And we've entered the second half of the Two Heroes Arc! This should be good the rest of the way, especially with the battles I have in mind for our heroes as they move along! Depending on how things go, this story will be caught up by 5/20, but that all depends on how fast chapters get produced. And I'll add that Season 3 chapters won't be coming out as frequently when we get started on 6/3.
But let's not dwell on that. Instead, let's enjoy a brand new chapter of "Through the Rough"
"Heh!" Garrot laughed as he swung his whip out at Homura, who split her energy sword into two. She deflected the attempted lashes, but saw that the whip was still moving itself toward her no matter where she struck it. She glanced back, seeing that Eijiro was still stuck in the wall he had been punched into. Meanwhile, Katsuki was blasting himself around Daigo, who seemed relatively unaffected by his foe's explosions. And Shoto's ice waves were being easily neutralized thanks to whatever Quirk Nobu had.
'We need to end this quickly...' the Soul Blade Quirk user noted to herself, 'The others are going to need us as soon as possible!' she mentioned through her thoughts, taking a tight grip on her blades as she glared at the villain ahead of her. He chuckled.
"You seem tense..." he pointed out, "Maybe a little lashing from whip'll soothe your nerves..." he suggested threateningly, licking his lips.
"That wretched weapon won't even touch me, you fiend..." Homura proclaimed as a retort, dashing out at him. Elsewhere in the tower, the group managed to move on ahead thanks in part to Momo discovering a panel door that led to the maintenance room, where Tenya inferred there could be an emergency ladder for them to climb. However, it could only be accessed from the inside, and someone would have to climb up. And immediately, all eyes turned to Minoru.
"What?!" he yelped out, "No, I can't!" he meekly refused, backing away.
"You're the only one small enough who can fit through the vent!" Kyoka pointed out.
"Quit being a baby and just go for it!" Rebecca insisted, folding her arms over her chest. The Pop Off Quirk user shuddered. He didn't want to try climbing the building at such perilous heights... but he also didn't want to to disappoint the girls.
"If he's not up for it, I can do it," Shiki chimed in with a shrug of his shoulders, "The vent doesn't seem that small, and I can just fly right up to the top," he pointed out.
"Yeah, that'd be much faster!" Ochaco pointed out excitedly as Minoru widened his eyes in shock.
"Do your best, Shiki," Momo insisted as she clenched her fists.
"Don't worry, I got-!"
"Hold it," the Pop Off Quirk user chimed in, grabbing Shiki by his suit jacket before he could finish his remark, "I'll do it," he declared with a new fire in his eyes.
'I guess envy really does its work...' Rebecca noted to herself. Another blast caught the group's attention as they looked back toward the garden, seeing their classmates still battling the villains. Katsuki continued to blast himself around Daigo, evading another heavy punch before skidding to a halt on the ground. He glanced over to see Homura struggling to close in on Garrot, whose whip managed to lash at her legs, ripping off some of her kimono.
"Ah!" she yelped in pain, stumbling back a step as she felt a sudden numbness in her body, "What's... happening?!" she grunted out in question, starting to buckle over a little.
"Heh," Garrot chuckled, "My whip has paralyzing agents that work pretty quickly on the body," he told her, "Normally, you'd be down on your knees for me to torment, but I guess you're a little tougher than I thought..." he mentioned sinisterly, "So you're gonna have to take some more!" he decided, flinging his whip out. All of a sudden, Katsuki zipped by and unleashed a bright burst of light into his face, causing him to recoil from being blinded. That allowed for Homura to jump back, avoiding her foe's whip.
"Thank you, Bakugo!" she called out in gratitude.
"Just hurry up and finish him, dammit!" he yelled back, firing off more blasts onto the pursuing Daigo. It came to the point where he resorted to his Howitzer Impact on the beastly villain, who appeared to be ready to counter. However, he didn't anticipate Homura dashing by and swiping at his legs with her blades, knocking him off balance. Before he knew it, he took a direct hit from the Explosion Quirk user's ultimate move, shrinking back to his original form as he hit the ground.
"Damn you!" Nobu yelled, swinging his right arm out to unleash a blast of air into the smoke.
"Bakugo!" Shoto and Homura cried out. The air was hollowed out, and Katsuki's sleeve wound up ripped off, along with the sweat from his palm.
"What the hell is this?" the villain inquired.
"It's my sweat, dumbass," the Explosion Quirk user answered, "And it works like nitroglycerin," he mentioned, causing the villain to widen his eyes. Hearing that, Shoto immediately ignited his left hand with fire and unleashed a stream toward the villain. He gasped before being caught up in a blast, flying back and ending up entrapped in another wave of ice.
"Huh..." the Half-Cold, Half-Hot Quirk user exhaled, letting the fire upon his hand go out, "Is that all of them?" he inquired of his classmates. His answer came in the form of Garrot's whip wrapping around his left arm. Before he could think to try and remove it, he suddenly found himself zapped as he yelled in agony.
"Shoto!" Homura screamed, whipping her head to glare over at Garrot, who licked his lips again.
"Those two idiots really are pathetic to not be able to deal with dumb kids..." he grumbled out with a smirk.
"Oh yeah?" Katsuki inquired, blasting himself forward, "Let's see how you beat us!" he challenged, firing off a blast, only for the villain to jump away and chuckle.
"Better quit hoppin' around, brat," he advised, "Otherwise those friends of yours are gonna end up-!"
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Homura suddenly interjected, having jumped up right behind him with a single sword in her hands, causing him to widen his eyes.
'How is she even moving like that?!' he wondered inwardly with a panicked expression, remembering that she had been struck by his whip just moments ago.
"DRAGON FLASH!" she exclaimed, slashing across his chest mightily. He fell to the ground in a heap, almost knocked out from the blow as his body twitched.
'She... looked like...' he started to think before succumbing to the pain and falling unconscious.
"Huh..." Homura sighed with relief, quickly jogging over to Shoto as he rubbed his left arm, "Are you alright?" she inquired of him.
"Yeah, it's just a little numbness..." he assured in reply, flexing his fingers. They went over to gather with Katsuki and Eijiro, as the latter finally removed himself from the wall he was stuck in by turning off his Quirk. Reluctantly, the former thanked him.
"Whoa, where'd that come from?" he wondered curiously, "Don't worry about it!" he remarked.
"I'm not worried!" Katsuki yelled in claim.
"It seems neither of you are harmed," Homura noted as she stepped forward, "We should give you a thorough explanation on the situation at hand," she mentioned, as Shoto nodded in agreement. But at that moment, they noticed a sudden horde of security bots come forth, heading towards them. Clearly, the villains were starting to get agitated with how far the students were getting.
After Minoru managed to get to the maintenance room and access the emergency ladder, he and the others were free to head up to the 100th floor. From there, things were seemingly easy for the group. Too easy in fact.
"Isn't it weird how we haven't gotten blocked off yet?" Rebecca inquired of her friends, glancing around.
"Yeah..." Melissa replied in agreement, narrowing her eyes, "It's possible the villains are luring us into a trap..." she pointed out.
"So what do we do?" Denki wondered aloud.
"We spring the trap!" Shiki declared in response, "I'm sure you've got an idea for that, right Momo?" he inquired of the Creation Quirk user, causing her to blink in surprise.
"W-Well, I suppose..." she stammered out in embarrassment, blushing a bright red. The group made it to the 130th floor, only to find dozens of security bots lying in wait for them. After some quick planning, the group was prepared to act.
"This is gonna be so cool!" Labilia exclaimed with sparkling eyes, excited to see what the U.A. students were planning to do as she held up her cubed-shaped device to record the ordeal. The plan they enacted was to electrocute and short out the bots, as Tenya threw Denki out to zap them. However, they protected themselves from his electricity, enticing him to crank his voltage up to two million.
"Don't!" Kyoka cried out under the insulated sheet she and the others were protected under, "If you do that then..." she tried to say, only to watch as the Electrification Quirk user shorted himself out, gaining a dopey look look upon his face with his two thumbs up, "you'll turn stupid..." the Earphone Jack Quirk user grumbled out.
"Well, at least he stopped the robots for us..." Izuku noted, seeing that the droids appeared to be immobile. However, they instantly reactivated and entrapped Denki with their wires.
"Okay... time for Plan B!" Weisz decided, running forward. A few of the bots started to go after him, but he activated his Quirk, pressing his hands against them. Yellow, glowing lines formed along the droids he touched, causing them to suddenly go haywire and crash into others.
"Whoa..." Melissa uttered in awe.
"That's Machina Maker for ya..." Rebecca remarked, actually impressed with Weisz's ingenuity for once. Thanks to him, the others were able to deal with most of the other bots. But getting Denki away was looking to be difficult.
"Midoriya! Granbell!" Tenya called out, getting the attentions of his classmates, "Can you clear a path for me?" he requested of them.
"Yeah, you got it!" Shiki responded, activating his Quirk after taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves.
"Let's go!" Izuku exclaimed, taking his own jacket off. Earlier, Melissa had provided him with a special support item that acted as a brace for his right arm, being called the Full Gauntlet. He activated it over his arm, dashing forward alongside the Satan Gravity Quirk user. Together, they blasted back dozens of the bots. With that, Tenya grabbed Denki as they hurried off.
"Wow, that was awesome!" Rebecca complimented, "But... what's with the new glove?" she asked of her best friend as they ran.
"It's something Melissa invented so that I don't have to hold back as much in a fight," he answered.
"Glad you brought it!" the inventor remarked with a smile.
"I didn't know how to get it off my arm..." Izuku sheepishly admitted, causing her and Rebecca to giggle.
"Okay, where to next?!" Weisz inquired aloud as they went through the corridor.
"We're gonna have to go through the server room before reaching the next stairwell," Melissa explained as an answer, "It's not too far from here..." she mentioned.
"Alright..." Tenya uttered while carrying Denki on his back, "Then we're almost at our destination!" he concluded. But at that moment, a figure sped out in front of the group, much to their surprise. It was Baku, who pulled off a massive battle axe from his back. He swung it down and struck the floor with it, creating a shockwave to knock the incoming teenagers down in yelps.
"Hmph..." he huffed, "None of you will go any further," he stated firmly as he gripped the handle of his weapon tightly.
"A freakin' lion man?!" Minoru exclaimed out of shock.
"The villains must've sent him in case we got further than the last room..." Momo realized.
"Well, he's not gonna stop us!" Shiki declared as he hopped onto his feet.
"Yeah!" Izuku agreed, getting up as well and taking a ready stance.
"You guys go on ahead," Weisz insisted, causing them to perk up in surprise as they looked back at him, "I'll deal with Baron von Lion myself..." he decided with a smirk.
"Did you just give me some off-brand villain name?" Baku inquired, blinking twice.
"Wait, how the heck are you supposed to even fight someone like that?!" Kyoka questioned of her classmate. He chuckled, rolling up his right sleeve.
"A hero's always prepared for anything..." he pointed out, revealing the wristwatch-like device he had on, "Arsenal requip!" he exclaimed. Metal panels shot out from his device, forming a suit of armor around him. Melissa was awed. And Labilia's eyes were sparkling.
"A superhero battlesuit?!" she exclaimed excitedly, "Oh man, we're about to see something totally amazing!" she declared, readying her cube-shaped contraption to record. However, Rebecca put a hand onto her shoulder and pulled her away.
"I don't think watching this is worth seeing you get hurt..." she bluntly pointed out, much to her chagrin as she puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
"You won't be going anywhere!" Baku proclaimed as he dashed forward with his axe at the ready. However, Weisz sped out and struck him aside with a fierce left hook, sending him crashing into a wall.
"Go, hurry!" he called out to his colleagues.
"Thanks, Weisz!" Shiki exclaimed with gratitude, "Let's go!" he yelled, enticing everyone to hurry off with him.
"Ergh..." Baku growled as he emerged from the wall, with the armored Weisz glaring him down.
"So, villain..." he began, "are you ready to become the next chapter of Arsenal's legend?" he remarked in question.
The legend of Arsenal continues in the next chapter, along with the group continuing their trek to the top! Stay tuned, everyone! Thanks for reading!