The attacks were anything but simple. They were super complex and kept coming out of random directions. He had to strain just to dodge. "Stop dodging and counter me already!" Oh, and he had to focus on attacking, something he had no experience in other than shooting off air waves.
"I'm trying, you're very fast!" He retorted.
"Exactly! Even someone as dense as you has to know doing the same thing over and over again is both insane and stupid, espcially when it doesn't work." She completed her rant by ramming him in the back with a kick.
"But what if it does work!?" He shouted back, getting kicked in the stomach.
"Then it won't work forever, everything can be predicted, it's not like you'll be fighting animals, you'll be fighting villains, intelligent ones with quirks to enhance them far beyond what they should be like."
"I've spent most of my life fighting animals for survival. There was the time with the monkey and that basket of fruit, the bears for that one salmon in the river, the hyena that just chased me for no reason…" He could honestly talk for days about how many incidents he's had with animals.
"Animals rely on instinct, which is why you need to be better than that." She kicked him into another wall. "You need to start strategizing without thinking and thinking while punching."
"So punch without thinking, got it."
"No, the opposite! You need to think and not think. You need to get your body to work on autopilot while you look at the world in thought. We're gonna keep this up until either you pass out, or get a better name for your new technique."
"What's wrong with Chicken soup?" It was delicious!
"EVERYTHING!" She hit him again. The others were probably having much more fun than this.
==
'Why do I feel like strangling Suzuki for some reason?' Sero thought, currently working with Kamui on swinging, something he was finding quite easily, almost like Spiderman. If it wasn't for the almighty agony of producing an hour's worth of tape, it would be perfect.
"I can tell what you're thinking. I thought the same when I had the chance to use my quirk openly like this." The pro commented as they swung side by side. "But just because we can swing like him doesn't mean it's as easy as the comics make it. You don't have a sixth sense for starters."
"What comics?" Shiozaki asked, flying through the air using her vines … actually looking quite weird just managing to act like she was standing while her hair went wild.
"Something way before your time, pre vigilante age." Kamui waved it off. "You actually have an advantage here, Maria. I take it that you can feel vibrations through your vines?"
"Not particularly, a few moving and large objects but small and stationary things must be seen."
"Then that's where the majority of your training is going to be for the moment. You're going to spread out and stretch as many of your vines over a wide enough area and make as many specific detections as possible. We're going to maximize your spatial awareness until you know the whole prefecture like the back of your hand."
"If it will serve my angel, I will partake in this agonizing venture no matter how long it'll take."
"Another note to take, romance and heroism rarely end well." Seriously? "As a pro you get a lot of grudges and work that you need to put into it. One understanding person is fine, but both are …"
"I shall take your advice and respectfully decline. Iruma Suzuki is the most kind and understanding soul I've ever encountered. His eyes are so honest and pure, untainted by greed, lust, malice, and lust." She said lust twice.
"Yeah, because he's never been taught what those words mean to begin with." He muttered.
"An innocence that must be protected." Yeah, this was going to be a nightmare. Everyone else was probably having a great time.
==
Koda was suddenly filled with an urge to hurt his classmates, which was strange as he was a pacifist in nature. Not that he could, he couldn't form conversation right now even if he wanted to, because he spent five hours speaking up against animals trying to expand his voice.
"They're made out of rock! My quirk's not that effective against...against whatever these things are!" Kaminari yelled, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the creature's claws.
"Golems, they have feelings too you know!" Pixie Bob shouted out. "And they're not going to let up either, they don't tire out, and they never lose energy either! Basically it's live or die here!"
"Come on Koda, we need to run, it's our only option!" The boy shouted, tugging him by the hand. "What about bugs!? There's got to be plenty around here! You can talk to bugs right?! They count as animals, right!?"
Koda gave a nod no. He didn't want to lie but … bugs were scary, ya know? How was Koda supposed to talk to creepy crawly little guys. And what would they even do, they're small and the birds and tigers already ran away.
"Damn it, damn it, what can we do here!?" Kaminari pounding on his head. "My quirks are less effective and we're running low on ways to keep yours effective..there's gotta be something here…" He really was trying to be smarter, it was pretty admirable.
A sudden hand landed in front of them, the golem found them, growling as it raised it's hand. "Koda, we need to split up." He turned to the boy. "I'll get it's attention, it won't stop until only one of us is taken, just go alright." No, there had to be something, right?
The boy began running out, shouting at the creature and shocking it to get attention, drawing the beast away and leaving Koda alone … feeling like a weakling.
==
Burnin would never complain about her job as one of Endeavor's sidekicks. Sure, the boss could be a bit of a hardass, but he was an effective one, and she was top dog whenever the big man was in his own little office, so it was a position with plenty of enjoyment.
"I have learned much from this experience so far. Thank you for taking me, Endeavor-Sama." The funny brat bowed down.
"Shoto, seriously, you're my son. You've had a spiteful grudge on me for years on end."
"No, I never had a grudge against Endeavor. I've always detested my father Enji Todoroki, but I haven't seen him since I was four. I'm certain this is the first time we've had a conversation with each other."
"Even then you greeted me at the sports festival, telling me you'd win without my 'cursed flame' or something."
"Sorts festival?… oh right!" The man looked victorious. "You were at the nurses office, right?"
"Yes! Tell me you didn't know who I was then! I dare you."
"No, I try not to pay attention to top heroes. They usually have an inflated ego from what I've heard." She risked her boss's glare to stifle a giggle. "I only came here because I assumed you had some control over fire, then again, your face is always on fire, so maybe I jumped the gun a little."
"Jumped the … you KNOW I have plenty of control on fire! You just never wanted to learn from me before!" According to Endeavor and his rapport gotten from Recovery Girl, it might have been some form of specific Amnesia. They both called bullshit but neither of them had the medical knowledge to disagree.
"But we've never met until the Sports Festival, how would I know what you can do and can't do?" Going for blissful ignorance, huh? If he could actually convince Endeavor the amnesia was real, Shoto would immediately become her favorite hero for pulling one over number two himself.
==
Kendo smiled as the camera clicked, each flash killed a part of her soul. Terrible mistakes and many regrets compiled. Albeit not as much as Yaoyarozu, who looked dead. Like, not just metaphor, pale skin and glossy eyes dead. "That's perfect! Take a fifteen minute break and we'll be ready to practice shooting for the commercial."
Practice for the commercial...she thought that's what THEY WERE DOING for the past two days! "What have we been doing for the last three hours?" She asked.
"Photoshoot, then comercial, then talk show, then runway, then …" Each one caused her to die a bit inside.
"Don't you do any form of hero work … ever?"
"I'm a bit of an on-call hero. I have no combat ability, my quirk is purely for locating people regardless of any outside factors. Whenever someone requests a team up, I'm there, but until then, my time is my time to use how I see fit." The hero responded completely seriously, no shame, no disappointment in her tone or anything.
"I see...I'll take that break." Yaoyorozu said in her dead voice, making her way out the door.
"Hey, wait up, don't leave me behind." She followed suit. "Hey, it's alright. We could still get some field experience...eventually. Maybe...take this as an opportunity to learn how to deal with the public? That's important for hero work." Kendo knew it wasn't the brightest silver lining, but it was better than nothing.
"Yes, learn to deal with the public." Yaoyorozu continued. "I learned it the moment I realized what we were chosen for … a barrier of usefulness unable to be climbed." Did she hang around Kuroiro when she wasn't looking?
"Hey, you made it to the final round of the festival..that's more than what could be said about 1-B." Her big sis senses were kicking in, which was a little funny considering the girl in front of her was taller.
"I did...and when the time came for my match I froze and couldn't do anything…." She wasn't being receptive to the compliments. "I pitied my vice rep because I assumed he was quirkless, yet he leapt farther than me even before using that power...I'm...I'm the pathetic one in 1-A, I'm..I'm the deku…"
"No, you're a recommended student." She tried to cheer her up. "Which hero recommended you? Surely they could make a case for you."
"... My parents never said …" This wasn't something she could fix...or something that could be fixed during the internship...which was making it worse….Fuck.
==
Aizawa pulled out another juice pouch, this time grape, tossing it over to Kalego. "I can't believe the human world has such a variety of sweets." The man spoke, staring at the image with a raised eyebrow.
"One of the many things we've perfected are the different ways to eat sugar." Aizawa drly chuckled. "So you just got done with your Terminus?"
"Yes, and sadly none of my students failed. Such a shame." The demon reached levels of cruelty Aizawa could only dream to achieve. "I was looking forward to ranking Midoriya down too."
"Oh, how's that been treating you by the way? What's the latest stunt the boy pulled this time?" He asked. "Mine was eating a headband others were supposed to take and breaking his own bones fighting an ice user."
"Sounds tame by my standards. Mine stopped a terrorist and entered his Wicked Phase while also convincing the entire staff at Bablys to give him the most prestigious classroom" The man groaned. He could get why, stopping a terrorist was just insane … especially when no adults were around. "He also tripled my salary while he was at it."
"Sounds like the kid really likes you."
"Don't make me throw up. I detest the little nuisance." If Yamada was here, he would've been calling bullshit. "Even gave himself another ridiculous title, 'Deku'.
Deku … "You sure it was Deku?"
"Yeah, why, mean anything?"
"Useless in my language." Also was related to Bakugo, something he should look into later. "So now I have free time to sleep, since my students are out and about. What about you?"
"I sadly don't get the luxury. That insufferable chair demon forced me to have a home visit to every house of the misfits...fortunately there were one or two parents that were sane and reasonable enough to deal with." He paused a bit at that last part. "Now I've agreed to supervise Midoriya's 'Calamity Cult' to Walter Park."
"That's rough." Aizawa agreed wholeheartedly. Fun, games, and amusement rides? A nightmare in the making. "So have they summoned it yet?"
"Three minutes ago, but it was a flawed ritual, now they're wasting their time trying to wake up a demon that won't be up for hours." Kalego spoke. "I'll grab the body, you take out the rest."
"On it." To think the one person in the universe he could empathize with so sincerely was a demon from hell. That should have been a warning sign or something.
==
Gran Torino was getting cold. He had been on the floor for two days, waiting for the arrival of this Suzuki kid. Nobody said he wasn't going to show, so surely he was just on his way right? Nedzu knows he didn't use Email. He was planning the whole dead routine too just like in his only year of teaching at U.A. Fun times.
It sometimes made him wish he kept at the teaching gig, but Nana took priority over everything else, especially when it came to Toshinori. She was a good woman. And she made the right call in choosing the man, he grew up a fine, if stupid, pillar of peace.
He suddenly got a ring from the landline. Okay, it might ruin the surprise if the kid got here, but he was getting damn tired of lying on the wooden floor eating dust when he could've been eating the sausages he spilt for the effect. "Hello there?"
"Teacher, you sound as spry as ever." Toshi was complimenting him. The man fucked up. "How've you been, old chum?"
"I've waited for fucking days for your little green horn to show up! Tell me he just got lost! That's the ONLY acceptable answer I'll take right now."
"I see … so you're still doing that little trick with the zombie routine?"
"That's not an acceptable answer! And like you're one to talk, Trash Zombie, or do you prefer Bunny-sensei?" He would've added son of a bitch to that list, but that might've included Nana, and he wasn't going to insult her just to insult Toshi.
"Honestly now that the whole class chants it constantly, Bunny-sensei is starting to grow on me," Aww, now it wouldn't have the same spark that-wait, sidetracked!
"I will skewer you if you don't tell me a solid, and perfectly logical reason why he hasn't shown up!"
" Young Suzuki already made his choice before yours came in."
"Oh, is that all?" He was a lot less mad than he would've been if it was any other answer. "And you didn't influence his choice at all, right? This was something he did on his own?"
"Ah..no, he made it almost instantly...you're not upset...are you?"
"At the boy, no. I did send mine in late, and he has the right to not be bound by your legacy. He chose someone good right?"
"Miriko. She grew a slight fondness when she watched his performance." And by fondness, he probably meant desire to kick the boy's butt sideways until he could throw a decent punch.
"She'll whip him into shape, so I'm not mad at Suzuki at all." He really would get some fast and quick combat intuition from the woman, which from the fight, he desperately needed.
"Oh, that's a relief, for a second there I thought-"
"The guy who took days to call, however? The one that hasn't seen me for years and only contacted me recently through a damn letter of all things? You bet I'm going to kick his ass. Don't go anywhere, I'll know if you try to escape."
He hung up the phone and cracked his neck, sitting on a chair. Let the man stew for a few days, then he'd go and murder him.
==
"Energy suit!" Her foot stopped inches from the boy, whose body was bruised beyond belief.
"Wha.." Miriko questioned, and that one second of confusion was all it took for her to be caught off guard by Suzuki grabbing ahold of her leg, and pushing himself forward, making her fall flat on her face.
"Oh sorry, I.." And that good-boy nature of his was all that it took for her to trip him on his back. "I shouldn't have said sorry, shouldn't I?"
"Nope, the fight was over anyway. You deserve some vindication." She got up. "So, you finally got a good name right?"
"Yeah, Energy Suit!" That name still sounded like crap, but it was better than damn chicken soup. "I saw the lightning that was bouncing on me and thought 'hey, it's like I'm wearing electricity', so BAM, new name!" This kid got excited over even the simplest of things.
"As long as you don't sound like you're trying to be the mascot for Campbell's, then you'll be okay for now." Although he wouldn't have to worry about any kind of copyright if he tried."Eh, getting kind of late." She noticed the moon rising. "Let's head in for the night."
"Got it, where should I set up the equipment?" The boy asked, reaching into a bag he brought other than his costume suitcase. "Is there even enough open space for a tent? There's not too many trees around and I'm not one hundred percent okay with sleeping in an alleyway."
The kid was planning on roughing it? She knew he had guts, but this was going the extra mile. She approved. "Like the initiative, squirt, but you'll be taking the floor tonight. The bed's all mine." She expected the complaining to commence shortly.
"Oh, I got the floor!" The boy smiled brightly. "Awesome, this is gonna be the first time in years I've had a solid roof." … What the fuck?
"You know there's an invention called rooms and apartments right? You could have used either instead of just camping."
"But I've never been allowed to sleep inside before. It's always been the tent...at least when I have one, but the stars can get pretty when all the lights are off."
….What the actual FUCK!? "Never allowed...kid, don't you live with your parents?" Unless he didn't have any. "Wait, they aren't, you know…?"
"You know what?" He asked with innocent eyes. "They sleep inside the house if that's what you wanted to know. I barely go inside unless they tell me to fix the toilet or clean the bathroom or polish the 'cursed' golden statue in the living room or...."
"... Fuck it." She wasn't letting this child go unloved. "Just sleep in the bed."
"No, I can't. You're sleeping in it, right?"
"What, we can share." Wouldn't be the first time she's crashed into someone's bed. And only half of the people she did it with tried to murder her. Ryukyu and Hawks were like fucking pillows.
"I don't know..I've never slept on a bed before…" ….She didn't give him a choice as she grabbed him by the arms and threw him on the bed. Even with all those muscles, the kid was pretty light. Now she had to worry about if this kid was eating enough, great.
She followed in shortly after, holding him. "Don't you dare escape, we'll train some more tomorrow." Yes, just place all worries on future Miriko, let present Miriko rest without worries.
"You feel warm. It's nice." Suzuki said as he held back a yawn. "Such a nice Rabbit-Sama...night…" In no time, the kid was out like a light.
It felt like something instinctual awakened in her as she heard that. "Yeah, night...little Kit."