Chapter 34 – The Results of Growth
"If we're in the center…the gate is that way." Mina pointed back in the direction they'd entered the large cityscape training field from.
"Yeah…but you heard the principal, he's not going to move from his starting location." Kaminari reminded his partner. "How much do you want to bet that he's stationed near the gate?"
"Ah…damn." Mina caught on and nearly pouted. "That means we'd have to defeat him if we want to win regardless!" She waved her arms around in aggravation. "He's totally stealing one of our options from us!"
BOOM
"Eh?!" Kaminari and Mina both turned their heads towards the source of the sound.
"That didn't come from the gate area…" Kaminari blinked at the loud noise.
"Does that mean the principal isn't waiting by the gate?" Mina didn't know whether to be happy about that or concerned.
When a portion of the building they were standing next to collapsed and cut off one end of the street, both she and Kaminari decided that it was bad at the same instant.
"Where is he?!" Kaminari bolted along with Mina.
"I don't know!" Mina yelled back as they ran.
BOOM
Another distant sound and the more buildings started to crumble, throwing up dust and debris, lowering their visibility and preventing them from moving forward on the street they were running on.
"It sounds like he's far away, but everything around HERE is falling apart!" Mina cried out in shock as they had to divert their course, passing through an alleyway.
"We need a better vantage point! I can't see through all of the smoke and dust!" Kaminari called out as they emerged from the alleyway.
BOOM
"CRAP!" Mina skidded to a halt as the building across the street collapsed and blocked off another avenue of escape.
"Up!" Kaminari realized as the dust and debris filled the street, blinding them. "We need to get to the top of the buildings to see!"
"How?" Mina questioned as they ran in the opposite direction from the collapsing buildings.
-Nezu-
"Indeed, I am behind your sudden misfortune!" Nezu chuckled while sitting in a large construction crane. The chimera-like principal had one hand on a control lever while the other held a cup of black tea. "Causing chain reactions based on what I destroy is easy enough."
He moved the lever and the arm of the crane swung around the wrecking ball attached to the arm of the crane nearly leveled a nearby building. The building collapsed, knocked down the one next to it, and sent a fissure through the street that damaged the foundation of a building on the opposite side. That multi-story building then fell at an angle, struck a bridge which caused the entire structure to collapse, and that toppled a smaller building nearby. That building just so happened to crash to the ground in the path that Kaminari and Mina were running.
"Such calculations are as easy for me to make as a simple cup of tea." Nezu smiled while sipping from his cup. "Unfortunately, those two don't seem to realize that, one by one, I'm blocking off all the routes towards the gate!"
-Mina and Kaminari-
"I don't know HOW he's doing it, but I know that Principal Nezu is doing all of this for a reason!" Kaminari explained, as the street was blocked off by a collapsed building.
"So, we need to go up and see where he is?" Mina caught on to Kaminari's idea. "If we just keep running around, then we're screwed!"
"Right!" Kaminari smiled at the pink girl. "So, let's go up and see what's going on!"
He ran over to a multi-story building and grabbed onto the steel downspout for rain water. He sparked with his Quirk, and even Mina could tell that he was focusing intensely. Kaminari broke out into a big smile as he accomplished what he was aiming for. "Induction Grind!" His hand and right foot (which he'd placed on the downspout) both glowed with a sustained electrical current as he rose up off the ground and 'rode' the downspout like an elevator.
"That's so cool!" Mina exclaimed at seeing the new application of Kaminari's Quirk. "Wait for me!" Mina ran up to the wall, took two steps up at a run, and then excreted acid from the soles of her costume's shoes. The corrosive substance melted a divot into the concrete that Mina used as a foothold as she took another step and repeated the process. In a matter of seconds both she and Kaminari stood on top of the building, looking at the lines of destruction that all originated from a single point across the training site.
"Thank you Midoriya and Yaomomo!" Kaminari praised the Class Representatives for helping put him on the right track for that use of his Quirk during the study sessions.
"How is the principal making things fall apart from way over there?!" Mina pointed to where all of the destruction seemed to originate from.
-Nezu-
"Oh my, how clever of them!" Nezu's smile became almost predatory. "A Genius Villain can always win from afar! AHAHAHAHA!" He was spilling far more of his tea than he was drinking as he cackled. Seeing both Mina and Kaminari heading towards him (leaping from rooftop to rooftop in a rather impressive display of parkour) Nezu's laughter only increased as he set the teacup aside and put both hands on the controls. "That's it, dear students! There's still a path to victory! Come on! Use those heads! Think carefully! Wrack those Hero brains!" The crane swung, knocking down multiple buildings and structures, causing more chain reactions as buildings collapsed and power mains exploded across a portion of the area.
-Mina and Kaminari-
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Kaminari cursed as he and Mina had to book it even faster while the buildings came down between the two of them and the crane that Nezu was clearly operating.
"Left!" Mina called out as they both dove at an angle to reach the roof of a shorter building.
It proved to be the right call as the building that was ahead of them collapsed before they would've been able to get to it. They leapt from the shorter building and had to roll to disperse the force of their landing. Kaminari was not nearly as adept at this as Mina was. He was just thankful that his costume jacket was padded enough to help prevent injury. Mina had made it look easy with her athleticism, rolling and then springing back to her feet to continue the zig-zagging run towards the crane.
"There!" Kaminari veered off from Mina heading for his target.
The Electrification Quirk user's target was a small power substation looking area. Being this close to the crane that Nezu was using, but not hearing any kind of loud motor that would indicate a combustion engine nor seeing any destruction anywhere near this single area, had led Kaminari to believe that this was the crane's power source.
"Take this!" Kaminari pulled out one of his metal tonfa and smashed the padlock off the door of the control panel. Throwing the door open he saw the control box and grinned. Placing his hands on the system display, he poured his electricity into it and quickly exceeded its operational capacity. The control box sparked, shutting down as its wires were fried and its safety features were tripped. The crane slowed to a stop, the wrecking ball still swinging as it had built up plenty of speed.
"Got you!" Mina had both of her hands together, fingers interlaced and both of her index fingers extended in a 'gun' shape. The Acid Quirk user pressed her hands and fingers together as tightly as she could to build up pressure. She ground her teeth as she aimed and then let a burst of her incredibly corrosive acid shoot from her 'gun' at speed. "Acid Sniper!"
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Nezu cackled as the acid hit the steel line connecting the wrecking ball to the crane arm and ate through it quickly, the large steel ball went flying off and crashed down into an already destroyed part of the area. "Very well done, students!" He congratulated, even though Kaminari and Mina couldn't hear him, both booking it as fast as possible towards the exit with their remaining time ticking down. "You could've tried to climb up the crane, but that would've taken too long. And I removed the stairs leading to the control seat too!" The chimera chuckled at his foresight to keep the two students from reaching him. Left unsaid was the principal having given the two students both an opportunity for escape and one for attack. "I'm nothing if not an educator." Nezu smiled as he picked up his teacup and sipped the rest of it with a smile.
-Kaminari and Mina-
"Run, run, run!" Kaminari was full-on sprinting as the last minute ticked down for them to make it through the gate.
"Faster!" Mina altered the chemical properties of her acid and blasted some from her shoes. In short order she was sliding along at even greater speed as her lead foot created a stream of slick acid and her back foot produced a continuous jet of pressurized acid to speed her along. "Solvent Slide!" The mobility move wasn't something that she could maintain for a long time, without risking damage to her skin and pores along with dehydration, but for a last burst of speed it was more than enough.
"Right!" Kaminari focused his electricity within, tapping into the muscle fibers and the synapses that made them expand and contract. "Blitzing Ya!" He sparked and suddenly blurred forward, even outpacing Mina's increased speed.
The two sped through the gate with roughly twenty seconds to spar. The timer stopped counting down and the sign changed to display the word 'CONGRATULATIONS' on it as both of the students came to a stop, breathing heavily from their sprint across the site.
"Team Ashido and Kaminari have passed the exam via escaping the testing site!" Was heard throughout the area thanks to the loudspeakers.
"Yeah!" Kaminari raised his fist, wanting to celebrate more, but his burning lungs wouldn't let him.
"We did it!" Mina was in much the same boat, both hands raised above her head, but still panting and trying to catch her breath again.
-Izuku and Bakugo vs All Might-
"Who cares about keeping this town intact?" All Might questioned the two boys as he walked through the dust and smoke that his previous punch had caused. "Think of this as just a test, and you're gonna have a bad time." He promised the students, his signature smile nowhere to be seen. "I'm a Villain, Heroes! Give me your best shot!"
Pure Intimidation
That feeling of instinctive fear and panic welled up in Izuku and Bakugo as All Might lunged towards them, his hulking frame seeming to blast the dust away as he moved.
"We can't fight him head-on! Run and evade!" Izuku warned Bakugo, already compiling Quirks to boost his physicality as he leapt away. Even with his best physical enhancement combo, there was no way in hell he'd be able to match All Might's legendary strength.
"You're not the boss of me!" Bakugo yelled and aimed his right hand at the charging All Might.
"BAKUGO!" Izuku yelled back at the ash blonde.
"STUN GRENADE!" Bakugo unleashed his move, blasting loud, bright, and disorientating explosions straight into All Might's face. As the Number One Hero instinctively covered his eyes from the sudden bright light, Bakugo leapt forward to continue his attack. "All Might! Needless to say, from the start…!" All Might's large hand palming his face cut the teen off. "Ah waz eshpectin diz!" He forced out through the hand on his face. His right palm was right in All Might's face as the explosion detonated. His left hand was aimed at the Pro Hero's torso as it also unleashed an explosion.
"Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow." All Might could admit that the blasts stung, for sure. 'Most people, when their face is grabbed, reflexively try to pull away. But this kid is dead set on beating me…AND NOTHING ELSE!' He knocked aside Bakugo's right hand, sending the next explosion wide. Then, using the hand that was palming Bakugo's face, he drove the boy into the ground. "A weak barrage like that hurts, but only a little."
"Gah…ah…" Bakugo had the wind knocked out of him as he was laid out on the street.
"Now then." All Might nearly blurred as he rushed Izuku, cutting off the teen from potentially making an escape. "There's you, young Midoriya!"
"Whoa!" Izuku gasped, but his enhanced mind was already running through various scenarios for any option that could get him out of this situation.
"You gonna leave your teammate and make a break for it?" All Might questioned the teen, a sharp look in his blue eyes.
'Why am I remembering the Hero Killer's fanatical conviction?!' Izuku wondered as the image of the Villain bellowing out his ideals back in Hosu flashed across his mind. He activated a Quirk, widening his eyes as they glowed.
'The Paralyze Glare…can't look at his eyes!' All Might averted his gaze to Izuku's feet and rushed him with a punch. Izuku leapt back and upwards with his enhanced body to avoid. "Well that's just…unfortunate." All Might remarked as he saw what was about to happen.
"Get outta the way!" Bakugo had launched himself at All Might, but Izuku's sudden jump backwards had put the two on a collision course. They crashed into each other and fell to the ground.
-Recovery Girls' Onsite Medical Tent-
'One wants to beat All Might, the other wants to avoid the fight and escape.' Recovery Girl watched the screen showing the test site for Izuku and Bakugo. 'Izuku sees his idol as being unimaginably powerful. To him, All Might is akin to a God.' She focused her eyes on Bakugo as he pushed himself off the ground with a glare. 'Then there's this one. I don't know much about him, but judging by his grades and his performance at the Sports Festival, he's gifted with incredible talent…' Recovery Girl sighed as she saw Bakugo stand up and head right back towards All Might. "So why are you so worked up, boy?"
-Izuku and Bakugo vs All Might-
"Like I said, you'll never win facing him head-on!" Izuku yelled at Bakugo's back.
"Stop talking." Bakugo growled as he looked over his shoulder at Izuku. "I'll win. That's…what Heroes do."
For a brief instant, Izuku recalled a time when he and Bakugo were young and still friends. Watching All Might on TV as he defeated Villains. He remembered how Bakugo cheered at All Might's victory while exclaiming how cool the Pro Hero was.
"Fine, sure, but fighting here isn't going to…" Izuku tried to explain again, only to be cut off by Bakugo.
"Shut up! You're in my way!" Bakugo yelled at Izuku.
"While you bicker…" All Might's voice came from above them. In his hands was a guardrail that he'd clearly torn off from something. "You're running out of time!" He slammed the guardrail down, pinning Izuku to the street as the teen hacked out all of the air in his lungs.
Bakugo whirled around to strike, but only ended up with All Might's fist slamming into his stomach. "GAH!" Bakugo expelled a large amount of saliva as he went bouncing along the street from the force of the blow.
"Bakugo…" Izuku grimaced as he slowly got the air back into his lungs. He needed a plan, someway to get Bakugo to cooperate or at least get him to pass through the gate so that they would pass. The fact that he was still remembering the old days, before Bakugo had turned into a hateful bully, wasn't helping.
"I'm definitely gonna win!"
The child Bakugo's voice rang throughout his memory.
'You always tried to win, no matter what you were up against. You became a nasty guy…but that part never changed.' Izuku understood that much about Bakugo Katsuki. 'But slamming your head into a wall over and over again isn't the only way to win!' He put together a plan rapidly and only needed All Might to stay focused on Bakugo for a bit longer.
"Hah…ah…ugh…" Bakugo finished throwing up his lunch onto the ground, his stomach forced to expel everything within it from the force of the blow he'd taken.
"I get it…" All Might spoke to the downed boy. "This is about Midoriya's Quirk, isn't it?" Seeing a slight flinch from Bakugo, All Might knew that he'd hit the nail on the head. "Trust me, I understand…his Quirk almost seems like cheating, right? All of those Quirks, all of them free for him to use and mix together; it can make any one Quirk seem like nothing in comparison." All Might had vivid memories of such thoughts and feelings from his past. "Don't throw it all away, okay! Don't you see? Look how far you've come with your Quirk, all the potential you've realized with it through your hard work! You've still got room to grow! But it's not a matter of power, for you…"
"Zip it…All Might!" Bakugo forced himself back to his feet despite the pain he was in. He was still holding his stomach, already feeling the bruising and knowing that he wasn't in good shape. If that punch had been aimed a bit higher, his floating ribs would probably be in pieces. "If you're saying I gotta rely on HIS help…" Spit was still running down the corners of Bakugo's mouth as he forced the words out. "Then I'd…rather lose." His red eyes glared at the Number One Hero.
"Is that so?" All Might's eyes were shadowed at the stubborn and selfish words. "As long as you have no regrets." He raised his hand to knock the blonde boy out.
"ALL MIGHT, STOP!" Izuku's shout was not only loud, but filled with the power of a new combination of Quirks. 'Amplification', 'Enhance Function', 'Empathic Force', 'Amplifier', and 'Voice Casting' all slammed into All Might and made his body lock up entirely right before his hand would've made contact. Naturally, even such a powerful combination wouldn't stop All Might for long, but Izuku only needed a few seconds.
"Deku…" Bakugo got out as a swirling Warp Gate opened below his feet and he fell through it. The gate closed just as All Might forced his way past the effects of Izuku's combination of Quirks.
"Hmm, that was an interesting experience, young Midoriya." All Might turned to the teen. "An excellent strategy to rescue someone in danger." He gave the student praise. "But now you're alone with a Villain." He switched back to the persona that he was supposed to have for this test.
"I'm aware." Izuku let a grin cross his lips, it was an outward show of confidence that he honestly didn't feel inside.
-Bakugo-
"Guh!" Bakugo fell out of a Warp Gate right in front of the exit gate. As Izuku hadn't had much time to let the coordinate part of the Quirk calculate the exact location, he'd had to open the gate with only a close approximation. This had led to Bakugo landing just in front of the gate, instead of through it, where the teen would've crossed the line whether he wanted to or not, thereby passing the test. "Damn…Deku…" Bakugo looked at how close he was to the gate. The goal of this test was right in front of him. He could pass.
But it would be because of DEKU'S fucking Quirk!
"No…don't fuck with me!" Bakugo snarled as he turned away from the exit. "I don't need your help, Deku!" He took off running back towards the fight, but didn't make it more than a few steps before a blast went off near the center of the test site and the resulting shockwave hit him.
-Izuku vs All Might-
"Half Giant, Amplification, Enhance Function, Efficiency, Durability Up, Physicality Boost, Kinetic Boost, Heat Generation, Gas Manipulation, Temperature Fluctuation, Fire Breath, Force Projection, Force Multiplier, Energy Burn, Air Compression!" Izuku's lifetime of muttering was put to the test as he rapidly compiled a large number of his Quirks, more than ever before. His height increased by fifty-percent, his body bulked up noticeably, flames erupted from his mouth, the air around him seemed to warp and collapse in on itself sucking in the flames. And while this was happening, Izuku was rapidly punching the slowly growing ball of heat and force to add more kinetic energy into it through Force Projection.
"You take too long, young Midoriya!" All Might spoke up after a moment.
Unbeknownst to Izuku, All Might would've reacted before he'd even finished compiling the Quirks normally. But Yagi Toshinori had just had to deal with a short, but powerful, PTSD moment that had locked up his body while his mind was sent spiraling back to the horrible day when he'd lost his mentor. The time it had taken for All Might to respond was lengthened as he had to almost physically stop himself from lashing out with full force against Izuku.
That unknown delay gave Izuku all the time he needed to finish his strongest combination yet.
All Might took a step forward to stop Izuku, only to enter a void as all of his senses left him simultaneously. He couldn't see, hear, smell, feel, or even taste. The intense building heat that had just half a second ago been stinging his skin was gone. He couldn't feel his own body, didn't know which way was up or down as losing his sense of touch meant he couldn't feel gravity's pull on his body. If he could experience anything through his five senses right now, he probably would've become horribly nauseous. As it was, he was left seemingly floating in complete darkness and silence with nothing but his thoughts.
"Sorry, All Might!" Izuku's words were the first thing that All Might heard as his senses returned to him. Next, his eyes refocused and he saw a Warp Gate closing…behind an incredibly bright orb that stung his eyes to even look in the general direction of. That orb, without Izuku's various Quirks to hold it together, rapidly expanded, similar to a bomb going off.
BOOOOOOOOOOM
The blast devastated the area, leveling every building within two blocks instantly and damaging every building that wasn't already destroyed by All Might's previous punch. Those buildings that had been damaged too much gave way under the shockwave from the blast, collapsing into rubble and debris. Where as All Might's first punch had been like a hurricane hitting the test site, Izuku's combination attack had been the equivalent of dropping a military-grade bomb on a damaged city. The first attack had made the results of the second attack far worse than it normally would've been.
Izuku emerged from his Warp Gate right as the shockwave hit near the exit gate. He stumbled and saw Bakugo be sent staggering backwards only to fall to the ground. A massive cloud of smoke and dust rose high into the air from near the center of the test site. Izuku was a little busy reeling from the massive loss of energy and stamina that it had cost him to form that combination. He'd never even used it before today. It had only been a theory he'd written in his notebook regarding his own Quirk. He'd initially gotten the idea from Endeavor during the Internships, having been taught a bit about flame and heat manipulation by the man while working on his Fire Breath combinations.
"...ku! Deku! DEKU!" Bakugo's voice finally broke through the haze that was filling Izuku's head with fog. "What the hell was that?!"
"Bakugo…?" Izuku blinked, trying to refocus his eyes. Once his senses cleared up, he blinked and stood up from the ground, having fallen at some point.
"Answer me, Deku!" Bakugo yelled at him. "What was that?!"
"I used a new combination on All Might to keep his attention and make an escape." Izuku answered as he looked at where they were. "Let's go, we can pass the test now." He took two steps towards the gate, before Bakugo's hand slammed down on his shoulder, the other boy's grip tightening painfully.
"Don't you FUCKING dare!" Bakugo nearly snarled. "This test isn't over until I beat All Might!"
"Are you serious…?" Izuku didn't know what to make of the statement. Here they were, on the cusp of passing with time to spare, and Bakugo wanted to potentially throw all of that away! "What good is your pride if you fail?!" He brushed off the hand on his shoulder and got in Bakugo's face for the first time in a long, long time. "Winning isn't determined by who can beat up who! A Hero wins by saving lives! We're CIVIL SERVANTS, Bakugo! Being a Hero isn't about chasing glory or being the strongest! Do you hear yourself?!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP, DEKU!" Bakugo roared right back. "There's no way that YOU just beat All Might! So, don't you DARE think of crossing that gate until I beat him and win!"
"How many people will you let die in the line of duty just to satisfy your lust for victory?" Izuku's voice dropped to a low tone, so different from the previous shouting.
Bakugo's eyes widened, no words coming from him as he just stared into Izuku's green eyes. The eyes that were looking at him with the utmost disappointment. It was NOT a look that Bakugo was used to seeing directed at him from anyone.
"We're passing, now." Izuku said without a hint of emotion in his tone. "Follow me." He used Voice Casting to make Bakugo comply, the Quirk easily enforcing the instruction on Bakugo as the teen's mind was still reeling.
The sign above the gate switched to 'CONGRATULATIONS' as they passed through it at the same time.
"Team Bakugo and Midoriya have passed the exam via escaping the testing site!" Was heard throughout the area thanks to the loudspeakers.
Neither teen celebrated their passing the Final Exam.
-All Might-
"Ow…" All Might grumbled while pushing some rubble off of himself. "That one hurt…" He sat up and looked around. There were still spots in his vision, his ears were ringing, and he ached all over from the blast going off pointblank. "Didn't see that coming at all." He gently rubbed his head and sighed as he released his hold on the power of One For All that still remained within him. He shrank down into his thin and injured form, knowing that no one could see him that shouldn't. The announcement of young Midoriya and Bakugo passing further confirmed that he didn't have to worry.
Toshinori surveyed the area as he stood up. The entire section of the test site was leveled. There was a large, scorched crater left where the orb of heat and kinetic energy had detonated. All of the buildings had collapsed, some of them still burning. Smoke rose up into the air and the entire place was nothing but rubble. It looked like a warzone.
"Woo…" Toshinori breathed out. "I was playing the Villain, so I was supposed to destroy things. But we might have to dock Midoriya a couple points for this much destruction." The new teacher remarked after his little inspection.
In the line of duty, stopping a powerful Villain oftentimes required a lot of force to be used. But Heroes had to weigh the destruction they caused against civilian casualties. In an area where all civilians had been evacuated, heavy force was perfectly reasonable. But the amount of property damage could see a Hero's 'Agency Insurance' having to foot the bill, which would lead to an increase in future insurance rates, or if it was bad enough, being dropped altogether by the insurance company after they paid out for the damages.
"I hope the other teachers aren't having as rough a time as me." Toshinori looked over his Hero costume, seeing it burned and torn up from the blast, even as it sagged off his smaller form. "I wonder how long this will take to repair?"
It was a good thing All Might had multiple costumes.
Chapter 35 – There's Sexy, and then there's Eraser
-Todoroki and Momo vs Aizawa-
"I have an idea, Yaoyorozu." Todoroki spoke as soon as the alarm signaling the start of the exam went.
"So do I, Todoroki." Momo replied with a small grin.
Todoroki nodded, giving her the go ahead.
"Aizawa-sensei isn't affecting our Quirks right now, so he's not within eyesight, most likely." Momo created a Russian Matryoshka doll from her palm to demonstrate. "That gives us time to plan and me time to create what we'll need for multiple plans." Todoroki's expression changed, and Momo could practically see the metaphorical lightbulb over his head. "His Erasure works by sight, so I can make smoke bombs, flashbangs, tear gas, cloaks, and whatever else we can think of to obscure his sight and render his Quirk ineffective."
"That's better than what I'd thought of." Todoroki admitted as he held up his left hand and produced a small flame in his palm. "I was going to have both of us continue to use our Quirks, and when we couldn't, then we'd know that Aizawa-sensei had erased them."
"It's not a bad warning system." Momo smiled at the idea as she continued to create Matryoshka dolls. "Here, Todoroki, these three are smoke grenades." She handed him three dolls that were gray in color. "These three are flash bombs." These were colored a bright yellow. "And these three are tear gas." The final three dolls were pink. "I'd suggest placing them on your belt in a way that you'll remember." Momo put her three smoke grenades on her right side, the flash bombs on her left side, and the tear gas on the back of her belt.
"What about cloaks, like you mentioned earlier?" Todoroki asked as he placed the Matryoshka dolls on his belt. "I'm sure that Aizawa-sensei will expect me to be in front for offense and defense with my Quirk, but if he can't tell who's who, then we can confuse him."
"That's a sound idea," Momo agreed as she pulled the first black cloak from her stomach in the rainbow of colors produced by her Quirk. She handed the new cloak to Todoroki and quickly produced a second, identical black cloak for herself. "Do you remember the direction of the gate?"
"It's that way." Todoroki pointed in the direction they'd initially entered the townscape training field from. He donned the black cloak and pulled up the hood, completely obscuring his body.
"Let's head out then." Momo pulled up the hood of her own cloak, making them look identical. She peeked around the corner, scanning the street for any sign of Aizawa. Not seeing him at street level, she looked around at the rooftops of the fake houses. "I don't see him."
"He doesn't know where we are exactly, let's move carefully and try to avoid getting his attention." Todoroki followed after Momo, both of them staying low as they moved so that they could use the wall next to them for cover.
Three streets over, perfectly crouched on the top of a telephone pole, Aizawa spotted the two cloaked figures moving as they crossed an intersection with no cover. "Cloaks, huh? Not the worst idea for such short notice." Inwardly he was pleased to see that Todoroki wasn't trying to brute force his way through the test. It spoke to the troubled teen's progress since the start of the year. "Now…who's the leader and who's the follower?" Ideally, he'd like to disable Todoroki first, the overwhelming offense of his fire, combined with the defense and capture ability of his ice made him a problem. Throwing one end of his capture weapon across the street, it wrapped around another telephone pole and Aizawa swung down from his perch. "I'll come at them from behind, try and take them by surprise first. Villains have no morals about sneak attacks after all."
-Momo and Todoroki-
"See anything?" Todoroki whispered to Momo as she peeked around another corner.
"Nothing…it's strange." Momo whispered back. "Aizawa-sensei would've made a move by now, right?"
A loop of a very familiar capture weapon fell over Todoroki. With a strong pull, the cloth tightened around the cloaked teen and pulled him off his feet. Momo turned sharply, suppressing her desire to call out to Todoroki so that she wouldn't give away who was who.
Todoroki angled himself as best as he could with his arms pinned to his sides, his right foot stuck out from the bottom of the black cloak and he unleashed the largest mass of ice that he could from the small area in the direction that he was being pulled. That amount ended up being a miniature glacier that engulfed the street that he and Momo had just traveled down.
'They baited me, playing to my expectations of using Todoroki as the vanguard.' Aizawa realized as he rapidly ascended into the air by pulling on his capture weapon that was loosely wrapped around a nearby lamppost. The wave of ice froze everything below his new position. "A rational deception…" His tone could almost be called approving.
BANG
A thick white smoke filled the area where Momo and Todoroki were. Aizawa pulled back his capture weapon, freeing Todoroki before the boy could grab it and freeze it solid. The lack of sight forced Aizawa to change positions to try and find his two students.
"Where did they go?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes as he landed on the roof of a fake house and scanned the street. The smoke was slowly beginning to clear up…but there were no signs of the two cloaked students. He spotted the black cloaks a street over and realized that the two had run the second that Todoroki was freed. "How long do you think you can run, I wonder?" He knew that Todoroki was in the back now, so the prudent thing was to get ahead of them and lay a trap.
A couple minutes later and The two cloaked teens skidded to a stop. The street in front of them was crisscrossed by dozens of wires, all of them only visible because of the sunlight on such a clear day. Unless they broke through, this way was cut off for them.
Clink Clink Clink Clink Clink Clink Clink Clink
The two turned to face the sound behind them and saw that the way they'd come was now littered with at least one-hundred caltrops, the sharp metal spikes would make walking through impossible without clearing a path first. It was only as the loops of Aizawa's capture weapon wrapped around them both that Momo and Todoroki realized that their homeroom teacher was above them. The scarf-like weapon tightened, but not all of the way, only enough to catch the black cloaks and yanked them upwards and off the students.
"Shit!" Todoroki cursed as he couldn't activate his Quirk.
"What will you do without your Quirks?" Aizawa spun his capture weapon and the ends tossed the two cloaks aside before returning to his hands again. There was a red glow coming from his eyes behind the yellow goggles.
Todoroki responded by throwing a Matryoshka doll at Aizawa.
"More smoke?" Aizawa didn't sound impressed, tossing the end of his capture weapon at the doll and then yanking it strongly to make the end snap and swat the doll aside.
Ting
The sound of metal coming apart was heard and a bright flash of light nearly burned Aizawa's retinas as the flash bomb went off. He leapt backwards off the telephone pole, even blinded, and safely landed on the balcony of the two-story house nearby. He'd already memorized the location while setting up his trap, so he knew where to jump without seeing it.
KRAK
This proved to have been the right decision as a wave of ice engulfed the telephone pole that he'd stood upon not a second later.
"Run, he dodged it!" Momo called out as she made a wide floor broom from her back and used it to clear a straight path through the caltrops.
"He was blinded and still avoided that much ice?" Todoroki grimaced at his inability to capture their sensei.
"He's a Pro Hero for a reason." Momo tossed the broom aside after they'd cleared the caltrops, they rounded the first corner and sprinted for the exit gate.
"Smoke and flash bombs…" Aizawa slowly opened his eyes again. "As much as I'm trying to take away their Quirks, they're doing everything they can to nullify mine." He easily got on top of the roof of the house and looked around for his targets. "Yaoyorozu knew they could lose access to their Quirks, so she made them some gear that would be effective against me on the fly." In his head he marked down another point for the pair. 'They're thinking properly, at the very least.'
"There's the exit!" Momo called out as she and Todoroki rushed towards it.
"He's coming!" Todoroki's flames on his left hand suddenly went out.
The two turned around and saw Aizawa coming at them from above again, his capture weapon allowing him to swing around the corner and fly at them. The scarf-like tool was released from the lamppost and both ends rushed towards the students while Erasure nullified their Quirks. A fast and tactical rush down that had taken care of more Villains than Aizawa cared to count in his career.
"Incoming!" Momo yelled, mostly to force Aizawa to focus on her for a brief instant as she threw a Matryoshka doll at him.
The doll was knocked aside by the end of the capture weapon with Aizawa not slowing down.
BANG
A thick white cloud of smoke went off between Aizawa and Todoroki, courtesy of the Matryoshka doll the boy had tossed at the ground. The smoke did exactly as Moo and Todoroki intended…it cut off Aizawa's line of sight for just long enough for Todoroki to use his Quirk.
FWOOSH
Flames blasted through the smoke at ground level, forcing Aizawa to abort his rush and backpedal.
'Fire? Not ice?' Aizawa wondered why Todoroki had gone offensive instead of trying to capture him and pass the exam. He saw three of the odd dolls in the flames close to his location that had been hidden by the smoke bomb earlier. "What now?" He deadpanned, not looking forward to finding out what else his two recommendation students had cooked up.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The three dolls exploded into a noxious thick orange-ish smoke as the flames vanished. Aizawa recognized it for what it was and covered his mouth and nose as he backstepped and then leapt over the wall nearby to get into one of the years of the many fake houses.
"Team Yaoyorozu and Todoroki have passed the exam via escaping the testing site!" Was heard throughout the area thanks to the loudspeakers.
"Tear gas too, huh?" Aizawa sighed as he mentally gave another point to the pair. "And Yaoyorozu must've taken off running after rolling those Matryoshka dolls along the ground for Todoroki to set on fire." He noticed how quickly after the tear gas bombs had gone off, that the announcement of their passing had happened. "Smoke to block my sight, flash bombs to prevent me from opening my eyes, and a chemical irritant to hamper my sight and breathing if I was caught in it. All rational solutions to dealing with my Quirk. They escaped my trap too." He couldn't give them much less than full marks on this practical. They'd put everything they knew about him, along with everything they'd worked on in class to use. "This would've been a lot easier if I had access to all of my gear."
The gas mask that he kept on him for real patrols usually rested around his neck, hidden by his capture weapon. If he'd had that, paired with his goggles, he could've moved straight through the tear gas and captured both Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. But he'd handicapped himself to only gear that he could fit on his belt to give them a chance. Eraserhead had many devices to capture Villains, including Mutant Types that weren't affected by his Quirk. Everything from nets, to adhesive chemical bombs, to tasers, and many more depending on the situation or case he was involved in. But his belt only had so much space, which is why he often wore a tactical vest in the field with more pockets, and for more protection of his vitals.
"I'm going to put in some eyedrops, get my sleep mask, crawl into my sleeping bag, and take a damn nap." Aizawa mumbled out as he reached for his eyedrops. He'd earned that much at least!
-Camie and Chikuchi vs Midnight-
"So…how do we get past Midnight-sensei?" Camie asked her partner for the practical exam.
Chikuchi looked thoughtful as they spied on Midnight from behind some rocks. The field they were in was a barren land that offered some places to hide, but very few obstructions to Midnight's Quirk. "Hmm…not sure, do you know the range of her Quirk?"
"Not really…I know it puts you to sleep if you breathe it in though." Camie, and most of Class 1-A, didn't really have too much knowledge of Midnight's Quirk and its limits. "I think it's supposed to be less effective on girls though."
"Can your Quirk counter it?" Chikuchi was trying to put some kind of plan together, considering it looked like Midnight was content to wait near the gate like a guard.
"I can make all sorts of illusions, but nothing that would probably surprise her." Camie rolled around ideas in her head. "Keeping a distance would work if we tried to take her down, but what do you think our odds are of that?"
"Honestly? Not that great, even with the handicap she gave us." Chikuchi sighed before noticing that Midnight was doing something. "What's she up to?"
"Hmm?" Camie peeked over the rock again to see.
Midnight tore her suit, exposing the skin of her arms, and a pink cloud poured off of her to fill the air. The gas formed a thick cloud that quickly covered the entire gate area and lingered there. A barrier of Midnight's Quirk Somnambulist now blocked them from escaping
"Ladies! You might want to do something soon! Your time is running out!" Midnight called out as she emerged from the cloud of her Quirk, whip in hand.
"If I try to draw her away, do you think you could go invisible with your Quirk and make it through that cloud?" Chikuchi asked Camie, willing to play the role of distraction for them to pass.
"Probably, I have good lung capacity because of my Quirk, and I've been training to make it better when Izuku suggested it." Camie judged the distance as something she could easily clear without taking a breath. "But would she really go very far from the gate, even if you were egging her on?"
Chikuchi grimaced at the obvious hole in her plan. Midnight would have to chase after her, and the Pro Hero had no reason to do that during this exam. Time was on Midnight's side, not theirs. So long as she wasn't captured, or one of them didn't make it through the gate, Midnight would 'win'.
"Hmm, she's probably expecting us to try and make it through the gate." Camie's eyes sparkled with mischief. "So, what if we don't do that and capture her instead?"
"You've got a plan to make that work?" Chikuchi questioned her partner with an interested look.
"Yep!" Camie giggled and quickly started to explain the plan to Chikuchi.
Chikuchi blinked after hearing it and an almost wicked grin formed on her face. "You're evil, you know that?" The amount of mind fuckery that the illusionist had planned was amazing.
"Hmm?" Midnight looked amused as a crowd of Togeike and Utsushimi clones charged at her. "Illusions are all well and good, ladies, but I know a distraction when I see one!" She snapped her whip around and it passed through her cloud of pink gas, only to not hit anything. "Oh? Not trying to be sneaky? How bold~!" She cooed and licked her lips as the two girls charged at her
"Eat this!" The dozen Chickuchi's raised their arms and fired water from the gauntlets on their wrists. Every shot of water quickly became a sharp spike almost fifteen centimeters in length. A wave of hyrdrokinetically manipulated spikes approached Midnight like a wall.
"Is that all?" Midnight demonstrated an insane amount of skill as she lashed her whips around in an intricate series of loops, proving that it was far more than just a simple whip and was indeed support gear. The lashing weapon quickly intercepted each and every spike of water, dispersing most into Camie's chromatic mist, while splattering the real ones into droplets. "I'm not just a pretty face, you know?" She winked at the various girls.
"Rush her!" One of the Camie's yelled out and all of the illusions rushed forward.
"Well that's not much of a plan." Midnight lashed her whip through the first clone, long before it could close the distance. "A Hero must be able to keep a level head in the field." The second clone was dispatched easily, as was the third. "Charging in against a superior opponent is rarely the correct solution." The fourth and fifth clones were both struck, but the fifth cried out instead.
"Kyah!" The Camie cried out, but in Chikuchi's voice as the illusion faded away to reveal the water manipulator.
"Oh my? Were you hoping to get close, Togeike?" Midnight had a hungry look on her face as he 'S' switch was flipped. It was quickly removed as the Chikuchi vanished into chromatic mist. "Eh?"
"Time for a guessing game, Teach!" Camie and Chikuchi called out together as the illusions and the real two began to run about, some charging while others went wide and some retreating backwards.
"Oho?" Midnight would give the two points for that. They'd actually tricked her for a second there! "Let me show you some real whipping, girls~" The pure sexual energy in Midnight's voice made both Camie and Chikuchi flinch a little. Midnight was on another level of sensuality!
Midnight's whip danced through the air, lashing one illusory clone after another, all the while blocking each and every water shot that Chikuchi fired at her, both real and fake. Occasionally, the whip would lash out to the far sides and behind Midnight, passing through the pink gas of her Quirk to make sure that Camie wasn't trying to be sneaky and slip past her.
"Got you!" Midnight grinned as her whip struck a solid body, one of the Camie copies. "Huh?!" The chromatic mist was scattered to reveal a good-sized rock in the place of the girl. "Your illusions aren't capable of carrying things!" She knew that much about her student's Quirk.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique), success!" Camie laughed at tricking Midnight successfully. Using her illusory mist, she'd made herself and the rock invisible, while making a copy in front of her. When the whip had come, she'd tossed the rock into the illusion copy of herself, and jumped backwards. The whip had hit the illusion and the rock, distracting Midnight as planned.
"Right… You went to Edgeshot…" Midnight had to backstep repeatedly as another wave of water spikes came at her from every angle in the instant that she'd been focused on hitting the fake.
"Nin nin, sensei!" All of the Camie clones called out at the same time, making a hand seal while laughing.
"Needle Rain!" Chikuchi busted out a Super Move that she'd come up with during her internship with Backdraft. She emptied a full canister of water from each of her gauntlets high into the air. Using her Quirk to 'grab' the water, the scattered liquid formed into hundreds of eight centimeter-long 'needles' and fell down upon Midnight's retreating form.
"Hah!" Midnight proved her skill with her whip as it spun above her and struck down the vast majority of the water needles. The ones that got through tore into her thin costume, opening up more and more holes in the material. 'This would be easier to deal with if I had one of my reinforced fans too.' Midnight felt a few of the sharp water needles draw blood or stab into her skin for a moment before losing cohesion and splashing onto her skin.
"Are you kidding me?!" Chikuchi called out in shock that her move had been almost entirely negated. "I worked hard on that!"
"Sorry, dear, but I have a lot of experience~" Midnight grinned sadistically. "And tearing up my costume was the worst thing you could've done." An explosion of the pink gas blasted off Midnight's body as she made a pose worthy of a pinup model. The cloud was so thick only a silhouette of the woman could be seen. "Even if your mask has filtering and respirator functions, it'll have no chance of filtering this much of my Quirk!"
Click
The sound of cuffs latching together was heard and Midnight blinked as she felt the weight on her wrist. "Eh?" Camie faded into view, one hand over her nose and mouth, the other giving Midnight a peace sign as she 'eye smiled' at her teacher. "You, tricky little bombshell!" Midnight laughed and walked out of the thick cloud of pink gas with her student.
"Team Togeike and Utsushimi have passed the exam by capturing their instructor!" Blared throughout the area over the loudspeakers.
"Pah!" Camie stopped holding her breath once she'd cleared the pink gas. "Even my lung capacity was put to the test there."
"We did it!" Chikuchi cheered and high-fived Camie.
"Heck yeah!" Camie laughed brightly with her friend.
"You both did wonderfully." Midnight praised the two girls with a smile. "Distraction, combat, and countering your opponent's strategy. I can't find much of anything that you did wrong while challenging an opponent that had multiple advantages over you both. Your teamwork and cooperation made all of the difference!"
"You're super skilled though, Midnight-sensei." Chikuchi smiled at her teacher. "I came up with that Super Move with Backdraft's help, but you beat it while weighed down and with a handicap. It was amazing!"
"You'll be just as good someday, Togeike-chan." Midnight assured the girl with a laugh. "It just takes time and a lot of training to master your gear and your Quirk. I'm surprised at how much you've already improved since joining the Hero Course."
"Thank you, sensei." Chikuchi lit up at the praise for her growing skills as a Hero.
"I'm going to have to call Edgeshot about you, Utsushimi-chan." Midnight looked at the girl in the black catsuit. "Tell him that he was too good at making you into a kunoichi!"
"Hehehe!" Camie giggled with a bright smile. "He taught us a few Ninja Tricks, so I figured that I could incorporate them into my style, you know? Kunoichi are totally hot too!" She grinned saucily. "Yaomomo can do the techniques too…but she gets all adorably shy when other people see her doing it; so cute." Camie laughed, remembering the dark red blush on Momo's face when someone had taken a picture of her using one of the techniques during a patrol.
"That girl…she's too precious." Midnight cooed at Momo's adorable side, one hand on her cheek.
"So, you've become a kunoichi now, huh?" Chikuchi asked as they waited for the last of Midnight's pink cloud to dissipate so that they could leave the training field.
"Kinda." Camie shrugged with a laugh. "I did buy the sexy kunoichi outfit already."
Chikuchi did a spit take, or would have if she'd been drinking anything, at Camie's words. "Why?!"
"How am I going to tease Izuku with a sexy kunoichi outfit if I don't have one?" Camie questioned Chikuchi with a tilt of her head. "I want to get Yaomomo in on it too, for double the sexy kunoichi action. But she's such a cinnamon roll that she gets all flustered when I bring it up!" She giggled tapping her index finger onto her pouty lips and playfully wiggling her eyebrows.
"So much passion! I can't take it~!" Midnight put her hands on her cheeks and wiggled in place at Camie's plans for her relationship. The woman was nothing if not a fan of passion in all of its forms!
"I…I didn't really need to know that…" Chikuchi's cheeks were red and she was looking away from both of the other women.
"No worries, it'll be a private show for just Izuku…maybe Chako-chan and Tsu-chan if they want to watch too." Camie winked at her friend, making Chikuchi flustered.
"Ah~!" Midnight squealed like she'd just heard something scandalous, fully playing up her 'R-Rated Hero' persona. Both to encourage Camie on her passions, and to tease Chikuchi a little as well. The world could use more strong-willed female Heroes that were confident in their bodies and sexuality, as well as their skills as a Hero. Midnight had believed that since she was a girl just entering U.A. High in her teenage years.
"It looks like we can head out now, let's do that!" Chikuchi pointed out that the last of the pink gas had cleared and speedwalked towards the gate.
"Don't be embarrassed, Chi-chan!" Camie chased after her friend with bubbly laughter.
"I don't need to know what you get up to with your boyfriend!" Chikuchi called back, now running away playfully from her flirtatious friend. "You deviants need to get a room!" She laughed.
"I wish!" Camie called back, making Chikuchi stumble, allowing Camie to catch up and throw her arm over the other girl's shoulder with a giggle.
"Ah, the future is looking pretty good with this group on the way." Midnight smiled happily at the two Heroes-in-training. She was always proud to see students growing and figuring themselves out. Helping them along had become one of her joys in life since becoming a teacher.
-Recovery Girl's Onsite Medical Tent-
"Two more without any real injuries…" Recovery Girl sighed happily at the outcome. She looked over at one of the beds where Izuku was napping. The boy wasn't injured, just tired after using up so much of his energy. She'd healed Bakugo with a simple use of her Quirk, but the boy had left with an odd look on his face, as if he couldn't figure something out. "Hopefully that youngster gets his head on straight soon. Talent like his would be a shame to lose, but a Hero isn't just their Quirk and combat ability."
Recovery Girl returned her eyes to the remaining exams that were underway. She had a feeling that she'd be healing at least a few more students before the day was over with.