Trial By Fire
33. Trial By Fire
Link to end of the chapter with details on New Class A
“Also, we are going to win this,” Tomura said, sitting down criss-cross applesauce much to their initial disbelief, “There’s less than ten minutes left to plan, so pay attention…”
The students kneeled and sat around him…
Their opposing team was made up of:
- 1 - Chisaka Lin - ♀ - Β - Hero Name: UnFathom
Quirk - Bottomless - Can fit anything into a mostly enclosed space, like a mug or cup, an empty shoe, or pant pockets, and remove it when needed. Once she puts something in a mostly enclosed space, it is as if the object weighs nothing and takes up no room at all.
- 2 - Itagawa Hayate - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: Grammage
Quirk - Origami - ability to fold paper and it becomes the object, like a shield, sword, or even a bomb! Bombs made with fuzes that have ripped paper on the ends automatically light when he throws them. When he uses them in training he only makes them strong enough to knock a person down, and are full of super fine brightly colored powered confetti.
- 3 - Iwamoto Ryo - ♂ - Ω - Hero Name: GeoTrecker
Quirk - Short Cut - ability to create a small wormhole like rift in space to move from point A to point B in a moment. The rift appears as a super bright white slice. He uses a gps as a support item to allow him to move further. Can take one person with him at a time, for now.
- 4 - Moto Fumihiro - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: InterruptUs
Quirk - Babbel - Ability to scramble how people talk or write so they can’t understand each other, can only do so within a certain radius. The larger the radius and the more people he uses it on, the more effort it takes.
- 5 - Hinata Ito - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: StuckToo
Quirk - Velcro - Can stick to anything, and stick anything (or anyone) to himself. Able to turn it on and off at will.
- 6 - Gushiken Kojiro - ♂ - α - Hero Name: Antisavision
Quirk - Two Steps - When you engage in a fight with him, he’ll always be two steps ahead of you. That is, only if you are in a fight.
—
After getting a better idea of his teammates' capabilities Dabi began to formulate a plan.
Being outnumbered was one issue, as was how skilled the different students were at fighting being a mystery.
He knows they practiced together. Which means they're aware of each other's weaknesses, but when a classmate goes down sparring you typically help them back up, not slap cuffs on them.
None of them knew the terrain, that could go either way.
If this were him and a few members of the League Dabi knows what they'd do. And he thinks it will be their best shot in this case as well. The herolings weren't going to like it though...
“You want us to run away?” said Elastareach in disbelief.
Waving a hand around in the air as he paces back and forth the former arsonist says, “Call it a strategic retreat if it makes you feel better.”
“It doesn’t,” says Tsuyoshi flatly. Saburo nodded in agreement.
“How are we going to catch them if we are running away from them?” asked Emotrik.
That was the right question, thinks the fire user.
“Running gives you the chance to change the playing field and opens up more options,” he says. The hero students stare at the reformee blankly.
“Ugg, ok, so, it lets us separate individuals from the larger group. You were taught search and rescue techniques, right?” Dabi asks.
Unsure of where this was going, Tsuyoshi says, “Yes?”
“I'm willing to bet anything they are going to pair up and search for us like you would missing people in an emergency disaster situation, make sense?” replies the ravenet.
“So?” asked Sabuto.
“Running can tire out a person with less stamina, your opponents might even ditch heavier support gear to keep up, it also takes you to new areas that may have resources you can use to your advantage,” he stops, noticing the wide eyed students.
Well that was awkward… anyway, “And that's just a few examples.”
He can tell there's been a shift in the group. More serious. Did they think top villains went out to do villainy without having any escape plans?
Saburo kicks a rock and says, “Man, whatever. Our pack leader Yuta hates you, he's gonna come for you specifically.”
“Oh really? Why is that?” asked the fire user, rocking up one eyebrow.
Before one of the boys was crude about it, Kaze spoke up, “His cousin died in one of your fires.”
A pause.
Oh.
—
Dabi stopped pacing and sat down on the ground.
Of course.
He was a little blindsided by the information. Granted, there were probably dozens of students at UA who had been directly affected by his crimes, and even more who knew someone who was. That had never been his intent. He was normally careful with what he burned, but sometimes his temper had gotten the better of him…
“You almost look like you care,” said Ryota. That probably came out as rude, he thinks. Maybe it was, but the student is also genuinely surprised by the older Alpha’s reaction.
“I never set out to hurt civilians, difficult as that may be for any of you to believe,” the reformee ran a hand through his still dyed back hair, “I was trying to expose that flaming trash goblin…”
Tsuyoshi interrupted him, “You mean Endeavor, your Father?”
“Yuuuh-P,” Dabi says, popping the P.
Kaze looks up at her teammates. They gotta talk about this. Now.
Tugging Ryota's jacket, she waved to get the other's attention and they stepped aside to discuss.
Dabi waited.
“Look, we all watched the press release. I believe… I believe he’s trying. I’m not saying we have to trust him, but I think we can work with him on this,” says the petite young woman.
Ryota had his arms crossed, he wanted to hear what the others had to say before making a decision.
“Ok, yeah I’m worried he might just go rogue. It would be a huge risk if he did though. And, I mean, how many other students have gotten to fight with or against real villains?” says Tsuyoshi, “I’d kinda like to see what happens.”
The Alpha huffs, so they were trying to convince themselves this was ok?
Saburo shared his own doubts, “He was a villain much longer than he was in this so-called untested reform program. Can we really trust his intentions are on education and not something more sinister?”
“Enough,” barks Ryota, he was the only Alpha in the group, besides Dabi. His classmates would defer to him, but he wasn’t about to use his secondary gender to push anyone around. He was raised better than that.
“Even going through this exercise with just classmates, it’s highly likely some of us will be injured,” he takes a deep breath and continues, “The pros and our class outnumber him twenty two to one.”
Reflecturn crossed his arms, “So?”
“I say we vote on it,” says Kaze.
“I agree,” Ryota asked the others, “Anyone have a problem with that?”
No one argued.
“Fine, raise your hand if you want to participate,” says the Alpha.
Three to one agreed they would be ok moving ahead in the exercise with Dabi. Saburo was the only one not to raise his hand. The group walked back over to the fire user together.
“Alright. We run, then what?” asked Ryota, plopping down across from the former arsonist, the rest of the students following his lead.
Dabi looks up, resisting the urge to grin, “I draw them to me, and keep running. The rest of you pick off any who get separated from the group. We do that, and we won't be outnumbered for long…”
—
Dabi grinned as he got into place beside the still nervous looking hero students. They’d been set up as the underdogs. They knew it, he knew it, the other teams knew it. That was fine with the fire user, nothing he wasn’t already used to.
He had his team members on the ground with him as the horn sounded, beginning the exercise.
As expected, Dabi could soon hear the young herolings of the opposing team heading right for them. Elastareach and Zipplopod took defensive stances per training.
Dabi cleared his throat and they looked over.
Shaking his head he reached up and used his coms, “Ready to run boys?”
Elastareach and Zipplipod shared some side eye then Ryota radioed back making the choice for both of them, “We're ready.”
Being inexperienced the other team was doing exactly as the former villain predicted. The other heroling team must have figured since they had the number advantage there was no way they could fail in a direct front on attack.
Per their plan, Dabi’s group moved forward through the rubble until they were spotted by Yuta at the head of the pack. He gave a yell to alert the others and was soon joined by Yushiro and Mitsuia.
That’s when Dabi let loose.
Blue flames surged from his arms, the suit doing its job assisting in regulating his temperature. Fuck that was nice.
The former villan's teammates split off and got out of sight, some scaling walls to the high ground, others ran around buildings while Dabi acted as a distraction down below.
His ranged quirk worked well for this, keeping the opposition at bay while blocking his own team's movements behind a wall of fearsome flame and backend smoke.
Before making a break for it, Dabi turns his flames upwards giving away his position, attracting the rest of the opposing team members right to him like a pack of raccoons to a fetid dumpster. It doesn’t take them long. A few pieces of concrete tumble down the hill next to the Alpha.
Looking up, the former arsonist saw the herolings staring down.
Turning to face them Dabi took a grandiose bow, bending a full 90 degrees at his waist, one arm bent with his hand on his chest and the other extended out to his side.
“What the hell is his deal?” said GeoTracker, next to him Chitter and FoliFlex shrugged.
Using that moment of distraction, Dabi turned and ran. He heard a yell when someone realized he was making his escape.
And the chase began.
As he was running the fire user grinned when he heard over the coms that two of his teammates had already taken out an opponent, the insectoid with the Swarm quirk.
He had climbed up the building solo thinking he could maybe drop down onto the villain from above. Instead he had run into both Zipplopod and Reflecturn. He didn’t have time to summon any insects in a sudden two vs one fight and was quickly disabled.
Using his quirk, Saburo took Kaito (Chitter, the Swarm quirk user) to their jail and returned to Zipplopod.
—
Link to end of the chapter with details on New Class A
“So what’s the plan?” asked Takao as he and his classmates huttled.
Aoki shrugged and looked at Yuta. He was the leader of their class Pack, they were obviously going to defer to him.
Yuta wanted to make the villain suffer. He wanted to pin the Alpha face down in the dirt and rub sand into his scars. The fucker had killed people. Like his cousin who had died in a fire set by the arsonist. It had swept through the factory where he worked and…
…and Dabi needed to learn a lesson.
The Alpha cracked his knuckles, “We’re going to aim for Dabi, then fan out and capture the remaining opponents. If we take that piece of shit out first and the rest of those dipshits will be a piece of cake.”
Kaito shifted his feet, he wasn't really ok with calling their fellow classmates names. Yuta noticed.
“You got something to say, Chitter?”
Kaito shook his head no. Their Pack was very hierarchical. He wasn’t high in the pecking order and didn’t feel comfortable speaking up. The Beta did think they would do better figuring out which of their quirks were best against those of the opposing team, but he also didn’t want to get his ass kicked by the resident agro Alpha.
“N-no sir, that sounds good to me!” the insectoid squeaked out.
Aoki put his hand on Yuta’s shoulder, “Ok, now how are we going to take Dabi down?”
“You’ve seen how he uses his quirk, he’s a ranged fighter. Once one of us finds him, all we need to do is call on the others and surround the Alpha. He can’t use his fire on us so long as we keep moving,” reasoned the UA Student.
Kaito and Takao nodded in agreement.
Mitsuya added, “His quirk gives away his position.”
Yuta points at the Beta, “Exactly!”
“And when we run into someone from our class?” asked Yushiro, knowing they had all been improving their fighting skills this past year.
“We’re going to search in pairs…”
“Right. Only engage if you find one at a time, otherwise call for backup. Two against one gives us an advantage.”
Kaito eyed Mitsuya.
He knew they were both thinking the same thing. Quantity didn’t mean better. Just because you outnumbered your opponent, doesn’t mean you have the best quirks to fight them. They could still take you out…
It was too late though, the siren sounded signalling the beginning of the match.
—
Dabi sprinted down the ruined streets, a wild smile on his face.
The goal was to keep as many of them chasing after himself in a game of cat and mouse.
Dabi knew now the other team had their Pack Alpha in it. The fire user had no doubt the younger Alpha would be after the former villain in a personal vendetta against him for the death of his cousin.
He knew that would bother a normal person, but too many people in the world had raised their hands against Dabi for him to feel bad for very long about every death he’s caused.
So the Alpha was after him.
He had no doubt this Yuta kid would ‘convince’ his Packmates to go with his plan. By the time the other team realized they'd fucked up, it would already be too late.
—
FoliFlex went down next.
The young heroine was captured while using her hair to swing from building to building.
Ryota (Elastareach) took the student down as she was swinging down from a building. All he had to do was wait until she swung close enough to the ground. He stretched his arm out in front of her mid swing grabbing a light post and she close-lined herself.
The heroling tumbled to the ground with a yelp.
When Ryota jogged up to his classmate, he found she was favoring her right ankle. She put on a brave face and didn’t say a word as he cuffed her and helped limp their way to the jail.
If he hoisted her up so she was holding on as he let her piggy back ride him, that was his business.
Thanks to Dabi’s diversion he didn’t need to worry about bumping into anyone.
Speaking of which…
—
Link to end of the chapter with details on New Class A
X-Change and Spin-Buckler were catching up to the former arsonist.
Aoki had swapped one of Yuta’s arms with his own, so both young men were able to throw discs and use them to shield themselves from bursts of fire.
If the reformee wasn’t careful he could end up with a rather close shave. He needed to get out of the open.
“I could use some help, anyone under cover?” the reformee asked with a finger pressed to his earpiece.
“Dabi, I see you coming, I’m in the theater!” said Emotrik over their coms. Looking as he ran, the fire user spotted the ramshackle remains of a movie theater up ahead. He ducked inside without hesitation.
“Where are you?” he hissed into the radio. He stood there panting and out of breath in the lobby, turning his head left and right.
“Theater number two, on your left.”
IseeU spotted the reformee as he dashed into the derelict theater. He called his partner Gleam and together they chased after the Alpha into the movie theater.
The fire user managed to leap behind the food counter avoiding IseeU’s attack. He threw whatever he could at the student to slow him down. Chair cushion, old candy bars, rocks, then ran to the left down the hall.
The former arsonist did not want to use his flames in here, the curtains would go up like a dried out christmas tree in July. So he put all he could into running. He only had to make it to theater two.
Dabi knew IseeU would be able to ‘see’ him through the walls, the metal beams inside offering little cover. They would also see he wasn’t alone. Given his companion was on the smaller side, he was sure the herolings' inexperience would work to his advantage.
Another important lesson. Never underestimate an opponent due to their size. Izuku being a great example.
The moment the two young herolings burst into the room he went leff getting out of range. The delightful young lady used her Quirk and had the poor boys cowering in fear, muttering about giant man eating spiders. Dabi and Emotrik slapped quirk suppressing handcuffs on traumatized students, garish oversized neon yellow things.
Dabi, being a gentleman, kindly dragged both of them out of the building.
—
Now the fire user was in a bit of a pickle.
The young woman was too small to carry one of the herolings all the way back to their jail by herself and Dabi couldn't haul both. Well, he supposed he could drag them, but he was also the other team's main target so that was still a no.
Shit.
Pulling the students to a bent light pole he started securing them there. Seeing that, Kaze jogged over to help.
They needed to come up with something quickly before…
“I think they're coming back,” said Emotrik.
Hearing a yell in the distance, Dabi checked the bonds. The students were already back to their usual selves, and quite ornery about what had happened.
“I want a rematch!” pouted Gleam, “I never even got to use my quirk!”
Dabi rolled his eyes and gave the young woman a thumbs up for her knot tying.
She grinned and bobbed up and down on the balls of her feet.
“What are you going to do you fucking asshole?” growled IseeU.
Dabi turned back to the rude boy and flicked the loudmouth’s forehead before gagging them with their own suit gloves, “I’m going to go put on a fantastic show, you two stay put now.”
He smirked at their furious looks then turned and walked back out to the street, Emotrik following on his heels.
Dabi was just in time, he pushed the tiny student behind him. With a casual move his jacket draped over her so she was hidden.
Emotrik stayed still and held her breath as she heard her classmates getting closer.
“Here they come,” Dabi whispered into his earpiece, “Do exactly as I say. When I move, you use your quirk on them.”
There was a pause, then the young heroling responded, “Duh, but what about…”
They don't have time to argue, so Dabi interrupts, “Make sure you stay right where you are.”
“Why‽”
“If you move, you could be seriously injured. Remember what I said about working together and trusting your teammates. I need you to trust me,” he licked his lips as Spin-Buckler and X-Change approached, “Do you trust me, Kaze?”
Dabi was met with silence.
Common kid, he thinks, you gotta answer me or I’ll have to give up. He didn’t want to loose, but at least there wouldn’t be a student death Dabi would have to explain. A small hand gripped his, tightened and loosened.
“Yes.”
Hah, chin up he narrowed his cerulean eyes at the approaching hero students.
—
Link to end of the chapter with details on New Class A
“Well well well, look who we caught up to X-Change.”
“Finally got nowhere else to run, villain?” said Aoki, not bothering to hide his disdain. He hated people like Dabi. He was nothing but a petty criminal. He was going to make sure Dabi learned his actions have consequences.
“Naw, don’t need to run,” said the scarred reformee, looking all the world as if he was relaxed and uncaring for the situation he was in. Thumbs of his hands hooked in his front suit pockets, not even trying to offer some semblance of defence. It infuriated the heroling.
The time had run down on X-Change's quirk. His and Spin-Buckler‘s arms detached and snapped into place, back with their original owners. Yuta took it as a sign not to back down.
“You know what?” growls the heroling, “I bet I can sling my disks at you faster than you can dodge them.”
“You think so, do you?” grinned Dabi.
The crazy look on the older man’s face made Aoki shiver. There was something very unhinged about the villain. As if just under the veneer of ‘playing nice’ was a real predator. It set his teeth on edge.
At this time Elastareach and Zipplipod came around the corner. Reflecturn was crouched in a doorway and made a shushing motion. Seeing a kind of showdown was happening, Tsuyoshi held his arm out in front of the other to stop them.
“Why don’t you aim right here,” said the Alpha as he boldly dragged a pointer finger across his scarred throat, “I dare you.”
Spin-Buckler lifted both his arms, but was startled to a stop when Aoki grabbed one and shook his head, “Yuta, you can’t!”
“I won’t use a bladed one, just a blunt shield.”
X-Change looked doubtful.
“And I’ll just throw hard enough to make it bruise.”
The other student let go and nodded as he stepped back.
“Are you gonna do something?” taunted Dabi, “I’m going grey just waiting here!”
Yuta scowled. Yeah right. Just hard enough to bruise, sure. He readied several discs, wound up, and flung them directly at the opposing Alpha’s head.
Dabi was moving before the disks were even released.
He ducked and rolled to the side, leaving Kaze exposed. Once she could see her targets, Emotrik focused her quirk at them as hard and fast as she could. Both Spin-Buckler and X-Change fell to their knees crying and wailing about almost killing them.
Disks whizzed past the young woman.
She was far shorter than Dabi. Her ponytail waived in the breeze as they safely flew well above her head. After all, they were meant to hit the much taller fire user at neck level. Instead the metallic projectiles harmlessly ricocheted off debris behind them.
*Ping*
*Zing*
Emotrik was trembling.
That had felt so close! She…she couldn’t stop shaking, why couldn’t she stop shaking? The world around her started to grow hazy. She was holding her breath!
Then someone was there, blocking her view, limiting her sensory input and wapping her into a hug.
Not so tight she couldn’t breath, but the kind of hug that helps ground a person. The arms were warm and solid. A calm steady voice spoke, “Breath for me kid, you’re fine, you’re ok. Take a nice deep breath with me.”
Kaze shut her eye and inhaled nice and slow, noting the smell of smoke and ash.
Dabi.
When he felt her breathing normally again, he leaned back to look at the young woman’s face. Blinking at him It took her a moment to find her voice.
“That was insane!” she frowned and proceeded to scold the Alpha, “And totally dangerous. We could have DIED! Oh my god what is wrong with you!”
Dabi stands up with a shrug and almost looks humbled by her rant, which Kaze concludes with, “It worked though.”
“Told you you could trust me,” he jokes, gently punching her shoulder. She in turn, kicks him in his shin, making him hop around on one foot as he curses. Elastareach and Zipplipod were laughing from where they had cuffed the two herolings.
Despite the new pain in his leg this had at least been entertaining. Their smiles made it kind of worth it, thought the older Alpha. Maybe Duster was onto something with this teaching shit.
The students helped carry the captured team members to their jail. Moments after they slammed the cell door the signal sounded indicating the end of the exercise.
Not too bad for his first try, thought Dabi.
—
Link to end of the chapter with details on New Class A
Tomura was trying to convince his team to use a 'bring them to us' strategy.
It was a simple but nearly foolproof plan.
And that’s what made it perfect for this group of newbies. The twins would stay near their jail. They were to remain hidden and fight from the shadows as much as possible. The idea was for them to use their quirks to disable opponents lured by their teammates.
Perfect!
They were complaining.
“That's not fair! You’re just leaving us out because we’re girls!” both young women both cried out as they crossed their arms and pouted.
Takahiro snickered, stopping himself under the glare of the older Alpha. Tomura sighs.
Facing the young herolings he says, “You need to understand not all roles are glamorous. This is strategy and has nothing to do with the fact you are female. It’s about getting the most out of your quirks without losing you to the other team.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and explained further, “One of the most skilled members of the League is a female Omega, Toga Himiko. Her quirk is excellent for infiltration. As a result, she’s often been all alone in the middle of enemy territory surrounded by those that would at the very least, capture her if not worse. I never held her back from doing what she's good at, and she only improved with experience. That doesn’t mean I didn’t also consider her safety on missions, understand?”
Takahiro did not expect to hear a supervillain like Shigaraki admit he gave two shits about the other villains he worked with.
From the looks on the girls' faces they were thinking the same thing.
Inei stepped forward first, “Ok, I'm in.”
“Us too,” said the girls a moment later.
The three herolings turned to Takahiro.
Why does it have to come down to him? wondered the Beta. Well, At least he was on Shigaraki's team. Better that than having to face down the villainous Alpha himself, right?
“Ok, ok alright, let's do this,” he says, moving to stand beside the others.
They'd wasted enough time already, Tomura needed to get right down to business.
“Leeds and Omni-Nom,” the pale man turned his carmine gaze to the boys, “You two will take your place around the perimeter with me. Remember the plan, as soon as you see anyone from the other team, do not engage, run back to our jail. And?”
“And let you know if we see Antisavision,” chimed in Leeds.
Takahiro didn’t get the point of running. Don’t heroes normally charge into the fray? He thought not only were they the underdogs, their classmates were going to think they were such losers!
“I fucking hate this,” he grumbled as he got into position, “I don’t want to look like a coward.”
The former villain next to him laughed.
“What’s so funny?” snapped the heroling.
“You really think looking like a coward is what you ought to be worried about right now?” Tomura shook his head and gave a manic grin, “The only time that matters is if you can use it to manipulate your opponents to your advantage.”
The reformee scanned the team, “Right now, fuck peer pressure. And fuck instincts. We do what we have to do to win.”
“Yes sir,” said Inei and the rest of the group in unison.
Takahiro stood stunned for a moment, then shook his head. Ok, maybe they had a chance?
—
After they agreed to work together, Tomura had reiterated their success depended on how well they worked together as a team, not who was the most flashy and attention grabbing. This wasn’t like the entrance exam or Sports Festival.
They were going to be doing a lot of running, it was a good thing his team was well built for it.
The goal would be to avoid being captured while drawing their opponents towards their jail instead. This would also minimize how far they needed to drag them in order to put them in containment.
Two invisible lines were drawn in front of the jail, the opposition needed to be between it, and their team member behind the one nearest the jail for Brisk's and Lag’s quirks to work on the enemy and not their own.
Once the other team member was in sight of Brisk and Lag, the two would use their quirks to incapacitate them so one of their own team members could cuff their opponent and toss them in jail.
The horn rang out, beginning the match.
Tomura and Omni-Nom headed out on foot. Leeds, using his wings, took advantage of being the only one of their class who could truly get an aerial view of the field. It allowed him to see the other team from a whole new angle as they approached.
He immediately began radioing back to Shigaraki and his team their opponent's locations and the directions they were moving.
Then a bomb whizzed past his head, fuze crackling.
Leeds dodges, avoiding the explosion, yellow powder raining down around him. He dives down below the buildings so he’s out of sight. That was one of Grammage's, he thinks as he glides between fallen buildings continuing to drop in altitude.
Tomura heads in the direction Leeds had given, and finds himself staring down arguably one of the most skilled opponents in the class.
Gushiken Kojiro - Hero Name: Antisavision. According to Tomura’s research the young man was one of those kids from a rich family, long history of hero work, and optimal quirks for it too.
He and both of his sisters are attending hero school, the sisters at Shiketsu.
Kid’s costume was dramatic as fuck. Some kind of combination of formalwear and bullfighter with shiny armoured panels instead of glitter. He was skilled in dual wielding longswords.
The heroling kept his distance, he wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating a villain, reformed or whatever they claim.
Kojiro had been training since before he could walk to become the next great hero of his family line. To carry on their honorable legacy. He was going to strike down this lower Alpha villain skum and make them proud. They were nothing alike.
“Shigaraki Tomura, come peacefully,” spoke the Alpha in a clear voice dripping in confidence, leveling both weapons toward his foe, “Or I will take you in pieces.”
—
Despite his instincts telling him otherwise, Tomura shoved both hands in his pockets; the corner of his mouth ticked up as he shrugged, “Do what you need to.”
The young man roared in frustration and came at Tomura, blades glinting in the light. The former villain easily dodges, the student's movements are stiff and obvious without the experience of true combat. The older Alpha dodges and weaves, avoiding every attempted slice and spear of the blades.
The hero student, panting now, attempts one final lunge but Tomura simply steps to the side and twirls around the heroling, both stopping so they are back to back.
“Not bad,” chuckles the pale Alpha, turning his head so Antisavision can hear the next words clearly, “You know… you would have made a pretty good villain.”
“I am nothing like you!” howls the younger hero student, blades slashing and slicing through the air.
Tomura outmaneuvers him again, both hands still tucked into his pockets no less, as he relies on footwork alone. Thank you, years of DDR.
It’s just like his classmates said, thinks the reformee. By refusing to attack, the heroling's quirk is useless as long as you can dodge. The moment you make a move against him, you’re screwed.
Frustrated and tired, Kojiro’s next strike is sloppy and the reformee leans forward so their asses un-maliciously bump together. Not expecting the sudden contact, the student stumbles away from Shigaraki landing on his hands and knees in the dirt.
While his position is compromised, Tomura leans over him and boxes his ears, swiftly snatching his earpiece and dusting it between his fingers.
The young heroling doesn’t even appear to have noticed, he’s looking up at the reformee with intense animosity.
Tomura rolls his shoulders and takes a fighting stance.
It’s about time, thinks Kojiro, grunting as he gets up off the ground and readies his swords.
Then the former villain points wide eyed at something over the younger man’s shoulder. Antisavision spins around to see…
Nothing.
Growling, by the time Kojiro looks back to where Shigaraki was, the man has run over a dozen yards away and dashes around a corner.
Fucking villains! Thinks the student as he chases after the reformee.
—
Link to end of the chapter with details on New Class A
In the meantime, Leeds had managed to draw the attention of InterruptUs and StuckToo.
Inei thought his ear peace was malfunctioning at first when he couldn’t understand his teammates, he realized a moment too late it was his classmate’s quirk causing confusion. Then StuckToo had leapt on him from a second story balcony as he landed, weighing the student down and wrestling for his wings in an effort to keep him grounded.
“We got Leeds on the ground!” radioed InterruptUs clearly through the coms.
StuckToo hollered, “Get over here and help me, he’s fucking strong!”
InterruptUs joined his classmate in bringing the beast down.
Inei panicked and let out a loud bleat. He was going to be jailed! He couldn’t do that, his team was counting on him! Inei just had to struggle a little longer, a little harder!
Cold metal brushed against his wrist.
No!
He twisted and writhed with all of his might, just barely holding off not one but two capable well trained UA students.
Then Leeds was flipped onto his back and StuckToo was just… gone. He heard a thud and a grunt, there was a cloud of dust. He shut his eyes. A few more noises were heard, then it got quiet.
Sitting up and blinking at the scene around him, Inei saw Shigaraki brandishing two bully sticks, the non lethal version of his melee weapon. Both StuckToo and InterruptUs were standing about ten yards away with their hands in the air.
So far the former villain hadn’t used Decay, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t, otherwise what would be the point?
And that was the reason for the other teamate’s obvious caution.
“Up led giraffes the shoe?” Tomura asked Inei. The student chuckled at the look of confusion on the older Alpha’s face.
InterruptUs must be using his quirk again to try to keep them from making a plan, good thing they already had one. Leeds got up, nodded at Shigaraki, then together they ran away as fast as they could.
The other two boys were so surprised their enemies chose to flee instead of fight, it took them a breath to get over it then they were chasing after their opponents.
Next to Leeds, Tomura was chanting as they ran, it all sounded like gibberish until, “As fig understand me now Leeds?”
Keeping up their pace, Inei huffed out, “Hah, yeah! You can understand me too, right?”
“Yes I can.”
“Ok, now what?”
“I want you to keep going with these two back to the jail, I need to hang behind and slow down Antisavision, or we’ll have too many arriving at once.”
“I’ll take them there,” answered the animal amalgamation of a hero student.
Tomura nodded and ducked into a tilted building to wait for his target.
--- --- ---
Back to X-Change and Spinbuckler chasing Dabi to the Theater
Back to X-Change and Spinbuckler face off with Dabi
Back to Leeds vs InterruptUs and StuckToo
Dabi's Team:
1. Sakamoto Ryota - ♂ - α - Hero Name: Elastareach
Quirk - Elasticity - can stretch like stretch arm strong, arms, legs, neck, fingers, etc. to incredible lengths. (Sigh…yes, that part too.)
2. Koizumi Tsuyoshi - ♂ - Ω - Hero Name: Zipplopod
Quirk - Shrink - Can become very, very very small. Inanimate objects he’s holding
shrink with him and re-enlarge with him. He can’t do this with living material (yet), so no people. The young man has no hair and his skin is nearly translucent.
3. Hoshino Saburo - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: Reflecturn
Quirk - Mirror - Can travel in, out and through any reflective surfaces like his own
personal superhighway. He can’t take more than one person with him at a time though. He hopes to change that as he works to improve his quirk control.
4. Kitagawa Kaze - ♀ - Ω - Hero Name: Emotrik
Quirk - Gaze - With her single large bright pink eye she can project feelings onto people in her line of sight. At this time her range is limited to about ten yards, and she can only influence about a dozen people at once. If a person is strong-willed enough or she tires, they can break free of her influence.
Dabi's Opponents:
5. Akiyama Yuta - ♂ - α - Hero Name: SpinBuckler
Quirk - Disc - Able to form sturdy disks of various size, can use them as shields and make them with bladed edges to throw. Particularly fond of making chakrams.
6. Nakamura Aoki - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: X-Change
Quirk - Swap - Can swap body parts with others, even their heads. The parts retain the others quirk ability. Can even swap parts he doesn’t have, like horns, wings, tails. Time limit at this point is about ten minutes, then the parts automatically safely swap back.
7. Nagasawa Yushiro- ♀ - Β - Hero Name: FoliFlex
Quirk - Wire Hair - Can be super fine like human hair or weaponize it like razor wire. Uses it like whips, rope, and grappling hooks to swing from place to place.
8. Moriyama Kaito - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: Chitter
Quirk - Swarm - Can command insects, like, a lot of them. Has antennae, eyes and mandibles like a Praying Mantis.
9. Yonamine Takao - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: IseeU
Quirk - X-Ray - Can see through most material, except magnetic metals, even slightly magnetic, like nickel, steel, cobalt, silver, aluminum, etc.
10. Takeuchi Mitsuya - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: Gleam
Quirk - Luminary - Can capture and manipulate light sources
Tomura's Team:
11. Yoshioka Inei - ♂ - α - Hero Name: Leeds
Quirk - Jersey Devil - Wings, goat hooves, fur, tail with clove shaped end and antlers, hands have black claw like nails. Strong and able to emit an ear splitting sonic scream. Has been ostracized by many as having an evil/demonic quirk.
12. Yoshida Akira - ♀ - α - Hero Name: Brisk - Also Akiko’s twin sister
Quirk - Fast Forward - Speeds up moving objects, only if they are in her line of sight. Stepping or moving the object out of her line of sight ends the effect of her quirk on the object.
13. Yoshida Akiko - ♀ - Ω - Hero Name: Lag- Also Akira’s twin sister
Quirk - Slow Down - Slows down moving objects, only if they are in her line of sight. Stepping or moving the object out of her line of sight ends the effect of her quirk on the object.
14. Kusomoto Takahiro - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: Omni-Nom
Quirk - Iron Gut - The boy could eat anything. And he meant anything. Knives, broken glass, nails. Also poisons, acids, other corrosive materials and even explosives. He was working on being able to eat projectiles, that was tricky though. He’d been practicing with rubber pellets but hasn’t mastered it yet.
Tomura's Opponents:
15. Chisaka Lin - ♀ - Β - Hero Name: UnFathom
Quirk - Bottomless - Can fit anything into a mostly enclosed space, like a mug or cup, an empty shoe, or pant pockets, and remove it when needed. Once she puts something in a mostly enclosed space, it is as if the object weighs nothing and takes up no room at all.
16. Kitagawa Hayate - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: Grammage
Quirk - Origami - ability to fold paper and it becomes the object, like a shield, sword, or even a bomb! Bombs made with fuzes that have ripped paper on the ends automatically light when he throws them. When he uses them in training he only makes them strong enough to knock a person down, and are full of super fine brightly colored powder.
17. Iwamoto Ryo - ♂ - Ω - Hero Name: GeoTrecker
Quirk - Short Cut - ability to create a small wormhole like rift in space to move from point A to point B in a moment. The rift appears as a super bright white slice. He uses a gps as a support item to allow him to move further. Can take one person with him at a time, for now.
18. Moto Fumihiro - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: InterruptUs
Quirk - Babbel - Ability to scramble how people talk or write so they can’t understand each other, can only do so within a certain radius. The larger the radius and the more people he uses it on, the more effort it takes.
19. Hinata Ito - ♂ - Β - Hero Name: StuckToo
Quirk - Velcro - Can stick to anything, and stick anything (or anyone) to himself. Able to turn it on and off at will.
20. Gushiken Kojiro - ♂ - α - Hero Name: Antisavision
Quirk - Two Steps - When you engage in a fight with him, he’ll always be two steps ahead of you. That is, only if you are in a fight.