Chapter 44: Final Exams Pt 2
Ochako knew that she should have been worried or scared. After all, not only was a large chunk of her grade dependent on this final exam, she was going up against one of the most dangerous pro heroes in the process. Given how intense the first two exams had been, she knew that there was every possibility of losing this fight. Having a bit of insight into Yoroi Musha and how he operated, there was also every possibility of being seriously injured in this fight. It didn't seem his style to hold back just because he was up against students.
But on the other hand, they were going up against Yoroi Musha. Ochako had been stewing on his betrayal for weeks now and hadn't found her anger diminish at all. Even above and beyond the intense training that All Might, Gran Torino, and the other guest instructors had put them through, Ochako had made sure to continue to work on her martial arts training provided by Wildstar and Surge's training program. In the last pre-finals quirkless spar, she had even managed to fight Kendo to a near-draw. Kendo had still won in the end, but it was perhaps the closest pure hand-to-hand fight that Ochako had had with the martial artist all semester.
That wouldn't be anywhere near enough to take on Yoroi Musha by itself, but Ochako hoped that with the support of her teammates that she could take some revenge on the well-equipped hero. She just had to remind herself that passing the exam came first, revenge came second.
It was a close second, though.
Therefore, when Yaomomo had asked for contributions to her plan from the team, Ochako's only request was that she actually get to face Yoroi Musha. Awase and Kodai were two of the quietest members of the class, although both had small suggestions to Yaomomo's plans as well.
Given how the previous two exams had gone, with both Wash and Gang Orca going to some extreme lengths to block off the exit, all of the team expected Yoroi Musha to do something similar. The samurai hero was not as strong as Gang Orca nor as versatile as Wash. However, given that they were in Training Ground Gamma, while none of them was entirely sure how Yoroi Musha would go about blocking the exit, they were sure that it would be effective.
As such, they agreed that it was far more likely that they'd need to capture him in some capacity rather than have a student escape. That was good news to Ochako, because it meant that she'd get a chance to get her revenge on Yoroi Musha.
That didn't mean that they wouldn't have a plan B. Of the four of them, Kodai was least adept at close combat and most likely to be able to get through any barricade that Yoroi Musha put up at the exit. While she wasn't the stealthiest student in the class, she was certainly better at stealth than Awase or Yaomomo. Therefore, Kodai silently agreed to head off on her own to try and escape the training ground.
The other three members of the team agreed to defend the target and go up against Yoroi Musha in close combat if necessary. Yaomomo had some additional plans for if (and, honestly, when) the hero managed to defeat the three of them that required her, Ochako's, and Awase's quirks to pull off properly.
Nearly immediately after they had reached the target that they had to defend, Yoroi Musha entered the training grounds. Ochako cursed under her breath, thinking that they had a little more time to prepare Yaomomo's plan. It wasn't a good start to the exam.
Yaomomo began creating immediately; she had a good amount of material that she needed to produce. The first thing that she produced was a metal bo staff for herself, her weapon of choice for fighting against Yoroi Musha. She had offered to create a weapon for both Ochako and Awase as well, although both had declined. Awase already had his sword as part of his costume, while Ochako simply didn't feel comfortable enough with a weapon to prefer one over her own two hands.
While Yaomomo was creating everything she needed for their plan, Ochako and Awase began to relocate the target they had to defend to a less obvious location. It would have been too heavy for most people in their class to move, but it was still well under five tons, so Ochako could easily remove its weight. Amid all of that commotion, Kodai took off towards the exit gate both to see what Yoroi Musha was doing to defend it and determine whether or not she could slip out without him noticing.
The three teammates finalized their preparations in just under five minutes. Yaomomo had chosen a relatively open space in the congested industrial training ground. A variety of pipes running in parallel formed two rough walls approximately ten feet apart. From their times in these training grounds earlier in the semester, they knew that most, but certainly not all, of the pipes were empty. Meanwhile, their preparations had been confined to a small building just behind them, which itself was surrounded and covered by a large observation tower. That left just a single direct way into their lair, one that they were prepared to defend as long as they needed to.
Kodai had agreed to give short updates on Yoroi Musha's preparations and movement as she became aware of them. Not having received any, the three remaining teammates assumed that the girl hadn't made it to the gate yet and was still working her way towards their opponent.
They were wrong.
Ochako was the first to hear Yoroi Musha approaching, and turned to face the armored hero. He was carrying an unconscious Kodai over one shoulder as he entered their territory.
"Hmph, I expected more out of U.A students." Yoroi Musha's voice grated on Ochako's ears as he roughly dropped Kodai to the ground. This was the first time she had been anywhere near him since her internship, and her grudge had had time to fester since then, anger roiling in her gut. "Perhaps you three will be more… interesting."
Ochako exchanged a serious glance with both Awase and Yaomomo as Yoroi Musha spoke. Awase took the opportunity to unsheath his new sword, while Yaomomo tightened her grip on her bo staff. Slowly, Ochako began stalking slightly to the left while Awase mirrored her to the right. While she wanted to take the chance to ask him about Himiko, she knew that she needed to focus on the upcoming fight.
If Yoroi Musha noticed or cared that the three of them were attempting to surround him, he gave no indication, rather stepping forward and forming a spectral staff of his own, surrounded by white fog. Unlike Yaomomo's, though, his was not a simple bo staff, but was topped with a long, wickedly curved blade. He spun the naginata in a well practiced arc before taking a ready stance.
The hero didn't give them any time to prepare as he launched himself directly at Awase, perhaps judging him to be the biggest threat with his sword. Awase, however, was able to respond in time, bringing his sword up to block the blade of Yoroi Musha's naginata. Ochako was already rushing towards the pair, swinging wide to flank the hero, when she heard the contact.
More than that, she felt the contact. The strength of the blow was enough to ring out across the training ground with a clear, single tone and drop Awase to a knee. If anything, Yoroi Musha looked surprised that Awase was still even somewhat upright. "Nice knife," the hero grunted, before the combat truly began.
Ochako had plenty of experience with Yoroi Musha fighting without weapons and he was fierce enough then. She'd only been able to witness him fighting with his quirk once, in the alleyway following the drug dealers, and it had been too dark to really make anything out.
Now, though, she could see just how skilled the hero truly was. Yaomomo was impressive to watch with her bo staff and Awase was stolidly determined with his sword. But Yoroi Musha flowed between the two of them, his spectral naginata easily blocking every strike and lashing out as if it were alive. The mist that seemed to follow the weapon everywhere it went only contributed to that illusion.
Neither of her teammates had taken a serious blow yet, but that seemed more due to luck than anything else at this point and both already wore a number of small cuts and bruises from the hero's assault. The closest that either of them had come to touching Yoroi Musha was Awase sheering off the tip of the horn on the hero's helmet. It proved that his sword was indeed sharp, but that wouldn't matter if he couldn't touch the hero himself.
Slightly cursing her earlier decision to forgo a weapon, Ochako searched and waited for an opening to join the melee. Even though she was attempting to approach the hero from his back, he always seemed to know whenever she attempted to close the gap. She was getting tired of dodging away from a blow to the head or torso each time she tried to get in close.
In a moment of frustration, Ochako threw caution to the wind and decided that she needed to get close no matter what. As Yoroi Musha was busy fending off a joint attack from Awase and Yaomomo, she darted in towards his blindside. Again, the end of his naginata lashed out towards her side, but this time she didn't dodge it. Instead, she took the blow solidly on her ribs, wincing at the impact, but clamped down on the staff with her left hand.
To Yoroi Musha's credit, as soon as he tried to move his weapon again he realized what had happened and let his naginata dissipate into mist. It was too late, though, as Ochako was already close enough to touch him with her right hand, removing his gravity.
Years of accumulated instincts betrayed Yoroi Musha as he attempted to jump away and create some distance between himself and the three students. He did succeed in creating distance, but it was far more than he had anticipated as he began floating up into the air, uncontrolled.
Ochako looked up grinning, expecting to be greeted with the pleasant sight of Yoroi Musha flailing in the air, unable to control himself. Instead, the first thing she saw was a ghostly blade flying at her, forcing her to throw herself to one side to avoid the attack.
The cruel weapon sank into the concrete just to the left of where Ochako had been standing, and she saw now that a misty chain connected the blade to Yoroi Musha himself. As she stood up, Yoroi Musha forcefully yanked on the chain, pulling himself back down towards the ground at immense speed.
With reflexes and instincts she didn't know she had and anger burning deep in her chest, Ochako reared back into a punch directly at Yoroi Musha's face. He was moving in a straight line, unable to dodge. This was the best chance any of them were going to get at a clean shot on the hero.
Ochako's fist caught him on the cheek bone as he descended, and she felt the impact all the way up to her shoulder. For just an instant, Ochako felt pride. Pride that she had managed to solidly connect against the hero, that she had managed to take a measure of revenge for Himiko.
That feeling lasted until Yoroi Musha swung his lower body forward, driving his knee directly into her solar plexus. Ochako passed out almost immediately to the sound of her own ribs cracking.
---
Uraraka's blow to Yoroi Musha's face snapped his head back and sent his helmet and facemask bouncing across the concrete ground. His counterattack, however, folded Uraraka in on herself, completely deflating the girl.
Momo winced at the collision between Yoroi Musha and Uraraka. Even from where she stood, she could hear the breaking of bones, although whether they were Uraraka's or Yoroi Musha's or both was unclear. For a moment, both hero and student stood stock still, coming to terms with the savage impact.
Ultimately, Uraraka was the first to move, although it wasn't due to any conscious effort on the girl's part. Instead, she simply collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious and insensate. Yoroi Musha, however, demonstrated that he was still conscious as he cracked his neck before standing back up straight, face now on full display.
Yoroi Musha had, for as long as Momo could remember, been one of the few heroes who had never let his face become public, preferring to keep his helmet and facemask on whenever he dealt with the public. The man had been one of her parents' company's frequent patrons, providing him with ever more sophisticated hero costumes and armors, ensuring that he remained safe in the field. Every single one of those designs had included designs that drew tremendous inspiration from historical samurai armor, down to the occasionally demonic facemasks. His most recent version was far more subdued than some of his previous designs.
There had been speculation as to why, ranging from a simple desire for privacy to thoughts of a scarred and mutilated face that he wanted to hide. As Yoroi Musha's face came into view, though, it was obvious that the reason was likely the former rather than the latter. Walking into the exam, there would have been no scars, no birthmarks, nothing out of the ordinary on Yoroi Musha's face.
Now, though, after Uraraka's ferocious strike, that was no longer true. Yoroi Musha's left eye was already blackening, the bruising stretching below his eye onto a potentially broken cheekbone. More dramatically, though, Ochako's punch and the dislodging of his metallic face mask had split Yoroi Musha's lip on the left side of his face from his upper lip nearly to his nose.
The wound was spilling blood onto his face, staining his white beard a muddy red, and leaving his face contorted in a permanent scowl. Neither of those issues seemed to impede the man, however, as he reached down to touch Uraraka's hands together and return his gravity. He fell the few inches to the ground before straightening and reforming his quirk into another naginata, easing back into the same ready pose from earlier.
Momo had merely a second to prepare herself before Yoroi Musha launched himself first at her, this time. As he had against Awase, his first strike was a massive overhand attack, meant to overwhelm her defenses as quickly as possible.
Having seen the power of the strike against Awase, Momo instead shifted slightly to the left, using her staff to nudge the hero's weapon just to the side of her. The head of the naginata embedded itself deep into the concrete, and Momo focused on the battle in front of her rather than what would have happened had she not been able to dodge or block the Yoroi Musha's attack.
Keeping her momentum up, Momo spun her staff in a pair of strikes against the man's head and knees. Had his weapon actually been a naginata, there would have been no time for him to pull it from the ground to block Momo's attacks. Unfortunately, though, his weapon was formed from his quirk, and it responded to him nearly as fast as his thoughts.
The misty weapon flowed through Yoroi Musha's hands, blade dissolving in the ground and the staff extending backwards in length. Yoroi Musha managed to get it between him and Momo's attacks before spinning and taking Awase out at the legs, jabbing him in the chest harshly with his staff. Her teammate had thought to surprise the man from behind, but the hero's situational awareness was something to admire. Yoroi Musha turned back to her, his weapon coalescing into a pair of sais, one in each hand.
Momo's brow furrowed for just a moment, her thoughts barely having enough time to catch up with the battle at hand. Why would he give up the reach advantage for weapons that required him to be as up close as possible?
Before she had a chance to puzzle out an answer, the hero was upon her. It took every ounce of her skill to keep him at a distance, just out of reach of his flickering sais. The man's hands were faster than even Momo's trainer's had been, and she found it difficult to predict exactly where his attacks would be.
As Momo took a step back to reassess her position, her foot touched something and her stance faltered somewhat. Somehow in the heat of battle, she had gotten turned around and nearly tripped over Uraraka's unconscious form.
Without a beat of hesitation, Yoroi Musha sprang forward and took advantage of Momo's momentary lapse in attention. He hooked the prongs of his sai around her staff and pulled, yanking it from Momo's hands and flinging it off into the thicket of pipes that surrounded them.
Four quick swipes of the hero's hands produced four burning cuts across Momo's arms and torso followed by a punishing palm strike to her chest. The air was forced from her lungs and Momo fell to the ground, gasping in her attempts to breathe.
All she could see was Yoroi Musha's armored boot rise back and suddenly swing forward to kick her directly in the face. Thankfully, Momo still had enough presence of mind to push herself backwards at the last minute, blunting the impact but coming nowhere near to eliminating it. The toe of the hero's boot still connected solidly with her nose, and Momo could feel it break on contact as stars danced in her vision.
Despite the blood she could feel pouring from her shattered face and her swimming head, Momo lay still, hoping to sell the illusion of having been knocked out. It seemed like they'd need to rely on one of her back up plans, and she needed to remain conscious for that. Beyond that, the blow to her head had still been severe, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to even keep her feet, let alone continue to fight, in the condition she was in. Instead, she focused on using her quirk to create what she needed for her plan C.
Once she heard Yoroi Musha's heavy footsteps move away from her and towards their lair, she dared to shift her head a fraction so she could see what was happening. Awase stood, sword held straight and steady in front of him, alone against the martial prowess that was Yoroi Musha. Momo might have expected a twinge of uncertainty or for his hands to shake in anxiety, but Awase appeared as calm as he had all along.
Yoroi Musha didn't bother with pleasantries like speaking, nor did he behave like a stereotypical villain and monologue or taunt them. Instead, he shifted his weapon into a katana of his own and matched Awase's stance. There was a beat as the two sized each other up. This time, though, it was Awase who seized the initiative and struck first.
Metal rang on spectral metal as Awase pushed himself to move as fast as Momo had ever seen him move in the past. There was a flurry of strikes before their swords locked against each other, strength against strength.
In a sudden movement of the mist, Yoroi Musha's weapon shifted, growing a long, solid, spectral prong to trap Awase's own sword. With a twist of his wrist, Yoroi Musha sent the blade flying across the arena. Awase only had a bare moment to realize what had happened before Yoroi Musha swung once again, his weapon morphing from a sword to a bludgeon as it flew through the air.
It connected with Awase's head with a sickening thud, and Momo bit back a cry of fear. Her teammate dropped like a marionette with its strings cut, completely motionless. He couldn't be dead, right? Yoroi Musha was a professional hero, he should know how much force to use to prevent someone from dying.
Beyond that, he was facing students. Children. Momo wouldn't allow herself to believe that Awase was anything other than just unconscious.
With all of his opponents defeated, Yoroi Musha took a moment to spit blood from his mouth to the side before entering the room that Momo and her two teammates had been defending.
Inside he would not find the target like he presumably expected. Instead, he would find three identical targets, nothing to distinguish one from the others. According to Uraraka, he would likely attempt to destroy all three to ensure that his task was completed one way or the other. Of course, none of the three were the actual target that he had to destroy. That was safely secured in the observation tower high above their chosen battleground.
A moment after Yoroi Musha had entered the room, Momo heard the distinctive sound of his quirk slicing through metal. He had attempted to destroy at least one of the decoys. With no small feeling of satisfaction, she pressed down on the button she had created in her hand, springing the trap on the man.
In an instant, the room filled with quick set expanding capture foam. Uraraka had argued in favor of actual explosives, but had been overruled both due to the danger to Yoroi Musha, and the risk that they might accidentally knock over the observation tower and cause themselves to lose.
Uraraka had been far more receptive to the capture foam after hearing the second risk rather than the first. After seeing Yoroi Musha in person and how he operated during the exam, Momo understood why.
For a heartbeat, Momo worried that she would need to force herself to her feet to actually attach the handcuffs to Yoroi Musha for the exam to end. If she couldn't get to the man's hands because of the foam, would they have to wait out the rest of the thirty minutes before anyone could get medical attention?
Thankfully, the speakers soon came to life and she heard Nezu's voice, colored with an emotion that she couldn't interpret at the moment. "Yoroi Musha has been restrained! The hero team wins! Med bots are already on their way." The last sentence hadn't been included for either of the previous matches, but Momo was glad to know that her teammates well-being was going to be seen to.
With the match won and her worries about her teammates temporarily mollified, Momo allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness.
---
The observation room was deathly silent as Nezu announced the end of the battle, which Chiyo was eternally grateful for. There were four students that needed medical attention as soon as possible, and right now she needed to focus on making sure the med bots got them to her office as quickly and safely as possible.
While Wash and Gang Orca had given their opponents serious challenges, they had not gone out of their way to injure and maim them. Chiyo had initially been frustrated with Wash for knocking Kirishima out, potentially causing long-term neurological issues, only to find that the blue haze from his bubbles had been a well-tested aerosol anesthetic. She had initially thought that the student's unconsciousness had been from the explosions that Wash had created, and had never been so happy to be wrong.
True, there had still been injuries among the students in the first two exams, with a variety of burns across Kendo and Kamakiri's bodies, severe bruising and contusions for Koda, Shoji, and Jiro, and massive quirk exhaustion from Tokage after forcing her entire body through a tiny opening. On the whole, though, it was no more than Chiyo had come to expect from final exams at U.A, and each of them was already back on their feet with no more than a small kiss from her, if that.
Somehow, she had let herself believe that this absurd excuse for a final exam might actually pass without any emergencies. She should have known better. Some of the heroes they had brought in were renowned for thinking with their muscles at all of the worst times. If this was how bad Yoroi Musha's final had gone, Chiyo shuddered to think of how Shishido's or Endeavor's would go.
"I'll fuckin' kill that bastard!" Kamakiri was the first to break the students' silence. "Let me outta here! I'll shove a blade up his…" He cut off as Kaibara placed a hand on his shoulder. Chiyo looked briefly behind her at the students still mostly standing in shock, finding only hard determination in Kaibara's eyes as he gazed at the screens.
"Yo will be ok. All of them will be. They're tough." He looked away from the monitors directly at Chiyo. "Right, Recovery Girl?"
The med bots had reached the students and were performing preliminary scans to make sure they were all safe to move. Given that Yaoyorozu and Awase had serious head injuries, it wasn't guaranteed.
Chiyo released a breath she wasn't aware that she had been holding as all four of the students were alive. Yaoyorozu would have been in much worse shape and likely needed to be put in a neck brace had she not dampened the kick to her head. Awase was certainly concussed, but thankfully he did not have any spine or neck issues that would prevent him from being moved either.
"Yes," She belatedly replied to Kaibara's question, still hanging in the air. "They are all on their way back now, although I'll have to treat them all in my office." Beyond Yaoyorozu and Awase's likely concussions, Uraraka would need observation to ensure that there was no internal bleeding or other organ damage. Kodai had been taken by surprise and knocked out via pressure points, but the fact that she was still unconscious, even if otherwise healthy, was worrisome at the moment.
Her proclamation released much of the tension in the room in a rush. Students began speaking again, thankfully quietly, about the match they just watched. Those who had already gone seemed relieved to have escaped such a violent final. Most of the tension remaining in the room was from those who had yet to take an exam, especially as they knew they had to go up against Hawks or Endeavor.
Oddly, the one student whose composure hadn't altered at all after what had just happened was Todoroki. Perhaps it was because he knew that he was going up against his father. Although if half the things that Chiyo had heard were true, that fact would likely be the opposite of a reassurance.
As she turned to leave the room, Chiyo was already planning on how to treat each of the students. Yoroi Musha, the man himself, despite taking a nasty blow to the face from Uraraka, could wait. That 'perfect' face that he had tried so long and hard to protect didn't qualify as an emergency in Chiyo's mind. If it scarred a bit, so be it. It served him right.
Beyond that, Chiyo was seriously considering arresting the man if he so much as thought about stepping in her office. Everyone always forgot, but she was a hero too, with all of the training, responsibilities, and enforcement power that came with that. What she had just observed was a textbook case of reckless child endangerment. Even if it wasn't likely to stick given the unusual circumstances and Yoroi Musha's close alliance with the HPSC, it would at least give him something to think about.
"Shuzenji." Nezu's tone was one that Chiyo rarely heard from him, when he was willing to abandon his pretenses of humanity and let some of his animal heritage show through. "Focus on healing. I'll deal with our guest in due time."
Chiyo's mouth drew into a grim line. Whatever she had planned for Yoroi Musha, Nezu's retribution would be far worse. He hadn't committed an "unpleasantness," as he liked to call them, in quite some time. Yoroi Musha would be lucky if he was simply allowed to retire in disgrace.
Ultimately, though, she nodded. Her idea would not have any lasting consequences and was unlikely to induce any lasting behavioral changes in the man. Nezu bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile before turning back to his control panel.
---
Every student at U.A knew about Training Ground Omega. After all, it alone made up a significant portion of the school's total area, extending well up into the rocky foothills behind the school. The fact that their final exam would be here had initially excited Mina. After all, she'd never gotten a chance to train in these grounds yet, and having such a huge area to hide their target made it incredibly likely that they'd pass.
Unfortunately, it turned out that they would be facing Hawks of all people. Everyone knew that Hawks was by far the number one hero when it came to finding people that didn't want to be found, in large part because of his feathers. No one in the public knew exactly what he could do with them, but if half of the rumors were true, Mina was pretty sure they were fucked.
As if to emphasize just how large their designated battle ground was, while the other teams had taken buses to their starting areas, Mina and her team got to take a helicopter. She didn't even have a chance to enjoy it because she was too worried about the upcoming exam.
Maybe they'd get to fly back, too. Hopefully Aizawa wouldn't force them to walk back if they lost. He hadn't said anything along those lines, but Mina barely trusted him as far as she could throw him. It wouldn't have been the first time he sprang a punishment on people after the fact.
Due to the noise of the rotors, they didn't even have any time to plan on the way over. Judging by how the other exams had gone, they wouldn't have very much time to plan before Hawks entered the training grounds. At least they had the benefit of being in the middle of the woods, so it would take him a while to find them.
Hopefully.
Ectoplasm set the helicopter down in a small clearing near a rocky cliff well into Training Ground Omega. The target that they were set to defend stood just under a small outcropping from the cliff, shielded from sight from above and any direction not in the clearing. It was nice that they had been given a defensible position, at least.
Immediately after all four of them had disembarked, Ectoplasm gave them a wave as he took off. Mina had to repress a sigh in relief that they could finally begin planning without having to yell everything to one another.
"Okay!" Pony started. "Plan time!"
Before anyone could respond, Principal Nezu announced over the speakers, "Hawks has entered the grounds and the exam has begun! Good luck!" Where even were those speakers located?! No matter where Mina looked, she couldn't find anything that looked remotely like a set of speakers.
No. Not important. They might have been safe for the time being, but they needed a plan as soon as possible. They couldn't say when Hawks might show up.
"Anyone have ideas on how we want to play this?" Mina asked, hoping to prompt conversation.
"I would ask to take the lead on protecting the target." Shiozaki stated. "I am blessed to be in an environment where I can use my quirk most effectively. My vines will be able to shield the target from all but the harshest assaults."
"That's good." Rin spoke in soft yet determined tones. "Why don't you get started on that? The rest of us can work out who plays defense and who tries to escape." Shiozaki nodded and calmly walked towards the target, the vines from her hair snaking down into the ground and forming a cocoon around both her and the fake electronics that they had to protect.
"Is it worth it for anyone to try to escape?" Mina asked. "After all, we're way out in the middle of nowhere. You saw from the chopper. It's a hell of a hike to the exit."
"Why hike?" Pony asked. "I fly!" Her Japanese had gotten impressively better over the course of the semester, but under stressful situations she still tended to drop words or get them out of order.
"Could work…" Rin mused. "You'd have to stay below the canopies of the trees, though, so Hawks wouldn't see you from across the grounds."
"It'd still be faster than trying to free run there." Mina added to the conversation.
"Quieter, too, I would bet." Rin seemed like he had made up his mind. "Alright, that's as good of a plan as we're going to get under this sort of time frame. Pony, use your horns to fly to the exit, but make sure you stay out of sight and let us know if you see Hawks."
Pony gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. "You got it, man boss!" They'd have to talk with her about the proper way of translating certain Americanisms. Again.
"Ashido, you and I will stay here to help protect Shiozaki. She was confident of her vines, but anything extra can't hurt." It was a simple plan, but one thing that Mina clung to was that simple plans were often the most effective. It meant she didn't have to wrack her brain thinking of complicated nonsense and still be confident she'd have a good shot. "Anyone have any other suggestions?"
"I have one." Mina's stomach dropped to her feet as a male voice that wasn't Rin's spoke up behind the three of them. "Maybe don't make all of your plans where your opponents can hear."
She really didn't want to, but Mina forced herself to turn around. After all, it wasn't like not turning around would make it so that Hawks wasn't somewhere right behind her.
Even though she knew that Hawks was going to be right there, she still flinched as her eyes fell on the winged hero. He was squatting on a tree branch, watching the three of them with his head cocked slightly to the side.
In the moment, two thoughts flitted through Mina's head. First, Hawks really did look a lot like a bird. Second, Aizawa was totally going to dock points for their lack of situational awareness.
"Hiya!" Hawks gave a wave and a wide smile. Both Pony and Rin had also turned around to look at the hero, each looking as poleaxed as Mina felt. For a moment no one moved. Hawks seemed content to let the students make the first move, while Mina and her teammates were frozen in shock.
Rin was the first to move, flinging a half-dozen of his scales at the branch where Hawks was perching. The winged hero took off in a flurry of feathers just before the scales impacted, tearing apart the branch and the upper portion of the tree all at once. "Pony! Get moving!" He yelled. "Don't worry about hiding, just go for speed!"
"Oh. Yeah. That'll work." Came Hawks' sarcastic reply from above them. While the man himself was currently flapping overhead, the feathers that he had left behind suddenly shot off towards Pony.
The American girl was riding four of her horns, angling off towards the exit. Hawks' feathers were faster though, streaking through the sky like bullets and pulling Pony off of her horns. As soon as the girl was no longer under her own power of movement, Hawks' feathers dragged her off in the direction opposite from the exit. Her horns trailed behind, falling ever further behind.
Before Mina and Rin could form a proper response to Pony's abduction, another flock of feathers descended on them from above. Not only were the feathers fast, they were sharp . So sharp that Mina activated her quirk on instinct, spreading her acid across her body and using it to dampen some of the edge of the feathers. As a side benefit, the feathers that had been trying to lift her off her feet and drag her away melted off of her and fell limply to the floor.
Rin, however, was not so lucky, as he was drawn into the air and kidnapped much as Pony had been. Now it was down to just Shiozaki and Mina against the number three (soon to be number two, presumably) hero. The same hero that was currently floating just in front of her, a smug smile on his face.
This… was bad.
---
One of the first things that Hawks had learned during his training at the HPSC was how to keep an easy-going smile on his face while he was in significant pain. As soon as he learned that weakness was punished by his trainers, he developed a method of hiding his pain. The fact that it helped reassure civilians no matter how bad the situation was was just a bonus. It also usually unnerved villains enough that, even if they had the advantage, they would surrender at the thought that he was more in control than he actually was.
That's exactly what he was hoping would happen right now with Ashido. Not that he didn't think he could take her down if it came to it. After all, he had taken down far more dangerous villains in the past. The villains who attacked the Chiba Museum of Science a few years ago came to mind. But under the current circumstances, restraining Ashido would require using far more force than Hawks was comfortable with.
Despite what Yoroi Musha seemed to believe, they were going up against students, and shouldn't be maiming them.
The problem for Hawks was twofold. First, the electronic quirk suppressants that U.A had provided felt like it was affecting him more than they had said it would. The irregular jolts and shocks from the armbands he was wearing didn't seem to affect the speed of his feathers, but it made controlling them far more difficult than he was used to.
Normally he could control and read vibrations through every single one of his feathers, no matter where they were located, as easily as breathing. Now, though, even just carrying Tsunotori and Rin away from the battle was taking a significant amount of his attention. It reminded him of his teenage years, when he was pushing his limits for control. The rapidly growing migraine was a distraction that he'd need to work through in order to win this.
The other problem for Hawks was Ashido herself. He knew from watching the sports festival that she could coat her body in her acid to dampen attacks on her. Nothing in her dossier had followed up on this, so Hawks had assumed that she had not progressed this ability since then.
That was incorrect, and reminded him again of the dangers of assumptions. While her acid coating in the sports festival had apparently been mild enough to not cause any serious burns to either her or her opponent, her acid now was more than strong enough to ruin his smaller feathers with just a touch. While Hawks had ways of taking Ashdio down, they were either more costly or more violent than he would prefer to use in confrontation with a student.
He firmly pushed the various methods that had been used on him at a similar age (or younger) out of his mind.
It would make things more difficult, but he'd just have to avoid Ashido. Hence, the intimidation. If he could get her to make a break for the exit, he'd have more than enough time to break into Shiozaki's (honestly rather impressive) cocoon. The exit would take Ashido quite some time to reach on foot. He'd really pushed himself in order to make it from the gate to the target as quickly as he had.
Unfortunately, the smug smile was not enough. After a moment of surprise at the ease of which Hawks had dealt with her teammates, Ashido refocused and brought her acid up across her entire body.
Well, that was a shame.
Hawks landed, pulling his two largest feathers from his wings to use as pinion swords. He spun the right one around his hand in a casual manner while slowly walking towards the girl.
"Right now, little girl," He knew how to hit just the right blend of confidence and intimidation to break people's spirits. "We can do things one of two ways. The easy way, or the hard way." Cliche, yes, but surprisingly effective in practice. The benefits of having a reputation, he supposed.
Ashido's eyes widened for a moment, before she caught herself and broke into a grin of her own. "If you're saying that, then you've got nothing, birdie. So how about we do this the very easy way." As she said this, she shifted her weight forward onto her toes. It was a subtle move, one that most people wouldn't catch. But Hawks wasn't most people.
"If you had said the easy way, you'd have gotten the easy way." Hawks replied. "But you said the veryeasy way, so that means you get the very hard way." He couldn't let a response like that go unpunished. If it meant he'd be down a couple of extra feathers going into his second exam this afternoon, so be it.
Hawks narrowed his eyes at Ashido, waiting for that split second when her attention wavered. As soon as he saw her lean back on her haunches, just for a moment, that's when he struck.
He shot into the air, up and to Ashido's right. She was right handed, so throwing acid up and to the right would be less accurate. At the same time, he used a dozen of his smaller feathers to block her vision, fluttering in her face. He didn't quite touch her acid barrier with them, but kept them moving and shifting to keep her from getting a good look at what was going on.
While she was distracted, Hawks shot back down, feather swords dragging behind him, and sliced through her acid barrier along the back of her legs. He intentionally missed all of the important tendons. She'd still be able to walk, but she'd certainly feel it.
In an instant, Ashido had collapsed on the ground, acid barrier still up. It was a wise choice; if she had let it drop, Hawks was going to use his smaller feathers to carry her away like her teammates.
As it was, though, she was out for the moment, and that was all Hawks needed. A quick glance at his swords showed that the acid had eaten away where they had cut at Ashido, but there was still plenty of edge left to them.
Perfect.
Due to the quirk suppressant, he didn't have the capability to keep Ashido blinded while he went after Shiozaki. Instead, he used the feathers that had been distracting the acid girl to try and find a weak spot in Shiozaki's cocoon.
Unfortunately, the vines had been pulled tight enough around the target that there was not room for even one of his feathers to slip through, and the vines were tough enough that his smaller feathers couldn't cut through them.
Fine. He'd do this the hard way, too.
Recalling his small feathers back to his wings, he shot forward towards the cocoon, swords at the ready. Where his earlier attempt had failed, his pinion blades made quick work of Shiozaki's vines. Two swipes of his swords was enough to open a window into the vine cocoon.
Inside, Shiozaki stood just in front of the target, hands clasped together in prayer while her hair writhed like a living being behind her. The vines from her hair burrowed deep into the ground before reemerging to form the shelter around her.
Hawks prepared to send his smaller feathers into the cocoon to destroy the server, but something tickled at the back of his mind that he needed to move, now. These sorts of instincts had proven themselves over and over again in the field, so Hawks listened now as well, throwing himself away from Shiozaki and into the air.
An instant after he left the ground, a pair of enormous vines emerged from the ground where he had just been standing, each one as thick as his waist and spotted with wicked looking thorns. Each thrashed after him like it was a living being.
While Hawks didn't have quite the control over his feathers as he would like, he was still just as agile in the air as ever, and the giant vines were far too bulky to catch him. His small feathers were, once again, unable to deal with the thickness of the vines, but his swords made quick work of them, easily slicing each vine apart.
As Hawks went to turn his attention back to Shiozaki's cocoon, however, he was nearly immediately beset by four vines, each roughly half as large as the previous vines that he had been dealing with. Where he had chopped each of the previous vines apart, now two fresh vines had sprouted from the dead end of each previous one.
These four new vines, while smaller than the first ones to assault him, were far more nimble and lithe. As such, Hawks actually had to put forth a bit of effort to dodge them. Once again, though, he was too fast and his pinion swords were more than enough to cut them down.
As soon as he sliced through each one, however, they sprouted yet another two vines. One tip down, two more would appear, each one half the size but twice the speed as the one before it. He stopped cutting the vines once he realized the pattern, but dodging was nearly all he could do by that point. While he might have wanted to ignore the vines and go for the cocoon, that would leave him open to grappling from the vines, and he didn't particularly want that to happen.
Hawks was put in the mind of Hercules and his task to defeat the hydra. Unfortunately, he didn't have any fire to burn the vines with and put an end to their regeneration. A glimpse of pink in the corner of his eye, however, reminded him that he did have acid, and that would likely do just as well.
Spinning around a trio of grasping vines and diving under one of the remaining larger ones, Hawks aimed himself for Ashido, still on the ground trying to force herself up. In a straight shot, he was faster than the vines, and quickly pulled in front. With all of them trailing behind him, if he pulled up and sliced the tips off at the last second, that should be enough to stop them from doubling. The vines would still be around, but there would be a controllable number of them. While Shiozaki had shown great control over her quirk, she was highly unlikely to be able to have her vines pull off quite the same aerial maneuvers as Hawks could.
Ashido looked up and Hawks nearly felt a pang of guilt at the sudden shock in her eyes. That emotion was quickly smothered, as this was the most direct way for him to deal with the situation. Ashido didn't have long to deal with her shock, though, as Hawks was nearly on her.
However, he was so focused on his preparations for dealing with the vines, that he didn't pay enough attention to the acid melting away from Ashido. Just before he swerved away, Ashido launched herself from the ground in a way that would have been impressive even without the injuries to her legs. Instinctively, Hawks dodged to the side a hair earlier than he meant to, swinging one sword at the vines as he had planned.
Ashido, though, was just close enough that she was able to wrap a hand around his left wrist, enough to throw him off balance. Hawks sent his small feathers after Ashido again, blinding her and loosening her grasp on his arm.
The damage had been done. In the time it took to regain his bearing and control, four separate vines slammed into him, coiling around his waist and both legs. Hawks beat his wings with all the strength he had, and even felt the vines begin to give.
Before he could escape, though, one of the thickest vines struck him across the back, wrapping solidly around his chest, crushing his wings into his shoulder blades.
Long and short, he was stuck.
Hawks gave up struggling, there was no point to it after all, and blew a stray lock of hair out of his face. "Well played, kids. I didn't think Vines McGee would be able to have her hair go all kudzu on me." Neither student responded immediately, anticipating a trap of some sort.
Good. That sort of wariness would serve them well once they were on the streets.
Neither relaxed until Nezu's voice rang out over the speakers built into the cliffside. "Hawks has been restrained! The hero team wins!"
---
"Hell yeah! Four for four!" Tokage cheered as soon as Nezu made his announcement.
"And they managed it with just two of them!" Kirishima added on. Izuku wasn't completely surprised at that turn of events, knowing that Ashido was a strong counter to Hawks and Shiozaki was literally in her element in Training Ground Omega. He, however, had not been expecting Shiozaki to show such strength with her quirk.
"Ha, yeah. Pony and Rin lucked out for sure." Kamakiri laughed. "I wish I could have passed while doing nothing."
"While they may have passed," Aizawa broke in, suddenly reminding everyone in the class that he was still present. "Their final grade does depend on how they performed in their exam. Anyone who scores low enough will be required to take remedial hell classes during our summer camp."
An uneasy silence settled over the class. While Aizawa had made it clear that anyone who did not pass the exam would not get to attend the summer camp, the possibility of hell classes was new.
Izuku chanced a glance back towards Aizawa and found him with his trademark logical ruse smile. "After all," The teacher continued. "If you didn't contribute to your team's victory, we need some other way to ensure you are living up to your potential. While no final decisions have been made, I expect Kodai and Kirishima to join Tsunotori and Rin in remedial hell."
"Mm." Kodai seemed unsurprised at this turn of events. Kirishima, on the other hand, was poleaxed.
"What?!" Kaibara exploded in his place. "If it weren't for Kirishima I wouldn't have been anywhere near fast enough to get to the gate and back to take out Wash."
"Yes, but he also took himself out of the equation by running directly into an obvious trap. That more than cancels out whatever benefits he may have brought his team." Aizawa replied.
"But that showed me that I wouldn't be able to escape! It was an intentional sacrifice, which…" Kaibara continued arguing in favor of Kirishima when the other boy's hand landed on his shoulder.
"Bro, thanks, but Mr. Aizawa has a point." Kirishima interrupted.
"Thank you for your endorsement." Aizawa dryly interjected.
"I wasn't thinking when I ran into Wash's bubbles. It worked out, but that's more due to luck than anything else." Kirishima grimaced at the admission, but Izuku noticed a glimmer of approval in Aizawa's eyes. "In a real life situation, I could have ruined everything. I probably need the remedial lessons." Kaibara grumbled a while longer, but eventually gave up his defense of his friend.
"With that business dealt with," Nezu interjected. "The final team should get a move on. Our previous team will be returning soon." There had been a longer break between exams as the group that had faced Hawks had to be flown back from Training Ground Omega.
Ah, right. The exam. Izuku had managed to put his upcoming test out of his mind during the other four finals, but now he had no choice but to face the fact that he would be taking on Endeavor. True, he would be teamed up with three of his classmates, but Tokoyami was at a distinct disadvantage against the flame hero, and while Honenuki's quirk was incredibly powerful for crowd control, Izuku was fairly sure that it would not be completely useful against Endeavor.
And then there was Todoroki.
While he had become closer to Izuku and his friends over the past several weeks and they had the shared trauma of Hosu, Izuku still couldn't say that he knew exactly what was happening in his head. The words that Todoroki had shared with him during the sports festival rang in his head, though.
The two of them had never explicitly discussed Endeavor and his treatment of Todoroki since then, but the fact that Todoroki had confided in him had colored their interactions since then. It was even worse for Kyoka, considering she had heard everything that Todoroki had said to Izuku as well, and Todoroki wasn't aware.
While they hadn't ever discussed it, Todoroki had shown that he was working through his issues by working on his fire. But it was one thing to use his own quirk in the safety of U.A's training gyms, and quite another to go up against Endeavor in a scenario that would require conflict between the two of them.
"Hey." Kyoka's voice pulled Izuku out of his muttering session, letting him see that his teammates were waiting for him by the door. "Go kick Endeavor's ass, Green. Get us up to five for five."
"I-I mean, that's the goal, right?" Izuku tried to crack a joke, but couldn't help from stuttering just a bit. Going up against the number two, soon to be number one, hero was plenty stressful, after all. "But are you saying I don't need any luck like you did?"
Kyoka sighed, mumbling something under her breath that sounded like "Lucky you're cute," but that couldn't have been right. That didn't make sense in the context of his upcoming test at all. Before he could work out exactly what she had said, though, her lips crashed into his to another cheer from Tokage.
"Problem child." Aizawa's tired voice cut through Tokage's like a knife through butter. "If you don't head out now, you will automatically fail your final."
Blushing at having been called out like that, Izuku quickly pulled away and joined his group. Todoroki's eyes followed him, more intense than normal. Taking one last deep breath, Izuku led his group out of the room towards their exam site and Endeavor.