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The Road to Greatness: One Quirk at a Time - Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2024-01-26 23:29:31 +0000 UTCChapter 4
Once All Might led us back to the observation room, he looked a little lost. With every match taking no more than a few minutes, we'd spent less than an hour on this class and it was meant to take up the second half of the day. If we'd had longer, more interesting, matches then that would have been the case. Sadly, it was not.
Still, I had an idea so I didn't leave All Might stewing for very long. Though, when I spoke I didn't address him, but rather the rest of the class, “Alright guys, clearly this class didn't go like anyone expected. The choice to make everything random instead of balanced made it so that one team almost always had a clearly large advantage over the other.”
There was some grumbling about that, though the smug smirk on Bakugo's face made me want to go over and smack it right off of him. Meanwhile, All Might looked curious and slightly relieved. He clearly had no idea what to do in this situation. The man was an amazing hero with one hell of a record, but he was brand new to teaching. This was literally his first class and, frankly, he wasn't really qualified to be a teacher.
He should have just been an adviser to a proper teacher until he knew what to do to teach properly. Teachers Assistants and interns were a thing for a reason. Just because you got a license that said you could teach, didn't mean you were good at it. I am certain that All Might had ungodly amounts of good advice and anecdotes that could teach us all kinds of things. He just wasn't going about things the proper way.
“With that being the case, I have a suggestion. I'm sure everyone is aware of my Quirk by now?”
Almost everyone nodded but Midoriya and Bakugo looked uncertain and while All Might should be fully aware of it, he also looked curious. So, for them, I explained once more to make sure everyone understood my Quirk and its limitations. Once I was certain they understood fully, I continued, “What I would like to suggest is what Aizawa failed so miserably at on our first day, a proper Quirk Assessment Test. One not based on purely physical exercises that aren't suitable for all Quirks.”
The students looks curious and slightly excited. A few of them hadn't had the chance to use their Quirks at allsince school started. I'm looking at you Toko-bro.
“What I would like to propose is that we all split up and have some one on one spars. All Might-sensei can act as our referee and even offer advice when the matches are over. Since I've already experienced, or at least seen, most of your Quirks in action, I can make matches where the fights will be closer to even and allow you all to get more experience and practice with Quirk combat.”
The majority of the class cheered in excitement. The exceptions being the more reserved individuals and Midoriya. He actually looked a little worried. Not that I blamed him. Lack of control is a bitch. I'd know, there were plenty of Quirks that were 'wild' and hard to use on the first try.
All Might looked a little conflicted as he looked over the class that was more excited by what I suggested than they had through his entire lesson. I decided to throw the big man a bone. I might not think too highly about him, but he did have some things he could teach the students. For instance, “All Might, sir, I'd really appreciate it if you would watch over us during our spars, offer us advice, and, when you have time, help us all come up with workout regimens. Everyone should have a good level of fitness. Sometimes a good old foot chase is the only option to catch a villain.”
All Might actually perked up at that and his smile became less strained and more genuine, “That is a wonderful point Monoma-shounen! I'd be glad to create plans for each of you! As for the spars you're suggesting... I'm not entirely sure it's a good idea.”
I just gave him a blank look, “Well. I figured it was better to do it with you watching. But, if you don't want that, it's fine. We'll just go to one of the training rooms and do it there after class if over.”
All Might looked perturbed, but couldn't actually say anything against what I'd said. The class had been assigned a gym that had a sparring mat that we were encouraged to use. Not only was it not against the rules, it was encouragedfor us to spar against one another. Between that and being freely aloud to use our Quirks, responsibly, while on campus, there was nothing he could do to stop us. The only difference here was us having our costumes.
Finally, with his smile looking strained once more, All Might gave a nod of his head. I knew I was being a bit of a willful jerk, but it was the only way I could think of to really get things done in this school. Aizawa wasted pretty much every opportunity he had to teach anyone anything until the goddamn summer camp! The shit they were working on then were things they should have been working on the entire year!
It honestly put the lie to everything Aizawa proclaimed he stood for and wanted to accomplish.
Now that I had All Mights permission, I turned back to the class and gave them my signature 'model' smile, “Alright! For the first match we'll start off with Aoyama versus Ida, long range versus super speed close range.”
Everyone looked interested in my selected match up, even Aoyama and Ida. With that decided, All Might tried to take over, “An interesting choice! Come, let's head outside. For this I'll allow the use of the streets. Remember, I will be acting as the judge, if I say the match is over, it's OVER! Understood?”
He only led us outside when we all nodded in understanding.
Once outside, he designated the area we could operate the spars in. Going outside of the area was considered a loss. Going down for a five count was also a loss. And of course, giving up was a loss. With the rules defined it was time to get down to business.
Ida and Aoyama moved to opposite ends of the street we were using and got ready. All Might looked between the pair and assessed them while lifting one of his massive arms into the air. Seriously, what did he eat to get that big before he was weakened? His one arm was nearly as big as my entire body! Jeez man.
All Might threw his arms down while bellowing, “BEGIN!”
As soon as the words left his mouth two things happened at once, Aoyama fired his Navel Laser and Ida moved. The speed Ida immediately accelerated to was rather impressive. He juked to the right then took off straight for Aoyama. Aoyama wasn't sitting around doing noting though. He re-aimed his stomach at Ida and fired another blast off forcing Ida to change course.
Since running right at Aoyama hadn't worked, Ida started swerving left and right rapidly while continuing to approach the laser user. Aoyama, unable to keep a bead on Ida, decided to stop standing around and began to move himself. While he was nowhere near as fast as Ida was, he was still pretty quick on his feet despite his weird costume choice of knightly armor.
It looks like it wont be enough though. Ida was closing in pretty quickly and with Aoyama no longer firing at him, had straightened his path out and was accelerating rapidly. It looked like he was going to get to Aoyama before the blond did something unexpected. With a yell, Aoyama jumped into the air spread eagle with his stomach aimed at the ground. There was a grimace on his face as he fired off his laser.
The whole class gasped and watched, thrilled, as Aoyama launched himself a good fifteen feet in the air moments before Ida could reach him. Ida looked up, in what I can only assume is the same shock the rest of us feel, and was forced to throw himself violently out of the way as Aoyama let off another laser aimed directly down at him.
The second shot propelled Aoyama higher into the air and further out of Ida's reach. Ida, clearly uncertain about what he should do to counter, was forced to run away while dodging lasers being fired at him from the air.
Aoyama, meanwhile, was starting to look rather sick. It probably didn't help that each shot fired propelled him in the opposite direction of where he aimed. He was bouncing himself around in the air on top of the drawback from his Quirk. Meanwhile, all Ida could do was run around dodging the rain of fire from the sky.
Sadly, it didn't last much longer. Aoyama's endurance for his Quirk usage ran out before he could land a strong hit on Ida. Looking decidedly green, Aoyama dropped from the air, smartly using his cape as a makeshift parachute. As soon as he landed, Ida was charging at him. However, before Ida could land a blow, Aoyama fell to his knees but still tried to aim his stomach in Ida's direction. Sadly, he didn't manage to get a shot off before Ida's foot crashed into his armored chest and sent him rolling down the road.
Ida paused after that, leaving Aoyama laying on the ground. A few seconds passed before All Might called out, “Ida-shounen wins!”
I joined All Might in walking over to check on Aoyama. I didn't have a healing Quirk to use on him, but I could easily move him without disturbing his body, if necessary. You know, I really should get around to talking to Recovery Girl about getting a lock of her hair. While her healing Quirk isn't the greatest in the world, it's still world class.
Fortunately, Aoyama wasn't really hurt. Instead, he was suffering from his Quirks drawback and looked distinctly sick, his face even an unhealthy shade of green. All he needed was a helping hand to return to the class while he recovered.
Once we arrived, All Might took the lead once more, “That was very well done, both of you! Ida-shounen, your speed and maneuverability was quite impressive! Aoyama-shounen, you used your Quirk in a very impressive manner! If not for it making you feel sick you very well could have won! Very well done, the both of you!”
The rest of the class looked much more excited after the opening match up. All Might himself was even grinning broadly at the display the two students had put on. Even I was highly impressed with Aoyama had managed to pull off. With some work it could be a very impressive skill. A supermove even.
When they were close, I addressed the pair myself, “That was awesome you two! Ida, You're pretty quick on your feet but maybe you should look into something to help you gain some verticality. I'm not sure what form that might take but I'm sure the Support Department could help you with that.”
Ida pulled off his helmet and I could see he was contemplating what I said, “I shall take that into consideration. It was indeed rather difficult to deal with Aoyama-san while he was midair.”
I nodded and then turned to the, somewhat, recovered Aoyama, “Aoyama-san! That was mighty impressive! For you, I would also suggest heading to the support department and looking into some support gear. In your case, perhaps something like a battery you can store the energy for your laser in. On top of that, I'd also suggest looking for a way to redirect the laser energy away from your navel to other spots on your body, such as to your gauntlets for greater accuracy? If it can be redirected, look into lenses with different kinds of focuses so you can fire off different shapes, possibly.”
If anything, my statements made Aoyama look a little cocky. Even while still a little green looking he posed by lifting his cape and tilting his face up into the air and I swear I could see sparkles around him, “Ah but monseuir! My sparklesuit can already do such a thing! Behold!”
He waved his hands and gestured to the round spots on his shoulders and knees, “I can already redirect my sparkle beam!”
I blinked in surprise. Well damn, I didn't know that. I just thought those things were decorative. I have no memory of Aoyama ever firing anything out of them. So, I smiled, “Excellent! Never mind that then, but you should still look into storing the energy so you can store small amounts for future use letting you pull off bigger attacks with less or even nor drawback.”
Aoyama, if possible, sparkled even more and nodded enthusiastically, “I shall do so!”
With that done, the majority of the class looked to me for my decision of the next match. I looked among them and decided, “Sato versus Shoji!”
The two larger students looked at each other and while I couldn't see half of Shoji's face, given the expression in his eyes I assumed he was smiling the same as Sato. While I knew Shoji had a lot of skill in scouting by transforming the tips of his tentacles into various sensory organs, such as eyes and ears, he was also able to use them to enhance his physical strength.
I watched the two square off, not as much distance between them as there had been between Ida and Aoyama. All Might looked between the pair, “Begin!”
The fight between Sato and Shoji wasn't quite as thrilling as the one between Aoyama and Ida had been, but it was still awesome. Sato's Quirk was a simple super strength Quirk called Sugar Rush. By ingesting a certain amount of sugar, his strength was multiplied several times for a short duration of a few minutes. It gave him more strength than my own super strength quirk gave me, but the drawback to his quirk was both the time limit and the fact that as it wore off, he got dumb and sleepy.
Shoji's Quirk didn't have a real drawback, like most Mutant type Quirks didn't. At least the ones not based on a specific animals biology. While his might have something to do with a squid or octopus, it wasn't quite the same and had a lot of differences from those animals. As a counter, Asui Tsuyu's Frog Quirk made it so she had trouble dealing with cold weather and would get sleepy and head for hibernation.
The battle between the two was an exchange of blows, a knock down drag out fight for dominance. Sato, using his Quirk, was stronger than Shoji, but the longer the fight lasted, the less coordinated his attacks became. Eventually the side effect of his Quirk rendered him rather dumb and he lost when Shoji managed to pin him down.
Up next I chose Hagakure versus Midoriya. In a fight both of them were, currently, essentially Quirkless. They both had their advantages though. Hagakure had her invisibility so she could potentially take Midoriya out with a stealth attack. Midoriya, meanwhile, was physically stronger than Hagakure and could out-muscle her without resorting to blowing himself up with One For All.
The whole class watched as Hagakure immediately stripped off her shoes and gloves making herself complete invisible. Poor girl running around completely naked. Though, I was willing to bet that with a Quirk like hers, she was probably a bit of an exhibitionist since she could get away with it all the time. No idea if she really was or not.
The 'fight' wasn't much of one. None of us could see where Hagakure was or what she did exactly but one moment Midoriya was looking around, staying vigilant for any sign of her. Then the next his legs flew into the air and he crashed painfully on his face. He tried to get up but we all saw him slammed back to the ground by an invisible weight.
It got kind of funny when his arms were pulled back and he was held in a submission hold by the invisible girl. His arms were just in the air, seemingly held by nothing, and he struggled against an invisible force like the worlds greatest mime. I had to fight not to laugh at the scene. A quick glance at All Might showed that he wasn't impressed with his successor's showing. After he stared at the scene for just a bit too long without calling it, I spoke up, “All Might, he's been pinned for nearly ten seconds. Why haven't you called it?”
All Might glanced at me and grimaced. Yeah, I caught him showing a bit of favoritism. All Might looked back to the match and called out, “Winner Hagakure-shoujo!”
When Midoriya came back to the group, he had his head hung low and refused to look at anyone, especially All Might. Even Uraraka trying to talk to him couldn't get him to open up or look up from his feet.
For the next match, I looked over the class and tried to decide who would face who. I already knew I'd be taking on Todoroki myself last. I'd love to smack the shit out of Bakugo, but I didn't think anyone else could handle Todoroki like I could. I suppose Bakugo could fight him as well, but that would leave to tons of collateral damage and I was certain things would get out of hand.
Hmmmm, Ah, I know, “Bakugo versus Kirishima.”
Bakugo loudly clicked his tongue and sent a glare at Midoriya. It was clear who he really had hoped to fight. Though I could see a slight look of disappointment on Bakugo's face. Probably due to how Midoriya went down like a chump in the previous fight. I was honestly surprised he hadn't outright laughed in Midoriya's face and called him names. I guess he wanted to crush him in person after seeing his Quirk in the assessment test the day before.
Kirishima, on the other hand, looked excited and gave me a thumbs up, “Awesome!” He then turned to Bakugo and held his hand out, “Let's do our best!”
Bakugo just scoffed and turned to walk away taking his place a little down the street. Kirishima frowned a little while muttering, “So not manly.” and making his way to his own starting position.
Once they were in place and ready, All Might performed his duty, “Begin!”
Bakugo swung his arms behind himself and detonated his Quirk causing a pair of explosions to propel him toward Kirishima faster than running would have. He used several detonations to push himself to a higher speed closing the distance between them quickly.
Kirishima, knowing he wasn't nearly that fast, flexed his whole body and activated the first stage of his Quirk. While he could use the second stage, he'd only learned it yesterday so it was something he still needed a lot of practice with.
When Bakugo got in range, he threw a wide right hook directly at Kirishima's face and detonated a large explosion while screaming, “DIIIIE!”
The majority of the class gasped in shock not only at the merciless and violent attack but at the rage they could hear in Bakugo's voice when he screamed that one word. Even All Might was frowning a bit, which really caught my attention. Huh. I guess when he's not spoiling Midoriya, or trying to 'help' Midoriya, he actually pays attention to the psychopath in the class and notices the psychopathic behavior?
After the detonation, with the smoke still covering Kirishima, Bakugo scoffed, “Useless extra!”
Before he could say anything else derogitory, a jagged stone-like fist shot out of the smoke cloud and slammed hard into his left shoulder with enough force to spin him around. I'm sure he would deny it to his dying day, but I swear he yelped in surprise and pain when the fist hit him.
Bakugo quickly jumped away to gain some distance and looked at the smoke with some caution as it slowly cleared to reveal Kirishima. He was slightly blackened with soot, but otherwise completely unharmed. He had a wide grin on his face showing off his pearly white shark-like teeth, “Not bad, but nowhere near good enough!”
Kirishima charged quickly closing the short distance between himself and Bakugo in a moment. Bakugo didn't sit still and swung his right arm again and detonated another, even larger, explosion point blank at Kirishima. It did nothing to stop Kirishima as he charged right through the explosion and landed a cross right across Bakugo's cheek.
He didn't let up and followed up with a solid blow to Bakugo's solar plexus with his other hand blowing the air clear out of Bakugo's lungs. Despite that, Bakugo really was a tough bastard and countered by setting off an even larger explosion to smokescreen Kirishima and propel himself out of melee range.
Bakugo landed a dozen feet away, gasping for breath, and rubbing his left shoulder. It was pretty clear to everyone that he wasn't looking down on Kirishima quite so much anymore. Kirishima, meanwhile, walked out of the cloud of smoke, still perfectly fine and only covered in more soot. His grin hadn't changed as he focused on Bakugo. He didn't say anything, instead focusing all of his energy at charging toward Bakugo.
Seeing Kirishime charging him, Bakugo held both of his arms out, wrists together and palms facing the charging teen. There were several small sparks and pops before he detonated an absolutely massive explosion directly at Kirishima.
Okay, I could admit this much, Bakugo's Quirk was seriously powerful. Dangerous as hell and capable of way too much collateral damage for my tastes, but still damned powerful. For the first time, the explosion seemed to have an effect on Kirishima. The blast actually halting him in his charge. Seeing that, Bakugo got cocky one more and smirked at Kirishima as he set off another massive explosion just like the first.
Things went different from how Bakugo expected though. This time Kirishima wasn't charging him and had time to plant his feet and brace properly. The second explosion just washed over him letting him quickly shift back to charging Bakugo.
With his explosions failing to work, Bakugo was forced to retreat once again. Getting into melee range of Kirishima was a terrible idea. Not only could Kirishima dish it out, but he could take anything Bakugo could throw at him without issue. Meaning, melee was defeat for Bakugo. All he could do was keep retreating and setting off explosions.
We all watched this going on with rapt attention. Bakugo was cursing up a storm and had devolved to talking down to Kirishima, calling him a pebble, a worthless extra, that he didn't know his place, and threw in some swearing while he was at it. If anyone thought Bakugo might be decent in some manner, they were swiftly proven wrong. Between his words and the look of absolute hatred and rage on his face aimed at Kirishima... Well, I can't say anyone could ever imagine Bakugo being a hero.
A quick glance at All Might showed that he wasn't too thrilled with what he was seeing and hearing. That concern turned into mild alarm at what Bakugo did next. He'd gained some distance from Kirishima and aimed one of his large grenade shaped gauntlets at him while grasping the pin and grinned viciously, “Block this you fucking extra!”
“BAKUGO-SHOUNEN DON'T!”
Bakugo plainly ignored All Might's shout and ripped the pin out of the gauntlet. There was a brief moment of silence before a deafening sound preceded a massive explosion of fire and smoke that flashed through the entire area. I didn't have time to focus on what was happening anymore as I threw up my hands and focused on using every ounce of strength I could to construct a telekinetic wall between the class and the fallout from the blast.
While we were on the sidelines, and not directly in the line of fire, the explosion was so massive and powerful it ripped up the road and sent shrapnel in every direction. I fell to one knee and a massive headache instantly assaulted me as I was forced to push my telekinesis quirk beyond its normal limit. Block both large and small chunks of concrete was no simple task, especially over an area wide enough to protect the entire class.
My head hurt so bad I couldn't focus on anything else so I didn't see what happened next. I was more focused on trying to avoid vomiting, passing out, or both. By the time I could focus on anything again, I found myself behind held up by Sero and Ojiro while Momo was using a damp white cloth to wipe at my face, which was coming away bloody. Great, a nose bleed from over using the Quirk as well.
When Momo noticed I could focus again, her concerned look lightened a little as she asked in a rather worried tone, “Neito-san, are you alright?”
I looked around to see I was surrounded by most of the class, including a scuffed up and bruised looking Kirishima, all sporting looks of concern. My eyes wandered back to Momo as I replied, for the entire class to hear, “I'll be alright. I just pushed the Minor Telekinesis Quirk I have beyond its limits and paid the price. I'll be alright in a little while.”
So saying, with the danger over, I switched to a Quirk I loved to abuse that gave me a minor regenerative healing factor. It made working out a breeze and was awesome for purging lactic acids from my muscles so I could push myself further. It was nowhere near strong enough to regrow limbs or anything like that. But, it would heal cuts and bruises nice and quick while greatly reducing the recovery time of more serious injuries.
I was doing alright, and with some help from the two guys still supporting me, I got to my feet and looked around to see the situation. The street was absolutely devastated. Bakugo's explosion had ripped it to shreds and sent debris everywhere. Though there was a clear line where I'd made the telekinetic wall to stop the debris from reaching the class. Near the end point of the explosion I could see a pair of lines gouged into the ground.
Seeing where I was looking, Kirishima spoke up a bit sheepishly, “When I realized he was doing something big, I tried to go Invincible. I got about half way there before the explosion hit me and sent me flying.”
He gestured beyond the tracks and pointed to a building that was sporting a brand new, and rather large, hole in it, “I landed there in a heap.” He had a rueful look and chuckled, “So un-manly.”
I finally was oriented to where I could see Bakugo and a clearly unhappy All Might. Bakugo was staring at the ground and looked a mixture of furious and ashamed. All Might turned to look at me and the look of concern didn't change. He made his way over to us and came to a stop in front of me.
Man, I didn't realize how much taller than me he really was. When he spoke, I could hear the concern in his voice, “Monoma-shounen, are you alright?”
I nodded and gave a strained smile, “I'll be alright in a little bit. I just had to push one of the Quirks I have past its limits and encountered its side effects.”
“I believe we should stop here...”
I cut him off with a scoff. What the hell? In canon he'd let things continue after Bakugo tried to murder Midoriya and blew up half a building. Now he wanted to stop when Bakugo hit a tank like Kirishima with something that only bruised him and just destroyed part of a street and a single wall? Not happening. At least in this case, I couldn't consider what Bakugo did as attempted murder. It was clear as day that Kirishima could take powerful explosions head on. He was nowhere near as squishy at Midoriya currently was.
“We'll keep going. Not everyone has had a chance yet. In fact, Ashido, Uraraka, you two are up next.”
At first glance it might seem unfair since Ashido had range with her Quirk and Uraraka didn't. My counter to that? Uraraka just needed a single touch to win and she needed to learn how to move into melee to perform such a feat. I know she wants to be a rescue hero, but even rescue heroes have to fight sometimes. Besides, there was plenty of rubble on the ground for her to use with her Quirk now.
The two girls looked at each other and smiled. Uraraka was clearly a little more nervous than Ashido, but she didn't back down and headed into the street for their spar. Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch much of it as Momo was back in front of me and using a new wet cloth to wipe some more blood from off of my face.
I couldn't help smiling a little at the serious look on her face as she took care of me like that. It wasn't until the blood was completely gone that she realized how close she'd gotten her face to mine. I stared into her dark eyes while she stared into my own blue. It wasn't until an invisible femanine giggle sounded out that Momo realized what we were doing. She immediately turned bright red and spun away from me while covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.
I shifted my gave in the direction of the invisible Hagakure and silently promised a prank on her when the time was right.
Momo moved away to join the majority of the girls where they began to talk and giggle among themselves. I glanced around and caught both Kirishima and Kaminari sending me knowing looks. I just stared back with a deadpan look on my face. I wasn't embarrassed. Momo was the hottest girl in class with the absolutely best personality. At least in my opinion.
Shortly after that the spar between Ashido and Uraraka ended with a surprise win by Uraraka. Ashido had gotten cocky and gotten too close allowing Uraraka to get one good slap in that sent Ashido into the air. He had to be rescued by All Might before Uraraka could release her Quirk from Ashido.
I looked around the group and called out, “Tsu-chan versus Sero!”
Two mid range people with versatile Quirks. That should let them both show off rather well.
I wasn't wrong. Asui's Quirk was more versatile than Sero's giving her multiple abilities she could use. That didn't mean Sero lacked versatility though. His tape let him act like a knock-off spiderman allowing him to shoot it a decent distance and then reel it in to pull himself closer. He used it that way to pull himself closer to Asui. It looked like his plan was to try and tie or tangle her up.
It didn't quite work out as he seemed to underestimate just how strong Asui's legs were. A good kick to his stomach had Sero down and struggling to breathe long enough for All Might to call and end to the spar.
I had Koda and Jiro go next and... it was a slaughter. Poor Koda was so shy he couldn't even whisper to use his Quirk and ended up defeated rather quickly. I didn't hold it against the guy. His Quirk really was at a huge disadvantage in this particular area anyway. There weren't many animals in the fake city so the only thing he could potentially have commanded would have been bugs... which he was still terrified of. Put him out near the wood or forest though? Oh man he could call on a lot of aid there.
I looked at the students who hadn't gone yet. Ojiro, Kaminari, Tokoyami, Todoroki, Momo, and myself of course. Momo was at a disadvantage against everyone in the class as he Quirk took time and preparation to use. Still, I knew who to put her up against, “Yaoyorozu versus Ojiro.”
Ojiro's Quirk wasn't flashy or super impressive on its own. How he used it was though. He'd clearly spent a long time learning martial arts and incorporating his tail into them. On top of that the tail was prehensile and very strong, almost like a whole third arm. Hell, it even looked kind of like it had a fist at the end when he flexed it!
Alternatively, Momo also trained in martial arts, though she focused on using a staff. Between that and her ability to make items at need, I think she stood a chance against him. At least far more of a chance than she did against anyone else but Kaminari. She probably stood more of a chance against Kaminari than she did Ojiro, but I had plans for him.
I watched the match and it was pretty fast paced. As soon as it began, Ojiro charged Momo to get into melee range. Seeing him coming so quickly, Momo defaulted onto an item she knew well, her bo staff. We all got to watch a rather wonderful display of martial arts from both students. Ojiro was using a mix of martial arts, much like I did, though Karate seemed to be the foundation he stood on. Meanwhile, Momo was showing just how impressive she was with a bo staff in hand as she used her bukijutsu to ward off Ojiro's attacks.
In the middle of one of their clashes, Mom surprised everyone when her stomach began to glow and a shower of caltrops began falling from within the glow. Ojiro, surprised by the event, failed to stop in time and ended up stepping on one of the caltrops. The sharp piece of metal easily pierced through the soft material of his shoes and into his foot. The misstep cost him as the distraction and sudden pain kept him from reacting in time to stop a solid hit from Momo to his sternum.
Ojiro fell to the ground grasping for breath. He quickly moved to a sitting position, powering through the pain, to pull the caltrop out of his foot. However, doing so cost him. In the time it took him to temove the caltop, Momo had created a huge net gun. He looked up in shock at the sound of it firing and found himself soundly wrapped up in a metal net.
As he struggled to push the net off, Momo ran around her caltops while making another tool in her hand. She came to stop next to Ojiro and aimed a taser directly at him. Ojiro stopped struggling at the sight of the weapon and sighed, “Looks like I lose.”
“Yaotorozu-shoujo wins!”
Momo breathed a sigh of relief and tucked the taser away. She bent over and gripped her knees to catch her breath while All Might walked over and easily removed the heavy net off of Ojiro, “Well done, the pair of you. I've requested some medical bots to take you to Recovery Girl Ojiro-shounen.”
True to his word, a pair of robots carrying a stretcher between them showed up a moment later. Ojiro wasn't badly hurt, but he couldn't walk on his bleeding foot or risk letting it heal on its own. He could have easily gotten an infection that way. Recovery girl would clean it up and heal him quickly. He might even be back by the time I was sparring Todoroki.
While Ojiro was being helped onto the stretcher, I walked over to Momo, “Congratulations on your win.”
Momo looked at me with a bright smile on her face, “Thank you! That was my first fight and I wasn't sure how well I would do.”
“You did very well considering your Quirk doesn't lend you any direct combat power. I still think you would excel more in situations where you have time to prepare. Though you should consider an item or two that you always have at the ready for sudden situations where you don't have time to make something.”
I looked around quickly before leaning in to whisper, “I also have an idea for your costume that should give you a bit more modesty while still having a lot of skin free for your Quirk and space for at least a little armor to protect yourself with.”
Momo looked very surprised at that, “Really?”
I nod, “Really. We can talk about it later, if you want?”
She nodded her head rapidly, “I would like that very much.” Her cheeks reddened a little, “It's kind of embarrassing having to expose so much of my skin to use my Quirk.”
I nod in complete understanding. I have a few Quirks at home that require skin exposure to work properly. One example is a Quirk that gives me the ability to survive on sunlight alone. Kind of like photosynthesis but not. It gives me the ability to breath as well as no need to eat of drink... as long as at least eighty percent of my skin is exposed to sunlight for at least six hours a day.
It would be amazing for use in the desert, since it also protected my skin from sun damage, but was otherwise less than practical.
Once Ojiro was taken away, All Might turned to me so I announced the next match, “Kaminari versus Tokoyami.”
The two selected looked at each other before making their way into the street. With their names called only Todoroki and myself were left. Todoroki eyed me with his blank look for a moment before looking away. I have no doubt he expected to be able to easily defeat me. He'd be in for a surprise.
The spar between Tokoyami and Kaminari started and the class gasped in surprise as a giant bird-like beast made of shadows burst out of Tokoyami's stomach screaming, “Finally I get to fight!”
The birds yellow eyes focused on the surprised looking Kaminari. It's beak curled into a somewhat cruel smile when Tokoyami ordered, “Dark Shadow!”
The shadow bird charged forward stretching from Tokoyami's stomach to cover the distance between itself and Kaminari near instantly. Kaminari panicked at the sight of the charging bird monster and threw his arms up in the air while charging them with bright yellow lightning, “Indiscriminate shock, one point three million volts!”
If he hadn't been panicked, Kaminari might have noticed Dark Shadow flinch at the brightness of the lightning. He didn't though and released the attack moments before Dark Shadow could smash him with it's wing-like clawed hand.
It happened in an instant. Kaminari's lightning flowed across the ground missing Dark Shadow but hitting Tokoyami. At the same time, Dark Shadow finished its swipe and slammed its wing into Kaminari.
Tokoyami screamed in pain as the lightning coursed across his body. That much voltage would be very painful, but as long as the amperage was low it wouldn't be deadly. Meanwhile, the blow from Dark Shadow sent Kaminari rolling across the ground for a good distance. There were a few moments of silence before Tokoyami stopped violently shaking from the voltage and only had a few twitches and Kaminari stood back up.
Kaminari was the first to voice anything, “Weeeeeeeeey”
The whole class blinked in surprise as Kaminari showed off the side effect of his Quirk. He'd used too much voltage and was rendered... stupid. The whole class stood in silent shock as Kaminari randomly wandered around giving a thumbs up and making that weird noise constantly. Even Dark Shadow looked a little confused when it turned to Tokoyami for directions. Tokoyami just shrugged his shoulders and muttered, “Grab him?”
Dark Shadow shrugged as well and did just that. After a five count, All Might announced Tokoyami's win. With that done, All might turned to me and I grinned while I announced the last match, “Todoroki versus myself.”
All Might nodded and we made our way out to the destroyed street. The majority of the damage was done by Bakugo, but others had added bits here and there. Though Momo's caltrops had been removed so no one would step on them again.
I stood across from Todoroki with a smile on my face. Todoroki still had his bland somewhat-bored look as he stared across the space between us. All Might looked back and forth assessing us while raising his hand into the air, “Ready?”
At our nods, he threw his arm down, “Begin!”
Todoroki moved instantly, his leg just barely shifting his stance as he fired off the ice half of his Quirk. In response, I activated my newest Quirk, Chrono Shift. The world around me froze and I could clearly see the trail of ice that was making its way toward where I was standing.
I didn't want to waste the few precious seconds I had so I immediately moved into a sprint and ran across the distance between us. I stepped around and behind Todoroki just as the Chrono Shift effect ended and time resumed. I watched, impressed, as a giant glacier appeared where I'd been standing just a moment ago. If I hadn't moved, I'd be surrounded by ice right about now. Not that I couldn't get out, but it would be damned cold and annoying.
Todoroki let out a foggy breath as he observed his work. I grinned as I gently placed a hand on his shoulder and stuck my index finger out, “Did you get him?”
Todoroki's head instantly snapped to the side at the sound of my voice causing him to poke himself in the cheek with my fingertip. His eyes widened in surprise as he saw me standing behind him nonchalant and looking directly at the glacier that should have trapped me.
To his credit, he didn't stay surprised for very long. His whole body shifted as he went to use his Quirk once more to try and freeze me. Despite putting on an outwardly calm, even lazy, appearance, I'd been waiting for exactly that moment and activated Chrono Shift once again. I used the time to quickly move back to in front of Todoroki a short distance away.
When time resumed a moment later, Todoroki finished his attack causing a second massive glacier to spawn from nothing behind him. I could hear the exclamations of shock and surprise from the entire class as seeing what the heterochromic boy was capable of. Hell, even I was impressed and it takes a fair bit to impress me. Seeing it in an anime was one thing, seeing a hundred foot glacier in real life was something completely different.
I let out a loud whistle to not just show that I was impressed, but to get Todoroki's attention, “MAN! You really wanna freeze me huh?”
Todoroki spun around in surprise once more, his eyes narrowing a moment later. Watched as his usually blank face took on a slightly annoyed countenance. He still didn't say anything and fired off yet another wave of ice.
This time I didn't move, instead I used his own Quirk against him. My left side became a completely covered in flames as I launched my own counter offensive. Ice and fire met in a powerful clash that caused a somewhat large explosion of steam. I switched to Telekinesis and blew all of the steam out of the area to see the shocked look on Todoroki's face. I watched, a little smug, as the shock quickly morphed to rage, “How do you have hisQuirk!?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and let little wisps of fire dance on the left side of my body, “I don't know who he is, but if you mean the fire.” Here I grinned and there was definitely more than a trace of smug in my smile, “I copied it from you. Naughty naughty trying to fight me with just half of your Quirk.”
Todoroki scowled and I could see real hatred in his eyes. Not that I blamed him, not at all. His father was an abusive piece of shit that belonged in jail. Then there was the trauma of his mother burning his face. So, unlike some others, I gave Todoroki some credit instead of my dislike or hatred. Considering the life he lead, it's a miracle he didn't turn out like his older brother.
Todoroki's face shifted into a scowl as he proclaimed, “I don't need his Quirk. I'll get by with just my mothers! I'll prove that's all I need to be number one.”
I instantly shifted into a more serious look, “Oh? Are you looking down on all the others in class? On all the heroes in Japan? You're going to beat all of us while only using half of your potential? Do you believe yourself to be so far above the rest of us? Well...”
My demeanor shifted as I suddenly became deadly serious, “Good fucking luck little boy. A child throwing a tantrum and refusing to use half of his Quirk due to daddy issues will never get very far.”
Yup, that did it. I had to use Chrono Shift again to dodge a huge wave of ice coming for me. I could use his Quirk and had plenty of experience with pyrokinesis thanks to a Quirk I have. However, sublimation was dangerous and causing water, in the form of ice, to go directly to steam can cause some serious damage. The first time I did it the ice coming at me was nowhere near as much as this time. Unlike Bakugo, I'm not willing to put the spectators in danger.
I moved right next to Todoroki and threw a right hook just as I ended Chrono Shift. To his point of view, I disappeared from one spot and appeared right in front of him. His eyes barely had time to register what he was seeing before my fist slammed into his cheek.
Todoroki was easily knocked to the side, though he caught himself on some ice he conjured and looked at me with real hate in his eyes. I could see frost forming on his right side and his every breath fogged the air. He was closing in on the limit of his ice because he wasn't balancing it with his fire. I stared into his eyes, my face still set in a serious countenance, “Take it from an expert. You only have a single Quirk. Rather than ice and fire, your Quirk is more akin to extreme temperature control.”
I switched to his Quirk and held up both of my hands, palms facing up, as I conjured both halves of his Quirk, “In fact, with the proper control you can even summon room temperature water.”
As I spoke, I used both halves of the Quirk on each other and water began to pour off of my hands and onto the ground quickly flooding the area. I was merely using the heat to melt the ice. Not exactly hard when you could control both elements. Where was the water coming from? The same place it came from to make the ice Todoroki threw around. The water came from his Quirk, it had to. There was no way in hell he was pulling the water from the air, and using his Quirk proved that to me.
Todoroki, and the rest of the class, stared in wonder as I continued to conjure cool water from thin air using a Quirk that was supposedly just ice and fire. I continued to stare at Todoroki as he looked at the flowing water in shock, “If I can do this with your Quirk after having it for only a minute or so, what could you be accomplishing with it if you practiced with it and used it to its full potential every single day?”
I leaned closer and whispered this part just for him, “I don't know what you have against Endeavor, but fuck him. It's your Quirk, not his. If you think there's a world where you could ever beat me only using half of your Quirk, you're delusional. There's no such world where you can become anyone of note only using half of your strength. Stop crippling yourself and fight me seriously or I'm going to keep treating you like a child.”
I stopped conjuring water and activated Chrono Shift once more to return close to where I started. Wen time resumed, I used Todoroki's Quirk to melt the massive ice burg he first summoned while he seemed frozen and stuck on what I'd said.
When I was finished, I turned to face Todoroki and called out, “So, little boy, you going to grow up and fight serious, or am I going to treat you like a child and spank you?”
Todoroki turned to face me, once more looking impassive, but I got my answer without him using words. Flames roared to life on his left side, quickly clearing away the frost and returning him to a balanced state. He stared at me before calmly saying, “Be careful, I don't have much control over my fire.”
A manic grin spread across my face as I switched to yet another Quirk, “BRING IT!”
Todoroki's left arm shot into the air launching a massive wave of fire directly at me. It wasn't as fast as his ice, but it was damned powerful. I raised my own hand and caught his flames in an invisible grip as they came at me. The pyrokinesis Quirk I had. It was considered a rather weak one due to the fact that it couldn't produce its own flames. Rather, it required a source of flames that it could take control of in order to function. I carried a lighter in my uniform for it, but without the lighter or an open source of flames, it couldn't do anything.
Todoroki definitely provided enough flames though! I corralled the massive wave of flames together into a small ball that looked like a radiant sun and put out an ungodly amount of heat. I smirked at the gobsmacked looking Todoroki's face and took a moment to look at the rest of the class. It was no surprise to see all the shocked looks they had. Todoroki and I were definitely putting on the greatest show thus far.
I quickly focused back on Todoroki while 'casually' tossing the small sun made of his fire high into the air, far enough away to keep everyone safe. When it detonated it was like there was a second sun in the sky for a few moments followed by a powerful heat wave that washed over everyone.
Todoroki tore his eyes away from where the fire had detonated and looked at me in complete shock. While he practically gaped at me, I gave him a sweet smile and closed my hand into a fist. Todoroki's arms and legs snapped together as if he was being squeezed in a massive fist. I casually laid him down on the ground and looked at the surprised mug of All Might. Todoroki struggled a little to try to release himself, conjuring fire and ice, but nothing he did could break the hold I had on him.
Finally, All Might called out, “Monoma-shounen wins!”
At his declaration, Todoroki slumped and sent me a heated glare, “You could have beaten me at any time, couldn't you?”
“Easily.”
-----Line Break-----
AN
So, this one took a while to write because I had half a chapter written before I realized that I hated the chapter and didn't like the direction it was going. So, I started over and I am MUCH happier with how this one turned out.
As for the last chapter, I guess not many of you liked it? It didn't get much of a response. I hope this chapter goes over better and you all enjoyed it!
Also, as promised, while he might not be the nicest person, Neito is helping his classmates in his own way to be better. With a few exceptions. I'll continue on this trajectory though the next chapter will likely lead into and maybe cover the whole USJ event.
Side note, this chapter clocks in at 8.6k words.
Comments
Cody S.
She gets all my love too. Lucky bastard of a character.
Cody S.
Well, I didn't run it like canon, so I thought it might get more and it didn't take up the whole chapter. Still, thanks for reading!
BookDragonling
Can't wait to see how they all advance their Quirks and Momo gets all my love.
BookDragonling
The last chapter was the obligatory 'hero vs villains' mock battles. For me, it's something I tend to skip/skim. This was much more interesting and very cool.
