Chapter Fifty-Seven
"How the heck are we supposed to beat Pros, even two on one!" Sero cried out.
Nezu smiled. "You won't need to completely defeat your teachers. You'll have thirty minutes. In order to win, your objective will be to put these handcuffs on your teacher!" The chimera pulled a pair of said handcuffs from behind his back. They were oversized, compared to him, but the iris mechanism meant that they'd automatically fit everyone here, even All Might and Cementoss. "Or you can win if one of you manages to escape from the combat stage."
"So just holding them off isn't enough?" Kirishima asked. "I mean, if they were villains, wouldn't doin' that until help arrives work?"
"Possibly," the principal agreed easily, "But in that time any of their compatriots would have ample time to do whatever dastardly deeds they've set out to do. Realistically speaking, you should only have ten minutes, and need to fully disable your opponent instead of merely cuffing one arm, but you are just first years. Unless you'd rather fight using more realistic means?" the small mammal grinned, teeth showing in a way that made the gesture subtly threatening.
"N-Nah, I'm good!" the hardener said, waving away the option.
"But, is it really okay to just Jet?" Mina asked, holding up a hand. "Wouldn't that mean we're letting the criminals do whatevs?"
"Yep!" Nezu replied, giving her a thumbs up, and not explaining at all.
Cementoss took up the briefing, "This will be similar to actual combat. For today, think of us as villains."
Snipe chimed in next. "Assumin' you come across your enemy, if you think you can win against them, then fight. However. . ."
"In instances where you're outmatched," Aizawa stated, staring at us all, "it would be smarter to run away and find help. Todoroki, Ida, Midoriya, I'm sure the three of you understand."
"I won't make that mistake again," Tenya declared. "I will pass this test and prove that I'm a hero!"
"So we fight to win, or run to win," Midoriya stated, repeating what we'd just been told.
All Might grinned, "That's right! It's a test of your decision-making skills. But with these rules, you're probably thinking your only choice is to flee. That's why the support course made these super-clever accessories for us."
As All Might pulled out the metal wrist bands, festooned with a ring of black rectangles, Present Mic announced, "Behold! Ultra-compressed weights!"
As one, the entire class turned to stare at me. "C'mon, Ribbit," Asui rebuked them. "Just because Denki does Support things doesn't mean he-"
"They're not exactly weights, but, yeah, I helped make 'em," I admitted, cutting her off as the teachers put them on.
"These babies will add about half our body weight to our physiques. It's not much, but they will eat up our stamina and make it harder for us to move around," All Might continued explaining while we talked, not having paid attention to the us as he put them on. "Oh, Shoot. . . These are heavier than I thought."
Yeah, that's because yours are five times your body weight, I thought, as the man finished equipping the version Mei and I had designed for him, Since he was a power type who could jet around with ease. "We had a contest to come up with these designs, and Young Hatsume ended up winning it."
Power Loader sighed, "Not just her. Kaminari, you want to explain?"
"It's not actually a weight, or at least, not just a weight," I stated. "If that was it, all we'd do is manage to make All Might hit harder. There's also inertial dampeners built into them, to negate the momentum buildup that you could utilize from swinging around weighted limbs. Not enough to start producing anomalous effects, that'd require extra power and make things. . . weird, but the teachers will get all of the downsides, and none of the upsides of being weighed down. They're also tailored to the user so Midnight and Snipe have enough to mess up their finer movements, Eraserhead and Present Mic have a more moderate amount, and All Might, well, I'd say right now he's Half Might, so to speak."
Bakugo scowled, "You think we need that much of a handicap to win against you? When you're just askin' us ta cuff ya?"
All Might laughed heartily, but his glowing blue gaze was hard. " This'll be fun."
Some of the students split off to go prepare plans, but almost half the class gathered in the monitor room, a number of them having followed Deku and I as we'd made a beeline for the viewing gallery. I'd asked Shoto about strategies on the way, but he'd just shaken his head, and was now standing off to the side, lost in thought. Ochaco and Asui were nowhere in sight, but Midoriya was fidgeting, standing off on his own, and neither Mina nor Momo were around, so I walked over to him. "Hey, Izuku," I greeted. "Bakugo not up for team-planning?"
Deku grinned sheepishly, "Um, not really. Kacchan didn't seem like he wanted to talk strategy with me. How about you and Todoroki?" he asked, casting a glance at the boy in question.
I just shrugged, "It's Eraserhead, and we're both effectively emitters. We're gonna have to run fast, and hope one of us gets to the exit. How 'bout you?"
"It's All Might," the green-haired teen offered in return, and, to be honest, that's all that needed to be said.
I nodded, and glanced around the room. Recovery Girl was manning the monitor console, and everyone was just sort of milling about. Sero and Mineta were here, the second giving me a serious nod, which, not really sure what he meant, I returned.
Casting my mind back, I tried to remember how the fights had gone and. . . honestly, I hadn't remembered much actual strategy in these fights. The first one was bone-headed, but, as far as I could remember, all of the fights seemed to have strategies that were made up on the fly, from Momo's scarf-catapult, to Mineta's tape-mask, to Kouda's bug-rush. Hell, Bakugo's strategy boiled down to 'give Midoriya a bomb-gauntlet', as far as I could remember.
On screen, Kirishima and Sato got into position, facing off a man who could literally mold concrete to his will. It was a bad match up even if they were all equally skilled, a defense expert and a strongman lacking the capabilities to handle a battlefield controller, as they had no ranged options whatsoever. But these two against someone who'd trained his Quirk to the point it was almost art? And when the weights the man was wearing didn't impede his Quirk in the slightest?
" This is gonna suck," I sighed, knowing the outcome. I didn't know the specifics of Cementoss' Quirk, if he needed to see what he was working on, if it had a sensory component that he could use, like Toph from Avatar, to locate others from how their feet impacted the concrete under his control, and so on. The smart play would be to go high, as while the buildings were made of concrete too, getting off the concrete streets would help a little, as would the ability to break line of sight easily.
The computer announced the beginning of the test, and the screen expanded the image of the two of them running down a city street, Kirishima commenting that they'd get a higher score for capturing Cementoss than running. You don't know that, I thought, shaking my head, while cataloging the fact that anyone in the monitoring room would be able to hear what we said, though it was at a distance, and the audio didn't have the crisp clarity the show had had. Which, when it was from random cameras strewn about the place, made a bit of sense.
Beside me, Midoriya shifted as a rectangle of cement shot up in front of the pair, causing them both to jump back. About a hundred yards away, Cementoss had squatted down, his hands on the ground. Izuku started to say, "They still have a chance. If they-"
" Let's break through from the front and shoot for a high score!" Kirishima yelled, hardening his body.
" Aw, yeah!" Sato agreed grabbing a cylinder of sugar, which was labelled such in English letters for some reason, downing a half-cup of the stuff in one practiced motion.
". . . oh," Deku finished, frowning. The pair charged forward, breaking through wall after wall, but they did so almost randomly, punching down every wall in their way, not even concentrating their efforts.
"What're ya talkin' about?" Sero asked, cheering on the, admittedly, impressive looking swath of destruction the pair were laying down.
"They're not gonna win it like this," Midoriya disagreed. "Their Quirks are amazing, but there's a limit to how long they can use them. They won't last forever. I don't think Mr. Cementoss has that kind of limit, though. The more time that passes by, the more of a disadvantage they're at. It's like how I can use more power than I can safely handle, but doing so not only damages my body, but puts me on a timer. For a quick win, or when I really need it, that's good, but if I were to do nothing but pushing myself that way, I'd be more of a liability than asset."
Recovery Girl harrumphed beside us. "I'm glad you're not pushing yourself as hard anymore, boy, even if it's for the wrong reasons."
"Eraserhead said he picked these matches," I added. "That's why Todoroki and I, two emitters, are up against Aizawa. Why the people with sonic-based powers are up against a teacher who can override them. Why Mina and Tokoyami are up against someone that won't let them close to melee range. And why Midoriya and Bakugo are up against someone they can't use the strength of their Quirks to steamroll."
Deku nodded, "Yeah. To pass, we'll have to recognize our weaknesses. . . and overcome them."
" Exactly right," Recovery Girl agreed, and I noticed that everyone in the room was now paying close attention to our conversation, as Kirishima and Sato continued breaking down barriers, unable to see as Cementoss used his own Quirk to slowly move himself backwards on a disk of concrete. All the boys could see was the barriers in front of them, thinking they were almost there, not realizing they weren't even close. "So before it's time for your own final, you should think carefully about your compatibility with the teacher you're fighting."
"Already there," I smiled, shaking my head, getting an unamused look from the older woman.
Both boys ran out of steam less than a minute later, Cementoss reforming the concrete rubble, able to control even that, and enclosing the boys in what part of me couldn't help but recognize was a kill move, if Cementoss wasn't being careful. The manufactured stone fell on them like a grey wave in every direction, and when it was pulled off them, they were both battered and bruised, their costumes torn, and it was clear they could've been far worse off.
As the teacher instructed the boys about knowing exactly how far their Quirks could take them, given both were unconscious, I realized that he wasn't saying it for their benefit right now, but for when they reviewed the fight later, and to us in the monitoring room as well.
The horn blared, signaling the end of the fight, not even five minutes from when it'd started, and I had to shake my head.
"It's only the first match and I'm already needed," Recovery Girl sighed, getting out of her chair and heading for the attached medbay.
"Holy crap," Mineta muttered, eyes wide, walking over to me. "Um, Denki, you got any advice?"
I lifted an eyebrow. "Why do you think you're fighting Midnight?" I asked in return and the open pervert winced. "You know more about her than I do. This is your test. I'm looking forward to whatever you come up with."
The tiny boy frowned, before nodding. "Understood," he stated, seriously, walking back over to his corner.
It was only a few minutes later that Asui and Uraraka were in position, in an odd kind of open space, almost like a wall-less coliseum with several sets of balconies going up the cylinder of the room, the entire complex a series of these things. It was almost like a Greek forum, but with modern construction methodology, and I had to wonder why this place was built, other than to host fights, of course.
From our position, the monitor displayed not only the pair of girls, but also a map of the entire complex, as well as the exit on, not the room in front of them, but one behind them and to the right, adding an extra level of confusion and complexity. Then again, given how much smaller this space was than the arena that Kirishima and Sato had just fought in, that made a certain amount of sense.
"Where's Ectoplasm?" Uraraka asked, looking around.
"In order to escape, we have to pass through the designated gate, right?" Tsu reminded her partner, who nodded. "Which means the teacher's probably there waiting for us." The buzzer went off, and the girls nodded to each other, Ochaco using her own Quirk on herself as a white mist shimmered in front of them, forming into five versions of the Pro Hero they were fighting.
The man's appearance was odd, wearing a sleeveless trench-coat. And by that, it wasn't that his arms were bare, but, looking at the man, didn't exist, the tan material of the jacket draping over his shoulders and down his torso seamlessly. Furthermore the Pro was standing on what appeared to be two peg-legs, almost like stilts. I honestly wasn't sure what this man's story was, but, regardless, his handicapped nature would theoretically limit his combat capability to a vast degree.
However, as the man was a Pro, I knew that the teacher could fight, and wondered how this would turn out.
" Maybe You didn't understand," the clones spoke as one, "but we teachers are trying to crush you with everything we've got. No holding back."
More mist appeared from behind them, forming another five clones that were even closer, and Asui's panicked "Ribbit!" summed up my thoughts. Not only could he make them without line of sight, but could act through them perfectly, able to see what they saw to use his power even more effectively.
The lead clone tilted himself forward, to almost smile at them, despite wearing a full helmet, the tooth design on the mouthguard giving his face a skull-like quality. " Steel your nerves, and show me your resolve ," they chanted in unison, charging forward.
Ochaco, weightless, leapt up into the air, but didn't use the thrusters I could clearly see in her suit as she yelled, "Let's go, Tsu!" Asui followed a half second later, leaping up past the girl, tongue shooting out to wrap around her weightless partner's wrist, dragging the other girl along.
The pair headed for a balcony, more clones already forming, but the frog girl leapt up higher, changing direction, another pair of clones starting to manifest, but they were too slow, the pair having blown past them as all but one of the clones deformed, more being created along the balcony the girls ran down. Asui whipped her tongue forward, Ochaco dropping her Quirk right before she kicked the lead clone in the head, causing it to burst into mist as she yelled out, " We're not holding back either!"
Both girls didn't stop moving forward, dodging and fighting their way across the balcony towards an exit. Asui, I knew was strong, and fast, but Uraraka's speed was surprising. It was nothing on what I could do, but given her only use of her Quirk was to either push a clone off the balcony, or on herself for a half-second to close on an opponent, she was doing surprisingly well. The two of them made it towards a hallway, ducking inside and running down it.
In the exact wrong direction.
The green hallway filled with more clones, not giving away anything and the girls nodded to each other and fought on, Ochaco using her Quirk to send clones drifting, while Asui would come in with a kick to send them flying down the hallway behind them in what was obviously a planned maneuver. When one of Ectoplasm's Clones saw that move coming, a second clone forming to try to get the jump on the frog-girl, but Uraraka was there, tagging him and grabbing the man's coat, sending him flying herself.
"That's good communication," Recovery Girl noted, entering the room, eyes on the screen. "They're talking to each other. That might not seem like much but it's important. I don't just mean having a sidekick or teammate that you know you match well with. Real heroes need to be able to communicate with anyone."
I glanced Todoroki's way, "Got a plan yet?"
"Not yet," the boy replied emotionlessly.
Midoriya shot a look my way. "You were talking about these finals, and how each student is supposed to be facing their weaknesses. What are theirs? I'm having trouble seeing Mr. Ectoplasm's Quirks is a bad match-up against theirs."
"Oh?" the old woman commented.
"It's not just Quirks," I stated, the nurse giving me a considering glance. "It's the arena as well. Asui and Uraraka are high-mobility fighters. Especially now. If they were to fight on the streets like Kirishima did, they'd win, easily. But in a smaller, enclosed spaces, neither of them can utilize their mobility to the fullest."
"The area does let Asui move quickly," Recovery Girl disagreed, the frog girl bouncing around, never stopping, "but you're not entirely wrong."
Both girls made it out of the hallway, leaping out into the main space of the cylinder, looking around. "Damnit, not this one. Left or right, Tsu?" Ochaco asked, as more clones formed, on every balcony, a denser cluster around Asui as she landed.
"Right! Ribbit!" the frog girl croaked, leaping back up as a few clones formed above the floating girl, dropping down to try and hit her. Asui's tongue wrapped around Ochaco's waist, pulling her away as the green-clad girl spun around, throwing her partner to the left of the room instead.
The nurse chuckled, "Smart girl." Indeed, more clones were already forming on the right side of the room, leaving the left side more sparsely guarded. Both girls made it down a half-green, half-yellow hallway, but the clone density was growing, and the students had started to slow down, obviously trying to conserve their strength for the final stretch.
However, this was a mistake.
The girls leapt across the space again, but hadn't seen the large cloud of glowing mist that had accumulated on the ceiling in preparation, growing with every clone they destroyed. Instead of streaking out into the air as fast as possible, Asui took a more parabolic arc, and let Ochaco float on her own instead of dragging her across. It was obvious she did so to clear the landing zone, but, in doing so, was caught off-guard when the rain of clones started.
" Look out!" Midoriya yelled, as if that would help, as Ectoplasm after Ectoplasm formed, dropping down. Ochaco tried to dodge but her thrusters had barely started before she was caught in a mass of clones that dragged her to the ground.
" Ochaco!" Asui cried out, turning back, as her teammate was captured, the clones making sure to not slam the girl down too hard, one taking the force of the landing and turning to mist, but the others pinned her to the ground.
The mass of clones moved off her, leaving only three keeping the girl down with their peg-legs. Uraraka's hands were pinned, palms down, a peg pressed down on the top of each, while a third clone had a peg on the small of her back.
The frog girl tried to jump down, tongue shooting out, but the other clones were there, one kicking away the appendage while the others closed in on her landing point, the teenager getting an arm up to protect against the kick that still sent her flying backwards.
"Go on without me, Tsu!" Uraraka yelled, and the other girl hesitated, dodging under a clone's kick, before nodding and leaping away, taking off for the hallway leading to the next room, obviously hoping that that would be the correct one, but it wouldn't be. She had two more to go, but, maybe she could make it.
Ochaco struggled, but Ectoplasm, despite not being able to grab her, with his peg legs and his lack of arms, held her still regardless. All of the clones but the three holding her down broke apart into glowing mist that quickly dissipated, reforming to fight Asui, but those three was enough to keep the student pinned.
" You're not getting away, no matter how hard you struggle," Ectoplasm told Uraraka, while Asui fought through literal hordes of clones. While the weights the teacher was wearing didn't inhibit his Quirk, I could tell they were severely limiting the man's kick-heavy fighting style, having had to strap them all to his legs instead of spreading the 'weights' out between his hands and feet. "Sacrificing yourself was noble, but without you, she is going to fail."
Ochaco still struggled, but there was no getting out, and the girl went limp, giving up. "She's. . . oh," Izuku murmured in realization from beside me.
"Would you like to share with the rest of us?" Recovery Girl asked, interested, and I nodded, since I had no idea what Midoriya had figured out. As far as I could tell, Ochaco was down for the count.
"I. . . you'll see," he told us. "Or I'm wrong. Either way, this is their moment."
All of us turned to watch, Asui taking hits but pushing through, until she found the large blue room where the real Ectoplasm stood, the cutesy exit gate behind him. Looking back, the frog girl inhaled and yelled, "Found it!" as loud as she could, the noise echoing through the structure.
Ectoplasm stared up at her, along with over two dozen clones, more forming to fight the girl, forcing her back as she rushed the gate and trying to dogpile her. The three on Ochaco all stiffened, looking down at the gravity nullifier.
Uraraka turned her head to stare back at them.
And smiled .
Twisting her wrists, her hands remained pinned, but that was enough for the sensors in her bracelets, which fired off their wires, the ends Mei had designed sticking to the clone's peg-leg. With twin pink glows, both clones were rendered weightless, freeing her hands to let twist and grab them, swinging them backwards and releasing the power to let their full mass slam into the last one holding her down.
Using her power on herself, she shoved her hands down, throwing herself up and out of the way as the clones tried to grab her once more, several of the ones fighting Asui dissipating to try and stop Uraraka, but the girl twisted mid-air, the falling clones missing her as she rotated, pointing herself back towards the hallway leading to the central room.
Pointing her hands and feet back, she opened every thruster in her suit to its fullest extent, blasting forward faster than the clones could react, shooting down the hallway as she called out, "TSU!"
"HERE!" her partner yelled, telling the flying girl where to go, as all of the clones the frog-girl were fighting dissipated at once, reforming into a twenty-foot-high Ectoplasm that opened skeletal jaws wide and lunged.
Asui tried to get away, but, with its head not weighed down, the mega-clone was too fast, and swallowed the girl whole, who was pushed through the clone to appear on its back, arms and legs still stuck in the clone's 'jacket'.
The clones trying to stop Ochaco all disappeared, unable to keep up, and a second Mega-clone formed, moving to catch the girl as she shot out the hallway, jaws open wide and waiting. Sure enough, the girl came flying out as if fired from a canon, and, seeing the gaping Maw, her eyes went wide, before her expression set with determination.
Clapping her hands together, she started to fall, moving fast enough that it was a fairly flat arc, throwing both hands out and shooting her wires into the mouth as it closed on her.
Rather than be caught, though, the mega-clone was thrown backwards like All Might himself had just bitch-slapped it, striking the wall so hard it exploded into a mass of shining mist. A pink flash could be seen inside, and Ochaco came hurtling out, thrusters to full again, one arm forward, firing out a wire towards the clone that held Asui.
This time we were able to see what happened, Uraraka releasing her Quirk's effect on herself the moment before she rendered the remaining mega-clone weight- less, slamming into it with enough force to send it flying, before negating the Quirk on it, meaning that it didn't bounce off the balcony harmlessly but hit with the full force the weight and momentum of something that size should have.
Ochaco re-Quirked herself, flying for the exit, clones already forming, and Ectoplasm himself tried to jump up to intercept her. Even with the weights, he kicked her away, but Asui, having pulled the large cuffs out of nowhere, went after him instead.
Ectoplasm twisted at the last moment, kicking her away too, dodging as she tried cuffing him again, but froze, mid-counter, when the buzzer rang. Turning, he stared at the exit, as Asui smirked.
Ochaco was floating, just on the other side of the gate, grinning smugly. "Gonna fail, are we?" she taunted. "I think not."
AN: As always, the next three chapters are up on (though if I get another kick like I did for DR, that'll go up to four)!