Ashes In The Sky
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! Now unfortunately the time has come. After this chapter the story will be going on a hiatus for a bit, but fret not for it shall resume later this year shortly after the final season of MHA resumes. Even more good news, while this story is on hiatus I shall be continuing my other story 'A New Crusade' as the new season of Re:Zero came out not too long ago. As always look for further updates on my Pat reon. Now then I believe that's everything and with no guest review questions this week, on to the story!
Near The Coffin in The Sky: On the Ground
If one viewed the battle happening between Shigaraki, Midoriya, and Clay from a distance, they wouldn't be able to see much. The cloud wielder had taken up a posting of sorts above the battlefield, spinning the majority of the orbs he controlled around as wide an area as he dared to make. Thanks to the rapid rate they were currently moving at, it looked like a tornado had formed around all three of them. It was meant to keep the villain from escaping by air while Midoriya was physically wrestling with him up close.
He had Shigaraki by the wrists, using all of his strength to prevent the man from touching the ground. 'We're stalemating right now,' Clay analyzed, 'with my quirk moving at these speeds I can't just lob them blindly or I could hit Izuku as easily as Shigaraki.' It was frustrating but it was also reality; he would have to force himself to be patient and wait for the next opening. Powerful as the vessels for All For One and One For All were, they couldn't keep up this current contest of strength forever.
"Cero," central control suddenly called over his earpiece.
"Tsukauchi, what's wrong," the cloud wielder questioned.
"It's All For One," the detective informed with the slightest note of worry in his voice, "he fled the Gunga Mountain site and is heading in your direction."
"Shit, do we have anyone who can intercept him," Clay asked, already suspecting the answer.
"No one close enough that isn't injured," Tsukauchi reported grimly, "Todoroki and Iida are the next closest, but we've got another situation at Gunga: Dabi is going to unleash stored up fire power, he's trying to take out Endeavor by detonating himself. The blast is going to be big enough to cover a five-kilometer radius!"
"So Todoroki and Iida won't make it here in time," the cloud wielder summed up, "I'll slow the bastard down as much as I can."
"I know we're asking a lot right now," the policeman acknowledged apologetically, "but there's no one else who can intercept him before he reaches Sludge Warp range."
"Not like there's much of a choice either way," the U.A. Student pointed out. Internally, though, he was doing his best to keep calm. 'What I wouldn't give for One For All to split temporarily,' he mused before a memory came to him. It was the mission on Nabu Island where Midoriya and Bakugou had faced the villain, Nine. At the time, didn't One For all?
"Belay that order, Clay," All Might's voice suddenly sounded in his earpiece, "You're the only one left supporting Midoriya now and you've still got a few combos you can use against Shigaraki. Leave All For One to me."
"All Might, where are you right now?" The Cloud Wielder dared to ask.
"Right in his path," the former number one hero revealed, "I got a few surprises planned for him when he gets here."
"While I don't doubt you have a plan, what you're doing is still basically suicide without backup," Clay pointed out.
"It's fine," All Might assured, "I don't know if you heard, but All For One has been on a timer ever since he used that deleter round. He even abandoned stealing several good quirks because he knew time was against him. If I can stall him long enough, he'll run out of steam before he reaches you."
"If that's the case, I'd be a greater help to you than Midoriya right now," the cloud wielder reasoned, "he'll last more than a few minutes even without my help."
"I appreciate the offer, but this fight is between me and All For One, like it has been for a long time now," the former number one hero declared, "in the worst case scenario you'll need to confront him but I intend to end our battle once and for all. Continue to help Midoriya unless the situation changes, that's where you'll be most effective right now."
"Fine, but you'd better not make me regret keeping this from Midoriya," Clay warned, "I've seen his face when one of his heroes has to be buried, I'm in no mood to see that look again."
"Don't worry, this old dog came up with plenty of new tricks," All Might again assured, "I'll tell you all about them when this battle is over."
"I'll hold you to that," the cloud wielder heard the channel go off then as he focused his attention back on the battle before him.
A Short Time Later: Gunga Mountain Villa Ruins
"Oh come on, give me a break," Slade groaned as he saw what was coming. Due to his haste, All For One had hit him with a powerful attack in order to incapacitate him long enough to escape, not caring whether or not the attack was actually strong enough to kill him. Thanks to his increased density at the time, Slade was only knocked unconscious temporarily. This meant he was asleep for Dabi's attempted detonation at the villa ruins which was thwarted thanks to the timely intervention of Todoroki and his family, the former of whom had been transported all the way from Kamino Ward on Iida's back.
Fortunately, or in this case unfortunately, he regained consciousness after a few minutes and was just getting back to his feet when he saw it: a literal tidal wave of Twice clones. 'This must be Himiko Toga's work,' Slade realized, 'Twice is definitely dead but that psychotic school girl obtained the ability to copy other people's quirks recently. She must've gotten ahold of just enough of Twice's blood to do all of this.' What was currently happening was the League of Villains member was employing Twice's most powerful ability: Sad Man's Death Parade.
The clones were using the Double quirk to make more of themselves, creating an ever-expanding army that was so large it seemed to be moving more like a sentient mass than a mob of people. That mass, which had apparently engulfed all the people directly at the ruins already, was now moving to engulf everyone who'd come to try and slow All For One down. Slade knew there was no point in running away, he wouldn't be fast enough in this situation. Instead, he stood his ground, trying to get a handle on things, his mind managing to work overtime despite his exhausted state.
'Never tried it for this long before, but let's see what we can do,' the U.A. student readied himself as the mass of bodies came thundering towards him. Then, when they were right on top of him, he lowered his density and jumped with all of his might before lowering it even further. He phased through the collection of bodies and emerged on the other side of the wave before returning to a higher density. He stepped on top of one clone after another, leaping and spinning out of reach of the flowing bodies.
'Fuck, everything hurts right now,' Slade could feel the pain of his injuries catching up with him as he continued to run, 'it's likely only the adrenaline that's allowing me to go at this pace right now. If this is Toga's doing, I need to find her and take her out as soon as possible, otherwise this could engulf who knows how much of the city!' And so Slade ran on, trying to keep his direction straight as he approached the area where the Gunga Mountain Villa used to reside. But something happened as he got closer.
The mass of Twice clones seemed to all move as one unit with the more central mass shooting up into the air like a waterspout before coming down once more as a wave. This was Sad Man's Legion. Slade again phased through them, feeling as if he was swimming in a black lake for a minute before emerging once again. As he entered the open air once more the Twice clones seemed to take notice of him and began grabbing for the tall student. Slade continued to leap and dodge out of the way, occasionally rolling when he needed to.
Some of the Twice clones jumped up and tried seizing him, but Slade would momentarily increase his density long enough to barrel through them. "Out of my way!" He yelled breathlessly while continuing to run. The pain in his body kept ebbing at him and sweat began forming all over his skin as he continued to shift his density more and more, each time faster than the last. 'Keep going, just keep going,' he repeated to himself like a mantra.
That's when he spotted her, the source of all the chaos: Himiko Toga. The girl was ninety-five to ninety-seven percent transformed into Twice with only part of her face showing. She was standing on top of more Twice clones, talking angrily about something. Slade was still too far away to hear anything but he continued on.
The clones must've had orders to protect their originator, however, as more and more started jumping at him. Slade dodged and phased through the persistent crowd as best he could, but the pain was becoming immense and his exhaustion was starting to get to him, overtaking the adrenaline. When another mass of them rose to halt his progress, the density shifter tried to phase again, but this time it didn't work. 'Shit, my quirk is nearly overused,' he realized.
It was one of the few consequences of his ability. If he used it too much his control over it would temporarily cease, leaving him stuck at whatever density he had chosen until he recovered, but even before that he would lose the ability to phase. "Come on," Slade grit his teeth while just barely dodging the grasping hands, "just a little more!" That's when something unbelievable happened. An energy resembling pink electricity suddenly erupted from the center of the clone mass and began spreading out rapidly.
On instinct the density shifter leapt up, avoiding the unknown energy, or rather it was unknown at first. 'This power, it couldn't be,' he noted that the clones were all starting to float, 'Uraraka?' It was known that Uraraka was one of the people Toga had enough blood to turn into but she couldn't turn into two people at the same time nor did it make any sense that she'd be using the gravity quirk now. The only explanation Slade could see was that Uraraka's quirk had grown immensely stronger.
All the Twice copies were floating into the air like a shower of leaves on a gentle breeze. Slade used this chance to jump from one body to the other at low density, each one acting as a springboard or platform for him to get a little closer. It was then he spotted his classmate and Toga once again with the former having used one of the cables in her gauntlet to grab onto the shapeshifter's arm. They were spinning around in the air slowly, a mock dance among the floating bodies.
By this point Slade was close enough to hear the last of what was being said by Uraraka. "Tell me what you think!" She shouted, "what you've thought until now!" The density shifter had no idea what had been said up to this point, but her words seemed to enrage Toga as she raised her knife.
"No you don't!" Slade kicked off a couple bodies then grabbed another one and swung himself around. This maneuver gave him the momentum he needed as he came up behind Uraraka and held out his arm. But he was only able to increase his density so quickly now and the blade plunged into his arm, eliciting a loud grunt. At the same time, the pink energy from earlier flowed into his body when he touched the gravity user, causing him to become weightless as well.
"What, Slade," Uraraka looked behind her to see the tall student.
"Hey, I'm just as surprised to see you here too," he did his best to smile despite the blade in his arm, "weren't you all the way at Okuto island?"
"Your blood," Toga spoke up, drawing their attention as all the energy seemed to leave her body, "I guess that confirms it then, I'm a girl who falls in love easily. Animals, villains, heroes, boys, girls, they all have such lovely blood flowing through them. Even right now looking at the blood of someone I hardly know piques my interest. But I was told not to smile because it scared people and it made me so jealous that other people could smile."
"Yeah," Uraraka nodded her head, "what else?"
"Izuku looked like Saito, the boy who was my first crush in school," the villainess continued, "but I couldn't ask him for his blood because then he'd say that I wasn't human, that I wasn't cute."
"Tell me how you've proved them all wrong," Slade asked, "what's cute about all this? Do you really think you'll be able to smile when everyone's dead?"
"I joined the League Of Villains because everyone kept telling me the right way to live!" Toga yanked the knife out of his arm, causing him to yelp in pain as she brought it down again. "It was only with them that I could live the way I wanted!" This time as the knife came down, Slade was able to up his density and the blade broke against the back of his hand.
"I'm sorry," Uraraka put a hand on Toga's shoulder, "it took me so long to realize that you've been sending me signals, that you were crying out for help." They were all silent for a moment until something started happening.
"Oh, it looks like times up," the blond-haired girl noted as Twice's suit began to disintegrate, "Jin's blood is leaving me, he's disappearing." She seemed thoughtful for a few seconds. "I realized I like you too, tall boy, because I like people who work so hard, they get beat up."
"That must be hard," Slade mused, "falling in love so easily. Sorry to disappoint you but I already have someone that I love."
"Then, tell her how beautiful her smile is," Toga sniffed while tears filled her eyes. They were descending slowly now while all the floating Twice clones were dissolving into dust, creating an odd cloud of debris that was swirling up into the sky.
"Your smile is beautiful too," Uraraka told her, "I'm jealous of it. I know I'm not part of the League of Villains, but I've been wanting to tell you that."
"You think I'm….. cute," she gave a toothy smile, showing off her fangs. But it wasn't ugly or scary, the two heroes in training had seen far more terrifying looks.
"The cutest in the world," Uraraka smiled back. The trio landed on the ground then and Slade untangled the gravity girl from the shapeshifter.
"Shit," he noticed a wound in her side then and began applying pressure to it, "you've lost a lot of blood." He paid no attention to Toga in this moment, she was no threat to him thanks to his density shifting and her current inability to transform. Right now, Slade was doing everything he could to save one of his friends.
"You, I remember now, your name is Slade," Toga recalled as she approached. Her body was now only covered with the slime from her transformation and her left hair bun was undone.
"Yeah, what about it," he asked without looking her way, "if you want to escape, now's your chance. I can always find you later, my friend needs me right now." The villainess looked around, noting all the heroes were being set down gently. 'You really wouldn't drop anyone, would you,' she mused before approaching the duo.
"She's lost a lethal amount of blood," Toga noted, "let me have some of the blood on your hand."
"What for," Slade narrowed his eyes while glancing at her.
"Jin once created a double to save my life and my body takes on the same blood type as the person I transform into," she explained, "the only way to save her right now is a blood transfusion." The U.A. student had his doubts about the girl's motives but held his bloody hand out to her anyway. Toga took it and licked off all that she needed before transforming into Uraraka. She coughed a bit then as part of her face transformed back.
"You okay," Slade asked, wondering about the girl's current physical state.
"Transforming and using the quirk of the one I transform into catches up with me after a while," Toga took a few heavy breathes, "but that's not something I'm worrying about now." She took part of her equipment that had been lying on the ground nearby and stabbed it into her arm. She stuck another one of the injectors into Uraraka's arm and the blood began flowing through the tube from one to the other.
"No, if you do that," Uraraka groaned, her breathing so shallow it was taking her strength just to speak.
"It's alright," Toga assured while pulling out one of the needles from her gear, threading it and working on sewing up the girl's wound, "even if the League does make a world that's easier for me to live in, you're the one thing from the old world that I don't want to lose. Tell me, would you have visited me and given me blood after I was captured?" The gravity girl nodded weakly to this. "Then that's a good enough reason to save you. All you had to do was capture villains and eliminate deviants, but this whole time you were thinking about other things, even the feelings of your enemy who hurt your friends and stabbed you. You're so weird."
"You…. Too," the brown-haired girl managed to smile weakly despite her shallow breathing, "to do this."
"I live the way I want," Toga laid down next to the U.A. student as more of her face changed back to normal, "that's why I can't let you capture me, but I also know you can't let me go because of it. Still, I'm sorry I yelled at you and stabbed you." She mustered the strength to push herself off the ground just enough to set down a little All Might doll on Uraraka's stomach, the same one that Midoriya had given the gravity girl before she took it. "Thank you, Ochako, if I'd encountered someone like you sooner, maybe I would've wanted to give people blood as much as I wanted to drink it."
She embraced Uraraka then and looked up at Slade. "Please, Slade," her eyes began to droop slowly shut, "give her as much help as you can. Let her see Izuku at least… one last time."
"I can do that," he nodded in understanding.
"Thank you….. both," Himiko Toga drifted off with a smile on her face. Many would remember her as just an insane girl who was part of the League of Villains, but for Ochako Uraraka, she was just a normal girl who'd needed help. She would always remember this as the day Himiko Toga, the girl with the cutest smile in the world, finally found her peace. This would mark the end of the battle in the Gunga Mountains.
Dabi and Toga were now incapacitated or gone along with Machia and Chimera. The battles were now wrapping up in several places. The villains at the islands were being subdued by Gang Orca and the other heroes stationed there while the battle continued to rage at Takoba stadium. But even should those outcomes prove favorable for the heroes, there were still two decisive battles that would determine the fate of Japan and possibly the world.
As All For One races towards Shigaraki, he would again encounter his adversary, All Might. Though he now lacked a quirk, the former number one hero would still do battle against his fated foe with the help of the advanced cybernetic suit: Hercules! Meanwhile, Clay and Midoriya continue their struggle against Shigaraki as the clashing of their powers reaches the heights of forces of nature. What shall be the final moves that determine this war?
And so the end of the war approaches, but what will be lost before all is said and done? Unfortunately it's gonna be a little longer than usual before we find that out as the hiatus begins. But don't worry, if what I've heard is right My Hero Academia's final season will be resuming this year and with it so too shall this story. In the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And check out my Pat reon to see when this story shall be resuming along with other news, scene samples, and exclusives! Last thing, stop in next time as the final players left in the war make their moves! 'Til then.