My Hero Academia: Avatar Reborn Ch11
Start of USJ. Going to be quite a few different plot points introduced. I'm hoping to have this arc done in two chapters but with the length of this chapter compared to how far I've got into the arc, it may take three.
Like before, I don't know when the next chapter is coming out, depends on how much writing I do.
Enjoy!
The Avatar has been lost for millennia after the death of Korra, with the art of bending forgotten to ancient scrolls. In an age of quirks, watch as Izuku becomes the new Avatar and brings back the art of bending in his hero academia.
"So, what do you think USJ stands for?" Izuku turned to Ochako as he had been asking himself the same question. As soon as they had come in this morning, Aizawa had told them to change as they would be doing training at the USJ, an off-campus facility. However, he had neglected to mention what kind of training they would be doing which put most of the class on edge.
"I was just thinking the same thing," Eijiro said to Ochako. Several other students also nodded.
"Maybe it's-" Denki started.
"It's not Universal Studios, idiot" Kyoka interrupted. Denki turned red as several others poorly disguised their sniggering.
"Dude, seriously?" Eijiro asked. Denki could only shrug.
"Shut up, nerds! It's obviously some specialised training facility like rescuing or hostage training," Bakugo shouted. Several people scowled at his crass approach.
"Aside from his choice of words, he's not wrong. Why else would we be in our hero costumes?" Iida pointed out.
"Whatever it is, I hope I can actually use my quirk for it," groaned Denki.
Eijiro nodded, "I know what you mean, man. I just had to run at the mobility training yesterday."
"Same. Stop flexing, Sero!" Denki whined at the tape-wielding student. Hanta just grinned back causing Denki to roll his eyes.
"At least your quirk is flashy," Eijiro mumbled. "All I can do is harden."
There was a pregnant pause before Mina started to giggle. Kyoka's eyes widened as she clamped a hand to her mouth to hide her own laughter. Slowly it dawned on most of the students and Eijiro blushed red at the implication. "No, I didn't mean it like that," he said weakly. Tenya looked on disapprovingly while Shoto simply looked confused. Minoru's perverse giggles became louder at which point the laughing students calmed down.
"Just because your quirk is simple, doesn't mean it's bad," Momo said, cheeks still tinged slightly red from Eijiro's earlier comment.
"I didn't say that it's bad. It's just…" Eijiro struggled to find the words. "…too specific."
Everyone became silent, unsure exactly of how to respond. Because in a way, it was true. Mutant-type quirks like Tsuyu were multifaceted and a hero that was able to bring out the various aspects of that type of quirk became some of the strongest types of heroes. Mirko was the best example of this, having climbed to the number 5 hero in Japan all by herself.
However, transformation-type quirks like Eijiro's were far more dependent on what the transformation actually was. Izuku remembered a classmate from middle school who was able to simply pull out his eyeballs a certain distance. A transformation quirk like that was rather weak. Even Izuku had struggled to come up with proper applications for it. However, the same transformation-type quirk produced heroes the likes of Edgeshot and Ryukyu who were the number 4 and 6 heroes respectively.
Katsuki scoffed. "Don't be a wimp."
"Bakugo!" Mina started.
Bakugo simply put a hand up causing her to stop while he looked straight at Eijiro. "What gives you the right to complain about your quirk, when you haven't even found its limit." Some eyes widened. "At the moment, the reason you wouldn't be a good hero is because of you, not your quirk." Izuku felt like Katsuki had briefly looked at him but by the time he had blinked, Katsuki had already turned around to ignore the rest of the class.
The class were rather stunned and even Aizawa – who sat at the front – allowed himself a small smirk. Eijiro was rather touched by the comment. It wasn't the first time someone had to cheer him up as he had often felt inadequate. However, there was something about the tone or Katsuki's demeanour that really fired Eijiro up. It was like Katsuki knew what his potential was and Eijiro wanted to prove him right. A determined look entered his eyes.
Meanwhile, Izuku was thinking about how Katsuki's words applied to himself. When they were younger, Katsuki had always been interested in Izuku's progress in his quirk training and had said that the green-haired boy would be his sidekick. However, Izuku had been scared of his quirk and hadn't trained it at the time. Even All Might had said something to that effect. On that fateful roof, All Might had said that his quirk was powerful but that if he lacked conviction, it may have been better if Izuku hadn't become a hero.
Izuku had never truly given up his dream to be a hero, but somewhere along the way, he had forgotten about the effort needed to become one. That is until All Might decided to train him. Izuku clenched his fist tightly. He would catch up to Katsuki.
"We're here." Aizawa's drab voice brought the students out of their musings.
"Woah…" Everyone in the class agreed with Denki's assessment of the USJ.
"This place is mad," finished Kyoka.
"Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, also known as the USJ." All the students were a bit surprised by the rather odd name. "This is where you will be trained for disaster rescue missions. While the scenarios we train you for may be rare, I guarantee that this training will be useful if you become a hero."
Aizawa's serious tone broke everyone out of their reverie. "Joining me today is-" Aizawa was cut off as a hero in a white space suit approached him and spoke in hushed tones. Izuku tried to understand what they were saying but his lipreading wasn't great and only caught something about time's up. He was only briefly confused before realising that All Might had probably been meant to teach them as well. He frowned. Toshinori had told him that his power had been decreasing since the altercation five years ago but the rate of degeneration in the year Izuku had known him was far greater than he had described.
"It's Thirteen!" Ochako exclaimed.
"Thirteen?" Toru asked in confusion.
"I can't believe I didn't recognise her immediately." Izuku slapped his forehead in annoyance. "She's a hero specialised in search and rescue."
Thirteen stepped forward as she heard her name from the students. "I'm a bit surprised you knew me. Yes, I'm the Space Here: Thirteen. I designed and built the USJ here to help the students of U.A. learn about how to use their quirks in disaster rescue situations. Unlike a typical villain encounter, rescue missions can be far more difficult for the normal hero." Izuku briefly glanced around to see everyone enraptured by Thirteen's words. Ochako's eyes were practically shining with glee. "Rescue missions require a hero to show restraint and creativity. Quirks are dangerous and if you are not careful, the price will be the life of a civilian."
Izuku gulped at the thought of that. It was a sobering thought. When quirks had first come into the world, those with them were considered extremely dangerous. It was only once more and more people were born with quirks that the world started to accept them, and most people forgot about the danger, too enraptured by the heroes of the modern age.
Thirteen rubbed the back of her helmet. "I apologise for the rather dark thoughts but it is important to realise how dangerous your quirk can be."
Aizawa decided that there was no time to waste and started to speak again. "Aside from Thirteen, Kido from the Flaming Sidekickers has also joined us today." Muttering broke out amongst the students as a man wearing a plum-coloured flask jacket over a short-sleeved shirt joined the other two teachers. Bandages covered his arms and his entire face meaning Izuku could barely make out any facial features beyond his eyes.
Why would a hero from Endeavor's agency be here?
Shoto's eyes narrowed in thought. His father had told him nothing of this. 'What is he trying to pull?'
"Enough!" Everyone immediately went quiet as Aizawa glared at them. Once he was happy, he started talking again. "As I was saying, you will be split up into 3 groups and will cycle around the different zones. There are 6 different disaster scenarios we focus on: Landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, storms, conflagrations and earthquakes. In order to group you, we will-"
A low noise rang out, cutting off Aizawa. The students looked around confusedly. The three pro-heroes were immediately on high alert, their sixth sense telling them that something was wrong. If they were the only ones there, then none of the machinery would be operational yet. If.
Aizawa was the first to spot the likely cause of the disturbance. The central plaza was situated down a long flight of stairs from the entrance. It was usually quite quiet and pristine with a small fountain decorating it. However, now there was a black oval blocking the view of the fountain. It gave off a low thrum and pulsed with energy. Aizawa noticed these details within a few seconds but before he could act on it, people started pouring through what Aizawa could only assume was a portal of some kind. He scowled. The only people who would come like this, unannounced and uninvited, were villains.
"Hey, has the training already started?" Eijiro was not the only one who was confused as several others also had furrowed expressions.
"No," Izuku mumbled. Something wasn't right. Why were the teachers so on edge?
Minoru made to step forward but before he could, Aizawa yelled, "Stop! Don't go closer. They are villains."
"W-what?!" Minoru stuttered, fear etched on his face. "What are villains doing here?"
Aizawa thought furiously. In the present moment, it was not so important why the villains were here but rather how they had infiltrated so easily. While not hidden, not many knew the exact location of the USJ. They had clearly warped here if that black portal was any indication. Warping quirks like that were extremely rare and very dangerous in the hands of villains. However, they were also rather finicky, often requiring the person to precisely know where they were opening the portal to.
Aizawa's eyes widened. The infiltration of U.A! The villains must have used the media as a cover to enter the school and find the precise location of the USJ as well as likely some other information. The faculty had been foolish. They had underestimated the boldness of the opposition and were now paying the price as they hadn't expected the villains to have utilised any information they had acquired simply a day after sneaking into U.A.
Nevertheless, the USJ had protocols in place against unknown people entering the USJ. If they had tried to enter from the outside, the doors on the inside would have closed to prevent entry. Furthermore, as soon as someone without a pass entered the USJ, alarms would start ringing both within the USJ and back at U.A. Since there were no alarms ringing here, Aizawa found it safe to assume that no alarms would be ringing back to U.A. meaning they were isolated.
By the time he had finished his analysis of the situation, the portal was closed, and all the villains had assembled. Aizawa raked his eyes over the group quickly noting the wide array of quirks. However, most of them didn't look truly dangerous. He had been in the hero business long enough to be able to spot the difference between a criminal and a villain and most of those gathered below were simply petty criminals. However, standing towards the back were four individuals. Aizawa narrowed his eyes in confusion as he thought that there had previously been five.
Regardless, those four made the hair on the back of his neck rise. They were dangerous. The least imposing-looking one was a young man with light steel-blue hair. The man was rather slim, wore ragged black clothes and had messy hair that reached his shoulders. In fact, he didn't look particularly dangerous. Yet, various hands – they looked like real hands – adorned his person with one even covering his face and he stood at the front of the group of four making Aizawa believe him to be the de facto leader, meaning he couldn't be underestimated.
Standing to his immediate right was a villain with no distinguishable face. In fact, his face and hands were entirely made of some black smoke. The only evidence of a face was two yellow slits that resembled eyes. 'He must be the warp quirk user.' Aizawa theorised. Unless they took that villain out, they wouldn't be able to control the flow of the coming battle. The villains would be able to move unrestricted. Nevertheless, Aizawa felt like he was missing something. There was something odd about him.
However, compared to the first two, the other two villains were gigantic. One was only a bit smaller than All might and wore a light brown cloak that obscured everything. It was difficult to get a read on them and Aizawa couldn't even tell if the person was a male or female. However, it was the creature behind them that looked the most dangerous. Covered completely in purple scarred skin with a cruel yellow beak and an exposed brain, it looked like the monster of some crazed scientist. It didn't look human.
Aizawa turned to the other teachers. "Thirteen, stay here and protect the students. Kido, come with me. We need to try and find the villain that is jamming the alarm system." Both Kido and Thirteen nodded.
"Wait, we can help," Izuku said.
"Yeah, let's crush those villains!" Katsuki slammed his fist into his open palm, releasing a small explosion, the bloodlust evident in his eyes.
"No. As teachers, we are responsible for your safety. Without a hero license, students aren't allowed to engage with hero work. Unless you are attacked, do not engage with the villains."
But Izuku was worried about Aizawa. "You're fighting style is not suited for this. You mainly fight by catching villains off guard and you normally battle smaller groups of villains.
Aizawa gave a small smile as he pulled his signature goggles over his eyes. "Midoriya, you can't be a good hero if you can only reliably do one thing." Having said his piece, Aizawa started to run down the stairs, making his way to the central group.
Meanwhile, the villains were conversing due to the small problem in their plans. "Where is All Might?" asked the hand villain.
"According to the schedule we obtained, he was meant to be here, Master Tomura," the warp villain replied while the other two stood behind them silently.
Tomura scowled; the expression barely visible behind the hand adorning his face. His hand twitched as if he was about to do something but then stilled. "Perhaps if we kill a few kiddies, the number 1 hero will feel inclined to come out and play. Separate them as planned, Kurogiri."
"As you wish, master Tomura." Kurogiri warped away.
Tomura could feel the gaze of his cloaked teammate and immediately got a bit irritated by it. "Where is my assassin?"
There was a pregnant pause before the cloaked figure replied. "There is a more important matter to attend to," he said, pointing to the stairs. His voice was slow and measured, giving away no emotion.
Tomura looked in the direction of the cloaked figure's pointing and saw one of the teachers making their way down. "Looks like a mini-boss is making his way towards us." Tomura smiled gleefully. "Does he really think he can take us all on by himself?"
Meanwhile, near the entrance, as Kido went to follow Aizawa, the warp villain suddenly appeared to block his path. "Now, now. I can't have you all running down there." There were shrieks of surprise from the students due to the sudden emergence of the villain and Kido flipped backwards lest he gets warped somewhere.
"A villain. Perfect!" Small explosions were set off from Katsuki's hands in anticipation.
"Stay back, children. I'll take care of him." Thirteen extended her hands, ready to use her black hole quirk to devour Kurogiri.
"Ah, Thirt-" Kurogiri was about to mock the space hero but was interrupted by a brash blonde.
"Dieeeeee!" Katsuki screamed, using a powerful explosion to propel himself straight towards the villain. The explosion caused some of the students near him to stumble from the sudden wind.
"No! Get back." Kido shouted. However, once Katsuki decided to do something, there was no stopping him through words alone. The explosion he fired straight at the villain was even more powerful than before and filled the entire entry plaza with smoke. Katsuki grinned as he skidded to a halt behind the villain. However, his smile dropped once the smoke had cleared, revealing the state of the warp user.
"That was close. Unfortunately for you, announcing your attacks makes it far easier to react to them." Kurogiri taunted Katsuki. Even though no mouth was visible on his smoky face, Katsuki could just feel the smile on his face. He clenched his fists as his face turned red in anger. Looking passed the villain, Katsuki could see where the villain had warped his explosion to and the results of his handiwork.
The explosion was devastating, catching most of the students unprepared. Those who had been close to the epicentre of the explosion and were unprepared were injured the most. Some of the students had been able to react like Eijiro who had been able to harden and thus also protect some of the students behind him. Momo had already created a shield upon the warp villain's arrival and Shoto and Izuku had been quick to create an ice and earth shield respectively. However, Kido had been the most effective in protecting the students.
Kido almost wanted to smack his head in frustration when the blonde-haired kid had leapt straight towards the villain screaming 'die'. However, he had been able to see the beginning of a warp forming and had just barely been able to react as the student's explosion was warped right into the midst of the rest of the class. He had used his quirk 'Traject' to redirect the majority of the explosion into the sky, away from the group.
Nevertheless, he hadn't been able to redirect it all and of the students, Koji had been the most injured, burns littered across his body. With the explosion knocking most of the class to the ground, Kurogiri was given the perfect opportunity to complete his plan.
Darkness swarmed all the students and teachers. Izuku could only stumble back and before he knew it, he was falling.
The wind whistled past his face as Izuku tumbled through the air. Izuku gasped, the air being ripped away before he could take a proper breath. Tears gathered in his eyes from the air hitting his eyes. Izuku forced himself to open his eyes and could see the ground rushing towards him. While he was glad he was heading towards the ground, Izuku couldn't stop the small inkling of fear of hitting the ground. Nevertheless, Izuku knew he preferred dropping towards the ground rather than into the sea.
Izuku calmed his racing pulse as he focused on his earthbending. The seconds it took to fall to the ground felt like an eternity to Izuku as he watched the ground get closer. He had angled himself so his feet were hitting the ground. For most people, hitting the ground with this speed, feet first, would've shattered their ankles.
Nevertheless, Izuku didn't let that errant thought break his concentration and absolutely smashed into the ground, creating a crater more than 10 feet wide. Izuku almost bit his tongue from the impact but was able to walk away from that relatively unharmed, albeit slightly dazed.
However, Izuku didn't have much time to recuperate as a high-pitched scream caught his attention. Looking up, he saw both Denki and Kyoka falling from a rapidly closing warp. Izuku's eyes widened. This wasn't good. Unlike him, they didn't have quirks suited for this situation. If Izuku didn't act, he didn't even want to think about what would happen to them.
Izuku glanced around, trying to see if there was anything he could use to break their fall. However, it only took a quick glance to see that he was on some kind of mountain and it was practically barren. With no time left to think, Izuku thrust his hands into the ground, creating a mix between a slide and a half-pipe.
Denki and Kyoka landed on the slide with a grunt. Denki had wrapped himself around Kyoka, trying to protect her as they rolled down the slide. The earthen slide levelled out and the two gradually came to a stop. "You ok?" Denki asked, panting.
Kyoka rolled away and lay on the floor gasping for breath. "Y-yes." Denki just nodded as his pulse slowly slowed down now that he hadn't become a human pancake.
"Hey! Are you alright?" Izuku ran over to check on his classmates. Upon hearing Izuku's voice, Denki and Kyoka clambered to their feet. Denki looked over the scratches now adorning his body while Kyoka cracked her stiff joints. "We're ok, thanks to you, Midoriya," Kyoka said.
"Yeah, thanks for the save." Denki jumped in.
Izuku sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "I'm just glad it worked out without either of you getting too banged up." Denki looked like he was about to say something but Kyoka stepped on his foot causing him to yelp out. Kyoka sighed but was just happy that Izuku hadn't noticed Denki's close slip.
"Do you know where we are?" Kyoka asked. The three of them looked around.
Izuku glanced up the mountain, but something felt off about it. Concentrating on his seismic sense, Izuku realised something important. "This is not a mountain."
"What do you mean?" Denki was confused. It looked like a mountain to him.
"This is the volcano zone!" Izuku practically shouted.
Denki's eyes widened comically and he started hopping around as if lava would suddenly just seep up through the ground. Kyoka gained a tick mark on her forehead from Denki's antics. She finally had had enough and jammed her ear jacks into Denki, sending her heartbeat thrumming straight into him, causing him to collapse.
"So, how do you know it's the volcano zone?" she asked.
Izuku gulped nervously as he stared at the downed Denki while Kyoka acted like nothing had happened. Izuku decided it was in his best interest to do the same and just answer her. "The inside of the mountain is hollow. There's something that's not of earth in the middle."
Kyoka nodded in understanding. "Right, so it must be some sort of chamber to simulate a volcanic eruption. Wait, how did you even do that."
"Well, I can use my earthb-, earth quirk to feel in the earth," Izuku answered.
Kyoka's eyebrows rose in grudging appreciation. "That's how you were able to sense me and Kirishima in our first hero training session." Izuku just nodded.
"But it's not active, is it?" Denki asked, scared. The other two looked a bit confused. "The volcano! Is it active?" Denki clarified.
Izuku hadn't really considered that yet, but the more he thought about it, the less likely it became. "I can't feel any tremors. Most likely the system has to be activated before an eruption can even occur." Denki finally calmed down but it was not to last as Izuku felt footsteps approaching from various directions. "Get down," Izuku whispered strongly.
Both Denki and Kyoka immediately followed Izuku's orders and crouched down while Izuku created some boulders to surround them and hide them. Kyoka plugged her ear jacks into the earth and immediately heard the footsteps that Izuku had sensed. Her eyes widened in fear. "There's so many!"
"What's going on?" Denki was frustrated by the lack of communication.
"There are multiple footsteps around us." Kyoka started.
"And with all the villains that entered the USJ, the people approaching us are likely villains too." Izuku finished.
"S-so, what should we do?" Denki stuttered slightly. Even Kyoka looked scared and Izuku was worried himself.
"We should-" Izuku stopped abruptly and leapt into action, as did Kyoka. Kyoka knocked Denki to the ground and Izuku hastily created a sturdier barrier of earth as throwing stars were launched towards the students. There was no time for a carefully constructed plan, so Izuku took charge. "Kaminari, try to get in contact with any of the teachers or any of the U.A. faculty. Jiro, help me defeat the villains. When Kaminari has finished trying to get into contact, he can help you." Both Kyoka and Denki nodded as they all leapt into action.
Minoru had been having a rough day. First, the whole class had gone to the USJ which was apparently for rescue training but for Minoru, all it seemed like was a place where teachers would throw them into various natural disasters and see if they could survive. He almost hyperventilated when he heard there was a volcano zone. Seriously! Minoru had no intention to be anywhere near a volcanic eruption.
Nevertheless, things somehow became worse when villains suddenly popped up out of nowhere. Minoru's eyes almost fell out of his head. U.A. was the top hero school in Japan and was even considered one of the top hero schools in the world. How did villains manage to infiltrate them? Was there no security? And of all the days, it just had to be the day Minoru was there.
Then the trigger-happy blonde had decided he was the man and charged the smoke villain. Before he knew it, Minoru had been knocked to the ground due to the explosion that had somehow gone off behind him. In the process, he had scraped his hands and he hadn't even been able to get up before the smoke villain attacked them.
And now, he was falling towards water. Great.
Minoru screamed as he fell, flailing his arms around. Unfortunately, he couldn't fly and thus entered the water with a loud 'KABOOM'. Luckily, he hadn't fallen from very high, so the impact only stung, not really hurting too much. He floundered in the water as he wasn't a great swimmer.
Once he got his rhythm for treading water, he almost lost it again as saw some weird shark-man hybrid gunning it straight for him. He tried to swim away, but compared to the villain – after all, what else could he be – he was practically a snail. When the villain was just a few feet away, Minoru thought that was it until a cascade of bubbles obscured his vision.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed Minoru out of the wall of bubbles, and he was swiftly being dragged somewhere. Minoru let out a scream, but being underwater meant that practically no one would have been able to hear the scream and instead bubbles of precious air escaped him. He barely even registered being thrown up onto something as he was spluttering from some of the water he had inhaled. He was then dragged into some room judging by how he banged into a door.
"Are you alright?" A voice asked.
"Who's that?" Minoru rubbed the water from his eyes and opened them blearily to see a pink face. "Mina!" He leaned in as if going for a hug, a glint in his eyes. However, Mina was having none of that and smacked him causing him to turn 180 and ended up hugging something that was definitely not soft. Minoru opened his eyes, only to see the masked face of Mezo Shoji. Minoru yelped and leapt back. "When did you get here?"
Shoji's face was stoic. "I saved you earlier."
Minoru nodded at the manner-of-fact way that was said. Shoji didn't even look like he wanted a thank you but Minoru decided to say it to him anyways. "Thanks." Shoji was far more subtle than Mina, whose eyebrows looked like they were climbing into her hair.
"We need to find a way to get back," Shoji said, calmly.
"But where are we?" Minoru asked.
Mina gave him a weird look. "We're still at the USJ. The villains wouldn't want us escaping and alerting the faculty."
Shoji nodded in agreement. "So that warp villain separated us so we would be easier to take out."
"Take out!" Minoru gulped. "What do you mean? They're not going to kill us, are they?"
"You can't honestly be that delusional." Mina couldn't understand how someone could enter the hero course if they were so frightened of villains. She understood being insecure and even scared but there was a point after which she didn't think the pro Hero life was suitable.
"Hey, I don't want to die." Mina just rolled her eyes at Minoru's drama.
Shoji put a hand up causing Mina to quiet down. He discreetly pointed him. Mina tensed as she discreetly looked behind him to the door. Minoru was confused but Mina was thankful that he didn't say anything in case Minoru started screaming. She was able to see the edge of a shadow peeking from the side of the doorframe.
Shoji counted down using his fingers as more and more of the shadow could be seen. When he reached one, the students – or rather two of the students – exploded into action. Shoji stepped forward, grabbing a hold of Mina's arm before spinning around and throwing her towards the doorway. Mina used the force of the throw along with her acid quirk to skid with speed across the floor. The villain who had been inching his way was caught off guard by a pink girl suddenly speeding towards him and before he could react, Mina slammed into him and pushed him straight off the boat.
Minoru and Shoji rushed out. "Are you ok?" Shoji asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Mina replied.
"Was that a vill-" Minoru stopped in his tracks. "Woah! Oh no." He started to breathe heavily as he looked over the side of the boat to see all the villains that were surrounding the boat. "We're surrounded!"
However, Mina had had enough of his whining. It was already a stressful enough situation. She was also scared. But now was not the time! His complaining was just demoralising all of them. "What's your deal? Why do you even want to be a hero? You're such a coward!" She took a deep breath before continuing on. "If you're so scared of villains, why did you even come to U.A."
Shoji looked on. He knew Mina was being very blunt, but he didn't really disagree with the message, only the delivery. Nevertheless, if this meant he was safer, either because he became more serious or quit, it was for the better.
By the end of her tirade, her voice had risen so she was practically shouting in his face. Minoru looked like he was about to cry, and Shoji decided that was enough. He placed a hand on her shoulder at which point she whirled around, anger in her eyes. However, Shoji simply gazed at her calmly and she deflated. She nodded.
Seeing that she was done, Shoji moved on to what they had to do next. "We need to find a way to repair the boat." Minoru rubbed the tears from her eyes before listening in. "The villains all look to be suited for the water so we can't simply swim back to shore." The other two nodded.
As part of the simulation, the boat was broken so students couldn't simply take it back to shore. However, Shoji knew that U.A. would be as realistic as possible so the boat would be real. They all stared at each other for a couple of seconds, waiting for the other to build on Shoji's initial idea.
Minoru timidly piped up, "I think I can fix it."
Mina fixed a rather scornful look on Minoru. "Wow!" she said sarcastically. "I thought the only thing you knew how to do was be a pervert."
Shoji glared at her. "Now is not the time." Mina just looked away in response.
"My dad taught me," Minoru spoke quietly, a tremble in his voice, "before he died." Mina's eyes snapped back, wide. She was stunned silent. She wanted to say something but felt it was no longer her place to do say something given what she had said earlier.
"What happened?" Shoji asked.
However, Minoru said no more on the subject, instead switching focus to the task at hand. "Shoji, I'll need your help with starting the boat. Mina, stand here and try and protect the boat." Having said that, Minoru walked back into the boat without a backwards glance. Mina looked at Shoji uncertainly but he just followed behind Minoru so she decided to stick to the plan and stood just inside the doorway, looking nervously out to the villains in the sea.
"Stay back, children." Thirteen kept a hand out in front of the remaining students.
Meanwhile, Kido glanced back to see how many were left and his heart sank when he saw there were only four students. He reasoned that they were likely scattered across the USJ. If they were warped outside the USJ, reinforcements could be called so they had to still be in the building. However, the USJ was a huge complex and with all the villains loose, the students were in trouble.
Tenya cursed himself for being too slow which was rather ironic given his quirk. However, when the warp villain had suddenly shot tendrils out, he had frozen, unable to react in time. He glanced around and saw Ochako, Rikido and Yuga. Ochako looked unsure while Rikido looked determined, and Yuga just looked unconcerned which Tenya found odd.
"Thirteen, the Space Hero," the warp villain stated.
"Where have you warped the students to, villain?" Thirteen lifted her hands up, preparing to use her quirk.
The expression on the warp villain's face changed. Limited though it was, Kido couldn't help but think he or it looked affronted. "First of all, my name is Kurogiri. Do not simply call me 'villain'. I have given you respect by referring to you by your hero name." Kido's eyebrow quirked beneath his bandages at the pride in Kurogiri's tone. Even Thirteen was caught off guard. "Second of all, your students are simply scattered within the facility. They are safe. For now."
Everyone caught on to the implications of that. "Enough." Thirteen said. "Your presence has been tolerated long enough." The ends of the gloves on her suit opened and suddenly a powerful suction force pulled Kurogiri in. The students tensed as even they could feel the force while they were standing behind the pro Hero. Kido had to keep a tight hold on his bandages, lest they get pulled in.
Kurogiri was a bit surprised at the suddenness of the move. However, he was more surprised by the brashness of it. Parts of the mist covering his body were being pulled in, but he could tell that he had time. "Your quirk certainly is powerful. However, you are a rescue hero, and it shows."
Kido's eyes widened as he heard Kurogiri's words. "Thirteen, stop your quirk." Thirteen did hear him, but she was too late. A portal opened behind her, and Black hole ripped the back of its user's space suit. Her quirk stopped a second later, but by then, the damage had already been done. The edges of her white suit started to stain red.
"Thirteen!" Ochako screamed and made to move forward but was stopped by Kido.
"Wait." Kido held the struggling Ochako. "If you charge in recklessly, you will be of no use to anyone." Ochako stopped struggling, though tears did gather in the corners of her eyes.
Kurogiri chuckled. "Good advice. Unfortunately, I am not aware of your name."
Kido regarded the warp villain for a second before deciding to oblige him. "Kido."
"If we all work together, we can take him down." Rikido was eager to fight back. They couldn't just let the villains walk all over them.
"No!" Tenya said furiously. "We have to follow Erasurehead's orders. He told us not to fight unless we were attacked."
"One of the teachers is already down! I think that counts as us being attacked. If we don't act quickly…" Rikido did not finish the sentence, but Tenya couldn't help but grimace as even he was worried about Thirteen's injuries.
"Iida." Said student turned to face Kido. "You must make it out of the USJ and alert the faculty back at U.A."
Tenya was rather flabbergasted. "You want me to run away. But I can help here!"
Kurogiri wasn't simply going to stand from the side while the heroes discussed their plans. However, he wasn't sure what Kido's quirk was and he was a cautious person. Kurogiri experimentally sends out a tendril towards the heroes.
Nevertheless, Kido was keeping an eye on the villain and redirected the tendril away from the group. "Ah, I see. So that was how you all were able to escape me earlier." Suddenly, a beam comes out of nowhere though it passes through the smoky body of the villain. Nevertheless, everyone was surprised by that, including Kurogiri. "How unexpected. That was rather close."
"Why did you bother doing that when he is smoke?" Rikido questioned Yuga who didn't answer, simply posing. However, Kido was more preoccupied with what Kurogiri had said. Kido's eyes widened as he thought of a plan.
"Iida, get ready to run for the exit," Kido said, without taking his eyes off Kurogiri.
"But sir-" Tenya complained.
"Grow up, Iida. A hero must do what is useful in the situation, not what they want to do. In order to do that, you must figure out where your strengths lie." Kido paused to let the message sink in. It didn't take Tenya long to figure out that his strength was his speed. He would be able to alert the faculty the quickest.
Seeing Tenya's determined expression, Kido turned to the other students. "Uraraka, can you remove the weight of Tenya's armour as well as Sato's weight?" She nodded, though she wasn't confident. "Aoyama, provide covering fire while Tenya runs for the door. Sato, you and I will keep the villain occupied." Rikido grinned at that, happy that he was going to take part. Kido then whispered something into Rikido's ears.
"How foolish of you to tell your enemy your plan." Kurogiri mocked the heroes.
Kido grabbed a hold of some of the bandages. "It doesn't matter that you know. Ready?" The last part was directed to the students who all nodded. "Go!"
And the heroes sprang into action.
It hadn't taken long before they were almost surrounded by villains. Eijiro could feel the heat of the flames raging all around them. He stood back-to-back with Hanta. Thanks to his tape quirk, the two of them had easily landed safely on the ground.
With all the fire, it was quite easy to guess they were in the conflagration zone though they didn't know where the exit was. There was no man-made lighting. The fires all around them rose high, throwing light around, and creating flickering shadows. Both Eijiro and Hanta coughed due to the amount of smoke around them. They had decided to try and find the edge of the enclosure and started going in one direction but hadn't even made it 50 metres before the first villains showed up.
Both the students had been nervous about fighting villains but slowly gained confidence as they started defeating them. Eijiro utilised his hardening to block projectile attacks such as one villain who had thrown human nails at him. He had been a bit surprised that someone's quirk was to shoot their nails out but Eijiro had seen other similar quirks. He also engaged in close combat though his only real strength here was his quirk as he didn't really know any martial arts. Nevertheless, simple punches that were hardened were enough to defeat villains that approached him.
Eijiro was impressed by Hanta's athletic ability. He guessed it wasn't easy to swing around the way he did. Hanta expertly dodged attacks before using his tape to tie villains up and knock them away. "You're amazing, man," Eijiro commented while facing a villain.
"Who, me?" The villain was confused as to why this kid was complimenting him and paused in his attacks.
"No, not you." Eijiro delivered a harsh, hardened chop to the back of his neck. The villain's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Thanks." Hanta's breath was ragged, prompting Eijiro to look over. He let out a gasp at Hanta's condition.
"Dude, what happened?" Eijiro hadn't noticed Hanta taking any villain attacks, but he hadn't been able to keep an eye on him throughout the battle. But now, Eijiro could see that his face was pale, and his arms were red and covered in blood. His skin looked cracked, and blood could be seen through his costume on his flank.
Then Eijiro remembered what Hanta had said about his quirk's weakness in the locker room after their first hero training session. While Hanta's quirk allowed him to produce and shoot out tape from his elbows, it wasn't unlimited. Over time, his skin would get drier and so he needed to put lotion to keep it moisturised. However, with how much they had used their quirks, along with all the fire and heat in the area, Hanta must've dried out far more quickly, leading to his skin cracking and bleeding.
Still, the large wound on his flank scared Eijiro. "Come on," he said. Eijiro punched the last villain before taking a look around. Having found an appropriate building, he pointed it out to Hanta. "Get us on top of that building, then you can rest for a bit."
"I'm good." Hanta denied, breathing heavily.
"If we stay up there, we won't have to worry about villains as much." Eijiro countered. Hanta obliged and it wasn't long before they were on the roof of the building. Hanta fell to the ground and Eijiro was worried that he was unconscious, but instead, Hanta was just trying to get some relief as he started scratching his arms. Eijiro winced at the red marks left by his nails and the blood that was being drawn.
Unfortunately, Eijiro had nothing cold that could provide some relief, so he instead looked out to see if he could spot the exit and to also keep an eye out for villains.
Shoto looked around as he fell towards the ground. A scowl marred his face. He had tried to block the warp villain's attack with his ice but judging by how he was falling towards a mountain, it clearly hadn't worked. Nevertheless, he wasn't worried about the fall. His ice was extremely versatile, unlike his – no Endeavor's – fire, and he used it to create a slide that slowed him down before coming to a stop on the ground.
He turned when he heard a skid behind him to see Momo Yaoyarozu. His eyebrows raised as he was impressed with her solution. Given he had already created a slide of ice, she had decided to simply make ice skates which she used to descend safely.
"Are you alright, Todoroki?" Shoto stared at the girl until she became slightly red from embarrassment before giving a single nod. He didn't even bother asking her if she was fine, something that Momo both picked up on and was slightly offended about. However, to Shoto, he simply didn't see the need to ask that question since he had seen her land safely. "We must be in the landslide zone of the USJ." Momo continued as she saw the barren mountain around them. "We need to find our way back to the entrance."
"No." Shoto's abrupt response caught her off guard.
"What do you mean no?"
However, Shoto didn't initially respond, instead sending a wave of ice towards some boulders. There were some shouts and as the two made their way over, Momo saw villains all trapped in the ice Shoto had sent earlier. Momo admired the precision with which the heterochromatic used his quirk as he was able to trap the three villains there without damaging them or instantly freezing them but also in a way that prevented them from escaping. "I want some answers," Shoto said, both in response to her earlier question as well as to the villains.
"We won't say anything." One of the villains who was braver than the other two said. He started to struggle, trying to break free from the ice.
"I would advise against that course of action." Shoto's eyes bored into the mask of the struggling villain. "Unless you want to rip the skin off your feet. If that's your goal, I can help." The villain gulped and promptly stopped moving. Even Momo shivered at Shoto's stoniness. She couldn't help but wonder what exactly he had gone through in life to be this cold. "Now, what was the purpose of this little invasion." The three villains looked at each other, waiting for one of the others to speak so they could blame it on them later. Shoto's eyes narrowed. "I won't ask again." Shoto raised his hand, cold air falling from it, emphasising his point.
Momo didn't really agree with his methods. However, that wasn't what worried her the most. She wasn't sure how much he was bluffing.
Funnily enough, it was the villain that had been struggling earlier that was the first to talk. "W-we're just villains to hire. We got a call a couple of days ago who offered some money for our services."
Momo wasn't satisfied with that. "Even if you were offered some money, I find it hard to believe you would be so willing to attack U.A., one of the top hero schools in the world. Especially after the news that All Might would be teaching this year."
This time it was a different villain that spoke. The cold was clearly getting to him as he chattered his teeth while speaking. "We were told that if we came, we would be able to see the end of All Might's era."
Both Shoto and Momo were caught off guard. Of all the reasons they might've been expecting, All Might's demise was not one of them. Shoto had personally seen Endeavor's struggle in catching up to him. The truth was that there was no contest between the two. All Might seemed practically invincible. Shoto couldn't really imagine anyone defeating him. If the leaders of this invasion believed they could take him down, they were either incredibly foolish or had an incredible plan.
Or perhaps both.
Shoto opened his mouth to ask another question when the hairs on the back of his head rose and he suddenly pulled Momo away from the villains while creating a barrier of ice. Momo yelped in surprise. His actions came not a second too late as suddenly a massive stream of fire rushed in from an unknown direction. There was a loud crash as the heat melted the ice from the slide created earlier. Chunks of ice fell to the ground, shaking the ground. The ice from the barrier melted rapidly till it was no more than a puddle of water. The villains screamed as they were incinerated on the spot with no evidence left of the ice that had been used to trap them in the first place.
Momo shrieked in pain. While Shoto had saved her from the onslaught of flames, her arm had still been burned. She fell to the ground, clutching her arm while wincing.
The flames died down until only a few remained, licking the ground. Scorch marks covered the earth as the wind slowly blew the ashes of the villains away.
"Who's there?!" Shoto shouted, standing in front of Momo. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face. Unlike the other villains, this one was dangerous.
A figure slowly drew closer and Shoto's eyes widened in recognition. It was the cloaked villain who had stood with who Shoto guessed to be the ringleader of the group.
"You can call me, Dragon."
And that's part 1 of the USJ arc. Just wanted to confirm that the cloaked figure using fire against Shoto is not Dabi.
See you next time!