Chapter 7: Battles - Perfect Party Formation
"Je me demande qui va gagner ce tour." Aoyama mumbled out loud, tousling his sparkly blonde hair. He picked at the high collar his sports uniform - the dull blue tracksuit did nothing for his a ura de fabulousite .
"What's glitter boy on about?" Asked Jirou. Mina, Sero, and an approaching Todoroki gave him a questioning glance as well.
"He is wondering who'll win the next match." Intelli supplied, pulling up the high gloves of her costume. "Personally, I would not bother. The answer is quite obvious. Momo will be the MVP." She took a sip from her thermos. "Her quirk and status as a recommended student alone guarantee she shall be a formidable opponent. Additionally, there is the matter of her intelligence, which I admit is acknowledgeable."
"You know French?" Mina raised an eyebrow, hands on her hips. Intelli snorted. "You don't?" The pink girl shrugged in response. "I dunno, I mean it's not really common except in… France."
"As well as large portions of Central and West Africa." The monocled girl added, adjusting her eponymous eyepiece.
"Yeah, those too. Didja have like… a pen pal? You seem like the type to… write." Intelli took another sip of her thermos. "No, I do not have friends. I find they're beneath me. I learned French in grade school after I tired of the provided curriculum, along with nine of the other most widely-spoken languages in the world." She sipped her thermos again.
Mina balked at that, her socialite impulses completely failing her. "That's… cool! Well, maybe you and Momo can get along?" She missed Sero rapidly fanning his hand near his neck in a 'cut it off' motion, the poor boy watching helplessly from outside her field of view as a condescending sneer carved its way onto Intelli's face.
"I could never deign to spend my time dithering after some elitist snob."
"Rich coming from you." Jirou snarked back. Intelli sipped her thermos again. Mina glanced around, Sero and Todoroki just watching, the former anxiously and the latter impassively. She stepped in again, hoping to quell the growing trash fire.
"In any case! I just thought you two would get along, guess I was wrong, haha! Y'know, since you both like tea and all?"
"And there's another thing!" Intelli waved a hand in the air, incensed. "Her taste in tea is abysmal. Gold Tips Imperial? Paying so much for tripe like that is all the confirmation I need that she's not worth my time."
"I enjoy Gold Tips Imperial." Todoroki commented, Jirou surprised to hear any noise at all from the frigid boy. The tea-understander scoffed.
"What brand do you like?" Mina prodded. To be honest, she already knew this train was flying down the tracks with no signals to stop but she wasn't a quitter! Intelli sipped her thermos again. Sero raised an eyebrow at the constant sipping. Jirou glared, irritated by the noise. Popping the cap back down, the blue-haired girl appeared to have calmed down somewhat.
"I don't purchase any brands. I prefer a homegrown blend." She answered.
"Homegrown? Where're you from?" Mina asked. She received a look so dirty she could almost feel her hair curling back in response.
"Enough of these pitiful attempts at fraternization. I will not be your friend, Ashido. Nor shall I be anyone's, but you in particular remind me of that accursed Utsushimi girl far too much."
"Put a sock in it, dick." Jirou stepped in, arms crossed atop her leather jacket. Intelli whipped her head around to face the punk girl, turning so violently that her monocle flew off of her face, the girl instantly calculating its trajectory and catching it with her free hand. "Quiet!" She received a curt middle finger in response.
Fuming, Intelli left the crowd to find an unattended screen to analyze. Fiddling with her belt, she unclasped her thermos and popped it open again, taking another soothing sip of her warm tea. She idly felt her brain running at a faster capacity, akin from reaching a hundred percent power when it had been at ninety-nine.
She took another sip, calming down further. Why did she need calming down? She portioned off a piece of her focus to solve the conundrum. Ah, because of the Mina girl, that was why. Her frivolously social attitude was… frustrating to be around.
Another sip. She unclenched her fist. Her fist was clenched? She portioned off another piece of her focus to scan the rest of her body language. Gritted teeth, furrowed brow. She softened the expression. It was an unintelligent look. Her mouth pulled taut in a perfect neutral line before she allowed it to relax back into place. That's better.
While a part of her fixed her body language, the rest analyzed her standing. She looked around. There was a comfortable berth around her despite the somewhat cramped room. That was good. Satisfied, she reviewed battle stances and martial arts patterns in her head, playing them with eidetic accuracy. While everyone else hampered themselves by wasting valuable planning time with useless speculation, she was guaranteeing her success. There was no need for the animalistic impulse towards socialization. They were all just coasting on their brilliant quirks. She wasn't one of them. It was a waste of time, and more importantly, it was beneath her.
Intelli realized that her face had frowned and her fist had clenched, the unconscious actions having escaped her notice. She took another sip and smoothed herself out again. Why was she so frustrated?
She searched for an answer. One that felt right enough came to her. Because she hadn't put that Jirou girl in her place when she'd told her to be quiet. That was why.
She was satisfied with that answer. She took another sip.
Momo frowned, removing an unwieldy bookcase from her back and placing it on the parking lot floor behind her. "Honestly, I had expected a higher degree of professionalism from support companies when I gave them a blank cheque to do as they wished! I should call father on them over this."
The heiress stood tall, her graceful stance marred by the costume on her - moreso the lack of a costume, she noted with disgust. Beneath her thick ponytail sat a high-collared red sleeveless top, cut directly down the middle, the waist area decorated with some sort of rubbery minidress. Red high-heeled boots. She took those off too, placing them beside herself with unwarranted gentleness for the vile things, and created her own pair - a basic set of undyed white sneakers.
"Honestly! No back support, no padding, no breast support, no information systems other than a bookshelf on my back - every day I feel vindicated by deciding to dual-major in support. Suppose I hadn't, and misconstrued this as acceptable fare?" She sighed dejectedly. "Here I am, getting too heated. I do wish I'd had your foresight, Josei-san. Your costume is much nicer than mine."
The 11-foot tall teal-furred fox girl squeaked like a tiny mouse, shrinking upon herself as if trying not to be noticed - unfortunately, she was quite hard to miss. She wore a pair of headphones that sat, oddly enough, below her pointed ears, resting on the sides of her face, with the band connecting them tying back her shoulder-length blonde locks. She too had a high-collared sleeveless top, though it forewent a cut down the middle for a more sensible crop top design, and was coloured orange. Beneath it was a basic, round utility belt adorning a basic pair of sports shorts, leaving her teal-furred legs bare until a pair of black ankle socks and basic trainers. Upon each of her padded gloves was the number 9, and her shirt proudly proclaimed the name of her quirk, Kitsune, in Kanji: 狐.
"O-oh, really? I don't think it looks much like a hero suit design though…" She sat down on the ground, brining herself to eye level with the ravenette girl. "It's kinda just my exercise gear but more colourful. With the belt and gloves. Y-you look much more like a hero!"
"That's very kind of you to say, even if it isn't true, Josei-san." Momo replied assuredly. Seeing the fox girl make to disagree, she swiftly changed the topic - "I do wonder, though, why your headphones sit below your ears?"
Her partner blushed through her fur. "T-they're on my ears, actually! I have two sets of ears. It's one of my shark mutations, but they sit under my fur so they're hard to spot. It's easier to put headphones o-over them than to find special models for fox ears."
Momo gave her a kind smile. "Perhaps I can make you a pair when I receive proper training and certifications to create electronics with functionality."
"Y-you're too nice!" Josei replied, flustered. She paused. "What do you mean, functionality?"
Yaoyorozu gave a frustrated grimace. "An unfortunate shortcoming of my quirk is that due to creating solely from molecular composition, I can't imbibe any electronics I create with actual programming, making them functionally useless."
"O-oh." The fox shared Momo's frustration. "I was just thinking of stuff for plans, but most of it… relied on your quirk. I-I'm not the best leader. My only idea was to make a spy drone or something, see what the other team is doing, but if we can't do that…"
"There's still plenty we can try!" The heiress reassured. "And we shouldn't create a plan solely around special gadgets I can create anyways. If the previous rounds are anything to go by, Adaptability is key. It was a distinct trait of all three MVPs so far, whether it be in their usage of their own quirks or their ability to change a plan on the fly when things went 'south', so to speak. Though, on the topic, could you refresh me on your quirk again?"
Josei nodded. I can shrug off up to nine blows a day. I think my physician told me I'd be able to stretch the limit higher eventually? Uh, anyways! The way it works is that if something hits me or hurts me or anything like that I can negate every effect it has."
The dark-haired girl nodded, thinking for a moment. She surveyed the girl who, sitting down, still appeared slightly taller than her. "You also have quite prominent heteromorphic features. Do they come with heightened physical attributes as well?"
"Y-yup! Shark teeth and ears, a-and I've been told I've just got a very d-dense and sturdy frame in general."
Momo froze, a revelation slapping her in the face. "If you can tank any blow…"
Jposei caught onto her train of thought. "And you can create anything for us to attack with…"
"Then we have…"
"Perfect party formation." Kaminari muttered. Tsubaraba turned to him, a quizzical look in his oval eyes. "Huh?"
"Perfect party formation!" The blonde exclaimed excitedly. "It's like RPGs! You play games, right? It's like when you've got the perfect party members in an RPG and they synergize super well! Yaoyorozu-san and Josei-san… they're the mage and tank!"
Setsuna chortled. "No way! Holy shit, you're right!" She turned excitedly to Mawata, the pink-haired girl catching on as well. "Lucky them. That's a great team selection." She blinked her eyes lazily. "Man, I can't believe Kaminari-kun thought of that."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Kaminari sighed, indignant at the slander. "I'm super smart! Didn't I just think of the party thingy? And I won my round!"
Bakugou scoffed, everyone turning to him in surprise as he broke his usual moody silence. "Big-lips won your round. You did two fucking things. Don't get a big head about it."
Kaminari mock-sulked at his harsh words, before whipping around with glee. "Oh yeah? Well, I bet you a million yen that you LOSE your battle trial!"
Bakugou looked at him like he'd grown a second head, or perhaps more accurately, lost his only one. "What?" For once, he was legitimately dumbfounded, his voice utter confusion. There was no way…
Setsuna chuckled. "You're joking, right?" Kaminari just beamed a winning smile, standing his ground. "No… no, man, you can't be serious. He got the highest villain points in the entrance exam AND the highest overall points. What score could you have possibly gotten to make you this confident?"
"Eleventh."
"Holy shit, you can't be serious." Setsuna intoned.
"You gotta pull out, man." Mawata advised, earning a chuckle from Tsubaraba. Somewhere in the crowd, Iida and Shiozaki's heads both whipped around at the sound, glaring twin holes into the brunette's spiky hair.
"He can't retract the bet, it isn't manly." Kirishima argued. "A man's gotta stick to his guns!"
Bakugou's mouth continued to stay pursed shut in an unnervingly calm manner. After a moment of silence, he asked "you're that confident?"
Kamninari faltered, but held firm. "Y-yeah!"
"Two million yen."
"...What?"
"Gonna back down now? Two million yen if I lose.
Kaminari shook where he stood, Mawata patting his back solemnly as the group heard no refusal. Finally, he let out a tortured breath, acceding to Bakugou's wager.
"...Deal."
"HAH!" Bakugou barked. "Get fucked! I just made a solid two million yen!"
Somewhere in the crowd, Uraraka's head whipped around, eyes gleaming. Tsuyu looked at her concernedly before guiding her by the shoulder back to the conversation they were having.
Setsuna put a hand on her hip. "Hey now, don't get so cocky. What if you're up against Todoroki-kun or something? Isn't ice, like, a natural counter to explosions?"
"Isn't explosions a natural counter to ice?" Tsubaraba countered. Setsuna thunk on that for a second, hand detaching to stroke her chin. Kaminari raised a hand.
"In Pokemon-"
"Shut it, Pikachu."
"Got any ideas?" Bondo asked. Kodai gave the meek boy a stiff nod. He stared at her with the seven holes on his head. He kept staring. No response. He sighed.
The glue boy knew he wasn't the most sociable guy in the class - he and Koda were alike that way, with their strange heteromorphic qualities and shy dispositions - but this was a little ridiculous. The tall boy stood in a baggy yellow full-body suit, which tapered off on the sleeves and legs with red bracers reminiscent of the top of a glue bottle, as well as a utility belt holding two useless fake glue dispensers. His neck was braced with red as well, and his shoes and gloves were a simple white.
Altogether, it was simple and serviceable but did not offer much in the way of utility or flair. In other words, generic. He sighed. "Man, some of these costumes are kind of hit-and-miss, huh? I know I didn't put much detail in my sketch for the support company, but I guess I thought they'd fill those in for me."
Kodai shook her head with an agreeing "Mm." Where Bondo thought his costume was a tad generic, Kodai's was… oddly specific. She wore a full red bodysuit with silver bracers on her arms, a few pouches strapped all over, and white trimmings. The front of a cap sat on her head atop her bangs, wrapped around her head with bands and adorned with a metal fin. Finally, around her waist was a white pencil skirt.
"Yeah, I don't know why they went with the whole super sentai thing." Kodai looked at him quizzically for that.
"This is what I requested."
Bondo froze. Shit! He'd made it awkward! Though, if his partner had any bad blood over the whole debacle, she didn't show it on her face, instead looking at him as passively as ever.
"...What don't you like about it then?"
The super sentai flan gestured to the pencil skirt. "Restrictive." Then, waved a hand around her entire body. "Doesn't show enough skin."
"...Ah." The hard-skinned boy didn't know how to respond, instead looming awkwardly over the dark-haired girl, his height more than a head above her. For her part, she considered to placidly stare up at him with the same dull look. She blinked slowly.
Internally, Bondo smiled, though his face had no way of expressing it. Talking was much less intimidating when he was only getting yes or no answers, and barely any reaction at all. In a way, it was a lot like talking to himself. He could do that!
"...What does your quirk do?" Kodai blinked at him, then reached into a pouch attached to a strap around her armpit and pulled out a small ball bearing. With a violet glow, it suddenly grew to the size of a bowling ball. If the dull, rough texture of the thing up close didn't indicate to him its true composition, the sudden crack as Kodai dropped to the floor shattering the concrete and leaving a sizeable crater, did - solid iron.
"Change size." She replied, before placing her hands together, all five fingers touching. The bowling ball-bearing instantly shrunk to its original size with a violet afterimage, its impression left in its wake. She bent down at the waist to pick it back up and placed it into her satchel.
"Unchange size." She finished, looking at him expectantly.
"R-right! That should be handy, even if it, uh, doesn't really synergize well with mine. Mine's called Cemedine. It lets me shoot glue out of my eye holes." To demonstrate, he launched a small white glob out of his face, hitting the wall and sticking there with a slight dribble down. "T-that sounds kinda gross, huh?"
Kodai put her thumb and forefinger to her chin, the contents of her mind an impenetrable fortress. Nothing was reflected in the still pools of her gaze. Perhaps no other human being alive could tell what she was thinking at this very moment.
"Ha, looks like [cum]!"
"TSUNOTORI-SAN!"
"[Aww, fuck, you knew English]?"
"I-in any case!" Bondo floundered, looking at the inflatable bomb's little box. "I know I said we should put the bomb on the top floor since Josei-san being in her team should make it hard for Yaoyorozu-san to make any climbing gear and scale the walls, but I'm kinda at a loss as to which room to put it in."
Kodai thought for a moment, before walking over to the bomb. She pressed the button on the small black base of their provided box, the top popping over and the comically large bomb sprouting out from it with a quick hiss of air.
All Might had informed them, as with every other team, that he was obligated to tell them the rules stated the bomb had to be inflated or their team would be considered cheaters - Aizawa had rubbed his eyelids with copious force when asked why, muttering something to Toshinori about a class a few years back.
It was, however, completely within the rules for Kodai to touch the inflated bomb and reduce it to the size of a thumbtack, before walking away wordlessly. Bondo followed after her as she roamed the tall, empty halls of the fifth floor before she arrived at a random room and deposited the bomb behind where the door would swing open. Bondo gaped at that.
"Holy… they'll never find it. This is great! N-now we just had to defeat Yaoyorozu-san and Josei-san!"
Kodai nodded, giving a thumbs up.
"We should review what we know then. Yaoyorozu is a… recommendations student… who can… m-make anything. J-Josei is… e-eleven feet t-tall."
Kodai's thumbs up wilted slightly. If one could look closely, Kodai's ever-unchanging neutral look cracked slightly, revealing undercurrents of fear and… excitement. Mostly fear though.
Bondo decided to put both of their thoughts to words.
"We're screwed."
"FivepointactivationquirksimilartoUraraka-san's,changessize,noseemingweightlimitsbutKodai-sanisn'tverychattysoshecould'vejustnotrevealedit,CemedineislikeTape,veryversatile-"
"Midoriya?"
The boy in question looked up, seeing Uraraka watching him blast out notes on Bondo into his page beside an unfinished sketch of the glue-quirked boy. He snapped his notebook shut, blushing fiercely. "U-Uraraka-san!"
The brunette smiled at him, pink cheeks radiant. "It's pretty cool what Kodai-san's plan is, huh! Even if her quirk is kinda similar to mine…"
"No point getting feeling angry over it!" Pony jovially proclaimed, despite still rubbing one of her floppy horse ears in pain. The lecture from Iida had not been worth the joke, but she'd still make it again in a heartbeat, purely so that he wouldn't think his lectures would work. "It's like going to a party and you are both wearing the same shirt! It just makes you shirt [sisters]! I do not know the Japanese word."
"Shirt sisters." Midoriya filled her in, being met with a cheerful grin from the blonde.
"Still, it's quite a devious plan." A short, stocky, blue-haired boy walked up to the trio, followed by that vine-haired girl, one clad in some kind of armour and the other in a pure white robe. Shoda and Shiozaki, his mind supplied.
Shiozaki nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is quite the devilish scheme indeed. Their opponents will have to pray their luck guides them to the correct room, but even then I fear they may overlook the objective."
"You think she can shrink people too?" Shoda mused. "Because if so, couldn't she just shrink herself and Bondo-kun and stay with the bomb and sit there for ten minutes and win?"
Midoriya shook his head. "I don't know if there's a size or object limit to it, but it's likely her quirk only works on inorganic matter, as many of the stranger emitter-types work. But it's a really risky strategy for them to try either way."
Uraraka was puzzled, staring at the back of the greenette's bushy head as she tried to figure out his meaning. "Risky? It seems like a surefire win to me."
"And it could be." He conceded, turning to her. "But it also locks off an entire avenue of her quirk use. As soon as the enemy team is near enough, she won't be able to release her quirk at all or risk them slipping by and finding the bomb, effectively cutting her off from half of its functionality."
"I… hadn't thought of that." Shoda muttered. "Still, those ball bearings will be very hard attacks to counter, so she may not need the other half at all. I'm sure Kodai-san's took that angle into consideration, knowing her own quirk."
"Also true." Midoriya answered. Pony, Uraraka, and Shiozaki's heads swung back to him like they were watching a tennis match. "In addition, her quirk does have a key divergence from Uraraka-san's in that while the latter requires a five-point activation with her finger pads to induce zero gravity, the former does not have the same pads, and as such will likely be able to induce the size shift with a single finger as a result."
"That's a really good observation." Shoda nodded appreciatively, smiling. The peanut gallery switcher their focus back to him. "I also noticed Bondo-kun stated their quirks had no synchronicity, but that's not necessarily true. If he were to set up a puddle and Kodai-san activated her quirk on it, she could potentially enlarge it to encompass the entire floor or even flood the whole building, at the cost of taking herself out of the fight by virtue of being consumed by the very glue trap she helps create."
"A last-ditch kamikaze attack." Midoriya mused, scribbling away again. "But I don't think they thought of that. Bondo-kun hasn't mentioned it at all."
Shiozaki turned to the other two as Midoriya and Shoda continued to mutter amongst themselves, giving them a deep bow. "I am truly repentant for what I have done."
"The veil of tranquility has lifted. Go hence and conquer."
Kodai and Bondo, both perched at the top of the stairwell and watching for intruders, gave the speakers on the wall a pair of puzzled looks.
"That… does not sound like All Might."
"Mm."
Their skepticism was assuaged by the sound of All Might's voice over the speakers. "Apologies. Young Tokoyami asked to be the announcer, but I suppose he had his own script in mind when he asked. The match has started!"
After a moment of silence, the quiet duo listened carefully. They heard a faint squeak from the bottom of the stairwell, then muffled voices, before a deafening CRASH rang out followed by more voices. Their eyes met, and Bondo nodded at Kodai. She held her fingertips close together, just barely touching, and the two were quiet save for the sound of their breathing, attuned directly to the voices below.
Down at the first floor, Josei dusted herself off and stood up straight in the main lobby area, where her ears only just brushed against the ceiling! Yaoyorozu gave her a concerned look. "Are you alright, Josei-san? I could've made you a ram or some wrappings to protect your legs at least. I'd hate for you to get a cut because of my negligence."
The heteromorph girl hummed. "I-It was a weak door, it's all fine! I kinda used to break these t-things all the time. B-by accident, I mean! Because of, uh. The size."
"If you say so." Yaoyorozu scanned the entrance area, which parted off into a few lower-hanging hallways and the main stairwell, which spiraled up. There was no trace of danger, save for Bondo's glue, which was scattered in random puddles on the stairs.
"Where do you think they put the bomb?" Josei wondered aloud. She sniffed the air, teal snout twitching minutely. "I can't smell anything over all the glue around."
"Odd." Yaoyorozu paced in a circle slowly. "Did they know about that advantage? I suppose it would make sense that Bondo-kun would have an understanding of how heteromorphic quirks affect one's senses and planned around it accordingly."
Bondo, of course, had no idea.
"In any case, the bomb will be on the top floor. It is the most strategically advantageous positon to place it as it forces us to either take the longest and most predictable route through the building, including the valuable chokepoint of the sole stairwell, or try to scale through a window, which would split us up due to your size."
"T-then let's head up! Um, stay behind me, Yaoyorozu-san."
"That's the plan." Yaoyorozu smiled, determinedly. Josei met her with a nervous, but shaky grin of her own, which prompted Yaoyorozu to drop her facade and exhibit some of her nerves. "I must admit I'm a little worried as well, but I am confident in our ability to win this, Josei-san. And please, call me Yaomomo."
"O-of course, Yaomomo-san!" The two began to make their way up the stairs, stepping carefully around the dense yet sparse puddles of glue, a comfortable silence surrounding them despite the underlying excitement of the exercise. Then, Josei spoke again, a little more backbone behind her voice. "A-after all, w-we're friends, right?"
Momo smiled bashfully. "Of course. By the way, the puddles of glue appear to be larger now."
Looking at her feet, Josei realized the truth in her partner's words. Where the puddles were sparse before, now they began to coat the majority of the steps, small and random spaces scattered about before them. The two stood between the second and third floors. Momo sighed. "I had anticipated this sort of obstacle. Stand back." Josei turned away blushing as a small, thin tarp sprouted between the colourful shimmers cascading across the front window on Momo's costume, before the girl in question gently let it fall upon the stairs, covering the next few rows.
"That is the thinnest waterproof tarp I can manage, though if we have to do this for every stair it could be quite the drain on my lipids. Let's proceed."
The two continued up the stairwell, keeping an eye out for any movements, Momo every once in a while laying a tarp out atop the stairs, the pair traversing over the unpleasantly soft and squishy surface beneath their feet. Lulled into a false sense of security by the monotony of the operation, they both didn't notice some small, brown lumps the size of sugarcubes on one of the stairs embedded into the glue.
Josei stepped forward into the next tarp, before making a soft, surprised noise and pausing. Momo raised an eyebrow at the fox girl's back. "Is something the matter, Josei-san?"
"Oh, it's nothing, just… I felt a weird bump under the tarp."
Up above, ears strained to hear her cue, Kodai pressed her fingers together.
Suddenly and without warning, the two girls werelaunched violently into the air alongside their tarp, a pile of wardrobes and desks instantaneously growing back to their original sizes beneath their feet. Catching some brief airtime, Momo's mind raced as she shot another tarp back down the stairs as she fell towards the glue traps on them.
Kodai celebrated with a silent fist pump and a satisfied "Mhm!" as Bondo whooped and cheered at the sight from above, watching Momo and Josei slam back down onto the stairs and losing their breath. "Haha, yeah! Go, Kodai-san!". He peered over the edge, raining strings of gluey fluid down on the two.
Josei groaned as she got up from the stairs. Falling on one's ass was quite painful, as it turned out. She glanced up and, noticing the light catching on the silvery strings, shouted a frantic "MOMO, LOOK OUT!"
Momo recovered quickly, throwing herself to her feet before the quick shine of Creation popped out a comically large umbrella the two shielded under in a nick of time as the glue globules pattered against it. Momo frowned. "He's conserving his glue, since they already coated the stairs with so much. He must have a limit."
"S-still, odd there's no follow-up." Josei remarked. Momo spun the umbrella, the glue atop it refusing to budge. "They are oddly quiet again."
They let that revelation sink in for about half a second before diving forward onto another panic tarp as a cast iron globe the size of a croquet ball slammed down onto the stairs with a loud THWOCK, splintering the edge of a step.
"Woo! Face our iron hail!" Bondo yelled from the top of the stairs. Momo grimaced before nodding at her partner, and the two sprinted up the steps, occasionally buffeted by tennis ball-sized bearings hailing down. One impacted Momo's shoulder, another Josei's forehead. The fox girl took it in stride, briefly wincing in pain before activating her quirk, no visual trace apparent. She kept running as if nothing had happened. As they reached the fourth floor and proceeded to the fifth, they could finally hear their enemies.
"The bomb, Kodai-san!"
Kodai nodded at Bondo's words, ceasing her fire and dashing to their bomb room to shrink the bomb down again, having released it along with the desks and drawers prior. It would be difficult to rain fire upon enemies who were almost at their level, after all, and growing her bearings to apple size meant they could only do so much without the assistance of gravity.
"Intriguing," Yanagi observed the ongoing match, Mawata and Koda at her sides. The two looked at her curiously, so she elaborated. "I was ruminating on the fact that Kodai-san may be able to neuter my phantasmal grip through the use of her own quirk, and manipulate the mass of an object so that it transcends my ability."
"Mm." Mawata made a noise of understanding. "Say, I was wondering, how come you talk like…that?" Beside her, Koda nodded and began to sign. Mawata opened her mouth to ask for a translation, spying Yanagi's one visible eye following the rock-headed boy's hand movements with a clear understanding in her expression.
"[I was sort of wondering that too.]" Koda said. "[Is it an aesthetic thing? You do speak a little like a chuuni.]"
Yanagi scoffed, flipping her silvery hair up in disdain at the boy's words. "Perhaps those other two posers would stoop to that sort of banal aestheticism . I assure you, my manner of speaking is indicative of a river of torment and darkness that runs its course through my very soul."
"You mean reading internet creepypasta?" Mawata teased.
"The greatest horrors comprehendible by the human soul could never be produced by mass-market studios beheld to the inane whims of shareholders. Web literature is a wellspring of the truly cryptic and terrifying, for it explores its own turmoil more freely."
"[You don't like horror movies?]" Koda signed.
"Well, I didn't say that. " replied the critic before him, before translating the question faithfully for Mawata.
"Is it related to the hands thing?" Mawata pointed at Yanagi's hands, which pointed at the ground, bent at the wrist and hanging down from raised arms.
"I… find it easier to control my quirk this way. It has developed into a habit." Yanagi mumbled, forcing her hands back down to her sides and awkwardly looping her fingers into her pockets, as if anchoring them there to prevent them from rising up again."
"Dude, it's all cool." The ever-carefree pink-haired girl patted Yanagi on the shoulder. "It's kinda neat. Makes it real easy to pick you out of a room!
"Oh." The goth girl's eloquence seemed to leave her, and after a moment her hands rose back to their usual position. She turned to the side, seeing ginger hair out of her peripheral vision.
"What's going on over here?" Kendo asked. "I was just talking to Shoda-kun and Kirishima-kun. We're thinking about some sort of boxing club. Not really, my style, I'm more into martial arts. Could become just a fighting ring sort of club though… Quirkless sparring, and all that."
Koda nervously raised his hand, though neither Yanagi nor Mawata matched him. "[I'd like to be a bit better at hand-to-hand.]"
"Neat." Kendo responded. She looked expectantly at the other two, but they both shrugged and made a few noncommittal mumbling sounds, too awkward to turn down the invitation directly.
"Well, I've already got Hagakure-san and Kuroiro-kun on board, so that makes three more!" Kendo clapped her hands together. "Though I think you guys should really consider joining. It never hurts to have some hand-to-hand on the backburner, you know!"
She glanced at the screen, where Josei and Momo seemed to be cornering Bondo. Maybe Bondo-kun would be interested too. He's a big guy."
"Do you often observe 'big guys'?" Mawata teased, receiving a half-hearted middle finger from Kendo, which enlarged to three times its size before shrinking back down again.
"Neat trick." Mawata conceded.
Kendo shrugged. "You should see Shouji-kun's."
As Yanagi and Mawata were talking, Josei tripped on the last tiny stair and flailed wildly before catching her balance and righting herself, Momo right behind her. The two stood at the entrance of the stairwell, facing one Bondo Kojiro in a standoff. Before the two, he stood in a room of middling size somewhat resembling a lounge, though not by its creators' intention - the furniture around it was placed haphazardly, clearly Kodai's intention to provide herself with ample ammunition for the battle. Several rooms and halls branched off from it.
"N-not much closer, you two!" Bondo stuttered out. "Make one move and you'll never move again!" Josei froze in her place, unsure what to do, though she was bailed out by her teammate's quick thinking.
"He's stalling. Kodai-san isn't back, which means this is our best opportunity." Bondo let slip a small gasp of frustration, and when Josei hesitated for a split second he dropped low and shot a stream of glue towards her. Momo leaped forward and produced a metal shield, blocking the attack, and from her free hand a bo staff emerged.
"K-Kodai-san! They're here !" Bondo shouted, shooting two sprays, one high and one low. An umbrella popped out from Momo's head with a shimmer, fanning open, Josei catching it with quick reflexes as the glue dripped down it, Momo ducking low to blow the other stream.
The two heroes, now armed, advanced towards the cemedine boy. "Fan out!" Momo called, Josei approaching from the left and Momo the right, closing in on a helpless Bondo as panic set in and he began to spray and pray, attacks ineffectual against their coverings.
As his back hit the wall, Momo harshly pressed the bo staff to his head. "Josei. Can you bind him?" Josei nodded and pulled out her roll of capture tape when they heard the sound of sprinting echoing off the walls. Momo turned to her right, adrenaline flooding her as she swiftly whipped her shield around, an iron bowling ball slamming into it and leaving a heavy dent in its wake, sounding like a gong ringing out. Josei covered her sensitive upper ears, and Bondo took the opportunity to duck down and hurry to Kodai's side.
Kodai made to throw another bearing again, and Momo raised her shield in anticipation, only for a bearing the size of a watermelon to collide directly with Josei's chest instead, the assailed woman yelling in pain and falling backwards. With a glance, Momo saw a hideous and massive bruise forming in the gap above her tank top, visible through her thin fur, before it suddenly disappeared without a trace. Josei stood back up in full fighting condition.
"That's one."
"Mm." Kodai responded, glaring slightly as she put a hand into her pocket. "She's got more where that came from!"
"Is that so?" Momo challenged, before reaching to her back to pull another shield out, this one twice as thick and weighing her down slightly. Her other hand reached to her thigh, returning with a thick, chunky gun, a net wedged snugly in the middle of its barrel. "I must admit watching that support girl, Hatsume, using one of these gave me a flash of inspiration." She cocked the gun, the mechanism within clicking dangerously.
Bondo nodded, and Kodai burst forwards towards Momo, Bondo staying behind and shooting bursts of glue into the air, barely skirting the ceiling as they arced back down towards the heroic pair.
"Yaomomo! Behind me!" Josei cried, at the heiress' side in one long stride, though not before Kodai had closed in on the two. Momo, caught on the backfoot, shot net after net at her, each meeting the same fate - shrinking instantly upon touching her outstretched hands tp the size of serviettes. Momo swung her shield forwards in desperation, and that shrunk too. Caught off guard, a ferocious left hook left her head thundering as she fell backwards, shoulders caught by Josei behind her. Momo had just enough awareness to notice her teammate had disregarded her umbrella, firing out another waterproof tarp to catch Bondo's glue.
Kodai's mad sprint forwards was short-lived. As she turned to size up Josei, the girl's shadow loomed over her, eyes dark. Her impassive eyes widened minutely. A sudden, nasty realization hit her - Josei had literally double her wingspan, more than twice her height, and no attacks she could shrink.
She barely reacted in time, throwing herself backwards to avoid a blond swing from the blonde, staggering backwards in an attempt to keep a fighting stance.
Ducking low, she tried to exploit her opponent's stature. She ducked under a second swing and rushed forwards again. Josei's second arm whipped forwards, clotheslining her as she fell on her back, the air leaving her lungs in a sudden and pained gasp.
An idea struck the ravenette, and she swung a lug out to catch the heteromorph's. It collided, and pain bloomed out as she struck a toned calf twice her width. Josei didn't budge. Dread set in, and she scooched on her ass as quickly as she could before the neckline of her costume was grabbed and she was raised a metre and half off the ground.
A trace of fear escaped Kodai's dull eyes, Josei returning them with a steely stare. "S-Sorry, but you hit Yaomomo-san." the fox girl bit out. Kodai reached for her bearings but her captor's other hand forced her wrists together easily. In the background, through the racing adrenaline, Kodai vaguely noticed Momo advancing on Bondo with an umbrella.
Half a second seemed to pass in a minute. Kodai's mind raced, trying to figure out how to salvage this. Another idea struck her, this one even worse than the last. In a desperate, last-ditch attempt to escape, she gulped back her reservations and whipped her head to the side, chomping through layers of fur and down onto Josei's skin, teeth cutting flesh and blood squirting out, taitning the fur around it. Josei yelped in agony. The bite was disgusting, fur and blood in Kodai's mouth.
To her mounting horror, Josei hadn't let go . In fact, she hadn't budged an inch. Kodai's shaky head turned back toi the girl, whose teeth were gritted in pain.
"T-that was a smart move, K-Kodai-san. But you didn't think I didn't train my pain tolerance for my quirk, did you?"
In the blink of an eye, the wound was gone, the only trace it had ever been inflicted being a small patch of dried blood around the area it once had been. The pain in Josei's eyes left as her brow relaxed, snout unfurrowing.
"S-sorry about this."
And with a sudden fling, Kodai felt herself sailing at full speed towards the wall, back-first.
The second-to-last thought that passed through her mind was 'Holy shit, I'm dead.'
The last thought that passed through her mind was'She can kill me anytime.'
BANG!
A few small cracks webbed out from the concrete as Kodai's limp, unconcious body fell onto a couch, ragdolling off of it and landing on her side on the floor.
"YOUNG KODAI HAS BEEN ELIMINATED! HEROES, YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT!"
Josei let out a nervous, shuddering breath, and turned to make her way down the hall Momo had run.
"Wait, hang on." Juzo closed his eyes, thinking for a second. "Couldn't Josei-san's quirk be countered by a gun with ten bullets?"
"What'd you mean?" Kirishima turned to the pale, skull-faced boy with an inquisitive look. "I guess? Couldn't you counter Endeavour with like, loads of water though?"
"Plus you'd be paste by, like, bullet four." Manami argued. The two turned to look down at the redhead. "She could easily close the gap by then, right? Her legs are like, almost two metres long. She'd just run up and kick you into the sun."
"Hmph. You're all forgetting the obvious." The trio turned to Monoma, who seemed to have gotten over his odd bout of despondence from being named MVP of the last round. "Most villains forego the use of guns, do they not? Using one's quirk is what makes one a villain, after all! So the police would be dealing with people using guns."
"You're kinda right, bro." Kirishima added. "Plus, even though we both have durability quirks, hers can like, totally reverse the effects of a quirk. If somebody tags me with an instadeath poison quirk and I'm not hardened, I'm a goner, but for her it's no sweat!"
"What about a villain with a gun quirk?" Monoma opened his mouth to counter Juzo's question but paused, no words coming out.
Manami raised an eyebrow. "Ok, smart guy. How would you beat a villain with a gun quirk?"
Juzo smiled wryly. "I would simply soften the bullet before it hit me."
Kirishima gaped at that, mouth dropping open. " Bro … no way! You can do that?" Juzo nodded sagely. "It's true. My reflexes are faster than a speeding bullet."
"That's totally bullshit!" Manami yelled indignantly. "You do not have that kind of reflexes!"
"Oh yeah?" Juzo put his hands on his hips cockily, a traitorous smile tugging at his lips to reveal his amusement. "Try me."
"THINKFAST !" Hagakure tackled him from behind, the two hitting the ground together as Manami and Monoma cackled.
"Ow, fuck. My ribs…" Juzo complained. They laughed harder.
Momo raced down a winding hallway, Bondo taking seemingly random twists and turns as she pursued the gluey boy, leaving trails and puddles of glue on the ground intermittently. Faltering, she had to continually pause and place down new waterproof sheets, an umbrella in one hand and her trusty bo staff in the other. With every turn and every hazard he widened the gap between them. Momo knew she had to do something, and her mind raced.
'I don't know if Bondo-kun even has eyes, or if this'll work, but… I have to try one of my more complicated creations. I'm already feeling some strain from all those blankets, so I'll have to end this quick!'
"I'm sorry in advance, Bondo-kun!"
"Huh?"
Briefly, Bondo saw a green canister soar over his head before a sudden, blinding white light filled the world around him, a microsecond later blowing out his eardrums with a loud BANG. He skidded to a stop, falling over to lean on the wall beside him. Shocked, dazed, he staggered back to his feet, blinking rapidly. Afterimages clouded his vision with deep, heavy spots and the world seemed to sway, but he recovered his vision as Momo caught up with her staff.
He tried to say something, but though he felt his mouth move and a faint hum, the rining in his ears persisted. The world continued to spin. For a single, perfect moment, like a reticle snapped to his opponent, the blurriness subsided, and out of instinct he craned his neck up, bluffing a high shot. Momo took the bait, lifting her umbrella, and instantly regretted it as a high-pressure stream of glue sniped her feet, leaving a solid puddle rooting her to the ground. Panicking, she flailed and tried to leave, but it had already dried, a solid mold holding her down.
'No, no, no!' Momo chastised herself in her head. 'I was so close, and I wasted my opportunity!'
"Heh…" Bondo slurred, hearing clearly not having returned to him. "G-gotcha… G-give me a sec. A sec. Ugh, my head…"
"Sorry, Bondo-kun." Momo answered him, plan finalized. "But I'm not losing this match. Brace yourself."
He didn't understand her at all, but if the canister-headed boy had eyes they would've bugged out of his skull when a crossbow materialized in her arms, two solid metal balls on a chain hanging down from the tip. Turning on a dime, he took a step to run down the hall when Momo fired, bolo swinging through the air and hitting his legs with expert aim, wrapping them in a swift movement and sending him to the ground again.
Momo huffed, exhaustion finally creeping in, and held her hand up to her earpiece. "All Might. I do not know if you can tell on the cameras, but I laced the chains of those bolos with a copy of the capture tape. Does that count?"
"You may have lived through this exercise, but can you live with your actions?"
A brief scuffle sounded over the comms before she heard the Number One's familiar voice again.
"Perhaps I should've known better than to let Young Kuroiro try. In any case, excellent work, Young Yaoyorozu! Copies of the tape count too. HEROES WIN! Could you escort Bondo-kun back to the observation room?"
She glanced down at the glue mound she was stuck in. "My feet are stuck to the ground."
"Ah, right. Hm. In that case, wait for Young Bondo to recover and kindly ask him if he can soften his glue. I'm sending a bot for Kodai-san and-what? No, I'm not falling for this a third time, Yanagi-san."
Momo sighed in frustration, giddy with glee at her victory but now bored to high heaven that she was stuck in place for a while, the prone, mostly blind, and fully deaf Bondo being her only company, the boy currently occupied with freeing himself from the bolos. Hearing a hard padding behind her, she turned to see Josei-san concernedly jogging over to her.
"Y-Yaomomo-san, you did it, we won! Our first exercise, and we won! Are you okay?"
Momo waved her off. "I am fine, thank you. And just as much of it was your effort too, Josei-san." She paused, a little smirk gracing her porcelain face. "Would it be remiss of me to presume I was able to match your stride?"
Josei smiled. "I didn't take you for a joker."
Bondo groaned from within his bonds. "Th…that's awesome for you guys, but where's Kodai-san?"
Josei cringed, Momo taking note of the woman's reluctant expression. "I admit I am curious as to how you incapacitated her too, Josei-san."
Bondo tilted his head backwards, peering from his chains at an awkward angle while Momo sat down on the now-hardened mound of glue at her feet. Both wore inquisitive expressions.
""I-It's a funny story, really…"
"WELL DONE, HERO TEAM!" All Might congratulate the exhausted Momo and unscathed Josei as they returned to the observation room. Bondo, as it turned out, was able to secrete a substance that neutralized his own glue, which on its own would disintegrate in the air over time anyhow. The glue man was loaded onto a stretcher bot alongside a prodigiously beat-up Kodai and carried out, the enemy team considerably worse for wear. Momo followed them on foot, nursing the blossoming purple bruise on her shoulder.
With an air of finality, the double doors closed and Josei was the only of the four left, All Might and the rest of the class looking at her. She squeaked, shrinking under their gazes.
"An excellent performance from you all. Now then! Tell, me, Class 1 - who was the MVP of this round?"
Setsuna raised her hand first and was picked. "I mean, it's gotta be Yaoyorozu, right? She was the best tactician out of the bunch. She made those tarps that totally stopped Bondo's glue traps, as well as the umbrellas, as well as that flashbang, and even when she was trapped she managed to catch Bondo with her bolo shooter crossbow thing."
"That is not to mention her taking charge of the team to encircle Bondo-kun and nearly defeat him well before Kodai-san arrived!" Iida chipped in.
All Might nodded. "It's a good observation. All of you may notice that the first people that are nominated for MVP are usually the stratgeists or leaders of a team! It isn't always the case, but they tend to take responsibility for a plan succeeding or failing! That doesn't mean you should fight over the position though - leading the team for the sake of being a glory hog will lead to far worse outcomes! Are there any other nominations?"
Everyone else mulled his words over. Midoriya raised his hand. "I don't know if I'd choose her over Yaoyorozu-san, but Kodai-san used her quirk quite c-creatively too? The enemy team never found the bomb and s-she was mostly able to use her quirk despite being unable to release any of the objects she used it on. On the comms, Josei-san mentioned she couldn't smell anything over Bondo's glue, so if she had planned around that and managed to run and hide to exhaust the time limit she could've won the match for her team."
"Too bad she fuckin' didn't then, Deku." Bakugou snarled. All Might chuckled down at the volatile boy.
"Young Bakugou does have a point. After all, while that kind of performance would certainly have made Young Kodai the MVP, it isn't what she did. She didn't try to use any of the furniture in the room when attacking Young Josei, because she wouldn't be able to pick it up and throw it as an effective attack without releasing her control at some point! And attacking Josei in the first place was a foolhardy venture, considering her opponent's far superior reach and strength!"
"So Yaomomo it is then." Jirou concluded. The rest of the class seemed mollified by that explanation. All Might gave her a vicarious thumbs up. "INDEED! And as for the next matchup today…"
The tablet rolled a few named again. "Ashido Mina and Todoroki Shoto as the Hero Team versus Intelli Saiko and Iida Tenya as the Villain Team!"
Mina pumped her arms at that, whooping cheerfully. Her partner, Todoroki, stayed silent and inexpressively marched over to All Might's side to receive his earpiece. Iida approached Intelli and began enthusiastically talking to her - well, talking at her.
Josei watched as Jirou walked through the door to the observation room, evidently seeking out Momo in the infirmary. She smiled, shaking her head, and walked back over to the waiting crowd. Heads turned to meet her.
"That was a really good match!" Manami cheered. "You kicked ass!"
"Bro! You were awesome out there!" Kirishima ran over to the teal-furred girl, staring reverently up at her from her waist height. "When Kodai bit you and you didn't even move! You were a monster!"
Josei flinched at his words. Shouji walked up to Kirishima from behind and clipped the back of his head quite painfully, the redhead wincing. "Don't say things like that. Apologize."
"In a good way! In a good way! Like… like a monster truck !"
"Smooth words, quarry boy." Manami snarked, crossing her arms. Josei peered down at the top of her head. The diminutive girl just about reached her knees, pigtails bobbing as she crossed her arms. It was a strangely adorable sight, Josei thought, to see her defend someone four times her height.
"Really, everybody shone quite brilliantly." Aoyama amended. "It was quite the performance, non ?"
"Yeah!" Kirishima replied, reinvigorated. "Kodai was pretty cool too how she ran in and rained death from above! Hella manly… wait… do you think she'd let me call her Brodai?"
"I wouldn't." answered Manami. Kirishima hung his head like an embarrassed puppy. The shorter of the two redheads turned back to her friend. "Hey, Josei-san? Wanna go check on Yaoyorozu-san and Hatsume-san in the infirmary?"
"S-sounds good!" Josei stuttered out, and followed after Manami, her massive strides being matched by the other's quick taps against the ground. She looked back down at the short woman, who resolutely made her way over to the door and stretched up to reach the handle.
'Cute.'