Chapter 16: Training Montage

Summary: Group A gears up for the upcoming Heroics Tournament with some serious training! Kirishima gets shot! Jirou discovers how dangerous she really is. And poor Kamanri is thrown to a pink-haired wolf...

Chapter 16: Training Montage

Kirishima groaned as he rubbed the spot where his arm had just been shot. Again. For the third time in less than twenty minutes. This time, there was a tiny trickle of blood oozing from an equally tiny prick in his skin. It was slightly disappointing, but he supposed it did mean he didn't need to be shot again. It still hurt like a bitch even if he's discovered he was technically bullet proof. He flinched an instant later as Izumi seemed to teleport into place next to him, first aid kit in hand. She'd obviously seen the blood as well, as she let out a distressed noise and quickly grabbed an appropriately sized bandage from the kit. Swiftly moving hands deftly disinfected the small puncture and sealed it with the bandage, even as 2B displayed the results of the test. Momo, once she was sure Izumi had the first aid in hand, looked the results over and told him what they'd discovered.

"Okay, Kirishima, the good news is that you're pretty much immune to handguns. Even at short range and regardless of caliber. There are almost certainly some exceptions out there, particularly Quirk related ones, but they will be the exception, not the rule. Less good news is that your current limit seems to be right on 1,200 ME. Meaning that a lot of common rifle rounds will still be dangerous for you, particularly at close range. It's less of an issue in Japan than in most place…but guns are still a lot more common now than they were in the pre-Quirk era. So keep in mind that rifles are still bad news for you, just as they are for anyone else."

Kirishima grinned, not at all deterred. It was still pretty damn badass to know he could technically claim to be bullet proof! And that he'd been manly enough to test it!

... ...

Jirou stared at the target dummy with wide eyes. Admittedly, she wasn't the only one. Given that said target dummy had a fist-sized hole right through its chest, Momo and Izumi could be forgiven for being nearly as shocked as Jirou was. The only one, in fact, that didn't seem to be at all surprised was 2B. She was hovering nearby, possessing a scout Pod with all the sensor gear they could stuff in it, and the other three people present swung their gazes to her as she let out a contemplative hum.

"It seems that the amplification effect of Ms. Jirou's Quirk is exponential, rather than linear. I suspected as much, given the degree of sonic energy required to make those boots of hers functional. Particularly with the sub-standard amplifiers in the boots themselves. Also as expected, so long as the QE pattern stored is hers, it cascades with itself when released all at once."

Izumi and Momo got it immediately, but Jirou looked lost. Seeing that, Izumi was quick to explain.

"Remember how we said we added QE capacitors to the new canon, so that your jacks don't actually have to be hooked into them all the time? What we were hoping for was that, since it's your QE pattern that is stored in the capacitors, you'd be able to withdraw your jacks for use in other ways while still keeping a 'stored' attack. Those kinds of capacitors can't hold a specific pattern for long, maybe twenty minutes at most. But it would have given you more flexibility, particularly if you add any of the other support gear we thought up."

Jirou frowned, waving to the damaged dummy.

"Yeah, I got that when you explained it the first time. But…what the hell does it have to do with that."

Momo rescued her from Izumi's no doubt hyper-detailed explanation by speaking up first, rolling her eyes and putting a hand over Izumi's mouth.

"It means that we accidently created something like Bakugo's gauntlets. When you released the stored energy plus your own new energy from your jack, they mixed together and exponentially magnified each other. The result was a much more potent attack than expected." Gesturing to the dummy, Momo lifted the hand from Izumi mouth to the top of her head, absently giving her a headpat as she finished her explanation. "Izumi and I thought they might mix, but we were expecting a linear improvement. Apparently, 2B anticipated otherwise."

All eyes returned to 2B's pod, which dipped in acknowledgement.

"Yes. I scanned everyone's equipment on the first day. The amplifiers in Jirou's boots are trash any company could make. For them to be able to shatter concrete with nothing but her heartbeat, there had to be something else going on. I suspect whoever designed them was actually quite talented, despite the low-quality amplifiers, as a closer look showed they are intended to feed the sound back into itself. This creates a cascade powerful enough to do what Jirou intended the boots to do."

Izumi facepalmed, then sighed.

"You could have mentioned that, you know! Now we're going to have to create some sort of mechanism to allow Jirou to 'dial' the power. Multiple smaller capacitors, maybe? All cascading together, they'd actually build into something even more dangerous. But using just one at a time would give her a smaller, safer boost."

Momo frowned, even as she moved to their holo-design table and called up the blueprints for Jirou's new forearm-mounted sonic canon.

"That's going to cause another issue. They won't work as capacitors for an attack any longer if we do that. There wouldn't be enough energy in any one capacitor, and I doubt we could get them to cascade without her quirk actively involved. Not without a lot of finicky calibration, at least. Which we don't have time for if she wants to use them in the tournament."

Izumi sighed, even as Jirou looked like she was still trying to deal with the idea of a more powerful version of what she'd just done. She was staring at her jacks like she'd never seen them before. It was actually very adorable and Izumi really wanted to pat her on the head. Unauthorized headpats probably wouldn't be welcome, however, so she womanfully refrained and forced herself to focus on the sonic canon design.

"I think it's time to revisit the idea of using a splitter, then. Jirou, you said your jacks don't regenerate or anything, right?"

Jirou shook herself out of her surprise, then winced and shook her head at the question.

"No. They are a lot more durable than they look. And they will heal, in the sense of recovering from a bruise or cut. But I was warned there's no sign they'd actually regrow if they are amputated by something."

Momo and Izumi both winced. That was a major weakness, given how many Quirks there were that could bypass durability. Izumi spoke firmly as Momo pulled up another of their ideas, silently making her opinion known on what they should push for. Frankly, Izumi agreed. Now, they just needed to convince Jirou.

"Okay, so…you're not leaving without a design for some sort of cut-resistance sheath for them, at the very least. But, how do you feel about…"

... ...

Izumi stared with flat, angry eyes that made Kamari Denki sweat bullets, trying to figure out what sin against mankind he had committed. He swore, whatever it was, that he had to be innocent! He hadn't even hit on Momo! He wasn't that stupid. Not after seeing what Izumi could do! Thankfully, said gorgeous ravenette stepped in to save him from death by pure fear of Izumi's glare. Fear that was slightly ruined when the method of his salvation was the greenette getting bonked over the head with what he swore was an old-fashioned newspaper. Even though those didn't even exist anymore.

"Bad Izumi. No terrifying our classmates. No matter how angry about the horrible affront to technology his hero suit is."

Okay. Saved was apparently a relative term. He hadn't known the usually affable taller girl could manage that level of cold, deadly calm. And he hadn't particularly wanted to know, either. Gulping, trying not to let his voice quaver as he spoke up, he dared to bring their attention to him.

"U-um? I did ask for a few changes, but there wasn't that much wrong with it? Midnight-sensei cleared it!"

Both of them turned glares on him, making him freeze…before both of them yelped as the scout Pod 2B was inhabiting shot both of them in the backs of their heads with toy BB pellets. They glared at the Pod for a second, before deflating. Finally, it was Izumi that spoke up and explained.

"Midnight-sensei cleared it because she's not a Quirk specialist. She knows what to look for when it comes to things like mobility and practicality. But actually handling Quirk issues, like your fugue state after you discharge too much electricity? That's supposed to be the job of the support company or support-course students. Only, whoever built yours is an actual idiot. Like, I'm sending an email to the Dean to blacklist whatever stupid fuck designed it, plus their entire company, and whoever in UA's support department signed off on it."

Kaminari stared. What? He looked pleadingly at Yaoyorozu, hoping for an actual explanation. The taller girl was rubbing her forehead like she had a migraine, but she did explain. Finally.

"From a physics standpoint, your Quirk is actually less bullshit than most, Kaminari. That's why you can't just throw lighting wherever you want. It actually follows the usual rules of electricity, for the most part. That's honestly a little unusual for generator Quirks…and it also means that it should have been stupidly easy to prevent your brain from overloading. Literally all we need to do is create an alternative path for the extra power to follow through."

Izumi jumped in, seeming to sense Kaminari's complete confusion.

"Electricity always follows the path of least resistance. The central nervous system is, obviously, a good route for electricity to flow through. But the spillover electricity when you hit your amperage limit is actively looking for somewhere else to go, since your nervous system is already at capacity. Your brain fries because there isn't anywhere else to go. A couple of small contact points that press into your skin at specific locations, just enough to bring them into close enough contact with your nervous system for the extra juice to make the jump, would allow that extra to go elsewhere. Like into support gear."

Momo's eyes lit up as something seemed to occur to her.

"Actually, Kaminari, I know just how to solve your problem. The rebuild is too intensive for us to do much more than help you redirected the overload before the Tournament. But one of the Support Engineering students in some of my classes is brilliant. Also, a little crazy. But brilliant. She's also constantly whining about not being able to power some of what she can design in the field. You'd basically be her perfect client, since your 'overflow' would just let you recharge her 'babies.'"

…Babies? Somehow, Kaminari felt like he was in danger…

... ...

"Release!"

There was a painful sounding 'oof' as the dodgeball slammed into Ashido's stomach, knocking her off her feet hard enough she bounced and skipped off the padded floor. Agile as the pink skinned girl had proven to be, the combination of Sero and Uraraka was proving a deadly one as the pair used Sero's tape to sling zero-gravity dodgeballs that regained their weight just an instant before hitting someone. It had taken them a couple of games to get the timing right…but that was the whole point. Seeing it work out so flawlessly apparently told 2B that it was time for a rotation, as the command 'Switch!' rang out from her observing Pod a moment after Ashido staggered back to her feet.

There were groans from several people, but everyone obeyed, eyes darting to the board displaying the group randomizer and noting who their new partners would be. A solid twelve members of the class had agreed to teamwork training sessions, with a few surprises in both who did and didn't show up. Tsuyu, for example, hadn't been able to make it, as she still helped in looking after her younger siblings several days a week. Bakugo actually showing up had been even more of a shock, given his general personality. When Mina had, in a state of surprise, blurted that out, the explosive blonde had grimaced. He'd looked like he was sucking sour lemons when he'd replied brusquely that he was aware he sucked at teamwork, which is why he was there.

His self-awareness of that fact had actually softened a few of those who'd remained a bit wary of him, as had the fact he'd followed through on attending every session. He clearly didn't enjoy working with others, but he was doggedly putting in the effort. Which was considerably better than Todoroki, who'd brushed them off, Mineta who had flaked out when it was clear he'd have to work hard, and Aoyama who had arrogantly stated he didn't need anyone else to 'sparkle properly.' Like Asui, Iida and Ojiro had possessed legitimate reasons to skip, with Iida spending time daily Quirk training with his family's Hero Agency and Ojiro doing the same with the Dojo he was a member of. Kamari and Koda had attended some sessions, but the former had been kidnapped by Hatsume and the latter couldn't always handle so many people. The rest of the class had shown up for the majority of the twice-weekly sessions, with more of them today than most, since it was the last teamwork training session before the Tournament.

As everyone divided up, splitting into their new teams and heading to their assigned section of the gym, Izumi did the same. This time, she was paired up with a very pale looking Ashido and up against Shoji and Tokoyami. Given that they were at the Disc Relay station, where frisbees were employed in combination with an obstacle course for training tag-team reaction time and helping people synchronize, Izumi didn't understand why the pinkette was so worried. At least Izumi wasn't pegging dodgeballs at her…

"Izumi, please don't make the disc go supersonic again! That was terrifying."

Oh. Right. Mina had seen Momo and Izumi demonstrate the game on the first day of training. That probably explained the fear.

"Don't worry! I'll stay at least a little bit below the sound barrier!"

Somehow, her cheerful response didn't seem to be very reassuring to Mina. Odd…

... ...

A/N: Developments for a few characters. Some of them may never be the same...