"THIS IS TRAINING GROUND BETA AND WE'LL BE USING IT FOR TODAY'S LESSON!" All Might said with a booming laugh. The area behind him was full of office buildings, convenience stores and other places to give the image of what would normally be a bustling business district, "SOME OF YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE THIS PLACE FROM THE ENTRANCE EXAMS! HOWEVER TODAY YOU WON'T BE FIGHTING ROBOTS, INSTEAD WE'LL BE PLAYING A GAME OF HEROES VS VILLAINS!" A volley of questions was then shot at All Might who quickly pulled out some cards and explained that the 'Villains' would be guarding a fake bomb and the 'Heroes' either needed to restrain both 'Villains' to win or simply put a hand on the bomb. The 'Villains' meanwhile either needed to capture the heroes, or stall until the time limit expired. Once the explanation was over, All Might motioned to two boxes and told everyone to pull a ball from one to create the teams.
Ida tried to protest but Asui pointed out that Heroes often team up when on the job and rarely get to choose who their partners would be, causing Ida to apologize and step back. Some were wondering how sheltered Ida was considering a lot of what he spoke up about was common knowledge such as Midnight's outfit being as Ida put it 'indecent' or heroes teaming up when on the job. Once everyone pulled a ball from the boxes they had their teams
Team A: Midna & Tokoyami
Team B: Izuku & Kaminari
Team C: Bakugo & Mineta
Team D: Hagakure & Kirishima
Team E: Ashido & Aoyama
Team F: Sato & Ida
Team G: Todoroki & Tsu
Team H: Uraraka & Sero
Team I: Koda & Shoji
Team J: Jiro & Yaoyorozu
"Uhh… Sensei? Are you sure these are random?" Midna asked, "I mean both shadow users are on the same team… that's incredibly unlikely all things considered."
Even All Might was scratching his head just as confused, "POSITIVE. THERE'S NO TECH INVOLVED WITH THESE AND NONE OF YOU HAVE A PSYCHIC BASED QUIRK. THEY'RE LITERALLY JUST BOXES FULL OF MARKED BALLS… OH CAN EVERYONE PLEASE PUT THEIR BALLS BACK IN THEIR BOXES PLEASE? WE SHALL USE THEM TO DETERMINE THE MATCHES!" Once everything was back in the boxes, All Might asked Kirishima to shake the boxes since if he did it, the boxes would most likely just explode, once that was taken care of All Might grinned, "NOW THEN! TIME TO DECIDE THE FIRST MATCH!" Putting his large hands into the boxes, All Might pulled out two balls, "THE HEROES WILL BE RIKIDO SATO AND TENYA IDA, WHILE THE VILLAINS WILL BE KOJI KODA AND MEZO SHOJI! VILLAINS HAVE FIVE MINUTES PREP TIME TO GET TO THE LOCATION AND PLAN, AND EACH MATCH WILL BE TEN MINUTES LONG!"
It would be an interesting match if nothing else, raw strength and speed against adaptability and animal control, "Seems relatively even," Yaoyorozu mused, "Both Koda-San and Shoji-San are physically strong and should be able to handle Sato-San, and Shoji-San can hear Ida coming and possibly move the bomb before his opponent gets there. On top of that there are bound to be plenty of birds and rodents nearby so Koda-San can still use his Quirk."
Jiro nodded, "That about sums it up… oh by the way. I overheard you planning some study sessions earlier? Would it be possible to join in?"
"Of course!" Midna nodded, "Anyone who wants can join!" Apart from Jiro, nobody accepted the offer. It sucked but it was their right to choose… well Mineta tried but was shot down when Hagakure threatened to tell Aizawa-Sensei about how creepalie he was staring at all the girls of the class, the purple haired midget kept his eyes on the screen from then on with a couple beads of sweat running down his neck.
The match concluded with Koda and Shoji wearing down the time limit, with Shoji using his mobility to keep the bomb out of Ida's clutches while Koda used his natural strength and an army of rats to hold of Sato, even if Ida was close to getting the paper mache bomb a couple of times. The next few rounds were interesting, the second round was Ashido and Aoyama as the Heroes against Jiro and Yaoyorozu as the Villains, with Jiro and Yaomomo's first line of defense being steel barricades followed by a corridor full of slippery oil, ball bearings, trip wires and finally some industrial speakers Jiro could use to super charge her attacks, causing Ashido and Aoyama to surrender.
The third match was Todoroki and Tsu as Heroes against Bakugo and Mineta… though it over quickly as the moment Todoroki froze the entire building, Tsu who was climbing on a nearby building to infiltrate from a higher floor if needed was affected by the cold and nearly went into hibernation. If not for All Might rushing out to catch her when fell off the building when she could have easily been hurt if not died from the fall, something that shook Todoroki to his core. He apologized to Tsu and stated he didn't know frogs hibernate in the cold and that he now had a lot to think about. He then went to a corner and began meditating, while Bakugo fumed as his team wasn't allowed to go into the grounds again and he wanted to beat up the 'Extras' as he dubbed the rest of the class.
"THE FOURTH MATCH IS… TEAM H, AS THE HEROES AND TEAM A AS THE VILLAINS!" All Might declared.
"Come on Tokoyami, Dark Shadow!" Midna cackled, "We got some planning to do! See ya on the battlefield Uraraka-San! Sero-San!"
"See ya there," Sero replied with a lazy grin and mock salute.
Once at the building Midna cracked her neck as she looked at the fake bomb in thought, "... Still no idea why they made it look like a rocket," She stated.
"To make it obvious?" Dark Shadow suggested, as he floated above Tokoyami.
"Most likely," Midna nodded, "Now I have a couple ideas. The rules don't say the bomb has to stay in the building, so once the match starts, we could just… jump to a nearby building and play keep away. Dark Shadow could carry it or I could put it in my shadow… but we do need to make it at least somewhat fair I guess."
"That is true," Tokoyami pondered, "We could also cut some of the lights in the building to strengthen Dark Shadow. There are enough windows to help keep him from rampaging."
"I'm not that bad," Dark Shadow huffed, getting a deadpan look from Tokoyami, "... Ok ok! I'll work on reigning myself in alright?"
"You know… this raises the question," Midna said, "Is Dark Shadow fully sentient or… is this more a Persona thing and he's pulling on repressed parts of your personality?"
The two looked at each other and shrugged, "No idea," Tokoyami stated.
"We never considered it like that," Dark Shadow continued with a shrug, "But that could be the case as I'm naturally far more aggressive and destructive than Tokoyami. Doubly so when he's angry at something."
"What a mad feast of Darkness," Tokoyami stated.
"Something to look into later," Midna stated, "So.. get to the roof and play some keep away or stay and fight? Uraraka's Quirk removes the effect of gravity from something she touches so Dark Shadow should be immune to her Quirk and at least resistant to Sero's since he can change his shape to wriggle out of the tape. I'm not planning to use my Scimitars yet since there's only so much you can learn from the internet and I want a proper teacher, so I'd mostly be a distraction with my wolves."
"... let's play some keep away," Dark Shadow cackled as he picked up the bomb, "No one will see that coming!" Tokoyami nodded.
Midna joined Dark Shadow as she cackled, "Let's cause some Chaos," The three Quickly made their way to the door leading to the roof with Midna sending a couple wolves to keep watch to see if the opposing team would try entering from the rooftop.
"Oh no," Izuku groaned despite the small smile that crossed his lips. The moment the match started the cameras came to life and after a couple moments found Midna and Tokoyami, "She has that chaotic grin on her… Uraraka-San and Sero-San are in trouble."
"Meaning it's going to be hilarious to watch," Kaminari chuckled, "Wonder why they're near the roof though."
Ashido tilted her head in thought before she burst out laughing, "I think they're going to play keep away and move to another building! There aren't any rules against it!" Mutters burst out from the students with Hagakure, Jiro and Kaminari laughing, Yaomomo was thoughtful, Bakugo, Kirishima complained with Bakugo wanting blood, and Kirishima calling it 'Unmanly'.
"How?" Izuku said looking at the red haired teen, "Not every mission a Hero has is combat. Sometimes keeping someone safe and out of the way is the most important part of the job, and why would a Villain who's able to flee with a weapon or stolen object stay and fight if said item could be damaged?"
"YOUNG MIDORIYA IS CORRECT!" All Might stated with a nod, "PROTECTING VIPS OR SPECIFIC ITEMS IS ALSO IMPORTANT JOBS OF A HERO! I WILL LET THIS PLAN GO TO SEE HOW YOUNG URARAKA AND SERO HANDLE IT, HOWEVER I WILL NOT LET IT HAPPEN IN THE FINAL MATCH. UNDERSTOOD?"
"Got it All Might," Hagakure said, giving him a thumbs up. She was so glad her new suit could let others see her so she didn't need to do the over the top movements anymore. All Might nodded and turned back to the camera, as Midna and Tokoyami's five minutes prep time was just about up.
Midna's wolf returned and gave a quick low whine telling the duo that the rival team had entered from a lower point in the building, they would have howled if the two had taken to the rooftop, "Let the games begin," Midna cackled as the two left the stairway and stood on the roof. Dark Shadow quickly put the bomb on the next roof before helping Tokoyami over the gap while Midna simply took a running jump. Let's let the pair of wolves she left behind play with her classmates. The two had orders not to hurt the pair too badly. A couple scrapes, and a good scare? Yes. Broken bones or bite wounds no.
The dark duo parkoured to the next building before hiding again, and waited with Midna and Dark Shadow cackling the entire time. A few minutes later Tokoyami had Dark Shadow check outside, "We should move again. They might decide to check the nearby buildings."
"I'll take care of getting us across the street," Midna nodded as the physical duo got to their feet, "We just pop into my shadow, cross the street and boom. I doubt they'd consider checking a different block, and if they do which one are they going to check? There are tons of empty buildings to search."
"What a mad feast of darkness," Tokoyami chuckled and the two moved out. When the signal came that the Villain team won, Midna took the bomb and left to place it back in the original building before making her way back to the observation room with a small bounce in her step and an impish grin on her face, "Well that was fun."
"Not fair Midna-San!" Uraraka pouted, "Why did you take the bomb and run?"
"Wasn't against the rules, and what kind of villain would stay and fight when escape is an option?" Midna replied, her grin never wavering.
"Fair point," Sero nodded, "Something to think about in the future, but how did you escape?"
"Rooftop parkour," Tokoyami replied.
"Her wolves made great scouts to see if you'd come in from the rooftop," Dark Shadow cackled before he paused, "Why didn't you? You both could have made it easily enough."
"My fault mostly," Uraraka stated embarrassed, "The main side effect of my Quirk is nausea, which would have made me useless in a fight. I figured I'd wait till later to use it and didn't want to exhaust Sero-San by having him pu;l me up to the roof… I also have no combat experience and didn't want to get caught early…"
"ALL OF THOSE ARE REASONABLE WORRIES," All Might nodded, "REMEMBER YOU CAN ALWAYS TALK TO POWER LOADER ABOUT UPDATING YOUR COSTUME, AS PROBLEMS ARISE. THESE PRACTICAL LESSONS ARE HERE TO HELP YOU LEARN THOSE WEAKNESSES IN CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS! NOW IT'S TIME TO SEE WHICH OF THE FINAL TEAMS WILL BE HEROES AND WHICH WILL BE THE VILLAINS!" Reaching into the Hero Team box, All Might pulled out the last ball, "TEAM B WILL BE THE HEROES, LEAVING TEAM D TO BE THE VILLAINS!"
"Good luck bro! Kaminari-San!" Midna said with a thumbs up.
Krishima smirked, "Come on Hagakure, let's show these two why being a coward," He spat that word at Midna with all the contempt he could muster, "Isn't the Heroic or Manly way to win!"
"... You do realize that I'm not going to be a combat focused Hero and instead an Underground one focused on spying and espionage right?" Hagakure deadpanned, "In other words 'cowardly' tactics if my understanding of how you view heroics is correct."
"I… uh… well…" Kirishima stammered nervously while Ashido gave him a deadpanned, 'I am not amused' look that only an old friend could give. He shook his head, "Whatever! Let's just win this!"
As the last two teams left, with Izuku and Kaminari already in a whispered discussion, Ashido shook her head, "Sorry about him. There was a moment in middle school where we, along with some others, were nearly attacked by a villain who demanded directions to the local hero agency to prove something… I pointed him in the wrong direction, but he's had it in his head that the Heroic or Manly thing Heroes would have done is fight," Ashido shrugged, "He keeps going on about how Crimson Riot wouldn't have taken the 'cowards' way out… but honestly I think he's mostly scared about not being strong enough to help someone if a situation like that were to happen again."
All Might nodded and made a mental note to talk to Aizawa about Bakugo, and Kirishima's attitudes, as well as suggest that Young Todoroki see's Hound Dog, but in the end the decision to speak to the councilor was Young Todoroki's. He turned back the camra's, hoping his interference wouldn't be needed. Standing around and talking in his Hero Form took far less of a strain on him than actively using the embers of One for All, even if it was simply moving quickly. Using his ear buds he was able to listen into the two teams. Kirishima figured since his hardened skin was like stone he'd be resistant to Kaminari's lighting and he'd be able to tank anything Young Midoriya threw at him. That way Hagakure could wait nearby invisibly to tie the two Heroes up, though Hagakure wanted to try using her Quirk to their advantage and lure the two away from Kirishima with small noises and the like. Essentially copying Midna's plan of playing Keep Away but keeping it within the building.
Izuku and Kaminari on the other hand decided to have Kaminari enter from the upper floors, and use a stealthy approach as Plan A while Izuku went in loud. Izuku was curious if Kaminari could send out small pulses of electricity and use that as a kind of echolocation. The pulse didn't need to be that powerful which would be a problem, so a constant electrical field might be the better option. Apart from locating Hagakure the plan was to have Izuku distract Kirishima, and Kaminari would find the bomb, and hopefully stun Hagakure if she touched him. He'd been practicing keeping static charge over him which also gave him a small speed/power boost.
Plan B was very simple, regroup and work together while Plan C was simply 'make shit up as we go', "You ready Midoriya-San?" Kaminari asked over the com bead.
Izuku nodded, "Ready as I can be. I think we have about thirty seconds before the match starts."
"Rodger, rodger!" Kaminari stated as he tried to mimic a robotic voice but couldn't keep the small snicker out of his voice, "Let's make a real show out of this!"
"Ah. A Gokaiger fan," Izuku chuckled as the alarm rang, "That's one of Midna's favorite Sentai seasons too."
"... I'll have to look them up later," Kaminari mumbled, before leaping across the rooftop. Time to get to work."
Izuku charged in with a battle cry, and as expected Kirishima charged out, his body already hardened, the two then began to brawl fighting for dominance. Kirishima's style seemed to be all about tanking/ignoring attacks while Izuku's was more about dodging and attacking when the time was right. A similar fight was happening between Kaminari and Hagakure, as she decided that if Kirishima wouldn't listen to her, she'd guard the bomb just in case. Hagakure continued to dance around Kaminari, who was using his heightened reflexes to strike out at the invisible teen, and while Kirishima continued to charge in like an enraged bull, Kaminari and Hagakure were constantly trying new tricks to give them an edge.
Kaminari was close to trying his current special attack 'Indiscriminate Shock 1.3 Million Volts' which as the name suggests is just releasing a lot of electricity into the nearby area, two problems with that is it would fry his brain and he really didn't want to do that, and he didn't want to risk hurting Hagakure by using to much electricity. Then remembering the requested metal wire in his pockets he dug them out and much to Hagakure's surprise began playing cat's cradle with it as he began pouring power into the wire, "Let's turn on the lights!" With that line, a bright flash filled the room. Hagakure's goggles helped but the surprise of the move still caused her to cry out and stumble back. Kaminari took advantage of that, and rushed her, quickly pulling out his capture tape and wrapping it around her arms.
"HAGAKURE HAS BEEN CAPTURED…" All Might explained through the speakers, but before he could finish Kaminari bolted towards the bomb and put his hands on it, "ADDITIONALLY KAMINARI HAS CAPTURED THE BOMB! HERO TEAM WINS!"
"What the heck was that Kaminari?!" Hagakure gasped, still trying to blink away the few spots his technique caused.
"Something I saw on Hero Tube years ago," Kaminari explained as he untied Hagakure, "From a Pre-Quirk cartoon called Static Shock. From my understanding by combining the movements of cat's cradle, with a powerful enough electrical current through a metal wire… boom. Makeshift flash bang without the bang, but I couldn't find the entire clip… or a version in Japanese to understand what was said. Been wanting to try that ever since."
"Well I'm glad to be the one you got to test it against," Hagakure sarcastically stated, "But you owe me something for that, got it?"
"Fair enough… but make sure it's reasonable," Kaminari nodded.
"LIke I'm that petty to make you get something overly expensive," Hagakure stated and you could almost hear the eyeroll. When they got to the ground floor, Kirishima was grumbling with his arms crossed.
"How the hell did you get up there so quickly?" He asked as he scratched his cheek.
"How did Midna and Tokoyami get to different buildings? Rooftop parkour!" Kaminari replied with a shrug, "Have to admit Hagakure put up one hell of a fight. It was pretty even till I pulled out a trick I've been wanting to try from a Pre-Quirk cartoon."
"... Static Shock?" Izuku asked, getting a nod from Kaminari, "That's one Midna and I like it too."
"Well we better get back to the others," Kirishima sighed. He was still upset about the loss to something he still saw as a cowardly tactic but even he couldn't deny the results.
When they arrived at the Observation room they were met with a grinning All Might, "WELL DONE ALL OF YOU! REMEMBER THAT THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT, EVEN WHEN YOU BECOME PROS! NOW PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY BACK TO U.A. AND PACK UP AS SCHOOL WILL BE OVER SOON! UNFORTUNATELY I MUST LEAVE YOU EARLY AS THERE IS SOMETHING I MUST TAKE CARE OF! TAKE CARE AND I WILL SEE YOU NEXT TIME!" With that All Might zoomed off leaving a group of confused teens in his wake.
Author's Notes:
So I just want to let everyone know that before I get to A Twist of Fate Book 2, I want to reread a bit of the Shippuden era of the Manga or perhaps watch the anime. Mostly to try and get some idea on what canon/filler moments to adapt my story, but I've been rather busy lately and don't know when I'll get around to it, but for now I'm content focusing on this story. Chaotic Midna is very fun to write!
