"Begin!" Midnight's voice echoed across the training grounds. Signalling the start of the next match between Team 3 and Team 6.
Without missing a beat, Tokage immediately split herself up into nine pieces and began floating far above the tree line. Her job was to be the eyes and brain of the team for as long as possible. And thanks to her quirk, reconnaissance was one of her biggest strengths.
While Yanagi and the others advanced through the forest at a brisk pace, the green haired teen was keeping an eye out for any sort of movement. Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to locate their enemy's position. Especially since all of the nearby birds were giving away their positions.
"Ghosty, I found them!" Tokage spoke into her ear piece.
"What's going on?" The grey haired teen replied.
"Shishida and that Shiketsu dude are moving straight through the center and will reach you all in a few minutes. Ibara is pushing through the east near the cliff. And the rich girl is trailing her. But she's at least thirty meters behind her." She explained the situation "You and Nagamasa keep pushing forward. Have Kamakiri split off."
"Got it."
With the first phase of their plan now in motion, Tokage descended back down to where she wouldn't be completely out in the open and waited for Kamakiri to get close enough to her. Once the 'razor sharp' user was within range she sent a small chunk of her left thigh to where he was passing by. It only took a second for the green skinned boy to notice it. And the floating piece of flesh was used as a beacon to lead him towards his destination.
'Thank god I was grouped up with Tokage for this. We don't even have to worry about finding these jerks with her on our side.' Kamakiri grinned as the anticipation for his fight was beginning show on his green face.
"I see." Kendou smiled. "Setsuna is using one of her pieces to lead Kamakiri-kun right to where he needs to be. Good idea."
"She did something like that during our rescue training earlier in the year." Jiro commented.
"I keep forgetting how crazy useful her quirk is, shroom." Komori added.
The teachers themselves were naturally impressed with the girl. And despite her needing to remain impartial during this training, Midnight wasn't doing a particularly good job at not playing favorites.
"Of course Setsuna would come up with a brilliant strategy to get the drop on the opponent! I expected nothing less."
"And this is why we don't have you do her performance reviews." Kan joked at the "R-Rated" heroine's expense.
On the other side of the field, Yaoyorozu was doing what she could to keep their team in formation. Normally she wouldn't choose such an awkward way to manage the group. But with Yanagi and Tokage on the same side she couldn't afford to get everyone bunched up too early in the game. Her best guest was that their main source of reconnaissance was going to be the vice-rep of their rival class. So as long as they stayed out of plain sight there wouldn't be anything to worry about.
'Even though this isn't for a grade, Aizawa-sensei is going to be scrutinizing my performance more than usual.' The raven-haired teen mused a bit nervously. 'I can't let myself get wrapped up in the moment like I did during the licensing exam.'
True to her word, the 'creation' quirk user did get quite a few negative remarks on her exam review for being disorganized during the second half of the test. Something that really didn't do her already dwindling self-esteem any good. But right now she had a chance to prove herself in the eyes of her teacher.
Her plan was simple, but sure to be effective. Since Shishikura was the least mobile out of the group, pairing him up with Shishida from 1-B was the best option. They covered each other's weaknesses pretty well based on how the Shiketsu boy described his quirk to her. So their job was to draw the most attention and potentially capture at least one of the other team's members as soon as possible.
While the boys were handling that, the other two would circle around the far side of the training ground to hopefully divert some of the attention. And by spreading themselves out a bit, the added space would allow either herself or Shiozaki to provide back up without getting caught in an attack.
The vine haired girl was the linchpin for their overall plan. But Yaoyorozu was the one calling the shot. So all of the responsibility was on her to make sure that everything went well and didn't waste too much energy before encountering Hadou later on.
"Yaoyorozu-san, I think that I see movement up ahead." Shiozaki's voice spoke into her ear.
"Do you know who it is?" She asked.
"They're moving quickly in between the trees. I would have to say that it's more than likely Kamakiri-kun."
"Alright, you draw him in and I'll back you up wit- whaaa!"
Before the raven-haired teen could finish her sentence she felt something grab her by both shoulders and immediately begin pulling her in the exact opposite direction. Once she looked to her right, she saw a floating arm clutching her by the fabric of her costume. 'Tokage-san?!'
A bit further into the woods, what looked to be the first match up of the round had quickly gained everyone's attention. And that was the upcoming confrontation between Togaru Kamakiri and Ibara Shiozaki. According to Tokage, this was the one match up out of the entire test that needed to happen if they were going to have a chance at winning.
To be perfectly honest, the vine haired girl was one of the few opponents that the 'lizard tail splitter' user knew she would have trouble against. Not only was Shiozaki powerful, she countered her own quirk just as well as Midoriya and Yanagi. So the only logical choice was having Kamakiri occupy her time since he could slice through her vines just as easily as she could make them. Luckily the green skinned boy was more than happy to do so.
Once the two spotted each other through a small clearing, Shiozaki wasted no time in launching a good amount of vines through the trees in hopes of catching the 'razor sharp' user off guard.
"You got a snowball's chance in hell of something like that getting the better of me!" Kamakiri shouted before creating two large blades from his forearms and making quick work of the girl's vines.
"Such sinful language will not go unpunished!" Shiozaki countered by using her vines to whip around some nearby trees and get above ground. Outside the boy's reach.
"I was hoping to get the chance to take on Tetsutetsu. Or maybe even that ass-hat Bakugou from 1-A. But how could I say no to going toe-to-toe with someone who can give me endless slashing material?"
"Well, I assure you that this will be no easy battle for you, Kamakiri-kun." The girl replied after planting herself in a tree branch a good five meters above the ground.
For Shiozaki, Kamakiri was the one person in this group that she was the most wary of confronting. His quirk was a great counter to hers. And whereas she had a limited number of vines that she could produce and manipulate, he could keep making blades of varying sizes as long as he had the stamina. Yanagi or Tokage would have been a much better opponent for her. But that kind of thinking wasn't going to help her now. At least she had Yaoyorozu coming to back her up.
"Yaoyorozu-san, I might need some assistance in a few minutes if you would be so kind." She then spoke into her piece, only receiving silence in response. "Yaoyorozu-san?"
"The rich girl is preoccupied at the moment. So the only thing you'll have to worry about is me! Apex Slash!" From down below, Kamakiri smirked before getting into an awkward fighting stance. What happened next was the green skinned boy lunging towards the tree and start slashing through the dense wood like a hot knife through butter.
"Kamakiri-kun against Shiozaki-chan, huh? That's a fun one to think about." Nirengeki Shoda rubbed his chin in thought.
"Togaru's got this in the bag. He definitely has the advantage here!" Tsuburaba pumped his fist in the air while cheering on his buddy.
Kaibara was the next to speak up. "Yeah, but we all know how crazy strong Shiozaki is. This won't be easy for him. But that definitely won't stop him from enjoying cutting up everything in the area."
"Is Shiozaki really all that strong?" Kirishima asked. Presumably speaking for a few of the other 1-A students. The vine haired girl wasn't as well known by the other classes compared to some of the other guys in 1-B.
"In her words: 'One must not speak on their own according when it comes to strength. Pride is a sin after all.'." Awase joked as he clasped his hand together to imitate his classmate.
"Honestly...if it wasn't for Izuku-kun, it'd be a pretty safe bet to say that Ibara-chan was the strongest one in class. She's good at pretty much everything except hand-to-hand fighting. But her defense is rock solid."
'Tch!' Bakugou internally scoffed. 'The preacher girl from Deku's class isn't all that. I'd blast through her stupid vines before she even knew what hit her.'
About fifty meters from where she first wrangled Yaoyorozu, Tokage decided that there was finally a comfortable amount of distance between her and Kamakiri's fight. She was a bit hesitant about leaving the boy to face off against Shiozaki alone. But his insistence on taking her on by himself erased any remaining doubt in her mind. Besides, she had her own issues to worry about.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that Yaoyorozu was going to be leading the pack. And as they say, your first option should always be taking out the brain before the rest of the body. It's not like she was worried though. Tokage was more than confident that she could handle the princess from 1-A on her own. She had seen and heard more than enough to know exactly what kind of tactic to use against her.
Ready to put her plan into motion, Tokage dropped Yaoyorozu down on the ground in the middle of a clearing before piecing herself back together up in a nearby tree. Taking the chance to pose casually by laying on her side with her head propped up against her hand.
The 'creation' quirk user was quick to get up her feet and forge a metal bow staff out of thin air before facing her opponent. "I had a feeling that you would come after me, Tokage-san." She said with a stern voice.
"Naturally!" The girl smiled nonchalantly.
Even though she was confident, Tokage certainly wasn't an idiot. She knew better than to just go charging in against someone who could quite literally pull anything out of her ass at the drop of a hat. And Yaoyorozu was smart enough to have some sort of plan for taking her on specifically. After all, the last thing the girl wanted was to be on the opposite end of a flash grenade or some other weird sort of weapon that would disorient her long enough to get knocked out.
'Thank you Aunt Nemu for not being able to keep quiet about your students during family dinner!' The girl smirked once again.
Thanks to Midnight's bad habit of gossiping about her students every now and then, Tokage had gained more than enough information on quite a few people to use against them when the need arises. Not that she would ever admit that out loud of course. But information was just as much of a weapon as anything else. 'Now...time for a little bit of psychological warfare. Thank God the surveillance cameras don't have microphones.'
The two girls sized each other up for a good ten seconds. And Yaoyorozu was busy formulating a strategy on how exactly she was going to take down the girl who could attack her from multiple places at once. That is until Tokage opened her mouth.
"Hey Yaoyorozu...did you bribe your way into U.A.?" The green haired girl asked casually.
"Huh?" The 'creation' quirk user quirked an eyebrow.
"I'm just curious, y'know. I've heard quite a few rumors floating around and I just wanted to see if they were true."
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh come on girl, you don't have to play dumb with me! The wealthy daughter of one of the most powerful families in Japan getting into the top hero school of the country on recommendations. It honestly makes a lot of sense." Tokage continued in a more antagonistic tone of voice with a slight shrug.
"What?"
"From what I've heard, your skills outside of the classroom are pretty lacking. So it's not hard to see why people would think that. There's also the fact that your quirk lets you make pretty much anything that you want."
Okay, that certainly threw the class-rep of 1-A off a bit. What was this girl even talking about? What rumors? No one would ever think that way about her. Sure her practical skills weren't exactly fantastic. But it wasn't like she was incompetent.
"So...how'd you do it? Did you make a bunch of gold bars and diamonds and then hand them off to the school board? Or did your parents sell off stocks in one of their companies at a super-low price?"
Choosing to ignore the girl's taunts, Yaoyorozu quickly created a flash bang and tossed it in Tokage's direction. But somehow, the green haired girl was able to move out of the way in time. Thankfully for Tokage, she was fast enough to put some distance between her and the device so that the sudden exposure of light didn't affect her all that much.
"Oh, I got it! You used that body of yours to persuade your way into the school, didn't you? I wouldn't be surprised. You rich girls always turn out to be the most raunchy when no one is looking."
And just like that, the 'lizard tail splitter' user had passed the point of no return. A prim and proper lady like Yaoyorozu would never do something so outrageous. But that didn't stop the green haired girl from trying to get a rise out of her. Which is apparently what it did.
"How dare you?!" The raven-haired girl's expression seemed to flip almost instantly.
'Oh boy, I definitely pushed the wrong button there.'
"Sorry, did I strike a nerve? You can't really blame though. I mean...you do run around half naked all the time. So it's not that hard to imagine. And with that body, I bet you can get anything that you want. I always thought that you were an exhibitionist, but I could never confirm it up until now."
Unknowingly, Tokage's words were hitting quite the sore spot for the class-rep of 1-A. These were all things that she had thought about before. Ashido had made a passing comment about her hero costume at the start of the year that rubbed her the wrong way. And it had been on Yaoyorozu's mind a lot in recent months. But never did she imagine that someone would be rude enough to claim that she was some sort of harlot because of her choice of attire. Especially right to her face.
'This girl...'
"Admit it, you like it when people ogle at you, don't you?! Why else would you be comfortable wearing that of all things. I mean...Midnight-sensei's the "R-Rated'' heroine and even she doesn't show that much skin! You must really enjoy the attention, huh?"
"S-shut up!"
Tokage knew another attack was on the way, so she split her body up into twenty-five pieces and began spreading them out around the clearing. All while keeping her mouth intact to continue egging the girl on. And sure enough, next out of the 'creation' quirk user's body was some sort of net gun that she used to try and capture her head. But the green haired girl's pieces were too spread out to get anything more than her left foot.
"Man...it must be nice to be you. Rich, good looking, good grades and a body that could make you a killing as a model. It sucks that you can't really cut it when it comes to practical exercises though. I did hear from some of the guys in your class that you almost bombed the exams last semester. They said that you froze up like a block of ice when Aizawa-sensei erased your quirk."
A very still open wound was just hit for Yaoyorozu. Was that really what the people in her class were saying? Everyone knew that she barely passed last semester's exam thanks to Ojiro coming to bail her out. But it wasn't like she did horrible.
"So am I right or wrong? It's not like I'm judging you or anything, a girl's gotta use every advantage that she can get. But I never thought that 1-A's princess would stoop so low as to bribery and shaking her tits around just to get into a good school.
"Enough!" The raven-haired teen howled.
"Whoa, someone's mad! I guess I hit the nail on the head, huh? What, did you pay off the rest of classmates to become the class-rep too? I wouldn't be surprised. Tell me, have you ever actually worked hard for anything? Or do you just use your parent's cash to coast through life like all those other spoiled chicks."
The usually calm and elegant teen's face was showing nothing but pure disdain for the girl above her. And it was obvious to everyone watching that Yaoyorozu was definitely affected by the words that were coming out of Tokage's mouth. Her stance was a bit off and her face was redder than a tomato. If it wasn't for the fact that their conversation couldn't be heard, a teacher surely would've already stepped in to stop her.
'This was almost too easy.' Tokage smirked outwardly.
Of course the green haired was aware that none of what was saying was true. As far as she knew, Yaoyorozu was one of the hardest working people in their entire grade. And she was definitely smarter than her when it came to academics. But she doubted that anyone besides her would be bold enough to say anything of the sort to the class-rep of 1-A, especially to her face. 'I guess I did go a bit overboard though.'
Unfortunately for the 'creation' quirk user, she was so flustered by what Tokage was saying that she didn't even notice the seven pieces of her opponent's body getting ready to nail her in the back. Which proved to be a crucial mistake seeing as the moment they made contact she was knocked to the ground.
"Scale Storm!" Tokage wasted no time in surrounding Yaoyorozu's body in her super move and pelting her with wave after wave of attacks. The onslaught went on for a good fifteen second before the teachers decided to call it.
"Momo Yaoyorozu is unable to continue!" Midnight's voice announced over the speakers.
'Alright, my job is done. Now to go help Kamakiri.' Tokage thought to herself before looking down at her defeated foe. Although she wasn't moving, the girl could definitely see the almost vengeful gaze that Yaoyorozu was giving her. Certainly not the kind of look that you would expect from the raven-haired girl. 'I need to remember to apologize to her later on. I went a bit overboard there for sure. Hopefully she'll understand.'
And with that Tokage flew off to go backup her teammate.
"Well...that was anticlimactic." Hagakure said what everyone else seemed to be thinking at the moment while looking at a defeated Yaoyorozu on the ground.
"What the hell just happened?" Awase asked out loud.
"No clue."
"Seriously, they talked for a bit and then Momo got all flustered. I wonder what that was all about."
"Knowing Setsuna, nothing good." Kendou sighed.
Back with the teachers, they had a pretty good idea of what just happened even though they couldn't hear what was being said. Midnight herself had a sneaking suspicion that her soon-to-be step-daughter might have done something she was going to regret. It was hard to throw a student as poised as Yaoyorozu off her game like that. So Tokage had to have gone a step too far to get that kind of reaction. 'That girl. I seriously wonder where she gets that audaciousness of hers from.'
"She totes said something hella saucy." Camie Utsushimi joked. "That girl's definitely got a mouth on her, ya' dig?"
Back with Kamakiri and Shiozaki, the two green haired students from 1-B had been exchanging blows with one another practically non-stop since their fight began. As predicted, the vine haired haired girl was doing her best to overwhelm her opponent. But the 'razor sharp' user was living up to the name of his quirk quite well.
Kamakiri himself was having a blast slashing up the girl's vines judging by the demonic grin on his face. But even he would admit that he was starting to get winded due to the rate at which these attacks were coming. It seemed like every time he made a bit of headway in breaking his opponent's defense, she would just as easily fill the gaps. There was even the issue of her sending some of her vines underground and attacking him from the rear.
"Come on! I can do this all day!" He shouted an attempted taunt at her.
"No matter what, I too shall not waver in the face of this trial." The girl steeled her resolve. Even though she herself was starting to run out of ammo. Due to the fact that her foe was only chopping away at the ends of her vines, she was able to keep reproducing them at a steady rate.
The downside to Shiozaki's quirk was that if there wasn't enough water and sunlight to photosynthesize her hair properly then she would run out of juice before needing to "recharge" so to speak.
'Yaoyorozu-san must've been taken out by either Setsuna or Reiko. It's only a matter of time before they come here to render aid to Kamakiri-kun. I must end this quickly!'
With her resolve now solidified, the young woman decided to take a leap of faith and go for the capture. Things continued as they had been for another twenty seconds or so before her moment came. For a brief second, Kamakiri had leapt away from her presumably to catch his breath. Which was the perfect moment to strike.
"Crucifixion!" She declared while clasping her hands together.
Since Kamakiri was still in the air, he wasn't able to avoid getting completely blanketed by a wave of vines. All of which proceeded to wrap his limbs together before covering him in an entire ball of the girl's thorned hair. Unfortunately for him, the 'razor sharp' user was caught before he even had a chance to move.
"Finally!" The girl breathed a sigh of relief. All she had to do now was wait for the teachers to proclaim her victory and she would get a moment to rest before regrouping with her remaining two teammates.
"Lunatic's Slash!"
Suddenly, all of the vines surrounding Kamakiri exploded before the tall teen emerged from the rubble with a dramatically different appearance than what she was used to seeing from him. One that made even her pause with confusion.
Togaru Kamakiri was a very intimidating person by nature. He was tall, had what some would call a "rough" appearance, and he did have a habit of getting irritated quite easily. Although not nearly to the same extent as certain blonde from 1-A. But right now, he looked like something straight out of a pre-quirk era horror film.
His entire body was quite literally covered in blades down from the top of his head to the base of his feet. Both arms had several large swords protruding from them. His torso was adorned with about seven decently sized machetes. There was one massive blade on each thigh, each calf and each foot. And to top it all off, he even had two tanto-style knives sticking out from his forehead like horns.
Since she was a good person and a devout follower of the lord, Shiozaki would never intentionally compare one of her beloved classmates to anything as unholy as a demon. But that is exactly the first thing that came to mind while looking at the boy in front of her.
"This is my first time whipping this out in front of you guys." Kamakiri spoke with a wicked grin and labored breaths. "How do you like it? I call it "Jack the Ripper"."
'Oh my goodness...'
Knowing that he could only hold this form for a few minutes at the most, Kamakiri threw all caution to the wind and dashed towards his opponent with intent of ending this fight once and for all. "Lunatic's Slash: Death Scythe!"
"Uh, Tsuburaba-kun...you mind giving us an explanation?" Shoda asked the million yen question.
With no problem clarifying things for the class, the 'solid air' user spoke up. "You guys remember how Togaru could only produce two blades at a single time when we first started school?"
Most of the 1-B students nodded.
"Well, ever since he started working out with Tetsutetsu-kun and Bondo-kun, he's been training like crazy to make more blades. Something about him getting tired of being outshined by Midoriya-kun and Juzo and wanting to catch up to the front of the pack."
"The problem's that this new move is a double-edge sword...no pun intended." Kaibara then added his input. "He can only do that for a good two minutes. So he's definitely about to burn himself out. Especially since he's going up against Shiozaki."
Back with the teachers, Kan was shaking his head. "I keep telling that boy to pace himself. But it just goes in one ear and right out the other. He's lucky that he has a lot of stamina otherwise he would've already overexerted himself." The blood themed hero sighed.
"You gotta admit, he does look pretty wicked!" Present Mic chuckled casually.
"Such a wild and passionate display of youthful vigor~!" Midnight cooed with a questionable expression on her face.
It took Tokage all of two minutes to circle back around to where her teammate was located. Even from where she was at, she could hear quite the ruckus coming from beyond the treeline. Knowing that a prolonged battle wasn't going to work out for them in the long run, she quickly sprinted through the dense vegetation to provide backup for the green skinned boy. However, once she arrived she happened on quite the peculiar scene.
To put it simply, both Kamakiri and Shiozaki were passed out on the ground surrounded by a ridiculous amount of detached vines and chopped up trees. The ground was even littered with numerous large slashing marks. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. And judging by the large bruise on Shiozaki's unconscious face, she could tell that Kamakiri managed to break through her defense somehow.
'This grouchy idiot burnt himself out again didn't he?' She surmised based on what she knew about the boy. Although she couldn't really blame the guy considering who his opponent was. 'At least he managed to do his job.'
"Shiozaki and Kamakiri are both unable to continue." The dejected voice of Kan announced through the loudspeakers.
Seeing as there was no point in worrying about it now, Tokage decided to just link up with Yanagi and Nagamasa to give them backup against Shishida and that Shiketsu boy. 'I hope you're doing alright, Ghosty.'
Towards the center of the training grounds, Yanagi and Nagamasa were seconds away from coming into contact with their opponents.
From what she could hear, Shishida was plowing through trees like it was nothing. In terms of physical strength, there was no one that even came close to the 'beast' quirk user in their class. And he was definitely one of the smarter students in their entire grade. To top it all off, when he went into his transformed state he was strong enough to put a crack in Tetsutetsu's steel with a single punch. Needless to say, he wasn't the kind of guy you wanted to pick a fight with if you had a choice. The only positive was that he was less intelligent when he transformed. But he was notably more feral.
'I know that Nagamasa-san said that he could handle him. But we're going to have to deal with him quickly. If Yaoyorozu-san's out of the game then he'd be the next option to lead the team.'
"It looks like we're about to have company." The hairy Shiketsu teen said to the 'poltergeist' user.
"Shishida-kun is probably tracking our scents already. So trying to hide is pointless." She replied while gliding through the air on her hover-disc. "He packs a punch, so try to avoid his hands if you can."
"Seiji-kun is pretty crafty. So be sure to keep your distance- watch out!"
If Nagamasa wasn't looking directly at Yanagi in that moment, then he wouldn't have been able to notice the gigantic glob of flesh about to flank her from the left side. The Shiketsu boy was quick enough to grab the girl and move her out the way before she could get captured.
Once she got a good look at what was going on around her, Yanagi was quick to use her quirk and take control of the mound of flesh to keep it from moving. However, she wasn't able to do anything further before Shishida erupted from the tree line and made a beeline right for them.
"They're here."
As expected, Shishida was already in his "beast" form with Shishikura riding on top of his back. The purple haired teen looked a bit nauseous, no doubt from the bumpy ride he had gotten, but he was more than well enough to dismount and go on the attack.
Wasting no time, Nagamasa also went on the offensive and dashed towards Shishida to meet him in the middle. And once the two were in range of each other, the 'extend-o-hair' user activated his quirk to surround the other furry teen in some makeshift restraints to hold him in place.
"I got him for now, Yanagi-san! You take care of Seiji-kun!"
"Got it!" The grey haired girl nodded.
She once again hopped onto her hover-disc and levitated towards their other opponent. Making sure to go ahead and release the retention strap on her belt and begin levitating a ten of her mini-discs around her body.
"So...you're my opponent?" Shishikura said in what sounded like a prideful tone.
"It looks that way."
Based on the way that Nagamasa described his classmate's quirk, it sounded very similar the way that Tokage's worked. The main difference was that all he needed to do was touch you before you were captured for good. In theory she was going to have the advantage. But the 'poltergeist' user wasn't the type to underestimate her foe.
"I see." The purple haired boy nodded before activating his quirk. Yanagi watched as his fingers and lower arms separated from his body to form these large globs of finger-like appendages around him. "From what your classmates told me, you're not nearly as strong as that Midoriya boy. So I'll just end this quickly."
Well then...apparently this guy was also an asshole. With the witty banter already out of the way, the Shiketsu student launched his globs of flesh at Yanagi. Luckily the girl was already on her hover-disc, otherwise she might not have been fast enough to avoid the attack. However, Shishikura was nowhere near done yet. He immediately redirected his attack and began chasing the girl down. Yanagi tried to work around this by bobbing and weaving in between some nearby trees, but the boy had amazing control of his quirk.
On the other side of the battle, Shishida and Nagamasa were still in a deadlock with one another. Surprisingly, the hairy teen from Shiketsu was a lot stronger than he looked. Being able to hold back Shishida in his "beast" form was quite the feat.
"I must hand it to you Shishida-san, you're a tough opponent."
"Grrr!" The 1-B boy simply growled. Getting him to speak in coherent sentences while he was transformed was a bit too much to be asking for.
Suddenly, Shishida's body shrunk down to its normal state and the boy managed to quickly slip through the newly created space in Nagamasa's hair bindings. Now that he was free and had a clear mind, the 'beast' quirk user was finally able to speak properly.
"Forgive me, Nagamasa-san. I would like to apologize for my rather unrefined disposition while using my quirk."
"It's fin- huh?"
Unfortunately for the other hairy teen, Shishida reactivated his quirk before he could finish his sentence. Dashing towards him and using a big left paw to swipe at him. The 'extend-o-hair' user was quick on his feet though and managed to harden his flowing locks just in time to absorb the impact. Only getting knocked back a couple of meters.
Back with Yanagi, this little game of cat and mouse between her and Shishikura was still going on. She was having an easy enough time dodging the attacks. But, the purple haired boy must have learned about the range limit of her quirk from one of her classmates because he was continuously pushing her further and further away.
"Why don't you just give up?" The 'meatball' quirk user said in a confident tone. "You're only delaying the inevitable. I know that your range limit is thirty meters. And I doubt that you can keep moving like that forever."
'Alright, let's hurry up and end this.' The grey haired girl said to herself. Unbeknownst to the Shiketsu student, Yanagi had already found her strategy for victory. Although Shishikura's quirk had her beat in terms of range based on what she knew from Nagamasa, she had the advantage when it came to firepower.
While the girl was flying through the trees she discreetly placed several of her mini-discs all around the boy's position. The guy was actually so focused on her that he failed to notice five of them within ten meters of his body. Just after narrowly dodging yet another glob of flesh is when she found her opening. And never one to waste an opportunity, she sent all of the mini-discs directly into the base of his ribs.
"Ugh!" Shishikura grunted in pain after receiving the multitude of painful blows and falling to his knees. He somehow managed to recover quickly though, and looked back up to get eyes on her. But when he did, he was thrown off by what he saw.
To everyone's surprise, Yanagi was making a beeline straight towards Shishikura. Seemingly ignoring the globs of flesh right on her tail.
'What the hell?' Was the only thought that the boy was able to get out before the final phase of the girls attack was put into action.
As soon as she came within ten meters of the boy's body, Yanagi thrusted her hands outward and the surrounding air grew stiff. "Dead Space!"
All movement within the immediate area halted, including Shishikura himself. And Yanagi was now free to take care of business. 'That was a big gamble. I still can't do this to the extent that Izuku-kun and Fubuki-san can. But I can't really complain now, can I?'
Simply put, "Dead Space" was Yanagi's own version of "Palace of Inertia". Whereas the two telekinetic siblings managed to work their way up to fifty meters in range for their attacks, she was limited to only ten. But on the upside, she could hold this skill for twice as long as the other half of 1-B's "Dynamic Duo".
'Shit!' The purple haired boy cursed inside of his mind. He couldn't move any part of his body. Even his nearby globs of flesh were seemingly frozen in place.
"I apologize in advance. But this isn't going to tickle." Was the last thing he heard only seconds before the same five mini-discs from before rapidly pelted him in various areas of his now defenseless body. Putting the Shiketsu teen down for the count.
"Seiji Shishikura is unable to continue!" Midnight announced second after Yanagi released her quirk and the boy fell to the ground.
"Hey, isn't that one of Midoriya's moves?" Kaminari looked to the 1-B students.
"Yeah!" Tsunotori cheered. "Reiko-chan has been making much work of it ever since their raid job."
"It's cool how the two of them can just bounce ideas off each other." Ojiro interjected. "It sure comes in handy having someone with the same quirk as you to train with."
"But she still isn't as powerful as Midoriya, right?" Kirishima inquired.
"Yeah, that's true." Kendou agreed. "I asked her about it once and she explained it to me like this. Izuku-kun is like a butcher knife. Strong, but not exactly the most graceful. Reiko-chan's a scalpel. What she lacks in power, she makes up for with precision and accuracy. Blizzard's a tanto blade. Efficient, strong, quick and deadly when necessary. While someone like Tornado's a katana. The gold standard for telekinesis users that was the full package...and then some."
"That makes a lot of sense." One of the other Shiketsu students voiced her thoughts.
"With as much potential that Midoriya has, I suspect that he'll be at that "katana" level pretty soon." Thirteen couldn't help but comment for the first time all afternoon. "Him and Yanagi will make a good pair or rescue heroes in the future."
"Blizzard did say that he was guaranteed to be as strong as Tornado before too long. And she has high hopes for Yanagi. She said that the girl had the most natural talent out of anyone she's seen in a long time." Midnight threw in her two cents about her future son-in-law and his best friend.
"I'm looking forward to it myself." Nezu smiled while sipping on a hot cup of tea that seemingly came from out of nowhere.
'I can't believe that they're still talking about that loser like he isn't a damn villain. What the hell is wrong with these teachers?' Bakugou silently fumed in the corner.
Now that her fight was over, Yanagi turned her attention back to her teammate and the final remaining member of Team 6. Nagamasa had once again managed to grab a hold of Shishida's body. But from the looks of it, he was beginning to run out of juice. Seeing no point delaying this any further she flew right over to where their fight was happening and primed more of her mini-discs to attack.
"Nagamasa-san, try and keep him still!"
"Easier said than done. But alright!" The hair covered teen shouted in response.
"Go, "Will o' Wisps"!"
"Scattershot!"
Much to the surprise of the two members of Team 3, twelve pieces of Tokage's left leg came raining down on Shishida's body the exact same moment that Yanagi's mini-discs made contact. And the impact was more than enough to devastate the goggles wearing teen. The added punch was seemingly all that they needed to tame the wild beast of 1-B seeing as the boy fell to the ground like a fur covered sack of bricks.
"Setsuna-chan?"
"Shishida is unable to continue!"
"Looks like I came here just in time, huh?" The green haired girl's floating head gave the two a toothy grin from up above the treeline.
"Thanks for the save, Tokage-san." Nagamasa then said to her.
"What happened to Kamakiri-kun?" The 'poltergeist' user then asked.
"He burnt himself out while fighting Ibara." Tokage answered. "But at least he was able to do his job before that."
"You okay?"
Before answering, the 'lizard tail splitter' user pieced herself back together while descending back down to earth. "Good to go!"
"Glad to hear it."
"Now all that's left is dealing with Nejire! I hope you didn't tire yourself out, Ghosty. You're going to be our trump card."
"I'm good to go."
"Alright!" The team leader casually pumped her fist. "Now...let's go take down Captain Mega-Tits and win this damn thing!"
'Did she really just say that?' Nagamasa wondered before the trio headed in the direction of the cliff where their final obstacle was currently waiting on them.
Atop a nearby cliff side facing the center of the forest, Nejire Hadou was impatiently waiting for her underclassmen to finally arrive. Based on what she could hear from the loudspeakers, Tokage's group was victorious in subduing all their opponents. Which meant that it was only a matter of time before they came to face her.
"Wow...they managed to do that all in less than twenty minutes too. Good for them! I knew Setsuna-chan could pull it off!" The bubbly blunette happily twirled in the air. "Ooh, I wonder what kind of strategy they're going to come up with to fight me? Setsuna-chan's quirk is definitely a tough one. But that other cute girl with grey hair is like Izu-kun. I wonder if they even have some of the same moves?"
It was too bad for the third year student that Aizawa gave her strict instructions not to confront any of them until they made their way up the mountainside. She was starting to get really bored just waiting for something to happen. And it wasn't like she could watch any of the other matches since there wasn't a monitor or anything for her to use.
"It sucks that I didn't get to see Izu-kun's match. Mirio-kun probably did a number on him and his friends. I'll definitely have to ask him about it later." The girl continued rambling to herself before spotting the upper half of Tokage's floating head above the trees barely a hundred and fifty meters away from where she was standing. "Hey, they're finally here!"
Ever the unpredictable one, Hadou gave the girl a friendly wave and a big smile. Only for Tokage's head to immediately dip down below the treeline to where she couldn't see her anymore.
"Alright, time to get this show on the road!"
A/N: And we're back! Sorry if this update seemed a bit off from the way that I normally write. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things. Originally, this chapter was going to include the showdown with Hadou as well. But I decided to extend it a bit in order to avoid having another 10,000+ word chapter.
1. I know Setsuna's actions while taking on Yaoyorozu will probably rub a few people the wrong way (As they should). But at this point in the story we all know that she's anything but a "fair" fighter when she wants to be. And honestly, it's more Midnight's fault for not being able to stop gossiping around her family. The original version of this fight that I wrote out was a lot more...disorderly. But I scaled back the taunting quite a bit in hopes of keeping it "PG-13". But don't worry, this will definitely come back to bite Setsuna in the ass before this story is over.
2. Whoa! A spotlight for Kamakiri of all people? Who the hell do I think I am? He didn't have that big of a role in the first version of this fight. And my friend convinced me to give him some shine since she likes his character design a lot. Also, I'm a huge "Black Clover" fan. So I saw the opportunity to throw a bit of that into the story and ran with it.
3. Next chapter will be the confrontation with Hadou and the ending of this arc. How do you guys think it will go? Place your bets now!
Like always, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a comment/review! I'm sorry for the long break that this story was on. But I'm finally feeling motivated to finish this story off the right way since so many of you enjoy it.
Have a wonderful day!