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A New Existence Chapter 9
🕑 Added 2023-09-13 14:39:36 +0000 UTCWhile I was writing this, I was watching older South Park episodes, with one of them being from my Top ten favorite, that being Biggest Douche in the Universe as I didn't even know who John Edward was before I watched it when I was still in High School. Now, I can't not imagine him being called out and seemingly being reverted to a 10-year-old with that whiny voice they gave him. Regardless, not much else to say other than another request for people to look me up, The link will be at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 9: Hero Exam Assault
Having watched the second part of the exam for the last 10 minutes, Midoriya had the chance to observe these future heroes and hopefully, future allies in a non-combative setting, doing something that was core to the idea of the hero, at least what she believed to be a hero: Rescue. Her new classmates seemed to have stumbled in the beginning, but they all have managed to find their footing in the chaos, even splitting off to head for locations where they'll be better equipped to use their meta-abilities to help, giving her a chance to observe them using them outside a straight fight and it was a treasure trove, so much she hoped she didn't forget any of the important details, all this could easily fill another 2 books of notes!
As far as she could tell, they had adapted to the situation and split off into more beneficial groups as Shoji remained in the city district zone, acting as a scout and muscle when needed, along with him she could spot Sato, Yaoyorozu and Aoyama. Shinso and Jiro broke off for the factory district and while his meta-ability wasn’t the best, his skills with that capture tool of his made up for it as he would swing about, or more commonly, allowing Jiro to locate people at which point he used it to carry away heavy loads to allow others to reach injured people. Sero and Uraraka found themselves in the remains of the highway district as Sero used his tape to stabilize the area, and Uraraka moved debris and people with ease once she removed the effects of gravity on them.
Koda moved away from the medical station as they seemed to have enough hands there, and went into the forest zone-a smart move when she recalled what his meta-ability was. Bakugo, Kaminari and Kirishima were still in the mountains. Todoroki Asui and Hagakure partnered up in the river area and seemed to be doing well enough, even if Asui was handling most of the in-water rescue with Todoroki a close second, making paths of ice for people that could walk to move on and his fire to make small fires for them to warm up by.
Lastly, there were Ojiro, Ashido, Mineta and Tokoyami also in the mountains, but quite a ways away from the other three. Of course, it wasn't just her classmates that she kept an eye on but Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu as well. Yoarashi was with most of his classmates in the city district as well and he used his meta-ability to snuff out the flames, move debris and carry people to safety, an impressive thing for one person to do. The hairy one-Mora if she was recalling it right, used his ability to clear away spots. She didn't know why at first, but as he kept doing it, she realized he was clearing zones for helicopters to land, or paths for fire trucks and other emergency vehicles.
Their classmate, the apparent 'perpetual rule breaker' Camie was in the river zone as well, according to Shishikura, her ability wasn't any good in a situation like this but she was a damn fine swimmer, though he felt the need to add that she might have learned the skill just to have an excuse to get wet in her costume and get away with it. The Ketsubutsu students were more evenly split amongst the disaster sites, some helping with the medical station like Nakagame and Tokeki, some were in the Highway zone like Makabe, and some were in the forest zone like Shindo.
"They seem to handling themselves well," Izuku noted.
"Yes, Yoarashi is a passionate one, but he's eager to learn and correct himself, hence why he was even allowed to take part in this exam," Shishikura replied, acting stern but she could detect a little pride in him, though if it was for his school or Yoarashi in particular, she couldn't say.
“It’s that strange for first years to be here?” She couldn’t help but ask, to which Ms. Joke nodded and spoke up.
"Correct, While this exam is harder than normal, the requirements are nevertheless always high, far higher than what can be expected for a first year to be able to grasp.” She replied, eyeing Eraser out of the corner of her eye.
"The principal wished for the first years to get their licenses, as we've been involved with 3 separate villain incidents, at the very least, it'll benefit them to be able to defend themselves," Aizawa explained himself as he wasn't a fan of this either. He had faith in his students, but he would have liked that extra year to prepare them for this in the end, the principal had made good points on why they should go ahead with this rather strange move.
“Oh yes, the I-island fiasco, did they ever catch the ones responsible?” Seung asked, shifting the conversation that the news that broke earlier in the summer and was still talked about it to a lesser degree. After all, it wasn't every day that a criminal attacked I-island and managed to escape to brag about it. a fact made all the worse as according to the rumors he heard regarding it, he made off with an experimental piece of tech designed by David Shield himself, though both I-island and the professor had been quick to deny them…too quick.
Aizawa signed, having not been present for the attack, some of his students were and they didn’t paint a good picture of the event, though for legal reasons, he couldn’t share the full story with any of the people present. "I doubt it, but seeing how it was an attack against I-island, it's very much outside our jurisdiction so we aren't in the privy to know about the finer details of the investigation." All he could do and pray that if that villain did show up in Japan, they could take him down before he could do any damage, an easy enough task for him as all it would take would be a single look after all didn't matter how strong the quirk, they were all fair game to his eyes.
"These are troubling times, but we have a promising group of future heroes in the making before us," Seung replied, accepting the response and not pushing it.
“Doubt it,” They turned to her, with Izuku using the binoculars to get a closer view of things. “Bakugo seems to be yelling at people.” She would have laughed at the absurdity of it if this was any other situation.
Shishikura asked for the binoculars to confirm for himself and when he saw that the dirty blonde was yelling at people, he pitched his nose in frustration. “I can’t believe I lost to him and his ilk.”
“I don’t think he’ll ever grow out of that temper, but then again, it gets it from his mother.” Izuku shrugged her shoulders, she had dealt with whatever feelings she had for the boy a long time ago. Did she respect his meta-ability and talent? Yes, did she once see him as her best friend? Also, yes. But had she accepted that his ego and cruelty had turned him into something ugly? A sad yes. Despite the fact Kai managed to intercept the message he delivered for her, he still had done it but she wasn't sure if that counted as him acting for her, or just doing the bare minimum as you'll have to be an especially cruel or forgetful person to not have done what she asked when the thing she said she feared happened.
However, her comment did get some attention from Aizawa as he hadn’t had the chance to meet with the parents yet. “She’s as bad?” He dreaded the possibility that she was.
Lucky for him, Izuku shook her head. “No, she channels it into more constructive pursuits like volleyball.” She chuckled a little as she learned from her mother that Aunt Mitsuki picked it up in their second year of high school after getting into her 6th fight that year. It was that or expulsion as the school was tired of dealing with her violent tendencies. She also knew that Aunt Mitsuki signed up Katsuki for drum lessons when they were 8-maybe 9 to help him find a similar outlet for his passion but sadly, while he did learn how to play, he seemed to hate doing it.
“Looks like you need to work on his attitude, Eraser.” Ms. Joke snorted as she could only imagine how much her grumpy friend would struggle to teach that kid any manners. Who knows, maybe he could ask the mother for advice as she managed to curb her tendencies.
“He’s being a meanie.” Izuku patted her daughter's head for that comment, agreeing with it wholeheartedly.
Aizawa took a breath, not even surprised that a literal child was criticizing one of his students, he knew the boy had some clear problems which made him suspicious as to how he managed to get through middle school without a single incident on his record. “Yes, Eri, he is. He has talent, a powerful quirk and an equally sharp mind to make the best use of his gifts,” Aizawa stated, agreeing with her on the assessment of the potential that Bakugo had. "The problem comes from the fact he knows that the brat has an ego the size of the moon, the temperament of a wolverine and the patience of a toddler."
“Surprise he’s lasted this long in your class.” Ms. Joke added.
“Believe me, this is an improvement.” Izuku didn’t know what she meant by that, but it sounded like there was something more happening, a context she was lacking.
Wishing to direct the conversation to another point, Ms. Joke pointed towards where she could make out one of her students working through the disaster, using the skills she made sure they would have had the time to learn. "On a bright note, it seems my kids are handling this well. And they complained when we worked more on rescue training than combat classes." She was so going to pock fun at Shindo after this as he had been the biggest complainer about her teaching methods.
Izuku agreed with the elder green-haired woman on that point, especially since unlike students from Shiketsu or U.A. she hadn't seen a single one either fail or act out. “It seems that Ms. Joke’s students are super nice, Eri. Maybe we can talk with them after this.” Eri looked up at her.
“Are they?” She asked, a little nervous about the prospect, even if her momma said it would be fine. It was hard talking to new people, her tummy always felt weird and her tongue felt like jelly.
Seeing her nervousness, Ms. Joke laughed out loud to calm her. "Of course, kiddo! I've trained them to be some of the best party people out there!" She didn't make them go through a 2-week workshop on civilian management for nothing, this would be a great time for them to interact with someone who wasn't just a general studies student who volunteered to pretend.
‘Oh God, not more of her!’ Aizawa had a different view of it, imagining that she somehow taught them to act and dress like her…it was the stuff of nightmares, all the extrovert adopting introvert jokes, all the memes being spammed into his phone. No…one was enough.
Seung chuckled, finding the conversation quite relaxing, happy that he chose to sit with them rather than by themselves. “Perhaps you could meet with my students as well, a few could benefit from getting your analysis of their quirks.” He looked towards Izuku and then to her two full notebooks.
“Of, you don’t have to do that. I could just give you them.” Izuku tried to wave it off as that seemed like a lot of attention.
“But you said that you don’t have enough space in your notes to write for all 20 of them.” Seung as she paused, remembering that as he leaned back into his chair and turned back to the field. “Relax, my dear, if you can get along with Shishikura here, you’ll have no issue with the rest of them.”
“Dare I saw that a few would be quite excited to meet with you, Yoarashi especially.” If Shishikura noticed the friendly jab, he didn’t say anything about it.
“Really?” Eri asked her, getting a nod from the serious student. He would have smiled but he had been told more than once they came off as unnerving.
“Yes, dear. The big one, he’s quite the fan of your mother.” His gaze lifted to Izuku.
Before she could question that, they felt the stands shake a little, catching their attention as Eri instinctively grabbed onto her mother while Izuku wrapped an arm around her. “What the-!” Across the fields, there were explosions, adding to the chaos as in many cases, fires that had been under control burst back to life, stronger than ever while already damaged buildings and rocks came tumbling down thanks to the blasts.
“More explosions? Now?” Seung frowned, wondering if they were overdoing it. he was all for making the exam a little harder for quality reasons but it felt like they wasted their budget on more explosions and incendiary devices than they needed. However, not too far away from them, a part of the wall of the stadium facing inward blew up.
Looking over with the binoculars, Izuku could make out shapes in the dust. “Hold on, I can see something in the smoke,” She peered closer, waiting for the dust to clear and when it did, her eyes widened. “Wait, is that Gang Orca?”
“The villains have returned to try and add to the damage. Reinforcements have been delayed fighting the bulk of that but some have managed to slip through.” She, along with the three teachers, looked towards the announcer’s booth they were sure Mera was in, caught completely by surprise by how far the commission was trying to push the students.
“Seems to be extreme, expecting them to both conduct rescue operations and fight off a simulated villain attack.” Ms. Joke surmised as Izuku watched as Gang Orca slowly walked onto the field, with dozens of masked men, sidekicks she assumed, run in-rushing onto the field to add to the madness that was already unfolding.
"Even for a pro, this would be a challenge," Aizawa muttered, crossing his arms as he felt worried for his students, even if they weren’t taking this exam a year early, this felt like the commission was expecting too much from them. ‘Is the commission that concerned, was Hosu that much of a red flag to them?’
“He’s not alone, he’s brought help and a lot of it.” Izuku relayed the fact that Gang Orca had brought at least 100 people with him, maybe more as they all wore the same thing, without the binoculars, it looked like a swarm of black ants had smashed into the field.
“With the arrival of villains, heroes are expected to continue with their rescue operations while also dealing with the villains.”
Down on the field, Gang Orca walked slowly, in no rush to fight the students, he knew they'd come to him-the brave ones at least. Around him, his masked help swarmed, their sheer numbers no doubt intimidating the students almost as much as he did. "Now, how will you react? Will you fight or protect? Stand your ground or flee?" He asked himself, almost gleefully as he could see some student looking his way in fear. “This is your moment to show me what kind of people you are, heroes!”
Line Break
The set-up for this exam could be traced back as far as 3 weeks, during one of the planning meetings hosted by the commission for the exams. Within the board room, one of the higher-ranking commissioners repeated what he saw on the proposal. “The exam we’re going to use to judge our future heroes revolves around…targets and balls?” He placed the paper down, looking at the other 9 commissioners present. “Surely you jest.”
“Isn’t this too easy? Part of the problem right now is that heroes aren’t up to par.” Another spoke out in agreement with him,
“When framed like that, yes, it does sound like a joke but you’re not seeing the bigger picture here.” One stated in defense of the idea.
Another of her colleagues nodded their heads. "She's correct, the real test is how they handled the ensuing chaos, will they break or maintain the level head of a pro and use their training, quicks and brains to come out on top? The purpose of the first response is crisis response. We don't need heroes that act like headless chickens or can't think on their feet when things go wrong." Their current times had made that clear. They had always had a few of them, but they had been seen as acceptable abnormalities due to the sheer number of pros, not to mention All Might but they couldn’t accept that anymore.
“Then what of the second round? It’s common practice to focus on individuals for this search and rescue is a mass group exercise. How are we to know if any one of them is up to par?” One asked a good question.
“This proposal came straight from the desk of the commission president; we'll be hard-pressed to refuse her." The group shut their mouths at that, even the ones that didn’t particularly like the idea as they could all agree that the sitting president wasn’t one to casually insult by calling her out on her choices. There was a reason she was chosen to replace their last president after his sudden death and she hadn’t steered them wrong in the 10 years she had been on the captain’s seat.
"Regardless of who proposed this, there is a method to the madness," Mera spoke up, a little tired of both of the long meetings they kept having and at the implication behind his colleague's reply. They had reformed for a reason, which meant that the president wasn't to be treated like a despot.
"Explain Commissioner Mera.” A man 20 years his senior spoke up, to which the tired beige-haired man stood up to explain how he perceived the reasoning behind the president’s recommendation.
“The Hosu incident must have been the reason for it as while we had many heroes in the area, they were primarily hunting Stain and not working in groups, when the League attacked, too many were uncoordinated and either unused to working on groups formed on the spot, or resistant to it.” If things had stayed just about the hero killer, perhaps they wouldn't be having this meeting, but the fact is they didn't, they got so much worse.
"Lives could have been saved that day if the heroes present were capable of forgetting and rivalries and the like and working together. The exam is testing for those very same qualities that we need at the moment." He had read through the reports, both the commission's filings and the police report and he could say he was disappointed with the heroes. They saved lives, but they failed to make the best use of their skills as there were incidents where pros rather than coordinate efforts, rushed in by themselves, wasting time and energy. If not for Endeavour pulling some of them together under his command, the body count would be even higher than he was.
“His words have merit; we still don’t know what the League is planning next as even our informants in the villain world can’t find much about them. They’re also showing signs of evolution, more so around its leader.” Another commissioner reminded them room that that concern, the fact the League had gone to ground and barely made any noise since. A dangerous thing when they knew its leader was adapting with each attack, gaining more confidence, experience and wisdom as they never thought the same punk that attacked the U.S.J would mature enough to orchestrate the Hosu incident less than 2 months later.
All things made all the worse by the fact they had reason to be that…he was behind the League as their financial backer. They had suspected something like it when they captured the creature, the Nomu in the aftermath of the U.S.J and recovered more samples from the Nomu corpses recovered after Hosu, but it was All Might's testimony about the I-island attack that made it real. According to him, the villain, Wolfram possessed multiple quirks. The villain himself was happy to brag how…he had contacted them as they planned the attack and offered him additional funding, resources and most worrying of all-quirks.
Before, sceptics among the upper echelons of the commission believed he was well and truly dead, and that the Nomu were merely the remnants of the sick and twisted experiments he conducted in his time. After I-island, it was all but confirmed that he was very much alive…somewhere in the shadows. And if what Professor Shield and All Might were right about the power of the invention Wolfram stole, about the threat of the Q.A.D….
“His first attack as snug not just against heroes, but against All Might himself as teaches at U.A. and wasn’t able to stop them in their infancy.” He shook himself out of that possible nightmare to focus on the one they were dealing with at the moment.
"Agreed, as much as we all dreaded this day, we all knew it would come. We can't rely on All Might as a deterrent anymore. Instead, we need to boast the skills and comradery of the heroes that will replace him." Another agreed with him, a veteran of the agency, having served for over 30 years, he knew just what kind of darkness All Might crushed to usher in this age of peace, so he knew what would befall them if it were to fall.
Line Break
In the present, Mera kept a keen eye on the field, seeing how some of the students gave way to the villains, perhaps out of surprise, out of fear, perhaps they felt protecting the people was more important than combat, regardless of the reason, every action they made was being watched and graded. ‘Despite that, we do need to ensure that they’re ready to rush straight out the gate, as Hosu showed, we need heroes that can both save people and,’ He turned to look towards Gang Orca. ‘Fight villains.’
“Another attack?” Tokoyami asked, looking in the direction where the wall was blown out.
“Why now of all times, dammit? We’re already super busy!” Mina complained as she helped someone walk as they judged him to have a broken leg after a bad fall.
“We’re about to have even more work, look! By the first aid station!” Ojiro used his tail to point in the direction of the first aide station, which was being rushed by what looked to be at least 50 of those masked goons. “They’re going after the civilians?”
"You have to be kidding me, that's so not cool," Mina yelled, wanting to pull her hair out. The first part of the exam was hard enough, but this was even worse, why the hell did they decide that they had to fight villains on top of everything?!
Line Break
"We still have a lot of people to rescue here, but we can't just let the villains get to everyone else," Asui told her group as they could rush over, but that'll mean abandoning the people here. Besides, if the commission was throwing a pro like Gang Orca at that with that many people helping him, who's to say that they don't attack other spots in the field?
“I know, you girls stay here. I’ll head over to keep the villains at bay!” Todoroki yelled as she helped a woman out of the water and passed her to Hagakure, rushing off before they could agree.
“Right, be careful! Gang Orca is a top pro for a reason!” Hagakure yelled at him as he waved over his shoulder, using his ice to skate down the mountain towards the first aid station.
Line Break
As the students tried to pick up whoever they could to move them, Shindo passed the person he had been escorting to the station to a person he didn't know but could trust to handle them as he rushed to the front of the group. “Get everyone to safety!”
“Shindo!” Nakagame at him as he made it to the front and saw at least 60 people rushing them, he didn’t know what they could do, but he wasn’t about to allow them the chance.
“I’ll hold them off, we can’t afford to risk the lives of the civilians!” He yelled without turning to them as he slammed his hands onto the ground and sent out a massive vibration towards them, shattering the ground and making them lose their footing, stopping their advance. "I'll start hammering away at the henchmen at 1-second intervals, that should throw them off!" He told them as he unleashed another shockwave, keeping them on their asses, giving the rest of the students and the injured civilians time to escape.
“Right, you heard him, we’re moving people!” Someone yelled as he moved to help them move an old lady.
“Remember to be gentle with the injured, the last thing we need is to make their injuries worse!” A 3rd year yelled at another student when she saw him mishandling someone. With the group in motion, Shindo smirked as he fired off his 4th shockwave, weakening them now that he just had to ensure the villains couldn't get back up. Once the people were a safe distance away, then he'll bring the force.
“Weren’t expecting that, were you?” His smile vanished when in what felt like a second when he wasn’t and a second when he was, Gang Orca was in his face, so close that he could make out the individual wrinkles and spots across his skin.
“Cute.” Gang Orca didn't say more as he blasted Shindo point blank with an ultra-sonic blast, rattling his brain and knocking him onto his back, unable to move his limbs with how much his brain seemed to be bouncing around in his head.
Seeing him go down with a single blow, Nakagama called out to him as she carried a small child on her back. “Shindo!”
Sparring the spasming student a glance, Gang Orca turned to gaze at the rest of them, taking a step forward. “A single rearguard? That’s all you have, or do you think this is a game, heroes?”
“I got thi-!” Before anyone could step up and try and slow him down, Gang Orca turned the side and let out another ultra-sonic blast, intercepting the wave of ice that was heading towards him. the two attacks met and cancelled each other out as the ice shattered before it could get any closer to the hero while the sonic blast was dissipated by the ice.
“Ice?!” Seeing the massive attack, the students and civilians turned to see the source of it was Todoroki, having just arrived with his ice skate track still behind him.
“Isn’t that Endeavour’s kid?” Someone asked as Todoroki increased the intensity of his attack to try and overwhelm Gang Orca who merely increased the power of his own, keeping them in their stalemate, but this did remove him from the board, momentarily it might have been, giving others a chance to make it to help.
“Guys, we’re here to help!” Nakagama turned to see three of the U.A. students heading towards the, if she was remembering their names right it was Tokoyami, Ashido and…tails? Either way, Tokoyami was carrying some people with his quirk, which freed up the hands of his two classmates as they came in to assist in transporting the wounded. “We were already on our way back with some hurt people and saw the explosion, so we rushed back as quick as we could to get these people out of here.” As Tails explained the situation, Todoroki turned some of his attention to the grunts that Gang Orca brought with him, freezing them in place with a thick sheet of ice that upon contact with any of them, froze their legs up to their knees, those still on their buts found their arms frozen up to their forearms, immobilizing them.
“Did you see anyone else?” One of the other 3rdyears asked, grateful for the help but they could use another 20 sets of hands.
Tokoyami shook his head, picking up another person, and increasing his load to 5. “A couple, but must stayed where they are helping the survivors.”
“We need the firepower, but they weren’t wrong.” Someone muttered as they picked up someone and made a break for it, looking over his shoulder at how despite being by himself, Todoroki was still keeping Gang Orca at bay. “He’s as good with that ice as we thought.”
“What an interesting power,” With the hero in question, he too was impressed by the power that Todoroki was using, but not by much as he like so many had seen the Sports Festival, compared to them when he unleashed glaciers large enough to cover the entire field, this was nothing. “What it won’t be enough to stop me!” A fact he proved by increasing his power even more and smashing more of Todoroki’s ice
Using his fire to warm himself up, Todoroki felt himself being pressed as he increased his power just to keep up. ‘Of all the pros they could have roped in to help with this, it just had to be one of the few my ice is weak against.’ He thought to himself.“ Guess I should have expected this from the number 10 hero.” Before he could say anything more, he noticed the wind picking up, which shouldn’t be possible till he looked up and found the source.
Yoarashi, having flown as fast as he could once, he finished helping some people, came crashing down like a human tornado, the force of his winds not just smashing the ice-covered field Todoroki created, but sending dozens of goons flying. “I’m gonna blow you villains away!”
Crouching, Gang Orca grabbed the ground to keep his footing as he could feel even his heavy frame being pushed back by that attack, though lucky for him, Todoroki ceased his constant ice attack for the moment. This new arrival spurred new hope in the students as they cheered. "We got two power-houses to keep them back, let's not waste time people. Move!"
“Man, of man, they really pulled out all the stops for this exam, but that just means that we can’t hold back!” Yoarashi yelled, his excitement nearly bleeding out of him as he looked over the field and saw what he was working with. Not only was there a massive ground of goon villains, but they even brought in one of the top ten as well-it was amazing! He loved how passionate Gang Orca was when it came to his work, and how much he loved kids-he even still had his autograph from when he volunteered at an aquarium his 7th-grade class visited 3 years back.
But then his eyes found Todoroki, who looked just as surprised as him to see the other, but his surprise bled away, giving way to anger. “Of all the people, it just had to be you…”
Todoroki ground his teeth and turned back to the problem at hand, that being the top ten pro standing before him, unmoved by both his ice and Yoarashi's winds. ‘That’s my line, but I can’t waste time dealing with him.’ He would just have to ignore him for this and deal with whatever the hell he was upset about him later. “Help with the first aid station, they could use extra hands getting people away!” Todoroki yelled at him, keeping his eyes on Gang Orca, though because of this, he didn't see how Yoarashi not only didn't listen to his command but was preparing a blast of winds as he collected them around himself, right as Todoroki raised his left hand, flames building on it before he unleashed it towards Gang Orca right as Yoarashi fired off his attack.
Seeing the two attacks coming right for him, Gang Orca narrowed his eyes and braced for them, but found that he didn't need to as rather than hit or anyone else really, the two attacks collided, the intense heat from the flames causing the wind to rise and pass over their heads while the wind absorbed the bulk of the power of the flame, directing them to their sides, much to the confusion of everyone from the proctors, the students and their teachers.
“What?” One of the masked men asked.
“Where are they aiming?” Another added to that, looking up towards the wind passing over them, it was a bit warm but that was it.
Yoarashi, seeing this, was incensed as he glared down at Todoroki. “Why’d you use your flames? Heat makes the air rise!”
Todoroki was in an equally unpleasant move, part of which for the fact that was just embarrassing as he had thought Yoarashi would have listened to him, Gang Orca had a weakness to the heat thanks to his specific mutant physiology, it was why he told Yoarashi to get back as he could keep him busy! “Because my ice didn’t work on him, you ruined my shot on purpose, didn’t you?”
"Like I'll do something like that, you blocked me to hog all the glory!" Yoarashi yelled back at him, furious that the son of Endeavour would ever imply he would do that, neither picking up how others watched them argue with surprise or annoyance.
None were more annoyed than Gang Orca who had front row seats to what he could only describe as two brats arguing over whose turn it was to use the controller. ‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing.’ His red eyes narrowed in fury at this idiot before them. “This really is just a game to them…brats.”
Not picking up on this, the two students continued their argument. “Hatred’s in your blood!” Yoarashi yelled. “You are Endeavour’s Blood!” He looked at the dual-haired boy with an intense glare.
Todoroki’s eyes glared back at him with just as much intensity. “What the hell is up with you? My old man has not-!” Whatever he wished to say was interrupted when his shoulder was hit by a large grey substance which quickly hardened, looking towards the villains, they saw one of them had his arm aimed at him, the one with a strange device attached to it.
“Like my cement gun? Good luck trying to move after getting hit by that.” The villain bragged before the rest of the villains still able fired as one, aiming for the two of them and forcing them on the defensive as Yoarashi had to fly around to avoid getting it while Todoroki had to put up an ice wall.
Line Break
Shishikura, the third most irritated person with Yoarashi and Todoroki’s antics was on his feet, damn near pulling at his hair in his anger over what he was seeing from them. “What the heck is he doing out there? Arguing at a time like this?” He could admit he messed up, but he at least waited till AFTER he dealt with the others that could have intervened with his battle with U.A. but this? This was just a mockery of all it meant to be a hero.
Eri didn't need to look at her momma to know she was just as if not angrier than the weird-eyed guy, the way her hand held her told her all she needed to know as it wasn't harsh, but it was tense, very tense. It was by chance that no one was looking at her, if they did, they would have seen the look of a woman close to murder as she glared at the two like they were filth on her shoe. “I figured that Todoroki wasn’t the most reasonable since he outright refused to use his fire during the festival,” She walked in already suspecting that Endeavour’s son wasn’t going to give her much of a showing and was pleasantly surprised when he did, but it appeared she allowed herself to raise her expectations of him too high.
“But it seems whatever growth he’s had since wasn’t enough to make up for it.” Yoarashi was just as bad, so much so that unless she had to, she would avoid speaking with him later, she didn’t need to make it a habit to interact with idiots.
Aizawa glared just as hard as her, watching as his student, one of his class’s powerhouses floundered like a fish dropped on land, barely able to move or attack thanks to the constant barrage from those support items Orca’s men had. “For crying out-I expected such confrontational energy from Bakugo, but from Todoroki…” He scratched at his eyebrow, disappointed in this farce of a showing. “He’s just made things all the harder for himself and the rest of them as if they do down, the people they’re supposed to defend are put at risk.”
They couldn't tell what the two were arguing about from where they sat, and frankly, none of them cared as it wouldn't excuse their behavior in the sightliest. Certainly not when it was clear that they weren't working together so much as just attacking the same target, which just kept screwing up as one's attempts undermined the other, to the point Izuku was sure Todoroki was so tunneled vision that he wasn't even thinking anymore, just throwing fire at Gang Orca-only for that fire to be messed with by Yoarashi's winds, leaving their actual target with little to do as he allowed the grunts to keep them suppressed, even crossing his arms as he stood there, sure that he wouldn't need to fight when these two idiots were fighting each other for him!
At least, it seemed like they had learned their lesson as Todoroki tried to blast off ice instead, but one of the cement blasts struck him right before he could, which resulted in his arm being off as instead of heading towards Gang Orca, the massive wave of ice went crashing into a certain dark-haired Ketsubutsu as he was getting up. “Shindo!” Ms. Joke jumped to her feet, worried sick for her student who was now buried in what must have been 20 tons of ice! Despite that friendly-fire incident, there was no pause or stop to the exam as Todoroki couldn't even get over to try and melt the stuff and try and correct the mistake as the grunts kept him pinned.
“Are they even going to slow down the exam? A student’s life could be in danger!” Shishikura asked, shocked by this.
“Looks like some of the other students are already on it.” Aizawa, his mouth a straight line, hiding just how furious he was, pointed towards where he saw some of the students trying to dig, blast and/or melt their way into the small glacier that Todoroki fired off. "Most likely, they'll just chalk this up to see how they respond to an incident of friendly fire."
“There was nothing friendly about that,” Izuku muttered, her contempt for the two so-called prodigies rising ever higher. “Those two idiots…” It was settled, she wasn’t to talk to either, not unless that talk included her giving them both a punch to the face and a kick in the ass as clearly, they needed more than just a stern talking to. 'And they're supposed to be top contenders for top pros? The only thing they have going for them is their meta-abilities, nothing else.' She’ll be sure to detail these personality flaws in her report to Curious, no doubt she’ll be eager to read it.
Seung wasn’t going to wait till that happened as he shot his feet and bowed as low as he could towards Ms. Joke. “Ms. Joke, I can’t even begin to apologize for the action of my student. If I had even suspected that he would carry himself in such a manner, I would have never green-lit him taking this exam.” This caught the woman off guard as she was angry, yes and also a little scared but she knew he wasn’t his homeroom teacher, merely the chaperone to the boy for the day.
“It is the same for me,” That surprise grew as quick as a flash, Eraser was also up and bowing to her. “Rest assured that Todoroki will not go unpunished for his childish and unprofessional behavior. Not while he’s still in my class.” She didn’t doubt it, but seeing the situation, she could see why the man felt like he had to do this.
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On the field, Todoroki had been so distracted by his screw-up that he didn’t notice Gang Orca closing the distance between them till after he spoke up, his hand reaching for his head to grab him and no doubt blast him point blank. “This has gone on long enough, first-” But this proved to be wrong as he quickly shifted his aim for the still-flying Yoarashi. “I’ll stop the wind!” Before either could react, the wind user was caught in a powerful, wide area ultra-sonic blast, making in scream in pain as it seemed to vibrate through every cell in his body, draining him of his strength.
“Yeah! That’s our boss!” One of the goons cheered for him for landing that surprise attack and taking out one of their heavy hitters.
“No good…I can’t control it…” Yoarashi started falling to earth, his control over his quick diminished to the point where all he could do was slow down his descent and nothing more, no attacks, no moves-nothing. His quirk was nearly as useless as his body was in the moment.
“You reap what you sow,” With that surprise strike done, Gang Orca grabbed onto Todoroki by the neck, blasting him in the face with an ultrasonic blast before he could even think about trying to freeze or burn him, dropping the near-paralyzed bow to the ground, he couldn't help but pity the two. “It’s shameful that you both allowed yourselves to be distracted by whatever petty grudge exists between you, not even Endeavour in all his ego would make such a foolish mistake.”
“Dammit…” Todoroki took a special kind of offence to that comment, more so because as much as he hated it, he was right. With Yoarashi coming down in a rough landing, that meant that the two supposed rear guards were done, which meant they were clear to try and take out the civilians like some proper villains. It was a shame that those who stuck with them to care for them would most likely fall to their assault and by proxy, fail, but they should have picked rearguards that could together.
Firing off his quick to his comrades, he broke the ice that was holding most of them in place, freeing up their numbers to close to what they had when this started, with the excepting being those Yoarashi blew away with his entry.
Regardless….he spared the largest piece of ice left a glance, seeing how there were still a few trying to get that one student out of it. “You three,” He pointed to three of his people before pointing at the rescue efforts. “Go help them get that boy out of the ice, the rest of the exam can continue but let’s not leave someone in dire straits.” He didn’t have the authority to call off the exam unless it was dire, but he could spare some people to aside.
“Does that mean he failed?” One of the people he assigned asked as they jogged up to him, the other two close behind.
“There is no way he could continue even if I reckless enough to allow it, I’ll explain things to the commission after-!” His response was cut short by another series of explosions, as well as what looked to be jets of fire shooting out.
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“That is this, a third villain wave?” Jiro asked, pausing as she helped someone out of the rubble.
“Like we needed more of them!” Shinso muttered loudly.
“Wait,” They, along with the other 9 students present paused to look at the H.U.C. worker who spoke up, the 'old lady' breaking character for a moment with a look of confusion on her face. "There isn't meant to be more explosions."
This caught the students off guard “What?” Jiro asked her.
“We didn’t plan for that, something must have gone wrong.” She explained, her brow creasing as she tried to figure out what it could have been.
“Faulty timers perhaps?” Shinso asked, but another spoke, shaking their head as they did so.
"No, everything was pre-set up and wired so that the commission could trigger them whenever they wished." The H.U.C informed, getting the group's concern to rise as if not then…what was the cause of those blasts?
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“More explosions?” One of Gang Orca's people asked, looking out into the area, some as the rest of them. The sight was so surprising that they ceased their assault.
“Doesn’t one of the students have an explosive quirk, Bakugo right?” One of them asked the top hero, whose gaze never left the fires that the blasts left behind, one of which in the mountain zone was incredibly suspicious as unlike the others, it burned bright blue. No way the commission would use accelerants and fuel sources that could burn that hot.
“Yeah, but why the heck would he use it now?” Another asked, with the man ignoring it in favour to try and figuring this out, he knew of that Bakugo boy, but these blasts didn't line up with what he was told about him. Even if they had, unless he learned how to split himself, he couldn't possibly be the cause of all of them.
‘Something not right, no student in their right mind would use that kind of fire-power for clearing debris and rescue work.’ Turning to both his people and the students, he asked a question. “Is there anyone close to where those blasts went off?”
The students didn’t know what to say for a moment, wondering why he was asking them but his glare silenced any protest or confusion as one of them spoke stating that they didn’t know who was there. “I don’t think so, we’re supposed to target the civilians, not actively fight the heroes.” One of his people relayed to him, though he knew that already.
The confusion didn't last as an alarm siren rang through the air, high pitch and impossibly loud, one would need to be deaf not to hear it. While the students and perhaps even their teachers were caught off guard by this, Gang Orca wasn’t. “What the-?!”
“The alarm?!”
“Okay, what the hell is going on over ther-!” Gang Orca was already on the move, rushing into the city to try and help with this crisis, but was stopped when a portal opened up before him, one he might not have ever seen, but knew of thanks to the reports from the U.S.J and Hosu, his eyes widened as from the portal, villains-real villains poured out, yelling and screaming as the charged them.
“Get the students to safety, there are villains on the grounds, I repeat-villains are on the grounds!” He called out over his earpiece before blasting the incoming group with a wide area ultra-sonic blast. While this stopped them, at least for the moment, he had to turn his attention to another portal opening up, which allowed a lumbering giant of a monster to walk through, the creature was easily 3m in height and built like a brick house.
“Is that a fucking Nomu?!” One of the students cried out in shock as Gang Orca ground his teeth and jumped into action, leaving his side-kicks to handle the human targets while he handled the monster.
“Of course, this would be the League,” He muttered as he fired off a blast right at the Nomu, stunning it but as he expected from a mindless puppet, not stopping it. "Get to it, protect the students and civilians, the exam is over!" It didn’t take long for screams and the sounds of battle to blend along with the emergency alert siren, flooding the air with the chaos of battle as the League made its move and they had chosen a prime target.
This exam had taken a turn for the worst and entered a live fire exercise.
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This chapter was longer than normal, but I couldn't find an easier cut-off point as the last chapter already had the cliffhanger that the League was planning an attack and I won’t insult any of your intellect by acting like you all couldn’t figure out what the target was, so I felt that cutting things off before the attack could at least attack would have been a dick move. And yeah, things…things are bad for the heroes as I wanted to invoke the same air of crisis and desperation that the students had during the summer camp raid, but not during the actual summer camp as Izuku needed to be present.
Like with the raid, while they knew that the League was a threat, they couldn't have possibly planned for them to attack the exam, partly because it's such a big target, you would need to be an idiot to try, but that mindset can be used against you as if think something is protected by such a thing, you'll pull actual protective measures to other projects, and as far as we know, the only pros present was Gang Orca, his nameless, faceless grunts and the teachers, which if each class had 20 people, that means they're a little under 80 pros present. Like with the summer camp raid, a proper plan and the element of surprise will even the odds in the attacker's favour a lot, and with the line-up that Shigaraki prepared in the last chapter, you can bet that he's made sure to stack the board in his favour.
