Tsu sat in silence with Tokoyami. "Any idea what our challenge is supposed to be based around?" She asked him.
"Our opponent is Ectoplasm, who can duplicate himself, so my assumption would be he will attempt to overwhelm us from the second our test starts." Tokoyami guessed. "You're a mutant type, and I have an emitter of pure physical force, so they're likely to test our physical prowess by not giving us a chance to breathe.
"Who needs to breathe when you have raw power for the win! We'll take him on head first and win easy peasy lemon squeezy." Dark Shadow talked it up.
"Would you be quiet, we're talking." Tokoyami argued.
"Why can't I talk? I've got ideas, lots of them!"
"Half your ideas involve chewing on heads, the other half is just chewing on stuff in general."
"Not true, I can also CRUSH MY ENEMIES BONES TO POWDER."
"You know." Tsu started. "We never actually bring up Dark Shadow. Usually you just push him into you, but Iruma thinks that he's a genuine person."
"I AM A REAL PERSON!" The quirk yelled. "Just because I'm a manifestation of the emptiness of light in a general area doesn't mean I can't feel things too."
"Yes, you feel the need to hurt and destroy people when I let you off the leash." Tokoyami retorted. "Also throwing up lots of food and genuinely being an annoying menace."
"This feels like a conversation one would have with a sibling." She would know, her little brother and sister would argue back forth all the time.
"Your siblings like to hurt people and cause genuine pain and suffering to others?" Okay, it wasn't a perfect parallel, but the signs were there.
"Sure, leave out of the picture, I'm only the reason why you're able to be a hero. I'm sorry that I gave you the power to achieve your dreams."
"The reason I can achieve my dreams? I have to sleep with strobe lights because the last time I didn't you tried to take a bite out of my own mother!"
"You had an argument and felt angry, I was just doing what you weren't able to."
"I would never attack my family!"
"But you thought about it."
"Just because you think about something doesn't mean you act on it." … Unless you were a very primal part of that person … great, now this was gonna be on her mind the whole test.
"Let's prepare to dash forward. Like you said, Ectoplasm-sensei probably won't give us time to think, so heading towards the gate seems to be our best option." She had a back up plan just in case, but she'll wait until her partner(s) back was turned…she doubted even Iruma could easily shove handcuffs down his throat.
==
Hagakure walked back in toe with a now awake Iruma-kun and Ochako, along with a slick looking Ashido … like literally slick, she was holding onto them due to the fact she wasn't able to get a solid grip on the floor. "What did we miss?"
"Kaminari and Yaoyorozu passed against Aizawa." Shoji spoke up. "Zapped him hard enough to need Recovery Girl's help." Wow, kinda impressive. She turned to the two sitting next to each other, Kaminari being shown 'First Love Memory' … awe.
"Did you guys really need to hurt him that bad?" Iruma-kun asked innocently.
"Fuck Aizawa-sensei." They spoke in union without looking up. Already speaking in unison? That developed fast. She'll support them one hundred percent of the way…because it was one less girl that could steal away Iruma-kuns attention. Looks like Yaoyorozu saved herself from the list.
"Is there anyone in this class that's not secretly scary?" Mineta asked. The silence was telling as students looked at one another. "Just me? Great, great."
"Don't be like that, your general presence scares away girls naturally." Jiro brutally said as she had her back turned away from most of the class. What had her so moody..more so than usual?
"Tsu's not scary." Iruma pointed to the screen. They looked at Tsu preceding to kick off the head of an ectoplasm clone. She felt a sense of deja vu for some odd reason. "See, she fights bad guys for her friends. What's scary about that?"
"How is it that you're so cool and so innocent at the same time?" Kaminari asked.
"That's just how Iruma-kun works." She answered for him. "He's one of a kind." Now if only Ochako would stop being so grabby! She may have decided to tone down the possessiveness, but she'll only allow it to go so far.
==
Man, it felt good to just rip these guys apart. It was like a catharsis to harm humanoids, especially if they talked. Dark Shadow launched another one down the now open area, exiting the hall and noticing the end. "We're almost there guys!" Tsu shouted as they ran through another clone.
"For once, your unrelenting violent nature serves a purpose." Fumi was being half complementary, half-stick in the mud, but the fact there was a faint remnant of a smile meant he was enjoying this too.
"Yep, way better than the USJ fight! We don't have sparkle-britches to slow us down!"
"Congratulations on getting to me." Ectoplasm spoke up, probably the real one. "But this is where your luck ends."
"Oh please, there's three of us and one of you." Dark Shadow made himself known. "And last I checked, your clones don't do jack shit!"
"One is all I'll need…or rather…one of me and this guy…" That white fog that appeared everywhere whenever they chopped through the bastards suddenly started collecting all together, forming one giant, GIANT super Ectoplasm.
"... Dark Shadow?" Tsu asked. "How confident are you in taking that guy on?"
"Not at all, I'm trembling in my non-existent boots." If it was dark that would change everything. But here and now there was little he could do to land a scratch on it. "Plan B anyone?"
"I have something, but it's pretty risk-"
"LOOK OUT TSU!" He charged forward and grabbed the girl, taking her out of the way of the big bastard's big fat mouth. "You alright?"
"Yeah, thanks.." The girl croaked.
"Save the thanks for later, run and plan!" Fumi called him back, and now all three of them were avoiding getting stomped on by the titanic teacher clone. "Tsu, we could use the risk here and now, we have very few options as it is."
"Just keep Ectoplasm occupied." Oh yes, because keeping the pro hero and his GIANT occupied would be easy. "We'll keep the giant's attention, you just make sure the real one isn't paying attention to us." Oh, he just had to fight the real one, yeah, he could do that.
"Leave it to me." He flew over to the pro, claws formed. "Let's get it on, Mr. Ghost!"
"If you know my name, use it." The two proceed to exchange blows, arm and legs deflecting his attacks.
"Fine, I can respect a man that's brave enough to name himself after spector snot."
"Says the incorporeal quirk." Oh the bastard had gumption did he?!
"I'm the manifestation of living darkness! All fear what I am! You literally just make walking piles of barf!"
"And yet here I am beating you up with my bare hands." A punch sent him back. Damn it, he wasn't the best in this lighting.
"Dark Shadow, retreat for now!"
"What no, I have him on…waaggh!" Damn it! It was a pain just being a shadow at times. "Fumi, I had him! Just a few more minutes and he would've been minced meat."
"This is a battle we can neither run or fight our way out of." Fumi explained as he avoided an oncoming giant headbutt. "Thus, it'll be up to you to end the fight." He handed him a wet pair of cuffs. "Hide it in your hands and charge right at him."
"Why's it so wet?"
"Let's just say I took a page out of Iruma's book…ugh…" The frog girl looked a bit queasy.
"Wait … am I-"
"Do not complain, just do as you're told!" Damn it Fumi, maybe for once YOU should get a gross job. He began flying straight towards mr. ghost snot. The best part about being incoperal was being able to put just about anything in your body without issue…even if the saliva was icky.
"You don't seem to be capable of learning, do you?" That's right, you bastard, come rushing right towards him.
"Is that right? Maybe I'M the one who'll teach you a thing or two!" The man's leg was in the air, coming into contact with his hand. "Because you just got schooled!"
"Tokoyami and Asui have passed!"
"Fuck yeah, we won!" He shouted loudly.
"I see you did learn …" Ectoplasm looked down. "Why is it wet?"
"It's too embarrassing to say…" Tsu clenched her stomach before emptying it out on the floor. Yeah, looks like the girl needed to train to have an iron stomach. Munching on a few walls of steel and concrete ought to do the trick.
==
Ryuko drank her fifth cup of coffee. "It was a mistake to teach Nejire how to function without sleep." A horrible horrible mistake. "The girl was already peppy enough without caffeine, now it's been turned up to eleven."
"Sounds like a good problem to have, at least compared to what I've heard about Fatgum's intern." Hawks flew right beside her. "The guy's usually staring into the nearest corner while attacking anybody that comes close with tentacles."
"Interns sound like a hassle." Miruko hopped right to them as they landed on a rooftop. "Why bother with all that paperwork to begin with? I get along just fine in apartments."
"Didn't you get an internship recently?" Oh really? She was busy watching the third years, so hearing about the boy that apparently caught the eye of tops was always interesting.
"That's different. My Kit can actually keep up with me. He's basically my sidekick already." The rabbit hero said with what Ryuko could only describe with parental pride.
"Hold on Kit?" Hawks laughed. "You flat out got your maternal switch kicked on didn't you? What, gonna start baby feeding him carrots?"
"Hell no…Kit needs to eat an entire refrigerator just as an appetizer for breakfast. He can really pack it in."
Ryuko snorted. "Oh my god, Hawks was just being an asshole, but…but you really are a mom now."
"Hey, hey, hey, don't get me wrong, Kettie was great to have around and he was the most determined little bundle of pure joy and happiness I've ever met, but I don't have time for any of that 'mom' stuff." Denial in full action.
"Oh, I suppose then I can snag him the next time internships open.." Hawks began.
"Fuck that shit! He's my Kit! Go get your own little hatchling!"
"Is the kid really crazy enough that both of you want to adopt him?" She was interrupted by a phone ringing. Miriko reached into her pack and pulled out a white flip.
"It's the kit. 'Hey Rabbit-sama." Cute. "I just passed the finals, I took your advice to beat Rat-principal with instinct. Thank you!' …" The room was silent for a good solid two minutes before another phone rang.
"It's from Mic." Hawks pulled out his own. "'Toshi's lovechild completely trashed Nedzu! The Rat has fallen! I repeat, The Rat has fallen! We'll celebrate after the exams end! Don't miss it'!".....
The room went silent for another three minutes, before it was broken by…tears? "Miriko? Are you okay?" The dragon hero asked her fellow female pro.
"Yes…Yes I'm fine!" She shouted as more tears of joy fell from the rabbit's face. "My Kit beat that ungodly abomination of a principal…I've never been more proud!" Yeah that would do it.
"Wow, and here I thought Tokoyami was enough. Maybe I should take your kit out for a flight, let the wolf take the skies." Hawks smirked.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY, YOU OVERGROWN PARAKEET!" Miriko was now chasing the young pro around. "NO ONE'S TAKING MY KIT FROM ME AGAIN!" Yep, total Mom.
==
Skeptic typed away on his keyboard. The next design needed an up on voltage, but it kept shorting out. Maybe he should take some genetic material from a conductor type quirk. Regular support items only got you so far. Now the question was who could they target for the right supplies?
In the midst of this latest quandary, his fellow follower of Destro's will, Curious, came in with a pile of papers and her research tablet. "Hey Skeptic, I could use some of your talents for my latest project."
Ah yes, the blasphemous boy from the sports festival. The one that Re-Destro let live for the moment because of Curious, well, Curiosity. "Do you really need my help? Doesn't sound like one child needs something so in-depth."
"Eh, I got a few leads, but check it out." She placed down a stack of papers onto his desk. "Multiple records of him going out of the country. And surface records of illegal child labor." He glanced, seeing she was right. "Only problem is a lot of this is either locked in the deep web or out of the country."
Wow, now he understood why the reporter was so curious. "He's really had fifty job's across Japan?" Janitorial, carpentry, Construction, retail, pipeline worker, oil rigs, the list just seemed to go on and on.
"Fifty paid jobs that I could track down from research. That's not including the literal hundreds the kid takes on almost a flip of a coin." She smirked. "Yet he still lives in a tent …"
"Where does all that money even go?" He started typing on the keyboard, researching the Suzuki name.
"That's the thing, I need whatever you can give me for his parents. He walks in with money but never comes out. I'll work on whatever leads you can get me, pretty please?" Don't pull the cute act, it was gross.
"Let's see, let's see…" The information was actually pretty scarce. These people really knew how to hide themselves. "Hachi and Teian Suzuki…there's not much on them…not even a proper quirk registry. It's like they went through some big lengths to keep that part of themselves hidden."
"Then the boy wasn't lying about not knowing about the Quirk registry, he was literally never taught about it…how much have they hid from that kid?" He could feel the water leak from her mouth.
"Also says here they've never had a job after they turned eighteen..and they've made quite a few expensive purchases, especially after their kid was born."
"I can see it now." She smiled. "The boy driven like a slave cause of his parents disappointed with his quirklessness, he managed to get in contact with All For One … ohh I feel so excited!" She shouted. "I want to know more! I need to know more!" Curious turned to him. "Address of relatives other than parents?"
"Actually yeah…Paternal grandparents don't live too far from them." He handed her a printed out sheet.
"Thank you!" She gave him a head pat. "Now, back to the story!" She cackled, running off.
"… If I didn't know better I would accuse her of being a shotacon."