The Warrior, The Monarch
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! And quite fittingly this chapter comes out on the same day as the finale of season seven. Now before anyone asks, I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll use the manga to continue this story once I reach the end of the current anime season. I've heard the next season is coming out next year, so once I reach the end of the current season I'll see how long we have to wait before I decide whether or not to put this story on hiatus again. I've continued a story before using the manga so let me know your thoughts on the matter if you feel like sharing. Now then I've delayed you all long enough, and with no guest review questions this week, on to the story!
Several Days Ago: U.A. Support Course
"You want us to build a series of tanks for storing your quirk," Ectoplasm summarized. Or to be more precise, one of his clones summarized. The real Ectoplasm was talking with Slade and Momo about how the latter would be using her quirk to provide raw material for the countermeasure against Decay. Ordinarily they'd be talking with Power Loader but he was busy supervising the construction of the floatation system for the Coffin In The Sky.
"It should be pretty easy for you and the Support Course since the storage tanks themselves don't really need to be that special, just good at holding in vapors," Clay assured, "Hatsume should already have the designs on file for the miniature canisters I use in my costume."
"It would be no problem for the Support Course," the Ectoplasm Clone nodded, "but I'd have to run an idea like this by All Might and the Principal, so could you explain to me what advantage there is to be gained from storing large volumes of your quirk?"
"To start with I'll be able to fight without worrying about dehydration," the Cloud Wielder began, "but more importantly I'll have a much larger number of clouds to throw at the enemy than I usually do. That means bigger constructs, more complex constructs, and I can even create platforms for others, platforms that Shigaraki can't destroy with his Decay quirk. Best of all, if I get enough tanks, I could throw an entire storm at All For One and the rest of the League. And considering I've been selected as part of the team to face Shigaraki, it'll be a good idea for us to have every advantage we can get."
"I can't deny that," the Clone admitted, "alright then, if they approve of it you'll get your tanks. I'm certain we can fit them somewhere in this giant coffin we're building."
The Coffin In The Sky
Multiple large vortex spears impacted against the continuously growing masses, attempting to force them back. "Oh, what's this," Shigaraki mused from atop the main mass he was perched on, "I know you've been working to improve your quirk, Clay Cero, but what's brought about this amount of growth?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Clay spoke from within the cloud mass before separating a large part of it, "but I think you should be more concerned with the giant weakness you've just presented me."
"You think you can overpower me just because you have some more clouds," the villain smiled before pushing harder with the masses, "you're not fighting an incomplete vessel this time. That weakness you speak of is nonexist-AH!" A sudden flash of lightning erupted from the larger central cloud and spread out through all the vortexes, electrocuting the white-haired man and causing all of the masses to stop moving for a moment.
"Someone's forgotten I can produce lightning with these clouds," the U.A. student snarked, "I don't know how you're controlling this growth, but every time you use it you're giving me more surface area to assault!" He pushed back even harder with the now electrified vortexes, allowing the other heroes and two U.A. students to regroup.
"We've confirmed Midoriya's location," Mandalay suddenly communicated with her telepathic quirk, "he's on Okuto Island but we can't risk using Warp right now with the current situation. He'll have to get back on his own."
"Fantastic," Clay remarked sarcastically as another mass suddenly emerged and came from below him. The cloud wielder shifted out of the way and formed a giant spinning ring with some of his quirk, slicing through the offending mass.
"It looks like those growths get weaker and weaker the farther they are from his body," Edge Shot suddenly popped up next to him, his body mostly resembling a head on a long red fiber at the moment, "but I take it you understand the situation right now?"
"Yeah," he responded while moving out of the way of another mass and hitting it with his clouds, "if I recall correctly, Okuto Island is two hundred kilometers off the coast in the Pacific Ocean. It's going to take Midoriya a while to get back from there. Monoma could use Warp, but the moment he releases Erasure to use another quirk, all those hands will activate Decay at the same time and this place will be rubble."
"Exactly," the Ninja Hero nodded before they moved out of the way of another growth. The duo dropped down with Clay hovering just above the gathered group of heroes as they stood ready to engage in another plan of attack.
"Everyone," Best Jeanist pointed towards Shigaraki, "these circumstances are not ideal, but this battle isn't lost by any stretch of the imagination. From this point on, don't worry about holding back. We will defeat Shigaraki even without One For All!"
"YES SIR!" The group responded with determination. Shortly after this, they received word from the battleground that was Camino Ward. Dabi had been defeated by Todoroki, scoring the first victory for the heroes.
About The Same Time: The Ruins of Jaku Hospital
"EAT THIS!" Mina fired multiple bursts of acid at Chimera who nimbly dodged out of the way. He then grew a reptilian tail and swung at the objects tossed at him by Reiko Yanagi's Poltergeist quirk, knocking them all away. He grabbed one piece of rubble thrown at him and used it as a shield against Mineta's sticky balls next while charging forward.
"You kids really are well trained," the cannibal complimented as more acid hit the debris he was using to shield himself, melting it. "But I'm used to fighting groups with varied quirks!" He broke through the still disintegrating rubble and aimed a claw strike at the Poltergeist girl who couldn't move fast enough to get away. But just as he was about to get her, an octopus tentacle whipped out and swatted his hand away before Slade jumped in and kicked him in the stomach, sending him sliding back.
"At this point, so are we," Slade remarked as he took a stance with Mina and Amajiki on either side of him.
"No way," Chimera's smile only widened, ignoring the density shifter's comment as his gaze shifted to Amajiki, "you're the guy who changes into the things he eats, aren't you?"
"Y-Yeah," the big three member's normally nervous disposition was not being helped by a carnivorous villain staring at him, "what about it?"
"I've had a question I wanted to ask you," the cannibal held up a finger, "since you turn into anything you eat, that means nothing would happen if you ate a human being, right?"
"You think I'd actually want to test something like that!" Amajiki exclaimed rather loudly, "I've eaten all kinds of things and that just sounds disgusting!"
"You're talking to a cannibal, what did you expect," Chimera snorted, "still it's a shame. I always enjoy trying to talk to people whose quirks involve eating things. It's like food connoisseurs discussing their favorite meals."
"All we intend to discuss with you is your surrender," Slade remarked, "and before you go spouting off something about still having the advantage, we just got word that Dabi's been taken out."
"Has he now," the Flesh Beast user raised an eyebrow, "guess we'll see how long that lasts, considering how stubborn that charred mummy can be. But in order to make sure it changes nothing either way, I've got a job to do." He sprouted three large scorpion tails from his back then, "so let's get back to it!"
Coffin In The Sky
"I'll be damned, that was fast," Clay commented after hearing the news of Dabi's defeat while avoiding more hands and knocking others away with his clouds. Occasionally he'd electrify the villain when he was able, but it was proving tricky. Though he'd learned to create the conditions for guiding his lightning, if one of the others was too close to the origin of the lightning they risked being electrocuted themselves.
"Don't be too proud of yourselves, heroes," Shigaraki warned as even more massive tendrils made of hands continued to spread throughout the campus, "most of you can only run and I wonder how long your resident cloud wielder can keep this up? After all, once I spread far enough he won't be able to use lightning attacks against me without risking hurting all of you."
"This is assuming your body is even capable of going that far," Clay grunted while spinning his clouds around his own body to cut through more of the tendrils. It was, admittedly, starting to get a little crowded around his area.
"You're not wrong," Edge Shot commented as he used his currently wire-like body to encircle and cut through another tendril before having to dodge out of the way of it growing back from the same stump, "his body may be acting like it has a quirk now but even it has its limits."
"And what would that limit even be," Shigaraki smirked, "the more All For One's quirk settles in, the more my body changes, looking for the best form to take based not only on the quirks stored within me but also based on various external environmental considerations. Eventually, this body will take on a perfected form and with the power I'll wield, everything will be in the palm of my hand."
"Yeah, I'm sure you said something like that right before All Might took you down," the cloud wielder remarked before using his quirk to squeeze in between another couple of masses and fly slightly higher in the air.
"Surely you of all people understand, at least partially, the annoying aspects of this world," Tomura continued, "it's so divided in appearance, form, and ability to the point that it loses its standard. The only possible destination for such a world is extinction and destruction. Misunderstanding is bred when the disparities are too large and from that misunderstanding comes fear and rejection. Isn't that the world we live in now? But if I take control of it, everyone will be equally exploited and wouldn't that bring us all one step closer to the peaceful world you heroes want?"
"Spoken like an asshole who thinks he's above it all," Clay snarked, "the world, like that body of yours, will never reach a completely perfect state, at least not by our imperfect hands. How can everyone be equally exploited when one guy is in charge of everything? It's only by bringing all of our varying abilities together that the world will improve. For example, I now have a trick beyond just lightning and clouds to throw at you?" He raised his hand then before chopping downwards towards the villain.
Shigaraki raised an eyebrow for a moment before grunting in pain as a vortex spear wrapped in Nejire's Wave Motion quirk came crashing down on him from above. Several more impacted on and around the villain, pounding him further and further towards the ground. "We figured out during training how lightning could prove a danger to our allies," Nejire came floating down, "but I can control my energy and prevent it from hitting anyone I don't intend to."
"We even gave this little mixture a name," the cloud wielder separated more clouds to replace the vortex spears he'd just used while the big three member again wrapped them in her quirk, "Wave Motion Spear!" They launched several more at Shigaraki, battering against his defenses as they tore into the main mass. Seeing an opportunity, their classmate maneuvered over towards them.
"Make me a path," Bakugou ordered while landing on a platform next to them.
"You got some kind of plan," Clay asked while using a spinning cloud to knock away another tendril sent at them.
"All this moving has stored up plenty of sweat," the explosion user activated something on his back which opened up to form six high-tech double-barreled cannons, three on each shoulder, "I think it's the perfect time to try the upgrade the Support Course gave me: Suppressive Heavy Mobile Unit: Strafe Panzer!" He leapt forward then, not bothering to see if anyone approved of what he was about to do, and opened fire. The barrage hammered the target in front of him, adding more destruction to the places the enhanced vortex spears were already attacking. "We can do this if we all hit the same spot together!"
"Looks like we really are a team then," Mirko laughed while riding on one of the cables controlled by Best Jeanist. Edge Shot mirrored her on another side while the Fiber Hero was in the middle. As Bakugou continued to barrage his way through the main mass, the others used their respective quirks to either knock away or tear apart the tendrils trying to close in on him from the sides. Once he got within range, Bakugou unleashed an improved attack.
"Howitzer Impact," he used his explosions to corkscrew his body forward, the blasts bulldozing the rest of the way towards his target until finally, the explosive blond got close enough to fire off his attack at point blank. "CLUSTER!" The roar of the blast was deafening and the explosion itself was so powerful it temporarily bypassed the electromagnetic barrier, causing the floating prison to shake and even move a bit.
"Stay sharp," Clay warned as he dared to produce more clouds from his body. 'Now might be a good time to try another new trick,' he mused while wrapping his body in his clouds. It wasn't that he had no faith in Bakugou's abilities, but they'd already had to deal with multiple surprises up to this point. Unfortunately, his caution proved to be warranted.
"You condense your explosions to avoid hitting those around you," Shigaraki's voice suddenly sounded from the smoke, "at the same time, it raises their power to a different level. Such a wonderful use of a quirk. That's why….I'll need to break it." A sickening snap sounded as the smoke cleared to reveal Tomura holding Bakugou by his now broken right arm.
"Dynamight! Shigaraaaakiiiii!" Best Jeanist slid forward along his cable while Mirko was right behind him. Edge Shot was on another cable. The villain reacted with more hand tendrils which the heroes avoided using their various abilities. Mirko jumped from one tendril to the other before opening fire with the machine gun attachment of her current prosthetic.
"Aren't you forgetting something," Shigaraki tossed Bakugou aside as his other hand tendrils were destroyed. Instead, he produced a single growth from his left arm that had all of the hands clenching like he was making a fist. "Getting close to my main body means experiencing power on a similar level to All Might!" He swung then, knocking all three heroes away while generating a strong enough wind force with the swing to send Bakugou flying too.
But as had been his role several times, Clay separated four clouds and caught all of them before setting them back down. "That was my…biggest attack," the explosion boy grunted while lifting his head, blood present on his face from the breaking of his arm, "is he really….that far away from me?"
"Don't worry, that attack wasn't in vain," the cloud wielder stepped in front of him, "I've got a target now." That target being a large purple spot now present on the right side of the villain's face which had also whited out his eye. Thanks to Erasure the man couldn't use super regeneration to heal from his wounds, meaning any damage they did to his extremely tough main body wouldn't be repaired. It would still, however, be an uphill battle.
"Clay Cero," Shigaraki smiled as he looked at the student in the clearing dust, "and Katsuki Bakugou. I'll be honest, I'm impressed by your abilities but in general, you don't interest me, except for one thing. You two are the closest friends to Izuku Midoriya. I'm certain him knowing you're in danger will definitely bring him back here, so I'll have a nice present waiting for him."
"You'll have to catch me first, asshole," Clay gestured with his hand and the cloud he'd caught Bakugou with yanked him back and out of sight before he shot towards Shigaraki. 'Fool', the villain readied his right hand, intending to swat the U.A. Student out of the air. But that's when he noticed something strange, 'is the dust still clinging to him?' That's all he had time to see before a hand was suddenly in his face.
"What-GAH!" Electricity was suddenly coursing through his body, "nuisance!" But once again Clay's speed was such that he avoided Shigaraki's attempted bear hug and flipped overhead, electricity still radiating from his hand before he leapt away to avoid a follow up swing from the mutated left arm. 'What's going on, his speed has increased and he's generating lightning from his body?!' Clay moved in again and this time kicked the villain in the side of the head with electrified spinning clouds around his leg.
'Wait, it's not just around his leg,' Shigaraki realized as the cloud wielder dodged a downward swing of his left arm, 'his entire body is surrounded by clouds!' he saw it then as he finally got a full view of the U.A. student who'd landed a few feet away from him. Clouds now covered his body like a second costume with a long scarf made of clouds wrapped around his neck and dangling off his back while his hands and feet had some type of flowing clouds on them. His face was now also covered, becoming a masked visage with determined, defiant eyes staring back at him.
"Oh, what's this new trick you've come up with," Tomura smiled in spite of himself.
"It's got a pretty simple name," Clay held his hand up and flexed it as small amounts of lightning and thunder rumbled from the new form, "You're now dealing with the Storm Monarch!"
"So you think you can conjure storms now," the villain smirked, "Then I'll conjure a sea!" He extended a mass of hands from his left arm again as the 1A student took flight. The cloud wielder bobbed and weaved out of the way of the hands while occasionally sliding along them to deliver powerful shocks.
"Clay, I'm ready up here!" Nejire suddenly appeared in the air above them.
"Then let's show 'em what we got," he responded while forming multiple large bullets that looked like they'd been shot out of a tank. "Combo Attack: Wave Artillery!" The Big Three girl wrapped her energy around the spinning shells as they were launched at the villain. Shigaraki responded by using the mass like a shield to protect himself from the bombardment.
The spiraling projectiles impacted and drilled into the mass, continuously tearing it up little by little. But they failed to reach the villain completely as he sent more tendrils out and arcing towards the duo. "Combo Move," Clay formed the large cloud mass into a tornado surrounding them while Nejire added her own quirk to amplify its already lethal spin, "Torrent Twister!" The masses impacted against the energized cyclone, being torn asunder as Shigaraki tried to surround them in a sea of hands.
"That's surprising teamwork," the white-haired man complimented while pushing even harder with the tendrils, "I only saw you two work together once. Have you really developed such a good rapport in only a few weeks? What will one of you do if I capture the other, I wonder?" He produced more tendrils and squeezed the cyclone even harder despite the amount of hands that were getting shredded.
Then, it suddenly broke apart as…..several figures scattered around the area? "Like I said, just try and catch me!" Clay declared as numerous clouds formed to look like him in his Storm Monarch form either flew around the battlefield or latched onto Shigaraki's tendrils. The ones that didn't fly away started emitting electricity from their bodies, the clone's internals being manipulated to create the conditions for lightning.
"Annoying pest!" Tomura growled as he produced several more massive tendrils which went spiraling out in multiple directions. The real Clay along with Nejire had to move up much higher to avoid the small rivers of hands threatening to overwhelm them. 'It'll be a little tricky to get in there unscathed,' the cloud wielder mused while floating in the air and examining the movements of their opponent, attempting to find a path around the tendrils.
"All of that mass is making it hard for the lightning to have an effect," Nejire noted.
"There's only so much power I can produce from a small cloud," the 1A Sutdent reminded, "and I'll need to recall a lot of those clones if I want to make an even more destructive bolt, but that's a bit harder to direct with everybody running around trying to stay alive while near a giant wall of flesh."
"Then perhaps I can help out," a familiar voice called as they looked down to see Mirio Togata springing out of the ground and leaping into the fray. Thanks to his Permeation Quirk, the blond boy was able to phase through multiple tendrils and dive almost literally into the heart of the matter with little seeming trouble. "NEJIRE!" The blue-haired girl understood what he wanted instantly and fired some of her energy into one of the few openings in the shifting mass. She focused then as the yellow spiral wrapped around her friend's right arm and condensed, nearly touching his wrist.
"Here goes," Lemillion shot forward and slammed his energy wrapped fist into Shigaraki's stomach, "POWER!" It was enough to send the villain sliding several feet back before he regained his footing and came to a halt.
"You," Tomura's face flashed in recognition upon seeing the leader of the Big Three, "you were at Jaku. Your face is a joke."
"But it has no effect on my role," Mirio declared as he jumped back a little, phasing through several of the tendrils before landing in an open area, "someone was needed to relay messages and intercept any villains besides you from coming here. In order to ensure smooth communication, they needed someone fast. But seeing all of this, I can't simply stand by and watch."
"You think you'll be any more effective than those who've already tried," Shigaraki asked in an almost bored tone.
"One way to find out," Togata gave him a determined look as Nejire and the cloud wielder landed on either side of him, "Clay, since Tamaki's not here I have a question for you; more of a proposal, really. Would you mind being an honorary member of the Big Three for a bit?"
"I doubt I'm worthy of such an honor," Clay took a fighting stance alongside the other two, "but I'll gladly help you kick this guy's ass." They moved in then as the battle continued, the trio taking a formation as if it was natural. Their objective was clear: either defeat Shigaraki, or stall him until Izuku Midoriya returned. One way or the other, the next several minutes would feel like an eternity.
The battle continues as Clay demonstrates the fruits of all his time at U.A. with new formations and combos! Again I realize this was short but hopefully you all found it entertaining nonetheless. Of course, you can tell me all about it in your comments and reviews along with anything else you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And for more news on this and my other stories, stop by my Pat reon! Last thing, drop by next time as our heroes desperate struggle against the new vessel of All For One continues! 'Til then.