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wild-battlebond · 3 years

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Appmon Ep36 Liveblog

It’s time for the Appliyama Elections! Voting! Results! Stolen personal data! Suspicious boats! Extremely good episode directing! And much, much more!

opening the episode with Eri starting her day instead of just going straight to the venue like at the end of the last episode was a really good idea. it’s a moment of quiet before the storm, yet still has the underlying anxiety of “what will the results be?”. and then she gets a nice note from her mom :) even though her mom is busy all the time she still keeps tabs on what important things are happening in Eri’s life

everyone’s huddled around the tablet again to watch the election! except Yujin, who runs late for the entire episode. wonder what was up with that? i don’t think he explains why he was late.

i imagine that being a part of this event is both a terrible bore and stressful. like you either sit there for like five minutes and get called up really quickly or you sit there for several hours and get more and more tense as you wonder just how high you’ll get

“they either took all this personal information for targeted advertising... or they’re using it for something malicious” that sure is how it is these days...

it’s only once the number gets low that Eri even dares let herself hope that she might reach rank 9 or above...

GAH even if you already know the results this part is still really tense! it’s the heavy use of silence combined with shots that emphasize the venue’s emptiness that sells it. this is a really good episode.

the thing that breaks the silence is a shout from her own buddy... and then when the silence is over, it’s nothing but deafening cheers from the crowds and her own song playing! and instead of shots of the empty area where the idols sit, it!s nothing but shots of the smiling crowd! the stadium is actually jam-packed with people! it’s really good payoff for all that tension!

i never figured out how to take screen recordings (all the tutorials i find say that i should have a button but there isn’t one on my tablet??) but i wish i had because screenshots would not do this part justice. she slowly walks up to the podium with clips of her previous focus episodes playing in the background... but they’re overlayed semi-transparently so that you can still see the crowd. i took a screencap anyways cause it’s such a good scene so I went with the flashback that has her at her first audition since there’s such a huge difference between her in the flashback and her now

and then her standing up on the chair is in tune with her song saying “smile for me”...

everyone’s so happy for her!

and then she’s in a quiet hallway, a real 180 after the roar of the crowd, but when compared to the venue it’s dyed in a very warm color that makes it seem more welcoming.

and her mom calls to congratulate her! it’s nice that her work held a little viewing party (though if they keep her working late almost everyday, it’s the least they could do)

her mom is also in a quiet yet warm place, standing aways from the crowd... even though they’re talking on the phone, standing alone like this almost makes them seem very close together.

only just now at the eyecatch. this is a good episode.

and now Unryuji Knight is here to invite her to a boat party. to the audience this seems very bad, but to Eri she just knows that the guy is the CEO of L-Corp and wants her to come to an important party — for her, this is just a sign that getting voted rank 10 is already offering new opportunities

why is Unryuji’s computer in a giant white room. also this screencap looks like Rei is watchin Hackmon play minecraft or something.

“i’ll still need your abilities if i’m going to save Hajime” yeah, like that’s the only reason you risked yourself to save Hackmon. Hackmon looks genuinely surprised that Rei did that.

everyone’s trying to set up a nice party and then Rei rudely gets thrown into the midst of things with vital information. it’s interesting how every escape always winds up taking them to the book store basement (i know it’s because the place is connected to Minerva, but it’s still interesting)

now everyone BUT Eri knows that she’s walking into eminent danger

now she knows she’s in danger. of course Unryuji starts out by complimenting her and making her feel special before going into the evil plan... no wonder he becomes almost buddy-like with Charismon.

and then the way the sun sets while Unryuji is talking to make things darker as his words get darker and to dye the logos on the buildings behind Eri a deep red color...

EDIT: thought about this after finishing the episode again, lol. i keep doing that. Anyways, upon further thought, I realized that the outfit that Unryuji gives to Eri is also full of symbolism. Not only does the outfit no longer contain her theme color (blue), and is much frillier than Eri’s normal clothes, but it also resembles the outfit that Izumi usually wears. It consists of a white shirt with deep pink (so almost red, like Izumi’s clothes) accents. This reflects how Unryuji was trying to scout Eri to make her an idol that was artificially popular and directly served Leviathan — he gave her (she didn’t earn) clothes that resembled the ones of already-popular Izumi. And when Eri refuses, she throws away the outfit from Unryuji and switches back to her normal clothes — she’ll become popular in her own way and with her own power, not by artificial means or by mimicking Izumi or anyone else.

still wish Ai was an App Driver. like, in this particular instance, it comes off as odd that she didn’t accompany the others to the ocean since she was also worried about Eri. sure, she can’t fight without an App Drive, but it seems like there could’ve been some kind of support role she could’ve filled. at the same time, it is cool to see Rei act more like a member of the group.

please leave her personal space

jumping off the boat like that was chou noreru.

Eri and Dokamon were in the ocean... but then the ocean is made of stone in the AR field. so were they stuck in the ground before that beam tore the ground up...?

Out of the frying pan and into the fire... Eri did well at the elections, but now there’s a bunch of scary Appmon to fight?!

#fiftytenlive #digimon #appmon #APM36 #this liveblog is extremely long and extremely good :)

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 62: Final Exam Part 4: Short Essay

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia! Please note, this chapter may undergo more extensive editing before it gets posted to AO3/FF.net, as there’s a lot of fight scenes that may need clarity editing.

Earlier chapters can be found here

The last blast of her Jetpack brought Sora to the ground, where some of her classmates, including Toshi, were waiting. Ordinarily, she might remove her helmet in order to have a clearer conversation or to wipe the sweat from her brown, but with a potential sniper on the loose, it seemed an undue risk. Instead, she used her tongue to adjust the small straw on the helmet’s right cheek and sipped from the juice it offered.

Satisfied with that, she tapped the side of her helmet and activated the communicator. “This is Jet-Red,” she announced. “I spotted nothing on my sweep of the western sector and have returned to base camp.”

Her brother’s voice quickly followed. “Jet-Blue responding,” he said. “Eastern sector air sweep is complete. No sign of any additional civilians or the Villains. They appear to have gone to ground.”

“Slyde here, nothing on the ground sweep of the north sector either,” Haimawari reported. “Heading back home.”

“You’re listening to Channel Stick ‘Em Up,” came Sero’s voice. “Nothing on my aerial view either. Where the hell are they? I didn’t expect to be playing Hide the Villain today. Totally unfair! Midoriya, I thought you said they were coming for us!”

Kirishima-Bakugo’s voice cut in. She was up on the roof of the civilian defense shelter with Kaminari, Aoyama, Izumi, and Shinso. Their ranged fighters, who could rain firepower down on any attackers or more easily shoot Raptor out of the air if it came to it. “Cut the chatter, you damn sorry excuse for a tape dispenser!”

“Okay,” Toshi said, his communicator filled with static. She’d done what she could to repair it, but it had gotten very damaged when he’d smacked into the building. Hopefully, her patch job would hold. “When you guys get back, we’ll brainstorm a new plan. With Shadow-Thief, they could be anywhere.”

As he clicked off the communicator, Toshi let out a sigh. “So much for that plan.” He was discouraged, she could tell. It had been nearly thirty minutes since they had regrouped and he had dispatched the speedier and more mobile members of the class to look for where the Villains might be coming from and they had nothing to show for it.

So many times, she and her classmates looked to him for direction. They always had. Toshi had always been the one looking out for all of them, even when they were small, making sure everyone was getting along, making sure everyone’s needs were met. With the fate of everyone’s passing being tied to this exam, it was little wonder he seemed to be feeling that even more strongly.

“When one hypothesis fails,” she said, “you must select another.” Slightly cautiously, she put her hands on his shoulders. He didn’t flinch away from the contact, which was good. Since they had last talked about it, he had been getting better about not being as anxious when they touched. “We believe in you, Toshi. And we will figure this out.”

Toshi nodded. “Okay, yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Sora.”

“Of course,” she said. “One of the requirements of being your girlfriend is supporting you in your endeavors.” She’d been reading excessively on “how to be a good girlfriend” on the internet. Much of the advice was contradictory and confusing, but she was attempting to sort through it all. If need be, there were more experienced sources of advice within the class as well. “Also, I am as invested in our success as a class as anyone.”

Above, she could hear Shinso’s sonar scream, sent out at regular intervals per Toshi’s directions, sweeping in a wide arc from west to east. The noise would probably let any Villains know they were being watched, but it was better than being caught completely unawares.

“I think I saw something this time!” Shinso reported. “Just a blip though. Like when Shadow-Thief was doing her shadow thing! Big group though… I think she’s moving all of them!”

“It looks like your hypothesis was correct after all,” Sora told Toshi. “Your time scale was merely inaccurate.”

Time scale… time scale… That had to be important…

Oh no.

Sora looked up and tracked the position of the sun in the sky, relative to where it had been early. Her eyes darted to the buildings across the street, where long shadows were starting to draw. Of course. The Villains had waited until they had opportunity to use the shadows to their advantage.

“Aoyama!” she shouted. “We need as much light as you can muster! Across the street! Now!”

But it was too late. The shadows across the street rippled as four figures began to rise out of it. The same Villains Shinso had identified before. Jawbreaker. Raptor. Kamuy. Shadow-Thief.

There was no time. The Villains were here.

“Okay, everybody!” Toshi called out. “Just like we planned it! Let’s take these guys down!”

***

Shinso, Todoroki, Aoyama, Kaminari, and Kirishima-Bakugo were still on the roof, ready to rain their firepower down from above. Tensei Iida, Sero, and Haimawari were still out in the field, heading back to the basecamp. On the ground, that left Midoriya, Sora Iida, Koda, Sato, Ojiro, Mineta, Tokoyami, and Daisuke. He’d been tense, waiting for the moment when the Villains appeared. He was strong, he knew. He was no Deku, of course, but still powerfully built. In training, he was used to be being able to take care of most simulated opponents with just a few blows.

Strength was hardly everything. It was why he trained his reflexes and his senses to their utmost and why he tried to maximize the range and mobility his Extendo-Arms offered him. He doubted that he would ever be a particularly highly ranked Hero, he shied away from the spotlight too much for that without factoring in anything else, but he was determined to be an effective one.

But for the first time, when fighting that Kamuy woman, his strength had been useless. Worse than useless, it had been turned against him. She’d thrown all the strength of his punches right back at him. Not a feeling he relished, nor one he hoped to experience again.

There was barely a moment between the Villains appearing, Midoriya’s direction, and the move by both sides to attack. A barrage of ranged attacks flew forth first: focused laser beams from Aoyama, explosive-infused disks from Kirishima-Bakugo, electrical blasts from Kaminari, waves of sonic-force from Shinso, and gouts of flame from Todoroki. They had the desired effect and the Villains scattered, with Raptor taking to the air on a giant gust of wind, Kamuy going right, and Jawbreaker going left. Shadow-Thief vanished back into the shadows… something that probably wasn’t going to be good.

He saw Sora Iida jetting into the air to fight Raptor, with Tokoyami dispatching Frog-Shadow to fight alongside her. He saw Mineta firing those sticky balls from her horns, trying to tag Kamuy. And before him, he saw Jawbreaker.

The Villain was more massive than Midoriya had described him, now made of both stone and metal, blending unevenly across his form. Daisuke glanced briefly to his right and saw Midoriya, then nodded.

Daisuke was too tall to go low, but he darted this way and that, dodging out of the way of Jawbreaker’s fists. Even weighed down with the extra mass, the big Villain was fast. He swung his second set of arms high and his third set of arms low and extended them out as fast as he could, smacking the Villain with a series of rapid-fire blows. Again and again, like pistons, he fired his four fists out, smacking hard against metal and rock.

“Argh!” He let out a cry of pain as his fists bounced uselessly against the Villain’s hide, not even denting the metal or cracking the rock.

“Was that supposed to hurt?” Jawbreaker taunted. He launched a powerful blow, but Daisuke got all three of his right side-arms in place to block it. That blow hurt too, but not as bad as it would have if he’d taken it full on. He held his ground at least.

“Would have been nice if it had,” he said. “But I’m just the distraction.”

Midoriya’s gravity enhanced fist smashed into the side of Jawbreaker’s head, sending him flying. Daisuke would be lying if he said he didn’t envy the gravity-backed powers Midoriya could put behind his blows. They made his best triple-haymaker look like a love tap. Jawbreaker skipped like a stone across the street for a moment, before digging in his fingers to stop himself. When he was stable, he jaw opened wide and he took a huge bite out of the street, his scoop like jaw shoveling in cement. As he did, he got bigger still, patches of cement spreading across his body.

Midoriya gave him a concerned look. “You up for hitting him some more? We’ve got to get him closer to our ranged attackers.”

Daisuke shrugged. He was definitely going to have sore knuckles after this. “Might as well…”

***

Mika let out a whoop as her sticky balls successfully pinned Kamuy’s feet to the ground. “In your face, giant lady!” she taunted, making a face. The massive woman was struggling to free her feet, shooting daggers in her direction.

“Ah, maybe don’t taunt the giant woman, Mineta?” Sato suggested.

“Definitely not a good idea,” Ojiro agreed.

There was a non-zero chance they were right. At the end of the day, her balls were very sticky, but they weren’t the universal sealant. On the other hand, seeing the woman fume was so much fun!

“When I get out of here,” Kamuy growled, “I am going to send you to the glue-factory, horse girl!”

“Oh, whatever,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “And I keep telling people, I’m a cow, now a horse!”

She pointed to Kamuy, turning her head to their snipers. “Todoroki! How about you show her how to chill?”

Above, Todoroki pointed and ice began to form around Kamuy. Mika wasn’t exactly sure on what her range was, but whatever it was, it was good. Being able to draw in heat and form ice just by pointing was a damn useful talent.

“Dammit,” Kamuy said. “Didn’t want to do this this early… Going to make you regret it, kid.” She seemed to shimmer for a second, then slammed a fist into the ground. The resultant shockwave rippled outward, blowing Mika, Ojiro, and Sato off their feet, and shattering both the her balls and Todoroki’s ice.

When Mika’s head stopped spinning, she could see Kamuy approaching her. She looked noticeably smaller, though still just as tall and still built like a truck. But noticeably less bulky all the same. She’d probably had to expend a lot of power to do that shockwave then.

Shinso had been surprisingly light on the details of Kamuy’s Quirk. She’d apparently only had a handful of public conflicts with Heroes before being imprisoned. But if they could get her to keep expending energy, maybe she’d run out?

She tried to prop herself up, but Kamuy was faster. The giant woman lifted her by her neck, squeezing just enough to hurt, but not so bad that she couldn’t breathe. Obviously, these guys weren’t allowed to kill them. No matter how much Aizawa had threatened to kick all their asses over the course of the term.

“No smartass remarks now, huh?” Kamuy asked, holding her at eye level. “You got me a little mad, but when I get mad, things get broken.” She raised Mika up a little higher, ready to give her a toss. “This is your last roundup, Hero.”

If she wasn’t about to get slammed into the pavement, Mika would really have appreciated the taunt. As far as those went, it was a good one. She kicked, ineffectively, slamming her hooves into Kamuy’s stomach. Of course, with her Quirk, it wasn’t doing much.

“You know,” Mika grunted, “you’re forgetting something…”

“Am I?” Kamuy’s lips pulled back in a sneer. “What’s that?”

“This close, I don’t gotta aim my balls. What goes up… comes down!”

She fired off a ball from her left horn and jerked her own head back. It didn’t go far, but it did distract Kamuy enough to look up. The ball smacked her right in the face. It wasn’t a big one, barely the size of a softball, but it did cover one eye and hit her with a pretty solid plop! The shock made her release Mika, who fell to the ground on her butt in an undignified heap.

Which was when Ojiro struck. Or at least, that’s what Mika assumed happened. Something struck Kamuy’s legs anyway, causing her to topple over backwards into a hole that definitely wasn’t there before.

“…What?”

“Sorry,” Sato said, suddenly at her side and offering her a hand up. She noticed he had some dirt on his face around his lips. The hole had to be his doing then. Beside him, Ojiro came back into view. “Didn’t mean for that to take so long.”

“Had to wait for a moment where we could actually do something,” Ojiro said. “Even if she didn’t see me, not much I could do unless she was off-balance.”

Mika waved it off. “Nah, you guys did good.”

Unfortunately, all it had bought them was a brief respite. Kamuy jumped out of the hole, landing with a solid thump.

She cracked her knuckles noisily. “You little Heroes used up your shot. Now it’s my turn.”

***

In the time between Tensei’s communication with the others and his arrival back at the civilian defense shelter, the scene had become a warzone. Below, he could see Shoji and Toshi fighting with Jawbreaker, with even Toshi’s gravity backed ricochet blows having little effect on the massive Villain. Haimawari arrived on the ground moments later, peppering Jawbreaker with his blasts, but he succeeded in only distracting him long enough to buy Toshi and Shoji a moment.

Also on the ground, Mineta, Sato, and Ojiro were dodging out of the way of Kamuy, mostly looking like they were trying to avoid giving her any additional power. Based upon his observation, she had decreased in overall mass by at least fifteen percent since his previous encounter with her. Tensei winced as Sato narrowly avoided another of the woman’s blows, but let out a sigh of relief as Takuma finally arrived on the scene, temporarily restraining Kamuy with his tape.

And in the air… Raptor was putting up a valiant fight against his sister and Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow. According to both Shinso and Takuma, the winged Villain could not actually “fly” like winged Heroes like Hawks or Kestrel, instead relying on his ability to generate powerful winds to keep himself aloft. It required a continuous expenditure and forced him to keep himself in motion, much like his and his sister’s Jetpack Quirks.

But Raptor’s wind blasts were enough to keep both of his attacks from reaching him. Tensei poured on his speed as he watched his sister fire the capture rope built into her gauntlet, but it too was buffeted by the winds and fell back harmlessly.

Fortunately, Raptor did not see him. With one final burst of speed, he came up on the Villain and swung out a fist for a high speed punch. It connected with a solid clang of armored fist on flesh, sending Raptor tumbling out of the air.

“Good to see you are safe, Little Brother!” Sora said, as they both jetted after the Villain, who was flapping his wings and calling up a gale to right himself.

“As I must remind you, I am a statistically insignificant amount of time younger than you!” he snapped back. “That appellation is highly inappropriate!”

“Hey, argue later!” Frog-Shadow shouted after them, being recalled by Tokoyami. “Sheesh, when I’m being the sensible one…”

A sharp blade of wind split the air between them, forcing both Tensei and his sister into evasive maneuvers. The familiar was right. It was hardly the time for arguments. Instead, it was time for…

Tensei turned his head slightly to look at his sister, who, seeming to have sensed his intent, was now looking at him. “Double Rocket Attack?” he asked.

“Double Rocket Attack!” Sora confirmed, confidently.

Both adjusted their flight paths so they were facing each other, then linked hands and fired an extra boost of speed through their Jetpacks. It sent them spinning and both stretched their legs out as far as they would go. Spinning around and around, Tensei’s legs smacked hard into Raptor, followed immediately by Sora’s, again and again.

“And make way for me!” Frog-Shadow shouted. Tensei and Sora backed off as, at what appeared to be Tokoyami’s direction, Frog-Shadow-swooped in and rushed Raptor, slamming into his mid-section, her arms and hands extending to grab his wings. Pinned, he seemed helpless as he slammed into the ground not far from Tokoyami.

Tensei touched down, Sora right behind him. “Is he subdued?” he asked.

“I am afraid not,” Tokoyami replied. “He is… struggling still.”

She was right. Frog-Shadow was strong, of course, but Raptor seemed to be a rather powerful Villain as well. And while she had pinned his wings enough to prevent them from use in flight, she could not grasp every feather… The tips of his wings snapped forward, hitting Frog-Shadow with focused and sharp blades of wind. The familiar let out a cry of alarm and pain one echoed by Tokoyami, and snapped back, allowing him to rise again. Raptor got back on his feet in an instant, wings spreading out behind him for another attack. They snapped forward, shooting out another blade of air. But it sailed over their heads.

“Ha!” Sora taunted. “You missed, Villain!”

Raptor simply sneered. “Did I?”

Tensei turned to look behind them, just in time to watch the wave of pressurized air slam into the roof of the civilian defense shelter, sending their classmates tumbling over the edge!

***

Koharu let out a sharp gasp as the members of Class 1-A who were on the roof were sent tumbling over the edge by the wind blast from Raptor. The girl with the white and red hair—Todoroki, she remembered now—reacted quickly though, forming an ice slide that brought them down to the ground chillily and probably uncomfortably, but all in one piece. The explosive girl, Kirishima-Bakugo, checked on Todoroki to make sure she was okay, but Todoroki pointed towards the fight. With that, the students who had been on the roof joined the fight proper.

“Still waiting on that answer, Kocho,” Aizawa said. “What would you do against these Villains?”

“Give the girl a break, Aizawa,” All Might said. “She wasn’t expecting to get challenged like that.”

“Heroes have to think on their feet,” Aizawa said. “If she can’t do that, she’s got no business joining my class.”

“She’s in the room, you two,” Vice-Principal Midnight reminded them.

“It’s, it’s okay,” Koharu said. “It’s a fair question.” On the screens, she watched as Kirishima-Bakugo hit Jawbreaker with a series of explosive-backed punches, giving Midoriya, Haimawari, and Shoji a brief respite. Even as he swatted her away, Shinso hit the Villain with a sonic blast of force.

“That the best you can do, kid?” Jawbreaker taunted, looming large over the small boy, who suddenly seemed even smaller in the moment. “You giving me the kid’s gloves treatment?”

There was a stillness in the room, a baited breath that told her this was a very important moment, even if she didn’t understand the context.

“Not… even… CLOSE!” Shinso made the word itself into a scream, hitting Jawbreaker with a much more powerful blast that knocked the Villain across the street.

“I knew he still had it in him!” Aizawa said, very nearly rising from his seat. Was he… proud? What was the story there? All Might and Midnight were much less restrained, letting out louder cheers.

“Ahem,” Aizawa said. “Back to the question.”

“Er, yes, sir,” Koharu said. “Jawbreaker… He’s got to see, right? So I’d probably try to blind him with my String Shot. I’m not strong enough to hurt him and he doesn’t look like he breathes, so I couldn’t use any of my scale powders, like my paralysis agent or my poison, so… I might be able to restrain him or at least keep him busy until somebody with a different Quirk comes along.”

Aizawa did not give her any indication as to whether or not that was the correct answer.

On the screens, the fights went on. Sero and Mineta combined their sticky Quirks to restrain Kamuy, setting up Kaminari and Todoroki to join the fight. Todoroki flicked a hand, sending out a wave of ice that covered her legs and temporarily immobilizing her, while Kaminari unleashed an electrical blast from her gauntlets. Kamuy jerked under the attack for a moment, but then began to laugh.

“Oh, yeah!” she cackled. “That’s the stuff!” She was growing larger and more muscular, breaking out of the ice easily.

“Oh, no fair!” Mineta shouted, dodging out of the way of Kamuy’s blows. “She can absorb energy too?! I know Shinso didn’t say that!”

“In his defense,” Aizawa said, seeming to come to the boy’s defense, “it didn’t come up much. All of her recorded battles were with Heroes with more physical Quirks.”

Koharu winced at Kamuy tagged Mineta with a heavy punch. The horned girl went flying, went down, and did not get up. Sero wrapped a strip of tape around her arm, but she flicked her arm and pulled him to her instead, smashing her other fist into his face with enough force to crack his helmet and drop him instantly.

“Um,” she said, feeling slightly bad watching 1-A get beat up like that. “Kamuy absorbs physical attacks. So I wouldn’t want to engage directly. But my scales would probably work. Keep her distracted, keep her fighting and breathing hard, and I could paralyze her or put her to sleep.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option for the students fighting her. Powerful blows quickly took down Sato, the poor guy not getting a chance to do much now that she was powered up and enraged. Probably revenge for dropping the telephone pole on her. Kamuy turned her attention back to Kaminari and Todoroki, with Kaminari putting herself in front of the girl with the two-tone hair. Koharu watched as she plugged her Extension Cords into other parts of her uniform, opening panels that revealed lights and speakers. The resulting sound and light barrage stunned Kamuy for a moment, giving the girls a moment to retreat. In the resultant confusion, Koharu realized she’d lost track of Ojiro…

On another screen, the Heroes fighting Raptor were doing a little better than the rest. The glowing boy, Aoyama, had joined the Iida twins and Tokoyami, adding bolts of blinding light to the fight. With Raptor disoriented, the twins both jetted around him, firing some kind of capture line from their gauntlets, circling him several times to pin his wings. Tokoyami sent forth her frog thing again, and this time it let Raptor have it with a one-two punch that sent his head spinning, knocking the winged man down and out.

“And him,” Koharu said, “I’d probably end up fighting in the air, which isn’t great, even if I can actually fly and he’s just blasting himself around. Because those winds could send anything I send at him back or somewhere else. I’m immune to my own scales, but other people wouldn’t be. Too risky. He’s tough… but I might have to risk trying to out-fly-fight him. He doesn’t look like he’s meant for fighting someone who can stay up in the air with him.”

“Good answers!” All Might told her. The compliment made her smile. “Two out of five down. Think they can pull it off?”

***

Kimiko was about to do something incredibly stupid. But Mineta and Kenta were down and nothing Todoroki or Kaminari were throwing at Kamuy was going anything to slow her down for more than a moment. Plus, there was the whole absorbing energy thing to deal with, which nullified Kaminari’s best attacks.

She’d gone invisible as soon as the woman had started swinging. It had kept her safe, but it wasn’t doing anybody else any good. Kimiko considered herself pretty good in a fight and she was a master of hitting things (as Kenta and Takuma could tell you), but against Kamuy…

Todoroki unleashed a blast of flame and that was what finally made Kamuy falter, dodging out of the way of the fire. Fire wasn’t really energy like Kaminari’s electricity was, so maybe she couldn’t absorb that? Over her shoulder, she could see the group that had been fighting Raptor rushing to join the last two ongoing fights. The Twins were jetting off to help Midoriya’s group, while Aoyama and Tokoyami were coming Kamuy’s direction.

Either way, she had an opening. It was time to do something stupid. Keeping herself invisible and silent, she took a running jump and landed on Kamuy’s back.

“What the hell?” Kamuy shouted, trying to reach back to dislodge her. But as muscular as she was, she didn’t have the flexibility to dislodge her, especially since she couldn’t see her. Her legs wrapped around Kamuy’s middle, Kimiko reached up and put her hands on Kamuy’s face and extended her Quirk. Normally, when she extended her Quirk over someone else, if she did it right, she could allow them to continue to see, even though light was no longer reaching their eyes. Some kind of layering thing, Doctor Izumi had said, where she wasn’t stopping all of it, just some of it.

But if she pushed it just right…

She couldn’t see it, but she could only imagine the horror show that was Kamuy’s eyes disappearing from her face. “I can’t see!” Kamuy screamed, thrashing this way and that to try shake Kimiko off, but she’d learned more than a few things from her dad about clinging like a monkey. “Gonna kill you, brat…!”

“Hit her now, guys!” Kimiko yelled. “Hit her now!”

“But, I can’t…” Kaminari started.

“It would not be safe…” Todoroki added.

Right. Dammit. Kaminari’s electricity and Todoroki’s fire would probably hurt her too. Her best idea yet in this fight and she hadn’t thought it all the way through!

“Then leave it to moi!” Aoyama called out. She could hear a faint sound, growing louder, a high pitched whine as he powered up his light to intense levels. “Blinding Dazzle Beam!” Focused on Kamuy, Kimiko couldn’t see him from her perch, but she could hear the sound of a powerful laser firing.

Tokokyami’s voice joined in. “Verdant Cross-Slash!”

“Here I go!”

Kimiko jumped off just in time to see the combination of Aoyama’s laser and Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow strike Kamuy, taking the big woman completely off guard and knocking her down.

“All right!” Kaminari shouted, doing what Kimiko hoped was supposed to be a victory dance. “Go team! Take that, scary giant lady!”

“Um, Chihiro…” Todoroki began, looking behind Kaminari.

“Not now, Izumi, I’m doing my victory dance!”

“I really think you should listen,” Tokoyami said.

“And look behind you,” Aoyama added.

“And please stop dancing,” Kimiko said. “It’s just embarrassing. And really not the time…!”

“Okay, I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, but I’m going to turn around and… aw, dammit!”

Kamuy was getting right back up. She was steaming and shrinking a little, maybe using some of what she’d absorbed to keep herself going… but she was far from down. The giant woman clapped her hands together faster than the eye could follow, unleashing a massive shockwave.

Kimiko only had time to scream before everything went dark.

#their hero academia #my hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing #kimiko ojiro #daisuke shoji #tensei iida (THA)#sora iida #Koharu Kocho #shouta aizawa

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 5 years

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 25: Toshi Midoriya—Boyfriend, Student, Personal Trainer, Wingman

Presenting the latest raw and unedited chapter of my ongoing, next gen, My Hero Academia fan fic, Their Hero Academia!

All previous chapters (and an infrequently updated sub-series devoted to the past of the universe) can be found https://archiveofourown.org/users/zylly/works

Toshi’s hair was still slightly damp as he entered the Common Room. He’d started the morning early, as he always did, gone for his morning run with Katsumi and Kana Tetsutetsu, then returned to the dorm for a shower and then breakfast. Tetsutetsu had been asking a lot of questions about Haimawari, which he’d answered as best he could, though he really wasn’t sure what was up with that. Ah well, if it was important, he’d probably figure it out.

The TV was on and he could see that Izumi and Askuka were watching it. He could hear a little of it. “…truck driver found dead this morning, appears to have been murdered sometime last night with no sign of his truck. Local police are being tight lipped and have not yet named any suspects. However, the driver did work for a shipping company with numerous government contracts…”

Well, that was a little weird. But before he could think any more about it, he was interrupted by arms wrapping around him from behind and the feeling of something—no, two somethings—very large, very soft, and very warm pressing into his back. “Good morning, Toshi!”

We’re sorry, Toshi dot exe has failed and cannot respond at this time. Please try again later.

It had only been a week, but he still couldn’t believe that Sora Iida liked him. Liked him liked him. Enough that last Sunday she’d accosted him when he’d gotten back from his morning run to confess. And, well, she was pretty and excitable and all kinds of amazing things and he was pretty sure he liked her too. They were young and figuring this kind of stuff out was what life was all about.

He didn’t know if she was getting advice from Mika Mineta or if this was just her usual lack of regard for personal space amped up now that they were dating, but he was pretty sure only an idiot would complain about it. Even if she seemed to be moving kind of fast. Sora was… really physically demonstrative. And he wasn’t sure he should be complaining about that, but still, fast.

…He really needed relationship advice, but he was also pretty sure, based on the stories of them in school, that Mom and Dad were not the ones to give it, nor Uncle Shoto and Aunt Momo, or Uncles Kacchan and Eijiro.

Aunt Mina had always said that any of them could come to her with relationship advice too, but he was pretty sure that was a really bad idea. Maybe Aunt Tsu? She was definitely the most sensible person in his parents’ class that he knew…

Sora gave him another squeeze. He gave her hand a squeeze, before she relaxed her grip and let him turn around. She was taller than him by several inches, shorter only than Shoji and Koda. It puts him at an… interesting level in comparison to her.

Toshi grined. “Good morning, Sora.” He frowned, though, when he saw the bags under her eyes, in spite of seemingly brimming with energy. “How much coffee have you had?”

“Just three…ish cups?” she tried, hesitating as she sees his eyes narrow. “…From the big mug.”

“Sora,” he said, “we talked about this. Coffee isn’t a substitute for sleep.”

She crossed her arms and huffed. “And I’m just supposed to let all my good ideas go to waste!?”

“If it’s a good idea at 2300, it’ll be a good idea at 0800.”

“Now you sound like Father,” Sora said. “That is not proper boyfriend soundings!”

Toshi held up both hands in a pacifying gesture. “Okay, okay, okay,” he said. “No dad-ing. I promise. Just… maybe ease off the coffee, okay? I can’t boyfriend if you’re so exhausted you can’t think.”

“…Your statement is not without logic,” Sora admitted. “I will have to incorporate these new variables!”

How did Uncle Tenya handle Aunt Mei?! Toshi was in way over his head here!

***

“All right,” Mister Aizawa said, “settle down. Before we begin today’s lessons, we have something important to discuss. The Sports Festival and the work-study week that follows.”

Toshi stole a moment to glance at the back row of the classroom, where Haimawari sat. He’d been talking his friend up to his dad fairly frequently now, telling him about his drive and his amazing Quirk. With no heroic background and so many second (or greater) generation students in this year’s crop of first years, Toshi knew that most eyes would be on people with proven legacies and now newcomers to the field. Haimawari was a good guy and deserved whatever kind of leg up he could get. It didn’t hurt that he was exactly the kind of person Dad almost always picked.

Toshi just hoped the shock didn’t kill him when it happened.

“We’ve had heroic legacies in the Sports Festival before,” Aizawa went on. “But this is the first year where we have classes primarily composed of the children of active Pro-Heroes, including the majority of the Top Ten. Combined with the uncertainty surrounding the Quirk Virus situation… needless to say, the eyes of the world will be on this Sports Festival more than any other.”

He fixed the class with an icy glare. “I am certain your parents are planning something. I’ve already forbidden them from extending offers to their own children, so don’t think you’re going to coast by. But knowing them, they’ve already made arrangements to exploit the loophole in that. However, as your teacher, I have final veto power over whatever offers you may receive.”

His eyes narrowed. “If I catch any of you at the Sports Festival performing at anything less than your best, I will see all offers extended to you declared null and void. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Mister Aizawa,” Toshi mouthed, along with the rest of the class.

Aizawa seemed satisfied with that, nodding slightly. He briefly looked down at the lectern to consult a piece of paper. “Doc Clock has also asked me to pass on the message that if any of you try anything like what Deku or Shoto did at your parents’ first Sports Festival, she will refuse to use her Quirk on you and instead leave you to Recovery Girl’s care.”

A small grin of paternal pride traced its way across his face.

As for the Festival itself, Toshi wasn’t worried. He was good with his Quirk, though he knew he could be better. But that pretty much applied to everybody in the class. Of course, the variable nature of the middle round made things a little more complicated and there was always the possibility of something new… But there was no sense in getting worked up about it.

No, if anything, it was the Tournament Round that concerned him the most. What if he had to fight somebody in from the class? So many of them were his friends, practically his family. He wasn’t sure he could really go all out fighting them.

What if he had to fight Sora?!

***

Two weeks. That’s what they had to get ready for the Sports Festival. And Toshi was bound and determined to make the most of it. With Heroics Class replaced by free-training periods for those two weeks, they had plenty of opportunity. The chance to show his parents, show the world, just how good he could be.

Despite having a dad who was the Number One Hero and a mom who usually ranked somewhere in the low thirties, Toshi did not consider himself having to escape from their shadow. He’d known, almost from the moment he’d decided to be a Hero, that there would be plenty of people who’d think of him as nothing more than Deku’s kid. And Dad, as the Symbol of Hope, was a standard no one could hope to match up to. They could only do like he did, and follow Dad’s example, and give it his best.

Toshi probably wasn’t going to be the next Number One Hero… but he was going to be the best Hero that he could. And he was going to help his friends be the best that they could be too.

Which was why he’d taken some time to help Haimawari and Shota, in one of the dojo-style training gyms. Both of them had great Quirks… but neither was the best physical fighter in the world. Haimawari relied on speed and zooming around, while Shota tended to rely on the raw power of his Quirk when fighting. Nejire had also managed to take Haimawari out rather quickly when she and the Laughing Man had attacked them during training, though that might have been from the speed and surprise as much as anything else.

Toshi got that. He was used to using his Quirk to bounce around, rapidly shifting from low to high gravity to bounce around and then hit like a freight train. But he also knew how to fight without it. Straight up brawling techniques from Dad, Gunhead-Style martial arts moves from Mom.

He brought up a hand, palm up, and moved his fingers in a “come and get me” gesture. “Okay, guys,” he said. “Two of you against one of me. No Quirks. Let’s do this.”

Haimawari rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “If you say so, Midoriya…”

“Kaaaai-yaah!” Shota let out a non-supersonic scream and rushed him. Toshi easily sidestepped his purple-haired friend and gave him a small shove, knocking him down to the mats.

Haimawari was slightly more cautious, throwing a few careful punches that seemed more designed to test him that to actually connect. With his long arms and legs, Haimawari actually had pretty decent range. If he could get a little power going behind them, he’d be pretty effective.

Toshi tossed off a jab of his own, probing Haimawari’s defenses. He missed and Haimawari actually managed to take him, striking him in the face with a blow.

He instantly pulled back, even as Toshi was seeing stars. “Oh, oh, no, Midoriya, I didn’t mean…”

Toshi just laughed. His opinion of Haimawari as a fighter obviously needed revising. “Why didn’t you tell me you could hit like that?”

“That was awesome!” Shota piped in, none the worse for wear in body or spirit from his tumble. “Only people I’ve seen hit Toshi like that are Kirishima-Bakugo and Tetsutetsu!”

Haimawari looked a bit embarrassed, chuckling nervously. “It’s nothing, just something my dad taught me, that his mentor taught him. From, ah, from when he was doing a neighborhood watch kind of thing.”

Something about the way he said that made Toshi think there was more to the story, but he didn’t really want to press it. It wasn’t like he wasn’t privy to secrets that he wasn’t allowed to share.

“Seriously, though,” Toshi said. “I thought you said you didn’t know how to fight without your Quirk.”

Haimawari laughed nervously again. “More like… I don’t want to? I don’t like the idea of hurting people, especially for something just like showing off like the Sports Festival. Guess what I really need is psyching up.”

Toshi punched the palm of his other hand. “Okay, mental conditioning. We can work on that.”

He looked over at Shota. “You… on the other hand…”

Shota looked a little embarrassed. “Yeah… I might need a little more help. Dad says it wasn’t until Uncle Shota started mentoring him that he really got any kind of good at fighting.”

“Well,” Toshi said, “I’m no Eraserhead, but I’ll do my best…”

***

Fortunately, it got better from there. Haimawari was better than he’d expected going in, even after that first punch. There was a lot of wildness to his punches and kicks, but even without his Quirk, he was fast and had plenty of reach. If he combined that with his Quirk, getting in a few hits and then getting away, and repeating that, he’d do great against anyone with a short range Quirk.

Getting Shota to actually think about his moves before going all in was really the hard part, and once he got past that, it wasn’t too bad. He wasn’t going to be as good a fighter as Uncle Hitoshi was, but at least he wouldn’t be breaking his hand if he punched somebody at the Sports Festival. And they still had two weeks.

Shota was bent over, hands on his legs, struggling to breathe. “I’m okay… I’m okay… I’m pretty sure I’m okay… The room was always spinning, right?”

“Take it easy, dude,” Haimawari said, guiding him over to one of the benches and helping him sit down. He got Shota’s water bottle and handed it to him.

“Small sips, Shota,” Toshi told him. “Don’t overdo it. You’ll just throw up.”

Shota reluctantly complied; Toshi could tell he’d been ready to guzzle it. “This… gets… easier, right?” he gasped.

Toshi nodded. “Eventually. We’ll try and do a little endurance work too.”

“Don’t know if I’ve said it, but I really do appreciate this, Midoriya,” Haimawari said, taking a drink of his water. He was sweating and breathing hard, but not nearly as badly as Shota. He was actually in pretty decent shape, probably because his Quirk was more of a physical one. But he was built like a runner, not a brawler, so what he could do was a little different.

“Happy to help,” Toshi replied. “We’re all in this together, after all.”

“Not worried I’ll take your spot at the Festival? Me and Dad watch it every year… it gets pretty competitive.”

Toshi waved it off. “Nah. I’m gonna do my best, you’re gonna do your best, that’s all that really matters.”

“How do you think it’s gonna go, Toshi?” Shota asked, no longer panting. He looked a healthier color too. “I bet you’re gonna win it! I mean, Uncle Deku did his second year and third year, and he’s your dad, so he probably taught you everything, even if your Quirks are kinda different, and…”

“I really don’t know, Shota,” Toshi said, a little bit quickly. Sometimes, you had to fight to get a word in edgewise with Shota. “Everybody’s got really great Quirks, not just us, but in the other classes too. And there’s always a surprise or two in the General Studies classes. Especially since we don’t know what the first two events will be.”

The first event was usually something that required covering distance and the second was always one that required teams, but that was about the only parameters that could be guessed. Toshi had seen everything from obstacle courses in the first to Quirk-backed games of dodgeball in the second and there wasn’t much predictable pattern to it.

He held out his hand, pam to the ground. “But when it does, we’re gonna be ready for it, right?”

Haimawari put his hand over Toshi’s. “Right.”

Shota did the same. “Right!”

“You three done nerding it up yet?” a voice from behind asked. Toshi turned to see Katsumi and Kana Tetsutetsu.

“I have yet to reach maximum nerd,” Toshi said, smirking. There’d been no malice in what she’d said. Katsumi just had to get everyone a hard time. It was just who she was. “Hey Tetsutetsu.”

“Hey yourself, Midoriya,” Tetsutetsu said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Katsumi said. “Well, make yourself useful and come show me some of those moves Aunt Ochaco taught you. Bring the Loud Kid too.”

“Shota. My name is Shota. You know that, Kirishima-Bakugo!”

“Sure it is,” Katsumi said. “C’mon.”

Okay, something was clearly up. He and Katsumi sparred sometimes, but she never just flat out asked him to show her any moves. Did this have anything to do with what Tetsutetsu been asking about this morning? Was… was Katsumi being her wingwoman? For Haimawari?

This was a day for the record books.

“Yeah, sure, I can do that,” he said. “C’mon, Shota.”

Shota, however, clearly wasn’t picking up on the subtext. “I don’t think I can fight anymore, Toshi,” he said, stifling a yawn.

“Then watch and learn, Loud Kid!” Katsumi shouted.

“Why don’t you come along,” Toshi said. He might as well play along with this. If only to get Katsumi out of having to play wingwoman any further. “Tetsutetsu, don’t think you’ve met Haimawari? You could probably show him some moves I can’t.”

“’Probably’?” Tetsutetsu asked. “You know I can, Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Haimawari.”

“Likewise,” Haimawari said, smiling. He looked like he knew something was up, but couldn’t figure it out. He offered Tetsutetsu a hand and she shook it, leaving him massaging his fingers afterwards.

Just a couple weeks into school and everybody was jumping into relationships. He was hardly one to talk, of course, but it still amazed him. Especially for all of them that had known each other for most of their lives. But here, away from their parents for the first time, maybe they were just figuring out who they wanted to be.

***

“Watch and learn, Loud Kid,” Katsumi said. She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, hands up in a fighting position, before launching a powerful right hook. It was her signature move and she always telegraphed it. Toshi’d also been on the receiving end of it many times when sparring with her. Even when you could see it coming, Katsumi was fast.

Fortunately, he had time to dodge, and return fire, coming at Katsumi with a few quick jabs. She got her guard up though, deflecting his blows easily. “Gonna have to do better than that, Toshi,” she said, with a wicked grin.

Toshi dropped low, sweeping his leg. He knocked Katsumi down, but she was right back up before he could capitalize on it. He dodged her return strikes, shifting left and right rapidly. “Didn’t take you for the type to play wingwoman,” he said.

He blocked her next strike and even that stung like hell. “All I did was get you two out of the way,” she replied. “I wanted to spar with you anyway. If I can help out a friend, I can put up with a little lovey-dovey nonsense.”

Toshi knew she’d been turned down by Izumi after confessing her long buried feeling. That had to have hurt some, but she seemed to be plowing through it in her usual fashion. Which was not dealing with her more complicated emotions. Which probably wasn’t healthy. But all he could do was be there for his friend.

His friend who’d nearly taken his head off with her follow-up punch! He got his head out of the way, but she connected solidly with his shoulder. He grunted, firing off rapid fire punches in return that she deflected, until he altered his pattern, two right hand blows one after the other instead of a left and a right and felt his fist connect solidly with her chest.

Katsumi winced and backed off, keeping herself light on her feet. Laughing, she said, “Did you just bunch me in the boob, Toshi? What would your girlfriend say?”

Toshi’s eyes went wide for a second, before he recovered. “Very funny,” he said. Typical Katsumi, always trying to get a rise out of him.

They exchanged more blows, hammering away, deflecting, retreating, and coming back at each other. But without Quirks, they were just too evenly matched with each other for there to be a clear victor. Katsumi was probably stronger, but he was just lighter enough on his feet to make up for it. With both of them realizing that, they took a step back and exchanged boys.

Shota broke into applause. “That. Was. AWESOME! You gotta show me how to do that!”

Katsumi just laughed. It wasn’t a cruel laugh, but he could tell she didn’t really believe Shota had much of a chance in a physical contest. “Stick to what you’re good at, Loud Kid. Scream your way through.”

An idea occurred to Toshi and he had to turn away for a moment to hide his grin. “I don’t know, Katsumi, I was going to get Shota up to speed anyway, but if you don’t think you can train him good enough, I guess I’ll have to do it…”

The glare she shot him was worth it. “Oh, hell no. I didn’t say I didn’t think I could.” She snapped her fingers, then pointed at Shota. “I’m gonna train you until your arms fall off, Loud Kid! That’ll show you, Toshi!”

Toshi had to hide his grin again. Shota would get the training he needed and Katsumi would have a goal she could work on to keep from dwelling on things. If you knew what you were doing, helping your friends wasn’t too hard.

And he was going to do his best to make sure every one of his friends had a chance to shine.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing #toshi midoriya

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