MosesArk Reborn2000
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Chapter 26: Rumble in Ruins
🕑 Added 2024-11-04 15:06:45 +0000 UTC“Text” – Normal speech
‘Text’ – Thought
“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world
“Text” - Attacks
“Text” – Radio/Communication lines
“Text” – None Japanese speech
(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word
Chapter 26: Rumble in Ruins
(Previously)
"Everyone grabbed the person closest to you!" Kendo yelled as she reached for Tokoyami and managed to grab him, but both were already halfway through. Midoriya and Tetsutetsu were already doing that, lunging towards the closest person—for Izuku, that was Asui. For Tetsutetsu, that was Yaoyorozu—but all of them had nothing to grip, nothing to stand on as the portals beneath them fused into one.
"Quick, hold onto me!" Midoriya looked up as Tokage sent a hand towards them, the girl having split into several pieces that floated safe from harm. It wasn't just her hand; she had sent other pieces to try and save people. Yanagi had grabbed Uraraka, the white-haired girl straining her quirk to keep herself levitating; Uraraka quickly tapped herself to eliminate gravity.
Yaoyorozu saw that Tokage had already sent her other hand and a foot to save Tsuburaba and Sato. Tsunotori held onto one horn while she fired another 2 toward Kamakiri and Kodai, but it wasn't enough. The heiress could see that many were already chest-deep in the portal and couldn't feel the bottom beneath her feet.
Aizawa moved quickly to try to find the villain. Still, another portal opened before him, and a villain came flying out, sledgehammer ready.
With Eraser distracted, if only for a few seconds, Kurogiri pulled as many students through as he could as Midoriya reached for Tokage's hand. Even if she wasn't strong enough to pull all of them, she could perhaps slow them down, give them more time, even only a second.
But that never came as they screamed and yelled as they fell through the portals, each one shutting once the body went through.
Tokage dropped to the ground, gathering herself as she slammed a fist into it and repeatedly yelled that she was so close to saving more. Yanagi placed Uraraka down, and to their horror, besides the two and Tokage, only six of their classmates and one teacher remained on. Vlad King, Eraserhead, and everyone else was gone.
"We are the League of Villains. We hope you all struggle as hard as possible, fighting with all you have. It will make it all the more tragic when All Might finds you all dead by our hand." The villain spoke up, appearing to the side like a shadowy monster, gleeful in his statement before he vanished again.
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Even as everyone panicked about the situation and tried and largely failed to save themselves or each other, Aoyama tried to keep calm and watch as things were happening. Once the darkness appeared beneath their feet, he immediately started falling, which meant that it wasn't a teleportation-type quirk but a warp gate quirk, a rare specimen indeed. However, that wouldn't be much help as he continued to fall through, seeing that the darkness he was being sucked-no, dropped through had also caught Sero and Shiozaki.
Once they were all the way through, he saw that they were given a second surprise of the day: the portal wasn't near ground level as they were sent hurtling down toward the ruined zone. Seeing the situation, he and Shiozaki were the only ones who didn't scream out in terror; instead, his brow twitched as he worked to keep his annoyance inside, though that didn't mean he wasn't worried that they were in for a rough landing as his quirk could increase his durability-yes, but that was all it could do for him in this situation.
"Grab onto me!" Aoyama looked towards Sero, the boy reaching out to him. His other arm pointed towards a taller building, shooting out a line of tape. Catching on, Aoyama did as he asked and grabbed onto him, allowing Sero to swing them down. Reducing their speed and momentum, they landed rough but a far cry from what it could have been.
Getting up to their feet, they were about to call out to the others but saw that they were fine, Bondo and Honenuki being gently lowered to the ground by vines; looking up, they saw that Shiozaki had a similar idea to Sero, but with much greater control and strength in her vines, she almost seemed to be floating as he lowered herself down, and retracted her vines form the buildings she latched onto.
“Is everyone all right? I tried my best to be gentle with you.” Shiozaki stated as the light of the dome shone down on her as she descended to their level.
“You kidding? That was the best landing we could have gotten.” Honenuki laughed it off, as his quirk certainly wouldn't have been of much use unless he activated it the moment they landed, and it spread enough that he would have a landing akin to landing in mud.
“Yeah, I thought I was a goner there, thanks Shiozaki.” Bondo gave her a thumbs up, to which the vine-haired girl faintly smiled.
“I didn’t act to receive thanks, but because it was the right thing to do.” She replied, pulling her vines back to herself, Aoyama recalling that she had done the same during the quirk assessment and combat class. He wasn't sure if she did so because she didn't like to waste or because she didn't want to leave a mess.
“A fair and humble statement, my lady. But one that suits the role of a hero to the tee.” Aoyama complimented her, but Shiozaki gave him a stiff nod and a little more. Predictable, she must have heard of his playboy nature from most likely Midoriya, and considering she seemed to be quite the good Catholic girl-she was most likely not someone he would be able to grow close to, but hopefully work together.
They’ll need that as they looked around at the area they had been dropped into, but aside from the rubble, a torn-up street, and buildings that looked like a good knock could send them over, they didn't see the exit.
"Well, we're at least still in the USJ, this place looks different from the inside, but I'm positive that it's the same zone we saw from the entrance." Honenuki stated that the lipless teen was looking around at the place, having removed his helmet beforehand.
Aoyama nodded. "That's a good thing. I shudder to think what the vile villain could have done if he had the means to teleport us further. Imagine if we were just dumped into the woods, far from another person and with no means to contact anyone."
“Let’s hope that he’s not listening in and gets ideas, I really don’t want to jinx it.” Sero scratched his neck.
Honenuki didn't answer that question, focusing more on one of the taller buildings and noting that it would have the best view. The only issue would be the time needed to climb it, but they had someone who didn't have that problem. "Sero, do you think you can get up there and try and spot the exit? We would have done that earlier, but…"
“Yeah, screaming in terror and more focused on not going splat. Be right back.” Sero nodded as he stepped up, shooting a strand of rope up. He heeled himself in, doing that a couple more times before he swung up and landed on the roof with a backflip. It's a shame no one was there to see it.
Walking over the place, he found that it wasn't as messed up as the streets but still in serious need of repairs, enough so that he didn't dare get too close to the edges. "Man, this place is huge; how the heck does U.A. manage to fit a place larger than the test grounds under it? And with others?" He asked aloud, looking up at the massive dome that stood overhead before he continued to look for an exit. Still, the debris blocked most of his view, though he could see the zone's walls, so if nothing else, they could make their way over and walk till they found a means out.
As he looked, he saw something else, a mass of people making them over to them. They hadn't seen him yet, but he could count at least 3 dozen. Looking down another route, he saw another 2 dozen making their over. 'That's a lot of villains.' Sero started to sweat but shook his head to get himself together before he looked down at the rest of his classmates.
"Heads up, guys! We have incoming. I'm seeing more villain!" They looked up at his warning, seeing his figure waving and pointed in two directions: one directly ahead and another down a street to their left. Both were blocked by debris, but if Sero could see past that…
“Villains?” Bondo squeaked, the biggest one of them scared of this.
Aoyama just drew his blade, alarmed he might have been by this, but he wasn't scared. Not when he had seen far worse than most villains could ever dream. "It's expected they had gathered in mass by the fountain, but it would make sense to also have people waiting for us in the zones." He noted as Luminance formed at his side as he changed into his second form. The burst of light made it all the easier for them to be seen as Sero returned.
"Well, it's too bad for them that this is a pretty good zone for combat for me." Honenuki readied himself, but Shiozaki stepped forward. Her vines started to move about, like irritated tendrils.
“I don’t like that we need to resort to violence,” She started. Still, while her words were soft, there was steel that made it impossible to ignore her as her vines extended outwards, reaching into the crevices and cracks between the debris like a silent wave of green. "However, for these villains to come here and participate in such actions, they must be punished."
‘Good thing she’s on our side.’ They all thought to themselves as they let her take point.
Line Break
With the villains, the larger two groups were moving into position. They had just been called that the brats had arrived and had seen the portal close. Now, the fall could have made them easy, but they couldn't pull any punches. “How many did you see get dropped here?” one of them asked.
"Not many, five or maybe six." Another man with a large glass eye floating next to them replied. Turning to him as he spoke, the first man saw that he only had one eye in his head.
“Then this will be as easy as stealing candy from a baby." Another boasted, thinking about how they'll celebrate being part of the group that humiliated U.A. and took out some pesky brats before they could become pros.
Another man, larger than the rest and with the features of a mastiff, barked back. “Idiot, don’t get overconfident. Freshmen they might be, they still got into U.A. they won’t be like your typical mark.”
Sadly, he didn't listen as some openly glared at him, but seeing what he did to the last idiot who made a comment, they kept their thoughts to themselves. "You're just being paranoid. We have over 60 people here."
‘You’ll think that having over 60 people in just one spot would be enough of a clue for them.’ He though, shaking his head at their idiocy. Though maybe he was just like them, after all, they had all been skeptical when Shigaraki recruited them and revealed his plans, but with that…thing he had with him, they had a chance. However, why he didn't use the monster he claimed could kill All Might on the students first was beyond him.
“Heads up!” He was knocked from his thoughts by a warning. Looking ahead, they saw a mass of vines crawling out from the debris and rubble in front of them, moving far too fast and purposely to be natural. A quick sniff told him that they smelled like a person, however faintly.
“What the fuck is that? Are those plants?” Some asked as one of the vines wrapped around a large rock and squeezed, shattering it before moving forward, the path more straightforward for the rest of the vines.
“Must be one of their quirks, but they’re just giving themselves away.” Another started as they prepped up their quirk, creating water blades. But that didn't save them, as there was a flash of light and a deafening crash to their rear.
Looking back, they saw that one of the buildings had collapsed. Its ruined frame blocked their route of retreat.
Then they heard someone laughing, and looking through the ranks revealed it was none of them. They looked up and saw hero student, a mutant whose body was covered with feathers of reds, yellows, and blues. At the same time, his head was crowned by 3 large rainbow-colored feathers that seemed to constantly shift color. At the same time, his amused eyes were kaleidoscopic of bright, spiraling, and changing colors. Lastly, he had a sizeable peacock-like tail seemingly made from a rainbow with its many feathers and constantly shifting colors.
Aoyama, with his blade still glowing bright, smiled down at the villains from his perch on a roof. “Mes bons hommes, did you stop to think that was the idea?” One of them fired off a blast of air at him, but he easily dodged it, throwing a counter-attack that nearly hit his attacker if they hadn't dodged out of the way. All the while, vines continued to advance.
“Dammit, move people!” The canine heteromorph yelled at them all as they started to scatter, those with ranged abilities trying to hit Aoyama, who didn't stop smiling even for a moment as he danced around their attacks, launching his own whenever he pleased.
Those who could fly, either via wings or some other propulsion, decided that enough was enough and started taking to the skies. “Not so fast!” another voice yelled out before the area where most of their fliers were was doused with some sort of sticky, white liquid. The liquid stuck to them like glue, trapping many who panicked and tried to free themselves, only getting wrapped up more. "Hehe, how'd you like this sticky situation?" Bondo laughed, walking out from his hiding spot.
“Gross, it’s everywhere, what is this? Glue?” One of them cried out.
“Oh God, I hope it is.” Sero made himself known here, swinging it like a certain web crawler, wrapping people up and swinging away with his screaming captives, picking people off one at a time as the 3 boys continued pressing them, boxing them in and making it impossible to advance or hide.
As if things weren't bad enough, more vines burst from the ground, ensnaring many before they could fight.
“They’re coming from underground!” Someone cried out as the vines tore through their ranks with ease. Men and women, big and small, fast or slow—none of them mattered as they grabbed onto them. Some broke free, either using their strength of arms or their quirks, but that didn't mean much when they were surrounded by more of them, and the rest of the brats continued to pick them off like fish in a barrel.
Seeing their number be cut down to half in less than a few minutes, he had to make the call. “Split up! Split up, people!” If they could get the students to split up as well, they could try to use the number's advantage or link up with the rest and try to regain some of their lost strength. Turning to leave, the canine heteromorph felt his foot start sinking.
He yelled as he tried to keep moving, but the earth was as soft as mud and deep enough that he saw people knee-deep and still sinking further. “Sorry about that, but we can’t just let you all go when you committed a break-in for what I’m pretty sure wasn’t an unguided tour." Honenuki appeared, his hands on the ground as he softened the entire area. With his allies keeping their distance like Shiozaki or remaining off street level like Sero, Bondo, and Aoyama, he didn't need to hold back and could use broad attacks.
Line Break
"Well, that was a job well done, if I say so myself." Aoyama complimented them as he and the rest looked over their defeated enemies. They had either been wrapped up in Sero's tape, Shiozaki's vines, or buried up to their waists in the now hardened mud from Honenuki’s quirk.
"I was a little scared, but that wasn't so hard." Bondo gave Sero a high-five as the villains grumbled and glared at them, but nothing more as a look from Shiozaki made it clear it wouldn’t end well for them.
"Well, we had home-field advantage; a place like this was real favorable to us. And we have a good plan." Honenuki added.
"I am pleased that we were able to handle these evil-doers without needing to do undue harm to them," Shiozaki stated before they turned down the other street. They would have been overwhelmed by now by the second attack, but she and Honenuki hadn't kept back for nothing but had split their attention to slow them.
Walls of vines and random mud pits had bought them time while cutting at the enemy numbers.
“Shall we go and entertain our guests?” Aoyama smiled, starting to glow brighter and eager for the coming fight.
"Might as well. It would be rude to leave them, and we must find a way out." Sero joked with him.
“You fine gentlemen wouldn’t happen to know where that exit is, would you?” Honenuki looked back towards their captives.
"Go fuck yourselves-!" Shiozaki's vines shot out before the villain could finish, wrapping around them and holding them up upside down. The man started to sweat when she brought him over to her, glaring at him.
"You'll watch your words. Else, you'll be made to repent. Is that understood?" She warned them her disapproval could prove dangerous to their health, which was a lesson they heard and clear and started nervously nodding their heads
“Yup, got it! Won’t happen again!”
"Now, about that exit." She asked the question again, looking them over as one brave soul spoke up.
"We don't know where it is, we were warped here, same as you and we didn't spent time looking for it." The man with black and white striped skin told them, the rest nodding in agreement, which made her tick her teeth but otherwise gently put the villain down
“Obanai," another spoke up, one of the smaller ones who happened to be someone a bit younger than the students, the girl wearing a high school uniform, of all things. Obanai's always looking for the exits. He's with the other group. If anyone's found it, it's him."
Aoyama took things from there: "Thank you. It's a little bit of a pain, but you'll be staying right here while we chat with Obanai…after we handle him and the rest.”
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Well, this might be a tad late as I'm writing this when the chapter is half-done since I took time to work on a one-shot, a little surprise for NNN, which I'll post at the same time as this, or on Tuesday, depending on how much time it takes to edit it.
Also, it's a new month, which means I got more data for the internet, which is great for me. It means I can catch up on Dandandan, as I got up to EP3 and had to stop before I burned through what I had left. You should always have a little left for emergencies.
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Yeah,…not my finest. I don't even know why. I just fell into a slump while writing this and couldn't get it done without taking much more time than normal. I wish that I didn't put this out as is, but if I had waited until I could force myself to write something better, I would be here a while. I only realized as I wrote this that this team…wouldn't struggle like Midoriya's.
Much like canon, most of the students scattered to the zone, they had little trouble. Think about how Koda and Tokoyami managed without issue to survive till help came, how Bakugo and Kirishima cleared theirs, or how Todoroki soloed his. I tried to switch things up, but that made things needlessly complicated or did nothing, as that first zone with Izuku and the rest was meant to be a fluke; the League doesn't know their quirks. Making it that they somehow lucked out and 2 groups into zones they would struggle in would be giving Shiggy too much credit; his Luck stat is trash.
