932Hey everyone, I know it's been a long time since I've posted a real chapter, I'm gonna admit it, I lost motivation for a bit, and I was busy with underways and other things.
I've got so many plans too but it's sometimes hard to just…write.
Actually, you know what, Imma be completely honest.
I got burnt out with Legion, it's why you'll probably have seen me still writing other stories but not updating Legion in a while, I simply got burnt out.
I'll have small moments of inspiration, but then it cuts off.
However, I still intend to go through with this story to the end, no matter how long it takes.
WARNING: This chapter includes themes such as PTSD, blood and death, if you are uncomfortable reading this, please understand that I wrote this to add more depth and severity to the World of Heroics and feel that they are integral parts to the development of Legion and its characters.
Read at your own risk.
Izuku looked into the mirror.
He was currently taking a break at the agency that he'd been assigned with today, and was staring at himself.
All the scars he accumulated, both physical and mental.
He raised his hand, his palm touching his counterpart's.
'What's going on with me?'
Nana had no answers. Whatever had happened had caused the connection in the Mindscape to be cut off.
In other words, they'd both been blind and deaf while he was a puppet.
Yet…whatever had happened, had been for the better .
The villains had been defeated and arrested, there were no casualties, only some minor injuries overall and he'd left the fight without damaging his body from his own power.
He could still feel it though. The sheer intoxicating feeling of pure power flowing through him.
Power to do anything.
Power to win any fight.
Power to r̴̢̟̼̾̕͝u̵̘͙̱͌͆l̷͈̋ę̸̤͚̙̏ -
Izuku winces at the sudden headache, though it's different from those from Danger Sense.
He loses his train of thought and blinks away the sudden fogginess in his eyes.
He raises his hand to soothe his temple and blearily looks at his reflection.
'That's odd…I swear that my eyes are usually greener than that.'
He blinks again, shaking his head as the ache goes away.
Looking again, he finds his eyes are back to his normal shade of green.
"Huh…must've been a trick of the light."
Izuku recaptures his train of thought.
He should mention this to Recovery Girl…mention how he was a passenger in his own body but.
'Should you?' He hears in the back of his mind, his own voice…different from a clone, he can tell…
His own thoughts?
'Dammit, I feel like I'm going insane…'
But it raised a good point, should he tell her? After all " it all worked out in the end" and he'd been " stronger" .
He'd left the fight without injuries from his own power.
Maybe…maybe this was "something good" ?
Maybe he was increasing his limit even more…finally overcoming the recent plateau ever since Camino…getting stronger again.
'I…I should still tell Recovery Girl…'
"Why not be sure? Try and figure out what's happening first…if it gets worse, then you can tell her…just to be safe…"
'Yeah…yeah…I can do that…' Izuku assures himself.
"I can do that…"
The back of his mind twitches and Izuku's eyes flash yellow.
Shota was actually worried for Emi.
She'd been absolutely apoplectic when the announcement came, furious that her school had been bamboozled again and was facing a situation that was beyond what was originally intended.
It'd gotten to the point where he'd grabbed her hand and held her tightly.
"...I'm sorry…it's just that…I lost friends at Camino and-"
"You don't have to explain yourself, Emi." Shota whispered as he held her tight.
"I almost lost my students…my kids…they didn't have anything to protect themselves…if it wasn't for the clones…" Emi whispered.
Shota swallowed thickly.
"Yeah…almost lost some of my kids too, the stupid brats went out illegally to save Midoriya," he grunted, still annoyed at the Dirty Dozen.
Emi snorted.
"Really? I was wondering if you'd let them go considering how they weren't expelled."
Shota groaned.
"Don't even get me started, if it wasn't for all the paperwork I'd have booted them."
Emi gives a low chuckle as she buries her head into his shoulder.
"You're proud of them though, aren't you?"
Shota rolls his eyes and snorts in derision.
"Yeah…they're stupid brats…but they're my brats."
Bakugou was, to say the least, pissed. Oh sure, he was always pissed, but this time he was even more so than usual. Not only did he have to rescue the extras, even if they did a good job at acting the part of being injured, it was still annoying as hell. The only thing that had bettered his mood a little bit, were the arrival of the scrap metals which meant he could go all out on them. Aaaaand then that had been dashed by the arrival of the Deku army.
"Stupid extra copies… thinking they can play heroes when they instead should join the JSDF…" he grumbled under his breath while also nursing the splitting headache he had gotten during the combat training thanks to that swirly brow bastard delivering a kick to the back of his head followed by the rubbery jackass using his forehead as a gong.
Seriously! What the hell was that guy's skull made of?!
The fact he, the future number one of all people, had barely passed the combat section of the exam was quite frankly outrageous.
He clearly remembered how those damn extras had been more stubborn than the others.
Back during the last part of the prior trial of the exam.
"Tsk! What the hell is up with this shitty nitroglycerin gremlin?" Swirly Brow huffed, spitting out his toothpick and replacing it with a new one, currently nursing the bruises he had gotten from Bakugou slamming him into the ground.
"Well, he might eat some very good meat?" the stretchy moron suggested, only for one of his classmates to dope slap him.
"That only works for you, you moron! And you somehow defy the laws of physics!" the extra with the ball and chain wielding student hissed at his stretchy companion who only rubbed his head sheepishly while snickering.
Bakugou felt… Frustrated to say the least, with just how casual these extras were acting with a threat in front of them. Oh well, if they didn't want to take their opponents seriously, then he might as well capitalize on it.
Throwing himself forward, he reared back his arm and thrust it forward towards the laughing boy, who seemingly didn't notice him, a grin forming on his face as he flexed his palm at what felt like inches from his face.
But as fate had done so many times already this semester, it screwed him over again.
This time the block had come from a new Shiketsu student with moss-green hair, using a currently dull katana to throw his opponents aim off.
"There you are, mosshead! Where have you been all this time?!" the swirly browed student more or less snarled at the new arrival.
"I was taking a walk when you all disappeared out of nowhere."
"We didn't disappear! You got lost! As usual!"
Scoffing at his classmates, he looked at his current opponent.
"And who might this be? Another small fry? I thought you were stronger than that, crap-cook." the three-sword wielding student sighed, sounding disappointed.
"Watch your mouth, moss head! Or I'll take those swords and use them to cut meat for this dunce!" the blonde kicker snarled at the moss-headed sword wielder.
"What was that, shitty pervert cook!?" the two got into each other's faces, auras seemingly coming off of them in what could only be described as an intense ire for one another.
Before the two got to blows however, Bakugou decided to take the initiative and launched himself towards the two, pulling back his palms and preparing an explosion that surely would be big enough to send them all flying!
"You are interfering…" The sword wielder growled, who currently had put the third sword he was hauling around between his teeth before getting into a stance.
"Three sword style, TATSUMAKI!" he yelled, swinging his blades and creating a veritable whirlwind, sending Bakugou flying straight up into the air. "And now, 108 caliber Phoenix!" he unleashed yet another attack in the form of what looked like a flying slash, which must have had something to do with his quirk.
And damn did that HURT!
Now rage…rage was a familiar emotion to him.
And so when faced with these odds, he decided to bite the bullet even though he knew this would hurt like hell.
"HOWITZER IMPACT!"
Building up speed as he started to rotate, creating a whirlpool of flame around him, Bakugou sped down towards the group who all seemed to be getting into defensive positions against him.
Bakugo grunted as he popped his neck. They'd ended up wrecking an entire city block and much to his dissatisfaction, he'd only been able to knock out two of them and not the entire group.
It left a sour taste in his mouth to win without it being a complete victory.
Just like the Sports Festival.
Still though…at least he had some good stress relief right in front of him!
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He roared as he burst past a group of civilian extras before crashing into a group of droids and turning them into wrecks.
Despite all the negative feelings he had, at least with this he felt a twisted form of peace. It was in combat that he felt alive, that he felt true to himself.
It was all he had.
Ibara was frozen.
She was completely dead to the world, or rather, it would be more apt to say that she was far removed from it.
All she could see right now was the blood that covered her hands, drenching them up to her arms.
Her armor, caked with mud, cement dust and ash, forever stained with blood that she'd never be able to get off no matter how many times she tried.
She knew.
She'd done it already.
No matter how many times she'd washed that armor, she could still see the blood on it.
The blood on her hands.
Men and women, dead before she could even do anything.
Children , staring at her with hollow eyes and twisted screams.
The demons of Hell in the form of metallic monsters, endless in number and without emotions.
Nothing but cold, unfeeling steel with unholy weapons in hand bringing naught but dread and destruction in their wake.
Logically, she could feel herself hyperventilating, she could also 'see' the scene in front of her.
Panicking civilians, scrambling to escape. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears even as everything became muted to her save for a high pitched whine that just wouldn't go away.
Logically, she could 'see' that she was undergoing a panic attack.
But that didn't help anything in the face of her own body's natural reaction, her failure to retain her composure.
She was still frozen.
She was still gone.
How could it have gone so wrong? Why weren't there more heroes? Where were the medical teams?
Had all the prayers she had done throughout her life… been for naught?
She could feel herself falling back to that night, as she tried desperately to save at least one person.
It was only after she had been jolted awake by some medical personnel, that she even realized she had been performing CPR on an already cooling body for the past few minutes that night.
Another child, gone.
Kix, the wonderful friend that he was, had held her as she'd finally broken down and screamed, her heart in agony, her very soul marred with grief over the lives she kept failing.
Looking back at the beginning of the semester, how had she ever in her right mind ever seen these clones, no, these heroes as being inhuman and profane?
Her perceptions had been tainted due to the acts of a single insane man…but she had repented of her prejudice. Had changed her views.
How else could she learn to call them brothers? Friends?
More?
The sudden memories of her interactions with the mediclones, Kix, Quickfix (may he rest in the Lord's embrace), Vaccinator, Ratchet…
It sparked something deep inside of her.
"To heal others is to heal yourself."
"To be a healer is to be a balm, not only for their bodies, but their minds, their hearts, and their souls."
"When do you think a person dies? When they are shot through the heart? No. If they ingest poison or have an incurable disease? No. A person dies when they are forgotten. As long as you remember them, they will live on."
She could see the droids approaching, their incessant marching thrumming against the cement, traveling to her body.
She could see the people panicking around her, crying out for help.
And something inside her…
Snapped.
THRUM-THWOOOOOMM
All the students stared in awe at the massive tendrils of plant matter that erupted from the ground near the aid area, slamming into the columns of droids and swiping them away into oblivion.
A larger tendril unraveled as it traveled upward, while other tendrils gently carried the civilians away from the battle.
Ibara's eyes shone with righteous rage as she fully let herself delve into what would later be called divine fury.
"YOU…SHALL NOT…PASS!"
The vines twisted and turned in a flurry of strikes; piercing, smashing, swiping any droid in their way with impunity all while sprouting thorns that would have made Maleficent jealous.
Safe to say, this didn't mean they were invulnerable, far from it. She may have gotten stronger since the Sports Festival where she had performed something similar when she shielded the tank, but blasters still fired scorching hot plasma.
Granted, it was far toned down since this was an exam.
But still she went forward.
Not one life would be lost!
Not a single one!
"Wow, didn't think that Shiozaki would snap like that." Shishida sweatdropped, for once losing his posh language, looking at the massacre of steel taking place a scant few feet from them, being joined by several of his fellow students and even the 'victims' that they had to save.
"That's what trauma does to you… Now, here is my question…" Ochako said, a sweet smile plastered on her before putting her hands together (making sure her pinkies didn't make contact mind you), took a deep breath while closing her eyes, before opening them, her expression thunderous. "WHAT THE HELL WERE THOSE IDIOTS THINKING?!" she screeched into the air, several veins popping on her face at the sheer outrage she was currently feeling.
She'd dealt with nightmares for weeks by now and she'd been woken up multiple times by her friends to join in cuddle piles.
The summer camp had been horrible, and although Camino had not taken any lives close to her, she knew that there had been many, many close calls.
As it was, thousands of civilians had been killed in the crossfire despite the heroes' evacuation efforts simply because people expected a group of villains to attack.
Not an army.
Actually, that wasn't true.
They students had expected an army but for whatever reason, most of the heroes had been unprepared; either from lack of information (possible due to the HPSC) or lack of care due to their own arrogance.
An investigation of all things had been opened of all things and Izuku was actually going to be at a trial .
Oh sure, it was said to be simply a questioning of the events, but when said event was going to take place at the Diet it was obviously going to be a trial and it was disgraceful.
And the HPSC also had the gall to demand the technology be handed over to them for further studies.
Fortunately, Nezu was quick to…dissuade them of any ideas.
Truthfully, she shouldn't know about any of this stuff, but Izuku had seen fit to brief her since she was his second.
Stars, sometimes she still couldn't believe it.
Her, as Mand'alor.
She hoped she wouldn't have to bear the responsibility again but knew that eventually it would happen again.
But she couldn't focus on that right now, right now her friends, her fellow students and her charges needed her.
"All units, Uravity! I need a status report! If we're going to get these civilians outta here then we need info!"
#Krrt…Working on it right now, Uravity!# Buurenaar said over her comms. #What's your idea?#
"We can't do open warfare, that'll expose any civilians needlessly to return fire, we'll need to use guerilla tactics! Distractions, blocking routes, disrupting their main army while we use side alleys and other paths to evacuate the citizens to safety!"
A side project that she'd been studying, tactics for urban warfare, military strategies and logistics, the works.
Not exactly an elective given at UA.
#Where do we evacuate them to? A few squads of them are popping up near the aid area!#
#They're coming from all directions except the south side, that's the entrance to the arena!# Momo cut in as blaster fire rang out from the comm.
"Then it looks like we're 'evacuating' them from the city! It's gonna be a big operation! Anyone with long range quirks needs to get high and trash them, but no area of effect attacks until we clear the civilians!" she radioed out, before she took out the hilt of her lightsaber and ignited the blade. "Everyone else! Activate whatever type of shield you have or can find and help me cover their retreat!"
#Roger that!#
#On it#
#Uravity! The aid station is clear now thanks to Maria's snap there but we need something to cover them!#
"What if we knock down a building? Use the rubble as natural cover?"
Uravity grimaced at the suggestion, she'd studied a lot about architecture thanks to her original plan of growing up to work at her parents' company before becoming a hero but actually applying that knowledge to hero work could be difficult.
"It's possible, but if we don't do it right we risk hurting civilians or ourselves. And the threat of the building's infrastructure also straight up collapsing on itself is high too if we don't target specific points…"
Just as she was about to go into a muttering spree, courtesy of being around Izuku so much without a doubt, an orange blaster bolt grazed her helmet, scoring the paint, or rather, the part of the paintjob Izuku had helped her paint on, the event causing her eyes to shrink into tiny dots in the process.
KRK
"Oh that is it ."
Taking a knee, she sent out a flurry of whistling birds towards the droids, disabling a good amount.
"Building it is! But we need to make sure that anything we knock down doesn't have anybody in it!"
Ochako then grabbed a slab of concrete and removed its gravity with her quirk before throwing it towards droids and releasing the gravity, crushing another group.
"Let's send them back to the scrap heap! Mirdala!"
"Right!" Mirdala cried out as Creation lit up beneath her suit, a large weapon pushing its way past her bodysuit before dislodging her armor and popping out, her armor quickly reset itself with its magnetic connections as she laid prone against some rubble, popped open the supports of the large gun and opened fire.
Recently, she'd been inspired by older weapons, especially those capable of suppressing large amounts of enemies.
Being inspired by reading Denki's copy of The Lord of the Rings, she'd delved more into Tolkien's history (what still remained at least), and that led her into the rabbit hole of WW1, WW2, the first Quirk Wars and modern warfare in general.
So yeah, she'd decided to be…inspired.
And hey, the company that made MG-42's had been gone for over a century, so there was no chance of complaints from her basically refitting one (okay recreating) to work as a blaster.
"Momo I need you to make me some explosives, a satchel's worth should work."
"Roger," with nary a glance, her backplate shifted up as mentioned satchel appeared with Ochako quickly grabbing it and moving back.
"Hold the line! We just need to block the main roads!" she yelled to her fellow students before heading towards the buildings to prepare the detonations.
"Stand strong!" Mirdala roared as she opened fire, a veritable beam of plasma cutting through the droids, with some of them melting outright.
'Not a single one dies! Not today! Not ever again!'
FWEEEEEE-KABOOM!
He can hear it across the streets, artillery shells landing on the ground, blaster fire echoing down alleys and corridors.
Kirishima grunted as he carried a child in his arms, making sure to envelope them with his body as blaster fire hit his back.
They didn't exactly hurt him but it still stung like hell, even with the blasters being set to a stun setting!
He normally wouldn't be this foolish, he'd seen what blasterfire had done to concrete, steel and flesh but after accidentally taking a hit to his shoulder when he'd been too slow to dodge, and damn was he grateful that for whatever reason the HPSC decided to bring droids, they at least downgraded the blasters.
"Come on, kid! Almost there!"
He'd lost track of Bakubro long ago when the first explosions rang out and blaster fire had come crashing over their heads, his friend immediately going out to trash the tin cans.
All the luck to him he supposed, he took the impromptu distraction and grabbed the civilian that was there before hightailing it back to the main area.
He needed to find more people, he didn't get chosen to go to Camino, and admittedly the thought always stung in the back of his mind.
He didn't know why (he knew in his heart why) they didn't let him go, but damn if he wasn't going to make up for it.
He would prove himself, he would become a hero!
A wall that all could stand behind!
He'd been training for weeks for this, so he'd keep pushing forward!
A rocket blasted towards a group of civilians that were evacuating with other students.
HE WOULD BE THEIR SHIELD!
"UNBREAKABLE!"
BOOM!
The smoke cleared and Kirishima roared in triumph.
His skin, hardened beyond anything like ever before, proved the ultimate defense.
"GO! NOW!" he roared at the civilians gathered, who were then led away by a student from another school.
He sort of regretted it however as he seemed to now be targeted by the droids.
Their shots impacted his body relentlessly to no avail, but he could feel his stamina waning.
But he wouldn't fall!
Another rocket was fired at him and he winced as he felt Unbreakable starting to fail, small fragments of his hardened skin crumbling and peeling off of him but soon replaced by new layers.
THWACK
Ka-boom!
He grunted in surprise as the rocket was suddenly punched away and exploded a few meters away from him.
"You're not getting kicked out of this anytime soon, cutie!" a familiar voice called out as a spring shaped limb retracted back to its owner.
'Oh great…'
Kirishima flushed slightly as his new lady friend winked at him, giving off the same energy that Mina usually did. They would probably get along like a house on fire if they met after the exam, however now wasn't the time to think about that.
"Come on, cutie! Don't give up on me yet!" she said to him, bouncing over to his position.
She caught him as he nearly fell to his knees from exhaustion, more students arriving to pick up the slack that he had held together so far.
"You did great, Red Riot," she whispered into his ear and he nodded in gratitude, before allowing himself the bliss of passing out for a few moments to rest even for the shortest amount of time.
Cabur raced through buildings, blasting doors open with his body as he gave quick scans before heading to the next room.
Mei and Melissa's recent modifications to his armor meant that he could now make much tighter turns.
'Keep calm, focus.'
#Cabur, Uravity! How much left in that building?!# She called out.
He grunted as he kicked off a corner before barreling down a hall.
"Almost done with this one, Uravity. I'm nearing the roof!"
Finding the last room, he found one of the survivors huddled under a bed.
"My name is Cabur! I'm here to rescue you!"
As he took the scared 'child' into his arms and raced out of the building, time seemed to slow to a crawl as something glowing started to fill his vision, before he hastily jumped to the side, digging his heels into the ground and screeching to a halt as he looked behind him to see the small black mark back on the building.
"What in the name of my Great Grandfather is THIS ?! He squawked out after recognizing the by now very familiar mark of a blaster.
#Cabur-! Tenya! Can you hear me!?#
"Yes, what's going on!?"
#Thank goodness, we feared the worst when your signal cut out, droids have attacked the city! It's part of the exam!#
"WHAT!?"
#You need to get back to the plaza as fast as possible, we're gonna be knocking down buildings to block the main roads!#
"Roger that!" Tenya replied as he grabbed his survivor and zoomed out down a hallway.
"Sorry about this!"
The survivor suddenly started to panic as he saw Tenya's shoulder blasters destroy a window.
"W-wait, what are you doIINNNNNNNGGGG!"
He flew into the sky, the survivor clutching tightly to him as he raced towards the rest.
'I'll keep them safe!'
Some time after Camino
"So…will you tell me about it?"
Looking back, Tenya didn't like to think about Camino much.
And who could blame him? Basically no one liked to think about that ordeal of fire.
Tensei looked at him sadly as his brother sat across from him in the living room.
He'd noticed that his younger brother had been…silent recently.
Granted, Tenya was usually quiet unless you got him on one of his tangents but this was…different. He noticed how Tenya would constantly be wary. Whenever their family would go out to eat, he'd be constantly on the lookout, and while those were good traits that heroes should have, being aware of their surroundings…at this level it was too much.
Not to mention he sometimes also caught him staring at the wall, or at nothing at all, simply gazing out into an unknown abyss.
The thousand yard stare.
"Tenya?"
Tenya gulped as he looked at his brother.
"How…how do you deal with it? The bodies…?"
Tensei sighed and his shoulders fell.
"Now it makes sense…" he shakily whispered as he slumped in his wheelchair, still weak but on the path to recovering the use of his legs.
The conversation they were currently having was a sudden one. Tenya had visited them for the night to stay with his family, but upon hearing a rustle in the kitchen, Tensei had woken up and had come across his brother in front of the counter.
A bottle of sake in hand, the younger man staring at the cup as he was contemplating drowning his demons far too soon.
Tensei had been shocked, but he remained calm and had sat down with his brother, to help him in this time of need.
"You know…when I first heard that you'd broken the rules and went out to fight in Camino, I was honestly surprised. I didn't expect it from you…the kid who abided by all the rules and regulations…" Tensei began.
"You must have been appalled." Tenya muttered.
"I was proud ." Tensei rebutted and Tenya was taken aback.
"What? I broke the law! Again! How could you possibly be proud of that?" Tenya begged to know.
"Because you did it for the people and for your friends…that is far more important to me when it comes to defining a hero than the letter of the law," Tensei explained. "I saw that you were growing, willing to do whatever it takes to get your friend back and to stand up for what's right ."
"But how…how…?"
Tensei held his brother tightly and simply let him continue.
"We got there so late…the droids had already killed so many people…I…I tried…I tried to carry as many as I could. Back and forth…back and forth…but for every person I saved, three more were gunned down!" Tenya finally broke down, his brother holding him tightly.
The sheer commotion of the entire thing caught the attention of his parents, who upon learning of the situation, also sat down and comforted their youngest.
They spent the rest of the night talking and listening as they all shared stories of the lives that still haunted them.
Of the lives that escaped their fingers.
Tenya would be notably absent from school the next day, though it would never be brought up.
Alcohol would be quietly removed from the house and strictly prohibited.
Present
'I have lost people before…I will not lose another.'
After dropping off the person, barely paying attention to his score.
"Uravity, Cabur! I've dropped off another civilian, where do you need me!?" he called out.
"Cabur, Buurenaar! I've got reports of a group of shiketsu students fighting off droids in sector Bravo-3! They've got civvies in the buildings but need back up!"
"I'm on my way!" Cabur replied as he sped forward.
Elsewhere
Jurota remembers very little from Camino to be honest, he remembers going into the fight.
He remembered fire and pain and fury.
He remembered metal crushing beneath his fists, wires and electricity sparking as he tore droids apart with his bare hands, oil staining his fur.
Among other things.
It had all been such a rush.
It was the first time that he let the animalistic side of him go full throttle, where he'd let the Beast out completely.
It'd been exhilarating but exhausting.
When it was all done, his fur was matted and stained, his muscles ached, he had more than a few broken bones…
And he was tired… oh so tired…
He'd been fortunate, being on the front lines with the clones meant that he didn't see too many bodies.
Key words being too many.
He sometimes dreamt of them… their dull, lifeless eyes, some of them riddled with holes and others nearly unrecognizable.
He remembered being escorted back home, his family immediately hugging him and holding him tightly while he remained slightly unresponsive.
His parents had helped him remove the stains from all his fur and had simply…sat with him.
The next few weeks at school were somewhat of a blur. He'd wake up, eat breakfast, go to school, train, come back, eat dinner, shower, go to bed…repeat.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
And then one day.
"Yanagi, Tokage, Shishida, Tsunotori, Shiozaki, Komori, Tetsutetsu, and Kendo." Vlad King had called out as they had begun to leave class. "Need you all to stay behind real quick."
The students all looked at each other before nodding, realizing that this must have had something to do with Camino.
"What's going on, Sensei?" Itsuka asked tiredly.
"I know it's been a rough ride for you all…truth be told…I'm still angry about Camino…"
"Sensei-"
" Not ," he raised his hand. "About you all going…if I were in your position…I'd have made the same choice…I'm angry that you felt the need to go in the first place…if we'd been better, if the camp had been safer…it's our duty as teachers to protect you, and we failed."
The students swallowed thickly, as they saw Vlad bow his head in fury, not at them, but at himself.
"We failed you…"
"Sensei…"
Vlad sighed and shook his head.
"Anyway, that's not the reason why I called you all…the 501st was on duty at the refugee center, they brought back some things that needed to be shared with you all."
Vlad King reached under his desk and pulled out a bag that was full of stacks of letters.
The students collectively blinked as Vlad then handed them the stacks.
"I know that Camino was hard, a lot of lives were lost, but I want you all to know that you did good . Be proud of that."
Jurota sat down at his desk and used his claw to undo the string.
Opening the first letter slowly, he slightly trembled as he opened up the letter.
Dear Mr. Hero,
My name is Yamato, thank you very much for saving us at Camino!
You were so cool!
Under the letter was a child's drawing of him.
He was practically a brown gorilla, tearing apart a droid with a roar.
Jurota's jaw trembled as tears pooled in his eyes. He had to take off his glasses and wipe them away before he read the next one.
The others went through similar actions.
He'd spend the rest of the free period reading through each individual letter.
They all did.
With a roar of invigoration, he lifted up a slab of concrete and tossed it away, freeing a pair of civilians.
"COME ON!"
He gently picked them up, cradling both to his chest as he went for the aid area.
Inside a pouch on his waist was that first letter, motivating him to keep moving forward.
Beside him was Kamakiri, who was using his new gear to zipline between buildings and provide cover for his friend.
"Keep moving, Gevaudan! We'll cover you!"
"I swear if any of our pals experience cased PTSD because of this, I am going to sue the Commission!" Kamakiri hissed, clicking his mandibles together as he cut through a small group of droids like a hot knife through butter, before picking up one of their dropped blasters and fired it into the metal men.
"Ow! What the hell is up with these things?! The recoil is terrible and the grip even worse! Not to mention the ventilation is nonexistent!" He hissed, throwing the gun at the head of the nearest droid.
"Considering droids can't feel their limbs, it wouldn't surprise me if whoever made them didn't think of making them comfortable for people to hold!" Jurota shouted, before screeching to a halt as a repurposed B2 Super battle droid stepped in front of him, beginning a standoff.
Handing over the civilian to his friend, he let out a roar that caused the both of them to cover their ears, before pouncing on the droid who almost seemed to panic just as he was upon it.
Seeing what he did to the bucket of bolts was… haunting to say the least. Well, it was the most apt description to see the furry student quite literally rip the arms out of the robots sockets and then proceed to beat it to death with them.
But these were not humans, merely unfeeling machines.
So he too would rip and tear, until it was done.
With a roar of his own, Kamakiri dashed between buildings, using his mobility gear to quickly cut through droids while keeping an eye out for any civilians.
Across the arena, within the waters of a river, Tsuyu was pushing herself to her limits.
She was doing her best to locate and rescue as many of the civilians as she could, having already managed to get half a dozen people to land, with other aquatic students helping out, their combined rescues being nearly two dozen and counting.
However, in her search, she had made one of the biggest rookie mistakes anyone could ever make doing rescues.
Tunnel vision.
One second she was under water, the next she tore through the surface like a sardine being toyed with by a dolphin, which was a pretty apt description when taking into consideration just who had sent her flying.
Landing headfirst into the water, she quickly regained her composure, her helmet helping her readjusting faster than she usually would, making her spot her assailer quickly.
"Gang Orca… Kero…" she croaked feeling a shiver run down her spine. Not because of his appearance mind you, however the combination of him being an extremely accomplished hero and his quirk turning him into a predator made her animalistic side scream at her to turn tail and get the hell out of there.
Now that she was out of her tunnel vision, she was able to hear the reports about heroes interposing as villains.
"No… no, I can't run… not now…"
She saw the other students start to back away in fear, many wishing to flee.
She took a deep breath, closing her eyes before opening them again and focusing on the bigger hero in front of her, thrusting out her arms, revealing vambraces full of stun harpoons and two torpedo racks coming out of her backpack and hip armor.
"Not ever again." She said, before unleashing a flurry of projectiles towards Gang Orca, forcing him to dodge and move out of the way.
Her sudden actions surprised the other students and she quickly moved back to galvanize them.
"STAND FAST! KERO! WE WON'T LOSE A SINGLE PERSON TODAY! WHETHER BY VILLAIN OR BY DROID, KERO!"
With the ferocious war cry of an angry bull frog, she continued her attack, the other aquatic students now inspired and joining her.
Ochako was panting somewhat heavily, lightsaber in hand as she cracked her neck and got ready for the next bout.
'Where are they coming from?
Then she heard it, a familiar whirring noise.
'Impossible…this is an exam-'
"Attention students! Reinforcements have arrived! Your new task is as follows: Complete the evacuation of the civilians while the Vod'e deal with the droids!"
She grinned as she saw the familiar colors too.
The 501st.
Ochako breathed out a sigh of mixed relief and concern. Again, she'd been briefed as Izuku's second about the HPSC's intentions towards Vod'e, an army to fight an army.
She took in another deep breath to center herself.
'Focus. Focus on the now.'
"Come on, the Vod'e will take care of things, we need to continue the evacuation," Uravity confidently said as LAATs landed and troopers began filing out.
"Uravity!"
Her attention was caught by Fives who was waving her down.
With wide eyes she ducked and he fired over her, nailing a droid in the head.
She idly cursed herself.
That was sloppy.
"Looks like we came just in the nick of time, Mand'alor's sent us as reinforcements as he deals with villains in another city."
Uravity grimaced as she used the opportunity to quickly insert a new cartridge of rockets into her knee launchers.
"And we're lucky to have you Fives, we'll patch you guys in to our coordination efforts, Buurenaar and Bes'laar are strategizing and Mirdala is holding back the tide at the front line, right now, we're setting charges to knock down buildings to isolate the roads."
"Roger that, we can't interfere with rescue efforts, but we're more than capable of keeping those clankers off your backs."
"K'oyacyi." Uravity said as she clasped his arm in return.
"To you as well, sister."
Yui ran around, throwing miniature grenades and growing them to twice their size, taking down several battle droids at the same time while also using the unstable kyber crystals Izuku had given her to make short plasma blades on her vambraces, changing them out regularly like batteries, cutting a small swathe through the foes.
Stopping to catch her breath while also taking cover behind some rubble, she popped a few energy tablets into her mouth, tomato flavored of course, as she thought about what her next move should be.
She was currently escorting a group of civilians, and her actions had cleared a path, but their time frame was short.
Fortunately, the civilians that she'd found had no injuries that prevented movement, but that didn't mean that they were safe.
Case in point, the moment she had thought that, the ground in front of her began to bulge upwards, almost as if an oversized mole was trying to break through the crust, before a drill pierced through, with the user soon being revealed to be a very familiar face.
"Master Driller!?" She yelped at her favorite hero popping out of the ground wearing a costume with a lot more spikes than his usual one.
"Hello, my esteemed intern! It is I! Dark Lord Driller! Here to do the most vile of villainy as a boss monster of this event! Now have at thee, hero!" He shouted in a rambunctious manner, pointing his drill at her in an overly dramatic fashion.
Smiling slightly, she got into one of Ultraman's iconic fighting poses.
"You won't do any more harm today, evildoer!" she announced louder than anyone had ever heard her speak, and wouldn't hear it over the din of the exam.
The two stood for a few moments before launching against one another, Master Driller thrusting his iconic weapon forward while Yui generated two blades from a new pair of crystals and thrust them towards the weapon, the force of her hit causing it to go off course.
"Hm, they are doing better than I expected" A representative directly from HPSC HQ said as she observed the group of students escorting out civilians from the evacuation zone. "Seems like they aren't too weak willed after all. Can't have such promising assets end up cracking under pressure." she said to herself, a subtle yet satisfied smirk on her lips.
"I still say this is a terrible idea" Yokumiru Mera muttered while holding a mug of coffee which he was currently pouring half a metric ton of sugar into.
"Perhaps, but the clones are vital assets despite their…unruly leader," she replied. U.A.'s army was considered a threat. A necessary one, but a threat nonetheless.
It was above her paygrade but measures were being taken to…ensure that they would fall under their control.
"I was talking about the kids . Don't you think using something that could make them relive some pretty damn awful trauma is stupid? Hell, Mandalor's second even said so herself if her yelling before was anything to go by." the tired Commission member yawned.
The woman pinched her nose in annoyance as she cast a sidelong glance towards her… let's say colleague.
"Irrelevant. If they're going to be heroes, they must face any challenge presented to them. And to be frank, it is because of that attitude that you are stuck here instead of being part of some higher brass."
He narrowed his eyes at her before scoffing and returning to the task at hand, sipping his now syrupy mug of coffee, which would definitely add at least an extra pound to his weight, still felt like the only type of reprieve he had in this job he was stuck in.
"Dumb bitch…" he whispered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
Momo felt most of the world around her standing still as she slowly walked forward, fellow students and heroes in training, all carrying the 'civilians' in any way they could.
All of the sounds around her were muffled though, only one thing got through the din of the evacuation clearly while the heiress kept on marching forward, not pausing in her stride towards her targets and not a single flinch even as an orange training blaster bolt grazed her helmet.
Focusing on the metallic steps of the hellish machines in front of her, her eyes burning with hatred for the abominable metallic monsters as she detached her lightsaber from her hip and swung it around her a couple of times, causing the double hilt to extend into one, with the two blue blades igniting with the press of a button.
As soon as the weapon had been activated, she slowly sped up, faster and faster until she was in a full sprint towards the oncoming tide of metal, before jumping into the air, twisting her upper body so the energy blades cut into the droids, severing them in half as she spun both her weapon and herself around in a style that almost looked like she was dancing with a glowing staff, reducing dozens of droids to slag in the process.
Her brothers in arms followed after, not having much to do as she cut swathes through the droids, continuing her attack as elegantly as one would expect of a world class ballerina on her debut to the world.
Shoto was very relieved, with the arrival of the 501st, it meant that he could refocus on efforts to protect civilians.
"VOD'E!" He called out and they quickly came to support.
"Alii'nar! What's the situation here!" One of them asked.
"I've got a company of droids behind this ice wall and civilians taking cover inside that building!" He said, pointing to a building at the corner of the street.
"This ice wall is holding, but the moment I stop they'll come."
"In that case, we'll hold the line here! You get those civvies to safety!"
"Roger that!" Shoto said as the wall cracked ever so slightly because of the concentrated blaster fire.
"I don't know how much longer this thing will hold!" He called out, just as he was sent flying by a rocket of all things hitting the glacial structure, shattering it and sending him skidding backwards on his ass.
He quickly made his way to the building where he assured the civilians while also brushing off the bruises he had gotten.
"The Vod'e are here to help with the droids, follow me! I'll get you to the evac zone!" He said as he led them out.
As he moved alongside them, he couldn't help but remember the days soon after Camino.
When Izuku had spoken with him about his actions and just how proud he'd been.
"We have a duty to those we protect. You used everything in your power to protect and help those people…I can't speak for every clone, but in my eyes…you have redeemed yourself for the USJ."
"...Midor-...Izuku, I-" Shoto had remained silent in contemplation.
Izuku let the silence remain as Shoto gathered his thoughts.
"Duty."
Izuku hummed, already knowing what he was going to ask.
"Alii'nar."
"...Alii'nar." Shoto muttered. "A reminder of my duty."
Izuku smiled softly at him and Shoto felt an unknown weight leave his shoulders."
"Dirge, Thrust, Ramjet! Get these people out of here!" he shouted to the three jet troopers who nodded and prepared their jetpacks for flight.
With a mighty crash an entire street collapsed on top of a column of droids. Although not the original intention, it had been deemed a good strategy to not only block the roads but to get rid of some of the droids while they were at it.
Uravity gave a pleased hum though she was still worried.
From the reports, there were confirmed villain sightings of Evil Master Driller and Gang Orca.
She imagined that they were severely handicapped, much like Yoroi Musha during Izuku's exam and their teachers during their finals.
"Although I can't imagine how they'd handicap Master Driller unless they replaced his drill with something soft…" she muttered, before taking a rock and hurled it at a droid a good distance away.
Still though…she was worried. Two heroes posing as villains, same amount as last time but they were far more spread apart…
She couldn't risk it.
"Everyone, this is Uravity! We've got confirmed reports of Master Driller and Gang Orca posing as villains but keep an eye out for any more! Who knows who they might throw at us!"
#Copy that, Uravity! We'll keep an eye out!#
Various more agreements sounded over the comms and she refocused on the demolitions.
"How goes it, Mirdala?" She asked her friend who was coordinating the collapse of another street.
"Good, the western street is cleared out, they're planting the charges and-"
FWOOOSH KABOOM
"ROCKETS!"
The two ducked as rockets impacted against the buildings, causing a chain reaction that prematurely detonated some of the charges due to some of the students not realizing that it was enemy action.
It was catastrophic to say the least.
"Dammit! EVACUATE THE BUILDINGS!" Mirdala screamed into the comms. "Vod'e! Provide cover fire so that we can get people out of there! Bes'laar! We need a seismic report on that street!"
#Copy that, Mirdala! Got three squads providing cover fire.#
#Mirdala! I've got eight heartbeats under the rubble!#
"Understood! Send the feed to my helmet, we'll get them out of there!"
Meanwhile, Ochako had moved forward to help provide cover fire and to see if anything could be salvaged to block the street.
What she didn't expect was a clone to get gunned down in front of her.
She froze at the sight, remembering the day at I-Island where they'd thought that Bullseye had been killed.
Then she noticed the…weird mark on the clone's armor.
Gasping to take a deep breath, she kneeled by the side of the clone and checked for a pulse.
It was there and…strong.
She then took notice of something on the clone's wrist. It was a small data screen with an ekg that was very weak and some words.
DOWN - HEAVILY BLEEDING
Ochako blinked in surprise before nodding.
'Of course they'd be part of the exam. How can we expect them to fight by our side and not ensure that they too come home!'
With a touch on his armor plating, she lightened him for a fireman's carry.
"Uravity to all units! Keep an eye on the Vod'e! They deserve to come back home just as much as we do!"
There was silence across the comms before the other students agreed, some more enthusiastically than others for obvious reasons.
She made her way back to the evacuation camp to where clones and evacuees were together as the latter were being 'evacuated'.
She couldn't see it, but she could tell that the clones were extremely happy with her.
Turning around, she began to walk away, only to stop in her tracks when she felt something wrap around her legs, before they were pulled from under her, sending her visor first to the floor.
"Ow! Sonnuva mothertrucking piescarfer!" She cursed while retracting her visor to hold her currently bleeding nose.
"Your senses have dulled since last time, dear Uravity." A familiar voice said as someone came up behind her, the brunette, immediately whipping around and aimed her gauntlet and the perpetrator.
"Miss Nite Owl?! Why!?" She said in a mock betrayed tone.
"Lore reasons? Got even more disillusioned by the government. Real reason? Said this was the only way to get my license back, so please forgive me in advance." she sighed as she pulled out a blaster and set it to stun. "Also, please don't tell my daughter I'm here. She will not let me hear the end of it if she ever finds out."
Uravity deadpanned.
"Nite Owl confirmed!"
Nite Owl deadpanned.
"Really?"
"That's for making my nose bleed!"
"You know what? Fair."
Another explosion rocked the streets and Alii'nar grimaced.
After dropping off the civilians at the evac point, he'd made his way back to provide support for the Vod'e fighting against the droids.
Another hero student was currently with him. Yoarashi if he remembered correctly.
He seemed like a decent enough guy, however his attitude was a bit… bombastic if he had to describe it in a single word.
Yet he noticed that whenever he was near, the other boy was cold. Constantly glaring at him, for what reason, he did not know. But it was beginning to annoy him ever so slightly, especially with how much it was affecting their teamwork. He reminded him of himself at the beginning of the year.
A clone came up to him, not holding any blaster but instead a droid head in hand.
"Scratch, status report?"
"Civvies has been evacuated and droid activity is starting to die down. There shouldn't be a lot left either with the rate we're going." The clone said, just as he threw the severed droid head away.
Another explosion shook the street and Alii'nar moved forward.
"Back me up?"
"You know it!"
Shoto immediately paled as soon as he saw the figure at the other end of the street.
"Negotiator…confirmed." He shakily reported.
#Oh dear…that's not good…#
Negotiator was an unassuming man. But there was a reason why he was once the #2 Hero of the World and #1 in Scotland.
But regardless of his ranking, his reputation preceded him as someone who resolved conflicts without violence.
That did not mean that he was not fluent in the language of violence.
Midoriya was near universally regarded as the strongest fighter of their class, and while no one held any true illusions (barring one) of being able to go toe to toe with a pro, the fact of the matter is that he could manhandle Midoriya going at 20% without using his quirk.
Seeing the demonstration of the Sokkotsu used on Midoriya had been a traumatizing experience.
Which meant that although he was most certainly handicapped, Shoto had no inclination whatsoever into fighting him.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't going to have much of a choice.
"Welp, looks like it's time for some fun." Scratch said as he cracked his neck before he took off his helmet, revealing his rather scarred face, but what really shocked both Shoto and Yoarashi, was when he pressed a button on his wrist which purged the torso and arm parts of his armor along with the upper part of the body glove, showing off a body covered in scars, all of them seemingly from close quarters combat along with well defined muscles from the same type of experience along with hard training.
"I see you prefer hand to hand combat. While I might usually find it uncivilized, I'll indulge you since you are a curious one." Negotiator replied, dropping his outer robe and going into a defensive stance.
"Scratch…" Shoto asked, eyeing the clone next to him.
"Yeah?"
"Why do you have so many scars?"
"...Don't ask."
"No, seriously… why? You make Izuku look like a newborn peach child in comparison!"
"I'll tell you after I've fought this guy!" Scratch yelled as he slammed his foot into the ground, thrusting himself forward in the blink of an eye and throwing a punch aimed at Negotiator's chin, which was swiftly blocked by the older man, whose hand had gone into a half closed fist with his palm facing forwards.
Now see here, the Negotiator was a calm man. A patient man. A calculating man.
But Scratch, alongside many of the 501st, had made a mistake the other day. In their usual rambunctiousness, they knocked over his perfectly good tea
And Negotiator was very big on his tea time.
Scratch threw another punch followed by a roundhouse kick, both which were blocked just as swiftly.
This exchange soon devolved into the clone dealing out punches and kicks from all sorts of martial arts from all over the world, ranging from the basic Karate to the advanced Krav Maga moves used by special forces, each of the hits getting blocked by Negotiator who only had a stern but calm look on his face and only used the one arm to block with, even with the attacks only being blurs to the naked eye.
After a few minutes of this, Scratch had begun moving around in a circle around the pro hero, hoping to get a hit in, however the grown man had followed just as quickly, matching the young clone's speed even with one of his legs planted solidly in one place like a mountain. Nothing came through his defenses.
"Ikkotsu."
Armor cracked and splintered under the blow and Scratch was now Bowling Ball considering the amount of brothers that he knocked over.
Shoto blinked.
"We're so screwed."
…
"Wait, didn't he take off his armor beforehand?"
Shoto and Yoarashi looked at the gaggle of clones that were surrounding Scratch…they were being very…dramatic.
"YOU HAVE NO HONOR!" One of them roared at the Negotiator in horror. "Why would you do that!?
"It is an acceptable form of combat. Honor has no place in the battlefield. Only victory."
"YOU IKKOTSU'D HIM IN THE BALLS!"
"He shouldn't have knocked over my tea."
The group of clones stood still, jaws hanging open for what felt like several minutes.
"Tea?"
"Did he just sterilize our bro over TEA?! "
"This will not stand!"
"GET HIM!"
Shoto's eyes widened in horror as the dozen clones charged forward, screaming like mad-men while holding their blasters like bludgeoning tools.
"Nonono, WAIT!"
What followed was the ground shaking along with several cries and yelps of pain, pleads of mercy that fell on deaf ears, along with all sorts of armor pieces flying past him.
"Well then, that was uncivilized." Negotiator sighed, sitting on top of the pile of groaning and whimpering Izukus.
"Vod'e! Stand back! Focus on the droids! I'll deal with him!"
"AVENGE US, ALII'NAR! AVENGE SCRATCH!"
Taking a deep breath, Shoto readied himself, quirk in each hand. Seeing how Negotiator had handled one of the best hand to hand combatants in the 501st, if not the Vod'e, ranged combat would have to be the key here.
'I can't let my sight of him be lost!'
He punched forward, fire erupting into a brilliant blaze that raced towards him.
But the fire suddenly warped in direction as wind cascaded and collided with it.
"I see your fire has gotten more under control. However… it is far from controlled enough." Negotiator said from the other side, before another powerful gust of wind pushed through the flames and hit Shoto in the gut like a punch.
"Hurk!" Shoto was sent flying and landed shortly after, before scrambling to pull off his helmet as his lunch ended up on the ground the moment he pulled it off.
"Tsk. You call yourself a student of UA? DISGRACEFUL!" Yoarashi said as he sped in and sent his own gust of wind at their opponent who looked borderline bored by the attack, before he flicked his arm and sent it into a nearby building.
"Lots of power and fine control. But it could still be greatly improved upon. Keep training if you want to have a chance of beating the higher ranked villains." Negotiator criticized the bombastic student.
Shoto got up and stomped the ground, growing several knife sized blades of ice next to him which he picked up and threw them at Negotiator who only lifted his hand while closing his eyes, before the knives stopped mid-air and then fell to the ground.
Yoarashi once again tried to attack, this time rushing towards the pro hero, fist charged with wind as he threw his arm forward, letting out another gust, which the bearded older man sidestepped.
Seeing this as an opportunity to strike, Shoto let out another burst of flames, which was then redirected towards the other student who barely managed to dodge it.
"Watch it you idiot! I was nearly reduced to burnt karaage!" Yoarashi roared at Shoto whose mouth twitched slightly. He had just tried to take advantage of the situation, but he was getting more and more tempted to actually fight this guy who kept on egging him on.
"Damn it, he's in the way…" Shoto thought as he dodged some debris created from another redirected gust of wind.
There were however a few of the clones who weren't so lucky, a few of them getting domed by the fragments of rock and other objects in the debris.
Tsuyu grunted, nearly retching from the subsonic blast that rattled her armor. She was extremely thankful that the scuba armor naturally came with added protection against sonar considering how she was planning on becoming an aquatic hero.
As part of her training with Selkie, she'd been exposed to a sonar ping from a ship, even a small one was so loud that it hurt, she didn't want to imagine the ones from larger ships, submarines, or even actual attacks from aquatic villains.
However, even her armor could only do so much against the concentrated attacks from Gang Orca.
She grunted, panting in exhaustion as she brought out another knocked out student out of the water.
She doubted that the proctors would actually let them die, but she didn't want to risk it!
She didn't want to ever risk being wrong again-
"Agh!" She cried out as she felt the sharp pain race up her leg, collapsing to her hands and knees.
"N-no! Kero!"
She gasped as she saw Gang Orca target her again before she was suddenly yanked away by a floating torso.
"Come on!" Tokage yelled as she took her behind some cover.
"Dammit, kero! No! I have to get back into the fight!" Tsuyu gasped out as Tokage treated her leg.
"Look, I don't know what's up with you but you've pushed yourself way too hard this entire exam!" Tokage scolded her
"I have to do this!" Tsuyu grunted as she tried to stand before collapsing again.
"Dammit, girl! What is up with you! You're not going to be able to help anyone like this!"
"You don't understand! I HAVE TO DO THIS!"
Tokage grabbed her by the helmet and smacked it against the rock, jostling her.
"WHY!?" Tokage screamed into her face.
"I CAN'T FAIL THEM AGAIN!" Tsuyu screamed back.
Tokage flinched back before gently removing her helmet and Tsuyu's.
"What do you mean?"
"I know…I know they said that I wasn't wrong to do so…but I can't help but still feel like I failed them." She explained, choking back tears. "If I'd just gone with them, Fox wouldn't have been demoted. If I'd just gone with you all, I could have helped save Izuku…I could have helped save more lives than what was saved that day!"
"Ah…" Setsuna said, looking at her fellow greenette. "So that's how it is, huh?" she asked, looking at her fellow hero student.
"Well…I'm no licensed therapist but I understand…there's a lotta days where I wish I could have done more but I know that pushing ourselves to the breaking point won't help in the long run." Tokage emphasized the point by tightly wrapping the wound, making Tsuyu wince.
"You want to prove yourself? Fine. But we're gonna do things the right way and save as many lives as we can, now and in the future. Alright?" she said, putting her hands on her shoulders and gave them a reassuring squeeze.
Tsuyu gulped before nodding.
"Okay. Let's do this, sister." she nodded, before putting on both of their helmets and gently tapped them against each other, giving her a small winking gesture with her head.
"Very funny. Waxer knows you give those out freely?" Tsuyu snarked, adjusting her helmet slightly.
Setsuna just chuckled in reply.
"I make sure to give him-"
The two grunted as the rock exploded behind them, due to another concentrated frequency of sounds.
"Chatting on the job! How-blurrgh!" Gang Orca spat out the water that'd been shot into his mouth.
He narrowed his gaze into an unamused glare as he stared right at the duo, his small red eyes, squinting slightly, before he charged at them.
Just as he charged, Tsuyu jumped into the air while Setsuna split herself into at least twenty pieces, each of them having a piece of armor on them.
"Very good reflexes, but dodging isn't going to win a fight." Gang Orca grunted, before the now familiar hissing of blasters rang throughout the air around him, his eyes widening as he noticed that each of the pieces of the young girl's body had a small blaster in each of the armor pieces was equipped with a small blaster.
A few moments of staring later, Setsuna's parts started darting around, supported by small boosters, before he was bombarded by weak blaster bolts and stun rings, his large frame making it hard to dodge the shots.
Uravity grunted as she hooked herself away from Nite Owl's shots before letting go and rolling into cover.
It had been going on like this for nearly five minutes. She wasn't well versed in deflecting blaster bolts yet, and she barely had any Whistling Birds left.
"How's it going with the evacuation, guys?" she asked over the comms.
"98 percent done! We only need a handful more!"
"I-" Uravity was cut off as she heard a war cry, her spine going ramrod straight before she clasped her hands together and started to pray to whatever deity was listening.
Nite Owl dodged as her daughter attacked with a flying tackle, sending both of them tumbling.
"So, dear daughter of mine, finally reached your rebellious phase?" Nite Owl asked.
"No, but now I finally have a valid excuse for all of the times back home in the dojo!" Itsuka said, a halfway feral grin plastered on her face, which would have been enough to make anyone who saw it wince out of sympathy for the older woman whom she was about to fight.
"Oh, really-oof!" She grunted as Itsuka expanded her fist, knocking her back, to which she landed in a kneeling pose, looking back at her daughter with a smirk that went through the helmet.
"That… Is the first time you've managed to land the first blow, dear daughter of mine." she said, before getting into a fighting stance, before activating her jetpack, charging forward with a fist raised.
"Let them monologue." Itsuka smirked.
"Heh…rule number one, I can't believe I fell for my own advice." she said as she seemingly went from a swing of her fist but instead changed it to a kick, nearly hitting her daughter.
Ochako meanwhile used the distraction to negate the gravity of some rubble and launched them at the two while warning Itsuka through the comms.
Itsuka boosted back as the gravity was restored and Nite Owl was forced to move out of the way as to not get crushed.
"Uravity, we need to keep bombarding her with stuff, force her to use her quirk now rather than later!#
#What's her quirk!?#
"It's called No-Clip, if you game then you know what I'm talking about! Luckily she can only use it once every hour!" she said, as she picked up some rocks with her enlarged hand and threw them at her mother. "POCKET SAND!"
"That's not sand!"
"Still counts!"
"Ah, in that case!" Nite Owl said as she flew into the sky.
"Say hello to my little friend!" She yelled as she shot out one of the missiles from her jetpack.
"That thing ain't little!"
"It is fun to use though!"
FWEEEEEEE
KA-BOOM!
Despite everything…they knew in their hearts the true purpose of the fights.
In no real situation could they actually stand up to pros, not without years of training and experience.
But that wasn't the point of these fights.
They were not fighting to win. They were fighting to save.
It goes by quickly, but plans are made and reconciliation as well. Even if some scars last longer than others, many still make a full recovery.
But it works.
Lizardy and Froppy work together, constantly moving in the air and the water, never giving Gang Orca the time to target one without being attacked by the other.
Hero students and clones working together in tandem to help evacuate civilians.
However, there were also those who didn't get along most notably, Todoroki and Yoarashi who were currently at each other's throats more than at Negotiator's.
He was quick to disabuse them of their argument by knocking a building on top of them.
Yoarashi was quick to move, uncaring of his wind spiraling everywhere, even after knocking down a few clones.
But Todoroki.
With a grunt, he used ice to create a base that protected the clones, defending them from the rubble and debris.
Yoarashi gaped in confusion.
'Todoroki…saved those clones?'
It unfortunately also left him wide open.
A precise blow to his sternum knocked him down and Negotiator was quick to move and take down Yoarashi with a swift strike.
"Honestly, how uncivilized can two heroes be? Here you are arguing with each other and in the meantime, civilians are dying because of your lack of action." Negotiator scolded them.
"How disgraceful." he sighed as he picked up a stick that was lying around, a rather perfect stick too in the shape of a sword nonetheless, before he got into a pose, sticking one of his arms out while the stick was pointing in the same direction. "Time to teach you how to work together."
For the next few minutes, Shoto and Yoarashi understood what it meant to be unruly children of the southern United States.
Finally however, they did get their act together and used their quirks in unison fire and wind encircling Negotiator who held out his hands, using his power to hold it back.
A few seconds later however, he pushed his arms forward, sending the entire mass towards them, hitting the two and making them tumble onto their asses.
"An admirable effort but far too-"
BWAAAAAAH
"THE LAST CIVILIAN HAS BEEN RESCUED! THE EXAM IS OVER!"
"Well then. Guess it's time to make another pot. Would you two care for some Earl Grey?"
In the blink of an eye, Negotiator was sitting in front of the two with a small campfire and a tea kettle.
Shoto and Yoarashi looked at each other before looking back at Negotiator.
"Sure…" Shoto groaned.
Yoarashi blinked for a bit before also accepting.
Meanwhile, Tsuyu grimaced as she let herself be supported by Tokage, the two hobbling out of the water.
Gang Orca had managed to shoot Tokage's head out of the sky and Tsuyu had shot out of the water and grabbed it, but it left her open for another attack.
Fortunately, it had been at that moment that the exam ended.
Though it was a pain to reassemble herself with a rattling head, Setsuna had managed to do so without misplacing anything. Her lunch had however not been so lucky, along with the fact she might have gotten a concussion after having taken a direct hit to the head like that.
"Apologies, head strikes are always a danger, that is why I kept it to a low power." Gang Orca apologized, offering her some headache medicine.
"That was low!? Geez..I'm still seeing three of you." she moaned as she popped a few of the pills into her mouth and swallowed them.
Gang Orca had been kind enough to treat her prior, which explained the bandage wrapped around her head along with the ice pack.
"Gotta ask…how did you manage to resist the stun shots?"
"Blubber."
And, across the field to where Ochako and Itsuka were patching each other up...
"I'm really proud of the two of you. You fought admirably against a superior enemy, had a strategy, implemented it with minor setbacks but didn't let those setbacks stop you." Nite Owl complemented with a bright smile at the two of them. "You even made me use my quirk! Good job!" she hugged the two of them, making both blush slightly, especially Itsuka who found it extremely embarrassing to have her mom praise her in front of so many people.
A few minutes later, Yui came walking from around the corner, chatting up a storm with Master Driller, both of them being covered by dust and a few bruises, along with cracks in their armor.
"Gotta admit, you surprised me with the mini-bombs! Just what are they teaching you guys over there!?" Master Driller asked, but with eagerness in his voice.
"Mostly some different types of military-esque tactics along with our usual hero training. One of the sayings that is almost considered law at UA, is 'Adapt and Overcome'."
"I can see that but…it almost looks like you're preparing for…" He trailed off.
"War." Itsuka cut in. "And we are. Like it or not, the majority of heroes still don't think that the droids are a serious threat. But Izuku's theorizing that if the LOV gains new members and combines that with their Nomu and all of the other dregs of society they can gather, they will create a threat even the JSDF will have a problem dealing with." she let out a sigh as she took a drink of water.
As much as he wanted to protest…Master Driller had seen the reports.
If anything, the threat was being heavily downplayed by the HPSC.
"We can't depend on the Vod'e to save us every time…which is why we have to be ready. I…I don't know much about Izuku's power…but I trust his instincts."
"His instincts?"
"He says he can feel something coming across the horizon…he…he fears that there's a war coming that will consume Japan." Itsuka said as she looked at her helmet. "He says that something's coming…but he's not sure what yet."
"And you believe him?"
"Yes… After seeing what we've seen? It's hard not to believe. Especially in my case." Yui spoke up, before she removed her abdomen plate and pulled up some of the shirt that made up the body glove, revealing the now prevalent scar that was on her stomach where she had been shot during the training camp.
Master Driller had to look away, when he'd first heard about her being shot…it'd nearly broken him.
"You're just kids…" He brokenly whispered.
"We're heroes in training." Itsuka refuted.
Soldiers. Was the unspoken word, however.
"If we have to fight to protect the ones we love and perhaps even die… Then we will… We don't want to die, but if there is no other choice, we will. For those we cherish, we would die fighting, all as one." Ochako declared.
The adults were very…shaken by how blaise the girls seemed to be with the prospect of death.
"But, at the same time, we'll make every effort to come back home." Ochako whispered.
The students had been allowed a thirty minute break to recover from the Rescue Portion of the exam.
All of them were nervous as the giant screen that would decide their futures turned on.
"Congratulations to all those who find their names on this screen. You have received your provisional licenses."
There was a pause before raucous cheering erupted from the crowd of students for those who saw their names.
Three particular students were not celebrating.
Shoto Todoroki sighed in defeat. Having not gained his provisional license, obviously due to his altercation with Yoarashi.
As much as he wished to place the blame solely on the air user, he also knew that this was unfortunately one of the consequences of his actions from the beginning of the year.
He also could have tried to deescalate the situation, so the fault was equally on his shoulders.
'At least we'll get our licenses after the remedial classes.'
He paused as he saw Yoarashi stand in front of him before the latter rapidly bowed, slamming his head to the ground again.
"I APOLOGIZE! BECAUSE OF MY ACTIONS AND PREJUDICES, I ENDANGERED LIVES TODAY AND IMPEDED BOTH OF OUR PROGRESS!"
Shoto sighed.
"I forgive you…for that matter, I apologize as well for what happened, not only for today but also during that exam." Shoto said. During their fight, Yoarashi had explained to him about why he disliked him and it'd been a sobering reminder of how foolish he'd been. "I was in a bad state of mind…and took that out on too many people." Shoto said with his own, much less dramatic, bow.
The two rose up and Yoarashi nodded.
"Then it falls onto me to forgive you as well."
In unison, they reached out and shook each other's hands.
"I hope that in the future, I can work alongside you in the field, Gale Force."
"As do I, Alii'nar…by the way, can you explain to me what that means?"
Shoto gave a soft smile and nodded.
"It means Duty. A reminder of my duty to all the people I am sworn to protect. To give it my all in every battle I face."
Yoarashi grinned.
"I LIKE IT!"
Meanwhile, alone and despondent. Bakugo Katsuki could only stare at the screen in disbelief.
His name…was not there.
His eyes twitched as rage, disbelief, disappointment, shame and many more emotions warred within him.
He bowed his head, trembling.
'Dammit…I'm falling behind again!' He thought to himself.
No matter what he did, no matter how hard he'd worked for it…ever since the beginning of this accursed school year, he'd been falling again and again behind Deku.
He began to shake.
'I…can't let this keep happening!'
He could feel the uncomfortable feelings swelling up inside of him. Of fear and inadequacy, of broken pride and the wanted desire to just destroy. And so Bakugo Katsuki fell back into a familiar emotion, a comforting emotion to him.
Rage.
Izuku soon managed to fall asleep, the day's events washing away as he calmed himself down through the meditative practices that he'd been taught.
He was glad to see that his friends and classmates had gained their provisional licenses, it would only help them grow more in the long term.
Though he hoped that Todoroki would be alright, his brothers had testified of his friend's courage, but unfortunately the other Shiketsu's student inability to let go of a grudge had hampered the both of them and now Shoto was in remedial classes.
Speaking of grudges…
A part of him couldn't deny the thought, the feeling , of satisfaction upon hearing that Bakugo hadn't been granted the license.
As harsh as it sounded, as biased as it sounded…
He could not find it within him to trust Bakugo Katsuki as a hero.
The other boy had been…silent recently, and Izuku knew that it was partially due the events at Camino and others passing.
Izuku sighed deeply, there was no use in thinking about him, he'd long since given up on figuring out just what went on in Bakugo's mind.
He steadfastly ignored the part inside him that still hurt.
Hopefully, however, tonight he'd be able to get some good sleep.
Lately, ever since the Battle of Kamino (With a K!), he'd been having odd dreams again. Even after consulting Nana and the others, there'd been no progress in figuring out an answer.
And he kept on waking up restless every morning.
All he could recollect from those dreams is…
Falling, sinking really, into a vast and endless ocean, constantly turbulent due to the rains that crashed down overhead.
But…he could still breathe, could still move, could still feel…
But most concerning of all was the voice that constantly called out to him.
"Izuku…can you hear me?"
He woke up to himself falling into the ocean once more, the tumultuous storms above hiding the buildings that stood over the rising waves.
But as he sank deeper he found that the water again didn't affect him and that everything was clearer.
"Izuku…"
He turned, and found himself looking at…
Himself.
Izuku gasped in awe.
This…he supposed, the future version of himself, stood tall and regal. White armor somehow glistened under the water.
Now that he looked around however, the water seemed to calm itself and everything became clear, the light from above penetrating deeply and he could see the man clearly.
"Are you…the Leader?" he recalls what Mina explained to him from when his mind had fragmented.
The older him smiled softly but shook his head.
"I am not, though that is a good estimation," he began before continuing. "The fragments of your mind were restored, thus restoring you, as such, the personage known colloquially as Leader does not exist."
He then gestured to himself.
"However, I took this form to appear more comforting."
"More comforting? Form? I…I don't understand…" Izuku admitted.
The older one smiled at him reassuringly before speaking once more.
"With the First, I couldn't see, nor feel, nor think. I was but a wisp of dream…but with the Second, and the Third, I began to hear but could not comprehend, see but not understand."
He then extended his hand slightly in front of him, staring at it.
Izuku could see the scars that dotted his face, similar yet…different…and one of them was eerily reminiscent to Hikage's.
"With the Fourth, I began to listen and I began to discern…and I knew grief and solitude."
Izuku's eyes began to widen in understanding, but he could not yet speak.
"With the Fifth I grew to know myself…that I existed but still, I could not speak," he continued, and Izuku looked at him in awe. "With the sixth, I learned about life, humanity, pride and humility…" A vague look of grief passed through him. "I understood the power of one's resolve."
"With the Seventh…I learned to love…and I learned to hate…and with the Eight, I finally knew who I was."
With a grateful smile, the figure looked at him with pride.
"But with you…I could finally speak ."
He approached Izuku and gently set his hands on the younger boy's shoulders.
"Search your feelings, you know who I am…I am a part of you, as you are a part of me," The older one smiled softly.
"You are…" Izuku whispered trailing off as he felt the sheer amount of power flowing through the man but also the presence of love and devotion, pride and humility, power…and duty.
The elder nodded.
"My name…is One For All."
I want to take this time to show my appreciation for everyone who's supported us so far including those that have stuck around in the discord despite my recent inactivity.
In case you haven't noticed, I deleted previous announcement chapters that are useless.
With this newest chapter, I've actually been inspired to write more so hopefully another comes out soon, however, I will be going on deployment so I will be gone for that time.