Chapter 8: Battle of USJ
It's a few days since that incident with the press, Tuesday of next week.
The last week was pretty normal compared to the first three, with practical Hero training being sparring between classmates in which I completely dominated Bakugou when we are paired together. That felt so good! Later that weekend, I invited Tsuyu out for a trip to the movies, effectively having my first real Girl's Day Out. We talk a lot about each other, like how her parents are hardly around due to work leaving her to take care of her younger siblings. She even shows me her friend from Junior High, a girl with a python's head which I find both bizarre and cute at the same time.
But now we're back in school after some rest, and are now awaiting our first practical heroic class for the week.
"For today's Basic Hero training…" Aizawa yawns a little before continuing on, "This time, All Might, myself and one other is going to be supervising."
"Um, what are we doing exactly?" Sero asked.
"Preparing you all for disaster relief." He tells us drawing out a card from his pocket to show us, the words [RESCUE] written in bold on it, "From fires to floods. It's Rescue Training."
"Rescue… huh…?" "Sounds like another rough day." "Come on! This is what being a Hero is all about! I'm so pumped!"
Murmurs pops up left and right as we all are either excited or anxious over the new class, me included. Rescue, that's what Heroes are most known for. Not fighting bad guys all the time but instead rescuing civilians from disaster, crossfire, etc. And it's going to be my first time learning how to do it!
"I'm NOT done." Aizawa stated sternly, his hair flows up as his glare turns red a little. When we all calmed down, he continues as he presses a button to reveal our costume cases in the walls, "It's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes, as some of them are ill-suited to this sort of activity." I glanced at Bakugou at that statement, he notices and huffs away angrily, "The training site is a bit remote, so we'll be going by bus. That's all. Please get ready."
A few moments later, after we all have suited up in our respective costumes (except for Midoriya whose costume is still under repair from his bout against Bakugou; he choosing to wear his gym uniform with bits and pieces of his original costume), we all board the bus to our new training site.
Iida, for how enthusiastic he is for being Class President, took it upon himself to try and usher us in a proper and orderly manner, only to fail when the bus isn't the standard layout as he originally thought it would be.
"Darn it! It was this kind of bus…!"
"All that for nothing, huh?" Ashido noted with a giggle.
I ended up seating right behind Bakugou next to Todoroki, he taking the outmost seat while I took the window one.
"I generally say what's on my mind." Tsuyu noted, "Midoriya-chan."
"Y-Yeah! What is it, Asui-san?"
"Please, call me Tsuyu-chan." She assures him before pointing out, "Your quirk somewhat resembles All Might's, doesn't it?"
"R-R-R-Really?!" Midoriya starts to pale at the comparison, "It's not-I mean, what I'm trying to…!"
"Hold up, Tsuyu. All Might doesn't get hurt whenever he uses it." Kirishima noted, "They are already different in that aspect. But that sort of simple strength-enhancing quirk is awesome! You can do a lot of cool stuff with it! Unlike say, my Hardening." He solidifies his arm as a demonstration, "It's great in a fight, but it's pretty boring."
"That's not true." I tell him standing up from my seat, "You could always go all Juggernaut with it!" The image of Kirishima in the Juggernaut costume pops into my head and let loose a few giggles, "Now that I think about it, it would fit you so well! You should definitely go with it when you go Pro!"
"What's a… Juggernaut?" He asked curiously.
"…Tomorrow, I'm bringing my X-men collection. Be damned the rules." I stated firmly sitting down. These people, do even not know about the good oldies…
"Speaking of Pro, we're going to find a way to appeal to the public too, don't we?" Kaminari noted.
"If it's appeal, my Navel Laser is both strong AND cool." Aoyama stated, "Perfect for a Pro."
"As long as you don't blow up your own stomach in the process!" Ashido added on, the blonde teen glaring back at the retort with a somewhat degrative smile, "But you are talking about strong and cool, it has to be Todoroki and Bakugou."
"Yeah, but Bakugou-chan is so unhinged." Tsuyu noted, "He'd never be popular."
"WHAT'D SAY, FROG FACE?!"
"See?"
"It's only been the second week and already you've made it abundantly clear to us the unpleasantness of your steamed turd of a personality." Kaminari voices out, which Bakugou responding with…
"Yeah, okay, Mr. Vocabulary. How about I pound you to pieces?!"
"And you are considered our top student, how…?" I muttered to myself. Like seriously, for someone who aced the entrance exam (I've checked with dad once just out of curiosity), he sure doesn't act like it. I wonder if there's a psychologist on campus for such cases…?
""IS THIS USJ?!""
I'm not sure if it's Kirishima or me who said it, but that phrase is perfect for the large training site we are in right now. The entire dome is several sizes of the Tokyo Dome, in it filled with different areas of various disaster climates. Flooded cities, landslides, burning buildings, you name it, they got it.
"Flood Zone, Landslide Zone, Conflagration Zone, etc." Our latest teacher, one Space Hero: Thirteen, explains to us in his… her…? I'm going with his. HIS astronaut gear, "Every disaster and accident you can imagine. I build this facility myself. I call it…"
"The [Unforeseen Simulation Joint]!"
Huh? It's really is USJ. Who would have thought it?
"Wah! It's the Space Hero, Thirteen!" Midoriya gushes on, "He's a gentleman who does his best work in rescue scenarios!"
And it's a HE! Thank you for the confirmation, Midoriya!
"Ooh~! I LOVE Thirteen!" Uraraka cheers on excitedly bouncing up and down, "He's the coolest!"
"Thirteen, where's All Might?" Aizawa asked before the two heroes went silent as hushed whispers are exchanged between the two, Thirteen raising three fingers for some reason. A few more whispers later, Aizawa turns to us, "So be it… Let's get started."
"Ah! But before we do, I have a one or two… three, four… five? Six… seven…"
"That's a lot of points…" Someone murmurs in the background as the space hero counts down all his fingers.
"As I'm sure many of you are aware…" Thirteen turns to us continuing, "My quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in and tear apart anything."
"Yes! And you've used it to save people in all sorts of disasters!" Midoriya helpfully added in.
"Indeed. But, it can also easily kill." He points out, the atmosphere turns grim all of the sudden, "I've no doubt there are some among you with similar powers." My mind immediately went to Todoroki, Midoriya and Bakugou, "In our superpowered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem like a stable system to many, but we must never forget that one wrong move with uncontrollable quirk is all it takes for someone to die."
He is right. If Todoroki is just a few margins off during the Battle Training, he could end up freezing both Ojiro and Hagakure solid, causing serious and reversable damage to their bodies. Or if Bakugou didn't aim well and ended up hitting Midoriya, the poor kid would die. Same with Midoriya, whose punch could easily smash through buildings!
Just one wrong move, ONE, and they end up being murderers.
"In Aizawa's physical fitness test, you came to learn of your own hidden potential."
"Through All Might's Battle Training, you experienced the danger that your respective quirks can pose to others."
"And in Tatsuya's Heroics Laws, you learn about the rules and restriction of quirk usage."
"So now, in my class, will show you a whole new perspective! You will learn how to utilize your quirks to save lives. Your powers aren't meant to inflict harm. I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to HELP people. That's all!" He took a gentleman bow towards us, "Thank you for listening!"
Everyone all starts clapping and cheering, clearly influenced by the speech. I am so glad we have Thirteen as our teacher for this class.
"Great." Aizawa noted leaning against the railings of the stairs leading into the training site, "First off…" He cut himself off when he glanced into the site. I, the ever-curious fellow, follow his line of sight to a small black spinning orb of smog in the center of the site. The orb grew in size, until a hand reaches out from within and grabs the edge of it.
From the orb, no, portal, a face is seen as the black smog exploded in size.
And from that portal, people came walking out.
"Everyone, huddle up and don't move!" He screams out putting on his goggles and loosening his scarf-weapon, "Thirteen, protect the students!"
"Sensei, what are those things?!" Kirishima asked.
"Don't move! Those are Villains!"
That brought a chain reaction to everyone. I was left in shock and horror at the situation as Thirteen huddle us behind him, "V-Villains?! HERE?!"
"Sensei! Aren't there intruder sensors?!" Yaoyorozu asked the space hero.
"Yes, of course there are but…"
"Are they only here… or at the main building…?" Todoroki noted, getting mine and a few others attention, "Either way, if the sensors aren't working, it has to be one of their quirks that's doing it. This place is far from the campus, and they picked a time when there'd be few people here. These guys aren't dumb. For such a well-coordinated sneak attack, they must have some sort of objective."
"Thirteen! Begin the evacuation!" Aizawa shouts out, "Try to contact the school! One of these Villains must be jamming the sensors. There's a good chance one of their electric-types is causing an interference. Kaminari! Try using your quirk to signal for help!"
"Y-Yes, sir!" The blonde teen noted as he fiddles with his headset.
"But sensei, you can't fight them all alone!" Midoriya cried out, "Against so many… even you can't nullify ALL of their quirks! As Eraserhead, your fighting style has always involved erasure and a quick binding capture! A head-one assault is-"
"Midoriya." Aizawa readies his scarf for combat, "No true Hero is a one-trick pony. Thirteen! I'm leaving them with you." With that, our teacher leaps into the fray against the Villains.
"Kids, this way!" Thirteen took this opportunity to usher us towards the exit, which we all comply. We need to get help, Aizawa wouldn't be able to hold the line for long!
But just as we reach the exit… "I won't allow it." The same black smog appears in front of us, blocking our way out. Now that it is closer, I notice the two yellow slits that seems to be its eyes, "Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but… today we've come here to the prestigious Yuuei High, this bastion of heroism…"
"To end the life of the Symbol of Peace, All Might."
That last statement sent shivers down my spine. I've read many hero comics in my spare time for both inspiration and enjoyment, and whenever there's a Villain who has this much confident on killing the Hero, it usually means they have the actual means to do so. And the fact that they have the means to kill All Might…
That cannot be good…
"We were under the impression that All Might would be in attendance today. But… is his schedule was revised?" The smog Villain hummed, "Well, no matter. My role remains unchanged-"
And just as he finishes, Kirishima and Bakugou leap out and slams their respective attacks right at him. "Not if we end YOU first!" The redhead shouted out, "Bet you didn't see that coming!"
"Oh my, that was close…" The villain recollected himself back into the pile of smog in front of us, "That's right… students you may be, but you are the best among the best."
"No! Get back, you two!"
"BEGONE."
Thirteen's warning came too late as the smog envelopes us, I reaching into my pocket for a battery as blackness fills my vision.
"Writhe in torment, till you breathe your last!"
I could barely hear Iida's voice calling out for us before silence filled the air. I manage to fish out one battery and begin to absorb its charge, but then gravity starts to play a game with me as I suddenly felt the floor disappear from under me.
The black smoke clears up, and to my horror I started to fall. "AAHH!" I let out a loud scream before I felt my body crashing into something before sinking right into watery depths. The Flood Zone? That smog villain guy, is he a teleporter? I cover my mouth to try and stop my remaining air from escaping as I tries to swim to the surface.
"You're not going anywhere!"
I felt a hand grab onto my leg and pulls me back down, its owner is a blue-skinned fish-like human with mouth filled sharp teeth morphed into a predatory smile. He punches straight at me, I barely able to get my guard up but he punches under it and into my stomach hard, forcing the last remaining air out of my mouth.
My lungs start to feel constrained, water starts pouring in as another fist slam into my chin, forcing my head upwards which the villain uses as an opportunity to grab onto my neck, "Not my style to kill girls, but orders are orders!"
Just as my vision starts to dot with darkness as he begins to squeeze down on my windpipe, he suddenly let go. A slim arm wraps itself around my waist before I start moving along quickly in the water. A quick jerk later, I am hoisted upwards till my head breaking surface, air reentering my lungs via my nose forcing me to cough out some of the water.
"Are you alright, Genko-chan?"
Coughing out some more water, I turn my gaze to my savior, Tsuyu holding onto me by my waist.
"Y-Yeah… thanks for the save, Tsuyu-chan…"
Carrying me up, she climbs up the model ship, joining Midoriya on board.
"Thanks, Asui-san." He thanks her as she puts me down, I holding the railing for stability.
"Call me Tsuyu-chan." She tells him before adding on, "But we seem to still be in trouble here."
"Yeah, that Villain…" I noted, "They planned this attack knowing that All Might would be here. But how…?"
"The incident with press from last week…" Midoriya points out, "They caused it as a distraction to gather intel. It's like Todoroki said… they've been waiting for this chance, and prepared for it."
"They said they are here for All Might." Tsuyu added, "For them to announce it so boldly, they must have figured out a way to kill him. Otherwise, why come here only to get beaten?"
"It does seem that way…" I stated. All of this started a week ago, from that one incident with the press and the barrier… I should've noticed! The signs were there and I was too stupid to notice them! "What do we do now? Hold up until All Might gets here?"
"Not sure if we can, kero." Tsuyu noted, "Even if he makes it here, who can say that he won't be killed…"
My legs start to tremble a little when she said that. And it's not from the chill. "Then… what should we-"
*Splash*
"GET DOWN!"
Midoriya manages to push me and Tsuyu down onto the deck, just as a jet of water shoots out and crashes into the window next to us. A glance below and the situation is clear. We are completely outmanned, the villains encircling the boat effectively blocking any possible escape route. We are effectively trapped.
"We…" He pants out as we hid behind the cover of the railings, "If they… if there's even a chance that they have a way to beat All Might, then we have to fight, and WIN!"
I look back at him, his eyes somehow gaining a calculative edge to them. He is the type that analysis the situation before acting, think really hard before you leap kind of person. His usual muttering routine is a by-product of that.
If he is managing to keep his cool under all of this, why couldn't I?
"Those guys down there. They're clearly suited for aquatic combat, right?" He pointed out, Tsuyu and I nodded at the point.
"They must have recruited them with the USJ's different environment in mind." I stated.
"Exactly! Their intel told them that much. But with all that careful planning, one odd thing sticks out." He points at Tsuyu, "They zapped you into the Flood Zone, Asui-I mean… T-T-Tsuyu…-c-chan…"
"It's okay, take your time." She assures him.
"That's right!" The realization hits me in the head when he points it out, "With Tsuyu-chan's frog quirk, wouldn't it be better to send her to the flaming buildings? Or the blizzard area? So why send her here, where she is most advantageous?"
"That's exactly it. They don't know about her quirk in the first place!" He explained, "They have no idea what any of our quirks are, so their strategy was to scatter us and overwhelm us with numbers. That leaves us with one option for victory, to exploit the fact that they don't know our quirks. Look! They're not even trying to get aboard! That supports my theory!"
"In that case, we need to lay out everything we have on our quirks to everyone." I stated, "Leave nothing out."
"Then I'll go first." Tsuyu nodded, "I can jump really high, and stick to walls. My tongue can stretch up to a maximum of 20 meters. Also, I can spit up my stomach to clean it and secrete a poisonous fluid, which isn't actually all that poisonous. It really just stings a little. The last two aren't that useful, so you can forget about them."
Okay, got to say, Tsuyu has way more in her arsenal than I originally thought!
"Wow, you are strong… I've underestimated you." Midoriya noted before continuing, "Now me. I have… Super Strength, but it messes my body whenever I uses it. My quirk… it's a double-edged sword."
"Then you better not use your quirk, unless it is the last resort." I reached into my pocket and took out a battery, "I can absorb electricity from any appliance, as long as my palm and fingers including thumb are touching them." I clenched my hands around it and begin to absorb its power, "With it, I can move really fast, fastest is 100 miles per hour. But my brain isn't accelerated by it, so I have a tough time adjusting my movements unless it's pretty straight forward."
"Also, I can do this." Dropping the battery after sucking it dry, I cup my hands, just fingers touching. Slowly separating them, sparks and bolts flew between them with loud crack from each bolt, "From what I can tell, the electricity in my body travels in a circuit which I can make and disrupt using my hands. It doesn't matter if all the fingers touch, as long as some of them touch. But if separated too far, it stops." I move my hands to about two hands' length and the sparks stops, "So it's pretty much is useless for our situation."
"Not really!" Midoriya tells me, "I'm sure we can think of something-"
Just as he is able to finish his statement, something smashes right through our ship, breaking the vessel prop right into two and sending shockwaves through deck.
"Kero! So strong…!" Tsuyu croaked out as Midoriya hold her hand to keep her upright, "He split the boat in half!"
"We're running out of time…" He pointed out, "We need a plan, now!"
"That boat will go under in less than a minute." One of the Villains pointed out with a savage grin, "Once you're in the water, you're chum!"
"Damn it, I'm useless in the water!" I commented out angrily. If this was dry land, I might be able to fight them off somehow, but when I need to swim? I might as well be bait!"
"Water…! That's it!" Midoriya suddenly turns to me, "Tatsuya-san! Can you transfer the electricity elsewhere?"
"Huh? I've never tried, but in theory…" I thought back to when Tetsu is still around, during my fourth grade where he is helping me test out how much voltage I can take using a voltage measuring device that I do not know the name of. If I recall, he- wait, is he suggesting… "Yes! It can transfer out! But I don't know how much!"
"It's fine! I've got an idea!"
After a brief summary of his plan, I got into position. Thankfully, I still have the charge I've absorbed from my battery so I can move immediately. Got to give him props for coming with such a plan in a pinch.
"The moment when the enemy thinks they've won, represents your best chance." Words from the wise, Midoriya. Fits our situation perfectly.
With a deep breath to calm my nerves, I leap out of the ship towards the water. Scoffing me, the Villains just stay there unaware of our plan to fight back, which is advantageous to us. As I fall towards the water, I position myself in the diving pose with my hands out.
Hands, that I have my fingers connecting to each other.
As soon as they touch the water, I separate my fingers and let the electricity flow out. I felt the entire charge leaving me, my own energy draining with every second millisecond. The screams of the Villains echoed in my ears as well as the bright light that luminate the water surface.
"Genko-chan! Kero!" I felt Tsuyu's tongue grab me just as I heard Midoriya screams out…
"DELWARE SMASH!"
With a large splash, the force of his finger flick smashes into the water, pun intended. That created a small crater in the water that the now paralyzed villains are getting dragged towards the center and within seconds, the surface tension of the water fixes itself forcefully, sending them all heads first towards each other a glorious splash of bodies that is sent flying into the air.
"Good work, you two." Tsuyu congrats us on our way outwards, landing with a splash around the edge of the Flood Zone, "That's one challenge down."
I give her thumbs-up while Midoriya clutches his broken finger wincing from the pain. He needs to get that fixed soon. Thankfully, the water seems clean enough so we don't have to worry too much; the Villains all knocked out in one corner close to the sinking ship unconscious, hopefully not dead because I really not want THAT on my conscious.
Killing people as a student isn't something I need on my hero resume.
An anonymous mental agreement later, we all slowly make our way to the shore; I'm slightly slogging along after them, the tiredness of my previous stun gun act is really wearing on me. Never thought losing my charge would drain me this much… got to keep a mental note of this.
"Are you alright, Genko-chan?" Tsuyu asked me worriedly, "You look exhausted."
"A little." I stated, "I'll be fine. Just need to rest." Which should be the last thing we need to be doing. Villains are still out there, so our crisis isn't over yet. "So, what's the plan now, Midoriya?"
He got out of his muttering routine when I ask that question and replied, "Ah! R-Right…" He felt his bandaged finger (Thankfully, my first aid supplies aren't soaked… Mental Note: Remember to ask the Support Course to help waterproof my belt pouches.), "For now… calling for help is our top priority. If possible, we should follow the shoreline and make for the exit, avoiding the plaza altogether…"
As we made to the shore, we hugged by the side and lay low into the water to hide ourselves from the Villains. In the distance, Aizawa can be seen is fighting against a huge crowd of Villains of all forms. Got to admit, it is cool to see him in action, throwing them left and right, taking down guys larger than he is. If this is what a Pro Hero is, I'm not sure if I can reach that level by graduation.
"Looks like Aizawa-sensei is drawing a large number of them to the plaza." Tsuyu noted.
"There's too many of them…" Midoriya pointed out, "Of course, he's more than holding his own out there, but it's too much for him. He knew that, but he jumped in to protect us."
"You're not planning on…!"
"I'm not saying we should dive into the fight." He assures my question, "Just that we watch for an opening and do what we can to lighten sensei's load."
I looked at him worriedly, not sure about even going into a fight against so many Villains. Our fight in the Flood Zone is merely dumb luck that they all are at the water surface and they not knowing of our quirks. And Aizawa's group is way more equipped for a fight.
We scurried along the shoreline, taking care to not get seen by the Villains. By the time we reach close to the stairs, I decided to peek back at the fight.
Aizawa is now rushing towards what I presume is the head honcho of this band of thugs, the guy with hands all over his body who has grabbed onto his capture scarf. With that, he pulls him closer and elbows him in the gut. But then, he staggers back a bit, his elbow in the grasp of the leader's hand.
Which begins to disintegrate.
This causes our teacher to leap back, dodging a pair of Villains that has snuck up on him and taking them both down effectively.
But when he is doing that, something else appears behind him.
A large black muscular mass of a man with his brain out in the open grabs our teacher's injured arm and twist it like a pretzel, effectively breaking it in one smooth motion. And with his spare hand, smashes him into the concrete floor so hard that it cracked, crushing his skull in the process.
I don't have to turn to know that both Midoriya and Tsuyu are watching this with me, and with the same blank stare of horror. What… is that thing?
"Meet the Anti-Symbol of Peace." The leader stated out, "The Bio-engineered…"
The thing let out a deafening roar.
"Nomu."
…
To be continued…
Omake
"For today, we're going to be sparring against your fellow classmates!" All Might declares as all of Class 1-A has gathered into one of the buildings of Training Ground Beta in their gym uniforms, where there are several practice mattresses scattered about in an organised manner.
"How are we going to be paired this time?!" Iida raising his hand and asking.
"As we did for our Battle Training!" He explains as he takes out a ballot box, "Drawing lots!"
After some time drawing lots, everyone is paired up with their sparring partner.
Genko got paired with Bakugou, the lighter blonde of the two grinning with some sort of glee.
"Now!" The No.1 Hero loudly proclaims, "You are to spar without using your quirks! There will come times where you are unable to use them, so you will learn how to deal with Villains without them. Those who have some fighting experience, please help out those without the best you can. We will rotate every few minutes. Do everyone understand?"
"Yes!"
"Good! You may proceed."
With that last declaration, Bakugou rushes towards his opponent with a wide right hook. Genko simply got close and lands a solid jab into his face, knocking him off-balance and sending him tumbling on the practice mattress. "Too wide of a strike." She tells him, "You want concise and fast motion. Otherwise, you'll get countered very easily."
He got back up, scowling at the fact that the blonde girl got him.
He charges back in, throwing punches left and right. These were either blocked or completely dodged by Genko who at the same time is trying to tell him all his mistakes, which causes him to rush her even more.
"Too wide! You should keep your shoulders in-"
"Shut up!"
"Listen to me-"
"I said shut up!"
She has had it with his attitude and grabs him by his shirt's collar, and with a grace of a judo master tosses him onto the ground. "Listen to me, you egotistic fuckface! I'm trying to help you; so, for the love all things All Might, listen to what I am trying to say, damn it!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Everyone else all look on in complete surprise at the amount of swearing Genko just did.
"Um… Well then! Why don't we switch opponents now?"
Yes! Done so quickly! So, this is a two-part arc, something I didn't think was going to be, but I don't want this chapter to be too long.
So yes, Genko's stun-gun ability. It's something that has been part of this character's ability since the start, it's just not shown until this chapter.
With that, I thank you for reading this!
