Chapter 32: Up for the Challenge
Eraserhead threw a glance back to the two teens huddled at the back of the bus. Shoto and Creati had boarded in and rushed to make a strategy to stand a chance against their homeroom teacher, something the man approved of. He looked at the time on his phone and sighed, the first group would be starting any moment now.
It was unfair. Eraserhead knew that, knew that the world also was, but even then…
What he didn't tell his students was that those who failed the practical portion would be removed from the hero course.
That year proved that things would only get more dire from there on, and they couldn't send children out to die on the field. If the students weren't able to defend themselves from something of that level, they had no hope to survive the next time a crisis came to pass.
They still would remain enrolled in U.A. but would be transferred to another course. That would be the safest option.
It still felt wrong to do it though.
Eraserhead sighed tiredly, he was becoming soft. Looking back again to try to distract his mind from such thoughts, he saw that Creati had produced a notepad and was drawing something on it.
Shoto watched her work while nodding slowly. The girl turned to him and raised an eyebrow, asking for his input most likely. He pointed to something on the notepad and tapped his chest. Creati smiled slightly and gave a thumbs-up.
Hopefully, they were ready.
—
"What's the plan?" Sugar Man asked his partner while downing a brownie. He made sure to prepare a special batch for today, with extra chocolate.
Red Riot hummed in thought. They were against Cementos, which meant a tough fight, but how could they win? "What would Izubro do?"
"Something crazy."
"Yeah, but what's crazy enough?"
That brought Sugar Man to a sudden stop, "I have an idea."
The other boy gained a sharp grin, "Yup, that tracks." He smashed his fists together, "C'mon, let's win this!"
—
"START!"
Cementos activated his quirk the second the test started. Waves of fresh cement flowed and spread, going further and further away. He planned on localizing the students and then overwhelming them, and if they decided to resist the waves would tire them both sooner or later.
At least that was what he expected to happen. Instead, a shout got closer and closer.
The hero caught something on the edge of his sight and looked up at it, only to deadpan. Red Riot was on the air, coming straight at him with a broad grin and a warcry.
Cementos snapped his hand upwards and made the deluge curve backward, forming a wall that quickly solidified. That didn't stop the boy, who Hardened and crashed straight through it.
"Heads up!" The boy dropped onto Cementos like a ton of bricks. The impact sent the two solid fighters rolling back and grappling to try to come up on top. Red Riot headbutted the teacher and used the time he took to flinch to put the man in a headlock, something very difficult when Cementos had the form of a concrete block. "Got you now!"
"Don't be so sure." The man's wheezing voice was accompanied by a slap to the ground. Blunt spikes of concrete speared into Red Riot, who wasn't hurt thanks to his quirk but was thrown back.
The spikes stopped before rushing again, hitting him a second time on his chest, stomach, left shoulder, and right hip all at the same time. He grunted but didn't relent; bringing both arms up, he smashed them down and broke the concrete bludgeons. "I'm not letting you get away!"
"And who says I'm trying to?" Was Cementos' answer, along with more tendrils of concrete.
Red Riot met the barrage head-on. Hardening his arm into a sharp blade with the help of his compression gloves, he started to cut the spikes while charging at Cementos.
The teacher hastily made a shield of concrete, square and high enough to cover him. Thinning the base let him rip it off the floor and use the shield to block Red Riots attacks.
"Why can everybody make weapons?!" The redhead complained while chipping away at the shield with his sharp hands, trying to break through it. First Momo, then Izubro with his constructs, and Fumikage copied the idea, was being a one-person armory a trend or something?
Cementos' answer was to push the boy back and hit him with a blocky hammer he made without him noticing. The weapon smashed against his head, leaving him slightly dizzy.
"That's it! No more playing around." Red Riot pushed his quirk to the maximum, hardening every single cell in his body, "Unbreakable!" The jagged stone statue bulldozed the hero. The sound of rocks grinding on concrete was heard through the test site, empty streets and buildings only echoing the grating noise further.
There was a lull in the rhythm of battle as neither fighter got any ground. But that was actually to the test takers' advantage.
Cementos was the one on the clock, he needed to subdue Red Riot and find Sugar Man before the twenty-five-minute mark or they would win by default.
"Time to kick things up a notch." The hero stomped, causing the terrain to suddenly shift. His quirk rearranged the concrete of the sidewalk, making a rough battering ram the size of a truck.
Red Riot's head snapped to the new threat, and that was his mistake. Cementos dropped his shield while utilizing his control to transform it into manacles that snatched onto the student's heels.
"Crap!" The redhead tried to free himself, costing him the time to dodge the battering ram speeding at him. Red Riot looked at the incoming source of harm coming at him like a deer caught in headlights. Would that hurt? Not really. Would that leave him wide open for being captured? Most definitely.
Thankfully, the cavalry arrived right on time. Sugar Man shoulder-tackled the battering ram, throwing it off course.
The yellow-wearing teen gasped, looking out of breath, "I'll never skip leg day again." Running up a building's stairs to the roof, throwing his partner like a javelin at their adversary, just to have to rush down to ground level and then cross the whole distance to the battle left Sugar Man's legs aching and his lungs burning. Still, he made it.
Red Riot got rid of his constrictions and put his arms up, "Fighting now, regretting skipping gym time later!"
"You don't have to tell me twice." The duo charged at Cementos, who had created some distance while the boys were distracted.
The teacher was at his strongest at a distance where neither student could do anything. If they wanted a chance, they had to keep the pressure on until Cementos slipped or the time ran out.
Red Riot once more went high while Sugar Man went low, the first running up the side of a building at a diagonal angle, gaining height while approaching his target, while the latter went wide, rushing through the street and away from his partner to try a pincer attack.
Unfortunately for the students, Cementos was a seasoned pro who knew how to multitask. With a single hand wave, he turned the wall Red Riot was climbing into square beans that popped out, leaving holes in the concrete that remained and launching the manly gargoyle into the air. The beans fell onto Sugar Man's path, blocking it and making him take emergency evasive action.
Red Riot backflipped and landed with a hard crack on the asphalt. The acrobatic training their friend put the group through sure paid off in the end. "Let's go with 'T' then?"
Sugar Man finished a combat roll and sprung to his feet, "Works for me." He skipped close to a bean and grabbed it. They had to be fast or Cementos would take control of it.
The man hesitated a second, confused, "What do you mean, 'T'?"
Red Riot broke a stone column with a bladed arm and grabbed the smaller piece, "What else, 'T' is for 'throw!'" The boys swung their arms and sent their improvised projectiles flying at Cementos.
The teacher was forced to dodge. Even if he liquefied the cement, it wouldn't alter its mass, and while he wasn't a physics teacher he still knew that mass times acceleration equals force.
The seconds the hero took to get away from harm was more than enough for the two spirited boys to be right upon him again. Red Riot threw a gut punch that Cementos sidestepped, but that left him in the path of a hook Sugar Man threw at his head. The man blocked, grunting from the pain of the augmented strength punch colliding on his forearm. Using the opening, Red Riot went low and slammed his fist on the man's leg with a wide swipe.
Cementos used his quirk to hold his foot on the ground, preferring the impact to losing his footing. He made to throw a palm strike at Sugar Man while using his quirk to retaliate against Red Riot.
Both boys dodged, not noticing it was a feint and that they gave Cementos enough space to create two maces. Now armed, the hero responded with a charge of his own.
Red Riot put himself in front of his partner and blocked the series of strikes with his arms. The blunt and hard attacks made his bones ache, but he endured.
Deciding to double down on the class' signature crazy, Sugar Man grabbed his friend and used him as a bludgeoning weapon. The comic sight of the tall boy using his shorter and still statue-looking friend to attack their teacher was not as impactful as the strikes that followed.
The first broke a mace, the second send Cementos to his knees, and the third was a haymaker that smashed against the hero and sent him onto his back, with Red Riot over him.
Sugar Man joined in to dogpile the teacher. Both boys locked Cementos in a stranglehold that had the man's limbs immobilized. He struggled for a bit, but the last hit resulting dizziness made his efforts insufficient.
"I yield," Cementos admitted defeat, making a buzzer go off.
"KIRISHIMA EIJIRO AND SATO RIKIDO CAPTURED THEIR TARGET. STUDENTS WIN THE MATCH!" An artificial voice flooded the testing ground, proudly announcing the victors.
"We won!" Both boys traded an awkward fistbump, still in a tangle of limbs with their teacher.
"That you did, now can you please let me go." His strained voice showed how uncomfortable Cementos felt.
Getting back up, the winner duo trade a glance. They passed, but more importantly, they won. They were the first team, which meant it had been up to them to show it was possible to get through the hellish exam they faced and come out on top.
They proved to their friends watching that 1-A had what it took, now they could only hope the others could do the same.
—
"They won!" Deku jumped, throwing his fist up.
"Of course they did! We won't lose to a bunch of old-timers!" Dynamight barked, pointing at the screen of the observation room the students waiting their turn were. The test takers facing the worst odds were let to go last to have more time to plan and to watch their classmates for inspiration.
Not that that helped the last duo of Deku and Dynamight. Both boys were still completely stumped on what to do.
Luckily, their friends were all in much better spirits.
"They got Cementos by surprise, huh." Cellophane crossed his arms and hummed in thought, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"If you're thinking about what I'm thinking you're thinking, then yeah." Grape Juice shot him a conspiratory glance. Both boys started to cackle, a plan forming in their heads.
Uravity pointed at the boys, feeling a little weirded out, "Should we be worried?
Deku laughed, not bothered, "Not really. The teachers are on a timer, meaning they're gonna come to us, using that against them is our best bet."
"They'll be in a hurry to defeat us before the twenty-five minutes are up." Froppy inserted herself between them, her head tilted, "We should use that hurry to bait them into a trap."
Dynamight nodded at the girl's words, "It's a do-or-die thing. We put them down in one go, or we're fucked."
"They're more experienced than us. More trained than us. And stronger than us." Deku turned to the screen showing the next match about to begin, "But that never stopped us before. We can win this!"
"Yeah!" They all roared, now fired up for their matches.
—
"START!"
Shoto bolted, his legs carrying him into the residential district with small houses and narrow streets which was their test site. The terrain was perfect for ambushes, which worked into Eraserhead advance.
Creati accounted for that. Shoto had one job, a dangerous, risky job, but a very simple one.
And he would finish it because teamwork made the dream work. Was that the right use of the phrase? He needed to ask his friends later.
Shoto counted a minute of running around like a man possessed before starting the next step of the plan. He lit his left arm alight, the flames only tall enough to be easily visible. That's why another thirty seconds later, he saw them cutting short abruptly from the corner of his eye.
Ten seconds earlier than expected, but still inside the acceptable margin of error Creati gave him.
"Found you." The curt voice spoke loudly, just enough to drown the sound of fabric hustling.
Thankfully, Shoto's instincts had been trained to dodge first and ask questions later, so when his fire cut off he had already started to throw himself to the side. He evaded Eraserhead's capture weapon by an inch and rolled back to his feet.
"I think this would be the time I cracked a smart retort, but I still haven't gone over that with the others, sorry." Shoto did have some movies and other things recommended to him to study one-liners, but his to-do list had been a little too packed to look into that. He glanced up, seeing his teacher's blank stare from his perch on an electrical cable, it was clear the man wasn't impressed.
Shoto would take the five seconds he took to demonstrate the fact gladly.
Eraserhead's hand twitched, and that was enough for Shoto to dash to the nearest house and throw himself into a window. He grimaced at the crack of glass breaking but thankfully didn't gain any cuts from it.
As he was off Eraserhead's line of sight, he had access to his quirk again, so Shoto blocked his entrance point with an ice wall. That bought him just enough time to sneak out the back.
He jumped the back fence, went through the neighbor's house, and rushed back into the street, his arm hot with flames.
That went out seven seconds later.
"What exactly did you want to achieve with that?" The words were accompanied by a growing shadow. Eraserhead dropped onto his student, ready to perform a takedown.
The boy once again dodged, springing to his feet a second later, "I'm not exactly sure, but it worked if you fell for it."
"And why would you say that?"
"Because you didn't notice the Magic Bomb I left behind." Shoto pointed back at the second house he just left, his tone deadpan and not at all bothered by admitting he just rigged a residence with an explosive.
Eraserhead jumped back, creating distance between him and the house. His eyes landed on it just as the bomb went off, but unlike what he expected, only a bright flash went off. One so bright he was forced to close his eyes even with his goggles on.
He knew how much space there was behind him to calculate a somersault that left Eraserhead on top of a house's wall.
There wasn't a need, as Shoto didn't try to engage, the boy had turned tail and fled again. This time, he covered his retreat with a wave of ice that cut the direct path between him and his teacher.
Opening a small smile, Shoto tapped the hidden communicator in his ear that Creati had sneaked him right before the test began, "Everything is going according to your plan. I'll start phase two now."
"Good, I need nine more minutes." Creati's voice was accompanied by the sounds of an electric screwdriver, showing she was already hard at work on her part of the plan.
"You can count on me, I'll buy as much time as you need."
"You became very dependable compared to the start of the term, Shoto." He could swear the girl was smiling, and the compliment also tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Thank you. Shoto, out." He tapped the com again, cutting the connection off and letting his ear free to try picking up the telltale noise of a capturing weapon.
Eraserhead wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, so Shoto didn't try to booby-trap another house. Instead, he took the direct approach, throwing another Magic Bomb up. The boy passed under it just before it went off in another blinding light, giving his position over purposely.
It took another two minutes for Eraserhead to catch up, having waited for the light to die down. He threw a strand of his weapon to grab a lamppost and swing himself over Shoto, throwing something at the boy himself.
Iron spikes, tiny but pointy enough to punch through the soles of footwear. As his quirk was Erased, Shoto couldn't just make an ice trail to avoid the traps, leaving him stuck.
"Oh." He pulled a grappling gun that was hooked to his belt, "So that's what this is for." He aimed at a traffic light downstreet and fired.
Fun fact, Shoto didn't know how to use a grappling gun. Another fun fact, Shoto had ninety percent sure he had some type of cat-quirk ancestry because he could consistently fall on his feet. Or maybe that was just all the times he was thrown around by his friends. Neither option could be discarded.
He didn't bother to look back, knowing Eraserhead would be right at his heels again. Instead, Shoto threw another Magic Bomb over his shoulder.
If Eraserhead hadn't been blinded twice in quick succession and hadn't been struggling not to blink while keeping Shoto in his sights, he would have noticed that this Magic Bomb wasn't like the other two. While those had bright white lines circling the metal sphere, this one had yellow ones.
The moment it exploded, instead of only a flash, a resounding rumble followed, along with an electric discharge that made his hair rise.
Worse yet, the obstacle he created prolonged the bomb's effect by giving the lightning flying around various points to jump to.
He took the long way, going over houses and circling the electric field, losing what was probably another minute.
The man was minding his time, but he felt it was acceptable to focus on the student right before him for now, at least until half the time was up. If he couldn't capture him, the teacher would track down the other one and use her as a hostage to force a direct confrontation.
Underhanded, but this exam was nothing if not underhanded.
Shoto might have heard Eraserhead's thoughts if the stream of fire was any indication.
"Ran out of bombs?"
"No." Shoto threw another one, this time with deep blue lines.
Eraserhead noticed the difference this time and counterattacked by launching a throwing knife at the bomb, detonating it early, and making the resulting lake-worthy amount of water flood the street.
Shoto had been expecting that by the way he instantly used his fire to produce a wall of steam.
Eraserhead nodded, the boy had been clever and quick on his feet until now. If he kept like that he might just pass.
Still, where was Creati?
A glacier coming his way stopped Eraserhead's line of thought. The man clicked his tongue while dodging by hopping to the power cables and running down them. The boy had another thing coming for him, thinking those potshots would be enough.
Shoto made sure his teacher was hot on his heels, he couldn't let Eraserhead go after Creati, so he needed to do one of the many things their class exceeded at.
Be annoying.
Shoto made a snowball, turned, and launched it at his pursuer. Eraserhead avoided it, and the next, and the five after.
He even dodged the one with a Magic Bomb inside.
The bomb exploded behind him with a wave of force that caught the hero by surprise and sent him flying forward. He did a flip and landed with a roll to bleed his momentum, ending not worse for wear.
Shoto needed to stall for another two minutes, so he froze the ground before his quirk turned off again. The boy knew how to ice skate amazingly, enough for him to circle around Eraserhead and avoid his capture weapon.
The man decided enough was enough and slingshotted himself back onto a house. "Are you done playing around?"
"Yes." Shoto turned tail and ran.
He counted down the seconds. The time would be up just… now. Shoto suddenly changed directions, making a B-line to the meeting point. He abandoned all thoughts of harassing his adversary some more and ran with all he had, using the brief seconds Eraserhead blinked to use his quirk and gain some more ground.
Shoto reached the marked crossing, noticing a part of the asphalt not colored like the rest and standing right over it. He turned, seeing Eraserhead had caught up.
The man tried to lasso his target again, and this time he surprisingly succeeded. Noticing something off, he tried to reel the boy in, only to notice Shoto had frozen his soles to the ground.
The student had made sure the capture weapon had not bound his arms too, having only closed on his torso, so that he could grab the cloth and pull. Thanks to his leverage, Shoto managed to win their little game of tug-of-war.
Eraserhead didn't miss a beat, using Shoto's pull to throw himself at the boy. He grabbed his combat knife and put it at the student's neck the moment his feet touched the ground, "You lost."
"No, I didn't."
Eraserhead felt a headache forming, "You're immobilized, without your quirk, and with a knife to your neck. How, exactly, did you not lose?" His answer came swiftly, but not by the boy in front of him.
"Because he lured you here," Creati revealed herself from inside one of the houses, her hand clutching a detonator.
Shoto apparently felt the urge to clarify the painfully obvious, "I'm the bait. And you got baited." Just as his words fell, Creati pressed the button.
From the ground, four obsidian-black cage bar walls sprung, seemingly materializing from the asphalt. Eraserhead tried to leap back, but Shoto grabbed him and pulled the man close, the knife slightly cutting his neck.
That, even with all the experience the hero had, made Eraserhead flinch. That fraction of a second his eyes closed was enough for Shoto, who freed his feet, then stomped on the man's foot, encasing it in ice. Eraserhead pushed the boy away, but instead of fighting it, Shoto let himself be thrown, even helping by pushing away and letting his body fall.
Instead of having the bars slamming onto his back, they phased through him, as if the cage wall was nothing but a mirage. The boy ended up sprawled on the ground but not worse for wear.
The walls cranked loudly when all four of them connected, one of them having an upper lid that fell and snapped the cage shut, locking all parts into place.
Creati slowly approached, watching as Eraserhead hit the bars with his knife, all of them completely solid now, "Don't bother, I used an alloy of Dense and Lucid materials to make this cage, a nitrogen bomb wouldn't be able to crack it open." She used a finger to comb some stray strands of hair off her face, looking a little disheveled from all the frantic preparations needed for the trap, "And Izuku is right, working with materials that selectively exist is a pain."
"I think you did a good job," Shoto commented from his spot on the ground, he had to regain his breath after all the eventful minutes he ran for his life.
"Thank you. Now, it's time for you to give up." The girl stared her teacher in the eyes, not backing down at his glare.
Eraserhead maintained the staredown for a long moment, before sighing, "Well done."
"TODOROKI SHOTO AND YAOYOROZU MOMO CAPTURED THEIR TARGET. STUDENTS WIN THE MATCH!"
"All according to plan." Creati gave herself a moment to feel accomplished, then she went to her partner. She saw the boy was staring straight up, "Are you feeling well?"
"Yes."
She hid a giggle behind her hand, before offering it to Shoto, "Then get up, the floor isn't the place for a nap."
He accepted the help, getting back to his feet. Shoto looked at Creati, then his eyes widened in realization, "Oh yeah." He raised his hand.
The girl blinked in surprise, ultimately opening a smile and high-fiving Shoto.
"Did I do it right?"
"Yes, yes you did. You are a very supportive person under all the stoicism, aren't you?"
Shoto panicked for a moment, not remembering what to do when genuinely complimented like that. He should reciprocate, right? "You're very kind, always looking out for me."
That caused the girl to blush slightly, "Thank you."
Eraserhead knocked his head against the bars, wishing to be anywhere but there, with a front-row seat to teenage drama and awkward flirting.
Still, the man had to hide a grin, his class would be fine in the end.
—
"Oh, looks like our ice prince has what it takes to make our creation princess blush!" Pinky cackled, her shipping senses tingling.
Dynamight rolled his eyes at the pink girl, "I would bet he just put his feet in his mouth, being half-'n-half, but he's so hopeless in any social interaction he might as well have gone full circle and actually said something good enough to make Ponytail red on the face." He considered another valid point, "But she's also shit dealing with earnest positive words, so who knows?"
Pinky had to concede the point, "Fair. Also, you're broke from losing the last bet to Midori, you can't bet anyway."
Said boy interrupted them with a loud clap, "In more serious topics! Do you have any ideas?"
"Nope." Dynamight made sure to pop the 'p' to emphasize just how screwed they were.
"Thought so." Deku slumped, feeling hopeless still. While Shoto and Creati's match was incredible to watch, it offered little insight.
Deku wouldn't be able to make something that could trap All Might even if he had access to his Synthesis materials, and thinking that his friend could stall the hero on his own for long enough to even try to do so was just mean.
A soft hand landed on his shoulder. The key bearer traced it up to the warm brown eyes looking at him in concern.
"Don't give up now. I know you're gonna come up with something to pass the test." Uravity opened a courageous smile, the way she knew Deku always did when lifting a friend's spirits, "You said that your 'Deku' sounded more like 'you can do it' yourself. So put that bright brain to work!"
The young Keyblade Master felt his heart shine stronger at her words, "You're right. We can do this!" He clasped a fist closed, a matching smile parting his lips.
Without the bright duo's notice, Dynamight leaned closer to Pinky to whisper in her ear, "How the actual fuck are those two not together?"
She whispered back, "They are dense."
"Ah." He nodded, "That tracks." The boy glanced back at the screens, noticing another match about to start. There had to be something, anything, that could give them a chance.
They just needed to find it, and then they could overcome this challenge.
DONE! A little shorter than usual, but most chapters go off the rails like that. Usually, they end with a ton of words more, but the other case happens sometimes too.
This chapter explains why Izuku was having a meltdown in the last one clearly. If they fail, they're out! Danger Sense picked that major danger to their dreams and made it known.
Luckily, the kids had a training montage with our little chaos gremlin and are ready for it!
At least most of them.
Also, the last chapter's title, and this one too, are song names for one of my favorite game OSTs. A tip, if you see a title with proper capitalization, it is a song name that I probably listened to while writing or think fits the chapter well.
Also, if you want to support me, go to the P site and look for Bola8. Then you can have your name at the end of the chapter, like:
Guipa_, SilverZero90, CBN, and Brolly Freeman, a heartfelt thanks to you all!
Beyond that, my friends made this readable, so a shout-out to SilverBits and keeperofhounds!
Oh, and join the discord.
discord . gg / stAGY4V