CHAPTER TWENTY TWO:

WINDSTORM

Katsuo and Ojiro were standing in the decontamination tunnel that led from the fire zone to the hurricane zone. While power had been lost to the main functions of the USJ, it seemed that the different disaster zones were being powered by another energy source. And thanks to the zones being built to scale, Katsuo couldn't find his way back to the main plaza to take down the main force of villains who had attacked the USJ. As the wind and rain continued to rip across the landscape in front of them, the two high schoolers thought of their next move.

"Okay, if what everything you told me is true, then that means most of the class was also teleported into the different zones. If we can't find our way back to the central plaza, then we might as well take on as many villains as we can find and save our classmates. Any questions?"

"I have one. Do you also see that?"

Ojiro pointed at the city behind Katsuo. When Katsuo turned to look at it, he saw a massive black creature absolutely tearing into the surrounding buildings. It had yellow glowing eyes and was screaming in a semi-high pitched voice.

"Is that thing Dark Shadow?" Ojiro asked.

"Looks like it. I'll bet that's where we'll find our classmates. Let's go!"

Katsuo pulled himself into the air using mana thread while Ojiro bounced into the air using his tail, and the two quickly sailed over the city blocks until they found their classmates. The situation wasn't good. The duo had landed on a rooftop and were quickly forced to hide behind an air unit when Dark Shadow almost spotted them. It was easily larger than the surrounding buildings, although it wasn't big enough to see Ojiro shitting bricks.

Katsuo on the other hand was just brave enough to look over the edge of the roof to survey the area. He spotted Koda and a pair of gloves hiding inside one of the dilapidated buildings (the gloves probably belonged to Hagakure). The most worrisome part of the situation however was Tokoyami. Instead of being somewhere on the ground, it seemed to be strapped into Dark Shadow's torso, completely unconscious. That, mixed with the fact that the light in the room was being obscured by the storm, was likely what caused Dark Shadow to go berserk.

Seeing as how he was pushing his luck, Katsuo ducked back down behind the air unit before being spotted.

"C'mon, c'mon, I need a plan, and quickly!"

Katsuo was replaying the scene in his head over and over again, trying to think of anything he could do to stop Dark Shadow. And then, like a gift from God, a bright light passed over Katsuo's closed eyes, instantly grabbing his attention. He jolted upward, trying to find the source of the light. Finally, he spotted a flood light attached to a nearby building that was now spinning randomly due to the high-power winds. And because of this floodlight, something else also caught Katsuo's attention. Far above the decontamination hallway's entrance was a platform, a sign above reading: "Weather Control Station".

Katsuo turned back to the area around Dark Shadow. More flood lights were attached to the other buildings, although they weren't pointing in the right direction. A plan had just been formed.

"Ojiro, I have a plan, listen up!"

Ojiro jumped in fright for a moment before processing Katsuo's words. Then he lit up like a lightbulb.

"Listen, there's a weather control panel over there by the roof of the dome. I'm gonna throw you as far as I can. Once you get up to the control panel, you're gonna turn off the storm and make sure it's "sunny" in here, alright? I'll be distracting and weakening Dark Shadow by using the nearby flood lights. Sounds good?"

"Yeah, that's awesome! Nice job!" The two boys once again high fived.

"Alright then, hand me your tail!"

Ojiro lent Katsuo his tail, who grabbed onto it and began spinning in a circle. Once he had built up the proper momentum. Katsuo threw Ojiro as hard as possible, who in turn began screaming at the top of his lungs. Fortunately, he landed about halfway up the ladder. Unfortunately, all the commotion had alerted Dark Shadow to Katsuo's position.

"Oh shit!"

Katsuo leaped off the building just in time to dodge Dark Shadow's massive hand, which smashed into the building and demolished it in an instant. Katsuo quickly ran to take cover, successfully hiding from Dark Shadow, who seemed to be getting angrier. Katsuo steeled his nerves and began moving again, jumping and leaping from ledge to fire escape to AC unit, until eventually making it onto the next building. He quickly ran over to the floodlight and popped open its side panel to reveal a mass of tangled wires inside.

"Okay, just need to up the voltage. It should make the light brighter, but it will also burn out faster."

Katsuo grabbed two wires, cut them open with mana thread, and stuck the ends together, causing the flood light to brighten by around 20x. The light alerted Dark Shadow, who turned from Katsuo's previous building and lifted its arms in the air, getting ready to strike. Katsuo was quicker however, and turned the flood light to face the dark goliath. Its attack is interrupted by the blinding light, causing it to stagger and crash into another building. Ojiro has just made it up to the control panel and began looking it over when he suddenly began making random hand signals towards Katsuo.

He flapped his arms like a bird, slammed his hands on the control panel, and began strumming an imaginary guitar before hitting a backflip. Fortunately for Katsuo, he was smart enough to figure out what Ojiro was saying.

"Can… not… understand… words… Russian?! Who programs a Japanese facility in Russian?!"

A deafening roar split Katsuo's ears as Dark Shadow rose once again. Katsuo turned back around to hit it with more light, but the bulb exploded, basically sending the floodlight out of commission. He attempted to dodge, but Dark Shadow grabbed him out of the air, bringing him up to its face. Katsuo managed to squeeze a mana thread out of Dark Shadow's hands, using it to write "just press random buttons" in the air. Seeing Katsuo's message, Ojiro got to work pressing buttons, rotating dials, and sliding sliders across the control panel.

Katsuo watched as a bolt of lightning struck Dark Shadow in the head, causing it to drop him and falling backwards into yet another building. Katsuo landed on an abandoned car with an "oomph!", not too far away from where his classmates were residing. After rolling off of the car's roof, he ran to take cover with them. When he got inside the building, it looked like Kota and Hagakure had dragged the unconscious villains in here while escaping Dark Shadow.

"Katsuo, what the heck is going on out there?!" Hagakure asked.

"Me and Ojiro just came from the fire zone, we're trying to find the exit to this place and get back to the central plaza. You wouldn't know where that is from here, would you?"

Hagakure and Kota shook their heads, much to Katsuo's expectations.

"Damn, I thought that would be too easy. We need a plan to distract/weaken Dark Shadow while Ojiro finds out how to turn on the lights in this place. Any ideas?"

The trio began brainstorming before Hagakure suddenly perked up and began speaking.

"I know, I know! We can use my quirk!"

"How is invisibility going to help us right now? There isn't much you can do against Dark Shadow when it's like this."

"I know, but that isn't what I'm talking about! My quirk isn't invisibility, it's light refraction! Which means, we should be able to use my body as a means of strengthening the floodlight!"

"Holy crap! That's an amazing plan! I'll get us up to the roof. Kota, you stay here and keep those villains safe!"

Kota nodded with determination while Katsuo and Hagakure made a beeline for the nearest building with a floodlight. They jumped behind the wall in an alleyway to dodge Dark Shadow's line of sight as the weather only seemed to be getting worse. 'Seriously, how many buttons are on that damn thing?!'

Hagakure placed her foot on Katsuo's hand, allowing him to boost her up to the fire escape ladder and begin climbing up the stairs. Katsuo used mana thread to pull himself straight to the top. Once there, Hagakure stood in front of the floodlight while Katsuo began rewiring it. Unfortunately, Dark Shadow spotted them.

"Hey, Katsuo? Can you hurry up?"

"I'm trying, but someone tangled up all the damn wires!"

Katsuo began frantically unfurling all of the crossed wires, eventually finding the two that he needed. As he cut them open and stuck them together, he came to a horrifying realization: the wires weren't long enough.

"No, no, no! Work, damn it!"

Katsuo pulled frantically at the wires, but it wasn't cutting it. Dark Shadow was now up, and angrier than ever before. It grabbed the building and pulled it straight out of the ground, causing the roof to begin breaking apart. Katsuo grabbed Hagakure's arm as she fell in, immobilizing Katsuo. Pieces of metal and concrete were everywhere around them, and moving uncarefully could result in injury for Hagakure. Katsuo had been outsmarted by a barely sentient monster.

As the building began cracking even more, Katsuo began saying his final goodbyes when an unexpected voice shot across the city. It was small, yet big, commanding the attention of all who heard it.

"H-hey! Down here! Come a-and get m-me!"

Katsuo looked down to the source of the shaky voice.

"Kota!"

The small voice had never been heard by Katsuo before, and yet it sounded like an old friend. Dark Shadow let go of the building in favor of Kota, causing the metal and concrete to shift out of the way. Katsuo pulled up Hagakure before running to the side of the roof. He pulled all of the mana out of his body and shot it at Dark Shadow, wrapping it around its arms and chest and pulling as hard as he could.

"C'mon! C'MON!"

As Katsuo began pulling wildly, Dark Shadow thrashed about, smashing him into the wall. And yet, Katsuo didn't get up. He channeled even more mana, reaching beyond his limits and pulling even harder until… the storm ended. The rain slowed down, the winds stopped howling, and the clouds began to part. Artificial sunlight began seeping through, landing directly onto Dark Shadow. It howled in pain and began shrinking, eventually shrinking back down to its normal size.

As Tokoyami began falling to the ground, Kota caught him, and Katsuo collapsed over the side of the building, sighing in relief. He looked to the control station, where Ojiro was throwing a thumbs up. Seeing how the control panel had a massive chunk of it smashed in, Katsuo smiled too and threw a thumbs up. Hagakure helped him up, and the classmates all gathered around Tokoyami, waiting for him to wake up.

After a little bit, his eyes opened, instantly being bombarded by sunlight, tears, and big smiles. Ojiro caught him up on what happened, making sure to tell Tokoyami that it wasn't his fault whenever he could. Katsuo downed a stamina potion and began handing them out, as well as giving a health potion to Tokoyami. Katsuo also gave a "good job" sticker to Kota, which he had found in the store beside the potions. After being asked where he pulled all of these items from, Katsuo merely hit a backflip to confuse them before announcing that they had to get moving.

"Kota, you stay with Tokoyami while recovers. The stamina 'medicine' should help, but don't let him start moving until around 10 minutes from now. You two ready?"

Katsuo looked at Hagakure and Ojiro, who both nodded with determination. Or at least, Katsuo assumed Hagakure was nodding. The trio began making their way through the city, taking down any villains that ran across their path before finally making their way to the next decontamination tunnel. However, the rubble from the city had been piled in front of it.

"Damn, what do we do now?"

After a quick look around, Hagakure found something.

"Guys, look! It's an air vent!"

Katsuo and Ojiro bent down and took a look at the vent. The grating could easily be taken off, and it was the perfect size for a person. However, Ojiro's tail would make it impossible for him to get through it, and Hagakure-

"Um… is now a bad time to say I'm claustrophobic?"

Hagakure's small stature would have been perfect, had it not been for a horribly timed reveal of a fear of small spaces. With those two out of the way, Katsuo deemed himself the only one capable of getting through.

"Alright, you two should go searching for the plaza exit. I'll go through here and see if I can meet up with anyone else. Best of luck, and don't get killed out there. I better see you for tomorrow's class."

Katsuo received looks of both determination and admiration as they turned to leave. He turned back to the vent, pried the cover off, and began crawling through, using mana cloud to map out the fastest way through(he wasn't exactly a fan of the vents either). Eventually, he could see the light of another room peeking through another vent cover…

***
A/N

Hope you guys enjoyed the boss fight, because another one is coming up soon. It will include more fighting and less brainpower, so here's hoping I can write it well. Also, there should only be one or two more chapters left of the USJ Incident, and then the first "special arc" will be released. Very excited for the future, but until then, have a wonderful day!