Chapter Twenty-Two
Training with All Might was fucking punishing, and mentioning to him that I'd found out I healed a little quickly, which I'd only discovered after getting hurt worse than I ever had against Nomu, had just caused him to pause, grin, and push me even fucking harder.
He'd only stayed for an hour, but by the end I was a broken, sweaty, proud mess. Working with Toshinori, either because of his training or because he was constantly using his power just by being around me, I'd finally gotten the damn thing to settle. By the end One for All was able to help protect me from a solid hit without needing my sole concentration on it to keep from shattering into nothingness, letting it start to be useful as something other than a novelty.
A hard enough hit, or if I got distracted, and it'd still break, but it was settling in faster as well, though, again, nothing on Izuku's instant-activation in a mere month or two from now. But the feeling of tangible progress was fucking amazing.
"And now, I believe I should go talk to Principal Nezu about possible training sessions for the others, should they be so inclined. You definitely performed admirably, Kaminari, despite the newness of your ability!" The likely sadistic Symbol of Peace announced.
I couldn't get up, but formed a thumbs up and flopped my arm over, mumbling, "Plus Ultra."
"Ha ha, Plus Ultra indeed, young man!"
And with that, he left, and I laid on the cool, stable, an weirdly soft feeling concrete for what seemed like another hour before I felt like I could probably stand, stumbling home, happy to sit on the train but having to resist falling asleep.
"Oh my god, honey, are you okay? Did you get in a fight?" my mother demanded as I trudged inside, taking my shoes off, wincing at the stiffness in my back as I did so.
"No, no, I'm fine. Went to UA to train," I muttered, exhausted.
She pulled back, but as I entered the house fully I could see my father waiting, on his laptop at the dinner table, home already, while it smelled like mom was cooking dinner. "Haven't we talked about over-training?" my father asked, and I told my inner Denki to shut up, and that he wasn't calling us dumb.
"Was pretty laid back, 'till All Might stopped by and offered to help. Dude's intense, but we stopped when he thought I'd had enough," I shrugged, wincing a little at the motion. And when his time limit was starting to approach, I noted internally, not mentioning but noticing that single, errant, wisp of steam that'd come out of nowhere right before he pushed me really hard, to the point I could barely move.
"All Might?" he asked skeptically, and I nodded. "Well I suppose that's all right then."
"We still on for training tomorrow?" I asked, sensing a bit of tenseness from my dad.
"Are you sure?" he asked, and while it sounded rhetorical, I could tell it wasn't. "You have pro heroes training you now."
I shook my head. "All Might can teach me how to punch things, but only you can teach me how to turn into lightning, Dad . Of course I'm sure."
"Ah, well, then I guess we're on for tomorrow, as usual," he replied, going back to his laptop, but with a small smile.
As I made way to the stairs, my mother intercepted me, telling me, "Go take a shower, dinner will be ready in ten minutes. And," she leaned in, whispering conspiratorially, "thank you for saying that."
I just shrugged, replying, "It's true," which got me a smile, a tight hug, and a push to go upstairs.
It was Sunday night, and I checked my phone, only to discover that the Company app had 31 notifications pending. With some trepidation, I opened it up, to see that all my captures had finished processing. Scrolling through them, it was quite the haul. Nine of them were tier fours, equivalent to anyone in my class; twelve were tier threes, about half as dangerous, but also worth half the points; and ten of them were tier two's, equivalent to Deku or Bakugo's mothers. However, the tiers were a range, and Inko might be at the bottom while some of the villains were probably closer to the top.
However, the points I got were. . . wrong.
Checking the catalog, I was getting half the points I should, a little asterisk next to each of the point values. Clicking it opened up a text box.
Supply and Demand!
While we appreciate your initiative, Valued Employee, you have captured a Waifu for which there exists little, to no, demand! As such, despite their level of power, they are not worth the same as more in-demand captures. However, we can still utilize them, both as part of bulk purchases, and as secondary prizes in our Gacha service, Waifu Roulette!
Thank you for your continued service to The Company!
Happy Hunting!
I stared at the screen for a long moment, even as my inner comedian snarked, 'Gacha games? We knew they were evil, but this is beyond the pale!' The fact that they were doing it with people, however, was. . . yeah.
That left me with the decision of what to do. Reviewing the Catalog, and its rules, I'd found I could sell my captures, not just to get rid of them, but for extra points, which made sense. I hesitated, though, before I did so. Yes, clones of them were going to be sold, just like clones of Mina, the latter something I didn't want, but, honestly, couldn't control, but was I going to sell them as well?
Who was I, to play judge, jury, and executioner?
Then again, who were they to play judge, jury and executioner? They'd attacked us, kids in the hero course, who had done nothing to them or theirs, even indirectly, and come at us with the announced intent to rape, to torture, and to kill. I couldn't forget the threats they'd made to Mina and Momo, of how badly Sero had been hurt, and the pain in his voice when he recounted it.
This wasn't even war, where there was the expectation of fighting. They weren't some kind of freedom fighters, trying to help people and change a corrupt government, even if they only thought it was corrupt. They weren't people desperate to survive, only fighting us because the other option was dying themselves. This wasn't any of those things, because, in those situations, you wouldn't torture high school freshmen.
These people lived by the sword, believing that might makes right? Well, the golden rule was considered a moral standard for a reason, and I felt no sympathy for them when I applied their own standards to them. I had my standards, of how I'd act, and if others acted similarly to that to me, punishing me for the same crimes I'd punished others for, I'd accept it. Maybe it wasn't heroic, in the modern sense, with heroes like those from comics where they always did the right thing, and it always worked out, but Ojiro was gone, and my classmates had been tortured. While I was in the world of MHA, narrative convenience wasn't something I could rely on.
I sold them all. Hopefully they'd find someone that could redeem them, but that person wasn't going to be me.
However, what should've netted me a hundred and seventy points, more than enough to buy Sweet Home and have a way to leave if I needed it, instead gave me eighty five. That, on top of what I had remaining, put me at ninety eight, out of the even hundred I'd need.
If I'd not bought Mind Defense, or Soul Defense, I'd have enough. It hadn't even worked, I'd lost Mina, not even to outside influences, but to my own stupidity. I'd botched the explanation, hard, but I was scared, and worried, and was trying to get it over with instead of slowly introducing her to it like I, intellectually, knew I should've. I could've still been honest, just. . . carefully so, instead of dumping it all on her lap at once.
But part of me, the part of me that loved her, had hoped she'd understand. The fact that police hadn't bust down my door was a good indication that she hadn't told anyone, though, then again, what could she say? The situation was so crazy, so ridiculous, that no one would believe her. She hadn't believed me, until I'd given her undeniable proof, or at least proof that I could copy powers.
Power copying, interestingly, was something that existed, but never, never permanently. The vectors changed, be it through blood, or seeing the person, or just being around them, but the one universal aspect was that it always, always faded unless re-upped.
In that way, even my copying of her power wasn't impossible for this world, but it had been enough to lend credence to my story, which, as far as I could tell, had made it all real.
Regardless, if I hadn't bought those Defenses, I'd have enough to leave. If I'd only bought one I'd have enough to leave. However, with all of that said and done?
I didn't regret it.
I regretted how I went about it, but doing what I could to keep her safe? Yeah, even if she never spoke to me again, a not-so-small part of me said it was worth it.
That, however, left me with a conundrum. Did I wait until summer camp? Did I try to find a Villain on my own? As long as I stamped them, and let them get away, I could sell them, and no one would be the wiser.
I shook my head. I was done with this, at least for a bit. I'd find another opportunity, and I'd take it, but for now. . . for now I could just be a student at UA. I had time. The sudden surge, along with what had happened with Mina, had put me back in the Company mindset. Of points, and captures, pushing me forward to get enough slavery rewards to get what I wanted.
The people that attacked the USJ? Unequivocally bad, but there was a chance that anyone I found myself, wandering around, wouldn't be, and just in shitty circumstances that a kind word and a little assistance would fix, but I'd be inclined to Stamp-and-Sell, just for those sweet sweet points.
No, I'd apparently hit whatever threshold I'd needed to get the Company off of my back, which would've been nice to know about before it was no longer an issue, and if I didn't capture another until I was a Pro? Unless the Company objected, threatening me in ways neither I, nor anyone on this world could fight against? That was fine by me.
Closing the App, I went to sleep, firm in my decision, and feeling better for it.
Classes started again on Monday, as they were wont to do. Mei and I continued to work on designs every morning, and Mina was still not talking to me. That hurt, but less than it had before. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday, however, was not.
Oh, classes were the same as ever, but after school ended, and I walked towards the gates to see Momo waiting, I realized something I'd forgotten. Namely that, we hung out every Wednesday. The last one had been the USJ incident, and this would be the first since then.
While I was friends with Yaoyorozu, it wasn't a 'great friends that spend time together constantly' kind of thing. We saw each other during school, and ate lunch together, though the conversations there had been. . . stifled the past few days, something obviously having happened, and neither Mina nor I wanting to talk about it.
However, now was a situation that I couldn't just avoid. I mean, I could, I could just blow past her without saying a word, but she was looking at me expectantly, and I'd already hurt one person I cared about, I wasn't going to make it two. And I did care about her, not as much as I did about Mina, or even Mei, if I was being honest, but more than Toru, or Kirishima, or the others who I'd only spoken to a little.
"Yo, Momo," I greeted, trying to smile, feeling as nervous about this as she looked, for some reason. "Um, maybe you should wait for Mina. We had a, well, fight, and you should probably hang out with her inste-"
"I am aware," the other girl interrupted. "We talked, and she said it would be best if it was just you and me." she motioned between us.
"She. . . did?" I asked confused, not having expected that in the slightest.
Yaoyorozu nodded earnestly. "She did. So, well, what is it that you wish to do, Kaminari?"
I thought about it, "Well, there's the normal stuff we do. Like go to the arcade; or kareo- no, not that; we could just hang out in the park, or-"
"Could we. . . train?" the girl asked hesitantly. "Mina's mentioned you've helped her, and my performance was. . . sub-optimal, so-"
" Yes!" I agreed, happy to be on firm ground. At her hurt look, I clarified, "Not that your performance was bad, that was so far beyond what we were prepared for it wasn't even funny, like taking the final exam of the year in your second week of class, but in that I can help you get even better." Grabbing my phone, I filled out the form and reserved a gym, most of them already taken.
"This way," I directed, mentally shifting gears, "so, what do you want to work on? Technique? Quirk use? Martial arts?"
"Oh, well, I suppose how I use my Quirk?" she asked, a little taken aback. "Your suggestion for using non-standard materials has helped, Denki, and I had some ideas, but, you see, they're somewhat silly."
I glanced back at her, "If it's stupid, but it works, it's not stupid, Momo. Let's give it a shot, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn't, it doesn't, but it might kinda work, in which case we can put our heads together to see if we can figure out how to make it actually work!"
"O-Okay, just please don't laugh," she requested, which made me even more interested. Soon enough we were in the space. It was smaller, only about forty feet on each side, and I could faintly hear the sound of distant explosions in a nearby building, but it was still more than enough for us.
We both left our bags in a corner, both of us shucking our jackets and rolling up our sleeves. Her to better use her Quirk, but I just did it because it was more comfortable. With a wave for her to go on, she held a hand out, a circle in her palm glowing as a black staff extended from it, growing to full length.
In a moment, she was armed, and held it out for me to take a look at. "I was looking at alternate materials, and came across carbon nanotubes. The repeating patterns make them easier to construct, actually," she smiled.
I took the weapon, and gave it a few swings, finding it incredibly light. "Looks good, and I just have one question," I replied, adding, "and this isn't a criticism. You know more about staff-fighting than I do, but is the weight going to be an issue?"
Momo shook her head no, then paused, and shook her head no again, but slower. "I don't believe it will be. A heavy staff makes for heavier blows, but one can easily injure another with that."
I frowned at that, "So, you're going for more of a technical, skill-based fighting style than a power-based one?" She nodded. "That seems. . . Why not both?"
"What do you mean?" she inquired.
"So, against Uraraka or Todoroki, this'll be fine, but if you had to fight Sato, or Midoriya, it'd be. . . less than optimal," I pointed out. "If you had two different staffs you were good with, one heavy, one light, you could tailor your toolset to the situation. It's something that only you could do," I added, "able to make the one you want to use as needed. Plus, if you're fighting someone with a Minion power, like Ectoplasm, a heavier staff could help you disrupt his clones, since pinning one of them with your lighter weapon just means the twenty others are free to take you down."
Now it was her turn to frown. "At that point, I might as well use a spear," she pointed out, sounding perturbed.
"Why not? You wouldn't use it against someone like Iida, but if it makes Tsukuyomi's Dark Shadow back off, that sounds like a good idea. Hell, you could even make it diamond tipped!" I replied, happy that she'd been the one to bring it up. "Actually, something magnesium related, or something else that glows, would probably best, given how it's weakened by light, like we saw during All Might's first lesson."
"But, Denki, diamonds are expensive, and I wouldn't want to imbalance the market," she protested, and I had to stare at her.
"Um, Momo? Diamonds are dirt cheap. Like, literally, there's a device in the Design Studio that creates them," I pointed out, as the fact that they were both great thermal conductors while being also very strong electrical insulators made them useful for a project I was working on with Mei that morning.
"But, in my books. . ." she trailed off, reddening.
"Let me guess, historical dramas or fantasy?" I asked, and she nodded, embarrassed. "That makes sense. The tech's only been around for a couple hundred years or so, and it's still a very sci-fi thing. The jewels you see in jewelry are usually not created, at least not the really high-end ones, and they have providence, like art does. Lab created diamonds don't have the same romantic flair."
Momo blushed again, as I stressed the word, and I got a sense of exactly what kind of books she'd been reading. "Oh, well, in that case. . ." She looked down at her arm, from which rose a thick rod of crystal, one which she caught as it finished growing. She smiled as she looked down at her diamond Bo staff.
"I was just about to suggest that," I commented with a smile, but, looking at her, she was frowning. With a crack, she slammed it on the concrete, as hard as she could, and the thing cracked in half. "Or, not." It was only my work with Mei that let me understand what just happened. "Oh, right, Diamonds have, like, no give to them. Whups. Well," I said, clapping, causing Momo to jump, looking up from her now jagged crystal spear, "that's why we have training! Let's see what else you've got, and try it out!"
Yaoyorozu pouted a little. "But it looked so good," she whined, growing gloves and a bag to collect the shards, before putting them off to the side.
While she was doing so, I texted Mei.
Sparky: Hey, is there a metal compound that looks like diamond? Asking for a friend.
N3c3ss1ty: U mean Glassteel?
Looking it up, it was exactly what I was looking for.
Sparky: That's it! Thanks! You're the best!
N3c3ss1ty: I know! （）
Shaking my head, I queued up the molecular structure of it, and showed it to Yaoyorozu as she was walking back to me. "Give this a shot."
She gave me a questioning look, but took my phone, studying it intensely. From the palm of her other hand, a circle glowed, creating what looked to be a thin rod of glass, or maybe diamond. Momo frowned, turning it over in her hands, trying to break it, only, with a supreme effort, bending it just a little. "What is this?" she marveled.
"Glassteel, apparently," I shrugged. "My friend in the support course suggested it."
"Well tell him thank you," she smiled, starting to make a larger rod of it, only for her stomach to grumble. "Oh, it has been a bit since lunch, hasn't it?"
"I'll order a pizza. Extra extra cheese?" I asked, teasingly.
She blushed, nodding, "Yes please, along with pepperoni, mushrooms, and potatoes!"
"I'm not a fun-guy when it comes to 'shrooms," I disagreed. "Something about the texture. How 'bout bacon instead of them?"
"That is acceptable!" she replied cheerful, going back to creating her staff.
Ordering it, she made the glassteel staff, and started to put it through its paces. Watching her go, her movements were fluid, for the most part, but there were very obvious start and stop points, where her grace seemed to completely disappear for half a second, as she shifted.
It's Katas, I realized. She was running through them, very very well, I had to admit, but when she switched between them, she wasn't very practiced with doing that. Having learned how to fight in my first life, both from being formally trained and from informal experience, I recognized the problem, because I'd had that problem.
"How is it?" I asked, after she looked like she was finishing up.
"Definitely useful," she smiled, breathing a little hard. "But heavy, though I can make the next one hollow. It will make for efficient strength training. Can you send me the information?"
I nodded, "Sure, but what do I send it to?"
She looked at me, confused, "My. . . oh, I never gave you my username, did I?" I shook my head, her and Mina having been the one to communicate. Given that Mina would pass along whatever I needed to know, it hadn't been an issue. "It's, um, Creati! With an I!"
"Because you need to be creative, but also create things," I nodded, as it was painfully obvious she was unsure of the name. "Makes sense."
"Yes, I thought so," she sighed, nodding. "So, what is next?"
I shrugged, reaching out an electric limb and grabbing the carbon-fiber staff. "Spar?"
She grinned, then nodded, taking a starting position, which I mirrored.
We stopped, sweaty and breathing hard, when I got a notification that our pizza was here. Despite my enhanced physical fitness, Momo was good with her staff, at least right up until I got in close and moved in a way she didn't have an immediate counter for, or if I, not having any idea what I was doing, countered in a way she hadn't expected.
Her cry of, "You can't do that!" the first time I blocked her staff with my own, only to then grab hers and use it to twist her back and forth like a dog not wanting to give up its stick, provoked a laugh from me, and an "Oh," from her.
Then she tried to knee me in the crotch.
That prompted a quick explanation of why that was a move you only did as a last ditch effort, mostly because, even if it landed, if the person was tough or high enough they'd keep fighting, and now suddenly all the rules went right out the window. Worse, against a decently skilled fighter, they'd see it coming, and, once again, be okay with fighting dirty since you started it. That meant it was to be used as either an unexpected attack, or against a non-fighter, or else there was a good chance that it wouldn't work , and now suddenly the fight you were losing was going to go even worse for you .
After that, though, she tried to work other moves into her repertoire, figuring out transitions as I got good enough to press her when she shifted katas. I also learned quickly, at first having to patch my many failings in technique with brute force, but, as we kept going, getting the hang of using the weapon.
Now though, we took a break, and scarfed down some delicious, but weird, pizza. The potatoes, as well as the copious amounts of cheese, made it taste more like an actual dinner-type pie than a pizza, but I wasn't complaining.
Sitting back after the two of us demolished the dish, I wondered if I should've ordered a second, given how, between my physique and her Quirk, we both ate like horses. Starving horses.
Momo burped, and squeaked, and I just shook my head at how cute she looked, even as part of me wished Mina was here with us. Looking at the clear staff, now a little scuffed from repeated blows, the creator commented, "Once again, please thank your friend for finding that material. I'll have to add it to my notes."
I nodded, before an idea hit me. "I'm an idiot," I muttered.
"What? You're near the top of the class, Denki. I'd hardly call you an idiot," she replied, trying to be reassuring, but missing the point.
"No, Momo, you can create anything, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "Then, what you need are support items!"
That got me a confused look. "But I can create anything I need," she explained.
I nodded, "Yes, including support items."
"That's. . . oh," Momo remarked, eyes going distant at the possibilities.
Support items were, effectively, hyper-tech. Humanity, despite being around for two hundred additional years past when I'd left, seemed to have barely moved forward. Where did that technological innovation go? Where did entire generations of geniuses pour their efforts?
Support Items.
And Mei Hatsumei was a genius, right up there with Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and the others, just without a desire to go punch things in the face while wearing a super-toaster, nor did she have enough overbearing arrogance to create its own gravitational field. That said, she also lacked either man's focus, working on whatever caught her eye, making something ingenious, then tossing it aside.
And, in that, she was more common than you'd think. The wheel had been invented, re-invented, re-re-invented, forgotten, and re-re-re-invented for dozens of technologies, most people not even patenting things. Sometimes that happened because heroes didn't want the secrets, and weaknesses, of their gear made public. Sometimes it was to prevent other Support companies from stealing the tech, tweaking it slightly, and calling it their own. Sometimes, like Mei, the inventors just plain forgot.
A thousand geniuses, with enough generally spread about quality of life improvements, like the diamond creator, to allow them free reign to invent to their heart's desire, had worked for over a hundred years. Each invention they made was complex, but also built for a single user, pairing with the Hero system that every nation in the world followed.
However, Momo didn't have to understand how they worked, something I myself, even with supernatural help, was struggling with, she only needed to know what they were made of.
"Your friend in the support class, could he?" Momo asked, hesitantly.
"I'll have to ask Mei, I don't want to impose, but, hell, I think I could come up with something. Mei'd do it better, but with the Sports festival coming up," I shrugged.
Yaoyorozu frowned, "Mei? That an odd boy's name."
"What? Oh, sorry, Mei's a girl. Mei Hatsume," I clarified, having missed the accidental misgendering. "She's way better with this stuff than I am, but she's a bit. . . odd."
"Oh. oh. Oh!" Momo gasped, and I looked at her quizzicaly. "It's nothing, just, oh."
"Normally nothing doesn't provoke so many 'ohs'," I pointed out, but she shook her head.
"It's. . . I just think I understood something else. It's, not my place to say," she tried to deflect politely.
I just had to sigh, wanting to know whatever the heck had just set her off, but not wanting to pry, not when I'd used that exact phrase with her on Monday, when she'd, like Asui, asked what was up with Mina and I.
"All right," I said, standing up, mentally forcing myself to move on. "I think we're good to keep going. Now, the things you make don't have to be one continuous piece, right?"
"No, though it helps," she informed me.
I grinned evilly. "Then we're going to work on making something terrible. Something that will mess up your opponent for days and ruin them as a serious hero for anyone that sees them afterwards."
Momo gasped, "Denki, I'm not going to attack people with drugs!"
"I, what?" I asked, caught off-guard. "What the hell, Momo? I'm talking about glitter!"
We stared at each other for a moment, and she slowly mouthed the word, before comprehension dawned and she started giggling, barely able to squeak "glitter," before Momo was laughing, hard, leaning against the wall, unable to hold herself up as she tried to restrain her mirth, and failed.
"Mr. Aizawa," she wheezed, "covered in glitter!"
"I'm just being rationally fabulous," I informed her, deadpan, provoking new gales of laughter.
" All Might!" she gasped.
" Have no fear, for I am here, and sparkling!" I quipped, smiling myself.
"You," she giggled, "Are villainous!"
I smiled, as there was no accusation in her tone. "Are you saying you aren't going to hose Bakugo down with it if he gets too close?"
She paused, looking at me, before losing it again, and I couldn't help but join her in laughter.
As fun as Wednesday had been, and we'd made sure we'd do it again next week, even if was just the two of us, Thursday was back to the grind. Mina still wasn't talking to me, though I did catch her staring from time to time.
Friday was the same, and, on Saturday again, I was still training.
All Might had dropped by once more, and it was during his explanation of how to utilize Super Strength to use strikes that would normally be weak effectively, lacking proper leverage, but would now hit like normal blows, and which an opponent would not see coming, that my phone chimed.
Specifically, with the sound I'd set to tell me if Mina had sent me a message.
Distracted, I took a blow to the gut that sent me flying, though I was able to roll with it and stay on my feet as One for All shattered. "Are you alright, Young Kaminari? It's not good to get so distracted in a fight," the Symbol of Peace informed me.
"Gimme a sec, I need to check this," I requested, pulling out my phone and doing just that.
There was a single message from her, with an address, and a time. From my house, it wouldn't be that far away, but from UA? I'd only make it if I rode the rails, and rode them hard.
"I'm sorry, I gotta go," I told the Hero, quickly moving over to my backpack.
"Is everything all right?" All Might asked, sounding concerned.
"I. . . I have absolutely no idea," I told him with a shrug. "Hopefully? Either way, thank you so much, but I need to leave. Now."
"Do you need some assistance?" he inquired instead.
"No," I started to say, but remembered who I was talking to. "I need to be Odawara in half an hour. I can do it, taking the rails, but no one's life is in danger, or anything like that, it's just important to me, so I'm not asking for anything special, but, well, I would appreciate the help."
"I can get you to the station, but that's all," he told me, and I nodded in thanks, even as he strode over and picked me up like I was a bag of rice. In a matter of moments, he was airborne, carrying me over city streets it would've taken me several minutes to navigate, landing in front of the station. "What's so important, if you don't mind me asking?"
Again, I hesitated, but, even if I hadn't grown up with the near-religious awe of the man that my classmates had, I still knew who Toshinori was, and the quality of his character. "I had a fight with a friend, and she asked to meet."
The Symbol of Peace laughed, nodding, "Then I suppose you shouldn't keep Ms. Ashido waiting, should you?"
I winced, even as he put me down, echoing his words from before. "We weren't exactly subtle, were we?"
"You've done nothing objectionable, just make sure you keep it that way," Toshinori informed me. "Now how are you going to get there? The next train isn't for another ten minutes, and even then, you won't make it in time."
Shooting the enormous man a grin, even as my heart felt tight with anticipation, I shot back, jumping up and onto the wires running over the tracks, "I said I'd take the rails, not the train." Leaning down, pushing myself to power up the Induction Grind harder than I had before, I blasted off towards Mina, All Might's bellowing laughter at my back.
AN: Next chapters up on