A Few Minutes Prior
"Alright, team!" came the commanding, if stiff voice of Tenya Ida, surrounded by class 1-A, now grouped into five units of four each. "Our foe is a familiar one! We know their quirks and they, ours! Their advantage is then in that they are on the defensive. They know we are coming but we don't know where they are or what their dispositions are. Suggestions?"
"Come on, man, we have an eleven to one advantage on them, why don't we just rush them?" Denki flippantly suggested.
"Do you really think the teachers would stack the odds like this if they didn't think this would be a challenge? No, it would be foolish to underestimate them." Fumikage countered.
"Tokoyami is r-right!" Izuku nervously spoke up, drawing the rest of the classes' attention. "If we charge in without a plan, leaning on our quirks and numbers, we risk falling into a trap. We need more intel."
"Ah, so we scout ahead. A wise suggestion." Tenya praised before he looked to his vice-rep. "Yaoyorozu's team will scout and report back. I want-"
"Wait."
Normally, Tenya would have immediately reprimanded the offending person interrupting him. However, given who had spoken and the serious tone he had used, everyone's attention turned to him.
"It won't work." Katsuki added once everyone was focused his way.
"Oh? Then you have another suggestion, Bakugo? If you propose we again charge headlong with you at the vanguard, I will be quite disappointed." Tenya chastised.
"Oh, get the stick out of your ass, roadrunner. Rocky is in charge of the villains and he's going to see that coming a mile away. We need to use that to our advantage. He's a cagey prick so we need to trap him and keep him from having time to react." The normally fiery blonde explained, almost begrudgedly, as if he hated to admit Zelgadis was worth the effort.
"Wait, are you suggesting you use us as bait!" a pair of floating gloves indignantly chirped back.
"No, more like a distraction." Izuku answered, earning a neutral glance from Katsuki before the freckled boy continued "If Greywards-san is expecting a scouting team, it means we need to be there to ambush him when he does. They only have seven so even the loss of one can be enough to turn the tide."
"Yeah, but can't Michiru hear and smell us coming with her quirk? How are we going sneak up on them like that?" Mina asked while he kept her focus on Kyoka, looking for any sign of stress from now having to fight the guy she had confessed to and his crush.
"I think I can help us get around that." Momo said, a small confident grin on her face. She, too, had been searching Kyoka's face since the details of the exercise had been announced. Now that they were close to getting started, the raven-haired creator got the feeling her friend was indeed alright.
"Alright then, our plan of attack is settled. Let us decide on the details..." Tenya spoke up before 1-A made their final plans for attack.
(X)
With eight members of 1-A charging at them and four more well on their way to breaking through Zelgadis' ice wall, one could be forgiven for thinking the three lighters turned faux villains were in deep trouble. The odds, on paper, were staked against them and it appeared that Zelgadis had been baited out, just as 1-A had hoped.
However, like any good strategist, Zelgadis had more than one plan in mind. If fighting the heroes on his own terms wasn't on the table, then the next best thing was to get them all bunched up together where friendly fire would be much more of an issue for them then it would be for two or three villains.
"Animalia!" Zelgadis commanded and the tanuki girl, her paws already shifted to those of a large tiger, turned and slashed at the chimera's bindings, freeing him.
"Thanks. Crescens! Cover our backs!" came the follow up as the sorcerer-swordsmen raised his hand and prepared a spell.
"On it." came the cool reply as the nanomachine girl focused on her body and just as she had against Tomura and Mirio, broke her body down to the cellular level, allowing herself to break away from Minoru's sticky balls.
"Hey! No fair!" the grape-haired boy whined as he moved forward with the rest of the attacking students.
Emeralda wouldn't be there when they arrived though because she turned and charged at the ice wall, her arm shifted into a gigantic metal hammer. Momo had produced a simple drill and was in the process of breaking through the magically produced ice. Before Momo's group could react to what was happening, Emeralda swung hard from the other side, shattering the ice instantly and deforming the drill, smashing it clean out of the raven-haired creator's hands.
While Momo recoiled in pain, pressing her injured hands protectively to her chest, Emeralda went straight at Yuga, the biggest threat of the four at a distance. The blonde showboat was caught completely off guard and unprepared for hand-to-hand combat. A flurry of punches was all it took to incapacitate him, unconscious even before he hit the ground.
When she turned to face the remaining three, the tan nanomachine girl could find no one. For a moment, the thought occurred to her that the group had fled, their primary job done but she refused to let her guard down. This proved to be the right choice because a moment later, invisible hands attempted to wrap their arms around her neck in a choke hold, Toru attempting to take her out. The poor invisible girl didn't get very far though because no sooner had she laid her hands on Emeralda did the tan girl grab Toru's arms and throw the invisible girl over her shoulder.
A muffled "Ommpphh" sound drew Emeralda's attention to the fact that Toru was still wearing her gas mask. That was all Emeralda needed to know what was going to happen next. Almost on instinct, Emeralda fell forward, hoping Toru hadn't moved while she went for an elbow right where she thought Toru was. Luckily, her opponent was still reeling and took another blow to the mid-section, knocking the wind out of her and allowing Emeralda to pull the mask off her face.
The nanomachine girl slipped the mask on as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye that drew her attention skyward. There she saw Fumikage appearing to be flying with Dark Shadow under him and Momo awkwardly on top of the bird-headed teen.
This meant the creator didn't have the best view and she went forward with their plan, launching more the of gas bearing bags even while Fumikage called out "WAIT!"
It was too late. The bags impacted on the ground, spreading their contents outward in a noxious cloud. Toru was stuck suffering the same fate as Emeralda before her, forced to cough as her eyes burned and she struggled to move away.
"I am so sorry Invisible Girl!" Momo called out while the two of them began to wheel around for another attack on their grounded opponent. "We still have the advantage as long as we stay up here! I'll create some flash grenades and we can stun her that way." Momo told her teammate, who nodded solemnly, thoughts of his fallen classmates filling his mind.
"You have fooled yourselves if you thought yourselves safe." Emeralda declared, her voice muffled by the mask she now wore.
Without further words, Emeralda's legs became springs, and she gave herself a mighty bounce that got her enough momentum skyward that when she changed her arm into a chain and swung it further up, wrapping it on the arch of a delict light post she was able the get swing much higher and faster.
The two heroes-in-training watched with worry further up in the sky. Momo wasn't done with her grenades but neither of them thought Emeralda was capable of getting high enough to reach them, even with her now swinging upward from the light post.
When Emeralda reached the apex of her arch she reverted her arm, flinging herself forward toward Fumikage and Momo. Still, it was clear the tan girl would come up quite a bit short. For a moment, the two inm flight worried about how the seemingly crazy greenette was going to safely land, thoughts of any actual attack put out of their minds. Such concerns were dashed however when, to their utter shock, Emeralda's hair flared out into a pair of emerald-colored metallic wings, a sight that would be familiar to any that had laid eyes on the nanomachine girl's mecha a world away.
The wings flapped mightily, with obvious visible effort by Emeralda, but it was enough to get her close enough to shift her arms into a unified hammer that she brought down hard of Fumikage's head.
The hit knocked the bird-headed boy senseless, causing him to careen out of control and Momo to tumble off of him. The creator had the presence of mind to quickly create a tarp that she was able to grab onto and use as a makeshift parachute, the wind taking her away from the fight.
Fumikage though required Emeralda to orient herself to kick him sideways so he would land on a rooftop instead of continuing to fall much further and likely suffering serious injury. As it was, he would have a bad headache and a bruised ego when he woke up.
Emeralda, on the other head, changed her whole body into a sphere shape and fell the rest of the way, bouncing on impact like the rubber ball she was for that moment. After hitting the ground a few times, she reverted back, satisfied she could return to the others with most of the scout team taken out.
Michiru and Zelgadis had been having a notably more challenging time.
Though Minoru was confused and annoyed that Emeralda had easily gotten free of his sticky balls, he was at least disciplined enough to focus on his role for the rest of the attack. "Ready, Grape Juice!" Ochaco called beside him as the group of eight approached the two remaining lighters.
"You know it!" the perverted hero-in-training exclaimed, extending his hand to touch the one offered by the brunette. On touching hands, Ochaco's quirk activated, and Minoru began rising above the fray. In the clear as far as he knew, the grape-haired boy started lobbing his adhesive spheres at the faux villains.
Zelgadis, though, wasn't in the mood to be stuck in place and raised his hand, ready to cast a wind spell to disperse the balls and the one raining them down. "Not this time!" Hanta called, sending tape from his elbow and catching the chimera's outstretched hand.
Michiru moved to cut the tape once again but had to dodge a barrage of acid that Mina had gleefully began throwing at her. Now there was some distance between the two lighters, which was the worst thing that could happen. Jiro, who had been trying to keep up the with pink girl as she slid along on a layer of her acid, now attached her ear jacks into amplifiers on her forearms and blasted Michiru at a distance.
If there was any satisfaction on the rocker girl's face, Michiru couldn't see it while she doubled over in pain.
Zelgadis only avoided Minoru's balls by catching Hanta of guard by throwing himself forward, causing the tape to go slake and avoiding getting stuck in place. Before he could cut himself free with his sword, though, Katsuki charged past Hanta, his explosions propelling himself forward at blazing speed so he could catch the rocky sorcerer in the one place he knew Zelgadis would be vulnerable.
Aiming for his eyes, the blonde bomber screamed "Gotcha, Rocky!" as he blasted at the still tangled swordsmen.
Instantly, Katsuki could feel his attack hadn't connected, even if he couldn't see through the smoke his explosion had created. "Jump, idiot!" the blonde cried as the earth below him and Hanta began to rumble. It was too late. Though Katsuki was able to get airborne, the black-haired tape-user was knocked off his feet, without enough time to shoot a line to a near by lamp post.
Hanta was stunned but not out as he lay on the ground, his other tape line now cut by Zelgadis' sword. As the smoke cleared, Zelgadis admonished the explosion wielder "You could have carried him with you, you know! Gang Orca would be disappointed."
"Yap all you want, you're the one not focused!" Katsuki shot back.
Sure enough, from behind, Rikido, his body fully charged with sugar, came though the remaining smoke and punched Zelgadis so hard he went flying off his feet and crashed into the nearby wall, chunks of the siding falling on his head when he hit the ground.
While Zelgadis lay on the ground, Michiru had to swallow her pride and shifted her head into the only animal she knew that was known for it's terrible hearing, a naked mole rat. Instantly, the pain subsided from Jiro's attack, the only problem was she was now also effectively blind, which meant Izuku's incoming attack was going unnoticed.
Expected some sort of attack, Michiru gambled and just as the freckled boy attempted a high jump kick, the tanuki girl sprouted wings on her back and shot into the air. Quickly shifting her head back to normal, she couldn't help but exclaim "Wow, I can't believe that worked!" With a clear view from up high, Michiru could see Emeralda about to take out Fumikage and Momo but noticed Zelgadis in trouble.
Literally against the wall, the rock-encrusted chimera was once again open to another attack from Minoru. Unfortunately for the grape-haired pervert, Michiru saw this too and flew right at him and his brunette guard.
Ochaco had come a long way from her first days as a student at UA. She had displayed creative use of her quirk, toughness in the face of seemingly impossible odds against Katsuki at the sports festival and she had expanded her skills, adding hand-to-hand combat to her skill set. She had also added cables she could shot from the gauntlets on her hands to allow her to capture things or people and to swing using her quirk.
What she hadn't done, mostly from lack of opportunity, was practice arial combat. This lacking showed itself when Michiru made her way toward the pair. Ochaco did her best to try and entangle the winged tanuki girl but missed badly thanks to Michiru dodging upward.
Before she could adjust, the gravity defying brunette was caught on her shoulders by a pair of talons and flung at Minoru. The grape-haired boy stopped his own attack mid-swing and had no time to brace for the larger girl crashing into him. Given most other circumstances, he would be in heaven in that moment. As it was, the two became a tangled mess as they went tumbling toward, only for Izuku to catch them both before they crashed into the concrete.
Mina and Jiro weren't fast enough to try and stop or distract Michiru, who wasted no time in continuing on toward Zelgadis. Katsuki was about to unleash his newest finishing move when Michiru landed between him and Zelgadis, her wings cloaking all but her determined face.
"Seems like you're having some trouble, Zel, I mean Magus!" She mocked before her wings flung out wide, dramatically increasing in size before she pushed them forward, creating a mighty wind that stopped Katsuki from prepping his attack as he and Rikido struggled to keep their footing.
"Not bad, Michiru, but I think I can do better. Bomb Di Wind!" Zelgadis cried, having stood and placed his hand in front of him. A blast of magically produced wind far stronger than what Michiru was producing surged forward. The 1-A students found themselves unable to stand and began to be blown away in the unrelenting gale. Even Izuku, his body crackling with One for All, eventually succumb to the winds and was carried way.
"Show off." Michiru quipped, a smirk on her face once both finished with their joint wind attack.
The chimera shared the expression for a moment before turning more serious before saying "We need to get back to our defensive position. Crescens, you out there?"
"I am." came a neutral voice from around a nearby corner. "I had hopped to assist but I should have known the two of you would handle things." Emeralda appeared, looking entirely unfazed by how close they had come to being split up and taken out. Once she had returned to her two friends she added "I trust this was within your predictions?"
Zelgadis frowned but slowly nodded and replied "Not exactly what I imagined they would do but on the whole the plan is still intact. Come on, lets go check up on Hina."
"Lead the way, oh evil mastermind!" Michiru answered with a mocking salute.
Zelgadis just rolled his eyes.
(X)
"Goddmanit!"
"Calm down, Ka-chan! We almost had them, we just need to go at it from a different angle." Izuku tried to console his once friend turned rival as the remainer of 1-A gathered themselves to regroup.
"Whatever, Midoriya! The fact is, we had them in our trap and let them slip away! We won't get that chance again and now we have fewer pieces to work with! Damnit!" the blonde raged.
Seeing that calming Katsuki wasn't getting anywhere, Izuku turned to his other classmates and asked "What about Tsu's team? The teachers haven't announced the test is over so does that mean they weren't successful?"
The freckled boy was met with concerned but unknowing stares back at him before a serious voice came over their headsets to answer his question. "You are correct, Deku. I am informed the entire team has been lost. It would seem that general studies student is indeed formidable." Tenya explained, a hint of disappoint in his voice.
"My team, as well." Momo added over the intercom. "Crescens was able to defeat three of us with little effort. I shudder to think how it will go when they are expecting us."
"My team and I will join the effort." Tenya replied solemnly. "At this point, risking my lost is nothing compared to us all failing this exercise. Return to our start point, we need to prepare for our next move."
As the humbled students made their way back, Mina couldn't help but say aloud "Gotta say, this kinda sucks that we've already lost almost half the class. Makes me wonder if all the progress we made taking on the League of Villains was as much luck as anything."
Izuku was quick to quash that idea however, answering with a mix of warmth and confidence in his voice "I don't think that's it. Remember how Togata wiped the floor with most of us? We've gone through a lot but there is something to be said for experience. We're just not there yet. That's why we're here, after all."
The unusual surety of the usually nervous freckled boy drew everyone's attention and seemed to steady their nerves. At least until Katsuki all but screamed "Speak for yourself, nerd! I'm not losing because you extras drag me down! Now pull your weight and let's get this shit handled!"
"I believe it was a mistake that they didn't follow up and defeat us in detail." Momo added, having joined them as they returned to Tenya's team. "We must take advantage of this opportunity while we can."
Determined agreement met the raven-haired creator as they got back, and began planning their next attack, humbled but no less ready to win.
(X)
"That couldn't possible have gone any worse." Togaru Kamakiri, a tall young man with yellow-green skin, a wavy green mohawk along with two angled bladed coming out of his cheeks and wearing a ragged dark green cloak said as he hid behind a large metal storage unit along with most of the survivors of his class.
"Come on, Jack Mantis, we caught one of them! That's something, right? Now there's just two left." spoke Yosetsu Awase, a average looking boy with spiky black hair said.
The upper torso of Setsuna Tokage, a girl with dark green, shoulder-length hair and a purple, scaley body suit and matching mask over her eyes chimed in "Yeah, I'm with Kamakiri on this one. We just got our asses handed to us."
Tetsutetsu, another guy with grey hair, dirty blonde eyelashes that notably grew around both eyes and sporting a dark green jumpsuit that ended below the chest moved to speak. On his chest sat a red orb set in a metal plate from which four metal straps went under his arms and over his shoulders. He looked at his classmates with a grim determination when he spoke after Setsuna, adding "We did get the general ed kid but at what cost? Branford and that fire-footed second year barely broke a sweat taking half of us out and I'm pretty damn sure if they had followed us, we'd be toast!"
Ibara Shiozaki, who had waist length, almost leaf-like green hair and sporting white robs, clasped her hands in front of her face and spoke with an air of calm certainty "Take heart, Real Steel! We must have faith that Phantom Thief will obtain the villain's quirk. Once Rocketti has returned from escorting the prisoner, and brought Battle Fist and her team, we can counterattack."
As a hail of red orbs smashed down on the storage crate and exploded in massive balls of fire and singed the edges of Ibara's hair, even her seemingly endless supply of faith seemed to waver. After a few moments of silence before another explosion rocked the student's ears, Juzo Honenuki, his helmet all but destroyed, exposing his sandy blonde hair and teeth that sat exposed on his face wear lips would have been on anyone else looked far more forlorn, countering "You really think four or five more people are going to matter against this?"
A frown threatening to make its way onto her face, Ibara clasped her hands tighter and closed her eyes as if to ignore what was right before her as she shakily replied "I have faith…"
"We're screwed…" Togaru muttered.
(X)
With a deeply set frown on his face, Shouta watched as Pony Tsunotori, who had very long horns protruding from her shoulder length blonde hair and had hooved feet, finished securing Hitoshi in the 1-B capture cell. With a grumble, the dower homeroom teacher turned to Jun and said with no small amount of bitterness "I hope you're pleased with yourself. Doesn't seem like much of a lesson if you're little monsters just steamroll our students."
Before Jun could answer, his hint of smugness giving away how he was about to respond, Sekijiro cut in. "Aren't you being a little hard here? I think you're just sore because my class has one and yours just got completely pushed back." The blood manipulator was trying to taunt his rival teacher but the look in his eye said something entirely different and Shouta knew it.
"Is that how you really feel? Branford hasn't even shifted to her esper state and she has what's left of your class pinned like a bunch of cowering children. What are they supposed to learn from this?" the underground hero snapped.
"I'm surprised, Aizawa-sensei." Jun finally responded, drawing all the teacher's attention to him. "I thought you, of all people would understand the value of this situation. It was your class that was attacked by the league of villains by overwhelming numbers at the beginning of the semester, correct? Heroes will find themselves in situations where they are outgunned, outnumbered or otherwise in a very disadvantageous situation. Learning to deal with such predicaments is a valuable lesson, I would say."
Shouta let out a curt breath and looked away, stuck knowing such logic was sound. In truth, situations like this were usually saved for second year students, after first years had a firm grasp on their quirks and have had some field experience with internships. Then again, first years didn't usually have their provisional licenses.
Perhaps it was the simple fact that Shouta had not been apart of the planning for this exercise. Having had his original intent changed effectively behind his back stung and filled him with guilt for being away from his class for so long to pursue something that was as much personal as it was professional.
Wrapping his thin arm around the ragged younger man, Toshinori tried to cheer his fellow teacher up, saying "Sanada is just doing what he thinks is best for our students. You should know better than most just how much he cares about our students, after all."
Flashing back to the days after Oboro's death and Jun's attempts to console him and the rest of their class flashed through his mind before Shouta looked over at the silver-haired former rescue hero and offered a slight nod. That was enough for Jun, who nodded back and returned his attention to the proceedings.
Raising his eyes and a smirk teasing at his lips, Jun then said, "Looks like it's your turn to be proud, Aizawa-sensei."
Turning to look, Shouta watched as Pony opened the door to the cell and Hitoshi walked out before the two of them took off toward 1-B's leader. He fought hard to hide it, but Shouta was indeed proud of the boy he had taken under his wing after the sports festival.
That pride was twinged with a dark bit of satisfaction he also kept buried as Sekijiro threw his arms up in frustration and exclaimed "Oh, son-of-a-bitch! You gotta be kidding me!"
Nemuri burst out laughing at the muscular blood user's displeasure before she purred "Impressive! Men who take the initiative always get me going…"
The other teachers simply rolled their eyes before refocusing on the battle at hand.
(X)
"Alright, everyone check in." Zelgadis spoke over their radio.
"So far, so good man. It's like you're in their head, it's a little creepy." Shinra answered quickly.
Ignoring the light jab, the chimera asked back "So Terra is keeping 1-B suppressed?"
"Yeah, she's got them pinned, no problem. Don't tell me you can't hear all those explosions!" the former fire soldier answered back playfully.
It was hard for anyone on the field of battle not to hear the esper girl's terrible rain of fire but that wasn't the point. The point was to get Shinra undetected pass 1-B so he could meet up with Shinso.
Nodding to himself, Zelgadis than asked "What about you, Hina? Any more trouble?"
Over the sound of some voices in the background, the telekinetic replied "Nah, just waiting for these losers to all wake up and get escorted out of the battle."
Before he responded, Zelgadis could hear some of the voices, one clearly Denki as he whined "Come on, you're a gen ed student? You're stronger than most of our class!"
"Dude, quit your complaining! So unmanly!" another voice, almost certainly Eijiro, snapped back.
After another moment of silence, Zelgadis finally said "Right…well, sounds like you're fine. Just hold the fort down and this should be over soon."
With apparent confirmation that the plan was working still, Zelgadis turned to Emeralda and said "Crescens, head over to support Terra. She'll need someone to watch her back."
The nanomachine girl hesitated for a moment, looking over to a worried Michiru, who expressed that concern "Are you sure Zel, I mean Magus? We held off 1-A last time but don't you think it would be best for the three of us to finish them off first?"
"We bruised them, sure but their heaviest hitters and best thinkers are still in play and we are still grossly outnumbered. The only way we win this is knocking out one class before stalling out or outright defeating the other. 1-A is going to re-think and come in more cautiously now that their trap/bum rush failed. I'm trusting you to help finish 1-B to get back and help us. Got it Emeralda?" Zelgadis explained, his voice commanding, though with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Emeralda looked annoyed herself, responding "I understood the plan before we started. I just wanted you to be sure before we took this risk."
Turning to look back at the direction 1-A escaped to, the sorcerer-swordsmen replied "Sometimes the way to win is to take risks. Besides, like I said, I trust you will be back. OK?
Emeralda nodded despite Zelgadis still looking away. Before she left, she glanced at Michiru and low enough that only the tanuki girl could hear, said "He knows that doing well isn't necessarily the same as winning, right?"
Michiru offered a reassuring smile and said "He does, he's just nervous, that's all. I'll keep him in line, promise!"
"Good luck then." Emeralda answered, rushing off without waiting for a reply.
"You too." Michiru said to herself before she brought her gaze on the back of Zelgadis, unsure of how, exactly she was going to keep her promise.
(X)
"Great, Rocketti, you're back, now we can head out and end this!" the beautiful red-headed class rep of 1-B, Itsuka Kendo or Battle Fist said once the horned blonde rounded a corner and waved at her leader.
However, Shihai Kuroiro or Vantablack, a tall young man with pitch black skin, wavy white hair and wearing a high collared black jump-suit noticed something was wrong right away. "Battle Fist! Get away from her! That's not-"
But it was too late, Itsuka's guard was down and Pony had the opening needed to lower her head and launch both of the horns from her head at point blank range right at the surprised class rep.
Itsuka barely had time to put her hands up, let alone enlarge them before she was struck. Luckily, another of her teammates, Manga Fukidashi or Comicman, a name derived from that fact that his head was a literal blank comic book page, used his quirk to bring forth the word "BAAMM!" which shot forward and impacted the horns just as they hit Itsuka.
The red-haired class rep took a glancing blow from the tip of one horn, cutting into her skin at her midsection, while the other went sideways and smashed lengthwise into her chest, knocking the wind out of her.
Shihai turned and shouted "PONY! What the hell are you doing!"
In response, the blonde horned girl turned her blank stare on him, new horns having already replaced her old ones and lowered her head again, ready to fire. Just before she did though, Kinoko Komori or Shemage, her chestnut hair in a mushroom-like bob and bangs covering her eyes. Her costume was a red turtleneck dress with white polka-dots and a mushroom cap hat. More importantly, she was sporting a pair of hand-sprayers to increase humidity and help her mushrooms grow. It was those sprayers she used to hit Tony in the face with water just before her horns were fired.
Pony sputtered and spit the water as she raised her head, shaking it to get it dry, confusion on her face. "I knew it!" Kinoko cheered, jumping up briefly before adding "Sorry Rocketti, but you'd been mind-controlled!"
Now sitting up, Manga helping her as he knelt beside her, Itsuka ordered "Shinso is likely nearby! I doubt it can control something without being able to see what's going on himself! Find him!"
Pony, Shihai and Kinoko nodded and fanned out and within moments were out of sight. After a moment, the remaining two heard Pony call out "I've got him! He's over here!"
Itsuka, now standing, replied "Great! Let's…"
With her voice trailing off, Manga turned to look at his class rep and only had a moment to realize what was going on when Pony's voice could be heard saying "Now, smash him!"
The boy with the comicbook paged head dodged just as Itsuka leveled her now enlarged hands at the spot he had just been standing. Luckly for him, the rest of his team had heard what was going on and after a moment, Shihai appeared from the shadow of the wall Itsuka was stand in front of and grabbed her arms from behind.
Pony, having heard her own voice and aware what was happening, focused on following the sound. Sure enough, just as Itsuka was being subdued, she came across Hitoshi, who was watching the scene unfold discreetly from the top of a storage crate.
The brainwasher appeared to be adjusting something on the mask he wore when Pony came flying in standing on top of two of her horns, declaring "Found ya!" before tilting her head and firing two more horns from her head.
Hitoshi turned to the voice of his attacker and cursed as he rolled to avoid a hit. It wasn't enough and he was knocked off the structure, tumbling hard to the ground, in front of the rest of the group.
Itsuka had been freed from Hitoshi's quirk and wasted little time moving to attack him aside to say, "Great job, Rocketti!"
Kinoko, though held her back and said, "Let me, I'll make sure he can't speak again."
Hitoshi lay prone on the ground, his body sore and his soul aflame at being caught and about to face some unknown attack from the mushroom-themed hero-in-training. Kinoko smirked as she began spraying water all around and on him as he looked about for a way to escape even though he was surrounded by three heroes and one high above.
Or at least, that had been the case until the sound of someone yelling "OH YEAH!" before there was the sound of contact and Pony came tumbling down to the ground, a burn mark on her costume around her stomach.
"Brace yourselves because Super Flamefoot Man is here!" Shinra declared, having landed on a storage crate after kicking Pony and posing for dramatic effect.
There was a long pause as the heroes looked up at the surprise new arrival before Shihai dryly remarked "Aren't you…supposed to be a villain?"
Hitoshi buried his face in his hands and couldn't help but mutter "What an idiot."
Shinra, though, was nonplused and continued "Call me what you want, I'm here for my teammate!" before leaping off, aiming an axle kick right for Itsuka, his foot aflame.
The orange-haired class rep moved her enlarged hands to block the incoming attack, both hands getting burned for her trouble and causing her to stumble backwards.
Hitoshi took the opportunity and lashed out with the capture tape wrapped around his neck, catching Kinoko's ankles before he pulled back hard. The mushroom user was wholly unprepared for having her feet yanked out from under her and she fell backward, unprepared, hitting her head hard when she landed, concussing her.
Shinra, on having his attack blocked, pivoting with his other foot, propelling himself sideways and trying to kick Shihai, who escaped into a nearby shadow, just as the flaming foot was about to make contact.
Just like that, Itsuka was left by herself with Shinra and Hitoshi facing off against her. Her hands already burned and likely evenly matched with someone also skilled in close quarters combat, she did the only thing left she could. "1-B, I'm under attack, the rest of my team is out or scattered, I need your help!" she called over her radio as she turned and dashed away as fast as she could.
Shinra took off after her, his flaming feet taking him airborne like a rocket as he declared "Oh no, you're going to have to do better than that!"
Just then, something unthinkable happened that caused Shinra to stop in his tracks. Terra's explosions stopped.
Over the radio, Itsuka heard Setsuna reply "We'll send help as soon as we can, we've got Branford on the ropes!"
(X)
Terra had continued to rain fire down on the unfortunate members of 1-B, doing her best to give Shinra a clean route to helping Hitoshi take down the class rep. The downside to laying waste to a group of attackers with magic as she had done was that there was almost no way to be sure who she had taken out and who had used the chaos to lay in wait.
From her position on a tall storage tank, Terra was caught off guard when a pair of floating hands, Setuna's, wrapped around her throat, causing her to stop her magical onslaught as she struggled to pull the disembodied hands off of her.
That was all the pinned 1-B members needed to rush forward, Setuna giving them the go ahead as she clung to Terra's neck as best she could. Ibara rushed forward, willing a mass of vines to explode out of the ground and wrap around Terra.
"NOW, PHANTOM THEIF!" Setsuna cried over the radio before the tuxedo-wearing blonde appeared from a hidden spot riding on what appeared to be a giant metal nut. Having copied Reiko's Telekinesis quirk before she was knocked out in Terra's assault, Neito made a beeline for Terra, intent on copying her quirk and turning the tables.
Her limbs constrained, Terra was no longer able to fight Setsuna's grip on her neck and she began to truly loose oxygen and her ability to resist Neito when he came behind her and pressed his hand to her face, laughing manically as he did so.
Her eyes wide and panic in her eyes, Terra struggled to summon her esper form to avoid the contact, but it was too late. Neito touched her, but, after a moment, his triumphant expression faded to confused frustration and he cried out "Why? Why isn't it working!? It's…it's like nothing is even there!"
Terra could not answer, on the edge of unconsciousness as she was, her heart filled with the dread that came with the possibility that she may have just given the lighters secret away because she had been caught off guard.
"Let her go!" came a voice seemingly from out of nowhere before a blade fell upon Ibara's vines and cleanly sliced them all off.
Neito fell backwards along with Terra, once the tension of the vines holding her was released. The copycat blonde was too stunned to do anything when Emeralda stood over the two of them, and shifted her arms into heavy clamps that she used to latch onto Setsuna's hands and began to crush them. It only took a few moments to free Terra of Sestuna's hands, which now lay unmoving and broken on the ground.
With the half-esper coughing on the ground, Neito, who had rolled away while Emeralda was saving Terra, had tried to sneak around the tan nanomachine girl and copy her quirk as well. The boy hadn't expected Setsuna's hands to so quickly be removed and Emeralda was quickly aware of his presence. As he reached out to touch her, Emeralda whirled about, slapping away his hand with one limb while swinging with the other, catching the blonde blowhard clean in the face, knocking him back. He had no time to recover before Emeralda followed up with a series of blows to his mid-section before finishing with a kick to his chest.
Once Neito crumbled to the ground, Terra wheeled back on Terra, looking about for further attacks. No more were coming at the moment, which offered Terra a moment to ask with labored breathes and a horse voice "H-how…how did you know?"
Still on guard and looking about, Emeralda answered matter-of-factly "I did not. Magus wanted us to defeat 1-B as fast as we could and thought it best to have me cover your back. It seems I owe him an apology."
Despite the pain, Terra smiled. She was right about Zelgadis and it warmed her heart to see him clawing back from that dark place he had went to during the raid. Raising her hand for Emeralda to take it, Terra got up with the other lighter's assistance. When Emeralda took a moment to offer a worried glance, Terra answered the unspoken question "I can still fight. Let's repay that trust Magus put in us. Got my back Crescens?"
"I do." Cane the simple reply.
With an explosion of pink aura, Terra's form changed, her body covered in pink and purple fur, claws on her hands and her hair free and wild. It was an intense feeling to be standing right beside her in that moment and Emeralda couldn't help but think back to the feral woman she and the other lighters had attempted to subdue back in her fist moments in this world. Now, though, there was work to do.
"Then let's show these kids how it's done!" Terra cried as she rose above the ground and flew forward, Emeralda leaping forward to follow after, privately annoyed that damn near everyone seemed to be able to fly but her.
(X)
Shouta stood by his fellow teachers, watching the action the best they could. It had come in short bursts and it was looking increasingly likely that this exercise was going to over well ahead of schedule. This was fine by him, more time to get some shut eye. After going over lessons learned with his students in a debrief that was.
Bit by bit, the defeated members of 1-A and 1-B were making their way back to the starting point, either on their own power or with the assistance of robots. Looking about, there were quite a few more of Sekijiro's students than his own. Glancing over at the well-built blood user, Shouta had to fight to hold back an annoyed grunt. The fanged younger man was now sulking in a corner despite being in the presence of his students, a sight Shouta found entirely unprofessional.
Mere moments eariler, Sekijiro had been on top of the moon as his students came seemingly within a hair's breath of taking down arguably the strongest of the lighters. Now though, the tide had been completely turned. With Itsuka's defeat at the hands of Shinra and Hitoshi, any organization collapsed and what was left of the class was left to be hunted by the two boys and the pair of greenettes that had begun their counterattack.
Jun must have seen him because after a moment, he stepped over to the dower underground hero and asked softly enough for just the two of them "Are you feeling vindication or pity, Aizawa-sensei?"
Shouta frowned and rolled his eyes before responding "You know me better than that, sensei."
Jun chuckled. "I do. It's still fun to poke every once in awhile though. Helps to keep the soul light."
"Rationalize it however you want, I'm still going to do my job." Shouta all but snapped, providing more fuel for the older teacher's amusement.
Sobering after a moment, Jun asked what he really wanted to know "I trust 1-A knows they have one more shot at this. They may not know 1-B is all but defeated but it's simply a matter of diminishing returns. You think they can pull it off?"
"Anything is possible." Shouta grunted before taking a moment to think further on his response. "Once they realize they just have Kagemori and Greywards in front of them, they will press harder. If they have any chance at all, that will be the moment."
Jun smiled. "We shall see, won't we?" he answered.
The sound of an artillery round exploding out of a canon drew all of the teachers attention. It seemed an answer would indeed be coming.
(X)
Zelgadis had just got an update on how things were going against 1-B and was pleased to know his gamble had paid off. Now it was just a matter of holding off 1-A until reinforcements arrived to finish the job.
What he hadn't expected was a cannonball to come crashing down near where he and Michiru remained hidden near the entrance to where the bomb was being kept and guarded by Hina. Michiru had heard the sound of the projectile coming but wasn't sure what it was. The sound of the impact and resulting explosion nearly blew her sensitive eardrums out.
Quickly casting a barrier, the sorcerer-swordsmen called out "Animalia, are you ok?"
It only took Zelgadis a moment to realize how stupid the question had been considering Michiru likely wasn't hearing much of anything at the moment. He wanted to go check on her but the bombardment most certainly meant that 1-A was masking their movents and he needed to be ready.
In the end, he decided to risk it, reasoning that having his teammate in better shape was more important. Leaving his cover to reach the pained tanuki girl, she looked up when Zelgadis touched her shoulder. He didn't speak any words, just offered a sympathetic smile and a nod before turning his attention to keeping the barrier up as more shells rained down on them.
At first, Michiru had been annoyed that Zelgadis had come over to check on her but while the ringing in her ears began to subside, she couldn't help feeling grateful the usually distant chimera was there. His back now turned, Michiru did her best to thank him without sounding off thanks to her hearing issues. It mostly worked. "Thanks Zel! I'll be up in a minute!"
She couldn't see it but there was a smile on Zelgadis' face. It turned into a playful smirk and he replied back loud enough for her to barely hear "It's Magus! You're never going to get the hero name thing down, are you?"
Michiru puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and narrowed her eyes before huffing. If they weren't in the middle of combat, she'd have punched him, no matter how much it would have hurt.
Playful quips aside, Zelgadis knew this was likely a cover for 1-A to get closer and into position to attack. The fact that they, the heroes in this exercise, were willing to resort to property damage as a smoke screen meant no more punches were being pulled.
What Zelgadis hadn't expected was a massive wave of ice to come charging right at the two of them. The massive sheet came crashing into Zelgadis' barrier but instead of stopping, it simply expanded, rising higher and higher until the entire dome that protected the two lighters was completely encased in ice.
"Shit." Zelgadis muttered. His barrier had been used against them. Now they could just sit and wait while 1-A bypassed them to take on Hina, or he could lower it and break out. Though he had confidence Hina could hold most anyone off for awhile, Zelgadis didn't, however, want to have to listen to the endless insults and complaining from Hina. "Animalia, would you mind?"
Michiru had watched with a mix of annoyance and aw watching a dome of ice form over the near invisible magical wind barrier that protected them. Though her hearing wasn't completely back, she didn't need to hear Zelgadis when he spoke. She knew what to do. "I got this!" she cried, swinging her arm out before letting out a battle cry as her arm enlarged to massive size as she swung.
The dome of ice was weakest at the back, where they were near to the building, making it much easier for Michiru to smash a hole in it than if she had tried where Shoto's ice had first began to form. With a smirk, Michiru turned and motioned for Zelgadis to come to her.
In the middle of thinking about what to do with the ambush that was definitely waiting for them outside, the chimera quirked an eyebrow and said with annoyance "What?"
As one arm got smaller, the other got larger, until both of Michiru's arms were the same size, though notably larger than normal. "Here, I'll carry you!" Michiru replied, again motioning for him to join her.
"No, not happening."
Zelgadis looked mortified at the idea of being carried bridal style by the tanuki girl now sporting a shit-eating grin. His hesitation cost him, Michiru's now longer reach and increased strength allowing her basically pluck him from where he stood. "Hang on!" she said, her legs shifting into a cheetahs.
"This is absolutely humiliating." Zelgadis grumbled but didn't resist.
"Hey, you want to wine or do you want to win?" Michiru playfully shot back before charging through the hole before Zelgadis could answer.
Sure enough, when the two lighters shot out of the hole, they were met by shots of acid and tape, both of which missed badly thanks to Michiru's speed. Now out in a more open space, it was Tenya's turn to attack, catching up to the pair. Unfortunately for the 1-A class rep, he may have had speed but he lacked the magic of Michiru's passenger. Tenya tried to bum-rush Michiru's legs and knock her to the ground but Zelgadis launched a arrow of ice over the tanuki girl's shoulder, catching the overly serious boy in the shoulder and causing him to stumble to the ground. It was a hard fall and the class rep struggled to get up as his leg became encased in ice.
It turned out, though, that Tenya had been another distraction, because Katsuki and Izuku came crashing from opposite directions, the angry blonde from the air and the freckled boy from on foot.
Michiru was able to shift her torso into a turtle's just in time to take Izuku's blow but it caused her to drop Zelgadis, who just missed getting blasted by Katsuki as a result. Michiru went flying from the blow she suffered and crashed into a building, her shell lodged deep into the hole the impact created.
Izuku kept after Michiru while Katsuki landed and charged toward the recovering Zelgadis.
"Looks like we got you again, Rocky!" Katsuki taunted before he connected with an explosive blow to Zelgadis' side, catching his cape on fire and blowing a hole in the side of his tunic.
That was, however, all the damage the rock-encrusted chimera suffered and he was able to draw his sword and take a swing at Katsuki, causing the dirty blonde to fall back outside of Zelgadis' reach.
By now, Mina, Hanta, Shoto and Mezo had gathered at the edge of the open area, ready to react and looking for a way to get Tenya out of harms way. Zelgadis took a moment to glance at the other heroes, and noted not everyone was accounted for. He had a pretty good guess where they were.
"I don't see that mute swiss-army knife of yours. Playing the rear guard, huh? Well that's fine by me, I've been dying to kick your ass!" Katsuki spoke again, but instead of him attacking right away, it was Mina and Hanta who again attacked at long range, forcing Zelgadis to dodge and block, leaving Katsuki to again attack.
This time, the explosion wielder used both hands, pulling the pins in each gauntlet and unleashing a truly intense explosion. Zelgadis skin was tough but it, too, had its limits and this time he was sent flying, his body smoldering as he hit the ground several feet away.
Katsuki was surprised though to find Zelgadis had landed at a crouch instead of uncontrolled. Expecting an attack, Katsuki shot into the air but was surprised when Zelgadis pressed his hand to the ground, yelled "Dill Brand!" and instead of an attack coming at Katsuki, the ground underneath Hanta, Mezo and Mina exploded, the teens sent flying in opposite directions.
Shoto responded immediately, riding a wave of ice to catch Mina before she could hit the ground, having already been knocked out. Hanta was able to catch a lamp post with his tape but it was wild and his landing was hard. Between that and the explosion he was barely able to move. Mezo was less lucky, crashing hard into the ground and out for the count.
Realizing he had lost his support, Katsuki had to hope Zelgadis was distracted enough attacking the others that he could swing in and take advantage. Charging in from the sky once again, Katsuki aimed at the ground this time, expecting that if his explosions didn't affect Zelgadis directly, if he could knock him off his feet, Shoto could freeze him.
This time, though Zelgadis was ready. As Katsuki got close, Zelgadis turned and raised his hand. The next thing Katsuki knew, he was crashing into what looked like empty air.
"What the fuck is this!" the blonde bomber screamed as he crumbed to the bottom of what felt like solid ground but looked to be thin air. It only took Katsuki a moment to realize he was basically floating as he stood up. And began banging at the invisible barrier.
Zelgadis, his arm still outstretched, answered the question a moment later "Did you know, my barrier can be used to entrap people just as well as protect them?"
"You smug asshole! You think catching me is going to win this? We're not done yet!" Katsuki barked, his explosions now being brought to bare to break himself free.
Raising his hand up above his head, the sphere of magical air encasing Katsuki rose along with it so that now the blonde was above Zelgadis. "'We' you say? I'm glad you are learning to rely on teammates, Bakugo, but those above you can't help you." Zelgadis replied.
Sure enough, Ochaco was floating high above, a number of blocks created by Momo floating beside her just waiting for a chance to rain them down on her opponents. Jiro floated beside her for backup. Each now reduced to spectators as long as Katsuki was being used as a shield.
Katsuki took a moment to look up himself, aware another of their plans had been figured out. "Damnit!" he screamed before redoubling his efforts to break free.
After sheathing his sword, Zelgadis raised his other hand and said "No more of that. I'm taking you out of the rest of this fight. Can't have combustion without oxygen, now can we?"
With that, Zelgadis was able to remove all the air from his barrier. Instantly, Katsuki's explosions stopped and his eyes widened, realizing he could no longer breathe. Shoto had put Mina down but it wasn't clear if he knew what had just happened because the fire and ice user looked to be hesitating, probably because Zelgadis was now starring him down.
That meant the only one who could save him was Izuku.
The wielder of One for All had his hands full as well. When he got close to Michiru, she returned her torso to normal and took a slash at him with elongated claws when he was close. The freckled boy leapt back but shot forward again as soon as he hit the ground, his quirk allowing him much greater speed as he angled for a kick.
Michiru, though, had a counter to Izuku's great speed, as she turned her back to him, her body suddenly becoming covered in spines. If he kept going, he was going to get impaled on those nasty looking barbs so Izuku had no choice but to aim his arm away and shoot a blast of air from his gloves to change his trajectory.
The awkward landing that resulted gave Michiru a chance to counter. Her lower half shifting into a kangaroo, she leapt at the hero and twisted, swinging hard with her massive tail. The attack landed and Izuku tumbled along the edge of the building Michiru had been hit into.
Before Izuku had a chance to get back to his feet, Michiru was baring down on him, a massive fist about to smash into him. At the last moment, he caught the massive gorilla-like limb only to have to do it again when Michiru tried with her other arm. With One for All's power arching across his body, Izuku found he had to keep increasing his power as Michiru increased the size of her arms.
Each took turns appearing to gain the upper hand and Izuku was seriously worried how much further the two of them could escalate this stalemate. Michiru, though, didn't have to wonder. "You're incredibly strong, Deku but if you want to beat a villain, sometimes you have to think like them, you know?" Michiru lectured as the two struggled.
"What-what does that mean?" Izuku found himself asking as he ran through ways to break the back and forth.
"It means." Michiru started when Izuku noticed Michiru's tail had shifted into a scorpions "You need to be ready for a dirty trick or two!"
With that, the morphing tanuki girl struck at Izuku, who found that his hands were now being held when he tried to release and escape. "Damnit!" he screamed, throwing himself to the ground, allowing his weight to throw Michiru off balance and fall forward.
Michiru tumbled a short distance, allowing Izuku to get back to his feet. That's when he saw it. There, at the center of the clearing, Zelgadis had Katsuki inside of a barely visible sphere and…it looked like he was struggling to breathe. "Ka-chan!" he cried, forgetting the fight he was in the middle of.
Unfortunately for him, Michiru hadn't forgotten. "Gotcha!" She cried, having easily come up behind him and snatched him up in a bear hug with her massive arms. To take away any leverage he may try to get, Michiru increased her bulk, especially in her legs, dramatically increasing her height. Now Izuku was off his feet as Michiru truly was giving Izuku a crushing bear hug from behind.
"NO! STOP! HE CAN'T BREATHE!" Izuku screamed desperately despite his own pain.
"It's fine, Deku! Once Bakugo passes out, Zel will let him go, you know that, right?" Michiru tried to explain as she struggled to hold the panicking freckled boy.
If he had been thinking rationally, Izuku would have understood what Michiru was saying. But he wasn't thinking rationally. Instead, flashes back to the sludge villain that kicked off his journey a year ago flashed through Izuku's mind. Then, too, Katsuki had been held captive, struggling to breathe and no one to help. No one to help but him.
"LET! HIM! GO!" Izuku screamed before there was a flash and the words turned to agonized screams. A series of black energy-like tentacles burst forth from Izuku's hand and forearms, shooting out in all directions. Random structures, the ground, pipes, anything was being hit by the tendrils and getting cut or exploding on contact.
Zelgadis saw it immediately and dropped his spell, catching Katsuki, who promptly collapsed in his arms, just as a tentacle passed by them overhead.
"Michiru! What's going on!" Zelgadis called as he tried to approach the pair through the maelstrom of black energy whipping about wildly.
"I-I don't know! He just lost it and I-I'm not sure how much longer I can hold him!" Michiru called back.
"DEKU!" Ochaco called from her holding position above the fighting.
Zelgadis heard her and realized her quirk might help keep Izuku under control. "Michiru! Can you get him up in the air?"
"Maybe! But not for long!" came the worried answer.
"DO IT!"
Michiru didn't need to be told twice, two giant wings sprouting from her wings and a second set of ant-like arms to hold Izuku appearing on her form before she shot into the air.
Shoto had erected walls of ice to try and block the tendrils from doing more damage but only seemed to delay the proceedings, new ice needing to be made as soon as he could create it.
Meanwhile, Ochaco had realized what Michiru was doing and moved to met her as quickly as she could, coming in behind to avoid the wild black whips. With a touch of his shoulder, Izuku became weightless and notably easier to restrain but still he lashed about screaming for them to get away from him as he struggled to contain whatever had burst from his body.
Leaving a barely conscious Katsuki in Shoto's care, Zelgadis cast a spell and flew up to meet the others. When he got there, he heard Michiru ask, "Has anything like this happened before?"
"No, never!" Jiro answered, still floating as well thanks to Ochaco's quirk.
"If this keeps up, we're gong to have to knock him out." Zelgadis declared.
"Shinso! Where is Shinso!?" Ochaco suddenly asked. "If he brainwashes him, that'll calm him down!
"On the other side of the combat zone, last time I had an update." said Zelgadis. "This is way out of hand, we need to act now!"
"Please! Find him!" Ochaco pleaded.
Zelgadis frowned deeply but assented, calling over the radio "Goddamnit! Shinso! Where the hell are you?"
"Right here." replied the general studies student not over the radio but yelled at a distance as he was being carried by Terra in her esper form.
Surprised to see them so soon, the chimera regardless wasted no time ordering the brainwasher to act. "Do it now, or Michiru is putting him to sleep the hard way!"
"Damnit! Midoriya! You coward! Are you going to run from this, huh?!" Hitoshi called out in as patronizing a tone as he could muster under the circumstances.
"Come on, Midoriya, you can do it." Michiru whispered in the overcome teen's ear.
Michiru felt her grip get tighter as Izuku's struggling got worse and she braced herself for having to do the worst when, after a few tense moments, the bearer of One for All shouted in response to Hitoshi's words "NO! I WON'T!"
In an instant, Izuku went limp in Michiru's arms and after commanding him to stop, the black tendrils receded and disappeared as if nothing had happened. Gently, Michiru handed Izuku over to Ochaco, who gently came back down to the ground. As everyone else came to the ground as well, Izuku was gentle laid on his back, the remaining members of 1-A and lighters now keeping watch over him.
When he came to a few moments later, Izuku realized he was the center of attention of a lot of faces, which caused his to blush crimson as he asked "What-what happened?"
"His arms crossed, Zelgadis' annoyed tone did not match the relived look on his face when he replied, "We hoped you'd be able to answer that one, kid."
Raising his hand to his face and staring at it, Izuku answered with an air of confusion and dread "I-I don't know. I seemed to black out for a second there and then…my quirk went wild. It's never done anything like this before. I-I couldn't control it."
"We're just glad you're ok, Deku." said a visibly distraught Ochaco.
"It was an impressive sight as we approached" Emeralda added, arriving late along with Shinra.
"Yeah, it was pretty hard keeping you still. Can you not do that again?" Michiru added, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'll do my best. Heh, I guess that means the training is over? How's Ka-chan?" Izuku tried to meet Michiru's lighter tone.
"Dude, he's fine. You need to worry about yourself." Jiro shot back, still unnerved by the scene.
"I'm pretty sure if it hadn't of ended with you're little display, it would have in a few minutes." Zelgadis replied.
That got a few glares from the reaming 1-A students but no one disputed the claim.
"Then why didn't you? This would have been the perfect time to ensure a complete victory." Shoto asked, oblivious to how ill-timed the logical question was.
Michiru just quirked an eyebrow, as if she had just been asked the stupidest question in the world. "You think we care about some stupid test when one of our friends is having a freak out?"
"Indeed." Emeralda seconded.
"The thought never even crossed my mind or anyone else's Todoroki. If we can help, then we will. It's that simple."
As self-evident as those words seemed, and as often as he had acted on them himself, Izuku couldn't help but be moved by them. The fact was, not everyone would have dropped everything to help him. It would have been too easy to use the chaos to finish the exercise up and tend to him afterward or leave it to the teachers. No, everyone knew something needed to be done and they did. Like true heroes. Like he would have in their place. Izuku would remember this moment when it mattered most to his friends from other worlds.
(X)
And there is it, like five episodes of the anime down to one chapter. I'm sorry if it felt rushed, or if a character or two got lost in the shuffle. I, as usual, struggled to find the time to work on this as much as it deserved. I ultimately decided it was more important to get over the hump and sacrifice some quality that I could come back and fix later then to break my schedule. Part of me is terrified that if I did break that schedule, that the whole thing would collapse and I'd never finish the story. A bit hyperbolic I realize but sometimes, when inspiration is lacking, that cold, hard push to meet a deadline is all you have.
I'm sorry if any of you were upset that seven people more or less curb stomped forty. As was mentioned, Mirio did wipe the floor with nineteen people with very little effort so to me it's well within reason for experienced, powerful characters to handle the odds. This will, of course, come back around narratively. I didn't do this just to kick a bunch of kids around to make our mains look good. Izuku's quirk has begun to expand, and now the larger battle between One for All and All for One will begin. What role will our lighters fill in that war? Stick around and find out! No reviews this month either. I'll keep my ears open and look forward to anything anyone has to say. I hope everyone has had a great holidays and may we all have a great 2025. I know mine will be different than any other before, that's for sure!
Take care and see you next month!
