Donny rubbed the back of his head as Acion complimented him on his look. Admittedly Donny choose fairly cheap materials and this basic design (It looked less scary and more lazy) simply because it did what it needed to: cover his body.
”T-T-Thanks. You too. You l-look like a p-p-paladin or something!” Donny wondered if Acion used his own feathers to make his hero costume. From what he saw from the video yesterday, Acion’s feathers were pretty strong, yet lightweight enough to not weigh him down. That was some pretty excellent material, Donny considered taking a few himself if he finds them.
When asked about the other two, Donny shrugged. he was only vaguely familiar with Haruka and never met Luelle before. All he really knew was that they were both in his cooking and quirk application class, and he vaguely remembers that Haruka’s quick might be tech related. Soon before he could say anything, they arrived. Donny was shy but nodded his head to them.
”H-H-Hello! I-I’m Donny. I’ll b-b-b-be in your care.”Luelle looked his way and smiled. She waved at him. She recognized him easily from the two classes she took with him. Cooking and Quirk applications. She never really tried talking to Donny, even though she wanted to.
“Hello Donny. I am Luelle Hailey. It’s nice to finally talk to you. I don’t know if you know of me. I’m n two of your classes””Greetings.” The winged fighter saluted his two teammates, as they both came. He did remember the girl who just waved at Donny, vaguely from the Quirk Application class the day before, but he couldn’t remember exactly the name, only until she finally spoke. The other one he also remembered seeing her somewhere, but only at that.
Acion glanced at both of them. They didn’t look too special, nor did they look unimpressive. They looked ok. Now he wondered how everybody’s quirks would give them an advantage in this fight.
”So have you guys thought up of a plan?”Haruka prepared herself for the upcoming team exercise. It would be interesting, she imagined, but she had her reservations about it all. At least someone she already sort of knew, Donny, was to be one of her partners. Maybe that could help make things easier. In preparation, she changed into the first part of her costume before going to the armory. It was a snug, full-body suit that left only her head from about the jaw up exposed, black in overall coloration. Circuitry patterns, both functional and somewhat decorative, ran along the torso and limbs, mapping out a simplified depiction of her nervous system. Along the shoulders, wrists, thighs, ankles, collarbone, and spine, metallic plugs were attached, clearly meant to attach to something else.
Her main costume, luckily, had been shipped to the armory for her by the school staff. It wouldn’t do her well to be left without it, as her technology-manipulating Quirk was less suited for direct confrontation on its own. The powered exoskeleton she built, however, was more than enough to let her hold her own in an actual fight. Of course, while that was her main piece of equipment, it wasn’t the only thing she took. Some devices caught her interest, such as a radar, communicator, some stun grenades, and something that had especially caught her interest: a grappling hook. It was a pretty generic “superhero utility gear” device, but she thought it might be fun to try out.
Though she would have preferred disassembling the pieces and learning how to build her own from them, there wasn’t quite enough time for that, she imagined. Maybe afterwards, she’d ask for a little one-on-one time with the gear she picked out. Until then, integration would be satisfactory. With her chosen devices in hand, she approached her powered armor, statuesque in its size and unmoving stature. Once she was close enough, she turned on her Quirk. Lights on the armor’s exterior shone blue, and both the plugs and circuits on the bodysuit she had on glowed as well. The armor began to shift, the helmet separating into pieces that slid into one another, the chest raising entirely above the head, and the limbs separating open to allow her to enter.
”Okay, here goes,” She said to herself, taking a deep breath. Suiting up was always enthralling, but took a moment to get used to. The suit was larger than her, and had longer limbs. Though the armor had fully mechanical hands, her actual ones were just behind the suit’s visible wrist. Likewise, her feet were somewhere mid-shin, though the torso was built to mask the fact in its proportionate construction. Once inside, she closed the suit down around herself, then connected the devices she picked. The hook and radar seemed to be absorbed by the suit as it opened, pulled them inside, and sealed again, leaving no trace of the additions, while the grenades were simply held at her waist above her rear.
Now entirely enclosed, Haruka felt the plugs of her undersuit attach to the armor, and began to move. A few steps forward, a roll of the neck and shoulders, and some wiggling of her fingers to test the suit’s motion-mimicking confirmed everything was working well. Excitement filled her, and she took a dramatic posture, thrusting an arm up and sideways while the other pulled back towards her waist.
“Henshin!” She called out, her voice altered mechanically. It was deeper, distinctly robotic, and even held a more confident inflection.
Now prepared, she left the armory to join up with her team. Upon reaching them, she put a hand on her hip and raised the other one, keeping her fingers straight in what could have been interpreted as a form of salute.
”Hypermeka reporting for duty!” She proclaimed.
”Haruka, that is.”Donny looked to everyone and nodded his head.
”Y-Yeah, I remember you, L-L-Luelle-Chan. I-I-I hope we work well t-together.” Donny didn’t know the specifics of Luelle’s powers, but from the way she was dressed he wondered if maybe she was a wizard or something. Perhaps her quick can replicate spells? He wasn’t sure. Acion wanted to know if they had any plans and Donny had…. stratagem. Wasn’t really a plan so much as what he was going to be doing for most of the battle, but he may as well make sure his allies know what’s going to happen. Then Haruka arrives. If he had eyes he’d widen them; she went from somewhat curvy girl to decked out power armor!
”Whoa… That’s so cool Haruka!”Donny wasn’t a techhead of any sort, but he liked robots and sci-fi stuff. Haruka looked like the sort of mechanical hero he always wanted to be. He was almost tempted to ask her to make him a suit of power armor right then and there, but he held himself back. Now wasn’t the time to be gushing and besides, asking Haruka to make him something as complex as a robotic super suit was a bit… Much. Clearing his throat he looked to the others.
”Well m-my plan is to um… Dig to the point and make some t-t-trap holes. Acion is t-t-the only one who can f-fly, so he should do w-w-what he does best, attack from the s-skies. Um…” Donny tried to think of something for Haruka and Luelle to do. He had a few ideas and decided to pitch them, trying to stutter a little less.
”Um… Why don’t…. Luelle go with Acion… And Haruka with me? Haruka can… Helped drag people underground… Luelle attacks with Acion. Um… Luelle, what is your quirk?””Hmm, a solid plan, I think, since it seems to me that we lack power.”Well, the winged boy did wonder if Haruka’s impressive robot suit could brawl against other students, but considering this was not a two teams fight, but a rather free for all team based, bearing the brunt would not be a wise choice.
”I shall be your eyes and ears. I got these little spying camera to do the extra work.” Acion simply extracted his hand, showing a bunch of small and round camera.
”But I think we should hear all our quirks before compiling a battle tactic. If you two haven’t heed my power, my wings have the durability of God’s armor, and feathers sharp as any blades. I can handle the sky well. How about you, Luelle?”During the planning process, Luelle stayed mostly quiet. She fingered her costume which was almost like that of a sorceress. It consisted of a bright blue collared top. It had separate sleeves that went just above her elbows that were a navy blue color. She had a teal like color slash around her waist. She had a shorter skirt that matched her sleeves with a longer skirt underneath that went to the group that matched her top in color.
This was her first time participating in battles like this;so she had no idea what to say or do in this. She perked up when she heard the question thrown her way and she scratched her cheek.
“Well my quirk is a bit of an odd one. A lot really don’t have a name for it. It’s fire but it’s not like regular fire.” She summoned a small flame in her hand, making her right eye light up the same color. The person nearest to her would notice that the fire had the feeling of ice, even though the color of the flame was blue, the hottest flame according to science.
“I call it cold fire. I learned that I could control The temperature of it. I can make it very hot or so cold that upon impact, it could turn into ice.”Donny looked to Luelle and shivered when she produced her cold flame. He was very sensative to extreme cold or heat, which meant a weakness towards fire or ice. He burns and freezes easily, and thus he was glad that Luelle was on his side. She practically had his weakness as a quirk.
”That’s cool. Literally. My q-q-quick is uh… Well I can eat anything. Metal, dirt, poison, h-h-heck I can even eat stuff that’s on f-f-f-fire if I’m fast enough. I um… I can eat super fast t-t-too. S-S-S-S-So I use to tunnel. By eating… Dirt.” Donny knew that his powers, while having been proven useful, sounded rather lame. Of course he was hiding the true nature of his power, as well as the sort of things he’s actually used his powers for in terms of combat. When he fought the robots in the entrance exam, he had no problems defeating them simply by swallowing them whole. The hard part was finding a robot that wasn’t being attacked by other students at the time.
He still didn’t feel comfortable revealing his true form even if two people already know. Part of him was nervous about who might judge him even though so far no one seemed to mind, though another part of him was intentionally hiding his true ability to his advantage. As far as he could tell, only Mina knew the full extent of his power, thought Ezra is at least aware of what he really looks like and may have already made some conclusions himself. Donny was also aware that both Mina and Ezra were on the same team. He didn’t really want to think about it, but if he wanted to make sure that the others wouldn’t be able to capitalize on his quirks and abilities, he’d have to take them out first.
In fact the more he thought about it, the more he wondered who they should try to go after. Team A and Team B felt like one of the stronger teams. Team A had Ezra, Mina, Jett, and Tomoe. Ezra had already demonstrated his strength yesterday when he sent that table at railgun speeds, nearly killing a few students from the sheer force of the attack. Jett was also a teleporter who was easily able to spam the ability for hyper mobility. Mina also was a skilled martial artist and her quirk could be used to blind or burn, as Donny learned when he faced her. Tomoe was the only one he didn’t have much info on, but she could be a dark horse.
Team B certainly weren’t slouches either. They had Mamoru, who everyone saw what she did yesterday. She was reckless, but also cunning in a dangerous way. Almost like Donny. Dulga also wasn’t someone Donny was going to dismiss; those six arms probably increased her strength, and from where Donny was at he could obviously see she was packing a lot of heat. She’d be dangerous simply because she’s the most heavily armed out of everyone. Yukari and Kaida, Donny didn’t know too much about. He’s never seen either of them in action but he could tell from their kit they were armed at least. Yukari had a bunch of restraints so her fighting style likely involved putting those restraints on her opponent, likely grappling. Donny could get out of them easily. Kaida had a sword. Donny’s been cut many times, but he’s never actually be pitted against a sword fighter before.
Team C and D weren’t slouches either, but Donny didn’t have much intel on them beyond what he saw from yesterday’s battle. Team C had Roy, who Donny knew had some light based ability. He wasn’t sure if it produced heat, but he knew Roy was stronger in the sun. 50/50, Donny could probably take him on inside a building or underground, but if Roy’s light abilities also was hot, Donny would just put himself in a bad situation. Aside from Roy, Donny didn’t know anything about the rest of Team C. Team D had Fumika. She didn’t seem the type to be good in a straight up brawl, but her quirk allowed her to make duplicates of things she sees. And Donny has no idea how he’d fare if he had to fight himself. Ideally he’d take her out with a surprise attack as well. The rest of Team D, Donny had no intel on.
”Hrn… A lot of my strategies rely on surprise attacks…” Donny mumbled to himself. Perhaps ambushes weren’t the most “heroic” thing to do, but that’s what Donny felt he could do best at. He doesn’t know if any of the other students had the same tunneling ability as he did. He knew that Mina at least was willing to chase him down his tunnels, so he made a mental note to make the tunnels even smaller; in his true form Donny could fit into some pretty tight spaces. Anyone who’d follow him would have to crawl and squeeze through underground, which would give him the advantage since it’ll cut off their mobility. Of course that ability goes right out the window if the other students fight above ground, like on a rooftop or something. Of course that’s also why he tends to bring down the house.
”Maybe…. To maximize our ability…. Raze buildings….” Donny said to himself, before realizing that the others might’ve heard him. He tried to pack pedal a little.
”I mean, c-c-c-c-collapse the rooftops. S-S-So they can’t get away f-f-from me and Acion can g-g-g-g-g-get a clear shot at t-them.””I see now.”It was not entirely sure but very likely that his team would lack the ability to bore the brunt against other teams. Even in a one on one situation.
For Team A, Acion had witnessed the skills of three out of four players there. Mina is a skilled martial artist and a walking flashbang. Jett is an acrobatic teleporter. And Ezra had super strength, shown by yesterday’s lunch. After hearing Luelle and Donny’s quirk, it was hard to imagine them actually going toe to toe with each other. Of course, for Acion, it was easier. Mina, despite her skill sets, was grounded. Jett was pretty troublesome, since he could spam that ability repeatedly for increased mobility. While that does not technically make him fly, it allowed him to stay in mid air long enough to maneuver and fight. Ezra was actually the one he should be worried about. If he could kick that table with such might, then he would be easily able to throw objects at a much higher velocity. The best course of action here would be to outmaneuver, out-reflex him. It wouldn’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be too difficult. Acion was confident in his reflexes, that it could outclass most in the class.
Team B, we have Kaida, Mamoru, Dulga and Yukari. Yukari he didn’t know. While he had spent some times with Kaida, he didn’t know what her quirk was. Mamoru he had already seen her irrational recklessness, so he ought to be careful around her. It may be best to let others deal with her instead. For Dulga, he also didn’t know, but he had seen her firing guns in the armory. So she could use guns at the least. Maybe quite good, or even a professional. Acion didn’t know for sure, but whatever the bar was set in, he would place himself in high alert, as she could peep a shot at him at any moment, from anywhere. Of course, like for Ezra, if he could get through one, two or three of their projectiles, then they are vulnerable to his counter attack.
Team C Acion was blinded, although Roy he knew was capable of some sort of heat, whose effectiveness was not yet known. Team D was pretty much the same, with only Fumika. She appeared less intimidating and of a challenge to the winged boy, but he couldn’t let his guard down.
For Acion himself, he was pretty much the ace pilot of A-1. But his position in the sky wasn’t entirely his. His strategy would mainly revolve around blitzing the enemy, flying from a safe position, attack them with full power, then pull out and leave the scene. While this would not likely cause a KO, it could damage the team’s physical ability and morale.
He was speculating the plans when Donny voiced his own plan. A recognizable but a pretty scary plan: bring down the building...again.
”I don’t think I would agree.” Acion said.
”Not that it’s bad. It’s potentially lethal to others. And I believe I don’t require that to go through to take out everyone.””I would approve a safer plan. Just take it easy, and let the other teams deliver their blows to each other, and then we’ll storm in. I shall take the job of weaving them together. My strength is speed. In minutes I will be at their doorstep. And we shall gather them in one location at once. If tunneling is your specialty, then I believe collapsing the floor would be safer. And can still be implemented to solidly take them out.”Acion then turned to the other two
”But I shall heed your words upon it. Which is more sound?”As she listened to the discussions, Haruka’s suit took note of the information being given. Names, Quirk information, and portraits of her teammates taken in-costume by her helmet’s visor were gathered together in appropriate combinations, essentially creating profiles of them for her to look back on in the event that she needed to remember something. The mini-dossiers were quite barebones, but would be useful for her all the same. Of course, she could always add on to them as she got to know them better.
Information darted across the screen of the visor, filling her view with an augmented reality display of words that were formed by her thoughts. Due to this, the profiles were not exactly professional, essentially being written out in the way she’d put together a casual text or IM to a friend.
Donny
quirk: munchin and crunchin
notes: great cook, very cute
Acion
quirk: fly boy, pointy feathers
notes: cool name, probably a paladin
Luelle
quirk: temperature weirdness??? chilly fire?
notes: makes AC obsolete
With the profiles completed, Haruka smiled at the compliment Donny gave her costume, pulling off a very superhero-esque pose as she flexed her arms.
“Thank you.~ I put this one together a couple months ago. It’s a little clunky and pretty heavy, but I think I’m making good improvements with the designs.” She was proud of her creations, and using the power armor just felt
good. Of course, while a robotic suit of armor she was piloting probably made her Quirk quite obvious to the others, she decided to tell them about it a bit so they had a more concrete idea.
“Oh, yeah. My Quirk lets me control technology, basically. I can learn about pretty much anything electronic or mechanical if I can take it apart and look it over, and then I can build things out of what I know. This suit took a lot of research on prosthetics and hydraulics, stuff like that.”When plan discussions came up, her posture changed once again, shifting her weight to one leg as she crossed her arms.
“Sneak attacks work, but I’m not so sure on the whole property damage thing,” She began.
“But tunneling could definitely make for an interesting option. I’m not really built for digging, but a couple of my suit’s features can definitely help with the underground route. Take the others by surprise after they soften each other up a bit, then subdue and submerge. They won’t even see us coming.”Luelle stepped forward.
“If I could speak. I like the tunneling idea. Perhaps we can use these to trap our targets in and I can use the cold part of my fire to make ice to block the entrance so they can’t escape and we can’t fall through them.”] Luelle said. She looked around her group.
“Perhaps we should pair up a bit, for supportive reasons. You never know who we are going to run into. If I may, Donny, can I perhaps come with you. While your quirk is an amazing feat itself, you could be at a huge disadvantage if you run into someone who could take you out easy. I’m asking as perhaps a friend and a group member”Looking around the group, Donny felt just a touch nervous. Everyone seemed so.... Cooperative. It was nice being able to work as a team. Acion didn’t like the idea of bringing down the building, and admittedly Donny wasn’t too eager to try that again either. Still most people
know he could do it. Perhaps if he could just pretend he’s going to do that, people might get scared and leave the point. Wishful thinking of course. It’s more likely that people would be more aware of his abilities and try to take him out. All the more reason he needed to go underground. Haruka and Luelle seemed supportive of going underground, which actually surprised Donny. Most people don’t like the cramp spaces of the tunnels, and Donny typically doesn’t make them too big either, baring attempts at sapping fortifications like yesterday’s battle. Not to mention if they came with him, they’d see his true form.
Despite the fact that so far no one seemed particularly perturbed about how he really looks, Donny still felt self-conscious about letting others see him. He just didn’t
like the idea, but he knew he had to get over it. If he wanted to be a hero, he needed to have confidence.
”One step at a time Donny-boy. Do it for the team. Okay, one, two three….” Donny gulped and looked to Luelle and Haruka, rubbing where his neck should’ve been.
”I’m…. N-N-N-Not against you two coming w-with me. I can handle t-t-the d-d-d-d-digging. Just….. Give me s-s-s-s-some space.” Donny took another deep breath. Legitimate teamwork. Luelle will seal the tunnels after he pulls someone underground, and Haruka and him could beat up whoever he drags down under. It was a simple plan, but that works best for him. Better than trying to figure out how to scare everyone off the point.
Now the only question was what to do with Acion.
”S-So if Haruka-chan and L-L-Luelle-chan come with me, w-w-what about A-Acion?””I’ve said this before. I shall be your eyes from above. You can’t drag anyone down if you don’t know if they are there.” His idea was simply weaving all the teams together at one point by harassing them with feathers, like a falcon that storms from heaven, so that they would move more quickly to the point. He knew that some people would try to avoid a direct confrontation, so he would have to do that. There, they would weaken each other. And then his team would storm in and take the point. Now that it was more of baiting them into a trap rather than that. It was fine enough.
”I will be fine on my own. The last fight I emerged victorious, and this time I shall too.” Still, he had to pay attention to who he would blitz in this fight though, since they are all potential people. Ezra could shoot him down. Dulga could shoot him down. Jett could fight him toe to toe. Mina could topple over his accuracy, though it would very unlikely that it would take him down. Accuracy. The more reason why he brought some smoke grenades with him. For now, team A looked like a very very bad choice. Team B as well, since there that fluffball Mamoru that could deal with his feathers. Team D seemed ok, but the presence of a few individuals seemed to creep up his nerve. Team C looked more tempting, but he’ll see how the battle would progress first.
”I will communicate with you all very frequently, so don’t go radio silent on me at any time.” He said to everybody, hoping that they would take note of that.
”We have one solid plan there.”Haruka nodded, all of this sounding agreeable to her.
”Okay, so Acion takes the skies and tells us where to strike, and we catch everyone off guard. Sounds like a plan!” She uncrossed her arms and pumped a fist to emphasize her point, then stuck it out towards the others, palm-down. The intention was for everyone to do the same and cheer together, and the excitement in her body language betrayed the wide smile hidden behind her helmet’s mouthplate.
”Let’s get out there and win this together! Plus Ultra!”Gulping and adjusting his cloak, Donny still felt nervous as hell. He supposed that after a while these jitters in his guts will go away, but he still couldn't help but feel… Excited. He liked this team. He liked this plan. He wanted to make everyone proud. Haruka sensed the hype and extended her hand. Donny knew a team hand stack when he saw one. Flexing his fingers Donny’s hand joined the pile. He swallowed his fears for just a moment and nodded to Haruka.
”P-Plus Ultra!”A smile escaped his lips. It seemed solid indeed. To be honest, he liked how his team was cooperating on this one. He really appreciated that.
”Arch-” Acion shutted up at the last second. That name, when he thought about it, was embarrassing somehow. He had to ditch that personality. He should come up with a new hero name. Something more powerful and befitting.
Another name came into mind
”Storm Bird, primed and ready. Good luck everyone. Plus Ultra!””Right! Let’s stick to the plan and we will emerge victorious. I will make sure I will be great help” Luelle said. She honestly didn’t know what name to call herself, so she only offered words of encouragement.