It wasn't long before class 1-A was organised into groups of five and when we were all ready to begin. Mr Aizawa explained the rules.
"It will be five on one, with a ten minute time limit. Within the time limit, Rei either needs to capture all five of you with her capture tape to win, or you to capture her to win. If it reaches the time limit and Rei hasn't captured everyone, she loses and you win, even if there is only one of you left. Any questions?"
"Mr Aizawa, Rei hasn't got a hero costume. Isn't it a little unfair for us to be ganging up on her, especially if even if one of us 'survives' we win?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Rei isn't a hero study student yet, as such she does not have a hero costume. Besides, just think of it as like your entrance exam, you didn't have any support gear or costumes designed to help you, either." Aizawa said without any bite, bland and logical.
All Might called out, ending any other questions. "Group 1, get ready!"
Sumie bit her lip and bounced on the balls of her feet, she felt the familiar bubble of excitement in her chest. Here it comes. She smiled at Group 1. "Okay! I'll head down and get ready, too. I look forward to our fight!" Sumie jumped down from the rig where they would leave their classmates with a screen that would allow them to watch their fight.
Sumie ran through the industrial maze, thinking of a plan to take on five heroes in training, who had known for a few months by this point. Surely everyone had a good grasp on everyone's quirks. She might not know theirs, but they didn't know hers, either.
Sumie hid in the shadows of a corner with lots of pipes going everywhere.
Her quirk and her skills were going to be her biggest asset in this. And to help her to survive long enough for four fights—she was sure that a lot of them were strong and skilled, this would be a challenge. And Sumie couldn't help but smile.
She knew what she was going to do. It would be best to try and trick them into what her quirk is, maybe they might figure it out, at least a little by the end of the four fights, but that didn't matter.
Sumie also had to think about her weakness. How could she avoid overusing her quirk? She couldn't hold back, but that was why she trained so much, with her quirk and in hand to hand combat—she can't always rely on her quirk.
So, maybe two quirks per round? And she had the perfect quirk to trick them up, to keep them from guessing what her actual quirk is.
So that narrowed it down.
The horn sounded, signalling the beginning of the round.
Sumie stayed and watched, in view of the starting point and hidden in the shadows, what were they planning? What strategy had they discussed? How would they go about taking on a single person that they didn't know? Honestly, this is probably better training for them then they might have realised.
The five heroes in training were running down the path, pointing and talking to each other. Searching for her. Probably were discussing ideas, too.
Sumie took a deep breath, held it and let it out slowly. Ready.
Sumie decided on which quirks and slipped back in shadow and moved.
She got closer to the group, in range for her quirk to read what quirks they had. She hopped out of the shadow, still hidden, so she could see them. Sugar Rush, Electrification, Acid, Tape, and Invisibility (which was honestly a little obvious). She could see their strengths and their main weaknesses.
Sumie watched as Tape took to the skies, swinging through the maze, probably to get some extra reconnaissance. Acid girl slid on her acid, ahead of the group, covering more ground and checking out the ground level while the Tape guy checked higher up. Not a bad plan for searching.
That left the invisible person, probably a girl due to the colours of her floating gloves and shoes and the roughly estimated height (but could still be a guy). The Sugar Rush guy and the Electric guy.
Both the Electric guy and Sugar Rush guy had good weaknesses. Too much sugar consumption would lead to exhaustion and too many volts damaged his brain. The invisible person didn't have a clear weakness that Sumie's quirk could pick up on.
If Sumie could take out the invisible person and cause the other two to use their quirks, and she could dodge back away, let themselves wear out, it would be a lot easier to capture them, especially since neither of their quirks were a great match for Sumie. She's strong, but not strong enough to hold her own against a strength based quirk, and she's vulnerable to electricity if she doesn't use her electric type quirk. She doesn't want to do that straight away. Enough thinking, more action.
Sumie slipped and moved to the shadows behind the three of them, there seemed to be enough distance between them and the front two.
They didn't notice her step out from behind them, so she called out. "HI!"
The three of them snapped around, gaping at the sight of her, before they jumped into action. Sumie rushed forward, while they were still getting onto their front foot.
Sugar guy went to his pouches, she jumped to flip into him, her legs are stronger than her arms, she guessed that's where he kept his sugar. Not yet.
Sugar guy abandoned his pouch instead to block her kick just in time. Sumie kicked off his arms, smashing her other leg into his shoulder before she lept off him, using her momentum to move towards the Electric guy.
The Electric guy was gearing up, she could feel the electricity made the hairs on her arms and neck stand.
Further away, she could see the Tape kid and Acid girl had turned around. Not much time left.
The Electric kid's ranged attack didn't sit well with her surrounded. The invisible person had taken their accessories off and disappeared, they were probably going to come up behind her and try to capture her.
Sumie freezed Sugar Guy's shadow and jumped in.
She moved up to the top of one of the metal structures. She honestly had no idea what half of these things were even meant to be. But she was still in hearing range, and could hear them asking each other what was going on.
"What the heck? She just jumped and disappeared!" The Electric guy looked freaked.
"No," Acid girl shook her head. "The shadows, she can move in the shadows."
Sumie waved from the top of the silo type thing. Tape guy was the first one to see her.
Tape guy zipped his tape and swung up without any hesitation, just a call out to his teammates.
They called out after him.
Sumie remained in the shadows until he landed, looking around for her. It would be good to get this long distance fighter captured early.
Tape was obviously not designed for close range combat. Not impossible, of course, but difficult. Especially if he hadn't really trained much in that area.
Sumie lept in, getting in close, manoeuvred herself through his limbs, her capture tape followed her. Before she stepped back to watch him topple over, bound and captured.
"Ah!" Tape kid yelled, sounding frustrated and shocked to find himself suddenly not able to move.
"It's nice to meet you! What's your name?" Sumie asked, hearing his team mates climbing the silo to join them.
"S-Sero. Hero name Cellophane," Sero sounded unsure of how to feel.
Sumie went to answer, but the Acid girl reached the top and threw acid straight at her. Sumie dodged the clump acid and got ready for another fight.
"Nice climbing speed! You must have great control over your acid," Sumie smiled.
"Yeah, I do!" She threw another clump of acid, too wide for Sumie to dodge easily. Instinctively, she pulled up her Barrier and the acid fizzled against it. The barrier is almost invisible and the Acid girl showed her confusion with a 'huh?'
Sumie pulled down her barrier and moved to close the distance between them. Acid girl had already recovered from her surprise.
It wasn't exactly Sumie's plan to use the Barrier, but it couldn't be helped.
The Acid girl met Sumie halfway, ready for a fight. Sumie dodged her attack and pulled up her barrier behind her, jumped on top, and peered at the Acid girl below.
It probably looked weird to the Acid girl, to see Sumie seemingly floating in mid air.
"What's your name?" Sumie asked.
"Mina Ashido, Hero name, Pinky!" Pinky slashed an arc of acid towards Sumie, who took the barrier down and dropped right in front of Pinky.
The others were likely close behind. No time to dally.
Sumie darted towards Pinky, with her capture tape at the ready. Pinky sent more acid out in front towards Sumie, who dodged it again to the side, slid and grabbed Pinky's still outstretched hand with the capture tape, manoeuvring to take her hand behind her back. But Pinky corroded the tape in two with her acid, freeing herself.
Sumie flipped away and couldn't help the smile. "Nice!" That was so cool!
The other three teammates made it to the top, they surrounded her on one side.
Sumie only had a second to decide what to do before they charged and overwhelmed her. Take on all four at once, or retreat and divide and conquer?
Sugar man looked like he's properly ready for a fight now, with more muscle and bulky appearance than he had before.
Retreat it is, Sumie thought as she slipped back into the shadow and moved to another roof close by.
She looked for an opportunity to catch one of them off guard. Maybe even the invisible person. Where are they?
She could hear the group grumbling with frustration, not understanding her quirk. Sumie heard Pinky tell them about the barrier, although she wasn't sure what to call it.
Sumie looked for the invisible person that was no longer visible —with no clothing or accessories— but she could still see the name of their quirk above their head. At least she still had a way of seeing them. Plus she also had a heat vision quirk, but that's painful to use in the broad daylight, and Super Sight, but that had a limited range.
Her own quirk was good enough for this. It would be a little bit of a guessing game still, since she won't be able to see their arms, or their body.
She could see them near the shadows she used to travel before. This would be her best chance.
Sumie waited and then traveled back to the rooftop, took a breath,she stepped out of the shadow and snapped her quirk back to her own, saw the Invisibility quirk name above their head, and quickly wrapped up what she thought was a person, probably went overboard on the tape, but it was effective in wrapping them up before the other three noticed her.
Which they did.
They moved towards her quickly.
"How did she know where Hagakure was?" Pinky yelled.
Good question, Sumie thought, stepping back into the shadow a second before they reached her. Maybe she was not doing a good job of hiding her quirk. Or who knows, people could find all sorts of weird explanations to things they didn't understand all the time.
Focus, Sumie.
How much time had passed? Five minutes already? Maybe?
Cellophane and Hagakure laid bound on the roof, captured, but the other three were still free.
Sumie needed to pick up the pace.
Does she lead them to a shadowy area? Pick them off? Start an all out brawl and hope for the best?
From how the Electric kid had been acting, he probably can't really direct his electricity, which is kind of common with electric type quirks, though there are some that can. Which means he was probably trying to avoid hurting his friends. That left Sumie with two options in dealing with him: always keep someone between them, or lead him away from the others and allow him to go all out.
Option two, then.
But that meant she probably needed to take the Sugar guy out first, or maybe Pinky first. That gave her an idea. She waited until they were all spread out, looking out on other roofs for her.
Sumie jumped out and switched quirks, pulling up her barrier, to separate Pinky from her teammates. Sumie jumped forward and tried to take her off guard.
But Pinky spun and threw up a defence.
Sumie thought while they swapped blows. She didn't really have anything to counter acid. All she had is Barrier and that was currently in use, blocking off Pinky's teammates. She can only use one barrier at a time. They could bend and stretch, but it would not be enough in this delicate situation.
Pinky was good. She had good skills and practice and training and techniques, it was clear in how she fought. Sumie thought they were probably about equal in terms of strength. Pinky moved smoothly, she was probably a dancer or a gymnast, or something similar.
Sumie still had to keep some of her concentration on keeping the barrier up and hold it up against the damage that Sugar man was doing to it. Normally it wasn't any effort for her to put the barrier up and keep it there, Sugar man was clearly very strong then. That was good, he was wearing himself. Exactly what she hoped for.
Pinky got a clean hit on her cheek. Sumie cursed her split focus. Focus.
Sumie managed to grab Pinky's arm again.
This was not going to be a repeat, even if it was cool.
This time, Sumie joined her arm to her leg, before rolling underneath and tried to knock her off balance—but Pinky slid on her acid all the time and had good balance as a result— Pinky mostly kept her balance against Sumie's attack. But it was enough for Sumie to grab her other arm that was being used for balance, and tied it to her waist, then wrapped her legs together. Pinky was captured.
No time, next opponent.
Sumie turned to see the other two. The two she knew would be a challenge. But luckily, Sugar man had been using up energy, banging away at the barrier. No doubt thinking that there would be a damage limit to what the barrier could take. Of course, that could be true, but Sumie hadn't been able to find anything physical that could break her barrier. It stood by her force of will, if she broke, the barrier would break. But that hasn't happened yet. Then again, a nuke might be able to break it? Maybe? Sumie wondered if she'll ever be able to test that.
Maybe later. Focus.
Sumie prepared to take the barrier down and start another fight. Which one first? Electric kid.
She pulled and moved the barrier to block Sugar man's path to his other teammate. The Electric kid stumbled from the sudden loss of the barrier in front of him, Sumie used it as an opening to move in.
Electric kid smirked and geared up for an electric attack. Sumie prepared her barrier again.
"Okay, now it's your turn for taking down my friends!" He yelled.
Sumie smirked in response. Obviously he still didn't want to hurt his friends, and they were tied up with no way of moving anywhere. Unless he could guide the electricity enough to stay off the ground? But that was unlikely if he couldn't direct it. What was he going to do instead to take out Sumie and prevent any harm to his friends?
Close range.
He dove in close, and met Sumie as she moved, her stance ready.
Sumie swapped blows with him, moving and gliding away as he tried to send electricity out to her. She could switch to her electric quirk, but that meant taking down the barrier, fighting two on one and showing a little more of her hand than she really wanted to. Besides, it's all in the challenge, isn't it?
They have to be running out of time, her heart started beating faster with the thought of losing her first round.
No! She can't lose this round. She must win. She cannot fail.
She dodged another attempt to shock her. She could tell he was getting frustrated too. She used that. Fighting harder, closer, begging him to let off a lot of volts.
"Enough is enough! 1.2 Million volts!" Sumie quickly took down her barrier and put it up just in time around the kid, just in case it escaped and hurt the others on the ground.
"Kaminari, no!" Pinky yelled, but it was too late.
The electricity stopped. There sure was a lot of it, bright and powerful.
And it left the electric kid, Kaminari, brain dead. Or at least really dumb, which is what her quirk had told her. It was always good to see it on point.
Sumie moved quickly to take down the barrier and wrap him up in tape, knowing that Sugar man was already running towards her, even as she quickly finished and moved to face him.
She barely had the chance to respond with a defensive block to his powerful punch.
His punch knocked her back, but with her stance, she remained upright and steady. Just like she was taught.
This was ultimately what she knew she would struggle with. Strength type quirks are one of the hardest for her to go against. She does have one quirk that can match and win against them, but it would take a lot out of her energy and stamina, and she still had three more rounds left. It wasn't a smart choice to use it in the first round.
Okay, what else works against strength types? Speed, she could do that, but again, stamina. Or… that led her to an idea. It was still a little early, but it was a part of her plan anyway.
She switched to another quirk.
Sugar man abruptly stopped and looked around him. In fact, they all would be. Because ten identical illusions of Sumie surrounded Sugar man.
They all moved in sync, copying the movements of the real Sumie. Although the illusions aren't limited to that, it's easier for Sumie to do on the run.
Overwhelm her opponent.
Illusions aren't powerful by themselves, but it does allow Sumie the time and space to trick her opponent, even if they know that most of them are illusions, they have to strike each one to find the real one, which uses energy. Unless, of course, they're smart enough to use something else to move through them. Like Cellophane's tape, or Pinky's acid. But Sugar man really just had himself.
Although, Sumie thought, he could probably use the sugar in his pouches, that might be enough to work. Then again, he would be parting with part of his quirk, but he should know that consuming too much sugar would render him exhausted anyway.
How much time was left?
Not enough to mess around.
Sumie pulled out her capture tape, her illusions mimicked her with no lag.
Sugar man seemed to be on the back foot, like he was trying to figure out what to do next. Try and find the real one? Or maybe he was thinking more about dodging.
Either way, Sumie went in for the capture, using the kaleidoscope of herself to throw him off balance, which mostly worked. Sugar man reached out and swung through about half of the illusions, they dissipated into vapour.
Sumie did manage to wrap capture tape around one of his hands. In a second she decided on what to do. She changed her illusions to hide herself, so she was essentially invisible to him, she moved quickly to his other side, using an illusion to draw his hands together to dissipate her, then she wrapped his hands together, while they were close.
Sugar man's face dropped in surprise. His hands were suddenly bound in front of him. Sumie dropped the illusion and it was like he was seeing her for the first time, even though she was so close. Those illusions weren't real, more of a mind trick. But it does work on all who see it, which was definitely a huge bonus point for the quirk.
"Oh, wow!" Sumie exclaimed. "That was awesome. You guys are so cool!"
All Might appeared as the horn blew again, signalling the end of the round. He had some cutting devices to free them from the capture tape.
"WELL DONE, EVERYONE!" All Might yelled out to everyone. Sumie beamed again. At least she didn't lose the first round, at any rate.
They're not like anyone she had ever fought before. Most people are direct, violent, deadly, and unforgiving to the point that they never cared that she was a kid. In some ways, her opponents respected her enough not to hold back (at least as far as she could tell), with it being five on one.
She helped undo the binding on Sugar man. "What's your name?" She asked him.
"Rikido Sato. Hero name, Sugar Man," he sounded like he was taking his defeat well. Not great, surely, but well.
"It's nice to meet you, Sato!" Sumie giggled a little, funny how what she was calling him in her head was actually his hero name!
Together, they all moved back towards the huge cylindrical metal body where they left their classmates.
All Might explained to her that after every battle, they debrief and learn from it. Sumie smiled at the sound of that. Not only will she actually be learning, she'll also have a decent break, to help her recover from her quirk usage. Not that three quirks took much out of her, but it would still be good for her, by the end of the fourth round, for sure.
They walked up the stairs, casual conversation drifted easily between them. Sumie found herself having even more fun after the fighting. These people were incredible! So happy and full of life.
The five students and the towering form of All Might arrived in front of the others, Sumie was still smiling, and thought that she was probably smiling more than she had for a long time.
Mr Aizawa called for attention to him, pieces of replay from the battle on the screen. Sumie found it weird to see herself in a way she had never seen before.
Not just on a screen, but in battle. It was a little unnerving, she thought. Hopefully it was just her that thought that, and not her classmates.
Mr Aizawa began the discussion, starting with the beginning, they broke down all the decisions that everyone made, what they could've done better and why they did the right thing.
It was determined that Sero and Ashido leaving the other three behind was actually a good call, more information is usually better, people using their skills to gather information is good, and they were still able to turn around when they realised their teammates had encountered the enemy.
Sumie could hear people mumbling to each other, trying to figure out her quirk. But they put everything she did all together, thinking something along the lines of light and darkness, which honestly was not a bad guess, really. However broad for a quirk. It was really cool to see them come up with a theory so quickly that actually made sense. Because shadow travel, invisible barrier, finding Hagakure, even illusions could be chalked up to a supreme level of control of shadow and light.
But no, sorry guys. Guess again.
Each fight was analysed, and since Sumie controlled the environment in which the fights took place, they really were individual fights, not really five on one in the original sense.
There was a kid, all green, taking notes in a notebook. Sumie wondered if he did that often, and what kind of information he keeps track of. How many notebooks does he have? But not curious enough to ask. At least not yet.
It was noted that Sero could have perhaps waited for at least one of his teammates to join him in the fight, or stayed at a distance to keep the long range advantage, especially since the only quirk they had seen so far was shadow travel. Staying in the light and keeping to their strengths would have been the best call.
It was also noted that most of the time (not all of the time) Group 1 did exactly what Sumie wanted them to do, split up and fight one on one.
That did make it sound like the next fight would not be as easy to separate them, then. The next group would likely stay together more and gang up on Sumie. Interesting.
What was really cool was the illusions didn't show up on camera, it looked really weird to everyone watching from the screen, but Group 1 freaked out, swearing that they saw illusions. Even Sumie learnt something new about Illusion quirk, then. It made sense, as Illusion was a mind trick. It was funny to watch Sato fighting the air and not seeing Sumie until after she won.
"Group 2, at the ready!" All Might called out over everyone once they have gone through the whole fight.
Five new students walked forwards, and Sumie smiled. New challengers, new quirks, and new fighting styles.
"Alright!" Sumie hopped to the edge. "See you out there!"
She jumped.
Author's Note:
Sumie won round 1 by the skin of her teeth... how does she fair in round 2?
Next chapter drops soon (around Saturday or Sunday)
Hope you enjoyed!