[IC] ♦ A New Era ♦ - A My Hero Academia RP

[Stale Pizza]

Flying Ace

Amane Kishimoto

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He stared directly at Takeshi for 5 seconds, following the boys breathing pattern. To the Samurai, it seemed as though the man was sitting still but really he had already begun his attack, and before Takeshi could realize it, he had already targeted the boy’s nerves on his left arm. Takeshi watched as the others attacked around each other. It was an impressive sight to see; Amane showed his skills and knew instantly that he was related to the headmaster. He seemed extremely well trained in both Quirk ability and physical technique. But there was something off about him still…

As Master Croc spoke, confirming his own thoughts, he turned to Takeshi. Somehow Takeshi thought he was paying attention, but he felt slightly confused for a moment. Suddenly, Master Croc was in his face and already landed two attacks on him, rendering his left arm limp. His mind and body finally connected as he went to raise his blade to block the final hit.

Hatori herself was just out of the way when the pro hero decided to get...more dangerous. She almost missed it, but near instantly Master Croc dashed right in front of Takeshi before landing two solid blows onto his arm, temporarily paralyzing it. She instinctively stepped back too, simply to get out of the Croc’s range before she could think of something to do. When the pilot girl was just out of range, it seemed like Takeshi was done for, but...

As the third blow descended there was the faintest flicker of something in the air - a momentary flash like the glint of sunlight off of metal. At the same moment, a brilliant burst of green erupted suddenly from Takeshi’s shadow as emerald sparks began to trail from flowing golden hair, a darkened visor lit up with a matching flash of light, and a voice cried out in warning.

“Mr. Samurai, dodge to your right!”

The shimmering air suddenly seemed to condense and harden, and with a loud crash, a steel girder suddenly slammed down vertically into the pavement directly between Takeshi and Master Croc. A dull clang reverberated through the air as his finishing blow was blocked completely by this unexpected barrier, and the girder began to teeter precariously, slowly tipping backwards like a falling tree. However, in that moment, it completely cut off his view of his target, casting a long shadow backwards over the samurai’s position. In the next instant, once more, four bolts of condensed shadows streaked out from behind the pillar, aiming to bind Master Croc just like before. At the same exact moment, Takeshi himself darted out on the pillar’s right side, bringing up a strike with the flat of his blade towards his opponent’s throat, just as the girl had commanded.

With a toothy grin, the croc knew it was over for the boy…or was it? In an instant a metal beam crashed right in between the two taking the blow for the lucky guy. The sound of his claws striking the metal rang through and the pros eyes widened, where the hell did this thing come from? Last time he checked this was the suburban training grounds not the construction site. The force of his attack tipped the metal beam and obstructed his view which got the pro even more excited. He underestimated these kids but they proved to be above the average group, each showing exceptional ability and control . Soon the same bindings from earlier can out from each direction and wrapped around the girder and struck Master Croc just like earlier binding the man. He roared with laughter and enthusiasm.

“Well done, well done! You saved your comrade from my nerve strike! Excellent,” Once he was binded, the Samurai didn’t hesitate to swing his sword at the croc, which slightly irritated the guy. Using the flat side of the his sword when he attacked, he was sure to make him regret it this time. Once he took the initial step and closed in, Master Croc flexed his muscles and effortlessly broke the bindings.

“I told you already...to fight me for real!” The man bent his knees and moved with great speed and strength, delivering a palm strike to the boy’s chest. Such a powerful strike at the core was enough to knock the wind out of him and then some. His entire body seemed to ripple with the blow, and he was picked completely off his feet and sent flying backward, slamming into the ground a few feet away where he lay motionless, save for a slight twitch. For a moment, it almost looked like the edges of his body… no, like his shadow was flickering. Was he still trying to use his Quirk? No matter. He wasn’t getting back up again after a hit like that, so now it was time to finish the job. “A tip from a pro to a trainee...when you do battle with evil. Don’t leave any openings for them. A villain will trick you with ease.”

The Croc ran quickly leapt into the air before landing over the fallen warrior. Cocking his hand back he was preparing to put the boy out of commission for the rest of the day until his snout twitched. What the hell...he is ice cold already? I knew I didn’t kill him... That was when he saw cracks on the boys face which piqued the man's interest, swinging his tail from left to right. The pro watched, engrossed as the boys body fissured from top to bottom before shattering into dust. The croc was extremely confused – this had to be some sort of ruse. But what was it? Why did his body stop emitting heat? Did he teleport? Unless… A fake!? By the time the croc knew what had transpired he was tasked with a split second decision.

With the girder suddenly appearing in front of Takeshi, it stopped his swing in its tracks with a look of sheer surprise on his face. When he heard Motome-san yell to him he didn’t hesitate, he didn’t want it to fall on him. He shifted his weight to his right foot and pivoted, his leg bent and ready to spring away. However, just before he could jump, he felt a sudden, unexpected tug on his sleeve, and turned to see Motome still standing calmly behind him. What was she thinking? The girder would topple at any second and crush both of them, and yet she simply raised a single finger in front of her in a silent “shhh,” before reaching up to push her visor up onto her forehead. As she did so, he could see that she wasn’t even looking at him, but rather around the edge of the pillar, where another of himself was already springing into action. Then… all of these things were just her projections? Did that mean they were safe from the girder? But how and why? And what was she planning?

Her grip on his sleeve loosened, then tightened as, unexpectedly, she grabbed him by his sword hand and tugged him towards her, her gloved hand wrapping around his wrist. At that instant, he could hear the ground cracking behind him as the girder completely tipped and fell down towards both of them. But Fumika simply smiled faintly beneath the collar of her romper, and without waiting for his permission, wrapped her other arm around him, and allowed herself, too, to fall backward, pulling him down with her. But as they fell, Takeshi could finally see what she was doing.

Her eyes were completely closed.

The girder fell soundlessly to the ground on top of both of them… or rather, it fell around both of them, and suddenly, all Takeshi could see was the inside of steel. And yet, the image surrounding him was completely insubstantial - merely a hologram. But, given the size of the pillar she’d dropped… Of course! From the outside, both of them lying “underneath” the image must have been completely concealed!
He couldn’t see anything, but he could still hear with perfect clarity, and as such, had no difficulty making out the breathy, nearly inaudible voice that whispered calmly in his ear.

”A few more seconds. When he’s not looking… get him. His back is harder than anywhere else, but if we slow him down, we can win. Aim for his legs.”

Takeshi took a long slow breath through his nose. A lot had happened in only a few moments. But the fact he was now laying on top of the pretty girl was almost too much for him. He never been this close to another girl before. Even though he couldn’t see her because of her construct, he could still feel her under him with his body. He didn’t dare move incase his body would show during this, and managed to calm himself enough to hear her plan. Grateful that his face was most likely hidden from Fumika to see the redness in it.

Meanwhile, Hatori was trying to comprehend what was happening. A metal I-beam came sliding off out of nowhere, and she quickly dodged it before it could fall down on her. Everything was happening too quickly that she didn’t even notice that Fumika and Takeshi had already hidden inside the girder, which was merely a projection. Where did that thing come from? Isn’t this a residential- She stared at Takeshi’s seemingly unconscious body, and noticed something was...a bit off.

Then it suddenly hit her. Oh...I get it now! she grinned slightly and pulled out some more paper, promptly throwing it out as the planes came into life once more and began firing at the Croc. Good thing the Croc didn’t know about Fumika’s Quirk before...this is my chance.

It didn’t take long for Master Croc to knock his clone away. His body tensed like a cat ready to pounce. He did say softly into Fumika’s ear before he jumped back into the fray. “Thanks for saving me.”

With that he launched himself forward, his left arm still dropping to his his side, he took only a moment to get his bearings and run up behind Master Croc. However it was odd as his footsteps were silent. He spun his blade in his hand and held it in reverse grip as he raised his right arm to his face, like he was going to punch. The spine of his katana flat against his forearm, as if he was prepared to strike at eye level.

At the same time, Hatori also fired a barrage from her fleet of paper planes, hoping to distract Master Croc long enough so that Takeshi – the real Takeshi – could counter-attack. She was concentrating more of her fire this time so it couldn’t just be something that the Croc could simply ignore. ”Better pay attention, old crocs!” she taunted the pro hero. ”Here’s your real fight!"

After the croc threw him off, Amane stood off to the side, evaluating his team a bit more while preparing another attack. Here and there the Croc would glance in the knights direction just to keep a tab on his whereabouts. Though the boy just truly wanted to gauge the group's abilities, he was curious. It seemed as though the samurai could manipulate shadows and the pilot could manipulate paper planes, though he had yet to fully figure out this Fumika’s quirk. It seemed like she could just make copies of whatever she thought of...but something felt weird. How could she make that metal beam drop out of nowhere, nearly taking out their own members in the process?

It hit him once he saw the Takeshi clone applying an erratic attack. He realized that the clone lacked fine control. Amane watched as Master Croc made quick work of the copy, sending it flying. He watched as the man prepared the finishing blow to the doppelganger when...he hesitated? This was when Takeshi came out from behind with the swift surprise attack.

As the croc turned around he was met with the samurai’s blade coming swift towards the crocs face. But, much though he’d have liked to turn fully to defend himself from the attack, his entire back was getting peppered with fire from Hatori’s miniature fleet of paper planes. If he turned, his more vulnerable front side would be completely exposed, leaving him pinned down. Which meant… he’d just have to take the incoming blow to the best of his ability, then counter when Hatori had to stop shooting to avoid friendly fire! Pivoting his reptilian foot, the man bent his knees and body as awaited for the blade to cross over his head...but the wind of the blade never made it across the mans face.

Takeshi knew that Master Croc would figure he was attacking from behind, so this was the reason he lead with the attack to the face so he would prepare for it, while leaving his real target wide open. Just as Master Croc started to crouch, Takeshi pulled his legs up. He didn't jump, nor did he try to duck; he simply just pulled his feet up and allowed gravity to bring him down as he laid back, switching his blade grip again back to normal and stabbing in between the crocs legs.

The momentum of his forward movement caused him to slide on the ground under Master Croc, his sword placed just so he would catch the hamstring behind his knee as he slid past. He didn’t wait in his spot. As soon as he was away he got back up and spun around, aiming his blade at Croc once again.

With a shimmer of green light, the fallen girder directly behind Croc shattered into light just as the false Takeshi had done, and a lithe form in white rose slowly from the impact crater, one arm folded over her chest and the other propped upon it, reaching up to the visor perched atop her head. “I’m very sorry to be rude, but I think you might want to consider your own advice,” Fumika offered helpfully, her voice never rising above the respectful tone one would use to address one’s teacher. “I mean, I didn’t mean to act like a villain, but you left an opening, so I tricked you.” She seemed… almost disappointed in herself at the comparison, and tugged at the edge of her bangs sheepishly.

Hatori, comparatively, had a visible smirk on her face, content that her quick thinking and planning had actually worked. She was sweating a bit, already using a bit of her stamina throwing planes left and right. Ha! Take that you old croc! Underestimating us was a grave mistake! An inner voice within Hatori exclaimed.

“Oh dear,” Fumika murmured, a thought suddenly seeming to strike her. ”I almost forgot to answer the test question!” Her eyes suddenly flashed once more a shade of brilliant green, and a matching arrow took form in her bangs as, standing back to back beside her, a short girl in black took form, arms folded smugly as the “duo” struck a dynamic pose. “I’m going to be a hero in Haruka’s place. If that means that I have to win here… Then what she would do is…!” Tugging on the bridge of her visor, she pulled it down over her eyes once more, then swept forward her hand with an uncharacteristically theatrical gesture which one might almost think she’d rehearsed. ”Mr. Samurai, Hatori-san, you’ve done enough, now get back!” Ordering this final command, she braced herself against the ground, and the girl in black beside her did the same. Then, with every ounce of strength she could muster, Fumika jumped. But… right, there was one more thing that she absolutely had to do - that Haruka absolutely would have done! And that was...

”Improvised special move: Harukaze Havoc!” As Fumika yelled out the name of her attack, the phantom in black braced, and then jumped straight up… if what she did could even be called jumping. It was more like at one moment, she was there, and at the next…

BANG.

The phantom blurred upward, disappearing into dust faster than the eye could fully make out. The pavement shattered like a sheet of glass, rubble scattering outward from the basin of the crater. In the same instant, a phenomenal wave of force slammed against the immobilized Master Croc, washing over him before rushing outward, and pushing him back with tremendous force. And what was behind him was… the lake from which he’d first emerged! Ordinarily, being knocked back would be little more than an inconvenience, but if Takeshi’s strike had done as much damage to his legs as she suspected, it would be difficult for him to move in the water. In that case, they’d have more than enough time to keep on moving towards their objective, and he’d have no way to catch up in order to stop them!

...It was around this point that Fumika realized that her strategy had been slightly…flawed. By launching herself into the air, she’d managed to avoid being struck by any of the shrapnel at ground zero, but at the same time, it meant that her body also offered next to no resistance to the massive shockwave that had expanded backwards as well as forwards. In an instant, she found herself accelerating violently in the opposite direction, much more quickly than she had anticipated. Fortunately, she clearly remembered there being a rather large hedge in that direction… But unfortunately, hitting even such an improvised cushion at high speeds was likely to be painful. She racked her brains for a solution… only to realize that suddenly, she was curving away from the hedge and… slowing down?

Hatori obliged and took several steps back, stopping her firing once more. What happened next simply astounded the flying ace as another black hair girl appeared out of nowhere and rammed Master Croc. There was no way he could be getting up to continue fighting them...for now, especially after getting hit by such a solid blow to his chest.
Needless to say, that was the coolest thing she had seen since coming to this school.

Takeshi had also moved back slightly only to be impressed with what he saw. Such power that came from this girl, it was clear that she belonged here. With her tactics and strength...despite her odd personality. He would love to spar with her later on.

As she was falling though he quickly made his way over to catch her, but stopped almost as quickly as he noticed her slowing down and falling into Aname’s arms. He instead walked over to them now, sheathing his blade. One thing he did notice though that stuck out to him was the phantom, and her mention of Haruka. The same girl who was standing next to her with a prosthetic leg? If she only recorded things and projected them...was that perhaps her before what happened to her leg?

Fumika and the Samurai seemed to have dealt a decisive blow to the scaly creature, which colored the knight...impressed? As the debris flew towards him he simply reversed gravity, as the dirt reached inside his bubble you could see it visibly slow down to a crawl as the tiny specks traveled past Amane. Under his helmet was a crack of a smirk as the girl left a good impression on the armor clad hero. It was rather smart to put the croc in an even larger state of confusion by pulling a feint when one was already out of the loop. Like a huge mind game one would say.

He watched as Fumika flew over towards his direction awaiting for her to enter into the radius of his gravity field in which he extended his right hand out halted the girls speedy movement. Soon Fumika would slowly float down back to earth safely right into the arms of the knight. This was his first show of heroic behavior since joining this school and he honestly felt like the girl deserved the break. Turning his head he looked straight at the ahoge of the girl which slid across his helmet as she fell into his arms. Shaking the distraction he met eye to eye with his new adversary. “Tell me your name,” he said with a stern voice.

The blonde-haired girl blinked, the concealing visor that had been covering her eyes flopping awkwardly down the bridge of her nose and revealing two surprised blue orbs which stared up at the knight in confusion. “Umm… Motome Fumika,” she answered sheepishly. Her thoughts were still lagging behind a bit, and things had gotten fuzzy somewhere around the point where she was supposed to have crashed into the hedge. He had… saved her? And now he was carrying her like a princess. This was definitely an unusual situation, right? But even somebody like her knew that there was something you were supposed to say when a hero saved you…

...Unfortunately, she completely skipped over this step and blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

“Wow, you really are a knight in shining armor!” She seemed to take a moment to think about this, then reconsidered. “Umm… That is, you obviously are a knight in shining armor, but you’re also like a knight in shining armor, because you’re carrying me like a knight would... Well, at least, I think this is how knights should carry people? Fumika has- Erm, that is, I haven’t actually been carried by a knight before, so I don’t actually really know, and... Oh!” She remembered that she’d skipped a step, and reset to the beginning, trying again.

”Thank you for saving me Mr. Knight!” She made an awkward sort of squirming gesture that might have been her attempt at a bow, but fell somewhat flat considering that she was still in a princess carry and thus couldn’t really offer much more than a slight tilting of her head which nearly dislodged her already precariously perched visor from her nose...Aad then a moment later, she herself fell flat as Amane abruptly released his hold on her, allowing her to drop squarely upon her rear, where she sat for a moment in obvious confusion.

Amane immediately regretted asking for her name as this allowed for Fumika to gather her thoughts. There was no off button either on this girl, as she babbled on about him being a knight in shining armor. Every word struck a nerve on the newly found savior as the blonde girl kept on speaking. First it was him being a knight then about her being carried in a certain way then she thanked him and did some sort of fish flop in his arms? Oh god...will she try to talk to him every day like this from now on when she sees him in the hallway? A brief daydream appeared in his head of the girl following him and telling everyone how he had saved her. No...he was just overreacting, she has no clue as to what he looks like.

That's when the idea of Fumika’s ability to motion track raced through his mind and the boy became...nervous? He who had shown nothing but pure confidence in his ability. One thing was sure he did not want this crazy girl on his case. Swiftly he took his arms from under the girl as if it was a tablecloth magic trick, he watched as Fumika hit the ground before stepping over her.

“Ow,” exclaimed Fumika, her ahoge sticking bolt upright in momentary surprise. The only thing to do was walk away and never speak of this again.

Hatori promptly approached the two. There were a lot of things she was rightfully surprised about. One of it was this Haruka – why did she carry so much significance to Fumika? There was also the fact that they had just punched the lights out of a pro hero, albeit temporarily. But no, that was not what she was thinking about. ”Holy sh-...I mean, holy smokes, that was awesome Fumi! How did you do that?” she exclaimed at the blonde haired girl. She basically just went super mode! Remind me not to get on her bad side...if she actually had one, she thought, barely trying to hide the wide grin on her face.

A vein in Takeshi’s forehead popped out when he saw Aname drop Fumika ungracefully. As Hatori came over explaining how awesome she was, which he agreed, he made his way over to Fumika and stood in front of her and bent down offering his only good hand to help her up. She fumbled with her visor for a moment, placing it back over her eyes before evidently deciding to push it back up on top of her head. It seemed to take her a moment to realize that he was offering her his hand, and even when she did notice, she hesitated for a moment before at last taking hold of it. ”Amazing work...Fumika-chan!” he said with a warm smile.

Fumika blinked, seeming dazed. They were thanking and congratulating her, but really, all she had done was wait until they’d forced the crocodile man into a corner to strike. Hadn’t they done most of the work? But they were praising her anyway… Was it alright to talk to them like this? She wanted to thank them, but, would that be alright? They wouldn’t be mad at her, would they? But they were smiling so brightly… It kind of made her want to smile, too.

“Oh, um, thank you very much, but…” She trailed off, her voice rising in the back of her throat as her words were drowned out by a high-pitched yawn. Her ahoge wobbled a little bit, like a miniature of her unsteady body as she seemed to teeter back and forth for a moment. ”But…” She continued weakly, trying to press on despite how heavy her eyelids felt all of a sudden. ”I didn’t… do anything. It was all Haruka,” She was mumbling now, and practically looked like a sleepwalker. Her bangs completely flopped back over the bridge of her nose, giving up the ghost as if standing upright in a single strand was suddenly too much work. Actually, now that they might notice it, the red “ring” that had surrounded the crown of her head had been reduced to a short mark on the edge of her bangs that was less than a fifth of its former length.

She felt so tired… She’d burned up so much of her energy in an instant, it was hard for her body to cope with the sudden exhaustion that washed over her. It took phenomenal force of will not to just pass out on the spot. But at least… at least they’d won, right? They’d…

...Won? Then why did she hear splashing in the distance?

---

After getting his legs slashed the croc was off balance surely, though the attack wasn’t all too powerful. The precision he struck with was enough to buckle the pro’s knees. The whole time their full frontal attack was going on he showed a toothy grin, his chest was completely exposed and he had no strength in his legs to move.

”Mr. Samurai, Hatori-san, you’ve done enough, now get back!”

The croc snapped his head forward as heard the blonde order the others to retreat, what was she thinking? That's when he saw the girl jump into the sky, there was not one attacker...but two? His eyes widened as he saw how high she had leaped in the air, that was when he felt the ground tremor. Breaking his neck the croc looked in front of him as he earth broke, instinctively stiffened the muscles in his tail and stuck it into the ground to help stand his ground. He then crossed both his arms over his body as he prepared for the blast.

It was too powerful, the ground collapsed from beneath him and the croc was sent flying into the lake. He hit body of water like a bomb sending water splashing everywhere, laying submerged under the water for about a minute or two as the others conversed. What the hell was that and how was she capable of such power? He chuckled as he hit the lake floor...man, did it feel good down here. He almost didn’t want to get up and congratulate the group for passing his little test.

As a example to the next generation he had a duty to do, Master Croc erupted from the body of water with a bitter face though it was truthfully a ruse. He looked at all of them as if he was a wild animal though this was disrupted as he broke out into a roaring laughter. “Hohoho, that was some attack there. Yeah, I’ll say you touched a nerve,” the man said walking out the water as if nothing happened. He started doing a couple of lunges trying to loosen up the afflicted nerves.

Hatori was the first to respond as soon as Master Croc got back up, and immediately turned around when the water started bubbling more intensively. She swiftly snapped out of her fan-girl state and directed her planes at the pro hero once more. But instead of a fight, he broke into laughter. The pilot would-be-hero blinked in confusion.

“I like you kids, you all have spirit so I will give you a small gift in return for a good fight.” he then signaled for Takeshi to come close. “Swordsman, come over here really quick. You can trust me I am done fighting for now.”

Takeshi hesitated for a moment before slowly making his way over to Master croc. Despite his proclamation he was done fighting he still stood in a slight defensive stance when he came near the pro hero. What is it? He asked just loud enough for Master croc to hear.

“Ah, come on why the hostility. I was just going to give you back the feeling in your arm,” the man said, extending his hand out towards the boy. He couldn’t help but smile as the samurai still seemed pretty hurt about making his arm limp. Once the boy surrendered his arm the Master grabbed onto him with his left claw; his single hand was enough to cover more than half of Takeshi’s forearm. With his right hand, he struck the afflicted nerves with his pointer and middle finger, and slowly the boy would feel his arm spring back to life. “How’s your arm feeling now?”

Takeshi watched as the Master worked with the pressure points. He knew of this technique, most of the people in Japan knew of it, but there were only a few who really knew how to use it. His lip twitched as the sharp pins and needles feeling could be felt in his arm then suddenly he had complete control over his arm once again. ”Better, Thank you Master Croc.” he said, flexing his hand.

Hatori finally brought her planes down, returning them to her hands while staring at the pro hero, and then her own group. ”Wait… does that mean the fight’s over? We won...kind of?” It didn’t seem like they had truly put him down. She almost forgot that they were still doing the activity, and had no idea how much time they spent dealing with Master Croc. ”And what’s this gift you’re talking about?”

”We… won? Yay, we won...~” What was perhaps the world’s most understated cheer somehow eked its way out of the blonde girl’s mouth before it, too, was almost completely drowned out by an almost painfully long yawn. Fumika wobbled once more in place, tilting almost dangerously far to one side and looking practically ready to collapse at any second. Sure enough, a moment later, she seemed to completely lose her balance and toppled over to one side, only to be caught by Takeshi as he was making his way back to the group.

”Woop…” He said as he caught her by wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Fumika-Chan… you ok?” He asked with a slight tone of worry on his deep voice.

”Sleepy,” Fumika mumbled back, her voice partially muffled not only by the high collar of her romper, but also by the fabric of Takeshi’s coat as her head ended up awkwardly pillowed against his shoulder. ”I’m sorry, Mr. Samurai... If I play too many things back, my head gets really heavy… I just need to take a nap… and maybe eat some snacks to get my charge back… Oh no, now I’m hungry…” The girl’s stomach rumbled rather pathetically to punctuate this explanation, and she awkwardly drew back and rubbed her eyes again.

The Croc smirked as he held a hand out towards the young pilot, “You’re a sassy one, aren’t you?” he said as he folding his arms. “On this battleground there is a complete sewer system in which I know like the back of my hand. We can enter through this lake which will be a straight shot right into the body of water next to your objective. If you want, I can guide you all to where you need to be."

Takeshi smirked as he found out that she was just tired. She really was an odd girl. Suddenly that sleepiness turned to hunger, and he thought for a second. As she pulled away he still had his right arm on her shoulder for a moment to make sure she just didn’t fall over again. His other hand padding down himself even though he knew he didn’t have any food on him. You don’t have to be sorry about this Fumika-chan. And just call me Takeshi if you'd like.”

He looked over to Croc and Hatori as he was explaining how he will give them a shortcut and while that was great news, he would rather have a charged Fumika. Not that he didn’t mind carrying her. Um...actually do either of you guys have any food? Or does this place even have, like perhaps a stash of food and supplies somewhere?

Hatori sighed in relief when Master Croc mentioned a spacious sewer system that they could enter to get to the point to at least make up for some time they spent fighting the pro hero. Upon hearing about it, she promptly pulled up her oxygen mask; she was pretty sure those sewage systems were largely unused besides maybe draining rain water, but she rather not take chances in smelling some terrible fumes.

”No… don’t worry about it,” Fumika protested rather unconvincingly, shaking her head back and forth as if attempting to forcibly dislodge the sleepiness from it. ”This is just because I used so much charge all at once… I’ll be fine in a moment…” She fidgeted a bit with her hair, casting some doubt upon what she was saying. ”Although,” She added a bit less emphatically. ”I don’t think I’ll be able to fight much more before I pass out like last time, but you can just leave me when I do.” She stated this “solution” to the problem with unexpected bluntness, although she partly seemed like she was trying to convince herself of what she was saying rather than trying to persuade her teammates.

”It’s fine. I won’t… get in the way, so it’s fine.” She clenched a fist in apparent resolve, then froze, looking down at it with an odd expression. Slowly, she unfolded her open palm, and then poked at it a few times with her other hand, a strangely red hue suddenly coloring the edges of her cheeks. She was… embarrassed? But it didn’t seem like that had anything to do with what she’d just said about getting in the way. Then… her hand?

Takeshi looked back to her as she spoke up once again, clearly trying backpedal and say she really didn’t need food. He sighed and shook his head, “We will figure out something ok? We don't want to leave you behind.”

While he said this, he noticed her blushing cheeks and how she was poking her hand. Embarrassed about something… He glanced at her hand and didn’t see anything on there, no tears in her clothes or bruises. "What is it, Fumi-Chan?” He asked softly watching her hand.

Fumika blinked, her bright blue eyes seeming surprised for a moment, before she glanced away quite abruptly - the first time it seemed like she’d genuinely tried to avoid his gaze. Normally, she just looked at everything with that same blank stare… Was this just because she was tired, or was something… Rather, had he done something wrong?

It took her a moment to answer, but only a moment. She looked back at him with a face that almost seemed bashful… and answered cryptically in a absent minded voice that sounded anything but.

”Nothing’s wrong. It’s just… warm. Soft,” She explained cryptically. But even she seemed to realize that this explanation was lacking, and so, taking a deep breath, she answered him more plainly.

”It feels like I’m still holding your hand.” She looked at him as if expecting something. How was he supposed to react to that, exactly? There was dead silence between them for a moment before she shook her head and once again looked away.

”I’m sorry. I said something strange.” She apologized once again, bowing her head deeply in a manner that made him almost fear for her safety, considering how tipsy she’d seemed before. Nevertheless, she managed to right herself on her own and turned to follow the others on their journey to the point.

”Nevermind. Right now, let’s just win… okay,” She hesitated for just a moment here, but only a moment. And then… she spoke exactly as he had asked her to, without adding or dropping anything.
”Okay, Takeshi?”

Takeshi pulled his head up as she mentioned them falling down. If she was looking closely, a blush appeared on his face at this mention as well….even more so when she added the comment about how it felt like she was still holding it. He didn’t know what to say really. He wasn’t really ever in this position...ever. He nodded and stood up. "R-right."

Hatori glanced awkwardly away, though it was rather hard to see her emotions when her oxygen mask was covering everything below the bridge of her nose. That being said, she looked a bit like Dulga now, minus the height difference and stoic attitude. “...Anyway, we should get moving,” Hatori declared in front of the two. ”We still have a point to take and other teams to deal with. Heck, maybe after all that fighting with Croc-guy over here, they probably thinned themselves out for us.”

[Silver Carrot]

VS

Mina nodded upon hearing Jett's plan. It was a start strategy that played to their strengths. His suit was high tech. It made her wonder if a few more upgrades to her own wouldn’t go amiss. She may make a few phone calls when this is over.

”That sounds fine to me.” she replied mid-run, no audible sign of being out of breath besides running in a full length dress. She wasn’t even holding it up. It really was an impressive feat. “And yes, I doubt we’ll the the first ones there given everybody’s quirks, or at least the ones I know about. But only you can see in the dark as far as I know, and the only other person who can make light is Roy, and I’m not particularly worried about him after yesterday. Just get them all looking at me and they won’t be able to look at anything else for a few second. After that, the first thing they’ll see is the floor.

And yes, I do run in my skirt partly as training for this, but also because I don’t see any reason to change into running gear. It just creates bad habits. On the occasions where a Hero needs to run, they’re not exactly going to have time to change.”

Meanwhile Yukari had been carefully keeping her senses honed on her surroundings, ignoring the noise made by her teammates. She kept a sharp ear and nose out for anyone; while anyone could move quietly, rarely could they hide their natural musk. And after yesterday’s dinner, Yukari had a general idea of everyone’s scent. When Kaida asked if she heard anyone Yukari put her finger to her lips and listened carefully. She could hear Dulga and Mamoru moving around in the building behind them, and in the distance she could hear faint but rapid footsteps, like running. She guessed that it must have been Team A, but they were too far for Yukari to figure out who many and who. It was at least two.

”Two of them north of us. We could intercept them, but I’m not sure if they’ll be in Dulga’s line of sight when we catch them…. Should we go anyways?” Yukari faced Kaida’s general direction for her confirmation.

Kaida looked to Yukari when she raised her finger to her lips. It must’ve really helpful to hear so well. She stayed silent as Yukari tried to find out where they were, and within a few moments she told her that there was two north of them and if they should try to go to them anyways.

She immediately nodded “Yes we should go. We can’t take the chance they could stay out of dulga’s line of site. So we should lead them here just in case.”

With that she looked forward. “I’ll go first, I’ll get their attention and you can sneak behind them ok?” Without waiting for an answer she sprinted from their location, her powerful legs carrying her faster than normal.

She soon came to a stop, sliding in the middle of the road where Team A was. Her rapier at the ready. She just hopped it wasn’t Jett.
Yukari nodded her head and moved up north taking a slightly longer route around. If Yukari guessed right, Kaida would find whoever was up north first, and Yukari could sneak around from behind. And while Kaida was distracting them, she’d attack. But before she got too far Yukari made sure to message Dulga with their communicators. ”Dulga-san, I detected two people north of us, might be from Team A. We’ll try to bring them in your sight.” Once she alerted her teammates, Yukari made her way up.

”Rodger. Try to lure them away one at a time. I’ll keep my sight on the doors in case anyone tries to make a run for it.” Dulga responded quietly as she had one gun aimed towards the entrances into the building. Unless one of the two people were Ezra, Dulga didn’t imagine that the rest of Team A could force their way inside through a wall or something. They’ll have to use one of the entrances and regardless if they take a door or use the rooftops Dulga had both marked.

Jett only smiled when she reiterated what she said last night. It he only brought it up to complement her, not start a conversation on the subject. He didn’t have much chance to say anything more as he saw Kadia now in front of them alone with her rapier drawn.

Jett came to a stop, narrowing his eyes. He didn’t know what Kadias quirk was, but still it was unlikely she would go on her own even if she had a powerful quirk. He pulled batons out and connected them at the base making bo staff.

He never liked fighting girls…. not that he didn’t think they couldn’t take care of themselves… but he was raised to never hit a woman. And while he did fight Dulga and Toni before…. he could have done a lot better.

He then said softly “I doubt she’s alone…. did you manage to catch who was on her team?”

Mina’s eyes narrowed when she saw Kaida emerge. No doubt Jett would go easy on her. Thoughts of the hug flashed through Mina’s mind. There was absolutely no danger of Mina going easy on Kaida. She was almost too focused on Kaida to hear Jett, but she snapped herself out of her trance.

“What, didn’t you? Yukari, Dulga and Mamoru. I don’t know anything about the former two, but Mamoru might act reckless again. You should try to find whoever’s no doubt sneaking up on us. I’ll handle Kaida myself.”

With that said, Mina started to advance towards her foe. It was clear in her eyes that she wasn’t about to throw down with you just because of the exercise. There was fire in her. This fire not only managed to distract from her gaudy costume, but the combination of the two made her look far more powerful and formidable than she would have looked in a gym suit. She said nothing, and it didn’t seem likely she was going to let Kaida talk much either.

Kaida was kinda nervous as they both stared her down. Who was going to take her on? If it was Mina she had no issue, but Jett looked impressively dangerous. Even with her scales and sword, he had a gun, a metal staff. Which she had no training against really so she didn’t know what to expect. But after they whispered to each other for a moment Mina walked forward. She looked really angry, for some unknown reason to Kaida.

It was this moment Jett looked away. But Yukari already attacked throwing a shirt filled with Dirt and instantly tossing some restraints. She was impressed that Jett managed to dodge them even though he couldn’t see. She turned to Mina to keep an eye on her and smiled at her. “I really love your dress by the way. It’s absolutely beautiful." She back up slightly as she got close, slowly trying to pull her into the sight of Dulga. She whipped her sword from side to side once as if to remind her she had a real sword in her hands.

Even in combat, with victory at stake, against an opponent her emotions were demanding she utterly destroy, Mina wasn’t one to shrug of a compliment, or break the manners and standards she had been brought up with. She gave a full bow as she kept walking forwards, all the while keeping her eyes on Kaida. When she stood back upright, she started taking concealed glances at her surrounding. Upon concluding that there were too many vantage points where Dulga could be hiding, she gave up trying to deduce where the six armed girl was camping.
“Thank you, Kaida,” Mina responded respectfully yet still not in anything resembling friendliness. “Yours is nice too. I apologize if I damage it in any way. Also tell Dulga I apologize when you see her next.”

And with the niceties out of the way, Mina suddenly glowed very bright. If Dulga was zoomed in on her right now she’d be temporarily blinded and may get a headache later, and if she tried to zoom in on her while she was glowing, the sniper wouldn’t know where to shoot and would run the risk of hitting Mina.

However, from where Kaida was standing, the glow was lessened enough so that all Kaida noticed was her glowing like an ethereal being and could still see her just fine. Mina wanted her opponent to fight back. She didn’t want to win this particular fight quickly and cleanly with what some would call ‘cheating’. She wanted to prove that she was clearly superior to Kaida, and though she didn’t admit it to herself, she wanted Jett to be watching when she did. With the risk of outside interference reduced, Mina rushed Kaida with the aim of getting inside her sword’s reach before the Draconic girl had time to register, let alone swing.

Kaida nodded her head back in thanks to Mina as she complimented her dress as well she then started glow. She didn’t know she did, she would have to be careful incase she used it to blind her like she did so close, she might get an upper hand. She really didn’t want to harm Mina as well with her sword and she was wondering what she could do when Mina suddenly rushed in. She wasn’t prepared and tried to bring her blade in but it only resulted in her grip hitting Mina in the shoulder, her blade nowhere near her. With her enhanced strength it might have hurt more than a normal awkward hit from that angle from a girl her size.

Though it did hurt, that just added fuel to the fire, and now past Kaida’s sword range, Mina slid her footing into stance and then aimed a punch at Kaida’s side. She wasn’t holding back. She was putting a fair amount of force behind it, and even with Kaida’s strength and scales, it would surprise her just how strong the punch of this petite teenage girl with no strength-related quirk could be if trained properly.

Kaida was indeed surprised as she felt the punch still through her scales. While it didn’t hurt as it normally would with such a hit, it made her not want to hold back as much anymore. She instinctively punched mina in the chest to hopefully push her back and away from herself. It was around this time she saw Jett Dive into a house and Yukari following him in.

With Kaida’s strength, the punch did hurt, Mina had to admit, but it was clear that Kaida had never really thought Martial Arts training was necessary with her quirk, so Mina smiled, knowing she had the advantage in that respect. She grabbed the fist tight with both hands before it could withdraw, and pulled while at the same time, unleashing a kick at Kaida’s calves, hoping to disrupt her center of gravity and get her on the ground.

She was unprepared for Mina to drag her off her feet with a kick to her calf. She fell to the ground on her hands and knees, while her hand was still held by Mina. She grunted as she landed and shook her head, Anger and embarrassment that Mina was actually getting her on the ground. She didn’t want Jett to see her like this. She gave a growl, which sounded alot deeper than normal, more...animalistic. Her eyes flared with anger as she grabbed Mina’s own wrist that held her and pulled harshly towards herself, her strength pulling her back and she aimed to throw her behind her, even in her position of hands and knees.

‘Did...she just growl?’ was the thought running through Mina’s head as she was pulled off her feet and thrown, or would have been thrown did Mina’s training not kick in and she used the moment to swing her body behind Kaida’s and lock in a headlock, which was too weak to hurt or debilitate by herself, but here she was safe from Kaida’s sword range and the dragon girl could create distance between them in order to use her sword. Now, Mina just needed to figure out a way to play this to her advantage.

How did she get there? Kaida wondered as she found herself in a headlock while on her knees. She could twist her sword behind her and poke at her, but she didn’t want to kill her by poking her in the wrong spot. But she wanted her off of her. She stood up quickly, using her free hand to grab minas arm so she couldn't escape and ran towards the wall, easily dragging her along with her strength. She turned and slammed her back into the wall.

That sure made Mina let go. Now she was in range of the other girl’s sword and at a disadvantage, but before she could think of ways to get out of this disadvantageous situation, she heard and saw the flashbang explosion coming from where Jett was fighting. From the giveaway signs of Mina’s attention being elsewhere and a flash of genuine worry in Mina’s eyes, the first real sign Kaida had seen thus far of Mina caring about anybody but herself, it was clear something was going on over there that Mina cared about. Jett?

Once Mina had let go, Kaida spun around to aim her sword at Mina. But before she could do anything a loud bang could be heard and Yukari screaming. Her free hand came up to her mouth in shock. After a moment, Jett could be heard yelling as well. Yukari… was hurting? But she was made of rubber? What did Jett do to her? But he was hurt as well, and she couldn't help but show worry as well. She muttered under breath both Jett and Yukari’s name...Jett’s a little louder. She saw the concern in Mina’s eyes and figured...a temporary truce till they made sure they were alright. She sheathed her sword and quickly made her way to the other house where Jett was fighting in.

Mina would have wordlessly agreed to a truce and checked up on the others with Kaida but for one detail; she heard Kaida mutter Jett’s name, and in that moment knew for certain that Kaida wasn’t just a clingy obstacle. Kaida liked Jett. But why? What did she care so much about who Kaida liked? Why did that realisation make her feel this angry and hurt? Unless...

Did she like Jett too?

In Mina’s mind, chaos and turmoil suddenly erupted as the result of the connections being made and the pieces falling into place. Everything made so much more sense now, but her emotions just grew stronger, and stronger. She watched the form of Kaida walking away from her with a newfound sense of venom and hatred. The memory of the hug flashed again in her mind, and the petite girl bared her teeth as she began catching up to Kaida, following right behind her.

Without any warning, Kaida felt the tread of a boot smash painfully into the small of her back.

Kaidia was not prepared at all for the dirty attack. While her scales protected her, the shock of it was just as painful as it knocked her to the ground facefirst. She laid there as she sort of curled up into a fetal position. Her fingers digging into the dirt quite easily. Did Mina just play upon her own feelings on Jett to get her to lower her guard? How low could one go? Embarrassed and angry she growled audibly once again. Unforgivable. She pushed herself up and turned her anger towards Mina. Her purple eyes now gone, replaced with her gold reptilian eyes filled with hate for this little brat.

She leaped at Mina with fighting speed to tackle her and tried to punch her in the face, but missed in her anger and slammed into the concrete just next to her head, inbedding her hand slightly. Mina took advantage of this to slap, not punch, Kaida across the race before rolling over so now she was the one on top. Mina’s eyes and facial expression matched Kaida’s own in terms of animal ferocity. This was no longer a battle for victory. This was no longer a battle about tactics or skill. They just wanted to hurt each other.

And that Mina did, punch Kaida’s face as many times as she could before she got thrown off by the stronger, thicker skinned girl. Kaida’s face was not protected by her scales and each punch hurt, far more than any she was dealt in this fight. Her lip was bleeding now with bruises coming up on her face already. But it only made her more mad as she gripped mina by her golden hair and ripped her to the side, and off of her. But she didn’t let go as she held her by the scalp and gave her one good punch in the cheek,.

The hair pulling got a good scream out of Mina, and as she was pulled off with one parting punch, the two girls lay side by side, panting. Mina was beat up, and as much as she wanted to carry on hurting Kaida, she couldn’t will her body to start moving again just yet. Her face hurt. Her scalp hurt. Her chest hurt. She turned to look Kaida in the eyes, full of hate, with a clear message, echoed by her mouth soonafter; “As soon as I can stand up again, I’m gonna carry on beating you.”

Kaida ignored her for a moment as she fell to her own side, Taking in deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She looked back to Mina again when she spoke to her. Her gold eyes staring as if not hearing her. Because at this last moment she heard Yukari’s cry for help. Her eyes flashed from her reptilian gold to her purple ones. She got up moved towards the building where the other two were fighting. Totally forgetting about Mina on the ground.

Mina watched her go with a weary resignation. ‘Off to Jett no doubt.’ she thought to herself. ‘Well, good! Screw the both of them! I don’t need to fight Kaida, and I don't need Jett! I don’t need any help to execute the plan! As soon as I can move again, I’ll get up, head to the school alone, trip the power and take the point.’ But after she formulated this plan, she stayed where she was on the ground, recovering from her injuries and exertions. And not just physically.

@Heartfillia@Aerandir@Ryonara@Norschtalen

[Aerandir]

VS

Storm Bird

And

Yukari Yozakura, Dulga Tarata, Aegis

VS

Tomoe Kishitmoto

As Kaida went to confront the other two Yukari ran n from a drain pipe, which hopefully would give Yukari the chance to blind them with her makeshift dirt bomb and bind them up. She really didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she wasn’t afraid to get physical with them. If she could wrap them up with the capturing cloth or the ring cuffs, that’s basically like beating them in a fight.

When the footsteps grew close enough Yukari sprang out. She twirled rapidly through the air, her long pink twintails spiralling around her. In a flash the ball of dirt flew towards Jett but didn’t hit him. Instead it exploded right in front of him creating a dirt cloud, followed by two of the ring cuffs being thrown through the cloud to his chest and thighs. With any luck both would hit and Jett would be subdued but Yukari knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. She landed on her feet like a cat and took on her fighting stance. ”Give up! I don’t want to hurt you but I’m not afraid to fight you!”

Jett sighed when Kasuke went after Kaida, slightly relieved, but worried as well. He noticed the no nonsense look in her eye before he turned his gaze around to look for the others. He suspected Dulga wouldn’t be anywhere near them, as she was carrying a rifle. She would probably be trying to take people from a distance. It left Yukari or Momoru. Both difficult, especially more so without his quirk. But he hoped it wasn’t Yukari, he didn’t have anything that was really effective against her like a blade...even then that would be hard to use it on her.

He got caught off guard as dirt suddenly hit the ground in front of him and exploded. His reflexes kicked in and he dove to his left, feeling something glance off his thigh as he barely dodged the two rings he didn’t see coming. He tucked and rolled, getting back to his feet effortlessly, He looked up to see Yukari landing and telling him to surrender. In his case, he didn’t have any real chance at beating her head on. She was rubber and any of his powerful kicks, or hit with his staff, or even his gun is basically worthless. He also knew she would just tie him up with her arms if he got too close.

He couldn’t let Kasuke go against her as well, she had even less options than he. Jett took a few steps forward “Sorry Yukari, You know I can’t do that.” He did have a plan though, ever since finding out she was in his class, he thought about how he could defeat her. He did have a few times he could use, but he didn’t want to use them THIS early.

He tapped the end of his staff on the concrete once to gain her attention before bolting past her, breaking his staff into two batons once again and diving through an open window, not expecting to see a dining table right there but rolled roughly over it and knocking the chairs over. He knew she would be right behind him and quickly made his way to the kitchen, quickly going for the one spot everyone put their cleaning supplies.

Yukari didn’t visibly react when she heard Jett’s voice. She was a little bit scared. She liked Jett, but she couldn’t go easy on him either. Plus he knew what she could do and probably thought about how to fight her. Yukari hopes that he underestimates her, but she couldn’t underestimate him. When he tried to dive through the window she stretched out to grab at him but missed, instead grabbing the window still. She pulled herself inside the room just inches after Jett, and along the way pull out one of her flashbangs. She didn’t know what Jett was planning but she had a nasty surprise for him when she tossed the grenade onto the floor. She heard Jett rustling on the ground so Yukari tossed three of the ring cuffs, but only one was going right at him. The other two flew off to the side to catch Jett in case he tried to roll off to the side. Then the flashbang went off. From what she heard, Yukari always thought flashbangs just made really bright lights that blinded people. But now she also learned they made really loud noises too.
”OW SHIT!”

Yukari screamed as the explosion nearly popped her eardrums. She immediately fell to the ground clutching her ears in painful agony. She knew Jett was still here but she couldn’t hear him at all, and she only sort of smelled him in the same room. So she just started swinging her arms wildly hoping maybe she’d clip him with her hand and latch onto him.

When Jett opened the cabinet under the sink, heard a clatter of a small metallic object thrown into the kitchen. “Oh...sh..” He didn’t have time to close his eyes as he was shocked Yukari would use such a device. With her own sensitivity to noise. The bang was deafening. Luckily he wasn’t looking directly at the flashbang, but still the light was blinding. And the force of concussion knocked him from his crouched position to his hip.

His ears were ringing from the explosion, and everything seemed to slow down, muffled heavily. He heard a deep yell, mixed with his own. He reached out his hand to try and grab the counter when it was suddenly hit by something hard, wrapping itself around his left hand and pinning his fingers together. The hit of that hurt like hell, causing him to cuss.

He looked back towards where he came from, everything was blurry, dark and constantly moving on it’s own. But he could see Yukari on her hands and knees flailing with one hand with some ring. Looking to his own hand he saw the same thing. Restraints.

He fumbled with his other hand under the sink blindly and grabbed the item he was originally looking for. Ammonia. He knew this stuff was highly corrosive and irritating to skin and eyes, so he didn’t want to throw chemicals in her face. But he needed that foul smell. Squeezing the bottle to his chest with his right arm, and awkwardly gripped the lid with his right hand. He ripped it open and dumped some of it directly onto the ground between Yukari and himself, His eyes started to water at it as he at the same time scrambled to get up, looking like a drunkard as his balance was still suffering from the blast of the concussion. He crawled onto counter ungracefully. Now safe from immediate danger of being restrained he rested for a second, trying to get his wits about him.

The smell hit Yukari as soon as Jett opened the bottle. Bleach, or some sort of strong cleaning chemical. She always hated that stuff, it was too much for her nose. She immediately pulled her arm back to cover her nose, but without her scent she was worse than blind, since she couldn’t hear anything either. Nothing but constant ringing. She at least knew where she was relative to the room, and could feel a breeze from the window. She wasn’t in a good situation right now though so it was time to retreat. She jumped out of the window and moved southish, mostly thanks to dumb luck. She grabbed her communicator and tried to contact Dulga and the others.
”Ow ow ow ow…. Dulga-san, I… I can’t hear anything, but Jett, he’s in one of the buildings. Kaida is fighting Mina. I’m heading your way, I think, or maybe I should find Kaida?” Yukari said, somewhat confused. She was so hopeful for her first fight too. Pocketing her communicator Yukari shook her head and tried not to lose hope. ”No, I have to keep fighting. I have to find Kaida. I can help her.” Though blind and deaf, she could vaguely smell Kaida’s scent to the east. Hopefully by the time she gets over there the ringing in her ears would be gone and she could help Kaida take out Mina. Even if it wasn’t Ezra or Jett, it would at least be one person less from Team A.

Jett felt horrible using this dirty trick on her, but it had to be done. while she was fumbling to get out of the window, He got off the counter and picked up the lid to the ammonia and tightened it, stuffing it in his back pouch. He also picked up the two extra restrains she threw at him that were laying on the floor and added those to his pouch as well. Even though he didn’t have a key, they still could be useful. He then slipped both of his batons back into the sheath on his back before quickly following Yukari as fast as he could. He needed to get that key off of her to get this restraint off his hand. While it didn’t hinder him, it was extremely annoying, and sure to get in the way if he got in a tight spot.

Dulga got Yukari’s message and sighed. She guessed that she had expected too much from just the two of them. ”You got that message Akasha? Let’s get moving.” Dulga slung her rifle over her shoulder and jumped out from the second story, landing on the ground with a solid thud before running northward. She had heard some sort of explosion up north, so she guessed that’s where Jett and Yukari was. Since they weren’t using lethals Dulga knew it had to be a flashbang, since it also made Yukari deaf. Dulga just wondered if it was Jett or Yukari who threw it. Either way Dulga had her shotgun out in case Jett was still nearby and ready to fight. ”Akasha, cover Yukari, I’ll take out Jett.”
Mamoru followed Dulga out of the window, landing on her shield and rolling to her feet. ”Awesome! And here I thought I’d be bored.” Mamoru raised her shield and ran ahead of Dulga, ready to intercept anything that might come in their direction. From what Mamoru heard Yukari was fighting Jett. Jett was crafty, he probably made a sound bomb or something to daze Yukari since trying to blind her normally wouldn’t work. It must’ve been pretty effective too if Yukari needed to ask for backup. Not wanting to leave her teammate exposed she picked up the pace. It wasn’t long before she spotted Yukari’s pink twintails trailing east. Mamoru guessed that since she was now both blind and deaf she didn’t know which way she was going. Still wary of the rest of Team A, Mamoru would go towards Yukari to protect her.
Jett quickly caught up to Yukari, while still shaking off the effects of the blindness, and his equilibrium going back to normal, he still managed to find her. He hesitated for a moment, while he was sure she probably couldn’t hear him still, his trick with the ammonia was probably done now they were in the open. He couldn’t dump more on her because it wouldn’t really affect her as much as it did inside. He moved slowly, hoping the wind didn’t reveal his position as he slowly reached out and tried to slip his hand into the utility belt pouch to find a key.

Yukari had been busy trying to ease the pain in her ears, quietly sobbing from the strain. She should have listened or asked someone how flashedbangs worked before she used them. She bet that Jett probably wasn’t even that badly affected. Sure enough, she felt someone trying to go through her pockets, likely Jett who no doubt was already back to fighting form, while she was still reeling from the shock. She didn’t seem to notice him at first and just kept walking forward, but soon her leg would shoot out between Jett’s legs and upward, basically striking him across the crotch. But that wasn’t the end of it; her leg would also start to wrap around his leg and down towards his knee, with the rest of Yukari’s body following.

They had sat on their lookout spot for quite a while before Ezra had decided it had no use to sit here any longer, their ambush plan didn’t work out as good as they thought it would. No one had came since they started here so it was too guess that Ezra would lose his patience at some point with the timer still ticking. Tomoe kept happily being close to him and hugging and snuggling him with no care in the world. If it wasn’t for her clone she would have probably gone to someplace else already. Ezra mentioned for her to come with him, they descended down the slope together and were met by the side of the parking lot alongside the forest. Ezra led them through the forest part next to the parking lot. Open areas were a clear no. When they came till about the end they were met by two people running by them in the distance. Ezra pulled Tomoe under the bushes as well to hide from them and to see who they were as well. Appeared to be Dulga and Mamoru. When they passed they soon followed close after them. Tomoe thought they were trying to catch them so started to head after them even faster losing Ezra in the progress. She was in it alone while Ezra hide behind one of the bushes. After the distance was close Tomoe decided to do a tackle out towards Dulga full on although her weight wasn’t much the force she kicked her legs with possibly did some damage at least.

It wasn’t easy to surprise Dulga, though admittedly she didn’t expect someone to actually somehow manage to get behind her. That being said the surprise was short lived. As soon as she felt someone hit her back Dulga’s hands grabbed the person in a vice grip. One arm around the neck, two locking the arms, and another right around the solar plexus to cut off air. Dulga was surprised to see it was Tomoe however. She didn’t seem like the type of girl to do something so reckless. But Dulga also figured that she wouldn’t do this if Ezra wasn’t nearby. She was probably just a distraction.

However Dulga kept calm and raised her rifle at Jett. While he was busy trying to dodge Yukari and Mamoru, she fired two shots at him. One directly at his chest, and another that would hit his head if he doesn’t move. But if he tries to jump, it’ll probably hit his shoulders. Two loud shots echoed from Dulga’s rifle as she kept grappling Tomoe and then kept her senses out for Ezra, who’ll probably come and attack soon too. He was either going to go after Dulga to save Tomoe or try to help Jett since he was fighting alone. Either way they won’t have the element of surprise anymore.

”Hey! Stop touching Yukari-chan like that Jett!” Mamoru shouted as she went for a drop kick from slightly above the shoulders. Excited for the fight Mamoru mentally ‘sync” up with Yukari. While she may be blind and a stranger to Mamoru, she wasn’t going to get in her way. Jett was going to be slippery, but even with his quirk he wouldn’t get away from both Mamoru and Yukari. Almost on instinct, after her kick Mamoru went low to avoid Dulga’s bullets as they went for Jett’s, though she also took note that it seemed like Dulga was fighting someone too. Mamoru couldn’t see who but she wasn’t going to leave her behind. ”Naughty naughty! Taking advantage of a blind girl, for shame!”
All the while, the entire battle, or most of it, could be observed from one particular spot of the battlefield: way above.

”Hmm…”

The natural flyer of A-1, Acion Nakamiji, was smirking as he calmly read the battlefield situation. He noticed that team D was going to the lake for some reason. And they were together. A one versus many could be viable, but he ought to avoid it, unless he had the full advantage over them. Moreover, they appeared to be entering something...a tunnel? But going down on them now would be too late.

For the situation of both A and B, they were taking out each other. Despite they were taking out each other as exactly as Acion had wanted, the fact that they were the last teams that remained outside was telling Acion that he should attack. Unlike his situation with Roy and team C, team B and A was out in the open. The environment was on his side.

”Alright. Let’s do this right.”

His blitz tactic was about to be over after all.
And he was confident that he could get out of this final one, alive.
With that said, his holographic cameras shut down instantly, albeit his binocular was still on, as he began free falling. To a certain height however, he began twisting himself into dive bombing position, and began all the usual attacking procedures that he was so used to that it felt so natural to him.

Jett wasn’t prepared for the kick to his groin. But thankfully he had it protected with a cup. It still jolted him, but he had to get away. She was already wrapping around his leg. He grabbed his mask from its pouch and quickly connected to his helmet. However he heard someone yell about stop touching Yukari chan like that.
He didn’t have time to react as he was kicked from the left. He tried to catch himself stumbling to the side. But with Yukari wrapped around his right leg he tripped. Suddenly he heard two gunshots and something whistling by his head as he fell. Thanks to Mamoru and Yukari tripping him, the bullets Dulga shot at him missed him because of his fall, although it was just barely.

He hit the ground and reached up with his left hand and slipped his finger under the Velcro and ripped it open, and slipped another finger through a pin and pulled it.
While his other hand reached for his gun and pulled it from his holster, shooting from his hip trying to give mamoru no time to block it.

After a few seconds a yellow gas spewed from Jett’s chest. Tear gas. While it normally blinded people so it was hard to see, it would still effect Yukari in the same sense for the burning it would cause. And the smell as well causing her to cough as the chemical would irritate her breathing. While at the same time it burned Jett’s own eyes, he had used it on himself so he was somewhat used to it.

Yukari moved fast when she smelled something putrid in the air. She thought it was the bleach again so Yukari just went straight around Jett’s leg, wrapping around his knee and going inside of his boot. Her hands worked to undo his laces while her torso wrapped around his ankle and began to twist it. She was going to forcefully sprain his ankle, which hopefully will make him submit. And this way she could avoid the gas too, even if she has to smell jett’s smelly feet instead. If she could she’d also try to grab one of his toes and dislocate it, something she could easily do if she puts her full body into it.

As Tomoe was trying to tackle down Dulga for fun she was quickly met by 4 fast moving and well coordinated arms. Tomoe glared at each of them in surprise for a moment as she tried seeing what was happening with her. Her arms were forced of Dulga her body with two of Dulga her arms letting her hang freely in the air from dulga her arms. There were two other arms, one wrapping around her neck immediately tightening. The other one went to quite a weird place, it was under her chest, the pushing hurted. Only now Tomoe came to realise that Dulga wasn’t in for games. This was a straight up fight, she understood. Her pupils shrunk down became way smaller than before as the corners of her mouth turned up. There was a crazy wicked smile on her face as she just stared at the back of Dulga her head. A soft chuckle sounded from her mouth showing that this clone wasn’t anything like Tomoe was before.

Tomoe her arms shook lightly while she moved her own hands towards Dulga her arms that were around her neck and on her solar plexus. While she was chuckling it still sounded like she was having a lot of trouble trying to breath. More in the way that if she didn’t do anything now this life would be short lived. Tomoe got both hold on Dulga her arms and was able to just shift them a little so that she could at least breath. She muffled something under her shaky voice of using so much force on Dulga.

”Haaai.”

Two bullets struck Mamoru before she
could raise her shield to block the attacks. One hit her right on the right breast, which fortunately was armored, but still stung ?. The second struck her upper left thigh causing her to drop to her knee, but fortunately this also meant that she was in a smaller, more defensible position as the bullets bounced and dropped off her shield. Mamoru rolled away from the gunfire and away from the smoke, though she didn’t want that to stick around either. Putting some distance from Jett, Mamoru threw her shield right at Jett, aiming for his gun or at least arm, while she kept moving albeit mostly through dodge rolls as her leg was hurting like hell. Shortly after her shield hits something she’d recall it back to her hand and hide behind it.
Nobody appeared to be noticing him or anything. Perhaps they were a bit too busy fighting, the girl with six arms, and those nearby. Acion did not pay attention to those guys. He tilted himself so that he was diving on the yellow smoke screen that was covering an entire area. He knew that he wasn’t able to strike precisely, but no one inside it would even notice him coming as well, or the feathers coming in.

When he got low enough, the avian fighter span his whole body so that his wings would face them perpendicularly. And then, with might, with power, with strength, he flapped them, inertia sending dozens of sharp feathers down onto the thick smoke. And then he would turn his body around once again, back to his flying posture and soared upward.

Jett looked back to Yukari as Mamoru pulled back as she managed to get her upper body into his boot. As weird as it was he knew the only thing to get her off was a flare in his vest. He awkwardly pulled it out and broke the seal on the ground, but as soon as he did, a shield came out of nowhere and slammed into his forearm, managing to hit in between the carbon steel plates of his armor and causing him to scream in pain and send the flare flying to his right. He rolled a few feet, holding his arm to his chest, now at the mercy of Yukari. But even before that could happen Jett suddenly felt a couple points on his body suddenly get stuck with something. His shoulder, a thigh and his chest all had metal feathers sticking out of them.

Yukari squeezed and crushed Jett’s foot as hard as she could, feeling him resisting her as she twisted her flexible body around him. She tighten herself around his knee too, hoping that the pain would keep him at bay. But what she didn’t expect was something stabbing into her legs. She couldn’t see what it was, but it felt like someone had driven needles into her calf. She wasn’t sure if it was Jett or someone else, but in that moment she torqued Jett’s ankle before curling her body close, a hand slipping out to pull the feathers from her leg.

”Ah! That hurts!”

Watching over the exercises through the monitor proved to an interesting experience for the group in the communications room. It seemed as though the students were not as reckless as the day before and they evaluated their actions thoroughly. Pivoting his head, L guardian looked towards the monitor on his left squinting his eyes as he saw Jett in a tight spot. Caught in the teeth of team B, he smirked watching the boy fight for his life. A prime example of why he stressed teamwork in this exercise because one slip up and you can be caught out by the enemy. The man watched with not emotion as Mamoru slammed her shield into the boys arm getting a gruesome reaction out of the young boy. At the rate things were going Jett would be out of commission and no one would be able to come to his rescue at the moment. Mina was recovering while Ezra and Tomoe were caught up in a battle with Dulga. Looking out the corner of his eye, he could sense Mrs. Haven tensing up as she watched her baby boy get pummeled.

Adriane was impressed at first at Jett’s quick thinking in the House, using the ammonia against Yukari. How ever she though he was stupid for trying to get the key from her out in the open. He should have tried inside house.

Her hands were white as they were balled into fist watching as her son got instantly surrounded by three enemies. Manda tried to calm her down with a hand on her shoulder, she too was worried for the boy. While she could see he was putting up a hell of a fight with his quick thinking, he simply was just being overpowered after that flash bang. If he had his quirk working, she was sure that it would have been a completely different Scenario.

When the strife came down, Adriane couldn’t hold it in anymore as she slammed her fists into the console. Yelling at the screen. “GET OUT OF THERE!” She saw the pain in her boys eyes even before the strafe. What was his team doing? Why weren’t they helping him!?

L guardian simply sat in silence as Adriane released some of her anger. It seemed as though Jett was disadvantaged from the beginning excluding his quirk situation. Team B were made up of a bunch of students who excelled in close combat with extraordinary defensive abilities. Dulgas multiple arms and herculean strength, Kaidas toughs scales, Mamoru's steel body, and Yukari’s elasticity makes this somewhat of a nightmare match up for team A who all are great in close combat offensively. Once Adriane snapped and slammed her fists into the console a strange beep came out of the system, immediately L guardian stood up lashing out at the woman.

“Calm yourself! You let your anger get the best of you and placed your son in an even worse condition now” Which was true, it seemed like she had deployed the training robots and not just any. These were the ones used for much more advanced training. 8 of them were released and each of them the size of a home. The students on the grounds could here the sounds of large gate opening from the North and the west as the robots flanked the two teams. The machines were also armed with capture weapons, smoke grenades, and rubber bullets to restrain their targets. The ones coming from the west had much more of a distance to travel than the ones from the north.

Mr.Yoshida contacted Isshin was overseeing the battle immediately, “The students are two zoned into their battles to realize what is coming so if things go too far I want you to step in” The small robotic group of four split off into pairs, two coming up from behind Ezra and Tomoe while the other pair was heading straight in Jetts direction. Outside they could hear it bulldozing over trees stepping through the empty homes.

Adriane placed her hand to her mouth as Yoshida told her what she did her anger all gone but worry on her face now. Cursing herself as she watched Jett wince in pain and grab his leg. With the robots coming and coming right for him. She hoped he would be safe. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. Manda saying softly "He's going to be fine Adriane.."

Kaida came running but honestly she got lost for a bit. She heard gunfire and ran towards it. She could hear Jett yell in pain as she rounded the corner, only to see him in a cloud of yellow smoke. She didn't see yukari on his leg, but she saw Mamoru kneeling, looking like she was hurt. Suddenly she saw Acion throw his feathers at Jett while he was in a ball basically on the ground. She couldn't help but get angry and she ran to the side, watching Acion closely as he did a few more flyby’s before she prepared herself. Crouching down she took a few moments to breath before putting all her strength into a jump appearing suddenly in front of Acion. As she tried to grab hold of him.

The winged man was way concentrating on the target that as he was about to do his second strafe, a silhouette of a girl suddenly dragged him off-guard. And not just any normal silhouette, but the one that was jumping way into his flight path. The girl had long silver hair, just like her sister. Acion suddenly jerked out of pure instinct, but slammed into Kaida anyway. The unexpected weight redistributed his centre of gravity, and he was in no shape to deal with it in time, as he went down onto the ground at a high speed, along with Kaida who was latching on him.
His face was spared, but his ribs and torso was struck pretty bad by the crash. But thanks to his acrobatic ability, he managed to stand up after a few flips and drifts on the concrete ground. If he hadn’t got the armor on, it would have been a lot worse.

”Tch…”

Acion growled annoyingly at how he got brought down so easily. But the confident smile somewhat returned to him, as he took a glance at Kaida.

”Heh, I feel more entertained now. A bit more entertained.”
Kaia grunted at Acion flying straight into her. She was ready for it but still it knocked the wind out of her. She held on as long as she could but hitting the ground unlatched her. She grunted each time her body rolled and bounced on the concrete. Part of her clothes scraping away from the hard ground.

She did land on her feet finally though as she skidded to a stop. She looked at Acion who was smiling at her. Saying he is more entertained now. As she stood there, part of her scales along the side of her hip could be seen. And a little bit on her arms. “I'm sure shooting people in the fetal position is less entertaining than fighting someone face to face.”

”Sure. It isn’t an honorable deed I have to admit.” He replied, his eyes rolled a bit, while he ripped off a feather from his wing. ”Thank you for that. Now that all the chivalrous issues have been resolved, let us begin.”

Looking at Kaida and her scales, it appeared that her quirks were some kind of reptilian-related. But she was quite fast, managing to catch him off-guard like that. Flying up would be quite a bad idea, since she wasn’t too far from him. She could jump onto him or maybe attempt something unexpected. He did not have the momentum to go upward now. But he could if he could bypass her once.

Acion suddenly crouched on his one knee, his wings in standby. Remembering vividly that Kenichi once attempt this once, he dashed towards Kaida with all the might of his strong leg. Sudden adrenaline rushed to him as the pain from the previous fight with Roy, specifically the time he slammed his leg onto the red hot ball, resurfaced. His strong wings also acted as accelerator, as he pushed forward. The ripped off feather from his wing, now lied firmly on his left hand in reverse grip acted just like a knife, as he would take advantage of the speed to slash her. And if she just let off for one second, he could simply soar up the sky again.

When Acion crouched, Kadia copied him. But she didn't sprint towards him but only braced herself to grapple him. Her eyes flashed yellow as she raised her hands up and grabbed him. The shock of the hit would cause the knife to cut the clothes just above her chest revealing even more black scales that the feather glanced off of. She also slid back a few feet holding Acion back. It was a sight to behold seeing this little girl of 5 feet stop a bigger boy in armor in his tracks. She would then grip his armor and throw him to the side between some buildings. Trying to make sure she got him away from an open area.

The throw created a momentum that could have allowed him to soar to the sky, but as he regained his composure, the silver-haired girl immediately followed him. So instead of using the momentum to fly up, he pummeled his six wings deep into the ground, halting him in his tracks. Turning to Kaida, as she was heading for him, he made a horizontal flinging of feathers before preparing to brace her incoming attack. Or rather, brace to deflect any incoming attack.
Looking at her face as she was about to clash with him. A cut on her face, radiated with her determined and burning violet eyes.

It reminded him of his sister.

”I look forward to this!”

Kaida didn't dodge as most of the feathers glanced off her scales, she did however raise an arm to protect her eyes. Feathers wizzed under her arm and sliced her fair skin in a few places. When she lowered her arm her gold eyes had returned as she growled in a low animalistic growl and reared back, punching Acion in the shoulder with all her force. Breaking his shoulder guard into four pieces and a loud pop could be heard as his arm dislocated. She also used the momentum of her body to knock into him. It was then she heard Dulga say retreat.

Coming out of a trance almost she looked down at herself and realized her scales were showing. She quickly turned and ran into the closest house and found a bed with some white sheets. Quickly throwing it over her like a makeshift cloak.

Acion anticipated her incoming attack. As she zoomed in on him, he raised the knife with his left hand. He lifted it up and down, trying to adjust to where she might be hitting. But inexperience with swordsmanship simply turned back and punished him, as the knife he thought that would block Kaida’s blow turned out to miss it by a few centimeters. A few. That number turned deadly, as that punch he could have blocked smashed straight into the shoulder of his other arm.

He could feel his bone popping, being blasted out of its original position.
”Argh!”

He yelled, as she continued to bring forward with the punch. To prevent any more damage being done, he simply turned his body around, to let Kaida simply pass by him. And braced for another attack like that. Which never came.

His eyes widened in surprise as she unexpectedly ran into the house nearby. He was expecting something more threatening than that. Her scales were a lot more apparent than before, revealing some skins and so on.

But this was his chance. She gave him one huge moment to fly without any obstacle. And he took it without any hesitation. While still gripping on the dislocated shoulder, he mightily spread his wings and propel him upward, like a helicopter.
He should not linger long here. His plan to bomb the two teams was in complete jeopardy once he got grounded. And once he did so, he could be ganged up by anyone and everyone.

”God.”

What is that? What the fuck is that?

Giant robots?

More the reason for him to get out of there.

Acion immediately flew to the east to avoid the other members of team B. Once escaped out of there, he would head down south for the point. His team should have been there any moment now.

”Stop struggling.”

Try as she might, Tomoe wasn’t going to get out of this easily. Even if she put enough pressure on Dulga’s arms to prevent her from choking the girl out Dulga still had a firm grip on Tomoe. Knowing that Ezra was already lining up his shot, Dulga kept moving, positioning Tomoe’s body to intercept any shot Ezra might throw at her. However in the distance, the sounds of the robots approaching made Dulga silently curse her luck. First her team fails to isolate a member of Team A, and now robots were on their way. The teachers probably released them just to make sure students didn’t wait outside of the auditorium for the rest of the students to take eachother out.

It was time to retreat and regroup.

As Dulga ran towards her team she spotted Acion in the air. Dulga knew that he was alone, but she wasn’t so certain if other teams might’ve followed him. Kaida grounded him so he wasn’t an immediate concern, instead she spoke over the communicators to the rest of her team. ”Retreat and regroup.” She said simply as she heard the machines in the distance coming closer. Maybe with any luck, the robots could attack Team A. But dulga couldn’t rely on luck.

As she ran towards the tear gas Dulga squinted her eyes as the chemicals burned her eyes, noticing Jett’s body on the ground. She wasn’t sure if he was knocked out or just taking a breather, and Dulga debated slamming Tomoe onto him. However she had no time for such foolishness, though just to make sure Jett didn’t end up asphyxiating himself in this tear gas, Dulga grabbed him by his boot. Then so that she didn’t slow herself down, she tossed Jett and Tomoe through the front door of one of the nearby houses. Hopefully that would take them both out, but if it doesn’t then it should at least hurt. Jett went flying first, smashing through the door and rolling like a rag doll, slamming into the wall. His boot in Dulga’s hand. She then noticed Yukari was somehow in his boot. Dulga didn’t question it however and just tossed Tomoe after Jett, then went to Mamoru.

”Akasha on your feet and with me. Let’s find Kaida.”

Tomoe her hopeless attempt to get loose from Dulga was to no avail. Her back was hurting a little from the bullets having hit her back, there were multiple blue dots on her back when you tried looking under her shirt. She did manage to kick her arms a few times to get her aim with her sniper a bit off balance but she did not seem affected by it in the slightest. Dulga her strength did not seem to fade either seeing how she maintained the strength at all time. Tomoe did have another trick up her sleeve though, she let go off Dulga her arm of her solar plexus and moved it up towards the one holding her neck. With all her strength she tried making a gap between her neck and Dulga her arm. When she got as far as that she would bite into her arm with all her strength clearly showing off that not all her strength was hiding in her limbs. She could not breath however, if she could just bite through it would be enough for her to take on the other arm after this.

She bit as hard as she could while she still had the time, both her arms locking Dulga her arm into place as her breath slowly faded. When they ran through the tears gas Tomoe still had her eyes full open, it burned. Tears fell from her eyes as she widely opened her mouth trying to grasp for air. Dulga changed the positions of her arm on Tomoe her neck and under her chest to somewhat carry her. She was thrown over the head of Dulga, her hands slipped away from Dulga her arms as she was being launched after Jett into the doorpost of the house. She could not see much but she knew she was soaring through the air upside down. The hit of her legs hitting the door post definitely made her realise. The wooden doorpost broke before she painfully landed on Jett his downed body. Tomoe immediately sat upright rubbing the back of her head a little as tears were still falling from her eyes. She softly rubbed both of them a little but the burning did not go away that easily. There were cuts all over her legs and arms, there was suppose to come blood out of them but they were different. The cut was there but the inside only seemed to exist of a dreamy like universe, pink with yellow stars floating around definity giving away that she wasn’t human. Some of her clothing seemed a little ripped as well. Tomoe felt that she was sitting on something soft, she turned over to see Jett beneath her.

Yukari’s grip on Jett had loosen just a bit as she nursed her leg. It was bleeding just a bit, nothing too serious, but it hurt. Suddenly she felt something strong wrap around Jett’s boot and Yukari braced for impact. But to her surprise she wasn’t crushed. Instead, Jett was flung out of his boot, giving Yukari much more space to move around while hanging on for dear life. She stayed hidden inside the boot until the smell of the tear gas was away, and once she could take a breath of fresh air that’s when she smelled Dulga extremely close to her. ”Dulga-san? Is that you?” Yukari asked rather loudly, as her ears were still ringing. She probably couldn’t hear the response either, but if it was Dulga Yukari would stick with her for now. She couldn’t do anything in her current state.

Having taken cover behind her shield Mamoru was bracing her leg to charge at Jett when she heard Dulga stomping over. In a few deft movements she had flung Jett inside of a house, and Tomoe too. Mamoru also had something big and stompy in the distance, but Mamoru wasn’t really paying any attention to that. Dulga had given them orders to retreat but Mamoru didn’t want to. Finally, all the action was coming to her! This was the moment she’s been waiting for!

”Aw, why? We can totally stand our ground here! The four of us together! I mean, Jett looks like he’s KO anyways, and Tomoe doesn’t look too pretty either. I’m sure Kaida took care of Mina too, so now all we need to do is take out Ezra!”

Rubbing her head Dulga gave Mamoru and stern glare, but otherwise didn’t lay a hand on her just yet. ”Yozakura needs medical attention and the proctors just sent robots after us. This is not a defensible position, especially not with the rest of Team A and Acion here. We need to regroup and head into the school,” Dulga pointed towards the school building in the distance. ”We can defend ourselves better there. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be a hero? Helping others first is more important than fighting.” With all her hands free Dulga drew both her rifle and shotgun, and loaded two more bullets into her shotgun.

”Now let’s go save Kaida.”

Almost on cue, Kadia came running out of a house next to the one Jett was thrown in. Her newly acquired cloak billowing out behind her. “Where we retreating to?” She asked coming up to The others… looking at Dulga holding jetts boot oddly. More so to see Yukari in it.

Mamoru shrugged. Dulga wasn’t wrong, and Mamoru couldn’t really see any flaws in her logic. Mamoru supposed that it might just be because she was restless, but if Dulga had a good idea then Mamoru wasn’t going to go against it. When kaida showed up Mamoru waved at her and gave her a Victory sign. ”We thrashed some Team A guys! But Dulga says that robots are coming and we need to head to the school to defend it or something. Are you alright Kaida-chan? You look like you had a fun fight!”

Dulga nodded to Mamoru when Kaida asked where they were going. ”What she said. Let’s get moving.” Dulga took point as she dashed towards the school building. In the distance she could see the mechs on their way and Dulga’s eyes looked serious. Rubber bullets weren’t going to put a dent in those things. It would be dangerous, but she was going to need to use live ammo. And the heavy calibers too. ”We go in and head to the top floor, staircase only. I don’t want us to have to fight in an elevator.”

”Dulga-san? What? I can’t hear you.” Yukari got out of Jett’s boot and ran alongside Dulga and the others. She could tell that they were speaking but she couldn’t make out the words. It was all so buzzed and jumbled. It just all sounded like muffled whispers. ”Where are we going? What happened to Jett, and Kaida and Mina? And is that an earthquake?” Yukari could feel the vibration of the robots with each step. Yukari had no idea how or why they’re here but she didn’t have a good feeling about it.

[Norschtalen]

Team B

Dulga Tatara | Kaida Beaumont | Yukari Yozakura | Mamoru Akasha

“Um you could say that…” Kaida said to Mamoru as they started running, she held her new cloak tight to herself. She had to be more careful after losing her cool fighting Acion. Just seeing Jett getting attacked like he did she had probably gone over a little overboard. She would have to apologize to Acion. Though Mina was different. She was a bitch. And Kaida never met a girl that she would call at bitch.

As they ran Kaida looked behind them to see a couple of those machines following them, while others seemed to be fighting someone else… she hoped it wasn’t Jett… he didn’t look strong enough to handle it.

”Enough chit chat. Let’s get inside the school and we’ll figure out what we need to do from there.”

Dulga ran up to the door and smashed the doorknob clean off, pushing the door down for the others to get inside. She had her guns raised and checked the halls to ensure that there wasn’t any more surprises inside. ”Move fast but carefully. We don’t know what else, or who else, is here.”

Mamoru nodded her head at the two girls in silent response to their comments. Kaida must have had fun fighting Mina while Dulga seemed extra worried about these robots. Mamoru wasn’t sure why, she had fought plenty of robots in the danger room already. And this time they don’t have the element of surprise, so Mamoru would have no problems tracking and taking them out.

That being said perhaps the others may need some rest. She knew that Yukari seemed to be in pretty sore states and Kaida wasn’t looking too hot either. At the risk of annoying Dulga, Mamoru spoke up. ”Those robots will be here any minute. Let me hold them off for now while you tend to Kaida-Chan and Yukari-Chan!” Mamoru patted her chest confidently. By now the stinging on her thigh was less noticeable to her, if only thanks to running on adrenaline.

By now Yukari’s ears were slightly recovering from the explosion, but everything was still buzzing just a bit. She could hear Mamoru saying that she was going to stay behind to defend the others which Yukari shook her head. ”No, I can still fight! I… I just need a few minutes to let my ears heal and I can fight the robots too!” Yukari turned to face Mamoru, her eyes drifting towards the wall behind her. She slammed her fists together to show that she still had some fight left in her.

Dulga furrowed her eyes brows when Mamoru and Yukari both wanted to stay back and fight the robots. Dulga walked to the both of them and flicked their foreheads. ”Now is not the time for that sort of heroics. I will not let our team split up again. Our last attempt failed miserably because we couldn’t watch out for each other. Yukari got stunned and deafen, you got shot in the leg, and even Kaida had a tough fight on her own. No, this time we stick together. No more one-on-one. If we have to team fight so be it. Now let’s find a nurse office and patch up.”

Dulga resumes leading the group inside of the school, reaching what appeared to be a nurse office. She acquired some supplies, like bandages for Mamoru and Kaida, and some solution to help Yukari’s teargas burns and hearing problem. She also handed Yukari her earbuds after disinfecting them. ”Take these. They’ll help with your hearing.” These earbuds not only muffled the sound of gunshots and other loud explosions, but was also hooked up to the communitator so Yukari could still hear others talking to her. Dulga had a regular pair of earplugs that help deal with the sound of her gunfire.

Kaida was wide eyed when Dulga flicked Mamoru and Yukari in the foreheads. She touched her own as she mentally felt that flick MANY times with her father. Her real father...Not Draco. The one who trained her and when ever she messed up he would do that. She also felt bad because it was partly her fault for not protecting Yukari...she got up in a fight with Mina while Yukari got hurt. When Dulga mentioned Kaida, she looked down at her own clothes….really the worst pain she felt was that her cute outfit was ruined. Mostly just slight bruises from Acion’s feathers and well….her cheek did smart a bit from the punches she received from Mina.

She did pass on the bandages but did place a couple in her own pouch, just in case for later. She looked to Dulga as she put plugs in Yukari’s ears. “Wouldn’t that effect her ability to walk around with her ears muffled?”

Yukari rubbed her forehead even though Dulga’s flick didn’t really hurt. It was just really weird, but listening to Dulga she wondered if Dulga was feeling guilty. It was hard to place it, but it felt like Dulga was trying to be strict with them, yet at the same time blaming herself for what happened. Yukari wanted to call Dulga out on it but she wasn’t sure if those were Dulga’s true feelings and before she could try Dulga gave Yukari some earphones. She plugged them in as told and could feel the sounds dampening. Everything was a bit muffled but after fiddling with the plugs a bit she got a nice balance of protection and audibility. She heard Kaida voice her concerns and Yukari spoke up.

”I can use more then just my ears to navigate, but they do help. I think this might be for the best though. If Dulga-san wants us to stay together I need some protection so I’m not deafen by her guns.”

It also helped that the ringing from the flashbang was subsiding now. Although everyone was patching themselves up Yukari kept one ear open for any footsteps or other noises down the hall in case they were being followed. ”So what’s our next plan? Do we go after more teams or should we just go to the point now?”

Mamoru didn’t really need much aside from some pain ointment and some bandages. She wrapped up her thigh firmly so that the bandages didn’t fall off. She watched as Dulga tended to Yukari and Kaida, though Kaida didn’t look too hurt. In fact, it looked like Kaida’s clothes took more damage than Kaida did. Mamoru went up to her teammate while taking out a small sewing kit from one of her pouches. ”Kai-chan, want me to mend your costume a bit? Looks like you took a lot of cuts, wouldn’t want your outfit to fall apart in the middle of a fight!”

Kaida glanced over at Mamoru as she offered to mend her clothes. She looked down and shyly used her imprompto cloak to cover herself, blushing slightly. “T-thank you Mamoru.. But that would take too long I think…” She said softly, mostly because she didn’t want to waste time fretting over herself and didn’t want Mamoru to get a good look at her scales.

Mamoru looked a bit disappointed as Kaida said no. Mamoru hasn’t gotten a chance to fight anyone or be helpful this entire time. Even when she was trying to take on Jett, all she managed to do was get a kick and a shield throw in. Yukari and Dulga did more damage to him then Mamoru did, and they had more to do too. Mamoru was worried if she was really pulling her weight or if she was just tagging along now. ”Oh…. Okay. Well then I guess um… I suppose I should be glad that we’re all doing relatively okay. At least compared to Jett. Dulga and Yukari gave him quite a thrashing. What about you Kaida? Did you get your hands on Jett yet?”

Kaida saw the disappointed look on Mamoru’s face and felt bad. She must really wanted to help somehow. She closed her eyes and forced her change so her scales turned to pink human skin. It might raise some questions on why she had no cuts but she didn’t care… “Well… maybe you can mend this top one?” She said as she opened her cloak and held up the one that was just above her chest. Possibly the biggest one. Though when Mamoru brought up Jett, and the fact of getting her HANDS on him… she turned beet red at the thought. “U-u-u-u-m no…” She looked away. Feeling bad as well for the boy. “I-i-i got sidetracked with fighting Acion…” clearly flustered after mentioning of Jett.

”Yay! I’m helpful!” Mamoru picked up a thread that matched the color of Kaida’s top and started to suture the cuts. Mamoru’s needle moved quickly but smoothly, never poking Kaida and leaving very little visible thread. As she was listening to Kaida, Mamoru noticed the stutter in her voice and got a mischievous grin. ”Ooooh? I’ll admit Acion was a surprise, but I’m more surprised that you didn’t get a chance to have some private-time with Jett like the rest of us. You better keep up Kai-chan! The rest of us already had our turn with him, you’re the only one left behind!”

“W-w-w-w-what?!” She said suddenly at Mamoru’s mention of private time with Jett. She grew really confused because that didn’t sound like fighting, it sounded like Jett had been with these girls…”What do you mean?!” She added, she was so red at the thought of alone time with Jett that one could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. As she sat down, she was looking away, her hands on her lap… mindlessly poking her two forefingers together.

Yukari couldn’t help but sputter when she heard Mamoru and Kaida overtalking about Jett. Mamoru sounded like she was saying something dirty though, which made Yukari embarrassed as she spoke out. ”M-Mamoru-san! Don’t say something like that, it sounds vulgar! All I did was… Well… I just sort of grazed his um…. His inner thigh, and wrapped around his leg, a-and…” Turning an even brighter shade of red Yukari was reduced to embarrassed blubbering as she realized that she might have just made things worse too. ”No, stop! It’s not like that at all! He just had really strong legs, so I had to put my whole body into it! Don’t think dirty thoughts! Don’t!”

Kaida’s head snapped to Yukari spoke up. Her eyes wide as she somewhat confirmed her thoughts. Her own red cheeks rising at the same time Yukari did. Then when she blurted out that last part Kaida nearly died from too much heat flowing to her head. She looked down and tried to hide her gaze from everyone. Yukari saying don’t think Dirty thoughts….only made her think of it more. Wondering what she was doing with strong legs and….’NO nononono’ she shook her own head trying to rid herself of those thoughts. Her hands gripping the end of her skirt tightly as if that would help, just waiting for mamoru to be done.

”Oh yeah, Yu-chan was going crazy on Jett. You should have been there Kai-chan! It was smoking even! She was just all over Jett’s lower body, he couldn’t do a thing. He was about to plug in something big, red, and hot into her just to loosen her up, but then I stepped in and made sure Yu-chan had some protection” Mamoru finished stitching up Kaida’s top to the point it didn’t even look damage, though she may notice it felt just a little bit tighter. Mamoru started stitching up other spots too as she kept teasing Kaida with her jokes.

”Even Dulga got in on the action. Right as things were about to reach its climax with Yukari and Jett, I saw Dulga jump in while Tomoe was riding on her back! Dulga was getting tag-teamed by Jett and Tomoe at once from both ends, but Dulga took it like a champ. Wasn’t long before she left Jett and Tomoe in a sore, panting heap. The things Dulga can do with just one hand, Kai-chan… You should’ve seen it. I wish I could have done it myself.”

Dulga was getting really pissed off at how easily sidetracked these girls got. She didn’t mind if they wanted to make jokes to ease the tension, but now it was just getting stupid. Not that Dulga didn’t have a few jabs of her own. ”I swear to god Akasha, if you don’t shut up right now I’ll stick my barrel down your throat. And I’m not going to be as gentle as I was with Jett.” Dulga loaded a bullet into her shotgun just to emphasis the point. Then she pumped her rifle again with one hand for intimidation and a visual innuendo. ”I will blow this load all over your face.”

Shaking her head frantically Yukari felt like she was going crazy with all these sexual innuendos being thrown around. She heard Dulga saying something and hoped that she was going to bring order back, but from what she said it sounded like Dulga was joining in this insanity too! ”D-Dulga-san, please don’t be so rough with Mamoru-san! We can’t be doing something like that here at school, what if the teachers were watching?!” Trying her best to be the voice of reason Yukari stood up between Dulga and Mamoru so they didn’t end up coming to blows. ”We know that Mamoru-san can be over eager, and Dulga I know how much you love using those toys of yours, but we can’t do that right now. Please, if you two need to do that, don’t do it around Kaida and myself. Now please, can we focus on our job right now?”

Kaida was in shock. So much innuendos her face was crimson at the thoughts that NO ONE WAS DENYING being with Jett like that. She was literally shaking. No it had to be jabs...Jett wasn’t like that was he? She shook her head added her on voice...sounding uncomfortable. “U-um Yeah... I’m ready to go... “ She pulled her cloak over herself. She couldn’t look her teammates in the eyes anymore….

”Okay seriously enough with the jokes.”

Dulga clapped her hand loudly, loud enough that even Yukari would feel a sting through the earplugs. After getting everyone’s attention Dulga brought up the map of the area again. ”The auditorium is going to become a deathtrap. Everyone is going to go inside to fight for it, and it’ll just be too chaotic for me to make a plan that we could stick with. We could try to pick people off from here, but I’m the only one who can do that and I don’t intend to let you guys out of my sight. But we can’t fighta defensive battle any longer; if we don’t try to take the point, we’ll lose even if we’re the last team standing. So we need to take advantage of the chaos.”

Dulga zoomed in on the auditorium and highlighted the various entrances. Particular ones she selected was the north, west, and south entrances. The west and roof entrance was left circled but not highlighted. ”These three entrances are most likely going to be used. The roof entrance is only accessible to a select few, and the only ones who’ll come from the east is Team E, who I’m sure would have tunneled inside instead. To that end these three entrances could make a perfect chokepoint for us to take out other students on their way in. I’d suggest the south entrance; Team C and D will most likely going for here, if they don’t use the east entrance. This time I want Akasha and Yozakura to hold the south entrance while Kaida and I hide around this area.” Dulga circled an area a little bit to the south.

”I need you two to hold your ground and try to exhaust anyone who you come across. Then when things look close, me and Kaida will come in to pick off the stragglers. Whoever is left from Team A will probably try to go to the West or North entrance, but I imagine only Ezra and maybe Tomoe are left from Team A. Jett received a lot of damage from us so even if he’s still standing I doubt he can put up much of a fight. And if Mina is still active, then we can take her out together too. Regardless Team A aren’t a priority. Taking out or weakening whoever is in Team C and D takes top priority.”

Dulga then looked at Yukari and Mamoru with a contemplative look. She was debating what to do with these two in the long run. ”This isn’t a death or glory mission. I made the mistake of thinking that we could easily take out any of the students with an ambush or surprise attack. But if we can weaken them and force them to keep moving instead of resting, we can outlast them. Once they get to the auditorium they’ll have no choice but to keep pressing forward. When you think you’ve done enough damage, Yozakura and Akasha, I want you two to disengage. If they chase then we’ll pick them off, but chances are they’ll try to take over the point even in their weakened state. Then we’ll go after them again while they’re fighting with the rest of the other students inside.”

So far Mamoru has kept her mouth shut and followed Dulga’s plans. She seemed like she knew what she was doing, and Mamoru wasn’t really a planner. She generally operated on instinct and whatever seemed like a good idea at the time. To say that Mamoru was hot-blooded and rash was true, but she wasn’t entirely foolish either. She can recognize an obviously bad idea when she sees one, and knows to speak up when she has doubts like she does now. ”Are you sure it’s a good idea for us to do this again? I mean we just tried that with Team A and we didn’t really get too far with it. You said it yourself Dulga-chan, we took a bit of a beating and didn’t get much out of it. I don’t know how Mina is doing and while I’m sure Jett is in bad shape, we didn’t run into Ezra so we have no idea how much strength he has left. Not only that but I don’t know anything about whoever might be coming from the south. That’s Team C and D right? I know Roy is there, and I think Fumika, but I never really saw the others in action before.”

Mamoru leaned forward and tapped the rooftop entrance to highlight it in pink. ”I’d say if we’re going to do any defending we should do it from here. This way anyone who comes to the auditorium you can shoot down from, and if anyone gets through we can drop in and take them out. I don’t see any purpose in us trying to lay in wait outside of the auditorium since we’ll lose if we’re not there at the end of the match.” Mamoru tried to see if they could look inside of the Auditorium but there wasn’t any options to do that. She pouted but sat back down.

”Not only that but I bet we’re not even the first ones to get to the auditorium. I don’t know who might be there, certainly not Team A, but if anyone else did get there I’m sure they have some of the entrances secured already. If anyone from Team C or D got there before us we might end up walking into a trap ourselves. And from Team E, Acion can fly but not the rest of his team. If he shows up he’ll be the only one we have to deal with if we’re on the rooftop unless Haruka, Donny, or Luelle can make them fly or jump to the rooftops. But if we’re on the ground that gives them a chance to fight all of us on even ground, literally!”

Mamoru took out one of her hornet nest grenades and juggled it in her hands. She had a wicked smile on her face as she looked to her team members. ”Chaos breeds opportunity. If everyone goes inside to fight, that just means we can take them all out in one swoop! I throw one of my bombs in there while everyone is busy fighting and I could take out five or even ten people at once! So instead of trying to filter everyone who comes through, we should funnel them all together instead. Maybe even those giant robots can help! Didn’t you say that the teachers released them to make students go to the auditorium anyways?”

Listening to the two talk Yukari didn’t have much to say. She had to agree with Mamoru though; Yukari didn’t like the idea of them playing defensive again when it’s already been about a half hour since the battle started. Taking out other students wasn’t nearly as important as taking the central point, and while weakening the others would help Yukari felt it would be better if they had control of the point first. That being said she has no idea how they’ll do that since everyone will be going after it. Yukari knew how to fight maybe three or four of the students in class, but not all of them, and certainly not in a big free-for-all like Mamoru was suggesting.

”Maybe… We can focus on attacking the ones inside the auditorium already? I mean everyone is going there eventually. We could attack from the roof entrance since that’s a nice defensible spot I think, since it’ll keep us out from the immediate fighting but in the perfect spot to bunker down.”

Kaida listened to the plan and was ok with both actually. She rubbed her arm and asked, “What if Team D and C are already inside? The four of us are all strong enough for close combat. You even have a shotgun Dulga. If we stayed together and went in slowly? Not guns blazing but taking out people as they come, we could clear that auditorium quickly.”

Dulga listened to everyone, trying not to be too critical but mindful of what they’re telling her. Mamoru wanted to take on everyone at once which Dulga was completely against; unlike Mamoru, Dulga wasn’t so cocky that she thought she could take on everyone. If she did, she’d have to plan carefully, not just shoot indiscriminately. Yukari had a slightly better idea of using the rooftop entrance to pick off people already inside the auditorium though Dulga wasn’t sure if there was any rafters or something for them to be in. But ultimately It seemed like everyone wanted to move in on the attack instead of setting up a defensive perimeter around the auditorium.

”Three against me huh. Fine. We’ll attack the auditorium. We’ll get in through the rooftop entrance to minimize the chance of us running into the other students. Then we’ll move slow but steady. Akasha, Yozakura, you two take point. Kaida I want you with me. If anyone comes up behind us we’ll fend them off.” Dulga looked outside and could see the auditorium from the nurse’s window. It was a fairly long jump, but she had an idea how they could get to the rooftop easily. ”Let’s head to the roof. Yozakura can you turn yourself into a slingshot?”

”Yes! I’m actually quite good at it. As long as someone else can aim for me, I can send you or anything else about three-hundred meters away.” Yukari jumped to her feet and felt pumped. It looked like they had a plan and hopefully this time Yukari can redeem herself for her poor performance last time. She still had many ring binds left, her Capturing Cloth, and one smoke grenade. If they were going to go right into the auditorium the smoke grenade could be helpful, though Yukari made sure to grab something she can use as a mask. She didn’t want to choke out from the smoke.

Everything was going better than expected! Mamoru’s thought to take on the people inside the auditorium had Kaida’s and Yukari’s suppose, so even Dulga had to concede to it. She still had a plan for how they would approach it but Mamoru was fine with that as long as they were actually going to be on the attack this time. No more sitting around! Mamoru even got to be the vanguard which was extra nice. Things just keep getting better and better when Dulga wanted to know if Yukari could be a slingshot and Mamoru knew exactly what she had in mind.

”Omagawd are we gunna be catapulted to the auditorium!? That’s hardcore!”

Kaida nodded when Dulga said to be with her. She didn’t have anything else to say as she mentioned a slingshot. It was an odd concept, But that would leave her behind. She shook her head as she knew dulga had a good idea. “Ok… Lets do this!” She said slightly nervous.

Everyone was in agreement with the plan, so they head to the rooftop. Finding two solid poles for Yukari to grab Dulga aimed towards the auditorium rooftop. ”Akasha first, then Kaida. I’ll go third. Yozakura, I trust you can get to us quickly?” Dulga looked at Yukari as she pulled her back, ready to load and launch Mamoru.

”Yeah. Give me some time to set up and I’ll be right behind you. Alright everyone, all aboard!” Yukari adjusted the elasticity of her body so she could send everyone over as safely as she could. Once Dulga was sent, Yukari loosened herself up and ran back a fair distance before increasing the tension in her arms. Once she had the suitable strength and a vague idea of where the others were, Yukari launched herself towards the auditorium, landing on the rooftop gracefully. She adjusted the earplugs, got her rings ready, and made sure her smoke bomb was handy. ”Okay everyone I’m ready to rock!”

”Wheeeee!” Mamoru sailed through the air, rolling into a ball while having her shield out. She landed perfectly on her shield whilst doing a handstand, then placed herself back onto her feet. She’d help the others with their landing too if needed, otherwise she looked around to make sure they weren’t going to get jumped. Once the coast was clear Mamoru took out her stun tonfa and looked excitedly at the others. ”We’re doing this. We’re doing this! It looks like it’s just a drop straight into the auditorium. How do you want us to greet them? Hot and hard or a gentle caress?” Mamoru said while squeezing out more innuendos.

Once everyone was present Dulga checked her rifles one more time. No doubt they’ll be walking right into the meat grinder once they’re down there, and Dulga especially would be at a disadvantage. Enclosed spaces and melee isn’t the best place for a sharpshooter like her even with her super strength. Still, this was the plan that everyone wanted. Dulga will make sure it works.Dulga loaded both of her pistols and kicked open the door. ”Let’s roll.”

@Heartfillia@Ryonara@Lucius Cypher

[Stale Pizza]

Flying Ace

---

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The rain pattered into the stream in the center of the storm drain, washing out towards the lake. It was extremely dark inside, with the only source of illumination being the lights on their communicators and whatever devices they had on hand. Hatori’s flashlight came into some use here, especially as her helmet lacked any sort of night-vision feature. It was something she would need to think about if she has to upgrade her costume at any time. Unlike the rest of the group, Master Croc didn’t seem to require any sort of device to navigate through the system, possessing night-vision and an innate acute sense of hearing.

The smell inside wasn’t too bad; besides collecting seasonal rainfall, the sewage system didn’t see any sort of use at all, though water that’s been collecting for months, mixing in with dirt and other particulates wasn’t the best thing one could smell. Hatori glanced back at her other teammates, checking to see how they were doing.

Master Croc smirked as the others entered the drain. ”You’ll get used to it after a while. If we jog, we can get there in about 15-20 minutes. Just be sure to watch your step,” The croc said, picking up the pace once everyone was in the drain. Briefly glancing back at the swordsman, he smirked. “Your skills with the sword are extraordinary, but still need some work for it to be devastating. Who taught you to wield a blade?” ​The man asked. The kid wasn’t an amateur, that was for sure, and wielded his blade with ease and comfort, as if it was an extension of his own body. Master Croc also noticed before how Takeshi was able to remain calm and relaxed during combat.

Takeshi entered the storm drain and immediately started breathing shallowly through his mouth. He certainly had smelt worse, but still he rather not want to think about it when it hit him. He glanced up to see that Hatori was holding a flashlight. It was smart thinking to carry that. He then turned back at Fumika to see if she was ok when he heard Master Croc address him. Before he answered, he made eye contact with Fumika and said, “If you need help keeping up in your tired state...let me know please,” She blinked back at him from under the rim of the visor pushed up upon her forehead, looking for a moment almost surprised at his offer, but nodded nonetheless. He gave her a small smile and finally turned his attention to Master Croc.

“My father taught me…” he said, hesitating on “father”. Despite that being who he was, he didn’t truly accept him as his parent, but it was simpler to explain it that way. “My family has taught it, from father to son, since the first samurai in the family.” He narrowed his eyes at the croc and added, “Forgive me, but I was holding back. I rather not resort to my old ways, though it seemed like I had to at the end.” Takeshi said, referring to the attempted hamstringing of the pro.

“I’ll let it slide this time since I wasn’t at half power either,” Master Croc responded with a small chuckle. “A family of samurais who wield darkness huh? I would expect you must be pretty popular. Well, if you ever do internships with me and my agency, I would be glad to have any one of you there. Even the snarky pilot. My guys will be sure to put some muscle and beat some obedience into that skull of yours,” he added, looking back at the pilot girl. Master Croc then took a small leap over to an adjacent platform before continuing forward. “Watch your step.”

”The way you put it almost makes Takeshi sound like an edgy villain, Croc,” Hatori commented with a chuckle. By then she had lost her sense of direction, with them swerving left and right. The passage was beginning to narrow down as they moved towards the school, with barely enough room to stand for the tallest of them.

Takeshi nodded to Master Croc, simply responding a humble “Thank you...” A bead of sweat came from his temple as Hatori mentioned how Master Croc made him sound like a villain...he only gave a half attempt at a laugh, which sounded more nervous than jovial.

One step, then another. The blonde heroine’s head had stopped spinning, but it felt as heavy as ever. No matter, her eyes were still open, weren’t they? ...Weren’t they? It was so dark it was almost hard to tell, but she was definitely awake. One step, then another. She was trailing behind the others. She needed to keep up the pace. Takeshi had been nice to her. He’d asked her to call him by his name. That was something friends did, right? Did that mean he wanted to be friends? Didn’t he know that she’d cause him trouble? She was causing him trouble right now. One step, then another. He really was nice. He’d even offered to carry her if she was too tired… Bothersome. That would definitely be bothersome. One step, then another. Master Croc had said he’d be glad if she were to work with his agency… Even though he’d been the enemy just a moment ago, he kept praising her… No, not her. Them. The samurai who wielded darkness and the “snarky pilot” were the ones he’d been talking to. After all, Takeshi and Hatori had done all the work. She’d wasted so much energy, and she’d still had to rely on them… She was getting in the way again. She needed to do more, or else she’d only end up being bothersome. One step, then another. Her thoughts wouldn’t stop wandering. She had a mission to complete. She needed to win this exercise, to keep on pushing her limits and rise to the top, like Haruka would. When was it, exactly, that she’d stopped focusing entirely on becoming a hero? When was it that she’d started wanting so many things, like friends and… and… and what? What was this “wanting” that she was feeling again? It was just like how she’d felt after her fight with Yoshida.

One step, then another. Too many things to think about. A computer worked best when approaching one problem at a time. What she wanted wasn’t important right now. Being praised wasn’t important now. Takeshi’s kindness wasn’t important now. The lingering sensation of warmth and pressure in her hand wasn’t important now. Nothing else mattered - not when she had a promise to fulfill. One step, then another. Fumika hopped gingerly over the gap, taking a moment to catch her breath on the other side, then resuming her pace following after the others. This path would take about 15 minutes to reach the objective, then they’d be fighting again. One step, then another. With what power she had left, she’d only be able to create a few more copies of herself, and maybe a few simple tools and constructs. If she tried to make anything bigger than that, she’d just pass out. Copying Haruka’s strength was completely out of the question. One step, then another. She’d have to find a way to defeat her opponents outside of a direct clash of strength. There was no other option. Her teammates were counting on her to do her part.

One step, then another.

And just like that, her mind was clear again. This was good. The “wanting” that had dragged upon her heart like a weight in her chest, the fears and worries about having to choose things for herself, the warmth in her hand and the heat in her cheeks… All those things were gone. There was only the mission, and her promise. One step, then another. She’d take the path of least resistance, a path so simple even an idiot like her could follow it.

One step, then another. Everything was so much easier when she didn’t have to think about anything at all.

The light at the end of the drain signaled to the others that they were about to reach the end. The end of the drain was about 8 feet above the lake that it drained into. “Lads, we are about to reach the destination. Watch your step as you descend, as there is a lake below us. It was fun playing with you all...and good luck – pilot, knight, samurai, and Fumika.” The man said, giving his farewell before heading back into the dark shroud of the drain. Soon enough, he was out of view.

Eventually, the team had reached their destination. It felt like a near endless jog for Hatori, so she was almost relieved when they apparently arrived where they needed to go. Amane and Fumika had largely remained silent during the journey, so there wasn’t anything particularly eventful to mention, but Hatori was a bit concerned with the condition their team was in. Soon they would have to fight with another team, with one member already drained.

Takeshi looked to Master Croc one last time and said while giving him a formal bow. “Thank you, Master Croc.” He took this time to look to Fumika once more who seemed focused on the task of keeping up with them. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked concernedly.

She hesitated for only a moment before answering with a curt nod, her hair wobbling to and fro in an admirable attempt to show resolve in the face of her exhaustion. That response was the best he was getting, so he carried on. “I’ll make a bridge for us. We must move quickly over it though; I must conserve more of it for combat.” With that, he looked back to the darkness in the drain – more than enough to use. First and foremost, he raised his right hand with two fingers pointing up, much like a shinobi. The others, if they paid attention, would see Takeshi’s own shadow grow darker and darker till it was almost perfectly black, even under the sun. He figured it would be a good place to store his darkness in case they had to fight in bright daylight.

He then, with the same hand spun it clockwise and pointed towards the other bank. The darkness gathered and shot out across the pond and two spikes at the end embedded itself into the embankment. The shadow bridge itself looked about an inch thick and ten inches wide. “Do not worry, the construct is as strong as steel.” he said with a shiver, motioning everyone to go on ahead.

Hatori winced as her helmet’s visor gradually darkened in response to the sunlight and peeked down to realize that they had just exited out onto a lake. She frowned – she definitely didn’t want to swim, especially with all the gear she was wearing. Thankfully, Takeshi was able to construct a bridge out of shadow; she had honestly expected Fumika to project a bridge for them, though with how tired she was she probably couldn’t even muster the energy to make something like that now. ”Alright, let’s hurry up. I already hear a lot of explosions and shouting...it looks like the fighting’s just going down at the point,” Hatori noted, running across the shadow bridge to the bank of the river. Fumika followed close behind her, tugging her visor back down over her eyes as she emerged into the light once more. A faint crackle of static ran through the ends of her hair, sparking feebly back to life. A little longer… Just a little more. If she could just be useful for a little longer, then-

Amane was as quiet as a mouse the whole trip as he did not have much to say. He stayed at the tail of the pack, not wanting to bother anyone else. He also wanted to keep an eye on Fumika – the girl was as odd as they come, but she had a lot of potential, which sparked some interest in her abilities. She may ask some really, really stupid questions, but she certainly wasn’t as dumb as she looked. Once they reached the end of the tunnel after a short jog, the samurai made a bridge out of shadows for the group. They could hear how lively it was in the auditorium from where they were at, and Amane cracked his knuckles. “I'm itching for a fight right about now...I want to see how strong my peers are. This is where I take my leave...” he said before crossing the bridge and making his way onto land, breaking into full sprint towards the auditorium.

”Huh? Why is Mr. Knight…? Hey, wait a minute, shouldn’t we all fight together? It’s dangerous, and there might be ambushes. You shouldn’t…” Fumika raised a hand, beckoning him to stop, but as he barged past her, her voice slowly trailed off into silence, her brows furrowing in a frown as she shrank back sheepishly. It was the closest she’d looked to being genuinely upset since the exercise had started, but whether she was angry or afraid or simply gloomy, it was difficult to say for sure, especially given how much of her face was covered by her visor and collar. The ends of her hair twitched with unease, her long “tail” of golden fluff swishing from one side to the other and back again. ”Umm… Okay, okay...” She mumbled at last, tugging gingerly at the fringes of her bangs. ”I’ll just… create another me and do my best to fill in for Mr. Knight, then, too.”

---

The forest was just as irritating to navigate through as the last time, having the bolt from one tree to another all while carrying Roy, who was much heavier than the two girls combined to her, she was going to make it a point to let him know just how fat he was the moment was they got to the auditorium. Finally, she hit the ground running on a straight path that connected to the open field with the point on the other end, all she had to do was get there and she could finally take a breather and hopefully a drink of cold water because this was murdering her.

“F***...why are you so heavy?” she thought as she lugged the boy around like a rag doll, maintaining her speed. She attempted to go faster, but this was nearly the limit of her quirk. and she wasn’t going to get any more energy from simply moving. At this point. she created more stars that followed her, until even that reached its max of five.

Though Roy was supposed to be resting right now...it felt like another battle to him. He was slung to the right side of Jojo’s body as if he was a teddy bear in a child's arm. There was no concern for his well being. He was bent over staring at the ground, it was moving so fast he had to close his eyes and focus on not throwing up. Why didn’t Jojo just give him a piggyback ride or something? The two of them wouldn’t have been suffering so badly. He prayed that the ride would be over soon enough.

Takeshi quickly followed his team, and as soon as they all made it to the bank he released the shadow bridge and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before he could say anything Amane was off running towards the auditorium on his own. Fumika tried to stop him but to no avail. She looked upset and after she mentioned making a copy of herself he then said, “Hey… don’t worry about it. It was us three that did most of the work against Master Croc. We will enter from the east door,” He continued, looking to Hatori. He made his way up the bank until his head just peeked over the top of it, but he froze. He had noticed movement to his left and it took him a moment to realize what it was at least...a person carrying another, running at an impressive speed in the distance.

Hatori had little time to respond before Amane rushed forward, seemingly out of his desire for combat. She grumbled at the knight dashed off, as upset as Fumika was. But there was little time to fuss over it, and she turned to Fumika. ”Plus, I don’t think it’s wise if you used up even more of your energy now, Fumi. I don’t want you to pass out or anything,” she added, nodding in agreement to Takeshi.

Fumika seemed to cringe slightly as her plan was shot down, and gave a muffled ”I’m sorry,” as she tugged sheepishly first at the collar of her romper, then at the fringe of her bangs. She couldn’t just stand around and do nothing, though… The others were going to be outnumbered as it was! Wasn’t there something useful she could do?

Quickly looking to Hatori, “There are two students at our nine o’clock. They are moving pretty fast, and I don’t think they have seen us yet.” he ducked his head slightly to be sure. “Can you use use your planes to drive them my way? I'll move farther down while you and Fumika stay here hidden and back me up under this cover.”

”Back you up…? Um, but my range limit is-!” Fumika protested, but once again, she didn’t have time to say anything before the others had already sprung into action. At this rate, wouldn’t she just end up watching from the sidelines, unable to do anything? ...Bothersome. She was being so bothersome. They were being nice about it, but even so, that was no excuse. If she wasn’t going to help them win, then they should have had a different person on their team. And if she wasn’t going to prove herself, then it should have been Haruka there and not her. It was all so… so…!

One step, then another. Huh? Why was she running after him? Takeshi had said to stay back and provide support. And yet, before she even knew what she was doing, she was following as closely behind as she could, calling back over her shoulder so that Hatori wouldn’t worry. ”Then… I’ll provide support!” With those words, she rushed straight after the samurai. Worry… they’d seemed worried about her, but she’d told them not to worry, hadn’t she? It was fine. Even if she passed out, it would be fine. Just so long as… so long as she didn’t get in the way. One step, then another!

Unsheathing his sword once more, he ran south down the bank easily keeping his footing despite the incline. He looked back when he heard running behind him to see Fumika following him. He just said...sighing, once he got a few dozen feet away, he came to a stop then crouched down and waited for the opportunity to jump up and grab all their attention. He looked to Fumika and said, “I thought I said…” He stopped when realized he did tell her to back him up from this cover...but she must have taken that into account and had to be near him to do that…. Depending on her strength and distance which only she knew. “Alright, just stay behind me. I'll engage both of them,” She nodded very emphatically, her hair twitching a bit with nervous energy as she ducked down a short distance behind him.

The teenage pilot nodded and swiftly threw several dart planes, which immediately began flying in the air. ”Yeah, I see them...they’re not going that fast. My planes will easily catch up,” Hatori replied; within a few seconds, the planes accelerated to nearly a hundred kilometers per hour. She could easily go faster at the cost of more energy, but it wasn’t necessary for the targets they were going to deal with. The planes soon tailed JoJo and Roy in the sky and suddenly began firing at the two; half of the fleet sped across them to fire at them from the front in an attempt to surround them. Hatori could still see them in the distance, though if they were to go out of her line of sight, she had a spy plane within the fleet prepared so she could switch her vision.

JoJo panted rapidly, only focused on getting to the auditorium. Because of the goggles, it wasn’t like she could look at her surroundings anyway, so what happened next was probably the most logical conclusion to their position. Pellets started to rain from above, firing all across their sides and backs thankfully missing, enough spraying and eventually they were hit more than couple of times, causing Joann to curse out loud having what felt like being stung by a bees a hundreds of times over. JoJo was beginning to panic if she could outrun them in the thicket she might be able to just tough it out, but her eyes saw a second fleet of what looked like planes firing from the front, cursing again her plan to go into the tree was completely shot down as they had already gotten to the soccer field. The front was being covered and the back was advancing on them she didn’t want to be hit again for obvious reasons. Looking over to the right she saw the river and decided if she was careful she could skate around the planes if she was fast enough.

“Please tell me you’re charging after being in the sun and your quirk does it naturally like mine…because we're probably going to have to fight in a little bit,” she started talking and running trying to build up some kinda plan with her teammate before they were inevitably ambushed.

Roy had been aching on both arms. It was rather hard to regain energy, as the trees blocking out some of the raw sunlight, but he was managing. He felt Jojo clench tightly on his body as to not lose him before taking tight swerves in attempt to dodge the incoming projectiles. Some of the shots tagged Roy, which felt like being pricked. The boy let out some grunts in response. He whipped his neck to the right to see see what was shooting at them, but it was quite hard to get a good fixation on what was raining hell on them. He turned on his comm link so Jojo could hear him clearly. “Yeah, I'm gaining more energy, but I will have to use it sparsely as our methods of generation are different."

Hatori frowned as it was hard enough to get a good aim at the two at this position; the planes she was controlling was near perpendicular to her, making it harder to properly measure distance. But by what she could tell, it seems like she was spraying enough pellets to at least make some of them connect. She was considering running in to deal with the two at a close range, where Takeshi could help. Everything was falling into plan as her planes rotated around to force the two to run southward, right into Takeshi.

Takeshi watched as Chiwa started her attack. When Jojo stopped and turned towards the south and he got up and sprinted, his head low enough so he could just barely see her and managed to get ahead of her. It didn’t take her long to get close, and he jumped up in her path. He stayed close to the trees and swung his sword at her when she was close enough aimed at her left arm.

Joann continued to lug Roy around and talk at the same time it was good to know he was getting there with some form of energy because something far more annoying – Takeshi – someone she really didn’t care to see again. Thanks to being at her maximum, unlike the first time they fought, his movements were a lot easier to track and thanks to her goggles she even had time to think of a few options. “Roy, flash now!” Joann waited till just the right moment to drop Roy in such a way he wouldn’t slide too far and so that she could spend some energy to blink out of the way of his sword. Because the planes were still firing when she suddenly just ‘vanished’, with bullets still flying towards her now on a crash course with Takeshi.

“Huh?” was the only thing he could get out. Things began playing in slow motion as his adrenaline began pumping. The boy protected his head with his arms and tucked his body closely to minimize damage. He was not prepared for Jojo to ask that of him, and hit the deck with a large thump. The helmet of his costume suffered a large skidmark in the upper right corner, his body vaulted up a few feet into the air before slamming into the ground again. It was as if Roy jumped out of a moving car almost. The lights on his suit were flashing brightly and his speed began to slow more quickly than expected, but how?

Spikes. There were spikes protruding from his body, digging into the dirt to halt his speed under control. Despite him gaining balance, Roy still suffered some damage as the cuts on his arms were reopened. Once he grabbed hold of the reins, Roy sent a concussive blast to the ground with his right hand, propelling him into the sky. This threw him off balance once again as he had miscalculated and overshot. The way his body was he was mid flip with his head pointing towards the ground. At this rate he wasn’t going to land on his feet but on his hip and he had two choices. Sacrifice himself or save himself.

He chose the heroic way, clenching his left arm with his right hand Roy held his aim steady before firing off 3 blasts of solar energy toward Takeshi. Though unlikely for all of them to hit him, he was sure one would at least prevent him from going through with his strike. In the background Roy hit the floor tumbling, kicking up dirt and dust before laying in the ground struggling to get back to his feet. He let out of couple coughs as he dug his claws into the earth and getting onto his knees.

“You have until the end of the semester to prove yourself.”

He was going to prove he had what it takes, and that yesterday was just a fluke.

“If you fail, you will be immediately expelled.”

Failure was not an option, he had to move forward and make progress.

But right before he lost sight of his target, a flash of red appeared in his periphery, and a brightly-colored shape came darting into view. Fumika rushed into the fray, eyes flashing as in an instant, that faint pulse of light told her everything she needed to know.

A raking shower of paper projectiles, followed by three orbs of light rapidly closing in on their target. There wasn’t time for her to switch to Playback and defend Takeshi, even if she had the power left to do so. And, even if she managed to hold against those, that girl was still an issue. Energy had coursed over her entire body and she vanished - an electrical Quirk. Trying to fight her would be useless. The boy in the air was shaping energy, too, but it was self-contained. No interference. She could have blocked it, but… No. A trick. The girl who’d vanished was circling around them… She could re-materialize any time she wanted, and when she did, Takeshi would be too busy with everything else to stop her! No, he wouldn’t even be able to see it coming! Fumika herself couldn’t block whatever attack she had planned - the energy would tear right through her projections. That meant... She had to lighten his load somehow, or else they’d both be beaten for sure!

The fact that she had a choice whether or not to sacrifice herself never even occurred to her. She just did what Haruka would have done. She wasn’t as fast, but still… One step, then another. She leaped with as much force as she could muster, reaching out her arms and placing them on Takeshi’s shoulder even as he completed his ill-fated swing. ”I’m sorry, Takeshi!” She apologized preemptively… and then shoved him away as hard as she could.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as countless strands of independent memory were taxed to their limit. The ends of her hair singed and sparked furiously, but the solution was nowhere to be found. No time to block. But... Takeshi was completely out of the line of fire. Then, it was fine. It was just going to hurt a bit was all.

She ducked her head as best she could. One projectile struck her shoulder, but only pierced the outer layer of her jacket before stopping in the foam underneath. Another grazed off one side harmlessly, but two more struck her dead in her stomach and chest. She could feel the air rushing out of her lungs, but by the time she could process the pain, she was already feeling far worse. Lights flashed across her vision and the red glow beneath her visor flickered and faded as another bullet struck her across the temple, a faint spray of red running down her forehead as it grazed across her scalp. Fortunate. If she hadn’t ducked, then the jarring in her head would have been worse. Right, it could have been so much worse than this, so this was fine.

Her head was spinning. The lights dancing before her eyes coalesced into three solid orbs. Right, it wasn’t over yet - it hadn’t nearly begun. Ah, it already hurt so much… Wasn’t this enough? There was still a fraction of a second to react, but it was hot and she could hear the crackling in her ears and… and… Fire. The fire was coming. It would wash over her again, creeping across her back and then-

No. One step, then another. She’d regained her footing. There wasn’t even time to draw breath, but still, she could at least direct her fall. Backwards. Away from the fire. Away from the heat. Away - never far enough away, ever closer, spiraling inward toward her. No choice. She’d come this far. What was a little more? Emerald sparks flashed from the tips of her hair, and a momentary surge of green erupted in front of her. The orbs would explode the moment they came into contact with her, right…? Then in that case… The “her” that they came into contact with just had to be the wrong one!

And so, Roy could see clearly as “Fumika” was struck head on by all three projectiles. The ground shook with the impact as heat and light washed over where she’d been standing, and smoke clouded the air. But to Takeshi, on the other hand, positioned as he was to one side, the real outcome of the attack would become immediately clear. Burned and battered, but still conscious, Fumika rolled backward out of the smoke, coughing and wheezing as she tried to force the air back into her lungs, tried to force herself to stand.

Hatori smiled at it seemed like they had surrounded the two, but in that moment, a concussive blast temporarily cut her control with her planes as she covered her eyes. The planes stopped idly in motion, slowing its fire. ”Damn... I forgot about their Quirks. It won’t be that easy…” she thought as she regained her vision...and the girl was gone. She completely stopped her fire afterwards in confusion. What was that?

But there was little time to respond. The bullets that she had just fired towards the girl were now heading for Takeshi, who was right behind her. And within a second, Fumika came rushing down towards him, pushing him out of the way as the bullets landed square onto her. Hatori widened her eyes, shocked at the realization that she had unintentionally hit her own teammate. The three solar blasts were initially going towards Takeshi were instead in the line of fire of Fumika, seemingly finishing her off...

Takeshi should have remembered the blink ability Jojo had, but he was already in mid swing, but he did hear Jojo yell flashbang. He narrowed his eyes but the bang never came...he was suddenly shoved to his left, causing him to fall over. But when he hit the ground he tucked his shoulder and rolled sideways onto his feet, turning in time to see Fumika being hit by Hatori’s planes. He was in such shock that she tried to protect him once again he hesitated for a moment...which costed Fumika dearly. He tried to throw up a shield for her so she wouldn’t get hit by the more powerful attacks but it was too late. His eyes widened as she fell, rolling to the ground. He quickly moved towards her, but halted in his tracks as she raised a single hand.

”Don’t worry about me…!” She coughed weakly, her breathless voice hard to hear over the ringing in his ears after the explosion. Fumika was covered in soot and uprooted dirt, the fringes of her hair were still glowing and smoking, and blood was dripping down from her forehead. Nevertheless, she couldn’t afford to make him worry about her - not when that worry would lose him valuable time. So, ignoring the lingering pain as best she could, she screamed out a warning at the top of her lungs. ”The enemy… She’s coming back! Look out!”

From Hatori’s perspective near the side, it was unclear what had happened; another flash of light had blinded her once more, with smoke further obscuring the battlefield. There was a light tremor shortly after the impact. But now she was barely able to think. Her friendly fire didn’t cripple her confidence, or if it did, only briefly – no, it just ignited the fury that was inside of her. Of the ones that caused her to hit her own teammates. It was unforgivable. And they were going to pay.

JoJo used her blink for the first time at maximum output and it sent her body on a wild ride, she didn’t just move like lightning, it was as if she became lightning and it felt amazing! She literally had to pull herself together to re-achieve her physical state, but when she did her body was already reacting on its own without her having to put the thought process in. When her brain took back control over the body she was already mid swing her fist cocked back, and the girl was already performing a Haymaker with enough force behind it to rival a jackhammer. Joann’s body continued to follow through with the attack at the same time the burst of energy exploded from her body as a result of the blink releasing a massive portion of her built up energy taking her from full to just under half.

Takeshi looked up just as JoJo blinked into existence a foot in front of him, just registering Fumika’s warning at the same time. She was already cocked back in a haymaker, aimed for his his face. Reacting quickly, he shifted his weight, his left arm now lifting up and knocked Jojo’s hand to the right so she would punch past his face, then, with his right leg he gave a short swift kick to her knee which was closest to him attempting to buckle it.

She took a few heavy breaths; Hatori’s buttons were definitely pushed, but she wasn’t one to go into a blind rage. Think...Takeshi mentioned who the two were before. JoJo and...Roy, right? The girl can manipulate electricity, and the boy can make light constructs… she thought at she moved her planes towards Takeshi and JoJo, producing more in the meantime. Meanwhile, a smaller fleet had separated from her larger one, hovering closer to Hatori not only to defend herself if the other girl, JoJo, tried to go for her instead, but also to make sure that Roy didn’t try to stand back up.

So, if her quirk is related to electricity, then what’s her weakness? Hatori thought, grumbling to herself. There was nothing around her that immediate clicked to Hatori as a way to deal with her. Maybe there’s something more to her Quirk...there has to be something more. Or maybe...

”Takeshi, fall back!” Hatori shouted after Takeshi had done his counter-attack. Immediately afterwards, Hatori’s planes came from the side to fire towards JoJo. She had a plan now – it wasn’t a very complex plan, but it was something. ”Take this!”

Joann gritted her teeth as her punch missed. Worst of all she was being shot at again, thankfully it seemed as if Takeshi was too enthused with the idea of tripping her that he didn’t hear his own teammate, but she did. JoJo took the fall even going so far as to push her body further forward, the momentum of her fist continued to curve since being redirected causing her body to twist. Joann hit the sand behind Takeshi on her shoulder taking the pellets she dodged thanks to him into consideration if he would be struck by them she’d get back to her feet and get away from the water, being so close even if she was less than half full now would send her right back to zero and that’s not helping anyone.

Takeshi did hear Hatori, however he wanted to make sure he gave her as much time as she could, as he noticed most of the bullets from her plans were aimed at the ground. With Jojo’s quirk as electricity, he racked his mind on what Hatori was thinking, figuring out what she was planning. While a fair amount did hit him once Jojo fell behind him it felt the impact like marbles hitting his armor. A few hit his face causing him to wince and take a step back in pain, He lifted his arm to protect his face while he concentrated. He quickly had shadows collect on his sword and span out about a foot wide on either side, making a large paddle. He swung his new weapon a few times towards Jojo, trying to get all of the fine dust blown over to her while Hatori’s planes was making even finer dust now on the sand she was standing on. At the same time as his swings, he moved over to Fumika, ready to cover her when the moment was right as he didnt know how how big this would be. His free hand was already gathering another shadow to build a wall.

Roy fought tooth and nail just to pick his body up off the ground, the cuts on his arms were reopened and clogged with dirt and grit. He would need some serious disinfecting after this. Roy managed to get to a kneel before a dust storm overcame him and Jojo. It was difficult to see but his helmet managed to prevent any dust or dirt from getting into his eyes. Despite this there was still a problem.

He couldn't see the next attack that was sent by Hatori, all that could be heard is the impact of the bullets as they collided with the ground. With each barrage he could hear them getting closer. Natural instinct made Roy want to back up and run the other direction as he feared for the unknown. The boy got up on all both feet before sliding his left foot back. The bullets were closing in on him and a decision would have to be made soon. He planted his right foot hard into the ground before bringing both hands to his left side and squatting. The LED lights on his costume shined brightly as a handle sprouted his hands before the rest of his plan was made reality. The construct represented a large Japanese cherry blossom fan.

Roy cocked both hands back before swinging the large construct, the fan slowly sailed through the air. It was a struggle as the large semi circle strongly resisted the air. He could feel his muscles screaming as he sent the dust storm right back at the attackers.

Hatori looked at Takeshi as he seemed to pick up her quickly formulated plan, and she was already concentrating her fire onto the ground below JoJo and Roy, kicking up even more dust as she was creating more and more planes by the second. However, she had not expected for Roy to get up, and soon he constructed a bright-colored fan and sweeped it across. She thought the solar construct would have set off the dust storm, but it seemed that he still had enough control of his constructs to confine its energy.

It looks like they’re not using their Quirks...it’ll make dealing with them easier now, Hatori thought, trying to dodge the dust storm so the two enemy classmates didn’t try to blow back the dust storm and catch them in the potential firestorm. She was running back towards the bleachers, and this time went for a more direct attack towards Roy.

Meanwhile, another fleet splitted from the larger one, going around to hit the boy from behind, anticipating that he would try to use his solar constructs to shield himself. Hatori had a set of parchment paper at the ready – while not fire-resistant, it was heat-resistant enough to not immediately burn out from his constructs.

Fumika groaned, trying to rise to her feet, but the aching in her stomach made it a slow process. Her hair snapped and fizzed at the ends as errors rebounded through her system, sending wave after wave of pain like a dagger through her skull, such that she hardly would have even noticed the gash in her forehead by comparison were it not for the blood oozing slowly down her forehead, fusing with the dirt and soot that had caked her during her fall to form a disgustingly warm, sticky red ichor that threatened to cover her right eye completely. She rubbed it away as best she could, leaving a red smear upon the formerly pristine white back of her sleeve.

Data was missing. It wasn’t much, but several key strands of her hair had been burned beyond use. She couldn’t remember which blouse she’d worn on the third day of February of that year. Or had it been a sweater? Someone had consistently called her by the wrong name in the fourth grade of elementary school, and since she’d never bothered to correct him, the entire class had gotten her name wrong, but she couldn’t remember what exactly it was they had called her. When she’d told Haruka about it, Fumika distinctly remembered her laughing about it… It must have been some kind of pun, but what was it? And the stroke order of the kanji for day… Which side did you write first, again? And that time her parents had taken her and her sister for a drive and had a flower viewing party at the start of spring… She’d been so happy on that day, because everyone had been smiling, but now suddenly her heart fell as she realized that she couldn’t remember what their faces had looked like, or what precisely she’d seen looking down from that hill. It had been so pretty, and had made her feel warm inside whenever she remembered it, but she hadn’t thought of it for quite some time now… and now suddenly she couldn’t recall more than a dim, indistinct shadow of the image no matter how hard she’d tried. It was strange. Frightening. She wasn’t used to not remembering things perfectly. But it was fine, because other people lived like this all the time, so it would just be petty of her to be angry about it, right?

No matter. None of those had any bearing on her combat skills whatsoever. She could still fight, and a fight was what was at hand. One step, then another. It was pointless to get distracted by pain or by loss. A computer worked best when it focused on one problem at a time.

There was dust everywhere. She wiped away the last of the blood that had adhered itself to her eyelashes and quickly slipped her visor back into place as she finally managed to stand. Her eyes flashed red, particles cutting through the fog to see clearly what was happening. The paper girl was continuing to provide fire support from a distance, while Takeshi stood protectively in front of her… She’d told him not to worry, though, right? Wasn’t it a liability for him to have to shield her like this? And where were the enemies? One of them seemed to be trying to bat away the dust, to little avail - it rose again just as quickly as he forced it back. But the other - that electrical girl - where did she go?

Joann kicked herself away from Takeshi panting coughing and wiping the dust flung at her, though it was annoying it gave her a decent idea. Still tired from having carried three people around since the beginning and then having to fight right after. Gritting her teeth JoJo decided to do what she always does in these situations and that was to suck it up then power through, turning herself over on her stomach and kicking upward to a standing position she bolted off making a large semi-circle around the fighting arena to charge up energy. Even though she had practiced all night she never could figure out how to make her electrical energy sprout from her hand and give a form, but she did learn how to gather it in one place like her fist. It hurt immensely like a balloon filled with too much air about to pop, but she learned that the striking power more than tripled at the cost of a lot of stored up energy, with that she decided to double it up on both fists; interlocking her fingers with one another JoJo jumped high into the air and ground pounded the sand, sending it scattering in all directions.

“Roy, RUN NOW!” She screamed staggering back having just sprained both her hands, giving her what looked like a first-degree injury before backing up in her own way before running off to the distance to get out of the dust cloud and what she hoped was the auditorium.

Takeshi narrowed his eyes to protect them from the dust from Roy as he tried to clear the dust with his much larger cherry blossom fan. Cursing to himself he released the makeshift fan he created on his sword and focused all his energy into his quirk, sheathing his sword. The line of shadow that was supposed to protect them from jojo’s direction incase she used her electricity quickly stretched around Fumika, large enough for her them to lie down in. At that moment, she pointed suddenly, her red gaze flashing beneath her visor. ”Over there! She’s coming back!” He noticed Jojo running around him, building up her electricity.
He turned and wrapped his arms around Fumika, with one hand placed on the back of her head. spinning as he did this, he fell to his knees. Using this motion to pull Fumika down with him so she was laying on the ground while Takeshi was kneeling on one knee. His hand protected Fumika’s head from hitting the ground. The takedown took less than a second, and when Fumika would look up to him, she would only see him with his eyes cinched shut as he concentrated.

He focused all the shadows around him and all of his own personal shadow into this construct. A sphere suddenly shot up around them, just big enough to slide over Takeshi’s back. He positioned himself so his back was to Jojo as she jumped.

Fumika gave a quiet gasp, but it didn’t seem to be from the shock of falling so suddenly. She was staring upward, but behind her darkened shades, her gleaming scarlet eyes weren’t focused on Takeshi, but rather a point behind him. The sparks… the dirt. As the energy arced outwards, the heat would… The uprooted grass, and chunks of plant matter within the soil kicked up to form the smoke screen would all ignite, the fire jumping outward from source to source. Already, in the back of her mind, she could hear the sound of the fire, the sound of everything collapsing around her. She remembered the flames washing over her sight, blinding her with their brilliance. And that chillingly hot, creeping agony licking her back… The black shape that came darting through the smoke. The arms that were wrapped protectively around her.

It would happen again.

The faint beeping of the electrocardiogram. The spring wind blowing through the open window, its distant howl as if it was in mourning. And that tiny shape lying in front of her, once so grand, now so pitiful… The fire crackling, the frantic cry, the crash of breaking glass, and that same sight she wanted so desperately to forget. Why, why, why was she still smiling!?

It would happen again…!

”Takeshi, the fire… the shockwave…” She whimpered, tugging suddenly at the sleeve of the arm that held her. As she spoke, Takeshi would come to realize that, for the first time, she who had just fearlessly faced down a shower of bullets sounded genuinely terrified. But it wasn’t herself she was worried about. She’d faced these flames before. Rather…

It would happen again!

Before even Fumika knew what she was thinking, she wasn’t seeing Takeshi, but rather, a different dark shape standing over her amidst the flames - and she already knew all too well how this would end.

”You’re going to get hurt! Run… Please, run!”

By now Hatori was visibly frustrated. Ugh...this is not going as I hoped it would… she thought, trying to backup even more, onto the stairs of the bleachers. It didn’t seem like what she was doing as enough to put down the two opposing classmates, and she was strongly considering bringing out the bigger planes, until…

A short tremor, and the dust around them started to ignite in a near instant. It was apparent that JoJo had set off the ignition with an electrical attack, but now Roy had spread the dust cloud that it was covering up Takeshi and Fumika, with Hatori herself just outside of it. She didn’t have time to react, with the inferno scorching parts of her sleeves and her right pant leg. The paper in her arm also accelerated the flame.

Thankfully, Hatori was able to react fast enough and drop the paper she was holding; only a some of her clothing was actual cloth, so she quickly got down and patted it out. While she may had avoided the fire, part of her lower leg and right elbow suffered minor burns, and Hatori quickly felt the sting of her injuries. Some of her paper stacks were also burned away, and the two ran off...but that was the least she could care about.

”Fumika! Takeshi!” she shouted, grunting as she tried to stand up; she wasn’t incapacitated, but the burns still hurt. She bit her lip – not only did her plan fail, but it ended up hurting her teammates more than it hurt them, or at least she thought. She remembered that Fumika and Takeshi had their own Quirks that could protect themselves, but if they couldn’t react in time…

All Roy could here was a warning for him to run, following an explosion. Jojo seemed to always warn him after the fact. The little paper planes beaming at his arm stung badly as they opened his wounds even further. Now he was tasked with the giant shockwave hurling towards him, the swarm of paper planes, and his low energy reserves. He was breathing heavily after swinging the giant fan, the giant shockwave was not helping him at all neither. Things were looking bad, Roy released the fan construct before curling his body in a ball. The bullets from the airplane began traveling all around his back. It felt like he was being swarmed at this point by colony of bees. Roy flexed all his muscles, the led lights on his his costume flickering off and on before staying on. Soon Roy was enveloped in a round ball of energy, by curling his body he reduced how much energy he would need to cover his body. Now in a constructed hamster ball, Roy braced for the impact of the shockwave while inside. Covered in sweat as he anticipated the blast.

WOOSH!

The blast sent the hamster ball construct with him inside rolling past Hatori and the bleachers. The heat was intense, but nothing Roy couldn’t handle; his quirk allowed him to handle higher temperatures than the average human being could. Roy’s costume was also fitted with built in heat resistance. The biggest challenge was surviving the shockwave. The boys helmet clanked against the shell of the ball as he rolled through the dirt and sand before finally slowing down 15 yards behind the pilot girl. Once the ball stopped rolling Roy released the energy, laying in the grass on his back as the outskirts of the firestorm singed the dirt around him. He took this chance to catch a quick breather, Roy pulled his mask up only revealing his lips. He took a deep breath of the somewhat fresh air. Which was mostly burnt and mixed in with sand particles. Nevertheless he managed what he could.

Joann didn’t want to even be involved in this fight, she just wanted to get to the stupid auditorium and defend, why couldn’t they just have kicked rocks the moment they saw Takeshi and the paper planes. The next thing she could hear was a loud BANG, looking back even for a second out of curiosity turned her entire world upside down as her body was flung backward and engulfed in a firestorm that soon followed. There were no screams she was already out cold long before the fires hit, shattering both her legs in the process so even if she was still awake there was nothing she or anyone could do for her. Fire devoured her body, cooking the poor girl alive, thankfully she wouldn’t die from this, but anyone watching could do nothing but look on in horror as the immediate area smelled of burned flesh.

Takeshi winced as the explosion shockwave slammed into his sphere. He honestly was not expecting it to be that powerful, his construct barely managed to survive the blow. Despite the heat outside of the sphere, Takeshi was now shaking visibly. His once solid stance now was weak as he almost fell on top of Fumika as she tugged on his arm. He was suddenly very dizzy and tried to shake his head to right his equilibrium, but it had little effect. He was just grateful that he could not focus his energy into maintaining the sphere as much, but suddenly he was feeling really tired...

He heard Fumika say something. It took him a second to realize she was telling him to run. That he was going to get hurt. Wobbling slightly as he shook his head. “N-no… I’m not going...to run. I’m gonna protect you for once,” he replied, extremely exhausted, as if he was about to fall asleep at that instant. He forced his eyes open wide in an attempt to wake himself up and gave a tired smirk at her before focusing his attention outside of the Sphere.

The roar of the fire died down, and he was sure it was safe to release his construct. After a moment, the construct poofed out of existence. He looked around as he fell to his side, his breath shallow despite how quickly he was breathing. Clear signs of hypothermia. He saw Jojo nearby on the ground and still had some flames on her, but wasn’t moving. He knew he had to do something. He reached out, his hand shaking horribly and tried to focus. Blood came out of his nose as he pushed himself beyond his limit.

Shadows would suddenly wrap around the entire body, snuffing out any fire that was left, and at the same time, the shadows acted as a full body Ice pack. He would hold it as long as he could, at least till help arrived.

As the barrier before her eyes peeled away, Fumika stared in shock at the scene that was revealed before her. The entire field had been burnt and scorched, with a few lingering flames still consuming what little was left of the grass. Black dirt and white ashes mingled amidst the rubble as the ground cracked and crumbled from the force of the mighty blast. It was a picture out of hell, or perhaps out of an old memory.

Takeshi staggered and slumped to one side. Before she even realized what she was doing, and before the pain from her cuts and bruises could register, Fumika had forced herself to her feet, extending her arms to catch and support him as best she could. She winced a little, giving a quiet wheeze of pain and effort as his elbow connected rather unceremoniously with her already bruised gut on his way down, making the already difficult job of holding him up even harder. Was he heavy, or was she just weak? Maybe it was just because she was already so tired, but it was hard to so much as stand supporting him as she was.

But she had more pressing concerns. She’d expected him to feel hot, but actually, it was just the opposite. It was hard for her to so much as touch him, as even though her thick gloves and romper, his entire body was like ice. Was this a side-effect of his Quirk? Come to think of it, in her Recordings of him during their previous battle, his body temperature had seemed rather low, but… This was as if he’d nearly frozen himself to death! And he’d done all this… He’d done all this…

To save her. Because she’d needed saving. It had happened again, just like she had known it would. Instinctively, she averted her gaze, not wanting to look at his face… not wanting to see that same smile that she couldn’t understand.

His hand. It was outstretched, but towards what? Wait… There had been others, right? The boy behind them - that nice boy who had invited her to work with him during Cooking class the previous day, Kusayanagi Roy - as well as that electrical girl who’d been so ruthless in her attacks. And Hatori had been watching from a distance, too… Was she safe? Had the blast reached her, too?

As she frantically searched amidst the rubble, her eyes flashing red once again, she got her answer. Hatori had evidently been caught on the edge of the blast, but seemed relatively unharmed. The boy with the tattoos had been - that is, Roy had been launched away, but despite being closer to ground zero, seemed to be alright himself - or at least, not much more injured than he already had been. But the electrical girl? Where was the electrical girl?

The shadows crept across the ground. Takeshi’s outstretched hand clenched as their sluggish movements grew more swift. And there, still wreathed in glowing embers, was…

Fumika gasped in horror. Of course, she knew full well what that kind of proximity to such intense flames could do to a person. Her own back was proof of that. But how much more terrifying, for the flames in question to ignite from one’s very own flesh! What if she’d tried to project something within that dust cloud? Even the slightest spark might have set it off… If she herself had been a little more reckless, she might have suffered the exact same fate. Why? Why had things reached this point? This was supposed to be training, right? They weren’t trying to hurt each other, right? So then, why was this happening again?!

No matter. She shook the memories of that scene from a year ago from her mind. What would Haruka do? No, what had Haruka already done? She had to help, had to get that girl out of there before she burned to death... Even if it meant throwing the match, she had enough energy left to do that, right? She could hold Takeshi herself, and if he couldn’t move, then she’d just have to carry him safely away from the lingering fire and smoke. And that girl… If she couldn’t carry her herself, then she just needed to make a her who could!

Her eyes flashed green as the bar around her head continued ticking down into nothing. Flicking faintly, two images of Fumika rushed forward through the lingering flames that licked at their heels, taking hold of the girl wrapped in shadows. ”Please, just hold on… I’ll get you to safety…” She rasped out. The smoke was choking her. It was hard to breathe, hard to even keep her eyes open. But if she shut them now, then that girl would fall…! One step, then another. She dragged herself a little further forward, still shouldering Takeshi’s weight as best she could and trying to support him. ”I’m sorry,” She whispered. Her eyes were beginning to water, but it must have just been the stinging smoke. ”I’m sorry I’m so slow...” One step, then another. Why was it that, if she was supposed to be a hero, when it really counted, other people always suffered instead of her? She should have done something, should have protected them no matter what the cost. It already hurt so much, what was a little more pain? If she’d only been a little stronger, she could have protected herself. She might even have been able to protect that girl, if she hadn’t panicked right when the explosion went off. She’d been looking right at her! Why hadn’t she been able to do anything? Why had she frozen right when it mattered most?

She’d gotten distracted again and blinked. Jojo’s body phased through her now-intangible clones… Only for the copies to blur and vanish completely as another Fumika re-formed beneath her, catching her and taking another step. Fumika’s vision was tinged completely with red. Oh, right. Her forehead was still bleeding. It was hard to raise her eyelid. Had the blood coagulated already? Not to mention that her eyes were still stinging with pain from the smoke. Her vision was getting blurry, but… but… One step, then another. Right, just a little more. The fires had mostly burned themselves out here.

”I’m sorry,” She apologized again. Her legs were about to give out. She slumped forward, but managed to take most of the fall by landing on her knees in order to let Takeshi down gently. Next to her, her copy similarly deposited Jojo, taking as much care as she could to avoid aggravating her injuries any further. A quick scan revealed the scope of her wounds. Her vitals were fine, but the lower half of her body, particularly her legs… She averted her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look anymore, because she already knew the rest. After all, this had already happened before, and yet, she still hadn’t been able to…!

”I’m sorry, I can’t carry you… My legs are still shaking… I can’t… my eyes...” Her voice had faded into little more than a mumble now. What was she looking at anymore? The burnt schoolyard before her eyes and the schoolyard from her memories converged into one, and she could no longer tell whether the haze over her eyes was because of the smoke or because of her fatigue. Were her eyes even open anymore? It was hard to tell. Her whole body felt so heavy, yet at the same time light as a feather as it trembled at the slightest motion. The fire all around her buffeted her with waves of heat as if she was in an oven, but the chills running up her spine and crawling across her skin were so cold. Her ears were still ringing. She couldn’t hear anything - not even the crackling of the dying flames. The girl, was she still breathing? Was Takeshi getting warmer or colder? What if they died because she’d been too slow to react? The ringing in her ears gave way to the beeping of the EKG, while the form before her eyes was replaced by another. Was she awake or asleep? Was this a nightmare?

No, there was no time for that. This time… There had to be something she could do this time! Help… She needed help. The communications device had an emergency frequency, right? With a trembling hand, she reached down to the pouch on her belt, but she couldn’t seem to remember where the button was or how to unfasten it. When she finally worked her jittering fingers around the flap and pulled it open, she nearly dropped the communicator on the ground before she could safely withdraw it and turn it on. Changing frequencies, she recalled that when requesting emergency services, it was best to be as concise and as calm as possible. Calm. She needed to be calm. She took a deep breath. Concise was easy. It was hard to speak anyway. She just needed to be calm.

”Is anybody there? There’s been an explosion. Everyone’s hurt. We’re at the soccer field. Please, come quickly…!” Her ears were still ringing. Had she been too loud? Was she whispering? Was she screaming? Had anyone even heard her? Was help even coming? Even if it did come, would it arrive on time?

As she slumped in the dirt, Fumika realized that the outcome she’d feared most had finally come to pass. She’d gotten in the way, gotten in over her head… And because of it, everyone had gotten hurt. She still clung to Takeshi’s arm, realizing only then that she’d forgotten to release it. And yet, no matter how long she waited, even in spite of the heat lingering in the wake of the explosion... he wasn’t getting any warmer.

Laying in the ground breathing heavily, the injured kid inhaled the smokey air. He got sat up, knowing full and well that he was running on empty. “Damn it, JoJ-” His green eyes widened as he looked straight ahead seeing the destruction caused, it was no more a lush green field. Everything was scorched as if the area was bombed. Roy bit his lip as he mustered the strength from his body to get up. Not realizing how hard he was biting down, the guy was trying so hard he began bleeding from the mouth. Finally he got to his feet, looking a wreck. The sleeves on his costume war torn and bloody, his helmet scratched and half on. He began moving forward, focusing hard on walking over to Jojo. Ignoring the fire as his boots began to catch on fire. He was slowly roasting in the battlefield but he didn’t care not one bit.

Left, right, left, right… He kept moving forward despite about to kick the bucket himself. “Idiot...you didn’t have to go that far...”

Soon the wind blew on the fire and smoke a bit, giving Roy some insight on the destruction. He saw a long haired ahoge carrying Jojo out of the fire before the the fire blocked his view once again. Roy let out a sigh before patting the fire off on his foot. At least Fumi was alright and she was helping out Jojo.Roy kept moving faster, the adrenaline in his body giving him a little pep in his step. He stepped in a large patch of fire, some of it hitching a ride. First on the back of his left leg, then his left hand.

Grrrr... Soon he made his way out of the firestorm standing in front of Fumika, Takeshi, and Jojo. He stood in front of them, parts of his body ablaze. He looked at the samurai guy who was pale, Roy made a layer of energy on the inflamed areas. The fire stuck to the solar energy like glue before the boy brushed the construct off his body and it fell to the floor. He moved closer to Fumika with a hand up in the air.

“Time-out, was just checking if you and Jack Frost over here was okay. I could feel his body temperature all the way from here. It’s cutting through the hot air like a sharp knife.” Roy got closer before placing a hand on Takeshi’s shoulder, this man felt like a glacier. It almost hurt to make contact with him for so long. “Thanks for helping my teammate Fumika, it means a lot. I can help this guy from here, you should see if that pilot girl is alright.”

The first thing Hatori noticed was that Roy was able to make it out of the firestorm with a solar ball construct that he had made, though the strain and exhaustion he was putting on himself seemingly aggravated his wounds from before. She sighed in relief and stood up, rolling her burned sleeves so that both ends were at about the same height. The firestorm died down quickly as the fire had no fuel to burn once it ignited the dust in the air. Through the ashes and smoke that now clouded the burnt field, the girl was able to see Takeshi’s shadow constructs attempting to smother the flames out of the body…

The body. Parts of JoJo’s body were a deep red and brown, unnaturally bloated and blistered due to the burns she had suffered – she definitely had the worst of all five of them, practically being at ground zero of the firestorm. Hatori covered her mouth, both out of some sort of guilt and shock at what she had just done.

When the worst had finally come to pass, Hatori ran towards the three, ignoring Roy for now – the activity was the least of their problems, and she honestly couldn’t care if they failed or not. Fumika was even more tired than before, having expended even more of her energy to try and save JoJo and Takeshi; the latter’s pallor and elevated breathing indicated that he was suffering from some level of hypothermia, seemingly due to his Quirk. Thankfully, Roy was already there to help Takeshi out – his solar constructs could hopefully help bring his core temperature back up.

Hatori could only manage to look at Fumika and JoJo for a moment. ”Are you alright, Fumi? You should take a rest, too...you look really drained right now, and any more and I think you’ll pass out,” she muffled from the oxygen mask before deciding to take hers off and offering it to the two. Her mask wouldn’t be able to take in fresh air without the oxygen tank, but even without it, it was a sufficient filter to the air around it. She lay closer to the ground, where there was more fresh air. ”Give this to Takeshi...I think the smoke could be forcing him to breathe heavier than he already is now.”

She finally shuffled away, using her sleeve to act as a makeshift filter in the absence of her mask. Making sure that the emergency team arrived on time, Hatori searched within her undamaged leg pocket and pulled out several planes before throwing them into the air, acting as a signal.

Takeshi was so focused on making sure the shadows were helping Jojo for as long as he could. Though he did hear Fumika say sorry a few times, what was she saying sorry for? She didn’t cause this. He wasn’t going to let her get hurt either, she already helped him a few times. He got slightly irritated. Not at her, but that his mind felt like it had a fog in it.

“Stop...s-s-s-s-saying sorry.” He said through his teeth. His jaw clenched as his body was shaking uncontrollably. Despite this, he actually managed to walk on his two feet, not wanting or liking being this vulnerable or weak looking. One of the few lessons he took from his father, never show weakness. “I-I-I did this. This is…all on me.” His mind was foggy, but even he knew he was stupid in allowing this to happen. Allowing himself to think like he used to...the one thing he didn’t want to be.

As they knelt down, he didn’t object. But he released the shadows from Jojo, as he couldn't bare the cold any longer. He felt instant relief, as if someone turned off the AC. Though he was still freezing. “You’re the hero Fumika…” He added after a moment before he heard the sound of Roy coming over and calling him Jack Frost. He then shook his head. “I-I-I’m fine!” He said with a sharp tongue, trying to push himself up, but he didn’t even have the strength to do that at the moment. Though it was at this moment he noticed his arm was still being held by Fumika. Even if he could have stood up, he was sure he would have been dragged back down. In all honesty he had been dealt more life threatening blows, and more painful injuries before. He knew very well that he pushed himself farther than he had before with his quirk, usually because he didn’t want to show how weak he was with it.

Hatori came by and offered him her mask. He simply shook his head weakly after coughing painfully. “No…. give it to Jojo for the moment till someone arrives.” He managed to say before he started shivering again. The pilot girl blinked before moving the mask towards JoJo’s mouth, glancing back at Takeshi. He seemed like he was trying to hide the pain that he was currently in, and sighed quietly to herself. The smoke was finally starting to subside, though the air was still quite unhealthy to breath in, and so she kept the mask on JoJo.

Fumika didn’t know how to react. Out of everyone who might have come to help, she hadn’t expected it to be someone she’d been fighting as hard as she could just a moment before. The light-shaper… no, Kusayanagi Roy. He was definitely a kind person. Even though he himself was hurt, his first course of action was to come and try to help Takeshi? Whether it was her surprise or simply her fatigue, she found herself at a loss for words, so she simply lowered her head in a feeble attempt at a bow and mumbled a ”Thank you,” under her breath.

The next to arrive was the paper girl, Hatori, saving Fumika herself the trouble of going looking for her. She seemed alright, and offered help as well, but the exhausted heroine found it hard to even look at her. The immense destructive power she could so freely let loose...the results of her attack, and the knowledge that Fumika herself could have just as easily been in the same position that Jojo was now made it difficult for her to think of any way to respond. Even though Hatori was talking to her kindly, she couldn’t help but be somewhat scared of what might happen if she said the wrong thing and bothered her.

Right… she seemed worried, but Fumika herself was fine - at least, by comparison to everyone else. After all, Takeshi had protected her, so… She had no right to ask them for a break, or to claim that she was somehow worse off than them, especially when Takeshi was trying so hard to keep pushing forward himself. That would just be selfish of her - unforgivably bothersome.

”I’m… fine,” She managed. The smoke was clearing, little by little, but her voice was still hoarse and shaky, and her eyes were still threatening to water. She held it back and kept control. Of course she wasn’t crying. She wouldn’t even think of doing such a thing. That would just bother everyone even more. ”Takeshi… saved me, so I’m fine.” Once again, Hatori sounded concerned about her passing out. Was it really that big of a deal? It happened all the time, so she’d gotten used to it, but the others seemed strangely concerned. Surely, it must have been a bother to worry about all the time, right? ”I can… keep going. Even if I pass out, you can just leave me behind. It’s fine. I’m used to it.” She hadn’t really specified whether she meant “being left behind” or “passing out,” but that distinction never really occurred to her. Both were true, in a sense.

But whether or not Hatori was angry at her was only part of the problem. After all, Takeshi had sounded angry at her, too... Was her apologizing that much of a problem? He must have meant that if she had the energy to apologize for her mistakes, she shouldn’t have made them in the first place. That was understandable. This was her fault, and she should have done better. Apologizing after all was said and done wouldn’t change that. Whatever anger or resentment he might have felt at her for forcing him into such a situation was entirely justified. If he didn’t ever speak to her again, or if he yelled at her, or even if he hurt her to get even… All of those things would be entirely warranted. After all, she’d caused him to get hurt like this when she should have been protecting him for the sake of the whole team.

And yet, he didn’t do any of those things, but instead spoke to her kindly. What he said didn’t make any sense to her. What did he mean, calling her a hero? She hadn’t… She hadn’t done anything. She hadn’t saved anyone. All she’d done was watch while everyone else got hurt, even when she herself could still stand, when she still had enough energy to project something. Surely, there was something she could have done to prevent the blast? Of course, most options she could think of would have resulted in herself combusting instead, since even a single spark from her projections would have been enough to ignite the cloud. And with Takeshi so close to her, it might have only hurt him more…

Actually, it was all well and good to think that she could have done something, but was that really the case? If she’d tried to project anything, she just would have set off the explosion even closer to everyone else. She couldn’t have even supported Takeshi’s shield without causing a fire inside it. Then… was there really nothing she could have done? Surely, that wasn’t true. That was just an excuse, a way to try to shirk her responsibility. Haruka could have done something about this… She should have been able to manage something, even if it was just a pale imitation of her. Right! If she’d just been able to muster a little more energy, and if only she hadn’t been so cowardly... she could have blown the cloud away with one of Haruka’s supersonic kicks before the fire could spread! At most, she herself would have just suffered a few more burns - but it wasn’t like she hadn’t already endured worse, so what was a little more or less now? Everyone would have been saved that way, if she had just been… if she had just been a little bit stronger.

She’d been sitting silently for too long, but still Fumika didn’t reply to his kind words. In the first place, she didn’t know how to reply in words of her own. All she could do was act, even if the right course of action appeared to her merely as a hunch. So, she simply pulled him closer to herself, loosely wrapping her aching arms around his frigid body and trying to move him as gently as she could, not wanting to aggravate his injuries.

”Let me help.” Her voice was uncertain, but firm. As always, she had no idea if she was making the right choice or not, but she wanted to do something. ”It’s warmer like this, right?” It wasn’t much, but if it’d help him keep warm, then it was better than simply watching powerlessly. She never again wanted to experience that same feeling of helplessness, watching the one who had saved her suffering in her place. She hadn’t been able to protect him, or anyone else. Her words, no matter how heartfelt, amounted to nothing. This was the most she could do.

Oh, right… the outer layer of her costume was insulated, so the warmth wouldn’t go through, would it? Reasoning thus, she tugged at her collar, peeling back the velcro and unzipping the front of her romper, tugging it back and letting its upper half slide halfway down from her shoulders like a loose jacket, before gingerly lifting it up and draping it over Takeshi’s back as best she could. It was a little strange to be partially undressing like this, but it was still fine, right? Although the outer layer of her costume had gotten scuffed up and stained, its opaque black lining was still completely intact. Besides, even if the skintight jumpsuit that formed her costume’s innermost layer was rather thin, it would still cover her scars, so it wouldn’t disturb anyone.

Well… maybe that was an overstatement. Fumika herself was beginning to feel a little “disturbed.” That is to say, it felt a little bit strange, feeling the weight of his body pressing down so close to her heart. She could feel the imprint left in the wake of even the slightest movement with perfect detail, as though it had forced past the barrier between them and inscribed itself gently upon her skin. She only realized then that the warmth she’d felt up until that moment wasn’t just from the heat of the flames, but rather, was coming from somewhere inside her, and was now rushing eagerly forth from her, offering itself freely to the frigid body beside her. She scoured all her memories, but couldn’t quite find anything she could compare to the strange sensation she was now experiencing. It seemed a bit… a bit what? There was part of her that felt… scared? No, it wasn’t fear, but then why was it that she wanted to run away? Why did thinking about it like this make her feel even warmer? Wait, warmer? Then why was it that she felt so cold that she could hardly refrain from shivering? Hot or cold; which was it? Did she have a fever? It wasn’t “hurting,” and it didn’t seem to be “wanting” either, but her unknown feelings seemed to be telling her to draw back, cajoling her for making some unknown mistake. But this path was simple, and it would help, wouldn’t it? Then it was the right choice. But what, exactly, made her feel so sure of that? What was it that made the fire less scary, that made her uncertainty go away? As she’d feared, she couldn’t understand it at all. Her efforts to comprehend it were getting nowhere, so she gave up on thinking about it, but that didn’t stop her face from turning unusually red. Maybe she did have a fever after all.

Takeshi glanced back at Fumika as she mentioned helping. His eyes lifted in surprise as she took him in his arms. He was still in shock and really couldn’t answer before she realized that it wasn’t warm enough. As she started to undo her costume Takeshi got red in the face. “W-wait…” he was starting to say when she pulled him in once again.

He remained frozen for a moment, unsure what had just happened. His face hot despite him being so cold. Once he felt the warm though coming from her he couldn’t help himself but slip his hands under her romper and around her back, pulling himself closer to her with his own arms, to that heat that was generated inside her insulated romper. He noticed her shivering as well. He didn’t know what to say, as he just focused on this warm feeling. But he did come up with a simple… “Thank you…” with a whisper in her ear.

Fumika started, only partly from the frigid chill that suddenly wrapped itself around her waist and tugged her closer. It was hard to feel, as the skin there was somewhat numb in some places and tender in others, but a strange prickling feeling drew her attention to her right hip and to the center of her back. The realization caught her so suddenly that she couldn’t entirely suppress a gasp and an awkward sort of squirm. His hands were touching her scars. Even through the thin garb she wore, surely, he might notice the unevenness, the rigidness of her flesh in those places, right? It was an unnatural feeling. He’d be disturbed. But maybe he hadn’t noticed yet… After all, your hands got numb when they were really cold, right? Then, before he could tell…!

So, perhaps a little too forcefully, she slipped down as though to escape his grasp, and then half-leaned, half-crawled forward, curling up slightly and leaning her forehead against his chest, such that his hands slid up to her shoulders and away from the secret she wanted so desperately to keep. Perhaps his body was simply getting warmer next to her, but suddenly, the chill she felt seemed to be replaced by an even more potent burning sensation, particularly in her cheeks.

He had thanked her. It wouldn’t do for her to be so fidgety and silent now. He was expecting an answer, but all she could really muster was a numb sort of ”You’re welcome,” which she stammered out as best she could with her teeth trying to chatter and her words faltering before they even left her mouth. She didn’t really know why, but she found herself squeezing him a little tighter as she spoke. Maybe she was afraid that if she didn’t hold him steady, his grip might wander back down and risk discovering her scars?

Hatori sighed and looked away – it seemed like everything had been resolved for now...though after being so concerned over her classmates’ well-being, she had nearly forgot about the activity. She could argue now that it mattered little...but she did all this just so that they would get closer to the objective. It was all on her. ”Are...you two sure that you can handle coming along with me into the school? It’s my – I mean, I can’t stand seeing you two like this,” Hatori replied. At this state, she was already unsure if they should still continue to tag along...but at the same time, could she really do this all by herself? As much as she would have hoped she could, it was just short-sighted and reckless.

She paused when she saw Fumika move closer to Takeshi and suddenly undo her outer costume. A slight blush formed on her face as well, staring as she tried to regain his warmth with the inner layer of her romper. Hatori took a moment of silence at they embraced one another before she finally decided to cut in.

”I’ll...I’ll let you two tag along if both of you think you can handle it,” Hatori added, standing up and pulling up the visor to her helmet, revealing her face; her eyes were staring at the two firmly as she removed her burnt paper stacks on her right elbow and moved another paper stack near her leg onto the vacant slot. ”But I can’t have you two getting hurt anymore than you already are. I’ll be walking in front.”

Hatori remembered that Roy was still there, and she looked at him as well. ”I’m hoping you’re not going to tail us, unless you’re up for round two,” she held out a fresh stack of paper. ”Otherwise, feel free to contact your team and tell them you’re alright. Do you know who else is at the point?”

Roy smiled at Fumika and Takeshi having their little moment, he was about to fix the guys cool moment but he seemed to have been enjoying being nuzzled up in her arms. The boy turned his head to the side as he covered his mask, "Total baby...” he whispered under his breath. The boy turned toward Chiwa who was subtly trying to pick a fight, at the moment Roy didn’t have any interest in tailing them towards the point as making sure Jojo was alright was the main concern he had though he was sure that a staff member was on the way to assist. He took a seat on the ground before removing his helmet. The boy’s hair was drenched with sweat as he tossed the hunk of armor to the side.

“Making sure that Jojo is alright is my utmost priority,” he said, indirectly answering her question. This was when Roy took off his cape and began unzipping his costume partially revealing his chest and abs. Though it wasn’t all too amazing, it was certainly on its way to be top notch eye candy by the middle of the school year. What was even more eye catching was the sun tattoo on the boys chest which pulsated yellow as the sun made contact with it. When his sun tattoo made direct contact with sunlight his energy was rejuvenated at an even faster rate though little did the others know he was merely just trying to cool off. The boy kicked back on the floor as he felt his solar energy reserves slowly replenish.

“I’m not entirely sure who else is at the other point, we haven’t contacted each other since we split up at the beginning of the exercise,” the guy said as honestly as he could. He wasn’t going to rat his teammates out, he looked at Fumika and Takeshi out of the corner of his eye. “If you want, I could warm him up with my quirk, Fumika, but if he is comfortable as is I don’t mind saving my energy," the boy said as he closed his eyes and took a short rest.

Fumika nodded, slipping herself gingerly back and away from Takeshi. ”Thank you very much for your help… umm…” What should she call him in this situation? She faltered for a moment, before settling on his surname, not wanting to come off as too annoyingly clingy and personal. ”Kusayanagi-san. I’ll… leave it to you, then.” It was odd. Part of her seemed strangely hesitant to let go, even though it was necessary. The more she thought about it, the more the doubts and fears she’d felt before began slipping back into her mind. She clung to the lingering sensation of warmth and gentle pressure that still remained upon the surface of her particle shell, but that just wasn’t quite the same.

Even so, she couldn’t help but recognize that she herself was getting so cold that there wasn’t much warmth left for her to provide. Besides, time was limited, and it would be faster that way. Time… right. Even despite all that had happened, the exercise was still going on. She was already so tired, but they hadn’t even made it to the objective yet. The objective. She had to complete the objective. It was expected of her. If she gave up now, even if she felt like there was nothing left for her to do but pass out, wouldn’t she just be dragging the rest of the team down? Takeshi would have saved her for nothing. She didn’t want that.

”I… won’t give up.” She murmured, taking a deep breath as she slowly rose to her feet, tugging the top half of her jumper back on and sliding her hands back through the sleeves. Her trembling hands fumbled for a moment with the zipper, which seemed intent at catching and jamming on everything possible, including the hem of her cuff, the cloth flap beside it, and even her own chest. When had she gotten so clumsy? It was strange… her hands weren’t cold enough to justify this kind of shaking. It wasn’t as if she was shivering anymore, so why just her hands? Was she afraid? Then why did her face feel like it was burning? She slapped her palms against her cheeks and shook her head back and forth as if trying to forcibly dislodge both tremors and heat at the same time, then tugged at the hem of her bangs until she felt some level of composure returning to her. The fire was gone. She wasn’t in danger. Everyone was going to be alright. Nobody was going to die. So, there was nothing to worry about except the mission. And for the sake of the mission, she had to continue. One step, then another - even if that was all she could do. A computer worked best when it worked on one problem at a time.

At last, she was calm again, and so spoke her resolve as evenly and clearly as she could, her deep blue eyes giving that blank yet somehow piercing stare forward that they’d lost so recently, even in spite of their heavy lids and the red haze that surrounded them. ”I want to do what I can to help more. So… it’s fine. I won’t be in the way. Promise.”

A small curve appeared on Roy's lips after Fumika’s attempt at thanking him. He glanced over at her briefly before chuckling to himself a bit. After everything that had happened was she still keeping honorifics? The boy rose from his comfortable position to respond. Strands of grass coated his back as it stuck to his sweat soaked back. He held a hand up signaling for Fumika to stop.

“No need for honorifics Fumika, after this excursion I think we are close enough as is to drop the surnames,” Roy said as he began tying the sleeves on his costume around his waist so it would keep out of the way. After he placed the sleeves in a knot, the boy rose from his position and made his way over to Takeshi.

“Alright. I am going to superheat the air now, if you don't want to warm up I advise you step back,” he warned the others before clapping his head together as if he was about to pray. The sun tattoo on his chest began glowing a bright yellow before traveling along the rest of his body. His tattoos began pulsating as he released thermal energy into the surrounding air. It felt as if someone had just opened an oven as the temperature rose quickly, almost immediately breaking 100 degrees and rising. Roy closed his eyes as he imagined the energy seeping from his body and into the surrounding air, by then it had risen to 114 degrees and still increasing. The air was so hot it was starting to get tough to breath for those not used to it. He kept it at a nice and toasty 120 degrees and held it there, the boy stood still like a tree. “Once you have warmed up, just let me know.”

Takeshi pulled back only slightly in surprise as she shifted her position so suddenly, he did not feel the scars on her back as he was too focused on the warmth she gave. But when she pressed her head against his chest Takeshi got a little more red in the cheeks. Now that he had warmed up a little the fogginess slowly went away. He was starting to realize the real position he was in. He was grateful for the distraction when Hatori spoke; he glanced at her and said: “Once I warm up...I will be able to continue. I am just...more affected by the cold than most people..."

Sadly, Fumika pulled away at Roy’s second attempt to offer help. Though he did feel bad, she was shivering as well. He had to be honest, he enjoyed that embrace. Pushing that thought to the side though he looked to Roy as he activated his quirk. Soon, the heat around him raised intensely and rather quickly. He simply nodded at Roy’s instructions and closed his eyes while he waited. It didn’t last long as the blue lips turned back to it’s healthy pink. His shivers were gone as well as he felt an instant relief as if all his muscles were tensed for a long time and just relaxed.

“I’m good now…” he said softly as he slowly stood up, tired still from his sudden full use of his own quirk. But that was all that was left over, besides the bloody nose he had earlier. “Thank you Roy, Your help is appreciated. Perhaps we can help each other? I feel bad with what happened to Jojo, and you helping an enemy as well after the fact. We can clear the point together.” – he looked to Fumika and Hatori – “If either of you don’t mind.”

Hatori eased up slightly at Roy’s response, and in fact more relieved as Roy offered to use his Quirk as she thought he would to help Takeshi get back up. She slowly started moving back when his heat radiated from his glowing tattoos from his body; she assumed that was how he was able to use his solar constructs, though clearly there should be some sort of limit to how much he could use it. The air around them started heating up, greatly contrasting the chilly spring air, though she was far enough that it wasn’t sweltering.

Takeshi’s hypothermia finally subsided and he was returning to his healthy state, and she looked up at Roy. ”Thanks...Roy,” she added after Takeshi, and raised an eye at his proposal for an alliance. She wasn’t sure if there were any rules that allowed two teams to claim victory or ally with each other, though it didn’t feel very fair for Roy if they just decided to leave him be here.

”I guess he can come with us. We’re short a member anyways – he ran off to who knows where. I’m not completely sure who he was, but it sounded like he was here to replace another classmate,” she responded, addressing Roy. Hatori then pulled up her visor and smiled. ”I’m Chiwa Hatori. And it looks like you already know who Takeshi and Fumika are...either way, nice to meet you.”

Roy steadily released his energy until Takeshi said he was fine in which the boy opened his eyes. The bright yellow returning to a sea green. He took a deep breath before sitting down on the grassy land one more time, a slight breeze that smelt of burnt plants permeating the air. Takeshi thanked him for the help and then offered a spot on their team in which Roy raised an eye too. It sounded nice but he didn't want to turn his back on his team who were fighting hard at the point as they now speak. Certainly once they got to the auditorium their truce would end. “I'm alright really, I wouldn't be of much help as I am right now. I-I deserve a little breather, I haven't had proper rest since we've started,” he said, scrambling on his words as if he was Donny. Roy took a deep breath to gather himself.

“Besides, I can't leave Jojo alone like this...” now he was just making excuses. After all he has been through he wasn't going to give up that easily hell no. But there was no way he would beat all 3 of them on his own. He had no choice but to make excuses. A cold sweat rolled down his cheek hoping they would just leave after this. “You guys should go on ahead. I appreciate the offer but I'll be alright," he said with a smile that covered up his true emotions.

Having successfully bundled herself back up in her costume, Fumika had watched the exchange in relative silence. To be sure, Roy was a nice person, and he was powerful, too… An alliance between them would definitely be more productive than continuing to fight each other when more powerful opponents still awaited them. However, she also had her doubts about such a thing… Obviously, they couldn’t both win, which would just put them at cross purposes. That would mean… she contemplated the prospect of the three of them turning on Roy after working together with him, and immediately discarded it. That sort of action definitely wasn’t the way a hero operated. Haruka, for sure, never would have tolerated such a thing, and so she herself certainly wouldn’t either.

Nevertheless, she felt equally bad about just leaving him here like this… he was hurt at least as badly as she herself was, and also didn’t want to leave his teammate behind - his teammate who had been injured beyond all reason because of them. And even despite that, he had still helped them - had still helped Takeshi - when the chance arose. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right that she couldn’t repay that kindness.

But no matter how she thought about it, there wasn’t anything she could think of doing. It disgusted her to do so - it was bothersome to rely on other people without providing anything in return, right? - but all she could do was move on and address this problem when it might next arise. But she wanted to leave something, even a simple assurance, to convey that this wasn’t yet ended…

”Then… if you’re alright, we’ll go,” She conceded, still sounding a little unsure - worried, even, but not pressing the point too finely. She’d said her farewells… but she didn’t - no, she couldn’t turn to leave just yet. There was something else that needed to be said. ”But… um… Thank you very much for helping us. And… um… I’m sorry. Having to fight like this, I mean… But… That is, you still helped, and… and I definitely won’t forget that, Roy.” She didn’t know what else there was to say, so she hastily bowed and shuffled back over to her teammates.

As usual, it was hard to find the right way to convey this sort of feeling. She didn’t fully understand what it was she “wanted” to say herself, as “wanting” to say anything was so unusual for her. But… she’d at least said something, right? She just… hoped he would understand. Roy was a nice person, so of course she’d be worried for him, and for his team, after what had just happened. She just wished she could do more than just worry.

@Feyblue@Aerandir@pkken@NoxxHollow

[Lucius Cypher]

Storm Bird

Dark Matter

Hypermeka

---

VS

Stasis Sheep Girl

Donny continued to dig forward at a solid pace, constantly trying to stay ahead of his allies while just eating away at the dirt. Normally he’d be a bit more vocal to encourage himself, but he didn’t want to act awkward around Haruka and Luelle. So all they heard was him munching the dirt as he took a brisk jogging step forward. ”Om nom nom nom nom nom.”

While Donny dug ahead, Haruka attempted to help with it in her own way, clearing out extra space from the top of the tunnel. Her armor’s hands repositioned themselves into a mostly-conical formation and spun rapidly at the wrist joints, acting effectively as drills. Since the ground was just dirt, she didn’t put much force into it, just enough to loosen it up and keep moving along. ”Y’know, this is actually my first time testing this function. Works pretty well,” She said, mostly thinking aloud.

“Yeah it does. Everything is going according to plan.” Luelle said as she walked, her skirt bellowed behind her. Her heterochromic eyes looking around. It was silent, almost too silent. It made her wonder who they were going to run into first. She was a little nervous. Sure she fought the first day she came here, but the fight didn’t last long, so she wouldn’t know how long she could truly last in battle.

It wasn’t long before Donny’s radar picked up some new signals. He raised his hand to have Haruka stop drilling. ”Hold up.” Donny dig upwards and peeled out over and around. His head popped inside a wall, and when he made a little hole in the wall he could see two people inside. Hitomi and Ruby: one he knew from his classes and the other he never met at all. Returning to the others Donny seemed nervous. ”T-T-There are two people on there… Urgh…” Donny had hoped that they would have arrived first. Since they didn’t it would change things a bit. He looked at the two girls while haunched over in his cloak.

”Uh… New plan! Y-You two d-d-d-distract the others, I’ll lay my t-t-t-traps. I just need about… T-T-Ten minutes. Okay?”

From his vantage point, Donny would see that the two current residents of the auditorium had suddenly became alert. Hitomi’s danger sense was going off the scale. There was being nearby who had intentions to try to take the room from them, an she’d never felt her sheep sense react like this. They must be some kind of ultimate predator. Could this be the notorious ‘Donny’ she’d heard about, who could topple a building by himself? The sheep girl looked over to Ruby. “Do you feel that?” she quietly asked, having to force her voice out from her chest where it was refusing to move.

The exact same moment that Hitomi’s sense went off, Ruby’s ears perked up and she immediately tensed up her own body. Hearing her teammate talk, the fact that she was scared audible, Ruby simply nodded to her to confirm and then put her index finger in front of her own puckered up lips to signal for Hitomi to stay quiet. There was an unfamiliar noise coming from below them… the catgirl stared on the floor and proceeded to remain highly cautious. If they were to be caught off guard now it would surely be over for them.

Meanwhile, the missing fourth member of team E, Acion Nakamiji, had just finished his first battle of the day, and was working his ways back to the sky. Settling down on his spot a few hundred meters in the sky, he must have missed a lot of things happening. Looking through his own great visions, and the cameras he had placed somewhere on the map, Acion could see a couple of movements to the northwest. Probably two teams taking out each other. He could also trace something big happening at the lake next to a lake near the point. He was kind of worried, because it was near team D’s spawn point. And who else was near D, aside from C who he just routed?

”Donny? Haruka? Luelle? Can you hear me?” Said the avian man. ”Where are you now?”

At Donny’s instruction, Haruka ceased her drilling, both of the suit’s hands coming to a stop. She shook the dirt off of them as they returned to their normal hand mode, steadying herself in case of sudden action while Donny dug up to look above ground. When he returned with a sudden declaration of a new plan, she was somewhat concerned. “You sure about this?” She asked, keeping her voice hushed. Acion’s voice came through the comms, so she answered him. ”Yeah, we’re still underground. Donny’s bumped into someone. How far off are you?”

”I’m actually right above the point now. I’m keeping watch on others, but for the current moment, I just routed team C at the moment. I believe three of them are at the point at the moment…”

It was at that moment when he noticed something going on the screen next to him. The sight of running students…

”Just a moment. I noticed someone on the screen as well. I’ll try to rout them. You can attack when ready. Call me if something’s up.”

With that, he temporarily switched off the comm link.

Donny listened to Acion and Haruka, but much to his displeasure Acion was still fighting on his own. He even switched off his communicator! ”What? Acion-kun wait! D-D-D-Dammit.” Acion wanted them to remain in constant contact, yet he cut off comms first. No matter, he was too far away to help anyways. They had to do something here and now. Donny looked to Haruka and Luelle. ”T-T-There are two people up t-there. I’m gunna… Gunna… Collapse the e-e-entrances. A-A-A-And set up a trap h-h-h-here! B-B-But they will h-h-hear me, so they might try a-a-and stop me so… C-C-C-Could you two d-d-d-distract them?”

It wasn’t a great plan but it was the only one he had at the moment. He’ll have Haruka and Luelle interfere with the two in the auditorium right now while he works on shutting down the main entrances inside. Then he’ll rig this place so that anyone who does come in would have a hard time fighting here. He knew he needed some time to do it however, and once he gets started they might know what he’s up to and try to fight him. He has no idea what Ruby or Hitomi is capable of, so it’ll be safer to make sure they’re being handled.

Gulping, Donny tried to be brave. He had to. As much as he didn’t expect it, he had taken up the mantle of leadership, if only because he was making plans and telling everyone about them. In the process he tried to not stutter as much. ”I-I-I’ll make two tunnels. One near the north entrance, that’s for Haruka. Pop out a-a-and make a big show. Luelle, I’ll m-m-make another tunnel behind them, while Haruka d-distracts them. Attack them from behind.”

Donny proceeded with the plan, making another tunnel towards the north entrance, eating away at the dirt and foundation quietly. Once he dug enough that he could poke a small hole through the floor, he’d leave Haruka there. ”This should be t-t-thin enough. In five minutes, a-a-a-a-attack.” Donny then proceeded to the opposite end for Luelle to come out of. Just like before, his digging was quiet and subtle. He’ll have to help Luelle come out of this hole since it was rather high up, but once she was out she could attack Ruby and Hitomi from behind. They’ll need to hold the two off for at least ten minutes or so before Donny would have this place locked down. After that…. He’ll just have to hope this crazy plan of his works out.

Luelle, tensed and ready for battle, watched as Donny created a tunnel just for her. Her eye began to glow a blue color that matched her earlier flame during their introductions. As soon as the tunnel was finished, she walked over to it and looked at Donny, smiling with confidence.

“You can do it Donny, just believe in yourself.”

”A big show, huh? I think I can do that,” Haruka said. Under her helmet, a smile crossed her face. This was what she was good at in-costume. Her usual shyness and insecurity all but vanished, replaced with a desire to be loud, proud, and chock full of justice. She punched her palms in anticipation and rolled her neck, getting into the position that Donny had readied for her. ”See you up top!” She said, giving him a salute. In preparation, she took on a crouched position, a countdown timer appearing in her visor’s heads-up display.

”Five minutes,” she thought, ”and it’s party time.” Her legs tensed up, her feet sliding just enough to disturb the dirt around them as the timer continued to drain. The lights on her suit brightened as she put a little extra effort into maintaining her Quirk, the suit’s robotic fingers mimicking the rolling motions her own were going through due to the sheer anticipation. Soon, five minutes became three, three became one, and one became a mere handful of seconds.

”Five, four, three, two…” Excitement wracked her body, her crouch reaching its maximum potential for leveraging her upcoming maneuver. She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, balling her fists as the countdown expired.

”One.

With as much force as the powerful hydraulics in her powered armor’s legs could muster, Haruka leaped. Straight upward, towards the weakened ceiling of Donny’s tunnel. The hollow ground could not maintain its integrity as the heavy metal rocketed upward, Haruka emerging from below the point and continuing on about ten feet skyward. She had her arms crossed at mid-forearm during the jump, legs bent slightly at the knees. As she careened through the air, she opened herself up to the opposition, doing a frontflip to put space between where she’d emerged and where she would land to avoid falling right back into the tunnel.

”Cyborg hero Hypermeka has come!” She shouted dramatically, her suit adding a bit more of its robotic filtering to her voice than usual. As she landed, she proceeded to swing her arms in a motion in front of her, drawing one back and balling her fist near her hip as the other bent at the elbow, her open-palmed hand angled diagonally towards her shoulder. ”I challenge you for control of the point! Prove your strength to me!” Once more, her pose changed as she took a step forward, buying time as her visor scanned Ruby and Hitomi. She hadn’t met either of them, so she had no pre-existing information to go off of other than what her team had told her. She did note, however, that both of them were very cute.

”Let’s go!” Haruka commanded, breaking her pose to take a sudden running step forward. She drew a fist back as she did, clearly intending to perform a strike once she was close enough to manage it.

It ended up being quiet for a rather long amount of time. While five minutes aren’t many, being tensed up like Ruby and Hitomi undeniably were they felt like hours. Desperately Ruby tried to listen to what was going on below them, her ears perked up while her eyes scanned every single inch on the floor below. Her own body was not moving at all, it would be unwise to make more noise than necessary. Obviously those people below knew that they were there, but did they know how many Ruby and Hitomi were or how strong? Probably not so that is what Ruby counted on. She herself couldn’t tell how many people there were below them sadly, or who exactly they were. Luckily that mystery would soon be lifted.

All of the sudden, Ruby could hear something rapidly approaching from below them before the ground itself began to shake and, eventually, break. It almost frightened Ruby and she figured that it might have given a heartattack to Hitomi, but they really needed to focus now. It was time to defend this point with their lives. They had captured it for quite a while now, 20-30 minutes probably. If they could hold it for just 20 more minutes their victory would basically be assured! With that thought in mind Ruby stared at the person that just erupted from the floor only to discover that they were a… robot? Admittedly, the catgirl herself was rather confused at that sight, but luckily that hero would quickly introduce herself in an almost cocky way. Despite this introduction Ruby would surely think of her as a big threat and Ruby was happy to learn that it was not a robot but a hero in a suit. However, that suit looked like it really packs a punch…

Hitomi had felt the approaching danger coming and had leaped clear of the emerging powersuit before there were any signs that the floor was even being breached. Hitomi fired off a crowd control shell at Haruka on pure reflex, but a beanbag is still a beanbag, and the round bounced harmless off the metal plating. The sheep girl now took stock of her opponent. She clearly wasn’t a robot, which meant that this must be a powersuit of some sort, so in all likelihood she had a quirk that somehow related to its usage. Hitomi briefly wondered if it was this figure before them who had been doing the drilling, but dismissed it. She could still feel the predator below, not emerging yet but waiting and lurking it’s prey. She gulped, and stood aside. Ruby’s quirk was better suited to this situation than her own.

Ruby slowly moved in front of Hitomi and stood still with her body ready to react to whatever was about to happen. It was smarter to stay quiet and she really hoped that Hitomi would understand to stay behind her and not panic, this was a situation Ruby could take care of. After all, someone using a mechanical exosuit had little to no chance against the neko’s quirk.

Then it began.

Haruka sprinted forwards, her suit making some intimidating noises as the heavy metal connected with the floor with each step that she took. She was unexpectedly fast too; Ruby had to gulp at the sight. While on the inside Ruby was very much scared and the cold sweat was running down her back below all the clothing, she pulled up the hood of the cloak to cover her head and then stared right at the approaching foe. “Don’t panic now. Psychology is the key to winning a fight… if she thinks that I am way out of her league she will hopefully be scared of me and I can take advantage of that!” is what Ruby thoughts in her head. On top of that, she had to make an impression and a good one too.

She stood completely still the whole time while Haruka approached, up until the last few moments when Ruby raised her arm and extended her fingers outwards. This was her moment.
Soon the robotic fist would connect with her fingers and it was right in that split second that Ruby activated her quirk.

Suddenly, everything was quiet.

It was so quiet in fact, it was almost creepy. Right now, Ruby’s quirk fully affected the suit, making it unable to move just a single inch. It was rendered immobile and at the mercy of Hitomi and Ruby. The catgirl herself looked upwards so that the shadow from her hood disappeared off her face and stared directly to the position she believed to be Haruka’s eyes and Ruby’s stare was a menacing one. Her orange eyes almost started glowing as she kept her hand up to continuously extend the time period in which Haruka would be locked in the stasis. While Ruby was screaming happily inside of her own mind, her outwards appearance only had the goal to be threatening and to scare Haruka. “Don’t underestimate us.”

Hitomi waited with baited breath to see if their opponent’s quirk had a way for them to counter the effects of Ruby’s quirk, when nothing happened, she immediately turned her back on the robot and began scanning the rest of the room, shotgun raised in a futile attempt to gain security and confidence. The predator was still below, but even without her Sheep Sense off the charts like this, she would still have expected more than one opponent to attack at once, and if it were her plan, they’d stagger the emergent times and places to try to catch their foe unawares. Well, Hitomi wasn’t going to get caught unawares!

”Haaaah… T-Thanks Luelle. You’re up.”

With Luelle’s words of encouragement Donny helped her through the other side of the auditorium, bursting through the ground while dropping Luelle off to attack the other two. ”Get em!” At this moment Donny didn’t look too unusual, his form silk looking like it was just regular old Donny wearing a cloak and mask. But shortly after dropping off Luelle, Donny went back into the tunnels to avoid any of Luelle’s attacks while he started to eat away at more of the foundation underneath the auditorium. He noticed through his radar that Haruka wasn’t moving at all. He had no idea why, but he still dug towards her location in case she needed help.

Luelle flew up through the ground and was quick to react. Closing her eyes, she focus all her quirk into her hands creating a medium size ball of blue fire. Before she hit the ground herself, she threw it in the direction of Ruby. Then Luelle landed and rushed at them, forming another ball though much smaller than her first attack and threw it towards them. The second the ball of fire she made turned into ice as the temperature around them going down a many degrees.

When the punch was stopped, Haruka was surprised. ”Crap, she’s a lot stronger than she looks,” She thought silently, though she was soon speaking aloud much more confidently. Though Ruby’s glare was rather intimidating, Haruka luckily had the cover of her full-faced mask to disguise her concerned expression. ”Heh, not bad. I was hoping one of you would be able to withstand a hit or two! But how can you handle this?” Haruka began to move her arm forward, preparing to throw another punch.

But her arm pressed against the interior of her suit, unmoving and entirely still. Haruka’s brow furrowed, and she tried to turn her head to lookdown at it, but could not move past the entirely stilled armor. ”What the hell?” She thought, wiggling her shoulders in some attempt to move. All the while, her armor didn’t budge an inch. ”Oh no. Oh no no no no no. This is bad, this is really bad, crap.” Haruka’s heart started pounding as panic set in, and she turned off her helmet speakers, silencing her to Ruby and Hitomi so she could call for help without them hearing.

”D-Donny? This is going r-really bad. I-I need help, please,” She requested, trying to keep her breathing steady. From her voice, it was clear she was incredibly freaked out, but the suit’s utter silence and stillness masked this from her opponents. At the same time, the inability to move was oppressive, and her suit began to feel less like protection and more like a prison.

Before Luelle had even fully emerged from the ground, Hitomi had saw her, and yelled “Look out!” to Ruby. Not a moment later, the cat girl had a blue flame launched towards her. Hitomi raised and pumped her shotgun as she charged to meet the new arrival. A second blue flame was launched at the sheep girl, which she rolled under though she noticed the very air around her getting colder as she did so. Could this user make cold flames? Or hot AND cold flames? Hitomi would need to be very careful with this opponent, but at the same time, not give her an inch. She raised her shotgun. At close range, the crowd control round wouldn’t do any damage but it would sure sting a bit.

Immediately upon hearing Hitomi’s voice, Ruby had to drop her facade and go for the dodge. Getting hit right now was something she certainly could not afford… It was sad that she didn’t get to see whether her act was effective on Hitomi or not.
She now fully grabbed onto the arm of the suit and, upon seeing the fireball rush towards her, used her strength to lift herself up with the help of the immobile Haruka to launch over the suit’s head and land behind it in an attempt to dodge the first attack. “Someone with such a great ranged ability would surely cause troubles…” she thought to herself why she tried to analyze the quirk of the threat that just arrived further. Luckily Haruka would be stunned for a little while for now since the contact was more than a couple of seconds.
Ruby grabbed the handle of the sword on her back and pulled it off, letting the long cloth at the end fall to the floor. Now it was time to get serious.

”Haruka!”

Hearing her distressed calls Donny wasted no time to attack. Right after Luelle’s fire and ice Donny dug right underneath Haruka, seeing Ruby and Hitomi nearby. In the moment he wasn’t sure what to do but attack. ”Aaaaah Bone Garden!” Donny called out his attack as his body pooled around Haruka’s feet. And from his body, a couple dozen fists on the ends of of stiff skeleton arms. They would bash Ruby and Hitomi though Donny wasn’t really trying to hit them so much as he just created an explosion of fists that hopefully will punch them in the face. At the same time Donny tried to pull Haruka back down with him, however she wasn’t budging for some reason unknown to him.

Hitomi’s sheep sense warned her to bolt before she even felt the tremors, but bolt she did, towards the other side of the hall just as Donny emerged. As she turned back to look, what she was seeing...what manner of quirk was this? It was terrifying! Truly the apex predator. When humans designed their monsters and their eldritch abominations, *this* is what they were imagining. Something to cause this gut feeling of “I’m facing down something higher in the food chain than me”, and in a way, give everybody Sheep Sense for a brief moment. It launched some punching attacks with skeletal arms, which Hitomi was just in range of and took with her arms covering her face and her knees drawn up to cover her abdomen. Even with these precautions, the blows still hurt.

It was very much lucky for Ruby that Donny decided to call out his attack like that. Because of him calling out the attack shortly before delivering it, Ruby was able to quickly turn her back towards the literal explosion of boney fists and use her own quirk to make her cloak unmoveable. Like this, having her back turned towards the attack, they would all hit against her cloak that was in stasis and simply be blocked. The negative side effect however was that Ruby was indeed locked into place too while she blocked the attack but she wouldn’t even feel the impact. The moment all the fists hit her back and Ruby saw Hitomi getting hit she could only think one thing to herself. “What a quirk.”
As soon as the attack was over Ruby removed the stasis and quickly turned around to watch the puddle carefully. “Roughly 5-7 minutes until she can move again.”

Luelle paused at the sight of the gun before her. She knew the damage guns could to people. Heroes like her father were taken down permanently by guns. With a gun involved, she would need to be careful. She felt the ground tremble below her and she quickly turned her back towards the explosion. She felt the gust of wind hit her harshly, making her topple over.

Grunting, she felt the throbbing in her wrist and knew that she had some damage to it, ignoring the throbbing for the time being, she stood back up. She had to act quickly before they came out of their daze from the attack. Concentrating her quirk, she made a large size ball and threw it at Ruby and Hitomi.

The latter dodged before she had even managed to turn round to see it, her Sheep Sense once again saving her wool. Landing safely on her feet, she turned to Luelle, but Ruby was closer and she knew it. Even so, she raised her shotgun and advanced, preparing to back up her teammate.

Out of the corner of her eye Ruby spotted how Luelle got knocked over by the attack too. “This is what happens when you go for such high collateral damage” She thought as she was about to rush forward towards Luelle. Something stopped her however, that something being Luelle’s huge blazing ball. Very quickly Ruby sidestepped to dodge it: If she were to be hit with it just once it would most likely be over so dodging as many as possible was Ruby’s highest priority. However, while Haruka was still stunned, Ruby wanted to take out Luelle so she quickly began sprinting towards Luelle with her relatively high speed, even though still bound to human limits.

Donny tried to pull Haruka as hard as he could, but she couldn’t budge. Even when he ate the ground underneath her feet she didn’t move an inch. He guessed that someone’s quirk, likely Ruby, was able to freeze Haruka still. Donny wasn’t sure what to do except shout things out and hope for the best. ”Luelle, protect yourself!” Donny dug back underground trying to think of something, anything to help win this battle. He had to avoid Luelle’s attacks too which meant he couldn’t just reveal himself and try to square off against these two, more so since it seemed like Ruby’s quirk made some sort of forcefield or something. The best idea he could think of was to take out Hitomi so that way it’ll at least be two against one, assuming that Haruka wasn’t out of this battle yet.

He had one crazy idea. It probably wasn’t going to work against Ruby, but he could use it against Hitomi. But for now he just stayed underground and started to dig out more of the ground. He needed to be fast; if he takes too long then there was no winning this fight!

Luelle saw Ruby rushing at her and dodged at the last second from her attack. Luelle’s eye flowed with intensity. She had to think of something to deter the woman from coming at her. She flipped away landing on her feet and rushed at her. Her finger tips became like candle wicks and she swung her hand forward, the flames creating zigzag cold flames at Ruby. She did it again using her hand seconds after her first attack, not trying to hurt Ruby, but really just to stun her.

”Forget it.”

He suddenly remembered his team. Damn, he had been under radio silence for a while now. He should give them a call to see what was happening. They shouldn’t have been defeated right?

”Guys?” Acion finally turned on the comm link. ”What’s happening?” He could hear them clashing with the other team. ”Do you need assistance?!”

Donny was spreading his body underneath, trying to increase his mass over the surface underground. He wasn’t too far beneath the surface, about five inches or so, and he was only able to spread his mass about a ten foot square. But it’ll have to do. He began to eat away underground to make an easy tunnel for himself to move around when the fighting starts as Luelle held off Ruby and Hitomi. Meanwhile Acion returned over the communicators.

”N-Not good. Haruka’s stuck, so its j-j-just me and Luelle now. Hurry back!”

Step one of Donny’s plan was finished. He had his escape route now. Next was the show. Donny went to the edge of the wall and ate his way inside of it and tried to crawl up to the ceiling. The auditorium was huge though, but hopefully having the high ground would make his next gambit more effective. Once he was there it was time to start the performance.

”Keep it together Donny boy. You gotta sell it to them. Believe in yourself who believes in me!”

From the ceiling Donny hooked himself in tight with his claws and let his vicious black mass lower itself about midway into the auditorium. Then from his mass, something flew out to hit Hitomi. It was a severed arm. And from above their heads, using the auditorium’s natural acoustics to make his voice big and booming, Donny spoke. ”You should’ve ran. You should have ran! He didn’t. He was fat and brave. Aaaaah but not enough… Not enough… No… Ate him… I ate the boy and now I’M STARVING!”

Hitomi was shocked near to the point of screaming. Oh, not of the black mass. She merely looked battle ready when she noticed it above her. But the arm had really freaked her out. She believed it. She believed a person had been eaten. And in her haste to run away in paralysing fear, that’s just what happened; paralysis. She ran three paces before her legs seized up and she goat-fainted, all four limbs stretched out as she lay on the ground, cursing her own biology. The shotgun clattered out of her grip.

The moment Ruby saw the first attacking rushing at her, it was clear that she would need to dodge. However, upon closer inspection she figured out that the weird zigzag lines that the flames took on were too unpredictable to dodge. However, Ruby was also sure that she would not want to be hit by that, she couldn’t tell how badly such a hit would influence her. Therefore she pulled up her cloak again, blocking both attacks with the help of her quirk. This created a problem however, since she played right into Luelle’s hands by remaining stationary to block the attack. Luckily for Ruby, her cloak would not be influenced much by the flames since in stasis it could not be influenced. Once she stopped the stasis and looked back at Luelle Ruby felt the coldness of the flames for the first time up close.
“Cold flames huh…”

Before she could finish her train of thought, Donny started his show. While, admittedly, Ruby was somewhat impressed, it wasn’t enough to strike fear into her; she was way too invested into this battle to be stopped by fear. What would she do now? Much to her own discomfort she saw Hitomi fainting yet again, knowing that she was very much vulnerable now. “Think Ruby… think…”
“At this rate I won’t be able to reach this fire-shooting girl… she will just dodge and keep me on range. That huge slime...thing? I don’t think cutting it will change much… the girl in the mecha suit is out for good for a while too…”
With an intense focus Ruby stared at the thing above her. It was when she felt the cold air around her that she got an idea. “Maybe I can trick her to fire into the direction of this thing. Like that I could save Hitomi!”
This was her idea at least: Turn the back towards Luelle so that Luelle would fire an attack at Ruby, dodge at the last moment so that it would hit Donny who was behind Ruby. Right now she saw it as one of her only chances.

Quickly turning her back to Luelle Ruby began sprinting in the direction of Donny, running up some of the debris around her to reach a higher position to align herself right between Luelle and Donny. She know that she probably couldn’t harm him, but if she could bait Luelle into either chasing her or attacking in her direction it would be the jackpot! After having reached the highest point possible, Ruby leapt into the air so that she was now in the perfect position. Since she was in the air; Luelle could easily think that Ruby is a vulnerable target and fire! If it didn’t work, ruby could always stop her momentum with her quirk.

Luelle saw Ruby shoot herself in the air. She thought for a moment how vulnerable Ruby was being in the air. Before Luelle thought of focusing her quirk, she looked towards Donny. Why would Ruby put herself in the air like that?

’It's has to be a trap. She did position herself between me and Donny. She wants me to think she is an easy target.’ She thought with a frown. She took another look at Donny and gained an idea

Cupping her hands she closed her eyes, her hands lit aflamed. This was much different than her previous attacks. She glared up at Ruby and the fire blasted from her hands towards Ruby like a cone. The flame was a mixture of hot and cold, making a tornado of warm fire instead of a burning hot.

Donny was glad that at least one person got scared by his act, though Ruby was certainly not a scaredy-cat because she instead positioned herself to get Luelle to accidentally burn him. Fortunately Donny was safe as Luelle used a short range cone instead of her usual fireballs, but he knew it was dangerous here regardless. So he crawled back into the ceiling and started to get back to work sabotaging the rest of the auditorium; hopefully with Hitomi out of commission (even if temporarily), Luelle can hold her own for now. Once he was done rigging this place to drop he’ll get his team mates and scram.

With the predator away, Hitomi’s instinctual need to play dead like a goat started to fade, and control was beginning to come back to her limbs, though they were still a little stiff and clumsy as she managed to roll onto her arms and knees. She just needed a few more seconds before she was back to full fighting potential.

“Fuck, it failed.” were Ruby’s last thoughts while she saw the burst of fire rushing towards her. It was certainly too late to dodge, the attack was way too large. Therefore, having last hopes, Ruby quickly pulled her cloak up to cover her face and then activated her stasis onto it, locking herself into the air as well. When the stream of fire hit her, she could feel the heat from outside of her safe cloak, until she suddenly noticed that her left hand was still poking out. She began to feel the sharp pain shoot through it as she quickly pulled it back into the frozen cloak. However, since she wasn’t able to move Ruby couldn’t see the extent of damage that was done to her hand. To her own knowledge, it could be burned beyond repair at this point. A scary situation, to say the least. “I made a mistake!”

When the cone was finally over, Ruby quickly unfroze her cloak and dropped to the floor below, landing on both her feet and her right hand which was still unharmed while still holding her sword of course. The catgirl immediately investigated her left hand only to see that it just turned slightly red. The pain was already slowly going away too, though it was still rather sensitive and she really shouldn’t touch anything with it right now as that would surely hurt. However, that was when it hit her. EIther Luelle is holding back or she is not able to produce fire which has a higher temperature than that.
At least Hitomi was seemingly okay… Ruby thought to herself while looking towards the slowly moving character.
As she lifted her body back up to stand on both of her feet, Ruby took a deep breath, knowing full well that Haruka would break out of the stasis soon. The problem was that there was no way for Ruby to reach the mekk right now since she was practically hidden behind Luelle, a ranged fighter who countered Ruby just because of that fact. Her best option was to check on her teammate, which is why she quickly turned her head away from Luelle and continued her run towards the sheepy one. “Are you okay?!” Ruby could be heard while quickly approaching.

”I got it. I’m coming now!” Acion said as he began to move. His movements were not as fluid and flexible as it used to be. The shoulder pain began acting up as he flew. From the looks of it, he was under the threat of giving in to the pain and fell down to the ground at any moment. But for one thing, he would not allow himself to limp away conceded.

”Tch.” Instead he just growled, to shrug the pain away, even for just a second. His breathing tensed, as he tried to find the nearest entrance. The most obvious one was the main door, which, although may not be guarded, was very likely to be blockaded. So his best bet would be through a side door, which was also likely to be blocked, or the windows, in which the auditorium was very unlikely to have.

He took a minute flying around two sides of the auditorium, searching for a way for him to go through, while still examining, using the maximum of his senses to get wind of what was happening. There was no way he could picture entirely the scene inside, but he had to make sure that the moment he entered the battlefield, he wouldn’t get caught in the middle of the shenanigans that the two teams were trying to perform on each other. Soon he realized that there were none, other than the main entrance, or what seemed to be an emergency exit.

There’s limited choices. Chances were that the main entrance blockaded were higher than the emergency exit, so he ought to go for the latter one. Acion landed right in front of the door, as he, for a moment, tried to open the thing. For the first few tries, he failed. The door appeared to be stuck from the inside. Left with no other ways than to force the door open, he took a step back, a few steps back, and began charging into the door. All three right wings were placed in positions so that his head and shoulder would be shielded from the impact force, but by the time he smashed himself into the door, the force still got transferred to his other recently-relocated shoulder. The pain struck him, but he merely shrugged it off. The door was open.

Leading directly to the auditorium, there was one thing he realized. He was near, or at the least nearest, to the two girls of the enemy team, while his other teammates were either in paralysis, or elsewhere in the room. He was in a pretty bad situation. Or really bad.

[pkken]

Roy Kusayanagi

Isshin Ueda

Once team D took their leave, Roy's tough guy act crumbled. Honestly he was just as shooken up as the others were but he could not let the others know his true feelings. The boy laid his body on the ground as an attempt at trying to relax himself though the effort was futile.

His body couldn't stop shaking.

"I-I-im so sorry Jojo" he said sitting up and pulling his legs close to his chest, his whole body was trembling. "Maybe if I was stronger...I wouldn't have sustained nearly as much damage, a-and you wouldn't have had to carry me, and this explosion would have naver happened, and you wouldn't be in such a bad condition." the boy bit his lip to stop from rambling, a red fluid running down and off his chin as he chomped down. She probably didn't give a damn for what the boy was saying, failure was a bitter feeling. Though that emotion was even worse when someone was hurt because of your incompetence. His chest was heavy, the thought of how worthless he is clouded his mind. Roy buried his head deep into legs as his body quivered uncontrollable out of rage.

"Heyy! Why the long face. Ms.Joruto will be alright, Kiwi will take care of her." A familiar voice came from behind the boy. Roy raised his head, his eyes widening as he looked back and man did he look a mess infront of his teacher. "Now Now, is that the look a hero should give off? You looked fine when you were speaking with Motome earlier." Roy clenched his legs tight as he listenend to Isshin.

"But Sensei...it's my fau-"

"It's not your fault, by griefing over Jojo you're only taking her efforts for naught. She knew the risks that came with her attacks. the man said as he walked over to her body and began applying first aid to her burns. "In this field of work, citizens and heroes getting injured is a given. You're going to have some ups and you're going to have some downs but you must never let your spirit waiver. Isshin looked back at Roy before wrapping Jojo's afflicted areas in bandages.

"The exercise isn't over yet anyways, you still have two other teammates giving their all because they are counting on you. Anyone can feel good and be positive when they are healthy and their life is going well. During those time of peace when not much is going on it is easy to be a hero. The real challenge comes when the odds are stacked against you unfairly, a hero's prescence is supposed to calm those injured and or endangered as well as produce peace of mind. When you become a pro you will have many more people believing in you who you must not fail. That's what seperates those at the top from the rest. Isshin finished tying the bandages before picking up Jojo and walking off.

"Now what will you do." he said before taking Jojo to the nurses office.

Roy didn't look at Isshin the whole time he was lecturing him, as he spoke the boy's trembling began to lessen before it was ultimately gone. When he spoke of his other teammates his eyes widened, "Hitomi...Ruby..." He lifted his head out of his leg as he digested his teachers words. Roy knew better then anyone in class 1-A what it feels like to have the odds stacked against him felt. His quirk itself was a double edged sword, since it manifested his life has took a severe turn.

No one knew what it felt like to be so ill, to sit at deaths door so closely and have little to no help. No one but him, for him to give up here would make all the shit he endured seem like a messed up joke. Roy started off good infront of Fumika but he just couldn't finish strong, in the end he did end up crumbling.

He had another chance to prove himself, "...Thanks...Sensei" Roy rose up from the ground, his muscles ached badly he wanted to lay down for the rest of the exercise but he had people counting on him. The boys costume was cut up and caked with dirt and dried up blood though he just smiled as his eyes were lit again as he knew what to do. He began moving forward slowly but surely before picking up more speed. The blonde opened up his communicaitions device and began talking to his team, "Team D is making their way towards the auditorium, I am trailing behind them though" he said confidently. The upper portion of his suit was still off and his bareskin was still exposed for the sun to shine on. He was passivly absorbing more energy, by the time he would the auditorium he would be at half capacity.

[Conscripts]

Amane Makes an Entrance

Kaida sure packed a great – and painful – punch.

Seriously though, it hurt. A lot. His shoulder was not in a position that could be used effectively. Or that it could be used at all. Despite having most of his abilities not utilizing the arm much, the violent body movement would make it sting badly. Acion couldn’t let this go on. He still had to assist his teammates.

Seeing that he was about to reach the auditorium, the point of contest, once again, instead of flying up into the sky like he did two times before, he landed on the roof of it. For one purpose: fixing this damn shoulder.

”Ok…”

He quickly made a touchdown, his other hand trying to stabilize the dislocated shoulder, not letting it be swayed by the strong wind or some kind. And then, he would do what Joann once did just yesterday at the gym. He vividly remember seeing her banging her shoulder onto the wall, thus pushing it into space again. He would need proper treatment after this, but that temporary measure would be viable, for now. Acion smashed his shoulder onto the nearby hard surface, trying to mimic her. The strike was so painful, as the bone quickly moved back into position, but still, like a thunder striking through his mind.

He breathed out heavily, trying to recover from the shock. Damn, he didn’t know that this would hurt so badly, a dislocated bone could cause him. And if he knew that Kaida was so powerful in terms of raw strength, he wouldn’t have engaged her. And she looked so frail. What the hell was her quirk anyway? He remembered seeing a bunch of scales popping out of her skins. What could that indicate? Some sort of reptilian-related quirk? Still, he shouldn’t mess with her like that again, knowing that she would be able to intercept and ground him. He ought to be more careful when initiating another dive.

Once reaching the side of the building Amane released his purple orb reversing the gravity, he then squatted low to the ground and took a large leap into the air. The knight floated effortlessly to the top of the infrastructure. He hovered over the building for a few seconds scouting the area, he noticed another person who was on the roof trying to recover.

“Hmm?” he mumbled as he released his gravity well, Amane landed on the edge of the building. His armor gleamed brightly into the eyes of the avian boy in front of him. Under his helmet, the boy squinted his eyes as he surveyed all of the strangers injuries. The first thing to pop out to him was his heavy breathing, his eyes darted around the boys body seeing bruises, dirt, and scratches. He was clearly in multiple battles, the biggest damage done of all was the missing wing. Amane began approaching the boy at a slow walk before stopping 5 yards in front of him.

“You must be the person everyone was worrying about, you look like you’re about to keel over. So tell you what” Amane reached for his staff and grabbed it retracted the beam. “I am pretty sure you’ve gotten a good view of everyone on your way here. If you tell me your locations I’ll spare you.” he said without even saying what the consequence would be if he didn’t, the knight was sure that this man would get the gist of what would happen.

Who’s that?

Acion looked around the rooftop to see a man in a knight’s armor, just as shiny as he would look, but with his face covered. His voice was confident, really really confident, to the point that he dared to threaten Acion. Heh. Then so be it.

”I got the locations, yes, of everyone. Serving your every single tastes.” He replied, his voice hollowly manipulative, despite being in a difficult situation. ”One on one, one against many. Which would you prefer? Or your team would prefer?”

Amane gripped the staff and placed one side of it on the ground before replying. “Everyone in the vicinity of this building,” the knight said lowering his guard a bit. “Don’t lie either”... he said before approaching even closer to Acion. Throwing his staff against his shoulder, his eyes stayed fixated on Acion, even if this was an ambush his body or eyes would give off a funny vibe. Once he was within reach of Amane’s staff and quirk thats when he spoke again, “Preferably who is to the east and south of this building”

”Then I have just the target for you.”

Acion then told Amane the location of the blonde haired girl from team A. If he remembered correctly, her name would be Mina. She appeared to be alone. Her position was out in the open that Acion could remember it correctly, from the slightest glimpse of her before he descended on the rooftop of the auditorium to recover.

”If you think I am lying, open your mind.” He said, seemingly triumphant in his argument as he stared back at Amane. ”This...negotiation is either a win-win or a win-lose, on your side. So there should be no reason to risk having a win-lose. Wouldn’t you agree?”

After all, Mina was from team A, his adversary team. He would only risk lying if he was targeting Acion’s team, but he didn’t define anything. And whether or not the guy was pitying the avian man for his wounds, or just looking forward to a fair fight, it wasn’t wise to let Acion go here. But still, he was given a chance to escape the predicament, at a good price. So why not?

Mina, the girl in question, was walking towards the school. She was no longer hobbling. The exercise was doing her good, and alleviating the aches in her body until they were dull and ignorable. She did see a glimpse of Acion flying overhead, though. What the hell were Erza and Tomoe doing if not neutralizing him? Did they run into anybody? How did the plan go this awry so quickly?

She brought her comms to her mouth and switched it on. “Jett, I’m approaching the school. I’ll wait for you at the northern fire exit on the west side. Not the auditorium. The other one. Then we’ll go in and carry out our attack together. Over and out.” With her check-in complete, she carried on, unawares of the fate that awaited her.

Jett finally heard from Mina and sighed in relief. He winced as he stepped on a rock wrong, his attempt at bracing his ankle worked, but it was far from perfect. He had to kneel for a moment and wait for the pain to subside before pushing himself again. He was close to where Mina said she would be, but with his ankle throbbing it was going to take him a little longer. “Copy that, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” he said back to her.

Amane walked past the avian boy with a confident stride, he didn’t even bother with looking back to the boy before setting his foot on the ledge of the building. He knew this guy was not stupid enough to try attack him from behind, the odds were stacked against him. Before leaving Amane held his staff by the lower half while the rod laid on his shoulder blade.

“Thanks for your cooperation, I’ll save you for last so rest up nicely” the man said before leaping leaping from the building. It was a long descent that would cause injury for someone who was ill equipped for the drop. Once he was halfway Amane reversed the gravity once again and used the outside of the institution as impromptu breaks. Soon he was floating back to the earth with serene grace. Amane extended his left foot forward touched the ground, he squatted low before releasing his gravity well and running in full sprint.

Meanwhile, Acion simply turned away from him, and prepared to flee from the rooftop. He was lucky that he was able to get out of this in one piece. By the stature and manner, he seemed to be one formidable opponent, or that he pretended to be. But it was very likely to be the former. Acion could feel it. The tension from his senses. That he was going to go down if he fought him right now.

”Forget it.”

He suddenly remembered his team. Damn, he had been under radio silence for a while now. He should give them a call to see what was happening. They shouldn’t have been defeated right?

”Guys?” Acion finally turned on the comm link. ”What’s happening?” He could hear them clashing with the other team. ”Do you need assistance?”

Mina was within sight of the fire escape when she stopped and rested. She started to stretch her limbs and back, to the sound of much popping, and massage the kinks and aches out of her calves. When that was done, she began to scan the area for any sign of Jett, Erza and/or Tomoe, or, less ideally, anybody else.

Using the same technique, Amane jumped onto the roof of the school so that he could survey the surrounding area. He had a clear vision of the school grounds and could see where his target could enter. It would be difficult for her to bypass Amanes detection from his viewpoint.

Mina’s surveying included the sky and well as above the school, knowing full well that Acion was flying around somewhere. She spotted Amane on the roof, sticking out against the skyline like a sore thumb, but had he seen her? She quickly rushed to cover. Dammit. Jett needed to get here ASAP. Or she should wait until the student on the roof looked away and then get inside the school, waiting for Jett there, out of sight. Of course if he saw her dashing for cover, all the planning in the world was for naught. She didn’t recognise him, so she didn’t know his quirk.

With a mischievous grin Amane floated to the ground like a fairy. He didn't know where Mina was exactly but she should have made it to the school by now from the Avians calculations.

“I know you are here, come out now. You'll piss me off if I have to find you myself”

The boy walked through the courtyard almost daring someone to come out and ambush the boy.

“I'll give you to the count of 3 to reveal yourself” the knight said.

Not knowing his quirk, Mina did not want to call his bluff and give no reply at all for the full three count. She could see him from her hiding place, but he hasn’t seen her as he was still searching. She wanted him as close as possible, so she waited until he had counted to two and was about to utter the ‘th’ sound of three, when she shone a very brief beam of light from her position. Not a full giveaway, but it clearly came from her location. Hopefully his quirk wasn’t one which negated his need to see his opponent, as she was relying on him walking closer to her hiding place.

Amane let out a sigh, he warned them to come out or else he would be angry. Incompetent fool, the light shone causing an immediate reaction from Amanes eye. Mina would hear the clanking of his armor getting closer and closer before briefly stopping at the corner of the fire escape.

“Have it your way” Amane gripped his hand tight before opening and releasing a small black orb which circled around him before sitting atop him staff. He shifted his left foot back and gripped mid shaft of the rod with both hands before activating his black hole. His quirk attempted to pull anything and everything out into the light. Mina could visibly see the dust being sucked into the void.

‘Huh,’ thought Mina, as she was half-sucked and half-vaulted over her cover, and positioned her feet lightly to allow the black hole to drag her forwards, making her slide gracefully towards Amane. When she deemed herself close enough, she raised her hand and emitted a disorientingly bright flash directed at Amane’s face. She hoped that her attack would stop the black hole, because attempting close range combat with that thing around would be dangerous.

Amane smirked as the enemy was drawn out of hiding, but as soon as she was about to be brought out into the light for all to see as a bright flash hit the boy in the face causing him to close his eyes. This really ticked him off, so her quirk was to manipulate light.

No matter, Amane had his other senses to use. The boy stopped his black hole so he could properly hear the enemy. Dropping into a wide stance, he was prepared for what Mina had in store.

Mina, assuming he’d try and use his other senses to locate her with his vision temporarily impaired, started running to gain momentum, but then her footsteps would cease, as she launched herself off the ground, attempting a flying dropkick straight to Amane’s chest.

When he heard the sound of Mina’s heels leave the ground he smirked, gripping his staff he braced for whatever attack as coming. He was sure she wouldn’t use this chance to try and escape because she knew it would be near impossible. He then felt a force kick him in his chest, though it didn’t hurt really it made him slid back. This foe was puny in comparison to him but she packed a lot of power, Amane chuckled under his suit as he skidded back. That would have knocked the wind out of him if he wasn’t fully armored, she also struck the hardest part of his suit which was made of steel. It weighed a lot but provided excellent defense for the lad.

“I can tell you are a martial artist of admirable skill,” He wanted to test this theory of how good she really is, Amane had trained some martial arts training coupled with his bo staff.

“Alright...let’s see what you can do,” the Knight said with a hint of excitement in his voice, he threw the staff away to the side before holding flexing his finger before making a fist. The knuckles on his gauntlet were the equivalent of brass knuckles, coupled with his strength he could put someone out easily. Amane dashed at Mina once her feet hit the ground, the boy delivering a flurry of strikes.

Mina took the third option. Doubtless, Amane had rarely fought somebody as aggressive and as cheap a fighter as Mina. She had no intention of being put on the defensive, and leaned her top half out of the way of the punch before grabbing it, kicking off the ground and applying a flying armbar lock, putting the strain of supporting the full weight of her and her ridiculous dress onto her opponent’s shoulder joint. The bad side was that from this position, her skirt was succumbing to gravity, but fortunately for her, she was wearing knee-length white hose underneath it.

He watched as Mina sidestepped the flurry before grabbing onto his arm, she wasn’t afraid to get in close despite her small size which humored the guy. She then slid his foot out from under him before performing an arm bar on him. If she was going to fight like this, why even wear such a flashy dress? Amane laid on the floor as this girl attempted to break his arm; turning his head, he stared at Mina in the eyes briefly, with his amber pupils looking like a burning fire. He made a fist out of his free hand before reversing gravity. Using his legs, he pushed off the ground, sending the two spirialing in the air as Amane took out the girl’s gravity out of play. There was no longer strain on his shoulder joint; it appeared as though Mina was clung onto his arm like a newborn Koala. He waited until his foe’s head was pointing at the ground before releasing the gravity and immense weight on the girl’s petite body.

Mina let go of her foe’s arm as the tarmac ground started to get very close very quickly, and shielded her head with her arms for all the good it did her, as she landed head first and almost folded like a napkin before falling to the floor, lying prone and clutching her head. She was in pretty severe pain, that was for sure. She could have even gotten a concussion or a spinal or neck injury from that landing, but the way she writhed and tried to get back to her feet ruled out anything life-threatening. Even so, she was struggling to get to her hands and knees, let alone her feet. That attack hurt her. That much was clear.

Amane hit the ground with a large thump before stretching his arm out, she had a good technique with her arm bar. But she got to close without caution, the knights quirk was on cooldown for the meantime. He walked up to Mina and cocked his leg far back as he was prepared to punt the small girl.

“Out of steam from one attack? Where did all that spirit go?” he said before making a powerful kick right at Minas core.

Mina, a far cry from the fighter she was before, cried out in pain as she was kicked with such force that she had now been rolled onto her back. Her breathing was labored and it was clear from her face that she was so dazed right now she probably wasn’t even capable of comprehending events enough to get angry and fired back up. He could probably leave her as she was right now and she’d be no good to her team until the exercise ended. But why take that risk?

The knight walked over to the girls limp body, he was pissed that she was already done but that didn’t stop him from gathering intel. Amane kneeled down to the ground and wrapped his hand around Mina’s hair. He then pulled her head up so that she was forced to look into his eyes.

“Why did you come alone? What are you and the rest of your team planning exactly?”

He wondered why exactly she had come all alone? Especially cutting through the school, what did they have planned. Going inside the school would surely she would have encountered the other team that was making their way over to the point. Either way she had a very slim chance of coming out on top in either interactions.

Mina shook herself out of her daze enough to try and let her brain process that she had been asked something, and to try and hear what the question was, which was a herculean task for her in her current state. She wasn’t going to talk. She wasn’t broken in spirit, and if she was capable of getting up, she’d keep on fighting. Nevertheless, she pretended to strain herself merely moving her lips barely to whisper something inaudible to Amane, before sighing and beckoning him closer.

He raised an eyebrow as what she had mumbled, with his free hand he grabbed the top of his helmet and pulled it off. Revealing a rather good looking fellow with sharp features, Amane tossed the helmet to the side. He wasn’t going to be able to hear her mumbles with that thing on his head. The boy got closer to her, his expression cold, serious, and clearly upset at this poor excuse for a ‘fight’. He waited for Mina to speak again once he was close enough for her.

Taking off his helmet and getting close to an opponent he knew could create blinding flashes of light was a bad move, and the moment when he got as close as he was going to get, and she grinned, was the moment he realised that. Before he could take any countermeasures, She raised her hand to his eyes and flashed his face at point blank range. While he was distracted, she pointed to his relatively un-armored legs and started to focus a beam of light, trying to make a laser. She could still win. That was the thought that was driving her.

Dj...Queue my music

As he came closer he was met with a bright light, it was if his eyes were on fire. Was she really that dumb as to try and keep on fighting? In this situation, Amane didn't need sight, hearing, smell.

As long as he could feel, beating this girl into a bloody pulp would be an easy feat. He felt the slight burning sensation in his leg as the beam concentrated. It was hot, really hot but Amane was blinded emotionally and literally. He got an even tighter hold on Mina's hair before cocking his left arm back. The guy was shaking with rage, he had struggled restraining himself. One strike in the right place could kill her. With his heavy fist he slugged Mina right in the stomach, as the brass knuckle like gauntlets connected he could feel the shockwaves from the attack circulate through her whole body.

“Pathetic insect...” Amane dropped Mina's body to the ground and glared at her with disgust. Trash belonged in the garbage. He gave the poor girl another kick to roll her over on her back again. “Choke on your own blood.”

Mina was about to learn the pecking order.

Unfortunately the fight hadn’t had the sense to leave her yet. She had more fight in her than her body could allow her to carry out. She was in tremendous pain, and her mouth was filling with blood, but she was too angry to be scared. Her pride and ego were too hurt, and the need to avenge them too great. She managed to turn her head to Amane’s boots and spit some of her blood on them. It was all she could still do, but it was still an insulting act of defiance.

Amane scrunched his face as she spat blood at his boots. Still trying to fight tooth and nail huh, looks like he had to break her spirit.

He kneeled down in front of her, “Do you really think you can defeat me still? Your quirk is useless against someone with real power...your lucky that I still want to be a pro,” Amane twisted his gauntlets off and tossed them to the side. He flexed his fingers cracking his bones. His hands were filled with scars all over, certified lethal weapons.

“Can you still speak at least? I still want some more information out of you...” he grabbed Mina by the head again before punching her square in the face. Totally disregarding that his hand was covered in her blood. “You want to become a hero, right? I could end your hopeless career right now if you'd like. Paralyze you from the neck down. Haha, you would be just like a lamp, shining in one place for the rest of your pitiful life.”

Mina was making a sound halfway between a groan and a whimper. She wouldn’t let herself cry or scream, though. She was going to become the number 1 Hero, not just in this school, but in the world. She was about to retort that all she’d need was control of her head to be a better hero than him, but she didn’t. She was scared that he might just make good on her threat. She stopped, and it dawned on her – Mina was actually scared of somebody. She wouldn’t betray her team, but instead kept her mouth shut in silent submission. It was clear from her eyes that the rebellion and fearlessness were gone, though her hatred remained.

The boy released his hold on the girl, dropping the foe on their back. Rising from his kneeling position, he walked over to his gauntlets, picking them up and twisting them back onto his hands. Using his black hole, he pulled his helmet and staff into his grasp, folding his weapon and placing it on his holster. Amane held his helmet at his side before walking over to Mina.

He picked her up by the neck, his cold metal grasp cut into her neck like ice as he slammed her into the fire escape wall. He started her in the eye menacingly, almost daring her to try and rebel against him once again.

“You look like you hate me. You’re going to remember me as long as you live,” With each word he said, the grip around her neck would get tighter almost to the point of strangling before he released his hold. Amane pushed her hair to the side and took the girls communicator. He placed it near his ear before and began relaying his threat.

“Your blonde lady friend here is in pretty bad shape. Shame on you all for leaving her behind. She was a lowly vermin is all hopefully one of you can provide me with more entertainment. I'll be making my way over to the auditorium right now if you want a piece of me...but if I get bored I might just end your friends career right at the start.”

After relaying his message, Amane turned off the communicator, placing it back in the girls ear before flinging her body over his shoulder. It was time he made way over to the auditorium for the finale. He planned on crushing 1-A and solidifying his spot as the strongest freshman. Mina made absolutely no resistance, but she was still conscious. Just saving her strength, and biding her time...

Jett stopped when he heard an unknown voice on the coms. Instantly looking to where he was supposed to meet Kasuke, as he was across the street and down a few yards. Was this the big guy with the armor that came in at the last minute? He started moving faster, trying to ignore the pain in his ankle on the uneven ground. At least the guy told him where he was going. He winced with every step as he made his way to the auditorium.

Jett’s anger was rising as he replayed the guys words in his head again and again. Wondering really how bad Kasuke was hurt, and if he would really make good on his threat. Nevertheless, he was pissed. Any guy who beat up a girl and insulted her like that was trash in his book. He started thinking on what he needed to do. He clearly needed an advantage over him, He wasn’t in exactly tip top shape at the moment.

One thing's for sure, he still needed to cut off the power. He looked around him as he walked and noticed a gate that lead to a bike trail, chained off. He moved over to it and pulled out one of his metal batons and jammed it between the lock and ring that held it to the chain, shoving it up with a quick thrust and popping out the lock. He then took the chain off the gate and wrapped it around his hand. Turning to force himself into a limping jog.

As Amane made way towards the auditorium he looked up at the roof to see if the avian was still up there. He fixed minas position on his shoulder as he walked up to the doors and prepared to kick them open. The knight stepped with his left and punted with his right as he planted his foot right on the door flinging it open. Once inside the lobby Amane placed Mina on the stairwell leading to the second story. He ripped off a long strop off the bottom of her dress and used it to tie her hands up just so she wouldn’t get in the way if he fought with the other team. Some of her blood was on the shoulder plate of his armor in which Amane didn’t pay much mind too. He returned back to the receptionist desk waiting to see if any of her teammates would pop up to challenge him.

Jett picked up his pace as fast as he could on his ankle, skipping the school entirely and heading for the auditorium. He paused for a moment to add more duct tape to his ankle to stiffen it. Really wishing he had his boot at the moment. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself forward once more. He would come to a stop under a powerline next to a transformer and look up. Stepping back a few feet and making sure this transformer connected to the auditorium, before swinging his newly found chain in his hands for a moment. Once he got a rough guess on how hard to throw it, he wiped it up with all his might, as it was a bit heavier than a bicycle chain.

The chain flew up, still in rotation of how he swung it. The end catching one of the power lines and wrapping around it. Causing the other end of the chain to swing onto the second powerline and locking into place, causing the two lines to complete the circuit. As he threw it up, he was already running away, not wanting to be under this when it exploded.

Sure enough, a few nanoseconds after connecting, loud buzzing sounds could be heard as the two lines arched a few times and the smell of burnt ozone was in the air. The overload caused the transformer to explode a few times. Destroying it and effectively cutting off power to the auditorium...and likely the entire block.

He quickly made his way towards the side door to the lobby, where he saw Amane walk into a few moments ago. As soon as he made it he slowed his pace and took a few deep breaths and slowly entered the building. pressing the button on his helmet to lower the thermal vision goggles. It might be still too bright in the lobby for his night vision. He did pull his batons from his sheath and connected them, creating a bowstaff. He slowly shut the door behind him as he entered.

Amane stood silently on the lobby as he waited for someone to come, he could hear the fighting going on in the auditorium but he had a different agenda first. He wanted to gauge the power of the others before entering the fray that was already ongoing. Soon he could hear the power failing and the lights shutting off in which caused the boy to smile under his mask.

“Hmm?”

Amane pulled out his bo staff from its sleeve before letting it rest on his shoulder, ‘company should be coming soon’. Despite the power failing, he was still at the front of the building. Two large glass panes on the entrance doors was shedding enough light for Amane to see fairly well, he glared over at Mina making sure she was still in the same place and being obedient.

“Looks like someone has come to rescue you possibly...either way they will soon suffer the same fate you have” the guy said before rising up from his position to greet the challenger in the auditorium lobby.

Jett paused as he heard someone say something. He could see two people ahead in the main part of the lobby, one was laying down and a much bigger figure was just standing up. He assumed it was Kasuke who was laying on the stairs. He lifted his thermal vision again to make sure how lit the room was. Thinking a moment before lowering it again, spinning his staff under his right armpit and pinning it there as he then reached into his vest and pulled out two smoke grenades and pulled their pins out awkwardly. His left hand still having the restraint over the palm over his hand.

He then moved his staff enough so he could chuck the grenades around the corner, low as to confuse him where they came from, and hard enough for them to bounce off the back wall and closer to them. ‘Sorry Kasuke…’ He thought to himself.

As he stood at the entrance he heard the sound of plastic hitting the floor from his left side, immediately he turned his head in the direction before seeing two grenades rolling toward him. Immediately Amane took cover behind the receptionist desk, vaulting over it with haste. Returning it back to the sender was also an option but it was unknown how long the grenade had been cooking and the exact kind of grenade it was.

The knight kneeled down under the desk as he heard the sound of the grenade going on which was rather quiet. A silent spraying sound permeated the air as smoke followed right behind it? Were they trying to blind him again? They were clueless as to what his quirk was, he would simply just disperse the smoke by using a black hole..

Jett took this moment as he jumped away behind a desk to run up. The loud clanking of the guys armor would help mask his heavy steps due to his his injury. Ideally he would try to get Kasuke out of here, but with his injury and quirkless, he wouldn’t get far. He instead jumped up on the desk, and swung his staff like a golfclub. Having the advantage of seeing where he was behind the desk already from his thermalvision. Angry still, he used all of his strength to knock the guy out with one hit to the head.”FOUR!”

Amane rose from his position to clear the smoke, activating his quirk. The black ball appeared and was about to activate before.

WHAMM

He felt something with immense power slam into his helmet knocking him off balance and into the wall. Surely if he didn’t have head protection it would have transformed his brain into putty. Amane slammed into the infrastructure with a large thud before clinging onto the wall for support. The boy’s helmet was twisted off to the side blocking his view, he stood there trying to regain his footing before fixing his helmet. His head was ringing a bit and his vision hazy. The guy chuckled as the smoke suddenly shifted in the knights direction, it was clearing out the room at a dramatic rate though it would leave one more opening for the boy to attack the room was completely cleared.

Jett wouldn’t have been able to see Mina’s features beyond a thermal outline, and of that, she was thankful. She was dazed, wobbly, and her face and dress were caked in blood. If she was in better condition, slipping these bonds would have been easy, but right now, she could barely gather the strength to stand up, so she projected thin, aint beas of light from her eyes, allowing her to see the fight, or at least, parts of it through the thick yet rapidly clearing fog.

Jett spun his staff in one hand to bring up the momentum before using his hip as a stabilizer to smash the staff once again into his head with the strength of his right arm and the momentum he gained. He then jumped down, heavily on his left foot to spare his sprained ankle before running over to Kasuke. Lifting his goggles to see her more clearly. He was shocked to see how beat up she was, and tied up with her own dress and covered in her own blood. “Kasuke! Are you ok?” He quickly pulled out his knife and sliced the makeshift restraints on her. ”Jett?” Mina asked, focusing on the boy in front of her. She allowed herself a brief smile as she rubbed life back into her freed wrists, before frowning again and looking pissed off. ”What are you doing, you idiot? Amane’s still behind you?”

As the smoke quickly drained out he was prepared to go on the offensive, until the staff hit him a second time in the head sending his body jeering towards the left and into the lobby desk. He grunted before laughing once more, sure his head hurt but he was excited that someone was fighting back with the right mind. By using a weapon they were at least able to make break through his armor and deal some decent damage. The boy scrapped on the desk as the smoke cleared, his laughter getting louder. You could visibly see the dents in his helmet, on a big one on his left cheek and the other near the ear hole on the right side. He watched as Jett immediately went to Mina’s aid, in which Amane took advantage off. The boy trudged over to his location.

“You should finish the enemy off befor-!” he grunted as he slug his armored forearm into the side of Jetts head knocking him off balance into the stairwell. “Taking your eyes off them” He said finishing his sentence. The knight kept on with his onslaught grabbing the boy by the straps on his chest and flinging him along the left side of the stairwell railing, allowing him to post up on top up on top of it. Amane lunged at Jett quickly and held him up on the railing with his left arm as he dealt a punch to the stomach and a punch to the face with his reinforced gauntlets. He was armored as well but he would surely feel the force of the boys stomach jab and right hook.

Before he could say anything to Kasuke, he felt a massive force slamm into his his head and sent him into the stairs next to Kasuke. He knew he shouldn’t have turned his back to the guy but he had to make sure she was alright. Dazed from the blow, he was pulled up to his feet and thrown against the railing of the stairs. His staff clattered away from him as this happened and before he could defend himself he was hit twice. The gut wasn’t as bad but the hit to the face would have sent him reeling if he wasn’t held down.

But while it was a powerful blow it seemed to shake him out of his daze. His eyes burned with a fire that was shocked at seeing Kasuke hurt so badly. Before he could punch him again, Jett used the opportunity while pinned against the railing to help prop him up and lifted his left foot, kicking with his heel into the knights right knee. While most of the power in his kick was taken down because of the metal armor, the knee was still a joint, The blow normally could have broken the knee cap, as the move was intended for. But for now it would only cause him to bend forward from the shock of hitting a sensitive area. He would then grab the knights left arm, pinning it to Jett’s own chest and reaching behind the knights head with his left hand, grabbing it and pulled it down, while turning counter clockwise and slamming his helmet into the railing he was once pinned on. While using his arm as leverage.

Amanes helmet slammed into the railing placing a large dent. Jett had the upper hand currently as he hand the guys arm in a submissive hold. He could feel his armor turning on him as it dug into his shoulder joint, with his free arm Amane gripped the railing and tried to pull his body forward towards the other side of the railing.going against Jett's opposing force and putting even more strain on his shoulder. To his opponent it would look like the knight was trying to escape but Amane was going for something else. He grunted as more pressure was put onto the joint until finally.

POP!

His arm went limp as his shoulder was dislocated, the boy bit his lip at the pain causing blood to trickle down his chin. His stomach laid flat against the railing as half his body was already over it. With his lower half now in the air he kicked at the Jett's hand that had him pinned before wrapping both his legs around his opponents waist. The knight gripped tight to the railing bar before he began his next move. He reversed the gravity so the two would become weightless in the air before twisting the railing causing his body to flip over it and launch jett into the wall with the momentum he produced during zero gravity. His opponent would collide with the infrastructure though it would not deal nearly as much damage compared to if gravity was still a factor. Amane twisted back over to the other side of the railing. His left arm completely limp and the big bad Amane breathing heavily.

Jett was shocked the guy dislocated his own shoulder, enough to be caught off guard by his kick and grapple with his legs. Again shocked as his body just lifted off the ground effortlessly. As he tried to break free as they started to spin, only to be thrown into the opposite wall of the stairs. While it didn’t hurt as much as he expected, it still knocked the wind out of him as he slammed into the drywall and caved it in, breaking a few wooden blocks in the wall.

Jett was expecting to fall and found out that he was still in the air floating next to the wall because his arm had got stuck in it. Shifting himself he got his arms free of the drywall, gripping some of the broken wood blocks. He threw it at Amane’s face. In all honesty it was more for distraction as the wood would just clang off his head, some of the drywall followed as he pulled something from his vest and he shoved himself off the wall. His thumb pulling a pin on a grenade as he slammed his body into Amane with a grunt, Using this moment to shove the grenade in between his helmet and his paldron. The part of his armor meant to protect his neck that was connected to his shoulder guards.

Then using all his might and what little leverage he had, including his injured foot, as he grunted in pain as he put an odd angle of pressure on it. He was trying to pull them away from Kasuke as suddenly yellow gas spewed from the grenade he just pinned in his armor. Luckily Jett still had his gas mask still on.

Amane back peddled into the wall, his Amber eyes locked onto Jett as he laid plastered against the infrastructure. The knight gripped his arm and was breathing heavily. With his left hand out of the battle he was only at half power. Being unable to barely use his hand his black hole power was out of commission for time being.

Dink!

Something had hit him in the head...but what?

Clink! Clunk!

It was coming from Jett! He was throwing chunks of wood at him as a desperate attack? Amanes armor began vibrates from the impact as he threw pieces of the wall at him.

“He...hehe..hahahaha” he began laughing as the wood made his helmet rattle before one hit him hard upside the head causing his cranium to turn. At this moment of distraction, Jett pounced on him and lodged something in base of the boy's helmet before holding to him tight. Soon a yellow gas before pouring in and out of the boy's helmet,

“Tear gas!”

Amane looked at his limp arm before shutting his eyes close as Jett clung to him like a newborn. His eyes watered profusely as the tear gas began going to work. The chemicals that were being released burned his lungs.The knight held his breath as he felt his body began shifting up the stairs, it looked like Jett wanted to take the battle elsewhere. As his body shifted up the stairs, Amane tried to take the grenade out from its fixed position

The boy used his power to reverse the gravity within a small radius of himself, pushing off the ground the two began spiraling towards the ceiling and up towards the second story of the theatre lobby with significant speed. being in such proximity of the tear gas was dangerous , the feeling of his lungs being on fire began to intensify. Amane wrapped his right arm around Jetts left forearm making sure he wouldn’t escape the radius of his power. Securing the boys limb in between his forearm and bicep as he took the chance to stop the grenade. Amane reached for the grenade which he unwedged after clawing at it desperately for a few moments. After pulling out the chemical weapon from his armor the boy dropped the tear gas on the staircase softly so it wouldn't bounce everywhere before turning his full to Jett. The two would deflect off any and every surface like a windows xp screensaver as they made their way up to the second floor. Once they reached the top they were inside of a corridor with two doors to enter the through the back of the auditorium. Amane was just glad to have breathable air. The boy waited for his body to be in perfect position to create some space between the two, once his back was facing the floor Amane released the gravity causing the two to slam into the floor. The knight used this moment to his advantage by tucking his legs in and pushing off on his opponents stomach sending him towards the midway point of the corridor.

With this opportunity for a short rest, Amane decided to cough his lungs out as he released all of the oxygen in his lungs. He was on his hand and knees as the other arm was completely limp and out of order. The hacking becoming less and less as fresh air flooded his lungs.

“That was nice...impressive even.maybe I should fight you more seriously.” Amane’s eyes were stinging intensely but he was able to see out of one at least, despite blinking rapidly.

BANG

He rose to his feet before slamming his shoulder into the wall causing a gaping hole in the wall opposite of the auditorium, it sounded like a sledgehammer as his arm went through the wall as Amane popped his shoulder back into place. He then took his right hand and began beating on his shoulder blade like a drum until it his arm was back in place . Grunts echoed out of his helmet as he practiced the unorthodox procedure without hesitation. Once he was done he wiggled his fingers before making a fist to confirm he was ready to continue fighting.

“Are you ready? I am going to kick it up a notch!” the boy said, from the emotion in his voice you could tell he was enjoying this fight.

The knight opened his hands and 3 black orbs flew out before expanding in size similar to Reina’s own quirk. Two orbs went behind him and began draining the tear gas rapidly from the stairs as well as the intent to prevent Mina from suffering its effects. While he used the remaining one for battle.

“Draw your weapon”

With one leap, Amane was face to face with Jett. His staff was drawn but still in its retractable state, there was still enough time for Jett to lock blades with the knight.

Jett slammed into the ground after being kicked and rolled like a ragdoll, crashing into the far wall. Grunting in pain as his ankle banged a few times on the ground. It was starting to throb from the abuse he put it through. He groaned as he looked at Amane. Smirking as he mentioned he was going him more seriously. “Oh really? That’s just me messing around. I didn’t even have to use my quirk to fight you.” he said egging him on. Not wanting him to go back to Mina. He had to admit, he really missed his quirk right now.

He reached for his staff, but realized it was downstairs. Trying to stand up, but only made it to his knee when he said draw your weapon. The only other weapon he had was his knife and gun. Drawing both he crossed his arms, not having time to make an attack of his own, he brought his knife up to block the blow while his opposite forearm, covered in carbon fiber plating, braced the back of the blade.

While still in this kneeling position he blocked the blow. Wincing as the flat back of the blade still hurt his arm with the force of the attack. But he managed to stop his advance. Amane could see he was straining by the look in his eyes. With no leverage to push back because of his ankle/ kneeling position on top of that. He quickly thought of what he could do all while trying to make sure he didn’t get knocked back.

That is, till he thought it was actually not a bad Idea. Not a good one, but not bad. He tried to push back more, trying to force amane to push back more. Then with a sudden change in tactics he collapsed his arms, bringing the back of the blade to his chest as well as his gun. But his elbows stayed where they originally were, creating a V. This also cause the staff to crack Jett in the face, but it was expected. But this would allow him to pinch the staff between his forearms and he twisted his arms. While allowing all of Amane’s force to push him back onto his back.

The idea, was to get his gun inline with his helmet and fire off a few rounds.

Amane smiled at Jett’s response to his attack, it put his skill on showcase for sure. Not a lot of people could block an overhead attack with a pistol and knife. The sound of metal crashing into each other rattled the second floor. Clearly the knight had the upper hand in strength over his foe as he made the boy get low to the ground. Amane frowned thinking about how his foe was saying he only messing around and not using his quirk. This caused his mind to slip, surprised at how Jett’s arms collapsed, he leaned into the attack smacking Jett dead in the face with his staff.

No...this wasn’t an accident, but it was planned. A smile crossing his face as Jett locked the knights weapon in place. He managed to counter Amanes superior strength and range by pulling him close. That was when he felt the boys firearm get inside his helmet before shooting a couple shots.

POP! POP! POP!

Amane winced, Jett would surely feel the jolts as he caused some real damage to the armored man. Amane bit down hard as he took his right hand off the staff and grabbed Jetts arm pulling it out of his helmet, the boy was still shooting making a series of dents in his helmet as he altered the guns projectory. Though a red liquid began leaking from the boys helmet and down his neck staining the silver metal around his collar. With his right leg Amane cocked back and delivered a swift kick to the rib with enough power to jolt Jetts body outward. With his body exposed he would give a few jabs with the staff to the boys core before holding extending the staff and holding it up against his neck. He then pinned him against the wall of the auditorium with the pistol in his hand facing upward. Blood was gushing out the side of his helmet.

“Are you truly holding back against me or was that a bluff. When you were trying to heave me up the stairs you seemed really concerned about that girl back there. I’m not a small guy. The amount of force you exerted for me to get up those steps had some urgency in it.” Amane began chuckling under his helmet as he pushed the staff even more into Jetts neck beginning to choke him.

“This whole time you’ve been fighting me you’ve had a sense of urgency huh. Who is she and what importance does she have towards you?” Amane released some of the pressure of his staff so that Jett could squeeze out some kind of answer. This was a breather for him so he could recover from all those blows to the head, it was beginning to make his vision hazy.

Jett grunted in pain as he was kicked in the ribs and followed up with a few more hits to his stomach. It caused him to bend over in pain, only to be pushed back and choked by the staff.

It was then amane spoke to him again. He smirked, amane could see this because his gasmask was broken off with that hit to the face a few moments before. He stared directly into amanes visor as he smirked. He knew he was getting under his skin with that comment. He knew his teleportation didn’t work still as he just tried to do it again.

He shrugged at his first part. “ I work out… it must really irk you…with all that power in your quirk… a little guy like me can still knock you around. ” he said being a smart ass. But while he then looked serious as he said with fire in his eyes. “It doesn’t matter who she is. I’ll kick your ass just the same.”

He had used his free hand to pull a flare out slowly. Thend right when he delivered the final sentence he Ignited it and shoved it in front of his visor

Amane chuckled, he was pissed at how this guy was being a smart ass. After his last word he saw Jett pull out a flare and shoved it in front of Amane. Amane let go of Jetts arm and pinned him against the wall with two hands. He the picked up his right leg and shifted the direction of gravity forward increasing it to add power to his next attack.

The knight planted his foot right on Jetts stomach, he generated so much force that the boy went straight through the wall and into the auditorium, shedding some light into the dark room. The flare begon burning annoyingly in front of Amanes face, he grabbed it and pulled it out tossing it into the room. The debris from the broken wall begin pouring into auditorium. He closed his eyes before taking a short break.as Jett fell to his doom.
“You’re a peon compared to me”

All of his breath was knocked clear out of him with that kick. It felt like getting hit by a car all focused into one point. He didn’t really feel the force on his back breaking through the wall, or even as his body rolled like a ragdoll down the stairs, his helmet coming off at the force as well, while still connected to his hood it simply banged the back of his head a few times. All he could think was that if only he didn’t have a sprained ankle at the time, or even a hand that was in an awkward position. He could have taken Amane down.

This thought process ended as he hit into something….or someone rather. Both of their bodies intertwined and rolled together for a few feet until they came to a stop. It took a moment but when everything seem to drop into place, he felt oddly… comfortable… for a man who was just kicked through a wall with such force. His head wasn’t on hard ground like he thought...nor his body. No. I was on something firm, yet soft. He felt this firmness all around his face and didn’t know what it was, as his face was buried into it and he had no energy to lift his head at the moment.

Tomoe was awoken from her slumber again after her clone was dreadfully captured by the enemy robot. There was however no time to dwell on something like that when they still had the time to win this battle. Tomoe softly sat upright on her bed and moved her legs to the side of the bed so she could sit normally. Her body was tingling all over from the wounds her clone had gotten. She was used to some irritating wounds on her body but not this much. She rubbed her eye softly as she pressed her finger against the communication button on her headset. She firstly let out a big yawn that sounded through her mic before she began talking drowsily.

”Goodmorning… Is anyone there? Mina? Jett? Uhum… I lost Ezra, I don’t really remember where he went but I hope he is safe. Are you alright Jett? You didn’t seem so great when I saw you. Should I head to you or somewhere else?.”

Mina, while a battle was being fought mere feet from her, was lying on the stairs, not quite recovered enough to join in and help Jett to beat Amane. Not even the motivator of revenge could get her up. When she heard her communicator buzzing, she grabbed it and raised it to her mouth, though the simple action sent a shooting pain from her neck to the base of her spine, making her grit her teeth and groan in pain through them. She flicked the comms on and responded.

”This is Mina. Jett’s a little busy right now. We’re at the school, just outside the auditorium walls. Backup would be greatly appreciated.” Mina replied, her voice betraying that she was weak and in great pain.

While she patiently waited for a reply back from her teammates she gave yet another big yawn as she stretched her arms up at the sky. Fighting like this wouldn’t let her mind rest peacefully so sleeping like this only helped a little to how tired she felt. Mina spoke back to her. Apparently Jett was busy with fighting at the moment, she could definitely hear some ruckus going on in the background of Mina her microphone. Mina herself didn’t sound too great either, she sounded very hurt and not all too comfortable right now.

”Alright, I can get there I think… but umm. Mina are you alright? You don’t sound alright. I’ll get a teacher if you are hurt.”

Tomoe could almost hear Mina shaking her head in the pause that followed. She didn’t, but the effect was there. “I’m fine,” she replied in an icy tone. “Don’t take pity on me. My injuries will have been for nothing if we don’t all win the match. I can get checked out later.”

When Tomoe offered to help Mina she almost fell back onto the bed by the sudden change of tone in Mina her voice. She was taking this way serious! Tomoe immediately shot awake as she shivered for a moment.

”O-okay M-mina-chan!.. I’ll try getting there as q-quick as possible to help Jett.

Mina could hear the coms cut off as Tomoe released the microphone button. Tomoe quickly lied back down onto the bed under the sheets.

”Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. Quickly sleep, sleep.”

Tomoe rolled around a little before the tiredness struck again drifting her in a deep sleep again. Seconds later a clone formed next to her bed sitting at the bedside. Piercing red eyes shot open as a wicked smile formed between her lips. Teeth as sharp as a sharks teeth were shown. One of her abilities to form her clone to her will if it was only a little bit of it. Every bit helped. Tomoe her clone followed the way Tomoe indicated it to go and eventually arrived at the scene.

Mina was there to greet her, leaning against the wall, in obvious pain, with dried blood caking her face and dress. She pointed to a hole in the wall, further along than she was. She had been in the process of carefully and delicately moving her way towards it.

”They went in there,” she wheezed out, then added in a fiery voice, in spite of looking in such a state, fighting was the last thing she should be doing, ”Leave Amane. That bastard’s mine.”

Mina was sluggishly hanging onto the wall to support herself up. She didn’t look so good but far from the point of death. She would be fine if she didn’t move too much. Tomoe stared at Mina as she was trying her hardest to get to the broken out wall near them. Mina gave direction to Tomoe that everything was happening in there. Tomoe went up the broken down wall and was greeted with a lot more people in the auditorium. She stepped through not minding Mina trying to get through as well.

[Aerandir]

Storm Bird

Dark Matter

Hypermeka

---

VS

Stasis Sheep Girl

FEATURING

Hitomi had finally regained the use of her limbs, and stood up as Ruby rached her. Hitomi gave the cat girl a smile before cocking amd raising her shotgun. “I’m fine,” she replied, though at that very moment, the door opened and the flying boy from before entered the fray. Damn. Where were Roy and JoJo? Had they been beaten? “Ruby, can you deal with him? He’s setting off my predatorial fears and if I fought him, can’t promise I won’t faint again. I’ll handle the other two. With Luelle flinging fire, I doubt the last teammate will make an appearance.”

As Hitomi eyed Luelle, and the soon-to-wake-up Harka, she gulped. It’s all very well acting tough but how was she going to beat them? Her hair was very flammable, and she was no match physically for Haruka’s powersuit. She’d need to think of something. Her brain was her only weapon now. That and her sheep physiology, which she couldn’t imagine being a great help with these opponents.

And then the power went out.

Hitomi grinned. Maybe her sheep physiology would help after all. Though she couldn’t see in total darkness, both sheep and cats have vastly superior night vision to humans provided there’s some light. Hitomi took out her flare, lit it, and threw it into the center of the room. Now that she could see Luelle though she couldn’t see Hitomi nearly as well in the dim red light of the flare, the sheep girl charged her opponent, horns-first. This put her at great risk as she was one fireball away from getting her head set alight, but she would just have to hope that she butted heads with Luelle before that happened.

Seeing that it was indeed just Hitomi’s sheepy nature and not any wound inflicted to her managed to calm Ruby down somewhat. She returned the smile to Hitomi, which was probably one of her first every smiles towards her teammate, and nodded. “I am glad.” she managed to say just before the door crashed open and that one opponent from earlier entered. Admittedly, it took a moment for Ruby to recognize who it was, but once she did it hit her like a brick. “What about that Roy guy and the fast girl?” Yes she had already forgotten their names sadly. She didn’t exactly have the best memory.

With a confirming nod Ruby left Hitomi’s side to face Acion in front of her. The grip of her right hand on the handle of her large blade tightened, the pain from her left hand which was somewhat burned was still ever-so present in her mind, but it didn’t matter. “Not looking too great is it huh…” Ruby whispered to herself before pointing her sword at Acion.
“What have you done to my teammates?!”
Right when she shouted the question at Acion, the lights cut off. The sudden darkness startled Ruby and her eyes needed a few moments to adjust to the lack of light. However, this was what she could take advantage off. Her feline features ensured her a better vision in the darkness, a trait which would be surely of great use here. Just a few moments after darkness settled in she already had her eyes on the shape of Acion which she could somewhat see. Hoping he was not able to see her, Ruby leapt forward and charged into his direction with her trusty sword by her side, ready to strike.

While the sheep girl didn’t seem to mind him, the other did. And just as she shouted her expected question, the light in the room went out.

”Oh no…”

He was utterly unprepared for darkness fights.

While it wasn’t total and complete darkness, as there were some lights creeping in from the gaps of doors and entrances, as well as the dull red glow of the distant flare, Acion couldn’t see anything. At all. The exit behind him automatically closed, so the only reliable source of light was out of commission. As much as he was concerned, he remembered the moment he was picking out the equipment for the fight. He went right pass the night vision goggle, ignoring it, solely because he didn’t expect to fight in a dark room. The auditorium was supposed to deliver great lights, but there were still a power source responsible for that. And that power source could be cut off. He didn’t think it would come to this.

And he was about to receive his punishment for his short-sightedness.

”Gah!” He was struck in the rib by a hard, sharp object. Acion was practically blind, but he could use his survival instinct within him to sense the danger ahead. But that was far from enough. He had predicted the swing coming from the side, and raised his wings to block. But instinct was just one thing. He missed the block, by a few centimeters as it harmlessly slipped through the gap between his two wings and clashed into his torso. Without the armor he had worn, it would have been a lot worse.

”If you want to know, ask them!” Acion sharply replied, without looking at Ruby, for the simple reason was that he couldn’t see her. One of his gloved hands gripped onto the blade that just struck him, while the other quickly ripped off a feather from his wings, and held it as a knife. Hoping that the girl was right in front of him, he went forward and prepared for a counter slice.

Luelle stayed calm as the power gave out. The only light around her was the glow around her hands and eye, but even that was barely enough. This was a situation where she had to stay calm and think straight. Feeling eyes watching her, she moved her head discreetly, her eyes doing most of the wandering. Her eyes caught sight of the flare moving in the air, landing not far from where she was.

Snapping her head towards the area it came from, she located her new opponent. She had somewhat seen Hitomi in battle during her battle with Ruby, but this would be her first time fighting her. She silently took in the female’s form, her mind trying to come up with a way to try and take her down as quickly as possible.

Deciding to make the first move, her moved her hands around, almost like a Hawaiian dancer with branches on fire, medium size pillars of fire spouted from her form and went towards Hitomi.

It was lucky for Hitomi that the attack was pillars of fire, and not a small, fast fireball, as she wouldn’t have been able to dodge that and it would have hit her slap bang on the top of her head, with her highly flammable wollen hair. As it was, she was able to rear her head up and dive out of the way whilst bringing up her arms to shield herself. This costume was tight and uncomfortable, but she could hug her teacher in Support Class right now for insisting that all their costumes be made out of fire retardant material. The flames did not burn her or her suit, though the heat still hurt and was very uncomfortable for the temperature-sensitive sheep.

She knew that charging Luelle was now out of the option, but her charging attack had got her close enough to use her shotgun. When the light of the flames died down, Hitomi slunk back into the shadows, and on her light feet, flanked Luelle before raising her shotgun and opening fire. The crowd control beanbag rounds were non-lethal and wouldn’t even cause an injury more major than bruising, but they didn’t half sting if they hit an unarmored part of the body.

Luelle could barely see were Hitomi was even with her fire. By the time Hitomi got close enough it was to late for Luelle to dodge. She tried to blast Hitomi with her warm fire but a beanbag slammed into her shoulder. This caused Luelle’s attack to sweep the area in front of her instead of going direct to Hitomi, but it also made her use hot fire instead, causing a bit of the stage to catch on fire. She tried to throw a fast fireball where she thought Hitomi was, but right after she tossed it Luelle stumbled into the hole that she came into. She landed on her feet but was now in a rather deep pit.

Donny was near by continuing his plan, but also popping in and out to try and see what was going on. Of course, he couldn’t really tell much since it was pitch black. His radar gave him a good idea of where people were at but aside from Luelle throwing fireballs everywhere he couldn’t really see anything in the dim light. He did, however, see Luelle fall into a hole. ”Shit.” He said quietly as he stuffed himself back into his meatbag and went to help Luelle. He did notice that he was missing an arm; he’ll have to go find that once this was all over.

”Luelle! Are you alright?”

"Yeah, I'm alright. My chest hurts though" She said. She sat up and winced. That shot really stung. She looked at Donny.

Donny hid his missing arm and motioned for Luelle to follow him. “T-T-This fight isn’t looking too good... B-B-But I have an i-idea. Well. One that I already f-f-finished. Just need you s-s-s-somewhere safe for now, okay?”

Luelle nodding, following after him. She ignored the pain and could already feel the bruising forming. "What's the plan Donny?"

Leading Luelle through the tunnels she’d notice that they were going down at first, and the. Started to trek back up. “I need to put you somewhere safe and high. I think this spot leads to some staircases going up.” Donny hide his body as he ate the dirt and cement leading up into the floor, and sure enough he could vaguely make out some sort of door using his cellphone light. “Alright, up this way. I don’t know where these stairs lead to but I think you’ll be safe here. When you hear a loud boom that means it’s go time, okay?”

She nodded. "Thanks Donny. I'm glad you are on this team with me. You will make a great friend." She said smiling.

Donny's face looked flustered for a second, which Luelle could see since his mask was nowhere to be seen. "I... Um... Okay. J-J-Just go upstairs and if you need anything h-h-h-h-hollar." Donny gulped as he covered his head and went back down into the tunnels. He needed to get Haruka and Acion out of danger too.

Luelle got out of the hole and brushed off the cement and dirt off her. She looked around, seeing the staircase leading up. It eased her a little bit and she rushed towards the door opening it.

Ruby didn’t enter this exercise to kill anyone. Which is why she was careful, not to use enough force to cut someone in half! Her sword itself is way too thick to really cut anything in half. It is more similar to a large cleaver than anything else. So when she got the hit in she was content to see that it was effective but not too much, even though that caused further problems for her. Since Acion was tougher than what Ruby initially expected, he did seemingly manage to beat her teammates after all, at least to her knowledge, he must be quite strong. She couldn’t afford to be hit and when he swung the feather down in front of him, she had no choice but to dodge. Luckily for the catgirl he couldn’t see anything, which is why his attack was imprecise enough for her to avoid it.

With her right hand still grabbing onto the sword she used her quirk to freeze it in place and then pounced backwards. The sword itself had the long piece of cloth attached to the handle at the end and with the speed and force of her attack the soft cloth was being pulled behind her. So when Ruby froze the sword the cloth basically remained in its position, horizontally above the floor on the same height as the sword. The feline used this to her advantage and jumped upon it, thinking the highgrounds would be a better position for her. At the same time, freezing the sword would force Acion to retreat and not further attack as the sword was stuck in his side, at least that is what Ruby hoped.
“Since they aren’t here and you don’t want to answer me…” She stood up from her crouching position on the piece of cloth suspended in the air, using her sense of balance to stay on top without tripping and stared at Acion. With the flare behind her, Acion should be able to at least see the outline of Ruby’s figure, even though shrouded in shadows. “I guess I’ll have to get the answer out of you.”

The slice didn’t quite hit the mark. It was really dark after all.

After the attack, his hand promptly released the sword, as he took one moment to truly figure out the girl’s position. With the flare behind her that just popped, he could see her, standing tall on a strangely hovering platform, seemingly intimidating, and issuing a challenge. That figure stuck with him as she spoke.

The avian man gave one chuckle, and a smile, though unlikely to be seen by Ruby. He liked such determination. And with that same pride and gesture, he replied.

”Good. You can try.”

Target confirmed.

If he wanted to survive in this fight, he could either run, which defeated all the initial purpose of his arrival, or engage quickly and actually dealt damage. But without precision, since he was in the dark, what better way to engage her than attacking in great masses. Briefly looking back, the light creeping into the room through the door he just entered dictated, generally, how far he was from it. Not far. He could reach it in a few strides. And when the moment came, he suddenly made a dash in the opposite direction of Ruby, towards the door. While it may seem like a withdrawal for a second, the girl would see the figure of Acion suddenly spread his proud mighty wings wide, as he jumped up, one of his feet stepped onto the vertical wall. After stepping on the wall, he turned around, that same foot thrusted him in the opposite direction, now back towards Ruby. And that was when his wings came into play. He made one ferocious flap, propelling him even higher in a parabola. Once he was on the top of the parabola, he used the precious seconds to swing his six wings repeatedly, sending dozens of sharp feathers down at the figure that he could perceive as Ruby. A second later, gravity would begin to pull him down to Earth. He could not risk flying inside without visions.

While seeing Acions’ smile was too much for even Ruby’s eyes, she did see his shape rushing away from her. While unexpected, she surely wouldn’t let her guard down. After accepting her challenge like that, there was no way the avian would just back away like that, he must’ve planned something…

Ruby jumped overly dramatic down from her position with a backflip, admittedly; She was really enjoying herself, and then unfroze her sword and pulled on the cloth to send it flying towards her, finally catching it with her right hand. Seeing him spread his wings in an impressive manner and fly upwards, Ruby was stuck in awe for a few short moments, before reality hit her again. The feathers were too fast and too small for her to see in this dark room, but she knew how to use her other senses. The moment he launched his feathers the cat’s feline ears twitched. She heard the sound of something moving through the air at a rapid pace. It didn’t sound very pleasant. It was the same kind of noise Ruby heard once before, earlier in the exercise when Acion attacked them. Yes, this had to be the same attack which he had launched earlier. Dozens of sharp and tough feathers, enough to severely injure and incapacitate her. There was no time to waste.
Ruby pulled her cloak forward in the direction where Acion was coming from, using her quirk to turn it into a shield for herself. The feathers would strike down upon the hard cloth and don’t get stuck inside but rather bounce off of it with a loud metal cling.
After having used her quirk so much already in this battle, she could slowly feel how exhaustion was beginning to slow her actions down. This surely wasn’t the right time for it though, she would have to fight through.

Once the attack was over, ruby would pull the cloak away and look upwards, trying to track Acion. She knew that jumping up would only make her vulnerable. However, there was one idea in her mind…
Rapidly the black haired one began to pick up the feathers that had just bounced off her cloak and then launched them upwards towards Acion, using her quirk to make them stuck mid-air. Now there are around 10-ish feathers in stasis mid-air, spread around above Ruby. If Acion attempted to assault her from the top he would be likely to land on one of the razor-sharp feathers that were immovable.

Yes, now is the chance for a counteratta-

”Thurrgh!”

Wait what?!

She countered him with his own feathers?!

It didn’t seem like that at all. It wasn’t that Acion’s feathers being thrown back at him, but rather than he collided with it mid-air. Thankfully, the point of collision was his tough wings instead. But then he collided with another one, this time on his back. While he had his armor protecting him, he could feel the edges of his sharp feathers hitting him. Fortunately, that was the end of it, as he fell down unopposed. Furthermore, he had a precious second to adjust himself from touching down in an awkward position that could possibly injure his bones or damaged his organs. He landed in a crouching position, safely. Though he wouldn’t be safe from Ruby’s next attack, which he thought would inevitably come right after.

Inside of her mind Ruby was very happy that her attack worked out. Excited, even. “Now let’s knock him out”
Ruby grabbed tightly to her sword, which was sheathed the whole time. However, the sheath is quite thick so it can be used well as a blunt object. If she were to pull it out of its sheath she would just risk unnecessary injuries, and she did not need to… yet.

Anyhow, with the sword tightly in mind and Acion rather closely in front of her, Ruby spun around one time on her foot, gaining momentum, with her right arm extended outward and then used the momentum to launch her sword towards Acion. Yes, she threw it at max speed with the tip of the blunt and hard sheath rushing towards his face. However, as a failsave, Ruby made sure to let the cloth that was attached slide through her palm so that she would be able to stop it with a tight grip, and possibly her quirk, if necessary. While she spun around to launch the sword, she couldn’t help but scream out loudly, the situation got her too excited. “Taaaaaaaaake This!”

In that moment after he landed, a second seemed like eternity. He really didn’t like fighting directionless like this. Nor he had trained himself to fight directionless either. A sweat broke from his temple. All his senses were on high alert.

And then…

!!!!

He jerked to his right, just as the sword were launched upon him. Half a second later, and he would have taken a direct hit. His senses had saved him in between the hair strands. But did he still take the hit? Yes. The sword grazed through his cheek. He didn’t know whether or not it bleeds, but the pain were apparent.

What the hell was her quirk that could freeze his feathers in mid-air? Whether that was, attacking from above didn’t seem viable anymore. But going personal wouldn’t be effective either. She had a sword. That meant she should be able to use it effectively. While Acion, though capable of knife attacks, he was not that good due to the gigantic wings he had on his back. But now he didn’t have a choice. Ranged doesn’t work, then he had to go close.

Right after the sword passed by, he jumped up again, trying to go high, but not as high as the last time he jumped. He aimed for Ruby, and when he touched down he smashed all six gigantic wings down to the ground. And when he stood up, he positioned his wings so that all the sharp edges were placed horizontally. And then he would spin towards wherever she was, for a few rounds like a fidget spinner. A sharp fidget spinner.

Just when the cloth was about to slip out of her hand fully, Ruby closed her hand tightly and then pulled on it strongly, pulling the sword back to herself just like she did a few moments earlier. This time however it was Acion who was on the offense. Admittedly, the sight of those dangerous wings rushing towards Ruby was somewhat intimidating, but it also helped her realize one important thing: He didn’t understand her quirk yet.
She smirked and then grabbed the sword with both hands; the adrenaline made her forget that pain that it was causing as she was living just for this moment, feeling the rush of a real fight with actual stakes for the first time, and then rushed towards him surprisingly.

“You still didn’t understand how my quirk works, huh?” She yelled at him while swinging her sword forward with both of her hands, freezing it just in time when the wings and feathers were about to connect with it. When it did hit the immovable sword, still stuck in the sheath might I add, the impact was enough to almost send a shockwave behind Ruby; It was certainly enough to blow some wind around them in a similar fashion. The feathers of his attack stopped just inches away from her face, but Ruby didn’t lose her pokerface on the outside. Of course, if Acion paid attention he would hear a gulp inside of the cat’s throat. She was hoping that the fact how easily she blocked his attack would shock him long enough for her to counter attack, so she spun on her right foot one more time and with the momentum and all her might aimed for a kick right into his abdomen to push him away and possibly injure him.

”I may have gotten a glimpse after everything…” He replied as he panted, after recovering from the move. The frozen feathers were the largest hint, and the fact that his wings smashed into the sword and that he could not sense or feel the damage he caused to her equipment allowed him to deduce somewhat her ability. Still, the fact that she could fight this effectively in the dark was impressive. He was actually having a hard time, despite that he was fighting in a disadvantageous environment.

”An impressive performance.” He wasted no words in that compliment, as Ruby’s kick slammed into his arm, which tried to cover his abdomen. ”But let us bring this battle to a conclusion.”

As soon as he finished his word, he began taking his stances preparing for a charge. A final charge.

With Luelle taken away by Donny, and Haruka still not unfrozen, it seemed, Hitomi turned her attention now to the part of the stage that had caught fire from Luelle’s last attack. She didn’t want it to spread. There would be no point to hold if it was all burning. Jumping onto the stage, Hitomi pulled one of the dusty curtains off it’s railing, before throwing it down onto the fire and stomping on it. With the fire put out, the light of the flames was also gone, and Hitomi’s eyes adjusted to the dull red glow of the flare, which was still going but who knows for how long. The sheep girl turned to Ruby and Acion. Hitomi gulped. Though she was scared of the bird of prey boy, She had to help out her teammate with their last present foe. She started to make her way over there, being careful of holes in the floor.

Taking a leap backwards, Ruby was now again positioned in a way that the light was coming from behind her and allowing Acion to see her shadowy figure. She made sure to hold to her sword tightly and grinned at Acion’s words, though he surely couldn’t see that… unless he had adopted well enough to the darkness by now.
Ruby pulled the hood of her cloak on her head and then took her stance too.
“I am still uninjured and you want to finish this fight with one big attack? I am interested.” the catgirl replied with a chuckle. “I’ll repay that compliment by taking you seriously and giving you my all too.”
Ruby pulled the trigger that was connected to the handle of her blade and the large sheath fell off. The feline grabbed it and secured it on her back… now Acion could see that her blade was not one thick and broad blunt weapon, but beneath was a sword similar to the shape of a katana, more than capable of cutting through strong materials.

“Show me what you got.” With her blade she pointed at Acion and readied herself to finish this battle.

All of Jett’s breath was knocked clear out of him with that kick. It felt like getting hit by a car all focused into one point. He didn’t really feel the force on his back breaking through the wall, or even as his body rolled like a ragdoll down the stairs, his helmet coming off at the force as well, while still connected to his hood it simply banged the back of his head a few times. All he could think was that if only he didn’t have a sprained ankle at the time, or even a hand that was in an awkward position. He could have taken Amane down.

This thought process ended as he hit into something….or someone rather. Both of their bodies intertwined and rolled together for a few feet untill they came to a stop. It took a moment but when everything seem to drop into place, he felt oddly… comfortable… for a man who was just kicked through a wall with such force. His head wasn’t on hard ground like he thought...nor his body. No. I was on something firm, yet soft. He felt this firmness all around his face and didn’t know what it was, as his face was buried into it and he had no energy to lift his head at the moment.

”Ikuzo…” Acion lowered his tone and readied his two knives, in which he quickly took from the vast reservoir right next to him. ”This will decide things!”

With that, he slammed his feet onto the ground as he charged. With a speed and ferocity not to be expected of a man injured. His hand gripped tightly on his knives, as steel was about to meet steel, blades about to meet blood. He was determined. If this attack worked perfectly, he would be able to cripple his adversary at the least. It was a sequence of maneuvers that followed quickly after one another by a matter of seconds. He could barely see her, but he could somewhat dictate her figure. And he just needed to know that. It was actually a feigned charge. In reality, he would only utilize the speed of the charge. When he got close enough, he would jump, the momentum coming for Ruby and the force of the jump would propel him into a parabola, ought to be just a little higher than her height. At that point, he would rain down his feathers on her, vertically, at point blank range. If her quirk was the same as he had expected - freezing materials - she could potentially stop it from coming, but if she got tricked by the incoming feigned attack, she would not have enough time to stop his feathers. Even if she did have the time, his second attack, which would came right after he landed, would end her: a back attack with his knives.

He could only count on this one chance. His ranged attacks ended badly, his close quarter combat wasn’t faring well, and he was practically blind. So his only one chance at winning would be to outmaneuver her with speed and techniques. He had planned this carefully, but it never came to pass...not because he did not execute it well, but because the target simply wasn’t there at the last second. As hilarious as it sounded, things sometimes turned on small details and interruptions. In the frail lights of the auditorium, he could see a glimpse of someone flying sideways, for a split second. That someone then slammed onto the girl in front of him, just mere seconds away from Acion delivering his attack. Seeing that his plan was changed literally at the last second, Acion did not jump as he did. Instead, in a moment of confusion, he just charged ahead. Seconds later, Acion realized he wasn’t charging into nowhere. He was on collision course with another person, a girl with sheep horns. Through the dim light of the flare, he recognized her as his adversary…

Ruby saw him charging straight at her and felt the adrenaline rushing through her body stronger than ever before. This was the moment that would decide it all, she would surely not back down now. All of her focus was put straight into Acion, she would forget about all of her surroundings rather quickly, which would soon be her demise.
She waited in her position, her fighting style was based on reacting to her opponent so that was what she would do; wait for Acion to do his move only to counter it.

However, just before she was ready to counter it, suddenly everything went black. She felt a sharp pain rushing through her body as someone crashed straight into her and both fell to the floor besides her. The catgirl let out a loud but rather girly scream as she was pulled to the floor with the unknown person who was now on top of her. “G...Gaaah!”
On the floor, Ruby was in a rather awkward position. Her cloak had fallen off to the sides of her body so her belly and chest were exposed. Of course she was wearing the gym uniform below, but the rather skin-tight material were great at showing off her female curvature.

Once the sharp pain from the collision faded away and Ruby regained her thoughts, she looked down to see who was on top of her. While she needed a second to realize what exactly was going on, when it hit her the catgirl’s cheeks immediately blushed in a rather dark red color.
On top of her was some unknown guy, presumably from her class. However, his head was stuck right between her breasts! This embarrassing position left Ruby completely dumbfounded. She had no idea how to react! It was as if her body was stiffening up, she couldn’t move an inch as embarrassed noises left her mouth. “W...whaa….?” In short, Ruby.exe has stopped working. Her sword was laying on the floor next to her, but she didn’t even think about picking it up because the stranger had confused her so much. Ruby could barely tell if he was conscious or not.

Hitomi, on the other hand, saw the series of events perfectly. The charge. The wall exploding and a figure being launched through it and into Ruby. And at that point, the winged boy was coming straight for her! She gulped. She had to put her fear aside. Her partner had been taken out by a freak act of misfortune. Roy and Jojo’s location was still unknown. It was not up to her to contest the point for her team. She sheathed the shotgun and pulled out her grappling gun. Her rounds, she already knew, weren’t effective against his armor. She would have to rely on her brains to emerge victorious from this fight. Unfortunately, she had observed that he was no slouch when it came to fighting smart either. She just knew that she was at less of a disadvantage if they were close. So she ran towards him, hoping he would make the first move.

The sheep girl wasn’t merely standing still, she was heading towards him! But fortunately, he would have enough time to react. Actually, this was better than he had expected. It wasn’t that he had to abandon his move. It was that he was just switching targets. But because she was coming for him instead of standing still like Ruby, he had less precision when it came to the jump. And when the moment finally came, he jumped a little early. The girl would briefly see the winged boy shifting in posture before jumping into the air, in an arc above her. By the time he was above her, he would simply try to attack her with his sharp feathers from his wings.

Despite her plan trying to minimise the chances of him using his wings against her, she knew it was still a fairly large chance, and the moment she saw him prepare to leap, she stopped in her tracks, dropped the grappling gun and shielded her head with her arms, as feathers rained down on her. Miraculously, she suffered only a few cuts, which blood did trickle from, but the real damage was to her flimsy costume, which was in tatters after the onslaught of sharp feathers. Though it had been tight before, their ill-fittingness, combined with the damage, meant that after a few tense seconds of lmbo following the attack, a snapping sound was heard and Hitomi whimpered as she desperately tried to hold the top half up. Her shoulders and upper chest were now bare, and without the support of her arms holding the hole ridden costume up, so too would be everything above her abdomen. She crouched down to the floor in shame and embarrassment.

Whether it worked or not, he didn’t know. Intuitively and automatically, he landed behind the sheep girl, and went for his next move, the backward attack. That would work perfectly, on one condition: that she was there. Again, things tended to turn on the smallest details. As he did not know what was happening to her, he simply just went for her anyway. And by the time he turned back and trying to go for a stab, he realized, a little too late, that he was stabbing nothingness instead. In that moment that he realized in confusion, his legs collided with her shoulders. His legs stopped...His top still went forward...The heavenly warrior plummet to the floor like a duck - a dead duck.

”Ow…”

He was in front of the girl, his knives left his hand from the fall, lying chest first on the floor. The girl in question was clutching a shredded brown latex suit, which a few tattered remnants were present on her neck and shoulders, but from her collarbones to the middle of her breasts, her bare skin was on display. The cleavage was...impressive for a sixteen year old. The girl was desperately clinging to her costume with her eyes closed, her face red, and her expression mortified, as to allow the latex to slip down another inch would be grossly indecent, and she’d never show her face in public again if that were to happen.

Having collapsed to the floor, Acion was perfectly vulnerable. He was passively on the floor, his back exposed to any incoming attack. The winged man just cursed himself, or his dark luck that always happened to ruin his plan, in the most frustrating way possible. He had expected to be gunned, or pinned down after the fall, in which none of them came. Rising up in surprise, Acion was still oblivious to what he had just done to the sheep girl. He quickly bounced back up to combat stances, readying for a counter attack that he could almost certainly say that would come. He thought ’Maybe she was also stunned by the attack that he just delivered’. Who knows what could have happened? No matter what happened, he wouldn’t be caught off-guard. But then, as seconds continued to pass by, it became increasingly odd that nothing happened. Not even the slightest hint of danger was triggered among his senses. What the fuck was happening?

Acion looked ahead of him, expecting her to be in front, but didn’t see her.”What’s wrong? Why aren’t you attacking?”

“Um,” she timidly replied with an emotional voice that sounded near to crying. ”You attacks shredded my costume. I’m trying to stop it from falling any more, and crouching so nobody sees me!”

”Uhh…

So that’s what happened…

”Oh shit…” His cheeks got warm almost immediately. His battle thinking and tactics that were apparent for a while went straight out of the window. While he did effectively disable the girl’s ability to fight, he was now unable to respond himself. And what the hell could he. A girl with her bare skin in display in front of him, defenseless. Lucky that he could not see, but holy jesus…

Still, he should do something. Give her something to cover? How? His clothes was battle armor. No way that he could give that to her. And there was no way she could fit. If his memory was good, he did remember seeing her having her pretty large cl- wait, no! What the hell are you thinking about?! That’s a big shame! He would reflect on this later. But now what? If someone opened the door and let the light crept into the room, it would be a total disaster. Quickly, and somewhat wildly, he came up with a hastily drawn solution.

”Um...should you go somewhere…” Damn it what’s the word. ”quiet-” No no no no no no! Bad word! She would think that he was some sort of maniac and a pervert. ”No, I mean obscure...a place with no people. I don’t believe you can continue fighting at this rate.” Not a good explanation, but not a bad one.

Hitomi shook her head as she truly considered his words. She needed to stay on the point! But...was winning this exercise truly worth her dignity? Plus, with Jett having just burst in, Team A is now technically contesting the point. She could leave, cover herself up, and return, and no other team would have amassed control time, or at least not enough to endanger their winning position.

”Yes, I will. Thank you!” she profusely thanked. Unfortunately, in her haste to thank him and then leave, her planned actions of ‘stand up, then bow’ got muddled and she tried to do both at the same time. Before she could stop herself, her hours were heading straight for his forehead!

This probably was the most ridiculous fight ever. But fine...Whatever sins he committed here, he would reflect on this, later. But unfortunately, the punishment came right immediately, before he even had a chance to repent. Something, something really hard, seemingly her horns, smashed onto his forehead. Because he could not see, and the fact that he was blushing significantly, his senses were really down.

”Ah!” As a result, he never had a chance to dodge her move. The hell...Her hit was really simple, but it packed a punch harder than what he could have taken. His only resistance was taking one step back, kneeled down on one knee, before falling to the floor, again, sideway. In those moments, he thought bitterly to himself. Damn it, was he gonna be taken out right here? He did not go out cold, but for the moment, his head was just too shocked to move.

Despite this being a combat exercise, the next thing he’d hear wasn’t a mocking speech about how he ‘fell for it’, bt was instead a very flustered Sheep Girl. ”Oh my god! Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that! Are you injured?”

As much as he wanted to say yes, as he was in a pretty bad spot, he decided not to. The girl was surprisingly naive, even more naive than Acion himself. This was combat, and they were opponents, but she didn’t take the chance to take him out, unlike some students would in his class. Taking the battle context out and this did not look any different from a comedy manga. As he slowly recovered from the shock, he couldn’t help hearing her cutely flustered speech. He didn’t expect no less. She was a caring girl, and he liked it. And for the chivalry, he did not hesitate to return her his.

”Just a shock. I’m alright. Should be.” Acion said as he tried to stand up, slowly, as his balance was still off. ”You need not worry about me. Go now. I don’t want you to be seen at your current state.” She nodded, profusely thanked him again, and ran off. That was one opponent off the point, even if the means were...unconventional, to say the least.

”Acion, Haruka, g-g-g-get ready to leave!”

Donny spoke through his communicator as he positioned himself underground. He wasn’t about to let two of his teammates go down, not while he could still fight. He had an idea he was originally going to be saving for when more than one team was here, but now things were starting to look more desperate. And desperate times call for desperate measures.

”T-T-The floor is ready to be c-c-c-collapsed, that should t-t-take those two by surprise. G-G-Get into the air, and make sure Haruka is okay too! A-A-After that… Leave it to me.”

But then, something happened that would make Donny think twice; he heard Mina’s voice. Jett, on the other hand, would first feel a hand grab his shirt and lift him off Ruby, before hearing the same voice that Donny would, say, in her condescending tone;

”Of all the places to land, Jett...Even in combat, you don’t change.”

[DELETED7282737]

Dawn of the robotos

Jett grunted from his sprained ankle received from Yukari. However, being thrown through a door helped him ignore it for a minute as he tried to catch his breath he lost in the toss...it felt like something was wrong with his chest, it was so heavy. Wait, the weight was moving. He opened his eyes to see Tomoe over him,

Her expression suddenly shifted into the happy go lucky on she had before when she was walking with Jett. She shifted herself over and put both her hands at the side of his chest on the ground. She towered over him as tears fell on his face while still seeming quite happy. She snuggled her head against his neck as she laid down onto his body with her arms around his head. She softly let go again and stood up while rubbing her eyes. The soft rumbling of the ground made her a little cautious however. She glanced outside to see a metal looking thing. That wasn’t a student? Tomoe walked outside to take a closer look but came quick to realise that Jett was gonna be attacked by these things soon. Tomoe shifted her personality again immediately seeming a lot madder now at the thought of it. Tomoe rushed towards one of the nearby robots and leaped against it holding herself up onto his shoulder as she mashed her fist into it a few times.

Jett really couldn’t move at the moment, and was somewhat used to Tomoe’s odd ways, But still having her hug him like that was awkward. He had noticed her crying and saw the redness on her cheeks and eyeballs. She must have been brought through the tear gas as well. He noticed the ground shaking at the same time tomoe did, as she got up to investigate it he sat up and started pulling himself towards the kitchen sink. Pulling himself up slowly to see a couple mechs coming their way. Before he could say anything, Tomoe’s clone rushed off to fight it.

He knew he couldn’t waste time, and he really couldn’t help with the large mechs in his state. He quickly turned on the water and held his face under it. The water took a few to wash out the Teargas. He was an idiot and didn’t lock down his goggles before hand. Once done he didn’t even wipe his eyes with a towel as he winced and and made his way back towards the Garage. He noticed his gun on the ground along the way and picked it up. Holstering it.

He used whatever surface he could prop himself on to help speed up his movement while not stepping on his ankle yet. Which resulted in a lot of hopping. Once in the garage, he went to a tool bench and found some duct tape. Jumping onto the bench, he propped his foot up and used the tape to tightly wrap around his ankle, being extra generous to the ankle part of his leg to make sure it couldn’t twist side to side.

He then got on his feet, wincing at the pain that still managed to be there as he started to run, putting a lot more weight on his left side.as he hobbled ran away from the mechs. Keeping close to the trees north of the road that lead to the school.

He then opened his Comm to his team. “Tomoe, Disengage I'm just north of thee main road making my way to the school,. Ezra. Kasuke, You ok? where are you? Over.”

Mina, getting back to her feet, heard Jett’s voice in her ear, and without thinking, whipped her Comm from it’s pouch and held it to her mouth, but then hesitated. What should she say. Should she mention Kaida? No, they needed to have a long conversation when this was over, about a lot of things, but now was not the time. She felt angry at Jett but racking her brain for a logical reason, she couldn’t find one. She was angry at him because Kaida had run off to him. This was nonsense. They had a mission to win. Get a hold of yourself, Mina! Looking down at the Comms, she realised it had been half a minute since she took it out and she hadn’t replied yet. Sighing, she clicked it on.

“I’m ok. Had a….I ran into Kaida. I’m ok, though. I’ll head to the school from my current position and meet you there. We continue as planned.”

The large mechanical foe bulldozed its way through the woods until meeting its match with a small girl who attacked without warning. Tomoe slammed into the robot and began wailing on it denying its exoskeleton. In an attempt to free itself of the small nuisance the robot used its mechanical arms to grab the girl and throw her away from its body.

Ezra had largely been inactive throughout this series of events, and was quite confused analysing it. The robots were a major shock to him and he couldn’t quite fathom why exactly they were here, but he figured quickly that they were probably a throw-in to the exercise to make it more than a brainless fight. Gathering what he could looking at the size of the things, he wasn’t exactly sure that they were supposed to be fought.

Seeing that Tomoe was being thrown around like nothing, he figured he’d have to exert some energy. Figuring that it would be smart to let his teammates know, he’d go on the comms and respond to Jett’s request.

“I’m fine. No energy lost yet, though I’m going to engage the robot and destroy it. Give me the time you’re gonna take till ya get to the school. I’ll be there in 3” he spoke before buzzing out and going to take out the robot. He was sure that even if it was big as hell, they wouldn’t have the strength to match given the entrance exam was similar in this regard.

He figured he’d start by catching Tomoe before she ended up hurting herself. Running quickly to where she would inevitably fall, he’d catch her in her arms and put her back on her feet, before going to engage it himself. He’d start this by using a lot of force in his legs to jump up, before punching the head, aiming to knock over the robot by using sheer force.

Despites Tomoe trying to mash the robot to death she only left a big dent in his plating. Her hands were beaten up from punching the metal the whole while but it did not matter, she could go till there was nothing left of her body. The robot grabbed her by the back of her shirt and flung her away. People wanted to teach her how to fly today it seemed. Tomoe flying through the air like a comet she was caught by something soft. Her eyes immediately snapped to the person towering over her, a familiar sight. Tomoe focused on the robot again not even interested in Ezra at the moment. She was put on the ground again, immediately hurrying back to the robot to try at it again. Ezra was trying to fight it now as well. He dashed into it with his acceleration quirk trying to let this thing tip over. She should try to help him, Tomoe dashed over to one of its feet and focused herself on the joint of the foot. She punched the joint a few times, pulling and breaking anything that seemed remarkable breakable close to the joint or around the joint.

Jett could hear the fighting behind him. He felt like an ass for running away from the robots. But there was literally nothing he could do at the moment. He could though at least give some tips. “Ok It should take me about ten minutes to get to the auditorium. Mina, don’t get too far ahead in the plan. Look for the hoses on that robot, Ezra and Tomoe, the less energy you put out on them the better. If you cut the main Hydraulic hose you cripple them Should be near the back, almost like a spinal cord. I’m gonna need your help Ezra fighting as now I have a twisted ankle.” As he ran through the trees next to the road, he used the trunks and logs as much as he could by using his arms to prop himself up.

The robot became very aggressive in trying to shake the small girl, it raised its leg and began making its way to some nearby trees before slamming the girl through a row of them. Soon sparks began flying from its leg as the puny human ripped out the wiring in its leg in which the Robot began falling to the floor before spreading its legs out skidding its foot on the ground before it was ripped off due to lack of support. Once it gained stabilization the droid then began letting off rubber bullets at the the base of its removed foot shooting at the girl. The stray bullets hit the ground kicking up dust and dirt making it hard for the Tomoe to see what she was looking at. Soon you could hear the other two robots closing in on Tomoes location and were soon about to corner the two members of team A

Tomoe definitely got a beating by sitting on the robot its foot. Her small body was shaken around and battered by nearby trees. The clothing on her back had completely shattered by the trees. There was a pink hue coming from her back, spots on her back were open. An endless pink void was seen on those spots. Despites that Tomoe her clone could fight on like an animal. It was harder to move but she was not beaten yet. Tomoe teared its leg to pieces. Wires and platting flying around as she teared it aside. The foot had been so damaged that it actually came off when they fell over. Tomoe fell off of the robot, she immediately looked up at it with fierce pupils. She wasn’t done with him. The robot began firing rubber bullets at Tomoe. The dust kicked up around them, Tomoe kept locked on to the robot as it fired and ignored the fact of losing her vision entirely. She jumped at the robot once more, on to its chest this time and started tearing away at his shoulders and neck, anything that she could put her hand under she would try to break.

The large machine has been threw a lot in the past few moments as the little girl tore threw its exoskeleton like a predator. Soon his mechanical friends had showed up to aid him in battle, seeing as its ally was done for both began firing at his friend trying to catch the foe as well as putting the robot out of its misery. The bullets made bends in the playing before shattering it all together in attempt to incapacitate that small girl.

Two new robots had decided to help their friend, Tomoe looked up for a moment before she continued scratching at the robot. She had no sense of stopping or danger, so seeing how she was not gonna win wasn’t a thought for this moment. Bullets hit her back and head, a few had hit her face when she first saw the robots, that had probably hurted mose. It was hurting all over her body but she continued until there was nothing left of the inside of this robot, being confident that she could put it down at least. When she thought it wouldn’t stand up the rest of the match anymore she ducked away in pain. The robots kept hitting her with bullets, she was getting very annoyed at these things. Tomoe looked up at the two and panted in aggression. She was really done with them now, she went over to the side of the robot she was just on and grabbed hold of one of its legs. With all her might she tried swinging it around her like an axe. She would let it loose when it was around the same area as the two other robots and retreated from the hefty firepower they had. She rushed over to a nearby tree where she could rest a little from the immense pain coursing through her back and head.

The robots fired relentlessly at the girl after deeming her much more of a threat, it appears she had a much more resilient body than the average human as well as more strength. The machines reacted well to this as they began ramping up their destruction. The girl was withstanding their barrage of bullets rather well, as she picked up their mechanical twins leg and launched it in their direction. The leg slammed into the robots body causing it to slide while taking significant damage to its torso before dropping to the floor with a loud thud. After dealing with the attack they fired for a couple more seconds before realizing they lost their opponent. The mechanical monsters split up in order to find the girl. Using its heat sensors to determine the location of the young lady.

It wouldn’t be much more till this clone was gonna die off and return back to Tomoe but these last few moments had to count the most. The other two robots were far from dead but just maybe she could assassinate at least one of them and suicide bomb onto the last one. Tomoe breathed softly while looking at her own hands. Her body was tingling from pain. If these wounds were on her own body she would probably died off somewhere by this time already. Tomoe looked back up and recollected herself from the tree she was leaning on. She glanced around for a moment and spotted one of them close by. It was looking for her. The other one was probably scouting somewhere else. Tomoe moved a little between the trees in the forest as she was trying to get to the back of the robot. Once she was behind him she would find a little bit higher ground by climbing one of the trees branches and jump at the robot again to have another bash with it. This time trying to assault the back of its neck and rip its head off.

The robot stomped around the grassy land looking left and right for the girl. Using its scanner, the red doubt searched the area for the small girl. Soon sparks began flying from the robot as its chassis began shaking recklessly. The bright light from the robots center console soon turned to a lifeless black as it tipped over. It's head hitting the ground with a large thud as it kicked up dirt into the air. Shortly it's body followed after as it slammed into the ground. The last robot remaining snapped his head in the little girls direction locking onto her easily, the boy firing a large capture net into the girls direction as it prepared to restraint the girl.

The head of the robot was pulled off with all her might. The wires that connected to the body snapped one by one as it was pulled off further and further until there was nothing left of the connection between the two parts. The head dropped onto the ground with Tomoe still standing onto the body. The now silent area gave a bit of peace to Tomoe her mind but it was not over yet. She could hear the other robot in the background marching through the forest. She focused on the sound and determined which direction it was. It had found her already it seemed, seeing how it had its head turned to her already. Tomoe gave a quick gasp as the mechanical parts of the robot its body gave due to lack of control and fell over with Tomoe falling with it. She jumped off before it hit the ground but could not move out of the way for the net. The net launched onto her catching her whole body. She was flung with the net against a nearby tree. She made a painful sound as she hit the tree and quickly orientated herself again. There was a net around her. She tried pulling and tugging but it would not give. She was stuck in the net. Tomoe growled at the robot as it came closer.

The robot walked forward, each stomp getting louder and louder as it crept towards Tomoes body that was stuck against a tree. Soon it was face to face with the little girl, though in reality it toward over her menacingly. With two swipes the top and bottom portions of the tree was cut clean off leaving the large log with Tomoe connected to it. The girls body leaned against the net as robot reeled her in like a fish. The net laid secured against the robots left shoulder plate the droid made its way towards the auditorium searching for more heroes to capture.

The trees she was on was cut apart. The net was lifted up onto the robot its back with Tomoe struggling and flailing in the net trying to escape. She was biting the net and trying to rip it apart but it was too strong. Eventually Tomoe gave up and just let her body hang. It was time for this clone to say goodbye. The body of the clone disintegrated into fine powder of pink and tips of yellow floating towards the atmosphere as Tomoe woke back up. She needed a moment to scan her surroundings. She was in a building. She remembered watching her clone fight the robots and… Jett. He didn’t seem alright. Tomoe tapped into the coms to get some feedback on what happened already.

[Conscripts]

Featuring

Storm Bird

Amane Kishimoto

Tomoe glared into the oblivion of the auditorium. It was pitch black so her eyes had to get used to it for a moment. When she saw a lot better she could see what was all happening in the room itself. There were plenty of people around mostly fighting each other one on one. When she saw Jett her sharp shark like teeth audibly grinded against each other as one of her eyes twitched. Jett was lying onto the not known student with his face buried in between hills. She felt furious to both of them. She dashed off towards Jett and slowed down when she was almost at him.She lowered her body a little and grabbed hold on the back of his collar with two hands. She turned herself around with both hands over one side of her shoulder and pulled Jett as hard as she could out of Mina’s hands with the strength of her legs before she threw him over her head away with all her might away from them to bury his face elsewhere.

”BAKA!”

She furiously panted as she snapped her eyes back at the catgirl and jumped onto her, firstly punching her into the stomach before trying to bite into one of her arms with her sharp teeth.

Jett took a moment to pull his senses back and realize...after reaching up and grabbing the soft things around him, only to lift his head up and realize… he was holding onto some random girls breast. His eyes wide and cheeks burning hot, he tried to apologize and let go but before he could he heard Mina talk to him in a condescending tone. While she grabbed him, “Wait a min…” Before he could finished Tomoes clone managed to rip him up and away from the girl, and Mina’s hands and chuck him farther down the room. While calling him a Baka. It’s not like he could control where he landed! He was just kicked through a fucking wall! AFTER getting fucking Amane away from Mina. Jett braced himself, not knowing what he was going to hit. He did break through something, his left hand first into it. He winced at the sudden but slight pain that went away after a moment when he realized he was thrown into a large speaker. He suddenly felt a click inside and the restraint that Yukari had thrown on him released finally. He flipped on his nightvision to look and see what happened and saw a very large magnet that his hand was on. He flexed his hand now, free from it’s awkward position.

He sat back and grunted as he looked at the fighting in the room. As of right now he was able to relax and catch his breath, He had to rest his ankle for a second as it was throbbing now.

Ruby herself finally snapped back into reality the moment a certain girl started screaming loudly. Thanks to her reflexes Ruby managed to roll backwards from the laying position, onto her hands and then stood up by pushing herself onto her legs gracefully with both arms, picking up her sword in the process. She tried to wipe off the embarrassed expression on her face, to no avail though. She only managed to brush off some dust off her clothes!
With a shocked expression however Ruby stared at Tomoe.
“Calm down! It was his fault not m...mine… i didn’t want any of that!”
Ruby rather tried to calm the situation down than fight the feral girl, the expression seemed wild and scary so the catgirl wanted to stay away as far as possible. Deeply inside of her; she was incredibly nervous because of the amount of people that suddenly appeared

With Jett safely evacuated out of the way she was onto this cat girl now. Tomoe did try to punch her while she was still on the ground but it appeared she was too slow to hit her. Ruby had backrolled away from Tomoe her punch just in time. Swiftly her gaze followed the girl up to her feet. Tomoe had to pull a few times on her arm to get it out of the ground. She had left quite a dent in the ground, her hand looked a little beat up but nothing more. Tomoe quickly stepped back on her feet and tried biting the girl but missed as well. She growled for a moment as Ruby tried talking to her. The only thing that was clear to Tomoe was that she was the enemy. She hadn’t seen her around before so she naturally saw her as something to smash in two. There was no talking to this beast. Tomoe tried punching her twice more, firstly she tried hitting the girl in the stomach again before continuing with an uppercut to the chin.

It seemed as though talking had no use. Well, the girl was technically her enemy anyways. Ruby considered herself rather lucky that she seemingly only had this one enemy though. With an audible sigh she put the sharp blade back into its sheath on her back until a clicking noise was heard. Then, immediately after, Ruby pulled the sword together with the sheath out to use as a weapon. With her golden eyes she followed the hand of Tomoe which she pulled out of the floor- The catgirl definitely did not want to get hit by that.
When Tomoe rushed at her, Ruby held out her sword with the broad side forward to block her punch into the abdomen. Even though she successfully blocked it with the strong material, the force was enough to push her back on her feet. Both amazed and terrified at the strength, Ruby quickly dodged the the side to avoid the uppercut which would’ve surely knocked her out otherwise.

Mina turned away from this scene. Why should she interfere? Tomoe was on her team, contesting the point, and Jett was no longer groping a strange girl’s tits. All was right in the world again. She was still in pain, though, and the one who did this to her had yet to face the wrath and vengeance of the future Number 1 Hero. Mina looked up until she caught Amane’s eye, and once she had it (hard to miss a glowing girl in a dark room), she smiled, gestured to herself, standing tall despite what he’d done to her. She then raised her hand, and beckoned him with a ‘come on!’ gesture. She was not broken yet. Nowhere near.

Once the debris cleared Amane stood nobly at the top of the auditorium looking down , it seemed like everyone was fighting in the darkness. His eyebrow raised and a smile came about under his helmet. It was the girl again, the one he thrashed who was miraculously back on her feet. She still wanted another round with him in the ring. Amane had one eye open as the tear gas was still affecting him.

“You have guts. But shouldn't you be more worried about your teammate who fought valiantly for your sake? It seems like the lesson I was trying to teach didn't get through that thick skull of yours” the last couple of words sounding rather toxic.

Amane stepped through the hole in the wall and into the auditorium gripping his staff tightly. He let out a deep sigh before performing large leap from top of the auditorium. The boy swung his arms over head as he prepared for an overhead smash with his staff. Amane decided to let gravity take its course once he reached the peak of his jump. His weight combined with gravity creating a large amount of force behind his attack as he came flying at Mina.

Mina didn’t even stand guard as she saw the attack coming. At the last moment, she leapt aside, and rolled back to her feet, an athletic move that ordinarily would have been no sweat, however, when she got back to her feet, she was momentarily stunned by the sheer pain that shot down her back. Damn. She was still hurt. She couldn’t battle him with her superior physicality. She’d have to resort to her superior mind. It was fortunate for her that there were a few tricks she’d never been able to try out in combat before, and this lighting was the perfect time to bust them out. She started to turn round, but then stopped, and turned back to face Amane. But that’s not what he’d see...

Humans rely on light to see. When Mina was experimenting with her quirk, the initially useless ability to glow, and with more development, glow different colors, she realised something. It was not appreciated enough, the role of light in our everyday lives. Everything we see is due to light, and to be able to manipulate light is to be able to manipulate your opponent’s very sense of sight. With the exact correct combination of colors and intensities emitted at the right times, Mina was an outright illusionist. While she had turned round and turned back, what Amane saw was her completely turning around so that she now appeared to be facing away from him. He could plainly see the back of her dress, and her long, blonde hair.She was turning her back on him! Was she mocking him?!

Amane crashed into the ground with a large boom, upon impact he smash some of the seats into pieces as his staff slammed into the ground. Mina effectively dodged his attack and it was a good thing she did. If she took the force of that attack her bones could have easily been shattered. Amane laid crouched on the floor preparing for his next attack, he slid his hands up his staff as he prepared to thrust the weapon into Mina's core. This time around he was going for much more than fun, he was really trying to disable this girl.

As he picked his head up to follow through he realized that Mina had her back turned to him. In which pissed him off. She must have been really stupid to turn her back against him. With all his force Amane thrusted the rod into supposedly what he thought was Mina's back. The force behind his attack was enough to disperse the wind in the area sending a breeze outward.

He’d feel the staff stop before it connected with her back, and the light would face, revealing Mina facing towards him, having caught the staff, and holding it in place with one hand, threw a punch at his face with the other whilst she simultaneously pulled at the staff, hoping to disarm him.

Much to Mamoru’s surprise, the auditorium was pitch black! That was going to make things rather difficult for her. She doesn’t mind swinging into the darkness but she would be much better if she could see her opponents, and her other senses were only kinda okay when it comes to not having her sight. Still, if things were that dark, then she could use it to her advantage. Drop a little grenade in there and catch everyone by surprise. Mamoru looked over to Yukari as she held out her Hornet Nest. ”Hey Yuyu-chan, I got an idea. You still have your smoke grenade right? It’s completely pitch black down there so I can’t really see anything. So why don’t I drop my bomb and your bomb at the same time, and then when we drop in, we stick real close together? You can sense people just fine without me so let me watch your back while you fight!”

Hearing the fighting down below made Yukari nervous. It wasn’t just a one-on-one battle down there. Mamoru wanted to drop some bombs to soften up the others so she took out her smoke grenade. ”I don’t mind. In fact I have an idea.” Yukari wrapped her body around Mamoru’s chest so that she was on her back like a backpack. ”This way it’ll be harder to seperate us. Go ahead and drop my bomb inside. Once things look clear we’ll hop in.”

“Oft. A bit tight around the chest but I can dig it” This was kind of weird but Mamoru could work with it. First unpinning the smoke Mamoru dropped it down into the auditorium as close to the center as she could. She didn’t know where that was so she just threw it somewhere close to the flare. Once she hears the smoke then she unpins her Hornet’s Nest and tosses that down as well. It doesn’t hit the ground and instead explodes just a couple feet off the ground, sending hundreds of pellet sized rubber balls all over the auditorium. While they wouldn’t be able to penetrate skin, they could still leave painful welts and were just bouncing around everywhere for the next twenty seconds as the smoke was filling the room. Once the pellets stopped bouncing around Mamoru jumped down, landing on her shield to soften the drop.

”It’s go time.” Mamoru said quietly, taking out her tonfa.

Jett winced as he looked at Mina, who was apparently fighting Amane again. “Son of a Bitch…” he said, After her condition and what he just went through with no appreciation she is once again trying to fight him. He did a quick inventory… noticing his gun was gone, it must have been where he first fell right next to tomoe and the girl...well he groaped. He had a few more magazines that he could use. He had one smoke bomb. Two flash bangs, grappling hook and paracord for it. He also had two restraints that he took from Yukari and bleach still.

He saw the smoke bomb drop and another one drop behind it. He quickly turned on his com. “Kasuke! Tomoe GET DOWN NOW.” He said as he covered his own face and got into a fetal position on the ground, a few of them hit him as he felt like he was shot with paintballs, leaving light bruises for him because his armor took most of the force. Once they stopped Jett scrambled for the stage to get a better advantage point, hobbling as he did on his ankle and using the wall for support.

Looking around he saw Mamoru and Yukari on her back just entering the fray. He looked up to the entrance he was planning on using at the beginning of the match and swore… Surely Dulga would be up there with her gun. Not that she could see much in this light but who knows perhaps she had night vision as well. He reached into his pouch and grabbed two things while grabbing his flashbang. He knelt on the stage and whistled as loud as he could to gain Yukari’s attention. They both happened to be right next to his gun, and he had to get them away from it. It was dark and highly unlikely that they would see it, He only saw it because of his night vision. He didn’t want to fight them, but just get around them and back up Kasuke, or go for Dulga.

Very much thanks to Ruby’s feline ears which gave her some form of better hearing she was able to hear both the entrance of the next team and Jett’s shouting. It was enough for her to know: She had to take cover. Having just pulled out her sword to fight Tomoe, Ruby quickly put it back onto her back and both turned her back towards where she thought the turmoil would be coming from and pulled the cloak so that it covered her body to the best extent possible. Once the bomb went off, she put her cloak into stasis to block off the bullets. Maybe if she was lucky they would injure Tomoe or at least hinder her and give Ruby an opening or an opportunity of some sorts. That didn’t matter right now anyways, her brown frame under the cloak was not visible very well within the room and smoke anyways, so taking cover until the assault was over would be her best choice.

When Tomoe first tried to punch Ruby she expected the soft touch of the tender meat of this girl but was met with a heavy thud instead. Tomoe saw the blade blocking her fist. It hurted a little to hit something so hard and definitely left some more bruises on her knuckles. Tomoe clenched her teeth as she clicked her tongue in annoyance. Her other hand formed into a fist and tried to uppercut the girl as she was still distracted by her first fist. The girl dodged however as she tried to hit her. Tomoe clicked her tongue once more while her pupils decreased in size. This was getting really annoying to her. Before she could launch her next attack a piercing sound echoed through her head. Was it the earpiece? It was close to waking her up. What was happening. Jett had been screaming through the room at the same time. Tomoe turned her head at Jett to see what was up. He was balled up on the ground. Tomoe her gaze shot somewhat in worry as she realised what she had heard him say. While turning her head away from Jett his position she whispered to herself.

’Get down now…’

Small rubber balls shot around the room hitting everything and everyone. Tomoe was still in the middle of turning away from the balls as she was hit. Every ball could be felt hitting her body. Like bullets hitting you all over. Her legs got the worst of it since they were bare but her face got some of it as well. There were dots of skin gone on her cheek. Normally there would be bruised spots and blood but instead it looked like a bright pink night sky with bright yellow stars floating around like the body was made of magic. Hurriedly she ducked down to the ground immediately shooting her arms up to her eye and leg in pain. A flashbang sounded shortly after as well but she still had her eyes winced in pain. She regain composure and stood up to her feet again letting go of her leg but not of her face yet. She faced back at Ruby looking quite a lot more mad now. She dropped the other hand from her face past her side again as well and gently opened her eye as well. There was a spot of her eye missing as well filled with the same starry substance clearly indicating she wasn’t real. It was ever so growing in size over her eye. She would have probably felt that if it wasn’t for her clone. Tomoe softly growled at Ruby as she clenched her fist.

Just as fast as it had started it was over again. The rain of rubber bullets surely was terrifying on its own, luckily Ruby had the ideal quirk against this kind of threat. Once she heard that the assault was over, Ruby got out of her own little fortress that was made of the thin cloak and checked her surroundings. The chaos surely seemed to have unfolded itself on the point… the hopes of gaining additional capture time were slim. That didn’t matter however, considering the length of capturing they had already done at that point.
Her attention shifted back to her opponent who… just as the catgirl expected, actually did get hit quite badly. Though it was weird… where she got hit there were no wounds, there was no blood. It seemed very surreal, Ruby couldn’t describe it if she tried to. “What are you…?” She said out loud, drawing her sword, together with the sheath of course, from her back “Well… I guess, you really DO want to fight after all.” Since Ruby saw no other option, she suddenly rushed from her position towards where Tomoe was. She tried to use her speed as an advantage, using her blunt weapon to try to hit her into the side of her abdomen.

Her left eye was hazy, she couldn’t see through it properly to use it so she simply held it softly close. It was pretty bad that people saw this about her, it meant her quirk was partly given away to the rest. The girl asked what she was. She was definitely conspicuous about Tomoe her body. Tomoe glared at her as she whispered more to herself then to Ruby.

’Like you’d care.’

After saying that Ruby commented on how Tomoe did look like she wanted to fight but, Tomoe wanted more then fight. She wanted to smash her to pieces. The girl rushed at her, the sword was right of her. She could see it coming. Ruby was fast but Tomoe was fast as well. The sword was gonna hit the side of her but Tomoe threw her right fist to the other side to punch the side of the blade to the ground with no holdback. She would quickly get back up again with Ruby off guard right now. Tomoe tried punching her head with the same fist again but suddenly widened her eyes and held back when she was about hit her.

Ruby’s attack was easily avoided, much to her own surprise. Physically speaking, Tomoe was definitely above Ruby. She would have to find a way to avoid her strikes…
The sword was punched onto the ground and very quickly the catgirl reacted, raising her arm and hardening her coat with her quirk so she would block the strike but- The punch never came. Ruby unfroze her cloak and looked at Tomoe carefully from a lowered position, quickly picking up her sword and… observing.
She was ready to counterattack if necessary, but she didn’t dare talking right now. She wanted to see what was happening for herself.

Tomoe blinked a few times at what had just happened herself. Her knuckles softly dropped against Ruby her head now all the momentum had disappeared. Dumbfoundedly she looked at Ruby, she did mean to hit her but she was not able to hit her with all her might. She shook her head a little and put up a serious look again, she pulled back her other hand and tried punching Ruby with that but just like two seconds ago her hand slowed down again before it hit. It was a little forcefuller now that Tomoe put some will behind it but still not a big injury. Tomoe gritted her teeth in annoyance as she tried to bit Ruby but again, her teeth only barely made contact with her skin while she was still trying to bite her jaw down further. There was some mental blockage or the likes going on where she had no control over. This was the first time she actually had to fight other humans but it was still hard for her to do. Only objects would get properly damaged.

Ruby was… confused to say the least. She let Tomoe attempt to hit her for one or two times and even though it clearly seemed like the girl wanted to hit Ruby, she didn’t actually manage to do any damage at all. The catgirl thought for a second and realized that this might be a downside of her quirk! Maybe the physical exhaustion leaves her in such a vulnerable state… the catgirl would be stupid to not take advantage of it. With a very focused face Ruby grabbed Tomoe’s arm immediately the next time she tried to punch her weakly and then turned around with it. Using Tomoe’s bodyweight, as little as it was, against her, Ruby managed to drag Tomoe over Ruby’s head and slam her onto the floor with a takedown. It wasn’t enough to really hurt her, a human would still feel it though since the floor is concrete. If Tomoe really is too exhausted to keep fighting then Ruby didn’t want to unnecessarily beat down on her when she could not fight back anyways.
When Tomoe was laying on the floor the neko quickly talked to her.
“If you are too exhausted to fight then stay down. I don’t want to hurt anyone who can’t fight back… “
Though admittedly, in the back of her head she thought that it could be related to other reasons. However, she didn’t know the strange girl’s quirk nearly enough to judge.

She didn’t do anything to ruby at all. Hitting her once, twice or a hundred times wouldn’t get her down. Tomoe her clone might have been confused by the draw back but Tomoe herself was clearly aware of it. If she didn’t hold back she might actually obliterate someone. Now was this a little much of a hold back but she couldn’t hurt Ruby that much. She still wasn’t the best at controlling her power but when she noticed that even the floor broke it was a little scary to use on others. Tomoe her clone tried to hit Ruby once or twice more but it was nothing more than a flick. Ruby got hold of her arm and flung her over her head. Tomoe seemed a little surprised at the sudden move off Ruby and was thrown over her head. In complete confusion she lied on the ground staring at the sky. Ruby told her not to fight if she couldn’t. Tomoe her expression tensed as Ruby said something as mean as that to her.

”No!...”

Tomoe quickly hopped back to her feet and glared at Ruby. She slammed her hand onto her chest as she spoke.

"Fight… me…”

Words didn’t seem to come out so simple. Her clone clearly wasn’t good at communicating yet. They were only basic words a small child would be able to say but it came across that she was mad.

Ruby had already turned around and fully anticipated walking away in search for either her team or the next opponent.
However, the girl that had attacked her wouldn’t back down that easily it seemed. She turned her head to face Tomoe and only looked over her shoulder.
“So you actually can talk? That’s better.”
Now she suddenly turned around and jumped forwards, closing the gap between herself and Tomoe at quite an impressive speed and then proceeded to give Tomoe a kick straight into her stomach, using both the momentum of herself and her own power. Once it connected, Ruby stared at Tomoe in anticipation.
“I’ll fulfill your wish.”
Tomoe simply nodded in response to Ruby her words. It was still a bit lacking but she would learn over time. It was quickly back to combat again after the few exchange of words. It was a little unsettling to see Ruby suddenly move at those speeds but that was a sword user for you. Thrusts were a mayor part of sword fighting in close combat areas. She did not expect a kick from her however. She was more focused on the sword then anything else. She did feel the sudden kick, a soft breath of air escaped her mouth as she quickly reacted by grabbing the foot with both hands. She pulled on Ruby her leg and started turning in circles while holding Ruby her foot. Once she was spinning like crazy she would let go.

”Baka baka”

“W….whaaaaaa!”
That was a move she didn’t expect, seemingly Tomoe was able to either shake off pain very easily or just blocked it somehow because that is the only way Ruby could explain herself how she was able to go for such a quick counterattack after just being hit with a powerful kick.
The situation she found herself in was a tricky one since she couldn’t just kick her hand away, but she also couldn’t just freeze herself in the air because she would be too close to Tomoe and vulnerable. Therefore she only thought of one solution…
Eventually, Tomoe let go of her and Ruby was sent flying towards the wall. She breathed in deeply, preparing for the pain of absorbing the kinetic energy from her own body and then froze her cape once she had some distance to Tomoe and was immediately stuck in mid-air. The sudden disruption of her flight had an impact on her body, but since she didn’t ‘smash’ into any surface, it wasn’t as bad as flying into the wall at this speed.
From the outside however, none of that was visible. Just a few seconds after that happened, she unfroze her cape and then dropped back down to the floor. While the cloak’s saved energy was enough to move her backwards some more, it certainly wasn’t enough to impact her too much.
On the floor she landed in a 3-point landing, using one of her hands as balance. At this point the catgirl could be seen panting, but she still wasn’t nearly done.

With Tomoe letting go of the cat feline her leg she was flung severals meters across the auditorium but made an abrupt stop for no whatever reason. For a moment it seemed like she was frozen solid in the air during her flight. It was rather strange to see someone stop so abruptly like that leaving Tomoe somewhat flabbergasted. Ruby fell down from mid air onto the ground again and didn’t look hurted or affected at all from Tomoe her throw. The most that Tomoe could make out of her was that she was only a bit tired.

”What?”

Was Tomoe not able to do any damage for some reason? Punching and biting didn’t work but now throwing her against stuff didn’t work either. Tomoe gave her a nasty sneer as she walked back up to her. She was breathing quite heavily as her brows furrowed in anger.

”Stop! Resi-sting!”

Ruby came to the realization that she wouldn’t be able to do damage to Tomoe in direct close-combat, unless she decided to use the sharp blade that was still holstered. Since the catgirl had no intentions of doing so yet, she would save it for when it was absolutely necessary, she had to go for a different gameplan.There was another idea she had in mind after all…

Seeing Tomoe slowly walk up to her, Ruby stared into her eyes intensely and then picked up some loose, small pieces of debris from the floor that were caused by the general chaos. Clinging onto them tightly she waited for Tomoe to further approach, this time finally using the reactionary fighting style that the neko was used to instead of attacking aggressively. Once Tomoe had reached her, Ruby would throw the pieces of debris in front of her in a cone, covering a wide area both horizontally and vertically until she would put them into stasis, rendering them frozen in mid-air. Even though the pieces were just small, since they covered such a large area Tomoe would now be more or less trapped in the middle of a tight field of immovable small stones which she would have to carefully navigate around, in case it worked.

Tomoe got close to Ruby once more and drastically pushed up her speed. Ruby was picking up some stones, probably to blind her or something, it was nothing special of a tactic if she just didn’t get it into her one left over working eye. Tomoe raised up her fist and took her final leap towards Ruby, with a big grin on her face. When she saw the hand of Ruby move up she held her other arm in front of her eyes so she could still see after the wave of dust. The final few inches she had to make to connect her fist were a disaster however. She felt her entire body stop mid air, it felt like sharp rubber bullets pierced her skin all over her body. Her momentum was immediately stopped mid air like she had hit a wall. Her fist had hit one of the small rocks as well having left a gaping hole on a part of her knuckles. She fell back onto some more rocks slightly hurting the back of her head. They were not pleasing to fall against. Tomoe lightly rubbed the back of her head as she seemed somewhat hurted but stood up shortly after anyways. She stared at the floating rocks around her, it was just like when she stopped herself mid air. They had become solid objects that she couldn’t move with any force she could muster. The rock she had hit with all her force was still in the same place. Tomoe tried pushing them away by leaning on them and trying to push them away but there was no budging in it in any way. Tomoe nastily glared at Ruby before she looked around her some more to find a way out. It wasn’t an unbreakable wall that could stop her forever, there were still gaps in between the rocks that would let her out of this cell somewhere. Tomoe fidgeted a little and pushed various body parts through the gaps while she was holding herself upright in mid air by leaning on the other rocks. Eventually she managed to push herself through one of the gaps on top, probably because there were less stones there then near the bottom part. She got various scrapes and cuts over her body from the many rocks having cut her open but it did not matter, she was to be disposed off sooner or later. She could still fight if all her body parts were still there.

”A real challenge for once.”

She smiled in in annoyed matter at the girl as she dashed at her once more. When she was near she jumped up and quickly raised her leg up close to 180 degrees of its original position before trying to make the heel come down on Ruby her shoulder.

Seeing how her opponent fought her way through this field of stones, not caring about her own health and seemingly just ignoring any pain these traps could have caused for her was a scary sight on its own. While it proved Ruby that she could injure Tomoe, it also showed her the dedication her opponent put into this battle. Ruby would be sure to give her the same effort back!

The jumping Tomoe went down for quite the strong kick, the catgirl knew how to counter that one though. Just moments before the heel of Tomoe’s foot came crashing down on her shoulder, Ruby froze her cloak to make it as solid as an object can become. Once the heel connected, the impact was immense. Tomoe had such strength behind it, when it met the immovable object it sent a shockwave away with the center being her heel, which was certainly not enough to knock anyone over, but it would feel like a small gust of wind. The catgirl however, only stared into Tomoe’s eyes and as soon as she stepped down from Ruby’s shoulder, the girl went for her fastest counterattack yet. Within a second she unfroze her cloak and immediately went for a strong hit into Tomoe’s side with her sheathed sword which she held in her right hand. She knew that this was the only way she would be able to beat Tomoe in close combat, if Ruby was able to incapacitate her with one immensely strong blow. For any normal human this attack would be enough to send them staggering if not take them down entirely, but she couldn’t tell how it would be for Tomoe.

Tomoe her foot crashed down onto Ruby her shoulder, the clothing on top of the shoulder almost seemed rock solid. It didn’t bend or move at all. It was just frozen and Tomoe wasn’t able to penetrate through it. She felt the hit stagger through her body as her foot connected. Shortly after the hit she pulled her foot back towards her and landed down onto her legs to immediately be met with the swiftest thing alive. The sword of Ruby hit her side so fast that she couldn’t even react to it. She widened her eyes as she still tried moving her hand before her taile. A breath of air escaped her lips as she felt a sharp pain of being hit in the side. It was a sharp numbing pain feeling as if she was being cut in half. If it wasn’t for the sheath she would probably be in half. Tomoe quickly breathed in again and gritted her teeth. She raised up her other hand and formed it to a fist before bringing it to Ruby her face and forced it against the poor girl her face as hard as she could. Her strength wouldn’t have been so great like before from the hit she just had. Tomoe breathed out again and dropped onto one knee and her fist. She needed a moment to breath. Did she hit something bad?

”Damn-it”

Yes! She had finally gotten a really good hit in. While Ruby was constantly able to poke her reckless opponent for some minor form of injuries, up until that moment Ruby had not been able to get any decent hit in. This one was different, she could feel the impact her sword made and seeing Tomoe actually react in pain pleased Ruby, knowing that she finally did cause damage since before that her opponent almost seemed oblivious to any type of damage or pain.
The catgirl let her guard down; she thought that with the damage done there was no way Tomoe could go for a counterattack immediately. She was wrong.

While the sword was still practically stuck in Tomoe’s side, since it was sheathed it luckily didn’t cut her in half, she suddenly lifted her arm and went for a strong and quick punch, right onto Ruby’s face. Since the catgirl was not prepared at all for a counterattack, it really got her good. Her eyes widened moments before impact but it was already too late and the knuckles of her opponent connected with the neko’s forehead. The force behind it was immense. With just this one punch, Ruby was sent flying backwards a good few meters. If asked later, she wouldn’t be able to remember how long she was airborn for, but she knew that the impact hurt a lot. Landing on top of a pile of rubble, it caused quite the wave of dust where she landed.

Luckily the adrenaline prevented the pain from being unbearable for her, but it was still present. However, since the punch was right on her head, for the next 10-ish seconds, while laying on the floor, Ruby’s vision was incredibly blurry, she was feeling very dizzy and she heard a constant high-pitched noise in the background. While still not being able to think clearly, the shook cat used her sword, which she had held onto tightly thanks to her natural reflexes, as a sort of pole to first lift her body off the ground onto her knees, and then pushing herself upwards with the help of the sword again. Once she stood on both of her feet again, Ruby actually stumbled backwards a bit, only to use her sword as a means of balancing and supporting herself. With one arm on the tip of the handle of her sword, whose sheathed blade was standing up from the floor to support the catgirl, she slowly moved the other one to her forehead, the dizziness slowly fading away and pain setting in. She wiped over her face and it was exactly as she had feared: Her hand was smeared with blood. The attack had caused a wound to open up on her head; whether it was the actual punch or the landing in the debris is unclear, which bled quite a bit. A string of thick blood was running down her face to her chin from where it dripped down onto the floor.

”F:..fuck….”

She managed to say, knowing full well that this wound would have to be treated rather quickly and it would limit her fighting capabilities. At this point Ruby considered herself lucky to be conscious, being able to think clearly nontheless. With one hand supporting herself on her weapon and the other covering her right eye, which the blood was running over, Ruby looked over to Tomoe, being visibly damaged by the assault.

Finally her fist had connected with the girl her face. It was because of the pain Tomoe did not hold back for once. Although it was a double she would still feel her real body tingle and hurt just like you would think you feel in a dream. Any over the top painful injuries could snap Tomoe out of her sleepy state back to reality. Tomoe did have one speciality in her hands and that was sleeping. Her fort made it able to get so high on the course although it looked like she was not doing anything all day. But many did not know, she was practicing all day long! Tomoe her fist launched the catgirl several meters across the auditorium. Tomoe had put Ruby at peace for a bit, Tomoe immediately clenched back at her waist Ruby had hit. She could feel her broken ribs not being connected to the right places anymore, she couldn’t move without feeling constant pain, this clone was done for.

Tomoe crouched bend down a little clenching lightly to her ribs as she softly walked up to Ruby again to fight on. Ruby had started getting up again already. She didn’t seem fine either. Her forehead was busted and battered from her hit. She seemed dizy and found it hard to stand up. Tomoe did hit her pretty hard, she was surprised Ruby was still conscious. Tomoe gave a sly grin with her batter up eye and scratched up face. It seemed that she still wanted to fight on but deep inside there was a girl terrified of having hurt the catgirl. This was the first she actually hurted someone. This wasn’t right, she had to stop this. Tomoe her clone stopped in its tracks and ripped off the ribbon from the chest piece of her outfit. Shakingly she threw the ribbon at Ruby to bind her wound and gazed at her for a bit before falling to the ground and disappearing like dust at the same time. There was nothing left of the clone as the dust washed itself away with the small wind there was. A soft voice sounded in her ear like the wind passing. As if the soul of the clone returned back to the owner.

”Sorry.”

Acion waited as Hitomi retreated outside the contest point, making sure that age went outside of it, with the door sound being its indication. One opponent contesting the point down, although the means were outright awkward. Really really awkward. But everything ended up well for the two players. Sort of, maybe not for her. He should apologize to her later after the exercise. After the ordeal, his teammate got to him, asking him to leave the battleground.

”Alright. I’m coming now.” But just after he said that, the sound of something dropping into the auditorium, hitting the deck. Something hard, like a grenade…

Just as he said that, he was blinded. Not by the darkness this time, as Mina’s light was shedding some visions for him, but by smoke. Yeah, smoke. Why would someone actually send smoke into a dark room? That’s crazy. Not something a person with common sense would do. But then, common sense wasn’t the thing apparent in the hero course anyway. Especially for a few certain people...Hold on...From the point when he began entering the contest point, he had not seen the presence of two teams. First was team D, who might have been the perpetrator behind this, but he did not know anyone who had this kind of move. But in team B, which was the other case, he knew. He knew one particular person who can.

”I don’t have a good feeling about this…” He mumbled, as he took a few steps back and crouched down on one knee. With his six wings, he quickly barricaded himself, shielding the general area in which he perceive the attack would come from, and on the while making sure that his back was not facing against anyone. ”Haruka. If you can act, get to cover as soon as possible.” And he also told Haruka to do the same.

His conceptual skill was spot on. Moments later, a barrage of rubber balls began pounding onto his wings. The strike was powerful like a paintball bullet, but his steel wings managed to absorb the damage, keeping him safe and in check. After the attack, he quickly called for his team, for some navigation. Donny told him to ensure Haruka’s safety, but where was she in the first place.

”Donny? I will get Haruka to your position now, but I don’t know where she is. Can you see? I need a sense of direction.” He tried remaining as calm as possible as he stood up from the Hornet’s Nest attack.

Amane smirked when at Mina’s little magic trick, she was faced him and managed to grab hold of the staff before it was dealt a critical blow. The force behind his attack was enough to slide her back a couple feet but she effectively managed to stop it. She tried tugging on the staff and pulling him into her punch though she must have forgot about the drastic difference in size between the two. Amane had over a foot on her in height as well as 100 pounds in armor. He could possibly manage a counter by using his reach advant-

Dink!Dink!Dink!

It felt as though someone was shooting him all over his body. Though it didn’t hurt him much because of his heavy armor, he was turned into a human instrument. The noise created from the rubber bullets crashing into his suit could be heard all throughout the auditorium. The sudden attack distracted him as Minas attack came near, his chance for a counter was now taken away from him. “Tsk” he sucked his teeth in disappointment. Amane took his right hand off his staff to block her blow. The knight pulled his forearm to the front of his fist allowing for Mina to strike his steel plated gauntlet. Once she struck he was sure turn back onto the offensive by wrapping his hand around her wrist, effectively grabbing her arm and delivering a swift kick to the gut.

Mina, however, while she may have carried on the fight for a few more futile seconds, a series of disadvantageous circumstances occurred. First, she ignored the warning in her comms, so committed was she to her punch. When the bullets hit her, they hit a girl wearing a torn dress. She had little leg protection and the protective lining of her dress was torn and damaged, and wasn’t adequate protection. The rubber pellets hurt. Battered and now bruised, Mina was in no condition to block the kick to her gut, and when it connected, Mina crumpled, clutching her abdomen. Looks like this time, she had been worn down physically enough. She likely still hadn’t learned her lesson, though.

Amane now had a vice grip on Mina after his kick struck her in the stomach dealing decisive damage to her body. He could feel her will to fight beginning to wither with his powerful blow, a smile spread across his lips.

Now all that was left was to crush her spirit.

The knight let go of his staff and made a fist out his left hand, he cocked his arm back before striking the girl right in her cheek, his metal knuckles tore into her cheek bone with the amount of force he used. Minas head was sent jarring to the right aggressively, enough to give her whiplash. The attack to her face was sure to draw some blood.

“You should have just stayed down, the difference in power between us is far too great.”

Amane picked Mina’s body up by the wrist as he proceeded to use her as his punching bag delivering a series of blows. Her body laid weak and limp as she was suspended in the air. It pissed Amane off, as he sucked his teeth once more. The stomach, Ribs, Hip, were just a few of the areas he struck.

“Only you is to blame for your recklessness, never in a million years can someone as incompetent as you could dream of being a hero. Someone with such tunnel vision and selfish desires will only be a liability to the pro society, instead of taking me on by yourself you should have at least attempted to attack me with someone else.”

Amane then wrapped his left hand around her throat, his grip squeezing tighter. “But instead you chose to be an idiot and fight me one on one when you already lost previously.” He raised her high into the air before increasing the gravity in small radius around his significantly, enough for Mina to feel as if she had 70 pound weights attached to her. The knight choke slammed her body into the flooring of the auditorium with a large BOOM. With his own force and the increased gravity, the combined power was enough to imprint Mina’s outline in the floor. He was sure that she would stay down after that one. Once the attack was over the knight released his gravity and let out a sigh. Amane contradicted himself as he himself was tunnel visioned by this girl, enough that he didn’t realize the veil of smoke that surrounded him. Amane ripped her staff out of Mina’s hand before standing back up, holding his weapon straight up in between his elbow crevice as he prepared for the next move.

With his left arm he released the 3 black orbs that circled around his body before activating his quirk, the smoke began flowing in his direction as he cleared it rapidly with the 3 black holes active. Not only did he pull the smoke but all the rubber pelts from the hornets nest Mamoru dropped begin flowing in his direction as they hit everyone for another go around.

The boy picked up his staff once more and laid it across his shoulder as he awaited for the smoke to clear effectively. He looked down at Mina and picked her body up, “Lets go, becoming a pro isn’t the job for you. I’ll provide the perfect job for such trash.”

Mina spat out about two mouthfuls of blood, and could barely form the words to make a reply. ‘Dazed’ was not the accurate word for Mina’s current condition. Imagining Rocky at the End of Rocky 1, on very strong sleeping pills, and you’d be close. She managed to eventually form the sounds “Screw….you….”

[Silver Carrot]

Storm Bird

Dark Matter

Aegis

Yukari Yozakura

VS

Amane Kishimoto

---

Normally, the overload of noise might’ve bothered Yukari. But thanks to Dulga’s earplugs they were far less painful to her then they usually were. In the thick smoke Yukari tried to get a visual of what the area looked like. It was chaos everywhere, but almost everyone was effectively blind in here. She heard a loud whistle, a big explosion, and some words that really annoyed her. For once, Yukari felt…. Angry. She hated bullies. Reminded her too much of the ring master, who’d insult and dismiss the other performers for not adhering to his strict standards. She didn’t care about the gap in skills between people. Even if not everyone can be a hero, a hero could be anyone. And this person she was hearing wasn’t a hero.

”Mamoru, ahead of your, slightly left. Mina and someone else. Mina’s not doing good, and someone is being a bully. Get close to him and I’ll do my best to keep him bound.”

“Of course!” Mamoru said cheerfully. She couldn’t hear things as well as Yukari could, but in this instance she’ll trust her partner to watch her back. Taking on a low stance Mamoru moved as Yukari directed. Soon after she found this strange clearing in the smoke, and there was Mina and some guy she’s never seen before. From a quick glance she could tell that this guy intends to use Mina as a human shield, which was just dirty! Still Mamoru threw a punch straight at the guy, using the electrified tonfa right to his butt/balls. But what was more of a surprise wasn’t this guy using Mina as a human shield, not quite.

It was Donny coming out of the ground. He snaked his way up from underneath Amane as well as on Mina’s back when she was slammed into the ground. His intentions were to get Mina, to pull her out. Or failing that getting to Amane. His body was fluid like water, yet unnaturally moving of its own will, rather than what water would naturally flow. He wrapped around Mina quickly and tightly. And then would simply drop back into the ground, taking her, and parts of Amane’s gauntlet and boots with him. Perhaps he should’ve just collapsed the whole place when he had the chance, but he wasn’t really thinking right now. His only thoughts were to save Mina and get his team to safety. As he was pulling Mina away he spoke into the communicator.

”Acion take Haruka towards the north side of the auditorium. There should be a door or something there that leads to a set of stairs. Luelle is there. I’m dropping this place, should be safe up there.”

As he received the words, he was not so willing to take flight to where Haruka was now. He could be shot at anytime. Walking there appeared to require a great deal of effort, as one central fight was going on. The guy he met earlier on the rooftop against Mina. And it wasn’t going well for the latter. And he could hear perfectly what he was talking about.

”That goddamn bastard…”

Sure, Mina was his enemy, but knowing how badly this guy treated her, he wouldn’t have given him her coordinate earlier in the fight. Who the hell did he think he was? Some sort of god? The one who think he can dictate the life of a person, and especially the one in hero course of the most prestigious academy around? His arrogance was absolutely disgusting. But he could not stand up to him now. He was injured. If he just recklessly engaged him in fierce combat, he would just suffer the same fate as Mina. There should be another way to deal with him. And he was surely going to do this. He would not let this bully get away with this.

As the smoke cleared he surveyed the area finding two newcomers who leaped at him...no three. One was wrapped around another person's body tightly. He prepared for an attack suddenly as a felt some weight on his gauntlet followed by a breeze. Though he didn’t worry about why he was feeling a gust of wind. Next was the feeling of Mina being taken out of his clutches by something which threw him in a loop as to what was happening. He snapped his neck in the direction of the opposing force seeing black ooze hauling the girls body off somewhere. “Not too fast” Amane sent one of his orbs to chase her body. Donny hadn’t got too far and was still in reach to tug at the girls body with its vacuum. The two entered a tug of war over the girls body.

He then had to deal with the two infront of them, Mina wasn’t too far away so he still had some type of lighting to work with. With the girls body out of the way Amane had some room to work with now, as the new enemy tried striking him with the tonfa he jumped back and decided to exploit the girls weakness. Though she was armed it seemed like she would only be effective in close range. His eyes then darted to the limbs wrapped around her, it seemed like this person had extreme flexibility which can cover for her lock of range. Sidestepped the punch before twirling his body to generate force. Amane then used his staff to sweep at Mamoru’s legs. With the brief moment he created, Amane glanced quickly at his hand and feet realizing that his left gauntlet and right boot was missing. All that was left was teeth marks. Amane did feel lighter but now he was pissed. The bastard ate his gear! The boy jumped back to a safe distance which maximized his each as his eyes darted back and forth between Mamoru and Donny. His black hole was tugging on Mina’s body, if Donny let go of the floor surely the two would be pulled towards the black orb together.

When Amane tries to pull his staff back, he’d find someone holding onto it tightly. Yukari’s leg was wrapped around his staff before it could hit Mamoru, instead she had intercepted the strike herself. Not that it hurt Yukari in anyway. Using her full body and Mamoru’s steady stance Yukari gripped onto the staff with all her might. ”Close the distance Mamoru!” Yukari pulled Amane’s staff back, trying to make him do a tug-of-war between the two. All the while she still had a few ring cuffs ready to lock him up the next time he tries to get close.

Donny could feel his body getting pulled back. If he had to guess, this guy’s power was gravity or something that causes people to get pulled around by force. Perhaps telekinesis. Donny didn’t really have time to figure out either which as he was getting dragged off. At the same time he could see Mamoru and Yukari fighting this guy, so he was at least partially distracted. Donny needed to get this guy off his tail, and he had one way he knew how. It’ll be a long shot, but Donny’s typical tactics could still work here. As he was getting pulled out, his face appeared from inside the black mass, followed by his body, arms, legs, and eventually it was him struggling to stay underground. He was still fighting but he had a few things to say.

”You think this can stop me? You think you have what it takes? You don’t know anything. You don’t know what sort of mad man I am! WAAAAARGH!”

And then Donny tossed his meat bag, filled with his own guts and blood, right at the black hole still screaming and roaring as he was going to sacrifice himself to eat the floating orb.

Mamoru never stopped advancing eve as Amane tried to dodge her. HIs spinning was a nice trick, but Mamoru wasn’t so sluggish that she could get caught by something with so much wind up. Fortunately she didn’t need to worry about protecting herself as Yukari intercepted the staff, allowing Mamoru to lunge forward and try to slug Amane again. But her first strike would merely be a feint; it was going right towards his face (And it would hit him if he didn’t bother avoiding it) but what she was really going for was a Flicker Jab right into his unarmed foot. As the long end of Mamoru’s tonfa was going straight towards Amane’s face, her shield ar swept low, vanishing for less then a second as her fist went inches above Amane’s foot. But before her hand left, her shield would appear again right where Amana’s shin and ankle would be.

For once Mamoru wouldn’t have to be on the defensive. With Yukari watching out for her she can finally go all out and let her partner watch her back.

Acion was watching the whole ordeal from afar. It appeared that not just him who wanted to have a piece of that guy. It gave him an idea, a faint idea. It would be chaos, and might just end up turning the whole exercise upside down. But now he didn’t have any mood to compete anymore. His team wasn’t faring so well was a part of the reason, but a major part was that Acion was mad at the other guy who he had eyed on. He would not let him pass. He had to bow to the ground and beg for forgiveness. It was only when that justice would be delivered. But for now, he ought to ensure his teammate’s safety first. He turned to the comm, initially Donny, but upon realizing that Donny was probably busy, after hearing his scream, he turned to Luelle, who should be safe now.

”Luelle. I will get Haruka now, but it’s too dark. I need some navigation assistance here… Something that allow me to know where you are.” He said.

“On it!” Luelle shouted. She backed away from the glass sitting between her and the battle. Standing one hand up in front of her nose, her hand began to create wicked flames around her. Mustering as much power as she could, she swung her arm forward, almost like a general signaling his army to battle. The flames pushed right through the glass, making it shatter. The flames were cold, but not freezing enough to hurt people. The room began very cold like someone had turned on the A/C in that one room. During what was happening from her first attack, she created a second fireball that was much smaller and threw it into the room, catching most of the furniture it struck on fire.

”Thank you.” Acion said as he quickly sprang into action, while everybody may be baffled over the sudden lighting. He quickly coordinated Haruka and flew swiftly across the auditorium, in a curved trajectory, trying to avoid as many enemy as possible. Using that momentum, Acion quickly wrapped his arms around Haruka’s shoulders as soon as he reached her, lifting her up in the sky. Despite not having taken into account the weight of both her and the heavy armor she had, he was still able to lift her up, thanks to the great momentum he had built up. However, big momentum equalled big impact. And all that impact forces got directed straight into his shoulder. The pain spiked hard, and he struggled to ignore it, but he had to. For his teams. He had to go on.

Luelle’s position was not that far from his current position now, so he tried pulling up to fly towards them. Hopefully he would get there without a scratch.

Jett stopped once he saw what amane was doing to Kasuke. Gritting his teeth he put the items back in his pouch and strapped the flash bang back in his vest. He then pulled out his last flare and while disengaging his night vision he winded up and threw the flare much like a knife, spinning end over end quite rapidly and accurately till it landed just near amane, yukari, Momoru and Donny. Giving them some light to kick his ass. He hopped off the stage and rolled to not land hard on his ankle before making his way over to where his gun was. Turning on his night vision again to find it quickly, while it hurt slightly at the flare and now fire in the room, he was face down to the ground. Once he found it he turned off his night vision again and picked it up, pulling a mag from his vest and loading it, pulling the slide back to put a round in the chamber as he then aimed at Amane and fired a couple shots when he had a clear view of his upper chest. It wouldn’t do anything but distract him.

As Amanes felt his staff strike something he couldn't help but feel odd as he felt some resistance making his weapon bounce a bit. Upon closer observation he realized that the girl on Mamoru's back had used her body to block it. “Just what I thought she is stretchy, physical attacks won't do much.” The guy couldn't help but smirk as the battle began ramping up though it wasn't nothing he could handle. In terms of skill he had them beat, Mamoru may have been athletic but her attacks were straight forward. He felt the girl trying to tug at his staff but the boy was much more sturdier. Yukari was trying to hold Amane within range of Mamoru but it wasn't going to be that easy. Amane was now aware of her elastic abilities and would abandon his staff at the first sight of funny business.

His eyes darted back and forth between Mamoru and Yukari. At his current position he had effectively side stepped his way in between Donny and the two girls with his back facing the blob. He had to devise a plan to disarm Mamoru, the fizzing sound that tonfa clearly spelt nothing good. His eyebrows raised as he felt he had caught something on the black hole that is tugging at Donny. Amane smiled as he decided to use whatever it was coming at him to his advantage. The knight would dodge the girls flurry with side steps as well as slamming his staff violently into Mamoru's moving her feet and altering her projectory. It was like a human puppet show.

Once the airborne object was close enough Amane smirked as the two orbs on his back activated and increased the pull on the foreign object making it fly even faster at Amane . This would play beautifully into the boy's hands. Because of his white armor and the dark room the girls eyes focused on the bright costume instead of on their peripheral vision. At this point Mamoru going for the strike to his face in which Amane prepared for his next move. Time felt like it went in slow Motion as he turned his head halfway keeping one eye on Mamoru as he went to look st what was coming. When he squinted it looked like it was a person flying at them like a rag doll. Mamoru was dangerously close but the better he sold it the higher chance of success. The body was now a few yards away while Mamoru's weapon 8 inches away.

Now!

Amane leaned back putting distance between his helmet and the tonfa to the point where he was out of danger from making contact with it. The boy released his staff as he threw both his hands up in preparation to do a bridge. This was when he saw Mamoru dip her head as well as she aimed for the guys leg in which she had a pretty long way to go. Though Amane was taller he had already began his descent towards the ground along with his combined weight. Though it irked him, there was no way she could have guessed what he was doing unless..

It was just a coincidence, she must have been planning to strike his leg the whole time. Amanes body hands had touched the ground in which he transitioned into a back handspring. Prior to having his gauntlet and leg stripped he wouldn't have had the freedom of movement to even perform this move. Even right now his body is straining itself as the armor dug into his ribs. Once the bridge was completed Amane deactivated the black hole allowing for the rag doll to take an unaltered course. He grunted as he shifted his momentum and weight onto his hands completing the bridge. As he did so, the rag doll was directly above the guy as he looked the thing in its hollow eyes.

“Arggh”

Mamoru's shield didn’t hit it's marked target but it did hit something. The outer ring of her defensive weapon bashed itself into the upper portion of the boy's leg before his foot could hit the girls hand, the attack shoot pain up through Amanes body as he grunted. At this moment the body would collide with the 2 girls effectively taking them off his hands for a little bit.

POP!SPLAT!

Amane could feel something splash against his armor as he finished completing the back handspring and putting more distance between the two before wincing in pain from the shield. He looked at his body and could feel it was damp. A flare as thrown at him creating light.Soon the liquid that covered his body became much more clearer as he saw his body was dripping a crimson red fluid.

A familiar sound and feeling banged against the boy's armor. Angrily he turned in the direction of where the bullets were striking from but couldn't see much. Amane grabbed the flare as bullets rained on him before reversed gravity and lept towards the stage where Jett was. As he got closer the flare would become brighter to the boy and obstruct his night vision with its brightness.

“You again huh? I thought you were out for the count” the boy landed softly on the ground careful of his leg. “I like your style it's too bad we don't see things the same way though.” Amane stood over the guy looking menacingly as blood dropped off his body. The knight was weaponless but he still had what Mother Nature gave him. Amane began hopping up and down loosening his body, the guy raised his hands up as his body transitioned into a kick boxing stance.

“Show my what you’ve got”

Amane took the bait, taking Donny’s body double and directing instead of continuing his pursuit of Donny. He was slightly disappointed that Amane seemed largely unaffected by the bloody mess, but he supposed that Amane, much like Donny himself, was a sociopath. Donny decided to ignore the comparisons and hurried to get Mina out of the danger zone. Assuming Acion did as asked and saved Haruka, then everything was just about setup to finish everyone off.

Donny stashed Mina at the base of the staircase where Luelle and Haruka should be at. Hopefully they’ll keep an eye on her. It was time for Donny to finish this once and for all.

“A backflip? How flashy!” Mamoru wasn’t as slow as Amane would hope if he thought he could get away with all these fancy acrobatics. When Amane tried to kick the tonfa out of her hand, all sr had to do was shift her wrist downwards so his foot would connect directly to the tempered metal cross section of the tonfa. In other words, the part of the tonfa you hit people with.

She continued her assault even as Donny himself was flung towards her. She didn’t pay him much mind and merely raised her shield and let Donny’s body stop cold. Which then exploded into blood and guts. This… Was strange to Mamoru. Her mind, for better or for worse, didn’t fully process it. It was just too weird for her to think about and looked towards Amane, who was now trying to pick a fight with Jett.

“Oi! We ain’t done here!”

Jett winced as he quickly turned off the nightvision when Amane threw it back at him. He looked up just in time to see Amane land and speak to him. Jett shook his head and shifted into his own Savate fighting style. “That little kick isn’t going to keep me down. I’m glad we don’t see things the same way. I wanna be a hero...not some punk ass who kicks people while their down.” He moved forward slowly, being careful about his own foot. He noted that Amane now had part of his armor missing. He would be sure to use that against him. While both had their body armor, Jett’s being more flexible, it wasn’t as hard as his steel plate armor. Which meant Jett could only really go for the joints and use momentum against them to bring him down. “And Still, Ill kick your ass without my quirk.” He added with a smirk.

Amane chuckled at Jetts little threat, though he was enjoying beating the shit out of class 1-A he had a twisted logic for his madness.

“Maybe it takes me being the punk to cement myself as the next #1 hero. Though honestly I am lighting a fuse under each and every one of you. Take this asswhooping as a lesson, no amount of training can prepare you for the real thing and I’ve learned that at a young age. Villains will do anything and everything to get what they want, they’ll kill your loved ones then spit on their grave. So why not let me simulate being the bad guy? I can’t kill you guys because that would end my career right here but I can come as close to being a real threat.”

The boy loosened up a little more as he began slowly walking around Jett, the red light from the flare showing off his blood stained armor. “I let you in on my plan because even though you fought me with blind rage, you thought logically at the same time and still saved your teammate somewhat….but that is also the reason I had to take her out. You did all that work for her just to get hurt even more. It was a stupid move on her part.” The knight moved closer to Jett to the point where he had to stare down at him.Amane smirked under his mask

“I don’t care if you think I am a bad guy for taking on these sins.”

Amane spun around quick with his right arm extended, the blood that coated his arms flew onto the boys headwear obscuring his view. He then pushed off with his right food and extending his left arm allowing for his bare hand to connect with the bottom of Jetts mask. If it wasn’t for the guys headwear protection he would have probably been severely dazed or just out cold. As his fist connected he followed through completely forcing the boys head to snapback completely. Amane stepped back as he continued to speak.

“Lets go, me and you. Fist to fist, show me your conviction.”

Jett shook his head, “It’d be a cold day in hell If you get there while I’m around.” he said coldly, his fists tightening at seeing all the blood on this guy. He must be a sociopath, not caring that he was covered in it. How the hell does the principle not see something’s clearly wrong with this kid?

He was not expecting the guy to use the blood to his advantage. Jett quickly wiped it off, while bringing up his other hand to protect himself, though it didn’t do anything as he got hit pretty good. Taking a few steps back, he kept his balance, shaking his head to clear it. He moved forward, moving his right arm enough to make it look like he was going for a haymaker,but his real attack came from his left foot, coming up at an alarming speed, much like a whip. Aimed right for amane’s helmet.

“You aren’t in no shape to dethrone me currently.” Amane moved forward as Jett did to the point where they were inches away. He saw as the guy cocking his hand back and tried to power up and slug him dead in the face, though the way his body moved was off. The armored man was prepared for another strike to the face though his advance was halted. Out from the darkness, Jetts leg slammed into Amanes ear causing his body to lurch forward as he nearly hit the deck. Amane spun around as he tried to gather himself after the head blow, placing his hands on the ground as he jumped back on his feet and delivered two jabs. One to the rib with his unarmed hand and another to the face with his gauntlet. He then gripped onto the outer vest of Jetts costume and began smashing his metal arm guard into the boys collarbone as he attempted to chip away at the boys vitality. After striking the guys neck a couple of times he prepared to finish off his combo with a rather reckless move.

Amane gripped tightly on the boys vest with both hands as he cocked his head back before thrusting forward on the outer shell of the boys headgear. Though they both had protective headwear equipped Amane would have the upper hand in toughness as both of their helmets rattled from the shockwave. When both their heads connected the boy released Jett allowing for his attack to knock him back as he recovered from the headbutt.

Jett had backed up, managing to use his forearms to protect him from both of the jabs. While they still hurt his forearm, he wasn’t quick enough to stop him grabbing his vest and start hammering on his collarbone. Jett sacrificed his face slightly as he stiffened his shoulder and brought it closer to his chin. The gauntlet hitting his shoulder but glancing and hitting his face, but not at the same power it would have with a direct hit to the collarbone. It was still Jarring with each hit and wasn’t prepared for the headbutt which sent him falling backwards.

He shook his head and pushed himself mentally and physically to get back up slowly. “You hit like my sister…” he said with a smirk on his face. Which...in all honesty she hit harder, but surely he would take that as an insult. He shook his head again and gave himself enough focus and willpower to rush forward and deliver a few hard jabs to the helmet, ducking under his counter attacks, He didn’t focus on hard hits like Amane did to his ribs, because that would be pointless, instead his jabs went from head to shoulders to knock him off balance, then he would get close enough to slip behind him with his leg to trip him, using his own body weight to shove him backward and follow up with a twist/fall which actually hurt his ankle immensely. Doing a side roll kinda fall and slamming his left boot tip into the helmet of amane. Landing hard on the ground himself.`
`
With Mina safe, Donny went to engage the final phase of his plan. Already the place was rigged to fall, and the battle damage done thanks to the other students only weakened the structural integrity of the auditorium floor. While it wasn’t a building collapsing fall like yesterday’s battle, a ten-foot drop down into the ground wasn’t something that could easily be shrugged off either, especially not the way Donny has it planned. But the collapse wasn’t the worst thing that would happen, no: it was that Donny was going to make everyone fall. Stretching his body long and wide, he covered most of the auditorium floor, stretching himself thin enough that it hurts. It was a pain he’ll have to bare for just a few seconds however, as he ate a small hole through the floor, so that he had a small coin-sized hole underneath where everyone was. Or at least everyone he could detect through the radar that wasn’t inside the light control room. With Luelle’s flames illuminating the room, it was easier for Donny to confirm his targets.

Now he just needed to bide his time. Perhaps he had waited for too long but he wasn’t going to let this plan fall apart because of his haste. As much as he wanted to take out everyone here and now, this gambit he’s been setting up since the beginning of battle will be most effective once everyone is here. He couldn’t afford to mess up now. When the time was right, he’ll strike. Fast and ferocious.

”Guys. If you are fighting or about to fight these people, Mamoru, Yukari or Kaida, cease it. We have to take out Amane first before anyone else. He is a threat.” Hoping that they would get the message, Acion promptly turned away from the comm links, though without switching it off.

Then, from the rooftop, he headed for the door where he previously flew up from there and opened it. The fight was still going on. Nothing had changed, and with even more competitors joining the fray against him. This was just going to play even more into his own plan. Now that he had some lights to navigate on, this should go well.

”It looks like you have some lights. Well then, until he is down, I shall trust you on this.” He said one final remark before jumping down.

Dulga said nothing until Acion jumped back into the fight. Then she called up her team. ”Do not attack Team E. I repeat, do not attack Team E. That’s Acion, Luelle, Haruka, and Donny. I don’t know where they’re at or what they look like right now, but anyone who’s fighting with Acion, do not attack them. Our target is Amane. Once he’s down, don’t let your guard down. Then we go back to fighting everyone else.” Dulga calmly moved back to her perch into the auditorium and looked down to the fight. She just needed a few seconds to get a feel for Amane’s powers and how it might affect her bullet trajectory. Once she figures that out, then nothing will stop her. Not even a black hole.

”Akasha, Yozakura, cover the exits. I have the ceiling exit but we don’t want him leaving this room alive. Kaida keep up the attacks. Don’t give him a second to even think. If you can, hold him still so I can shoot him in the head. Watch out for Acion as he might be doing fly by attacks. Donny is coming from underground. Luelle must still be here since her fire is active. I don’t know where Haruka is but don’t forget her too. There are other teams here who might interfere. Deal with them.” Dulga loaded her guns with fresh ammunition as she settled into her sniping stance. Her mother’s cloak shrouded her into darkness, causing Dulga to vanish from plain sight.

Amane and Jett continued trading blows, eye for eye , teeth for teeth. The larger boy had the upper advantage in power though the smaller one had a wider range of flexibility which he used to his advantage. Amane laughed when jett insulted him, “are you really that hopeless to psych yourself up by comparing me to your sister? That's sad”

Jett then tripped Amane pushing him onto the floor following up with a boot to the face mask causing another dent in the boy's helmet adding onto his collection. The two both laid on the floor for a few seconds before Amane rose up shaking his head. His helmet had sustained critical damage as he Jett managed to shift some of the playing on his helmet. A mighty blow would most likely put the headwear out of commission. He let out a dissatisfied sigh as he leered over jett.

“Seems like there isn't much more fun I can get from this.” Amane gave off a faint purple glow before increasing the gravity keeping Jett splattered across the ground as he fought against the gravity to get up on two feet. “You're at your limit you should probably rest” once he got on his two feet the gravity doubled causing the stage to indent slightly inward. Almost 300 pounds of pressure was being placed on the boy's body. With his foot injuries it would be wise not to move too much. The knight walked over slowly before placing his foot on the boy's head.

“Did you think you could beat me without using your quirk? When I crank things up you’ll just end up on your ass.” Amane began repeatedly stomping on the boy's head. The force of his boot being planted against the boy's head made the stage quiver and shake. He released the gravity as he cocked his leg back preparing to return the kick Jett delivered to him earlier.

Despite this abuse and hits to his head, Jett managed to stay awake enough to hear what he said,dizzy as hell he still smirked. “Looks like you couldn’t beat me with out yours either.” Jett knew he lost, but he had to get that last quip in.

“‘Now you can join that pathetic girl in the hospital”
He let his foot fly into the side of Jett's head would have caused him to do multiple flips as his body rolled against the wooden stage. But suddenly a white robed figure fell in front of him, landing and blocking his kick with her hands. When he would look down he would see a five foot girl with a bedsheet converted over her as a cloak.

She Looked up at Amane, her yellow reptilian eyes showing only to him as she glared up that the much taller man. Only he could hear the growl coming from her throat. Like Mina, it was not normal human growl, but more threatening and menacing. Kaida knew others were watching...but she couldn’t hold back any more. The man was really going to hurt Jett, who was no longer able to protect himself. “THAT IS ENOUGH!” She yelled as she reached back and put all her strength into this next attack, His steel would be strong, but her scales would be stronger. She allowed her hands to get enveloped in the black scales as she aimed for the middle of his chest. Hoping to knock him out with one punch.

The impact was immense, and would have sent him back flying. She didn’t chase him though, she turned around and knelt down in front of Jett, remembering to change her eyes back to their dark purple and pink skin on her hands. “Jett? Are you ok?” She asked as she placed both hands on his face and felt his skull to see if there was any bleeding.

Jett was surprised when he didn’t feel that last kick connected. It took him a few moments to realize that there was someone in front of him, a small girl… His eyes widened as he realized that small girl sent Amane flying back with a single punch. She then turned around and asked if he was ok. “Kaida?” he asked. Before he fell forward into her. Losing consciousness.

Amanes foot was inches away from the boy's head before someone dropped down next to him. He turned his attention onto the small figure as he literally had to look down. The knight had more than a foot of height on Kaida but that didn't stop her from attacking. She shouted in front of his face before striking him at his core knocking the wind out of him. The boy was in complete shock from the little persons immense strength as he was sent flying through the red curtains and into the large brick wall backstage. Amane was stuck in the wall with his body limp as he tried to muster straight but the direct hit he took caused too much damage.

“W-what...gahh” Amane looked down at his armor, she manages to completely manage his steel body plate as for the rest of his gear...let's just say everything that wasn't steel was shattered leaving only a metal husk as the boy's armor. Amanes helmet had reached its maximum use as Blood trickled down the side of his head and off his chin.

After about a minute Amane finally gathered himself enough to get out of his fixed position. Immediately he tossed his helmet to the side before hitting the deck on all fours. He couldn't sustain another hit like that to the core, she nearly erased his entire existence. The boy began hacking up a lung before laughing and getting onto his feet.

“A new challenger approaches”

The boy stripped off all his body armor, under his gear he had a skin tight black long sleeve compression shirt that wrapped around his toned body as well as some black trousers to go along with the upper wear. The boy's hair was loosely flowing after he shook his head letting it breath. The boy looked extremely well for his age. His eyes were a pure amber color that could been seen in the darkness.

Kaida laid Jett down and stood up, turning to Amane. Her knuckles white as she pulled her rapier from her waist. “Who do you think you you are? You big bully! You are no better than the people we are trying to defend people from.”

She pointed her sword at him and added. “ I won’t let you touch him again!”

Amane laughed as she called him a bully, “he attacked me again of his own free will. I'm far from a bully. That guy said he was going to be number one so i challenged him but he didn't even want to fight me with his full strength. Is it my fault that he got hurt fighting a battle he knew was futile? Would you rather he make a mistake and live or make a mistake and kill himself as well as others?” Amane took the time to rest up as he spoke with the cloaked girl. He was growing interested in her strength.

“But don't worry, I won't hurt him anymore as long as he stays out of things. I am interested in you now and that devastating power. You shattered my armor in one blow which was made of steel while this guy banged against it like a monkey tirelessly. Mind if I catch your name at least?”

Kadia frowned at the man as he tried to explain himself shaking her head. “So that gives you the right to beat him within the inch of his life? To prove a point? And tossing the blame onto him for YOUR actions is despicable. You claim to be helping but really you are acting just like a villain. A true hero doesn’t go about looking for fights and beating people to a pulp. Jett acted more like a hero because he fought knowing he might lose. I don’t know why he didn’t use his quirk against you but I’m sure it’s a good one.”

She felt her skin crawl when he asked for her name she shook her head. “No. And you will never ‘catch’ it.” She started walking towards him with conviction.

Mina could hear Kaida’s voice, and that snapped her out of her pain-induced stupor. She looked up with gritted teeth. She didn’t even have the strength to move, and no wonder. The combined attacks of several other classmates at once couldn’t put Amane down. As skilled as Mina was, she was just one person. Amane’s quirk put him on a whole other level. Still, she wanted to keep fighting. She just couldn’t stomach the thought of being beaten this easily, even by somebody as powerful and ruthless as Amane.

And now Kaida was challenging him. ”tsshk!” Mina was secretly hoping that the dragon girl wouldn’t last five seconds. As much as she wanted to see Amane pay for what he did to her, she didn’t want Kaida to be the one to do it! That dragon bitch wasn’t stronger than her! No way! Mina tried to move, but the pain was crippling, so she collapsed again, defeated. For now, she’d just watch.

What pissed her off even more was that she was protecting Jett. A lump caught in Mina’s throat. She’d been so focused on trying to sate her own ego and prove she was better than Amane that she hadn’t even checked on him after he’d been thrown through a wall. And then Jett himself fought Amane and lost. For her. To avenge her. At any other time, this might have made Mina feel guilty, and reflect upon herself and her behaviour, but right now, with her ego and body equally wounded, and her emotions and adrenaline flowing, it just made her hate the perfect, beautiful Kaida even more.

The young man kept on smiling as Kaida argues back at him. It was amusing to the guy though she didn't know all the details.

”I never said I wasn't at fault and you are indeed right he was heroic to begin with after he saved that dumb blonde from her own stupidity.” Hmm so his name was Jett, interesting.

“I gave Jett an option to walk away but he decided to continue and pick another fight with me as I fought some other people. In didn't plan on killing him neither but I was going to knock him out cold so the dumbass didn't hurt himself anymore. He wasn't going to stop so what do you expect me to do? Next time we fight...I know he will be much stronger. You should thank me Jett for lighting a fire under you.” Kaida began walking towards him, causing the boy to prepare for battle. There was no longer a need for him to make his point. Jett got what he deserved for underestimating Amane, the guy refused to use his quirk and received a major ass beating. Amane fell into a fighting stance, he couldn't block anything from here on out. He would have to dodge or parry attacks.

She refused to tell him her name in which Amane smiled.

“Touchy.”

When she got close enough she swung her rapier at him, not trying to kill him but at least cut him. But he dodged each strike barely. After a few attempts she tried to get closer and grab him, to throw him across the room.

New orders. Looks like Team E and B are teaming up. Fine with Donny; the sooner they finished this the better. Amane was occupied fighting Kaida, which gave Donny ample time to reposition himself underground to intercept. Having already dug out tunnels underneath the auditorium Donny had no problems moving quickly, and with the radar he had a good idea of who was who; Kaida was aggressive, Amane was dodging. So just as Amane set his foot down, it would fall right through the floor. Specifically the unarmed foot. And it landed on a row of teeth. But that wasn’t the end of it.

Mina saw Amane’s foot fall through the floor, but had no way of knowing Donny was behind it. If she had, she wouldn’t have taken her next course of action. But as it stood, she felt the anger surge through her that Kaida had to get lucky like this. She saw the draconic girl move to grab him, and with his footing as compromised as it was, she was going to succeed. Succeed without taking much punishment at all, where Mina had given her best and still failed and now law broken of body and spirit. No! She’d rot in hell before she let Kaida get one over her! She raised her hand, and as Kaida was about to grab Amane, shined a very subtle yet dazzling beam of light straight into her eyes. It ought to stun her for just long enough for Amane to reclaim the upper hand.

”You heard her Yuyu! Let’s get into position!” Mamoru had watched Amane and Jett fighting, watching and learning. Getting a read on Amane’s movements and familiarizing herself to his fighting style. He might have had the advantage against Jett since Jett was injured and fighting recklessly, but Mamoru wouldn’t make the same mistakes. More so since she, as much as she didn’t want to, had to stay back and watch instead of just going all in as she usually does. Sure it might’ve been a good idea to observe the enemy first before attacking, but that didn’t mean Mamoru enjoyed sitting on her thumbs letting others have all the fun without her. With any luck though, things would be a touch different.

Mamoru ran towards one of the main entrances. Not only would she have to contend against Amane escaping, but also any students who might come in. Best she could do was jam the door with her shield: since the doors opened inwards, she just planted her shield right in front of the door. So anyone who’d try to kick it in would have it stopped dead with her shield. Mamoru wasn’t completely defenseless since she still had her tonfa and a handful of rubber balls. ”Mamoru in position!”

Yukari was a little bit confused at the new orders. They were going to work together with Team E to take out Amane? Yukari had figured she and Mamoru could handle it herself. But this may be for the best; better than to have to fight them instead. ”Okay! Good luck!” Unwrapping herself from Mamoru, Yukari went over to the other door, ready to face down Amane. She heard his foot break through the floor somehow, which was when Yukari decided to do something. As she was running back she dug Amane’s staff into the ground as an anchor, and then slung her legs towards him, to both kick him in the back and grab him at the same time.She knew Kaida was also attacking, so Yukari took advantage of Kaida’s relentless offense to sneak this attack in while Amane was occupied.

After managing to form an uneasy truce between team B and E with Dulga, Acion re-entered the auditorium, via the route team B had used to enter the battle just before. This time, he had enough lights to navigate the battlefield thanks to the fire Luelle had created. The winged man, observing the one target, Amane, along with the combatants taking part, decided to halt his intended feather attack. There were at least three combatants trying to subdue Amane, and at least one of them were from team B. If he strike now, the massive number of projectiles would also hurt the others as well. As uneasy this alliance was, it was built upon the mutual trust that both sides would not hurt each other until the goal of the truce was achieved. Even if unintentional, his attack would very likely break this truce. And it would serve no good for any sides at all. And so he waited, for a better opportunity to strike.

Amane dodged the dragon girls furocious flurry attacks by backing up. Left, right, left, Amane side stepped the attacks until finally taking a large jump back to dodge the girls wide swing. After he landed and successfully put distance between himself and kaida. He felt his foot go through the floor throwing him off balance. Amane manage to grab onto the side of the stage before completely falling into the hole, in which his foot hovered. His height got displaced to the point where his 5’0 opponent was able to look down on him which didn’t sit nicely with the 6’1 brute. While the boy was off balance Kaida went for a her grapple on him, almost instinctively he braced himself so that he could break free of her grasp but the two were interrupted by a bright light. Though it didn't effect the boy much, the dragon girl seemed to be in much more distress. Amane smirked as he used his long reach to grab the arm she used to wield her blade.The boy raised an eyebrow as his hand rubbed against her rough skin, this also explained why her punch was so powerful. Amane tried bending her arm out of place in an attempt to release the rapier from her grasp.

In the midst of battle he heard his staff get lodged into the ground, a sound far too familiar. He spent day in and day out with that weapon to the point that he memorized all the sounds that it made. The guy knew that it had been kicked away but now it seemed like someone was tampering with his beloved weapon. Put his sensitivity with his desire for a weapon and he could pinpoint that weapon anywhere in a room. Amane twisted his head halfway towards the doorway allowing him to see both Kaida and see what his staff made that sound. He looked and saw a pair of feet flying towards him from the stretchy girl, she used his staff as a slingshot apparently. Such unsanitary hands using his weapon. He couldn't afford

Amane used his free hand to position himself before using all his energy to throw Kaida into Yukari's attack, during which the ground break even more. The sharp row of teeth pricked his feet making him grunt. He had about enough, shortly the brute began feeling weightless. He pushed off the ground with his arm and began floating into the air weightlessly. His foot was unlodged but the blood leaked profusely out of his foot. Amane began floating towards the stage lights near the ceiling. Out of reach as he pinpointed his staffs location, they were barricading the door apparently. No matter all he needed was his weapon. Amane shifted his legs on the stage light so that he could push off the ceiling and bounce into the wall. If he still had his armor he would have just went for a vertical shot into the ground but with no gear he would just break his bones. Amane then ejected himself from the wall and into the top of his staff, boot first.

His foot knocked the staff out of its fixed position along with Yukari's body into the air spinning. Amane continued, into the ground sliding on both feet. His unarmed foot staining the floor with blood, the boy grimaced before. He held out his right hand summoning the same black orbs from earlier.

Defensive position!

The black balls made a triangle formation defending Amane in all directions, any who dared coming close and attacking recklessly would be eviscerated by the carnivorous vacuums. It was better he have his staff or else,

Someone might suffer fatal injuries.

Dulga has seen enough. Enough to know how Amane’s quirk worked, the intensity, it’s strength. So Dulga’s took the shot. The bullets curved due to the gravity of the black orbs, but Dulga had anticipated them. So they’d end up curving right into Amane regardless, two bullets striking each of his hands and three going to his chest and neck. Finally, a sixth shot that would either strike his nose or into his eye.

The bullets would strike before anyone would hear the gunshots. And by the time anyone could trace their origins, Dulga was gone.

Kaida had him. She was going to knock him out with this grab. Slamming him headfirst into the hard wood of the stage. But it didn’t happen. She suddenly was blinded by a bright light directed to her eyes… While not enough to really blind a normal eye, Kaida’s draconic eyes were back. They received about 10 times more light than a normal eye would, making it easy for her to see in the darkness. Much like night vision, the light blinded and hurt her eyes greatly. She screamed in pain as she covered her eyes with her free hand.

Giving Amane the time to grab her arm! Oh and he felt her scales as well! This was horrible. She couldn’t let anyone know, especially this creep her secret. She resisted him as best she could but with these thoughts flooding her mind and her eyes hurting, she couldn’t put up much of a fight. She was flung with his strength into Yukari, though she didn’t know it was her. She heard some gunshots and assumed it was from Dulga.

“You ok Yukari?” She asked as she tried to push herself up. Her eyes throbbing slightly and a black spot was in the center of her vision. Trying to use her peripheral to see. She leaned against the wall as she tried to blink, as if that would help. Her thoughts turned to Mina… that snobby stuck up of a girl. Why? Why would she do this?

Donny tasted blood but was dissatisfied that Amane managed to escape. He won’t be so lucky next time. As Amane was bouncing around the room Donny climbed his way back towards the ceiling, clinging from above and looking down. He could see Amane below him. And just as the gunshots rang out, Donny dropped his black cloak down from above Amane, followed by his warcry before scurrying down the wall. ”Eat Eat Eat!”

Yukari was surprised that Amane sensed her, but when she felt Kaida at her feet Yukari reacted just as quickly, cushioning her impact to catch her. Even when the staff was kicked with enough force to dislodge it, Yukari spun through the air gracefully and landed on her hands, staff still in hand, and she let Kaida down. Kaida asked if she was okay and Yukari nodded. ”I’m not hurt. How about you?” Taking out two ring cuffs Yukari tossed them in the direction she knew Amane was. Those black holes were giving her some odd vibrations. She couldn’t quite place them, but at the very least he was making it obvious where those holes were at. ”I have two more cuffs left. I need to make them count.”

[pkken]

Exercise 2 Climax

Amane kneeled down to catch his breath and survey the area. His plan was taking toll as the others began working together to take him down. A smile spread across his face,

“That's more like it...a challenge.” As long as they saw him as a threat they wouldn't call his bluff. Truth is he couldn't defeat all of them, not with the current battle conditions. He turned over to the dragon girl with a smile.

“Now look, that girl blinded you out of spite, my actions may have been far from righteous today but for someone who commits such acts and holds vengeance is just like all the other useless pros.”

He then faced Jett with a straight face, “She is tossing mud all over your efforts for the sake of her own pride. Maybe you can be of better use trying to talk her out of that ego. The next person may not be so forgiving”

Amane got to his feet, “all that power you have yet you're naive and too forgiving that'll be your dow-...”

He felt a sharp pain shoot up from his hands, it felt like someone drove a spear into them. The bullet easily sprained 2 of his his fingers and took the skin off his palms. The bullets that hit his chest were the least painful of since he had cushioning on his abdomen. Though they still hurt like hell leaving two welts on his right peck.

The bullet that hit his neck had to hurt the most, the rubber seamlessly struck the soft flesh causing Amane’s head to jolt towards the right. That last bullet heading for his face curves into his nose making it deformed, the bridge of his nose now bent up and towards the left.

The barrage of bullets were enough to bring Amane to his knees. He clenched his bruised neck with his bloody hands. “Hiding in the shadows now?” Amane looked up and saw a something dropping down though he knew for sure that wasn't shooter. The direction the bullets came from weren't from directly above.

Amane made gestures with his sprained fingers to send one of his orbs to intercept the cloak. The black hole made light work the the cloth, shredding it to pieces in seconds leaving nothing but dust. The boy began coughing up blood from the impact and his body straining itself. He was at his limit for sure but he couldn't drop dead now without a lasting finale.

The avian man was watching everything from above. Not just the fight, but the talk as well. Sure, he was to some degrees, right, but it did little to sooth Acion’s anger. Defeating one’s opponent is a fighter’s duty. But humiliating one’s opponent directly and deliberately is not the act of a warrior nor a hero, but an ignoble and despicable man. He’d had enough. He would not just be battling this guy physically, no no. He was gonna battle him idealistically. He was gonna show him where that ideology would go.

But then came the physical. The knight was having his orbs protecting him with that gravitational pull that he had. Close quarter combat would be impossible. His only chance would be to deal ranged attack to him. But unlike Dulga, Acion cannot control the precise trajectory of his projectiles, so his only hope would be to attack in great mass, and hope that a few of them would do damage to him.

And so he did. From the high ceilings, he initiated his all too familiar feather hailstorm, pulling out a little near to him that he could feel the gravitational pull from his orbs.

The feathers dug into his chest and arms, the boy winced as he looked up.“I thought i said I would save you for last.” His clothes were now becoming stained with his own crimson fluid though he was rather calm after getting impaled. Even though this was training there was a lot of tension in the air.

Everyone was fighting with purpose, it was much more satisfying to battle actual people over brain dead ones.

Amane enlarged on of the orbs pulling Acion down into speaking distance.

“Hey birdie. *cough cough*”

His flight path was all of a sudden disrupted by an unprecedented force. While his wings were able to counter the pulling force of his orb, he was more or less defenseless. But for some reason, the guy that he, along with so many others, desired to see taken down, did not attack. Maybe he couldn’t attack, or he was toying with him.

”I would be the last anyway. Or at least for you. This would be the furthest you could go.” He said as he crossed his arms in front of him. ”But isn’t this nice? A man who was proactively and aggressively beating up people to the point of humiliation was actually making conversation with me.”

Blood began leaking out of his mouth and down his chin as he coughed. “Yeah it's nice alright, but Wouldn't you say that I had this coming? Extreme measures needed sometimes, especially when that person is stubborn.” His voice wasn't hostile anymore, maybe the loss of blood was finally starting to get to him. “Teamwork happens best when there is a common threat.”

”I don’t disagree.” He said, looking at the visible injuries on him. Common threat, huh? Was he so noble to play the villain for everybody to deal with, so that they could actually work together as a team? Probably, but humiliation should be in no way a method. ”But your action did not say out loud your intention to play the villain, but rather your true personality.” His voice got harsher. ”Did you really believe that taunting and humiliating your opponent would show that you are trying to implement extreme measures?”

”The girl may be stubborn as I had seen, but the fact that you continued even after she was finished only served to say that you were not any better. Teaching a person should not involve the breaching of one’s humility.”

Amane began laughing before being abruptly stopped by his own coughing. “I taunt because they taunted me. It's rude to not fight your foe with 100% effort. Sure I roughed her up, I gave her a chance to stay out of things after the first time. She didn't stay down but instead tried to fight me again despite being in critical condition so I did attempt to put her out cold all for the greater good. Despite that she got back up and intervened in another fight…

Though this time out of spite for that white haired brute. That blonde sabotaged her for whatever reason. Wouldn't you have just incapacitated her since she was only putting others in more danger? If it wasn't for her I'd probably be out of your hair right now and we wouldn't be talking like this.”

“And sure my methods aren't the best way to teach this but it has been effective thus far. If I didn't pose a real threat then this would have ended up up exactly like that shit show you guys call your first exercise. You all should thank me for this lesson, a gift from the future number 1 hero.”

The winged man halted his speech as the guy was speaking his mind. To some degree, he was right. Stubbornness without direction was a recipe for disaster. For a hero it was even worse. But was calling someone worthless was just despicable and puerile. He may just outright beating her out cold, sure, no one would complain. However, telling someone to abandon their dream because of one’s perspective is just as ignoble and bad as any villain. ”That is just wicked. I understand it would be rude to deny an effort. I wouldn’t be saying that the blonde girl was acting with courtesy either, or tactically, in both perspectives. But look at yourself. You are elevating yourself to a position so high that you think you can dictate a person’s life. That you can say whatever you want to a person, do whatever YOU think is right to them and expect them to thank you for it. Did you think you are a god? Forcing your own parochialism into someone else is by no means good.”

Amane looked up at Acion with vengeful eyes. He had s lit enough of this guy telling him how to live. Every has been talking to him like that since his quirk manifested. Living in the shadow of a legend and being forced to live up to their expectations. A weight being so heavy that you can't even breath or move. He was sick of that shit.

“Story of my fucking life”

That pulled the trigger.

”Is that your reasoning? Fine.” The avian man suddenly snapped his head to look at others, anyone aside from Amane. This guy. He didn’t care. He didn’t care what the hell this guy had been through. The fact that he tasted the bitterness of his fucking life so much that he grew to adopt it to his own life philosophy and action placed him well below the line. Acion had had to live up people’s expectation. Aurelia too. They both drifted apart because of that little thing that people thought it would be harmless not to do. And yet did they show prejudice to other people because of that? Perhaps he did, or his sister. But they both moved on, they knew how bad they had been. They saw it. And they fixed it. And they were angered at themselves, ashamed of what they had been. But he did not. He knew he was suffering under that, but did nothing to improve it. He embraced it. Embraced the wickedness

With a clear voice, he shouted out to the people in the auditorium.

”You’ve all heard what he said!” He said, turning back to Amane. ”Story of his life! I show sympathy for whatever shit you put up with. But that is no reason to embrace the ideals that had driven YOU to suffer. Just because someone had suffered so much doesn’t mean he should be causing the same amount of suffering to others. Not to mention a hero that you so proudly claim yourself to be!”

The winged man then turned to look at his enemy, with the eyes that was pounding on him with judgement.

”You say it yourself, that a hero that holds vengeance is nothing but useless. But from our perspective that is what fuels you. A vengeance held against life. As a result, you will not be able to teach us anything without it.” He said, loudly again. ”We know you are trying to teach us about life, but if you use hate and resentment to achieve it, you have already failed.”

”Now, for the sake of everyone present, your story shall end right here.” Fueled with the same anger that he used to convey the message to him, and perhaps everybody else, his wings flapped mightier than before, soon overwhelming the gravitational pull that Amane had put on him. Released from his orbs, he travelled in a parabolic arc and landed outside the area of effects that the knight had. ”I will teach you, again, the true consequences of deliberately going against the public.”

“Well it doesn't matter now, this is my last attack, let's hope you can protect yourself 1-A” the boy said clasping his hands together. The handcuffs that yukari had thrown kept them glued and inseparable but it didn't matter much to restrain him now. The 3 orbs began spinning around him rapidly to the point where it looked like he had a blank ring circling around his body. The magnetic pull around Amane began growing stronger, loose debris slowly began moving towards the guy as his gravitational strength increased

Dulga reloaded her rifle, putting the empty magazine into a pouch as she looked around the room. There were a bunch of holes in the floor, likely Donny’s work, someone was at the back of the room. Two maybe three people, Luelle and Mina at least. Acion was being pulled in by Amane’s gravity powers. Jett was knocked out on the ground. She saw something crawling down the wall, probably Donny. And Mamoru was standing off to the side. Amane and Acion were exchanging some words so as they were talking, Dulga doled out orders. ”Everyone, get moving. Kaida, Yozakura, go secure the other sin this room. I’m pretty sure there are a few people at the rear in a upper room overlooking this place. Akasha, deal with Amane’s black holes.”

Feeling the gravity powers tugging her cloak towards him, Dulga stepped away and took a knee, bracing herself as she leveled her shotgun at Donny. Her rifle was aiming towards the doors. And her other hands were holding her in place. ”On my mark. Three…. Two…. One…. Go.”

Yukari held the communicator close to her ear when she heard Dulga telling her to secure the others. ” Secure the others? What does that even mean?” Yukari wasn’t sure what Dulga meant, but if she was letting Mamoru do anything, something big must be happening. Listening carefully, Yukari tried to figure out where the others might be and that’s when she heard very faint breathing. Almost as if… Someone was asleep. Or unconscious. That’s when Yukari remembered that Jett had fought Amane. Why was he fighting here in the first place? Didn’t he already take a beating before? Now he overdid it. ”Kaida, I’m going to go get Jett before something crazy happens!” Putting the cuffs away Yukari ran over to Jett to grab him.

Kaida was still dealing with the effects of the blinding when Amane was talking to her, suddenly stopping when he was shot. Soon after though dulga told them to secure and get away from Amane. She wouldn’t argue… she still had a blind spot really...but before she could react Yukari said she was going to get Jett. Her face flushed at the thought of holding Jett and she quickly shook her head...as if the blind girl could see it. “N-n-no Ill get him! I can carry him more easily..” She said as she fumbled over nothing to get to Jett first. Acion was going on about something which was fine with her as she wanted to get Jett and get away. He tried to give a speech mid battle which only made her roll her eyes...she read cheesy books….and it was soooo cheesy to go into a monologue mid battle that it was almost cringe worthy.

She sheathed her sword and managed to grab Jett’s right side and started to lift him up. Jett moaned a little at the movement, his head rolling to the side.

”Ah! Wait!” Yukari arrived to Jett’s side, managing to grab him from underneath his arm just as Kaida started lifting him up. ”I can take him somewhere safe, you need to stay here and help protect Dulga-san! I… I’m not going to be much use in a fight, but I can at least take Jett somewhere where he won’t get hurt.” Yukari tried to take Jett over her shoulder, though she buckled underneath the weight of his body and equipment. But she wasn’t down yet. Even if she was going to have a hard time with it, she could try to carry him to the rooftop and put him somewhere far away, so whatever happens here at the auditorium Jett doesn’t end up getting caught in it.

“I can’t do much of anything either! That idiot Mina blinded me and I have a black spot in the middle of my vision now…I'll only get in the way. “ She pulled back with ease, causing Jett to flop back over onto her. While Yukari was seven inches taller than her, Jett literally flopped onto her shoulder, but it didn’t look like she was effected. While she was sure she pulled Yukari somewhat onto her as well. She flushed as his face was so close to hers. “Besides I can get him away faster….”

Yukari felt Jett’s weight off her shoulder and back onto Kaida, but Yukari kept a tight grip on him and shook her head. ”Maybe you can, but there are going to be more people coming into the auditorium soon. If they find you, they’ll attack you and you’ll be too busy protecting Jett to protect yourself. Stay here with Dulga and Mamoru so they can protect you, I can get jett away and be back before it’s too late!” Yukari said as her voice started to rise. She just wanted to get Jett out of here quickly so she can help out her team, but Kaida wasn’t making this easy for her. ”Besides I…. I’m the reason why he’s like this. This is the least I can do for him!”

Kaida shook her head vigorously. “I can-”

Jett groaned at this point at being moved around. His body was screaming in pain from all the injuries he received… But he wasn’t….fully awake. “Ladies…” He mumbled…”There's plenty of me to go around…” he said as he was dreaming of something completely different.

She couldn’t help it. Yukari had a bit of a giggle when she heard Jett talking. Not only because he was okay but apparently he still had time for jokes. But this was still serious, so she kept a tight grip around Jett’s shoulder. ”Whatever is going to happen, it’s going to be big. Kaida-san you’re…. You’re stronger than me. You can protect yourself. The least I can do is save Jett. Please.”

Kaida smiled when Jett mumbled under his breath. Despite the obvious wounds on him, he still tried to put a smile on their faces… She looked at Yukari, and was glad that she was blind for a moment… or she would have seen a very Jealous Kaida. She didn’t want Yukari to have a moment with Jett when he woke up in her arms. She saved him...she should be there when he does wake up...

The orbs circling his body began spinning faster and faster until a large orb came into view, “At this rate you all will be torn to pieces.” His hands were still cuffed together but he didn’t care at all. Soon lose debris was kicked up into the air before being succed into the vacuum, the more objects it pulled in the bigger in mass it would grow. It was pulling anything and everything towards it including the students who were slowly being pulled into it slowly. The gravitational pull was strengthening and soon Jetts lifeless body was being affected by it. His head and feet were starting to gyrate towards it, if the girls weren’t holding him back he would have been airborne by now.

Kaida thought that Jett was getting up...however it was when his feet started to float up as well she knew it was a problem. She pulled him tightingly against her chest, so his face was against her shoulder. While this did not stop his feet from floating up, she was strong enough to hold him back. She didn’t know how to fight that black hole, and she didn’t want to test it out right now. “What ever. Yukari we need to get back now.” She said as she jumped off the stage and ran as fast as she could with Jett.

Yukari could hear the strange but powerful thing behind her. All jokes dropped as she ran alongside Kaida and Jett, trying to maintain her footing as the block hole was sucking her closer. Yukari was so lightweight that she could feel the force pulling on her back. ”Let’s get out of here!”

”That goddamn bastard” Acion cursed as he was slowly being pulled to the orb. ”Is he trying to go for a suicide move?” Quickly, while his feet was slowly leaving marks on the floor, he still remembered what he had up his sleeves. He quickly delved his wings into the ground while crouching to maintain a low center of gravity, his hair blowing by the intense force. He had to increase friction! Also, he turned to his team. ”That orb is the main central power. Take it out if you can! If not, take your cover!”

“You preach to me because of my power. If I didn't possess such strength you wouldn't give a shit about me or my reasoning. You’ll never know my life.”

The principal was viewing everything going on with a rare look on his face, he was worried. “He will collapse the building at this rate. If I don't intervene there could be casualties”. The old man ran out the building with much more vitality then you’d expect from someone his age.Dammnit Amane, what the hell has gotten into you. Mr.Hisakawa exited the watch tower and began flying towards the auditorium with urgency.

”Blah blah blah. You guys talk too much! Let your actions speak for you!” Mamoru moves around, stepping between Amane’s growing black hole and her team. ”A hero puts their lives on the line while villains risks others. All you’ve done is act like a bad villain and a worse hero. Let me show you how it’s done!”

Making sure that her own teammates weren’t about to get caught in the black hole Mamoru jumped towards it, extending one hand and readying a strike with the other. The black hole pulled her in fast and was shredding her arm, blinding her with her own flesh and blood. But she knew what she needed to hit so she didn’t need to see anything. When she was close enough threw a punch. Right before her fist would hit the black hole, Mamoru summoned her shield instantly. Unlike her hand which was getting mangled her shield remained indestructible as it smashed right into the eye of Amane’s slashing ball of death.

The gravity well grew to the size of a giant beach ball and was stirring up the auditorium like a vicious cyclone, the pressure that was being placed on the foundation of the building began shaking it violently. Chairs began lifting up from their fixed positions and were flung around the room before being pulled into the black hole. Suddenly the pink haired girl began advancing towards him shouting nonsense in which he scoffed at. Her belief that you become a hero through great sacrifice was wrong in the approach she took. A hero isn’t a hero purely because of sacrifice.

“You’re views on heroes and villains is severely naive, keep thinking that way and your life will be a short one.”

Suddenly she jumped, she really jumped.

Amanes eyes widened as she leapt at him, it was too late for him to try and mitigate any damage as the black hole had grown too powerful to stop on a whim. Idiot! This girl is really really dumb! He buddy was immediately sucked into the ball of destruction, the vacuum began ripping away at her flesh.

“You idiot! Do you know what you are even doing!!?” The boy could feel the black hole growing unstable from the reaction of organic matter. After this excursion she would probably pass out from all the blood loss as it was violently ripping pulling the blood out of her body with the strength that was built from it. Suddenly something odd, a concussive blow was dealt to the well sending cracks coursing through it. A purple glow emanated from it following a high pitched screech that only grew louder as it become even more unstable. It felt like time itself had slowed down, the gravity well was now a large bomb and Amane was in point blank range with no defense whatsoever.

Yet this guy gladly accepted his fate, he simply closed his eyes and let the universe do the rest.

Amidst all the chaos in the auditorium, Ruby was still near the wall and keeping herself up by her sword. Just a few moments ago the insanely strong punch by Tomoe connected with the girl’s head and busted her open widely. Now that girl that hit Ruby was stumbling towards her, even if obviously injured. It wasn’t easy to spot her, she was still seeing doubles occasionally and her vision had a hard time focusing on the girl ahead. With heavy and deep breaths Ruby stood there, ready to attempt her best at defense any moment now, until suddenly, Tomoe threw something at her and then collapsed. That was… unexpected to say the least. Was Ruby’s blow enough to finish her off? It was rather quickly and with all of her strength after all. Maybe, it was just enough to knock her off. Before Ruby could finish that thought however, the body of the girl suddenly disappeared. Since she still felt dizzy, she did not think too much of it since she thought it just might be related to her quirk. Nonetheless, it was quite creepy and the catgirl thought she just heard some voice whisper to her… must be her imagination.

With her threat seemingly defeated, the catgirl deemed herself victorious in her most difficult battle so far and then leaned against the wall only to slowly slide down onto her bottom. Where she was, sitting up against the wall amongst many pieces of debris, destroyed parts of the auditorium, she was somewhat out of sight from everyone else. They were busy fighting so she didn’t very much fear being attacked. Right now, her bleeding wound needed to be attended to. The red fluid was flowing down her face from the top of her head, even dripping down her chin, she surely couldn’t keep going for long if she lost that much blood. Observing the odd ribbon that was thrown to her by Tomoe, she was about to attempt to create a makeshift bandage.

Hitomi, upon returning to the auditorium, found the door firly closed and locked. She rammed it but it still wouldn’t open. There was too much give for it to be Ruby’s barricade, but still her horns should be able to make short work of a lock. The door must be braced with something. Hitomi looked around, and entered via a window near the roof, using her grappling gun. Lowering herself gently to the floor, she looked around. Nobody had noticed her. They were also too busy fighting. Hitomi knew that while the point was being openly contested, she didn’t need to fight. That’s Game Theory; Wait for the fight to end, and then beat the winner.

She spotted Ruby against the wall, seemingly out of it, and immediately felt guilty for abandoning her teammate for the sake of modestly. She was currently wearing trainers, boy’s gym shorts, and a cheerleading top, all pilfered from the school’s locker room. The sheep girl approached Ruby, and crouched down, before she could see close up the extent of the cat girl’s injury.

”Ruby, your head!” She exclaimed. ”What happened?”

Ruby soon heard a voice, and it was a familiar one. `What a relief! Hitomi, who was seemingly more or less uninjured, had come back. A teammate was exactly what Ruby needed in that moment. Upon being asked what happened, Ruby replied quickly.
“I… I was being careless.” Looking at the blade which was leaning against the wall next to her, she raised one arm to the same level as her head. The catgirl turned her head to face Hitomi and then gave her a thumbs up with the raised arm. “I won though.”

Despite everything, Ruby gave Hitomi a confident smirk. This was not the moment to be pessimistic, she didn’t want to destroy any morale that Hitomi might have had. The neko’s voice was being rather quiet, she didn’t want to waste any energy on talking. At the same time though, her brown cloak was slowly gaining a new color; red. She lifted the ribbon that was left to her by Tomoe and showed it to Hitomi. “Could you… perhaps help me with that?” With her other hand she pointed at the wound on her head, which was basically on her forehead but it went a bit further up on top of it too.

Hitomi nodded without wasting any words, took the ribbon from Runy’s hand, brushed her sticky hair away from the wound and then tied the ribbon around an entire side of her face, tying it tightly at her jaw. ”That should hold until you get back to the nurse’s office. We should go there now, though. That wound looks nasty and winning an exercise isn’t worth ignoring it.” said Hitomi, who was still very unaware of the curse of the Hero’s ego.

“Thank you very much.” The catgirl claimed. Even after hearing the worried Hitomi talk about going to the nurse’s office, understandably so, Ruby just wordlessly grabbed her sword at the handle and used it to push herself upwards and actually stand up. Not facing the sheepy, Ruby just stared off into the distance where fights were still going on. (Edgy I know :3)
“Now is not the time to rest. We have something to prove!... Though I guess letting them fight is optimal for us. Should we hold back for a while, sheepy?”
Whether it was due to her injury or everything else that was going through her mind, but the catgirl actually forgot her teammate’s name. She was too embarrassed to admit it though so she just played it off as if she used a nickname.

”That was my plan,” Hitomi answered, stand up herself, and watching members of other teams fight it out, while they just stood there like buzzards waiting for the carcass. Well, more like a cat and a ewe….waiting for a….metaphors were hard.. After a pause, she turned to Ruby again. ”’Sheepy’?”

Staring confidently into the distance, Ruby didn’t even dare to face Hitomi when she asked about the name. “C..Codenames! Or would you rather give me your official hero name?” Chatting nonchalantly like this after everything Ruby was just put through was exactly what she needed. She could put her mind at ease and regain her concentration for the final confrontation that would surely occur soon.
“If it keeps going like this we will win for sure…”

The two girls would hear footsteps advancing quickly to their locations. Roy had finally made it to the point of contest. Better severely late than never. He heard the familiar voices and smiled under his mask.

“If we are going to choose code names I want you two to chose for me” a black boot appeared from out the corner. Trailing it was their own teammate.

Roy looked at both Ruby and Hitomi with a surprised face, “Were you always wearing that Hitomi. His eyes then panned over to the cat girl and his jaw dropped. The blonde clasped both hands on his face mask and his voice raised.

“RUBY you look like you had it rough!”

Roy was one to talk, his cloak was bombarded with holes. Sleeves slashed and caked with dirt and blood. Mask was partially cracked, a hole in his left boot and many more problems going on.

“Sorry I'm late, are you two alright?”

Hitomi smiled when she saw Roy. ”I’m okay. My costume got shredded, though. That was embarrassing. What about you? You look quite beaten up yourself! And where’s JoJo?”

With Roy’s arrival their team was almost complete now. The catgirl turned her head to face Roy and inspected his body after he mentioned her injury. “You’re one to talk though:”
She simply stated. Turning her head back to the action that was occuring at the other end of the auditorium, the catgirl continued to speak after Hitomi answered.
“I assume you had a good reason why you couldn’t be here… as you see, it has become quite chaotic.”

Roy's head dipped down when the question of jojos whereabouts came up. It was tough to tell his teammates the truth and keep the mood up at the same time. Isshins words of encouragement bounced around his head as.

“A lot happened, once you guys left I fought with Acion and thwarted him off though we both suffered sole injuries...Jojo came back to get me but we were outnumbered and outgunned by team D.”

The blonde balled his hand into a fist so tight that you could hear the material on his gloves stretching. “Jojo suffered serious injuries… and team D spared me out of pity…”

He gave a brief moment of silence before moving up, “I don't plan on losing though. It would make the tribulation JoJo is going through meaning less.” Roy stood over the two, he was scared but also determined. All 3 of them were not exactly in the best physical shape but they were all linked mentally.

“I'm sorry for my absence, you guys just have had it rough while I was gone so I'll take frontline from here on out.” The led lights on his clothes pulsated yellow, he was ready to fight. Despite only recently meeting these two girls he felt oddly close to them in a way. They survived this long against the other brutes, he had to prove he has what it takes as well.

Hitomi chuckled weakly and stepped in front of him. [ffdd99]”I can see you’re raring to go, Roy, but wouldn’t it make more sense to wait for the current fight to end and beat the winners while they’re at their weakest?”[/color]

Nodding to Roy after hearing what happened to JoJo, the catgirl could further only agree with Hitomi. “We all had it rough in one way or another. Even though we are only 3; let us make sure we stand on top of the exercise.”
Lifting up her sheathed sword Ruby held it upwards with her right arm so that it leaned on her shoulder
“Though speaking of the battle…”
The black-haired one did notice how her cloak was being pulled towards the epicenter of the battle and the pull there was becoming stronger and stronger, kind of like a building storm. “we should be careful about whatever is going on there…”

The auditorium began shaking violently around the group, immediately Roy held his hand against the wall for support as he kept close to his teammates incase anything happens. “Something big is about to happen, it's best we stay close to maximize our defence.” The blonde crouch down with the others, “How are we on capture time though?”

”Well, answered Hitomi, ”nobody else has held the point uncontested besides us, at all. I’d say we’ve won, unless something goes very, very wrong.”

A bright light shone from the gravity wells core until it completely enveloped the whole room leaving no corner of the auditorium dark.

KABOOM!

The destructive ball erupted launched table sized chunks of debris in all directions dealing great damage to the infrastructure, thanks to Donny’s tunneling the floor began caving in under creating a large sinkhole around the center of the detonation. Mamoru was launched through multiple walls until she flung outside the building. Light leaked in from outside following Mamorus destructive flight path, the brightness was enough to fully illuminate the room.

At the center of the blast was a large crater, what laid inside was a battered, beaten, and bloody boy. The feathers that Acion had shot at him was lodged deep inside his chest to the point where all that could be seen was the silver ends of the tips. He laid still with his amber eyes looking straight at the ceiling of the auditorium as it slowly became undone and prepared to crash into the students below. Though his eyes open Amane was unconscious from the damage done to him the upper portion of his clothing was destroyed in the blast. His muscles had long slash marks lining them that for sure was going to scar, his face also had similar slash marks going along the lining of his jaw and on his cheeks. The cuffs that had been around his hands were still around his wrists but they were pretty much destroyed from the blast. He was not getting up after that one

For the rest of the students in the auditorium they would have to worry about the roof the could collapse on them in any minute as well as the walls that were crumbling. Those who were significantly closer to the blast would be in mucher greater danger from the flying debris as well as the shockwave that could easily take them off their feet if not prepared.

”Dear God…” He growled as the force pulling him in got more and more powerful. At this rate, everything was going to be destroyed, sucked into oblivion. He had to stop him. Somebody had to stop him.

His hair was blowing fluffily in the wind. His eyes barely opened as debris and wind intensity built up. But through that narrow and unclear vision, he could see a tinge of pink coming straight for him, for Amane. Pink hair, recklessness. Who else could it be?

”Oh crap…” Acion had to rely entirely on his wings to save his life here. His six powerful, sharp, strong and heavenly wings. It had carried him through thousands of wind, it had helped him taken down adversaries, it had shielded him from danger. Now he would have to rely on them again. But if he do this, he would be susceptible to the pull. The black holes were pulling in, while that Mamoru was trying to sabotage it. If she succeeded, then, conceptually and instinctively to Acion, it would reverse the effect, resulting in a massive push, or simply an explosion. Or it may strengthen the effect, pulling everybody into it. No matter which cases, he had to shield himself at the right time. He could not shield up now, he would lose grip. He had to wait until the actual event occurs, and then he would shield himself. But he had to do it quickly

In this scenario, it was the former case: a massive explosion. The sudden reverse of force was the perfect indication. He hastily shielded himself, as he let physics do the rest of the work. His body was flung away violently until a concrete wall stopped his momentum. But he did not go all the way not to receive any damage. Despite hurryingly raise the shield, he was still hit in the head by a debris the size of a football. His neck was also hurt from the impact, on the while his armor was in peril. One more hit then the broken armor could potentially backfire on him. Taking a few seconds to figure out whether he was alive or not, he found out that his head was bleeding. The blood went across the forehead, covering his eyes. His legs were twitching. He might have hit it somewhere too, or that he was just too pained in other parts to power the legs.

But the danger was not over yet. He would be damned if he said that the whole building would be ok after this explosion. The wall was crumbling. The structure was severely damaged. He had to get out before this became his burial ground. Seeing that some were already evacuating, he was about to do so. But he halted. If he left now, what about those in the auditorium that couldn’t. This was not a worthy place to die. It was just an exercise, and they were merely students. He had to get them out.

The first person in mind that may not have the ability to walk out would be that despicable guy Amane. Acion desperately tried to fly to that point. Two of his wings were broken as well now, but he managed, savagely. He landed at the bottom of the crater, his legs were on the brink of giving in. The guy was unconscious. No surprise. Quickly, he crouched down, grabbed one of his arm and threw it over Acion’s shoulders. And then he stood up, carrying Amane with him out of the crater. The exit seemed so far away…

As Ruby was standing at the other side of the auditorium with her two remaining teammates, the slowly built up pull by whatever Amane had planned only slowly started to affect them. Once it did however, all three of them began to crouch in anticipation. Whatever had been going on in the fight was much of a mystery to them, Hitomi and Roy had just joined and Ruby had a fight of her own. Seeing this threatening image in front of them the whole time during their conversation surely set the mood. Finally though, something happened.

Someone decided to jump straight into this weird energy that seemed to be surrounding the boy in the middle, and the results were devastating. Immediately an explosion erupted from the source of it all, knocking everything in its path away and throwing dangerous debris towards everyone inside the auditorium. There was little time to act, so Ruby had to react immediately. She turned around to face both her teammates, and as quickly as she could opened her arms together with her cloak to pull both of them into a rather tight embrace, hugging them close and wrapping them up in the fabric then putting it into stasis, if she was able to grab them.
“Hold still!” She said while everything the explosion threw towards them bounced off her cloak-shield with hopefully both of them secured beneath it

Using the time wisely, the team caught they're breath as they awaited for their time to strike. Roy's heart was beating fast as his nerves were racking. Victory was close for sure and he didn't want to mess things up like he did last time. He lifted up his helmet slightly revealing his nose and lips so that he could take in the somewhat fresh air. Breathing through that mask after a while gets a bit uncomfortable

The explosion startled the blond a bit.he wasn't expecting such destruction so suddenly. Without knowing he instinctively activated his quirk with no clue of what to construct. Suddenly he an arm wrap around his collarbone as he was pulled into a an tight hug that was motherly in a way.

“..U-h…”

He stopped himself before making things awkward. Roy didn't realize what Ruby was doing until her cloak hardened around the two. Hitomi was also reeled into the tight embrace as well which made his heart beat even faster. He could hear the cloak being pelted with chunks of broken flooring.

Donny had managed to avoid a vast majority of the damage done by Amane by hiding underground. The auditorium’s floor collapsed and the rest of the building may come soon after. Donny knew where this was going to lead to so his team needed to go, fast. ”Guys we g-g-g-gotta go. This place is unstable, w-w-worse than what I was doing!” Donny went to make a quick exit for Haruka and Luelle, but stuck around looking for Acion. Donny know Acion was in the thick of it so he’s no doubt badly wounded. ”A-Acion, are you o-o-okay?”

Meanwhile Mamoru was laying in a heap a couple of feet outside of the auditorium, bleeding heavily from her arms. If she didn’t have her armored gloves, she might not even have hands. Though what was left was still mangled and bleeding profusely. But what was perhaps more terrifying than Mamoru’s bleeding and battered form was her face; eyes open, blood from the every orifice, and a wide, wicked smile of audacity.

Then a very faint, very soft chuckle from her lips.

”What are you grinning about?” came and icy yet weak and croaky voice from beside her. Mina had been crawling away as soon as the building started shaking, and before anybody could ‘rescue’ her. She didn’t need rescuing, and thank god nobody tried as she’d never forgive them for it. That didn’t stop her from being hit by several pieces of falling debris, thankfully nothing too big, but everything hurt. No change there, then. The petite, usually pretty girl was in an even worse shape than Mamoru after Amane’s assaults.One of her eyes was swollen. Her face and the front of her dress were caked in dried claret, already starting to turn from red to burgundy. Her legs were bare due to the damage done to her dress, and they were covered in dust, open cuts, and bruises.

Mr.hisakawa touched down at the destruction site with a stern look on his face. The first person he saw was Mamoru who was bleeding profusely from her body. The principal bowed his head slightly, before pulling his watch over to his face. The device also doubled as his form of communicating with the teachers and students.

“This exercise is over due to the point of contest being destroyed. If you are incapacitated we will come to you. Please sit tight in the meantime, Isshin and Master Croc gather any students you see” He turned his gaze to Mamoru who had a smile spread across her face. “Help is coming soon hang on tight”

He could hear the grass rustling to his left seeing a blonde girl, she was equally just as battered as Mamoru was. The man struggled to contain his anger as he walked forward towards Mina, “I oughtta murder that boy, so helpmegod.”

He entered the broke building via the hole in the wall, his gravity veil protecting him from any debris. “Your principal is here, listen carefully. If you can walk follow this path outside. If not sit tight and I will carry you out!” He looked around at the inside of the building as debris kept on crashing down around him. Mr.Hisakawa held out one hand and activated his quirk causing the broken chunks of the building to be frozen in the air. The principal made his way over to the giant crater, his expression anything but pretty.

He was disappointed in his grandson for sure, the kid was lucky that he knocked himself out. “I'll deal with you later.” The old man watched as Acion carried him out towards the jeep. “Thank you for the help Acion but I think all of you deserve a nice break after this fiasco. Knowing when to let another pro who is better suited for the task take the reigns is all part of the job.” He walked deeper into the building to find Roy, Hitomi, Ruby, and Dulga.

“ Ms.Mamoru,Mr.Kusayanagi, Ms.Maeda, Ms.Tatara! I am here to take you back!”

Just as quick as the blast had occurred, it was already over. It was a loud, almost deafening noise, especially for Ruby’s very sensitive ears. All she could hear moments after was a loud ringing noise, beeping out everything else around her. However, when looking up she was relieved seeing as she was able to protect both of her teammates with her stasis, meaning that they survived the blast uninjured. While everything around them clearly showed the damages of the large-scaled blast, Ruby and her comrades didn’t even seem phased by it. They didn’t move an inch and when she released the stasis the cloak dropped down to the position on her back.
The catgirl followed this by turning around, looking at the insane destruction behind them, the point was surely and fully destroyed. Luckily for them, they were so close to the wall that the crater didn’t reach them where they were and they could stand relatively savely. “We… we are still standing… Team C is still going!” She said exhaustedly.

He could hear some of the rubble moving in the North east corner of the auditorium followed by some shouting. A sigh of relief was released from his body now that he knew they were alright. The man took a effortless leap which propelled him over the crater and towards the trio. All 3 of them looked like they had been through hell, especially Ruby and Roy. Those two could drop dead any moment. Once he reached the peak of his jump he began slowly descending down to the ground in front of the group.

“I'm glad you 3 are alright…” he took a deep sigh before moving on with what else he had to say. “The three of you fought rather valiantly despite the circumstances. Let's hurry and get you all patched up, those battle wounds could get nasty if they aren’t treated immediately.”

WIth the ringing in her ears still persistent Ruby looked a little dumbfoundedly at the principle that had just appeared in front of them. Since she couldn’t understand, Ruby thought that he wanted to get them out of there since they were so injured. After all, she wore a blood-stained ribbon that was used as a makeshift bandage around her upper head, and blood was coating most of her face because of the severe head injury. There was no way to get her to quit though, since she barely has any other injuries and she was not too exhausted yet, though it was difficult to stand admittedly.
“P..principle! I can keep going… I don’t need to stop yet!”

“I can’t allow you all to fight anymore for today, the injuries that some of the students sustained today could have been fatal.” The soft and warm voice that he had was now replaced with a serious and stern one. He should have stopped this battle a long time ago, if he did then Mamoru Akasha and Amane would not be in such terrible shape. “I am sorry Ms.Mamoru but the exercise is over, we are heading back now.”

Mr.Hisakawa turned his back towards team C and began gesturing his fingers, soon enough the group of 4 would feel weightless as gravity was no longer affecting them. Gravity Yarl took a leap back over the crater with team C tailing him behind. After safely landing he peered over his shoulder to look at Ruby who was rather unhappy with ending the exercise.

“I would like to speak with you sometime over the course of the weekend so stop by my office in the afternoon on either day, for now I want you to rest up and regain your strength...is that clear Ms.Mamoru?”

Once they landed, the annoying noise in her ears was finally but slowly beginning to fade away so she could reply to what the principle had told her. However, in an effort to save energy, she merely nodded.

On their way over to the auditorium they picked up Tomoe and Ezras bodies who both were out stonecold, they were taking a nap near Team A’s starting point which made Isshin question why they decided to sleep at a time like this. They also managed to gather the rest of Team D as well who each were restless in their own sense.

Master croc and Isshin were outside tending to Mina and Mamoru who were in critical condition. His clones mended the Injured students wounds while the reptilian pro loaded them into a jeep to take them to kiwi. The croc carefully picked up Mina who seemed to have been conscious though she was sporting a rather devilish expression.

“Oi, that's a mean glare ya got” he could tell this girl was out for blood. After one of isshin's clones patched her up he placed her inside the jeep. Any kind of bickering or fighting she didn't would be fruitless since she didn't really have the strength to pierce the guys scales at this moment. All that was left was Amane and Jett then the incapacitated crew would be set for departure, the rest of the students would fly back with the principal once things were all said and done.

Kaida had gotten out just after the explosion, clinging to Jett like a little girl with an oversized teddy bear. So much had happened she was in a daze really, it looked like a warzone. She placed Jett in the jeep, then looked around for her teamates, Mamoru was in the Jeep, looking horrible from her encounter with the blackhole. So was Mina, who was still glaring at her. She made sure that Jett was on the Opposite side of the Jeep from her. Yukari was right behind her but where was Dulga? “DULGA!” She called out. For being a six foot tall amazon, she shouldn’t be that hard to miss.

When the explosion had struck, the only thing Yukari knew to do was hang on tight. She was crushed between Kaida and Jett, and whatever pleasure she might’ve felt was forgotten due to the danger of the situation. When the dust settled, Yukari slid out, utterly exhausted. Not physically, but emotionally. She knew that fighting was going to be draining, but hopefully fun. This… This wasn’t so fun. This was about as fun as running into traffic. Just dangerous all around. Yukari couldn’t give up of course, but it made her slightly jaded to future activities. Not only that but the explosion made Yukari’s ears ring painfully, disabling her from really hearing anyone. The room smelled of burn chairs and dust too, but she could make out specific scents too. Good thing she was holding onto Kaida’s sleeve as she walked out of the auditorium or else she might’ve gotten lost or stumbled into something dangerous. When she felt the jeep Yukari knew that the test was over. She hopped into the back and buckled up.

Two fists burst from the ground near the the front of the entrance. Out came Dulga, her weapons safely tucked away as she climbed out from the ground. When she saw Mamoru rush towards Amane, Dulga tried to pick up a section of the floor to shield her team, however the floor had already been extremely damaged and Dulga fell underground. There she found a tunnel after the floor above her collapsed, and then she was hearing Kaida yell for her name. Dulga had many cuts on her arm from the force of Amane’s explosion sending shrapnel towards her body, but she was okay otherwise. Dulga was already bandaging herself up when she approached the jeep. ”I’m fine, Kaida. How are the others?”

Kaida sighed as she saw Dulga approaching the Jeep and answered her, “ Mamoru is in bad shape but she is being taking to the nurse right now, Yukari is fine, but I think she is deaf again from that explosion. She’s in the Jeep.” her hand escaped from under her bedcloak and pushed her white hair over her ears. “I’m sorry I got distracted...Because of me we didn’t win…”

Dulga reached out and patted Kaida’s head. ”It’s fine Kaida. We’ll get them next time.” Dulga pulled her hood down and even took off her mask to get a breath of fresh air. Now that the fight was over she let herself relax and all the soreness in her body came back to her. She really went a bit overboard this time. Or perhaps, she needed to condition her body more. She was an excellent hunter sure, but when it came to actually fighting others she was lacking. Dulga looked up into the skies and knew that she needed to be a better fighter. Dulga looked to her teammates, even Mamoru who was knocked out, and gave them a rare unseen sight.

Dulga’s smile.

”We could all do better. But what we did today was excellent too. Even Akasha-san, as much as I disagree with her, did what I asked without hesitation. She’s foolish but she’s a good girl. With a lot more discipline she’ll be a real hero. Yozakura-san, you did your best despite what you were up against. Haven-san is more crafty than I thought. But you adapted well despite that. Flexible, aren’t you? And Kaida,” Dulga put her mask back on, but the smile was still seen in her eyes. ”You were very brave. Certainly, you’re not the princess who need saving. Rather… More like the knight who can rise up to the challenge.” Crossing her arms and closing her eyes Dulga decided to take a little nap to rest. She was sure that they’ll be back to class soon.

Hearing his teammate somewhat relieved him. ”I am still on my feet. I am glad to hear.” Acion replied as he kept carrying Amane out of the fray. Damn it. He was so heavy with that armor clad. He was afraid. Afraid that while he was doing all of this the roof would come crashing down upon him, burying him along with others still trapped inside alive. But then thankfully, the principal came. The Gravity Yarl. The old teacher had came for the assistance, as he held the whole structure together, preventing it from collapsing, for now, until the students left the area. Thank God…

He also did a favor by lifting Amane off of him, and granted him the privilege to rest. Such a gift after all that battle he had taken part in. Slowly, with an unsteady leg, he fled the battlefield. No victory, no defeat. Just scars of battle.

Seeing the teachers return to help the students out from the auditorium, Donny felt it was time to leave. But not with the rest of the class. He lost his disguise in the fighting, leaving him with only his mask. He didn’t want to reveal himself to the other students or teachers so once he was certain everything was safe he went back underground, tunneling out from the area back to his dorm where he’ll have extra meat bags to slip into. ”Acion, everyone, I’ll be b-b-b-back to class on m-my own. I uh, left s-s-something behind that I need to get.”

The principal made one last sweep of the auditorium making sure that everyone had left the building. Mr.Hisakawa nodded back to the other teachers before dropping his grasp on on the rubble. As he walked out the building crumbled behind him leaving a large heap of debris. “We will be returning to the school now, stick close to me and I will transport everyone.”

Isshin and Master croc took off early in the jeep once Amane was placed inside and they were immediately taken to Kiwi so their wounds could be treated.

@Feyblue@Aerandir@Artymis@Lucius Cypher@Silver Carrot@Conscripts@Noxx@liferusher@Ryonara@Eggs@Luna@Heartfillia@Norschtalen@Stale Pizza

[pkken]

Exercise 2 Aftermath

The action packed morning came to a close with the majority of class 1-A paying a visit to the nurses office. Because Mr.Hisakawa put the training to a halt, an official winner was never declared. Mamoru and Amane were the first ones to have their wounds treated due to their critical body conditions. They both would be left with multiple scars running up forearms once Kiwi was finished with them.

Jett sustained the least amount of damage compared to the other four. He was left with multiple bruises around his body along with a severely sprained ankle which had swelled up to the size of a basketball. With all the stress placed upon his body the migraines from his previous head Injury came back to haunt him over the course of the weekend.

Mina had been the most stubborn to treat, she was conscious and as long as she stayed that way she refused to take the time to properly treat her wounds fully until she had to be forcefully pinned down. On top of that she would look over at Amane periodically and look at him with such intense bloodthirst letting it be known that she hated the guy.

The injuries these four sustained would travel into next week for sure. As for the rest of class 1-A they would surely be back at 100% by Monday after resting properly over the weekend.

After the students were treated they all gathered in classroom 1-A to review some of the highlights from the much. Team D's battle with Master Croc was the first clip to be displayed on the screen and it seemed like once again Fumika was in the spotlight with her signature Haruka Kick and deceitful illusions which were both used on the pro hero. This also explained the reasoning behind Team D's absence at the point.

Mina and Kaidas emotional cat fight was next up on the loop, lucky for the dragon girl her clothing covered up her scales perfectly. The students would definitely come to the conclusion that Kaida had superhuman strength especially when the part came on where she shattered Amane's armor with a single blow.

The two support students who participated in the training exercise had gained some newfound popularity and interest from the students and teachers once they're impressive defense on the point was shown. Against the odds they managed to comeout with less injuries than one would expect.

Dulga also received some appraisal as well as constructive criticism on her leadership over Team B, because of her strongwilled personality she managed to keep her squad together and focused throughout the competition. As for how the match ended was something that they chose not to show the footage on because of the dramatic finish.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch with their first week at komei coming to a close.

Once Amane had came too he had received the scolding of a lifetime from Mr.Hisakawa. He suffered some pretty serious punishments that he had to pay the price for because of his actions, else he would be expelled. The kid would be on janitorial duty after school 7 days a week as a way to discipline him. It's pretty embarrassing to have to clean up after the same people you condemned. On top of that he was banned from any extra curricular activities. To add insult to injury couldn't use his quirk assist in his duties.

If he got in any kind of trouble again the guy would be expelled.

On the weekends when class is not being held, students were free to spend their time however they pleased. Majority of the kids would spend their time outside of school and exploring the town of Hosu. Others would spend their time training on their own, studying or taking a combat class being held by one of the staff members.

Tuesday, April 10th

That Monday and Tuesday the students would be surprised that Yoshida sensei decided to take things easy during the class period and hold the teachings inside. For the first full week they would focus on the introductory things, what exactly is a hero in today's society and what their job entails outside of dealing with criminals. Because they would be taking a short break on the physical exercises did not mean students could just lounge around. The hero course at Komei Academy places a lot of responsibility on their students from day 1. A pro must learn to balance their busy work life as well as their own personal life.

Outside of lunch, homeroom, and electives, the school day was no different from any other high school. Students were full of excitement and relief as they were moments away from being released from school. They kids chatted amongst each other as they shared their after school plans until they awaited for that final and most satisfying…

RIINNGGG!

@Feyblue@Aerandir@Artymis@Lucius Cypher@Silver Carrot@Conscripts@Noxx@liferusher@Ryonara@Eggs@Luna@Heartfillia@Norschtalen@Stale Pizza@Riegal@ReaptheMusic

[Silver Carrot]

Kasuke Mina

Mina was icier than usual today. ever since the exercise, people had showing sympathy towards her, due to what Amane did to her. She didn't need people bringing up Amane every ten seconds. She rather forget that chapter of her life entirely. And she REALLY didn't want anybody pitying her. Kasuke Mina was the most promising future Hero in the entire class, in her own head, at least. Amane had utterly destroyed her, in spirit and mind as well as body. Never in her entire life had her ego been damaged this much. She needed to prove herself.

That's when she had remembered Dulga's sparring offer. Dulga was one of the MVPs of that exercise, at least in Mina's opinion. She decided to cash in that sparring offer, against somebody worthy of her, and prove to herself any everybody else, that she was number one. After some searching of the school, Mina eventually found Dulga in a random corridor. Despite how recently she'd been bedridden and unable to move from her beating, despite her needing to use a zimmer frame the first day she was cleared, and despite fainting from exhaustion in the kitchen after she had been fully cleared, Mina still made the following challenge;

"Hey, Dulga. Remember when you said you'd like to spar one day? How does today sound?" she asked, in a voice that could not be described as friendly and would likely not take a refusal well.

@Norschtalen

---

Maeda Hitomi

Hitomi sat down on a bench in the courtyard, and sighed. Even without the physical side of things, Hero classes were still a lot more taxing that the Support classes, which now looked like arts and crafts by comparison. Even so, she got a giddy, happy feeling in her stomach from just thinking about that, and had to look at it again! She pulled from her vest a folded piece of paper, and opened it to read the contents again. It still seemed surreal to her, reading the letter which stated that she was now an official member of Hero class 1A!

Ever since the exercise, her and Ruby had been welcomed with open arms. They'd more than proven themselves as having earned their place by holding the point for so long with just the two of them, and though the whole exercise was declared a no contest, everybody knew that their team had technically won. It felt good to be praised and accepted like that. Of course, her fellow support classmates, even a few she'd called friends were less happy about it. Several of them actually had combat-suitable quirks that made them far stronger than Hitomi, and unlike her, it was their lifelong dreams to become a Hero. Hitomi's dream, it was well known, was always to work in costume manufacture, and indeed still was. Still, she was grateful, and honored, and having lost her old friends just meant they weren't real friends anyway. And besides, she was already making new ones. Tomoe and Ruby immediately sprung to mind,

As well as Acion...

She looked up at the sky, puzzled. Did it suddenly just get hotter?

---

Mako Akane

Amane would find, as he began his janitorial punishment today, that he had a visitor this time, in the form of the beautiful school secretary. The former Supervillain, Akane Mako, was standing in the hallway, watching him, smiling with her eyes closed in her usual sly, false saccharine way.

"Yare yare. That didn't exactly go according to plan, did it?" She chimed in an almost mocking tone. "I watched the tapes. For somebody trying out for a Hero class, you weren't even trying to be a Hero. In fact, I was on first name basis with several Villains who'd baulk at what you did and said to poor miss Kasuke." By now she'd opened her eyes, and her burning golden stare was piercing Amane.

@pkken

[DELETED7282737]

Tomoe Kishitmoto

Location
Classroom
@pkken@Silver Carrot

After the excersize had ended they could go back to their dorms. Some of the students had to be brought to the medical office for immediate treatment to their wounds. The fighting had been devastating between the students. Tomoe could not believe they would allow them to go this far with beating each other. Some even had broken bones and the likes. Tomoe was trembling from fear when she saw some of her classmates being shipped off towards the infirmary. It was even worse knowing that she did not seem hurted at all. Everyone had bruises and cuts apart from her. She only felt tingling in her body parts and saw hazily through one eye, she wanted to let it be checked out but that would take up time and they did not have time right now at the infirmary. Maybe it was better to let it be for now and come back later. It would remind her that she was way better of then her classmates at least.

---

They watched some of the highlights in class off their fights the day after. Most of them were back in their seats again nothing seemingly as bad as before. She wondered if they still had pain from the fighting. Tomoe lightly brushed over her eye as she watched the screen. It hadn't cleared up. It had gotten fairly damaged in the excersize so maybe it just needed time to heal. She quietly watched along with the video. It was pretty nice to watch knowing that others found it cool and amazing to look at. They could see each others fights a little as well. Tomoe could barely remember what she had done during the excerize since it was her clone fighting so this was a good memory refresher. Upon seeing it... there wasn't much of her in it. She was hugging Ezra a lot at the start... Attacked Dulga shortly... Fought robots which was pretty fun to watch... The auditorium... She threw Roy off of Ruby against the wall. It looked painful. She quietly held her hand in front of her mouth as she devastatingly watched the beat up boy bleed from her strength. Her clone looked like a beast... She had never seen herself like that before. It was scary to see herself do all this without her remembering she had done this. She was being cut up, her eye completely destroyed which still hurted and she showed no mercy to this unknown girl. She hurted this girl in awfull manor, shocked she was watching the screen. She wanted to scream to yell but she just silently kept watching untill it ended and kept her mouth shut. She didn't want others to know about this. She had to get this thing inside her under controll before she would hurt anyone else like that.

Class ended

---

It was the next day, Tomoe was beat. She hadn't slept since yesterday. She had been up all night watching the ceiling and listening to songs trying to figure out how to fix this. It was unlike her to do this. Bags were under her eyes, class had been a hell. She had been watching the school board all day. She never knew the teacher actually explained stuff nonstop. It didn't seem like she was gonna be able to sleep untill she would fix this so maybe it was a good idea to get some coffee and wrap her head around this to get a good excersize going for herself.

"Oof"

Tomoe softly bumped off of something. It was something soft. She had walked against something but she only hazily saw that there was someone to the left of her due to her damaged eye. Tomoe turned her right eye to the left a little to see what she had bumped against. It were two knockers that were common to her nowadays. Her eyes softly trailed up to be met with pink wooly hair and two sweet eyes. It was her roommate Hitomi. It appeared that Tomoe had walked into Hitomi by accident. Tomoe her expression sweetend as she saw the kind girl.

"Nihihi, if it isn't my favorite roommate Hitomi-chan! Nihihi."

Tomoe wrapped her hands around the girl as she plunged herself face first in the world of softness while her laugh got muffled somewhat. Once she had settled in and made herself at home she turned her face up with her chin against Hitomi her chest.

"What are you doing??."

[Norschtalen]

Dulga Tarata

After that fateful day in hero training, Dulga's days had been rather calm and uneventful. She did her school work when she felt like it, trained regularly, and maintained her equipment at all times. She didn't really bother to socialize with others; while she appreciates the offers and was slowly starting to become less distant, Dulga never showed more emotions than mild discomfort towards others. Even when she's around Kaida, Dulga is at best calm. But she keeps her own happiness inside. Today, Dulga had stopped by the school's library to check out a book on martial arts. As strange as it was, she wanted to learn a few techniques. And while finding a teacher would be more efficient Dulga didn't want to reveal the reasons behind this research: she wanted to learn how to counter it. Guns and careful planning could foil any strength, but she wasn't so naive as to think that she will always have the advantage like that. If there was one thing Dulga knew from her time battling, it's that she lacks the power or technique to truly overwhelm anyone. And thus she studies.

As Dulga was reading she heard someone come her way. Looking over the pages of her book she saw it was Mina. Already knowing what she wanted Dulga closed her book and put it into her bag. When Mina asked for the spar Dulga simply pointed towards the gymnasium. "We'll use one of the training rooms at the gym. We should have our privacy there." Dulga walked over to the gym and scanned her card into the room. Checking in will make sure everyone else will know that the room is occupied so no one inadvertently comes in and bothers her and Mina while they're training. At least no one who didn't have the sense to read the rather obvious sign that said "training in progress".

There was a small room off to the side where Dulga and Mina could change into their workout clothes. Dulga went inside and changed into something similar to her hero outfit, albeit without any armor. She wore heavy boots, thick pants, and a tight, strong shirt that covered her chest but left her back exposed for her arms to come out. Dulga even took her mask and cloak off. When Dulga passed a mirror she paused and looked at her face. It was pale, albino. Except for the fleshy burns on the left side of her face. Dulga turned away; she didn't need to think about it right now. Her past didn't matter at the moment and Dulga knew that Mina wouldn't care for it. Perhaps she might be curious about it, but that shouldn't stop Mina from holding back. Dulga knew she couldn't.

While everyone was giving Mina pity over her beating at Amane's hands, Dulga kept her distance and never really brought it up around Mina. What some people might've overlooked was that despite the odds, Mina kept going. People might pity her knowing that she was outmatched from the start, but then again if she had ran away from him, what sort of hero would she have been? After all if the heroes run and hide, who will be left to fight? Granted Mina could've have fought better and everyone knew that. Dulga could respect Mina's tenacity but her tactics needs much improvement. But Dulga will get to see if Mina has really learned from the experience, or if Dulga would need to beat it into Mina's head about how she should take on an enemy who can overwhelm her by force.

Dulga waited at the center of the training room for Mina. There wouldn't really be much to say; as soon as Mina was ready, Dulga will attack. She thought about maybe going over some rules for this bout, but at the same time Dulga felt that Mina wouldn't need something as basic as "don't kill each other" and "give it your all". Dulga didn't have her weapons with her so she didn't need to worry about shooting Mina somewhere lethal. And Mina has already shown that she's much tougher than she looks. Dulga didn't feel like she had to worry about holding back against Mina. That would be disrespectful for the girl anyways.

"Not much to say. When you're ready just attack. We can stop whenever you feel like it."

@Silver Carrot

[Ryonara]

Yukari Yozakura

Another day, another assignment. After all the excitement died down at the hero class fight, Yukari was back doing doing class assignments and improving on her heroism. A lot of people got hurt, but a few students stood out for their impressive performance. Yukari wasn’t one of them. She tried not to let it bother her but as a former circus performer, she felt bad that she didn’t do anything memorable. She only had herself to blame; despite her heighten senses, that which even let her fight as a hero was also her weakness. Her heightened sense of hearing practically crippled her due to her poor use with the flashbang, and household chemicals nearly took her out if her team didn’t come to save her. But Yukari wasn’t going to let her weakness get the better of her: she will improve!

Since that day she’s been training herself, strengthening her senses to be both keener but also more resistant. It wasn’t easy: unlike muscle training it wasn’t something that you could just do with regular practice. Yukari had been tutoring under other teachers to improve, plus learning about equipment that can help manage her senses. Those earbuds that Dulga had lent to her during the latter half of the battle were a boon; without them her eardrums might’ve just exploded from Amane’s last attack. Yukari has heard that there was a similar pair of high tech earbuds at a tech shop in the city, so Yukari was going to head over there with the money she’s saved up and buy it.

After class was over Yukari headed straight to her dorm to change. Her cane tapped against the concrete floor warning others of her approach as well as alerting her to anyone who was coming. As she arrived to the dorm and made it to the elevator, she sensed one other person there too. From the scent, Yukari knew it was Luelle. Yukari doesn’t know much about the girl aside that her quick had to do something with fire. She must have been waiting for the elevator too. ”Hello. Luelle Hailey, right? How are you doing?”

@Luna

[Luna]

_@Ryonara

Luelle was standing in the dorms. She was pondering over the hero battles and she felt down. Other than some parts here and there with her quirk, she felt completely useless in the battle. She felt like she wasn't proving herself to anyone, her father including. She sighed and messed with her white hair a little before walking towards the elevator.

”Am I really cut out for this” She said to herself as she pressed the up bottom. She was there for several moments when she heard someone approaching her from behind and hard a voice call out her name.

”Oh hello. I am alright. Just trying to figure out how to better my battling skills. How about you....Yukari”

[Conscripts]

Acion Nakamiji

---

Badly wounded, from battling over a number of fighters in his class and that huge explosion that almost resulted in the death of multiple students, Acion was then taken care of at the infirmary later on. Despite all that, his recovery was surprisingly fast. Quick enough so that at the end of the day after, the injury felt like a distant past. Before that, he was able to see the replays of his and the other's performance. Overall, he was praised for endurance, but was then criticized for his ill decision at the beginning of the fight. And he did not disagree. He felt himself face-palming when he realized that the initial escape by Joann at the very beginning was totally not as fast as he had expected. He had the air supremacy and velocity, and if he chased them down, very likely they would be down by one or maybe even two. By letting them go, he had let them secure valuable score points, and nearly handed them the victory, if the point wasn't destroyed later on. He had to make note of that.

Other than that, he was generally fine, his performance was ok. The next few days were rather peaceful, with some minor assignments to accomplish. He just did that as soon as possible and as fast as possible, so he would have plenty of time for things. His schedule was pretty routine. After school, he would hit the assignments, then relax with some video games and then late night training. Today, however, was a little different.

It was Tuesday afternoon. The bell just rang. And Acion headed for the dorm to change, and then straight for the school entrance. He was to file a leave to the school's bodyguard. A little inconvenience anyway, but whatever. He was going to meet with his sister, Aurelia, today. It was supposed to be right after the day of that exercise, but he was in bed on that day, so he had to delay it. The schedule was pretty simple. They would both head to Waterfront, ask the Green Tree company for permission for Acion to help them cutting trees for the day, while his sister would do the work of recording it. And then, for the rest of the day, Acion would join Aurelia patrolling the city. It would be exciting. Not only he was able to deal with his assignments, he had the opportunity to do what he would be doing if he managed to get into Sky Knights.

Soon, a small silhouette began to appear in the sky. It became larger and larger, slowly forming into a human-shape, with long silky silver hair. Giving her a smile, Acion said. "Hello sister."

Aurelia Nakamiji

---

Inside the large, plain and spacious room, a round table stood firmly, bolted to the ground, as holograms were being projected right above it, displaying four thin screen facing four different direction. On those screens were videos. Animated informatics, showing colored boxes and arrows. And in every four corners of the table were all professional heroes, dressed in medieval armors. There was Aurelia, along with a young black haired man with a saber, a long black haired girl with dragon horns and two lances and a bright haired lady with fairy wings.

Today was a bright day for Aurelia. And for Sky Knights.

"It is a resounding success. The wisp strategy that Alice came up is decisive. The enemy had focused their entire defense on us, allowing Forte and Albert to flank their hideout without much resistance. Great work." Aurelia gave a thumb up to the girl with fairy wings, as she nodded.

"Thank you, thank you." As she puffed her cheek a bit.

"The attack was good, though I have to ask Forte." She turned to dragon horned girl. "How did you get stalled out at the entrance to the common room?"

"Well..." The girl scrolled her eyes around the room a bit. "We failed to seize the inhibitor guy, so he had the time to use his quirk. That's why we have to call Albert in."

Aurelia shrugged. She was not there to criticize any further. Forte should know by herself by now what she had to do.

"Fair enough. Albert, quick reaction from you and your squadron." Aurelia thumbed up to the black haired man, whom returned the gesture in toll. "Now that our tactic review is over, we can turn to the summary." She changed the hologram. "Now that the Maeshin group has been subdued, we can now concentrate on other major criminal groups out there."

"What's the next priority?" Albert asked.

"Pushing it up, we have The Sword Saint, along with a group in which had pretty much the same danger level. Well, not exactly a group. A clan rather." She replied, and she opened any leads or clues they have about them.

"Well, I don't see many clues out there. None significant." Forte remarked. "We're not gonna go anywhere unless we find a better lead."

"So it's back to patrols you mean?"

The dragon horned girl nodded, so did Aurelia.

"Just keep our eyes peeled for news and incidents, along with sending active search parties to police offices, crime scenes and slum areas." She said as she shut off the hologram. "A clue is just somewhere in the horizon. We will seize at the nearest one."

All members nodded at the decision. They knew what it was now. The end to the meeting. They all unsheathed their weapons and raised it upward into the air, pointing towards the center of the table. A common ritual among the Sky Knights at the end of every significant meeting like this one. Then, the meeting was dismissed

The rest of the Sky Knight squadron leaders proceeded to pass down instructions to their squad members. For some, it was patrolling or tending the base. For Aurelia, it meant going to Komei. Once again. She had a promise, and she was not going to break it.

As soon as the meeting ended, she headed off into the sky, flying straight for the city of Hosu. Not long after, the sight of Komei was already visible. Slowly descending to the entrance, she could see her naïve little brother standing out there, waiting for her, as he gave a smile and a casual greeting. She had no hesitation to return him the gesture.

"Hello my naïve little brother." She smirked.

"So I'm naïve now. No more foolish?" He replied.

"Well, still. But not as foolish as you were. So I'll give you a raise."

"Tch, nice indeed." He replied sarcastically, though not annoyed. "Shall we then?"

"Let's go."