My Hero Association Chapter-6
Month 1: Week 3:
The Daily Grind
Training in the Woods: ZombieMan, Tokoyami, Hagakure
Hagakure was excited to begin her first day as Bomb's new disciple. She and Tokoyami met with ZombieMan in the garage as per usual, only today, instead of heading straight to the forest, they first dropped Hagakure off at the dojo.
"Send Bomb my regards." ZombieMan calmly requested.
"I will! Have fun getting beat-up by ZombieMan, Tokoyami!" Hagakure shouted teasingly.
"Only if you have fun getting beat-up by Akakaze." Tokoyami replied.
He and ZombieMan drove through City-D in one of the official Association vehicles, when the now-familiar monster-alarms began to blare. The Threat-Level was Tiger. The two decided to investigate, screeching to a halt and jumping out of the car. After turning a corner, they spotted what looked like a giant, mutated Venus Fly-Trap monster, its gaping mouth filled with serrated teeth, slowly lumbering through the city with its many roots, functioning like the legs of a spider. The gargantuan greenery also possessed a number of long, thorny vines that were smashing into buildings and pulling out helpless civilians. The plant monster opened up its fly-trap mouth and threatened to devour the screaming people.
Tokoyami reacted quickly, sending forth DarkShadow and cutting the vines down with his signature-move, Piercing-Twilight-Claws! The civilians were released and began falling, but Tokoyami and DarkShadow both caught them and rushed them to safety. The plant creature let out a roar of disapproval before it was quickly silenced by a gunshot from ZombieMan's Desert-Eagle, blasting through the creature's mouth and out the other end. Tokoyami cautiously approached the monster, before it immediately sprang back to life, its vines wrapping around his legs and suspending him in the air. DarkShadow cut Tokoyami loose before gliding him away using Dark-Fallen-Angel.
Tokoyami landed a safe distance away, and turned around just in time to see that ZombieMan had discarded his firearms, and pulled out his dual-machetes. He began slashing his way through the many vines and roots that the monster shot out to defend itself, closing the distance and bisecting it with the strength and skill of an ace lumberjack. The blades were just a blur of motion to Tokoyami and DarkShadow's eyes. Once the giant plant was chopped up and seemingly dead, ZombieMan gathered-up the remains and lumped it all into a pile. Then he pulled out what looked like a flask of whiskey, but smelled like gasoline, and poured its contents onto the mound of dead flora.
"What are you doing?" Tokoyami asked.
"Burning the remains. Even if it's dead, sometimes animals will scavenge the carcass, and the consumption of dead monster-flesh can result in that animal monsterizing as well. So, it's always best to destroy the corpse entirely, to prevent that from happening."
After emptying the flask and drenching the dead plant in the accelerant, ZombieMan put the flask back in his trenchcoat and pulled out a book of matches next. He lit the match, and tossed it into the pile, and the plant-monster quickly burst into flames, crackling and burning into ash.
"Well, that takes care of that." ZombieMan said, as he washed his blades clean before stuffing them back into his coat. The two heroes checked on the civilians, and returned to their daily commute.
(30-Minutes Later...)
After arriving at the edges of the forest, ZombieMan and Tokoyami exited the car and made their way to the clearing with the tree-stump in the center. Tokoyami remembered how he and Hagakure tried and failed to make ZombieMan move off the stump three days ago.
"So, what's the plan for us today?" DarkShadow asked, emerging from his host and flying up in front of the Class-S Hero.
"Well, before we start, I have a few questions about your Quirk."
"Ask away!" DarkShadow replied.
"You told me a while back that you share each other's thoughts, but do you share each other's pain as well?" ZombieMan questioned.
"We do share thoughts, but pain? Nah! If I get hurt, only I feel it, and if he gets hurt, only he feels it." DarkShadow said, pointing at himself and then Tokoyami to emphasize his point. Then he retreated back inside of his host.
"Noted. Is there a limit to how long he can remain out?" ZombieMan asked.
"Not really, but periodically retreating back into the darkness within me, helps to replenish his strength." Tokoyami elaborated. "If he stays out during the daytime, his physical-power steadily depletes to a certain baseline."
"I see. Can he turn intangible?" ZombieMan asked.
"No, not that I'm aware of." Tokoyami replied.
ZombieMan began to rub his chin in thought, before quickly pulling out his Desert-Eagle and firing at Tokoyami. His quick-draw caught him off-guard, and the shot landed just as DarkShadow came back out to defend his partner from harm, but responding half-a-second late.
"Well, that's what we'll be focusing on today, how fast you and your buddy can act and/or react." ZombieMan said as he put his gun away.
"What.. what do you mean?" Tokoyami asked, his chest stinging from the rubber-round he just took. He was somewhat happy that ZombieMan took his advice on switching from paintball-rounds to rubber-bullets, as it saved him the trouble of washing his clothes after every session.
"In a crisis, every split-second counts. Ideally, you and your buddy should both be fast and decisive enough to respond to threats instantly, neither one slowing the other down, and each able to act independently, but also in sync with each other. And the first step to accomplishing that is upping your battlefield awareness, and how quickly you and your Shadow can take action. We'll continue building-up your base-strength later, but for now, how far can you send the little guy out?"
"About 200-meters, or 600-feet." Tokoyami answered.
"Alright we're gonna play a game, similar to Dodgeball. You try to hit me, and avoid getting hit in return. My guns versus your Shadow. Other than that, anything goes. The game starts when you hear me fire a shot." ZombieMan said as he loaded a full clip of rubber-bullets.
He began to walk out of the clearing and into the crowded forest. There were many tree-branches that DarkShadow could get snagged on, which Tokoyami assumed was the point of the exercise. Fighting in a place that restricted DarkShadow's mobility, and also gave ZombieMan plenty of cover, meant that Tokoyami and his companion would need to be extremely alert, and extremely decisive yet careful in their movements. This wasn't just a game of Dodgeball; it might also be considered a game of Blitz-Chess.
ZombieMan shot his weapon in the air to signal the start, and then completely disappeared from Tokoyami's line of sight. Not wanting to stay in one place for too long, Tokoyami ran for cover. Hiding behind a tree, he and DarkShadow scanned the forest for any sign of where ZombieMan would strike from.
"THERE!" Tokoyami exclaimed. He spotted the Class-S Hero sprinting between trees. DarkShadow immediately flew after him, extending his claws and hoping to land the first hit, but ZombieMan was fast, dodging and eluding all of the creature's attacks. Tokoyami feared he was going too far, and recalled DarkShadow back to him, but as he did so, ZombieMan went on the offensive, firing his Desert-Eagle at Tokoyami. He was struck three times before rushing behind another tree for cover, and DarkShadow quickly joined him.
"Tokoyami! Are you okay?" he asked in worry.
"Yes, I'm fine... We can't overextend like that again." Tokoyami said as he looked around for ZombieMan, only managing brief glimpses of him between the trees. They needed to keep moving, just like he was, and more importantly, they needed a strategy.
"DarkShadow, I need you to create a distraction! Grow as large as you can and cover me as I climb that tree and try to spot him, then we'll use Dark-Fallen-Angel to strike from above." Tokoyami instructed, and DarkShadow nodded his head. He nearly tripled his size before uprooting several trees with his claws, and scattered them about in the direction they last saw ZombieMan run to. Tokoyami ran to another tree and started climbing. A week ago, he wouldn't have been able to do it without help from his Quirk, but the last few days of training in these woods had noticeably improved his agility and strength. He made it to the top of the tree and perched on one of the higher branches. ZombieMan was a blur, almost as quick as Hawks at his peak, but with an elevated vantage point, Tokoyami could survey the entire forest floor and keep track of his whereabouts.
DarkShadow finished rampaging through the woods. As soon as DarkShadow returned, Tokoyami activated Dark-Fallen-Angel and began to fly from tree to tree, hoping to confuse the hero.
The tactic was working. He spotted ZombieMan down below, his gun drawn, looking around for him. He launched DarkShadow out at the hero as soon as he was facing away from him.
"HAH! Gotcha now!" DarkShadow yelled.
Quick as a flash, ZombieMan spun around and shot directly at the tree Tokoyami was in. The rubber-round hit him in the chest, knocking him back and falling off the branch. DarkShadow immediately turned back to catch his partner and break his fall. He luckily managed to do so, but before they could fully recover, ZombieMan closed in and held his gun directly in front of Tokoyami's head, putting him in checkmate.
"That was a solid strategy you had there. Would've worked if your buddy hadn't given himself away by yelling." ZombieMan commended as he holstered his weapon and helped Tokoyami up.
"He can be a bit eccentric." Tokoyami replied.
"I can see. Ya did great for your first try. Now we're gonna focus on the regular physical-exercise routine. You ready?" ZombieMan asked, and Tokoyami nodded.
Cosplay: Saitama, Genos, Bakugo, Todoroki, King, Shinsou, Bang, Midoriya
Shinsou had just entered King's new apartment, still thinking how odd it was that King was living in such a place, especially now that he had won that 5-Million yen from yesterday. As he approached his room and opened the door, he noticed that King had his disguise on, ready to go out in public.
"Where are you headed, King?" he queried.
"I'm headed over to Saitama's place."
"Oh, can I come with you?" Shinsou asked, unsure if he was included in his plans. King stood in thought for a moment, putting his hand to his chin in a thinking gesture, then replied.
"Sure, why not? It could be fun."
The two of them got into one of the Association vehicles and drove to the City-Z Ghost-Town. After a brief walk to Saitama's apartment, they entered to find Bakugo lying down on the floor and staring up at the ceiling, looking even grouchier than normal, and Todoroki researching something on a laptop, while Saitama was reading a comic-book.
"Bakugo and Todoroki? What are you guys doing here?" Shinsou asked.
"We're waiting for Demon-Cyborg to return." Todoroki answered. "What are you guys doing here?"
"I invited them," Saitama said, putting down his comic, a smug grin on his face. "This time I've got the homefield advantage, King! I'll beat you for sure this time!"
Saitama whipped out his videogame controller, and after turning on the TV and gaming-system, he and King started competing in the digital arena. Homefield advantage or not, the Bald-Hero was consistently defeated by King's godlike gamer-skills.
Bakugo merely grinded his teeth while Todoroki shrugged his shoulders. The two still haven't seen Saitama in real combat, and Bakugo still doubted his rumored strength.
After an hour of playing videogames, and then watching an anime that King had recommended, Genos finally returned, having gone out to retrieve Saitama's costume from the cleaner's.
Saitama, having grown irritated and stressed from getting beaten so many times by King, suddenly perked-up at the sight of his refurbished hero-costume. He grabbed it out of Genos' hands, rushed into the bathroom, and came out with it on, and a confident smile on his face.
As far as hero-costumes went, Saitama's was rather simple. He wore a yellow onesie with red boots and gloves, complete with a spotless white cape, and a black belt with a round, golden buckle.
"I'm ready!" Saitama boldly stated.
"Ready for what?" King inquired.
"This! Ya wanna join? There's a cash-prize for the winner!" Saitama said, holding up a flyer for a costume-contest between all the local heroes.
"Naw man, I don't even have a hero-costume."
This conversation was Bakugo's breaking-point.
"A damn costume-contest?! Shouldn't we all be out fighting monsters?! Or at least busting villains and street-thugs?!" Bakugo yelled as he stood up, his palms crackling with micro-explosions.
"Master Saitama does not need to muddy himself with such trivial matters unless the Threat-Level is high enough." Genos said, dismissing Bakugo immediately.
"Maybe monster-attacks aren't as frequent as you want to believe they are." Todoroki remarked, attempted to calm him down.
"Or maybe we never hear jack because we're in this damn ghost-town!" Bakugo shot back angrily.
"Stop yelling in my master's home!" Genos yelled.
"Oh yeah? Make me, ya stupid Toaster!"
"I am not a Toaster!"
The two blondes continued ranting in each-other's faces, while Shinsou and King took a few cautious steps back. Saitama on the other hand, stepped in between them, holding out both his hands to push them away from one another.
"Cut it out! I don't want my apartment getting blown to bits."
Genos almost immediately stood down, but Bakugo was still eager for a fight.
"And why the hell should I listen to you?" Bakugo challenged. Saitama only rolled his eyes and proceeded towards the door, then turned his head back to face Bakugo, a sly grin on his face.
"How about this; You and I can fight it out. If you win, we go out monster-hunting. But if I win, you join the hero costume-contest with me. Deal?"
"Oh, you're on!" Bakugo shouted, and followed the Bald-Hero out the door. The rest of the group continued after them. Todoroki and Shinsou were both curious to see how this would play out.
Saitama and Bakugo stood in the empty street, about 50 paces apart from the other.
"The costume-contest starts in less than an hour, so let's keep it simple. First guy to land a single hit on the other wins." Saitama stated.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Bakugo said, getting in his opening fight-stance.
"Hey Genos, can you do the countdown for us?" Saitama asked.
"Yes Master!" Genos said. "The match will begin in Three... Two... One... GO!"
As soon as he said 'GO!', the match was already over. Saitama had tapped his finger on Bakugo's forehead, the force of which slammed him into the ground so hard he was embedded into the pavement. Saitama walked away, leaving a stunned audience in his wake, except for Genos and King, who already knew that this would be the outcome.
(10-Minutes Later...)
"What... what the hell just happened?!" Bakugo asked, waking up in a daze. He was lying in a crater shaped exactly like him, and his head was still aching from whatever just hit him.
"You lost! And as per your agreement, you must join the costume-contest. So hurry up!" Genos yelled back. Bakugo stared in disbelief for a few moments. He couldn't remember what had happened. Did he seriously just lose? His eye twitched, and his mouth hung open in utter bewilderment.
"Yo, Bakugo! You coming? We had a deal, remember!" Saitama called to him.
Bakugo shook his head and got back on his feet.
"Fine, whatever! It's just a stupid costume-contest!" he called back. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked after them, mumbling under his breath, and with Todoroki following behind. Shinsou was about to follow, too, when he realized that King was heading back to the apartment.
"You're not coming, King?"
"Nah, I don't even have a costume really. I'm gonna play some more games. Feel free to go with them, and good luck if you decide to enter the contest." King said as he waved goodbye.
(15-Minutes Later...)
The group got to the stadium where the costume-contest was about to begin. It was extremely packed, full of people waiting to get in. Saitama and Bakugo both entered the contest, with Genos, Todoroki and Shinsou entering as audience members. After getting registered, the group parted, and Genos wished his master luck.
The show began with the announcer, a young lady in a domino-mask named Emmi, introducing the three judges for the event. The first judge was an Egyptian-looking woman named Clayopetra, the second was a blond lady named Natalie, and the third was a fat man in an expensive-looking suit and sunglasses named Tora. None of the judges looked very excited to be there, Todoroki noticed.
Emmi invited up her first contestant, the Class-B Hero DarknessBlade. He was a pale-skinned man with messy black hair, and wore a dark set of armor with spikes. He boasted about his dark-armor and sword, and how he could use it to cut down Tiger-Level monsters with ease.
Todoroki thought DarknessBlade had a pretty cool design, but the judges were extremely harsh, especially the man in the center named Tora, who only offered a single point to the hero, leaving him with a grand-total of 9 out of 30 points. This went on for some time, before getting down to the last 2 contestants, which happened to be Bakugo and Saitama. The first one up was Bakugo.
"I'm the Class-A Hero DynaMight! And I'll be the winner of this stupid contest!" Bakugo shouted. He raised up his right-hand, and fired off an explosion, drawing gasps of surprise from the people in the room, as the judges began their evaluation.
"You emit a tremendous ego, and your costume's clearly meant for function rather than fashion or style. For that, I can only give you 2 points." Tora said, raising up his paddle to show the score.
"Well, I disagree! You have a solid theme, and you know how to sell it! Your costume, your hair, and your personality tells people all they need to know about you!" Natalie commented, then raised her paddle to give Bakugo a maximum score of 10 points.
"I feel like your costume could still be improved, but I otherwise agree with Natalie's assessment." Clayopetra said, giving a score of 9 points.
The judges all gave their marks, and the audience was stunned by the result. Bakugo received a total-score of 21 points out of 30, the highest one yet. Bakugo found himself conflicted with the results. While he couldn't care less about what someone else thought about his hero-costume, he did care about winning, and he never could be satisfied with anything less than a perfect score.
"That's the best score of the day! Can our final contestant top that? Let's find out!" Emmi said as she theoretically held out her hand to introduce the final contestant, Saitama.
The judges were even more underwhelmed by Saitama's costume than they were with previous contestants. And they were no less critical.
"No insignia? No gimmick? Just a yellow onesie and white cape? How utterly forgettable." Tora scolded, refusing to even give 1 point to the Bald-Hero.
"The cape is nice, and I like the choice of colors, but I must agree with Tora in regard to the lack of an insignia." Natalie said. "You would certainly benefit from having a symbol on your chest, or something else to signify what sort of hero you are. Overall, I believe your costume scores a 7."
Thing were looking bad for Saitama, but before the judges could finally give him a final score, the entire arena started to rumble violently, almost knocking the announcer off her feet. The next thing they heard was a monster-alarm.
"Warning! Warning! A Monster has Appeared in City-Z. Threat-Level: Demon!"
Just as the crowd of people rose out of their chairs and started listening intently to the loudspeakers, something burst through the wall of the arena, inciting hundreds of terrified screams. The smoke cleared to reveal a gigantic, three-headed turtle, with a hideous green perplexion, and what looked like acid drooling out of each of its three mouths. After crawling into the stadium, scraping the floor with its sharp claws, the monster began to speak, each head taking turns to complete the sentence.
"I was once a pet turtle, but then my owner flushed me down the toilet! I bathed in the sewage, until I mutated into this! Behold, I am Kame-Kaiser!"
The other heroes immediately sprang into action, trying to halt the monster's rampage. The first one to fight was DarknessBlade, who attempted to decapitate the center-head with his dark-sword, but even his strongest attacks didn't faze Kame-Kaiser in the slightest, and it swatted him away like a mere housefly, along with all the other Class-B and Class-C heroes who tried to fight it.
Bakugo waited for all the fodder-heroes to be out of the way before entering the battle himself.
"FINALLY! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" He rushed at the monster straight-on before suddenly propelling himself directly above it, then fired his AP-Shot: AutoCannon, blitzing the monster called Kame-Kaiser with a rapid-fire barrage of focused explosions, raining down like hellfire. He landed a few meters away, but was shocked when the creature stood up on two legs, seemingly unharmed by his attack.
Bakugo gritted his teeth, and channeling his frustration, launched himself back at Kame-Kaiser, planning to fire an even stronger blast directly in its three faces. But instead, the monster caught him in midair with one of its clawed hands, and threw him across the room, flying past the judges and hitting the stage. Kame-Kaiser laughed.
"Gha-hahahahaha! I'll drown you all in sewage!"
Kame-Kaiser set its sights on the crowd, but then without warning, it was instantly frozen in ice, and nearly the entire stadium was filled with ice and snow, the temperature plummeting all at once. The audience turned to see where the ice had come from, following the frosty trail to its origin, that being a teenage boy in a blue uniform, with red-and-white hair and heterochromatic eyes.
Everyone started to surround Todoroki, asking if he was a hero and thanking him for saving their lives. The crowd parted for the judges.
"I assume you're a hero as well?" Tora asked. Todoroki nodded in confirmation.
"My hero-name is FrigidFire. Class-S Rank-19." he answered. Tora looked at him for a moment, analyzing his features. His scar, his outfit.
"Most impressive. Your costume is rather impressive as well. Purely functional, but still aesthetically pleasing." the judge said, examining him.
"Uh, but he doesn't have an insignia either..." Saitama said with his deadpan expression and tone, but nobody was listening to him.
"Your scar gives your face character, along with your heterochromatic eyes, which really complement your equally-distinct hair." Clayopetra said.
"I think you're absolutely perfect! In fact, would you mind if I hire you for some promotional work?" Natalie asked.
"Wait, what?" Todoroki had no idea what was happening. Soon all the judges gave him their scores, and to his surprise he received two 8's and a 10, thus giving him a final-score of 28.
Todoroki was declared the winner of the costume-contest.
"But I wasn't even competing..." Todoroki stated, not wanting to accept this unintended victory, especially given his classmate's temper.
"Oh please, child. I'm sure nobody here would speak out against our savior winning the award." Tora said to him, accompanied by many grateful cheers from the crowd.
(Earlier, On the Other-Side of City-Z...)
Midoriya and Bang were nearly finished with their daily-patrol, and were just about to return to the dojo when the monster-alarm went off, announcing that the Threat-Level was Demon.
"Another Demon-Level. They're becoming much more frequent." Bang said with grave concern.
"Only Class-S Heroes can handle Demon-Level monsters, right?" Midoriya asked
"Correct. It looks like we'll be doing some overtime. We should call Charanko and Ojiro, let them know we'll be returning late."
Midoriya called Ojiro on his cellphone, and told him the situation while he and Bang rushed to the rescue, running and across the rooftops of City-Z, leaving behind trails of dust and green-lightning.
"He said they'll continue training without us." Midoriya told Bang.
"Well, I hope that remains true, Charanko wasn't the most studious of my pupils." Bang replied.
"It should be fine since Ojiro's there. He takes his honor as a hero and as a martial-artist very seriously." Midoriya reassured Bang, thinking back to the UA Sports-Festival, when Ojiro voluntary chose to drop-out because he felt it would be dishonorable to advance when he didn't even remember how he won the cavalry-battle. It turned out to be Shinsou and his Brainwashing Quirk that was responsible, and he missed out on a major career opportunity, but Ojiro didn't seem to have any regrets about his decision.
"I can tell, he is very disciplined. And lately it seems to be rubbing-off on Charanko as well." Bang said with a smile.
Just a minute later, Bang and Midoriya arrived at the City-Z Stadium, entering through the hole the Demon-Level monster had made. They found the monster completely frozen solid, which could only mean one thing. Midoriya looked around, and spotted Todoroki surrounded by a crowd of people, praising him for his heroic-act. He smiled at the sight of that, but it instantly turned to a frown when he saw Bakugo getting up from the stage, looking bruised and injured.
"Kacchan!" Midoriya reacted instantly, racing to his childhood friend's side. He reached his hand out to help him up, and instead of slapping it away like he used to, Bakugo took it.
"What the hell are you doing here, Izuku?" he asked with a hint of agitation, testing his aching-shoulder to see if anything was broken. Luckily, he seemed to be fine.
"Bang and I usually go on patrols around the city this time of day, and when we heard of a Demon-Level monster-attack in this district, we came right away. But it looks like you guys took care of it."
His friend's expression morphed into a bitter scowl.
"He took care of it, all right?" Bakugo said, giving a jerking motion towards Todoroki.
"Kacchan…" Midoriya said with some worry in his tone. He knew that his friend had a big inferiority-complex that he was still fighting against. Any words he would say to try and console him were only going to be seen as pity, so he decided to remain quiet.
Then he suddenly had an idea to get his friend's mind off of it.
"Hey, you and Todoroki should meet my teacher! Come on!"
Midoriya grabbed Bakugo by the arm and dragged him along until they met up with Bang, who was standing still, examining the frozen turtle-monster.
"Master Bang! This my friend, Katsuki Bakugo! Kacchan, this is my teacher Bang!" Midoriya said excitedly.
"Ahh, so you're Bakugo. Midoriya's spoken very highly of you." Bang said, holding out his for Bakugo to shake, which he begrudgingly accepted.
"Oh yeah? He did, did he?" Bakugo said, his eyes briefly looking over to Midoriya, but he was already rushing over to speak with Todoroki and Shinsou. After filling them in on why he was there, they introduced him to their own teacher. Midoriya spent the next 5-minutes grilling Genos about his abilities, and what other kinds of cybernetics there were in this world, and the Cyborg answered each and every question. Finally, Midoriya turned back to his friends.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Congratulations on your win, Todoroki!" Midoriya beamed with a smile.
"It was completely unwarranted." Todoroki insisted. "I wasn't even competing."
Once the situation had calmed down, and the contest was officially over, Todoroki received the cash-prize, and Midoriya and Bang had agreed to watch over the frozen monster until the prisoner-transport arrived, so that the others could return to Saitama's apartment.
"Wait, where is Master Saitama?" Genos asked.
"Sorry, I was in the bathroom!" a voice called out from behind them. The group of heroes turned around to see the Bald-Hero, walking over with his signature deadpan expression.
"So, you're Saitama?" Midoriya asked. He remembered hearing Kacchan and Todoroki talk about him, and Genos' bold claim that he was stronger than all the Class-S Heroes combined. Seeing him in person for the first time, he had a hard time imagining that he, or anyone, could be nearly as strong as Blast, let alone astronomically-stronger.
"Yep, that's me. And, uh, who are you, exactly?" Saitama asked.
"This is our classmate, Izuku Midoriya." Todoroki explained. "He's the strongest and highest-ranking member of our group, and he's been training under SilverFang."
"Huh, really? He doesn't look all that strong..." Saitama said.
"NEITHER DO YOU, YA DAMN BALDY!" Bakugo shouted in retort.
"Yeah, fair enough. Well, nice meetin' ya kid. Have fun training with the old guy." Saitama said, waving goodbye as he, Genos, Bakugo and Shinsou all left, leaving Midoriya and Bang standing there with the monster encased in ice. A few more minutes passed, until four hovering drones showed up, and attached cables onto the frozen monster, lifting it up and carrying it away.
Bang decided that was enough for today, and the two heroes returned to the dojo to find both Ojiro and Charanko practicing their forms.
(Meanwhile, in the City-Z Ghost-Town...)
Saitama and his group finally returned to his apartment, and King was there waiting for them.
"So, how did the contest go?" he asked.
"Todoroki came in first place, followed by Bakugo. But your friend here came in dead-last with only 8 points." Shinsou said, pointing a thumb at Saitama.
"Damn, tough break, huh? Well, at least the rest of you came out on top. But hey, speaking of contests, you guys want to go get some dinner to celebrate? My treat. I just won this huge gaming-tournament the other day, and I really wanted to repay you, Saitama, for all you've done for me." King said with sincerity, and Saitama's mood perked up a little.
"Oh, that actually sounds kinda - Wait, did you say you won a gaming-tournament?"
"Yep."
"Was that by chance the Wild-Animals tournament?" Saitama questioned.
"Yep, that was the one." King said casually, only earning a dejected sigh from Saitama.
"Yeah, that figures."
"Wait, so, YOU were the Koala player who won the tournament?" Todoroki asked.
"Yep, I intentionally chose the weakest character possible, just to go easy on the other competitors. And Shinsou..."
"I was just there to watch and learn!" Shinsou interrupted quickly, and hoped that King would read his thoughts and play along. He didn't want to cause any needless conflict within the Class, and if Bakugo found out who the Raccoon player was...
Thankfully, King seemed to understand.
"Right, Shinsou was a spectator. Point is, I won 5-Million Yen the other day, and I was gonna order a reservation for this really big restaurant across town. You guys wanna come with me?"
"Which restaurant are we talking about?" Saitama asked with a smile.
Trust is Hard to Build: Child-Emperor, MetalBat, Koda, Ashido, Jiro
"Woohoo! It's finally time!" Ashido sang as she strolled through the halls of the Hero-Association.
"You do know that even if he talks to them, there's no guarantee that they'll ever become friendly, right?" Jiro remarked with a deadpan expression.
"Well at least we can find out what made them all monster-y, right?" Ashido said, directing her attention towards Koda, who nodded meekly.
"We can if they're willing to talk..." Koda said.
"Can't you just order them to?" Jiro asked. Koda shook his head and looked down at his feet.
"No... these monsters, they're not like normal animals, they have wills of their own, so I can't really control them, any more than you could control me..."
Ever since the Mouse-Master incident, Koda had felt like his Quirk, his ability to befriend and trust any and every animal, had been rendered null and void, or at the very least, was no longer absolute. It was a terrifying prospect for him. No matter how dangerous or hostile other people might be, no matter how deceitful and traitorous, or no matter how afraid he was of being judged or disliked, Koda had always been able to find solace in the fact that animals were always on his side, and that he never had to be afraid of making enemies out of them. They were his friends, plain and simple...
But he didn't have that same luxury in this world. In this world, there were creatures far stronger than the animals back home, and far more violent, and he couldn't make them do what he wanted. He didn't automatically have their loyalty, or their trust, which meant..."
"If this is going to work at all, we need to earn their trust." Koda told them, mustering as much certainty and inner-strength as he could.
The group of three exited Association-HQ and entered one of their official vehicles, which would drop them off at the Child-Emperor's lab in City-C, but before they got in they were taken off guard by a young, rough voice.
"'Bout time you showed up, I swear you're slow everywhere you go!" MetalBat exclaimed while waiting there with his signature bat.
"MetalBat, what are you doing here?" Koda asked, and MetalBat answered.
"Life-Insurance. You said you were gonna try and talk to some monsters you captured, and Sitch trusted me to keep you alive. If you're set on this whole 'save the monsters' mission, go right ahead, but when things go south, and those things try to eat you, I'll be there to whack 'em."
The drive over to Child-Emperor's lab was uneventful, mostly just Ashido trying to strike up conversation with MetalBat, with some minor input from Jiro every now and then. They soon arrived at the laboratory and the group got out of the car. MetalBat let out a whistle as they entered the lab, gazing at all the extraordinary technology on display.
"He hasn't even hit puberty yet, but the kid's a damn genius, I'll give him that."
"You mean he invented all of this?" Koda asked in amazement.
"Oh, Koda, while you're here, you should totally ask Child-Emperor for some upgrades to your suit." Jiro remarked, as they headed down a hallway towards the monster containment-cells.
"Yeah, maybe a better sound-amplifier for your Quirk!" Ashido added.
"Tch, all that fancy tech will fail you sooner or later, and then what? You should learn how to throw a punch and take a punch before ya go arming yourself." MetalBat remarked, and then began lecturing the teens about "Fighting-Spirit", and how that should be the backbone of any great hero. Jiro only snickered, and elbow-bumped Ashido before whispering to her.
"Substitute 'Fighting-Spirit' for 'Manliness', and it's like Kirishima's right here with us." Jiro joked, earning a small giggle from her friend.
"Not really. Kirishima's all obsessed with Manliness, but he's not a thug." Ashido said.
"Heh, yeah, you keep telling yourself that." Jiro said cynically. Suddenly, Ashido stopped walking.
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her tone slightly defensive. Jiro turned around to face her. The second those words had left her mouth, she knew Ashido would get upset, but better to have her feelings hurt now than her heart broken later.
"Oh please, he might be big, strong and confident, and he might act all chivalrous while he's wooing you, but he's just another stupid jock, and he'll cheat on you the second he gets bored of you."
"You... you can't be serious..." Ashido couldn't believe Jiro... couldn't believe anyone could ever possibly think that way about Kirishima.
"I'm dead serious. If you have any sort of feelings for him, then trust me, don't waste your time, because there's only one way that story ends." Jiro insisted.
Jiro had expected Ashido to get angry and start ranting at her, but instead she just looked at her with an expression of... Pity?
"I don't know why you'd ever think that... but you're wrong." Ashido told her. Her words carried no anger, no insecurity, no dishonesty. Instead, it was Jiro who got riled up.
"No, you're just a stupid, naïve ditz who thinks we live in a stupid rom-com! You might think that you can trust him, he might tell you that he really cares, he might tell you that he takes his relationship with you seriously, he might even believe his own stupid lies, but they're still just lies! Kaminari's nothing but a womanizing sociopath! So don't you dare fall for his crap!"
Ashido blinked in confusion. "Huh? I thought we were talking about Kirishima?"
Jiro immediately turned red with embarrassment, and Ashido began to smile deviously.
"Ohhhh, so THAT'S what this is about..."
Jiro extended her EarJacks directly in Ashido's face, nearly stabbing her eyes.
"SHUT UP! I didn't... It... It was just a slip of the tongue, okay?!" Jiro shouted, her voice anxious and unsettled.
"Mm-Hmm. You keep telling yourself that..." Ashido teased, then ran past Jiro, racing to catch-up with the others, and leaving her alone in the hallway. She silently cursed herself for starting their conversation in the first place.
The group made it to the wing of the lab where the captured monsters were being held, and they were immediately greeted by Child-Emperor.
"Wait, MetalBat, you're here too?"
"Yeah? Got a problem with that?"
"No, just... Try not to break anything." he said with a sigh before carrying on to the next new face.
"Hey, I'm not some mindless goon! I'm here to make sure Dr. Dolittle doesn't get himself killed!" MetalBat said with a huff of annoyance.
"And you must be Koda, correct? I'm looking forward to seeing your power in action. I think it'll really help with my research." Child-Emperor said to Koda. The two of them shook hands, and the Boy-Genius brought the group to an enclosure. It was a large box made of steel and bulletproof plexiglass that was completely dark, but as the group began to approach, the glass automatically de-polarized, allowing them to look inside. Five rabbit-like monsters were inside, unconscious.
"I had to keep them sedated so that they could calm down. It's hard to work with these things constantly looking for means of escape." the Child-Emperor said as he gestured to the Bunnies in the container. Koda looked at the unconscious creatures, and saw that Ashido was correct in her description. They were essentially giant rabbits the size of Great-Danes, or some other large breed of dog. And like dogs, but unlike rabbits or hares, their teeth were razor-sharp and carnivorous.
"The foam they secrete from their mouths is a mild neurotoxin. If a regular human gets bit by one, they'll suffer paralysis." Child-Emperor exposited, as the sedative mist within the cage began to disburse. The Bunnies rose from their slumber, shaking their bodies off, before noticing the audience they had in front of them. Immediately two charged forward, jumping to attack them, but they slammed into the glass, growling and snarling like Tasmanian-devils.
{Cursed humans with their evil cages!}
{You will pay! Evil humans will pay!}
"What are they saying?" Child-Emperor and Ashido asked almost simultaneously.
"They're cursing you for putting them in a cage, and are swearing revenge." Koda said, his feelings of discouragement from earlier coming back.
"Yeah, that figures. Try asking them how they turned into monsters." Child-Emperor suggested. Koda nodded, and began to use his Anivoice Quirk to start a dialogue.
{How did you become like this?} Koda asked them, making the Bunnies thump their hind legs and look around in confusion.
{Voice? Where is stranger voice coming from?} The Bunnies asked.
{It's me, I can understand and talk to animals.} Koda answered them, pointing to himself through the glass.
{Human can speak? Understand us? Free us, human, and your death shall be quick!} one Bunny exclaimed as it took a step forward, making Koda flinch a bit.
{Yeah, about that... Why do you hate humans so much?} Koda quickly asked. {And how did you become what you are now? You're not like other rabbits. What exactly happened to you?}
{Human happened! EVIL human! Evil human captured us! Kept us in dark, cold box! Nearly starved us to death! Then evil human fed us evil veggies and black leaves! Tasted awful, but we were so hungry! Evil veggies and black leaves changed us! Now we think and understand, and we hunger for meat instead! So hungry! So angry! Kill evil humans! Eat evil humans! Make hunger go away!}
Koda gulped and began to sweat a little after hearing the Bunny's rant, then relayed the information to Child-Emperor and his classmates.
"WHAT! You mean animals can turn into monsters just from being mistreated? Wouldn't that make being a pet-owner extremely dangerous?" Ashido asked.
"There have been cases of this happening in the past, but the level of abuse would need to be very intense, not just forgetting to feed your cat for one day, or not walking your dog often. Plus, there's usually some additional catalyst involved." Child-Emperor explained. "It sounds like someone was intentionally trying to create the conditions needed to trigger Monsterization in animals."
"Damn, that's messed up." Jiro commented.
"But... Why? Why would someone go out of their way to turn these rabbits into monsters?" Koda asked. "What could anyone possibly have to gain from doing that?"
"I can think of one person who might've done this," Child-Emperor said. "An evolutionary-biologist who was ostracized by the scientific-community when he started conducting experiments just like this. He was obsessed with artificially evolving the human-race, and believed that he could actually Control Monsterization to do it."
{What do you want from us, human?} the largest Bunny hissed.
"They're asking what we want to do with them." Koda translated.
"Well, I assume they don't want to be experimented on again." Ashido said.
"Hmm, you said that they hunger for meat now instead of vegetables. Ask them if human-meat is the only kind they enjoy, or if they're willing to eat other kinds." Child-Emperor said.
Koda asked them, and while perplexed, the Bunnies eventually answered by saying they hungered for meat in general, but specifically chose to eat humans because they wanted to quench their thirst for revenge as well.
{I realize this might be hard to believe, but not all humans are like that.} Koda said, trying to reason with them. {I'm sorry for what that evil human did to you...}
{But you do what evil human did! You put us in box!}
{Only to stop you from killing innocent humans who had nothing to do with the one that hurt you. And we chose not to kill you, even though you were trying to kill us.}
Koda spent the next few minutes talking to the rabbits, explaining their situation to them, and how he and his friends wanted to protect innocent humans from danger, but didn't want to get blood on their hands if they could help it. The Bunnies started to quiet down, not foaming at the mouth nearly as much as before.
{... And besides, getting revenge won't change what already happened, will it? And if you're hungry for meat, there's plenty of beef, chicken, and other stuff you can eat instead of humans.}
{How can we trust humans, after human tortured us?} one of the Bunnies asked.
{How can I trust you, after you tried to eat me before?} Koda countered
The Bunnies started arguing with each other, still very skeptical and agitated. After a moment, the largest Bunny, who seemed to be their leader, spoke again.
{We still hunger! So very hungry! Bring us meat! Bring us good-meat, not evil-meat, not evil-veggies, and then maybe we will trust you.}
Koda translated their demands to Child-Emperor, and he agreed to feed them meat. The Bunnies said nothing more, but settled themselves in the enclosure, and the glass polarized once more.
"Well, at least we made some progress." Jiro commented.
"Sucks I can't pet one of them, though. They just look so fluffy!" Ashido whined.
"Is petting something fluffy really worth getting your hand bitten off?" Child-Emperor asked her. Before Ashido could respond, the city's monster-alarm went off, announcing the arrival of a Demon-Level Threat.
"I can handle this!" MetalBat said, swinging his namesake weapon in his hand, angry-looking as usual, but while he ran out of the lab to fight the monster, he smirked and thought to himself.
"Making friends with monsters... You really are one crazy S.O.B., Dr. Dolittle..."
Kaminari's Starting-Line: Drive-Knight, Kaminari, Lightning-Max, Yaoyorozu
Just like the previous days, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari both met with Drive-Knight in his laboratory. Kaminari was greeted by the Class-A Hero, Lightning-Max, who would be taking him out on patrol with him for the day, while Yaoyorozu stayed in the lab with Drive-Knight, practicing to improve the speed at which she scrolled-through and read the many files on her tactical-visor.
Lightning-Max had yellow-hair like Kaminari, but it was shorter and more slicked-back. He wore a black hero-costume with yellow lining and a lightning-bolt tattoo on his left-cheek. Most notably, he wore a pair of custom yellow-and-black sneakers that looked rather bulky for someone of his size.
"Alright kid, let's take this show on the road." Lightning-Max said, exiting the lab and followed by Kaminari. Once they were out in the city, Lightning-Max decided to strike-up a conversation with his new sidekick.
"So kid, what's your hero-name? And is it true what Drive-Knight told me? That you have powers?"
"My hero-name's ChargeBolt, and yeah, I can generate and channel electricity through my body." Kaminari said confidently, showing off his Electrification Quirk by sending a current of yellow lightning into his hand and letting it surge outwards. Lightning-Max stared in awe.
"Incredible! So you really do have powers like Master Volten!" he exclaimed.
"Master Volten, he was your mentor, right?" Kaminari asked for clarification. Max nodded.
"He's a remarkably skilled martial-artist, and was blessed with electrically-based super-powers after a freak-accident in his youth. How did you get your powers?"
"Oh, well, I was just kinda born with them." Kaminari shrugged.
"Well then, I understand you haven't developed a clear fighting-style, yet. My Hyper-Karate is a variation of Master Volten's Fist of Roaring-Thunder, and focuses on agility and rapid preemptive strikes. I can teach you the basics of my own style, but ideally you should try to develop one that's all your own, and then learn several other styles to go with it. It also doesn't hurt to carry a weapon or gadget of some-kind, either to enhance your powers and techniques, or to cover for your weaknesses and drawbacks."
"Do you carry any weapons?" Kaminari asked. It didn't look like Max had anything on him.
"Yeah, ya see these?" He said, pointing down to his hefty black-and-yellow sneakers. "These here are my Lightning-Shoes! They weigh over 50-pounds, have sharp titanium cleats, and they carry both electrical-charges and gunpowder-based explosives. I use them to enhance the power of my kicks."
The two heroes continued their patrol, helping out the occasional citizen-in-need, and Max grilling Kaminari on what his Electrification Quirk can and can't do.
Then, just as they were about to turn around and head back to Drive-Knight's lab, the monster-alarms went off:
"Warning! Warning! A Monster has appeared in City-D. Threat-Level: Tiger! All citizens please evacuate to the designated safe-areas or evacuation-shelter!"
The monster in question then smashed through a building and appeared in the middle of the street. It looked like a giant, mutated rooster, but in the place of wings it had arms and talons, and its eyes were rabid and bloodlusted rather than stupid and gullible. After making a few clucking noises, it began to speak.
"Bok-BAAAWWWK! I was once the champion of an underground chicken-fight tournament, but then the police shut it down, and I lost my outlet to commit wanton violence! Now all of humanity will become my outlet! Beware the mighty Rumble-Rooster! 15-Time Champion of..."
Before it could finish its monologue, Lightning-Max had rushed in and knocked it out with a single Lightning-Kick! He moved so fast that all Kaminari saw was a blur of motion, followed by a blinding flash of electricity, and the next thing he knew, Rumble-Rooster was KO'd.
Kaminari smiled. "Learning martial-arts from this guy will make me stronger for sure!"
Turning Up the G's: DarkShine, Kirishima, Sato
Sato and Kirishima were both chatting amongst themselves about various topics as they walked down the halls of Association-HQ before entering the gym and being greeted by DarkShine, who had a surprise waiting for them that morning.
"Alright, kids, I think you're both finally ready to start using the Gravity-Chamber!"
"YYYEEESSS!" Kirishima exclaimed, shoving both his fists into the air in triumphant ecstasy.
"Though we'll start you off with just 2-Times Gravity, just to be safe." DarkShine clarified as he made his way over to the vaultlike room and the control-panel outside of it. Kirishima and Sato eagerly followed behind him.
"Now, before we begin, I'll list out how this machine works, and how the training will go."
DarkShine than went on to explain how the machine applied gravity vertically on the body, and described the effects it will have on them, such as increasing the weight of the occupant inside, but also increasing the pressure the occupant would be under; how they will find it hard to breathe, their heart would begin to beat harder and faster to compensate for the extra strain the body would experience. Their bones, and even their vital-organs would have their strength and integrity tested by the pressure. It was for this reason that it was a dangerous process to do without supervision. After going through everything he believed to be important, DarkShine concluded his lecture.
"So, who's going in first?" DarkShine asked. Both teens were excited to try out the Gravity-Chamber, and after a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, Kirishima won the right to go first. He entered the chamber, and after a little prep, held out a thumbs-up for DarkShine to start the machine.
"Alright, I'm going to start you off at 2-Times Gravity." DarkShine said as he activated the machine. Kirishima instantly felt the increased weight and his heart began to pump faster and his hearing slightly lessened. He tested raising and lowering his arms and legs, feeling the increased effort required just to move, but it was manageable for him. He looked over to DarkShine and spoke, noticing how even talking was more strenuous under these conditions.
"Turn it… Up!" Kirishima shouted.
"Alright, moving up to 4-Times Gravity… Now!"
Kirishima instantly noticed how, on top of being heavier, his eyesight started to falter, and it became more difficult to breathe, like his lungs were slowly being crushed, but he was still able to move his arms and legs freely. DarkShine advised the Redhead to try doing some basic exercises like jumping-jacks, leg-lifts, and push-ups. Kirishima managed to do 50 leg-lifts, 50 jumping-jacks, and 50 push-ups before expending all of his endurance, nearly falling to the floor during his push-ups. DarkShine took that as his cue to turn-off the machine and let him out to rest.
Returning to normal gravity felt like having a mountain taken off his shoulders. Everything felt almost weightless in comparison. He felt his heart-rate slowing back down, and was carried over to a nearby bench to get fully rested. Sato was next, and after having seen Kirishima's efforts, he knew that increased-gravity training was no joke, and took it more seriously than ever.
Just like before, DarkShine started with 2-Times Gravity, giving Sato time to acclimate to the sensation before pushing him any farther. Sato spent 3-minutes getting used to the double-weighted conditions, and after repping 40 push-ups, leg-lifts and jumping-jacks, signaled for DarkShine to turn it up to 3-Times Gravity. DarkShine nodded, and after turning the dial and increasing the weight even more, Sato attempted another set. This time he could only muster 20 of each exercise, before the effects of his Sugar-Rush Quirk started to wear-off. The past 13 days of training his base-form had increased the amount of time his power-up lasted, but only by a couple of minutes, and the aftereffects had not yet been reduced. Sato signaled for DarkShine to turn off the machine, knowing that it would be dangerous to try and go any higher. He desperately wanted to one-up his friend, but Kirishima remained one step ahead.
Sato walked out and felt his aching head instantly begin to clear up. His legs felt like jelly, and he quickly collapsed onto the bench next to Kirishima. DarkShine noted that this was a good time for their 15-minute break, and went into the machine himself. He had set the Chamber to its max-setting of 150-Times Gravity, and brought two gigantic 120-Thousand Ton dumbbells in with him. Kirishimas and Sato stared in amazement, as they watched him effortlessly stand in the chamber, repping the already extremely heavy weights as if they weighed less than 5-pounds.
"DarkShine really is incredible." Kirishima said.
"Yeah, man… I would… probably be… crushed… in there." Sato said in-between his heavy panting. As the minutes ticked by, and DarkShine's 30-minute workout inside the Gravity-Chamber came to an end, we walked out looking just as refreshed as when he walked in.
"So, Sato, do ya have anything with PigGod today?" DarkShine asked.
"Nah, not today. He had some other things to deal with today, and told me to just train with you guys for now." Sato remarked.
"Well in that case, how about some sparring between the two of you?" DarkShine suggested.
"Hell yeah, I'm down!" Kirishima said, Hardening his fist and turning to Sato.
"Sure, it's been a while since we sparred each other." Sato agreed. The two young heroes went over to the boxing ring in the back of the gym, starting in opposite corners as DarkShine acted as referee; he counted down before officially starting the match.
Sato quickly popped one of his sugar-pills, and charged towards Kirishima, who activated his Hardening Quirk, tanking the blow, but still getting pushed back by Sato's attack. He attempted to retaliate with a punch of his own, but Sato was fast enough to evade and strike him again, this time punching him straight in the face. This time Kirishima held his ground, not letting the blow push him back even a single step. He raised his forearms to guard his face from another flurry of punches. Having noticed and memorized Sato's attack-pattern, he knew the next attack would most-likely be aimed at his gut, so he waited for him to stop barraging his guarded face, and just as Sato was about to punch him, Kirishima struck first, his fist landing dead-center in Sato's abdomen. Sato was sent flying back to the edge of the ring, clutching his stomach in pain.
After popping a second sugar-pill, he recovered and retaliated with another burst of energy.
The fight continued back and forth for quite some time, each of them trading blow after blow, but ultimately it was Kirishima who came out on top after 10-minutes of combat. Being the sportsman that he was, Kirishima helped Sato up off the floor, and Sato congratulated him on his victory.
"I'm curious, why didn't you use that cool super-mode you have?" DarkShine asked.
"Oh, you mean my Unbreakable? Well, it would've been a little unfair to have a fight with someone who can't damage you, so I chose not to use it." Kirishima mentioned.
"He's right. I definitely couldn't hurt him in that form. If someone like Machia couldn't, I would probably just end up damaging myself. You've seriously evolved your Quirk, Kirishima, while I just wasted my time with mine." Sato said disparagingly.
"Hey man, don't beat yourself up!" Kirishima said. "I'm sure you're gonna find something really cool to do with your Quirk as well! And look on the bright side, you've been training wrong, but you still made it into UA! The only reason I won is that I've gotten really good at taking hits."
"Yeah, I guess..." Sato muttered, before clenching his fist and looking back to Kirishima with renewed determination. "I guess I'll just have to work twice as hard to catch up to you!"
The two of them shared a fist-bump, and then resumed their training, their fatigue lost in their hype.
No Pain No Gain: Tatsumaki, Uraraka
Tatsumaki's training had already been extremely tough on Uraraka. She would always push her to the edge of her abilities, and then keep pushing her until she went over the edge. Uraraka did appreciate this, and it made her see the Esper in a slightly different light. Underneath all that anger and superiority she projected, she really did want to help her get stronger, in her own, completely unhinged way. Today was no different.
As soon as they landed in their usual spot, she had increased the gravity on Uraraka by a factor of 5. The sudden extra weight nearly toppled her to the ground, but she was able to catch herself, falling to one knee and managing to stand back up. But before she could relish in that small achievement, she quickly saw a flying rock headed straight for her head.
Uraraka let her increased gravity throw her to the ground, narrowly avoiding the stone that flew past. She forced her head up just in time to see even more rocks about to hit her while she was lying down, but they were diverted away from her at the very last second, each one missing by an inch.
"You have 5 minutes to get used to it before we start again." Tatsumaki said.
Uraraka breathed a sigh of relief.
Becoming 5-Times heavier and every movement needing 5-Times the energy to accomplish really took a toll on her stamina, and from her compromised position on the ground it took 30-seconds just to get back on her feet.
She tested herself by raising her hands up and down and twisting her body. Even those simple motions took much more effort than usual. She took deep breaths and tried her best to accustom herself to this new level of weight, preparing herself for the long day ahead.
Tatsumaki started levitating the rocks and made them orbit around Uraraka, like a school of sharks surrounding their prey. Once her 5 minutes were up, the rocks began lunging at her. She attempted to duck underneath the barrage, successfully avoiding the first one, but knowing she couldn't stay still, Uraraka rolled and evaded the second rock, then quickly got back on her feet, barely managing to sidestep the third rock, which flew right past her. So far, she hadn't been touched.
The rocks were coming from all directions, however, and each one was coming at her faster, and with less time in-between assaults. The fifth rock grazed her shoulder, and the sixth rock hit her in the knee, causing her to trip and fall on her face, which then put her in the crosshairs of the next few rocks hovering directly above her. Ignoring the pain, Uraraka flipped over onto her back, performed a kick-up, landing back on her feet and just as quickly leaped forward as if she were Asui, barely jumping away from the multiple stones now raining down like hail.
She was now on all fours, and she looked up to find herself surrounded by more and more stones. They kept flying at her faster and faster, offering less and less time to breathe. At this point, she was now getting hit by half of them. She tried to anticipate which rocks would come gunning at her next, but every time she looked one way, another rock would strike from her blind spot.
"Don't just look for the rocks, look for the pattern." Tatsumaki told her.
As she said that, another rock struck her, this time much harder than before. She was about to fall on her face again, but was then hit from the other direction, making her fall on her back instead.
"Look for the pattern?"
She racked her brain trying to figure out what Tatsumaki could've meant by that. "What pattern?"
She knew that Tatsumaki was trying to give her a hint, so she took a closer look at each of the rocks hovering and circling around her, and this time she noticed that one of the rocks stopped moving in circles, and then shot out, nearly hitting her in the head, but she was able to dodge it just in time.
"So THAT'S the pattern!" Uraraka thought. The next rock to be thrown at her briefly pauses before being shot, just a brief one-second tell. She hadn't noticed it before, especially once the rocks started flying at her faster and she was frantically looking around in all directions, but now...
She took notice of any rock that gave off the tell, preparing to rocket towards her, and dodged out of the way. Now that she knew what to be looking out for, she was able predict and evade the attacks much more effectively, despite their speed and numbers.
"You can't win just by dodging." Tatsumaki said, giving what seemed like another clue.
Uraraka suddenly noticed another pattern; that the faster and harder the rocks were thrown at her, the more they seemed to have a longer wind-up time where they would be motionless. Finally deciding on a plan of action, she reached out a hand to grip one of the rocks that were standing still. To her surprise, she was able to easily move the rock away from its position. Using her Quirk on it, she then attached the rock to her grappling-hook and repeated the process three more times, before swinging and whacking away at the rocks that surrounded her, destroying them and her collected rocks in the process. She repeated the process again and again, and confidence growing as the swirling mob of rocks began to thin out and disappear, filling her with newfound strength. Tatsumaki was right; running and dodging would only buy her time. To actually win, she needed to push back. Eventually all the rocks had been cleared, and Uraraka collapsed from exhaustion, her energy completely spent. Tatsumaki floated above her, staring down with a smug grin on her face.
"I'll give you 30 minutes to catch your breath, then the real training starts."
Uraraka was baffled by her statement, but as she felt the gravity around her go back to normal, she decided to just enjoy her break while she could, and closed her eyes while catching her breath.
The next two-hours of training that followed were absolute torture, but somehow Uraraka survived. In the end, Tatsumaki compressed various stones down into a new cube for Uraraka to carry around. Unlike the last one, which weighed in at 150-Tons, this new one weighed twice as much at 300-Tons. Like before, Tatsumaki instructed her that whenever she moves around during her off-hours, she had to use her Quirk on this cube and carry it with her. Uraraka gently tapped the cube, making it weightless, and immediately she felt the strain and nausea that she'd come to expect. Still, the fact that her maximum weight-load had already doubled in just the 13 short days that she had been doing this training with the Esper, proved that she really was getting stronger.
Using her telekinesis, Tatsumaki levitated Uraraka, and the two of them flew back to the Hero-Association HQ. She dropped her off at the front-door, but before she could fly away, Uraraka stopped her.
"Wait! Before you go, there's… something I've been wanting to ask you…"
Tatsumaki turned around. "What is it? If it's about how short I am…"
"Oh no, no! Nothing like that!" Uraraka stammered while holding her hands up, silently praying that her actual question wouldn't provoke her as much.
"I just wanted to know… Why did you become a hero in the first place?"
This caught Tatsumaki completely off-guard. Nobody had ever really asked her that before…
"I… Well… I became a hero because…" The Esper looked away from Uraraka, still hovering in the air.
"Because what?" Uraraka asked.
After several long seconds of awkward silence, Tatsumaki finally gave her answer.
"Because of Blast."
Before Uraraka could ask for more details, Tatsumaki flew away at Mach speeds, leaving her to ponder what she meant, and why she was so reluctant to talk about it. Suddenly, another huge wave of nausea hit her, along with a massive feeling of exhaustion. The day's events had finally caught-up to Uraraka, and she hurried inside to get some much-needed rest.
Deliberations: Class-1A
Everyone met in the common-room again, discussing and talking about various topics that happened throughout their day.
"Damn, Uraraka, you don't look so good!" Jiro shouted as she looked at the slumped girl in worry. She peeked up at the sound of her name, looked towards Jiro, and gave a meek smile.
"I'm ok, Tatsumaki was just extra hard on me today. But at least I didn't have to fight any monsters by myself." she laughed a bit.
"What did she have you do, then?" Ashido asked.
"Well, today she was working on my battlefield-awareness. She put me under 5-Times Gravity, and had me dodging projectiles from all directions while under the strain." Uraraka explained.
"Woah, that does sound intense." Ashido said.
"I hope she's not working you too hard." Yaoyorozu suggested worryingly.
"It's fine, she knows when to stop... most of the time." Uraraka replied, murmuring the last part. She was surprised when Kirishima and Sato suddenly popped up beside her.
"Did you say that Tatsumaki can control gravity!?" Kirishima said excitedly.
"And that she put you under 5-Times?" Sato also questioned.
Recovering from the shock of the speed the two managed to appear she nodded at their questions.
"Yeah, she can do all kinds of crazy things; she can levitate things, manipulate them, alter gravity in ways I could never dream of doing, create force-barriers, and a bunch of other stuff. And yeah, she told me it was 5-Times Gravity, and she has no reason to lie to me."
"That's so cool! There's a Gravity-Chamber down in the gym that Sato and I work-out at. We tried it today, but so far we could only go up to 4-Times Gravity!" Kirishima exclaimed excitedly.
"Yeah, how did you cope with all the effects it had on your body and stuff?" Sato questioned, completely astonished that Uraraka could handle the strain.
"It wasn't much, it just took five times the effort to do everything." Uraraka shrugged, earning a gasp from the two boys.
"Wait, did you not feel anything internally? Like, increased heart-rate? Was it harder to breathe, blood rushing down from your brain?" Sato asked.
"Um… no, nothing like that. Mostly just increased weight." Uraraka said.
"Huh, I bet it must have something to do with your Quirk." Kirishima speculated.
"I don't know, I could ask her the next time I'm with her to make sure." Uraraka murmured, her exhaustion starting to consume her. Before she turned in for the night, however, she wanted to tell them one last thing.
"Also, at the end of the day, I had asked Tatsumaki what her reason for becoming a hero was…"
"Really? What did she say?" Midoriya asked.
"She said it was Because of Blast…" Uraraka answered. "But she didn't say any more than that."
Midoriya held his hand to his chin, a sure sign that he was thinking about something important.
"That reminds me, I've been doing some research on the internet in-between our training and hero-work. I've searched all over, but I couldn't find ANY information about Blast. Nobody seems to know what his real name is, what his abilities are, where he's from, how old he is, or anything like that! Heck, I couldn't find a SINGLE image of him on the internet! Some people Doubt He Even Exists."
This got everyone's attention.
"Seriously? There's not a single photo of him on the entire internet?" How's that even possible?!" Kirishima thought out loud.
Midoriya shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, for whatever reason he just hardly ever shows himself, like, at all. He's never present for Class-S meetings, he's never been interviewed, and almost nobody's ever seen him in action, let alone caught it on camera. Like I said, there's a bunch of people who doubt he even exists. They think that he's just a boogeyman the Association created to make people think they have more powerful heroes than they actually do."
Uraraka spoke up again.
"But he does exist, right? I mean, we all saw him with our own eyes when we first got here!"
"True…" Midoriya replied, "But have any of us seen or heard from him since then?"
The Class was completely silent…
"Why would Blast be so elusive, though?" Tokoyami asked.
"I bet it's got something to do with That Creature we all saw, and that weird Cube-thing that brought us here!" Kaminari replied.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing…" Midoriya said, before turning back to Uraraka.
"Hey, Uraraka, tomorrow, could you ask Tatsumaki about all this? If she knows Blast somehow, then maybe she could help us figure out what's going on."
Uraraka was hesitant. Whatever her connection to Blast was, Tatsumaki didn't seem all too comfortable talking about it. Still…
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything."
"Hey, has anyone seen Todoroki? Did he turn-in early?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"No, he hasn't come back yet. I haven't seen Bakugo, either." Kirishima answered.
"Oh, it's alright, Todoroki texted me saying that he, Kacchan, and Shinsou went out to get some dinner with their teachers." Midoriya said.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me. I got a text from Hagakure. She said that she'll have to stay late with her teacher, so that's why she still isn't here, either." Ashido added.
"Well, I'll wait for them to come back; the rest of you can head off to bed." Midoriya reassured them.
Yaoyorozu then stood up. "I'll stay with you; it's my duty as acting class-president to ensure that everyone is safe."
Uraraka suddenly BOLTED upright, all her fatigue and drowsiness having instantly vanished. She rushed to Midoriya's side, anxiously trying to prevent Yaoyorozu from getting any closer to him.
"ME TOO! I mean, I'll... I'll stay up with you, too..." She said to Midoriya, her pink cheeks turning red. She silently prayed that it wasn't too obvious why she volunteered to stay up with them.
Everyone else began to leave the common-room and turn-in for the night. Midoriya, Uraraka and Yaoyorozu all sat around the table waiting for their friends to arrive, busying themselves with idle conversation, TV, and board-games.
(Meanwhile, at a Big, Expensive Restaurant in City-Z...)
The group of six made their way over to the restaurant that King volunteered to take them to. They half-expected it to be extremely fancy and high-class, but instead it was a middle-class, family-owned restaurant named "The Golden-Egg". Apparently, it was an extremely popular establishment, and thus getting a reservation could be challenging for most, but for a Class-S Hero with an extra 5-Million Yen to spare, it was child's play.
As they entered the restaurant, they were greeted by the store owner himself, personally wanting to thank King for his patronage. After signing a couple of autographs, the group was finally seated.
"Y'know, for someone who's hyped-up as The Strongest Man in the World, you sure don't seem like much of anything." Bakugo scoffed.
"Come on dude, he's buying us dinner, don't insult the hand that feeds you." Saitama said.
"I never asked him to buy me dinner!" Bakugo stated.
"Then why are you still here?" Saitama asked. Bakugo was about to argue out of habit, but then processed what the Bald-Hero had said, and decided to just look away and remain quiet.
"That's what I thought." Saitama remarked as he went back to examining the menu.
Everyone began to take their orders, even Genos, which surprised both Todoroki and Bakugo.
"You can still eat as a cyborg?" Todoroki asked.
"Yes, the genius Doctor Kuseno granted me the ability to eat. Any food I digest gets converted into biofuel for my cybernetics." Genos informed them.
"What a nice guy." Saitama remarked with a tiny smile.
"He must be a really talented scientist to have created you." Shinsou said.
"Yes, without him I would have perished long ago." Genos clarified, earning the attention of everyone at the table.
"My village was attacked by a Mad-Cyborg when I was very young. My entire family was killed, and I very nearly died as well, but Doctor Kuseno found me and saved my life, transforming me into a powerful cyborg, so that I could hunt down the Mad-Cyborg, and eliminate it once and for all." Genos said, his hand clenching into a fist.
"How old are you, anyway?" Bakugo queried.
"I am 19." Genos stated, earning a few raised eyebrows from the three teens.
"Do you have any idea where the Mad-Cyborg is now?" Todoroki asked.
Genos looked down at his plate, his mood becoming more downcast.
"...No, I do not."
The table grew very quiet, but the silence was thankfully interrupted by the arrival of their food, and the group enjoyed their meals, occasionally speaking about various topics, such as monsters, video games, and anything else that suited their fancy at the moment. King was relieved that their conversation never came back to him, or his title of 'Strongest'.
The three students returned to Association-HQ, and noticed that the lights were still on in the common-room, so they stopped by and saw that Midoriya, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu were still there.
"You're finally back!" Midoriya said, welcoming them.
"You waited for us?" Todoroki questioned.
"Yeah, we wanted to make sure you guys were ok before we went to bed ourselves." Yaoyorozu replied.
"And who ever said I needed to be looked out for?" Bakugo asked while heading off to his room.
"Well at least we know he's okay." Midoriya joked. Then they heard the door to the common-room open up again, and there was Hagakure, her white hero-costume making her visible, and showing them just how exhausted she was. Her labored breathing was also a clear sign.
"Hagakure, are you alright?" Uraraka asked.
"I…I'm just incredibly tired and sore. I had to stay late for some extra lessons because I did the worst in the class..." she mumbled.
"Oh yeah, Charanko told me something like that happened at Bang's Dojo, too. The lowest-performing always had extra-lessons when the class was done." Midoriya replied.
"Thanks for waiting for me, you guys. It's reassuring to know that, Quirk aside, you still notice when I'm not around." Hagakure said, before leaving to go get a shower.
Midoriya let out a yawn.
"Well, now that everyone's here and accounted for, I'm headed off to bed." Midoriya began to walk away, followed by Uraraka and Yaoyorozu, all saying goodnight.
Some Author's Notes:
Okay, so this chapter was admittedly mostly filler and set-up, maybe my least-favorite chapter I've written so far, but THE NEXT chapter after this, oh boy, now THAT'S where things get interesting! If you're still enjoying the story, then make sure to add it to your favorites and leave a review! GodSpeed!