!"
Was Kenichi hinting at Tokoyami's ability to merge with Dark Shadow and use the Quirk to make himself stronger, faster, and tougher? Hell yeah he was! Kenichi didn't give a crap about winning this trial. He didn't care about his grades when he could instead use these events and classes to push the others to become stronger more quickly. It would still take time for them to improve and become stronger, but the sooner they learned then the more practice they would have with their abilities and the stronger they would be.
Kenichi knew he could be the strongest single hero on the planet right this moment, if he wanted to be. While that might make him famous, it wasn't enough. No single hero was enough! He couldn't be everywhere at once. He couldn't protect everyone at all times. He needed, and wanted, friends and allies for the coming darkness to fight by his side. He could probably handle all the head honchos by himself. However, if he had to fight through all of their minions first slowly having his strength sapped? He only had so much energy at his command and he could run out. It wasn't easy and would take effort, but All For One wasn't an idiot and had plans within plans within plans. The good guys needed every advantage they could get! To that end...
Tokoyami was confused by what Kenichi was saying. He and Dark Shadow always worked together. They were physically linked after all. As Dark Shadow recovered and charged at Kenichi once more, only to get slapped away again, he saw something that made his eyes widen and gave him a crazy idea.
Kenichi wanted to hint more strongly at Tokoyami's combined form so he shifted the color of his arms to a purple that matched Dark Shadow and looked black in the low light. The tips of his fingers extended to become wicked claws while he used a weak illusion Quirk to make his head, temporarily, appear somewhat bird-like with a thick stream of steam billowing from the beak while the eyes glowed red still.
"Come back Dark Shadow!"
"What? WHY?! I'll clobber this guy!"
Tokoyami was so glad that it was nearly impossible to see when he was blushing, "Just get back here!"
Dark Shadow grumbled but did as commanded. When he got close, Tokoyami started whispering to him. Kenichi could easily hear what was being said, but pretended that he couldn't. Tokoyami was doing exactly what he wanted and he wasn't about to interrupt! They had little time left so he hoped Tokoyami pulled it off quickly.
He wasn't disappointed as moments later Dark Shadow wrapped around Tokoyami and began to slide along his arms and head. The energy construct quickly surrounded Tokoyami as the bird-headed teen stared at Kenichi, "When staring into the abyss, be sure that it shall stare back... DARK ABYSS!"
"Times up! Villains WIN!"