And we're back with another chapter of "Through the Rough"! Before we begin, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to you all for getting this story up to 300 reviews. I can't thank you enough for the support thus far, and I hope to see it continue into the future as we get closer to wrapping up the Season 2 adaptation in a few chapters.
Anyways, it's time for Shiki's team to go up against Thirteen in their final exam match! Hope you enjoy it!
"So Thirteen, huh?" Rebecca said, putting her right hand onto her chin, "She'd probably be tough for anyone to deal with..." she pointed out as she narrowed her eyes.
"Uraraka's especially in trouble because of how her Quirk works, ribbit," Tsuyu mentioned, standing alongside her and Izuku with Tenya, "But honestly, I think they'll be fine with someone like Granbell on their side," she pointed out.
"Huh?" Rebecca uttered in confusion.
"What do you mean, Asu- I mean, Tsu?" Izuku asked, quickly correcting himself in the nick of time.
"Granbell's Quirk is really strong," the Frog Quirk user noted, "In fact, I think it could be as strong as his grandpa's," she added.
"His grandfather?" Tenya repeated, quite perplexed himself.
"You mean the Demon King Hero Ziggy?" Izuku guessed as he blinked.
"Yep," Tsuyu replied with a nod, "It's said that his gravity Quirk brought all kinds of villains to their knees back in the days before All Might," she told the group, "I wouldn't be surprised if Shiki would try to do that to Thirteen," she mentioned.
"Well, that'd be pretty dangerous..." Rebecca pointed out, "Especially since it's Thirteen we're talking about..." she added seriously.
"Right..." Izuku agreed. He recalled when Shiki had profusely apologized to Kris for losing his arm and broken up about it he had seemed. Something about him had changed ever since the raid mission. He was a lot more serious in demeanor from how it looked. As the horn went off to signal the start of the practical exam, the trio of U.A. students in the USJ took off from the starting line.
"Ochaco! Momo! Grab on!" Shiki called out quickly to his classmates, holding his hands out back to them. They took hold of them, allowing him to make the green-glowing markings along his arms appear.
"Oh boy..." Ochaco uttered, realizing what was about to happen.
"LET'S GO!" Shiki exclaimed, taking off into the sky with the two girls in hands, with the Zero Gravity Quirk user screaming all the while. In the meantime, Momo peeked out to observe the surroundings. Strangely enough, it didn't seem as if the Space Hero was in the immediate area.
'She's probably waiting for us at the escape gate...' she realized, 'Though that does make this seem a little too easy...' she admitted inwardly. Before she could even think of anything else, she felt herself get suddenly pulled downwards with the others.
"Wh-Why are we falling?!" Ochaco stammered in question.
"Shiki?!" Momo yelped.
"It's not me!" the Satan Gravity Quirk user yelled out, "We're being pulled by something else!" he noted aloud. Momo was correct in that Thirteen was at the escape gate. However, she had an open finger pressed into a small pipe in the floor.
"Whoa, she can use her Quirk like that?!" Rebecca yelped in surprise, seeing the footage from the viewing booth.
"We had the USJ aligned with more traps in preparation for her battle in the exam," Recovery Girl explained, getting her attention along with those of the others, "Granbell's Quirk is pretty troublesome, so we needed to make sure he couldn't use it as freely as he would like to..." she mentioned.
"Given how powerful it is, I'd say that's a good idea, ribbit," Tsuyu noted with a finger upon her right cheek.
"Now the question is... can the three of them overcome that?" Izuku wondered aloud. Back in the U.S.J. Shiki struggled to keep himself and his teammates afloat.
"We're not gonna be able to get anywhere at this rate!" Ochaco pointed out desperately.
"Don't worry!" Momo yelled assuredly, causing the Zero Gravity Quirk user to look over and see the reassuring smile upon the class deputy's face, "If Thirteen's focus is on immobilizing us, then she knows that it won't be easy!" she said, making a multicolored light come off of her legs, "So something like this won't stop us!" she declared, releasing several small objects in the form of Russian nesting dolls. The Space Hero took notice from afar, blinking in surprise. The objects were sucked towards the pipeline her finger was plugged into, followed by exploding. With that, the trio of students felt the force pulling upon them vanish.
"Thanks, Momo!" Shiki exclaimed with gratitude before he flew with them towards the stairs leading to the escape gate, "I'll take it from here!" he declared, landing down at the foot of the steps.
"Sh-Shiki?" Ochaco stuttered in surprise, seeing him run up the steps all by himself.
"Get through the gate!" he insisted of his teammates, "I'll keep her distracted for as long as I can!" he vowed.
"Wait, Shiki!" Momo called out. But it was already too late. The Satan Gravity Quirk user leapt up mightily, landing down hard and making the floor shatter up to Thirteen, who sucked in the resulting debris through the openings in her fingers, not leaving behind a single speck of dust.
"You're very brutish, just like your grandfather," she remarked to her foe, who gave a determined glare.
"He's facing Thirteen alone?!" Tenya exclaimed in shock from the viewing booth.
"That's crazy!" Rebecca yelped out. Meanwhile, Izuku watched on curiously, wondering what would come of this encounter. Back in the U.S.J., Ochaco and Momo looked on worriedly.
"We gotta do something!" the former of the two exclaimed, "Shiki's not gonna be able to handle Thirteen by himself!" she pointed out. Taking a quick moment to think, the Creation Quirk user immediately created something from her navel.
"Uraraka, please use this," she requested, tossing her a seemingly exact replica of her helmet for her to catch, "If we can distract Thirteen long enough, we'll be able to escape without a problem," she noted, readying another Russian nesting doll as she grabbed it off of her left shoulder, "We won't let Shiki sacrifice himself for us," she vowed.
"Yeah," the Zero Gravity Quirk user agreed firmly with a nod. Up at the entrance, Shiki punched at the ground to make more pieces of debris, using his gravity to shoot them out at Thirteen. However, she was easily able to disintegrate them, sucking them into her right pointer finger.
"Your attacks won't work on me, Granbell," she declared, opening the caps sealing her right hand's fingers, "And your classmates won't get further than this either," she added firmly, much to his frustration as he clenched his teeth together.
"We'll see about that!" Ochaco's voice suddenly exclaimed in response, causing him to look back in surprise as he saw her float up from the steps.
"Ochaco?!" Shiki yelped. He watched as she pulled off her helmet and chucked it toward their foe. She quickly held her fingers out to suck it in and disintegrate it, but all of a sudden, the compartments at its sides opened up, followed by a bright flash.
"AH!" the Space Hero yelped, while Shiki braced his eyes with his left arm. Ochaco tapped her fingertips together, landing down on the ground. At that very moment, Momo came up and rolled the nesting doll up to the blinded Black Hole Quirk user. It exploded, causing a pinkish, slimy goo to coat Thirteen as she yelped in shock.
"Let's go!" the Creation Quirk user yelled, quickly running ahead.
"Right!" Ochaco responded, grabbing Shiki by his arm and pulling him on ahead. They passed Thirteen, who was struggling to move out of the goo she was trapped in. Realizing that her foes were about to escape, she aimed her left out at them.
"Oh no you don't!" she exclaimed, opening the caps on her left hand's fingers and activating her Quirk. The powerful, sucking force came onto her three foes, with Momo and Ochaco feeling themselves getting dragged in as they flew up from the ground. However, Shiki grabbed them both, gritting his teeth as his feet were firmly planted upon the ground.
"Hold on tight!" he insisted, pulling them in so that they could wrap their arms around him. Momo felt her ponytail come undone as she and Ochaco clenched their eyes shut, not daring to see what would happen next. In the meantime, Thirteen was completely in disbelief.
'Even if the weights are restraining me, they should still be getting pulled in!' she pointed out inwardly, staring with wide eyes at Shiki, who reared his right arm back as a purple energy built up upon his fist, 'He really is Ziggy's grandson!' she realized, quite stunned.
"Gravity..." her foe began, "IS GONNA CRUSH YOU!" he declared, unleashing a powerful blast of gravitational energy. It tore through the suctioning force of Thirteen's Quirk, striking her as she screamed out in agony. She fell over onto her back, completely knocked out. Those in the viewing booth were stunned, even Recovery Girl. In the meantime, Ochaco and Momo opened their eyes to see the determined and fierce expression upon Shiki's face as his energy lines vanished from his body. "I won't let you hurt my friends," he stated firmly.
Both girls found themselves blushing with shaking eyes. They looked to see that their arms were still around him, while he had such a heroic look to his current position. The two girls then looked to each other, having the same exact realization.
'Oh no...' they both uttered inwardly.
"Huh..." Rebecca exhaled as she and Izuku had gone into one of the waiting rooms, "That was quite the crazy match..." she pointed out, folding her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, no kidding..." her best friend agreed, "But hey, they won in the end," he noted as he smiled, "That was something to see," he added. The Leaper Quirk user giggled in agreement. However, her expression shifted into an anxious one.
"We're up against All Might, so we need a plan..." she advised, "Or at least a way to escape..." she corrected sheepishly.
"Right..." Izuku concurred, glancing down in thought, "But with Kacchan..." he continued as he balled his gloved hands into fists.
"He's not going to go along with anything we plan," Rebecca noted with a shake of her head, "I say we let him act a distraction and get away while we can," she insisted. The One For All inheritor blinked in shock, lowering his head again. He did harbor resentment and frustration towards his rival. But leaving him to face All Might alone while he and his best friend escaped? That was far from heroic.
"No," he said, causing Rebecca to blink in shock, "Even if he's stubborn, we're going to get out of this together," he decided firmly.
"Izuku, that's-"
"Rebecca," the One For All inheritor interjected, "I know Kacchan's horrible..." he pointed out, "But if we're going to pass, we need to all work together," he insisted, "Or at least try..." he corrected, sounding a bit nervous about the prospect. The Leaper Quirk user folded her arms underneath her chest and looked away sadly. Clearly, this wasn't going to be easy for anyone by the time their match came...
And suddenly, I've got Shiki with two girls crushing on him! Who would've thought? In all seriousness, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Up next, it's the last few final exam matches before Izuku's group takes on All Might!
Thanks for reading!