Chapter 36 - The Elite… Five?!
"Ojiro!" Sero shouted, shooting tape out of his arms, grabbing Ojiro in order to help him dodge an attack from one of the various Honnoji Academy Two-Stars who were attacking him.
"Thanks for the assist." Ojiro said as soon as he landed.
"Don't mention it." Sero responded, sweat falling down his face, "How the hell are we meant to beat these guys though?"
"Honnoji Academy Tennis Club: FIRE!"
With that attack named, Ojiro and Sero quickly jumped out of the way, dodging the Tennis Club's attacks. Ojiro was forced into Fukuroda, who he blocked a strike from with his tail before retreating backwards. Meanwhile, Sero was forced to confront Kusanosuke Yaguruma, the Gardening Club's Terrace General Manager, who used the plants on his back to attempt to attack Sero, but he used his tape to seal their mouth's shut, afterwards leaping over him. After this maneuver, Sero was placed back to back with Ojiro yet again.
"Let's look on the bright side, we're holding on long enough that they're probably thinking that too…" Ojiro said, "But even so… my tail's getting pretty injured."
"Yeah, and my skin's starting to dry out…" Sero noted, "These guys can't fight too well, so we're dodging fine enough… but we don't have the firepower to compete with them!"
"Just gotta wait until someone like Bakugo can come help us… I guess." Ojiro noted.
"Hah! That lack of spirit from you is the exact reason you can't take us on!" Fukuroda scoffed, "You punks aren't even worth defeating!"
Ojiro and Sero scoffed at Fukuroda's claim but... they couldn't say anything flashy to deflect it. After all, it was true that all they could do was stall, meaning the Honnoji Academy Two-Stars would join the main fight soon enough.
Since the last time we checked in on them, the battle against Inumuta had progressed quite a bit… but nonetheless, no progress was made by Class 1-A.
"Mina!" Kirishima shouted.
Not so much as hesitating, Mina capitalized on Kirishima's call, as she skated up to Inumuta and attempted to splash acid on him.
"Another predictable maneuver." Inumuta noted, as after Mina's attack, Inumuta put no effort into dodging the birds Koda used to try and attack him, while likewise dodging a tongue strike from Tsuyu, a punch from Shoji, and then a punch from Kirishima.
By this point, their battle styles had been recorded almost perfectly by Inumuta, and there was not that much data left to collect. Due to knowing of Inumuta's fascination with collecting data, the group surmised that since they were no longer interesting test subjects, the battle would be over soon... and nobody knew this better than Mina Ashido.
"I can't give up just yet though!"
While the rest of her classmates distracted Inumuta, continuing to attack him, Mina skated around Inmuta's position and doused acid on the floor all around him. Just as Inumuta forced Kota's birds off of him, he analyzed the new changes Mina was making to the battlefield.
"Oh?"
Now realizing his predicament, Inumuta saw that he was unable to move from his spot; Mina had trapped him in a ring of acid!
"Tsuyu!" Mina shouted, as Tsuyu let out a lone 'kero' to signify that she had heard her.
Mina dashed ahead effortlessly through the acid ahead of her thanks to her quirk, as she attempted to launch an uppercut on Inumuta, but Elite Four member merely jumped upwards to dodge.
"Damn!" Mina thought, cursing the fact that she wasn't able to do anything with her previous maneuver. Despite that though, her classmates were able to capitalize.
"Not so fast!" Kirishima shouted, having been launched into the air by Tsuyu.
Hardening himself the second he got close to Inumuta, Kirishima launched a midair punch on his foe. It was a strong effort, but Inumuta was still able to narrowly dodge by flipping in midair.
"Not a bad move!" Inumuta said, "It seems there's still more for me to see from you all!"
Continuing to fall, even after Inumuta dodged his attack, Kirishima crashed into the ground a short while after. A dust cloud was formed, and when it dissipated, Kirishima made a 'tch' noise, disappointed in himself that he wasn't able to land a hit on Inumuta. It seems he needed to be faster.
"Nice technique Mina!" Kirishima shouted backwards with a smile, changing his demeanor in an instant, as Mina maintained a shaky look on her face.
"Didn't work though…" Mina responded.
"It was still closer than any of us could get to hitting him!" Kirishima emphatically responded, "We ought to try that again, right Tsuyu?"
"Yeah. It would've helped a little bit if we still had the element of surprise, but it's the best move we have available to us." Tsuyu replied, looking over to see Mina with a tense face, "Don't worry. We'll be fine."
"Yeah… I hope." Mina responded, "So I just messed everything up again…"
"Are you all done discussing how to defeat me?" Inumuta questioned, "I'll have you know that you'll find it more difficult than you'd expect."
"M-m-mina… if he'll dodge anyways, t-try to set up your attacks to expect those dodges." Kota whispered, "S-so... make your attacks lighter, p-provoke a d-dodge, then a-attack while h-he'd be locked into dodging..."
"Oh, yeah!" Mina said, as a smile grew onto her face, replacing her previously tense and unhappy expression, "That's a great idea Kota!"
Kota retreated backwards after this praise, but didn't bury himself into his hands, instead making an effort to respond.
"T-t-thanks…"
Mina nodded, awkwardly smirking in an attempt to feign confidence, "No problem, now let's kick some butt!"
"Hell yeah!" Kirishima responded, as the rest of the group nodded in agreement as well.
Kirishima and Shoji decided to both take the lead this time around, as they both rushed towards Inumuta, but this time, things would be different.
"Tsuyu!" Mina shouted, "Throw me again!"
"Got it." Tsuyu responded.
While Shoji and Kirishima attempted to pressure Inumuta, Tsuyu picked up Mina and threw her forwards.
"Acid Starstorm!" Mina shouted, as she began to spout Acid out of her entire body.
"Woah!" Kirishima shouted, as he jumped backwards in order to dodge the acid.
"Evade." Inumuta calmly said, entering the command into his uniform.
Acting stiffly, the uniform began to bend itself and its wielder to avoid the Acid attacks based on its predicted trajectory… but, Inumuta got a little bit too cocky.
Inumuta's body did bend to dodge Mina's acid… but the moves that Inumuta had programmed into his uniform didn't take into account the acid that had landed behind him, which the AI on Inmuta's uniform callously stepped into.
"ERROR! RIGHT FOOT DAMAGED!" Inumuta's uniform flashed on its screen.
"Oh crap, the trap!" Inumuta thought aloud.
This brief moment of hesitation forced Inmuta's attention away from the battlefield, and as that happened, the rest of Class 1-A began to capitalize.
"Kirishima, Shoji, follow me!" Mina ordered, a more natural set of confidence beginning to fill her voice.
"Yeah!" Kirishima responded.
"Will do." Shoji responded.
The pair both ran behind Mina as she manipulated the acid around Inumuta, absorbing it back into herself while she skated across it. It hurt, but she could bear with it if it meant victory... she'd make up for the weakness she had shown before.
Reaching Inumuta, who was unable to move from the spot he was in due to hyper fixating on fixing his uniform's programming, the three students of Class 1-A arrived.
Mina splashed her acid forwards, but Inumuta effortlessly reacted, moving his head to the right in order to dodge… but Mina had taken Kota's advice, so that wasn't all.
Launching a kick to the right of Inumuta's head directly after, Kirishima and Shoji both also ran up to Inumuta in order to pressure him.
"They got me… I can only dodge one of their attacks!" Inumuta thought, as he smirked, "These students are really something… if they were more powerful, they might've stood a chance against me."
Despite being set up for failure, Inumuta still prospered. An invisible, concentrated, and powerful shockwave shot out of Inumuta's body… and to put it lightly, it was completely overwhelming.
Mina flinched at the feeling of the shockwave, but that wasn't going to be enough to stop her from attacking Inumuta… but, since the other two had stopped attacking, Inumuta was able to dodge Mina's attack effortlessly.
"Ow… ow… ow!" Kirishima shouted, as Mina looked behind herself, realizing that Kirishima had been knocked back from Inumuta's previous attack, while Shoji was completely knocked out, having already been weakened before this… and what's worse, they had both landed in her acid.
"Kirishima! Shoji!" Mina shouted, as she skated towards the pair, moving the acid around them so they weren't affected by it… but the damage had already been done. Kirishima didn't have any visible injuries, but he was still exhausted from coping with the pain that he had just felt from Mina's acid combined with Inumuta's shockwave attack of an unknown source.
Meanwhile… Shoji… he had fallen into the acid face first… and turning him over, Mina was horrified by what her quirk had just done.
A hole had been burnt through Shoji's mask, revealing his true face to Mina in a less than ideal way… but more than that, his right eye had been burnt in a horrendous, bloody sort of way… and at this time, Mina recalled something that Thirteen had said all the way back at the USJ.
"We must never forget that it takes just someone to make one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for another to die… even in our heavily monitored superhuman society."
"This is all my fault…" Mina thought, as an uncharacteristically emotionless look had appeared on her face.
"Shoji!" Kirishima said, as he ran over to see that Shoji's face was injured… the sight was horrible, and Kirishima's face tensed up, "That… looks bad… we need to get him to Recovery Girl, asap!"
Staying silent, Mina clenched her fists together tightly.
"Crap… but that guy isn't gonna let up either… what can we… what can we…" Kirishima repeated, as he nervously tried to think of something, anything they could do to help their friend… but it was hopeless.
Inumuta was behind both of them at this point, and not a word came out of his mouth. Kirishima's heart sank, as Mina continued to emotionlessly look at Shoji… and Inumuta's fist began to launch forwards... and without a word, or an intrusive thought stopping her, Mina Ashido acted.
"Acid Fist."
Standing up and turning around at the fastest speeds she could muster, Mina launched her own fist forwards in order to stop Inumuta's fist from hitting Kirishima. When the pair clashed, Mina quickly coated it with acid to boost its power.
Flinching, Inumuta's extended fist began to burn due to coming into contact with Mina's own, as he jumped backwards to stop the pain.
"...Her quirk, it just got stronger!" Inumuta noted, "I could still use Armament Haki to nullify it… but that wouldn't be beneficial to the collection of data."
"Kirishima… get Shoji outta here!" Mina shouted, as she began to skate forwards towards Inumuta.
"R-right…" Kirishima said, as he looked on at Mina… just like before, she had everything that he lacked. She was confident, sociable… and in a pinch, you could always rely on her. She was just like she was back in middle school… and what was worse, Kirishima saw that he still was too.
But, Kirishima didn't focus on that, and he merely smirked, "She's cool as hell."
As Mina approached Inumuta, she began by attacking him with a left hook, then she threw acid at him, then a punch which opened up so she could launch acid out of her palms. It was an overwhelming assault, but despite her efforts, Inumuta was able to dodge each and every strike.
"She's lured me into a corner by doing this…" Inumuta thought, recognizing that if he took a single step backwards from his position, he would be stepping into the acid behind himself from Mina's previous 'Acid Starstorm'.
Not so much as flinching, Mina used both of her hands to launch acid all around Inumuta. This made it so that Inumuta was practically forced to jump backwards in order to dodge, straight into the acid puddle behind him… but, Inumuta was able to dodge yet again, as instead of just stepping backwards like Mina wanted, he launched himself backwards, and over the acid behind him.
"Your physical abilities have gone and increased… you're more than 20% stronger and faster than you were before!" Inumuta noted, "Not only that… you've become motivated enough to increase the potency of your acid as well! It's more than twice as acidic!"
Beneath the mask that hid his eyes, the eyes of the boy had a fire lit within them.
Inumuta smiled, "This is exactly what I wanted! Show me more… I need more data from you!"
"You want more data?!" Mina shouted, still pissed off that Inumuta had gotten her friends hurt, "Fine then… let me give you some!"
Mina began to rush towards Inumuta, who stood still and merely smirked, as when Mina launched an acid attack at him, Inumuta disappeared… and about fifty versions of him reappeared a moment later.
"W-what?!" Mina questioned.
"What? This too much?" one of the copies of Inumuta said.
"I thought that with your enhanced physicality… we could even the playing field!" another chimed in.
"Have a taste of the full abilities of my Probe Regalia!" a third added.
The clones then all began to rush towards Mina, as her eyes widened in surprise. Any one of them could've been the true Inumuta, or worse, all of them could've been real... after all, maybe that was his quirk.
Her head not able to get any conclusive data, Mina scoffed, as she was intent to act purely on instinct. Jumping into the air, Mina began to spin around and generate acid all around her, blocking all of the clones from making their approach.
"...This burns… but it stings less than it would to lose to this guy!" Mina thought.
"Impressive… you stopped my approach." a fourth copy of Inumuta said.
"That could've stopped my invisibility as well!" another added.
"But it seems to hurt your skin…" yet another added.
"How far will you go?" the seventh said.
"Will you be able to win?" the eighth question.
"Why don't you find out!" Mina shouted, as she ceased her rapid creation of acid, and splashed a group of clones in an instant, who were all revealed to be fakes, "Then there's only one real one!"
"Yes… show me more." Inumuta thought, as he walked away from Mina, blending in with the rest of his clones, "Your raw Haki just keeps increasing… it might not be enough to unlock a specialization, but it's enough to show me why you got into this academy in the first place!"
Mina continued to splash her acid at Inumuta's various clones, her hands beginning to discolor due to the overuse of her quirk, and the fact that she continuously increased the acidity from it didn't help either.
Eventually, after another splash of acid, the real Inumuta ceased his camouflage, and appeared behind Mina. Standing idly for a moment to account for Mina's reaction times, Inumuta then launched a roundhouse kick at Mina… which she was narrowly able to dodge by ducking, though her horns were narrowly grazed by the kick.
Intent to capitalize, Mina spun around, splashing her acid directly at Inumuta.
"How boring!" Inumuta shouted, as he leapt backwards a decent bit, "Show me more interesting data-"
"AP SHOT!"
Just as she had seen Katsuki do during the Sports Festival and in his fight with Mirio, Mina placed her palm behind a circle she made with her hand, and fired a concentrated burst of acid that fired straight at Inumuta.
Unable to even enter the command to dodge on his Goku uniform, Inumuta was forced to dodge the old fashioned way, ducking underneath Mina's acid without his uniform so much as alerting him to a way to counter.
"Wait, there's more!"
Rolling to the side, Inumuta dodged a few drops of acid which had fallen off of Mina's AP Shot. Unable to question if that was just dumb luck or something more, Mina had taken advantage of Inumuta's trajectory from his dodge, firing several rapid fire AP Shots at Inumuta at varying positions.
Inumuta narrowly dodged Mina's attack, but she didn't let up, rushing towards Inumuta and launching herself into the air.
"ACID RAIN!" Mina shouted, as she splashed a bit of acid straight down onto Inumuta. Even despite her attempt, Inumuta plainly slid backwards in order to dodge, but it was clear that he was having to put in some effort.
"Damn… still can't hit him!" Mina thought aloud.
"Don't worry about that… you've gotten even faster, stronger, and have been able to adapt exceptionally well during this fight." Inumuta stated, "But your condition seems unfavorable for a continued battle… if you give up now, I'll let you run and regroup with your friends."
"No way! I can't let you hurt anyone else!" Mina shouted, as she prepared more acid below her feet to allow her to rush towards Inumuta, "If I can't fight for much longer... THEN I'LL JUST HAVE TO END THIS FIGHT WITH THIS NEXT ATTACK!"
"THAT'S WHAT I HOPED YOU'D SAY!" Inumuta shouted, "SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO, SHOW ME THE POTENTIAL OF U.A. ACADEMY!"
Rushing towards Inumuta, Mina focused all her efforts onto concentrating one final burst of acid together. She knew that Inumuta was too fast, and would dodge anything that she threw at him, so she aimed to make this attack bigger than any other, finishing him off before he could realize that this was an attack he couldn't dodge.
"ACID BOOST…" Mina thought, naming her special move as she rushed towards Inumuta, acid forming in her hands, "ANIMO!"
Placing her hands firmly in front of herself as she reached Inumuta, the boy merely smirked devilishly, prepared to take whatever attack that Mina threw at him… but surprisingly, as the floor gave out underneath Mina, that would be no attack at all.
"Wha-" Mina spluttered, as she fell down the hole before she could realize what was happening.
"What the hell?!" Inumuta shouted.
Looking down into the pit, Inumuta saw Mina Ashido, laying in a puddle of her own acid; the final attack that she had intended to launch at Inumuta. Inumuta sighed, disappointed by the results of his experiment. As he transformed his Goku uniform back to its regular state, the sound of maniacal laughter followed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" a girl laughed, "You both were so focused on the fight… you didn't even THINK someone would intervene!"
"Yes… because traditionally, our students know better than to mess with the Elite Four." Inumuta retaliated, "Now you owe me an apology… you got in the way of some very important data I was collecting."
"Hehe… but your rank doesn't matter now, does it?" the girl questioned, "After all… Lady Satsuki did say she'd award anyone who managed to take out even one foe with a Three-Star Goku uniform… and you'd never go behind your precious queen would you?"
The mocking tone in which that last sentence was structured enraged Inumuta beyond belief, and just as he was about to retaliate, a blinding light engulfed his vision.
"Ah… speak of the devil." the girl smirked.
"Maiko Ogure, Head of Honnoji Academy's Trap Department, you have accomplished the achievement of taking out one of the members of U.A. Academy's Class 1-A." Satsuki Kiryuin stated, "As per my word, you will be awarded a Three-Star Goku uniform set to fit your capabilities, and join the rank of Honnoji Academies Elite Four!"
"Hehe… it would be my honor, Lady Satsuki!" Maiko laughed, playing up her part as grateful servant.
"Y-you're kidding…" Inumuta scoffed.
"Go to the entrance to U.A. Academy, and you'll find a chauffeur." Satsuki ordered, "He'll take you back to Honnoji Academy independently, where your new Goku uniform will be constructed by the Sewing Club. Make any adjustments you see fit there, and be prepared for a day-long seminar on your newfound duties tomorrow!"
"Yes ma'am!" Maiko responded militaristically. Seeing that the boy was still shocked, Maiko turned her head over to face Inumuta, "Seems the mighty Elite Four are now the mighty Elite Five. I would say I look forward to working with you, but that'd be too good to be true, four eyes."
Inumuta scoffed, as Maiko walked away, laughing maniacally as she did so.
"Great, another nut job added to the roster." Inumuta commented, "Like we didn't have enough of those..."
"How'd it go?" Satsuki asked, interrupting and ignoring Inumuta's comments.
"Besides that little interruption, spectacularly." Inumuta said, turning around to face the pit where Mina Ashido lay, and jumping straight into it. As he did, his limbs began to be coated black, allowing him to stand in the acid below him without any trouble at all.
"You could've stopped her if you wanted." Satsuki noted, "Her trap was well hidden, but it was nothing you should've been unaware of."
"You know how I am when there's an interesting specimen to study." Inumuta said, leaping out of the pit below with Mina Ashido in his arms. He scoffed, "Checking the battlefield didn't even cross my mind…"
"Remember this moment well, as we'll all have to live with your mistake." Satsuki stated, as she began to walk away, before pausing, "Do you intend to rejoin the battle?"
"No… the students are already barely able to handle just the other three, me joining in now would only tip the odds further into our favor… which of course, isn't our true goal." Inumuta stated.
"You say this, even despite what I mentioned earlier?"
"Yes, about the Matoi girl, right?" Inumuta stated, "You'd have to be more specific… she has exhibited superhuman characteristics, but nothing out of the norm for someone who was admitted to U.A. while being quirkless."
Satsuki made a simple 'hmph' noise, and continued to walk off, returning to her isolated place on the battlefield. Looking on at the Student Council President of Honnoji Academy, Hoka Inumuta breathed in a sigh of relief; he was unsure of he was doing the right thing.
"I swear… I can never tell what she's thinking." Inumuta said.
END OF CHAPTER NOTES
Spoilers for One Piece's Wano arc, but I just realized that the end of Mina vs Inumuta had some real Luffy vs Kaido vibes. Luffy was K.O'd by Guernika, whereas Mina was K.O'd by Maiko Ogure. The ones who interrupted were both lower class folk who had no business interrupting the fight, and in both instances, it was the final attack that was interrupted which would've caused the underdog to lose regardless.
Anyway, I decided that in this arc I would majorly screw with the dynamic of how Kill La Kill will go when the main events of the series start. Satsuki always made her threats that 'you can replace the Three-Stars if you do xyz', but then the status quo was never actually changed because she always planned around the Elite Four being the strongest... but, at a time where the Elite Four aren't quite as experienced, can Satsuki rely on them to be as perfect as she hoped?
That is the cornerstone of this arc. Provide meaningful developments to the characters in Class 1-A while using the Elite Four to change the Kill La Kill portion of the story in easily understandable ways.
But for now... one Elite Four has dropped out of the fight, and there's only three more to go.
Ongoing Battles
Fumikage Tokoyami vs Uzu Sanageyama
Ryuko Matoi, Tenya Ida, Shoto Todoroki, and Ochaco Uraraka vs Nonon Jakuzure
Shota Aizawa and Momo Yaoyorozu vs Ira Gamagori (presumably)
Mashirao Ojiro and Hanta Sero vs Various Two-Stars
Completed Battles
Katsuki Bakugo vs Ira Gamagori (WINNER: Ira Gamagori)
Tsuyu Asui, Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, Koji Koda, Mezo Shoji vs Hoka Inumuta (WINNER: Hoka Inumuta)
Current KO's
Honnoji Academy
Only a few one stars left out of the 1,343 originally present (most taken out by Katsuki Bakugo)
16 two stars out of the original 16 remaining
3 three stars out of the original 4 remaining:
Hoka Inumuta resigned
U.A. Academy
Toru Hagakure (heavy damage dealt to by Sanageyama. Won't be able to exert herself much, but she's gotten a decent bit away from the battlefield)
Denki Kaminari (one shot by Sanageyama. Will be knocked out for a decent amount of time)
Kyoka Jiro (ears bleeding due to Jakuzure's attack. She's mostly out of commission but could show up to make a clutch play or two)
Rikido Sato (only hit by a few of Gamagori's attacks, like Shoji. Should be up sometime soon, and he would've been up sooner if he was strengthened by his quirk)
Yuga Aoyama (?)
Katsuki Bakugo (knocked out by Gamagori)
Mezo Shoji (knocked out by Inumuta's Conqueror's Haki)
Koji Kota (knocked out by Inumuta's Conqueror's Haki)
Tsuyu Asui (knocked out by Inumuta's Conqueror's Haki)
Mina Ashido (knocked out by Maiko Ogure, who was promoted to 3-Star)