"Match 4 Start!"
"Yikes! You're seriously suggesting that!?" Jirou asked Bakugou.
"That sorta strategy? No way, man," said Sato.
"Did I stutter?" Bakugou smirked at his gloved fingers.
"THIS IS IT!" Gloated Monoma. "Each class has a single win, so if you lose or tie this next one, you guys can no longer say you beat us! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Chill out, man," Kaminari frowned at him.
"And ohhh, I've been waiting for Match 4 in particular, yes siren! Why you ask? Because Tokage is in the mix! Bakugou had better be ready!"
We turned to the big screen, all eyes on Bakugou.
"On this terrain, Sero and Jirou are definitely gonna be trouble," Bondo was saying.
"Then there's SAto and Bakugou," Awase counted them off on his fingers, "who both pack a punch! Their team is super balanced. If we lose the initiative in this fight, we're dead meat."
"Who cares about all that? Lemme carve em up!" Kamakiri snarled.
"That's enough outta you," Awase replied.
"Early bird gets the worm! Victory is simple as that," smiled Tokage.
"TIME FOR MATCH 4! EACH CLASS HAS ONE WIN AND A TIE FROM THE LAST MATCH. BUT IF YOU'RE THINKING THEY'RE EVENLY MATCHED, GUESS AGAIN! BECAUSE CLASS A'S SINGLE WIN WAS MOSTLY THANKS TO SHINSO! EVENLY MATCHED? I THINK NOT!" Vlad King sensei was gloating.
"That's just mean, Vlad sensei!" Kaminari and Kirishima protested.
"That's enough," Aizawa sensei reprimanded them.
"But Sensei! This is a legit protest!"
"Are you planning to complain over every little failure once you go pro? Class B came up with better strategies. That much is evident. And Vlad is really showing me up!"
"Did we expect any better from the troublemakers?" Monoma gloated. "I mean, it's no wonder that your inexperience gets you caught up in so many disasters!"
"Hurry it up, slowpokes!" Bakugou was shouting at his teammates.
"But I'm trying to listen as we move!" Jirou complained.
"Whatever! Just keep up!'
"It's always follow the leader with him," grumbled Sato.
"Guy hasn't changed since the Sports Festival," sighed Sero.
"And to think it almost seemed like he was ready to cooperate," said Jirou, then murmuring, "Hope this works".
"Stop! They're here!" Bakugou shouted. "Ears!"
"I have a name, you know!" Shouted Jirou.
"They've gotta be close. Find em!"
Jirou plugged her jacks into the ground and sat listening.
"What's the holdup!?" Bakugou demanded.
"Hang on - oh, no! They've got us!" Jirou cried.
"Yes, it's all over now," said Tokage's floating mouth behind Bakugou.
He turned around to throw a blast at her, which she avoided. Tokage's quirk, allowing her to split up her body into independently moving pieces, had allowed her to sneak up on Bakugou and beat him up with her detached body parts.
These hits ain't too strong, but ugh! They're too small to target!
"In here, Bakugou!" Screamed Sero, creating a tape prison to barricade out Tokage.
"Like I said, it's all over now!" Came Tokage's gloating remark from above.
GLUE SQUALL! Screamed Bondo as glue spread out over the trapped 1A students.
"Arch, we're trapped!" Cried Sato.
"Woo, I did it! Just like Setsuna planned!" Said Bondo.
"This way," Sero directed the others. From above, Kamakiri was planning to jump down upon the trapped students.
"Ha ha ha, too slow, too slow!"
"They're using all of our moves against us!" Said Deku.
"At least you two can get away!" Sato said, holding up his hands. Bakugou's blast came from above, throwing all the glue away. And leaving them with no cover from Kamakiri, who leapt down towards Jirou.
"Let's start with the biggest nuisance, Jirou!" Said Tokage.
In a flash, Bakugou was between Jirou and Kamakiri, kicking Jirou out of the way to safety and blasting Kamakiri in the face.
For real? He just saved someone? Bakugou?
"You sleeping o the job, Tokage?' Demanded Kamakiri.
"For real!?" Asked Tokage.
"When you guys are in trouble, I'll save ya. "
"Blocked my blast, huh!? I guess bugs do have quick reflexes! Try this!" He threw Kamakiri backwards.
"What's this? Do my eyes deceive me?" Asked Monoma?" It almost looked like he protected Jiro just now."
"He sure did! By kicking her?" Said Kaminari.
"Don't worry, Monoma! He's got sides to him you wouldn't expect! Your vision's just fine," said Kirishima, patting Monoma on the back. "He even backed us up during the provisional license exam."
"YOU MEAN HE'S GOTTEN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!?" Monoma screamed.
"It's true, though. This is the first time we've seen him put it all on the line for someone else…" said Kirishima.
"Thanks!" Said Jirou.
"Shove it! They escaped, so go find em! Whater it's class training or whatever, I made a pledge1 I will achieve absolute victory every time! We're taking this 4-0, no casualties! The strong don't settle for anything less!"
The others all began to smile.
Moments ago, Tokage had explained, "We don't stand a chance in a straightforward brawl! So if we fail to capture them, make a quick retreat. We'll ambush them over and over, slowly building up an advantage. More likely than not, we'll basically be up against a one-man team since Bakugou'll be taking the lead and barking out orders. If we can keep the pressure on Bakugo, he's bound to stumble. That's when their whole team will fall apart and start screwing up!"
"Crap, they're all falling back!" Said Jirou. "Those extra noises from her make it tough, to be sure, but there're fewer pieces this time. If I focus I can tell what's what!"
"Fewer pieces?" Said Sero.
"They're trying to regroup, huh? Those jerks. Do you all think we're just gonna lie down and take it? Let's go!"
He blasted forward - and was met by Awase.
"He silently snuck up on them! They're using the opposite strategy now!" Deku commented.
With a single fuse, Awase and sealed Bakugou to the nearest pillars.
"Job complete!"
"They've totally seen through our plans!" Snapped Sero, trying to catch Awase with tape - which he evaded.
"DON'T MESS WITH ME!" Bakugou snapped, as Sato jumped to his aid, smashing through the pillars.
"GET GOING!"
"NOBODY WELDS ME AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Bakugou shouted, blasting after Awase.
Awase threw up shields in a hurry - but -
"HE'S ALL YOURS!" Bakugou called, blasting upwards. Jirou and Sero appeared behind him.
"Got this!" Smiled Jirou. HEARTBEAT SURROUND!
And her earphone plugs appeared above and below Awase, surrounding him with surround sound and stunning him for Sero to bind.
"Bakugou was closing in on Bondo.
"I ain't in top form in the winter…But now I'm finally starting to heat up!" He blasted around Bondo in an arc and threw a giant blast at his back. Sato popped up from behind him and seized his head.
"Gotcha!
"WHAT QUICK TEAMWORK FROM CLASS A! THEY'VE CAPTURED TWO OF MY DEAR STUDENTS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE!"
"Really? That little tyrant never had a cooperative bone in his body! But you're telling me he's mellowed out this much!?" Snapped Monoma.
"Jirou and the boys have faith in him too. That trust gets the job done," I smiled to myself. Welll done Bakugou!
"All that drumming paid off, huh?" Smiled Kirishima to Kaminari.
"Once a band, always a band."
"Bakugou!" Jirou shouted, pointing her Earphone Jack for him to follow.
"We know a thing or two about Tokage's Lizard Tail Splitter," said Sero. "She can split up into 50 pieces and move them all around, but the parts drop dead after a certain amount of time. She can regenerate those lost parts, and this next bit's just a guess but there's gotta be a limit to how much and how soon she can regenerate, right? Kinda like Yaoyorozu? If she's tried out, she's bound to lose focus."
Bakugou had caught up with Kamakiri, seized his cowl, and was throwing him, one hand grasping a horn, into the air.
"She split up as much as possible to make those noises to throw Jirou off, but repeating that strategy won't work well with her limitations," Sero continued, as Bakugou blasted Kamakiri into a building with an explode-a-pult.
"She'll bring a few pieces back to her main body to reset their time limit."
The pieces of Bakugou's bombs he'd thrown the others….
"Take a few, just in case they ain't too strong. But they could come in handy."
"Close one -" began Tokage.
She turned- and next to her was Bakugou, preparing a stun grenade.
"WHY'D YOU GO AND CHANGE SO MUCH!?" She demanded.
"I didn't change. MY goal has always been the same. To surpass All Might and be the number one hero!"
As the light cleared, Tokage lay on the ground, defeated.
League of Villains Hideout
"First the Yakuza, now the liberation army...all these retro freaks are trying to make a comeback. Is this cuz of that book that came out a little while back? Are you trying to ride that wave straight to the headlines?" asked Tomura.
"How well-informed you are! But no, it's the other way around. We Created the wave."
"WEll good for you!" snapped Jin. "Now where's Giran? And waddaya want? You better not've touched a hair on that wonderful man's head!"
"Oh, he's here. Alive of course. And we seek to liberate all meta humans! WE will tear down the existing framework andrebuild this world asa place where people are free to be themselves and use their abilities as they see fit."
"I don't see any reason we should oppose that," said Compress.
"Are we gonna lend these guys the League's rep just like with the Yakuza?" I asked.
Shigaraki said, "How about you liberate our broker and then ring me again. I'm busy now. Once I'm done with my business here I'll listen to you and your merry band of revolutionaries."
"That could very well come back to bite us," said Compress.
"Take a break and hear me out, why don't you? Because first of all we will not liberate our hostage. From him we've come to learn how tight-knit you people are. Your broker is an impressive man, someone who takes a lot of pride in his work. Someone able to sink into the shadows, always sure to evade the attention of the authorities and heroes. Too bad for you he was unprepared for an attack from those same sahdows. I commend him for deleting his client lists before we got to him, and whe nwe started severing fingers, the man not only refused to give up, he wouldn't even cry out in pain!"
A new voice added, "As for that client data he deleted, we've finally recovered it."
"I commend his resistence, though it was futile! Because you see, we liberation warriors have prepared long and hard over many generations for this! WE've bided our time and spread our roots far and wide! A merry band of revolutionaries you say? I'm no fan of such jokes. There are 116,516 of our fellow liberation warriors lying in wait ready to rise to action! I would be loath to make such a self-depricating comment, League of Villains!"
"This guy's gotta be bluffing!" said Spinner.
"Hm, it seems you're in Niigata? Perhaps deep in the mountains?"
Jin tossed the phone away, but the voice said, "Too late, I'm afraid! We have a lock on you via satellite imaging. Wherever you run, we'll have eyes on the notorious League of villains! Endeavor, Hawks, Edgeshot, Mirko, Crust, all those heroes would be upon you with just one little calll to the authorities!"
"So generous, giving us advance warning. What doyou really want?"
"Destro must be the one to lead this revolution, and your name has gotten too big. Your destruction at our hands will signal the second advent of the liberation army! Consider those fingers as proof of our resolve. No need to draw matters otu, right? We will fight to liberate the metas of this world, so make your way to Deika city in Aichi prefecture! That is, if you hope to see poor Giran freed! Stand against us and be destroyed or do nothing and be captured by heroes! The chose is yours, Tomura Shigaraki!