Chapter Eighty
When the Pussycats finally called it quits, the sun was setting, casting the forest in almost autumnal colors. Ejecting myself from the training tool, the warm stone of the plateau was oddly comfortable, and part of me wanted to take a nice nap on it. However, even after a few moments I could feel the spasming in my legs start to peter off.
I wonder if this is training my copied High-Speed Regeneration Quirk, I mused darkly, my head pounding with a migraine, but that, too, was already fading. The way to work on that Quirk was as obvious as it was unpleasant, but I was getting that too. Though, from what I could tell, it was going to be slow going getting that ability up to the point that it was ready to make a real difference in combat, and, not for the first time, wondered what absolute torture Nomu had gone through to turn his Quirk up into something that could regrow half his body in seconds.
Sighing, wanting to just lay here for a while, I pushed myself off the ground, my arms just fine, shakily getting to my feet and looking around. The rest of my class was doing little better than I was, all of them seemingly pushed to the point of exhaustion, struggling to collect themselves. Even Bakugo, by a barrel full of boiling water, was cradling his hands to his chest, though he shot me a glare when he saw me looking, to which I gave him a lazy smile and a thumbs up, trying not to fall over as my legs repaired themselves from the damage the latest bought of spasms had done to them.
Cycling OfA, suddenly I had no problems, my enhanced. . . everything able to take the strain easily, and I sighed in relief, spotting Mina at the base of a different mini-mountain, the platforms of rock absolutely Quirk-made, but also made it possible for me to let loose without the risk of hitting anyone with a stray arc of lightning. Running off the top of the small plateau, I shifted my legs to electricity once more, just for an instant, to let me coil and extend them like super-springs, sending me flying through the air as they snapped back a little painfully, not quite ready to start being used that way again.
Regardless, it was enough to launch me with enough speed to make it to my girlfriend, extending out electric arms to shoot down instead of legs to catch myself and lessen the landing next to her, skidding a little, but turning as I did so, such that I ended up leaning on the mountain she'd been working on. A mountain with two hand-shaped divots that were a solid foot deep into the solid stone, with erosion trails going down into the ground.
"Someone's been busy," I smiled, as my gold-eyed girl looked at me in disbelief.
"How are you not exhausted, Sparky?" she demanded incredulously, the flesh on her palms and the insides of her fingers a darker purple, which for her meant the flesh was reddened, and, from the look of it, almost raw from acid damage.
Letting All Might's Quirk fade, I sagged a little, needing to use the small cliff to hold myself up. "I am," I told her, and saw a bit of chagrined sympathy in her eyes, before bringing it back up, sparking slightly. "But I can self-enhance, and I bounce back," I told her, noting Jiro standing beside her, watching the two of us. Beside her, two deep divots had been carved into the rock wall.
Given how the girl's jacks normally didn't damage what they plugged into, why she'd been able to hit Mineta with one and give him a sonic shake when he'd relapsed a little on the perviness without anyone lifting an eyebrow, it was easy to forget they were essentially tiny daggers. And, with how she'd been slowly tunneling into solid rock, even if to a far lesser degree than Mina had, it made for a strong reminder that she had more talents than just scouting.
"And at least you two got to see some progress at the end of the day. I'll I've got is a battery, an iron bar, and a bit of blackened rock," I mused. In defiance of everything I knew about electricity, most of my lightning had blasted upwards, into the sky, instead of down to ground itself into the stone below my feet. From a Quirk perspective, though, I supposed I was still a little worried about having my electricity accidentally hit Uraraka, or even Ida, if either of them got too close as they bounced around the training area, so it'd moved to miss them which. . . well, it 'made sense' in a child-like way, but what it actually meant was that, at least a little, I could control my electricity after it had left me but, well, I had no idea how to make that happen past an inch away from my skin.
My statement, though, made both girls look at the mountainside in surprise, Jiro letting out a quiet, "Holy shit," holding up two blood-encrusted jacks as if seeing them for the first time. Mina, meanwhile, just smiled at the damage she'd done, and teased me with a, "You say the sweetest things, Sparky."
"I try," I said, carefully taking one of her hands and kissing the top of it, making sure not to touch the damaged flesh. For a second, my girlfriend looked worried, glancing around, until she realized it was just a kiss, and not my using of Recovery Girl's Quirk, which always caused a bit of a light show. 'Not yet' I mouthed, and she just rolled her eyes.
"C'mon everyone!" the dark haired Pussycat. . . Pixie-Bob? called. Or maybe that one was Mandalay. Honestly, the only one I could remember was Tiger, because the musclebound 'pussycat' had an appropriately dangerous name. "Time to get dinner!"
Mina gave an "Ugh!" of exasperation, before visibly perking up and turning to look at me with pleading eyes. "Hey, Spaaaaaarky?"
"Yes, Miiiiiina?" I replied with a smirk, having an idea of where this was going.
Reaching out to me, she almost touched my chest, before catching herself and doing so with the back of her finger instead, running it down my body, "You're all energetic, and strong, and muscly, and did I mention handsome?"
"Yes, I'll carry you back to camp," I informed her.
A grin spread across her face as she cheered, "Yipeee!" throwing up a fist only to wince, pulling it down to cradle her hand, "Owieee!"
Shaking my head, I scooped her up into a princess carry, trying to figure out how I could actually pick up Recovery Girl's Quirk. The obvious, getting hurt a lot and going to her office enough times, would also absolutely not work, as the older woman was already giving me shit about what happened during the Sports Festival, and I'd most likely have to see her use her Quirk dozens of times, at the very least, before whatever threshold my Psychic Talent Perk needed to start recreating it myself.
Maybe I could intern with her to study 'medicine'? Hopefully Science Talent would work on the medical sciences, and, honestly, some training with trauma care wouldn't be a bad thing, given my profession. Hmm. . . maybe stop by after-school and see if I could do it as an extra-curricular thing? It'd cut into my training time, but the ability to heal my girlfriend would be well worth it.
"Hey, you've got your plotting face on," said girlfriend noted, poking me in the cheek. "Spill!"
I blinked, having been walking on auto-pilot, following the others, and I noticed that several of my classmates were staring at us, probably because I was carrying Mina. "Oh, just thinking that I should study medicine," I replied offhandedly. "Maybe from Recovery Girl? I don't have her Quirk, obviously, but that doesn't mean I couldn't use the knowledge."
"Dude," Kirishima said, looking at me incredulously, "Aren't you, like, already takin' Support courses? And you want to study more?"
Yaoyorozu cast him a slightly critical look, which for her was a truly disdainful glare, before smiling at me. "That sounds like a lovely idea, Denki! I have read up on the subject, to know what things would be needed to fabricate, and I could give you some introductory lessons!"
Having some knowledge before asking the expert to let me learn from her would definitely help my chances, I thought, smiling broadly at the girl. "That sounds great, Momo. Not now, obviously, but when we get back?"
"I look forward to it," she grinned, blushing a little.
"Dude! How!?" I heard Mineta opine, but ignored him, Tsuyu informing the recovering pervert, "They're number one and two in our class for a reason. Unless you mean something else, ribbit."
Mina leaned back a little to look past me at the sticky midget, "Yeah, you don't mean anything else, do ya?"
"I, you, he, ugh!" Mineta groaned, and Mina laughed.
"I, oh," Momo murmured, seeming to just get the implications. "Mina, if you would also like-"
The girl in my arms waved the creator's worries away. "I have a hard enough time with our normal stuff, even with this big lug helpin' me out," she declared, thumping me lightly on the chest, "Just have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't!"
Lifting an eyebrow, I whispered to her, "Do you have any idea how little that narrows things down?" which caused Mina to giggle, and Jiro, on our other side, to sputter, her super-hearing catching my comment.
Soon enough, though, we made it back to the main building, where picnic tables were set up, as well as a row of firepits, the annoying green-haired Pussycat and the cradle-robbing blonde one both waiting for us, in front of plates over-loaded with ingredients.
"Now, remember what I said?" the Terrakinetic called, in a self-satisfied way that, looking at how exhausted pretty much everyone but me was, which seemed almost cruel as she practically taunted, "We're not serving your food anymore!"
The crazy looking one was pawing the air for no apparent reason, which didn't help the 'I need psychiatric help' vibe she was giving off in the slightest, and she added, "If you guys wanna eat, you'll have to make your own meals! Starting with curry!"
I didn't remember seeing her at all last night, so jumping on the 'we helped you out, now it's time for you to do it yourself' train. . . grated, even as both classes, looking dejected, chanted "Yes, Ma'am," in unison, with one single exception, as I just stared at them, unimpressed.
Because, seriously, what was the point in doing this, except to maybe teach us not to put our all into our training, as we'd have to do this shit afterwards, which seemed. . . counterintuitive, at best? Is it some kind of bonding exercise? I wondered, but then why not say so.
Instead, clearly taking delight in our misery, the crazy one threw up her hands, dancing about and cackling, pointing one oversized paw at us and declaring, "Oh man, do you guys look exhausted!" . . . Are. . . are there fucking tears in her eyes? I couldn't help but wonder, as she leaned over in laughter, no question about the fact that she was taunting us with her follow up pronouncement of, "But that doesn't mean you can coast by making sloppy cat food!"
"What a bitch," I couldn't help but comment, not meaning to say it, but the words slipped out. "Even her puns are substandard."
"Sparky!" Mina hissed reproachfully, the others around me looking askance, though Bakugo chuckled, which was really more a condemnation of my behavior than anything else.
"Am I wrong?" I questioned the girl in my arms, annoyance at the situation growing.
Ida, meanwhile, proposed, "Perhaps, as an important part of saving someone recovering from a disaster is providing for their physical needs as well as spiritual, that is the point of this exercise."
"If that's true, I look forward to them teaching us how to cook en masse, as opposed to just making us do it ourselves, while laughing at us fumbling around, exhausted, as we've done what they asked and ran ourselves ragged training today," I replied, turning an expectant look towards the crazy one, who was still giggling up a storm, while the blonde, at least, had the presence of mind to suddenly look chagrined.
She opened her mouth to reply, but the crazy one clapped her paw-mitts together, telling us, "Chop chop! It'll be dark soon, and then it'll be time for your cat naps!"
There was a moment of silence, as both classes waited a beat, but green-hair just giggled at her own joke, while the blonde visibly weighed whether or not she should do something, the plan obviously to have us cook this ourselves with only the barest of oversight, and only now was she realizing how, just like her sucker-punch use of her Quirk yesterday that threw us off a cliff, this also seemed like a betrayal of trust that she'd thought we'd take with a smile.
Only I wasn't smiling.
"That's not even what that idiom means," I sighed, wanting to face-palm but alas, my hands were full of Mina, which was honestly preferable. "Alright," I said, pitching my voice to carry, putting my girlfriend down, taking a few purposeful steps to put me in front of our combined classes, and turning my back on the two 'Pros'.
In their chosen task, that being disaster recovery, the Pussycats were probably very skilled, and they may even be good at helping newly minted Pros improve, but they were kind of shit at this. Then again, with the crazy one to hand them a person's strengths and weaknesses practically gift-wrapped, and the blonde one to make dynamic sparring partners that could be destroyed over and over again, they could probably get results without trying that hard. Maybe the brunette was better, but I hadn't interacted with her that much, and that went double for Tiger, but when it came to these two?
Not impressed.
"Anyone here have actual cooking experience?" I requested. "I don't mean professional, if you've done so at home, that works too." Asui raised her hand, along with Sato, which wasn't surprising, the boy an accomplished pastry chef from what I remembered, along with a dozen others including, "Bakugo?" I questioned.
"What kind of pathetic extra doesn't know how to cook?" the explosive teen demanded, several from class 1-B sending him dark looks, while my classmates just looked exasperated.
I shrugged, "You'd be surprised. For most people it's a 'never needed to' thing."
"You tellin' me you don't know?" he accused.
"I do, but it's understandable why others wouldn't," I shrugged, cataloging our 'chefs'. "And any of you cook curry before?" Most of the hands stayed up, and I reminded myself that this was Japan.
Actually, that might explain why these Bitchy-cats thought they could push us around without issue, I considered, pinging the bit of me that was 'Denki' before I showed up, and realizing that, yes, he would've been annoyed, but he would've taken it without more than a moan of complaint.
Yeah, fuck that.
"Okay, you guys are in charge," I declared. "Any non-cooks have knife skills?" A couple hands went up, the mantis looking boy's then grew a blade, his Quirk in action. "Good, you guys are on chopping detail. We've got a lot of raw ingredients, and how you chop an onion is different than how you chop a pepper, or a potato. Bakugo, Monoma, and Shoji, you show the knife-guys how to do this. Also, 1-B, Bakugo's not angry at you, he just has high standards and get grouchy when others don't meet them like he tries to."
"What do you mean tries, Pikachu?" said teen growled.
"And why should we be listening to anyone from class 1-A?" the power-copier from the other group demanded scornfully.
To my surprise, Kirishima came to my defense, "Because Kaminari's stupid good at planning! He'd the reason we made that!" he declared, pointing to the wreck of the Articuno still sitting nearby.
"Not exactly helpin' your case," Kendo, the president of their class, pointed out. "What even is that?"
"A plane," I shrugged, "And that's after we crash-landed it, the ice-hull shattered, and we were attacked by. . . .forty flying earth-drakes?" I asked.
"Eighty-six," Midoriya corrected.
"Yeah, that sounds right," I shrugged.
Pull-apart girl looked at me skeptically. "Wait, what? You guys didn't have to sit through that stupid lecture?"
"Lecture?" Sato echoed, confused.
"Wait, you didn't?" Tetsu^4 demanded. "What'd you do instead?"
Kirishima grinned at his palette-swapped copy, "We had to fight through the forest, battling monsters every step of the way. It was so manly!"
"How does that lead to you making a plane?" Tokage questioned.
"We were on a time limit," I offered, "and it took our entire class to make it work. Well, most of our class," I amended, Ida wincing.
Momo, whoever, disagreed, stating, "Be that as it may, without your blueprints and your expertise, we would not have been able to construct something flight-capable."
I waved away the praise, "Regardless, I know how to organize, so, choppers, you've got your jobs. Asui, Ochaco, and, uh, you," I said, pointing at the small blue haired boy who'd said he could cook, "You handle rice."
"Uh, I can spin," another one of class 1-B's cook's pointed out, lifting a hand, which did indeed rotate like a top, and I wondered how the fuck his ligaments worked, "shouldn't I be doing that?"
"Sure," I said, "Sorry, I don't know all your Quirks, so if you've got something that'd be directly useful, don't hesitate to say so. You replace. . ."
"Shoda," the blue-haired boy stated. "When I hit something, I can make it get hit again later."
That seemed. . . basic, but I supposed, if it stacked, that could be surprisingly deadly. "That work through tools?" I questioned, and he nodded. "Huh, okay, might be helpful on a different night."
"What'll you be doing?" Monoma demanded. "Oversight?"
"No, I'll be part of the cooking group, along with Todoroki, Momo, and Ibara," I told him, holding up a hand that turned to electricity, then flattened out to form a pseudo-spatula, my other form immune to heat or cold, as it was pure energy, only it wasn't. . . Quirks were weird, okay? "I'm not the best cook, but I know enough to do the basics. Everyone else, pick a group, and if they're full-" I paused, realizing the fire pits weren't prepped, and that a few dozen circular sections of log were set aside. "Actually, looks like part of our 'cooking' instruction is how to split logs. How. . . instructional," I drawled. "1-B, anyone on your side have superstrength, or at least well above standard, and feel up for a little more physical work?"
The furry guy and the yellow one with the weird head both lifted a hand. "Okay, you two are with me and Midoriya splitting logs for fuel while everyone else gets ready, and then we'll see where else we can help. That sound good to everyone?" I called, getting a general murmur of agreement. "Let's try that again, Are you ready to get some food!?" I yelled.
"YEAH!" the others cheered back, and I grinned.
"Then let's get to work!"
MHA
With my HS Regen ticking away in the background, I was nowhere near 100%, but mainlining as much of OfA as I could, it was easy enough to split log after log, getting the cooking team enough to get supplied, Todoroki and Momo getting the fires started through use of his fire powers, and her through a handful of Created butane lighters, the other splitters begging off and doing something that didn't require physical strength. Two of them had been working all day with Tiger, and lacking my recovery, while the third, the glue-creating guy, whose name was, I shit you not, fucking Bondo, naturally strong but not supernaturally strong, and splitting logs in a hurry had started to tire him out.
Taking over the task, it was easy enough to chew through another set, before, thinking about it, I put down the axe and considered my hand. I'd seen my dad pull off this trick with fruit, not lumber, but he just had his Quirk, while I had six, even if most were at kindergartener levels, but a 'All Might if he was six' Quirk was still nothing to sneeze at.
Shifting my hand to solid electricity, I formed the spike, just as my dad had, and, first without extra enhancement, tried to drive it into the center of the log. It actually bit into the wood, though not nearly enough to split it, and trying to extend out bladed 'fingers' did. . . well, I made them, not perfect spaced out like my father could, closer to an actual hand, but other than sinking in enough to get a firm grip, they didn't do shit.
Letting it snap back to normal, I considered the issue, and shifted my entire arm, pondering my stance and how to maximize driving force. The mutable, almost snakelike flexibility of the limbs my father could make meant he wasn't limited in rotation points, but I could only manage four, which was still inhuman looking, and I could move where those 'joints' were on my extendable arm, but I couldn't do anything like the whiplike SNAP that he'd shown off.
A few quick mental calculations and I shifted how I stood, slamming the limb down as hard as I could, and was rewarded with firm CRACK! as I drove it most of the way through the log, not enough to fully split it, but enough to get just over halfway down the line. Trying to extend fingers. . . did nothing, once again, the material just too tough, and my skill with it too lacking to make the kinds of sharp blades my father could.
His apples were perfectly sliced, I made apple sauce.
Okay, good control, I thought, slamming down my hand once more to finish splitting the log in half. Slight adjustments to my technique let me split the two smaller halves into four quarters, which I tossed on the pile, their small size meaning the force required to break them was at a lower threshold.
Toggling OfA to my normal 'use' rate, my body didn't quite start sparking, though thin golden lines did spiderweb across my body, easily miss-able, as they were hair width, and the glow was minor. Trying again, I split the log in half, though only just barely, the quarters done in two more hits.
Okay, next, I told myself, mentally checking off the list, pushing OfA to the max I had it, sparking in truth, and tried again. This time not only did I split the logs, quite loudly, I put a divot into the earth beneath them, and when I extended my 'fingers', each thunked into the wood, except my middle finger which just curled up into my electric palm, as that's where I'd split the wood.
. . . right, I realized, trying to shift that finger into two to try and hit both halves but. . . I couldn't, the feeling too. . . alien for me to visualize correctly. Focusing on my index and ring fingers, which were in the right-ish positions, I tried to grow them out, to split the wood I held but. . . no dice. I could generate a bit of force that way, but, even enhanced, it wasn't enough.
Electrifying my other hand, I pulled apart the wood manually, instead of trying to split it, the material not putty in my grip, but pliable in a way it really shouldn't be, and I tossed those quarters into the pile as well, nodding to Midoriya, who was getting some wood for the fires, the boy looking at me questioningly, but not saying a word as he carried a small stack off.
Actually, what if I pulled a Midoriya myself? Not enough to break my body, my power couldn't harm me in that way, I'd tried, but he used to try and concentrate it in a single limb, so why didn't I?
Grabbing another log, I took a stance, and isolated the rotation zones. Hips, a little, shoulders rotated, but that was handled by core muscles, so that too, and taking a slow practice move I realized I needed my glutes, so some power went there. I snorted, hearing Mina's voice in my head commenting on my 'super butt'. Some more went into my shoulder, to bring my arm down, but the arm itself. . .
Considering it, there weren't any muscles to focus on as it was just. . . there.
Fuck it, Quirks are user friendly, I thought, just enhancing my entire 'arm', likely not at peak efficiency, but this was just a test. Focusing on just those areas, I poured OfA into them, distilling it down, and it wasn't exactly easy, nor was it smooth, and, not for the first time, I felt that Quirk butt up against my Defenses. I still didn't know why, but, given that during Midoriya's Canon fight with Shinzo, where we saw several shadowing figures watching him, possibly even the previous holders of the his Quirk, I wasn't inclined to let it in anytime soon.
Ready, I took a deep breath, and expelled it as I slammed it down as hard as I-
CRASH!
. . . could?
The log shredded itself, the force kicking up dust, causing several of the girls to shriek, though thankfully I wasn't close to the food prep, so it was fine. Looking down at myself, though, I noted several slivers of wood had pierced my shirt, and, bereft of the protections of OfA, had lodged themselves in my flesh.
Letting All Might's Quirk snap back and fill myself helped somewhat, then I let my form ripple a little, which dislodged a good number of splinters of various sizes, my ability somehow able to automatically determine what was 'me', like my clothing, and electrify that, but exclude the bits of shrapnel that had gotten stuck in. I brought the effect up over my face, having to try and focus on just my face instead of my entire head, trying not to electrobody my brain. I mostly succeeded, and, while, after I let the effect pass, my entire body shuddered with the warnings of a full-on seizure if I pressed harder, it did the job.
Looking at my left arm, I now had a thin smattering of bright red freckles, my skin oddly itchy, and, using my unharmed right arm, smudged a few, leaving crimson streaks, but I could practically feel myself healing, only thin divots in my skin where the splinters had been, and, a moment later, barely even that.
"Denki!" Mina cried, running over to me.
"Huh, I'm fine," I told her. "That was. . . dumb, though." Note to self, only drop the FULL BODY DEFENSES when properly armored or in times of extreme need. And always enhance my head. Always.
Thankfully my eyes had been closed, though getting a splinter in your eyelid was. . . not fun. "I, uh, probably should go change though. And maybe wash off. You know, blood being a health hazard and all."
"I. . . Sparky," My girlfriend sighed, exasperated, but also concerned. "You, you'll be fine?"
Running my right hand over my left arm again, leaving more bloody streaks that made Mina twitch, even the divots were gone, my Regen not having to regrow flesh, though I wasn't actually sure if that's how it worked, because, again, how the hell would I test that without being an absolute psycho? "Yeah." I turned the limb to lightning, "I," I let it return, "snap back pretty quickly," I joked. Looking at the pile, and how fast we were going through it, I hesitated, "Should I do a bit more before I go, though? Not that much, obviously, but-"
"I've got it!" Izuku quickly interrupted. "I've got it," he repeated, "are you s-sure you're gonna be alright?"
Before I could respond, Aizawa did, and I'd completely forgotten the man was there, leaning against the wall. "He will be. Recovery Girl found that he has a slight healing factor. He'll be back to normal in time for dinner. Though a stunt like that makes me wonder if he shouldn't join you in the Remedial class, Midoriya."
Looking at the power nullifier, I shrugged, "If you think I need it."
Our teacher, however, just sighed. "Go and wash up, Kaminari. And get some clothes that aren't giving the others a show."
Looking down at myself, while my pants had some holes in them, my modesty was intact, though, with the point of impact being right next to my shoulder, my shirt was almost completely gone, held together by a few strings in places. "Show?" I started to ask, but, looking at Mina, now that she wasn't worried I'd hurt myself, she was ogling my pecs, which I knew from extensive experience she liked to run her hands across, and some of the other girls were staring as well.
". . . oh. Uh. Sure," I said, not really used to this, and with absolutely no idea of what to do. "Yeah, uh, I'll be right back," I nodded to Aizawa, turning and jogging off towards our dorms.
Getting there, and looking at myself in the mirror of the communal shower, I realized that, while I was in some ways covered in blood, those were mostly isolated beads that almost seemed to decorate my body, and my muscles. Stepping into the shower to wash them off, I had just one thought.
Damn am I glad Toga didn't see me like this.
AN: Next Four Chapters are up on , as usual!