Chapter 10: Combat Training
Kold's POV
Now, this is where the real studying begins, studying to become a hero that is. It might sound condescending for me to be excited, but I am… I can't wait to fight my classmates and come out as the victor in this exercise. If you didn't already notice, I am someone who loves to try his best in competitions even if I am forced to participate in them. I just can't help myself but do everything I can to win and maybe even be recognized as someone strong.
"Now that you are ready, it's time to start the combat training!" All might announce making everyone stand at attention.
"Sir?" but Iida had to intervene and ask a question. "This is the area where the exams were held, does this mean we are doing urban battles again?" he does have a point but, I think this is something more complicated.
"Not quite, I am going to move you 2 steps ahead!" All Might answered holding up two hands. 'See… I called it, combat in a city or in an open area is detrimental and an idiotic move. If villains were truly smart they would perhaps consider doing their fight indoors, that way it creates less attention for heroes. 'If you think about it… I might think like a villain'
"For this training exercise you will be split into two teams, the good guys and the bad guys, and fight on 2 on 2 indoor battles," he said, and now thinking about it, it is giving me a lot of excitement just the thought of it.
"Isn't this a little too advance?" a girl said with binoculars in her head.
"The best training is what you get on the battlefield! But remember you can't just punch a robot this time, you are dealing with actual people now" he explained and I think I agree with what he is saying too. Experience is the best teacher, after all, knowing how and what works in front of your eyes will give you newfound knowledge like none other.
"Sir, will you be deciding on who the teams will be?" someone asked.
"How much can we hurt the other team?" Bakuguo asked and there is no surprise at all, this guy is all in it when it comes to fighting, but it does also apply to me so I can't talk smack about it.
"Are we going to be worried about someone being expelled like the other day?" a girl in a bodysuit said looking pretty worried that someone may end up not coming back in UA another day.
A series of questions were asked and I didn't bother listening to them for the most part, I mean some of their questions can be answered if they let All Might do all the talking and we just have to listen. That's how I get my answers that is, stay quiet until the teachers stopped talking then you get to ask questions after they said their fill, not in the middle of it. 'Talk about being rude…' I thought looking at them with judgmental eyes.
"Okay Listen Up!" All Might finally stop the questioning of the students and held out a script of the situation we are about to engage in. "The situation is this; the villains had hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in their hideout. The heroes have to foil their plans and to do that they must capture the evildoers or recover the weapon itself. Likewise, the bad guy will succeed if they protect their weapon or capture the hero."
'If it were in the movies it would be categorized as the overused plot and that actions, cinematography, and effects will be the key to keep people watching' I thought.
"Time is limited, and we will choose teams by doing lots!" All Might continued dropping a lottery in front of everyone, and it looks to be the only convenient way to group everyone.
Each student got balls from the lottery box and when it was my turn, I had drawn I that would mean I am together with the student with a tail for a quirk. 'If I were to guess… he is also a pro in using martial arts, but what kind?' I thought assessing my partner base on his looks alone. But I couldn't gain anything just by observing him at the side, so I decided to approach him and start a conversation with him.
"Hey… looks like we will be teammates in this combat training," I said offering my hand for a handshake and he took it.
"Nice to meet you, you can call me Oujiro" he replied and the conversation had started, without me knowing what to say next.
"I declare that the first two teams will fight are…" All Might had said grabbing two balls from two boxes that are labeled villains and Heroes. "These guys!" he yelled showing two balls, one is black for the villains and white representing the heroes. But the shocking thing is that it was against the team of Midoriya and Bakuguo, which is not a spice you want to mix in a dish.
'Looks like fate has something in store for them….' I thought worrying of the thought that Bakuguo and Midoriya are going to fight, and I can assure you that Bakuguo is anticipating the chance to prove himself against Midoriya once again.
"Everyone else head for the monitoring room to watch the fight unfold" All Might commanded and everyone agreed to say 'Yes sir', but I just pretended to say something with my mouth open miming the words.
We all started to head in the monitoring room while All Might was directing the students who will engage in the exercise to where their locations will be. 'I just hope that this fight won't do something dangerous, and who am I kidding this is Bakuguo. I'm sure something drastic is about to happen hands down'
Once we arrive at a huge monitor it shows 4 screen tabs each showing the students individually. 'This is going to be interesting… 2 friends who are somewhat opposite from each other are facing head-to-head'.
"Let's start the indoor training. Team A and Team D, your time starts now!" All Might screamed into the Mic he is holding, and I am pretty sure that this technology does not have any sounds at its disposal. They say action speaks louder than words, then in this situation it definitely is not applicable at all, seeing them move is quite alright but it takes the fun out if you can't hear anything. 'This must be how deaf people see movies or anything they see for that matter'
I look at the monitor where the villains base is, and it seems that Bakuguo just left Iida on his own, 'is he gone rouge?' I thought, well if that were the case then they will have a much harder time in winning this exercise… 'But I guess there is another reason for his rouge behavior, maybe he is out to get Midoriya for having a quirk?' That's the best guess I have so far, besides if I were to recall we three were supposed to grow up together, but naturally, because of Bakuguo's behavior and my personality, I tended to get distant. I know it was awful of me to leave Midoriya and Bakuguo like that, but I can't handle Bakuguo's tenacity and Midoriya's timidity. I can't always be the peacemaker of the group, so… I handled the situation according to what I thought to be the most effective way of dealing with the problem, and that was distancing myself from them.
"That guy has real anger issues… kind of scary…" someone from the class said and I get the gist of what he is saying but, I think he is just arrogant and ignorant that everyone can be much stronger than him. If he can't acknowledge that measly detail, then he can't grow as a person or a hero.
'Who am I to talk…? I am just here to save my mother not studying to become a hero, which by the way is pretty strange because I thought the essence of being a hero is just saving someone from harm. But I guess there is so much to learn about it…' I thought shrugging the curious thought of mine; there is no need to dig deep in it. As long as you don't break the law, then you're fine.
"Monsieur, he is on the move" the cheers were cut short by the belly button laser guy, and all of our attention was directed back to the monitor where the fight is only beginning.
Midoriya and Bakuguo are now facing head to head and I think I notice the infinity girl ran from the fight. 'Wise move… it clearly is seen that Bakuguo is going to fight Midoriya head-on, and the greatest reason for that may be because of his frustration and jealousy, because of Midoriya having a quirk' I concluded watching the 2 childhood friends fight out their battles. Who will be the winner, Bakuguo who is only driven by his desire to defeat Midoriya or the green-haired boy who fights with everything he got just to win in this activity.
Either way, if they continue on Midoriya will be in great danger, I just hope All Might knows what he is doing. I just stared back at the monitors trying to get all the information I can from this team.
"He is holding his own and he isn't using his quirk yet!" I heard a boy with the helmet exclaimed. 'I guess that should be expected with Midoriya, he is a fan of heroes after all and I can say that he had gathered every information this world's hero has to offer. It might be safe to think that he is quick at his feet, because of all that fanboy knowledge' One can almost say that his drive of being a fanboy is a quirk itself.
This is turning out to be a fight between Cat and Mouse, and there is no time left if they keep this strategy, they need a new one… and fast.
What I meant to be a new strategy is not what I expected, Bakuguo had used an all-out attack and Midoriya just barely escaped that full-blown explosion. "Come in Midoriya!"
"THIS IS NUTS!" I heard someone yell and I was adjusting my stance to avoid falling on my butt because of the tremor that Bakuguo had made. 'He does have a strong mind in his shoulder if he thought that far ahead with his quirk and I need to compete with that kind of strength'
I really thought that All Might is going to end this fight right now, but all we heard are warning signs… 'Is he going to stall this out much further or is he just curious of what the outcome will become?' this is the question that is plaguing my mind right now because of what All Might's decision.
Now they engage in hand to hand fight with Midoriya on the losing end of the straw. Then I heard comments comparing Midoriya and Bakuguo's combat abilities and for better or worse I agree that Bakuguo is talented when it comes to fighting, but I don't want him to hear that from me, because it will boost his ego much more and it might damage him if it keeps up.
They charged at the same time, and it looks to be using their quirks against each other. "They are gonna kill each other! SIR!" The redhead said in worry and I agree with him, if our teacher keeps this up then I don't think I can respect him as a Hero for long, I mean I know we are training to become one, but this is just too much. If their quirks clash there is no telling what will happen, and I am not going to imagine that.
"Both of you stop":
However, the surprising thing that happened was that instead of Midoriya hitting Bakuguo with his quirk, he hit up and destroyed the upper part of the building with a very strong gust of wind that could rival a typhoon f given the chance. 'Now that is what I call an out of this world punch'
With the timer stopping and infinity girl touching the weapon before the time by levitating herself to gain momentum, which is a pretty unique way of using her quirk they won. 'But I think the more appropriate term would be that they did win the war but lost the battle'
We were gathered at the monitoring where we review the match between team A and D, with Iida being the MVP because of reasons I didn't listen to by a girl with a huge swirly hair.
After that analysis, another match-up was called and it was Team B vs. Team I in which is my team being the villain together with Oujiro with his quirk being his tail. Then there are our opponent, the stoic boy which nothing I can be observed except by his costume who clearly stands out and silently saying that he uses ice quirk and the mysterious tallboy with tentacle hands and judging from what I had observed he can recreate any body parts that involve the 5 senses at the ends of his tentacle hands.
"Hey Oujiro if we think about the tall boy that can duplicate body parts, I think he can gather information easily that means more or less he can already guess that he has figured our location already," I said facing my comrade in this battle, while also looking for the card that can be really helpful in this situation.
"That's smart and I think the other guy has an ice quirk… that could be a problem against me" he replied worriedly. 'I guess so too, he is, after all, a close combatant while me I could be both but a lack of training, nonetheless'
"That is true, so we need a plan of action and I am just telling this to you to trust me, no matter what I do just trust my judgment," I said ending our talk because a ring had occurred indicating that All Might is going to start the battle already.
"Battle Start!" All Might's voice rang throughout the entire building and it made me wince a bit due to the loudness of his voice in the speaker.
"Call Flame of Hope, Aermo, Flogal, Dream Eater, and Victory Maker," I said throwing the cards into the floor and appeared a pink dog with pigtails and a kid with a ball of flames in his hands and he looks to be sleepy. Both would be essential in support, "Dream Eater I ask thee grant your trigger to my teammate, then Flogal, Aermo, and Victory Maker be on the lookout!" I commanded the units and they nodded their head at me, with Dream Eater granting Oujiro a speed boost.
"Oujiro I am counting on you when it comes to close battle and also you are granted with enhance speed, use it to your advantage," I said and I notice that he is starting to move faster and that red hue is covering his body like a second layer of skin.
"Fire Shield!" Aermo yelled out thrusting his arms while a heat barrier had blocked a supposed blizzard coming our way. 'Didn't think the guy is capable of doing this thing, but luckily I had Aermo out'
"Kold I am going to cast a heat spell so that you and your teammate can move much more freely when this barrier falls" he suggested and I just nodded my head.
"Arf, someone is heading in our way and it's only one person," Flogal said, and I look in surprise didn't really think that the dog units could talk and I guess you do learn something every day.
"He came alone… that is a pretty reckless move on his part," Oujiro said hopping in one leg after the other. 'I guess he is pumped up, and I think I should continue on supporting him' I thought speeding through cards in my head for anything that could be useful at the moment.
"Victory Maker, I need you out of here and keep eye on Shoji, the one with a lot of arms. Alert me if he intends to interfere in the fight or if he has plans at all" I asked the flying unit, and the bird gave a nod in agreement and was out of the window by a heartbeat. 'Gotta love to have lots of people on your side'
As the barrier fell our opponent is greeted by a kick in the stomach, 'Didn't think he sees that coming, Oujiro is pretty fast after that boost from Dream Eater' I opened my mouth for another command, but a sudden jolt of drowsiness overcame my being and also making my head spin and vision blurry. 'I guess 4 units summoning is hard to keep up with'
"Kold!" I heard Aermo yelled and it made me snap from that drowsiness, I didn't really put into account my weakness when it comes to summoning multiple units. 'I guess summoning consecutive units makes me drowsy and weak…' I concluded and lightly slapped my face to remove the sleepiness that is trying to overtake me.
"I'm all right Aermo, I just need another plan of action…" I said wracking my head for any type of solution… 'Wait… it might work, somehow… I think' I thought grabbing the card that will aid Oujiro in this fight.
I look towards my partner and what I saw made my eyes wide, Oujiro is starting to become a frozen Popsicle starting from his feet. "You think I can only do projectile and long-ranged attacks? You are sadly mistaken, part of my quirk lets me pinpoint location to freeze anything I touch" I heard the guy said with a breath of cold air from his mouth.
'I guess no use than the present…' I thought dreading for this to actually come at the very start of the school year. I was just hoping to keep this hidden for a very long while. "Flogal… grant Oujiro your trigger and Aermo do everything you can to free Oujiro from his confinement, even if that means you disappear during this fight then so be it" I commanded and they both reluctantly agreed to what I ordered.
Blue and Red hue had started to cover Oujiro up, and I had noticed that the temperature in the room got hotter by the second.
"What are you doing?" the ice guy asked, while I only offered him a smirk of my own. I decided to engage him into battle, trying to buy enough time for Oujiro's quirk to power up and for Aermo to finish his spell.
Not to brag or anything, but stand triggers are pretty diverse when it comes to power up, and I don't have a particular idea as to what will happen to Oujiro, but it's safe to assume that it will not affect him negatively… I hope.
In the back of my eyes, I notice that Oujiro had gone buff and his tail looks to be sturdier and denser. I think it's safe to assume that the stand trigger improves his body's durability and strength, by providing him with muscles and a stronger tail to use.
I threw punches and kicks, but it seems to not be doing much at all. 'I have to admit though that I am a weak individual when it comes to close combat, I rely on my units to do the job for me.' He kept on dodging it and blocking it, but what made me suspicious is that how come he didn't freeze me up as he did to Oujiro? Did he perhaps decide not to because of Aermo or there is another reason for it?
"ARF" when I heard a howl, I knew it was time for me to step out and let my partner handle this mess. "You better beat him after this…" I mumbled and I think I notice Oujiro nodding his head.
Oujiro upon being freed from the ice sped his way to the fight and kicked the ice guy in his gut being extra careful as to not let him get touched by his hands again, while I backflipped a few times creating some distance from me and the ice guy while grabbing another unit that will help me on my feet again. 'I know I am setting myself up to immediately go down, but I think I just need this little energy boost to avoid that at some time.
"Call Dark Cat," I said weakly placing the card near me, and while the unit was being summoned I notice that Aermo is still here and supporting both Oujiro and me from being cold and maybe even turning into ice chunks.
Dark Cat appeared, and it was just a regular dark cat, which is powerful in her own right. I don't really know what this unit can do because when I tried to summon the cat, it wasn't listening to me at all. Talk about a hard act to handle.
"Oujiro, I am finishing this in one move better distract him as long as you can," I said to him and ignored his response. "Okay Aermo I need another power from you, if I give the signal you better put all your power into this attack, and don't worry about the power I'll have Dark Cat here to give you support" I only got a nod from him, and I can clearly see the sweat dripping from his face. He might be getting tired from constantly supporting us from this cold.
Aermo had started to gather a small ball of flame in one of his hands, and I notice that the size was not a joke at all. He is compressing the power of his flames into a tiny ball of flame and I think with a boost from Dark Cat it will be enough to cause an explosion large enough to defeat the ice guy in the room.
"Dark Cat, attack and support and don't get hurt" I ordered and the cat nodded at my way hissing excitedly. 'Glad that this cat is starting to follow my orders… can't really blame the cat though because we are in a fight right now, and she needs to listen to a Vanguard to fight' I thought.
I diverted my attention towards Oujiro and Dark Cat's fight and the ice guy is clearly in trouble, but the question is that what will I do if his partner gets here and that would be another fight to deal with. 'There was still no alert from Victory Maker, so that's a telling sign that he was not going to come running to help his partner'
"Kold, I am already at my end!" Aermo said and that made my day, with the ice guy's partner is not present, I have ample time to get this attack started and finish this in one fell swoop.
"Dark Cat, come back it's time" I yelled garnering the attention of my cat unit and he hoped high enough to just land at my side. 'Okay… didn't know she can jump that high. Well, she is a grade 1 after all that's to be expected I thought happily but the blurriness of my vision started to come again. 'This is bad… I can't hold this much longer, better hurry up and finish this'.
"With a boost from Dark cat, Aermo it's time to attack!" I commanded and Dark Cat started to fade and began to transfer his power towards Aermo who is still charging up the attack and concentrating on keeping the temperature up.
"I know this is hard for you Aermo, so if we finish this fight then I'll give you one wish as a reward for your hard work," I said nodding my head to the fire unit, it might be out of the blue but I believe in the saying "Credits is given to those who deserve it"
I notice the fire unit smile in delight and it made me somewhat happy to see my units happy and smiling. "Now attack Aermo!" I ordered with a smirk on his face. "Oujiro out of the way now!" I yelled to my teammate and with a backflip, he dodged the attack in a nick of time.
The ice guy created an ice wall to protect himself but the fire is too hot and powerful for him to block. 'It's useless to block, boosting is quite the powerful tool in terms of my quirk and that is according to my experience upon using it in training that I do'
However, one thought occurred to me 'If our quirks are bound by the natural rules of the environment…' I thought in a split second, but it was still too late to stop Aermo with his attack. If my guess is right then we are going to be in a pretty bad position, if I assume that the ice guy will use all of his power into creating that shield then the result will be powerful. Not to mention the field is covered in ice, so it's safe to say that it will create an explosion. That is based on one of my studies in chemistry.
'I didn't think this through at all!' I screamed at my mind, and quickly grabbed the card in my sleeves… in times of trouble, I think I really need to reveal this to my peers. I thought I could play this combat exercise close to the hand, and not reveal all of my powers all in one go.
"Call!-" I said at the same time the fireball impacted the ice shield creating an astronomical steam explosion that exploded the upper part of the building and came crumbling down in our heads.
3rd Persons POV
"That was crazy!" the red hair student said in awe, but you can tell that everyone in the room is in awe at the things they had witnessed. It was all unexpected that even All Might was left in surprise as to how powerful his students are this year.
'I didn't think young Kold had it in him to be that powerful, if his powers get out into the public there is no telling what he can attract…' The teacher thought worried, looking at it from a villain's perspective if they had someone like young Kold in their ranks, then the heroes would have trouble dealing with them all together.
The teacher looks towards the monitor and it showed the heroes have about 3 minutes left to win, and basing it on what he is witnessing the heroes could still have the chance to win the combat training.
"No way didn't think someone other than Bakuguo had that kind of power in our ranks!" the student with the weird elbow said astounded while looking towards the blonde student with an explosion quirk.
"Are they going to be alright in there!" one of the girls in class asked worried for her fellow classmates.
'I didn't think into account as to how this battle could escalate, clearly, I wasn't paying enough attention to my student's capabilities and it looks to me there is still so much more to teaching than meets the eyes' All Might thought regrettably, while his face stills has the smiling face plastered on his mouth.
However, the students and the teacher had witnessed something out of the ordinary in one of the Monitors. "Sir, what is that?" the small student with purple balls with a hair asked pointing towards the transparent blue color of some kind from within the rubbles from within the building.
"No way…" Some of the students said in amazement clearly awestruck by their fellow classmate and his abilities to think. "If that isn't cool then I don't know what is!" the redhead student said in joy clearly happy to witness such a thing from his classmate's quirk.
What they saw was a transparent blue enlarged shield courtesy of Flash Shield Issault, a unit that specializes in absolute defense, there is no attack known that she couldn't defend and that is according to the said unit.
'He has the offense and defensive capabilities, and some sort of enhancing quirk too… there is no telling what he has in store' All Might thought worriedly for his students that he may attract unwanted attention at some point.
The shield was thrown up and all the rubbles on top of it had fallen to the side, leaving everyone who is under the shield left unscathed. The class 1-A students looked awed at the amazing display of power that kind of attack would have been detrimental to anyone, but here they have a classmate capable of defending such a thing without batting a sweat.
One of the students, in particular, was left speechless, he couldn't comprehend why his two other classmates somewhat friends appeared to have powerful quirks without him knowing about it. And it made the ash-blonde student look at himself in pure shock, he couldn't think of anything at the moment, this was the second time he was left speechless upon seeing that there are others much better than him.
"I feel a little bad for Shioji, he didn't have a chance to fight in that epic battle," the invisible girl said, with her gloves dangling down.
"Not true though, I notice that a bird creature was keeping him occupied, it was the hero's own selfishness that caused them that fight. If Todoroki were to have made Shoji part of the attack, then the outcome might have been different than this." A girl with huge assets and swirly hair said with pride.
"Wait… a bird? I didn't see that at all?" a boy with weird elbows exclaimed watching each of the monitors to see if their classmate's assessment were correct or not.
"Never fear students, because I can play it back for you!" All Might intervened and through the monitors, they were witnessing that the bird was doing sonic wave attacks at the tall student, while also diving for an attack here and there, leaving their classmates to just defend because he could use his quirk against the bird.
"Okay… Kold is officially awesome. He can do a lot of things at once, support, attack, and defend. Is there nothing he can't do?" The red-haired classmate said in pure admiration and awe at what their one classmate can do with his quirk. It was versatile and diverse that it made him too powerful for even everyone to handle.