CHAPTER 10: AREN'T YOU SPECIAL
With the door of Gym Gamma closing, there was an air of fear radiating from the students. The bunny hero was standing in the middle eyeing each looking for strengths and weaknesses.
One student was notable as the most afraid was Bakugo surprisingly. His recent session with the bunny hero left metal scars he doesn't want again.
"Whoa, Bakugo is shaking like a leaf," Mina said dumbfounded.
"yeah Bakubro, this ain't like you," Kirishima said with concern in his voice.
Bakugo just stares at Rumi pondering on what transpired days ago.
GYM GAMMA TWO DAYS AGO
"Alright, twerp I'm supposed to be your punishment right?" Mirko said, stretching her legs.
"Nah, I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS AND WALK OUT OF HERE," Bakugo said, letting off a small explosion in his hands trying to intimidate the bunny hero.
This gave the opposite response as she began to laugh. "oh, you got jokes for a small bunny"
"I AIN'T NO DAMN BUNNY LADY!" Bakugo said his eyes started turning white in anger.
"tell you what if you can get past and walk out of that I'll stop calling you a bunny," Rumi said, thumbing back at the large entrance.
"Piece of cake, I'll blast you ass through those doors," Bakugo said, shrugging his shoulders.
"But if you lose and I thrash your 'ass'. it's mine for the next two weeks." A glint appeared in her eyes as stretched her hamstrings, eyeing the boy with an intense bloodlust. Mirko entered a crouch position letting Bakugo make the first move. "This could be your only chance to prove to the top tier don't waste it."
Bakugo wasted no time. Within an instance unleashed a blast toward engulfing the entrance in flames and blast marks. To his surprise, there was no sign of the bunny hero. Unbeknownst to the blonde boy Mirko was bouncing off the ceiling. She flew towards the blonde boy at breakneck speed and by sliding and pivoting on the ground, Mirko used a powerful sweep kick, tripping the boy. This left him open to launch him into the air and dropped ick into a crater.
Before he hit the ground he made an explosion blasting backward and striking Mirko's head. This bounced both into and off of the ceiling causing Mirko to become disorientated and Bakugo began slipping unconscious from the blow to the head. As she latches to the railings on the ceiling she sees Bakugo freefalling and not waking up.
'Damn,' Mirko thought internally as she recovers and springs towards the ash blonde. She catches the blonde and lands with him in her arms. Bakugo comes and sees that the bunny hero saved him from a nasty fall. The reaction was not pleasant for Rumi as sensed lights flicker under her.
"GET THE HELL OFF ME!" Bakugo said, screaming with an explosion.
Mirko jumps and then flips backwards standing on one leg dangling the other as a taunt.
"Wow for a kid looking to be a hero, you don't like saving people." Rumi slowly starts walking in a circle. "or is it you that doesn't like being saved."
"SHUT UP!" He says with a quick response.
"You wanna be ALL MIGHT right?" Her question snaps him out of rage temporarily. If you wanna be the guy looking over you got to understand what it's like being under. Needing to be saved like-," She ponders her next thoughts and it clicks "Weren't you the kid the slime attacked last year?" This caused the anger to fluster at the question.
"No" was the quick response of Bakugo.
"Wow kid, you need to lighten up. This mindset is gonna cripple you in the long run." Rumi stops as she rolls up her pants legs and clips off some leg weights. "Eventually, you will be placed in a situation where you'll want to be saved by anybody," Mirko said, stopping at the door to the exit.
Getting more irritated by the hero's rambling Bakugo screams "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" The blonde propelled himself forward only to be met with feet in his chest. Mirko timed her speed accordingly, slipping under Bakugo rush kicking upwards, and knocking him out. The blonde fell into Rumi's arm sound asleep. Felt a sharp pain as she just noticed bruises on her thighs and back calf.
'idiot, he didn't even realize he walked out the door.' Rumi concludes with her misdirect, luring Bakugo to the center. "Any other kid we leave at the first chance but you-" She puts Bakugo on her back and starts walking to the door. "Don't worry even if it's a little, I'll make sure to become a great hero."
GYM GAMMA- PRESENT
Mirko is eyeing all the special students in afternoon training. She closes her eyes and ponders on what to do.
"Alright for our first session, I want to see what you can do in a fight." She turns and looks back at the students. "since the footage from the USJ is scrapped. We need to determine what you do one on one or in this case two on two. She points two fingers at Ochako and Asui with her two left fingers and her right fingers at Bakugo and Izuku.
"oh wow, boys versus girls," Mina says confused. "Wait, what about me?" Mina said, noting she is a singled-out girl.
"don't worry, we'll cross that bridge in a minute." She says with a smile.
Kirishima leans over to Ida. "Hey Ida do you trust that smile?"
"No, she scares me too," Ida said with a whisper.
"I can hear you," Mirko says, pouting.
IN THE UA APARTMENT TEACHERS' LOUNGE
Torino is pondering the afternoon activities after giving strategy assignments to the remaining students left behind from the special class.
'Rumi, this training is just as valuable for you and them.' Torino is snapped out of thoughts when Toshniro comes through the door.
"Sorry to disturb you while you were taking a nap, master." Small Might looking at his old teacher.
"I'm a retired hero, not an old foggie," Torino said, pouting.
GYM GAMMA
"All right," Rumi pulls out a tablet and presses a button a holographic screen appears. "Once we begin, all the data will be recorded for study and improvement. Your teacher will have access to these recordings after we leave. So smile." Mirko grinned as she closed the screen.
The fresh concrete that Cementos made dried early that morning. The two sides are ready to begin. On the girls' side, Asui and Ochako were trying to focus on their separate attack plan. The boys however were struggling to get ready.
"Alright Kaachan, how are we going to play this fight?" Izuku said, looking at his partner.
"Easy you stay here while I deal with 'Frog' and 'round cheeks'. I don't need a damned Deku helping me win against anybody." Bakugo's declaration confused the girls in question.
"Who are you calling 'Frog'?" Asui said angrily. Ochako was seething, matching her friend's anger.
"You thunder thighs," Bakugo's words sent an echo through the gym hall. Mirko's ears twitch at the remark.
"Kaachan I don't think antagonizing them will help us," Izuku said slightly worried about the blonde course of action.
Mirko, unfazed by the bickering signals the beginning of the fight. "Are the fighters ready?" she said, raising her hand. "Begin," she said, throwing it down.
The sense of Izuku and Ochako flares as Asui wastes time by jumping into the air blitzing Bakugo with her speed. As they meet in the middle, Tsu does a corkscrew flip over the angry blonde's head. She then wraps him in her tongue and throws the blonde towards the padded wall.
As this was happening Izuku was blindsided by Ochaco switching to a fight mode. "Sorry Deku, I want to improve," She says in her innocent voice. The voice betrays her action as she swings at Deku and misses. She throws another haymaker and Izuku dodges again. This keeps happening in rapid succession getting faster with each failed contact. Izuku sees an opening and does an open palm strike to the chest, sending her back rolling to a shaky stand. "wow that knocked the wind out of me" Ochacko says shakily.
Fearing that he broke Izuku runs over to check on his friend. "Are you alright-" Ochako wasted no time to recover and went back into fight mode. Izuku quickly jumps back and proceeds to dodge the multiple strikes Ochako was throwing.
Bakugo and Asui are still going at it. Asui is on the offensive fighting with a strategic mind. She did not give Bakugo a chance to aim his shots. A tongue wraps itself around Katsuki's abdomen and he is thrown into the wall again. Bakugo was
"I thought you kids have enhanced senses that alert you to danger?" Mirko said while watching the fight.
"I believe so," Mina perked up, still watching the fight. "When I move around, like dancing or running, my body feels attuned to everything around me. Like dancing on a spider web.
"Mine was more straightforward. On my way to class, I cut through the support department to make it to class. Right as I hit the corner my body screamed telling me to jump forward. Lo and behold the door blows off its hinges." Kirishima snaps his finger "Also, the villains trying to stab me at the USJ."
'Wel,l that's not concerning' Mina thought to herself.
Mirko taking in this info. She looks at Bakugo raging trying to catch Asui but continues to be avoided and dodge. At this point, Tsu begins to show off and starts closing her eyes as Katsuki continues his failed onslaught.
Bakugo then uses a wide blast pushing everyone back by the force alone. "Where are you!" Bakugo searches for the green-haired girl.
Asui lands securely on the wall and shifts to a seated position."You know from a certain point of view. You do look like a bunny." She says with a smile.
"I AM NOT A DAMNED BUNNY!" Bakugo launches himself at the frog with no explosion.
Back with Izuku, Ochaco began her assault again as she kept the pressure on him. With no openings and slowly losing steam Izuku took a right hook to the face corkscrewing into the ground.
"Ouch," Kirishima said, wincing. "Is he alright?"
Mirko walks to check on the boy. As she approaches his body Midoriya jumps back up in a daze.
Izuku in a groggy state asked, "What happened?"
"You took a mean haymaker to the face," Rumi said, helping the boy stand up. "And your partner looks like he has finally tired himself out." The dark-skinned woman looks and sees Bakugo asleep on the wall. Asui couldn't move at the moment, being pinned by Bakugo's weight. After some assistants from Mirko and the other students manage to pull down Asui and Bakugo.
"Thanks, Midoriya." Asui then stares at Rumi and then joins the others.
With the first batch of students resting on the bench. Mirko paces back and forth looking at the footage. "Ok, so this is what we got." A hologram appears showing columns of each student with strengths and weaknesses to work on.
The first image displayed the result for Ochako. "Overall good. You were a little hesitant at first and then you got into a groove and plan of attack. You pushed your opponent into a corner and exhausted them. Good work ." Rumi pushed the button again and Midoriya appeared on the screen.
"Midiroya you started good and managed to land a hit but you slowly fell into dodging and evading. The punches you would throw were telegraphed and slow. This let Ochako put more and more pressure on you until you slipped up and got laid out. You need a fighting style that matches that brain in terms of speed." Rumi turns to Izuku "You're slowing yourself down drastically on top of holding back. How are you supposed to grow if you're overthinking or crippling yourself to control your output of strength."
Izuku looked a little disappointed that his demonstration was the opposite of the hero exercise at the start semester. Instead of sinking deeper in self-pity Izuku pulls out a pocket notepad and starts jotting down notes.
"Well, that's one way to respond to criticism. I will touch base with you later. Bakugo your turn." The screen focuses on Katsuki's results.
"Well this is not surprising again you demonstrated how quickly you can fly off the rails. This time however it backfired." Bakugo scoffs and pouts at this criticism. "Aw, don't be like that my spiky bunny. Would like to grunt and moan also at losing to someone that wasn't trying. You know she could've put you in a crater. Reminds you of anything."
"Shut up and finish," Bakugo said scowling at the snow-haired woman.
"Your main crux," she points at to emphasize her next statement, "You. Can't. Calm. Down." This statement confused the boy. "You stay angry, not focused, you hype yourself up but when the situation doesn't go your way you lose it. On top of that, this hinders any extra you gained." Mirko gestured to the others, "Asui, Ochako, and Midiroya showed some variation of using their enhanced senses because they can stay somewhat calm. Learn from them you're not an island to yourself." She says eying the boy for any response. The room was silent as no one could follow that statement.
Taking in all the criticism Bakugo proceeds to get up and leave.
"Bakugo you cannot leave. We're in the middle of class." Ida said standing up.
"Can I leave now," the blonde turned to eye the bunny hero. Rumi did not say a word but gestured to the door allowing him to leave.
"I expect you back here tomorrow," Rumi said, still eying the boy.
"Fine" A loud slam could be heard as Bakugo closed the gym door.
"He just needs to cool off." Mirko looks at her pad and then looks at the green-haired girl. "Asui we'll talk after." Tsu acknowledged by responding with a nod.
Clapping her hands together, Rumi addresses the rest of the group. "Alright, next group Ida you're with me Mina and Kirishima you're together."
Mina turns to her partner and eyes him up and down. "Maybe."
"You say something, Mina." Kirishima turned to face the pink-skinned girl.
"Nope," She said, looking confused at the boy. Mina then looks right and sees Mirko grinning ear to ear.
Mirko couldn't help but snicker. "Oh man, you guys are funny." With the stage set the two groups are ready. "Now remember to work as a group to complete this exercise."
"Wait you're tag-teaming with Ida how's that fair," Mina said, slightly worried at the situation.
"You think the real world would be any better?" Aizawa said, appearing at the opened door.
"She may be aggressive and straightforward in her assessment but she hit the nail on the head for the last group. I will deal with Bakugo later. The rest of you, remember the real world won't be easy for heroes." Aizawa turns to Rumi. "With that said Torino asked me to shadow you to make sure you're not flying off the rails." Aizawa started walking towards the wall and then started walking perpendicularly to sit on the wall. "If you're going to do this I will referee the match." Aizawa pulled down his goggles and unrolled capture, "if I see any of you overdo it I'll stop the match." Eraserhead stares at Rumi, "That goes double for you Mirko."
"Ms. Rumi, how should we proceed?" Ida asked inquisitively.
Mirko pulls Ida in and whispers "I try to use height advantage and you keep them busy flanking and blitzing them from all sides. I hope these engines on your legs are not for show." Rumi said, pointing to the exhaust sticking out of his calves.
Ida nods and then looks at classmates. The tall boy gets into a track stance ready to go at a moment's notice. Rumi started stretching her legs and entered a squat position.
Mina and Kirishima were also formulating a plan. 'This might not end badly,' This approach surprised Aizawa, rethinking what he considered a muscle head and an airhead. Looking at both groups ready he signals, "Begin!"
Ida starts running towards Kirishima and in the air preparing to pounce on the pink-skinned girl. This was accounted for as Mina does something that shocks everyone. Mina spewed multiple strands of thick webbing forming a web net covering half of the gym. This was able to surprise Ida as he tried to come to a screeching halt. Only to be grabbed and pulled into the net by Kirishima.
"Sorry bro, we had to get you out of the way." As Kirishima says this Mina shoots more webbing at pinned Ida sticking him to the ground. Mirko bounces into the fray and dropkicks Kirishima into a portion of the web, sticking to the wall with webs.
"uh, I can't move." Ida was struggling to get out of the bind.
Mirko was making her move coming down from the top web with an axe kick and was met by a spinning roundhouse kick from Mina. This caused Mirko to fly across skidding to a halt.
Aizawa observed the confrontation and was confused by the speed at which Mina displayed a counteracting axe kick. To his annoyance, Mina entered a breakdancer stance and constantly bounced in place.
"oh," Mirko placed her hands on her hips. "You know capoeira."
"Capo- what," Mina started scratching the back of her head. "Sorry, I'm just doing what comes to my mind first."
Mirko looked up to Aizawa on the wall who was just baffled. Aizawa thought I stumbled onto fighting a prodigy.
"Let's see what else you can do." Mirko went down on all fours and then pounced toward Mina. Her legs slammed into the ground making a small crater but she didn't ease up in the barrage of attacks. The more she bounced around the faster and the force of the impact was frightening.
Before Rumi could land a definitive blow it was intercepted by Kirishima. "Sorry, I didn't know when it would be best to jump in." He said, grappling Mirko's leg and pinning it to the floor. Before she could make her next move Mina acted quickly and immobilized her in place with layers. Mirko and Ida were now caught. Before she freed herself from the binding a loud buzzing was heard.
"I'm calling it right there," Aizawa said, jumping from the ceiling. "I think that's enough now." He turned to the webbed-up heroine. "Right, Mirko?"
Mirko finally gave up, responding, "Yeah, Go back and hit the showers; we're done for the day." She looked at the frog girl, "Asui, I want to talk to you."
After everyone leaves the gym, Asui is now sitting alone with Mirko. The tension in the air could be easily cut with a knife.
"So do you want me to start with the result from the exercise or whatever is keeping you distant from me?" Mirko asked with an inquisitive look in her eye. "What happens to heteromorphs sticking together and all that?" Mirko said, spinning her hand in a circular motion.
"Are you, though, a real Hetromorph?" Asui's question was met with an intense gaze from Mirko.
"What kinda question is that? You think these rabbit ears and tails are for show." The woman slightly tugged on her white ears and pointed to her tail.
"You debuted over a year and a half ago. The majority of society civilians and heroes alike loved you." Mirko didn't say anything but her face wanted to hear more. "Did you ever notice why other heteromorphs never greet but avoid you when you show up."
"No, why?" She said, confused.
"Your acts of heroism cause a blowback on heteromorphs." Asui started to te,r up. "It's either you are treated as a subhuman thing or an animal."
"Gang Orca is another top hero that's a heteromorph. Do you feel the same way about him?"
"No, Gang Orca is called scary looking or worse villainous, in his appearance. He has to bend over backward just to be treated right." Asui said witTEACHER'Sad down. "You don't have that problem like the rest of us."
Mirko looks at the young hero and raises her head by the chin. "Look at me. Don't worry or think about the outside noises. This world is saturated by heroes of all shapes, sizes, and colors." Rumi gestured to her skin tone. "Imagine what it must be like to have bright pink skin like your classmate, or blue skin with a furry appearance."
"You know about Nightcrawler?" Asui said with surprise.
"Of course! What kid doesn't know about one of the original 'X-men." Rumi squatted to Asui's eye level. "And if you recall, he had it worse than us. He was treated like a demon but was devout catholic as they come." Asui was surprised by the knowledge of first-generation quirks.
"And you think I don't hear comments? I'll spare you the slurs, but I was called 'Coco Bunny,' 'The Cosplayer,' 'Hetero-Grifter' and my personal favorite 'THUNDER BUNNY.' This caused Asui to snort a little at the last comment.
"Thunder Bunny?" Asui couldn't help but giggle more.
"Oh, I'm sorry Ms. 'Thunder Thighs' your name is so much better." Their laughter slowly broke the tension in the room.
Mirko places her hand on Asui's shoulders. "It's good that you are thinking. It's good that you want to be a good representative for the Heteromorph community" She points at Asui's chest, "but for right now focus on you and stop holding back."
"Ok." Asui calmed down.
"Just remember the stick principle and ethics. Over time nobody will question it." Mirko stands back up.
"Now do you want to go back to the apartments or do you want to personally train for another hour?" Mirko said, holding out her hand.
Asui grabs her hand and they both walk back to the middle complex gymnasium.
"HOLD UP," Bakugo appears walking back into the gym.
"What are you doing back here?" Rumi asked in annoyance.
"I came here-" Bakugo looks down "to apologize."
"Wait hold where's-" Mirko was interrupted by the door slamming. "Well, that makes sense."
"So was it Aizawa or Torino?" Asui asked with curiosity.
"It doesn't matter, I came to apologize to you. I treated you like you were beneath me but I was wrong." Bakugo bows. "Please forgive my earlier actions."
"You can apologize by being her proper sparring partner," Mirko said leaning in with a grin. "This time instead of name calling or showing off." She looks at both teens. "Greet each other properly."
Bakugo scoffs at this "I already know about frog le-"
"Knowing about me is different than getting to know me." She extends her hand "My name is Tsuyu Asui. I'm gonna kick your butt but I hope we can be friends." Asui smiles a genuine smile with an outstretched hand.
The casual and controlled tone left Bakugo caught between anger and weirdly enough joy. Katsuki's hand slightly smolders as he shakes Asui's hand. "My name is Katsuki Bakugo. It is my pleasure to even score."
On Aizawa's Datapad
"Haha, you two are a handful, alright you two go to your sides," Mirko said, overseeing the fight.
Aizawa turns off the Datapad.
'Wow, Asui has a strong backbone. Midoriya could learn from her.' Aizawa thought to himself.
"I told you Eraserhead," Torino bites into his pastries. "Rumi can teach and inspire. She used to be a little rougher around the edges when it came to public interactions."
Aizawa and Gran Torino started walking back to the apartments.
"She still needs to work on class. It was decent but she will need more refinement. luckily Asui is very open to input of differing opinions." Aizawa said, tucking the tablet away.
"But do you always have to threaten kids with expulsion?" Torino said, taking another bite.
"I'm trying to nip this in the bud. Bakugo is very tenacious but he can be rude and dismissive of those around him." Aizawa sighed and looked up, "I hope recent events humbled him."
Torino was thinking to himself 'Hopefully Rumi's personality doesn't rub too much on them. She has a pension to let trash talk a holdover from her fighting days.'
GYM GAMMA
"Are you kids ready?" Mirko asked grinning ear to ear.
"Ready to lose 'Froggy'?" Bakugo said, rolling him and cracking his hands.
"Aw, the bunny looks excited," Tsu said, stretching her legs.
"Well this is a weird dynamic," Mirko raised her hand. "Ready." Her hand swipes down. "BEGIN!"
CHAPTER END
Hello everyone, HAPPY NEW YEARS! Next chapter we shift focus to the states for the next few chapters before the tournament starts. I want to flesh out more of the shifting before splintering off.