---

---

"Ahaha yes! I'm liking your spirit already, Mr. Kazinsky! Rob your mind of the thought that all you have to gain from this exercise is just learning." Steven was quick to face his new teammate, arms crossed over his bare chest, rearing up to a triumphant posture with a wide grin splitting his face. "I can promise you this, win or lose, this exercise shall be a fine spectacle of our combined strength, skill, and wit!" He would begrudgingly admit that he hadn't the pleasure of knowing either of the two yet. But from what he was to tell that this Thomas fellow seems agreeable thus far and the other...

Further thoughts paused as the gray-haired teen now leveled his fixed grin onto the girl in question,"And I would be remiss not to mention you, Miss Gibbs, who certainly owns the lion's share of wit in our formidable trio as shown as with the cutting remarks you had unleashed upon me not a minute ago. If I was confident before now I am sure. Hah!" Just suppose he has to overcome the unfamiliarity shared between them three through sheer force of his own personality.

@Heartfillia@Nyahahameha

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@Heartfillia @Tenma Tendo

Listening to Renard's explanation, Kerianne nodded. "Sounds like a plan. And that's another technique to use against opponents, as long as we look away." While she and Chi would have to be careful not to get dazzled themselves, especially as her Quirk relied on sight, well-timed flashes of light would help them while hindering the other team.

As Renard mentioned the risk of accidental shocks, Kerianne's face grew as solemn as his did. He'd livened up considerably over the week, but every so often, a hint that things weren't quite back to normal slipped past the jokes and smiles. Before she could comment, Chi piped up with his input and role, pointing out that he'd be a likely target, but they could turn that to their advantage.

"If they do, we'll be able to use that against them," she agreed. Chi knew what he was doing, she reminded herself, as worrying as the comment about possibly bleeding out had been. Besides, she trusted the teachers would intervene if anyone ended up in real danger. "I can sneak up on people while they're distracted, and get to you quickly if needs be. I take it you brought bandages just in case?"

Her glance flicked from him to Renard. They'd both had their own issues to deal with recently, given Chi's time off school for unknown reasons, and Renard's breakdown after the villain attack. Whatever had happened, and however much it impacted on them, she hoped this would be a step forward. "And everything ok with both of you? Remember, if we stick to what we've planned, we can do this."

As long as the opposing team didn't mess up said plan for them, in any case.

"This is Happy Dusk, he's - Cut it out !" Erika said as Happy Dusk came back towards her. Although as Freya was asking her question, the entity tried to grab something invisible to them from another student passing nearby.

"...he's almost as annoying as y-" she stopped, seemed to think about her words and didn't say anything. Rather, she listened to Gabby's description of her quirk. Despite her best attempt, Erika couldn't help but be impressed. It looked and sounded...impressive, useful.

"To answer your question, Cat..."

Erika's eyes shifted to Freya. She had a Cat Quirk - that much was obvious from what she saw, heard and was told so far. Like most animal quirks, it was simple and effective; a good All-Around.

"...I feast on negative emotions!" the entity said out loud to them, coming out from behind Erika. Erika who seemed to give up trying to shut him up. "Stress is a favourite of mine, I'll say! Though it may be because of this school environment we're in, but I really got a..." as Dusk was launching itself into a monologue on the subtleties of emotions tastes, Erika let out a loud sigh and spoke up, leaving the ghost to his low ramblings.

"Yup. Negative Emotions are how Hapy Dusk charges up - they also have a bad habit of making him proportionally get happier." she said, crossing her arm with a bored look on her face. She looked over at Gabby.

"You are our winning condition." she bluntly said.
"No matter how hard I tried, I can't downplay that Quirk. It looks useful enough, and potentially strong depending on our matchups. Kitty Cat over there seems like she's a good all-around quirk, and I am a lot more defensive. So it defaults to you being our way of winning. Which is annoying."

@Nyahahameha@LuckyBlackCat

@SimpleWriter@LuckyBlackCat

The entity didn't shake her hand, but she wasn't sure it had noticed her offering in the first place. Instead, it moved back to Erika's side as she - and it, being able to speak - explained the nature of the quirk. Growing stronger and happier from negative emotions? A high school full of teenagers was a perfect environment for a quirk like that. So, in all their team had a fast and agile close combatant with strong instincts, a mid- to long-range combatant with a second body, and herself, a more well practiced close combatant with a focus on defense. Erika seemed to think Gabby herself had the most impressive quirk, it seemed. While flattering, it was also somewhat worrying. It almost sounded like she was going to leave it to her to carry the team. The logical part of her mind stopped her from saying so out loud, as "win condition" wasn't the same thing as "I'll leave it to you". Instead, she got her brain thinking about how to get to the point where her so-called win condition could be used.

"I'm not sure it will be so simple," Gabby said, folding her arms pensively as she locked eyes with Erika. She knelt down on one knee, bringing her eye level a little below Erika's. "It is true that my quirk and musculature allow me to strike decisive blows, but many here have quirks or martial arts that make getting close difficult. I'm generally much better suited to using my stature to draw attention and using my quirk for defense instead of offense, allowing others to flank the enemy while their attention is on me. That said..."

Gabby looked aside to Freya, then to Happy Dusk. "...With you three as teammates, it might be possible to apply my quirk in different ways. For example, Freya; I could use my quirk to propel you at an enemy, allowing you to strike with greater than usual force, and allowing me to attack from a distance. Using your speed, you could then return to my protection before the enemy has a chance to counter. Erika, you can strike from a distance by default using Happy Dusk. Making sure we stay close to one another would make it difficult for the enemy to deprive us of your skills, and I could use my repulsions to maneuver you out of harm's way while you focus on offense. Doing both of these things would turn our team into a tough to bring down tank that is dangerous at all distances."

Gabby unfolded her arms and stood upright, smiling to her teammates. "I believe the best way to win would be to combine our strengths and move as one unit. Not to be bragging, but I am very strong - I could lift you both easily. If you rode on my shoulders, I could keep you both safe while enabling distance attacks, wearing down our opponents until they become open to a final blow from myself or a repulsion-powered Freya. Granted, working together so closely might be difficult for teammates who know little about one another, but I believe the effectiveness of the formation would make up for any missteps we might make. What say you both?"

---

---

Dawn giggled to herself as she noticed Raymond trying to rid himself of the ants she put in his pants. But trying to do it on the down low. After a moment he finally relaxed… She narrowed her eyes. No fun. Shrugging she pulled a blow pop sucker from her pocket and popped it into her mouth after yanking the wrapper off.

Stripper boi mentioned about not being a stripper or pervert… ”That’s exactly what a stripper and pervert would say…” She said absentmindedly as she pulled out her phone and quickly typed a text and quickly took a selfie with a peace symbol and a big grin. Making sure to get a full shot of her costume that Sana never saw before. Got my hero outfit! I also can’t wait to shoot someone with these guns! mwahaha.

She sent it and slipped her phone back into her pocket right before the teachers came and moved them inside. Dawn got excited at seeing Ms. Martenelle. She knew her well as she was friends with her bestest most favorite hero. She was cool in her own right. But when they stopped and saw the rest of the teachers she froze. Getting so excited she totally missed everything Martenelle said.

Deadeye. That was her favorite hero. She was so cool and confident with her real own style, blasing her own path basically. She didn’t care who she pissed off but got the job done. By herself or with Ballistica, or the hero group Valkyries. A military based group of women who used guns along with their quirks.

Her two handed pistol style inspired her to use two herself. Well pepperspray guns...but that’s because she wasn’t old enough to actually OWN pistols yet...She tried to get Keri’s attention but to no avail. She was already off and pairing up with Renard and and Chi. Wait wat?

She suddenly looked around to see others paring up but before she could say anything a boy she didn’t know came up to her. Her mouth hung open slightly, the blowpop dangerously tipping on the edge of her lip. As she was confused why this guy was saying he was excited to work with them… then it clicked, it was going to be a team battle thingy...but wait...who was the two…

She Groaned when she heard Steven right behind her. Why WHY. KERI GETS TO BE WITH RENARD AND NOT HER?! Her head fell forward and looked defeated for some reason. She sighed and looked over to Steven as he spoke to her and blinked once. Wait. WHY WAS SHE STUCK WITH THE STRIPPER DUO!

”Call me ms, one more time I'll use your face as target practice..” she said to him shortly before looking back at Tomka as she plucked her blowpop from her mouth and held it between two fingers. ”I’m Dawn. That’s the ‘bondage hero’ stripper boi. He uses chains that come from his body. You can see why he’s the bondage hero. She said while motioning to Steven.

With out giving Steven a chance to retort she pointed to herself. “I can create animals of light. I can use them for recon, distraction, attack or defence..” After popping her blow pop back into her mouth she placed her hands on the grips of her guns. Putting all her weight on one leg in a semi pose.”I also use these bad boi’s to shoot pepper spray balls. Sure to leave welt as well as blind any sucker hit with these. “

She then asked. “So what do you do..build walls or somthin?”

---

Renard nodded as Keri mentioned that his Arc weld could be used against their opponents as well. He had thought of that as well, there were a few times he blinded himself as well as his father on accident.

Chi then brought up he knew basic self defense...as well as the fact he bleeds more than usual. Which made sense to Renard why he didn’t focus on fighting. But he had offered up being a distraction. He folded his arms and rubbed his chin as he thought about it. Keri added onto the idea of sneaking around behind the other group. Only thing was...if he was to be the distraction and keri was to flank what was his role?

”If you’re confident enough to do so, I don’t see the issue with it. We could use it to funnel the other group into a trap. You gain their attention and lead them back to me, while i give them a surprise counter attack and block them from getting to you, Keri could be on the other side of the road where she can see everything to either help you or appear behind the other group while they are focused on them.” he motioned his hand in a way to show he was adding onto the idea given.

”However, if that plan fails. We can revert to you guys pulling back while I keep them busy. Hopefully long enough that I can blind them and we can flank them once again. he added with a confident tone. even if he couldn't blind them all, he could hold off the others if needed.

going back to her question on if everything was ok with them. Clearly hinting at the major things that happened the week or so before for him, and what ever held chi up as well.

He was ok for the most part memories of his mother came more often now... but all that blood on his hands... he just glad she couldn’t see his raw hands.

”Be brave for... your father and sister.

His fist clenched for a split second. Putting on a brave face he smiled. “ I’m fine. My leg doesn’t cramp anymore so I’m raring to go. You know, you being all motherly really suits you. Makes you like 10 times cuter.”

Chisato nodded eagerly, glad that his friends both seemed to be willing to let him help out on the more physical things despite his condition. While they were all busy getting stronger and all, he was doing his own training to be a useful field medic despite his disadvantages.
"Un, that sounds good! Looks like we got a flexible plan on our hands." He said with a small smile, refusing to let his mind think about all the potential injuries he'd need to help out with after all this was all over. Who knows though, maybe everyone will play nice and not hurt each other too badly right?

..R-Right?

Silverish blue eyes shifted back to Kerianne regarding his blood.
"Un!" He hummed, reaching into one of his many pockets and pulling out what looked like a roll of tape.
"Made especially for me. Since my body takes longer to form blood clots, these bandages keep me from bleeding out until then." He explained before pocketing the item. Of course he had regular bandages for other people's injuries too. Actually...now that he thought about it, most of his equipment catered to others rather than himself. He could only hope that his preparation would actually benefit the well being of those he cared about...

Chi looked taken aback by the question from Keri, and for a brief moment, the boy couldn't hide the haunted expression pulling at his features. He shouldn't have let it bother him too much, he really shouldn't have, but the feeling still hung over and plagued his heart. Normally bright eyes dulled, and his previous smile straightened to a thin line. That day was such a blur yet also the most vivid memory he had in his mind. Thinking about it just made him want to go home, but Keri and Renard needed him. He wasn't going to let his personal life get in the way when he was relying on other's and vice versa.

So, much like Renard, Chisato swallowed down his anguish looked back to the other two less like a kicked puppy and more like he normally would.
"Un, I'll be okay. now's not the time to worry about that stuff anyways." The boy said before nodding quickly in agreement with Renard's statement. "You're already really cute normally, but he has a point." He said rather genuinely before pulling himself up to his feet and latching himself onto Kerianne. His arms were wrapped around the girl's figure while his head rested on the crook of her neck.

"Th-Thank you though...for caring." He mumbled, choosing to remain latched on to the girl for the comfort and because hugs always made people feel better.

@LuckyBlackCat@Heartfillia

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@SimpleWriter @Nyahahameha

An entity Quirk. Of course. Although Freya cringed at Erika's near-insult, she gave the smoke being a little smile. "Uh, hi Dusk." Not that she could get more than a few words in, with his babbling about his favourite emotions to feed on. Maybe her stress was of some help after all.

Nonetheless, some of that tension eased as Erika couldn't help acknowledging Gabby's skill, however reluctantly. "Yep, we've got a good team player here," Freya said, motioning to Gabby. "And you guessed right about my Quirk, although I'm not sure about the all-around part... I'm not as strong as some people here, but can react, run and climb decently fast, I guess. I tend to fight with jumps and kicks, if that helps at all."

She bit her lip as Gabby turned pensive. Had the encouragements come across as pressure? Her classmate's next words, however, proved that she was indeed the winning condition due to her planning ability as well as her strength. Brightening up, Freya nodded. "Sounds good! And hey, you say you can defend as well as attack..." She turned her attention back to Erika and Happy Dusk. "How quickly can you switch between techniques? Because if you and Gabby combined defensive skills, we'd last even longer as a tank."

Looking over to Gabby again, she added, "Depending what happens, I might need to keep opponents distracted for a while... I'll try to make sure it's in a way that leaves them open to Dusk's attacks, and get back to your shoulder as quickly as possible. Don't worry, I'll keep my claws tucked in."

With Gabby's idea, and Erika's willingness to cooperate despite her grouchiness, it seemed they could be in with a chance. It would just be up to her, Freya thought, not to screw it all up.

---

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@Heartfillia @Tenma Tendo

As she noticed Renard's fist clench and the distressed look shadowing Chi's features, Kerianne's lips pressed together. Had she made things worse, not better, by bringing painful memories to the surface? At the worst possible time for her teammates, no less? A moment later, though, Renard's smile returned... along with, to both her relief and annoyance, his usual goofball attitude.

Her face heated at his comment. "This isn't the time for that," she chided him, folding her arms. "Good to hear you're doing better though." While she hadn't been talking about his physical state, which she already knew had improved, it was probably best not to dig too deep for now.

Chi, too, was quick to put up a lively front, telling her not to worry - before agreeing with Renard's statement. As Kerianne stood there, struggling for words while her face turned pinker, Chi wrapped his arms around her. She tensed, statue-still for a second. Well, that had been rather unexpected, and not the kind of thing such a reserved person as herself knew how to deal with. Even so, she dropped her businesslike demeanour enough to return the hug. "No problem," she softly replied, letting him rest his head against her neck, hoping to bring at least some comfort. "Yeah, for now, let's get through this like I'm sure we can."

Judging by her teammates' comments, maybe Dawn's complaints that she acted like a mother weren't wrong.

Dean was as pleased with how the mission had gone as the rest of the team. After all, they had completed what they had come to do - freed their comrade and caused some havoc for the accompanying law enforcement while they were at it, which Dean always thought was a worthwile way to spend his time. And, as the helicopter shot away from the crime scene, the sirens becoming fainter and fainter, the villain felt a firm sense of satisfaction. If this team could perform like this again, considering that freeing a prisoner wasn't at all easy, then they could surely achieve whatever ambitious plans Noxious had in place.

However, Dean's satisfaction in the following days waned quickly as he saw first hand the consequences of their actions. Police presence in the city had seemingly doubled over night with cops posted everywhere. No doubt that the use of birds would have made its way through the police network as something to look out for, so Dean couldn't amuse himself by doing anything in public with his quirk that might arouse suspicion, or he could attract attention and ruin everything. He quickly became bored to the point of anger, trying to entertain himself doing normal things, or making birds do amusing things within the grounds of his house. So, Dean was extremely grateful when the time came for another meeting.

This one, of course, was not in Alcatraz. Dean had previously found a route to the island that would not have him seen, where he could have his full costume on the journey, and so he was slightly perturbed he had to mess around with something new. He donned an expensive suit, his mask and hat contained within a fancy leather bag on his shoulder - he wouldn't dare suffer the indignity of using a backpack - before setting off for this warehouse. A pair of his ravens was following him, as subtly as possible, flying from rooftop to rooftop. He reached the warehouse within decent time, hoping that he might be the first one inside so he could freely scope it out. When he was sure that no cops were a threat, the ravens flew down and back onto his shoulder.

He slipped on his mask and hat as he crept towards the doors, before stopping at the sound of voices. He wouldn't usually be so careful, but considering this was a new location... He spotted a pigeon pecking the ground not too far away, which soon became a spy, walking casually through the sliding doors and looking around. Well, there were no cops in here, and the people certainly looked villainous. He recognised a couple, so the pigeon slipped out and Dean slipped in after he released the sentry from his control.

He was greeted with the sight of people that he knew. Sana, Noxious, Molly - a more recent addition, but still someone Dean recognised. And then, there was a decent amount of people who he did not know. New additions he supposed. The first, a man sitting on a chair casually, wearing frighteningly casual clothes for a meeting such as this. Dean scowled through his mask, before glancing around again. A man in what looked like a police jacket that had been crudely modified with a flower. That could be worse. Ah, now this was more like it. Two more people, who were both impeccably dressed in suits. He gave them both a nod, before unclasping his mask and holding it under his shoulder.

"New additions to our team, I suppose. Well, it's good to see that at least two people here have any sense of how to dress appropriately... just a shame it couldn't be all of you." He glanced at the man in the jacket, then glared at the man in the seat. "Our last mission has seemingly alerted law enforcement, and they are now crawling all over this city like angry vermin. Perhaps doing something like... wearing a vandalised police jacket, for example, is not the smartest idea."

---

---

Namie watched carefully as her teammates approached her. One of them was quite overwhelming and the other was... timid? It was sort of ironic that she was being paired with such opposites like this. Pressing her lips together, she nodded hesitantly as the other two spoke. She didn't bother answer all those questions and gave no other acknowledgement to the others as they listed their quirks. It was only after she was sure they had both quieted down that Namie calmly responded.

"I can make a.. substance, I guess, that I can control." She wasn't really sure what it was. A fat? A fiber? It was something from her body but she didn't remember what it was since she never really concerned herself with it.

Rather than trying to blunder about explaining it, she raised her right hand and opened her palm upward. In the middle of her hand a pool of a very thick reddish pink liquid seeped out of her flesh and collected. "So it comes out as a liquid..." She started pausing as the substance started to harden slowly forming a rough spike. "Then I can freeze it to turn it into a solid. It always tries to form a spike like this, I guess. No idea." She shook her head as she rotated her wrist showing off the spike that clung to her palm. Then rolling her hand back to the original position, she heated the substance rapidly so that a pink steam accompanied by the hiss of boiling. "I can also heat it up and turn it into gas." She allowed the solid to entirely melt, returning to a liquid form for a brief moment before it boiled into a steam until any trace of it was gone.

In spite of the demonstration, Namie shrugged her shoulders. "I hope that helps." She was still unsure of how to properly strategize and approach this. She didn't really have a fighting style and even though she had ideas, they felt like they were incorrect. She wasn't sure how paper girl would fit in but maybe honey girl could trap others and Namie could wail on them since that was really the only thing she imagined would work.

---

@Heartfillia@Metastability

Tomka found himself taken aback by Steven's response. And people said he was outgoing and friendly! This Steven fellow was that and more. Tom couldn't help but be impressed with his attitude. And the way he spoke, too - it could be described as "high and mighty", but Tom didn't get the sense he was at any point being talked down to. That couldn't be an easy balance to strike, yet it seemed to come completely naturally to him. Or maybe he just practiced public speaking? Innate or practiced, it's a good skill for a hero to have.

Steven then put his attention on Dawn, drawing Tomka's attention to her as well. He mentioned her having a sharp wit and making "cutting remarks", making Tom a bit nervous, though he did his best to hide it behind a smile. She was probably the sassy, sarcastic type, he guessed. Sure enough, the first words out of her mouth around him involved a threat and name-calling. ...Well, at least she's funny. That could be good for our morale...right?

"Actually, I'm more about tearing down walls, generally speaking," Tomka said in answer to Dawn's question. He reached behind his back with his right hand and unhooked one of the large drills hanging from his belt, holding the perpendicular grip on it's underside so that it pointed parallel with his arm. "I call myself the Excavation Hero, Mr. Driller."

He demonstrated by spinning his hand using his wrist joint as the axis, spinning the drill along with it while I high-pitched whirring - somewhat like a power tool but a little more wet-sounding - filled the air. After a few seconds, he stopped the rotation, finished his demonstration. His free hand immediately found one of the bottles of skin moisturizer holstered on his left hip, and began applying some to the line separating his right hand from his forearm. "It's not just my hands, though - my qurik, Rotation, allows me to rotate any part of my body using my joints as axes. See all these lines across my body?"

He lifted his chin, helping them see the ones running down his neck, then raised his arms to make the ones going down his torso easier to see, then finally pulled up the left pantleg of his shorts a little to show off the ones on his knee and ankle. "Each one aligns with a joint, so basically any part of my body can be rotated. This makes me pretty decent in close combat, since I can hit from weird angles and twist around to avoid getting hit myself. And with my drills, I can get through a lot of more defensive quirks, and even tunnel underground for surprise attacks. But if I'm not careful, the friction of my segments rubbing against each other when they spin can make me chafe, or even bleed if it gets really bad, so I need to take some time every so often to moisturize. I might need you guys to cover for me if that happens."

Tomka smiled at both of them, feeling confident he covered everything either would need to know about his quirk and skill set. "So, any ideas on how we can use our skills together? If not, I was thinking I could keep our enemies' attention, maybe with the help of some tigers?" He looked to Dawn to guage her reaction, and in case she objected to it. "And that way our, uh..."bondage hero", eheh-- can focus on chaining them up while they're distracted, scoring us a quick win?"

---

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@Pirouette @Heartfillia

"Ohhh!" Melissa's eyes grew round behind her goggles. "You're quite the lucky one! So many possible applications! My Quirk is a substance production one too, but I can only do so much with it. Still, it has its uses..."

She held out her hand, blobs of golden liquid forming at the tips of her fingers. "It's pretty much honey, but it's sticky enough that if I fling large amounts at opponents, it can bind their feet to the ground or at least slow them down. Of course, I've got to be careful not to stick myself to things, or use up too many nutrients at once." Setting down her drink and taking a wipe from her bag, she cleaned her hand, deep in thought as she did so.

"Hey, you think we could combine our Quirks?" she asked Namie. "Depending what your liquid is made of, they might not be a perfect fit, but it could give you more to work with in a pinch! Oooh, and here's something we could try..." She gave Alex a wide grin. "Papier mache! Mixing paper with a suitable substance could open up a whole new range of options for you, and your Quirk is pretty versatile anyway! Either or both of us could help out there. If it's Namie, freezing it or partially drying it as you toughen the paper would make for some sturdy structures!"

Turning her attention back to Namie, she pulled a few bottles from her bag. "And if you need to top up on any nutrients before the test, I've got several homemade beverages here! Just let me know what you need. Alex, feel free to take some too!"

Hopefully Namie and Alex wouldn't get too weirded out by the ingredients on the labels, like some people did. What was wrong with banana and beetroot anyway?

---

---

@Nyahahameha

While most students simply advanced upon hearing their names, one boy leapt right up, over the crowd's heads. A group of his 1-B classmates moved aside as he landed, the springstilts jutting through his boots from his feet launching him into a smaller jump that brought him to his teammates.

"Hey! Watch where you're jumping!" somebody yelled.

The boy smirked, head high, arms folded across his leather jacket. "How about you watch where I'm jumping?" he replied, before turning back to the girls. He didn't know them, but he was sure he'd seen one of them around - anyone would remember that fluffy white hair. He sauntered closer, the springstilts tucked into his feet. "You're in luck girls, with me on your team, victory's gotta be a given! I mean you saw my Quirk just now, and just wait till you see my jump kicks! Call me Springheeled Jack - but don't ya worry, I'm not scary." A confident grin spread across his face. "Except to opponents!"

“it’s always a good time to speak the truth.” he said with a bigger smile seeing Keri turn slightly red. well at least for some things... thinking of the feminine voice in his head a few moments before. Not everyone needed to know about that.

He glanced around to the other teams. From those he knew it would seem it would be a tough match no matter who he teamed up against. However seeing a girl turn to water, he sure didn’t want to be teamed up against her. That would greatly limit his fighting ability having to worry about her.

Looking back he was shocked to see chi suddenly hugging Keri. While the look on her face was priceless he was also impressed how quick the guy moved. He might need to take some notes. First Freya and now keri.

However he smiled looking to how uncomfortable Keri was for the moment and got a brilliant idea. “Hugs? I love hugs! with out giving Keri a chance to wiggle or teleport away, he pulled both chi and Keri into a hug with his bear like arms.
excellent team building exercise!

---

A girl with long silky black hair that almost touched the ground as she walked sighed as she walked towards the students on her team. One of them she knew from class, who was always sleepy and could cause the rest of the class to be tired as well if they weren’t careful.

The other boy she didn’t know. While he was cute, he didn’t seem very nice almost jumping into people. After listening him speak it only added to his unsightly cockiness. She just hoped he would actually listen to what ever plan they had. And not go on his own.

Her face was not amused by his attempt at jokes. Being very calm on the outside herself, it would seem she completely ignored him. Readjusting her outfit she then said, I am Chiha keito, or the silk sword. My hair can become strong and sharp as a sword, but remain flexible. The more separate ones I create the harder it is to control and is taxing.

She allowed her hair to [url]harden[/url]and form into dozens of small ‘blades’. For a moment before allowing them to revert to their normal state.

I am also trained in kendo... she added with her gripping the handle of her wooden bokken at her side.

---

@Heartfillia@LuckyBlackCat

Aislyn had been standing in place, minding her own business, when out of seemingly nowhere a boy she hadn't seen before suddenly landed in front of her. Her slouching body - clad in puffy white cover-alls, a voilet under-shirt, soft white gloves, work boots, and a bulbous ring of material around her collar that looked as much like a cloud as her white hair did - shot upright, her nearly-closed blue eyes widening in surprise. She knew they were on teams, but hadn't really paid attention to the names called or faces shown. She could only assume then, that this guy was one of her team buddies? He went on to say as much. Cool.

Raising a hand to her mouth, Aislyn motioned to yawn, but made sure to hold her breath after the initial inhale - as long as she didn't exhale while doing it, she wouldn't make any sound, and thus her quirk wouldn't activate. A silent yawn was this dark-skinned girl's initial answer to Jack's boastful introduction.

"If victory is a given, does that mean I can take a nap?" she drawled after smacking her lips once. Her body had settled back into slouch mode, and her eyes became lidded once more. She smiled at her own half-jest, as well as the image of getting to have a nice nap that it conjured in her mind.

Her next group member, thankfully, seemed a lot more chill than Jacky-boy did. The strong, ice-cold woman with a heart of gold type, eh? "Yeah, I could pro'lly fall in love with you," Aislyn remarked aloud as she took in Chiha's long, well-kept hair and form-fitting outfit. She was definitely her type. She almost seemed too perfect, like she'd walked out of a cartoon. Wait, wasn't she in her class? Well, if she hadn't fallen in love with Chiha yet, it probably wasn't going to happen. Whatever, moving on.

"Since we're doing introductions, I'm, uhh...Aislyn. The sound of my yawns makes me drowsy. And other people, too. If my quirk activates, I'll fall asleep in five minutes. I can yawn again to make the time shorter, and then, uh...if, uh, when I fall asleep, everyone my quirk hit will, too. So, like...we should probably come up with a signal so you guys cover your ears before I do it. Oh! And, uh, my hero name is Mrs. Sandman. Or...I guess it should be "Ms." Sandman, but then, like...I don't want every Tom, Jack--" Her eyes shot back to Jack when she said his name. "--and Harry askin' me "Hur hur, how's the divorce going hur hur" so...yeah."

Aislyn fell silent, her eyes glazing over as she spaced out, waiting for something else to happen. Oh, right, they needed a signal. After a silence that was probably long enough for one of her teammates to have started speaking, Aislyn folded her hands into her under-arms, pretending to have wings, then flapped them while cawing out a loud, "CAK-A-DADDLE-DAAAAAAA!!! That's the signal. She had resumed her slouch and normal tone of voice the moment she was done demonstrating it for her teammates' benefit.

---

"Alright, time's up!"

Martenell's voice cut through the chatter and whispers. "And you'd better have made good use of it," she continued, leading everyone over to the sectioned cityscape. "Team One and Team Two, you'll face off against each other in section A. Teams Three and Four, to section B. Five and Six, to C. Seven and Eight, head to D..."

She gestured to various parts of the arena as she spoke, her scowl deepening at anyone who complained or dawdled. Dunwich, on the other hand, let her excitement burst loose like the tendrils that made a reappearance. "Well, UJ, here's the moment we've been waiting for!" she squealed as soon as Martenell finished calling out matchups. "I hope you're all as geared up as I am!" She held up a whistle in one hand and a megaphone in the other as she launched into another dance, each tendril gripping a pom-pom.

"Go teams! Go teams of three! Go teams! Classes A, B and C!" The chant filled the arena through the megaphone. "Go teams! Into the fray! And now let's get this underwaaaaaaaay!!" Clusters of spikes knifed out from the tips of her tendrils, ripping up the pom-poms, the pieces flying in all directions like fireworks as she blew the whistle.

Dusting glittery shreds off of her clothes, Martenell sighed. "Do you ever tone it down?" she muttered, sharp eyes turning from Dunwich to the screen that would show each recorded fight. Time to see what UJ's trainee heroes had learned.

"I-I wouldn't worry about...accidentally hurting us. I-I mean, not that you can't control yourself, b-but...I could store any crystals that might hurt me and Xiao...I-I mean Pow, can p-protect herself with her hands?" She suggested, looking to the red girl to see if that was case or not before looking back to Raymond. "I could try to restrain the target, then the both of you go a-all out?"

"OOH! Sounds like a plan!" XiaoPao replied, easily impressed by any sort of strategy, as she herself was someone who tended to brute force her way through obstacles. Soon, their opponents were determined, so XiaoPao went with ehr group to face off agaisnt the other group. Being only able to attend classes for the first time today, XiaoPao also didn't know who their opponents were, but she could see a somber-looking girl, someone who had cat-like features, and...WAS THAT A MEXICAN WRESTLER!?

Though XiaoPao wasn't a hardcore fan of luchadores, she knew of their existence and admired them, seeing them like the martial artists she grew up watching, but with a more super-heroic flair. XiaoPao visibly shook with excitement that someone like that was a classmate of hers. XiaoPao could barely concentrate, but she realized they didn't have much time to try to figure out how to deal with their opponents. Before she tried to strategize, she shouted across to the other group, "I'm looking forward to having a good match!" before turning to her teammates, "That one..." she said, pointing to Gabriella, "...will probably try to grab us. And that one..." she said, pointing at Freya, "...looks like a cat," she said, pointing out the obvious. Of course, what she meant by this was to expect cat-like speed, reflexes, proportional strength, and abilities, but as someone who was herself someone with an animal mutant quirk, she assumed she didn't need to elaborate.

---

---

Namie forced a smile but it really ended up making her look entirely unsure about everything in life. What was this girl talking about? Honey? Well not exactly honey but something like it mixing with her fiber goo? She couldn't even imagine the feeling of someone else's secretion on her like that, let alone controlling it. "..Uh..." She muttered but far to passively to interrupt the other girl's spree. It turned to making paper mache? What would that do and how would that work? Namie had no idea outside of just grasping her own power specifics. "...Well I guess I could..." She mumbled trailing off as she timidly scratched the back of her neck.

She raised her hand to motion for a 'no thanks' on the snack offer. "..Uh no I just really need fiber and I ate two cups of oatmeal before this so I think I should be fine." She put plainly but quickly added, "Thanks though." so she wouldn't appear ungrateful.

She wasn't really sure of herself in this capacity. Everything here was just so different but she had to trust her teammates and that was one thing she could understand. With the training exercise commencing, Namie clenched her fists finding some determination in herself now that she had a clear objective. "Alright, I'm ready. Tell me how you want this to go..."

---

---

Dawn pulled back a little when the guy's hand started spinning. Oh that...made her a little queasy. He continued explaining and mentioned how any part of his body could spin she looked away and closed her eyes and taking deep breaths. After he was done she quickly added, "ok ok ok dont do that infront of me... I'm grossed out by that." waving her hand infront of her to him. once it passed she sighed and added, "I cant make tigers they are too much at the moment, I can do bobcats though. or any other small animals to get up in their faces."

"Bobcats should work! Anything that can help me keep their attention off Steven," Thomas replied, his decision not to focus on her insensitive reaction to his quirk not helping him regain the smile he lost.

Squeezed tight in the group hug, Kerianne lapsed into silence, her cheeks as warm as the arms surrounding her and Chi. Knowing Renard, he probably wanted that exact reaction, just so he could tease her. At Martenell's announcement, however, she regained her composure as she headed with the others to section B.

Chi on the other hand let out a surprised laugh, his eyes squeezed shut and his nose scrunched up in amusement. He's never gotten a big hug like this, let alone a group hug that felt so warm. It was just the push he needed to follow Keri to their designated sector once they were set free from the taller blonde.

Renard was grinning ear to ear when he let Kerianne and Chi go. His goal complete he was in a really good mood. And with the team matchup he was very confident in their situation. Dawn wasn't much of a fighter, Steven he had an upper hand on with his own quirk. Though he didn't know the third guy.

"Well, there's no getting out of training with me this time," she said, with a pointed look at Dawn. Her knowledge of Dawn's strengths and weaknesses could be helpful here, but one opponent, the boy dressed like a construction worker, wasn't one she knew. She sized up the opposing team, glancing around to note the shadows every so often.

"Any training I get to shoot you in the face is not worth missing!" Giving Keri a large smug smile. While patting both her guns. Though... she was annoyed slightly, she would have to watch her quirk. Keri has used her babies glow to help her quirk before. She didn 't know about Renard...he was always such a nice guy. maybe she could use her womanly charm to distract him... Her smug smile turned into a smirk as her cheeks reddened at thought of him giving up with out a fight, claiming his undying love her for her. As she watched him from the corner of her eyes.

Renard followed, rotating his arms like a crank to get that little extra charge. It would seem their original plan wouldn't work as it seemed like they were just being plopped together at the start of it. He quickly said to Chi "Let me take on the other two, perhaps you could use us to sneak around to get a better spot to attack from behind?"

"Un, I'll look for a way around." Said healer whispered back in response, sizing up their opponents with a slight frown. While Steven and Dawn were formidable from what he could remember, the new guy worried Chisato. He'd need to be extra careful, like always.

The whistle trilled. Kerianne wasted no time, sprinting to a nearby building's shadow, fixing her stare on Steven. At the last split second, she shifted her attention to Thomas instead, vanishing and popping up next to him. A risky move, since she didn't know his Quirk, but hopefully it would throw off Steven enough for Renard to deal with him - and from here, she could keep an eye on her teammates, to carry out the plan when necessary.

Springing up from her crouch, she threw a punch.

Renard sprang into action as well, rushing towards the group, hoping to keep their eyes on him enough to help both Chi and Kerianne.

Dawn was stuck in her daydream and let out a little yelp as the whistle trilled. Her eyes wide as she saw Renard charging at them. She raised a hand and her glow grew more inense in the palm of it. Sudden a couple birds sprung forth and flew over to Renard trying to peck at his face and flap their wings to block his view. She knew he was the more dangerous one...though he might not hit her, him and stripper boy wouldn't be a good match. She decided to make a few more birds to go and bother both Kerianne and Chi.

At first, Chi had been following behind Keri, up until she disappeared, continuing on until he reached the coner of the building itself. Planting himself there for now, the pinkette watched as everyone moved, silver blue eyes darting to and fro. Kerianne went after the new guy, while Renard aimed for their opposing classmates. While that should've been enough for Chi to give the slip and possibly get behind them to act as a distraction, a familiar glow came his way in the form of some birds. He wasted no time sprinting along the perimeter of the wall out of sight in hopes of getting away and ultimately take the long way around the central fighting going on to get behind it all.

Tomka had started the fight much like Keri and Renard, running toward the opposite team. What he didn't expect was that one of them would suddenly teleport next to him. He whipped around in an attempt to strike first, but she cut him off with an uppercut thrown from crouching position. Tom was clocked in the underside of his jaw, his sandals leaving the ground as he was knocked backward into the air. He'd taken some blows like that before, though, so he knew how to hit the ground in a way that didn't leave him breathless. His hardhat absorbed the damage of his head hitting the pavement, too. From his position on the ground, he rotated his shoulder segment and hip segment in opposite directions, turning himself perpendicular to Keri, then rolled toward her, hoping to catch her by surprise and take her legs out from under her while she thought she had a moment.

Lack of knowledge of each other's Quirks may have worked in Kerianne's favour, but now it worked against her. Thomas' rotation and roll caught her off guard, bowling her over. Her reflexes from scuffles kicking in, she buckled her knees and twisted her body to land with minimal injury. Just as she made to stand up, several large, glowing birds flapped at her face.

Having successfully tripped Keri, Tomka stopped rolling just behind where she'd been standing and sprang into a crouching position facing her now prone body. He attempted to wrap his arms around her ankles and trap her legs under his arms. If Kerianne didn't struggle free, he'd be able to proceed with his plan.

Kerianne kicked about, trying to loosen Tom's grip. With a sweep of her arm, she pushed the birds from her face just long enough to glimpse a sign stand ahead. Pressing a hand to the ground, she plunged into Tom's shadow and reappeared by the board. As the birds closed in, she picked up the stand and knocked them away.

Across the arena, she spotted Chi disappearing behind a building, similarly pursued. Gritting her teeth, she rushed to a nearby lamppost. The glow of Dawn's creations extended its shadow, which she wasted no time teleporting through to the building's side, the board still gripped in her other hand. She straightened her posture with a slight stumble, a reminder that she'd have to pace her Quirk uses better. Hoping nobody had noticed the side effect setting in, she ran at the birds, raising the board with both hands and whacking them aside. If she held them off, it would buy Chi enough time to go through with his plan.

Chi didn't seem all that surprised when Kerianne suddenly appeared with a board to smack down the pesky birds coming his way. Before he completely blitzed away from the scene however, the boy gave her a hard look, one of warning. He gave her that vial for a reason, she needed to use it, even if she didn't feel it necessary.

Tomka gritted his teeth, a bit frustrated with this teleporting quirk he had to deal with. But he was pretty sure he knew part of how it worked at least, having watched Kerianne reach for his shadow and seem to get sucked into it, pulling her right out of his grip. She used shadows of object and people as warp points, it seemed. Maybe if one of Dawn's light animals stayed near him, it would make it harder for her to use her quirk to escape him next time, since all the shadows would be cast away from where he was fighting her?

Putting that idea into the back of his mind, he stood up and took stock of everyone else's position. The shadow warper had moved to grab a weapon and take out some of Dawn's birds, then moved somewhere else. He couldn't see either of them now. They were probably hiding in or behind one of the buildings, he guessed, not looking behind to his own team. That left Renard, who had rushed forward like Tom did at the beginning and was engaged by Steven from a distance using his chains. Tomka didn't see what happened, but Steven appeared to be down and out, at least for the time being. Was Renard that dangerous? Regardless, with Steven down, Renard would have a straight shot at Dawn, who didn't seem like she'd be great in close quarters. Best to intercept before this 3-on-3 became a 3-on-1.

Tomka reached behind him and grabbed one of his drills. He spun his right wrist and bent his knees while swinging his arm in a low arc from back to front, drilling through the pavement beside him at an angle and breaking chunks of the stone-hard substance away. He then swung his arm up, flinging a fistful of head-sized stones toward Renard with little precision, hoping the buckshot would do some damage.

By this time, the pinkette had reached the other side of the building, and thus was behind the other team. He took a moment to calm his breathing, glancing from Tomka, to Steven, and lastly Dawn. Chi knew his strengths and out of other team, Dawn was only one he had some chance at holding back, if only for a few minutes. So, he ended up going for it. Quick, almost soundless steps approached Dawn from behind, Chi bounding towards her swiftly and quietly.

"Boo!" As soon as he found himself close enough, the boy clad in white wrapped his arms around the girl's body, almost emulating the bear hug Renard gave him and Keri earlier. Having no intent of letting go, Chi locked his hands together, gripping his own wrists in hopes to keep Dawn from potentially struggling out of his grasp while also stepping backwards, wanting to create some distance between not only Dawn's teammates, but his own as well.

---

Araraki Kaori ~ Noxious

---

@Nyahahameha @Stern Algorithm @KaijuBaragon @pkken @Riegal @Pirouette

For all the banter around her, Noxious entered with her usual purposeful silence. She cast her icy stare around the room, at the familiar faces and her new recruits alike. Some of the League members, she hadn't seen or heard from in a while, and sure enough they still hadn't shown up. With the task ahead, though, she had no time for flakes, and he certainly didn't either.

She only spoke once she took her place at the back of the room. "You may be wondering about the choice of arena," she said, the device in her mask amplifying her voice. In truth, the location hadn't been her decision, but she wasn't letting that on. "Since we caught a fair amount of attention, the authorities will be on our trail for quite some time. Luckily, we have a network of hideouts to move between, so we can keep throwing them off, with the appropriate precautions of course." She swept a gloved hand at the people around the hall, including the one she'd tasked with keeping all sound to the inside. "And such carelessness had better not happen again." Her glare fell on Sana.

It all made sense, she supposed. If anyone who'd turned out not to have the stomach for this got caught and betrayed the league's whereabouts, they had options besides Alcatraz, which admittedly would remain their main base of operation. "Anyway," she continued, "our mission still stands, which is the other reason why we're here." Her eyes flicked around the spacious area. "The perfect place for me to see what all of you are capable of. If we're to bring down UJ, and the top three heroes with it, we'll need to be prepared. And alive, may I add, so don't any of you get too carried away."

She'd join in with the training, if she could, but that wasn't to be her task for today. Not because of the lethal nature of her Quirk - she could fight with purely her physical skills while covered up in heavy clothing - but because somebody needed to assess the others. "You'll be fighting one on one. Marionetta versus Ushi-Oni, Corvus versus Hades, Animus versus Dealer..."

Once she'd called out each match-up, she moved back to give them more space, although her poise and tone remained just as commanding. "Take your places and start."

@LuckyBlackCat @Nyahahameha @KaijuBaragon @pkken @Riegal @Pirouette

Shifumi rubbed the back of her head in mild exasperation; she had come dressed to impress, not dressed to fight, and didn't bring her armor with her. Still, she kept her misgivings to herself; it would be unseemly to complain since she was the one who was under-prepared. She moved to stand off against the one known as Marionetta. Though Marionetta was also well-dressed, Shifumi doubted that Marionette's choice of clothes impeded her ability to fight, since her outfit went far beyond what normal people would wear, indicating that it was her villain costume, and more than just posh, ladylike clothing.

"I know that we're supposed to show what we're capable of, but I make it a point not to hurt my comrades except as punishment," Shifumi declared. She wasn't boasting or assuming that she even could successfully hurt her opponent, but she had to state her intention, and if Marionetta took it the wrong way, it would allow Shifumi to see what kind of person she was. "If at any point you need to stop or ask for a reset, just say so. But know that I will not show this kind of mercy to my actual enemies, nor will I forgive you if you choose to take advantage of my clemency." With that, Shifumi raised her fists and took a boxer's stance, waiting to see if Marionetta would make the first move or not.

Molly also took up position once her training partner had been announced. Ushi-Oni was her favourite of the newcomers hands-down, she was happy to get to do this with her. Conversely, niether Hades nor Dealer had made a particularly good impression, and she felt a little bad her two other favourites were going to have to deal with them. As she stood across from Ushi-Oni, listening to her state her intentions clearly, Marionetta's smile widened. She really was as charming as she looked!

In response, Molly used her threads, unseen and stuck to the ceiling above them both, to lift her arms, while a few of the threads from her hands wormed their way into the white sash around her waist. From Shifumi's viewpoint, a pair of large, wooden knives levitated out from the sash and into Marionetta's palms, pointed downward as her fingers wrapped around the handles. "In that case, I'll extend the same courtesies to you. Apologies for bringing weapons to a fistfight, but I don't quite have the musculature for martial arts..."

Marionetta turned her wrists, pointing the knives upward as she dashed forward, heels clacking on concrete as she bent forward with her arms outstretched. She approached Ushi-Oni, her body still lowering closer to the floor. By the time she was within range to attack, her body was so low she might as well have been laying down, her feet still planted on the ground despite her body being at an almost 180 degree angle. Her arms shot up over her head and her body suddenly swung itself upright, the tips of the wooden knives aimed right between Ushi-Oni's legs - Marionetta, for all her ladylike demeanour, was not above hitting below the belt.

Shifumi cursed herself in her head as she noticed Molly pull out two, albeit wooden, knives. This was why she wore armor; she had raw strength, but her skin was no stronger than a quirkless human's skin, perhaps even more sensitive due to the self-induced chronic inflammation. But more than the knives, it was Molly's attack trajectory that really took Shifumi by surprise. When the knives floated out of Molly's pockets, Shifumi assumed some sort of telekinesis quirk, but if that were the case, then Molly didn't need to literally fling herself like a ragdoll at Shifumi. Fortunately, Shifumi had taken a boxer's stance and managed to sidestep the lunge in time not to get stabbed. Shifumi considered kicking Molly; the only part of Shifumi's body that was currently 'armored' was her foot, since her leather shoes were the hardest part of her ensemble. Given Molly's frame, Shifumi didn't want to start her time with the League with the stigma of having broken a comrade's bones, but when someone was trying to stab you in the grundle, it was sort of a no-holds-barred situation. Shifumi thrust her foot forward in a front kick aimed at Molly's midsection, but given Molly's atypical movement patterns, Shifumi fully expected her opponent to be more slippery than expected, and upon pulling back her kick, hopped back a few explosive jumps to make distance between them. Being in a warehouse, Shifumi scanned for heavy objects, crates, car parts, anything that she could throw or wield so that she could apply her strength from range. Seeing a three-foot long wrench, Shifumi picked it up effortlessly and chucked it at Molly, sending the wrench spinning through the air.

Indeed, Marionetta was just too slippery for the kick to land; her body bent sideways at the waist with her planted feet and raised hands not moving, seeming to curve around Ushi-Oni's foot thrust the way play-dough curves around a finger pressed into it. She straightened back out when Ushi-Oni pulled her foot back, but wasn't quite quick enough to counter before Ushi-Oni got out of melee range. Molly planned to give chase, but stopped herself at the sight of Ushi-Oni taking her eyes off of her in favour of exploring her surroundings. Molly instantly anticipated she was planning to use her surroundings somehow, which would undoubtedly make for a better show for Noxious, especially if she could thwart the attempt. It only took her opponent a second to decide what to use, and Molly's vision was locked on a large, steel wrench heading right toward her.

Her left arm fell to her side as the threads being used to support it were redirected into the path of the oncoming tool. At the same time, Molly held her right arm forward, fingers splayed as if channeling some power through it - the knife she'd been holding with that hand now left suspended in midair by a thread. Just before it struck her, the spinning wrench stopped. At the same moment, a soft twang sounded from near Molly, and the assured, relaxed smile that seemed a permanent fixure of her face faded for only the briefest moment as she resisted a wince from the pain of one of her threads snapping from the force the wrench had behind it. Depending on how good her senses were, Ushi-Oni might not catch one or both of those events from that distance away.

"I know I just did a melee attack, but did you forget the sight of my knives floating out of my dress? I meant it as a clue, darling, as to the nature of my quirk..."

The fingers of Molly's right hand closed into a fist, then flicked open with force. At the same time, the invisible threads holding the wrench tensed, slingshotting the object back at Ushi-Oni with just as much force as she'd used to throw it. "I'm telekinetic! Physical projectiles won't work!"

To follow up, Molly raised her left arm and threw her left hand's knife, followed by the one suspended to her right at Ushi-Oni as well, both aimed to the same side of the wrench, as Molly anticipated Ushi to dodge that way based on the hand she'd used to throw the wrench.

Though Shifumi didn't notice the twang, the slight fading of Molly's smile and the amount of time it took for the wrench to stop moving was information Shifumi could use. The fact that the wrench didn't stop immediately indicated that Molly wasn't a 'perfect' telekinetic; inertia still mattered, and inertia was a property of mass. Given the mass of the wrench, there was some 'windup' time before Molly was able to throw it back at Shifumi, giving Shifumi the opportunity to dodge it. But Shifumi was unable to anticipate the knives, and was only able to slightly turn her body at the last moment to prevent her vitals from getting hit, as one knife embedded itself into her shoulder and the other into her calf.

"FUCK!" Shifumi called out in pain. Fortunately, the knives were wooden, and therefore not as sharp as steel, so they couldn't penetrate as deeply, and this wasn't Shifumi's first knife fight. Pulling the knives out, she stabbed them between the wooden slats of some nearby crates, lodging them in, and making them harder to retrieve. She had considered smashing them on the ground to shatter them, but wondered if these were handcrafted. If so, Shifumi didn't want to destroy her future ally's precious handiwork. Dark, diseased-looking blood oozed from Shifumi's wounds. Though she wasn't wearing her signature armor, she remembered that her costume had a cape for a reason. Reaching for the buttons of the coat of her nice suit, she ripped the coat off, Superman-style, causing buttons to fly about. Holding the coat in one hand in front oher like a bullfighter, Shifumi hoped to obscure her own silhouette from Molly, making it more difficult for Molly to aim ranged attacks at her, while sidling around towards some more piles of junk.

"Well-played, but you're not telekinetic," Shifumi taunted, before reaching around to grab a dismantled engine block, significantly larger and heavier than the wrench she had first thrown, and chucked it at Molly, wondering if her quirk, whatever it was, had the power to stop something this massive.

By no means did Molly have the strength in her muscles to lift something like that, much less stop its momentum toward her. Ushi-Oni clearly had strength to spare. Luckily, Molly had no need to do so - she avoided the engine block by detaching all of the threads holding her upright from their anchor points in the ceiling, causing her body to collapse into a jumbled heap on the floor, the engine block passing overhead and hitting the ground behind her with a loud clatter.

Deciding there was no point in continuing to try to decieve Ushi-Oni about the nature of her quirk, Molly decided to change how she was using her threads for a bit, and try something fun. Ushi-Oni would be able to see something begin to form from the top of Molly's head and begin extending upward as she weaved her threads together, layering them like the muscle fibers they were. The now inch thick weave, tinted reddish in the light, reached up to the ceiling and latched onto one of the rafters, pulling Molly up by her head, leaving the rest of her slack. She looked no worse for wear having had her body crumple the way it did, owing to the flexibility of her body.

"Awww, what gave it away? It was the name, wasn't it? "Marionetta" is admittedly a little on-the-nose," Molly said, counting on her gentle voice to keep Ushi's attention for a moment. The threads from Molly's arms and legs were still unseen, moving to latch onto the heavy junk and crates Ushi-Oni was standing in front of. "After we're done, maybe you'd be kind enough to workshop a new one with me? If "Ushi-Oni" is any indication, you've a knack for wordplay that would assist me greatly."

"It was actually the momentum," Shifumi explained, "The few telekinetics I've met can stop a projectile dead in its tracks. The fact that the wrench had to decelerate made me think it was something different. As for the name, it actually hadn't crossed my mind until you pointed it out. But on-the-nose is good. While appearances are important, nobody should try too hard to be something they're not. Like, I understand when you need to send a message, but we're not heroes, we're not here to change society, just profit off of it." It seemed as if Shifumi was questioning the way villains operated. "Still, I'm curious about the League, but deep down, I'll always be a mobster."

Assuming her words had succeeded in keeping Ushi-Oni's attention and stopped her from making any more moves, Molly immediately followed her request for assistance with the weaving of the threads that had latched onto things behind Ushi, creating four inch-thick weaves, two on each side of Ushi-Oni. She wouldn't be able to move either direction without getting tangled in them. With her threads woven together, Molly could move her limbs by contracting her muscles in specific ways, allowing her to adopt a dynamic pose with her right leg raised and her torso twisted so that her right arm extend forward even though it was behind her back, looking like she was rearing up an over-the-top haymaker punch. She then used the four weaves to pull herself toward Ushi-Oni at high speed, now thrusting her right fist forward.

"Ah you okay?!"

If her fist connected with Ushi-Oni, the threads of her right hand and its fingers would latch onto Ushi's face and weave together as Molly raised her right fist over her head. Then, in one motion, her arm's weave would pull her fist down, while her hand's weave would pull Ushi-Oni's face into her fist, creating a hard collision while Molly's left hand held her right forearm to brace it for the impact.

"Bustah Wowf!!!"

---

---

Erika sighed at the larger girls idea. Honestly she thought it was weird and stupid. Who the hell thinks up 'I'm going to put both of you on my shoulders and run around.' like seriously? She put her hand up to her face and rubbed her temples with her thumb and middle finger. "We are so going to lose..." she said with a deadpan voice while allowing her hand to flop to her side when Freya liked the idea as well. "WE WILL DO IT!" Happy dusk suddenly said popping out from behind her. "Ohmygod shut up Dusk." Erika growled immadiatly after wincing at the sudden shout in her ear.

She looked to Freya and addded, "I can switch between offensive or defensive pretty easily as long as HappyDusk isnt stretched too thin or running out of energy." Looking to gabby she quickly ended with. "Lets just get this over with. if nothing else we will win the weirdest idea award...which is impressive...Usually Momo is the queen of that."

Raymond nodded in response to pows question, "yea i can make armor out of my crystals too and not just for myself either" the boy then turned to Breeze who said that he shouldnt worry about accidently hurting her. He gave her a questionable look in response as to why she would ask that, she said she could absorb the crystals but she wasnt too confident in her ability to do so and neither was Raymond. "Its fine, I don't want to risk injuring you guys. Its my own inablity hindering me, i would rather not inconvenience anyone else...but just maybe" he said placing a hand on his chin.

It was during that brief moment of thought that the group lots were told and the weren’t lined up against one of the stronger teams. It just had to be an all girl team huh? Maybe if they were actual villains it would be different but he was pretty cool with Grabby and Freya. Erika on the other hand he hadn’t had much of the liberty of talking to her just yet. He turned back to Pow and Breeze, “this won’t be easy guys but we can definitely win if we play our cards right and give it our best shot” he smirked, he then turned to Breeze. “I might have an idea, but I’m going to need to borrow that wooden knife, umbrella, and metal chain.”

"S-Sure thing...u-uhm, I'll hold onto them for now, just tell me when you need th-them..." Breeze surprisingly enough looked even more petrified than normal when it came to the team they'd be going against. Freya and Gabby were nice enough, b-but that Erika girl make the green haired girl want to hide away for the rest of her life. Would they really be able to handle this? Pow seemed excited enough, and even seemed to like her idea...maybe she should take a page out of her book... And Raymond had faith in them that hey'd win if they gave it their best. Breeze would try not to let either of them down.

Section A of the divided up cityscape was to house their team's fight against Team 2. Gabby was the first of Team 1 to step into the area, not necessarily because she was the leader, but because she was definitely the most excited person on her team. Taking starting position on the open asphalt, she waited for the whine of the starting whistle. The moment it sounded, Gabby took a knee and lowered her hands onto the ground, palms up, giving her teammates purchase to climb onto her shoulders, Freya on her right, and Erika on her left.

"Yep, same!" Freya called across the arena to XiaoPao, even though her stomach flipped at the sound of the whistle. There was no choice but to do what she could. She quickly climbed onto Gabby's shoulder, taking a seated position and studying the other team - not that it helped. Fighting a good friend like Raymond would be awkward, and Breeze showed every sign of being even more nervous than she was. Erika's little comment about losing didn't exactly help morale either. At least Gabby and XiaoPao displayed equal enthusiasm.

Once they were in place, Gabby stood, her elbows bent and hands raised to keep the two girl's steady, giving them each a hand to hold for extra stability. They'd all need a bit to adjust to the setup, being their first time doing it, so Gabby took slow, powerful steps toward the other team rather than rushing, the grin spreading beneath the cutoff of her wrestling mask telling Team 2 all they'd need to know about what they were in for.

With every step Erika winced in embarrassment. She felt like she was gunna die of embarrasment. "Kill me now..." She said mostly to herself as she willed Dusk to form into three balls of mist like she used against that annoying Chinese dude...yang...or chi...what ever.

The group then made their way over to the battlefield in which pow gave her greeting to the other team. Raymond hoped for a good match as well, once the whistle sounded the opposing team spent no time in preparing. Raymond observes as Gabby picked both Freya and Erika up on her shoulders before running over. “Sheesh I wonder how much she benched” he said preparing himself for combat, their battle stance wasn’t very stable but that couldn’t be all to there is to their plan.

“Pow, the one to be wary the most of is the black hairs girl with the horns, we have to keep an eye on her at all times. Their battle plan is surely a plot for something greater” he said as he braces for the other team to clash.

Breeze on the other hand kept an especially close eye on Raymond, waiting for the right moment to take out the items he requested. Doing it too early would give the other team an idea of the plan and too late would just be pointless. She moved slightly away from her other teammates, sprinting in an arc around the other team in attempts to get behind them.

Upon seeing Gabriella carrying her teammates, XiaoPao began pointing and gawking, thinking that her opponents' formation was the coolest thing ever, and excidtedly said, "They combined! THEY COMBINED! AMAZING!" XiaoPao looked excitedly at her teammates, wondering if they could do the same thing. Sure, she maybe had the strength to lift them on her shoulders, but she at least had the self-awareness to realize that strength alone wasn't enough; size and physique still mattered and balancing two people larger than her above her shoulders was not a tenable situation.

"Freya, ready?" Gabriella aked, having reached the halfway point between their team and Team 2, leaving a gap of about ten yards, maybe a little less, between the two.

With a nod, Freya signalled that she was - well, as ready as she could be. "Yup, fire the cat-apult!" she whispered to Gabby, thinking of Renard's cheesy puns and the way they always lifted the mood. No matter how nerve-racking this was, she'd take his example and at least try to bolster people's spirits, including her own.

God no...was she stuck in some kinda Anime Momo watched? Cat-apult? Cheesy before battle one liners? "No just no..." she said looking at Freya before she was launched.

Once she had confirmation, Gabby released her grip on Freya's hand and turned her arm forward at the shoulder to cup her hand under Freya's feet. She bounced Freya into the air, then repositioned her arm over her own head as the momentum from the bounce tilted Freya backward a little. Then, taking a step forward, Gabby placed her hand on Freya's back and thrust forward while creating a repulsion from her palm, firing Freya feet-first at Breeze like a bullet, intending to intercept her. A weakness of their formation was that they could easily be surrounded, so some effort had to be made to delay that from happening.

Though Raymond had requested items from Breeze, XiaoPao wasn't exactly sure what the plan was, but she knew Breeze would try to restrain their opponents, making Breeze key to their strategy. So seeing Gabriella launch Freya towards Breeze spurred XiaoPao to action. XiaoPao slammed her tail into the ground, giving herself a boost and launching herself forward to intercept Freya to prevent the cat from doing whatever it was she planned to do to Breeze. XiaoPao knew about cats and dogs, cats and mice, cats and birds, and cats and fish, but a battle between cat and shrimp was an unprecedented matchup. "Finally! A worthy opponent!" XiaoPao thought to herself, "Our battle will be legendary!"

Just as Freya's attack was about to hit home, XiaoPao hurtled at her in a blur and knocked her aside. With a strained yowl as the strike forced the breath from her lungs, she twisted in midair, landing on her feet and panting. Well, this threw a wrench into the plan - she hadn't counted on someone to block the formation's moves with speed and strength alike.

She crouched and pounced to tackle XiaoPao. With any luck, it would stagger her opponent enough that she could climb back onto Gabby's shoulder. Then again, luck seemed to rarely be on her side.

Gabby winced at the blow Freya took, guilt forming a pit in her gut at having underestimated the opposing team. She should have judged the situation better. Instead, she got too eager and now Freya was in a bad position. But Gabby couldn't run to her aid - she had to keep to her role, and as long as she still had Erika to keep safe, she couldn't make any other risky plays. She had to trust Freya would be able to get back to her using her own speed.

With out a word after Freya's attack was blocked, she allowed two of the orbs to fall behind Gabriella using her to somewhat cover her attack. Making her last orb split into three as well. (Though slightly smaller.) Hopefully it would be enough to fool them while the two she allowed to drop got into position a second later. When they were, they shot out quickly from either side of Gabriella's knees towards both shrimp and butler, Fast and low. She didn't see the other girl as a threat yet. Having seen her spar with that goodie two shoes blonde from her class.

XiaoPao braced herself just in time for Freya's pounce to not throw her off-balance. Though XiaoPao's tail granted her an explosive leap that she could translate into an explosive sprint, at close quarters, Freya was clearly the more agile of the two animal quirks, and if XiaoPao wanted an advantage, she needed to stop Freya's movements somehow, most likely through grappling. This caused XiaoPao a conundrum; her claws were strong, and she could use them for fine manipulation, but in the heat of battle, it might be hard to control her grip strength, and she didn't want to cause pain, or heaven forbid, break Freya's bones. This indecision caused XiaoPao's next few attacks to be fairly weak claw lunges as she attempted to daintily grab Freya, but to no avail, as the catgirl was simply too nimble for her. Distracted by this one-on-one, XiaoPao was competely taken by surprise as the low-flying orb released by Erika struck XiaoPao in the knee, causing her to buckle and fall to a kneeling position before Freya.

Gabby's eyes narrowed, her mind racing at the sight of Erika's attack landing and putting XiaoPao in a vulnerable state. Had she the ability, Gabby would have rushed over and capitalized on that opening to land a heavy blow. Gabby was certain that Freya wouldn't be able to land a decisive blow with her own strength. Sure, Freya could do some damage, but if they could get XiaoPao out of the way early, the other team would have to fight without their heaviest hitter.

As XiaoPao fell to her knees, Freya considered running back to Gabby. From that position, though, XiaoPao would easily be able to launch herself with her tail and intercept her again. Right now, she had to keep her distracted, so Erika and Gabby could make their next move. And if that move involved getting close, so XiaoPao would only be able to do so much not just against her, but the three of them...

She scampered round to the shrimp girl's side and pushed off of the ground as hard as she could for another pounce. If she could knock her from her already unbalanced stance, in Gabby's direction, and hold her down long enough, that could give her teammates the chance they needed.

Gabby couldn't get to XiaoPao...but what if Freya could get XiaoPao to her? As soon as the idea struck, Gabby held out her free right hand, open and ready to catch. "Freya!!! Throw her here!" It might have been a long shot, but Freya wasn't a weakling, and XiaoPao was rather on the small side. She might be able to find a way!

Things were not looking good. Breeze knew she should've kept running, it'd give her a moment to figure out what she should do in this situation. Although Pow did save her skin, she was quickly getting overwhelmed. She...she needed to help!

Removing one of the two wooden knives from her skin, Breeze held the weapon with two fingers before throwing it towards Freya as a means of distraction, all the while rushing into a sprint. Pushing off the ground in a similar manner to the cat girl, Breeze instead shot her feet out first, catapulting over her lobster companion and colliding straight with the opponent. With every intention to take the both of them to ground, Breeze locked her legs around Freya, and as an added weight, let herself fall.

"Pow, g-go!" She shouted once she could.

Well, so much for not getting intercepted again. Before Freya could reach XiaoPao and attempt to haul her to Gabby, a wooden knife hit her side. "Mreow!" She curled up in midair. The next impact - a kick from Breeze - sent her veering off course. Legs wrapped around her, and both combatants plummeted. Given the disproportionate weight for Breeze's small frame, she had to be storing quite a number of items.

Just before hitting the ground, all Freya could do was twist, hoping to shift the balance and use that storage weight against Breeze.

Raymond observes the girls fighting tooth and nail in amazement, he was more impressed with Breeze who was showing a bit of bravado. Not only that but his teammates managed to create an opening for him. "Guess its my turn to step up" the boy said whiping his nose with his thumb. The boy took a atep forwwrd but was intercepted by some sort of orb that managed to nick him in the leg. it stung but Raymond didn't want them to know that it hurt him. Combat was not only a physical conteat but a mental one. Once the boy was within rangw to use his quirk effectively he took in a deep breath and activated his quirk. Raymond planted his right foot hard into the ground and from he location of impact a wave of crystals exploded out towaeds Gabby and Erika growing in size thet soon would tower the two.

"No hard feelings ladies!" he shouted

Raymond was able to create an attack with a wide area of effect. Avoiding taking damage would have been difficult...for anyone but Gabby. "Erika, wrap arms around Gabby's neck. We're taking off."

After a moment to let Erika prepare, Raymond's wall of crystals beginning to tower over them as they approached, Gabby crouched down low, placing both palms on the ground while keeping her bare feet planted firm. She took a deep breath, focusing both her muscles and her mind, then, in one motion, generated powerful repulsions from her palms, pushed off with her legs, and produced even more powerful repulsions from her soles. She and Erika instantly rocketed upward into the air, high enough to clear Raymond's wall of crystals, but not so high that landing would be an issue. Indeed, despite the amount of power used in Gabby's repulsions, they were controlled, calculated - Gabby had only generated what was needed, having in that one moment accounted for Erika's added weight, estimated the height of Raymond's crystal wall based on the rate it was growing, and accurately produced enough force to just make it over the crystals as they formed beneath.

Gabby landed atop the crystal wall, giving her a great view of the battlefield. Having only had a brief moment to asses Freya's condition before Raymond's attack, she could now more clearly see that she was being prevented from regrouping. Raymond might have the most destructive quirk of their three opponents, so it would make sense to capitalize on avoiding an attack he didn't expect would be avoided, but that would mean abandoning their strategy before it had fully bore fruit. Retrieving Freya should be the top priority, Gabby decided.

"I'll get us near Freya. Prepare to attack the person pinning her. I'll defend against Pow if need be." Gabby instructed, hoping against hope that Erika would accomodate her taking charge in the situation. She seemed to have earned the dark girl's respect, having been referred to as their "win condition", but Gabby couldn't quite shake the image of Erika being a disagreeable person out of her mind. Regardless, Gabby attempted preparation for the drop by pulling Erika up over her head by her arms. If Erika allowed herself to be repositioned, she'd find herself being bridal carried in Gabby's arms.

Gabby then took a running leap off Raymond's crystal structure, giving herself enough momentum that they'd close the distance to Freya's location as they fell. They'd spent a few seconds falling, during which Erika would hopefully have enough time to ready an attack like she had before. Then, upon landing about 5 feet away from where Breeze had Freya pinned, Gabby produced a medium repulsion from her feet while her outstretched legs bent, her momentum combining with the repulsion to create a loud crashing noise while cracking the asphalt beneath her. She folded around Erika into a tuck and roll to avoid harm from the fall - the reason the bridal carry was necessary, then un-tucked and made sure she was facing Breeze and Freya so Erika could attack.

"Th-thanks, Breeze!" XiaoPao said as Breeze gave her an opportunity to recover and avoid getting overwhelmed by Freya. XiaoPao looked on in awe as Raymond summoned a massive wall of crystal. However, Gabby was able t oclear the wall of crystal, but XiaoPao realized something, as long as Gabby protected Erika, the two remained together as one unit, and if XiaoPao could engage with Gabby, she might be able to keep both of them occupied. "Raymond!" XiaoPao called out, "Freeze me!" XiaoPao then tail-sprinted towards Gabby, who still held Erika, and attempted to grapple with the luchadora. The intent was to keep both of the occupied and unable to escape another wave of crystal from Raymond. If Raymond could successfully encase XiaoPao, Gabby, and Erika in crystal, then the rest of the fight would be Raymond and Breeze versus Freya, which would hopefully give XiaoPao's team the advantage.

Breeze knew full well that letting herself fall could lead to some potential damage to herself, but when Freya twisted her body and disrupted where her center of gravity had initially been, the green haired girl could only let out a choked cry when her back hit the ground first followed by her head. She was almost seeing stars with how awkwardly she fell, but that didn't stop her from keeping her legs wrapped tightly around Freya's waist. The sound of Raymond's crystals forming, the crashing and rumbling of Gabby's quirk, XiaoPao's words of appreciation and seedlings of a plan coming to fruition...Breeze had been listening but was all the more focused on keeping Freya busy. This...this was probably the only thing she could do in this fight. She had to preform good...not only for her team's sake, but herself as well. The dread that crawled up her spine at the thought of ruining this only seemed to make her tighten her hold on Freya, the fear completely overriding her thoughts.

With a swift motion, Breeze whipped out her second wooden knife from her skin and aimed a hard swipe near Freya's neck in attempts to knock her out. Once less person to worry about, the better.

Freya winced at Breeze's cry. She hadn't hit the ground a little too hard, had she? Nonetheless, Breeze's hold tightened, reminding Freya she had to keep fighting. Especially with her allies in trouble. "Gabby! Watch out!" she wheezed, flailing and twisting as the shrimp-like blur sped over. Freya's hand brushed against something on the ground, but right as she curled her torso and made a wild grab, the tip of a second knife struck the side of her head.

Thanks to her lunge - or the closest to such she could manage - the full blow hadn't hit, but lights danced in front of her vision. Through them, in the corner of her eye, the item's shape swam. The first wooden blade, probably knocked closer by Gabby's mini earthquake. It was no easy feat in her current state and position, but she reached out, extending her claws and only just hooking them into the handle's end. Once she'd pulled the knife firmly into her grip, she made a swift, if disoriented swing at Breeze's legs. At the same time, she pressed a foot and her other hand against the ground, trying to right herself.